Story RWBY Alternate

[RWBY Alternate] The Beacon Athenaeum - The prelude




Volume 1


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Excellent background for your story, both prose and art. Happy writing!

 

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IC: Qrow Branwen
(Frontier Plains)

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Each time Qrow visited the frontier plains, he couldn't help but wonder what exactly wiped out the civilization of man that came before. Massive cities that were full of technologies and buildings that would've been impossible to explain if he had not seen it for himself.

The veteran hunter shook himself out of his awe and refocused his mind. Qrow was here on commission by a wealthy employer, and he dared not to screw this job up. Lest he misses out on a great payday. Qrow leaped from his vantage point and divebombed through the sky.

With the ease and confidence of an acrobatic master, Qrow flipped in the air and activated his aura, turning himself into a bird. This way, Qrow could survey the land, as he was looking for a specific target, a specific location that housed a remarkable artifact of sorts that was hidden in a golden warehouse, according to sources.

One minute passed, then five, then ten, next thing Qrow knew, he had been flying for almost an hour. It was at this moment that Qrow had caught the attention of a Grimm creature......

The Perfect Manticore.

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The beast was huge, easily dwarfing veteran hunter in bird form.

"Damn a dark 3!"

Qrow entered evasive action, taking sharp random turns around skyscrapers as he flew erratically to lose the beast. The Manticore crashed into whatever object was in its path using its boned face to ram into all obstacles, causing whole buildings to tip and fall over.

"Why won't you give up already?!"

Qrow continued flying like this until the Manticore took a deep breath, and within that breath, gas began to form and ignited itself. And with a simple puff, the Manticore pushed a stream of fire out of its mouth. It was then that Qrow realized that if he kept flying, he would merely be delaying the inevitable and be shot out of the sky.
So with few options left, Qrow flew down to the surface and transformed back into a human where he saw the beast wasn't alone. In Qrow's haste to survive, Qrow had failed to realize that the Manticore was being followed by a pack of lesser Manticore on the ground.

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Of course, just my luck,

thought Qrow as he found himself surrounded with no way out. There was only one option, to fight! And Qrow did just that as he pulled out his sword and dashed forward at a cautious lesser Manticore; using his sword's hidden mechanic, he lifted the hilt, and a barrel of a gun appeared. Qrow squeezed the trigger on his handle and began firing upon the beast.

Qrow's boldness startled the pack, and the hunter used that to his advantage as he got within sword distance of his target and sliced upwards. Lesser manticore #1 screeched in pain, and #2 tried to jump in the fray. Qrow anticipated this and pivoted on his heels, turning a full 360 degrees, and dashed forward, plunging his sword deep within #2's mouth, killing it instantly. Qrow once again pivoted and quickly activated another function within his blade.

With the press of a button, Qrow's sword curved and separated its blades from each other, forming a scythe. And with the momentum he generated from killing #2, Qrow used that to leap into the air with his now scythe and cleaved #1 in half before it could react.

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The pack was startled; all that remained were lesser Manticore #3 #4 #5 #6 and the group's alpha, aka the Perfect Manticore. Some of the lesser beasts looked amongst themselves and considered retreating, but the alpha roared, and with that, the Lesser beast's resolve was restored as they also screamed in kind.

"You want a piece of me?" Qrow yelled at the beast as he extended his Scythe to its total capacity.

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Invigorated by the tension, the sixth lesser Manticore leaped at Qrow with wild abandon, Determined to end the contest and avenge its siblings. However, all it would accomplish is meeting a swift end by Qrow's revered weapon; harbinger as the veteran hunter also met the beast in air and, with a single downward swipe, sliced the Grimm into two.

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Three down four to go. Qrow mused as things went more smoothly than expected. By this point, the Lesser Manticores were now deathly afraid and demoralized. Qrow relaxed his posture a bit and grinned; he had this.

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However, all of that momentum shifted in an instant once the Alpha started to play. With a single huff, the Perfect Manticore let loose a stream of fire, forcing Qrow to leap away from the geyser. And with no other way to go, Qrow jumped onto the building walls, but the Alpha continued the barrage.

As Qrow Concentrated his aura onto his feet, he managed to defy gravity. And sprinted upwards to escape the hails of fire, zigging left and right to escape being wholly engulfed as the beast began to change its aiming trajectory. Instead of predicting the hunter's path, the Perfect Manticore started aiming in front of its target.

The smog blinded irritated Qrow's eyes and lunges, forcing him to cover up his eyes and face. But beyond the char and smog lay the Perfect Manticore. And as Qrow parted the black sea, the Alpha made its move.

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The sound that followed was a sickening one due to the Perfect Manticore's perfect timing and plan. As it used Qrow's own speed against him, basically making the hunter run headfirst into concrete. And as Qrow's body slumped over and went limp from the impact, the Perfect Manticore swiped away Qrow with monstrous force. As Qrow zipped through the air, the remaining Manticores peaked their heads up in curiosity and amazement.

Qrow violently crashed through an adjacent building's window. The Perfect Manticore chuckled and gave a short yawp. To which the Lesser Manticores went wild over and yawped over and over and over again. Effectively conjuring up their own version of a war cry as they marched towards Qrow with one plan and one vision, to kill the human.

"Uncle Qrow?"
"Are you okay?"
"Get up, Uncle Qrow; I still need you!"

"Ruby? Yang?"

That's right! I can't die here; I still need to see Ruby and Yang grow.

Qrow, bloodied, bruised, and battered, rose again and peered out the window crater, looking down upon the surviving members of the Grimm pack. This was it do or die; if there was any moment for Qrow to let go of all reason and fight like a wild animal, now was the time.

Qrow slid down the building and flew into the air, performing 3 somersaults, landing gracefully into the middle of the Grimm formation. Qrow took a moment to breathe and relax, but the Grimm wouldn't allow him such a moment. All three lesser Manticores attacked simultaneously, but Qrow was ready. Qrow spun his scythe in a 360-degree fashion as a defensive measure to keep himself from being killed instantly.

As Qrow spun his weapon, lesser manticores #4 and #3 immediately met their demise as their major extremities were sliced away. However, #5 managed to slip through Qrow's tight defense and mauled him.

#5 used its claws to tear into Qrow's arm and chest, but it didn't kill the hunter; in fact, it couldn't. Qrow managed to concentrate his aura into his legs once again and pushed the beast off of him.

But as Qrow was seemingly distracted, the Perfect Manticore launched another stream of fire. This again? Qrow slipped under the fire stream and made a crazed charge for #5, and before the Manticore could even react, it was bisected at the hip.

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Now it was the perfect Manticore that was startled. No hunter had ever performed this well against it. In fact, no hunter has ever managed to beat its pack like this before. The Perfect Manticore was confused and dumbfounded. Just who and what exactly was this being that stood before it.

Qrow turned, and that's when the Grimm could see the man that was about to put it out of its misery. Bloodied from his wounds, battered from the impacts, and steam emanated from his body, reflecting the amount of kinetic energy Qrow could produce in one single moment. If anyone could see him now, they might've mistaken Qrow for a demon; maybe he is.

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This was the end.

The deciding factor, Qrow, and the Perfect Manticore, looked at each other for one final time. One last contest to decide who was the true demon to be feared. Both Qrow and the Perfect Manticore leaped at one another, but only one landed the critical blow.

Qrow wrapped his scythe around the Grimm's neck. The sheer momentum of Qrow's charge forced the Perfect Manticore's back against a building. With that all-consuming speed that Qrow possessed, he ran up the skyscraper. Once Qrow reached the very top, he yelled at the top of his lungs, pushing the scythe deeper and deeper into the now squealing "Perfect" Manticore's neck until...

CHOP!

Qrow landed gracefully.

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Qrow stood for a moment to take in everything that had just transpired, and after a brief moment transformed into a bird without looking back at the steaming head of his former foe.

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_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(12 days later)
Schnee manor - Atlas




Civilization. Sure is great to be back, not to mention the fresh clothes. Qrow thought as he made his way to the Schnee Manor, delivering the artifact in question. On his way to his destination lied a checkpoint full of hunters personally employed by the Schnee family. Qrow recognized the two guarding the checkpoint and called out to them




"Hey Dee, hey Dudley."
The pair looked up from their devices and their eyes lit up instantly. Dee spoke first,

"Aye Qrow! Can't believe a bigshot like you remembers me."

Qrow chuckled, "Well I'm good with names and faces but I'm not good with numbers. Just don't tell Jacque that."

Dee and Dudley gave a good natured laugh.

"Don't worry. Even though Jacque is a Schnee he knows better than to rip you off."

Qrow chuckled and handed a briefcase to the pair.

Dudley took the briefcase, opened it, and after inspecting the artifact for a while he nodded.




"I have no idea what this is."
"Me either but it's what your boss wanted."
Dee pressed a button and a gruff yet elegant voice came through from the intercom.
"Yes?"

"Sir it's Dee. Qrow just delivered a package."

"Oh brilliant! Is Qrow still there?"

"Yes sir he is."

"Good. That saves me the trouble of hiring a courier. Open the locker in the checkpoint booth and give him the money from there."

Dee reached into the locker and pulled out an even larger briefcase and opened it for Qrow to see and inspect.



"Well well despite all the labor lawsuits and allegations floating around about your dust company. You are surprisingly a man of your word Jacque. You even went through the trouble of converting the Altesian dollars to Free Bank Riyals."

Jacque chuckled.

"You'll find that I'm full of many surprises Qrow. I'll do anything for a friend."

Qrow raised an eyebrow.

".....Right...Anyway, I'll be going now."

"Take care."

Qrow took the briefcase and walked off into the night.

 

Good use of the scythe's circularity for Qrow to spin off the creature's head. Somehow I do not believe the 'friend' aspect of Jacque's speech, however and it doesn't look like Qrow believes it, either.

 

Finally, I found someone actually doing something with the foundations Jerry gave us. Please continue this, it looks very promising.