Search and Destroy
AN: Here it is at last. Though this chapter became a little longer than I thought it would, but meh.
"P-professor Oobleck," Weiss stammered, not thinking they would be going with him.
"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary girls," Oobleck said rapidly as he paced back and forth in front of the girls calmly. Except when he turned speedily. "Seeing as you've opted to shadowing a huntsman on what is essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you we won't be establishing a single base of operation. Rather we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp at any defendable location we might stumble upon." After that speedy mouthful, Oobleck finally stopped. "And, it's Doctor Oobleck." Oobleck said as he got in front of Weiss' face with a stern look.
"He didn't earn his PhD for fun, miss Schnee." Adenine finally spoke up.
"Thank you, Adenine." Oobleck thanked his Blade, as he backed off to a more comfortable distance for Weiss.
"Also, we have already packed all the essentials and plotted the course of our airship." Adenine finished explaining.
"Can we at least bring the extra Dust we have?" Blake asked as she patted a belt pack on her waist," It's for our Blades."
"I suppose I can allow those." Oobleck said with a thoughtful look. After all, he had done the same for Adenine. Only, he had entrusted that Dust for the Blade in question. "Anyway, children. According to my schedule, we're already 3 minutes behind... schedule." As soon as Oobleck said that, he dashed to the waiting airship with Adenine calmly walking after him.
"...I guess we're saving the world with doctor Oobleck," Ruby said, trying to sound enthusiastic but couldn't," Yeah, it sounds worse when you say it out loud."
"What do you mean?" Roze asked in confusion," He did aid us in fighting that Arachno back in Forever Fall."
"Oh, right." Ruby said as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
"SAVE THE WORLD!?" The four Drivers and Blades heard Nora shouting. Which prompted them to turn around and see her approaching alongside team JNPR, and their Blades.
"You're going on a world saving mission without us?" Electra asked, sounding a little hurt.
"Yeah, we're hurt, betrayed, and a little hungry," Nora complained, holding her stomach on the last one, "The last one's not your fault though. Ren."
At his name being mentioned, the said boy turned away from Nora in defiance which prompted a smile from Otohime.
"Sounds exciting." Jaune said, ignoring Nora for the moment.
"If I may ask, where are you going?" Joana inquired politely.
"Just outside the kingdom." Dahlia replied flicking one of her ears with her hand.
"Hey! So are we!" Electra said, bouncing in place out of excitement.
"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow a sheriff in a village." Pyrrha explained as Nora and Electra struck a pose which was their idea of a sheriff...or at least Nora's idea which the carrot top had explained to Electra. The little Blade believed her Driver, despite Otohime's best efforts to correct it.
"Hands in the air, dirtbags!" the electric pair declared in unison with their finger guns pointed at the imaginary crooks.
With Nora, team RWBY sweatdropped, but they thought Electra looked adorable.
"We are scheduled to set out tomorrow." Otohime said, ignoring the two for the moment.
"That means you guys can party with us!" Sun said, having just arrived with Neptune.
"I am not sure I would enjoy your idea of 'party'." Otohime said, giving the two a warning look. Which was shared by Joana.
"Why's every female Blade so grouchy." Sun mumbled inaudibly.
"What was that?" Unfortunately, Dahlia's enormous braid-like ears caught that.
"Nothing!" The monkey boy said quickly.
"Sun and I will be shadowing a detective in the Vale PD." Neptune said in an attempt to change the subject.
Which made Sun quickly move along with it, "Yeah, we get badges at the end of the day."
Jaune looked star-struck at the idea, earning an almost unnoticeable head shake from his Blade.
"We've already toured the city with you girls and things tended to blow up and stuff," Sun then said, giving an apologetic look to team RWBY. "So, we thought we could get to know the city when it's, you know, normal." Sun clearly had trouble saying that, fearing that the girls would take offense to that.
Thankfully it looked like none of the girls took offense. Especially Ruby, "Well, wish us-" "FOUR MINUTES, LADIES!" Oobleck interrupted loudly, peeking from the bullhead as he did. This earned chuckles from Roze, Dahlia and Dragunov. Nox didn't seem to react.
"Well...wish us luck." Ruby said hesitantly, before they all separated. With team RWBY and their Blades boarding the airship. Which was just about to lift off.
"What was that?" Dragunov questioned at a thud that came from the roof of the bullhead.
"What's what?" Yang asked her Blade.
"I thought I heard a thud from the roof." the draconic Blade said as he had to stay crouched, due to his horns scraping the roof if he stood.
"I DIDN'T HEAR ANYTHING!" Dahlia yelled at the top of her lungs, as she was cradling both of her ears in an attempt to block the annoying sound of the engines.
"Dahlia, we can still hear you." Weiss said calmly, but loudly so she was heard over the engine.
"Sorry." the ice Bunny said meekly, still holding her ears.
After few minutes of flying, Yang had to ask something," Doctor, why were you and Adenine assigned with us?"
"What do you mean?" Adenine asked, as she held onto a strap that came out of the roof. As did everyone else, aside from Dragunov who opted to sit down with his tail curled beside him.
"She probably doesn't think you two can handle yourselves in a fight," Dragunov commented with a snicker.
"Hey! I didn't think that." Yang shouted at the jerk of a Blade.
Despite this, Oobleck decided to answer, "I admit, I fancy myself as more of an intellectual. But I can assure you, as a huntsman I've had my fair share of tussles."
"Like the mushroom?" Ruby said with a confused look.
"Those are truffles." Blake corrected.
"Like the sprouts?"
"Those are brussels." Yang corrected this time.
Ignoring Ruby's random questioning, Adenine took over, "Besides, given our combined skill-set as well as Barty's dabbling in archaeology, our headmaster saw fit to put us in charge of this particular assignment."
"What does history have to do with this?" Weiss asked skeptically.
"Why, what a preposterous question you silly girl!" Oobleck exclaimed, sounding mildly offended, "History is the very backbone of our society, and the liver...possibly kidneys too, if I were to wager."
Nox looked highly skeptical about Oobleck's idea of history's place in society. He even reached for his scroll to say something but decided against it at the last second.
"And that means...?" Weiss let the question hang.
"May I Barty?" Adenine asked her Driver, sounding excited.
"Go ahead, my dear." Oobleck said with his usual tone.
"The south-east quadrant outside of Vale is teeming with wild forests and deep caves." Adenine started eagerly,"But it's also the location of one of the kingdom's greatest failures."
"Mountain Glenn." Ruby said, surprising the teacher and Blade duo.
"Yeah, it was an expansion of Vale," Yang continued, before taking a somber look," But in the end it was overrun by Grimm and cut off from the rest of the city."
"Correct!" Oobleck said with his finger up," And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder."
"And a likely place for a hideout." Blake said, Nox having the same deduction on his scroll.
"Precisely." Adenine said with a smile, which was shared by Oobleck.
Soon enough, the bullhead brought the gang right in the middle of the ruined city. The four huntresses-in-training jumped out with their hunter weapons ready. Followed by their Blades with their weapons at the ready. Lastly, Oobleck and Adenine came down, with the eccentric doctor taking a sip from his thermos.
"Ladies, you may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as huntresses has begun." Oobleck said, before giving each of them a meaningful look as the bullhead started to leave. So, you must-" Oobleck was interrupted by something landing right in front of them, which earned everyone's attention.
"What's the big idea trying to separate me from Boss!?" Asked a highly annoyed animal type Blade named Pochi.
"How the heck did you get here?" Dragunov exclaimed in amazement at the common Blade they left behind.
"How?" Pochi parroted with a head tilt," I jumped on the thingy. Almost got shaken off a couple times." Those words were emphasized by pointing at the rapidly leaving bullhead with a paw.
That made everyone think back on the thud Dragunov supposedly heard.
"Girls, who is this?" Adenine asked, figuring that they were the ones who knew this Blade.
"Umm... This is Pochi," Ruby said awkwardly, "Me and Yang's dad sent him to us for some reason."
"I see, and why did he decide to follow us?" Oobleck asked, narrowing his eyes behind his glasses.
The girls felt a little nervous about this. They weren't sure if the doctor was angry or just suspicious of this Blade.
"Anyway," Pochi then butted in, "Ruby, would you be so kind as to let Boss out of that bag."
"What?" Three of the girls sounded out in unison, giving Ruby a questioning look.
"Ruby, what is he talking about?" Weiss asked, not even sure if she wanted to know.
Ruby stammered nervously, until her back pack opened for Zwei to peek out of it. Panting without a care in the world. "Get back in the bag," Ruby whispered to the dog as if that would make everyone forget what they saw.
But then Zwei's eyes fell on Pochi. *Woof!* And the playful corgi jumped out of the bag before prancing in front of the animal Blade. Giving the said Blade a series of barks and yips.
"Yeah, Boss. I managed to jump on the ship before it embarked," Pochi said proudly, "Seriously, that Tai-guy was crazy for having me carry you in that tube all the way to Beacon."
More barks and yips from Zwei as the five Drivers and Blades looked back and forth between the two.
"Aye, aye sir!" Pochi said, sitting down on his hind and gave an animal equivalent of a salute.
"...Holy cats! You speak dog!" Ruby exclaimed with childlike excitement.
"Uhh...what?" Pochi asked, looking confused.
"You understand barking." Roze clarified, trying to wrap his head around this development himself.
"Boss isn't barking, he's talking." Pochi growled in annoyance, confusing everyone more. "See, he's talking right now." the beast Blade said, nudging his head in the said dog's direction. Sure enough, all they heard was cute barking.
"...Okayyyy," Yang said, thinking this Blade was crazy, "So why do you call Zwei, boss?"
Pochi gave Yang a look that clearly said, "Are you stupid?". "Because he's my Driver." the beast Blade said. As if to prove a point, Zwei barked once before sitting down and puffing his fuzzy chest in pride.
The four girls adopted various looks of shock and disbelief, which include a slack jaw, bugged out eyes and pointing between the two animals and stammering in a poor attempt to form a coherent sentence.
Even the other five Blades looked surprised. And then Dragunov doubled over in laughter at a tiny puppy wielding a Blade weapon.
"As I recall, animal type Blades typically wield Twin Rings." Nox showed on his scroll. Though judging by how his eye was a little wider than usual, he was just as surprised as the rest.
"But how can a DOG be a Driver!?" Weiss was finally able to screech. Which forced Dahlia to grab her ears.
"It's not that strange when you think about it." Adenine said, with a thoughtful look, "As long as you're a living being and have the aptitude, you can be a Driver. And I believe this dog more than qualifies as a living being."
"...She's not wrong." Roze said, though he still looked between Zwei and Pochi with a skeptical look.
"By the way Miss Rose," Oobleck then said sternly, which made Ruby remember how Zwei was brought here. "we're here, investigating an urban jungle teeming with death and hostility. And you brought a dog," Oobleck said ominously, causing Ruby to look highly uncomfortable at the punishment for her transgression. "GENIUS!" And with that, Oobleck picked up Zwei. "Canines are historically known for having keen nose and heightened sense of sound. Making them excellent companions for tracking missions such as ours!" the history professor rambled, while Adenine looked at her Driver's antics in amusement.
"I'm a genius!" Ruby declared proudly, earning a series of looks that said, "Really?". Even Roze wasn't impressed by his Driver's whim turning out to be for the better.
"You just didn't want to leave him at Beacon." the rose themed Blade said with an unimpressed tone. Which made Ruby smile sheepishly.
"Sooo, what're your orders doctor." Blake then asked, wanting to forget the freeloading dog she thought she got rid of.
This snapped Oobleck out of his little rant, "Ahh, yes! Straight to the chase, I like it!" And then he dropped Zwei. Thankfully the corgi fell on his feet with no harm. "As you all know, the South-east quadrant of Vale has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity." The eccentric doctor explained with his usual speed, taking an uncharacteristic pause.
Which turned out to be Adenine's cue to continue," Now there are several possibilities for why that is. One which is- Grimm." At the last word, Adenine seemed to be mildly surprised.
"Excuse me?" Dahlia said, wondering what the book lady meant by that.
"Grimm." Oobleck said, noticing what made Adenine say that, "A creature of Grimm approximately 100 yards from us at this very moment."
This made the huntresses and their Blades to turn around, and sure enough a lone beowolf was skulking about on fours with its tail pointing to the skies.
"I remember reading about wolves having their tails point upwards to signal they're stalking." Dragunov commented as he took a fighting stance alongside the others.
"Stop." Oobleck commanded sternly, which made the huntresses and their Blades stop. Although they were a little confused. "There are a number of reasons why creatures of Grimm would congregate in this area. The most likely which is they're attracted to negativity," Oobleck explained.
"Sadness, hatred, loneliness," Adenine listed as if she was talking about the weather, "All qualities which are most likely harbored by our targets."
"So, what now?" Ruby then asked.
"We wait, we track," Oobleck replied, "There's a chance that his specimen might lead us to its pack, and that pack will subsequently lead us to our prey."
"And how long is that?" Yang asked, mildly disappointed at not getting to fight yet.
"It's uncertain," Oobleck said in thought, "Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the rest of the pack for months- And there's the whole pack."
Just like Oobleck said, a large pack of Grimm followed the first one.
"What?" Weiss questioned at the sight.
"And now they've seen us," Adenine commented, completely without care.
"What!?" Weiss exclaimed.
"AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!" Oobleck shouted into Weiss' ear. If the Grimm hadn't noticed them before, they certainly did now.
"I take it tracking is out of the question now?" Dragunov said, preparing his talons as he did.
"An accurate assumption. Yes," Oobleck confirmed.
"So, do we take them out now?" Dahlia asked, ready to throw her bitball at a moment's notice.
"Correct." Oobleck said. And with that, the huntresses and their Blades charged.
Except, Ruby had struck Crescent Rose's blade to the ground for support. "Cover your ears, Zwei," Ruby told the corgi which did as commanded along with Pochi bringing his paws down on the canine's ears for extra mufflement. And then, Ruby started shooting at the approaching Grimm as the rest of her team and their Blades engaged.
Yang ran towards one of the charging beowolves head on. Punching it in the face with Ember Celica firing for added force. Moving onto the next target, with the first one falling down motionlessly.
With Blake, she waited for a group of them to come near her as she unsheathed Gambol Shroud ever so slightly. And then the first beowolf cleaved the hidden faunus in half... or what was supposed to be the said faunus. But the thing didn't have time to wonder about that as the real Blake had jumped over it and cut its body in half. Granting any of the other Grimm the same treatment, occasionally using her shadow clones to confuse them. After few moments, Blake glanced to the direction she had seen Nox at. She let herself smile a little as the ninja Blade had embedded his Dual Scythes' blades into last two beowolves skulls. Last two, because there were several disintegrating corpses. Some of them having their heads split open.
Behind Blake, Weiss was taking some distance from a small group of the wolf-like Grimm before cutting at them with Myrtenaster. With Dahlia giving her Driver some ranged back-up. Throwing her bitball, the projectile bounced off of a now almost headless Grimm into another one. Sawing at through its arm and into the head. Before the thrown weapon bounced back to its wielder. Only to then be rammed into a beowolf that got a little too close to the ice bunny.
Ruby kept shooting at the Grimm, before deciding to charge the last remaining one. Cutting it in half easily. All the while Zwei was running in circles playfully, with Pochi standing guard. Anyway, Ruby glanced towards her Blade... and pouted. Because Roze was casually strolling down the street, cutting down any Grimm without any need to dodge. It was almost like the Grimm were walking straight into the meat grinder that was Roze's red scythe blade. As much as Ruby thinks that looks cool, she couldn't help feeling a little jealous about the level of skill and badassery her Blade demonstrated. And this was his idea of not being as powerful as he would be with Ruby wielding his weapon.
As for Dragunov, well let's just say that you'd almost feel sorry for the Grimm. The draconic Blade caught two beowolves by their necks before smashing them against the ground. One slightly smarter beowolf tried to sneak attack him from behind. Only to get its torso crushed by a well-placed swipe from Dragunov's tail. "Come on, you maggots! Is that really all you can do!?" Dragunov roared, taunting the Grimm more. Which served to get the last few of them to charge their prey and get them introduced to the fire Blade's talons.
"He's certainly hot-headed." Adenine commented idly as each of the girls and Blades had finished their opponents.
"Very true." Oobleck commented with a frown. The draconic Blade had come far since accepting Yang as his Driver, but there were still too many aspects of his nature none of the Beacon's teachers liked. Especially his obsession with strength.
"That was easy." Ruby then said to Oobleck with a smile.
"Don't celebrate yet," the teacher said, "I'm sure this is just one bout of many."
Sure enough, the day began to pass as the team and their Blades killed any Grimm coming their way. All the while Adenine and Oobleck were looking around the ruined city. Adenine writing something into that enormous floating book of hers that was attached to her with a chain whenever she saw something that interested her.
"There doesn't seem to be any suspicious activity around here girls." Oobleck said, getting up from inspecting a dead plant. "Oh well. Moving on!" And the huntsman turned to another direction.
"Hey doc!" Yang called after the teacher, "I was looking forward to seeing a pro huntsman in action. Like, fighting or at least helping us fight." the blonde had a bit of an annoyed look at them doing all the dirty work.
"Oh, but I am in action." Oobleck replied as he walked, "I'm investigating the ruins of this once great city for any signs of irregularity." After saying that, the doctor turned around to face the girls, "Not every mission is about bravery and heroism girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened level of extermination."
Adenine also got up from a nearby alley to join her Driver as she wrote something into her book. "Remember, this is a job. And you all signed up for it," the literal book lady said, not taking her eyes off of whatever she was writing.
"Well yeah, of course," Yang said sounding very disappointed. Earning a slight frown from Oobleck.
Sometime after that, Oobleck found himself alone with Yang. "Tell me Yang, why did you choose to be a huntress," the historian asked, earning a surprised look from the blonde.
After a moment of thought, Yang gave her answer, "Well, to fight monsters and sav-" "No." Oobleck interrupted, "That is what you do. I want to know, why you do it. And give me an honest answer."
Frowning a bit, Yang gave her answer, "Well I'm a thrill seeker. I want to experience as many adventures as I can while traveling the world. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. It's a win-win you know."
"...I see." Oobleck said with a small frown.
"I. Am. WORKING HERE!" The two heard Adenine shouting not too far away, which was followed by a final whimper from a Grimm before getting a knuckle claw shoved through its head from beneath its jaw. The blonde and the professor turned to see Adenine kicking the now limp body away with a huff. "How rude. Interrupting someone in the middle of an excavation," the female Blade said as she caught sight of a slack jawed Yang and a mildly exasperated Oobleck. The wind Blade instantly lit up into a smile, "Nothing interesting here Barty." With that, Adenine moved on as if she didn't just show borderline-psychotic behavior.
"Sometimes I think she's a little strange," Oobleck sighed at his Blade, before walking to catch up with her. Leaving Yang to her thoughts, and with a frown about Oobleck calling someone strange. That's a pot calling kettle black right there. As Oobleck caught up with Adenine, he caught sight of Dragunov snapping an alpha beowolf's neck with one hand as the poor thing tried to claw at the stony forearm uselessly.
"I guess these things only have numbers on their side." the draconic Blade sighed in disappointment, dropping the already disintegrating Grimm.
Frowning at the words, Oobleck decided to do a separate interrogation on the Blade. "Hey! Dragunov," Oobleck called out, earning the fire Blade's attention.
"What is it? Did you find something?" Dragunov asked eagerly, waiting to test his might against White Fang.
"I'm afraid not, but I was wondering…Why are you with Yang?" Oobleck asked seriously.
Which earned the doctor a confused look. "What do you mean? She's my Driver, I'm supposed to be with her." Dragunov said as he crossed his mighty arms.
"Yes, but it was my understanding that you weren't very...happy with her at first." Oobleck replied, as he fixed his glasses.
That made the draconic Blade sigh. "Tell me...have you ever felt the true extent of your potential." Dragunov asked seriously.
"I'm afraid I do not understand your question," Oobleck replied, getting interested.
"My strength as of now is great, there's no denying that," Dragunov started as he began to walk into the direction he sensed Yang moving to. Oobleck following. "However, I know that there's more to unlock...much, much more." Dragunov said as he stared at his palm, one of the few parts of his body that was made of flesh. "So, tell me, would you want that kind of power be wielded by a weakling?" Dragunov said while clenching his hand into a fist.
"I think I see what you mean," Oobleck said, thinking he had an idea. "However, what made you assume that miss Xiao Long was 'weak'?" the professor then asked in a more serious tone.
"I thought she was someone who wanted a shortcut to power because she was too weak to reach out for it herself. Thankfully, I was wrong." Dragunov explained as the two arrived at what looked like an abandoned park.
Something about Dragunov's words didn't sit well with Oobleck, "If I might ask, what is 'strength' to you?"
At that question, Dragunov looked towards the park with yellowed plants on it. "Look over there and tell me what you see," Dragunov said after a moment of searching for something with his eyes. Pointing his finger at a seemingly random spot.
Oobleck looked at the direction the fire Blade pointed out. After about three seconds, he saw something colorful among the dead plants. A single purple flower, blooming in the middle of the wasteland. "A single flower growing in the middle of a dead park...remarkable," Oobleck awed a little.
"That's right. Something so small and frail that shouldn't be able to thrive in a place like this. Yet there it is." Dragunov said with a small smile. His tail swishing idly. "However small it may be, that…is strength." With those words out of him, Dragunov moved on, catching sight of his Driver as he did.
"It looks like there's more to Dragunov than we thought." Adenine commented idly, having followed the two closely.
"...Very true." Oobleck commented.
Few minutes later, we see Blake inspecting a building. And then a flock of tiny nevermores burst out of it, prompting the ninja kitty to switch Gambol's katana into a pistol to shoot them all. Two of them tried to get her from behind, but they were grabbed by Nox. The two crow-like grimm cawed at their captivity, until the dark ninja sunk his thumb-claws into their necks.
Then Oobleck came to check inside the building the nevermores burst out of, "Blake, you seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose. What do you wish to do?"
"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing." The cat faunus answered with certainty, "Inequality, corruption, someone has to stop it."
"Very good...but how?" Oobleck then asked. Unfortunately, Blake didn't have an answer.
"If I may, part of the corruption comes from very high places from what I understand. They would need to be disposed of." Nox showed on his scroll, earning a horrified look from Blake.
Oobleck on the other hand, merely raised an eyebrow. "And you believe this to be the answer to all these problems your Driver mentioned?" Oobleck said with tiniest hints of an edge. Having an idea what the dark Blade meant by "disposing".
"No." Nox showed while his chest made a movement that was probably a sigh. "While it is true that such course of action would end their reign. But that would leave several questions: Who will replace them? What if the person who replaces them is worse? Or perhaps they start off decent, but become just as corrupt as the last person? No. These problems require a solution I am not capable of providing." The dark ninja let out another sigh before re-rolling his scroll.
Oobleck wasn't sure if he should be worried or impressed at the dark Blade's insight. But he did crack a small smile at the dark one acknowledging that simply killing the corruption might not be the answer to everything.
All the while Blake envied her Blade. It sounded like he had thought things through further than she had, and yet he claims to be incapable of answering Oobleck's question.
Another few moments later, Oobleck was rustling some notes into a notebook as Weiss and Dahlia had just dispatched of the newest batch of Grimm. "And what about you, Miss Schnee?" Oobleck asked, earning the white-haired heiress' attention. "A girl born into the life of fame and fortune certainly doesn't need the extra work. So why choose this line of work over a cushy job at Atlas?"
"It's exactly as you said, I'm a Schnee," Weiss replied, "I have a legacy of honor to uphold. And once I realized I was gifted in fighting, there was no question of what I would do. It's my duty." Weiss looked so certain of her answer, but Dahlia knew there was much more to it than that. However, it wasn't the ice Blade's place to say that to anyone.
"Interesting." Oobleck commented as he moved on.
Although, Dahlia noticed one Grimm still trying to get up. "I was sure I finished off that one," the ice bunny said as she strutted towards the weakened Grimm. The beast growled at the approaching Blade. But before it could even think about swiping at the thing in front of it, the beowolf's skull was pierced by a sharp claw that acted as Dahlia's heel.
Not too far away, Ruby was keeping a large turkey at the tip of Crescent Rose, just out of Zwei's reach. That is, until Pochi pounced on it, and put it down for his boss to eat. But for some reason, Zwei was actually growling at Pochi.
"But Boss, what part of that was fun?" the animal Blade asked in chastised confusion.
"It's called playing you jerk." Ruby said, also miffed at her fun being stopped.
"Uhh...Ruby." Roze said while tapping his Driver's shoulder.
The red-hooded girl turned towards her Blade, before following a pointing finger to see Oobleck standing there with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Whoops!" Ruby exclaimed, holstering Crescent Rose as if it would make the teacher froget what he saw. Especially the now forgotten turkey Zwei was chewing on. "Soo. Are we ready to move on yet?" Ruby then asked, as Roze shook his head at his Driver's antics.
"No, I think we're done for today." Oobleck replied as he took off his large back-pack he had been carrying all this time. "It's going to be dark soon." the doctor then commented, looking towards the slowly setting sun. Throwing his back-pack towards Yang who caught it with barely any time to react. "You three, set up a camp in that building." Oobleck then instructed while pointing at a building that probably used to be an apartment complex, "And please make sure there are no more of those… creatures." Then he turned around to the said three members of RWBY, "Your leader and I will secure the perimeter, come along Ruby." And with that, Oobleck was off with Ruby glancing at her team unsurely before following. Roze following suit. Along with Zwei and Pochi.
"Aren't you going with him?" Dahlia asked Adenine who was writing again on her enormous book.
"If Barty needed me for this, he would've asked." the book lady replied absent-mindedly, never taking her eyes off of whatever she was writing. "Now, I believe you girls were supposed to set up that camp." Adenine then said, pointing at the building again. Never pausing in her writing.
"Aren't you gonna at least help us?" Yang asked in annoyance. Oobleck was one thing, but Adenine wasn't doing anything important looking either.
"I am documenting our progress." Adenine asked, still not taking her eyes off of her giant book, "Also, your Blades can secure the building while you three are at it." That last one was added as an afterthought.
"Whelp, better get to it I guess." Dragunov said as he cracked his neck. "Hey, Nox could you-" Dragunov said, before noticing that the ninja Blade was gone. "I hate it when he does that."
With Ruby and Oobleck, the eccentric doctor had led Ruby along with Roze, Zwei and Pochi towards the edge of the ruined city, showing a pack of huge elephant like Grimm. "Whoaaaaaa. What is that? It looks awesome." Ruby asked in awe.
"That my dear girl, is a Grimm." Oobleck replied.
"A goliath if I'm not wrong." Roze said, having red several books about Grimm.
"Let's kill it." Ruby said as she took out Crescent Rose, which was promptly snatched by Roze. "HEY!"
"I'm afraid your sniper rifle will only aggravate a Grimm of that size." Oobleck said placatingly.
"But what if they decide to attack us?" Ruby asked in worry, reaching for her weapon which was being kept out of her reach by Roze.
"If they wanted to do that, I'm sure they would've done so already," Roze said, locking his eyes on one goliath that glanced directly at them. Or that's what the rose themed Blade thought it did. But then the thing moved along with the rest.
"That is correct," Oobleck said, "Those goliath are not concerned with us, Ruby. So. fear not."
That seemed to make Ruby calm down a little, which Roze took as his cue to return Crescent Rose. "Why is that?" Roze asked, getting curious. He was positive that one goliath saw them and yet it's practically ignoring them now.
"Because, Roze, Ruby, not all Grimm are mindless. Or rather, not all Grimm are still mindless." Oobleck explained as he looked towards the goliath moving on, circling endlessly around Vale. "You see, these Grimm are so superior to the ones you have fought, that they've undoubtedly lived hundreds of years. And in that time, they've learned. Learned that whenever they choose to attack our borders, they're likely to die. And that killing one human will only bring more." Oobleck explained as Ruby and Roze glanced at these monstrosities.
"So…why are they still so close to the city?" Ruby asked, turning to Oobleck, "What're they doing?"
"Waiting." Was Oobleck's ominous response.
"Waiting? What are they waiting for?" Roze asked, not liking the sound of that.
"Who knows?" Oobleck replied as he turned away from the now disappearing band of goliath. With Ruby and Roze following. Zwei tiptoeing behind them alongside Pochi who gave one last look at those weird things. Taiyang had explained the Grimm to Pochi, but he still doesn't quite understand them.
As the group walked towards the building Ruby had a question in her mind, "Doctor Oobleck. I was wondering-"
"Wondering why I've been interrogating your team all day," Oobleck said, turning back towards Ruby.
"No. I was wondering...why did you become a huntsman?" Ruby managed to ask.
The Doctor was mildly surprised, but he answered anyway, "Look around, Ruby, and tell me what you see."
"Lots of old, buildings…uhhh…empty streets." Ruby managed to say as she looked around.
"I see lives that could've been saved." Oobleck said as he began to walk again, with Ruby following. "As a huntsman it is my job to protect people. And while I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I could do much more with my mind." Oobleck explained as Ruby and especially Roze were listening, "As a teacher I am able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and impart it upon every student that passes through my classroom."
"That's…I didn't even think about it like that." Roze thought as he glanced at Ruby who was giving the Doctor her full attention.
"When I look upon this ruined city, I see lives that could've been saved." Oobleck continued explaining, "But I also see an opportunity to learn about this tragedy, and therefore become stronger." Then Oobleck gave one more serious look to Ruby before speaking, "I am a huntsman Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be." But then he smiled, "And now I guess I have Adenine with me to share all of this with."
This made Roze remember a little something he overheard, "Doctor Oobleck. This might be a little off-topic, but I've heard rumors about you and Adenine dating." Those words made the good Doctor flinch. "Is it true?" the rose themed Blade asked.
The professional huntsman turned back to the direction of their camp. "I believe we are to be at camp right around now, moving on." With those faster than usual words, Oobleck walked fast enough for the others to have to jog to keep up.
"Why did you ask that?" Ruby asked her Blade.
"Just an idle thought I guess," Roze shrugged, before frowning at something, "Hey, Ruby."
"Yeah?" the little red reaper said, worrying a little at what Roze was frowning about.
"What's dating?" The rose themed Blade asked innocently.
Which made Ruby fall over her own feet in surprise. The little red reaper knew what dating meant, despite not having any interest in it herself…until pretty recently.
"Ruby, you okay?" Roze asked in concern.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine," Ruby replied, despite being in the middle of trying to comprehend a guy that looked like he was in his twenties being ignorant about dating. Then again, Roze seemed to be ignorant about a lot of things. It was odd really, Dahlia, Nox and Dragunov seemed to know a lot more concepts than Roze did. Which made Ruby wonder, and not for the first time, how do Blades actually work?
"Why did she fall over Boss?" Pochi asked Zwei. The two had stopped the moment Ruby fell over. Zwei responded with a series of barks. "Really? Then what do you call that?" Pochi then asked, in curiosity. More barking with Zwei sounding extremely happy. "If you say so." Pochi then said with a shrug.
In the building where Blake, Yang and Weiss had set up the camp, Dragunov had just set up a campfire.
"I can't believe we didn't find anything." Yang complained as she sat down.
"That was to be expected," Dragunov sighed, "I can't even smell anything human around here."
"Our targets are faunus, not humans," Blake pointed out with a glare.
"Humans and Faunus smell the same to me," Dragunov countered in annoyance, earning an embarrassed look from the cat faunus.
"Still, it's a shame we didn't find anything worthwhile today." Dahlia sighed as she sat down with her legs at her side.
"Well, we were always fortunate to be at the right place at the right time." Blake then said, "We can't always expect luck to be on our side."
"Guess not." Yang sighed as she too sat down. "Hey, did Oobleck ask you guys anything?"
"Did he ask you something too?" Blake asked, just as Nox landed silently from an opening that used to be a window.
"Well...yeah," the blonde admitted, feeling a little depressed, "He asked why I wanted to become a huntress."
"He asked me that too." Weiss added in.
"Same here." Blake sighed. Not exactly accurate but close enough. "I mean, I know what I want to do, but I just don't know how to do it." Blake added with a sigh.
As this conversation was happening, Adenine was sitting at a far wall looking over what she had written during the day. Then the aqua haired book lady smiled as she sensed Oobleck returning. "Welcome back, Barty." Adenine said, just as the said Doctor appeared at the doorway, "Did everything go well?" That last part was said with a tender smile, even if she didn't look up from her book.
"Ahh, yes! The perimeter is secure," Oobleck said, having calmed down somewhat from the uncomfortable question. "Ahhh! A textbook campfire." The doctor exclaimed just as Ruby, Roze, Zwei and Pochi returned. All four slightly winded from trying to catch up with the historian.
"Ahh, fire! Sooo warm." Ruby said as she sat down on her knees to warm her hands.
"You're welcome." Dragunov said with a smirk, before taking a more serious expression, "Just so you all know, if any of you try to snuggle up to me for warmth. I will burn off your clothes and kick you outside." To emphasize his words, Dragunov made a flame appear on his palm.
"You're no fun." Yang complained, not that she needed the extra warmth…even if the thought of a chilly night snuggled up to the warm furnace that is Dragunov did sound tempting. If only his body wasn't mostly made of stone.
Then Zwei trudged over to the dangerous dragon and gave him his best puppy dog eyes. Complete with a heart-breaking whimper.
"...Oh, fine. You're exempt," Dragunov grumbled, despite being over taken by the cuteness like the rest. With that, the dog snuggled as close to Dragunov's warm body as he could. "That doesn't include you." That last one was directed to Pochi, who had already curled on the floor a little ways away.
"Why would I need warmth from you?" Pochi said before his glowing blue eyes shut down.
"So, who wants to take the first watch?" Oobleck then asked, ignoring the previous conversation.
"Yo!" Ruby raised her hand.
"Very good." Oobleck said before taking a seat next to Adenine, which earned a suspicious look from Ruby. The Doctor never answered Roze's question, and now he's sitting next to his Blade. All the while he started conversing about something with the said Blade, but Adenine seemed to be more interested in reading that huge book that was literally chained to her back. Though it seemed like the Blade was still replying, meaning that she was at least listening.
"I could take the first watch, Ruby." Roze said as he sat down next to his Driver.
"Nah, I can do this," Ruby said cheerfully, before giving a grateful smile, "But thanks for offering." Ruby wasn't sure why, but the previous question of dating was still a little stuck in her head.
"Hey, Ruby," Yang whispered as she got near Ruby, "Did Oobleck ask you anything? Like, why did you want to be a huntress?"
The question made Ruby jump a little in surprise from her thoughts, before the girl quickly composed herself and started thinking. "Hmmm...nope. Weird right." Ruby said with a shrug.
"Alright girls, and Blades." Oobleck then called out stopping Yang from questioning any further. Adenine had also shut her book for the moment. "Eat your dinners and get to bed, we have another day of scouting in our hands tomorrow." the teacher said, ceasing all conversation as they went for the pack to get some provisions that the good doctor had gotten for the week.
After everyone was done eating, the Blades being content with half a vial of Dust to recharge themselves. Though Roze still felt mildly worried about one thing, "If we had to fight those goliaths one day, I wonder if our level 3 Special Arts are enough against them? Or must we use level 4? Then again...without ether in the atmosphere, I'm not sure I CAN use a level 4. Can the others?" Roze thought as he glanced at his fellow Blades. Dragunov had already nodded off in a sitting position, breathing softly as he slept. Dahlia was on her side, using her own ears as a makeshift pillow. But her back was towards the spot Roze was at, so he couldn't tell if she was sleeping. Nox on the other hand was probably getting some shut eye in the shadows, which meant he was hard to spot even with Roze's Keen Eye. But knowing the dark Blade, he would spring into action the moment anything out of the ordinary happened.
AN: Like I said, this chapter became longer than I thought, due to having some insight on Dragunov's way of thinking. Along with questions about Oobleck's and Adenine's relationship.
All things considered, Adenine is probably Oobleck's idea of a perfect woman. Am I right?
And if anyone was disappointed about not seeing Pochi and Zwei in action, so sorry.
And with all that said, I'm going to sleep. And I'll see you guys next time.
