RWBY: Shonen Jump Edition
Chapter 2: Mission
They had bee assigned a mission to Mountain Glenn. Why Mountain Glenn again, Ruby didn't know.
But apparently there was something hidden that they had to find. A treasure hidden in an underground lake. A lake they would have to find through the underground Railway tunnels, apparently.
It sounded more like a scavenger hunter than anything to Ruby, but apparently it was something that would be very important to future missions.
Ruby wasn't too focused on that, though. More than anything, what she was trying to decided on was a new Team Name. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Jaune...What kind of team name could she make with that? It all seemed so complicated. How did headmaster Ozpin do it?
"Let's see, eight letters, random order, something that sounds like or reminds you of a color..." Ruby could already feel her head starting to fizzle. "Geez, this is too complicated!"
Fortunately, Jaune had been within earshot.
"You need help with something, Ruby?"
"Huh? Oh no," She said, "Just trying to decided on a new team name for us, but the whole thing is surprisingly complicated."
Ruby explained all the conditions to Jaune, and Jaune nodded, "Yeah, that would be kind of complicated, wouldn't it?"
Ruby nodded, grumpily.
"But, wait..." Jaune paused and thought, "There are only six letters aren't there? Since your name and Blake's both have the same initial for your names."
"Oh, that's true!"
"And," Jaune started, "Since you're our leader, it always has to start with your initial, right?"
"Aw, yeah, I guess that's true, too!"
"So, that narrows down the possibilities a bit." Jaune said, forefinger and thumb on his chin, "Actually, I think I'm getting an idea here. You have some paper?"
Ruby nodded. She didn't have paper per say, but her pouch did have a personal dairy that she used on occasion.
Jaune took it, and quickly diagrammed out what he was thinking.
On the page he wrote on, there were six words, "RxzB", RzxB", "RxBz", "RzBx", "RBxz", and "RBzx".
"Uh, Jaune?" Ruby asked, "What exactly does this mean?"
"Well," Jaune explained, "I was just thinking that this all the ways you could order our initials. "x" would be for my initials, and "z" for Weiss's."
Ruby nodded, following along so far.
"So, since only Weiss and I have two initials, that means that there would be four patterns for each of these words, since two times two equals."
"Right..."
"So, four patterns for each of these possible arrangements, means twenty-four possible team names?"
Ruby looked at Jaune. Jaune looked back at Ruby.
"Jaune..." She started, "Could it be that you're actually, like, really smart, or something?"
Jaune rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "I mean, I don't particularly think so..."
Still, it wasn't a solution that Ruby could've thought up of on her own, so she was very impressed with Jaune.
Taking her time to fill in the Xs with one of Jaune's initials and the Z's with one of Weiss's, Ruby looked over the twenty four names.
Ultimately, she was thinking between either Team "RASB" or Team "RWBS". That is, between "Team Raspberry" or "Team Ribosa".
Team Raspberry fit with Ruby's color scheme, but...
It didn't sound very threatening or intimidating.
So, she she decided to consult with Jaune again, "Which do you think is better?"
"I mean, does Ribosa even mean anything?" Jaune asked.
Ruby shrugged. "I don't think so..." She said, "But at least it sounds cool!"
Jaune didn't have any objections to that. "Well, let's just go with that then..."
It had been a few hours of walking since they had landed at their destination at Mountain Glenn.
They were still trekking through to the Subway ruins, all while a certain red-haired faunus stalked behind them, unbeknown to them.
Weiss had been strangely silent, to Ruby's surprise.
It wasn't strange for Blake to be be silent, but Ruby would've expected Weiss to have said something by now.
Strangely, her eyes seemed to be focused ahead on Jaune, concentrated on Jaune, even. Now that, that was strange.
It wasn't usual for Jaune to have occasionally stared at Weiss, but Weiss staring at Jaune? That was almost unheard of (until now, at least).
"...Weiss?" Ruby asked, "You okay?"
Weiss seemed to jump at Ruby's sudden question.
"Wh-what? Me? Oh yes. Everything's fine! Why do you ask...?"
"...Well, you've been kind of staring at Jaune for a while now."
Weiss flushed, "I have not!" She insisted. "I just - I was thinking that it as surprisingly nice not to be pestered by him all the time, that's all."
In fact, that was only a half-truth. It was true that that was nice. But more than that, Weiss couldn't help but notice that Jaune seemed somehow more mature. And that when Jaune wasn't acting so childish and clumsy all the time, he was actually surprisingly handsome?
Not that she'd ever admit that to anyone, though.
Ruby nodded along to Weiss's explanation, although she didn't seem to think that that was all there was to it, either.
To be honest, there was even something in the way that Weiss was looking at Jaune that made Ruby feel slightly uncomfortable. Like a weird knot in her stomach.
It was probably nothing, though.
But, even so, Ruby couldn't help but be a bit discomforted at the way Weiss was looking at her male best friend.
"...We're lost, aren't we?"
They had been wandering around the wide underground railroad tracks for a few hours, but hadn't found anything, yet.
"Are you sure you've been reading that map clearly?" Weiss asked, "It is supposed to be somewhere around here, isn't it?"
"Uh, I, I think so?" Ruby replied, "Blake and Jaune looked over it, too, and I think it's supposed to be around here?"
"Let me take a look at that!" Weiss snatched the map out of her hands. Peering over it briefly, she then returned it to Ruby's hands.
"Well, alright..." She huffed, "But if we don't find it soon, we're heading back to the surface!"
Weiss was being bossy again. But to be fair, Ruby couldn't object to that this time. It was damp, cold, and dusty - the air making it hard to breathe where they were.
It was only natural that Weiss would be irate. Ruby herself was feeling a bit exhausted, too. And Jaune and Blake probably were, too.
"For what it's worth," Blake chimed in, "I agree with Weiss. I don't think we're going to get any farther with our searching today. A time to rest might be nice."
"Alright..." Ruby agreed, "But let's keep at it for at least the next few -"
Ruby didn't have time to finish, as the whole underground tunnel system began to shake.
Lights suddenly appeared at one of the ends of the tunnel, as the sound of metal blared and screeched sharply.
Jaune rushed down from that same end of the tunnel, and grabbed the closest person he could see, which in this case, was Ruby.
Ruby blushed, slightly.
"Jaune, what - ?"
"No time! Train! Coming in! Fast!"
"But, I thought - "
She had though Mountain Glenn was abandoned. The last time they were here, the trains were only running because the White Fang and Roman had hijacked them.
Still, Jaune payed her no mind, and tried instead to get out of the way. But it was no use.
The train was heading towards them at an incredible speed.
And at this rate? They didn't even have time to get out of the train's path.
At this rate, they'd all be turned into mince meat!
Ruby herself might've been able to escape, if she had the time to react and activate her semblance, but...
...
However, in that instant, a red-haired man appeared before them, interjecting himself between the train and them.
Quickly, he drew his sword from his scabbard.
"Red Stallions's Stance..." He seemed to utter.
And in the next instance, he had somehow managed to slow down the Train's momentum, as the head of the train clashed against the blade of his sword.
In the instance following that, the whole world seemed to turn red, as the man, before the train could even move forward to hit him, withdrew his katana.
"Rising Dragon, Falling Phoenix."
And in one brief stroke, cut the whole steel train in half, luggage compartments and all.
Jaune could only stare in awe, as the two halves of the train went slowly crashing to their sides, it's momentum having mostly stolen by the faunus man's katana.
"I, uh...Whoa..."Jaune had no words to describe what had just happened.
He could only stand there in awe. He had a feeling he wasn't the only one, either.
But, Blake spoke up. "Adam..."
Adam turned around, and snarled as he saw Blake among the team of humans.
"Blake..."
He emphasized her name slowly and with an especially accusatory weight to it. Blake flinched under his tone.
Apparently, Blake had some familiarity with the man, though none of the rest of them.
Jaune actually wanted to think him, but the man was clearly giving off a very hostile "do-not-approach" aura to him.
Still, it wouldn't have been right not to thank him, so Jaune still spoke up.
"I, I, uh, thanks for -"
Adam snarled. "Silence. I didn't do it for you, human."
There was a great tone of malice to his voice, as he spoke.
"Your reflexes have gotten dull, Blake." Adam mocked, "Too much time among the humans?"
"Adam..."
Blake's voice had a certain tone of hesitancy and a tinge of fear to it, but one of pity, also.
Adam was just as wound up and as bitter as he always been, not that Blake really anything different.
Adam drew his blade towards them.
Team RWBY tensed.
The tension in the air was palatable...
Chapter 2 END
Author's Notes:
Next chapter, Jaune asks Adam for training? Naturally, Adam refuses, but...?