I Don't Own Rwby, Only The Oc

'thought'

"Speech"

"Powerful Creatures shouting... like a dragon... or a god... or the father of the daughter you just slept with"

"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."

(Mid Chapter Authors Notes)

Cold... it is... so cold...

I blankly stare up at the door of some sort of building, large snowflakes gently fluttering down around me, some landing on my nose.

I quietly glare at the back of some blonde-haired man, as he pushes the doorbell and disappears, out of view of my basket.

Yes, I am in a basket.

I close my eyes as the door opens, a bright light from within causing slight pain on my sensitive eyes.

My name is...

Well...

I don't exactly remember my name...

A woman opens the door and glances around, before looking down at me and gasps.

Ah yes. The classic 'leave a baby in a basket in front of an orphanage' trope... what joy...

'Fuck you, apparent father. What sort of insurmountable dumbass puts a baby out in the middle of Winter?! My immune system is like, less than trash right now!'

If you couldn't tell... I'm not exactly the average baby...

I can think, do some basic math, read, and send some absolutely scathing thoughts at my retreating father...

I was reincarnated... to put it simply, past me got a little too friendly with some subway tracks after some idiot construction worker put an-inch-tall rim around the edge of it, and I tripped...

Honestly, I would have totally sued if the voltage didn't blow up my heart or something...

Or maybe I died when my forehead smacked against the rails themself instead?

Who knows... but all I know now is I've been reborn... scarred for life from said rebirth, and then taken by my father and tossed in front of some shitty orphanage.

Babies aren't supposed to remember birth...

I don't want to remember birth

Why the hell am I even a baby anyways?!

During my little monologue I was picked up by the woman and carried inside.

She looks at the small piece of paper that was put on me and reads it.

"Wirte... Schwartz?"

'OH GOD! IS THAT ABOMINATION MY NAME?! NOOOOOO!'

Judging by the woman's crinkling nose, she thinks about the same.

The woman crumples the paper and slowly nods.

"Gure... Gure Schwartz."

I let out a mental sigh of relief... that's... still pretty bad... but better than before.

I let out a quiet sigh as I sit on the bed.

Gure Schwarts...

An introvert, sour, mildly depressed, reincarnate in the body of a four-year-old boy...

I glance up to the rain pelting the window in front of my bed as other children mill about and play with blocks or something.

I see a reflection in the mirror, I am pale, with white hair, and pale blue eyes, I am wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and my face is currently in a half-lidded indifferent expression.

My eyes stray to a certain child running around.

I'm not in the same world I died in...

Atop the boy's head are two little pointed animal-like ears... I don't really know what sort, but it's about a fifty-fifty between a cat, or some type of dog or wolf.

Faunus.

Normally, that alone would be strange enough but... Sunday morning cartoons have hammered into my brain just where I am...

I glance over to the Tv to see vibrantly dressed people flipping around black creatures of assorted species, blowing them up with transforming weapons in vibrant explosions.

Grimm...

I frown.

Huntsmen and Huntresses.

I'm obviously in that one American Tv show... Rwby... I've only seen up to Volume seven, and honestly that was enough, it really started to go downhill after volume three.

The main problem is that one: I have no idea where in canon I am, two: I desperately want aura, that's badass superpowers right there and they are easily within my grasp, and three: I think Taiyang Xaio Long might be my dad... I mean, he's the only blonde I can think of at the moment.

Probably not, if I am going to be honest... but that would give me a connection to Ruby and Yang, plus he has two half daughters why not a half son as well? buuut that's probably just wishful thinking.

I frown at myself in the window again.

I need to train. A lot of people don't actually start working out until they're like... in signal, right?

What happens if I just get a liiiitle bit of a head start?

A ten-year head start if you will...

All I need to do is figure out how to unlock my aura, then my semblance, then figure out how to make weapons... then dust...

Honestly, those last two could probably be interchanged, but... how am I going to unlock Aura?

Meditation? Training? How does aura even work? Is it a static increase or a multiplier to my base abilities?

I shake my head. 'ugh, I'll worry about that when I have it.'

I let out a long breath as I strut through the doorway to my room.

Another worthless day of class... it has been worthless since like... kindergarten?

I grip the backpack around my shoulder and gently lay it on my bed.

It has been... a while... since I was placed in this world... a lot has changed...

I now know when I am in the universe... also where... but not 'where' in the grand scheme of things I suppose...

I sit down on my bed beside my bookbag and frown down within it.

I'm in an alternate Rwby universe...

It never really dawned on me that it could be possible that I wasn't in the canon Rwby universe, but... apparently, it's true.

I pull out this week's homework assignment, it is dust 101, covering simple stuff like 'fire dust is hot. Ice dust is cold. What element is this color of dust?'

I could have done this shit when I was six years old! I'm a Signal first year! Not a monumental dumbass!

The main problem is the person who gave this to me...

A certain Rose...

Summer Rose... someone who should already be six feet under by now.

Also, the small sidenote that I am classmates with Neo fucking Politan, you know, the four-foot tall, mute, death murderer who almost kills Yang?!

Normally, I'd be all 'Maybe this IS canon, and Neo is just like thirty years old by the time canon comes around, Summer apparently taught at signal before dying, and Neo has yet to go on her psycho rampage into the Vale underworld... but... I also have Yang Xaio Long as a classmate...

And Cinder Fall... as a classmate... y'know, someone who is supposed to be like twenty-something when canon rolls around... not seventeen...

It's only the first day and I have NO IDEA what's happening!

I look back to the Dust 101 worksheet and let out a long sigh. 'maybe this is actually a good thing to teach on the first day... I have Cardin and his cronies as classmates as well... and I could see him eating dust or something because it looked like rock candy.'

But it is sort of meaningless to me... I've been messing with dust since I was six years old.

Probably a little bit dangerous considering one wrong move could have blown all my fingers off, but eh, I'd say getting a head start on that really helped me out in the long run.

I stretch slightly and walk across the room to my fridge where I have some leftover breakfast from this morning.

I got this small room as part of a scholarship system... it sort of only applies to people who are too far away to make the trip to Signal every day, and orphans like myself.

Can't really have all this nonsense required for class around a horde of drooling infants and kids who are absolute sociopaths.

Children are monsters, I tell you. They say what's on their mind and don't give a fuck because they just don't know better yet. Plus there's all that 'tormenting animals because they don't know better yet' thing as well.

Children are worse than the creatures of grimm I tell you!

I pull out a small bowl of scrambled eggs and toss it in the microwave, then hit twenty-five seconds and turn it on.

I walk over and pull a book out from my bookcase... then another, then another, then I reach to the back of the bookcase and pull out a small journal.

I sit down on my bed and flip through it again.

Within these pages are everything that I have researched, tested, and figured out... the intricacies of Aura, the many uses of my semblance, and even dust combinations and recipes, even a couple grimm dossiers listing weak spots, abilities, and tactics.

'lets see here...'

I grab a pencil, ignoring the beeping of my microwave.

"My aura capacity is apparently extraordinary, surpassing even my Combat Professor, Professor Branwen, it is so large in fact that I nearly broke our aura monitor due to it being a slightly older model. I assume that I also have incredible control, otherwise most uses of my semblance would probably blow up in my face, however, it is probably wise to keep just what my semblance is to myself to avoid attention. I do not see any of the other students posing a challenge when I have several years of training under my belt. So, I will more than likely not need to use my semblance, however, I should definitely do some extra training for it due to the fact I won't be actively using it in combat."

I flick over towards the back of the book.

This journal is starting to get a little full... maybe I should split it into three books... one for Aura, one for Semblance, and one for Grimm...

Sadly, that last category hasn't really been fleshed out like... at all...

I saw a Nevermore once...

And that is the extent of my Grimm knowledge!

Perhaps calling it a 'couple' grimm dossiers was a bit much... hell, even calling it a dossier may be pushing it as all I have written on the page is.

"Little Bastard."

The last word is underlined several times.

Along with a fairly detailed sketch of it sitting on a tree branch.

Yeah, my main finds on it were that one: its feathers fucking HURT, two, it is fairly weak, as me swinging a stick at it was enough for me to snap it's neck like a twig, and three, their bites also hurt like hell... then there's the fairly sharp claws...

I frown as I remember my encounter with the nevermore. 'Damn murder beasts...'

I close the book and crack my fingers as I lay it down on the table and get up to grab my dinner.

'I'll work on that one project afterwards...'

I have quite a few 'projects' that interest me currently, most involving dust and aura in some way...

What I am doing now is seeing if I can implement dust even deeper within my semblance... as it is currently, I can manipulate my semblance with dust, it has a base ability, that changes dependent on whatever dust I use, however, there is another aspect of my semblance- that I can technically use, but as it is currently, I have no other options with it... I know for a fact that it can- and will- be stronger in the future, but as of this moment? Utterly worthless in combat.

Also extremely well known.

'welp. Eggs are done.'

A small white bird hops around my desk, looking around at the various papers and pencils, it is a fairly decent size, about that of a Raven.

However, this isn't a normal bird, across its face is a bony mask with blue markings, and its eyes are two pools of royal blue.

It hops around slightly, then ruffles its feathers.

A white runic circle appears above my hand, a snow flake sits in the center- no, two snowflakes stacked on top of each other, one spins clockwise along with the circle full of smaller symbols and even smaller snowflakes, and another spins in the opposite direction.

My runes... or... well... glyphs... Schnee Glyphs... have been an ability I have kept close to my chest... y'know... because Willow apparently cheated on Jacques with some blond dude...

God knows why, am I right?

Apparently, I am Weiss' twin or something?

Like, I checked the Schnee family as soon as I found out what my powers are, and Weiss is the same age as me, born only a couple days before my 'birthday' given at the orphanage... and that means Weiss is a little bastard like myself... a bastette?

I shake my head. 'it doesn't matter.'

I look back at small bird hopping around on my desk, the swirling gylph in my right hand and the blue crystal in my left.

"Okay, get your ass back here, right now." I growl to the bird, causing it to let out a quiet whistle and hop over to me.

'let's see here, just a little aura here and there, grab the essence of the dust, let it flow gently-'

I am currently sat on a towel... for... reasons...

'then just add it to the circle...'

The white circle steadily begins turning a deep blue, but abruptly the Gylph changes, my small bird companion explodes into white smoke, and an orb of water appears above the glyph...

This has been the small problem I have had trying to incorporate dust into my summons... whenever I add in dust, the circle changes from a grimm summoning glyph into just a regular glyph that can be manipulated by dust.

The fact that the glyph doesn't immediately change gives me hope... it used to just flat out change, but now? It gets tinted blue before it breaks!

At first, I simply tried to create two glyphs, but that ended up with me just having a grimm summoning glyph and a water orb glyph... that wasn't what I wanted, so now I am simply just trying to alter the grimm summoning glyph itself... and frankly, it's been rough. I've been trying to do this for upwards of five years now, off and on whenever I managed to get some dust.

I let out a sigh, glancing down to the crystal. 'hm... there's only about fifty percent more charge in it...'

I slowly stand up, carefully holding the glyph supporting the orb of water, then calmly walk into the bathroom and flip my hand over above the sink, the orb just floats there, about the size of a softball.

I allow the glyph to fade, the orb gets overtaken by gravity and is plopped into the sink, spraying a couple drops over my shirt as it splashes about.

My first experiment with this let me figure out that I can place Glyphs over each other, noticeably it does strain me much more than a single glyph would, but that's sort of to be expected... at first I thought it was sort of useless, but eventually I realized the potential it gave me, I could use two attacks at once, combining the effects, theoretically mixing dust to devastating effects.

That ability was sadly put on the backburner because One: dust is extremely hard for me to get my little grubby hands on, and two: I haven't got a place where I can really let loose with dust and my semblance.

Still, combining the effects of two types of dusts through two glyphs, probably more useful than anything I have currently discovered with my semblance... and I don't even know if it works!

Combining... two types... of dust...

I blink slowly as I look up at the ceiling.

'Combining...'

My eyes widen. 'wait a minute! Why haven't I thought about this before!'

I summon my bird glyph once more, causing the miniature nevermore to fly out of it with a small shriek as I create a water glyph, I lay them on top of each other, trying to shove them into each other.

'come on... please work!'

Nothing happens so I begin to try twisting them together.

'come on... please!'

A new glyph sits in its place, looking very messy, the outer rim looks like a blue and white candy cane, and the innermost part has three snowflakes twisting at different speeds.

'Come on!'

I twitch as a massive wave of nausea hits me, I stumble around the room as bile rises in my throat, the corners of my vision darkening, moments before I pass out, I spy it... swirling above my hand, a light blue glyph with two overlayed snowflakes, spinning in perfect unison and at the exact same speed, around the middle are two more snowflakes, steadily spinning around the center of the innermost snowflakes, orbiting the centermost part of them.

My eyes close.

I snap awake, sitting up quickly with a wince, my back and shoulders are really stiff, but I suppose I did pass out on the bathroom floor.

"What time is it?" I weakly mutter as I stumble my way into my living area.

"5:38"

I sigh and shake my head. "Breakfast starts being served at like seven thirty and classes start at eight thirty... I need to get a shower-"

I blink as I realize why exactly I was passed out in the bathroom.

I hold up my hand, watching as a hand-sized glyph appears, it appears like a normal summoning glyph, but it has two additional snowflakes gently turning around the centermost point

With a quiet shriek a figure pulls itself from the glyph, the sound of beating wings echo around my room as a large bird lands on a nearby desk, it is about the size of a hawk, has four wings, and a mouth that splits into four quarters, each with a row of teeth along the inside.

I pause as I look over it. "W-What?"

My semblance was forcibly upgraded.

I quickly walk back into the bathroom and grab the dust crystal laying on the floor.

I channel the essence into the glyph, gaining a mad smirk as the blue crystal taints it and the color sticks

I look over to my summon to see its eyes glowing a bright blue, it flaps its wings sending a cascade of water droplets across my carpeted floor, water is dripping down it and onto my des- FUCK!

I dispel the grimm and reach into a bathroom cabinet, bringing out a towel. "Fuck! Shit! Damn it! Don't warp!"

Once more class passes without a single interesting thing happening.

We won't get into actual 'combat class' until like... next month... we are just going over safety procedures and trying to figure out a weapon to use, to see what really clicks while Qrow tells us to hit dummies.

I'm half tempted to give it my all and just cut it in half with the short sword I have been using, but that would reveal my hand far too soon... I have a lot of aura, sure, but I'm going to play it off like I'm not any good at combat. Aura reserves are one thing, being a literal prodigy is another and would put me on a lot of radars.

There are a couple things I need to do beforehand... a couple things I need to work on and finish before I truly reveal myself.

I water the small bunch of roses I have growing in a potted plant near the window.

I poke the thorns lightly and wince as a drop of blood appears on my finger.

I gain another smirk. 'those thorns are getting sharper and sharper by the day, hm?'

I wipe off my hand as I activate my aura, the small wound I got is healed under a second.

I tilt my head at the flowers and frown. 'why am I even doing this anyways...'

A brief green light crackles around the roses.

I had given them aura...

Why? Who fucking knows? I was hoping for something to happen, but all that it really did is give them super healing and make it so the thorns are sharper... plus the general things Aura gives you like improved durability and a soul shield that the plant activates on instinct.

I walk over to my desk and pull a folder out of the drawer; I flick through several tabs until I come to what I am working on at the moment- as I had accomplished my goal of upgrading my semblance.

Speaking of said semblance, I really should see just how much stronger it made my grimm. I have a small nevermore's basic 'stats' from when I studied it a long time ago, it's basic strength- which was calculated by having it bite a dumbbell and lifting it- bite force which was calculated by having it bite one of those grip machines, and basic flight strength- by having it try to lift said five pound dumbbell- and even flight speed after I drew out one hundred feet in the dirt with a ruler and got my hands on a stop watch.

I look at the title I gave it.

'Project: Iron Man'

In a world where all the weapons can transform into other weapons and a fucking minigun can fold cleanly into a handbag, bitch, I totally have the technology available to make an Ironman suit.

There are only a couple flaws... one: Ai... two: a reliable and small power source... which brings me to my current little mission. I am going to make a damned Arc Reactor or die trying.

I have a couple rough sketches drawn out, I abused the hell out of a child's ability to learn stuff and went right for any Mecha shift guide and engine manual I could find.

There is a third problem...

I am a child... I can't just buy all of the shit I need for this.

Maybe.

I might need to get a little... creative.

I lay down a bag of stuff onto my table and smirk as I pull out my scroll and lay it at the corner of my desk.

"7:34"

"Yeah. I've got time." I smile as I quickly flip over to my music app.

A short trip to the store took most of the day, but I needed to convince someone to go in and buy some of what I needed, thankfully, if people know you'll pay them back for it, AND you'll give them five lien on top of it, they'll do it for you. I mean, hell, that's like free money! You can buy a lot of stuff for five lien... like... a sandwich.

I want a sandwich.

I begin taking stuff out of my bag.

I place one of those metal ringing alarm clocks on the table then pull out a set of screwdrivers.

I whistle to myself as I unscrew the back and pop it off, being careful enough to not damage the metal outside or the glass.

I take the back off and lay it aside.

'oh, this brings me back.'

I made a habit of dismantling clocks when I was around eight or nine... that was always fun.

I pop out the internal parts of the clock and set them aside. They are unimportant after all... I'll put them into my 'spare parts' box.

I set aside the top half for now and look at the back panel with a frown, quickly doing a couple of measurements.

I've studied dust for years, read everything I could get about dust with my knowledge absorbing child brain, and have the SDC wiki open on my school given laptop, a tab open looking at SDC brand industrial generators, those are fairly impressive, but they are made inefficient by design, probably a wise choice considering the dust monopoly the SDC has going on... but that's a big no-no considering dust may eventually run out. I am focusing more on sustainability over power output, but my generator should at the very least put out maybe half of these dust guzzlers.

One of the smaller SDC generators, about the size of a suitcase- one of those with a handle and wheels that you pull along behind you- except it's a massive cube instead of a rectangle.

Anyways, it puts out about twenty thousand watts of power... which is fairly incredible as the ones back on earth only did like... half of that... but Remnant has the excuse of magic elemental crystals.

I'd like for my little first try to put out maybe... one thousand watts a second... but continuously without any 'refills' or 'recharges.'

And I think I have figured out a way!

I set a multimeter on the table and grab something that has been secured in a tube, a purple crystal about the size of my index and middle finger.

Then I pull out a second, this one with yellow crystal inside.

Dust.

I quickly sort through the rest of my bag, grabbing the rest of what I need, copper wiring, batteries, half of a copper tube, regulators, adapters, and more!

I blink slowly down at my creation, yellow hunks of crystal are slowly dragged around the copper tube, each glowing dimly as they continue to slowly circle.

The tube is wrapped around a small purple crystal piece while four more go along the outsides of the copper tube, the top half is made of a plastic tube, but it works for what it is currently, the plastic will probably melt if this thing reached the speeds I wanted it to go, but like this? Nah...

I have discovered several things throughout the past twelve hours... one: building something is a lot harder than making a basic sketch of it... two: some fucking dickhead bought lower quality dust than what I asked for and made a huge profit, I have remembered his face, and I will find him later, preferably after I have become some sort of millionaire... three: holy fuck. I am tired.

But I did it! I fucking managed to create my very own 'Arc Reactor!'

Theoretically, it should run literally forever, Lightning dust has a special property that it gains a small amount of charge depending on how fast it is moving, Gravity dust has a passive gravitational aura... combining those two things, I have made something that can be powered forever...

And it makes a whopping five watts of energy...

Yep! five! Good ol five! I can't even power my fucking laptop with that!

But I can technically charge my scroll with it, so I guess all isn't lost.

If I had higher quality dust, or more dust in general, I could probably make this baby give out two hundred watts? Maybe three hundred?

My dream is technically possible... I'll just need a couple more refining touches here and there, but fuck! I could do it!

Anyways, now that I made a fancy phone charger- literally all it really can be used for- I suppose I should just sit it somewhere where if it blows up, there won't be too much of a problem, then I just need to keep notes on it to see if it is truly 'Endless'

I'll put it in a metal box to prevent fires.

A year of charging my scroll should do the trick. And even if it isn't 'endless', a year of charging my scroll, something that takes up more than half of its output, is impressive as hell, if I scale it up- or use better dust as I thought earlier- I could EASILY make something that could power my room indefinitely.

Or, well, if I scale it up AND use better dust... maybe it'll be a bit more impressive.

Plus, there are probably better ways to efficiently transfer energy.

Buuuut I made an energy source around five thousand times more powerful than a potato battery! Progress!

What time is it?

I glance to the clock sitting on my dresser.

"8:02"

I let out a weak groan. "Fuuuuuuuck."

I rub my eyes. "Whyyy?"

I lost track of time; this is my fault.

I guess I'll go have a cold shower to wake myself up.

I watch the yellow dust crystal pieces slowly get dragged around the device with a frown.

I can already see a few ways to make a better version of it... the first would be to use powder dust instead of crystal. Powder dust might be a little volatile, but it'll be safely contained within the air-tight environment.

Ah yes, yesterday was hell! I somehow managed to get through classes, yet I had to force myself to stay up later as to not fuck over my sleep schedule. All in all, I stayed awake for like forty hours yesterday.

I stretch, my shoulders creaking and popping.

Yeaaah I'll try not to make that mistake again.

I lay a gauntlet on the table, then pull out a 'Laser Weaponry and You!' Book.

Luckily, they sell a lot of the parts for laser weapons in stores... so I don't have to make everything from scratch... but I do need to figure out a way to compact all of that into a palm... something that takes like an entire gun barrel- or at the very least a pistol barrel- and condense that all into a gauntlet... then still have enough room to open and close my palm.

I tilt my head as I look at the gauntlet. 'why the hell am I trying to be Iron Man?'

"…"

I shrug. 'eh. He's pretty cool. Why not.'

I really do need to figure out how to make an Ai... I mean, Penny exists! Those Atlesian robots exist! Maybe I could grab one of them... somehow...

I tap my chin and frown.

How the hell would I even manage to grab one?

That would involve raiding some sort of Atlesian outpost...

I frown and rub my chin, then shrug and type in. "How to make an AI" into Remnant's google.

I smash my head on my desk repeatedly.

Three months. Three months is how long I have been in this fucking school. The everyday test questions are asinine! I'm seen as some sort of prodigy- barring casual spars, by my choice- Cardin of all people is trying to bully me due to 'sucking' so bad at combat class, and hoo boy, I haven't even made a single friend.

I think.

Neo sort of vibes in the seat beside me, she doesn't talk... so we sort of just sit in silence... I don't know if that counts as friendship, but it certainly doesn't count as enemies.

I sit in the back corner of the room because, of course, I don't trust anyone to be behind me, plus it's out of the spotlight.

I lay a gauntlet on the table with a frown as I look to my laptop... still compiling files.

"AEIOU AEIOU"

The speakers of my laptop blankly state vowels in a robotic voice.

Dear god it sounds like that one spaceman game from back in my past life! I have long since forgotten the name of course, but man... that game had some pretty cool text to speech.

I had wondered why that sounded so damn familiar.

So here I am... with a retarded Ai... that is still being updated with more and more information, carried solely by Remnant's enhanced technology, a gauntlet that DOESN'T WORK- or maybe it does, the batteries I put in it don't have enough charge to fire it- and to top it all off I am getting confused looks from all of my teachers from me just being myself.

Dear god I don't think I have legitimately spoken a word in a little over a week.

"Fuck." I whisper, breaking my current record.

What's the point in doing all of this if I am just going to be a silent, socially awkward, bastard!? I will definitely attract attention with my ideas, press conferences, interviews, my face will be plastered all over the internet, and I'm just going to be some awkward prick?! FUCK NO! I'm going to be a Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist!

I glance to a metal box sat in the corner of my room, a cord comes out of a hole and is connected to my laptop... it doesn't really charge it, buuuut it's helping it last slightly longer before I actually hook it up to a real charger...

Three months, and its power output is still the same... that's extremely promising as most SDC brand dust generators can barely last two or three days with a full charge, yet I made one that is- one, less than a fiftieth the size of even the smaller SDC generators- and two, has apparently ENDLESS power!

Now I just need to figure out a way to make it have more power output.

I let out a low hum as I pull out a piece of paper, then draw a loose cylinder about six inches tall.

'I might have to make it a bit bigger than Tony's but this should definitely do better.

I draw three layered hoops on the inside of the metal circle, this would make it... roughly the height of... like three to five inches, making it sliiiightly thicker than Tony's, but it should put out enough energy for my purposes. Theoretically I could just keep adding hoop after hoop, but the problem is, the gravitational field of the gravity dust would be sub-optimal... maybe i could counter than by creating a couple or rods and filling that with gravity dust... I don't know how that would function; would it create a stronger gravitational field by using powder dust instead of crystal? I mean, dust is more volatile in its powder form, so perhaps?

Ah my many projects.

Aura Plants, Faux Arc Reactor, Semblance Fuckery, Dust Alchemy, and Weapon Manufacturing.

The first takes time, the second takes resources, resources I don't gain access to until the second year of this school, but I could probably tinker around with what I have currently, I have made a breakthrough in the third, I'll get back to it later after I make some sort of breakthrough in something else, the fourth also requires resources I won't get until second year, and finally the fifth... I suppose I could do that, but I'd need money... where the hell do I get money?

I suppose I do have a sixth project, AI...

Let's see how that is doing.

"Eeeeee John Madden ERERERERER."

"Oh, it said its first two words! Good job little guy!"

"John Madden."

I scratch my chin as I look up. 'hn... money... I need money.'

Money is the core of all my problems, I have a bit saved up, but even if I had access to the stuff needed for project two and four, I wouldn't have the money required to pay for the tools needed.

I rotate my shoulders and slump in my chair, tapping my finger on the wood as I stare up at the ceiling. 'how do I make money... a legitimate job is impossible... nobody will hire a child, even if they do, it'll be absolute shit jobs like 'mowing the lawn' for like five lien an hour.'

I scratch my chin as I pull out my scroll, then type in a certain word.

"Tetris."

I scroll through the results, a smile slowly appearing on my face, I delete the word and type something else.

"Block based games."

I double tap the first result and slowly begin scrolling through the page, my smile growing as I continue.

After around an hour of searching, I close my scroll and smirk at my compiling laptop. "Well... If I'm already plagiarizing one thing... why not another, eh?"

My pencil scribbles away on my paper as Summer drivels on and on about, dust?

My silent partner glances over to my paper, then looks at the side of my head as I continue sketching.

"And what would the answer be, Mister Schwartz?"

I blink and look up.

Well, fuck, I wasn't paying that much attention.

I glance past the huntress and look to the board where an equation is there.

"That formula would cancel itself out, resulting in a less powerful dust bullet than if you had just used a single type of dust." I state.

"…"

"Pardon?" The woman seems briefly caught off guard.

I point to the board. "The formula on the board... it wouldn't work."

She blinks slowly then turns around, her eyes scan the board briefly before she lets out a barely audible sigh as she erases one of the numbers and replaces it with a slightly smaller number, making a suitable steam bullet instead of the waterlogged fire dust bullet like it was before. "You are correct, but that wasn't the question I was asking. Can you tell me why ice dust and water dust are commonly used together?"

"Because being wet causes things to freeze faster?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

'Are these really the sorts of questions that need to be asked?'

"Correct. But please pay attention next time."

I nod absentmindedly and return to sketching.

I flick my pencil around and erase a small portion of it, then flip my pencil back around as I resume sketching.

'hn. Need to get an energy source that can power it, but this should fire a beam of reasonable power.'

On the piece of paper is a drawing of the general shape of a hand, with machinery tucked safely within.

I'm trying to find a way to put all the machinery I need within a gauntlet; my earlier iteration of the gauntlet wouldn't have even fired if it had the energy required.

I open the door to my room and step inside

I nudge the door closed behind me and lock it, as my other hand is still occupied.

I hurl my book bag to the side where it lands roughly on my bed as I shift my grip on the large cube with a strap in my other hand.

"Oi. Melody, please pull up the store page for 'Tetris, Pong, and Dust'." I call out into the room as I walk over to the fridge and pull out a bottle of water which I drink aggressively.

"Searching for 'Tetris, Pong, and Dust' on the app store." A voice echoes out from the speakers of my laptop.

I sit down in a small office chair and with a single kick I send the wheeled chair rolling across the room with a small spin, it comes to a stop in front of my desk as the laptop finally loads.

I drop the second object I was holding beside the desk.

"Results found."

'Let's see here, Tetris, four stars, a little over three thousand plays, Pong, three stars, two thousand plays, and Dust, four point one stars, six thousand five hundred plays.'

I slowly nod, a grin appearing on my face.

This little trio of games is something I cooked up over the past couple of months, Tetris, sold for ninety-nine cents, Pong, sold for fifty, and finally 'Dust' a blatant bejeweled knockoff- which doesn't exist in this universe so it is a totally legit game that isn't copying anything- which is my current 'magnum opus', sold on the app store for a grand total of one ninety-nine!

It doesn't seem like much, but if you add it all up, three thousand two hundred and thirty three times point nintey nine is three thousand two hunded Lein with a little change left over, then you factor in the other two games, you'll bring my total out to a little under twenty thousand Lien... and ohoho boy, I only expect it to grow!

Well, it would be nearly twenty thousand if the damn app store didn't take thirty percent... damn bloodsuckers.

All and all, from my apps I'm left with an extra twelve thousand lien in my bank account.

Considering I only had like two or three thousand in there beforehand, yeah... this was a good idea.

What other games could I blatantly copy with no TRUE effort.

I could always make a Dust 2, and make it like those matching games that let you attack enemies, but I'd like to let Dust 1 get a little more traction before that.

Hell, I could probably go ahead and start making it now...

"Melody, Close Tab."

"Closing Tab."

The laptop closes the current tab as I let out a hum.

My ai is functional!

Well, 'functional'.

It's nothing more than a glorified search engine, and while it is gaining SOME personality, it can't really 'think' for itself quite yet. But I have high hopes!

I open a nearby desk and pull out my first attempt of a laser-shooting gauntlet. It's extremely bulky, the laser on the palm sticks out a good inch and a half, making it practically worthless as a gauntlet, then again, my wiring was so shoddy, even if it had enough power, it wouldn't even light up.

I grab the object I dropped by my desk and place it on top of the desk.

It's a car battery.

I was able to find one pretty cheap, this will be what I use to test fire my inventions.

Typically, a laser weapon requires a canister of powder dust that is infused with light and shot at an opponent, their main flaw is their lack of armor piercing capabilities, they absolutely vaporize weak grimm, due to their nature as creatures of darkness, and these being literal light weapons, but grimm bone is a lot harder to destroy. It's like a natural counter to laser weaponry... of course grimm flesh also gains a resistance to light as the grimm grow older, but light weaponry is still by far the most damaging of any weapon to any grimm... provided you are able to hit the right places.

This means that certain Grimm, like the Deathstalker are extremely hard for someone with a laser weapon to slay... and a Geist? Just fucking forget about it! Those things are probably the most annoying grimm I have ever seen; they can just ditch a body at will and regain another. The only damage that sticks is against their mask... if you don't have any ranged weapons, you are practically fucked.

I pull out a case that was safely folded beside the desk, in between it and the dresser, then I open it to gain access to the tools within.

"Melody, please search for a Guide to laser weaponry."

"Searching for "A Guide to laser weaponry"."

"Results found."

I glance over to the screen as I begin slowly unscrewing the gauntlet. "Melody, Click on the first result and open a new tab."

"Confirmed."

the screen flashes as the link opens, then the screen turns white as a new tab opens.

Maybe I should invent some sort of 'Dark Mode'.

"Search 'Mechashifting guide', please."

Nothing happens.

"Melody, search Mechashifting Guide, Please."

"Searching for 'Mechashifting Guide, Please'."

"…"

I rub my temple as several results pop up and let out a quiet sigh. "Well, if it works, it works."

"Melody, Select the first result."

"Confirmed."

I briefly scan through it. "huh..."

Mechashifting is Remnant's golden goose... I had honestly forgotten just how impressive it was... mechashifting allowed- if I remember correctly- Yang's full-on gauntlets to shrink to the size of simple bracelets... oh yeah, also the Minigun in a handbag girl... holy fuck Mecha shifting is overpowered... if a minigun handbag can exist, a suitcase mech suit should be able to as well.

I cup my chin.

Could I make a more compact arc reactor with mechashifting?

I quickly bring out the image of my hoop reactor as write down some stuff at the bottom.

"How does it charge? Does the dust gain more power the more dust there is or is it more based on friction and the dust within the center of the tube is sort of useless, does powder dust even create more charge than slightly crushed crystal?"

I draw another image, a simple flat hoop with flat sides, barely a centimeter thick.

"Less dust, more sides, less space more friction?"

I draw another side of the new 'cube reactor' a simple rectangle with another rectangle inside which is split in down the middle by a simple line.

I draw another on top.

"Square is better for stacking within a small place? Only Plausible if the friction theory is confirmed, however, using a square instead of a circle would allow for more dust to be placed within the reactor."

Maybe I won't need to make a backpack generator for my suit... just how thin could I even make these things?!

Pov: Elsewhere

"I'm telling you, Oz, the kid has some potential. His Aura is absolutely titanic, and he is number one in most of his classes. If he can get over his little combat issues, he would be an absolute monster."

"Hn." The white haired man hums as he overlooks a file the man had just handed him.

The man smirks at a woman stood in the background. "I even heard he showed Summer up in the middle of class."

The woman lets out a sigh as she rubs her temple. "He certainly knows his dust... I'm confused on where he got all that knowledge from. dust formula is something we don't even begin to teach until the third year."

She frowns and shakes her head. "But the problem is... he is distant... he barely interacts in class... the only other person he even acknowledges would be his desk mate and more often than not, partner."

"The Politan girl?" The original black haired teacher asks with a raised eyebrow. "Hn. That's a strange pair... but they are both quiet and hate attention, so I could see it."

"A huntsman or huntress won't be able to truly thrive by themselves." The white-haired man states. "however,"

The man scans over the list of 100s and 'A+'s. "Perhaps the reason he does not interact in class is because none of your teaching interests him. Perhaps you are teaching him stuff he has already learned or studied."

"Where could he have learned it?" The woman asks.

"The internet is a truly wondrous thing, Summer." The white-haired man states as he takes a sip of his drink.

The silver eyed woman lets out a sigh. "I'll go talk to him."

Pov Returned.

Music plays from my scroll as pieces of my gauntlet lay strewn across my desk, I have several new pieces that I am using to try and get it to open up and fold around my arm, I'm making a little progress, I guess, but maybe I should have focused more on a compact laser than an easily equip-able gauntlet. Maybe there's some sort of way to spread the pieces throughout the glove?

I cup my chin and frown in silence.

"Hnn."

*Knock Knock Knock*

I freeze and slowly look towards the door.

"Mister Schwartz?" A voice calls out from the other side.

"Shit." I hiss. "Melody, Mute Music."

"Muting Music."

I grab my notepad and shove it in my desk, along with most of the pieces of my gauntlet, then stand up, shoving my table to my desk, then I reach into my bag as toss some of my homework across it.

"Mister Schwartz?" The voice repeats.

"Coming!" I call out as I take my book of secrets and slide it back into the book shelf. She wouldn't take a book out of my bookshelf for no reason, right?

I speed walk to the door and undo the door chain, I click the deadbolt open, then I unlock the doorknob itself. "Miss Rose? What can I do for you?"

"We need to talk." My silver eyed teacher states.

I smile brightly, hiding my dread expertly.

"Sure! Please come in." I nod open the door fully, allowing her to step inside.

I close the door after her and turn around to see her briefly scanning my room.

I step over to my desk and sit down, causing my chair to swivel around and face the desk.

I grab a mechanical pencil and press on the end twice to produce a little more pencil led.

"What can I do for you, Miss Rose?" I ask as I begin scribbling down answers to math problems.

"I want to talk about your performance in class." She sighs.

"What about it?" I ask as I begin nervously twirling my pencil in my fingers.

"Why are you so... distant?" She asks.

"I don't understand... the question?" I frown as I go back to scribbling.

"Why do you not interact with your classmates." She continues.

"I do interact with classmates." I answer as quickly finish up the math homework. "I interact with Neo all the time."

"But only her?" Summer questions.

"Look, miss Summer." I sigh. "I don't really like... people. A large majority have a smug superiority complex, are blatantly racist, bullies, or have another really annoying personality trait. I am limiting my friends by choice. I cannot stand being the center of attention."

Summer is silent for a moment. "Why did you want to become a Huntsman Gure..."

"So, I can find my blonde bastard of a father and punch him right in the face." I smirk.

"Language!" She gasps.

She seems to comprehend just exactly what I said. "That is... a shallow reason to become a huntsman."

"Shallow as it may be, it's easily accomplishable, once I finish with that, I can just go do whatever I feel like, helping people? Killing grimm? Build stuff? Who knows."

I wordlessly begin absolutely blurring through my dust safety homework. "But what I do know, is that if he was such a foolish person to leave me on the steps of an orphanage in the middle of winter, snow falling all around me, and literally disappear before my eyes. He probably has the punch coming. What if they didn't find me? I could have died."

I look over my paper and slowly nod, then set it aside.

"How do you know all this?" Summer whispers.

"Hn? The stuff on the paper or events supposedly not even a week after my birth?" I ask.

"A child not even a week old shouldn't be capable of remembering that..." She whispers.

I let out a hum as I run a hand through my hair. "Hm... well, I guess I was so offended at it, I never let myself forget. My supposed father was always at the back of my mind. I don't plan to attack him past the one punch, of course, as I have long since come to terms with the fact that he didn't want me."

I move onto basic history. Another thing which I studied due to well, new world, new interesting history.

I glance over my shoulder briefly to see that Summer is still staring at the back of my head. "Is that all you need to talk to me about?"

"I-" she is silent for a couple more seconds. "Yes, that is all I wanted to talk about."

I gesture towards the door with my pencil. "Well, there's the door. I need to take a shower soon, so please leave."

"Right." The woman nods as she makes her way towards the door. "I will let you get back to your homework."

Pov: Elsewhere.

"So?"

"…"

"What?" The woman asks as she looks over to her coworker with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you find anything out?" The semi-alcoholic teacher asks.

"…"

"He loathes being the center of attention." The woman sighs.

"Oh? Is that so?" The man asks with a small grin in his tone.

"Qrow... if you try to make him the center of attention, he will find a way to get back at you... he is incredibly smart. And incredibly petty." The woman growls. "He was able to hold a conversation with me and answer his homework questions with one hundred percent accuracy at the same time."

"That sounds like a challenge." The man grins.

"Qrow." The woman warns. "I swear to the twin gods. Do not provoke him."

She had seen him flick his pencil around in his grasp without even looking or even really thinking about it, his coordination is astounding. Far above what a 'combat problem child' would have. So, the woman has come to two conclusions, either he is hiding his strength... or he just does really bad in front of crowds of people.

"Or what?" He asks.

The woman gives him a half-lidded glare. "I won't save you from whatever he plans to do to get back at you."

"Pshhh, I'll just put him in detention, then." The man waves off.

"Qrow, are you telling me that you are going to abuse your power over a student?" The woman glares.

"…"

"I need an example... hn... Schwartz, you've been quiet, why don't you come down here."

I blink slowly and look around.

"Yes, you. Get down here."

I blink slowly and stand up.

I walk down to the raised platform and stand across from him.

He gestures over to the weapon wall.

"Pick up a sword."

I narrow my eyes slightly as I slowly walk over and grab my regular sword.

"Now, class... in some scenarios as a huntsmen... you will be outclassed. Grimm are numerous, and are just in general stronger than us... allow me to show you a fight similar to that."

I take a deep breath and slowly exhale. 'fuuuuuuck'

I take another deep breath then exhale; I slowly open my eyes.

Calm. I am calm.

Today has been hell. FUCK YOU Qrow. If you don't quit I am going to ruin your damned career.

I reach over and pull out a gauntlet from my table.

A small piece falls out of the side, causing me to let out a sigh as I quickly fix it.

I take a seat at my desk and let out a long calming breath, pulling out a pair of tweezers and a soldering iron, quietly returning to working on the glove as I allow today's tensions to leave my shoulders.

'lets see here, put that there, fold the wires, place the guard back on it, and screw it back on... annnnnnd...'

I look to a 'completed' gauntlet.

A long cord goes from the forearm down to a battery sitting on the floor.

'let's see if I got this working.'

Each finger splits into two halves, the top of the fingers slide backwards into the gauntlet as each and every piece of the armored finger slides under another, the bottom part does the same, the fingers snugly fitting on the underside of the gauntlet.

The top of the gauntlet hinges open with a small hiss reveling what is basically a fingerless glove.

I place my hand in the gauntlet and activate its mecha-shifting property.

The gauntlet swings around with a clank, the fingers extend and conjoin together.

I slowly bend each finger, listening to the sound of miniature hissing pistons.

I clench my fist and slowly nod as I reach over and grab an empty soda can.

It crumples in my gauntleted fist quiet easily, the glowing light on my gauntlet dims.

I frown as I glance to the battery, letting out a low curse. "Son of a bitch."

Ran out of charge.

I activate my aura and slowly pry each finger free.

The damage on the can is absolutely ridiculous.

You can crush an aluminum can underfoot quite easily, but... at the end of the crushing it's still maybe half an inch thick.

This can on the other hand? It's like I took a hand shaped hydraulic press to it.

I slowly tug my arm out of the gauntlet.

Luckily it's merely just a gauntlet at this point, otherwise it would be quite difficult to get off.

I have proven the general design of my gauntlet, now I just need to get them to shrink into a far more compact state.

Perhaps I should figure out the laser weaponry before that. If I make it too small without the laser aspect, I won't have enough room to fit it in.

Maybe there won't be enough room in the palm, so I'll be forced to create a beam weapon that pops out of the forearm.

I roll my shoulders and let out a quiet yawn.

'I should probably work on 'Dust two'. Code in some enemies, maybe some characters as well. Have each be accessible through play time and level ups, but have the ability to unlock them early with buyable gems? Sounds pretty good!

The world made me this monster! I need some of that sweet sweet cash money!

A shoe smashes into my stomach, causing me to let out a quiet wheeze as I slide back, sword digging into the floor, the tip of the blade chips off.

I barely raise the blade up in time to block a large great sword with the side of the longsword, which of course snaps from the tremendous blow.

I am shunted out of the arena, my back smashing into the wall behind me.

I glare up at the black haired man in the arena, for a second, my mask of weakness slips, every fiber of my being cries out for me to stab this broken blade through my annoyance's chest.

The huntsmen takes a single surprised step back, briefly widening his eyes, but the mask is replaced and reinforced before he can truly observe me.

'fuck. Let my emotions get the better of me.'

I slowly stand, gently laying the sword down beside where I was launched, then make my way up to where the rest of the class is.

"Oi, kid. Who said you could return to your seat?"

"My aura being at twenty five percent." I scoff with an eyeroll.

"No back sass. Detention."

"Tch." I scoff with an eyeroll as I walk back to my seat, expertly stepping over Cardin's leg as he sticks it out in an attempt to trip me up.

I sit down next to Neo as Cardin and his little friend group quietly laughs to themselves.

"Cardin, you appear to be in a good mood. Do you want to come down here?"

The laughing stops instantly.

Neo glances over with a concerned look.

"I'm fine." I grit out, only to pause and sigh. "I'm sorry if that came off aggressive, I'm just really tired of school."

The girl nods slowly, seemingly understanding.

I pull out my notebook and go back to writing.

"Mister Schwartz. What did you do this time?" The blonde teacher sigh.

"Not re-enter the arena after Professor Branwen beat down my aura to below twenty five percent." I answer with a half lidded glare. "So, you know, valuing my health and safety against a clearly biased bitch of a professor who is slowly and steadily pushing me to a point where I'll violently snap and just leave Signal behind."

"Language!" The man snaps.

"Whatever." I sigh. "Professor Branwen seems content to spend his entire day ruining my life and publicly embarrassing me. What can you do? Give me more detention?"

The mechanical pencil I am spinning in my fingers slowly picks up pace as I continue my annoyed tirade

The teacher falls silent, his eyes narrowing as he taps his finger on the table.

He suddenly lets out a long sigh. "Gure. Get back to your room."

My eyes widen slightly.

"Yes, you can leave without staying for detention." The man states.

I stand abruptly rapidly shoving my things into my bag. "Thanks professor Xaio-Long!"

"Stay out of trouble, kid." He sighs, rubbing a hand across his face.

Pov: elsewhere.

"Qrow." A blond man growls.

"Hn? What's got your panties in a bunch, Tai?" The black haired man questions as he tips back a shot glass.

"You are going to leave Gure Schwartz alone starting today."

"What? Nah."

"Qrow. Students are only meant to spar with their combat instructors on their fourth year of signal and merely to see how much of a gap there is in between them and a true huntsman."

"WHAT?!" A shrill shriek echoes throughout the break room.

A white blur crosses the break room, and suddenly a diminutive fist smashes into the Branwen's face, knocking him flat.

Summer Rose glares down at Qrow with a disgusted frown as he rolls around on the ground in pain.

"Qrow Branwen. How dare you. What is WRONG with you?! What do you have against Gure?! Huh?! Don't you think that he has already suffered enough?! Why the FUCK are you making his life even harder?!"

The Blond's eyes widen.

Sumer usually isn't one to curse. Yet here she casually dropped an F bomb.

"Agh- what the hell?! I'm just trying to get him to fight better!" The man on the floor scowls.

"This is NOT the way to do it!" The Rose professor snarls. "I WAS WONDERING WHY HE ALWAYS LOOKED SO DEJECTED AND PISSED OFF! NOW I AM TOO!"

The silver eyed woman stomps onto the man's chest repeatedly. "You are going to LEAVE HIM ALONE otherwise you are going to FUCKING regret it, Branwen!"

"Agh- Quit it! I felt legitimate killing intent from him today."

"OF COURSE, HE WOULD WANT TO DRIVE A SHORT SWORD THROUGH YOUR CHEST YOU DAFT FUCKING IDIOT! YOU HAVE BEEN MAKING HIS LIFE A LIVING HELL!" The woman shouts, her voice rattling the break room's cupboards as she punctuates the last sentence with a stomp on each word.

"AGh- Fuck! Quit it!"

Pov: returned.

I stretch my arms above my head as I let out a quiet yawn.

Finals were last week, Qrow has backed off, and I am inching day by day closer to being able to purchase dust!

Inching closer and closer to a point where I can legitimately work on most of my projects!

That'll be the day~

Oh I can barely wait.

The bracelet on my wrist lets out a hiss as it splits in half, the top parts seemingly raising as it creeps down my hand, metal covers each and every one of my fingers and goes about half way down my forearm.

Crazy what I can do with a little motivation.

The gauntlet in question is smooth and sleek, painted a simple pure white with purple as an undertone.

At the on the back of the hand in an indent is a rapidly swirling circle of yellow and purple light that gives of a dim glow.

I managed to figure out my dust reactor over those three months.

Powder dust is far more efficient than normal dust, in addition, it was merely the contact of electricity dust to the copper which was generating electricity, thus I was able to maximize the energy generation while shrinking the size of the reactor. What I have within are basically hollow CDs filled with dust.

Of course, I wasn't actually able to get them to that thickness, yet with some legitimate tools I could probably manage and shrink my reactor even further.

As it is currently, keeping roughly its original size, it has around... I'd like to say fifty times the output.

It could quite easily work as a power source for my computer if I really wanted.

But as of right now I have it charging the laser in the palm of the glove.

It's not very powerful right now, so it takes ten minutes between shots, but the damage is currently at a level I am satisfied with.

If I could get it to shoot whenever I want that would be great.

*This is where I stopped writing*

This is another idea I had that didn't really go so far, basically, the Gure is the result of an affair between Willow Schnee and whoever the hell Jaune's dad is. Giving him (And Weiss) both the Schnee semblance, but also an absolutely LUDICROUS amount of aura.

Basically, Gure would be a little mad scientist, creating new variants of dust, combining aura and dust with plants, pushing his semblance much further than any schnee has before, making elemental summons, and more!

Now onto the final Idea.