Ch19: Initiation
"Time to kit up." I say, standing in front of my open locker, attaching my various pieces of web gear to my combat armor. I put Marxman in a holster on my left hip, my swords in parallel sheathes on my back, attached the C-100 to Blue Death in AR mode and made sure my various forms of explosive death were attached firmly to my web gear, before putting on my greatcoat, slipping my sunglasses onto my face, and putting my cap on.
"Hey Kurt, what are those?" I hear ruby ask, pointing to my shoulders.
"Something to remind me of home." I say, in reference to the small American flag embroidered onto each shoulder of my greatcoat.
"I thought you didn't remember your home?"
"I don't remember the house, but I do remember the country. Land of the free and the home of the brave." I say solemnly, checking my AR's magazine and reinserting it.
"Oh." She said, somewhat confused.
"I'll get around to telling you eventually. Probably sometime after the team selection thingy." I say, messing with her hair.
"Hey!"
"Alright, let's go then."
"KURT!' I hear someone shout from across the room. I turn to see Nora pointing at me with Ren right next to her. "Why didn't you tell me you made it in!"
"Why didn't you tell me YOU made it in?" I respond.
"Good point!" She says, after thinking for a few seconds.
"See ya soon." I say, leading Ruby to the cliffs.
"Who were they?" Ruby asks.
"The girl was Nora and the boy was Ren. I met them after the first robbery I stopped. I think you'll like Nora's weapon." I say, as we walk to the cliffs.
"What is it?"
"You'll see." I say, walking on as Ruby and Yang chat with Jaune who is on the floor.
[A few seconds before launch]
'Blah blah blah first person you make contact with blah blah blah. GET ON WITH IT! I want to fly!'
"Now since there are an odd number of students this year, three of you will be grouped together. we will alert you when the three person group has been formed, so as to prevent any confusion.
"Off we go into the wild blue yonder." I start to sing under my breath as the person next to me launches. 'Climbing high into the sun.' "GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I shout as I fly across the sky, holding Blue Death close to my chest.
I bamf a bit higher to prolong my airtime, before spotting Yang shotgun-blasting her way across the forest.
I also spot Blake, arcing towards the ground.
*Bamf* I teleport to the ground, while training with my semblance, I had figured out that I am able to change my momentum, the only downside being that it was tiring to do so too much. Normally teleporting didn't affect me, although dragging others along with me put stress on their bodies which translated into nausea.
"I guess that makes us partners." I say, stepping out of the cloud of purple-black smoke created by my semblance and looking my partner straight in the eyes.
"I guess we are." Blake responds, and both our heads quickly turn towards the unmistakable report of a shotgun.
"Is there a team of three yet?" Blake asks.
"Only one way to find out." I say, as we head towards the sound of what can only be Yang beating the living daylights out of something. Blake spots the Ursa first and throws Gambol Shroud at it, killing it.
"I coulda taken him." Yang says, her hair smoldering.
"I don't doubt that." I say, a bit out of breath after my landing.
"Are we a team now?" Yang asks, noticing me.
"ATTENTION STUDENTS. THE TEAM OF THREE HAS BEEN FORMED." A loud voice announced via microphones that were probably scattered across the forest.
"And there's your answer." I say. "I think the temple is this way." I say while walking off towards the temple I saw during my short flight.
"Alright, let's go!" Yang says enthusiastically as I pick my way through the brush, AR at the ready.
[A bit later, at the temple.]
"I think this is it." I say, looking at the ruins ahead of us.
"Chess pieces?" Blake questions.
"I guess we pick one." I say, keeping watch for Grimm
"How about a cute little pony?" She asks, holding up a golden knight.
"Fine by me." I say, hearing a girlish scream.
"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang says, as Blake points upwards.
"Heads uuuuuuuuppppp!" I hear, seconds before I notice my little sister falling from the sky, only to be struck midair by a flying Jaune. 'And thus concludes today's episode of one-in-a-million collisions.' I think, marveling at the sheer implausibility of what just happened.
"Did your sister just fall out of the sky?" Blake asks us.
"Ummm." Is all I can manage before I am interrupted by crashing noises from the forest nearby. I turn to see an Ursa crash through the forest before falling over dead, an ecstatic Nora riding its back.
"Awww… It's broken." She says sadly as Ren manages to stumble in next to the dissolving beast.
"Nora! Please..." He pants "Never do that again." He looks up to notice that Nora has gone somewhere else.
Before any of us can say anything Nora is holding a golden rook.
"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She sings aloud.
"Nora!" Ren shouts from outside my field of vision.
"Coming, Ren!" She replies, skipping off happily to stand next to him.
"Did she just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asks, still processing.
"I…" Yang says, processing even slower, before being cut off by a screech as Phyrra runs from a Deathstalker.
Ruby lands nearby, having extricated herself from a tree.
"Ruby!" Me and Yang yell.
"Yang! Kurt!" Ruby responds running up to us.
"Nora!" she shouts, popping up from from behind Yang
"ACH!" I exclaim, in surprise.
"Did she run here all the way with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake questions aloud.
"Probably." I say, checking the assorted goodies stashed in my coat and attached to my web gear.
"I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" Yang shouts, hair smouldering and eyes red.
'One...Two...'
Ren runs over to Nora as the two seconds elapse.
"Umm. Yang?" Ruby says, tugging on her sister's sleeve and pointing up.
"Oh my." I say in my best Sulu impression, seeing what appears to be Weiss hanging on to a Nevermore.
"How could you leave me?" I hear Weiss yell.
"I said jump!" Ruby replies.
"She's gonna fall." Blake states.
"She'll be fine." Ruby asserts.
"She's falling." The ever-stoic Ren observes.
A dozen or so yards before Weiss hits the ground, Jaune jumps out of a tree and Weiss falls into his arms midair.
"Just… dropping in?" he says in a voice he obviously thinks is suave. Before noticing that he is in the middle of the air. About thirty feet in the air. "Oh, God." Is all he can manage.
*THUD*
"My hero." Weiss says flatly, having landed on Jaune's back.
"My back." He weakly croaks.
Phyrra lands nearby and runs up, the Deathstalker a ways back.
"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang says sarcastically, as I press a stud on Blue Death's body, switching it from AR mode into a sniper weapon.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby shouts, charging the beast.
"Wait!" Me and Yang both shout as Ruby charges headlong towards a giant freaking scorpion.
She shoots at it a few times, gets knocked back by a claw, decides that her bad idea was bad, and runs back to us.
Yang runs to help Ruby only to be blocked by a barrage of Nevermore feathers, one of which pins Ruby's cloak to the ground.
*Bamf* "Hang on!" *Bamf*
"OhmygodthankyouKurtthankyouthankyou-" I interrupt Ruby as she thanks me for saving her life.
"I have two things to say to you Ruby. First: now we're even. And second: remember to use your scope. You have a sniper rifle. Take advantage of the range." I softly tell her. "You're my sister. I'd hate to lose you." I hug her for a few seconds before the Nevermore and Deathstalker screech again.
"Now pick a relic, things are about to get interesting." I say, pulling an object out of my jacket; a metal cylinder one and a half inches in diameter and two inches thick with the bottom end painted red.
"What is that?" Weiss asks, confused, as I insert a small chip into a slot on the top of the device and flick a switch on the side.
"Shaped charge." I say, checking the position of the Deathstalker, only to notice another burst from the woods a good distance away.
"I'll take care of them." Weiss says, summoning a pair of ice glyphs to trap the Deathstalkers and give us time to escape.
"You'll see." I say, tucking the charge back into my jacket.
"That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?" Jaune asks, scared.
"There's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." She says, motioning towards the relics.
"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and get back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."
"Run and live-that's an idea I can get behind." Jaune says, relieved.
"Let's get moving then. That ice isn't gonna hold forever." I say, covering the withdrawal. I see Yang and Blake standing. "C'mon you two. Get moving!"
"Alright. Sheesh."
"I'll be a sec. I've got a plan." I say, slinging Blue death over my shoulder and pulling the charge out of my coat. I peel off the red plastic coating, exposing a high-strength adhesive.
*Bamf* I end up next to one of the Deathstalkers, most of the body stuck in ice, with the exception of the claws and head.
I dodge the claws, climb into the head, stick the charge to its face and bamf back to my teammates.
"What was that about?" Yang asks as I pull a small device from my coat.
"This." I say, clicking the detonator. *Chink* *THUD*
The lower end of the Deathstalker's head comes apart as the charge blows a hole straight through the beast's armor.
"C'mon. The other one'll probably be breaking out soon." I say, unslinging Blue Death, switching it to AR form, and heading to follow the others, Yang and Blake close behind me.
we catch up to the group to see the Nevermore perched on a nearby stone structure.
We all quickly get behind cover, I hide behind a pile of stone near Yang.
"Well that's just great." She says, annoyed.
And then the Deathstalker bursts from the trees.
"Ah, man, RUN!" Jaune shouts as we all scatter, catching the attention of the Nevermore.
"Nora distract it!" Ren shouts.
"Fall back across the bridge!" I shout. "The Deathstalker can't make it across!"
I bamf to the opposite side and start providing covering fire to distract the Deathstalker from Ren, Pyrrha, and Blake. Ruby, Weiss, Nora, and Yang are halfway across the bridge.
"Nevermore!" I shout, as the Grimm smashes through the bridge, stranding Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side.
"Man, we gotta get over there! They need our help!" Jaune says, at the edge of the bridge.
"Incoming!" I shout, the Nevermore circling back in the distance. 'This is gonna be a long day.' I think, shaking my head and watching Nora launch Jaune across the gap.
'And there goes Blake.' I think, watching Blake swing up and land on the Nevermore, slashing it as she runs before jumping off of the bird and landing near me.
"It's tougher than it looks!" She alerts us.
"OPEN FIRE!" I shout, dramatically pointing towards the Nevermore while striking a heroic pose.
'The bullets! They! Do! Nothing!' I think, mentally bemoaning the fact that I don't have a big enough gun. 'Bigger gun. After we get outta this, I'm making a bigger gun. Or two. Screw it, I'm making a freaking armory. More gun=more fun.'
"None of this is working!" Weiss shouts, shooting some kind of weird magicky thing at the Nevermore.
"I have a plan! Cover me!" Ruby shouts.
"DA COMRADE!" I shout with a stereotypical heavy Russian accent, raking the Nevermore with thirty-one rounds of fully automatic .30-06 fire. "That felt nice." I say, switching out my dry mag for a full one.
Yang jumps up and holds the Grimm's mouth open, firing shotgun-blasts down the thing's mouth. It literally ATE freaking FRAG ROUNDS. 'Yep. Bigger guns. Many bigger guns.'
The Nevermore flies into a cliff after eating literal explosions. Weiss freezes it in place with an ice glyph while I throw a freeze grenade to help ensure that it stays.
Blake and Yang make a slingshot from Gambol Shroud's ribbon, which Weiss then uses to launch Ruby at the Nevermore, and then gives her a series of speed glyphs, which ruby uses in conjunction with her semblance and Crescent Rose's recoil to pull the Nevermore up the cliff face and then DECAPITATE THE FREAKING THING! Awesomeness then ensued.
"How do I get down?" Ruby calls out.
*Bamf* "Nice job sis." I say, taking her hand. *Bamf* "Now, which way to the cliffs?"
[About an hour and a half later, in the auditorium]
'Blah blah blah Juniper. Blah blah blah Jaune Arc.' I think, waiting for our names to be called.
And finally our team of five: Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Kurt Wagner, Ruby Rose, and Weiss Schnee. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. from now on, you will be known as team RWWBY (Ruby), led by… Ruby Rose.
"Nice job sis." I say, smirking as both she and Weiss stare shocked.
"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." Ozpin says, taking a sip from the coffee cup he carries around habitually.
"Indeed they are." I say to him, as we file off the stage.