REAL UPDATE WOO~
We'll start a new arc from here on.
Jaune ran across the beacon ground with newfound spirit, the patches of green bathed with gentle and vibrant colors of dawn as the sun began to rise. The air was fresh, for it was the time the trees began their cycle of life, gave the world the gift it needed to survive and flourish.
Confident, Jaune began to unleash electricity around his body, and use it to propel his muscles beyond their normal limit. Only for him to trip face first into the moist ground.
"Okay that was a bad idea." He muttered and used the small towel around his neck to wipe the dirt from his cheek. "Still unable to use Godspeed on a wet ground..."
He ran again, and he finally reached the first checkpoint. This deserted area was filled by nothing but dead trees, so he formed another lighting around his hand. Arc Glyph appear on his palm shortly before a stick made of solid energy constructed from it. Jaune threw the stick, which caused a thunderous crack on it's way, and he managed to take out one of the dead tree's largest branch.
"Still not good." He clenched his hand, took his breath for a moment. "If I can't hit a tree there's no hope I can hit moving object."
Not that he will give up.
The second checkpoint is a bedrock five kilometers to the north of the Beacon. This where Bane and the weird second year -Yatsuhashi, if Jaune remembered- often train together. The broken boulders and craters on the hard gravel were fresh, only a couple of weeks at most.
Jaune fully realizes that he's not the only one working hard. Their team had so much to catch up on. Though to be honest, Miltia could use some more motivation. Unlike Melanie, Miltia does not actively foster competition with random people. Even with APPLE's leader, she's never really that invested. In contrast, Melanie always looked at Weiss with... well, not hostility, but something less malicious... rivalry?
He wanted to ask why, but sometimes, that odd curiosity would be taken over by a sense of reservation.
To be honest, Jaune doesn't really know much about his teammates, they're not even especially close. He always tried to open the opportunity, even so far as introducing them to his father, still... they never tell him much in return. Jaune felt left out of the loop.
He knew from a friend of a friend (aka: Ruby) that the Malachites work in a bar, or something. But the details of which were completely scarce. And of course there's his partner, Bane.
Maybe he should try harder? He really, really doesn't want to come out as aggressive or anything but still... three months. It's been three months.
Familiar ringing sounds interrupted his train of thought, as a trail of white glyphs cut across his usual route. It was then followed by the graceful sight of certain Heiress, clad in body-fitting track suit. That was when their eyes meet.
"Oh hey...Morning." Weiss said as she averted her eyes aside.
Disgust.
Jaune sighed. Am I that creepy-looking? Weiss has never been exceptionally friendly with him, and that kind of... hurt. And he decided to continue his way after replying to her forced greeting with a forced smile.
"Wait, Jaune."
"W-what?"
"What's with that reaction? Do I look that scary to you? You've been like this for...weeks. If you have any grudge towards me, please tell it to my face. Worst comes to worst we will solve this in the arena."
Jaune twitched again, Schnee's and their pride, alright. "No. I just... you know, you always look like you're creeped out."
"Because you ARE creepy." She bluntly told him.
Ouch.
"See, that's what I mean. I'm sorry if I frightened you, that's about it. I guess we're clear, no hard feelings okay?"
"No wait." She grabbed the sleeve of his tracksuit before he could chicken out, "Listen, I think you're creepy because you kept staring. We never ever conversed until today, you've just kept staring. You're always hang out with Ruby, and you trained a lot with Blake, but you can't bear to say ANYTHING to me?"
Jaune froze for the moment.
Ooh shiit... now he DID feel like a creep. All these months passed since they first meet in person, the countless times that Jaune just kept staring on her, especially the back of her head... it comes back like a rush of breeze that follow with the shift of air temperature.
"Sorry about that. I just..." Jaune awkwardly gestured, "Listen, don't take it too personally. But truthfully, I was one of your fans, or rather, I AM one."
Weiss tilted her head, her asymmetrical ponytail obscured by her face. "Huh?"
"I'm always been your fan, From the beginning of your debut to your last Concert, I attended them. Well, half of them." Jaune earnestly told her, "I have all your albums, and listen to them from time to time. And I never thought I would see YOU in Beacon."
"I see..." Weiss closed her eyes.
Okay now this is awkward.
"You see, it's one thing to see your idol." Jaune finished, "It's another thing to see your idol in the same class at you."
"That day had long gone, Jaune. My singing career, my family, I left them behind in Atlas." Weiss bitterly told him, almost too bitter even. "You and I are classmates now, for all intent and purposes, we're equal. There's no Weiss the idol, there's no Weiss the heiress, there's only Weiss Schnee, huntress-in-training. And there's no Jaune the fanboy, or Jaune the stalker, only Jaune Arc the huntsman-in-training."
"But-"
"Please?" Weiss pleaded, almost like she's in tears, even. Jaune surprised to see such expression drawn upon his idol's pale, beautiful face. Still, this surprisingly vulnerable side of her... it reminded him of Weiss Schnee he always see in the past, not the cold and blunt Weiss Schnee he saw almost everyday in beacon.
"Okay." Jaune scratched his head, why Weiss sounded so hateful about her past, he wondered. Still, with his secret second identity, he had no room to pry either. He coughed a bit. "So what are you doing?"
"Same as you: training." She said, shortly before forming another trail of Glyphs and slid across the meadow, circling his position almost quite teasingly. It made Jaune's heart skip a beat. Her slim body and her pale skin match perfectly with her crystal blue eyes, quite a heavenly sight.
"I'm forbidden by my Doctor from any sparring. So a little morning spin should be fine."
Morning spin she said, Jaune chuckled. "Training around this hour always felt nice, will never trade it for the world."
"You did this everyday? Alone?" Weiss asked, a little bit impressed, and he nodded to confirm it.
"Well yeah and if I make any mistakes, no one will come to laugh. I mean, see that's why I always spar with Blake. She's kind of nice and understanding, plus we're both dual wield. Well sometimes with Ruby too, but the two of us are often clowning around just because."
Weiss snickered a bit before broke into full on laughter. "No wonder you and Ruby hit off so well, I think she likes you."
A little bit of a push, Weiss smirked inwardly. Sorry Ruby, your love story is mine to shape.
"Yeah I like her too." Jaune said aloud.
Weiss' smile curled into that of a cat, Oh my this is Gold. "Really? So, how it's going? Have you two went to a date orr..."
"...I guess I should rephrase it better." Jaune raised his eyebrow, "I mean I kind of hit on her when I came to Beacon but I don't think our relationship was like that. We're just friends."
This freaking dunce... Weiss clenched her hand. Time to dig more from the redhead dolt.
"WELL. Seeing as we're here, why don't we train together?" Weiss proudly offered, which Jaune took with delight as he gallantly bowed and offer his hand. Weiss felt like she began to see why Ruby thinks Jaune's actually a cool guy. Because he could switch from his goofy and awkward self to someone worthy of elite ball.
"Why don't we do a little waltz instead?"
"Waltz, YOU?"
"Hey, I'm a dance nerd." Jaune said in protest, lost the grace he displayed seconds before.
Weiss shrugged. "Okay... so... how do we do this? I mean, my stomach's kind of hurt."
Jaune smiled as sparks began to gather under his feet, his eyes sharpened as he formed a receptive dance stance, the woman half of a ballroom dancing, the one that will bear the burden. "Very carefully."
Just for this moment, Jaune will be her support.
Library of beacon always open 24/7, indeed, sometimes the students spent their time studying overnight from dusk to dawn. And sometimes it's simply unavoidable. Still, the Library usually wasn't full of people in the morning.
The exception of course, exist with the so-called bookworms.
Miltia looked at the anatomical book intensely, learned parts of human body more than she did in her entire life. There's so much hidden in there that she was amazed by the sheer detail a simple 360 page book can contain. Her eyebrows furrowed at the explanation of certain parts, however.
"Hey Blake, what's really good about training back muscles again?" the red-dressed Malachite sister raised the thick anatomical book and point on the diagram.
"Hmm?" The girl in maid dress raised her attention from the novella she's been reading, "It's much more efficient than bulking up your arms."
"Really?" Miltia skeptically approach her, "What makes you say that?"
"It's an old trick as old as the existence of huntress themselves." Ren joined as he put a pile of book on the table and sit slightly away beside Blake, he pulled out an apple. "Channeling the strength of back muscle will grant you incredible strength burst in a moment. Now, touch my back."
Miltia looked at Blake, who simply nudged her head in Ren's direction. Miltia put her palm on Ren's back.
He split the apple in two in his grip without moving, at the same time Miltia felt a twitch under his tunic. "For your reference, I was actively suppressing my Aura just then."
"Ah... I see."
"Whereas bulking your arms will slow your reflex, training back muscles is the opposite. Having a lean build and still possible to show incredible feats of strength. For example, me and Nora. Of course, since some girls also trained their arms and opting for even greater strength from their well-toned arms, as you can tell from my two other teammates." Ren smiled.
"But in general, most huntress prefers lean build and center their movement around their legs due to anatomical difference with men, granting them much higher flexibility and agility. The aesthetic is also a good bonus." Blake added. Not that properly trained arms looks ugly, since both Yang and Pyrrha are, by far, considered the most beautiful students in the first year, period.
Ah, the big breasted blond bimbo. Miltia nodded, and the red haired Champion whatever.
"NEEERDS." Russel sneered as he passed by with dirty books on his hands.
"The Pot shouldn't call the kettle black." Miltia spat, noticed the Astrology book hidden under the pile of adult magazines and pulled it, caused Russel to gawk and grabbed it hurriedly with reddened face. "Oh shut it whore."
For a moment, one could see anger began to boil in Miltia's eyes. However, that anger became more tranquil as seconds passed. Instead, Miltia become much more frigid, "I bet you like being pegged in the ass by your bachelor friends, bitch."
"WHA?! I'M NOT!" Russel screamed, and then pointed at Miltia as he retreated with one arm embraced his books. "I'll come back for you later."
"Run like a bitch, Russel. Run like a Bitch." Miltia cackled as the Mohawk boy disappeared at the corner of library. It's quite rare to see soft spoken Miltia being so incredibly confrontational. One might actually wonder if this was actually Melanie in a red dress, instead. Or perhaps, she took the insult personally, really.
"Isn't this supposed to be White day?" Blake questioningly muttered. "Looks like they don't care." Ren offered the other half of the apple, which Blake took delightfully and put in her mouth.
"Do you really hate him that much?" Blake asked, "I mean it's not like anyone took them seriously ever since Cardin got his butt kicked by an upperclassman he used to bully."
"Well Yang took them seriously, in her own way." Ren corrected her, he noticed how often Yang hung out with CRDL especially Cardin.
"Well it's her we're talking about, she's weird." Miltia jabbed verbally as she smiled.
Ren raised his finger in objection but then lowered it, "Point."
In fact, sometimes Pyrrha has to drag Cardin around to deal with Yang's various antics. Ren was almost convinced that Yang and Cardin were actually dating, to be honest. Or maybe there's some kind of misunderstanding and Yang just happened to be dominant enough to be friends with the big bully. Ren really couldn't comprehend it, or maybe he doesn't want to.
"So talking about White day, you have anyone in mind?" Miltia put her book down, curiously eyed the other girl around the table.
"Eh? I'd just cook some chocolate chips for the girls." Ren said casually.
"Ren." Miltia took a deep breath, "Girls are supposed to be the one cooking."
"That's sexist." Ren argued, "Historically, men also bake the cookies in the Saint White Day. Though, I remember they bake butter cookies instead. Hmm maybe I should bake butter cookies too..."
"Really?"
"If there's anything good out of the so called Color wars." Blake affirmed, "Is that the world moves past the gender and sex barrier, encouraging individualism and self-expression. You read too much teen novella, Miltia. It's bad."
"Says the one who keeps reading badly written gay porn all the time."
"It's erotica, there's a difference!" Blake protested.
"Yeah, because poorly written BSDM is good for your mind. Gee." Miltia sneered as she shoved her textbook aside in favor of new novella she just bought yesterday, "Pot meet kettle."
"I don't want to hear this conversation." Ren slumped his face on the desk and covered his ears as the two girls began to trade a storm of jab on each others' hobbies. Ren himself preferred the classical hero epic of course, even if they're sometimes hard to read due to language drift. he threw up his hands to the air in exasperation. "Can we just go back to topic? White day, focus."
"Fine, so what is your plan, Miltia?" Blake sighed, mentally noted she will plan her revenge later.
"I'm going to force Melanie to bake, if that helps. I'm not really bad at cooking, but Melanie is so much better at it." Miltia answered, "if she doesn't make her move now it will be too late."
Blake blinked and her bow twitched, "Make a move? What do you mean?"
"She's had the hots for our dunce leader ever since the first time we meet." Miltia rolled her eyes aside, "I mean, I can see where that comes from. In comparison to the worthless men we have met in the past, Jaune's a real prince."
Outside, Jaune sneezed as he and Weiss walked side by side.
"Well I can see that too, he's nice but." Blake shrugged, "Yeah, real nice. A bit passive and slow on the uptake though. Melanie's type huh..."
"See, that's what I mean. It's been three months and Jaune still didn't notice her feelings. But I can't blame him either, Melanie's passive aggressive act wasn't exactly helpful in that regard. So I plan to force her to bake and do something."
"It was all about Ozpin's class eh?" Ren muttered, recalling the second Ozpin's voluntary class months ago.
"Well, that too. I don't want... you know, it's better now than later." Miltia shrugged.
"I see what you mean."
Blake tilted her head in confusion, is Ozpin's class that interesting? She never had the interest to attend, though from that she heard, students who attended feel a strong impression from it. Regardless, she decided to ask. "What about it?"
"Nothing too important really." Miltia said to change the topic, "So are you going to bake, Blake?"
"Well, Ruby and Weiss did insist so I don't see any reason to refuse." Blake smiled, and then broke into hearty laugh. "Well, I expect Adam to buy us a vase full of thorny roses or something despite laughing at our handiwork. Because he's always over dramatic like that."
"But you're happy about it right?" Miltia stood and pointed at Blake's cheek, "Miss Belladonna."
Blake began to sweat profusely as her face become red, almost as red as Miltia's dress. Ren coughed to break the awkwardness. "Well I guess we have a plan, I mean, it would be obvious everyone who bakes today will gather in the school kitchen."
Blake hurriedly stood, "So what's next?"
"Breakfast." Ren said as he looked at the library's clock, it's almost seven in the morning. "We should be able to borrow the kitchen after dinner."
JWMM - The Story of Love, War, and Redemption
By ZeroXSEED
Disclaimer:
RWBY created by Monty Oum and owned by Rooster Teeth
Chapter 8: White Day
"That...wouldconcludeourhistory lessontoday. Oh, a moment please." Oobleck raised his hand shortly before the students can even get a chance to stand and leave, "Who wants an extra credits on History and some credits for the school shop? First come first served."
The students looked at each other questioningly. As expected, most of them don't have that much interest.
"Me!" Ruby yelled aloud, "I want it!"
Figures, the grade skipper would want one. Bane thought and raised his hand, this useless subject shouldn't hold him back too. "Doctor."
"Okay, Miss Rose and Mister Sawyer. Two rooms left!" Oobleck grinned proudly, how unexpected indeed.
The students ignored him and many of them leave regardless.
"Weiss?" Ruby looked at her teammates, but Weiss simply shrugged. "Sorry, I don't need the grades."
Ruby turned to her partner, Blake.
"Blake?"
"I..."
"Sorry, Rubes, we're going to celebrate White Day as proper." Miltia quickly snatched Blake before she could say anything. Blake groaned, while Yang shouted in response. "So what you're saying Blake will bake?"
Everyone in the room except Oobleck groaned.
"Awww..." Ruby pouted, "Adam?"
Adam rested his legs on the table as he continued to read the history textbook, "Sure, if no one w-"
"Me!" Jaune and Sky both raised their hands, and then looked at each other. "Jaune my man I know we're destined to be together." Sky exclaimed excitedly, Jaune is decidedly less so, but it's not like he hates the guy or anything. Sky's always been the most nice and friendly among CRDL, and even Bane usually ignored him instead.
"That means no, little red." Adam snorted and goes back to reading, "Well Jaune and Sky is fine too... I think" Ruby sighed, not sure about Bane, because his reputation ain't exactly something to be respected. Truthfully, Ruby feared the guy, how could Jaune possibly stand being his partner.
"Don't worry about it." Adam muttered, "Bane isn't really as bad as he looks even if he's an ass."
"Pot meet kettle, bullhead." Bane snarled as he shove his textbook down his bag.
Blake smiled as she looked at the antics of her two best friends, and then, she said to her partner. "I'll bake you a lot of cookies, deal?"
"THANK YOU!" Ruby was so excited she hugged the taller girl, the girl in question blushed and panicked. "Let go!"
"Well then, we have exactly one hour to prepare, meet me in the dock exactly fifty nine minutes from now. Oh and bring a basic survival kit, we might spend a night. better yet, wear something more suitable for jungle adventure rather than...whatever you're wearing now. Oh and it's not just my preference." Oobleck grinned shortly before he disappeared in a gust of wind.
"So what are you going to do, Yang?" Ruby asked as she finally released her embarrassed partner.
"Me, Pyrrha and Cardin going to visit le old club, anyone want to join?" Yang shouted aloud. Melanie raised her hand only for Miltia to clap her hand around her mouth and drag her outside. Meanwhile, Ren looked at Nora and crossed his arms. "You're banned from the kitchen."
"Aww..." The petite ginger whined, and softly punched his chest. "You're evil, evil man."
"Hey, either that or no butter cookies for you." Ren shrugged, Nora always -and he meant it-, always ate unfinished cooking because she's hungry. And sometimes she ate the ingredient which caused so much problems for him. "Butter cookies then." Nora agreed, she could at least hold herself from messing up if it means she could taste Ren's cooking later.
"Nora, you sure you don't want to join us?" Pyrrha asked, though her hands were always been full whenever she had to be the straight woman to Yang and Nora, she's still her friend all the same. Plus, since the club is involved, the more people the merrier, and above all else Pyrrha didn't want to be the third wheel to Yang and Cardin.
Nora shook her head furiously, "Nah, you go ahead."
"...Fine then." Pyrrha was under impression that Nora's really like peach wine, but then again, her berserk tendencies tend to pop out when she's 's a surprising display of self reservation, Pyrrha thought. or maybe she's simply too impatient and wanted to taste Ren's cooking that much...
"Just go, I'll cook for you." Ren patted his childhood friend's head, as if he knew that Nora actually wanted to go.
"...Iiiif you say so." Nora jumped and poked his nose, "I'm going."
"That's better!" Yang declared and then curled her arms around her other two teammates. "You want me to buy something Ren?"
"Peach wine. One liter." Ren smiled, "I'll pay you back later."
"OK!" Yang hummed as she dragged her teammates sans Ren out, five seconds later, Ozpin came in.
"Oh my, looks like I was too late. Anyone interested with flower hunting?" He asked. Adam raised his hand so fast that his three other teammates looked at him with shock.
"I haven't even give you the details, but interesting." Ozpin smiled, "You have interest in flowers, Mister Tauros?"
"Verily." Adam smirked confidently.
"Sappy bastard. You want to write a poem while at it?" Bane chuckled as he passed over the bespectacled Bull faunus. "Better than you. When are you going to ask her on a date?"
Of course, Adam is referring to ambivalent relationship between Bane and the upperclassman, Velvet. Weiss broke into laughter, exaggeratedly like a fictional queen would. "You want some ice for that burn, Sawyer?"
"You mean some Weiss for that burn, Schnee." Bane countered, but his innuendo didn't escape the heiress' ears. "Oh so you find me desirable... I don't really mind, actually. But what about Velvet?" Weiss winked and slid closer to him... which caused Bane to step away in the most awkward way possible, ending up with him tripping on the table and landing on the floor on his back.
A string of unintelligible swearing came out of his muffled mouth.
Bane is, surprisingly enough, a very reserved person when it comes to women. As M&M sisters found very recently from Velvet's fashionista friend and teammate, Coco Adel, and they bullied Bane to no end about it. Jaune couldn't help but offer his sympathy, not even he's that bad with romance... or so he thought.
"Seriously dude, you got your ass kicked by Weiss Schnee of all people?" Sky and Jaune offered their hands, though Jaune didn't say anything. Bane doesn't really like being mocked and lowly growled, "Shut it, wimps." But the masked man accepted that friendly gesture either way.
Ruby thought that maybe, maybe Bane is really not as scary as he appeared.
"Ahem." Ozpin coughed to get their attention back, "As you know, I'm too old and frail to travel alone-"
"Bulshiiiiiitt." Bane and Adam both chorused, because they both fully know the extent of Ozpin's strength as a Huntsman. More than anyone in this class except for Blake.
"-So I need some qualified escort to an abandoned Mineshaft in Mountain Glenn to gather a very rare species of flowers." Ozpin took out his scroll, the image of semi transparent, shining plants projected from it. "These plants adapted to darkness of the mine and incorporate dust into their biology, countless eons of evolution granted them self-sustaining life cycle."
"Bio-luminescence huh." Weiss hummed, "I remember my father bought it for my birthday long ago." Remembering her family made her feel sour, so instead she focused back to Ozpin's request. "Professor, are you by chance..."
"Special day deserve special gift don't you agree?" Ozpin softly interrupt. Weiss blinked, but then, she understood that Ozpin wanted to give it to someone really special. Weiss nodded spiritedly and clenched her hands, "I would be happy to participate, Professor. Isn't that right, Adam?"
"What about your injuries?" Adam asked, really concerned. Of course, he's referring to the bruise he accidentally inflicted on Weiss during the spar yesterday. "It's healed, don't worry." Weiss said earnestly.
"Fine then, would two of us be suffice, Professor?" Adam stood and asked Ozpin.
Ozpin smiled at them warmly, "Of course."
Bane and Jaune walked out of the dorm room, dressed straight out like Vale militia more than anything else. Jaune looked down at his garb, which consist of the usual armor on top of long black shirt (as opposed to short sleeved ones) and dark green pants. He admit that green suit him well, but blue is better. Green just look so weird on him.
"Ugh, ranger green doesn't quite fit my style."
Now Bane? Bane always wear camouflage all the time. Desert, marine, mountain, night fight, every pattern known to mankind. The difference is that he wore a poncho on top of his sleeveless armored vest for this occasion, and under said piece of fabric, Bane carries a small backpack with two new equipment he just bought.
"Don't complain, you can't even be arsed to buy pants for yourself." Bane snorted, "Be glad I have dozens of spares."
"Point." Jaune said as he tighten his belt, holding a pants too huge for his own waist.
"I'm ready!" Ruby shouted as she dashed out of her own room, now dressed in elaborate show of pitch black leather jacket on top of golden shirt, khaki pants, and almost too-big bucket hat.
"...really, little red?" Bane commented aloud.
"No offense Ruby but please get rid of that jacket." Jaune winced, "Black leather isn't just for you."
Ruby's eyes widened before she screamed, "...WEISS!"
"Hey, I told you to get a leather jacket, but I never said it should be black." Weiss popped out from RWBT's room, dressed in dull grey version of her dress to avoid dirt. "Besides why would should take Dr. Oobleck's words seriously? We can wear anything we want as long as it's durable and protective. I mean, I'm looking like this going to an abandoned mineshaft."
"Well to be fair we're going to Vytal. It seems that an earthquake and landslide somehow uncovered a new, ancient Ruins. And the Vale Archaeological association invited Professor Oobleck to take a look." Jaune checked his scroll, "Not only is it covered in thick jungle, the weather is actually pretty cold and rainy around this time of year. Our usual clothes really won't cut it."
"Ugh, now to return this to Sarge... I hope he doesn't mind." Ruby scowled.
"Or you could trade it with a red one." Weiss suggested, "Would look so much better on you."
"I agree." Jaune nodded, and Ruby decided to follow their suggestion and trade the glossy black apparel with red leather synth, which suited her so much better. Everyone had finished their preparation for their expedition and proceeded to go to the airpads. There, they saw Ozpin talking with Oobleck.
"Ah, here you are." Ozpin nodded approvingly, "Didn't expect you to come this soon."
"You two were rather early, Sir." Bane shrugged.
"Better than late don't you think?" Oobleck grinned as he flicked his pith helmet.
Oobleck slowly inspected them inch by inch. Ruby brought her trusty rifle-styche as expected, but Bane and Jaune were relatively light equipped, as they didn't bring their large chainsaw and lance respectively. "And I see you all dressed for some jungle action, nice. Now we wait for Mister Lark-"
"I'm here! I'm here!" Sky yelled as he rushed to reach his impromptu teams. This time around, Sky seems to ditch all of his upper armor in favor of heavy trenchcoat. His rifle-halberd slung on his back and a small leather bag resting on his side. "I'm not late right?"
"Not at all, we're just about to meet with the transport." Ozpin nodded.
Faint rattles and distant whine caught their attention as two aircrafts zoomed in toward Beacon at fairly high speed. At first they seem to resemble a Bullhead, with similar cigar-shaped fuselage and two engine protrusion on its wingtips. But instead of jet engines, it was driven by a pair of high speed propeller.
"That's not a Bullhead." Ruby hummed in amazement, "Whoa..."
"Are those... Ospreys?" Weiss muttered.
"Osp-wat?" Sky balked.
"Osprey are VTOL craft designed and produced by Arc-Mantle, SDC's main rival in arms industry. While the Bullhead has vastly higher speed and maneuverability, Osprey is comparatively cheaper to operate and maintain." Weiss explained, "They're more commonly seen in Vacuo and Mistral than in Vale."
"Ooh, do you know why?" Ruby curiously asked as she curiously roamed around these newly encountered aircraft, and even so far as rubbing her hands on the freshly painted aluminum fuselage.
"Whereas Bullheads operate with a combination of fuel oil vapor and burn dust in high pressure deflagration, Osprey use pure electric power to drive their heavy duty electric motors." Jaune cut Weiss off before she can explain, "Blitz dust is much more common in Vacuo and it's dusty weather is also bad for jet engines, however, I'm not sure why Mistral operates with them as well, despite that a Bullhead would be a better choice in general."
"Arms procurement is more than simple plus and minus Jaune." Weiss crossed her arms bemusedly, "Above all else, politics and money are much more important. Besides I'm surprised you're so knowledgeable about it."
"Hey I'm raised in Atlas remember." Jaune laughed in response, "Of course I know."
"Really? What's next, you're military nerd too?" Weiss' grin grew even larger.
"You want to stay here and flirt or you want to do flower hunting?" Adam nonchalantly passed aside them and stood near the rear hatch, dressed in what essentially mountain climbing equipment on top of a modest black shirt and trousers, with tinted visor in place of inverted shades. Looking at him without his signature black coat with red dust embroidery surely caught everyone in surprise.
What? Is that Adam?" Sky rubbed his eyes to make sure he's not seeing things. "Hey it's really him."
"Leave it to him to be the one trying too hard the most." Bane snorted, "Let's go."
"See you later, Weiss! Adam!" Ruby waved to her teammates, Weiss waved back while Adam simply nodded without comment as the rear cargo hatch of the aircraft began to close.
"Don't tell me you're jealous of Jaune!" Weiss stuck her tongue out, "Don't worry about it, you partner isn't going anywhere."
"You wish Schnee, you wish." Adam slammed his hand to the metal wall behind her, their face became less than six inch apart as he bent down his body. "Or are you trying to seduce me?"
Weiss might be smiling outwardly, but inwardly, she could feel a sense of...dread? No, that's not it. More like major embarrassment. Why would she be embarrassed? Adam was always been a cocky jerk, and she's not even the first female victim of his teasing, as Miltia can attest. Ozpin's awkward cough however, brought them back to real world, and Adam shifted away from Weiss in the smoothest way he could.
For a moment, Weiss sighed in relief when Adam wasn't looking, because she could feel the hot and uncomfortable sensation lingering all over her skin.
As the youngsters delved in their typical late teenagers antcs, black cloud began to form, slowly and surely, in the sky above Vytals. Oobleck fully expected this from the beginning and smiled. This won't be the easy sidequest the students expected, indeed, and should give them valuable lesson on how to survive in the wilderness. "It's 78% chance that there will be no major storm, but all of you still need to be careful."
"Whelp, I guess we're kind of boned?" Sky muttered in response, "Thank God for waterproofed coat."
It's still four hours flight to Vytal and everyone already dreaded what to come, especially Jaune. "Professor Oobleck are you sure we're skilled enough to handle this?"
"Yes, yes you are." The spiky haired teacher critically said, made Jaune all the more concerned. It was Ruby who softly patted his hand to signal him that it will be okay. Jaune looked down toward his shorter best friend and nodded, slightly eased by their reassurance. Regardless, no one knows if everything will be smooth sailing. In fact, his gut instinct told him otherwise.
Something bad is going to happen in Vytal.
Please tell me your thoughts.