The Forge, Pt. 1
-VIII-
Yang had to admit, she was pleasantly surprised by the way things were going today.
She wouldn't want to think she was impressed by the young man who had just been offered entrance into Beacon, she didn't know him well enough to give him that kind of compliment just yet. But pleasantly surprised, yes.
And not just because his hand-to-hand combat was unlike anything she had ever seen before, which really was something. She had even noticed Blake practically drooling at the progress of the match - ninja stuff was kinda her thing. Even down to the naughty book she denied owning.
Sure, Davin had also come close to beating Ren, one of the best strikers Yang knew, but what really piqued her interest was that he could match her wit as well as her physicality. She had always been used to pummeling other guys into submission psychologically, but this newbie was pretty cool about it, countering her advances at every instance. She liked that.
Not that it made her any less upset at the moment, however.
She had lost to a newb, but Yang decided she'd keep testing him out to get to know who he was as the current conversation continued around her.
"We are pleased with your acceptance," the silver-haired man stated, "My name is Ozpin. And I'm sure you will do well here. After all, you nearly bested one of our best hand-to-hand fighters without the use of your aura."
"A pleasure to meet you, and thank you sir," Davin responded, and unable to resist the urge, adding, "and out of curiosity, may I ask how much of it you saw?"
"Well, as the substitute teacher today..." Another sip of coffee as his gaze shifted briefly to Yang and back to Davin, "I arrived shortly before your bout with Miss Xiao Long, actually. Quite an interesting match," he added with a small smirk.
"But in any case, I'm sure you and your opponent are needing some medical attention. Miss Goodwitch will be sure to attend to that, and afterwards you may go to the forge to pick out armor and a weapon if you have none on hand," Looking over to Ruby, he added, "Would you care to accompany him, Miss Rose?"
Ruby was smiling in excitement. "I'd love to!"
"Excellent, and Mr. Rosfield..." Ozpin was looking at Davin again, "You may attend classes with team RWBY for the rest of the day. But I'd like to have a word with you in my office after school to discuss temporary dorm placement and team assignment."
"Not a problem, sir."
Ozpin was hard to read, but Davin couldn't help feeling there was something left unsaid. At least he might find out later.
"Excellent. I now must take leave as I have a few matters to attend to. Miss Goodwitch?" He nodded to his colleague as he turned to leave.
"Yes, the three of you may follow me," she stated to Ren, Davin and Ruby, "and the rest of you may be dismissed."
The students each waved and smiled at the trio as they left for their next class as Ruby, Ren and Davin followed behind Ms. Goodwitch. Ren, however, decided to lag behind to join Davin.
"So," he began in a low tone, "you really have no idea what aura is, do you."
"Not a clue."
A few feet ahead, an eyebrow raised behind rectangular spectacles. More notes in the tablet.
"So where'd you find that guy anyway?" Yang asked her fellow blonde as they made their way to the next class, still somewhat peeved.
"Uh... I met him outside of school..." He replied slowly. She rolled her eyes at the lack of information.
The group of young women followed Jaune until finally reaching their next class, surprised to find a note on the locked door.
"Class is cancelled... again," Blake stated flatly as she read the note.
"My goodness!" Weiss began with a fit, "That is an unacceptable way to run a classroom, how are we supposed to learn effectively with such a haphazard schedule!?"
"Eesh, cool it down, Ice Princess!" Yang called her attention with the nickname, "It's only a lab to support Miss Goodwitch's main Dust 101 course! It's not like it's even supposed to be an everyday thing, y'know?"
"But still..." The Princess crossed her arms with a huff.
"It's Heiress, actually," Blake corrected, "and from what I've heard, Peach often has to stay at home to care for her husband, Mario... he was badly injured in a Faunus labor accident..." It was the kind of thing the mysterious girl would remember.
"Peach and Mario?~" Nora quipped with glee, "They sound like such a cute couple!~"
"Wait... Professor Peach is married?" Jaune asked in surprise.
"You really would be the kind of guy to miss the wedding ring on her finger for a few months, eh Jaune?" Yang replied in response with a grin, "I feel so sorry for the girl who falls for you!"
Pyrrha looked down to hide her blush.
"You okay, Pyr?" Jaune worriedly asked his partner, placing his hand on her bare shoulder which only made her blush even more. Everyone seemed to understand the Spartan's feelings except for him.
"Y-Yes, I'm fine Jaune..." She looked up, only barely containing her blush, "I guess its just a little hot today, that's all..."
"Oh she's hot alright~" Yang giggled at the pair as Pyrrha blushed crimson at the comment.
"Yang!" Blake sternly chided her partner.
"Yea!" Jaune added as well, standing up for his partner, "I'll have you know, Xiao Long, that I just so happen to feel the same way as Pyrrha does!..." The girls, along with Pyrrha herself, turned to look at the knight in confusion as he continued with righteous and compassionate indignation.
"Today is pretty hot!"
The five girls mentally facepalmed at his obliviousness.
"Let's just go back to the arena to practice," Blake advised curtly.
At the arena, each student scanned their scrolls on the input console, the machine picking out Jaune and Pyrrha to spar first. He groaned as his partner grinned, elated with the opportunity to continue training with her leader.
"Oho, this should be fun!" The brawler grinned in anticipation, not knowing about the training sessions that Jaune had been receiving from his opponent for weeks.
Entering the larger central match grounds, the two readied themselves for combat as the other four girls watched from outside the boundary. The muted beep signaled the beginning of the match, and within the first five seconds the girls saw Jaune put to the ground.
He got up and looked over at the giggling group.
"Oh, come on! Not helping!"
"Use your aura, Jaune," the redhead advised sweetly, "it'll help."
"I'm trying..." He replied in frustration.
Rushing the Spartan, he found himself eating dirt time and time again but wasn't about to give up. That was a quality about the knight that Pyrrha found especially endearing.
This time, however, she flung Akoúo at Crocea Mors from a distance, launching Jaune's shield into the artificial tree line in the arena. He deadpanned at his laughing partner.
"Oh, come on!"
Running into the tree line to get his shield, Pyrrha aimed Milo with care, launching it several yards into the trees. The sound of metal digging itself into wood rang out.
TWANNNG.
"Come onnn!"
"So-rry!" The giggling Spartan called out in response, sure she had ended the match.
She was already making her way to the tree line to pull him out when she saw him enexpectedly emerge from the trees, Milo in hand.
"Well that's impressive, you pulled it out on your own this time!"
"It's just a spear, Pyrrha," the knight calmly replied, tossing the weapon back to her. But remembering his initial difficulties with her weapon, she mentally noted the achievement as progress.
Her surprise only grew as the blonde leader began using his sword much more, parrying and countering her attacks with greater ease.
"Does he watch her fight or something?" Blake thought out loud as she watched the duo go back and forth longer than she could remember them having done previously, "it's like he knows her combinations already..."
"Maybe he's actually improv-" The heiress began but cut herself off, shaking her head in cold sobering realization of what she was about to say.
"EUH! What am I thinking! I agree, Blake. He must be studying her style."
The amused raven-haired girl merely glanced at her snowy teammate with a smirk and raised brow as the Spartan launched a counter-attack in the arena.
Jumping over a low slash and landing on his back next to Pyrrha, Jaune used his recovered shield to jam it into the back of her knees, her legs buckling and sending her to the ground for the first time. In one swift movement, he was back up and standing over her triumphantly in a brief moment of victory.
He offered her a hand to pick her up, the Spartan laughing warmly in pride for her leader as she took it from the floor. The same feeling of sparks ran between the two as Pyrrha's gaze lingered on his just a little longer.
"Not bad, Jaune!" he smiled at her compliment, "Buuut..."
He raised an eyebrow, "But what?"
Taking a firm hold of his hand, the spartan quickly swung her outstretched legs across the floor, swiping his own out from under him. And like a gymnast, she completed the swinging arc to land herself on top of him in a straddling position, Milo at his neck.
"Owww... come on..."
She grinned mischievously at the downed leader, "Your stance is still all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground."
Jaune grinned back at his victorious opponent, but his response was cut off by a few wolf-whistles at the end of the arena as both students turned to the grinning onlookers. Realizing the compromising position they were in, they quickly stood up, each blushing profusely as they walked back to the entry.
"Did I hear something about being wide and low to the ground?~" the grinning brawler asked as they regrouped in front of the input console, "because I'm pretty sure you both were as down and dirty as they get!~ RAWR!" She snarled adorably as she emulated a large cat, both Jaune and Pyrrha blushing equal shades of deep red.
"You and your puma impressions, Yang," Blake muttered as she sunk her face into her hand. Blake would know the impression... she was a cat-faunus, after all.
Nora was about to run the combatant-choosing algorithm on the input console again before Pyrrha held her hand back.
"You know what? I don't think I've had the pleasure of sparring against Yang, actually."
"You sure, Pyrrha?" The hammer-wielder asked innocently, "you just finished a match."
"Oh I think I'll be fine."
"Whatever you say, Knight-Lover!" Yang teased as she engaged Ember Celica.
The match was long and grueling, the entire arena lighting up in aura and dustpowder as the two girls duked it out in close combat. Though the other girls were deeply amused, it scared Jaune senseless.
Why would Pyrrha spar again so soon?
Finally ending the match in a draw, each girl nodded to her opponent's prowess as they all readied themselves to get to their next class.
"Seriously, why would Pyrrha have done that?" Jaune asked the incredulous Heiress as the group made their way out of the arena, "She could've gotten hurt!"
"It's times like these that you worry me, Arc," Weiss responded with a straight-faced expression, shaking her head at his denseness, "you really do."
At about that time, Davin and Ren emerged from the infirmary and waved goodbye to each other as they parted ways. Ren looked much better once his aura had recharged, and Davin didn't look too bad, only a few visible bandages here and there. He had kindly requested only to have his minor injuries treated as his instinct told him that he had suffered no major injuries and to avoid any in-depth examination, as he felt oddly uncomfortable with being scanned by any equipment with the word 'aura' in the name.
Thankfully, they had some clothes in there too. He picked out a purple plaid flannel shirt patterned with crossing gold and black lines and long sleeves which he always wore rolled up, black jeans and kept his Converse. He felt a deep attachment to those, buffing them out quickly before leaving the room.
Ruby caught his attention as he left the infirmary and parted from Ren, she had been waiting for him on the other side of the threshold of the exit.
"Hey, new guy! How are you feeling?"
Turning his attention to her, he smiled. "Better! But try asking me again tomorrow, I'll probably need Ozpin's cane since I'll be walking like an old man." They both chuckled.
"And you can call me Davin... or Vin if you'd like..." feeling the short version of his name come out as easily as if it were his childhood nickname, "getting called 'new guy' makes me feel like I stand out or have something to prove. I'd rather just blend in and learn what I can..." he admitted while looking down sheepishly.
"I know what you mean... I mean, who wants to be the bee's knees, right?"
He looked up to her and smiled as they walked the hall together.
"Haha, right. Hey... where are we going again?" Davin wondered.
"I dunno, I was following you."
"Um... Ozpin called it 'The Forge'? Do you think there might be a directory? Is it near a food court? Maybe some sort of recognizable landmark?"
"Hah! No silly, I'm kidding! I know where it is, it's one of my favorite places in the whole school!" Ruby said chuckling.
"Wait. So it's an actual forge?"
"Yep."
"And you have a forge, in the school."
"Yep."
He really needed to get used to how literal this place was with the names. Nevertheless, he couldn't help smiling at how normal it all seemed to the girl.
"And 'one of your favorite places', huh? You must be into weapons and stuff."
She looked down, smiling shyly, "Well... I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons..." she paused awkwardly, "So... I got this thing."
Davin froze as he saw her quickly reach behind herself and pull out a device which quickly unfolded to reveal a crescent-shape blade that she set to rest the ground as the weapon came to full length. He could tell it was sharp because it actually went into the floor, dislodging a few rocks of the concrete.
"Whoa! That's a scythe!"
"It is also a customizable, high impact velocity sniper rifle."
"So it's-"
"It is also a gun."
"Ah."
She picked up her weapon and both resumed walking, Ruby holding it over her shoulder as if it were actually a rifle. After another minute or two, Davin couldn't resist commenting about it.
"I'm not gonna lie, I didn't imagine you to be a... scy-fle wielding girl. You handle it as if it was air, it must be really light."
"Haha, you mean Crescent Rose? Yea she's pretty light..." a glint in her eye appeared as she was struck with an idea and smiled. "Hey, I really don't do this much, but... you wanna try her?"
She honestly expected him to refuse. After all, no other student at Signal had dared to try the highly dangerous scythe, especially after hearing all the stories of accidental dismemberment. The terrible, terrible stories. Poor kids.
"Sure."
Her smile broadened at his quick answer. "Here ya go! Just be careful!"
He took it in his hands. It was light. But instead of giving it back, having seen how she held it, he took a firm grip with both hands, spinning it above and around him with impressive speed and quickly stopping the blade less than an inch from the wall. He smiled at his successful maneuver.
"Whoa! Have you ever handled a scythe before?" Ruby was surprised at how easily Davin had picked up on handling Crescent Rose.
"Um...no...not that I recall." He gave Crescent Rose back to its owner. "But that thing is AWESOME! Thanks, Ruby!"
"No problem!" She liked that he wasn't afraid to try it.
After a short while, they finally reached their destination.
"Here we are! Forge sweet forge!"
It was a small L-shaped building by one of the spires, so unassuming that Davin easily would've passed it had he not had a guide. The sound of periodic bangs of metal drifted out from behind the high arched doorway. They both stepped in.
The Valean War
TPS (c) 2014