Sup peeps, Herperderper here. Sorry for the delay, but it's been an interesting few weeks. I can't go into details, but long story short, takeoff, flying, landing, takeoff, flying, landing, takeoff, flying, landing, and so on and so forth. I love flying and all, but holy crap, jets are hard. Not really, but after a CC flight, two touch-and-goes, and some hard maneuvering, it's a little rough. Anyway, enough about me, back to the story. I've been… well, I've been doing some writing ahead, just so I can keep this on track. Unfortunately, while doing so, I've realized I'm an asshole. So, I'm going to try and keep these next few chapters relatively lighthearted. As much as I can anyway. And for those of you that thought the "numbers" argument was a bit weird, It's the same conversation I had with my four flight members during our rebasing. That was a long ass flight. Anyway, on to the chapter.
Oh BTW, I do not have any claim to these characters as they were created by Monty Oum and RoosterTeeth. If you have trouble understanding that, let me put it in simpler terms. I ain't own these peeps homes, so don't try and sue me, you won't get much.
Ch. 5: Jaune
Sighing, I climbed the ladder up to my bunk and collapsed onto it. We had been on alert for two hours after the fight, and on patrol for another hour. Afterward, the girls unpacked and moved into our barracks. General Ironwood, the CO of Vale AFB, had them stay in our room, as there was a shortage of bunk space. Currently, the four were asleep, along with Ren and Nora, who had collapsed on their shared bunk half an hour ago. Pyrrha and I, however, had made a report to the General.
"My legs hurt." I complained as Pyrrha climbed up after me. She rolled over me, causing me to grunt in discomfort.
"Sorry." she said, smiling. I could tell she wasn't. She pulled off her blouse, untucking the undershirt beneath it, and draped it over the backside of the bunk. Her pants were next, revealing the military issue underwear she wore.
"Nice skivvies." I commented.
"Shut up and start dressing down. You know the General doesn't like when you sleep in your fatigues." She retorted, pulling the covers over herself. Sighing again, I did as I was told, pulling off my blouse and pants, and draping them across the backside of the bunk. I rolled onto my left side, placing my arm under the pillow, and pulled the covers up. Pyrrha place her right hand on my shoulder, her left on the sidearm she always had on her, and was soon asleep.
I yawned, looking out over the room. Across from me, in the upper bunk, lay Ruby and Blake, huddled together beneath the covers, each with one side of a pair of earbuds. I could only guess what they were listening to. 'Probably classical or something, knowing Blake.' I thought. Yang had told me they were "dating" earlier today. When I asked her about the air quotes, she just said it wasn't important.
Below them, Yang and Weiss were laying on the opposite corners of the mattress from each other. No surprise there, those two were polar opposites. I guess they were assigned together because Weiss was able to stop Yang's reckless fighting habits. As I watched, Yang grunted and rolled over, her hand landing on Weiss' stomach. It was quickly thrown off, and the heiress scooted even farther away from her partner. I chuckled at the display.
Below me, though I couldn't see them, I knew Ren was laying calmly in his bunk, with Nora almost wrapped around him. Poor guy couldn't get away from his energetic partner, even in his sleep. I had a sneaking suspicion that he liked it though.
'I should probably get some sleep, Pyrrha has us training tomorrow.' I rolled onto my back, Pyrrha's hand falling onto my chest, and closed my eyes.
The sound of gunshots echoed throughout the building. Ranging from 9mm pistol, to .338 magnum rounds. I walked into the range, putting on my ear protect, and followed the line down to toward an open firing lane. As I walked, I passed Weiss, who was firing down her lane with her father's Boar .44 Magnum repeating pistol. Next to her was Yang, with another Boar, this one chambered in .50 Express. Slightly farther down, Blake and Ruby were competing against each other, Blake's standard 9mm pistol however, was no match for Ruby's .45 caliber. The only way she kept up with the younger girl, was with the rate she could fire. Her larger magazine helped her stay almost neck and neck with Ruby, even though one in five of her shots missed, and it sometimes took two to put a target down. Ruby, however, was calmly placing shot after shot into her targets, pausing every seven to change magazines.
I stopped, enthralled by the focus of the two girls. Casings littered the floor, indicating that they had been shooting quite a while. While I watched, Ruby stopped firing, the slide of her pistol locked back as the magazine emptied. She dropped the magazine, closed the slide, and placed both the mag and the gun on the table. Half a second later, Blake did the same.
"It seems I win, Blakey!" Ruby said excitedly.
"I still don't know how you managed to take 15 mags from the armory without them noticing." She replied, smiling softly.
"I have my ways, I'm faster than I look." the shorter girl told her.
"Im sure its all the cookies." Blake laughed. "Now, how will you cash in that win?"
"Oh, I think you know exactly what I want." Ruby whispered seductively, and I started to feel uncomfortable. Blake just sighed.
"And where do you expect me to find 1,000 pounds of strawberries, Ruby?"
"I guess you better start looking!"
"I challenge winner." I spoke up. Both girls turned to me.
"Name your terms." Ruby challenged.
"Rifle against rifle, you can borrow one from the armory. First to knock down all the targets at 400 meters."
"And the stakes?" Blake asked.
"Shower privileges. If I win, I shower first, if she wins, vise versa."
"Done. Blake, would you get me a rifle please?"
"Why don't you get one yourself?"
"Uhmm…" Ruby mumbled, looking down at her feet. "They don't like me right now."
"It's about the mags, isn't it?"
"Yeeeeaaaahhhh…" came the reply. Blake sighed again.
"Yes, Ruby, I will. But only because I love you." She turned and started to make her way toward the armory. I nudged Ruby with my elbow.
"Why did you take 15 mags anyway?" I asked.
"I had to beat Blake in the competition." she said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, but why 15? Couldn't you cut down the amount of targets?"
"Pfft no! Why would I do that?"
"Nevermind." I had learned back in Basic Training not to question Ruby's motives. Blake returned soon after, handing Ruby a basic rifle and 2 magazines. I pushed the button for the 400 meter targets, and 30 popped up on each firing line.
"Gotta knock down each target before moving on. You ready?" I asked, preparing my rifle.
"You bet!" She responded. I brought the rifle up, taking a crouching stance, and turned to Blake.
"On your count."
"3!" she counted off. I placed the reticle on the target.
"2!" I maneuvered the "4" in the scope to the center of the target's chest.
"1!" Slowly, I took a breath, letting it out smoothly.
"Fire!" I squeezed the trigger. As the target fell, I transitioned to the next, repeating the process. Round followed round, hit after hit. Targets fell quickly, not one taking more than one shot. The shots landed within inches of the center of the target, the force causing the mechanisms to pull them down. I soon reached the last target. A deep breath, a slow exhale, a blink, a squeeze of the trigger, and…
"Ruby wins!" Blake called. My scope jumped, and the last shot went high, landing hundreds of meters behind the target. I looked up, Ruby stood smiling beside me, her rifle held across her chest, its muzzle downrange.
"How?" It was all I could ask.
"You were neck and neck until the last target, she shot halfway through your breath." Blake explained.
"You forget, Jaune, I was always better than you. It's what I grew up doing." Ruby chimed in.
"Well," I said, "I guess you shower first."
"Aw yeah!" she jumped up and down. 'Still just as excitable as a puppy I see.' Chuckling, I rose up from my crouched position. Suddenly, a rifle dropped onto my right shoulder. 'Oh shit!'
"You lost to a pilot Jaune." A calm voice spoke behind me.
"I'm sorry Pyrrha! I underestimated her, I won't do it again!" I squeaked.
"Hmm, maybe you weren't steady enough. Let's test that." The rifle was pushed forward on my shoulder, settling into a firing position.
"Yes Ma'am." I said, standing rock still. Silence followed, but it was interrupted by the report of the rifle firing. The remaining target dropped as the round hit it center mass.
"No, you seem steady enough, maybe it was just your speed. I can fix that, if you would like." she said, still calm. I knew there was only one answer.
"Yes Ma'am." she seemed to think it over.
"Maybe later. For now, we have been ordered to report to General Ironwood. You as well Ruby, bring your team." With that, she turned around and walked out. Ruby leaned over to me.
"For as polite as she is, Pyrrha is a scary lady." she whispered, seemingly unwilling to have Pyrrha hear her.
"She's only like that when it comes to training. She's nice any other time." I told her. "I guess we should probably go."
"Right behind you." She said. As she walked she turned toward where Yang and Weiss were still shooting. "YANG!"
Sup peeps, Chapter done. It took a little longer than usual, but that's probably gonna keep happening. I got shit getting in the way of writing so that fucks it all up. But, as usual, leave a review if you have any suggestions or anything. The next few chapters are going to start to get interesting again, so stay on your toes. Herperderper out.
