ABRR and NVWL Official Chapter 9 (Part one of ?)

Thanks to those of you who pointed out the problems. There's at least three chapters and counting from the previous one.

Lots of love,
KJ


"Can anyone tell me how to locate a Grimm without Aura?" Professor Hood asked dryly, as he looked at his (mostly) sleeping class. He heaved a small sigh as he reluctantly picked up his little foghorn. The few still awake students proceeded to panic and stuffed their ears with earplugs. Smart kids. He pressed the little button, releasing a blast of air that startled the sleeping brats awake. That was better. "Ahem." He repeated his earlier question, and the young blond who had taken detailed and precise notes raised a hand. "Yes Mr. . ." He trailed off meaningfully, and the blond smiled and answered.

"Jaune Arc," He answered as he lowered his hand. "You can locate a Grimm by listening to the natural life in the area." The students who had slept during his fascinating lecture snickered at the blond. To his credit, he merely rolled his eyes.

"Spectacular." Their faces fell, and he muffled a laugh. Ah how he missed Beacon. First years were such pretentious little bastards. "Indegnous species are naturally and understandably terrified by Grimm, despite the fact that they have existed for centuries. They will make as little noise as possible in fact, in an attempt to hide from them. Anyone else?" The bubbly pink-clad girl who had slept through his lecture raised her hand, yawning widely. Perhaps she had been paying attention to him after all.

"Temperature." She yawned, eliciting more snickers. His cool glare silenced most of them.

"Quiet." The room hushed instantly. Professor Hood was not the youngest Professor at Beacon just for his good looks. "Grimm are beings without a soul. Without one, Grimm are like a vortex, sucking in all the ambient Aura in an attempt to gain an Aura of their own. As they do so, they create 'Cold Spots', areas where the Aura has been so badly drained nothing will live. The DeathWeaver's Tundra, located near the equator, are populated by giant, spider-like Grimm. They've existed there for so long, that no human dares go there without skin protection of the highest caliber." Lean arms crossed, and he glanced at Ozpin's prodigy student. "Ruby Rose."

"Claw or paw marks." None of them snickered this time. They're clearly learning.

"Another good answer. Grimm, despite their souless state and hive-mind mentality, are very much singularly sentient. Older Grimm eventually gain higher sentience, and leave marks to warn off lesser, younger Grimm. Anyone else?" After a moment of silence, the Schnee heiress raised her hand nervously.

"Raw Dust deposits?" Her voice is raised slightly in the end, and he beams at her. She's brave, attending against the will of her family.

"Excellent. The strongest and oldest Grimm often bolster their skills by eating raw Dust. Avia Nox and Avia Fuego are two such examples. They start as plain Avia, but over time, the Dust that they consume gives them an elemental affinity." He paused, long legs sweeping over the floor, bringing the man to his desk. "Can anyone tell me why we are having this discussion here, when it is normally discussed in the typical Battle Class Professor Port teaches?" There's absolute silence, before Cardin Winchester, a recently 'redeemed' student, raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Because they apply to finding people just as often?" His voice is also questioning, but he's correct. He gave the boy a broad smile. Despite previous experience that Winchester was trouble, he'd cleaned up remarkably in the classroom.

"Exactly. There are many people who elicit much the same reaction and behavior of Grimm. Some are Faunus, but the vast majority is human." He tapped a finger to his board, displaying a short list. "This list is a comprehensive collection of what works on both Grimm and people. Can anyone think of something else that qualifies? How about you Mr. Arc?" To his eternal credit, the blond doesn't even look like he'd been scribbling notes to his partner.

"Bait or a pointy stick," Jaune answered bluntly, receiving a smattering of laughter and appreciative applause. He laughed softly himself; it was quick and honest. The paper had vanished sometime between his answer and the laughter. He briefly admired the sneakiness.

No wonder Ozpin was so fond of him.

"Absolute tried and true," He agreed cheerfully, before returning to business. "Bait, Combat, and Traps are the three broad categories of engaging the enemy, but for the physically weak, traps are the best available method." He pulled up another list on his glass viewing screen. Tapping it once, the image of a slipknot appeared. "Take the common slipknot for example." Deft fingers procured a thin length of rope, before neatly pulling a slipknot together. "It is excellent for capturing food or cumbersome, unprofitable prey, but is useless in regards to prey of worth or that has specific requirements. This is a kill knot, as you can tell.

Take the common Beowolf or its silver cousin the Grendel. Their body dissolves on death, but properly killed, their fur is prized for bulletproof coats and ancient medicinal remedies." He made a few more, laying them out on the desk. "These knots look simple and useless on their own, but each one is in fact quick and simple ways of taking the enemy down." He picked up a sheaf of papers, setting them on the edge of his desk. "Your homework for the day is to research the history of five of these knots and explain their uses outside of hunting Grimm." Right on cue, the bell rang, his sleepy students standing and filing out, taking a sheet of paper with them.


"Wow," Ruby remarked as they entered their Mentor's comfortably furnished room. "This is nice." Ozpin chuckled quietly, fluffing her hair with a touch of amusement.

"I do enjoy my comfort," Ozpin agreed with her, gesturing for them to take a seat. Jaune flopped into the squishiest armchair that wasn't Ozpin's own, while Ren, Ruby, and Blake took the couch. "As my students, you'll be dealing with a lot of paperwork." The groans are like music to him, as he snickered. "Jaune, you've never dealt with inheritance before, so you and I will be working on that after your teammates leave. You three need to fill out this."

~8~8~

"These are official apprenticeship files for students directly under the Head and Vice Head of Beacon," Glynda said crisply, handing them their respective papers. "This gives you certain privileges that other students do not."

~8~8~

"As the apprentices of the Headmaster and Wizard of Vale, you have more privileges than your predecessors. For example, as apprentices to the Wizard of Vale, you would be allowed to make arrests under the Martial Law Act of 1209 AG."

~8~8~

"Not to mention, you can also be called to teach a class as a substitute teacher, should the need arise for me to leave Beacon." Glynda added to their amazement. "It's a daunting responsibility."

~8~8~

"This position has been abused in the past," Ozpin admitted with a wince. "As such, we have placed limitations on it." He explained patiently as they sifted their way past legalese. "Martial Law can only be imposed during times of war, siege, or when students have committed murder or other illegal acts upon each other."

~8~8~

"It was decided as a precautionary measure that only the Heads of the school could appoint teams to perform this responsibility. Ozpin has decided that your team, as well as his own, is the best possible alternatives, due to the fact that Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose happen to be the daughters of a policeman." She flipped through her stacks of papwer with ease. "I'll file these and you three may leave to do your homework. Miss Xiao Long, stay behind for a moment."

~8~8~

"Since your father is head of the Police department," Ozpin said quietly to Ruby as she stood there, "You'll also be sharing Liaison status with your sister. This responsibility is very dangerous, as you represent all of Vale in your behavior, mannerisms, and skill. When the Vytal Tournament arrives, you must be careful. Any attack from a student not official towards out outside of the sanctioned battles could be considered an act of war on Beacon." He gave a soft laugh, and Ruby's face turned pink.


After the blessedly short mentor session, Yang returned to her dorm room, staring blankly at her first and only oddity of the day (She had long since filed Nora as Normal)

"Neyuu . . ." Nora whined, flailing helplessly in her own net. Weiss was howling with laughter as she buried her head in her pillow, and Pyrrha was hiding a grin. "Weiss! Yang! Pyrrha! Save MEEEE!" She wailed again, arms flailing. Weiss only laughed harder, clutching the pillow to her chest as she half died from amusement. Pyrrha finally managed to get herself under control, and she freed the poor girl, and she burbled happily, hugging Pyrrha tightly. "My savior!" Nora squealed, hugging her tightly, before instantly transferring affections to Weiss, who flinched in surprise before reluctantly returning the hug. Privately, Yang noticed how sad it was that Weiss was so fearful of human contact.

"What were you doing there in the first place?" Weiss started to giggle again, as she allowed Nora to cling to her like a tiny monkey.

"She was researching Andromeda's Net," Weiss giggled, watching Pyrrha fold the completed net into a small square. "And then she came across a website on how to make it." Another giggle. "You two saw what happened next." Yang grinned at Weiss, before it became something softer. After Weiss's reluctant confession, Yang had begun to see Weiss as an invaluable ally and friend. That in mind, she answered Weiss in the most amusing way possible.

"Only Nora would get stuck in one of those," Yang agreed sagely. Nora's head snapped up, teal eyes wide and wounded, a pout forming on her face.

"Neyuu . . ." Nora wailed to Weiss, who started laughing again. "Weiss! Yang's being mean again!" Pyrrha laughed honestly at that, getting up to put the net away in her locker.


Cardin was studying again, Lark noticed with a faint, rueful sigh, folding up the day's depressing news. Another girl raped in town, Lark thought, disgusted with himself. Had it been before Jaune's little 'lecture', he might have enjoyed the thought of another Faunus dead, but after his experiences here with multiple non-White Fang members (And Jaune's subsequent, extremely heartless lecture that had arose after they had briefly harassed Blake that still made him shiver in cold fear), it only succeeded in making him feel sick to his stomach. Good god, he was so stupid, vendetta against the White Fang or not. Nearby, Dove snickers at Cardin.

"Still at it?" Dove asked jokingly, laughing again as Cardin flipped him off. Lark eyed Dove a touch skeptically, before he glanced at Russel, who was ignoring them all. Something about this sight niggled the wrong way.

"Fuck off Dove." Carding said to him crossly. "At least my grades are decent." Dove shrugged at that carelessly, so different to how he'd been at Flare.

"Eh, my dad'll pay to have me pass." Both Cardin and Lark share a skeptical look at one another, before giving him a blank stare. Riiight. And a Boarbatusk could fly without wings.

"That seriously isn't going to fly with Professor Ozpin," Lark deadpanned, more out of amusement than anything else. "This school has enough liquid Lien to make the Schnee Dust Company jealous." Dove made faces at them, only to quail under the combined glares of his two comrades.

"Alright, fine, fine," Dove grumbled, cracking open a book at Cardin's glare. Russel, who'd stayed quiet until now, got up at the sound of an unfamiliar ringtone. Lark tilted his head. It sounded familiar, but for the life of him he couldn't recall why.

"I'm heading out," Russel said brightly, grinning widely. He's met with blank stares, even from Dove.

"At this hour? Do you want to get caught by Goodwitch?" Cardin's voice is incredulous. Russel holds his hands up, still grinning.

"It's the only time I get to meet my girl, sheesh. Besides, I'm getting laid tonight!" Russel replied with a laugh and grin. "Besides, she won't see me."

"She better not," Cardin said with a faint sigh. "She finds you; you're suffering whatever detention you get alone." After Russel left, Cardin leaned in, whispering to Lark. "Does he have a girlfriend?" Lark frowned.

"I don't think so." Lark answered.


AN: So, this was a B*tch to write. Second, I have some responses to be put here.
Music909: I have no schedule due to my broken laptop. I will update when I can, and I'm sorry I can't offer anything more concrete.

Centerpoint108: Thank you for your praise, however, this is not a Ruby/Blake pairing. I am not against it, but Ruby is already by this point crushing on someone else, and Blake was (in my story) a very good friend with Adam. My apologies.

For Guest and Facepalm, my reply has been moved to my Profile page.