Chapter 10: The New School
San Francisco Police Department.
Inside a certain office, a young red-haired investigator looked closely at the latest reports from yesterday about the robbery incident.
"And there he goes again," he muttered.
He looked at the most wanted list. A picture of Keith hung on the bulletin board with a bounty reward of $50,000, for a while until he heard a knock on his door.
"Junior Detective?" asked a police officer while entering the office. "We have a meeting in the interrogation room."
"What's it all about?"
"It's something about that Red Hand Operative we arrested yesterday," he said. "Lieutenant wants your help."
Ah, the Red Hand Operatives from Vale, of course. Those assholes slipped under our noses not too long ago... Normal civilians walk through the borders, checking passports and tickets, in and out, rinse and repeat. But Red Hand Operatives are smart enough to never carry any hazardous objects or weapons.
These guys may appear to be normal civilians, but in reality, they're Operatives blending into a group of people. These guys are really smart and are unlike other terrorist factions.
Back in 2014, there was an Operative in San Francisco harbor who was arrested before he could set sail for Vale. Authorities found stolen blueprints with sensitive information from the US Military, such as prototype weapons, stealth aircraft, and small tactical nuclear armaments.
I wondered how they got those... Oh right. They had hackers, a bunch of smartasses. They copied those blueprints before breaking their own PCs and relocating to another isolated area where the authorities couldn't find them.
They smuggled PCs and weapons by hiring illegal gangs from the stronghold towns in the Grimm Wastelands, in the least deserted towns in Nevada, or from Las Vegas. Some had Mafia members working for them. How did they manage to do that? Simple, they'd deployed criminal Huntsmen to bribe or force them to do the Operatives' work.
Junior Detective Adam Taurus entered the interrogation room and sat beside his buddy, another older Inspector with Faunus traits. Adam and the other officers knew his real name, but he referred to himself as "Lieutenant."
"What seems to be the problem LT?" Adam asked.
"The bastard ain't spitting out," Lieutenant grunted.
Adam sat on the other side of the table and leaned towards to the Red Hand Operative, steepling his hands.
"Alright, where do we begin?" Adam glanced at Lieutenant.
"Well, we questioned him about-"
Suddenly, Lieutenant's speech was interrupted by the Red Hand member screeching in rage.
"You damn Faunus just rot and die already!"
Adam and Lieutenant exchanged looks for a while, until Adam asked,
"Is he really that mentally ill?"
"Yep." Lieutenant nodded. "He's listed to head inside the mental hospital jail after interrogation."
Meanwhile, At the Academy Airport...
A single airship carefully landed as airport marshals waved their glow sticks, signaling for a clear landing. The ship released the passenger bridge as freshmen walked out of the port. A goofy blonde teenager suddenly rushed out of the ship, then vomited in open public, while workers and marshals of the Airport backed away in disgust.
"Jesus Christ." Aiden cringed at the sight.
As they came out of the port, Yang, Ruby and Richard stood on a wide pathway and looked in awe at three large, luxurious, towered buildings made of clear glass. There were several gardens on the balconies and flat rooftops.
Then Aiden appeared as he walked beside them, whistling in amazement at the buildings. "This literally came out from some science fiction video games or movies," he commented.
Suddenly, Ruby squealed at the sight of students carrying weapons on their backs. "Oh my gosh! He's carrying a mixture of a lance and a railgun!" Then she looked at another freshman. "Ooh~! And she has a shotgun with a blade in it~!"
Yang suddenly pulled Ruby's cape. "Woah, hold on little sis," she said. "Those things you are seeing are just weapons."
"Just weapons?!" Ruby fumed in disbelief as she crossed her arms. "But sis! They're not just weapons, Uncle Qrow said that they're the extensions of ourselves! Right Richard?"
"Y-Yeah, right." Richard nodded with an awkward smile, but she narrowed her eyes and glared intensely. He gulped and admitted forcefully, "Of course! They are!"
"Now that's more like it." Ruby smiled victoriously, then crossed her arms and glanced at her older sister. "You see? He agrees with me."
"But what about your weapon?" Yang asked. "Aren't you happy with it?"
"Well of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose!" Ruby explained as she pulled out her mechanical scythe and hugged it. "I just like meeting new weapons."
"Oh come on sis." Yang teased as she playfully pulled down Ruby's hood. "Why don't you go make some friends?"
"But Aiden and Richard are our best friends, right?" Both males nodded in agreement.
"Oh pfff, you just got lucky since we're neighbors. I mean new friends Ruby." Yang scoffed, then she suddenly grabbed Aiden's collar. "Come Aiden, our friends are right there!"
"Hey don't drag me like that!"
Yang zipped away with Aiden past her sister. Ruby felt her entire body spin around while her eyes rolls in dizziness.
"B-But wait! What about our dorms!?" she dizzily asked. "Where are our dorms? Oh I don't know what I'm doing…"
"Ruby, watch-"
Richard warned, but it was too late, she accidentally fell into a bunch of white cases, which were placed in an orderly manner.
"-out." He cringed.
Richard ran towards Ruby to help her up from the mess when suddenly, a fiery white-haired girl in a formal white dress came by.
"What in the name of Jove are you doing?!"
Ruby jolted up quickly and hid behind Richard.
"Sorry, my friend just had an accident, we'll fix this."
"Y-Yeah! I'm so, so sorry that I've caused this!" Ruby frantically apologized.
"Sorry? Don't you know how much damage you've caused?!"
"Uhh."
The white-haired teenage girl lifted up her case and opened it, then grabbed a red vial to show them. "Don't you know what this is?!"
Richard began to answer. "That's-"
"Dust!" she interrupted before he could finish. "Mined and purified from the Schnee Quarry."
"Uuuuhhhh." Richard looked back towards Ruby, where she was lost in her own world.
"Is your friend brain dead?" Then she looked at Ruby while raising the vial. "Hey, I said Dust! Fire! Water! Energy!"
Suddenly, Richard noticed a cloud of red dust flying through the air. "Hey, stop it already!"
"What?!" Then Richard pointed up, and she came to a realization when she saw the small clouds. "Oh no... don't make... any sudden moves."
However, disaster struck when the young scythe wielder caught some red dust in her nose. "No don't-!"
Too late, she sneezed.
*BOOOM!*
As the explosion occurred, a hand size vial was thrown into the air, landing near a black-haired female cat Faunus, wearing black sneakers, grey knee length shorts, and a white t-shirt under an open black vest. The Faunus looked down and picked up the vial, deciding to return it to its owner.
"Unbelievable! This is the kind of stuff that I'm talking about!" the white-haired girl fumed.
"I'm really, really sorry," Ruby apologized once more.
"Ugh, you bloody dolt!" The white girl narrowed her eyes intensely to Ruby's. "Wait. Hold on a sec, aren't you two a bit young to attend this school?"
"W-Well we... er." Ruby was at a loss of words.
"This is not your ordinary combat school. It's not just even sparring and practices to beat down dummies you know," she explained in an arrogant manner. "We're here to fight real monsters, so... watch where you're going!"
"Hey, we're trying to be nice here," Richard argued.
"Yeah! I just said sorry, Princess," Ruby added.
"It's heiress, actually." The three of them looked at a certain female cat Faunus entering their conversation. "Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of Dust energy propellant in the world."
"Finally! Some recognition," Weiss said smugly.
"They are also notorious for their questionable business partners and monopolizing against other energy producing companies," Blake finished.
"Wha-?! Who do you think you are?!"
"Look around you, everyone is watching," Blake sighed as she rolled her eyes.
Weiss stopped and noticed she was now receiving curious stares from other freshman around their area, who began whispering to themselves.
"Yo, that's a rich girl, right?"
"Yeah, spoiled rich kids these days."
"Isn't that the heiress of the SDC?"
"If she is the heiress then what's with her attitude?"
Weiss went silent and then quickly snatched her vial and put it back in the case.
"This day couldn't be this worse," Weiss muttered in humiliation.
She turned her heels and stormed off towards to the academy while her servants began to pack up the cases.
"I promise I'll make this up to you!" Ruby said, still in an apologetic expression. "So... what…?"
Richard and Ruby turned to the black-haired girl who was walking off while reading her book. Richard looks back only to see Ruby let herself fall, her knees hitting the ground.
"Welcome to California Huntsman Academy." Ruby sighed.
"Hey, cheer up, it's still our first day." Richard smiled as he helped her up from the ground once more. "I'm sure she will change."
"Hey, excuse me, are you two alright?"
The two perked up and saw a trio of freshmen, one who was wearing green and white oriental clothing, the other who was a ginger with an energetic appearance, and the last one in the middle who had blonde hair and a sword hanging at his waist.
"Uh yeah, we're okay," Ruby replied. "Who're you?"
"Let me introduce myself, the name is Jaune Arc." Jaune said in a suave manner. "Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue - ladies love it."
"Do they?" they both asked.
"Well, maybe." Jaune chuckled nervously. "Someday."
"And my name is Nora Valkyrie!" the ginger said loudly while raising a fist into the air. She zipped to Ruby. "At your service~! Do you like pancakes? If you like pancakes, then both of us will work together and be unstoppable, mwahahaha!"
Ruby trembled in fear, so Nora's other childhood friend came in to stop her babbling.
"Nora, you're scaring her." He received an "Okay" from her and then he apologized with a bow. "Excuse my friend here, she's always been... like this. My name is Lie Ren. You can just call me-"
"Ren-Ren!" Nora interrupted.
"...Or just call me Ren."
"And what's yours?" Jaune asked.
"Name's Richard Sherman, and my friend here is..."
"Ruby!... Ahem, it's Ruby Rose," Ruby said shyly while clearing her throat. "Wait a minute... aren't you the guy who threw up in the airship?"
Academy Garden's
Half an hour later, the group walked passed the fountain. They were in the gardens of the academy, which had walls wrapped by vines, clean pathways, lamps and another fountain which appeared to be a large round ball made of black stone.
"All I am saying is motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on." Jaune said.
"Sorry, 'vomit boy' is the only thing that came to mind," Ruby said.
"Oh yeah, what if I called you Crater Face?" With that, Richard snickered.
"Hey! That explosion was an accident, Jaune." Then she looked back to Richard with narrowed eyes and whispered, "You traitor."
"Sorry Rubes, it was funny." Richard snickered awkwardly, then turned to Ren. "So, do you have any idea where we're heading?"
"Um, I don't know," Ren replied. "I just walked all the way here with everybody."
At that moment, everyone fell into a silence, until Nora broke it by pointing towards the nearest building.
"We should go that way."
Academy's Amphitheater.
The building they reached was an amphitheater, where everyone gathered to see the Headmaster of the Academy.
In front of the entrance, Ruby asked Jaune about his weapon. "So Jaune, what kind of weapon do you have?"
"Well, I have this." He pulled a sword from its sheath.
"Ooh, is it just a sword?"
"Yeah, It's a hand-me-down," he explained. "My family told me that this belonged to my Great-Great-Grandfather and that he used it throughout the Great War."
"Huh, just like Richie." Ruby crossed her arms, quite disappointed that it was just a sword. "He just has a sword too."
"Well, also my sheath can turn into a shield," Jaune finished.
"One thing you forgot Ruby, I have some tricks up in my sleeves." Richard smirked.
"Ugh, right, your sword-enhancing ability thingy." Ruby groaned.
Then she looked towards Nora and Ren and asked, "So what do you two have?"
Ren activated his weapons and they popped out from his sleeves, revealing green submachine guns with blades attached. Nora pulled out her quite overly large grenade launcher and shifted it into a hammer.
"Woaah~! So cool!" Ruby was filled with fangirl energy, being obsessed with weapons. "May I try one?!"
"Maybe..."
"All first year students, please gather in the Amphitheater as soon as possible, the Headmaster's introduction will begin shortly."
"...Maybe someday," Ren said while deactivating his weapons.
After entering, Ruby saw Yang and Aiden. Aiden waved his hand. "Hey Rubes! Richie!" he called over. "Over here, we saved seats for you!"
"Oh! My sister and my other friend are over there," she said to the trio and left with Richard. "It was nice to meet the three of you!"
"Alright, take care." Ren waved a goodbye. "Come on, Nora."
"'Kay Ren-Ren!"
"Alright then Jaune," Jaune said to himself. "Now where should I go to meet a nice quirky girl to talk to... Hmm, nah, maybe later."
As Jaune followed Ren and Nora to the seats, a certain red-haired, green-eyed Amazon warrior began to stare at him curiously then somehow, interested in him as she felt her heart raced a bit.
"So how's your first day going little sis?" Yang asked while Ruby took a seat.
"You ditched us and I exploded." Ruby pouted.
"Yikes, meltdown already?"
"No! I literally explode in front of the school!" Ruby said out loud. "And then there was fire and I think some ice?"
"Richard, can you explain what happen back there?" Yang asked. "Is she being sarcastic?"
"Well, no, she fell on some cases after you ditched us and this rich white girl, Weiss Schnee came and yelled at us for no reason after we apologized." Richard sighed. "She tried to lecture Ruby, however, she made the same mistake of shaking the vial and exploded."
However, unnoticed by Richard and Ruby, Weiss Schnee looked cautiously at the two before calling out.
"YOU!"
"Oh no," Richard groaned while cringing.
"Oh God, it's happening again!" said Ruby while she jumped and hugged Yang.
"You were lucky that you weren't blown into pieces!" the Schnee fumed.
"Whoa, you really exploded?" asked Aiden who was sitting beside Yang.
"It was an accident!" Ruby apologized. "It was an accident."
Suddenly, Wiess held up a pamphlet titled, "Dust for Dummies and Inadequate Individuals" with the SDC Logo in the corner and showed it to Ruby.
"What's this?"
"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory," Weiss began to roll off her tongue as Ruby went petrified, "the Schnee Family highly encourages customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy-to-follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field."
"Uuhh..."
"Do you really want to make things up to me?" Weiss asked sternly.
"Absolutely?"
Weiss handed the pamphlet to Ruby. "Read this and don't ever speak to me again."
"Look, uh, you two must have gotten off on the wrong foot." Yang said, trying to solve this argument. "Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"
"Yeah great idea sis!" Then Ruby put the pamphlet aside and cleared her throat while holding her hand out. "Hello Weiss, my name is Ruby, wanna go hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies."
"Oh joy, I'd love to~!" Weiss said seemingly enthusiastically. "We can go can paint our nails, try on new clothes and talk about cute boys like tall, blonde, scraggly guy over there!"
Meanwhile, in the third row, Jaune drank water from a plastic bottle before being choked by accident in his throat as he was caught off guard by some girl in a white dress calling out for him.
"Really?" the scythe wielder asked with a bright smile.
Weiss glared. "No."
As the first year freshmen sat down, the Secretary of the Academy and the Headmaster stepped on the stage, his eyes searching the entire hall for anything suspicious before starting his speech.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, first years of the academy, I congratulate all of you for what you've reached here from so far. The place where you stand is where you mark your first step to becoming professional Huntsmen and Huntresses. This place is where you'll hone your own skills and knowledge. It will bring you very far, if you don't stop giving up. That is all."
As the Headmaster left the stage, Mina stepped up on the stage. "You will be gathering in the Ballroom tonight. Be ready for tomorrow, as initiation will begin. Dismissed."
"That was quite an intro." Yang whistled.
"He almost sounded like Uncle Qrow," Ruby added.
"Did he?" Aiden raised a brow.
"Maybe."
Meanwhile, Jaune approached Weiss in a quite suave manner.
"I'm a natural blonde, you know?"
Weiss put her hand gently to her forehead in irritation while Ren behind him just sighed.
"He never learns, does he?" he asked Nora.
Later that evening.
The freshmen of California Huntsmen Academy placed their sleeping bags in the halls. Ruby, in her pajamas began to write in a journal, until Yang fell on her sleeping bag nearby her younger sister.
"It's like a bi~ig slumber party!"
Ruby sighed and replied, "I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys around us, though."
"Oh I know I do~" Yang purred while looking at Aiden, who pulled off his white shirt, revealing an excellent build and the edges of his white boxers. When he put on a normal black t-shirt, Yang grunted.
"Damn, I want to see more," she muttered in defeat before turning her attention to Ruby. "What're ya doin' sis?"
"It's just a letter for my friends back in Treasure Island," Ruby said. "I promise them to talk about CHA and how things are going."
"Oh that's so cute-?!" She was interrupted by a pillow thrown by Ruby.
"Shut up!"
In the corners of the ballroom, a certain brown-haired person with glasses sat under the windows, reading a novel.
"Hey, what're ya reading?" someone asked.
He turned his attention from the novel and looked up at the person standing before him.
"It's late you know?" the person asked.
"I don't feel tired," the student answered.
"Yeah, me neither." Then he held up his hand. "Name's Aiden Wilhelm."
"Vince Moriya." He shook Aiden's hand. "Or just call me Vincent."
"So yeah, as for the first question, what kind of book are ya' reading?"
"A song of Ice and Fire."
"Wait, isn't that George R.R Martin's?"
"Yep, it's an interesting book."
"I heard many characters die in his novels."
"But still, I like it."
Aiden just shrugged his shoulders. He liked Captain America as a kid, where good characters lived. Reading Martin's novels made him uncomfortable due to the death of many characters, neither good or evil. "Yeah...right."
Meanwhile, somewhere in the hall, Richard was playing his newest PSP 5 in a co-op game called "Dark Souls 4: Pocket Edition" with Jaune. Both failed to defeat the final boss for the 12th time.
"Dammit! Fighting the Resurrected King of the Abyss is too freakin' hard!" Richard gritted his teeth.
"Shh, just let it go," Jaune shushed. "My friends once told me about Dark Souls, two words for us noobs: Git gud."
"Are trying to bring back that old joke again?" Richard raised a brow.
"Eh, no, not really." Jaune smirked. "Although, it's still funny to me."
"Oh! Now you're on my side!"
"But I'm always on your side!"
The two boys perked up and saw three girl squabbling in a distance.
"Jeez, there they go again." Richard sighed before seeing the same cat Faunus from earlier. "Hey, that the same girl from last time."
"You know who she is?" Jaune asked.
"I dunno, she never told me her name."
As Jaune and Richard looked back towards the girls, the cat Faunus lifted her cat-shaped green lamp and turned it off, letting darkness take over.
"Welp, good night Jaune." Richard yawned as he headed back to his sleeping bag.
"Yeah, you too," Jaune replied before he fell asleep.
Chapter 10 ends.
Next Chapter: Initiation Day.
A/N: Sorry for the wait, I had been watching one of Gainax series known as Panty and Stocking and Evangelion.