Feelin' the excitement from everyone as we dive headfirst into Volume 1.
Lexigirl, once again, gotta give you a shoutout.
People like you are the ones who continue to understand what Jeb, Bullet and I are trying to accomplish here. Rather than, as you mentioned, crossover plots being the same with just added characters, we're in the business of fully capitalizing on this being a crossover. Meaning change, be it sudden or incrementally over time, is an absolute must for both universes.
But importantly, most of all, is keeping the characters IN CHARACTER whilst making any changes in behavior or thought process believable to the characters. That's one of the most important aspects of a crossover. That both universes have the proper time to develop and times to shine. And if changes are made, make sure it's with a purpose, not just cuz.
It's a fine line, and seriously, really fucking hard to continually pull off.
But… man, my mind is just fried right now.
This is what happens when you're away from a story you plan extensively but don't work on the chapters.
Big oof on the brain to change the mindset from one story to the other.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.
Avengers Age of Remnant Chapter 14: Initiation.
"Are they all set?" Ozpin inquired, resting his hands atop his cane, standing in between Captain Rogers and Sam Wilson.
"More or less." The latter replied with a grimace. "Felt really dirty with how we basically made sure they stayed asleep like that."
"Still think the traditional approach is the best course of action. Least they would be awake for it." Oz commented, pulling out a mug from… somewhere and taking a sip from it.
Falcon deadpanned at the headmaster, seeing the small smirk on the man and repressing the urge to slap him upside the head.
Steve remained silent in this, arms crossed and deep in thought.
He stood in a room that held multiple screens that showed off the Emerald Forest from a myriad of locations.
On each screen were all the initiates that were to be tested today, seeing whether or not they had the mettle for Beacon Academy and in turn, to become Huntsmen and Huntresses.
Wanda, Pietro and Clint were also in attendance as was Glynda who was monitoring all the conditions of the Emerald Forest. She made sure that the location where each student had been dropped off was safe with no possibility of Grimm coming near them.
That and if they did, defensive measures were in place to stave off any chance encounters until the time the initiation was to begin.
"So instead of launching them off a cliff, you drugged and smuggled them into a forest and be first…" Clint said with a drab look directed at the Good Captain who exhaled.
"I was against this as a whole really but Ozpin here seems to believe in trial by fire." Steve rebuked.
"Isn't that how most of us here had to do it?" Pietro asked.
"Not sure that counts, brother." Wanda remarked. "Ours was either we succeed or the world would have ended. This is a school. Different scenario."
Glynda paused in her work, turning to look back at the twins in disturbed bewilderment.
"Story for another time, Teach." Barton chimed in, waving her to get back to what she was doing earlier.
Goodwitch gave the archer a pointed look, turning to Steve who only shrugged and she rolled her eyes at that, resuming her work, checking to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be.
Letting out a small hum, Oz balanced his mug on the tip of his cane and reached into his pocket to pull out an old-fashioned watch. Flipping it open, he watched as the seconds ticked by until the large hand landed on the top portion of the clock and he nodded.
"Just about time."
"What do we do in the meantime?" Pietro asked, leaning back in his seat.
"Observe, take notes, make a comment if you wish. Perhaps step in if things become dire." He smirked slightly at the bland looks he received from the Avengers. "After all, these children will soon become your students who will all look to you for guidance and lessons in becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses. Or maybe even Avengers, one might say. Young Mr. Parker is already amongst your ranks."
Wilson gazed at Ozpin with half-lidded eyes. "You enjoy doing this, don't you?"
"I shall neither confirm nor deny such scandalous accus-ah, it appears they're all beginning to come to.
The team fell silent, eyes now shifting to the multitude of screens, all watching as the initiates into Beacon all began to stir.
Steve's eyes briefly landed on his fellow New Yorker followed by the young Arc boy before looking over the rest of the students.
Mentally preparing himself and glancing back at his shield he had attached to his back, Rogers could only hope for the best as the initiation into Beacon was about to begin.
-Scene Cut-
The morning rays began shining across the Kingdom of Vale. The birds were singing the morning tunes. The air was brisk for this time of day.
In the Emerald Forest, a number of individuals began waking up, stirring where they slept. They were all by themselves, seemingly secluded in the general area. And in their groggy states, many comments, questions and complaints began to fly out.
"Ah man, what is with the ground?"
"What the- where's my sleeping bag?"
"Ah dang it, my whole back is wet."
"This isn't where I slept last night."
"What's going on?"
"A more important question… where in the hell am I?"
They all began to rise, looking around and taking stock of their situation.
"Where is this place?"
"A forest?"
"Was there a forest next to Beacon?"
Before long, all received a notification from their scrolls. Opening it up, a voice message came up from none other than Professor Ozpin.
"Good morning, would-be-student. You are wondering about your current predicament. Due to circumstances, we'll be changing up our initiation from what you might have heard in the past. This year, we've dropped you off directly into the Emerald Forest as you slept."
There were varied reactions from the initiates upon hearing this, some blinking, others having their jaws drop slightly and some… just didn't react at all, taking this odd revelation in stride.
"In order to acquire your gear and weapons, please use the following school app to get your assigned rocket locker to your location. Change and proceed to the next step."
All did as instructed, finding their lockers hovering in the designated locations their scrolls had pointed them to. The lockers opened automatically upon the approach of the student it was assigned to and all soon retrieved their weapons and gear, watching as the rocket lockers flew off back in the direction of the school, leaving them within the Forest.
Once all had gotten their equipment, their scrolls chimed in once again to relay the next portion of their instructions.
"For your initiation, it is rather simple. You will all be going to the ruins located in the Emerald Forest. There you will need to acquire a "relic" with a partner before making it back to campus. Said partner, who you'll obtain along the way, will be the first person you meet and make direct eye contact with. Note they will be your partner for the duration of your time here at Beacon Academy."
Somewhere in the forest, Ruby Rose let out a squawk of surprise. Others were equally as surprised at hearing this caveat and were now questioning just who it was that they could team up with.
One hammer-wielding ginger immediately hunts down a gun-wielding, magenta strand-haired childhood friend. If she were to run into anyone else, she'd merely knock them out… or kill them. Nowhere in the initiation did it state this bit of technicality, right?
A blond teen with a sword and shield began overthinking and worrying about the possibility of his partner being horrible or maybe so skilled that they would look down on him… i.e., being horrible.
"Do note that if you and your partner do not obtain a "relic", even if you lose it or there being none left at the ruins, then neither of you will proceed further and will have to try again next year."
"Well, that's… encouraging." One Jaune Arc muttered to himself, praying to every God under the sun and Oum above all else for his success in this initiation. "Now where are the ruins?"
"Also, lest you forget dear initiates, just finding a Relic and gaining a partner will not be the only obstacle you encounter. This is a forest teaming with Grimm. We made sure to place you in the safe zone where Grimm attacks are exceptionally low to hardly present but once you begin to move further in, well, I expect you are all more than capable of filling in the rest of that answer. Be vigilant and alert and once you gain your partners, be sure to understand the importance of watching each other's backs."
Over with Yang Xiao Long, the brawling blonde grinned at the challenge, cocking her fists with her weapons loading in their shotgun shells and she slammed her hands together.
Her younger sister had a small bout of nervousness, her mind racing as to who she could possibly pair up with as a partner.
The hammer swing from before already located her target and rather than come in her usual extroverted manner, she instead waited for him to walk by for her to hang upside down from a tree and boop him on the nose.
"New record." Lie Ren said good-naturedly to Nora Valkyrie, the girl giggling happily at him.
Weiss wandered around the forest, keeping her attention around for any Grimm and for any would-be-student. She desired to have either Pyrrha or Caitlyn as her partner.
With Caitlyn, at the very least she would have a childhood friend and someone she can easily work with.
With Pyrrha, Weiss would be gaining quite possibly the most gifted student in Beacon. If they were to be partnered up, the pair would become an unstoppable force of cool and popularity.
None would be able… to…
The Schnee heiress halted in her tracks upon seeing a familiar face with silver eyes. One which gave her great displeasure in spite of the hopeful smile the girl gave her upon seeing her.
With a twist of her footing, Weiss walked the other way, ignoring Ruby's call.
"W-Wait! Eye contact! Teammates! Start of a beautiful friendship! Bygones be bygones! I think your hair is pretty! I like your combat skirt! I have a combat skirt!"
Weiss tuned out all of Ruby Rose's desperate pleas.
Walking further into the foliage, she spotted the blonde-haired sword-shield-wielding boy looking around, clearly lost.
She stared holes into the back of the teen's head until she saw him tense up and slowly turn in her direction. He blinked at seeing her and she saw a sheepish smile slowly morph on the boy until she about-faced, not needing to put that much thought into his reaction.
It wasn't vocal but her thoughts were spot on with the way Jaune's form slumped over in overdramatic depression, arms hanging limply toward the ground.
On the surveillance footage, Captain Rogers had a pained smile, feeling exactly as the young boy did when he tried his luck with women pre-serum.
Back with the teens, Weiss Schnee walked by an unaware Rose and plucked her by the back of her hood, dragging her off without any apparent effort.
"By no means does this make us friends." Schnee stated outright.
For Ruby, this mattered little as she threw her hands up in victory. "You came baaaack!"
As this occurred, Jaune walked right after Weiss, hoping she would let him tag along with her. He did hear there was another person with her. He was fine if they weren't partners. He merely wanted to not get lost here.
"Why'd they have to put me in a spot with so many bushes?" A young Arc teen grumbled.
Pulling back a branch, he maneuvered under it. When he got up and let go of the branch, it smacked him on the back of the head, causing him to lose his footing. Tripping, Jaune tumbled down a hill. Next thing he knew, he fell off a cliff. He shrieked in response, about to plummet to his demise.
Fortunately for him, he felt a snag.
He didn't know who saved him, but he thanked his lucky stars-
"You okay, Jaune?"
Oh? He recognized that voice.
"Far better if you didn't save my bacon, Pyrrha."
The boy opened his eyes to see an upside-down Pyrrha Nikos, smiling both amusingly and… rather shyly at him if he were to believe it.
Ok, either she is really strong or something else is going on here.
Whatever the case was, didn't matter as she saved his butt in more ways than one.
"This means we're partners, huh?" Nikos remarked happily.
"Yeup!"
"Or… could it be that there isn't any space left in your team?"
"Well, I dunno Pyrrha, now that you mention it, there is a test to get into team Jaune. But, then again, you passed it with flying colors." The red-haired girl laughed at that. "Thanks for the help."
"No problem."
There was a pause between the two as Jaune looked at her and then at her weapon keeping him dangling on the side of the cliff from the bottom of his jeans. "...Can you at least pull me up? I feel a lot of blood rushing to my head already. Don't wanna pass out already."
"R-Right, of course."
-Scene Cut-
Swinging through the dense forest, Spiderman was more or less making a direct beeline to the ruins. He didn't know where they were exactly located, but he knew they were in the northern part of the vicinity.
He would've tried blindly wandering to find a potential partner, but that would take too long for him. It could actually be quicker, but he figured other would-be students are making their way to the ruins and making partnerships along the way.
Maybe his Parker luck can throw him a bone and saddle him up with someone nice.
Yang and Ruby seem like viable options if they aren't already taken.
Then there was… ok, maybe not the grumpy cat girl. Or was she just sullen? Dour? Definitely moody. She could still be stingy about him since the train heist.
He shook his head, his mind wandering off as he refocused on the task at hand.
Ruins and partner.
Who else has he met so far who could be a good partner? If not someone vaguely familiar, would someone he'll just meet for the first time be alright or be an absolute chore?
It was then that he saw a flash of green light out of the corner of his eye and he turned to see a blur of some kind engaging with a black creature.
Pivoting midair, Spider-man swung around, landing atop a tree and hearing what he identified as a sword… or maybe several, slicing through something.
Attaching a web line from a sturdy branch, the webhead slowly lowered himself from the top of the tree.
"Penny?" Peter said, hanging upside down from a web, seeing her walking away from the corpse of a disintegrating Grimm.
The android perked up when she heard her name, spinning about and having the widest smile appear on her face.
"Peter!" She jubilantly exclaimed. "Salutations! You found me first."
The brown-haired teen chuckled at her exuberant nature, flipping around and landing on the ground.
Looks like the old Parker luck worked in his favor for once, getting a spunky and happy-go-lucky android with a zest for life as a partner.
"Seems I did. And you know what that-GAH!"
He didn't get a moment to say more as he was tackled by Polendina in a bone-crushing hug, the orange-haired girl flying up as she rubbed her cheek against his.
"We're partners!" She shouted from the top of her lungs, spinning around in the air with Peter flailing about in her grasp. "Friends! Companions! Comrades! Brother and sister in arms!"
"P-P-Penny," Peter wheezed out, rapidly tapping against her shoulder. "Still human! Need air!"
Immediately, she let go of him, causing him to collapse onto the dirt.
"Oh, sorry."
"Wonderful." Peter wheezed out.
Penny had a closed-eyed beaming smile, swaying back and forth joyfully with her new partner already forgetting his initial pain, finding her happiness to be infectious.
"Well, it looks like Beacon's best duo just got formed." Peter commented with a wide grin. "With the two of us working together, whatever team we'll join will be the funniest and happiest."
"Do you really think so?" Was Polendina's inquisitive query.
This got Peter to go quiet, soon wearing a sheepish expression.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and sighed.
"No Penny, I know so."
Penny stared blankly before brightening up again. "If you say so, Peter. We shall be a most sensational team." She then adopted a contemplative expression. "I wonder who we'll be joining us."
Not knowing how to properly respond to this thought, Peter went to other matters. "Do you perhaps know where the ruins are actually located?"
She nodded vigorously. "I do. If you'll follow me."
Peter lifted one foot forward before planting it back down on the ground. "Should we walk or-?"
"Do you recommend other means of getting there faster?"
"I swing faster than I walk-"
"And I can fly, so we can get there quickly." Penny excitedly said, already floating up into the air.
Peter tilted his head to the side, thinking about that part and nodded. Though he contributed in her later stages, he figured Penny should be able to fly. That requirement was probably from Mr. Stark.
Plus she was flying around when she trapped him in that death/bearhug.
'Great. I have a literal happy ballistic missile as a partner.' Were his thoughts, then again, she did have a nice smile so there is that.
"...Of course you can fly."
Elsewhere…
Tree hopping from branch to branch, Caitlyn was attentive to her surroundings.
For her, growing up in a militaristic type of society that was Atlas, her strategic mind should have figured that the Emerald Forest would be an ideal place for their initiation. In her research prior to coming to Beacon, being from a family of higher standing prominence in Atlas, she was able to get her hands on some files of the many types of initiations that had been used by Professor Ozpin and past Beacon Headmasters.
It would appear that Ozpin, like his predecessors, really enjoyed launching students at high speeds off cliffs.
Though being kept asleep and moved into the Forest was certainly a new one to be sure.
Unclipping her rifle's magazine, she checked the amount stored before sliding it back into place. She already killed a few Grimm up to this point. Not knowing how many she'll come across along the way to her present destination, ammo needed to be used sparingly.
Thankfully, having Winter Schnee as an older sister figure on top of her mother being a crack-shot herself with her family's own influence gave Caitlyn many tools at her disposal in making it across the Emerald Forest. Climbing wasn't her strong suit but she was light and nimble enough to get up into the top branches and move about from there. It gives her good vantage points. Though rather difficult if the environment is dense, thus limiting her vision.
Still, her old mentor Grayson taught her that a sharpshooter must always find their target and these types of scenarios are where one honed their skills even further.
But much as she wanted to test herself now, she knew that those opportunities would come later. Right now, her focus was on the initiation on top of her mission given personally to her by General Ironwood. Not only did she need to acquire a "relic" to proceed to get into Beacon, but she needed to find Penny and become her partner.
'Easier said than done.' She thought, constantly gazing at her surroundings. 'Would be a miracle if I can find her right away.'
The young sharpshooter had been so absorbed in her thoughts, she failed to notice a large shadow passing by overhead.
Caitlyn moved down when the shadow passed by again, and this time, rather than seeing the shadow, she felt the gust of wind that followed in its wake. Instantly alert, Kiramman's head shot up just as a black blur dove in from on high.
She immediately jumped from the branch she was on, landing on the ground in a role.
Perking up a second later, her trained eyes spotted what was pursuing her and she quickly fired several shots, managing to strike its head. The bullet penetrated the thick plating on the head, making her new adversary divert its path away from her.
Turning around, she sprinted off, hearing a roar, knowing the Grimm was pursuing her again.
The flutter of wings made her tense up, looking back in time to identify that it was a Griffon Grimm attacking her. Swooping down, the winged-Grimm sought to take down the would-be-student with its sharp beak.
Instinctively, Caitlyn jumped and spun about, rapidly firing at the Griffon. Some of her bullets bounced off the body, others penetrated it, all served in only enraging the beast.
"Great." The marksman dryly said, landing on the ground on her back, immediately rolling backward to get back to her feet and resume running.
She could feel the Grimm getting closer and closer to her.
And that's when help came from the most unexpected of places.
Someone shot out from the forest she was running to, reared her fist back with a gauntlet forming around her arm and she clocked the Griffon right in the beak.
The force of her punch was enough to send the Grimm crashing down hard onto the forest floor.
Caitlyn's savior landed in front of her and the Atlesian saw the girl had dulled pink hair that nonetheless stood out in contrast to the punk look she was sporting.
Despite being grounded, the Griffon Grimm recovered quickly and went in for another attack. The Pinkett thrusted her arms a bit, having her bracelets shift into a different setting as she ran forward.
Jumping up as the Griffon tried to have a jab at her with its beak, the punkish Huntress-to-be slammed her fist down on the head of the Grimm. From her punch came a small explosion that stunned the Griffon.
The Grimm lowered its head to the ground, exposing its neck which was pounced on by the teen. She landed on its back and struck at the neck several more times before thrusting both her arms forward and firing explosives from them at the same time.
This was the final blow as the now headless Grimm collapsed onto the ground and slowly disintegrated away.
During all this time, Caitlyn only watched on, impressed by what she witnessed.
Then her savior turned around and the bluenette's eyes met with the Pinkett's.
Both girls stared at each other, not saying a word for several moments.
As if possibly reading the sharpshooter's mind, the Pinkett voiced not a question, but a statement.
"Not what you were expecting." The newcomer said with a drawl, noting the look in the bluenette's eyes.
"Sadly, yes." Caitlyn admits.
The pink-haired, punk-looking girl smirked all the same, making her gauntlets recede back as she held a hand out. "Well, too bad. You're stuck with me for the next four years."
Needing to be mature about this, Caitlyn accepted the hand and was hefted up by her new partner.
"Vi."
That threw the bluenette off. "Excuse me?"
"My name." Her newly identified partner stated. "Vi. Yours?"
"Oh, Caitlyn." She said with a slight bow of her head.
"Right."
There was an awkward pause between the pair and Caitlyn cleared her throat.
"So then, what now?"
Vi raised a brow at this and scoffed amusingly. "What? Ya forgot already? The ruins, remember?"
"Ah yes, apologies."
Her new partner grinned. "What, was my rescue that dazzling? Can't think of anything else other than how awesome I am?"
Despite this, Caitlyn managed a small smirk, rolling her eyes and rolling her hand at that.
"Yes, yes, you were stunning to witness. Bless my eyes, blah, blah, blah."
Vi chuckled at the girl, throwing an arm around Caitlyn's shoulders, surprising the girl.
"We're gonna get along just fine, blue."
While these two young girls now journeyed forth, another pair were going through their own trek through the Emerald Forest.
This one having a bit of an obstacle.
Spider-man jumped forward, avoiding the swipe of a clawed hand from a nimble, goat-skulled Grimm that was akin to that of a Wendigo of Earth folklore.
Penny had identified the Grimm as a Reaver.
Most of its body was that of the usual pitch black fur or texture that it shares with all Grimm, having only its skull and horns, rib cage, tail, claws and some parts of its hind legs possessing the bone-like protrusions that other Grimm possess.
The most striking part about this Grimm was its eyes, red wisps emanating at all times, giving an added air of menace to this creature.
Peter was jumping around constantly, avoiding the Reavers' "wild" and chaotic attacks that appeared uncoordinated but Peter had a sneaking suspicion that it had a greater degree of intelligence than most Grimm.
"Gotta ask, but is this one typical to show up around these parts?" Peter spoke up, using his knee to block one of its clawed hands from reaching him, stunning it long enough for him to roundhouse kick it away.
"According to my database, Reavers are rare in Vale. They're more common further north of this continent. As a matter of fact, they are an exceptionally rare Grimm to encounter as a whole. Quite dangerous."
"Clearly." Peter said, performing multiple flips as the Reaver repeatedly clawed at him, its hands slicing up the ground.
"You shall not kill my new friend and partner, Grimm!" Penny cried out, rocketing forward with her floating array of swords appearing behind her.
Peter almost face-faulted upon hearing her proclamation. "Uh, P? I think we gotta work on your vernacular and battle cries."
This went unheard as Penny began to tear into the Reaver yet the Grimm proved more resilient than initially believed as it was cut up a dozen times. It remained standing and actually went on the offensive, swinging about rapidly and savagely in an attempt to rip the teen android apart.
"I shall put that under a list of tasks to manage, Peter."
Spider-man snorted under his mask. "You can compare notes with Cap later on."
"Oh? Captain Rogers has a list?"
In the monitor room of Beacon, the Avengers all laughed at that, Steve shaking his head at the pair.
"So are you?" Sam knowingly asked.
"We'll see." Rogers rebuked, smirking at this, with Glynda and Ozpin sharing a look of curiosity at this interaction.
They shrugged, resuming their attention on the pair of alliterative teammates who were now tag-teaming the Reaver Grimm.
Peter fired rapid shots of webbing that completely immobilized the wendigo-esque Grimm, leaving only its head open. Polendina shot in at full speed, stopping a literal foot away from the Reaver and with all her swords swinging at the same time, decapitated the Grimm.
Its body immediately slumped over and disintegrated a second later.
With an overdramatic thumbs up, there was a flash of light from behind the webhead.
"Noice teamwork, Penny. The first step to getting those tag team titles is as good as ours." He said in a completely serious tone.
Penny tilted her head at this statement, a quizzical expression on her face.
"Tag Team Titles? Is that something that can be achieved within Beacon?"
"We'll make them." Peter posed after that. "We'll be the greatest tag team the world has ever seen. Greater than the Dudley Boyz, Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, all of them."
Penny was completely enraptured by her partner's spiel when her processors picked up on something.
"And… who are they?"
Peter jolted and raised a hand to his head, bopping his temple lightly.
"Oh right, you don't have them here. Never mind then, ignore the peanut gallery. It was a one-time show."
This only served to further confuzzle the synthetic teen with Parker opting to switch topics.
"Is there any other kind of Grimm that's around these parts?"
"Would you like me to compile a list for you?" Penny cheerfully offered.
Peter sagely nodded in response. "I'd rather much like that, yes."
It would be good for him to at least know what they'll be up against in their present environment.
'Hopefully it ain't a big one.' Were his thoughts as the pair resumed their journey through the Emerald Forest.
They moved at high speeds, passing by countless trees until coming across a large clearing with stone structures that could only be their designated destination for the initiation.
The ruins of the Emerald Forest were quite large. Some of them were rather spread out. A good number reached the cliffs while the rest were in a general clearing.
Coming across the first batch of ruins, Peter spotted something that didn't exactly fit with the setting.
"Are these supposed to be the "relics"?" He asked, pointing at a half circle of pedestals, each with an item that held a uniting theme.
Penny gave a confirming nod. "I do believe so."
Peter walked around the many "relics" resting upon the pedestals. "Any reason why they're chess pieces?"
His partner shrugged. "The headmaster's preference?"
"Don't know if there's some significance to them or not. Hopefully the latter, for some reason."
There were a lot of chess pieces placed on stone pedestals. Two of each set, apparently. Each were spread out, just so they wouldn't be noticed on this particular detail.
"I think we're the first ones here."
"How can you tell, Peter?"
The young Avenger rolled his eyes. "Alright, I assume we're the first here, given there's like no missing pieces as far as I can tell."
Taking a quick moment to check the pedestals, Penny saw this to be true. "Ah."
With her technological sights, Penny was able to see only a few chess pieces were missing from the large collection. Their empty placements were overlooked, due to how spread out they were.
As this went on, Peter went up to the nearest pedestal and picked up the white bishop piece before pocketing it.
"Alright. We got our relic. Time to head back to Beacon."
"Affirmative."
Jumping up a large pillar, Peter stood atop it, surveying the area, hearing the sound of humming thrusters come up to where he was.
"There's Beacon." Spidey said, pointing far ahead of them, seeing the school in the distance.
"Sensational." Penny said aloud. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah, let's-"
"Penny!"
The pair turned back, looking down to see a girl with pink hair and a girl with blue hair, the latter of which Penny recognized instantly.
"Oh, Caitlyn! It's good to see you again!" Polendina happily said, flying down to the sharpshooter, a look of dread appearing on the Atlesian as she knew what was about to happen.
"No, no, no, Penny wai-GAH!"
Peter chortled sympathetically at the bear hug the bluenette was receiving, watching Penny fling her about in her grasp.
"To be in the presence of not one but two friends is a wonderful day!" Polendina jubilantly exclaimed.
"Oum above, try not to kill her like that. Losing a partner before even the first day won't look good on my resume." The Pinkett next to them commented in amusement.
"Oh?" Penny looked over at the punkish teen curiously. "Are you perhaps Caitlyn's new partner?"
"Yeah, call me Vi." She then raised an eyebrow. "Are ya gonna let go of her anytime soon?"
"What do you mean?"
Spider-man jumped down from the pillar, landing next to them. "She means, Penny, is that Caitlyn's about to pass out."
Blinking, Penny looked towards Caitlyn. Her eyes were practically swirling, her mouth seemed to foam, her skin coloration was slightly off and her body nearly being limp due to Penny's vice-like grip and the excessive twirling.
"Oh my, I am terribly sorry, Caitlyn." The android began fretting over her, who was let go and dropped almost instantly. "I did not realize that I was causing you such harm."
Vi snorted, which appeared to give enough life back to Kiramman for her to glare at her before turning blue once and forcing herself to hold down whatever she ate from yesterday.
"Aiya~ Penny, I think you might've broken her." Peter remarked, crouching down to the dazed Sharpshooter, poking her forehead. "You alright there?"
"Losing… no… lost… feeling… in… spine…" Her hand shakily rose to the sky. "See… light… in… front…"
"Uh oh."
As the trio talked amongst each other, Vi went up to the "relics" and gave them an odd look. Shrugging, she randomly acquired a white chess piece and slipped it into her pocket.
Without any prompting, she walked over to Caitlyn who was still recovering and deftly lifted her up over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Whatever sort of pain or exhaustion she may have felt evaporated in an instant with the loud squawk she gave off.
"What on Remnant are you doing?!" She indignantly said.
"Oh, so you're ok?" Vi queried, dropping Caitlyn a moment later.
"Must you be such a prude?" Kiramman harrumphed, placing her hat back on that had fallen from her.
"Don't be such a baby." Vi waved off. "We're gonna be Huntresses… and a Huntsman, don't think I didn't notice you." Peter gave her a thumbs up. "Moments like these are a dime a dozen."
Caitlyn only deadpanned in response, her partner chuckling at her face, holding out her hand for her.
"That's twice by the way." Vi pointed out, gesturing her hand.
The bluenette's deadpan only increased, forcibly taking Peter and Penny's hand instead, hoisting herself up.
"Thank you." She stressed out to the pair, shooting one final flat look at Vi before limping forward as her aura healed her from the hug of doom.
"So what now?" The Pinkett spoke up, turning to the alliterative teammates who both pointed in the direction of the academy.
"We got our relics so we just head back to Beacon." Peter stated with the punch-happy brawler nodding.
"Alright then, let's get a move on." Vi emphatically said. "No telling what we still might have to encounter on the way."
They all nodded in agreement and set off in the direction of Beacon, going at a brisk pace as they jogged/ran to the academy.
"Say, have you guys seen anyone else along the way here?" Peter inquired midway through their run.
Vi and Caitlyn shook their heads at the same time.
"Nothing but Grimm here and there." The latter answered.
"What about you guys? Same story?" The former surmised.
"Pretty much." The New Yorker replied. "Dealt with an apparently rare Grimm, actually."
"Oh yeah?" Vi was intrigued by this. "What kind-"
"Incoming enemy!" Penny abruptly shouted, her floating swords immediately appearing around her.
The Pinkett brawler was thrown off by this sudden exclamation but it seemed that Caitlyn and Peter took this in stride as the former had her rifle ready and the latter… Did he have any weapons?
She shook her head, pumping her arms to have her gauntlets form around them.
Now wasn't the time for that as her hearing picked up on a pattern of footsteps bull rushing right towards them.
And wouldn't you know it…
A black and white blur shot out at them from the forest, making the four scatter as the Grimm they now faced skidded to a halt.
The beast had bone plating running along its back. A pair of longhorns came out of its skull with red markings seen along their surface and of the bone faceplate.
"Kolchisbull," Caitlyn immediately said, loading in a specified Dust round into her sniper rifle.
Soon after, two more of its kind appeared from the dense forest. From there, a shadow flew overhead, making them all tense up.
"And it's not alone." Vi grimly said.
The four now face three Kolchisbull Grimm and a large, menacing looking winged beast with few bone protrusions, primarily being concentrated around its face.
And for Penny and Pietro, there was the familiar trait of the eyes have wisps emanating from them only this time, it was an acidic, fiery yellow with the eyes actually looking like they were on fire.
"Whoa…. Demon bat." Peter commented, a bit perturbed by this Grimm in particular.
"It's an Ahool!" Penny said. "I shall deal with it!"
"Penny, wait!"
In an instant, the android flew forward, surprising the Pinkett brawler.
"She can fly?"
"Not the time for that, Vi." Caitlyn retorted, already firing her specially selected Dust rounds at the charging Kolchisbulls charging towards them.
The rounds impacted the Grimm, a white and blue flurry exploding as they got hit.
Ice and snow fluttered around the bulls and they noticeably slowed considerably.
"Nice." Peter complimented, firing a web line that attached itself to the head of the Kolchisbull directly in front of him. As it got close, he flipped over the Grimm and tugged the webline hard. Through this, the Kolchisbulls head snapped to the side, causing it to tumble.
It rolled around before it was emphatically stopped by a downward punch from Vi, an audible crack being heard as her gauntlets caved in some of its bone plating.
The Grimm released a pained shriek before it was silenced by a second fist that smashed into its head and it went limp, slowly disintegrating into blackened dust.
Rather than celebrate, Vi knew that there were still two other bulls to deal with one of which charged at her and the other at her new partner.
"Oi, blueberry, watch yourself!" She called out to her and hearing that nickname actually caused Caitlyn to falter.
"Did you just call me-OOF."
"Oh shit." Vi gritted out, seeing Kiramman fly back, her aura barely withstanding the head on charge. "Hang on, Caitlyn."
She and Peter ran for the marksman, seeing her back roll onto her knees, clutching her stomach.
Raising her head, felt something fall from her and roll out in front of her. She looked up to see that it was her specially made hat.
Reaching out, Caitlyn made the attempt of getting back her hat when she was harshly pulled back by a webline, having her avoid being stomped on by the Kolchisbull.
"Did you forget to look at both sides of the street?" Peter chimed in. "For shame."
Looking onward, Kiramman saw her one hat crushed underneath the Grimm's hooves.
"My… hat…" She said despondently.
"We'll get you another hat later!" Vi said, rushing right at a Kolchisbull that had its horns lowered at her. "Are you alright?"
"Other than a bruised stomach, fine." Caitlyn managed out, hefting her rifle up and firing, landing a direct hit in the eye of the Kolchisbull that trampled over her beloved hat. "Teach you for messing with my stuff."
Caitlyn began unloading one Dust infused shot after the other into the Kolchisbull, each strike causing it to jolt back.
The Pinkett brawler merely gave the sharpshooter a look, shrugging soon after to rejoin the fray with fighting against the Grimm currently suffering the wrath of the Atlesian sharpshooter.
All the while, Spider-man fought the other Kolchisbull, glancing up to see Penny still fighting against the large Demon bat. Shaking his head at his inaction, Parker needed to finish things here to go help out his teammate.
Firing some web shots at the Grimm, Peter saw the Kolchisbull open up its mouth where a bright light appeared from it.
The webslinger never expected a torrent of fire to come out, roasting the web shots before it got close to their mark.
Peter released a groan. "Of course it breathes fire! Why wouldn't it?!"
The Kolchisbull kept the pillar of fire going, rotating its head in the direction of Spider-man who ran around it the whole time. A frustrated growl came from the Grimm, the beast pawing at the ground before lowering its head and rushing at the web head who made a pose, holding an imaginary cape.
"Toro!" Peter exclaimed theatrically, making a dramatic flourish with his hands.
The Grimm swerved around and charged at the New Yorker again and like before, Peter repeated the fashion adding poses and twirls with each pass of the Kolchisbull.
"Toro! Toro! Toro!"
And the Kolchisbull missed it's mark every time as Peter flipped out of the way.
"Olay!"
The little bit of fun came to an end when a loud crack in the air sounded out. Following this, the Grimm abruptly collapsed to the ground, head first before dying out.
"Are you done?"
Spider-man turned to see Vi and Caitlyn standing there, behind them the Kolchisbull they fought against turning to dust. And from Caitlyn's rifle was the smoking barrel, showing it was she who killed the Grimm Peter faced not long ago.
"Ah come on, if this Huntsmen business doesn't work out for me, I could at least be a matador."
*RHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH*
With the Ahool up above, Peter saw his partner still fighting against it.
"How do we get up there?" Vi questioned.
"Or bring it down low enough?" Caitlyn said, looking through her scope.
She could make a shot but her rifle didn't have the proper range.
Without even thinking, Spider-man fired two weblines just as Ahool swooped in low to avoid an attack from Penny.
The webs latched onto the feet of the demon bat and the three teens tensed up, none more so than Peter Parker. Vi and Caitlyn could only stare at the Avenger as a creeping realization creeped up upon him.
"Why do I have the weird feeling I should have not fire a webline at the thing's legs?" Was Peter's question before he was pulled into the air, a scream following in his wake as the blue and pink haired girls blandly looked at him.
"He doesn't really think, does he?" Caitlyn deadpanned.
Vi snorted, shaking her head. "Could be worse. He could be heartless."
"Doesn't cover for his stupidity." The Bluenette said with a sigh, reloading her gun. "Let's go."
Her partner chortled at Caitlyn's attitude, the pair running to keep up from beneath the Grimm that now had a stowaway desperately climbing up the line he was holding onto.
"And people once called me vanilla and not a risk taker." Peter managed out with the wind whipping against his face.
"Peter?" Penny appeared beside him and he jolted, letting go and flying back.
He was about to fire another web to catch Ahool when Penny flew back and caught him.
"Thanks." He immediately said. "And don't do that."
"Sorry." The teen android earnestly said. "What are you doing up here?"
"I should be asking you the same question." He retorted. "You go and fly off, leaving us down there to take on those bulls while you've been up here fighting this demon bat by yourself."
Penny pouted and looked away.
"Come on Penny, chin up, let's take this thing out already. See if you can get me close to its head."
His partner raised her head and nodded, flying after the Ahool who had turned to try and get at the pair.
Penny weaved around its wings, clawed feet and tail and reached the head of the Grimm, dropping Peter on top of it.
He immediately webbed both its eyes, made one thick web rope and flung it around, getting it in the mouth of the Grimm and he pulled hard on the line.
The Ahools head jolted back as Spider-man tried to get it under some type of control.
"Clip its wings, people!" Peter shouted at the top of his lungs and down below, the two girls heard him.
"Think you can reach that?" Vi calmly asked, not looking over to see Caitlyn casually get on one knee and loaded in a bright white Dust round.
"I always did prefer a challenge."
Caitlyn exhaled and felt a silent thumping in her ears, feeling her heart rate spike momentarily before it turned into a steady beat.
She held up her rifle and inhaled just as she began to experience a kind of tunnel vision. Yet rather than limiting her view, it made her hyper focused, concentrating on the flying Grimm. From her perception, the Ahool began to appear as though it was now flying in slow motion.
She followed it's form, keeping track of it with her scope, feeling the surrounding air for any windy breezes. There was a slight shift of the air from the south, her skin feeling cooled from that direction.
And then the wings came within her sights.
In an instant, her eyes widened and she pulled the trigger.
The bullet that flew out cut right through the right wing of the Grimm, freezing it instantly.
It shrieked out, using its other wing to try and stay aloft when it was abruptly sliced off by Penny and the joint.
The Pinkett brawler let out a whistle before giving her partner a sideways smirk.
"Nice shot."
"Thanks."
Up above, the young Avenger began plummeting towards the earth, courtesy of the Ahool snapping its head around. He merely flailed along the way, but was snagged by Penny and flew away just as the Ahool crashed to the ground.
"Whew, thanks Penny."
"Peter, how's it hanging?"
"Oh, you know, me trying to survive this crazy thing." He soon blinked in bewilderment. "Wait, did you pull a pun?"
"I quickly downloaded a small book of puns earlier. Did it work appropriately?"
"Time and place, Penny. Better timing is needed." He instructed in an educational fashion.
"Of course. Logging it in."
Back on the ground, as the dust settled, Caitlyn and Vi saw the Grimm survive the fall. But with the loss of one wing with the other still being frozen solid with it being unable to go airborne anytime soon.
Caitlyn saw the way the Pinkett hunched over slightly, rearing her fists back.
The bluenette smirked at Vi's attitude and only encouraged her.
"Look what's nice and low."
Vi smirked, cracking her knuckles. "Finally." Crouching slightly, her gauntlets shifted slightly. "Cover me."
The sharpshooter pulled up her rifle just when her partner took off.
Seeing the Pinkett bounding towards it, the Ahool charged right back.
It would've proceeded further, but something was holding it back. Rearing its head, it saw Peter using a bunch of webs to snag it's frozen wing. If it craned its neck further, it would've seen Penny gripping its tail. Both were pulling the Grimm back, immobilizing it.
As it fought to free itself, Vi used this to her advantage.
Leaping into the air, Vi brought her fists together and brought them down hard for a hammer blow.
The Ahool buckled under the blow but roared out in defiance.
Vi didn't even respond as she punched the head again… and again… and again… and again… before her speed started to escalate, steam beginning to radiate from her arms.
She kept the pressure going until her fists cracked the skull of the Ahool and in an instant, there was a snap heard only by Vi.
Her arms blurred to the point of it being unseen by most as she unleashed a devastating volley of punches that began breaking the skull head of the Grimm, the pieces of bone flying in all directions.
After a minute, the brawler ceased her assault.
Coming up beside her, the others saw the bit of gory carnage she brought upon the Grimm that was now turning to dust.
"I think it's dead."
"You sure?" Vi voiced. "I think it's still moving."
"...It's dead enough."
"Rather excessive, don't you think?"
"Just wanted to make sure." Vi huffed out, stumbling slightly with Parker catching her.
"You alright?" He softly asked.
"Yeah," Vi waved off, patting his shoulder appreciatively. "Just a drawback of my Semblance is all, no need to worry."
The four teens had a momentary air of awkward silence, seeing the Ahool disintegrating more and more until Peter coughed into his hand.
"So uh… can we go before we're attacked again?"
"Second it."
"No arguments here."
"Let's go."
And like that, they were off.
-Scene Cut-
At Beacon's auditorium, over two dozen teams have been formed, presented and announced by Professor Ozpin so far. And by the looks of it, several more will be named very soon.
There were, however, a few groupings who would not be attending Beacon this year after initiation. Encounters with the Grimm caused some partners to lose their chess pieces or they just didn't make it to the ruins in time before the faculty went into the forest to retrieve them. And there were some groupings where some partners didn't have matching "relics", thus Ozpin had to mix things up to meet the required team numbers.
Regardless, there was a good number of students attending this school year.
Presently, Ozpin was announcing yet another team as he called out their names.
"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as… Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester."
A round of applause went out for this newly formed team, much like many others.
"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as… Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc."
Hearing this, Jaune paled and stuttered, shakily pointing to himself to be sure he didn't mishear the headmaster. "L-Led by-?"
Ozpin gave a curt nod to him.
Happy for her partner, Pyrrha gave him a playful punch to the arm. She didn't expect for him to lose his balance and topple to the ground. Others saw this happen and laughed at his expense whilst the Invincible Girl fretted over her new team leader, apologizing profusely.
"Penny Polendina, Peter Parker, Vi Blanc, Caitlyn Kiramman. The four of you retrieved the white bishop pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as… Team VCPP, led by Vi Blanc."
"Huh."
The Pinkett blinked at this. "What? Why me?"
"Why not?"
The punk girl gave him a 'seriously?' look.
"And finally… Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as… Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose."
Reactions varied within this newly formed team.
Blake was indifferent. Weiss was perplexed and irritated. Ruby was outright surprised. And Yang-
"I'm so proud of you!"
-glomped her sister in a surprise hug, throwing her off balance.
"Looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year."
Steve side-eyed the headmaster. "You enjoy this, don't you?"
"Whatever gave you that idea?"
AN
We're back and we know it's been a while.
We hit a hot streak with Infinite Wars, getting out a shit ton of chapters in a short month and after the latest arc, we knew we needed to return to this one.
But before we talk about this chapter, let's address the elephant in the room.
Volume 9 of RWBY.
Jebest4781: RWBY Volume 9 has been rather hit-and-miss. Primarily filler on how it appeared thus far. Would've been longer with episodes by combining several pre-existing ones, or giving us more episodes to work with. But Nooo~ Rooster Teeth had to collaborate with DC Comics to make the few RWBY X Justice League films no one really wanted. All of us would've been fine to just stick with the crossover comics. And they could've used all that time and funding to make Volume 9 longer and better.
FMW: As a whole, so much of what RWBY volume 9 could and should have happened too late in the season for us. I mean, we may be speaking too soon cause we don't know the ending but all the interesting stuff happened later on in the season and just… not as consistently as one would hope. Jaune being SPOILERS The Rusted Knight should have been like an episode 2 reveal cause frankly, a lot of people guessed that from the get-go. Neo being absent for the entire season other than one scene focused solely on her new powers and taking down the Jabberwalker before episode 8 with beating Ruby was just… it did nothing for us. Well, not emotionally, at least. Idea-wise, we do have a lot of new stuff we're gonna be playing around with that will be incorporated into the story. Bullet, Jeb and I have had some brainstorming sessions that'll be fun to expand on once the volume ends. Cause so far, while material-wise, this volume gave us a lot of new toys to play with for this story, the show itself? When you have us feel frustration or apathy, frankly, you're doing something wrong. We don't care about Yang and Blake sorting out their forced romance, nor do we care about Ever After really. Jaune has become the most interesting character in the show and Ruby… hang in there kid.
Jeb: Speaking of Jaune, boy so much happened with him in general. Weiss is practically simping for him with her apparent "daddy" kink. Then again, people guess she has a thing for mature men. Not to mention how everyone got into Ever After, in general, has made new Fanfic ideas with the situation being a good gateway to have the people brought into crossover stories.
FMW: So, a lot on our minds, if you can't tell. Also, cool tidbit J learned, Vi and Jinx have no last name. Went with Blanc, due to the voice actor who played Vander. His last name is Blanc and being their adoptive father, they get the last name Blanc.
BSX: GOTG Volume 3 is two weeks away and I have the highest faith James Gunn will nail this movie as not only it's his last MCU film but also his track has been nothing but great quality starting from the first GOTG to the Christmas Special with The Suicide Squad (2021) and Peacemaker knocking them out of the park. I'm gonna miss him in the MCU but he'll do great things as the new head of DC Studios and can't wait to see his Superman movie. Hopefully GOTG 3 will give us tons of ideas to work for the future and that the Guardians themselves have a good sendoff whether they live or not. Of course I still have my concerns with the current MCU and Phase 5 really needs this as Quantumania didn't kick it off too well so hopefully this movie turns this around as the MCU needs a win or will just keep plummeting.
FMW: But, on other news, primarily, this chapter, yeah, Peter isn't part of team RWBY or JNPR cause that idea has been run into the ground in so many RWBY crossovers. Yes there has been other crossovers where another team had been formed but those are far and really few in between. See, these Arcane characters do serve a purpose and more so than just to be Peter's teammates. They have their own arcs and stories to be told that will be explored here.
Jeb: Irregular number of team members is just odd. Most writers keep thinking it'll work, but they should recall there are other students at Beacon who will never be introduced, but the opportunity presents itself to plug in whatever characters, so a crossover character won't exactly stand out. Yet they try to do an "easy way out" that's actually unoriginal.
Besides all this… Volume 9 is nearing its end and we fear possible bits for the future of the series as a whole. Worst case scenario… we get another volume in Ever After and it'll just drag on. Becoming jarring on the pace and inconsistencies that it's becoming an absolute chore. While some potential was there, it's just wasted.
FMW: It's frustrating, really, cause I know we're not alone when we say that RWBY is a series with so much potential but… it just never really goes anywhere with it.
Grah, forget it. Don't wanna ramble any more than we already have and get discouraged. Too much planning and effort has gone into this crossover and A LOT of wild ideas we have planned to come, especially when dealing with our villains. So let's press onwards and upwards.
Oh and if you guys can do us a solid… we need name suggestions for Peter's team VCPP. Bullet gave it Verb but maybe you guys can think of something. We've been wracking our brains for… a while and it's been driving us insane.
So, good luck if you can think of something better.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.