Tamamo was skipping alongside Professor Ozpin, smiling and humming an upbeat song to herself as she turned her face up to bask in the afternoon sunlight. She enjoyed nothing more than laying down in the sunshine and taking a nap, but skipping through the warm rays was pretty high on her list of enjoyments as well. The fox faunus was also fully aware of the stares her body drew, and was perfectly happy being admired, basking in the attention. "More people in this camp should sing." She observed as they traveled along.
"I'm sure most people are still a bit traumatized by their recent experience." Ozpin explained.
"All the more reason to sing!" Tamamo chirped. "Makes you happier."
"I suppose you have a point there." Ozpin conceded halfheartedly. He knew winning an argument against Tamamo was one of the most difficult things in the world to do, and had long since given up trying. He changed the subject. "When are you leaving?"
"I gave them enough time to pack what few belongings they still have and want to bring." She answered. "It's not like they have much left anyways."
"Blunt, as always." Ozpin chuckled.
"No reason not to be." She said, giggling. "Always best to be honest and straightforward, right?"
"You say that, but you don't fight very straightforward and honestly." Ozpin countered with a smirk.
"Bah. Fighting is its own game. Different rules, and more fun." Tamamo smiled back.
"True enough."
"Why did she give us two hours? What do any of us have to pack that would take two hours?" Weiss complained. Blake, Velvet, and her were gathering up what few clothes and supplies they had from their tent.
"She probably wanted to give us time to say goodbye to our friends." Blake suggested. "I'm going to go visit Yang's memorial before we leave, alright?" Blake ducked out of the tent.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Very asked nervously. "Should we go with her?"
Weiss shook her head. "No, we should let her have some time alone. It's probably a lot of effort to maintain her normal behavior with us when she's still in pain from losing Yang."
"I guess neither of us really can relate to losing someone we loved the way she did." Velvet said sadly.
Weiss felt a sharp pain in her chest as she thought of Ruby, and how she never got the chance to confess her feelings to her. "… No, I guess not."
"She cried last night. After she thought we fell asleep." Velvet confessed. "It woke me up when some tears fell on my ears." Velvet explained sheepishly.
"I wonder if she'll be good to fight." Weiss worried. "I don't want her getting hurt because she's still mourning. I'm sure they'll be plenty of enemies to fight if she waits."
"I think we may discover that her grief may make a powerful motivator in her fight."
A short while later Blake found herself standing at Yang's small memorial she had created. Blake crouched in from of the stone, and slowly ran her hand across the engraving. Once again, she found some tears trailing their way down her face unbidden. Blake smiled. "I'm not even crying anymore and still there are tears." She wiped them away with her thumb. "This is entirely your fault, you know. You made me love you." She stroked the stone the same way she remembered stroking Yang's cheek after they spent some time apart.
"I'm going to train to fight," Blake started, "and then I'm going to join the war." Blake stood up. "I'll fight more than anyone else. Harder than anyone else. For the both of us."
Blake heard someone moving through the forest behind her, and then turned to see Nora, carrying a small bundle of bright pink Peony flowers. Nora paused at the edge of the clearing, giving Blake some space. Blake waved her over though. "Hi Blake. I can wait until you're done."
"No, don't worry. I'm done talking to her." Blake assured her. "I'll let you have your time with Ren. See you back at camp, Nora."
"Thanks Blake." Nora gave a small wave goodbye as Blake walked off.
Blake picked up her pace as she heard Nora begin speaking to Ren, not wanting to eavesdrop on such a personal conversation.
The former students were all gathered at the airships that Tamamo had brought in. Weiss looked around for the rest of Tamamo's squad, but couldn't see anyone who looked like a huntress or a huntsman. Weiss wanted to see who her instructors would be, so she could look them up on her scroll as they flew back to wherever it was Tamamo was taking them.
"They aren't hunters." Weiss her a familiar, cheery voice behind her say. She turned around to see Tamamo Mae standing there, still as happy as ever. "They're caretakers. They help us run errands, maintain equipment, pilot for us. Things like that."
"Oh. Is your squad still at your base?" Weiss asked.
"My squad isn't, they're out on a long patrol. Another squad is watching my fortress until I get back." Tamamo answered.
"Is that where we're going to train?"
"Mmhm. It's huge, so we have plenty of rooms for you all to sleep in, and plenty of empty space to train. Honestly, it'll be nice having more people. A squad of hunters and a group of caretakers leaves the place awfully empty." Tamamo explained as her eyes lost focus, seeing something inside her memories. "And I get to teach again! Life is good."
"Would you mind if you gave me the information on the other hunters who will be training us? I'd like to read about them during the flight, if you don't mind." Weiss queried.
"Sure thing sweetie." Tamamo reached into the large sleeve of her top and pulled out her scroll. "Let's see… here." She connected to Weiss' scroll and tapped some files, sending them over.
"Thank you." Weiss looked down at the names on the files. She saw each folder was labeled with a name- Denarii Latium. Vimentis. Hauonekani Jiwe. Cheshire Fry. "Did they all go to Beacon?"
"Yep. Graduated years ago, though. Some of us graduated even before Ozzy became Headmaster, and was still a teacher." Tamamo explained, her tail waving about of its own accord.
"Were you all on the same team?"
"Oh, no. we're all different ages. I met them when they joined my post at the fortress, years ago. We have a perfect record of defending from the Grimm!" Tamamo puffed her chest out proudly.
Weiss noted with some envy that despite the kimono doing a good job of obscuring most of Tamamo's figure, her generous chest was still quite evident. She was saved the awkward decision of attempting to change the subject with Blake and Velvet's arrival, with Nora, Jaune and Pyrrha a short ways behind them. "Hello again everyone." Weiss said, greeting everyone with a tiny wave of her hand.
Tamamo turned to see who Weiss was greeting, and her eyes fell onto the two faunus. "Oh ho, look at you two." She looked at Blake's cat ears. "A kitty cat! I have another cat faunus on my squad too. Not as pretty as you though. He's a little… strange." She turned to Velvet. Oh my gosh you are so cute!" Tamamo exclaimed excitedly as she reached out to rub Velvet's unhurt ear. "Ah, so soft." She glanced at the other ear. "The other was hurt in the attack?" Tamamo moved to gently touch the other ear.
During this entire encounter Velvet's face had gone red with embarrassment, and she was glancing back and forth at Blake and Weiss, unsure how to respond to the huntress' treatment. "Um, uh, yeah." Velvet managed to get out. "C-could you not-"
"I know just the thing for this!" Tamamo reached into her sleeves yet again. She dug around for a few moments as Velvet just sat there, mortified. Velvet looked to Blake, hoping for a rescue, but Blake was just watching curiously. Velvet turned back to Tamamo as she pulled a container out of her sleeve. "Here it is! Take off your bandage on your ear. Come on come on, faster faster!" Velvet began unwrapping the bandages on her ear nervously, revealing the burns and missing portions of her ear.
Tamamo unscrewed the lid on the small container then used the tips of her fingers to scoop a small amount of the pink colored substance. "Is that cream? Lotion?" Velvet asked warily.
"Homemade lotion. Don't worry about it. Come here!" Tamamo steamrolled over Velvet's reluctance with her boulder of positivity. Tamamo then began gently smearing the lotion onto Velvet's ear, causing Velvet to flinch back slightly from Tamamo's contact with the wound. "Stop moving." She said firmly, but gently. "It'll feel better in just a few seconds."
True to her word, Blake could see Velvet's shoulders relax and the tension drain away. Tamamo kept massaging the lotion into Velvet ear, and just a few seconds later Velvet's eyes were closed, the waves of relaxation finally calming her nerves and easing the pain. Unexpectedly, Velvet accidentally let out a moan of pleasure. "Eep!" Velvet's hand shot up and covered her mouth.
Tamamo just laughed. "I can see that my lotion works." Velvet just nodded, looking down at the ground in embarrassment. Tamamo looked around and found that the former students she was taking along with her had all gathered. "Alright everyone, split into two groups and get on the airships! We're leaving!"
Tamamo hopped onto the first airship. The gathered group just shrugged at each other, and broke up into their groups of friends and boarded an airship of preference. The former teams RWBY and JNPR, plus Velvet, and a few others, hopped onto the same one as Tamamo. Tamamo was already sitting in a seat just inside the entrance, her tail wrapped around her waist, humming to herself with a smile on her face.
Weiss sat down next to her, the rest of her friends filing in and sitting beside her. Within a few minutes, the ship was in the air and they were on their way. Nora began sleeping, napping in her seat. Jaune and Pyrrha were holding hands and chatting with Blake and Velvet. Weiss opted to open her scroll and read the files on the hunters that Tamamo had given her.
The files were disappointingly sparse- they had names and pictures, a basic biography and that was it. "Excuse me, Tamamo?" Weiss asked.
Tamamo, who was brushing her tail contentedly with a wide, flat hair brush, turned to look at Weiss. "Yes dear?"
"Is there any more information on these hunters?" Weiss asked, gesturing to the folders on her scroll. "The folders look empty."
"I know they are. I don't want you guys studying them before we… test you." Tamamo replied, smirking.
"How're you going to be testing us?" Blake asked, having heard the last portion of their conversation.
"Simple. You'll be meeting us, each in turn. We'll each test you on something different. I'll explain it all when we arrive so I don't have to tell everyone again later, okay?" Tamamo was brushing her hair now, having finished brushing her tail.
Blake and Weiss nodded in acknowledgement, turning back to face each other. Deciding that Tamamo wasn't going to give them any more information about their training.
Oobleck dashed back into camp, arriving at Ozpin's tent. "I've returned, headmaster."
Professor Ozpin looked up from his seat. "Welcome back. Is Qrow still out there?"
"Yes. He's picked up the trails and is searching on his own. He's certainly doing better than I was." Oobleck reported.
"Well, best of luck to him." Ozpin tapped a button on his scroll. "I just sent you some orders I need you and Glynda to take care of."
Oobleck opened his scroll and looked at the orders. "Real estate?"
"I need teaching facilities until Beacon is rebuilt. The students can have a month off to spend with their families, but I can't just leave them to stagnate until then." Ozpin explained, sending more orders to Oobleck's scroll. "I need you to take a look at these facilities and approve them for my standards. If you approve the facilities, contact Glynda. She'll follow up and purchase them for us, and begin ordering renovations."
"Understood. I'll start now then. Unless you have something else for me?"
"Nothing else. The students will be leaving over the next few days, so all I just have some other professors doing is making sure no one gets in trouble. You and Glynda can handle the new facilities while I organize the huntsman and huntresses for the war." Ozpin explained, sighing.
"So we're really sending the other hunters in?" Oobleck asked sadly.
"Our military is small. We don't have the manpower to stand up to a huge military like Vacuo's. Without huntsmen and huntresses, we'll be crushed in no time." Ozpin flicked through the scroll. "Though it seems many of the hunters stationed in Vacuo have fled to their home kingdoms, so at least we have a small advantage there."
"And Mistral and Atlas?"
"Building up their defenses. They're scared of being attacked again, but they aren't right next to Vacuo like us, so they don't feel pressed to attack. I may be able to convince them to aid us someday, but for now they're too scared." Ozpin said disapprovingly.
"Politics are truly ridiculous. Better to be a teacher." Oobleck decided, nodding his head with conviction.
"Wake up everyone!" Tamamo yelled cheerfully, startling everyone from their various activities. Some people were indeed sleeping, others reading, and others still chatting or just looking out the window. Everyone was turning their heads to look towards the front of the airship where Tamamo stood, yelling into a microphone so she could be heard over both ships' speakers. "We're landing in one minute, assemble in front of the fortress!
She dropped the micro phone back into its receiver before turning around and leaning into the cockpit, leaving only her tail and legs sticking out of the doorway. Blake, who had been napping, let out a great yawn while stretching her body as best she could in her seat. "Finally. I hate flying in airships."
"It was only like, three hours." Weiss observed with a chuckle.
"Still too long to be sitting in such a cramped seat." Blake countered.
"I can't say I disagree with that." Weiss conceded.
Weiss could feel a sort of weightlessness in the pit of her stomach as the dropship quickly descended towards the ground, giving the passengers the sensation of floating momentarily. It was over quickly as the airships abruptly slowed their descent, before landing with a hard thud. The doors on either side of the airship slid open with a hiss, letting in the cool evening air. Tamamo leaped off the airship, letting out a gleeful "Yee!" before walking towards the fortress.
The rest of the students gathered up quickly behind her, with Weiss at the lead, eyes drawn up to the enormous fortress gate in front of them. The iron gate was just the beginning, however. The fortress itself was beautiful, both in design and practicality. Tiered stone walls that were both tall and thick, with towers spaced evenly throughout, and at each of the corners. Past the walls was an imposing stone castle, made of chiseled and carved stone. It consisted of multiple sections all connected by hallways and bridges, made of complex wooden supports designed for maximum stability. On many of the castles corners and ledges were carved gigantic gargoyles, which may have once looked frightening, but nature had taken its toll and weathered away their features, leaving them as mostly faceless, winged lumps of stone.
The creaky opening of the gate drew their attention back down in front of them, revealing a tall, fit, and muscular man wearing gold and bronze colored armor, along with a brown leather kilt adorned with metal straps, and sturdy, heavy looking leather sandals that were strapped on to more bronze and gold colored metal shin guards. His face looked hard as stone and smooth as metal, perfectly shaved and clean cut with short, military cut hair to match. Everything about this man just screamed 'professional soldier' to Weiss. He kept his back straight and carried himself tall, cutting an imposing figure. Even his voice was deep, clear, and powerful, easily cutting through the morning air. "Commander. Welcome back to base."
"Hello Dani!" Tamamo greeted. "How was your expedition?"
Unfazed by Tamamo's enthusiasm, the soldier-man continued. "Commander, I would ask that you please refrain from referring to me using such an appellation, especially in front of the trainees." He continued after making his correction. "Our purging expedition was a success. The nearby cities should be safe for some time while we train these newcomers. A simple paired patrol should suffice until the Grimm replenish their numbers."
"After all these years, you're still all work and no fun." Tamamo said, sighing. "What about Fionn? Is he still here?"
"I'm afraid you just missed him. He stayed with us when we returned this morning, but announced he was leaving as soon as you called in to report you were near." Soldier-man replied, with only the ghost of a hint of a smile indicating he found Fionn fleeing from Tamamo amusing.
"Poor boy. He never wants to spend any time with me." She giggled.
"I can only speculate, but I suspect that he fears you would bite him again, Commander."
"I only did it once. You think he'd get over it already." Tamamo defended, smiling. She turned around at the people gathered behind her, then looked over her should at the soldier-man. "Care to do the honors?"
"Yes, Commander." He stepped forward in front of Tamamo, and came to a stop just a few steps in front of the students. "Trainees!" He barked out loudly. "Assemble into five lines!" The students jumped at his loud voice, before rushing to set up in lines. Weiss ended up at the front of the center line, even though she hadn't moved at all. Blake was the head of the line to her right, and Velvet past that. Jaune was to Weiss' left, and Nora to his left. Pyrrha was second in line behind Jaune. The students, used to assemblies at Beacon, had made the lines as even as they could, with only two of the lines being just one person shorter than the others due to the number of students present.
"I am Denarii Latium. I am second in command and grandmaster tactician here at this fortress, answerable only to the Commander." He began after they had settled down, looking forward expectantly. "You are under our care and supervision. You will have more freedoms than you did when you were students at Beacon, but our orders are absolute. Commander?" He stepped back and spread his legs shoulder width and brought arms behind his back, waiting for orders.
"Like Denarii said: You will have more freedoms than you did as students. There are no specific meal times, bed times, or whatever times. You can go wherever you please in the fortress whenever you want. But," she held up a finger, "Our orders are to be followed. If I tell you wake up at two in the morning and to go run a lap around the fortress, you do it. If Dani here," he grunted in displeasure at the nickname, "Orders you to go to bed at three in the afternoon, you do it. Understood?" Everyone mumbled their understanding.
"You answer with 'Yes, ma'am' when the Commander asks if you understand, trainees!" Denarii barked.
"Yes ma'am!" The students yelled back.
"Better." Tamamo giggled. "Your training begins now. You don't get to stay in the fortress unless you pass our tests. Follow me!" Tamamo turned and walked into the fortress, waving her arms excitedly for them to follow. The new trainees could hear the airships behind them being wheeled away somewhere else, presumably a hangar of some sort.
Everyone looked at each other confusedly before following, unsure if Tamamo was serious about them not being allowed to stay in the fortress if they didn't pass her tests. As they walked through the great wooden doors, they came into an entryway, the walls draped with old, moth-holed tapestries showing battles against the Grimm who were attacking the fortress, most likely from long ago. The interior was lit with a series of lamps that flickered on as they neared, brightening the otherwise dark hallway considerably. The entryway was short, and soon opened up into a large room, filled with large tables, the edges of the room dotted with doors leading elsewhere in the fortress.
"You didn't tell me we were getting newbies, Tammy!" A voice above them laughed. Weiss and the others looked up to be greeted by a strange sight. There was a man hanging upside down from an unlit chandelier, his ankles hooked through the large metal ring and his arms behind his head. His eyes were a startling electric green, and were reflecting some of the light from the lamps, giving his gaze a disconcerting glow. He was smiling widely, his sharp teeth making his smile more creepy than happy looking. His clothes were simple yet eccentric. He wore a bright purple and magenta puffy sweater which blended in neatly with his dark purple shoulder length hair, and bright pink cargo shorts that clashed horribly with his sweater. His ears were twitching wildly in every direction, reacting to the slightest noises.
"Hello, Ches." Tamamo greeted. "You'd know if you ever checked your scroll."
"Denarii took it from me." He pouted.
"It had to be done. You wouldn't stop sending everyone pictures of yourself." Denarii explained calmly in answer to Tamamo's questioning look.
"Oh, that again. Anyways kids, this is Cheshire Fry. Try not to take him too seriously." Tamamo had been on the receiving end of some of his picture sending sprees before, and understood Denarii's decision. As Tamamo finished speaking, one of the doors opened and a muscular woman strode in.
She was the same height as Denarii, and just as muscular. Her dark brown skin was covered in scars, souvenirs of her innumerable battles. Her armor was a mix of studded leather straps and cured animal hide, reminding Weiss of the old warriors in the tapestries from long ago. The woman had an absurdly large great axe nearly as long as she was tall in a holster on her back. Her hair was braided into dreadlocks, and those dreadlocks tied together into a ponytail to keep her long hair out of the way of unsheathing her weapon quickly. "Tamamo, it is good to see you back." Her baritone voice was thick and smooth, and soothing to hear.
"You too, Kani." Tamamo said as she hugged the woman. "Kids, this is Hauonekani Jiwe, our resident blacksmith, engineer, and fearsome huntress. Don't make her mad."
"I'm not nearly as mean as Tamamo makes me out to be." Hauonekani Jiwe answered. "And I realize my name is probably a mouthful for some of you, so just call me Kani."
"Where's Vimentis?" Tamamo asked Kani. Kani pointed to one of the tables towards the back of the great hall, where a figure dressed in black was sprawled out on a table, sleeping quietly. "Of course he's sleeping. Would you mind waking him up, Kani?"
Kani nodded as she walked over and grabbed Vimentis by the jacket, then with a mighty tug pulled him off the table, cause him to fall onto the floor with a sickening thud. "Wake up."
The trainees mouths had dropped open, sure that the man had been hurt. But he just stood up groggily and yawned, no signs of injury anywhere. "Whos'it?" He turned his head slowly as if he was looking around the room, but his eyes were still closed. "Why'd you," he yawned again, "wake me up?"
Kani was already walking back towards Tamamo. "Work."
Vimentis groaned as he shuffled along, following Kani. Now that he was standing, Weiss could get a better look at him. He had bed head, his hair all messy and knotted everywhere. Were his hair groomed, his glossy black hair would've fallen down past his shoulders to just past his shoulder blades, but as it was, it was everywhere. He wore a black businessman's overcoat, with an incorrectly buttoned white dress shirt underneath. His grey slacks were all wrinkled from sleeping in them, and his shoes were nowhere to be found. All in all, Weiss thought he cut quite the unimpressive figure.
"And this is our resident sleeper." Tamamo joked. He waved at the group sleepily, yawning again. Weiss had to fight the urge to yawn as she watched him yawn yet again. He still hadn't opened his eyes.
"Okay, now that everyone is here, let's go over the plan. We," Tamamo gestured to her and her squad, "will be each testing you, individually, on various skills." She held up a piece of paper with a chart on it. "You will each grab one of these off the table and fill in your name. Each of our names are on this already, along with a box where we will score you.
"If you do not pass enough of these, I'm kicking you out and sending you home, deal?" She laughed, as if the prospect of the students failing was immensely amusing. "There's a map on the back that shows which room each of us is going to be in when we test you." She turned the page around so the students could see the map. "You can come see us in any order you want. Except for me, only see me when you've seen the other members of my squad. Feel free to leave your bags in this room until you're done."
She set the paper back down on the table. "Do NOT show and discuss your results with one another, and do NOT tell people about the tests if they haven't taken it yet. You can only talk to your peers about the test if both of you have already seen me. Before that, and I kick you out. Easy enough, right? Let's get started!" Tamamo cheered as she skipped out of the great hall, and the other members of her squad left through various doors.
Weiss looked up and didn't see Cheshire Fry anymore, but didn't recall seeing him leave through a door either. Mysterious. "Where do you think he went?" Weiss asked Blake while pointing at the chandelier.
Blake shrugged. "I didn't see him leave either." She scanned the rafters, looking for a hatch but didn't see anything. "Oh well. Do you want to go to the tests together, or just meet up after?" Blake asked her group of friends.
"I say we split up." Jaune suggested. "So we aren't tempted to talk to each other about the tests so much." Everyone agreed that his plan made sense as they filled their names out on their forms, then split up in different directions, following the map.
Weiss began walking along a path towards an office labeled 'Denarii Latium.' Her quick stride ensured she arrived first, to find the door open with Denarii sitting at a mahogany desk. "Come in, please put this sign on the door before you close it." He handed Weiss a sign that had written on it 'Wait until you are called in. Do not knock.' Weiss hooked it onto the door before returning to him. "Have a seat." Weiss sat in a padded chair across from him as he pulled out a box.
"I will be testing your strategic and critical thinking." He explained, pulling out a wooden checkered board, and a smaller box filled with all sorts of figurines. "I will pose scenarios, you will answer. I will counter, you will respond. Understood?"
"I understand, sir." Weiss answered, looking down. Chess? Weiss was surprised at this test. She had expected some sort of interview. But Weiss was skilled when it came to chess, so she straightened her back, feeling confident.
Weiss was soon had beads of sweat forming on her forehead though, as Denarii kept setting up pieces in increasingly unfair scenarios. This wasn't standard chess, this was chess where Weiss was missing half of her pieces, or where certain squares on the board were impassable, or where the pieces were arranged differently, or where some pieces looked one way but behaved like another piece, or a dozen other variations Denarii came up with. None of the games lasted longer than a couple minutes, and Weiss lost as many of the games of chess as she had won, and her hopes had been shattered.
"We're done here." Denarii announced after the final game. He took Weiss' paper out of her hand, and scribbled something in the box before handing it back to her.
Weiss looked down at the box, bracing herself for disappointment, when she saw the score in the box: ninety-two out of one hundred. "Ninety-two out of one hundred?" she asked out loud. "But I lost so many of those games!"
He raised an eyebrow. "You weren't supposed to win the games. I was judging your decision making and analytical skills." He gestured at the board. "You actually won far more than I expected. Many of your peers will lose most of these games, and some will lose even all of them."
"Oh." Weiss responded, feeling slightly foolish.
"I've been a strategist and tactician for nearly twenty years, Miss Schnee. You weren't expecting to win all of them, were you?" He asked. Weiss just looked around sheepishly. He laughed for the first time since Weiss had seen him. "I like your confidence and spirit. Don't lose that. Now go on, get out. Send in whoever is next in line."
"Thank you, sir." Weiss gave a quick bow before stepping out and telling the next student to go in. After she was out of earshot of the students in line, Weiss let out a sigh of gargantuan proportions. "Ugh, that was stressful. I hope the others are better."
Weiss had decided to follow the map clockwise, and found herself standing in line to enter the room labeled 'Hauonekani Jiwe,' with the same sign on the door Denarii had. While waiting, Weiss was discovering that waiting in line was its own special kind of test, watching the other students come out of the room massaging their muscles and wincing in pain. By the time it was her turn, Weiss had concocted a dozen things that could be happening as part of Kani's test. When the student in front of her came out and told Weiss to enter, she did so with much trepidation.
Inside the room was… nothing. Just an empty stone walled room with a dirt floor. The only things Weiss could see were a tiny table next to the door, and Hauonekani Jiwe standing at its center, holding her great axe on her should with one arm. "Hello there, child. Leave your paper by the on that table." Weiss set her paper on the table. "Now come, come." Weiss went to stand in front of the woman.
As she walked over, Weiss got a better look at the axe. It was single sided, with a long, curved blade that shone silver. The back of the axe head had a wicked looking spike for piercing, which Weiss eyed warily. "Hello." Weiss greeted the huntress.
"My test is simple. Fight me with your weapon. No dust, no aura, no semblance. Ready?" Weiss was hesitating- she had never fought without dust and her semblance before. Not effectively, anyways. "Taking too long!" Kani swung her massive axe down at Weiss with just a single arm.
Weiss leapt back, the axe nearly shaving some skin off her nose as it blew by, smashing into the floor with a crash. Chunks of dirt flew everywhere from the massive impact, throwing up a cloud of dust that blocked Weiss' view of Kani. Before Weiss could secure her footing, Kani leapt through the cloud with a roar, swinging her weapon horizontally across at the stumbling heiress.
Without the footing to leap back again, Weiss kicked off the ground with one foot, and cart wheeled over the axe, keeping her arms against her chest as she jabbed Myrtenaster forward at the huntress, trying to score a hit to distract her so Weiss could get some footing. As Myrtenaster's point darted towards Kani's chest, she lifted her axe handle, deflecting the rapier upwards as Weiss landed on her feet and darted away to put some distance between her and the ferocious warrior.
With some distance between the two, Weiss finally had time to analyze her situation. Clearly she was no match for the huntress in strength, but Weiss believed she was faster and more acrobatic, allowing her an advantage in speed and mobility, which she knew she had to use to her advantage. Weiss shifted her stance, distributing her weight evenly between her feet as she stood on the balls of her feet, ready to move in any direction as needed.
Kani charged once again, axe now held horizontally across her body in both hands. Weiss held her ground, waiting to see what direction the attack would come from so she could maneuver around it. At the last moment, she saw Kani's axe begin to shift upwards, opening up her chest for an attack. Weiss lunged forward, moving in too close for the axe to come down and hit her, ready to jab with her rapier.
As Weiss was jabbing, she realized that the axe was no longer in Kani's hands only an instant before her fists slammed into Weiss' chest, throwing her back onto the floor. Lying on her back, Weiss saw the axe fall back into Kani's hands. She had twitched to throw her axe upwards, tricking Weiss into thinking she was prepping for an overhead swing, then punching her out before Weiss could realize her mistake.
"Ow." Weiss commented painfully from her spot on the floor.
"Ha ha! That was very brave of you, charging someone who fights like me." She held her hand out and pulled Weiss to her feet. "You're a bit small to charge, but I know what you were trying to do. I'll be honest, it probably would've worked if you were here earlier, but that Belladonna girl did the same thing and got me."
"Blake was here already?" Weiss asked, rubbing her chest and retrieving her paper.
"The cat faunus, right? She an amazing fighter." Kani filled out Weiss' paper and handed it back to her. "You lost some points for trying to charge me like that, but you did pretty good. Seventy-eight points. Your weapon looks pretty dust heavy, may I see it?" Weis handed over Myrtenaster. Kani looked down the blade, tested the point, spun and observed the chambers, and generally gave the weapon a quick look over. "This is a nice weapon. I guess I put you out of your element without the dust, huh?" She smiled.
"Yeah, I've always fought with dust, or at least my semblance." Weiss admitted.
"Ha ha, nothing wrong with that. But these are tests, after all. Let's get you out of here and on to your other tests." Kani directed Weiss towards the door. "Send in the next kid. Good luck!"
Weiss did so as she exited, still massaging the center of her chest. "I hope I finish these tests alive." Weiss joked to herself.
Weiss continued her clockwise pattern to the next room on the map, labeled 'Cheshire Fry.' Arriving at the door, there was no line, but the sign was up so she waited. Just a couple minutes later the door opened to reveal a very dizzy Jaune. "Jaune, are you okay?" Weiss rushed to his side to keep him from falling over.
"That damn cat." Jaune managed to get out before rushing out to the hallway and throwing up in a trash can.
"Ew." Weiss observed. "Can I go in then?" Jaune just waved her in instead of responding. "Thanks!" Weiss entered the room.
Unlike Kani's room, this room was filled with wooden posts of varying heights, creating what looked like a forest without leaves or branches. Weiss walked forward as she looked around, not seeing Cheshire Fry anywhere in the room. "Hello, my dear." A voice called from above and behind her. Weiss turned around to see the Huntsman hanging upside down again, this time from a wooden post just behind her. "How are you this fine morning?"
"I'm doing well, thank you." Weiss responded as she backed away from the startling green eyes, so much brighter and greener than anything she had ever seen before. "And you?"
"I'm marvelous." He answered, drawing out the 'ar' noise for an unnecessarily long amount of time. As he answered he pulled a silk top hat, seemingly out of nowhere, and plopped it on his head. Weiss could only stare, unsure how the hat was even staying on his head. But he didn't say anything else, opting instead to just stare at Weiss.
"Um… my test?" Weiss asked.
"Hmmm. Yes. A test. How about a game instead?" Cheshire Fry asked. "A lovely game. Like… hmm. Ah!" He snapped his fingers and pointed at Weiss. "You have to touch me once before I touch you three times." Him emphasizing the words that he did only served to creep out Weiss even more.
"Touch?"
"Punch, kick, poke, stab, crunch, lick, choke, cut, jab, stomp-"
"I get it. Thank you." This man was aggravating Weiss more and more by the second.
"Wonderful!" Cheshire Fry said, elongating his vowels once again. He thrust his hands into his cargo shorts' pockets, and immediately began pulling them back out. Weiss' eyes widened as the strange faunus pulled out what appeared to be metal claws, which could not have possibly fit inside those pockets. "Let's play!" He said with a wicked grin, his eyes maniacally wide. Weiss suddenly had the feeling she was in a very dangerous position.
Hoping to end this 'game' before she could get hurt, Weiss drew and swung Myrtenaster in the same motion, not caring about hurting him, only touching him. Just as her weapon was about to touch him though, his form became hazy, and Myrtenaster passed straight through where Cheshire Fry was a moment ago, where now only a faint cloud of lavender smoke remained, drifting away lazily.
"Too slow." She heard a whisper in her ear, her head jerking to the side to see Cheshire with his face just inches away from Weiss'. Weiss brought her hand up to try to make contact with him, but it passed right through the lavender haze he left behind.
"Damn it!" Weiss was more aggravated than she could ever remember being. How do you hit someone who can disappear? Before she could formulate a plan, she felt something touch the top of her head. She ducked away, swinging her weapon up, once again impacting nothing.
"That's one!" She heard his voice giddily echoing through the room. Weiss then made a decision that she would stab this man, not punch, or kick, or poke, or anything else. She hated him.
Trying to focus herself, Weiss stood extremely still, examining her surroundings. She closed her eyes, trying to focus and listen to her surrounding for any sign of movement, since she couldn't see him. As she sat there, she felt something touch the tip of her nose. Her eyes jerking open, she was greeted with Cheshire Fry standing so close in front of her that their noses touched. Going against her decision to stab him, Weiss brought her knee up in an attempt to knee the infuriating cat in the crotch. She was once again unsuccessful as she heard his voice echoing around the room. "That's two! You're about to lose!"
Weiss, realizing she must be doing terribly, tried calming herself as she tried using all her senses to locate the disappearing faunus. Wait, Weiss thought to herself. He thinks it's a game. Not a test. He'll try to do the fun thing, not the smart one. Realizing this, Weiss closed her eyes again. She waited, and just seconds later she felt a slight disturbance in the air in front of her. Without opening her eyes, she thrust her head forward, and was rewarded with solid, painful contact.
Weiss opened her eyes as she rubbed her head, and was rewarded with seeing Cheshire Fry also rubbing his forehead. He looked at Weiss warily. "I hope that hurt." Weiss said, clearly displeased with him.
"It did. How rude." He responded. "But you won!" He threw his hands up in the air, empty of the claws she had seen earlier. Where the blazes did he keep those things? And the hat? Weiss went to pull her paper out of her picket, but found it wasn't there. She spun in a circle as she looked around the room, worried about dropping it. As she completed her spin, she saw that Cheshire Fry had it, and was holding it out to her.
"How …? Never mind." Weiss gave up trying to understand this insane enigma. She accepted it and saw that he had not in fact given her a score, but had drawn a smiley face. "My score?"
"No score! You win!" He yelled animatedly. "You must play again sometime! I won't even have to go so easy on you next time!"
"I'm going to have to take a rain check on that."
"Send in the next contender!" He yelled, disappearing once again.
Weiss left, wishing the next student good luck as she hurried away, eager to be away from such chaos.
Making sure to hurry away from Cheshire Fry's room, Weiss found her way to the one last room before Tamamo's, labeled 'Vimentis'. There was a line outside of his door, which gave Weiss some time to sit and just let her pent up frustration from the previous test ease out of her.
"You look like you just came from Cheshire Fry's room." Weiss looked up and saw Pyrrha walking up to her to wait in line behind her.
"Ugh. Yes." Weiss groaned.
"I saw him first. It definitely was. . . different."
"Understatement of the century." The two girls laughed, making small talk while they waited in line.
The line moved quickly and soon they arrived at the front of the line, Weiss parting with Pyrrha to take her turn at Vimentis' test. Closing the door behind herself, Weiss strode into the room. It was another empty room, devoid of anything but Vimentis, sitting cross legged in the middle of the room.
Vimentis yawned. "Come sit." He nodded at the cushion in front in him.
Weiss sat on her knees in front of the sleepy man, and noticed his eyes were still closed. "Good evening, sir."
"Terrible evening." He corrected. "I want to go to sleep." Was this man really a huntsman? Then again, if Cheshire Fry was a huntsman, Weiss supposed anything was possible. "How strong is your aura?"
Weiss wasn't prepared for the sudden question, and stammered. "Um, uh. Average I guess? Maybe a little stronger."
"Hrm." He grumbled. "Describe it to me. How you use it in battle." Weiss blinked. He was just going to question her?
"Um. Well. I use it to strengthen and reinforce my body, as we're all trained. I also use it as an energy source for my semblance." Weiss explained.
Vimentis waved his hand dismissively. "That's fine. I want you to summon your aura. Pull it into yourself, hold as much as you can." Weiss obeyed. "You're correct in your assessment. Average indeed. Mostly a dust fighter, right?"
"Yeah." Weiss responded curtly. She realized she was the one who said she was average, but hearing him say it so dismissively was still slightly insulting.
"Well that's to be expected then. We all have our strengths." Suddenly Weiss' paper flew out of her pocket and into his outstretched hand.
"Hey, what?" Weiss watched as a pen flew out of his pocket, and marked the paper with a score of seventy. The pen flew back into his pocket, and the paper drifted lazily over back to Weiss, waiting for her to snatch it out of the air.
"You pass. Send in the next one." Weiss could only assume it was his semblance or aura he used, but she'd ask another time.
Opening the door, Weiss told Pyrrha it was her turn. Pyrrha nodded in thanks and wished her luck as Weiss left for Tamamo's room, up the stairs.
There was no line in front of Tamamo's door, so Weiss waited and for whoever was in there to come fetch her. The wait was a short one, with Blake soon exiting and greeting Weiss. "Your turn. I'll wait for you in the great hall, okay? We'll talk there." Weiss waved bye as she entered Tamamo's rom.
"Hello!" Tamamo greeted. "How were your tests?" she asked, holding her hand out for Weiss' paper.
"They was definitely a variety of tests." Weiss replied, hoping to keep her response fairly neutral as she handed over her paper.
"My, my, you definitely put that nicely. I know what they did to you, no need to be so delicate about it!" Tamamo laughed. "These tests were designed to make you do poorly or fail." She read over the paper in her hands. "Oooh, you did quite well. You even got a smiley face from Ches! How cute!" Tamamo could only giggle.
"Not quite the word I'd use." Weiss grumbled.
This only made Tamamo laugh harder. "He does take some getting used to." Tamamo stood and walked over to stand in front of Weiss. "Well then. Ready for your last test?"
"I am."
"Excellent." Tamamo's hand shot forward, impacting hard against Weiss' stomach.
Weiss staggered backwards, hand over her stomach. Before she could voice her confusion and astonishment, she saw the knife sticking out of her side, where Tamamo had struck her. Blood was pouring down off the blade, dripping onto the floor. Weiss could only stare at the wound, then the evilly grinning Tamamo, then the wound. "Why?" Tamamo just shrugged in response.
Weiss was surprised. The wound didn't hurt the same way she thought it would. It was a dull, radiating pain, not quite the sharp fiery pain she expected. She gripped the dagger's hilt and tugged, trying to pull it out. She couldn't pull though, it was hurting too much. Was this part of the test? Was she-
Wait. Couldn't pull it out? Weiss didn't even budge the knife when she tried. Surely she should've at least moved it a little before it hurt? She looked at the knife again, then the smiling Tamamo. Weiss straightened her back. And then calmed herself, focusing and clearing her mind.
It didn't hurt the way it should. It didn't respond the way it should. Tamamo said it was a test. She looked down at the knife again, at the blood dripping off of it. Weiss noticed she wasn't feeling any weaker, curiously enough.
The knife's not real. Weiss thought to herself. Is this the test? Weiss straightened her posture once again, before focusing her mind on that thought- the knife isn't real. The knife isn't real. The knife isn't real.
Tamamo started clapping in front of her, jumping up and down. Weiss looked down, and saw that the knife was gone. There was no blood, no cuts in her clothes.
"You did it! Congratulations, you pass!" Tamamo exclaimed excitedly.
"What… what did you do?" Weiss asked.
"It's my semblance. I can make illusions." Weiss blinked as there were suddenly three images of Tamamo standing in front of her. "My test is to see if you can look past what you see on the surface of something. Because lies and illusions can kill you too, if you believe it." The illusionary Tamamo clones disappeared.
"But it still hurts."
"Well, I did punch you."
"Oh."
Shoutout: I'd like to thank Pozsich for his assistance in creating the character Denarii Latium, the assistance and inspiration was much appreciated!