"Oh, my god! It's the Black Panther! He's the king of a nation that's trying to become a small kingdom and he's like one of the best, most famous hunters ever! And he's one of the only faunus rulers of an entire nation outside of menagerie." Ruby screamed in delight as a dark-skinned man with short black hair and a beard that connected to his hair, with a pair of panther-like ears atop his head walked up to them in an incredibly sleek black and silver-looking suit that appeared to be leather from the look of it, but in reality, was MUCH better. This was T'Challa, as Ruby had said, a very famous huntsman and king of a small nation outside the borders of Vaccuo that people believe has the potential to become a new kingdom. But in reality, it already was its own kingdom far more advanced than even Atlas with highly advanced weaponry and types of dust and metals found exclusively in that region, allowing them to develop and advance far more than Atlas could ever hope, much to the jealousy of Ironwood. He typically stays in his rather secluded kingdom, but he is also a member of Ozpin's secret faction and answers the call when Ozpin needs him. This was one such time.
"Yes. thank you for the introduction, young lady." He said, to which Ruby covered her face and mumbled bashfully and incoherently. "So, this is Team SCRN. I've seen and heard a great deal about you from Ozpin. I look forward to seeing what you are capable of on this mission. But don't think for a moment that because 2 huntmen are here, you can relax. I expect to see more from you than anything you've ever shown here at Beacon. And if you fall behind, you're on your own. Remember..." He said, his suit almost magically creating a mask/helmet that gave him the intimidating face that rivaled a snarling panther in ferocity. "Panthers aren't pack hunters and if the cubs can't manage to keep themselves alive, they're abandoned and left for dead." He said ominously, heading to the airship.
"Well, that's quite the pep talk." Ryu said.
"I like this guy." Kratos said with a smirk.
"We're definitely the lucky team in this situation." Dante agreed.
"Sorry, sisters. I honestly feel bad for you." Bayonetta said to her sisters.
"So do we..." Yang groaned as they looked at Oobleck, who was looking through a list.
"Professor Oobleck?" Weiss asked.
"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls, seeing as you've opted to shadow a pair of Huntsmen 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..." Oobleck explained, talking fast, per the norm, as he paces in front of the students, before zooming up right to Weiss' face. "It's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn the PhD for fun, thank you very much!" He explained, quickly backing away.
Weiss looked over at Blake, who was equally disturbed. "Uh..." She said, unsure of what else to say.
"Professor requires a PhD, too. Still nothing to sneeze at." Dante said.
Oobleck narrowed his eyes at the male Schnee. "Yeees, well... Come now, children; according to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind-!" He started, then as an afterthought to clarify: "...schedule!" He finished, zipping off to the airship docked farther ahead in a second.
Ruby, despite the disappointment of having to follow Oobleck, tried to stay positive and upbeat. "Well, alright, then! Looks like we're going to save the world with Doctor Oooobleck-" She started, before suddenly becoming as depressed as her team halfway through. "Okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse." She said.
"Save the world?" Nora said from off-screen, the two teams turning around to see Nora and team JNPR approaching. "You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt... sad! Maybe a little hungry? That last one's not your fault, though, Ren..." Nora said, being dramatic up to the point of questioning her hunger. Ren, for his part, simply crossed his arms and turning away.
Ryu chuckled at this, walking up and pulling Nora into a hug. "Sorry, Nora. We couldn't manage to bring you guys along this time, but don't worry. There will be plenty of chances for us to go on world-saving missions in the future... together." He said with a smile.
"Aww, my noble and honorable ninja!" She laughed, the two sharing a quick kiss.
Jaune cleared his throat at this. That mission of yours sure sounds exciting. Where ya going?" He asked.
"Oh, just outside the kingdom..." Ruby asked.
"Hey! So are we!" Nora said.
"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha explained.
"Good. I'm sure it will be a great chance for all of you to get stronger and work on your skills." Kratos said.
"We set out tomorrow." Ren explained.
"Be sure to pick us up some souvenirs, then." He said.
"Then you can party with us tonight!" Neptune said from off-screen as he and Sun approached the two groups. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges." He explained.
Jaune was awestruck, to which Kratos scoffed. "They're junior badges. They have no real authority. Don't get so excited over petty things, Jaune." He said.
"R-right... sorry." He said, rubbing the back of his head.
Dante chuckled at this. "Well, well, Kratos. Of all the people I'd expect to hear good advice from, you weren't too high on the list before this." He said. (Too bad he can't see the new God of War game.)
"Because you never listen to my advice." Kratos countered.
"Oh, burn!" Weiss said, leaning in towards Dante, everyone looking at her like crazy. "What? That was a burn, wasn't it?" She asked.
"Yeah, but... never do that again. You doing it just seems wrong for some reason." Blake said, to which Weiss pouted.
"Those blessed with status can't be blessed in the ways of the street, my dear." Bayonetta said to Weiss, before looking at Dante. "But she was right, that was quite the burn." She said with a smirk.
"Yep. Can't follow you on this one, guys. We'd 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." Sun said.
"Fine with us. I doubt throwing banana peels will be enough to stop our enemies this time." Kratos said with a smirk.
"Well-" Ruby started, before Oobleck and T'Challa appeared from the airship to call to Teams RWBY and SCRN, who are embarrassed:
"Four minutes, children!" Oobleck called before he went back inside.
"The cubs are about to be left behind!" Black Panther added, heading back in the ship as well as their friends smiled awkwardly at the two teams.
"Well, uh..." Ruby said, unsure of what to say, throwing a thumbs-up instead. "Wish us luck!" She said. With that, the friends disbanded, either back to Beacon or towards their mission.
Cut to the airship flying over buildings and streets amid deafening turbines. Team SCRN were standing near their appointed Huntsman. "Ozpin's told me nothing but good things about you. I'm eager to see what you can do out here." T'Challa said to them.
"We always were good at putting on a show." Dante said.
"We are top students of any grade at Beacon, after all." Bayonetta added.
"If Ozpin has told you everything, you should already know how strong we are." Ryu said.
"We'll show you skills rivaling any huntsman." Kratos said.
Black Panther chuckled at this. "Good. And Ozpin has told me all the stories about you he knows, but I suspect you have your own stories I'd like to hear sometime. when we have some time away from the other group. I trust your stories will be... OTHERWORLDLY..." He said, the 4 reincarnated warriors instantly understanding what he meant. He knew they weren't originally born to this world. And since he learned it from their headmaster, Ozpin knew it, too.
Meanwhile, team RWBY was having a conversation with their own Huntsman. "I guess I just never saw you as much of a fighter." Yang said to Oobleck.
"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." He explained.
"Like the mushroom?" Ruby asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Those are truffles." Blake corrected, leaning over.
"Like the sprout?" Ruby asked again, still scratching her head in befuddlement.
"Those are Brussels." Yang corrected this time, also leaning over.
"Besides, 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!" Oobleck continued.
"What does history have to do with this?" Weiss asked.
"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." Oobleck explained, turning sharply on Weiss.
"And that means..?" Weiss asked again.
"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!" Oobleck explained once more.
"Mountain Glenn." Ruby said.
"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." Yang explained.
"Correct! And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder." Oobleck said ominously.
"And a likely place for a hideout." Blake realized
"Precisely!" Oobleck confirmed, adjusting his glasses and smiling
The airship came in over a spot of street amidst the ruined buildings and structures of the ruined area. It hovered right above the ground as Teams RWBY and SCRN, along with their huntsmen all jump out of the craft and landing in badass poses with weapons drawn, minus the doctor, who simply holds his coffee canister, before the ship flew away from the destruction.
Oobleck called the attention of RWBY. "Ladies! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Huntresses has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?" He asked, to which the girls nodded.
"That goes double for your team doing as I say. If there are as many Grimm in this area as we believe, along with a terrorist group, if you mess up even once, you're dead." T'Challa added, to which Team SCRN nodded as well.
"It takes a lot to put us down, we'll be fine." Kratos said.
"But still, we'll do as you say and show you exactly what we''re capable of." Dante said.
"Good." Black Panther acknowledged, nodding in approval.
Oobleck also gave Dante a smile and nod despite not being his team's appointed Huntsman, but he suddenly looked at Ruby, startling her. "Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all of your bags back at school." He said.
"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't." Ruby said, trying to worm her way out of the conversation.
"She's hiding something." Bayonetta said to Yang, both of them aware of when their little sister tries to get out of getting in trouble.
"Definitely." Yang agreed.
Oobleck, however, had yet to reach that conclusion. "She's not wrong..." To himself "Very well, Ruby; leave your bag here, we can pick it up upon our return." He instructed.
"But I, well uh-" Ruby tried to argue.
"Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with..." He started, but stopped as the bag's zipper opened and out popped Zwei's head, causing everyone to stare at the uninvited guest.
"Get back in the bag." Ruby whispered to her dog through the side of her mouth, but Zwei merely barked in response.
"Too late, RWBY. The dog's out of the bag." Bayonetta said, pulling the dog from the bad, the corgi licking her face in response.
"Lucky." Dante said, glaring at the dog licking his girlfriend.
"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought... a dog?" Oobleck said slowly and seemingly angrily.
"I, uh..." Ruby started nervously.
"Genius!" He said suddenly, backing away long enough for Ruby to give a confused shrug before speeding past and snatching the pet away from Bayonetta, who tumbled to the ground as Oobleck spun Zwei in the air. "Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!" He explained as Zwei barked happily in his hands.
"Animals are indeed very helpful to Huntsmen. In our nation, we've been training rhinos for combat against the Grimm. I've even seen one bowl over a Deathstalker." T'Challa added, scratching Zwei's head.
"I'm a genius!" Ruby stated proudly after being stunned for the unexpected reaction, to which Weiss and both her sisters facepalmed.
"So, what are your orders, Doctor?" Blake asked.
"Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" He said, suddenly letting go of Zwei, who stayed suspended in the air for less than a second before dropping down, as Oobleck put his hands behind his back for a serious pose. "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." He said dramatically.
"PhD hard at work there." Dante said, looking back at Oobleck in confusion with the rest of his team.
"Uh, what?" Ruby asked, just as confused as her friends and teammates for the redundancy.
"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment." Ooblecked clarified.
"What?!" Yang asked as she turned to look like the other students at the lone Beowolf wandering into the street, joining them in unleashing their weapons.
"Stop!" Oobleck and T'Challa said.
"Huh?" Blake asked, lowering her Gambol Shroud like everyone else to listen.
"Now is not the time for fighting. Now is the time for hunting." Black Panther explained.
"If we are hunting, now is the best time to make the kill, while we have a shot and the element of surprise." Kratos said.
"Not just yet, Mr. Nikos! 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." Oobleck elaborated.
"Sound logic." Ryu agreed.
"So... What now?" Ruby asked.
"As our royal companion said, now is the time to hunt. We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey." Oobleck explained.
"How long do we wait?" Blake asked.
"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." Oobleck said, his tone quickly changing as his sudden realization was true: 20 Beowolves were already following the first.
"What?" Weiss asked in surprise.
"And now they've seen us." Oobleck continued to state the obvious.
"What?!" Weiss asked louder, even more shocked than before.
"AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!" Oobleck shouted, coming right up to Weiss' ear as he shouted.
"Stop screaming at my sister." Dante said, pushing the two apart.
"That PhD must've been in the study of the obvious." Bayonetta said.
"I take it tracking them is out of the question?" Ruby asked.
"An accurate assumption, yes." Oobleck confirmed.
"What's the plan, then?" Yang asked.
The teams turned to their respective Huntsman as the creatures closed in, black bars converging dramatically over the approaching animals. "Now is not the time for hunting. Now is the time for fighting." T'Challa said, Team SCRN nodding and rushing into the fray.
Team RWBY waited for Oobleck's answer. "Show me what you're capable of." He gave the answer.
"Cover your ears, Zwei!" The dog does so, curling up into a ball.
Black lines race across the screen as a single Beowolf and smiling Yang run towards one another, ending with the blonde knocking it out in one fiery punch as they pass. Several stop chasing after the party girl to focus on Blake, who stands and waits with hand on her hilt until one of the enemy swipes at her afterimage, the real deal slicing her would-be attacker in half before slashing through another and cutting down on one more.
Behind the Faunus, Weiss runs from several black-coated beasts before jumping in the air and taking one down with Myrtenaster. She dashes towards them with rapier held high and slays four of them in a straight line until she stops. A wave of Beowolves are converging on Ruby, but the scythe wielder shoots multiple bullets at the oncoming force... while Zwei is busy chasing his own tail. He stops to watch his owner fire forward and, after a dramatic mid-air stare-off, cut the single remaining Grimm in two.
"Heh. Piece of cake!" Ruby said to Oobleck, lifting her weapon.
"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" Oobleck asked.
"We should split up to cover more ground. We'll check the Northern end of the city. You keep checking around the Southern area here." Black Panther suggested, his mask forming over his face again, starting to walk away from the group.
"Best of luck, sisters. Try to stay out of trouble." Bayonetta said, hugging her sisters.
"Good luck to you, too." Yang said.
"Be careful." Ruby said as they pulled away and she started walking off.
"Enjoy your time away with your huntsman, little brother." Weiss said, smirking a bit at Dante's annoyance, but it quickly disappeared as Dante gained his own smirk.
"Thanks, sis. Enjoy your time with the Doctor." He said, walking away, to which Weiss groaned at the reminder.
"Lucky... gets to hang out with a king while we're stuck with Oobleck." She grumbled.
"Keep your guard up and your eyes open. The Grimm are around every corner and our enemies could be as well." Ryu said.
"Sound advice. Thanks." Blake said.
"Keep track of the number of Grimm you kill. Losing team pays for the winning team's dinner." Kratos challenged.
"You're on!" Ruby accepted. And with that, the two teams split off, heading to different ends of the city.
Dante cleaved through a Creep with Rebellion, before looking back at Black Panther. "So, you know we've been reincarnated. How?" He asked.
"Because I was as well." T'Challa explained, using his claws to rip off an Ursa's head. "I was once the ruler of a nation on Earth known as Wakanda. I was a powerful leader under the same name and guise I use now. Unfortunately, one enemy was able to defeat me. I can only hope Wakanda survived the attack I did not. I was lucky enough to be reborn on remnant with a similar situation to the on I had on Earth, only my country now exports rare Dust instead of Vibrainium." He explained.
"And Ozpin knows that you and us are reincarnated warriors as well?" Ryu asked, shoving a Beowulf off of his scythe.
"Yes. Ozpin knows much about this world and most, if not all, reincarnated warriors who are reborn here. He tries to get to them first, but sadly, he's not always successful." Black Panther explained.
Bayonetta did a front flip combined with an axe kick to smash a Boarbetusk's head into the ground, finishing it with a round of bullets the eventually broke through the armor and a final bullet hit the pig monster's brain."I assume you're talking about Dio and the others from the docks we faced before?" She asked.
"Among some others, yes." T'Challa confirmed.
Kratos stabbed one of his blades into a beowulf's shoulder, grabbing either side of the wound and ripping the monster's chest open. "How does Ozpin know this? It's a secret we've kept hidden even from our families. And why didn't he say something if he knew?" He demanded.
"You should ask the Headmaster that yourself. There is a reason behind everything he does. As a fellow leader and secretive one at that, I can vouch for his actions. There's a lot he has to deal with and he plays everything close to the chest." Black Panther explained. "Now let me ask you something: You were all heroes in your old world and you had the chance to live normal, peaceful lives here on Remnant, but you once again chose the path of a warrior. Why?" He asked.
The four of them looked between each other, before nodding and looking back to the Huntsman. "Well, besides Ryu, we mostly fought for ourselves. We weren't trying to be heroes. We were just trying to get revenge against the beings that wronged us and keep ourselves alive. But now, we have a chance to do the right thing and fight for the right reasons. And all of us have people we want to protect." Dante explained, the other 3 nodding.
Black Panther looked between them for a few moments, before nodding in approval. "Excellent." He said. "It's getting late. We should regroup with Oobleck and Team RWBY before it gets dark." He said, the team nodding and following him back to the part of the city their friends and siblings were.
The scene changed to the view of another victory for RWBY and their mentor amid the noise of fired shots, but switched again to Oobleck and Yang away from the group.
"Tell me, Yang: Why did you choose this line of work?" He asked.
"Huh?" She asked, but under Oobleck's gaze, she answered. "Well, to fight monsters and save-" She started.
Oobleck cut her off at this. "No, that is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a Huntress." He clarified.
Yang considered this, then answered. "The honest reason? I'm a thrill-seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. It's a win-win, y'know?" She said, but then thought again. "Also, Cereza once saved Ruby and I from beowulves when we were barely 5. To be able to stand up to danger and fight monsters like that with no chance of winning, She was amazing and I wanted to be just like her. That's why we're so competitive, trying to stay ahead of each other." She said.
"I see." He said.
One claw-scratch transition later, Oobleck was sitting on a high windowsill writing in his journal while Weiss was fighting off Beowolves below.
"And you, Miss Schnee? A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So... why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?" He asked.
After she impaled the last foe on her blade and dropeds the body, she answered. "It's exactly as you said: I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty. But, beyond that, my brother saved my whole family from the White Fang when we were younger. He showed me how brave and strong we Schnee's were and could be and I wanted to be strong like him." She explained.
"Interesting." Oobleck said, nodding.
Oobleck jumped down into the next scene, where Blake slashed a door down and released a swarm of small Nevermores from the building, which she back-flipped under before she shot them all with her blade's pistol form.
"And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose." Oobleck asked as he examined the inside of the doorway.
"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption... Someone has to stop it." Blake explained.
"Very well. How?" Oobleck asked.
"I, Uh..." She started, but suddenly, she could not answer. She thought for a few moments, before finally coming up with an answer. "Maybe becoming well-known and showing people not all faunus are bad, or using my influence to spread goodwill towards the faunus. Like Kratos. He's famous and he's done lots of commercials about how people need to give the faunus a chance and treat them like any other person, now most of Mistral and many other places are giving faunus the respect they deserve. I admire him for that." She gave her answer.
Oobleck "Hmm'd" to himself, then dashed away, leaving Blake to bow her head in troubled thought.
Later, Ruby was using her weapon in the most practical fashion and lifting a whole turkey on the sharp end of her gun to tease a jumping and flipping Zwei with. That was, until she spotted her teacher watching, quickly sheathing Crescent Rose. "Sorry! Uh... Are we ready to keep going?" She asked.
"Nope! I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon." Oobleck explained, throwing his bag over to Yang, who made a sound when she caught it. "You three, set up camp in that building. Oh, and please do make sure there are no more of those... creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby." He instructed.
They started walking away from the rest of RWBY, who each looked at their leader, knowing what she'll be asked. As Oobleck and Ruby rounded the corner of a building, she saw something off-screen that left her in awe. "Whaaaa..." She said in amazement. We see the wide forest stretching below the ruin, and in the midst of it, a line of Goliaths was marching through the trees. "I've seen those before! They look awesome!" She says.
"Those, my dear girl, are more Grimm. Goliaths to be exact." He answered simply.
"I remember those! Team SCRN fought one during the initiation! It was way smaller than those, though..." She said as she stared at the lumbering mass of monsters in amazement and awe before pulling out her gun. "Let's kill them." She said.
"I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate Grimm of that size." Oobleck explained.
"But... What if they attack us?" Ruby asked.
"Fret not, Ruby; those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather not every Grimm is still mindless. 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." Oobleck explained wisely.
As he said this, one Goliath swiveled its thick neck to look at the figures watching their procession, eyes glowing as fiery red as any other Grimm. "Then why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?" She asked.
"Waiting." He said simply. As he said this, the Goliath turned its head forward again and moved on with its kin. Oobleck turned around and walked away as well, and Ruby put away her weapon, not moving.
"Doctor Oobleck?" She asked.
"Hmm?" He acknowledged.
"I was wondering..." She started.
He stopped walking and turned back to her. "Wondering why I've been interrogating your teammates all day?" He asked.
"A-Actually, I was wondering... Why did you want to become a Huntsman?" She wondered.
"Look around and tell me what you see?" He asked rather than answering directly.
Ruby took a look around. "Lots of old buildings, uh, empty streets..." She listed.
"I see lives that could have been saved." He explained as he continued walking with Ruby beside him and Zwei at their heels. "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." He continued, stopping for his final answer. "I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be." He said, before continued walking.
"Inspiring words." Black Panther said, dropping down beside them.
"Ahh, T'Challa! Was your group any more successful finding our group of ne'er-do-wells?" He asked.
"The who?" Ruby asked again.
"Sadly, no. Team SCRN and I were unable to come up with anything. But we'll start again first thing in the morning They should be regrouping with the others and preparing for bed now." He explained.
Back at the building, the team has done as instructed, building a fire in the center of the room and huddling around it or standing up.
"I can't believe we didn't find anything..." Yang groaned.
"Yeah. Besides the Grimm, it's like the city's empty." Bayonetta said as team SCRN entered the hideout.
"Nice to see you're all in one piece." Weiss said as they greeted their friends and/or siblings.
"Unharmed, but empty-handed." Kratos said.
"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side." Blake said.
"That's not what I meant." Weiss said off-topic.
"Huh?" everyone asked.
"Earlier, about... upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that." Weiss explained.
"Yeah... No, me too. I mean... I don't know." Yang agreed.
"I don't know, either. I know what I want to do, but I figured I'd always take things one step at a time." Blake added.
"Oh, Oobleck hit you with the 'being a Huntsman' question, too?" Dante asked.
"Yeah. I told him it was to uphold the Schnee name, but... That isn't all." Weiss confirmed.
"Maybe this is supposed to be a guidance counseling mission for the Huntsmen everyone shadows as well." Bayonetta joked.
"Not likely. But whatever our reasons are, we can't lose focus of the reason we're on this mission." Ryu said.
"Yeah... Ryu's right, our reasons don't matter. We know why we're here. Right?" Yang asked. The girls merely stared in silence.
"Ah, wonderful; a textbook campfire!" Oobleck said as he suddenly came rushing into the room.
"Fire!" Ruby said happily, coming in behind Oobleck and immediately sitting next to the blaze alongside Zwei, Black Panther coming in shortly after her. "So... warm..." She said contently.
"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." Oobleck explained.
"Fortunately, with more of you here, it'll shorten the amount of time each person has to be on watch and allow everyone more time to rest." T'Challa said.
"Any volunteers for first watch?" Oobleck asked.
"Yo." Ruby answered simply as she lifted an arm while still looking into the fire. Oobleck rushed off, and Ruby got up to go over to her lookout point.
"Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean... what did you tell him?" Yang asked as her sister passed, stopping Ruby.
"Hmm... No, he didn't. Weird. Oh, well; good night, guys!" She said without a second carefree thought, she continued on her way.
"Hm... I guess Oobleck ran out of steam before he asked her." Bayonetta said.
"Yeah..." Yang said, disappointed in the lack of an answer. Blake was similarly troubled as she unrolled her mat, Weiss tried lying down but failed to sleep, Yang half-heatedly ate her dinner of bread rolls. Soon, all three Huntresses were on their backs around the fire, weapons within easy access, wondering why they are there.
Team SCRN, however, was surprisingly the more upbeat team, Bayonetta setting up her mat beside Yang and Dante doing the same beside Weiss, taking off his coat and putting it over his sister as she turned onto her side, apparently relaxing her and helping her get to sleep, Yang also calming down when she felt Bayonetta's arm up against hers. Kratos noticed Blake looking at him uneasily, but a nod from the former Spartan managed to calm the faunus and Ryu looked at a picture of Nora he had in his vambrace and looked up at the sky, imagining his girlfriend in the stars, as well as him and Ren, the closest thing he had to a brother. The team and smiled to themselves, knowing the reason they were here.
Ruby, meanwhile, was sitting in the vacant windowsill of the room as Zwei went over to her upon hearing the howling of Beowolves. She pet her pooch on the back. "Don't worry. Things will be better tomorrow." She said as master and pet looked out into the rubble and stared in silence until the scene went dark.