Hey, what is up playas, how you doing? Now before you kill me, I am sorry, sorry and sorry again that this took a long while, but my week has been REALLY weird to say the least, first I had to deal with an ankle injury because of a stupid tackle in football, then I have 2 car accidents in a row! Then I notice how I had a small yet annoying writer's block.
Yet despite all that, thankfully I am okay and still my usual optimistic self! Yay!
Before we begin, I want to tell you a pun that I made myself, I don't know if someone said it before me, but I still though of it myself so it counts. What do you say to a pokemon that takes too long to choose what shoes he wants to buy? "Will you please Pikatchu!?"
Get it? Pikatchu/ pick a shoe. (kill me)
Anyway, excuse the punny start, I had nothing else to say but I still love blabbering before I start a chapter, so I left that in there.
Actually, I should say that I fixed all the mistakes in Chapter 2 and added about 200 extra words in it, should be a better read now, I will fix a previous chapter with each new chapter I post, that is how it will work if you are wondering.
Now without further ado, I hope you enjoy the new chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood.
Little Grimm Riding Hood
Chapter 11: Training And Weird chatting.
"Are You absolutely sure about what you are saying Hazel?" Salem asked, hoping for any answer in the world but a 'Yes'
All the group of villains were gathered around the meeting table, taking advantage of the fact that the now five year old girl is sleeping. Hazel looked down on his feet, as if he himself did not want the true answer to escape his mouth. "Yes ma'am, I am sure that they indeed have retired." He answered.
This was bad, no, this was above bad, this was simply horrible. The white fang leader named Ghira has officially stepped down from leadership of the white fang, the news say that he stepped down because of an accidental death in one of the peaceful protests of the White Fang, but Salem and her associates knew the truth, he stepped down because he discovered the secret arrangements between her own group and an amount of White Fang members who were willing to betray him.
Salem herself did not care for the man's retirement, the only problem would be if the new leader is unwilling to cooperate, which wouldn't be a problem by itself, but what would make it a problem is if they do not manage to keep the deals going behind his or her back.
"Well, what the hell are we going to do now then? We can't just hope for the new leader to cooperate with us." Cinder announced, looking around for affirmation that her allies agree with her.
"That's not what we are going to do." Salem said as she interrupted whatever thing Cinder was about to add. "Hazel, I suspect that you remember about Adam Taurus." She then added.
Hazel wondered who's name that might be until he finally remembered. "Yes ma'am, I do remember him, he is the one that opened the negotiations between us and the White Fang."
Salem's face expression soon turned into a cunning one as she said. "Good, you are to go find him, make him understand that if he cooperates with us then he will be rewarded handsomely, and that if he doesn't, that we will make his life a living nightmare."
"It will be done ma'am." Hazel said as he excused himself from the table, hoping to not waste anymore time.
Salem's eyes then shifted to Watts. "Watts, I would like of you to continue your mission in Mistral, find out as many secrets about the headmaster there, we must have enough enough information about him before we proceed with our plans.
She watched as he nodded and stood up from his chair. "You will not be disappointed M'Lady." He said as he took his leave.
Salem then turned her head towards Tyrian. "You, dear Tyrian. Will be continuing your search for the fall maiden, she can't hide forever after all." She said as she watched a mischievous smile form on his face. She wasted no time as she added. "We need her alive Tyrian, Cinder can't get her power if she dies." She watched as his expression turned to slight disappointment, but he then quickly brushed it off as he smiled and excused himself from the room.
Finally, she looked at Cinder, who was the only one awaiting any orders. She listened carefully as Salem said. "Cinder, I think it is finally time for you to start what we planned with Ruby, our enemies are getting stronger everyday, we can't hope to keep her if she can't take care of herself."
Cinder's stared worriedly at Salem. "I- Do you really think she's ready Salem? She's barely five years old." She asked.
"If she can't protect herself out there without us, then how is she supposed to be trusted in the future to handle difficult missions?" Salem said, she then added. " And it is her destiny to be a natural fighter, she will master it quickly, just bide your time and have patients with her.
Cinder nodded as she left her seat and headed for the door, she was however stopped by Salem's words. "And Cinder, I expect a full report on her by next morning." Cinder nodded one last time before leaving the room and heading for Ruby's room.
Salem herself started planning on how she will deal with the sudden news that came from Hazel, as long as she can have control over a number of white fang members it would be enough for her to have as much dust as she needs, yet if she did not control any then the supply of Dust she had would quickly dwindle until it was nothing, which would make a very serious problem for her allies since they need dust to fight at their best.
...
Ruby had no idea why Cinder suddenly woke her up from her deep sleep. furthermore, she had no Idea why they were both walking in the forest this early in the morning, and to add to her confusion even more, Cinder was walking with two long sticks in her hand.
Little Ruby's curiosity got the better of her as she asked. "Cinder, why are you carrying these two sticks?"
Cinder grinned as she replied. "These aren't called sticks Ruby, these are called staffs, we use them for training novices, like you." They then both finally stopped in front of a beautiful small lake that Ruby accidentally discovered before when she was using her semblance.
"What? Training? But I don't train with you, I train with Salem and Watts." Ruby said as she watched Cinder drop a bag full of food, bandages and water.
"Exactly, Salem trains you to use your powers, such as communicating with Grimm and sensing their location, Watts is your tutor, he taught you most of what you know, but now it's going to be my responsibility to train you in hand to hand combat."
After hearing that, a question immediately popped up into the child's thoughts. "And what will Tyrian teach me? She asked as Cinder approached her the her arm extended, giving her one of the practice staffs she had with her.
"Tyrian is gonna teach you how to use firearms when you get older, but now let us focus on teaching you the basics of fighting." She said as Ruby finally took a hold of one of the staffs.
"But how do you use this thing? It's not even pointy, it is a piece of wood." Ruby wondered, it seemed silly for her to practice with such a dull object, especially since she hears about how her friends fight with amazing weapons and styles, she once saw a small duel between Cinder and Tyrian which simply left her both breathless and speechless, even though they were just carrying a sword each, Ruby got fascinated just by seeing how much a small metal sword can do, she grew to love weapons ever since. She even once got a magazine full of weapons pictures as a small gift from Hazel.
"We have to start off slow, Ruby. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, you'll get to use more weapons the older you get." Cinder cleared as Ruby grudgingly nodded.
"Good, now let us start with the basics. What do you remember about the fight between me and Tyrian?" She asked, hoping to figure out how much her trainee actually knows.
"That you wooped his butt of course! It was so funny!" She said cheerfully as she swung her staff, trying to imitate how Cinder fought like that day. She still remembered how Cinder buried his tail in ice, which resulted in him jumping around because of how cold he was.
Cinder herself couldn't help but chuckle herself at the unexpected response, but she still had yet to get an actual answer to her question. "What do you remember other than that? Do you remember anything specific about how we fought each other that day?"
The child shook her head negatively. Cinder sighed as she now knew that she had to start with the very beginning, she had hoped that Ruby's constant questions about weapons would have brought her at least some basic knowledge.
"Fine, we're starting from the very beginning. First things first, you need to know how to actually defend yourself before you can learn to attack an enemy, and that is why you will be blocking my next few attacks, but first I want you to take a combat stance." Cinder ordered as she saw Ruby give a determined nod and take a combat stance.
Cinder had to stop herself from Laughing. Ruby's stance had so many flaws, it was hard to count them. She was proudly standing, both her feet close enough together that she would probably trip and fall if she takes a step forwards, then there was the fact that her hand was so close to her chest that it would actually be more likely that she hits herself with her own weapon than defend herself, her elbows seemed to be glued together, she was also pointing her staff upwards for reasons that Cinder had yet to understand. Lastly was the fact that she was trying her best to show a threatening face, yet in truth it was so silly that it almost looked cute, she couldn't even scare a bug with that face.
Cinder took a few steps towards Ruby and then knelt on the ground. "First of all Ruby, you shouldn't have your feet so close to one another, it will limit your range of movement and even make you trip if not careful." She said as she used her hands to push her legs apart. She then stood up and continued to give advice to little Ruby. "You should also put one foot in front of the other. preferably your left foot because you are right handed." She watched as Ruby took one step forwards with one foot, leaving the other exactly how it was.
"Good, now I want you to spread your elbows apart, you can't hold the staff properly if you can't move your hand freely." she said as Ruby made some space between her two elbows. "Great! Now you should actually put the weapon in front of you instead of pointing it at the sky, what is the point of that anyway?" Cinder added with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice. She then took a few steps back and looked at Ruby. She immediately noticed how much better her stance is. "Perfect, now I'll start swinging some quick jabs in your direction, try to block as many as you can." Cinder said as she took a combat stance herself, she noticed how Ruby nodded with excitement, showing confidence in her own abilities.
Cinder started with the training, she kept acting as if she was trying to hit Ruby, while in truth she was actually just moving the staff close enough for Ruby to think that she might get hit. She watched as Ruby managed to parry two of the ten strikes. Normally a Beginner would get most of the strikes, but she quickly remembered how Ruby was just five years old.
"Good job Ruby, keep it up and we will move on to the next lesson after you manage to block all ten strikes." Cinder said as she prepared to repeat the training sequence with her apprentice.
...
"Yes!" Ruby celebrated before Cinder could even speak. She had finally blocked all ten strikes after what seemed to be an eternity of repeating the same training sequence. The advice that Cinder gave her surely helped, she told her to always keep one eye on her opponent's hand, because that would help her spot the direction of which the attack is coming from before it's too close. Another helpful advice was to always keep the perfect space between her and her foe, getting too close could result in her not spotting an attack in time, being too far could result in her not having enough weapon reach to defend or attack if her opponent's weapon is longer.
"Good job Ruby, now let's take a short break, want to eat?" Cinder offered as she pulled out two sandwiches. "Yes please!" Ruby replied as she dropped her staff and eagerly took one sandwich from Cinder.
As they both sat down on a log and started eating, Cinder noticed how Ruby's eyes never looked away from her. "Something on your mind Ruby?" She asked whilst taking another bite from her food.
"How did you learn to fight?" Ruby asked. Cinder did not expect such a question coming from the child. "Why do you want to know?" She wondered. Ruby herself looked unsure, but she then replied. "I just want to know how come you learned to do all this cool fighting, did someone teach you?" She added.
Cinder's eyes widened as she though of the answer, it made unwanted memories flood her mind. "I-I started with my father, he taught me most of the basic rules." She answered, her reply only resulting in more confusion for the little redhead girl next to her.
"Wait, where is your dad then?" She asked, not realizing how much pressure she put on Cinder with such a question. Cinder herself knew that Ruby is only a child, a child that is more likely than not going to forget whatever answer she gave.
"I uhh- We don't really talk anymore..." Was Cinder's vague answer. She watched as Ruby took another bite from her food, nearly finishing it whilst Cinder forgot to eat her own.
"What do you mean? Is he bad?" Ruby added to the list of questions she asked today. Cinder herself took a bite from her food so she can earn herself some time to think of an answer. "No no, he wasn't bad...He just got angry really easily." Cinder replied, but she quickly added something before Ruby could ask another question. "Ruby, can we talk about something else?" Cinder requested as she continued to eat.
"Ok...why did you want to learn to fight?" Ruby asked, not realizing that the new question is somehow related to the last question she asked.
Cinder hesitated before she replied. "I wanted power to protect my...mom. She raised even more confusion in the silver eyed girl's mind, now she knew that Cinder had a father and mother that she never heard about. "Protect her from who?" Ruby asked as she finally finished her sandwich.
'From my asshole of a father.' was what Cinder desperately wanted to say, yet she sadly couldn't. "From bad people Ruby, very bad people who kept treating her badly."
Cinder said as she remembered the horrors of her father, a good man who was sadly overtaken by his love for alcohol. She remembered the horror she felt everyday when he came home, she remembered how he used to drunkingly beat her mother, and sometimes he would take it as far as to beat her. She remembered how he wanted her to learn how to defend herself, yet he did not know that she wanted to defend herself from no one other than him.
She remembered how she wanted power so she could protect her mother from him. And lastly, she remembered the night when he took it too far, the night when she lost both him and her mother.
"And what happened to those bad people?" Ruby asked with her ears eagerly waiting for Cinder's answer. Cinder's expression turned dark as she replied. "I dealt with them Ruby, I made them pay." She said as she finally finished her own food, she wasted no time as she quickly stood up and motioned for Ruby to come closer so they could continue their training.
As Cinder handed Ruby her staff, she listened as Ruby said. "I want to protect people like you did Cinder!" She said cheerfully, yet Cinder couldn't help but think of what would happen if little Ruby knew what she actually did to the so called 'Bad People' There was no doubt that she would quickly change her mind if she knew the truth of what Cinder had done.
"Alright Ruby, now I'll swing at you fifteen times instead of ten, Ready?" She asked, the reply she got from Ruby was a very determined-looking nod followed by Ruby taking her combat stance.
...
As Cinder and Ruby entered the castle, they were greeted by Salem. "I trust the training went well?" Salem asked immediately. Cinder nodded and said. "Yes, very well actually. She managed to block sixteen attacks in a row since I accidentally swung an extra strike."
"That is very decent, child. Keep up the good work." Salem said after shifting her eyes towards Ruby.
"I will! It was so fun! I even got to hit Cinder once." Ruby said excitedly as she took her shoes off. She then noticed how Salem was motioning for Cinder to leave them both alone. And then she was approached by the Grimm queen.
"Did you do what I told you to do?" Salem asked as she stood in front of the girl. "Yes, mom. I made sure that no Grimm would come close to us." She confirmed. Her mother told her to use her black colored eye to communicate with any Grimm around her. She was still young and could only talk to the common Beowulf, yet that was luckily the only kind of Grimm that infested the part of the forest they trained in.
"Good job child." Salem said as she gently patted little Ruby on the head. "Come on now, Watts is waiting for you so you can start your weekly studies." Salem said as she walked towards the door to the main hall with Ruby next to her.
Ruby's heart dropped as she was reminded that she will have to do the thing she hates doing the most, she had to study."Ugghh, do I have to?!"
Hey again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, took me a while to write but that is just because I am a lazy bastard, anyway I will try to pump out another chapter before Monday, Cya later. Special thanks to 'merlin pranks101' who did not beta read the chapter, yet still gave me a nice idea that I implemented.
Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!