Yang, and the rest of Ruby's team, were currently berating her for sneaking Zwei on the trip. The girl's weak defense was that they don't actually know if she brought Zwei on the trip, but even she would never believe that feeble excuse, the evidence was piling against her and she just continued to back herself into a corner.
"Ruby, we saw you look at Zwei with a smile that looked like you came up with something, and literally in the next scene you came in with a very obvious backpack. What more evidence could we need that you brought the dog?" Weiss was basically screaming in Ruby's face at her foolish denial.
That was all Ruby had, she didn't have anything else to back her up and she was honestly just making things worse for herself.
"Alright Ice Queen, that's enough. You've been shouting at her enough to where she could go deaf." Raider told the girl to sit and calm down a little, which she did but not without a bit of huffing on her part with her arms crossed.
Everyone stopped their reprimanding and brought their attention to the screen as the episode began to play.
(Volume 2 Intro)
Starting where they left off, with Team Rwby showing all their different, but negative, reactions to Professor Oobleck, Weiss is the first one to speak as she's surprised that he's their huntsman.
"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary girls seeing as you opted to shadow a huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you we will not be establishing a single base of operations, rather we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland, and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon," Professor paced back and forth with his arms crossed behind his back, speaking in his speedy manner.
Why did I ever think it was a good idea to bring Zwei?! I should have just left him in the dorm room! Ruby internally screamed to herself as she heard Professor Oobleck speak.
"I've packed all of our essentials myself, provided the air course, and readied the airship. And! It's Dr. Oobleck, I didn't earn a PhD for fun, thank you very much." Dr. Oobleck finished as he got right up in Weiss's face, correcting her like a military sergeant.
Weiss made sure not to make the same mistake once they get back home and the timeline resumes and continues.
"Come now children, according to my schedule we are already 3 minutes behind… schedule." Dr. Oobleck paused on the last word before saying 'schedule' since it repeated, and then rushed off to the airship, leaving the girls behind.
"Well aren't we in for one hell of a ride," Yang groaned and the rest of the team nodded in agreement.
"Well, alright then, looks like we're going to save the world with Dr. Oobleck," Ruby states, trying to stay positive and optimistic of the situation, "Okay, yeah, when you say it out loud it sounds worse." As Ruby finishes all four of them deflate and slump.
"Save the world?" All four girls turn as Nora shouts at them in disbelief, "You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt, sad, maybe a little hungry? That last one's not your fault, though, Ren!" Nora gives Ren a stink eye, but the man just turns away from her with his arms crossed.
Nora gasped loudly, startling everyone, "Did you not make breakfast?" Nora questions the man.
"That's a question I can't answer because I don't know, this is the future, not the present." Ren states in his defense as he gave his attention to his friend. Nora just pouted as she sunk further in her seat.
Jaune asks where the four are going, it must be exciting. Ruby responds that they're going just outside the kingdom. Nora yells that she and Ren are going out of the kingdom as well. "Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village," Pyrrha explains their mission. Ren finishes that they set out tomorrow.
Neptune and Sun then come on screen, Neptune telling them they can party with them, "We're shadowing a crime specialist, all under city detective stuff, we get junior badges." Jaune looks awestruck as Neptune tells them.
"We normally go to the city with you guys, which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, y'know, normal." Sun adds, and Dr. Oobleck thought it would be the perfect time to yell that they're four minutes late right as Ruby was going to say something.
Ruby and Yang wince, and everyone else gives them sorry smiles.
Ruby wanted to live in sweet ignorance for just a few moments, but it just had to be ruined; the rest of Team Rwby felt the same.
Team JNPR and Sun felt bad for the four girls, but they couldn't help themselves at hearing the missions they're going on. The only ones they didn't know about were Pyrrha and Jaune's missions.
An awkward silence hangs in the air before Ruby breaks it, asking them to wish herself and her team luck. The sound of an airship taking off is heard as the team are now on board. Yang tells Dr. Oobleck that she never took him to be the fighter type.
"I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussels.
"Like the mushroom?" Ruby asks, confused. Blake corrects her, saying those are truffles. "Like the sprout?" Ruby clarifies again, but it was Yang who told who those were brussels.
Yang honestly couldn't help but laugh good heartedly at her sister. Sometimes she was just so adorable!
Ruby, having heard her, frowned, hoping her future self would do something great to rectify some of the things she's done in the last episode, cause it was really not the most well thought out.
"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history, as well as my dabblings in the art of archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw it fit to assign me to this particular…assignment," Dr. Oobleck explains. A second later, Weiss questions what this has to do with history. "Why, what a preposterous question you silly girl, why history is the very backbone of our society, and the liver! And probably the kidneys if I were to wager," Dr. Oobleck continued, and Weiss was seriously confused by this point.
Everyone in the room might as well have small dots for eyes as they listened to Dr. Oobleck ramble on. He lost them the moment he started comparing history to different parts of the body; he could have just stopped at 'backbone' but he just kept on going.
"Did anyone else get that?" Sun asked rhetorically to the group. He didn't expect any answers, but he got some when a few people shook their heads.
Weiss asks him what any of that even means. "The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves, but it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures." Ruby finishes for him as she says Mt. Glenn. Yang adds more, that it was an expansion of Vale but was overrun by grimm and was fenced off from the rest of the city.
"Correct! And now it stands abandoned, as a dark reminder," Dr. Oobleck exclaims. Blake states that it's also a likely place for a hideout. "Precisely." Dr. Oobleck smiled as he adjusted his glasses a tad.
The aircraft hovers closer to the ground, Team Rwby jumping out one by one, with Dr. Oobleck following suit as he takes a sip out of his canteen. The whole town is run down and abandoned with crumbled buildings and broken roads.
"Well ain't that place just a sight for sore eyes," Yang comments sarcastically, her intentions in lighting the mood at seeing this depressing scene of the city.
It does some good as she got a few laughs out of some, and was really surprised when she heard a quiet huff come from the seat right next to her.
"Ladies, you still may be students, but as of this moment your first mission as a huntress has begun. From this point forward you need to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?" Not a second later, Dr. Oobleck brings his attention to Ruby, "Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all your bags back at school."
Ruby told him that he hadn't told them to listen to him yet, so she didn't listen to him. "She's not wrong," Dr. Oobleck mumbles to himself.
Ruby silently cheered to herself, and her friends were seriously wondering how she got away with this.
"Very well Ruby leave your bag here we can pick it up upon our return." Dr. Oobleck instructs, but Ruby is hesitant to do so. "Young lady what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with-" He was cut off as Zwei popped his head out of the bag.
Ruby's hopes of evading this were shot and stomped to the ground as Zwei revealed himself. The rest of her friends were wondering why this hadn't happened sooner.
"Did you really think you were going to get away with bringing a dog on our mission?" Weiss asked, exasperated of the girl.
"A little bit?" It came out more of a question, which wasn't convincing anyone in the slightest.
Ruby leans over her shoulder and whispers for Zwei to get back in the bag as everyone stares at Ruby in stunned and surprised silence. "We're here, to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought a dog?" Suspenseful music played in the background as Dr. Oobleck spoke seriously. Ruby was about to nervously defend herself, but Dr. Oobleck abruptly cut her off, "Genius!"
"I'm sorry, it's what?!" Weiss was the one to voice her disbelief at the absurdity of all this.
"He said it was 'genius?" Ruby repeated what he said, her brain not fully catching up to what just transpired as Weiss sits in her seat, fuming.
"So, he's okay with a dog coming on a possible life threatening mission?" Pyrrha asked with uncertainty.
The ones who didn't speak were staring at the screen with wide eyes and slightly slacked jaws.
Dr. Oobleck pushes Ruby out of the way, grabbing Zwei and spinning him around. "Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for hunts such as ours!" As Dr. Oobleck spins with Zwei, Ruby reiterates with a proud smile that she's a genius. The rest of her team either sigh or facepalm.
Ruby, having finally caught up, smiles with pride as she puffs out her chest.
"So, what are your orders doctor?" Blake asks the man.
"Ah, yes, straight to the chase, I like it!" Dr. Oobleck carelessly drops Zwei to the ground.
Yang gasps as her eyes glow a small flicker of red. She knows Zwei can handle himself, but he's still family!
"Zwei!" Ruby was on the same page with her sister as she shouted in outrage.
"As you been informed the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being…grimm." Team Rwby just stand confused, not following as he finished.
"Grimm, a creature of grimm approximately 100 yards from us at this very moment." A shout comes from them and they all turn around to spot a beowulf, this results in the four to draw their weapons, preparing for a fight. "Stop! There are a number of reasons why grimm would congregate in this particular area. The most likely of which would be their attraction to negativity; sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred, all qualities that are likley held by our hidden group harbouring ill intent."
The group of four relax as Ruby asks what they're going to do now.
"Man, it would have been so much fun to see you guys kicking butt again," Sun huffs as he sees the girls stand down.
"Sun, relax, you'll get plenty of that, this show is most popular for its battles and fights." Raider explains, wanting to get Sun to cheer up.
"Wait, so are you saying…"
"Okay, let's not open that can of worms because I wouldn't be able to calm the rest of you all down and I wouldn't be able to explain that kind of subject properly," Raider stops Weiss in her tracks, seriously not wanting to get into that conversation.
"We wait, we track, if the specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey." Yang asks how long they're supposed to wait, "It's uncertain, hours, days, weeks, why lone grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months- and there's the whole pack." The whole pack of beowulf growl as they come into view.
Weiss shouts a 'what?', and Dr. Oobleck states they've now been spotted, Weiss shouts an even louder 'what' and Dr. Oobleck must have mistaken it for Weiss not hearing him the first time because he shouts louder.
I am really not helping, and neither is he! Weiss berates as she wants to shake her onscreen self and tell her to shut up!
"I take it tracking is out of the question," Dr. Oobleck tells Ruby that that's an accurate assumption.
"Well, you wanted a fight, Sun, so you're gonna get one," Yang says as she looks back over her shoulder to the monkey faunus.
"What's the plan then?" Yang asks the man, all four girls looking at him for directions. He tells the to show him what they're capable of.
"Yes!" Yang pumps her fist, ready to see them kick these beowolves butts.
The grimm come charging with rumbling growls, and Ruby suggests that Zwei covers his ears. The dog does so with some whimpers and the battle begins.
The style they choose to show them in is similar to a ninja one. First with Yang and one beowulf, showing only a cut of each as the girl takes down the beast with a single punch. Next is Blake as multiple grimm come to rush her from all angles. She narrows her eyes as she gives a tiny glance behind her, and at the last second, uses her semblance to propel her in the air, the copy of her fading as the grimm jumps on it, but the same grimm's fate is sealed as it was cut in half.
The same tactic repeats for a couple more grimm before moving to Weiss, who's being chased by a large group of them.
"Go Weiss! You can do it!" Ruby cheers for her friend even before it shows her portion of the fight. Blake and Yang follow Ruby in their encouragements.
Weiss easily cuts throught two grimm, she gives the rest a deadly look before swiftly ending them in a matter of seconds. Lastly, was Ruby. As grimm come forward she's repeatedly shooting them from her scythe, an intense look of concentration on her face. Behind her Zwei is just panting and running around in circles.
Weiss was tempted to 'aww' at Zwei, but she knew now wasn't the time for that, she could think about how adorable Zwei is at a different time.
Ruby charged forward, going head to head with a beowulf. It continued to switch from Ruby to the beowulf until Ruby cut the creature in half, the same thing repeating a second. All the grimm lay dead on the streets and Ruby shrugs, saying that battle was a piece of cake.
"That was awesome! And the way they showed it, soo cool!" Once the battle finished, Sun proceeded to geek out about the grimm fight. If his eyes could change at the moment they would currently be stars.
Dr. Oobleck informs them to cease their early celebrations, as this won't be the only pack of beowolves to come, there could be more not far behind. "Shall we continue?" He asks them.
Blake and Ruby slash the screen in two, representing them defeating more grimm, and Dr. Oobleck himself is picking and observing a small patch of grass. Two grimm drop dead in front of him and he just goes on about his business, unfazed.
Dr. Oobleck tells the girls good work, the screen showing each of them and their expressions, they're all exhausted.
"How many grimm did we even fight? We look so tired," Ruby grumbles as she sees her tv-persona panting.
"I don't want to estimate, but enough to get us really worn out," Blake responds, now dreading those moments when they come.
"Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this sector. Oh well, moving on!" He turns on his heel and begins to walk in the opposite direction. Ruby transfers Crescent Rose into its rifle form and places it on her back, gesturing for Zwei to follow her, the dog barking as he complies.
"Hey, Doc, y'know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a pro huntsman in action, like, fighting, or at least helping us fight," Yang states, clearly annoyed.
"You mean to tell me that that whole time he never even helped once? What the hell!" To say Yang was peeved would be an understatement, and she wasn't the only one as Weiss, Blake, and Ruby looked just as agitated.
Even the others felt that it wasn't right to get no help from the man, sure, they were training for this, but this was their first mission and just a tiny bit of help would have been appreciated.
"Ah, but I am in action, scouring the ruins of this one great city for any signs of irregularity. Not every mission is filled with daring and heroism, girls, sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination." One half of the screen is cut, showing Yang on the left side and Dr. Oobleck on the right, "Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that."
Yang told him she understood, but she didn't sound very sure of herself and Dr. Oobleck took note of this.
Yang raised an eyebrow at the interaction, not quite understanding what he's getting at. Everyone else seemed to notice Yang's hesitancy as well, but they didn't say anything, figuring they were going to get an explanation later on.
In a different area, the group have just taken down another wave of beuwolves. "Tell me Yang, why did you choose this line of work?" His question caught her off guard, and there was a moment of pause, like Yang had to come up with an answer for the sudden query. Yang started with telling him to fight monsters and save people, but he cut off the middle of her sentence, "No, that is what you do, I want to know why you do it, the honest reason of why you want to be a huntress."
Where's the sudden question coming from? Why does he want to know so bad? Yang thought to herself, growing even more suspicious.
"The honest reason? I'm a thrill seeker, I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can, and if I help people along the way then that's even better. It's a win-win, y'know?" As Yang finishes, Dr. Oobleck tells him he understands.
"And you Ms. Schnee," Dr. Oobleck begins, writing in his notebook as a beowulf rushes past him.
Me? Does he want to know everyone's motivations?
"A girl born into flame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So, why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?"
Weiss wasn't as thrown off by the question like Yang, taking Myrtenaster out of a beowulf, she walks closer to the man. "It's exactly as you said, I'm a Schnee, I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty." Dr. Oobleck's only response was that of a single world, interesting.
As Weiss listened, she was proud of her future self's answer, she couldn't have said it better. She was also proud of how far she's come in just a few months, as a person and her huntress skills.
Dr. Oobleck jumped up from where he was sitting and covered the camera, transitioning into Blake opening up a door, small nevermores rushing out. She doesn't hesitate to shoot, bringing all of them down. Dr. Oobleck looks through the door and asks her the same question. "There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption, someone has to stop it." Dr. Oobleck counters with asking Blake on how to stop all of this; the girl pauses and looks down to the ground, not able to come up with an answer.
Blake herself was at the same roadblock as she heard the question. It wasn't an easy solution, and one that wouldn't be solved overnight. All those things, she wishes she could put a permanent stop to, but those are the things that will always be there, they will never go away and that's the sad reality. The world will always be filled with hatred and spite, bile and cruelty.
Ruby is currently playing with Zwei, teasing him with a whole cooked turkey on the end of her scythe, encouraging him to jump and get it.
"I have multiple questions, but I really wouldn't want the answer to them," Weiss says as she eyes the screen incredulously, her and the rest of her friends on the same page.
She quickly puts her scythe away as she sees Dr. Oobleck standing in front of her. "Sorry, uh, are we ready to keep going?" Ruby asks the man nervously. He tells her that that's enough for today and that it will be dark soon. Dr. Oobleck throws his sleeping bag in the opposite direction he's facing, as well as telling Yang, Weiss, and Blake to set up camp in that old empty building.
"Oh, and please do make sure there are no more of those… creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter, come Ruby," Dr. Oobleck doesn't waste a single second in walking off, hoping for Ruby to follow after him. She and Zwei accompany him without a word, and the three girls obey his orders, albeit a little slowly.
Ruby and Dr. Oobleck round a corner and Ruby gasps at the sight in front of her. "Woah, what is that? It looks awesome," Ruby shouts in a hush voice as to not draw attention to themselves. Plain and simple, Dr. Oobleck tells her that is a Grimm.
"Woah, they're so big!" Nora exclaims wide eyed.
"Those are really big…" Jaune murmurs, gulping a bit loudly.
Ruby's eyes widen further before she takes out Crescent Rose, "Let's kill it."
"Ruby!" Yang's laugh was a mix between aghast and humorous. Her sister can't take on that many alone, but it was a little hilarious to see her sister get a little trigger happy.
"You dolt, you won't be able to defeat all those Grimm by yourself, even if you have a professional with you.
Hey, a girl can dream can't she.
"I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a grimm of that size." Dr. Oobleck reasons with her.
" Exactly," Everyone in the room shouted at the same time. This only led Ruby to pout.
Ruby counters, asking what if it attacked them. "Fret not Ruby, those goliaus are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every grimm is mindless, or rather not every grimm is still mindless. You see, the grimm you see before you are so powerful, so superior to the grimm you fought, that they're undoubtedly lived hundreds of years. And in that time between killing humans and attacking our borders they've done one important thing, they've learned, they've learned that when they attack our borders they're likely to die, and what we lack in strength, we make up for in will, and in killing one human will only bring more." As Dr. Oobleck spoke, one of the goliaus looked forward directly.
"Then, why are they so close to the city? What are they doing?" Ruby asks. Dr. Oobleck gave her one word, waiting. The same goliaus turns and continues its march with the rest of the herd.
"What are they waiting for?" Jaune asks, a little confused.
"My guess is they're waiting for the White Fang to begin raining hell," Blake was more of an estimation than a guess.
Dr. Oobleck turns around without a word and was about to head back to the camp when Ruby spoke up. She was only able to say his name and that she was wondering about something before he abruptly cut her off. "Wondering why I've been interrogating your teammates all day?"
"Actually, I was wondering…why did you want to become a huntsman?" Ruby turned the tables on him. He asked her to look around and tell him what she sees. "Lots of old buildings, empty streets."
"I see lives that could have been saved," Dr. Oobleck starts grimly.
"Was both expecting and not expecting this conversation to go this way when Ruby asked. Guess we'll be hearing his motivations in becoming a huntress." Yang gave one of her shoulders a tiny shrug, not having anticipated this.
"As a huntsman, it is my job to protect the people and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it into the hands of every student that passes them in my classroom. I look at this wasteland, and I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity, an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy, and therefore become stronger. I am a huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be." Zwei and Ruby look at each other as Dr. Oobleck makes his way back to the camp.
"Well, damn…was anyone else expecting this?" Yang stared at the screen, speechless. The people around her shook their heads.
"That also might have been the first time I've ever heard him take at a somewhat normal speed," That was one of the things Ruby had taken out of that, along with Dr. Oobleck's compelling inspiration and speech for the reason why he chose to become a huntsman.
"I can't believe we didn't find anything," Yang says, standing bummed in front of the small campfire the three had made for the night.
"We've always been fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time, I guess we can't always have luck on our side." Blake adds, just as saddened.
"That's not what I meant," Blake lets out a noise of confusion at where this is coming from, not knowing what Weiss was getting at. "Earlier, about…upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that." Yang agrees, not having opened up about everything.
I guess this whole episode is basically just gut spilling apparently, Yang thought.
"I'm guessing this is the show's way of diving deeper into the characters," Blake said, having been familiar with this kind of thing and her books.
It's still really weird and disturbing to think their whole lives are just a stimulation for other worldly creatures enjoyment. But, in a way, it also helps, as Raider said it can help to change the future, prevent things from happening.
Yang doesn't have the words, not having any idea how to say it. Blake feels the same, she knows what she wants to do, but she figured she could take things one step at a time.
"It doesn't matter, we know why we're here, right?" Yang asked the question but no one responded, they all just quietly stood there, looking at the ground.
"Ah, wonderful, a textbook campfire," Dr. Oobleck shouts, breaking the silence as he comes out from one of the building's corners. Ruby gasps as she joins them, happily sitting next to the fire as she comments on its warmth. "Very good, eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode, any volunteers for first watch?"
Ruby raised her hand with a 'yo', agreeing to take the night's first watch. Getting up she goes to move to a better position but is stopped when Yang asks her if Dr. Oobleck asked her why she wanted to be a huntress, and she wondered what Ruby told him.
Everyone knew the answer was a 'no', them having seen their little trip and not once did he pop the question or even look interested in doing so. But that does raise the question, why didn't he ask Ruby?
"Hm, no he didn't, weird. Oh well, goodnight guys." Ruby didn't think much of this and wished them all a goodnight.
This just confused them further. All of them were silent as they set up their bags and ate dinner. All of them lay in a triangle around the campfire, staring up at the night sky in thought. Ruby watched out over the area, Zwei coming over to her, whimpering as he heard the howls of the grimm. Ruby rubs his back in comfort, "Don't worry, things will be better tomorrow." And like that, the screen went black and the end credits rolled in.
Team Rwby thought they might have dug deeper and had them discussing their motives and reasons of wanting to become a huntress, but I guess will be done in the next episode or so.
"This raises a few questions, one of them being why Dr. Oobleck hasn't decided to interrogate you on why you want to be a huntress," Weiss says as the credits continue. The statement directed at the girl sitting next to her.
"I don't really know either, but I'm sure we'll get more information in the next episode, don't you think?" Ruby asks.
"I mean, we'd have to, or else what would have been the whole point of showing us all of that, just to build up to nothing?" Yang makes a good point, stretching her legs out and raising her arms, sighing as she hears the small pops and cracks.
"We'll just have to wait and see when we watch the next episode," Blake says, following Yang's lead as she gives her own arms a few stretches.
A/N: I'd really like to thank the people who made it this far, I really appreciate the support. But, I would like to address something. I will not tolerate just plain awful comments, if you have a problem with the story then you can very well go about your day and leave. I will not allow hurtful things towards the readers, this fic, or me. So, I politely say, if you do not like this story, then you may leave.
With that said and done, thank you readers and I hope you all have a nice day and stay tuned for the next chapter.