There were two things that Ruby Goodwitch loved in this whole entire world. And that was her mommy and running. And cookies. And strawberries. And her practice scythe 'Crescent mk. 1'. And Saturday morning cartoons. Maybe there were a few more than two things that Ruby Goodwitch loved, but who could blame her, there was just so many things to love!
Okay, aside from cookies and strawberries and her practice scythe and Saturday morning cartoons, there were only two things in this world that she loved. Mommy and running. Mommy was an obvious answer. Who didn't love her? Well, there were her students, but 'Professor Goodwitch' did seem to have a habit of giving them detentions when they were mean, so that was fair. And Ruby's mother was crazy strong. Ruby could only dream of being that strong when she was older. Grandpa Ozpin always promised her that she would be much stronger, but she wasn't so sure herself.
And that just left her love of running. She didn't really know when she started to love the action so much, but her mother assured her that as soon as the young girl learned to walk, she had already started to run. Of course, her coordination was still catching up to the rest of her, so Ruby was glad that she had a fully unlocked aura.
More so, she loved running so much, it became her semblance! Now when she ran, it was faster than the wind. Faster than almost anything! And even better, sweet smelling rose petals flickered out and trailed behind her as she moved. She had practiced so hard with her semblance over the summer. Actually, she had practiced hard at everything. She was up to nine pull-ups, and she only tripped when she ran every once in a while, instead of all the time now.
And all that hard work had finally paid off. There she was, in the middle of a forest, in her very own combat clothes acting as a civilian in Beacon Academy's Initiation. Which she helped to plan; might she add. She was so proud of herself. Once this was over, she definitely earned at least two cookies Maybe three. With her scroll with her, she received a pinged message from her mommy, telling her that Initiation was just about to start. Less than a second later, she looked up to see the first batch of student hopefuls flying through the air.
She had to gasp in amazement, holding herself back from waving and jumping and cheering them on as they performed their landing strategies.
Best not to notify everyone where she was. They had to find her of course.
And that meant running. Lots and lots of running.
Giggling and squealing with delight, she took a small skip forward and dashed through the undergrowth. She would save her semblance for a little later. Now it was time to enjoy the fresh air, the pleasant warmth of her body and the strong thrums of her feet hit the ground, propelling her forward.
There was another ping on her scroll, letting her know that the next batch of students had been sent sky high over the forest canopy. Running while trying to look at this group of students soaring into the sky, she bumped straight into a person, falling back and landing hard on her butt.
"Ouch!" She squeaked.
"Oh sorry about that, oh hey! It's the Little Goodwitch!" Came the deep friendly voice from above her.
Finally looking up at the man who had knocked into her, she let out a brilliant smile, jumping up to her feet and rushing to give him a tight hug. "Duke!" Ruby squealed, hopping up and down with her arms still firmly locked around him.
"Hey there," he chuckled, patting her on the head. "So you're the little civilian that has Professor Goodwitch all in a tizzy. Can't blame her. Aren't you a little young to be doing this?"
"Hey! I am ten years old, mister." She admonished in her best 'not-cute' voice. It did not seem to be working very well. "I have my aura and semblance and everything."
"Now all you're missing is a few feet!" Duke laughed, placing a hand on her head and marking her height with his belly button. Ruby's adorable complaining that she was still growing left Duke in tears of laughter.
"So, what are you doing here?" Ruby said, choosing to change the subject.
"Your mom asked me and my partner if we wanted to help out with this years Initiation. So here we are!"
"Where is your partner now?"
"Oh, somewhere in the trees. You know how Mahogany can be."
Another scroll ping, but this time it was Duke's. Reading it over, he chuckled, finally separating himself from the younger girl. "Well, looks like duty calls. A couple Initi-ees are heading over this way. You better run along now. Don't want you caught up in the fighting. Or caught in general. Good luck Ruby."
"I'll see you afterwards?"
"You bet," he replied with a wink. And with that, he ran off, pumping a fist up into the air.
Ruby went back to running, smiling happily. She had just run into Duke! Like all Beacon graduates, she treated him like a cousin. How long had it been since she last saw him? Two years? Maybe three? Either way, it had been some time since he and Mahogany had graduated from Beacon. She was a little disappointed that she was not able to give Mahogany a hug as well.
Then a giggle erupted from her. It was so amazing to see them. So few of her 'cousins' ever came back to visit regularly. And thanks to this Initiation, she would have the chance to see so many of them again.
"Whoa!" She said, head swiveling just as a teenager ran right by her, given chase by Uncle Oobleck who was sipping at a large thermos of coffee while doing so.
This was going to be an amazingly strange and strangely amazing Initiation.
An OC! Two OC names! Well, as much as I tried to only use canon characters, I realized that having an Initiation with Beacon graduates meant that I would need some Beacon Graduates in this story. While none of them will ever become regular characters, it'll be great to see Ruby (and maybe the others) interact with those older, but at least a little closer to her (their) age. Once again, all OCs will be very minor characters and will only crop up in times like this, when no canon characters are available. They'll mainly be there to build up the world a bit and make it feel more lived in. And then they will disappear back into the useless bin. So, there is really no need to write reviews about them because they won't be very important to this story.
chinaluv - Next is Initiation!
merendinoemiliano - Thanks! Hopefully Initiation stays as dynamic
Blessings of Babylon - Lol. Jaune will survive. Can't let poor little Ruby stumble on a dead body.
joeytackle - Well, first off, one shots do have plots, they are just condensed to fit into a single chapter. Second, this fic will have a plot, but it'll be more of a slice-of-life fic. So the story will be light, fluffy and not something super big.