Chapter 14: Teamwork
AN: Nora decided that starting a prank war would be a good idea. Which would've been fine, except for who she targeted. Nobody messes with Yang's hair.
Thought you guys would enjoy something more light hearted since I just finished with three chapters of moodiness, and things get serious again soon. As always, don't hesitate to let me know how I'm writing and how I can improve (plus I'm pretty sure AndJrew is lonely in the reviews section).
(Perspective: K)
6:30 on a Wednesday morning. Any sane student would still be sleeping. So naturally, Kassidy found herself finishing her two hour long morning workout around this time. In addition to the obvious physical benefits, the exercise helped clear her mind and gave her time to think about the day ahead. Classes were a usual topic of her pondering.
As it turns out, history only met on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The other three weekdays, from 10:00 to 11:00, were occupied by 'applied chemistry,' which was really just the study of dust. Similarly, algebra was replaced on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday by regular chemistry. And, because nothing's allowed to be easy here, everything has the wrong names. Not to mention that they haven't learned as much of the science as people did back on Earth. Heck, forget quarks and gluons. These people haven't even found protons and neutrons yet. A shame that Professor Peach doesn't even consider that the names I've learned might be just as right; just because I call it Heisenberg's uncertainty principle rather than 'material disjunction theorem' doesn't make me wrong.
Headed to the showers, the gunslinger's thoughts then moved to her teammates. Ruby fortunately healed quickly, and also fortunately CRDL hasn't so much as looked at her funny ever since the 'training accident' they had. The team leader had also apparently skipped two grades, and with the amount of work she put in during training as well as with the more difficult class material, it was pretty obvious why. It was evident that skill alone wasn't enough to flourish in Beacon.
Weiss was still mostly the same. They argued more than the rest of their team, and they had more than their fair share of spats and ego competitions. But the heiress seems to have dropped the overt hostility. An argument wasn't guaranteed any time they were in the same room together anymore. And as for her partner… Ugh, Yang can be such a handful sometimes. The brawler, for better or for worse, had few inhibitions. Puns flew freely, light punches and one armed hugs were commonplace, and anything that happened to be at the front of her mind got said, regardless of the consequences or who heard it. Well, that's not exactly true. Most of the time I just don't think she gives a damn. Live life to the fullest and dare anyone to mess with your stuff – wish I could have that kind of mindset.
This was the last coherent thought Kass had during her morning routine. At this time, she stepped out of the shower, dried off, and was about to put her hair back up in its bun when she noticed something… green. Looking into a mirror, the gunslinger suddenly had neon green hair. How did… was it… no, wasn't the water. Did someone mess with my shampoo? Wait, how would they? This is just some stock stuff that was hilariously cheap. No indication that it's mine other than the fact that I keep it in my bag. Squeezing out a bit of the liquid to find that it indeed had been dyed green, her mind halted in its tracks before coming to a conclusion.
Yang did this. The only explanation. Weiss doesn't do pranks and I'm pretty sure Ruby doesn't know where I keep my shampoo. I'm gonna deck her. Messing with my bun is bad enough, but dyeing my hair?!
Quickly dressing into her school uniform, Kassidy stormed off towards the dorms. It was a relatively long walk for the campus, but it still only took five minutes for her to get to her dorm room, dig Bob out of her backpack, and almost unlock it. What stopped her was Yang being absolutely livid, yelling at Ruby and Weiss about something she couldn't quite make out. She thinks she's mad? I'll show her… Opening the door, she instantly started, "Now listen here Ya-"
The two blondes stopped and stared at each other. Well, former blondes. Just as Kassidy was about to blame Yang for her neon green hair, so was the brawler about to yell at the gunslinger. The giant blonde, almost golden carpet referred to as hair was now hot pink. The partners stared at each other, dumbstruck. It was Xiao Long who was able to form coherent sentences first.
"So, uh… I guess you didn't actually do this."
"Of course not, why would I? Even I'm not stupid enough to mess with your hair."
As Ruby snickered from her bed, the door to their dorm's bathroom opened to reveal Weiss, who was about to argue more with Yang before she saw the situation before her. The heiress was just as flabbergasted as her teammates. "Alright, do I even want to know what's going on here?"
A thought suddenly occurred to Kass: who else does she know that's big on pranks, and would be bold (or stupid) enough to dye Yang's hair?
"Hey, did Nora visit you guys while I was doing stuff last night?"
Ruby gave up on sleep at that point and leaned over the bed. "Yeah, actually. Yang had just left, and Nora said something about their toilet not working. She didn't stay for very long though, and she was snickering whenever she left. I thought she just found something funny about some of our stuff."
"Valkyrie…" Yang spat the name out like a curse, eyes flashing red. "She's going down. Nobody messes with my hair and gets away with it."
"I agree, she went too far. And I think I know just how to hit her where it hurts." A wicked grin split across the gunslinger's face, which the three girls in the room openly questioned. "Tell me Bob, what's for breakfast this morning?"
"Pancakes, actually." At that announcement, Ruby and Weiss shared looks of shock while Yang mirrored the evil grin. The eyes had cooled back down to their usual lilac.
"And what's the one thing that Nora values as much as you value your hair?"
"Syrup. Maybe Ren."
"Alright, we know she brings her own special syrup whenever the school makes pancakes. I just thought of a modification to her recipe. Can one of you cover for me so she doesn't walk into me being in our little kitchenette?"
"I'll do it!" Ruby jumped down and walked on out the door. Hesitating, she turned around. "Uh, you know this can only end badly, right? Can you just promise that I'm not going to be involved in whatever happens next?"
"Sure thing, sis. This is just gonna be between us friends."
After a brief detour to add and thoroughly mix a sizeable portion of vinegar into Nora's syrup, the team finished their morning rituals before heading to breakfast. After a short time alone, their four friends in JNPR quickly made their way to the opposite side of the table, with Nora continuing on as always about her love of pancakes and syrup especially. It was at this point that something unexpected happened.
"Hey Nora, I've always wanted to try your syrup. Do you mind sharing just a little bit?" Oh no, Pyrrha's gonna be pranked too. And I do not want to be on that girl's hit list. Trading nervous glances with Yang, the two former blondes were quickly interrupted from their silent conversation by Ren addressing them.
"So… I noticed you two decided to pursue a different hairstyle."
The brawler, as usual, did the talking for the two of them. "Pfft, you wish. Nah, someone thought it would be a good idea to mess with my hair. And K's too, apparently. If I ever find out who…" Yang finished the threat by slamming her fist into an open palm. Ren shifted nervously in his seat when Nora and Pyrrha both started vigorously coughing and spitting out their sabotaged breakfast. The two blondes might have even gotten away with it if Weiss wasn't in the line of fire.
"Agh! Stop that, stop it this instant!" Failing at shielding herself from the onslaught of partially chewed pancake, she wheeled on her teammates. "We TOLD you this would be a bad idea!" Yang simply took that as her cue to start howling in laughter. If anyone hadn't noticed the situation earlier, they sure have now. "How is Nora and Pyrrha spitting syrup over me funny!?"
"I knew it was you!" The only reason Nora hadn't jumped on top of the table at this point was due to Ren holding her in check – literally. "What did you do? What did you do to my precious?"
Kassidy was calm in her answer. "I came across a syrup recipe that had an unusually large amount of vinegar in it, and I just knew you'd love it if you'd try it."
"Vinegar?" Pyrrha had finally recovered from her taste buds' rebellion. "Since when did vinegar make anything taste better? And how much did you put in here, anyway?"
Yang had stopped laughing, and she gave Valkyrie a glare that would put Glynda's to shame. "Maybe if SOMEONE didn't think that dyeing our hair was a good idea, we wouldn't have had to tamper with breakfast."
"That's it!" Nora stood up and pointed a finger at the taller pair of partners. "This injustice cannot go unanswered! We'll deal with you later!"
As Nora walked out, followed quickly thereafter by both Pyrrha and Ren, the five teens were left with wondering what was going to happen.
"Alright class, let's form up. You all know the drill by now." One o' clock – combat training. And, as everyone knew, every combat training started off with a duel. Professor Goodwitch got her class in order, then gave an announcement. "Today's duel is going to be handled differently. Instead of one on one, today's match will feature doubles. That's right, two students on the same team against two other students. Now, unless there are any – "
Glynda wasn't even able to finish before Nora sprang to her feet. "Pyrrha and I challenge Yang and Kassidy!"
The two former blondes traded looks, and Kassidy facepalmed. "How did I know this was coming?"
Yang shook her head, then turned to the professor. "We accept. I've been meaning to pay them back for what they did to my hair."
Goodwitch blinked. "I was wondering if you had changed stylists. Regardless, you are aware there are to be no grudge matches in this class, correct?"
"This won't be one, professor." Pyrrha was walking down to the front, shield and sword already off her back. "We'll be sure to keep this nice and clean."
"Very well. Ms. Xiao Long, Ms. Smith, if you would please make your way down to the front we shall begin."
Loading a clip of shells into her gauntlets, Yang strode purposefully to the front. The gunslinger, however, did her usual thing of stowing away her weaponry – she still didn't feel comfortable bringing her guns to bear on her classmates. One thing she did do, however, was strap her bracer to her forearm. She jogged to catch up with her partner.
"Why don't you take Nora to start with, and I'll keep Pyrrha busy?"
The brawler looked shocked. "You serious, K? She'll tear you a new one."
"Probably. But I'm willing to bet that she's too nice for her own good. In the meantime, you and Nora can have at each other, and I'm pretty sure you'll beat her in a slugging competition. Which will give plenty of time for you to build up your Semblance doo-hickey."
Xiao Long grinned. "Alright, I know I'm going to have fun. Though if you get hurt bad again, I'll need to go out of my way to embarrass you as I carry you out bridal style."
"Good thing it won't come to that, then." At this point, the four girls had taken up their positions staring each other down. Nora had her hammer/grenade launcher out and grinned maniacally at Yang. Pyrrha, on the other hand, looked incredibly nervous. Alright, time for step one. "Hey, uh… look, I can handle broken bones with the best of them, but can we stop short of dismemberment today? Arms and legs kinda take a while to grow back."
Nikos paled, then sheathed her sword on her back. "You know I wouldn't do anything like that to you."
"Not on purpose."
"BEGIN!" Glynda barked from her usual spot, and the four teens descended upon each other. At least Yang and I are on the same team this time. Leaving the two heavy hitters to their own devices, Kassidy focused her attention on the Mistralian champion in front of her. Okay, time. I need to buy time. Yang can handle Nora. Just need to buy her time to win that fight and get her thing charged up. Pyrrha shot forward with her shield extended at her chest. A quick roll ensured that the gunslinger's ribcage stayed intact for a while longer.
As Nikos continued to press her attack, Kass found that her reflex training was really paying off. The champion was fast, but she was faster, always managing to stay just ahead of the shield threatening to test how well she took broken bones. The gunslinger threw in jabs and kicks, even the occasional elbow where she could, but the damage she was doing to her opponent's aura was laughable. Sidestepping another shield bash, Kassidy decided to take it to the next level after five minutes of combat. She's starting to breathe hard, endurance is getting the better of her. Time to push her patience past its endurance too. Leaning against the pillar that eight days ago broke her spine, she made of point of sounding calm and casual, even going so far as to bring back a little of the southern drawl she dropped years ago.
"And here I thought you were supposed to be good. Heck girl, you couldn't even hit water if you fell out of a boat."
The taunting had its desired effect. The Mistralian champion's eyes bugged out a bit, before sharpening into hardened resolve. Frustration took over as Pyrrha pushed herself even harder to so much as land a hit on the weakest kid on class, the weakest kid who was now mocking her. Dodging shields, fists, and high heeled boots, Kass' agility was being pushed even harder than Nikos' endurance. Yang should've won by now, what's keeping her held up? Just managing to duck under a shield charge, the gunslinger managed to plant an elbow into her opponent before making space between them and dropping her fighting stance. Time for step three.
"Alright, trash talking aside… thanks for taking it easy on me."
Nikos gave her a funny look before laughing a humorless laugh. "I haven't been going that easy. You're pretty good; this is actually a pretty fair fight."
"Yeah, about that. See, I've been through a lot of things, and if there was only one lesson I could take from any of it, it'd be this one:"
"I'm listening."
"If you find yourself in a fair fight," Kassidy pointed her bracer at her opponent, "then you've done something wrong."
Smashing the trigger down, the grappling hook shot off towards Pyrrha. Her dulled reflexes couldn't move out of the way in time, and the steel cable wound its way around her calf. Pulling on the cable with everything she had, the gunslinger yanked her opponent over, simultaneously leaping up and planting a boot in the square of the champion's back, who subsequently went flying. Kass pulled again, but by this point Nikos had caught on and flew back with a kick.
But as fast as she was, Kassidy was faster. Ducking under the boot, she wasted no time in getting the cable wrapped around her other leg. Then her arm. Then her chest. A few more turns later, Pyrrha was thoroughly entangled and was crumpled on the ground. She unfastened her bracer from her forearm to leave the champion sitting there. Striding over and picking up her opponent's shield, she decided to help Yang with whatever Nora was putting her through.
"Well, Ms. Nikos, as much as I'd love to keep stringing you along, I should go find out what my partner's up to."
"And in a surprising turn of events, Ms. Xiao Long is eliminated by aura level."
The announcement made Kassidy snap her head up. A very weary, very battered, but still very much aggravated Nora had just clobbered Yang into the wall. A quick look up revealed that Yang had an aura level of 3, while Valkyrie's was at 11. Just one point above elimination. I can handle that. Need to act now though, while she's distracted. Sprinting at her partner's eliminator, the gunslinger raised the bronze colored disc and smashed it into Nora's back before she could respond.
"And in a more surprising turn of events, Ms. Valkyrie is eliminated by aura level."
She had only made the pink bomber drop by two points, but it was enough. Looking back up at the scoreboard, Kass' heart sank to see that Pyrrha still had 71 aura left. There's no way in hell I'm that good. I can't drop her aura by 61 points before she puts me down for the count. Almost as if to prove the point, her bracer just got tossed back at her feet. She was pretty sure that Nikos was pissed, but the girl standing across the room from her showed no such emotion. Kassidy was about to toss the shield over and throw the towel in before…
"I forfeit."
Gasps filled the room, and Glynda's eyebrows looked like they were trying to fly off her head. "I'm sorry?"
"I'm exhausted, I've been disarmed, and my opponent is in an advantageous position. You've been watching the fight, haven't you professor? The only reason Kassidy hasn't beaten me is because she lacks an aura. Put anyone else in her position, and I'd be hard pressed to salvage anything." At this point, the Mistralian champion looked up and gazed at her opponent, a smile on her face. "I'd say she's earned the win."
Goodwitch took a few moments to process what just happened, before returning to her usual expression. "Very well. Due to forfeit, this match's winner is Yang Xiao Long and Kassidy Smith."
Kass was still stunned. She didn't even have a reaction until Pyrrha had come up and asked for her shield back while adding, "That's a good lesson. I'll be sure to take it to heart."
Handing the bronze disc back, the gunslinger could only put together, "It'd only work once anyway." At this point, Nora had joined them, who seemed dejected until she started ranting about how awesome that fight was. She chuckled before regarding her two classmates. "I suppose this makes us even now?"
"Yeah, we're all evened up K." A gauntleted hand found its way on her shoulder, a pink haired brawler giving off a goofy grin. "Well, this was sure a colorful morning until the mood soured over breakfast. But class so far has been smashing, am I right?"
A chorus of boos was the only response she got.