"Duel!" - Regular Speech
'What next?' - Thoughts
"Black Rose Blizzard!' - Duel Monster Attack/Special Ability Activation/Summoning Chant
Beta'd by BigCC
Chapter 1: Beacon, Higher Education for Duellists
Ozpin's Office, Beacon Academy
Ozpin, current Headmaster of Beacon Academy, absently took a sip of coffee from his ever-present mug as silently began to silently count down until the strike of eight, when his deputy would arrive for their meeting. Three…two…one…
Knock-knock
Glynda Goodwitch was nothing if not punctual to a fault.
"You may enter Glynda." he stated casually into the intercom. A moment later the form of Glynda Goodwitch, Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy for Duelling, as well as the school's chief Duelling & Combat Professor, entered through the door. Dressed as always in her pleated white blouse, long black pencil skirt, and black and purple cape; the mature woman usually cut a striking figure that seemed to impossibly mix solid professionalism and regal beauty. However, the scowl formed across her lips shattered those casual assumptions like glass, revealing the iron beneath the velvet glove. "Ah, I take it you have some issue with our latest student candidate?"
"Why, in the name of Magic and Aura, would you think to reward that kind of recklessness with an invitation to our Academy!?" Glynda shot back, not even bothering with the usual pleasantries. "Had I not arrived when I did…!"
"Nothing would have changed." Ozpin interrupted her causally, his tone light and conversational. "Torchwick and his co-conspirators were already attempting to fall back when you arrived, while Miss Rose was only reeling from the sudden shock of having her Aura Chain broken."
"Broken?" Glynda blinked in shock. "She hadn't just run out of Aura or lost?" An Aura Chain was a capturing technique utilized by Hunters and Huntresses to ensnare human enemies to prevent them from escaping. When properly executed, the technique was nearly indestructible, with the only ways to break it were for the user to willingly end it, the user running out of Aura in order to sustain it or the user suffering a significant shock to their Aura that disrupted the technique; most commonly by losing a duel and having their LP reduced to 0. "I'd assumed…"
"That is a rather unfortunate habit of yours when you're dealing with our students, Glynda. You are far too quick to assume they are acting recklessly or foolishly." the Headmaster sighed slightly. "While I'll admit that our students, like most young people, have a bad habit of acting without thinking things through on occasions, we must strive to be fair to them and give them the chance to prove us wrong." Taking another sip of his mug, he continued. "No, Ms. Rose's Aura Chain was forcibly broken by an outside party, something that would have momentarily stunned even a veteran Huntress. Had you not arrived, she'd likely have been perfectly safe. As it is, I have received confirmation from Signal that she is already fully capable of manifesting her cards when outside a duel and has thus met the minimum requirement for early admittance."
"Independent Manifestation!?" his deputy seemed well and truly shocked by that point. "At fifteen!?"
"Yes, quite an accomplishment. Her lineage likely has something to do with it as well; her mother was quite the prodigy as well." Ozpin offered, a soft reminiscing smile forming on his lips as he thought of the bubbly, vivacious young woman known as Summer Rose. "You might recall me speaking of Team STRQ a time or two over the years? Her mother was their team leader."
"Ah…" Glynda looked suitably abashed that her preconceptions had been so far off. Hopefully she'd learn from this going forward. She was an excellent educator, but she needed to learn to give their students a bit of credit. "What does her Duel Disk's memory show of her Duel against Torchwick?"
"Had his accomplices not arrived when they did and somehow managed to sever the Aura Chain, Torchwick would have likely lost the duel before the end of Ms. Rose's next turn." Ozpin stated simply, smirking behind the edge of his mug. "She is fully capable of Synchro Summoning, Glynda. At fifteen."
"Dancing Dust…" the Professor blanched in shock. "Aura Chain and Synchro Summoning in the same duel when she's merely fifteen…!? Just how much Aura does this girl possess?"
Basic Summoning using a Duel Disk as a medium wasn't all that difficult, it was something that nearly anyone with unlocked Aura could accomplish. Even Sacrifice Summoning and Ritual Summoning weren't all that difficult. However, Fusion Summoning, Synchro Summoning and XYZ Summoning were each prohibitorily Aura-intensive techniques that only those with skill and/or talent could accomplish. Even among professional Hunting Duellists, over a third of them were incapable of using those techniques regularly. For a girl who wasn't even halfway into her second decade of life to be able to use even one of those techniques, it was a simply phenomenal achievement.
"Quite an impressive amount, I would say." Ozpin offered dryly as he pushed himself to his feet, suppressing a slight groan as his bones creaked unfavourably (he wasn't getting any younger it seemed), and began to walk toward one of the windows facing out over Vale. "As it so happens, her older sister, a Miss Yang Xiao Long, is also going to be a student applicant this year and, just like her younger sister, she's fully capable of using both Aura Chain and Synchro Summoning. The only other applicant among our current crop capable of both those feats is none other than Pyrrha Nikos. Not a single other candidate is anywhere near as qualified as that young lady, so I hope I won't hear any other complaints about offering her an early opportunity."
Glynda simply shook her head. Knowing what she did now, she couldn't argue with the offer, even if she still didn't fully agree with it. The girl was so young, after all. "Three prodigies in a single year…" she whispered aloud.
Ozpin snorted a bit, but didn't turn from his view. "I doubt that they're prodigies in the sense you're speaking of, Glynda." Ozpin offered absently. "Instead, they are examples of what two particularly driven young ladies can accomplish if they're willing to put in the efforts. Miss Rose wishes for nothing more than to be a Hunting Duellist in order to do her mother's memory proud and Miss Xiao Long is much the same, with additional incentives of protecting her younger sister and finding Raven Branwen. They both have goals that they desire above all else and both have put in the blood, sweat and tears to achieve them. Miss Rose herself has been like that since I first met her some eight years ago…"
"Speaking of Miss Rose again…that choker she was wearing. When I first saw it, I thought…" Glynda offered cautiously, pulling out her scroll and bringing up a picture of Ruby Rose taken the previous day at the police station. The girl portrayed on the image was cheerful and pale-skinned, with short-cut black-brown hair with red tips and dressed in a black combat dress and bright red cloak. However, her most drawing features were her eyes, a bright silver in colour almost like quicksilver. Beneath those eyes was the source of Glynda's concern, an unusual looking choker secured around her neck. "It…It appears to be some form of restraining device, but I've never seen the like before. Is it your work?"
"Indeed." Ozpin agreed, letting out a tired sigh as he turned to face his deputy. It was not a subject he was fond of reminiscing on, but Glynda would need to know going forward. "When Miss Rose had her Aura unlocked at the age of seven, it turned out that she was also in possession of a potent psionic potential in addition to her Semblance. She had a potent psychokinetic ability, one that she was capable of instinctively meshing with her Duel Monster holograms in order to allow them to inflict actual damage to her surroundings and opponents."
"A Duel Affinity!?" the blonde woman breathed out, using the common name for such abilities that manifested separately from one's Aura and Semblance. Then she noted something Ozpin had said. "Wait, you said that she 'had' such an ability?"
"Yes. Given her young age, it was not surprising that Miss Rose lacked the mental fortitude to fully control her power when it manifested so suddenly. Her father, Taiyang, contacted me requesting my assistance shortly after it began to manifest beyond her control." the ageing headmaster replied with a sad shake of his head. "Her ability…it is immensely powerful, easily one of the strongest raw talents I've seen in my lifetime. Even back then, it could easily match your current level with your Telekinetic Semblance in power alone, if not more. It was simply too much to expect to expect a child so young to be able to fully control that kind of power. I was forced to lock it away using a restraint choker of my own design, at least until she reached an age where she could learn to control it properly. Once she arrives at Beacon, I will be arranging special lessons in order to teach her to control her Duel Affinity myself."
"Wouldn't I be a better choice to head those kinds of lessons?" Glynda asked, a slight frown on her lips.
Ozpin merely shook his head. "Semblances and Duel Affinities are very different things Glynda, and thus require far different training methods. Semblances are, by their very nature as manifestations of a person's Aura, highly instinctive abilities that will respond naturally to a person's will and desire. Training them is rarely more than a process of practising and refining those same instinctive responses. Duel Affinities, on the other hand, are born from the mind and subconscious realm. They require intensive focus and mental discipline to hone and control. You might be able to aid her in refining her control due to the similarities between her Affinity and your Semblance, but she will need several years of training before she attains that kind of control."
The headmaster sighed again. "More so, I believe we will also have to overcome several stumbling blocks in unlocking her potential. Miss Rose…greatly distrusts her own power, due to the fact that its lashing out resulted in her father receiving a serious injury shortly after she started to awaken it."
Glynda winced. Whether it was a Semblance or a Duel Affinity, a person having ill will toward a manifestation of their own abilities always tended to result in that ability becoming far more difficult to control until the ill will could be successfully put to rest. "It certainly sounds like you're going to have your work cut out for you, sir. There's also the fact that she'll still need to pass the Initiation Exams."
"To the first, I have always enjoyed a challenge." the bespectacled old man returned, raising his mug in salute. "As to the second, well, let's just say that I believe that Miss Rose's abilities shall be a most pleasant surprise."
Two Days Later
Beacon Academy Cliffside Docking and Landing Area
"This is gonna be sooo awesome!" Yang Xiao Long declared; lavender eyes sparkling, a brilliant grin on her face and her right arm slung over the shoulders of her sister. "My baby sis, at Beacon with me!"
"Yaaang!" Ruby complained half-heartedly. She didn't even bother trying to pry herself free, knowing that getting out of her far stronger sister's grip would be nothing short of an impossible task. She was built for speed, not brute force after all. "I'm still just a candidate to be a student like you! There's no guarantee I'll make the cut."
Yang scoffed, ignoring the retching of the blonde boy who'd gotten airsick on the ride over. "Pssh. As if you'll fail. You, little sis, need to have some confidence."
The crimson-cloaked Huntress-aspirant nervously adjusted the Signal Academy Duel Disk she had attached to her left arm, as well as her weapon, Crescent Rose, in her holster at the small of her back. "Just…don't mention that I'm here because of Professor Ozpin, OK? I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."
"But you are special, Rubes." her sister said in a soft, serious voice. "You're a special girl and I won't hear otherwise, OK?"
"OK, sis." Ruby knew better than to argue with Yang about this. "Just…promise me, alright?"
"Alright, alright. If it'll stop you from getting all anxious again, I'll mums the word." Yang relented with another laugh. "C'mon, let's get to the main hall; that's where they're supposed to be holding the entrance ceremony."
The sisters started weaving between people, with Ruby occasionally geeking out over various weapons she saw some of the other applicants wearing. Yang just grinned as she watched her sister distract herself with her passion for all things sharp, pointy and blowy-upy.
"Argh!" an irritated voice abruptly sounded from up ahead, making the Rose-Xiao Long sisters pause, turn and blink at the sight of a slight girl, wearing a white outfit with an equally white side-oriented ponytail, struggled to pull a trolley with at least four large and heavy crates emblazoned with the symbol of the Schnee Dust Company stacked on top of it.
"Hey, you OK there?" Yang called to the girl, who stopped and turned to look at the sisters, her ice-blue eyes quickly scanning over them analytically. The vertical scar down her left eye stood out starkly on her skin, which was even paler than Ruby's.
"I…yes. I'm fine." the girl replied tersely. "I just...can't get this stupid thing to move."
"Um…that's 'cause you have the brakes engaged on all of the wheels." Ruby pointed out.
The pink flush looked very cute on the girl, in Ruby's opinion, as she quickly went around and unlocked the brakes on the trolley's wheels, a look of mortification on her face.
"Ah…thank you. I've…never had to use one of these things myself." the girl stated, coughing into her hand seemingly forcefully suppressing her blush. "I'm Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee Dust Company."
"Yang Xiao Long, and this is my lil' sis, Ruby Rose." the blonde girl replied, gesturing between herself and her sister, who was eagerly eyeing the silvery rapier on the other girl's hip, as well as the customized Duel Disk on her right arm. "You'd best find somewhere to stash those; the Entrance Ceremony starts in about five minutes."
"Really!?" Weiss snapped, pulling a pocket watch from her dress, her eyes widening at the time it displayed. "Oh drat! We will have to speak later." the white-haired girl offered hurriedly as she quickly got behind the four-wheeled trolley and began to pull once more, this time making far better progress without the brakes inhibiting her.
"The SDC Heiress, huh?" Yang grinned, nudging Ruby. "So, is cute, rich and petite your type sister-dear, or were you just eyeing her gear?"
"Yaaaaang!" Ruby groaned, a blush on her face. "Why did I ever tell you that I'm not into guys?"
"Because you were suffering a sudden bout of gay panic over a pretty girl you had a crush on back in Signal transferring to Sanctum in Mistral and you needed someone who wasn't Dad or Drunkle Qrow to talk to about it." Yang deadpanned before smirking. "Now let's go. We're gonna cut it close as it is."
As the sisters made their way down the path, they didn't notice a black-haired girl step out from behind a tree and assess them carefully with amber eyes, a black bow atop her hair.
Main Hall, Beacon Academy
The sheer amount of humanity (and Faunus) stuffed inside the large room was enough to make Ruby uncomfortable; she'd never liked crowds, even before that incident when she was seven, but she managed to push it aside and look around the crowd. She spotted Weiss over on one side, along with a black-haired girl behind and to the side of her who was eyeing the SDC Heiress with scant favour, for some reason.
The identity of the redheaded girl wearing armour and with a customised Duel Disk on her left arm was obvious to even Ruby; Pyrrha Nikos, the four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Combat Tournament and the two-time winner of the Mistral Regional Duelling Championship. When she had first attended the MRDC, she'd used a Heroic Challenger deck, whereas the second time she'd used a Gladiator Beast deck.
Ruby had cheered for her both times, at first because she was a girl close to her and Yang's age and later simply because that girl could duel!
Before anything or anyone else could catch her attention, Professor Ozpin made his appearance, striding onto the small stage located on one end of the room, his presence quickly silencing the room. He looked much the same as he had when Ruby had last seen him at the police station; dressed in a comfortable-looking green and black suit, messy silver hair, a tiny pair of glasses perched on his nose, and walking with an intricately designed cane that Ruby could tell was also a very well-built weapon. Unlike before though, he was also wearing a customized Duel Disk on his left arm, one that was green and had a clockwork motif similar to his cane's.
"I…will keep this brief." the ageing Huntsman offered simply as he stood at the centre of the stage. "You have travelled here today in search of knowledge – to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step...should you pass the two exams you are here to take tomorrow and the day after."
Pausing to sweep his eyes across the room, Ozpin continued after a moment. "Aside from those fortunate few who received scholarships or recommendations from the Headmasters of your Combat Schools, and possibly even the staff of Beacon itself, everyone present before me has taken the written portion of the exam already, which is merely the first of three exams. Those of you here have either passed the exams at a sufficient level or have bypassed them due to qualities seen in you by those older and with more experience.
"The next two exams are to test the other two fundamental portions of being a Hunter or Huntress. The first, which you shall take tomorrow and shall last for the entire day, is the personal combat exam, which shall also function as how partners and teams are assigned, which shall be explained directly before the exam itself begins. The second is, of course, duelling. Precisely what that exam consists of, I shall also leave until the day of the exam to explain. Suffice is to say that you shall be most suitably tested in both exams. Rest well, have your weapons prepared and ensure your decks are well-balanced. You will be depending on them heavily in the next two days. Until tomorrow."
His speech apparently finished, the grey-haired man calmly strode off the stage, utterly unruffled by the gazes of what had to be over a hundred people.
"Dang. Looks like we're gonna have to really strut our stuff tomorrow, little sis." Yang whistled once conversations started up again.
"I can't wait to let my sweetheart do the talking for me." Ruby smirked as she patted Crescent Rose lovingly.
"Careful, Blooming Rose might get jealous." Yang said teasingly, referring to her sister's customized Duel Disk that Ruby had been working on before they left home.
"Yaaaang!"
The Next Day
After the Emerald Forest Initiation Exam and Team Assignment Ceremony
"Well, that certainly rocked long and hard." Yang remarked with a grin towards her new partner, the taciturn Blake Belladonna, as they walked their newly-assigned Beacon quarters.
"You have a very different idea of what 'rocking' is compared to me." the black-haired girl replied dryly. Her eyes landed on the red and white pair walking ahead of them. "I'm surprised that things didn't go badly today…our teamwork was an impromptu kludge."
"Eh, you worry too much. So we didn't really click right off the bat? We still managed to pull it through in the end." the boisterous blonde shrugged easily. "Rubes came up with a good plan to take down that Nevermore. No wonder she was made team leader."
"And you're not the least bit jealous?" Blake asked with a hitched eyebrow. The blonde didn't really strike her as the 'following orders' type.
Yang actually snorted at that. "Heck no." she scoffed out. "I'm good at smashing crud and breaking legs, not to mention kicking rear in duels; but I couldn't lead a girl scout troupe without starting a forest fire, let alone take lead on a team of Hunting Duellists. I know my skillset and I'm just fine with it."
Blake could respect that kind of blunt honesty. She also recalled her teammate literally splattering an Ursa with a single punch. Yeah, Yang certainly was good at 'smashing things.' "I look forward to seeing you duel then." she finally offered with a light smirk on her lips.
"Hehe, same Blakey, same. Wonder if we're allowed to bring our Duel Riders yet…" the blonde mused. "Bumblebee'd kick major booty around here."
"Turbo Duelling classes don't start in Second Year." the black-haired girl reminded her. "Although I think you're allowed to build and maintain your Duel Runner before then."
"Nice! I'll have to message Dad to get him to have Bumblebee sent over…Blooming Rose too." Yang fist-pumped.
"Crescent Rose is Ruby's weapon, so is Blooming Rose her Duel Runner?" Blake guessed.
"Nope, that's Rebellious Rose." the blonde smirked. "Blooming Rose is Ruby's custom Duel Disk; she's been building the thing from the ground up for the past year now. Dad won't let Rubes use her Duel Runner until she turns sixteen."
"Sensible." Blake nodded, a twinge of longing going through her as she thought of her own father for a moment. "So…what do you think of Weiss?"
She asked this quietly, so as not to draw the snow-haired girl's attention.
"Eh. A bit too high-strung for my tastes." Yang shrugged absently, her lavender eyes going over the white-haired girl before moving to her sister for a moment. "Still, she stepped up when we went head-to-head against birdzilla, that has to count for something. Her Semblance is pretty awesome too, so I guess I'll give her her fair shake. Though, I wonder why they assigned us to teams already, since we've still got the third exam tomorrow…"
"It likely means that the third exam will be taken as a team." Blake stated simply.
"Sounds likely, can't wait to find out." Yang grinned, and for some reason, the disguised Faunus found herself smiling along with her.
With Weiss
When Weiss had decided to leave her family's…her father's shadow and build her own reputation as a Hunting Duellist, Beacon Academy had been the only possible choice. It was widely acknowledged that even Atlas Academy fell a distant second to Beacon when it came to the quality of the Hunting Duellists that graduated from its halls, and some of that respect was given to any who managed to enter the Academy, let alone graduate.
As an added bonus, it was an entire ocean away from her father, nor was it anywhere near as susceptible to Jacques Schnee's machinations and political pressure as Atlas Academy would be.
That being said, she hadn't been able to understand why this dimwitted, hyperactive slip of a girl, who carried around a weapon longer than she was tall and had all the impulse control of a starving lemming, had managed to get admitted as a student candidate at such a prestigious academy. That was what she'd thought after the Beowolf Alpha and Deathstalker fiasco, anyway.
After the fight against the Nevermore though, she'd would be forced to admit (to herself if no one else) that the younger girl was a genuine master with the Sniper Rifle Scythe she wielded, and that her ability to cobble a plan together in the heat of combat was…respectable.
She might have been able to accept the girl as a fellow student after that, perhaps even a capable teammate with a bit of polish. But what really stuck in her craw though was that Ruby Rose had been named team leader rather than Weiss. From a very young age she had been taught that only first place mattered in the end; that second place was merely the first loser. Only excellence was permitted in the Schnee family under Jacques Schnee, and Weiss hated to admit she had somehow fallen short on this occasion.
'Was it just that fight that had Professor Ozpin assign the leadership role to her? Or is there another reason?' she mused as she tuned out the inane chatter of her new partner and team leader. 'Was I lacking anywhere? Did I somehow not fit the criteria he was looking for? I don't understand!'
A finger-flick to the nose jerked her from her downward-spiralling thoughts. "Ow!"
"Lien for your thoughts? You were seriously spacing out there, partner!" Ruby smiled at her.
Weiss wouldn't admit it, even to herself, but the younger girl unnerved her at times like these. For all of her life, people had wanted to get close to her because they wanted things from her, whether it be money, fame, Dust or reputation. People wanted to use her, and she had long-since trained herself to quickly identify those kinds of people and keep them at arm's length.
Ruby Rose, however, showed none the signs she'd long learned to seek out. Her status as the SDC and Schnee Family Heiress, her wealth, her looks, her fame as a singer…none of it seemed to mean anything to the effervescent girl, which was, to put it plainly, making Weiss freak out a bit. She'd never had to deal with a situation where she was being treated as just Weiss. Not Weiss Schnee, SDC Heiress with money, connections and looks at her fingertips, but just Weiss, the person.
"Did…did you just flick me on the nose?" she asked incredulously, one hand rising to rub at said abused sensory organ.
"I tried calling out to you, but you weren't listening." the brunette replied. "Should I have poked you in your ribs instead? Or tickled you?"
"No." the snow-haired girl ground out, one eyebrow twitching as she fought to keep her temper. "A simple tap on the shoulder would have been more than sufficient."
"Cool. Now I know for the future." Ruby smiled (a genuine smile too, Weiss could tell) before pulling out her Scroll. "I'd better let Dad know I passed the second exam. He's gonna be so stoked that both Yang and me got in!"
"Yang and I." Weiss corrected her automatically.
"Six and two threes." the caped girl waved her off. "Now where's…eh? No connection?"
Blinking, Weiss looked at the opened Scroll and saw the 'No Connection' message as well. Pulling out her own Scroll, she opened it and tried to connect to the SDC Office in Vale, only to receive the same 'No Connection' notice, much to her own astonishment.
"This isn't possible." she said automatically. Her Scroll was a special, highly customized unit with a more powerful signal booster than a civilian model like Ruby's, and it was only slightly inferior to the Hunting Duellist version that could interface with Duel Disks and Duel Riders, which they were due to receive upon completion of the final exam tomorrow.
"Hey Yang, Blake, can your Scrolls connect to anywhere? Weiss' and mine aren't working!" Ruby called back to the other half of her team, making the BY duo blink at her in surprise.
"What the…?" Blake blinked as her Scroll, a bit battered but perfectly functional thank-you-very-much, didn't connect to anywhere.
"OK, this ain't right." Yang frowned as she got the same results as her teammates. "The CCT Tower is built right into Beacon's campus for crying out loud, so there's no way we could be blocked or jammed…unless it's being deliberately done by the CCT."
"What?!" Weiss blinked as she and Ruby backtracked to meet them. "That's absurd; why would they…?"
The screens of the four Scrolls clearing drew the attention of the four girls, who blinked as the image of Professor Ozpin appeared on them, sitting behind his desk and with a large window looking out over Vale at his back.
"Attention, new students." he said. "As Hunting Duellists, you will often times find yourselves in situations that are different than what you'd initially expected or planned on. These kinds of situations can have any number of causes, from simple bad intelligence to a client deliberately misrepresenting the information for some reason. So one must always be ready to adapt as the circumstances change around you. Your final exam shall test you on this ability as well as your duelling prowess. I deliberately misled you on when the third exam will take place. It shall not begin tomorrow, instead it begins right this moment."
"What?!" Weiss gaped. "We're low on Aura and exhausted from fighting our way through the forest! How can we duel in these conditions?"
"Well, we ain't gonna get a chance to rest on the job once we graduate." Yang pointed out with a shrug.
Weiss huffed in annoyance but conceded the blonde's point.
"Upon completion of this message, your Scrolls shall display the locations of your team's Duel Disks, which you shall all go and retrieve. Once all members of your team have claimed and activated your Duel Disks, you will receive your next set of instructions." Ozpin's message continued. "It should be noted that one of the rules for this exam is no physical confrontation is permitted; only duelling. Any attempt to physically injure, capture or impede another examinee will result in a disqualification for your entire team. Be warned that you are being watched and no exceptions shall be made."
With that, the scroll's screen changed to show a map. A blinking blue dot showed Team RWBY's current location, while a red blinking dot in a room not too far away showed where their Duel Disks were.
"This is certainly a strange way to hold an exam." Blake opined, with Weiss nodding in agreement.
"It sounds like fun to me!" Yang grinned, patting the yellow pack on her belt that held her deck. "You guys have your decks?"
"Naturally." Weiss patted a white deck-box on her belt primly, while Blake pulled a similar one, only black, from...somewhere, and Ruby fished one out of a pocket in her combat skirt.
"OK, Team RWBY! Let's got and ace this exam!" the speedster declared punching one hand into the air.
"Hell yeah!" Yang punched one hand into her other enthusiastically.
"Quite." Weiss nodded.
"Go team?" Blake said, copying Ruby's movements, albeit far less enthusiastically.
Trooping over to the room didn't take long, although Yang had automatically grabbed Ruby's cloak to stop her speeding off and leaving them in her dust, earning her the stink eye from the petite reaper.
"EH?!" Ruby's jaw dropped as she entered the room where their Duel Disks were stored. Sure enough, there were four Duel Disks on the table; a custom snow-white and ice-blue version of the standard Academy Duel Disk (Weiss), a monochrome version of the standard civilian Duel Disk (Blake), a yellow version of the Academy Duel Disk (Yang), but it was the last one that had Ruby so shocked.
"Wow…" Blake blinked as she beheld the last of the four Duel Disks. It looked like a stylized rose, the same kind as Ruby's symbol, the Disk coloured a rich red the same as her cloak, with white lines tracing out the rose patterns across its surface.
"But…Blooming Rose was way incomplete! How'd she even get here?!" Ruby gawped in shock.
"Looks like there's a note there, Rubes." Yang pointed at the slot for the deck, where there was indeed a folded piece of paper. The red speedster zipped over and pulled it out.
"'Dear Ruby, I finished Blooming Rose for you. I know you wanted to finish it yourself, but a standard Signal Academy Duel Disk isn't going to cut it at Beacon.'" the girl read aloud. "'I wish you and your sister the best of luck in the exam. I'm cheering you both on, and so is Zwei. Lots of love, Taiyang.' Awww, Dad, you didn't have to do that!"
"So that's what he was working on after you got home a couple of days ago!" Yang smirked. "Well, try it on, sis."
Gulping, Ruby grabbed her Duel Disk and slid it on to her left wrist. It fit perfectly and she just barely managed to suppress a squee of excitement. Being admitted early to Beacon had been nice, but her custom Duel Disk had been only three-quarters complete, and she'd needed to give a statement to both the police AND the Hunter Corps about her run-in with Roman Torchwick, so she'd only had a single day before he needed to go to Beacon, which wasn't anywhere close to enough time to finish Blooming Rose.
Evidently, her Dad had taken it upon himself to finish for her. He must have been pulling all-nighters since then to get her finished in time.
She was so going to give him a big hug when next she saw him!
"It looks like it was professionally made." Weiss observed as she slide her own Duel Disk on.
"I only managed to build three-quarters of it." Ruby admitted as she got a feel for the weight on her arm. "Dad finished it. He, and my uncle, are teachers at Signal Academy; Dad handles the Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat and Duel Disk Building and Maintenance Classes, so he knows what he's doing with this kinda thing."
"That explains the professional finish." Blake nodded. "It looks really good, Ruby."
"Th-thanks…I designed it myself." the younger girl flushed.
"She offered to do the same for me, but my symbol ain't as good for this kinda Duel Disk as hers." Yang put in as she grabbed her own Duel Disk. "I think Weiss' emblem is the only one outta us three that'd suit this kind of Duel Disk."
The SDC Heiress eyed Ruby's Duel Disk thoughtfully. "I'll see it in action before any decisions are made, I think." she said evenly.
Before anything else could be said, their Scrolls chimed. Getting them out and opening them again, the girls were once more treated to the sight of Professor Ozpin behind a desk.
"Now that everyone has their Duel Disks, it is time to fill you in on the details of the exam." the man said before sipping a cup that presumably had some form of hot beverage in it. "Each team will be assigned to one of Beacon's four Duelling Arenas at random, and there will be two teams per arena. The ones who defeat their opponents win. Seemingly simple, but not as much as it might sound on the surface. All duellists are to start at 4000 Life Points, with the total for a full team being 16000. The teams will be ranked by the amount of Life Points left to the team in total once the last duel is completed, with the losing teams being ranked according to how close to zero they are. I wish you all luck. Oh, and for those who are capable of it, Aura Chains are not permitted."
"Aww." Ruby complained as the screen changed to a map of Beacon, with one red flashing dot indicating the specific Duelling Arena they were supposed to go to. "Well, whatever. I wonder who we're gonna fight? Hope it isn't JNPR…"
"Yes, facing the Invincible Girl would make it difficult to win." Weiss nodded.
"Not because of that! Because we're friends with them, Weiss." the brunette corrected her. "Now CRDL, on the other hand…"
"Yeah, the douchebags." Yang snorted. "Seriously, yesterday Cardin was pushing people around and tried to grab a rabbit Faunus' ear before her team leader gave the moron a swirly. Idiot was picking a fight with second years."
"Disgusting." Blake growled.
"Well, let's go! We've got duels to win!" Ruby said quickly, not wanting people to get stuck into being grumpy. "C'mon, the sooner we win, the sooner we can get our room set up."
As they made their way through the winding corridors of Beacon Academy, they spotted JNPR heading in another direction, so it was likely that they weren't Team RWBY's opponents, which was a relief to Ruby; Pyrrha was nice, as were Jaune and Nora. Ren was quiet, but nice, too.
Ruby liked duelling people, but when it came to something important like this, she just preferred to duel against people that she didn't mind lowering their academic position as a result.
And, as the doors to the arena came into sight and the brunette spotted the armoured forms of Team CRDL inside, joking and acting like they'd already won, she knew she'd found appropriate targets.
Ruby was an optimist and liked to get on with people, but she had been bullied when she was younger after that incident when she was seven. She did not like, or tolerate, bullies; Team CRDL ticked all the boxes for a group of bullies, and as such, Ruby would feel little to no guilt in, to use the common phrase, beating them like unwanted stepchildren.
"OK girls. Let's beat them down!" she said, earning her three nods from her teammates
It was time to Duel!
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Next Chapter: RWBY vs. CRDL PT.1
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