Beast of Knowledge
RWBY's Room, Beacon Academy
"Team RWBY, meeting time!" Declared Ruby.
Soon after that, the team…well, they still remained at where they were. However, their focus was now at each other.
"So…what should we do with Hunter and the…revelations that we received?" Asked Ruby unsure.
"Well, calling the police is obviously out of question." Said Weiss. "Also, maybe we should also keep our mouths closed with the teachers as well."
"Whoa." Yang was surprised by what she had just heard. "Who are you and what you've done to Ice Queen?"
"Don't call me that." Despite being angry, Weiss' voice didn't indicate it. "After the heated debate between Blake and I about White Fang, I decided to be more…open-minded. Anyway, his action makes sense if you think about it."
"What do you mean?" Asked Blake.
"Remember when he told us that one of his mentors' job is to slay corrupt hunters? Slay. Which means he was being taught how to take the lives of corrupt hunters and was convinced that it was the right thing to do."
"B-But how does someone believe that it's OK to take the lives of others?" Asked Ruby.
"It's quite simple, actually." Stated Blake. "Ruby, if I ask you to kill a rabbit just for the sake of it, would you do it?"
"Of course not! Why would I want to kill a cute little rabbit?!"
"Alright. Now, would you do the same if this time, the target is Grimm-shaped rabbit?"
"Well, I would kill it of course. After all, it's…" Realization dawned on Ruby. "Oh…. OOOOH!"
"Indeed. For Hunter, normal people are…well, normal. Corrupt hunters and looks like White Fang members as well are – for him – Grimm-shaped humans."
"Well, I guess I can…see why." Ruby slammed the pillow on her bed. "But what he was doing is still not right!"
"And no one is saying that he is. If we want to change him though, we need to know the core of the problems." Replied Yang.
"Alright. So, the core of the problems is that he believed that it's alright to take the lives of other people if they're bad people." Stated Ruby before she scratched her head. "So…what do we do?"
"Obviously, we need to convince him that there are better ways than killing." Said Blake before she sighed. "Which is easier said than done."
"Umm…"
"Ruby, if we put morality aside and look at practicality, killing is a better option. You kill bad people and…it's done. You take care of the problem. Handing them to the authority is more…complex. You need to keep the bad people alive, making sure they don't escape when you bring them to the authority and also when they're in the prison. There's also the possibility of them being acquitted during the trials."
The room became silent for several moments as Team RWBY digested everything that had been said to this point.
"Well, that's going to take a long time, I guess. Looks like we're going to need to tolerate a murder or two." Said Yang.
"Yang!" Exclaimed Ruby who then stared at her sister, followed by Weiss and Blake.
"Augh! That came out wrong!" Yang sat up from her bed. "What I mean is that we have to tolerate it considering the massacre at the warehouse! We can't be with him all the time, so there will be time when we can't prevent him from killing someone."
"Yep! That's a better way of putting it!" Stated Weiss. "It could take months or even years to change someone stance. Until then, the only thing we can do is prevent and tolerate."
"Alright. In that case, it was settled; Team RWBY, our new task is to help Hunter to become a better person! Who's with me?" Said Ruby out loud.
Her teammates immediately raised their hands. Sure, it would be a hard task and might diverted their attention from Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. However, if there was one thing Team RWBY would never do was to leave a friend of them in the dark.
Beacon Cliff
Hunter was currently standing at a launching pad. The same pad used to launch the initiates of Beacon Academy into Emerald Forest. In his hand was his scroll with the screen showing "Press the Button" words and a red button. He was about to pressed it when a voice distracted him.
"Hunter, what are you doing?"
Hunter turned his head towards the source of the voice and saw Ruby approaching him. She looked curiously at his scroll and the launching pad.
"I am going to the Emerald Forest. For hunting." Said Hunter simply.
When she heard that, idea was soon formed in Ruby's mind. If she hunted together with Hunter, it might could help in strengthening their relationship. With their relationship becomes stronger, it could help in convincing Hunter to change his stance.
"Can I join in?" Asked Ruby.
"Sure. I am sure there will be enough Grimm for both of us." Replied Hunter. "Speaking of which, where's the rest of your team?"
"Oh, Weiss is waiting for a package from Atlas. Probably Dust for Myrtenaster. Blake is reading in the library. And Yang is having fun with some of her old friends at Signal." Explained Ruby. "By the way, Signal is an academy at Patch. Quite similar to Beacon, only for younger people."
"I see." Hunter looked at Ruby, who was still standing at where she was. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"Oh, right." Ruby walked towards one of the launching pad.
Not even a minute later, both of them were launched towards the Emerald Forest.
Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy
Inside his office, Ozpin was watching from the camera on Hunter and Ruby launching themselves from the cliff and headed towards the Emerald Forest. He let out a laugh and decided to take a look at the forest, wanting to see what kind of challenge that they would face.
For several minutes, he looked at the scenes taken by the cameras in the forest. He started to become worried; there was no Grimm in sight. While this was usually a good sign, not so much with the Emerald Forest since not only it was one of the relatively safe places where Beacon students could hone their skills in fighting Grimm, it was also never devoid of Grimm. The lack of them greatly worried Ozpin.
Then, he saw a Grimm at one of the cameras. However, it only recorded it for two seconds. Ozpin decided to rewind the recording and slowed it down. What he saw caused him to drop his coffee mug. He immediately sent a message to all professors in the Beacon alongside the recording. The reactions were immediate.
"My gods…How?!" – Glynda Goodwitch
"Those clever girls are at Emerald Forest?!" - Peter Port
"Ozpin, please tell me there isn't any student at the forest." – Bartholomew Oobleck
Ozpin stood up from his chair and ran towards the elevator. As the elevator transported him to the first floor, he couldn't help but thinking about the reason.
The reason why there were Raptors at Emerald Forest.
Emerald Forest
When both of them landed and took out their weapons, Ruby laughed at what Hunter had in his hands. When he asked why, she said that he was carrying an oversized pizza cutter. He retaliated by saying that if Whirligig Saw was an oversized pizza cutter, then Crescent Rose was an oversized grass cutter. She then stated that it was also a gun.
Anyway, for several minutes, Hunter and Ruby has been traveling around the forest. However, they had yet see any sign of animals, let alone Grimm. Since Grimm and animals only fought each other over territorial dispute rather than eating each other for food, the lack of either animal or Grimm was disturbing.
"Does in this season the number of Grimm diminished?" Asked Hunter.
"Well, there are times when the Grimm population is lower than usual. But never to the point like this." Replied Ruby.
"You're right. I give them a bait and none of them even approached."
"What bait?"
"I am currently thinking of some bad memories. Said memories make me create negative emotions. I am sure you can solve the rest."
"But…you look calm."
"With training, you can hide your anger, sadness, despair, and more."
Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a sound of something disturbing a nearby shrub. Upon hearing that, they immediately went towards the shrub. When they were there, none of them found any clue of what caused the disturbance. When Hunter looked down, he saw a footprint. From its appearance, the owner of the footprint had at least three fingers in his feet.
"Do you know any kind of animal or Grimm that might leave this kind of footprint?" Asked Hunter.
"Nope. I don't know any type of animal that leave this kind of footprint." Replied Ruby as she shook her head.
"Anyway, we should follow it. We might find be able to find the Grimm."
Hunter and Ruby walked towards where the owner of footprint went to. They soon found more footprints. Then they found several tree branches that were broken. Seeing that they were in the right direction, both of them increased their pace.
However, after walking for few minutes following the traces, the ground beneath them sank.
"Shit!"
"AAAAHHH!"
Ruby and Hunter sank alongside the ground. Near the hole, two Creatures of Grimm approached the hole. After looking through it for a while, they immediately moved away from it.
At the edge of the forest, several bullheads landed the professors of the Beacon Academy. Others landed the robots and personnel of Atlas military.
"This… This is going to be difficult, Ozpin." Stated Port who readied his Blunderbuss.
"Indeed." Replied Ozpin, more serious than usual. "Raptor, one of the most dangerous type of Grimm that have ever exist. Known for their human-like intelligence, Raptors are capable of killing full-fledged huntsman or huntress without either large numbers or massive body."
"Correct. Which means we need to sweep the forest carefully. One wrong move could be the signature of our death warrant." Stated Oobleck. "I hope that Mr. Hunter and Ms. Rose could survive until we arrive."
Ozpin's face moved a little upon hearing that. Shortly thereafter, the professors and the Atlas robots entered the forest.
When they finally stopped sinking, Hunter and Ruby landed on a solid rock surface.
"Umph!"
"OOW!"
Both of them immediately stood up and brushed off the dust on their outfits.
"W…Where are we?" Asked Ruby.
Hunter looked at the hole leading towards where they were before. They fell quite far; it would be impossible to climb through the same route. He then looked at the surrounding area.
"It seems that we're inside some kind of cave." Said Hunter before looking at the hole again. "It's a trap."
"A trap? Who would build a trap in the Emerald Forest?" Said Ruby confused.
"The Grimm, of course. Who else?"
"Grimm? Come on, now, Hunter. There's no way a Grimm is smart enough to make a trap." Ruby felt the entire idea was ludicrous.
"Whatever you say. In any case, we need to find a way out of here."
With that, Hunter and Ruby began to travel through the cave. When they reached the part where the light was very weak, Hunter used the mace mode of the Whirligig Saw, attached hand lanterns on both his and Ruby's belt, and ignited a torch.
"Seriously, how all those stuffs fir in your…outfit?" Asked Ruby.
"Magic." Replied Hunter simply, causing Ruby to rolled her eyes.
Both of them were only walking for few minutes when they heard a sound of something. None of them recognized the sound, though they knew that it was created by some kind of…bird? Reptile? Combination of both?
When they tried to find the source, Ruby saw what appeared to be red eyes of Grimm. She shot at where the eyes were, though it immediately avoided her shot. She shot several times but none of them hit, considering that there wasn't any other voice besides gunshot voices.
"Stop!" Stated Hunter. "You will only waste bullet."
Ruby immediately stopped firing. Soon after that, more red eyes were appearing. Hunter and Ruby prepared their respective weapons for the inevitable fight. They didn't move, waiting for the Grimm to take the first move. However, for some reason, the Grimm didn't make a move towards them.
Hunter was about to think the reason when he heard the sound of a pebbles being disturbed behind him. It was by then that he realized something; both Ruby and him were so focused on the Grimm in front of them that none of them checked their rear.
Before Hunter could even turn his head to look at his back, the Grimm struck.
Hunter's Dream
The Doll was playing with the Messengers when she noticed that he was coming. She brushed off the dust on her outfit before walking towards where he was. When she reached him, the Doll saw Hunter was trying to stood up.
"Welcome back, Good Hunter." Said the Doll as she offered her hand. "If you don't mind, what caused it this time?"
"An old trick; being ambushed from the back." Replied Hunter as he accepted the Doll's hand.
When Hunter finally stood up, both him and the Doll walked towards the workshop. As they walked, Hunter couldn't help but let out a sigh; he basically fell into one of the oldest tricks in history. Then again, considering it was not uncommon for other people to fall into the same trick, it might be not that much of a blunder.
In any case, he wasn't in a hurry in returning to the waking world. The last thing that he saw before he died was the arrival of the Beacon professors.
He needed to time his arrival correctly. He was dragged by those Grimm in his "last" minutes, so while he saw the professors, they didn't see him. Which means that if he timed it correctly, he could claim of managing to escape from the cave, then escaping from the Emerald Forest before encountering a village.
"Wait, is there a village near Emerald Forest?" Thought Hunter when he realized that he didn't know much about the geography of Vale.
He let out a sigh as he knew that the solution wouldn't be a simple one.
The next day…
Infirmary, Beacon Academy
Lying on one of the beds was none other than Ruby Rose. The professors managed to rescue her from the Raptors. However, she was heavily wounded and had to receive a surgery. After that, she hadn't regained her consciousness.
Besides the bed were her teammates, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. Ruby's sister was looking at her with eyes full of worry. Tears could be seen to be constantly gathering in her eyes. Yang didn't want to lose another member of her family.
"Yang, it's OK." Said Blake. "Ruby's stable. All we need to do now is to wait for her to wake up."
"I know. But I just can't help it. Last time I am doing something like these…"
Whatever Yang wanted to say, she didn't finish it. Weiss and Blake decided to change the uncomfortable topic with something else.
"By the way, I heard that the school quarantined the Emerald Forest with the help of Atlas military. All of that just for some new Grimm?" Said Weiss. "I mean, I know they managed to hurt Ruby and caused Hunter to go MIA, but still…"
"Those Grimm are not ordinary Grimm, but rather Raptors." Explained Blake. "They share the same name with the dinosaur because of similarities in physical appearance. All recorded encounters with them always end up with casualties."
"I see. That could explain it." Weiss let out a sigh. "No wonder Professor Port called them 'clever girls' rather than the usual 'preys.'"
"Mmhh…"
"RUBY!"
The girls turned their attention to Yang, who was shouting because of Ruby finally waking up. The blonde wanted to hug her sister, but she was afraid that she might made the wound worse.
"W…Where…am I…?" Asked Ruby.
"In the Beacon's infirmary, Rubes." Explained Yang softly. "You're alright?"
"Y…Yes…" Ruby looked around as much as she could. "Where is…Hunter…?"
Her teammates' hearts soon dropped. They looked at each other uncomfortable. Finally, Blake decided that she would be the one who told Ruby the bad news.
"When the professors rescued you, they didn't see any sign of him. They were searching the place but couldn't find even his weapon. As such, Hunter has been declared to be MIA."
Ruby didn't say anything in response. However, it was clear to all of them that she was trying to hold her tears. In the end, it failed and tears started to fell from her eyes.
Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy
At the office, Ozpin was having a meeting Glynda and Ironwood. What happened yesterday in the Emerald Forest was not something that need to be discussed.
"Don't you think we should contact Qrow as well?" Suggested Glynda. "His niece is one of the victims, after all."
"I don't think it's a good idea. Last time I check, he was heading towards part of Vacuo that's even more lawless than usual. I don't want to accidentally send the message in the wrong time or compromise his mission." Explained Ozpin.
"Then we should immediately start the meeting." Stated Ironwood. "One thing for sure is that Raptors shouldn't be nowhere close to Emerald Forest. Any idea what might caused them to appear there?"
"I think I know why." Said Ozpin. "Recently, I managed to…acquire a 'partnership' with the Ancient Huntsman."
"Ancient Huntsman? You mean the travelling huntsman who hunted Grimm left and right, at all four kingdoms, and seemingly without rest? That Ancient Huntsman?" Asked Ironwood.
"Indeed." It was Glynda who answered the question.
"Well, that's another thing that you don't tell me. Then again, I don't exactly pay attention to him. So, I can let this one slide." Stated Ironwood. "Which actually put your theory in question; why she wouldgoes as far as sending Raptors to kill the Huntsman?"
"If that's the case, James, then I have no idea." Said Ozpin as he took a sip from his mug.
"To be honest, the Huntsman doesn't tell us everything about his identity, pass, and other things. What he told us might even be half lie." Said Glynda.
"Hmm…" Ironwood put his hand under his chin. "Well, considering his status, I don't think we can ask him what might make him interesting for her."
Ozpin turned his chair and looked at the scenery outside of his office. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that something big – even bigger than what they were dealing with – was coming.
Night…
Somewhere in Vale...
At the forest, a huntsman was dragging himself away from danger. He has been heavily wounded and was now trying to escape. That action was futile however since an axe fell on his head.
The axe was pulled by another huntsman. He then looked around the scenery near him; dead bodies of his former colleagues scattered around the field. Many of them were killed by the strange Alpha Beowolf that they hunted. Said Beowolf was now lying dead.
The rest were killed by none other than the huntsman.
The huntsman inspected the bite wound caused by the Beowolf. After that, he raised his axe and struck the recently-dead huntsman. Blood sprayed everywhere, including into him. When it happened, he could feel a sense of euphoria.
Once again, he lifted the axe and swung it down, spraying the blood that gave him such a wonderful sensation.
And this chapter is done.
If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.
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