Chapter 3
School days
Ozpin had recently finished creating the fake documents of a Minato Arisato.
The files claimed he used to live on one of the uninhabited islands separated from Atlas and Vale until it was overrun with Grimm and forced to leave. In the files, it had a record of his age, traits, education, and abilities.
Of which most were lies and half-truths, but it was adequate.
Ozpin had sent them all to Minato, just in case he was asked any questions he couldn't answer, but the young man seemed capable enough.
"So Glynda," Ozpin said to the only other member of the room, "What exactly are your thoughts on Mister Arisato."
Not taking her eyes off of her data pad, Glynda held a thoughtful expression.
"As far as school goes, he's the perfect student," she said.
"He never arrives late to class, his homework shows that he completely understands the material that's given to him, and in class, he is not disruptive in any way," she elaborated.
"I see," Ozpin answered, "And this is just your opinion?"
Glynda shook her head.
"I also have statements from Professor Oobleck and Port that during his first week he has been nothing short of exemplary. Both claim he has an avid interest in each of the classes. But, that makes sense considering his… situation."
Being suddenly thrown into a new world where you had no knowledge of the monsters that plague its people, or history of the world. It would make perfect sense to learn as much as possible.
And from what Ozpin had seen of the Minato so far, it was easy to see.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"If there were one thing I would say negatively about him," she scrunched up her face, "Is that in my class, he has no drive."
"What do you mean?" Ozpin questioned.
"Everyone in my classes in some way, shape, or form tries to push themselves. Even Mister Arc, who had no formal training, has shown small amounts of progress and want to do better." She explained.
"However, Mister Arisato just doesn't. In every match I put him in, he never shows any desire to improve his combat skills, no wish to change or improve his style, and is completely uncaring about my class as a whole."
"That is a little troubling," Ozpin admitted, "Do you have any thoughts as to why he acts this way?"
"Several," she answered.
"For one, I think it's due to his experiences in his world," Glynda began to explain. "From what he told us, Mister Arisato is used to fighting monsters, so his abilities and combat experience stems from indiscriminately killing his opponents."
"But in training with his fellow students, he holds back, or simply doesn't expand on what he already knows." Ozpin finished.
"Yes, the most they get out of him is his testing of his abilities along with aura." Glynda continued.
"How is he progressing with his aura anyhow?"
"He still hasn't found his Semblance, but he is making use of the natural protection," she answered, "in all honesty, the boy is a natural."
"I see, and how does he compare to our resident champion?"
"There isn't a comparison to consider," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Miss Nikos is leagues above him regarding combat. The boy may be natural, but she is a prodigy, a genius. Able to adapt to nearly every situation she's put in, her Semblance is cleverly hidden, and hasn't sustained a single injury since she started class."
"Is she a favorite of yours?"
"Simply stating the facts," she huffed.
"And what is the difference between the two, because it sounds to me as though they are both doing exceedingly well in your class, but Mister Arisato seems to have cause to worry?"
"I already told you, Mister Arisato holds back when he's fighting his peers and Miss Nikos doesn't. By holding back, he's essentially putting everyone at risk, due to his rank as the extra/reserve member of the year. No one truly knows how he stands amongst his peers. They don't doubt his skill in the least."
"But they feel a certain level of distrust because of that." Ozpin finished
Glynda nodded.
"While Miss Nikos has used her full abilities against all of her opponents, save one, since the beginning."
"She's the bar that they hold themselves too," Ozpin stated.
"Exactly." Glynda agreed.
"Her reputation as a champion aside, by not holding back against her fellow students and teammates she has given them a goal of strength to strive for, to reach."
Then Minato simply had to strive to win against his students truly. Ozpin didn't believe that the boy was weak, but he had seen some recordings in his classes. There was a small hint of brutality in his fighting style. Effective and centered around making one simple move to dominate the fight, but against actual people he would have trouble.
But Ozpin didn't think that Minato would truly have any problems if he asserted himself.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"It could be because summoning his 'Personas' involves him shooting himself in the head." She said.
Ozpin closed his eyes, "Yes I could see the problems with that, but the majority of his classmates have already seen him use that power of his. So why would he think of them being weary of him?"
Glynda shrugged. "It could be a multiple of reasons, unwilling to answer questions about the nature of his power, someone trying to copy him to achieve the same result and getting hurt, or he's just secretive."
"Or maybe his power is too much for them." Ozpin pointed out.
"Possibly," Glynda sighed, "We only know the nature of his power, not the limits of what he's capable of."
Ozpin had a pondering look on his face.
"I remember him saying that he gains a fraction of their power when he simply has them at the forefront of his mind, have you witnessed anything to give credibility to that?" Ozpin asked.
Glynda's eyes widened for a second, "Now that you mention it, there have been several times when during class his fighting style changed slightly."
"How so?"
"Normally his fighting style is calm and direct, waiting for opportune moments to strike and be efficient and deadly, offering little resistance after and keeping an opponent down, but has little regarding skill and variety."
"But in our last class." she continued, "He suddenly switched his style, relying more on feints and misdirection than anything else."
"Hmm…" Ozpin hummed. "That sounds like it."
"But earlier you told me that he has no desire to change his style of combat. Wouldn't this count?" He questioned.
"Normally yes," she answered. "But while there was a change, it was merely cosmetic in nature. He still puts forth no actual drive or effort more than necessary."
"I'm sorry Glynda, but it sounds as if this is a minor problem." Ozpin chided.
She narrowed her eyes.
"My class is not there for students to simply fight one another. It's to improve oneself and challenge their ability to face opponents stronger and faster than yourself and to overcome them." She lectured.
"If they don't challenge themselves then they won't challenge their classmates, making the unit as a whole worse for wear Ozpin."
"I understand Glynda, trust me I do." He said. "But we both have to remember that he told us that his power was splintered, he may simply be waiting to regain his full potential to truly test himself."
"That sounds like an excuse." She answered.
"Perhaps, but it is also a good reason."
She sighed. "I think it would be best if we dropped it for now."
"I agree," Ozpin nodded. "Now how about the other teams, have they been doing well?" he asked.
"Team RWBY as a whole is fine. They are all excellent fighters, and their respective fighting styles complement each other quite well." She said.
"I'm sensing a 'but' coming on." Ozpin grinned.
She rolled her eyes.
"But, they have very shoddy teamwork, and like Mr. Arisato have shown little improvement in the two weeks they have attended class."
"I was under the impression that they had become much friendlier to one another since the first few days they were a team, is that not the case?" he asked.
"It isn't that," Glynda corrected him. "It's that when I issue team or double battles unless Miss Rose is on the team, their teamwork is subpar at best. If the matches last for at least several minutes, then she will have come up with a, albeit very odd and convoluted, plan that has a near perfect success rate against all of the other students."
"Near perfect?" Ozpin questioned.
"Pyrrha Nikos."
"Ah yes, it would be difficult to defeat an opponent that can use your weapon against you." He reasoned.
"But back to Team RWBY, Miss Xiao Long is by far the strongest of all the students even without her semblance, but her incredibly reckless style of attack leads to a million openings. Miss Belladonna is an incredible feint artist and the most versatile of her team, but becomes too predictable with her moves and has difficulty working together sometimes. Miss Weiss has skill reminiscent of her older sister, and I would dare say she isn't far behind her, but her inflated ego makes her take chances that she isn't able to properly handle as of yet. And Miss Rose, while a decent leader despite her age, is too impulsive and her fighting style while effective and dangerous relies too heavily on her momentum."
"She isn't strong enough to use her scythe?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No, she isn't strong enough to use it to its full potential. If she loses her balance, she becomes vulnerable for too long."
"It seems they have some things to work on." Ozpin summarized. "But let's move on, How is team JNPR?"
"Overall they have the best team synergy," Glynda admitted. "Mister Arc, amazing as it is, has an excellent strategic mind, even better than Miss Rose in fact. Where he lacks in physical ability like his classmates, he makes up in intelligence."
"Which is surprising considering that he is doing merely decent in his other classes." She muttered.
"Now Glynda there's no need for that," Ozpin said. "Mister Arc has improved significantly since he arrived at Beacon, and his strategic mind seems to be a strong point."
"You know why I don't… didn't approve of him being here."
"The young man sought to improve himself and was willing to go to the lengths to do that."
"By lying his way into Beacon in the first place, the fool could have died." She said, sounding exasperated.
"But he didn't and is on his way to becoming a fine leader," Ozpin said, a playful gleam in his eye. "Honestly I think you have mixed opinions about him because you didn't catch his fake transcripts first."
"That isn't true." She huffed, though her attitude proved otherwise.
"Of course not, but let's move on." He said getting back to the task at hand.
"You've already heard my thoughts on Miss Nikos and Mister Arc. Miss Valkyrie is a brute straight and simple. She overpowers almost everyone through sheer force and immense defense. However, she has little to no skill and relies on her natural abilities, making her liable to mistakes. Mister Ren seems to fall flat in combat, but that's to be expected since he cannot rely on his semblance, but his combination of speed and skill allows him to normally outmaneuver his opponents… when his teammates aren't distracting." She said almost sounding exasperated.
"I see, well they seem well rounded enough, and what about Team CRDL?"
"Bullies and fools for the most part." She said no remorse in her tone whatsoever.
"I seem to recall an incident involving the trip to the forever falls," Ozpin noted. "I take it your opinion comes from there?"
"It isn't just that, they're disruptive in all of their classes, regularly bully students, and are cowards. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that they can fight competently and have the least amount of issues working together and on their own, I would have petitioned they leave already."
"So there is some hope for them after all," Ozpin said.
"Barely," she hissed.
Ozpin looked at his watch. "Well I guess that's the end of our morning talk, I believe you have a class in 10 minutes."
She sighed. "Alright, I'll talk to you later." She turned and buried her face into the notepad in her hand and left.
Ozpin pulled up his notepad and took a sip of his morning coffee ready for the day to begin.
~Break~
It had been a somewhat exciting two weeks since Minato had begun attending beacon. Most notably that during a class trip to the Forever Falls, an oddly red forest, Jaune Arc had single-handedly killed an Ursa.
The boy was noteworthy for being the worst combatant out of his class. It reminded him of how Junpei used to fight. Minato's best friend was an excellent baseball player, his natural height and strength gave him a great advantage in the field. Unfortunately, that didn't travel over to fighting with a sword. Luckily he had Hermes to aid him, the Persona of the ancient Greek God made up for his shortcomings with his ability to fight was on par with Akihiko.
Unfortunately, Jaune didn't have that crutch.
From what Minato understood all of the students at Beacon had some formal training to arrive at the school. This explained why all of them were able to fight with monsters and each other with incredibly convoluted weaponry.
Minato suspected that Jaune did not. But he left it alone; it wasn't his place to call out others or perceived suspicions. And it was obvious that the boy was seriously trying to improve as he took every loss in Professors Glynda's class to heart.
He had thought of talking to him on several occasions. Remembering what Blake said about him being 'everyone's teammate' but ultimately decided against it. Minato noticed Jaune was still uncomfortable around him.
Minato understood why, but he wouldn't press it.
Unfortunately, he had become a target for bullying by Team CRDL.
The team was as stereotypical as bullies could be. They were racist to Faunus, people with animal traits. Bullied those weaker than them and shirked away from those who could fight back. And it just so happened Jaune fit the second criteria.
He had refused help from his teams, and they obliged.
After all in a school that trains its students to fight monsters in the real world, how are you supposed to survive if you can't handle schoolyard bullies?
But killing the Ursa must have given him the confidence boost he needed. He was no longer waving and flailing around with his sword during combat classes. Pyrrha had offered to train Jaune, and they seemed a bit closer as if there was a secret beholden to only the two of them. He was long ways from being strong compared to his teammates, but he was getting better.
Then things picked up again when Professor Glynda initiated team battles. Battles along the line of 2v2, 4v4, and 1v3 were given every other class. What made it interesting was that just because one of them was in the team battle, it didn't mean that everyone would be with their personal teams.
Minato had assumed this was for everyone to get used to working together with others on the fly to simulate random occurrences. Which made sense, while the purpose of teams was to learn how to function as a group and make bonds with those around you, sometimes teammates won't be around, or they will be complete strangers. This could also be to test out how individuals work with one another when the situation calls for it.
It was during this that both Jaune and Ruby shined.
The two respective leaders were different in their little ways. But both were excellent when the situation called for strategic battle. Both of them have the highest win rate out of the class regarding team battles.
Which surprised Minato because of how different their tactics were.
Jaune was the analytical sort. He knew the strengths and weaknesses of his team and enemies. Able to come up with a plan in minutes and be executed near flawlessly. Ruby, however, took much longer to make her plans, but due to their elaborate nature and requirement of intense acrobatic feats, it was no wonder.
In short, Jaune made plans that would work for the moment for the situation at hand to end the battle quickly. While Ruby would make elaborate plans that would ensure victory for a variety of situations.
But other than that Beacon was quite ordinary, as ordinary as a school that trains teenagers to fight monsters could be.
Classes were quite enjoyable despite their teachers quirks.
Port, while a bit boisterous, was an expert in his subject. Through him, Minato learned where there were chinks in Ursa's armor. Where a Beowolf would attack first. And what other types of Grimm there were.
Though Oobleck was invaluable as a teacher to him. Minato was stuck in a world that was almost completely different from his. The world where he had zero knowledge of its history, its countries, beliefs, and ways of life. Through Oobleck he learned all that he could, Minato refused to remain ignorant of this new world.
Minato learned that Remnant has four kingdoms. Vale, the country where Minato currently resides in, Vacuo to the west, Atlas to the north, and Mistral to the east.
Minato also learned of the timeline of Remnant. From the ancient times where myths and legends are tales with the only certain truth is that humanity fought against the Grimm for survival, where they discovered dust and its uses and the four kingdoms were founded.
The Great War that involved all of the kingdoms, their version of a World War Minato assumed. From what he understood about it was that there were a million reasons as to why the war started, but what seemed to be its greatest threat was its attack on individualism. With each country treating its people as tools for the war.
When the war ended, and the four kingdoms agreed to peace, the previous generation made a promise. That their children would become individuals, that they would be given names for them and to them only. Which explains the colorful names Minato had heard while in this world.
Unfortunately without the focus on Grimm and nationality people turned their attention to Faunus.
Humans for a large part of history treated Faunus as animals. Thus causing major discrimination for several decades.
Minato could understand this reasoning, but he didn't agree with it. As far as Minato was concerned, there was little difference between humans and Faunus other than their physical attributes. From what he had seen at Beacon they laughed, yelled, and got angry the same ways humans do.
Unfortunately, humanity, as it is an inherently decent species, is just as cruel and prejudiced. Minato was no stranger to racist and bigots; those people came from a life built around preconceptions and being raised by those who held opinions based on hatred rather than decency. Seeing people with animal parts and traits would naturally give way to jealousy over said abilities and disgust at being different.
So after their victory in the Faunus rights revolution, the Faunus people were able to live side by side with humans. Unfortunately, racism persists and prejudice does not die easily.
Thus led to the creation of the White Fang. A group that was made to be a peaceful organization that symbolized the unity of humans and Faunus. That was apparently abandoned due to persisting prejudice and has instead become a group of terrorist fighting for Faunus rights.
But he was being given information by a predominately human school, and he had never personally interacted with any White Fang member or another Faunas for a large amount of time. So Minato would keep an open mind for the time being.
Minato felt a sense of ease, though. He had been concerned that this world would be too different from his own. But humanity here is familiar and a history of humanity dedicated to fighting for survival, to live, gave Minato a small measure of satisfaction.
~Break~
"Explain to me why we're doing this again?" Weiss asked, annoyance and suspicion creeping into her tone.
"Like I said, Weiss." Ruby began, the team leader skipping happily along the hallway dorms. "As Leader of Team RWBY it is my leaderly duty to be sure of the wellbeing of each member of my team," she said matter-of-factly tone as they walked down the student dorm hallway.
"Yeah I got that," Weiss said sounding annoyed, "But why are we going to his room? He isn't even on our team."
"Technically he's on every team." Blake cut in.
"He's a reserve member, whatever that means, that doesn't mean he's part of our team," Weiss argued.
"Besides you already said that," Yang said off-handedly.
"Because it's true," Blake answered. "Ozpin already said he's here to train us in working with others outside of our team."
"Which we can already do with our other classmates," Weiss argued back. "I mean honestly him being here is already too weird."
"Whaddya mean?" Yang asked one eyebrow comically raised up.
"He appears out of nowhere. Summons a weird robot by shooting himself. Gets shoehorned into the Team ceremony. And is suddenly introduced as a new learning tool?" She listed off counting her fingers. "Doesn't this sound weird to any of you?"
"A little…" Yang admitted. "But I think you're annoyed that he won't use his robot thingy when he fights more than anything." Smiling seeing her friend blush with anger.
"Like you're any different!" She yelled. "I remember your last match against him when you asked him to summon it," A smirk appeared on the heiress' face. "How did you say it again?" she mockingly pondered.
"H-hey, wait a sec…" Yang tried to interrupt.
"Oh yeah, I remember now! You said, hey shoot yourself already man!" In a bad imitation of the blonde's voice.
Which caused Ruby and Blake to chuckle.
"You knew what I meant!" Yang yelled back blushing now herself.
"You sounded like you wanted him to kill himself," Blake added.
"Shut it you!" The blonde yelled.
"But getting back to the original issue," Blake ignored the boisterous blonde, "There is something mysterious about him I'll admit that."
"Thank you," Weiss said.
Finally at least one of them were seeing some sense.
"But that doesn't mean he isn't part of the team." Blake finished.
"Oh for the love of…" Weiss said, sounding exasperated. "So were just going to roll with it? No solving the mystery of the new transfer student, no finding out his hidden and dark secrets, or even figuring out whether or not he's a real person?"
"…What?" Ruby said, her head cocked to the side.
"I think she's naming off story clichés," Blake said to their confused leader.
"C'mon Weiss, this is real life," Yang said. "Not one of those TV shows or books with all those weird mysteries and junk." Her voice took a teasing tone and smiled at her teammate. "Or are you hoping that Minato's secretly a prince that's going to whisk you away if you discover his secret."
"W-What… you… how dare you even!" Weiss stammered, her face slowly becoming the shade of a tomato.
Ruby came between her sister and new BFF.
"Whoa-k, that's enough," Ruby said calmly. "We're losing sight of our object here people!"
"To spy on Minato." Blake deadpanned.
Ruby blushed. "To check on our reserve member and make sure that he is living in a safe manner as well as making sure his belongings are being well taken care of." She reasoned.
"So… spying." Blake said again.
Ruby's head fell. "…yes."
"But I don't get it," Yang said scratching her head.
"Oh, that's new," Weiss smirked.
"Shut it," Yang said just as quick. "But seriously, why do you wanna spy on him Ruby?"
"Well." Ruby started tapping her fingers together. "He seems lonely y'know? Like he barely talks to anyone, even at lunch when we sit with him he never really says anything. He goes to class, eats lunch, then he just goes to his room."
She turned back to her team. "I thought that maybe if we could learn something about him, then maybe he wouldn't be so lonely."
Her friends looked at Ruby in surprise at what they're leader had said. Until Yang rushed up and embraced her little sister.
"Oh!" Yang squealed. "I have the most thoughtful and sweetest little sister in the world!"
"Yang!" Ruby struggled to say. "Crushing. Lungs."
"Oh" She let go of her sister and Ruby fell to the floor. "Sorry."
Weiss helped their leader up from the floor.
"Thanks, besty," Ruby said.
"What?" Weiss asked.
"Besty!" Ruby said excitedly. "You know, your best friend, BFF, amigos for life."
"Oh…" Weiss said unsure of what to think. "Thank… you?"
"Your welcome." Ruby nodded. She knew Weiss would come around. That advice Minato had given her had worked. "Let's go!"
But there was another reason Ruby wanted to sp- check up on Minato. After talking to him about Weiss and becoming a leader he had given her some really good words of encouragement. But… there was something more to that. It was like Ruby made a connection with Minato.
She knew that sounded weird, which is why she hadn't said any of this to Yang. Ruby loved her sister; Yang was the best sister in the world no contest. But Yang was also an impossible tease. There was one time when Ruby had gotten a gift from one the boys in her class when she was like 10 and Yang teased her for six months.
But that's what it was. She knew that after that moment she had made friends with Minato. And all things considered, he was a pretty cool friend. He didn't talk much, but whenever he did, it was always something super smart or wise. He was a strong fighter too; he's the only one in their class that's able to go against Pyrrha for more than a minute.
Ruby lasted a total of 48 seconds her last match, beating Weiss' 45 seconds.
And he's cool. Like that cool and distant loner type with a heart of gold that you see on TV or in comic books.
Ruby liked him. But not like, like him. He was like the big brother Ruby always wanted. Well never realized she wanted it until she wanted it. That made sense right?
Which was why she, and by extension Team, RWBY, was going to his room.
She wanted to know more about Minato. He barely spoke to anyone and never went out of his way to interact and hang out with everyone. Though that might be because of Jaune and Weiss' suspicion around him. Weiss believed there was something mysterious about him, and Ruby remembered Weiss talking to herself about how he summoned or something. And Jaune was just uncomfortable around him.
That might be because the first time they saw Minato, he shot himself in the head. Even Ruby was still a little crept out by it, even after Minato explained how it worked.
But they'd come around once they took the chance to talk to Minato.
It was so simple. Go to his room, see what he had around his room. Things he liked to watch, or read. Then leave without Minato none the wiser and bring up the stuff he likes.
Simple.
"And here we are!" Ruby announced as they stopped at Minato's room door.
"This just occurred to me," Blake said to her leader. "But there's a problem."
"Hmm," Ruby cocked her head to the side. "What problem?"
Blake pointed to the door. More specifically at the card swipe lock on the door.
Every dorm room at Beacon Academy had an ID swipe card for the members of the Team sharing the room. The ID's were made for specific rooms for obvious reasons.
"How are we going to get in?" Blake asked.
"Oh, I got this." Yang slammed her fist into her palm.
"What? No!" Ruby grabbed her sister's hand and put it down. "Bad Yang, bad Yang," Ruby said almost like she was talking to a dog.
"Then how the heck are we going to get in?" Yang asked.
"Uh, Duh." Ruby lifted her hand and pulled out her ID Key. "I'm using this."
Blank and deadpanned looks surrounded the leader of Team RWBY.
"What?" Ruby said utterly confused.
"Ruby." Weiss pinched her nose. "You do realize those only work for our room's right?"
Ruby nodded her head. "Yeah Weiss, everyone knows that."
"And you don't see the problem here?" Blake said.
Ruby blinked and leaned back as if she was expecting to get yelled at. "No?"
"Then please, by all means," Weiss started. "Explain to us how you're going to get into the room with a key that…"
Weiss stopped cold when she saw their leader swipe her ID key into the scanner of the door. Then hear the approval beep and the multiple locks being unlocked.
"…doesn't fit the… door." Weiss finished flabbergasted that the door opened.
"How did you do that?" Blake asked, also stunned by what happened.
"I have a Team Leader key." Ruby held up her ID key.
ID keys all looked the same in Beacon. They had the holder's name, year, a picture, and on the back held the magnetic strip that allowed the students into school facilities. However, each leader of a team in Beacon had a slightly different card, to separate them from the rest of the school. Every other student in Beacon had a white card; team leaders had black cards.
"Well, since Minato was a reserve member, and was going to work with everyone's teams. I asked Professor Ozpin if Minato counted as a member of Team RWBY. And he told me that he was officially a member of everyone in our year's team and some other stuff about choosing teams and other stuff. But, the point is that since I'm the leader of Team RWBY, and since he is technically part of Team RWBY, I should be able to access his room."
"Y'know," Yang said putting her hands on her sides. "Sometimes I forget how smart you are little sis."
Ruby gave a bashful smile. It was nice to hear praise from Yang. Her sister was one of the strongest people she knew, behind her dad and uncle Qrow.
Nobody was stronger than Uncle Qrow.
"Alright Team RWBY!" Ruby announced. "Let us search the unknown and find the secrets of our reserve member!" Ruby opened the door and rushed into the room.
"So we're seriously doing this?" Weiss asked Blake.
Blake shrugged. "Seems like it."
"This isn't going to end well," Weiss admitted.
"Nope." Blake agreed. And walked into the room.
There weren't a lot of words that Ruby could use to describe Minato's room. Not that there weren't ways to describe it, there was, Spartan came to mind. It was just there wasn't much of anything to comment on.
It was the same size as everyone else's rooms in Beacon. But considering that only one person was using it, a lot of room was just space. There was one bed, the same as every other bed in Beacon. A desk right by the door with a lamp and some books from their other classes. The closet was partly open with school uniforms and the same outfit that Minato wore every day.
'Come to think of it.' Ruby thought. 'Everyone here wears the same thing every day. Weird.'
The room was neat. Way too neat for a teenager of any age. Ruby wasn't the neatest crayon in the box, but even she knew that nobody their age could be this neat. Blake was neat unless it came to books which littered the floor. Yang was a slob, simple and clean was not her forte. Weiss acted like she was all proper, but she was much more used to people cleaning up after her than cleaning, which Ruby found out the hard way.
'How do you set fire to a dirty pile of laundry?!' Ruby reminisced.
But there was no mess. Everything was tidy, nothing was left out of place, and even the bathroom was tidy. Even then, it wasn't the almost perfect neatness of the place that surprised Ruby.
It was that there was nothing special in the room.
No posters. No extra books. No video games or TVs. No pictures. Nothing, there was nothing but what the school gave the students and his clothes. It was so weird. It looked more like on of those rooms that people show you during open houses, the ones that were fake and gave the appearance of what a home could look like.
It was bare and lifeless. This didn't feel like a home like Ruby's room had. It didn't feel like a warm place to rest and shake off the hardships of the day. No reminders of your past, nothing to enjoy while you relaxed on your days off. It was just a room.
"Well, this is…" Blake looked around the room trying to find the words. "…strange?"
"You got that right." Yang agreed. "I mean I was expecting something," she looked under his bed. "Not even any adult books."
"Really Yang?" Weiss glared at the blonde.
Yang shrugged. "Hey, at least it would've been something to talk about." Yang waved her hands around the room. "But there's nothing here. It's kinda creepy honestly."
"Creepier than sneaking into someone else's room?" Blake said.
Yang sighed. "Someday we're going to catch you saying something stupid." She looked at her friend who had a small smirk on her face.
"There has to be something," Ruby said while looking through his closet. "Maybe he has a super-secret safe hidden away to make sure people don't find his valuables.
Weiss looked at his desk, which was the only area in the room that wasn't perfectly ordered. Weiss moved to Minato's books and notes trying to find something.
Fine, she was curious too.
'Huh? He already finished Oobleck's homework.' Weiss looked around the room making sure everyone was engrossed in their searches. 'Well… it's not like they won't mind me checking. It's for the team after all.'
Weiss, subtly moved, the notes when she noticed that there was something else on the desk.
"What's this?" Weiss said and picked up the object. It was a key. It was blue. Actually, it was more of a violet blue, and it fit into the palm of her hand. But the oddest thing about it was the face at the end of the key. It was a black and white mask, like the ones she saw in theaters with her family, with triangles circling it.
There was something strange about the key. Weiss, couldn't place it, but it almost felt like she wasn't supposed to be holding the key. It wasn't that the key didn't belong to her, but something more. Something that she couldn't explain or feel.
"What's that?" Ruby asked.
The sudden voice in her ears causes Weiss to jump into the air. She turned angrily to her teammate; her face is flushed at the current reaction.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Weiss yelled.
"Sorry Weiss." Ruby apologized and rubbed her head, and turned to the key again. "You found something?"
"Uh… yeah." Weiss said looking back at the key. "I found this key in his notes… which I wasn't reading!"
"O…K?" Ruby responded, weirded out by Weiss' sudden outburst.
"What going on?" Yang asked, walking over to her teammates. "Ooh, a key!" She walked up and snatched the key from Weiss and held it close to her face.
"H-Hey!" Weiss shouted. "Rude, Xiao Long!"
"Calm down ice queen."
"Hey!"
"I'm just looking at the key," Yang said turning the key around. Finding nothing different she looked to Ruby and Blake. "You guys find something that needs a key?" She was met with head shakes. "Bummer." Yang sighed.
"Maybe it's not for his room?" Ruby asked. "Maybe the keys for something else, like a secret club or something?" Ruby looked at her sister who had visited several clubs, most of them nighttime, in the last few years. "Yang, you have any idea?"
"Sorry little sis," Yang answered, befuddled by the key. "No club I know uses this key."
Ruby sighed and deflated. They had found something in the room, but had no idea what it led to.
"Maybe it isn't a key for anything." Blake brought up. Her team looked at her awaiting her follow up. "It might just be a keepsake. Remember he's from far away, this might just be a reminder of where he came from."
"That… makes sense." Weiss admitted. "Great! Now I feel bad."
Yang smirked. "Or maybe it's a key to his soul. How romantically cliché would that be?"
"Pretty big," Blake answered. "Whenever a key is put into a romance novel it's linked to another's love or soul."
"Whoa seriously!" Yang laughed. "I was just joking, but man that's funny."
"Hmmmm." Ruby rubbed her chin thinking hard. "Hmmmmmmmm."
"You ok there Ruby?" Yang asked.
Ruby suddenly slammed down her fist into her palm. "Eureka!"
"Uh, Ruby?" Blake said.
"Not now Blake, I think I figured it out." Ruby began pacing around the room. "The key isn't to Minato's soul, but it is a part of Minato."
"Ruby," Blake said again.
"The key is actually to be used on Minato. Why you may ask?" Ruby stopped in front of her teammates. "Because Minato is secretly a robot!"
"Ruby you really need to…" Blake tried to continue.
"Not now Blake. Anyway, Minato was created by Professor Ozpin to be the perfect Hunter. But because he was a robot he was unable to understand why people act and think, he didn't understand why he had to fight to protect humanity! So Ozpin sent him to join our class and interact with people so that he can better understand the world and make friends!" They could almost see the monocle and pipe. "And the key is used by Ozpin to check his vitals and memories of the day, but where does he put the key?" Ruby looked back at her team. "Now that is the true mystery."
"Then why don't you ask him?" Blake deadpanned and pointed behind Ruby.
Ruby, Yang, and Weiss turned towards the door to see the figure standing in the door.
Minato raised an eyebrow at the four girls that were in his room. Ruby, faster than the eye could see, put away her monocle and pipe, and gave a nervous smile at Minato. The other girls had their ways of reacting to his presence. Blake closed her eyes, and Minato could guess she was contemplating using her clones to escape. Yang had the same bashful smile as her sister but was edging to move behind the other girls, which would work had she not been a foot taller than all of them. Weiss, well she looked embarrassed.
Minato waited and said nothing. Mostly out of surprise. Surprise that they were in his room in the first place. And surprise at Ruby's explanation for his Velvet key. At the moment he was debating which was the most surprising. How insane and random her story was, or how close she was to the actual truth.
The silence continued for a long and strenuous minute until Minato decided to break the silence.
He looked at Ruby and almost felt himself sigh. "A robot?"
Ruby's face became the same color as her name. "Oh, u-uh well you know, I thought it sounded cool," Ruby said.
"I see," Minato answered, then looked back at the entire group. "How did you get in my room?" Minato asked.
Yang instantly pointed at her sister. "Ruby did it! All her fault, her idea, we were just dragged along!"
"Yang!" Ruby yelled. "Don't blame everything on me you snooped through his room too!"
"What are you talking about?" Yang questioned. "Weiss, we got dragged into this by Ruby right?"
"Hah! If you think Weiss is going to betray me, then you have another thing coming…"
"Absolutely." Weiss cut Ruby off, not looking at her shattered leader's face. "We were under orders to sneak into your room and search for things by Ruby; it's all her fault."
"You looked through his notes, you traitor!" Ruby yelled.
"Because you told us to look through everything!" Weiss yelled back. "I was just being thorough and following my leader's orders." She huffed.
"Wahhh!" Ruby yelled, rushed to Blake, and knelt down to her last teammate's legs. "Blake! Please don't abandon me too!"
Blake looked down at her fallen leader, looked to her other two teammates who looked back at her expectantly. And looked at the boy in the door, whose face hadn't changed since he entered the room.
"Ruby wanted to find something in your room so that we would know more about you," Blake answered. "We agreed to help, Weiss looked through your notes, and Yang was trying to find pornography."
Ruby couldn't tell what was more surprising. That Blake had said everything with a straight face. Hers and the rest of her teams faces. Or that Minato's only reaction had been to blink… twice.
"And you?" Minato asked.
Blake shrugged. "I wanted to know what kind of books you liked to read."
Minato nodded and looked at the four girls.
"If you wanted to come over, you could have asked." He said. "Also," he looked back at Ruby. "You still didn't answer my question."
"Oh, right." Ruby got up and took out her ID key. "I have a team leader ID key. And since you're part of Team RWBY I thought I could use my key to enter your room."
If Minato was faintly surprised by this, he did not show it on his face. "All of the team leaders can access my room?" Minato asked.
Ruby shrugged. "I think so; I was really just guessing."
"I see," Minato sighed.
Ruby was worried. This had backfired in the worst possible way. She had only planned on being here for several minutes; it usually took Minato a while to eat. But she should have been able to find what she was looking for and get out just as fast. But with the empty room and the mysterious key Ruby had found nothing and had been caught.
Would he be angry at her? Of course, he would, she just broke into his room with her team and went through all of his stuff. She had just wanted to relate to him more. He was nice, but for some reason, Ruby felt sad to see him alone. This room was sad it was like someone didn't even live here.
Ruby didn't know what to do, so she did nothing and waited.
Minato looked at Team RWBY. His face showing neither anger nor confusion. Just that calm and blank face he always wore. Then he focused on Weiss, or more specifically what Weiss was holding.
Minato walked towards the heiress and held out his hand. "Can I please have my key back?"
Weiss blinked, then blinked again. "O-Oh! Right. Sorry." She handed the blue key back to Minato who placed it back on his desk.
"If you wanted to visit me or see my room," Minato said turning back to them. "You could have just asked."
A collective sigh came from the four girls.
"Whew!" Yang let out. "I thought you were going to be pissed or something."
"Why would I be mad?" Minato asked.
"We did just break into your room without permission," Blake added. "Most people would get angry at that."
"Blake!" Weiss hissed. "Not helping!"
Minato shrugged. "Nothing was stolen," He looked around his room. "My room isn't a mess. And I'd have much rather people I know going into my room unannounced than strangers."
"You are way to calm about this," Weiss said, almost sounding annoyed that he wasn't angry at them. "Like, scary calm."
"That's a relief," Ruby said, her fears put to rest. "I'm sorry about this." She looked at her team. "We were just trying to find out more about you; I thought that maybe if I found something we could talk about we could relate more y'know?"
Ruby looked up and almost thought she saw a ghost of a smile on Minato's lips.
"You could have just talked to me," Minato said.
"Well… yeah, but you're not exactly the easiest person to find stuff to talk about." Ruby said. "I mean you never talk about where you're from, what you like, what you don't like. I mean you only really talk to us if we involve you."
"I see," Minato nodded. "I'm sorry then. I have been distant with everyone, but I should be attempting to bond with everyone here more than I have been."
"So…" Yang drawled. "What now?"
"We still have some time before classes start," Blake said. "We could talk here."
"Great idea Blake!" Ruby said. "I can announce Mission Discover a complete success!"
"What?" Weiss said.
"We were on a mission?" Yang asked.
Ruby nodded. "Of course, why do you think we're all here? Our first espionage mission went off without a hit and our objective was met." Ruby explained sounding proud of herself.
"But, we were caught." Blake butted in. "Wouldn't that mean we failed our espionage mission."
Ruby's grin shattered off of her face and was replaced with confusion. "Uh, well, I guess so if you put it like that."
"And how else would you put it?" Weiss asked mockingly.
"Uhhhhh…." Ruby stalled trying to find an answer.
"So what?" Yang said bring Ruby in a side armed hug. "All's well that ends well right?"
Minato nodded, moved to his desk, put his bags down, and sat down in his chair.
He looked at them and waited.
"So…," Weiss said awkwardly. "What do we do now?"
"I'm not sure," Minato said. Ruby could automatically tell that it was true.
"Hey, it can't be that hard to have a conversation," Yang said nonchalantly. "You must have talked with your first team a bunch right?"
Minato nodded. "Yes, we talked about many things."
"Then what's so hard about this?" Yang asked.
Minato looked like he was almost lost in thought. "I'm used to being that one that is talked to, not the one that initiate's conversations."
"The 'speak when spoken to' type?" Blake asked.
Minato nodded.
"Well if that's the case I'll start the conversation," Yang announced and motioned towards the room. "What's up with this?"
Minato frowned, it was the first time Ruby had ever seen him do that. "What do you mean?"
"Seriously?" Yang questioned. "Dude, there's like nothing in here. You've got no posters, no books, nothing. What's up with that?"
"Yeah, it is strange," Weiss added. "If it weren't for those books and your clothes I wouldn't have thought anyone even lived here."
Minato shrugged. "I like to live simply."
"There's living simple, and then there's this." Yang motioned to the room. "You really need to decorate this room man."
"How would I do that?" Minato asked.
"Well for starters, you should get a couch," Ruby said, contributing to the conversation.
Minato looked at the red leader. "A couch?"
"Yeah! So that when we visit we have somewhere to sit." Ruby explained. "We'd also need a table so that we could all work on homework and projects together."
She turned to Blake. "Any ideas?"
"A bookshelf for one," Blake answered, and pointed to the right side of his desk. "Right there would be best. We'd also need more chairs in case other people came over."
"Wait a minute," Minato started to say.
"Oh! And a mini-fridge for snacks would be awesome." Yang added. "That way we wouldn't have to leave for snack breaks."
"Good thinking Yang!" Ruby gave a thumbs up to her sister who replied with a thumbs up of her own. "What about you Weiss? Any ideas?"
"Hmm?" Weiss tapped her chin. "It could use a TV or at least a radio set. Something to liven up the room."
"That's my girl!" Ruby praised Weiss, which brought a proud smile to the heiress' face.
"Excuse me." Minato raised his hand. The girls turned to him. "You're making my room into a club room."
"That's a great idea Minato!" Ruby exclaimed. "We can use your room to hang out with everyone in our year! We could hold study groups and have parties, talk about how the teachers always get mad at us when we accidentally break something."
"I don't think that's what he meant Ruby," Blake said, interrupting her leader's train of thought.
"Huh?" Ruby titled her head in confusion.
"I think she meant, that he meant, that we're taking over his room," Weiss explained.
"Oh…" She looked sheepishly at Minato. "Sorry Minato, I got carried away there."
Minato shrugged. "It's fine." He looked around the empty room. "But, if you want to help me decorate my room I would gladly accept your help."
"See, now wasn't that easy," Yang said to her little sister. "Now that that's over with, I think we should head to class, or Professor Glynda will have a fit."
They girls left his room one by one with Ruby waving goodbye to him as they left.
"You didn't ask about the key," Blake said to Ruby as they walked to combat class.
Ruby shrugged. "I thought it might've been a little personal to him. You don't ask people their deepest, darkest, secrets right off the bat right?"
Blake nodded and looked away from Ruby. Ruby didn't know what her friend was thinking, but for a second Blake looked like she was frowning.
"Right."
~Break~
"Ruby Rose VS. Jaune Arc."
The collective wince from the crowd was only surpassed by the snickering of Team CRDL as Glynda announced the first combatants of the day.
So far the day was going great for Jaune. He had gotten an A on his homework for Oobleck, thanks to Pyrrha, and even took down around 80% of what the man had said in class. He had gotten a B in one of Port's pop quizzes, and they were serving Lasagna in the cafeteria today.
So naturally when it came to his worse class he was going to get his karmic justice. Jaune had been doing better in his Combat and Aura training, thanks again Pyrrha, and had been able to last more than 20 seconds in the ring.
He still wasn't anywhere near the level of everyone else in the room. Well, maybe against some of Team CRDL. Ever since he killed the Ursa last week, the gang of bullies had thought twice about picking on him. Even with what Cardin had on him.
But against anyone else from Team RWBY or his team, Jaune didn't stand a chance. Unless it was a team fight, then he stood a chance.
Jaune looked over to Ruby and gave her a defeated smile. Ruby gave her smile and went down into the arena.
"Now Mr. Arc," Glynda said to the still boy.
"R-Right! Sorry, I'm going." Jaune stammered and began walking down the stairs thinking to himself.
'Ok let's look at the facts. Ruby is a lightning bruiser; she uses speed and force to win her fights. Crescent Rose is a Scythle with incredible range and great stopping power. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide much of defense, just a large amount of offense with incredible speed. I can block her shots with Crocea Mors, but her scythe can reach right past it unless I time it right. There's no way I can hit her straight on; I'll need her to get close to me, but she's smart, so I'll only have one chance at it. She'll underestimate me, use that to my advantage. Bait her maybe? No that would never work, not unless…"
By the time Jaune was done thinking he was already facing Ruby. She had Crescent Rose out in a standby stance. He took Crocea Mors out, making sure he was looking defensive and nervous. Well… not so much looking nervous and more being nervous.
"Sorry Jaune," Ruby said in her innocent voice. "I'll go easy on you ok."
"Easy fight sis!" Jaune heard Yang yell from the bleachers.
"Hey!" Jaune yelled to the blonde.
"She's not wrong!" Weiss agreed.
"Don't listen to them Jaune!" Nora screamed out. "You can… uh…. I got nothing, Ren?"
"Nora!" Jaune whined.
"He's going to lose." Ren calmly stated.
"Ren!"
"I believe in you Jaune!" Pyrrha cheered.
"At least Pyrrha won't abandon me." Jaune lamented over Team CRDL's laughing. "Really hate those guys."
"Same." Ruby agreed.
"Ahem." Glynda not so subtly coughed. "I believe two certain students are supposed to be dueling?"
"Sorry." Ruby and Jaune said at the same time.
"Good, well begin!" Glynda slapped her wand down, and the buzzer went off.
"I'll end this as fast as I can Jaune!" Ruby said getting ready to launch at Jaune.
'Now's my chance!' Jaune thought.
"Sure you will," Jaune said in the smuggest voice he could think of. "I bet you won't even be able to scratch my breastplate with that scythe."
'Take the bait. Take the bait. Take the bait. Take the bait.' Jaune thought furiously.
Ruby narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Is that so."
Jaune readied himself, and in a blink of an eye, Ruby rushed towards him using her semblance in a shower of rose petals. Now was his only chance, she took the bait. Jaune's biggest problem was her rifle if she just used that there was no way he would be able to beat her, the problems of not having a gun blade, let alone her massive speed. So he needed her to attack him with the scythe. So bet that she can't hit him with the Scythe.
Ruby was smart. But she was also a lot younger than everyone else at Beacon, not that it said that much, to be honest. However she had an inflated ego, not as much as her sisters but it was still there, which meant it could be exploited.
She appeared right above him and swung Crescent rose down. But Jaune was already prepared and caught the descending scythe on his shield. In those few moments Jaune swung his sword up and directed them at Ruby's arms.
It wouldn't have taken her arms. Heck, it probably wouldn't have scratched them considering Jaune's strength. But Jaune was betting on something else.
Everyone has a natural fear of losing their body parts. Right after the faces, hearts, and personal areas, people really don't want to lose their limbs. So while the blade wouldn't have hurt Ruby, the sword still coming at one's arms would still be frightening. Seeing a sword about to chop off your arms would make most people pull away from where the sword was.
Which is exactly what Ruby did.
She let go of Crescent Rose and jumped back in another burst of speed and rose petals. Jaune, taking advantage of the situation, dropped his sword and took Crescent Rose. Using the momentum it had when it was falling, Jaune threw the gigantic scythe outside of the ring. Where it hit the side of the wall and sunk into the stone.
The silence in the room was so heavy Jaune almost felt crushed.
He picked up Crocea Mors and looked from Crescent Rose back to Ruby's stunned face.
"It worked," Jaune whispered. "I can't believe I pulled it off!" Jaune whooped and jumped in the air.
In one of his earlier lessons with Pyrrha, she had told him that one of the most useful ways to take down an enemy would be to disarm them. And to make her point she disarmed Jaune multiple times in their lesson.
38 times in a row to be exact.
So in his reverie of actually pulling off his plan. Jaune failed to notice the speeding red form coming straight towards him.
Jaune turned at the last second. Only to regret it, as a boot enhanced by a super speed semblance landed firmly into Jaune's chest and knocked him off of his feet and onto the ground.
There was a lesson in this, Jaune realized. The first being doesn't turn your back on an opponent and the second being celebrate after winning the match.
Jaune was able to pull himself up, with no small amount of groaning, and faced Ruby again. She looked angry, which caused Jaune to remember that besides her sister a certain weapon was the greatest love of the red leader.
Jaune was now having second guesses about tricking Ruby.
Ruby rushed Jaune again. In a desperate move, on his part, Jaune brought up his shield to take the brunt of the force. Unfortunately for Jaune, Ruby wasn't going for the same attack twice. Ruby instantly dashed behind Jaune and grabbed his arm. Unbalanced by the feint added with the speed of her attack allowed Ruby to twist Jaune in the air and slam him into the ground.
"That's gonna leave a mark!" Cardin laughed.
Jaune didn't know if it was just a reaction, or if it was part of Pyrrha's training, but after the initial shock of being slammed into the ground, Jaune grabbed Ruby's leg. Not knowing what to do, Jaune tried to get up.
Only for Ruby to kick him in the chest again. The air left his lungs, and in pained words, he turned to Professor Glynda.
"I give up." Jaune quaked, struggling to get his breath again and let go of Ruby's leg.
Glynda nodded, and Ruby jumped away from Jaune to get Crescent Rose and returned to the ring for Glynda's after the battle lesson.
Jaune got up and stood to face the teacher while holding his chest.
"Are you alright Mr. Arc?" Glynda asked.
"Yeah." Jaune nodded, still holding his chest. "I'm good, just let me catch my breath."
"Very well." Glynda waited.
Jaune looked up at the large screen above them. His Aura hadn't gone into the red, in fact, it was just barely in the yellow, so a step up. But Ruby didn't have a dent in her aura bar. But on the plus side, the match lasted for a whopping minute and a half that was something to be proud of.
Right?
"Ms. Rose." Glynda began.
"Yes, ma'am." Ruby nodded, putting Crescent Rose away.
"Can you tell me what you did wrong in this match?" Glynda asked.
"I… uh, lost my weapon?" Ruby asked, a small amount of shame reaching her face and gave a miffed look at Jaune.
"And how did you lose your weapon?" Glynda elaborated.
Ruby looked down. "Jaune baited me into attacking him up close."
"Exactly," Glynda answered. "Not only did you accept such an obvious ploy, but you let your pride get to you. Mr. Arc is, to be honest, the least capable fighter in your class."
Jaune's demeanor became sullen from the brutal honesty of his teacher.
"However," Glynda added. "Over the last few days, he has shown at least some form of improvement. He has also shown an ability to make tactful decisions in the team battles. If you constantly underestimate your opponent for one specific flaw, then you will never be able to advance as a huntress."
Ruby looked down again. "Yes, ma'am."
"Even so," Glynda continued. "Losing your weapon did not hamper you, and you were able to adapt to the situation at hand. Using your semblance and superior combat prowess to win the match, and to that, I will admit that it was well done."
Ruby's face brightened from the praise. "Thank ma'am!"
Glynda nodded. Then turned to Jaune.
Jaune took a deep breath.
"Mr. Arc. You already know what I'm going to say don't you?" Glynda asked.
Jaune looked down. "Yeah, I got distracted."
Glynda nodded. "Exactly. While you have improved the last several days, you are still far behind the entire class regarding fighting capability. Making a premature celebration after one successful move will more often than not get you laid on your back like what just happened."
Jaune reached for his aching back and nodded in agreement.
"Right, yeah, no victory dance until getting a victory." Jaune agreed.
"But, manipulating an opponent and successfully disarming them is worth some praise. Especially to an opponent who is stronger and faster than you." Glynda admitted.
Jaune gave her a small smile. It was rare when Jaune got praise from a teacher, especially Glynda.
Jaune walked with Ruby back to their seats. All in all, it wasn't so bad, not good due to his back, but not that bad either.
"Sorry, I went a little violent there." Ruby apologized and gave him an embarrassed smile. "I was a little mad that you caught me like that, and… well."
"You were embarrassed that I made you let go of your scythle." Jaune finished. He looked at his fellow team leader as she lowered her head in shame.
Jaune knew that everyone here was better than him in fighting. He accepted that a long time ago. The thing is, when the weakest guy in class trips you up? Well, Jaune's been in high school and seen enough movies to know that hurts someone's pride.
Ruby looked to the side. "Yeah…"
Jaune patted his friend on the back. "Hey don't worry about it. I'm just glad I've been getting better at this."
"So… we're cool?" Ruby asked as they got to their seats.
"Course we are, high five?" Jaune brought up his hand.
Ruby laughed and gave him a high five. The one thing Glynda reminded them of was that they wouldn't bring reservation of their matches back into their daily lives. Especially inner team matches. It wouldn't be good to hold grudges, especially in their teams.
So as long as Cardin and his team weren't being jerks, which they always were, and nobody touched Yang's hair, everything was good.
"That was wonderful Jaune!" Pyrrha congratulated as Jaune sat down. "You were already instinctively moving your shield to where it needed to be for her downward strike. You really have been improving."
"Ah well," Jaune said while rubbing the back of his neck. "It's really all thanks to your training Pyrrha, if it weren't for you I would've already been on a stretcher out of here." He joked.
"Oh. My. Goodness! Jaune that was amazing." Nora butted in stopping Jaune from seeing Pyrrha's blushing face.
Nora was shaking Jaune's shoulders in enthusiasm "At first me and Ren."
"Ren and I," The martial artist corrected.
"Shush Ren." Nora waved away. "Anyway! You did great Jaune!"
"I still lost," Jaune admitted.
"Duh," Nora said obviously. "There was no way in heck you were going to beat Ruby, but you lasted more than half a minute! Way to go Jaune!"
"Something tells me that's not much of an accomplishment," Jaune replied.
"For you it is!" Nora answered still grinning from ear to ear.
"You did much better than I thought you would." Ren admitted.
"Gee. Thanks." Jaune replied.
Whether ignoring it or not realizing it was sarcasm Ren gave his friend a smile and nodded.
"So…" Pyrrha butted in, her face now a less shade of red. "Who do you think will be next?"
Everyone's gaze turned to the giant screen as it cycled through everyone's names.
"Lie Ren VS. Minato Arisato VS. Russel Thrush" Glynda announced.
"Good luck Ren." Pyrrha cheered as their friend left the seats.
"Kick their butts Ren!" Nora cheered.
"Good luck man!" Jaune joined in on the cheering.
Jaune looked over at Team CRDL and saw Russel give his team some high fives and fist bumps. Jaune didn't really know any of Team CRDL, not that he wanted to, but personality wise they were all pretty similar.
But what Jaune did know was that Russel liked taunting. He liked taunting a lot. Cardin was the physical bully, Dove was the cruel one, Sky played practical jokes, and Russel made fun of you mentally.
So Jaune thought it was hilarious that the two most calm and collected people in their year were up against him.
Russel used knives or daggers? Anyway the guy was fast and athletic, like one of those acrobats. His daggers were like Weiss' rapier. But nowhere near as refined or graceful as the heiress.
Ren had Stormflower, his dual machine pistol with sickle blades, and was easily a match for Russel. Not to mention Ren's martial arts fighting style.
Jaune honestly thought that his friend was more dangerous without the weapons than with them.
Which left Minato. Jaune still felt uncomfortable about the guy. Over the last week and several days, Jaune didn't think he was a monster anymore. But he still couldn't shake that feeling of seeing someone shoot themselves in a head for power.
Jaune couldn't really explain it. It was just… something was wrong about him. Something Jaune couldn't really explain. Every time he thought of the guy he remembered the two Grimm about to kill Minato. He remembered seeing the gun and freezing up, shocked at what he saw, while Ruby was the only one to move.
Jaune didn't know what it was. Maybe it was because he was still a novice to everything. Maybe it was because he jumped into the world he wasn't ready to be a part of. But in one moment he saw the brutality of the grim and what they could do to someone that wasn't prepared, someone like him. And what people would do to avoid that fate.
And if it the roles were switched. If it was Jaune, that was being trapped and about to be eaten by Grimm. If he was all alone and given that decision. Jaune wasn't sure whether or not he would take the option.
~Break~
"Begin!" Glynda announced, and the buzzer went off.
Minato jumped back, bring his Nihil Weapon up to block the dust shots coming from Russel. The boy with the Mohawk had a sadistic grin on his face, clearly enjoying that he was pushing Minato back.
Which lasted for about two more seconds until Ren came flying in with a kick to the man's face.
Russel was launched back off the ground, but righted himself in the air and landed on his feet. Russel snarled at Ren and the cylinders in his daggers began turning.
Deciding not to wait for him to finish whatever he was doing, Minato aimed his evoker at Russel and sent an Agi spell right at his face.
Russel's eyes widened and brought his daggers up to block the ball of fire. His daggers began to glow and it looked like an extension of the blades formed out of wind.
Minato realized he caused Russel to use his Semblance.
Russel's Semblance was interesting, but so was everyone else's. His Semblance allowed him to make extensions of wind. Or to better explain, Russel was able to use his aura to focus wind into the shape of blades using his limbs or weapons as conduits for it. It had impressive defensive and offensive power, being able to cut through dust ammunition and dealing moderate damage to someone with aura.
Russel then rushed forward with his wind blades. He jumped into the air and began spinning, creating the image of a bladed spinning top, which was headed straight for Minato. Minato ducked under the attack and was about to retaliate, until Ren came out of nowhere thrusting his palm into Minato's chest sending him flying.
The thrust, enhanced by aura, did a number on Minato and felt his chest scream against him in pain. Minato brought Sandalphon to the forefront of his mind to take advantage of the Persona's regenerative abilities.
Minato go back up, expecting a follow-up attack, only to see Ren defending himself from Russel's onslaught. Where Russel had spinning and graceful acrobatics, Ren and skillful mastery over his reflexes. Every attack was dodged, none were parried due to the opponent's superior range.
"It's just my luck," Russel complained in the middle of fighting. "Finally a free for all and I get paired up with the resident mutes."
He aimed another slash for Ren's head which, like the others, didn't land. Causing Ren to plant a strong kick into Russel's stomach.
Ren flew back like before and glared at the martial artist.
Ren smirked. "Talking while fighting can be very distracting."
"Agreed," Minato said, and kicked Ren in the back launching him to the other side of the arena. "Talking is distracting."
Russel laughed, it was a harsh and mean laugh. "Take that pretty boy!"
Ren flipped up off of his back and went straight into his battle stance.
"Well at least you can take a hit." Russel continued, the chambers of his daggers were moving again. "Unlike that wuss leader of yours."
Ren's eyes narrowed and rushed towards Russel. Storm Flower came and began pelting Russel with bullets. Russel blocked the bullets with his wind blades, but Ren was able to get close enough to reach Russel.
Russel tried to slash at Ren but was too slow as Ren dodged and emptied the rest of his clip into Russel's chest.
Minato noted that Russel's aura bar on the screen rapidly depleted in the last few seconds.
Ren jumped back staring as Russel held his chest in pain.
"You… suck." Russel fell to the ground. "Too… much… pain… no good insults."
"Russel Thrush is out!" Glynda yelled and flicked her wand which moved the defeated opponent off of the ring.
Minato turned to Ren. "That was effective if a bit harsh."
Ren shrugged. "He was becoming annoying."
Minato nodded and readied himself for Ren's next attack. The martial artist took his stance and looked towards the large screen. Ren's eyes widened for a second and looked back at Minato.
"You aura bar has been replenished." Ren stated, "How?"
Minato noticed that Sandalphon's regenerated ability had run its course and returned him to the Sea of Souls. Orpheus returned to his mind in his stead.
"There are some abilities I do not need to activate personally." Minato answered, hoping it would be enough for Ren.
Ren nodded. "This is related to those summons of yours." It was a statement, not a question.
Minato nodded.
"If you would permit, I would like to face one of these summons," Ren said.
Minato shook his head. He could summon his Persona's. He knew that those who knew of Orpheus were confused as to why he never summoned him. There were many reasons to why he didn't, but most were childish he admitted. That the rest of the school would be wary of someone who summoned creatures by simulating suicide. That with his Persona's he would be able to easily, as far as he assumed, defeat every single student at Beacon.
The Persona's he wielded were powerful beings in their own right. But his Arcana and the power from his links were lost so to speak. If he gained their power again, then the true strength of his Persona's would come forth.
For while the Universe allowed him to keep his power. The World would break all of the boundaries in his mind. Kohryu and Sandalphon at their true power would be almost unstoppable if he had his full abilities. Now they were simply powerful constructs of his mind that would answer to his whim.
A small lake that had the potential to be an ocean.
Using them in matches such as this would be a gross overuse of their abilities. Persona were weapons of the mind used to fight against the representations of the evils of humanity and protect the users from their corruption. They were a representation of the kind of person they were.
Now wasn't the time. Maybe if he became more comfortable showing his power. Maybe if the world required him to use it to expand the possibilities of those around him.
But now? No.
"That will have to wait," Minato answered.
"Then let us continue," Ren said and rushed Minato again.
Minato brought Kohryu to his mind and jumped into the air.
Ren continued to run but aimed his pistols at Minato trying to catch him in the air. Minato aimed his evoker, not at Ren, but at the stage.
"Magaru." Minato pulled the trigger and fired.
The Ma- spells are different in some ways. Overall they are used to attack multiple targets. Lightning arcs through enemies. Fire covers the area with explosives. Ice encases everything with frozen brine. Light and Darkness create sigils of power to entrap and destroy all within it.
And the wind creates a mini tornado.
Not prepared for the wind attack, and unable to get away. Ren was swept up into the green wind storm that Minato created. It would only last for a few seconds which would give Ren just the amount of time he needed to correct himself.
Minato misjudged how fast Ren would adapt to the raging winds. When he dropped down preparing his next attack, Ren used Storm Flower to propel himself towards Minato, similar to how Ruby used Crescent Rose to increase her speed and power.
Ren threw Storm Flower at Minato. The blades came spinning at Minato, and there would be no chance to dodge both of them. Minato raised his arms in defense and activated Kohryu's scale.
Many Persona had abilities unique to themselves. Others had similar abilities that Minato was able to mimic and even give to others when they were fused together. Of such abilities, Kohryu was able to nullify abilities that would fall under Pierce and strikes.
Minato was able to nullify three types of physical attacks depending on the Persona. Strikes, like blunt attacks and those meant to bruise. Slash, which mostly dealt with swords and those wanting to cut skin. And finally Pierce attacks, which was useful for bullets, arrows, and stabbing weapons.
Ren's Storm Flower would usually fall under the slashing category, however, due to the wind and the spinning, as well as the trajectory of its flight. If Minato could land the blades just right, it would technically count as a piercing attack.
Minato made sure to time it just right. He lifted his arms to intercept Storm Flower catching bot blades on the tip. Kohryu's Scale activated automatically nullifying the attack. Its force, weight, sharpness, everything that could harm him was simply gone, and the weapons fell to the floor.
At this point, the green whirlwind had ended, and Ren was running at Minato again.
Minato readied Null strike and waited for Ren to attack. The martial artist stopped right before he got to Minato, using the leftover force of his run he thrust both palms into Minato's chest.
Normally that would've flung Minato outside of the arena. But will Null Strike activated all that essentially happened was Ren doing no more than placing his hand on Minato's chest.
Surprised by the lack of force and Minato not flying away, Ren wasn't ready for Minato's evoker being placed right on his chest.
"Garu," Minato said and pulled the trigger.
A concentrated blast of green wind launched Ren away from Minato. Unable to stop himself, Ren condensed his aura to his back to lessen the damage the incoming wall would give. Ren landed outside the arena and fell to the floor. Minato saw Ren catch himself and bring himself upright in several seconds. He was breathing hard, but for the most part didn't look that unharmed.
However.
Minato turned to the screen and saw Ren's aura bar was nearly at the red. Minato knew the reason for this, out of Ren's team he had the least amount of stamina. Jaune was able to take more hits than the man, but he made up for that in skill and close quarters combat efficiency.
A glass cannon if you will.
"Winner, Minato!" Glynda announced. "The three of you come here."
The three walked over. Minato appeared to be fine but was suffering the feedback for switching between his Personas's so fast. The human mind was limited to a degree, so switching between the abilities of three manifestations of thought tended to become taxing after a while. Ren was scuffed up on some places, but for the most part looked well enough.
Russel, however, was still clutching his chest in pain. Minato imagined that bullets to one's stomach, aura or not, was not a pleasant experience.
"Now Mr. Thrush, can you tell me what you did wrong?" Glynda asked.
Russel looked down, his face holding contempt. "I got teamed up on." He snarled.
Glynda shook her head. "Mr. Russel I will remind you that this was a free for all match, so rather than complain about your lose how about you answer my question." Her voice was stern and unforgiving.
"Alright, fine." Russel hissed. "I got distracted, and pretty boy here took me out." He motioned to Ren.
"First, Mr. Thrush I feel the need to remind you that there will be no insulting of one another in my classroom," Her gaze hardened and became cold. "Is that clear?"
Russel's eyes widened and shook his head. "Yes ma'am, sorry."
"And yes, you did get distracted. You were up against two classmates who are known to be reserved with their speaking did you not?"
Russel nodded. "Yeah, so?"
"So it would stand to reason that someone as talkative as yourself, would have to think before trying to antagonize them," Glynda explained. "While talking to an opponent during a fight can have its advantages, such as making an opponent lash out or even cause them to become sloppy, it is important to know who you are talking to during this and whether or not you can handle someone that you enrage."
Russel blinked. "Oh… I thought-"
"You thought I was going to give you a lecture on insulting your classmates and immaturity in my class?" Glynda questioned a small smirk n her face.
"Uhh." Russel stammered.
"Mr. Thrush, in this class you are learning how to fight and adapt. It would be remiss of me as your teacher to dismiss your style of combat simply because I find it disagreeable. Being able to break an opponent's concentration by talking to them during battle is an incredibly useful skill to have. Just try to be careful on who you try to talk down to."
"Oh. Thank you, professor Glynda." Russel answered, the surprise on his face making it evident that this was a rare occasion for him.
"However your skill with your Semblance could use some work as well as your dagger style. I expect you to be training with your weapons in your spare time." Glynda continued.
"Yes, ma'am," Russel answered looking at his daggers.
"Now, Mr. Ren." Glynda turned to the martial artist. "Can you tell me what you did wrong?"
Ren nodded. "I failed to adapt to my situation fast enough, allowing me to lose focus at a critical point in my fight that led to my loss."
Glynda nodded respectfully. "It's good that you noticed that. However, I feel the need to remind you that you take way too many risks while fighting. You have incredible skill, both with and without your weapons Mr. Ren. However, you lack the defensive capabilities and a large amount of aura that the rest of your team possesses. I would suggest that you focus on either improve your fighting style to end fights quicker or change it to a less aggressive style so that you can better compete with your opponent."
Ren nodded in agreement. "I promise, I will learn from this."
"See that you do," Glynda turned to Minato. "Now Mr. Arisato, you did a fine job in assessing your situation, adapting to your opponents, and even using their own tactics against them. Overall a superb performance."
Minato gave her a small nod. "Thank you."
"The only thing I could tell you is that your holding back is not doing anyone any favors." Minato found that Glynda's eyes were boring into him, and his evoker. "Please remember that in this class you are all meant to test each other. If you cannot take those here seriously how will you expect them to do the same for you?"
Minato understood the meaning of those words. He understood the reason that they were being said. But he did not want to argue or fight about the decision. So he nodded and went back to his seats.
And for Minato it wasn't just if those at Beacon were ready to face his Persona's. It was also if he was ready to unleash them.
Author's notes.
Ok sorry about the delay. As you know King of Souls is being written again and here's how I'm gonna be doing things from now on. I'll be releasing chapters for King of Souls next and then doing A colorful World chapter. They're basically taking turns.
Also writing out the outline for A colorful World's story, so everything is gonna be flowing through me a lot faster.
Also, I saw Volume 4 and seeing Cinder made me laugh, karma's a bitch sometimes huh? (just in case this worries anyone me hating Cinder will not in any way affect my characterization of her.)
