Oscar and Ruby were training hand to hand combat while the rest of our group watched.
"Man, Oz wasn't kidding. Oscar's picking up on this stuff fast." Jaune noted.
Oscar hit Ruby straight in her face. Ruby recoiled from the blow and looked visibly angry. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" He quickly apologized.
"Omae wa mou shindeiru." I said with my eyes closed and arms crossed. Ruby hit Oscar back and he landed a few feet away on ground as Jaune and Nora winced.
"Auntie Ruby is scary when she's mad." Saphyra said.
"Ha! Yes! I did it!" Ruby cheered for herself, but her brief moment of cheering was replaced with concern as she looked back. "Oscar?" She asked.
(You forgot to engage your Aura, again.) Ozpin mentally reprimanded the boy.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Oscar groaned.
(Because this method makes you less likely to forget.) Ozpin mentally explained.
Oscar groaned and got to his feet. (Mind if I give it a shot?) Ozpin mentally offered.
Oscar stiffened briefly while his eyes glowed in a yellow light. "Not bad, Miss Rose. But Oscar doesn't have the years of training that you do. Or I do." Ozpin told her.
Oscar's body shimmered green as Ozpin engaged their Aura. Jaune and Nora realized what Ruby was in for. Oscar determinedly approached Ruby.
"Oh, she's in trouble now." I said.
"Oh, ha, well, maybe we should uh... take a break." Ruby said nervously.
"Come on, Ruby. Take your beating like a big girl!" Draco said.
Ozpin attacked Ruby with a few punches aimed at her head, forcing her onto the defensive until he landed a blow to her face which knocked her back several feet. Ozpin closed the gap with a leap and kicked her in the face. Ruby leapt at Ozpin to throw a left cross which Ozpin evaded by ducking and retaliated with a headbutt from below.
"Ouch." Nora said.
"I'm starting to think Ozpin enjoys harming children." Draco asked.
"I believe this is a real life case of Smurfing." Saphyra noted.
"The next time you want to throw a left cross, remember to push off with the appropriate foot. And as always, do be aware of any openings." Ozpin lectured.
"Gooooot it." Ruby let out a strained groan as she sat up.
Ozpin relinquished his control and Oscar fell to the ground, panting. "Oh! Hey. Are you okay?" Ruby asked, kneeling beside him.
"How is this so exhausting?" Oscar asked.
"Your body isn't used to this kind of training, not to mention generating a defensive Aura on your own. It takes intense concentration at first, but in time it will become second nature, allowing you to deflect attacks and gradually heal your wounds. After that, you can begin focusing on your Semblance, whatever that may be." Ren explained sagely from where he sat, cross-legged on the ground.
"Wow. Very impressive, uncle Ren. You almost sounded like you could be a teacher at Beacon." Saphyra praised.
"Semblance?" Oscar asked.
"Dude, where have you been?! Everyone should know what a Semblance is!" I said.
"You know! Like your very own superpower! Everybody's got one. It's just a matter of finding it and mastering it. Ruby moves super fast, Electricity makes me stronger, Ren can mask emotions, and Jaune... can, uh, um. Hmm." Nora began, but became unsure when she got to Jaune.
"To be determined!" Draco said.
"I can't do anyth—" Jaune started.
"Jaune's like you!" Ruby interrupted and took Oscar by the hand and lead him over to Jaune. "He hasn't found his Semblance yet, but we all know he will. And you will, too. We all just have to try and help each other get stronger." She told them.
"Cool." Oscar said.
"A common philosophy is that a warrior's Semblance is a part of who they are. Some say your personality and character can define your Semblance while some claim that it is the other way around. Of course, there are still many who don't see a connection at all." Ren explained
"It's hard to know when you know sometimes. Ren's Semblance was unlocked from intense stress." Nora added.
"And mine kicked in during training one day." Ruby told us.
"And what about you?" Oscar asked Nora.
"Oh. Struck by lightning. Didn't die. Craaaazy Thursday." Nora explained.
"That was both incredibly lucky and convenient." Saphyra said.
"I just don't understand what's wrong with me. I train. I meditate." Jaune said.
Oscar's eyes glowed momentarily as Ozpin took control of his body again. "Don't worry, Mr. Arc. Your journey is far from over. And the same might be said for all of you. Unlocking your Semblance isn't the end. It can still grow and evolve. Providing you're willing to put in the work, who knows what could happen." Ozpin explained.
"Maybe you need some more stress. I know, I'll try to kill you!" I said, pulling out a chainsaw.
"No thank you! I'll stick with training!" Jaune said fearfully as everyone held me back.
"Fine." I huffed, putting the chainsaw away.
Ruby sighed in relief,then smiled. "Then let's get back to it." She said.
it was morning in Menagerie. Blake, Nicolas and Sun were on the steps of the Belladonna Family Home, both of them each holding a Scroll.
"Okay. Are you two ready?" Blake asked.
"I beat up on giant monsters and robots more than once, I think I can handle getting a few signatures." Sun assured.
"Okay, we didn't need your life story. A yes or no is fine." Nick said.
Blake gave the two a small smile.
Blake stood on a platform in front of a crowd of Faunus, holding her scroll up in front of her. "Your chieftain needs you! Your people need you! Please, join the fight and help us save Haven Academy!" She declared.
The Faunus just stared back at Blake.
Further away, Nicolas had a Shwarma stand set up. "Step right up,folks! All you can eat shwarma for free! Doesn't cost you a single lien! All you gotta do is sign up!" He declared, holding out his Scroll. However, as soon as this happened, the sizable crowd he had quickly dispersed. "Oh, you guys suck!" He snapped.
Elsewhere, Sun tried to recruit a Faunus with ram horns. "Are you kidding me? We'd love to have someone with your skills on our side!" Sun assured him.
The Faunus nervously rubbed the back of his head, before... "Mata! Get back inside." His mother called out to him.
"Mom!" Mata called back.
"You're not going anywhere!" The mother snapped.
Sun sighed in disappointment.
Returning to Nicolas, he now had a line of designer clothes along with the Shwarma. "Shwarma AND designer clothes! These threads would cost you THOUSANDS, but I'm giving them away for free! Just frickin' sign the scroll!" He told the crowd, causing them to leave again. "Screw you guys!" He yelled at them.
Back to Blake, she held out her scroll to two Faunus girls asking them to sign up, but the two left.
Elsewhere, Sun hung upside down by his tail from a tree, getting the attention of a couple of Faunus cutting logs and gathering wood. He gestured to his scroll, but the Faunus simply exchanged confused looks with each other. Sun sighed until another Faunus tried to cut down the tree that Sun was hanging on.
Nicolas was reaching the limits of his patience, simply holding his scroll out to everyone and asking "sign?". However, he only continued to be rejected. "Oh, the hell with this!" He snapped, running up on the guy who just passed him with a bat, hitting him in the leg, sending him to the ground, clutching the leg and screaming in pain, before Nick knocked him out with a hit to the head. "You just had to do it the hard way, didn't you?" He asked, taking the guy's hand and making him write his signature, walking away, before coming back and tossing a sweater and Shwarma on him.
At the docks, Blake conversed with an aquatic Faunus as two more swim up to her. The Faunus Blake was conversing with left and she turned to the two female aquatic Faunus that have just swam up, before they too swam away. Blake, unsatisfied with the lack of progress, walked up to a nearby fruit stand where Sun happened to be present at also, Nick walking up as well, slouching and looking depressed. The three of them shared disappointed glances.
After that, the three of them are sitting at a nearby table drinking from coconut cups.
Sun slammed his cup down. "I don't get it! How can they just sit around and do nothing with the White Fang getting ready to attack?!" He demanded.
"I know, right?! I should've been knocking out more people!" Nicolas said.
"Because not everyone is like you and me. The Faunus here in Menagerie - the ones that weren't born on the island - moved here because they were tired of fighting, of having to struggle constantly. Menagerie is filled with people that just want to be left alone." Blake explained, then scoffed. "And here we are, asking them to put the rest of the world before themselves."
"I guess I never really thought about it like that." Sun said.
"Aww, now I feel bad about knocking people out and making them sign while they're unconscious." Nicolas said.
"You did WHAT.!" They both asked.
"Nothing!" He quickly said.
Blake sighed, deciding to drop it. "The problem is, whatever happens at Haven is going to affect them whether they like it or not. If Adam gets his way and Haven falls, it's only going to make things worse for the Faunus. Everywhere." She said.
"He won't do that. We won't let him." Nicolas assured her.
"Adam... He's the guy you used to... work with?" Sun asked.
Blake sighed. "Yes." She confirmed.
Sun saw Blake's discomfort. "Sorry, forget I brought it up." He apologized.
"Yeah, you shouldn't have!" Nick snapped, upset that Sun made Blake upset.
"No, it's okay." Blake assured him. She was silent for a moment, before speaking again. "Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, 'They are the personification of this word?'" She asked.
"Uh..." Sun drawled out.
"Nope. Literally never thought that about anyone." Nick said.
Blake rolled her eyes at this. "Okay, well, I remember getting to know Ruby and thinking, 'This girl is the embodiment of "purity'.' After a while, I saw Weiss was 'defiance'. And Yang was 'strength'." She explained.
"What am I?" Sun asked.
Blake smiled. "Jury's still out on that one, but I'm leaning towards 'earnest'." Blake said.
"And me?" Nick asked.
She smiled and kissed him. "Crazy." She said.
"I'll take it!" He said.
At this, Sun wrapped his tail around his cup and took a sip from it, before leaning on his hand affectionately. Blake giggled and smiled for bit, before frowning as she continued.
"At first I thought Adam was 'justice', then I thought he was 'passion'. But over time, I realized I was wrong. He wasn't any of those things. He was 'spite'. Not 'hatred', not 'rage', 'spite'. He won't accept equality, only suffering for what he feels the world did to him and his way of thinking is dangerously contagious. That's what worries me about Ilia. She's not like Adam, not yet at least, but I don't know how long that will last." She explained.
"Oh, that doesn't sound good." Nick asked.
"She was your friend, huh?" Sun asked.
"She was. Her chameleon traits meant she could pass as human. She could've lived a normal life if she wanted, but she didn't. I always admired that. She lost her family in a mining accident when she was young, then she joined the White Fang. Like me, she was more or less trained on the road alongside other Faunus. She learned to survive, to defend herself, but as people like Sienna and Adam started to gain a following, she became more dangerous. I guess I did too. My parents tried to get me to leave with them, but I refused. I had Adam and Ilia, after all." Blake explained.
"You know we're gonna have to face her eventually." Sun told her.
"I know." Blake confirmed.
"Well, you won't be alone. I'll be with you the whole time." Nicolas told her, holding her hand.
"Thank you." Blake said, smiling at him.
"So, what are you gonna do?" Sun asked.
"I'm going to try and help her the way you both helped me." Blake explained.
Sun was surprised at her response. "It's what I do." Nicolas said with a cocky smirk.
"You showed me that sometimes you need to be there for a friend even when they don't want you to be. I was drowning in guilt and fear, I tried to push you away, but you didn't give up on me. And I can't give up on Ilia. It's about time I saved my friends for once." Blake said.
Sun and Nick smiled at her response.
Back in Mistral, Oscar was in a training room while wielding The Long Memory. As he panted from exhaustion, he heard a voice enter the room.
"You're really getting better, huh?" Ruby asked as she and I today Tokitoki seen walking down the stairs into the room. "Are you hungry? It's almost dinnertime." She said.
"Yeah. Besides, too much training will leave you useless in the morning." I added.
"Uh, yeah. That sounds good. I was about to call it a night anyway." Oscar said. "So, where's Saphyra?" He asked.
"Oh, she's doing tactical training with her uncle Draco." I explained.
Draco and Saphyra sat in the living room, watching The Hunt on TV. "So, what do we learn from the leopard?" Draco asked as a leopard was shown sneaking through the tall grass and later sitting above a large hole where a family of warthogs lived, stealing the baby when it emerged.
"Blend into your surroundings, wait for the proper moment to strike." She answered stoically.
"Good. And the lioness?" Draco asked as they watched particularly stupid lioness sneak up on a herd of wildebeests, getting within 3 feet of one, lunging out and preparing to strike, but suddenly stopping, not having chosen which one to go after, causing the herd to flee and escape.
"Always select a target before revealing yourself and striking." She answered once more.
"Atta girl! Your mom would be proud!" Draco said.
"Isn't that a little gruesome for a little girl?" Oscar asked.
"Yeah, that's bad parenting, Sai." Ruby agreed.
"It's educational!" I countered.
Ruby sighed at this, before looking at Oscar and smiling. "So, you've never fought before?" Ruby asked.
"Just the occasional small Grimm. Nothing like this, though." Oscar explained.
"Yeah,shouldn't, like, everyone on Remnant learn to fight, to protect themselves from Grimm?" I asked.
"Well, that's why we live in safe places, so we don't have to fight and we can live in peace." Oscar said.
"Well, for someone that never wanted to fight, you look like a natural." Ruby said, giggling.
"Eh. He's not bad." I said.
"It's strange, I have only had this cane for a few weeks, but... I feel like I've had it for a lifetime. Longer, even." Oscar said, then paused. "I sound like a crazy person." Oscar said.
"I mean, uh, yeah just a little. But at this pace, you'll be combat ready in no time!" Ruby assured him.
Suddenly, Ruby frowned upon mentioning her last phrase. "Oh, Penny..." I said sadly, hanging my head.
Oscar noticed this. "Uh..." He tried to ask a question before Ruby interrupted him.
"Well, see you upstairs." Ruby said, starting to head up.
"How do you handle all of this?" Oscar asked.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"I'm... scared." Oscar started, his voice starting to crack. "I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life, than I ever thought was possible." He went on and walked over to a weapon rack. "I always knew that I wanted to be more than a farmhand, but this?" He continued placed the cane in the rack. "Who would ask for this?" He questioned.
He glanced down at the floor as a tear dripped from his eye. He sniffled before kneeling to the floor to reach his backpack. He grabbed the cane off the rack and pulled the lever on the handle to compact it before putting it in his backpack.
"We didn't ask for it, but turning it down was never a consideration." I said.
"Exactly. We all went to Beacon because we wanted to help people. But, you're right. None of us asked for this either. We just have to press on and-" Ruby preached.
"How can you be so confident?! People have tried to kill you! The world's about to go to war all over again! How are you okay with any of this?!" Oscar demanded.
"Well, honestly, that's a daily routine for me, I've kind of gone dead to it." I explained.
Ruby was taken aback by Oscar's question. She frowned as she said her response.
"When Beacon fell, I lost two of my friends: Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos. I didn't know them for very long, but that doesn't change the fact that they were two of the most kind-hearted people I have ever met. But that didn't save them. Pyrrha thought that if there was even the smallest chance of helping someone, then it was a chance worth taking. And because of that, she died fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win. And Penny... was killed... just to make a statement." Ruby said.
"And I was right there for both of them. I should've been able to save them, but I couldn't do anything for either of them. Even for Pyrrha, the woman I loved, that I wanted to marry. And I could only stand there and watch as she was murdered. If I destroy Cinder, I can bring her back, but even then, it won't change the fact I let her die. I don't know if she'll forgive me when she's alive again. And I don't know if she should." I said somberly.
"There's nothing to forgive. I know she never blamed you." Ruby said.
"I'm... sorry." Oscar apologized.
"I am scared, but not just for me. What happened at Beacon shows that Salem doesn't care if you're standing against her or not. She'll kill anybody, and that scares me most of all. Pyrrha... Penny... I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hurt, that I didn't think about them every day since I lost them, that I didn't wish I had spent more time with them. If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too, no matter how dangerous it was. So that's what I choose to do - to keep moving forward." Ruby explained.
"Exactly. We have to keep going for the ones who are no longer here. To fight the battles they no longer can." I added.
Oscar walked up next to Ruby and they both shared a smile. Oscar then looked to me and nodded in respect, which I returned. Ruby wiped tears coming from her eyes with her arm. Ruby then put a hand on Oscar's shoulder. "C'mon, if we don't hurry, Nora's gonna eat everything. It wouldn't be the first time." She said.
"And she's eating for two now, so she'll be even hungrier than before." I said.
Ruby and I began to leave the room as Oscar lingered for a bit. "Hey, Oscar? This isn't gonna be easy, but the fact that you're even trying says a lot about you. You're braver than you think." She said.
"Yeah. You'll be a good man one day. Maybe even better than Ozpin." I agreed, heading upstairs.
Ruby proceeded up the stairs as well while Oscar watched.
(She really is remarkable, isn't she?) Ozpin asked mentally.
"Yeah. She must've been one of the best Huntresses at Beacon, huh?" Oscar asked.
Ozpin chuckled. (In some ways, yes. But in many others... no. She has her quirks, her faults, just like everyone else. But she also possesses something unquantifiable: a spark, that can inspire others even in the darkest of times.) He explained.
"And what about Sai?" Oscar asked.
(Oh, perhaps our bravest and fiercest student in Beacon's history. Obviously quite cocky and brazen, yet surprisingly gentle and compassionate when need be. I'd say he was and still is one of our greatest assets. Even if the loss of Ms. Nikos weighs heavily on him. But the stress of fatherhood will likely prove to be his greatest challenge.) Ozpin explained.
"This must be really hard on them too." Oscar said.
(It most assuredly is.) Ozpin confirmed, everything going black.