"Again. Attack me with every bit of that strength of yours," Ash commanded at the slightly exhausted Jaune, panting with his hands on his knees and his sword and shield leaning on his right leg. Unlike the day before, Ash had been holding back a lot less. Striking Jaune's abdomen and chest whenever the blonde would make a reckless attack. Despite the armor he wore, Ash's attacks had been wearing him out and had been steadily depleting his seemingly endless stamina. "If you want to rest, then you'll have to recover your stamina as you avoid my attacks."
Another day, which meant that Jaune was trapped in his second and last day to train with Ash. When Team JNPR had knocked on Glynda Goodwitch's door earlier that morning, the dragon was the one who answered it, already dressed comfortably in a thin black shirt that probably belonged to Aaron of Team LAVA considering that the shirt looked a little too loose for his frame and the wolf Faunus' body size was slightly bulkier than Ash, despite their weapons of choice.
Besides his clothing, the team managed to catch the dragon in a slightly disorganized state. Before they even left their professor's room, Ash had nearly tripped on his own feet several times, catching himself by putting his hand on a piece of furniture or a wall, and even as they were leaving the room and had to stop for Ash to lock the door, he missed the keyhole before actually managing to lock it. Jaune tried to say something, but at the mention of his health, Ash simply turned and began to walk towards the arena. Cautiously, the team followed him with Jaune whispering to his partner to keep an eye on him.
The previous day, Ash had promised the leader that by the end of the day, he'd be able to fully use his stamina to combine both his offense and defense should the need to do so ever arise. At first, Jaune was eager to train for the skill, especially if it meant he'd be able to get closer to being the hero he'd always wanted to be, but now, a little over two hours in their training session without break, he would've gladly laughed in the face of his past self. He had sweat beading down his forehead, gathering onto his chin into a single drop, before dropping down to the floor. He could already feel his knees shaking, wanting nothing more than to give up supporting the body's weight.
Ash waited until the leader had picked both sword and shield, pushing the shield towards the dragon indicating that he was ready to defend against his attacks. With a nod, Ash ran towards Jaune, keeping his stance low and his right fist as close to his body as it possibly could. Jaune kept his gaze trained at his opponent, watching him for any excess movement that could possibly give away his attack pattern like Pyrrha had done in her fight yesterday against the same opponent. Once they were arm's reach of each other, Ash threw his right fist forward, hitting the middle of Jaune's shield, forcing its wielder to put more strength to his legs, not wanting to move give up even a single inch, raising his shield a little higher even though he'd lose sight of Ash.
Ash smiled at the leader's resilience, but was inwardly disappointed as Jaune was more or less hiding behind his shield once again, a mistake that he'd have to be reminded of. When he was able to, Ash pulled his right hand back and spun his body counter-clockwise with his left arm extended out just enough for the back of his hand to hit the edge of Jaune's shield, pushing it out of the way. It was unfortunate that he'd gotten so used to fighting with the metal gloves that he had forgotten the fact that he wasn't wearing them at the moment. As Jaune's shield was pushed away from the center and towards his sword arm, Ash was forced to ignore the pain that surged from his left hand when the sharp shield edge met thin bones. Continuing his spin, Ash closed his right hand into a tight fist and forced to against the side of the blonde's chin, disorienting him as well as pushing him further to the right. Once clear of his spin, the dragon jumped towards Jaune, turning his body until it was horizontal and spun once again. As Jaune recovered from the blow to his chin, he turned just in time catch his friend's right leg with his forehead, forcing him to the ground with a rather loud thud and clang as his sword skidded away from his grasp and his shield edge his the ground.
Jaune was left looking at the ceiling, wondering why he was lying down on the ground as Ash extended a hand to him to help him up. Jaune took the hand as soon as he realized that he'd been unable to defend against his friend's attacks. Ash pulled him up and walked over to retrieve the dropped weapon and return it to its rightful owner, giving the blonde some time to rest.
"Mister Arc, you were hiding behind your shield again," the dragon explained with a sigh as he handed the blonde his sword. Jaune took the sword again with a sigh, adjusting his grip on the handle as he looked at with a restricted pained expression. Ash struck Jaune's chin playfully, as a way to comfort him, causing Jaune to look at the dragon. "Alright, how about we try something like shadow boxing? Simply watch me and match my movements. Miss Nikos? While it's not necessary, if you would be so kind as to lend me your sword and shield, I'd appreciate it."
"Alright?" Pyrrha agreed cautiously, confused as to what progress he'd be able to make with her weapons. She used her scroll to call her weapon locker to their location. "I'm not sure I understand your plan."
"In the most basic terms, this is nothing more than just mimicry," Ash explained rather resentfully, fully knowing that what he was doing was reverting to training his friend like anyone would a new fighter. At his explanation, Pyrrha glared at him for possibly shaming her partner. "However, learning swordsmanship and learning how to play an instrument or learning how to do anything really. Simply doing the action forces different parts of the brain to become engaged and become active."
"So, you're hoping that because Jaune will be using different parts of his brain, he'll automatically be more welcoming to things he didn't know before? Including his fighting?" Ren asked with his right hand's fingers and thumb gently grabbing his chin as he stared at the ground in front of him in deep thought. Ash shrugged his shoulders in uncertainty, finding the explanation both correct and incorrect. "But what would be the point in that? You and Jaune fight way too differently. Isn't that just telling him to become you?"
"Not necessarily Mister Lie," Ash tried to dismiss, stopping for a moment to gather his thoughts to come up with an answer that they would all be satisfied with. "I'm sure you've noticed yourself how Mister Arc has been able to find solutions to problems in the heat of the moment when he wants to. I have no doubt that this sort of thing would be minor to that. Moreover, I'm not telling him to implement my fighting into his own. It's something that I've come up with while keeping Miss Nikos' fighting style in mind."
As if on cue, Pyrrha's weapon locker landed with a loud bang as it came to a sudden stop when it hit the marble floor. Pyrrha made her way to the locker and opened it, grabbing her sword and shield and tossing both to Ash. The dragon caught both, attaching the circular shield to his left forearm and tightly gripping the handle of the sword with his right. He moves his shoulders in circles and tested the weight if both items, frowning slightly at the lighter weight. Nevertheless, he took his place next to Jaune.
"All right then, Mister Arc, if would get into your stance," Jaune, though still unsure, awkwardly got back into his stance. He placed his shield in front of him, roughly a foot from his body, while he placed his sword slightly behind him, ready to be brought to the front as a possible start for a combo. Ash mimicked the stance with enough space between them to cause no accidents. "Now, shadow me and memorize the movement as best you can. You'll be using this against me in a moment."
With a nod, they started. Ash moved slowly, bringing the sword over his shoulder and slashed across the chest of his imaginary opponent, ending with the tip of the blade pointed to the ground on his lower left. Jaune did the same, performing the same slash, slightly faster than Ash's, keeping his eyes trained on Ash for any change in movement. Ash began to move again spinning counter-clockwise and stepping forward when he faced the front again, and slammed Pyrrha's shield against the side of his imaginary opponent before placing his shield steadily in front him, to guard against any attack. Jaune shadowed Ash once more, performing the same maneuver. Ash moved again when Jaune was in similar stance as he was. The dragon pulled his shield arm to the left and threw it back up to his upper right as if to parry an attack or bash his opponent with the shield. Before Jaune could shadow the maneuver he'd seen, Ash kept moving, bringing the sword behind him over his shoulder once more, similar to the first maneuver, but kept going, spinning counter-clockwise and bringing the sword across his imaginary opponent's body again, similar to the one before.
Before Jaune could copy the move, Ash moved away and looked at Jaune. The blonde kept his gaze straight at the invisible opponent though could feel Ash's observing glare freeze his bones solid. Jaune copied the maneuver, bringing his heater shield down to his lower left and quickly brought it up to the top right, feeling rather awkward with attacking with his shield. Afterwards, he brought the sword over his shoulder spinning like Ash and bringing the sword over his shoulder again to attack. He felt awkward at the end, almost like his center of balance has shifted elsewhere, leaving him in an unstable state with his knees slightly bent and shaking. Ash took a step forward, ready to catch and stabilize the leader should he need it, but Jaune managed to right himself before he fell over by stabbing his sword tip into the floor.
"I don't know about this Ash. It's kinda weird to do," Jaune said worriedly, morphing his shield back into a sheath and stowed the blade inside, keeping the entire thing gripped by his left hand. Ash chuckled at his dilemma, stabbing Pyrrha's blade into the ground to free up his right hand. He placed his free hand on Jaune's shoulder as comfort. "There's no way this is gonna work for me. You saw how I almost screwed that up didn't you? I'm not gonna be able to do all of that faster."
"I'm not asking the impossible of you Mister Arc," Ash said confidently, going back to pick up Pyrrha's sword from the ground and taking his place in front of Jaune with the shield out. Jaune got into his stance rather cautiously, slightly unnerved at the confident smile on the dragon's face, slightly visible from the dip on top of Pyrrha's shield. "Now attack me. Just like how you did it. It's only awkward because you're not used to it. Everyone's the same. Didn't you feel the same when you first started training as a child?"
He didn't need a response from the leader to know his answer. The expression of someone's expression calming and entering a confident state was enough to realize the blonde's resolution. Jaune gripped the handle of his sword tightly and went over the maneuver multiple times in his head before steeling himself further until he was ready to attack his friend, fully knowing that the dragon wants him to try and kill him.
Jaune brought his sword over his shoulder and tried to bring it across Ash's chest, but Ash raised his shield, blocking the attack. Blade and shield grinded against each other with a cacophony of metal on metal until the Jaune completed his movement, and the blade was set free, pointing to the ground at his lower left. Jaune spun and slammed his shield against Ash's shield when he faced him again, stepping in hard to balance himself for the greatest amount of force he could muster. The circular shield was pushed to the side, leaving the dragon open for an attack. Though it wasn't part of the series of movements that Ash showed him, Jaune gathered his courage and swung his blade horizontally, almost cutting the dragon's exposed side if it wasn't for his Aura.
Ash smiled, feeling nothing but pride for his friend taking notice of the offensive opportunity presented to him and taking initiative to attack. Before Ash could get back into his stance again, Jaune was already ready, his shied in front of him, watching Ash for any strange movements. As the dragon began to recover from the guard break, Jaune reeled his shield to the lower left and forced his shield to the upper right, hitting Ash's shield edge, using every bit of strength he could muster, overpowering the dragon and pushing the shield away once more, leaving him open for yet another attack.
Jaune's confidence began to grow as his attacks and attempts to break his opponent's guard had been growing. With a confident smile on his face, Jaune stepped in hard with his right foot, bringing his sword over his shoulder again, forcing the blade's edge to glide across Ash's left shoulder and chest and spun again once the blade was free of its target. Once more, Jaune stepped in with his right foot and brought his sword back towards Ash. Unfortunately, as he was already in mid swing, he failed to notice that his opponent had already made a full recovery and was ready to block, dodge, or initiate an attack of his own.
Ash raised his shield and met the incoming blow, stopping it dead in its tracks and stunning the blonde. He waited for a single second for Jaune to recover and react to the new development, but he was frozen solid, simply staring at the dragon in shock that his attack didn't work. Ash bent his shield arm's elbow and slammed his right shoulder against the blonde's body, knocking him down till his was sat and pointed Miló's tip against his throat. After a moment, Jaune was able to move again, but dared not to with something sharp, ready to kill him, it was only when Ash pulled it away and offered a hand to him that he actually moved again. Jaune took the dragon's hand and pulled as Ash pulled until he was back on his feet again.
"A bit too greedy in the end there, but you did quite well. Consider me impressed Mister Arc," Ash smiled at the leader, clapping him on the shoulder as praise. Ash stepped away from his friend and stabbed Miló part way into the ground and placed Akoúo leaning against him before stretching his spine by thrusting his arms towards the sky. "Train like this a bit more and you'll be able to find more strengths in your swordsmanship and weaknesses in others. Now what do you say to—"
Jaune's scroll began to ring, stopping the dragon as they both stared at Jaune's pocket, where the sound was originating. Jaune fished out the scroll and immediately showed the screen to Ash when he saw Ruby's picture displayed on it. Ash gave him a nod, already fighting all of his natural inhibitions worrying about the heiress. Even though he could see the strain on his friend's face, Jaune ensured that everyone in the entire room was able to hear the red-cloaked leader.
"Jaune, can you hear me now?" her voice seemed urgent and panicked, with slight panting in between her words. Already, Jaune could see the walls of Ash's resolve slowly but steadily break down, falling apart faster at every one of Ruby's words. They all knew that Team RWBY could handle anything that comes their way as long as they're together, adding to that, they had the help of Doctor Oobleck. The fact that Ruby was calling now could only mean trouble.
"I can hear you Ruby. What's going on?" he asked, as he motioned for his team to come over as he looked over to Ash. The dragon looked like he was on the verge of going to Mountain Glenn himself and destroying the ruins, if not the mountain itself. Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren surrounded Ash and grabbed on to the boy's clothing and limbs to restrain him.
"Hey Ruby! How's it going?" Nora greeted, slightly nervous that their scuffle with the dragon could be heard. She received a nod of gratitude from her leader as they all tried to restrain Ash even more. Unlike with Lava, Ash didn't have wings therefore they were allowed to focus on restraining Ash's movements. However, also unlike Lava, Ash was able to increase his strength. It was fortunate that he didn't.
"Nora, I know you're excited, but not right now. Something's wrong. Ruby what's with that call from earlier?" Jaune asked, momentarily feeling the regret of the decision as Ash's form began to emit a small plume of thin red smoke. Pyrrha used her semblance to retrieve Miló and Akoúo and placed them on Ash's back, using both her semblance and natural strength to restrain him despite the added strength. "You were saying something about training with Dust?"
"No, listen. The White Fang are here in Mountain Glenn. There's a train full of Dust here and we think they're going to send it to Vale somehow," Ruby's voice was full of panic, as she began to talk faster and faster unknowingly. At that moment, Jaune and the rest of Team JNPR cursed the scythe wielder for the very first time. At her explanation, more of the red smoke came bursting out of Ash, both venting out of his pores and into his restrainers' eyes and nostrils, along with it, a small amount of heat. "You guys need to tell Professor Ozpin about it. And guard the city. You guys need to do something."
At the urgency of her voice, Jaune disabled the microphone of his scroll, ensuring that Ruby wasn't able to heard Ash as he let out a yell of frustration as his strength became to much for the three members to contain. For a single moment, a sudden and thick gust of red smoke hit them all, momentarily losing focus and grip on the dragon. He easily pushed them off, but before he could do anything else. Jaune immediately pushed against him with his shield, having a slight running start, forcing the dragon to face him as he held him still with his shield. He had returned his scroll inside his pocket before, hoping that Ruby would be patient enough to wait for him to say something back or to at least wait a while to speak.
"Ash, listen. There's nothing you can do right now. No matter what you're planning on doing, it won't help them now," Jaune's surprising sudden boost of confidence was enough to hold Ash even for a moment, the red smoke coming from him lessening until he was back to a small plume of red smoke, but nevertheless angry at his uselessness. Ash grit his teeth as he took a step back, allowing the blonde some room to discuss a plan with his fellow leader.
"Mister Arc, if you would please relay some information to Miss Rose for me," the dragon requested with anger still dripping from his teeth as Jaune took his scroll back out, unknowingly reactivating the microphone with his thumb. Jaune gave the dragon a nod as he walked forward to the blonde to whisper, loud enough for him to hear, but quiet enough so that no one but him could hear.
"Jaune!" Ruby's voice came from the scroll again, her panicked shrill voice causing the dragon to release more of the red smoke. Jaune quietly prayed to Oum for the girl to remain quiet so that their friend could restrain himself.
"I'm here Ruby. Listen you guys need to do whatever you can to at least slow down that train," he relayed, as he focused on listening to Ash as closely and as accurately as he could. Ash talked slowly to remain clear, much to the appreciation of the blonde. Jaune muttered a variety of 'Got it' and 'Yeah' before Ash took a step back once everything he wanted to say has been said. "The train tracks were supposed to have been blocked off, not only by the government, but also by the rubble left behind by the Grimm. So even if the tracks were somehow cleared off of the debris, it shouldn't be a smooth ride. It should be slower than it normally would. But we still need you guys to buy us some time. We need to find the city blueprints to figure out where the train tracks and Vale connects."
"We'll do what we can," Weiss responded, almost immediately. Ash's body stiffened at the sound of her voice, and his heart began to race, though he wasn't sure if it was due to his longing or the fact that he had practically sent her, sent all of them to take an entire organization while he was safe, looking at maps. "Hurry up and find those maps. We'll be out of contact while we're in the tunnels. We'll see you soon."
"Be careful. All of you," Jaune told them, though already knew that such a thing wasn't what the team was known for, but a single glance at Ash was enough for anyone to tell that he wanted nothing more than to speak up at the moment; specifically, to speak with Weiss.
Jaune wasn't even able to do so much as press a button to end the call before Ash had taken off, full sprint, towards the headmaster's office. Team JNPR followed soon after, but was only able to catch a glimpse of Ash as he rounded corners, leading them to only be guided by their memory and the sound of his rapid footsteps. Eventually, they caught up with Ash who was rapidly pressing the button to call the elevator to the headmaster's office, catching them by surprise as to how the small button hasn't already been broken. Jaune was the first to walk up to Ash and placed a hand on his shoulder from behind. The dragon didn't even seem to acknowledge his existence as he continued his attempt at destroying the button.
"Ash, listen. You need to—" Jaune began but was cut off when his ears picked up on some of Ash's muttering. The blonde took a step to the side and walked in front of Ash, watching the boy's face, mainly his lips, to try and read them. He was only able to catch a few words, all of it only confusing him more, something about longitude and latitude, as well as a few numbers. "Ash! You need to get a grip! What are you even going to do up there? We should be going to the library or even the Cross Continental Tower if we want blueprints."
"Useless," Ash muttered louder. At first, Jaune thought that the dragon meant him, but by the way his gaze seems to be off somewhere else, it was a thought that was quickly dismissed. The rest of Team JNPR joined their leader in front of Ash, just watching the dragon press the elevator button repeatedly. "Blueprints… all faked… covering up their mistakes… needs official… still faked… fools… better be safe…"
"Ash!" Pyrrha took a step forward and slapped the boy on his right cheek as hard as she possibly could. Ash's face was forced to the left with an obvious scarlet marking of the champion's hand on his cheek. When he finally faced front again, Ash's gaze was finally back to them. "Good. You're back. Now do you want to tell us what you're planning?"
"I'm going to find the point where the tracks meet with the city," he answered, though still slightly out of it, as his voice was still quiet and restrained with no sign of the anger and frustration he was struck with earlier. "Ozpin may have the best maps and blueprints to both the city of Vale and the underground railway."
"How are you feeling?" Ren asked scanning the dragon for anything that may give away some malicious intent, but so far, his restrained and deceptively calm expression proved too impenetrable for even the quiet intellect's scrutinizing gaze to see through.
"I'm angry. So much so that my heart hurts and I can no longer form an expression that could justify it," he replied cautiously. Ash stopped repeatedly pressing the elevator button, and in a blink of an eye, turned the hand into a fist and smashed the button into the wall. The elevator doors opened and the five teens piled in, leaving anyone who may walk by to investigate the fist-sized hole that used to be a button. "I'd better find those girls in pristine condition. If I find so much as a scratch, I'm destroying the White Fang."
Jaune, once again, placed a hand on the dragon's shoulder, as if to comfort him. Despite the clear monotone voice, there was even clearer intent in his voice. They'd never thought they'd ever see a time, when they would be able to see Ash get any angrier than he was with Team CRDL, but now that the occasion was present and for it to be so soon, Team JNPR couldn't help but think of what he could possibly do. And once more, the question of what Ash could destroy with more than just a measly sacrifice of five percent of his total Aura flashed through Pyrrha and Ren's minds.
When the elevator doors opened once more, Ash marched out. Ozpin was at his desk as usual, with Glynda by his side. The two of them seemed to have been talking about the missions they'd send their students on, grading them based on how well they've done what they were supposed to and how many avoidable casualties were caught in the crossfire. However, as soon as they took notice of the elevator doors opening, they stopped and stared, wondering what caused the dragon walking up to them to become so emotionless, but seething with anger.
"The maps of Vale and the surrounding areas and the blueprints of Mountain Glenn. Give them all to me," Ash brazenly demanded, his voice no longer monotone, but back to a restrained anger. Team JNPR followed closely behind him, earning the attention of the headmaster for a brief moment. There was a moment of silence between them as Ozpin analyzed his ex-student. "Now, Ozpin!"
"Very well," he replied calmly, pulling out two folders. One was filled with a dozen maps of the surrounding area, while the other contained three maps of the city of Vale. Ash took them immediately, while Ozpin took out a pawn chess piece, black in color, and placed it on his desk. Immediately, the blueprints of Mountain Glenn appeared on the surface of the table as projections, easy for the dragon to sort through. "I've given you what you asked for, now would you mind telling me what this is all about?"
"Team RWBY's in trouble, sir," Jaune answered as calmly as he could, slightly holding himself back as they all watched Ash, sort through map after map, blueprint after blueprint, as if trying to decipher some secret code hidden on them. "They said that the White Fang is with them at Mountain Glenn and they are trying to send a train to Vale and blow it up."
"Oh dear, that is quite the problem," Ozpin admitted, looking to Glynda, who gave him a nod. The blonde professor maneuvered through her scroll for a few seconds before shaking her head at her colleague. "No good, huh? We can't seem to raise Bart on his scroll. They must've already headed underground. Ash, is there anything we can do to help?"
The dragon didn't answer, too busy with the task at hand to direct even a portion of his focus elsewhere. He threw the maps that he deemed useless to the ground at his feet, and kept the ones that he could use on the side. They all simply let him work, anxious to see what he can manage to figure out. After ten minutes, however, Ash began to feel his frustration rising, and in turn his eyes became heavy with tears. Afraid that he'd disappoint and lose the team that he'd gotten so close to in the span of a month, and especially the one person he'd been with longer than anyone else in the world.
He'd managed to piece together as much as of the southeastern quadrant of the area around the city to the point that Mountain Glenn had actually appeared on the map. As for the hologram on the table's surface, Ash sorted through dozens of the blueprints, from the initial structure of the ruined city to even the blueprints for the Merlot Industries building, and after long minutes of rapidly discarding useless blueprints, he'd found the one he was looking for: the blueprints for the underground railway. A tiny feeling of hope finally rose from within him, only to be smothered by fear and disappoint in the end. When he lined his map with the blueprint, the tracks seem to ignore Vale despite being the closest city. According to what they were looking at, the tracks seem to curve away from Vale, headed out more to the west, miles out from the border.
Ash took apart and placed the maps and blueprint together again, thinking that he had messed up due to his building frustration, but the same image was displayed in front of him in the end. Team JNPR and the professors could only look at the boy as he slowly destroyed himself with his own frustration and anger, obvious that both had already worked their way into his mind, clouding it from any worthwhile judgment as it focused on its task. Once more, Ash took apart the map and placed it together again, spending more time to ensure that he wouldn't mess up even a single placement, to ensure that not even a millimeter of the papers would intersect with one another, only to end in miserable failure.
"No! No! No! No! No!" Ash exclaimed over and over again, voicing out his woes into the room. Glynda took pity on her son, unable to hold back any longer. She walked up to him and embraced him, placing his head against her chest as she pulled him away from his maps. She felt his tears dampen her blouse, but didn't care, simply letting him quietly cry against her. "It doesn't make sense. Why doesn't it make any damned sense? The tracks were supposed to connect to the city. There was supposed to be one. They planned it!"
"We'll find another way Ash," Glynda whispered to him, rubbing his back, trying to comfort him as best she could. From where she was, she looked over to the map he'd created; Oobleck would've been impressed with his knowledge of geography, being able to reconstruct what part of the world map he could with what he was given. Team JNPR took a step forward and examined their friend's handiwork, hoping to find something that he missed, even Ozpin looked like he was trying to. "Maybe they were mistaken? Maybe the train's not headed for Vale."
"That would be worse," he replied, his voice croaked, as his heart remained lodged in his throat and remained muffled as he spoke against Glynda's clothing. The image of Team RWBY fighting against the White Fang, trying to slow down the train as best they could, only for it to completely turn away from Vale, away from him. "We'd have no idea where they'd be going, where the train would actually end up. I may have just consigned them to their deaths."
"We'll follow the tracks, wait for them on the other side," Glynda once more tried to reassure him, even though she knew it won't do a thing. At that point, everything she did was more to escape from the feeling of uselessness as her son suffered at the hands of fate.
"If they perish before they reach the end?" he said negatively as he closed his hands into tight fists, his knuckled popping as he closed them. Glynda hugged him tighter as if to siphon at least some of his suffering. Over at the desk, Team JNPR and Ozpin have yet to find even a flaw in the map created, much less a way to decipher to wrong. "An hour spent constructing a pointless map, and for what? Ensuring that I pass my geography test? I wanted to see them once more."
"Enough. Rest for now. Your mind is still suffering the effects from your hyper focus last night," Glynda tried to reason with him, successful as he gave up trying to find another reason for his failure other than his incompetence. Glynda looked over at the map again and traced the tracks, mainly the one leading all the way west. She thought back and recalled that a simple fishing village was near the end, but no other noteworthy structures. "Perhaps we'll find them at the town nearby the end of the tunnel? They'll be fine."
"That's what doesn't make sense. That village had only been recently built. Not even a decade ago," Ash explained, pushing away from Glynda's chest and looking back at his failed map. His eyes were red and were already beginning to puff, and even though he felt dehydrated, his could feel his eyes still dammed with liquid. "With the destruction of Mountain Glenn, it should be rather off putting to build a village near one of the tunnels… Unless this one is fake as well."
Ash immediately wiggled out of Glynda's embrace and went back to the desk to study his map. Team JNPR and Ozpin looked at him with curious expressions, anxious to see if he's seen something that they hadn't. Ash snatched one of the small maps on the ground and folded it enough to match what he theorized. He grabbed a pen from Ozpin's desk and began to draw on the back of the map, tracing final twenty miles worth of the track, including the curve that turned it away from Vale. It took him a while to trace it exactly, but once he was finished, he placed it over both his made map and the blueprint, connecting the lines starting from the curve. He continued to turn his traced portion of the track, every possible way it made sense, until finally the track that was once headed west was now headed north, running straight through Vale.
A new feeling of hope rose within Ash. He immediately took note of the angle of the where the train tracks were coming from, before he swiped every single piece of the map away, pulling the enlarged map of Vale. 164 degrees south by southeast, Ash tracked the direction and tried to find a possible entrance for the train. Unfortunately, with the tracks going through the entire city, it left miles to search, simply no time to search without direction. It made no sense to him for the train to circle around just to surface at Vale, immediately ignoring the northeastern quadrant of the city. With the path paved with streets and center of various buildings, only one place made sense to him, but at the same time, a foolish decision of those who built the tracks: the main plaza of the city. Unlike the rest of the city, the main plaza was slightly sunken, enabling the possibility a substation.
"The plaza," Ash said out loud, barely able to even believe it himself. He couldn't be wrong, not unless he was willing to risk the well being of the citizens, as well as the lives of Team RWBY and Doctor Oobleck. "We need to evacuate the area… now."
Ash collapsed to his knees, stabilizing himself with his right hand placed on Ozpin's desktop. Nora was the first to act, sliding on her knees to catch the dragon. He could see them opening their mouths to speak, and even hear them speaking, but almost as if he was yards under water while the rest were still up on the surface. Their voices were muffled; even Nora's when she was right next to his ear. His head throbbed, as if a heart beat within his skull. Each beat of this supposed heart, unfocused his eyes making him see double or triple and forced him closer and closer to ground, weakening him, draining him of all his energy and strength. Soon he was asleep, though not even slumber could give him an escape from the throbbing pain.
"What happened to him?" Pyrrha asked, as Nora placed the dragon on the ground, lying down on the floor on his back. His eyes were closed shut with his eyebrows crunched together in pain. Glynda kneeled down next to him, looking him over for any injuries other than the obvious fatigue.
"He pushed himself too far," Ozpin answered, shaking his head with a smile, keeping an eye on the hastily drawn portion of the track. With the needless information of knowing where the tracks lead, the maps and blueprints were never looked over and had only been collecting dust within his desk's drawer. "His hyper focus last night is still affecting him. Too much stimuli, and this happens, though normally, the people who've entered hyper focus don't suffer such anger, frustration, and hope all in a single hour. He'll be fine after a good rest, though having him participate in this upcoming defense wouldn't be the best idea. We'll have him sleep at Beacon the entire day."
Ash found himself in a blank world with only a single long wooden table in front of him. On the tabletop, was a familiar looking heavy sword with the Atlas symbol on the guard, as well as the bracer that came with it, and metal gloves that he had gotten so familiar with. He walked up to the table and placed his hand on the gloves. He found himself looking at the pair longingly, slightly missing the feel of the cloth and the cold metal, though at the same time, a pang of regret made itself known to him. He looked around for a bit longer but found nothing else but the white backdrop. When he looked back at the tabletop, the sword began to glow until it was a simple blinding light. When he was able to see again, the blade lost its metallic color, but was replaced with a darker shade of gray. It would've struck him as weird if it weren't for the sound of something metallic scraping against the floor behind him.
He turned around and found a complete shadow slowly walking towards him with a sword in its right hand, composed of similar shadow substance as the owner. It's form seemed flicker on and off like a true shadow playing in the sunlight, and it stopped mere ten yards from Ash. It pointed the tip of its shadow blade in front of it, as if to challenge the dragon to a duel. Instead of accepting the challenge, Ash looked around once more trying to find something else to do other than fight the shadow. When he found nothing else, he prepared for a fight. He raised his hands, open handed, ready to disarm his foe should the need arise. However, the shadow refused to move.
After a minute of simply waiting, the shadow acknowledged that its opponent refused to wield and weapon and charged in. Ash met his charge with one of his own. The shadow swung downward at the dragon, but Ash dodged to the side leaving the sword to strike the ground. Ash threw a straight towards the chin of the shadow, but his fist fazed through it like it wasn't even there. However, in his shock, he failed to notice the shadow raised its left arm before it managed to strike Ash on the chin with an unbelievable amount of force. Ash forced into the air as the strike actually hurt, unlike the dreams he's had before; it almost felt like he was meditating. When he was struck with the shadow's left forearm, it felt like metal, perhaps indicating that it was a shadow covered automaton or, even more likely, it was wearing a metal bracer.
Ash took several steps back when he landed, watching the shadow for any movement, but it remained still. Ash took several more steps back until he hit something solid. He turned around and found the table from before staring back at him. Having little to no choice, Ash equipped himself with the gear he once had on. The familiar feel of the constrictions of both the metal gloves and the metal bracer embraced him like a long lost friend, the metal cool to the touch and yet comforting. The blade, however, despite having thought that it was only the color that changed, seemed to be heavier than it was before – it felt nice, better. He turned back to the shadow once more, ready to fight again.
As the two began their battle, Ash almost missed his dragon mother's voice, soft, kind, warm, and welcoming.
It's time to teach you how to fight like a dragon.