Chapter 11 – You're As Cold As Weiss…
"And so there I was, staring down the Alpha's pack with nothing but own bare hands. I stared at that beast, showing no fear in both my eyes and in my heart! They stared right back at me, demonstrating such wicked intentions towards me. Well, I wasn't about to become their next meal now which, as evidence of me standing before you all, was just what happened."
As Professor Port continued on and on about his experiences with an Alpha Beowolf, Ruby tried hard to at least try and find some kind of useful information amongst the ramblings of the tubby professor. Having taken a quick peek around the class though, it had seemed that the lecture was boring almost all the students in attendance. Even Weiss, known to never slack behind in any class, was staring intently at the digital clock in front of her.
At least Blake looked like she was trying to take notes during the rambling. Although, if she squinted hard enough, Ruby was sure that she could also see drawings of some kind amongst her handwriting. Yang had also taken pen to paper, but the differences between herself and her partner were as clear as daylight. Where Blake was actually writing notes amongst her drawings in her notebook, Yang was clearly only drawing on her one sheet of paper. Amongst her numerous sketches, Ruby was able to make out a drawing of two superheroes, standing back to back to each other; X-Ray and Vav. A small smile reached towards Ruby's face; in a few short weeks, the new movie was due to be released – The Adventures of X-Ray & Vav: The Return of The CorPirate.
Her smile lowered when she returned to watching Professor Port still going on about the Alpha Beowolf. Somewhere during Ruby's look around the class, he had somehow become more animated during his speech. Whilst describing how he held three Beowolves in one hold, he grasped at air as if reliving the moment as he spoke it. Ruby rolled her eyes at the description that the professor was giving. There was no way anyone could grapple three at a time, they would need massive arms to pin them down! Let alone that they might struggle or scratch at you to get free.
Ruby's left arm lowered slowly towards her side, accidently touching her pocket. Through the fabric, she could feel the key that she found in the morning still resting inside her pocket. It still confused her as to just how that key managed to find itself in her weapon pouch. It shouldn't be possible, that Velvet room place she had been to twice now were both whilst she was sleeping. A room that had come to her during her dreams. There was no way that something she had seen in her dreams could one day appear in her real life. If anything, the things that Ruby would like to appear from her dreams would be the numerous weapons that she dreamt of. Just the thought alone was almost enough to make her drool.
It was also one that brought a slight bit of concern to her. When her first fight within the Dreamscape was over, she had felt Baku fade into her subconscious. Despite it being for only a few moments before she fell asleep, it's presence within her was comforting; like the feeling she would have every time she put Crescent Rose into its position on her lower back. Now that she was back in the real world, she couldn't feel it's presence at all. Does it only appear whilst she is in the dreamscape? Ever since she had gained the power of Persona, she had yet to be able to go back into the dreamscape. Whether that was a good thing or not, she wasn't sure. If no-one else was in the dreamscape world, then there would be no need for her to go there for no reason. Yet, she was also worried that should the worst happen, she would have no way of being able to rescue anyone else trapped in that world.
Ruby let out a frustrated sigh. If push came to shove, she would find a way to enter into the Dreamscape. That Igor guy mentioned that she would next see him again 'of her own free will.' Maybe there was a way to visit him whilst she was awake. He gave her a key for SOME reason; maybe she just had to look for a door or something?
"Ah yes, Miss Rose." Professor Port declared loudly, awakening Ruby from her thoughts. Her eyes widened with worry, he probably saw her daydreaming. "Let's see if you've been keeping up with the rest of the class. I want you to give me one advantage and one disadvantage of engaging an Alpha Beowolf before attacking the rest of its pack."
"Errr… Well…" Ruby replied elegantly. She scratched the back of her head, cursing her bad luck at being picked in her head. Of all the catch-up she had to do, the topic of the Alpha Beowolf had been buried somewhere amongst the pile. She knew from first-hand experience on how to deal with Beowolves, be it from her Training with her uncle or in her time in the Emerald Forest. An Alpha, however, was quite rare to encounter. She had been fortunate so far as to not encounter one in the flesh – the stories Qrow would tell her about them were, at the very least, not pleasant. Ruby searched through everything she could remember, trying to remember her notes as everyone patiently waited for her answer.
She never liked being the centre of everyone's attention.
"An advantage of engaging an Alpha first would be to, um, take out the pack's leader. Without their Alpha, the rest of the pack would, err, be confused as to what they should do, leaving them open to an attack. Although a disadvantage would be that the rest of the pack would become angry, making their attacks more deadly." There was a moment of silence, making Ruby slightly uncomfortable about her answer.
"Well said, Miss Rose." Port said, reliving Ruby of her worries. "Whilst it may seem like a good idea to take out the pack's Alpha, causing their chain of command to be thrown into disarray, their rage will increase tenfold, which I found out first hand!"
As the Professor continued his extensive tale, Ruby looked around the class, hoping that Professor Port had regained their attention. Or at least sent them back to sleep. A look to her right confirmed that everyone had returned to what they were doing beforehand, except for Yang and Blake. Both girls looked at their leader with a smile on their faces. Yang even gave her sister a thumbs up before they both returned to their own tasks. Looking towards her left, Weiss was also looking at her as well. Her normal indifferent face greeted the young reaper, which would have been normal for the Ice Queen if it weren't for her raised left eyebrow. Ruby nodded slightly at her partner as the two returned to their own tasks. Despite not outright showing it, Ruby had learned that the raised eyebrow was Weiss's way of congratulating her.
Letting out a content sigh, Ruby once again focused as much as she could towards the lesson.
"I thought that lesson would never end." Weiss muttered as team RWBY walked back to their dorm room.
"You said it." Yang replied, standing between Ruby and the Ice Queen. "I mean, c'mon, THREE Beowolves in one bear hug? Yeah right, even I'm not that stupid to try something like that!"
"Well… there was that one time you tried to wrestle an Ursa during dad's training." Ruby countered, a thoughtful look on her face whilst she rested a finger on her chin.
"Rubes!" Yang yelled, dismayed at her sister for remembering that small detail.
"You tried to wrestle an Ursa?" Blake asked in a confused tone, her head turning towards her partner. "Why would you do such a thing?"
"Err… Well…" Yang stuttered, turning her head towards Ruby to avoid the gaze from her partner. Ruby rested the palm of her hand against her forehead and closed her eyes, shaking her head at the memory.
"Dad made the mistake of letting Yang watch V.C.W. After that, he banned her from watching it again." She replied.
"V.C.W?" Weiss asked as she looked between the sisters, confused as to what they were both referring to. A devilish smile crept up on Yang's face.
"Vale Championship Wrestling." The brawler answered the Heiress's question. "Two half-naked, sweaty guys fighting it out to see who's the strongest. What's not to love?" she then turned her attention to where she was going, throwing a few punches into the air in front of her.
"More like ¾ naked." Ruby deadpanned, her hand resting by her side. "Most of the time they only wore their underwear and boots."
"Yup, dreamy." Yang replied, a faraway look of bliss clearly on her face.
Weiss, however, stared at her with repulsion.
"That… sounds perverted." She commented. "How could you watch something like that?"
"A girl has needs." Yang answered as the team turned around a corner." Mine's just so happen to be fully loaded guns, if you know what I mean." As she finished her sentence, Yang brought her right arm up and flexed her muscle to demonstrate her point.
"Eww, how can you say that?" Weiss asked, disgusted at the implications that Yang suggested. "Why would anyone have such need to go see something so… perverted?"
Yang just shrugged at the heiress's accusation. "It's a show for the whole family. There's something for everyone. – hot hunks for the girls, people smashing each other with chairs and all sorts of crazy weapons for the guys, and larger-then-life heroes for the kids. Everyone wins!"
"CHILDREN WHATCH THAT VIOLENT SHOW!" Weiss shrieked. "What kind of incompetent parent would allow such a cruel thing?"
"It's only a show, Weiss." Blake calmly pointed out to the heiress's left hand side. "It's all fake anyway, even the weapons."
"Wait, didn't you say one time that they get hurt during the shows? If it's all faked, then how could they get hurt?" Ruby asked her sister, an inquisitive look was shot at the blond brawler.
"I said that they could get hurt." Yang corrected. "Yeah, it's all an act to entertain the crowds, but then again, accidents happen. One bad landing and POP, one broken bone. There was even an article once mentioning that someone died during a show."
"Again, under what circumstance would any right-minded parent allow their children to watch such a thing?" Weiss repeated herself.
"It's only a show, Weiss. What's so wrong about that?" The two arguing girls stopped walking and turned to face each other, the anger of both of them was clear to see.
"My problem is that 1) Such a show where two people are allowed to fight each other senseless, fake or not, is horribly barbaric. 2) The mere thought that children are even allowed to witness such despicable acts is beyond my understanding and 3) The sheer lack of clothing just sickens me. Aside from having more mobility to move around during a fight, they only fight in the near-nude for no reason."
"Well, how else are they meant to show off the hard work they put into getting their perfect bodies. If you got it, flaunt it."
"In front of children!"
"Kids see them as superheroes!"
"As if. Even those buffoons X- Ray and Faf…"
"Vav"
"…are better role models then wrestlers. At least they have the decency to cover up!"
"So what? Kids still enjoy the whole 'good vs. evil' thing. They don't care about how much they're wearing or not."
As the two continued their argument, Blake and Ruby had continued onwards until they were out of earshot. Facing the arguing pair, the young Faunus girl let out an annoyed sigh. "How long do you think those two will go on for this time?" She inquired.
"A while, probably." Ruby replied. "Knowing how stubborn Yang can be, they could be there all night." Ruby let out her own sigh as she faced the cat Faunus. "Why's Weiss getting all defensive about it, anyway? It's not like her to lose her cool over something like a show."
Blake turned her head to face Ruby, shrugging her shoulders. "Weiss has led a sheltered life. It wouldn't surprise me if she was raised to believe such things as being barbaric. The way I see it, her father's very protective of her. Maybe a bit too overprotective."
With a contemplative nod, Ruby returned her focus towards the arguing teammates. The two were now literally butting heads with each other, with Yang pointing aggressively every time she spoke and Weiss flailing her arms about wildly in reply. The volume had also started increasing as well, if any of the passing-by Faunus were any indication.
The red Grimm reaper was about to give up on waiting for her teammates to stop arguing when her attention was caught by the message board to her left. A few feet away stood the Academy's message board. Normally there would be a ton of boring message for students and advertisements for clubs and events. However, what had caught her attention was a message that was posted right in the middle of the board.
A missing team alert featuring a female with silky long, dark hair. A young male with silver, swept-back hair and a younger female with mint-green, cropped hair.
Ruby walked up to the message on the board, careful not to accidently bump into anyone who was too distracted by the fire and ice duo. When she got to her destination, her eyes darted around the images of the three missing students. The calm stare that the leader of the trio focused towards the camera, the cocky grim from the only male, the gleaming red eyes of the younger girl. It had to of been them.
The same trio she saw on the night she gained her Persona.
"Ruby, don't wander off like that. "
The young Rose jumped at the calm voice. She had been so distracted in her thoughts that she had completely forgotten and the sneaky cat Faunus.
"Oh, sorry Blake." She replied, embarrassed about her sudden shock. She pointed towards the wanted sign as she continued. "I saw this on the board and I…"
…and what, she had seen this team in her dreams plotting something with Roman Torchwick? That they might not be who they say they are? Her voice had quietened down as she realised what she was saying. She was basically going to accuse them of something really serious based on a dream, or in her case a nightmare, that she had. The more Ruby thought about it, the crazier it sounded. There was no way anybody, let alone someone as clever as Blake, would believe her.
To her relief, Blake smiled gently towards her leader. "It's ok, Ruby. They haven't been gone too long, I'm sure that they'll be just fine."
Whether she had somehow been able to know what crazy story Ruby was about to say and decided to change the flow of conversation slightly, or she had mistaken Ruby's sentence for one of worry, she wasn't sure. She did know, however, that she was thankful for the change. "Yeah, thanks Blake." She replied truthfully.
The moment of quiet was broken when heavy footsteps and mumbling could be heard heading towards them. The two peaceful teammates turned to see that Yang was walking towards them. Her hands were clenched tight, almost like they were ready to punch anything at any time. Ruby was the first to speak to the new arrival. "Hey Yang, is every ok between you and Weiss now?" she asked cheerfully.
Yang faced her sister, losing some of the anger she was holding back. "Nah, princess stuck-up there wouldn't know a good time if it smacked her in the face." She let out a tired sigh as she continued. "She got a message form the CC Tower; someone's trying to get into contact with her apparently."
"What about you, are you going to be ok Yang?" Blake asked with a noticeable hint of worry in her voice.
Yang turned her head away from the two, the tension in her body disappearing in an instant. "Yeah... I'm, err, fine. I just, have to get rid of this worked-up anger. I'll be in the training room if you guys need me." As she spoke the last sentence quickly, Yang headed off in another direction, presumably to where the training rooms were located.
"Yang?" Ruby called out worriedly. She had never seen Yang acted this way around her. What had caused her to run off as she did?
"I'm guessing she doesn't do that too often?" Blake asked as they both watched the blond brawler quickly disappear amongst the crowd of young students.
"Not around me, no." she replied. A thought then came to mind to the cape-wearing schoolgirl. "Blake, remember when you mentioned about Yang last time, did you manage to ask her about it?"
Blake turned to face Ruby again, this time with a look of defeat on her face. "I've tried a few times, though she never seems to give me a straight answer. If I'm lucky, I could probably get an actual sentence out of her. Has she ever had this stuttering problem before?"
"Nope." Ruby answered sadly. "Not even to any of the boyfriends she had." The young reaper could not understand as to why her older sister was acting the way she did. It wasn't like her to just become a stuttering wreck in front of anybody, especially Blake, who she had gotten fine with until now. Almost as if a light bulb went off in her head, an idea came to Ruby – if she could get Yang to go around Vale with her, she could sort out this confusion between the two partners AND start her own investigation into the disappearance of Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. She had a funny feeling that Tuckson's book store would be the perfect place to start. There had to be a reason as to why she was outside the burning version of the store after seeing the trio talking to Torchwick in her dream. "Do you want me to talk to her about it?"
Blake closed her eyes and smiled as she nodded. "Thanks, Ruby. Maybe Yang needs someone she's familiar with to talk about her situation." She opened her eyes again as she continued. "If anybody needs me, I'll be at the library studying."
As Blake walked away, Ruby let out an annoyed sigh. "Things are getting crazy around here."
As Ruby entered the dorm room, Zwei barked happily in his normal greeting. The corgi looked around Ruby, like he was trying to see if the rest of the team was returning as well. Closing the door behind her, Ruby heard the newest member of team RWBY let out a sad whine, disappointed that only one person had come to see him.
"Sorry Zwei, everyone's busy at the moment. I'm sure they'll be back soon." Ruby reasoned to the dog, kneeling down to pet him. She couldn't help the sadness that had escaped her voice. As she went into the bathroom to change out of her school uniform, she started thinking about her team.
They were a team of good friends, yet it seemed like the cracks were starting to show. She had come to the conclusion that it was just her being on edge after the whole Weiss/Yang argument earlier, but she couldn't help but worry about it. Weiss was known to have a temper. She had made that very clear during the very first day at Beacon. Yet through their trials, Weiss had learned to keep it under control. Compared to the girl she had met that fateful day, Weiss had become a much calmer girl. Sure, she still had her moments every now and then, but it was normally for when it someone deserved it in her opinion.
After getting changed, she went one of the desks in the room to get ready to do her homework and cast her thoughts to one side. If there was one thing she was thankful to Weiss about, it was that Ruby had learned a few neat little tricks to help with her studies and homework. She looked back at how she used to be before coming to Beacon, the shy little girl who took forever to do her homework, preferring to work on her darling sweetheart instead. Looking down at the neatly arranged layout of books, she could see how much Weiss had rubbed off on her. She made a mental note to thank her for her help at some point.
As Ruby started the boring task of completing her homework, Zwei lay restless by her side. Every now and then he would look towards the door, waiting for someone to come back to the dorm. He didn't have wait long, as Blake returned back to the dorm after a while. Whilst the little corgi was happy to see the cat Faunus, the feeling was not returned. Whilst not being outright obvious about it, Blake walked around the excited dog, her eyes focused on him the whole time. She gathered her normal attire and went to the bathroom to change. Whilst she as changing, the door to the hallway opened again, allowing a much happier Yang to enter into the dorm.
When her partner came out of the bathroom, the two switched places. As she continued to finish off her assignments, Ruby heard her Faunus teammate lay down onto her bed. The team leader assumed she was either about to do her own homework, or catch up on whatever book she was currently reading. Seeing her team return back to the dorm had eased the worry she had earlier. Once Weiss returned, she was sure that everything would be back to normal.
As if she was summoned by her thoughts, the door opened again. Ruby smiled to herself. Now that Weiss had comeback, nothing else could possibly go –
SLAM!
-Wrong.
Ruby jumped from the unexpected slam of the door. Turning towards the source of the disturbance, Ruby saw Weiss marching towards her bed with purpose, muttering angrily as she did so. From the corner of her eye, she saw Blake watching the heiress with a raised eyebrow. Despite not being the most expressive member of the team, Ruby knew another about her to know that she was concerned.
"Weiss, are you ok?" Ruby asked as she got off the chair she was sitting on.
"I'm fine, Ruby. Absolutely fine. Nothing wrong with me in any way." Weiss replied. As she spoke, she gathered her normal attire, not once looking at who she was talking to.
The team leader recognised the tone that Weiss was using – it was the same sarcastic tone she has used when she talked about 'going around town and painting their nails'. Undeterred, Ruby approached her partner. "Weiss, you know that if anything's wrong, you can –"
"I SAID THAT NOTHING'S WORNG, YOU DOLT!" Weiss yelled, turning her head towards Ruby with a massive glare. Ruby stepped back in shock, not being prepared for both the anger towards her and the glare from her own partner.
The bathroom door opened to let an annoyed Yang into the room. "She's just trying to be helpful, ice queen." She stated.
"Don't start, Yang." Weiss snapped back at her. "I don't need any help. Not from you, Ruby or anyone else." She marched towards the bathroom, forcing Yang to get out of the way. As the heiress slammed the bathroom door shut, Yang looked between the two remaining team members for an answer.
They both just shrugged their shoulders, knowing about as much as she does.
As Ruby and Blake returned to their previous tasks, Yang walked over to Zwei. The poor corgi let out a sad whine, focusing his attention towards the bathroom door even as Yang picked him up to comfort him.
A few minutes of silence passed by the RWBY dorm room until Weiss exited the bathroom, fully dressed in her normal attire. She marched towards her bed where she put her uniform away neatly, then marched towards the main door.
"If anyone needs me, I'll be in the training room." She declared as she opened the door. With a final slam, the door closed again, plunging the room into silence yet again. Nobody seemed to be comfortable enough to break the silence, as they all just looked at the door like it would explain as to what had just happened. Ruby slowly turned her attention. Back towards her homework, noticing that she still had a fair bit left to do.
She really didn't feel like doing any homework at the moment.
Welcome back, folks! A.K.b00m here with another episode of Breaking The Boundaries! This chapter has it all, folks – Drama! Confrontations! Wrestling! There's something for everyone!
Speaking of something for everyone, X-ray and Vav make an appearance, hooray! Can never have enough of the awesome duo. As for the movie title, I'll put my hands up, totally stole it from the latest DBZ film, Resurrection of F.
Speaking of DBZ, and I know I'm getting off topic here, but if you guys haven't seen Screwattack's latest teaser for Superman Vs Goku: Round 2, DO SO NOW! I've seen it several times now and I have to say, it looks awesome! The animation looks brilliant, much more smoother than the original fight too.
Now that I got that out of the way, I want to quickly point your attention to the new cover art for this story. That's right folks, BtB has a cover image! It's only a quick little thing that I did up in paint, but to me at least, it gets the job done. If you ever wonder what Ruby's close-up image looks like when she performs a critical hit looks like, that would be it. As for the rest, just switch out Ruby and her emblem for the character of your choice with their emblem. Sadly, I won't be doing close-ups for the rest of the team as I'm no artist when it comes to this sort of thing.
Now, onto the reviews!
LeviathanTamer: a One Elemental Wonder, eh? Sounds awesome to me, though for me personally, the power of the wild card is more than enough for me. Will Ruby go it alone, I guess only time will tell .
Don't forget folks to please Follow/Favourite/Review the story. Do you guys want to see more X-ray and Vav? Who will win the upcoming battle on Death Battle! Why is everyone going to the training room when they're angry? I would love to hear your answers to these questions. I've been A.K.b00m, and thank you guys so much for reading.
Have a great day!
