Chapter 10: Unexpected

Fae stared at the eccentric professor in disbelief. The man was difficult to listen to, to say the least. But if you actually listened to the what he was saying…

"I lost my balance in the mud due to the storms that plagued the area for the past few days. The beast took advantage of my momentary lapse and tackled me sending us both crashing through my Grandfather's cabbage cart. He cried out in despair, 'My cabbages!' Which drew the ire of the beast."

"I grabbed the closest thing on hand and stuffed it down the maw of the monster as it momentarily forgot me and roared at my Grandfather. Started that someone tried to feed it cabbages the foul creature tried to swallow as I scrambled to find my weapon! Unfortunately I could only seem to get my hands on more cabbages so I stuffed them one after another down the maw of the beast all the while continuing my hurried search for my weapon. In then end it was unnecessary as the beast choked on the leafy vegetables and eventually suffocated. And that my students, is how I killed an elder Creep, with naught but cabbages. Do not lose sight of your surroundings and use everything to your advantage in combat!"

Preposterous, utter ridiculous, highly improbable if not outright impossible. Shaking her head she glanced around the room and saw most of her classmates were long gone. Warren had his hood pulled over his eyes and was quietly snoozing away, while Ozwald's eyes had glazed over with a far away look. Worst of all was Liseran, the peppy girl was snoring softly as she held her head up with one arm on her desk.

It was easy to understand their reactions but at the same time, they were surprisingly rude! Even if it was difficult to listen to his ranting, to stop listening entirely was just plain rude! [Wait! Not ranting, I meant er…educational lecture?] She could barely contain the scowl that threatened to cross her features. With a shake of her head she raised her hand to be excused to use the restroom as she started to listen to the lecture once more.

"-believe themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

[What?] Her eyes went wide as his gaze locked onto her raised hand. [Uh-oh.]

"Oh-ho! Very well Ms. Von-Vert, here is your chance to prove it!"

With that said he stepped closer to the cage behind his desk. As soon as he drew close two red eyes appeared and the Grimm that was within the cage snarled and thrashed against the bars, waking the students who had fallen asleep. Liz blinked slowly as she yawned and focused on the cage and jumped in her seat as the creature gave a particularly loud growl.

"Holy shit, how long has that been there?!" Slowly Fae got up from her seat as she made her way down to the waiting professor. "Um, excuse me Professor Port?"

"Yes my dear? You'll have to speak up a bit." Her face flushed with embarrassment as she raised her voice, but it quickly dropped with each word spoken, "I didn't mean to volunteer, I was going t-to ask…"

She cleared her throat and suddenly found his polished leather boots VERY interesting to stare at as quickly squeaked out, "If I may be excused to use the restroom?"

"Ah, of course my dear, hurry back." The man nodded and ushered her out before he raised his voice and called out once more, "Any other volunteers?"

-x-x-x-x-

Overhearing their exchange Ozwald felt bad for his embarrassed teammate. He went to stand but before he could someone called out, "I'll do it."

A slight frown crossed his face as settled back into his seat. He recognized that voice. Looks like he'd get to see what Jayde was actually capable of. The class watched in silence as the bully made his way down the stairs. Most were unsure of what to expect, word of Jayde and Warren's spar had already circulated the school, earning him a reputation of a racist bully but...he made it to Beacon. Not to mention he already passed the initiation and was not just placed on a team, but was made the leader of it. He couldn't be all talk.

A trapdoor built into the ceiling opened as Jayde pocketed his scroll, and one of the rocket lockers descended. It popped open and the hunter in training removed his weapon. He proceeded to stroll over to Professor Port's desk and surprised everyone when he picked up a few pieces of paper and asked, "Mind if I use these?" The older man glanced them over and shook his head. Non-important forms, Jayde took a deep breath and activated his aura. "Ready."

"Not going to change into your combat attire?" Jayde shook his head in denial. The professor regarded him carefully for a moment before he shrugged, "Very well." With speed that did not match his stature, he grabbed his axe that was on display behind his desk and brought upon the lock of the cage as he shouted, "Begin!"

The door of the cage sprung open as an alpha creep burst free and roared. It hunkered down and as it faced Jayde who stood calmly before the Grimm as he held one of the sheets of paper between them. The monster lunged and closed the distance between them as Jayde moved back slightly.

Ozwald's eyes went wide as he realized the paper stayed suspended in mid-air between them. Jayde tightened his grip on his hammer as the beast collided with the paper-

-and came to a complete halt with a resounding impact.

With a shout he swung upwards and sent his hammer crashing into the skull of the beast. The creature sailed across the room and crashed onto the floor. It struggled to reorient itself as Jayde stepped forward and swung downward. The head of the hammer that faced away from the beast opened to reveal a secondary firing mechanism that triggered loudly. Propelled by the shot the weapon smashing the beast back down on to the ground.

It tried to roll and knock Jayde over, but the tall fighter jumped over the beast with ease. It collided with another sheet of paper that Jayde had paced before he jumped. Thrashing violently, it tried to rise once more. He landed lightly and rushed in slapping the remaining papers against the creep before he moved over to its head and smashed its down once more. Trapped the monster tried to struggle free as it was struck again and again before finally it slumped to the ground and started to dissolve. As it disappeared the first sheet of paper all but exploded into confetti.

The class watched as one by one the remaining sheets shredded, which prompted Professor Port started to speak once more. "Marvelous! Well done! It would appear we are truly in the presence of a great huntsmen in training! Bravo!"

A bell rung out through the intercom system as the professor cleared his throat. "Very well that appears to be all the time we have. No homework for tonight, just remember to always remain vigilant!"

Various students mingled in the pathways between the desks as they made their way for the exit. Oz waited for his team to get ready to leave as Warren stretched slowly. Clearly he was in no rush to leave, Oz looked around the room and was surprised to see Jayde waiting at the bottom level. Warren seemed to notice as he popped his shoulders and rose to his feet. Scrambling to follow his partner and back him up if necessary, Oz leapt to his feet as Warren made his way down to where Jayde was waiting.

"Marune."

"Lagune."

Jayde shifted slightly before he stated, "I heard about your parents." It was as if the whole world froze for a moment as Warren tensed. Everyone still in the room stopped and turned wary eyes to the faunus as he slowly forced himself to relax.

Undeterred Jayde continued, "Going through that, yet still coming here to become a huntsman? I can respect that." Oz was certain his was not the only jaw that hit the floor as Jayde suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "I still don't like you. I still want to kick your ass...but I can admit that you got guts." Finished with what he wanted to say he all but tossed his hammer into his locker as he left the room. Approaching his leader Oz stopped and waited for the faunus to compose himself.

"Well, I think we can all agree we did not see that coming."

Warren chuckled slowly before he asked rhetorically, "What kind of rumor mill does this school have?"

Ozwald raised a single brow as he deadpanned, "Liseran Mathews. That alone explains everything. Although I doubt she had anything to do with THAT one."

Warren opened his mouth to retort before he stopped and instead replied with, "Fair point." Before either of them could add anything else, Liz all but tacked Ozwald off his feet and she stated in a sing-song voice, "Ozzy! I have questions~"

-x-x-x-x-

"So what is the range of your sensing?" Oz shrugged as they walked through the halls to find his locker. "I tested it once, placed a shield on one of my families airships outbound for the Vytal festival a few years back. It never reached a point where I was unable to sense it. While it was in Vacuo I got a worse...view? I guess that's what you could call it? But I was never unable to sense it."

"So how difficult is it to add your 'sense' to something? Like it is pretty easy for me to tag something. I just have to consciously pick a color and touch it."

"It's not that easy. It has to be something that has been in contact with my aura for a good long while. Days at the least. My clothes have a tad bit of sense attached to them, but most notably is my shields and ammo. I'm constantly modifying them, and I do all my reloading by hand. The clips don't carry that much awareness with them, about a foot in any given direction, and sounds are kind muted. Where the shields get several feet in all directions, normally 1 shield is enough to cover a normal sized room."

"Wait, you can listen through them?"

Ozwald nodded as they made a turn. Following his lead, Liz nodded along while he clarified. "I can hear and see through them. Never managed to pull off the others, but never had a good reason to try. I mean why would I want to feel what a shield feels?"

Liz chuckled as Warren simply shook his head. "Downside is that there is no...hmm, passive sensing it. I'm either trying to sense something, or I'm not."

Arriving at his locker, Oz used his scroll to open it as Warren questioned, "So if each of us carry a shield, we can't talk to it and expect you to hear us the whole time."

"Spot on. I CAN listen in, but I have to CHOOSE to."

With a sigh Warren grumbled, "We really need to see how all of our Semblances work together. Though if I am being honest…"

"We aren't really a combat oriented team?"

Ozwald and Warren turned around to look at Liseran. She shrugged nonchalantly as she continued, "If Tag and Tune Sense can work together, Warren can sneak a tagged shield pretty much anywhere, and Oz and I can track it. Fae's Revert can help us sneak into places especially if we need a quick distraction. Overall with our various skill sets, we are more sneaky team. Stealth, tracking, protection, that kind of thing. Of course having a rail gun and a suit of armor don't exactly go hand in hand with stealth but…"

They contemplated her words as she continued, "In any event Tags placed on most objects and such last until I remove them. Or at the very least I've yet to see them decay when placed on random things."

Warren caught her phrasing, "So there are things that they do decay on?" Pleased that he caught on she grinned. "People. Their weapons. I think it has to do with their aura, which makes sense as to why it doesn't last long on their weapons either. In those cases, the tags last about a week unless I re-apply them."

She checked her scroll again as she asked, "So! Can Oz Sense something that he is tuned to while Warren is shadow walking? Can I see Tagged things while Warren Shadow walks? Will my Tags interfere with Ozwald's Tune Sense? With Fae's Revert remove my Tags, or interfere with Tune Sense? And more questions for Fae on how Revert works."

Apparently, she took notes. With a clap Liz bounced to her feet as she looked at Oz. "Unfortunately since it takes so long for you to tune something, the easiest way to test all of that is for me to tag one of your shields, and have Warren Shadow Walk with it. After that we can break the shield, and see if Fae's Revert removes anything."

With a drawn out groan, Ozwald handed one of his shields to Liz. Her eyes darkened to black before she passed the shield to Warren. "Out of idle curiosity, how many colors can you tag in?"

Liz smiled as her grey eyes flashed through several colors. "Eight! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and black. And yes I keep the colors organized. Baddies get red. Friends get green, while generally good people get blue, and so on." Her smile curved into a smirk as her eyes were colored by an unrelenting prismatic storm.

"Whoa…"

"I never said I could only view color at a time~"

Ozwald turned to Warren as he asked, "Well, that is a thi- uh...War?" Warren was gone, it dawned on him that he had started to Shadow Walk so he tried to sense the shield that he passed their leader when.

"Oh! Oh, jeez!"

It was like the world was inverted. Everything was black, except for these window like pathways that were scattered about. It took him a moment to realize that the 'windows' were actually the shadows cast on objects. He could sense Warren as he slowly made his way across the pathways. He could sense out from the windows, but it was like trying to sense his shield when it was in Vacuo. He could do it but the range wasn't as good as it normally was.

"Huh. Now that is odd. The tag is...flattened. I can see Warren, I can see the shield, but they are flattened onto the floor-whoa! Hey! You can walk on walls!?"

Warren's laughter echoed out from a shadow as he reached out and pulled himself free of the shadow. "And the ceiling. If I feel so inclined." With a shake of his head Oz scoffed as he commented, "Well, I guess it is time to go bug Fae and rope her into this experimentation."

He looked at the shield that Warren held and sighed. [I really hope we don't break it too badly…]

-x-x-x-x-

"And done!" Fae looked over at Coco with a blank stare. "Ish. Kinda." This time she simply raised an eyebrow at the eccentric fashionista.

"Okay fine! The easy part is done. Happy?" Fae tilted her head back slightly as she contemplated her reply. "Hm~ Not particularly. After all the project is not yet finished. But all the same I feel, that this is a good moment to thank you, once more, for your assistance."

Coco could do nothing other than stare at the young noble. After a few moments she deadpanned, "You are totally messing with me right now aren't you?"

"Why Coco! I would never! It would extremely unbecoming of someone of my stature to, as you put it, 'mess with' someone."

"Fae~~~~~"

Faerien's banter with the fashionista was interrupted when Liseran ran into the workroom and headed straight for her. "Hello Liseran, how can I help yo- whoa, hey hold on for a moment!"

Before she could even finish her greeting Liseran had marched up and grabbed her by the wrist and had started to drag her out of them room.

"Wha-Liseran! Wait I was- Listen to me~~!"

Flustered Fae tried to protest as Liseran dragged her from the room.

"I'll trim the barrels down to the listed length. Try to be back by then!" Fae shot the other girl a grateful look as her team member pulled her through the door and out to the hallway where she saw Ozwald and Warren.

"You put her up to this didn't you."

Warren grinned widely as he raised a single finger. "One: ouch why would you assume that?" He raised a second finger and continued as she went to reply. "Two: Yes. Yes I did."

"Wel-"

"Three." He added another finger as his tried to keep the laughter out of his voice when he saw her glare for cutting her off. Repeatedly. "To be fair, she is hard to say 'no' to."

Ozwald shuffled forward in a subdued fashion. Fae looked at him concerned. While not as...ceaselessly optimistic as Liseran was, from what she'd seen the other boy was normally cheerful. For him to be so subdued...she looked to the object in his hands and sighed. "I think you three overestimate me."

Shocked Oz's jaw dropped as Liz and Warren subtly shifted away from their teammate. "But...I thought- you could...huh?"

Fae sighed and lead the to an empty room and gestured for them to step inside. Confused the other three followed.

Once inside Fae stepped over to one of the tables as she pulled her dark hair back into a ponytail. She tapped one of her bracelets and it glowed green before it shifted. The others watched as it wrapped around her hair and formed a loop with her crest upon the surface. She gestured to the table as Oz took the cue to set the shield down on the surface.

"As I told Liseran, my Semblance is Revert. I can revert an object to a state I've seen it in at a different point in time. Easiest example being my bracelets." She crossed her wrists and several of the bracelets glowed briefly and flowed down to her hands where they reformed into-

"Doesn't that count as walking around armed?"

In each hand were two short knives. With a brief smile Fae pressed the two knives together as the glowed once more and shifted and merged into a much longer dagger.

"How?"

She crossed her wrists once more as they flowed back into bracelets as she explained. "Originally it was an experiment. Charles took block of carbon fiber, had me sit down and watch him forge it into the knives. Then I reverted them back into the block and he crafted my bracelets. Reverted and then forged it into a dagger. Again and again we remade it into various objects, so I can shift that one object between any of those 'states' I've seen it in."

"Ok, so you've seen my shields. What's the problem?"

In lieu of an answer, she reached into the shredded pile of scrap and picked out a random piece of circuitry and held it up. "This. I don't know how this was connected. I don't know how the internal mechanisms work. If I sat down went over your blueprints, watched as you assembled the thing, and then was involved with any modifications beyond simple repairs then, yes, I could Revert it. Easily. But otherwise…"

She trailed off and placed a hand on the surface of the shield. It glowed and shifted as certain parts were pushed out of the way. Most went back within the shield and a few pieces fell outwards onto the table. It looked whole, undamaged and repaired but with all the scrap around shield, it was clear that it was not 'fixed'.

"The most I can do without that knowledge is surface repair. Anything composed of a single material is relatively easy to Revert. A cup, or clothing are excellent examples. However once we start introducing complex mechanisms and circuitry it is much more difficult for me to fix. Using it to heal people is also unusually draining so don't expect miracles. Treat it as expedited first aid, but if we have the time and resources for traditional treatment we should chose that instead."

A heavy sigh escaped from Oz as Liz and Warren both flinched at the sound. "I guess we should have checked with you before we attempted this. On the bright side I can still sense it. But now I wonder if you are able to Revert and object to a state it was in before I Tuned it, would I still be able to sense it."

"Oh! You were testing Semblance interaction?"

Liz poked at the seemingly repaired shield as she answered for them. "Yeah. Oz and I can see and sense things while Warren Shadow walks with 'em. Al~so~ my Tag is still on the shield but Oz raises a point." She dramatically raised a finger into the air as she exclaimed, "Whose Semblance trumps the others! Can you revert an object to a point where it will remove Oz's Tuning and/or my Tag?"

With a deadpan Warren asked, "Did you have to shout it like that?"

"Yes. Yes I did."

Ozwald chuckled darkly as he flipped the shield and opened a compartment on the back only for a shower of small pieces to fall out. "Well good thing I have five others and had an upgrade in the works."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Drones."

Warren's scroll dinged which prompted him to sit forward and open the device. CANA's projection appeared and turned to face Oz, "I might be able to help with that." Liseran cheered as she dashed over to the other girl and latched onto her. "Great! Then Fae can help me with a secondary weapon!"

The dark haired noble instantly blushed as she stated, "I may have...already given that some thought?"

The others all stared at her before Warren sighed. "Okay. So I am planning on rebuilding the entire carapace of the War Suit. I need to hit up the workshop at some point to repair the damaged pieces before I even think about making new pieces but yeah. I know Fae wants to increase the omph of her pistols. Oz now has to convert his shield into a drone-"

"-Not quite. It will still be a shield. Just upgrade the software so that it is a better turret. And you know. Eventually make it hover. So, more placement options."

Warren rolled his eyes as he continued, "And now you want a secondary weapon? I feel the need to point out that this is our second day attending Beacon. We've barely attended any classes and each of us are already planning huge modifications to weapons."

The room was filled with embarrassed laughter as each of the team members took stock of that statement. Finally Fae spoke as the voice of reason. "Live combat. They always say that a single day on the field is worth months of training. The exercise in the Emerald Forest pointed out some flaws to each of us. Things that we'll need to fix going forward or it will get us killed." The cheerful mood in the room instantly died. Warren's eyes were frigid as he sat and regarded Ozwald's destroyed weapon.

"Well that was a downer. So! Miss Invincible!" Fae gave a very unrefined groan to Liseran's joke as the other girl continued. "What's this idea?"

"I was thinking boots? Some kind of propulsion, bracing, and possibly alternate firing. The propulsion can help you move around and reposition for a better vantage point. Bracing for firing in odd positions, and if we use a decent size caliber for close range kick attacks…"

"I like it!"

AN: Well. Jayde is not completely incompetent. Part of the reason for that is so he doesn't come across as a 'Cardin Clone'. Also, displaying his Semblance which yes, I will explain it. Eventually.

Poor Ozwald. Good thing he has six shields so losing one isn't a catastrophe.

For those who noticed, yes Liz's secondary weapon is a lot like Mercury's leg-guns...things. The difference is that Liz's will not be as strong, nor will they turn into her primary method of fighting. The main purpose of them will be mobility, and a weak secondary shot to buy her time to fire the railgun. Or stab the thing with the trident. Either or.