[Chapter 7]
Monday morning, the sign to the start of a new week. Two days of rest and the cycle continues. Usually for one Ruby Rose, this would mean having to separate from her newest best friend and go to boring school. Put up with a 'dummy head', her words, who kept calling her names and listen to a teacher all day. It was all so boring to her, she wanted to be learning how to kick all kinds of butt, not how to math. If anything, they could at least leave her to draw all the amazing adventures her and Gore are going to have.
But today was different. Due to an… accident… at school. They decided to reward her and tell her that she doesn't need school anymore. Or at least not school there. Which now that she thought about it didn't make too much sense. If they were thinking she didn't need school, why tell her dad about all the other schools that might teach her.
Eh, who cares. Her dad said it didn't matter anyways and that he could teach her what she needs. Which means she can hang out with Gore all the time. And Uncle Qrow was gonna show her how to fight with a super awesome weapon. Maybe it'll be like his scythe, or maybe a sword. Ooooh what about daggers.
"Gem. Why are you fighting the air?" Drat, she was caught. Leg still lifted in a kick and horrible balance lead to her collapsing back, her head being saved from contact with Gore quickly getting under her as a crash pad.
"Can't you see them Aunty Rae. There's monsters everywhere." She quietly spoke, weary eyes shooting left and right as Raven looked on amused. "Me and Gore are taking them all out. There's like… ten of them, all around." She quickly jumped onto her bed, adopting a crippled stance with her fists raised and lower body lax. Raven raised a brow at the position before slightly tilting her head at the familiarity, but she brushed it off for now. Instead, she let out an exaggerated yawn and crossed her arms.
"Only ten? I can do that in my sleep." Watching Ruby suddenly stop and nervously squirm brought her a concerning amount of joy. "Did I say ten? I meant one Hun-n-n…" A stutter appearing at Raven's raised brow. "Thou- No! There's ten thousand all around of us. The house is in danger, and I still don't know what weapon will take them all out." The genuine panic on her face made Raven lightly laugh to herself, but she played along.
"What you got on you?" She asked, quickly getting Ruby's attention as she flopped down. A smug look on her face as she prepared to answer. "Well I'm glad you asked. I got a Scythe on me. A-" Her words cut off as Raven stepped over and set on the chair next to her bed. "Just a scythe? Surely the great Ruby Rose doesn't have a weapon so primitive that it doesn't even Mecha shift." At the offended look she received, Raven won, she knew it. But she watched Ruby mumble to herself all the same
"Of course it does, it turns… Into…" Raven watched the gears turn in her niece's head. The tiny soon to be huntress in training coming up with a secondary function for her first choice. Very amusing to the Bandit Queen. "…A Sniper! Ah Ha! It turns into a Sniper." She answered, victory clear on her face. "And, And, it can still shoot it's sniper bullets even in the scythe form." She added with a toothy grin as she looked up to her aunt, waiting for her to tell her how awesome the idea was.
"Why a sniper?" She instead asked. "Well, duh. A sniper shoots big bullets, and the big bullets got a lot of push back. And Dad and Uncle Qrow keep saying how I'll always be tiny, so the big push will help swing the big scythe." She explained to the wide-eyed Raven, tilting her head in confusion as her aunt seemed to freeze. Then she snapped out of it and lay a hand on Ruby's head. "You're just a little genius aint ya." The sheer warmth from the gesture made Ruby melt.
"Well then, what else has that brain of yours cooked up? What else you working with?" She asked. Ruby realised the make believe was coming to an end and was now moving onto a topic just as good. She decided to pat the bed in front of her making Gore jump and sit at her lap. A stray hand coming down to rest at his head and pat him.
"Well. I was thinking maybe a sword. And not one of those long ones, it would be used for any Grimm that get in my face y'know. If I got my trusty scythe on me, then I just need it to work on enemies close up. Maybe a fire sword… or lightning… or ice… I can't choose." Quickly becoming more dejected as she failed to choose one. "Hmmm." Raven's hum of thought managed to break Ruby out of her own. Looking over, she watched as her aunt stood up and walked over to her scabbard that was by Ruby's door.
"How about something like this?" She asked after bringing it back. She pushed a button on the hilt of the blade and barely pulled it out, giving Ruby a clear view of the yellow and zapping blade underneath. Her eyes lit up and she shuffled making Gore perk up confused. "That's so cool! Lightning's definitely the one!" She exclaimed, fighting every urge in her body to touch the blade. Then suddenly, Raven re-sheathed and pressed a different button, a whirring noise appeared and the barrel on the scabbard spun. After clicking into place, Raven hit the first button again, and unsheathed.
Wisps of fire escaping making both Ruby and Gore lean away from it. But her eyes still widened in wonder. "The sword changed! That's even more cool! I want one of those! How do I get one?!" Her pleading gaze only managing to amuse Raven as she re-sheathed and rested it nearby. "Relax Gem, I made it, in fact, your uncle also made his weapon. And so, I suppose, as a challenge, if you make that Sniper Scythe you mentioned, I'll help make a weapon similar to mine for you. Deal?" She offered, her hand outstretched as Ruby closed her eyes in deep thought.
"Hmmmm… Deal!" She shouted, her Pinky held out and waiting for Raven to do the same. So with a snort of laughter, Raven delivered. Hooking her own Pinky around Ruby's as the deal solidified. "Now then, you got anything else cooking up there?" Raven asked whilst leaning back in her chair, watching as Ruby rapidly nodded. "One more. I was thinking some super awesome daggers… but I got no clue what they could turn into." She confessed, a dejected look on her as she collapsed back into her pillow.
Raven thought over it for a few, given what she already had, she had a scythe that could be used from medium to long range, a blade that could reach short range, and now daggers that could reach shorter. She supposed if this was her, she'd want the short to gain a bit of range to it if it was going to Shift, but adding guns to daggers was always a tricky situation depending on how it went. And by that point it was usually a gun with a dagger shift than the other way around. They could maybe merge the daggers for a different melee with a better reach, but what?
A lightbulb seemed to have lit up in her mind as she perked up from the idea. "How about a glaive?" She suggested, Ruby sending a confused glance her way. "If you have two daggers, you can connect them at the hilts, they can merge and create a glaive like weapon." Making the gestures herself as she flipped imaginary daggers and mimed connecting them by the hilt. "So it's like, two small things turning into a bigger thing." Ruby mumbled. "I suppose." Raven responded, ignoring the twitching of her eye at the extremely dumbed down explanation.
"So, which one is your favourite? Just use that one to kill all the Grimm." Raven suggested, making Ruby let out the most dejected sigh she's ever heard from a person. "But they're all so awesome. I love them all." She moaned in annoyance at even just the thought of having to pick. "Then use them all." Raven told her, with such nonchalance Ruby was surprised she didn't think of it herself. "I can do that?" She instead asked back. "Course, if you get good enough to use three weapons then by god just use the three weapons." She answered, attempting to not falter under the complete adoration coming from her niece.
A sudden thought hit Raven as she looked down at her in intrigue. "How did you do that stance earlier anyways. When you were fighting ten… sorry, ten thousand Grimm?" Raven asked, only receiving a tilt of her head before it seemed to click on what Raven was talking about. "Oh. You mean my super awesome and impenetrable fighting style. I watched Uncle Qrow do it a few times when fighting dad. Thought it looked really cool so I copied it." She answered, oblivious to Raven's wide-eyed shock in favour of focusing on Gore who had moved to be laying next to her.
"You… copied it?" She finally managed to ask. "Well, yeah. As best I could anyways. From what I saw, Uncle Qrow moves fast and kept hitting weird places on Dad. He didn't go for Dad's face or chest and kept hitting more difficult places. It seemed to work though cause Dad started slowing down. So I thought I should copy it." The young girl explained, this time looking over to the grin on Raven's face and pouting at her.
"You're making a funny face." The grin dropped and was replaced with a deadpan before she sighed and patted Ruby's head. "It's fine Gem. You're just amazing y'know. Now c'mon, I promised your Dad I'd get you in shape." She stood up, grabbed her weapon and headed for the door. Ruby suddenly shooting up with Gore rising with a groan of annoyance. "Don't give me that you big baby. Aunt Raven's training us so we can be Super Hunters later on." Ruby encouraged the lazy Wyvern whilst physically bouncing around the room. Yet, with a huff, Gore fully got up and followed them both.
[~~~~]
"I'm telling you lot that gremlin is a fucking Genius. Capital G." Raven spoke up from her perch on the kitchen counter. Tai nodding along as he made dinner for everyone, Qrow sat at the table and taking a sip from his flask before smirking in a bit of pride for his niece. And Glynda stood glaring at the flask in Qrow's hand from her position at the doorway, before she sighed and looking over to Raven. "I'm sure, as being her family, that that opinion is most likely held by all of you. But, I suppose, you could explain why?" Glynda asked, pushing her glasses up with a sigh at the offended look she received from Tai and Qrow. "She copied Qrow's unarmed fighting style." She simply answered, easily getting their undivided attention now. "Apparently, she watches him and Tai have your little spars and decided to copy Qrow when she saw he was winning one of them. It wasn't perfect mind you, far from it in fact. But it was still in the ballpark cause I noticed something was familiar about it." She explained. Clear satisfaction on her when they started to see what she was seeing.
"There was a weapon Idea she had for herself as well. A scythe, which I can only wonder where she got the inspiration from, and a Sniper Mecha Shift combo. She said that the recoil would be able to assist her in exerting the correct amount of force needed to effectively use the thing. Obviously that's in my own words but the intention was there." She added looking around and gauging each of their reaction before leaning back slightly. A sudden grin broke out onto Raven's face, one filled with mischief and amusement that had no end. "Here's the best part though, stumbled upon this on when she was exercising this morning." She started, confusing them all as they looked between each other.
"Hey Rubes!" Raven called, confusing them even further. "YEAH!" She called back from the front room. "What's your big dream!?" Raven asked, the grin turning more strained mixed with a few chuckles. "I'm gonna get rid of all the bullies!" Ruby shouted with so much conviction that all the adults couldn't help but gain a proud smile, then the confusion returned when Raven held up a finger. "How you gonna do that though!?" She asked again, the laughter on the brink of her as she waited.
"WORLD DOMINATION!"
Qrow immediately lost it. Spitting out the alcohol he was unlucky enough to have been drinking at the moment, doubling down in hysterics as Ruby was letting out a high-pitched cackle in the background. Tai had to stop and buried his face into his hands as he silently laughed to himself. Glynda on the other hand had a mortified look on her face before she stood straight and marched out of the kitchen. "Ruby Rose you listen here young lady! No one from this family is going to be striving for world domination because by Oum you just might do it! And I will not have that on my conscience!" She shouted out through the house, not making it any easier for the other adults to calm themselves.
"That kid, I swear." Tai mumbled, having finally getting control of himself and sitting down. "So we start training instantly and make sure she gets the idea out of her head?" Qrow managed to ask. "Oh yes definitely, need to start on her Aura control as well. Been putting it off for too long. Raven would you mind starting that whilst Qrow's out and I'm off doing my thing?" Tai begrudgingly asked, not even looking over to his ex-wife as he rubbed his eyes.
"Nope." She told him, a confused look from the still smiling Qrow and slight annoyance from Tai. "Why not?" He forced out. "Cause aura is the workings of the soul. And if anyone should be teaching her how to handle her soul, it should be the father that's looked after her, her whole life." Her answer putting them both into a stunned silence as they exchanged looks of shock. "Qrow why are you shocked, that's how things were done in the tribe."
Qrow looked up in thought before he suddenly gained a look of understanding. "Oh yeah. Dad did teach us how didn't he, even if it was bare bones, but that is all she needs from you Tai. Just a little understanding of the basics that will make learning anything later down the line easier. The method of simply grasping the soul should be taught by you." An encouraging smile on Qrow's face as Tai weighed the options. Then with a sigh of acknowledgment, he nodded his head in understanding. "Yeah alright. I'll start teaching her after my sessions." He told them, both Raven and Qrow nodding in acceptance.
"Good. I'll start exercising her in the mornings, keeping her flexible and building a bit of strength. Tai will go over Aura control and application in his own time. And then Qrow, since she thinks her uncle is oh so awesome in the way he fights, you can teach her forms in both weapon and unarmed." Her gameplan lay out and ready to set up, she nodded to herself in confirmation before looking up and seeing her brother agreeing. Tai however looked like he was slightly against it. "What about her actual education though? She's going to need one if she wants to be a huntress." He added, instantly Raven groaned in annoyance. "Education Schmeducation. If you want her to do that stuff figure it out yourself. Aren't you a teacher?" She suggested with a light glare, getting one in response from the annoyed man in front of her.
"All right, all right. She's right on that last bit though Tai, you are a teacher, you can call in a few favours from the others and get what she needs written down. Plus, there's always the Huntsman trials beforehand. If we get her up to snuff for that test then she can get through." Qrow, ever the peacekeeper between these two, quickly added his own opinion before Tai could explode. Also shooting a glare at his sister in disapproval, only getting a scoff in return, but she backed off none the less.
Before anymore fighting could occur, Glynda walked back in with a melancholic smile before melting into one of the chairs. The other adults in the room looked from her to each other before they all shrugged in confusion. "You alright Glyn?" Qrow decided to ask. Instead of an immediate answer, they all just received a sigh of contempt from the woman. "She called me Auntie Glynda." A snort from Qrow was all that was needed for his flask to be sent flying into a wall.
[End Chapter]
Attention readers, I have found a site to watch RWBY, so don't worry on my foundation of knowledge, I should be catching up quite soon. Hopefully. Depends if I can be assed to watch it or not. But I should, I got a decent bit of spare time.
Anyway, I've got plans for this book, plans of which are not fully finished yet, and need to be finished quite soon. Because the next few chapters I want to take it somewhere different, not directly after this, but soon. And it would be a definite difference to the OG, but I suppose that's the essence of Fanfiction. Adding a twist and then watching shit spiral. It just depends how deep you're willing to go. I think, I've got a decent explanation for when it arrives, hopefully anyways. But yeah, as you can see, Ruby's huntress career is starting and in the making.
Either way, hope you enjoyed this chapter, talk to you in the next one.