RWBY: The Redeemer
Right, so here's the third update in 2020! Enjoy!
Beta-read by Starlight's Poet
Chapter 22: End of The First Term (IV)
Nora Valkyrie was at her wit's end. Inwardly, she was berating herself for being knocked unconscious during a critical time, when her team-leader needed her the most. Here she was - exhausted, out of ammo, out of ideas, and Jaune was on his last leg behind her. In front of her was Glynda Goodwitch, with a plethora of objects in the hall flying around her, courtesy of her telekinetic Semblance.
The teacher then flicked her crop, sending a barrage of objects her way, which Nora managed to block with her Magnhild. Still, the sheer amount of projectiles was able to force her to steadily take steps back. Eventually, the last pieces of the barrage managed to overwhelm her; hitting her face and knocking her back, causing her to almost fall if not for Jaune catching her with his shield.
"I must admit…" Glynda spoke as she kept her ammunition flying around her. "Both of your performances have exceeded my expectations, especially you, Mr. Arc." Her eyes trailing to the blonde boy approvingly. "...You truly have come a long way."
Through the sweat and fatigue, Jaune managed to give a small smile, even Nora grinned wryly. Unfortunately, Glynda's soft expression morphed into her usual merciless-self. "Back to the topic, even with your admirable performances and improvements, I have no reason not to give my all, take it as a sign of respect." She raised her riding-crop up high as her flying ammunition gained speed.
Jaune and Nora could only whimper as they stared in horror at the barrage of projectiles coming at them.
oXo
"Come on, come on….!" Weiss furiously racked her brain as she watched her current partner for her assignment was barely holding herself up in a close-quarter combat against Doctor Oobleck. Things were not looking good - Yang was doing her best to give her 110% to keep Oobleck busy so Weiss could process the riddle comfortably, but Doctor was steadily pushing the blonde brawler back. She could no longer provide ranged support herself because she had run out of Dust.
"What can you break, but never pick up? What can you make, but never touch? What can you create, but never fix?! Come on, Weiss Schnee! You've heard this kind of riddle during your study in Atlas! You're smarter than this!" Weiss berated herself, so deep in her thoughts that she almost gasped in shock when she suddenly saw Yang barreling through the air towards her, forcing her to duck to avoid the impact. The blonde's body flew all the way until she crashed into the wall.
When Weiss returned her attention forward, this time she gasped at the sight of Oobleck's circular glasses right in front of her. The young heiress and the archeologist exchanged a couple of blows with their weapons and Weiss managed to create some distance between them. Weiss' heart was beating against her ribcage; the girl was pensive while Oobleck had a composed smile as he put on a relaxed stance with his torch pointed at her.
Weiss glanced behind her, and noticed that Yang was on her fours after hitting the wall. Making sure that Weiss could give her partner some time to catch her breath, she decided to rush forward and engage her teacher. Sparks flew around as the blade of her rapier scratched fiercely against Oobleck's steel; but alas, Weiss was still inexperienced compared to a full-fledged huntsman, as the doctor managed to push her back and deliver a swing that wreathed in flames from the fire on his torch, forcing Weiss to leap back.
Weiss spun in the air to regain her balance. Refusing to give up just yet, Weiss then conjured a Glyph behind her, which launched her toward Oobleck, bringing her blade across the floor before she shot forward to deliver a swift stab, which the doctor easily dodged and re-directed upwards with a considerable force. The heiress' face turned into a panic as she realised that her defence was open, yet she managed to evade Oobleck's overhead strike by a hair's breadth before she proceeded to move backwards, blocking and parrying against Oobleck continuous onslaught.
She managed to retaliate at some point - but Oobleck was still able to outclass her in the end by spinning around to gain momentum, before delivering another blow to her. Weiss caught the swing on the last second, and while struggling to stand her ground, Weiss growled as she conjured another Glyph beneath her feet that gave her a boost to throw Oobleck's attack off its course, and jumped back.
Once another distance had been created, Yang finally had a chance to get back on her feet to re-join Weiss, who was out of breath and could no longer stand. Supporting her exhausted teammate by her shoulder, Yang regarded the doctor with a wary look.
"Good, but still not good enough!" Doctor Oobleck commented. "Time is ticking, ladies. Have you found the answer to this test yet?"
Yang could not help but growl in frustration, as her lilac eyes morphed into a pair of red orbs. Then again, she still knew better than leaving the exhausted Weiss behind; her brain was their best shot for a passing grade. However, before either Yang or Barty could have said anything else, Weiss suddenly raised her hand up, garnering looks from the other occupants in the room.
"...Yes, Ms. Schnee?" Oobleck asked, expecting something from the heiress.
On the other hand, Weiss took several calming breaths as she kept her head bobbed down. The world around her seemed to slow down as her pale blue eyes staring at the floor, while her frame was still being held by Yang. She had no idea how she achieved it, but the rush from the battle with Doctor Oobleck caused her blood to rapidly run through her entire system - the brain in her head, included.
Truth to be told, during her melee with Doctor Oobleck, she had been forcing herself to perform multiple tasks; solving the riddle while reacting and defending against the doctor's attacks at the same time. It was a complete miracle that Weiss was still conscious at this point. She was quite certain that even if she were to go all out, Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck would have still beaten both her and Yang's rears six days to Sunday. Back to topic at hand - during the fight, her mind considered several possibilities about something that was intangible, yet can be made and broken.
Seriously - why did she have to go through such nonsense? Had this kind of trial become standards in academies nowadays? She was supposed to lead an ideal student life striving to be a great huntress, so she could reclaim the honour of the Schnee family name. Nevertheless, now that things had been said and done, Weiss' only option was to see it through the end; she had made that oath to herself, after all…
Wait…
Weiss narrowed her eyes as she mulled over her previous thoughts, then it came back to Oobleck's riddle - Intangible, cannot be touched, fixed, yet can be made and broken…
"Ms. Schnee…?" After what it felt like a while, Barty's voice broke through her musing as the doctor was still standing patiently at the students with unreadable expression on his face. "Do you have anything to say in the end?"
Taking another breath, Weiss' met Oobleck's bespectacled eyes with her own blue orbs. "...Yes, doctor. I believe I do."
oXo
Ruby and Blake were focusing on catching their breaths, their eyes were honing at the chubby figure of Peter Port. Scratch that - after everything they had seen of what the man was capable of doing, Ruby and Blake could not bring themselves to make fun of Port's belly again; because the exaggerations Port told during his classes were probably true. Ruby herself understood how Sterling became so strong under Peter's apprenticeship.
"Ruby…?" the young team-leader blinked and glanced at Blake, who had seemingly managed to level her breathing again. "...Are you good now?"
"...Yeah." Ruby nodded with another deep breath. "Yeah, I'm good. Only have one more clip, though. What about you?" She asked as she re-checked the magazine inside her Crescent Rose.
"Same, but I originally planned to keep this when we go for an actual mission…" Blake revealed a pistol clip with various Dust rounds. "...And I only got this after negotiating with Weiss for an hour." She said with a reluctant tone.
"I'll help you negotiate with her again later. Let's just focus on the test, okay?" Ruby implored, prompting a small nod from her current partner. "Okay, pretty much like we agreed on earlier. Don't let up!"
Ruby led the charge as she blurred into another mass of swirling petals with Blake following behind her. Peter smirked under his mustache as he prepared to take them on; as he expected Ruby would know better than to charge head-on, Peter easily predicted that Ruby would definitely change her course at her last second to blind-side him; it was either from his right, left or behind.
However, while Peter was spot-on about Ruby not charging head-on, he could not help but to quirked an eyebrow when he found Ruby was only swirling around, obscuring his vision with her petals…
Peter immediately caught on and swung his axe towards Blake who came from behind him. However, much to his surprise, as soon as his axe landed, Blake's visage suddenly transformed into a stone sculpture, trapping Peter's axe within. Before Peter could have forcefully wrenched his weapon free, Blake suddenly spun and slammed a kick on the back of his head - the shock in his head causing him to stagger slightly.
Then, before Peter could have regained his bearing, he suddenly found Ruby Rose spinning vertically with her scythe coming to his wrist - the hand that was still holding his Blowhard. The nerve-point where the blade struck caused Peter to cringe as he was forced to relinquish his hold. It was thanks to the aura protection that he did not lose his hand.
Now that he was without his weapon, Peter swung his hand in attempt to push Blake away, only to find another clone had replaced her - this time, the clone burst an electrical charge that blew up in his face.. The shock caused Peter to stumble a few steps back.
Ruby and Blake's eyes widened at the opportunity; Blake's clone made of lightning dust round should have enough power to stun even an Alpha Beowulf. They only needed to push him a couple steps more and they would pass this test. Not that they knew, however - for Peter, the Lightning Dust that was thrown at him was nothing compared to Claude's electric shock back in the day.
When Ruby and Blake charged again together, the last thing they saw was Peter's eyes gleaming at them before everything went blurry.
Sometime later after the practical exam had commenced, Ozpin sent an announcement that the students who had finished their assessment were to report to the school's infirmary where they could watch the rest of the proceedings with a television provided in the room. Blake and Ruby were making their way towards the infirmary, shoulder-to-shoulder, as their bodies were covered in grime, soot, and some mild bruises on their exposed skin.
They entered the room to find Professor Peach sitting on her desk, and some of their classmates watching on the large television screen on the wall. Those classmates had definitely seen better days - Yang and Weiss were sitting on their beds looking absolutely floored and haggard, although they did not seem to be injured. Jaune and Nora, on the other hand, were laid on the beds with few patches of bandage on their person; Nora in particular was sleeping.
"Welcome, you two. I take you have finished your assessment. Come here so I can have a look at you." Thumbelina Peach invited with a warm tone, her hands just finished writing some paperwork.
Blake and Ruby blinked before the former asked, "Professor Peach? I didn't know you're a doctor."
"Not officially." Peach replied with an understanding smile. "I'm not an active huntress anymore, but I have several other qualifications as well. Also, the actual person in charge of infirmary is having an assignment at Vacuo, so I need to fill the position."
The two girls accepted the explanation and entered the room. They glanced at their friends; Yang lazily waved at them. "'Sup."
Weiss only returned their glances before returning her attention to the television, while Jaune only gave a tired grin and waved back.
"Hi…" Ruby returned the greeting tiredly. "...How's the test?"
Jaune sighed into his hands while Weiss grumbled, causing Yang to smile wryly. "We, err…. Rather not to talk about it. You?"
Ruby and Blake sighed as they took a seat in front of Peach; the teacher pulled a white curtain over as she began to check them over.. "...Not great. By the way, who were you up against?"
"Oobleck. I mean, Doctor Oobleck."
"Goodwitch. What about you?" Jaune asked.
Ruby and Blake glanced at one another. "...Professor Port." The latter replied.
Yang blinked at the answer. "For real, Port did those….?" Yang gestured at their appearances, but she soon shrugged. "You know what, I'm not surprised anymore at this point."
"I know right? Who would've thought he's actually the same guy from his stories." Ruby replied with the small joke as she was following Peach's instructions to lift up her shirt so she could examine the rest of her body. "We… ended up failing. What about you?"
Yang glanced at Weiss. "Well, we actually passed."
"You did?!" Ruby and Blake actually went wide-eyed.
"Barely passed is the more correct word." Weiss said with a sigh. "We passed after Doctor Oobleck did a number on us."
"Well, if anything, you girls had it better than us two." Jaune commented while glancing at Nora. "Ruby and Blake at least got to fight, while I don't remember getting into any fight at all. All I remember is Goodwitch wiping our faces with the entire floor."
The rest of the girls cringed at Jaune's remark - they were all reminded again of how terrifying Glynda Goodwitch was. When Ruby had finished receiving treatment and switch seats with Blake, she realised something, "Um, where's Pyrrha and Ren…? Wait, if we're all here, then…"
"Yeah, we're watching them right now." Yang pointed at the TV on the wall displaying Pyrrha and Ren's practical exams.
Ruby did not waste any time to make her way stumbling to Yang's bed. "How's it? What did I miss!?"
Weiss shrugged, "Quite a lot, and… I believe all of us can agree that things are not looking good over there."
oXo
The hall was filled with sparks and sounds of steel clashing, as Pyrrha and Ren were ganging up on Sterling, whom was easily intercepting every single of their strike with one hand holding a sword, while reading with the other. Both combatants had exhausted their ammunition, thus melee was their only option as they did their best to coordinate their attacks and footwork. Nonetheless, their current opponent remained undaunted.
On the other hand, Claude could not help but feel that something was off. The two students before him clearly had discussed some sort of plan before engaging him, but their tactics so far remained the same from the beginning of the match - one engaging him in a melee with the other providing ranged support, with Pyrrha occasionally using her polarity on whatever with magnetic property in the room. Pyrrha and Ren might not be the tactician like Jaune, but they were certainly not fools. Why bothered repeating a method that had already proven not working against him? Desperation? Unlikely.
Then again, even though the current plan was already a failure, at the same time, it was still not the worst one they could come up with. Keeping their pressure on him was the only viable option, and the two students did not disappoint in following the latter. Pyrrha's combination between her Milo and Akouo still remained the most dangerous factor that Claude had to keep his eyes on.
Claude then barely dodged a double swing of Ren's Stormflower; he then realised that he had spent a bit too much time, as the two had slowly, but surely gotten accustomed to his movement. Time to pick up his pace - he closed the book he was reading (hopefully he still remembered where he left off later) and put it away momentarily on the pouch on his belt, in favour of focusing more on the fight, but Claude noticed the glint appeared on the students' eyes - they caught on something… But what?
After a brief nod at each other, both Pyrrha and Ren suddenly shifted their footworks as they began circling Claude, whom narrowed his eyes - why didn't they use this formation from the start?
Pyrrha was on him first, and Claude reflexively threw a strong swing at the same time Pyrrha raised up her shield. The girl could not help but grimace as the force behind the impact was so strong that she could not really follow with her counter attack in favour of standing her ground. However, she needed to keep up for a bit longer…
Claude, however, immediately noticed something was wrong. It had only gone for not even half a minute, but he realised that he could not feel Ren behind him. Moreover, he then felt something touched his belt and only realised that someone had snuck up on him. He pivoted and spun around, delivering a 360 degrees horizontal slash that forcefully pushed both Pyrrha and Ren away.
Claude blinked when he only noticed Ren, who had regrouped with Pyrrha - or to be precise, an item on his hand.
It was his copy of Ninjas of Love; somehow, while Claude was busy engaging Pyrrha, in that short time, Lie Ren had managed to snuck up behind him and steal his book until it was too late for him to notice. Even with Pyrrha distracting him, how did Ren conceal his presence, his intent, so well? A work of a Semblance? That was the only likely answer.
Nonetheless, Claude's eyes widened when Ren unexpectedly tore the pages on his book. "Well, I don't think you can finish your reading of the day now." Pyrrha cheekily remarked.
Then it hit him; Claude did state that the two would fail if they could not land a hit by the time he finished chapter 5, but he could no longer finish that chapter, could he? In a manner of speaking, Pyrrha and Ren were already half-way in passing the test. All they needed to do was to focus on landing a hit on him.
Pyrrha and Ren were worried when they saw Sterling went still for a second - his face was overshadowed by his bangs, until his body began shaking. Did they blunder? Perhaps it was very rude to simply tear his book up like that. While the book's content seemed… questionable, they did just commit damage and destruction on someone else's property.
However, the two became confused when Sterling let out a laugh; the laughter lasted for some time until the young teacher regarded them with a small grin. "Good gods, you two… I gotta ask, whose idea is this? And how did you come up with that one?"
Pyrrha and Ren glanced at each other before the latter raised his hand up. "It was my idea. Although, I simply thought, 'what would Jaune do?'"
"So your idea is based on Jaune-boy's line of thinking?" Claude's face was wearing an incredulous amusement.
"Sounds far-fetched, I know, but Jaune is our leader and tactician, after all." Pyrrha added.
Claude chuckled some more as he rubbed his forehead. "Huh… Okay, let's go with that." He then fished out his scroll and looked at the screen for a second before he pocketed it again. "Alright, I just received a word that you the rest of your peers have finished with their assessment. So…"
Pyrrha and Ren looked hopeful at that, but Claude immediately burst their bubbles by putting up another stance. "Let's make good use of our remaining time here, okay? You can also take this as a chance to get extra marks." He said with a Cheshire smile.
Ren honestly did not look forward to this; he was exhausted, but when he looked at Pyrrha, the girl had a look that was not dissimilar to Nora when something caught her interest. With a sigh, Ren then prepared himself for another bout. At least he did not have to worry anymore about passing the practical exam.
However, Claude dropped his stance. "Wait, before we begin; you two had been taught how to regulate your aura by full-focus breathing, right?"
Pyrrha and Ren paused at the question before they glanced at each other again, when Claude silently tilted his head with raised eyebrows, they took it as a cue to practice what he asked. They then relaxed their stances and took several deep, controlled breaths.
It was a breathing technique that everyone had to learn when they first unlocked their aura. Keeping their aura up was a simple enough task that can be performed by subconscious thought in a matter of days, but what about regulating them in an efficient and effective manner?
Not unlike the breathing exercise in calisthenics - though the technique's purpose was not only to help one to maintain their stamina, but to enhance their aura's natural recovery process through modified breathing. The recovery rate varies from person to person, but Claude could tell that Pyrrha and Ren had at least grasped the basics as he could see their aura reading was steadily, albeit slowly, recovering on the screen of his Scroll. Soon, he could see their aura flashes enveloping their frames.
Seeing that they had recovered enough, Claude nodded approvingly before returning his stance back. Pyrrha and Ren did not need any question whether they were ready or not, as they put their stances back and Claude charged at them a few seconds later.
Blake could not help but feel horrified when she watched Ren tore off a copy of Ninjas of Love to shreds, considering she was a big fan of the series. However, her horror was soon replaced by another curiosity as she continued watching Claude fighting Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren.
"Err…. Why are they fighting again?" Ruby asked. Everyone else was just as confused as her. "Professor Peach, should we be worried?"
Thumbelina Peach only glanced at Ruby as she did not stop at writing her paperwork, though she gave a small knowing smile. "I can only tell you to keep watching, my dear. I'm sure there's definitely one thing or two that you can learn from there."
Everyone could only follow the advice for the time being and continue watching the second round of the match. Time ticked by, and they noticed that Sterling was noticeably slacking up, allowing several good hits on his person. Out of curiosity, Ruby fished out her scroll as she connected her device to the wireless aura-scanner implanted in the combat hall. She noticed Sterling was almost down by half, but she noticed something else.
His aura was slowly, but surely recovering; Ruby watched between her Scroll and the match unfolding on the screen. Was it the breathing exercise? She did know the breathing as she always used it from time to time after a match, but she knew well that the technique was far from simple as described. The timing, precision and where you directed the air while inhaling and exhaling made the technique hard to pull if you are not focused or relaxed, thus nobody in general ever recovered their aura in the midst of the battle. To see Sterling recovering his aura little by little while fighting like that? How?
Everyone also noticed that Sterling was purposely letting himself be hit before he picked up his pace again. "...What is he doing?" Weiss muttered.
"Um, guys…?" Ruby called out and showed her Scroll, prompting everyone to check on their own. All eyes widened when they saw the same thing as Ruby did, alternating between looking at Claude's performance and his steadily recovering aura levels.
Jaune on the other hand, appeared to be lost. "Um, everyone? What's actually going on?"
Everyone turned to stare at Jaune as if he had asked something bizarre, but they remembered that Jaune was still new to aura control. Weiss decided to take the role of answering. "Jaune, when Mr. Cole took you as an apprentice, did he teach you about full focus breathing exercise?"
"I… was instructed to practice some kind of breathing, but I thought it was something people usually do in calisthenics." Jaune replied.
Weiss sighed softly. "...Not fundamentally wrong, but it was more advanced than just calisthenics breathing. While aura can naturally recover in time, this breathing technique can help your aura to recover faster; by maximizing the amount of oxygen you can inhale into your system, not only it can help you to regulate your aura reserve and stamina, the body can increase aura's natural recovery process."
"So… Sterling is recovering his aura as he fights? Okay, that's cool." Jaune nodded dumbly.
"It's not as simple as it sounds, Jaune." Ruby interjected. "The correct way to breath is hard to pull off in the first place. From what Yang and I learned back in Signal, only the best of the best huntsmen and huntresses who can breath like that while fighting at the same time. Heck, it became even a norm where you are not a pro-huntsman yet if you still cannot master the full focus breathing on the get-go."
On the side, Peach was inwardly giggling to herself. Considering her years of experience dealing with one Claude Rose, she was confident that she could predict his line of thinking. Looking at the match on the television and the conversation about the said match, if Peach's intuition was to be believed, then Claude had set quite a high bar for the first-year students.
As she watched the students became enraptured at the match for some time later, she decided to speak up, "Young Ms. Rose is not wrong, children.`` Everyone then turned to listen to Professor Peach's input. "It's true that you'll be expected to be able to use full focus breathing at any moment's notice when you get your license, but…. Sterling won't let you off that easily."
Everyone wanted to ask Professor Peach if she had an inkling of what Sterling had in store for them, but seeing the old teacher returning her focus on her paperwork, they chose to return their attention back on the screen.
oXo
It took another good 15 minutes until the match ended. Everyone was still resting in the infirmary by the time the television screen died out and after a few minutes later, Sterling came in while carrying both Ren and Pyrrha on his shoulders. "Whew… 'Sup kids?" Claude cheerfully greeted the students who were gawking at him, before he nodded at the doctor in the room. "Professor Peach, here's the last batch." He said as he deposited the unconscious students on the empty beds.
"So, how did your exams go?" Claude asked the whole room.
Apparently, it was Yang who spoke first. "...I don't know if anyone has ever told you this before, but you… are evil." The silence of the others in the room signified their agreement.
In return, Claude's simply smiled. "That's actually one of the kinder words people have told me before, thank you." Then he shook his head, "...But seriously, how did your exams go?" When everyone glanced at each other without saying a word, Claude could somewhat read their expressions. "No words? So that's how it is." He nodded in understanding. "Well, if it's worth anything, you all have done well. I can tell, especially those two." he pointed at Pyrrha and Ren, who were sleeping with uncomfortable expressions.
Ruby found themselves smiling a bit at the praise, although Claude's patronizing did not do enough to lift up everyone's spirits. The young huntsman sighed as he looked at Peach, silently asking for help. Much to his chagrin, however, the old huntress merely shrugged with a knowing smile before she turned to sip her cup of coffee. After pouting for a second, Claude sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, before coming up with another idea. "Okay, I know this might sound like something you guys don't want to hear yet, but I can arrange another chance for you. You can call it a supplementary assessment; whether you pass or not won't matter, as long as you participate, you can get a passing grade for your practical."
Everyone's face actually lit up from the news, as Claude continued. "The supplementary will take place after you take your paper tests, and speaking of which, I'll talk to the headmaster and Professor Goodwitch to give you kids an extra week to rest up and study more for your test. How does that sound?"
Smiles began to appear as they nodded at one another. Claude then glanced at Peach, who was nodding approvingly. "Okay, I'll leave you kids now. Be sure to inform Ren and Pyrrha about what I told you. I think those two will need it." Everyone glanced at their sleeping friends - Ren in particular, was groaning in his sleep.
"Time's up! All pens down, and if I see anyone still scribbling, that's a failing grade for you!" Oobleck's rapid speech echoed across the silent hall which was followed by several sighs and heads slamming on the table. The historian then moved around with an impressive speed, collecting the papers from limp bodies across the desk. "That's all for this term, students! Please remember to read Mistral's Impact on Global Agriculture before the following semester. I expect to see a 3000-words report on the subject to be submitted on the first week of the lessons. Have a good vacation!"
Groans then erupted from the half-dead first-year students. Ruby's head was on her hands as she laid on the table. Yang was also looking worse to wear after the gruelling test. Blake was looking calm as usual, but they knew that she was just as exhausted. Weiss could be considered doing the most well, but she did end up having to tutor her whole team. Thankfully, team JNPR - or to be precise, Pyrrha and Ren had come to her aid as the two first-year teams held up a study party, thus allowing all of them to do well enough to pass all the subjects.
"It's finally over…" Ruby sighed as her head remained on the table.
"No, it's not." Blake reminded her teammate. "We still got our supplementary assessment, remember?"
Ruby blinked and she whimpered. "Ah… You're right. Ugh, what did we do to deserve this?"
"C'mon, Ruby. You're not the only one." Jaune groaned from his spot behind her. "At this point, I just want to get it done and over with."
"I'm sure It will be fine, Jaune." Pyrrha consoled. "In fact, Ren and I are planning to attend this supplementary as well."
"You do?" Not only Jaune, but everyone else was looking at Pyrrha and Ren, who nodded in agreement.
"...But you passed your practical test, didn't you?" Weiss asked.
"Technically, we did. But…" Pyrrha then sported a thoughtful look. "I think this is more than just an assessment."
Weiss caught on Pyrrha's tone. "How come?"
"We heard from Nora and Jaune how Sterling kept recovering his aura and fighting me and Ren simultaneously; and the fact that Sterling purposely let us land hits on him had me thinking, maybe, just… maybe, Sterling is giving us a chance to learn something new, not just giving us a passing mark. Besides, I'm personally not satisfied with how I performed back then, so I wish to test myself further in this supplementary assessment. Looking back at how Sterling phrased it, suffice to say that every one of us is allowed to join, no?"
Everyone took in Pyrrha's words into heart. A minute later, Yang then slammed her fist into her open palm. "Welp, if P-Money said something like that, then I guess I have to come along as well."
Pyrrha blinked at Yang, "...Are you sure about this? I mean, you can, but I don't want to force anyone to attend."
Yang only chuckled while waving her hand. "Relax, Pyrrha. Your words got me thinking as well. I barely passed Oobleck's test, and like you said, I'm personally not happy with how I did either. If Sterling wants to challenge us into this so-called supplementary assessment, who am I to say no? It doesn't matter since I've already passed, right?"
Everyone found themselves agreeing with Yang's opinion. Then, all eyes turned to Weiss, who blinked at the attention before sighing. "...Alright, I guess I can make time. It's not like there's any harm in joining if Pyrrha's words were to be true."
Ruby then shot up from her seat and glomped on Weiss. "Yay, team RWBY all the way!"
"Get off me, you dolt!" Weiss shrieked and garnered several small laughs from her classmates.
oXo
Bartholomew Oobleck was currently walking in the hallway with Claude, who he ran into not long after he left the classroom. "Seriously, 3000 words? Have you no heart, Barty?"
"Please, we did just as much, if not more, during our days in Beacon as well." Oobleck scoffed.
"No, Barty. You did. Not even Peter could write a 3000-word essay. In fact, the rest of us just copied your work once you went to bed." Claude retorted.
"...Wut?" Barty paused on his steps for a second to regard his leader, who paused to look back at him.
"Hm?" Claude acted as if he said nothing off-putting. Then, after giving quick looks around them, Claude spoke in whispers. "Anyway, did you hear anything from Rome?"
Oobleck sighed and chose to ignore the earlier remarks. "He did give us updates, but nothing useful, I'm afraid. Considering what had happened during his last heist at the docks, not to mention his technical arrest, it is safe to assume that he will have difficulties to regain the trust of the ones behind the Dust robberies. We can only hope that Roman still retains that silver-tongue of his." He replied with a low-tone as well.
"But it's only been a few weeks. The fact that Rome hasn't been given the boot, is already better than we expected. Just keep the tabs on him."
"It shall be done." Barty fixed the glasses on his nose. Then, he spoke in his normal tone again. "By the way, did you actually finish preparing the first-year's supplementary assessment?"
"Believe it or not, yes." Claude sighed as he relaxed his pose. "...But not alone, obviously. I needed to call in favors from Harold to provide me with the props and I had to ask Peter during his free time to help me set those props up. Hell, I had to beg Glynda and Ozpin to help with the heavy-lifting, as well as to take care of the security measures."
"Truly?" Barty blinked behind his glasses as he and Claude finally arrived in the teacher's lounge. "...Because if I'm to be honest, Claude… Your idea of supplementary assessment is far worse than your idea of my historical essay. I'm surprised that Glynda and Ozpin agreed to this."
"I know right? Ozpin agreeing is one thing, but Glynda? Then again, I'm not gonna complain." Claude shrugged in the end as he took a seat on the table.
Barty eyed his old friend for a second before he turned to brew some coffee. "You know, it might be just my imagination, but Glynda seems to be in a better mood lately."
Claude snorted. "Yeah, she probably managed to get herself off after torturing Jaune and Nora. Poor bastards, those two just had to be dealt with a bad hand."
Oobleck hummed as he served two mugs of coffee on the table. "Is that what you think? I believe your assistance in teaching in her combat class also contributes to her current mood."
"Please, she is the teacher here. All I did to those kids was beating them down silly and hoping that they would adapt and grow later. Glynda knows better how to nurture them." Claude snorted again before he took a sip of his old friend's brew.
Bart wanted to deny those claims, but he simply laughed before sipping his own brew as well. That's so classic Claude - never want to acknowledge that he had helped a lot more than he thought he did.
The time and venue for the supplementary assessment had been broadcasted to the first-year students via their scrolls. Currently all members of team RWBY and JNPR were heading towards the Academy's bullhead port. However, all of them could not help but wonder about several instructions given to them, not to mention the specified time. Ruby noted that it was quite late in the afternoon as the sky had begun to darken, and the fact they were asked to come to the port meant that they were most likely going outside the Academy grounds. Just what kind of assessment were they going to face?
Her worry was alleviated for a moment when she saw Sterling was waiting for all of them with a Bullhead prepared. "Sterling!" She waved happily as she ran towards the young teacher.
Claude in return, returned the greeting with a two-finger salute. "What's up, kids? How did your paper tests go?"
"Hard, but not much compared to our practical." Ruby grinned sheepishly.
"That's good." Claude smiled as he found himself patting Ruby's head, causing the girl to blush shyly.
Claude then blinked a few seconds later and realised that the rest of the students were watching with looks of amusement and curiosity. He then pulled his hand away from Ruby's head and cleared his throat. "Right, it's good to see you kids doing well. Who's ready for the supplementary assessment?"
Everyone, especially Yang and Weiss from team RWBY, gave their young instructor strange looks for a second before they smiled and nodded in anticipation.
"Good. So we'll be riding this Bullhead towards our venue, but before we go…" Claude then turned to Ruby, who noticeably wore her cloak closer around her frame. "Ruby, you did follow the instructions on your Scroll, right?"
That was one particular matter that worried Ruby the most; aside from the odd time and venue for the assessment, everyone had been instructed not to bring any weaponries whatsoever, just their combat outfit. "Err…." Ruby's eyes darted left and right. "Yes, yeah! Of course, I did! Why wouldn't I? I'm a good student!"
"Uh-huh. So why are you keeping your cloak so tight? Are you cold? I mean, evening air can be chilly sometimes, but I don't think it's that cold at the moment." Claude remarked as he glanced at the rest of the students - who did not seem to be cold despite their clothing, like Pyrrha, Yang and Blake, for example.
"Um, err…! Yeah, it's pretty cold out here, that's why I always have my cloak around! So I won't get cold, definitely not hiding anything!" Ruby began to sweat.
Claude narrowed his eyes slightly at the sight of his nervous niece - that's a lot of sweat, alright. However, despite his skepticism, his protective side could not dismiss the possibility if Ruby actually caught a cold. He then leaned in closer so his eyes were level on Ruby's and he gently placed his hands on the girl's sides of her head - his thumbs in particular, were placed on her temples. "Are you sure you're okay? I guess your face is kind of warm…"
Ruby almost gasped in panic at the proximity, as her face became as red as her hood. However, it did not take long until Weiss had enough - she sighed as she snatched something from beneath Ruby's cloak. "Eep!"
"Sorry, but this is starting to get ridiculous." Weiss said as she held Ruby's weapon in her hands.
Ruby shot her partner a betrayed glare before she turned to meet Claude's flat look. "Hehehe… Oops?"
"I'll keep this with me until you finish your assessment." Claude spoke with a tone of finality, putting the Crescent Rose in his coat, ignoring Ruby's sad whimper. "Any question before we leave?" He asked the rest of the students.
Weiss raised her hand up. "Yes, sir. While I don't condone my partner's behaviour, I also understand her concern; are you sure it's wise for us not to bring any weapons, assuming that we will go outside the academy's grounds?" Everyone also seemed to agree Weiss' opinion as well.
Claude merely smiled at the heiress. "You won't be fighting anything, I'll see to it personally."
Weiss (as well as everyone else) stared at Claude's expression, her skeptical side remained strong, but she could not help but to have faith in the teacher's confident tone. Then again, it's not as if he had ever led them astray before; and considering the nature of supplementary assessment itself, perhaps things would be fine, after all.
oXo
With Weiss nodding without another word, Claude then ushered everyone else to come aboard, with Ruby remained dejected as she kept her teary eyes at Claude's coat - or to be precise, where her baby was being held. The Bullhead and flew towards Emerald Forest, bringing them a good few miles from the Beacon Academy, traversing through the night sky until they arrived at a familiar site.
"Okay, so this place takes me back." Yang spoke as she and everyone else disembarked into the old ruins from the initiation. "So what are we gonna do here? Scrap unarmed?" She grinned playfully at the young teacher.
"Tempting, but no." Claude replied with a small laugh. "The assessment is simple enough. I take you guys to know where the direction back to Beacon is?" Everyone nodded easily enough. Even from their position in the Emerald Forest, it was not too difficult to discern the sight of the Beacon tower in the distance. "Good, then you kids just have to make it back on your own." Claude said as he began to walk back to the Bullhead.
Everyone blinked at Claude; once, twice, until Nora voiced out everyone's thoughts, "...What?"
"Yeah, you heard me." Claude said as he stood inside the hangar and signaled the pilot, and the Bullhead began to hover. "Just head back towards the cliff, and I'm gonna pick you guys up. There is no time limit, but your time will be recorded as references for the next semester."
"Wait, hold up a second!" it was Weiss who shouted in protest. "Is this our supplementary assessment? Why the heck did you tell us not to bring our weapons!? What about the grimm?!"
Claude sighed softly, "I told you that you won't fight anything, didn't I? Professor Mulberry and Port had been kind enough to help me preparing your testing grounds, so you won't have any grimm coming for the next few hours. Unless if you stuck up here and keep complaining, your negativity might attract another party from outside the parameter, so I suggest you all stop wasting time!" The Bullhead carrying him then flew away as Claude shouted one more time, "Chop-chop, kids! Time is ticking!"
As team RWBY and JNPR watched their ride flying further and further away, Yang spoke up, "Okay, anyone else beside me thinking something is wrong with this guy? Because this is way worse than our practical test."
"I'm with ya." Jaune grumbled. "Though I can't believe I say this - this doesn't feel as bad as facing Professor Goodwitch."
"...And strangely enough, I kind of understand." Blake replied. "If what Sterling said is true, then I will take this one rather than Professor Port."
"Um, everyone? Shouldn't we get moving? Mr. Cole did say that there will be no grimm for a while, but the longer we stay here, the higher the chance we can run into danger." Pyrrha implored her classmates.
"Pyrrha is right, everyone!" Ruby said eagerly. "Let's nail this test! On me!" She then ran towards the trees.
Yang giggled while shaking her head in amusement at her little sister as she ran as well, followed by everyone else. However, not even a minute after entering the forest, Ruby immediately used her Semblance to blitz her way ahead of everyone else.
"Ruby, wait! Don't just run ahead on your own!" Yang shouted from behind her. Not everyone had speed Semblance, after all.
"Oh, sorry!" Ruby actually managed to hear her older sister and immediately slowed down. However, when her feet touched the forest ground, she felt something snapped beneath her boots.
"Eep!" Suddenly, much to everyone's surprise, a net sprung up and esnarred Ruby to the air.
"RUBY!" Yang quickly ran towards her sister who was helplessly bouncing inside the net. "Are you okay there?"
However, when Yang was only a few meters away from the spot where Ruby triggered the snare trap, the ground she stepped on suddenly caved in, catching her off guard as she began falling into a pit-trap. The blonde gasped as Blake managed to catch her by the scruff of her top, and Yang was staring wide-eyed at the wooden spike at the bottom of the pit. "Holy shit…!"
"What the hell…?" Jaune looked around incredulously at the traps as he and everyone else caught up. Weiss, Ren, Nora and Pyrrha proceeded to help Ruby down while Jaune inspected the pit-trap Yang almost fell into.
"Since when are there traps here?" Ruby asked as she tidied herself up.
"Mr. Cole said he prepared the venue… I guess it would only make sense that the assessment won't be that easy." Ren deduced. "This is not a simple forest run. This is an obstacle course."
"But don't you think this is going too far?" Weiss asked as she pointed at the pit-trap. "It's night, and we don't have enough lighting to spot things with trees and foliages in our way."
"Wooden spike as it might be, the fall isn't too deep." Blake said as she looked down at the dark pit with her night-vision. "I think it's safe to assume that Sterling made these traps while taking our Aura into account."
"That bastard…" Yang grinned wolfishly as she cracked her knuckles. "I'm so gonna break his legs when I get back."
"Did someone just say breaking legs?!" Nora gasped ecstatically, eliciting a sigh from Ren.
"No, Nora. Nobody is breaking anybody's legs, even if Mr. Cole might deserve it."
"I don't like this anymore than you do, but keep your cool, Yang." Pyrrha quipped. "We are technically still in grimm territory, remember? Let's not attract anything nasty while we are still miles away from school."
Yang took a deep breath to calm herself, followed by everyone else. A few seconds after, Jaune then spoke first. "Alright, gods know how many traps Sterling might have set up on the way back to Beacon, so I think we should move in a single file. We can't afford to be separated in case one of us gets caught in a trap."
"Jaune's right." Ruby nodded before she turned to her team. "Blake, I need you to lead us at the front. We will need your night-vision to spot any traps ahead." the Faunus nodded in understanding. "Weiss, I need you to back Blake up, your Glyphs might come in handy to intercept the traps."
"Fair enough." The heiress complied.
"Let's see, who's next…" Ruby looked around everyone while she also considered herself to be the next in line.
"Pyrrha and I can follow behind Weiss and Blake." Jaune put in his two-cents. "I'll be honest, both of us are the tallest here. If the two in front got into trouble, either of us should have a long enough reach to support them."
Ruby blinked at Jaune's idea - that actually had some merit; Jaune and Pyrrha were a little taller than Yang. She looked at everyone else, who nodded in agreement. "Okay, I got your back." Ruby then turned to the rest. "Yang, can you watch my back?"
"Do you even need to ask?" the brawler smiled at her little sister who smiled back.
"Ren and Nora, I need you two to be our rear guard, in any case if anything tries to flank us."
"You got it!" Nora saluted while Ren merely nodded.
Ruby then looked at everyone, who silently voiced that they had no objections to the current arrangement. "Okay, now we have our formation decided, let's move out!"
Omake
It was one of the times where Claude would visit Patch to catch up with Tai Yang. However, the visit this time was because Tai asked his old friend a favour, regarding a certain dusty old crow.
Qrow had been quite a fan of good drink ever since his academy days, but it was merely on occasions, like when Claude invited him, for example. Years after graduation, however, Qrow's drinking habit had grown into an unhealthy alcoholism. Summer's passing only made his case even worse. Considering that Qrow tended to listen to the leader of team STRQ; Tai thought, if the said leader's brother were to talk some sense into him, perhaps he could cure Qrow out of his drinking habits. After all, Claude himself was a team-leader and technically their seniors, it was worth a shot.
So here Claude was, per Tai's request, trying to get Qrow to stop drinking. However, Claude himself had absolutely no idea what he should do. After all, the patient in question was more busy chugging down his drinking flask than listening to him; he kept talking in slurs, as well as going off the tangent every one minute. Basically, Qrow was shit-faced drunk and probably would not listen to him any time soon.
Hence, his last idea; after asking Tai to lend him the Xiao-Long's family car - Zippy, Claude was driving Qrow to the only tavern which was at the other side of Patch. On a side-note, Claude was glad that he was still remembering how to drive after Roman had once taught him how to steal a car, which was a story to another time.
"So, Zapper, what are we doing here?" Qrow slurred after he took another sip from his flask, as Zippy parked outside the bar.
"So you like being drunk?" Claude asked in a taunting manner as he turned off the engine. "Fine, I'm gonna get you so drunk until you don't want to drink again. Now come on, move your wrinkled ass." He got out of the car with Qrow drunkenly following suit.
Yes, that was Claude's final resort - overexposure to make Qrow feeling sick at alcohol and hangover. He had confidence in his alcohol tolerance, and Qrow himself was already tripping himself, this should not take long. They walked in, got themselves a table, and Claude did not waste any time to order a couple glasses of Martini with olive fruits. Qrow opted to take the fruit out of his glass, while Claude prefered to eat his.
"O-okay, err, um…" Qrow raised up his glass for a toast, thinking his next words for a second. "To the Faunus folks. Thanks for taking it all in stride." Then both men had their toast and downed their glasses.
A few hours later, olive fruits had piled up on their table as they just drank their nth glasses. Claude had started to look worse for wear, while Qrow was singing in a surprisingly high pitch despite his hoarse voice. "I'm a cursed black cat~ I'm an albatross~ I'm a mirror broken~ Sad to say, I'm your bad luck charm~..." He sighed and asked his drinking partner. "Was that… Was that good?"
"Oh, gods…" Claude moaned while wiping stray tears from his eyes, before he smiled towards Qrow. "Thank you, bro." Then the two shared a high-five.
At this point, Claude had completely forgotten about his goals for the night, as he and Qrow were busy playing the local game machine in the bar.
"Get- get the fruit, there's more points! Get the fruit!"
"I'm not gonna get the fruit."
"Get the fucking fruit!"
"I can't- I can't get the fruit!"
"N-no, no, get the fruit-"
"I'm not gonna get the fucking fruit!"
"Yes, you can-"
"I can't get the fucking fruit, okay?! There's a ghost over there!"
It was nearly past mid-night when Claude and Qrow finally thought they had enough. They both were on the way out with the former bringing a plastic bag of olives from their martinis. "I can't believe you saved all of those." the latter pointed at the bag of fruits in Claude's hand.
"T-the gir- the girls…" Claude slurred as he stared at his olives. "G-girl, the girls, d'you- you think the girls at Beacon will like these?"
"Haa…. You got more lil' sweeties!" Qrow teased, receiving a frown from Claude in return.
"Shaddup!"
The two then presumed their trek to the door, and Qrow paused in front of Claude. "Err, y-y'know what, g-give me your keys."
"Ah, no, I'm fine." Claude refused.
"No, no, give me your keys…" Qrow insisted.
"I'm fine- I'm driving, ree!" Claude also kept refusing in return.
"Give me your keys, you're too drunk!"
"I'm okay!"
"Tai, Ruby, Summer, Zapper, you're too- Zapper, you're too drunk..." Qrow hiccuped, "...To drive."
"I- I.. I'm I'M…" Claude paused with absent-minded look in his eyes before he fished out his car-keys and handed it to Qrow's open palm. "You- you're - err… you're right... Here- here you go."
Then the two walked out to the parking lot.
oXo
Tai glanced at the clock to find it was already morning - too long for Claude in attempt to cure Qrow's alcoholism since last night. He finished his cup of coffee and put the mug inside the sink to wash later, before he turned the television on to pass time. There was a breaking news report and the headline caused Tai to freeze on where he stood before he groaned and placed his face in his hands.
"This was a scene taken from Patch's local tavern last night as a car driven by an intoxicated huntsman caused a thousands of lien worth of damage." the news-anchor reported on the television.
The news broadcast showcased an accident occurring in a tavern where Claude and Qrow were drinking; Mr. Zippy could be seen inside the building, its front having broken through the front wall with both Claude and Qrow inside with intoxicated expression. News crew and cameramen were surrounding the car, along with the bar-owner who was not amused and glaring at the two drunken huntsmen inside the car.
"Put this- put this on my tab." Claude simply commented with a grin from his seat, facing the annoyed-looking bar owner.
Qrow himself did not make things any easier with his own two-cents. "He was, he was like all, 'slow down!', y'know? And I was like, 'whoaaa'! But I couldn't stop it."
As the news report kept going, Tai himself was already up and looking for his own liquor stash. Once again, he really missed Summer.
There you go, folks! Regarding the breathing idea thing, I decided to give it a shot after watching Jaune's training montage in Atlas in vol. 7. Anyway, please review! Constructive only, please! Ahsoei, over and out.
