Chapter Text
Unknown Location, 2002
An uneasy shift in reality felt like a thousand years passed in a half-second. His vision blurred as the image of his teacher, guide and probably closest ally in this world and that of what he could only call his adoptive little sister began to distort and vanish. A white void flared in front of him as he wore a soft smile on his face.
He had finished it. His mission here, to defeat the BETA, the Beings of ExtraTerrestrial origin which are Adversary to the Human Race, an amalgamation of malformed alien monstrosities that shared little but their desire to kill mankind, had technically been a resounding success. With the destruction of the Superordinate, the command presence of the BETA on Earth, and all the intel they'd received from 'talking' to it…
Sure, humanity still had a great big war ahead of them, but without the Kashgar Hive? They would have an easier fight on their hands. At least, that's what he hoped. That the sacrifices he and all of his friends had made wouldn't be squandered. Not anymore. Not by anyone. He trusted Professor Kouzuki and Yashiro to help usher in this victory, though.
… The weight and skintight feel of a familiar suit, however, awoke the young man from his little moment of reflection. He gasped for air, staggering as he felt the familiar controls wrapped around his hands. The whirr of machines filled his ears, alongside the chirps of the central computer system of a familiar, powerful warmachine.
When his dark-brown eyes shot wide open, he felt his breath hitch in his throat. The Heads-Up Display that was being projected right into his eyes glowed a dull cyan. A radar system pinged calmly on the top left of his vision, while the ammo count for his Type-87 Assault Cannon, a mix of a 36mm autocannon and a 120mm standard cannon with a magazine poking out of the top for the second, displayed on the bottom right.
"No," He whispered, staring at the various data packs, at the weapons in his machine's hands, at the height he was at. He mumbled, "No…!" before examining the rest of his loadout. His Blades and knives, his supplemental armor shield, his jump packs and the unit's colors. He was back in his Shiranui! "NO! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" He screamed out, slamming his fists into the consoles.
"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OVER!" He cried out, staring at the machines and feeling the machine shift with him. He looked at himself, at his Fortified Suit, the very item keeping him connected to his Tactical Surface Fighter, then moved his hand toward the emergency release before pausing. He grit his teeth, clenching his fist and mumbling, "God dammit, Sensei, what the fuck is this…!? I thought I was done!? Isn't this the reason Sumika died…?" before he choked up.
… Memories of all of his friends' faces flashed in front of his eyes. Sergeant Jinguuji… Marimo. Class Rep and Ayamine. Mikoto, Tama, Meiya… Sumika. Their deaths, their sacrifices so that humanity might win in the face of the BETA. The destruction of the Superordinate wouldn't have been possible without them…
Perhaps the world did decide he wasn't done. They still had a hell of a fight to deal with the BETA ahead of them. Perhaps Sumika had heard him and decided to let him be there for the others before he could go home. To help Yashiro and Prof Kouzuki. After everything they'd sacrificed for humanity, it'd be the least he could do.
He breathed in, stilling his thundering heart, then clenched and unclenched his teeth, his fists and muscles, then he opened his eyes, looking around at the diagnostics for his Shiranui. Everything was in the green, armor included. His suit was showing his vital signs as slightly erratic, but good. He checked his data, activated his com beacon and called out, "This is Storm Vanguard One, transmitting in the blind to any allied Element in this AO. Do you copy?"
He listened. Static played through the speakers as he shifted the weight of his TSF around. He went through a quick checklist to ensure it was operating at capacity, including slight thrust adjustment tests and weapons cycling. He thumbed the com again and called out, "Repeat, Storm Vanguard One to A-01, Yokohama or any other allied unit in the AO. I don't care if you're Japanese, American or goddamned Soviet, does anyone copy?"
Yet again, static replied. He sighed, flicked his microphone off, then started looking around through the use of the Shiranui's optical sensors. He mumbled to himself, "Take in your surroundings, Takeru. Remember your training," as he saw the vast peaks of distant mountains ahead. He stood barely above the canopy of a forest of bright emerald-green trees and grass.
He crouched the mech down slightly to hide it behind the forest, then saw several heat sigs on his display. He selected the cameras and zoomed in on them, only to pause, eyes widening as he saw a herd of deer moving about, prancing deep within the forest itself. He furrowed his brows, then smiled, mumbling, "Did I land in the US or something? Or am I actually home?" before laughing, "Man, never thought I'd see the day I'd be excited for deer…"
The young man then remembered to make a check. He looked over the equipment he had in his cockpit, which included a bullpup carbine and his service pistol, both of which were safely stowed away and both of which were loaded. His medical kit was also full, as well as several packs of survival meals.
"Fuel check… Full, damn," He mumbled, "And ammo, too. I got dropped in ready for War…" before he stood up his mech and started scanning his surroundings. He picked a cardinal direction and started moving out, feet thundering as he whispered, "Not gonna expend jump pack fuel yet. Unless BETA start crawling through the green here, I'm safe enough to hoof it."
He continued moving, the weighty mech's feet shaking the trees, causing birds to fly away. He had his weapon up, the Heads-Up Display system tracking its orientation through the crosshair. He scanned his surroundings with every step, checking the motion sensors and thermal cameras of the Shiranui every few seconds to make sure he wasn't wading into the start of a BETA Hive.
Before long, he marched out into a clearing of some kind where ruins were. In the far back of the large clearing, there were the remains of some kind of circular temple, the black stone it was made of having golden symbols carved deep into each stone. He approached them, noticing a half-dozen pedestals that were empty.
He mumbled, "Huh… Weird."
Approaching the temple, he saw the dust falling off the rocks thanks to the footfalls of his machine. He stopped in front of, panning the optical sensors across the place. Mumbling to himself, "Okay, maybe I'm in Peru or Mexico…" before pausing as his system began blaring with alarms. He gasped, the familiar whine of a slow alarm began to echo across his entire cockpit, his heart stopping for a second as memories flooded back.
He swiveled about, aiming his cannon as CODE 991 blared across his HUD, lifting his cannon and preparing. His heart started firing off like an assault rifle all over again. Ahead of him, a cloud of dust about the height of the Shiranui appeared, tearing through the forest. He grit his teeth and mumbled, "Yeah, I guessed I'm not done with you fuckers! COME ON!"
… But what came out of the woodwork was not the deformed frames of the alien monsters that they'd been in a constant War with. No flesh, nor hide or armor he recognized, nor the bulky plates of sickly-green bone or the multi-eyed, mouthless heads of their largest monsters. What stood before him defied all logic.
Black ichor monstrosities stood before him, a swarming, swirling mass of creatures that looked like the renditions of how a madman saw animals. They were deformed in their own way, ranging from two-legged lizard-like monsters with clacking jaws, to lanky, wolf-like creatures sitting on short hind legs and with elongated arms. Some looked like a mix of wild bears and porcupines, while others still resembled boars. Above, massive wings flapped, revealing a trio of overgrown ravens with quills sharpened to the micron.
"... What the fuck…?" He mumbled, stunned.
The swirling mass moved, revealing the largest creature of the lot:An uparmored Scorpion of some kind, its plate like that of its strangely unrelated siblings. Bone armor that glowed with red symbols across its body. Its multitude of eyes locked onto the Shiranui as the monsters spread out, preparing to approach Takeru. He mumbled, "Not BETA… What the hell are you guys?" as he shut off the CODE 991 alarm. His sensors showed little in the way of heat signatures, but energy emissions were off the charts.
The giant Scorpion, whatever it was, took the first steps forward, its glowing orange stinger cocking back. For a moment, Takeru recalled the Fort-class BETA's ability to launch out its stinger. His mind immediately shifted into combat mode as the Monster blitzed forward first, followed by the herd behind it in a stampede that kicked up another dust cloud.
He grit his teeth and slammed the throttle forward hard, thumbing the jump pack's ignition immediately. He felt himself slightly pressed into his seat as the sudden G-Force exertion was countered and saw the sky approaching, alongside the three alien birds. One flapped its wings forth hard and glistening quills began to zip past the Shiranui's armored frame.
Below, the Scorpion sent its stinger up at him. He dodged deftly, turning his cannon toward it and opening fire. 36mm rounds rippled out of the barrel of the weapon, bursting into the ground around and in the much smaller, human-sized alien monstrosities. He saw several disappear, turning into black mist, while others lost limbs, stumbled and fell before slowly starting to dissipate.
He landed on the other side of the Scorpion and switched to the 120mm. Just as he fired a shell, though, one of the enemy's quills struck his left shoulder, throwing his aim off. The round ripped through the ground ahead, tearing out a chunk of the herd of alien monsters. He stumbled forward, giving a quick glance over to the Suit's systems. No damage to the arm, joint or anything.
The quill had broken off the plate. He grinned, turned toward the birds and switched to his 36 again, jumping up and away from the clamoring smaller creatures. He grumbled, "Don't wanna find out if you bastards can tear out armor like Tank-classes," before locking onto the middle bird of the trio and squeezing off a burst.
He saw its frame explode as three rounds made contact, black ichor flowing into the sky as it fell, split in half to the ground. He used his right thruster to quickly adjust his aim and fired at the left one as it tried to dodge. He clipped its wing, causing it to lose altitude, but it returned the answer in kind with its remaining sibling as a volley of quills flew out from their frames. One quill struck near his cockpit and left a dent, but shattered just like the previous, while another hit the leg and narrowly deflected off the joint.
He landed feet-first into a smattering of the taller, lanky wolf-looking creatures, crushing several underfoot and ripping one's arm off. Said one clambered onto the mech, digging its claws into the exposed joints to try and clamber up to the cockpit. Takeru shifted his supplemental armor and used the arm to grab it and throw it into the ground with a thundering crash.
He stepped back, using his mobility to cut down more of the chaff with the 36mm while trying to locate the Scorpion, the apparent leader of the formation. He shifted his aim up again, stopping for a second to fire another round at the bird. He watched the shot pierce its breast, ichor exploding out from its back as it slumped and fell to the ground.
Its sister whined, but finally succumbed when he jumped to close the distance and stomped its head in, shattering the bone plate. The Scorpion, meanwhile, swiveled about on its feet, visibly charging the Shiranui which was backing off. He started emptying the remaining 36mm rounds in his magazine into its frame, rounds ripping off chunks and chunks of its forward armor plate. It lifted its claws to deflect the attacks as it drew close, then it stabbed with the stinger.
The tip struck the left side of the mech, melting a fleck of the armor off with whatever acid or heat energy it emanated. It was close enough, though. Takeru switched to the 120 again, using his supplemental armor as a battering ram to move its arms aside. He slammed it again and again as he called out, "Come on, you fucker! BUDGE!"
He slammed the cannon's barrel into the first opening he saw, then shot. The 120mm round ripped through the already-damaged plate armor right between its multiple eyes and tore out through the other side, destroying it and taking several more of the herd with it. It split in two from the front down to the tail, its stinger falling off to the side… And Takeru just realized he'd hit the rear wall of the temple.
"... Oops…" He mumbled, then switched out his cannon for the blade. He deflected several smaller aliens using his shield, swiping the sword low to kill several more, then he crouched as the gun was reloaded and drew it off his back, using the 36mm cannon to tear through the remaining herd participants.
He paused, however, when the mech picked up four Human lifesigns on his immediate left. He turned his head and spotted them:Four strange blurs moving through the monsters, cutting them down while fighting off the larger ones. He blinked, then said, "Okay, so these things can actually be fought on foot. Good to know," as he turned to engage the remnants of the herd on the other side.
The Herd thinned, the last of their scattered formations being torn apart by the four colored blurs of motion. Takeru reloaded his Autocannon in the meanwhile, settling down from the combat high while staring ahead. He whispered to himself, "So, not the BETA, but they're close enough the Warnings gave me a 991… Great."
He looked down at the four and paused. Four teenage girls, one with hair that went from black to red at the tips and silver eyes, clad in an attire that matched the hair plus a cape, a white-haired, princessly-looking gal with blue eyes and a scar that really didn't detract from her beauty, an aloof-looking black-haired girl with a bow on her head and two weirdly Japanese-looking blades and a blonde with a grin on her face and two GAUNTLETS THAT LOOKED LIKE SHOTGUNS.
He blinked, stunned, while watching the little red-and-black one bouncing giddily on her feet. He also just noticed she had a Scythe that also looked like it contained a high-caliber firearm in hand. She was smiling like a kid in a candy store, while the white-haired one looked slightly concerned, hand resting on the hilt of her own weapon.
He turned to face them fully in his Shiranui, then pondered popping open the cockpit. They weren't using TSFs to fight whatever the hell those monsters were, but they fought'em off with melee weapons. He furrowed his brows, then shifted the right main arm of his TSF, waving hello slowly. The princess took a step back, surprised, while the other three looked on, with only little red riding-reaper down below looking particularly excited.
The blonde put her hands together in front of her mouth, opened them, then yelled out, "HEY! We didn't know Atlas was testing new tech over here!"
English. They were speaking English clear as day. He hummed, switched on his own translator, then replied, "I'm friendly!"
"Yeah, we figured when we found ya killing Grimm by the bushel, dude!" The Blondie shot back, smiling. She put her hands on her hips, then looked at the tense white-haired Princess, gesturing at him and seeing, "There. Can you relax now, Ice Queen? Whatever kinda tech Atlas decided to drop in here, whoever's drivin' it is friendly."
"It isn't Atlesian Technology, Yang," Weiss replied with half a mouth.
"Sure," She chuckled, then turned back to the TSF and waved, "Hey, man, can you come down here!? Feels a little weird, yelling at a building-sized mech!"
Takeru looked them over, watching all of them stow their weapons away, with blondie's shotgun gauntlets shifting into bracelets on the go. The more he saw of these four and this world, the more confusing it got… He sighed, flicked on his translator again and replied with, "I'll be down in a second," before switching the TSF to auto-pilot and guard mode, just in case.
Weiss put her hands on her hips, then looked at Ruby and asked quietly, "Would you calm down?"
"HOW CAN I!? LOOK AT HOW COOL IT IS!" Ruby replied, thrusting her arms forward and opening her hands at the massive mech with the letters 'UN' on its shoulder. They all paused as they heard the mechanical whirr of the cockpit doors opening, then looked up, gasping as they saw the young man in his strange bodysuit standing there.
The Machine shifted its hand toward its chest, open palm up, then slowly let down its pilot onto the ground. He jumped off, dusting off his gear and rubbing the back of his neck. Weiss whispered, "Okay, now I'm certain this is not Atlas technology. We don't have our pilots wear suits like…" and she gestured, "That…"
Yang's grin grew as she chuckled, "Man. That thing doesn't leave much to the imagination, eh?"
Blake chuckled, blushing a little, "Definitely not…"
He walked up to them, flipping on his suit's translator with a thought, then said, "Hey… Sorry for the scare and… Apologies ahead of time if this looks weird. I don't speak English, but my suit comes with a universal translator," before he looked them over. Yeah, the attire and equipment was certainly weird.
"... English?" Yang asked, "Y… Y'mean Basic, right?"
"Basic?" He raised a brow, crossing his arms. They also noticed he was armed. He had a rifle on his back and a pistol in a thigh holster that didn't match the suit. He lowered his arms, looking slightly confused while the four girls also processed this little discussion. The Blonde nodded, to which Takeru said, "Right…"
"... Anyways! Hi! We're team RWBY!" Ruby peppily added, approaching him, "I'm Ruby! Team Lead! The girl with the grumpy face and penchant for rapiers is Weiss!" and Weiss gave a small glare to Ruby, as if to accentuate the point. The red gal chuckled awkwardly, then continued, "Next up is Blake, my sis's combat partner…" and Blake gave a wave, "And my sis herself, Yang! Our CQC expert."
"Y'want someone knocked out, send me in, coach," Yang let out a boyish laugh, then asked, "What's your name there, bud?"
"... Takeru. Shirogane Takeru," He replied, "Second Lieutenant with the UN Armed Forces."
"Huh," Weiss began, "We never heard of your military."
He blinked, eyes widening slightly, "That's… Kind of impossible. It is the largest multinational contingent force fighting the BETA, bar maybe the US Military," as he looked around. Yet more confused looks. He whispered, "... What the hell is going on here, man? First, new ugly monsters, now this…?"
Ruby started, "Hey. We were sent here to get you to come with us… Takeru, right?" and she raised a brow. The small, innocent girl gave him a momentary flashback to Tama. She continued, "I can see a lotta confusion's going on here and… Trust me, cool mech aside, I'm also kinda confused, but we can probably help ya understand… Provided you don't mind it."
"... I mean, I don't? I'd like to get some answers as to how I wound up in the middle of an archaeological dig site filled to the brim with zombie animals," He replied calmly, "... And why nobody knows what language they're speaking and who the UN and US are…" then he blinked and realized, "And I might need a spot to wait for rescue…"
"Alright!" Ruby beamed, "C'mon! We'll get you a ride outta here. Before more Grimm show up."
"I'm gonna hazard a guess that's what those malformed things we fought together are and put a pin in it for later," He murmured, then jabbed a thumb back and said, "I can probably follow you girls in my Shiranui. Who sent you to retrieve me, anyway? Like… I'm gonna hazard a guess we're close enough to somewhere inhabited that I caused a ruckus?"
"Could say that," Yang shrugged, "The forest's kind of a training ground. Got cameras all over the place as far as we know."
"Huh," He said, then noticed one of said Cameras in a nearby tree, camouflaged. The only giveaway was the slight glint of the lens whenever even a speck of the sun's light struck it. He whispered, "Training ground. I guess that's how you four learned how to fight these 'Grimm' things," before resting a hand on his hip.
"Yep!" Ruby chuckled, "It was also where our initiation into Beacon took place," and she saw that same confusion from their side appear on his face. "Y'know, you say you wanna know how we don't know stuff that's apparently basic to you, but how d'ya not know what Beacon is, considering you're really close to it?"
He raised a finger to reply, frowned and lowered his hand before sighing, "Should we get going?"
"Sure!"
… It really didn't take long for Takeru to see what these girls were riding out of here in. The Bullhead was a fat dropship with thin wings and VTOL capabilities. Seemingly used more for cargo transport and short-distance personnel transfer than any actual proper applications, it floated nicely beside him as he flew NOE with his Shiranui. He didn't know if these Grimm things had any equivalent to the Laser-classes of the BETA, but he wasn't gonna risk it.
On board the Bullhead itself, the girls continued to watch the Mech as it flew. Weiss said, "Most impressive. His kingdom and this 'UN' must be quite advanced…"
"We not gonna talk about his name?" Yang asked, leaning forward, "Sounds close to a Mistrali one, but… Not quite there."
Weiss agreed quietly, adding, "The fact he also requires a translator to speak to us… Where have he and his people been hiding for this long that Basic has faded out of use and been replaced?" before humming and saying, "We should ask the Sergeant about this. The Headmaster hired her for her apparent 'special skills'..."
"Sounds good to me," Blake replied, then looked at Ruby and smiled, "You really wanna ask him about the Mech, right?"
"Yeah!" Ruby giggled, "It's so freaking COOL!"
"... Can you keep it to yourself until after we let Headmaster Ozpin debrief him?" Weiss inquired, slightly exasperated. Much to everyone's surprise, though, that exasperation seemed to have a hint of fondness behind it. After her and professor Port's discussion, Weiss truly seemed to have at least 'melted' a bit when it came to her teammates.
Ruby chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, I know…" then she looked out and beamed. She waved at Takeru and yelled out, "HEEEEY! WE'RE ABOUT TO REACH BEACON!"
Takeru craned his head and, in turn, his TSF's head toward her, then looked right ahead and his eyes shot wide open. That was a massive university campus up ahead. Rows of Dormitory buildings lay in neat alignment off to the side, mixing in with the many buildings of the place ranging from what he assumed to be mess halls and libraries to various classroom buildings, gyms and so on. In the middle of it all, rising tall and befitting the name of the place, a clocktower with an emerald glow stood above all else, a watchful eye.
In the distance, an even wider sprawling megalopolis spread as far as the eye can see…
… Well, this was gonna be interesting, he thought to himself.
The two craft landed at the nearest landing pad, with the TSF touching down on its feet and kicking up a small wave of dust with its maneuvering jets. It settled into place with Takeru stowing the supplemental armor shield and his autocannon away before crouching with the mech. He opened the main hatch, feeling the breeze on his face.
He descended from the mech and immediately caught sight of the fact there were multiple hundreds of Students who'd just seen him land. Awkwardly staring as the rest of team RWBY approached, he raised a hand, made a V-sign and said "I come in peace…?" before realizing just how stupid that must've sounded. He let out a deep sigh, lowered his hands, then watched team RWBY(apparently the gang's name here) show him to follow.
They marched toward the Tower, with him stating, "... Lemme guess, the headmaster of your school's up th-... Wait a minute, what the hell kind of school is this place?"
"... A Huntsman training academy?" Ruby smiled, "Y'know. To help us learn how to fight those monsters you just met out there. The Grimm. We're Huntresses in Training."
"... Oh…" He let out. That made sense… To a certain degree… "Wait, so your Headmaster's training a personal army?"
"No. He's training us to fight Grimm. Basically, we're fighting the big bads of the world here," Yang replied, crossing her arms as they walked up to the elevator, "Gist of it is, we're dealing with hordes of evil monsters tryin' to kill humanity and our Faunus pals, so we gotta be able to fight'em. That's what we're all here for."
Takeru nodded. Noble goal. Also… 'Faunus'?
The elevator reached the top of the tower as fast as it had departed the ground floor, opening the twin doors to reveal a surprisingly ornate place. A library lay on the left in a separate room, just beside the gears that turned to keep the massive clock ticking. Below, through a thick glass floor, more gears spun slowly, ticking away the minutes. And finally, nearby the window/main face of the clock, a gentlemanly-looking man with greying hair, a green suit and scarf and really tiny sunglasses sat.
"Miss Rose, Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna and Miss Xiao-Long. Just in time," He smiled, "Are you the pilot of that machine, then?" and he eyed Takeru. Takeru nodded in turn, to which the Headmaster told him, "Welcome to Beacon, then. I am Headmaster Ozpin… Please, have a seat. We have a lot to talk about."