AN: Oh look, an update.
To answer some questions:
Lightning Havoc: Uryu and Ichigo will not be the only 2.
The Digger92: You'll just have to wait and see
Presbydos: Yes, probably not, maybe
Kenn4eyes: I've never been a fan of the "magic portal to another dimension" type of crossover. To me, it's much more fun to blend two worlds together.
Stuporman: I might be taking a few liberties in regards to "sensing". You see, in this story humans and faunus experience a feeling of dread/fear when they are in close proximity to a creature of Grimm. Overcoming this is one of the most important aspects of being a hunter/huntress. Through this, Blake and Yang were able to locate where the Deathstalker was. Blake is a Faunus and a bit more perceptive, so she was able to sense that there were in fact 2 signatures.
Kid Eternity: I expect 2 pints in the mail no later than next Tuesday.
Rowknan: Yes
Autumnal Equinox: I share the same opinion when it comes to harem stories. Most of the time the idea of "let's flood the main character with women" becomes the entire point of the story and bogs down the plot. I like to think of harem as an aspect or trait of story. It should never be the primary focus unless the story itself is meant to be comedic. Unfortunately, very few people seem to share that opinion.
Winged Serpent of Light: Since he isn't a Shinigami in this, probably not. Will he gain something similar in concept? Probably.
The next day marked the beginning of class. Students milled about the campus of Beacon Academy, some finding their way with practiced ease while others scrambling around trying to find their way. Ichigo glanced down at them from his perch from atop Beacon tower. When he had first arrived at Beacon years ago, he had grown to like this place. It gave him a commanding view of the surrounding area. That was probably what appealed to his younger self the most. If anything happened, he would know it. Not that it was really necessary for him to do so; Ozpin's office was practically right below him.
With a glance, he noticed the grounds were becoming bare; must be time for classes to start. He probably should have gone as well, but today he didn't really feel up to it. The final history course he had to take was his first class today; not one of his favorites to be sure.
His eyes were drawn to movement down on the campus. Looked like somebody was going to be late. He couldn't help but sigh when he saw just who it was sprinting to class on the first day. Of course it was them. Who was responsible for waking everyone up? He guessed it would probably be Ruby. Ozpin made some odd decisions sometimes, but the one to make her team captain was a confusing one. She wasn't bad in a fight, sure, but why put the youngest in charge? The headmaster was rarely incorrect though, so he'd just let it play out. Well at least they weren't the only ones scrambling to make it so class on time; some other team was following after them in hot pursuit.
Ichigo leaned back against the wall of the tower. Perhaps he could track that remaining Grimm he smelled out in the forest yesterday; the one he was going to hunt down before that group of freshmen hijacked his day.
The vizard shook his head thinking back to the previous day's events. It just couldn't be as simple as he had hoped. He had thought challenging them to a series of one on one fights would work out fine. What better way to meet someone then in a friendly spar?
The idea was simple enough. He drew a circle about thirty meters in diameter in the ground with zangetsu and challenged them to move him out of it. It was doubtful any of them would be able to do it, but that wasn't the point. Each of them would approach it in their own way, working off of their own strengths. That would give him an idea of where they were at and how to help them out; or send them to someone who could. He'd rather not spend more time at this then he had to.
Well, that had been the plan, but one member of the team thought his plan was missing something.
"Come on, where's the incentive!" Yang complained, tossing her golden mane over her shoulder. "There has to be some kind of prize!"
"Yay, a prize!"
Ichigo could feel a headache coming on. "Like what." This wasn't supposed to be a competition. He noticed girl in white shaking her head in frustration.
"Hmm." The blonde began to think. "I know, how about you have to do any one thing the one who moves you the farthest asks you too."
Why would he agree to that? Who knows what kind of crazy things they'd want him to do. He was about to flatly deny the request but a thought occurred to him. "You know what? Fine. I'll make that bet. But only if one of you four manages to move me completely out of this circle, then I'll owe you a favor."
"Deal." Yang answered with a grin.
Chumps. No freshman could move him out of this space. This was a fool's bet.
Deciding he wouldn't need Zangetsu, he planted his massive sword in the dirt outside of the circle and waited for the first one to volunteer. The blonde had been eager, but to his surprise it was the faunus girl that had approached him first. She had been almost entirely silent since he had told them who he was. Being a faunus, her instincts were sharp; so it was likely that she knew something was different about him. Maybe that was why she was so eager to jump forward; to get a chance at figuring him out. "Blake right?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Whenever you're ready." He placed his hands into his jacket pockets. She raised an eyebrow at seeing him look so relaxed. As Blake readied herself, he noticed she was beginning to disarm. "Use your weapon."
"But, you're unarmed." She questioned.
"Don't worry about it." Answered the vizard. "You'll have a better chance if you use it."
"…Are you sure?" the girl seemed reluctant.
"Yes I'm sure." If she was worrying about hurting him, then that was already a point against her. Don't lower yourself to your opponent's level. If you have an advantage, take it.
Blake seemed to hesitate for a moment before drawing Gambol Shroud. With no warning, she bolted forward and lunged at him with the point of her short katana-like blade.
She thought he would move out of the way. Right before reaching him, she leapt to the right, changed her angle of attack, and slashed across his right side. It was a quick maneuver, one which probably would have worked against someone closer to her level, but to him she was moving quite slowly. Where she may have expected him to move out of the way of her strike, possibly stepping out of the bounds of the circle, what happened was entirely different.
He reached out and grabbed ahold of her wrist, stopping her mid swing. A brief look of surprise crossed her face before she felt herself get thrown through the air in opposite direction from whence she came. Twisting in the air, she managed to land on her feet.
Relatively quick and attacking with full force, both good signs. Ichigo considered her previous attack as she began to slowly pace around him. Now that she knew a frontal attack was no good, how would she approach it?
He got his answer quickly as she created four identical copies of herself. The five Blakes scattered, surrounding him from five different sides. Now that was a useful semblance. He couldn't tell if they were solid or not.
As quickly as the first attack, all five of the attackers lunged forward, weapons ready to strike. But something stopped her. Ichigo was looking right at her. Not one of her clones. Her opponent knew exactly which one she was. She halted mid-charge, and her clones did as well. All at once they dispelled, and Blake turned away and began to walk back to her team.
"Done already?" He hadn't expected that.
"You knew exactly where I was." She didn't even bother to turn around. "That attack didn't have a chance either."
Well she wasn't wrong. He would have just stopped her the same way he had before. Knowing when you're outmatched was good, but damn a little more effort would have been nice. Perhaps it had something to do with her hiding her identity as a Faunus; trying not to draw to much attention to herself.
"What was that?!" He heard the girl in white complain as the reaven0haired girl rejoined the group. If Blake heard her what was said, she certainly didn't act like it.
"Alright, who's next?" At least this thing was going quickly. Maybe he'd be able to go back out into the Forest later.
"Oh me me me!" He felt a slight gust of wind as a red blur sped down towards him. Ruby came to a halt just outside of the circle, her signature rose petals falling down around her.
"You're the captain right?"
"Yep, Ozpin named me the captain after our test in the Emerald Forest."
"You're really young." He was surprised he hadn't noticed earlier that day. The girl in front of him was noticeably younger than her teammates.
"I skipped two years." Ruby replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"Two?" Ozpin had admitted her early? That rarely happened. He'd have to remember to ask him about it. Whatever the reason, it must mean she was pretty talented. She didn't look experienced though.
"Is something wrong?"
"No." He realized he had been staring. "You just look like a kid."
"I'm not a kid, I'm 15!"
"That's still really young." What had she done for Ozpin to make her the captain of this team? Why would you put the youngest, most inexperienced person in charge? It went against common sense.
"Get ready." She would probably be the fastest, of that he was almost sure. When he had run into her that morning, he had been surprised at her speed. Her semblance must have something to do with it; allowing her to rapidly accelerate and reach speeds higher than those of her age could normally achieve. In time it could be impressive, but right now it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.
Ruby swung her scythe down at an angle. The girl had watched the first bout closely. Ichigo was quick enough to get out of the way, but to her surprise, he didn't. Her swing stopped dead in its tracks as if she had made contact with a block of solid iron. Her surprise however, turned to wonder when she saw what had happened. Just like with Blake, Ichigo hadn't even attempted to move out of the way. Instead, he just caught the shaft of her weapon during the downswing.
"You telegraphed that badly." The redhead had speed, but hadn't been very creative with her plan of attack. The increase in speed from what he assumed was her semblance made the swing harder, but with how small she was the change hadn't been very noticeable.
"That. Was. AWESOME!"
"Huh?"
"I was attacking you and you didn't even move!" the girl continued excitedly. "You just stood there a calm and then *ding* you just catch it like it's nothing! It was just like in the movies!"
As she continued to gush, the Vizard just stood there, face frozen in shock. Was this really happening? Did she just stop mid-fight to talk about how cool something was? That was ridiculous. He hoped that wasn't something that happened often.
"I mean I saw you stop Blake, but I thought that with my…"
"Stop." He cut in. "We're supposed to be sparring. Don't get distracted."
"Oh…uh right." The girls face flushed red with embarrassment. "Sorry."
After he released her weapon, she backed away a few yards, preparing to try again. He hadn't ever seen a lack of concentration quite like that. If he had pulled something like that with Port, the old man would have smacked him across the room. Really he should probably feel angrier than he was.
"Well, how about this!" He ducked the first swing back-stepped to avoid the one that quickly followed. Using the recoil from her weapon to increase swing speed, there were a lot of younger hunters and huntresses that had started doing it. It worked well with her semblance as well, further increasing her attack speed.
Ruby leapt into the air and flipped forward, spinning her weapon around with her a deadly arc. Firing her weapon once again at the apex, her swing came down hard; crashing into the ground and burying almost the entire length of the blade in the dirt. But wait, where had he gone? He was there a second ago.
Ichigo landed with a hard thump on top of the buried scythe, pushing the rest of its blade into the ground. "Better." When she had her back turned to him, the Vizard had leapt high into the air. On the way down, he made sure to land on the shaft of her weapon and trap it; effectively disarming his opponent. He had to admit, he was mildly impressed. This one definitely knew how to use her scythe. Fast sweeping attacks, further enhanced by firearm recoil and natural speed. It reminded him of someone he had met quite a while ago.
"How are you so fast, I barely even saw you move!"
Ugh. She was making that face again. This wasn't supposed to be an actual fight sure, but damn. Maybe that was just her age shining through; the girl was way too excitable. Hell, he wasn't even moving that quickly.
"Ruby! Stop fangirling!" Weiss shouted from the sideline.
"Wh-what?" the redhead flushed crimson. "I am not!"
"Then pay attention!"
"Alright, enough shouting." He didn't want to listen to much more of it. He stepped off Ruby's scythe and yanked it free from the ground. That should be enough for this one. "You're fine, but she's right. Don't get distracted by every 'neat' or 'cool' thing you see."
The girl was obviously embarrassed, simply nodding in response. As she went back to rejoin her team, she was passed by her assigned partner. "Watch closely, I'll show you how to properly handle this."
Weiss, he remembered her name was, approached him confidently and drew her weapon. Was that a fencing stance? That was unusual. Since Grimm tended to be much larger than those who hunted them, larger more impactful weapons were the norm. Something delicate like that would be limited in its effectiveness. He couldn't help but notice that she was moving her feet slightly; adjusting her posture. The Vizard had to hold back a sigh. The heiress had just entered into a fight with him, and she was wasting time getting into what she probably considered "proper" posture. "You know, in a situation like this, correct posture isn't going to help that much."
The white-themed girl huffed. "We'll see." Once she seemed satisfied with her stance, Ichigo watched as yellow light began to glow out of the ground around her. Then suddenly, she burst forward towards him. Her semblance must have to do with those glyphs. He lazily side-stepped the telegraphed thrust from his opponent's rapier; not bothering to stop the weapon itself like he had against the previous two. That was one of the main problems with a sword used for thrusting; the sides were rarely any good for slashing. The girl spun in place and attempted to slash him with her rapier. A brief look of triumph flashed across her face. She had been expecting him to avoid it. What she didn't expect to happen was falling flat on her face far before her swing ever reached its target.
Weiss could hear someone behind her laughing as she pulled herself off the ground, brushing dirt off of her formerly white clothes. Trying to ignore the sound, she turned her attention back towards her bored looking sparring partner. "That was a dirty move." How dare he kick her legs out from under her like that?
Ichigo rolled his eyes. Maybe he was wrong about Ruby being the least experienced. "You haven't been in very many fights have you?"
"I've been in plenty."
"Really."
"Yes, really." The girl answered. "I've excelled in every battle the Schnee combat simulator offers. I'll have you know I even defeated a simulation of a Model K anti-Grimm automaton."
"That piece of junk?" There had been numerous attempts to weaponize robots to fight the creatures of Grimm; with various levels of success. The MK-automaton had the appearance of a giant knight, no doubt to make people think of the mythical heroes of yesteryear. It had its uses, but the models track record had been less than stellar. While other models proved to be somewhat effective, there was a good reason why the majority of the anti-Grimm activities were still undertaken by hunters and huntresses. "Those things were useless."
"That 'useless piece of junk' as you called it was too much for a ten man team of security guards, and I defeated it single-handedly. I was praised by the men who designed it as a prodigy." The girl growled back at him.
"Then they've got some damn low standards." Ichigo was starting to get annoyed. "I don't know what they saw, but to me you look green as grass." The heiress was now glaring at him from the perceived slight. "What?"
"How dare you!" Weiss looked furious. "I had the highest score on the entrance exam and passed the practical with flying colors!"
"Doesn't mean you can fight worth a damn." This one was going to be a headache, he could already tell. "Look, you might be able to get past some of the weaker Grimm on your own, but you wouldn't stand a chance against some of the Grimm out there." He pointed out towards the emerald forest, where the initiation test had taken place.
"Hmmph, I could handle whatever's out there." Weiss answered. "We took down an adult Nevermore during the initiation test."
"As a team." Her attitude was really grating on his nerves. It was this kind of thinking that gets people killed. "I doubt you would be able to handle something like that on your own. For someone as green as you, it might be years until that's possible."
"I'll show you!" Using her gylphs to accelerate herself once more, Weiss went back on the offensive.
Unlike her last attempt, her movements were less deliberate. Where once there was misdirection, now there were frantic lunges and swipes. Since they weren't exceptionally fast, dodging the swings was relatively simple. "That's not going to…"
"Gotcha!" Ichigo saw light once again rise from the ground as Weiss formed one of her glyphs, but instead of appearing under her, this one had formed under his feet. With a flash of red, he felt himself flying up into the air.
The revolver of Myrtentaster clicked twice as Weiss moved her blue dust into place. This should show him. Holding her weapon out, she pulled the trigger and launched a bolt of ice towards her opponent. He wouldn't be able to move in mid-air and whether he stopped her attack or not, it wouldn't matter. All she had to do was make sure he landed outside of the ring he had drawn.
She was smart, Ichigo realized as he watched the block of ice race towards him. While she had been flailing at him, she had managed to place one of her glyphs beneath him and launch him into the air. The girl had that going for her at least. She probably thought he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop her attack. When the projectile closed in, he lashed out with his fist, smashing the block of ice into pieces. "Not bad." He stated as he landed with a thud inside the circle.
"How?" Weiss asked, shocked. "The momentum should have been enough to force you out!"
"Well it didn't." He was beginning to think he had seen enough of Weiss. The girl was smart, but stubborn and severely inexperienced in actual combat. "I think that's enough for…"
"But I…" Weiss interrupted.
"That's enough!" Ichigo half shouted. He had to calm himself down; the heiress's attitude had him on edge. "I've seen what I've needed to see."
"We'll see huh Weiss?" Yang was making her way down to the circle, laughing at her unfortunate teammate.
"Oh shut up." The white-themed girl stormed off back towards the group.
It was the blonde's turn next. "So let me get this straight. If I manage to move you out of that circle then you have to do any one thing I tell you to?" She asked, stretching her arms.
"Yep."
"Anything?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's what I said isn't it?"
"Just making sure." With a loud click, the two gold bracelets on her wrists expanded, forming two gauntlets covering almost the entirety of the girls' forearms.
A close-range fighter. This would probably be more interesting than the first three. Blake could fight directly, but would probably benefit more from stealthier tactics. Ruby's scythe prevented her from fighting in true close quarters, and Weiss, well she would only be useful in support for the time being. The girl seemed confident enough, judging by the smirk on her face.
"Here I come!" Like the others, she closed the gap quickly, but also like them she was moving in slow motion compared to her opponent. Now he would see if that grin was from confidence or arrogance. The Vizard reached out his hand to catch her opening haymaker. When it made contact however, the girl's fist wasn't stopped. It barely slowed on impact, sending a jolt through Ichigo's arm. Quickly releasing her fist, he quickly ducked, evading the blow aimed for his face. Yang burst out in a furious assault, crosses, jabs, uppercuts, trying but unable to carch Ichigo with a clean blow.
This girl's punches had weight behind them. His arm stung from the impact of her first attack. He had been careless to try and catch it. The old man would be angry with him for underestimating an opponent. As he ducked and weaved through her onslaught, he noticed something else. Blondie could fight. Like Blake, it was obvious that she had done this before, frequently if he had to guess. Yang didn't just know how to fight; she knew how to fight people. The girl's confidence was not misplaced; she was obviously very skilled at what Ichigo assumed started out as a type of boxing. It was solely his massive speed advantage which kept him from being hit. Good thing too, if she did make clean contact, he wasn't sure he would stay inside the line. Something else was nagging at him though. She was a close range fighter, more of a brawler really, so why did she keep her hair so long? It should be obvious that anyone could just reach out and grab it at any time. Blake and Weiss wore theirs long too, but they weren't right up on their opponents like Yang would be. Theirs didn't pose as much of a risk. Well, if that little weakness hadn't made itself known yet, he would make sure it did. After a quick sidestep, he reached out lightning fast and grabbed the blonde brawler by the base of her hair.
"OW!"
"You know, it's a bad idea to leave your hair long like this." He gave it a good twist for emphasis. "Someone like me could reach out and grab it." As he let go, he noticed a few stray strands floating down to the ground. Damn, must have pulled to hard. Something else he'd have to apologize for.
"Uh oh." Said Ruby, seeing the loose strands of hair.
Oh come on, it wasn't that bad, just a few strands was all. She wouldn't even notice…
Oh… .
He saw what she was talking about.
Yang was standing where she had been before he had grabbed her, but the atmosphere had changed completely. The first thing he noticed was that her hair was on fire. The second was her eyes, originally violet, now blazing crimson. "YOU MONSTER!" She launched herself at him with rage equivalent to her ferocious appearance.
She was moving faster now. Much faster. Under these circumstances, he wouldn't be able to dodge. He managed to throw up his arms to block before the fiery girl's punch impacted with a bright red explosion. The ground around them shook with the force of the impact. Yang wasn't done however, she rained blow after blow down on the one which had dared to harm her hair. With each impact, more smoke and debris filled the air around them.
"Yang don't kill him!"
"No keep going! That brute deserves it!"
Hearing the cries of her teammates through the newly formed dust cloud, the blonde's attention shifted for a moment. When her punches slowed, she felt a strong arm wrap itself around her neck and tighten like a vice. As she struggled, another arm latched onto her as well, locking her into a sleeper hold. "Calm down." She heard someone growl into her ear. When had he gotten behind her? The blonde attempted to force her way out of the hold, but the struggle was fruitless. Her body was rapidly being sapped of energy as her brain was being cut off from oxygen. The fire emitting from her hair was beginning to dissipate. "Damn it I said relax! You're gonna destroy the place!"
She stopped struggling and relaxed her body. As she did so, she could feel the grip around her neck weakening. "Sorry about that." She said between deep breaths as Ichigo released her from the chokehold. "I sometimes get a little crazy when someone messes with my hair."
"A little?" the Vizard questioned. "You must have discharged over a dozen explosive dust rounds onto me!" He made a note to remind himself never to touch her hair again. That onslaught came out of nowhere. He hadn't been hit that hard by another student since his spars with that Chad guy.
"Well sorry." Yang replied, turning around to face her scowling senior. "But you seem alriii…." Alright was putting it mildly. Her mentor's jacket had been almost completely burnt away by her attacks, and so was his shirt, but there was barely a scratch on him. There wasn't a single mark on his body that he had been in a fight at all. In fact it was perfect, those abs, those arms, those pecs, it was like looking at a greek god given flesh.
"Yeah I'm fine." The vizard answered, face still set in its signature scowl. "And now I have to pay to get this replaced." Yang didn't respond, she was just staring at him. "EY, wake up!"
"Wh-what? Oh yeah." The blonde shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"Tch, look at this mess." During her attack, Yang had decimated the ground beneath them. "You can bet your ass Goodwitch is going to give me hell over this." He shook off the rags that remained of his jacket and shirt and begin to walk off through the cloud of smoke in the direction of the others.
"Hey, wait a minute!"
He turned back to look at her. "What."
"We left the circle."
The Vizards' eyes widened for a moment before he slapped a hand to his face in annoyance. They were a good twenty yards outside the boundary. Damn it she was right. He had lost himself in the moment and gotten pushed back. "Fine." He let out with a sigh. "What do you want."
"Hmmmm." Yang feigned concentration, rubbing her chin. "Oh I'm sure I'll think of something."
He almost shivered at those words. Who knows what kind of crazy shit these four will come up with? Why the hell did he agree to that?
Even after a full night's rest, the previous day was still giving him a headache. His team was being captained by a child and included a Faunus in disguise, an entitled heiress, and a bonafide crazy woman. The thought of spending an entire year looking after that bunch was enough to make his head spin.
A ringing noise alerted him that someone had sent him a message. Checking his scroll, he saw he had received a message from his adoptive father. What could the old man want this early?
Sender: Peter Port
Ichigo, I need to speak with you about something after my first class today. Meet me in the plaza overlooking the city skyline at 10:00.
Also, go to class. Nothing is going to happen to the academy in the next 2 hours. Sitting on top of that tower isn't going to help anyone; least of all you.
The Vizard growled in annoyance. Well there goes his plan to hunt. That damn Grimm in the woods had been on his mind since mid-day yesterday. He had to know what it was. But there wouldn't be any time to go looking for it and still make it back to meet the old man. He'd have to find some other way to blow off steam. He stood and headed for the staircase back down into the inside of Beacon Tower. Maybe he could use the simulator, it wouldn't be the same as an actual fight, but maybe it'd be enough to distract him for a bit.
"Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of grimm have many names." Crossing his arms behind his back, he halted and turned to face to class. "But I merely refer to them…as prey; Haha!" Some students gave off a half-hearted chuckle, but most remained silent. The joke had not gone over well. What was it with kids these days, they couldn't appreciate good humor if it jumped up and bit them. "And you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy." He began to pace the room once more, trying to make eye contact with as many of the new students as possible; an experienced hunter could tell a lot about someone from first glance. "Vale and the other three kingdoms are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world." A rabbit-eared Faunus girl averted her gaze almost immediately upon meeting his. Skittish that one; something which would need to be fixed as soon as possible. "Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures which would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces, and that's where we come in." He stopped and turned to face the assembled students once again. "Hunters…Huntresses..." His gaze fell upon the members of team RWBY, sitting in the front row. He noticed the blonde girl roll her eyes and look away with a huff. Perhaps his gaze had lingered a bit too long… Wait, she didn't think he was trying to hit on her? That would be ridiculous; he was old enough to be her grandfather. "…Individuals who have sworn to protect others from those who cannot protect themselves." He continued on. "From what you ask?" His arms returned behind his back. "Why, from the very world!"
"EEEYY-YUUP!" a boy in green shouted from the back.
Port acknowledged him with a nod. Now that one had the right idea. "That is what you are training to become, but first, a story. It is the tale of a young, handsome man. When I was a boy…" The elder huntsman resumed his pacing. Now, who would pay attention? In a classroom setting, young minds tended to wander. Most new students failed to do so; only a few would even listen past the first few sentences.
He loved the first day of class. To them this would be nothing more than an old man spouting boring old stories; they had no idea this was the second of the day one battery of tests he would perform. The first was the willingness to look him in the eye, confidence was key. The second was focus. Many of the students were already staring off into space. He noticed the Schnee heiress's eyes hadn't left him while he paced the room. Strike that, eyes beginning to droop. The girl in the red cape to the left of her seemed to be rapidly scribbling something down. Nobody took notes on his story, so it had to be something else.
"…despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. Peter, he told me..." The girl in the cape started to chuckle. The ones around her looked at her in confusion. She held up what she had been scribbling, causing some of the students around her to chuckle. What a crude drawing, surely he hadn't put on that much weight in the past few years? He noticed the blonde almost burst out laughing, while the heiress just looked appalled. The fourth member of their team seemed not to notice; not surprising as she had proven to be one of the few who was still actually paying attention to him. The professor cleared his throat and drew their attention, the aspiring artist hastily trying to hide her creation.
"…In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero." He took an overly dramatic bow, continuing with the act he had carried out the entire class period to this point. "The moral of this story?" He almost dropped character in shock. The girl in the red cape was trying to balance a stack of what consisted of her pencil, a notebook, and an apple on the tip of finger. Now that was just blatant. Did she honestly think he wouldn't notice or that he simply wouldn't care? Her teammate seemed completely irate with her little performance. "…A huntsman must be honorable, a true huntsman must be dependable…" Now she had fallen asleep. How? It couldn't have been more than three seconds since he last looked in her direction. "…A true huntsman must be strategic, well educated, and wise…" The heiress looked like she was about to explode with fury at the antics of her teammate. Good time to change gear. "So, who among you believes yourself to be the embodiment of these traits?"
"I do sir!"
As expected, the Schnee girl jumped at the chance. "Well then, let's find out." Professor Port walked over to the corner of the room and ripped off a sheet covering what they had all assumed to be some kind of box or table. What was revealed was a large metal cage containing a large boar shaped Grimm. As it stirred from the light now entering its cages, it began to thrash about. He gestured towards the cage with a barely concealed grin. "You will be fighting this creature of Grimm. Can any of you tell me what it is?"
"A boarbatusk sir." Weiss answered almost immediately.
"Very good." So she has her basic identifications in order; that was another point in her book. "I assume you will want to change into your combat attire before taking it on?" She nodded in affirmation. With a wave of his hand he bid her leave, which she quickly obliged. After she left the lecture hall, the professor turned to those still seated.
"Now then, while Miss Schnee is preparing herself, I have some questions for the rest of you." Subtle testing aside now was the time to see how much they really knew. "First, can anybody tell me where the Grimm first came from?" His eyes scanned the seated students, looking for a raised hand. "Ah, Miss Nikos is it?"
"Yes sir." Pyrrha answered politely. "Nobody really knows for sure where the Grimm first came from; they have been around for almost as long as we have."
"Excellent." Easy question, simple answer. "Now, how about something a bit more advanced?" So far the results had been good, but it was time to dig a little deeper. "How many classifications are there for the creatures of Grimm? Not how many species mind you. How many classes are there?" He noticed a red-headed girl raise her hand. "Ah, Miss Nikos you know this one as well?"
"Yes sir. There are two classifications of Grimm, the common type we usually see and the larger Menos Grande."
"Very good." The professor responded with a nod. "Can you tell me what the difference is between the two?"
"As a Grimm ages, it becomes both larger and more intelligent." Pyrrha continued. "After a certain point there is some kind of metamorphosis."
"Excellent." The girl knew what she was talking about. "It is just as you say. Once a Grimm reaches a certain age they undergo a sort of transformation which changes them from the usual forms such as Beowolf and the Boarbatusk there to something completely different. The only thing which stays consistent is there massive increase in size. The term Menos Grande itself is from an old dead language, Espanol I believe it was called. The name itself means 'Great Minus' or 'Great Negative', I like to think of it as Great Evil myself."
"Were the large Grimm some of us encountered in the forest example of Menos Grande?" someone asked from the back of the class.
"Hahaha." Port laughed. "No, I'm afraid not. Menos Grande have not been seen anywhere inside the kingdoms in quite some time. Besides, something like that would be far too much for new students like you to handle. Best to leave something like that to the trained professionals. Next question; does anyone here know of the sub-classes of the Menos Grande?" He noticed Miss Niko's hand rise once again. "Someone who hasn't spoken yet." As his eyes scanned the room, his attention turned to one of the students who had managed to pike his interest. "Miss Belladonna I believe?" He noticed the girls eyes widen slightly. She obviously hadn't expected to be called upon.
Blake seemingly hesitated for a moment before answering. "There are two types of Menos Grande; the Gillian and the Adjuchas. A Gillian is very large and powerful but mostly mindless. The Adjuchas are smaller in size but smarter and more powerful."
Detailed, but he couldn't help but think she was holding something back. "Mostly correct, but you are missing one." He noticed a few of the students giving him questioning looks. This was no surprise. Common knowledge only extended so far. "There is a final classification of Menos Grande that usually gets skipped over. You see, not everyone is convinced that they actually exist in the first place. I assure you that they do." They were looking at him with interest now; even the Rose girl in the red cape. "The highest classification is that of the Vasto Lordes. Very little is known about them, but we do know these two facts. One, they are similar in size and shape to a regular human being or Faunus, and two, they are potentially strong enough to level a city like ours if left unchecked."
"Why haven't they attacked then?" a new voice cut in. He noticed it was the blonde he had been caught staring at earlier.
"A good question." Port responded. "That is one of the biggest mysteries of the Menos Grande. For some reason currently unknown to us, they never wander very closely towards the walls of the 4 kingdoms, despite the seemingly instinctual drive of the Grimm as a whole to attack us." That was probably the most baffling question he bad encountered throughout his years in academia. "However, many consider the fact that they do avoid the kingdoms a blessing. There are very few hunters and huntresses that could take on one of them and hope to stand a chance."
"What about those wizards or whatever?"
"…Excuse me?"
"The wizard dudes, my sister was talking about them a few days ago."
"Professor Port, I think she means Vizards." Blake raised her hand and explained.
"Ah, I see." Well that came out of the blue. Did those girls discover what Ichigo was that quickly? No, that couldn't have happened. This place would be in a panic if he let that cat out of the bag. "Well, according to what we know of the Vizards, they would almost certainly have been the first lines of defense in such a situation; well at least in the time that they were around." He might as well expand on the subject; many of the students seemed to be confused. "According to legend, before the discovery of dust mankind's greatest defense against the Grimm was a group called the Vizards. The Vizards were some kind of cross between men and the Grimm. There is no record of exactly what that entailed, but the stories go that they were extremely effective at fighting the creatures of Grimm. However upon the discovery of dust, they began to disappear from record. Some historians believe that with the onset of dust they became unnecessary, some say the Vizards were dangerous in the first place and were likely hunted along with the Grimm. All we know for sure is that if they really did exist, then they likely died out centuries ago."
"Excuse me, uh..sir?" Was that the girl in the cape? She had been asleep a while ago, good to see her participating. With a nod, he signaled the boy to continue. "Have you…uh..read the story of Las Noches?"
"I'm afraid literature isn't my subject." The professor answered. "However, yes I have read it. You are referring to the story where the rogue Vizard storms the fortress of the Vasto Lordes to take back his lover?"
"Uh…yes sir."
"What of it?"
"Well it was one of my favorites as a kid." Answered Ruby. "I was just curious if you thought there was any truth to it."
"As I said before, literature is not my subject. However if I had to guess, I would call it pure fantasy. The Vasto Lordes are nor something to be taken lightly. The idea that a single being, Vizard or no, could take on ten of them alone is simply preposterous. Furthermore…ah look, Miss Schnee has returned." Good, now the class could begin in earnest. The heiress had changed into her white combat attire, which was once again spotless, having been cleaned after her brief spar the day before.
"Well then, are you ready Miss Schnee?" the girl nodded an affirmative. "Good, now everyone on the front row be wary, there is no telling where this creature may go when released." As Weiss readied herself a good distance from the cage, he reached up and bulled down his blunderaxe from its spot on the wall. He could hear the Grimm thrashing around in its cage. If the girl couldn't handle it, he would have to step in quickly.
"Go Weiss!"
"Fight well!"
"Yeah, represent Teeaammm RWBY!"
Her teammates were cheering her on. That was a good sign.
"Ruby I'm trying to focus!"
"Oh…sorry."
That was not. While he saw that they seemed to have the right idea of working together as a team, the heiress obviously took issue to her partner's lackadaisical behavior. Nothing to worry about though, the teams had only been officially formed yesterday. "All right." Professor Port raised his weapon high. "Begin!" With a powerful downward slash, he sheared the steel lock in two, releasing the beast from its prison.
With a squeal, it darted out of the cage and barreled towards Weiss. When it drew close, she leapt out of the way and lashed out at the demon hog as it passed. To her surprise, her weapon simply clinked off its bony armor plating. As it reached the end of the room, the Grimm halted its charge and turned towards her, preparing for another attack.
"Ha ha, didn't expect that did you?" called out Port. The boarbatusk was a rather tricky opponent for most first year students. A frontal attack would rarely prove effective against its heavily armored skull, so precise weapon placement would be necessary. She had made the right decision to get out of the way, but would now need to find a way around that defense.
To his disappointment however, it didn't seem like she had picked up on that. Once the boarbatusk charged her again, she met that charge head on. If she tried to slash at it again, she would get the same result. If her goal was to stab forward as it charged toward her, she would likely get caught on a tusk or break her arm from the impact. Even if the blow killed the Grimm, momentum was still very much a basic law of the universe. As she grew closer it became evident that her plan was the latter. Fortunately the move was so blatantly choreographed, that her target simply swatted her weapon to the side as it closed in. She flipped out of the way of the flailing tusks and locked her weapon behind the monsters Tusk's. Trying to take it on with brute strength, now that was a fool's move.
There was an audible gasp from the assembled students as Weiss's rapier flew from her hands. "Oh ho, now what will you do without your weapon?" he called out. His voice was calm, but he tightly gripped the handle of his blunderaxe, ready to step in if things went any further south. When the third charge came around, the girl seemed to be ready for it though. She leaped out of the way at the last moment; the boar's momentum causing it to crash into the wall. The few brief seconds the beast was stunned proved enough time for Weiss to recover her weapon.
"Weiss go for its Belly! There's no armor underneath-"
"Stop telling me what to do!"
Now that was surprising. The girl who had been goofing off the past half hour seemed to know exactly what to do. He had underestimated her. Unfortunately, the heiress didn't seem too keen on following those instructions.
The boarbatusk squealed once again, leaping into the air and curling itself into a ball. The now round Grimm seemed to spin in place before racing off at its opponent far faster than before. As it closed in in this time, its target did not move, instead a large light blue glyph appeared in the air before the girl in white. When the boar collided with the strange symbol, it was stopped in its tracks and was hurled backwards from the recoil, landing hard on its back. Another glyph appeared high above the girls head. She lept up and using it as a makeshift platform, launched herself towards her vulnerable foe, burying her weapon to the hilt in its unprotected belly.
An interesting semblance, Port thought as he watched the girl begin to catch her breath. She had defeated the Grimm and that was good, but she looked very green in doing it. Also, it was difficult to tell if she actually picked up on the Boarbatusk's weakness herself or if she knew to go there from her teammate's assistance. "Bravo, Bravo." It was only the first day, best to stay supportive for now. "We are indeed in the presence of a true huntress-in-training." He glanced towards the large clock mounted on the wall of the lecture hall. "I'm afraid that's all we have time for today." He paced over towards his desk passing the now dissolving corpse of the freshly slain Grimm. "Be sure to cover the assigned readings. Also…" He raised two fingers into the air. "…stay vigilant…class dismissed."
Ichigo was leaning over a railing, staring out at the skyline of the city. He had been pacing back and forth for the last hour and a half. Goodwitch had been using the simulator for one of her classes, so that plan hadn't panned out. His day had been rather lazy. He couldn't get that last Grimm out of his head. He had never picked up that scent before, and he couldn't help but wonder what it was. If didn't look like he wouldn learn soon though. Right now he was waiting for someone. Speak of the devil. "So why did you want to meet me here?"
"I wanted to discuss your assigned team." Port replied, strolling up to stand beside him. "I had them in my class today; in fact we just finished up."
"Ah." He should have guessed. The old man wanted him in the project to begin with; of course he would take an interest in it.
"I have my concerns about a few of them." The professor began. "I must say you might have your work cut out for you."
"You don't have to tell me." The vizard replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Yesterday didn't exactly go smoothly…" his thoughts trailed off as he noticed someone approaching the two of them, someone he really didn't want to see.
"Excuse me, Professor Port?"
"Ah, miss Schnee." The elder huntsman acknowledged the new arrival. "To what do I owe this fine pleasure?"
"I enjoyed your lecture."
Now that was a bold-faced lie. Port's first day lectures were created with the idea of being maddeningly boring and dull. Nobody enjoyed them, you merely survived. Ichigo knew that saying something like that meant one thing, she wanted something.
"Of course you did child, you have the blood of a true huntress in you!" the old man answered jovially.
"You really think so?" the girl looked down, as it unsure of something.
So she was just going to ignore him then. He supposed that should be expected with how badly their last encounter had turned out. It was still annoying.
"Hmm, is something troubling you?"
"Yes sir."
Ichigo didn't know what was more pathetic. The innocent act Weiss was putting on in front of his adoptive father, or how easily he was falling for it. The old huntsman fancied himself an old-fashioned gentleman.
"Dear girl, please confess to me your strife!"
This was unbearable.
"Well, I think…I think I should have been the captain of team RWBY."
"Tch." Unbelievable.
"That's preposterous." Port claimed flatly.
"Excuse me!?"
There she was, there was the Weiss he knew.
"I've believed in Ozpin for many years, and the man has never once led me astray." The professor replied, his voice missing its earlier cheerful tone.
"So you would just blindly accept his decision even after seeing how exceptional I am?"
How exceptional she was? He couldn't take this anymore. "Sorry princess, but that's one thing that isn't going your way." Ichigo said, an eyebrow twitching in annoyance.
"Princess!?"
"How exceptional I am? Did nothing I said sink into your thick skull? All I've seen you do is bitch and moan." He continued. "You're acting like a kid who didn't get a toy they wanted."
"Excuse me!" Weiss was visibly shaking with rage.
"Ichigo…" Port cautioned
"Besides, you'd have to learn to actually fight before taking on any responsibility like that." He had tried to help her out and she practically exploded on him, now she was insulting the judgement of a Professor and the Headmaster himself; all because of some misguided sense of accomplishment.
"HOW DARE YOU!" she practically screamed back at him.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" He shouted back. "Am I not allowed to criticize you, 'the exceptionally talented' Dust Heiress?! And what happens if I do? Will Daddy's bodyguards come and rough me up? If you spent as much time training as you did complaining about other people, you might have been made a team captain!"
Weiss was absolutely livid. Ichigo has no doubt that if a professor wasn't there, she would have reached out and slapped the hell out of him. Her hands, both clenched into fists, were shaking like mad. "Thank you for your time Professor." She half mumbled, trying to gain back some degree of composure. "…Ichigo." She added through gritted teeth, before storming off angrily.
"Miss Schnee, wait a moment…" She either didn't hear the professor calling for her or didn't care to respond. "Well I can't say you handled that well." Port said with a sigh, watching her disappear into a crowd of students.
"What the hell is her problem?" Replied the young vizard. He had only talked to her twice and both times it ended in a shouting match. That girl was setting up to be a giant pain in the ass.
"HER problem?" The professor turned back to Ichigo. "Unless I'm mistaken, you were the first one to start shouting."
"You heard what she was saying."
"What I heard was a frustrated girl that needed direction." Port's tone grew serious. "While you are probably right about her not getting what she wants, that is certainly not the main reason for her coming to me with that question."
"Then what is."
"Tell me this, what do you think of the leader of your team; the youngest one." asked the elder huntsman.
"Bit of an airhead." Ichigo responded quickly. The redhead had been decent in their spar and seemed to have some level of experience in an actual fight. "She can fight, but she doesn't take the whole thing very seriously; or at least it doesn't look like it."
"I've arrived at a similar conclusion." His adopted father answered. "During the majority of my lecture she seemed to do anything but pay attention to what I was saying. I caught her sleeping, doodling, chatting, making silly faces... While some of that could surely be explained by that dreadful story, I found it a bit disturbing."
"Sounds about right." In his brief time with her, Ruby had proven to be quite the bundle of energy. Not surprising that she wouldn't sit still in class.
"In that opinion I wasn't alone." The professor continued. "Miss Schnee caught notice of her antics as well and it grated her nerves quite a bit. It was understandable really. That girl must have written down everything I said and even jumped at the chance to volunteer for a demonstration. She even asked one of her teammates for the any notes she may have missed while she was changing into her combat gear." The old man seemed lost in thought for a moment before something caught his eye. "Something wrong? You seem confused."
Ichigo sighed. "I don't get it. If what you're saying is true, then yesterday doesn't make much sense."
"What happened yesterday?"
"I fought each of them one on one." He began to explain. "She was the worst one by far. When I pointed that out she went ballistic. Based on what you're saying, I'd expect her to start taking notes."
"And how exactly did you point that out to her?" Port asked. He could already see what happened. His adopted son wasn't the best at subtlety; in fact he almost certainly just flat out said she was terrible and left it at that.
"I told her she was terrible and needed to practice."
Yep, that's exactly what happened. The elder huntsman let another sigh slip between his lips. "From what I can tell the girl wants to better herself and tries very hard to do so. If you had approached it with a bit more understanding you might have avoided this situation."
"I'm just being honest."
"You can be honest and compassionate." The professor locked eyes with his adopted son. "That girl might be a little entitled, but she seems to be trying very hard. It might do to try and understand someone else before covering them in assumptions. Saying she should be the team leader was disrespectful yes, but it was at least in part done out of concern for the team's well-being and not due to her own ego."
"I get it alright?" Damn, he did it again. Once again, the old man was right. The old bastard was great at noticing subtle aspects of people. One class period and he'd have half the class pinned down. A semester and the man would know them better than they knew themselves. Weiss needed to improve, and she was willing to bust her ass to do so. But instead of being supportive, his temper had gotten the better of him and here he was with a mess to clean up. If he kept this up, he might be kicked out of the program and lose his chance to fight in the tournament. "I'll wait for her to cool off and try to smooth things over."
"See that you do." Ichigo began to walk away. "Ah, I almost forgot." The elder huntsman checked his watch. "Yes, I'd say there's time enough for it."
"Time for what?"
"It's been almost a month since our last fight hasn't it?"
It had been awhile, but he had other problems to deal with. "I have to deal with whatever's still out the in Forest." He could still smell that Grimm from the day before. He had no idea what it was and the curiosity eating away at him. He had to deal with it soon.
"Quite impossible. Forest is closed for some experimentation I'm afraid. Sorry about that. Itching to fight something eh?"
Of course it was closed. Not being able to deal with that Grimm was driving him mad. He didn't have a choice though. If one of the Professors was doing some kind of test, he'd better stay out of it. Didn't make it any less frustrating. "Alright fine." At least he'd be able to hit something this time.
"Ha ha, that's my boy." The professor slapped him on the back. "Come now, I have a few hours before my next lecture."
Huntsman Profiles
-The following data is pulled from the Beacon Academy Huntsman database. Here, the parameters of a huntsman/huntress are recorded and scored. A value of 5 is set as the base level expected of an average full-fledged huntsman/huntress. The highest value (10) will only be given to those who push the boundaries of human achievement.
Profile: Peter Port
ID #: 0045
Occupation: Professor of Grimm studies at Beacon Academy
Previous Occuption: Expeditionary Hunter
Srength: 9/10
Skill: 7.5/10
Speed: 6/10
Intelligence: 8/10
Experience: 9.5/10
Rank: S
Professor Port distinguished himself in his early life by slaying a Beowulf unarmed at the age of ten. He was recruited into the ranks of the Hunters by his sixteenth year, and quickly became a strong contributor to the expeditionary hunts beyond the walls of Vale.
Worked primarily in a large team format until becoming the partner of Ozpin. The two of them worked together for half a dozen years before Peter retired from the hunting profession and adopting a child he found abandoned after a Grimm attack on a small village.
Confirmed Slayings: Grimm (unknown), Menos Grande (18), Adjuchas (5 unassisted, 9 with assistance)
Profile: Ichigo Kurosaki (Stage 1 classified)
ID # 0342
Occupation: Senior level student at Beacon Academy
Previous Occupation: none
Strength- 8.5
Skill- 5
Speed- 8.5
Intelligence-5
Experience- 7
Rank B
The adopted son of former hunter Peter Port. Family history is unknown. One of the most promising students from a direct combat standpoint seen in decades. However, disciplinary records show a history of violence and disrespect for authority. Winner of the Vytal Festival student combat tournament during his freshman year. It is on record that Mr. Kurosaki has been asked by the beacon Faculty to remove excess Grimm in the student testing area of the Emerald Forest.
Confirmed Slayings: Grimm (estimated 2092), Menos Grande (4), Adjuchas (0)
AN:
Longest chapter I've ever written. Wow.
Anyway, yeah that's chapter 5.
So here, you will probably notice that I'm doing a few things a bit outside the norm. I've always disliked the super handsome/ultra powerful/ladies man protagonists you see in so many crossovers. (Looking at you Naruto) Here, Ichigo is physically fit and much stronger than the girls, but do not expect him to be an overpowered god-mode character. The members of team RWBY are strong too, but you have to remember that they have just arrived at Beacon. Those who have been there much longer than them should be expected to perform at a much higher level, right?
I also wanted to really highlight Ichigo's temper and lack of patience. He had to be bribed into even doing this in the first place. Currently he really does not want to be there and it should show. He is angry with Weiss because he perceives her attitude as ignoring her own weaknesses, which puts both her and her teammates in danger.
Port is just too much of a player in this story for his character to not have a bit of an overhaul. In the early episodes of RWBY he is a corny (and slightly horny) old man with fond memories of past exploits. Here, Port is cunning, wise, and a badass in his own right. To show this, I needed to re-do his initial classroom scene, but from his point of view.
Once again, I am in no way moving forward with a pairing in mind. Feel free to spitball things you think may work.
As always, feel free to ask me a question if you have any. I will try to get back to you when I can.