Here we are at Chapter 9. This chapter wasn't actually in my original version for this story, but I've decided to expand it with a few extra chapters whenever necessary. I do not own RWBY. They belong to Roosterteeth. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 9. Enjoy.
Chapter 9: Red vs Blue (not the show)
A few days have passed since Weiss' yelling episode at Ruby. Luckily, thanks to some wise words from Reaper and Professor Port, Weiss has learned to accept Ruby as her leader and has been getting along with her more often. Meanwhile, Ruby has been doing better to be a good leader to her team thanks to Khazhak's advice. Team KEPL has had a little trouble getting used to working with others outside their own group, but have since then become more comfortable at living at Beacon Academy. Thankfully, they did not have much trouble handling the work for their classes, seeing them as tasks necessary to get closer to their goals. What's more, the members of Team KEPL can't argue that being at Beacon has helped them out with a few things, such as lodgings, food, and access to important resources like information. While things were a little edgy at the start, they were at least getting along better with Team RWBY, even though Khazhak has to make sure that Porphyrius doesn't end up attacking Weiss when she says something he doesn't like.
Speaking of which, the four girls of Team RWBY are currently returning from class, on their way to the cafeteria for lunch.
"You'd think that at least a few classes here would be more interesting than this. At least we get to fight in Professor Goodwitch's combat class. Meanwhile, Professor Port just rambles on and on about his made-up stories, and Professor Peach seems a little boring," Yang groans.
"I like Professor Peach. She is very professional," Weiss says.
"And what about Professor Port?" Yang asks.
"His class is just as important…Though even I am getting a little irritated at his stories. Even if he is a trained huntsman, there's no way he managed to defeat an Ursa with a frying pan," Weiss replies.
"Well, at least we're learning…something out of these classes. At least most of them," Ruby says.
"Come on, let's just get something to eat. I'm hungry," Blake notes.
The four continue their walk to the cafeteria, however, they end up passing by the training room and hear something inside.
"Alright Lloyd, let's see how much you've progressed," they hear from inside.
"Wait, that sounded like Khazhak," Ruby says as they stop.
"It sounded like Lloyd is in there with him. You think their having a sparring match or something?" Yang asks.
"I don't see how that's any of our business," Weiss says, only to look back to see the other three open up the door slightly to peek inside. "Are you even listening to me?" Weiss exclaims, but then curiosity gets the better of her and she goes to look inside as well.
Inside, they see Porphyrius and Reaper standing off to one side while Khazhak and Lloyd are in the center of the sparring arena. Neither of them have their weapons on them, choosing to use only their bare hands.
"Oooh, it looks like they're about to have a match. This is going to be sweet. I wonder who's gonna win," Yang says.
"What about lunch? Blake, you said so," Weiss says.
"That can wait," Blake replies, keeping her eyes on the match about to begin.
"Alright Lloyd, ready?" Khazhak asks as he takes his stance.
Lloyd chuckles, "Heh-heh-heh, ready Brother," he replies, also taking a combat stance.
The two remain motionless for a few moments…until suddenly they both charge at each other. Lloyd is the first to make a move as he throws a right punch at Khazhak, who deflects it and then deflects another punch from Lloyd's left arm. Using his momentum, Khazhak spins around to deliver a spinning hook kick to Lloyd's face, who reels back to avoid it. Khazhak goes on the offensive and throws two hooks followed by one right uppercut, only for Lloyd to block each one. Lloyd retaliates by shoulder tackling Khazhak, who blocks the strike but his feet slide back across the floor. Lloyd runs at him and then jumps up to deliver a crashing punch on Khazhak's face. However, Khazhak evades the attack and throws a left punch that gets blocked by Lloyd's left arm, but then Khazhak grabs it and moves it out of the way to nail a right hook on Lloyd's skull before pulling his arm up and side-kicking him away a few feet. Lloyd regains his footing and holds his arms in front of him just as Khazhak throws a few more punches at him, blocking them. Lloyd grabs one punch and pulls Khazhak in for a head-butt, staggering him for only a second. Khazhak pulls himself free and then throws a roundhouse kick at Lloyd's skull, but it gets blocked. However, Khazhak manages to get under him and throws a low sweep kick to knock Lloyd off his feet. As Lloyd lands on the ground, Khazhak reels his right leg up to smash it down on Lloyd. Lloyd rolls out of the way just in time before it crashes down on him.
Lloyd gets back up and throws a right front kick at Khazhak, who sidesteps it before blocking a right cross from Lloyd. Lloyd tries a left hook this time, but Khazhak grabs his arm and then grabs Lloyd's skull before bringing it down for a left knee strike to his face. The attack doesn't faze him much, but Khazhak pours it on by delivering four cross strikes to Lloyd's face. Lloyd staggers, but shakes his head and regains his focus. Lloyd runs at Khazhak, who meets him in kind, and the two crash into each other with one arm bracing against another. The two try to push against each other, but Lloyd slowly pushes Khazhak back. However, Khazhak suddenly moves out of the way, making Lloyd lose his footing, only for Khazhak to grab his left arm and the back of his neck, spin Lloyd around, and then sweep him off his feet. Just before Lloyd hits the ground, Khazhak elbows him hard to make him hit the ground harder. Lloyd groans before he looks up to see Khazhak calmly walk away with his back turned to him. Lloyd sees this as a chance to strike and gets up to charge at Khazhak again. However, this is just a ploy, as when Lloyd gets close, Khazhak ducks down while kicking at one of Lloyd's feet, making him fly over Khazhak. In slow motion, Khazhak grabs Lloyd in mid-air, redirects him, and then roundhouse kicks him straight into the wall, hard.
"Owwwww…" Lloyd groans in pain as he slowly falls off the wall and onto the floor.
"Your strength and defense have improved, Lloyd, but you need to work on the speed of your attacks. No matter how strong your punches are, they're useless if you can't hit your opponent," Khazhak says as he walks over to him.
"Quit your crying, it wasn't that bad. At least he didn't use his swords or his semblance," Porphyrius berates him while leaning against the wall next to Lloyd, arms crossed.
"Speaking of which…" Khazhak says before taking one of his swords and throwing it right into the door that Team RWBY is hiding behind.
"AHHH!" all four girls scream as the sword imbeds itself into the door just above their heads.
"You can all come out now," Khazhak dryly calls out as he walks over to them.
The four open the door and enter, and then Khazhak retrieves his sword.
"What in the world is wrong with you?! You could've seriously hurt us with that stunt!" Weiss yells.
"I knew what I was doing. If I wanted to hurt you, then you wouldn't even be standing on your own two feet right now," Khazhak retorts without a care.
"Excuse me?!" Weiss yells.
Ruby then joins in to diffuse the situation, "Okay, look, no one was hurt. And besides, our auras would've protected us anyway. Let's just forget about it and move on," she says.
"Hmph. Fine," Weiss grunts and crosses her arms and looks away.
"So…it looks like you guys were getting pretty into it. Doing some sparring today?" Yang asks.
"Can't get rusty now. Plus, there aren't that many students here that can give us, Khazhak mainly, a good fight other than ourselves," Reaper notes.
"This is to help my teammates with improving on their skills and learning how to deal with their weaknesses. As for me, I need a good fight or else I can't get stronger. Training alone won't be enough for what awaits us outside the kingdom's walls," Khazhak adds.
"Well, don't count us out. You've never faced any of us before. If we ever get into a brawl, we'll be sure to give you a run for your money," Yang says.
Porphyrius chuckles, "While I admire that confidence of yours, Yang, you don't know Khazhak like we do. No offense, but if you fight him, then you WILL lose," he says.
"Oh, is that a challenge?" Yang asks, getting a little fire in her eyes.
Suddenly, a loud growl is heard and they all look at Blake, who blushes from embarrassment at her stomach growling.
"Maybe after we get something to eat, please. I'm really hungry now," she says sheepishly.
"Oh my God, we're late for lunch!" Ruby says before she and the rest of the team run out of the room.
"Well, it almost feels like we've been challenged. What do you think, Brother?" Lloyd asks.
"If they wish to fight me, then so be it. After all, you can't fully understand a person's combat abilities until you've crossed blades with them. Guess we'll just have to wait and see," Khazhak says.
…The Next Day…
Team KEPL make their way to their next class of the day, which is also admittedly one of their favorites, combat class. Though Professor Goodwitch is the teacher, the class itself is definitely one they enjoy. While they do see the importance of the other classes, they're more used to actual combat thanks to their previous experiences, and thus, feel more at home in the sparring arena. As they get closer to their class, they bump into Team RWBY.
"Hey, guys, ready for combat class?" Yang asks as she waves to them.
"Indeed. I wonder who we may end up facing off against today," Reaper replies.
"Hopefully someone that can give me a fight. I'm tired of facing weak opponents," Khazhak says as he walks right past them.
"Is he okay?" Ruby asks, concerned.
"Don't worry about it. Brother's just itching for a brawl, that's all. Whenever he gets like this, I can't help but feel bad for the other guy. Come on, let's go," Lloyd says as they all follow him.
Once inside, the teams went to the locker rooms and changed into their combat attire (except for Team KEPL). After everyone got situated, Goodwitch walked onto the arena floor.
"Now then, today we'll be doing one-on-one sparring matches. It is crucial that you get a feel for how other people fight in order to better prepare yourselves for the outside world. This will also help you with your own training into improving your skills. Now then, for the first match of today, we'll have…" she says, hitting a few buttons on her scroll. "Khazhak Rairyu, versus…" she hits a few more buttons. "Ruby Rose," she declares.
The members of the two teams glance at their respective leaders. Ruby looks a little surprised at having to face off against Khazhak, but Khazhak just glances at her while cracking his knuckles. Ruby couldn't help but feel like this won't end well.
"Don't worry Ruby. You go out there and kick his butt," Yang offers some supporting words.
"Y-yeah, right," Ruby stutters.
A minute later, the two leaders stand in the arena, facing each other. Both take out their weapons, but while Ruby takes her stance, Khazhak remains motionless.
"Ruby, we may be friends, but it is precisely because of that fact that you must not hold back against me. I'll see it as an insult of you do. However, I also want you to just fight as you normally would against any other opponent. After all…this is a fight, so to speak," Khazhak says.
Listening to his words, Ruby takes a deep breathe to calm herself down before she gets a determined look in her eye.
"I'm ready, Khazhak," she says.
"Good…Ruby Rose, prepare to be judged," Khazhak declares.
This confuses the members of Team RWBY.
"What the heck is that supposed to mean? Did he just threaten my sister?!" Yang exclaims.
"Don't worry. He says that to all his opponents. It's just something he does when he gets ready to see what they're made of. Just watch and you'll understand," Porphyrius explains before they all look back to the arena.
"Ready…3…2…1…Begin!" Goodwitch calls out and the match begins.
Ruby fires her scythe behind her to shoot her over to Khazhak. However, when she gets close enough to take a swing at him, Khazhak simply raises his left blade to block the strike before countering with a swing of his right sword. Ruby manages to block the attack with the staff of her weapon, but it knocks her back a few feet. Khazhak goes on the offensive this time and runs at her. Khazhak proceeds to swing his right sword at her and then his left before going in for another right swing. After the attacks, Ruby twirls her scythe around before making an overhead strike at Khazhak. Khazhak crosses his blades together to block the strike, and then Ruby fires off her sniper-scythe, trying to use the recoil to break through Khazhak's defense. However, Khazhak manages to jump back to avoid the strike and then fires off a few shots with his blades. Ruby spins her scythe in front of her to block the shots, and then runs at Khazhak again. Only this time when she swings her scythe at him, Khazhak deflects the attack with his right blade in order to strike Ruby with his left, and then does a right spin kick that knocks her away.
Ruby stabs her scythe into the ground and fires off a few rounds at Khazhak. However, Khazhak manages to deflect each shot with his swords, and even moves his head slightly to the side to narrowly avoid the last round.
"You'll have to do better than that, little rose," Khazhk notes before he charges up his right sword. Ruby prepares to evade the next attack. "LIGHTNING SLASH!" Khazhak yells before swinging his sword, sending out the attack.
Ruby jumps over the strike and then uses her semblance to rush at Khazhak again. Khazhak combines his swords into their buster sword form to use as a shield to block her attack. He then pushes her back and uses the narrow space between his blades to trap Ruby's scythe. Twisting the sword up and over, he fires off a shot, forcing Ruby's weapon to go down to the ground and pushing his blade up and around. He then fires off another shot, using the recoil to swing it hard at Ruby, hitting her and sending her back onto the ground. Ruby gets back up just in time to raise her scythe to block a downward strike from Khazhak's sword, however she finds herself in trouble due to Khazhak's superior strength.
"You've got some skill, little rose. I believe you'll go far in the future…BUT, you still have a long way to go before you can face someone like me on equal ground," Khazhak says and then charges up his semblance again.
He pushes Ruby back, making her take a few steps back to steady herself while he charges up his semblance. Using this opportunity, Ruby fires off a few more shots at Khazhak, however he makes minimal movements to dodge her shots while still charging up his semblance. Seeing that her rounds won't hit him, Ruby charges at him one more time and when she gets close, fires her scythe behind her to spin her body around in a tempest of steel towards Khazhak. In slow motion, just as Ruby's scythe is about to strike Khazhak's body, Khazhak manages to duck under the attack just in time, causing her to fly right over him. Ruby lands and slides across the ground as she turns to look back at Khazhak. But it was already too late.
"LIGHTNING TORNADO CRUSHER!" he yells and swings his sword down, sending out a twister of blue lighting at Ruby.
The attack comes too fast, and Ruby gets blasted back to the edge of the arena from the attack, her aura dropping into the red zone as she rolls on the ground until she stops.
"And that's the match. The winner is Khazhak Rairyu. Well done, both of you," Goodwitch announces.
"I can't believe Ruby lost," Yang mutters in shock.
"Experience outranks everything, and Khazhak has more experience than any student here. This was bound to happen," Porphyrius notes.
Ruby struggles to get up, but then looks up to see Khazhak standing over her.
"Ruby Rose, final verdict: innocent," Khazhak says before offering a hand to her.
"Huh?" Ruby wonders, confused, but takes the hand anyway.
"What does Khazhak mean by 'innocent'? Did Ruby do something?" Weiss asks.
"To Khazhak, duels are like trials, and he gives his opponent a verdict after that trial is over. If he gives you a guilty verdict, it means that they couldn't give him a good fight and force him to fight seriously. If he gives you an innocent verdict, it means that you gave him a good fight," Reaper explains.
"So Khazhak considers Ruby to be a worthy opponent?" Blake asks.
"Nope," Lloyd says, stunning them. "Brother's verdicts are based off more than just that person's combat skills. He also makes them based off that person's character. While Ruby is not considered to be a worthy opponent to Khazhak, no offense, he does consider her to be a good and honorable person, which is why he gave her an innocent verdict, which is still a good thing," he explains further.
Hearing this makes Yang smile a little bit, "So he sees her as a good person. That's my little sister for sure," she says.
"Guess I got beat today, huh? Ow," Ruby says, rubbing her head in pain.
"You still have much to learn, Ruby. But I'm sure in time you'll become an excellent huntress with more training. After all, our time at this school has only just begun," he says.
This makes Ruby smile, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Khazhak," she says.
Seeing Ruby smile, makes Khazhak smirk a little bit.
And that's the chapter. Keep in mind that while Ruby is skilled, this is currently set back in Volume 1, and again, Khazhak has more experience under his belt, thus making him more skilled than her. So the leaders of the two teams have squared off. What awaits them in the future? Until then, please Read and Review.