"YAAAAHOOOOOOO!" Ruby cried as she sped through the air. Flying was great, Ruby had chalked that one up long ago. It was the freest feeling somebody could experience, but unless you had silver eyes or a flight semblance, or maybe a winged faunus, you'd never get to do it.
Ruby smirked deviously at her blatant advantage. She could fly over the whole forest and even hand-pick her partner with her flight.
"Look out!"
Ruby spun around to see a blur of white and yellow streak through the air before it collided with Ruby and sent her crashing to the ground, Ruby still unaware of what hit her. After being flung through multiple branches, she met the earthy ground, covered in leaves and twigs.
"Ugh… Why…" Ruby groaned after all the air was knocked out of her. As her vision become less blurry, she began to see a white blob. As it came more into focus, it kind of seemed to look like…
"Weiss?" Ruby asked.
The only response was a scowl as the heiress looked down on her.
"Is it too much to ask that you already have a partner?"
Weiss sighed. "Unfortunately yes."
"So we're partners?"
"Unfortunately yes," Weiss repeated. Ruby hopped up from her position on the ground.
"Well then, better get going," Ruby said as she began walking away.
"H-hey! Who put you in charge?!"
Ruby turned back to Weiss. "Well, were you going to say anything different?"
Weiss raised a finger to make a point before realizing she would've said exactly what Ruby just did.
"Thought so," Ruby said, bopping Weiss' nose ash she continued on her way, ignoring Weiss' cry of protest. Before stopping and seeing Jaune pinned to a tree by a red and gold rifle-spear.
"Uh… Hey there Jaune…" Ruby greeted as she coked her head. Weiss caught up to Ruby and then saw Jaune.
"Why am I not surprised." She said with mild disappointment.
"Ah! Ruby! Snow Angle~," Jaune winked at Weiss who responded by rolling her eyes.
"You okay up there Jaune?" Ruby asked, ignoring Weiss' grumpiness.
"Y-yeah, all fine thanks," Jaune responded, trying to pull the spear loose.
"You want some help there?"
"Nope! Hngh! I've got this!" Jaune continued his fruitless attempts to pull out the spear.
Weiss sighed. "Come on then Ruby, let Arc here do whatever he's doing and let's get going, I'm not about to fail my first ever exercise at Beacon."
"Fair enough," Ruby shrugged before looking back to Jaune, "See you later Jaune, good luck!"
"Thanks, Ruby!" Jaune called after them as they left. Jaune sagged, not knowing how he was going to get out of this one.
"Hello there, Jaune." A new voice appeared. Jaune turned his head to see Pyrrha Nikos standing there.
"Oh, hi Pyrrha. This wouldn't happen to be your spear, would it?"
Pyrrha giggled. "Well that depends, got any spots left on your team?"
"Oh har har, very funny," Jaune grumbled as he crossed his arms.
Yang was reloading her shot-gauntlets after a particularly nasty encounter with five ursa, which Blake helped her dispose of the last one.
"So… Got a partner yet?" Yang asked the pseudo-ninja.
"No," Blake responded shortly. Yang nodded as Blake turned to leave, motioning for Yang to follow. Yang gave a short fist-pump before following.
'Thank Oum for this piece of ass as my partner.' Yang dirtily thought as they walked on.
"So…"
"So."
"You got anything in that stupid red cloak of yours that can help us?"
"Hey! It's not stupid!" Ruby retorted to Weiss's insults.
Currently, Ruby and Weiss were being surrounded by a pack of beowolfs. Weiss held of Myntenaster at the ready, but Ruby was still assessing the situation. Seeing as Executioner was a six-round gun, it would take over ten cylinders to kill all the beowolfs there, as they would each take about four shots. Ruby did a cost-benefit analysis and determined her best option was a Peacemaker formation, seeing as it was their best bet to get rid of most of the beowolfs before more came. All she had to do was get Weiss to set her up for it. And also not get her shot.
"Hey, Weiss?" Ruby said to her partner.
"What is it?"
"Are you able to freeze the front row of beowolfs?"
Weiss smirked. "Can I?"
"Answer the question!" Ruby hissed.
"Geeze! Yes!"
"Then on my signal, freeze the grim and drop to the ground."
Weiss huffed. "I hope you know what you're doing." She said as she switched her chamber to ice dust. The silence between the two was only broken by the low growls of the encircling beowolfs.
"NOW!" Ruby cried as she folded out Crescent Rose and jumped atop it. Weiss swung Myntenaster in a large sweeping motion, freezing the closest beowolfs before ducking. Atop her scyther-rifle, Ruby recalled Grim's instructions on the Peacemaker formation.
"Ruby, the Peacemaker formation is THE way to deal with a group of targets. To do it, you must use either Executioner or Cremator,"
"What about Crescent Rose?"
"No, it's not finesse enough for the speed you need in a Peacemaker formation, revolvers are what works best." Grim took out her own revolver, Duken, and three cartridges. "When using a Peacemaker formation you will need your next cylinder of ammo as you'll expend the rounds already loaded rather quickly."
"Okay,"
"To do the formation itself, it's a matter of blending the afterimage technique with your shots, but be warned, this continuously drains aura, so don't use it for too long."
Ruby took a breath before Tossing four loaded cylinders into the air.
Weiss believed this to be a terrible plan. Actually, she couldn't even call it a plan! Weiss was ducking, but she had no idea for what reason. She was cursing herself for not questioning her braindead partner on more of this plan! Ruby was going to get them both killed!
A short chorus of gunshots came from above Weiss.
On second later, a shower of spent shells fell in front of Weiss. Weiss looked up to see the smoking husks of what were once beowolfs, slowly disintegrating. She whipped round to see Ruby, casually reloading a bulky black revolver. Weiss gaped.
How could somebody have defeated so many grim in just a few seconds?
Without even moving?!
A howl interrupted Weiss' thoughts.
"And that would be the rest of the pack," Ruby said to her, stowing the gun away in her left holster. "I brought us enough time, so let's get moving." Ruby grabbed Weiss' hand.
"Hey! What are you-" Weiss was interrupted again, this time by Ruby pulling her along.
In the sky.
Could her partner get any weirder?
Yang and Blake had made their way through the forest and had reached the temple, now approaching it.
"So…" Yang began, "We're partners now, wanna talk about anything?"
Blake thought for a moment. "What's up with your sister?"
Yang faltered. "You mean Ruby?"
"Do you have any other sister attending Beacon?"
"No… Well, Ruby has always been… distant. Not really from dad or me, but just from the rest of the world. I've been trying to get her to make new friends lately." Yang turned to face Blake, "She considers you a friend, ya know?"
Blake smiled. "That's nice."
The two reached the temple, gazing at the enlarged chess pieces that sat atop pedestals.
"Well, I guess these are the artefacts." Blake looked around, "Which one should we pick?"
Yang quickly snatched up a Knight piece. "Well I've always considered myself a knight in shining armour," she smirked flirtatiously.
"Really?" Blake smiled coyly, "You pegged me as a barbaric warrior."
"Hm. Guess you're right!" Yang laughed. The pair were interrupted by a high pitch scream that echoed throughout the emerald forest.
"Fuck, I'll need to replace an eardrum for that!" Yang cursed as she knocked on the side of her head as to get the ringing out of her ears.
"Tell me about it," Blake replied, before something in the sky caught her attention. Yang noticed this and walked over to Blake.
"What is it, Blake?" Yang asked.
Blake simply pointed to the sky.
"This was a horrible idea!"
"We're fine! I've still got plenty of aura to carry both of us!"
"That's not what I'm talking about!"
"What is it then?!"
"I'm talking about the giant Nevermore that's tailing us!"
"…That's actually an Elder Nevermore! You can tell by its-"
"I don't care! Get us out of here!"
Yang peered at the far-away object that was being tailed by a very large nevermore.
"Hm. Seems like Ruby." She said nonchalantly. Blake was taken aback at Yang's calmness. "Oh! It looks like she's carrying Ice Queen!"
"How are you so calm about this?" Blake asked her crazy partner.
Yang waved a hand. "Psh, this isn't new for Ruby. Plus I bet Ice Queen's pretty light, so she wouldn't be in any trouble."
"And the grimm?"
"Well-"
"Look out below!"
Yang swivelled just in time to be barrelled by an incoming Ruby, as well as Weiss, who had been hanging on by Ruby's hands. They all ended up in a pile a few metres away with Ruby on top.
"Whyyyyy…?" Yang groaned.
"Get off me, you idiot!" Weiss yelled at Ruby as she struggled to get free.
"Sorry!" Ruby apologized as she scurried to get off her white-themed partner. Weiss promptly hopped up and dusted herself off.
"NEVER, do that again." Weiss' voice dripped with venom as she pointed a finger at Ruby.
"Which part?" Ruby asked.
"All of it!" Weiss shouted, which made Ruby hide behind Yang (who had gotten up) and make a squeaking sound.
Blake turned to Yang. "Did your sister just fall from the sky with Wiess Schnee?"
"I…"
Before Yang could continue, several crashing noises are heard in the forest ahead of them. They all turned to see an Ursa comes out, claws swiping, just as a pink blast of energy hits it in the back and it crashes to the ground, depositing its rider.
"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" A ginger-haired girl cried as she tumbled off the now dead Ursa before going back and inspecting the grimm. "Awwww... It's broken."
Another person, a boy with black hair and a pink highlight, came running up and bent over to catch his breath, obviously having followed the ginger. "Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again." He looked up to see his partner, only to find her missing. The partner in question was inspecting a white rook at the temple.
"Ooooh…" She quickly snatched up the rook. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" the girl sang as she balances the chess piece atop her head.
"NORA!" the boy shouted.
"Coming Ren!" The girl, Nora, saluted before skipping over to him.
"Did… Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked, becoming more confused by the minute.
"I think she did…" Ruby answered.
"I…"
Yang was once again interrupted, as a screech is heard from their right. They all look again, this time to see Pyrrha being pursued by a deathstalker as it uproots entire trees in its chase after her. Pyrrha narrowly dodges its giant claws and keeps on running.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried.
"Jaune?" Ruby questioned, "Where's Jaune?"
"Right here," Jaune answered, appearing beside her.
"Ah!" Ruby exclaimed, jumping back. "Jaune! When did you get here?!"
Jaune sighed. "I got tossed over here by that grimm that's chasing Pyrrha."
"And did she run all the way here with it on her tail?" Blake asked.
"AAAAAAAUGH!" Yang screamed in fury "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
"Nope!" Ruby replied as she drew Executioner and Cremator and charged the deathstalker as Pyrrha dove in front of the rest of them.
"Shouldn't we stop her?!" Weiss cried as she watched her partner rush the elder grimm.
"Nah, she's fine. Look." Yang dismissed it, pointing to Ruby.
The red reaper in question was unleashing a torrent of gunfire at the deathstalker, which had to bring up a pincer to shield itself from the soul-infused weaponry. In retaliation, it brought its stinger down to strike Ruby.
"Ruby!" all the bystanders except Yang called as they saw Ruby's imminent death.
This idea was extinguished however when the deathstalker's tail hit a glowing silver bubble surrounding ruby, invisible until touched. Ruby twirled Executioner whilst reloading it before unloading three shots into the tail, causing the grim to recoil in shock and pain. Using the grimm's distraction, Ruby did what she had nicknamed a 'Petal Step' to appear behind the grimm and continued firing at its exposed tail. The deathstalker, now toughly enraged, swept its tail to hit Ruby, but only hit air as Ruby had vaulted the tail, propelling herself at the deathstalker's exposed back. Stowing Executioner and Cremator, Ruby turned her projected shield back into soul energy, gathering it into her right fist as she pulled back and slammed the grim in the head, making a small crater beneath the grimm and cracking part of its carapace. Finally, using the grimm as a launchpad, Ruby rapidly backflipped back to the rest of the group.
Mouths were touching the floor.
Ruby turned back to her new friends and Yang.
"Okay! I brought us about a minute before that guy recovers, also, the nevermore has spotted us and is circling back." Ruby looked to the others, "So, any plans?"
Weiss shook her head as she recovered from her surprise. "There's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us."
"The artefacts!" Yang remembered, "Almost forgot about those."
"So run and live?" Jaune asked, getting his answer in the form of several nods.
Ruby and Jaune each grab a chess piece before Ruby motioned the group to follow.
The eight huntsmen-in-training had gotten a fair distance away before the nevermore caught up to them.
"Incoming!" Pyrrha announced as the nevermore shot a barrage of feathers. Ruby clapped her hands together before aiming her palms at the incoming feathers. As they approached, they were caught another silver barrier, lost momentum and Ruby let them fall to the ground, Ruby left panting.
She was hitting her limit.
"Ruby! You okay?" Yang asked, rushing over to her little sister.
"I'm *pant* running on fumes *pant* here, Yang," Ruby replied as she leant on her knees. Yang looked back up to the nevermore before getting an idea.
"How about Phoenix Dive?" Yang suggested. Ruby smiled in return, drawing Cremator and aiming it at Yang, much to the surprise of the group.
"Ruby? What are you…" Blake's question was cut off by a shot from Cremator, making everybody flinch as Yang stumbled back.
"Aww Yeah!" Yang cried as her hair lit up and eyes turned red. Ruby, in turn, had stopped panting and was now shining a pale silver.
"What just happened?" Jaune asked, completely unaware of what exactly happened.
"Weiss! Blake!" Ruby abruptly called for her partner.
"Y-yes?" Weiss stuttered, still rattled from Ruby shooting her own sister. Blake simply raised an eyebrow.
"I need your help with this." Ruby grabbed their hands, before taking off into the sky, Yang grabbing on to her ankle. The four remaining members of the group stared up at them until a crashing of trees distracted them. The deathstalker burst through the trees, now even angrier than before.
"Oh great."
As Ruby hauled a shouting Weiss and a burning Yang higher, it was still a mystery to the heiress as to what the crazy sisters were going to do. Ruby began slowing down.
"Weiss, I need you to create a glyph for yourself and Blake to stand on. We're going to make a slingshot."
Weiss looked to Ruby, making a platform for herself and Blake. "And what exactly, are we going to fire from it?" Weiss asked, worried about the answer.
"Me," Yang answered.
"WHAT!?" Weiss cried.
"Okay! 3…" Ruby began counting down as Blake tossed part of Gambol Shroud to her, keeping hold of its durable ribbon.
"Wait you're actually…"
"2…" Yang smiled as Ruby flew with her a distance away from Weiss and Blake.
"Isn't there any other…"
"1…" The sisters said together as Ruby tossed Yang into the Ribbon, stretching it back.
Weiss sighed, relenting and creating a stasis glyph to aim at the nevermore as it began making a beeline for the airborne teens.
"GO!" Ruby commanded, and Weiss released the glyph, slingshotting Yang who curled up into a cannonball as she rocketed towards the grimm.
"ONE-TWENTY INCH… PYTHON!" Yang cried as she slammed her accelerated fist into the nevermore's face, shattering its bony mask. The nevermore let out a death cry as it plummeted into the ravine below. Yang landed on the nearby cliff just as Ruby set down Blake and Weiss, who she was carrying.
"Well, that went... well," Blake commented as she looked to the other three.
"I'll say! Ruby and I have never done a Phoenix Dive that powerful before!" Yang grinned.
"You've done that before?!" Weiss balked.
"Hey look!" Ruby pointed, ignoring Weiss, "The others took care of the deathstalker!"
It was true, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren had finished off the deathstalker who was now withering away.
"To be fair, you did punch that this pretty fucking hard." Yang reminded.
"Pff, they did good! I was only aiming to stun it." Ruby brushed off the compliment.
"Well, all in all, I believe we did quite admirably." Weiss folded her arms in confidence.
That confidence was quickly shattered as the nevermore they had believed to be dead, raised over the cliff they had been standing up, reared to bring its beak down on Weiss.
"WEISS!" Yang called, not enough time to get her out of the way. But it was enough time for Ruby.
Ruby dashed between Weiss and the nevermore, eyes glowing furiously with silver energy that spilling out of them like wings. A bright flash blinded the three girls that were watching the scene unfold. When they could see again, they saw a grim glowing white, perching at the cliff. Weiss and Blake's mouths were hanging open.
Ruby bowed to the… purified grimm(?) and bowed, which the nevermore returned. "Go, into the light and find peace," Ruby told it. The nevermore raised its wings as it flew away, turning into specks of white dust as it flew until it was no more. Ruby turned back to her friends.
"Well guys, it's been a long day and I am now going to collapse from exhaustion."
Ruby then remembered nothing more as she passed out.
So that's it for the initiation arc, I have a few requests for you guys, the readers, to do for me.
1. Please tell me how I can improve my writing. What I mean by this is that I feel that my writing feels repetitive and dull to read, so any pointers on how you would like me to improve this would be great.
2. I want you to be a part of this story! I want you guys to have a certain degree of control over this story since your in this train wreck just as much as I am. Simply leave a review telling me a general idea of what you want to see happen, and if I like it a lot/doesn't conflict with the overarching story, I'll include it!
3. Like the point above, I'd like your contribution to the story; in the form of characters! I'd like to flesh out the Death's Apprentice world a bit more, and for that, I need characters, what better way than using my fans'? Just leave a short description of your character and their affiliations (they can be anew villain if you want), then I'll either put them in the story or call a vote for them if I am indecisive. Please know that some may just be background characters, but they might not! So give it your all!
Thank you all for the early support of this fic, I hope it is at the front longer than my other ones because I've had a lot of fun writing it! I have a lot of twists and surprises planned, so stay tuned for when those happen!
Kamiro… AWAAAAAYYYYYY!