Volume 2
Ashley 'Sera' Amethyst was on her way to class when Professor Glynda Goodwitch came out of nowhere and pulled her into a random, empty classroom.
"What the hell?" she demanded once the professor closed the door and they were in private. "Whatever it was, I didn't do it. I've been good for the past… few days!"
Goodwitch blinked. "That's not what this is about. Also, language."
"Oh. Good. Then what's going on?" Sera asked. Professor Goodwitch crossed her arms and tapped her fingers along her bicep while she gathered her thoughts. "What was the real reason you all were at that shipyard to intercept that White Fang robbery? We know you didn't just happen to stumble upon it."
The amnesiac faltered under the professor's hard stare, but she cracked a half-grin. "You guys saw through that, huh?"
"Young lady, you would be amazed at how difficult it is to trick Ozpin and I," Goodwitch said.
"Okay, you got me," 'Ash' said. "I know that I'm here under special circumstances and that I should be truthful to you and the headmaster, but I was just trying to help cover for my team when we came up with that lie. I didn't want them to get in trouble."
Goodwitch's eyes widened slightly, and she gave a small nod. "We do all need to trust each other. You especially need to stay in Ozpin's good graces."
"Wait," she blinked. "Do you guys not trust me or something? Is that really why you pulled me in here? Have I done something?"
"No, no," Glynda half-lied. "I pulled you in here to ask you about the White Fang. But… given your situation, Ozpin is keeping an eye on you. Don't blame him, the headmaster has been through a lot, and trust is not something he easily places in people. In all honesty, the only person he fully trusts is himself."
"Wow…" the amnesiac said. "Sounds lonely. But, uh, I understand why I wouldn't be trusted. Looking at it from an outside perspective, I'd be suspicious, too."
"Don't worry," the professor assured. "Telling us of that odd dream you had helped. But like I said, I'm here to ask you about the shipyard, so…?"
"Oh, right," Sera said, her mind going back to the disturbing dream she had of the black abyss. Then she proceeded to explain how she and the others came about discovering the White Fang operation. From Blake going missing to them searching for her, Goodwitch listened intently and never looked away from her face. The professor seemed to find it interesting when she retold the events of her fight with the strange ice cream-colored mute girl, but she stayed silent until Sera was finished.
"…I see," she said once she was done. "Thank you for your honesty. In a way, you did stumble upon that operation, so you weren't entirely lying. Even though Blake was seeking it out, you were just following your teammate."
"Yeah, I didn't know what would happen at the shipyard. But I'm also glad I was there to help stop what the White Fang were trying to do," she said honestly.
"As a huntress should," Goodwitch nodded approvingly. "However, it is odd that the White Fang were being helped by that Roman Torchwick."
"We thought so, too. Do you think something bigger is at play here?" the huntress asked.
"Possibly," Goodwitch said. "I'll relay what you told me to Ozpin. Nice work, Ashley."
"It's Sera now, remember?" she smirked at the professor. Goodwitch shrugged, "In other company, you're still Ashley Amethyst."
"I know, just messing with you, Professor," she smiled lightly. Sera saw the corner of Goodwitch's mouth lift into a small smile, and she knew that there was hope yet for the older woman. In any other setting, the professor was a hardass that gave no quarter to anyone. But this was twice now that she was nicer to Sera. Maybe she felt bad for her, given how she still had no memory of her past. Whatever the case was, she was glad that she could catch a break from Goodwitch's usual bitchy attitude.
The professor cleared her throat and examined her data pad for a moment. "Is there still no update on your memory problems?"
"No, I still remember nothing. I can hardly believe that I was told my real name in a dream. It all seems so… unreal."
"I know what you mean," Goodwitch typed something on her tablet. "What of your semblance?"
"Same thing—no new developments. And before you ask, yes, I've been doing those exercises you and Ozpin told me to do. I think it's helping a little, though."
Said exercises consisted of focusing her aura and engaging in combat to try and accidentally trigger her semblance, but no luck so far. The part that makes her uncomfortable is that her team(s) have been asking about her semblance, and she had to lie and say that she just hasn't discovered it yet. It wasn't uncommon for huntsmen to go through this, but still rare.
"Uh-huh," Goodwitch typed more, then she lowered her data pad and held her hands behind her back. "Well, that's all I have for now. Keep up with your schoolwork and combat practice, and we just might make a huntress out of you yet. Speaking of, how is class going? Are you having any problems?"
"With the work? Not really, I get by well enough, and if I'm having trouble, my teammates help me out. Weiss has already shown me better study tactics, and Ruby is quick to help just about anyone if they ask for it."
"I see," Goodwitch chuckled.
"As for trouble just like, in general, team CRDL has been getting on my nerves. I know they've kind of calmed down a bit, but I've come this close to just attacking them more than I can count," she explained, holding up the "a little bit" sign when she said "this close."
"I understand they're a nuisance, but please refrain from assaulting other students," the professor warned.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't kill them. Just might break a bone… or three."
"Sera..." she said.
"Okay, fine," the amnesiac crossed her arms. "But how about just a finger—"
"No."
"You're no fun," Sera crossed her arms even tighter.
A smile formed on Goodwitch's face. "I can tell you were likely a troublemaker."
"Who knows?" she sighed. "I might never find out," Sera grumbled.
"Keep faith," Glynda said. "You'll regain your memory. Hopefully soon."
"Hopefully…" she murmured.
. . .
A food fight during the lunch period isn't what Sera expected to happen today, but she learned long ago to not be surprised by her teams' antics.
It's been weeks since the fight in the shipyard against the White Fang, and things have been relatively calm at Beacon. She got back into the routine of going to class with her teams and the rest of her school activities, except now, she had the help of Qrow's gifted shotgun. In short, it gave her a boost during her training fights. She no longer had to rely solely on a sword and could attack from further away. Unfortunately, she still had to get pretty close because that shotgun didn't have that much range. She still loved it, though. She could wield the shotgun with one hand and her sword with the other if need be.
At the lunch table, the amnesiac was flipping through her binder of notes, reviewing what she's learned so far. At least that's what her friends thought she was doing. Her eyes scanned the pages, but she wasn't reading—she was remembering back to the night of the fight, when the voice came to her in her dreams.
That voice was so cold and powerful, she remembered every word of what it said to her. And almost every night, she woke up in a cold sweat because of it. The waking up wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was when she'd wake up screaming. It's happened three times so far, and she hated it. Every time, she was in RWBY's room, and all of the girls had rushed to her aid, understandably worried. She played it off as just nightmares from a past event, but they knew something else was up.
Weiss had said, 'Then why is this happening now? It didn't happen before the day Blake went missing, so why now?' Sera didn't have an answer, so she played dumb.
That would've been the perfect time to tell them the truth, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want to until she knew more about herself, so that she could give a proper explanation rather than just a piece of one. But she knew that the longer she waited, the angrier they'd be with her.
The amnesiac curled her lip in annoyance. Why did she have to be the unluckiest girl on Remnant to wake up with amnesia? Why couldn't it have been someone more well-equipped for this kind of situation?
Then Ruby suddenly dropped a much larger binder onto the lunch table. It jarred Sera enough that she jumped in her seat and nearly threw her own binder. Before she could ask what the hell the problem was, the team leader began her speech.
"Sister! Friends! …Weiss," she gestured to her teammates and friends sitting at the lunch table.
"Hey!" Weiss exclaimed indignantly.
"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream! A dream that before we start the new semester, we would have the most fun in the history of ever!" Ruby announced, planting her foot on the seat of the lunch table.
"Is that my binder?" Blake asked, pointing at the heavy binder Ruby dropped.
The younger girl held up two peace signs and said with confidence, "I am not a crook."
"The hell are you on about?" Sera asked.
"I'm talking about kicking the semester off with a bang! Come on, let's have some fun! We don't have long before we're stuck going to be stuck in class or doing homework all night, so let's make the most of it!"
"Yeah!" Yang pumped her fist. "Now we're talking! What's first on the list?"
"I'm very glad you asked, dear sister," Ruby opened the binder to its first page. "Now, with all the exchange students coming in and classes starting tomorrow, I've prepared a list of fun activities for us to do today!"
"I'm not sure if I'm more proud or scared of you for this," Weiss crossed her arms.
"I dunno, I think I might sit this one out…" Blake said.
"Not allowed!" Ruby put her fists on her hips.
"Whatever we do today, we should do it as a team!" Weiss added.
"Since when are you so friendly? You sure you don't want to call some Faunus a slur or something?" Sera elbowed her playfully.
"That's not funny!" Weiss crossed her arms and turned her head away.
"It was kinda funny," Yang shrugged. "A bit dark, though."
"The funniest jokes usually are," the amnesiac shrugged.
"Ash! Watch out-!" someone shouted, and she turned just in time for a blueberry pie to slam into her face and explode onto her hair and uniform.
Team RWBY's jaws dropped, with Weiss holding her hand in front of her mouth in disbelief. Sera lifted her hands and slowly wiped the blueberry from her face, her violet eyes filled with cold fury when they opened.
She turned to see who'd thrown the pie, and Nora was standing there with a slack jaw and her eyes wide.
"Uh… my bad?" she bent her arms and turned her palms upwards in a shrug. The rest of JNPR looked just as shocked as RWBY while Sera glared at Nora. Even some student bystanders began to notice what had happened, and many of them were laughing.
"Oh, you are so dead, Sparkplug."
. . .
Sun Wukong was giving his best friend a tour around the campus of Beacon when they came by the cafeteria. While they walked, Sun gave his teammate, Neptune, a retelling of the events that transpired after he arrived in Vale. Neptune noticed that his friend seemed to put a lot of emphasis into describing the Faunus girl, Blake.
"We're going to meet them right now?" Neptune asked. A window beside them was suddenly splattered with multicolored food, but it went unnoticed by the pair of Haven students.
"Yeah! Why not, right? It's not like we've got anything else to do today. Our new classes start tomorrow, so let's make the most out of today!"
"Okay, yeah!" Neptune nodded. "Those girls are cute, right? Besides that Blake chick, I mean. She's all yours, bro."
Sun grinned. "Why don't you find out for yourself?"
Then he pushed open the doors of the cafeteria and revealed the carnage going on within.
Nora stood atop a mountain of piled up tables with her hands on her hips and a manic grin on her face. "I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE, I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE!" she announced gleefully. To anyone who didn't know her and even some who did, it was terrifying.
Ruby appeared at the opposite end of the cafeteria with a carton of milk in her hand. She pointed a finger at team JNPR, her silver eyes narrowed. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be… DELICIOUS!"
"Yeah!" the rest of RWBY and Sera let out a battle cry, then charged.
"Off with their heads!" Nora ordered before picking up a pole and jabbing it into a watermelon, creating a makeshift hammer, then she launched a volley of melons towards RWBY.
"Yang, turkey!" Ruby shouted, then her sister rushed forward, jammed her fists inside of a pair of turkeys, then blocked all of the incoming watermelon with her "gauntlets."
Pyrrha grabbed an extra-long loaf of bread and raised it just in time to parry a thrust from the swordfish that Weiss wielded. The two of them traded blows for several seconds before Pyrrha got the upper hand and started winning the fight.
Ren and Yang dueled as well, using their own food items as weapons. Ruby tried her best to coordinate their attacks, which meant that Jaune was the only one not fighting.
Sera looked around until her eyes fell on a giant loaf of bread laying on the floor. She scooped it up and ran towards team JNPR. Jaune noticed her just in time and quickly grabbed a tray and a long piece of celery. Holding the tray like a shield, he blocked Sera's initial strike and batted her bread away. She followed up with a flurry of strikes, and Jaune barely managed to deflect half of them.
"You're getting better at swordplay!" she complimented when Jaune parried her jab.
The blond team leader said nothing, but he fought with renewed strength. They traded blows viciously, slamming their food into each other like they were wielding real weapons. Sera wasn't having too much trouble with Jaune, and it even he seemed to recognize that they were mainly messing around rather than taking things seriously.
The amnesiac laughed good-naturedly while they fought, and Jaune cracked a grin after blocking an attack with his plate-shield.
"Is that the best you got?" Jaune commented with a laugh.
"Brother, you don't want to see the best I have," she grinned and spun, slicing her bread in a wide arc. Sera and Jaune have been getting along pretty well since the start of the semester, and she even started looking at him like a goofy brother. Of course, she wouldn't even consider making any kind of move on Jaune. For one, after a realization when they met Penny, she was pretty sure she wasn't attracted to guys. Besides, it was clear that Pyrrha had a thing for the lovable idiot.
The food fight raged on to the point of chaos. Blake dueled with Ren, ninja against ninja. Weiss and Pyrrha fought each other, but it was clear that Pyrrha was far more skilled. Nora launched Yang into the stratosphere. Fun times.
Behind her, Sera heard the sound of something crashing through a pillar, then Ruby screaming in despair shortly after.
Sera and Jaune crossed "swords" one final time before they were suddenly blown away and into the far wall. The amnesiac grunted when her back slammed against the wall, and she looked up just in time to see Ruby flying towards her via her semblance, and she had the entire room close behind her. Tables, chairs, soda machines, and an enormous amount of food was thrown towards JNPR and Sera from the wind generated by Ruby's semblance, and all the amnesiac could do was close her eyes and wait for the inevitable.
Then the tidal wave of food slammed into the five of them, and they were covered from head to toe in a dozen different colors. Ruby landed on the floor, perfectly clean, and took a moment to appreciate her handiwork.
The younger girl crossed her arms and grinned. "Now that's a smoothie."
"Really?" Sera asked. Then she and the four members of JNPR promptly fell off the wall and to the floor.
"What? I thought it was clever," Ruby huffed.
"It wasn't…" Jaune groaned.
"Like you could come up with anything better!" the high-pitched girl screamed.
By time the students had recovered and gotten to their feet, Professor Goodwitch shoved the doors to the cafeteria open, then stormed in angrily. She assessed the damage to the cafeteria and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose irritably.
She waved her riding crop, and all the carnage began to fix itself. Tables tumbled over each other and rolled across the floor, returning to their original place. Soda machines realigned themselves along a wall. Even the food was cleaned, as if the floors and walls weren't just covered with it.
"Children," her voice was a mask of steely calm to hide her fury. "Please do not play with your food."
Teams RWBY and JNPR and Sera sat at a pair of tables while Glynda let out a heavy sigh. 'Ash' groaned and wiped food from her uniform. Then Yang fell through the roof and landed face-first on the floor, letting out a low groan before picking herself up.
Ozpin appeared at Glynda's side with his usual mug of coffee in his hand. "They're supposed to be the guardians of the world," Goodwitch blew a string of hair out of her face.
"They are children," Ozpin corrected. "So let them be children. It's not a role they'll be able to have forever." Then the professors turned and exited, leaving the nine students alone in the cafeteria. As expected, onlookers began to peer into the enormous room.
"Did you have to paint me against the wall too?" Sera groaned.
"Sorry! It's not like I have perfect control over what I blow away," Ruby said.
"Maybe you should've gotten out of the way like we did, Ash," Yang elbowed her.
"Silly me," the amnesiac huffed. "I must have missed that part during the team huddle."
"There wasn't a team huddle?" Ruby said.
"There wasn't a team huddle," Sera repeated in a mocking tone. "I know there wasn't a team huddle!"
"Hey, no need to yell!" the team leader replied. The amnesiac groaned and flicked her arms towards the ground, throwing more food off of her. "If your sister wasn't here, I'd throw you through the window."
"Fat chance," Yang said snorted. Then a pair of boys appeared in front of them all, one they knew and the other they didn't.
Sun grinned at the carnage and the nine Beacon students before him. "Yo! I see you all have been having fun."
"Oh, hey, Sun!" Ruby waved. "What're you doing here?"
"Uh, we were supposed to meet today? Remember?" he said.
"…Oh, right," Ruby said in a small voice.
"What now, then?" Yang asked.
"Well, uh…" Sun trailed off. "This is Neptune!" he gestured to the blue-haired boy beside him.
"'Sup," Neptune said coolly. The two teams blinked at the new guy.
"The teammate you talked about?" Ruby asked.
"Yep! Cool, huh?" Sun said.
"I'll say," Weiss murmured, her eyes looking Neptune up and down.
"Easy, Ice Queen," Sera put an arm in front of her.
"What? He's the enemy!" the heiress said, miffed.
"Enemy?" Neptune blinked.
"For the Vytal Festival," Sun explained.
"Ah."
Sera inspected the boy before her. He exuded a feeling of "cool," but that's not what intrigued her. What interested her was that he reminded her of another student, whom she hardly ever sees anymore. With his tan skin, blue hair, and general aura, Neptune reminded her of Cerulean. That kind of made her feel bad. Cerulean Myst was the first student she met at Beacon, and they hit it off right away. They fought together in the Emerald Forest, but after they were split into teams, the two girls seemed to drift apart. She should reach out to Cerulean and hang out or something.
"What do you think?" Yang nudged her, shaking her from her thoughts.
"Huh?" she said. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
"Seriously?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. "No wonder you're slipping up in class."
"Hey, I do all right! I was just thinking about something," she said indignantly. Weiss rolled her eyes and looked at Neptune. "I apologize for my friend's absent-mindedness. The rest of us aren't like that. Well, maybe except for Ruby and Yang, but other than that—"
"Who do you think you're talking about, Ice Queen?!" Yang demanded.
"Yeah!" Ruby added. Sera rolled her eyes with a sigh and walked towards the nearby soda machines. While the others kept bickering, she patted her pockets for coins until she found a few, then inserted them into the machine. The huntress faltered when she examined the drink choices. There was Pumpkin Pete's Sugar Blast, which was the only soda she's tried thus far, but now, she wanted to see what else there was.
'Let's see…' she scanned her options. 'Pumpkin Pete's, some kind of orange stuff, canned Mistralian Tea, as well as teas of other flavors. Hmm…' she leaned closer, then her eyes widened when she read purple letters. 'People Like Grapes?' she thought, shrugging her shoulders. 'Worth a shot.' She punched the key, then waited.
Ker-plunk!
Sera reached into the slot and pulled out a glass bottle full of deep purple liquid with the words People Like Grapes on the front. Shrugging her shoulders, the amnesiac popped the cap off and took a swig.
Back at the main cast, Weiss and Yang were in a screaming match, throwing threats and insults at each other. Sun and Neptune looked at each other uncomfortably, and Sun mouthed the words "I'm sorry," to his teammate.
Then a certain girl's shouting distracted Weiss and Yang long enough for them to see what was making so much noise.
"HOLY SHIT, THIS STUFF IS AWESOME!" Sera raised her bottle to the sky with a grin plastered on her face. "SCREW PUMPKIN PETE, I'VE BEEN MISSING OUT!"
"The hell is the matter with you?" Yang blinked.
"Yeah, could you keep it down?" Weiss asked.
"Look at you two, coming together and putting your differences aside to focus on a common enemy," Ruby crossed her arms proudly.
"Oh, shut up," Weiss rolled her eyes while Sera still celebrated in the background.
"What's her deal?" Neptune asked Sun, nodding his head towards the strange, purple-eyed girl.
"I dunno man, she's kinda weird," Sun shrugged.
"That's part of her charm," Yang shrugged. Sera suddenly appeared at her side with her arms full of People Like Grapes and a grin on her face.
"… Ash? How did you get so many of those?" Weiss asked. The amnesiac glanced behind her and at the soda machine. It's door was pried off and cans and bottles were spilling out of it.
"Uh…" she slid to the side, trying to block their view of the machine. "I had enough Lien?" she said hopefully. Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "How did you get put on my team, of all places?"
Sera grumbled to herself about dumb heiresses and uptight rich people, then popped the cap on another bottle of grape soda.
"What was that, you savage?" Weiss demanded. Ever since they met in the Emerald Forest, the violet-eyed huntress has been giving her hell for seemingly no reason. Plus, she disliked her general lack of manners. All in all, she was not Weiss's cup of tea.
Sera frowned and tossed her now empty bottle into the trash. "Nice one," Ruby commented quietly, then the amnesiac glared down her uptight teammate. "I said you can stick that tiny sword of yours right up your—"
"Girls, girls!" Yang interrupted. "You're embarrassing us," she gestured to Sun and Neptune.
Sera crossed her arms. "She's embarrassing herself."
"I think I hate you," Weiss's eyes narrowed.
"So, these are the girls who fought the White Fang?" Neptune murmured to his teammate while the others continued to argue with each other.
"Well, just the one with black hair and the one with the soda. Then the red one and some orange-haired chick swooped in later, but yeah," Sun said. Neptune glanced between Weiss, 'Ash,' and Yang with a bewildered expression. "…Are you absolutely sure?" he asked.
"Look man, I know what you're thinking, but—" Sun said.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M UN-GROOVY?!" Weiss demanded. "WHO EVEN TALKS LIKE THAT ANYMORE?"
"I said what I said," Sera crossed her arms and turned away from a fuming Weiss.
"What does 'groovy' mean?" Ruby asked her sister with a lost look on her face.
"I'm not entirely sure, Rubes," Yang shrugged. "I think it means something like 'cool' but like, way more."
"Well, I like it!" Ruby said.
"Please don't start saying that, too," the blond facepalmed.
"I think I can only handle one person saying the word 'groovy,'" Blake commented. They watched their white-haired teammates argue for a few more moments until Sun and Neptune began to slink away, deciding that they'd greet team RWBY at a better time.
"Would you two quit it?!" Yang demanded, already tired of her teammates' bickering. "See, you scared off Sun and Neptune!"
Sera turned to see that the two boys were indeed gone, and it seemed that team JNPR had left, too. "Look what you did, Ice Queen."
"What I did?" she demanded.
"Ugh…" Ruby rubbed her temples. "And I thought she only hated me."
"I'm starting to think she might hate everyone," Blake crossed her arms tiredly. The Faunus wasn't looking too good, in all honesty. There were heavy bags under her eyes and it was obvious that she hasn't had much sleep.
"Come on," Yang sighed. "I have an idea."
. . .
Fifteen minutes later all five of them were in Professor Goodwitch's room with multiple questions on their mind, except for Yang.
"What are we doing here?" Weiss rolled her eyes. They stood in a circle on the central platform, glancing at each other with quizzical expressions.
"Like Ruby said, we're going to have a good semester," Yang started, crossing her arms. "And in order to do that, we need to leave whatever negativities we have towards each other in the past. Starting with Weiss and Ash."
"What are you planning?" Sera asked warily. Then Yang flashed a grin and put a hand on her hip. "You two are going to fight it out and make up. Right here, right now."
"Oooh, I'd pay to see that!" Ruby said cheerfully.
"I will do no such thing!" Weiss crossed her arms. "You're acting like we're children on a playground!"
"Would you rather kiss and make up?" Yang asked.
"Hell no!" Sera cringed.
"I would rather die," Weiss stated.
Blake crossed her arms. "Do they really have to fight to settle this?"
"You got any better ideas?" Yang looked over to her. "Think of it as a sort of training match."
"…Fine," Blake rolled her eyes and went to take a seat. Ruby grinned wide and raised her fist into the air while she followed Blake. "This is going to be awesome! Who do you think will win?"
"I don't care," the Faunus responded.
Then Yang turned back to her white-haired teammates and flashed a grin. "All right, you two. Unless you're planning on doing this with your bare hands, I suggest you go fetch your weapons."
"I think we'll be just fine without them," Sera cracked her knuckles and grinned. Weiss scoffed and turned away, leaving her team behind. "As if, you neanderthal," the heiress commented. "I wouldn't dirty my hands by brawling with the likes of you."
"You just know you'd lose," Sera followed her, folding her hands behind her head.
"Hmph!"
After they were gone for several minutes, Ruby groaned impatiently and fell to the side, leaning onto her older sister. "What's taking them so lo-o-o-o-ng?"
"I don't know, Ruby," Yang said, stifling a sigh. Even when she's in the most prodigious huntsman academy on Remnant, Ruby still had the demeanor of a child. Much like a little kid asking, "are we there yet?" when on a long car trip.
"Ughhh…" the younger girl groaned.
"Have you two noticed that Weiss and Ash are kinda… similar?" Blake asked, drawing both of their attention.
"Uh… No. Can't say that's ever crossed my mind," Yang said.
"I mean…" Ruby put a finger to her chin. "They look slightly similar. White hair, a scar over their eyes… that's about it though."
"Exactly," Yang nodded. "Plus, Weiss is slim and rather skinny while Ash is athletic-looking and taller."
"That may be true, but they're both quick-tempered and act rashly. Personality wise, they're polar opposites," Blake noted.
"What're you getting at?" the blond asked.
"I think that's why they're always butting heads," she explained. "Certain aspects about them are similar while others are complete opposites, and that creates enough tension for them to—"
"To hate each other?" Ruby asked.
"Well, maybe not hate, but—"
Someone kicked the door to the classroom open, and Weiss and Sera marched inside in their usual outfits and weapons in hand. The amnesiac flashed a smug grin and took her place on the stage. Weiss stood several feet in front of her and raised her sword, Myrtenaster. Sera unsheathed her white and purple sword and held it with both hands in front of her.
"Scared, Ashley?" the heiress asked smugly.
"You wish," Sera replied. Then they each held their respective swords at their sides as they assumed fighting stances. Ash's sword's tip dipped to the floor while Weiss held hers pointed outwards and towards her opponent.
"I guess they're about to start," Ruby murmured excitedly.
"Okay!" Yang announced. "Three… two… one! Fight!"
Sera rushed towards Weiss and swung her weapon, aiming for her side. Immediately, Weiss parried the larger sword and dashed to the right, jabbing at her opponent with a flurry of strikes.
"Whoa!" Sera yelped and evaded to the side and out of reach of Weiss's blade. The heiress raised Myrtenaster and Sera saw its cylinder rotate, then her eyes grew wide, and she rolled to the left just as a beam of red energy shot towards her. The fire Dust flew past her and hit the far wall, exploding into a small inferno before fizzling out.
"Jeez! What's Weiss trying to do, kill her?" Ruby said.
"I don't think so…" Yang watched them carefully. Weiss seemed to smirk when Ash dodged her attack, then she flicked her sword, spinning its cylinder once more.
Sera came up fast and rushed forward, thrusting her sword towards her teammate. Weiss narrowly deflected the blow, then went on the offensive and forcing Ash to block her attacks.
Weiss was fast and had years to practice her fencing and perfect her fighting style. Of course, she still had room to grow, but her experience gave her the upper hand when compared to Sera. The amnesiac herself was just doing what felt natural and trying to counter Weiss's swordplay. She's had practice against other students, but none were like her fellow teammates. Well, except for maybe Jaune.
The purple-eyed huntress parried one of Weiss's strikes and slammed her foot into her side, making the heiress wince and giving Sera the opportunity to follow up with an overhead strike. The huntress could almost feel her sword hit Weiss, but Myrtenaster appeared out of nowhere to block her.
"What?" she asked just in time for Weiss to blast her with a shot of dark purple Dust. Immediately, the violet-eyed girl began to float towards the ceiling with her arms and legs flailed. "What's going on?!"
"She got you with the gravity Dust!" Ruby cackled, her arms holding her chest.
"The what?" Sera asked. Her back touched the ceiling and she braced against it while watching her team from above. Weiss smirked up at her, folding her arms with a smug expression on her face.
"Can we end this now?" the heiress sighed.
"Hell no!" Sera called from above. "I'm not gonna go out like that! It wasn't even a good fight!"
"'A good fight?'" Weiss repeated. "What are you, a child?"
"Hey!"
"She's right! It wasn't even all explosive and cool!" Ruby said.
"I stand corrected—you're both children," Weiss said.
"Hey!" Sera and Ruby said indignantly. Then Sera drew her new shotgun and turned her back towards the floor, then kicked off of the ceiling and towards Weiss. Thanks to her still being under the affect of gravity Dust, she sailed towards the stage and directly at the heiress. Sera flashed a grin and aimed her shotgun, then squeezed the trigger. The huntress suddenly flew back from the gun's recoil and gravity Dust, and Weiss was simultaneously pushed back by the many Dust pellets hitting her.
"Ugh!" Weiss grunted when she hit the ground. Sera immediately aimed the gun behind her and fired, sending her towards Weiss again with the recoil. She smoothly holstered it and drew her sword. As soon as Weiss was back on her feet, she was greeted by Sera slamming her sword into her, and they both tumbled to the ground.
The amnesiac rolled onto her feet and raised her sword to defend herself, and she caught Weiss doing the same.
"Enough!" Blake said. "This is stupid!"
"Yeah, this is getting kinda weird," Yang admitted. "I thought this would end up differently."
Ruby groaned and got to her feet. "So, what now, then?"
"Let's just hurry and get back to the room. This can be settled later," Blake crossed her arms.
"It's not like this little spar would've stopped them from bickering, anyway," Yang said. Sera sheathed her sword smoothly and fixed her coat before heading towards the exit. Weiss rolled her eyes and followed, holding Myrtenaster at her side.
Author's note: This might just be the laziest chapter I've ever written. The goal was to put Sera in a fight rather than just say "she's been training 'off-screen,' but I basically had to force myself to keep writing that boring fight. Definitely not my best work.