Chapter 13: How to Kill a Huntress

AN: First off, whenever I was typing this I felt the need to type Doctor Oobleck's part as quickly as possible. The man is so fast in everything he does that anything that wasn't done at the speed of crazy seemed to be out of character about him, even when writing him in some fan fiction.

Weiss and Kassidy have another argument. And no, they don't usually argue as much as I show them arguing; they usually argue more. Weiss, Yang, and Kass join Oobleck for some extra training, and our paranoid gunslinger gets some new toys.

This is a rewrite of Breaking the Ice.

(Perspective: K)

Ugh, this has been a long day. Trudging through the halls, Kassidy was on her way back to the dorms after having been called up to Ozpin's office regarding the 'training accident' that afternoon. Although she managed to talk her way into getting out scot free, the headmaster was obviously more than a little displeased about the situation, despite the ever-present cool exterior he showed. Taking out Bob and his attached scroll link device thing (which really needed a proper name), she tried the door, which didn't unlock.

"The lock seems to be coded to the scroll Ozpin handed you. I think I should be able to mimic the code… and there. My newest addition should work from here on out." Opening the door, she was just able to make out Ruby telling her not to come in when suddenly, her legs felt really heavy and incredibly cold. Seeing the absolutely furious Weiss Schnee pointing her rapier, the gunslinger didn't even need to look down to guess that her legs were now encased in a giant ice block, gluing her to the floor.

"What the heck, Weiss? I just got here!"

"I've had just about enough of you! You don't take your studies seriously when you obviously know absolutely nothing about where you are or what you're doing, you wake me and Yang up this morning in some sort of prank, and now I've just learned how you threatened to MURDER another team of students!"

"Woah, where the hell is this coming from?"

"You're a loose cannon and a danger to everyone around you!"

"Guys!" Ruby whined over everyone. "We do need to have a talk, but first things first. Kass, how did your meeting with Professor Ozpin go?"

She shrugged. "Went well enough. Basically just got told not to make this a habit."

Yang seemed impressed. "Wow, you got off easy. I thought for sure he was gonna make an example out of you. How did you talk your way out of that one?"

"I told the truth: that Cardin and his boys were attacking my teammate, I employed necessary force to get them to stop attacking my teammate, and then I took appropriate steps to make sure there wouldn't be a repeat incident."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Weiss was beside herself. "How can you talk so calmly about shooting four other students, and then threatening to TORTURE them? It's like this is just another day at the office for you!"

"So what you're saying is I should have let them continue to beat Ruby? You know there's only one way I can compete physically with those boys, and that's a situation I have zero intentions of going through again."

"Nobody's saying that, but you still probably went a bit overboard," Yang said. "And that still doesn't explain how you're being so calm about this."

"There's two rules where I come from. What you can do to the other guy, and what you can keep the other guy from doing to you. I was simply playing by the rules."

Weiss scoffed, her holier than thou attitude showing itself again. "Those aren't rules, those are guidelines for how to be an animal."

Kass snapped back at the heiress, "They're the rules of survival." Alright, my legs are starting to get a bit cold. "Hey, do you mind letting me out of here? I might not catch frostbite easy, but it can still happen. Not to mention I really don't want to have to clean this up when it finally melts."

"How can we trust you?" Yang and Ruby gaped at Schnee, as she explained. "As far as I know, you claim to be from a different planet, and you at least think about shooting anything that moves, regardless if its friend or foe. You talk about murder and torture like its par for the course. And don't even get me started on your paranoia; seriously, why are you so determined to sleep with that antique rifle of yours?"

Kassidy crossed her arms and glared at her white haired teammate. "So you don't trust me?" A vigorous shake of the head was her answer, and she softened from her glare and settled on a stoic expression. "Good. Means you're learning." Yang's and Ruby's jaws dropped yet again, and the heiress joined them. "Still, for what it's worth… if I wanted you all dead, not only would you have not lived long enough to develop those suspicions, but I've had plenty of opportunities to do the deed."

"Gee, that's incredibly reassuring." Despite the rather pointed tone, the heiress' brow was furrowed in thought for a few seconds. Eventually, she decided to drop the ice encasing the gunslinger's legs. "And you just made an incredibly potent point for sleeping with one's weapon. I have studying to do; try to shoot me and I will be more than happy to freeze the entirety of you." With that, Schnee turned on her heel and sat at her desk to study.

"At least you've finally started paying attention," Kass muttered. Sighing and digging through her bag, a thought suddenly struck her. "Speaking of studying, didn't you say you needed help with your algebra homework, Yang?

"Yeah, actually! Let me go get my work." And with that, the team dissolved into what would've been its typical anarchy, made atypical through the icy tension hanging in the air.

"So, remind me how we're gonna be doing team training when you're still hopping around on crutches?" Yang had just finished taping up her fists and snapped her gauntlets back on. Weiss and Kassidy were already together in the middle of the arena they were occupying. It was the next day, and Glynda didn't seem to mind too much that a team wanted to use the combat training room on a Sunday, so long as nothing got broken.

"I wanted to do something different today!" Ruby bounded over to the bench they had put their stuff on, and the other girls made their way over to the two sisters. The team leader sat down and was slightly more nervous when she talked next. "I knew I wasn't gonna be good to help you guys train today, so I wanted to see if I could get someone to take my place, so to speak. I managed to talk him into helping us train; he said it was okay but I still couldn't help feel but feel like I was being a bother."

"Oh, don't fret Miss Rose! I assure you this isn't a bother in the slightest!" The door to the room opened seemingly on its own, but the culprit had already zoomed over next to them. Weiss, Yang, and Kass all stood agape at him. The gunslinger was the first one to remember where she was.

"Professor Oobleck, this is quite the surprise."

"Doctor! I did not earn a Ph.D. for fun, thank you very much! Now, your team leader explained to me her predicament, and after some thorough questioning and research I do believe I've found a way in which I am uniquely qualified to improve on your training!"

"I'm sure whatever lessons such an esteemed Huntsman such as yourself would have been sufficient. We are all ready to listen." With a curtsy, Weiss was only too eager to try and gain the approval of the one person on campus who could compete with Ruby for hyperactivity. The two sisters snickered while Kassidy rolled her eyes.

"Alright, flattery aside, let's get straight to the point! Your time is valuable after all! Now, Miss Schnee, Miss Smith, could you two join me in the middle of the room? Fully armed, I might add?" With a glare at Kassidy, the professor seemingly teleported to the arena floor. Weiss followed after him while the gunslinger grabbed her pistol and rifle before joining.

"Miss Smith, may I ask why you never carry a melee weapon with you? Surely you've seen by now the benefits of carrying one."

"Firstly, I don't have one. I mean, sure I've got this knife, but doesn't really count to a rapier or, god forbid, a scythe as big as I am and almost as heavy. And since I've never had one, I'm not good with any of them. Yeah, anyone can swing a baseball bat or sword around like a lunatic and still do some damage, but here? I'll be lucky if I don't chop my own arm off or something."

Oobleck interrupted her at this point. "You do realize you're at a school, right? The institution where one learns? And with the quality of instructors we have at our disposal, I'm sure it would be little trouble for you to find a weapon you are comfortable with and become proficient in its use. Which makes it more complexing when you refuse the weapons you have and instead settle for your fists. Your unguarded, aura-less fists."

"Have you seen what my guns do to someone? The bullets absolutely devastate aura, for some reason more so than your guys' weaponry. If I shoot someone, there is a high probability that they're going to get hurt badly. And yeah, that's kind of the point of shooting someone, but I don't think Ozpin would appreciate it too much if I sent all my classmates to the infirmary, or worse."

"Hmm, you have a different view on fighting that we do, that much is clear." Oobleck elaborated at the raised eyebrow. "I have been made aware that you are not from Vale. Where you are from was not made privy to me, but regardless. Even if I were not told that, it would be painfully obvious how… different you are. Your combat style is an interesting one, to say the least."

Kassidy chuckled. "You think I have a combat style, how flattering. Nah, I just shoot whatever moves pretty much."

"That is still a combat style. But it must be expanded upon." Eyes narrowing, he strode over to the gunslinger's side and looked at Weiss. "Tell me, how would you fight Miss Schnee over there?"

Kass' eyes widened slightly. "Fight her? As in…?"

"If you had to fight her, to the death, right here and now, what would you do?" RWY all stared blankly at the professor, while Kassidy thought.

"Well, if I had a choice in the matter, I'd do what I would with anyone else and not be here, or anywhere near her for that matter. If I truly had to kill her, and I got to decide how, when, and where, then she'd never know there was to be a struggle. One shot, in one ear and out the other."

Weiss grimaced at the mental image it brought up, while Oobleck was intrigued. "Yes, that does seem to fit you and how you fight. Which is why I'm not letting you decide those in this particular thought exercise."

"Okay then…" The gunslinger thought some more. "The biggest problem are obviously those physics defying glyphs of hers. So I'll need to be on the offensive, control the flow of battle, not let her dictate how and where she uses those damn things. She's fast, but she'll need her glyphs if she wants to beat my reaction time. And from what I've seen, the glyphs only give a force in one direction, giving her linear movement, makes her predictable." After coming up with some final thoughts, she looked the teammate in question in the eye. "So, basically, stay on the offensive, force her to use her glyphs purely in a defensive manner. Need to use terrain to keep her in front of me. If she can use her glyphs offensively, or if she can start running circles around me, then I'm screwed; I'm only so good at this fighting deal. Getting her backed into a corner would be ideal, then it's just a matter of forcing her to waste her glyphs on the shield barrier things. I've got more ammo than she does aura, so by that point it'd be all over."

The professor rubbed his chin in thought. "Miss Schnee, how would you fight Miss Smith here?"

Weiss let out a 'hmph' in disdain. Rather than telling Oobleck her answer, she showed him. A glyph formed under Kassidy and launcher her into the air before she could react. A second glyph tore the rifle from her shoulder, and a third removed her pistol from its holster. Crumpling on the ground and shooting back up to her feet, the gunslinger quickly processed what had just happened.

"That is how I would fight her." Finishing with a small curtsey, the heiress was obviously only too proud of her display. Kass was practically quivering with anger, not only at her white haired teammate but mostly at herself for not expecting that.

"Do not be so proud of defeating a defenseless opponent." Schnee flinched under the sudden criticism while Kassidy tried to complain about how she wasn't that defenseless. The professor cut her off quickly, however. "Your glyphs are a flexible tool, but they are only one tool of many you have. Do not neglect your other tools simply because glyphs are typically the most convenient. And Miss Smith, stealth and a steady aim are tools in their own right, tools which you have tremendous skill in. The problem is your toolbox is rather empty. I had mentioned the skilled teachers here for a reason, I'd advise meeting with them and learning new tools to equip yourself with."

The gunslinger thought for but a moment. "Would it be safe to assume you also have a lesson to teach?"

At that, Oobleck smiled. "Why yes, I do. However, it unfortunately must wait for another time. Now, Miss Xiao Long, if you could take Miss Smith's place up here?" The hint was all too obvious, and Kass made her way over to the bench. She took a seat where the brawler was next to Ruby, and took a sip from a water bottle; they hadn't been doing any actual work yet beyond getting thrown in the air and disarmed by glyphs, but she still had the chance for water now and she took it.

"So this was what you had in mind by bringing in Doctor Oobleck?"

Rose gave a soft smile back. "No, I didn't. I figured he was gonna do a bit of talking from the questions he was asking, but I had no idea what. Weiss wasn't too rough with you, was she?"

Kassidy couldn't help but snort. "You seriously think getting tossed in the air a couple feet hurt that badly? C'mon, you should know by now that just 'cause I don't have an aura, it doesn't mean I'm made of fine china." At seeing her head tilt inquisitively, she had to explain. "Fine china's this real expensive pottery. No idea why people like it so much, something about the mineral content."

"Also for its toughness compared to more common consumer ceramics, as well for its translucence allowing a wide variety of art to be depicted easily."

"All right, know-it-all. What can I say Ruby? Between Bob and I, we really do know everything."

"Ooh! How about…" The team leader thought for a moment, tongue stuck out a bit, before coming up with something. "How about the tenth root of a thousand twenty four?"

"Two." Ruby's jaw dropped, which caused her to chuckle. "Not only do I know binary as a computer programmer, counting powers of two is something I use to calm down."

"No fair!" she whined. The two girls looked up and saw Weiss and Yang about to fight, although curiously Yang was the one in the defensive position this time, and Weiss was making no effort or movement to ready a glyph.

"Must be something Oobleck told them about expanding their toolboxes."

"Yeah. Oh, that reminds me Kass!" Suddenly excited again, Ruby reached around and dug in her red duffel behind her, and pulled out a couple boxes. "Weiss and I have been making these for you over the week! Oobleck did kinda say you needed to expand your toolbox a bit, which seems to make a bit of sense here, but we thought you'd really like this with how much you use your rifle."

Eyeing the boxes being handed to her, the gunslinger unlatched the boxes and gasped at their contents. What was inside them was ammunition, and not the homemade nonsense she had been using for how many years. Someone put a lot of effort into getting these machined properly. However, these were obviously far more different than that. The seven clips all had glass caps on the end of each piece of ammo, with some different colored powder in the caps. The clips themselves also were color coded, with stripes of orange, white, blue, and red going down their lengths.

"Wow, Ruby. I don't know what to say, this stuff looks incredible."

The team leader giggled, before pointing to the stripes. "Yeah, Weiss knows a lot about dust and I know a lot about weapons, so we figured it'd only make sense to tag team on this project. Bob helped a lot with the specifics of your rifle too… I think you might've noticed if we borrowed it for a day to take measurements." Her voice trailed off at the end, but then she perked up. "Anyways, there's some differences you need to know about this stuff. Bob was talking about this 'gunpowder' nonsense you've been using as a propellant, which is completely garbage if you ask me. Fire dust burns much cleaner and more reliably, so we used that instead. Also, the bullets themselves are just glass casings for carrying dust. These orange ones, for example, are filled with more fire dust. It's like an incendiary bullet."

"While that's technically accurate, it also doesn't do service to the capabilities of the substance. Think of it more as a bullet filled with napalm." At hearing her computer's explanation, Kassidy's eyes bugged out.

Ruby giggled some more before continuing. "This white one is filled with ice dust, it'll make a decent sized glob of the stuff. Like bowling ball sized, I guess?" This time, it was Kass' turn to look incredulously at the scythe wielder. "Don't forget, dust is basically the elements incarnate. It doesn't take a lot of powder to make some neat stuff happen. Alright, this blue one is lightning dust. Bob said it'd be best to call it a Taser round, which he said you'd know what it means." A nod, and she continued. "And this last one… it's really hard to make, so don't let Yang have this stuff. Or Nora, now that I think of it. It's basically a grenade bullet."

As Kassidy's eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets, Bob explained. "While Ruby and Weiss were doing some testing, I noticed some interesting properties with the fire dust. I convinced them to test my theory that lacing thermite with fire dust would dramatically improve its yield. We were, how do I want to put this? Not disappointed. And you better be careful with that stuff, the 'grenade bullet' moniker was not an exaggeration. Not to mention, do you have any idea how hard it is to make thermite from scratch?"

"Well, you seem happy partner." Yang strolled up to them, with Weiss sulking behind her. "Oh, don't worry about ice queen, she's just mad that she lost to her own tricks." The brawler finally found the topic of conversation, and split into a face-cracking grin. "Oh, those things, huh? You have no idea how excited Ruby was to make those. Or how hard it was to keep it a secret from you of all people. Even had Bob in on it."

Oobleck joined them at the bench. "I'm not going to pretend to be privy to what you ladies are conspiring with this time, but I do wish to thank you for your participation today. Truly, outstanding students. Yes, even you Miss Xiao Long." Yang smirked, which he ignored. "Now, if that clock – and my stomach – does not mistake me, it should be lunchtime right about now. Why don't we all grab a bite to eat?"