Back on Beacon Cliff, Ozpin was standing at the cliff's edge, remotely observing the students on his datascroll (the forest contained many discreet cameras for observing students), when Glynda came up from behind and informed him that the last pairing had been formed: Nora and Ren. "Poor boy," Glynda remarked, "I can't possibly imagine those two getting along..." After making her doubts about Jaune clear, she closed her scroll and began to walk off before she stopped and asked Ozpin what he used as relics this year. She was only met with silence as Ozpin focused on Ruby and Weiss, who were having trouble finding the temple...
"It's definitely this way," said Weiss, walking her Mobile Suit in various uncertain directions. "I mean, this way! It's definitely this way!" Ruby's Gaia sat on the ground, armor powered-down and cockpit open as Ruby waited for Weiss to figure out where they were going. Weiss came back, prompting Ruby to return her Gundam to its fully-active state. The conversation about where they were going devolved into another argument between the two.
While Ruby hated Weiss' attitude of superiority, Weiss was certain of Ruby's immaturity. Ruby herself, however, muttered that Weiss didn't really know her. The two continued on, regardless of the situation. After several seconds of silence between the two, Ruby stopped when she thought she heard something. Looking up at the source of the noise, it turned out to be a rare sight: a Tyrant Nevermore, a rare version of the variously-sized Nevermores. The massive raptor likely nested in a deep chasm or ravine elsewhere, as there were few other places big enough to house an avian big enough to be mistaken for a Mobile Armor on radar scans. Many other truly gigantic Grimm were already baffling to ponder due to their prodigious size, but the Tyrant, a size category named after the nickname given to the original mega-sized Grimm discovered, was frightening to consider for some people.
An idea quickly formed in Ruby's head. "Hey, look," she indicated to Weiss, "if we get on top of that hill and then jump when it passes by, we can grab onto that giant Nevermore and ride it, and that way, we can find the Forest Temple easy!" "That...is a terrible idea! How can we expect that thing to get us there without getting us killed?" "We can hang onto its feathers, it's real easy that way...and it can't get at us if we hang onto its side or something! Plus, it's better than wandering around lost!" After a few moments, Weiss relented, saying, "Fine, but this better work!"
With that, the two of them dashed up the nearby hill while Ruby used her speakers to call the titanic bird over. As it flew by at a high speed, Ruby and Weiss' Gundams boosted upwards and the both of them grabbed onto the underbelly of the beast as it flew away. The sudden jolt as they were spirited away by the Tyrant managed to disorient Ruby, almost knocking her out cold. Weiss called to Ruby while the Nevermore flew higher into the sky.
Jaune and Pyrrha came to a stop at the mouth of a cave large enough to admit one Mobile Suit at a time. The cave seemed to lead slightly downwards and the rock wall outside it had various markings too small to see in a Mobile Suit, depicting humans fighting a scorpion. "Think this is it?" asked Jaune, hoping that they'd found the temple.
Scant seconds later, the duo was walking inside the cave, night vision active. However, the light-amplification capabilities of both of their Mobile Suits could only do so much, giving them a very short distance in which they could see anything. "I'm not sure this is it," Pyrrha said. "Pyrrha, wouldn't it make sense to put it at the end of a dark, scary tunnel?" Jaune asked before his Exia tripped forward. At that moment, Pyrrha noticed a rising heat signature, which worried her.
The pair continued onward, Pyrrha following Jaune as usual, until they both came upon a large, pointed, glowing object bright enough to make them disengage night vision. Jaune, who thought it was the relic they needed, attempted to grab it, but it moved away from him. After two more attempts, he grabbed onto it with his Mobile Suit, before it floated upwards, lifting him. "Jaune..." began Pyrrha, unsure of the "relic." At that moment, multiple eyes and a massive body began to glow right in front of the two. It turned out to be a Deathlurker, a titanic, almost ancient scorpion that had just awoken from its last period of dormancy. Jaune immediately screamed inside his cockpit before the monster roared loudly.
Immediately, Pyrrha turned her Aegis around and ran in the other direction, sprinting out of the cave the way they came in. A mere second after she exited the cave, the Deathlurker crashed through, hissing and bellowing, with Jaune still holding onto its stinger. Jaune, calling for Pyrrha, shouted, "THIS IS NOT THE RELIC! IT'S NOT! DO SOMETHING!" "Jaune, whatever you do, don't let-" Pyrrha was cut off as the Deathlurker whipped its tail forth, flinging Jaune's Exia into the air far away. "...Go." Pyrrha looked back at the scorpion and then turned and darted away before the Deathlurker gave chase.
"Ruby! I told you this was a terrible idea!" Weiss said to Ruby as the girl came to. Ruby could see much of the forest from where they were, and she thought she could spot the Forest Temple coming up fast. "We're fine! Stop worrying!" After a brief bit of bickering, Ruby suggested the two jump. Before Weiss could finish responding to that idea, Ruby had already jumped off, hurtling earthward. "Oh, you insufferable little rat!" Weiss attempted to follow, but the Tyrant was so fast, she couldn't clear it and ended up hanging from it by one of its talons.
Yang and Blake came up on the temple, a sizable circular ruin. "Think this is it?" Yang asked. Her only response was silence, however, as Blake crouched her Mobile Suit down, opening the cockpit and stepping out. Yang decided to follow suit, figuring Blake knew what she was doing. The temple grounds were arrayed with sixteen pedestals in a semi-circle, an object resembling a gold or black chess piece placed on each one with the exception of four. Some pieces were identical to one another. The two figured that they were beaten there by two other pairs of initiates.
Yang decided on which piece to take, settling for a golden knight piece. Blake, grabbing another golden knight, remarked on how easy it was to find the temple. Just then, however, their attention was fixed on a distant bellowing noise. "Blake, did you hear that? What should we do?" Blake took off and ran back to her Mobile Suit, Yang following suit. After reactivating her Suit, Blake looked up into the sky, looking for the source of a noise she heard herself. "What now?" asked Yang before Blake indicated a falling object: a familiar red-colored Mobile Suit, with a familiar voice shouting "HEADS UP!" spouting out of its speakers.
As Ruby's Gaia Wulfen fell head-first, it was intercepted midair by a silver-and-white Mobile Suit-the Exia. The Exia crashed into the Gaia, sending both machines sideways into a tree. Despite the speed of the crashes, both Suits were largely undamaged, and both pilots were similarly okay. The impacts disoriented Ruby, and when she came to her senses, she saw Jaune's Exia hanging in front of her upside-down, suspended by branches. "Hey, Ruby," a deflated and exhausted Jaune said over the short-range comm.
"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" asked Blake. "I..." Yang's answer was cut short as the sound of a cannon nearby cut her off. Trees at the edge of the clearing fell away as a Bigfoot, a hairy, uniquely humanoid Grimm just a smidgen bigger than an upright Ursa Major, came crashing through, thrashing about in pain and confusion as another cannon blast sounded, an explosion of pink light coming from behind it. The beast collapsed, toppling forwards as a pink-and-white Gundam-type was thrown off, apparently having used the Bigfoot as a ride, piggybacking on it. "Aw, it's broken." lamented Nora as she inspected the downed Grimm.
Ren caught up in his Dynames, exasperated at what happened earlier: the two of them had encountered the beast and Ren performed a couple more of those particle-charged palm slams, agitating and disorienting it before Nora busted out her Heavyarms' main weapon, jumping onto the giant, and shooting into its back to herd it forward. That, however, caused quite a few trees to fall, almost trapping Ren underneath. By the time he managed to escape being crushed, Nora and the Bigfoot were already a good distance away, trailed by many other felled trees.
"Nora!" Ren said now that that was over, "Please...don't ever do that again!" As he went to rejoin her, however, she had already rushed off, parking her Gundam near the temple and running off to take a relic. She picked up a gold rook piece, holding it aloft while singing "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" "NORA!" Ren called after her. "Coming, Ren!" said Nora, grabbing a gold rook for Ren as well before skipping off. "Did that girl just ride in on a Bigfoot?" asked Blake. "I..." Yang was again cut short by the scream of a Deathlurker as Pyrrha ran from the creature. The beast gnashed its mandibles together, swinging its large pincer claws at Pyrrha's Aegis, which artfully dodged through them.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out. "Pyrrha!" Jaune replied. "Whoa!" said Ruby. "Ruby!" Jaune called, trying to get down as Ruby's Gaia jumped down and rolled sideways to meet Yang and Blake. "Ruby?" Yang said before Ruby exclaimed "Yang!" "Nora!" shouted Nora, her Mobile Suit appearing again suddenly. "Did she just run all the way here with a Deathlurker on her tail?" asked Blake. "Grrrr! I can't take it anymore!" Yang screamed, a rush of fire-energy venting out of her Gundam, "could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
Things were quiet for two seconds before Ruby spoke up. "Um, Yang...?" Ruby pointed up towards Weiss, still holding onto the Nevermore's talon. As Ruby, Yang, Nora, Ren, and Blake looked on, Weiss decided to let go, her v Gundam falling down hard. Jaune, who managed to extricate himself, saw the falling Weiss and sensed an opportunity to save the girl he'd been hitting on. Leaping forth, the Exia caught the falling v, Jaune taking the time to quip, "Just dropping in?" before he realized that the weight of the other Mobile Suit made things much harder for him. An attempt to boost the both of them failed, leading to both of them falling once more.
Jaune landed first, his Exia falling on its face once again before Weiss' v came crashing down on top of him. Weiss sat her Gundam upright, sarcastically muttering "My hero." "My face," groaned Jaune, having become intimately familiar with the inflating console cushion in his cockpit at this point. The Deathlurker, meanwhile, finally smacked Pyrrha away with one of its big claws, sending her Gundam flying a moderate distance before it crashed in front of the five bystanders. "Great, the gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang sarcastically remarked. "Not if I can help it!" Ruby said before taking off again. Using her Crescent Rose to help propel her Gundam forward, she charged at the Deathlurker, which intercepted her and batted her away. Getting up slowly, she realized it was right on top of her, so she boosted away with a shot of the rifle and ran away.
While she managed to get clear of the scorpion, the Nevermore came back, and, with a powerful flap of its wings, fired off several massive feathers, the tips stabbing into the earth and managing to pierce the cloak of Ruby's Gaia, pinning her down. The long trail of feathers also managed to halt a worried Yang, who was already following her sister, in her tracks. As Ruby struggled to free the cloak, she realized the Deathlurker was bearing down on her again, about to drive its stinger into her Gundam. While Yang cried out to Ruby, she noticed a flash of white pass her by. Before the stinger could make contact, it was stopped by what Ruby saw was a wall of ice created by Weiss, trapping it in place as well. Weiss took this opportunity to try and patch things together with her partner (while also getting a few more digs at Ruby's maturity in), and Ruby explained that she wasn't doing this to show off, but to prove herself.
Getting back up, her MS cloak free now, Ruby noticed the Deathlurker, still nearby, but trapped. Yang came over and gave Ruby a Mobile Suit-to-Mobile Suit hug.
With all eight of them regrouped, they gathered near the temple, outside of their Mobile Suits. All of them quickly formulated a plan to grab the relics and go, ignoring the creatures. Jaune grabbed a gold rook and Ruby a gold knight, the friends taking a moment to smile at each other. Just then, however, the Deathlurker began to free itself of the icy trap, cracks forming in the wall. "Time we left!" Ren pointedly said. All of them dashed back into their Suits, running over a hill and into the ruins, which housed a massive eons-old temple as big as a city. This path was the likeliest way back to Beacon Cliff.
Taking cover in the ruins on both sides, they stopped as the Nevermore that was following them overtook them, perching on a broken tower. As it cried out, some of the students looked back as the Deathlurker from before came charging in. "Oh man, run!" yelled Jaune as he and Pyrrha ducked out of cover and made a break for it. Ruby and Yang did the same, leaving their spot. "Nora, distract it!" ordered Ren as he and Nora ran in two different directions. Dodging a salvo of feathers, Nora readied the main gun of her Heavyarms: the Magnhild, which fired forth specially-made explosive shells, chasing off the Nevermore as they exploded mid-air. As the Deathlurker came up from behind, Ren and Blake deflected its blows with their own weaponry. Weiss grabbed Nora, and, using her Fins, created a glyph to take the both of them away.
Pyrrha saw the scorpion coming up and had Jaune go ahead, whirling back around herself. Her Aegis drew its rifle and shield and she fired several beam shots into the monster's hide as the others ran past her. Ren himself fired off a burst from his StormFlower before continuing to run, as Pyrrha turned and ran as well. The creature could not proceed, the bridge wide enough to admit multiple Suits too narrow for it. The Nevermore, however, circled back around, crashing through the bridge, leaving Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha stuck with the Deathlurker.
"Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!" Jaune said. "Let's do this!" exclaimed Nora. "Can we even make that jump?" At that moment, Nora knocked Jaune's Exia back, detached the Magnhild from her Gundam's arm and unfolded the revolving shell launcher into a warhammer. Nora ran forward and jumped, smashing the hammerhead down into the broken stone. As it collided, the hammer fired off another energy shell, flipping the section of bridge Jaune was on hard enough to catapult him over to the other side, right before Nora repositioned the hammer and fired it again, blasting off a chunk of rubble and riding the hammer over, carrying it into another swing that smashed down on the scorpion's carapace. As the Deathlurker prepared for a stinger strike, she fired again, sending her backwards and knocking Blake away.
Though Blake was knocked off, she saw the Nevermore and decided to focus on it. Stowing away one part of her Gundam's weapon, she fired the Gambol Shroud's magnum, sending the ballistic scythe into a wall. Swinging on its durable cord like a grappling hook, she used her Semblance as she leaped over to the passing Tyrant, the clone-image of her Suit blurring briefly. She used more of these shadow-clones as she struck the bird with the blades of Gambol Shroud, running down its back before jumping off and landing on stone again.
"It's tougher than it looks!" she said as she rejoined Yang, Weiss, and Ruby. "Then let's hit it with everything we've got!" Yang said, readying her Ember Celica. The four of them fired on the Nevermore as it circled back, pelting it with beam shots, solid slugs, fire-blasts, and ice streams. The beast crashed into the large central temple they happened to be perched on. All four of them jumped off the chunk of rubble they stood on, jumping, boosting, and shooting their way to solid ground up above. "None of this is working!" Weiss said. Ruby immediately got an idea and told Weiss to cover her as she boosted away.
Meanwhile, the Deathlurker was digging its stinger into the remainder of the bridge, threatening to send Jaune, Ren, Pyrrha, and Nora down. "We gotta move!" shouted Jaune as they did just that. All four of them charged forward, Pyrrha blocking a claw strike with her shield and then slashing the arm with the heat xiphos. Jaune blocked the other claw with his Exia's smaller shield as well before Pyrrha came and struck it away as well. Ren, guns blazing as he ran forward, grabbed onto the stinger and fired into where it met the rest of the tail. Nora readied her shell launcher and fired off several shells that the Grimm blocked with its claws, sending Jaune and Pyrrha away in the process.
Sensing a new opening, Pyrrha readied her spear, sending it straight into one of the creature's eyes, wounding it. Ren was flung from the stinger and crashed into a wall, though he was on safe ground again. As Jaune got up, he saw the dangling stinger, loosened from the beam fire pumped into the joint, and shouted to Pyrrha. At his signal, Pyrrha flung her shield, the circular piece cutting off the stinger as it flew by, sending the heavy body part into the scorpion's carapace as Pyrrha's shield came flying back.
"Nora, nail it!" Jaune ordered. "Heads up!" she replied, jumping onto Pyrrha's shield as she readied her hammer. With a boost from Pyrrha, Nora fired the hammer, blasting off the shield and flying up in the air. With another pull of the trigger, she boosted herself downwards, driving the stinger further into the carapace, which also had the side effect of making the beast smash into the bridge, launching Jaune and Pyrrha to safety. Nora fired off again, rejoining her comrades as the Deathlurker fell into the chasm below.
Back over to the others, Yang's Shining Gold Gundam was perched on top of a pillar, hurling firebolt after firebolt at the Nevermore as it circled around. She managed to place one shot into the side of its head, briefly throwing it off before the avian came back around and flew straight at her, beak open, as if it intended to swallow the offending Mobile Suit. Yang was ready for this, however, and jumped straight in, using one arm to help prop the beak open while the other pumped more firepower into its gullet. "I! Hope! You're! Hungry!" Yang grunted, punctuating each syllable with a blast from the free fist. She then jumped out, having managed to stun the beast enough to let it crash into the cliff face, the Tyrant too pained to notice the upcoming obstacle. The great bird smashed into the rock back-first, leaving an impression and knocking tons of rubble loose.
It righted itself as it fell, perching on a ruined stone overhang and screeched at its prey. Yang looked away from the creature to see Ruby, Blake, and Weiss, who in particular was busy zooming forwards at incredible speed. Yang dashed back while Weiss charged forward before she leaped at the Tyrant and struck the ruins with an ice-blast, trapping the bird by its tail as it was about to take off again. Jumping back with another glyph, she let Blake carry out the next part of the plan, which saw Blake using her Gambol Shroud's pistol to send the gun-blade into the hand of Yang's Gundam.
The both of them held up the connecting cord between two opposing pillars they hung onto, creating a makeshift slingshot. Ruby boosted herself up to the cord and positioned herself for launch, the cord stretching and lengthening out as it took the weight of Ruby's Gundam and its gun-scythe. Weiss, who was standing on the ground, used all of her Fin Funnels to generate an extra-strong glyph to pull back the part of the cord and the object that would be launched from it. "Of course you would come up with this idea!" Weiss said. "Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked. "Hmph! Can I?" "Can you-" "Of course I can!"
With that, Ruby made sure Crescent Rose was charged up as she summoned her Semblance, combining it with the launch glyph that Weiss released, catapulting her Gundam forward at great velocity. Boosting forward with thrusters and blasts from the gun-scythe, she hooked the Tyrant by its neck, continuing to boost in such a manner, rose petals trailing from the Gaia. She had enough momentum to slam the creature's head into the rock wall and planted her feet on the wall as well.
At the same time, Weiss sent the Fins forward and unfurled them. The devices made two parallel lines up the cliff face, generating glyphs for Ruby to run up on-which she did, using the scythe to keep boosting her while also discharging fire into the Tyrant's hide. This let her carry the massive beast up the side of the cliff, screaming as she did, until she reached the top. She still had plenty of momentum from this, though, and as the Tyrant Nevermore got caught on the cliff's outcropping, the force of the red Gundam carrying it up, combined with the power of the beam scythe which had been burning through the Grimm's flesh, resulted in its head being severed clean in a flourish of boiled blood and rose petals as Ruby reached the top.
Ruby landed on the top of the cliff a split second after the head of the great Grimm touched down. The Gundam landed in a crouch, its large scythe carried across its back, the beam blade driven partially into the earth. The corpse of the Mobile Armor-sized Nevermore fell down, past the temple ruins and into the foggy abyss below. Seconds later, it landed with a distinct crash, shaking the whole valley, though the ruins miraculously held together in spite of the shockwave. "Wow," said Jaune, who'd been observing from a distance.
Ruby stood at the edge of the cliff she just conquered, rose petals streaming in the wind. "Well," said Yang, standing on the ground with Blake and Weiss, "that was a thing!" As the rose petals subsided, the beam blade of Crescent Rose dissipated and the armor of the Gaia Gundam Wulfen faded to grey. The day's events, especially the great battle with the massive Grimm, had drained much of the Mobile Suit's battery. Ruby had enough power to get back to Beacon Cliff, but that was it for the day.
Thankfully, everyone was close to Beacon Cliff now, and so, their first outing ended when all eight of them came back to the launch site.
YXL-GG Shining Gold Gundam (Personally-customized Gundam-type "Mobile Fighter")
Manufacturer: Unknown (possibly Haven Mobile Combat Company)
Operators: Yang Xiao Long
Operation: Pilot in panoramic cockpit with Motion Trace System, in (nonfunctional) Core Lander
Dimensions and Weight: 16.3 m. overall, 17.5 metric tons (overall weight)
Design Features: Gundarium Alloy armor, unknown sensor range, 8 thrusters (outputs unknown), Ultracompact Dust Reactor (output unknown), "Core Lander System" (nonfunctional, modified into Motorcycle Entry System), Emotion Energy System, Super Mode(?), Hyper Mode(?)
Armaments: 2x 60mm Vulcans (head-mounted), 2x beam guns (torso-mounted, power rating 1 MW), "Ember Celica" Dual-Ranged Shot Gauntlets (arm-mounted, shell-fed)
Once upon a time, Yang was looking around for a Mobile Suit to replace her old, damaged Efreet. She used a petit MS to root around what was once a battlefield until she stumbled on an interesting find: a heavily-damaged Gundam-looking MS lying under a pile of dirt and debris. She decided to sell off her Efreet, which became a collector's item, and use the money to repair the mysterious Gundam. In the process, she learned it was called a Shining Gundam, though she couldn't quite find out who made it (many people suggested it came from Haven, which made a degree of sense even though its top MS manufacturer didn't seem to have any info on it). Additionally, she learned that it proved to be quite a surprising fit for her, a girl who otherwise disdained Mobile Suit combat in favor of fistfights. It had a system for tracking the human body's movements and it seemed to possess a plug-in version of the rare Core Block System, seemingly called a Core Lander System. On top of that, it had a weird trick: it read the pilot's emotions, and could possibly get stronger from them.
However, restoring the Gundam to working order was a challenge that required modifying many parts and systems. The Core Lander, while largely intact, could not eject itself from the back of the Gundam and had to be re-wired and refitted to permanently fix it to the machine's frame. However, she changed it so that she could use her motorcycle to enter into it if the need arose, preserving the idea of the Core Lander System. Next, what remained of its weaponry had to be overhauled completely due to sheer damage. The vulcans were the only guns that didn't need removing. While removing the old guns, Yang got an idea for a weapon she could use: gauntlets that doubled as shotguns. She had always preferred close-ranged combat in her Efreet, as it had a Heat Hawk and Heat Knives, but she also carried a pump-action shotgun with standard shells and special fire-blast shells. Given that it seemed unfit for typical combat, Yang decided she had found her ideal Mobile Suit and had the Ember Celica Dual-Ranged Shot Gauntlets made for it, loaded with explosive fire-blasting shells that could deliver explosive punches or shoot powerful blasts out. There was only one last thing, though: the motion-tracking system the cockpit used required a skintight suit to be put on before it could be used. Yang balked at the idea of having to strip down to use the MS, so she modified the system to read bodily movements via a combination of multiple cameras and a set of jewelry (including bracelets, ankle rings, and a choker) she made for herself that contained positional transmitters for motion-capture.
With all the necessary modifications and repairs made, Yang repainted it yellow with additional accents and named it Shining Gold. The many vents underneath its moving armor plates sometimes vent heat buildup (resulting from modifications and repairs made to the reactor), but also emit fire in accordance to the intensity of Yang's emotions, a part of the Emotion Energy System integrated throughout the Gundam. This system created a link between pilot and machine, allowing the user to be embodied in the Mobile Suit. Yang thus considers it a part of herself, and gets angered when it gets damaged. Its possible that her emotions and/or Semblance could awaken a hidden power inside the Gundam, a power that remains even after being wrecked and repaired...
A/N: Thus concludes the initiation arc of the story. I forgot I named the not-Godzilla the Tyrant, so I'll just say that all really-big Grimm are Tyrant-class.
When I come back to this, I will keep compressing what I can, while exploring both Teams RWBY and JNPR: Ren and Jaune will realize they pilot Gundams, training and sparring will happen for all, and Jaune will get a revenge match with Cardin. I'm gonna make the Jaunedice stuff happen off-screen so I can explore other things. I have plans, and they may not be big plans, but I'm trying to shoot for something unique.
I will say that this is probably the last chapter I will put up before I go back to college. However, I imagine that Vol. 2 will keep me inspired to continue this throughout the first several weeks of classes. That, and the upcoming Reconguista in G will help. Thank you for reading this, please leave a comment if you can, share this story with others, and have a nice day.