Huntsmen Chapter 4

Rain woke a few moments before the sun peeked over the horizon. Just the way he had trained himself to do. As he turned to the window, he saw a streak of darkness flash across it.

"Probably a bat speeding home to sleep." He turned to look at his teammates. "As for these lazybones..." Rain pulled out a whistle and gave it a blow. Immediately his teammates jumped/fell out of their beds.

Rain took up a position in front of them. "Alright, men. We will be waking up with the dawn every day from now on. If I have to personally wake you, you owe me ten push-ups for every second between dawn and when your feet touch the ground. Any questions?" his team all raised their hands, "No? Good. We have a full day ahead of us and I don't want to waste it with stupid questions. I want all of you dressed and ready to start the day in ten minutes. Bring anything you need for classes because we will not be returning here until classes are done for the day." With that, Rain quickly changed into his uniform, smiled to himself in the mirror, and grabbed his bag.

"Boss, I get that you want us to be cohesive, but isn't cleaning the entire mess hall before breakfast a bit of a ridiculous task? Besides, it already got cleaned last night." Russel said.

"It may have gotten cleaned last night, but since then a thin layer of dust has moved in. I want this place to sparkle every morning." Rain responded, "We are going to do this for several months until we stop for a week and start showing up to breakfast after everyone else. A week should be just long enough for all the other students to notice that we have been making this place just a little bit better every day."

"So we're going to get them used to higher quality without them knowing and them make them realize that we're the ones doing it?" Russel asked, confused.

"So that they then start to resent us just for being that little bit better than them. Hopefully causing other teams to step up their game, while also giving us the chance to show up the more lazy teams who will try to get back at us for being imperceptibly better. All the while we'll be improving the school and setting a precedent of excellence disguised as competition." Rain stared off into space, "It'll be glorious."

"I mean no offense by this, but are you sure being a huntsman was your true calling? You would make a terrifying politician." Russel said.

Rain shrugged, "I've considered it. Too much paperwork though."

After they'd scrubbed the dining hall spotless, Rain led them on a few laps around Beacon before getting breakfast. They ate quickly and hurried off to the first class. Rain insisted they sit in the second row so as to appear "eager, but not too eager."

Their classes went by fairly easily. Most of them were just an introduction to the course and some small assignments. But their last class was one Rain had been looking forward to; Combat.

"Now class," Professor Goodwitch said from the middle of the arena, "ordinarily we wouldn't be performing combat simulations until the second week. But given the extraordinary amount of skill present in your year, Professor Ozpin thought it would be prudent to skip the theory portion.

"So for today's matches," Goodwitch looked at her tablet, "We will be doing a small tournament with the leaders of each team." A tournament bracket appeared on the large view-screen and all the team leaders started looking around and sizing each-other up. Rain merely looked straight at Goodwitch.

Something doesn't smell right. Rain thought to himself.

"The first match will be between Rain Xiao Long of team RLRD and Jaune Arc of JNPR. Gentlemen, please get your weapons and meet in the arena."

Rain looked over to see team JNPR trying to boost their leader's morale while Pyrrha stared daggers at him. As he got up to leave the stands, she intercepted him, grabbing his arm and shoving him into the hallway.

"Miss Nikos, I am flattered. Truly, I am. But if you wanted a tender moment in private, all you had to do was ask. I don't bite. Much."

Pyrrha slapped him hard across the face. "If you hurt him, I will put you in the ground. Are you listening to me? For this fight, our feud does not matter. You got that?"

"If you're asking me to go easy on him," Rain slid off his gauntlets and handed them to her, "then I will. You can hold onto these until the match is over." Rain slipped by her and into the arena.

"Mr. Xiao Long, where are your weapons?" Goodwitch asked, a wariness in her voice that he hadn't heard yet.

Finally starting to worry her. It's about time. He thought. Out loud he said, "I noticed that Jaune's weapons don't use Dust so I thought it only fair that I not use any either." Rain saw hope flare behind Jaune's eyes and his stance became more confident.

Goodwitch looked between the two young men. "Alright. That's a rather noble gesture, young man. The fight isn't over until somebody's aura dips into the red. Begin!" she flicked her riding crop and a buzzer sounded.

Rain stayed where he was, letting Jaune make the first move. Jaune didn't disappoint. He rushed at Jaune with a swing that probably would have really hurt had Rain still been there. He backed up and let out a straight kick at Jaune's shield, causing it to bash him in the face. In the brief moment Jaune was disoriented, Rain darted around and got Jaune in a choke hold. Jaune was smarter than he seemed however and managed to slam an elbow into Rain's diaphragm, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to loosen his hold. Jaune managed to follow it up with a flip that sent Rain flying over his head. Rain heard a few cheers and whistles from the other students.

Rain got up to his feet and realized he had underestimated Jaune. Not by a lot, but still too much. "That was a nice move. I doubt any academy taught you that."

Jaune seemed to be hesitantly enjoying himself. "Do you have any siblings?" he asked.

"I have two sisters, yes."

Jaune laughed, "I've got seven."

"I am so sorry for you."

Jaune shrugged, "It wasn't all bad. My fingernails were always flawless."

Rain laughed, "I like you, Jaune. If I didn't have a rivalry with one of your teammates, I think we could be friends. Should we get back to the fight now?"

"That's probably a good idea."

Rain charged at Jaune, delivering jabs, elbows, and punches at a rate that forced Jaune to play defense. Rain noticed the crowd had gone silent as they started to realize that he really had been holding back. Alright, time for phase two.

Rain let loose with a wild swing that caused him to overextend. Taking the bait, Jaune brought his sword up in both hands to bring it down on Rain. Rain quickly turned his swing into a handstand and kicked Jaune in the abdomen with his full force, activating his semblance at the same time to drain the aura just above Jaune's abdomen, a slight grimace crossing his face.

Jaune fell on his back, the wind knocked out of him. Rain moved so he had a foot on Jaune's sword hand and a knee on his chest. "Sorry about that, but I needed to establish how good I was. Do you yield?"

Jaune gasped in air. "Yeah, I think I'm done. I would not want to fight you for real."

Rain got up and helped Jaune get to his feet. "No, you would not." Rain said.

They turned to see Professor Goodwitch walking up to them. "Gentlemen," she said, "why have you ceased combat? The fight goes until one of you has lost too much aura. Both your bars are still in the green."

Rain and Jaune looked at each-other. Rain whispered, "Give me permission to use my semblance on you. You may have felt it earlier. I'll explain later, but for now, you gotta trust me. Deal?"

Jaune looked at Goodwitch. "Deal," he whispered, "So do I just let you touch me or what's gonna-" Jaune was cut off as Rain released a haymaker to his jaw and simultaneously drained his aura. He then released that aura so the the aura tracker wouldn't suddenly go up. Jaune crumpled instantly. Rain caught him and eased him to the ground.

Rain looked at Goodwitch, "Are we done now?"

A strange look crossed Goodwitch's face for a second. That looked like satisfaction. But that makes no sense. Unless...

"You know what, Professor? I think I'll take him to the infirmary just to be safe. I mean, he was not expecting that last hit. And I feel kind of responsible, you know." Rain picked up Jaune in a fireman's carry, "You can continue with the tourney. I forfeit. Goodbye." Rain marched out of the arena, leaving Goodwitch fuming.

Rain brought Jaune to the infirmary and quickly sent some aura into his unconscious body. Just enough to wake him up. Jaune jumped in the bed before his eyes opened. He looked over at Rain.

"So your semblance? I'm guessing it messes with my aura. I haven't had it unlocked for long, but I can already tell the difference between a hit with it and a hit without it."

Rain cocked his head, as if observing a new species. "You continue to surprise, Jaune Arc. You're right of course. I can give and take aura from people. Although it's much easier if I have their permission. Can you guess why I keep it a secret, though?"

Jaune stroked his chin for a second, "You don't want anybody using you as a weapon? Because if the armies of any one of the kingdoms found out, they would try and use you as either a gun or a lab experiment."

"Damn, kid. It is going to suck having to kick your team's collective ass. Is there any way you could convince Pyrrha to share her true motives with me? It would just be a real time-saver. We could skip the whole story arc of rivals who slowly gain a respect for each-other and eventually become friends with the possibility of more. I find it distracting when cliches enter into my life."

Jaune held up a hand. "Wait a minute. Did you just imply you have feelings for Pyrrha?"

Rain mulled it over. "I may have intimated that it would one day be a possibility. But as of right now, any flirting I may have done was purely to unnerve her. You have my word."

"Should I be worried about your rivalry with Pyrrha? You're not going to be coming after my team, right?"

Rain let a pssh. "No. Not unless I absolutely have to. I probably won't be engaging your team in any aggressive way. Besides, Nora is one of the few people I might be scared of."

"We've only been here for a few days and you're already scared of Nora?" Jaune paused, "Smart man."

"I only said I might be scared of her. I haven't seen her in action enough to come to a conclusion. But odds are good that she could overwhelm me with pure force if she tried. Just as a friendly tip; If someone were looking to take down your team, they would most likely separate Nora first and try to immobilize her. I would recommend you start her on a regimen of small doses of different paralytic toxins daily so she can build an immunity. It will really help your team in the long-run."

Jaune was silent for a moment. "Are you real?"

Rain chuckled. "Yes. Just a very odd sort of real."

The two shared a laugh before the door to the infirmary was forcefully opened and a very angry Pyrrha stalked over to Rain. He stood up to say something suitably annoying, but she slapped him across the face with his own gauntlets. The hit sent him reeling.

Jaune jumped out of bed. "Pyrrha, what the hell?"

Rain walked over and placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "You might want to back up, Jaune. This just got serious." he picked his gauntlets off the floor and looked at Pyrrha. "Are you sure you want this?" he asked her.

Pyrrha was stoic, "You hurt him. You promised you would go easy on him. You broke that promise. I definitely want this."

Rain sighed before slapping her face with his gauntlet, "But remember that you wanted this. Combat arena, seven o'clock tonight." Rain walked past her out of the room.

"Surely that's enough evidence. He just admitted what his semblance was to the Arc boy." Glynda said.

Ozpin turned away from the monitors and looked across the lands of Vale. "It won't be enough to get him to agree to work with us. We need to back him into a corner. We need a more public display of his semblance. Something he couldn't deny." Ozpin turned back to Glynda, "I'm still calling them in."

Glynda bristled. "Sir, I don't believe those two being here is a good idea. It was dangerous enough when she was just a student here. I doubt she has become less dangerous with age. To say nothing of the brute."

"My decision is final, Glynda."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, I need you to find a way to covertly inform the student body about tonight's fight."

"Surely you're not going to let a grudge match happen, sir. What if they go too far?"

"Then we'll know Ms. Nikos is not worthy to join our ranks."

Glynda balked, "You don't think Mr. Xiao Long would kill her?"

"No. He's much too controlled for that. Besides, any life-threatening wound she sustains he could heal with his semblance. Now go gather a crowd for their fight."

Glynda walked into the elevator. "Sometimes I worry about you, sir." she said as the doors closed.

"Russel?" Rain asked.

"Yes, boss?"

"Where did all these people hear about this fight?" Rain gestured to the mass of students crowded in the arena.

"No idea, sir. I didn't tell anybody you didn't tell me to."

Rain sighed, "At least I'll be able to embarrass Pyrrha even more."

Rain's sisters walked up to him. Ruby had a "GO RAIN" sign in her hands and Yang had painted a snowflake with a lightning bolt through it on each cheek.

"What are you two doing here? You should be studying." Rain said.

Yang made a face. "It's the first day. We don't have anything to study."

"Then you should be resting up for tomorrow."

"Look, we're here. We're going to be cheering you on. Deal with it. I also bet a lot on you, so make this good. Pyrrha took Jaune's place in the tournament earlier and won, so she's the odds-on favourite. I'm going to make a lot of money tonight."

"Who's taking the bets?" Rain asked.

Yang shrugged. "A few fourth-years. The odd third-year. And Weiss. She's smart enough to only accept bets against you."

"Great." Rain drew the word out.

A girl with rabbit ears walked over to him. "Hello, Mr. Xiao Long. The announcer is eager to get this underway. She requests that you enter the tunnel and wait for your cue to enter the ring."

"We have an announcer?" Rain asked, incredulous. "Since when do we have an announcer?"

The girl blushed, "Since Coco found a microphone. She had to fight some girl named Nora for the job."

"Fine. We've come this far, might as well go all the way." Rain walked through the stands until he got into the tunnel for the second time that day. Pyrrha joined him soon after.

"I take it Jaune didn't tell you what actually happened during our fight." he said.

"If he did, I didn't hear it. I'm going to beat you in front of all these people and prove that I'm better than you."

"I've really gotten under your skin, haven't I?"

She rounded on him. "Despite how infuriating you are, the one thing I could tell was that you were a man of your word. And then you found a way to disappoint even there."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were genuinely upset. But you have to genuinely like someone to be genuinely upset about them disappointing you. And you could never genuinely like me like that."

Pyrrha just sneered and turned back to face the arena. Moments later a voice echoed through the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Huntsmen and Huntresses. I would like to invite you all to the inaugural Fight Night!" this was greeted with a chorus of cheers. "I am your host, Coco Adel. As we are about to begin, I would like to first announce that the bookies are closed for now and you should all take your seats."

There was a pause as everybody in the arena settled in to watch the fight.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! Our first fighter is mysterious. We know he comes from Vale and he has yet to be seen sweating. He's the storm incarnate, he is fast as lightning and cool as a blizzard. Rain Xiao Long!"

Rain took that as his cue and sauntered into the arena to a light cheer.

Coco came back over the speakers. "And now, our second fighter. She's the Mistral prodigy, she can get you as much Pumpkin Pete's as you want. The winner of the first-year tournament earlier today, Pyrrha Nikos!"

Pyrrha walked out of the tunnel to a deafening roar. Gee, I wonder who most of the crowd bet on? Rain thought to himself.

"Fighters, take your starting positions." Coco paused as they walked into two spotlights. "Now there are a few rules before this starts. Firstly, no killing. Second, there are no other rules! Fight!" Somewhere a bell was rung.

Rain quickly sent a storm of icicles and lightning towards Pyrrha, who dodged out of the way and started shooting at him. Rain was forced to move out of the way. Pyrrha used his defense play to run up and slam her shield into his face. Unlike Jaune, Rain knew how to take that hit and moved with it. Using the force of impact to roll backwards before launching a boulder of ice at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha dropped to the ground and – the second the boulder had cleared her – was back on her feet. Now the two circled each-other. Each trying to suss out the other's weak point. Apparently seeing one, Pyrrha launched forward. Rain went to deflect her spear, but felt resistance on his gauntlets. A second later, her spear slammed into his sternum and sent him flying.

"So we're using semblances, are we?" Rain shouted at her.

"I assure you I have no idea what you're talking about." Pyrrha smirked.

"That was a cheap trick and you know it. Let me guess: Polarity. Maybe some low level telekinesis. Doesn't matter. I can end this in one hit with my semblance if I wanted to."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

"Well, you're welcome to try."

Rain straightened up, "Was that your permission?"

"Yes. Now try and take me down, if you can."

"Big mistake." Rain used his gauntlets to create a snowstorm inside the arena. Using the low visibility, he snuck up to Pyrrha and leeched most of her aura. When the snow cleared, the arena was silent at the sight of Pyrrha unconscious on the ground with Rain standing over her.

Rain looked up at the stands. "Most of you just lost some money. Some of you just made a lot of money. I expect to get a cut. You know who you are." Rain walked out of the arena.

"I will not go higher than twenty percent. Take it or leave it." Weiss said.

"Are you kidding me? Twenty percent for a fight that rocked the student body?" Rain asked, incredulous.

After the fight, Rain had gone to hang out with his sisters, partially because he knew they'd be worried. Partially because he needed to collect his winnings from Yang and Weiss.

Weiss huffed. "It was over far too quickly. If you want to make more next time, maybe don't end the fight so quickly."

"What do you mean by 'next time'? This was a one-off. Nobody should have expected anything more. What we did was technically against school policy. Everybody in that arena could have been expelled."

"Lighten up, big bro." Yang said, "This could be a great way to test yourself. See how you hold up against your fellow students."

"You just want to make more money betting on me."

Yang's face turned red. "What? No. What? We all think it would be a good idea. Right, girls?" Yang asked the rest of her team.

"Come on, Rain. It'll be fun." Ruby said.

"We could make more money." Weiss said.

They all turned to Blake. She stared at them over the top of her book. "What?"

Yang walked over and pulled the book down. "Don't you think my brother should continue fighting at Fight Nights?"

"No. There's nothing for him to gain by doing so." Blake moved her book back up.

"Thank you." Rain said, "Finally, somebody who can see my point of view."

"Although," Blake lowered her book, "you could use it as a way of training others up to your skill level. Based on our conversation two days ago – vis-a-vis Beacon's defenses – I think you might like to do that."

Rain smirked, "Ms. Belladonna, you might get to learn my name after all."

"So does that mean you're in?" Yang asked.

"Yes, but my primary purpose will be as a trainer. I will only do a few fights. Before too long, people would stop betting against me and we would stop making money. But somebody trained by me? Well that's enough of a wild card that we could all make some money." Rain turned to Weiss, "And for every fight I am a part of after tonight, I expect no less than thirty-five percent."

Weiss looked like she was considering it. "Deal."

Weiss and Rain shook hands while Ruby and Yang cheered. Blake just went back to reading her book.

A shadow detached itself from the wall outside and streaked up to the roof. There it coalesced into Rain's evil twin. He pulled a gem out of his pocket and placed it on the ground. After a few seconds, an image of Salem appeared.

"Hello, Gabriel. I trust you are calling with good news."

Gabriel bowed. "Rather mixed news, actually. I have found all three of my targets in close proximity to each-other, but extraction may be difficult. My twin himself appears to be a formidable opponent. I have only seen him fight a few times since arriving. But he has easily emerged the victor in each fight. Laughably so. I fear I may have to wait for a moment where he is secluded, as he is in the process of bringing all of Beacon up to his standards. A battle may be inevitable."

Salem sighed, "If you require it, Cinder and her forces are currently residing in Vale and could lend you assistance. I am afraid that is all the help you'll be able to get."

"It will be enough, mother."

"Good. I don't wish to hear from you again until your mission is complete."

Salem's image faded and Gabriel retrieved the gem. He looked out over Beacon and began to create his battle plans.

A.N: So this took awhile. Eight months by the look of it. Funny how time just flies. Knew I'd get back to this someday, though. The whole Fight Nights thing should be recurring. The idea for that came to me while I was writing it. It just seemed like it would be fun to have Rain be a little uncomfortable by how big one grudge match got. Not much else to say. Next part would fall under the Jaunedice/ Forever Fall arc from the show. I'm actually really excited about that part. It was actually one of the first things I thought about when I realized would be essentially kicking Cardin out of the series. And just in case you missed it in the synopsis when you clicked on this story, this is a continuation of my other fanfic Soldiers. If you don't read that one first, this one will not make a ton of sense.