"Hey Ruby"
"Yeah Jaune"
"I think that scary looking guy with a sword is trying to talk to us"
"Huh?"
"I THINK THAT SCARY LOOKING GUY WITH A SWORD IS TRYING TO TALK TO US!"
Ruby Rose, a short black haired girl with red tips, and an equally red cloak, turned with her childhood best friend, a tall awkward blond boy, covered in armor over a black hoodie, to face a man who was pointing at his ears with an angry expression on his face, while brandishing a crimson katana.
Both of the teens took off their headphones and looked at the man, finally giving him their attention.
"BOTH OF YOU PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR, NOW!" the man ordered, walking over to directly in front of them.
"Are you robbing us?" Ruby asked, looking at Jaune with confusion.
"YES!" the man yelled, exasperated at the two teens.
"Oh boy…" Jaune sighed as he prepared for the inevitable.
Despite his flair for the dramatic, Roman Torchwick was not a particularly high risk taker. At least as much as one could be, while still being one of the most wanted criminals in the kingdom. A good criminal was a smart criminal, and a smart criminal made good decisions that kept them out of jail. That was something that Roman had avoided throughout his criminal career. He did not like surprises when he was on a job. So he was not particularly pleased when one of his boys, one that he had bought for a very pretty penny from Junior, was launched across the dust shop by a teenage girl.
"Well get her" Roman indicated to his four remaining henchmen, who rushed the girl, swinging their swords at her. To their surprise however she disappeared in a swarm of red rose petals, zipping around the store, before she reformed by a window, breaking the glass, rolling as she hit the pavement of the street.
Three of the henchmen charged her, vaulting over the window frame. The fourth attempted to do so, but was grabbed by Jaune, and received a haymaker across his face, knocking him into a shelf of dust.
While their compatriot brawled with the blond teenager, the three other goons wielded their weapons as they slowly approached the red cloaked girl, who proceeded to remove something from her back. This something quickly shifted into a scythe larger than she was, which she swung around in a series of complicated motions, before driving the tip into the pavement of the road.
The first goon rushed her, but Ruby swung herself over her scythe like a gymnast, spinning before landing a two footed kick in the man's face. As the rest of the henchmen charged, she swung the scythe around and around in a red blur of steel, sending one of the henchmen flying, before crushing another with the other side of the scythe. Thankfully their aura prevented this from killing them, but none of them would be getting up anytime soon.
The final goon fired his rifle at Ruby, but she used the recoil from Crescent Rose to launch herself backwards, and continually using these shots to turn herself into a deadly game of pinball, eventually slamming into the goon. This sent the man into the air, spinning around frantically. Her momentum was stopped when she stabbed her scythe into the ground, swinging herself up and around, breaking the man's aura with one mighty aerial slash from Crescent Rose. The man landed unconscious at the fedora wearing crime bosses feet, with Roman looking down at him with disappointment.
"You were worth every cent, truly you were" Roman muttered, as he stepped over what was supposed to be his hired muscle. He paused for a second as he saw the other teen, the blond one in a hoodie, toss his final henchmen, now unconscious, over the window sill, putting his hands on his knees to take a breath.
Roman was about to speech again, but the young man held his hand up, indicating that he needed a second.
"Oh no, I can wait" Roman feigned politeness, as the young man held up a thumbs up as a response. After nearly half a minute the boy stopped his huffing and puffing, stretched out his back, climbed over the window sill and jogged over to where Ruby was standing with her scythe, as the two redheads watched him in an awkward silence as he unsheathed his sword and shield.
"Okay, Red and…whoever you are, I think we can all agree it's been quite an eventful evening…" Roman said, as he let his cigar fall to the ground and crushed it with his cane "…and as much as I'd love to stick around…"
He raised his cane in front of him, revealing the barrel of the gun component "…I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
Roman fired an explosive shot at them, which rocketed across the street. Ruby used the recoil from Crescent Rose to launch herself into the air, over the explosion, and Jaune raised his shield to block it. This partially worked as it stopped him from being hit by the blast, but the boy was still knocked flat on his ass by the explosion.
As she landed Ruby looked around frantically for Roman, who had disappeared in the chaos. Out of the corner of her eyes she caught him slipping away, climbing up a ladder of a nearby building. Behind her she heard Jaune groaning as he got to his feet. The shop keeper was leaning on the door, trying to calm himself down.
"You okay if we go after him" Ruby asked the stressed out old man.
The shopkeep answered yes in an inaudible series of grunts, and Ruby gave him a respectful nod before racing after Torchwick.
"C'mon Jaune, we can't lose him."
Jaune let out another pained groan, but the sound of his sneakers hitting the pavement indicated he was giving chase behind her.
They climbed the ladder after Torchwick, and they cornered him, trapped at the edge of the building.
"Persistent" Torchwick muttered, as the sound of an aircraft erupted around him, the wind swirling like a typhoon.
A bullhead rose from behind the building, its bright lights shining down upon Ruby and Jaune, as Torchwick climbed aboard.
"End of the line" Torchwick called out, as he threw a red dust crystal to Ruby's feet. He then fired an explosive shot from his cane.
"RUBY" Jaune yelled as he leapt forward, trying to position himself and his shield between the dust and his friend. Both winced, as they prepared for the impact of an explosion. However the fiery blast never came.
They both opened their eyes to find a tall blond woman in front of them, wielding a black riding crop, pointing it at the bullhead. A violet glyph she produced had shielded them from the blast. As the glyph faded away she pushed up her glasses, and swiped her crop, sending several purple firecracker like blasts barreling towards the bullhead.
The blasts hit their mark, knocking the bullhead around like a row boat in the middle of a hurricane. The aircraft survived the assault as it flew higher, attempting to escape the blond huntress's wrath. The woman glowed violet, before swiping her crop once more, sending another purple sparkler at the bullhead, this one exploding above and creating a purple glyph. Thunder roared as a purple glyph disappeared and was replaced with angry storm clouds, which descended threateningly upon the aircraft.
As the woman swiped her crop down, shards of ice flew from the storm clouds, tearing into the bullheads metal hull. However as the assault ended, a woman in a short red dress strutted forward, her face concealed by darkness. Her sleeves glowed with orange coals, as she sent a blast of fire from her palm, towards the rooftop where her opponents were standing.
The blond huntress blocked the attack with a violet shield, the embers from the blast falling to her feet, still glowing with heat. With an upward swipe of the faceless woman's hand, the embers transformed into an inferno beneath the huntress, who performed a one handed backhand spring to escape the explosion.
The broken shards of the roof floated in the air before the huntress, with a swift moment of her crop, caused them to levitate in the air with a violet hue, merging together to form a gigantic javelin of brick and concrete. She tossed it at the bullhead, as the woman released several fiery blasts to destroy the spear like creation. As quickly as the explosions tore through it, the massive shards reformed into its former state, rocketing towards the bulhead once again.
The bullhead pilot (now assumed to be Roman) twisted the aircraft, so that the assault only grazed the roof, rattling the occupants around the vehicle. The structure broke into three different streams of sharp shards of concrete, which encircled the aircraft threateningly.
In response to this, the woman took a dramatic pose, thrusting her arms out, which sent a wave of heat around the bullhead, incinerating the shards into cinders, which fell like snow from the bullhead.
Wasting no time Ruby transformed her scythe into its firearm form, sending shot after shot at the bullhead. Jaune feeling useless without a ranged weapon, rolled in front of Ruby with his shield. The woman easily blocked the bullets, and created five swirling masses of heat around them, radiating as they prepared to detonate.
The huntress noticing this, used her telekinesis to swipe the teenagers out of harm's way as she cartwheeled forward to avoid the blasts. Using this to their advantage the criminals fled, the bullhead disappearing into the night sky.
"You're a huntress" Jaune said, staring at awe as the blond woman simply glared at him in response.
"Can I have your autograph?" Ruby squealed.
So apparently asking for her autograph was in fact not the right response. That was Ruby's thought as she and Jaune were both sitting in a private holding cell, as the huntress, now revealed to be named Glynda Goodwitch, criticised them for their heroics.
"I hope you two realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly" Goodwitch berated as she paced back and forth behind them. "You put yourself and others in great danger"
"THEY STARTED IT" Ruby argued, as Jaune wisely stayed silent.
"If it were up to me, you'd be send home with a pat on the back…" Ruby and Jaune lit up slightly at this. "…and a slap on the wrist."
At that, Glynda slapped her crop down on the table, startling both Jaune and Ruby who each let out a squeal in response.
"But" Glynda groaned "There is someone here who would like to meet you."
A tall grey haired man with glasses and a dark green attire walked on, with a cane in one hand, and a plate of cookies in the other.
"Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose" the man said as he strolled in, pausing as he arrived in front of Ruby "You have silver eyes"
Both Ruby and Jaune looked at each other uncomfortably, before looking back at the man.
"So" the man continued, now directly addressing Ruby "Where did you learn to do this." Indicating to the large scroll that was held by Glynda nearby, showing Ruby's fight against the various henchmen at the dust shop.
"Signal academy" Ruby replied nervously.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well…one teacher in particular"
"Oh I see" Ozpin replied, as he placed the cookies down "I've only ever seen one scythe wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow"
"Oh" Ruby replied, as she stuffed her face with cookies "Thash muh unkul"
The man and Glynda glared, while Jaune just stared at her in alarm.
"Sorry" Ruby said, as she wiped her face of crumbs "that's my Uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage until he took us under his wing. Now I'm all like…"
She then proceeded to do a series of odd looking kung fu moves with corresponding martial arts sound effects and grunts.
"So I've noticed" Ozpin responded calmly, placing his mug down in front them "And what is a pair of kids like yourself doing trying to stop crime like you did tonight."
"Well sir we didn't really try to stop it we simply…" Jaune tried to explain but was cut off by Ruby.
"WE WANT TO BE HUNTRESSES!" Ruby interjected, before pausing to correct herself "…and huntsmen" to which Jaune gave her an appreciative nod.
"Oh so you want to slay monsters?" Ozpin asked, as he sat down in front of them.
"Yeah!" Ruby replied "Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon! You see, Jaune's, trying to get in there this year, but he's not sure because he thinks he failed his finals and he's trying to become a Huntsmen, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, Hey, I might as well make a career out of it! I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, gosh, you know!"
After that mouthful they all paused, just to be sure more rambling wouldn't erupt from the excitable redhead's mouth.
"…Do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked.
"You're professor Ozpin. Headmaster of Beacon Academy" Ruby replied matter of fact.
"So am I correct that both of you want to attend my school?" Ozpin asked.
"Yes Sir"
"More than anything"
Ozpin took a look at both of them "Well okay then. Here is two letters of acceptance for both of you." He handed two letters with a crimson seal to both of them "Report to the Vale Airfield this Saturday, and be sure to take the airship to Beacon. Goodness knows that we've had too many students accidently take the wrong ship."
Ruby, Jaune and Glynda all stared at Ozpin with their mouths open in shock. With that Ozpin said goodnight, got up and walked out of the holding cell with a very concerned Glynda following closely behind him.
As soon as they exited the cell Glynda piped up.
"Sir…are you sure that it was a good idea" she asked, as Ozpin sipped his hot chocolate contently "That Ruby girl, she is incredibly talented for her age, but she is so young, and that Jaune boy is absolutely not ready for this level of combat. Do you really think that they are ready?"
"Glynda, while we might pretend otherwise they are all children at Beacon, and if she really was trained by Qrow she will be fine." Ozpin replied "And Jaune will grow, he just needs time and guidance. Plus I saw his eyes. He's determined. So it's better that we let him in legitimately, rather than him trying to say…forge transcripts to get into Beacon."
"Did I say how proud I am of you two?" Taiyang yelled from the front of the car.
"Yeah only about twenty times Dad" Ruby groaned in embarrassment from the back, next to Jaune who had on a goofy smile that had stayed on his face since that night.
"Well I am" Taiyang exclaimed "Ruby I can't believe they let you in two years early, and Jaune…you must have improved so much from when I taught you."
"I guess." Jaune replied, scratching the back of his head nervously "I'm just kind of surprised that Professor Ozpin let me in."
"Hey!" Taiyang said "I may not understand everything that he does but Ozpin is a good man, and an even better teacher. If he says that you are ready to go to Beacon then that's all there is to it. Plus you wouldn't be the first…unorthodox students that he has let in. Trust me you'll be fine."
Jaune nodded, feeling a bit better "I just hope my airsickness doesn't act up on the ship."
"You brought the extra barf bags Ruby?" Taiyang asked.
"Yep, don't worry vomit boy!" Ruby replied with a snicker in Jaune's direction.
"We're good then!" Taiyang said cheerily "Oh I am so excited for the both of you. You are going to be the bee's knees!"
Ruby's expression turned sour "I don't want to be the "bee's knees", okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."
Taiyang turned to her with surprise "What's with you? Aren't you excited?"
Ruby sighed and replied "Of course I'm excited... I just...I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."
"But you are special" Taiyang said as he parked in front of the airfield, getting out to grab his daughter's and her friend's bags from the trunk. He then passed the two teens their bags, placing his hand on Ruby's shoulder "and I know that you both will do great."
Ruby let a small smile out, and leaned in to give her dad a big hug which he returned, almost picking her up in the embrace.
"Thank you sir" Jaune said when they broke apart, extending his hand to shake Taiyang's.
"Jaune" Taiyang replied, rolling his eyes at the blond "I've known you since you were ten years old, you can drop the sir nonsense. Now come in here vomit boy."
He then grabbed Jaune and pulled him into a tight hug, crushing the young man with his strength.
"T-T-Thanks T-T-Tai" Jaune groaned as he struggled to breath.
"Jaune, please try to keep Ruby out of trouble" Taiyang whispered to him "I don't want any of the nonsense that went on while my team was at Beacon happening, alright?"
"I'll try" Jaune breathed heavily from the lack of air, as Taiyang gave him a friendly pat on the back, which nearly knocked him over.
"Alright, you two better get going if you don't want to miss your flight. Text me when you get on the airship alright?"
"Don't worry we will" Ruby waved as her and Jaune walked into the airport, their luggage in tow.
"Love you!"
"Love you too Dad!"