Chapter 10: PvP II & A Kinless Clinic
"Something on your mind?" While waiting for the others to come down to plan the next round of matches, Pyrrha noticed that her partner was pondering.
He slowly turned around head first, idly twirling his spear in circles in his left hand. "As a matter of fact, yes there is. It just occurred to me that I haven't named this particular work of art as of yet. I forged this very recently you see, and I have an unintentional precedent for naming my weapons after their first battle. However, I'm currently at a loss for a name."
He loosely grasped his chin between his thumb and index finger in thought, before snapping his fingers. "I've got it."
"Yes?" She asked with a hint of caution.
"You can help me name it." Pyrrha hadn't been expecting that remark.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that's appropriate. Naming weapons in our profession is personal, and I don't think that…"
As the others came on the stage, he waved her off. "Nonsense! It'll be fun, and besides, you said that those were your mother's weapons, yes? Therefore, you wouldn't have had an opportunity to do so. Well here's one now ripe for the plucking, to commemorate our newly forged trust." He saw that she was uncomfortable with the idea, so he applied a bit of logic and pathos to influence her decision.
Taking a few moments to think about it, she put on a genial smile. "Well, if you're sure. No weapon should go without a name, after all."
A red and black blur, followed by a flurry of rose petals, sped past the crowd and right to them with a hug, causing a duet of oomphs from the strength belied by her petite frame. 'Like getting a hug from my sisters! Must be from swinging that oversized thing, but then… who am I to talk?'
"Oh my gosh, that was so cool!" Ruby bounced up and down with unbridled joy.
Smiling fondly at her childish praise, Jaune teased her. "We know. We were there. Now, if you wouldn't mind? As much as I like hugs from adorable and attractive women, we are on a bit of a schedule." She separated from them as swiftly as she arrived before going to use as much time as she could to admire his full arsenal at a close distance. She didn't pick them up or even touch them, because that would be rude.
"Do you need to recover at all?" Pyrrha asked, indirectly offering to let him strike her to completely heal, as the gash on his cheek was now a pink scar, and the one on his hip had stopped bleeding and was about half way healed.
"Nah, I'll pass. No disrespect, but I don't much care for the idea of hitting others for the sole purpose of making me feel better. It would set a bad precedent, especially if they're mere scratches." Jaune thumbed the newest addition to his collection, and hummed as an idea flittered through his mind as he rubbed his tongue against the inside of his cheek again, directly beneath the new scar.
She still felt the manifested blood tickle her throat and wrist, but she made no effort to wipe it off. It would dissipate eventually anyway, and it provided a sufficient deterrent from getting lost in her thoughts until the rest of their peers joined to discuss the next round of sparring. The Spartan kept her smile of satisfaction as she relaxed.
"Damn girl, you're glowing." Yang stated, ever the tactful diplomat.
"It was a grand time. I can't wait to see how we do together in the ring." the Spartan replied, ignoring the obvious innuendo.
"Ruby, come over here." Weiss called her away from inspecting Jaune's array like a kid in a candy store. "Aw~, okay."
"So…" Ren interjected, "Which pairs fight each other?"
"Straws again?" Ruby put forth her solution.
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BY vs. NR
The first match would be Blake and Yang versus Nora and Ren, allowing the two who had just fought a brief respite however unnecessary it might have been, with a three minute break already allotted to allow planning before the first two vs. two match. These fights would not be timed, but instead continue until elimination under tournament rules.
The next pairs to fight put some distance between each other in order to plan during the match. They could watch it with undivided attention later. Weiss had been the one to suggest the idea, feeling it important as both of her opponents had incredible combat prowess.
"So… how big was the pot?" Jaune called to them from the other side of the room, as he had seen the exchange of currency.
Doing a quick bit of math, Ruby answered, "20 lien, why? You're not mad, are you?"
"Not at all. I was just curious." And he meant it sincerely.
"Begin!" Yang started things by shooting her explosive rounds at the floor between her two opponents; her intent was on separating them. Rena and Nora clearly had superior teamwork, and it evened the odds if Blake and Yang could force the match into two separate ones. Blake went after Ren, and Yang kept firing at Nora to distract her whilst her own ninja furthered the wedge between the 'not together-together' pair.
Jaune thought that it was a smart idea for the two ladies of RWBY to pit themselves against the fighters most similar to themselves. But when Nora used the recoil of an explosion to self-launch herself and smack Blake right in the back, it clearly didn't work as well as intended, even if the hammer blow hit a clone.
The blonde brawler followed suit and gunned for Ren. Her punches, while powerful were nonetheless deflected before getting a kick to the ribs. Thankfully, she ducked while Ren did, or she would have gotten a face full of Magnhild.
The level of teamwork that half of JNPR had was truly impressive. They required little to no verbal communication, working with and around each other as they switched back and forth to attack and defend each other's back from both opponents, whose collaboration efforts were decent, but had plenty of hiccups. For instance, one of Yang's deflected shots hit Blake in the leg, leaving her vulnerable to a grenade. While she replaced herself with another clone, it wasn't quick enough to escape the explosion completely, and she crashed into the wall, aura now in the red and eliminated.
"Damn it! Sorry Blake!" She yelled at her still conscious partner as she got pissed off from her assisted mistake and activated her semblance. Though she didn't get hit often, it was enough of a strength boost to make a repeat of Ren's deflections less effective, making quick work with a rapid combo that culminated in an upper cut that drove him into the red as well, leaving the two heavy hitters to duke it out.
Though Nora also got angry from her partner's defeat and mild injury, she didn't receive a strength boost from it. However, she did have grenades, enough distance between the two, and a lack of fear in using them with gusto.
The first two prematurely exploded in pink when Yang shot her own explosives to intercept them, but her third punch only gave her an empty click, the worst time to remember that she had forgotten to reload before the match.
"Oh cr-" was all she could say before pink overtook her sight and the ringing of her ears covered the buzzer signaling the end, leaving Nora to raise her hammer in a victorious pose before skipping over to check that Ren was okay.
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RW vs. JP
The Schnee heiress felt something resembling comfort as she watched Jaune going through some warm-up motions with his greatsword, 'Ludwig was it?' The name wasn't her concern, but her passing familiarity with him using it was; it would do an obscene amount of damage if it hit her more slender build. She had a first hand account of what a weapon like that was capable of. But if was the key word. Weiss was confident that her agility, both in her substantially lighter weapon and in her physical ability, would be more than adequate to give her an edge in this bout.
At first glance, the two complications that could hinder victory lied in the two other girls in the ring. Pyrrha was obvious, seeing that it was Pyrrha Nikos, and no further explanation was required. But she had qualms with Ruby as well. Their teamwork on their first fight together, before meeting Blake and Yang, was… dubious at best. It wasn't terrible, but neither of them was accustomed to working with others, and it had showed, but that gave her some hope.
Namely, it gave her the idea that perhaps their opponents would be the same. She had followed Pyrrha's progress in Sanctum, as it was public record, and found that almost all of her training and matches were solo, which in hindsight is odd. All academies introduced teamwork at the very least, to prepare for any situation. Parallel to her train of thought, Ruby pointed out that Jaune was an apprentice, and likely had no experience working with others at all.
She had taken a few glances at the two during their allotted planning time, and there seemed to be tension between the two. Not that surprising, with Jaune's anger issues coming to light, even if their match ended on a lighter note. They wouldn't even look at each other. That was the basis of her plan… and Ruby's as well. Force them together, and exploit what came of it.
Though what she didn't tell Ruby was a bit more pragmatic. With such a blatant reminder of Jaune's 'handicap', she hoped the Spartan would also go out of her way to protect Jaune, and leave more openings in the process.
"Hey Pyrrha. Ten lien on beating my opponent first." Jaune said, loud enough for his opponents to hear. He gave Weiss a pointed stare, making it clear whom he was gunning for.
"I must politely decline, as I do not partake in gambling."
"Oh fine, I suppose that it is a sucker's bet." He smirked.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked waspishly.
"Begin!" Goodwitch started the match, and Jaune ran to the heiress, whilst Ruby dashed to Pyrrha.
"You claim to be smart, figure it out." He commented as he brought down his blade to slam into the ground, its target darting away.
Taking a deep breath to calm down, Weiss decided to change course. If he were injured enough or completely immobilized, then Goodwitch would call him out. Charging up her Ice Dust with a hint of White to enhance it, she formed five small snowflake glyphs the size of her head with a twirl and launched them at the source of her ire in one-second intervals. They converged on Jaune, who used the massive slab of metal he called a sword to bat them away with varying results based on their impact angle. The first two were on the edge, shattering the construct and forming an ice sheath for Ludwig, augmenting its size by fifty percent; the extra weight giving Jaune a strained face from the extra exertion required to lift it. Ice, especially at its strongest with a blue color, was heavy.
The third was reflected off the ice back at Weiss like a game of baseball, whom it missed and detonated against the wall, creating an ice flower with spikes for petals. With Ludwig stuck to the floor by its own weight, the fourth did as she intended and both encased and anchored Jaune's right leg to the floor.
"Oooh, chilly!" His mocking yell of, did not grant her the satisfied feeling she had expected, but the result served her purposes. She formed a platform glyph underneath to dash in for another thrust, disregarding the fifth projectile as a failure as he ducked.
Meanwhile, the fight between the two redheads had begun more up close and personal. Pyrrha used her shield and sword to have the massive scythe skid off, having learned that full on blocking was not the best idea. If one were to have a bird's eye view a minute into the bout, it would have all four opponents in a nearly perfect line, in order from Weiss, Jaune, Pyrrha, to Ruby.
"Duck!" Jaune yelled, the exclamation clear enough for his partner to take a knee without hesitation, and feeling grateful for doing so as she felt a brief rush of cold streak where her upper back used to be.
"Gah brain-freeze!" Ruby, whom did not understand the intent behind his signal, cried out after the icy snowflake smacked her right in the face, little bits of frost clinging to her hair.
Taking a gambit while the reaper's eyes were closed, Pyrrha dropped Miló and lunged forward, to both grab the scythe and punch with the edge of her shield into her gut, effectively disarming Ruby. Treating her opponent's weapon with respect, she gently set it down before picking up her sword back up and standing back up directly over it, standing vigil over it to prevent a reunion with its creator.
Weiss noticed none of this as she dashed to Jaune who was still trying to lift Ludwig up as he grunted in frustration, not even looking at her while the greatsword barely budged. Rapidly closing the distance between them, she thrusted for a non-vital spot, the muscle in his left shoulder, to render him unable to use his arm properly, even if he were to try and surprise her with his dagger. Her attack drew blood, but not in his shoulder.
Without even looking, he raised his left hand in a blur to intercept at the last possible moment, the slim blade piercing through making an eerie screeching sound as it scraped against the metal plate on his glove. Before she could pull back to try again, he reached his arm out with a clawed hand and a dark smile that was all teeth, coating the rest of her blade in red while it continued to screeching as if in pain.
Before she could react to counter his gambit, he hooked his fingers through one of the blades in Myrtenaster's guard, his grip firm and unyielding despite her attempts to shake him off. With a tug, she was brought in with a small stumble. His eyes burned a dark blue through the shadow over his face as he stage-whispered a playful warbling. "Hello~!"
He grabbed her by the base of her ponytail with his unoccupied hand and slammed her head into the ice sheath, cracking it on the first hit, and even more the second, before tossing her up in a high arc over himself. After ripping out the massive metal splinter in his hand and sheathing it partially in the ice entombing his leg, he picked up Ludwig, displaying his earlier failed attempts to be a ruse, with little effort and smacked Weiss with the flat side. With her discombobulated from the double-header and lacking in focus, in both senses of the word, she was helpless as her trajectory sharply altered into the wall, the light show that covered her body indicating that her aura shield had been completely depleted after the crash.
However, for Jaune, his finishing blow came with both good and bad news. With him unable to twist his right leg, the strain broke the weakened ice and freed his leg. The bad news was that, due to the high quality Ice Dust at his opponent's disposal, the extra effort required for his freedom also cracked his femur with a wet snap, ending his spin falling to the floor.
BZZT! With Ruby disarmed and Weiss nearly unconscious, Jaune and Pyrrha had won, but no one focused on or relished the outcome by virtue of medical emergency as they rushed to provide aid.
"Fucking son of a leprous whore, I hate broken bones!" Said injured was cursing a storm, alternating his fury between the pain and his lack of foresight, before biting into his leather sleeve to muffle a scream. The pain could have been worse. If he hadn't weakened the ice with the appropriated rapier, the bone could have had a messier break instead of a clean one.
He had broken bones enough times to feel the difference, once the initial agony passed into the constant, but lesser torment of throbbing as his bones shifted to repair. The icy chill had numbed his leg before hand; only by a little, but he'd take it over nothing.
Ruby put away her scythe before helping a still disoriented Weiss up to a sitting position. "Weiss, can you hear me?" She asked Weiss, who was either unwilling or unable to focus on one spot until she snapped her fingers in front of her.
"Rub-, is tha…" She spoke slowly and with a heavy slur, clear signs of a concussion, but how severe it was she didn't know.
"Ssh, it's all right. You have a concussion," Though initially upset at her partner for icing her in the face, even inadvertently, she couldn't hold it against her. Any talk of improvement would come after recovery. She kept talking to keep the white-haired girl as awake and aware as she could.
Pyrrha went to Jaune's locker, and picked up an extra belt and a folded wooden shaft before sprinting back to Jaune, now with his eyes shut tight and breathing deeply and heavily through his nose to focus through his experience.
"I need to take off your belt to make a splint, Jaune." No response. "Jaune!" After a few seconds, he nodded. Yang help raise his hips ever so slightly to prevent as much motion as possible whilst Pyrrha unbuckled and slipped it off.
He spoke through gritted teeth, "I kinda wished beautiful girls undressing me would involve less pain, you know?"
Seeing that he was trying to distract his mind with conversation, Yang obliged him. "Well, maybe next time we'll be more gentle, eh?"
"Ha ha, ow… hurts to laugh… Fuck you, Yang." She restrained from replying 'anytime', as it might make him laugh even more.
While a talking Jaune was distracted, Pyrrha held the splint whilst Blake and Ren looped the belts over the center of his femur and tibia to secure the splint and optimize immobilization of the injured limb, waiting for the signal to tighten.
Pyrrha went to Jaune's top half and put his head in her lap, holding it for the inevitable thrashing soon to come. "Jaune, look at me."
He took another deep breath, opened his eyes, and kept steady eye contact as he jested, "Ha hah ha, should have taken that bet. You would have won." She smiled for a brief moment and counted down from three.
On her signal of a curt head nod, Jaune braced himself, biting down once more on his leather sleeve before another sickening snap and a muffled howling echoed in the room. "I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologized for the additional pain she had caused, but it had to be done.
"It's all good, I've been through this before." With the bone now in place, the pain had been significantly reduced and his healing could speed up the process. "Apologies for the concussion, Weiss!" Though he was in pain, he had still been aware of his surroundings, and Ruby hadn't been trying to be discreet in her diagnosis.
"So, I guess this means that sparring is over for today?" He asked, as Nora and Pyrrha helped him up to lean completely on his left, unbroken leg, Blake going to assist Yang shoulder-carrying Weiss. Ruby wanted to help her partner, but it was better to leave it to her stronger sibling.
"You guess correctly." Goodwitch spoke, but not too sternly. "Are you in need of assistance in going to the infirmary?" It wouldn't have been the first time she had used her abilities to act as a stretcher.
He hadn't mentioned, or even wanted to go there. Feeling him bristle, Pyrrha cut him off. "No thank you Professor, I think we'll be okay."
He gave her a sharp gaze, but she responded with a look that brooked no quarter. He sighed as he capitulated. "Yeah, it's only next door."
"I'll put away Ludwig and Orion for you." Ruby offered before doing just that, leaving no time for him to protest. During her kind-hearted gesture, he stared at her, puzzled.
"She wields the largest weapon out of all of us, Jaune." Yang explained, thinking that his perplexed look came from someone so small picking up his weapon with ease.
'That's not the issue at hand.' Jaune thought, shaking his head to ponder the enigma later. "Mind if I have my spear, Ruby?"
"Why?" She asked, but still complying.
"Need to name it with Pyrrha, and so it should bloody well be there, no?"
Professor Goodwitch stopped them before they left. "Before you go, you all performed admirably. I expect at the very least a page-long document from each of you on what and how you can improve before your first class with me."
It didn't matter that classes hadn't even started yet before they were assigned homework.
"Oh, by the way Nora, there are two things that you need to know." Nora looked a bit confused, before brightening as she might be told a deep secret of the universe. "First, red is not your color."
He briefly glanced down at her chest, prompting her to do so as well.
"Eww." Nora grimaced in disgust, now paying more attention to her attire as her primarily white top was now adorned with an ugly hand-shaped splotch of red on her shoulder.
"Secondly, in case you get real blood on you, seltzer water and lemon will work wonders." He spoke with wisdom earned through experience.
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As they walked out to a sunny day, they all were talking to each other about the past half hour; Jaune winced and lowered his head, his hat providing more protection against the irritating ball of fire in the sky. His spear was vertically secured on his back to avoid poking his two assistants.
"Yang, could you please reach into my left jacket pocket for my sunglasses? My arms are a bit occupied, at the moment." After putting them on, his most recent accessory was shaped to completely cover his eye sockets, looking similar to goggles, held up by a metal frame. Yang decided to follow his example and put on her reflective aviators, as it was indeed a bright day.
"Can you even see out of those?" Ruby asked him because the glass was as dark as obsidian. Nora waved her hand in front of his face to test her hypothesis that he had gone blind somehow.
"Perfectly. Eyes are a bit sensitive to sunlight, and so I wear these to not be squinting all day looking pissed off or something; a trifling inconvenience." He explained. Unfortunately, his mother had been proven right in that all those long hours and late nights staring into a bright screen had a negative consequence, not that he would ever repeat that aloud. It could have been worse, but he certainly wasn't complaining.
There were some things that aura couldn't heal, ranging from things as delicate and complex as eyesight to amputated limbs.
"You don't sound like someone with a grievous wound. Aren't you, like, in a ton of pain?" Yang asked, as she well knew the pain a broken bone provided. When she was first learning to use Ember Celica, she didn't position her arm properly for a shot, and the recoil snapped her arm like a twig. If not for the small winces and twitches every so often from his weight shifting onto his leg too much, it would be hard to tell that he was in pain.
"Oh yes, it's quite excruciating, but it's not as bad as it first was." He admitted casually with a light-hearted tone. "I've learned to push past it. Better a broken limb than death, after all, and monsters won't care. Wouldn't be the first time fighting with broken bones."
"But that does not mean that you should. Your previous training must have been harsh." Ren commented. Acquiring such a high threshold for pain could not have been an easy task.
"Oh you have no idea. Barely a day went by where I didn't end it bruised and broken, but it was worth it. However, I suppose things are different here, and I'll have to slow down. I've never had to be concerned about other people's well-being before, so let me know if I go too far." Jaune was a leader now, and that meant looking after others as well, especially since they didn't have such a literal godsend of a healing factor. "You all right, Weiss?"
"It's fi… kay. Bait lure smarts. Not a fish tho' " It sounded like gibberish, but Jaune understood her meaning. 'Good thing I went with this plan. My first draft was to have a gauntlet where I faced them all one by one.'
"Does this mean we don't have to do that run every day?" Jaune merely gave a blank look as a response, prompting Nora to ask "What? I hate running; I prefer weights."
"So have you never fought people before?" Yang doubted her own question having seen him fight. Like he said before, fighting people and fighting Grimm were different arenas, and he appeared to be experienced with both.
"That isn't what I said. I've never had to worry about others because I've only fought against those on a much higher skill level. They'd stop by for either or both of my parent's trade, and they offered a discount if they'd spar with me. I've actually never won before today, even if it was by technicality." His confession, after a bit of thought, made sense. If he never went to an academy, it would be less likely that he could regularly fight someone near his age and/or experience level.
"And when they found out I didn't have an aura shield, more than a few pussied out from pity or some other reason, so it's a pet peeve of mine. I apologize for my little outburst."
"It's understandable." Pyrrha spoke with her nearly trademarked gentle, patient tone.
"Then again, having no aura shield works out in my favor more often than you'd think. An opponent hesitating in a fight is one that's easier to defeat. Aura prevents desensitization to spilled blood."
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Beacon's architect must have had great amounts of foresight and common sense because the infirmary was just next door to the combat building, which also hosted training areas. So when someone was inevitably injured, they didn't have far to go. On the opposite side was a gym, also in close proximity as a precaution.
The waiting room mercifully failed to uphold its name, as they didn't have to wait at all for one of the medical staff to approach them. He was about Ren's height with balding lime-green hair, pale yellow eyes, and even paler skin that indicated to Jaune that he didn't go outside much, as he too once possessed that almost sickly skin tone and dark shading under his eyes.
He wore black scrubs that were emerald green above the chest, and he also wore a brusque visage, accentuated by the frown lines on his forehead.
"Oh great, it's you again." Apparently, the man recognized Jaune. Sighing in mild frustration, "Bring the injured into room 1, and then vacate." He spoke curtly as he dismissed them.
"Uhh…" Ruby, nor was anyone else expecting such poor bedside manner from a medical doctor.
He slightly raised his voice, annoyed that he was forced to repeat himself. "Did I stutter? If you're not in need of medical attention, don't loiter about and waste my time." He turned and briskly went back through the door he came through.
Bringing them to the directed room, Jaune suggested as they were leaving, "We'll meet you at the cafeteria for lunch. This shouldn't take too long."
"Right, let's go!" Team RWBY's leader added enthusiastically with a pumped up arm.
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Though their sparring had awakened their appetites, they were forced to wait until the dining hall served lunch at its regular time of 11h, a little over an hour away, leading to the dismayed groan of the impatient Valkyrie.
Not even five minutes into their awkward silence, Nora couldn't help but wreck it. "Uggh, I'm so bored. Let's play a game!"
On cue, Ren pulled out a deck of cards.
They decided to play Cheat, a card game that requires a level of deception to succeed in. Surprisingly, Ruby won the first round, as her default innocent expression made for an excellent 'poker' face, even if they weren't playing poker. After a few rounds and general discussion of their sparring, they heard Jaune call out, "Sorry we're late, but Doc wanted to do some tests. Miss us?"
"How's your leg?" Pyrrha asked, as her makeshift splint had been removed, and he was walking unaided, albeit with a noticeable limp. As he was not carrying the wooden construct, he must have returned it to his locker.
"Wonderful. Which reminds me, Doc complimented you for it… at least I think he did."
"Why, what did he say?"
"I believe his exact words were…" Clearing his throat to do a passable imitation of the curt doctor, " 'Crude, but passable for immediate field work. Perhaps she won't be completely worthless in my class, unlike most of the dimwits I usually teach.' end quote. What class does Dr. Fennel teach?"
"That's Dr. Fennel?"
"You know him?" Jaune asked.
"Only by reputation. He advanced the medical field of aura healing by decades, and is a pioneer in the field. Just last year he published a paper on how to remove scarring. I didn't know that he worked here."
"You seem well-informed." Weiss observed.
"Yes, well, I wanted to be a healer when I was little, and that desire never quite left me." She looked uneasy at sharing such personal details.
"No need to feel embarrassed. Healing is a noble profession. I myself have studied first aid extensively." Ren stated, just before the dining hall opened, ready to accept and satiate not just them, but a few other groups milling around with a similar goal.
"So how do you know him?" Blake asked, as the doctor seemed frustrated to see him again.
"I went to a hospital a few months ago, and he was there visiting and making the rounds. He was interested in my condition." He prevaricated, omitting the reason why he had to be admitted in the first place.
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As they sat down to eat lunch, they separated into a few separate conversations, a thought came to Yang's mind. "Hey Pyrrha, didn't you say that Dr. Fennel could remove scarring?"
Not sure where she was going with her inquiry, "I did, why do you…" She stopped after a glance at an involuntary glance at Jaune as he sat down. "Jaune, didn't Dr. Fennel offer to remove your scars?"
"Mhm, but I declined again." He said between bites of his grilled chicken sandwich.
"Again?"
"Last time we met, he offered for the one on my shoulder, you two know the one, although it wasn't a scar at the time, but I said no. The others were there for too long for him to do anything at the time. He could now, but I'm keeping them. Speaking of which…" He thumbed the newest addition to his collection.
"I'm gonna keep this one too. Thoughts?" He asked his partner's opinion, as she had given it to him.
"It has a… certain charm to it." The Spartan offered diplomatically. It was no longer pink and inflamed around the edges, and the clean cut had more than a modicum of a distinguished appearance to it.
"Yeah, it gives you a more roguish charm. I'd say it suits you." Yang added.
"Truth be told, I'm amazed it took so long for me to get a scar on my face." He admitted with a chuckle. "But I think I'll stick with just this one. Got to keep one part of me still looking pretty, eh?" His joke had the two girls laughing at his absurdity.
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Eating their fill, they returned to their suite around noon. Passing the arena, a trio of upperclassmen exited the entrance to the arena. No words were exchanged as they passed, but one of the three, a pale, skinny guy their age, tipped his wide-brimmed, purple fedora to them with a wide, toothy smile, humming an upbeat tune as he walked by. Jaune responded in kind.
"Do you know him?" Ruby asked after they passed the team.
"Not at all. It's a hat thing. Besides, there's no harm in common courtesy."
"Anything else planned for today?" Blake asked the organizer of the day's events.
"Nothing from me except for ten hours or so of relaxation. Go nuts."
It seemed that Nora had plenty of energy to spare, so she went to go to the gym and pump iron, dragging Ren along as a spotter.
Weiss had initially wanted to finish the assignment as quickly as possible, but that plan was dashed as quickly as Nora had left. Her next idea was to study in advance for classes, but with no book list for anything, she had no idea where to start. Instead, she decided to refill her Dust cartridges. Ruby followed her, desiring to giving her own weapon a maintenance check and cleaning.
Blake wandered off into her room to read whatever she had gotten from Tukson's, as it still had the brown paper cover over it.
With Yang popping Bloodborne into the console, that left Jaune and Pyrrha sitting on the floor in their room after changing into more casual attire, his spear lying on the floor between them, ready to be named. Jaune wore his white muscle shirt with black knee-length shorts combo again, whereas Pyrrha wore a red tank top, but with the word shine embossed in black with the 'h' in gold, as well as red athletic shorts with bronze trim.
It felt good that their ruse had paid off. While 'watching' the match and barely looking at each other, they were actually forming a strategy without appearing to. Like Ren would soon read in the book he purchased in Tukson's, 'All warfare is based upon deception.' They kept it simple and decided on a few phrases to warn of any incoming attacks that would catch the other unawares.
"So where do you usually start?" She asked, wondering again if he had a theme for naming his arsenal.
"Heroes, inspirational figures, Hunters that used a similar weapon, that kind of thing." Jaune answered. "I was torn between Ascalon and Ornstein, but they both felt gold-ish. Not a good fit, wouldn't you say?"
Taking a closer look, Pyrrha carefully examined the dark red streaks in the metal. Seeing the color inspired a suggestion. "How about Achilles?"
Thinking about the name, rolling it around in his mind, "Who was he?"
"It's an old tale set in the battles that founded a kingdom before Mistral. Achilles was a wandering warrior was seen as an invincible warrior, wielding his silver spear in a thousand battles and a thousand victories."
"Quite a man. I wonder how I've never heard of him."
"Well, because there's no proof that he actually existed, it was so long ago, but the story lasted through the ages." She gave a sad smile.
"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked in concern, recognizing that look of regret.
His question jostled her out of reminiscing. "Oh, it's just… it was my Father's name as well. He died when I was ten. Grimm attacked the village we were on vacation at when Mom was out on a mission."
Hearing a tragedy similar to his experience, only with a bleaker outcome, struck a chord in Jaune. "Is that why you became a Hunter instead of a healer?"
"Y-Yes. Mom trained me after that, and… well, here we are."
"Hmm…" Picking up the spear, shortened in its one-hand state, "Achilles, huh. It's a good, strong name. I like it."
"Really? Because we can think of something else." She didn't want him choosing it out of guilt or pity.
Smiling in an effort to cheer her up, "Too late, I've already decided. Now, let's go see how Yang's doing, shall we? She just started playing my favorite video game, and I've never seen a newbie react before. It should prove entertaining."
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A roller coaster of frustration and dissatisfaction now comprised said girl's life. Yang had considered herself to be relatively skilled in video games, but this was something else entirely, and she had begun to regret her life choices after putting in that eldritch abomination of a disk. Apparently, the game got it in its head that she knew what was going on and how to do everything already.
This was without a doubt the hardest 'wall' in a game that she had encountered, even considering that one cheap boss in Kung-Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle 2 that spammed his ranged laser attack. But it was still better than thinking about the uneasiness she had felt holding onto Jaune's weapons for even a brief amount of time. They had just felt… well she didn't know, but there was a feeling. If she were a superstitious teen, she'd think they were sentient or cursed, but that was beyond fairy tail levels of ridiculous and tried to laugh it off.
She groaned in frustration of the matter at hand, just after J&P's door opened to usher a voice of salvation. "Ah, I'd recognize that sound anywhere."
Jaune, now with a book in his hand, and Pyrrha walked up to join her. Finally, someone to share her woes! "Jaune, I need your help. I've tried everything, but I can't get it right. This game's inhuman!" She threw down the controller next to her with a huff as it bounced on the cushion.
"No problem, I got killed quite a…" He trailed off as he saw the TV, face frozen in bewilderment as his eyes flickered back and forth between the player and the game.
"Yang?" He groaned, overcoming his shock, and resisted the strong urge to face palm as hard as he could. His partner stood next to him, looking like she had no idea what was going on.
"What?" She asked, irritation from her situation bleeding into her voice like the red bleeding into lilac within her iris.
"This is what has you stuck? The character creation?" He asked, his lackluster tone conveying his disappointment.
"I just can't get the hair color right! I couldn't get the length, and I'm okay with that, but the color is a must. The closest I've gotten is yellowish-green with these stupid numbers." On the plus side, she had managed to craft a good likeness to herself, if a bit more gaunt with sharper features.
Pulling out his scroll with a huff, a quick check online gave him the information he needed. "Try 232 Red, 222 Green, and 42 Blue."
Punching in the numbers, the avatar's wavy, shoulder length locks turned sunflower yellow, matching the player almost perfectly.
At her questioning glance, Jaune explained, "I had a similar problem with the number color schematic for my first play-through, so I looked online. Of course, this whole thing is rather pointless. Ninety-nine percent of the time you'll be wearing something that covers head and hair."
"Well then I just won't wear a helm." She wasn't about to let her work go to waste, and vanity certainly had nothing to do with it.
"Well, have fun with that." He down on the couch between the two lovely ladies and opened up the book that he purchased at Tukson's, The Devil in the White City, and offered to answer any questions she'd have before turning to the first page. "Did you at least choose Hunter-level difficulty? It's tailored to the enhanced reflexes required in our profession."
"Of course I did. What do you think I am, a noob?"
"No, but that doesn't mean the game won't stomp on you like one."
Pyrrha sat silent during their exchange, until Yang asked her, "So P-money, you here to watch?"
"If you wouldn't mind." She brushed off the nickname as no big deal, as it didn't sound spiteful.
"Nah, I perform better with an audience… No, Jaune. I know what you just thought, so don't even say it." Yang warned him. Focused on his literary journey as he was, Jaune merely giving a hum of acknowledgment in response that contained a hint of suggestion, exploiting a loophole in her request.
"Whatever happens, you may think it all a bad dream." The man in the opening cinematic spoke, coughing violently through his laughter.
"Well, that's reassuring. I'm sure this is all sterile and up to code." Yang commented sarcastically, a bit uneasy at the creepy vibes thus far. Said unease was augmented as time went on, with the scourge beast rising from a pool of blood before bursting into flame as it approached. Little grey creatures began to crawl over the character to fill up the screen before fading to black.
"Rated E for everyone." Jaune quipped in imitation of a commercial voice, his eyes not leaving the pages.
"Like hell it is. If this isn't M, I'll shear my mane." Yang responded facetiously as her character opened the first door of Iosefka's Clinic and ran down the stairs, doing a few other actions as she fiddled with the controls.
Unsure of what they were talking about, Pyrrha asked, "I'm sorry, but what ratings?"
"Oh you know, that letter in the corner of the case for age recommendations. It's kind of like PG or R for movies. Oh cool, my first enemy." Her character, named Yang2Yin, walked into the room with the scourge beast enjoying a meal, paying no attention to her as she approached. She didn't care that she didn't have any weapons yet. Punching things to death is what she did to Grimm for a living, so it should be good enough here too.
As she fought the beast barehanded, and doing rather well considering her basic feel for the controls, Pyrrha responded, "Oh, I'm sorry for asking. I've just never played video games before."
Instinctively, Yang pressed the pause button before giving her a questioning stare. Jaune was doing the same, the confession and his curiosity temporarily robbing his interest.
At his partner's honest expression, he asked, "Wait, you're serious. How is that possible?"
The Spartan made to answer, but sounds from the still continuing game, namely Yang2Yin dying for the first time, prompted a loud round of cursing from the blonde in the middle.
"The fuck? I paused, you stupid game!" Her reaction brought Jaune a dark chuckle.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Does my failure amuse you?" Displeasure oozed from her inquiry.
"Just a bit, but mostly it's because there's no pause button."
"But what if you get distracted?"
"The game doesn't give a shit. Besides, you're pretty much supposed to die here."
"That's ridiculous. What kind of game…" She was interrupted by the cut-scene of her avatar awakening in the Hunter's Dream for the first time. "What the fuck?"
"Welcome to Bloodborne, Yang. Also, you are going to be asking slash yelling that a lot. This is a safe area, so it's the closest thing you'll get to a pause. Which brings us back to you, Pyrrha. How have you never played video games before?"
"Umm… well I was training. Between that, studying at Sanctum, and the later tournaments I didn't have time for much else."
The two blondes looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement. "Well then, consider us your mentors into this brave new world."
There was no teasing to her ignorance because it was no fault of hers. If they were to do so in this situation, it would have been deterring and detrimental. Besides, ignorance is best remedied in a positive environment.
Selecting her weapons from the now identified messengers coming out of the ground, the saw cleaver and the blunderbuss, before porting back into the clinic.
"Iosefka's? Is that the name of your viola torch, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.
"Indeed it is. Like I said, I named all my stuff after inspirational figures. Spoilers, some of them pop up here."
"How many of them?" Yang asked, who thought that his naming theme was a pretty cool idea. Not as cool as hers, but still interesting.
"Just like everything else in the game, you'll just have to find out for yourself."
For the next few hours, Yang struggled and confronted the perils of the game while Pyrrha watched, occasionally asking general questions about gaming, and admiring the spectacle. Meanwhile, Jaune sat and enjoyed his book, providing the occasional advice and guidance, as he did not want to spoil someone's first play-through and the thrilling sense of exploration and discovery. He smiled, reminiscing of when this was all fresh and new for him, and how the two reacted in similar ways as he did.
Eventually, all good things must come to an end, and it was starting to get late in the evening. With a last burst of frenzied effort, Yang managed to slay Father Gascoigne with the saw spear, her current weapon of choice, after a dozen deaths via axe and claw.
As the boss faded into pale blue mist, Jaune marked his place and closed the book. "Well, I'm tucking in. Classes in the morning, and all that rot. Good night ladies."
"Night, Jaune, I'm doing the same. Shouldn't pull an all nighter before the first day." Yang closed the game after lighting the new lantern, and headed off for a good night's rest.
After a few minutes, the Hunter was now in bed, lying down after another long day, while Pyrrha sat down below him brushing her hair before following suit. Just as Jaune was about to drift off, her voice kept him awake a while longer. "Jaune?"
"Yes?" He asked patiently, staring up at the ceiling.
"Well… I just wanted to say thank you for earlier."
"Gonna need to be more specific on that. Earlier can mean a lot of things."
"Everything thus far, really. It's the most fun that I've had in a long time."
"My pleasure. It would behoove us to not try and get to know each other, both in and out of combat. After all, what is friendship beyond a chance encounter?" He let off a light chuckle before falling into his patron deity's domain.
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A large, lanky figure stalked silently through the dense trees in the dark of the night. Its dry, raspy breath was the only sound that it made, cutting through the natural choir of the red forest. Inhaling familiar scents and hearing familiar sounds, its head swiveled towards the source, tracking its new prey to slake its unquenchable thirst. How it ached to feel more than the pain of its existence.
A soft light pierced through the darkness that it recognized as flame. The burning crackles, the cloying aromas of smoke and bitter ash tainted the air. This was not what held its interest, but the interaction of the beings surrounding the fire did. Man fighting against Grimm, a tale as old as time.
A tiny whiff this close was all it needed to lose what little patience it possessed. A bone-chilling screech was the only warning its prey received before the feast, the meal's resistance futile. The screams of fear, choked sobs of despair, and roars of fury were quick to die down as it reveled in its meal. As it consumed all that remained, the accursed thirst abated. Even when all that was left was dregs seeping into the ground or dissipating in the air, it consumed all that it could, slurping and sniffing the soil and sucking in the air.
As its mind cleared, it could feel more than its own voracity. This clarity, however faint, would not last long before the haze of famine set in again. It needed more, always more. Perhaps with more, it could be free from this unyielding torment of starvation. Following the trail its former main course had left behind, it searched in hopes for more, cognizance fading as its primal urges overtook it again.
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Chapter End
I worked extra hard on Jaune vs. Pyrrha because I wanted to make it something special for the two. The scar on his cheek is like the one on Cassandra from Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Believe it or not, the hardest decision for me this chapter was the name for the Shotgun Spear (I refuse to call it rifle spear because it fired buckshot, not rifle rounds).
The reason I have Jaune's best weapon as the spear is because when I played Bloodborne, the spear was my weapon of choice before I found the Rakuyo. I did make some modifications, with the ability to adjust length between one and two hand use.
Also, I wanted something to substitute the bonding moment between Jaune and Pyrrha with her unlocking his aura, so why not name a weapon together?
Writing Yang playing Bloodborne, I tried to capture how I imagine how From Software virgins would react to playing this, and how much of a relief it would be to be coached by a veteran.