Almost a week has passed since initiation. Ruby has made her way through several different lessons, and through it she has come to one conclusion:
Atlas… really is a school.
Yes, it's a huntsman academy, where Ruby learns to become a legendary huntress. It's still a school, with classes, homework and all that boring stuff.
8 blocks of three and a half hours, a school week of 28 hours with the weekends off. At least the free Friday evenings and Monday mornings means that the weekends are long and allow for plenty of dozing off.
Four blocks are mandatory, shared by all first-years: Grimm Studies, Dust Studies, and two blocks of Combat Studies. They are training to become huntsmen, after all. The other four blocks can be selected from a wide variety of subjects. Everyone can choose their remaining subjects separately, but on Weiss' orders the team made their choices together.
It was agreed on that everyone would take History together, and all the other variable subjects need to be tackled in pairs of two. This way if someone falters there's another person to help them with their studies.
For the midday block on Thursday Ciel and Weiss take Economics, while Penny and Ruby have Metallurgy Studies; Weiss and Penny take Advanced Dust Studies for the Friday morning block, while Ciel and Ruby share that time on Physics.
The final variable timeslot is the Tuesday morning, where Ciel and Penny take Martial Arts. The red-white duo on the other hand picked something that Ruby heavily lobbied for:
SERE. Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape. A program meant for huntsmen and huntresses who want to work out in the field, charting unknown territories full of grimm. It's exactly what Ruby wants, and it's going to be totally awesome!
This leads to the current moment, where Ruby is sprinting through the hallways. She was walking with Weiss through the hallways of Atlas, until she realized that she forgot her textbook for SERE. She had to sprint back to the apartment, grab the book, and run all the way back towards the academy. All this time Weiss hasn't been in sight, and the classroom is almost there! Is Ruby too late, or did something happen to Weiss? Ruby is afraid that she's not going to like the result.
As Ruby sprints around a corner she literally runs into another student. Neither of them expecting it they both fall on the ground. Ruby is the first to stand up, observing the student that she hit: A blonde boy in the Atlas uniform, who looks otherwise somewhat average.
"Ah, I'm sorry!" Ruby stammers out, "I didn't look where I was going!" In slight panic she extends her hand, hoping that this guy doesn't mind her clumsiness too much.
"Oh no no no, it was as much my fault, really." The guy takes Ruby's hand and lifts himself up.
With him standing up he is ready to move on, but Ruby has one more question for him. "Ehm, did you perhaps see my partner passing by? She's about my height, long white hair, scar over her left eye…"
"Do you mean Weiss Schnee?" Oh, good, he knows her! Ruby nods, and the guy is happy to help his lowerclassman: "Yeah, she was talking with Jack, my partner. Just go around that corner, take the second left and she should come into view."
"Thanks!" With that Ruby sprints past her upperclassmen, looking for her friend.
It's just as that guy said: there is Weiss, talking with two upperclassmen. One guy and one… other person, both in the male uniform. The one whose gender is obvious has a darker complexion, and he wears a black fedora over his short black hair. The androgynous person is just as tall, but with long blond hair and a more effeminate face.
Upon seeing her partner Weiss warmly greets the red reaper to come over. Ruby quickly gets introduced to the two upperclassmen by her partner:
"Ruby, meet Flynt Coal and Jack Ivory. They are the team leaders of Funky and Jade, considered the best third- and second-year team of Atlas respectively. Jack and Flynt, this is my partner, Ruby Rose."
A few nods from all sides settle the introductions. Ruby asks why this group of team leaders have gathered here, the question answered by the blonde:
"Well, your little partner here has been discussing about how she is planning to follow in our footsteps as the best team of the generation. Might be possible too, given what we all have in common." Jack's words earn a small nod from the other upperclassmen, who lets his friend explain: "See, all three of us have dads who are in the dust trade business."
"Yep." Flynt agrees with that, telling the story of his own father: "Had a nice little store here in Atlas… until the SDC bought it out."
"That is a pity." Weiss reply is cold and impassionate, like she heard it a thousand times before. The words that flow from her mouth are equally emotionless, a speech that seems to have been ingrained into her from youth: "However, no business survives forever. The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any stores that go broke, that responsibility rests on their own head."
Weiss reply is cold and mechanical, and Flynt doesn't agree with it. Jack however has a different spin on it:
"If it happens by legal means, sure, then it is our own fault. However, can we say the same if it was caused by the competition using illegal methods?"
"What are you implying?" Weiss asks with a curious brow. Jack is fully willing to explain the cruel past for the young heiress.
"My parents and younger sister were assassinated by Marcus Black." This gets a shock even from Flynt, who hadn't heard this part of the story before. "He bragged that he was hired by your dad, Jacques Schnee."
"How dare you!" Weiss shouts in anger, not accepting the insult thrown at her father. "We Schnees are shrewd businessmen, yes, but not murderers! We do not sink to such a low level! Even if my father hired assassins, he wouldn't be stupid enough to select someone so incompetent at keeping secrets."
Weiss claims innocence for her family, but Jack has heard enough from Weiss excuses:
"Yeah, I'm going after David. I've now met with the Schnee heiress, and found the apple not falling far from the tree." Weiss outburst gets ignored by Jack, who walks away with a casual wave of the hand. "Though I should warn you that if you sent your little friend there to assassinate me it will be her who dies."
Ruby shouts after Jack that she's not an assassin, but there's no response from that upperclassman. Three people are left, with clear bad blood between two of them. Yeah, that isn't good. Ruby tries to assuage Weiss anger, but this only causes Flynt to continue taunting:
"So Schnee, how did you get in this academy? Did daddy buy you a nice few subjects, letting you play huntress with your little team?"
"You-" Weiss anger and rage are boiling. She has trouble finding good replies to Flynt's trash talk. Noticing the heiress' anger Flynt only continues to up his ante, insulting Weiss even further:
"You Schnees are many things, mostly negative ones, but y'all ain't cut out to be huntsmen." Flynt laughs, enjoying the verbal beatdown he is laying on one of his most hated enemies. "Try as you might, Schnee, but in the end all that money of yours still can't buy you skill."
"Hey!"
Ouch, that must be a painful remark. Ruby can understand why Weiss is so angered. Well, if Flynt wants to go that way, then who is Ruby not to reply in kind: "Well, then it's a shame that you can't use your skill to get some money!"
Aw snap! Looks like Flynt just got burned! Ruby holds out her hand, ready to receive a low five from Weiss to accentuate that sick burn.
…
Seconds pass, and an expectant Ruby doesn't find a reply for her gesture. Ruby looks at her partner with disappointment, and somewhat saddened she must explain something basic like this:
"Okay, Weiss. This is where you low five me. I made a cool remark, so you gotta slap me to seal the deal!"
Weiss rolls her eyes, giving Ruby the classic "dolt" line. She refuses to give Ruby the requested low five.
With a disheartened "aw" Ruby slinks away, the burn never rightly applied. Why did you do this, Weiss? Now Flynt is only half-burned. He has the chance to make a comeback again! Because you couldn't finish the job all of Atlas is threatened by this two-bit musician, perhaps even the entire continent of Solitas!
Flynt on the other hand lets out a small chuckle at Ruby's failed attempt to bond. "Keep trying all you want, Rubes, but that's one ice queen you won't defrost." Straightening his back Flynt starts to walk away, but not before giving Ruby some final advice: "Your partner is still a Schnee: To her you're just another tool to be used."
After another hey from Weiss Flynt also walks away, letting out one final chuckle at Ruby's unfortunate fate. The two freshmen are now left together, and it's clear for the girl from Patch that her team leader needs some consoling:
"Weiss, don't let them get to you. Those guys didn't see you fight during initiation. They aren't your partner, heck, they're not even your teammates! The Weiss I know is proud, strong, really strict with our homework, way too obsessed with rules,"
"Hey!"
"-but most importantly, she's where she needs to be. As the leader of team Scorpio, and as my friend." Ruby gives one of her most warming smiles, and it seems to have some effect on her friend.
"I… thanks, Ruby." Weiss lets out a deep sigh, letting all her frustrations slip away. No matter the enemies in this hostile environment, so long as she has Ruby as a partner and Scorpio as a team Weiss will not falter. "Shall we go to the classroom? It will not do if we're late."
Ruby nods, and together they go on their way once more.
After a short walk the red-white duo enter the classroom. It's a rather small one, only able to house about thirty students. The duo looks around, hoping to see any familiar faces. Just as luck would have it Ruby recognizes a certain dog-eared faunus.
Otto! And there's still two places free on the bench next to him. Talk about luck!
The pair takes the seats next to Otto, where Ruby works as bridge between the heiress and the faunus. She introduces both to one another with quick introductions. Instead of friendly communications they look at each other, glaring at certain parts of each other's body.
That hair, those eyes, that SDC logo on her clothing. Otto can barely believe who he's talking to: "Hello… miss Schnee."
Weiss cannot take her eyes away from the aspect that makes Otto a faunus, staring at those two black ears on top of his head. "Yes…. Hello indeed."
Talk about an awkward mood! Ruby tries to lighten the mood but finds two accusatory glances coming at her from both sides. Neither her partner nor her friend is exactly happy about this situation, their body language telling the red reaper that both do not like who Ruby associates herself with.
"Ruby? Otto's words are uncertain, still in disbelieve about the situation. "Remember back before the introduction. You were supporting my wish for equality, so… what are you doing with a Schnee?"
"Equality?" Weiss snorts at the faunus' question, giving him a look of disdain. "And what are you going to do about it? Destroy dust supplies? Burn down our affiliated dust shops? Kill my distant relatives?"
"Wha-" That's something he cannot believe. Even the White Fang can't be crazy enough to do that, right? "What are you talking about?"
"The faunus, of course. That is all I've seen you animals do. You cause crime, chaos and unhappiness to whomever you please. It is people like you who can't do anything good for the world."
Those accusations make Otto angry as well, causing insults to fly back and forth between the two with Ruby in the crossfire. O boy, introducing these two was a mistake. It's just like before in the hallway.
"Stop, stop!" Holding her hands apart to separate the two bickerers she tries to get in before everything gets out of hand and the teacher throws them out of the classroom. "You two stop right now!"
Both of them fall silent, allowing Ruby to take the word: "Weiss" Using an admonishing tone she tried to copy from Weiss' sister she begins to stop this unneeded hatred. "I don't know what the faunus did to you in the past, but Otto is not just a faunus. He's my friend, Ciel's brother, and not a bad person."
As Weiss is reeling from this new knowledge Ruby turns to her other friend to give him equal scolding words. "And Otto, Weiss is not just a Schnee. Sure, she might be bossy and have absolutely no sense of humor,"
"Hey!"
"but she is a good person. She is more than just an heiress, and I won't let you make such assumptions about her. I won't let any of you make such assumptions of the other."
Otto does have some possibilities to counter Ruby's words, but for the sake of his friendship he goes for the peaceful option: "I'll trust Ruby for now." Otto extends his hand, hoping to bury hostilities and start some neutral relationship with the heiress.
Weiss weights the arguments from both sides. Her knowledge against that of Ruby and Ciel. For their sake she accepts the handshake. "I suppose you can be given the benefit of the doubt."
Otto and Weiss aren't even close to being friends, or that friendly to one another. They will fall back towards hatred upon a single bad move or word from either side, but at least they won't get in each other's hair for the moment.
So… crisis averted?
"Ahum." A loud cough resonates through the class, enough to focus everyone's attention to the front of the room. Standing there is a giant of a man, easily over seven feet tall. He is bulging with muscles, barely constrained by his red-colored Atlas uniform. The slight white color in his hair and yellow-tinted glasses make him seem as intelligent as he looks strong, and as far as Ruby can analyze his weapon those foot-long bracelets on his arm seem to enhance his punches with electricity.
"Greetings, students." The giant of a man speaks, his voice strong, booming, yet professional. "My name is Tiger Iron. I am a soldier and specialist of the Atlesian Army, specialized in the reconnaissance of uninhabited wilderness and mapping of ancient civilizations."
Oh yes, Ruby can already see what she gets to do with a man like this: jumping out of bullheads from thousands of feet high, dropped hundreds of miles away from civilization; Surviving on nature's blessings while wading through an entire horde of grimm; Standing on top of the highest mountain of the continent, surveilling the surroundings for miles around them. Yes, this is going to be awesome!
"And I am the assistant teacher of this course, helping professor Katt-Grumm with her teachings."
Wait, what? Assistant teacher? What kind of monster must that professor be if she can order a man like him around?
Ruby's question is answered when from behind the giant a much shorter woman walks on the podium, about the same size as Weiss. Long pink hair in a ponytail is the only color that contrasts her stark white uniform and lab coat. Her yellow eyes seem strained from overwork, given by the heavy bags under her eyes and a pair of glasses she needs to see clearly.
With a cynical tone she orders the class to silence, before starting an opening speech that seems to be both too memorized and too spontaneous at the same time:
"Welcome, lost children. I am professor Katt, genius scientist, and ruler of the Atlas Academy laboratory. Well, we aren't in the lab at the moment. This course can sort of be temporarily moved into these ordinary classrooms. Well, simply put, it's a mysterious course. A course where you can do whatever I want. It's a paradise for all those sad, little lost children who couldn't make it to the more scientific courses. A sort of Avalon. People who are all like: 'I don't need help', or: 'I only want an easy course', or: 'I'll just look at some upperclassman's notes' can get lost… Very well. Today's lesson… Tiger, come here."
The giant guy does as the cat faunus tells. Calmly he starts to explain what the students can expect from this course. "It is as professor Katt-Grumm said: what we teach is a complicated, multifaceted course, and you do well to listen to everything we say:" With a small cough to clear his throat teacher-assistant Tiger starts his explanation:
"SERE. Survive, explore, rescue and extract. You may think that these skills seem very basic, and you are correct. However, every single thing you learn here can mean the difference between life and death in the field." Professor Tiger reaffirms his glasses on the bridge of his nose, giving the students a small moment to take it all in. Ruby and Otto are calmly listening to the big guy's story, while Weiss is scribbling furiously in her notebook.
Tiger walks over to the holographic projector, as he shouts out the name appearing on the screen: "Survival!" With each word on the list he slaps the respective words with a long pointer, creating a small shockwave of sound to keep up everyone's focus. "When you're done with this course you can be dropped in the complete unknown without any possessions and you will not only survive, you will thrive!
Exploration! You will be able to chart unknown territories, map them for others, and reach any place on this entire planet. If there is a goal to reach, you will not only find it, but make sure others can find it as well!
Rescue! You are not the only explorer, and it pains me to say that many of your brethren will not have followed this course. After all, as this course is adapted from military training you can only learn SERE at Atlas academy. Therefore, when your allies get in trouble out in the wilderness, you will be able to get to their aid before authorities even have the time to mobilize!
Finally, Extract! Because all of the above is meaningless if you cannot safely return to civilization!"
Yes, yes, yes! This is what Ruby dreams of, what Ruby wants! She can already picture it in her head. Team Scorpio, scouting through the unexplored regions of Remnant, searching out grimm nests to exterminate them, laying the groundwork for new cities, rescuing other people, and being heroes! This course is going to be awesome!
"Of course, we do not expect you to master it a day. For the first year of your career here in Atlas we shall focus on getting you to obtain the necessary survival skills." Tiger names several courses that the students will learn: Woodcraft, sheltercraft, equipment improvisation, snare- and trapcraft, and several more. "But when it comes to survival there is one skill that everyone should know." Tiger walks over to the cloth-covered stack, and throws the cover off, revealing its content:
Food. Food of all kind and sorts, though all of it can be gathered in the wilderness. Meat, fish, wild vegetables and berries. It's clear what this lesson is about, as Tiger summarizes it in one word:
"Cooking!"
And suddenly Weiss wished she had taken a different course.
Tiger's lessons start, and through the course Weiss' opinion of the course only gets slightly better. Some parts are useful, even for the heiress. Learning the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous berries, for example, might be useful in the field one day. The cooking part with berries on the other hand Weiss wished she could've just left to Ruby. It's only been a week and already her Atlas uniform Is stained with berry juice! Stupid, dumb berry compote, making her dirty all over!
No, Weiss is happy that the midday block has started. Combat training, something that should go a lot better. Last Thursday she managed to best the team leader of CROT in a singles match, showing off her skill as a huntress for the world to see. In fact, her entire team manages to win their practice matches, putting Scorpio up as the top team from the very beginning.
The lesson follows the same structure as last time. The first ninety minutes is theoretical explanation, which the entire team seems to guzzle up like a fish to water. Professor Schwarzen's lessons this time are about teamwork and battle formations, making the heiress start preparing her own strategies for the team.
Their formation is a no-brainer, really. Ciel is a master of unarmed combat, making her the most frontal attacker is obvious. The speed of Ruby and Penny makes them the flankers, each on the side of their dominant hand. Lastly, Weiss; with her multitude of glyphs and dust she makes the perfect support, orchestrating the battle from behind. The perfect formation for the perfect team!
"Students." The professor's accented words resonate through the hall, forcing even the students who were half-asleep to focus once more. "Today I have taught you about teamwork. Now you will put these skills to the test."
In other words, team battles. 4 against 4, and a person is out of combat if either their aura drops below 20% or they've been knocked out of the ring.
One by one teams are named, most of them of too little importance to note. The ones that had participants recognized by Scorpio were fights too short to notice. Otto and his team managed to win an overwhelmingly easy victory, and the bullies from Jasmine also scraped one out of the box.
As the fights pass one by one it dawns on Scorpio that their team hasn't been named yet so far. Fight fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen… and still SCRP does not get called out by the professor. It's almost remarkable that of the forty freshmen teams it takes this long for them to be called out.
When match nineteen still does not ask for Scorpio to take the stage it becomes clear that they're the last match of the day. Since thirty-eight of the forty teams have been called out so far, the last match can be pierced together by process of elimination. This would be a lot harder were it not for Scorpio having not heard one other specific team being called by professor Schwarzen.
RGAL.
Ruby and Weiss look at the other side of the room, where their enemies are located. Robin gives them a friendly wave back, but his confident "I won't back down" face tells Scorpio enough. Both teams know who they're going to fight.
In that case, it's time to prepare for a perfect victory. Weiss grabs the attention of her teammates, snapping them out of watching the second-to-last match. Having gained everyone's attention the heiress whispers her plan to the team:
"Okay, as you might've calculated we will fight the remaining fight against our neighbors."
"We get to fight Robin?" Ruby squeals, drawing the attention from their combat teacher. Weiss and Ciel shush Ruby, who falls silent before muttering an apology. With the focus renewed Weiss explains the team formation first. Everyone agrees with the diamond shape, Penny and Ciel even expecting it. With that out of the way Weiss explains how they are going to take down their enemy:
"Team Regal might be the strongest freshmen team in Atlas. After us, of course. However, if you watched the individual bouts of yesterday it was obvious that they have a few weaknesses. Two, to be precise:"
First Weiss starts with the obvious one: "Laura Wolff. An aggressive hand-to-hand combatant, but her aura pool is terribly low. Yesterday she only suffered a few glancing hits yet still ended with less than half her aura remaining. Two or three good hits should be enough to take her down."
"Also, she probably can't use her semblance." Ruby's interjection surprises the rest of her team, and the youngest member of Scorpio is forced to explain: "Well, I talked with Robin during the week, and he told me a bit more about Laura. Her semblance allows her to regenerate wounds and lost body parts." It's also why she was kidnapped back in Atlas, since her body allowed for near-infinite organ transplants. It's a dark secret that was entrusted by RGAL's leader for the sake of unity between teams. Now it's used to bring about their downfall: "And, well, since this is tournament rules, she doesn't need to regenerate anything, right?"
"I should expect nothing less from someone who partnered up with me." Weiss builds upon Ruby's information, using it to explain Gaia Greene's weakness: "Gaia has a similar problem. While geokinesis is a powerful tool, the combat floor is made of metal. Considering that she had some trouble using nothing but her fists against some below-average freshmen she's probably too used to fighting with her semblance. She is weak without it."
With no clear weaknesses for the men of Regal Weiss bases her strategy on those two weaknesses: "Ciel. You will quickly take out Gaia. Ruby, Penny, use your speed to charge Laura and take her down. I'll use my semblance and dust to keep the two men busy. Then we'll strike down on the remaining two and win this match."
The plan is made just in time, as the buzzer indicates that match 19 is over. Schwarzen announces the next and final match for the day:
"Final Match: Scorpio against Regal."
Both teams grab their weapons and head down to the arena. One team on both sides, with only a brief time before the match starts.
Like a good captain Robin wishes his opponents the best of luck, and Ruby gives the best wishes right back. The clock counts down, all fighters making some final mental preparations.
The buzzer goes, and the match is afoot!
Scorpio opens their tactics as discussed: Ciel swerves towards Gaia, taking the battle to the right side of the arena; Weiss summons several glyphs from which she launces ice shards at the two males; Penny and Ruby use their speed to dash at Laura, hoping to quickly eliminate the faunus from the battle.
Yes, perfect, this is exactly how Weiss planned it all! This will be an overwhelming victory for team Scorpio! …so why is Robin giving that all-knowing smirk like he saw this coming?
"Plan C, everyone!" Robin's order completely changes the reactive stances of his team. Laura backs up to the end of the arena, her two pursuers following suit. Robin charges Weiss and turns his body into a human shield for Ace, bringing him out of Weiss' barrage and free to chase after Laura's pursuers, trapping half of SCRP in a pincer attack.
Smart tactics, Weiss will admit, but her teammates aren't so easily defeated. In fact, thanks to Robin taking projectiles for two his aura gets dropped by quite a bit, leaving him with only three-quarters of his starting total. This is still fine for Scorpio!
"Gyah!" Ciel's sudden screaming cause her team leader to look over at the fight between Gaia and Ciel. Instead of Ciel quickly beating the unarmed opponent the tanned girl is flailing wildly, a brownish cloud hanging around her eyes. Sand? Did Gaia use a dirty trick to throw sand in Ciel's eyes? What a low blow!
Weiss would love to help out her teammate, but the pair of eskrima sticks aimed at her body don't leave her lots of time to allot to her allies. Robin has gotten too close, and now Myrtenaster must show off its capabilities as a fighting tool. It pains Weiss as she helplessly watches Ciel take two heavy blows to her body, sending her flying to the other side of the ring and taking heaps out of her aura. The only consolation is that there is no buzzer indicating a knock-out, letting Weiss fully focus on the opponent in front of her.
Eskrima sticks versus rapier. Two weapons that require high dexterity and skill face off, a multitude of quick slashes and strikes aiming to harm the other. Robin's weapon mastery is slightly higher than that of Weiss, but she makes up for it with her family's glyphs. Both sides have blows pass through their guard, their auras steadily decreasing. It's an even fight, but Weiss has one advantage: Robin was forced to take some damage to free his teammate. By the time Robin gets his aura in the red Weiss will still have around 40 percent left. It wasn't Weiss' plan to take the leader out like this, but it will do.
Robin realizes his conundrum as well and backs off from the fight. To better fit the situation Robin changes his team's tactics to better fit the match: "Gaia, Laura! Plan E!"
Laura has been busy dodging a hailstorm of swords from Penny, while Ruby is doing some damage to Ace and preventing him from harming Penny. It changes when Gaia charges at the group of four, planning to outnumber Scorpio. Ciel is still recovering from the sneak attack and Weiss is blocked by the enemy team leader, so it's up to Ruby to prevent Gaia from doing any damage. Swinging Crescent Rose at the blonde enemy she tries to keep Gaia's focus on her, but a punch from Ace's robotic arm causes Ruby to miss her swing and allow Gaia to slip through the reaper's defense.
Penny notices the arrival of a new enemy and swings half her swords at Gaia. Upon seeing this the master of geokinesis proves she has another trick up her sleeve. Literally, as a heap of sand flows from her sleeves and hardens around her, causing Penny's attack to deflect and barely do any damage. Running through the barrage Gaia tackles the redhead, leaving them both in a grapple as Laura escapes from Penny's attacks
With Penny and Gaia in a grapple neither has room to dodge. Penny gets punched in the face, while swords strike against the unprotected parts of Gaia's body. The blonde of Regal takes several blows from Penny, dropping her aura by forty percent, but the tackle is not without effect:
"Penny Polendina, Ring Out." The redhead looks down, where one of her hands is touching the ground outside the ring. Accepting her loss she steps out of the combat arena, rooting for the success of her remaining three teammates.
SCRP only has three members left. Both the plan to eliminate Laura and Gaia have failed. Weiss looks in horror as she watches everything she build up crumble away. Nonono, this cannot be! This is all wrong!
As she fights Robin Weiss tries to think up a comeback. Though they may have lost a member the absolute difference between both teams is not that big. RGAL has 290 percentile points remaining, while SCRP is sitting at 225. That's something a single good comeback can overcome, especially since 100 of Regal's points are from Laura's weak aura.
Said person did escape from the original attack and is now on her way to Ciel. The tanned woman did recover somewhat from the sand in her eyes, but she's still squinting. Laura does not have the honor to wait for her opponent to recover and starts a lightning-fast offensive. Under normal circumstances this battle between martial artists would be quite even, but now Ciel is in a bit of trouble. On the defensive she manages to block most of her opponent's slashes, though a few glancing blows bite off a few slivers of her aura.
Weiss sees this happening and tries to come over to help. Her path gets interrupted by Robin, who is more than happy to let her teammate beat up Ciel and make the situation worse for Scorpio. Myrtenaster stings like a bee, but Robin floats around it like a butterfly. Not getting any closer Weiss focuses on getting rid of Robin first, were it not for a sudden hail of bullets coming at the two of them.
Both Weiss and Robin look at the origin of the surprise attack, where Ace is firing his machine gun at a fleeing Ruby. While the girl in red takes a few hits she does manage to strike Robin down, doing some damage and freeing Weiss from her fight. Weiss understands what to do now and forms a long line of glyphs on the ground.
Sliding over the floor she creates two glyphs, each shooting out a sword of ice aimed at the brawler of Regal. It should buy Weiss enough time before she can reach over.
It turns out that that was the biggest mistake Weiss could make: Laura grabs one of the ice swords out of the air and slashes it at Ciel, shattering it against her arms. The splinters of the sword dig into Ciel's skin, dropping her aura even further and the cold slowing her down just enough to leave her open. Weiss tries to reach Ciel in time but it is too late, a set of claws slash down on the Soleil heiress, dropping her aura low enough that she gets eliminated from the game. Laura takes on the newly arrived Weiss, who realizes that it is just her and her partner against an entire team.
Yeah, Weiss' plans won't help win this battle. That is what Ruby concluded on her own. No, it's time to do things her way.
Little red reaping hood aims the barrel of her scythe at Robin, who instinctively dodges the blast using his skills. Of course, that was to be expected. Using the recoil of the scythe Ruby flies to the other side of the arena, where Gaia is taken by surprise at just how fast Ruby can be when she combines her semblance with recoil boosters.
Out of tricks Gaia raises her arms, but to no avail. Two quick slashes are enough to deal lots of damage to Gaia's aura, and the buzzer says enough. Regal just lost its first member!
This leaves Laura, Robin and Ace. Ruby has reasons for each of them to choose who to eliminate first, turning it into a 2 versus 2. Laura has a low health pool, and as she is already engaged with Weiss she is the most susceptible to a surprise attack. Robin is the best fighter of the three, but his aura is at a measly 35 percent. Ace may have the most aura left, but he's better as long-range support and Ruby can take him in a straight-up fight.
Choices, choices. Ruby decides who to fight based on what she believes Weiss can sustain the longest. If Ruby goes after Laura everyone will conglomerate around that area, giving Regal an advantage. If Ruby goes after Ace Weiss will have to take care of Laura and Robin, which is close to impossible. But Ace will be less capable of fighting Weiss if he might hit Laura, making Robin the obvious choice to target.
Ruby sprints at Robin, who returns his eskrima sticks into bo form and strikes back. Crescent Rose gets parried, its tip coming dangerously close to Robin's face but never completely hitting him. A bullet striking Ruby's back tells that Ace decided to focus his fire on Ruby instead of Weiss, making Ruby jump up and try to get Robin in-between Ace and herself. Thanks to her semblance this is possible, but Robin is fast as well. The leader of Regal shifts his weight a bit, getting into Ruby's blindside. A single trust is executed with the staff, but instead of dodging this is the perfect moment for Ruby to counterattack!
The butt of Crescent Rose slams into Robin's stomach, while his bo staff does the same to Ruby's side. Both lose a significant amount of aura from these attacks. Robin's not done yet, neither with his aura level nor with his attack. With a press of the button he activates the dust crystal in his staff's tip, making Ruby scream in pain as she gets electrocuted.
Ruby jumps away from that evil weapon, checking if everything is fine. She feels a bit doozy but kicking Robin's butt should solve that issue!
"Ruby Rose, out of aura." Schwarzen's words bring Ruby out of her thoughts and make her look at the projected screen. Her aura bar sits at only twenty percent, indicating that she went below the acceptable aura pool.
"O come on!" With an angry huff Ruby stomps out of the arena, leaving Weiss to take care of three more enemies.
Utilizing their numerical advantage team Regal corner the heiress, their continuous attacks forcing Weiss to take steps back and back until she reaches the edge of the arena. Another backstep would lead to a ring-out, and there is no space to dodge. In desperation Weiss launches a final attack, depleting her remaining dust to create a massive wave of flame towards the enemy team.
It's the first attack that seems to work. Robin and Ace brace themselves and step back, losing enough aura to bring Ace around half his starting level and Robin ends up in the red, eliminating Regal's leader.
Laura is the only one enduring the flames, charging through the flames and launching herself as a projectile at the heiress. The aura of the only person not hit during the fight is draining rapidly. Hunderd percent, eighty, sixty, forty… might this be Weiss' chance, is Laura suiciding here?
Taking the shot Weiss thrusts her rapier at the faunus, getting a glancing blow on the side. Laura's aura should be in the red, but her body is still flying straight at Weiss. A clawed hand finds its way into Weiss pelvis. The claws don't penetrate Weiss body thanks to her aura, but the pain is still enough to make Weiss flinch and fall over.
A loud buzz indicates that more people have been eliminated. Weiss can feel what time it is, in a literal way too considering that she's still doubled over from pain. Professor Schwarzen points it out for everyone to hear:
"Double KO, Laura Wolff and Weiss Schnee. All members of team Scorpio have been eliminated. Victory goes to team Regal."
With that announcement the class is dismissed. The students pack up their gear, most of them quick to leave the academy and hoping to grab a quick snack. The members of team Regal give each other high-fives on their victory, before leaving to grab dinner.
It doesn't take long before the only students left in the room are the members of team Scorpio, licking their wounds from defeat.
What just happened down there? RGAL completely slaughtered them! Sure, they managed to knock most of the enemy down, but combat initiative was almost constantly with the Regals, and team Scorpio played completely in their hand. Absolutely nothing went right!
"How did this happen?" Weiss start to go in a tirade, shifting blame on the team. "Ciel, what happened against Gaia? And you two, why didn't you manage to get a quick kill on Laura?"
Ciel comes up with an excuse for at least her failure. "Gaia's hidden weapons, they were… not according to plan." Weiss is somewhat satisfied with the answer, and then looks over the other two members of her team. Penny gives a summary of what she believes was the problem:
"The number of combatants we had to face exceeded our initial estimations."
Ruby agrees with Penny's explanation and proceeds to shift the blame to what she believes is the cause of this loss: "Yeah, what happened to "I'll hold the two guys off"? Because last I checked I was forced to fight Ace!"
"I'll admit that Robin forced me into a duel." It is the only ground Weiss is willing to give. "However, you had more then enough time to finish off Laura, Ruby. Why didn't you quickly defeat her? Then you and Penny could focus on Ace and get the advantage that way!"
"Because maybe I didn't want to get struck down by a hail of Ace's bullets!" A pouting Ruby sits down on her desk, putting her textbooks and other stuff in her backpack. "Weiss, admit it: your entire plan sucked. Gaia's "weakness" took Ciel out of the fight, and the fixation on Laura got Penny knocked out of the ring!
"Then you could come up with a better plan?" Weiss asks sarcastically.
"I don't know, maybe?" Ruby shouts in frustration, jumpy and agitated with this loss. "We could've taken them. We're stronger than them, but we lost!"
Weiss has no direct counterpoint for that, and comes back to her own defenses: "We had the best possible plan to fight Regal an-"
"Yeah, you did make a plan." Ruby interrupts, not denying what Weiss claims. Angrily she points out Weiss' problem: "And then what? All I've seen you do during the fight was to duel Robin! You didn't lead us at all!"
"Hey!"
"You didn't do anything to lead us during battle. You didn't say anything, you didn't gesture anything; all you did was make a plan and hope it would work out!"
"I had many ways to alter my plan for success!" Admittingly, most of these plans were imagined too late to still be effective, but they did exist! "I led our team out there!"
"Then why didn't you show us? Why did you do nothing?" Both partners are shouting, letting their anger chart the course of the conversation. "Maybe Flynt was right about you! I bet you bribed Ciel out of her rightful position of leadership!"
"Wha-You!" Weiss wants to make and angry comment, but Ruby already dashed out of the classroom, a tear in her eye.
Almost a week has passed at Beacon as well, where Yang contemplates the first week of school. All in all, it was rather… normal. Compared to initiation day everything settled into a usual rhythm:
Waking up, get dressed, go to school, spend the afternoon relaxing, go to sleep and find time to tease Vernal whenever possible. Sure, the movie the team went to during the weekend was fun, but it was still an ordinary weekend.
The normality of the situation is not per se a bad thing, as it did increase the bonds between teammates. What seemed like a disaster in the beginning might turn out to become a group of fire-forged friends!
Yang's team is also getting along swimmingly with Jaune's. Perhaps it's due to their time in the Emerald Forest together, or maybe because these teams are the strongest first-years of Beacon by a long shot. Yes, even including Jaune team Juniper easily takes a spot on the podium. Either way, a closely-knit friendship is forming between the teams of Vibrant and Juniper. Now at lunch the two teams share the same table, VYBA on one side and JNPR on the other.
Everyone is eating their lunch as they listen intently to one of Nora's stories. Well, Yang, at least. Blake is reading a book while enjoying her tuna sandwich; Ren is correcting Nora's stories in-between sips of his tea; Vernal is listening with half an ear, which is half an ear more than Yang expected; Jaune is shutting off from the rest, mulling over something as he moves his chicken nuggets around the plate; Pyrrha is too busy being worried over her partner to spend much time listening; And Ilia? If looks could kill, then she just murdered someone on the other side of the cafeteria.
Nora eventually finished her story, allowing Yang to divert her attention to the pony-tailed teammate. It is only now that she notices Ilia's horrifying glare. A simple question of what is wrong with Ilia makes her point a finger at the source:
Team Cardinal, busy harassing some bunny-eared faunus. Pulling on ears, calling her names, it's a grade or two worse than what Yang saw at Signal. Yeah, Ilia's reaction is very understandable, what those guys are doing is atrocious.
"This is unacceptable!" Ilia cries out in anger. "How the hell does Beacon allow students like them?"
The answer is rather simple, which Ren provides for the group: "Better a racist than a grimm." Say what you want about Cardin, but he does have some skill. If that can save lives, then this bullying is a small price to pay. "The kingdoms need any strength they can get."
True words are spoken, but they're not enough for Ilia. Justice needs to be served, no matter how. She reaches for her weapon, only realizing that it's still in her locker.
Luckily for her Beacon lockers come equipped with a rocket function. Ilia whips out her scroll, unlocking it so she can send her locker just outside the cafeteria. It quickly begins to dawn on teams Juniper and Vibrant what Ilia is doing, eliciting similar responses from other members:
"Ooh…" Nora pulls out her own scroll, ready to do the same thing as Ilia. She has one plan ready, the usual that she falls back on whenever brute force can be applied: "We'll break their legs!"
Ilia is very excited by the idea, but Yang immediately shuts it down and refuses to let either of them to do so. Yang's angry teammate is understandably not very happy with her chance at justice denied:
"What the hell, Yang?"
"Don't get me wrong, Ilia." The last thing Yang needs is her teammate thinking that she supports that ass. "Cardin's a jerk. However, we can't solve this by injuring them." Maybe they can, but Yang doesn't want her entire team suspended for delivering justice.
Ilia doesn't agree with Yang's opinion. She sees nothing wrong with using force to get things done, and she is perfectly willing to do whatever it takes to save that rabbit faunus. "If you've got a better solution, then state it."
Something needs to be thought of or a fight between Ilia and Cardin will break out, which needs to be avoided. Hmm… maybe Yang does have an idea. The brawler flashes a cheeky grin, as she makes her teammate look around her. "You know the saying, 'When in Vacuo, do as the Vacuans do'? We're in the cafeteria, so let's fight in the way of the cafeteria."
Strange mind seemingly think alike, as Nora is the first one to understand what Yang wants. No longer does she simply hold her lunch, as she somehow manages to obtain a basket full of half-ripe tomatoes. "Ohohoh, yes. I like that idea."
Ilia grabs food as well, preparing for the initial strike. Jaune and Pyrrha, though somewhat more uncertain about this idea, grab some loaves of bread if the worst comes to happen. Ren and Blake continue to enjoy tea and book respectively, only Vernal seems openly against the idea:
"Yang, no." Vernal admonishes her team leader as if she's a dog. The blonde is not interested in listening and addresses Cardin:
"Hey Cardin, over here!" Cardin looks up from his prey towards the one addressing him, only to find his face covered in tomato. Nicely done, Nora!
Cardin wipes the tomato mush out of his face, scowling with rage. "Blondie…"
"Right, I think I owed you another humiliation, big guy!" Yang shouts cockily, standing firm with one foot on the table and another on her seat. Like a true leader she addresses the enemy, informing him of his incoming demise. Aw yeah, this is happening! Big, badass fight to protect someone? The only thing that could make it better if there was an official commentator for this match. Now Yang only has the introductions for both teams in her head:
In the red corner, an amalgamation of the best freshmen of Beacon! The brawler! The amazoness! The brown ninja! The valkyrie! And, well, Jaune. The Vibrant-Juniper alliance for the rescue of bunny-eared chicks!
In the blue corner, the Cardinals! Sure, they don't have the grace of birds, nor their speed. However, they've certainly got the same type of brains! Will they be able to continue their bullying ways, or will the alliance stop them?
The smart students, about two-thirds of the remaining students, are smart enough to leave before things get out of hand. The others are about to get caught in the crossfire, as the battle between both teams begins now!
The tomatoes from Nora's basket form the opening barrage, each member of the alliance throwing as many as they can. The alliance lost their round of surprise over Cardinal. As a result the members of CRDL are able to respond appropriately, dodging the tomatoes as they come crashing around them. The big leader himself even managed to grab a giant slab of ham from one of the tables, and like it was his own mace he pelted three tomatoes away from his team and into the bodies of innocent bystanders.
With the projectiles emptied all participants seek for weapons they can use to some degree. Yang quickly finds a pair of uncooked turkeys. No idea who eats that for lunch, but they will certainly serve the brawler well now.
Leader meets leader in combat, as ham strikes against turkey. Cardin takes the offensive with his aggressive style, powerful blows that can take out Yang's aura in just a few hits. Yang nimbly dodges around the big guy's swings but can't land a solid counter. Well, time to get Cardin to make some openings.
"C'mon big guy, don't tell me that's all you got?" Yang taunts her opponent, and with his temper he isn't that capable of protecting himself from it. Cardin gets angrier and angrier, and Yang can't help but smirk at how much fun she's going to have.
Some feet away from them two fighters who rely more on skill take the battlefield. Pyrrha has grabbed a baguette, her weapon of choice to use against Russel. The guy in green has taken a pair of mayo and ketchup bottles. The weapons clash, the sound of plastic against bread resonating through the room. Russel's skillful and quick fighting does not allow Pyrrha much respite, but she fought worse in the Mistrallian arena.
Parry the main-hand weapon, dodge the follow-up made the other, step back to take advantage of reach, counterattack with thrusts. So far Pyrrha's basic tactics against dagger-users work, forcing her opponent to try different tactics:
Russel twirls his weapons 180 degrees, so that the mouths of the bottles are aimed straight for Pyrrha's face. The planned tactic is clear to both fighters, as the mohawked guy squeezes his weapons tightly.
A cloud of condiments flows out of the bottles, red and yellow mist trying to splatter Pyrrha's face. Reflexively she raises her left arm, before realizing that there is no Akouo to block attacks. The mistake only lasts for a moment, but it's enough. The upper half of her face is covered in condiment.
Pyrrha is blinded, unable to see. Quickly she wipes off the mayo and ketchup from her eyes, but she knows she lost an attack. Someone who is skilled with quick daggers like Russel will surely land an attack. Already Pyrrha anticipates the blow, hoping to somewhat roll with it to minimize damage. Bracing herself she awaits the blow, waiting to get struck down.
"Huh?"
When Pyrrha opens her eyes she sees a shocked Russel, and the sound of plastic clanging against metal fills her ears. Looking down Pyrrha sees a dining tray blocking Russel's dual-bottled thrust, held out by her partner Jaune.
"Ehm, hey." Jaune casually replies, seemingly forgetting that he's still in a warzone. Russel makes good use of it and smashes the bottom of his mayo bottle against the blonde's forehead, making him fly away a few feet.
Pyrrha's partner just got downed by saving her. No, that is something a four-time champion cannot let go lightly. Her vigor renewed she launches the offensive on Russel, who now needs his full attention to not get clobbered by the redhead.
The other redhead of team Juniper didn't manage to find a good weapon, instead running across a few tables to pick whatever food is available as ammunition. Sandwiches, soda cans, apples; so long as it fits in Nora's hands it gets thrown at Dove Bronzewing, who is steadily advancing on her position.
Dodging a sandwich aimed at his head Dove rolls over a table in his way, grabbing a baguette that was lying on top of it. Now with weapon in hand he makes a beeline for the unarmed Nora, who in a slight panic seeks for anything to use as a weapon.
Long weapon, big head, something to smash with… where is all the good stuff? Nora reaches out to a pumpkin, only to feel sharp pain. Dove made a single thrust, straight into Nora's stomach. It's enough to send the boisterous redhead flying, as Dove mentally complements himself on his perfect execution. However, there is no time for celebrations, as Nora managed to turn the attack against Dove:
In Nora's hand is now a long support pole, about the same length as the girl is tall. With a grin she stabs the rod in a watermelon on the ground, arming her with a proper weapon. At this Dove smiles, finally getting a worthy fight. Dove is ready to charge and defeat his enemy, only for someone else to hold him back.
"Stand back, Dove." Sky Lark, the last member of Cardinal now takes a stand. In his hand is a support pole just like the one Nora wields. With a quick twirl he sticks one end into a nearby watermelon, creating a similar polearm as the valkyrie. "This is my fight."
Seeing the mirror match Nora cannot help but laugh in anticipation of what is to come. With glee she walks towards her opponent, melon hammer ready to break lots of legs. Sky gives a smirk in return as he charges at Nora, creating the only place in the cafeteria where steel clashes with steel.
With Dove now freed he takes a glance over at the other fights. Cardin manages decently against Yang, while Russel is doing surprisingly well against Pyrrha and Jaune. He's still losing, yes, but fighting this evenly against the four-time Mistrali champion should still be considered a win for his mohawked friend.
As Dove judges who needs his help the most he suddenly gets strangled from behind. Looking down he sees a chain of sausages roped around his neck, dragging him down onto the floor. The blonde guy tries to struggle against it, drag his assailant out, but the Cardinal starts to feel woozy. The lack of oxygen from being strangled is starting to take its toll on him.
No! Dove can't let his fight end like this! His team is already too much of a sausage fest, to be defeated this way would be the ultimate humiliation! With all his strength Dove lifts one sausage part of the chain up to his mouth, and bites cleanly through it. The chain snaps in two, sausages falling lifelessly to the side. The pressure around Dove's neck fades, freeing him from the stranglehold.
With her weapon halved in length Ilia throws away the remaining sausages. Dove swallows his food and gets back up on his feet, ready to fight once more. With a grin he looks at his assailant, the enemy that he lost sight of. "I'll admit, you got me. Though, I doubt you'll be any threat in a fair fight."
Ilia just grabs a swordfish that has landed on one of the tables, ignoring Dove's taunting words. Words are wasted on the soon to be dead.
By now the cafeteria is almost completely empty except for those who fight. Most of the students would not mind a food fight, some were even actively promoting it. However, they wanted a food fight in the traditional sense of the word, with mushy ingredients used as ammunition. A childish food fight, like those you see on television. What the crazy freshmen from Vibrant, Juniper and Cardinal are doing is several levels too high for them.
There are only three non-combatants left, their table miraculously a safe zone in this fight. Blake, Vernal and Ren are still enjoying their activities from before the food fight: Blake is almost finished with her current chapter, Ren's taking the last few sips from his tea and Vernal is being annoyed by her teammate. It's business like usual for the three of them, a stark contrast from the utter chaos around them.
"Uhm, do you mind?" The team looks up and sees the original victim of CRDL's assault, intending to take a seat as well on the only remaining table. With no complaints she takes the seat next to Ren.
"So…" The girl begins, seeking to strike a conversation with the rest of the table, "you guys have nice teammates."
Ren and Blake both nod, with the former saying a small "thank you". The quiet members of both teams don't continue the conversation, both trying to finish what they're doing. Vernal, having nothing better to do, proceeds to talk with the rabbit:
"What my teammates do are up to them. The question is, why aren't you helping them? Those five are fighting for you for no reward nor reason." Vernal doesn't get into other people's fights, but even she considers it wrong to dupe your own problems on others without doing anything yourself. Velvet does not deny the accusation, but claiming that it's actually a problem is something the bunny faunus arguments against:
"It's just a food fight. I'm not going to be interrupting their fun." Velvet lets out a small laugh, her thoughts dwelling on memories of the past. "Last year we had something like this too, though Coco went way overboard as a result."
Vernal notices the last part of Velvet's sentence has a secondary meaning. It takes a single question to learn that the faunus is her upperclassmen. Vernal doesn't know why her senior doesn't just kick the crap out of younger bullies, but that's not her decision to make.
The conversation falls silent, as for a small moment everyone continues what they were doing. Ren finishes the last drops of his tea, and asks the question that has been looming in the air since Velvet sat down: "Are we going to help?"
Blake closes her book, and the two quiet members of each team agree without talking. Velvet doesn't mind joining in, already grabbing an abandoned lunchbox from the table behind them. Only Vernal is hesitant about joining:
"I don't care what for childish games thos-" Vernal's argument gets rudely interrupted by a flying piece of fruit. The rest of the table shift their gaze to the cause of said interruption:
There is Cardin, who thought it was a good idea to throw a filled table at Vernal's teammate. Normally she would agree that it might be a good way to deal with that annoying blonde, were it not for one of the watermelons on the table flying off to the non-combatant's table, where it hits the Branwen straight in the face.
Vernal wipes the mushy watermelon bits from her face, glaring daggers at Cardin. Cardin doesn't seem to notice, as he's too busy with fighting Vernal's teammate.
Vernal gives out orders to the remainder of the teams, her voice tranquil and furious: "Ren, prepare my weapons. The Branwen are going to war."
"Of course, Milady." With a sudden dash that might even impress professor Oobleck Ren takes off, and within a second he is back kneeling in front of Vernal. He holds up a serving tray with two large bretzels. It was the only chakram-like weapon he could find.
Vernal takes the weapons, deeming them fine pieces for vengeance. Now ready for combat she looks at her allies, the second team to reinforce the alliance. Blake. Ren. Even the newcomer Velvet is willing to fight. All of them are armed and ready.
As one they stand up from the table, ready to reinforce the alliance. Vernal leads this temporary team into battle with one rallying shout: "Bring me Cardin!"
Most of the duels temporarily halt upon hearing Vernal's war cry, with most of Cardinal starting to feel fear from being overwhelmed. The one who puts the situation best is Yang, who starts to grin wickedly:
"Oh, you guys are so screwed." It's not like Cardinal wasn't in trouble before, but this large a force is something even a team of teachers might not be able to stop. Yep, it's game over for Cardinal.
The reinforcements split up, each of them looking to help with a different part of the battle. The one who joins up with Yang is the person who has the biggest beef with Cardin: Obviously, it's none other than Yang's teammate Vernal.
A bretzel flies straight at Cardin face, forcing him to parry the weapon upwards to prevent getting blunted by snack. The move was completely predicted by Vernal, who jumped up in the air and caught her weapon mid-flight, falling down towards the beefcake with both weapons aimed to obliterate her enemies.
For once Cardin makes a smart decision and backs away, Causing Vernal to only make cracks in the floor. With her attack having missed Vernal stands up, ready to continue the fight. A small tap on her shoulder brings her slightly out of her trance, as she sees her partner standing there with a dumb smile on her face.
"Yang."
"Vernal." Both partners look at each other, and then at Cardin. They know exactly what they need to do, and say it at the same time:
"Let's hunt." And Cardin suddenly felt fear. Damn it, how did this happen? He is Cardin Winchester: strong, tough, awesome, graduated amongst the top of his class at the preparatory academy; Why are these two girls kicking his ass? Damn that Xiao-Long!
Flying bretzels, turkey punches, and whatever ammunition can be used as makeshift ranged attacks: The barrage is overwhelming, and Cardin is losing aura fast. In a last-ditch effort he swings his ham at the blonde nuisance, hoping to finally crush her!
He gets surprised when one of his hands gets stuck in Vernal's bretzel, who does the same to his other hand. Flipping over the back guy she forces his arms behind his back, leaving his body right open to be punched.
It's an opportunity that Yang doesn't let go to waste. It's time to show off how she perfected the Dempsey roll! Hooks with both the left and right turkey, blowing through Cardin's aura as Yang proceeds to finish it off with a Yang-style finisher:
Ordering Vernal to let go she punches Cardin straight in the chin with a mighty uppercut. Cardin is sent flying into the air, and Yang is ready to make Cardin go meet cold turkey!
Just as Cardin is falling back down Vernal jumps up in the air, kicking the bully in his back to send him flying into a corner of the cafeteria. This is as clear a victory as it's going to get, and the bandit finally releases her rage.
"That was pretty kick-ass, wasn't it, Vernal?" Yang's stance has relaxed somewhat too, holding out her hand high for a high-five. It's as if all the hatred between the Branwen and Xiao-Long is gone for just a minute, brought together by a common hatred for team Cardinal. Vernal cracks a small smile, agreeing with Yang that this was a job well done. Accepting such a gesture is fine for once, thus creating the first time that Vernal voluntarily high-fived her teammate.
Ren chose to help Jaune and Pyrrha with their opponent. If this was a serious battle Nora would obviously have been his first choice, but she seems to be enjoying her battle a bit too much for Ren to interfere.
Grabbing a pair of leeks he arms himself against the other dual-wielder, blocking a pair of bottles that Pyrrha just dodged. Upon seeing the help arriving Pyrrha smiles softly, giving her teammate a small nod to indicate that she accepts the help.
Ren nods in return as they take the offensive together, now using their numbers to wear Russel down. Russel gets hit a few times but uses his agility to dodge most of the blows. His aura running low the member of Cardinal tries to launch a counter, only to find his weapons locked against those of Ren. The counter failed, but that doesn't mean Russel is going to quit trying!
"I won't go down so easily!" Russel says with a strained voice, clearly fighting beyond his capabilities here. Ren just stays stoic, as he gives his opinion on what Russel just said:
"I disagree."
Russel doesn't have much time to ponder over those words as he feels a large blunt object hit him in the back. Said blunt object is Jaune, who uses his dining tray as a makeshift battering ram to charge into the mohawked guy. Ren jumps out of the way, so there is nothing standing in-between Russel's face and the cold, hard floor of the cafeteria.
With Russel downed it's up to Pyrrha to perform the finisher: Loudly she stomps on the floor, right next to Russel's head. A small black spark seems to come off the huntress' boot, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything else. No, wait, is Russel… floating? It's as if Pyrrha's stomp caused Russel's torso to fly upwards, in perfect range to be struck down by Pyrrha's baguette. With a wide swing she sends him flying.
Dove and Ilia have been ignoring that it's been raining men around them, the battle between swordfish and baguette too intense to allow any disruptions. It's clear to Ilia that while Cardin is the leader of Cardinal, Dove is their best fighter. Worst of all, while the swordfish somewhat approximates the rapier form of her real weapon she is way better with using it as a whip.
Several slashes from Dove come from multiple angles. Upwards, downwards, sidewards, diagonally. The speed and precision of these blows is impressive. With all her agility and reflexes Ilia parries the blows, but it's not to last. One blow manages to slip through her guard, baguette slamming against torso and blowing the air out of her lungs. Dove follows up with two more slashes that make Ilia fall to the ground, leaving her wide open.
As Dove is about to strike his fallen opponent down a pair of watermelons fly towards him, forcing him to dodge and not take damage. Ilia looks up, seeing that the originally bullied faunus girl is now fighting as well, intending to take Dove on by herself.
"Leave this to me." Velvet swings into the duel, wielding the lunchbox as a weapon. The blows are way more powerful than such a weapon should allow, Dove can feel his bread starting to strain under the pressure. This is unnatural, is this caused by her semblance?
Velvet adjusts a pair of imaginary sunglasses as she delivers a heavy overhead swing. Ilia just stands there in awe, almost unable to believe that this is the same girl that just got bullied. Blow after blow threatens to strike Dove, who starts to have some trouble with bunny girl. It isn't like she gets through his guard, but he isn't offered time for respite. If this continues his bread will break before that lunchbox, and he will be caught unarmed and unready.
The member of Cardinal jumps back, taking a moment to refocus and restart the battle on his terms. With a lack of attacks from both bunny girl and bunny lover Dove can finally try to make up some winning tactics.
"Okay, time for you to-" Dove finds himself silenced in shock and awe as he sees bunny girl lift an entire bench as a massive makeshift greatsword. Velvet swings her weapon downward, forcing her opponent to dive backwards.
One would expect that a weapon of such weight, while fearsome-looking, wouldn't be much of a danger. You either swing it downwards or sidewards, and the recovery from each swing is gigantic. Dove is fully expecting that Velvet is leaving a massive opening here. Imagine his surprise when she managed to stop the sword from falling downwards and continuing the attack with a powerful trust. Unable to dodge Dove brings out his bread for a block, the force it sustains finally enough to break the baguette.
Velvet's stance switches once again, dropping the bench for a pair of long carrots that she wields in reverse-grip. Weaving towards the unarmed Dove she unleashes a flurry of moves that wouldn't look out of place in a martial arts movie. With two decisive strikes she sticks the carrots in the gaps between Dove's armor, before a double-fisted punch forces Dove to stumble backward.
It took a few steps but Dove quickly recovered his composure. Grabbing a new bread from a nearby table he is ready to continue fighting, but not before shelling out a taunt: "nice trick, bunny girl, but when this battle is over you're gonna wish you were dead!"
Velvet does not fall for the taunt, instead pointing towards the carrots stuck in his armor. "No, it is you who is already dead."
Dove looks down at his armor, where he sees the carrots swelling up in-between his armor. "What th-" With tons of force the vegetables explode, blasting off the armor from the fighter and flinging him backwards. Ilia throws the swordfish after him, pinning the guy to the wall by his t-shirt.
Blake decided to help in the duel that did not get any support from the rest of the reinforcements, in this case being Nora against Sky. She jumps in-between the polearm-wielding duelists, causing Sky to yell in surprise:
"Holy mackerel!"
Well, Sky isn't wrong. Blake's weapon is a mackerel wrapped in newspaper, normally meant to be eaten while it's still hot. This time it is also usable as a weapon, as Sky is about to find out:
Slap. Slap slap slap. Blake performs a multitude of slaps on Sky, who still isn't over the fact that he's getting fished. Blake's attacks are dizzying the poor guy, who is starting to regret joining Cardin in this battle.
"Oh, oh, I found a fish too. Throw him to me!" It seems Nora also wants in on the fish action. Blake looks back, and sees Nora holding out a fish as big as she herself is:
"…Fermented shark?" Oh god, it stinks! Blake may be a fish lover, but that is just plain disgusting! Who in their right mind would like that?
Blake almost feels bad for the half-unconscious Sky. Nobody deserves to come even close to food like that.
On the other hand, he did bully a faunus and bring down the anger of Ilia. Yeah, there's not really any remorse to feel for him. Blake chucks the guy at her ally, who holds the shark like a baseball bat. With a mighty swing she slams the fish into Sky's belly, sending him flying from one side of the cafeteria to the other. It might not be a homerun, but it should get Nora to third base.
The four final strikes against team Cardinal managed to land around the same time. The CRDL quartet have been thrown together in a corner, most of them half out of the fight. On Yang's side everyone's still standing, ready for a round two.
Yep, the fight's over. Cardin is basically the last one standing for the enemy, and the most he can do is give an angry glare. It's rather pathetic, and he doesn't intimidate anyone. Okay, anyone but Jaune, who takes half a step back.
The bug guy barks orders at his team, who do their best to stand up and fight. Russel, Dove, especially Sky seems to be done with fighting. Still they follow the orders of their boss, preparing themselves for battle. Yang must give it to them, CRDL is rather tenacious.
Round three of battle can finally start, were it not for sudden interruption:
With a loud crash the door to the cafeteria is opened. Standing in the doorway are three people, people that Velvet knows all too well:
"Everyone!"
A giant of a man dressed in the outfit of Mistrallian samurai; A dark-skinned redhead who may or may not be blind; Finally, a very fashionable girl wielding an amalgamation of kitchen tools, reshaped in the form of a minigun.
The girl steps forward, her weapon drawn. "My name is Coco Adel, and I think you need to meet my weapon." Coco explains all the details of the weapon she made from kitchen tool scraps: "It weighs 150 kilograms and fires 200 lien custom-ordered coffee beans at ten thousand beans per minute. It costs 25 good cups of coffee to fire this weapon for twelve seconds."
At that all of team CFVY let out a smirk, as Coco says the one thing on their team's mind: "You guys bullied my teammate. Using this gun against you is coffee well spend."
Team Cardinal now look truly terrified, even Cardin starts to sweat nervously. The enemy team tries to escape from the upcoming onslaught, but to no avail.
Coffee beans pelt against CRDL, an onslaught of bullets pushing the team against the wall. Sky and Cardin are the first to be hit, slamming into the wall hard enough to cause cracks. Dove and Russel manage for a bit, but even they cannot beat this avalanche, as it's simply too much for any living being.
So many beans, just so incredibly many beans. Yang thought that Coco was exaggerating a bit, but perhaps it's the reverse and it fires even more! All enemies are thrown into the wall, pelted with the coffee beans. The barrage lasts a few seconds more before Coco stops shooting, getting a good view of her own work:
Everyone on the enemy team is covered in brown bean mush. With the last of his strength Sky grabs a white napkin from the nearby ground, waving in in the air as a sign of surrender. This is it, victory for this alliance!
The losers from Cardinal slink away like beaten dogs, their leader making another empty threat at Yang that "She'll be sorry." Yang just smiles through it, not caring about any form of "retribution" they might come up with. She has more important things to do for now, like celebrating her victory with the newcomers.
Yang greets Velvet's teammates, where the remaining two members introduce themselves as Fox and Yatsuhashi. Yang introduces VYBA and JNPR in return, who each says some form of hello to their upperclassmen. Yang starts the conversation with CFVY's leader, talking about what caught her fancy:
"So, what's up with that thing?" Vibrant's leader is talking about the coffee minigun, which clearly could not have been made during this fight.
Coco is happy to give some explanation: "A little pet project of ours from last year. We lost a foodfight like this back then, and we wanted to be prepared for any future battles."
"Though this seems a little bit excessive for a foodfight." Seriously, it must've taken days to build this thing, and don't forget the lien needed to buy all the kitchen tool processed into this weapon!
"I'm not denying that. Though, I don't seem to be the only one enjoying their weapon."
Coco points behind Yang, where Yang sees her teammate Blake happily nomming on her mackerel. Upon noticing that she is getting strange looks Blake glares at the two team leaders, who laugh it off and go back to their conversation:
"But yeah, thanks for the clean-up." Yang smiles, picturing Cardinal's defeat in her head. "You can show me those losers covered in coffee mush anytime."
Coco shakes her head, and reverses Yang's opinion: "I should thank you. Thanks for standing up for Velvet. When we heard that a food fight broke out because Velvet got bullied we wanted to take care of the bullies ourselves, but it's nice to find some people willing to stand up for others. Team Coffee owes you one, kid."
"We're huntresses. Helping people is it's on reward." On the other hand, what would be wrong with a nice little reward. "Though it might be nice if we ended up with more than an empty bun."
Coco lets out a small laugh at Yang's pun, mainly because of what it means rather than the joke itself. "Yeah yeah, I'll think of something to pay you guys back. Now, it's best that we get out of here before-"
"Children!" In storms Glynda Goodwitch, using her semblance to restructure the cafeteria back to normal. "Please, do not play with your food."
"-she arrives." All three remaining teams realize that they're in trouble. Coco probably puts its best: "Ah, crap."
I don't really have anything to say here in this author's note, so let's go to the questions:
Tclaw46: Can you not make any leadership changes in SCRP? I like that it's Weiss who is the leader instead of Ruby.
Don't worry, Tclaw46, Weiss stays leader of SCRP for the entire story. I've got no intention of changing that.
WeikWriter: Is Vernal lying with her story? It seems to just be a justifying story to get Yang on her side.
The only lie Vernal told is that she's unaware of the Farvardin incident. Other than that, she's just omitting some important details. I mean, what strategic advantage would it give Vernal to tell Yang that her mother can essentially teleport? It would make most of her own arguments moot!
