RWBY: Primal (#RWBYverseAwards)

Initiation

As Ruby landed with a thump on the ground of emerald forest, she immediately took off to find her sister, whom she hoped would end up being her partner.

'Gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang, gotta find...'

"Yang!" she called out into the forest.

She didn't know exactly what she expected to get in return, but just hoping for an answer was good enough for her.

After about one minute and forty-five seconds of running, Ruby had given up on trying to find her sister. She had run a good length, considering her semblance was that of immense speed. She began to ponder other possible teammates she could have. While she and Jaune seemed to get along well, Ruby wasn't quite sure he could hold himself in a fight against any Grimm. And she did know Blake, but it would be a bit awkward if she couldn't hold a conversation. There would be nothing left of her to kill if she died of conversational starvation. She closed her eyes, sighed, and just decided to feel the air blowing against her face as she ran along...

And suddenly, she fell to the ground with a small yelp when she ran into a something.

'Something?' Ruby thought. 'I'm running through the forest with my eyes closed. I just ran into a tree...'

She glanced upwards to see a few Ursa staring down at her angrily. She then started to back away from them slowly, sliding herself backwards using her legs to give her momentum. When the Ursa realized that they had their target afraid, they all began to advance on her, slowly but surely working themselves up for the kill.

And that's when the first arrow flew.

It came from a tree directly to the right of Ruby, and slammed straight through the eye of the closest Ursa, slicing through the thing's brain, killing it instantly. The Grimm dissipated into a cloud of dust and was quickly swept away by the soft breeze of the forest.

As Ruby sat, completely stunned, more and more of the Ursa began to fall from arrows shot from trees all around her, until there were only three of them left. They were on high alert, preferring to go for the target fighting back before the one they believed was defenseless. The mistake they made, however, was assuming that Ruby was defenseless. She pulled out Crescent Rose and lunged at one of the Ursa...

She stopped herself mid-swing as a massive boy, about seven feet tall and heavily muscular, appeared directly in front of the Grimm and crushed its skull between his open hands.

The boy then moved on to the second, stabbing his clawed hands (he had Nevermore talons strapped to each finger) directly through the underside of the Grimm's mouth. The boy reached into the open cavity he had created, grabbed the brain from the bottom of the mouth, and ripped it from the Grimm's skull, slamming the gelatinous globe on the ground beneath the Grimm's already dead body.

And the final Ursa, that rushed at the boy with renewed anger, simply had its neck snapped when it got close enough.

Ruby was dumb-stricken. She had never seen someone dispatch such a large group of Grimm with such deadly ease and precision. She finally got a good look at her supposed savior (she still thought she could have handled it by herself). The boy was completely clad in metal armor, some rusted over as if from long periods of use. He was wearing a cloak that seemed to be fashioned from Beowolf fur, and had an Alpha Ursa's spines strapped to a rusted pauldron on his shoulder. He had a large collection of weapons attached to his back; a composite bow and arrows, a sniper rifle that looked like it belonged in a museum, some scabbards to hold swords, two throwing axes, and, beneath all that, a guitar.

The boy turned around to face her, and she was immediately baffled at what she saw, or in this case, did not see.

The boy was wearing a helmet; what seemed to be partly robotic and made from the same rusted metal as the rest of his getup, and an old, tribal gas mask. There were four eyes built into the robotics, each glowing a piercing orange color. The boy's right arm and legs beneath the knees were completely comprised of metal, which seemed to be what was giving the boy such immense strength.

The boy merely stared at her, his "eyes" glowing orange. It seemed like he was either studying her, or waiting for something.

"Thank you." Ruby said, approaching the boy. He was a good three-to-four feet taller than her.

The boy did not respond, just stared at her as she approached.

"I didn't see you on the cliff... What's your name? Mine's Ruby." she smiled at the guy.

Nothing.

Perhaps he didn't understand her. She put her hand on her chest and elongated the word, hoping for the boy to pick up on what she meant.

"Roooooooo Beeeeeeeee" she said, as if talking to a baby.

The boy merely tilted his head at her.

"Helloooooo?" someone shouted from the trees.

Both people immediately shot their heads towards the direction of the call.

Weiss emerged from the trees, looked at Ruby, sighed, and motioned for her to follow.

"But I think I already have a..." she said as she looked back towards the boy.

He was gone without a trace.

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The group of kids had finished initiation successfully, had their teams assigned, and were just returning to their dorm rooms after dinner. Team RWBY, just as tired as all the other freshmen into Beacon, unlocked the door to their room and opened it. What they didn't expect to see was a hulking figure clad in complete metal armor standing at their window, looking outside over the school grounds.

Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake just stared at the figure as it turned around.

'It's the guy from the forest!' thought Ruby as the boy stared at them with unblinking orange eyes.

He did not receive such a warm welcome from the rest of the team, however. Yang immediately armed her gauntlets and ran at the guy, aiming a hard jab to his chest. The boy merely raised his mechanical hand, caught Yang's fist mid-punch, and, with a horrible screeching noise, collapsed the gauntlet around her wrist.

Weiss was next. She spawned a glyph behind her and flew at the guy, her rapier stuck out in front of her. As she got close, the boy grabbed the blade and snapped the sword in two like a twig.

He didn't even wait for Blake's response. He immediately stuck his arm out towards her weapon, causing the metal of her sword to twist and dent, making it near unusable.

The three girls looked dumbfounded at their now worthless weapons, expecting the guy to begin his own counterattack now that he had disabled them indefinitely. But the boy merely leaned against the closest wall, arms crossed, and stared at the group.

"What's going on here!" Professor Ozpin said as he came jogging around the corner with Ms. Goodwitch hot on his heels.

The two adults cast their eyes around the room, from the dumb stricken team, to the disheveled room, to the massive boy at the far end, acting as if it were his god-given right to be there.

"Who are you?" Ozpin asked the kid.

He merely stared back at him, completely silent but for the whirring and quiet buzz of his mechanical body parts.

"Perhaps you would like to speak with me in a more private area. Ms. Goodwitch, please escort this young man to my office."

As Goodwitch approached the boy, he didn't seem to resist at all as she began to push him towards the door of the room.

As they reached the door, passing by Weiss, Blake and Yang, the boy cast his gaze onto Ruby. When he was close enough, he grabbed Ruby's hand, opened it so the palm was outwards, and placed it on his chest, right above his armor.

"Priiiiiiii..... Malllllll." he said in a barely audible whisper.

And then Ms. Goodwitch shoved him hard out of the room, and he was gone.