Chapter 26: Practice Makes… Improvement

AN: So, me putting a chapter up this Sunday is a bit up in the air right now. I just got two assignments dropped on me, in addition to a big paper, an exam, and two programming assignments I already had, and all due by Monday. I was able to get most of this done before the extra work showed up, but still… don't be shocked if I miss Sunday's upload.

Also, for future reference, I'm thinking that we've got about 12-14 chapters in the Volume 1 setting before we move on to intervolume material. Next chapter is the Forever Fall episode, and after that… oh boy. We are gonna have some serious fun with that mini-arc, I can tell ya. I didn't change the category to 'humor' for nothing.

Anywho, time for team training, as our lovely ladies start really figuring out how to work together as a team. Kassidy gets a new piece of equipment, and since this is Kassidy we're talking about, we also get innuendos that she fails to pick up on.

(Perspective: K)

Afternoons were always the same ritual, no matter which day it was. Class gets out at four, RWY go into the dorm to change (Weiss always manages to hog the bathroom, while the two sisters had no discomfort among each other), Kassidy would swap her school backpack for her combat bag, and set Bob up to charge. After everyone was ready, the four girls head down to one of the training arenas, Kass changes in the locker room, and they would begin with whatever seems like they need the most work on.

It seemed like on this Wednesday, Weiss thought what needed the most work was her arguing skills. As soon as Kassidy had stepped out into the arena, the heiress launched into yet another tirade. "Could you have possibly made a bigger circus out of chemistry today?"

Yang piped up in her partner's defense, "Hey now, K made chemistry actually be fun today. And besides, don't forget who she's partnered with." Leaning in, she added, "Are you seriously challenging us to create a bigger scene than what she did today?"

"Of course not!" Weiss shrieked. "I simply thought our teammate would have more sense than to spend the entire class period arguing with the professor about those… what did you call them again?"

"Trans-uranic elements. Lanthanides and actinides, mostly." Slipping into her vest and buckling it up, Kassidy made sure the pockets were adequately filled with clips of ammunition. Not only was that argument illuminating, but it's fun to rub it in Weiss' face she's not the only smart one here.

"Insisting we have holes in our elemental chart – "

"Periodic table," Kassidy corrected.

"Elemental chart," Weiss continued to insist, "is bad enough. But you spent the better part of an hour debating about the existence of a whole section of elements that don't even exist!"

"Is it the elements' fault that you're bad at looking for them?"

"C'mon, guys! We only have an hour and a half before dinner, and we really need to get some work done!" This time, Ruby's half-ordering, half-whining that came to be her trademark when trying to exert authority was enough to get the two nonrelatives to stop bickering on its own. Kassidy walked over, dropped her bag by the bench, and made sure her rifle, pistol, and knife were all in easy reach on her person while Ruby explained what she wanted to have happen. "Okay, so Goodwitch wanted those team attack ideas by the end of the week, right? Well, we have the ideas, but we should probably make sure they're good ideas."

"You're actually thinking before acting? Hmph, I suppose I've been a good influence on you after all." Weiss flipped her ponytail as she basked in her self-administered praise.

"Careful, Ice Queen. If your head gets any bigger the rest of you won't be able to support it."

Weiss glared at Kassidy while Ruby continued. "So yeah, I figured we should be spending today working on what we came up with and seeing if it's any good or not. Kassidy, why don't we start with you and me?"

At her beckoning, Kassidy got her rifle from off her shoulder and checked her ammo while the two of them were walking towards one of the walls with a metal slab set up. It was too large to really help with aiming, and it didn't move, but it was the only thing in the building that could stand up to concentrated fire from Crescent Rose, Ember Celica, and the Garand all at once. Well, other than the three aura-enhanced huntresses, but Kass still didn't shoot at her teammates during practice.

The two gunners stood next to each other a good twenty five yards from the target. "Alright, ready?"

"Ready."

"Okay. Thorned rose!"

And with the command, both girls sprang into action. Going off the theory, the two girls would use their maneuverability and firepower to simply bury a target in lead; Crescent Rose was a damn cannon trying to pass itself off as a sniper rifle, and while the Garand couldn't compete with the sheer force its flexibility and rate of fire evened the odds in that respect. Kassidy rolled to the right and started emptying the rifle as quickly as she could. Continuing until she had made about a sixty degree arc from where she started, she dumped another clip into the steel structure. Looking over, Kass was not surprised to see that Ruby had almost instantaneously gotten to her spot but was just now firing the last shot from her magazine.

"Wow, you really need to teach me how to shoot that quickly." Ruby had already zipped over to their teammates. Kassidy shook her head and walked over to join them.

"Most of the difference comes from the weapons. Sorry, but you're never, ever getting a bolt action 40mm gun to fire eight rounds in less than four seconds. Still, there's a couple tricks I can show ya at some point." Turning to her partner and Weiss, Kassidy added, "What kind of view did you two get?"

"Just to be clear, how did we come up with this idea again?" Weiss wasn't scolding – at least, I'm pretty sure she isn't – she was just curious.

Kassidy answered, "There's hardly any melee weapons where I'm from; a knife is going to be as serious as you get. Back home, if you have a problem, use a gun. If that doesn't work, use more gun."

Yang apparently took to the idea well. "I dunno who thought that up, but I like him!"

Weiss furrowed her brow. "Melee weapons still have their place. What if your gun doesn't solve the problem?"

"Then you're not using a big enough gun." Weiss tried to argue further, but Kassidy answered darkly, "Believe me, you don't want to ask that question. Suffice to say, with the stuff we had built, there is no problem that cannot be solved by a sufficient quantity of high explosives. And I mean that literally."

"Okay… moving on." Yang moved the conversation back to its original topic. "I can see where you guys got that philosophy. I don't think anything smaller than an Ursa Major is coming out of that display alive. Maybe a Huntsman with a lot of aura. And that wasn't even with specialty Dust ammunition."

"You two were pretty stationary after you got to where you wanted to go. You'd be sitting ducks. Plus, if the thing you're shooting is a Huntsman that has a way of blocking bullets, he'd still be able to do so with the one hundred twenty degree separation you have. Not easily, but he could."

"Hmm, you're right. Think we should bump it up to one fifty, Kass?"

"I can see that, but I don't want to get any more than that. The closer we get to a full one eighty, the better our chances are of shooting each other on accident."

"Yeah, I guess." Ruby thought for a moment, before coming to a decision. "You ready to keep going, Kassidy?"

Kassidy scoffed, "Am I?" An inquisitive look from Ruby prompted, "Of course I am!"

Weiss seemed amused by the situation, while Ruby giggled. The team leader soon got her act together, though. "Alright, Yang, Kassidy, get ready. Weiss, uh, do you mind being the target this time?"

"Oh, I suppose." Weiss used a glyph to backflip into the middle of the arena. All three girls knew what was coming. Yang threw some shells into Ember Celica, while Kassidy set the Garand aside to brandish her knife, also strapping her bracer to her forearm.

"Blacksmith!"

Yang wasted no time in sending flares flying at Weiss while Kassidy sprinted at their target. At first, this attack seemed to be the definition of counterintuitive. Sending your auraless gunslinger to engage in melee combat, while your brawler stayed at range to harass the other guy? There were a couple good reasons for this. The first being that Ember Celica was a bigger distraction than the Garand. Sure, rifle bullets hurt as much as anything else, but when one can just tank the shots, there's no flashy visual or aural effects, and there's no chance to dodge, the Garand worked far better at doing the deed than getting someone's attention. The grenade-like shells that Yang fired, however? They were very big, very flashy, and they hurt a lot if you didn't get out of the way.

It was those qualities that allowed Kassidy to close the distance and get up in Weiss' face. As the heiress twirled out of the way of the last shot, Kass ducked inside her guard and started slashing at her teammate. The second reason Kassidy was charging the target was because she was better at fighting dirty. She might not be as good as Yang at brawling, but experience had still given her plenty of cheap tricks. Sure, Kassidy would've used her pistol as well if it wasn't one of her teammates, but the point still stood here that she needed to do as much damage as possible. Weiss tried to bring up a glyph to send her flying, but Kassidy was quicker and kicked her knee out from under her. Fighting to regain her balance, the heiress could barely react in time to elbows, fists, and a serrated knife that went for whatever they could. Kassidy focused on the joints – she wasn't there to kill the target, just cripple it.

The third reason was because of the blonde who was now charging across the room at the two of them. Ruby's reason for the name, so she said, was because it was like a blacksmith working on his hammer and anvil. Yang would get the target on the anvil, the anvil would keep the target busy, and then they'd bring the hammer down. How the one huntress without an aura was chosen to be the anvil is still anyone's guess, but hey.

In theory, Kassidy would keep the target distracted and injured enough for Yang to come screaming in with a knockout blow. However, Weiss knew about the attack. Not like Yang is being subtle anyway. Still, improvisation was needed. Kicking off and getting some distance between the two of them, Kass raised her arm and shot the cable out, trying to get Weiss entangled or at least too distracted to worry about the burning righteous fury aimed at the back of her head.

Unfortunately, Kassidy's aim was off. Or maybe it was too good. Weiss dodged out of the way, and the grappling hook on the end hit Yang square in the forehead. The blonde stumbled and crashed into the both of them. Kass fought to get out from under her two teammates, a job not made easy by the fact that Yang was more concerned with laughing than actually getting up.

Ruby was over in an instant. "Are you guys okay?"

"My pride's hurt, but I'll manage. Your sister's making it hard to breathe, though." At least Weiss was courteous enough to get up. Giving up on trying to muscle the significantly larger blonde off of her, Kassidy decided to try and yell at her partner.

"Interesting concept." The unexpected voice made everyone's head shoot up, even Yang's. Suddenly, Yang remembered that she was on top of her partner and sprang to her feet, followed shortly by Kassidy. Against the side wall stood Professor Goodwitch carrying a package of some kind. "Miss Smith, I thought your reflexes were better than that. And your aim."

"You and me both," Kassidy muttered.

Yang was far more relaxed about it. "Actually, I'd say her aim's square on the head. She really got me hook, line, and sinker with that one." Ruby and Weiss groaned as Glynda looked unamused. Kassidy was busy trying not to laugh; if Yang had any encouragement, the puns would never stop. Even if she did find them funny more often than not.

"I see. In any event, I was here to deliver something to Miss Smith." Handing the package over, she explained, "I have a friend who works at a weapons forge, specializes in working with steel. We had an idea of a steel composition that he found rather intriguing. After some talking and a bit of work on his part, he came up with a new alloy of his own. He didn't mention what kind, but he did find that it reacted well to being infused with Dust."

Kassidy was confused at that last sentence. "I'm sorry, what does infusing your metal with Dust do again? I think we mostly focus on the Dust itself in applied chemistry."

Weiss spoke up. "It mildly strengthens the material, but the important one is that it allows our aura to interact with the object in question."

"Uh, okay. Interact how?"

Ruby laughed. "What do you mean interact how? It gets easier to use as we attune to it!" At an inquisitive glance, Ruby laughed harder. "What, did you think I could twirl my sweetheart around as easily as I can because of how cute I am or something?"

"Aura does make you guys significantly stronger."

"Not that much stronger, partner. And it doesn't stop there, either. Why do you think Ember Celica doesn't obliterate my fists and arms whenever I use them?"

"Or why controlling my glyphs is so much easier when I have Myrtenaster?"

"Your teammates are not wrong. In any event, inside that package is the result of his work. He owed me a favor at any rate, so it comes free of charge."

Curious now, Kassidy opened the package. Inside was a sword, very similar to the one she had been practicing on Professor Goodwitch with. Pulling it out, it seemed odd, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it. It was more like a feeling in the back of her mind, a feeling not of necessarily wrongness, but just of strangeness.

"That looks almost exactly like Winter's sword." Four heads turned to the stray comment by Weiss, who just realized she had said that aloud. "Winter is my sister. Sure, it's a hair shorter, and it doesn't have the small rapier built in, but other than that it's practically the same weapon."

While her teammates were talking, probably about the revelation that Weiss had a sister, a very peculiar sensation came from the sword, one that Kassidy could put her finger on. "It's buzzing. Why is it buzzing?"

"That's an initial sign that your aura is interacting with…" Glynda trailed off as she realized what she was saying. "I thought you couldn't use your aura."

"I can't, and to be honest I'm still divided on whether or not to believe this aura deal is the hoax to end all hoaxes."

"Awesome!" Ruby zipped over and started ogling over the sword. "If you can attune to it even without an activated aura, then you should get good with using it in no time!"

"Something about that suggests we're talking more than practical skill."

Yang spoke up. "How it's supposed to work is that as you keep using it, and as you get more attuned to it you can affect it more and more with your own aura, making it feel lighter, or strike harder, or take stronger hits. Honestly? Dunno how it's gonna work with you, but if it's doing anything at all then that's a good sign."

"So, what you're saying is that the vibrating sword could be fun if I play with it enough?"

The reaction to her question was not at all what Kassidy was expecting. Glynda and Weiss looked positively scandalized. Ruby had turned as red as her cloak, trying to bury as far into her hood as she could. Yang had completely collapsed on the floor, laughing so hard she couldn't even breathe.

I've been getting these reactions more and more lately. This is getting rather annoying. "Alright, seriously, what's up with you guys these past couple weeks? Yang keeps laughing at random crap I say that isn't funny, and you guys keep giving me strange looks. Like those!"

Yang could barely talk from her position on the floor. "Don't tell me you don't understand – "

"ENOUGH!" Weiss roared. Everyone flinched back as she stormed to the center of the group. "Yang, get your act together. Kassidy, stop talking, seriously. Ruby, I think it'd be best if we called the team practice here. I've had enough of this."

With that, Weiss stormed off back to the dorms. Yang was still laughing and Ruby was still trying to burrow into her cloak. The hell is going on? Looking to Glynda for a hint, the professor only planted her face into her palm and shook her head.

AN 2: Before you ask, no, I couldn't write that part with a straight face. The whole Dust infused metal is my personal explanation for some of the physics defying BS regarding their weapons, and I'm sticking to it. Anyways, considering that I'm getting a regular number of reviews each chapter at this point, it might be prudent to start with Reader Responses. So let's kick off our inaugural edition of that.

James: I admit, I might have been hinting at YangxKass much more obviously than any of the others. I guess we just need to see where the story takes us. Also, what are you waiting for? Go get that pizza!

Akshka: This is the World of Remnant, where bloodthirsty monsters roam the wilds, human-animal hybrids are society's designated punching bag, and every single weapon is also a gun (except Crocera Mors, poor Jaune). Also one that's so hilariously vague that as long as it wasn't shoved in our faces during the show, it's fair game. Yes, I do plan on taking advantage of that fact.

Slenderbrine: Until if/when I decide on a ship to pursue, I do like to provide variety. I have my own ideas, obviously, but for the most part it's where the story takes us.