Hello again everyone! sorry it has been so long since I have updated, I promise I have not given up on any of my stories.
Before you begin reading, I need you all to read this. I have begun school, and until I can get into my routine, and get some more free time, I will only be updating one story every week. That being said, My 'weeks' are considered from Monday to Sunday. And I will alternate which of my two stories are being updated each week. This week was Brave New World, last week and next week are The Grim Apocalpyse. This is simply so I can keep myself going, and updating these stories on a semi-regular basis. Stories will not be updated every sunday, or any other specific day, they'll simply be updated when they can. However, I will only update one chapter per week. If I finish a chapter early, I'll post it early and begin working on the next one, or take the time to rest a day or so. If on the off chance I post a chapter for both stories in one week, then, unless otherwise specified, the next chapter I will post will be the first that was posted. For example; If I post this chapter on Saturday, and one for The Grim Apocalypse on Sunday, then the next week's chapter will be for Brave New World.
If you have any questions about my update schedule, then let me know. I will be happy to answer them.
I am sorry I have to structure my update schedule like this, but between my job, looking at colleges, and work for 4 AP classes, I dont have much time anymore. But I will see these stories through to the end, and I will not slack off on the content, it will just be published with less frequency.
That's about it. Don't be afraid to drop a review or a comment, or a PM if you're so inclined! I highly encourage them and I hope to see one that i can respond to for the next chapter, as (sadly) no one posted a review between the last chapter and this chapter.
Now, there is another thing I'd like to address that brings me immense happiness; this story has accumulated over 5 THOUSAND views, over 50 Followers, and almost 50 Favorites! I am overjoyed that my story is so enjoyable to all of you. I really dont celebrate my milestones enough, and I really need to start! So, in celebration, I want to do a little somethin somethin. If you have an idea you'd like to see in the story at some point, and as long as it 1. doesnt completely derail my story, 2. take away from the story, 3. involve rated M themes, or 4. make the story too much non-canon at the point it already is, submit that shit in a review or a PM!
I'll pick the one I like the thought of the most, and that works the best. If there are not enough people that end up doing this, then I'll do something like this again in the future when more people will hopefully participate. So have fun with your ideas, and let me know what they are!
Since there are no reviews for me to respond to, I will no longer delay you from proceeding. Enjoy!
Chapter 10: A Team Begins to Take Shape
The walk back to Beacon was mostly silent, everyone being tired from the fighting and searching earlier, and they were eager to go to bed.
Blake was happy and content that her team was so accepting of her, but now that her secrets have been let out, she knew things would change between them. The changes would be small though, as it seemed as if her team would be with her through anything and everything, and that meant the world to her, especially considering her past.
Connor was nervous. Not only had he fought against a violent terrorist organization, but now he was heading to Beacon, for the night at least. He didn't want to be caught in a place he didn't belong, even if he had a strong desire of being there in the first place, it just wouldn't feel right. But he trusted Steven, and knew that he could probably put in a good word for him should he need to.
In fact, Steven would go as far as to do many other things for him, and Connor would do the same. The two were inseparable on Earth, and were basically bros, the only thing proving they weren't literally brothers was that they didn't share the same blood.
They took their time getting back to the school, even though they wanted to sprint home to go to bed, but they were simply too tired to even attempt to do it. Eventually they got to their respective dorm rooms, at about 1 in the morning though.
"Goodnight everyone." Steven said once they arrived at their rooms. Everyone just hummed, too tired to say anything before the entirety of Team RWBY disappeared into their bedroom. Team JNPR was already asleep, so that just left Steven and Connor awake essentially.
"Soooo, where am I sleeping?" Connor asked.
"Right here." Steven answered as he opened the door to his room, which was right next to team RWBY's room.
Inside the room, Connor could clearly see the four beds, and only one was taken up, which was the one on the far left, which he assumed was Steven's bed.
"Take your pick." Steven said, motioning to the three open beds. "We've gotta get up early tomorrow, classes start at 9 and we need to get breakfast then see Ozpin before they start."
"The headmaster? Why do you want to see him?" Connor asked. He knew the headmaster's name, mostly because everyone did. He was a popular person here in Vale, for various reasons.
"Well, I should probably tell him about last night if he hasn't already heard, and I want to see if he'll let you join even though we're kinda almost done with the first semester." Steven explained.
"You really think he's going to just let me in half-way into the school year?" Connor asked pessimistically.
"You never know." Steven replied optimistically. Connor shrugged. Steven took off his armor and changed into his PJ's quickly before getting into his bed.
Connor chose the bed next to Steven's, the second from the left, and laid down on it in his clothes. He put his weapons and shoes and other gear on the floor, but he hung his fedora on top of the lamp shade on the night stand next to his bed before crawling into bed. This was the first real bed Connor had slept in in weeks, and it felt great. He could really get used to this!
The next morning the two of them woke up to the sound of Steven's scroll sounding off with its alarm. It was 7 in the morning, and they only slept about six hours, but they woke up refreshed regardless.
"Alright, here's what my usual routine is:" Steven began as they both got up. "When I wake up, I immediately go and take a shower. We do have a bathroom in the dorm room here, but ours doesn't have a shower unfortunately, so we have to go down the hall to the public showers. Now, you probably don't have any other clothes, but luckily, (for some reason), the school always supplies each dorm with extra uniforms of various sizes, so, whether you're a student or not, you can wear one for now until we talk to Ozpin."
"Ok." Connor said, acknowledging what Steven has told him so far.
"After that, I come back here and grab the stuff I'll need for the day's classes. The first class today is Professor Port's Grimm Studies class, so I'll grab the necessary things for that class." Steven explained.
Connor hummed in acknowledgment.
"Then I go to breakfast and sit with Team RWBY and JNPR. You haven't met team JNPR yet, they live across the hall from team RWBY, but you'll like them."
"Are they all girls?" Connor asked. He didn't have anything against the opposite sex, he just didn't like the idea that he could be hanging out with mostly girls instead of guys if he was to actually be accepted here.
"No, there are two guys on their team. Jaune Arc is their leader, and then there's Lie Ren, but we just call him Ren." He explained. "Oh, and there's this girl named Nora on their team too. Just a friendly warning: she's kinda hyper and nuts and shit. So if she becomes really crazy or something, that's normal."
"Great." Connor said sarcastically.
"Then there's Pyrrha Nikos. She's really nice, and she's a really good fighter. In Mistral she's won a few tournaments apparently, that's what I've been told."
"Sounds interesting." Connor said.
"I know you probably want to catch up, I know I do, but that will sadly need to wait. We'll have plenty of time to talk tonight after classes."
"Yeah, I figured as much. I can wait though." Connor assured him.
With that, the two went to the showers, and came back to the dorm room. Connor grabbed one of the spare uniforms and put it on. Steven grabbed his things he would need for his first class, and grabbed some extra stuff for Connor.
"Will I need my weapons and can I wear my hat?" Connor asked Steven.
"No, you'll only need your weapons for our combat classes, which we don't have today, and for when we're out on missions or training." Steven explained. "And the school dress code is pretty lax. As long as you're wearing the uniform properly, then you can add anything you want to it. Ruby wears her red hood all the time, and Blake always wears her bow. Pyrrha across the hall always wears her headdress as well." He explained.
"Ok, cool." Connor said as he took his fedora and put it on his head.
"It's good to know I'm not the only one here. I was beginning to miss that fedora." Steven smiled.
"Heh," Connor chuckled. "I could say the same, just without the hat part."
"Alright, let's go get some breakfast. I'm starving." Steven said.
"Yeah, same here. What kind of stuff do they serve at the cafeteria?"
"Oh, they've got tons of stuff." Steven began as the two exited their room, Steven locking it behind them, before they proceeded to walk to the cafeteria. "Everyday they've got cereal, doughnuts, oatmeal, muffins, stuff like that. Then they have a thing they mix up every now and then. Usually its eggs and bacon, other times they have ham or French toast. You can make omelets as well, and there's a place where you can make waffles and pancakes too."
"Sounds good to me!" Connor said with a wide grin on his face. He loved bagels, specifically onion bagels, and he hoped they had English muffins so he could 'put some cheese and sausage on that shet' as he would put it.
"Oh, and I should warn you about Nora once again." Steven said.
"What, that she's nuts?"
"Yes, but also don't get between her and her pancakes, she will end you!" He cautioned Connor.
Connor laughed. "Yeah, okay. Got it." He said slightly sarcastically, thinking Steven was joking.
"You think I'm kidding?" Steven asked.
Connor looked at him in the eyes, and read his expression. "Oh, god you're not kidding are you."
"Nope."
The two old friends walked down to the cafeteria, with Steven pointing out the various locations he should know if he ends up going here. He seemed awful confident that Ozpin would let him in, but Connor dismissed it and soaked it in regardless. Steven was sure to point out several classrooms and offices, as well as where the library was as they walked by it.
The pair walked into the cafeteria, which was bustling with all of the students eating before their first class began, talking amongst themselves about various things. The two got into the breakfast line. Steven just got his usual, scrambled eggs and bacon, as well as some chocolate milk and some hash browns. Connor on the other hand grabbed an onion bagel as soon as he saw it. He then saw some stuff that closely resembled an English muffin, called 'Patch bread' after the small town outside of Vale. He immediately grabbed two pieces of it, two halves each, and some cheese slices, and breakfast sausage, before grabbing some apple juice.
Connor walked over to Steven who was waiting for him after he left the line. "Aww yiss!" He said as he showed his friend what he got.
Steven laughed. "Nice find there. Alright, follow me. Let's go introduce you to team JNPR." He said as he turned around and began walking towards his usual table.
"Mornin' everyone!" Steven said to the table in his usual cheery attitude.
Everyone said their various good mornings as Steven sat down diagonal from Yang, and next to Ren. Connor sat down next to Steven.
"Hey Connor!" Ruby waved in her usual friendly greeting, welcoming him to their table.
"Hey." He responded.
"Oooh, who's this Steve?" Nora bent backwards to look at Steven behind her teammates next to her.
"Everyone, this is Connor, my ol' best friend from Earth." Steven introduced him to the table.
Those who didn't know who Connor already gasped in shock or surprise. They thought Steven was the only one who came to Remnant from Earth.
"Wait, how'd you find him?" Pyrrha asked.
"You guys hear what happened at the docks last night?" Yang asked team JNPR.
"Vaguely, why?" She responded.
"Penny, Blake, Sun, and I were there when it got messy, then Steven showed up followed by Connor, and they helped us push back the White Fang and prevent them from stealing any dust shipments." Ruby explained. She went on further to even say that, without Connor jumping in when he did, the situation could have easily ended very badly for the five of them.
"Do you go to a combat academy Connor?" Ren asked.
"No. I tried applying to Beacon, but I was too late. So I trained hard, hoping to get in next year. Steven just brought me in to sleep in his room for the night, and I'm wearing this to avoid suspicion and for a change of clothes." He explained as he motioned to his uniform.
"Yeah. We're going to see Ozpin after breakfast and before class to see if he'll let him in." Steven continued.
"Don't you think it's a little too far in the school year for Ozpin to let someone new in?" Weiss asked. Several people at the table glared at her. "What? It's not that I don't wish for him to join, it's just that we have gone through a lot of material that he will need to pick up quickly." She explained.
"She's right." Steven said before anyone could say anything. "But that doesn't mean we can't try, so that's what we're doing."
Everyone took a few bites of their food before Jaune spoke up.
Noticing his tail, he began "Hey Steve, I thought you said there were no Faunus on Earth?"
"There aren't." Steven reiterated.
Everyone looked at Connor who didn't already know the reasoning, with a confused look. He clearly had a dog's tail, but here Steven was saying Connor is human.
"Let me explain to the best of my ability about my situation." Connor offered. "So, I woke up here like four months ago or something and I had this dog tail." He began. "I don't know how much about Earth Steven told you, but we don't have Faunus there, I was a human back there, but for some reason I now have a dog tail. So the reasoning to that, I'm just as curious as you are." He finished.
Everyone seemed to accept his explanation quite well.
"So who exactly are you people?" Connor asked after taking a bite of his custom breakfast sandwich.
"Oh, where are our manners?" Pyrrha asked, excusing herself for her impoliteness earlier. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos. Pleased to meet you." She said as she leaned back to look at Connor behind Jaune and Ren.
"I'm Nora Valkyrie" Nora said before stuffing her face with pancakes.
"I'm Jaune Arc, leader of team JNPR." Jaune said in an exaggerated tone like he was heroic or something.
"I'm Ren." Ren said as he looked over to his right with a small wave and sincere smile.
"You already know me, Ruby Rose, killer of Grimm and slayer of evil!" Ruby exaggerated as she stood up heroically on the table towards the end.
"You've already seen me, but I don't think I've introduced myself yet." Yang began. "I'm Yang Xiao Long, awesome brawler with awesome hair and Ruby's older sister." She finished with a small self-centered smile.
"I'm Weiss Schnee, and you've already met me and given me unnecessary attitude, which I do not appreciate, but I am willing to push that aside as you are a friend of Steven's." She compromised.
"To be fair, you gave Connor unnecessary attitude before he did last night." Ruby defended him. Weiss glared at her partner.
"I'm Blake." The newly discovered Faunus said in a slightly shy tone. She didn't like meeting new people that much. It took her a while to get used to her team and team JNPR, but she wasn't unwilling to add more people to the roster. Additionally, team JNPR was now aware of her Faunus heritage, and had accepted her as if nothing had happened, just how she hoped.
Connor already knew she was a cat Faunus from the night before, as well as the distinct scent she had. Faunus have a special scent that they give off that is distinct from humans, which other Faunus can detect, telling them if they are one or not, whether they are showing their traits or if they're more hidden.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Connor assured them as he smiled.
The rest of the meal at the table was mostly team RWBY and Steven describing the events of the night before at the docks. And by team RWBY, I mean mostly Ruby, as she was the only one who consistently had a good look over the battle. Blake was also sure to add the information that she gathered from Roman Torchwick.
After a long, and exciting discussion, Steven looked at his scroll for the time; 8:30.
"Connor, we should probably get going if we want to speak to Ozpin and get to class on time." Steven said to his friend. "If we're late to class, just tell Port that we're talking with Ozpin." He told the table.
Connor took the last bite of his bagel before getting up with Steven.
"It was nice meeting you all." Connor said.
"Good luck!" Pyrrha, Jaune, Ruby, and Yang said.
The two left the cafeteria, heading for the elevator to Ozpin's office.
"So what do you think of them?" Steven asked Connor on their way there.
"They seem nice. Is Ren usually that quiet?" He asked.
"Yeah, he's not much of a talker, but he's a nice dude. When he speaks he's usually the voice of reason for all of us."
"Jaune seems to me like he's got a big ego but not a lot to show for it." Connor observed.
"You're not far off the money there either. He tries really hard to be a great fighter, his family is full of accomplished warriors, leaving him large shoes to fill. He's not very good at fighting at all, but Pyrrha's helping him out. His leadership skills are really good though, those came naturally to him."
"I see." Connor said. "Other than that, Pyrrha is really nice, Ruby is energetic just like you are sometimes,"
Steven cut him off there for a moment. "I knew you'd make that connection."
"Blake is quiet, is she usually like that?"
"Yeah, but she was like that to all of us. She just needs to get to know you and she'll snap out of it."
"Weiss seems to be one of those holier-than-thou bitches to me."
"She's not entirely like that. She originally came here to not have to work for her father's company to become a huntress, and she is willing to change to work with her teammates, and meet new friends. She does come up like that from time to time, but you'll get used to it. She isn't all that bad once you get to know her."
"Yang seems like the trouble maker of the group, and the practical jokester kind of type judging by her cheery personality."
"You're right on the money there again, Connor. She's really peppy all the time, but it's not the type that will get on your nerves. She means well. Also, she's really protective of Ruby, so careful about that." Steven chuckled, not about to mention the 'incident' several weekends ago. "Also, I know they're sisters, but I don't know where their relations are, as they don't really look alike, so your guess is as good as mine."
"Why didn't you ask them about it?" Connor asked.
"Well, I figured it was really personal or something, like a divorce and re-marriage or something, so I didn't want to bring that up if it was bad or something, and it is none of my business." Steven explained.
"Fair point." Connor concluded.
The two walked down the hallway a little bit further before Steven spoke up again. "Here, just around this corner." Steven directed him. They rounded the corner, and Steven walked over to an elevator door.
"Here's the elevator to Ozpins' office." Steven said. "Ready to go up?"
"About as ready as I'll ever be." Connor admitted.
At that, Steven pressed the elevator button and called the elevator. It didn't take long for it to come down before it opened its doors, and the two walked inside, before ascending up to the headmaster's office.
Once the elevator got to the top of its shaft, the doors slid open once more, and the familiar look and feel of the spacious office at the top of the tower came into view.
The two walked out of the elevator a few steps before they stopped and stood where they were, just getting out of the elevator so it wouldn't close on them, but not far enough where they would both be intruding any further on Professor Ozpin's call he was in with someone at the moment.
"Wait here." Steven said to Connor. Connor nodded.
"No, James, we don't need all of this security." Ozpin insisted to the man on the other end of the call.
The other end of the call said something that the two couldn't make out from where they stood, not even with Connor's enhanced hearing.
"I don't care what the council says, the City will think something is afoot if you come in here with all of that!" Ozpin continued.
More mumbling came from the other end of the call.
"James, I know that, but…" He began, but he turned his head slightly upon noticing something in his peripheral vision to see Steven and Connor there. "I'll have to call you back; I have something that needs to be taken care of immediately. Tell your aunt Quinn that I loved her Ricotta pies" He finished.
From the other side of the call, a distinct "Yes, of course! I'll get right on that." could be heard, before the screen in front of Ozpin faded away in an instant.
Steven and Connor looked at each other with confused looks for a moment, before Connor shrugged and the two returned their attention to Ozpin.
"Good morning Mr. Paxton. Who is this you have brought with you?" Ozpin greeted him.
The two walked forward upon being acknowledged, stopping in front of his desk. Ozpin motioned for the two of them to sit down in the chairs in front of his desk.
"Professor, you remember how I came into this world, right?" Steven asked.
"I do." He confirmed. "Why do you ask?"
"Well…" Steven began. "This is my best friend, Connor, and he is also from Earth."
"Oh, really?" Ozpin asked, interested. His expression didn't really change much, showing more intrigue than shock or surprise.
"He came here in a similar way too. He just simply appeared here out of nowhere around the same time I appeared here." Steven added.
"Interesting." Ozpin said, his hand stroking his chin slightly. "And what have you been doing for the past few months, Connor, and where did you get one of my uniforms? I don't remember looking over your transcripts or test results."
"When I got here, I was just doing whatever getting by however I could. When I heard there was a combat academy here, and that I might as well start over, I tried to apply, but I was too late. So, I have been training ever since then, hoping to be able to get in next year." He began.
"Let me cut you off there for a sec there Connor." Steven interrupted. Connor nodded in approval. "This brings me to something I wanted to talk to you about. Do you know what happened last night at the docks Professor?"
"Yes, of course. You, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and one of the students from Vacuo fought off an attempted hijacking by the White Fang, and you were quite successful." He acknowledged.
"Right, and we wouldn't have been able to make it out of there if Connor hadn't shown up to get us out of a situation we were in." Steven admitted.
"Yes, I saw." Ozpin said.
"Now, last night was the first time we had seen each other since we woke up here, and after the police came and let us go, he told me he had nowhere to go, so I offered him one of the spare beds in my room, and this morning I gave him one of the spare uniforms in one of the closets." Steven finished.
"Is this true?" Ozpin asked Connor for the sake of making sure this was the correct information.
"Yes." Connor nodded.
"Interesting." Ozpin repeated. He took a few moments to think over this new information, before he spoke up again. "So, Connor, what do you plan on doing now?"
"Well, I was sort of hoping that…" He began. "Maaayybe you'd let me try attending Beacon?" He said, grimacing a little bit as if he was preparing for some sort of blow to him.
Before Ozpin could say anything, Steven cut in. "Professor, I know it's really late into the first semester, but Connor has become a really good fighter! Just look at the police footage of the incident! Not only that, but Connor was one of the smartest people back at our high school on Earth, and is perfectly able to catch up within a week or two." Steven vouched for him.
Ozpin smiled a little, but otherwise his expression hadn't changed much. "Well, alright." He said as if he was reluctant, which he really wasn't.
"Wait, really?!" Connor asked in surprise.
"Yes, really. Since you already have an idea of your own skills, and the way you fight, then all you need is the knowledge to catch up and improve. I'm sure Steven and his friends will help you out with that." He assured him.
Connor couldn't hide the excitement he was displaying even if he tried.
"Mr. Paxton, I will be placing him under your leadership, since there are no open teams other than yours. I'm sure you won't mind." Ozpin said with a smile.
"Of course not sir! I'll lead to the best of my ability, you can count on it!" Steven said with a determined demeanor.
"I'm sure you will." He concurred. "For now, your team will be known simply as team SC, for simplification purposes, until you can think of something that fits it well." He continued. "Connor, you will be provided with extra uniforms soon, as well as a scroll, and the Lien that all of the other students have already received. And, to see where you're at, we'll just give you Steven's schedule for the time being. Sound fair?"
"More than fair sir!" Connor exclaimed with excitement.
"Great. I'm expecting great things from you now that you're under your friend's leadership."
"I won't disappoint you!" Connor exclaimed with determination.
"Good to hear." Ozpin responded. "Now, the two of you should probably get to class, or you'll be late." Ozpin said.
"But wait," Steven began. "I have a couple more things I want to talk about with you."
"I'm afraid that will have to wait Mr. Paxton. I'm busy as it is at the moment with the Vytal festival coming up, so unfortunately your questions will have to wait." Ozpin apologized.
"Oh." Steven said, completely forgetting about the Vytal Festival coming up. "Right, we'll get out of your hair then. Let's go Connor." He said, as the two stood up.
"Thank you so much Professor Ozpin!" Connor said, extending his hand to the headmaster for a handshake, which Ozpin accepted.
"You're very welcome, young man. Expect some papers to come by soon that I'll need you to fill out. They'll be in your room." He responded.
"Sure thing." Connor said.
"Have a good day, Professor." Steven said as the two walked back over to the elevator and exited the headmaster's office, then descending down the elevator shaft.
Ozpin was glad that he was able to get Steven out of his office. Steven wasn't ready to learn the truth just yet, especially with the recent introduction of one of his old friends. It would be quite some time before he was ready.
"Why did you tell him I was one of the smartest people at our old school?" Connor asked with confusion. "You and I both know that isn't nearly true. You know how much I suck at math!"
"A little white lie won't hurt anyone." Steven smiled. "Besides, I'm beginning to think he was honestly going to let you in even if I didn't speak up." The elevator doors opened. "Come on, we got to get to class. It's about to start."
"Right." Said Connor, before the two began to quickly walk to Professor Port's Grimm Studies class.
It was about 9:15 when they got there, having been in Ozpin's office for longer than they had thought. Class had officially begun about ten minutes ago.
The two walked up to the door, and Connor went to open it before Steven stopped him.
"When we go in there, follow my lead. We won't get into any trouble, I just don't want him to get the wrong idea in case RWBY and JNPR forgot to tell him when he took attendance, they've forgotten before." He rolled his eyes at the recollection. Connor nodded in acceptance of Steven's reasoning. "Alright, let's go." He finished, before opening the double doors as quietly as possible to disrupt the class as little as possible beyond his currently obvious intrusion.
The two walked in as Professor Port was on one of his famous rants.
"And when the Ursa was unlucky enough to walk in my trap!... Ho-Ho! Was he regretting his decisions! Upon the sight of my uncle Carl peeling-" He stopped upon seeing Steven and someone else he had never seen before walking into his class… Late… "Mr. Paxton. You're over ten minutes late to class. Care to explain yourself?"
"Sorry Professor. I had to go to Professor Ozpin's office to-" He began to explain.
"Oh-ho! To help out a new student I'm sure!" He finished for him, which was not entirely false, but it's all Steven needed to say and hear to get out of a potential detention or extra homework.
"Exactly." He finished.
"Good on you, boy." Port commended him. "Showing us the ways of a true gentleman by helping those new to their surroundings adjust to them, and always making new friends. This reminds me of a story about my dear Uncle Charles. He was a strange man, always talking about how the moon was made of cheese or something… But regardless, he was a true gentleman, with the way he…" Professor Port trailed off into another one of his rants.
Steven whispered over to his friend by his side "Now's our chance. Let's sit down."
The two walked over to the front of the class, and sat down in the only two open seats at the front of the classroom.
"Does he always do this sort of thing?" Connor whispered to Steven, careful not to say it loud enough for Port to hear him.
"Pretty much." Steven said with a sigh.
"Great."
From the other side of the room at the front of their section was team RWBY. Ruby waved over to the two, trying to get their attention. When Steven and Connor noticed and turned their attention to her, she gave a double thumbs up as if asking 'Did it go well?'
Steven smirked before giving a single thumbs up and nodding. Ruby silently cheered in her seat, Yang having to hold her in her seat in order to prevent Professor Port from noticing her sister. Yang let up a thumbs up as well, congratulating Connor, who smiled gratefully in return.
The class was slow, as usual. Professor Port kept going on rant after rant as he was about to cover the material that they were probably very behind on by now, which is why he gave them so many readings and homework assignments to do each class.
"That was terrible." Connor grumbled as he and Steven left the class after the bell rang.
"Yeah, well you'll have to get used to it." Steven told him.
"I mean, I wouldn't mind as much if his stories were any good or even interesting, but this guy doesn't even touch the material!" Connor exclaimed.
"Honestly, that was actually one of his better classes. He actually kept his ranting to a minimum that time." Yang said as she walked up from behind them, walking with Ruby, Weiss, and Blake in tow.
"Yeah, he actually tried to go over the readings today." Blake said, a little surprised herself.
"Well I like him." Weiss defended. "He certainly has a lot of experience and knowledge to offer."
"Yeah, well if he can just get to teaching us rather than reminiscing all the time, then maybe I'd enjoy his class a little more." Yang countered.
"So where are we going next?" Connor interrupted.
"First, we're going back to our rooms, and getting changed for Professor Goodwitch's combat class, then we're going to lunch before class." Steven told him.
"Aww yiss!" Connor exclaimed in excitement with a celebratory fist pump.
The six students then went back to their rooms to get changed before lunch, chatting along the way about their various classes and gossiping about their teachers.
When they arrived at the cafeteria team JNPR was already there, somehow having already changed and made it here before everyone else. Today's lunch was typical of most of the others, many of the students having some form of a sandwich that they preferred.
Once they were finished eating, Connor spoke up, curious about what to expect from Professor Goodwitch's class.
"So what should I expect from her class?" he asked everyone.
"Goodwitch's class is mostly about honing your abilities and improving upon your combat skills while learning new ones." Steven told him.
"We've been going over strengthening our defensive skills lately, so we're probably going to have some demonstration today." Jaune told him.
"Probably on dual-wielding too." Ren added. "She already did single-weapon defense."
"You should be fine with just observing for now. This weekend I'll catch you up on all of the stuff you missed." Steven said.
"Is there a lot?" Connor asked nervously.
"Yeah, but we won't go over all of it, so don't worry." Steven reassured him.
"Ok good." Connor responded.
"We'll start with combat techniques that you may not be aware of."
"Oooh! Can I help?" Nora asked with an evil grin on her face, causing Connor to adopt a look of alarm.
"No, that's quite alright." Connor quickly put in.
"We'll let you know if we need the help, but don't let us get in the way of any of your weekend plans." Steven said.
"OK!" Nora exclaimed, believing Steven was serious.
Ren gave the two an apologetic look from in front of Nora where she couldn't see it.
"You know, we should probably get going. Class will be starting in about fifteen minutes." Jaune said, prompting some surprise from Yang.
"Whoa there, Jaune. When did you become so studious?" She teased.
"Well, ever since Pyrrha started helping me out with my fighting, I can't seem to learn enough of it." He answered, prompting a beaming smile from Pyrrha at her recognition.
"He's right though." Steven added. "We all know how crowded the halls get when there's about ten minutes left before class leading out of the cafeteria."
Ruby shuddered as if it reminded her of a traumatic experience. It was over exaggerated, and comical, causing Steven to chuckle lightly.
"I'm all set. You guys ready?" He asked.
"Yeah, I guess." Ruby answered.
"Ooooh yeah!" Yang responded.
"I'm all set" Weiss said.
"Me too." Pyrrha added.
"Do I get to break Cardin's legs?" Nora asked hopefully. Ren facepalmed.
Steven sighed, "Probably not. But, you never know." He added, prompting an evil grin from her face.
The ten of them went to Professor Goodwitch's combat class, ready for the day's lesson. They found out that Ren was indeed correct about his assumptions. Last class they had gone over single-weapon defense tactics, and today they were going to learn dual-weapon defense tactics, specifically for those who had either two weapons, or the ability to fight with two weapons depending on what they had. Having four people out of the ten of them using two weapons frequently, or having the ability of using two should they choose, those people being Ren, Yang, Steven and Connor, they made sure to pay attention. The other six payed attention too, it may come in handy to learn their friends' weaknesses, whether it's to help them or hinder them in a friendly match.
Steven and Yang were called up to help with demonstrations a couple of times, along with other students in the class.
Professor Goodwitch showed everyone various ways to deflect blows with two weapons, and how to counter some moves while in a defensive state, and quickly switching into an offensive one as a result of the action. They were also taught how to deflect some slower-moving projectiles, and defend against bullets should they be able to cover themselves with their weapons. To the dismay of all of the dual-wielders, they were also taught how to defeat a defense given by someone with dual weapons, which easily benefitted those who wielded a single weapon.
Steven was at a slight advantage against the other dual-wielders though. He wasn't a dedicated dual-wielder, he could choose to use his axe on its own, his sword on its own, or both when he wanted. But it allowed him flexibility as a result, which was always a good idea to have in a combat situation.
Towards the end of the class, Steven was helping Professor Goodwitch demonstrate a counter-offensive move that could turn the tides on your opponent with the help of Pyrrha, who was a single-weapon user, so it worked out nicely.
"Steven, Pyrrha, would you please demonstrate to the class a counter-offensive move with two weapons?" Goodwitch asked of them.
"Sure thing." Steven replied. He nodded at Pyrrha, who nodded in return, showing she was ready.
The two got into a ready stance, Pyrrha with her sword at the ready, and her shield in a defensive position, and Steven with his sword at his right side and his war axe at his left.
"Go." Goodwitch signaled them.
Pyrrha lunged at Steven's left with her sword, keeping her shield up to avoid a counter attack. Steven side stepped to his right slightly, letting the sword's blade slip by him, before he grabbed it with the inside of his axe. Pyrrha gasped as the axe was then pulled down and towards Steven, yanking the sword out of her right hand and thrown to the ground with tremendous strength. Pyrrha then tried to bash him with her shield to get him away from her sword to retrieve it, but Steven anticipated this and took the brunt of the hit with his right forearm, before spinning to the right slightly 360 degrees to hit Pyrrha in her exposed flank with his war axe while her shield was still covering her opposite side, keeping it there with his sword.
He didn't actually hit her, he just froze his axe right next to the side of her torso to simulate an actual impact. It was a demonstration after all. She froze, realizing the demonstration was over.
"Very good! Thank you for demonstrating these essential skills for the class." Goodwitch said. The two got back up and Pyrrha grabbed Milo off of the floor, before the two stood there politely watching and listening to the Professor's analysis of the demonstration. A replay of the demonstration then played on the large screen, which paused every time she willed it to. "Thanks to the amazing demonstration Steven and Pyrrha have provided us with, we can easily see how Steven is able to hook his axe onto Pyrrha's sword, and use the gap between the axe head and the handle to gain leverage over his opponents' weapon, and disarm them. We can then see Pyrrha's counter move, bashing Steven with her shield, which Steven is able to absorb the impact of on his forearm, using his aura to protect his arm form serious damage, before he turns it around on his opponent by spinning to Pyrrha's exposed side, and hitting her where she can't protect herself."
"Nice work there with that counter." Pyrrha complimented him.
"Thank you." He said with a smile.
"Steven, Pyrrha, you may leave the stage now." She granted them. "That's all of the material we will be covering today. We have enough time left in class to have one tournament-style dual. Who would like to have a go?" She asked the class.
No one raised their hand.
"There has to be someone." She said.
Since no one else was raising their hand, and she really wanted to test someone's skills in battle, Pyrrha put her hand up.
"Alright, since no one else is offering to fight, you will be one of the participants Ms. Nikos. Who do you wish to challenge?" Goodwitch asked.
Pyrrha put her finger to her chin, trying to "decide" on who her opponent would be. She hummed to help sell the charade, looking from Yang, who looked ready upon making eye contact, but quickly deflated as Pyrrha looked over to Jaune, who grew extremely nervous at the idea, but he calmed down when Pyrrha turned her gaze to Steven. "I challenge Steven." She stated, giving him a challenging stare.
"Mr. Paxton?" Goodwitch asked to make sure he was okay with the arrangement.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Steven accepted. "I'm ready for round two." He joked, earning a short and small uproar of laughter from the class. Steven walked back onto the stage with Pyrrha, taking the positions they took before the demonstration they just did.
"You ready to lose?" Pyrrha asked as she got into a ready stance.
"As ready as I'll ever be. But I won't go down without a fight." Steven responded, getting into his own stance with his sword and axe by his sides. Pyrrha was a world class fighter. With his current skills, he stood no chance at winning. Instead, he decided he'd try to last as long as he could, and maybe wear her down enough to turn the tables if he was lucky, but he was expecting to lose. That didn't mean he wasn't going to try to win though.
"You know the rules of the match." Goodwitch began. "Get ready."
The buzzer sounded, and Pyrrha charged at Steven with her shield in front of her and her sword pointed at Steven's abdomen. Steven immediately recognized it as the maneuver she tried to pull during the demonstration, setting alarms off in his head. He couldn't accurately tell if he was being baited, but he had to assume he was, as he quickly dodged out of her way to the side with a roll. Pyrrha then stopped dead in her tracks as Steven dodged, and bashed him with her shield as he came out of his roll. Steven stumbled from the blow, allowing Pyrrha to make a horizontal slash at Steven's abdomen with Milo, before spinning with the swipe to kick Steven in the jaw.
Pyrrha was shocked when Steven caught her leg before it hit him in the face, dropping his axe to do so, causing her to freeze where she was, mid-attack. She tried to yank it out of his hand, but to no avail. Steven pushed up on her leg, forcing her to lose her balance and fall onto the ground. Then Steven realized he dropped his axe and quickly tried to grab it to capitalize on her vulnerable state.
Pyrrha saw what he was doing, and used her semblance on the handgun to throw it across the stage, causing Steven to dive for it in a futile effort to retrieve it before it was too far away.
Steven dove for it, trying to catch it, but was unable to, hitting the ground away from Pyrrha. She quickly got up and walked over to Steven as he rolled onto his back, just in time to block Pyrrha's strike with his sword across his chest. Needing to get out of the situation, Steven quickly pushed her away from him with his sword. She backed up slightly before trying to attack him again, but Steven was able to roll to the side to evade it before jumping back up.
He then swiped down on Pyrrha while she was still recovering from her strike, but Pyrrha brought her sword up to meet his. Steven then went for her side, but she got that with her shield before she jabbed at Steven's open point. Steven side stepped it and brought his sword under hers before thrusting up.
Steven took the opportunity to get some space to try a different strategy, and Pyrrha did the same.
They went back in, and repeatedly blocked, parried, and tried to disarm each other, and strike each other where they're vulnerable, but to no result each time.
Pyrrha forced him into that position as well, forcing him into the same situation time after time when he tried to get some space for a moment to think. She was honestly testing him, seeing how long he could last, and if he would be able to get out of his situation.
After a few rounds of this, Steven realized that she was purposefully putting him in this situation. He needed a way out. Not being able to disarm her, she wasn't making that mistake twice, or push away from him long enough to change things up, Steven looked to his sides and rear. His war axe was still on the ground to his back left. Realizing his opportunity, Steven quickly pushed Pyrrha back off of him, and ran at his axe, putting his sword on his back while Pyrrha gave chase.
Steven quickly grabbed the axe by the handle in his right hand as he continued running, and flipped the transformation switch, turning it back into its handgun variant. He then stopped and spun around and leveled it on Pyrrha.
Pyrrha didn't expect this, and was barely able to defend against the .50 caliber rounds that were shot at her with her shield. Steven walked towards her as he fired his gun, leaving her in place, unable to move. When he got right in front of her, he switched his Desert Eagle into its war axe and slammed it on Pyrrha's shield as hard as he could. Pyrrha stumbled back greatly from the tremendous force. Steven hit her shield hard, again and again, breaking down her defense little by little each time.
They weren't aware of it, caught up in the battle, but Pyrrha and Steven were actually very closely matched at this point. Pyrrha had 73% of her aura remaining, while Steven had 71%.
The force from Steven's hits were so great, that Pyrrha had to put away her sword, Milo, and brace her shield with both of her hands to keep him at bay. The brute force tactic was working as Steven forced Pyrrha into a heavily defensive situation on her part.
The next time Steven struck her, he decided to end his streak of blows, believing Pyrrha could have thought up a counter by now. With his next swing, he also decided to turn his torso into it, bringing his right leg out with him to trip her onto her side.
Pyrrha didn't know this, and it only made her situation worse when she used her semblance to turn the blade of the axe slightly so it just glides off of her shield, which would allow her a return blow, but it only accelerated Steven's movements as his leg swept her off of her feet, and onto the ground once more. Steven capitalized on this, letting his body fall right over her, slamming his elbow into her abdomen, just like he did to Cardin that one fateful day in the cafeteria.
Pyrrha grasped her stomach and groaned in severe pain, but she didn't tap out, she's been dealt worse.
Steven got up, and stepped back a bit for his next attack. He ran at Pyrrha, still dazed on the ground, and jumped into her, only to be struck by several rifle caliber bullets from Pyrrha's rifle variant of her sword which she took out without hesitation and shot at Steven. Steven continued over her with his inertia and tumbled when he hit the floor. He went with the tumble as best as he could, stopping himself on his hands and knees, slowly rising on his knee. Meanwhile Pyrrha got up quickly and had changed her rifle into her javelin. She aimed it at Steven's back, putting her left hand in front of her to aim her throw, before she threw the Javelin at Steven's back.
With no warning of the attack and therefore no time to react, Steven was brought back onto the ground with severe pain, the Javelin having imbedded itself in his armor that protected his back. Steven grasped at his back to try and take Pyrrha's javelin out of it in an attempt to get the metal from his armor to stop digging into his back, but Pyrrha did that for him, using her semblance to retrieve her javelin to her hands, and turning it back into its sword form. Pyrrha strode over to Steven, who had begun to get up again, although slower this time. She planted her foot on his back, right where the armor was pierced, pushing the broken metal further into his back. Steven tried to turn onto his back, but Pyrrha wasn't letting him move at all, her foot planted squarely and firmly in place on his back. He tried pushing himself up and off of the ground himself against Pyrrha's foot, trying to use his strength over hers, but she had it on his spine in such a place that it was nearly impossible to keep his back straight to be able to do it.
Steven was running out of options, and Pyrrha was just toying with him as he squirmed under her foot. Pyrrha was waiting to see what Steven would do, her sword at her side ready to strike should she need to.
Steven suddenly felt a surge of energy within him. He wasn't tired, and it wasn't adrenaline, this was something else, something that just came to him.
Before Pyrrha could react to what was going on, Steven pushed off of the ground quickly, forcing Pyrrha to step off of him. She swung her sword at him, but she was struck with fear as Steven got up and spun around with inhuman speed, grabbing her sword mid-swing with his left hand with little to no effort, not once looking at it, instead staring into Pyrrha's terror-stricken eyes with his own. He stood there, holding her sword and herself in fear.
Pyrrha didn't know what was more frightening, the fact that Steven had gained so much strength out of nowhere, or the fact that she couldn't tell if it was hatred or determination burning in Steven's eyes. Pyrrha didn't move, unable to try and do something to counter him. Pyrrha didn't notice Steven bring his Desert Eagle right up to her abdomen until he fired the entire magazine of stun rounds (which were the only ammunition allowed during combat classes) into her. Pyrrha's aura took most of the damage, and the remainder was taken by her armor, but she was no less dazed by it. Steven never let go of her sword, though, forcing her to stay put as she was hit unless she let go of it herself. Once the magazine was empty, Steven quickly switched it to his war axe and swung at Pyrrha's side.
Having snapped out of her stupor, Pyrrha quickly blocked Steven's attack with her shield, deflecting the axe, before slamming the edge of the shield into Steven's wrist that was holding her sword.
Steven finally let go of the sword, grasping his wrist which was throbbing in pain. Steven switched his war axe to his handgun and holstered it, taking out his longsword off of his back. He charged at Pyrrha, who awaited him with her shield at the ready. She began to block every one of Steven's ferocious attacks on her. To gain the edge, she began to use her semblance to make minute adjustments to Steven's attacks, forcing small openings on Steven that he couldn't protect, which she exploited by attacking them. When his sword couldn't be manipulated enough, she'd use her semblance on Steven's metal gauntlets, forcing his arms into slight adjustments that would be hard to notice by anyone watching the battle.
Steven, however, was fully aware of this. He tried as hard as he could to counteract her moves to defend himself, but he couldn't fight against the extremely powerful force of magnetism. He soon realized that he couldn't, and that this would probably come down to a battle of semblances, rather than attrition.
With Steven's aura now standing at 48%, and Pyrrha's at 51%, the battle was still close.
Steven broke off from his aggressive string of attacks, the two of them taking a few steps back from each other. Steven twirled his sword as he turned it back into his assault rifle, and switched it to full auto. He then ran at her, while she stood her ground. Steven jumped onto her shield, which she tried to push him off of, but he used the force to propel himself over Pyrrha. In the air, Steven fired a steady stream of bullets into her exposed back. Pyrrha stumbled, but quickly recomposed herself and turned around.
She had decided that she was done toying around with Steven. He had easily proven himself as a very capable fighter, but this battle has gone on for too long, and she might actually lose if this goes on, and she has a reputation to keep.
Pyrrha used her semblance to take both of Steven's weapons and throw them far behind her, using enough force to throw them off stage and into the crowd of students watching their match, causing many gasps of surprise at the sheer image of Pyrrha disarming him in such a way that left him so few options.
Steven was certainly not happy with this, audibly growling like a pissed animal at Pyrrha. He ran at her with his fists clenched, and Pyrrha awaited him. He threw a punch towards her side, which she blocked with her shield, before jabbing Steven in the abdomen himself. He took the hit, and pretended it didn't hurt as he punched her hand holding her sword, causing her to drop it, before he did a roundhouse kick to her head.
Pyrrha was thrown to the ground from the sudden blow, and Steven stood over her, waiting for her to get up, his foot on top of her sword, preventing her from grabbing it. He forgot to take her semblance into account though, as she used it on her sword to pull it out from under him, causing Steven to slip on it and fall on his backside. She then got up and bashed her shield into his abdomen, keeping him down. To ensure he stayed down, she used her semblance to pin his gauntlets to the floor.
Before being able to use his position to her advantage, he somehow broke out of her semblance's grip as if it were made of simple paper. He rushed to get up and thrown Pyrrha on the ground, but stumbled as she sidestepped out of his way, bashing him on the back with her shield as he got up.
Steven turned around and ran at Pyrrha again, her shield still at the ready. Steven jumped in the air at Pyrrha. She responded by putting her shield up to force him to roll off of her, before jabbing at Steven when he went over her.
Steven then quickly got back up, just in time to block one of Pyrrha's sword swipes with his gauntlets, but unable to protect himself from a roundhouse kick from her left leg, which was proceeded with her bashing her shield into his head on his way down.
The buzzer sounded, Steven had lost, his aura now at 14%, Pyrrha's at 28%.
The startling noise stopped Pyrrha from continuing her attacks, and sheathing her weapons. Steven lay on the ground, panting at the massive amount of energy he used during the fight. Pyrrha walked over to him and offered her hand to help him up.
"Pyrrha Nikos is the winner!" Goodwitch said.
"Told you I would lose." Steven said humorously before accepting her offer. Pyrrha smiled.
"But you fought very well regardless." She pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess so." He said, not really counting it as a win for himself, but he knew he was going to lose from the start, but he still had some fun.
"You both fought very well. You'll be huntsmen in no time at this rate." Goodwitch said to the two of them before turning to the rest of the class, and began explaining areas of improvement they both could make and examples of good use of techniques to the class using the replay footage. "Next class you will learn how to fight with your hands should you be disarmed, or your weapon is unavailable. Class dismissed."
With their dismissal, the class began to shuffle out of the classroom, many heading to dinner, others to bed. Steven and Pyrrha talked on the way back to their group of friends and teammates that awaited them.
"That was really good fighting, Steven." Pyrrha complimented him. "I had no idea you were going to disarm me so many times." She laughed at her mistake.
"But your semblance made it a futile effort." Steven chuckled.
"True." She concurred. "Sorry about throwing your weapons into the crowd." She apologized with a nervous smile.
"As long as they're not broken, it's fine." He reassured her. Pyrrha internally hoped they really weren't broken.
When the two of them met up with their friends, Ruby yelled "Catch!" to Steven, throwing his sword to him. Steven caught it, flipping the switch in and putting his assault rifle on his back in one fluid motion.
"Thanks!" He said to Ruby, who smiled happily. "Anyone see my pistol?" he asked the rest. Everyone shook their heads no, and Steven looked around on the floor, but couldn't find it.
Pyrrha was horrified, unsure of how Steven was going to react to her, especially since she might now what Steven is like when he's angry if that's what happened back in their fight. "I'm sorry!" She apologized sincerely.
"Don't worry about it; I'm sure it will show up soon." He reassured her. He was bummed out that he couldn't find it, but he didn't worry about it, it would have to turn up eventually. The only thing that was hard on his mind was his hunger. "I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat." He suggested to everyone, who agreed with his idea.
The ten of them went to the cafeteria for some well-earned dinner. There they talked about their fighting skills, Ruby and Nora recalling the details with enthusiasm, begging Steven and Pyrrha to teach them some of their skills. When the conversation changed topics, Ruby would appear slightly on edge, jumping at the smallest of things, as if she was overdosed on sugar again. But she hadn't had anything too sugary for a little while, so it was a little strange.
That night, team RWBY relaxed in their dorm. Ruby had already finished her homework. Blake was reading, Yang was procrastinating, and Weiss was hard at work with her assignments. Ruby was bored, her teammates not wanting to do anything because 'It was late', or they were 'too tired' or because 'it's a school night'. Frustrated, Ruby left the room with one extra item than usual, headed for the firing range before it was closed for the night.
Upon arriving there, not a single person was around, as it was actually pretty late. Ruby didn't care though, she preferred the privacy.
Ruby walked up to the firing line and took out Steven's Desert Eagle from behind her, which she had awkwardly kept behind Crescent Rose the whole night. She didn't like to think of what she was doing as stealing, she was going to give it back to him tomorrow, place it on his desk at some point or something when he wasn't around. She just wanted to play around with it. She did the same with Yang's Amber Celica's before, and even Blake's Gambol Shroud, and they had no idea that she did it. She once even tried to take Magnhild from Nora, but quickly realized she valued her life too much to attempt such an act.
Ruby loaded Steven's handgun and aimed it at the target before squeezing the trigger and experiencing the thrilling feeling of the recoil and the loud noise of the gun, which had been dampened greatly since she last heard it in the firing range, but it was still really loud. She giggled to herself, geeking out over the gun like she does with all new guns she finds. She kept firing the gun until the magazine was empty, smiling from ear to ear the whole time.
She lowered the gun after it was empty, switching on the safety. She felt content, and happy, and was satisfied with firing the gun on her own, albeit without permission, but details, details.
She was taken out of her happy state when an unexpected voice sounded from behind her, causing her to yelp in surprise.
"You know, you could've just asked to borrow it." Steven chuckled from behind her, comfortably leaning with his back against a wall with his arms crossed, a small grin on his face.
Ruby quickly turned around, surprised. "I, I-uh, I-I didn't mean to-uh, I just wanted to-, you see I just-" She stuttered heavily, trying, but failing, to come up with an excuse.
"I'm not mad Ruby." He chuckled.
"Y-you're not?" She asked, confused.
"No, not at all." He answered. "I'm actually a little amused." He said, chuckling again.
Ruby giggled nervously. "Heh, s-sorry." She said, giving him a nervous smile, handing his gun out to him.
Steven gently took his gun from Ruby and held it in his right hand by the barrel. "Have fun with it?"
"Yes!" She replied instantly. "It's SOOO cool!" she admitted.
Steven chuckled again. No one could possibly be mad at Ruby, she was just too innocent and cute to be mad at, and it was mostly simply due to her being so young at 15 years old. "Here," He said, holding the gun back out to her. "Have another go at it."
Ruby stared at Steven with wide eyes in disbelief. "Really?!"
"Of course! Go ahead." He replied, extending his reach to her with the gun in his hand to emphasize he wanted her to take it and have some more fun.
Ruby gleefully took it from his outstretched hand, and turned back over to the targets on the range. Steven came off of his position from the opposite wall, and walked over to Ruby, teaching her how to use the weapon. He taught her how to hold the weapon, how to position her arms, her stance, how to operate it, all the good stuff.
Ruby had a blast, being the weapons aficionado she is, and was geeking out every time she fired the gun, reloaded, or just played around with it. It was very amusing to Steven, and it put a smile on his face, knowing that he is still able to put a smile on someone's face. He enjoyed making sure others have fun, even if it's at his expense. The fact he realized he could still do this, meant a lot of things to Steven. It mostly meant to him that his life was turning back around now. He had been reunited with his best friend, Connor, met even more amazing friends, and was now living the life he could only dream of on Earth. Things were starting to look up for Steven again, and it was great!
The two were at the range until Professor Goodwitch herself had to go down there and tell them to go back to their dorm rooms so that the range could close, and were threatened with detention for the rest of the semester (about two weeks), and extra homework, which is something they didn't need right now. The two put up no fight, and proceeded back to their rooms to hit the hay for the night.
When the two arrived at their dorm rooms, they said their goodnights, and parted for the night, heading into their respective rooms. Ruby left with the same feelings she had from the trip to Vale the two had a while ago. She had thought immensely about her feelings for him in the time since then, but she still was indecisive about them, and unsure about how he would receive it. So she kept thinking about it, deciding to hint at it as little as possible to anyone, especially Steven, even subliminally, until she was sure.
When Steven walked into his room, he was welcomed by Connor, who was sitting at one of the desks in the room working on his homework to the best of his ability, considering today was his first day.
"I thought you were going to the bathroom! You've been gone for half an hour! And why didn't you use our bathroom?!" Connor asked, annoyed, and admittedly slightly worried.
"Hey, man. You can't rush perfection!" Steven replied.
"That doesn't even answer my question!" Connor retorted.
"Eyy, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, ammiright?" Steven returned, purposefully not making any sense. Connor just gave him a 'now you're making no sense and I honestly don't even want to know what the hell you were doing anymore at this point' look, giving up. And yes, there really is a look for that if you know Connor long enough. His face can say a lot about what he is thinking or what he is about to say, and you learn them rather quickly.
The two went to bed soon after, as it was rather late and they still had classes in the morning to worry about.
In general, the remaining two weeks or so of the semester went on without incident. Connor was quickly brought up to speed, in remarkable time, and was already performing on par with the rest of the class in most of his subjects, except math. He hated math, and math seemed to hate him.
There was a one week gap between semesters, and students were free to do as they pleased in that time. They could go home to see relatives, or simply stay here at Beacon until the second semester began. Steven and Connor, Ren and Nora, and Blake had nowhere to go; they had no home to go back to, so they stayed. Weiss had to go back home, especially in the wake of an attempted robbery of an entire shipment of her father's company, so she had some company business to attend to, which was understandable. Pyrrha lived in Mistral, so if she left and came back before school resumed, she would only have a few days to spend with her family. Jaune lived in Vale with his entire family, but he decided to stay at Beacon to keep the others company. Ruby and Yang were going to go home to their hometown of Patch, just outside of Vale, but their father had to go on a mission at the last second, so the two sisters stayed at Beacon, the only person leaving being Weiss, but they were okay with it.
They didn't do much with their week long break, other than preparing for the next semester, going to Vale a few times, and generally just hanging out with each other in their rooms. Many things were on everyone's mind, be them secretly or visibly. Everyone had their questions about the future, most of them just inquisitive or hopeful, but some were fearful, and afraid. Blake's were one such example. Ever since that fateful night at the docks, she couldn't stop thinking about why the White Fang would possibly be working with a human, especially since their very existence was distinguished by hating humanity so heavily. These thoughts would soon start to haunt her every hour she was awake.
As the week went on, students from the other three kingdoms finished coming over for the tournament and the festival that was almost in full swing. The otherwise empty dorms were filled to capacity, and the culture was amazing.
No one could have missed the day the entire student population of the Atlas academy arrived in Vale, arriving with a small detachment of their vast airship fleet. They brought several of their colossal battleships with them, floating over the city, many small airships spawning from them, bringing the students down to the airship docks of the school, some of the battleships themselves even hovering parallel to the landing pads to offload students. One could easily mistake it as an invasion of a foreign army, what with the whole show of military power the kingdom of Atlas was displaying here in a foreign kingdom, but luckily the world knew that Vale's council requested that Atlas bring some of their military with them to help with protection during the Vytal Festival.
It was certainly a spectacle to behold.
On the day of Atlas' arrival, which was a couple days before the beginning of the semester, up in Beacon's tower, Ozpin's office, the headmaster himself and his assistant, Professor Goodwitch, sat staring out the window towards the giant Atlesian airfleet just outside of their school, and over the city. It would be an understatement to say they were unhappy with this turn of events, especially with what was going on and how it could ruin so many plans.
"Ironwood certainly loves bringing is work wherever he travels." Goodwitch said angrily through gritted teeth.
"Well… running an academy and a military makes him a busy man." Ozpin replied. "But, yes, those are a bit of an eyesore." He admitted.
On Ozpin's desk, a small screen flashed, telling him someone was ascending the elevator, and asked to enter his office. The two turned around from the window and began to walk in front of the desk to meet whoever was ascending the elevator.
"Come in." Ozpin said as he strode in front of his desk.
The elevator opened, revealing a well-dressed and clean man. He was tall, and wore a white military uniform that showed high rank. He also wore a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie under the white jacket, and a white glove on his right hand. His hair is black, with some silver and gray areas, while his eyebrows are solid black. He has a strip of silver metal above his right eyebrow.
"Ozpin!" General Ironwood greeted.
"Hello, General." Ozpin returned.
"Please, drop the formalities." The General insisted, striding over to Ozpin to meet him half way, and shake his hand like an old friend would. "It's been too long." he said. Professor Goodwitch was now next to Ozpin as well. "and Glynda!" He continued. "It has certainly been too long since we last met!"
"Oooh, James…" She said waving her hand over her head in dismissal. She turned to Ozpin, "I'll be outside." She said, and strode to the door leading out of his office. She clearly despised Ironwood, that much was quite evident.
"Well she hasn't changed a bit." Ironwood said.
"So… what has brought you all the way down from Atlas?" Ozpin asked, turning back and walking to the front of his desk to pour two mugs of coffee, one for himself, one for Ironwood. "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students to the Vytal Festival."
Ironwood accepted the mug of coffee Ozpin gave him. "Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year." He replied, taking a small flask out from inside his coat and pouring some of the contents into his coffee, before putting it back. "Besides, with you hosting, I thought this might be a good opportunity for us to… catch up."
Ozpin walked behind his desk to sit down, and Ironwood walked to the front, preferring to stand. "I can certainly appreciate quality time between friends… however, the small fleet outside my window has me somewhat concerned."
"Well… concern is what brought them here."
"I understand travel between kingdoms has become increasingly difficult." Ozpin began.
"Oz…" Ironwood cut him off. "You and I both know why I brought those men."
Ozpin took a long sip from his coffee mug, letting out a deep sigh as he set the mug back down on the desk. "We are in a time of peace! Shows of power like this… are just going to give off the wrong impression."
"But if what Qrow said is true then-"
"If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it tactfully." He assured him. "It's the Vytal Festival, a time to celebrate unity and peace. So I suggest you not scare people by transporting hundreds of soldiers halfway across the continent."
"I'm just being cautious."
"As am I, which is why we will continue to train the best hunters and huntresses we can." Ozpin replied.
"Believe me, I am." Ironwood countered. He then turned around and began walking towards the elevator door to leave.
He got about halfway, before Ozpin spoke up. "He's back."
Ironwood stopped dead in his tracks, slowly turning around. "Who's back?" he asked cautiously.
"The Halfblood has returned to Remnant." Ozpin said.
"What? That's impossible." He dismissed him. "Ever since she died, he disappeared into dust knows where, and now all of a sudden it's back?"
"Indeed." Ozpin said.
"Does it know?" was all Ironwood could ask.
"No, he's unaware of what happened. He doesn't remember a thing, and has only just begun to unlock his powers." Ozpin told him. "He's not ready to know the truth yet, but he will be in due time."
"I hope that time is sooner rather than later." Ironwood said, turning back around and heading back to the door elevator door again. "We don't want to have our students fighting in a war." Ironwood said, very seriously.
"I hope they never have to." Is all Ozpin could say.
END OF ACT I
The Vytal Festival was almost upon Vale, bringing with it culture, fun, and worldwide celebrations of peace and unity. However, the Festival brought one thing with it that no one thought possible in the 40 years the Festival has been celebrated… Evil.
With the second semester right around the corner, and with spirits high, and Weiss having returned from her trip, they were all excited to get back into the swing of things. Little did they know, their second semester would be unlike anything they could ever imagine, in both good ways and bad ones.
Soon, Steven's world will come crashing down again, proving that he may not be in control of his destiny like he once thought he was in the beggining of Act II with Chapter 11: It's a small Universe.
Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you back in a couple of weeks! have a good life until then, and remember, I am seeing this story through to the end. You all can count on it.
And I'd like to once again thank you all for over 5 THOUSAND views, over 50 Followers, and almost 50 Favorites! I cannot emphasize enough how much that means to me! You all are awesome, and I will be sure not to disappoint you all with Act II, which will immediately begin next chapter!
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