I'm a man of my word, so today we'll be meeting the Holdback parents, then heading to Mountain Gleen. Stay tuned.
Chapter Cover- The Holdback sisters sitting down surround by a field of swords.
Ch.22- Chip away
It is now the next morning of the dance, right now me and Ruby, in our usual clothes, are making our way up to Ozpin's office to discuss what went down during the intruder attack.
"Ruby," I begin, "Do you suspect Cinder had something to with the intruder?" I ask as seeing the attacker had the same eye color as Cinder.
"The exchange student? No, I feel the intruder was trying to put the blame on Cinder since she's an exchange student." Ruby retorts.
I sigh, this is a very tricky situation we're in, someone attacked Beacon for some reason and the only lead we have is an unknown. My analysis is cut short by the elevator sudden stop.
"Come in," We hear Ozpin say from inside the elevator.
When the doors open, I see Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch talking to James Ironwood, the general of the Atlesian Military, Penny told me had some involvement with her creation.
"You wanted to see us?" I ask.
"Ah, sorry it took so long. Someone accidentally hit all of the buttons on the elevator on the way up here," Ruby apologizes before looking around. "It wasn't me," she defends herself as we walk up to the teachers.
"Thank you for coming, Ruby, Issia. How are you two feeling?" Ozpin asks.
"Fine, considering what happened last night," I reply.
"Okay, I guess. I'd feel better if my bad-guy catching record wasn't 0-for-3," Ruby says, showing three fingers. But the teachers just give them serious, bland, looks. "Okay, so that's the tone we're going for. Got it," she mutters while rubbing her head.
"Ruby, Issia, I feel it's appropriate to let you know that I think what you two did last night is exactly what being a Huntress is all about. You recognized a threat. You took action. And you did the very best you could." Ironwood praises our actions.
I bow while Ruby looks stare up at Ironwood.
"Now, the general here has already informed us of the events that... transpired last night, but now that you two have rested, we were wondering if you had anything to add," Ozpin says.
Ms. Goodwitch then steps up, "Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?" Goodwitch if we knew the suspect.
Ruby begins, "I... I don't know. She was wearing a mask, and she never said anything to me. But I know she fought with glass. I don't think that was her Semblance, though. Her clothing lit up whenever she attacked." She explains.
I then speak up, "The woman had the same amber eyes as Cinder Fall, but other than the woman used a bow and she conjured arrows from nothing, and they also exploded on contact. I suspect the woman was receiving extra power from somewhere." I state.
"Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby," Goodwitch says.
"Embedding Dust into clothing is an age-old technique. It could have been anyone." Ironwood adds.
"Wait. You think this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?" Ruby inquires.
"It's possible…" Opzin begins, hand on his chin while Ruby looks off to the side. "…But we still lack the required evidence to link the two together," Ozpin says as he and Ironwood look at each other.
"Actually, I…I think I remember her saying something about a hideout or something, in the southeast, just outside the kingdom," Ruby says, pointing her thumb behind her.
"Interesting…" Ozpin says, smiling at them for telling him that.
"I thought you said that the intruder never-," Goodwitch begins as Ozpin walks up beside her.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby and Issia. Why don't you two go and spend some time with your teams. You both have a big day ahead of you," Ozpin interrupts her.
"Anytime," Ruby says as she turns and begins to walks away.
"And Miss Rose, Miss Holdback," Ozpin begins, getting our attention. "Please try and be…discreit about this matter," Ozpin tells us.
"Yes sir," Ruby replies while I just nod and leave the room.
When the girls enter the elevator and go down another voice speaks up, "Ozpin, it's time." The voice sounds male but is coming from everywhere.
"Ah, Mr. Holdback, you're free to enter," Ozpin says.
"Ozpin, what is the meaning of this-" Ironwood is interrupted by a sword appearing out from nowhere and slowly bringing its way up.
The sword opens a portal from looks like a black abyss where two men walkout, one man has flattened hair and wearing a black T-shirt with dark gray pants with belts wrapped around his shoulder and pants connected to a barrel holding many swords.
The other man has spikier hair and is wearing a vibrant green robe has the right sleeve behind his shoulder exposing a lot of his muscular body with three swords hanging off his left side with footwear resembling boots but missing the back of heel and toe. Aside from their clothing and hair, the two men are practically identical to each other.
"Ah, the Holdback brothers." Ozpin gets up from his seat.
The man on the left holds out his hand, "No need to move Ozpin, we're keeping this brief. We just want to know how our daughters are doing."
"Your daughters have been paired together and have shown exponential teamwork with themselves and others," Ozpin states the current state of Team DEMI.
"What about Issia? Has she improved on her antisocial habit?" The man on the left asks.
"She's slowly improving, she's now to talk to others with leaving midway through a conversation," Ozpin tells the men.
"That's good to hear, I wish we had more time to see our girl ourselves but we'll be coming back for the tournament with our wives, until next Ozpin." The robed man says before the man with the barrel opens a portal where they walk through.
Ozpin takes a seat, Ironwood left after his little tantrum, and thus didn't see what just took place, he and Glynda are left to themselves.
"I shouldn't have expected less from the parents of the Holdback sisters," Glynda states while pushing her glasses back on her face.
"Yes, but those girls may be just the people we need to turn things around," Ozpin says before taking a sip from his mug.
In Team RWBY's room
Our teams are going over what transpired in Ozpin's office. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss stand by Weiss' bed while Blake sits on it, and Ersa and Medi sit on Blake's while me and Deandra stand in the center of the room.
"That was a risky move," Weiss says, crossing her arms.
"No…I think you handled it well," Blake supports Ruby's decision.
"I agree. While we can't really trust Ironwood, I believe that we can trust Professor Ozpin with this information at least. He has always shown to truly care about his students," Medi adds.
"I hope so," Ruby says while Yang has a supportive hand on her left shoulder.
"I'm sure everything will be alright Ruby," Yang comforts her. "Oh! I know what will cheer you up!" Yang gets an idea and walks over to one of their desks.
"What's that?" Ruby asks as everyone turns to Yang.
"I don't know yet. Dad sent it to us. I thought we could open it up together," Yang says, holding a cylinder-shaped package in her left hand.
"Oh, something from home!" Ruby squeals.
Using her semblance, she bolts over to Yang and jumps onto her back, wrapping her legs around her waist. She starts quickly waving her hands at the package while Yang holds it out of her reach. A moment later, some grayish-black cylinder-shaped object falls out of the package as Ruby stops trying to grab it and holds onto Yang as everyone looks down at the package. The object starts BOUNCING up and down for a moment before expanding into a four-legged, furry creature. Everyone looks down more closely at it with mixed expressions of confusion, awe, or fear. The object turns out to be…a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, with a black-headed- tricolor coat, gray eyes, a short, stubby tail, and a white stomach. The corgi then barks twice at them. Yang and Ruby jolt up with joy, Blake and Weiss reel back in terror, and our team is neutral to the situation.
"ZWEI!" Ruby happily calls out the dog's name, indicating she knows it.
"He sent a DOG?!" Blake exclaims.
"In the MAIL?!" Weiss adds.
"I'd expect this kind of thing in cartoons, not in real life," Ersa says, resting her head on her right hand, "And before any of you say anything, traveling through portals is more humane than shipping a living thing through the mail."
"Oh, he does stuff like this all the time," Yang explains while Ruby is holding Zwei in her arms like a baby as it lovingly licks her face.
"Your father or your dog?" Blake asks… as she hides on top of Ruby's bed.
"What's wrong Blake? You more of a cat person?" Deandra jokes, much to her displeasure.
Weiss leans in closer to the dog, "Are you telling me, that this mangy…" Weiss begins as she scowls at the dog. "Drooling…" he licks his nose as they keep staring. "Mutt...Is going to wiv with us foreva?! Oh, yes he is! Yes he is! Oh isn't he adorable? Ah! Ah!" Weiss suddenly starts making baby talk to Zwei as she pets his nose.
Medi just looks wide-eyed, "I think we just found the Ice Queen's kryptonite," she mutters.
Deandra just snickers into her hand, "I think I liked her better when she WAS the Ice Queen," Deandra mutters back.
"Please keep it away from my belongings," Blake says as she sits on Ruby's bed as far away from Zwei as she can.
Then, the intercoms come on, "Would all first-year students please report to the amphitheater," they hear Glynda's voice on the other end.
"Well, we can't exactly leave him here while we're gone for a week," Weiss notes as Ruby releases Zwei and the dog immediately runs up to Weiss's bed, trying to get to Blake, who cringes back like a cat.
Yang then pulls out a letter from the package.
"Look, there's a letter. 'Dear girls, I've got to leave the island for a few days, so I'm sending Zwei to you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both, Taiyang," Yang reads.
Zwei runs over to her and she points the opening of the package over him, and suddenly a large number of cans of dog food fall out of the package, burying Zwei until his head pops out.
"How the hell did all of that fit in there?" Ersa asks, surprised by the amount of food.
"What is he supposed to do with that?" Weiss asks.
Yang shakes the package and out comes a can opener that falls on Zwei's head, who continues panting with his tongue out like nothing's wrong.
"Does he even know how to use that?" Medi asks, scratching his head.
Yang then tosses the package and the letter away, "Welp, that settles it. Come on guys, Zwei will be here when we get back," Yang says as she leaves the room.
Weiss then walks around Zwei, "Oh, I'll miss you so much! We're going to be best friends! I can't wait to see you again! Yeah, you're such a…" Weiss makes baby talk to Zwei as she pets him and leaves while Blake avoids Zwei, by jumping off Ruby's bed and the desk to quickly run out of the room.
Again, I laugh, "I can't believe a dog was what it took to break Weiss out of her icy shell," I say before my team makes their leave.
However, Ruby just looks at Zwei, humming in thought for a moment before gasping as she gets an idea and smiles.
A few minutes later, the two teams enter the amphitheater, although Ruby is now carrying a big backpack on her back with the school logo on it. The large room has the students of the four academies separate into four sections. From left to right of the stage, it's the students from Mistral, then Atlas, then Vacuo, and finally Vale. Ruby places her new bag with a pile of other bags before joining her team, with Teams Demi and JNPR standing behind them
"Quiet. Quiet, please. Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin," Goodwitch says while on stage before leaving and then Ozpin steps up to the microphone.
"…Today we stand together, united. Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell, or who traded with who, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware, that was something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not on would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united, but this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsmen and huntresses will work to uphold it. As first-year students, you'll be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman or huntress on a mission," Ozpin explains as screens pop up on the sides of the amphitheater, showcasing the various missions the students may take. "Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best," Ozpin ends his speech and leaves the stage as the audience applauds him.
The students begin separating to choose their missions for the week. Meanwhile, our teams gather together.
"This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a huntsman working in the southeast," Ruby says.
"Yeah, we'll follow them around by day and give them the slip at night," Yang adds.
"Two teams can't take one mission together, so we'll each have to take a separate mission that both take place in the southeast, and aren't too far away from each other so that we can link up," Medi says.
"Let's check search and destroy," Weiss suggests.
The two teams head to one screen that has a list of missions classified as "Search and Destroy" missions.
"Here we go. Quadrant 5 needs Grimm cleared out," Ruby says, looking at the screen.
"Well, it's in the southeast," Blake says.
"Sounds perfect," Yang adds while Deandra looks at a different section of the screen.
"There's a scouting mission for possible Grimm activity in quadrant 6 in the southeast. That's not too far from you guys. We'll take that one while you take the one in quadrant 5 and we'll link up with you guys," Deandra suggests as she registers our team for the mission.
Ruby then tries to register her team for the search and destroy mission, typing the team name in on the screen, but the screen then shows "mission unavailable for first-year students," showing she was rejected.
"Wonderful," Weiss sarcastically says, hands on her hips.
"Any other ideas?" Blake asks.
"We MAIL ourselves there," Ruby suggests, my team nearly fall over that suggestion.
"You're joking, right?" Ersa deadpans.
"Well, that's one option…" they hear a voice and turn to their left to see Professor Ozpin walking up to them.
"Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students," Ozpin explains before he smiles at them.
"It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that the eight of you will make your way there no matter which jobs you choose," Ozpin says as Yang, Blake, and Weiss glare at Ruby who just nervously rubs her head, and the three members of our team give Deandra an unamused look, to which she just crosses her arms.
"Whatever makes you say that?" Ruby asks, sounding innocent.
"I'm still curious as to how you all found yourselves at the docks last semester. I'm interested to know how you really learned about a 'hideout' in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago," Ozpin says, feigning the fact that he knows about their activities.
"Uuuuummmm, uh, um well…" Ruby rambles off.
"I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for, so how about this? Instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them?" Ozpin says before typing on his scroll.
The screen then registers both Team RWBY and Team DEMI for the search and destroy mission in the southeast, much to the joy of the BOTH teams as they look at each other, smiling, before turning back to Ozpin.
"We won't let you down. Thank you, Professor," Ruby thanks him.
"Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far, but you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. Stay close to your huntsmen at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds your skills unsatisfactory," Ozpin says and then walks away while the members of the two teams look at each other with concern. Ozpin then leans back to them. "Good luck," he says before leaving.
The two teams are then seen walking outside the amphitheater in the courtyard, having already lost their previous smiles.
"That wasn't exactly uplifting," Yang mentions.
"But it's the truth," Blake adds.
"Ozpin is right guys. The kingdoms may be safe inside, for the most part, but outside their walls, only the strong may survive. What awaits us out there will not show us any mercy," Ersa points out.
"It's gonna be tough, but I know we can do it," Ruby says, trying to get their spirits up.
As their walking, a random student walks by Ruby, "Hey, Team CFVY is back!" he says.
The two teams look ahead to see many students piled around four other students walking by. These students are Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina, and Yatsuhashi Daichi, the four members of Team CFVY.
As the second-year team is walking by, our teams walk up to them.
"Velvet, are you okay?" Blake asks out of concern, making Velvet turn to her.
"I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me," she answers as Khazhak steps up. "Oh, hello Deandra. Good to see you," she nods to him.
Deandra nods back, "Velvet, good to see you're doing well," she greets back.
Though the two have had little interactions with each other, because of our team saving her that one-time last semester, Velvet is always happy when they talk.
Weiss then comes up, "Your mission was supposed to end a week ago. What happened?" she asks as the others walk up.
"N-nothing happened. It was just…there were just so many," she replies, getting more serious. "Oh but don't worry. You first-years are just shadowing huntsmen, so you should be fine. And plus, I know I don't have to be worried about you and your team, Deandra. You'll have no problem wherever you're going," she says, trying to make their jobs sound less dangerous.
"Well, you're not wrong about that," I note, smirking.
"Rrriiiiiight," Yang says, not feeling convinced.
"I should go. Be safe, okay," she says, waving goodbye as she leaves.
The members of the two teams look at each other for a moment.
"We can do this. We've never backed down before, and we're not going to start now," Ruby encourages them.
"Right," Blake agrees.
"No matter how difficult the path, one must continue moving forward if they wish to become stronger and achieve their
goals,' as my father once said," Deandra says.
"Besides, it won't only be us out there. We'll be fighting alongside a genuine huntsman!" Ruby says with glee.
"Yeah!" Yang says.
A few minutes later, the two teams suddenly go from feeling confident to feeling dread. Ruby and Yang have looks that say "oh no" written on them, Weiss eyes' are as big as baseballs, Blake is hunched over in dissatisfaction, I look like I'm sick, Deandra has her head hanging down, and Medi and Ersa both have looks mixed between shock and fear.
"Why hello, boys and girls," to their horror, the huntsman they're shadowing…is Dr. Oobleck, who is wearing a long brown greatcoat, khaki buttoned-up safari shirt, a pith helmet, and a large backpack. "Who's ready to fight for their lives?!" he asks with joy in his voice.
I think to myself, "…Da-da-da, we're dead…"
Writer- And that's where I end things for now, will the teams live through this mission or will they die in the first five minutes? Follow this story to find out, until next time.