Chapter 10
Author's Note: First and foremost, I would like to apologize to any german readers since I probably butchered your language in this chapter. Other than that, I'm glad to finally be getting into the good stuff. Please enjoy!
"That had to have hurt! Team SSSN may have won the fight, but there's no denying how close that match was." Professor Port said over the intercom to the rest of the stadium.
"Indeed. However lucky it might have been, they still succeeded. I know that Professor Lilith has had her eyes on them for a while, so I have no doubt that they will become even better." Professor Oobleck to the arena.
"We will have a 20-minute break at this time. Please take this time to refill refreshments and relieve your bladders. The next fight will be a doozy! One of our best freshman teams: Team RWBY! So be back on time; you won't want to miss this!" Professor Port said.
"Oh, man. I'm so fucking stoked!" Yang said from their locker room under the bleachers.
"I'm pretty excited, also. I hope we do well." Blake said as they each looked over their weapons one last time.
"I'm sure we'll be fine, even though we are going against one of the most difficult battle simulations in–okay, bad choice of words." Ruby said.
"No, you're right. I know we've done a lot of amazing things, but we can't pretend that this will be easy." Weiss said.
"Exactly! We have to make sure we win, because if we don't then we'll never get an administrator and our futures will–okay, I should just stop talking…" Ruby said, obviously very worried.
Yang turned to look at her sister, "There's no need to worry, Rubes! I'm sure we'll–"
"No! There is a reason to be worried. If we fail, no one will want us. They'll just see us a bunch of kids who bit off more than they could chew." Ruby said, gaining an uncommon sense of maturity.
"That's why we're choosing the hardest difficulty. So long as we do really well, then people will still want to train us. We'll just have to reapply next year…I mean, it wouldn't be the first time that an admin waited a year for students that they had an interest in." Yang explained.
"Yeah…like dad." Ruby whispered.
"Yep! Exactly!" Yang exclaimed.
"Fifteen minutes until show time, ladies!" Coco said as she walked by Team RWBY's room.
"Didn't Team CFVY beat a level 14?" Blake asked.
"Yes. Though they had a tough time, their impeccable teamwork carried them quite far." Weiss stated.
"I think Velvet once told me that they are all childhood friends…I Guess that's why they are all so good together." Ruby explained.
"Regardless, time's ticking down. I'ma take a leak before we fight." Yang said, walking out of the room.
"Don't miss." Weiss said as she loaded looked through the dust chambers of Myrtenaster one final time.
"Though I'm also worried, I think it's important to challenge ourselves, Ruby." Blake said, trying to comfort her young leader.
"And to be open to new things." Ruby said.
"That's correct. However, I expect battle tactics from you, just like our training in the gym. And NOT like the craziness you pulled in the Emerald Forest!" Weiss said as she walked up to Ruby and Blake.
"Hey! That was a good plan. He never saw it coming!" Ruby said in defense.
"Excuse you? 'He' was a bird! Any enemy with an actual brain will not fall for that. I'm only telling you that those kinds of attacks don't work that often. You shouldn't rely on them; because we're relying on you." Weiss stated, a softer tone coming out toward the end.
"…yeah…you're probably right." Ruby said with a sigh.
"She's right, though. We do rely on you because of how resourceful you are." Blake said.
"Indeed. It might have been a crazy plan, in the Emerald forest, but there's no denying that you won us that fight with your ingenuity." Weiss said.
"Aw, thanks, guys!" Ruby said as she wrapped her arms around her teammates.
"Oh my~ Sis, you gettin' frisky with both of 'em? At the same time?" Yang said as she walked through the door.
"Yang!" Ruby said with a pout.
"It's cool if you want more than one. But this one is mine~" Yang said before slapping Blake's butt.
"Oh, is that right?" Blake asked.
"Duh. You're the sub to my dom, baby." Yang said in a flirtatious tone before turning around to pick up Ember Celica. "Anyway, Neptune wished us good luck. He still outside if you want to talk to him…I think he's the only one still conscious." Yang said before both Ruby and Weiss walked out.
Before she could even react, Blake grabbed Yang's chin and pulled her back just slightly. Just enough so that their noses were mere millimeters apart. Yang had dreamed of this, but it was out of character for Blake, so she assumed she was getting messed with. Nevertheless, she was motionless. "I think we both know who's in charge here." Blake said.
"I don't think so, sweetheart; I always give the orders…you're just disobedient." Yang said with a smirk.
"Well, how about this? Even though this is a team match, our aura levels are shown individually. If the match ends with your aura higher than mine, I will do whatever you say for a full 24 hours. And if mine is higher than yours, you'll do whatever I say. Deal?" Blake asked as she let go of Yang's chin.
Yang began to speak her response with a rather confident attitude, "You know this isn't going to work out for you, right? I mean, I will–"
Yang was immediately pulled stomach-to-stomach with Blake's arm wrapped firmly around her waist, pulling them tighter. "You think I haven't noticed your little game? The flirting. The roaming eyes. The attitude. Stop pretending like you're so cool; out with it." Blake said.
"Fine." Yang said as she pulled away from her partner. "The person with the lowest aura does what the other says for an entire day…no exceptions." Yang said as she pulled Ember Celica over her hands and forearms.
"Hey, guys, c'mon. they said we need to go ahead and be standing at the gate." Ruby said after opening the door.
"Okay." Blake said as she took Gambol Shroud and placed it on her back.
"We've got like five more minutes." Ruby said.
"I hope you girls are ready to kick some ass." Yang stated as she adjusted the gauntlets.
"But, of course. Would you expect anything less?" Weiss said.
"Good luck, guys. We'll be rooting for you." Jaune said from behind them.
"Yes, I hope you all do well." Pyrrha said.
"Break their legs!" Nora said as Ren gave a thumbs up.
"Ladies…" One of the professors and moderators of the Hunt came up to them. "You requested for a level 16 simulation, is that right?" He asked.
"Yes, sir." Ruby said.
"I'm sure you've already been informed about how difficult that will be…are you sure?" The moderator asked.
The girls looked at each other for a moment before Ruby answered. "Yes." She said.
"Alright. I wish you the best of luck." The moderator said before running back to the control room.
Suddenly the intercom came back one. "Ladies and gentlemen! Humans and Faunus! I hope you're ready for this next fight because it is bound to be spectacular!" Professor Port said.
"That is right! Our next team is one you may have heard of from the Emerald Forest. Team RWBY; consisting of the leader, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long." Professor Oobleck stated.
"Indeed. And now, a little about our next team. Blake Belladonna, being of faunus descent has had a life wrought with struggle and determination. She is an orphan and has dedicated her life to fighting for the equality of faunus through peaceful means. Through her hardships, she has emerged as one of our finest students, both physically, and socially!" Professor Port said.
"Weiss Schnee is the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest manufactures of dust in all of Remnant. She hails from Atlas and, though she grew up very wealthy, she has chosen the path of a huntress in order to prove that she is worthy of respect, not due to her bloodline, but due to her actions and character." Professor Oobleck stated.
"Yang Xiao Long, daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long, is probably the most powerful person at the entire academy in terms of sheer power. She hails from Patch, and island off the coast of the City of Vale. There she attended Signal training academy and, with the training of her uncle, Qrow Branwen, became a force to be reckoned with." Professor Port explained.
"And finally, the leader of Team RWBY: Ruby Rose! She is the sister of Yang Xiao Long and second daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long. She, too, had her origins in Patch and Signal Academy, though her story happened quite a bit sooner. Miss Rose is a whole two years younger than the rest of her fellow freshmen. Don't let that fool you, however, since her training with her uncle was much more personal due to the fact that they are both masters of the scythe. She has proven herself capable of joining ranks with those at Beacon and will continue to astound us more." Professor Oobleck said.
"Without further ado, it is our pleasure to present…Team RWBY!" Both Professor Port and Oobleck said at the same time.
Team RWBY proceeded to walk through the gate to be greeted with the cheers of everyone in the stadium. "This is…uhh…there's more people here…than I thought." Ruby said.
"Still scared of crowds, sis?" Yang said.
"No!" Ruby quickly retorted.
"Just remain calm. Remember: they're all here to see you win." Weiss said.
"Thanks, Weiss." Ruby said.
"Team RWBY has decided to attempt the simulation at level…umm…level sixteen?" Professor Oobleck said with disbelief.
The audience cheered at the sound of the word 'sixteen.' "Are you ladies sure?" Professor Port asked.
Yang simply gave a thumbs up toward the booth in which the professors were sitting. "Okay! Sixteen it is!" Professor Oobleck said before pressing a button.
Without missing a moment, the entire arena began to shift much like the one at the gym. The energy shields protecting the audience began to darken and the noise from the cheering began to slowly lessen. Finally, the entire shield was dark like the night sky, which was accurate since stars began to suddenly appear. The shields were mimicking the night. Even from the audience's perspective, from the outside, the shields were acting as a form of television screen. What was seen happening in the shield were not necessarily real…at least in the terms of injuries. Ultimately, this was to create the illusion of a real combat scenario.
The noise from the crowd was finally gone, so they couldn't tell if they had stopped cheering or if the shield had blocked them out. In the distance, the ground shifted and, in a matter of seconds, a large, intricate house formed. Holographic trees began to take shape, but were soon colored to look exactly like actual trees. Water began to seemingly seep from the ground to form a large body of liquid. The girls were in the forest and there was a farm in the center, a very heavily guarded house, that was close to what looked like the ocean. The guards, however, had yet to begin moving, indicating that the Hunt had not yet officially began.
"This is some serious Friday the Thirteenth shit." Yang said.
"Ladies, if you will look above you, then you will see a timer set." Professor Port said. Sure enough, there was a timer counting down, in seconds, from thirty when they looked up.
"When the timer reaches zero, the match will begin. Your objective it to infiltrate the house and secure a priority one defector. He is currently in the custody of the government which he wishes to escape from; they, however, will not let him go due to the sensitive information he has. When and if you rescue him, you will have to wait to be sent an airship for exfil to a yet undisclosed location, though the possible exfil points have been marked on your scroll, along with other potentially useful information. As long as the defector makes it out, your Hunt will be considered a success. You may use any means you see fit, so long as the defector remains alive and is extracted. This might be a simulation, but I assure you that any harm you receive will be very real. We have medics on standby, should a situation arise where your lives may be in real danger. The simulation will not end if we are forced to remove one of you for medical reasons, we will simply disconnect that one person from the system so the simulation no longer recognizes them as a target. Until all four of you are out of the system or the goal is achieved, the simulation will not end. Good luck." Professor Oobleck said.
The moment the buzzer rang, all three girls made their way up into the trees for a view of the house. They each pulled out their ear pieces and connected them to their scrolls.
"Just threw us right in, huh?" Yang said.
"Like we said earlier…this won't be easy." Blake said.
"The guards have begun to move." Ruby stated. "Guess they were right about this upgrade being state-of-the-art…the guards don't look like they're moving in a preprogrammed manner." She said with a sigh.
"They definitely are preprogrammed, there's just probably millions of different scenarios for the NPC's to take." Weiss explained.
"Probably just best to assume it's all real, then." Yang said.
"Agreed." Blake said.
"Any ideas?" Weiss asked.
"We could use–" Yang was immediately cut off by two quick beeps in the ear piece, indicating radio silence. They all looked down to their scrolls and saw a few quick texts from Ruby:
[R]: guards n forest
[R]: 1 below me.
[R]: radio silence
[R]: stay n tree. scout area
The rest of the girls began to silently move away from their initial hiding spots. While moving, Weiss noticed one guard in the tree with a sniper rifle. Using a glyph, the sniper was frozen in place until Weiss managed to make it over to him. She thawed the radio he had attached to his shoulder and removed it before stabbing him in the throat. She then muted the radio and connected it to their scroll network so Team RWBY would be able to hear all of the enemy chatter. She then sent out a text informing her team of what took place.
[W]: Watch out for snipers in the trees; I've already taken care of one.
[W]: I took His radio and connected it to our network so we can hear what's going on.
[Y]: fuckin sweet
[B]: Well done. Let's take this time to find weak spots in their defenses.
The radio was then filled with just a few moments of chatter before silencing again. It was in an unfamiliar language. Suddenly there were several different people's voices saying the same word over and over again over the radio. "Berichterstattung!" Weiss said over the guard's radio. The repeating of words on their end, however, continued.
[R]: wat was that
[R]: wat did they say
[R]: and u
[W]: They said there were thirty minutes until an airship arrived to pick up our defector.
[W]: They then asked all of the guards to report in via radio, which I had to do in the place
of the guard I disposed of.
[Y]: fuck a time limit
[Y]: any openings to use
[B]: There's a slaughterhouse here, so there are probably drainage pipes that we can use.
[W]: I can see them from my angle. They are to the left of the docks.
[R]: we can use h2o for cover
[B]: Everyone head to the shoreline.
The girls quickly made their way to the through the shoreline. Fortunately, when the match started, the water was not too far to the left. Basically, the water was in the left most part of the arena, the farm was in the center, and the trees were shaped in a crescent shape around the house, opening up to the left where it met the ocean.
Blake and Weiss managed to get to the shore first. Ruby had taken her time locating all of the exits and noting that, not including windows, there were three main exits. Looking at her scroll, she saw that there were six total exfil points, with four in a more-or-less straight line from the rear exit of the house. "Looks like the back door is the best bet…assuming we don't have to wait too long for a confirmed exfil point." She pondered.
Yang noticed how all of the windows in the house were being used as vantage points for riflemen or machine gunners. While making her way around the house through the trees, and avoiding any guards or snipers, she managed to take a peek through each of the windows and never saw her target. "So…he's either tied up in the bathroom or the basement. My vote is for the basement." She thought to herself.
Eventually, the girls managed to meet up again. Ruby showed up third, and Yang followed shortly after. "Targets probably in the basement. I could see through each of the windows, and I didn't find him." Yang said between quiet gasps of air.
"Does the scroll say how far out the airship is?" Ruby asked.
"About sixty klicks. Assuming it has to take off, and that we are deep in enemy territory, it'll probably take about ten minutes or so to arrive." Weiss said after looking at her scroll.
"So we sneak in through the drainage pipes, right? It's connected to the slaughter house behind our target house…so we'll have to bust in through the floor before we reach the end of the pipe." Blake explained.
"How do we know when we've gone far enough through the pipes to start the fireworks?" Yang asked.
"Leave that to me." Weiss said as she pulled out Myrtenaster and aimed the point toward the roof of the house. All that could be seen exiting from the blade was a small, quick gust of wind which went straight for the house. As soon as it was about to hit the roof, it entered through one of the windows.
"What was that?" Ruby asked.
"An incredibly small wind glyph. I can sense where my glyphs are so I'll know when we are directly under the house." Weiss answer while holstering Myrtenaster.
"Cool! And what about not killing our target when we blast a hole through the floor?" Ruby asked.
"I've got that covered. A house being this close to the ocean has to have drains in the basement in case of flooding; drains connected to our pipes. I can use my superior perception to listen to where any people are in the basement." Blake said quickly.
"Could we use those drains to sneak into the house instead of giving away our presence?" Ruby asked.
"No, they are designed to be small with many curves to prevent animals from crawling into the house during a flood." Blake answered.
"Okay. Ice Princess tells us when to aim, Blakey tells us where to aim, I shoot, and Ruby grabs the target during the confusion. That cool?" Yang asked everyone.
"Perfect. After we get the target, we should head back into the pipe and go straight for the slaughter house. If Yang's explosion prevents us from going back the way we came, then we head out through the back door and go to the slaughter house. Either way, we can probably use it as a defensive position until the airship arrives." Ruby said.
"That sounds good. How much time do we have?" Weiss asked.
"We sent those texts about seven minutes ago, so, if we assume their airship will be on time, we have twenty-three minutes." Blake said after looking at her scroll.
"I'll call our ship as soon as I see Ruby grab the target." Yang said.
"Okay, let's go." Ruby said as everyone quickly submerges themselves into the water and swims toward the pipes.
They only had to swim about twenty meters to get to the pipe, but they had to swim deep enough that the dock guards wouldn't see them. They finally emerged, silently gasping for air, under the docks, and against the rock that the docks emerged from. "Okay…the pipes are over there." Ruby whispered as she pointed. "Just about three meters away." She continued.
"That's perfect. I can manipulate the light around the area between us and the pipes as to conceal our movement." Blake whispered while slowly wading through the water. She extended her right arm and held her fingers out. "I'm not used to manipulating this much light at once, so you guys need to go. But not too fast, I can't prevent sound from exiting." Blake whispered as her teammates walked forward.
"Okay, one at a time." Ruby said, signaling for Yang to go first.
Yang slowly walks out from under the dock, back against the rocks, and looks at the guards. She is worried at first due to the guard on the right turning his head and looking directly at her, but is relieved when he continues to scan the water on his side. She gives a quick thumbs-up and continues to move. "Good to go." Yang whispered over the ear piece after entering the pipe.
Ruby signals for Weiss to go next, who makes her way through the water without even looking around at the guards.
"The second I make it across, you make your way there." Ruby said before Blake nods. Ruby makes quick work of wading through the water silently, just like Weiss. "Their small frames make it easy to sneak around, I guess…I should probably hide some of my more explicit books before she sneaks around somewhere she shouldn't. I don't need her hothead older sister beating the crap out of me." Blake thought as she slowly made her way across to the pipe.
"Awesome! Weiss, how will we know when to stop?" Ruby asked.
"I'll tell you…" Weiss said while walking forward.
"Good thing you gals left your cutesy heels back at the dorm~" Yang said sarcastically, toward Blake and Weiss, as all four of them walked through the pipe. The drainage pipes, being form a slaughterhouse, were filled with every from of gore and bodily excretion one could think of. It was used to drain blood, guts, bones, sewage, and more right into the ocean.
"Shut up! I can't believe that anyone would just dump this…crap…into the water. I know it's a simulation, but surely people so this for real!" Weiss complained.
"They are bad guys. I doubt littering is the worst of their offenses." Blake said.
"Fortunately, it's not real." Ruby said with a worried chuckle.
"We're getting close." Weiss said after taking a quite a few turns and walking about forty meters total.
"I think this is the drain from the basement, here." Blake said.
"You weren't kidding about making those drains intricate, the house isn't for about another ten meters." Weiss said.
"From what I can hear…there are seven people in the basement and one is breathing very quietly. He's probably our target; I bet the others have been torturing him." Blake said.
"Can you tell exactly where he is?" Yang asked.
Blake concentrated as she closed her eyes, "I'm pretty sure they have him tied up to a support column in the very center. So if we bust open one of the corners we should–"
"Töte sie alle!" A voice from the drain said. Suddenly gunshots and missiles could be heard from the house and echoing through the drainage pipe from outside.
"What did they say?!" Ruby asked.
"They said 'Kill them all!' But they're not shooting us." Weiss said.
Ruby looked at her scroll, "But who–"
"The White Fang!" Blake said.
"You sure?" Yang asked.
"Yes, they're moving and fighting way faster, but are still remaining very silent. I'm sure the people attacking are faunus." Blake explained.
"Okay, new plan. I bust a whole right here, we grab him, and all the ship!" Yang yelled.
Blake clenched her fists before speaking, "Fine. Just aim over–"
A single gunshot rang out. Yang's eyes went wide as she saw the White Fang soldiers moving in from the entrance to the pipe. Flames burst from her hair and her eyes turned blood red, not from the presence of the White Fang, but from her partner lying in a pool of her own blood. "YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" She yelled while jumping over Blake's body.