Extracurricular
They started right after they were done watching the last episode.
The scene opens to Pyrrha gearing up in a locker room. As she walks out of the locker room, we cut to her sparring with Cardin Winchester and back again. Eventually, the fight scene includes the other members of Team CRDL.
"Our kids won't get arrested at least." Tai said. Summer and Kali smacked him.
"You're an idiot; they already have a body count, even if it wasn't shown." Raven said, eyeing Tai with a glare.
"Let's just watch Pyrrha wipe the floor with Cardin and his team." Ghira said, diffusing the situation almost immediately. Team STRQ and the Belladonna's both watched the spar between Pyrrha and Team CRDL.
While she is still exiting toward the arena, the scene cuts to her spar with Team CRDL.
Pyrrha strikes Cardin who tries to counter only to hit her shield before getting driven back. He falls to one knee then rolls to dodge as she comes down from above. Eventually, Pyrrha launches her spear at Dove Bronzewing and then knocks him down. Next she fires a shot at Sky Lark then blocks Feather's Edge with her shield. Switching from sword to spear and driving him back, firing another shot before knocking Sky to the ground. She attacks Cardin again who unleashes a short column of fire from the red Dust crystal in The Executioner by smashing the floor. She dodges the blast then blocks Cardin's swing before he and Sky attempt to double-team Pyrrha. Only for her to avoid them both before vaulting over Cardin.
"Well, she isn't a prodigy for nothing." Qrow muttered as he watched the fight and analyzing it the same way he knew Raven was surely doing the same thing he was.
They both knew how to pick apart a person or group's fighting styles just by seeing it once, then they knew how to counter it and dismantle their opponents from the inside out.
Pyrrha throws her shield, which hits Cardin in the face and bounces back to hit Sky as well. She then flips backwards through the air to catch it then land on Sky, incapacitating him. Dove and Russel Thrush rush her together, but she is able to drive them back. Kicking Dove away who manages to recover, landing on his feet as Cardin leaps in to smash at her with his mace.
Pyrrha dodges and opens fire with the rifle-form of Miló, but Russel defends Cardin, deflecting every shot with Shortwings. He and Dove charge at Pyrrha, with Russel leaping into the air and performing a triple somersault. However, the double-kick attack is easily blocked with her shield. Russel and Dove proceed to strike at Pyrrha together, demonstrating precision through their ability to avoid hitting one another during the attack. She falls back still managing to parry every blow, as Cardin attempts to capitalize on the distraction. Pyrrha opens fire again but this time Cardin deflects the bullets with his own weapon. He charges at her only to be met with a knee to the chin, the two clash with Cardin receiving several hits. Russel ducks in under Cardin for a surprise attack, but also proves himself unable to wear her down.
Pyrrha dodges every slash then hits him with her shield, Dove moves in after Russel is knocked to the ground. After a couple of deflected swipes, he fires on her with Hallshott, but she is able to bull right through using her shield. Although he is able to avoid her attack, Dove finds himself knocked out of the fight by an errant swing from Cardin, who moves in for another assault. Pyrrha knocks Cardin into the air and then leaps after him. Cardin blocks a few hits but she quickly maneuvers herself to slam him into the ground.
Glynda approaches from behind Cardin who clutches his ribs. "And that's the match."
Qrow and Raven both have feral grins on their faces. "You lose." The younger twin said.
"This wasn't just a bad match up; it was set up for Pyrrha to win, more than that Goodwitch knew she would win. She's a prodigy but not only that, this was easy, too easy for her because its leading to something, another fight, this own will be the real deal, the one that will push Pyrrha." Raven told them.
Seeing as the elder Branwen twin had no reason to lie, the other four adults believe her.
"Lucky shot." Cardin glared at the redhead as he collapses.
"Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament." Goodwitch praises.
Pyrrha nodded, "Thank you, professor."
"Shit, I forgot about that. The Vytal Festival will be starting soon." Tai muttered.
Glynda tapped her Scroll. "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match." Glynda looks around at the observing students. "Any volunteers? Ms. Belladonna?" Blake slams her book shut and stares wide-eyed at Glynda. "You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you –"
Mercury raises his hand. "I'll do it."
All six narrowed their eyes.
"Assassin." Qrow hissed, his lips pulled back into a snarl.
"I told you. Though, Mercury won't be fighting to win, he will be fighting to study Pyrrha and analyze how she fights to bring her down on in an even greater and spectacular fashion." Raven said, her arms crossed over her chest, eyes still narrowed and watching everything the grey haired boy would do.
"Mercury, is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent." Glynda said, scanning the list of students.
"Actually, I wanna fight... her." Mercury points to Pyrrha.
"This is not good." Summer said, her eyes never leaving Pyrrha and Mercury on the screen.
Pyrrha startled and looked to the other 'student.' "Me?"
Glynda frowned, "I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished the match. I recommend you choose another partner."
Pyrrha waved the woman off, "No, it's fine! I'd be happy to oblige." She said with a small smile.
Team STRQ glanced warily at each other, knowing nothing good will come of this fight.
Mercury struts into the arena, visibly sizing up Pyrrha. Their spar begins when he makes the first attack and is knocked down. Recovering quickly, he deflects an attack and begins trading blows with Pyrrha until she knocks him back with her shield.
Ruby Rose turns toward Emerald sitting behind her.
"Hey, your friend's doing pretty good." Ruby told the green haired girl.
Emerald gives a fake smile and then rolls her eyes as Ruby turns her back.
"Get the fuck away from my daughter." Tai snarled, his fists clenching in fear.
None of them wanted Mercury, Emerald or Cinder anywhere near their children. Especially after what happened to Tuckson. Raven and Qrow watched Mercury, if they knew how he fought, they couldn't pick up apart. The twins figured that Summer, Tai, Kali, and Ghira wouldn't object for the twins to… pay the three a visit.
Mercury unleashes a series of powerful strikes. Pyrrha allows his kick to slam against her forearm before Mercury manages to disarm, a kick impaling her blade into the ground. Pyrrha uses her Semblance to redirect the direction of Mercury's next kick. As she charges him with her shield, he shoots off of it and turns his back to her. Pyrrha tries to rush him again.
"I forfeit."
Pyrrha almost stumbles as she stops beside him. "You... don't even want to try?" She asked.
"What's the point? You're a world-renowned fighter. We're obviously leagues apart." He told the redhead, shrugging.
Glynda's eyes are narrowed in suspicion as she walks towards them. "In that case... Pyrrha Nikos is the victor of the match... again."
Emerald smirks. Mercury sneers smugly. Pyrrha has an annoyed and disappointed look on her face, and places her left hand on her hip. The Aura display for Pyrrha and Mercury are shown as Mercury's is changed from green to red indicating his loss.
"Want us to pay them a visit when we come back?" Qrow asks his teammates and the two Faunus.
The four others look at him. "Pay them a visit?" Kali repeats.
A dark smile appears on Raven's face. "Pay them a visit." Summer, Taiyang, and Ghira paled as the implications of what Raven and Qrow were saying dawned on them.
"Why would you do that?" Ghira asks, nervous of their answer.
The Branwen's tilted their heads in unison and had creepy grins on their lips. "Oh?"
"So you don't want revenge for your friend?" Raven asks, slowly standing up to her full height to stare down at the large Faunus.
Ghira gulps, but doesn't break eyes contact with the woman.
"I want that pleasure." He finally says. Kali gasps in horror.
"Ghira! Think about what you're saying!" Kali screams at him.
"If things will be as bad as Raven and Qrow are saying… then something needs to be done." Ghira tells her, almost hissing. "We cannot be complacent anymore, Kali. That is how the White Fang is in the current situation in the future. We… I need to take an active role to stop all of this. We all do. That is why we were brought here, to learn of the future and to stop something horrible from happening."
Kali flinched remembering the note that had said they were brought to this dimension to stop a tragedy from befalling the future. Whatever that tragedy was… they still didn't know what they were supposed to stop.
"Next time, you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent." Goodwitch told the boy.
Mercury nodded, "I'll be sure to do that."
An alarm sounds which jolts Blake who has nodded off.
'Blake's isolating herself, trying to go at this alone… that won't work. It will backfire on her and get her hurt… or worse, killed.' Kali thought morbidly. She didn't want anything to happen to her daughter, but she knew that whatever was going on with Torchwick and Adam would no doubt come to a head sooner rather than later for Blake.
Ghira was right; they all were brought here to stop a tragedy. But what could she do? What could she change? Ghira had the White Fang, and Team STRQ had their own families to think about.
"That is all for today. And remember, the dance is this weekend. But you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses." The blond professor says as she dismisses her class.
As everyone leaves, Mercury stops beside Emerald. "Learning is so much fun." He says sarcastically.
Outside, Team SSSN are standing at the entrance as Team RWBY walks past. Sun notices Blake and runs after her. "Hey, Blake!" Sun grabs Blake by her shoulder. "You uh, doing okay?"
Blake shuts the book she is reading. "I'm fine." She says simply.
"So I hear there's this dance going on this weekend... ah, sounds pretty lame, but you and me, I'm thinking, not as lame, huh?" Sun asks her, hopeful.
"What?"
"The dance! This weekend! You wanna go, or what?" He asks, wanting to go with the girl he likes.
Kali grins, the dance will be a good way for Blake to get out of her head. Maybe that is what she could help with, Blake and Sun. Maybe not set them up, but at least get them to be good friends, comrades in arms, seeing as they are both trying to be Huntsmen.
Blake frowns, "I don't have time for a stupid dance. I thought you of all people would get that."
Blake walks away past her team. Sun sinks from his rejection.
Blake demands off-screen, "You what?"
Kali's grin falls, but she is suddenly hopeful that her team might be able to help her. If not… Kali isn't sure Blake would ever be able to break the cycle she's fallen in. Always chasing her enemy without break or rest will be the Cat Faunus' undoing and Kali fears that one day it will be too late to stop Blake from making a fatal mistake.
The scene shifts to team RWBY in their dorm room. Blake is sitting with her arms crossed.
"We want you to go to the dance." The small leader said bluntly.
"That's ridiculous." The Cat Faunus scoffs.
"Blake, we're worried about you. This investigation is starting to mess with your head." Yang said, concerned for her partner.
"That will end up hurting her more than helping her. If she's too exhausted it could be a disaster when they are on a mission, she could get someone killed in her condition." Summer said, knowing from experience as she glanced pointedly at Taiyang.
Weiss started counting the facts on her fingers. "You can't sleep, you hardly eat, and to be honest, your grades have been suffering."
"You think I care about grades?" She shrugs and then gestures out the window. "People's lives are at stake!" Blake shouts.
Yang puts her hand on Blake's, lowering her partner's hand. "We know, and we're all still trying to figure out what Torchwick is up to."
"Thanks to you and Sun, we know they're operating somewhere outside of southeast Vale." Ruby pointed out.
"And, the Schnee company records singled out Vale as the primary target for Dust robberies over the last few months." Weiss commented, trying to point out the positives.
"Don't forget about their missing military tech too." Yang said, contributing to the positives of their investigation.
"But there are still unanswered questions!"
"Their points are valid, both sides, actually. There's a lot we still don't know." Ghira comments.
"If Blake exhausts herself to the point of passing out, that's not good. At all." Summer counters.
"She has a right to know-" Ghira was cut off by Tai of all people.
"Yes she does. I'm not saying that she doesn't have a right to know, but they are just teenagers. They aren't Huntsmen. Not yet, they are just first years, if they're not careful they are going to have a big target on them. And it will be that much harder to protect them." Taiyang tells the other man.
"Blake, you won't be able to find anything if you can't even keep your eyes open!" Ruby tries to reason with her teammate.
"All we're asking is that you take it easy for one day." Yang tells her.
"It will be fun! Yang and I will make sure of it." The Schnee girl says with a smile looking at Yang for reassurance.
"Yeah! We're planning the whole event!" The blonde says with a blinding smile on her face.
Yang pumps her fists which causes the bed to bounce Blake.
"Excuse me?" Blake blinks.
"Team CFVY's away mission lasted longer than expected." Weiss explained.
"So, Weiss and I were asked to pick up where they left off. And now we can make sure you have the perfect night." Yang said with a smile.
Weiss nods, "And once it's all over, we'll return for our search, rested and ready."
"So what do ya think?" Ruby grinned at Blake.
"I think this is a colossal waste of time." Blake scoffed. Blake walks away from the group and opens the dorm door. "I'll be in the library." The Cat Faunus said as she walks out of the room.
"Great." Yang said flatly.
Weiss shakes her head in sadness. "She can't keep going on like this."
There's a knock at the door and Weiss approaches and opens it. Jaune appears at the door with a guitar.
"You've got to be kidding me." Raven muttered.
"That idiot. Can't he see he has Pyrrha?" Tai said, annoyed at Jaune's attempts to try and get with Weiss even though Pyrrha was waiting for him.
"He's clueless to Pyrrha's affection though, so until she clearly spells it out for him, he won't look at her as more than a friend." Kali said.
Jaune started singing. "Weiss!"
Weiss slams the door in his face.
"Oh, come on, open the door! I promise not to sing." Jaune says from behind the closed door.
Weiss opens the door.
He began singing again. "I lied! Weiss Schu-nee, will you accompany me, to the dance on... Sunday!?"
"Are you done?"
He shrugged, "Yes?"
"No." She shuts the door in his face. Turning around, she sees the others staring at her. "What?"
"Look in front of you and you will see a girl who loves you for who you are!" Summer said passionately, trying to get Jaune to listen to her even though she knew he couldn't hear her.
"When we get back, we are going to help Pyrrha and Jaune get together, because I do not want to have to watch Jaune's horrible attempts on Weiss when he could and would have Pyrrha if he just opens his eyes!" Taiyang said bluntly.
"Agreed." Kali said with her hand up.
"You are aware that they aren't even born yet, right?" Raven asked the three.
"So what? We can still help them. Isn't that what we're going to do with our own kids?" Tai asked Raven. The female twin just shook her head and continued watching, ignoring Tai, Summer, and Kali talking about Pyrrha and Jaune's love lives.
Both girls are standing precariously.
"And that is why they call you the Ice Queen." Yang deadpanned.
Ruby finally collapses.
"All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name. Besides, I already have a date in mind." Weiss said angrily.
"Well, I can see how that could be annoying." Kali said.
"That's true. More than that, I have no doubt that Jacques would sell his own daughter into a loveless marriage if it suited his needs." Ghira commented, anger clear in his voice at the thought.
Ruby frowns, "Date or no date, none of this will matter if we can't get Blake to go."
That night, Pyrrha and Jaune are sparring at their spot on the roof. Jaune appears to gain the upper hand until Pyrrha sweeps his legs out from under him.
"Well done! Your swordplay's improved immensely." Pyrrha helps Jaune to his feet.
"I couldn't have done it without you." Jaune told her, smiling.
"So, are you ready to move on to Aura?" Pyrrha asked.
"I'm actually thinking maybe we just skip Aura for tonight? Might go on a jog or something." The blond shrugged.
"Come on, I know you get frustrated, but you must keep trying. I'm sure you'll discover your Semblance any day now." The redhead said encouragingly.
"That's not it. It's just..." he hesitated, "It's dumb."
"What is it?" She approaches Jaune and places her hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, you know you can tell me."
"It's... Weiss."
Pyrrha's face falls slightly. "Oh. What about her?"
"I asked her to the dance and she shot me down." He giggled halfheartedly. "Big surprise, right?"
"Well, I believe the saying goes: There's... plenty of fish in the sea."
"That's easy for you to say. You've probably got guys clamoring over each other just to ask you out." Jaune said, waving his hand around.
Pyrrha chuckles halfheartedly. "You'd be surprised."
Jaune dismisses the thought. "Oh please. If you don't get a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress. Heh."
"I actually want to see that." Qrow suddenly said.
"That would be hilarious!" Tai laughed at the thought of the other blond in a dress for Pyrrha. Maybe this way he would see that Pyrrha liked him.
He walks away. Pyrrha drops her smile and looks rather upset.
The scene shifts to Cinder in her dorm room, sewing a black dress as she sits on one of the beds. Emerald is sitting on the floor while looking at her Scroll, and Mercury is lying on the ground and reading a comic book.
The six tense, waiting for one of them to speak.
"And finally, Pyrrha Nikos." The green haired girl said.
"Ah, the invincible girl." Cinder smirked.
"She's smart, but I wouldn't say invincible." Mercury cut in.
Cinder's smirk turned predatory. "Do tell."
"Her Semblance is Polarity. But you'd never know just by watching." Emerald told the magic-wielder.
"After she made contact with my boots, she was able to move them around however she wanted. But she only made slight adjustments." Mercury pointed out.
Emerald nods and expands on what Mercury had just said. "Just enough to make it look like she's untouchable. She doesn't broadcast her power, so it puts her opponent at a disadvantage."
"Hmm... People assume that she's fated for victory, when she's really taking fate into her own hands. Interesting. Add her to the list." Cinder waves her hand.
The twins and Summer glace at each other. All three thinking about the odd and creepy conversation that Ozpin had with that mystery lady in the first episode after the trailers.
'That woman… whoever she is…'
'She's dangerous.' All three of them thought together.
"You should be able to take her no problem." Mercury emphasized.
Cinder frowned, looking like she was about to scold the grey haired boy. "It's not about overpowering the enemy. It's about taking away what power they have. And we will, in time."
"I hate waiting." Mercury complained petulantly.
"Don't worry, Mercury. We have a fun weekend ahead of us."
They all looked warily at each other. "That woman… both Cinder and the one that Ozpin was seemingly talking to, they are dangerous." Kali said, shivering.
"What do we do?" Tai asks, looking around.
"Watch, change the future, and fight if necessary." Raven paused, "And that's looking more and more likely." She said the last part to herself mostly, her eyes glancing around looking like she was about to bolt. Qrow placed his hand over hers trying to comfort her, even if she hated being pitied and cared for.