Current time: night, one hour after pursuing Nora's trail to Jammer.
Team RWBY (without B), Jaune and Pyrrha had their weapons readied while walking through the night, but...
"So, that nightmare Ren had?"
Jaune remembered about the many talks he had with Ren when Ruby asked such question.
"Well... Each night he has a different dream. Ren said that it's some sort of way to see parallel dimensions. The last time he told me about it, it was his worst nightmare ever".
Pyrrha was slightly confused.
"What happened in that dream".
"Sorry, Pyrrha... There is this Men's Code that we follow, so... I can't tell it".
Yang got curious while following them slowly with the bike (with a small distance apart).
"Boys have a code of honor?"
"Of course we have! And we are MEN, by the way. We can't simply go for the woman of another, can't go for sisters without talking to the guy before if we are friends, etcetera etcetera."
Ruby saw a light far away, but continued talking:
"Sooo... You aren't talking about that nightmare?"
"Nope, sorry".
"Hmmm... And the other dreams?"
Jaune thought twice before considering the idea.
"Well... I can talk about a few of them I guess? Hmm... There are a few where you die".
"What?!"
"And others where you and Weiss date together".
Ruby and Weiss opened their eyes wide.
""WHAT?!""
Pyrrha thought about it for a while.
"Wait, if Yang's fetishes are true, then Weiss and Ruby are-"
"No!" Weiss intervened. "I like Neptune!"
Yang grinned and seemingly recovered from their talk of before.
"Neptune, huh?"
"Guys! I meant guys!"
"Oh, sure..."
"Wait!" Ruby intervened. "We have arrived!"
The group of six stopped upon noticing the academy beyond a large bridge linked to a forest.
Against All Odds
Chapter 3: The Arrival of the Demon Lord
It was a castle. A castle of pure darkness that came from the worst gothic tales.
The type of tales that end in death of tragedy and that castle was right in front of them.
But that wasn't the most surprising thing.
In the territory of the night forest, the smell of blood filled the air.
Stakes. Hundreds of them with the creatures of darkness impaled on them.
The red eyes of the tortured grimm gazed at the group.
Pyrrha was the first to react:
"How is that possible? Grimm may leave one or two things behind, but they disintegrate when they die!"
"They are alive" said Jaune upon realizing the act. "They are still alive while being slowly impaled in the stakes".
Ruby looked at the grimm. A few of them emitted cries of pain.
"That's insane... One thing is to kill grimm, but this... That is pure sadism... A person who does that is not normal, that is just wron-"
"SEE YOU LATER, GUYS!"
From the bridge, a girl wearing black robes was walking in the group's direction. She waved back to the castle and then walked to the team.
The girl was wearing a skull mask, but Yang recognized her right away.
"Nora?"
"Sup?" She took off the mask. "My codename is Aron, by the way. And I made new friends! They taught me the meaning of bros before hoes!"
"Uh-huh..."
Weiss looked around.
"And Blake is..."
Blake's voice came from behind them.
"Right behind you".
""Waaaah"" Ruby and Weiss shouted at the same time and hugged each other.
Upon realizing it, Weiss pushed Ruby away and looked at Blake.
"What happened to you two?"
Blake shook her head.
"It's a very long and short story. Can we talk while walking back to Beacon? Those guys are crazy".
Jaune had his mouth wide open after hearing the first part of the story.
After Nora got gothic lolita clothes from a black market merchant, she infiltrated the academy while posing as a male student testing his disguise.
And the mercenaries in training believed in her while also claiming that the disguise was the best one they had ever seen.
Meanwhile, Blake pursued her from the shadows while acquiring information around the school and students.
Ruby said:
"Sooo... The stakes outside are some sort of rite?"
"No" Blake shook her head. "There is someone here entitled 'Impaler Vampire' that put them there".
Jaune ot curious.
"No name?"
Nora said:
"Only codenames. Their top students have such codenames aaaaand they gave our top students too!"
"Really?!"
Blake nodded.
"Nora is 'Hammer God Princess', Pyrrha is 'Victory Torch', Weiss is 'Ice Queen' and so on".
"Why am I Ice Queen again?!"
Jaune ignored Weiss' question and asked:
"Did I get one too?"
"Yes".
"Really?! Oh yes!"
Nora picked up her scroll.
"Let's see... Teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL are currently the top first year teams. By the way, RWBY is considered the best team, but Pyrrha is the best student".
"I am?!" She was surprised.
"Of course you are!" Said Jaune while complimenting her. "Now, codename! Mine! NOW!"
"White Knight" said Blake.
"Wait, just that?"
Nora verified her scroll twice.
"The codename is made based on information known. Ren, for example is 'Unknown Lotus'. You and Ren have no information whatsoever except for being a leader and a member of team JNPR".
"Aww, man..."
"Either way..." Blake continued talking. "Back to what happened... They even have poisoning courses in there and the students are set in battles aiming at each other from time to time".
"We have that too" said Yang.
"Only ONE of them is notified of the opponent while the other will only know someone is after him. The battle may end in death".
"Say what?"
"But that's impossible" said Blake 100% sure. "Take Nora's new 'friends' for example..."
In the past in Jammer...
In a narrow corridor with and end to a window two boys were facing each other while Nora observed from the stairs
One of the boys was clearly worried.
"What is happening? Why is the floor so shiny?!"
"Mwahahahaha!" A sinister laugh ripped the air. "You have been caught in my trap".
"It can't be?!"
"Observe, Aron" he said Nora's fake name. "My opponent's semblance is 'Speed'. Therefore, I prepared myself".
"You couldn't have!"
"That's right! I have moved to counter you... By giving the floor a thorough cleaning! I dare you to walk here now!"
In the present...
Yang was laughing, Ruby was holding back hers and Weiss...
"Those guys are idiots..."
Blake nodded.
"Same thing for poisoning courses. They just made food with high calories for a 'slow and painful death'."
At this point, Ruby also released her laughter and fell to the ground with Yang.
Nora smiled and cheerfully said:
"Also, their director was the one responsible for the tournament, but..."
Jaune gave a guess:
"He is also like the students?"
"She is, a bit, yes".
"She?!"
In the past...
The student looked at the floor worried.
"You bastard, do not think this will be enough!"
"Mwahahahaha!"
At that moment, a petite girl wearing crystal blue witch clothes passed by Nora's side.
"Sup, guys?"
The students stopped and looked at her.
"Director Merlina?"
"What are you doing here?"
The girl held out her hand and revealed a cake.
"I am going to Beacon now to give Ozpin a surprise! He finally accepted to have a tournament between our schools, so I think I should give a gift. By the way, good job cleaning the flo-"
"Director, wait!"
"-ooooooorrrr whaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The director tripped and slipped in the shiny floor and was dragged all the way through the window by the momentum.
CRASH
"Waaaaaaaa!"
T
H
U
D
"Ouchie... No worries... The ca... ke is fine... X_X"
Blake said:
"Her name is Merlina Lake, a high ranking assassin and mercenary. If there is a war anywhere, you will find her near the battlefield. Turns out, she begged for the tournament to happen. For someone with a license to kill, she didn't seem like a bad person".
Nora nodded to Blake's words.
Pyrrha was dumbfounded just like Jaune, but she still asked:
"Is that Impaler Vampire guy like them too?"
Nora raised her shoulders.
"Dunno... By the way, where is Ren?"
"... We... Lost him in the way".
"Kay, gonna find him, BYE!"
And so Nora fled.
Team RWBY, Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other and decided to call it a day and search for Ren in Sunday.
''So...'' Jaune was still dumbfounded at the many things that had happened in a single day ''see you guys tomorrow?''
Sunday morning...
Jaune was walking through Beacon with no idea of what to do.
Pyrrha had disappeared while Jaune found a note from Ruby saying they went out to talk about girl stuff.
Ren and Nora were still missing, but he didn't think there would be a problem now around both.
Sun and Neptune were also gone. It was Sunday, after all.
Which left him...
"With absolutely nothing to do" he was bored. "Hurray..."
He continued walking through the corridor.
'Maybe I should search more about Jammer... The director said she would come give Professor Ozpin a cake, but still...'
'That Vampire is what bugs me. That amount of stakes was too high. Something tells me he isn't like the other students. But with a director like that...'
'Besides, it's not like I can infiltrate a mercenary school, right? Then should I train? Or...'
Pyrrha's face appeared on his mind.
"That's it! I have to plan the next date!"
'Think about it, I already went to the movies once'.
"Hey" someone called him.
'But girls don't seem like they would enjoy other places like boys. What to do...'
"Dude..."
'Maybe the amusement park? No, we are hunters in training, there wouldn't be something capable of entertaining a girl of Pyrrha's caliber'.
"I heard you want to plan a date..."
"Oh yes, I want! Wait... Who are you?"
A boy wearing black robes was in front of him.
"I am merely a brother in search of love such as you. Enlightened by the divinity of your friend, our king".
'... My friend? His king?' Jaune felt a bad feeling.
"You can't mean..."
"Yes! The man that made me find the love of my life like many others! The King of Hearts! The Snake of Manipulation! Our guide through life, Lie Ren".
Jaune ran as fast as he could once he got the location and opened the door to the music room.
"LONG LIVE THE KING OF HEARTS"
It seemed like a cult...
"LONG LIVE THE KING OF HEARTS"
Or it was an actual cult.
"LONG LIVE THE KING OF HEARTS"
Dozens of followers and throne in the top.
"LONG LIVE THE KING OF HEARTS"
With a boy with a mad smile in his face.
"Thank you! Thank you! You are too kind!"
He was sitting just like a villain from fairy tales. An evil overlord.
Holding a glass of tomato juice in one hand, he seemed completely different from what Jaune remembered.
Lie Ren was wearing palette swapped clothes. The pants and the insides of his green shirt were black. The pink portion of his hair was dyed red. And deep dark bags were under his eyes.
On his side was...
"Wait... Nora too?" Muttered Jaune.
Nora was wearing a black shirt instead of her normal one and seemed normal, but she said:
"Hi Jaune!" She waved her hand cheerfully. "I helped Ren take over the school! It was fun!"
"Ah, Jaune" Ren seemed to notice him, but talked to another boy. "Take her to the amusement park by the sunset. No horror houses, only ferris wheels."
After giving a tip about love...
"LONG LIVE THE KING OF HEARTS"
Ren shifted his attention to Jaune.
"I have been expecting you to come sooner or later".
SHI~VER
Ren gave Jaune a last boss feeling.
"Ren... What have you done?"
Ren sneered.
"It's just like you see. I have found a plan to not only deal with my problems, but also take down all of my enemies... And get a few allies".
"You mean Jammer, right?"
Ren shook his head smiling.
"I meant girls" Ren got up from his throne. "I meant MMORPG players" he raised his glass of tomato juice. "And lastly, Jammer. But enough of this!"
He threw the glass of blood(juice) away and it broke on the impact with ground.
Ren looked at Jaune and Jaune only prayed 'don't say a boss phrase, don't say a boss phrase, don't say a boss phrase!'
Ren twisted his lips:
"Welcome, to my castle".
'Man, I am screwed' he thought. 'This can't get any worse!'
But Nora seemed to twist his luck further.
She directed herself to some random cultists and said:
"Team BAND, play Outer Science!"
'Oh god!' Jaune backed away one step. 'He even got a boss theme!'
Jaune tried to talk his way out of it:
"Yeah, good welcoming and all, but you see... I kinda of only wanted to check if you were fine and search for tips to a date with Pyrrha, and maybe find info on Jammer, since there is this vampire guy that can impale creatures that disintegrate when they die, but I kinda have to go now-"
"Do not worry" said Ren. "I will give you all the tips you need" he opened his eyes wide like an insane person. "After you become one of ours!"
'Ahahaha... Okay, calm down... Remember what dad said, confidence solves everything... Okay that this was more of a tip with girls, but a confident opponent is one you don't mess with'
"Ha!" Jaune smiled boldly. "Does that mean you would battle?"
"If you are not my ally" Ren glared at Jaune while smiling. "Then you are just a potential enemy".
'Haha... He sure is confident, and it totatlly makes me not want to mess with him'.
But Jaune still tried to talk:
"Well... But I was trained by Pyrrha, you know?"
"I have an army!"
"We have a No-"
Jaune was about to say that he had a Nora, but remembered she was by his side. 'This just keeps getting worse and worse!'
"We have a... I... Well, I was also trained by Weiss!"
"And what of it?"
'And she gave me Dust even though I have no idea how to use it' he answered mentally.
"Aaaand... Aaaaaand... And I learned one important thing".
"What?"
"How to run from a powerful Weiss!"
Jaune ran away onspot.
Ren merely observed the boy and snapped his fingers, making one lacay come to his side:
"Yes, my lord?"
"Jaune isn't the only one who learned a few things with a Schnee. Bring me a hairclip, a chicken and a pair of boots" Ren opened his eyes insanely. "The hunt... Is ON!"
Team RWBY's room...
Pyrrha listened with full attention to what Ruby and Yang said.
"Soo... I need to ask him out the next time?"
Yang thumbed up.
"Yes! You see Pyrrha, this is the time for you to act. Knowing Jaune, he won't accomplish anything in days while trying to find the best date spot for you. So, you have to go and ask him out. You already went to the movies once, a club is still too soon, so, I think you should go to an amusement park. By the way, focus on the ferris wheel by the sunset and-
RRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGG
"It's mine!'' Ruby picked up her scroll. ''Hello?"
"RUBY!"
"Wah!" Ruby got scared by Jaune's shouting.
"Ruby, I need help! Ren became the Demon Lord!"
Dododododo! Heretic Notes:
Chapter 3 with Ren becoming a boss... Check!
Giving foreshadowing info about a certain Impaler Vampire... Check!
Having Pyrrha be kidnapped by team RWBY in order to have a more aggressive approach towards Jaune... Check!
Having Ren's dreams be about parallel universes (fanfics)... Check!
Very slow speed for plot development... Check!
Seriously, I think it will take at least two chapters for the start of the first arc like this.
Oh well, everything is fun and games for now, so enjoy it.
Heretic, out!