"Professor Oobleck?" Questioned Weiss as to try and understand if he was the person they were going with, which she hoped wouldn't be the case.
Oobleck began answering her by walking back and forth saying,
"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, you lot. Seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you, we will not be establishing a single base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our air course, and readied the airship. And..." said Oobleck as he got up in Weiss's face and said in an annoyed voice,
"It's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn the PhD for fun, thank you very much!"
Weiss looked over at Blake Belladonna, who was also disturbed.
"Come now, children; according to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind... schedule!" Said Oobleck as he zipped over to the ship in a instant.
"Jeez and I thought Ben could move that fast" thought Rex as he was shocked at how fast he moved.
Ruby looked at her team and said "Well, alright, then! Looks like we're going to save the world with Doctor Oobleck" then she heard what she said and then said "yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse."
"Oh ya think" replied Rex in a snarky way.
"Save the world!?" Said a voice from behind. The team turned around to see Nora and Team JNPR approaching.
"You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt... sad! Maybe a little hungry? That last one's not your fault, though, Ren..." said Nora. Ren just folded his arms and looked away.
"Sounds exciting. Where ya going?" asked Jaune
"Oh, just outside the..." "we are going someplace dangerous. Possibly death inducing. And we are not to let anyone know of our whereabouts. Cause if you do know, we'll tie cinder block to your legs and throw into the lake. So tell me this. Do you want know what we're doing" said Rex in a evil voice.
Jaune became freaked out and hid behind Pyrrha as he said in a nervous voice,
"Nope, nope. We're good. We'll leave alone" as he shook in fear.
Rex just chuckled saying "I'm just messin with ya man. We're just going outside the kingdom."
"Hey! So are we!" Yelled Nora.
"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village. We set out tomorrow" said Pyrrha.
"Then you can party with us tonight" said a familiar voice, which turned out to be Sun and Neptune. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges."
Rex looked at the way the two posed at the badges stuff and thought "why do I get the feeling that those two are going to take that stuff really seriously."
"We normally go to the city with you guys, which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know... normal" said Sun.
"Geez. You make it sound like we're a bunch of disasters waiting to happen" said Rex.
"Don't listen to him. He doesn't know when to stop talking" said Neptune as he held Rex's shoulder in assurance.
"Four minutes, ladies!" Yelled Oobleck.
"Oi" said Rex in an annoyed manner.
"Sorry. Ladies and Rex. Let's get a move on."
Rex just groaned as he knew that this trip wasn't going to be fun.
"Well, uh... Wish us luck!" Said Ruby as her and her team started to board the ship. They climbed on board and began flying away to the abandoned town.
Rex and yang looked out of the side of the plane and saw them leaving the academy and began heading further into the forest, or at least above it.
"I guess I just never saw you as much of a fighter" said Yang as she looked out of the plane then back to Oobleck.
"I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles" informed Oobleck in his cheery manner.
Ruby was confused at what the Dr said and asked "Like the mushroom?" trying to understand what he meant.
"Those are truffles" corrected Blake.
Ruby was still confused and asked "Like the sprout?"
"Those are Brussels" said Yang.
"Good grief. Did you learn anything about food where you went to school" said Rex. Ruby hung her head, feeling silly now. Rex just patted her back as he said
"Eh, you're still young. You'll learn these things out soon" as he slightly chuckled while Ruby just puffed her cheeks in a pouty manner, signaling that she was tired of him calling her kid or young.
"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in the archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw fit to assign me to this particular... assignment!" said Oobleck.
"What does history have to do with this?" questioned Rex.
"Why, what a preposterous question, you silly and weird boy! Why, history is the backbone of our very society! And the liver! Probably the kidneys, if I were to wager."
"I'm sorry I asked" groaned Rex.
"And that means..?" questioned Weiss.
"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves, but it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures!" informed Oobleck.
"Mountain Glenn" said Ruby.
"That's right! It was an expansion of Vale... but in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city" continued Yang.
"Correct! And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder" stated Oobleck.
"And a likely place for a hideout" said Blake.
"Precisely!" Said Oobleck as he adjusted his glasses.
The airship flew over a spot of streets amidst the ruined buildings and structures of the ruined area.
Rex gazed over the destroyed buildings and began having flash backs to his own world.
"It feels like the Bug jar again. Probably with the exact strange creatures in it, given this worlds monsters" he thought.
It hovered right above the ground as Yang, Blake, Oobleck, Weiss, Ruby, and Rex jumped out of the craft with weapons drawn, except for Rex and Oobleck, before the ship flew away from the destruction.
"Ladies and Rex. You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Huntresses."
"I'm standing right here" complained Rex.
"Sorry. And huntsman has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?" Said Oobleck. Everyone nodded until the Dr saw Ruby with her bag on her back.
"Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all of your bags back at school" said Oobleck.
"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't" said Ruby as she stumbled with her words.
Oobleck pondered himslef in thought and said "She's not wrong... Very well, Ruby; leave your bag here, we can pick it up upon our return."
Ruby began acting nervous as he didn't let go of her bag.
Oobleck looked at Ruby in confusion and asked "Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with..." and out popped a certain dog from her bag.
Ruby felt a little embarrassed at her predicament as she looked back at Zwei.
"Get back in the bag" whispered Ruby.
Zwei merely barked in response.
Oobleck looked at Ruby in shock and dismay
saying "We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought... a dog?"
Ruby looked at him, embarrassed and didn't know what to say until Oobleck shouted "Genius!" as he ran away from the group then he ran back and grabbed Zwei and spun him around saying "Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!" He said as Zwei just barked happily.
Ruby was stunned at the unexpected reaction, then she proudly stated "I'm a genius!" as she pointed at herself.
"Words I thought I'd never hear" thought Rex.
Weiss and Yang both facepalmed at their grinning leader.
"So, what are your orders, Doctor?" Asked Blake.
"Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" He yelled as he dropped Zwei. "As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hot spot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being... Grimm."
Ruby looked at her team and they were Just as confused for the redundancy. "Uh, what?" She asked.
"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment."
"What?!" Yelled Yang as the team turned around and saw a Beowulf right in front of them, a few yards away. They pulled out their weapons as Rex formed his Bad Axes and prepared to fight.
"Stop!" Hushed Oobleck.
"Why. It's right there. Why not just kill it" asked Rex.
"There are a number of reasons why Grimm will congregate in this particular area, the most likely of which will be their attraction to negativity: sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harboring ill intent."
"So... What now?" Asked Ruby.
"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey" said Oobleck.
"How long do we wait?" asked Blake.
"It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months - and there's the whole pack" Said Oobleck as the team turned and more Beowulf's showed up.
"What?" Said Weiss.
"And now they've seen us." Said Oobleck as he continued to stare at them.
"What?!" Said Weiss again.
Rex got annoyed at her and yelled in her ear saying " HE SAID AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD, ICE QUEEN."
"I take it tracking them is out of the question?" Asked Ruby.
"An accurate assumption, yes" commented Oobleck.
"What's the plan, then?"
"It's simply. Hit them till they drop" said Rex as he charged at the wolves. They girls looked at Oobleck wanting to know what to do.
He said "Show me what you're capable of."
Ruby swung Crescent Rose to prepare it for shooting as she said "Cover your ears, Zwei!"
Yang ran towards one, and ended it by knocking it out in one fiery punch as they pass. Several stop chasing after her and focused on Blake, who stood and waited with her hand on her hilt until one of the wolves swiped at her afterimage, the real deal slicing her would-be attacker in half before slashing through another and cutting down on one more.
Behind the Faunus, Weiss ran from several black-coated beasts before jumping in the air and taking one down with Myrtenaster. She dashed towards them with her rapier held high and slayed four of them in a straight line until she stops. A wave of Beowolves are converging on Ruby, but the scythe wielder shot multiple bullets at the oncoming force... while Zwei is busy chasing his own tail.
A huge Beowulf charged towards Rex as he quickly formed his Bad axes and charged towards the wolf. Rex quickly spun his arms around and as the Beowulf raised its paw to slash at him, Rex was quick to respond and sliced at its stomach, killing it in the process.
As Rex stopped after killing it, he looked at his build and felt remorse. He didn't like killing things. It went against his morals and everything but he had to keep reminding himself that he wasn't home. This was where he could cure the problem. He had to kill the beasts to stop them. There was no curing it or taming it. He then turned his focus back to the fight but saw that everyone else was done with stopping the beowulf's.
They all began to regroup themselves as Ruby looked at Oobleck and said "Heh. Piece of cake!"
"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" He asked.
Continue they do, as the teams continued to separate and slash and shoot their way through the grimm. The girls ended up getting tired as Rex came out of them like nothing had happened, nor tired at all. His builds kept him alive and were the sole purpose of him not getting as tired as the rest. To some, they may think he's being lazy but they couldn't be more wrong.
Oobleck gazed at the faces of tired Huntresses and at Rex, who wasn't tired as much as the girls,
and said "Excellent work, girls and boy! Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this sector. Oh, well! Moving on!" As he turned around and walked away.
Yang looked at the Doc walking away and asked "Hey, Doc, y'know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a "pro Huntsman" in action. Like, fighting, or at least, helping us fight?"
Oobleck gazed over his shoulder and said "Ah, but I am in action! Scouring the ruins of this once-great city for any signs of irregularity!" He said as he turned towards the team.
"Not every mission is filled with daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination!Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that.
"Well, yeah...O-Of course!" Said Yang trying to find her wording.
The team continued fighting the grimm and eventually split off as Oobleck followed Yang as he asked her:
"Tell me, Yang: Why did you choose this line of work?"
Huh?" She thought as she looked at him and said "Well, to fight monsters and save..."
"No, that is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a Huntress."
Yang considered his words and answered "The honest reason? I'm a thrill-seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. It's a win-win, y'know?"
"I see" he said as he jotted down in his note book.
Oobleck went to find Weiss and sat on a high windowsill writing in his journal while Weiss fought off Beowolves below.
"And you, Miss Schnee? A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So... why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?"
Weiss began thinking about what he said band answered saying "It's exactly as you said: I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty."
Oobleck nodded at her words saying "Interesting."
Oobleck hopped over to Blake who had slashed a door down and released a swarm of small Nevermores from the building, which she back-flipped under before she shoots them all with her blade's pistol form.
Oobleck examined the inside of the doorway and asked "And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose."
"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption... Someone has to stop it."
"Very well. But let me ask you this. How?"
Blake tried to think in thought but couldn't find the words.
Oobleck thought to himself at her dismay then dashed away, leaving Blake to bow her head in troubled thought.
He ran over and found Rex knocking out a horde of wolves with his smack hands and crushing them as well with them. He noticed the Doc and walked over to him.
"Tell Mr. Salazar. Why do you chose to fight. To stand for what's right. I heard you talking about no bullying at Beacon, not while you're there. So it made me curious. Why do you chose to do these things" asked Oobleck
Rex thought to himself at his question and said
"Because no one else will."
"What do you mean by that. Care to elaborate"asked the teacher.
"No one else was going to help that rabbit girl at lunch time so I decided to do something. When we were fighting those two big monsters at the beginning of the year, no one wanted to fight that thing head on, so I decided to. I mean, who else to do awesome things like the things I do" said Rex in his cheeky attitude as he continued saying,
"But that's why I fight. Because not everyone is brave. Not everyone is willing to put their life on the line for others who can't fight. So it's up to people like me and my team to fight for what's right" said Rex in a confident attitude.
"I see. Very good" said Oobleck as he wrote in his book. And dashed away.
He ran to find Ruby, only to see her using her weapon in the most practical fashion and lifting a whole turkey on the sharp end of her gun to tease Zwei with.
That is, until she spotted her teacher watching, quickly sheathing Crescent Rose.
"Sorry! Uh... Are we ready to keep going?" She asked.
Oobleck looked at Ruby and said "Nope! I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon."
He then threw his bag at Yang saying "You three, set up camp in that building. Oh, and please do make sure there are no more of those... creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby."
They start walking away from the rest of RRWBY, who each look at their leader, knowing what she'll be asked.
Ruby and Oobleck walked around a corner and Ruby gasped at what she saw "Whaaaa...
"What is that? It looks awesome!" she said.
"That, my dear girl, is a Grimm" said the Doc.
Ruby pulled out her gun and said "Let's kill it."
Oobleck held his hand out and said "I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size."
Ruby was a little worried at his motion and asked "But... What if it attacks us?"
Oobleck gazed out at the grimm and said "Fret not, Ruby; those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather not every Grimm is still mindless. You see, the Grimm you see before you are so powerful, so superior to the Grimm you fought, that they've undoubtedly lived hundreds of years, and in that time between killing humans and attacking our borders, they have done one important thing: They've learned. They've learned that when they attack our borders, they're likely to die, and what we lack in strength, we make up for in will, and that killing one human will only bring more.
As he said this, one Goliath swiveled its thick neck to look at the figures watching their procession, eyes glowing as fiery red as any other Grimm.
Ruby asked "Then why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?"
Oobleck just said "Waiting."
As he says this, the Goliath turned its head forward again and moved on with its kin. Oobleck turned around and walked away as well, and Ruby puts away her weapon, not moving.
"Doctor Oobleck?"
"Hmm?"
"I was wondering..."
"Wondering why I've been interrogating your teammates all day?"
"A-Actually, I was wondering... Why did you want to become a Huntsman?"
Oobleck looked at her and said "Look around and tell me what you see."
Ruby looked around and said "Lots of old buildings, uh, empty streets..."
"I see lives that could have been saved. As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people, and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland, and I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity; an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy, and therefore become stronger. I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be" finished Oobleck as they walked about to camp.
Back at the building, the team did as instructed, building a fire in the center of the room and either huddled around it or stood up.
Yang grumbled in frustration saying "I can't believe we didn't find anything..."
"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side" interrupted Blake.
"That's not what I meant" said Weiss
Blake was confused at what she said.
"Earlier, about... upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that."
"Yeah... No, me too. I mean... I don't know"stumbled Yang.
"I don't know, either. I know what I want to do, but I figured I'd always take things one step at a time" said Blake.
Well, it doesn't matter. We know why we're here. Right?" Asked Yang but all the team did was merely stare in silence.
Oobleck Suddenly came rushing into the room saying "Ah, wonderful; a textbook campfire!"
"Fire!" Yelled ruby and sat next to the blaze alongside Zwei. "So... warm..."
"Very good! Eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?"
Ruby lifted an arm while still looking into the fire,
simply answering "Yo."
Oobleck rushed off, and Ruby got up to go over to her lookout point.
Yang stopped Ruby and asked "Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean... what did you tell him?"
Ruby said "Hmm... No, he didn't. Weird. Oh well. Good night, guys!"
Without a second carefree thought, she continued on her way.
Yang looked disappointed in the lack of an answer but felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to as Rex as he patted her on the back. She appreciated the gesture and hugged Rex, which made him blush.
Blake was similarly troubled as she unrolled her mat, Weiss tried lying down but failed to go to sleep, Yang half-heatedly ate her dinner of bread rolls. Soon, the Huntresses and Hunter were on their backs around the fire, weapons within easy access, wondering why they are there. But as for Rex, he still looked back in thought about why he was really there. He still wanted to know why he was sent to this world.
Ruby, meanwhile, was sitting in the vacant windowsill of the room as Zwei went over to her upon hearing the howling of Beowolves. She petted her pooch on the back as she gazed at the sky.
"Don't worry. Things will be better tomorrow" she said with hope in her voice.