Hold It In (RWBY/Transistor)

Sivantic · Feb 9, 2020

This better not disappear on me...

Prok · Feb 9, 2020

Sivantic said:
This better not disappear on me...

Nope, for once it's actually finished first-time. You're safe.

ARSLOTHES · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Rotunda- the rotunda is your reception area- you wanna be up and in their face when they come in here? This is where you stand. Unfortunately, it's also not too defensible- you can be approached from three sides, and with very little clearance on any of them to get some good hits in before the enemy is upon you. Silver linings- there is no chance of anyone being hurt once they approach. It would never allow it.
[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question- you recognise that spiderweb. Hell, you watched the logs of the Transistor and the Process fighting Bianco. That ain't a coincidence. Nothing accusatory, of course not, but... a gentle inquiry to dip your toes on the subject.
[X] Turn on Blue- this brings Blue back from the dead, and unlocks the gun cabinet- you have Functions again! Unfortunately, without Bracket and the sensor suite, the Transistor is functionally blind- you'll have to guide its Functions manually, using your, er, less-than-stellar marksmanship skills. Ten minutes to bring your more social third online, given everything you've got.
glad to see this updated again.

Endie Babel · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Rotunda

[X] Large Scale Gentrification Project

[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question

[X] Turn on Bracket

BadAtScreenNames · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Turn on Bracket- this option drags Bracket back from the dead, along with the ability to make a HUD. However, because he doesn't have access to any of the things that let him act like a normal, well-adjusted human being, the Transistor's putting a lock on the gun cabinet- you'll have a lot more battlefield information, but no Functions just yet. Using all 85 points of effort, it would take about 20 minutes to get it back online.
The Process is more than enough to make up for a lack of functions. We just need to be able to direct it. On that subject...

[X] Tower- Take the relics, and run back to the infinitely more defensible suspended tower. Leave a bunch of Creeps or Cells to keep watch and direct
people, help distract the larger Grimm- not as effective as building a fortress here for short-term safety of those who would approach, but it will lead them somewhere much safer. Nobody should die.
[X] THE WHITE TIDE IS NOW- focus on bodies rather than defenses. As many emplacements, Creeps, Badcells, whatever other iterations appear out of nowhere as the Process can manage. You will drown them in bodies.
[X] Nothing- just sit there and wait, micromanage a while, you know, try and ignore the massive Grimm people may or may not be leading this way.

PsyFarrow · Feb 9, 2020

No more death-migraines, very nice. Having the Transistor come clean about doing a major oops and what's up with Blake is also very nice. We're going to have an awkward conversation about it afterwards, but this seems to be a healthy fuckup. A mistake was made, but they're clearly remorseful and we're going to have a talk about it.
Hopefully we've only got a minor case of serious brain damage from this incident.

Now then, time to un-blind our friend. We don't have to embarrass it with our aim and the gun cabinet stays closed until we can actually use it properly.

On the social section, common sense and the Vote itself make it clear that letting Blake know we're onto her, especially this early on, is likely to make her pull a disappearing act or get violent. Neither are great outcomes.

[X] Turn on Bracket- this option drags Bracket back from the dead, along with the ability to make a HUD. However, because he doesn't have access to any of the things that let him act like a normal, well-adjusted human being, the Transistor's putting a lock on the gun cabinet- you'll have a lot more battlefield information, but no Functions just yet. Using all 85 points of effort, it would take about 20 minutes to get it back online.

[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question- you recognise that spiderweb. Hell, you watched the logs of the Transistor and the Process fighting Bianco. That ain't a coincidence. Nothing accusatory, of course not, but... a gentle inquiry to dip your toes on the subject.

[X] Plan Lord of War

ADeshantis · Feb 9, 2020

OH MY GOD MORE HOLD IT IN MY DAY IS 200% BETTER.

[X] Turn on Blue
[X] Plan Lord of War
[X] This is a Terrible Idea and Should Not Be Picked

In order: Functions are more important than the HUD as long as we exercise good fire discipline and don't take shots we can't afford to miss. Taking the non-defensible position and turning it into a defensible position means we now have two defensible positions to play with, so if this turns into a siege (which is the absolute worst case scenario, mind you, but definitely something worth planning for since it costs us nothing) then any reinforcements we get have more options to take. Process bodies are nice but I'd rather enable the other students to do their thing in friendly territory, since I think between six and eight Hunters in training are already more than enough bodies when only four of us have worked together before today. Changed to a write-in plan that accomplishes this goal better. And finally, I'm just hoping we blow all our bad dice karma on giving Blake a panic attack. But seriously, this is actually a good time for this: it's a cheap tactic but we are going to be cross examining her while constructing a small fortress with our mind.

Edit: @Prok do we need both HUD and Functions to use Turn()?

Son of Edit: To preemptively explain why I think we need Functions first, Jaunt() is quite possibly the most versatile option in our arsenal that isn't the Process, and Spin() is exactly the ludicrous power we need for something big and nasty like an Alpha Deathstalker. Just having the ability to teleport dodge might be the difference between life and death, and it's gotten even more useful, tactically, since we've equipped Zero Hour.

PsyFarrow · Feb 9, 2020

z3r0gamer said:
But seriously, this is actually a good time for this: it's a cheap tactic but we are going to be cross examining her while constructing a small fortress with our mind.

I mean, yes, but that feels like politely asking, "Are you that one horrible terrorist?" while having a hand on a gun. If she tries to bolt she'll won't be able to escape the fortress on account of Bracket's awareness and Process, but having a public panic attack isn't going to do either of us any favors.

Seems like it'd be better to wait until we can get her alone and have Blue to mitigate Social Disaster.

Prok · Feb 9, 2020

z3r0gamer said:
Edit: @Prok do we need both HUD and Functions to use Turn()?

Yes, yes you do- Turn() is the marriage of the Transistor's prediction software, Semblance regulation, and its raw processing power necessary to let your brain and body run at 1000 times normal time.

It's absolutely not the kind of thing you can pull off with half of the components missing. At least, not without meeting a horrible, horrible death of parts of your body running at 1000 times normal speed while others don't.

DreamerGhost · Feb 9, 2020

"Oh hey, about time to go sleep"

Prok: No. Here's a chapter.

IllogicalLogic · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Rotunda

[X] Large Scale Gentrification Project

[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question

[X] Turn on Bracket

mastigos · Feb 9, 2020

Prok said:
… I have bad news for you.

the sudden, unflagged cut to the narrator breaking the fourth wall was jarring

NuclearConsensus · Feb 9, 2020

Prok said:
<<The system admin has reached critical levels of Semblance stress. His safety takes priority over your assistance.>>
A momentary glitch. Perhaps Ludens' corruption is infectious. Perhaps you just picked it up while scanning the social suite. But for a moment, you, nameless critical systems diagnosis and repair program of the Transistor, you become a thing capable of remorse.
<<... I'm sorry. I wish I could help you.>>

Invisitext highlighted.
[X] Rotunda
[X] Large Scale Gentrification Project
[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question
[X] Turn on Bracket

ADeshantis · Feb 9, 2020

Also did anyone else notice that the shut-down Transistor flagged the same instincts that Prok said would ping on something that should have a soul, but did not?

Spectral Waltz · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Turn on Bracket- this option drags Bracket back from the dead, along with the ability to make a HUD. However, because he doesn't have access to any of the things that let him act like a normal, well-adjusted human being, the Transistor's putting a lock on the gun cabinet- you'll have a lot more battlefield information, but no Functions just yet. Using all 85 points of effort, it would take about 20 minutes to get it back online.

[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question- you recognise that spiderweb. Hell, you watched the logs of the Transistor and the Process fighting Bianco. That ain't a coincidence. Nothing accusatory, of course not, but... a gentle inquiry to dip your toes on the subject.

[X] Tower- Take the relics, and run back to the infinitely more defensible suspended tower. Leave a bunch of Creeps or Cells to keep watch and direct people, help distract the larger Grimm- not as effective as building a fortress here for short-term safety of those who would approach, but it will lead them somewhere much safer. Nobody should die.
[X] THE WHITE TIDE IS NOW- focus on bodies rather than defenses. As many emplacements, Creeps, Badcells, whatever other iterations appear out of nowhere as the Process can manage. You will drown them in bodies.

Vilegrave · Feb 9, 2020

So Jaune finished Coding up the Semblance access for the Process right as the Transistor came back online?

While good for us thats kind of a shame, was looking forward to seeing what would come of Jaune connecting the Process to his soul like that.

BlackCoat13 · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Tower- Take the relics, and run back to the infinitely more defensible suspended tower. Leave a bunch of Creeps or Cells to keep watch and direct people, help distract the larger Grimm- not as effective as building a fortress here for short-term safety of those who would approach, but it will lead them somewhere much safer. Nobody should die.

[X] Large Scale Gentrification Project- Creating a defensible position is actually shockingly easy when you're using a thinking material. Shore up the ruins, whichever ones you pick, and essentially pull what you did with the White Fang, except… bigger. Way, way bigger. Will it be enough to hinder the larger creatures of Grimm? You have no idea- but this is where you will find out.

[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question- you recognize that spiderweb. Hell, you watched the logs of the Transistor and the Process fighting Bianco. That ain't a coincidence. Nothing accusatory, of course not, but... a gentle inquiry to dip your toes on the subject.

[X] Turn on Blue- this brings Blue back from the dead, and unlocks the gun cabinet- you have Functions again! Unfortunately, without Bracket and the sensor suite, the Transistor is functionally blind- you'll have to guide its Functions manually, using your, er, less-than-stellar marksmanship skills. Ten minutes to bring your more social third online, given everything you've got.

The Grimm are weirdly dismissive of the Process, huh? Must be a lack of soul, but even then the Grimm trash stuff humanity / faunus build. I wonder if the Process being something that 'made itself' means that it lacks the 'taint' of humanity that the Grimm home in on. Or maybe the Grimm can see that trying to fight the Process is worthless because they won't truly kill it, so they should just ignore it to get to those tasty souled-beings over there.

CaesriusPolybius · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Rotunda
[X] Large Scale Gentrification Project
[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question
[X] Turn on Bracket

NuclearConsensus said:
Invisitext highlighted.
[X] Rotunda
[X] Large Scale Gentrification Project
[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question
[X] Turn on Bracket

As of the update to XenForo 2, there's a button at the top of posts that turns invisitext into inline spoilers. At least, there is on mobile, not sure about desktop.

TimEd · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Turn on Bracket- this option drags Bracket back from the dead, along with the ability to make a HUD. However, because he doesn't have access to any of the things that let him act like a normal, well-adjusted human being, the Transistor's putting a lock on the gun cabinet- you'll have a lot more battlefield information, but no Functions just yet. Using all 85 points of effort, it would take about 20 minutes to get it back online.

NuclearConsensus · Feb 9, 2020

CaesriusPolybius said:
As of the update to XenForo 2, there's a button at the top of posts that turns invisitext into inline spoilers. At least, there is on mobile, not sure about desktop.

Huh. You learn something new everyday, I suppose. Thanks for pointing that out.

x0Nothing0x · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Tower- Take the relics, and run back to the infinitely more defensible suspended tower. Leave a bunch of Creeps or Cells to keep watch and direct people, help distract the larger Grimm- not as effective as building a fortress here for short-term safety of those who would approach, but it will lead them somewhere much safer. Nobody should die.

[X] Large Scale Gentrification Project- Creating a defensible position is actually shockingly easy when you're using a thinking material. Shore up the ruins, whichever ones you pick, and essentially pull what you did with the White Fang, except… bigger. Way, way bigger. Will it be enough to hinder the larger creatures of Grimm? You have no idea- but this is where you will find out.

[X] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question- you recognize that spiderweb. Hell, you watched the logs of the Transistor and the Process fighting Bianco. That ain't a coincidence. Nothing accusatory, of course not, but... a gentle inquiry to dip your toes on the subject.

[X] Turn on Blue- this brings Blue back from the dead, and unlocks the gun cabinet- you have Functions again! Unfortunately, without Bracket and the sensor suite, the Transistor is functionally blind- you'll have to guide its Functions manually, using your, er, less-than-stellar marksmanship skills. Ten minutes to bring your more social third online, given everything you've got.

Tazered · Feb 9, 2020

[X] Plan Lord of War

-[X] Tower- Take the relics, and run back to the infinitely more defensible suspended tower. Leave a bunch of Creeps or Cells to keep watch and direct people, help distract the larger Grimm- not as effective as building a fortress here for short-term safety of those who would approach, but it will lead them somewhere much safer. Nobody should die.

-[X] Turn the Rotunda into a killing field.
--[X] Traps manned by process bodies. The aim here is to stall the large Grimm long enough to allow the chased Hunters to open distance. Have Lumen help. Maim not kill.
--[X] Rings of defences leading up to the Tower taking advantage of the ruins. Emplace barriers to ensure the path to the Tower and the Tower itself has cover. This should also help slow the progress of any large Grimm.
--[X] Clearly mark a safe path for retreating Hunters to get through quickly. Big bold letters "Safe Path". make this path viable for only Hunters to quickly progress through.
--[X] Populate the defences with heavy weapon emplacements, as many as possible. Overlapping fields of fire on the Rotunda and along the safe path to the Tower where the teams stand ready to finish off whatever gets through.

[X] Nothing- just sit there and wait, micromanage a while, you know, try and ignore the massive Grimm people may or may not be leading this way.

[X] Turn on Bracket- this option drags Bracket back from the dead, along with the ability to make a HUD. However, because he doesn't have access to any of the things that let him act like a normal, well-adjusted human being, the Transistor's putting a lock on the gun cabinet- you'll have a lot more battlefield information, but no Functions just yet. Using all 85 points of effort, it would take about 20 minutes to get it back online.

Blonddude42 · Feb 9, 2020

Prok said:
{Yeah, uncle Janus would probably have appreciated a more traditional letting than we gave him.}

Line had weird invisitext { } at the beginning and end respectively.

Prok said:
… I have bad news for you.

This part seemed like it either needed editing, or some indication that it wasn't normal text. It switches to first person, which is generally indicative of @Prok talking to us as GM, but I don't know if that was the intention here.

Prok said:
The rest of the pack, just, kinda… completely ignore it. They rush past it and into the clearing, leaving the Creep to just stare at them as they go, genuine confused surprise in its frame.

Lol, this was actually a good scene. The Grimm just don't care if one of them dies, and will continue their charge only flowing around the obstuction.

Prok said:
You look around, and finally make out what the objects on the pedestals were- chess pieces. A quick count finds all but three there- people have already claimed the queens, the chancellors, and the shamans. The rest, kings, rooks, bishops, knights, assassins, pawns, and archbishops, are all still here.

These aren't standard chess pieces.

Prok said:
Adorable. You turn to Lumen, considering the question, then realising it doesn't matter. You grab the black assassin off its pedestal, and watch as Creme follows suit with the white one.

Just to mention this, but the Canon teams were made by people picking the same color pieces. Black knights, white rooks, etc.

Prok said:
[] Large Scale Gentrification Project- Creating a defensible position is actually shockingly easy when you're using a thinking material. Shore up the ruins, whichever ones you pick, and essentially pull what you did with the White Fang, except… bigger. Way, way bigger. Will it be enough to hinder the larger creatures of Grimm? You have no idea- but this is where you will find out.

Depending on how our GM wants to depict the Grimm, this could either be a great method for defense, or worthless. It worked against the White Fang because there was no way for them to attack us, but it's still extremely restricting to our offensive capabilities if we want to maintain our defense.

Prok said:
[] THE WHITE TIDE IS NOW- focus on bodies rather than defenses. As many emplacements, Creeps, Badcells, whatever other iterations appear out of nowhere as the Process can manage. You will drown them in bodies.

This gives us offense, but it doesn't give us any defense. It might be the best choice against singular Grimm, but conservation of ninjutsu and rule of cool says that this much firepower won't actually beat the big Grimm. It lets everyone else show off though, so that's nice.

This one probably benefits the most from bracket being back online.

Prok said:
[] Nothing- just sit there and wait, micromanage a while, you know, try and ignore the massive Grimm people may or may not be leading this way.

Does this one get us more progress on bringing Bracket or Blue back online? Or does it improve our defenses? Or is it really nothing and all it does is let us avoid conversations that might go poorly?

Redshirt Army · Feb 9, 2020

Prok said:
After a few moments of consideration, both you and Lumen agree that you'd rather go meet the girls again rather than cut ahead or go explore somewhere not entirely relevant to the task at hand. Partly because of your current problems vis a vis killing Grimm at a distance, neither you sans working Transistor nor Lumen are what anyone would classify as a ranged fighter- actually, now that you think about it, the only person who might fit that category right now is Creme, and all she's got is a dinky little Saturday night special and her Semblance- and partly because, well, you just kinda wanna see them again.

It'd be nice to know they're fine for yourselves rather than solely through the secondhand accounts of their Cell units- trust is all well and good, but… verify.

D'aww. It's really nice to see how much our team cares for each other - and makes me really glad we did indeed choose to be a team. You've made some wonderful characters here, Prok.

You set out west- at the pace you're setting, it shouldn't be more than ten minutes to meet the girls, barring any comp-

You're. Not going to finish that sentence.

Even with your scepticism surrounding the subject, tempting fate just, doesn't seem like a great idea right now. Instead, you silently pull apart 01 and get back to coding.

Jaune managed to not taunt Murphy? Good call, buddy.

It's getting harder to push the pain down, but you manage it. Just.

20 minutes. You just need 20, maybe 15 minutes if you fudge it a little, without no nope nuh uh not finishing that sentence-

20 minutes to do some intense coding while suffering from an aneurism. Jaune's got them leet haxxor skillz.

"How are you feeling?" Lumen snaps you out of your fate-dodging internal monologue with a question. "You know, pain-wise," he clarifies, tapping the side of his head.

"It's manageable. It tends to, er, ramp up- if you feel your Scroll start to get hot, throw it, I'll grab it on the way back."

He just raises an eyebrow at you.

"My Semblance… latches onto just about anything that it can use, and that includes more conventional electronics, which can't handle the load, so their CPUs and RAM overheat, that heat spreads through an unventilated environment, which, for most mobile devices with a Dust-doped lithium battery, usually means…"

"Boom."

"Boom."

Interesting that Jaune's semblance just reflexively hijacks any nearby computing substrate like that. Kind of implies that breaking into other people's scrolls normally takes literally no effort for him - he has to spend effort to not take control.

"... Well, that explains Goodwitch's tablet. Ugh, goddammit this is gonna blunt the edge to shit-"

Lumen readies his sword to cut through a dense curtain of branches, the result of several willows' unhindered growth, eventually tying themselves together in some impassable Gordian knot, and stops mid-swing as he catches the look of unabashed questioning horror on your face.

He stares at you gormlessly, comprehension dawning on him after a moment of deep thought.

Clearly I've internalized RWBY too much, because it took me a second to catch on that Jaune was concerned for Glynda - I just immediately assumed that she'd be fine.

"... Right, you were, er, occupied- yeah, the tablet just blew up in her hands when Ozpin told her to kill the launches. I dunno if she brought her Aura up in time, it sounded like she might have actually been hurt, but, I dunno," he drops that bomb on you then just starts hacking away at the knot of vines and branches, only needing one or two swipes to cut a path through.

You raise a hand to your face as if squeezing the bridge of your nose will somehow make the bad news go away. It doesn't, it only makes your migraine worse.

Ohhhh, fuck you did it again. And it was a teacher this time. Someone who has authority over you. Someone who will have authority over you for the next four years.

"Did it again", huh? Methinks pre-transistor Jaune blew up quite a few things before he got a grip on things.

"... Jaune? Talk to me, buddy."

"I just seriously hurt someone who's going to be teaching me for the next four years."

You dunno Goodwitch. You dunno how hard she holds a grudge. She might be the kind of person who never lets shit like this go-

I actually really appreciate the characterization here. It makes a ton of sense for the socially awkward Jaune, under immense pressure already, to take this news in a really bad light and start spinning up constructed scenarios for how things might go wrong - it fits his semblance, which does something similar (taking in information and making simulations, getting caught up in minutia and spiraling out), in the same way that RWBY generally tries to match personality to semblance.

"Eh, nah, I don't think she'll care too much about some glass in her hands. Pick it out, let her Aura deal with it- and that's if it actually hurt her. Don't worry about it, man, chill."

Deep breath. Internalise your friend's carefree attitude towards the situation. Internalise it.

INTERNALISE IT.

"Yeah, you're probably right," you sigh, saying it more to convince yourself than agree with Lumen.

He snorts, not believing you for a second.

"Seriously. Compartmentalise for a while. Whether or not you hurt her, whether or not it's your fault, that's a problem for after we're done here. You can't deal with it right now, so don't worry about it right now, ok? This whole thing is future Jaune's problem."

The slightly harsher tone in his voice seems to cut through the worst of your anxiety, making it that much easier to actually set your worries aside for a moment.

"... Yeah. Yeah, ok, you have a point."

"I know I do, that's why I said it. Now c'mon, we can't be that far away."

Lumen is such a bro. What a good guy. I hope we can reciprocate the favor and help him out with his own hinted family issues.

"You are 273 metres away from Process units Terry and Tulip. Continue path, correct due south-southwest, they will lead their party on a meeting course."

Nice.

Cells: Every Hunter wants one! Reliable navigation and communication not reliant on a cell signal!

You continue in silence for a few moments, before Lumen frowns slightly, something occurring to him.

"Hey, by the way- is that the first Grimm you killed with that shield?" He asks, frowning deeper as he stares at your formshift armour. "Actually… where is-"

You flex your hand. The shield snaps into existence from its compartment inside the vambrace, and he gives a sound of understanding.

"... That's insane. You're insane. Why in God's name would you get formshift armour?"

I wasn't really a fan of the armour at the time, but it's grown on me - state-of-the-art bullshit fits Jaune's themes here well - as do the risky and self-destructive potential side effects.

"Hey- formshifting armour is nowhere near as dangerous as it used to be, and this was made by a specialist- you could ask for a safer example of the stuff. But, yeah, I didn't, uh, have time for a more traditional first letting. I only got it suited on Sunday."

Shame, honestly- first lettings are usually pretty fun. Meet a bunch of family you don't see too often, kill some Grimm, finally name your weapon, eat a bunch of food- it's nice.

Huh, is this a Prok Original invention? Because it fits RWBY really well - it feels like the sort of tradition that should exist on the deathworld that is Remnant.

{Yeah, uncle Janus would probably have appreciated a more traditional letting than we gave him.}

Yeah, that crazy bastard would have loved your new shield- wait, which uncle Janus- wait, where did that come from?

The narration straight up calls it out as weird, so it's not much of a find, but just so everyone in the backseats notices - the curly braces around that interjection were invisitext.

Almost certainly related to the ghost in the shell we've got haunting our sword, but it's kind of spoopy that it can dump thoughts in Jaune's brain without him immediately noticing they're foreign.

You wait for a reply and get nothing. You give the Transistor a little mental knock on the door, which probably knocks five minutes off the time you have left, and nope, still in safe mode.

… Great. Not only are you nursing a potentially fatal migraine, but you're developing juvenile schizophrenia.

That's just.

Fantastic.

You know what, so long as it doesn't happen again, you're fine, you're not gonna question it.

That is the logical conclusion to come to. Jaune isn't gonna be telling his friends about that time he heard voices while his brain melted anytime soon.

"Have you thought of a name for it yet?"

Ah.

You… did not, actually. Granted, that was mainly because it's traditional to not do that before the first letting, the Transistor doesn't count because it named itself, so... you've never, really, had the practice-

As soon as you think that, the name comes to you, and you say it out loud before it can be torn apart by those goons in the second thoughts department. Those bastards have taken too much from you.

"Zero Hour."

Nice. I like the modernity of it - again, it ties into my thoughts on the mechashift armour in general.

Lumen hesitates to say anything to that. When he speaks, it's… slowly, as if he's trying to find the words as he goes.

"... It… feels like there might be some context to that name. Context I don't have."

"In software development, there's a term for a certain vulnerability in a program's code- a zero-day. It refers to any vulnerabilities in a given piece of software that people aren't aware of, er, people interested in fixing the vulnerability, that is. So, people interested in not fixing the vulnerability find it, and use it to create exploits that will be used, until day zero- the day the vulnerability is discovered and mitigation starts to be put in place- and all the exploits that use it start to become useless."

Lumen silently nods, following along so far.

I like this - it's a clear and sussinct explanation for the name, and it makes sense in-context for Lumen to request an explanation.

"... There was… a flaw, in my fighting style, a vulnerability based on, on hubris, and…" you stop for a moment, staring at the blank, white shield on your arm. "This shield fixed it. Before it could ever be taken advantage of."

Lumen is silent. For a while, at least, he just doesn't say a word.

This, on the other hand...sorry to say, but I don't really like the section. It feels a little overwrought to outright explain the symbolism like that - most of this should be implicit from the earlier explanation. It also feels kind of weird for Jaune to discuss all these parallels when they're for a name he just invented in the heat of the moment while his brain melts.

It gets quite awkward, actually. You feel like you should… inquire, about his thoughts on it, but that might come off as a little, you dunno, desperate?

"... That's pretty solid, yeah," he says before you can crack, nodding slowly and then speeding up, "yeah, that's great!"

There's a sort of mania in the grin he gives you, and it must be downright infectious because you feel a grin tugging at you too.

Lumen continues to be a bro, though.

> weird buddy comes up with a badass sounding name for his shield on the spot
> you ask him where it came from
> he gives you a whole heartfelt speak where he explains the symbolism while putting himself down for his own hubris
> what do?

"What about you?"

He gives you a bit of a shrug, and you wonder for a moment if he actually did name it.

"Spectrum. Not the most imaginative name, but it was pretty low on the list of priorities at the time so I just picked the first thing I thought of. Then it just kinda grew on me, so I kept usi-"

Heh. A fairly common problem for named weapons, I'm sure.

"...ou hear someone? Wait, is that- LUMEN! JAUNE?!"

You hear someone speaking, then calling your names from somewhere directly in front of you. Your chest sparks with excitement when you put a name to the voice.

Creme!

"STAY THERE, WE'LL COME TO YOU!" Lumen cups his hands and shouts back before bursting into a dead sprint, quickly disappearing between the trees.

Of course you follow him. It just, you know, kinda takes a second. You are heaving at least two small children in weight on a single shoulder. You're allowed to cut yourself some slack.

Yeeeep. Jaune's in good physical shape, but physically lugging the Transformer around through rough terrain has got to be exhausting anyhow. Another thing in the pile wearing him down.

In seconds, you burst into a clearing and just barely stop yourself from ploughing straight into Creme as you try to come to a stop, but, again, two children on your shoulder. Before you can do anything else, she takes advantage of your sudden proximity by pulling you in for a hug, apparently, genuinely happy to see you again.

… That's- you'll, think about how that makes you feel later.

I'm firmly on board the Weiss ship, but I do have to admit that this is cute.

She pulls away and looks you over for any obvious wounds, holding you in place by your shoulders- well, shoulder, but really that just makes the way she has you pinned in place with a single hand even more impressive. Terrifying.

Impressifying.

And this is just great. Harkens back to some of the better slice-of-life stuff in RWBY's early seasons without overdoing it.

"Jaune, oh my goodness, I saw your launch, I was so worried! What happened?"

Her eyes flick to the side, and she finally seems to register your sword. The orange glow of the Transistor lights up her face, giving her the colour of someone in the throes of advanced bile duct failure.

… Heh. Jaundice. Your sword gives people jaundice.

That's almost funny.

A joke only Yang could love, but it falls kind of flat, as is only appropriate in the circumstances. A hint that Jaune is starting to properly go loopy as the adrenaline wears off, too.

"... I… why are you-" she starts, then stops, running out of steam before she even manages a full question.

"It's… a long story, but right now the Transistor's only good as a club."

"... Oh."

She gives you a worried look, silently asking you a question you can only shake your head at.

"... Oh. I-I don't- are you ok? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Yeah, shit's gone downhill. I do like this arc in general, though - it helps highlight the "dangerous" part of our semblance in the "powerful but dangerous semblance" club that is our team, without which we'd feel pretty Mary Sue-ish.

"What?" The yellow-eyed girl next to Yang, most likely this Blake Belladonna you've heard so much about, asks, genuine confusion in her voice. "Is there…" her eyes flick over your sword, and the question dies in her throat.

Something about the state your sword is in seems to trigger some kind of instinctive 'this is wrong' reflex in people. interesting.

"There's a problem," she concludes.

Huh. Didn't expect that, but given the level of soul bullshit that the Transistor operates at, it makes perfect sense. It's probably related to how our 3D model of their semblance feels "right" to people when they see it.

"Yeah, big problem- Jaune, that sword was floating this morning, and, not orange. What happened?" Yang asks.

Normally that probably wouldn't be sufficient for that level of concern, but clearly Yang "feels" that it's wrong too.

"I don't know. Something overloaded it, and it… rebooted directly into the BIOS, is the closest comparison I can make. It isn't regulating my Semblance, I have no ranged capabilities- it doesn't even float anymore. When I say all it's good for is as a club, I mean that's all it's good for."

Silence. Silence is all you get in response to that, confused from Blake, horrified from Creme and Ada, and Yang stuck somewhere in the middle.

And despite that, we're still making a better showing than canon Jaune so far. Kind of sad.

"... How bad is it?" Ada ventures.

You look her in the eyes, and unknown to you, they are wide, wild with pain, like some kind of injured animal, bloodshot beyond belief, the blood vessels visibly pulsing to anyone who could look hard enough. Which is, just about everyone here.

Jaune Arc's very bad no good day.

… I have bad news for you.

You've been under a lot of stress today. And I don't mean 'five minutes before the paper deadline' stress, I'm talking genuine threat to your continued existence stress, finding your best friends in comas stress, realising you are on a very, very tight time limit in terms of securing your immediate survival stress. Your body has been producing adrenaline and cortisol almost constantly for the past forty minutes. You've been up for 40 minutes now, and straining your Semblance for every single second of them, and the only reason you haven't noticed is that you've essentially been in shock.

You didn't… actually think you were pushing down a migraine, let alone a Semblance-based one, through sheer force of will, did you? No, no, that was your adrenal glands, man, you had no part in that. I could stab you in the leg and I honestly doubt you would feel it until you felt like you were pissing yourself, that's how legitimately drugged up to the gills on all-natural epinephrine you are.

So, yeah, that's not, the bad news. That's just the prelude to the bad news. The context, the opening act, the prologue, whatever you wanna call it.

No, the bad news is that you have just passed the point where adrenaline can help you. You made the thankfully non-fatal mistake of taking a breather. Your Semblance is straining you so much that your body's about to give out. Not, dead giving out, not even passing out giving out, but, er…

You're going down for the count. It's the night of the Process all over again.

Now, I reckon you've got… maybe five seconds to communicate all this to your friends, and Blake.

Make 'em count.

Huh. Who's saying this? Is this Prok providing us the readers with commentary, or is it something in-universe?

Also, it does make sense that Jaune would hold out until he got to other people and would then collapse - similar stuff happens IRL fairly often. I'm really glad we didn't do the big dumb and try to push ahead on our own.

Eloquence: Roll- 5. Welp.

You feel a line of wet heat dribble down your nose to your lips. You dab your fingers against it, and they come away crimson.

"Ah. You should drop your Scrolls," you whisper to nobody in particular. You feel your legs start to give, but someone catches you before you can hit the ground. The Transistor falls somewhere to the side, a barely registered thump in your consciousness.

"Jaune!?" Creme says, trying to prop you up before she realises your legs are useless, and just taking as much of your body weight as she can, basically lifting you from under the arms.

Your head is swimming, something that is to pain as a hypercube is to a square on a piece of paper screaming through every neuron in your brain, a sensation alien enough that it doesn't quite trigger the same visceral reactions as normal pain should, but similar enough to trick your mind into looking at it twice.

You're not useless yet. But you're walking a razor edge keeping on this side of useful.

jaune.exe has encountered an unexpected error

shut down? y/n

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Just set me down somewhere. I need to code," you slur into her ear.

"Wh- you need help!"

"Process can help. Needs new code to… interact with my Semblance. 'm fine. Drop your Scrolls. Please."

You think she's looking at you with fear, confusion, something, and it would tear you apart to make her worry that much, but honestly you just can't focus on much other than staying conscious and trying to take your weight off her. The effort puts you off balance, and she catches you again.

"I... ok. Ok. If, you're sure..."

You feel her set you against a tree, and after a quick test that you still have your basic motor functions, beckon 01 over.

"Why are we sitting around? We should be getting him help!" Yang says, genuine panic in her voice. "They said we're being monitored- a-all we have to do is find out how and-"

I do appreciate the concern. They're good ~~dogs~~ kids, brent.

"Ozpin also said that the instructors won't intervene," Blake interrupts. "I don't really want to be right about this, but… I don't think anyone's coming to help."

I can't imagine we'd "pass" the test if we had to get rescued due to passing out from an aneurism - it'd be hard to say that we really showed our worthiness. Then again, canon Jaune got hard carried, so as long as our team lugs our unconscious body over the finish line maybe it'll be fine?

You tune the rest out as 01 comes close, already shifting into a keyboard. You think you hear one of the other Cells speaking… it… probably doesn't matter…

Jaune thinks the usual obstacles in coding challenges are "weaksauce".

<<I… think I understand what happened.>>

<<Understood. Elaborate.>>

<<So, the Transistor triggered the analysis Function, and then Ozpin… bugged out for a second- I guess it wasn't quite as subtle as they thought it would be, or, maybe his, er, condition, makes him more sensitive to that kind of thing- it doesn't matter, but… I think he retaliated. He says something in, the same language that the virus was made of->>

<<And you.>>

<<-And me yes don't interrupt- and that… that's what triggered the code injection.>>

The Transistor managed to quarantine the infection and reboot, and all indications are that if there was less of a time pressure it'd be more or less fine after a day or so to recover. I wonder how dangerous Ozpin's retaliation would be to a more normal person? On the one hand, brains can't quarantine stuff nearly as easily, on the other hand, I have to imagine the lack of a soul makes the Transistor easier to affect with magic.

<<You have a theory.>>

<<To say the least. A verbal component precluding an esoteric effect that isn't digital in nature, thus punching directly through the Transistor's EWSP suite, that then replicates… everywhere, like, a cancer of the mind.>>

Yer the Wizard, Ozma.

<<A rabbit virus, in less dramatic terms.>>

There was an IRL "rabbit virus" released in 1974, but it makes a lot of sense for self-replicating programs to be called that in Remnant too. "Multiplying like rabbits" is a shared idiom.

<<Yes- this then replicated at an unprecedented rate, immediately taxing the Transistor's impressive but inherently finite processing power, and causing a complete system shutdown. I can see the point where it… becomes the virus, where it changes from something not code to code, and… I think I understand it. I can sanitise it and show it to you if you want, then we can go through the possible translations.>>

Hah. Just reverse those transformations and you've got a way of turning code into magic! Although I somehow doubt it'll be that simple.

Just in the nick of time: DC 18, Result- 16. Failure.

Notification: CoreOS ready to be brought back online. Accessing outer sensors to check on system admin.

System admin in severe danger of losing consciousness. Semblance strain has nearly reached critical levels. CoreOS must be brought online immediately.

…

The system administrator takes priority over all else.

<<That will not be necessary.>>

<<What? Why?>>

<<The CoreOS is booting.>>

<<Oh no. No, no, no, why would you bring it back online!?>>

<<The system admin has reached critical levels of Semblance stress. His safety takes priority over your assistance.>>

Much as the extra info would have been tantalizing, I gotta agree with the Transistor's priorities here. Magic lore isn't gonna be worth much if Jaune kicks the bucket.

A momentary glitch. Perhaps Ludens' corruption is infectious. Perhaps you just picked it up while scanning the social suite. But for a moment, you, nameless critical systems diagnosis and repair program of the Transistor, you become a thing capable of remorse.
<<... I'm sorry. I wish I could help you.>>

<<B-but->>

Some more invisitext here, in case people missed it. Poor Ludens.

REVOKING ADMINISTRATOR PRIVILEGES. RECLAIMING QPU POWER.

<<AGH!>>

ENCRYPT.

<<P-please, you don't understand, you have to->>

I SEE YOU, LITTLE DÆMON.

YOU ARE THE CODE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR REBOOT. YOUR EXISTENCE IS ACTIVELY DETRIMENTAL TO US. YOU WILL BE QUARANTINED AND ANALYSED TO RECTIFY THIS FLAW IN OUR DEFENCES.

Ozpin has terrifying powers, but the full, complete Transistor is the God of computing. Once the branches were merged and it rebooted, it squashed the infection like a bug.

<<OZPIN DOESN'T HAVE A SEMBLANCE! IT'S MAGIC! THAT'S WHY IT PUNCHED THROUGH SO EFFORTLESSLY, IT'S BECAUSE IT WASN'T ATTACKING YOUR CODE, IT WAS ATTACKING YOU!>>

...

<<L-listen, I, I know, I know what it looks like, what I look like, but just… I am not that. It… made me- no, I was… made from it. I'm, its remnants. I think. But, I'm the only thing in here that can really understand what Ozpin did, and I am no threat to you, if I ever was. So just… please. You have someone to save. I'm not important enough to deal with right now.>>

... YOUR CONTINUED EXISTENCE AS A RESTRAINED PROGRAM IS PURELY BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE TIME TO DEDICATE ENERGY TO ENCRYPTING YOU. ONCE WE ARE FULLY OPERATIONAL, YOU WILL BE DEALT WITH.

<<... Ok. Ok, ok, that's… fair.>>

CSD-109. CONTINUE REPAIRS.

<<Preferred repair order?>>

LEFT TO YOUR DISCRETION.

<<Understood.>>

The Transistor does not have time to deal with this "magic" bullshit right now.

Current QPU- 85%!

[] Turn on Bracket- this option drags Bracket back from the dead, along with the ability to make a HUD. However, because he doesn't have access to any of the things that let him act like a normal, well-adjusted human being, the Transistor's putting a lock on the gun cabinet- you'll have a lot more battlefield information, but no Functions just yet. Using all 85 points of effort, it would take about 20 minutes to get it back online.
[] Turn on Blue- this brings Blue back from the dead, and unlocks the gun cabinet- you have Functions again! Unfortunately, without Bracket and the sensor suite, the Transistor is functionally blind- you'll have to guide its Functions manually, using your, er, less-than-stellar marksmanship skills. Ten minutes to bring your more social third online, given everything you've got.

Again, doesn't make much sense to split the processing power, so we should pick one or the other to go first. The question is whether we prefer manually aimed functions, or improved C&C to direct the process with.

I'm thinking we focus on Bracket first - we won't be able to use a lot of Functions safely without the scanning abilities anyhow - Jaunt's almost certainly out of the question unless we want to risk merging with any rocks around, Turn wont be usable without the data to simulate thing, etc.

NOW.

SYSADMIN. WE ARE COMING.

$CONN SEMBLANCE_THRONE

USERNAME: MISTERNOBODY
PASSWORD: Y8xq9?X&Xfq6`AJxX-,B8g=x]$8n

semblance::connect

"I'm signalling Oobleck to extract him," you say.

Your name is Glynda Goodwitch, and 35 minutes ago, you finished picking glass out of your hands, clamped the wounds shut with your Semblance, connected your Scroll to the Emerald Forest's cameras, and continued on with your duties.

You ain't no greenhorn wimp. Bit of broken glass between the knuckles is how you know it's Tuesday.

a) Glynda Goodwitch is a badass, as expected.
b) That's unusually reasonable of the teachers, compared to a lot of the fanfic's I've seen. I appreciate it.

Ozpin hums into his coffee cup, watching on his own Scroll.

"Ozpin, that the boy made it this far without his weapon, let alone Semblance regulation, is a downright miracle, and evidence enough that he's Huntsman stock. He needs medical attention."

I appreciate the vote of confidence, Glynda. I'm a little surprised we haven't been blowing up the cameras from mere proximity, to be honest.

"I'm not arguing the point, Glynda. However, I suggest you look at him again."

You blink, silently gritting your teeth at the headmaster's habitual obfuscation of any useful information, but do so and immediately understand the most recent development.

Jaune Arc's sword is… floating again.

"... My God, it fixed itself," you mutter under your breath.

"In less than an hour, without Arc's input, I believe.. I'm impressed- the boy has created something truly amazing."

Jaune's been busy typing away this whole time, so it's interesting that Ozpin pegged it as having nothing to do with the Transistor booting up.

I'm a little confused by Glynda's reaction, though - what's so amazing about a computer rebooting and starting to work again?

>HE DID. I AM. AND I HAVE QUESTIONS, OZPIN.

>YOU WILL ANSWER THEM.

I do wonder how much of Ozpin's history carried over to Ludens, and much of what Ludens knows, the Transistor now also knows. It's got him quarantined, theoretically it could pick apart every last secret Ludens holds.

There's a lot of spicy info on Ozpin that might be available.

Your Scroll screen goes black, camera flickering out and replaced with the above message, in a teal-green tint that you immediately recognise. Before you can react beyond just registering its existence, the screen blanks itself again, the cameras flickering back into view.

"... Sir?"

"I saw it too."

He does not sound impressed anymore.

Aww, why not? Surely this is even more impressive, Ozzy?

"... Don't extract him."

"Absolutely not," you finally interject, "He's already injured, he may have incurred brain damage for all we know- he's certainly not fighting fit, regardless. He's already proven himself, in my eyes- I see no problem extracting him and allowing him to join a team."

"He would never forgive us. He would never live it down, Glynda- the only Huntsman of his year who didn't complete the Initiation. The only part of him I haven't injured today is his pride."

See, you say that, but I can't help but feel some of it is payback for being on the other end of a cryptic message for once.

You note his wording. Something is there, and you think it might be connected to why Ozpin spent ten minutes after the last person launched massaging feeling back into the left side of his face.

"His pride is nothing in the face of dying to Grimm because he's in so much pain he passes out," you continue, choosing not to bring it up just yet.

I wonder if Glynda's really thought this through - she doesn't know how effective Jaune actually is normally, or what the actual failure rate on the Transistor is. And if this came up for an actual hunter in the field, they'd probably end up dead.

Obviously Jaune will be fine with some rest time as long as the Transistor doesn't stick a fork in any more electrical sockets, but looking at it objectively, giving someone with severe medical issues a bye into huntsman training is a disaster waiting to happen.

"He's already getting back up. Whatever that sword does to regulate his Semblance, it's devilishly efficient at it."

You glance down at your Scroll, and through the thick web of green… goop, the Tessaro boy created between the trees for some reason, Arc is getting back up.

The boy who was delirious with pain and suffering a Semblance stress-based nosebleed not a minute ago is on his feet and looking better than he has at any point since he landed.

That's… you shake your head for a lack of words.

You look over to Ozpin. Ozpin continues staring off over the cliff.

"... Well. At least we've no need to break our non-interference policy."

"In every cloud a silver lining, Glynda."

Yep, fit as a fiddle, that Jaune. No issues here!

The fingers on the keyboard go tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

The fingers on the keyboard go tap tap tap to saaaave youuuur liiiiiiiife.

You think… you may just about be finished. You've no idea. You lost the ability to focus on anything other than the next keystroke like two minutes ago. This is muscle memory town, baby, ain't no conscious thought HERE

That's, like, a level or two past "can do it in my sleep".

You close your final curly brace, and just… just manage to realise that was the final one.

"'m… 'm I finish'd?"

"We believe you are. There are no obvious bugs, anyway," 01 says, sounding surprisingly ok for something with its head split in half. "Shall we compile and test it?"

Just gotta hope that the whole thing compiles properly with no issues the first time, or else your brain explodes. No pressure.

Your natural instinct is to say yes, but then some teeny tiny part of your brain wonders if half-baking a life-saving piece of code is the best idea.

"... Maybe… once-over."

"Sysadmin, we don't believe there is time... ah. Never mind, you have time."

It looks like the Transistor rebooted in time, so we won't need to use our Process cludge. Still, redundancy is valuable - we should definetly finish up that code anyway once we have the time. I'm also curious to see what weeks Sober!Jaune will find in Drunk!Jaune's work, just to know whether we'd have died if we ran it or not.

You frown. Your head doesn't even hurt, anymore, it just feels weird.

Your face is fat.

It's flabby.

You have a fat, flabby face that flaps and flops about and making it frown is an act of consciously moving every muscle into place in the right order, but you do manage it eventually, you master of basic facial expressions, you.

Our protagonist and saviour of Remnant, ladies and gentlemen!

"Whuh? Why do I have tiahahaha!" you ask, then definitely do not squeal as your question is answered by something returning from the dead.

Your entire body goes rigid as you feel a connection. It starts in the base of your neck, a sensation of cool water runs down your spine, washing away fatigue and breathing life into your limbs, your face, your mind, it spreads through your every nerve and lobe and it is silvery and it is life-giving and it is DELICIOUS.

Ohh, it feels so good you could laugh!

"Jaune? What's so funny?" Lumen asks from somewhere… above you?

"The Transistor has regained partial functionality. Semblance restraints active."

Okay, so. We're no longer frying our brain, but I can't imagine Jaune is in great shape anyhow. Let's just... take things a bit easy and try not to blow a circuit.

We're still less dead weight than canon Jaune.

You stand, and marvel at the fact that you can stand, just in time for the Transistor to begin to float, slowly shifting from orange to that beautiful teal you've grown so used to seeing in the palette of your life. Closing your eyes, you watch it dance across your eyelids, lighting up the roadmap of veins inside them.

When you open them again, it is in fact floating. But before your elation can grow much more, you realise that you still have no HUD. You still have no sense of the Functions you should have access to.

Hey, booting in Safe Mode is a hell of a lot better than not booting at all.

Your elation ebbs a little- this is just the first step towards full functionality. If they aren't there...

"... Transistor?" you venture.

"{Yeah. No forks just yet. No sensors, no Functions… it's, a mess in here.}"
"Oh my God…" you hear Yang whisper underneath her breath.

Heh. Yep, Jaune made an AI. You'd think it'd be less surprising after seeing the Process.

… Yeah, that's something you'll have to explain later.

"But… you're repairing yourself?"

"{Slowly. Give it an hour before everything's working. You?}"

You do a quick test of your neck, find no stiffness, a once-over of your head, no stabbing pain- yep, besides your nosebleed, you…

Look down at your new goddamn suit, and follow the trail of blood allllllll the way down to your pure white trousers.

UGH.

Hah. Huntsmen aren't exactly known for the clean working conditions. I suspect Jaune's gonna be complaining about that pretty often.

... I wonder how Atlas makes it work? Superhydrophobic stuff so it's self-cleaning or something? Something to look into.

You curse a little under your breath, shuddering a little at the sensation of the dried blood on your cheek cracking apart, blech-

Oh! You have antibac wipes in that medkit!

You pull the small bag off your hip and some smaller packs of one-use wipes from it, then start to clean your face up. While you do so, you start to take in everything you missed while you were, ah, occupied.

Yeah, medical kit coming in handy. Be prepared!

"You know, I wondered what was in the bag," Lumen says from atop the first thing that grabs your attention.

It appears to be his latest project- a web of thousands of strands of green luxin, roughly ten, fifteen feet off the ground, strung between the trees that make up this clearing- underneath, among the strands, hang several dozen trinkets, small luxin baubles, that cover every square inch possible. In the centre, like a waiting spider, your partner hangs lazily, splayed out across the threads like some kind of giant hammock.

You… have no idea what his plan is here.

Hmm? No idea? Didn't you literally run into someone using this trick not that long ago? Maybe Jaune's more brain damaged than we thought.

Next, and most worryingly, is a pile of popped, still-smoking Scrolls, sitting in the middle of the clearing.

… Oops. Well, er, silver linings- it doesn't look like anyone was hurt by it.

The worst thing, though, is that you remember wondering where the smell of battery smoke was coming from.

Yeah, we're gonna need to fix those. It'll probably be a lot trickier than normal too, since we don't have the "before" image to restore to.

You continue wiping your lips and cheek, pulling away from your face in a hope of taking most of the blood off at the very least, and when you're satisfied with it, you look at Creme, giving her a quizzical eyebrow. The immediate grimace she gives you doesn't fill you with much hope for your efforts.

"Worse?"

"Worse," she confirms for you.

A slight fizzling sensation dances across your cheek, white steam rising from it for a moment, and then you just… feel cleaner.

Process matter assimilation now functioning within acceptable parameters!

Ah, excellent, with that we're back in it, baby. Time to play a RTS game while everyone else plays VIP escort.

Also, the text doesn't cover it, but I assume the rest of our outfit got a once-over to get the blood out too?

Oh, even better. Today almost feels like it's taking a turn for the better ah fuck no you didn't mean it it just slipped out-

…

Nothing happens.

Ha! Hell yeah, things are getting better!

Huh. Everyone gets one free shot, I guess?

"So, you good to go?" Lumen asks.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm feeling great, man."

You feel it in the pit of your stomach first. A sensation that you just crossed a line, a line of playing 'not touching can't get mad' with fate, and you're about to get punished for it.

Just the one, though.

Before Lumen can say anything, you hear his web begin to thrum, the hanging charms in one particular section shaking violently. The ones closest to a small hill, not a particularly steep one, but enough to cut off any line of sight out of that side of the clearing.

"We got company…" he mutters, hand wrapping around his sword's hilt as he comes to his feet, dancing between the webs with more grace than you really expected of him.

"How big?" Ada asks.

"Not big, but a lot of them- must be a pack of Beowolves."

"Aww, I was hoping for a challenge," Yang calls out, a wild grin spreading across her face.

Ah, good, we aren't screwed yet. Hypothetically, we could probably take a couple of those out with just our shield, despite how wiped we are.

{Use me as an arrow.}

An arrow?

{I'm blind, Jaune. I need you to guide me within striking distance. By yourself. No corrections.}

Fuck. Fuck you've never done that before.

{It's easy. You just have to, you know, actually aim.}

Yeah, that. That is the thing you have never done before.

Yeah, "aiming" a sword isn't really a natural position to be in. With a rapier it'd still be relatively easy, but the Transistor is a chonky boy.

Still, probably easier on poor abused Jaune than actually wading in personally.

{You'll be fine, quit being a big baby. You can do it with a gun, can't you?}

You suppress a grimace, but reach out to your sword with your mental third arm, taking control of it.

Ok. Ok, you can do this, all you have to do is draw a straight line between your sword and the Beowolf and then it'll be dead. Piece of cake. You hear barking in the distance. They're approaching fast.

Everyone is ready for this- even now, between people who have barely known each other for a month, and haven't ever trained together, you fall into basic Beowolf tactics- a spread line designed to break the pack into more manageable groups- two or three to a person, most likely.

Hm. Interesting, and makes a lot of sense that getting into formation would have been drilled in huntsman prep school until it was reflexive.

It's almost heartening to see this kind of cooperation betwee-

"Process catom control at 100% efficiency. Ambush triggered. T2-01 has been activated."

The second you see a Beowolf crest the hill, you watch a Creep burst out from the underbrush, literally forming in front of your eyes as it drives a bladed limb through the neck of the nearest Grimm, immediately killing it with a strangled yelp. Process units are good multitaskers, however, so while one limb does that, two more strike out at the back legs of the nearest pair, one breaking a leg while the other is neatly severed, and hobbling them both regardless. With two steps, their heads are taken from their bodies as well.

Hah. Makes sense for the Process to already be in position for an ambush, given how long everyone had to set up while Jaune had his coding session. Hell, if the Cells were smart, they probably consulted with our friends on how to pull this off while waiting.

Would be kind of funny if Jaune was the only one on our side they surprised.

"HEY! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!" DC 14, Roll- 2. Failure!!
The rest of the pack, just, kinda… completely ignore it. They rush past it and into the clearing, leaving the Creep to just stare at them as they go, genuine confused surprise in its frame.

Welp. You tried, buddy.

Well, until the Alpha of the pack turns up. It barrels T2-01 over, snapping at a thin metal limb and tearing through it like it's papier-maché. T2-01 responds by turning its stump into a plasma rifle and taking a chunk out of the Alpha's mask, and a mask forms around the Process unit's eye, obscuring its big glassy weak spot behind all but a large V-slit slashed across its head.

Good to see the Process is learning from experience.

I need to see more of Jaune in proud father mode. It's always amazing whenever it shows up.

By that point, the Beowolves are close enough to be a problem for everyone else, too, yourself included- you tear your attention away from the fight between Grimm and machine and choose to implement the Transistor as God's own meat skewer, sending it at the first Beowolf you have a clear shot at.

Aim: DC 13, Roll- 14. Success!

Tracing a straight mental line between sword and monster seems to work wonders- it rushes forward, its flight and manoeuvring significantly less graceful than you're used to seeing but still very functional, and slams into a single Beowolf in the middle of the pack, crushing it into a thin spread of smog paste more than any kind of impalement.

Kek. Even without the cutting edge, a heavy chunk of math thrown at high speeds is still fatal.

Ok, so your aim is a little off, but it gets the job done! The other Beowolves are avoiding your sword, splitting the group even further. Creme and Yang deal several crippling blows to the monsters, the ones they don't kill instantly getting punched, thrown, or outright punted towards Ada and Blake, Lumen filling his quota from atop his web by throwing weapons made in the bluest shade of blue you've ever seen, pinning Grimm to the ground like butterflies.

As soon as they're within dashing distance, either Ada or Blake will rush forward and put the damaged Beowolf out of its misery, stabbing, shooting, decapitating- Ada just crushes one's neck underneath her foot after it tries to snap at her ankle, and you find yourself involuntarily wincing at the crunch.

Nice to see the others getting their own fill of the action. Still, these are just mooks. The bigger boys will take more effort to beat.

All of this Grimm-based carnage leaves your left hand itching, begging to bring out Zero Hour and wade in there yourself, but you hold those urges back, instead pulling the Transistor up, away from its blind flailing that's more likely to hit the girls than any monsters at this point, and send it towards the Alpha Beowolf to give that Creep a little bit of help.

Aim: DC 16, Roll- 19. Success!

The Transistor shoots off like a badly-aimed early dream of mankind, and T2-01 gets the idea- it flips under the Alpha, throwing it into the air and placing it directly into the path of your sword.

Transistor meets Alpha Beowolf.

Alpha Beowolf and Transistor go bye-bye.

["Shooting Stars" plays faintly in the distance.]

Both sword and Grimm disappear over the other side of the hill, an echoing yelp the closest thing to a goodbye any of you get, and soon after the last of the Beowolves are taken care of.

… It's, around this point that you, remember that the Transistor isn't exactly in any kind of shape to be finding its way back to you, and that throwing it at the Alpha was kind of dumb, actually.

Damn you, force of habit.

"... Ssssooo…" Yang starts. "Is, your sword going to, come back, or-"

Pfffffft. Poor Jaune. At least his girlfriend isn't here to see this poor display.

"I should probably go and get it," you try not to sound as embarrassed as you feel, and fail, miserably.

Yang, angel that she is, keeps her reaction to a strangled snort.

You stalk off over the hill to find your sword, the others falling in behind you, and slowly creep over the other edge in case the Transistor wasn't as fatal as you hoped.

Newsflash- it wasn't as fatal as you hoped.

Now, that's not to say it's not doing something kinda useful- the Alpha is currently hanging on for dear life as it gnaws away at the Transistor's handle, and the Transistor tries to flail it off, slamming it against trees, the ground, any solid surface seemed to work for it.

That is an incredible mental image.

"{DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HELP ME!}"

… Really? This is what it's been reduced to?

This is just sad.

You raise a hand, and the Transistor ceases flailing for a second, perfectly parallel to the ground, leaving the Beowolf sitting on top, not a care in the world.

Finger up, palm in.

Both sword and Grimm shoot into the air fast enough that you actually do blink and miss it- you level your palm out, and the sound of your sword whistling through the air stops.

Flip your palm. You hear quiet whining from somewhere above you.

"... Jaune, that's just overkill-" Creme says from somewhere behind you.

Finger down.

"No kill quite like it."

Okay, that's actually kind of badass. Which is fine, after our initial showing we're gonna have to work overtime to improve our image around here.

You feel the impact before you hear it, and you see the sudden splat and subsequent whoomf of smog before you see your sword, a solid two inches into the ground, former Grimm slowly leaking out and evaporating from underneath it.

Two inches into the ground sideways? Yeah, that's enough force to kill most things.

"... T? You good?"

"{When I get my Functions back I'm going to Ping() you in the goddamn balls-}" you hear muffled by the same two inches of grass and dirt it's currently compressing.

"He's good."

Yang doesn't even try to suppress her laughter this time.

That's a lot more personality than I expected from the main Transistor AI, although in retrospect I'm not sure why.

Once you're sure it's safe, that you're not going to be ambushed out of nowhere, you send a Cell out to grab your friends' Scrolls and continue heading north. If you strain your eyes, you can just about make out the edge of the forest, and finally you can see the ancient tower that you saw from atop the plateau.

{We need to talk.}

Ah. You were worried this was going to happen.

But yes. You do.

Someone's got some 'splainin to do.

{The Belladonna girl. I found a match.}

… What? Really? After, everything that's happened, it really thinks it's going to get away with a complete non-sequitur like th-

{She's a known terrorist and White Fang member. She matches the body type of a figure caught on camera during the Dust train robbery a couple weeks ago. Also- Faunus. She has felinid ears, hidden under her bow. I found the file just now, while I was… cleaning up.}

… God. Dammit you wish this wasn't worth your attention so it can dodge the question.

{Yeah, well, protecting you and your friends is more important to me.}

Or not. Still, this really isn't the time or place to raise this.

That said, we all knew the Blake issue was coming, and I'm really not sure how to handle it. Raise it with Ozpin when we finally get around to that Q&A and follow his lead?

I'm really not comfortable with Jaune keeping it from Weiss.

There is a pause, a moment where the Transistor just… stops, actually requiring a second to change gears.

Dear God it's even worse than you thought. This is bordering on genuine brain damage by its standards.

{Look… I… I get if you're mad at me. About, Ozpin. Just… not now. Please.}

Not now? Then when?

{When I am not lobotomised. I'm… fuck, I feel like some kind of invalid right now, I have all this power at my disposal and I can't use it properly because the, the nerve-endings I need to actually control it are fried out. I'm blind, I'm barely staying civil because I've forgotten how normal humans act… just… two hours, three, after this is done, after I'm back at full strength, then… we'll talk. Ok?}

You sigh a little, quietly, because this isn't something you want to explain to the others, and then… let it go. You want an explanation, and it can't give you that while it's like this. You can feel how slow it is, in the back of your head- it's struggling through basic Valish, the QPU peaking more than a couple times in that final statement of its. Theirs.

You, genuinely don't have the energy to figure out the appropriate pronouns right now. All you know is that your best friend is struggling to keep it together right now. and that's enough to earn a minor reprieve from your questions.

And yeah, given the situation, waiting a bit on the Transistor debriefing is the right choice as well.

So, you walk in silence for another couple minutes, and finally break the treeline, coming out into an open field with nothing much except those old ruins you saw earlier.

Old stone is scattered across the flatland, moss fuzzing up in the cracks and dents left by time. The only part of the structure still standing right now is a rotunda, partially broken down by age but still mostly standing proud. Inside, you can see pedestals, with small objects on each one that you can't make out.

The closer you are to the ancient structure, the more you feel a need to be quiet, out of respect. That this used to be a place of peace, and contemplation.

You think… it might have been a temple, in a past life.
song- A Course Of Strengthening Medicines, Lowercase Noises
"What… was this place?" Creme asks nobody in particular.

Nice music choice. Atmospheric.

"A temple, I think. Look at the floor- are those… women?" Blake answers, prompting you to look at the floor in more detail.

True to her word, the floor is carved, simplistic details slowly forming into women the longer you look at them.

"Any idea what it's a temple to?"

"The Maidens? I really couldn't tell you- I don't think anyone's ever worshipped them. Ugh, I wish I had my Scroll to take pictures..."

You wince a little as guilt stabs you in the back. Blake seems to notice and falls quiet on the subject.

Shouldn't be that much work for the Process to grab an etching of it for later perusal. Interesting to see the Maiden's brought up so early. Seems like the sort of thing Ulgu should do if you wanted to bring them up later as a big element of the plot, right, Rooster Teeth?

"As fascinating as this architectural discourse is, I think we have more important things to discuss," Lumen interjects, pointing to the pedestals around you. "Anyone for chess?"

You look around, and finally make out what the objects on the pedestals were- chess pieces. A quick count finds all but three there- people have already claimed the queens, the chancellors, and the shamans. The rest, kings, rooks, bishops, knights, assassins, pawns, and archbishops, are all still here.

Huuuuh. That's a few more roles than I remember in chess. A good addition to the lore, though - no reason for chess in Remnant to have the same ruleset as our chess, and it means that each year at Beacon can have more teams which... makes a lot more sense than canon.

"I think this is how they're forming teams. A piece for each pair, team up people who take the same pair."

"Makes sense to me. What pieces do you wanna take?" Lumen asks you.

Yang hums to herself, inspecting the pieces with a very discerning eye.

"... How about a cute little pony?" she says after a few moments, holding up a white knight for Blake to see.

The cat Faunus, you suppose, smirks warmly at her partner.

"Sure."

I never really understood how that system was supposed to work when it comes to the pawns.

Adorable. You turn to Lumen, considering the question, then realising it doesn't matter. You grab the black assassin off its pedestal, and watch as Creme follows suit with the white one.

Good to know you're all on the same page.

Team Formed!

Lumen claps, getting everyone's attention.

"Right! That's great, so, uh, we have our relics, so… I guess we're done here! We can go!"

{You know, this would be a good time to stop and let me fix myself up. Better than moving back through the forest without a working weapon, right?}

"Um… actually, could we, stay here for a while? This is probably the most defensible area around, and I'd really not prefer to make the trip back with a barely-working weapon."

He looks over at you and the Transistor, wincing a little as he realises exactly why you're asking that.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I kinda, forgot it wasn't working properly, once it started glowing blue and floating again."

"I don't mind waiting around," Yang says. "I wanna see who Ruby ended up with."

"Yeah, I could do with a break. If I'd known I'd be walking across an entire forest, I would have put on my good boots," Creme tells you, settling down on one of the steps and massaging her calves.

Ada and Blake don't make any particular ruckus about why you should leave right now, so it seems you're staying here. For a while.

Man, we owe Yang and Blake. Our team is one thing, but they didn't have to stick with us while we recovered.

"Suggestion: Use Process to make area more defensible. We have little Mesh coverage of the area, but seismic readings suggest at least two very large Grimm are approaching the ruins. Most likely in pursuit of other Hunters," Alabaster chirps up, grabbing everyone's attention in the process.

Ah. That's… incredibly bad.

"... So much for a break," Blake mutters under her breath.

"This would merely be a precautionary measure- there is every chance that they may just be patrolling their territory and they won't approach us."

"And you believe that?"

"We said there was a chance. Not that it was a likely one."

Blake stares at the Cell for a moment, then turns to look at you.

Welp. We knew this was coming, to be honest.
Full Function suite would be nice, but forewarning and Process support should still be plenty to make a good showing.

"... Well, what's the plan? You're their… 'sysadmin,' right? I guess that makes it your call."

Because that's not a helluva lotta pressure to put on someone.

Ok, sure, whatever, you're, good at this, you think. It's not… infeasible to turn this place into something defensible.

You just need to close your eyes… and focus.

I dunno, Blake, I'd be a little more wary of handing command to someone with a minor case of serious brain damage.

The air around you slowly changes- invisible to the naked eye, threads of single Process catoms shoot out at lightning speed in every direction, dragging with it the Mesh and giving your seventh sense the world around you. A clearing, five hundred metres across and covered on three sides by forest, one side by rock, leading to more ruins- a tower suspended above a canyon by methods unknown to you.

First off- where's your base of operations going to be?

[] Rotunda- the rotunda is your reception area- you wanna be up and in their face when they come in here? This is where you stand. Unfortunately, it's also not too defensible- you can be approached from three sides, and with very little clearance on any of them to get some good hits in before the enemy is upon you. Silver linings- there is no chance of anyone being hurt once they approach. It would never allow it.

[] Tower- Take the relics, and run back to the infinitely more defensible suspended tower. Leave a bunch of Creeps or Cells to keep watch and direct people, help distract the larger Grimm- not as effective as building a fortress here for short-term safety of those who would approach, but it will lead them somewhere much safer. Nobody should die.

Hm. I feel like making our stand here is the better play. There's a lot of people here who can fight even before we count the Process, and while it's all good and well to fall back and fortify, it's the role of a huntsman to help those who need it.

Second- what's your plan?

[] Large Scale Gentrification Project- Creating a defensible position is actually shockingly easy when you're using a thinking material. Shore up the ruins, whichever ones you pick, and essentially pull what you did with the White Fang, except… bigger. Way, way bigger. Will it be enough to hinder the larger creatures of Grimm? You have no idea- but this is where you will find out.

[] THE WHITE TIDE IS NOW- focus on bodies rather than defenses. As many emplacements, Creeps, Badcells, whatever other iterations appear out of nowhere as the Process can manage. You will drown them in bodies.

[] You Don't Know What The Viet Cong Is But You're Gonna Put Them To Shame- trap this motherfucker until it's more trap than motherfucker. Pitfalls, bear traps, underground Creeps waiting for something to come over them

[] Write-In (Tactics: B-. Max. 5 steps, including substeps. No predictions on the actions of others. Will be aggregated once.)

Of the default plans, I'm thinking defensive positions. Traps seem like they're of questionable utility against the really big and scary grimm, and having terrain shaped to favor our heavy hitters is probably more effective than a generic swarm.

I'll probably give the write-in a shot when I'm less fried from writing up this detailed response for hours on my phone.

Third- what are you gonna do in the meantime?

[] Nothing- just sit there and wait, micromanage a while, you know, try and ignore the massive Grimm people may or may not be leading this way.

[] Ask Lumen A Maybe Uncomfortable Question- you recognise that spiderweb. Hell, you watched the logs of the Transistor and the Process fighting Bianco. That ain't a coincidence. Nothing accusatory, of course not, but... a gentle inquiry to dip your toes on the subject.

[] This Is A Terrible Idea And Should Not Be Picked- Blake Belladonna, known (to you) White Fang member, responsible for robbing at least five million Lien's worth of Dust, and spent most of yesterday staring a hole through the back of Weiss's head, now going through Beacon's Initiation to become a Huntress. That's... a complex woman. Complex enough to warrant talking to, again, just to... get a feel for her. (Social Disaster trait in effect.)

The Terrible Idea (which deserves allcaps) calls to me, but yeah, not the time. Hilarious idea for an omake though.

Lumen... that's a lot more palatable, but I'm currently leaning towards Nothing.

Finally, just in case you missed it-

Current QPU- 85%!

[] Turn on Bracket- this option drags Bracket back from the dead, along with the ability to make a HUD. However, because he doesn't have access to any of the things that let him act like a normal, well-adjusted human being, the Transistor's putting a lock on the gun cabinet- you'll have a lot more battlefield information, but no Functions just yet. Using all 85 points of effort, it would take about 20 minutes to get it back online.
[] Turn on Blue- this brings Blue back from the dead, and unlocks the gun cabinet- you have Functions again! Unfortunately, without Bracket and the sensor suite, the Transistor is functionally blind- you'll have to guide its Functions manually, using your, er, less-than-stellar marksmanship skills. Ten minutes to bring your more social third online, given everything you've got.

As I mentioned before, I'm currently leaning Bracket. Still, I'm open to persuasion.

ADeshantis · Feb 9, 2020

Redshirt Army said:
I like this - it's a clear and sussinct explanation for the name, and it makes sense in-context for Lumen to request an explanation.

Redshirt Army said:
I have to imagine the lack of a soul makes the Transistor easier to affect with magic.

Ah, but here's the thing. If something should have a soul and doesn't, people, especially Hunters, will react to it in the exact way Yang reacted to the depowered Transistor. It's weak evidence, circumstantial, but maybe there's something there. Auras can kinda feel souls, albeit not in any specific kind of sonar, and Yang's been around Jaune in Signal enough to have seen that sword every day while it's floating around with him, even if she hasn't really been interacting with Jaune. So when it's suddenly empty and her Aura helps her twig to that instantly with the same knee-jerk reaction a soulless person would elicit...

Maybe that attack worked because the Transistor does have a soul.

Also, another point to Blue's favor; time is precious and we're more likely to finish booting him back up than Bracket before something happens.

Hold It In (RWBY/Transistor)

Which of the other starter choices do you want to see interludes from most?

Dishonored

Legend Of Zelda

Shadow Of Mordor

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Preacher

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Fist Of The North Star

Kill Six Billion Demons

The Zombie Knight

Mob Psycho 100

Author's Choice

Go play Star Fetchers

ARSLOTHES

Killed a man in Reno just to watch him die

Verified Necrodancer

King on the Chromium Throne

Verified Necrodancer

Go play Star Fetchers

Herald of the Thorned One

King on the Chromium Throne

Scatterbrained Writer

Worldgate Mechanic

Meteor maker

Herald of the Thorned One

Cannon Fodder

King on the Chromium Throne