Hope you guys been enjoying these rapid releases! I won't have so much free time anymore as Spring Break has come to and end. Booo!
Thanks to my beta reader TheMischieviousPuppyDog for catching mistakes on my writing while Jauneforever giving his opinion! Enjoy this chapter!
The next morning, after the dance on Sunday, revealed a furious Ironwood in Ozpin's office with Ozpin and Glynda. Glynda looked displeased while Ozpin looked annoyed.
"They were here..," growled Ironwood, raising his voice, "Ozpin, they were here!"
Ironwood slammed his fist on Ozpin's desk in anger.
"We're very much aware of that! Thank you, James," Glynda stated, her voice sounding quite annoyed.
"Fantastic!" grumbled Ironwood, "You're aware! Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us?!"
Suddenly, an alert sound pinged out, causing them to pause, Ozpin stood up to call the person in from the elevator. That person was none other than Ruby Rose herself, who stepped out of the elevator, nervous, explaining to them all that she was sorry she was late, but somebody had pressed all the buttons on the elevator. She quickly defended that it wasn't her doing.
Ozpin gave a small grin as he welcomed her in before asking if she was, in which she replied with a small joke. Unfortunately for her, nobody laughed. Seeing that she was feeling uncomfortable, Ironwood gave his opinion and gratitude. Seeing she was feeling a bit better, Ozpin decided to ask if there was anything familiar about the intruder. Ruby gave her description while saying the intruder didn't say anything, to which Glynda added that save the glass attacks, it sounded like the same person she had fought when she first met Ruby.
Ironwood scoffed it off, saying that embedding Dust in clothing was a technique that had been known for ages.
"Wait. You think this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?" Ruby questioned.
"It's possible. But we still lack the required evidence to link the two together," Ozpin replied, though with a slight glint in his eyes as he looked at Ruby. Ruby thought about it before deciding to reveal something Blake had heard when she infiltrated the White Fang meeting.
"Actually, I...I think I remember her saying something about a hideout, or something, in the southeast. Just outside the Kingdom," stated Ruby.
"Interesting"
"I thought you said the intruder never," started Glynda, but Ozpin interrupted her with a wave of his hand
"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby. Why don't you go and spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you."
"Anytime," replied Ruby before leaving. Before she got into the elevator, Ozpin called out to her,"And Miss Rose, please try and be ... discreet about this matter."
"Yes sir," she nodded right before the elevator doors closed.
Ruby walked back to her dorm, opening up the RWBY dorm to see the rest of her team and JNPR waiting inside.
"What happened?" asked Yang.
"Uh... well, um..," laughed Ruby nervously as she started to explain.
Back in Ozpin's office, Ironwood looked at the information they had just gotten with glee before planning to have as many troops as they could spare to the southeast quadrant, and eliminate anything that stood in their way. Glynda growled in frustration about how Ironwood always wanted to use an overwhelming display of force like it was a contest. She never got to finish what type of contest she was about to say due to Ozpin scolding her. Ozpin sighed before telling Ironwood that she was right and that they couldn't risk sending all troops available, but rather advised Ironwood to send a small squadron of soldiers to investigate the source, first, before fully committing on the information.
"That was a risky move," started Weiss.
"No, I think you handled it well," commented Blake.
"I hope so," Ruby replied
"Don't worry," began Jaune, "Least they have a bit more information now."
"I'm sure everything will be alright, Ruby. Oh, I know what will cheer you up!" exclaimed Yang, pulling out a cylindrical package the length of her forearm, "Dad sent it to us. I thought we could open it together!"
"Ooooh! Something from home!" squealed Ruby before zooming over to her sister, wrapping herself around Yang and trying to take the package from her.
The packaged suddenly opened, and another cylinder object that was black and fluffy fell to the floor. It started to shake a bit before it suddenly transformed into a corgi. Team RWBY and JNPR leaned forward, staring at it. The dog barked twice, showing that he was still quite alive. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake reacted in shock, while Ruby and Yang reacted excitedly. Nora was gabbling on how cute the corgi was, asking Ren if they could adopt one, or better yet, adopt a sloth. Ren and Jaune merely raised an eyebrow at this scene.
"How did the dog even fit in there in the first place, and how did he live?" mused Aryz.
"I'm trying to figure out why he sent it through the mail instead of getting a cage before sending it," murmured Alaerth, "Sounds like animal cruelty, except we've seen how they treat the Zwei back in Patch."
"Probably to save money. It doesn't look like this was the first time Zwei traveled like that," guessed Lung Wang.
"Zwei!" yelled Ruby in excitement as she picked up Zwei.
"He sent a dog?" began Blake in disbelief.
"In the mail?" continued Weiss, yelling in surprise.
"How is your pet still so... active?" followed Pyrrha.
"Oh, he does stuff like this all the time!" explained Yang while Zwei was busy licking Ruby's face, who was currently cuddling the loveable corgi and laughing.
Blake had disappeared from Weiss' side and had taken herself to be furthest away from Zwei the corgi, in the corner of the room.
"Your father or your dog?" she deadpanned.
Weiss, at first, asked angrily that if the dog was going to live with them. However, after she got a better look at the corgi, she saw how cute Zwei was and instantly changed from disliking the dog to loving it, talking in baby talk. Jaune chuckled as he went over to pet Zwei, who seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting. Nora quickly ran over to hug the dog. Then, the intercom rang, calling all first-year students to report to the amphitheater.
"Well, we can't exactly leave him here while we're gone for the week," said Weiss.
Ruby had put the dog down, who tried to walked over to Blake. Seeing how she was trying her best to get away from the dog, Pyrrha took pity and picked him up, petting him. Yang found a letter stuffed in the package and read it out loud. It was from Taiyang, telling them that he needed to leave the island for a few days, so he sent Zwei over for them to take care of, and had already packed food inside. In the post scriptum, he also put a warning for Jaune, telling him not to do anything funny, as his daughters weren't ready yet.
Zwei barked as he jumped off Pyrrha's arm, running over to Yang before sitting himself next to her. Yang turned the package upside above Zwei only for it to rain dozens of cans of dog food on the dog. The dog quickly stuck his head out, looking unharmed. Yang shook it once more, and a can opener fell from the package, bouncing off Zwei's head.
"Well, that settles it! Come on girls, Zwei will be here when we get back!" cheered Yang, walking away.
"How did that much food and a dog fit into that container?!" asked Andusk.
"Maybe humans found a way to do spatial expansion in small packages, like our bag?" replied Othim, uncertain either.
"The package doesn't give the same enchantments like the dragon bag that Jaune has," said Ryo-Wo.
"This will have to be further studied upon later," murmured Fafnir, making a note to tell Jaune to take a look at the package when they came back.
"I'm more concerned about how the dog is going to able to use a can opener," said Aryth.
"I think they trained him to be able to use one?" replied Alaerth with uncertainty.
Weiss' speech descended down to baby talk once again as she said her goodbyes to Zwei, Blake had latched herself on Jaune to avoid Zwei. Laughing, the rest of JNPR left, leaving Ruby alone with Zwei. She stared at Zwei for a moment before smiling, an idea taking root.
Ruby quickly caught up with the rest of the students, wearing a rather suspicious and large backpack. She put it down near the rest of the bags before quickly lining up with her team, who were all waiting in the Vale crowd. They were all in their uniforms. In the auditorium where students from all four Huntsmen academies, all sitting within their respective schools. Jaune noticed that only Shade Academy students didn't have uniforms while the others did. Sun looked uncomfortable wearing his uniform and was desperate to get out of it.
"Pity Shade academy doesn't have a uniform. I'm sure you would've liked to see Dew in a uniform. You could play teacher punishes naughty student! Although I'm sure your other mates would be willing to lend her one," commented Othim, snickering at his own joke. Jaune rolled his eyes before paying attention to the front. Although he couldn't deny the fact that a little uniform play would be exciting WHEN they did it. Big on the when.
Glynda walked up to the front, telling everyone to be quiet, as Professor Ozpin had some words to say.
Insert Ozpin's inspiring speech from Vol 2 Ep 8.
As the inspiring speech ended, students started to head to the electronic bulletins to pick out a mission.
"This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a Huntsman working in the southeast!" exclaimed Ruby.
"Yeah! We'll follow them around by day and give them the slip by night!" followed up Yang.
"I don't think it'll be that easy to slip away from a Huntsman," stated Ren, playing devil's advocate.
"Yea, to be honest, only Ren would be able to, but even that's not a guarantee that they wouldn't get suspicious," followed Jaune.
"Let's go check 'search and destroy'!" said Weiss, ignoring their advice. The two boys sighed as their teammates patted them on the back.
Jaune took a look to see SSSN already choosing a job, as well as NDGO.
"You guys got any preferences?" asked Jaune as he leads his team to a bulletin next to team RWBY.
"Not really," began Pyrrha, "As long as we can get it done."
Jaune was scanning the bulletin when Ren pointed one that he wanted to check out, along with Nora. It was shadowing a sheriff of a village outside the walls of Vale. Seeing no disagreements, Jaune was about to select it when a beeping noise caught their attention. They looked to see that RWBY had tried to choose a mission located in the southeast, only to be denied.
"Tough luck," said Jaune.
As RWBY was discussing ideas how to get there, Ruby suggested mailing themselves there.
'I guess that's why they didn't question why Zwei was in a capsule,' thought JNPR, Blake, and even Weiss. The sisters acted as though it was the most natural thing to do. Suddenly, they had a surprise guest.
"Well, that's one option."
They all turned to see Ozpin appearing with a Scroll in one hand, his cup of coffee in the other.
"Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that you four will make your way there no matter which job you choose," commented Ozpin, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Weiss, Blake, and Yang glared at Ruby, who nervously rubbed her head before trying to act innocent and asking why he would say that.
"I'm still curious how you all found yourself at the docks last semester and managed to get two more teams involved in it. I'm interested to know how you really learned about a hideout in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago." continued Ozpin with a smirk as he continued to be amused by the blushing Ruby Rose.
Ozpin gave a mock sigh, "I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for. So how about this; instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them?" He typed in a few commands into his scroll before the electronic bulletin flashed for a bit, making a noise.
"We won't let you down. Thank you, professor," Ruby stated as she was determined to make her headmaster proud!
"Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far. But you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the Kingdom will not care. Stay close to your Huntsman at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory," warned Ozpin.
RWBY nodded in reply, but Ozpin had more to say.
"I do not feel completely comfortable having just you four with a Huntsman, even if you are one of the top teams in Beacon. So... team JNPR. Have you selected a mission yet?"
"Umm.. no?" replied Jaune in confusion, "We were about to choose one."
"If it's not too much to ask, I want your team to accompany team RWBY as backup. You will also do the same as I just said, though. Stay close to your Huntsman at all times, and he will be the leader," requested Ozpin.
"I don't have any problem with that," admitted Jaune. He was worried about RWBY taking a mission that wasn't meant for first year teams, but with the two teams together, they should be fine.
"That sounds grand," acknowledged Pyrrha.
"Smashing Grimm and getting paid for it! I'm in!" Nora shouted the last part with glee! Who can blame her, she just loves smashing after all.
"I suppose we'll make the trip some other time," sighed Ren, although not entirely opposed to the sudden request.
"Good luck," said Ozpin, "And be sure to stay on your guard."
Team RWBY and JNPR quickly changed into their gears and were headed towards the airfield that would take them to quadrant 5 in the southeast. Ruby was apologizing to Jaune and his team for dragging them into their investigation. They waived it off, saying that it was all right. The others were talking about how serious Ozpin sounded, but Ruby cheered them up, saying they could do it. Then, they heard the news that team CFVY was back. They hurried to find Velvet walking with her team, all of them looking quite tired.
"Velvet? Are you okay?" asked Blake in concern.
"I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me," answered Velvet.
"Your mission was supposed to end a week ago! What happened?" asked Weiss.
"Nothing happened. It was just ... there were just so many...," Velvet trailed off for a bit before looking at the worried expressions of her juniors. "Oh, but don't worry. You first-years are just shadowing Huntsmen, so you should be fine," she tried to assure them.
Commonly, after finishing the first year of any Academies, students from the second year and forward were to work without a Huntsman to watch over them, as they were considered to be good enough if they could pass their first year. Of course, the mission rankings still played a part whether a team could do it or needed someone to watch over them. As the students progressed through the year, they were entrusted to take care of themselves more and more, until they graduated. However, they were all required to work as a team during the four years. After that, the graduates could decide to take solo missions if they wanted to, or team up with other people in case one of their own members were down.
Velvet left to catch up with the rest of her team, leaving both teams feeling a bit nervous. However, Ruby tried to cheer them up, saying that they would be with an honest-to-god Huntsman. Jaune also joined in, saying that with the two teams together, they would be a force to reckon with. However, when they reached the airfield, they felt their spirits dampen, their shock grew in size. It could be said that the relationship between dread and fighting spirit was inversely proportional, with dread being the bigger part.
"Why, hello boys and girls! Who's ready to fight for their lives?"
It was Doctor Oobleck, their history teacher.
"Professor Oobleck?!" asked Weiss in horror.
Oobleck, pacing around while talking in his usual speed, whose default setting for that was pretty fast, spoke, "Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, boy and girls, seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you, we will not be establishing a single base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our air course, and readied the airship. And..," he zoomed up right to Weiss's face "It's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn the PhD for fun, thank you very much!" He backed away quickly.
Weiss looked over to her team, who also looked disturbed. Oobleck suddenly declared they were late before zipping off to the airship ahead of them in a manner of speed so fast that it looked like he was running at the same speed as Ruby did when she uses her Semblance. It was hard to say, but it looked like his Semblance was also speed. That, or the ungodly amount of coffee he drank made him that fast.
"Well, alright, then!" shouted Ruby, trying to cheer them up, "Looks like we're going to save the world with Doctor Oooobleck- okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse." She ended looking quite sad.
"Cheer up," Nora patted Ruby on her head, seeing as she still had a backpack, "I'm sure Professor Oobleck is a-"
"DOCTOR!" shouted Oobleck in the background
"Doctor Oobleck," Nora corrected herself, "Will show how he BREAKS GRIMM LEGS!"
"Perhaps," sighed Ren, "None the less, Doctor Oobleck is a Huntsman, despite his... idiosyncratic behavior."
"We just need to trust him and each other," said Pyrrha.
"Alright, let's move to save the world before Oobleck gets impatient," motioned Jaune.
"Cool, you're all headed out?"
They turned to see Sun and his team walking towards them.
"We're shadowing a crime specialist tomorrow. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges," explained Neptune..
"We normally go to the city with you guys which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know... normal," finished Sun.
"Well... he's not wrong," sighed Jaune. Oobleck suddenly popped out from the airship, calling for both teams to get on board as they were now four minutes late.
They said their goodbyes and went towards their respective locations.
As they were all flying towards their destination, team RWBY was talking with Oobleck, before asking why he had been assigned to be their leader, to which he explained that he was a fighter as well as an expert in history as well as dabbling in archaeological surveys, telling them what advantages they had. He also discussed a bit of a history lesson with them, as well as some practical solutions. Jaune had gotten slightly bored, so he took a golden coin from his bag, flipping it for a bit. A hand caught it in midair, surprising Jaune. He looked to see Oobleck had dashed over to him to grab the coin and was now inspecting it.
"Jaune. Where did you find this coin?" asked Oobleck in a low voice.
"Found it in my travels?" replied Jaune weakly.
"You managed to find what ancient people in Remnant used as currency!" exclaimed Oobleck, "Look at these markings! This minting! Why this must be centuries old, and yet it looks like it's in pristine condition!"
While Oobleck began to babble, Jaune sighed. He was about to stand and sit next to Blake before Oobleck popped another question.
"Can I keep this? For studies of course! I may never get a chance to review this so easily."
"Sure, got a few more," shrugged Jaune. Oobleck grabbed his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye.
"You've had precious relics of the past, and you've been withholding them from me for about a semester now! Why have you done this!? Why have you denied me time to study these relics!" shouted Oobleck shaking Jaune in the process.
"Didn't... think... it ….. was... so... important!" Jaune replied in between shakes as well as he could, as Oobleck hadn't stopped shaking him.
"Can I see them?!" Asked Oobleck, "And do you have more ancient relics!?" He gazed at Jaune as if he was a source of priceless information about history. Which would be true, as the dragons had been the rulers of Remnant before.
"Not that I know of," said Jaune as he tried to stop the world from spinning, grabbing a few more coins in his bag before handing them to Oobleck, "Here. Go nuts." His eyes were still swirls.
Blake took pity and put his head on her lap to stop the world from spinning, getting a few jealous gazes from the other girls.
Soon, they were at Mt. Glenn, their destination. They all jumped off, in a battle ready position, weapons and shields out. Only Oobleck seemed calm as he took another chug from his thermos.
Oobleck began his speech, "Ladies! Gentlemen! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Huntresses and Huntsmen has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?"
Everyone nodded when Oobleck looked over to Jaune and Ruby. "Ruby! Jaune! I thought I told you to leave all of your bags back at school.
"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't," replied Ruby.
"Sorry Doctor. But this bag stays with me at all times. It won't get in the way, as it's pretty small. It's got some essentials that I carry at all times."
Oobleck started to mumble to himself, "She's not wrong.. And it would be useful to have someone carry some more stuff just in case, as we have two teams," then he spoke up, "Very well, Ruby; leave your bag here, we can pick it up upon our return. Jaune, you can keep yours as long as it doesn't hinder you in combat."
"But I, well uh-" stammered Ruby, "I also brought some sup-"
"Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with..." he stopped talking as her bag's zipper opened up from inside, and Zwei's head popped out from the backpack. Everyone stared at the sudden uninvited guest. Ruby whispered to Zwei, telling him to get back in the bag, to which he barked in response, still looking around.
"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought... a dog?" Asked Oobleck darkly and sharply. Ruby could only look shy when Oobleck's attitude did a 180, "Genius!"
Ruby shrugged in confusion before Oobleck zoomed past her, grabbing Zwei away from Ruby, who fell down at the sudden lack of weight in her back. She fell right towards Jaune, who helped her get back on her feet. Of course, when she fell, she may have had given Jaune a good idea on how the development of her breasts was going when she pressed them on his chest. Oobleck didn't seem to notice as he started to babble about how canines were useful for a hunt like they would be doing.
"So, what are your orders, Doctor?" asked Blake, trying to get the get back to the mission.
"Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" exclaimed Oobleck as he suddenly let go of Zwei, who dropped down to the floor and immediately ran towards Ruby. Oobleck adopted a serious pose as he began his talk, "As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hot spot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being... Grimm."
Everyone looked at him in confusion at this sudden short explanation. Jaune was about to ask when he sensed something was approaching them slowly before turning around. Ren, who had been training to learn how to sense other creatures like Jaune from him ever since he received the light Dragons Mark, also felt it and turned around, albeit slower than Jaune. The rest of the team just stood there in confusion.
"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment," explained Oobleck, noticing the two Huntsmen had already noticed, secretly applauding them for understanding why he had stopped or guessed that they were aware of their surroundings a bit better than the girls.
The girls turned around in shock to see a Beowolf prowling the streets of Mt. Glenn, alone.
"Let's break its leg! Or keep it as a pet!" said Nora, ready to charge in.
"Stop!" commanded Oobleck. At this, even Nora obeyed.
"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," explained Oobleck.
When Blake asked how long they needed to wait, Oobleck began theorizing, "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."
At this sudden statement, the students looked back to see that indeed more Beowolves had joined the lone one.
"What?" Weiss asked in shock.
"And now they've seen us," stated Oobleck, ignoring what Weiss had just said.
"What?!" shouted Wiess in shock even louder. To this, Oobleck yelled right at her ear to repeat what he had just said, slightly deafening her. Seeing as tracking them was no longer an option, Oobleck gave them permission to open fire and kill the Grimm.
The Grimm were slaughtered quickly. Nora had a fun time punting a few to Yang, who uppercutted them into the air. As they finished, Ruby hefted her weapon, "Heh. Piece of cake!"
"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" asked Oobleck. The group nodded as they continued down their path. They slew through Grimm as they traveled, starting to show signs of fatigue while Oobleck merely studied everything else, never lifting a finger to fight. The only people who didn't show too much sign of fatigue were Jaune, Pyrrha, and Yang. Even Nora was starting to lean on her hammer for support.
"Excellent work! Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this sector. Oh, well! Moving on!" stated Oobleck, starting to march away when Yang voiced her thoughts and impatience, wanting to see a pro in action, or at least helping them fight. She was glad that team JNPR had come with them, as they would've been much more tired if they hadn't. Oobleck merely replied that he was indeed helping, before turning around to lecture them about what they had signed up for, and that it was not always a mission full of heroism and drama.
At this, Yang replied, but there was hesitance in her answer. Oobleck caught onto this before pondering, thinking about a few questions he would want to ask. While traveling through the empty city, Oobleck decided to ask a few specific people he had in mind why they wanted to be in this profession. Of course, saying to fight monsters and save people was something Oobleck threw out immediately, stating the honest reason why.
For Yang, it was for the thrill, to travel around the world. For Weiss, it was a duty as a Schnee. For Blake, it was to fight the injustice in this world. For Ren, it was originally for revenge, but now it was to uphold his family legacy and honor. For Nora, it was mainly to be with Ren. Also beating up Grimm played a big part of it with pancakes. Although for after each questioning, he left most of them confused about their reasons, starting to plant seeds of doubt. Nora was too happy and crazy to think about it, though, and Ren had already cleared up most of his doubts after meeting Jaune.
Oobleck decided to call it a day, stating that night would be upon them soon. Designating them to a building, he had both teams set up and clear it out of any hostile creatures, while having Ruby and Jaune to secure the perimeter with him. Zwei quickly followed them. The members of team RWBY stared at their leading, feeling like they knew what Oobleck would ask their leader.
The trio rounded the corner of the building to see Grimm Goliaths marching through the trees. Ruby was in awe at the size before pulling out her weapon, saying they should kill it. Jaune snorted in amusement while Oobleck gently told her that her weapon wouldn't do anything but agitate the Grimm.
When Ruby asked about any dangers of those Grimms attacking them, Oobleck gave a lecture, stating not all Grimm are mindless. The older the Grimm, the wiser they were and learned that attacking the city borders would just get them killed, so they leave the major cities alone. Yet, they were merely content on just waiting until the opportune moment to strike. They learned patience, to strike when nobody expects it with maximum results. At this moment, one of the Goliath swiveled its neck towards them, as if to merely observe them.
"Hey, Jaune. Flash your Aura for a bit. Let them know who is the superior one," muttered Lung Wang. Jaune grinned and obeyed while Oobleck was busy with Ruby.
The Goliath looked at the three humans with disinterest. It knew that if it killed those three, more would come and try to take them out. They would survive, but it was a hassle to deal with so much more humans. Not to mention they could lose key numbers when it came time to strike. Yet, while it was observing the green-haired human talking to the girl with a red hood, the blonde one raised his Aura for them to see. At first, it was going to ignore it, but then, it suddenly felt like it was being stared at by the ancient ones. The ones that ruled Remnant. The other Goliaths also turned their heads at this Aura, staring at the blonde one. Each one felt fear as they could feel the power of the dragons flowing through this human. They all quickly decided that waiting to attack the city while this human was there may not be the best idea. They would wait to strike, but they all decided getting a bit more distance on watching the city would be a better idea. They continued to walk but went with a path that would put themselves further from Vale.
"What in the?" said Oobleck as he noticed the Goliaths walking away, further from the wall.
He shrugged and chalked it up as peculiar Grimm behavior before walking back to their camp. It was at this point, Ruby decided to ask a question. Oobleck intercepted, asking her if she had been wondering why he had been interrogating her teammates all day, also shooting a look to Jaune to see if he had the same question. Jaune shook his head as Ruby surprised him by asking why he himself wanted to be a Huntsman. Oobleck slightly grinned at this question. At this, Jaune also perked up to listen.
"Look around and tell me what you see," directed Oobleck.
Jaune and Ruby looked around, with Ruby stating the obvious physical structures. Jaune stated the past.
"I see lives that could have been saved, although you were closer to what I wanted, Jaune," said Oobleck, continuing to walk while the others walked beside him.
"As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people, and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland, and I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity; an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy, and therefore become stronger."
At this, he paused for a second before looking at Jaune and Ruby with a serious look, "I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be."
"An interesting one," began Ryo-Wo, "Besides his peculiar habits, he has the will and strength to back up his words. You can easily see in it his eyes that he was serious about it."
"Perhaps he would be useful in restoring some ancient texts," followed Aryz, "I know there are some relics of our past age that could be useful."
"I'd say bring him to a nesting ground, but I'm afraid he would never want to leave if we bring him there," stated Alaerth.
Back at the makeshift shelter, the group had made a fire and was already laying out the sleeping bags. Yang was in disbelief that they hadn't found any clues, with Nora booing at the side. Blake merely stated that they had mostly been lucky to be in the right place at the same time, and they couldn't always be this lucky. Ren merely stated that they needed some patience and that in time, they would find what they were looking for. Pyrrha was outside using her Semblance to create some barriers just in case. Suddenly, Weiss told them that what she had said earlier to Oobleck wasn't completely true, that there was more than that. Both Blake and Yang agreed about their own statements before looking at Ren and Nora, who they knew had been questioned.
"I just wanted to be with Ren. I was an orphan for as long I can remember until I met him," said Nora in a sad voice.
Ren hugged her before turning to them, "My original reason has changed somewhat. I still want revenge on the Grimm, but now, I have another duty to uphold. And being a Huntsman is the only way to honor that. There is nothing else I would do."
As the trio pondered about that answer, Yang said weakly that it didn't matter, that they knew why they were here. The awkward silence that followed didn't help. Suddenly, Oobleck rushed into the room, with Jaune, Ruby, and Pyrrha following him inside. As Jaune sat down near the fire, Ruby sat next to him, hugging him for some warmth from the fire and his body heat. Eager to do the same, Pyrrha took the other side. When Oobleck asked who wanted to take the first watch, Ruby volunteered, along with Nora. Oobleck nodded before rushing off to another part of the building.
As Ruby stood up to take first watch with Nora, Yang asked, "Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean...what did you tell him?"
Ruby thought about it for a second before answering, "Hmm... No, he didn't. Weird. Oh, well; good night, guys!"
The rest of team RWBY looked a little shock that Oobleck didn't ask her, and when they asked Jaune, he shrugged, saying he hadn't been asked either. They looked at Pyrrha, who said that she had been asked why but didn't really give it much thought afterward. It didn't plague her like it did with the rest of them.
Hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Team JNPR is sent out with Team RWBY! Oobleck goes crazy over some coins! And yes, the Goliaths taking another path will play into part of the story, just minor one. And we are also nearing the end of Vol 2! But be warned! I will not be jumping to Volume 3 directly! Cookie to those who somehow guess what I'll be going to do! And no, Jauneforever, you can't answer that, since I've already discussed it with you.
Feel free to leave reviews about what could be improved on, or just even giving a thumbs up. It really does motivate me, as long as it's not a big F u flaming style.