Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, it belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.
I do, however own this fic, which means the story can diverge however I want.
"After I choked out the ursa, I set my sights on the on the giant deathstalker, it was a truly terrible beast to behold, but no match for me. I batted away claw and venom tipped tail, as he tried to devour me. When the moment was right, I slid beneath the massive carapace and used my immense strength to flip it over!" The professor droned on
Ruby groaned as professor Port regaled his unfortunate students with stories of his youth. For the few classes with port, it was interesting, but the stories got boring quickly. Even Weiss doesn't pay attention during this class, instead she studies what the professor is supposed to be talking about- grimm studies.
Ruby pulled her hood over her head and slumped on her desk, her muscles were sore from yesterday, and she needed rest for later. Weiss was going to make her study extra hard now she knows Ruby's true power. She drifted off…
The ringing bells woke the silver eyed warrior from her slumber. "It's already time? But I haven't gotten to the part where I take the king Taijitu and use it to strangle a goliath!" complained Port, in his manly voice.
The students who weren't sleeping started picking up their books and tried to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Ruby up looked to see Weiss observing her, smiling. "Weiss?" ruby said groggily, rubbing her eyes.
The Heiress quickly hid her smile and hauled ruby to her feet. "Just don't sleep through all of your classes, dolt.", She said, coldly.
"Okay?"
Weiss strolled out of the classroom.
The rest of the day went on like normal until the time for field training came. On most Fridays, Headmaster Ozpin would catapult students into a grimm infested forests. Today, however, he was calling up two teams at a time and sending them on missions. First year students rarely go out on real missions, Ozpin setting up mock missions in the Emerald Forest. "Team RWBY and Team JNPR, please report to the Headmaster's office." Said Glynda Goodwitch through the loudspeaker.
Professor Ozpin sat behind his massive desk, sipping at his hot chocolate. He was viewing footage of Ruby slaughtering grimm, limbs flew out of the frame, rose petals and ash fell from the sky. Ruby burst in, clearly exited to go on a real mission, petals trailing behind her. 'She is so much like her mother' Ozpin thought, idly. "Ms. Rose, You left your team behind. I hope you don't plan on taking this mission yourself.", the headmaster said, bemused.
"Yang agreed to make extra cookies for whoever got to your office first. She owes me cookies." The leader bragged, unaware of the faunus sitting in a corner, reading "Howling at the moon".
"Actually, those cookies are Ms. Belladonna's. She arrived 30 seconds ago." Ozpin responded, gesturing to the corner.
'Blake beat me in a contest of speed. How?' Ruby started thinking. When Yang announced that she would make cookies for whoever got to Ozpin's office first, Blake wasn't moving. How did she get so far ahead? Silver eyes met golden "You left a shadow clone behind and snuck off. You were well on your way to this office when Yang called out the challenge!" "And considering you knew to get a head start, it's clear that you and my sister were betting again!" Ruby accused.
Blake responded "Hey, you used your own semblance." then she grinned eerily, "We will just have to ask who gets cookies."
Team JNPR burst in with the other half of team RWBY, exited to go on the Beacon equivalent of a field trip. "Professor Ozpin, this is very important. Who of team RWBY got her first?" Yang questioned immediately.
Ozpin was watching the spectacle unfold before him. He interrupted the chatter by dramatically sipping his 'coffee'. "As entertaining as this may be, You eight are going on a real mission with full sized grimm so we don't have a repeat of last evening." The headmaster said, calmly.
Team RWBY was shocked, JNPR was confused. Weiss said, "How do you know about yesterday?"
"A little birdie had good sense to turn on the cameras I have in the emerald forest." Ozpin plugged his scroll into the holographic projector on his desk, showing the young hunters footage of a red cloaked scythe wielder, as she quickly destroyed everything in her path. She sent limbs flying in all directions, Crescent Rose constantly chopping like the blade of a blender.
Jaune Arc whispered, "The emerald forest… almost emptied of grimm?" he was transfixed by Ruby's graceful, violent, dance.
Nora Valkerie exclaimed, "So It's your fault we get to go on a mission? Awesome!"
Pyrrha Nikos stood next to Jaune, wishing that polarity worked on people.
Lie Ren remained silent, the bleeding of his semblance rendering him almost unnoticeable next to his teammates.
"Now that you are all here, I will tell you that this mission is the most difficult task I have ever given you, which is why I am sending in both of your teams." His voice silenced his students.
"Recently, a large mass of grimm has been sighted outside the kingdom. Usually we let them wander outside of our borders." Ozpin dramatically sipped from his cup and continued, "However, in the path of this group, are several small towns. The villagers still haven't evacuated."
"How will we help?" questioned Pyrrha.
The headmaster ordered, "Your mission is to eliminate the whole group, especially the elder grimm. Your airship awaits."
About half an hour later
"We are here kiddos… Woah that's a lot of grimm!" announced the shopkeeper in his nigh unintelligible voice, lowering his craft to the ground.
Nora, Ruby, and Jaune pressed against the glass, watching the horde crawl across the plains, a dark spot on the landscape half a mile long and an eighth mile thick. The bullhead alighted on the top of the cliff.
"Now go so I can get out of here before I have to out fly nevermores! I'm not the unstoppable army I used to be!" The god of multi-tasking shouted over the noise of engines and the ramp hinging open. No one on remnant (except a certain headmaster) knew how the old man ran so many businesses, and seems to be in multiple places at once. Complete mastery over a cloning semblance? Ozpin's magic? Lots of genetically similar brothers? Lazy animators? A successful human cloning experiment? Remnant is a land of many mysteries.
"Thanks for the ride shop keep!" Yelled Pyrrah, only to see the aircraft flying away as quickly as possible.
The eight students stood at the edge, watching the beautiful vista, large grassy plains, aspen groves, and large forests. The high sun was surprisingly harsh, but the air was oddly cold at this high elevation. "So that was a thing." Stated Blake, referring to their pilot.
"So, what now?" asked Jaune nervously.
Ruby spun Crescent Rose to its full length and peered through the scope. "We do exactly what we have been training for." She said confidently, "Team RWBY and I will take the further flank; we move faster. Then we will meet in the center and take the goliath 8 on 1. Let's go team!" She stepped off the cliffside.
Yang put on her sunglasses and blasted herself off the cliff side, grinning.
Weiss called up a rune and launched herself off rune. She shouted, "Ruby! Slow down!"
"Wait! I don't have a speed semblance or gravity dust!" Yelled Blake, also taking a leap of the edge.
"Why don't you do what you did earlier today!" came the response.
"Heh… Time to practice my new landing strategy." Jaune had jumped off the cliff too.
Pyrrha shouted, "Jaune!" and leapt after him, only to see him using the edge of his shield to slide down the cliff's face, slowing his fall.
Nora cheered, "Wow, our friends have gone completely crazy, let's jump after them!"
"Nora." Ren's StormFlowers sprung from his sleeves. "Let's break some legs."
With team RWBY at the southern flank of the Grimm Horde.
Weiss tore her rapier from the boarbatusk's eye socket and smoothly impaled a Beowulf. A rune in the right hand was used to deflect a paw swipe from an ill-tempered ursa, who then got a triangular blade through its spine. The blasts caused by Ruby occasionally breaking the sound barrier and Yangs's gauntlets were still loud, even with aura protecting her ears. Weiss barely backed away fast enough to avoid an elder Deathstalker's claw and ended up back to back with Ruby, both covered in dust residue and ashes. The leader yelled loud enough to hear herself through her ear protection., "I will take out it's tail, and you can take out the sensor on its belly! Then we will pierce is skull using Myrtenaster when it can't find us!"
Weiss nodded, and they separated so they could dodge another punch thrown by the grimm's massive claws. She managed to flank the Grimm scorpion, but it's many legs were blocking her target, moving about while Ruby dueled its' pincers. Using dust, she managed to freeze the legs to the ground, then launched herself. Nearly scraping the ground, Weiss flew beneath the carapace and turned the 2 feathery organs into a shish-kabab that became ash, even as she rolled away.
With the Deathstalker's left legs frozen to the ground, Ruby saw an opportunity. She took it, hooking the left pincer, using her semblance to spiral down the arm, then incredible force of a gravity round carried the blade through the limb. The reaper landed on the scorpion's head, the grimm tried to stab its assailant with its poisonous tail, but she blinked forward, then spun with her scythe, sending the stinger into a random ursa. She jumped off landed next to her white-haired partner. "What next?" asked Weiss
"Now, we fly. Hold on." They held onto each other's wrist, and Ruby took both of them to the sky. They used the team attack they had practiced for use against armour. Ruby flung her partner at the head of the scorpion. The fine blade of Myrtenaster pierced through the exoskeleton with ease. Ruby landed, denting the ground, she had to immediately start slashing open the ordinary grimm.
Weiss pulled out her sword and landed next to her partner. The deathstalker was still twitching, even as it turned to ash. They continued fighting Suddenly, Yang and Blake fell from the sky, surfing the evaporating body of giant nevermore, they both skillfully dismounted and stuck the landing. "Hey sis, have you cleared the sky?" shouted Ruby over their auric ear protection.
Yang grinned, Ruby paled, realizing what was coming. "There are regular birds up there, nevermore."
Weiss sighed and repeatedly skewered another Beowulf.
Blake Interrupted, "There's something more important for this mission. Team JNPR, is missing, so is the goliath that was leading this horde!" while severing the spine of an ursa.
Ruby pulled out her scroll and dialed Jaune, now wielding her scythe one-handed.
"Oh, hi Ruby. *Ow*"
"Jaune, where is team JNPR?!"
"We are on the cliff we jumped off."
"What happened to the goliath?"
"It tried to get away, we managed to slay it, but I broke a few ribs, Ren sprained both wrists, and Nora dislocated her shoulder.
"Don't worry, we can handle the rest ourselves.
Though next time, call the rest of your forces."
She hung up and continued killing.
JNPR vs The Goliath Grimm:
Jaune clumsily scrambled out of the way of a charging creep. He ran forward and slashed the lizard grimm's spine. Suddenly, he heard booming footsteps, the goliath was fleeing. "JNPR, regroup! Target is fleeing!" Jaune commanded.
Ren and Nora fell from the sky, cracking the ground, and Pyrrha skidded to a halt and caught her shield. The goliath charged at some point to their left, probably to escape.
"Reinforce your ears until I signal, it's trunk can make a noise the disrupts the aura of those who hear it."
"Nora." Jaune tossed her a 2-gram vial of yellow dust "Break its legs."
"Yes sir!" Nora saluted, cheerfully.
The group started running while Jaune continued explaining his strategy.
"Ren, you come in from the left flank and start pulling off its armor, Pyrrha and I will deal with its tusks and trumpet."
Pyrrha gasped, the blonde was so awesome when he took control
The plan laid out, Jaune knew of the high risk that they would be break some bones. "Attack!" roared their leader. He felt that he forgot an important detail that would make this mission less dangerous.
Nora rushed in, crushing the vial of yellow dust in her fist and charging herself. Magnhild cracked an enormous kneecap, with the force of lightning and oak trees behind it. She grabbed another leg with her left hand, and tossed the elephantine grimm over her shoulder, leaving a massive crater. Having used the energy from the electrical dust, she suddenly noticed incredible pain in her shoulder, it felt like the joint was connected all wrong.
"I broke two legs, and my arm, now get him!" yelled Nora. She fought through the army wielding her hammer in one hand, retreating towards the cliff.
The grimm let out a soul warping rumble from its trunk, barely blocked out by aura. It could still walk, though it couldn't escape anymore. Instead of trying to escape, it used its trumpet to call more grimm. Ren jumped onto the goliath's side, and scrambled up to its back. He slammed his blades into a gap in the bony armour, the started prying off the plate. The grim shook with such force, the armour plate came off. Ren landed grimacing, he had twisted his wrists because he was focusing more aura than usual to shield his ears.
While Ren was prying at the armour, Jaune and Pyrrha where slashing and stabbing through the lesser grimm to stop them from interfering with the fight. Jaune nodded to Pyrrha, who then launched him at the creature's face using her power over magnetism. Landing sword first onto the trumpet, he had pierced the massive nose, silencing the grimm leader. The blade of the sword blocked off the nasal cavity, but the muscles still worked, and the trunk slammed Jaune in the chest, sending him 70 meters and into a tree. He felt a crack in his chest. Aura wasn't enough to protect him from such an incredible force, that it broke terminal velocity.
Pyrrha saw a white flare in the sky. That was the signal - combat is easier when you can hear. Her aura spread across her body and she continued fighting. She heard Jaune yelling "The armour is gone, finish him!" His voice was pained, every breath hurt. "We will retreat to the cliff!"
Pyrrha rushed at the goliath, threw her shield, and used it to smash into the creatures exposed spine. The shield flew back to her grasp, as the grimm slowly fell.
A/N:
Chapter three, finally complete.
Jaune:
Jaune is no longer General "Run in a circle!", he actually tries to strategize – though a better strategist would have called in team RWBY to help. He is also skilled in hand to hand because he grew up wrestling with seven older sisters, but doesn't have the strength or speed of other students; this is still his first year of huntsman training.
The grimm:
In RWBY, it is never specified what it takes to kill them, unlike in SNK where the target is the nape. I decided that the most efficient way to kill grimm is to cause enough damage their brain or spine (tails not included). It is possible to kill by making them 'bleed' to death, by losing too much black smoke, but it takes longer. To protect themselves, grimm develop bony armour or spikes on their backs as they grow stronger.
A Goliath's trumpets only affect people who can hear it, It operates on similar principles as binaural beats. Resonating with someone's aura to temporarily disable it can't be done directly with sound because aura isn't a physical body part.
The modification on crescent rose:
Last chapter, I was made aware that I didn't explain what Ruby's gun mod does. It's a silencer, it makes the gun quieter. Use with sub sonic bullets for quiet sniping. Fun fact: In real life 'Silencer' is the legal term, 'suppressor' is the technical term.
Aura:
I decided that aura is not a shell of energy that covers the outside of the body, if it only protected the outside of the body, most of the characters would be dead It permeates the whole being; this would help people survive the sudden stop at the end of the fall by reinforcing their circulation, and internal organs. All students at beacon can survive a fall at terminal velocity – that means any fall from within Remnant's atmosphere.