Zino: Hey Everyone, I'm here with Spice to announce… -gets cut off by one of the nearby water features hosing him down with a sudden increase in water-
Spice: -sighs while pinching the bridge of his nose- ELFI, please tell me this won't cause any delays with the upgrades.
ELFI: I detect no cause for concern regarding the timetable for the completion of the upgrades to the Headwater Sanctum's water management systems.
Spice: Good. Anyways, yeah, Zino here got bit by the idea bug, so here we are with another Gamer story.
Zino: This time in co-op!
Spice: Yep. We're making a pair of Gamers go through shit together while trying not to get each other killed this time. And before you ask, no, this isn't one of the blatantly fanservice anime again.
Zino: Instead, we're taking a page out of the book of one of our inspirations as writers, and entering into a world of Bloody Evolution!
Spice: One where basically every single weapon is also a gun. And if there's one thing I really like, it's some damn cool weapons.
Zino: So, without further adieu, here's the Prologue of Twin Geniuses of Remnant!
Spice: No relation to Twin Heroes of Remnant by Swift56. Go check him out, by the way, amazing writer. Anyways, I don't think it really needs to be said, but let's get it out of the way anyways. ELFI?
ELFI: Spiceracksargent001 and Zinomaru do not own RWBY. It is the sole property of Rooster Teeth. They only claim ownership of any OCs.
Spice: And with that, onto the story!
"Another day, another session of gaming," a male teen muttered as he sat down at his computer. "I'm almost done getting everything in the new campaign… I just need a few more bits and pieces and I'll have my lair maxed out."
"You're still trying to a hundred percent that?" another male teen asks as he sits down and turns on his handheld gaming system. "With how obsessed you've been with that game, I figured you'd have done so yesterday."
"I'll have you know I did a hundred percent it yesterday, I just wanted to make a lair so efficient that I won't even need to bother looking for and sending henchmen to deal with incursions," the first teen replied.
"Good luck with that," the second teen replies while starting up his own game. "Alright, Wily, time for you to lose your newest Machine. You've got no Robot Masters to protect your Skull Castle now."
"And that's why Wily is a bad evil genius. Any worth their salt would make sure that no heroes could ever get so deep," the first teen muttered, clicking and dragging on the screen in front of him as he began the final bits of construction on the lair he was making.
"Meh, just means nobody ever taught him the definition of insanity," the second teen replies with a shrug. "Besides, even if his Skull Castles aren't the most secure strongholds ever, at least they're still decently challenging puzzles for players to solve in order to reach the boss room. That's how you know a game like this is good, after all."
"Fair enough, Max," the first teen replied, putting the last details into place on the construction order, and hitting the enter key, giving the minions in the game the order to begin the final construction order.
"What are you building over there to make this supposedly impenetrable lair anyway, Revel?" the second teen, Max, replies while blasting away at some of the enemy robots in his Mega Man game.
"I'm just optimizing it, making it so the science, muscle, and deception minions don't have to go far from where they will be working in order to restore their stats, and making it so the other minion types won't take up those spots. Plus a new power room and vault, and… ensuring the Kill Box is the only way into the base proper."
"Spoken like a true Bond villain there, bro," Max quips before clicking his tongue as Mega Man ends up taking a bit of damage.
"I mean, it was pretty simple, I already have the hallways leading into the killbox lined with laser walls. And the first room after that is the armory where the Muscle Minions will just swarm everyone there," Revel said with a shrug.
"Sounds good on paper, but no plan survives contact with the enemy," Max retorts. "Take Wily's constant take over the world schemes as proof enough of that."
"Well he does spread himself thin by sending all of his henchmen out to different areas rather than just keeping close and building up a force big enough to wipe everything out," Revel noted. "He doesn't even have a proper Doomsday Weapon."
"I mean, there was the Wily Star in the Gameboy games," Max notes. "Sunstar kinda self-destructed inside of that, though."
"Yeah, it was close but not enough," Revel shrugged.
"Besides, Wily picked a rather novel way to amp up his Robots in the most recent Classic series title here," Max comments. "The ability to supercharge a Robot Master's Speed or Power on demand can be a real game-changer when used correctly. He did kinda pick up the Villain Ball, though. Light rebuilt the original prototype and put it in Mega Man."
"Fair enough. But-" As Revel was about to say something, but before he did, the two of them heard a loud, annoying sound, like a note being repeated over and over again. Looking at the screens, they both saw that their games had frozen.
"What the…?" Max breathes in confusion before looking over his Switch. Aside from the glitching screen, nothing looked off. "Okay, what's going on here? I know there's nothing wrong with this thing; the game was a digital download."
"Oh no oh no oh no I didn't save yet!" Revel was in a full panic, since it seemed like he would have to redo the entire construction over again.
Max sighed. Of course his brother would start panicking. "Okay, Revel, calm down. Maybe the computer just froze up and needs a moment to catch up with what you were doing." That was when he noticed the screen of his Switch starting to turn white from the corner of his eye, drawing his attention back to the handheld. Sure enough, both screens were turning pure white, the buzzing sound growing louder and louder. "Okay, forget what I just said, what in the world is going on here? This is definitely not normal."
Revel didn't get a chance to respond, as the screens glowed brighter, blinding both of the blue eyed teens.
When Max blinked his eyes open again, he couldn't help but look around in confusion. Revel seemed to be next to him, so at least they were still together, so that was a relief, but the two were currently just floating in the middle of an endless, white void. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire…" he mutters before looking at his brother. "Revel, you okay over there?"
"Yeah, I'm okay!" the shorter teen replied, before brushing some of his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes. "Though I'm not sure exactly where we are… for all we know we could be dead and in limbo or something."
"Maybe, but if that was the case, don't you think our last memories would be filled with pain or something?" Max responds. "Now, granted, I have no way to prove we aren't dead, but I get the feeling that that's not what just happened to us."
[Looks like the two of you are certainly smart enough to make use of this new gift then.]
Max blinked in confusion and looked around a moment before looking at Revel again. "You heard that too, right?"
"I did… and given the setting…" Revel replied, before the two heard the voice again.
[Welcome, Brothers Cerulean! You have both been chosen to be the recipients of a Gamer System!]
Max blinked a moment before sighing. "Ah yes, we're getting Isekai'd and being given video game powers to play with wherever we're getting sent," he muses before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Welp. Let's get this Obvious Tutorial Segment out of the way, then."
[How observant of you! Since you two seem like rather smart cookies, let's get started. First up, you two, let's pull up your Menus and check out your Stats!]
"Menu, Stats," the two say in tandem- a moment of twinlepethy between them.
Max tilts his head a little in thought as he looks over his stat sheet.
Max Cerulean
[The Mechanist Gamer]
Level: 1/10
EXP: 0/100
VIT: 500/500
SMT: 300/300
?:?
STR: 6
MAG: 4
AGI: 5
CHA: 5
Blinking, he looked over to his brother's stat screen as he noticed Revel do the same.
Revel Cerulean
[The Botanist Gamer]
Level: 1/10
EXP: 0/100
VIT: 300/300
SMT: 500/500
?:?
STR: 4
MAG: 6
AGI: 5
CHA: 5
"Our stats are the exact opposite of one another's," the taller twin notes idly. "Also, 'Mechanist Gamer'? 'Botanist Gamer'? What's up with those titles?"
[Well, the Gamer System you are being given is a bit different from the norm. The cap on your levels is there because the main crux of it is something you two would be quite familiar with.]
"..." Revel looked at the stats and started to grin widely. "It's a base builder, isn't it?" He asked with an evil glint in his eyes.
Max deadpanned, both at the look on his brother's face, and at the fact the classic quiz show "Ding! Ding! Ding!" jingle for a correct answer played out at that exact moment. "Okay, so obviously our levels are tied to that of the base we're gonna be building in some way. If this is anything like Revel's Evil Genius obsession, then I imagine we'll need to figure out how the heck we're gonna be building up our work forces… also, are we building separate bases, or is this gonna be like one of my co-op games?"
[Co-op. You'll be working together… just try to coordinate though, don't want any squabbles to occur over base building since you two will have some unique rooms that the other won't have.]
"Hence the distinction of our respective titles being 'Mechanist' and 'Botanist', then," Max notes with a nod of understanding. "Sounds like I'll be getting robots to work with. Mechanists are rather specialized in that regard, and it sounds like Revel will be getting something more plant themed, given his title of Botanist."
"Fair, perhaps I'll get some Pikmin to work with," Revel noted. "What's next in the tutorial?"
[That'd be your respective inventories, Gamers! You'll both be given an individual pool of funds to work with for getting you base set up, but where you two are going, the absolute last thing you'll want to be is unarmed.]
"Inventory," the twins say in tandem once more, their screens changing to show a rather empty inventory, except for two things. One was what was clearly going to be their starting funds, sitting at a rather healthy-looking 80,000 each, though exactly what kind of funds they'd be starting out with wasn't shown, just a trio of question marks like that one mystery stat on their sheets. The other was a blinking weapon icon. Revel immediately tapped the one in his, wondering what he had in store. Max ended up doing the same, curious as to what he was getting as well.
In a faint flash of light, a weapon appeared in the hand of each of the brothers. Max lifted up his hand and saw that he was holding what looked like a dagger with a very thick blade. After taking a moment to recognize it as a Yoroi-dōshi, a Japanese Tantō with a blade specifically made for punching through armor, he looked over to Revel to see what his brother had. In the shorter twin's hand was a simple wooden staff that looked about as tall as he was.
"Well, nice to see that I have some reach, given that I don't have as much health as you do, bro," Revel noted. "Plus it seems like you'll be able to easily punch through armor… and I hope this is sturdy enough to handle whatever we're about to face."
[Don't underestimate a good stick. That staff is made of nice, sturdy oak wood and meant to be used like a Japanese Bo. You can switch it out for something made of metal after getting yourselves set up if you really want to, though.]
"It's a staff used for martial arts, then," Max notes idly.
"And given that… we're probably going to be put somewhere that has a non-magic based energy, given the question marks we saw in the stats," Revel added.
[Only one way for you boys to find out. Anything else you two want to take care of while you're here?]
"I can't really think of anything. Revel?" Max replies, looking to his brother. The teen shook his head- before pausing.
"Is this system voice only or can we put in commands with thought?"
[Oh hey, you caught onto that! Since you brought it up, commands can be voice or thought activated. Was tempted to stick you two with voice only if neither of you brought it up, but I decided that would be unnecessarily mean.]
"That's a relief. Well, that's everything," Revel replied, sighing in relief.
[Well, looks like both of you will be heading on then. Hopefully you'll be the new solution this world of bloody evolution needs.]
"Did the disembodied voice just say 'bloody evolution'?" Max thinks before the void around them faded to black and the twins lost consciousness again.
When they woke up, they were sleeping in a tree, in what was clearly a park. "Bro… we're clearly in a public park, right?" Revel asked.
"Up in a tree, as well," Max noted dryly, looking around to try and get a sense for where the brothers were. Then he noticed that it was dark out and various street lights were on, illuminating the streets below. Remembering the parting comment that the R.O.B. who gave them their new Gamer Systems had said, he took a look upwards, and frowned slightly at what he saw. "Thought so. So that's what he was talking about…"
Revel looked up, and blinked. "Shattered moon… We're in RWBY…"
Max nodded before looking back down to ground level. "That we are. Now let's see if we can't get a feel for where, and also when, on Remnant we've been dropped in." With that, Max, after finding that the branch they were on thankfully wasn't too far off the ground shifted up to a sitting position before sliding off the branch, crouching as his feet touched the ground to help mitigate the impact on landing. He was soon followed by Revel- who ended up smacking his brother's back with his hand in the process of landing. Fortunately, Max was quick to throw a hand in front of himself to keep from falling, before looking back at his grinning twin with a deadpan expression. "Was that really necessary?"
"Necessary? No. Funny? Yes," Revel replied with a cheeky grin. "Now… let's see if we can't find a certain dust shop."
"We could always stalk carrot top over there," Max comments idly while pointing to a certain thief and his hired help walking down the street a ways away.
"True… But wouldn't it be better to arrive before them so we at least can avoid stalking allegations?" Revel inquired.
"Fair, besides, at least now we have a general idea of where we can go," Max noted before he started walking. "Come on, let's see if we can't find somewhere to get some Dust before the Roman Candle decides to cause a scene." Revel nodded, and followed along, the two easily finding the shop they were looking for. "'From Dust 'till Dawn'… still a horrible pun for a shop name."
"Heresy," Revel said backhandedly as the two entered the shop. Revel immediately went over to the weapons' parts sections, looking for a good replacement or spare for his weapon. Max, meanwhile, went over to the various dispensers of powdered Dust, looking them over to see what would make the best fuel for whatever sort of power stations the brothers would have to build to run their base when they're able to get that set up. As he did so, he couldn't help but notice that, apparently, Ruby wasn't the only Huntsman-in-Training here, as he spotted a boy around his age with white hair and a matching set of fox ears parting the hair atop his head. He seemed to be looking at the types of powdered dust, measuring out certain amounts according to a list he has in his hand.
Before Max could go over to see what the Faunus was up to, a certain unwelcomed voice sounded out from the front of the store. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" one Roman Torchwick asked, as one of his hired goons was no doubt raising his gun in the old shopkeeper's direction. The fox faunus's ears twitched at that, but he kept doing what he was doing albeit speeding up. Max, noting the slight tensing of the Arctic Fox Faunus' body, decided to act natural, and started making his way over to him, looking like he was simply browsing the types of Dust as well, albeit with a hand his sheathed tantō, ready to draw it the moment trouble started up. As he got closer, he noticed that the boy seemed to be keeping his hand close to his belt as he got the dust measured out into containers.
"You heard as well, then?" Max asked quietly as he idly noted a couple of thugs make their way over to the powdered Dust dispensers and start filling up large containers.
"Yes, and I'm pondering if it'd be worth wasting any of my specialized ammo on these lowlifes," the faunus responded back in an equally hushed tone. "I'm glad that I already got the types they're getting all measured out, otherwise a confrontation would've already occurred."
Max opened his mouth to reply… and soon closed it again as he registered the sound of someone getting knocked back into a wall, soon followed by the sound of a second body hitting the first. "I think a confrontation is inevitable," he comments, as the sound of glass breaking soon rings out as if in confirmation of his assessment.
As Max was over by the dust dispensers, Revel had been checking out the weapons side of the shop, trying to find a good, metal staff to act as a spare in case his current one broke. "Che… where are the staves?" he muttered aloud, loud enough for a certain red reaper's weapon otaku senses to start tingling.
Looking up from the issue of Weapons' Monthly in her hand, the young reaper saw Revel and tucked the issue under her arm to buy later and made her way over as she paused her music and shifted her headphones to hand around her neck. "Looking for something?" she asks.
The teen blinked, before looking at her. "Yeah, I'm trying to find a metal staff to make use of as a spare, my current one is made of wood, so even if it is sturdy, I doubt it'd be able to compete against metal weapons, especially bladed ones," He replied.
"Oh, sure, I can show you where they keep the staves here. I'm kind of a regular, after all," she says with a smile. "I wouldn't discount what you've got, either. Wooden staves may be rather dated, but they're iconic weapons for a reason. If it's been laminated correctly and uses the right kind of wood, a non-metal staff can absolutely stop a blade, and even bullets if you're good enough at using it!"
Revel grinned at that. "Thanks, mind helping me check it later to make sure it's up to that standard?" he asked as she led him over to the metal staves.
"Hey! I said hands in the air!" A grown man's voice calls out from behind the two. "You kids got a death wish or something!?"
"...Are you really trying to rob us when we were just having a nice chat?" Revel deadpanned, giving the thug a flat look.
"Are you… robbing us?" Ruby asks at the same time.
"Yes!" the thug replies as a second one starts walking over to back up his comrade.
"Ohhh…" the red reaper replies before grinning deviously. With a shout of "hi-yah!" she lashes out faster than either of the thugs could react and straight kicks the thug closest to the two, sending him flying back and hitting the wall just below the window. Revel was quick on the followup, punching the second thug in the gut before pulling out his staff and hitting a home run to knock him into the first as that thug was recovering.
A third thug ran into view at this and raised his gun with the ever-classic mobster shout of "Freeze!" The red reaper responded by zooming at him with her semblance and drop-kicking him through the window and into the streets. Revel ran after her, dropping a metal staff on the counter.
"I'll be coming back to buy that!" he said to the shopkeeper before running and jumping through the window. While this happened, the young reaper drew her weapon from its place at the small of her back, unfolding it into a giant scythe before planting the tip of the blade in the ground with a flourish as she turned to face the store again. She also took a moment to click her headphones off after they'd started playing again.
"Okay…" the leader of this group of thugs, one Roman Torchwick comments, trailing off as he looks to his thugs before motioning with his head to the door. "Get them." The grunts charged, aiming to rush the two before one of them ended up knocked out by a gun whipping him in the back of the head, swiftly followed by a second one getting knocked out by the pommel of a dagger to the back of the head as well, revealing Max and the Faunus from earlier as the two quickly regroup with Revel and the reaper.
"Somehow, I'm not surprised to find you in the center of all the trouble, bro," Max deadpans before quickly parrying one of the thugs' blades with his Yoroi-dōshi. Quickly breaking the blade lock, he then got inside his opponent's guard and sent him down with a vicious straight punch to the gut.
"They're the ones who tried to rob us first, so they deserve it," Revel replied as he smacked another idiotic thug aside with his staff. "Hey Red! Batter up!" He called out, smacking one of the thugs towards the reaper.
Said reaper smirked as she saw Revel send the thug flying before knocking him flat with a twirl of her scythe before effortlessly batting away the blade of another before immediately punishing by using her scythe as a balance to unleash a powerful spinning kick. Meanwhile, the faunus had shifted his weapon into a rifle mode and was firing off metallic spikes, pinning several thugs to nearby buildings with them and even pinning the carrot top's hat to the back wall of the store with one.
Max looked over as he saw Roman feeling the top of his head before scowling as he looked back at the hat pinned to a wall. "Oh come on, that was the first thing I ever stole!" he complained. Sighing, Max quickly moved around the Faunus to ward off a thug attempting to attack from behind while Roman ran back into the store quickly to retrieve his headgear.
"Thanks for the save," the vulpine Faunus said, before promptly pinning the thug to the wall of the nearby building with another metal spike.
"No problem," Max replies before looking over to Revel and the red scythe-swinger. "Looks like those two'll have the last of them wrapped up soon," he observes. Quickly looking back to the Faunus, Max holds out his hand. "Max Cerulean. Nice to meet you…"
"Jack Ryoma, the same," the faunus accepted the handshake. "So… I'm assuming the one wielding the staff is your brother?"
"Yeah, the staff-user's my twin brother, Revel," he replies, watching as said brother knocked out another goon with a baseball swing to the back of the head. "Fraternal twins, I got more of mom's hair color while he got more of dad's."
"Fair- duck," Jack grabbed Max's shirt and tugged him into a duck so the two weren't knocked over by a ballistic thug. "He seems pretty able to handle himself, are you two huntsmen in training?"
"Not quite, but we are planning to apply to Beacon," Max admits, before shrugging at the look of surprise on Jack's face. "We're self-taught. Kinda have to be skilled to survive outside the walls, what with the Grimm and all."
"That's… a fair point," Jack admitted. "I know I had to do the same in Solitas."
"My sympathies," Max replies. "Can't imagine that was easy, what with all the snow and Atlas being located way up there."
"It was actually rather easy, especially with Robin's Huntresses having camps outside the walls, I just hung out with them when I needed to restock."
'Really wishing I'd watched RWBY past the first few episodes of Season 5 now,' Max thinks to himself before responding. "Well, whatever works."
By this time, the last of the thugs had been knocked out, and Roman had come back right as Ruby knocked the last one to the ground beside him. "You were worth every cent. Truly you were," Roman muttered before looking to the four while the distant sound of approaching police sirens began to fill the air. "Well, kiddies, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening!" he says, dropping his cigar to the ground. "And as much as I'd love to stick around…" he continues, crushing the cigar before raising his cane. "I'm afraid this…" the end of the cane then flipped up into a targeting reticle, revealing that it was also a gun, "is where we part ways." He shot out a flare, which Jack made explode early with a metal spike… but the explosion was what the thief wanted. While the four recovered from still feeling the shockwave of the explosion and the smoke cleared, a second Faunus came running up to the group. Like Jack, his hair was white, and he appeared to be the same age as his fellow Faunus, but instead of a second set of ears on his head, coming out of the back of his pants was a white lion tail. At his side was a daishō composed of a Wakizashi and Sai.
"What took you so long, Ilya?" Jack asked. "I thought you would've been back from the metal shop hours ago."
"It took some time for them to mill what I needed to the measurements I'd asked for," the lion Faunus, now named Ilya, explains. "Saws meant to cut metal aren't exactly quiet when they're being used, you know."
"Fair- but we have a thief to catch," Jack pointed his gun at an upward angle, changing its form before firing a shot that made the latter Roman was climbing on fall over, leaving him hanging above the five.
The reaper, meanwhile, quickly looked back to the shopkeep from the Dust Shop as he came through the front door. "Go back inside, it isn't safe here," she says, earning a quick nod from the old man, who quickly went back inside. Roman, meanwhile, recovered from having the ladder nearly getting toppled over completely and got back on his feet.
"Persistent…" he muses before the sound of active jet engines washed over the area as a Bullhead came to a hover and opened its bay door, the jetwash forcing the five to brace against the wind and giving Roman the opportunity to climb aboard before pulling out a red Dust Crystal as he turned to face them. "End of the line, kids!" he shouted before tossing the crystal to their feet. He then raised his cane again and fired another flare, aiming to detonate the crystal and at least make them scatter. As the explosion occurred though, the debris stopped, being reassembled back into a working road.
As the group all climbed back to their feet, they look to where the explosion happened and are surprised to see a tall, blonde woman in a business suit with a rather unique cape swing a riding crop, releasing a volley of glowing, purple energy projectiles that curve through the air and begin striking the hull of the Bullhead, rocking it and nearly causing Roman to fall off before he managed to brace himself and climb into the pilot's cabin. The next woman to step out was a woman in a red dress, with amber eyes. Her face was obscured by shadow though. She attempted to make the road explode into flames beneath their feet, trying to get them to back off. The first woman expertly dodged the explosion, however, and reformed the debris into a lance that quickly shot at the bullhead, scattering off the hull before reforming into three smaller, serpentine lances that circled and battered the bullhead before being reduced to ash by a burst of fire-like power from the second.
At this point, the sound of a gun going off was heard, and one of the woman's hands started to bleed from a hole that went straight through it. Max, being the closest to where the sound of said gunshot came from, quickly looked to his side, where Jack's weapon was in another new mode, this one more like a multi-pronged rifle of sorts with a black orb suspended between the prongs. "What in the world…" he mutters to himself in confusion, before the street around both the blonde woman and all of the teens began to glow.
"Oh Fuck…" Revel cursed.
"Language!" the red-clad reaper retorted quickly, even as she zoomed over to Revel and grabbed him before firing the sniper rifle built into her scythe, using the recoil to get the two of them clear of the imminent explosion. At the same time, Ilya was between Jack and Max in an instant and pulled the two away at the same speed as the recoil from the sniper scythe while the woman cartwheeled away, all of them managing to escape the explosions unscathed. Unfortunately, this also distracted everyone long enough for the Bullhead to fly off, Roman and the unknown woman safely secured within the vehicle.
"Che… they got away," Jack grumbled, clearly not happy. "Meaning I wasted one of my specialty shots for nothing."
"You've still got plenty of them stockpiled, Jack," Ilya retorts dryly. "No plan survives contact with the enemy, after all. Besides, even if they did get away, that woman's gonna be wary of coming at us again."
"Fair… and I guess that hole in her hand will be a rather distinctive tell for us if we see it."
"What was that, anyway?" Max asks, looking at Jack's rifle, which was still in its multi-pronged form, but with the black orb now gone. "I've never seen a weapon like it before." He then quickly looked to Ilya and held out a hand. "Oh, right, Max Cerulean. Nice to meet you."
"Ilya. Same," Ilya responds, accepting the handshake. "As for what Jack just used… well, best to let him explain it, the ammo is what makes that particular weapon mode special, after all."
"This," Jack started with a grin. "Is the Omnigun, it's essentially a rifle that is able to be held in one hand, and uses special ammo that cannot be dodged or blocked, and it cleaves through Aura in the area of impact. The ammo is pretty expensive and difficult to make though, so I try to use it sparingly."
"On the plus side, Jack's wariness of using it means he's got a nice stockpile of Omnigun rounds right now," Ilya notes. "At the moment, I'd say he could fire it twice a day everyday and not run low on that particular ammo for about a month."
"Huh, neat," Max replies, giving the Omnigun an impressed look.
Meanwhile, Revel had gone to the store and- to his surprise- got the staff for free as thanks for stopping the robbery, so he was now making his way back with an additional staff on his back. At the same time, the red reaper had walked up to the woman who was with them. "You're a Huntress…" the girl says before looking up at the older woman excitedly. "Can I have your autograph?!"
"I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, children," the blonde woman says sternly as she walks around the five all seated at one side of a rather cramped interrogation table. "You put yourselves and others in great danger."
"They started it!" the red-clad young girl retorts, pleading self-defense on everyone's part.
"I mean, it was either fight back or get shot in the head, so…" Revel added, shrugging. "I don't think we had much of a choice."
"If it were up to me," the woman continues, not dignifying either with an immediate response. "You'd all be sent home. With a pat on the back…" she then looks to them, noting the red-haired one's hopeful look. "And a slap on the wrist." To punctuate her statement, she slaps the tip of her riding crop onto the table, causing the only girl among the five to yelp and flinch back, as it had come close to her hands. "But…" the interrogating Huntress continues, trailing off for a moment with a faint sigh. "There is someone here who would like to speak with you five." Jack looked over at Ilya with a raised eyebrow as the blonde stepped aside, letting a gray haired man step through, holding a coffee mug.
"Ruby Rose, Jack Ryoma, Ilya Terashima, and Max and Revel Cerulean," the man says, greeting the five. His focus soon shifts more specifically to Ruby as he leans across the table for a better look at her face. "You… have Silver Eyes."
Max looks to his brother for a moment, noting that Revel looked a bit surprised that the man before them already knew their names. The younger brother considered it for a moment, before shrugging it off. Ozpin probably reviewed the security footage of the fight, which had managed to record Max introducing himself to Jack.
"So! Where did you all learn to do this?" Ozpin asks straightening back up while motioning back to the now opened scroll in the woman's hand, which was replaying that very same fight.
"S-Signal Academy?" Ruby responds, looking sheepish.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" Ozpin asks Ruby, seeing as she'd answered first.
"Well… one teacher in particular," she clarifies.
"I see…" Ozpin trails off before looking at the others. "And what about you boys?" he asks.
"Designed my weapon myself," Jack said blandly. "Honestly, I was on the front cover of Weapons Monthly last month because of my weapon."
"Revel and I are self-taught," Max replies. "This is really our first time spending a significant amount of time in the walls." His brother nodded, corroborating the story.
"Yeah, we only recently arrived in Vale," Revel added.
"I suppose that would explain the lack of data on either of you," Ozpin concedes the point Max and Revel made with a nod. He already knew where Ilya learned his skills and also knew the Lion Faunus was trained by his family. He thus decided to return his attention to Ruby for the moment. "You see, Miss Rose, I've only ever seen one other scythe-wielder of your skill before. A dusty old crow…"
"Oh, that's my uncle Qrow!" Ruby exclaims. "He's a teacher at Signal! I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like-" Ruby then started making a bunch of stereotypical kung-fu movie noises and poses in her seat.
"So I've noticed," Ozpin notes, clearly amused with her antics. He then decided to get to the heart of the matter as he took a seat opposite of the five at the interrogation table. "And what is an adorable little girl like yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
At this point, the conversation was going like canon, so Revel just… tuned it out, his mind wandering to other bits and pieces, trying to figure out what he'd do next. Max was also tuning out the conversation at this point, though his focus was more on Jack and Ilya. Neither of those two ever appeared in RWBY canon to his knowledge, after all. They were a bit of an enigma to him, and he was curious to find out more about why they were in Vale, especially if Jack really was from Solitas, which was basically Remnant's North Pole and home to the Kingdom with easily the worst relations with Faunus.
"You want to come to my school?" Ozpin, whom Ruby had name-dropped by now, asking that question drew the Cerulean brothers out of their musings and back to the conversation at hand.
"More than anything," Ruby replies earnestly. Her response prompts Ozpin to look back at the blonde woman, who rolled her eyes in seeming annoyance. Max got the feeling that there had been a debate between the two before they'd begun the interrogation proper.
"Well, okay," Ozpin says as he turns back to Ruby, earning a wide smile from the young girl. He then turned his attention to the Cerulean brothers. "And what about you boys? Jack and Ilya I know have already been accepted into Beacon, but would the two of you like to join as well? It would be an excellent opportunity for the both of you to refine your skills and solve the problem of your lacking proper identification."
"Might as well… and it would also solve the… housing problem we have as well," Revel admitted. "Because we don't have identification… we can't really get any apartment or hotel room…"
"That can be easily solved. Beacon has plenty of dorm rooms for you two to choose from to stay in for the remaining few weeks that exist between tonight and the start of term," Ozpin assures. "In any case, Miss Rose, I must ask that you wait here until your father arrives to pick you up. The rest of you are dismissed. Max, Revel, I must ask that neither of you go far, as Miss Goodwitch and I will be along once Miss Rose is on her way home to show you to Beacon."
"Of course, thank you for letting us stay in the dorms," Revel replied, bowing his head to the two. "At least it will be more comfortable than the tree we had to stay in last night…"
Max, fortunately, caught on quickly, and nodded in agreement. "Definitely. Trees are good protection from the elements, but they are not comfortable to sleep in."
Ruby just stared at the two- as did Jack and Ilya. "You spent last night sleeping in a tree?" Jack asked, clearly trying to make sure he had heard that correctly.
"It was something we often had to do to avoid getting jumped in our sleep by Grimm," Max replies with a shrug, as if it were the most obvious bit of logic ever. "Basic survival out in the wilds, you know?"
"Fair enough."
Before long, the twins were sitting in a Bullhead's seating area, alongside the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress of Beacon.
"By the way, you two," Glynda Goodwitch, who'd remembered to properly introduce herself to the Cerulean twins by this point, says to get their attention. "Have you two had your Auras awoken yet? It's important to have an active Aura to be able to survive the initiation with minimal injury."
Max blinks and looks to Revel for a moment, before looking back at Goodwitch and Ozpin, who seemed to be watching the two with interest at this point. "No, we don't," he admits. "We'd been careful to avoid having it awaken on its own since that'd make it all the harder for us to avoid getting jumped by Grimm."
"We… know from personal experiences that the only thing that makes better bait for Grimm than negative emotions is someone with an active Aura, the more the better," Revel added.
Ozpin nodded, understanding the logic the two had presented. "And you both are quite wise for taking such caution," he praises. "Still, we can't have students getting through initiation with their Auras still dormant. With your permission, I'd be more than happy to awaken both of your Auras now."
"I suppose better having it awaken somewhere more defensible than out there in the wilds where the Grimm would be drawn in like moths to a flame," Max replies, looking to Revel. "Any objections on your part?"
"None from me," the younger brother replied. "Shall, we, Headmaster?"
Ozpin nodded and, to Max's surprise, put a hand on both of the Cerulean twins before closing his eyes and beginning to chant. "For it is in passing that our life's work becomes our immortality. Though our bodies may bend and break, humanity's will will never die. It is through my soul that I empower thee, and pass the torch unto you." Before their eyes, Ozpin was surrounded by a green aura, and the two felt something within them click, like a gear slotting into place or a lock being broken. In that instant, two things happened. The two were surrounded by colored auras, a grayish blue for Max and a blue-green for Revel, and they both got a message from the Gamer.
[You have Unlocked your auras. Your status screens will now show AP, or Aura Points. This value starts at 100 but will go up as you level up. In addition, due to the power of the individual who unlocked your Auras, your levels have increased to 10! When you level up, you each gain 5 stat points that you may distribute to your stats, barring VIT, SMT, and AP, as you see fit. Also, since you forgot to ask about it earlier, you have an additional 5 stat points from the tutorial to spend as well.]
Revel blinked, staring at the message as his brain tried to reboot from the sudden power spike. "And, you broke them," Glynda comments after she notes that Max looked similarly stunned. "Nice going, Oz." The headmaster just smiled, before promptly shaking the twins by their shoulders.
"Alright now, boys, do try not to shut down completely," Ozpin quips with an amused smirk. "I know that having one's Aura unlocked can be quite the rush, but there's no need to be so dramatic about it."
"Of course," Revel replied, holding back his instinctive snark. "It was just rather… sudden."
"A perfectly understandable reaction, especially when your Aura is awakened by someone like Ozpin," Glynda comments. "It's well known that the stronger a Huntsman or Huntress is, the more of a person's Aura they can unlock at once, and this effect is known to cause rather sudden spikes in a person's physical and mental capabilities that take time to get used to. Fortunately, you'll have plenty of time to get yourselves used to it before the school year starts."
"And, perhaps get us some proper weapons, like Ruby, Ilya, and Jack had?" Revel asked. "Afterall, there isn't really much a staff can do- especially if you plan on air dropping us into a forest or something for the initiation."
Ozpin didn't seem to dignify that with a response, and Max swore the old man was hiding a knowing smirk behind his coffee mug as he took a sip of whatever caffeinated beverage he had in there. Glynda rolled her eyes at her superior's reaction, then looked at the two. "Yes, the forge will be open to the two of you to either upgrade your current weapon, or create new ones that will properly suit your individual fighting styles," she explains. "Just let me know when you're ready to start working on them so I can supervise the process and provide assistance whenever it's needed."
"Thank you, Professor," the younger brother responded, bowing to the blonde headmistress.
Ozpin smiles at Revel's politeness. "Well, in any case, the energy protecting the two of you is all your own," he says while he sits down again. "I would also advise you to take some time to try and discover your Semblances, as knowing what your own, unique ability is will also be of some aid during the Initiation." Revel nodded, as did Max, and the two looked out the window, seeing Beacon's glowing tower rising up into the sky on the horizon.
The next morning, the two were up bright and early, having distributed their stat points last night.
Max's were now eighteen in Strength, sixteen in Magic and Agility, and twenty in Charisma. He'd also looked up his status and saw a notice on his EXP track, which was currently stuck at 900/900, that until the level cap was raised, that they'd be unable to gain further experience.
Revel's stats were now fourteen in Strength, twenty in Magic and Agility, and sixteen in Charisma.
"So… I can already think of two things on the to-do list…" Revel said. "One: Get ourselves some proper weapons. Two: actually establish a base."
Upon Revel mentioning what the two would need to get started on today, a text box notification from the Gamer System appeared in front of the two.
[New Quests have been unlocked! As you boys already know, Quests are like missions that you can do to gain power at a nice, reliable rate. Completing Quests usually gives EXP, Lien, and Items, but as you've hit the level cap, all EXP will be converted into extra Lien until you manage to get a base going.]
[Weaponsmithing 101]
You've successfully gotten into Beacon Academy! One of the first steps you'll need to take in order to be able to do well here is to arm yourself with a proper weapon to use, and one Glynda Goodwitch has volunteered to mentor and supervise you during this process!
Objective: Create a proper, Remnant-style weapon with Glynda Goodwitch's supervision.
Bonus Objective: Ask for assistance from Glynda Goodwitch less than 10 times total. (Yes, this counts between the both of you)
Rewards: 100EXP (+100 Lien), 500 Lien, Name your new weapons
Bonus Rewards: ?
Failure: Practice makes perfect. Repeat this Quest until you succeed.
[Base Building 101]
You've successfully gotten into Beacon Academy! One of the first steps you'll need to do while here is establish a proper base of operations! Perhaps Professor Ozpin will know somewhere you two can go to help "figure out your Semblances"?
Objectives: Ask Professor Ozpin about where you could train to "discover your Semblance", build a Basic Minion recruitment Facility, build a Basic Barracks Facility, build a basic Power Facility (Mechanist), build a basic Food Facility (Botanist)
Bonus Objective: Actually discover your Semblance.
Rewards: 500EXP (+500 Lien), 1000 Lien, Unlock Quests to research new Minion Types.
Bonus Rewards: ?
Failure: Fail to complete the Objectives by the time the Semester starts.
Max read the pop-ups with an increasingly deadpan expression before closing them with a sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I saw this coming, that still doesn't make the fact these are probably part of two different Quest Chains any less cliché," he grumbles.
"Well… perhaps we should do Glynda's first?" Revel replied. "It would give you some time before you inevitably have to rein in my base building craziness."
"Might as well. I've been giving some thought on how I want to try re-working my Yoroi-dōshi, anyway," he muses, reaching over to where his tantō and its sheath had been put on a side table and drawing it in order to inspect the blade for a moment. "What about you? Any ideas for either of your staves yet?"
"Well, I'd imagined that perhaps I could turn the metal one into a telescopic staff, with one size essentially being a cane that will have a slot that I can insert dust crystals into, mainly as a decoration but able to be activated in order to modify my strikes," Revel replied.
Max gave a thoughtful hum to that. "I imagine Jack would probably be able to help you out with that," he comments. "He was perusing the powdered Dust dispensers when carrot top started robbing the place, so I imagine he knows quite a lot about how to work with Dust. He even made a special type of Dust Round that straight-up bypasses any attempts at defense or evasion."
"True… we might need to make sure he doesn't end up an enemy," Revel added. "In the meantime, I figured something like Earth or Water Dust would be a good placeholder."
"If you say you want an Ice Dust Crystal to be the actual one you put in there, I will smack you," Max threatens.
"Please, I'm not that cliché… besides, then I would be stepping on Polar's toes. I don't want to make the world into an iceball afterall," Revel snarked back.
"The fact that you say that so casually is why I call you obsessed with that game," Max retorts.
"Well, shall we go see what Professor Goodwitch has in store?"
Spice: -looking at the primary reservoir, particularly a pair of Haros and Karels working it over while a military Automaton stands guard nearby- Okay, once they're done analyzing that, next step will be installing some additional reservoirs to increase storage capacity, obviously going to need to modify the aqueducts to accommodate this… no idea where Zino went, but I imagine he's off doing something to try and help reduce the water level while the work's going on.
As Spice said that, a portion of the water in the reservoir shifted, before rising up as a serpentine blue dragon lifted its head out.
Spice: -sighs while fingering the holster for his Magelock Pistol- and now there are bloody Water Drakes making their way in here…
The dragon snorts, before a familiar voice was heard from it.
Honestly, you know of a guy who has the powers of a phoenix, is someone turning into a Water Drake really that much of a stretch?
Spice: -blinks, then sighs again while shifting his hand away from the gun to cross his arms- I already know a person like that, Zino, and Swift's Dragon form looks nowhere near identical to you right now.
Zino: Different Draconic ancestry. Anyways, I was using this time to make sure the emergency release at the bottom was still functional. And it is. So should we need to drain the reservoir in case of a flood, we can.
Spice: -nods- Right, ELFI did mention that the emergency drainage valves wouldn't need much work. New connections made to accommodate the additional reservoirs being planned out, but other than that, no major changes need to be made to that.
Zino: Well that's a relief. And… since the audience is back… I hope you all enjoyed the prologue!
Spice: Oh hey. So, yeah, that was the start of Twin Geniuses of Remnant. Rather chunky for just a Prologue that may as well be a proper Ch. 1 that follows after a demo Trailer or four, but eh.
Zino: We worked with what we got.
Spice: Also, Jack and Ilya - those two are a pair of OCs we made based on something else entirely long before we started working on this, hence Max's comment that he never recalled seeing either of 'em in RWBY canon. Anyone who's played Lancer will recognize the specific reference I made with Ilya in particular.
Zino: But do expect to see more of them, they're going to be key players in the chapters to come.
Spice: I think that's just about everything for now. I was not joking about the length, by the way, Authors' Notes included, writing this took twenty pages.
Zino: Would you believe me if I said some of the other stories I've worked with others on required chapters to be broken into parts due to how long they were?
Spice: I would not be surprised in the least, and that worries me slightly. -the dragon gets an evil grin- Zino, don't you dare-! -ends up getting soaked by a wave of water from the dragon moving- Alright, you darn Plesioth… -a magic circle forms as he holds out a hand- Storm Magic: Chain Lightning!
ELFI: -pulls the camera away as the sound of lightning, gunfire, and rushing waters is heard in the background- As always, constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated. Spiceracksargent001 and Zinomaru will be back later with more of either Sequence Breaker of Kuoh or Twin Geniuses of Remnant.