Disclaimer: I own neither Digimon nor RWBY
It took all of Glynda's willpower not to massage her temples as she overheard the rumour mill go on its merry way.
Before she had been dismissive of what they were saying about team ROAL, but now she suddenly felt like they might be true.
Like how apparently two of them didn't know about the 'guns' occasionally referring to the biceps, or just how impossibly solid Omegos' muscles were in general.
She didn't even want to know how the latter came to be, although she supposed she knew the answer quite well.
Teenagers.
Full of juvenile notions and desires. There were always a number that were more interested in her than her lessons, mostly when they just arrived, but some manage to persist.
She was still having a hard time deciding whether she should be impressed at their ability to maintain such behaviour in spite of the realities of being a Huntsman or Huntress…
Or if she should be annoyed at them for how appalling that behaviour is.
But that was quite tangential.
The worst part for her was that she had previously regarded many of them quite favourably for their discipline and good manners, although Lavender had always been a bit of a mixed bag.
That one certainly had discipline and good manners most of the time, but there was always that flamboyancy and clear notions of superiority that he didn't particularly bother to hide.
But frankly Riina Onyx had been the one she had the worst impression of. Seemingly so carefree and quite probably mischievous it was no wonder Glynda hadn't thought too highly of her. Certainly she seemed like she had possibly better analysis of the various mock battles and scenarios than any of the other members of her team, but that didn't really help.
Of course, the fact that it was all a charade, superbly crafted and performed, only served to instead make Alphamon terrifying, especially since she sensed the incredible amounts of combat experience the Royal Knight had during the conversation in Ozpin's office.
Yes, Alphamon was battle-hardened in a way not even some of the most veteran of Huntsmen and Huntresses could hope to match. Glynda shuddered to imagine just how capable it was.
They'd gotten a small glimpse during the Breach, where Riina had gotten through it completely unharmed despite only being armed with a single, simple longsword.
Glynda could probably have matched that feat, but the question then became just how easy it had been for the Royal Knight.
She shook her head to banish these thoughts. Wild speculation and rampant worry would only get her killed in the long run, and for now these Royal Knights seemed to be more on their side than against them.
If she was going to worry, it would probably have to be the Demon Lords they had been warned off. Most worrying on that side would be the question just how many were around. So far, they knew about two. One confirmed and then one suspected to be possessing Roman Torchwick.
This time she couldn't stop herself from massaging her temple.
They had no easy way of knowing if someone was possessed. All they really knew was the vague description given by Alphamon, but for all they knew it didn't even work the same between the Royal Knights and the Demon Lords.
Well, they could guess that the basics might be the same, but that the Demon Lords probably wouldn't play fair, while at the very least Alphamon seemed like it played supremely fair.
Glynda probably needed to take a break, rest up and relax a little… She didn't particularly want to repeat the embarrassment of last night…
How could she ever have let herself get so carried away?
-Break—
The first time Penny had gone into her own systems had been on accident. She'd been trying some meditation techniques, when suddenly she was in a space similar to the one within which she had had her conversation with Alphamon.
After that she had taken some time to figure out how to do it reliably and on purpose.
It was… intriguing. Different. More comfortable almost. She felt less restrained, and more herself in there.
She could probably mess with her own systems here but…
Well, she didn't want to give her father another heart attack and if she wasn't careful she might cause some real damage.
She didn't want that.
The form her consciousness took had also changed.
It was more defined, looking far more like a young girl than it had earlier.
She could even play with her hair now!
Or well, the luminescent green strands that formed what appeared to be hair, and somewhat acted like hair.
So hair she would call it!
Still… she was a bit unused to having it drape over her shoulders like this…
Was it reaching the small of her back?
Maybe she should get a haircut?
Wait, how was she going to get a haircut like this?
She might need to consider this further…
Actually… why was her hair this long…?
How did that even happen?
It's not like this was an organic body that would naturally grow…
It had just suddenly been like that.
One day there wasn't any hair at all and the next it was this long.
Was this what puberty was like?
No wait. That didn't seem right. That didn't fit the description at all, did it?
She pouted in annoyance. She was confused and couldn't really ask anyone.
Alphamon might know but contacting the Royal Knight would be difficult considering her body was under heavy watch at the moment.
Hang on… pouting?
She was pouting?
She brought a finger to where her mouth would be and traced a pair of lips.
Oh.
She had lips…
That was new.
She suddenly felt like she needed a mirror, but had no idea how to get one.
And for some reason she felt a weird dread at what she might see…
What else might she not have noticed before now…?
Suddenly she noticed something.
A glimmer of green.
She looked towards it, and saw herself reflected.
Perhaps her wish for a sort of mirror had caused this reflective surface to appear.
But she saw nothing overly odd. No grotesque extra bits that she hadn't been able to see before. Or any extra bits at all for that matter.
Just the hair, the mouth, the nose…
The deep blue eyes that stared right back at her.
-Break—
Cinder Fall was not happy. No, as a matter of fact, she was livid.
Roman, that cowardly weasel who shouldn't have dared to cross her, had crossed her.
Of course, because no one survived to tell her what actually happened back at Mountain Glenn, she had no idea what might have possessed the man to perform such treachery.
Because as far as she had been able to tell the criminal had been far too greedy, far too self-centred and far too cowardly to ever cross her.
So it made no sense. And that infuriated her to no end.
And now the plan needed to be changed, especially since the criminal had taken Neopolitan with him.
Who was supposed to be their fourth member!
She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, although it didn't seem all too effective at the moment.
Not to mention she had lost access to Ozpin's office for no adequately explained reason.
Were these events connected?
It didn't seem overly likely, but at this point she was starting to be willing to accept any explanation for events, even the more absurd or farfetched.
Things just weren't quite making sense at the moment.
Not to mention team ROAL…
Supposedly Lionheart had nothing to do with them. He didn't know who they were or when they became 'students' of Haven Academy.
While that didn't sound particularly convincing, Salem had decided that it might be the truth, meaning that whoever these people were, they had the capability to alter student records for the Academies.
But no one seemed to know anything about them. Not the Huntsmen and Huntresses, not the underworld, not the politicians…
Not even the Atlas military seemed to have anything.
She needed to have at least something.
Maybe she could get a show…
-Break—
"Miss Nikos and miss… Onyx…" For some reason Pyrrha could detect a certain… hesitation in Glynda's voice as she announced the people who had been selected to spar.
They were having sparring matches with the combatants chosen at random, and now Pyrrha had been pitted towards the mysterious leader of team ROAL.
The red-head looked towards where team ROAL had been gathered, with a little bit of excitement, and a certain dose of nervousness.
Her eyes met those of Riina Onyx, who at first seemed uncharacteristically calculating, before lightening up into the usual cheeriness.
"I have no objections." The girl said and rose, causing her teammates to give her surprised looks, which in turn prompted her to say something inaudible that caused them all to shake their heads in either resignation or amusement.
Realising that she had been too caught up in observing her opponent Pyrrha hastily rose and responded; "Neither do I."
The supposedly invincible girl somewhat distractedly responded to the encouragement from her teammates as she headed towards the locker-room to retrieve her weapons and armour. But all the way she was distracted.
She knew little about the leader of team ROAL, apart from that she seemed to be quite chipper and upbeat, as well as a bit mischievous. But she knew nothing about her combat ability, apart from the fact that she could slip through the detection of teams RWBY and JNPR combined, which was nothing to scoff at.
Maybe she was good with stealth? It would somewhat fit in with her personality but… It really wouldn't fit with the image given by the rest of her team. Especially not after having seen Albion's armour.
It was still possible, but the dynamic between the members of team ROAL didn't quite feel like that. The other members clearly respected Riina greatly, which meant that either her leadership was just that good, or she was on par with, or above, them in terms of combat ability.
Which was what made her so nervous. Considering how strong Albion had seemed, it really made her wonder just how capable Riina was. Of course, that was also what made her excited.
The prospect of testing herself against someone that was probably stronger than herself.
That was probably why she found her steps so steady as she headed out into the arena.
Idly she wondered if her opponent would be clad in armour like Albion's…
A thought that was completely put on hold as she beheld Riina Onyx already waiting there, still clad in her Haven uniform with only the fact that a longsword rested easily in her hand indicating that she was at all prepared for battle.
Pyrrha looked to Glynda, only to find the teacher shaking her head, as if to say; "Don't ask me, I've already tried."
Suddenly it was as if the very air changed quality, drawing Pyrrha's attention to her opponent, only to find that the normally upbeat girl had changed.
She was serious now, very much in a manner similar to the rest of team ROAL.
So much for the theory that stealth was her specialty, because she was clearly just as much a knight as Albion, an impression reinforced by Riina raising her sword in a salute very similarly to how the white-clad knight had done with his lance.
Pyrrha couldn't help but return the gesture with a bow before taking a stance.
Glynda signalled for them to begin… and nothing happened.
They were both standing there, prepared to receive an attack, analysing the stance of the other.
Riina's stance was relaxed, with her sword held lightly in a ready position, but Pyrrha had no doubt that any attack would fail.
In return the red-head got the feeling that her opponent had already found at least three avenues of attack that could succeed, and those were the ones she was actually aware of.
So she did the only thing she felt was right. She charged in, closing the distance as quickly as she could muster and launching a flurry of thrusts with her spear.
Yet every single attack was easily seen through and either dodged with minimal motions or gently guided aside, yet Riina did not counter-attack, despite Pyrrha seeing at least five opportunities for her to do so.
Worst of all, the invincible girl could sense that whatever that sword was made of, her polarity wouldn't work on it. It was almost as if it…
No, not now. This was right in the middle of battle. Sparring, true, but treating it as anything less than the real deal seemed disrespectful to this particular opponent.
Suddenly the counterattack came, not at a point where Pyrrha would have expected it, but at a moment that she actually thought she might have been safe…
Yet the longsword found a gap in her defence, incredibly small as it might have been, and it passed through with unerring precision.
To her credit Pyrrha managed to throw herself back in time to evade most of the blow although even then it stung, and her Aura depleted slightly as the tip impacted against her breastplate.
There was definitely a glimmer of appreciation in Riina's eyes even as she essentially invited Pyrrha to try again.
The leader of team ROAL was testing her, maybe even trying to make her learn something…
Pyrrha closed in again. Her opponent always defended with the minimum necessary effort…
She tried everything she could, varying her attacks whenever possible, mixing in more and more different methods of attack.
She even used her Semblance more than she usually did to change up her attack patterns even more…
Yet every attempt was repelled with unbelievable ease, as if the gap between them was so large that the effort made no difference.
Pyrrha did at least manage to make some gains when it came to defending against the inevitable yet unpredictable counterattacks…
But when all was said and done Pyrrha Nikos was lying on the floor, exhausted and just a bit battered, while Riina Onyx stood untouched, an irony that was not lost upon the red-head.
"You did well Pyrrha Nikos." The leader of team ROAL said with a benevolent smile.
Author's notes: This both took longer and became longer than I had intended. Well, the chapter isn't that much longer than I had intended but... it's still longer than I had originally intended. It also took longer due to a combination of writer's block and a particularly well-timed and nasty headache that left me unable to write when I had wanted to finish writing this chapter.
I hope you enjoy and that you have a nice day.