Standing in an empty, desolate field, completely slate grey and rocky, weak wind breezing across my travel-worn cloak, I stared across at the only other thing in the field, dimly illuminated in the weak moonlight. There was the form of a person standing across from me, though their face was invisible behind the veil of darkness separating the two of us.
This standoff continued for a minute or two, neither of us moving, nor saying anything, the only noise being the wind that continued to blow, before we both moved as one. Bounding back, I stomped down on the ground, the earth beneath my feet parting and a sword emitting a strange black lightning jumping to my hand.
As the figure across from me advanced, I brought the weapon up to meet them, blocking a burning red blade before my sword exploded in a blast of black lightning and a shock-wave sending the two of us in opposite directions, skidding across the earth before standing back up, only to be met by that same burning sword that had emerged unscathed from the blast.
"A shame you weren't good enough. You might have saved them otherwise."
These were the only words I heard from the figure, the voice somewhat distorted, so I couldn't make it out, before the blade was brought down to end my life.
Rising from my bed with a start, I looked around, in an attempt to gain my bearings on the situation.
Just the room in Beacon.
Just another day for the leader of team JADE.
"You all right, Jett?" Azure's voice asked, sounding rather chipper.
I didn't have to ask what time it was. The surest sign I overslept is Azure being out of her zombie state already. "I'm fine, thanks, Azure. Just…" I started, thinking about the circumstances a moment "…a weird dream."
"Oh?" she asked, brushing her deep blue hair over her ear. "You've been having those quite a bit lately. Any idea why?"
Shaking my head, I answered "No, not at all."
It was true though. I had been having more dreams like that since the semester started, but even more so since the incident at the docks that marked the end of 'The Phantom'. I couldn't figure out why: shouldn't my causes for stress be less now?
"Maybe you feel like something bad's about to happen." Diamond commented, looking as if he'd just finished getting changed. I could hear the shower running, so I needn't ask where Eunry ended up.
Getting up later than Eunry. I must be having an off time.
"I don't blame you. Chroma and Roman got away, and there's someone higher-up than him running the show. Sounds like you got out of it just in time, though." Diamond observed, before spotting the ticket on my desk. "You bringing that to him today?" he asked me.
Nodding in response, I told him "Tukson didn't want to get this himself, he doesn't want them to know he's leaving the kingdom until he's already gone. I agree. It'll end badly for him if he stays here, now that he's no longer with them."
True to my word, I hadn't kept any secrets from the team since the incident, even the fact that I was helping Tukson escape the area. I really hope he does find that beach in Vacuo he kept talking about.
"Apparently he still has a couple days before he's ready to leave, but I want to get these to him early, so I'll be going into Vale again today. Are you guys still up for whatever it is Eunry has in mind?" I asked the two of them, before they nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Whatever it is, she seems really hyped about it. I don't know what she's got in mind, though. She's been playing it pretty close to the chest." Diamond commented, before nodding "So yeah, if she's that excited, I'm in."
Azure nodded before shaking a bit, holding her hands in front of her chest "I don't know what it is, but doesn't that make it more exciting!? I can't wait to find out!"
"Yeah." I agreed, before finally getting out of bed. "Once I come back from Vale, I'm good. Just tell me where she has you go before you go there, all right? Just in case she brings you there while I'm on my way back."
"Agreed." Diamond nodded, before Eunry emerged from the shower, still adjusting her clothes, long, light-red hair wrapped in a towel. I could swear Diamond turned the same colour as her hair for a moment, before I went over to the bathroom, with my clothes for the day, taking a shower and getting changed.
There was still a day or two before the new semester started, and apparently there was something awesome to do that Eunry had wanted to do with her team for some time now.
Seems like it should be interesting. I guess we'll find out later.
Shortly after getting dressed, I left the grounds and made my way to Vale for the morning, moving quickly to get to Tukson's store. Entering the store in a natural gait, or rather, a forced natural gait, pretending to browse the shelves in the store, before I heard a voice from behind me.
"Welcome to Tukson's- oh, it's you. How are you doing, kid?" the faunus then asked me, seeming relieved that it was just me that entered his store.
We were lucky: the store was currently empty at this hour, so there was no need to pretend I was browsing for books, or speaking in code or anything of the sort.
"I'm fine. You look like you've been better, though." I responded, stepping over to him, noting the bags under his eyes.
Looks like I'm not the only one who's had trouble sleeping.
"Me? No, just having to make a couple of arrangements. Kept me up a bit last night. So what did you want?" He asked earnestly, wondering what brought me out here in the middle of the day. "It's dangerous to come here in the daytime, they could be following you while you're in Vale. Maybe even while you're in Beacon."
Shaking my head, I responded first to his statement "Not at all. The only one who's probably having me followed is Ozpin, and I very much doubt we have anything to worry about there. On the subject of your question though." I started, before drawing the ticket out of my pocket. "Happy Birthday."
As he took the ticket, he raised an eyebrow "It's not my birthday, kid. But thanks." Nodding with a smile, he gestured to the shelves "Feel free to look around. I don't like the feeling of owing people, so have a couple on the house. You told me you have a photographic memory, but consider them souvenirs once you've got them memorized."
Taking him up on his offer, I walked around the store. Scanning the shelves now, I drew out a large volume on engineering, and another large one on computer programming. However, I started to put them back when I saw the price on them.
"Hey, take 'em." He responded, when he saw me putting them back. "I've had those ones for ages. No one with the interest in the subjects who are willing to shell out that kind of Lien for them. Besides, you and I both know this place probably won't survive me leaving."
"Well, it is Tukson's Book Trade. Without Tukson, there's not much store, now is there?" I asked him with a shrug, unable to move my arms much owing to the two large volumes currently in my arms. "I'm going to miss our little chats once you're gone, though, I think. Probing the mysteries of the world with someone so well-read was quite a treat for me."
"Yeah, I get it. Now get going, before someone outside starts getting suspicious. But come over here and at least act like you're paying for them." He instructed, rubbing the back of his head. Clearly, he wasn't the best at good-byes.
After going through the routine of paying for the books, I started toward the door. Unable to wave at the moment, I simply bowed politely on my way out of the store. "Good day." I told him, before I left.
The ticket didn't have him leaving for at least another day, but I got the feeling this would be the last time I ever saw the guy.
All right, that's that. Now, where does Eunry want us to go?
Finding a place I could sit down a moment, I rested my scroll down atop my volumes, as a young woman with bisected hair colours, brown on her left and pink on her right, walked past where I was sitting, almost brushing me in the face with the end of the umbrella she was carrying. On her way by, I could swear she looked down at me, with what a difficult-to-read expression in her pink-and-brown eyes.
Now that's a style you don't forget quickly.
Looking back down at my scroll now, I saw the last message from my team had Eunry bringing them to the landing pad outside of Beacon, where we would apparently be doing whatever it was we were doing. From Diamond's last message, it seemed she wasn't going to tell them what it was until I showed up.
Shrugging a bit, I got up, now making my way back to Beacon, and arriving at the platform carrying the heavy books I had gotten in town. "Just give me a minute, I'd like to put these back in the room." I told them, starting away from the platform.
"Oh, no! We've been waiting long enough! I want to at least hear what we're doing!" Diamond protested. I could hear how bored he was getting in how worked up he got by the prospect of another delay.
"All right then. Eunry, what have you got for us?" I then asked her curiously. I'll admit, I'd wanted to know what she had in mind as well.
"Okay then." She started, looking us over as if she were about to make a speech "Team, I asked my brother to do us a favour today, so…" I could practically hear the drumroll before she announced, with a level of energy uncommon from her "…we'll be practicing our landing strategy!"
"All that hype for landing practice?" Diamond asked, sounding annoyed it was something so mundane, before remembering why he agreed to do this "But, if you're so excited, must be a good practice!"
"Oh, you're going to regret being so snarky once I show you just how we're practicing." Eunry declared "Because we're going to be practicing high-altitude landing strategies!" pointing up at the sky energetically.
"High… altitude?" Diamond asked nervously.
"Yep! Once my brother gets here with his ship, we're going to jump out over Beacon once the airship is at maximum altitude, and then we're going to land from all the way up there!" Eunry declared, much to Diamond's dismay.
"Yo-you know I don't like extreme heights, right?" Diamond started, before 'correcting' himself. "I mean, Azure doesn't like extreme heights, right?"
"Nope. I'm fine with it!" Azure then informed him, looking up at the sky. "So, are we bringing parachutes, or are we gonna go all-in?" she asked, excited.
As much as Diamond hated the idea, it seemed Azure was thrilled with it.
"Oh, we have parachutes ready." Eunry informed her, before proposing "But we'll make it more interesting. Last one to pull their chute wins. Also, the losers have to do whatever the winner wants to do until the semester starts! How about that?"
Looking overjoyed at the suggestion, Azure responded "You're on! But you cream puffs better be ready for Azure's max-tier workout regimen once I win! It'll make the one Jett makes us do look like a light jog in comparison!"
I know she's just being competitive, but I'm pretty sure my regime was a pretty good one for keeping us all in fighting shape. At least, they hadn't complained so far.
"Well, if that's the case, you've severely underestimated me, Eunry!" Diamond declared. "You do remember my semblance, right?"
"True." I responded. "But if you use yours like that, then there'll be a crater wherever you happen to land. You may even bury yourself at that point."
"What happens if we all land without deploying them?" I then asked Eunry curiously.
"Then first one on the ground without deploying wins. But I guarantee at least one of us is going to pull up at the last moment!" Eunry informed the group of us.
Now taking my leave a moment to put my books back in the room, I headed back out quickly and made my way back to the pad.
Just as I arrived, an airship landed at the pad we were waiting at, a tall man whose light red hair was constrained by a white cap, only stray strands giving away the colour. "Hey, little sis! Looks like you and your friends are ready! Good. You'll have to give me a few minutes though. Have to load up first."
As the rest of us looked a little confused, Eunry commented "Did you really think that he was just getting us up there for no reason? He's dropping us off on a cargo run. Either way, we'll get to do our jump."
Nodding along, our team now made our way onto the airship, and waited for her brother to come back, which he did before long, sitting back down in the cockpit as his cargo was being loaded. Now turning back to us after punching in a few things in the front, he asked us "So, this is my sister's team?" before teasing, "Can't say I'm surprised. You misfits have been together since the early days." Then finally looking over at me, "Though you, I'm not familiar with. That means you're the team leader, Jett, right? Eun-eun's mentioned you before."
He then offered me a smile "The name's Cinnabar. Nice to meet you!"
Nodding in return with a smile "Like you said, I'm Jett. Nice to meet you, Cinnabar."
"Not a problem. Just make sure Diamond keeps his hands to himself around my sister!" Cinnabar then commented, giving him a knowing look.
"Shut up, Cinnamon." Eunry commented, thoroughly embarrassed.
Had I been so busy before I hadn't even noticed something happen? Or was it just there the whole time, and I never noticed it before.
"Either way, kiddos." Upon hearing the cargo bay door close, he grabbed the address system "This is your captain speaking, we'll be making our ascent to our cruising altitude just above cloud level. Once the seatbelt signs are off you are free to get the hell off my ship and back to your school. Thank you for listening, and thank your for flying Cinnabar air line today."
"You're not at all concerned that we're skydiving from your craft?" I found myself asking just before we took off.
"Nah, I've done crazier stuff than this in my time! You're gonna love the feeling of pelting through the sky just before your backpack buddy makes the descent a lot more pleasant." He informed us as he started the engines.
The airship take-off was smooth, as we got ourselves up to our drop altitude by circling above Beacon.
"Okay, kids. You guys'll need those masks and goggles I left back there. Trust me, if you fall through a cloud, you'll appreciate having those on, and the air's a bit thin up here. You'll need to breathe to focus." Cinnabar instructed, before I started to hand them out to the team, then put my goggles on in a ready position.
Finally, not far above the clouds, the lit signs shut off, and a voice over the PA then declared "All right, team, this is where you get off!"
Stepping along the craft until we reached the cargo area, where the ramp was partially lowered to allow us to exit, I took in a deep breath and gulped nervously, the parachutes we had secured to ourselves still not giving me much in terms of reassurance about the situation. At least the mask was letting me breathe well even in the thin air up here. "Okay, does everyone know how to use one of these!?" Azure shouted above the whipping winds.
"I don't!" I responded immediately.
"Ok then! Jett, you've just gotta-!" now giving me instructions on how to open the parachute. Though, for all I could hear from her, she was giving me instructions to start a lawn mower. Either way, I think I got enough of the gist to understand the basic idea.
But that's not enough to bet your life on!
However, before I could ask any more questions, Azure stepped right up to the edge and called "See you scrubs on the ground!" before diving gracefully into the open sky behind the craft.
"Hey, we can't let her beat us down!" Eunry shouted over the wind, before diving off the craft.
"Here's hoping I liiiiiive!" Diamond shouted, seeming to tumble off the craft after forcing himself to jump.
The things some guys do…
Shaking my head a bit, I went over to the edge, and took another breath before lobbing myself off of the top of the world.
After all, I'd never hear the end of it if I had to get a ride back from her brother.
It wasn't long into the jump before I pelted through a cloud, my entire body soaked now as I pelted through the air after getting through the cloud, the mid-afternoon sky from this altitude simply breathtaking as we descended from the craft's travel height.
Once I was past the cloud, I could spot three other dots rapidly descending, each looking as if they were doing something to accelerate their fall.
So that's how they want to play it? Well, we'll just see about that.
Reaching out into the air around me with my semblance, I began to collect the air in front of me pushing it out behind me, adjusting the flow to substantially drop the pressure in front of me, allowing me to fall even more quickly than I had been at the start.
As I fell, I saw Diamond was glowing white, clearly triggering his semblance to lock himself into position and protect himself from impact in the air. Or perhaps he was just panicking as he fell through the air, I couldn't be sure at the moment, but, either way, it was obvious he was the one that she meant when she said 'someone' was going to pull up.
To be fair, I was tempted to pull up already myself, but I knew Azure wouldn't forgive me if I didn't give her a competition for the right to lord over the other members of the team until we started up classes again.
I must admit, the fall was actually nicer than the one in the woods, as the thinned-air around me lacked the same effect since I had the mask they gave me.
Shooting downward like a bullet, I streaked past Eunry, who seemed to be doing something to make herself fall faster, though I couldn't quite figure out what it was, before I drew even to Azure.
However, now that the Beacon grounds started to draw closer in our sight, the issue of how to actually land took precedence over our little competition. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen how Azure actually landed out in the woods, but now noticing she seemed to be slowing down, pushing against an upward water current on her way down: she was conjuring water to slow her descent!
Looking down at the ground, I knew I had to do something, or risk being killed by the impact, or trying to correct course too forcefully closer to the ground. I could almost hear her in my head saying 'just pull up. Let me win'.
Not going to happen.
Using some of the collected air I pulled in accelerating my fall, I pushed it in front of me, decreasing my momentum and slowing my fall a bit, the two of us now engaged in a strange sort of falling race, each of us trying to only slow our fall enough to avoid what would await us on the ground without letting the other gain a lead on us as we continued to fall.
However, the two of us hurtling down, neck-in-neck, didn't even notice that a third figure was approaching our race: Eunry had caught up! Strange sorts of bubbles were appearing around Eunry as she slowed her own descent, the three of us knowing that none of us would win if one of us reached terminal velocity in an attempt to get ahead of the others.
The only question was: how the hell was she actually doing that?
As the three of us got closer and closer to the ground, wind whipping past all three of us as our descent neared its end, Azure managed to flash Eunry a nod mid-air, before I felt a form press itself against my back, arms locking around my front before the two of us were hauled skyward, Eunry's parachute opening as the two of us went down, water bursts continuing until Azure landed.
As we floated down to the ground, Azure grinned as she removed her mask "Well, guess you lose, Jett! We're doing my regimen until the semester starts! Ha!"
"Sorry, Jett." Eunry told me as we landed. "But a deal's a deal." She commented, looking across at Azure, who nodded along with her.
"Yep! I'll give you that thing before we get started! He'll love it!" Azure assured her.
"You're doing this to impress Diamond!?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes." Eunry told me, now separating me from her before she removed her parachute bag. "He hasn't taken the initiative at all, so I'm trying to push things along." She admitted, looking up as we saw a parachute still floating down in the distance.
"Guess he did pull it early." I muttered. At least it gave us a moment to talk about this.
"I knew he would. He hates high places. I'm actually kind of impressed he was willing to go through with it." Eunry admitted, looking up at him with a smile.
"I thought he was going to meteor into the ground. That's why I warned him." I commented.
"True, that was possible, but unlikely. He would have gotten scared by the end I think." Azure commented, now calming down a moment, at least until Diamond landed.
"You guys seem to be having fun." A voice spoke from behind us, before I turned on my heel, and saw team RWBY standing behind us, Yang grinning across at our team.
"Did you guys just fall from the sky?" Blake asked, seeming a little amused even when trying to remain serious.
"Yeah!" Azure shouted. "It was Eunry's idea! It. Was. Awesome!" Running over to them and fist-bumping Yang.
"They take the bet?" Yang asked quietly.
"Yep!" Azure announced, clearly excited. "…and of course I won!" she declared with a grin.
"Shouldn't have doooone thaaat~" Ruby practically sang, looking right at me.
"Why not? Ruby!? What does she have in mind?" I asked her, now quite nervous as to what exactly it was I accepted.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about the exercise. Just worry about someone streaming it." Weiss commented, unable to suppress a smirk that said she was thinking about doing just that.
"Why…? Why would it even be worth streaming!?" I asked, scared of what I already knew about Azure's imagination.
"You'll see~" Azure sang happily, practically bouncing around the area.
"You look happy~" Nora's voice added to the conversation. "Did you win?"
"Yep!" Azure responded. Clearly, she had some kind of meeting or something to talk about this with the other teams we knew. "Please, nobody stream it, though! It'll be bad enough what's gonna happen to them! Did you wanna join us, Nora? Show these wimps how its done?"
"Depends, you got an extra one?" she then asked Azure with a smirk, apparently knowing something I didn't.
"I was kind of expecting an extra or two, so I have a couple extras. What about you, Pyrrha? You want to join us?" Azure offered, now seeing Pyrrha blush at whatever she was implying.
"What the hell is she talking about, Eunry?" I asked her quietly, outright scared of what she had in mind that she was willing to cheat in a friendly competition to get it.
"Hang on. She'll tell you once Diamond lands." Eunry responded, pointing up to the parachute that grew closer with each passing minute, though it would still take a bit before he landed.
"O-oh, I mean, I wouldn't want to bother you. It should be a team activity." Pyrrha responded, trying not to impose on whatever exercise this was. True enough, though. She was apparently already a highly-respected fighter even before coming here, so her regimen would probably put mine to shame as well.
"Great idea, Pyrrha!" Nora declared with a grin. "You're joining us too, guys!" pointing now at Jaune and Ren, who started to look nervous.
"Hey, Nora, we didn't even participate in their challenge, so we didn't have a choice in this!" Ren retorted, backing away slightly.
"Oh, come on, silly! It'll be fun! It's a team-bonding experience!" Nora declared, rushing over to him and locking arms. "It's settled, we're doing it!"
Ren looked nervous as well now, but eventually gave a resigned sigh "Fine, I guess. But you owe me for this." Ren then told her, clearly knowing there was no arguing with her when she got like this.
Jaune, however, held his hands out "H-hey! I don't think we should." He started.
The persuasion, this time, came from Pyrrha "I don't know, Jaune. The rest of the team seems to be on board with it. You never know, it could be fun."
Ah, Pyrrha, ever the optimist. Though I'm still not sure what she's so optimistic about…
The answer, however, came when Diamond finally landed, barely managing to stand up as he flung off the parachute bag. "Never. Make. Me. Do. That. Again!" he declared, still wearing the mask and goggles.
Eunry, rushing over to him, now started rubbing his shoulders a bit, looking as if she were trying to calm him down now "It's okay. That was a one-time challenge. I'm actually really impressed you were able to." She re-assured him, as he slowly came back to full cohesion.
"All right! Now that all of us have landed, it's time to tell you what you've won!" Azure declared triumphantly. "You will be introduced to Azure's max-tier workout regimen! If any of you noodles have a problem with this, then blame JADE's leader for not winning our contest!"
"I didn't lose! You bribed Eunry into helping you cheat!" I protested angrily. I didn't mind losing that much, but the fact that she was pretending she won it legit was what set me off.
"Excuses~" Azure sang, before stepping over to the group of us. "First thing's first! My regimen requires everyone taking part to wear my special uniform! That means everyone! Myself included!" she then told us, pointing to a box we only now noticed that team RWBY had brought along. "Ruby, give us the uniforms! JNPR included!"
Ruby, now opening the box, brought out what looked like one piece swimsuits with short legging sections "Are you sure they'll fit?" she asked curiously.
"Of course!" Azure informed her. "They're one-size fits all!" now giving Eunry hers, which looked like it was a different colour from the rest of them. "There's your prize!" she told her, before Ruby handed Pyrrha and Nora theirs as well, before now bringing out what looked like a male version of the swimsuits now, giving one to me, then the others to Diamond, Jaune and Ren.
"Wait, what is this?" I asked, confused as I looked it over.
"Those are the training uniforms! Now! Meetup is back here in half an hour! Anyone who doesn't come out for training will be found!" She told us, as it seemed clear Nora was in on it when she stood up front with her.
As I looked over to Ren and Jaune, I tried to think of something reassuring to say, but nothing was coming to mind at the moment. As if the training wasn't enough, we had to humiliate ourselves during the process!?
"Let's get going, cream puffs!" Nora shouted at us, prompting us to run across the courtyard in order to get to the locker room and change into these rather strange getups.
As we were putting them on, I asked Jaune and Ren "Did you guys know about this?" as it seemed their teammates clearly knew, though it was uncertain whether they did or not.
"About you guys? Yes. About us as well? No." Ren stated bluntly while Jaune seemed to be struggling to come up with an answer.
Barely managing to put on the tight-fitting getup, I shook my head "Damned Azure and her crazy plans. I just hope the exercises aren't that bad."
"Wait, you would have just let us do this if you weren't involved?" Diamond asked, surprised when he put two and two together.
"Well, yeah…" Jaune responded this time. "I mean, that's your team's business." He considered aloud.
"I suppose you're right." I eventually ceded with a nod. "Come on, let's go, before Azure comes to find us."
Now, with the other guys from our teams, I went back out to the entrance, the four of us drawing stares from people as we went down the hallway. The worst part definitely being when Ozpin saw us going down the hall like that "How much did you lose by?" he asked, seeming to already get what was going on.
"Enough." I responded to him on our way by, getting back outside and back out to the front.
However, as the girls started to come out from the building, now dressed in their suits, I was almost outright stunned by what I was looking at: Azure, Eunry, Pyrrha and Nora each wearing skin-tight suits similar to the ones we were wearing.
Though, I was certain we were getting the better view of the two, as our suits just looked kind of weird, essentially out here in our underwear, though, fortunately, I was able to wear a cup under mine just in case something stupid happened, like getting kneed in the crotch or something. Their suits, on the other hand, clung tightly to their skin in a way I'd never seen before, showing off their well-trained, athletic forms to anyone with the nerve to look them over.
The way their chests are bouncing around like that is definitely a plus, too.
"Are you all right, Jett?" Pyrrha asked, looking concerned at the expression on my face. I could feel the heat rising in my face at this question, determinedly looking her in the eye as I responded.
"Of course, Pyrrha! Nothing unusual at all about this scenario!" I responded, though, from the laugh it elicited from Azure, her choice of training uniform was having the effect they were looking for.
"Never seen anything like this back home, have you Jett?" Azure asked with a large smirk on her face, bringing a hand up before she adjusted her suit, intentionally shifting the chest of her suit as the stretching material moved back into place with a smack.
"Not really." I responded, trying not to stare. "This kind of thing would be revealing for underwear at home, much less something for training in public!"
Suddenly, Eunry's decision to help Azure get this plan into motion made sense, if she were trying to impress Diamond, especially with her suit being the same colour as her hair, as opposed to the navy-blue colour the rest of ours' were.
"All right! Since the noodles showed up, we don't have to go hunting for you!" Azure declared happily, as their group now looked us over just as we had them. "But, don't expect your troubles are over just because you're wearing those suits!" Azure then declared. "Because now, it's time for the fun part! Three laps around campus, now!" she shouted, everyone seeming to fall in line the shrill sound of a whistle could be clearly heard, most likely, all the way across campus.
"Wait, Azure, isn't this whole thing excessive?" I asked, confused.
"What was that? Did I hear 'please make us do FOUR laps, Azure'!? Fine! Four laps!" she retorted aggressively.
"Jett! Shut up!" Diamond responded, starting to run, with Azure and Nora running at the back of the group, ready to berate us in order to keep us running.
As we ran, I tried to keep my focus on how far we had gotten with our run, and not on the fact that Pyrrha was running right in front of me, offering quite a view if I had the nerve to look down. I could tell Eunry, running next to her, was trying to show off to Diamond, but that was definitely not the case here, judging by the fact that her gaze was locked on Jaune, no matter the angle between the two. This helped in keeping my gaze up, since this clearly wasn't intended, so there was no need to think about it that hard.
Each time we completed a lap, we passed by Team RWBY, who were currently lounging by the courtyard, giving cheers as we all ran past that I was trying to figure out whether or not were legitimate, Yang loudly telling us from her lawn chair how many laps we had left each time we passed.
Okay, so Pyrrha did this for Jaune. Eunry did this for Diamond. That much is obvious. Did Nora do this for Ren? I've seen them together all the time. The only thing that's not clear is why Azure's doing this. I mean, maybe she wants to help them matchmake while trolling me at the same time… she seems to take joy in annoying me.
"Come on! Less daydreaming, more running Stremm!" Azure's voice shouted from behind me, keeping my mind on the task at hand.
The eight of us, finally finishing all four laps around Beacon, stopped just before team RWBY, the guys, myself included, all collapsed once we got there, the other four all seeming intact, though I knew at least Eunry must have felt it, from the fact she was almost doubled over, but she forced herself to remain standing.
"That… sucked…" I practically wheezed after running so far.
"Oh, come on, Jett! You guys have gone further than that before!" Ruby called encouragingly.
"You're welcome to join us if you like!" I offered to the team, Ruby looking somewhat flustered at this for some reason.
"Nah, we're perfectly fine right here! Our training time is later!" Yang declared, raising a glass of lemonade currently on one of the chair's armrests. "Besides, Azure only brought suits for your teams! As disappointed as I'm sure you are that you won't be seeing me in one!" she then teased with a smirk, re-adjusting her sunglasses as she exaggeratedly lounged about.
"No chatter, Jett!" Nora berated. "Get up, boys! We've got the next exercise to start! This is a partner exercise, so feel free to buddy up!"
Azure now smirked as the group of us stood there. "Now, push-up position!" Azure declared, the group of us having to get back DOWN again, getting into the push-up position. "Here's how this one works! We rotate the jobs here, but first group will do push-ups, second group will provide support: from their back."
I now felt a weight press down against my back, a soft, warm pressure that slowly grew into an almost overwhelming downward force as Azure sat down "All right, Jett! Give me 20! Now!"
Why is this so hard! Azure's light enough to throw!
My eyes shifted across to see that all four of us now had one of the girls on our back as she made us do push-ups. It was quite a strange view to catch glimpses of as we went up and down "Come on, Jett! Hurry up! Diamond's getting ahead of you!" she encouraged as I tried to keep up with my arms burning at the moment. I couldn't even use my semblance to help here with these kinds of exercises, barely managing to keep pushing up and down, until I eventually got out 20.
Surprisingly to me, Jaune had been the one to get done first. "Ummm, Pyrrha, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I'm fine, Jaune." Pyrrha reassured him, putting herself into the push-up position. "Let's go!"
I got where Jaune was coming from: she might be an astounding athlete, but it still felt like a strange thing to do to a friend.
"See! Was that so hard?" Azure asked me with a smirk, getting me out of my state, before getting herself into the push-up position. "All right, my turn!" Practically as soon as I sat down on her back, she cranked out 20 push-ups in no time at all. "See? You gotta use my regimen to actually whip yourself into shape!"
"I'm in shape, Azure." I responded, shaking my head. "I'm just not your monstrous definition of 'in-shape'."
"So you're not then. You certainly look the part, but you don't have the strength to back it up!" Azure retorted, as the girls actually finished rather faster than we did. "Okay! Next exercise! Yang! Bring the rocks!"
"Oh, right!" Yang replied, walking over from her lawn chair to a cluster of medium-sized rocks. "Here. Ya. Go!" she then lobbed the rocks over to us, landing a few feet short of hitting us.
"Oh, come on!" I complained aloud.
"You wanna fight monsters!? Then you've gotta be able to lift monsters!" Azure declared, now picking up one of the rocks and throwing it to a point across the field. "Now! Each of you gets a rock! You're gonna carry that rock over there, then bring it back here! Then we do the same thing! Sound good? Good! Jett, if you try to float yourself over by shaping the ground, you'll have to do it twice normally!" she then directly threatened me.
The afternoon carried on in pretty much this fashion until it was time for dinner, where I'm convinced Weiss was distributing footage from our training session to the other girls. The entire session reminded me of why I was more heavily reliant on mobility than raw strength when I fight.
"You guys all right?" I asked, currently eating with Jaune, Ren and Diamond, having finally been able to change back into our normal clothes, though with a direct demand from Azure to be ready for the same treatment the next day.
"You know, I feel pain in things I didn't know I had yesterday." Jaune groaned.
"How do they do that so easily?" Diamond attempted to understand. "I mean, I couldn't do all that, and I always trained WITH them!"
"Maybe Azure perfected that method when she wasn't with you guys…" I suggested, trying to ignore the burning in my arms as I tried to eat despite shaking hands. "…I mean, Eunry was struggling to do the stuff as well, she was just doing her damnedest not to let on she was feeling it."
"True enough." Ren considered. "I just hope this stops when the semester starts."
"It will. Their challenge only required that we do what they say until the start of the semester, though I was still surprised that your team went along with it." I admitted. "I mean, you weren't involved the process at all."
"Nora had it planned from the start." Jaune told us. "I didn't think that was the case, but she knew everything that was happening. I'm not sure Pyrrha knew, but I guess she thinks is a good team activity."
"Good for aggravating your teammates, maybe." I responded to this, shaking my head. "I guess we'll just have to get through it until the year starts."
Lo and behold, the next day brought the exact same treatment: a combination of exhausting physical training with near-impossible standards, and the distraction of the girls on both teams wearing tight-fitting skin-tight suits while we were doing so. Luckily, this was the last day we had to do it, but it didn't take away from the burning in my arms at dinner that day, as Azure had seen fit to increase my workload at the slightest slip-up.
What did I do to set her off today!?
Once we were done for the day, Azure and Nora grinned across at us. "Well done! You didn't get quite up to our level, but it was still a start! You can keep those suits, by the way. I was considering taking them back before, but I guess you can keep them. We'll be sure to keep ours! Maybe we could make this a yearly thing…" she suggested, looking across at Nora, who responded with an enthusiastic nod "Dismissed!"
The next day, which, while technically the last day before the semester started, was, fortunately, counted by our team as a day for recuperation from Azure's training regimen, and thus didn't require that we do anything crazy before we started schooling again. Team JNPR seemed to agree, and now, at lunch, Nora was flinging grapes over to Yang, who was catching them with her mouth.
"Do a trick shot!" Azure encouraged, as I, too drained from the previous days' efforts, didn't provide any real input at all.
As my mind wandered a moment, I found my thoughts settling on wondering if Tukson was all right or not. He should have boarded the flight today and been on his way to Vacuo, if all went well.
However, my thought process was interrupted by the feeling of an object striking me square in the head. Looking down at my otherwise-empty tray, I stared down at a pastry, the jelly from which I could feel dripping down from my head. "Seriously…?" I started, looking up and around trying to figure out who had just thrown that, only to see that, without my knowing it, the entire place had erupted into a cross-fire of food and drinks being lobbed between team RWBY and team JNPR.
In fact, the entire dining room had been thrown into disarray! How could I have possibly missed this happening!?
Most of the tables had been re-arranged into a tower, upon which Nora was lording the position over the rest of the room, which only consisted of Team RWBY, team JNPR, and the rest of my team, Azure bounding up to the top of the tables to stand next to Nora. "Come get us then!" she yelled down in challenge to team RWBY.
Not quite able to process what was going on, I then saw Eunry bound over to the tables, looking as if she were going to help them fend off RWBY. "You know what? I think we should get them back for the last couple days." I suggested to Diamond, who merely nodded, before the two of us bounded over to RWBY's side of the cafeteria.
"Traitors!" Azure declared, though sounding as if she partially expected it.
"Off with their heads!" Nora decreed, before both sides stormed toward each other.
Pointing directly at Azure, I only smirked a bit, knowing my target was already in sight. Picking up a watermelon, I formed the rind into a pair of short-swords, now pelting across the room toward her.
Dodging to the side as Pyrrha attempted to strike me with a baguette, I continued toward Azure, the sounds of battle behind me telling me she had another opponent. As Ren closed in with a pair of leeks, I jumped the surface of the table, sliding across before continuing to move forward, bounding from table to table up toward where Azure was currently waiting, challenging me to get to her.
"Don't think so, Jett." Eunry's voice stated calmly, armed with a melon with a table leg stabbed into the bottom of it. Taking a swing at me as I tried to continue upward, I managed to duck under it, shifting forward to strike her with the improvised fruit weapons, managing to land the first two blows, which only seemed to stagger her for an instant before she was back on the attack, managing to knock me back across one of the tables before skidding into a wall.
So THAT's the way they want to play it, then?
Standing back up, I looked down to see my fruit blades destroyed. Oh well, easy come easy go. Grabbing an upturned bench, I set the flat side against the edge of an overturned table. Smirking a bit, I put a watermelon on the lowered far side, before jumping onto the upper part, slamming that end down before the melon took to the air, smashing into the side of their table fort, knocking a couple of them down from the top.
Giving a two-fingered mock-salute, before lobbing another melon onto the back and flinging it toward Eunry, who smashed it out of the air with her staff, before Azure darted down from the top toward me, now wielding not a weapon-like piece of a food, but just a pie, darting toward me.
Too low to send one across.
Now holding the halves of another watermelon in hand, I rushed her as well, ready to match her strike for strike, before a sudden gale kicked up in the room. Evidently Ruby had had enough of this crap, and pelted toward the wall, practically everything in the room headed toward the wall, the two of us included. Once we did hit the wall, I dropped immediately, managing to hurriedly flip up a table, the combined contents of the room smashing into the wall, countless small projectiles impacting the table Azure and I were behind, before quieting down.
"Well… that was certainly interesting." I commented, before suddenly struck in the face by a pie.
She still had that thing!?
"Yep. Punishment was handed out for insubordination, and all is right with the world." She commented with a smirk, before Professor Goodwitch stormed into the room, past Sun and someone else covered in purple that I didn't recognize. The room seeming to reassemble itself from the state we had reduced it to before the professor spoke simply.
"Children, please. Do not play with your food!"
I was honestly expecting something worse than that for destroying the cafeteria.
As I looked around, I took a brief headcount. Okay, looks like-
Wait… where's Yang?
This was my thought before she literally crashed in through the ceiling, landing next to her team and giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Okay, now THAT is everyone.
Not long after leaving the cafeteria, I took another trip out to Vale, ending up headed toward Tukson's.
I don't know why I'm coming out here to see an empty store, but I guess it doesn't hurt to confirm he left.
However, upon arrival at the store, I was greeted by the sight of police tape around the door, the store the sight of a crime scene.
What the hell could have happened?