I've succumbed to the plot bunnies. I know I'm going to regret this, but oh well. This is likely...
[Multiverse Crack SI] The Adventures of a Space Whale
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Index, RWBY 1
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I've succumbed to the plot bunnies. I know I'm going to regret this, but oh well. This is likely to be rather infrequently updated, and I'm not going to be anything approaching serious with it, but it should be good for a laugh or two as SpaceWhale!Me dicks around in various universes.
This is a sequel to Breaking the System, though reading it isn't required to understand this, beyond perhaps the last chapter - but that can be summed up as "ganked Scion, stole his powers with Power Manipulation, became an Entity" and now you don't have to suffer through loose ends and plotholes that I can't be bothered to fix. Wasn't that easy?
Index - Non-chronological. In fact, there is no chronology here beyond the self-consistent timelines within particular worlds, so go ahead and just read the ones that feature worlds you like and skip the ones you hate.
Omake Index
In the end, my friends and I decided to split up. We all wanted to visit different worlds, see different things, and even one of us would be easily enough to annihilate an entire planet if not its entire multiverse, newly ascended Entities as we were - especially with all of our powers doubling yearly at minimum when that sort of time was less than the blink of an eye to us now.
I remembered reading some Infinite Loops stuff, back before all this had happened, and being struck by something simple but rather clever: self-set challenges to keep things interesting.
So. In memory, then, of Monty Oum, who'd died just before I left home for the Wormverse, I would make my first stop RWBY, and see how hard I could munchkin the power to act on the world with my soul.
When I arrived, I halted the vast majority of my mass a few dimensions over, on a world where the Grimm had long since overrun all of civilisation. I'd underestimated just how much I weighed, because the entire solar system promptly destabilised under my gravity.
Fuck.
Shifting over a dimension, this time I spread myself out into a mishmash of spatial pockets and distortions, even relegating bits I wasn't likely to use to whole other worlds. It worked well enough, though this particular Remnant would fall into the sun in a couple of hundred years thanks to the shifts in gravity I'd still managed to cause.
This was way harder than Zion had made it seem.
But it was good enough for now, and peering a few worlds over, I analysed the particular idiosyncrasies of the humanity of Oum's world. It took some fiddling with Shaper and Power Manipulation (surprisingly, its definition of a 'power' was pretty broad, and Semblances fell under that umbrella), but I managed to reconstitute the body I'd worn in the Wormverse with the addition of an awakened Aura.
It then promptly incinerated itself in a flare of ocean-blue. Apparently being a colossal multidimensional Space Whale comes with a considerable metaphysical weight. I managed to fix that one pretty quickly, thanks to Psychokinesis, which, explicitly stated to be capable of generating psychic constructs, was also apparently capable of doing stuff with Aura, allowing me to augment my control over it. Guess I'd have to keep that one partially on, then.
A single Tinker charge made me an expert in mechashift weaponry, and after a moment's deliberation I went with a glaive/katana combination - the polearm glaive, not the throwing weapon. Most Hunters had some sort of ranged option, but the way I found myself capable of moving, even with my soul limited as it was, it really wasn't necessary. I was fairly sure that I could keep up with even Ruby well enough.
After a little more experimentation and observation of non-Space-Whale Hunters, it turned out that my Semblance was self-enhancement - I could bolster my physical abilities far better than the norm with an identical amount of Aura, and unlike regular Hunters I could enhance my mental faculties. I wouldn't usually need such a thing, what with all the Thinker powers I possessed, but when I'd turned them all off it would be invaluable.
A couple of Tinker charges into combat styles and aesthetics, and in short order I'd hashed out a trio of martial forms - glaive, sword and unarmed - that were both badass and flashy, without sacrificing any of the former despite how much of the latter it was. Indeed, the flashiness even added to the efficiency of it, incorporating seemingly pointless movements that would actually allow me to attack from unexpected and unorthodox directions, misdirect foes, and so on.
Finally, I made a few tweaks with Shaper to fix the various little fuck-ups left over from evolution - the blind spot caused by the optic nerve, the weirdness around the pelvis that had been created during the shift to full bipedalism, things like that. I also made some general improvements - metabolism, healing rate, physical potential, increased tissue density and so on.
I practiced there for several days, cutting a bloody swathe through the wild forests that covered most of what should have been Vytal, until I was fully comfortable with the knowledge I'd plucked out of a metaphysical plane higher than I currently had access to - though I was planning to get there, eventually.
Then I shuffled through the 'baseline' RWBY-verses, making a note of where TGWP was as I passed it, until I found one where the timeline was at the appropriate point - namely, when Ruby was in the Dust shop just as it was about to get robbed.
I dropped my avatar in, making very sure the rest of me was entirely outside it, and only then realised I hadn't deaged it - but I managed to catch it in time, so no harm done. I'd put it in an alley where nobody was watching, so there wasn't any danger of anyone catching sight of it - me, I needed to start thinking with a human body again - shrinking several inches and undergoing several subtle shifts in face and body.
After one last check-over, I nodded to myself, and shifted my consciousness fully into the avatar, turning off my other powers as I did so.
Fucking hell, I felt blind.
Strolling casually out of the alley, I slipped into the shop, and quickly picked up a selection of crystals - fire, wind, lightning, water, an orange that I thought was energy, a grey that might have been metal - and paid for them with the Lien I'd teleported out of Torchwick and his goons' pockets just before shutting down my powers.
Hey, I'd need some money anyway, and it wasn't likely that they'd got it fairly.
Speaking of Torchwick and his goons, here they were now. Half-hidden behind a shelf, they didn't notice me at first, and continued to not notice me as of them went flying out of the window.
I let things play out a little, waiting for the right moment to intervene - first impressions are important, after all. The first thug went down to a two-footed blow to the face, flying back through the broken window. Two more were hit with the back of the frankly gigantic scythe Ruby was wielding - I mean, you see it in the show but bloody hell it's different in person.
The fourth - and final - opened fire, but she flash-stepped away, several times in quick succession, and he met the same fate as his compatriots.
Torchwick sighed, looking down at the unconscious mook by his shiny leather shoes.
"You were worth every cent..." He snorted to himself, before returning his attention to Ruby and speaking up: "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around..." he raised his cane, and the bottom popped open to reveal a little targeting reticule thing. Never did know the proper name for those... "...I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
He fired, and an almost blinding red light erupted from the end with a noise like a firework, shooting towards Ruby.
Showtime.
I moved, pushing Aura to my legs in a rather clumsy effort that nevertheless propelled me fast enough that I was in the line of fire before the shot had gone even halfway.
Infusing my Aura into my glaive, I almost winced as it blazed blue. I'd need to work on control, later. Nevertheless, I pushed on, and struck out at exactly the right moment, deflecting the shot to send it careening off into the sky where it detonated harmlessly.
Both of them were quite shocked, but Torchwick recovered admirably and ran for the ladder nearby. As a qualified Hunter, he was fast - but while I had little control over where I went after pushing off, an unfortunate consequence of my lack of restraint, in terms of speed... he really didn't stand a chance, and I was waiting for him at the top of the ladder, having reached the roof in a single bound.
His eyes widened slightly as he saw me, but I had to give him credit, as he still didn't hesitate and instead leapt several meters to the right, catching onto the ledge and swinging fluidly up to sprint across the roof - only for Ruby to sail up and over his head, propelled by a combination of her Semblance and Crescent Rose, and land in front of him.
"Hey!"
He almost snarled. "Persistent..."
Looked like we were getting to him. However, I knew better than to think we had him boxed in - in all likelihood, with Ruby being rather young and naive and my terrible control over my Aura, he would be able to win simply by virtue of experience and training.
However, we didn't have to beat him. Rather, we just had to stall until Goodwitch arrived.
I stepped forward, essaying several sharp jabs with my glaive, actually managing not to create a blinding glow this time, though it was still pretty bright. He evaded with an impressive economy of movement, swaying his body backward and forward - and then leapt, rolling in midair to land facing us as Ruby swung her scythe with far more force than I'd expect of someone her size wielding a weapon as large as Crescent Rose.
Aura, son.
I gave her a glance. "Left."
She blinked, puzzled for a moment, but when I started to curve around to the right she understood and began to circle around the other way - a basic pincer tactic, no chance of it working on him but nevertheless speaking well of my tactical acumen for anyone who might be watching (coughOzpincough) and making things a little easier on us.
Torchwick let us back him up - thinking we didn't know about the aircraft he had waiting below the lip of the building, no doubt - but it was at that point that Goodwitch arrived, moving so fast I barely caught it.
Was that the difference between regular and elite Hunters? I mean, I know she'd dropped out of nowhere in the first episode, but this - she'd barely been a blur.
I dreaded to think how fast Ruby would be when she reached that level.
Regardless, she stood behind Torchwick, making it overwhelmingly likely that he'd try to go through us rather than her. I shifted my stance, lowering the glaive so that it was set to receive a charge rather than strike out.
He glanced back, and visibly tensed.
"...Fuck."
And then battle was joined.
This is a sequel to Breaking the System, though reading it isn't required to understand this, beyond perhaps the last chapter - but that can be summed up as "ganked Scion, stole his powers with Power Manipulation, became an Entity" and now you don't have to suffer through loose ends and plotholes that I can't be bothered to fix. Wasn't that easy?
Index - Non-chronological. In fact, there is no chronology here beyond the self-consistent timelines within particular worlds, so go ahead and just read the ones that feature worlds you like and skip the ones you hate.
Omake Index
~*~
In the end, my friends and I decided to split up. We all wanted to visit different worlds, see different things, and even one of us would be easily enough to annihilate an entire planet if not its entire multiverse, newly ascended Entities as we were - especially with all of our powers doubling yearly at minimum when that sort of time was less than the blink of an eye to us now.
I remembered reading some Infinite Loops stuff, back before all this had happened, and being struck by something simple but rather clever: self-set challenges to keep things interesting.
So. In memory, then, of Monty Oum, who'd died just before I left home for the Wormverse, I would make my first stop RWBY, and see how hard I could munchkin the power to act on the world with my soul.
When I arrived, I halted the vast majority of my mass a few dimensions over, on a world where the Grimm had long since overrun all of civilisation. I'd underestimated just how much I weighed, because the entire solar system promptly destabilised under my gravity.
Fuck.
Shifting over a dimension, this time I spread myself out into a mishmash of spatial pockets and distortions, even relegating bits I wasn't likely to use to whole other worlds. It worked well enough, though this particular Remnant would fall into the sun in a couple of hundred years thanks to the shifts in gravity I'd still managed to cause.
This was way harder than Zion had made it seem.
But it was good enough for now, and peering a few worlds over, I analysed the particular idiosyncrasies of the humanity of Oum's world. It took some fiddling with Shaper and Power Manipulation (surprisingly, its definition of a 'power' was pretty broad, and Semblances fell under that umbrella), but I managed to reconstitute the body I'd worn in the Wormverse with the addition of an awakened Aura.
It then promptly incinerated itself in a flare of ocean-blue. Apparently being a colossal multidimensional Space Whale comes with a considerable metaphysical weight. I managed to fix that one pretty quickly, thanks to Psychokinesis, which, explicitly stated to be capable of generating psychic constructs, was also apparently capable of doing stuff with Aura, allowing me to augment my control over it. Guess I'd have to keep that one partially on, then.
A single Tinker charge made me an expert in mechashift weaponry, and after a moment's deliberation I went with a glaive/katana combination - the polearm glaive, not the throwing weapon. Most Hunters had some sort of ranged option, but the way I found myself capable of moving, even with my soul limited as it was, it really wasn't necessary. I was fairly sure that I could keep up with even Ruby well enough.
After a little more experimentation and observation of non-Space-Whale Hunters, it turned out that my Semblance was self-enhancement - I could bolster my physical abilities far better than the norm with an identical amount of Aura, and unlike regular Hunters I could enhance my mental faculties. I wouldn't usually need such a thing, what with all the Thinker powers I possessed, but when I'd turned them all off it would be invaluable.
A couple of Tinker charges into combat styles and aesthetics, and in short order I'd hashed out a trio of martial forms - glaive, sword and unarmed - that were both badass and flashy, without sacrificing any of the former despite how much of the latter it was. Indeed, the flashiness even added to the efficiency of it, incorporating seemingly pointless movements that would actually allow me to attack from unexpected and unorthodox directions, misdirect foes, and so on.
Finally, I made a few tweaks with Shaper to fix the various little fuck-ups left over from evolution - the blind spot caused by the optic nerve, the weirdness around the pelvis that had been created during the shift to full bipedalism, things like that. I also made some general improvements - metabolism, healing rate, physical potential, increased tissue density and so on.
I practiced there for several days, cutting a bloody swathe through the wild forests that covered most of what should have been Vytal, until I was fully comfortable with the knowledge I'd plucked out of a metaphysical plane higher than I currently had access to - though I was planning to get there, eventually.
Then I shuffled through the 'baseline' RWBY-verses, making a note of where TGWP was as I passed it, until I found one where the timeline was at the appropriate point - namely, when Ruby was in the Dust shop just as it was about to get robbed.
I dropped my avatar in, making very sure the rest of me was entirely outside it, and only then realised I hadn't deaged it - but I managed to catch it in time, so no harm done. I'd put it in an alley where nobody was watching, so there wasn't any danger of anyone catching sight of it - me, I needed to start thinking with a human body again - shrinking several inches and undergoing several subtle shifts in face and body.
After one last check-over, I nodded to myself, and shifted my consciousness fully into the avatar, turning off my other powers as I did so.
Fucking hell, I felt blind.
Strolling casually out of the alley, I slipped into the shop, and quickly picked up a selection of crystals - fire, wind, lightning, water, an orange that I thought was energy, a grey that might have been metal - and paid for them with the Lien I'd teleported out of Torchwick and his goons' pockets just before shutting down my powers.
Hey, I'd need some money anyway, and it wasn't likely that they'd got it fairly.
Speaking of Torchwick and his goons, here they were now. Half-hidden behind a shelf, they didn't notice me at first, and continued to not notice me as of them went flying out of the window.
I let things play out a little, waiting for the right moment to intervene - first impressions are important, after all. The first thug went down to a two-footed blow to the face, flying back through the broken window. Two more were hit with the back of the frankly gigantic scythe Ruby was wielding - I mean, you see it in the show but bloody hell it's different in person.
The fourth - and final - opened fire, but she flash-stepped away, several times in quick succession, and he met the same fate as his compatriots.
Torchwick sighed, looking down at the unconscious mook by his shiny leather shoes.
"You were worth every cent..." He snorted to himself, before returning his attention to Ruby and speaking up: "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around..." he raised his cane, and the bottom popped open to reveal a little targeting reticule thing. Never did know the proper name for those... "...I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
He fired, and an almost blinding red light erupted from the end with a noise like a firework, shooting towards Ruby.
Showtime.
I moved, pushing Aura to my legs in a rather clumsy effort that nevertheless propelled me fast enough that I was in the line of fire before the shot had gone even halfway.
Infusing my Aura into my glaive, I almost winced as it blazed blue. I'd need to work on control, later. Nevertheless, I pushed on, and struck out at exactly the right moment, deflecting the shot to send it careening off into the sky where it detonated harmlessly.
Both of them were quite shocked, but Torchwick recovered admirably and ran for the ladder nearby. As a qualified Hunter, he was fast - but while I had little control over where I went after pushing off, an unfortunate consequence of my lack of restraint, in terms of speed... he really didn't stand a chance, and I was waiting for him at the top of the ladder, having reached the roof in a single bound.
His eyes widened slightly as he saw me, but I had to give him credit, as he still didn't hesitate and instead leapt several meters to the right, catching onto the ledge and swinging fluidly up to sprint across the roof - only for Ruby to sail up and over his head, propelled by a combination of her Semblance and Crescent Rose, and land in front of him.
"Hey!"
He almost snarled. "Persistent..."
Looked like we were getting to him. However, I knew better than to think we had him boxed in - in all likelihood, with Ruby being rather young and naive and my terrible control over my Aura, he would be able to win simply by virtue of experience and training.
However, we didn't have to beat him. Rather, we just had to stall until Goodwitch arrived.
I stepped forward, essaying several sharp jabs with my glaive, actually managing not to create a blinding glow this time, though it was still pretty bright. He evaded with an impressive economy of movement, swaying his body backward and forward - and then leapt, rolling in midair to land facing us as Ruby swung her scythe with far more force than I'd expect of someone her size wielding a weapon as large as Crescent Rose.
Aura, son.
I gave her a glance. "Left."
She blinked, puzzled for a moment, but when I started to curve around to the right she understood and began to circle around the other way - a basic pincer tactic, no chance of it working on him but nevertheless speaking well of my tactical acumen for anyone who might be watching (coughOzpincough) and making things a little easier on us.
Torchwick let us back him up - thinking we didn't know about the aircraft he had waiting below the lip of the building, no doubt - but it was at that point that Goodwitch arrived, moving so fast I barely caught it.
Was that the difference between regular and elite Hunters? I mean, I know she'd dropped out of nowhere in the first episode, but this - she'd barely been a blur.
I dreaded to think how fast Ruby would be when she reached that level.
Regardless, she stood behind Torchwick, making it overwhelmingly likely that he'd try to go through us rather than her. I shifted my stance, lowering the glaive so that it was set to receive a charge rather than strike out.
He glanced back, and visibly tensed.
"...Fuck."
And then battle was joined.
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RWBY 2
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1.2
The thing about a fight between two Hunters is that it's not just deadly - it's fast. You watch the first episode of RWBY, and sure the fight between Goodwitch and we-don't-know-it's-Cynder-yet takes maybe ten seconds - but sitting at home staring at a screen, you can follow it. In real time? That's no time at all.
I could barely keep up - though I did manage to avoid having Goodwitch need to pull me out of trouble, which is more than Ruby could say.
Regardless, she failed to capture him, as he managed to jump onto the... Bullhorn, I think they were called? Something like that. After he escaped, and Ruby embarrassed herself asking for Goodwitch's autograph, we were marched through the streets until we reached a nearby police station where we ended up in an interrogation room.
Yikes.
"I hope you realise your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady, young man!"
Make that double yikes. Goodwitch is scary - or at least she would be if I didn't have the ability to bitchslap a planet when I wanted to. As it was, she was simply mildly unsettling, but that was enough when she could make something like me feel it.
"You put yourself, and others, in great danger!"
"They started it!"
I stifled a snort.
"If it were up to me, you two would be sent home with a pat on the back - " Ruby perked up "- and a slap on the wrist." She slammed her crop down onto the table near Ruby's hand (and also my ankle where I had my feet crossed), and the girl jerked back with a yelp. I just smirked.
"However... there's someone here who would like to meet you."
A man with flyaway silver hair, dressed all in green, walked in, carrying a full mug of coffee and a plate of cookies.
"Ruby Rose... you... have silver eyes."
"U-um..."
"And you... I don't believe we have your name?"
I closed my eyes as I smiled.
"Does it matter? As far as records go, I don't exist. Perils of coming from a village off the beaten track... or, at least, I did. Now... I don't come from anywhere."
Tilting my head back, I stared up at the ceiling, catching the glance Ozpin and Goodwitch shared.
"As names go... I've always liked Havelock. Let's go with that. And... Cobalt, for my aura. Havelock Cobalt."
I cocked my head slightly, testing it out in my mind.
"Yes, I like the sound of that. Havelock Cobalt will do."
He narrowed his eyes at me slightly over his glasses, but made no comment.
"Very well. So, then, Ms. Rose, Mr. Cobalt - where did you learn to do this?"
He held up a large, dark grey Scroll - Hunter model, perhaps? It had footage of Ruby fighting, of me moving fast enough to be in completely different places from one frame to the next, my deflecting Torchwick's shot, the pincer attack I'd initiated with Ruby.
Part of me wondered how a Headmaster had access to the city's security cameras. Then I reminded myself that this was the man who trained every one of Vytal's top Hunters.
He took another sip of coffee - and the mug was still full. The fuck? Wait, Ruby's talking.
"Signal Academy..?"
He raised an eyebrow, an inflection of disbelief entering his voice. "They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well, one teacher in particular."
"I see."
He put down the plate of cookies. Ruby started eating them at a frankly astonishing rate - not quite in one bite each, but pretty damn close. Ozpin continued talking, periodically sipping from his coffee mug.
"It's just that I've only ever seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before... a dusty old crow..."
"Mrmh! 'S m'ncl..." she trailed off, paused, and swallowed. "Sorry. That's my uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal Academy. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing - " I stifled another snort at the inadvertent pun "- but now I'm all like -" and here she started to make those stereotypical martial arts noises, waving her hands around.
A small smile crossed Ozpin's face. "So I've noticed." He put down the coffee - it was still fucking full, I don't even - "and what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well... I want to be a Huntress."
"You want to slay monsters."
"Yeah. I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See, my sister's starting there this year, 'cause she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress, because I wanna help people, and our parents always taught us to help others, so I thought -"
It was at that point that her speech deteriorated into one long string of noise that I had a great deal of trouble trying to decipher. Apparently her Semblance worked on her speech too...
Ozpin seemed to have no trouble following, though, judging by the amused smile on his lips. When she finished, with a squeal and a "you know?", he simply sat there for several long moments, watching her. Then he spoke.
"Do you know who I am?"
"You're Professor Ozpin - you're the Headmaster of Beacon."
"Hello."
"Nice to meet you."
"You want to come to my school?"
"...More than anything."
He glanced at Goodwitch, who turned away slightly and huffed - but I could see the tiny hint of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
"Well, okay."
The dawning glee on her face was a sight to behold, but I didn't get much of a chance to watch, because that was when he turned to me.
"And what about you, Mr. Cobalt? Where did you learn to fight like that? Your style is very well-honed, from what I saw of it."
"Family style. Can't say where it originated, but it's designed to work with the traditional family weapon -" I hefted my sword-glaive, which come to think of it I should really find a name for "- or unarmed. It's mostly a soft style, based around conserving energy, moving as little as possible and letting your enemy do the work, but it also has hard elements for when you need to pack a punch. I learned what I could."
All technically true - it will be a family style, if I ever reproduce. I can't say, because that would blow my cover. The sword-glaive, again, will be the traditional family weapon if I ever start a family, and I did indeed learn what I could - all of it.
He hummed.
"Interesting. Well, you seem competent enough, but perhaps you'd care to enlighten us as to what the light show was about?"
I winced slightly. I'd left something of a margin with Psychokinesis, a gap for me to work towards so that I could start to build up innate control and perhaps eventually be able to let my Aura run free, but it had been worse than I'd anticipated.
"Well, I've always had a lot of Aura, and I never got the chance to learn to control it..."
Again, technically true but misleading.
"I'm sure you'll be able to learn soon enough, at Beacon - assuming you wish to attend?"
I inclined my head, saying nothing.
~*~
"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister's going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"
Ruby, whom I'd bumped into on the waiting platform for the Dustplane and had ended up tagging along with, was grabbed by her sister - and damn the animation did not do her justice. But let's not make like Jiraiya, now. That would be bad.
Instead, when she released Ruby, I gave her a professional nod, politely ignored the careful once-over she gave me, and extended a hand.
"You must be Yang. Ruby's mentioned you quite a lot -" I shot the short girl a grin as she blushed slightly, having nearly talked my ear off about anything and everything as we were waiting "- and of course it's only been good things."
She smiled and shook my hand. Her grip was pretty strong, but nowhere near enough to inconvenience me, especially with the uncontrolled Aura that ran under my skin.
"Havelock, right? She's mentioned you, as well. Apparently you're pretty fast, and you have a lot of Aura."
I wiggle my hand back and forth.
"Eh. It's not quite the same as Flash Step - my Semblance is Self-Enhancement, I can boost any or all of my attributes, but not as much as anything dedicated to a specific one. As is, though, I waste horrific amounts of Aura on everything I do, since I have a devil of a time controlling it. I don't actually know how much I have - I've never come even close to running out - but I'm fairly sure I'd have died a lot of times by now if I was anyone else."
She raised an eyebrow at me.
"Come on. It can't be that bad, riiiiight..."
Halfway through her sentence, I'd raised an arm and channelled as small an amount of Aura as I could to it, and it lit up like a fucking searchlight.
"That's about as much control as I've got at the moment."
"...Wow. You weren't kidding."
As I glanced around, I realised most everyone was looking at me, but fortunately I didn't hold their attention for long, as the holographic screen displaying the news shimmered and disappeared to reveal Goodwitch, though missing her feet for some reason.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honour of being selected to attend this prestigious Academy. Our world is experiencing an incredibly time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world."
The students aboard the Dustplane gasped and muttered almost as one as Beacon swung into view. I couldn't blame them, really - it was quite spectacular.
Ruby glanced the other way - "Look, you can see Signal from up here! Guess home isn't too far after all."
Yang slipped an arm around her shoulders. "Beacon's our home now."
And then Jaune was sick. I'd forgotten about that. I carefully steered him away from Yang, belatedly recalling that he'd thrown up at least partially on her feet, and received a nod from her in return.
Fortunately, we landed only a few moments later, freeing him to rush out of the door and throw up in a nearby trashcan. Several people shook their heads as they walked past him, fearing for his future as a Hunter, no doubt, but he'd prove them wrong.
Reaching the front courtyard, Yang and Ruby let out a synchronised wow while I simply allowed the corner of my mouth to turn up as I appreciated the structure with one of what few Tinker abilities I'd retained - defensive architecture. There were vantage points, killzones, crossfires, defensible positions... I doubted most people noticed it, but they were all there.
Yang smirked. "The view from Vale's got nothing on this."
And then Ruby went weapons-nut. Of course. She started waffling on about classical staves and fire swords, and then, perhaps inevitably...
"Hey, Havelock! What's your weapon? I know it's a glaive, I saw it during the fight with Torchwick, but what else does it do?"
I pulled it off my back and flicked my arm in a specific way, triggering its folding mechanism so that it became a katana.
"Whoah... wait, where does all of the shaft go?"
I gave her a quick rundown of the collapsing mechanism, and she looked positively giddy. At some point during the discussion, which had segued into being about Crescent Rose and then mechashift tech in general, Yang had disappeared off with her friends - I don't think Ruby actually noticed - and then I realised that Weiss was approaching behind us.
True to form, Ruby, dancing around in glee at the thought of the modifications she was doubtless going to make to Crescent Rose, stumbled backwards and smashed into Weiss' luggage, knocking it everywhere.
"What are you doing?"
"Sorry!"
"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?"
Ruby went to pick up one of the cases, which was promptly snatched from her hands and opened so that Weiss could grab a vial of fire Dust.
"This is Dust, mined and purified from the Schnee quarry. What are you, braindead? Dust! Fire, water -"
She started shaking the vial, and a miasma of red spread out from it, at which point I deemed it time to step in. Sliding smoothly forward, I took hold of her wrist, gently but firmly, and whipped the bottle out of her unsuspecting fingers.
"Hold it."
"Hey-"
"Faulty cap."
"...What?"
"Faulty cap." I clamped a hand around the top of the vial, tipped it upside-down and shook a couple of times, then righted it and showed her the red powder sitting in my palm.
"If I'd let you keep shaking it, it'd have gone everywhere and then the next time someone used Aura around here it would have exploded."
She scowls, then huffs.
"Well, at least someone knows proper safety protocols around here. You should clean that off -"
I close my fist around it and pulse my Aura. My hand lights up yellow-orange from within momentarily, and a few wisps of smoke escape between my fingers, but beyond that nothing really happens. I brush off my hands, stack the cases back onto their trolley and haul Ruby to her feet while Weiss just stares at me, though she gets around to speaking eventually.
"I take back what I said. You could have blown your hand off!"
I chuckle. "Ah, live a little, Princess. Pinch of fire Dust makes a great handwarmer on cold days."
She looks at me like I'm insane. Good. Make them underestimate you, that's the rule. Maybe if she has to work to find out what's underneath the facade - and she will, she's the type that wants to know - she'll drop the attitude a bit faster.
"Well, time to go. Presentation should be starting soon."
I turn and amble off, whistling to myself - not something they'd know, since it's by Imagine Dragons - and after a moment Ruby follows, though she's dragged away again by Yang as soon as we reach the auditorium.
I have to admit I zone out for a little bit as I hang around the back - never did like crowds, and even now when I could casually vapourise everyone here it's still unsettling - but I regain my focus when Weiss starts waving a pamphlet in Ruby's face.
Once again, I slide myself neatly into the group and whip it out of her hand.
"Wha-"
" 'Dust for Dummies and Other Inadequate Individuals' - my, that's rather insulting. I rather think that anyone capable of reaching the sort of level required to get into Beacon would have acuity enough to make good use of Dust. Unless you're keeping this on you for personal use..?"
I let that sentence hang for a moment as several people ooh and Weiss reddens. Fortunately (for her) any sort of retaliation is interrupted by Ozpin beginning his speech.
"I'll... keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose - direction. You assume that your time at this school will free you of this, but you will find that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
He turned and walked off the stage without so much as a backwards glance. Goodwitch stepped up to the mic.
"You will gather in the Ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
Yang frowned. "He seemed kind of... off."
Her sister nodded in agreement. "It's almost like he wasn't even there."
~*~
Later that evening, everyone was filing into the Ballroom, and as it turned out we were expected to get changed here somehow. I suppose it was something we'd have to get used to, since there probably wouldn't be time for modesty on missions and suchlike, but still...
Oh well. I could sleep in my boxers, I supposed. I shucked the blue tailcoat and trousers, then followed by discarding the silver tie and crisp white shirt - then pointedly ignored the gasps that greeted the thick scars that decorated my upper body, two trailing down my left thigh.
Can't make a backstory without evidence, after all.
I went through the stretches and exercises my martial arts Tinker specialty proscribed - some were pretty out there, such as one-handed handstand pressups, but with my Aura raging as it was they didn't pose any trouble and in short order I finished up by completing my fifth set of a hundred for my left arm, having continued to pointedly ignore the several girls (and one guy) who'd carried right on staring.
Oh, and just in time for Yang to make an arse of herself to Blake, too. Lovely. Fortunately, Ruby was there to intervene. "So, what's it about?"
"..Huh?"
"Your book."
"...It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control of his body."
Ruby stepped forward with a smile. "I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed - stories about heroes and monsters. That's one of the reasons I want to become a Huntress."
"And why is that? Hoping you live happily ever after?"
"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books - someone who fought for what was right and who protected people who couldn't protect themselves."
"That's... very ambitious for a child." She seemed to have perked up now. I started making my way over, picking neatly between sleeping bags. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."
"That's why we're here - to make it better."
Yang made to hug Ruby, but I carefully stepped between in just such a way as to appear accidental. Didn't want the fight I remembered breaking out to happen - no point raising tensions.
"And that's a noble goal. However, it's late and most people can't run on as little sleep as I. You should probably think about getting some rest."
I noticed Blake's eyes lingering on one of the scars - most were grouped, in facsimile of the multiple claws or teeth of the Grimm, but that one in particular was individual, a long, knotted score-mark, perfectly straight - a sword wound. Why... ah. It probably reminded her of... Adam, I think it was? He used a sword, and one of the few long enough and the right shape to create the sort of scar I was sporting.
But she didn't have long to dwell on it, as Ruby and Yang were already settling down. I nodded to her.
"Blake, was it?"
"Yes."
"Then have a good night, Blake."
"You as well..?"
"Havelock. Havelock Cobalt."
"Blake Belladonna."
I smiled. "Charmed."
Her own smile grew a little wider as I turned and made my way back to where I had deposited my gear.
Foundations of a possible friendship - check. Now I needed to work on it and hopefully head off the whole White Fang debacle before it started.
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I still have them, but they're turned off, just as almost everything else. Inspired Inventor is partially active in a few specialties - mechashift, defensive architecture, martial forms, Aura, Dust - as is Psychokinesis to compensate for the ridiculous Aura levels granted by the metaphysical "weight" of a Space Whale, but beyond that it's all turned off.
Like I said, self-imposed challenges - in this case, Aura only.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Nah. If she has any sense, she'll stick to what she's good at.
He may be giving her ideas for a few minor improvements.
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... Fuck. I listened to that like five times, because I really wasn't sure about it, and I still got it wrong.
I'll fix it in the morning when I'm not on my tablet or really tired.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
... Fuck. I listened to that like five times, because I really wasn't sure about it, and I still got it wrong.
I'll fix it in the morning when I'm not on my tablet or really tired.
And just in case (because I've seen a lot of people mishear it), when Ozpin is explaining how Initiation works, he doesn't say "you will guard that item, as well as your standing...", he says "we will regard that item, as well as your standing..."
HarakoniWarhawk
Striking from the Skies
- Location
- Holy Terra
- Pronouns
- She/Her
What's the Imagine Dragons song you were whistling?
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
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This is hilarious.
...please be Vetinari, please be Ventinari...
- Location
- ROB's House
Awesome so far. Got the ladies wanting more already haha
Legion1771
The God
It's sarcasm. Or a reference to any sufficiently large space travelling being. The Entities are absolutely enormous worms that travel from planet to planet, universe to universe, so they've been referred to as Space Whales.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceWhale
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
He didn't make it out with anything more than some bumps and bruises in canon, so there's not really a need to help him unless things go wildly off the rails.
A neo space whale appear. Canon is already gone, from here on things will go wildly off the rails.
- Location
- Dual citizen of SV&SB
No no no...
The rails animate, and start beating on canon like a pinata.
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Demons.
This mental image is glorious.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
Out of curiosity, is your katanaglaive ever going to also be a gun? It's a traditional part of Remnant weapons, from what we've seen.
And the choreography will be magnificent.