A couple of things before we get started: 1. Richard's semblance is, in more detail, one that allows him to transfer the elemental properties of dust crystals and apply them to inanimate objects. I'm still trying to think of how I can nerf this to keep it from being too OP. 2. THAT INFINITY WAR TRAILER HOOOOOOOOOOLY SHIEEEEEEET! With that out of the way, let's get started, shall we?
DISCLAIMER: RWBY is the intellectual property of Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum(RIP).
Remnant in Earth: Redux
Chapter XI: Awakening
CHA Dining Hall
"Good morning boys!" Nora screamed as she emptied a bucket of ice water on her friends.
"GAAAH!" Ren and Jaune exclaimed as they rose from their sleeping bags shivering and noticed that the sun had yet to rise.
"Nora, what the hell is wrong with you? It's…" Jaune paused to check the time on his iScroll. "FIVE-THIRTY!? Goddammit Nora I was having this awesome dream. Why did you have to wake me up?"
"Sometimes, we have to stick with reality rather than dreams," Ren remarked.
"Clearly we have very different dreams." Jaune deadpanned as he and Ren pulled themselves out of their soaked bags.
CHA Cafeteria
"...So, today's the initiation huh," Jaune asked Ren nervously.
"Yup," he replied. "If all goes well, it will be like hunting in Crater Lake back home."
"Hopefully we'll get a lot of Grimm pelts this time around!" Nora added while slurping a pancake.
"What did Ted say the initiation was again?" Jaune asked the ginger ignoring her previous comment before consuming his omelet.
"I only managed to get a couple sentences out of him before he shut up, but if I remember correctly, he said that they'd be launching us off the cliffside leaving us to come up with our own landing strategy. Once we're on the ground we've got to head north to grab some kind of, I think he called them relics, and then make our way back to campus." explained Nora as her friends took in every word.
"And how do we know he isn't intentionally misleading us? This is Ted we're talking about." Ren asked the girl with a raised brow.
"How dare you!" exclaimed Nora in thickly veiled faux shock. "The Valkyrie name is one of truth and honor."
"And promising three 11-year-olds a fail-proof way to get us into a double feature of Apes and Guardians by sneaking us into a drive-in in his trunk and completely forgetting about them until the next morning." Jaune muttered under his breath loud enough for the berserker to hear.
"It wasn't that bad."
"He drove a Prius" Ren retorted.
"So, assuming Ted isn't screwing with us, what are you guys thinking in terms of a landing strategy?" Jaune asked bringing the topic at hand back to the initiation as the three left the cafeteria to make their way to the locker room.
"I hadn't given it much thought." Ren nodded.
"You'd better work something out or else it'll end up breaking your legs!" Nora said optimistically with a smirk.
"Oh right." Jaune felt a shiver through his spine, remembering several times throughout his training in which he suffered some…accidents. "Thank you very much for reminding me Nora."
"You're welcome, Jaune!" Nora smiled, then grabbed Ren's shoulder. "C'mon Ren, let's go."
"In a second." Ren looked over to Jaune. "Oh, Jaune, your fly's down."
"Huh, oh crap! Thanks." Jaune flushed in embarrassment as he zipped it up.
As the two left Jaune behind, he checked his weapon, Crocea Mors. Unknown to him, he was being watched by a red-haired girl with a ponytail.
"Hey~"
The redhead was caught off-guard by the voice, and she turned around to see an energetic blonde girl right in front of her.
"You're stalking him, hm~?" The blonde smiled mischievously.
"Ah! No, not at all…I was…um, looking around the lockers." The red-haired girl smiled nervously.
"Are you sure about that?" The blonde raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Yes." She nodded before the blonde held out her hand.
"The name's Yang Xiao Long."
"The name's-"
"Pyrrha Nikos, right?" Yang cut her off as Pyrrha's eye's widened. "I saw your match last year, it was great."
"Yes...yes it was." Pyrrha smiled sadly as she shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you."
"Oh my god!" Suddenly, someone nearly shouted, making Pyrrha jump in surprise. "I can't believe that I was able to meet a champion all the way from Mistral! My name is Weiss Schnee."
"Uh, hello," Pyrrha said with a nervous smile. "It's also nice to meet you, Miss Schnee."
"I'm looking forward to working together after initiation," Weiss said cheerily.
"Umm, that sounds grand," Pyrrha answered, regarding the heiress curiously. "Maybe we could be great teammates."
"That's great!" Weiss clasped her hands together pleasantly, but deep within her, the sinister mind of the heiress spoke.
'This is perfect, PERFECT! As soon as initiation is finished, I'll team up with the strongest girl in class, and as the smartest girl in class, we will be unstoppable, we will be celebrities! Nothing can stop us now!'
"Uhh, are you okay?" Weiss snapped back into reality and looked back at the blonde brawler and the red-headed champion. Both of them were giving her some incredulous looks. "You don't look so good."
Weiss' eyes widened, then she stood firm and coughed a few times, composing herself.
"Of course I'm fine!" she answered with a smile. 'Of course I'm not!'
In another part of the locker room, Richard pulled his boomerang out of his locker and checked it before Ruby came along.
"Hey Richie!" Ruby called out while skidding up to him. "So…it's initiation day, right?"
"I know where you're leading with this Ruby and the answer's no." He said to the reaper before slinging his weapon on his back. "I mean, yeah, you, me, Todd, and Yang are all great friends but…this is a chance for you to maybe make some new ones."
Noticing that the girl was on the verge of tears, Richard sighed and said, "Look, we don't even know how we're going to be getting our team assignments. If it's up to us, I promise to be on your team if, and only if, you agree for the other two members to not be either Todd or Yang. We have a deal?"
"Okay, I promise. Good luck!" Ruby said as she left.
"You too, stay safe." Richard smiled to her really while giving her a thumbs up.
Mt. Diablo Cliffs
Mount Diablo, a place where American Huntsmen and Huntresses proved their worth to become a guardian of humanity. A group of students lined up, facing the mountain while Professor McCoy came up to them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mt. Diab-"
"Waaait!" Screamed a voice who belonged to a girl who had apparently slept in. She emerged from the forestry scrambling over to Professor McCoy. She was wearing orange and black Vans, torn jeans, and a brown hooded bomber jacket unzipped to show a t-shirt the logo of the hard rock band Thousand Foot Krutch. On her face were a pair of glasses that she pushed back up the bridge of her nose. Her long and unkempt brown hair was tied in a pony tail. Finally, strapped to her back was what appeared to be an ordinary, albeit bulky, electric guitar.
"I am so sorry I'm late! My scroll glitched out causing my alarm to not go off! I promise that this will never hap-" The girl stopped as McCoy raised his hand chuckling.
"It's quite alright Miss…?"
"Sara York sir." The girl answered.
"Ah yes, Ms. York. As I was saying, it's quite alright. Initiation has yet to even start. You made it right on time." McCoy replied reassuring Sara. "Now, go and find an unoccupied platform and we can begin."
Sara nodded and followed the headmaster's instructions.
After Sara got herself situated, McCoy picked up where he left off, "Welcome to Mt. Diablo. During your initiation, you will be assigned a partner who, along with another pair, will make up your assigned team."
Richard looked over to Ruby and gave her a reassuring thumbs up, which she gladly returned.
"Your partner will be the first individual with whom you make eye contact with. This person will be your partner for the next four years." he finished causing the two childhood friends to falter.
"W-What?!" Ruby turned her gaze over to McCoy and stared in disbelief. 'I might be stuck with a partner that I don't even know?!'
"Mount Diablo is a place where you can prove your worth as Huntsmen. And no, we are not here for Grimm hunting." McCoy pointed at the mountain. "Your mission is to go to the top of the mountain, obtain objects known as 'relics,' and get back here. Do not take unnecessary risks, for the result will be your death."
At this moment, Jaune gulped to the last sentence.
"Are there any question?" he asked, until Jaune raised his hand. "Good, take your position."
"Um, Professor McCoy, sir?" Jaune asked. "What will we get by obtaining the relics?"
At that moment, Sara was sent soaring through the air.
"It will determine which pair you and your partner will be teamed up with." Ryan answered.
Then another student was sent flying.
"But how will that work?" Jaune asked.
On that moment, Ren and Terrance were sent flying before Nora, who screamed in glee.
"When two pairs of relics match, a team will be formed between those four."
Richard, Todd and then Yang were sent flying off. Ruby smirked at Jaune before her platform sent her flying too.
"But who will be the leader-AAAAAH!"
Jaune was suddenly interrupted by the platform that sent him flailing hundreds of meters away. Ryan chuckled as Jaune kept flailing and looked back at Mina.
"Are the cameras online?"
"Yep, they are." Mina said in an unamused tone. "This year is gonna be full of misfits."
"Yes, it is." Ryan chuckled again.
Mount Diablo
"...aaaaaaaAAAAAAHHH!"
Jaune flailed through the air like a frantic madman. He was very high above the forest and by god, he needed to think fast before his face crashed painfully into some trees.
'Think Jaune! Think!' His mind raced, and then a lightbulb appeared. "I GOT IT!"
Jaune pushed his feet forward and unsheathed his sword, like what Ren did in his training, and pinned his blade against a nearby tree and swung his body onto a larger branch.
"Uff, that was close." Jaune stood up.
Yet, there was a crack under his feet and he realized that the tree branch was going to break under his weight.
"Oh god no." Jaune said in deadpan as it broke.
He fell with a hysterical cry and then his face met the ground. He groaned in pain and groggily stood up.
"That... hurts." He sighed while brushing leaves from his jacket. "Now where am I-"
*GROWL*
Jaune's sentence was interrupted by a growl. He slowly turned around and spotted several red eyes. Several Beowolves stepped out from the shadows, and Jaune immediately made a fighting stance.
'Damn, first I get launched across the forest, then my face gets planted into the ground, and now this?' He shook his head. "I have some serious bad luck, don't I?"
The Beowolves roared at the young Huntsman-in-training. One charged at him, slashing with its claw, but Jaune ducked down and thrusted his sword into the Beowolf's neck. The second pounced, but he rolled backwards from the Grimm's surprise attack.
"Well, this seems easy," Jaune muttered to himself.
The same Grimm pounced once more, but was met by a wall of metal. Jaune moved his shield and slashed horizontally across the Beowolf's body. As it fell and began to dissolve, the last Beowulf made a last-ditch attempt to attack him, but Jaune caught it in a flash, striking his shield against the Beowolf's skull and sending the creature to the ground. He ended the creature's life with his sword in its neck.
"Phew, that wasn't really all that hard," he said exhaustedly while wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Unfortunately, his celebration was cut short by another growl, and he turned back in another defensive stance. He frowned as he looked up at a larger Grimm with the appearance of a bear.
"Oh, give me a break, not you!"
The Ursa's roar echoed throughout the forest and made Jaune shiver. In the meantime, a single red-headed girl with a ponytail stood on a tree branch, aiming her rifle at the Grimm.
And fired…
*BANG!*
Jaune looked in awe as the Ursa collapsed and began to dissipate with the girl who had delivered the killing blow landing right behind it.
"Pyrrha Nikos." She introduced herself with an outstretched hand which Jaune accepted. "Jaune Arc. Pleased to meet you partner." Jaune replied as he tipped an imaginary cowboy hat.
"Likewise." Pyrrha said in-between giggles. "We should probably start making our way to the relics before more show up."
As Jaune and Pyrrha set out, they both couldn't help but feel like they lucked out with their partners. But in the back of Jaune's mind he couldn't help but wonder how his friends were faring.