A/N: Chapter 2 is now live! Enjoy and in case you have questions about the events that transpire in chp 1-2 read the A/N at the bottom when you finish reading this. Have a nice day!
The day started out as normal as everyone attended their classes until the afternoon when all the teams were to gather at the training grounds outside. A green haired man stood and waited as students began entering one by one. "Seems I will be teaching Ike's students…" He walked to the center and immediately pulled a book from his robe and began reading.
Pyrrha sighed as she checked her gear while walking to the training grounds. Yesterday was tiring but that afternoon's class seemed like it would be a lot simpler since it was going to revolve around strategy and tactics. "I heard our professor for this one is a friend of Ike's." She snapped out of her stupor as she looked over at Yang who was talking to her team. "I think it's the green haired guy I ended up punching while fighting Ike. What was his name again?" She stopped as turned to the other team to ask a question when they all heard a loud slam.
"I'm glad I got your undivided attention. My name is Soren. I will be teaching this class and it will be fairly simple material and practice." He looked at everyone and nodded as he pointed at the leaders of team RWBY and CRDL. "I want both of your teams to come forward. And yours as well Miss Nikkos." Everyone nodded as they stepped forward with their weapons ready.
"Yesterday Ike tested your battle capabilities and today I will be testing your ability to plan and execute a strategy. All others are to take notes on the strategies they use and then you will all be giving your input as to what worked and didn't work." He quickly formed glyphs under each team. "You will all be teleported to your destinations." He proceeded to toss each team a small white stone. "I will be keeping contact with all of you via those stones. Have your leader carry them." Each team readied themselves as they began disappearing one by one.
Once all teams disappeared, he concentrated on the stone as he began to speak. "Due to Team JNPR having one less member. Select a member of each team to stay behind and defend the objective. The two members selected to defend cannot leave the area and must be near their scroll part at all times. Please make your selections."
Pyrrha looked over at Ren and Nora as they began to discuss who they should force to stay in base. "If we make Cardin stay behind then he won't be able to command his team unless he's using his scroll to keep in touch with his team." She thought about it when the raven haired aura specialist spoke again. "The problem will be team RWBY. If we really need to keep someone out it should be Weiss. She will be able to harass us from afar with her spells while the rest of her team can close in but, it also works inversely. If we press her then she will have no other option than to be conservative until she needs to refill the dust canister on Myrtenaster. We can defeat her then and steal the scroll piece." The spear bearer nodded as she concentrated on the stone.
"Instructor Soren. We've made our decision. Weiss Schnee and Cardin Winchester will be the ones bound to their scrolls. We are ready to commence." The mage nodded as he concentrated on the stone once more. "Understood. One more thing. Since you have one less member you are not bound to a single area. Your team is allowed to roam with the scroll piece. Attackers. Commence the mission! Cardin Winchester. Weiss Schnee. You are bound to your scrolls. Defend them and hope for the best. Good luck to all." The red head nodded as she readied her weapon and stood by the scroll. "Okay, we have a slight advantage with being able to stick together." She looked at the map that was in her scroll. "We're in the emerald forest, well technically near the entrance of it." She pointed at three highlighted areas.
On the map in their scrolls they noticed a few things. The entrance was comprised of three separate sections which acted as each team's base of operations. Apart from that, there were a series of differing paths connecting the three points. Some were loaded with trees while others were simple straight paths with paved roads. Finally, there was a section which was completely covered in trees and difficult to maneuver in a large group which Pyrrha took into account. "I'll go through the center, the trees will provide cover and allow me to ambush any attackers easily." She then pointed to the grass covered path connecting to team CRDL's location. "Take the grassy path towards Cardin's location and take the scroll from him. Once you get it we'll meet up and we can whittle down team RWBY for theirs."
Once the team agreed on the plan, they went on their separate ways. Pyrrha took a deep breath as she looked at the sea of trees in front of her. Once she built up her courage, she ran in and began making her way towards Weiss where she would scout the area ahead of her friends making it back.
Meanwhile, Ruby was thinking of a plan to effectively secure the other pieces of the scroll that they needed. "This place is a little too open but we do have a couple of buildings over there that we can use." The rest of the members of the team nodded as Weiss picked up her piece of the scroll and walked towards the group of buildings. "Okay now that Weiss is in a safe spot, Yang you go and try to get Pyrrha's scroll while Blake goes through the forested part of the entrance to take advantage of our numbers." The buxom brawler nodded while the ninja disappeared in a flash. Ruby then looked at the map once more and noticed that the clear path that Yang was taking would be the most dangerous so she decided to tail her sister in case she needed the backup.
Cardin spat on the ground while starring at his map with a frown. "JNPR Is going to be targeted heavily by two people most likely so we'll set up an ambush over here." He placed his hand on the part of the map where two of the paths connected before separating once more. "If we move quickly enough and hide ourselves we can jump them when they wear each other out. If anything we can take a hostage in order to make things smoother for us." He sighed as he looked at the scroll piece that he was forced to guard. He scoffed at the idea that he was being relegated to something a guard dog or random faunus would do. Scratch that, a dog would be better and listened when you told them to stay still.
"Sky! Dove! You two set up the ambush and capture someone we can use as leverage. If that little red riding runt is there grab her up and bring her to me. Her sister would have no option but to listen to us if we have her hostage." Once the members left, Russel spun his knife in his hands. "I got some traps set up at the entrance, if anyone wants in then they better duck." The two chuckled as they waited for the other teams to show up.
Yang sighed as she walked through the open path with her arms behind her head. "Man this is a bit boring. I don't even think we'll see Pyrrha let alone anyone there." She sighed until she noticed something was strange. "Hmm I'm close. Really close but no pot shots. Nothing." She sped up her pace and once she saw the clearing, her suspicion turned out to be true. "Go figure. They only have three people so I guess this is the best way to make it even." She fiddled with her scroll until the image of Weiss showed up. "I'm pretty sure Ruby is doing some sneaking so I'm not calling her." The heiress let out an audible sigh as she listened to the brawler. "They let em walk around so that piece that Pyrrha's team has is out there somewhere I don't know where."
Blake was moving through the trees unheard while she looked for hints as to where the other two members of JNPR would have moved to. Her ears perked up as she picked up the sound of moving leaves near her. 'Someone's close' she tracked the sound of the leaves where she noticed Pyrrha moving towards Weiss' location. 'I can't let her scout… but I need to help the others in case of an ambush.' She rubbed her head as she noticed the golden opportunity in front of her. 'I'll take the chance. Hopefully they'll understand.' With a light grunt the ninja landed close to the gladiator who was using Milo's rifle form to scout the nearby area. In an instant the two collided knocking each other away.
The brawler began her walk back towards the base but had a feeling something wasn't right. She hated that feeling especially since it tended to be true. "Whoever's there step out and I won't beat your face in too hard." She tried her threat once more but when no one stepped out she shrugged and continued her trek back to her base. Behind her was Dove who was tracing her while keeping his scroll's positioning system on. He smirked as he reached behind his back and drew his long sword. The blonde was clueless and hitting her now would be the best option as they made it to the center of the paths.
Yang had that same feeling again when she finally allowed her Ember Celica to take its full form. "Bring it on you creeps!" The only thing she saw coming was a flashbang which caused her to scream in pain as she tried to clear her vision. "Now!" Sky jumped from one of the trees and slammed the pole end of his halberd on the back of the brawler's head followed by kicking her legs out from under her. A scream caught the halberdier's attention as he turned and caught sight of Dove with ruby in a choke hold with his sword at her neck. Sky then placed the blade of his halberd on Yang's neck forcing her to stay still as she once again tried to clear her vision. "Ngh. You bastards! I'll tear you apart once I can see again." Sky taking his chance kicked the brawler in the side of the head knocking her out. "Let's get this twerp back to Cardin so we can lure the others."
Yang laid there unconscious as the two members from CRDL walked away with her sister. A few minutes later, Blake made it to the meeting point where she was supposed to originally meet her partner only to find her out cold. "Oh no…" She winced as her injuries from her fight with Pyrrha were aching. "I should have been here…" The ninja looked at her scroll and noticed a message on it from Cardin.
"Dear team RWBY, I have your leader in my possession and if you want her back, bring me whatever scroll pieces you were able to get. You all obviously know where I am but if you try anything funny… Let's just say you'll be looking for a new R in your team." Blake stared at the message in disbelief as she looked at her partner who began to stir. "Damn it all." She reached behind her back and looked at the scroll piece she was able to steal from Pyrrha and shook her head. "This wasn't worth it at all."
Nora and Ren walked through the grassland until they spotted something strange up ahead. "Renny! Look!" The aura user pulled out a pair of binoculars and zoomed in towards where Nora had been pointing. "Those guys are from Cardin's team." The martial artist looked at his partner with a worried gaze. "What's wrong?" He then handed her the binoculars which she then proceeded to look through. "I'm gonna break their legs!" She yelled out while going into a full out sprint.
"Nora wait!" Ren grit his teeth as he was barely able to tackle his partner onto the ground. Before she could speak he placed his hand over her mouth then pointed at some strange boxes in the area. "Those things are full of Grimm." He then pointed at the ground where she was about to run through. "Tripwire. If you hit that we would have had to fight a horde of Grimm." He carefully stood up and noticed that the wires were set up in case someone was being chased. "No way could anyone be able to see these if they were chasing someone." Nora nodded as she took a deep breath and slowly moved towards one of the large crates where the sounds of Grimm were getting louder and louder. Then suddenly it stopped.
Both realized they had just been had and were about to rush when the hammerer drew Magnhild and smashed it into the ground causing a mound of dirt to shoot up and stop a series of spikes which were about to impale them. "Ok pointy things that can kill us. Great!" She smiled as she switched her hammer to its grenade launcher form and began firing shot after shot at the crates.
With each crate destroyed, the sounds of explosions had stopped only to be replaced by the sounds of growling. Ren cursed under his breath when he took a deep breath and got into a hand to hand stance. "Nora I'll hold them off! Go catch up to those guys and get Ruby back!" The hammerer nodded before sprinting off after the members of CRDL. Seconds later a pack of beowolves had the martial artist surrounded. Taking his time he proceeded to dispatch each wolf one at a time until he was sent flying across the field.
"What the?" He pushed himself up and noticed an alpha was with him. "This is not good at all." Thrusting his arms out allowed his stormflower to come out from his sleeves and into his hands. He waited until the alpha made a move which caused it to simply sniff the air until it turned its head back to Ren. The alpha seemed to be grinning as it stalked its prey once it knew that the person's mate had left him to die. Lowering its body to the ground as it continued to tread carefully around the martial artist.
After a few seconds both attacked each other as a frenzy of bullets and swipes erupted from the two only resulting in Ren crashing into the ground after a heavy hit to the chest from the alpha's claws. He winced as he pushed himself back up and noticed the alpha back on him once more. With an aura empowered kick the beast roared as it staggered to the side allowing the hunter in training to flip back onto his feet and unleash a second burst of rounds from his weapon. In retaliation it unleashed a roar which caused Ren to shield his ears from the sudden influx of sound.
In the small amount of time his eyes widened as he was picked up and held by his neck. 'If Nora was here there would be no way she could fight this thing.' He struggled as the beast tightened its grip on his neck. 'Damn it. MOVE!' He grit his teeth when he noticed a series of arrows strike the plating on the beast's back causing it to growl before throwing the martial artist onto the floor.
He heard the sound of more arrows hitting the bone plating before a howl caused him to roll out of the way of the charging beast. A woman about five foot five stood near the trees with a compact bow unfolded at her side. Nodding at the beast the martial artist nodded as she notched another arrow and waited. Using his speed, Ren dodged a swipe from the beast before throwing himself back and unleashing a torrent up bullets causing the beast to shield itself. A second later, an arrow pierced through the gap of its mask and its eye.
With a roar the alpha grasped at its head and staggered in pain until the woman ran at it, a spear in her hands. She ducked under its claw and thrust forward only to bounce off of its plating. A second later she ducked under another swipe and used the pole end to knock its head upwards. She roared and spun allowing the spear to cut open its side followed by another hit to its head. The martial artist knew what she was doing. She was attacking its blind spot in an attempt to throw it off balance.
Once a few minutes had passed, Ren moved his leg and noticed the pain had become dull. Knowing he had to help he readied his weapon in its bladed form and charged forward. The movements of the alpha had significantly slowed by this point and the pair was as fluid as water flowing down a stream. They avoided each other's attacks with narrow gaps and landed hits almost simultaneously. Once the beast had been weakened the woman pulled back and held her spear in a close range stance before she began to glow a bright yellow. A second later, her spear had pierced through the bone armor and into its chest. Seeing the chance, Ren charged forward and slammed his palm into the base of the spear, using it as a conduit and blowing up its insides.
The two sighed in relief until two men approached the duo. "Miss Damiel! I'm glad we found you." The older of the two spoke before signalling to her to follow them. "Thank you for your help young man." Ren nodded, confused but otherwise relieved as the tree now walked towards the exit and what he suspected Beacon. The girl could fight, that much he knew but something felt off about her. He couldn't put his finger on it but he chose to shrug it off and find Nora who hopefully would have rescued Ruby by now.
It was about to be noon when the sound of a door opening caused the Arc heir to stir from his sleep. He looked up and Ike stood by his bed, his golden blade missing and instead of the attire from the day before, he wore a shirt with no sleeves and a black hakama. His headband was missing as well which caused the knight to chuckle until he groaned in pain. Okay no laughing, he told himself as he gently pushed himself up and leaned against the wall."What brings you here?" The vanguard rubbed his chin then placed a scroll on the table near him.
"I see that you have potential. A lot of it actually." The knight raised an eyebrow but before he could say anything Ike held his hand out to silence him. "But its misplaced. You're using a style that doesn't do anything for the weapons you have." He pointed to the scroll and then he pushed a button on the scroll that was in his hand causing the screen to turn on and show what was going on in Soren's trial. "I don't know how I did that but alright." He placed the device next to the rolled up parchment he had with him at first. "I'll explain while we watch the trial."
The screen showed an overhead view of the people in the trial with aura meters and locations. He opened his own scroll and began to cycle through the various locations that were highlighted with people. He stopped when he noticed that both Ren and Nora were separated. He stared at the screen and noticed the martial artist's aura levels being extremely low. "He fought something big. He's almost out of aura." The vanguard nodded as he leaned back into his seat.
When he looked at the others he noticed something shocking. His team was severely weakened and team RWBY were low on aura as well. When he cycled the camera, he noticed that Nora was facing off against two of the CRDL members while Cardin and Russel kept Ruby in a position where she could do nothing to help the hammerer. He grit his teeth and was about to move when Ike nodded to the lower side of the screen. "That might be reinforcements coming to help even out the field." The knight looked back at his scroll and noticed something off. "Yang is going to go berserk."
Nora winced as she rolled past some arrows that Dove had fired her way, following up with her grenade launcher in order to buy some time for her aura to do its thing. The problem with that train of thought is that it would of worked, had she been against one opponent. In this case, she was facing two people, both being able to fight at close and long range. muttering under her breath she began to think of a plan when the sound of explosions caught her ears. What followed could only be considered the roar of a wild animal.
Dove turned and was immediately sent flying into one of the nearby pillars and knocked unconscious. Sky grit his teeth and was about to retreat when a ribbon wrapped around his neck and pulled him back. With a grunt he collapsed to the ground and gagged as Blake put pressure on the ribbon until he finally passed out. She turned to face Russel who grinned while placing his knife dangerously close to Ruby's neck. "Stand down girls. I'm only gonna say this once." Cardin stepped forward with his mace on his shoulder. "Where's my scroll pieces?"
Blake was about to walk forward when Yang grabbed her wrist forcefully. "We're not giving you anything." She ground her teeth as she looked for a way to close the gap in an instant. How she could kill to have one of Weiss' time dilation glyphs. She looked around and grinned as she was about to fire when a squeak caught their attention. Ruby had woken up, she had woken up and was now under even more of a threat than she was before. "Give back Ruby and maybe we'll give you the scroll!"
The sound of his tongue clicking caused the duo to roll their eyes. "Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. I asked you where it was and now you don't even have it." He let the mace hit the ground causing a small quake to spread through the ground. "And here I thought you guys were smart." That was it, she could strike now. All she needed was two seconds of him looking away and she could punch him hard enough to knock him out. Blake seemed to understand what the buxom brawler wanted to do but she shook her head. If they tried to fight, Ruby would be in danger. "All you had to do." He raised his mace. "Was bring me." He turned to Ruby and grinned. "The scroll." Before he could swing, a hail of bullets rained down on him causing him to growl.
Taking the chance, Yang bolted forward but before she could do anything, the color red caught her eyes. A thin line was on her sister's neck which caused her to back down. Ren cursed under his breath as his ambush failed followed by being smashed into the ground by the warrior's mace. "Get rid of everyone here. I'll give your sister back then." Yang knew what he was talking about. Turning on her team, turning on her friends. All for Ruby's sake. She turned and punched her fists together causing her aura to flare up.
"I'm sorry." Were the only words to escape her mouth as she charged forward. Her gauntlets were met with cold steel as she and her partner now fought one on one. The two exchanging blows as much as they could at least until the brawler's aura was practically covering her entire being. Blake knew what was about to happen and it wasn't good. She braced herself as an aura empowered fist was about to crash into the ninja when a hammer and shield stopped the blow causing both defenders to crash into opposite sides of the ground.
Pyrrha winced, a few seconds later and they would of lost someone. Nora on the other hand gripped her arm as pain shot through it. Ren slowly pushed himself up and walked over to his childhood friend and smiled as he cradled her head on his lap. "You guys made it." The hammerer smiled as she whispered about taking a small nap, meanwhile the spartan pushed herself up and readied her weapons.
The blonde grit her teeth as she turned back and looked at Cardin. He would pay. He would pay dearly. She roared as she charged forward. Blake and Pyrrha nodded as they both went to meet the brawler half way only for her to stop, pivot and run at the warrior. With a snap of his fingers, Russel was about to cut once again, this time deeper when his hand stopped moving. "I-I can't move?!" The warrior cursed under his breath when he slammed his mace down on the ground forcing everyone to avoid the massive burst from ground shattering.
"Damn it all!" The duo was about to retreat when a ribbon wrapped around Cardin holding him in place. Yang on the other hand channeled all of her aura into her fist as it collided with Russel proceeding to send him flying into a pillar that was directly behind him. He was knocked out cold as he lay in the massive crater that his impact caused. With a smile she grabbed Ruby who was doing her best to keep her sister from smothering her.
Jaune watched on with his hands gripping the sheets of the bed. His eyes dangerously narrowed as he thought about the things he would do to Cardin when the time came to fight once again. "You said I needed training right?" The vanguard nodded and grabbed the roll of parchment that was on the table next to him. He them placed it in front of the knight. "What I'm about to teach you is going to be much different than what you know." He watched as the knight in training opened the scroll and looked at the words. His body seemed to react as he read the words aloud almost as if he knew the language that was on it.
His body began to glow, a purple light flooding into him followed by his aches disappearing. He looked over at the vanguard who nodded at his use of the item. "I see. This is what you use to heal yourself." The knight muttered as he watched the light fade away. His body felt lighter than it did when he first unlocked his aura, now he was able to heal the damage left behind from injuries. The two sat in silence until the door opened revealing deputy headmistress Goodwitch. "How can I help you Headmistress?" She pointed to the screen where everyone noticed the fighting had ended and the participants were being sent back.
"Your team needs their leader. They seem pretty out of it at the moment." Jaune nodded as he pushed himself up. He was about to be told to get on a wheelchair when he stood perfectly fine. "Alright. Mind if I change into my equipment before I see them?" The headmistress nodded as she stepped out, allowing the knight to ready himself for the trip to the sparring grounds. His thoughts were full of what he could do now that he learned such a strange ability. To heal damage done by a prior injury. That was some serious stuff yet he worried since he knew that if his team knew, they would only try harder to protect him. For now all he could do was keep it a secret and instead learn from the person who put him in that room in the first place.
A few minutes later, the trio walked to the sparring grounds where each team that had competed was now resting and or getting treated for their injuries. Jaune walked past the student who questioned where he was and walked straight to his team. The sight he was greeted with was not pretty. Ren was laying down on the ground while medics were working on his fractured ribs. Nora had her arm in a sling and a bruise on the side of her face. Pyrrha was the only one not seriously hurt with the exception of her arm being in a sling as well but only for safety reasons.
The gladiator perked up at the sight of their leader as she walked over to greet him when she stopped and saw his expression. It was a mix of sadness and rage which he controlled well, almost as if it was something he dealt with in the past. He motioned to the gladiator to sit down and she did allowing him to take a seat next to her. "Yang was forced to turn on us. She did it to save Ruby." The knight nodded as he listened to her retelling of the fight between an enraged Yang and his team plus Blake.
The two were interrupted when the medics let them know that Ren was doing well now. The two stood up once more and walked over to their injured ally. He groaned in pain but his aura had already begin to alleviate the pain in his body from the fight with the Alpha and the failed ambush on Cardin. "I'm glad you're feeling better." The martial artist called out with a chuckle before wincing. "Can't say the same about myself." The knight sighed in relief until he noticed Nora sitting next to Ren with tears in her eyes. "Don't worry Nora. I'll be fine in a few days."
The Hammerer shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. She whimpered as she placed her hand over his stomach gently. "i couldn't help you Renny." He chuckled but winced right after as he felt his body ache. Placing his hand on her cheek he wiped her tears and took her hand into his. "I'm fine Nora. If you nurse me like always I'm sure I'll be fine faster." At those words she smiled as she nodded allowing the rest of the team to sigh in relief.
Meanwhile, Yang was tied to a bed as they worked on her wounds from fighting three people. Ruby sat at her side waiting for her to wake up. Her hand resting on her neck causing her to remember the situation they were in. Yang had fully lost all control as she proceeded to destroy everything in sight. She had grabbed an unconscious Cardin and was about to pummel him further when everyone who wasn't injured jumped on her. In a burst of power, she threw everyone off and walked back towards her prey when a glyph had formed around her stopping her in her tracks. The blonde looked to the source and saw Weiss who had abandoned orders. She was using all of her strength to stop the raging brawler from causing any casualties. Ruby looked at her other teammates.
They had all been injured in stopping her sisters rampage. Ruby had hurt her leg, Blake was knocked out cold when she tried to stop Yang with her weapon. Weiss had been hit the worst, once she had interfered, Yang broke through five glyphs and hit her directly. Her aura instantly broke causing the heiress to pass out. The one who stopped her rampage was their instructor. What had they learned from this activity? All she had learned was that her team, even after all the trouble they went through, still had no synergy. To be outpaced by Cardin's team was one thing. To nearly kill them was another.
She thought back to how the fight was ended almost instantly. Weiss had just collapsed and Ruby was about to try and stop her sister when a glyph appeared in front of her. Soren stepped out and simply shook his head at all of the destruction that had taken in the span of a few minutes. "I'll end this and send everyone back at once." The reaper watched in awe as he maneuvered past all of her blows, a blue light surrounding him followed by a black one. Once she had missed her fourth strike, she roared and was about to strike once more when her body was launched into the air by a vortex. From his sleeve she noticed a long thin blade that he readied as she came down. When she reached the appropriate height, Ruby's eyes widened as a dark red light surrounded his body."Go to sleep." A second later, her aura had shattered causing her to pass out.
The shadows did nothing to help the situation either. She looked on as dark eyes met lilac, frozen in her spot, she was mesmerized as she saw his lips curled downwards into a frown. His gaze disappointed as if he had seen something that was unforgivable. He spoke but she couldn't hear, her body refusing to cooperate from the immense pressure this man brought on her. The last thing she saw was him walking towards her, Yang in his arms. "Disappointing." Seconds later her vision went white as she was sent back.
Those few minutes he fought, were enough to cause her to feel something she rarely felt. Fear. Fear of losing someone close to her, fear of being an inadequate leader, and fear of these strange people that suddenly showed up. They weren't human. They were monsters.
A/N: I'm prolly gonna get some flak for this chapter. Yes Soren just insta Ko'ed Yang freaking Xiaolong while she was in her strongest state (that we know of.) There is a reason for this and for those who play fire emblem, you could tell how this happened. Yeah its diverging pretty quickly from the original story. Before the trial was almost three chapters but I decided to condense it to one chapter with this following chapter being the fall out of this event. The wheels are turning with Jaune gaining a new ability and accepting Ike's offer. Ruby feels inadequate in her role as leader and Cardinal were perceived to be the stronger of the three teams.
P.S. There are a few references to characters outside of RWBY in here. As well as a surprise cameo. Guess right get a prize? (maybeidkmaybeahhhhhhwe'llsee?)
Enjoy and don't forget to follow. Look forward to Chapter 3: Fortune Faded