AN: Welcome back, one and all! So, I did some talking with Swift on the side, and we're moving forward with the alternate initiation challenge for the students, with a twist.
That will happen in the next chapter.
Let's get back into the show!
Everyone had returned back from their breaks. Hedge decided to address the students regarding the alternate initiation.
Hedge: "So, did you eight decide on if you wanted to move forward with the challenge?"
The students looked back and forth between each other, then looked over towards Hedge and Ozpin. "Yes," was the definitive answer from them.
Ozpin looked over at Hedge with a smile, then back at his students. "Very well. We can set it up during the next break. Does that work, Hedge?"
Hedge: "It does. And it's a good segway into lunch as well."
Nora: "Alright, enough about that. Let's start the story back up!"
Hedge: "I'm working on it. It's almost like she knows she'll be starting off at the beginning of this next part or something."
Once the next morning rolled around…
"Good morning sleepyhead!"
Ren sighed, but still had a smile on his face. "Nora..."
Nora: "Hey, they were probably right next us."
Blake gave her a deadpanned look. "Nora, you woke everyone up." She remembers being miffed about that that morning, but she also blamed it on her cat ears. Even if Nora hadn't yelled that out, she'd probably still hear her at normal volume.
The brothers hadn't realised they had been sleeping close to one Lie Ren and his best friend because of tragedy, Nora Valkyrie.
"Is she always like this?" Gyro asked Ren once the two pairs of tired eyes met while Nora was switching out of her pajamas inside her sleeping bag.
"All the time." the magenta eyed boy said with a sigh, and the twins blinked a moment, before realising his voice was from Monty.
Ren: "Hmm?" Everyone then turned to Hedge.
Hedge sighed. "You all remember about the webseries, right?" Despite them still trying to wrap their minds around that, they nodded yes. "Well, one man by the name of Monty Oum had come up with the idea for it. Your map, by the way?" On screen, their world map appeared. "Well guess what, it was fashioned by a ketchup stain on a napkin." The screen is split in half, on the left is their world map, while on the right is said stain.
Weiss: "I...wha?"
Ruby, wanting to help her partner and everyone else think about something that wasn't mind breaking spoke up. "So, what happened to him? Did he...die?"
Hedge: "Sadly, yes. An unspecified severe allergic reaction during a 'simple medical procedure.' 10 days later, he passed as a result to anaphylaxis at the age of 33."
Everyone was sad to hear that the man effectively created them all was no longer around, but Ren did have another question.
Ren: "Not to be rude, but what does that have to do with me?"
Hedge: "He was your voice actor for the first two volumes."
Ren: "I see. I'm honored to have been voiced by him."
Nora: "But you said that there were 9 volumes in total. Who voices Renny now?"
Hedge: "His brother, Neath Oum. He and Monty's friends at Rooster Teeth wanted to continue on with the vision created by Monty even after his passing. Though, the fandom has been very split on that, if I'm being honest, even though those on CRWBY, that's the main team that focused on the webseries, have stated that what the show has put out thus far is from Monty's vision."
'Rest in peace' the twins thought at the same time, while also realizing that Ren would have his original voice through it all, since this wasn't a web show anymore.
Everyone raised their drinks in the air as a toast to the man, sad to know he was gone, but happy to hear that his brother and friends have continued on with their loved one's dream. If it wasn't for that dream, they wouldn't even be here.
"So uh...think she's gonna lose steam anytime soon?" Pierce asked semi-rhetorically as Nora was still talking like a chipmunk on a sugar rush.
"No," Ren sighed.
"Oh…" Pierce said with a sigh.
"Betcha you're gonna be on team with these two." Gyro told his brother.
"Knowing my semblance, it won't bother to turn itself on for that." Pierce muttered.
Qrow: "Glad to know I'm not the only one with a semblance that has a mind of its own," he muttered. Though he did wonder what Pierce meant.
"If you do become one of my teammates, I apologize in advance for Nora aggravating you." Ren said with a bow.
"Eh, its cool. At least she seems nice," Pierce waved off, before extending his hand. "Pierce Vermillion, and this is my brother, Gyro."
"Lie Ren," Ren nodded, taking the hand...before Nora was suddenly leaning on his shoulder.
"And I'm Nora Valkyrie!" she grinned.
Ruby: "Where does she get all that energy?"
Yang: "Rubes, I don't think you have a say in that," she said with a grin.
Ruby: "Touché," she mumbled.
"Don't Valkyrie's usually have Pegasi?" Gyro muttered with a grin.
"That's what I always say!" Nora exclaimed with probably the brightest grin possible.
Nora: "Aha. He gets it!"
Ren shook his head in amusement at his friend's personality "So, what brings you to Beacon?"
"We mostly came here since our brother is a teacher here, but also killing monsters sounds like it could be a doable job, you know?" Pierce said with a shrug, using the believable reason the brothers had come up with.
Oh they planned on telling the teams someday, but only when they had their trusts, so they didn't get thrown into the loony bin.
Ironwood: "My other probably would, and myself too if I didn't know any better. Knowing Oz though, you'd probably listen in, wouldn't you?"
Ozpin: "Oh I'd be skeptical still, but yes, I would listen to them and then see if it's all true."
Ren nodded, accepting the reason for what it was "It's pretty much the same for the two of us."
"Yeahp! We're gonna kill monsters together!" Nora exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air.
Gyro blinked, before he figured he might try to start this early "So, are you two together-together?" he asked the orange haired girl.
Nora sweat dropped. "NOPE! Noooooooooo noooooooooooo. No. Not even close," she said rapidly.
"That's denial if I've ever seen it." Everyone but the two thought.
At that Nora's face turned red "W-what? No! Noooo, nonononono! W-We're just really good friends, you know?"
"Uh-huh." Gyro said dryly as he looked at her. "Well...anyway, we'd better get ready for whatever they got in store for us today. Wouldn't want to go this far and fail just cause we didn't get ready," he chuckled at the end.
"Oh my gosh, you're right!" Nora said in a rather exaggerated gasp. "Ren, we gotta get ready, we gotta make a plan!" she exclaimed before running off.
Ren managed to give the brothers a polite nod, before Nora came back and pulled him along.
The two brothers watched them leave, silent for a few moments, before "Shove em in a closet and threaten Nora with no pancakes till she confesses?" Gyro asked suddenly without looking at Pierce.
Nora: "What?! No!" Immediately, she pounces on top of Ren, both of them falling to the ground and interlocking lips.
Everyone rapidly blink at what they just witnessed, but inwardly, they were glad the two would maybe start their new life together, even if it was brought on by this story.
Hedge: "Well Renora is on its way, so that technically leaves one left." He looked over at the only two students left: the Bumblebee duo of RWBY. "Only thing is, the story doesn't go that route, so don't know how would be able to get that ball rolling, unless it already is."
"You read my mind." Pierce shot back.
"So...we'd better get to our lockers and actually get ready, or the plan is screwed," Gyro suddenly pointed out, to which they both made their way to the lockers.
When the brothers did get to the lockers, they blinked as they saw a surprising but not unwelcome sight.
That is, Jaune interacting with Pyrrha, albeit he was being a bit of a clumsy dork, but the fact that Pyrrha was smiling and helping him was good.
"Huh, and all we had to do was stop Weiss and Ruby from having a rough meeting, go figure." Pierce muttered lowly.
"Well, here's hoping the rest of the plan goes this smoothly," Gyro chuckled slightly. "Who knows, maybe if we stop the next disaster, some random guy will be able to stab Salem and end the whole thing," he whispered the last bit as a joke.
"Who?" Was the response from RWBY, JNPR, and Winter. The Ozluminati sweat dropped at that.
Hedge: "All you need to know for now is that is she is the Queen of the Grimm."
Weiss: "Wonderful, the Grimm have a leader."
Ozpin tried to talk to Hedge telepathically like how their host did to them. Thankfully, Hedge could see the headmaster squirming.
Hedge: "Yes, Ozpin?"
Ozpin: "Is the story going to reveal...everything...about her?"
Hedge: "While I would say it's considered spoilers, cause truthfully it is, the story will reveal that, yes. You have the power to tell everyone about her and your lives now, or you can wait till it is revealed in all of its glory. I'll admit, it is a ways away before it is revealed, though. You let me know if you want to do so."
Ozpin: "I see. Thank you for that info." He wondered what everyone would think of him once that info is revealed.
"Well, that would be anticlimactic, but convenient as hell… hey wasn't there a story where a Gamer went and basically Kamikazed himself against her because he realized he had become a total dick?" Pierce asked.
"Yeah, and somehow that story inspired another one that was a bit better because the main character hasn't lost sight of himself, well, not yet at least, and I hope he never does, I mean, he has a crazy sister, but the guy is pretty cool… you know, I actually submitted some event ideas to that author a few years back." Gyro said conversationally.
Everyone was confused at that info.
Hedge: "The short answer: a story from one of Swift's friends. Said friend doesn't want to deal with the potential outcome of putting out ideas for a story that may tank and not get continued at all."
Ironwood: "That's a fair reason to be honest."
"Huh, neat. So, we good to go?" Pierce asked as he slipped on his jacket.
"Think so yeah, plus Jaune seems to be doing well, so everything should be good, come on, let's go." Gyro said with a nod as the two headed for the cliffs.
Shortly after, the two brothers found themselves standing on platforms alongside all the other students, to which they couldn't help but notice that Jaune still seemed VERY nervous...not that they could blame the poor guy. They may have helped with his fighting skills, but he still had a bit of a confidence issue.
Jaune: "And I greatly appreciate my other getting that treatment, but what sane person wouldn't be nervous about what's about to happen?"
Glynda: "Trust me, Mr. Arc, even I wonder why Ozpin does it."
Ozpin just took a sip of the coffee he ordered, and he had to say, it was really good when Hedge told him the different types of coffee from Earth, and his current brew was even better than the one he normally had.
It didn't take long before Ozpin and Glynda arrived, and this time, the brothers decided to pay attention, having a feeling something would be different.
"Now that you're all gathered here, it's time for the test that will decide your team members for the next 4 years you'll be spending at Beacon. Know that everything you find in the forest will be trying to kill you. As for how team members are formed, the first person whose eyes you meet once you are within the forest will be your partner, as for the rest of your team… well, that's a surprise as to how we decide that, but know that your goal is to retrieve a relic hidden within ruin inside the forest. Finally, because we had a bit of an odd number of applicants this year, two students have been made special partners in a way, as if you find them, they will act as a fifth member of your team, as for who they are… I'll let you figure that out yourselves." Ozpin explained everything neatly, the brothers being sure Azure had a hand in that, just as they were sure the special students were the two of them… that or they were Jaune and Ruby. Either way, they didn't have any time to ponder that as the next phase was starting...seeing as Ozpin was talking about them 'flying' into the forest...and some students already being launched. True enough…
"Wait...are you uh...giving us parachutes or something?" Jaune asked cautiously.
"No, you will all be making use of your own landing strategies," Ozpin said, a small quirk on the side of his lip betrayed his amusement.
"Wait, did you say...landing strategy?" Jaune gulped, and at the nod he got, all he could do was slump a little. "Oh…" was all he could say, before he was promptly launched into the forest.
Yang laughed at the sound that left Jaune's lungs. "What was that?!" She asked through her laughter.
"Huh, was wondering when we'd hear the Wilhelm scream." Gyro said as he followed Jaune's flailing form with his eyes.
Winter: "And what pray tell is the 'Wilhelm scream?'"
Hedge: "It's a common sound effect used in movies and tv shows for whenever someone falls from a pretty high place. The outcome mostly either being really painful or resulting in their deaths."
It was at that point that Pierce happened to notice that...they were next. "...brace yourself," was all he could say, before he too was launched.
In response, Gyro quickly pulled down his goggles over his eyes and pulled out his swords, getting flung through the air a second later.
Yang pouted at Gyro's eye protection. "At least he doesn't have to worry about dried up eyes. My aviators didn't exactly help me."
Qrow: "Let me guess, you blasted yourself further than normally intended from the launch pads, didn't you?"
Yang: "Yup."
Jaune: "At least neither of you got stuck to a tree," he grumbled.
Pyrrha: "Jaune, I did say I was sorry," she tried to comfort her now boyfriend.
Jaune smiled. "Thanks Pyr."
Ozpin watched as the last few students were sent sailing through the air, sipping from his coffee "Glynda… you know how I said this year would be interesting this morning?"
"Yes?" the deputy headmistress repeated in confusion.
"I take it back, it's going to be extremely confusing, I just can't put my finger on why though." Ozpin said, before sipping more of his coffee.
Glynda looked at him for a moment, then to the students, before sighing "Where's Qrow so I can steal his flask?"
Qrow: "Over my dead body you wouldn't, Glyn."
Glynda: "Oh please, Qrow. I'd rather do it to get you to stop drinking so much, or even altogether. The brothers and Hedge know how much that would be a godsend for Tai and your nieces."
"It would," was the immediate response from said nieces.
Weiss: "Now if only we could do the same for mother," she grumbled, but Winter did hear her.
Winter: "On that we agree, sister."
Gyro took a deep breath as he was still riding on the momentum of him being flung, before letting it out with a smile "I love this." he said, before pointing the tips of his blades at his sides, and hitting a switch on the hilt, which, somehow, made blade extensions come out of it and basically cover the holes between his arms and body, almost looking like a pair of wings or a flying squirrel's membrane now.
And with a small application of his semblance to keep the wind riding under him, as well as making sure it was warm, Gyro was basically flying through the air, steering around by twisting his body this way and that.
Jaune: "He's...he's actually flying."
Weiss: "He's practically cheating."
Ozpin: "Well we are under the impression him and his brothers know pretty much everything up to a certain point, so they are more prepared than all of your others. Can't exactly fault him and Pierce for that."
Ironwood: "Not even questioning them on how they knew?"
Ozpin: "I'm pretty sure they would have something planned for that if myself or Glynda had asked them."
They then heard something come from behind them, and they noticed that Hedge was hovering in midair, flames coming out of his shoes.
Weiss: "How the heck are you doing that?"
Hedge: "Well the shoes are powered by a different source than dust, even in the AU that Hedge comes from."
This shocked them, as they knew that if the shoes were being powered by dust, they'd run out of power after some time. But if what he said was true, then what were they powered by?
"So cool!" Ruby and Nora exclaimed.
Yang: "You're not going to tell us what exactly they are powered by, are you?"
Hedge: "Nope," he said with a grin, getting a tongue stuck out at him by the blonde brawler.
Elsewhere in the skies, a rotor was heard spinning, before Pierce was seen slowly descending while holding onto Pandora, about half if it's length having shifted into something akin to the blades of a helicopter, spinning fast enough to slow his descent from the skies.
As he kept going down, eventually it ended with him going down through the forest canopy, the blades spinning fast enough to cut through the branches around him.
Blake: "Seems Pandora is even more versatile than Gambol Shroud." She eyed her weapon in its case up against the wall, wondering what other upgrades she could add to it.
Ruby: "I want it," stars in her eyes.
Yang looked back to Hedge. "Is there a forge here?"
Hedge: "There is. It's connected to the training room, that way any upgrades or newly built weapons you make can be used there."
Yang: "I know where Ruby will be."
Nora: "I think that was pretty obvious, Yang."
When he came out the bottom of the surprisingly thick canopy, he looked down, and was surprised to see a giant black snake slithering towards Lie Ren.
He knew the martial artist was aware of its presence, but he figured he might as well make this faster, quickly shifting his weapon back into Naginata mode, aiming the blade downwards, and letting gravity do the rest of the work, as the blade went right through it's head, piercing the middle of the brain.
As for the second head of the King Taijitu… well, it was taken care of easily as Nora suddenly appeared hanging upside down within the canopy, using Magnhild to fire a grenade down it's gullet.
Silence for a moment, before Pierce scrambled away with Pandora in hand, as the white head blew up, leaving nothing but smoke behind.
Slowly, Pierce and Nora looked at each other, before giving out a silent thumbs up.
Winter: "Excellent take down."
Ironwood: "Indeed. Quick and efficient."
Ren looked dryly at the two of them 'I guess… there's no escaping this huh?' he thought with a sigh, before a wry smile graced his lips. 'I suppose there are definitely worse people I could have been partnered with.'
Weiss: "Ain't that the truth," she muttered. But Ruby still heard her.
Ruby: "Weiss!" She whined.
Back above the skies, Gyro was still flying around, looking for a good person to partner up with "This… is harder than I thought."
He continued to fly around, before spotting a clearing in the forest, seeing two familiar splotches of color, one sitting in the middle, and the other moving around the clearing.
"Huh… guess I found them after all." he said, before going into a dive.
Meanwhile, down on the ground, Weiss was walking around the clearing, trying to figure out in which direction the ruins were, Ruby watching her walk around.
Weiss groaned into her hands, knowing what was to come.
Ruby: "Weiss, you know I have already forgiven you, right?"
Weiss: "That doesn't excuse how I acted during initiation."
"It's this way!... No, that way!... wait, no, it's definitely over there!" Weiss said, moving around, having been doing this for several minutes now.
"So… when are you gonna admit we're lost?" Ruby asked in honest curiosity.
"We aren't lost! Just… misguided." Weiss answered after a moment to find another word.
"Ok, even I know that's just a synonym for lost." Ruby shot back dryly.
"We aren't!" Weiss restated, before marching directly in a specific direction "The ruins are that way!"
Ozpin: "Other way, Ms. Schnee." This caused another groan to come from Weiss, and a small chuckle from her sister.
Before she could take too many steps, Gyro landed right in front of her, feet first and crouched down, before rising up to his full height, actually scaring her a bit as the sun was right behind him and shadowed him well.
"Actually, the ruins are in the other direction," he said simply.
The white-haired girl, currently pale as a sheet, nodded mechanically and slowly turned before walking in the opposite direction she had been heading.
Yang: "Wow, wouldn't expect a Schnee of all people would get scared."
Weiss: "Don't give me that, you brute. You'd be scared if you were in my other's position too."
Yang: "While you are not wrong, I'd probably punch the person who scared me first."
Blake: "Why am I not surprised?"
Qrow: "Because it's Yang we're talking about?"
Ruby: "Sounds about right."
Ruby looked at Weiss, before looking at Gyro with a raised eyebrow "Um… how did you get here from the sky?"
In response, Gyro grinned as he held up his swords, still in their fan like mode "By combining these with my semblance, I can basically fly." he spoke proudly.
What he didn't say was that the fan like mode had originally been intended as a sort of defensive mode, and only became a wing appendage once he discovered his semblance.
Pyrrha: "Ok, how in the world does that work?"
Jaune: "You'd be surprised how many different ways a weapon could be used."
Nora: "Heh, like Ruby trying to use Crescent Rose as a practical tool to open up a jar of dill pickles."
Ruby: "I thought no one knew about that?!" She squeaked.
Everyone busted out laughing at that, Yang and Qrow the most. The professors and Winter chuckled at that, as they could actually picture her doing that. Ruby just wrapped herself in her cloak, wishing for it to swallow her whole. It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down.
Ruby's eyes slowly widened, and Gyro saw as her pupils slowly took on a star shape as she grinned widely "That's so cool!"
He chuckled in response to that "Thanks, though, we should probably catch up with Weiss before she gets too far."
Ruby blinked at his words, before nodding in agreement as she got up and started following after her white-haired partner.
Gyro spared a moment to look behind him, seeing a large black feather falling down, making him grin before he followed after Ruby. Once they caught up to Weiss, the white-haired girl had a thought.
Ruby: "It's following us, still?"
Hedge: "Originally, you did kind of cut down its perch in anger."
Weiss: "Please tell me things aren't going to end up the same way..."
Both Qrow and Winter were confused on what their family members were talking about. Oh, were they in for a surprise.
"So...how far away are the ruins from here?" she asked.
"At our current pace...we'll be there in an hour or two, assuming we don't get jumped by Grimm," Gyro said simply.
"Of course…" Weiss sighed. She didn't have any issues with the long trek, but she HAD hoped they were closer than that. However, Ruby had heard her...and happened to see the shape of a large Nevermore flying overhead...and that got the gears turning in the young reaper's head.
"Hm...guys, I think I have an idea," she said with a clever smirk.
"You do? Well, lay it on us," Gyro shrugged, hiding a knowing grin. This was going to be interesting.
Weiss: "Why is this still happening?" She groaned in her hands.
Winter: "What are you two talking about?"
"THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA!" Weiss shouted as they hung on for dear life.
"NO WAY! THIS IS AWESOME! THIS IS WAY FASTER THAN WHEN I FLY ON MY OWN!" Gyro shot back just as loudly as he too held on tightly, though he had a large grin on his face.
"I KNEW ONE OF YOU WOULD LIKE IT!" Ruby shouted over the howling winds as the trio was holding onto a Nevermore that had been passing overhead, making liberal use of their semblances to reach its height and latch onto it.
Qrow started laughing uncontrollably as it reminded him of the craziness him and Team STRQ got into, while Winter and Ironwood were shocked that someone would hitch a ride on a Grimm, and an old one at that given the size of the Nevermore.
"YOU TWO ARE INSANE!" Weiss accused.
"BUT IT'S WORKING, RIGHT? I CAN SEE THE RUINS ALREADY!" Gyro retorted. "WHAT NEXT RUBY?"
At that though, there was a sudden pause.
Gyro didn't even bother to look ahead, just sighing as he hung his head "She already jumped, just great." he said, before putting an arm around Weiss's waist and jumping off the Nevermore as well, though he added insult to injury by pointing his finger at it with a finger bang motion, and concentrated wind pressure slammed into its back.
Hedge: "I know there are multiple uses of that finger motion, but the one that tends to come to mind is the esports player SKT Bang or hell, even Frieza when he went into his final form for the first time, and now that I think about it, Vegeta too in the same arc. Missed opportunity to say 'Bang' there."
Weiss was practically screaming into his ear as she had her arms around his neck, making him roll his eyes as he shifted her to his back.
"Just relax, I have this covered." Gyro said as he went into a dive, using his semblance to push himself down faster, catching up next to Ruby, putting an arm around her shoulder as he once more used his semblance, this time to slow them down as much as he could without making it jarring and breaking their neck.
What surprised him though was a blur zooming past the air just below them after a certain point, seeing it crash into a tree right after.
Weiss: "Well, at least neither of us got sideswiped by Jaune," she told her partner.
Jaune: "Pain..."
'Huh, guess Jaune still got flung like a maniac.' he thought to himself, before slowing down their descent even further, thankfully Weiss had finally stopped screaming, so it wasn't murder on his ears.
With practiced ease, he touched down on the ground, Ruby doing so with a stumbled before getting scooped up into a hug by Yang, while Weiss fell down to the ground, hyperventilating.
"Well, that was a fun experience." Gyro said with a grin.
"You rode in on a Nevermore." Blake said dryly.
"You know it!" Gyro and Ruby said together, before high fiving each other.
Weiss: "Both of you are insane," throwing her arms up in the air.
Ozpin: "Though you can't deny the method they used got you all to the destination you all needed to get too."
Weiss: "Please don't indulge this type of craziness, Headmaster." She pleaded.
Weiss however was glaring at them with murder in her eyes as she shakily got on her feet. She looked ready to begin verbally tearing into them, but before she could start…
A loud crash was heard as a tree was knocked over, someone being heard screaming while it happened, before everyone noticed that three figures were riding in on an Ursa, two of them holding on for their lives, and the third treating it like a joy ride.
Gyro stared dryly at the fact the two hanging on where Pierce and Ren, while the one who was laughing like a maniac was Nora.
Before the Ursa could get any further in its movements, a bullet tore through its skull, everyone turning to Blake in surprise as the now headless beast slumped down.
Nora: "Blake, how dare you kill my mount!"
Ren: "Thank you," he muttered, but said cat Faunus was able to hear him, giving him a thumbs up.
"What? It was an easy target?" the hidden Faunus said with a shrug.
"...fair enough," the other shrugged.
"Aww, it's broken." Nora pouted as the Grimm slowly disappeared under her.
"What the hell is her malfunction?" Pierce asked Ren haggardly.
"I haven't figured it out yet." Ren shot back as the two of them pulled themselves off the ground.
Everyone tried to figure that out too, but the ginger head's friends and professors had already come to know that was just how Nora was, while Ironwood, Winter, and Qrow tried to wrap their heads around what it could be.
Hedge: "To save your brains any damage, I'd suggest just going along with what she does and says."
The three decide to do just that.
"Help." the two of them heard a voice beneath them rasp out, making them look down to see Jaune… though they both had their elbows in his face, squishing it up.
Immediately they got off of him and helped him up. "Whoops! Sorry Jaune," Pierce quickly said.
"It's...fine…" Jaune managed to say, albeit still looking a little dizzy.
Jaune: "Even with my other having some training going into the initiation, things aren't going to well for him, are they?" He groaned into his hands.
Pyrrha: "Probably not," she admitted, but still wrapped her arm around his and leaned against him to comfort him, which was greatly appreciated.
"Well… that just happened." Yang said as she took in the scene.
Back to Ren, he sighed, turning to Nora, about to scold her, only to see nothing but a blinking outline of her, making him look around wildly as leaving her alone was never a good idea.
Fortunately, it seemed she was only looking at the Chess Pieces left around the ruins, particularly the Rook. As such, Gyro and Pierce, despite knowing it was coming, couldn't hold back the wry smiles as they heard her break into song as she balanced the Rook on her head.
Meanwhile, Weiss was looking around, making sure nothing would interrupt her this time, as she stood up, opening her mouth, about to verbally tear into the two adrenaline junkies she was partnered with-
Ruby gasps and turns to her partner, pouting with puppy dog eyes activated.
Weiss fought against her will to succumb to them, but she stood firm against them. "You know that that is true, you dolt."
Ruby kept her pout, but the puppy dog eyes were gone, as she returned to viewing the screen.
And then a large and old Deathstalker ran into the clearing, chasing after Pyrrha.
Ironwood: "Now hold on, did this actually happen, or is this a case of the alternate universe/butterfly effect?" He figured the giant Nevermore actually happened because Ruby and Weiss were talking about it, but to also fight an old Deathstalker too?
Ren: "Yes, General. We did fight that Deathstalker too."
Winter: "Considering you're all here right now says that you beat both of them."
Qrow: "Now the question is how you beat them."
Teams RWBY and JNPR looked at each other between their teams with a knowing smirk, as did Ozpin and Goodwitch, given they lived through the events, or viewed in the case of the professors.
Though, that was when it was just the 8 of them. Here, they had the twins added into the mix, so how would they defeat the two giant Grimm?
Weiss's eyebrow twitched at the sight, while Gyro grabbed the remaining knight piece and tossed the remaining rook piece to Jaune, who fumbled for only a second this time before catching it and putting it in his pocket.
A beat passed, before several people had to back away from Weiss while the ground around her started freezing up.
'Huh, so apparently Yang isn't the only one who can do that.' Gyro thought with a sweat drop as he looked at the white-haired girl.
Qrow: "Geez Weiss, take it easy, or else you really will turn into a mini–Ice Queen like your sister."
Winter: "I'm going to ignore you said that, you drunk." She then turned to her sister. "Weiss, "I'm pretty sure I've told you not to use dust too much, or else things like that..." she pointed to the screen, "...will happen."
Weiss: "Believe me, I'm aware of that, but given our family company, can you really blame me, or rather my other, for acting like that?"
Winter didn't dignify that with an answer, as deep down, if she was in her sister's other's position, she'd probably crack like that too.
"Is everything QUITE finished adding more Grimm to our plate?" the white-haired girl asked, her voice conveying the very image of tranquil fury.
Pierce WANTED to say yes, he really did. But one look upward told him otherwise. "Uh…." was all he could say, before pointing upward at the giant Nevermore now circling back for them.
Weiss's face was the definition of demonic as she pulled out Myrtenaster from her hip "We're eating chicken tonight!"
'Holy hell that's actually scary.' all the others thought in unison as they stepped away from her more. However, that was a sentiment the two large Grimm clearly didn't share as they continued to charge.
Blake: "Holy dust, she's livid." She remembers how her teammate got back when they argued about the White Fang the previous semester, and that outburst compared to what was being displayed was tame in comparison.
Ruby: "Reminds me a bit about the argument last semester," making both girls clam up about it and look at each other.
Yang: "How about we ignore that and just continue watching, ok?"
Thankfully, that defused the tension in the air.
"Attack!" Ruby shouted, holding up Crescent Rose.
"Let's get to a bigger area so we have more space!" Gyro recommended as the ones that had means of attacking long range shot at the Grimm, not only to slow them down, but to keep the attention on them.
With the two Grimm coming after them, they quickly split up, Gyro running after Ruby, while Pierce went to assist Pyrrha who was still being chased by the Deathstalker. Shifting Pandora into its grappling hook function, he used it to first get himself up in a tree, and then fired it again, this time at the Grimm, wrapping around one of its legs, he didn't waste any time at all, hitting a switch on Pandora, sending an electrical shock down the cable, and into the Grimm, getting a screech of pain from it.
"Catch up with the others! I'll be right behind you!" Pierce shouted at the spartan, earning a nod from her as she ran towards the group that had been practically zig zagging around to keep the Nevermore occupied, quickly joining in on having its attention split between everyone.
At the same time, Gyro had used his wind Semblance to launch himself high in the air, and quickly used Ascalon to glide down so that he was grabbing onto the back of the Nevermore. "Thank you, Shadow of The Colossus," he couldn't help but chuckle as he began stabbing away at the Grimm's unprotected back, looking for any openings in the hard feathers. "We'll keep them busy!" He shouted to the others. "Get out of here and we'll catch up!" he said as he stabbed one of his swords into the right spot it seemed, as the Nevermore screeched and veered all over the place trying to get him off.
Glynda: "Both of them seem to be well versed in their weapons."
Ozpin: "Indeed, being able to fight two very old Grimm like these two ain't easy, as normally it would take a full team, possibly even more, of Huntsmen and Huntresses to take them down."
Jaune: "What this about 'Shadow of The Colossus?' Sounds like another video game to me."
Hedge: "You would be correct, Jaune. While I've never played the game personally, I do know that it is a heavily acclaimed game on the PlayStation 2 system. In terms of critics, the game had very high ratings, with an average of 91%, whereas with reviews having high 80's to even high 90%'s. A brief summary of the game is that is an action-adventure game, taking place in a fantasy setting where it follows the protagonist named Wander, whom the player controls. He embarks on a mission to an isolated and abandoned region of a realm seeking power to revive a girl named Mono. I'm not sure of the connection between the two to be honest, but Wander has to locate and destroy the Colossi, which are 16 massive beings spread across the forbidden land...while on foot and horseback."
A picture of the game's European cover art is shown on screen, and everyone can see the comparison in terms of Wander on the horse they are riding, and one of the massive Colossi shown.
Hedge: "Now in terms of what some of the negative things about the game would revolve around the frame rate the game gets when it comes to high paced fighting, which mostly tends to happen when fighting the Colossi. Or that the game, despite it being so acclaimed, is only about 6 to 8 hours long in playtime. The PS2 hardware had been out for 5 years already when the game released in 2005 in the states and Japan, and the next Sony, that's the developer of the PS2, game console, the PS3, came out 13 months later."
Ironwood: "So the developers of the game missed out on potentially better graphics by a year. No doubt the game may have gotten a perfect review if that happened."
Qrow: "True, but you never know with that kind of thing. Unless you have a way to predict the future, of course."
Hedge: "Though, because the game was so highly praised, it actually got a remaster 6 years later on the PS3, and then a remake 7 years after that on the PS4."
Yang: "Better everything I'm assuming on the PS3?"
Hedge: "Graphics in high definition, 3D support, missing content added in that wasn't in the original North American release. And the remake version on the PS4 had all of its assets built up from scratch, but all of the main gameplay stayed the same, just added new controller aspects considering the model of the PS4 controller had compared to the previous two iterations."
Ruby was about to argue, but Jaune was the first to stop her. "We have to go. They know what they're doing. Trust me, they'll be fine!" he said urgently. He didn't like leaving the brothers alone, but he also knew that they were tough, and this wouldn't be enough to stop them.
After a moment's hesitation, Ruby nodded, as the group of 8 ran on towards a ravine and a larger set of ruins.
It was minutes later, after they arrived, that so too did Pierce, the Deathstalker right on his tail "Keep going! Get to the bridge!" he shouted, the others doing so as they all ran towards the stone bridge over the ravine.
At the same time, Gyro was doing his best to try and steer the Nevermore somewhere else, but it seemed dead set on crashing through the ruins in the ravine "LOOK OUT!" he shouted at the top of his lungs towards those crossing it, which at the moment just so happened to be Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, the eventual members of JNPR stopping short when they heard him.
Qrow: "That's not an easy thing to do. A Nevermore that big takes a lot more damage to effectively knock them a certain way."
Glynda: "Though no one is that crazy enough to ride a Grimm in the first place."
As soon as it crashed through the bridge, Gyro jumped off, gliding to land next to Ruby "I don't think he's going to leave us alone."
"Then let's take him!" she shot back with a determined nod.
"Doesn't seem like we have a choice," Blake nodded, standing by her side.
"Well then, let's make it regret messing with us," Yang grinned as she stood by their side.
"I think I may end up enjoying this more than I should." Weiss added with a slight smirk.
"Well then, looks like we're in agreement. Time to roast this bird," Gyro chuckled. "Just a warning though, those feathers are HARD."
Blake: "He's not wrong," she grumbled as she looked over at Gambol Shroud. She tried doing damage to it after recovering from falling into the ravine, but all it did was probably tickle the Nevermore.
Hedge just had a smirk on his face, knowing what he, and by extension Swift, would be giving them later on. Not even Alphas would be a hinderance to them.
"Then let's hit it with everything we got," Yang grinned, as the four girls started taking advantage of the ruins and soon got on to varying vantage points, all of which gave them clear shots of the Grimm. Thankfully Gyro could improvise something as well, making various points in the air around the grimm pop like small implosions. The Grimm screeched angrily, the various attacks, while not doing much damage, were VERY annoying, forcing it to veer off course, avoiding any of its attackers as it soon tried to circle around again.
It managed to get to the other side of the ruins, the group not getting around fast enough to stop it as it crashed through them and toppled them, making them seemingly fall down into the ravine, before they all used various ways to get back up, such as Ruby literally wall jumping off the various stones, Weiss using her glyphs, Gyro flying back up, Blake using her ribbon, and Yang shooting herself up with shotgun fire.
Jaune: "All of you girls are all about mobility in some shape or form. The only one we got is Nora."
Winter: "It's best to be as nimble as possible, Mr. Arc. Being too stationary against the Grimm could very lead to your downfall."
Glynda: "And that could lead to injury, or worse."
"We need a plan if we're going to take this thing down." Weiss said with an aggravated sigh as she landed next to Ruby and Gyro.
Ruby looked around, trying to think of something, before seeing Blake swinging herself up, an idea sparking in her mind "I think I got one, Gyro, come with me, Weiss, cover us." she said, earning nods from her partners who did as requested.
Down below, while the future team RWBY and Gyro were dealing with the Nevermore, the future team JNPR along with Pierce were busy dealing with the Deathstalker. Strictly speaking it wasn't the HARDEST enemy, in that it was really kinda slow relatively speaking. The problem was that its shell was proving to be annoyingly hard to deal with. Not to mention they were running somewhat short on terrain as it charged at them with all the intent of a tank.
"Okay, hitting it isn't working! We need a new plan!" Pierce said as once again the Deathstalker shrugged off another volley of bullets.
"I know, gimme a bit to try and think of something." Jaune told him as he tried to find any weak points in the armor.
"It would certainly help if it had trouble finding us." Ren said idly as he kept shooting at it just to annoy it.
Jaune snapped his fingers at that "That's it! Pierce! Pyrrha! Stab it's eyes! We gotta impair it's sight!"
Ren: "That might be a bit difficult given its multiple eyes."
Jaune: "Better to get rid of most of it to hinder any retaliation. While I'll admit it will agitate it greatly, it will lead to hasty attacks from it, making it easier to kill."
The professors, General, Winter, and Qrow were shocked to hear a plan like that from a first year of all people, they were also praising him on a really good plan.
Ozpin: "An excellent idea, Mr. Arc."
"Will do!" Pyrrha said in agreement as she and Pierce ran in, Nora grabbing it's attention with a grenade to the face which also served to blind it for a moment.
Taking the chance, Pyrrha and Pierce stabbed it's larger eyes first, earning a screech from the creature before hurrying to stab the smaller ones managing to get most of them before it tried to snip them with it's pincers.
Pyrrha had her shield to protect herself, wedging it between the pincers, but Pierce seemed to be a prime target… at least that's what the Deathstalker thought before Jaune came in and uppercutted it's pincer with his shield, keeping it's momentum and actually clamping down on it's other arm.
Let's just say the result earned an even louder shriek, as the grimm actually cut off one of it's pincers.
Thankfully, the TV volume was low enough not to hurt anyone's ears, especially Blake's given her cat ears. But they still winced at the brutalness of having the Grimm cut off its own limb.
They all stared at it for a moment, confused at the turnout, Jaune looking down at his fist "Huh… that was lucky."
Qrow: "Heh, luck," he muttered, then took a sip of his flask."
"That was freaking awesome!" Nora hollered out with a grin.
"It's not dead yet though." Pyrrha cautioned as she retrieved her shield.
"We need to find a way to break through its shell." Ren said as they saw the grimm try to rear itself up to attack them again.
Hedge: "Any enemy with that much armor tend to have less on their underside, effectively making that one of their weaknesses."
Winter: "It's true. The Goliaths are a great example of that."
Ruby: "Even the Boarbatusks, too," she said looking at her partner, whom winced at how she acted towards her leader that day. Weiss went to apologize again, but Ruby held up a hand to her. "Weiss, no need to apologize. I've already forgiven you."
Weiss in turn had a greatful smile on her face and nodded.
"Our weapons aren't working though," Jaune said.
"Then what about we use another weapon?" Pierce pointed out, before pointing at the flailing stinger tail. "I hear scorpions can die from their own venom. Think that applies to Grimm too?"
"It's definitely worth a shot." Jaune said, before turning to Ren "Think you can get its stinger lose?"
Ren nodded wordlessly before running at the grimm, jumping over it's now lone pincer and quickly scaling up the stinger and unloading a whole clip from Stormflower into the point that connected the tail and the stinger.
The grimm seemed to be getting extremely aggravated, as it trashed around before managing to buck Ren off, though Pierce had gotten behind just in case and caught him, cushioning the impact. Fortunately, even if he hadn't cut off the stinger, it was already getting loose. Something Jaune noticed, and quickly looked around till he spotted Pyrrha's shield.
Ren: "Good catch, Pierce. Thanks." He still felt some phantom pains from whacking into the ruins.
"Pyrrha! Shield!" Jaune shouted as he pointed at the loose stinger.
Pyrrha followed his finger, before nodding in understanding "On it!" she said and flung her shield like a discus, striking the loosed point of the stinger and cutting through it, making it fall on top of the grimm and finally break through it's armor.
"Nora! Coup de grace!" Pierce shouted to the girl who gave a salute, before rocketing off the ground, and with a small summersault, came down with the full force of her hammer, slamming the stinger into the Grimm. If being impaled in the brain didn't kill it, then the poison should, evident by how the Grimm stumbled a bit forward...before falling off the cliff.
Qrow chuckled. "Pretty sure you kids got it."
"Well...if being stabbed and poisoned doesn't kill it, that drop sure will," Pierce couldn't help but chuckle, as this was starting to feel like overkill. However, any celebrations were put on hold, as the nearby sound of gunfire signaled that the others weren't done dealing with the Nevermore.
"Come on, we'd better see if they need help!" Jaune said, as Nora used her hammer on the remains of the bridge...and catapulted them all to the other side.
What they saw… well, it seemed they had a plan at least.
Yang was making sure to get it's attention on her, by firing her concussive blasts from Ember Celica, the grimm zeroing in on her standing atop a pillar, opening its beak to try and gobble her up, but instead, Yang grinned as she jumped a bit, getting caught in the beak, but kept it open with one hand and her feet, gaining a wicked smirk as she reared her free hand back.
"I! Hope! You're! Hun! Gry!" she said, punctuating each syllable with a blast from her weapon down the Nevermore's throat.
Yang leaned back on the couch, placing her hands behind her head. "Yup, I'm pretty happy about that move." Her teammates just rolled their eyes at that.
"That's gotta sting," Gyro commented wryly as the giant bird veered off course, Yang jumping out of the beak before it crashed into a nearby cliff. On cue, he and Weiss dashed forward, Weiss going low, while he went high, using his wind semblance to fire a blast of compressed air, knocking the Grimm back down again, to which Weiss took the opportunity to freeze its tail and legs to the ground, stopping it from going anywhere. "Slingshot now!" Gyro shouted, to which Blake tossed Gambol Shroud while holding on to part of the ribbon, Yang catching the tossed part and stabbing it into the pillar she was next to, making the ribbon go taut. At the same time, Ruby and Weiss jumped towards the ribbon, while Gyro went up the cliff over the struggling Grimm.
Ruby landed with Crescent Rose under her feet right on the ribbon, while Weiss got behind her, creating a glyph, which together, turned the ribbon into a giant slingshot, with Ruby as the ammo. "Of course YOU would come up with this idea," Weiss commented once Ruby was in a ready to fire position, though there was a notable hint of amusement in her voice, as while this plan was crazy...it was likely to work.
Qrow: "Your mom would be proud of a plan like that, Rubes."
Ruby: "I know," she said fondly.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked, ready to go.
"Can I?" Weiss smirked confidently, though Ruby was less than confident with that answer.
"CAN yo-?"
"Of course I can!" Weiss snapped a little, before Ruby readied Crescent Rose, and Weiss turned the glyph red, launching Ruby straight at the Nevermore. Her flight path was true, and she landed on the cliffside, while catching the Nevermore by the neck on Crescent Rose's blade, before running upwards on a path of glyphs Weiss created, shooting her weapon the whole way to keep up momentum and drag the new helpless Grimm up the cliff. At the same time Gyro jumped off the cliff, using his semblance to speed up his fall while Ruby ran up. When the two were about to pass, Gyro struck, and in a flash of blades, the Grimm was promptly decapitated, its head flying into the air, before falling into the abyss below, Gyro landing on the ground, while Ruby landed on the top of the cliff, the now headless body falling to the ground.
Ironwood: "You wouldn't happen to have the recording of the original initiation, would you Oz?"
Ozpin: "I would."
Hedge: "I could just put the events in your minds." With a flick of his wrist, Ironwood, Winter, and Qrow got the events of the whole initiation planted into their minds, but also got a recording of it on their scrolls too, just in case they couldn't remember.
"Well… that was a thing." Yang said as she wiped the sweat off her forehead, as Ruby started to speed back down the cliff, Gyro having to use his semblance to keep her on the wall of the cliff by having a strong enough wind push against her.
Ruby: "Yeah, I'd rather not go splat on the ground."
"That, was, AMAZING!" Nora shouted as she ran towards them, the rest of the group not far behind.
"Honestly, not sure who made it more badass anymore, you guys or us." Pierce said with a wry grin.
"Well, we did a double decapitation and Yang shot down its throat, what do you have?" Gyro shot back as Ruby arrived back down and sped up next to everyone.
"We made it cut off one of its pincers and then impale itself with its own stinger." Jaune said, deciding to get in on the playful banter.
Gyro blinked a bit, before nodding "Yeah, that does make it hard to decide."
Pyrrha: "How about we don't get into an argument about that, ok?"
"Fair enough," was everyone's response, though Nora and Yang definitely wanted to.
Before anything else could be said, all of them shivered as a suddenly powerful, and COLD, gust of wind blew past them… followed by the cold staying as it started to snow, getting progressively faster.
"A snowstorm? NOW of all times?!" Pyrrha said incredulously, considering it had been sunny mere moments ago.
Pyrrha looked down at her combat outfit, then looked over at a few of the others. "I don't think we have the right outfits on if it was winter weather."
Blake: "Pretty much all of our clothes right now are suitable for summer/fall weather."
Ruby: "Guess a shopping trip is in order for the unexpected weather then."
"What is WITH the weather lately?!" Gyro couldn't help but ask.
"You tell us! Even Atlas' scientists can't seem to figure out how we're getting heat waves when we're practically on Remnant's north pole!" Weiss said, as while she was used to snow, the fact remained this was Vale.
"We need to get out of this storm! If we stay out dressed in summer clothes like this, we might get pneumonia!" Blake had to say a little louder as the wind got stronger.
"The ruins over there!" Jaune shouted as he pointed towards the entrance to the ruins embedded into the cliff wall.
The group of 10 quickly ran into the ruins, brushing off any snow that had gotten caught in their clothes once inside. While it wasn't particularly warm or anything, it was still a large improvement compared to standing outside.
Pyrrha: "Well, the snow could be pulled over to help keep the warmth in."
Weiss: "We'd freeze our hands in the process though."
"So...now what?" Ruby asked.
"Well, I think it would be best if we waited out the storm, if not for it to stop at least until it lessens a bit." Gyro said as he looked outside, pulling the stone door open a little.
"I guess we're in gonna be in here for a while then." Yang said with a sigh as she moved her hands through her hair to try and get it back in place.
"Well, good thing I have cards then." Pierce said as he pulled out a deck of cards, though Gyro chuckled as he recognized them.
Yang: "Aways good to have some form of entertainment on hand for long waits like this."
Hedge: "I tend to just check things out on my phone, watch videos, or just listen to music with headphones."
"Seriously, the promo cards from Agarest War 2? You still have those?" He asked with a small laugh.
"Hey, Azure's the perv who bought that game from that thrift store, I just wanted the playing cards because they have character art on them." Pierce said as he showed some of the cards which had artwork of some of the playable characters on them.
"Wait, I've never heard of that game before, why does it make your brother a perv?" Yang asked in confusion as a few of them brought out their scrolls and turned on the flashlights in them while Pierce started dealing out cards.
"Lots of fanservice." Pierce and Gyro said together dryly. "Part of the plot is literally choosing a bride since you later play as your future son...and of course what game like this DOESN'T have the harem aspect to it?" Gyro explained.
Everyone looked over at Hedge with a dry expression on their faces.
Hedge: "Hey don't look at me. Before I read this story, I had no idea of this type of game, so I don't even know the whole premise or goal of the game is."
Winter: "Does it really need that aspect a part of it, though?"
Hedge: "That depends on the developers apparently."
Ruby then innocently asks, "What's a harem?"
Everyone: "We'll tell you when you are older!"
Everyone gave them dry stares, and suddenly, they all thought a bit less about the elder Vermillion sibling. Whatever the case, they decided to start playing to pass the time.
It actually took a few hours to pass before they heard the storm started to slow down. Peeking out the doors to see it had reduced to a calm snowfall, with the Emerald Forest now looking more like the White Forest now. They all sighed in relief as they stepped outside, the crunch of snow sounded under their feet.
"You really have to wonder what's the cause of all this freak weather these last months, I mean, Vacuo has had so much rains it's gotten to flood levels." Gyro said as he stepped out from under the roof on the entrance altar.
"Mistral has even had to borron tips from Vacuo because of how severe some of the sandstorms would get when they came out of nowhere." Pyrrha added as she rubbed her bare shoulders to try and warm herself up.
Blake: "Sun has told me a bit about how bad those sandstorms get. They are not fun to deal with."
"Well, we'd better get back to Beacon. The last thing we want is to be caught in a blizzard or something," Gyro sighed, to which they all nodded in agreement. However…
"Whoa…!" Ruby suddenly said, before pointing at the sky when they looked at her questioningly.
"That...shouldn't be possible…" Weiss blinked. There in the sky...was an aurora, but not any aurora any of them had ever seen. Rather than a curtain like shape, it was swirling, almost like some kind of rainbow colored hole.
Ruby: "Beautiful..."
Yang: "That's a bucket list activity to see."
"Tell that to the aurora we're seeing right now," Ren couldn't help but say, as all of them were VERY bewildered by what they were seeing, especially the brothers, as they KNEW this...NONE of this...happened in RWBY canon. This was a divergence, and that could either be a very good thing or a very bad thing.
Nora: "Divergence?"
Hedge: "More or less, it's when events don't end up going the way they were intended to. Of course, right after Team RWBY defeated the Nevermore, you all just went back to Beacon, right?"
The students nodded, as they definitely don't recall seeing this, on top of the winter weather.
Ozpin: "This is most likely the Butterfly Effect."
Glynda: "No doubt about that."
"Wait… I think I see something in there." Jaune said as he squinted his eyes, trying to peer into the many lights of the aurora.
At that moment, 10 small lights became visible within the aurora… before flying out and heading straight towards the group of teens.
"Get to cover!" Gyro shouted urgently as everyone dived out of the way, the 10 meteors striking down into snow covering the small entrance area of the ruins.
Weiss: "Meteors? Aren't they supposed to burn up in the atmosphere?"
Ironwood: "That's the normal outcome for them, Miss Schnee, but some do tend to break through."
When the snow/smokescreen cleared, they poked their heads out of the cover. "Is it over?" Jaune asked shakily.
"Well...seems like the heavens have stopped trying to smite us so...probably?" Pierce said, looking around for anymore rains of death.
Everyone chuckled at Pierce's choice of words.
"Though...aren't meteors supposed to be...bigger?" Blake suddenly pointed out, as true enough, the craters in the snow were...very small. Heck, whatever was in them could probably fit into the palm of their hands judging by the size.
"Whatever it was, I want it as a souvenir!" Nora said, grinning widely as she ran up to one of the holes.
"You know, that's actually a good idea." Yang agreed as she copied the hyperactive carrot head.
"Yang, no! What if it's some kind of alien parasite that wants to take over the world!" Ruby shouted as she ran after her sister.
Hedge: "Hehe, common horror movie trope. And I do love me some horror films."
Yang: "Yeah, too many for Ruby."
Ruby: "You make me watch them with you! Uncle Qrow too!"
Qrow: "Only because you say you're big enough to watch them."
"Sometimes you have to wonder who's the older of the two." Blake said with a sigh as she followed.
"Well...nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess…" Gyro sighed as he and Pierce walked over to the craters. Whatever this was, he had a feeling they'd want to know what it is one way or another.
They were joined by the others who had still been hiding, figuring they might as well figure out what was going on as well. However, when they got there, things only became stranger. As if sensing them coming close, beams of light shot out of the craters, going straight up, and within those beams, something small slowly rose up, till they were at eye level of each of the gathered huntsmen in training. All of them looked stunned for a moment...except Nora who grinned and clapped whatever it was with both her hands. "Got it! Got it!" she said in a sing song tone, before opening her hands. "Ooooh, what's this?"
Everyone looked between each other, before following her example and grabbing whatever the objects were, looking into their hands to reveal…
"Are these… pagers?" Gyro said in confusion.
"What's a pager?" Ruby asked in confusion.
Hedge: "Something older than even me."
Qrow: "You'd use them to see who is paging you, but then you have to go find them. They don't tell you where exactly they are, something that scrolls do much better at. Or a phone in Hedge's case."
"Something older than all of us Rubes." Yang told her as she looked at the strange object with a raised eyebrow. "Still...since when do pagers fall from the sky? Heck, how'd they survive the trip?"
"Something I think we can find out after we're all back in Beacon," Weiss sighed. "We've wasted enough time as is."
"She's right, let's head back." Pyrrha said in agreement with the heiress, earning a grateful nod from her.
"Yeah, let's...go?" Gyro was about to nod...but the 'pagers' suddenly started glowing with a bright white light.
Ruby: "Oh great, what's happening now?"
Jaune: "Can we ever get a break?"
Weiss: "Don't think we're that lucky, Jaune."
"Uh...guys? Something's happening to the aurora," Pierce suddenly said, as a light was shining from the aurora too...and then something that made them all wonder if this was all just a crazy dream happened. The sound of rushing water was heard...and a giant tidal wave appeared...from the abyss where the Deathstalker had fallen...which should have been dry land.
"What… the… FUCK?!" Jaune, surprisingly, was the one to swear rather loudly.
Ruby: "Language!" From her cloak, she pulled out a jar with a few lien cards in them. A label was on it with the words 'Swear Jar' written on it. She walked up to Jaune and shook it in front of him.
Jaune: "Really Ruby?" She held firm and looked at him while shaking the jar again. "Ok, fine." He took out a lien card and placed it inside.
"Language!" Ruby found the time to shout, before things got even weirder, as the tidal wave seemed to open in the middle, yet instead of them seeing the forest behind it, it was like it went on into infinity… and then it rushed at them.
They didn't have time to react as the wave swallowed them all up, but instead of drowning, all they felt was like they were falling endlessly between the opening of the wave, shouting helplessly.
A moment passed, and the water receded, and not a single trace remained of the young hunters in training.
With that, the TV turned off, and the book popped out and floated back to the coffee table.
Pyrrha: "Wait, that's the end of the chapter?"
Hedge: "Yup."
Yang: "Oh come on! That was a major cliffhanger!"
Nora: "Yeah, we want to know what happened to us."
Hedge: "Hey don't blame me. That was all Swift that decided to end that off with one."
Blake: "Does he know that not a lot of people like something ending in a cliffhanger?" She had her fair share of cliffhangers from her books that she read. She hated waiting for the next edition of a story to come out to see what happens next.
Hedge: "Trust me, he knows. But now, let's take a break. I can set up anything you need, Headmaster." He looks over at Ozpin and Glynda.
Ozpin: "Just some test papers and some Atlesian Knights." He walks up and whispers into his ear the specific type of questions the papers would have. Hedge nods his head at that, and with a wave of his hands, the papers appear in front of the students with a pencil. While Hedge and the adults head over to the training room to place the Knights, they inform the students to work on the test papers. No cheating by asking the others for answers.
Though as they enter the training room, Hedge receives a ping, and a holographic screen appears in front of him. The sender though is what intrigued him and after reading the message, a grin appears on his face.
Qrow: "That doesn't look like a good smile on your face, Hedge."
Hedge: "What, am I that bad at hiding things?" He shrugs his arms.
Winter: "Should we be worried about what appeared on the screen?"
Hedge: "No, not at all. But I think Swift just suggested something alternatively to the students facing the Atlesian Knights." At that, the Chaos Emeralds appear above his outstretched hand.
Ironwood: "And it involves the Chaos Emeralds?" Deep down, he was a little afraid of their power.
Hedge: "Yes, but it also involves me as well. And I must say...I'm willing to go through with it." He then explains the suggestion that Swift had messaged him about.
AN: And done! Apologies for taking a little longer to get this chapter out. IRL things like work have me have less time to work on the chapters, so that leaves me with the time after I get off work to work on the story, and as for the weekends, that depends if I'm not busy with other things too.
As for working on this story and Hedge's story, I'll work on the next chapter, which will be a break/lunch chapter for our Remnant crew, where the students will do the alternate initiative that was discussed before, with an alteration to it thanks to an idea from Swift. After that, it will be focus on Hedge's story, and since there aren't many chapters that I have planned for it for the rest of Volume 3, it shouldn't take me TOO long, but life always finds a way to reel itself in, so we'll see, as my plan is still to put that story on the back burner for a bit before i jump into Volume 4.
If there does end up being a long period of time between chapters, please do not bombard the reviews with them, a PM will do.
Until then, peace out.