I Do Not Own RWBY

Going for a Walk

The amount of effort it takes to wake up in the morning is astounding. Waking up early to get a quick workout before leadership class this afternoon required even more. Picking myself up I relished in how quiet this morning was. The rest of my team was still sleeping, and would probably stay sleeping until noon. How could I blame them with how much they've been through these past few days. They deserved a bit of rest. Reaching over for my scroll I see that I got a message a few minutes ago. Now who would text me so early in the morning? And on a Friday no less?

Hey Drew, it's Blake. Sorry if I woke you up. I was wondering if you would like to train a bit before leadership class this afternoon. I was going to help Ruby but Weiss, Yang and Nora have her covered.

Wait, she was serious about taking me up on my offer to train together? I just thought I was making friendly conversation. Maybe I should wake Lucas up and ask him what I should do? I've never really had the best luck with women before.

No. This is a stepping off point. I may still be awkward, but I can deal with this on my own. I can't just revert back to my old ways of avoiding people and just barely getting by socially. I do like Blake, but if I tried to date her what would that change in the grand scheme of things? Whatever happens, I doubt much can change from just training together at least once. I open up my scroll and reply back to her saying that I'd be up for it. A few minutes later while I was going through my morning routine she replied back with the training room number. I got dressed and headed out to greet the morning.

I was unsure of what to expect once I got to the training room. I really didn't want to blow it with Blake, so I entered cautiously. As I entered, I noticed that Blake was already in the room waiting.

"And here I thought you got lost." She said as she stood up. It looked to me as if she was looking over her weapon Gamble Shroud to make sure it was ready for training.

I put on a timid smile. "Na, just lost in my own thoughts. I tend to do my best thinking on my feet." In all fairness though I did get lost for a couple minutes. This place is huge. "So, where do you want to start?"

Thinking for a second she replies "Why don't you create a random weapon, and I'll try to find a way to counter it?"

That's actually a pretty good way to train. I should try that with my team later. "Sure, sounds good. Just make sure not to go easy on me." At that she smirked. Did she really like me I wonder?

I transform my bots into Nora's hammer, Magnahild. I figured this would be a good weapon to start off with. I jump into the air, swinging it to bring it down on her from above. Using her sheath she deflects the blow at an angle to move me to the side, then swipes at me. I dodge and hoist my hammer into a more defense like grip. We continue to trade blows until I made a fatal mistake. As I loosened my grip to get a better hold of my weapon, Blake pulls it from my grasp and kicks me in the face.

Staggering backwards I regain my composure. "You know, if there was ever a kick strength competition, you'd be a shoe in."

At that horrible pun she sighed heavily. "You and Yang have a very similar sense of humor." She gives me back my hammer and I disassemble it. "You weren't used to the weight of your weapon. I noticed in sparring class that you only used your hammer transformation when needed, and that you aren't used to using it for drawn out fights."

She picked up on that play of mine easily. "You're not wrong. I prefer a quick weapon that I can maneuver into a heavy hitter when needed." I create Iris' weapon. "I also like to attack from long distance when possible." She readies herself and we launch into battle once again.

This time I managed to land a few hits on her before she gained the upper hand. I had just transformed the weapon into glaive form when she dashes towards me, ducks under my glaive and kicks the center of it to transform it forcibly into bow form. I try to jump back, but I wasn't fast enough. She grabbed the bow and flipped it back and around my neck. It was her win.

"You're not going easy on me are you? Seems to me that you put up more of a fight against your other two opponents." She asks as she releases her hold on my weapon.

I shrug off her question. "I don't like to go all out when I train. Plus if I did then I'll be worn out for class later on." I disassemble Iris' bow and start to fix myself up. "I think that's enough for today. Gotta hand it to ya, using your opponents weapons against them was a smart move."

She starts to get ready to leave as well. "I did pick up a few things while watching your fights."

I smirk as I hold the door open for her. "Aw, just a few things?" She smiles softly as she walks past me and off towards her dorm room. I had to head off for class now which was in the opposite direction. Before she rounded the corner at the edge of the hall, I caved.

"Hey!" I stammered as I caught up to her. She looked at me as if something was wrong with me. "I'm pretty sure your classroom is the other way." She tells me with a semi-concerned look on her face.

"I know. Look, I wanted to ask you something. Tomorrow I'm heading into Vale to pick up some things. I was just wondering if you would like to tag along?" The last part of my sentence just barely made it out before I ran out of air. I looked at her after catching my breathe and she looked stunned. Did I make the wrong move?

"Did you just ask me out on a date? Because it sounds like you did." What! No I just. Oh shit I did. "Well, not exactly. Just two friends heading to town to grab some items to help our teams." Saved it.

She thought it over for a second. "Sure. There's a few things I was thinking of getting for my team anyway. How about we meet by the docks tomorrow morning?" I nod agreeing to the time. "Sounds good. See you then." I turn and start speed walking towards the classroom, trying to get around the next corner before I second guessed myself. I got almost halfway to the classroom before I started punching myself in the gut for thinking I overstepped my boundaries. I mean this was the first time I had ever asked a girl out, and she said yes. Come to think of it, why did she agree to go with me? Blake wasn't exactly a people person at this point in the timeline, and she hasn't met Sun yet to get her out of her shell. So why has she started to open herself up towards me? Maybe it was something I said to her when we first met? My mind was racing with questions, so much so that I nearly headbutted Jaune as we both rounded a corner at the same time.

"Whoa, that was a close one!" Jaune exclaimed as we both stopped abruptly, just short of bumping heads. Ruby stood to his side, chuckling to herself. Probably a bit disappointed we both didn't run into each other. I could see a little bit behind them was Cardin walking in this direction from further down the hallway. Did his wrist heal already? Getting back on track I started wondering why they weren't already in class?

"So, why are you guys heading back this way? Isn't the classroom just down the hall here?" They both looked at me with puzzling looks. "Didn't you get the message Ozpin sent to all of us?" Ruby asked. "He just texted us on our scrolls a minute ago while we were waiting in the classroom. We're to meet Glynda by the Bullheads." I silently cursed under my breathe. "Sorry, I usually leave my scroll on silent." Ruby sighs and motions for me to walk with her and Jaune. We begin to walk in the direction of the docks.

Blake had waited for Drew to round the corner out of her sight before she broke face. Why was he making her feel this way? The last thing she wanted to do while training at Beacon was to grow attached to another faunus. When she first met him, she could sense that his past was a dark one. Asking to train with him today was one of her ways to find out more about him and his motivations, and what she saw wasn't good. She saw a lot of Adam reflected back from Drew while they fought. She just hoped he wouldn't go down the same path of hatred and vengeance that her former partner had chosen. There could still be time to help him. When he asked her to go to Vale with him tomorrow she saw this as a chance to help him.

No. Who was she trying to fool? Blake began slowly trudging back to her dorm room, silently thinking to herself about how she truly felt about Drew. Was their relationship simply her trying to stop him from becoming another Adam? Or was there more to this that she just didn't want to accept. Either way, tomorrow was going to be tedious.

I ended up having to take a seat all the way near the back of the Bullhead, leaving Jaune to sit to my right and Ruby sitting across from me. I noticed after I got on that Cardin had chose to sit at the very opposite end of the Bullhead to stay as far away from me as possible.

"So, I thought Cardin was still going to be healing for a few more days. Do you know why he's back in class so soon?" I asked Jaune as we waited for the rest of the class to board.

Jaune shrugs. "I heard his aura helped heal his wrist faster than expected. Probably still hurts like hell for him, will be for at least a little while I hope. You sure did a number on him yesterday. I couldn't imagine standing up to him like you did, let alone taking him down a peg by snapping his wrist and almost breaking his arm."

Ruby leaned forward so she could interject into our conversation. "Ya! I wish I had the confidence to shove him out the window!" She smiled innocently. I could see Cardin trying to shrink into his seat upon overhearing our talk. As if the giant could appear smaller.

After a few minutes, the rest of the first year leaders joined us, followed by Glynda. Finally we were off.

We flew for roughly fifteen minutes, then we descended into a forest. As the roar of the engines died down Glynda started to announce what we were doing today.

"So students, I'll start off by saying from now on I will be in charge of your class. Ozpin has his hands full with helping to set up the Vytal festival, so he will no longer be available to teach this year. Secondly, you've probably already guessed that today's class will be a training exercise. You will quickly learn that my way of teaching is more hands on than other teachers. You will start here and work your way back towards campus. Now, you may be wondering what the twist is, and it's that each Grimm you come across must be defeated before you can move on. I will deduct points for each Grimm you run from. Also you will be partnered up with one of your fellow leaders here. You can't finish this task unless both of you make it back together. You may begin as soon as you hear who your partner is."

Glynda then proceeded to list off the pairs of leaders. I silently hoped to be paired with Ruby. With her speed we would be out of here before supper, but after she got paired with a leader I didn't recognize, my heart sank. Then Cardin got paired with another leader. Good. At least I don't have to worry about him slowing me down.

"And lastly, Drew you will be paired with Mr. Arc. Good luck leaders, I hope to see you all back at campus soon." And with that closing line the Bullhead took off, leaving us in the middle of nowhere. Jaune wasn't the worst leader to be paired with, but he wasn't the greatest. Maybe this could be a good chance to help him out a bit?

We take to following the direction the Bullhead left in and start our brisk walk back. The other pairs of leaders all split up before us to try to attract less Grimm, so it was just me and Jaune. I silently look up our position on my gauntlets, just to make sure Glynda wasn't trying to trick us by flying in the opposite direction. Seems like she left in the right direction though. Maybe she thought that would be too cruel for our first hands on lesson?

We walked for a while before I decided to break the silence. "So, how's your team been coming along? Hopefully there hasn't been too much drama."

He continued to walk beside me, eyes straining in the shadows of the forest looking for any Grimm that might jump us. "It's been a challenge to wrangle Nora in sometimes, but other than that things seem to be going smoothly." He lowers his head. "I still don't think I should've been the leader though." I take a good long look at him. I could see the worry forming on his brow, as if he was unsure. He was being to hard on himself.

I put my arm around his shoulder to give him some support. "Don't talk bad about yourself. You're a good leader. Maybe even the best leader in this year."

He shakes his head turning away the notion. "Pyrrha would've been the better choice. She has more experience, and she does everything with a level of perfection I could never hope to achieve."

At that moment I could sense that something was stalking us. I kept it in the back of my mind as I continued to talk with the Arc. "She might be the strongest fighter on your team, but even she looks up to you. They all do. You may not be as strong or as fast as them, but you can grow to be. I saw your maneuvers during the initiation. How your team fought together. You may not think it, but when it comes to strategies, you're one of the best. And besides if you haven't noticed already, Pyrrha kind of has a thing for you."

He does a double take after my last comment. "No way. She isn't into me like that. Plus she's in a whole different league then I'm in. There's no way that's even crossed her mind."

I shake my head disapprovingly. "Dude, she likes you because when you two first met you didn't know her. You didn't put her up on a pedestal like everyone else. It's obvious that she doesn't like to be in the spotlight. She just wants to be treated normally like everyone else."

Snap!

A Beowolf the size of a small truck jumped out of the trees to try and pin me. Lucky for me I was already prepared for it's attack. I ducked down and created a broadsword with my right gauntlet, digging my feet into the ground. I held myself steady as the Grimm fell on my blade. The shear weight of the beast falling toward me was enough to slice it in half. I stood up nonchalantly and continued my argument.

"Just think about it for now. And also try not to be so dense." I continue to walk as Jaune rushes to catch up with me. We continue to talk about how we both could improve upon ourselves. This lasted for about ten minutes before we reached a clearing.

"Oh no" Jaune mumbled somberly.

"Oh shit."

We both instantly regretted being so carefree. In hindsight what we should've done was skirt around the clearing, instead we walked right out into the open. Right in front of a gigantic Death Stalker. I started to think of a quick strategy to kill the monster, one that mostly had me killing it while Jaune stood back and defended himself, when Ruby and her partner ran into the clearing to our left.

"What the hell are you two doing here? I had thought that you would've been back home by now what with your speed and all." I yelled as I watched the Death Stalker size us up.

Ruby motioned toward her partner. "My semblance might make me go faster, but I can't just leave Grant behind. Plus we kind of ran into a pack of Ursa on our way which cost us a good chunk of time."

Her partner Grant walked out from behind her. "For the record, you raced ahead and found the pack of Ursa. If you went a bit slower and paid attention more to your surroundings we would have seen the signs of the pack well before stumbling on it, and we could have avoided it." Ruby wore a guilty look on her face, not able to hide the fact that it was her fault and just didn't seem to care.

I take a quick look at Grant to see what I had to work with. He was of average build with black hair and blue eyes. I couldn't tell what his semblance was, but his weapon looked interesting. He looked to be holding a trident that could focus it's points inward to become a spear. He also had a hip canister that held a few arrows, so maybe the thing could transform into a crossbow or something. I quickly thought up a few strategies we could use as the Death Stalker finally decided to come and deal with us.

"Alright, here's the plan. I'll..."

BAM!

The Death Stalker had rushed forward at an alarming speed and stabbed it's stinger straight at our group. We all just barely dodged to the left and right of it as it jabbed the ground between us. "Or we could just make up a plan as we try to stay alive!" I shout as all four of us launch into attack mode.

Me and Ruby had similar ideas, both of us running to cut off it's stinger. Unfortunately before we could strike, it reared back and pulled it's tail loose and blocked us both using it's pincers. Grant used the opportunity to run in to try to stab it in the side with his spear, only to have it glance off of it's heavy armor plating not even leaving a scratch. Jaune at least was helping out a bit, dodging it's stinger and slicing at it's legs to stop it from running or turning on us. Remembering how JNPR took out their Death Stalker during initiation I come up with a quick plan that just might work. I look over to Ruby and she nods having thought of the same idea. We both jump back at the same time, Ruby grabbing Grant while I grabbed Jaune. We only had a few seconds before the beast lashed at us again, so we explained the plan as fast as possible. Dispersing we fell into positions.

Grant transformed his spear into a crossbow (called it) while Ruby transformed Crescent Rose into sniper form. Each of them pelted the Death Stalker with bolts and bullets to throw it off balance. Then Jaune threw Grant his sword, shooting it with his crossbow high up into the sky. At the same time I had gained speed on the opposite side of the Death Stalker, transforming my gauntlets into a bo staff I vault over and into the air towards Crocea Mors. Meeting the sword at the peek of it's ascent I grab it and throw it down and impale the left pincer. As I fell I grab the sword and push it even further through the pincer and into the ground. Next Grant transforms his crossbow back into a trident and throws it upwards for Ruby to hit with Crescent Rose to stab and secure the right pincer. Meeting in front of the Grimm me and Ruby make a mad dash towards the stinger.

She started to spin, gaining momentum with every shot from her rifle. I jumped on it's back and pushed myself up and spun left. We both came down on the stinger, slicing a cross near the bottom of the tail. We watched from it's back as it fell to the side, finally immobile. Lastly me and Ruby jumped and stabbed it's pincers with our weapons. I took Jaune's place as he removed has sword while Ruby took Grants place. Holding down the pincer I watched as they both ran under the beast and impaled it from below, casting the killing blow.

We all took a minute to catch our breathe as we watched the thing dissolve into the wind. Deciding it would be best to stick together we start again towards Beacon.

It took us roughly another twenty to twenty five minutes before we finally made it back. The rest of the walk wasn't as eventful as our run in with the Death Stalker, just ran into a couple Ursa and Boarbatusks. Glynda was there waiting as we stepped back onto school grounds. She almost seemed annoyed that we had made it back in one piece.

"Congrats on your return trip. I saw you all managed to take down the Grimm you all stumbled across. Remember this in the future, for if you let Grimm slip past you or if you decide to avoid a pack while you're on a mission, then it could end up attacking someone less skillful in defending themselves. Good job today, and goodnight." She then dismissed us to go back to our dorm rooms and enjoy the weekend. Before we went back though I asked her about our assignment Ozpin had given us before, to which I received a quick jab to my side from Ruby for reminding a teacher about homework.

"Me and Professor Ozpin have very different teaching methods. You don't have to worry about turning it in." And at that I dropped the question. I thanked my small group of leaders before heading off into my team's dorm room. Luckily no one was back yet. Probably off training or touring the school, or just hanging out with the other teams. I take this alone time to pick out some clothes for tomorrow, then hit the hay.

Wow, I can't believe it took me this long to finish Volume 1! In the last few months I managed to write this chapter and three more, so in celebration of Volume 7 ending I'm going to be putting them all up every other day this week. Thank you all, and I hope you enjoy. And yes, it is a Helsing Abridged reference.

*Spoilers*

Also, that ending though! Can't believe Ironwood let Watts live! And that ending speech from Ozpin gave me chills! Really can't wait to storyboard that whole Atlas arc, but I'm going to wait until Volume 8 comes out so I know the conclusion. I love how Ironwood says he's not going to become Leo, but in the end he pretty much made the same mistakes as he did, but out of fear not cowardice. I am so hyped for all of the reaction videos to follow!

Still can't believe that Penny could become a maiden though since she got here aura from her father Pietro, but whatevs. It was still heart pumping.