Chapter 2: A Shining Scorpion Part 1 & 2
The doors of the airship opened, and all of the people on board walked out. The four most noticeable people of the crowd are our heroes. Changming was the last to leave as he was still soaking in the amazing sight of the academy and its grounds. He continued to walk down the door, which now acted as a ramp. He was so mesmerized by the sight, that he didn't notice Yang ditch Ruby for her friends and cause her to spin around and crash into a certain white haired heiress and her luggage. The sound of the girl's voice brought Changming out of his daze and he turned his attention towards Ruby and the white haired girl.
Changming jogged over to where Ruby was. His cousin had stayed by the young girl's side and helped her up. Changming arrived just in time for the white haired girl to continue her scolding. While the girl was scolding Ruby, both Sub Zeros noticed that the girl was shaking an open container of fire dust. Little did the other girl know, she was causing an accident that was waiting to happen.
Bingwen leaned over and whispered to his younger cousin, "Watch this."
Changming attempted to ask, "Wait wha-"
Bingwen however dragged him quickly away from the two girls. Just as the two were feet away from the two girls, an explosion was heard. The two Sub Zeros turned around and noticed that the girl in white was covered in soot and ashes. She then began to go on a huge rant again about Ruby being underage and that she shouldn't be here. Bingwen sighed and turned to his younger cousin.
"Stay here with Ruby," he said. "She's going to need someone to help her and comfort her out of this situation."
"Why me?" Changming asked.
"I need to find Tadashi," Bingwen replied. "I think he wants to have another 'business' matter to discuss with me."
"Can't it wait during or after initiation?"
"You know how he is Changming," said the older Sub Zero, "he's all about our families' rivalry."
Changming asked with some confusion, "Why didn't he do that yesterday?"
Bingwen sighed and replied, "I'm not quite sure, but I think his father brought him with him for some business meeting. Keep in mind Mr. Mitome does do business outside of the villages."
"Alright," Changming sighed, "but you owe me cousin."
Bingwen smiled and said, "I think this moment will be reward enough young one."
Changming rolled his eyes and smiled. The two bowed at one another and went their separate ways. Changming walked back just in time to see another girl in black join Ruby and the crabby white haired girl. As he walked up to them, the girl in white grabbed the container of fire dust from the black haired girl's hand. The white haired girl was turning away, but she then bumped into another individual whom the four didn't notice was there till that moment. The white haired girl looked up to see a taller intimidating boy with black hair and a scar that ran across his face. Changming knew who this was immediately.
"Tadashi," he said acknowledging his fellow ally and friend.
Tadashi turned his attention away from the white haired girl and turned towards the youngest Sub Zero.
"Changming," he acknowledged.
He then turned his eyes back upon the white haired girl with stern eyes. The girl curled up a bit in fear from his intense gaze.
"W-What do you w-want," her voice faltered from the commanding and hissy tone from earlier.
"The young girl here apologized for her actions," he began, "yet you still ignore her cries of apology. You are you to think that you're superior to others?"
The girl in white scoffed and replied, "Do you not know who I am?"
"Oh I know who you are Weiss Schnee," Tadashi replied with venom in his voice. "I know you, your sister, and particularly your father. He is a bastard that must die."
"Why how dare you!" she yelled at him.
Tadashi seemed unfazed however by her raising her voice.
"Your father doesn't care about other individuals and their well being. Whatever to help your stupid company grow and never crash, he will do it. But what your father doesn't realize is that people don't like him. No one can stand him. Just yesterday your father fired an employee who didn't come to work because his wife was sick and she's pregnant. Your father didn't want to hear even his excuse, and he dismissed the man as if his own family were a minor inconvenience," Tadashi said with some venom.
The white haired girl, now identified as Weiss Schnee, showed a hint of regret and sorrow. She couldn't really say anything back to the taller boy after what she had heard.
"And," the new Scorpion continued, "this all happened yesterday, right before my first day at Beacon Academy. Once I heard of your attendance at this academy, I couldn't wait and help but be excited."
Weiss, still in her scared state, raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Tadashi closed his eyes and then reopened them while stating, "So I can defeat you and make the world know that the so-called Schnees are nothing but jokes and corrupt people!"
Flames suddenly erupted from Tadashi's right fist that he made. He was about to strike the young Schnee girl in the face, but a familiar boy he knew all to well suddenly stopped his fist. Weiss had flinched and attempted to shield her face with her arms from the oncoming punch, but it never came. She opened her eyes to see Changming had stopped Tadashi from laying a hand on her. It was clearthat Tadashi was a lot stronger than Changming, who was currently struggling to hold the fist at a distance. Tadashi was a bit surprised by the younger Sub Zero's actions. He did not think that he would dare to stop his mission of humiliating the Schnee here and now.
Tadashi scowled and said, "Changming."
Changming smirked while still struggling and replied, "Tadashi."
Tadashi lowered his fist and stared down the youngest Sub Zero. He then crossed his arms over his chest.
"What is it that you think you are doing Changming?" Tadashi asked harshly.
"I'm simply preventing you from making a huge mistake Mitome," Changming simply replied. "If you are to fight her, then I suggest you wait till we have our sparring classes once we past initiation and are assigned classes."
Tadashi looked over the young Sub Zero's shoulder and saw that Weiss was still in a fearful state and cowered behind him. He then looked back at Changming.
"Hmph. Very well Changming, I will wait till we have a proper chance to spar. In the meantime, don't think I won't forget the debt you owe that man Ms. Schnee," he said as he looked from Changming and then to Weiss pointing a finger at her.
"Tadashi," Changming said calmly, "leave her alone. She has nothing to do with the affairs of her father. Leave her be for now."
Tadashi reluctantly nodded in agreement.
"By the way," Changming said, "Bingwen went ahead towards where we are supposed to go. He was looking for you earlier as we boarded off the ship."
Tadashi replied, "Thank you Changming. I will go and seek your cousin. For now, farewell."
Tadashi placed his right fist over across his chest while Changming brought up his right fist against his left palm. The two then bowed to each other after performing the signature respect signals. Tadashi then left towards the academy and went in search for the older Sub Zero. Changming turned around and was about to apologize on behalf of Tadashi's attitude to Weiss, but he noticed that she slipped away with her two butlers trailing behind her with her belongings. He sighed and turned around to see that Ruby was currently lying on the ground groaning and saying "Welcome to Beacon." Changming looked up and saw that the girl with the black bow was walking another direction as well.
Changming smiled and walked up to Ruby. He looked down at the girl with a plain face. She looked up at him with sad look for a moment, and then turned her head away from him.
"Why so down?" he asked.
"You just saw why," she replied lamely.
Changming extended his hand out to her. She looked up and gave him a small smile. She took his hand and he helped her up.
"Don't be so down on yourself Ruby," he said. "You just got off on the wrong foot with her. Just make it up to her and show her that you're really sorry. She was just probably having a bad day herself."
Ruby gave him another small smile again.
"Thanks," she said.
Changming smiled back and replied, "Any time Ruby."
The two then heard a groan from a male individual. They turned to see that the blonde from earlier on the ship was still throwing up from his motion sickness affects. Changming walked over to the poor boy. Just as the boy came back up for air, Changming gently placed a hand upon the boy's shoulder. The blonde looked over to see the young Sub Zero with a look of concern.
"Are you okay my friend?" Changming asked.
The boy responded with uneasiness, "Y-Yeah, a little bit. Just motion sickness is all."
Changming nodded and then he reached into his bag that he kept with him for special and incase of emergency situations. He opened a pill bottle that contained medicine for all kinds of sickness. He dumped out one pill and handed it to the blonde boy who accepted it gratefully.
"That medicine should help," Changming said, "my mother made all of these pills to help with all kinds of sicknesses."
The blonde looked back at the young cryomancer and gave him a smile of thanks. The blonde, having recovered from his weak state, introduced himself to Changming. Ruby walked up to them and introduced herself to the blonde as well, who was named Jaune Arc. Changming told and gestured to the others that they should most likely get going towards the auditorium. The two agreed and followed him towards their destination. While they were walking, Jaune and Ruby were engaged in conversation while Changming walked slightly ahead of them listening while trying to find the place they needed to go to. Little did the youngest Sub Zero know that he was only one that knew where they needed to go.
"I'm telling you, motion sickness is something serious," said Jaune to Ruby.
"Sorry," Ruby said, "Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind."
"Oh yeah? What if I call you crater face?" Jaune retorted.
"Hey that explosion was an accident!" Ruby snapped back.
"Yeah well my name is short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it," Jaune randomly said.
Changming sighed and shook his head in disapproval.
"Do they?" Ruby asked sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.
"They will!" Jaune exclaimed. "Well, I hope they will. My mom always says that… Well never mind."
Ruby giggled lightly at that statement.
"So," she dragged out the 'o', "I have this thing."
She pulled out her scythe and transformed it to its full mode.
Jaune jumped and asked her if what she had was a scythe.
"Could it be anything else Jaune?" Changming asked internally.
"It's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle," she added quickly.
Changming face palmed.
"I completely forgot about that," he said once more to himself.
"A what?" Jaune asked completely confused.
"It's also a gun," Ruby replied.
"That's cool," Jaune said.
"So what do you got?" Ruby asked a little excitedly.
"Uh, well," Jaune began hesitantly, "I have this sword."
Jaune pulled out his sword from his sheath. Ruby nodded and looked at the sword. Jaune also pulled out a shield and extended it to its full size. Ruby looked slightly amazed at the sight of the shield. She then asked what did the shield do. Jaune lamely explained that the shield simply shrunk back into a more compatible object to carry around. Ruby countered by asking if the shield would just weigh the same. Jaune's answer was not so helpful to himself. The cryomancer looked at Jaune with a bit of pity. Jaune seemed very friendly, but it didn't seem like the young blonde had the confidence or abilities of a true warrior, or even a warrior in training.
Ruby, to reassure Jaune's choice in weapons wasn't poor at all, told him that she went overboard with designing and creating her weapon. At this statement, Jaune went wide-eyed and asked if she really made her scythe by herself.
"Of course," she replied, "most students at Signal made their own weapons. Didn't you make yours?"
Jaune looked a little dejected.
He still answered by saying, "It's a hand-me-down. My great great grandfather used it during the war."
"Sounds like a family heirloom," said Ruby. "Well I like it. Not many people have an appreciation for the classics."
"Yeah," Jaune added weakly, "the classics."
Changming turned around and said to Jaune, "Don't worry Jaune. My grandfather once told me that it isn't the weapon that defines you. It is the person using the weapon that defines him or her. Just because Ruby might've made an impressive weapon that many would not even consider using doesn't mean that she outclasses you. You make whatever you want of your future not others. So be happy with what you have, and use whatever you've been given to the best of your ability. Become the best person you can be by being you."
Jaune scratched the back of his head and thanked Changming for his wise words of advice.
"It's my pleasure Jaune," Changming bowed respectively.
"So, what weapon do you have?" Jaune asked him.
Changming held open his right palm and formed a small kunai out of ice.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Jaune. "That's pretty cool!"
Changming replied, "Indeed it is Jaune. However I do not consider my abilities as weapons. I view them as gifts that I can share with the world. Yes I can recreate weapons out of ice and use them, but I'd like to see my powers used for an entirely different purpose other than simply as a self-defense method."
"That sounds nice," Jaune said, "but it is still pretty neat."
Changming nodded in agreement. Ruby then interrupted the two.
"Do either of you know where we're going?" she asked.
"No, I was following you," Jaune said.
"Huh? Um." Ruby attempted. She was as lost as the blonde.
Changming chuckled loudly enough for the two to hear him.
"What?" the other two asked simultaneously.
Changming said, "You two are lucky that I know we're supposed to head to the courtyard. I know how to get there thanks to my friend's mother. She attended this school once upon a time."
Ruby excitedly asked, "Really? Is she a huntress?"
Changming added, "Yeah. In fact, she is the only one who became a huntress amongst my closest friends' mothers."
Changming looked down at his watch.
"We better go," he said to them. "We only have about ten minutes left before the professors give their introduction speech."
The other two nodded and followed him to their destination.
A few moments later…
The three entered the main area of the courtyard. As soon as they entered, Yang called Ruby. Ruby saw Yang and told the other two that she'd see them around and she left to join her sister. Changming did the same thing and told Jaune that he'd check up on him later tonight. He needed to find Bingwen fast to tell him about Tadashi. Jaune groaned as his two new friends went their separate ways.
"Oh great," he began to complain. "Where am I going to find another nice quirky girl and a cool dude like him?"
Little did he know, a certain redhead Spartan girl from Sanctum was looking at him with some interest.
Changming was walking amongst the crowd while apologizing on occasion for having bumped into a few people here and there. After about a minute or two of searching, he found not only Bingwen, but also Tadashi and Mario standing on either side of him.
"Hey!" Changming called out to them.
The trio turned to see the youngest Sub Zero speed walk up to them. The three got into their respective signature bowing poses as well as Changming. They then bowed to each other and exchanged handshakes afterwards.
"So how'd it go?" Bingwen asked his cousin.
"Eh all right I guess," Changming shrugged. The youngest Sub Zero turned towards the newest generation Scorpion. "Did you tell him about the Schnee girl?"
Tadashi nodded.
Bingwen said, "Yeah he told me. I spoke with him about her already. Our fathers will deal with hers. We just have to make a good image of the Kin Kuei and Shirai Ryu. So this means we cannot attack any of the other students here without any good reason other than a sparring session."
Changming replied, "Well, that's pretty logical. It's also what we've been really doing over the years. It's the same old principle."
"Yeah, the same old principle that's been keeping us in check over the years," Bingwen added.
Just then the sound of a microphone turned on. Everyone turned their attention towards the stage to see both Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch approaching the center stage. Ozpin was the first to speak.
He cleared his throat and said, "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. However, I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy. You need a purpose, a direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but you time at this school will prove that knowledge will take you only so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
With that, the headmaster disappeared from the stage. Ms. Goodwitch was the next to speak.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight," she said. "Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed."
"Well, he seemed a bit off," Mario commented.
"True," Tadashi added, "it would seem that the headmaster is under some stress."
"Mom never mentioned anything about his job being too stressful," Mario said scratching his chin.
"That's 'cause adults don't let children into their affairs," Bingwen simply added and began walking towards the ballroom.
The other three looked amongst each other and shrugged. They then followed Bingwen towards their destination.
Later that evening…
Changming was lying down on his sleeping bag that he had brought from home with his hands behind his head. Mrs. Vrbada definitely helped the boys out by giving them a heads up on what is going to happen during their first few days of Beacon. He was currently in navy blue shorts, a white plain t-shirt, and he had a black hoodie on. Bingwen came out of the bathroom with his belongings and looked for his younger cousin. When he stopped him, he began to walk over towards him. On his way there, he noticed that Yang was looking at all the boys who were shirtless. The two older relatives made eye contact with one another. Yang winked at the older Sub Zero, to which Bingwen simply smiled and returned the wink. Yang laughed at this action and attended back to her sister who was currently writing something.
Once Bingwen made it over to the spot where Changming was, he simply dropped his belongings and began to unravel his own sleeping bag. Changming didn't move, and he still kept staring at the ceiling.
"Must you cause a ruckus cousin?" Changming asked.
"Aw, lighten up will yeah? Not every one is asleep you know. Plus I'm not the only one making noise," Bingwen laughed and said while getting his things in order for the night.
Just then the doors of the ballroom opened up in an abrupt manner. Everyone in the ballroom turned his or her attention towards the noise being made. From the door burst four jock-looking guys. Next came in Tadashi with a look that had some killing intent behind it. The two Sub Zeros looked at one another for a brief moment and then got up quickly to help Tadashi, or rather save the other four idiots from whatever they did. Tadashi only get upset like the way he does when something or someone does something that goes against his principle or that of the Shirai Ryu. The Lin Kuei Clan was the only exception for most of his beliefs.
One of the other boys on the ground, who was clearly the biggest of the bunch got back up and tried to lay a smack down on Tadashi. The jock tried to swing a powerful punch to Tadashi's temple, but he simply parried the attack and countered by kicking the guy in the gut. Tadashi then uppercut the poor soul causing to come crashing down to the floorboard. The other three quickly got up and got into what the Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu would consider 'sloppy forms'.
"You dared to harm an innocent faunus!" yelled Tadashi with anger.
"What's it to ya?" one of the guys asked mockingly. "You a faunus lover?"
"You will learn disciple and respect by my hand!" Tadashi exclaimed.
The three dumbasses all came charging in at the same time. The first guy swung a fist straight on at Tadashi's head, but Tadashi simply blocked it and performed an arm lock on the poor guy. He then quickly punched the boy's arm behind his elbow and between his right shoulders. He then performed a roundhouse kick to the guy's head and knocked him out of the way. The second boy attempted to kick him in the chest, but Tadashi caught the boy's leg and elbowed it hard. Tadashi then back flipped him and then jumped up and punched him in the face.
The third guy stood a good few feet away. He clenched his fists and charged at Tadashi. However Tadashi performed a jump kick to the third boy's face. The boy fell on the ground hard, but he got up quickly and tried to punch him again. Once more, Tadashi arm locked the boy's arm and did a backflip kick that sent the boy into one of the lower crossbeams of the ceiling. The boy fell back down on the ground with a loud thump.
Tadashi looked around him and saw that all four of the jockeys were incapacitated. He was looking down at the orange haired brute for a good minute. The big guy was awake and slowly getting up but he fell back down as he was still in a daze.
"You're lucky that I didn't break any of your bones," Tadashi said with some anger behind it. "You and your buddies would've been in the hospital for months or perhaps years depending on how far I would've and could've gone."
The two Sub Zeros were standing just several feet away from the scene. They arrived at Tadashi's spot the moment he began his beat down on the third individual. Bingwen was the first to speak.
"Always picking a fight aren't you Tadashi?" he sighed and asked tiredly.
The new Scorpion looked up from the ground and saw the two Sub Zeros looking at him with tired eyes.
"They were picking on an innocent Bingwen," Tadashi grunted. "They deserved what they received."
Bingwen sighed and walked up to his friend and rival. He then wrapped his left arm around the flame head's shoulders.
"Just try not to attract too much attention to yourself will ya?" he asked. "It's bad enough if we're causing a scene. It's even worse when we start beating up the crap out of weaklings such as them."
Tadashi sighed and nodded reluctantly. Bingwen gave his friend a smile and patted him on the back. Just as he turned around to face Changming, some one cleared her throat loud enough for the whole now silent ballroom to hear. Bingwen slowly turned around and saw Professor Goodwitch standing at he door with her arms folded across her chest. She had her riding crop in her right hand. She had a stern look on her face. Next to her at the doorway was Professor Ozpin, who seemed calm and observant of the situation. He was also drinking coffee.
"Would either of you like to explain why we have three unconscious peers on the ground and another that can barely stand on both feet?" she asked with a hint of anger in her professional voice.
Bingwen began to sweat bullets. No teacher, or let alone no woman, made him sweat so much other than his mother. This lady definitely had that aura about her. Tadashi however stepped forward.
"If anyone is to blame Professor, then it is I whom you should blame," Tadashi said with a bow.
"What was your reason Mr. Mitome?" Professor Ozpin suddenly asked.
Ms. Goodwitch turned around towards the headmaster and raised an eyebrow.
"These fools were picking on a faunus," he replied with the same venom from earlier. "They thought it would be funny to tug on a wolf girl's ears and see how long she could last without squealing."
The headmaster nodded and looked over at Ms. Goodwitch.
"Let him go Glynda. He was only helping a fellow student out," he said softly.
"But Professor…" she began.
The headmaster interrupted her once more.
"I understand your worry Ms. Goodwitch, and I do not fully agree with the actions of Mr. Mitome. However I do agree on the fact that no one was going to help the poor girl and Mr. Mitome took action. And he handled the situation the way he was raised to handle situations like that. That is why we are here. We are here to instruct and guide them on how to properly deal with these types of situations," he stated.
He turned his attention towards Tadashi once more.
"I am most grateful that you took action when no one else would," he told the young Scorpion, "but I do not believe that you had to go as far as knocking three of four other boys unconscious. Therefore, I will give you a warning about using violence in this manner. Otherwise, I praise you for your actions, and I will deal with these four myself."
Tadashi nodded in agreement. Professor Ozpin then had the four boys put in stretchers and carried off to the hospital wing. With that, the two professors left and the rest of the students went back to what they were doing, which was attempting to fall back asleep. The trio walked over back to the spot that Bingwen and Changming had occupied. When they returned, they found Mario sitting up right meditating. He opened his eyes when he felt their presence was near.
"Were you here the whole time?" Bingwen asked.
"More or less," Mario replied. "I only heard the conversation between you two and the professors."
"I see," Bingwen said. He then plopped onto his sleeping bag that was laid out, and he stared at the ceiling.
Tadashi followed shortly, but slowly and more calmly placed himself inside the sleeping bag. He too decided to stare at the ceiling for a little bit before turning over onto his right side. His back was facing the three Lin Kuei members. He soon fell asleep within seconds. Changming was about to do the same when he heard a familiar group of people arguing with one another. He sighed and decided to walk over and calm the group down. When he got there, Weiss was yelling at Yang and Ruby.
"She is a hazard to my health!" she exclaimed.
"I see that there is a problem here," Changming interrupted them stating rather than questioning the situation in front of him.
"It's you!" Weiss turned and pointed at him.
"Yes, it is I, Changming Lang. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance Ms. Schnee," he replied with a bow.
Weiss flushed red at his kind gesture as she was embarrassed that she had raised her voice at a young gentleman.
"P-Please forgive me of my rudeness Mr. Lang," she said weakly with an awkward bow.
Changming looked back up at the young huntress and replied, "There is no need to apologize to me. You have done nothing wrong against me, so there is no harm."
"O-Oh, okay," she said.
Yang then interrupted, "So how's it going iceman?"
Changming turned to look at the blonde brawler with a confused look on his face. After not getting a reaction from him, she explained to him that she was using a pun referencing what she heard about his power from Ruby. Changming nodded and replied that he was a bit tired.
"It's been sort of a rough day for me," he began, "but it's been good more or less.
"Well that's good," Yang replied cheerfully.
"Indeed. Now would you ladies please be so kind as to return to your respective areas and sleep. We all have initiation tomorrow, and we don't know what we're up against, so I advise that all four of you go to sleep. Plus you don't want too many other people mad at all of you on the first day of school," he said calmly.
Weiss made a 'hmph' gesture and mumbled a 'I told you so' phrase. She then turned around and went back to her spot she had chosen for the night. Ruby sighed in relief. She then turned her attention towards Changming and thanked him.
"It's not a problem at all Ruby. Just ask for help when you need it. I'll be there for you if the situation calls for it," he said to her with a soft yet friendly voice.
Ruby blushed a bit and returned to him a small smile. Yang noticed the interaction between the two younger teens. She smirked and left things at that. Changming turned his attention towards Blake and introduced himself to her. She did likewise. The two seemed to get along well right away. Blake could tell that he was a genuinely kind and caring individual, but he was more reserved and quiet compared to other people such as Yang. Changming bid a goodnight to each of the three girls standing/sitting before him and he walked back over to his spot.
Mario had fallen asleep, but Bingwen had watched the whole thing transpire in front of him. He smiled as his younger cousin made his way over to him.
"Nice job Changming," he said to his cousin, "although you could be less formal like I said earlier."
"Sorry, force of habit," Changming replied while scratching the back of his head.
Bingwen chuckled and began to tuck himself away into his sleeping bag.
"Don't be sorry for everything little cousin. If anything, just enjoy your life. I want you to be happy, and if that means you continue to be your prim and proper self, then that's fine by me," he said to his cousin with a smile.
The younger Sub-Zero returned the smile with his own smile and thanked his older cousin before bidding him goodnight. Changming got into his sleeping bag and stared at the ceiling.
"I wonder what sort of trials await us tomorrow," he pondered in his head. "My life at this academy officially begins tomorrow. I better get adjusted to living somewhat on my own. I still need to talk with Raiden sometime soon. The legend behind those with silver eyes still bothers me. I just can't remember what their significance was. Oh well, best not fret too much on the subject."
And with that last thought, Changming slowly closed his eyes and let himself drift off into sleep.