I'm giving a massive spoiler at the end about the nature of the gundams in this fic, since I've got a feeling there will be people who would be confused if I don't do this. Since the nature of gundams and the system that replaces Alaya-vijana would only be addressed one part at a time across the span of the story, if you want to know about it now rather than wait until the chapters are out, go to the spoiler below. I'm not divulging everything, though, so you might still have questions after you read it.
Also, instead of ASW, I'm changing it to AGW for a specific reason that will be told in later chapters.
And to answer Kylesilos22's question: No, you don't need to watch IBO to understand the story (you should, though, since it is awesome).
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Gundam
000
Chapter 2
Gundam
000
~ Beacon ~
Ozpin eyed the students walking towards the Academy from the top of the clock tower where his office was located. In his hands were his favourite mug and a Scroll pad showing a live feed of the giant white robot, Barbatos as it was called, standing in the underground hangar of the Academy, restrained by machines used to keep large aircraft in place. Near it was some of Beacon's best mechanics and researchers, who had been working all night analyzing the robot to determine what it actually was and who created it.
It was clear, however, that those people would rather stay as far away as possible from the giant robot for a very simple reason. It was staring at them.
It was one thing to have a superior staring at them; it was one thing to have a terrorist staring at them. Heck, it was one thing to have a vicious Grimm staring at them.
But it was another thing to have a giant robot inanimately following their every movement without a single moment of rest.
It was a strange thought considering that the machine was clearly…no, supposed to be inactive. There was no one in its cockpit, and it motionlessly stood without any sign of movement of any kind.
Yet he and everyone in that hangar could feel its eyes on the back of their heads. Like the machine would turn its head to look at them when they weren't looking.
The level of anxiety that these people had from feeling that they were possibly being watched by this robot was so thick that Ozpin, who was monitoring them through his Scroll, could even taste it in on his tongue. If this happened outside the Academy ground, who knew how many Grimm would be attracted to these people because of the negative emotion they exuded.
Sipping his coffee, Ozpin slid the screen of his Scroll while internally sighing to himself. He did not know what his friend would say or do once he found out about this machine. Although he preferred to keep its existence a secret until the mystery surrounding it had been unraveled, right now he was short on personnel who specialized in engineering. And where else could one find the best engineers in Remnant than the Kingdom of Innovations, Atlas itself?
The question was how long would the specialists from Atlas last near that machine?
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the voice of his trusted aide, the woman known as Glynda Goodwitch entered his ears. "It's not that I doubt Ironwood can keep his secret, but walls have ears as they say. If the rest of Atlas council hear about this…machine, and words about it spread to other kingdoms, problems might arise."
"Do we have any other choice?" Ozpin asked back, turning to look at his companion. Her long blonde hair tied into a bun like always and the usual sharpness of her gaze, for one Ozpin appreciated the sense of normalcy that came from seeing that some things had never changed. Especially after he had taken a glimpse into the nature of the mystery that was the giant white machine, Barbatos.
000
~ 11 hours ago ~
"I take it all of you are very tired right now," Ozpin began; eyeing Professor Oobleck and the members of team RWBY. "Which is why I won't ask you to give a detailed report of your activity. I just want to know where and how you discover this machine."
There were seven people standing in the Headmaster's office. Well, to be precise six people standing since said Headmaster was sitting on his chair. There was team RWBY, Professor Bartholomew Oobleck who accompanied said team on their mission, and Professor Glynda Goodwitch, the person who was responsible for assigning punishment to team RWBY.
Coughing, Professor Oobleck pushed Ruby's back gently. "Well, Headmaster, I think Ms. Rose here is the most suitable person to answer your question, seeing that she's the one who found it."
"Ms. Rose?" Ozpin's eyes focused solely on Ruby now as the young Rose nervously walked forward.
"That's, um…where should I begin?" Ruby asked.
"How about right before you found it?" Ozpin suggested.
Ruby nodded and she began recounting the event that led to her discovering the white machine. She told the entire room how, after she fell down the hole, she found herself in a humongous cave entirely covered by Dust. That the Dust crystals in that place were so dense it no longer looked like crystals. How there was a tunnel leading to an even bigger cave, and finally how she found Barbatos chained down in the middle of a symmetrical rock formation in that cave.
"I see…" Ozpin briefly mused at this piece of information. Caves that were covered entirely with Dust? He never heard of anything like that before. While Dust crystals could often be located in the same general area, they were usually found scattered across the area instead of concentrated in one place. Then there's the matter of its density that the young Rose had mentioned. Her description of it was astonishing considering that Dust in its solid form should be quite fragile, which was how it could be processed into powdered form quite easily.
If words got out that there existed places like these caves out there, who knew what kind of war those mining companies would wage on each other to gain ownership of them. He couldn't help feeling somewhat relieved that the site that the young Rose fell into had sunk deep beneath the ground, though he also felt conflicted by the fact that he felt a slight relief that a large deposit of Dust was gone just like that when it might prove to be useful for the safety of the people of Remnant.
Then there were the questions regarding the identity of the white machine.
Sipping his coffee, Ozpin voiced a certain question that had been at the back of his mind since Oobleck showed him the white machine. "Ms. Rose, I noticed you keep calling this white machine 'Barbatos'. Why is that?" Ozpin inquired.
"Because that's its name," Ruby answered simply. Ozpin eyed her curiously, even more so when he noticed that the rest of her team and Professor Oobleck were also eyeing her with the same curiosity that he had. So, Ruby Rose was somehow the only person who knew of its name? What a curious turn of event.
"And how did you find out its name?" Ozpin inquired further. Despite his curiosity, he certainly didn't expect to receive the kind of answer that came out of the young Huntress-in-training's mouth, though.
"It's written on the screen whenever it goes online," Ruby answered almost nonchalantly like she was stating something that should have been obvious to everyone. She looked behind her, expecting her teammates and Professor Oobleck to agree with her, but all she saw was a bewildered look on their faces.
Judging from their reaction, Ozpin deduced that they indeed did not have the information that the young Rose possessed about the white machine. But this pegged a question. They piloted the machine at least once in the video, so how come they didn't seem to know its name if what Ruby Rose said was true?
The leader of team RWBY felt a little bit nervous at the sudden attention she was receiving. She didn't expect all eyes to be on her suddenly, and to be honest she started to feel like some sort of exotic animal that was being displayed to the audience.
Fidgeting slightly, Ruby asked, "Did I say…something funny?" To answer her question, Ruby suddenly found Yang draping her arm over her shoulders while holding a Scroll in front in of her eyes.
"Wait…wait. Are you talking about this, Ruby?" Yang showed Ruby pictures of Barbatos' cockpit on her Scroll, clearly taken when the blonde girl was enjoying her flight if the night sky at the background was any indication.
Ruby looked at the pictures and then she turned to Yang. "When did you take pictures of Barbatos?" Ruby asked.
"I wanted to show it to our friends back home. Bet they'd be super jealous," Yang flashed her a grin and winked. Ruby grinned as well, knowing how jealous her friends in Signal would be once they saw these pictures. "Anyway, it's this one, right?" Yang asked, pointing at a series of black lines horizontally lining next to each other.
"Yup," Ruby nodded, giving her confirmation.
Yang raised an eyebrow before jokingly asked, "Oh wow, I'm impressed, Rubes. When did you learn how to read barcodes?" She was expecting her sister to be somewhat annoyed by her teasing and pouted like always, but her grin faltered once she saw the puzzled look plastered all over her sister's face.
"Barcodes? What are you talking about? It clearly says here, [AGW - GUNDAM 08 - BARBATOS]," Ruby read out while tracing her finger on the Scroll, surprising everyone who had entered Barbatos' cockpit.
"Gun…dam?" Professor Goodwitch said the unfamiliar word slowly.
"That's right. Gundam Zero Eight…Barbatos," Ruby repeated. "I think Barbatos supposed to be its name. I don't know what Gundam and AGW mean, though," Ruby admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.
"Don't worry, Ms. Rose. You're not the only one," Ozpin reassured her. He turned his attention to Yang, who was staring worriedly at her younger sister. "Ms. Xiao Long, if I may borrow your Scroll…"
Yang glanced at her Scroll again, at the images of Barbatos' cockpit to be precise, before handing her Scroll to Ozpin.
"Thank you," Ozpin gratefully accepted before putting the Scroll on his table. Immediately, the pictures on Yang's Scroll were projected at the centre of the room. "Ms. Rose, if you would kindly point out the words again for us," Ozpin asked, eyes on Ruby who nodded at his request.
Ruby pointed a finger at the top barcode in one of the pictures. "AGW." She then moved her finger to the barcode below the previous one. "Gundam 08." And finally, she pointed at a different picture, one where another barcode dominated the entire screen, obstructing the two previous barcodes. "Barbatos."
…
….
….
Silent.
Nobody spoke a word after Ruby finished reading what should have been nothing but mere barcodes, but after a couple of moment, Blake stepped forward, eyes locked on Ozpin.
"Professor, isn't it likely that this robot was made by Atlas? Some kind of secret project that they don't want the world to find out maybe?" Blake hypothesized. Ozpin immediately shook his head.
"If it was, Atlas did an outstanding job in hiding it," Ozpin responded. "I understand your logic, Ms. Belladonna. Atlas is the only Kingdom with the kind of technology that could possibly create a machine like this. But there are two things that go against that logic," Ozpin pointed out, raising two fingers. "First, it does not make sense for them to hide something like this in Vale's territory, and considering that the climate and terrains of Solitas are much better for keeping large machines inconspicuous and safe from prying eyes and Grimm alike, I see no reason for them to go out of their way to construct a machine like this in another continent with or without notifying the ruling council. I believe Ms. Schnee would agree with my assessment on this?" Ozpin addressed Weiss, who stiffened under his gaze.
"Yes, Professor. If Atlas indeed wants to hide something, which I do not believe they do," Weiss emphasized, briefly exchanging glances with Blake, and continued, "Solitas is a far better option than Vale. It's harsh, rigid, and there are many places that would be very difficult to reach even with aircraft unless you know the terrain well."
"Which brings us to the second point against Ms. Belladonna's argument," Ozpin continued, lowering one finger. "Ms. Schnee, you are an heiress of Schnee Dust Company, right?"
"Yes sir," Weiss replied immediately. What was the point of asking something that Ozpin should have already known?
"Now, Ms. Schnee, let's do a bit of a role-playing," Ozpin began, and everyone else in the room raised their eyebrows. "If you are an Atlas official looking for a site in any continent to build a giant machine, and you stumble upon not one, but two caves large enough for Beacon Academy to fit in and are covered entirely with Dust crystals, what would you do?" Ozpin questioned Weiss.
Putting a hand on her chin, Weiss thought about the course of actions that she would take if she were an Atlas official. "In this case, I will report it back to Atlas military as soon as possible so a permit can quickly be issued to Schnee Dust Company to start mining the crystals. And considering the value of Dust to the people, only once the caves are absolutely empty of Dust would Atlas use it for other purposes," Weiss answered to which Ozpin nodded to show he agreed with her assessment.
"Ms. Rose," Ozpin turned to Ruby again. "Was there any signs of excavation and mining efforts in those caves?"
Ruby put a finger on her chin, trying to remember if there were such signs. "I don't think so," Ruby replied a bit hesitantly. She didn't see any signs of human activity in those caves, but she couldn't be sure about it because she was so focused on trying to find a way out. And with a battle waged between her team and a gargantuan Nevermore, she wouldn't exactly have the time to enjoy some deep cave adventure anyway.
Ozpin nodded, satisfied by Ruby's answer. That answer would suffice for now.
Turning back to Blake, Ozpin gave her a reassuring smile, hoping that the answers her teammates gave alleviated her suspicion. "I hope that answers your question?"
"It does, Professor," Blake replied. While she still had her suspicion that Atlas might be involved in some way, she couldn't exactly dismiss their points either. Oh well, she would have time to investigate it later, though she didn't know when 'later' was going to be since there was a more pressing investigation to be done about the actions of her brothers and sisters of White Fang.
Satisfied by her answer, Ozpin stood from his chair and made his way to team RWBY. Handing back Yang's Scroll, a faint smile then appeared on Ozpin's face.
"Now, the clock has gotten really late and I'm sure all of you would rather hit the bed quickly than spending a second more in this place," Ozpin said, amused when Ruby inadvertently let out a small yawn at the mention of 'bed'. "I will have breakfast time extended to 11, go have as much rest as you need," Ozpin said, causing the sisters' faces to beam positively, while Weiss and Blake nodded appreciatively. "Well then, I hope you'll have a good dream."
Team RWBY immediately went to the elevator, wanting to quickly hit the bunk beds and drifted to dreamlands. Before the elevator doors closed, Ruby let out another yawn that was bigger than before, but immediately covered her mouth when she noticed that the Professors were all staring at her. Grinning sheepishly, Ruby gave the Professors a weak goodbye wave, causing Oobleck to chuckle a bit while Goodwitch simply sighed.
Ozpin smiled to himself, amused at the young Rose's innocence and simplicity. The moment team RWBY was gone from their sights, however, his expression became more solemn.
"Bartholomew, Glynda, what are your opinions regarding this…Barbatos?" Ozpin inquired, wanting to know what his colleagues have to say about this development.
Oobleck, having experienced what it was like to have piloted the white machine, Barbatos, started first. "From first-hand experience, I can say it is a magnificent piece of work. Its control is incredibly simplistic, requiring only the movements of the fingers on its touchscreen controllers, yet it could fly better than any aircraft we have. I didn't even feel any shaking from turbulence whatsoever," Oobleck explained.
"So it was better than an aircraft yet was simple enough that its pilot could easily learn to handle it?" Ozpin thought to himself before turning to the female Professor. "Glynda?"
If Glynda shared his concern that anyone might be able to take control of this…Gundam, she didn't show it. "There are a couple things that troubled me from hearing Ms. Rose's account, but one of the things that Ms. Rose pointed out earlier is the most significant one. Gundam 08," Glynda pushed her glasses, still trying to comprehend what the words Gundam and AGW truly meant, what their significance was. "I hope it isn't the case, but it sounds like a unit number."
"It does, doesn't it?" Oobleck agreed.
"I see. If it is indeed the case, it pegs questions… Where is number 1 to 7? How many of these Gundams exist out there? What's the reason for it to be chained? And most importantly, who created them and for what purpose?" Ozpin asked, listing the things that they would need answers for.
This was a worrisome development. Who knew what would happen if one of these machines fell to the wrong hand. He certainly hoped such thing would never happen.
But, there was another thing that was troubling him.
How did Ruby Rose able to read what was supposed to be barcodes?
No, that was probably not the right question to ask.
How did those barcodes appear as normal words to Ruby Rose and Ruby Rose alone?
Hopefully, the engineers whom he had asked earlier to stay would be able to figure out the mystery of this Gundam.
Beeps came from Ozpin's Scroll. Looking at the ID, he raised his brow slightly, curious as to why the chief mechanic would call him. Maybe he had found something of importance in relation to this mysterious machine? But it seemed too fast for some sort of discovery to have been made. It hadn't even been an hour since the machine was placed in the underground hangar to be inspected.
Accepting the call, Ozpin placed his Scroll on the table, allowing Oobleck and Glynda to listen.
"Headmaster?" A gruff voice came from the other side.
"Yes, chief? Have you found something about that machine?" Ozpin asked. Was it just his imagination? For a second there he thought the old man on the other side sounded a bit distraught.
"Well…that is-," the old man almost choked, as if something had blocked his own voice
"Hm?" Ozpin was truly curious by now. While he wasn't close by any mean to the chief mechanic, that old man was usually very boisterous and straightforward with his words. There was never a hint of unease in his elderly voice and this old man was someone who would not be intimidated by anything, especially when he was working. Not even Grimm could deter him from completing his work once he had started.
"I'm sorry, but please assign me somewhere else." Now that was completely unexpected.
"Excuse me?" Ozpin almost sounded flabbergasted. Glynda and Oobleck would likely sound the same if they were in his shoes.
"Please, Headmaster."
Ozpin looked at Glynda and Oobleck, both of them also showed signs of confusion on their faces.
"What's wrong, Chief? You were so enthusiastic to examine the new machine earlier, so what's with the change of heart?" Ozpin asked, not bothering to hide his confusion anymore.
"JUST SHUT UP AND SEND ME AWAY FROM THIS THING!"
Ozpin, Glynda, and Oobleck were taken aback by the sudden outburst from the usually relaxed old man. The old man was gruff, strict and would yell at newbies, but they had never seen or heard him lost his composure. It almost like the person on the other side of the call was not the person that they had known for years.
"Chief, please calm down. Take a deep breath, calm down and tell me what is wrong," Ozpin requested, trying his best to soothe him.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…it just…its…"
"Yes?"
"It's staring." The voice that was so low it almost became a whisper was quivering. Fear clearly had taken over the owner of the voice.
"…"
"…"
The Professors silently glanced at each other, and, after taking moments to think, Ozpin decided to honour the chief's request. "...Very well, I will assign people to take over for you. Please get some good rest."
"Thank you, Headmaster."
Ozpin silently stared at his Scroll for what felt like hours. Glynda and Oobleck didn't say a thing as they look at Ozpin who was deep in thought.
"Bartholomew," Ozpin suddenly spoke. "I want you to find anything in history that might shine a clue as to what this machine is…what Gundam is."
"Leave it to me," Oobleck responded with a hand on his chest before making his way to the elevator.
After Oobleck disappeared from their sights, Ozpin turned to Glynda, who looked somewhat concerned by the call.
"Glynda, contact James first thing in the morning and asks him to bring Atlas' engineers and specialists with him," Ozpin ordered.
With a nod, Glynda simply replied, "Understood," before making her way down as well.
As he stood alone in his office, Ozpin pulled out his Scroll once again and this time it showed live feed from the security cameras in the hangar where Barbatos was kept. With narrowed eyes, he saw how the people in that hangar looked tense, nervous, even frightened, and none of them wanted to go near the white machine.
Focusing the camera on Barbatos, Ozpin quickly understood what the chief meant by 'it's staring'.
"Quite a troublesome thing, aren't you?" Ozpin muttered with a hint of irritation in his voice.
He did not know why he thought this way, but he was convinced that the machine could somehow hear him.
After all, he now felt a pair of eyes constantly staring at him on the back of his head.
000
~ Present Time - With Team RWBY ~
Let it be said that although Ruby Rose was not a heavy sleeper like her sister, this morning, and this morning only, she would have no problem spending her entire morning in bed. After they had reached their room, immediately team RWBY went to bed without changing their clothes. Exhaustion finally caught up with them as the adrenaline from the battle with Grimm and the discovery of a giant robot had finally worn off.
Then again, even if she wanted to stay in bed, she still needed to fill her stomach. Not to mention she hadn't cleaned herself up from last night activity, and, honestly speaking, with how much dirt, dust, and sweat she had accumulated, she felt dirty like a rag cloth that had been dipped in wastewater.
So, following the calling of delicious food and a warm bath, Ruby Rose reluctantly rose (no pun intended) from her slumber and headed to the bathroom. Taking off her Huntress clothes, Ruby then washed her face and stared at herself in the mirror.
"Yep, still the brilliant Rose, as always," Ruby proudly praised before her eyes took the sight of something located beneath her neck. "What is…?" Her eyes went wide from surprise as she took in what appeared to be a purple tattoo just slightly above her chest.
It wasn't there yesterday. This could only mean…
With anger rising to her head, Ruby dressed herself in Beacon uniform before slamming the bathroom door opened, heading towards her heavy sleeper of a sister.
"Yang!" Ruby jumped onto her sister's stomach, jerking her awake.
"Who-, wha-, Ruby?! What happened?! Are Grimm attacking us or something?!" Yang shouted, almost panicking from the pressing pain she felt on her stomach. She sweatdropped when her eyes saw a very angry Ruby whose fingers were wriggling around at a high pace.
"No, I'm the one attacking you!" Ruby shouted, and before her sister could react her hands went to Yang's sides and began tickling her
"Ahaha! Stop! Stop! I give up!" Yang's laughter caused the rest of team RWBY to wake up, wondering why they were so loud in the morning. Weiss angrily glared at the source of the obnoxious noise that dared to disturb her peaceful slumber, while the black-haired Faunus girl quickly got out of bed, fearing that the bed above her would collapse from all the rocking.
"That's what you get for drawing a tattoo on my chest," Ruby huffed, moving off her sister's stomach and down from the bed. She was expecting Yang to look quite sheepish and apologized for her action, but her sister looked perplexed instead.
"Wait, what?" Yang was now confused. What tattoo? Before she could ask what Ruby meant, the white-haired member of the group made her presence known. How? By yelling of course.
"What is wrong with you two?! I'm still trying to get some rest, and you two just have to perform a circus act so loudly this early in the morning!" Weiss complained. Blake wanted to point out that she was louder than them, but something at the corner of her eyes took her attention.
"Everyone, I th-." Unfortunately for Blake, her voice was drowned by the heated exchange between the Weiss and their young leader.
"It's not my fault. Yang's the one who started it," Ruby tried to deflect the blame, pointing a finger at her older sister, who looked even more perplexed than before.
"That is not an excuse!" Weiss shot back.
The still confused Yang dropped from her bed with a raised hand, turning their attention to her. "What did I do to you, Rubes?"
"It's useless to act innocent," Ruby stated, angrily throwing her face to the side.
Scratching her face, Yang responded, "Like I said, I have no idea what you're talking about."
Sighing, Ruby began unbuttoning the top of her uniform, and showed her teammates the purple tattoo. "Here. Remember this?"
Yang, Blake, and Weiss inched closer to get a better look at what made Ruby to cause so much fuss in the morning. Then they all tilted their heads to the side at the same time, wondering the exact same thing in their heads.
"When did you get a tattoo?" Yang wondered out loud. The tattoo itself looked quite unique as it was in the shape of a unicursal hexagram inside two concentric circles, and with the number 8 in the centre of the hexagram.
"I didn't. Last I checked there was nothing there. Someone must have drawn it while I was sleeping." Ruby eyes swept across the room, looking first at Weiss, and then Blake, and finally it settled on Yang again.
"Uh…nope," Yang simply said.
"What do you mean 'nope'?"
Sighing at her sister's accusing gaze, Yang decided to corroborate further. "I mean 'nope' as in I don't know anything about it."
"Same here," Blake followed suit. "I don't think Yang did it either, even if she was the only person who would do a stupid thing like this. Besides, last night it was Yang who fell asleep first, and you know how heavy of a sleeper she is," Blake stated.
Ruby shrank as she registered the words of her black-haired friend. Now that she calmly thought about it, the probability of Yang doing this kind of thing after she had fallen asleep was pretty much zero, and even if she could, it didn't mean that she would.
Yang whistled at the defence she got from her partner. "Oh, Blake, I didn't know you've always watched me so closely. You're gonna make me Blake, you know," Yang said while cupping her cheeks together, doing an impression of a blushing innocent girl.
Blake could only flatly stare at the blonde-haired brawler with a gaping mouth. "You…did you really just use my name to forcefully make a pun?" Blake asked with a somewhat restrained voice. Yang nodded. "That's bad, even by your standard."
"At least I tried!"
Having enough of their nonsense, the only sane girl in the room confronted the young Rose directly. "You were shouting just because of a tattoo?" Weiss asked incredulously, massaging her head at the trivial reason her partner had for making such a ruckus.
"I'm sorry…" Ruby apologized while playing with her fingers. "You as well, Yang. Sorry for suspecting you."
"Don't mind it, Ruby. I know I would freak out if I suddenly find a tattoo on my body," Yang said with a laugh. Suddenly, her smile turned menacing, and Ruby's danger sense was telling her to run away. "But, I will pay you back for this!" Yang immediately wrestled Ruby to the ground, and brought her fingers to her younger sister's sides. She then began returning the favour that Ruby had given to her earlier.
"Sto-, ahaha! Cut it out, Yang!" Ruby laughed uncontrollably, tears almost came out of her eyes. After a couple of minutes, Yang had finally released her hold on Ruby, leaving the young Rose out of breath. Despite still panting heavily, Ruby managed to squeeze out a question that was floating in her mind. "So…if it wasn't any of you, then who's the culprit?"
Yang shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe you have a secret fan who silently followed you everyday and now decided to brand you as his property?" Yang joked, earning her a pillow to the head courtesy of Weiss. "Hey!"
"This is no time for a joke," Weiss harshly rebuked Yang. "If no one here is the culprit, then that means someone might have sneaked in last night…when we were sleeping. Who knows what else might have happened while we were asleep."
Everyone considered Weiss' words for a moment and shuddered. Still, there would be no way for anyone to enter the room through the door since it was locked last night, which left only one option for anyone to come in.
"You think the culprit came in through the windows?" Ruby asked. The windows were closed, but that didn't mean someone didn't sneak in from there, especially since there was no lock on the windows.
"There are security cameras outside, if I remember correctly. Maybe we can ask to see the footages," Blake suggested. While she doubted that the culprit came through the windows, considering the kind of hurdle one needed to pass to be able to reach it, if the culprit was good enough at climbing then who was she to say no one could come through there.
At the word 'camera', Yang had an entirely different idea running through her mind. "Great idea! And maybe while we're at it we can take a look at other things, hm~?" Yang suggestively proposed. She got another pillow on her face courtesy of the resident Ice Queen.
"Did you really have to make it sound so perverse?" Weiss screeched, gritting her teeth in annoyance.
"Hah! The fact that you're angry means you're thinking about it!" Yang triumphantly declared for being able to make Weiss had a dirty thought. Weiss was about to rebuke her nonsense, but Blake came in between them.
"Alright, that's enough. We can look at the security footage as much as we like later, but for now…look at the time."
The members of team RWBY looked at the clock hanging on the wall and their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
10:40
'I will have breakfast time extended to 11.'
Ozpin's words rang in their heads, and then…
"WE'RE GONNA BE LATE FOR BREAKFAST!"
The mayhem that signaled the start of the day for team RWBY began.
000
"They're late."
"Nora, please, they were up late doing a mission. The very least you can do is to wait for them patiently."
"If I'm in their position I don't think I'd be able to wake up at all."
"I think we should bring them some food if they're late. It's not good to miss breakfast, especially after a night of doing an outdoor mission."
In the half-empty dining hall, four people in Beacon uniform were chatting amongst themselves regarding the absence of team RWBY this morning. The shortest amongst them, a girl with shoulder-length orange hair named Nora Valkyrie, slumped her face onto the table while complaining about the absence of team RWBY. She wanted to know how their mission was like, though by this point she was already thinking about something else entirely, namely whether there would be pancakes for today's lunch.
The boy sitting next to her had straight long black hair tied into a ponytail with a bit of magenta coloring on his left bang. Lie Ren, the childhood friend of Nora tried to get her to stop playing with the food in front of her. Based on what he knew, apparently the Headmaster had requested that breakfast was to be extended till 11 to give team RWBY time to rest, considering they had to go out in the middle of the night to a Grimm-infested area. Then again, they brought that punishment to themselves because of the fiasco that was caused by the blonde-haired brawler of the group.
"Yah!" Nora suddenly flung a cupcake toward the centre of a blond-haired man's forehead sitting across her, causing him to fall backward from his seat.
"Whoaaaa!"
Pumping her fist, Nora proudly declared, "Bullseye!"
"Nora…" Ren slapped his forehead at the antic of his childhood friend, and the unfortunate state of his teammate.
The unfortunate soul that was seeing little birdies flying around his head was Jaune Arc, the leader of team JNPR. He was…blond. That was pretty much it. Okay, maybe he was a bit on the pretty side, but really that was pretty much it. As far as combat ability was concerned, he was the least capable combatant of the team, but there was a certain quality to him that was able to bring together this team to achieve victory. The one solace he had in his current situation was that a beautiful teammate of his, Pyrrha Nikos, was very attentive, to say the least, to him.
The red-haired girl wearing a bronze circlet on her forehead was the best combatant of the team, and with a reputation as a four-time champion of Mistral regional tournament. Other than that, she was literally the mother of the team, keeping the more eccentric member (Nora) of the team in line while helping Jaune improved himself.
The leader of team JNPR shook of the dizziness and sighed. "You know, I still couldn't quite believe that our second semester will start really soon. That my second semester with you guys will start soon."
"What's this? Jaune, are you saying you don't like being with us?" Pyrrha asked with quite a teasing tone.
Waving his hands, Jaune desperately tried to clarify his word. "No! Nothing like that! In fact…" A smile found its way to his face. "It's…the opposite." Short as it was, his words were enough to bring a smile to his teammates' faces.
"Oh~, Jaune Jaune~, I didn't realize you love us that much~!" Nora exclaimed happily.
"I'll pass, not really interested in going out with a man," Ren said somewhat jokingly, causing the entire team to chuckle.
Suddenly, the door to the mess hall was flung open, and team RWBY came in a rush, panting as they somehow managed to come just in time before the breakfast time was over.
"Hey, girls!" Nora waved at them, but the four members of team RWBY ignored her as their eyes were focused entirely on the delicious things on the tables.
"Alright girls! Secure as many as you can!" the esteemed leader of team RWBY, Ruby Rose, ordered with a growling stomach.
"YEAH!"
With a battle cry, team RWBY moved to get as many foods as their hands could get. It caused a complete mess, though, with the unfortunate soul of team JNPR finding himself caught in the crossfire between team RWBY, food and time, getting hurled across the room as a result.
The rest of team JNPR weren't in a good shape either. They had to duck under a table to avoid being caught in crossfire like their unfortunate leader. Well, only Pyrrha and Ren did that as Nora had, for some reason, joined team RWBY in causing mayhem and forcing other students who were having quite a peaceful time earlier to find a way to escape from the mess hall.
None of them noticed that two people had come strolling into the mess hall, one was a man with light blue hair who dressed quite neatly and the other was a blond-haired man with abs and monkey tail.
The blond-haired abs looked on at the mess, astonished at the chaotic scene while his companion looked like he simply wanted to get the hell out of this place. The blue-haired man's fear was well-placed as they soon found themselves covered by creams and soda courtesy of team RWBY and Nora.
The mayhem continued until Glynda Goodwitch, who had seen the commotion from the Headmaster's office, angrily walked in and took down the culprits before giving them a stern lecture.
000
After what felt like forever, team RWBY and Nora were finally released from the hell that was Glynda Goodwitch's lecture. The whole time they couldn't stop squirming under the stern professor's scrutinizing glare, especially Ruby who was held most responsible for the mess that her team had caused and her failure to restraint their actions. Thankfully the lecture wasn't very long and, though the food had been cleaned by the time the lecture was done, they still managed to secure a hefty amount of food. Unfortunately, because there were broken tables and chairs everywhere, they were kicked out of the mess hall so Goodwitch could clean up the mess.
Which was why they were now sitting in the library, with a mountain of food in the middle of the table.
As a side note, there was a notice at the front doors to not eat in the library, but hey, their stomachs were empty and other comfortable spots in the Academy had been taken. Besides, nobody had ever actually come and scolded anyone who ate in the library. Even Weiss, who was usually very strict with following rules, was munching a bread.
"That was a mess," Yang muttered tiredly.
"Was that a pun?" Blake replied, also tiredly.
"Nope…don't have any energy to make one right now," Yang replied, waving her hand before trying to get a cookie from Ruby's plate. The key word was 'try'. Ruby, sensing danger to her supply of cookies, quickly swiped it off the table. "Stingy," Yang muttered.
Ruby playfully stuck her tongue out, but then suddenly she had a distant look on her face. "You know…we were just trying to eat, so why did we have to get lectured for that?" Ruby wondered.
The only person who had fully reflected upon their action, Weiss, furrowed her brows in irritation at her partner's question. "Most likely because we discarded any semblance of civility back there."
"Weiss is wise, indeed," Yang lazily praised.
"Weiss, Yang…no puns, please," Ruby begged with tears in her eyes.
Rubbing her forehead, Weiss wanted to retort that it was nowhere close to a pun and not to put her in the same category as Yang, but an annoyance suddenly walked to them.
"How about I help tutor you on civility, Snow Angel?"
Here came Jaune Arc and his team. Nora immediately went to Ruby and Yang, high-fiving them for their 'accomplishment'. They had no idea how Nora could regain her energy so fast after the lecture Goodwitch had subjected them to, but then again they had never seen the girl be anything but energetic and hyper.
"No way," Weiss bluntly rejected Jaune's offer. She knew he just wanted an excuse to get closer to her, and she sure not going to fall for it. Besides, he was not her type. Her type was more of an intellectual kind of man.
Then again, maybe she could give him a ray of hope for once. "Master ballroom etiquette first and I might reconsider your offer," Weiss stated.
Whether Jaune picked up the sarcasm in Weiss' voice and decided to ignore it or if he was truly that dense was a mystery as the blond-haired leader of team JNPR suddenly grabbed Weiss' hands with brightly-lit eyes.
Truly!?" Jaune looked at Weiss with a hopeful look on his face. If he could learn ballroom etiquette he might have a chance to be in a situation where he would be alone with Weiss. That prospect alone was more than enough to motivate him. Unfortunately, his response caused Weiss to stare at him for what felt like hours and then…
"Of course not."
She harshly destroyed his hope.
Jaune's shoulders dropped, dejected by yet another rejection from Weiss. Pyrrha rubbed his back, trying to cheer him up, but deep down she felt somewhat relieved that he was rejected yet again.
Sighing at the interactions between his teammates and team RWBY, Ren decided to steer the conversation to another topic before it went out of control.
"So how was last night?"Ren asked.
"Last night?" Ruby asked back.
"The mission," Ren clarified. At his word, Ruby's eyes suddenly shone with stars like an excitable child.
"It was amazing! There were caves filled with Dust, a Nevermore, and a giant robot that can blow away a Nevermore in one hit! AnditcanflyanddostuntlikeWHOOOShandPSEWWWWandittotallycoollookinganditsma-!" Ruby's rambling was forcefully put to a halt by Weiss, who gave her a light smack on the head.
"No one can understand you when you talk like that," Weiss said. Ruby rubbed her head, blushing from her partner's criticism, but one thing she said had caught team JNPR's attention.
"Did you say…" Nora inched closer, stars in her eyes, "giant robot!?" she excitedly shouted.
Ruby nodded, equally excited. "That's right! Its name is Barbatos and we found it during our mission!"
Pyrrha looked at the rest of team RWBY with a questioning gaze, to which Yang returned with a shrug, while Jaune and Ren came closer to Ruby as well, interested in the things she had to say.
Ruby was about to tell them what happened last night, but Weiss quickly covered her mouth. "Alright, that's enough. Let me do the talking for you before your motor mouth confuses them."
Although annoyed by her partner's insinuation that she was incapable of explaining stuff clearly, Ruby obediently back down. For once, Weiss might be correct since she could barely hold in her glee just from thinking about the Gundam.
Shifting her legs to a more comfortable position, Weiss began the explanation. "Very well. Should we start from the beginning?"
The story that team JNPR heard was one that managed to raise an eyebrow of even Nora Valkyrie due to its almost unbelievable nature. A story about a giant robot hidden inside a cave sounded like it came out straight out of fairy tales. Plus, the fact that in the battle team RWBY had with a Nevermore far larger than the one they encountered in Emerald Forest the white robot named Barbatos came to rescue Ruby in the nick of time made them imagined a white knight coming to the rescue of a princess. Not that Ruby remotely resembled a princess, but still the similarity was quite high.
After Weiss had finished telling team JNPR their story, Jaune raised his hand, wanting to point out something that had him quite envious after Weiss' story of them piloting Barbatos was brought up.
"So let me get this straight," Jaune began. "You girls got to pilot a giant robot?"
"Yeah," Ruby nodded.
"That can fly?"
"Pretty much," she confirmed with another nod.
"How do I say this….I'm jealous!" Jaune almost screamed. How could he not be envious? Aside from becoming a knight, there were only two other things that were as cool for boys like him and one of them was to pilot a giant robot.
"I know, right! I want to pilot a giant robot, too!" Nora whined.
"Hehe, I knew you guys would feel that way!" Yang smirked. "But, too bad! Team RWBY have claimed ownership of Barbatos!"
"What? How's that work?" Jaune questioned.
"Well...finder's keepers," Yang answered half-jokingly. "Don't worry, we'll give you all an opportunity to ride it one day...except for vomit boy," Yang said with all the seriousness in the world.
"Wait, why am I being excluded?!" Jaune protested.
"Then, can you swear with your life that you won't vomit inside the cockpit when Barbatos flies?" Yang asked.
"Uh...I…" Jaune stammered, unable to give a clear affirmation that he certainly wouldn't do such thing.
Yang shook her head. "Thought so."
"So where is this robot?" Ren asked.
"Don't know," Yang nonchalantly answered. "Ozpin didn't tell us where he put it. Shoot, we should have asked him about it." Yang clicked her tongue, annoyed at herself for this blunder. Well, they could just do it later, no big deal. It wasn't like Ozpin going to hide it from them so he could take it away, was he?
Suddenly, Nora began to whine again.
"Aah! I want my own giant robot!"
"You'll get one someday," Pyrrha said, trying to calm her energetic friend down. She then turned to Ruby, who looked curious by the questioning gaze that Pyrrha still had. "Ruby, based on the story, you found the robot without a pilot, correct?"
"Sure did," Ruby confirmed.
"And it saved you?"
"Yup."
"So...a robot that was in an inactive state suddenly went active and went to save you...without anyone piloting it?" Pyrrha asked.
"...Must be the work of its A.I.," Ruby suggested.
"Then what's the point of a cockpit?" Pyrrha inquired further. If an A.I. could take control of the robot without its pilot in the cockpit, then she failed to see how it was necessary to even have the need for a pilot in the first place.
One person who had been having suspicions regarding the white machine agreed with Pyrrha.
"I think she has a point," Blake suddenly spoke. "One of the two reasons why I suspected that Atlas was the one who made this robot is because if they were, then it would explain how it could move on its own to save Ruby, since Atlas has invested tons of resources in developing A.I. for years."
"And the other reason is?" Weiss asked, now curious why her Faunus teammate had been so anxious about the giant machine ever since she first laid eyes on it.
Blake opened her mouth, but despite wanting to give her answer, it felt like something was blocking her voice. With sweat rolling down the side of her face, Blake tried again, except her reply came almost in a whisper.
"Because it's frightening."
Ruby raised her eyebrow, unsure why it looked frightening to her friend. "What do you mean 'frightening'? Doesn't it look cool?"
Blake shook her head. "I'm not talking about appearance. It's just...there's something wrong about it. I can feel it, my…-instinct- told me that it's not something good, that it's something to be abhorred," Blake stated.
"You sure you aren't overthinking it?" Yang asked. "I mean, none of us felt anything like that, right?"
"Uh-huh," Ruby nodded.
"Not in the slightest," Weiss shook her head.
Blake bit her lips, frustrated that none of her teammates was able to feel what she felt. When she first saw that machine, every hair in her body stood up, like she was staring at a truly terrible predator looking at its preys. It took all her being not to run away in fright and keeping her emotions under control, else she might risk attracting Grimm.
While her fear had decreased somewhat after Ruby had told her to get into the machine and try flying it, she still wholeheartedly preferred to stay away from it.
As a side not, Blake was confused by one thing. The fear that she felt from the white robot decreased when Ruby agreed to switch place with her team to let them experience what it felt like flying the robot. If she had to make an analogy to explain her confusion, it almost as if the robot was treating Ruby's words like a loyal servant treating its master's words, with the highest of reverence, and that it took her words as a sign to allow them to fly it.
Blake was positive that her teammates didn't notice any of this, considering that they were busy marveling at the robot's flight capability.
"What's all this talk about giant robot?" A masculine voice that almost made Blake groaned asked.
"Sun!"
"Sup. Saw the mess you did back there, totally awesome in my opinion." All eyes fell on the man named Sun, the blond-haired abs with a monkey tail coming out of her butt, and his friend, a blue-haired tanned man who was dressed neatly, at least in comparison to Sun. They were two of the victims of team RWBY's earlier massacre.
Sun Wukong, he was a student from Haven Academy of Mistral and he had helped team RWBY with dealing with an incident relating to White Fang, a Faunus terrorist group. He was also
"Why are you here?" Blake asked.
Sun chuckled, as if Blake had said something funny. "You know that Vytal Festival is just around the corner, right? Of course I'm gonna be here. My team is representing Haven!"
"I'm talking about why you are here, in this library," Blake clarified.
"What? Am I not allowed to come talk to you?"
"Is that so? Unfortunately, I have something else to do," Blake stated before standing up from her chair and left her team, her friends, and the downhearted monkey Faunus.
"Did something happen to her?" Sun asked, pointing his thumb towards Blake's direction.
"Blake's kinda mad that we didn't agree with her...I think?" Ruby replied.
"Agree? Agree on what?" Sun asked.
"It's about what we were talking about earlier," Yang answered. "Anyway, take a seat if you want know what happened, monkey boy and…"
"Ah, this is Neptune. Neptune, these are the girls that I told you about," Sun introduced his friend, Neptune, who for some reason had decided to go to Weiss' side and started flirting with her...with some success much to Jaune's disbelief.
000
Ruby watched as her sister joked with Sun and Nora about Barbatos, and how Sun would be too sunny for their big robot to handle, earning her sister a fruit to the face thanks to her bad pun .
Shifting her gaze to the other side, she almost snorted in amusement at how Neptune had managed to attract Weiss' attention to Jaune's dismay. She wasn't sure what was so different between Neptune and Jaune in Weiss' eyes as they looked pretty similar to her.
Silently, she turned her sight towards her palms as she replayed the words of concern that her friend, Pyrrha and Blake, voiced regarding Barbatos. That it was a frightening thing.
She wondered what everyone would think if she told them the complete story of what occurred in those caves. She hadn't told anyone about her experience when she first fell into Barbatos' cockpit, about the blood that it took from her.
But, surely that didn't mean that it was dangerous or anything, right? True, she was afraid of it after it took her blood, but it was only a droplet and not to mention, Barbatos had saved them. Being scary didn't mean being dangerous, right. After all, if scary was the same as dangerous, then Professor Goodwitch would be the most dangerous being she had ever met.
So, until proven otherwise, she would not accept any denigration to her barbatos.
000
~ Headmaster Office ~
Ozpin sipped his coffee, awaiting the arrival of a friend of his from Atlas. Although he was a bit annoyed at the fleet of military aircrafts outside, he understood that for a man of his friend's position this was pretty much a standard procedure for him when travelling to another continent.
His friend, James Ironwood was a general of Atlas' military and also a Headmaster like he was. Additionally, he was a man who held two seats on Atlas Council and one of the few Hunters that he trusted enough to reveal the existence of the horrible evil that was trying to destroy the four kingdoms.
"It's stifling, doesn't it?" his companion, Glynda Goodwitch, commented.
"Stifling as it is, I am more concerned about the number of troops that he brought with him," Ozpin responded. "It's like telling our enemy that we know they are here."
As in on cue, the elevator doors opened and a middle-aged man wearing a white uniform came walked in.
"Ozpin!" the man in uniform, James Ironwood, greeted cheerfully.
"Good day to you, general," Ozpin greeted back.
"Stop it. It's been too long," he said, and Ozpin almost chuckled. "Glynda, it's good to see you as well."
"Good day, James," Glynda replied with less enthusiasm than Ozpin.
"I was quite surprised when Glynda called me this morning, asking on your behalf to bring the best engineers and specialists from Atlas. Thanks to that, I have to delay the departure. Imagine the faces of my aides when I told them to delay my departure" Ironwood said, chuckling.
"I'm sorry for asking you to bring Atlas' best on such short notice, James, but there is a new development that will require their expertise," Ozpin stated, causing Ironwood to raise his brow, curious about the nature of this 'new development'.
"Is this related to the information given by Qrow?" Ironwood asked. He knew about all the information that Qrow had gathered for Ozpin and his own specialists had gathered quite a similar information from the field, but considering that Qrow had greater freedom and autonomy than his specialists, it wouldn't surprise him if the man had obtained something new that his specialists had not.
Ozpin shook his head. "Unfortunately, no," Ozpin replied, and Ironwood's curiosity grew even larger. "James, I want you to take a look at this. This is something that our students discovered yesterday during a mission."
Ozpin placed his Scroll on the table and Ironwood's eyes widened almost immediately, astounded by what he saw.
"Oz, this is..."
"General, let me introduce to you...Gundam 08, Barbatos."
000
In the northernmost part of the continent of Anima, two men were exploring what was previously an undiscovered network of caves running beneath a section of the ice region of the land. Their attires, however, didn't fit with the region of the land that they were visiting as one of the men wore nothing but a shirt to cover his upper body despite the constant chill, and the other one wore what appeared to be a brown regal uniform. But even though they felt the freezing cold of ice directly on their skins, they moved on without showing any signs of discomfort for their Aura had mitigated it somewhat.
There was a reason for their lack of preparations and it because they were ordered to depart to Anima in search of something just mere hours ago by a being that they served faithfully. So strange the nature of their mission, however, that they weren't even briefed as to what they were looking for, only that time was of the essence and it was located somewhere around the area where they were right now.
"My Goddess…if I may ask something…" one of the men humbly requested. To anyone else, the man might look like a madman for talking to an empty space, but for his companion, he understood very well the significance of the man's words.
As if listening to his plea, something stirred in the air, and they could hear the Goddess' voice speaking in their ears.
"Speak."
"What exactly are we looking for?"
"You will know when you have found It."
"I do not mean any disrespect, but my Goddess…we have been here for hours and we do not have any information regarding our target."
There was a silent from the Goddess, and the man thought he had somehow offended her. But to his and his companion's surprise, what sounded like a small sigh came from the Goddess.
"…I understand your point. Very well, I shall shed some light on the nature of your objective."
"I thank you for your kindness, my Goddess."
"One of them has awakened."
"Them? Awakened?"
"I had thought their essences had been banished when their 'anchors' were sealed away. This proves that one simply can not be too careful. Then again, deceit is one the foundations that make them what they are, so I should have anticipated this development long ago."
"…" The men remained quiet. They simply didn't know what manner of things could cause the Goddess to act so cautious. As far as they knew, nothing in Remnant could possibly pose a threat to their Goddess.
"…Do you see countless Dust crystals around you?"
With the way the Goddess spoke to them like one spoke to ignorant children, it seemed she somehow knew that they did not have the slightest of clue about the things coming out of her mouth.
"Yes. The volume is staggering. We have never seen Dust crystals so concentrated in one place like this." Indeed, while they did not see any sign of Dust in the surface and entrance of to the caves, after reaching a certain point Dust crystals had appeared everywhere to the point of covering the tunnel where they were in.
"Follow the Dust and you shall find the answer to your questions. You shall find 'It' sleeping at the centre of contradictions."
"And this 'It' being?" The man felt like slapping himself. He had gotten carried away by the intrigue so much so that he had the gall to sound demanding towards the Goddess. Even his companion started panicking at the prospect of somehow angering their Goddess.
The Goddess at the other side of the conversation let out a dark chuckle as if finding the question both amusing and detestable. Then, with a voice so full of venom and contempt that made every hair on their bodies stood up, the Goddess spoke one word that would forever change their lives.
"Gundam."
000
End of chapter 2
Next Chapter: Gundam Barbatos, Take Off!
Alright, as I said above, below there's gonna be spoilers, so if you don't want to know turn back now.
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Spoiler alert
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You guys still here?
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Seriously, you guys still here?
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Fine then
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SPOILER ALERT!
The gundams use the essence (soul) of demon kings as a power source. In a sense you could say they are mediums for these demon kings to directly interact with Remnant. That's why the gundams have to establish contact with each of its respective demon king and have the contract accepted before it could awaken. Because it contains the essence of demon kings, the gundams are sentient to a degree and there is a risk of its pilots being taken over (possessed) by the demons, so it's necessary for the pilots to have a very strong willpower to resist them. The demon kings are neither enemy nor ally of humanity, its simply there to destroy whatever in front of their eyes like a natural disaster, an impulse that the pilots will share. If Ruby's will ever falter, she would be possessed by the demon king and starts destroying everything. But, like AV, the more the Ruby submits to the gundam the greater its output would be with the risk of suffering from corruption, and the higher the corruption level is the higher the risk of being possessed
Also, Barbatos is only loyal to Ruby; it would not allow anyone to pilot or even board it if Ruby doesn't allow it. Even if people were given 'permission' they still would not be able to 'command' it and use its weaponry, and only be able to move it. Barbatos can execute some simple moves even if its pilot is not in the cockpit (like how it saved Ruby) but ultimately it required Ruby to control it to execute more complex moves, because a 'firewall' has been installed in the gundams to prevent the demon kings from taking them over (which is why they'd aim to posses the pilots instead).