Friday, December 8, 2017

RWBY Volume 2: The Novelization: Search and Destroy

RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC.



When Ruby got back to her dorm from meeting with Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood, her team immediately rushed her. “What happened?!” said Yang.
“Uh, um… well…”
Despite what Ozpin had said about being discreet, Ruby went ahead and told them about how she mentioned the possibility of a base in southeast Vale thanks to what Sun and Blake had discovered at the White Fang meeting.
“That was a risky move,” commented Weiss.
“No,” said Blake, “I think you handled it well.”
“I hope so,” said Ruby with a shrug.
“I’m sure everything will be all right, Ruby,” added Yang. “Oh! I know what will cheer you up.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know. Dad sent it to us,” said Yang, placing a medium sized box on the floor. “We can open it together.”
Ruby squealed. “Something from home!”
Ruby, Weiss, and Blake looked on eagerly as Yang peeled back the tape on the box and opened its flaps. They looked on in anticipation as a small, rotund, furry item jumped to life. It barked. Ruby and Yang squealed, Weiss recoiled, and Blake jumped onto Ruby’s bunk.
“Zwei!” cheered Ruby, scooping up the corgi.
“Your dad sent a dog?!” said Blake.
“In the mail?!” added Weiss.
“Oh, he does stuff like this all the time,” explained Yang.
“Your father or your dog?” asked Blake.
Weiss leaned in to get a better look at Zwei as he panted in her face. “Do you mean to tell me that this… mangy… drooling mutt… is going to wiv with us foreva?! Oh, yes, he is. Yes, he is! Oh, isn’t he adorable?!” she fawned.
Blake was not amused. “Please keep it away from my belongings.”
Suddenly, there was a message on the PA from Glynda. “Would all first-year students please report to the amphitheater.”
“Well, we can’t just leave him here while we’re gone for a week,” noted Weiss.
Yang looked deeper into the box. “Oh. There’s a letter. ‘Dear girls. I’ve got to leave the island for a few days so I’m sending Zwei to you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both. Taiyang.’” Yang tipped over the box and a mountain of cans of dog food fell out.
“What is he supposed to do with that?” asked Weiss.
Yang shook the box and a can opener fell out as well. “Welp. That settles it. C’mon, girls. Zwei will be here when we get back.”
As Weiss passed Zwei, she continued with the baby talk. “Oh, I’ll miss you so much! We’re going to be best friends. I can’t wait to see you again. You’re so cute!”
Blake meanwhile jumped from Ruby’s bed to a table and to the door.
Ruby however considered Zwei very intently. She didn’t feel right about leaving him behind and surely Yang hadn’t considered the mess and mischief he would cause while they were gone. But how could she take him on the mission with her?
Ruby racked her brain until the idea hit her. “That’s it!”
As Team RWBY made their way into the amphitheater, Ruby wore a rather large Beacon Academy backpack. As they stood with Team JNPR, nobody seemed to notice that it was breathing.
“Quiet. Quiet, please,” said Glynda from the stage. “Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin.”
“Today, we stand together, united. Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the world’s largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself.
“We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware, that was something that many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it is a trend that has held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity.
“As I have said, today we stand together united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsmen and huntresses will work to uphold it. As first-year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best.”
Ruby turned to her team. “This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a huntsman working in the southeast.”
“Yeah,” said Yang. “We’ll follow him around by day, and give him the slip at night.”
Weiss suggested, “Let’s check ‘Search and Destroy.’”
The girls went up to one of the many holographic screens around the amphitheater and found a search and destroy mission that required Grimm to be cleaned out in a part of Vale known as quadrant five. “What about this one?” asked Ruby.
“Well, it’s in the southeast,” said Blake.
“Sounds perfect,” added Yang.
Ruby touched the screen and it asked for her to enter their team name. She did so, but a message popped up saying “Mission Unavailable to First-Year Students.”
“Wonderful,” quipped Weiss. “Never mind the fact that this event is for first-years only.”
“Any other ideas?” asked Blake.
“We mail ourselves there,” suggested Ruby.
“Well, that’s one option,” said Ozpin, walking up. “Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that the four of you will make your way there no matter which job you choose.”
Yang, Blake, and Weiss glared at Ruby.
She shrugged. “Whatever makes you say that?”
 “I’m still curious as to how you all ended up at the docks last semester. I’m interested to know how you really learned about a ‘hideout’ in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club sometime ago.”
Ruby smiled and tried to look as cute as possible—it worked on her father.
“I doubt I’ll ever find the exact answers I’m looking for. So, how about this: instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don’t we just bend them a little?” Ozpin took out a full sized Scroll, gave it a few taps, and the girls instantly received a mission confirmation on their individual Scrolls.
“We won’t let you down,” said Ruby. “Thank you, Professor.”
“Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far, but you must understand that the things awaiting you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. Stay close to your huntsman at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory. Good luck,” said Ozpin as he left.
As they made their way to the air docks, Yang said, “That wasn’t exactly uplifting.”
“But it’s the truth,” added Blake.
“It’s going to be tough,” said Ruby. “But I know we can do it. We’ve never backed down before, and we’re not going to start now. Besides, it won’t only be us out there. We’ll be fighting alongside a genuine huntsman!”
“Yeah!” said Yang.
All their spirits had been lifted, until they made it to the air dock and found Professor Oobleck, looking like he was about to go on safari, waiting for them. “Why, hello, girls! Whose ready to fight for their lives?!”
“Professor Oobleck?” said Weiss incredulously.
“Yes. I’m afraid those bags won’t be necessary, girls,” he said, seeing Ruby’s backpack, “as you have opted to shadow a huntsman on what is 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.
“I’ve packed all our essentials myself, plotted the air course, and readied the airship. And!” he said, getting in Weiss’ face, “it’s Doctor Oobleck. I didn’t earn a Ph.D. for fun. Thank you very much.”
“Uh…?”
“Come now, children. According to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind… schedule!” Doctor Oobleck then zipped away and aboard the airship.
Ruby tried to seem upbeat. “Well… all right then. Looks like we’re going to save the world with Dr. Oobleck.” After a pause, she went, “Okay, yeah. When you say it out loud it sounds worse.”
“Save the world?!” shrieked someone from behind RWBY. They turned and saw Team JNPR.
“You’re going on world saving missions without us?!” said Nora. “I’m hurt! Sad! Maybe a little hungry. That last one’s not your fault though… Ren!”
Ren turned away from Nora. So he hadn’t made pancakes that day. Big deal.
“Sounds exciting,” said Jaune. “Where you going?”
“Oh, just outside the kingdom,” replied Ruby.
“Hey! So are we,” said Nora.
“Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village,” explained Pyrrha.
“We set out tomorrow,” added Ren.
“Then you can party with us tonight!” said Neptune, as he and Sun appeared. “We’re shadowing a crime specialist. All inner city detective stuff. We get junior badges.”
Jaune was struck hard with envy.
“We normally go to the city with you guys,” started Sun, “which means stuff’s always exploding and junk. So we thought that this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it’s, you know, normal.”
“Well,” began Ruby.
“Four minutes, ladies!” shouted Oobleck from the airship.
There was a pregnant, awkward pause. Ruby finally said, “Well, uh, wish us luck.” And with that, Team RWBY said goodbye to JNPR and to Neptune and Sun.
Aboard the airship, Yang confessed to Doctor Oobleck, “I guess I never saw you as much of a fighter.”
“I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a huntsman, I’ve had my fair share of tussles.”
“Like the mushroom?” said Ruby.
“Those are truffles,” corrected Blake.
“Like the sprout?”
“Those are brussels,” said Yang.
“Besides,” continued Oobleck, “given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in archeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw it fit to assign me to this particular… assignment.”
“What does history have to do with this?” asked Weiss.
“Why, what a preposterous question, you silly girl. Why, history is the backbone of our very society. And the liver! And the kidneys, too, if I were to wager.”
“And that 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.”
“Mountain Glenn,” said Ruby.
“That’s right!” said Yang. “It was an expansion of Vale. But in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city.”
“Correct!” said Oobleck. “And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder.”
“And a likely place for a hideout,” concluded Blake.
“Precisely.”
***
The airship circled above the derelict remains of Mountain Glenn and descended into a suitable clearing. Team RWBY dropped from it all ready for action and Doctor Oobleck with his thermos handy. The airship departed.
“Ladies! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your mission as huntresses has begun. From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?”
The girls nodded, but Oobleck noted a discrepancy.
“Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all your bags back at school,” he said, seeing the rather large backpack still with her.
Ruby was quick with a counter. “But, you hadn’t told us to listen to you, yet. So… I didn’t.”
“She’s not wrong…” Oobleck said to himself. “Very well, Ruby. Leave your bag here. We can pick it up upon our return.”
“But, I… uh…”
“Young lady! What in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with y—”
Zwei’s head popped out. Ruby’s eyes widened as the rest of her team looked at her worriedly.
Ruby turned to Zwei. “Get back in the bag!” she whispered.
“We’re here to investigate an abandoned, urban jungle, teeming with death and hostility, and you brought… a dog?”
“I, uh—!”
“Genius!” declared Doctor Oobleck. He scooped Zwei out of the backpack and started carrying him around. “Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!”
Ruby smiled. “I’m a genius.”
Weiss and Yang facepalmed.
“So, what are your orders, Doctor?” asked Blake.
“Ah, yes! Straight to the chase. I like it!” Oobleck dropped Zwei. “As you have 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.”
The girls leaned in. They didn’t understand. “Uh, what?” said Ruby.
“Grimm,” repeated Oobleck. “A creature of Grimm. Approximately one-hundred yards from us at this very moment.”
“What?!” said Yang.
RWBY turned and saw a lone Beowolf as it wandered into the street and sniffed at the ground. The girls armed their weapons.
“Stop!” ordered Oobleck. “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 likely held by our hidden group harboring ill intent.”
“So… what now?” asked Ruby.
“We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey.”
“How long do we wait?” asked Yang.
“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,” concluded Oobleck as more Beowolves entered the street.
“What?” said Weiss.
“And now they’ve seen us.”
“What?!”
“And now they’ve seen us!”
“I take it tracking is out of the question,” said Ruby.
“An accurate assumption, yes.”
“What’s the plan, then?” said Yang as the pack charged them.
“Show me what you’re capable of,” ordered Oobleck.
 Yang gladly charged the pack head on, punching several and breaking a few necks. Within a few seconds, she had several Beowolves following her. But some of them became distracted by Blake, who stood still in the middle of the street. They attempted to ambush her, but Blake dodged their attack with one of her shadow clones and proceeded to slice and dice them.
Weiss quickly garnered the attention of several herself, but thanks to her glyphs, she was able to stay a couple of moves ahead of them. She launched straight through the pack and with several fanciful and artistic cuts, they all fell.
Ruby meanwhile was providing support with suppressive fire. Eventually, what was left of the pack turned their attention to her. Ruby flourished her scythe and shot right at them. With a few quick slashes, they all lay dead at her feet. She turned to Doctor Oobleck. “Heh. Piece of cake.”
“Do not celebrate yet. For I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?”
Doctor Oobleck led the girls through Mountain Glenn, looking for anything that may give him a clue as to where their query was hidden. While he did that, he relied on the girls to fight off the many Grimm.
After stopping to observe some long dead growth and allow the girls to clear away a few Beowolves, Oobleck said, “Excellent work, girls. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any signs of criminal activity in this sector. Oh well! Moving along.”
The girls followed, but Yang had a contention. “Hey, Doc! You know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a pro huntsman in action. Like fighting, or at least, helping us fight.”
“Ah, but I am in action: scouring the ruins of this once great city for any signs of irregularity. Not every mission is full of daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it’s just a heightened form of extermination. Remember: this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that.”
Yang stammered. “Well, yeah.” She looked at the others for support, but didn’t find any. “I mean, of course.”
“Hmm.” Following that exchange, Oobleck started paying more attention to Team RWBY. He noticed several interesting things, but when he examined Yang and compared her to the rest of the team, he noticed that her shot-gauntlets forced her to get quite close to her enemy, much closer than any of the others. He also noticed how Yang was much more aggressive. This piqued his interest, and after another pack of slain Grimm, Oobleck said, “Tell me, Yang: why did you choose this line of work?”
“Huh?” Wasn’t that obvious? “Well, to fight monsters and save—”
“No! That is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a huntress.”
“The honest reason?” Yang sighed. She fidgeted for a second. “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, that’s even better. It’s a win-win, you know?”
Oobleck was quiet for a second. “I see.” He then turned to Weiss. “And you, Miss Schnee. A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn’t need the extra work. So, why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?”
“It’s exactly as you said,” said Weiss. “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.”
“Interesting. And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose.”
“There’s too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality. Corruption. Someone has to stop it.”
“Very well,” said Oobleck. “How?”
“I… ugh…” Blake suddenly looked very disappointed with herself.
Oobleck turned to Ruby who had started to play with Zwei. When she noticed, she quickly stopped. “Sorry! Uh, are we ready to keep going?”
Oobleck looked around. “No, I believe that will have to do for today. It’s going to be dark soon.” He suddenly tossed their camping equipment at Yang. “You three, set up camp in that building. And please make sure that there are no more of those… creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby,” said Oobleck as he walked away.
Ruby ran after Doctor Oobleck. As they were securing the perimeter, they rounded a corner at the end of a street, and Ruby saw something unlike anything she had before. Several black and white creatures looking like elephants were several hundred yards outside of the city limits. But they were large. They dwarfed the trees around them.
“What is that?” said Ruby awed. “It looks awesome.”
“That, my dear girl, is a Grimm.”
Ruby was shocked. The only Grimm she had ever seen that big was a Nevermore. But they were the exception weren’t they? To see so many large Grimm in one location was truly stunning. And Ruby loved the idea of the challenge they posed. “Let’s kill it,” she said, pulling out Crescent Rose.
Oobleck almost laughed. “I’m afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size.”
“But! What if they attack us?”
“Fret not, Ruby. Those Goliaths 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 have 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 are likely to die. And what we lack in strength, we make up for in will. And that killing one human will only bring more.”
“Then… why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?”
“Waiting.”
Oobleck waited for the herd of Goliaths to proceed by before turning his back on them and walking back to camp.
Ruby trotted after him. “Doctor Oobleck? I was wondering…”
“Wondering why I interrogated your teammates?”
“Actually, I was wondering, why did you want to become a huntsman?”
“Look around and tell me what you see.”
“Lots of old buildings… uh, empty streets…”
“I see lives that could’ve been saved. As a huntsman, it’s my job to protect the people, and although I’m 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 am able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it into the hands of every student who passes through my classroom.
“I look at this wasteland and I see lives that could’ve 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.”
Ruby recoiled slightly. To hear Doctor Oobleck speak so eloquently about his calling to be a huntsman was inspiring and humbling. Doctor Oobleck wasn’t a huntsman for the fame or glory, and he didn’t become a professor because he wanted to escape the dangers of the field—he had a genuine concern for the world. But to be more effective than just slaughtering a few Grimm, by teaching others, he could effectively slaughter Grimm by the hundreds via proxy. How many Grimm had he taken down total with assists alone? The numbers must have been staggering.
***
Back at the campsite, Yang, Blake, and Weiss had gotten a fire going. It was crackling nicely when Yang said, “I can’t believe we didn’t find anything.”
Blake replied, “We’ve always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can’t always have luck on our side.”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Weiss suddenly. She had been quiet for a while seemingly lost in reverie. Her sudden outburst surprised the other two. “Earlier. About ‘upholding the legacy.’ There’s more to it than that.”
“Yeah,” agreed Yang. “No, me too. I mean… I don’t know.”
“I don’t know, either,” said Blake. “I know what I want to do, but I figured I would always take things one step at a time.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. We know why we’re here. Right?”
Neither Blake nor Weiss answered.
Their silence was eventually broken by Doctor Oobleck. “Ah, wonderful! A textbook campfire.”
Ruby gasped. “Fire!” She knelt next to it. “So warm…”
“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 watching over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?”
“Yo,” said Ruby.
That was good enough for Doctor Oobleck and he zipped away to find a place for himself to sleep. Ruby meanwhile looked for a place where she could post up for a few hours with Crescent Rose and Zwei.
“Hey,” said Yang as she passed. “Did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a huntress? I mean, what did you tell him?”
“No, he didn’t. Weird. Oh well. Good night, guys.”
Yang was disappointed. She couldn’t see what Oobleck’s angle was. Neither could Weiss and Blake. It couldn’t have been as simple as he was just curious. Was he trying to teach them something? Did he think that they had chosen the wrong career? A bit late for that advice. But if not, what was he after?
They were all uncomfortably silent as they rolled out their bedrolls and settled in for the night




 

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