Hey guys good news! I'm ahead of schedule so I was able to release a new chapter early the next one should be out early Feb. Enjoy.
I don't own RWBY (except for a Black-Ray copy).
Red sighed and gripped her seat belt tighter as the Bullhead encountered yet more turbulence. Honestly why is it always a Bullhead? They could have used a nice smooth airship but no it was too 'impractical.' Her mind then drifted back to her current aura situation with a frown, she'd tried using her aura but every time it would sputter before blobs of black began appearing. Giving a fearful shudder Red snapped the thoughts out of her head and focused on the conversation the rest of the team were having with Oobleck, hoping to distract herself.
"I guess I just never saw you as much of a fighter," admitted Yang.
"I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles," replied Oobleck in his usual fast paced voice.
"Huntsman have to eat mushrooms?" asked Red completely confused.
"No those are truffles," said Blake.
"So we have to eat sprouts?" responded Red scratching her head.
"Those are Brussels," sighed Yang. "Seriously you cook how do you not know this sis?"
"Well it's not ingredients that I normally use! Besides it doesn't seem to help you cook Yang," huffed Red.
The sister's argument was interrupted by the sound of Oobleck clearing his throat, "as I was saying, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in the archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw fit to assign me to this particular... assignment!"
"What does history have to do with this?" asked Weiss.
"Why, what a preposterous question, you silly girl! Why, history is the backbone of our very society! And the liver! Probably the kidneys, if I were to wager," lectured Oobleck.
"Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it," commented Red.
"Exactly Miss Rose! It's good to see Earth at least values the lessons of the past," congratulated the professor.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that professor. Most don't study it, in fact I think a lot of people would rather forget it," she informed him.
"What that's ridiculous! Why would any nation let alone planet want to forget their past?" he asked, shocked.
Remembering back to the story she read she gave a sad smile, "a history painted in blood is nothing to be proud of Professor."
"Surely it can't be that bad," commented Blake.
Red gave a dark laugh, "when Laura last checked, in the last decade there had been more wars then years."
A silence filled the aircraft as they all processed what she'd said, "Miss Rose when this is over I would very much appreciate a discussion about Earth. It would be very interesting to see how such a culture evolved," stated Oobleck breaking the silence.
"Sure and you can teach me more on Remnant's history, but I don't know a lot I'm afraid," agreed Red.
Oobleck nodded before Weiss spoke up, "so where exactly are we headed?"
"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves, but it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures! Mountain Glen," announced the professor.
"I think I remember Professor Port mentioning that place once, something about it being overrun by Grimm," stated Red.
Yang turned to look at Red with a sad expression, "That's right. It was an expansion of Vale... but in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city."
"Correct! And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder," replied Oobleck.
"And a likely place for a hideout," continued Blake.
"Precisely!" answered the professor. "Now get ready we'll be there momentarily."
Team RWBY along with professor Oobleck leapt out of the Bullhead and landed in their various combat stances, all except Ruby who quickly rolled as she landed with a grimace. They all turned to look at Ruby with confused expressions but the reaper just shrugged before getting Crescent Rose ready.
"It was too big a drop to land normally," she explained to them.
"That's why we have aura," said Weiss.
"Oh right guess I just forgot to use it," replied Ruby with a sheepish grin.
They all looked at the reaper with various expressions on their faces before Oobleck drew their attention, "Ladies! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first real mission as Huntresses has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?"
They all nodded and Blake stepped forward, "So, what are your orders, professor?"
"Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" commented Oobleck. "As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behaviour, one of which being... Grimm."
"Uh, what?" responded Ruby.
"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment," replied the professor.
"What?!" exclaimed Yang as they all turned around with their weapons ready.
"Stop!" ordered Oobleck, much to the shock of everyone as they lowered their weapons. "There are a number of reasons why Grimm will congregate in this particular area, the most likely of which will be their attraction to negativity: sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harboring ill intent."
"So…what now?" asked Ruby.
"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey," he instructed.
"How long do we wait?" said Blake.
Oobleck frowned as he rubbed his chin, "It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months - and there's the whole pack."
They all watched as an entire pack of Beowolves emerged from the street before they all turned to face the hunters.
"And now they've seen us," stated the professor, unhelpfully as the pack charged.
"God damn it murphy!" muttered Ruby as she loaded Crescent Rose.
"So what do we do now?" asked Yang.
Oobleck looked at them all before speaking up, "show me what you're capable of."
They all readied their weapons and turned to the pack when the Beowolves started acting oddly. The entire pack slowed to a stop and began sniffing the air. They all watched as the pack then turned in unison to look at something before whining and retreating back the way they came, leaving the very confused hunters behind. Yang turned to examine what the Grimm had been looking at only to see Ruby standing there, with a look of concentration on her face. Yang's eyes narrowed as she saw a red outline with large blobs of black surround her sister but it vanished quickly and Yang was left wondering if it was simply a trick of the eye.
"Did Grimm just run?" exclaimed Weiss, voicing all their thoughts.
"Does it matter? It just made our job easier right?" quickly replied Ruby, drawing an suspicious look from Oobleck before he nodded.
"Your leader is right. While this is an odd occurrence we need to focus on the mission," he lectured and turned to Ruby. "Which direction do you think we should go?"
"Why are you asking me? Aren't you better qualified to make that decision?" said Ruby.
"Humor me," responded the professor, getting shocked looks from the rest of team RWBY as they glanced at each other.
"Umm…that way I guess," decided Ruby, pointing down one of the destroyed streets.
With the decision being made they all headed down the empty streets in search of some form of clue and before long they all grew bored with the fruitless searching, they never even encountered any Grimm to let loose on.
"Grr…I thought this was a Grimm hotspot," growled Yang as she kicked another door in.
"That's what the report said," sighed Blake.
"Then where are they all? We've been here for hours and not a single one has shown up," replied the angry blonde.
"It is odd, it's almost as if they're avoiding us," commented Weiss.
"Most would consider that a good thing not bad," replied Ruby with crossed arms.
"But it's so boring!" exclaimed Yang.
"Your leader is right not every mission is filled with daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination! Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that," reminded their observer.
"O-Of course!" replied Yang, trying to sound convincing and failing miserably.
The next few hours were spent searching buildings with Red flaring her aura whenever she was alone, only to frown as each time the red outline sputtered before blobs of black appeared or just died entirely and pain lanced through her arms as the tattoos began glowing. Oobleck was busy too, questioning her entire team on why they wanted to be huntresses, Red was surprised to hear all their responses. It just seemed kind of shallow to her but that might be due to her familiarity with Ruby's reasoning. It was then that she stopped as a thought ran through her head, what was her reasoning? Why did she want to become a huntresses? She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice everyone else had stopped until Yang waved a hand in front of her face.
"Remnant to Ruby? Hello? Anyone home?" teased the blonde.
Red snapped out of her trance before turning to Oobleck, "sorry! uhh... are we ready to keep going?"
The professor gave her an odd look as he shook his head, "Nope! I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon."
Oobleck then threw a bag at Yang, "you three, set up camp in that building. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby."
They all shared a glance before Red sighed as she followed the professor down the destroyed buildings and stopped in her tracks at the sight that greeted her. There were massive elephant like creatures roaming just outside the ruin's border.
"What is that? It looks just like a massive elephant!" exclaimed the reaper.
"That, my dear girl, is a Grimm," answered Oobleck.
Red just blinked before wearily taking out Crescent Rose, "I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size," warned the professor.
"But... what if they attacks us?" she asked, fearfully.
"Fret not, Ruby; those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather not every Grimm is still mindless," he informed her, gesturing to the herd with one hand.
"You see, the Grimm you see before you are so powerful, so superior to the Grimm you fought, that they've undoubtedly lived hundreds of years, and in that time between killing humans and attacking our borders, they have done one important thing: They've learned. They've learned that when they attack our borders, they're likely to die, and what we lack in strength, we make up for in will, and that killing one human will only bring more," concluded Oobleck.
"With all due respect Professor, Grimm that aren't mindless doesn't exactly fill me with great hope," she replied and frowned as the herd stopped moving and turned to look in their direction as if hearing her words.
"Indeed and you wouldn't be the only one but for now they are content to keep their distance and most want to keep it that way," he replied.
"Then why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?" she asked.
"Waiting," answered Oobleck with a frown.
"For what?" mused Red as she looked back to the motionless herd with a sense of unease.
"No one knows and frankly that's probably for the best," commented Oobleck.
Call her paranoid but she could swear she felt the Grimm's eyes staring at her and a shiver ran down her spine. Finally the herd gave off a loud trumpeting sound from their trunks and then turned to continue on their previous course, still Red noted that they never stopped looking in the pair's direction as the passed by.
Oobleck turned and Red quickly followed, the two walking back to the others in silence, "well?" she asked.
The professor stopped and turned to face her with a confused expression, "well what Ruby?"
Red took a deep breath, "aren't you going to ask me about why I want to become a huntress?"
"Very well then Ruby, why do you want to be a huntress?" he quizzed with a thoughtful expression.
"I owed someone a debt that can never be repaid, becoming a huntress is what she wanted so it's the least I can do," answered Red.
"No that's not right, if that was the case then you wouldn't have protected team CRDL nor Yang or Jaune to the extent that you did. Now think harder Ruby and try again," lectured Oobleck.
They both stopped as Red turned to look at the ground and tried to figure out what to say, only to fail as Oobleck sighed in disappointment. "Shall I tell you what I see?" he asked.
"I see a girl who thinks she owes the world a debt she cannot pay. I see a girl who needs to understand that lives aren't currency. You can't buy a new one if it's lost but by the same token you don't owe anyone for living out your own," he said, gesturing for her to take a seat.
Taking the offered seat beside him Red remained silent as Oobleck continued, "lives cannot be reduced to mere numbers Ruby. One life holds no more value than another and both are equally precious. Each is unique and you cannot treat them like a math's equation, hoping that one will somehow balance out the other."
Red remained silent as she just eyed the ground, causing Oobleck to frown as he tried another method, "tell me Ruby do you enjoy being around your friends?"
She looked up in surprise, "of course I do!"
"So if one of them was in trouble you'd help them?" he pressed.
"Do you really need to ask that question?" replied Red heatedly.
"Why would you help them?" questioned the professor.
"Because they're my friends," she stated.
Oobleck nodded, "then why did you help Cardin and Yang? Neither were your friend and both had hurt you, so why did you help them?"
"Ruby would have done it," muttered Red quietly.
Unfortunately she wasn't quiet enough as Oobleck gave another sigh, "yes your predecessor would've given everything to save Yang but would she have lied to the Headmaster to protect someone like Cardin Winchester?"
Red blinked and frowned deep in thought, "that situation was…complicated, he wasn't as bad as I thought he was. Besides it just felt like the right thing to do."
For the first time a smile appeared on the professor's face, "tell me Ruby what is a hunter's most valuable tool?"
"Aura," she replied with certainty.
Oobleck shook his head, "while I can see why you would think that, aura is not the most powerful thing at our disposal."
"Dust?" frowned Red, her voice losing the certainty it once held.
"You're thinking too materialistic, what is it that allows us to stand together in times of hardship?" he asked.
Red was silent as she tried to come up with an answer before images began flashing through her mind; Cardin's sad face as he looked into the fire, star gazing with Jaune and Pyrrha, Penny's grateful smile as she hugged Red, laughing with the food covered RWBY and JNPR.
Looking up at the professor's questioning face she smiled, "empathy. That's the most important tools hunters have. It keeps us together and motivates us to get better, to protect others, to face the darkness so they don't have to."
Oobleck's smile widened as he stood up, "and that Ruby is the correct answer. Now come along the others must be getting worried at our lateness."
The two made their way back to the camp where the rest of team was waiting by the fire, "ah, wonderful; a textbook campfire!" complimented Oobleck.
"Fire! So…warm," sighed Red as she sat down in front of it.
"Very good! Eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?" asked the professor.
"Yo," said Red as she raised her hand.
Oobleck nodded and began setting up his sleeping bag while Red got up from the fire and headed to her post, only to be stopped by Yang halfway there. "Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean... what did you tell him?" she asked, drawing the attention of her two teammates.
Red just frowned as they all turned to look at her, "he didn't need to. He knew my reasoning better than I did myself. Anyway good night guys and don't worry no Grimm's coming anywhere near here while I'm on watch."
Red then headed to her lookout position and flared her aura, sending the nearby Grimm running before settling in from a long night when something caught her eye. High above them she could have sworn that she saw a humanoid figure watching them with red eyes and glowing tattoos. Red blinked and rubbed her eyes and the image was gone, frowning she kept her senses on high alert and began gripping Crescent Rose tighter until her shift ended. As she lay down on her sleeping bag Red couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.
What did Red see? Was it real or in her head? And what's happening with her aura? I wonder what the consequences of it will be...Anyway hope you all like the new chapter.