A Rude Awakening
Things looked bleak.
Surrounded by Ursae, Beowolves and a large King Taijitu, team RWBY was trapped in the center of the town pavilion with more Grimm pouring in from the derelict Mountain Glenn tunnel by the second. As Yang would've put it... there was literally no brakes between fighting enemies today, being that they'd just crashed through several subterranean chambers on a hell-bent bomb train.
"We're really getting no brakes today, aren't we," Yang mumbled beside Blake, causing the adrenaline-filled catgirl beside her to raise a brow.
"And somehow I just knew you would say something like that," Blake replied flatly, "Yang, if those are the last words you ever say, I-"
RAWWWR!
And interrupted by the battle roar of the massive reptilian Grimm, the melee began. The winded crimsonette leader found herself facing the giant Grimm itself, her teammates running to her aid. Her sister being the first and fastest to close the gap, of course, Yang took the aerial approach only to be slammed out of the sky by three Nevermores which kept her busy. Blake and Weiss, however, were unfortunately held back on ground level by a massive pack of Beowolves that placed themselves between them.
"We must work our way around the pack where their numbers dwindle!" Weiss exclaimed as she slashed three offending Grimm with a crystalline blade conjured up by her ice glyphs, "We won't be able to reach Ruby on time otherwise!"
"On it!"
Blake nodded with her acknowledgment before running another Beowulf through the chest with Gambol Shroud, its dark misty life force pouring out from the crack in its bony armor as she pulled out and made her way to the side of the pavilion.
Things couldn't end this way. Blake had finally found a team she truly appreciated in a home she valued for both its ideals and virtue and wouldn't let herself lose the friends she loved to these soulless creatures of darkness. Every slash, every strike and every stab the agile cat-Faunus delivered mercilessly and with the deadly precision that only an experienced fighter with years of combat training under her belt could muster as she kept her red-hooded target in sight.
CRASH!
Breaking through a wall behind her of a seemingly high-end clothing store, another Beowolf ambushed Blake who barely had the chance to turn and shadow-vault away as the beast decapitated her hollow copy.
"Use the Dust rounds I gave you!" Weiss managed to yell from several yards away before she could be heard nor seen no more through the growing horde of gaunty killer creatures between them.
"Right, of course!" the tired raven-haired girl half mumbled, half chided herself for being too fatigued to recall the valuable weapon her teammate had presented her before boarding the train.
And arming her rounds embedded in the hilt of Gambol Shroud, Blake began to open fire on the Beowulves around her, every bullet flaming, cackling and hissing with energy as they tore through the abysmal hides of the savage monsters around her before activating her slew of elemental shadow clones to add to her repertoire of attacks.
POW! A fire clone she left to be devoured by a dozen beasts exploded in their faces.
sssKRT! An ice clone she generated left several Beowolves with trapped limbs, their efforts to escape impossibly futile against their promptly delivered fate of thorough dismemberment.
ZZzzzRAK! A lightning clone held its form for merely a second before vaporizing an entire section of the horde at the first contact made by one of the hungry beasts.
Panting along the side of the pavilion as she tried to catch her breath and dozens more Beowolves frantically tried to locate their evasive prey, Blake checked the distance between her and her leader from behind a barely-standing unhinged doorway.
She had to admit, Weiss' plan had gone quite well - the young and reckless Beowulves confused enough between who to choose that by the time they chose who to attack, they fell as easy prey to the young Huntresses-in-training. One more reason to respect the reformed heiress who had come such a long way from the beginning of the school year. Sure, she still had some rough edges, but every diamond starts out that way.
Another brief glance to ensure her icy comrade was faring well against the Grimm was made before Blake stepped out and prepared her final sprint to Ruby's aid.
"Less than half of where we started," the catgirl exhaled in her attempt to summon the adrenaline needed to continue, "That's good. Now to-"
SLASH!
"Aargh!"
Roaring pain immediately shot up through through her arm as an Alpha Beowolf had finally made its appearance, having stalked its prey and shoved its younger counterparts aside to stealthily deliver a piercing slash that connected with the unsuspecting girl's forearm.
Her aura had deflected enough of the blow that would've otherwise taken her limb clean off, if not worse, but as Blake shadow-vaulted herself out of the Alpha's reach and glanced down at her bloodied arm, her eyes widened at the damage the heartless monster had caused her weapon.
"Gambol! No!"
The Alpha's claw had not only managed to slice through the girl's arm, but had torn open a hole in Gambol Shroud's chambered hilt which was held in her injured hand. And along the trail of blood that was now pouring down her quickly-healing arm was now shining trails of every form of Dust that Weiss had given her, the mixture seeping in quickly before the exposed raw Dust within the weapon began to turn volatile as another pack of Beoloves rapidly approached with the Alpha at the fore.
She did the only thing she could: toss the quickly overheating blade at the approaching pack and shield herself from the inevitable.
BOOOM!
"Aaaaah!"
Crash!
And going through a wall of glass into another shop with the force of the explosion, Blake was thrown back through shelf after shelf of merchandise before landing forcefully against the back wall. Slumping down on the floor, Blake awoke after a few hazy moments in and out of consciousness before surveying her situation.
The explosion had unleashed a powerful force wind that had thrown everything far back in a cloud of crystalline and literal dust, and she could tell the Beowolves wouldn't dare come back anytime soon. Taking the opportunity to look over herself, Blake was surprised to see no bones were broken and her arms and legs shedding stray forks of electricity over the objects surrounding her from the Dust that had doubtlessly coated her in the explosion. Except...
"Wha? What's going on?"
Examining her numerous scratches and wounds more closely, she then noticed that instead of her usual maroon-ish aura tending to her injuries, there was a brighter pale blue energy quickly sealing the cuts on her midsection and legs right before her eyes. The look of awe quickly turned into a deadpan, however, as she finally noticed what store she had landed in.
"A gaming shack? Wow," she began as she slowly stood up with a grunt and looked down at the plentiful cartridges and disc boxes of the countless video games that had cushioned her fall, "The boys would certainly get a kick out of this."
And clambering out of the ruins that was once a GameStop, Blake looked out and couldn't hold back a grin at the familiar voices above her.
"Nobody move! Junior detectives!"
"We have badges so you know it's official!"
And glancing back at the battlefield, Blake sighed in relief as she noticed Ruby had just been saved by Nora who had caved in the King Taijitu's head with a mighty Nora Smash - as she had just called out before doing the deed - and the Atlesian cavalry coming to the rescue along with the rest of team JNPR and the Beacon staff.
And was also pretty sure she saw Coco kick the Beowulf that had crashed through the clothing store in the groin.
"Hey Blake, I noticed you dropped your weapon. Seems like it really took a beating," Sun now approached her with the blade of Gambol Shroud in hand before looking up at her and her clothing's current tattered state with a rapidly growing blush, "A-And uh... wow. You seriously need to reconsider your wardrobe to avoid any more malfunctions in the future."
Glancing down at herself and noticing that large parts of her stockings were torn off and that her scarf and vest were nowhere to be found, Blake quickly snatched her weapon and crossed her arms in front of herself tightly to cover up the holes in the only covering over her torso she had left with a slight darkening of her own cheeks.
"Ehehhh... riiight."
"A-At least you're okay."
"Alriiight!~ All the Grimm are dead now!~" Neptune called out from behind Sun before taking a better look at the catgirl and widening his eyes at her surprisingly scanty attire, "Well, that's something you don't see everyday."
At that, Blake's momentary shock quickly wore off into her signature peevish snarky mood, though muted a bit by her still present awareness over her precarious situation.
Still, she furrowed her brows as her half-undone bow flattened on top of her head, "Uh, guys... would you please quit... gawking at me!?"
She tried to immediately shadow-vault herself away from the situation, but she staggered back as her jump which should've launched her several dozen feet in the air where the guys couldn't follow was just... a normal jump.
"Uhh... you okay, Blake?"
Writing off the lack of her semblance's activation as an aftereffect of the near-death experience and her intense embarrassment, Blake merely cast the boys her signature withering glare before giving her flat command.
"Just get me back to my team. And some clothes."
A few minutes of stumbling around, awkward furtive glances and a wardrobe change later, and Blake was reunited with her team on an overlook of the city near Beacon in long purple basketball shorts and a black hoodie.
"For the hundredth time, I am so sorry," Weiss apologized once more, her usually pristine complexion creased with worry.
"For the hundredth time, it wasn't your fault," Blake assured with a warm smile, "It couldn't be helped."
"And at least Gambol wasn't too damaged by the reaction," Ruby mused aloud from her position, her trained eye running over the slightly warped weapon in her hands, "Nothing that can't be fixed at the school forge once we get back!"
And handing back the weapon to her raven-haired partner, Ruby and her team fell into a momentary silence as they looked over the city that was tinged gold with the setting sun's rays until Yang spoke up with a groggy voice.
"Well, we did it."
"We did it," Blake echoed with a relaxed sigh.
Weiss rummaged through her things, commenting idly as a light breeze ran through the group's location,"If we don't get extra credit for that, I'm gonna be seriously disappointed."
"Weiss, a two-headed snake literally crushed a bakery," Yang replied while deadpanning at her teammate, "I wouldn't count on it."
"Plus, I mean, we didn't solve everything. A lot of people were hurt, and we still don't even know why they did this, or who that mystery girl was," Ruby added meekly as well.
Blake nodded in acknowledgment but replied simply, "We might not have all the answers, but we do have a lot of dangerous people behind bars. And I think that's something we could be proud of."
"Yeah!" Ruby quipped in response, her usual cheer coming back at Blake's observation, "And if anyone tries something like this again, we'll be there to stop them."
Yang yawned while raising a half-spirited fist in the air, "Yay, teamwork, camaraderie, good guys, go team, alright, good job..."
She then turned to Blake, however, looking over her partner as she recalled the terrible and rather compromising state that the Faunus-girl had emerged from the pavilion. Yet despite the fairly degenerated condition of her combat gear and the dried blood she was sure she'd seen on them, the blonde brawler noted that Blake didn't seem any worse for wear, just a little tired at most.
"Heh, shorts and a hoodie? You can tell that guys picked out the outfit," Yang commented with a tired chuckle - earning a similar one from her partner - before gaining a more solemn tone, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'd say so," the ravennette replied nonchalantly, leaning back on both arms and casting the brawler an idle smirk, "My aura's feeling a bit off, though; nothing some rest shouldn't be able to take care of."
Weiss, who was currently eavesdropping as politely as possible, drawled aloud to fish for the team's next move, "So then..."
"Uhh... Time for bed?" Ruby suggested unsurely.
"Please."
"Absolutely."
"Yes."
And with the final word before the team got back to campus, Yang half-sighed and half-declared, "I'm going to sleep forever."
Not that Blake would argue, she certainly felt like she could do the same. Of course, she didn't expect how quickly she fell asleep, hoodie and all, as soon as her head hit the pillow, but that'd be only one more thing in this roller-coaster of a day that'd be written off with a good night's rest.
And things would finally go back to normal.
Wap.
"Blake."
Wap.
"Blake."
Wap.
"Blake."
"..."
Wap.
The faunus girl tightly wrapped herself in her blanket and buried her head under her pillow with an annoyed grunt as yet another pillow landed on her.
"How... do you even have that many pillows!?" she mumbled from underneath her full-body plushy fortress.
"Eh? I couldn't hear that Blakey~" Yang continued as she readied another cottony projectile from her bunk above.
"Don't you overheat at night or something with all those pillows?" Blake hedged from her position, lifting her head from under her pillow just enough to level a burning glare from a single eye at the brawler in hopes of stopping her in her tracks. But Yang is fire, as if a burning glare would work...
"Pfft, who says these are mine?" she replied teasingly, completely ignoring the stare that could turn a lesser person to stone, "I stole these from Weiss!"
Blake broke her futile glare to cast a glance at the icy heiress on the bed across her, unfortunately shivering in her sleep with the lack of pillowy insulation while Ruby remained in deep slumber above.
"Well that was rude."
"Meh, anyway. I need you to help me with something, you mind?"
PING!
"What in the-!?" Blake yelped at herself as the sudden foreign sound caused her to jump from her bed and land on the floor upright - as cats normally do.
"There we go! Now that's the spirit!~" Yang called from the top of their bunk with a wide grin, putting the pillow she was holding at the ready down at her side from where she lay.
"Did... Did you just hear that?" A now wide-awake Blake asked the brawler, who merely cocked her head to the side at her partner's unusual behavior.
Blake was many things, and several of those things weren't the best in the world. But she was pretty sure paranoid schizophrenic wasn't one of them.
"Uh, no," Yang replied flatly, "But yesterday left me a bit sore and I left the aromatherapy cream stuff in the bathroom... could you please be the bestest partner ever aaand get that for me?~"
And then it happened.
Whoosh.
[A Quest Has Been Created.]
"Gah!" Blake yelped, jumping back as a pale blue window suddenly popped up in front of her.
"Aaand, she's hissing again," Yang drawled as the feline faunus began doing just that at something Yang couldn't see.
'What on Monty's Remnant is this!?' Blake couldn't help thinking as a small continue arrow began blinking on the bottom right of the window.
But with little other recourse after rubbing her eyes, blinking a few times, and willing the hallucination to go away to no avail, Blake hesitantly tapped on the arrow.
[Quest Alert]
The Gamer's partner wants muscle relaxing ointment to use for her soreness.
Bring her the ointment she wants quickly! Time limit: 1 minute.
Completion award: Exp 500.
Peace and quiet.
Completion failure: Partner's nagging.
Pillow to the face.
Accept? YES - NO
'Well this... is rather outlandish...'
"Uhh, Blakey? You okay? You're going cross-eyed," Yang commented from her bunk, now trying to analyze her partner's increasingly strange demeanor.
"I... uh... I'm fine," the very confused catgirl replied, blinking at the window a final time before slowly turning her head up to her partner and giving her the most reassuring smirk she could muster at the moment, "I'll uh, go get you that ointment..."
And unable to turn without the window reappearing in front of her again, Blake huffed and tapped on the YES option in midair.
"I really don't see myself getting used to this."
Making her way over to the bathroom, unwittingly stomping as she tended to do when deep in thought, Blake entered the large white-tiled room and found the ointment in question, picking it up in her hand.
PING!
"...You have got to be kidding me."
Sure enough, another pale blue window materialized out of thin air.
[You have obtained the quest item Ointment.]
'I don't need a notification every time,' the increasingly irked girl thought to herself as she tapped the little X on the top right corner of the window, casting it away back into nonexistence, 'What is even happening to me?'
And in a final twist of the knife of fate and irony, Blake looked up and quite audibly gasped at what she saw in the mirror.
|The Gamer|
LV11 Blake Belladonna
"Wha-What is on my head!?" Blake squeaked uncharacteristically, eyes wide at the words floating above her bow. She waved her hand through them with no discernible resistance, the words merely hanging there like a neon sign, "A-A level? The Gamer... what does that even mean!?"
Slowly but surely, a harrowing hypothesis began to form in her mind as she looked down at her flawless creamy white legs and pulled up the sleeves of her hoodie to see her perfectly healed arms.
"Okay Belladonna, easy now," Blake mumbled to herself as she closed her eyes and focused her aura in an exercise she had performed countless times, "Easy as can be..."
And leaning back to tipping point, Blake focused on creating a shadow clone with her semblance to catch her and push her back upright only to meet the floor on her backside with a resounding thud.
"Ow."
"Oh Blaaa-ake!~"
Blake's ears twitched at the sound of her partner's voice through the bathroom doors, her quest - er, favor - coming back to mind.
"Coming!"
The cat-eared girl rushed into the room, handing the brawler her requested item.
PING!
Yang couldn't help hearing the sudden groan from her partner as she took the ointment from her.
[Gained 500 Experience.]
PING!
[Your level went up by 1.]
"Alright Blake, what's going on," Yang demanded, now concerned for her partner's state of mind, "You've been acting all strange, you look like you're reading an invisible book, and I'm pretty sure I've seen you poking the air a couple times already."
Blake could only gape at her inquisitive companion.
"...Don't tell me, and I wake Weiss and tell her you stole her pillows during your little episode. And she's a much better interrogator than I am."
The catgirl quickly went through her options. Who in this room could possibly understand her situation? That somehow, someway, the Shadow semblance she had come to learn and love had been replaced with this, this abomination of a semblance, leaving her as nothing more than some kind of-
"Video game character..."
"What was that?" Yang questioned expectantly, all measure of her teasing attitude long gone, "I didn't quite catch that."
Blake's revelation hung over her as heavily as her lower jaw, her mouth making a small O as she tried to rationalize what had just happened to her.
Ruby could possibly be someone who'd understand something like this, but Blake shook her head lightly, reminding herself that their leader was more of a weapons junkie than a gamer. Weiss wasn't even worth mentioning, as the ravenette was quite certain that the heiress had never picked up a gaming controller her entire life. That left Yang, her admittedly vain but caring partner who'd surely do her best to understand Blake's plight. But could she really be an asset in this kind of field?
Blake made her decision. She'd have to go to the nearest gaming connoisseur she knew and get a handle on her abilities before anyone could notice and/or freak out about it. And knowing Yang, she'd definitely freak out.
"I uh, really haven't been feeling well. I think I hit my head yesterday in the store I crashed into."
The gaming store.
So much more was coming together in Blake's head the more she thought about it.
"Really? Because you look perfectly fine. No bumps on you or anything," Yang quipped with a lead-weight tone to her voice.
"Really, my head's been swimming ever since I woke up and I feel like I've been really disoriented. Maybe I should take a walk or something?" Blake winced at the betrayal by her own voice in making the last part sound more like an unsure question.
"Hmm," Yang seemed to roll over Blake's defense in her mind before continuing with a softer tone, "You definitely have been acting weird... I guess you should do whatever you need to do if it helps you feel better. Ruby and Weiss are down for the count; they won't be waking up soon. And neither will I after getting a coat of this good stuff all over me~"
Yang cheerfully uncapped the ointment and began the leisurely application process as Blake nodded and turned to leave the room. But before she could exit, Yang called back after her a final time.
"And Blake?"
"Yes, Yang?"
The amber-eyed girl turned back to see a hint of worry still present in Yang's lilac ones.
"If you need anything, we're here... 'kay?"
Blake grinned for the first time in what felt like ages.
"Thank you, Yang. I'll let you know."
Blake felt pretty good that she hadn't had to lie to her partner's face in the room. She was extremely confused and disoriented and was truly hoping that maybe this was all due to a powerful blow to the head. Possibly some medically unexplained injury to an aura that would heal in time just like any other bodily lesion. And she did need a walk as well.
Just, not a very long walk.
Knock Knock.
Blake sighed as she waited in front of the door across the hall, looking down and silently chiding herself for having forgotten to change into her usual attire before having come here. But judging by the footsteps approaching the door from its other side, it was already too late to bail.
The door opened halfway, revealing a somewhat groggy blue-eyed blonde who after rubbing his eyes nearly fell back upon identifying his visitor.
"Uhh... hi!"
"Hi," Blake began, pretty sure that this was the first time the two had even exchanged words directly since the beginning of the year, "Do you... have a moment, Jaune?"
He nervously looked at Blake, glanced back into his shaded dorm, and turned back to her before letting out a half-hearted chuckle and sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
"Is everything... alright?" Blake continued slowly, her brows furrowing at what could have the JNPR leader acting like this.
No way.
Did he and Pyrrha finally-
"Um, yeah. It's just that I'm the only one here right now."
Blake's brow now rose at his statement in one of her many wordless remarks that were common in her vast vocabulary of body language, sighing with a reassuring smile before continuing, "It's fine, it shouldn't take too long."
"Oh. Okay then, come right in," he replied with a grin and as gentlemanly a gesture he could emulate in his admittedly childish onesie.
"Thank you," she replied as she stepped into the well-kept room, "Where did everyone go, if I may ask?"
"Oh, Pyrrha left to the forge to repair some damage her shield had gotten during yesterday's fighting and Ren went with Nora to early-morning breakfast. You know how she gets with Pancake Saturdays."
Blake needed no reminder to recall the current state of the kid who Nora had accused of stealing the pancakes she had absent-mindedly devoured without even realizing.
His poor, poor legs.
"Right."
Taking advantage of the brief moment of silence that followed, Blake began to look through the JNPR dorm as Jaune took a seat on his bed and Blake politely did the same on Ren's bed across from his. It was not unlike RWBY's dorm, except a little bigger. After all, they were able to fit all four beds with their things, two beds on each side of the room. A wise decision to separate the genders as much as possible, Blake noted, and the divide could be noticed by the abrupt transition of makeup desks and pink things with hearts on them on one side of the room to the lack thereof of any decoration other than an X-Ray and Vav poster on he other end of the room.
This of course had to be the work of the blonde sitting right in front of her. Come to think of it, Blake had never really thought much about the student. Though his style didn't really show it, he must've been comletent enough as a fighter to make it into Beacon. At the very least, he seemed to be improving. Judging by the increased muscle mass that was discernible even beneath the onesie - something she hadn't recalled seeing the first night they all slept in the same atrium in the school - he had made marked improvement...
PING!
[A skill has been created through a special act.]
'Wha-?'
PING!
[Through continuous observation, a skill to find the target's information, Observe, has been created.]
"Observe?" Blake mumbled to herself. What kind of a skill was that!?
"Uh, Blake? You okay?"
People really needed to stop asking her that.
"Yes Jaune," she replied flatly before focusing on him again, "I'm fi-"
She froze as she noticed familiar writing now floating above his head.
|Arc Knight|
LV6 Jaune Arc
'Level six?' she thought to herself, her momentary shock fading away surprisingly fast, 'That doesn't seem too impressive. Does that mean I'm twice as strong as he is?'
"Um, okay," Jaune continued as he cocked his head to the side, noticing his unusual visitor staring at something behind or above him, "You said you needed a moment to talk?"
"Oh. Right," Blake replied as she snapped back into the moment, "I'm curious about your... gaming expertise."
If Blake had any qualms about breaching a topic as mundane as this with a young man she'd hardly ever seen, much less spoken to, it wasn't showing anymore. She had heard about his Smash Bros tournaments with Sun and Neptune, and his family even had that popular game named after them: Arc Knights of the Old Republic. It was a perfectly logical decision.
But... shouldn't she have been at least a little more nervous about it?
"Oh! Wow!" Jaune exclaimed with a light-hearted laugh, "For once in my life, I can actually say that you Blake, have come to the right place! What do you need to know?"
Blake pursed her lips to the side in thought, trying to figure out the best way to word her situation without revealing too much.
"Well... I'd say their general goal, really. How to progress and improve, for one."
"Hmm, well that really depends on the kind of game you're playing," Jaune mused aloud before suddenly narrowing his eyes at the ravenette, "Wait. Since when are you into video games? ...I always thought you were more of the 'mysterious book reader' type."
Blake quickly shot back the best reply she could, "It has recently become... an area of particular interest in my case."
She watched his brow twitch, the minute movements in face and body to determine whether or not he'd believe her... or at least help her.
PING!
'Grr... What now?'
[Observe's level has risen by 1.]
'You're kidding me.'
Yet somehow, she now felt she was able to ascertain Jaune's comfort level with her reply much more precisely than before.
"Mm okay. What kind of game you interested in?"
"I'm not exactly certain what category it'd fall under..."
Jaune leaned back a bit, rolling a few options in his mind before snapping his fingers with a grin.
"Not a problem! Describe it to me."
Blake pondered her response once again, going over everything she had discovered about her new ability... this, Gamer semblance.
"For starters, it's all about levels... everyone has one, and one can level up by completing things called Quests of some sort."
"Okay," the white knight mused, nodding his head slowly as he processed her words, "Levels and quests, eh? Who's the main character?"
"Me," Blake remarked too quickly to catch herself, Jaune's brow going up in question before she hastily tried a save, "As in... I... play as the main character. Called The Gamer?"
"I see... never heard of that game," Jaune concluded simply, earning a deadpan from his visitor which prompted him to quickly continue, "Buuut, it sounds like you're interested in a good old-fashioned RPG there!"
"What's an RPG?"
"You don't know?"
"Not in the slightest."
Jaune's jaw hung low as if she had just grown a second head.
"Yes, Jaune?"
"U-Uh, nothing! I just... haven't really met someone who didn't have any idea what a role-playing game was!" he defended with a laugh.
Blake, not being one to very much like being the most ignorant in a room about any certain topic, leveled the chuckling knight with her potent stare.
"Enlighten me."
He gulped before finding the strength within his male teenage body to continue, "R-Right. In an RPG, you play as a main character devoted to a certain cause or goal met through defeating bosses and leveling up. Usually there are skills and buffs involved, and can be pretty intricate depending on the game. Have a multiplayer RPG, and you may have tons of functions that you can explore!"
"Okay," Blake replied coolly, "So how does one go about leveling up quickly?"
"Well there's usually a point system to track your progress, mostly known as Experience-"
"Or EXP," Blake finished for him.
"Right!" he replied with a triumphant grin, "You got it! Once you have enough EXP, you level up and can usually even improve your stats!"
"Improve my stats?" Blake echoed blankly, a whole world of possibilities suddenly flowing through her mind.
"That's right. Usually a group of abilities that spans every area of potential of any given character and lets him or her fight bigger and stronger bosses."
It seemed simple enough of a concept, but could there actually be a way that she could level up her natural attributes with something as menial as a tap of her finger? It didn't seem plausible; but then again, she wouldn't have deemed floating notifications and titles above people's heads as plausible a few days ago either. Were there limits to these attributes? How far did these levels go? What skills could Jaune be talking about?
And like a blooming flame, curiosity sprung up within her, the need to understand outweighing all else in her current predicament. If her world had turned into a game in the span of a single night, then Blake was going to do everything in her power to win it.
But it all involved divulging her new secret right here and now, however... a decision that she swiftly made without any discomfort, much to her surprise.
"Jaune, I'd like you to know that your pointers have proven extremely insightful," she began warmly with a small smile, to which the knight responded in kind.
"Aw thanks! I'm glad I was able to help even a little bit."
"Which is why I must confess that I haven't exactly been forthright with you for the past few minutes..."
"Huh?" he asked with a confused expression.
"The main character in this 'Role-Playing Game' you've had me describe is me."
"Yeah. You said that already."
"No, you misunderstand. The main character is me. I'm The Gamer."
A brief pause.
"I don't follow."
Blake facepalmed at his denseness, something that she decided right then and there she'd have to work on with him if they were going to make any further progress with her new semblance.
"Yesterday. At the pavilion, I was exposed to large quantities of varying forms of Dust in an explosion that sent me careening into a GameStop. The unknown mixture bonded with my surroundings, and I believe direct infusion occurred between the Dust, the tech and myself..."
Jaune's jaw began to drop ever so slightly in awe as Blake concluded.
"...in effect, altering my very semblance."
Jaune blinked.
"Oh."
"..."
"OHHH..."
"You understand now?" Blake asked calmly, unable to hold back a small smirk at his affable revelation.
"So what you're saying is... your whole life... has pretty much turned into a video game?"
"In short, yes."
"And your new semblance from this freak accident has... somehow given you the ability... to increase your stats by means of some RPG-based level system?"
"Precisely."
Jaune sat there for a moment, still as a stone, before slowly raising his hand and doing the mind blown gesture.
"Pffffff!"
It was unexpected, but Blake had just taken a liking to Jaune's easy-going conversationalism... once you got past the awkward and dense bits. Between the drama that usually erupted in her team and the heated discussions she had grown up with in the White Fang, Blake actually felt calm with talking to someone for the first time since ditching Beacon with Sun. Of course, that had been under a moment of duress and he had provided a release from her tension.
But she felt no such stress at the moment, and actually let herself indulge her heightened mood with a rare fully-blown smile at Jaune's antics.
"You know," Jaune began after he was sure he'd wrapped his head around the grevity of the situation, "You're taking this a lot better than most people would if they were in your position."
"I know," Blake admitted softly, now frowning a bit at the strange truth of his statement, "You'd think that losing the semblance I was born with and that had come to define me in a way would be more jarring..."
Settling down again on his bed, Jaune remained silent, listening to Blake's words as she continued.
"I mean, I wasn't exactly proud of what my semblance could do; leaving copies of myself behind to take the hit while I ran, but it was me. Everything about myself could be tied to my semblance in one way or another, and to lose it all to this strange ability I know nothing about... it's..."
"Surreal," Jaune finished somberly.
Blake couldn't help but notice the dejection in his voice as he said that, "Yes. Exactly."
"I know that feeling," he continued quietly, "Ever since I came to this academy, I've never felt more insecure, afraid, or out of my element. But, you know, here I am..." he finished with as light-hearted a tone and shrug as he could muster, but Blake wasn't one to be fooled so easily.
"Jaune, don't say that. You've made it into this academy, the merit of which is enough on its own to your potential as a future Hunter," she replied with a reassuring smile as she got up and did something she seldom did unless absolutely necessary: taking a seat next to Jaune and placing her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
But still, he merely chuckled weakly and replied, "Heh, I'm not sure that merit really counts in my case."
Despite the strange implication, Blake decided to push on, adopting an almost challenging tone in her attempt at playing the 'helping hand' role, "Oh really? Well you've managed to stay in Beacon and improve as much as you have... isn't that merit worth mentioning?"
Seemingly caught off-guard by the new reasoning, Jaune sat back as Blake let her hand fall and finally nodded enthusiastically, "You know what? I've never really thought of it that way before!"
"Then?" Blake asked rhetorically with a triumphant smile as a new sense of euphoria from helping someone in need coursed through her, "There you go."
"But still, I'm not sure even my situation would compare to having my semblance changed on me... not that it has manifested yet. Much less to handle it as well as you have."
She let out a snort at his accurately simplified way of summing up her situation, "If you say so, then I suppose not."
"But actually," Jaune suddenly remarked, dropping back in thought as he held a hand to his chin, "Actually... I think maybe your state of mind may be linked to a skill your semblance has given you! Um, have you tried looking at a list of your current skills?"
"I can do that?" Blake replied with some surprise.
"Yeah! Just think about it - every game has a menu, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Then all you have to do is bring it up!" the knight declared conclusively.
Blake merely stared at him, "I think you're over-simplifying things now, Jaune."
"No no, think about it," he continued, raising his hands placatingly to get her to hear him out, "Even if your semblance makes you a video game character, you haven't had to walk around with a gaming controller in your hands all morning, right?"
She leaned back a bit and thought over his reasoning. It was true, she had never had to use more than her finger to interact with the strange windows that had begun to appear. But all she had received were sporadic notifications and alerts, nothing like a menu that Jaune described.
"Then, how can I look at such a menu for myself when I've no controllers to access it?"
Jaune seemed stumped at the question, milling through his options until he started slowly speaking up, "Maybe... it's, voice activated? Stand up and try saying Main Menu."
Blake did just so, straightening out her hoodie and taking small steps to center herself between the two beds in front of Jaune before she cleared her throat.
"Main Menu."
A brief moment passed before Jaune raised a brow and asked, "Anything?"
"No. Nothing..."
"Um, try Info."
"Info."
"..."
"..."
"Nothing."
"Um, Pause?"
Blake sighed dejectedly as she glanced at her gaming mentor, "I don't think we're getting anywhere with this, Jaune."
But not being one to give up so easily, the Arc snapped his fingers with a final idea, "I got one, try Status Window!"
"Status Windo-oh!?" Blake faltered as her question turned into an exclamation with the sudden appearance of a pale blue window in front of her face.
Name: Blake Belladonna
Class: The Gamer
Level: Lv12
...
HP: 500/500
MP: 300/300
...
STR: - 8 +
VIT: - 9 +
DEX: - 19 +
INT: - 13 +
WIS: - 7 +
LUK: - 4 +
...
Point: 40
Money: 300 Lien
"Well, this is informative," Blake mumbled as she finished examining the window which pretty much summed up her life's combat training in a few square inches of space.
"What do you see?" Jaune asked with growing excitement.
Blake cocked her head at the blonde leader's question, "You mean you can't see it?"
"Nope."
'That definitely explains things,' the girl thought to herself, taking a final glance to the window before turning to face Jaune.
"I don't see any skills here."
"Maybe it's voice activated too," Jaune reasoned with a shrug, "Try Skill List."
"Skill List."
DING!
[Skill List]
A Gamer's Mind
A Gamer's Body
Observe
Sword Mastery
Dual Wielding
"Some of these make sense," Blake mentioned idly as she scanned the short list, "and I've seen one activated already. But there are a couple I've never seen before."
"Try tapping on them," he suggested.
Once she did so, another window popped up with its own ding.
[A Gamer's Mind (Passive) Lv MAX]
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows peaceful state of mind. Immunity to psychological status effects.
"Interesting," the intrigued faunus girl remarked before exiting the window and clicking the next option.
[A Gamer's Body (Passive) Lv MAX]
Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game.
The moment she saw the two options, she immediately understood her situation.
"So here's how it is," she began aloud for Jaune's sake, only wondering how she must've looked just standing there in the middle of the room tapping invisible objects, "The reason why I've been so calm about coming to terms with this whole thing and talking to you about it is because my semblance has affected my mind and body. I have the mind of a video game character, which I don't understand at all."
Jaune couldn't help a small chuckle at her concentrating expression - her lips pursed to the side once more as she squinted her eyes at whatever it was she was reading. When he woke up this morning, Jaune never would've guessed that Blake would be the first one knocking at his door, much less the events that happened next. But this was proving to be a rather enjoyable development.
"Well if you think about it," the knight mused aloud, "when playing a game, your character never experiences fear before facing a boss... you just click continue and the character walks right in. So it makes sense that you'll have more control over your stress in the real world now."
Blake nodded with a satisfied hum at his explanation.
"And as for my body, I think I've figured that out. In many games, a character will sustain damage only in stats but not physically, right?"
"Right!" he exclaimed, impressed with her assessment.
"Well I've noticed it already - any pain I previously felt is extremely temporary, and I'm no longer affected physically by my injuries. It must only be taken out of my HP bar I see in my main status window."
The knight gave a thumbs up in agreement before replying, "Great, got that out of the way. You mentioned your main status window. Anything outstanding about your stats?"
Blake returned to the window in question and gave the info another look-through. Guessing what the abbreviations stood for, she began to explain her findings.
"It says I have forty points to expend between what I'm assuming is Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Intellect-"
"Intelligence."
"Figures. And Wisdom and Luck are the last two choices."
Jaune milled over the options for a moment, Blake's growing eagerness to experience the effects finally getting to her.
"Hmm, my Luck is terrible. I guess I'll just add a few points her-"
Blake was cut short when Jaune rushed over and grabbed her hand with surprising reflexes before she could tap the corresponding button.
"No, don't do that!"
"Why not?" she asked flatly.
"Because if your luck is terrible right now," he began, "how do you know you're not making a bad decision by taking a chance on something as critical as your stat points!"
Blake huffed as she looked back down at the window before nodding in acknowledgment.
"Fine, I'll distribute them equally-"
"No," Jaune urged while still holding her hand back, "Would you rather have several moderately boosted stats or a few heavily boosted stats that work for your fighting style?"
"...Alright, what do you suggest?"
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking..."
The catgirl waited for a brief moment before speaking up again.
"Jaune?"
"Yeah?"
"You can let go of my hand now."
"O-Oh!" he sputtered as he let go of her, a blush quickly growing on his face before he changed the subject, "Ch-Choose Vitality."
"Vitality?" she echoed quizzically.
"Yeah, if your semblance is now gone, that means you're more vulnerable to attack while you get used to your new abilities. So, I'd say split thirty points or so between strength and vitality as a safety net while you get used to things and you should be fine."
"Hmm. Good thinking."
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap...
After another minute or so, Blake couldn't help a smirk at her finished work.
Name: Blake Belladonna
Class: The Gamer
Level: Lv12
...
HP: 500/500
MP: 300/300
...
STR: - 18 +
VIT: - 29 +
DEX: - 19 +
INT: - 13 +
WIS: - 7 +
LUK: - 4 +
...
Point: 10
Money: 300 Lien
"Well, that should do it," she announced finally, "But why not use the remaining ten points now that I have them?"
"Because it's better to have a safety net for when you've managed to get the hang of your new semblance," Jaune replied quickly, "That way, you have room to make adjustments and improve stats you feel are more relevant to your skill set."
"Ah. Clever."
This Arc fellow was surprising the young woman more and more as things went on. Maybe her decision had turned out for the best after all.
She made no effort to hide her impressed smirk that egged on the knight to continue on his hot streak as she pitched another curveball, "Then I guess that just leaves finding time to level up. Any ideas?"
"Easy," Jaune quipped with a winning smile, his evident confidence in this topic and ease of conversation in general having surpassed all of the catgirl's expectations, "Ozpin sent our teams a message earlier this morning saying that we've earned a week off for our group efforts yesterday, and I know our teams will probably be occupied for the next couple hours either sleeping of doing stuff."
Blake chuckled unexpectedly, causing the knight to blush as he watched her features light up while she put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight to one side, "My my, Mister Arc. You really have all your bases covered, don't you."
Jaune was both confused and intrigued by her gradual change in character... could it be an effect of her semblance on her mind and personality too? Or had this conversation actually been a success in getting these two to hit it off despite their differences? Maybe this was the confidence his dad had always told him about. In any case, his best bet was to stick with what he knew and to continue helping her to the best of his abilities.
Which at the moment suddenly gave him an idea.
"Well Blake, I'm just getting started!" he remarked quickly as he turned and ran to the closet to change, closing the door behind him for privacy.
Well... almost.
Catching the girl off-guard, Blake tried to will herself to look away as she noticed him through a six-inch gap from the door being left open. After picking out his usual attire and combat gear, the onesie came off. Her breath hitched as she caught a generous glimpse of his toned back, his deltoids clearly having grown from frequent handling of Crocea Mors along with his lats that had clearly given his back that attractive V-shape Blake had always found so intriguing in men. She could only imagine how well-toned his front must've been by now with-
PING!
[Observe's level has risen by 1.]
Her blush came on in full force as she looked at the pale blue notification in front of her and realized what she had done.
'Oh my...'
"U-Um, Jaune?" she called out mousily, trying to shake off the image of his changing that she knew deep down inside wouldn't be erased anytime soon, "What are you doing?"
And finally hopping sideways out of the room in full attire, nearly tripping over himself as he attempted to wedge his shoe securely into place, he stood up and hiked his thumb over his shoulder to the surrounding forests outside the window indicatively.
"Getting ready. Cuz you and I are going to Emerald Forest."
Blake's brows shot up as she realized the Arc Knight was completely serious in his suggestion despite the living hell they'd been through the day before.
"What for?"
A wide ear-to-ear grin grew on his admittedly handsome features before he finally replied with a pat on Crocea Mors.
"Time to grind."
A/N: Hi there, TPS here! I'm just gonna come out with it and say I'm a HUGE fan of The Gamer and I knew I'd eventually get around to writing a RWBY fic along these lines sooner or later. But given the fics on the site that already touch on the idea, I figured I'd put a little spin on it :) I really hope you like it!
Honestly, this is just one of those side projects I decided to work on to get my writing mojo back to update my other fics (like Chronicle, Jaune Arc: The Force Unleashed, and John Carter of Remnant) so I doubt I'll be coming back to this for a while. But then again, you, dear reader, have the final say! If enough of you wish for me to continue, I'll sure put this story higher on my priority list to keep the chapters coming :)
So Fave, Follow and Review to show your support, and I hope you enjoyed the pilot chapter!
-And as always, Happy Reading!