RWBY: The Redeemer


Beta-read by Starlight's Poet

Chapter 23: Semester Break (I)

"Gyaah!"

"Whoa!"

"Oh, shit!"

"Ouch!"

"Stay in formation! Don't break up!"

"Incoming boulder! Dammit, this is the sixth one already, where did he get so much rocks from?!"

Team RWBY and JNPR were doing an admirable job in coordinating their trek through the forest, avoiding one trap after another. Blake's night-vision, Weiss' versatility, Pyrrha's reflex, Ruby and Jaune's quick-thinking, Yang's strength, along with Ren and Nora's survival skills, had helped them in making steady progress through their supplementary assessment.

All of them had seen better days; there was no injury, but they were covered in dirt and dust, even some of them had their clothes singed and torn from forcing their way through the forest's foliages. Behind them were the remnants and the results of Claude's handiwork in setting up the venue - pit-falls, arrows, snare-traps, large rocks and boulders as well as tree-barks littering the forest floor. None of them were enough to badly injure them, but certainly enough to deal serious damage on their Aura. The fact that only Blake could see their surroundings clearly at night did not help much their cases.

However, not only the traps, their energy was also under another issue; since they assumed the supplementary assessment would be… anything which was not this, they had yet to have dinner when they departed, opting to eat after the assessment. They were wrong, and had to run through forests filled with traps and obstacles with empty stomachs. Their solemn silver-lining was the fact that they would not need to worry about Creatures of Grimm coming their way for the next few hours.

Still, despite the hunger and the fatigue, Ruby felt a small semblance of 'safety' over her and her team - as if there was some sort of a protective dome encompassing the area they were at. She looked up, and the only thing she could see through the thick trees were the night sky, as well as a few glimpses of the Bullhead aircraft where Sterling was on.

oXo

Claude was having a bird's eye-view from the aircraft high in the sky, spectating the trees of the forest below shaking from the triggered traps he had set up for his students. Listening their screams also meant that they were not down for the count. Still, the amount of distress coursing through them would eventually attract the Grimm from outside the Emerald Forest. Ozpin had assisted to make sure that proper security measures had been in place, but Claude would rather not take any chances.

"Are we still good to fly, Ann?" Claude asked the pilot - Ann Greene, Beacon Academy's security and stealth instructor.

"We are, but we will need to refuel in the next few hours. Do you think those children will make it by the time we need to go back as well?" Ann asked as she let the Bullhead fly on auto-pilot.

"Hmm….. Judging from their progress, I think they will. Then again, we will hang around above them just in case."

"Roger that." Ann nodded. The flight then went on in silence as Claude remained watchful on the happenings below. A few minutes later, Ann decided to strike up a conversation. "...Say, Sterling? Mind if I ask you something?"

Sterling Cole's last-minute induction into the professor's ranks, even as an interim, was a little unexpected for Ann and her colleague, Harold. After all, judging from his appearance, as well as his own admittance, Sterling was at least a new huntsman graduate. Normally he would need at least a couple years of experience to qualify a teacher's requirements. However, when the headmaster had the young man to be in charge of the student's initiation, she could not deny that despite his young age, Sterling had proven to be a golden egg, talented enough to be on par on a professional level.

The man in question glanced at her and shrugged. "Depends on what you want to ask, but… Sure, fire away."

"Who are you, really?" Ann went straight to the point. Considering that security was her field of expertise, she had developed some sort of intuition, or perhaps habit to detect some workings behind the scenes. "I saw the footage of the initiation; even if your opponents were simply prep-school graduates, I should have at least heard of someone with that kind of skill. But you just…. Seemingly appeared from thin air."

Claude could not help but feel impressed. Yet, at the same time, it was not the time to reveal his cards yet. At Ann's questioning looks, he simply smiled while meeting her eyes. "I'm a simple huntsman. Nothing more."

A humble tone was something Ann could appreciate, but the reply was still too simple for her liking. "Really? No offence, but it's kind of strange for a simple huntsman to get along so quickly with the older faculties like Professor Port, Doctor Oobleck, Professor Peach, even Professor Goodwitch. Not to mention, if the story I heard was to be believed, Professor Port would have bragged about having an apprentice like you ages ago."

"What can I say? Don't you think the pops was merely having some kind of moment?" Claude carefully picked his words. Not necessarily a lie - after spending time together as students themselves, Claude knew that his old friends had a few moments when they could act out of character from time to time. Hell, everyone on the planet does.

Ann stared at her young colleague for a while. Obviously he was not telling the truth, at least not entirely, but at the same time, she could not sense any sort of malice or hostility coming from him. That was a silver-lining - for all intents and purposes, at least Sterling Cole did not mean any harm towards Beacon, not to mention that Ozpin recruited him personally. The fact that veteran like Peter Port, Bartholomew Oobleck, Thumbelina Peach and Glynda Goodwitch got along with him, gave Ann enough reason to give a benefit of doubt.

Ann was about to speak further when Claude suddenly jerked his head towards a direction. "...Heads up. I sensed something." he then pointed at the direction and Ann wordlessly looked at the Bullhead's radar.

There actually was something, but Ann found they were weak signatures. "Looks like the children are starting to get frustrated. But negativity of eight people is not enough to attract a horde nor an elder grimm. They are still miles away, anyway; and looking from their movement pattern, they are not that interested yet." The fact that Sterling could sense a small pack of Grimm from that distance caused Ann to look strangely at the man. "Speaking of, how can you tell? Do you have a Foresight Semblance or something?"

The young man only shrugged while keeping his gaze at the view before him. "I won't call it 'foresight', but… I'm not sure. I just know." Claude then crouched as he used Ruby's Crescent Rose in its rifle form to scope their surroundings.

"Um, you're not gonna fire that thing, are you?" Ann asked with a slightly worried tone. Hit or not, firing at the Grimm at this point would only serve as an unnecessary provocation.

"No, don't worry." Claude calmly replied as he focused himself. "Just… making sure that nothing comes too close." His eyes then glowed softly through the scope.

Ann noticed that the Grimm on her radar had stopped moving closer. Hell, some of them even walked away. Did they lose interest? Dispute among themselves? Whatever the reason, she could not help to feel that her young colleague - who was still vigilant behind her, had something to do with the current development. Nonetheless, she would not complain as long as there were no problems occuring.

It was a minor technique when Claude used the power of his silver eyes. The easiest way to describe the technique is to view it as an 'intimidation'. Despite their malevolent nature, Creatures of Grimm displayed several behaviours of normal wildlife; during a territorial dispute, weaker grimm would avoid confrontation and acted more subservient towards its more powerful brethren, sometimes even animals that were strong enough to kill them if the situation called for it. Claude was doing something similar; the Creatures of Grimm at the outskirts of Emerald Forest would sense a presence which they would rather avoid. Of course, this 'intimidation' technique would not work against Grimm that had amassed enough power and experience.

The air-patrol went by without much incident until dawn.


It took gods-forsaken hours, but both team RWBY and JNPR finally made it to their destination after avoiding, escaping, and occasionally getting caught by numerous booby traps that their teacher had laid on the entire Emerald Forest. Their skins were covered in soot and dirt, some of their clothings were singed and torn, and they were hungry, as well as exhausted - they could barely stand as each pair supported their partners.

They got on the Bullhead extracting them without any fuss, and during their brief flight - much to their disbelief, the whole night had passed as they watched the sun rising from the horizon. When they landed, Sterling freaking Cole stood in front of them with an audacity smiling proudly. "...So." he began. "Who's having fun last night?"

Then, the exhausted students came with a new vigor in a form of angry yells.

"YOU SADISTIC SON OF A BITCH!"

"I WILL MAKE YOUR INSIDES YOUR OUTSIDES THEN YOUR INSIDES AGAIN!"

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU HAVE AGAINST MY ASS!?"

"ALL OF MY HATE!"

Much to Claude's amusement and relief none of those came from Ruby as the young girl was seemingly too exhausted to feel upset, although she was shooting him the best pouty glare she could muster. "Glad to hear it. Allow me to first congratulate you on completing your supplementary assessment. Now, I know you're all hungry and tired, so I'll make this brief." Claude then paused for a second. "Since we are nearing vacation, I suggest you kids look back to this moment, as well as your practical. What did you lack? What can you improve? I want all of you to spare some free time to reflect on your past performances."

The students actually listened as some of their faces had contemplative expressions. Nonetheless, whether they took his words into heart or not, Claude had said his piece. "I guess that would be all. Breakfast has been prepared in the refectory, so get a good bite and a good rest. You all have more than earned it."

When the students' faces lit up at the prospect of food and relaxation, Claude nodded and took his leave. The students spent another fews seconds in contemplative silence before their stomachs managed to urge them to find some food. It did not take long for them to arrive in the dining hall and found that rich breakfast had been prepared. All of the students then immediately grabbed their favourite dishes, regardless of the diet, and settled on a table.

It only took a few minutes until they had finished half of their meal. Their eating became more subdued once the adrenaline and the tension died down with a calm morning atmosphere. A few minutes later, Yang glanced at her sister who was munching on her plate of cookies - Yang would have to chide Ruby's choice of breakfast again, but for once, she decided to let it go, considering what they had gone through. "...Something on your mind, sis?"

Ruby glanced back at her older sister - she could read her just like that; as she swallowed her sugary breakfast. "...Just thinking back on what Sterling said."

Soft grumbles were heard between bites as everybody was still sour about the so-called supplementary assessment. Still, they did not comment in favour of listening to what Ruby had in mind. It was kind of common knowledge that the girl had a crush on the young teacher, despite her protests. However, even Yang was still a tad too tired to do some teasing games.

Taking the silence as the cue for her to speak, Rubu did so, "Do you guys still remember how we did during the practical?"

Everyone nodded; regardless of the result, they knew that in front of their teachers - veteran huntsman and huntress, they were hopelessly and painfully outmatched.

"Tell me about it..." Yang spoke as she jabbed her fork onto her meat. "We did pass, but Prof- Doctor Oobleck wasn't even winded by the time we finished."

"Professor Port literally overpowered us, Ruby and I both." Blake quipped. "We're still not sure what hit us in the end."

"Ugh, I'm pretty sure that Goodwitch didn't even move an inch while wiping the floor with us." Jaune was surprised that Nora - who slumped on her empty plate, noted that one detail in the midst of chaos.

"...And I don't think Mr. Cole went all out on us too." Ren finally spoke, with Pyrrha nodding in agreement as well.

"But don't you people think the teachers had set the bar a little too high? We're only in our first years." Weiss commented.

"Maybe, but the fact did not change that we need to improve if we really want to be huntress and huntsman." Ruby replied. "Not to mention, the Vytal Festival is coming this year, right? They're probably preparing us because we are the only first-year students; who knows what kind of opponents we might end up against." Once again, the girl brought up another fair point. "That's why, I propose team RWBY to have a training camp during vacation!"

Everyone perked up at the idea, once she confirmed she had garnered everyone's interest, she carried on the lay out the rest of her plan, "Our dad is a combat-school teacher back in Patch, as well as licensed huntsman. Me and Yang-"

"Yang and I." Weiss automatically corrected her partner's phrasing.

Ruby rolled her eyes with a small scoff but she carried on. "...Are planning to spend our break time back home, so why don't we train as well? Dad can definitely give us a pointer or two, and if we're lucky, our Uncle Qrow might be around to help out as well."

"That sounds…" Yang's face slowly lit up. "...Pretty cool, actually. Yeah, I can definitely get behind that." She then turned to her partner. "What do you say, Blakey?"

The girl in question thought for a few seconds - she did not really have any plans over the break; she felt a little bad to intrude in Ruby and Yang's home, but the former did invite her for a training camp - which sounded quite productive considering she needed to improve herself; so it was not as if she planned to mooch off her hospitality or anything. "Sure, I guess I can come if you don't mind." She shrugged.

Eyes then trailed to Weiss, who was looking a tad conflicted. "I don't know. I mean, doesn't your father have anything to say here? I'd rather not intrude…"

Yang laughed with a wave of her hand. "Bah, it will be fine! In fact, dad's gonna be happy to meet our new team! Can't let the old man feel lonely all the time, y'know?"

Weiss sighed; Yang's crass joke aside, Weiss had planned to stay at Beacon during the break - no way she was going back to Atlas and her father's company. Not to mention, it was not as if she was coming along just for fun; unorthodox as it sounded, Ruby's idea for training camp could benefit their performance in the long run. The 40th Vytal Festival is nearing, after all. "...Fine, I suppose it's only for a few days."

"Then it's settled!" Ruby smiled and clapped her hands in approval. She then turned to her sister-team. "What about the rest of you guys? I can try to talk to dad for extra guests."

Team JNPR glanced at one another, Nora in particular looked eager. A few nods and eye-contacts later, Jaune smiled. "Thanks, but no thanks. We have our own plan of training camp too, after all. Besides, I'm pretty sure Sterling has something planned for me during the break."

Ruby looked dejected for a second, but she nodded eventually. "Okay! If you change your mind, you know my Scroll number!"

Hence, the breakfast was concluded with the first-year students planning for their semester break.


The next day finally came where the students of Beacon Academy would enjoy two-week long vacation until the day of the second semester began. After saying quick goodbyes, team JNPR watched RWBY boarding the airship heading from Vale to the island of Patch.

Meanwhile, Claude was making a phone-call in his room, as he watched the airship flying to a distance. "...So Ruby has called you about bringing her team home for a training session?"

"Yeah, she has. It's kind of surprising coming from her, but I'm proud of her, making new friends and leading them like this."

Claude smiled while nodding at Taiyang speaking from his Scroll.

"...By the way, what did you put them through? While I'm glad that Ruby wants to improve herself, it's kind of out of her character to spend her vacation to train like this. Yang as well."

Claude hummed for a second before replying, "Just some exercises, pointers, maybe ass-beating. I actually leave everything up to them for how they want to spend their break. Oh, I also just got in touch with Qrow. You probably have to hide or throw your booze away." He said with a joking tone.

"Yeah, definitely noted." Tai responded in kind, then his tone shifted. "Say, Claude…. Regarding your visit you told me about the other day… I'm happy that you want to come clean to those girls, but are you sure you want to do this? I mean, this is some huge, complicated stuff we're about to dump on them."

"Tai, it's only a matter of time until some people who recognize my face will appear at Vytal Festival. Unless we want to deal with more unwanted questions, I say I might as well go big while we still have some control over the situation."

The 40th Vytal Festival was around the corner; students and other huntsman from all over Remnant would congregate in Beacon Academy and Vale. From his past talk with Glynda, his team and others - there would definitely be, at least a handful of people who could recognize Claude's face even with his different hairdo. Maintaining his fake identity would be inviting unwanted questions and attention, thus Claude and everyone agreed that revealing his true identity earlier would prevent, or at least mitigate the damage in future. Claude could hear Tai's humming from the other end, most likely him conceding his point.

"...I guess you have a point there. Actually, I haven't asked yet; how did your talk with Roman go? Did he have anything to say about this?"

Claude heaved a heavy sigh at Tai's question before replying, "...We came to a compromise, somehow."

"I take it didn't bode well with him?"

"That's... a small understatement." Claude trailed off as he looked back at the one particular talk.

oXo

"I'm telling you that is a bad idea."

Roman sat on his chair which had been reserved, allowing him to lean down against the back-rest. His face was not too amused, while everyone who heard him merely, either blinked or watched impassively. Taking another drag of his tobacco, Roman carried on. "We are against an enemy that is planning to topple the entire kingdom upside-down without anyone realizing until it's too late, and funnily enough, your sudden return actually gave us another edge over them. Then you were saying you want to throw it out of the window by telling your… nieces?" Roman pursed his lips as if his tongue was tasting something for a second. "...Man, that still sounds a bit weird."

"It's not as if our enemies will know." Claude defended.

"Not right away, sure. But the more mouths that can possibly slip it off, the higher the risk of our plans getting exposed. I say you tell them… I don't know, a week or two before the Vytal Festival?"

Claude sighed before holding up his hand. "Okay, one - that's too long. Two - this kind of thing is like pulling off a band-aid; the sooner the better. Three - dumping this kind of information shortly before the event where they have to focus is not the best idea. Four - there will be huntsmen and huntresses from other Kingdoms who will arrive at Beacon by the time the next semester starts; there will be people from our generation who will recognize my face, so lying that far is pointless. And finally - they're my family, they deserve the truth." he finished as he had pointed all of his points with his fingers.

"...And you don't think you can keep up that hairdo disguise? You don't have to worry about telling the truth if nobody recognizes you in the end." Roman pointed out.

"You seriously think nobody has ever seen me with this style 20 years ago?" Claude aimed at his own locks. "Rome, you might have erased a majority of our records from the system, but you can't erase memories from people. Besides, all of us know that it's only a matter of time until everybody knows who I really am. Might as well reveal it while we're still in control."

The room went silent for a few moments as they watched Roman taking Claude's words into account. Then, the huntsman-turned-thief took another drag and blew out a cloud of smoke before he leveled his stare at Claude's silver orbs.

oXo

"...But don't worry. Like I said, we have a compromise." Claude finished.

"I see…" Tai paused for a second, as if understanding the whole picture. "...Then I guess I can only wish you good luck by the time you're here. Don't worry though, Qrow and I'll be with you."

"I'd rather say that I'll do this on my own, but… Thanks, Tai." Claude smiled before he remembered something else. "Oh, by the way. Are you sure that you've given me all of my and Summer's belongings, back when I was at your house?"

"Yeah, why? Is something wrong?"

"Well, nothing too big, but I missed one photograph. It's a picture of Summer and I took together when she got into Beacon. Do you remember? You're the one who took that picture."

"...Oh, that." Taiyang replied as if he just remembered, then his tone turned a tad sheepish. "Sorry, I never really looked inside so I didn't know what's there and what's not. Summer might have dropped it somewhere and forgot about it. You know how clumsy she can be at times."

"I guess you have a point there." Claude shrugged with a mildly amused smile.

"Do you want me to find it for you?"

"Nah, don't sweat it. It's just a picture - an important one, sure, but I already have more with me." Claude glanced at his wardrobe where he stashed his time-capsule. "Besides, if Summer lost it, then it could be outside the island by now."

"If you say so. I'll see you later, Claude. The kids should be arriving soon."

"Yeah, bye. Have fun with them." Claude bid Taiyang goodbye and ended the call. He sighed as he watched the sky outside the window, until he decided to get up and walk out of his room to find some work to do, or perhaps to let the work come to him.


Turns out Ruby and Yang's description about Island of Patch did not do enough justice to the real deal, as Blake and Weiss took in the surrounding scenery upon arrival. Simply put, they could only say the amount of buildings and forest on the island was not balanced against the former. The town was dwarfed by the surrounding forest, but there were enough buildings to house a sizable population complete with adequate public facilities such as schools, clinics, town-hall, local law enforcements, etc. The team arrived at the port where there were a couple of watchtowers and guard-posts at the edge of the main town complex; they were enough to survey the land and spot any potential threats.

"Ah, good to be home again." Ruby said as she took in the fresh air of Patch as she led her friends through the port complex with Yang right behind her. When they arrived at the check-point, the patrolmen and guards who saw Ruby and Yang only nodded in recognition and let them pass.

"Um, is it okay for us to just walk in like that? They didn't even ask our names." Weiss asked as she looked back at the check-point. Strangely enough, some other passengers were stopped and had to go through some security-checks - her concern was also shared with Blake.

"When you live on an island with only a few hundred people, you get to know everyone after a while." Yang explained as she pointed her thumb briefly at one patrolman. "See that guy behind that counter? That's Mr. Mallari, his mother owns a farm not far from our house. Both Ruby and I used to visit them for errands from time to time." She then sported her signature teasing smirk as she glanced at Ruby. "...Not to mention, ever since Ruby told everyone at Signal that she got accepted into Beacon two years early, everybody on Patch knows about my little sister; she's practically a small-time celebrity here."

"Ugh, Yang, can you not remind me of that?" Ruby groaned as she pulled her hood over her head in embarrassment.

"Ruby, your red hood is already more than enough to attract people's attention on the first glance." Yang retorted in amusement.

"I don't think it's that bad, I mean…" Blake commented as she looked around. Sure, there were some people who threw glances and looked at them, particularly at Ruby in recognition, but they did not flock over them. "People here are pretty laid-back." All she heard was merely hushed and excited whispers; nerve-wrecking, but not entirely unpleasant.

"Well, you should come and see this place during winter." Yang mused. "Weather is so cold that almost no work can be done, so people stay at home most of the day."

The newcomers nodded as the team trekked through the town complex. Some of the townsfolk would wave and even greet Ruby and Yang, who would return their gestures in kind. Overall, the atmosphere was completely calming, compared to the bustling city like Vale. "This really is a nice place." Blake mused as she looked at the greenery around her.

"I know, right?" Yang grinned proudly. "Makes you want to come over again, doesn't it?"

"Don't push your luck now. I haven't seen what kind of hovel you live in." Blake returned with her own smirk, then easily dodged Yang's retaliation in front of a light jab.

"We're here!" Ruby announced as she stopped on her tracks. The team stopped in front of a well-built wooden house. Weiss knew that it was what people called a 'humble abode', compared to her house at Atlas. However, she would not deny the entire estate felt more like home compared to hers.

Ruby dashed forward and was about to open the door when Yang quickly stopped her by her shoulder. The blonde put a finger before her lips which was grinning knowingly, which Ruby also returned with her knowing one and a nod. Weiss and Blake watched Yang gently turning the doorknob open and walking into the house, the heiress raised her eyebrows and glanced at Blake, who only shook her head helplessly. As soon as Yang had stepped through the door, she yelled with a shit-eating grin on her face. "Hey, pops!"

Crashing and mild-panic noise could be heard from the kitchen, as a man's voice was heard next. "Yang! What the he-!?"

"Language!" Yang quickly interrupted while keeping her grin on.

"...Oh, right." Taiyang's voice subdued as he noticed his near slip-up. The rest of the girls who had followed after Yang had shouted, were met with the sight of a man whose appearance can immediately be related to the blonde girl.

"This matter isn't over." Tai shot Yang a quick, mild glare, which the girl casually waved off, before he showed the rest a sheepish smile. "Sorry you had to see that. I'm Taiyang Xiao-Long, Yang and Ruby's dad. No need to call me 'sir' or 'Mr. Xiao-Long' or anything along those lines, it makes me feel old. Just call me Tai, we never really care about formalities."

Seemingly snapped out of their funk, Weiss and Blake immediately introduced themselves. Tai took their first impression well enough as he shook both of their hands. "I've heard about you both from my daughters. Thanks for looking after them."

Weiss immediately schooled her features on reflex. "Your daughter, Ruby, has been doing well too."

"Yang can be handful, but she's also reliable." Blake replied with a cordial smile.

"Still, thank you." Tai nodded before his smile slipped off as he turned to address his daughters again. Weiss and Blake did not expect to see the man proceeded to smack both of his daughters' heads.

"Ow, what's that for?!" Yang protested while massaging the sore spot.

"That's for doing something as stupid as trying to take on the White Fang by yourselves." Taiyang replied his daughter sternly, his equally stern gaze was also thrown at both Weiss and Blake briefly as well. "Ozpin was kind enough to inform me of the details about what happened that night, and you're lucky that… Sterling was there to save your butts. What in the world were you thinking? Or were you even thinking at all?"

Needlessly said that Blake caught the brief pause in Tai's speech.

"We stopped them from stealing the Dust!" Ruby defended before she blinked at one detail. "Hang on, dad. So you've been keeping in touch with Sterling?"

"Don't divert the subject, young lady. While I'm glad that you did stop them, did you ever stop and think how I felt when Ozpin told me that you were the ones who had engaged around tens of armed, angry Faunus; Roman Torchwick, and a couple of weaponized Bullheads? Do you think I enjoy learning that you throw yourselves into danger while you're still trainees? This is why we have a qualified huntsman! You should've left this to Sterling to deal with."

All of the girls looked away in shame, with Yang grumbling under her breath. Neither of them wanted to make any eye-contact.

"So, do you have anything to say about this?" Tai then asked them after a few seconds.

The entire team collectively apologized, "We are sorry."

Tai then smiled, "Don't get me wrong here. I'm proud of you all; but next time, think of the consequences before you act - I mean all consequences, not just those which apply to yourselves; how others may be affected by your decisions in both short and long run, as well as how they will think. It's one of the essentials if you want to become a successful huntress."

Tai then went silent for a moment, watching the girls taking his words into the heart. Once he was satisfied, he then put his hands on Yang's and Ruby's shoulders before he pulled them into an identical one-armed hug, which they returned. "Give it some thought whenever you are free, okay?" He then let go and addressed all of the girls. "Now that's out of the way, how about you tell me about other things you've been getting into?"


Inside the dorm, Jaune just received another mail on his Scroll. Looking at the context and the electronic file attached, he figured it was another new training regimen from Sterling. He would be lying if he did not find the arrangement as strange; considering that being 'sponsored' is equal to being taken as an apprentice, Jaune had been expecting to receive some personal tutoring from the man himself. However, all he received was a sheet of paper consisting of his training regimen and an instruction for him to complete it with his team.

Then again, when he shared his thoughts and Sterling's message with his team, Pyrrha actually believed that the practice was nothing uncommon. Combined with Nora and Ren's vouching as well, Jaune had to agree. Welp, as long as he could learn to become a huntsman, he'd take what he could.

"So, you guys ready to go?" Jaune asked his team after he had finished putting on his clothes.

"Way ahead of ya, fearless leader!" Nora was always the first one to answer.

"Ready when you are." followed by Pyrrha's more modest reply, and Ren only replied with a nod.

The team was clad in casual clothes, in contrast to their usual combat gear; or at least something that did not scream 'huntsman or huntress'. Ren and Nora's usual clothes could actually pass off as casual clothes. Their financial background could not really allow them to spend too much for things other than necessities.

Jaune and Pyrrha, on the other hand, were different - The former had forgone his armour; leaving him with his usual jeans, sneakers and Pumpkin Pete hoodie, which garnered a massive laughter from Nora and a reserved giggle from Pyrrha. What's wrong with his hoodie? Pumpkin Pete is famous, Jaune was merely following the trend. Not to mention, it was comfy that Jaune could wear it anywhere as long as the weather was not too extreme.

Pyrrha on the other hand, was wearing a pair of sandal shoes, denim shorts, and a white shirt covered with a matching black jacket. She completed her looks by bundling her red locks into a hat on her head and thick-rimmed black glasses on her eyes.

Nora could not help but whistle. "Wow, Pyrrha. You look totally different in that."

"Does it look good?" Pyrrha asked nervously. "I'm sorry, I'd rather not run into…. Certain group of people…"

The team 'oh' and nodded in understanding. Pyrrha's get-ups were meant for disguise. "We understand, Pyrrha. You look great in that." Jaune said with a sincere smile, which was accompanied with Ren and Nora's nodding.

The so-called invincible girl's face went almost as red as her own hair at the compliment, but she still managed to smile. "Thanks, Jaune. You look dashing as well."

Ren smiled in a mild amusement while Nora quietly snickered at the pair's interaction. Jaune on the other hand, only smiled although he could not help but think that Pyrrha was being nice. "Thanks."

The plan was to visit Vale for fun - eating, shopping, sightseeing, and enjoying whatever else the Kingdom could offer. It was meant to be an ice-breaking session before they would commit themselves for improvement during the course of vacation.

The ice-breaking began without much implication, aside from Nora's shenanigans. The group started the day with lunch, since it was around noon when they flew out from Beacon and arrived on Vale. Pyrrha was a bit anxious about people recognizing her, but with Jaune's support and Nora's boisterous attitude that drew the most of attention, she was able to enjoy what she had been longing ever since she hit her teenage years - being normal.

"Well, who's up for some exercise after a meal?" Jaune was on a roll as he and his team were walking through the streets with the girls doing occasional window shopping.

"Me, me, me, me!" ten points for those who could guess who said that.

Pyrrha giggled while Ren merely smiled at his childhood friend's attitude. Jaune then nodded. "If I'm not mistaken, there's an arcade not far from here. Let's check it out."

Only a minute of walking later, they ran into something, or more like, someone. It was a man whose presence was enough to cause Jaune to stop on his tracks as soon as their eyes met. The boy went rigid as he did not leave his eyes off the man. His friends were about to ask what was wrong, but they ended up not to when they saw the face of the man before them. Wide frame, tall, blonde and possessing a pair of blue eyes not unlike Jaune himself. In fact, Nora could have sworn that she was looking at 'Jauney-mirror'; the man's face alone was a huge enough hint for them to guess who it was.

"Dad?!"

The man - Ashton Arc, only flashed a friendly smile at his son's reaction. "Hello, Jaune."

oXo

"Back up, back up. So this new teacher ended up eliminating the rest of the initiates, leaving only you and one other team as the only first-years? That's… huh, I'm not sure what to say about that."

"Yeah, this guy was like, super cool! He's strong, nice, funny, and the best part is, he let me test out his newest weapon! He's probably even cooler than Uncle Qrow!"

Tai could only watch in amusement as his youngest daughter re-telling her experience in Beacon, or to be precise, mostly her impression about a certain young teacher, who happened to be his brother-in-law in disguise. It was rather unexpected to have her to regard someone who was 'cooler' than Qrow, considering that she used to idolize and was taught by the latter.

Yang only intervened occasionally to fill in some holes in Ruby's excitable tale, while Blake and Weiss simply took the whole conversation in stride while enjoying their refreshments - courtesy of Taiyang himself.

Truth to be told, Tai was half-expecting the stunts and shenanigans that Claude had pulled off in Ruby's story; altering the tradition of initiation and kicking out nearly all of the initiates, defeating the Pyrrha Nikos in one-on-one and several senior years in three-on-one, helping them capture a bunch of terrorists and Roman Torchwick. However, Tai could not help but be a little worried when Ruby mentioned that Claude, or Sterling, had also been helping her in her school work. Wasn't he coddling her too much?

Then again, considering the true nature of their relationship, perhaps Tai should have expected for Claude to treat Ruby in such a way. He could only hope his old friend did not take it too far. "Sounds like Sterling has been doing a good job to you four." Tai remarked with brief glances at his daughter's team.

"I suppose he did help us when we ran into a wall." Weiss spoke as she nodded with a small smile on her face, and Blake also nodded in agreement while sporting a rare smile.

"...Yeah, he's pretty cool, I admit." Yang shrugged.

Ruby was humming with a proud and fond smile, which was kind of weird for Tai; not to mention, her cheeks were faintly pink.

"Et tu, Rubes?" Yang immediately interrupted with another of her teasing grin. "...You're having that look again." In response, Ruby yelped again as she pulled her hood on the reflex to cover her face.

"Whoa, you okay there, sweetie?" Tai asked with a light-hearted tone, although with a hint of concern.

"You gotta hear this, pops." Yang began and Ruby's face immediately shot up to shake her head frantically, silently asking Yang to not speak any further. "Remember when I told you that Ruby's got a crush? That's- Hey!" Yang was suddenly interrupted by Ruby who tackled her with her Semblance, causing the sisters to engage in a small wrestling on the floor.

While Blake and Weiss were watching the sisters fighting with a mix of amusement and exasperation, Tai was having something else in his mind. The way Ruby spoke about Claude, her reaction, and finally, one of his past phone-calls with Claude himself; the father of the two girls connected the dots which was concluded to be another can of worms.

Oh, shit.


Just a little announcement about a small change; some of you might have realized, that I've changed the name for Jaune's father. Because not only the previous one doesn't really associate with any color, it's a little off considering who I derived it from, that's all. Please review with constructive comments, people. Ahsoei, over and out.