Oh my re9ugch0h[wt hwe0rhwhr3r=3jr-! 2 months! It's been 2 months since my last update! How does 2 months fly by that fast! It never flew that fast when I was school! Oh my Oum.
Okay got an interesting idea, it's for those who want to do it. I've been thinking of having an art/edit display of a sort for Black Roses. Every update I make from now on I will be updating the cover image of someone's fan art of Black Roses. In order to do so you'll have to send me your art through PM. I will give credit of course to the art/edit of the person that sends me their work unless they would like to stay anonymous.
Main reason why I'm doing this is because I received a couple artworks from my friends and you guys and I'm curious of what you can draw or edit. I mean I can't draw a star if my life depended on it. So to be honest I'm pretty excited in doing this. Again this is for those who want to do this, if you don't you don't have too.
Now Last chapter Ruby and Jaune finally had there weights removed and are now about to have their abilities tested. Will they pass or will they not? Find out…Right Now.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Dbz, Dbs, or RWBY so please support the official release.
"Why."
Why is the word that kept roaming in Black's mind for the past hour. Glancing to his team he watched them paying listening to every word that was being said, minus Lewis of course. With a groan Black rubbed his nose bridge and looked forward. Why is he sitting here listening to one of these old man's stories. "I stared into the beast not giving a single hint of fear. I could not. The people behind me needed someone hope so I stood there my battle axe ready to behead the beast."
Black continued to boredly stare at the old man as he continued to tell his story. His attention moved to the others in the class. Ruby was balancing a pencil on her nose. Yang was on the verge of falling asleep. Nora was doodling, and Lewis was making figures out of paper. The only ones paying attention to the class were Nikos, Ren, the Schnee, Blake, Alli, Gohan, and surprisingly Jaune as well.
At this point he'd rather be with the midget then listen to this old man. "B-Black you alright?" Alli asked, sensing negative emotions from her partner. "I'm annoyed."
"Umm, at what exactly?" She asked.
"At the fact that I have to waste my time listening to this old man tell his stories."
Gohan overheard this and lifted his textbook to block his face from the professor. "You don't really have much of a choice though Black, none of us do. This is a mandatory class we need to take in order to graduate." He said with a yawn at the end.
Black looked away and scoffed. Gohan sighed at this. "Well if you're bored you could just do something to pass the time, like sleep or doodle. Professor Port isn't very perceptive that's why a lot of people do it."
"That's right maybe next time you should bring a book to read." Alli suggested.
"Or we could play with these figures I made." Lewis added.
Professor Port cleared his throat catching the attention of the team. "It seems the conversation you four are having must be more interesting than my lesson. Care to share it with the class."
Black opened his mouth to mouth to reply but before he could utter a single word Alli, Gohan, and Lewis quickly responded. "N-No sir! We're sorry sir!"
"Good now, where was I?"
Gohan and Alli groaned having been caught by the professor. Black rolled his eyes and listened back to the story, For the next 10 minutes he endured the storytelling till the bell rang. "Oh, it seems like I've lost track of time again. Now for homework, you'll be writing an essay about the moral of my story." Everyone grabbed their stuff and made their way out of the class.
"My god he's class is so boring." Yang said the bags under her eyes.
"Yang are you alright?" Pyrrha asked.
"No, I'm not. I didn't get a single minute of sleep last night because of Ice Queen over here?" Pointing back at the heiress behind her.
"Well if someone didn't forget to write that essay we needed for our project we would've been done much sooner." Weiss retorted, also having bags under her eyes.
"OH REALLY?! Who forgot to do our research?!" Growling they glared at each other, sparks forming between them. Gohan chuckled nervously. "Hey come on guys at least we finished on time to present our project." He says, in an attempt to calm the two.
"Poor Gohan, he has it rough." Nora says from the side.
"He sure does." Ruby said. The heiress and the brawler continued to argue with one another. "Uh Lewis a little help here." Gohan pleaded from between the two girls. "Okie dokie!" Grabbing a bucket of water from omen knows where Lewis dumped cold water on the girls. Causing them to yelp. "LEWIS!" They shouted.
"What? You guys were fuming with anger. I just wanted to put out the fire."
"So you decided to splash cold water on us?" Weiss asked with anger in her tone.
"Yep. I was cooling you guys off." He said in a proudly way. The two girls stared at him with straight confusion before sighing. "While being splashed by cold water is quite irritating it did wake me up a bit. So I guess I can't be all mad with your actions." Weiss said.
"Yea, thanks little buddy!" Yang said while placing an arm around his neck. Lewis flashed them a toothy grin and giggled. Gohan smiled thankful to have someone like Lewis to help him with these kinds of situations. He was never good at calming women down.
"We should start heading to our next class before anything else happens." Ren said. Unfortunately for them, something was about to happen. Behind them someone was sneaking their way towards Black. Getting close enough the person leaped onto Black's back wrapping their arms around his neck. Black gasped, surprised that someone managed to get the drop on him. The others looked back and saw a girl on Black with a grin spread across her lips.
The girl had black color hair tied in twin tails by a white bow. She had green eyes and pale white skin. She wore a black blouse with white frills by the chest and collar. A black ribbon is also worn on the front. With the blouse, she wears a knee-length skirt that is fastened by a white belt. Long black gloves, matching black color shoes with white legwarmers. The grin on the girl's lips was all too familiar for Black. "Neo?!"
"Black, do you know her?" Pyrrha asked. Curious as to why someone would hug Black from behind. Turning back to everyone he tried to quickly come up with something. Thankfully for him, Neo already had it covered. Using his shoulders, Neo flipped over him and landed infront of everyone. Pulling out a notebook she wrote on it and then held it up for them to read. "Hello, I'm Neopolitan or Neo for short."
"Hey Neo, I'm Ruby and this is my sister Yang."
"Yo," Yang waved.
"And these are my friends, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha,"
"Hello," Pyrrha says with a wave.
"Ren, Nora, Alli, Gohan, and Lewis." Neo made a face as though she was whistling in amazement. She wrote something down and showed it to Black. "Wow, you've made a lot of friends, I'm surprised." Neo used her umbrella to pat his head. Black narrowed his eyes. The others also read what was written down.
"Excuse me, do you two happen to know each other because it seems like you do." Weiss asked a question that the others also wanted to ask. Black was about to answer but Neo held her notebook up again. "Of course we know each other. He's my little brother."
"…"
"WHAT!" Everyone's faces were mixed with shock and surprise. "You-You're Black's big s-sister?!" Ruby nervously asked to which Neo responded with a smile and a nod. "Yup, I'm Son Neo."
"I thought you said you were an only child." Gohan said now looking towards Black.
"He likes to pretend he's an only child." She wrote down.
"I see." Weiss and the others gave a strange look towards the false Saiyan who looked away in response. Nora leaned in and eyed Neo. "They do look sort of alike in some perspectives. Like their hair are both the same color."
"How come you're paler compared to Black though." Ruby asked.
Neo gave Black a smug smile much to his confusion. Writing down her answer she showed it to the rest. A couple seconds later Yang and Nora bursting with laughter
Black raised a brow in confusion. What the hell did she say? Thankfully Yang was about to answer his question. "You. you, you got, SUNBURNED!" Their laughter increased. Black let out a growl his glare directed to Neo.
He snatched the notebook and read what was written. "He got sunburned a lot whenever we visited Vacuo." Black let out a growl his glare directed to Neo. Neo stuck her tongue at him and pulled the skin below her eye down. Gohan chuckled at this.
"The sun is really strong over in Vacuo, so I guess I'm not surprised that he got sunburned." Blake said.
"Why didn't you use sunscreen?" Ruby asked. Again Neo beat him to it. "He didn't like to use it because he said it would make his skin feel weird."
Ruby tilted her head in confusion. That's a dumb reason not to apply it. Black's anger rose a bit. He couldn't do anything but roll with whatever Neo said or it could blow their cover.
"The sun can hurt you?" Lewis asked confusingly, his first time ever hearing that the sun could hurt someone. "I'll explain it to you later Lewis." Gohan said. A toothy smile formed on Lewis's mouth.
"Hey, do you have any other dirt on your brother?" Yang whispered to which Neo responded with a grin.
"Yang I don't think that's something you should be asking." Pyrrha said, looking behind the brawler and short girl. "Huh why not?" A hand gripped the heads of both girls lifting them a bit.
"You two talk too much." Black squeezed their heads causing them to frantically kick around as they screamed in pain, well a mute scream from Neo. "Guys help!" Yang yelled.
"Should we help?" Alli asked, not really sure if they should intervene.
"No, she had it coming." Weiss said.
"I guess you're right," Ruby said. "But still, I can't imagine how painful that is." She thought knowing Black's strength first hand. She gave a nervous smile.
"Traitors all of you!" Yang shouted. Having enough Neo used her umbrella and poked Black in the eye, "GAH* You little," He clutched his eye and glared at her. Neo rubbed her head and glared back. Their glares seemed to cause sparks.
"They're defiantly siblings." Jaune commented. He knew full well when two people were siblings just by seeing how they act with one another. He should know he has 7 sisters. Gohan and Ruby got between the two siblings before anything could happen. "Hey come on. You two shouldn't be fighting." Ruby said.
Neo stuck her tongue at Black causing his anger to rise a bit from her taunts. Gritting his teeth he continued to struggle from Gohan's grasp for a few more seconds before closing his eyes and letting a deep sigh. Noticing Black calming down Gohan stepped back.
Neo smirked. Who knew that they could calm him down so easily. Roman had difficulty calming him down whenever she angers him.
"So Neo, I can't help but notice your uniform colors, do happen to come from Haven Academy?" Pyrrha asked.
Attention now on the redhead, Neo gave a nod. "We both decided it would be best to go to different academies or quarrels like these would happen every day. Our father also agreed."
"What did your mother think?" Jaune asked.
"We don't have a mother." The others were taken aback by the answer, Ruby and Yang more so. "He doesn't have a mom." Ruby glancing at Black. Who knew they had something like that in common. Yang felt empathy for the two siblings; she knows what it is to lose a mother or in her case be abandoned by one.
Nora elbowed Jaune in the rib. "Nice going Johnny."
"Uh s-sorry, I didn't know." Jaune says, feeling the awkward mood he just placed.
Thankfully for him, Neo waved him off. "Its fine, you didn't know. Besides, it doesn't bother us when someone mentions our mother."
"Well, that's good. Now that this awkward mood has been lifted why don't we head to class before we're late or before Jaune decides to ask something delicate question again." Weiss says with a mid-glare causing Arc to shrink a bit.
"You all go on ahead, I have somethings I need to discuss with my sister here." Black said not removing his eyes from Neo.
"I think they're going to have a serious talk about something." Lewis whispered.
"You don't say." They all thought.
"Alright, I'll try to write down some notes for in case you're late." Gohan said.
"Seya Neo, It was nice meeting you." Ruby waved. As they walked off Black and Neo were left alone.
"What are you doing here?"
Neo gave a really look. "Did you forget that academy teams are comprised of 4 people." She wrote down.
"So she asked you to be her fourth." Neo responded with a nod. "She wasn't going to ask Roman cause he looks old."
"And she doesn't?"
Neo silently laughed before giving a shrug. "What's she having you do?"
"Reconnaissance."
"Of the school?"
"Yes and No. While I am doing reconnaissance of Beacon I'm also doing one of that building." Neo looked out the window, her eye on one particular building.
"The CCTS." Neo nodded. "We'll be doing an uninvited visit on the night of the party."
But why the CCTS? Are they planning to intercept military channels or do something else? Whatever this plan of Cinders is the major parts of it seemed to be underway. She'll most likely want him to take part in the infiltration. "Where's Roman in all this?"
"He's been put in charge of an operation that is being taken place in Mount Glenn." Mount Glenn, the ruined city that was overrun by Grimm and where he fought Gohan that one time.
"Anything else?" Neo shook her head no. "If anything else comes up, let me know."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because we both despise that woman." Black says a grin appeared on Neo lips. Getting on her tippy toes she reached up and patted his head before walking away. He reached up and placed a hand on where she patted his head. A different gesture to what Roman did to him that one time, he wasn't sure what to think about it. There was no ill feeling towards the gesture but he also didn't like it either. Black kept his eyes on her leaving form before making his leave as well.
As Black was walking his attention was caught by the sound of laughing. Looking left he saw Cardin and his goons picking on a lone faunas girl. Wanting to ignore the idiots Black was about to walk away till he was reminded of something.
"Look at her antlers."
"Yeah, what a freak!"
"Hey boys why don't we roast some marshmallows using her antlers." Cardin said, fear spreading across the girl's face. "Please no."
"Look at her squirm haha!" Cardin pulled on the girl's antlers making her squirm in pain. The Cardin's goons laughed but then they went quiet and took a step back.
Cardin noticed this. "What wrong with you guys?" Russel pointed behind Cardin.
"I see that you're still acting like the same pathetic worm that picks on those weaker than you." The voice made Cardin's blood went cold. Looking back he saw none other than Black standing there with his arms crossed.
"B-Black." His fear caused him to loosen his grip on the girl's antlers. The girl felt this and made a break towards Black. She stopped and thanked him before running away.
Cardin swallowed a lump his team stood behind him sweating in fear as Black approached. "H-Hey I haven't done anything to you so we don't need any violence here." Cardin said with his hands raised in front of him while taking a couple steps back. Black continued his approach. "If it's about that Faunas girl I-I'll stop I promise!" Cardin continued to take steps back till his back was against the wall.
Finally stopping in front of him, Black opened his mouth. "I could care less about the Faunas girl. I'm actually here to ask you… a favor."
Cardin's teammate looked at each other in surprise. "A favor, w-what kind of favor?"
"Now tell me class. What is the largest Grimm ever to be discovered?" Dr. Oobleck asked. Several hands raised, Dr. Oobleck took a second to choose a student. "Yes, Ms. Nikos."
"It was the Sea Feilong."
"Good good, very good. Now does anyone know the size of largest Sea Feilong to be recorded?" Dr. Oobleck asked the class.
The doors of class opened and in walked in Black, making his way to where his team sat. "Mr. Black, glad you could finally join us. Now, why don't you answer us the question for us as a reward for being late." Black took a seat and looked at the Doctor with his usual look. "Do you know the size of the largest Sea Feilong to be recorded?"
"Sea Feilong?" Black says to himself. Alli leaned in. "It's the Sea Serpent Grimm that lives in the ocean." She whispered. Ren raised his textbook and pointed at a picture of a Sea Feilong.
Seeing the picture of the Grimm Black recognized the creature. "Oh that," How the hell is he supposed to know the size of the largest one to be recorded. If he gives a wrong answer the Doctor will most likely give him a lecture on being on time again and that's annoyance he doesn't want to go through again.
"237 meters." The sudden voice in Black's head surprised him.
"Mr. Black do you not know the answer?" Doctor Oobleck asked.
Black's surprised expression turned back to his usual one. "…237 meters."
"Good, very good. It seems like you're still keeping up with your studies even when you're coming in late." Black looked away. "Yes, the 237 meter Sea Feilong…"
"What do you want?" Black asked with a hostile tone, knowing full well who just contacted him as he looked around the classroom.
"Oh nothing from you, I'm just curious on how the academies train their huntsmen and huntresses," Salem responded. "You can learn quite a deal just from observing."
"Oh, and what have you learn?" His eyes finally spotted a small Grimm spider hanging from the ceiling window.
"That mankind is still years behind to ever hope to reach the pinnacle of Grimm knowledge and their secrets."
"And I suppose you do?"
"As you know the Grimm learn and adapt through time, but there is something that even mankind doesn't know. They can also evolve." Black mentally raised a brow. "The Grimm are biological, they have blood that can be extracted and studied."
"Doesn't the Grimm blood evaporate when extracted?" Black asked.
"In normal circumstances, yes, but I have my methods." Black couldn't see it but he could sense her sly smile. "Through that, I have gained an understanding of Grimm DNA and how to alter their birth into my own creations."
An image of a certain opponent came to his mind. "Was the black knight from the village one of your experiments?" Salem chuckled evilly and whispered. "He's just one of many." Before cutting off their connection.
Black narrowed his eyes. One of many, how many Grimm experiments has she done?
"Black, Blaack." A voice interrupted his thoughts. "Huh?" Looking to his left Ruby stood there with her binder in under her arm. The others waiting by the door. "Black class ended 3 minutes ago." Ruby said. Taking a look around he saw that the classroom was empty. Time must've sped up while he was talking to Salem. "So it seems." Gathering his own binders he followed her to out the door.
"Hey, you alright?" Jaune asked.
"Yea the whole time you were just staring off into space." Nora said. Black looked at the others who were also giving him a questioning look. "I was meditating."
"Meditating?" Gohan says.
"Mmm, helps me tune out the doctors voice." They sweatdropped at his response. "Of course."
"Oh that sounds useful. Maybe I could meditate too during class." Yang said.
"As if you could." Weiss said. Yang heard this and turned towards the heiress. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You don't really have the mindset to meditate." Yang crossed her arms and raised a brow. "And you do?"
"Of course I do, I'm a patient, clear-minded person." Weiss said. Ruby held an unconvinced look as she leaned away. "Clear minded maybe but I don't know the patient part."
"Hush you. My patient is always tested by you and Yang!" Weiss barked causing Ruby to raise her hands in front of her and take a couple of steps away, a nervous smile plastered on her face. Her eyes then caught a familiar mint color hair girl standing by a classroom. "Oh, Hey Emerald." Ruby waved.
Black kept his composure when he saw his ex-partner. "Hmm, Ruby? I thought you were in class?" Emerald then noticed the other people behind the redhead. "They your friends?"
"Yup, this is Yang, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, No-." Black interrupted before she could continue any further. "I don't think she'll be able to remember all our names on a first go." Black eyed Emerald who responded with a smile. "Yea, Black's right. I'm not gonna be able to remember all your friends first right away, maybe after a while."
"Oh, yea sorry- wait you know each other?" Ruby glanced between the two. The others were also somewhat surprised as well. "Well yea, his sister is on my team."
"You mean Neo?" Gohan asked.
"Yup, she talks about him a lot. How he would always try to beat her at everything but never manages to." Emerald hid a smirk when she saw the annoyance on Blacks face. "Sibling rivalry?" Alli asked out loud.
"It would seem so." Blake commented.
"Huh, kinda like us Rubes." Yang ruffled her little sister's hair much to her dislike. Ruby pushed Yang's hand away and tried to fix her hair a bit.
"So whatcha doing out of class?" Lewis asked.
"Oh, my class is over. I'm just waiting for my teammates to finish theirs." She said but sighed when she saw someone walking towards them. "Or at least the responsible ones." Mercury walked past them and stopped in front of Emerald.
"Mercury, what you doing out of class?"
"I was using the can. What a guy can't go to the bathroom?" Mercury then noticed Black with the group. An imaginative smirk formed on his lips. "So you're Black, Neo' told us a lot about you."
"So I have heard." Black glared at him. Gohan felt the air thicken a bit. "Hey we're all friends here. No need to get all hostile."
"Yea come on it's not like he's going to assassinate you or something." Nora joked not realizing that she hit right on the nail. Black glare deepen as he was reminded the many times Mercury attempted to kill him or at least injure him as if he could, he still had to keep his guard up in case he decides to attack when Salem was torturing him.
Mercury raised his hands and backed away with a smile "Heh, sorry I like to mess with people sometimes. Especially those who have short a temper." Black continued to glare at the assassin. Ruby stepped in an attempt to calm him. "Hey come on he's just messing around." Black glanced at her before looking away. Ruby sighed and looked towards Mercury. "Sorry about that, he can be quite cold towards new faces but he's nice once you get to know him." She said with a smile.
Mercury's surprised look turned into a smug smile. "Mercury." Emerald warned recognizing that smug smile of his.
"Oh and who are you, you his girlfriend?" Leaning down a bit with his hands on his hips.
Ruby's smile turned into one of embarrassment as her face began matching the color of Pyrrha's hair. "N-Nononono we're not together we're just friends!" She quickly denied, waving her hands in front of her at great speed. Her reaction to the question caused some of her friends to chuckle a bit and one to laugh (Nora). Sweat formed on her face as she glanced at Black, who in response gave her a confused look. She immediately looked away. This caught the eyes of Blake and Weiss. Ruby was sometimes accused of liking someone by her sister but she always denied it without making a scene, but this time she did.
Nora wrapped her arm around Mercury's neck and pulled him down to her level. "Listen here buddy, while what you said was really funny it could never happen. I mean look at them," Gesturing to the two teens. "They're complete opposites. Black and Weiss would be more suited for each other since their both serious and cold to people."
Weiss's face turned red in a mix of embarrassment and anger. "Hey I have my standards and he does not fall into that category!" Pointing at Black who still held his confused expression.
"Whatever happened to that calmness you talked about earlier?" Yang asked with a grin.
"Don't start with me!" She hissed. As the trio started bickering at one another Black remained quiet and completely confused at how this came to be. "What're they talking about?"
"I think something about relationships." Gohan whispered Black glanced at the Sayian hybrid before looking back at the scene. "Relationships?"
Mercury couldn't stop laughing at the scene he caused. He glanced at the false Saiyan to see what kind face he was making. But he was disappointed to only see confusion written on his face. A pull from his collar pulled him from his enjoyment. "Now look what you've done."
"Hey come it's not like you don't enjoy seeing people fight with one another." Emerald looked over to the teens. Lewis and Blake were pulling Weiss back as she tried attacking the Yang and Nora who were making goofy faces at her. Ruby and Alli tried to get them to stop.
Emerald rolled her eyes. "More like a mess and I don't like messes." Their attention was then caught by a voice behind them. "You two seemed to have caused quite the ruckus here."
"Cinder." Emerald said.
"Mercury I was beginning to wonder where you were. No doubt causing trouble I see." Gazing at the scene before them, Neo nodded in agreement. "Actually Mercury here was just fooling around. My friends here are the ones who turned the joke into a small dispute then into this." Pyrrha said. Cinder looked over towards Nikos a smile forming on her lips. "Well if it isn't the invincible girl Pyrrha Nikos. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She offered her hand to which Pyrrha gladly shook. "The pleasures all mine."
"Hey, you're the girl I ran into that one time." Ruby pointed out catching Cinder's attention. "Ruby Rose I presume."
"Yup that's me."
"Yes, I'm the one you ran into on our arrival to Beacon; also the one whom you thought was a teacher as well." The reminder caused Ruby to rub her arm and laugh embarrassedly. "You called her a teacher? That's quite rude." Blake said.
"Yea, sorry about that."
"It's alright; I've been mistaken as a teacher a couple times." She said though Cinder was still quite annoyed at being seen as an older individual. She's not that old. Neo noticed Cinder's body shake a bit, probably her anger at being called old. She secretly used sign language and told Black about her still present anger causing him to smirk.
Cinder noticed Black's smirk and looked behind. Neo quickly placed her hands behind her and mimicked a whistling face with her eyes looking away. Cinder then looked back at Black who kept his serious expression. Something was up.
Blake saw the small exchange the two siblings just and from the looks of it, she was the only one who saw it.
"So I'm guessing your team will be participating in the Vytal Festival or are here to spectate?" Ruby asked.
"No, we'll be participating." Cinder responded with a smile.
"Oh is that so." All heads turned towards Black directions who was walking up to Cinder's team. Walking past Cinder he leaned down and smirked at Neo. "Then I'll finally get the chance to clobber you to ground." Though Black was saying this to knew Cinder felt as it was more directed to her.
The others were a little shocked at hearing Black's declaration. Neo smirked and gave a few hands motion that translated. "I would love to see you try little brother."
"Sibling rivalry indeed." Everyone thought.
Emerald glanced at her scroll. "Cinder we should get going." Seeing the time on Emerald's scroll Cinder turned back. "It would seem it's time to part ways for now. My team and I have a lot of work to get done before tomorrow." Black glanced back at her.
"Oh, alright well it was nice meeting you four." Ruby said.
"Likewise." Cinder said before walking with her team following close behind. "Hey Neo," Yang called out. Turning towards the brawler Neo listened to what she had to say. "Don't forget to give me more dirt on your brother." She said with a grin. Black was amused by this one bit. "Yang." Blake warned.
Neo winked and walked off.
"I like them, they seem like nice people." Nora said.
"That Mercury fellow doesn't feel right to me." Weiss said.
"Weiss, no guy feels right for you. Stop being so picky about who your friend is going to be." Yang said.
"I am not picky" Weiss exclaimed. "He just feels unsettling to me that's all." Yang rolled her eyes. "I don't know guys I kinda agree with Weiss here." Jaune said.
"You do?"
"It's just a gut feeling that's telling me that he's not the person who we think he is or that he has a secret of some sort. But my mom would always tell me to trust my gut no matter what."
"And how many times was your gut right?" Ren asked.
"Eh about 50% of the time." Gesturing with his hand.
"That's not very convincing." Alli said.
"Agreed," Weiss added. Black listened to the conversation about Mercury. Cinder would most likely want him to divert their attention away from Mercury before they suspect anything about him. But why should he? This is Cinder's problem for not monitoring her servants, not his.
"Maybe he does have a secret but that doesn't mean he's a bad guy." Gohan said. The others gave it some thought. "Gohan's right, everyone has secrets." Blake's eyes glanced at Gohan confusing him a bit. "And he mostly has one too. But that doesn't mean we have to assume he's a bad guy. Some of us keep secrets for good reasons." Blake twitched her cat ears. The group hummed in agreement.
"Alright, maybe I just felt that way because of what he started."
"What, that you joke about my sister being Black's girlfriend which lead up to you being a better partner for him." Yang teased to which Weiss growled. Ruby's cheeks turned a slight shade of red from the reminder of what Mercury said. Glancing at the false Saiyan she wondered what Black thought of the comment.
"I think I'll be taking my leave now." Blake said.
"Where you of too?" Ruby asked.
"Library to do some…research." Blake answered. Alli watched as her faunas companion walked away wondering why she hesitated with her reply.
Jaune suddenly felt his scroll vibrate. Taking it out he saw it was a message from, Black? Looking at his mentor he saw him facing the other direction. Looking back at his scroll he opened the message up. "Head to the Emerald Forest." Was all the message said.
For whatever reason he wanted to meet with him he wasn't going to find out by asking him here. "Hey guys I have to go too." Catching their attention they all turned to Jaune. "Where are you going?" Pyrrha asked
"Oh, I have something to take care of," Gesturing in the other direction. "I'll be back soon."
"Huh, wonder where he's off to." Nora asked out loud.
"Yea, me too." Pyrrha watched as Jaune continued off, a sense of worry began to overtake her. Black noticed the look in Pyrrha's eyes.
"Hey has anyone seen Lewis?" Gohan suddenly asked catching everyone's attention.
"I thought he was behind us." Ren said looking down the hall.
sweatdropped. "H-He mostly likely got bored and left."
"Yea that sounds like him." Gohan sighed.
"Does this happen often?" Weiss asked. "Because it sounds like it does."
Gohan and Alli nodded their heads. Black looked away clearly annoyed at the fact that they're going to have to go and search for their teammate again. "Where does he wander off too?" Yang asked.
Gohan hummed in thought. "The Cafeteria is usually where we find him but there are other places where he also might be. Like in Ms. Glynda's office, the Library, the arena, or one of the dorms closets."
"Why would he be in Ms. Glynda's office, more so why would he be in a closet?" Nora asked.
"Heh probably setting up another prank for her to walk into." Gohan laughed. "Yea, we should stop him before that happens and about the closet, we're not really sure why. We found him once or more like Coco found him sleeping in her team's closet."
"Alright then, we should split up then." Ruby suggested. "Gohan, you and Alli go check Ms. Glynda's office. Yang, you Pyrrha, and Weiss go check the Cafeteria and the rest of us will check all the dorms closets." Everyone nodded at their role. Yang was slightly displeased that she wasn't partnered up with Gohan. They all parted ways in search for their cheery friend.
Ruby, Nora, and Ren began knocking on dorms asking them if they could check their closets for their friend. They received odd looks from the other students. Black watched from the side as they knocked on more dorms. "This is a waste of time." Turning to leave he was about to walk away when.
"Hey, where are you going? We still got more dorms to knock." Ruby said.
Black turned to her. "I waste enough of my time searching for that idiot whenever he wanders off."
"Well duh, you're his teammate. You're supposed to waste your time on each other." Nora said. "She's right ya know." Ruby added in, pointing at Nora with her thumb.
Black growled, he then sensed someone leaving the academy grounds. With narrowed eyes, he turned to Ruby. "Very well, I'll help search." Ruby smiled.
"But only for five minutes. I have things of my own that I have to take care of." Showing with his hand.
"Five minutes is long enough." She turned and began knocking on another door. Black walked up to a door. Knocking on it he waited. The door opened and a tomboyish faunas stood in front of him. "I need to check your closet for m-." The door was immediately shut. Black stared at the door and sighed. This was going to be a long 5 minutes. He then kicked the door opened and walked in, numerous shouts and screams were heard from the room.
Emerald Forest
Jaune made his way through the forest. He looked left and right in search for Black. Maybe that message was meant to be sent later in the day and was accidentally sent to him now. "Man, maybe I should've just asked him when I was there." Suddenly someone walked out from one of the trees in front of him causing him to bump into them. Looking up at who he bumped into, "C-Cardin?!" Shocked at seeing the leader of team CRDL here Jaune took a couple of steps back. "Long time no see right Johnny boy?" He said with a smirk.
Hearing footsteps from behind Jaune looked over his shoulder to see the rest of team CRDL come into view. "What you doing here?" Jaune asked keeping close attention to each one of them.
"Oh nothing, just taking a stroll through the Emerald forest, that was when until we saw you and decided to say hello." The other members of Cardin's team all held a smirk on their face. Was this a step up? Did they steal Black scroll and send that message to him? Jaune expression turned into a glare. "I thought we were done with this."
"Yea but you know. Feeling just comes back us." Team CRDL surrounded Jaune. He noticed that they all had their weapons with them as well. His gut was telling him that they were really aiming to hurt him. Damn, he didn't bring his. What should he do? Should he try to escape? No, they wouldn't let him, but then again his speed as increased. But they would most likely try this again and he can't just keep on running away. He has to stand up and show them that he isn't someone punching bag. Man if only he could use what he learned from Black on these guys this would make things easier for- wait Black never said anything about using what he learned outside of their training, right?
Cardin's goons closed in. Realization then hit Jaune. No, Black never forbade in using his teaches for situations like this. Looking back at Cardin with a new serious look. "Something wrong Jau-." Immediately Cardin was punched in the face. The others were shocked at Jaune making the first move. Using their shocked moment to his advantage Jaune spun on one leg and kicked Russel in the gut. Sky charged in and brought down his halberd but Jaune caught it by the handle and then grabbed Sky by the front before throwing him over his shoulder at Russel.
Jaune then dashed at Dove who was firing a couple of dust rounds at him. Due to his new speed, Jaune was able to see the dust rounds at a much slower pace. Dodging the rounds he grabbed Dove's arm then twisting it behind his back earning him a painful cry before kicking him into Cardin.
Jaune stood straight up as he watched CRDL pick themselves up. "I see you learned some new moves and got stronger too. I even felt that punch of yours." Though Cardin was playing it cool the punch he received really hurt. If it weren't for his Aura his jaw would've been broken.
"People change Cardin. Now," Raising his fists up. "Should we keep going?" Cardin gave a signal with his head ordering his team to attack. Russel charged in with a couple of slashes with his draggers to which Jaune was able to easily evade. Sky came from above in attempt of a surprise attack. Jaune saw this and skipped back. They both charged at him and as a due attacked in a somewhat coordinated matter, but even then Jaune was still to dodge their attacks. From the side, Dove fired a couple rounds. Jaune saw this and grabbed Russel by the arm who attempted to slash at him again and pulled him to the side letting his body take the hits. Jaune ducked under a swipe from Sky's halberd and elbowed him in the gut before raising his fist and hitting him. He then swiped Russel off his feet and grabbed his leg before spinning him into Sky.
Cardin ducked under his incoming teammates and then swiped his mace upwards. Jaune leaned back but was not prepared for Cardin's fist hitting him in the abdomen. Jaune's body hit the ground as he gasps for some air. Cardin raised his mace and brought it down. Jaune quickly rolled to his side but was still caught by the explosion. His body skipped along the ground for a couple yards before flipping back on his feet in a crouched position skidding backwards.
His gut went on high alert and jumped over Dove and his sword. Landing behind him Dove spun around in an attempt to catch him off guard but Jaune expected this and blocked the attack with his forearm and with free hand punched Dove in the cheek. Dove staggered around and was meet with Jaune's intertwined hands batting him away.
Cardin joined in and began to swing his mace and throwing punches and kicks. Jaune evaded and blocked Cardins attacks. Finally Jaune caught Cardin's fist in one hand and his forearm with the other. As the two pushed each other (more in Cardin's side) Jaune noticed a smirk on Cardin's lips. Looking behind the CRDL's leader he saw Sky charging with his halberd. Thinking fast Jaune used his new strength to pull Cardin and throwing him to the side. The power behind the throw caused Cardin's to skip along the ground for a bit.
Jaune quickly spun around to his right and grabbed the handle of the halberd and yanked it out of Sky's hands. He spun it in the air a couple times before slamming the handle part on Sky's back.
Sky groan on the ground and couldn't muster the strength to get back up again. Jaune dropped the halberd and stared at Cardin who was back on his feet. "Sky!" Russel shouted.
Cardin expression was a mix of astonishment and anger. "You're going to pay for that Jaune."
"Make me then." Jaune taunted. The remaining members of CRDL rushed at Jaune as did he.
In the forest, Pyrrha walked around in search for Jaune. She remembered him telling her that he sometimes goes to Emerald Forest to fight a Grimm or two. Though she wanted to trust him to be careful but she still felt a little worried. "Jaune I hope you're not going over your head." She continued down looking left and right. She then started to hear the sound of grunting and weapons firing. Walking towards the source of the sound she was shocked to see Jaune fighting three members of team CRDL with no weapons.
She noticed the couple the cuts on Jaune clothing and armor. But what she noticed most of all was the way Jaune moved. Dodging and blocking their attacks was nowhere that good whenever she sparred with him, not to mention his offense has improved dramatically.
Jaune blocked a swing from Cardin's mace with his forearm but the explosion following up blew him to the side. His body skipped along the ground before he regained his footing. Looking back up Jaune was met with a double kick to the chest by Russel. "Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted. Magnetizing her weapon and shield to her hands she rushed to help her partner. But before she could even leap out of the bushes someone grabbed her by the shoulder and with amazing strength threw back. Pyrrha was utterly shocked has she flew through the air. Taking a look over shoulder she saw the ground closing in. Thinking fast she used Milo to stab on to a tree and swirled around the tree until she landed on the ground (Ren's landing strategy).
Standing back up, her eyes widen as she barely tilted her head in time to avoid a fist. She raised her shield when saw her attacker raising one of his legs. She blocked the kicked that follow but yet again was surprised by the power behind it. She landed on her back then quickly flipped backwards onto her feet. Raising her shield in front of her she pointed Milo at her attacker. She was shocked to see the very person she never expected to see here. "Black?"
Before her Black stood, his serious expression directed at her. "What're doing here? Why did you throw me?"
"You were interfering." Black responded.
"Interfering? Jaune is being attacked we have to help him." Black gave no response but only stared at her. Pyrrha then began to put the pieces together. "Wait, do you have something to do with Cardin and his goons attacking Jaune." Slight anger mixed with confusion was heard in Pyrrha's tone. A smirk from Black lips answering her question. "Why?"
"I don't know, was it because I don't like him? Or was it because I wanted to? Maybe for research purposes, it's hard to tell I must say." Pyrrha was kept her glare on him. "But for whatever reason, I'm doing this you won't know, at least not for now."
"I will get to him." Pyrrha said her eyes turning serious.
"If you can get past me that is." Black responded with his own challenging look. The two stared down at each other now making a move. The wind whistled passed them as the sound of the tree branches rustling being heard as well as the faint sound of gunfire and fighting from Jaune and CRDL.
Black quickly transformed Saber Rose into its gun mode and fired 4 four quick shots while running at her. All shots were blocked by Akouo. Black jumped forward flipping in the air before coming down with a kick. Again Pyrrha used Akouo to block the attack. She then pushed Black back making jump away. After landing he was engaged with fast coordinated attacks from Pyrrha. Switching Milo back and forth from it javelin mode to its sword mode. Each of her attacks her precise and very well thought as well as her defense whenever Black attacked with Saber Rose or with fists and legs.
The two traded blows each blocking ones attack while countering with their own. Black came with a kick from the side but was blocked by Pyrrha's shield. He then jumped while twisting his body and came with another kick from above. Pyrrha gasp from his fast movements raised both her arms up to stop the attack from hitting her.
Black turned Saber Rose into its gun mode and fired a couple rounds to Pyrrha's chest. The first 3 rounds landed as Pyrrha quickly used her shield to block the rest. She then extended Milo into its Javelin form and swung it around her, hitting Black's side.
Black used his hand to catch himself before flipping back onto his feet, then skipped back when Pyrrha rushed at him. He blocked a couple of slashes from her with Saber Rose. Pyrrha then spun around and threw Akouo at him. Black tilted his head to side evading the shield. Then caught Milo by the blade with his hand and a knee from Pyrrha with his other hand and pulled her forward and slammed her onto the ground. Pyrrha gasped for air not expecting her body to the ground that hard. She quickly regained her senses and rolled out of the way as Black stomped on the spot where her head was.
Rolling into a crouching position Pyrrha aimed Milo and fired some rounds at him. Black used Saber Rose to deflect the dust rounds. He then swung Saber Rose in front of him with great force blowing all the dust rounds away. He prepared to rush at Niko's again but was hit in the face by Pyrrha's shield. "What the- URK!" Pyrrha planted her foot in his abdomen. Black fell on his back as Pyrrha stood above him with her foot on his chest. She tried to aim Milo to his face but was grabbed by the barrel stopping it from pointing to his head. Black gritted his teeth as he reeled his other fist back and let out a force punch. Pyrrha's eyes widen as she coughed saliva and was blown away.
Pyrrha crashed onto her back, groaning in pain as she clutched her stomach. She stood back up magnetizing Milo and Akouo back to her hands. Black flipped himself back to his feet and unsheathed Saber Rose.
"Not as easy as you hoped for isn't Niko." Black smirked. In all honesty, Pyrrha thought she could've ended this fight quickly if she went all out but Black skills were on whole different level. If she didn't know any better she would've thought he was already a seasoned Huntsman.
"Shall we continue?" Black raised his fist in front of him. The two rushed at each other and clashed their weapons with one another.
"Lewis! Lewis! Lewis where are you?" Gohan called out. They've been searching for their teammate for the past half hour with no success. "This seems to be harder than usual," Alli commented.
"Yea, I hope the others had more success than we did." They due were on their way back to their dorm as they all agreed with would be there that they would meet up. "Do you think M-Ms. Glynda has him?" Alli asked.
"For his sake and ours, I hope not." Gohan said, not really looking forward to being scold by Glynda again for not looking after his partner. As they approached their dorm they saw the rest of the gang waiting by the door.
"I'm guessing no luck on your side of the school." Gohan asked."
"Nope, we checked every closet in the school. Adding in that we also got in trouble because of Black." Ruby said her arms crossed. Yang looked at her sister confusingly. "What happened?"
"He busted down several dorm doors and we all got detention, again." Ren answered. "Oh." They all said together.
"Haha, you should've seen the faces of the people who got their doors kicked down. They were AHH EYYYY BLEEE!" Nora laughed at her attempt to mimic the students that yelled at Black.
"It wasn't even our doing and we still got in trouble!" Ruby complained. Yang ruffled her sister's hair. "Aw come on Rubes, detention isn't that bad."
"But this is me we're talking about. The sweet innocent Ruby in detention! I'm also a leader; a leader can't be in detention!"
"Well, what's done is done. You'll just have to live with the consequences." Weiss said, earning her an angry pout from Ruby. "Maybe we should go in and take a break." Gohan suggested.
"I think that would be for the best." Ren agreed. As Gohan opened the door he moved to the side letting his friends walk in. "Say, where did Pyrrha go?"
"Not really sure. She left while we were sear-." Weiss was cut off when she set off a contraption which sent a pie to her face. "Ha, I got you!" Lewis jumped out from his hiding spot. "Another victim falls before the Great Lewis!" He laughed. He was immediately on the floor being stomped by Weiss. "I've had enough of your annoying pranks! Do you have any idea the precious time I've wasted searching for you! I could've been studying or perfecting my skills!" She continued to stomp him as he yelped and shouted ow.
"Yea she's defiantly calm and collecting." Yang sarcastically said. Gohan and Yang walked over to pry the Schnee off their helpless purple haired friend. Ruby giggled as Weiss frantically kicked her feet since she couldn't reach the floor. Her eyes then moved down the hall as expecting to see someone coming only to see the hall empty. She hummed as he mind went back to a certain someone.
Pyrrha body crashed through a tree and skidded along the ground. Coming to a halt she began picking herself up using her javelin for some support. From the direction she was punched away from, Black slowly made his way to her. Pyrrha breathing was pretty heavy as she prepared herself for another attack. She knew Black was good but this was something beyond anything she could imagine. No matter how fast she moved he always found a way to evade and counter her moves. Those that did land seemed to barely hurt him.
Black was impressed at how Nikos was holding up. Her skills in no doubt are above that of any student in Beacon. If she was this good now he wondered how much stronger she could get with his training. But unfortunately for her, he already has two students and he doesn't need a third.
Kicking off the ground Black dashed at Pyrrha. Bracing herself with her shield she blocked the powerful knee that impacted Akouo. The shockwave that followed suit threw her off balance a bit. Black aimed Saber Rose at her head and fired once. Pyrrha tilted her head to the side, the bullet barely grazing her skin. She then used Milo to knock Saber Rose, causing it to miss another bullet. She then brought her leg up in an attempt to kick him in the face. Black raised his hand and caught her leg. He then proceeded to spin her around before letting her go flying into a boulder. Her back hit the boulder and fell onto her hands and knees. Sweat dripped down as she tried to ignore the pain her body was beginning to suffer from, signaling that her Aura is most likely about to run out. Polarizing her Milo and Akouo back to her hands she rushed at him one last time. Clashing her blade once with his she proceeded to attack him with mix combinations. Her movements became faster, and soon more of her attacks landed. Black was on the defensive.
Jumping to air Pyrrha fired her javelin at him. Black twisted his body to the right and caught the javelin with his right hand. He swung the javelin expecting to hit Nikos side but was surprised to see her in front of him with gritted teeth. She stopped Black's arm with her polarity and then using her Akouo punched him in the face. She quickly grabbed Milo from his hand and spun around before slashing downwards then up and switching it back to it sword form and slashing him a couple more time with some added kicks and hit from Akouo. Black swiped Saber Rose at her. Pyrrha responded by cork flipping over him, while in the air Pyrrha threw Akouo aiming for thr back of his head. Unfortunately for her, Black saw through her. Without looking he caught the shield then spun around and threw it a much greater force.
After landing Pyrrha barely had time to lean back before the shield could hit her. Her eyes widen when she saw Black already above her sending a punch to her abdomen. Using her polarity she tried to redirect the incoming fist. Black felt his gauntlet covered fist being moved, realizing that she was using her semblance once again he added more strength and overpowered the pull.
The fist connected, creating spiderweb crack on the ground beneath her. Pyrrha coughed up blood, her Aura completely shattered. Using the last amounts of her strength she polarized Milo back to her hand and attempted to hit on the side of Black's face. Sadly she wasn't fast enough as her last attack was blocked by his forearm. Immediately Saber Rose's blade unsheathed again. A shocked look fell upon Pyrrha face as her neck was caught in between the two blades. Her breathing was rapid as she stared at Black.
"Not so invincible as everyone thought you were, Nikos." The comment just added more to her shock at what just happened. She lost. Pyrrha Nikos has finally experienced defeat.
Black looked to the side, "It seems that their fight is about to reach its conclusion." The statement reminder her that team CRDL were fighting her partner. "Jaune!" Her whole body glowed a grayish color, her semblance sent Black flying back.
After quickly getting up Pyrrha polarized Milo and Akouo back to her and rushed into the forest. Black landed with a kneel before standing back up. He then proceeded to walk after her.
Jaune rolled under the swing of the sword. Quickly getting up he stopped Cardin's mace with his forearm then gave a strong jab to his rib followed by a knee to the gut and a punch to the face. Jaune felt danger and twisted his body evading a slash from Dove's sword. He ducked under another swipe and sidestepped from another. Jaune continued to evade the countless slashes that were thrown at him. Cardin came from behind and slammed his mace on Jaune back with an explosion following suit. Jaune let a shout of pain as he was sent flying forward.
Crashing onto the ground Jaune pushed himself up. His body was covered with cuts and bruises as well as a couple of burn marks due to his Aura already gone. Cardin and Dove were in no better condition they felt as though they could pass out any second now. "Give it Jaune. You got now Aura left. You can't win." Carding said between breaths.
"Just because I don't have any Aura left doesn't mean I've lost." Clenching his fist. "It just means I'll have to try even harder!" Skipping towards the last two remaining members of team CRDL Jaune reeled his fist back. "RAH!" Cardin slammed his mace to ground causing a stream of explosions to head towards Jaune. The explosion impacted Jaune. From within the smoke Jaune jumped out. "WHAT!?" Dove fired dust rounds at the incoming blond. Ignoring the rounds hit his body Jaune sent his fist to Cardin's face knocking him away. Landing on his feet Jaune spun around and backhanded Dove's temple knocking him out cold. Seeing Dove's sword falling he grabbed as he was turning back to Cardin who with both hands gripped on his mace swung downward. To his utter shock, Jaune caught his mace by the handle with one hand. He then felt a kick connect to his gut before it was followed up by kick under his chin flipping Jaune back in the process.
Cardin landed on his back. He reached out for his mace but was stopped by Jaune's foot and Dove's sword pointed at him. "It's over Cardin." Jaune said breathing heavily. "It's over."
Cardin stared at Jaune for second before smirking and rest his head on the grass. "Damn, now I know why he said you're not the same as before."
"Wait…what?" Jaune was confused by what Cardin meant. "Someone sent you to attack me?" He asked while lifting his foot off from Cardin's arm. "Yea, your buddy Black sent us. I wasn't for what reason though, he wouldn't say."
Black sent them? Confused Jaune thought of any reason why Black would do such a thing. Then it hit him. The test! This must be the test that Black mention before. To test their new found strength Jaune and Ruby would be taking a test. "So you gonna help me up or what?" Cardin asked.
Realizing that Cardin was still here Jaune walked over to help him up. "Oh yea sorry about that."
As Cardin got back to feet his whole felt sore. "Damn, what the hell kind of training did Nikos give you?"
"Pyrrha?"
"There's no need to play dumb a good amount of the school knows that she's been giving you secret lessons. We especially know since you guys train above our dorm." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck as he forgot that CRDL dorm was right underneath their training spot.
"Well, whatever training she's putting you through its defiantly working."
"Yep, it defiantly is." Jaune nervously laughed.
From within the forest, Pyrrha ran. She couldn't hear anymore fighting up ahead. She saw the clearing and readied her weapons. "JAU-." She stopped herself when she saw Jaune helping the members of team CRDL back up. "What?" More confusion was added to her mind when she noticed Jaune smiling and laughing with them. "What's going on?"
"They were sparing." A voice said behind her. Turning to the voice it was none other than Black. "They were…sparring?"
"Mmm, I heard Jaune asking them to spar with him in a one against four earlier in the day. I was curious how he would fair against them." Looking at her with less seriousness in his eyes Black said. "It was why I stopped you from interfering. Because if you did, he would not know how far he's come since day one." Pyrrha was surprised by this. Jaune was testing himself out. Looking back at her partner as he talked with team CRDL, a smile spread across her lips.
"You should have more confidence in him. He's a huntsman after all." Black began walking away. "Black," The call of his name stopped him in his trail, looking over his shoulder we waited for her to continue. "Thank you, for stopping me. I would not have known it wasn't for you." Black gave no response as he continued into the forest.
An hour later Jaune was back in Beacon fully patched up. Though he wasn't sure what he was going to say to his team. That something took a lot longer then he hoped. Knocking on his dorm he received no answer. "They must be looking for me" He banged his head on the door.
"There he is!" Jaune's ears perked up when he heard Nora's voice. Turning around he saw his team and the rest of his friends in team RWBY dorm. "Guys wha-what you doing in there?"
"We decided to hang out a bit longer for today so we all gather up here till you came back." Yang answered.
"We were originally planning to gather up in our dorm but it pretty messy right now." Gohan said. Jaune peered out of the dorm and looked to the door of team BAGL. Jam and breadcrumbs could be seen leaking from underneath the door. "Black's not gonna like that."
"No, he most defiantly won't." Gohan said looking towards Lewis who was sleeping on the floor. A hand rested on Jaune's shoulder causing him to jump a bit. Look to see that it his partner. "Oh hey Pyrrha didn't hear you coming."
"That's quite alright. Have you taken care of that something you mentioned earlier?" Pyrrha asked.
"O-oh yeah, sorry about that guys I didn't realize how long it was going to take." Jaune apologized.
Ruby waved him off. "No biggie. If you were with us you would've probably gotten detention like the three of us did." Pointing to Nora, Ren and to herself. "It was Black's fault by the way." The mention of Black's name reminded him of the test he just took.
"Hey, Ruby you think I can talk to you for a moment?" Ruby cocked her head. "Uh, sure." Hopping off her bed she made her way out the dorm. "Be right back guys."
"Jaune when you're done bring me more cookies!" Nora shouted.
"I think you had enough." Ren said.
"Enough is never enough when it comes to sweets! Right, Ruby!"
"Yea," Ruby shouted fist pumping the air.
The two leaders walked out of the dorm and headed down the hall. "So whatcha want to talk about?" Ruby asked.
"It's about that something I had to take care of." Jaune replied.
"Oh, yea what was that about anyway?" Jaune stopped walking and rubbed his neck. "Well, I pretty much took my test today." The halls went silent for second before. "WHAT!" Jaune immediately covered her mouth with his hands. Looking side to side to see if anyone heard he was relieved that no one did.
Uncovering her mouth he listened to what she had to say. "Sorry, so what kind test did you take?"
"I had to fight team CRDL in the Emerald Forest. Though I only found out at the very end when I beat them." Ruby smirked.
"Heh, so you passed." She gave him a pat on the back. "I knew you would. But I'm still a bit annoyed that I didn't take mines."
"I never once said that you would be taking the test together." The sudden voice caused her to jump. "Gah, Black stop sneaking up on me!"
"Learn to be more aware of our surroundings then." He retorted. Ruby crossed her arms and looked away. Black attention moved to Jaune. "Congratulations on passing the test. In all honesty, I expected them to last longer. But certainly, you proved to be too much for them to handle."
Ruby got over her little pouting phase and asked him a question. "So what's the point in taking these tests again? I mean you already know what we're capable of so why do we need to take them?"
"I only have an estimate of how strong you've gotten since the removal of the weights. But while this is a test for me to observe you two, it's also a test for yourselves." The last part confused them both. Black sighed seeing that neither understood what he meant. "The point of the test is to test your new capabilities but also to improve your battle senses and to act upon any situations you find yourselves in a matter of seconds." Snapping his fingers. "You will always encounter someone faster and better than you. That's why every decision you make in a battle needs to be thought and acted quickly. Not just blindly throwing your weight around."
Jaune finally understood what Black meant by this test is for ourselves as well. "Team CRDL wasn't a very coordinated group but fighting them alone was still a handful. Every time I dodged I had to dodge another attack from someone else. I barely had time to think about how to attack the whole time. All that time I was mostly on the defensive instead of being on the defensive."
Black hummed in agreement. "But even then you should not always rely on your first option; you should have two more others thought out in case your first act doesn't go through."
Ruby scratched her head. "Man I feel like I'm doing a lot more thinking learning this type of fighting compared to whenever I use Crescent Rose."
"That's why you'll never be a appe- a formidable opponent for someone of a higher caliber if you keep having that slow mindset." Black nearly corrected himself from calling her his appetizer. "Alright, I'll try to think harder then." Ruby sighed.
"So when is my test?" She asked.
"Tomorrow."
"Which team am I going up against? Team CRDL, Team CFVY, or one of the other academy teams?" She said as she tried to remember the name of the other teams.
"No, you won't be fighting a team as Jaune did. You'll be fighting a one on one." Her excitement skyrocketed. "Am I going to be fighting you!?" Getting up to his face stars in her eyes. Black took a step back surprised at her outburst. "You are way too excited at the thought of fighting me." Realizing how close her face was to his Ruby cheeks turned a shade of red and quickly took a step back. "Ah, s-s-sorry." Giving a nervous laugh rubbing her arm down she looked away for a bit.
Black rose a brow at her sudden change of attitude. "It's fine." He found himself saying. "You won't be fighting me sorry to say. You haven't reached my level of combat yet. Instead, you'll be fighting someone else at an equal level as you maybe higher."
"Who is she fighting?" Jaune asked. Silence filled the hall as Ruby eyes widen from hearing the name of her opponent.
Next Day…
"Woah!" Lewis was blown back. Landing on his feet he swung his ax hammer up clashing with Sun's staff. The monkey faunas was forced to jump back as Lewis kept swinging his weapon at him. Blocking the swings with his staff Sun was continued to be pushed back. "Heave ho, heave ho." Lewis chanted whenever he swung his ax-hammer. Sun found an opening and spun around and hit Lewis on the back of his head. "Ow!" Lewis caught himself with his weapon and using it as support lifted himself up in the air before aiming the end barrel at Sun.
Sun turned his staff into it numb chuck form and swiped the incoming dust round away. Lewis landed on his head emanating another "ow" from him. "Whew, that was a close one. You're really good Lewis." Sun complimented with a grin. "Though looks like I win."
"Huh?" Looking down Lewis saw that he was outside the arena. "The winner of this match goes to Sun Wukong." People from the seats cheered.
"Aw, I lost." Lewis pouted. Glynda walked up to him with her scroll in her arms. "Lewis next time please be more aware of your surroundings. If you want to participate in the tournament you can be ringing out like that." She scold.
"He's participating in the tournament? Man, I feel bad for whoever team he's on." Glynda heard the whispers and glared at the students immediately shutting them up with fear. "Ooo, aunt Glynda is mad again. Mom says the reason you haven't found a boyfriend yet is because you're too serious" He said with an innocent smile.
Glynda fell to her hands and knees as a depression cloud hovered over her. "I hate your mother for that very reason because I know she's right."
"Do you think before you say anything?" The students all thought with a sweatdrop.
"Poor miss Glynda." Alli said feeling bad for her professor.
"I am still surprised on how he's still alive." Jaune commented. If it were anyone else that said what he said they would immediately be thrown off the cliff. "In some perspective, Lewis was a god among the boys." An image of Lewis wearing royal clothes while laughing played within their heads. Shaking the image away Weiss said. "I still think he should think twice before saying anything."
"Yea, but there's nothing we can do about it." Gohan said while looking at his partner with a smile. "He's just too oblivious of the things he does and says."
Sun landed on the seat next to Blake. "Hey Blake did you see what I did? I was like whacha, pew pewrsh!"
"Yea, I saw." Blake responded with a more unusual monotone voice. Her friends caught wind of this. "You alright Blakey?" Yang asked.
"Yea, why do you ask?"
"You're acting a little off." Nora said, the others agreeing with her.
"Yea this morning you barely touched your favorite fish sticks I bring you." Alli said everyone looked at Blake from the mention of her favorite food. Blake glared at the squirrel faunas. "That was supposed to be something private." She hissed causing the Alli to cower in fear behind Black.
"Woah easy there, she didn't mean it." Yang tried calming her partner down.
"I suppose that some people don't take their secrets being told very easily." Pyrrha commented. Ren nodded in agreement.
"Fish sticks huh?" Sun smirked. Blake glared at him as well as making lean back a bit. "Okay, not in the mood for jokes I see."
Glynda got back up as she regained her composure. "Now class we have time for one more battle. Does anyone want to participate?" No one raised their hand. "Very well I'll be cho-."
"I'll go." Ruby said surprising her friends. "Miss Rose, quite unexpected for you to volunteer, very well please grabbed your weapon and stand next to me." Ruby complied and walked over to the locker room.
"Ruby's fighting? Huh, I never expected her to raise her hand." Weiss commented.
"Yea, it's really unlike her to do so." Blake added.
"That's my little sister. Going out to the spotlight." Yang grinned, proud to see her sister losing her shyness. Black watched the locker room she walked in.
After a couple minutes Ruby walked out of the locker room dressed in her regular ware and made her way to Professor Glynda. "Now, I'll be selecting your opponent." Before she could look at her scroll Ruby opened her mouth. "Actually, can I choose my opponent?"
The question surprised the professor. "Alright, choose your opponent." Taking a step forward Ruby gazed at all the students among the spectators' seats. "I choose…" Her eyes landed on Black who kept his usual expression.
"I wonder who she's going to choose." Gohan said.
"Well, whoever it is it better be someone she can handle." Weiss says.
"Come on guys this is my sister we're talking about. She's got talent and the skills to back it up. She'll crush whoever she chooses." Yang said flashing a grin to her friends.
"I choose Yang." Ruby pointed. The eyes of everyone in the room widen except for Yang who was still grinning. The whole room fell silent for a second. It took a couple of seconds for Yang to even realize to what she just heard. "Eh?"
DONE! CHEEZTIZ RICE! After 54 hours of no sleep, I'm finally done it this. I'm so tired to the point where I might pass out at any given moment. I've been literally pinching myself to stay awake for the past 3 hours and it's currently 3:47 am right now. I'm so sorry that this took so long but here it is my friend's chapter 16 of Black Roses. I hope you guys like it and remember to send my your art or edits if you want to have it on the cover image of the next update.
With nothing else to say and no strength to keep my eyes open any longer, PEACE AND GOODNIGHT!