RWBY Chapter 1

RWBY Chapter 1

 

A brief history of the world as we know it: From Dust, man, woman, and child rose. The creatures of darkness, of Grimm were the greatest threat to these people. They were determined to extinguish the light every human soul on the face of the planet. However, humankind was a resourceful, clever species and quickly learned the way of the world. Ruthlessly combating the creatures, man pushed the Grimm back into the darkness with their unique power-source, Dust. The Grimm, defeated for the time-being, are still plentiful and waiting for their opportune moment to strike. But pure force won't be enough to stop them this time. This time, a truer, smarter solution must be found, lest the world, and man with it, be swallowed up by darkness once again. Power has betrayed the people of this world. Their once peaceful land, is growing evermore unsettled. Faunus and humans alike are becoming increasingly violent. There is too much disharmony, too much hatred in the world. In time, the Grimm will find their opening and man- and faunus-kind may both be returned to the Dust from whence they came.

 

 

 

The old shop-owner looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost closing time. He glanced round the Dust shop, checking to see if any customers were left in his small store. The only sign of life he spotted was a small red hood in the corner, just barely peeking out from besides a shelf. That young Rose girl was there again, reading through his magazines. He paid her no mind, already knowing that she would be up at the counter, buying the latest issue of her favorite weapon magazine. He grabbed a washrag from beneath the counter and busied himself with cleaning the glass counter over his finest Dust crystals.

Not five minutes before the store was to close, in came a white-clad man with a cigar, cane, and bowler. Behind him were a bunch of rougher-looking fellows. Perhaps they were faunus. Considering the majority of them wore sunglasses this late at night and seemed to have no trouble seeing, this could be a very real possibility. However, it was rather hard for the shop-owner to think about these detail with the barrel of a gun pointed up his nose.

"Well I must say, it is about time we came across a Dust shop that's still open. Do you have any idea how many closed shops we've had to pass up?" The man almost seemed to be making causal conversation with him.

"I-I don't want any trouble with you folks. Please. Just take my money and go."

"There, there. We don't want your money. What on earth could we possibly do with that?" the man questioned in a condescending tone. He turned to his lackeys and motioned his head towards the dispensers on the wall, "Well? Wheat are you waiting for? Start collecting Dust."

The men quickly dispersed throughout the store, grabbing as much Dust as they could. The shop-owner worriedly watched them make away with his livelihood, and was about to thank his lucky stars that he didn't have any customers left. His eyes widened in worry. Except for—

"Hey kid." One of the lackeys spotted the short, red-hooded girl standing in the corner. "I said, hey!" frustrated, he drew his machete and walked up behind her and tugged her around by the shoulder. The girl blinked in surprise and looked at him in confusion. Her hood fell off her head, revealing a pair of headphones resting firmly over her ears. The lackey angrily pointed at his own ears with his free hand, the other raising his weapon threateningly

Ugh, what an ugly knife, Ruby thought to herself as she removed her headphones. "Yes, can I help you?" She asked politely.

"Give me the Dust you've got on you, kid."

"Dust?" She asked, innocently.

"Yes, the Dust!"

"You me to give it to you?"

"Yes!"

She was obliged to give it to him.

 

 

 

The lackey made a loud "thud" as he hit the display at the front of the store. The man with the bowler and cane, more interested in a red Dust crystal he held than the disturbance, motioned for another lackey to deal with it.

"Make sure you don't lose any Dust back there," he said absentmindedly. "Dirty ani—" he started to mutter.

Before he could finish his thought, the front window shattered and he saw what looked like a red ghost flying on top of one his henchman. Exasperated, he pocketed the crystal and led his men out to deal with this "disturbance."

Ruby stood up and fully extended her battle-scythe, Crescent Rose, with a knowing smile. She whirled the giant weapon around her body, over her head, and then let its weight bring the blade down into the pavement in front of her. The barrel of the rifle it sported was pointed directly at the man with the bowler hat in a defiant challenge.

"Well this night just got a whole lot more interesting," he said, mostly to himself. He looked disapprovingly at his minions standing around his person. "Well? Get her."

Ruby watched carefully as four men charged at her, wielding three machetes and one gun. She quickly formulated a plan of attack as they closed in on her.

The henchman nearest to her made a swipe with his machete. Ruby leapt onto her scythe, dodging the attack effortlessly, swinging her legs around the large, metal weapon. The man, caught off-guard by her quick movement over-swung his strike, throwing him off balance. Ruby took advantage of his confusion and used her momentum of swinging onto the scythe to plant both of her feet firmly into the back of his head and kick off, sending his face into the pavement. She used the lift to properly place herself on top of the scythe again.

I can't let them surround me, she observed as the remaining three men were just close enough to attack her, the one with the gun already taking aim. Pulling the trigger on Crescent Rose, she fired the giant scythe, letting the recoil's momentum carry her and her weapon away from the men, at the same time blasting away one of them foolish enough to stand in front of the barrel. She focused on the one man holding a gun, labeling him the highest-risk target. She landed gracefully with a seemingly safe distance between her and her assaulters. Taking careful aim, Ruby positioned Crescent Rose's blade and barrel behind her. She cocked the weapon and fired again, sending her flying towards the man with the gun. The man taken off-guard by the lightning approach could barely raise his gun halfway to meet her before Ruby's feet collided with his chest. Ruby, far more prepared for this position than he, fired Crescent Rose again, this time downwards. The force of the blast knocked the man to the ground, sending him into unconsciousness and eliminating their party's only long range weapon.

Ruby flew high up into the air, positioning herself to take out the next foe. She descended directly on top of one of the remaining two men. The man crumpled beneath her feet, as she fired Crescent Rose downwards again, this time letting the recoil lift it up and over her head, bringing the blunt end down on top of the remaining goon's head. Her combatants dispatched, she was about to turn to face their leader, when an explosion rocked the ground beneath her feet, sending her flying backwards. Leaping back to her feet, Ruby looked around wildly for the bowler hat belonging to who she was certain was responsible. He was nowhere near the store or immediate street. As she surveyed the area, she spotted him climbing the side of a building, tucking his cane back into his arm as he made his way up to the roof.

Ruby turned to the store owner who had been timidly watching the whole fight, "Will you be alright if I go after him?"

The shop-owner nodded nervously, clearly shook up by the night's events. Ruby dashed off towards the building the criminal had scaled, firing Crescent Rose into the ground, launching herself up onto the roof in a single leap.

The man, already on the adjacent side of the roof turned around with an expression of annoyance upon his face, "You're a persistent little brat, aren't you, Red?"

Ruby, with an air of determination, cocked Crescent Rose once again, ready to fight the man. Before she could launch herself towards him, however, a large hovercraft rose up behind would-be opponent. He leapt into the ship's wide-open cargo bay as it rose high above the buildings.

The man turned back to Ruby, pulling the red Dust crystal out of his pocket. "This ends now, Red!" In one smooth motion, he tossed the crystal towards her with his left hand, and pointed his cane at her with his right. The moment the crystal hit the ground, a small rocket flew out the end of the cane, colliding with the Dust and igniting it.

Ah, so that's what he did to knock me off my feet back there, Ruby realized. The next thing she realized was that she hadn't been blown either to pieces or off the roof. Before her stood a blond woman, in her late twenties or early thirties. She wore a long-sleeved, white shirt with a tight, black skirt with tights to match, as well as a short, purple cape. Before her glowed a large, purple barrier. It had to be what had shielded them from the blast. She swept her arm aside offensively, revealing to Ruby that she wielding a riding crop as a wand of sorts. Ruby stared in wonderment as the woman wove complicated patterns in the air with her wand, sending bolts of energy screaming at the airship. They barraged the ship, knocking its flight pattern askew, hindering their escape. Continuing her assault, the woman manifested a storm cloud directly above the ship, from which lightning and hail immediately began to fly. The precipitation and electricity violently railed against the ship, further damaging it, though it still remained airborne/

As the ship attempted to regain its balance, a shadowed figure appeared at its still-open cargo bay. The female figure made complicated hand-movements, summoning a flaming orb in front of her. She motioned it towards Ruby and the woman, blasting it at their feet. The woman protecting Ruby had readied her barrier in anticipation of the attack, which bore the brunt of the explosion, though shrapnel still flew up at them from the partially destroyed roof. Before the debris made contact with them, however, the woman waved her wand in an overarching motion, bending the rubble to her will. The chunks of stone and tile became her weapon as she shot a crude spear of rubble at the ship. The woman defending the ship let loose more fire-blasts at it, but to no avail. The debris was obviously not going to be stopped by being made smaller. However, the pilot onboard was more prepared for this attack, as ship's side facing the attack dipped sharply to allow the top of the ship take the assault, instead of allowing it inside. The debris scraped across the top of the ship, not doing as much damage as expected, having missed the intended target. With renewed vigor, though, the rubble regrouped and was about to have another go at the ship. Before it could do any serious damage, though, the woman onboard sent out a magic shockwave of sorts, dispelling the shattered pieces of roof, as well as the barrier the woman assaulting the ship had put up.

Taking advantage of this lapse in defense, the woman onboard went on the offensive. Tell-tale, red splotches appeared on the roof where Ruby and the woman stood. They both dove aside, just as pillars of flame shot up where they stood, seconds before. This was all the distraction the people onboard the ship needed to make their getaway. Without hesitation, Ruby started firing at the ship as it flew further away. Though her shots were true, they were being pulled towards the woman's outstretched palm, from which they ricocheted harmlessly. When one of the shots bounced back near her feet, Ruby ceased firing.

As the airship flew off into the distance, Ruby turned to the woman who had saved her. She bounced on her heels, excited and giddy, despite the criminals' escape. The woman gave her a slightly confused look mixed with disappointment.

"You're a-a huntress!" Ruby said, excitement and embarrassment welling up inside her in unison, "C-can I have your autograph?"

 

 

 

"You are in so much trouble right now, young lady,"

Ruby lowered her head, trying to appear as remorseful as possible. It didn't seem to be fooling huntress sitting across the small table from her.

The woman, whose name had been revealed to be Glynda, looked at Ruby's only somewhat apologetic face, "If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a hard slap on the wrist."

Ruby looked legitimately saddened by that. She seemed hurt that her work to protect the shopkeeper and stop the criminal was largely unappreciated.

Glynda faltered slightly by the sight of Ruby's demoralized expression, "I suppose some thanks are in order, though." She sighed. "You need to understand, little girl. What you did was very brave indeed. But it was incredibly dangerous. These people would have killed you without a second thought."

Ruby nodded, looking less disheartened, "I understand. I just wanted to help. I mean, I've always liked helping people. You know, like anything from running errands to saving a person. Of course, saving people is a little cooler than running an errand. My parents always encouraged stuff like that, though. The stuff like you hunters and huntresses do, that is. It's just so…inspiring! Like, this one time, there was a little—"

An unseen person cleared his throat, interrupting Ruby's rambling. A white-haired middle-aged-looking man stepped out of a shadow by the open door. He held in his right hand, a plate of cookies, in his left an video tablet.

"I can take things from here, Glynda," the man spoke. Glynda nodded respectfully, but stood up with a small amount of reluctance.

"Now then," the man sat in Glynda's chair she just vacated, "you are the talk of the night. Single-handedly dispatching a small force of gangsters and pursuing one of the city's most wanted criminals? You have made quite an impression with all of us here, Ruby Rose."

Ruby eyed the man with a slight bit of suspicion, unsure of how he had learned her name. In response, the man set the plate of cookies down on the table and slid them in front of Ruby. They were chocolate chip (her favorite kind).

Ruby looked down at the plate, back up at the man, then immediately dug into the cookies, eating them faster than the eye could follow.

The man continued as Ruby enjoyed her sweet meal, "Of course, we can't just let fifteen year-old girls going around doling out vigilante justice by themselves. Certainly not with weapons as dangerous as this one," he turned tablet he held towards her, showing some footage of her zipping around with Crescent Rose, dispatching thugs. It seemed to have been taken from a security camera across the street

"Perhaps you can tell me where you learned to use a weapon this dangerous?"

With her mouth full of cookie crumbs, Ruby answered "Sigmal acabamy," she swallowed, coughed slightly, mumbling an apology, and spoke again, "Signal academy. I made it myself." It wasn't hard to tell she was proud of her weapon.

"My, how schools have changed these days. Back when I was in school, we would have been learning arithmetic and history, instead of how to wield giant gun-scythes."

Ruby giggled and said, "Well there was one teacher in particular. He taught me everything I know. I could barely move with the thing before he took me under his wing."

"Wing, eh? The only other scythe-wielder I know of this skill level was old professor—"

"Qrow! He's my uncle. He's the one who taught everything there is to know about scythe wielding. Now I go all whoosh, ka-chunk, blam, pow-pow-pow!" Ruby made exaggerated hand motions to go along with her sound-effects.

"I see. So what could a little girl like you be doing with a giant scythe-rifle at a school specializing in monster-slaying?"

Ruby paused for a moment considering the question. "Well…what I really want…is to be a huntress."

"So you want to go to Beacon Academy," the man stated.

Ruby nodded, almost shyly

"Can you tell me why?"

Ruby jumped at the chance to talk about her dream-job again, rambling on about all the good hunters and huntresses do for the world and who the most notable hunters and huntresses in history were and why they're awesome and how their weapons were just so cool —

Five minutes later, the man interrupted Ruby's fan-girl discussion with herself, "Well I think I've heard all I need to. I just have two more questions for you: Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin. The headmaster of Beacon Academy," she answered with a small smile.

He smiled back at her, "And would you like to come to my school, Ruby Rose?"

Barely containing her excitement, Ruby said as calmly as she could manage, "More than anything in the world."

Ozpin looked up at Glynda with a small smile, who rolled her eyes at the situation as a whole, as if to say "oh, all right."

"Welcome to Beacon, then, Ruby"

 

 

 

"Ahhhh! I'm so proud of you, Ruby!" Yang, big sister to Ruby, was crushing the poor girl in a grip that would knock the wind out of a grizzly bear.

"Ack—! Y-Yang! I…can't…BREATHE," Ruby managed to choke out.

"Heh. Sorry, sis," Yang released Ruby, running a hand down her long blonde hair apologetically. "I'm just so excited that you get to come with me to Beacon."

After catching her breath, Ruby replied, "Yeah. I guess," unenthusiastically.

Yang looked her little sister up and down with a well-trained eye; she knew her sister wasn't just feeling awkward in the crowd on the airship they rode towards Beacon. "It's not so bad, you know. I mean, people are going to think you're awesome for getting into Beacon at fifteen. It's nothing to be worried about."

"But what if I don't fit in? What if no one likes me there? I mean, what kind of seventeen, eighteen-year-olds are going to want to do with a fifteen-year-old like me?" Ruby kicked at the ground sadly.

"Just because you're younger, doesn't mean they won't like you…I mean, I like you! See? That's one person already."

Ruby smiled at her sister's joke for a brief moment, and promptly went back to moping.

Yang sighed. "Ruby, it'll be fine. Your classmates are going to love you. Like I said, you're great enough to get into this school at your age. They'll think you're the bee's knees."

"But I don't want to be the bee's knees. I don't want to be any kind of knees. I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees," Ruby put on a pouty face, at which Yang smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Everything'll be fine. You just wait and see, little sister."

At that moment, a notification sound went off and an announcement went up on all the viewing screens in the airship, interrupting a police report about the same man Ruby had defeated a couple nights ago, as well as talk of the White Fang organization.

"Greetings new Beacon students," it was Glynda Goodwitch on the screens. She introduced herself and some of the rules of Beacon Academy. After her brief introduction was finished, the ship had just started its landing sequence. Ruby and Yang excitedly looked at the place that was to be their new home for the next four years and started chattering about how amazing the place looked. Ruby even seemed excited, despite herself. Even an awkward kid running by, green with motion sickness didn't damper the girls' spirits. They were ready, for better or for worse, for the next chapter of their lives to start.