Author's Headnote: I've started writing this before publishing Chapter 50, so it's not likely going to have any feedback influenced by it. But here it is!
RWBY: Festival Blood: Panic! At the Club
Ruby Rose:
Aura Status: 94%
Thirst: Thirsty
Semblance: Wilted Petal Burst
Grades:
- Grimm Studies: B
- History: B -
- Dust Studies: B
- Combat Practice: A
- Mathematics: C +
- Weapon's Smithing: A +
- Tactics: A -
- Training Missions: B
Vytal Rankings:
- Team Fight: Victory Against Team ABRN, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna has advanced to the doubles.
- Doubles Fight: Victory Against Team FNKI, Blake Belladonna will be advancing to the singles.
-Single Fight 1: TBA
Team Relations:
-Weiss Schnee: She's been a lot more chill and friendly since she's been cut off from her family wealth... and started dating Jaune. Her sister thinks Ruby is weird.
-Blake Belladonna: Despite the different sleeping time, the two of them have made the relationship work. Ruby's going to be rooting for her on Sunday!
-Yang Xiao Long: Had to tell Sun that she's not allowed to drink liquor. The sister bond is back to its pre-vampiric state. Minus the waking up every now and then.
End of main character status report.
Character Change: Ruby Rose - Penny Poledenia
Beacon Academy, 7:00 PM, Friday, Beacon Courtyard
Running Personality: Penny_
Combat Functions: ENABLED
Aura Percentage: 100%
Battery Life: 40%
Hardware status: Fully Functional
Grimm Prescence: 0
Penny was tasked to return to her charging station... thirty minutes ago. Her processing has arranged a command that has her to deviate from her tasks today. She doesn't know why, but Penny has this strange feeling, like she doesn't want to do the same stuff all the time. So, she's following the deviation command. She's currently sneaking away from Ciel and is at the courtyard waiting for a bullhead to sneak into. When a bullhead started to leave Penny blitzed and went straight under it to grab it.
Penny has a good grip, and being under the bullhead, she'll need to jump when it's near the ground. No need to damage hardware when deviating from her normal tasks. As soon as ground level was reached, she dropped and landed toward the ground, trying to avoid a Penny-shaped dent in the concrete.
City of Vale, 7:27 PM, Friday, Commercial District
The Commercial District. Plenty of games and activities here to spend time with... just that Penny doesn't actually have any money on her. Due to her ignorance on the value of money, she typically tends to spend a lot of money. Like the time she bought forty-seven Pyrrha Nikos plushies. She tried to buy fifty, but didn't have enough money. When asked why, Penny just found them quite adorable. At the time, Penny didn't personally know Pyrrha Nikos. Thankfully the topic of merchandise never came up with Pyrrha.
But Penny figured she may as well explore the city, since that's all she can do. Well, it'll be a change in activity... maybe she can do somethings deviating from norms. Like littering and walking across the street without a crosswalk. What is that called...
She would look it up, but no internet connected to her and she doesn't have a scroll... sure, she can make and receive calls and texts and can identify her aura... but nothing beyond that for scroll functions. Penny still wonders why no internet connected to her, though. What's on the internet that her father doesn't want her to look at?
But there are a lot of fun stuff here that Penny would enjoy... if she had money. But ah well, may as well just dance at a nightclub. But most of them are downtown... which is... south. So, Penny figured she would head down south...
However, she has to be discreet on it, Atlassian patrol units everywhere, if she gets caught, she'll be put on a tighter leash.
Penny sneaks southward towards downtown... and hopefully avoids the sensors of the security robots.
City of Vale, 8:27 PM, Friday, Downtown
Penny had to be patient, but she's now at the downtown district, where the security here is surprisingly thin, if non-existent. So, she can safely walk around the city with no problem. The android girl ended up wandering around the downtown, maybe find a nightclub... well that is... until...
GRIMM PRESCENCE DETECTED
Grimm... in downtown Vale? Would explain the lack of security robots.
Thankfully her combat inhibitor was disabled incase she had to fight a match, so she can confront the grimm if needed. And it will be needed in the future. Penny runs towards the location of the grimm... only to find it's Ruby. Well, Penny kind of figured because she's marked as grimm now because of her secret she doesn't know Penny knows. Although she's curious to why Ruby is going through a bunch of dead bodies.
"Ruby, what are you doing here?" Penny asked.
"Gah! Penny I can explain!" Ruby stated, stepping away from the corpse.
"There are a lot of dead bodies here."
"They were like that way before I got here."
"What were you doing with that body?"
"I was searching for any evidence of what might have happened."
"It looks like the White Fang put up a fight here."
"That, I know. I just want to know how they managed to do this."
"So why are you searching through that corpse in particular?"
"To find information and keys to the rest of the building. This guy just happened to be the late owner of this nightclub!" Ruby said, standing and presenting her tands towards the dead body.
"And why is there a fired bullet in your chest?"
"Oh, that? I just got to..." Ruby said... ripping the bullet out of her chest... leaving behind a hole... than covering it.
"Are you okay, friend Ruby?" Penny asked. Although if those myths about vampires are true, it shouldn't really bother Ruby.
"I'm fine... I just need... something... for the hole."
"Even with aura, that dust bullet would have been lethal."
"Well... some people are tougher than others, I'm just one of them. Besides, that's a gunpowder bullet I pulled out."
"Should we look around a first aid kit."
"Yes, definitely, and don't call the hospital."
"Why not?"
"My reasons are my own... for now, I'll just get some bandages." Ruby said... walking toward the employees only part of the building.
Penny followed, but out of curiosity. There were reports of a grimm that kills people in city grounds and remains undetected, perhaps it's Ruby? No, it can't be... she's too nice for that.
Character Change: Penny Poledenia - Ruby Rose
Club Employee's Section, 8:35 PM, Friday, Storage Room
With the key Ruby snuck while trying to hide Ruby's bullet hole from Penny. Although she knows about it, what she doesn't know is that the Bullet hole is not actually harmful to her. Although she still has to act like it to keep up the ruse. She doesn't want Penny to find out that Ruby's a vampire... or maybe she already has, with grimm sensors and she isn't acting on it.
However, she can't confront to find out about it, because it would reveal that Ruby knows that Penny's a machine. So, she would need to conceal Ruby's knowledge on the fact... It would be awkward too.
As for her location... she's in the Club's storage room. Mostly filled with boxes, filled with ingredients and weapon equipment. But given the reputation of Junior, there's more than just foodstuffs, drinks, and weapons in those boxes. There is also a medicine kit next to the door. There is also a concrete flooring, with tape highlighting the pathways. The lights were off, but Ruby can see everything perfectly fine.
Ruby opened the first aid kit on the wall and wrapped some bandages around the bullet hole, concealing it. Now Penny won't get any ideas... although now she needs is something to drink to heal the wound. And by something, she means fresh blood. So hopefully she finds out what happened to the crime rate in Vale.
So far... it looks like no one was here. That, or nothing happened here in this location... that is until she found the dead grunts near some of the boxes... but no White Fang. Guess they must have gone through the back entrance as well. Although that doesn't explain the grimm. Or it's unusual human-like appearance.
But no matter, she'll investigate that... she follows the tape to find and enter the security rooms. Which would have the grunt barracks and surviellence quarters there. The security cameras would likely help find out what exactly happened at the club... and hopefully how the grimm got there.
Penny was following. That's good, more numbers would be useful. Ruby got out Slice of Life incase of any trouble ahead... there sure would be.
"So... how did you get that bullet hole in you; shouldn't your aura protect you?" Penny asked.
"Aura doesn't just protect you from everything magically. You need to actually get into a combat stance for it to defend you from attacks and heal you from any scars." Ruby stated.
"Oh..."
"Aura can't protect you from stealth attacks, and unexpected attacks."
"So, it's more like a shield?"
"Precisely."
The two of them started to enter the security corridor of the facility... which is down a flight of stairs... in which Ruby tripped on something and fell down eachother of those stairs... when it ended, she got herself back up and checked to see if all of her body parts were bending in the right way. Whilst groaning in pain. But no matter... she needs to investigate further.
Club Employee's Section, 8:35 PM, Friday, Corridor (Security)
After that incident with the stairs, Ruby continued to browse the security halls. The blue tape also led the path to the stairs and some doors. Penny was also following. The lights were off, but not out. Ruby can see fine. Everything was fine... until Penny turned on the lights. And for some reason they're sun-lights, UV-lights that closely matched the pattern of the sun to affect vampires, and from what Roman told her, they are also commonly used for greenhouses. Ruby's aura was dropping so she fled to the nearest door, which was a storage closet, and hid in there until Penny turned off the lights. It's locked from the inside (where Ruby is right now) so she can just stay here fine...
"Why don't you like the light?" Penny asked.
"It's too bright and it hurts my eyes." Ruby stated.
"How can you see in the dark? I can't see in the dark very well. Hic."
"Special... contact lenses... for exploring dark areas..." Ruby lied.
"Ohh... do you want me to turn off the light?" Penny asked.
"Yes, please. And don't turn them on again. Just stick with me and you won't get lost. Wait... hold on, there's a flashlight in here, I can get that for you."
Ruby notices the lights were turned off because her night vision kicked in. Ruby's aura had dropped down to 81%, she knows this because she just checked her scroll. She than grabbed the flashlight, and than opened the door, giving it to Penny.
Whether Penny may or may not know about Ruby's secret, she likely wouldn't know that not only the sun would trigger her weakness.
After all of that awkwardness... Ruby and Penny searched the area and followed the tape... only to head back to the stairs... they than turned around and went the other way. In all fairness, Ruby was following Penny.
They were walking down... Ruby with weapon at hand... and Penny with... flashlight. Deeper into the corridor. It can't be that deep though, building only has limited space.
And that's when Ruby heard it... grimm screeching, with the same sound and pitch as the grimm she encountered earlier... in what appears to be the surveillance room. Penny sounded like she heard it too.
"There are grimm in there." Ruby stated.
"Thank you for that redundant statement." Penny retorted.
"Was that sarcasm?"
"Yep. I am capable of making sarcasm."
"Just... follow my lead, these grimm can use weapons."
"What? How?"
"I don't know, but they can be mistaken for humans and appear to be smarter than the average grimm."
"Could they be nostferatus?"
"I doubt it, they've got claws, but they're too dull to do all of that."
"So... what are they?"
"I literally have no clue, they're different than most grimm. You'll know when you see them."
"Okay... so I'll go in at your signal."
"3... 2..."
Character Change: Ruby Rose - Blake Belladonna
Beacon Academy, 8:55 PM, Friday, RWBY Dormitory
Blake was just finishing the book she was reading when she heard someone knocking on the door. Blake put her book mark in and opened the door. To find Yang.
"Blake?" Yang said in confusion.
"Ruby stepped out." Blake stated.
"Well, I'll need to take the sign down. It'll give off the wrong idea."
"What do you... ooohh..."
"I'll have a talk to Ruby about this... sure, I understand the caution... but these doors have locks for a reason."
"Actually, Winter broke the locks this morning. We're expecting a new door by next week." Weiss commented.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Blake asked.
"Aura recovers the body way faster than you think."
"Besides, Ruby shouldn't be up during the day given her... condition." Yang stated.
"You may never know, with Winter around. She tends to intervene in daily affairs more often than we'd like to." Blake said.
"That's how she shows she cares for us. She wants us to be ready for any situation." Weiss commented.
"So... how long is your sister staying?" Yang asked.
"Until the end of the Vytal tournament." Weiss answered.
"So... until Sunday we have to put up with Winter and Ruby's sign." Blake stated.
"Still... Ruby should be asleep during the day." Yang said.
"You're right, but that's not likely going to happen with Winter."
"Sadly... as much as I..." Yang said... before being interrupted by Blake, pulling her inside the dorm and closing the door.
"You can finish your sentence." Blake stated.
"Oh ya... gotta keep it secret. As much as I want Ruby to go out during the day more, I know she can't without blocking out the sun." Yang said.
"Well... she tries her best to keep her grades up. And additionally, she still is here."
"I know... it's just... when you know someone for so long, and suddenly find out they became a vampire... well, it was hard getting used to."
"Well... I was shocked when I first found out Ruby's a vampire too."
"And me and Weiss felt dumb for not figuring out sooner."
"I mean, it was kind of obvious." Weiss commented.
"Ya... Rubes was never good at keeping secrets by herself, we would have figured out sooner or later." Yang stated.
"Well, you had to find out when she was not in a good mood." Blake stated.
"Ya... I did not think I'd ever see my sister on all fours mauling people like a grimm."
"Well, neither would I. I've seen the damage she's done to people on the news. I'd never expect to see it first hand and live."
"Not to divert the topic, but how did your date with Sun go, Yang?" Weiss asked.
"Oh, it was great. He took us out to the park, we ate dinner together, and went to the beach to watch the tides." Yang answered.
"Is Ruby going to be expecting a nephew or niece?" Weiss asked.
"What? No! My dad would kill me!" Yang retorted. "Not literally, of course."
"Yang's more responsible than we let her up to be." Blake stated.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're typically the one affiliated with parties and procrastination. No offense."
"None taken."
"Well, when we're going on vacation right after we move onto our second year, we're not having it in Vale because she's banned from every bar in the kingdom!" Weiss stated.
"And nightclubs, and every karaoke bar except one. The owner's a family friend." Yang said.
"Say... where did Ruby go?" Weiss asked.
"Oh. She went to the club to find out what happened to the crime rate." Blake said.
"She's wearing a disguise, right?" Yang asked.
"Yep."
"Oh, thank goodness."
"It is tabloid season, so she doesn't want them slandering her name. One little mistake and that's all people will remember her for." Weiss stated.
"She'll be back when she's either really thirsty, or not thirsty at all." Blake said.
"Hopefully we won't see anything on the news." Yang said.
"Indeed." Blake and Weiss said at the same time.
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Ruby Rose
Club Employee's Section, 8:55 PM, Friday, SurveillanceRoom
BANG!
The door was knocked down, drawing the attention of the human-looking grimm. Ruby went and grabbed Slice of life and set it to it's ice dust round, which would do the least damage to the room. Since there will be evidence here to look at. She than fired the disk at the grimm... aaand... it appears that was a terrible idea... sure it did damage the grimm by dismembering it's arm, but it regrew the arm. it also absorbed the ice dust. She can tell because the grimm opened it's mouth and broke the mask stitches to lob out a spike of ice from it's mouth. Thankfully, not much Ice dust is used so it won't last.
"Did the grimm just..." Penny said, before being interrupted.
"Yep, and yep." Ruby stated.
"Let me try."
Penny than stepped forward and opened up her blades, they then aim and stab the various chests of the grimm... followed by Penny using them to slam them sideways to the wall. Ruby than finished them off by slicing them in half with her pizza cutter blade. They keep repeating this process until the grimm in the room are gone.
"I thought you couldn't see in the dark?" Ruby objected.
"Well... the computer's very bright." Penny said.
"Those are Surveillance monitors. They aren't really computers."
"Oh. Guess the technology here is older."
"That it is."
The two of them went toward the surveillance screens. Penny than pressed a button and grabbed a VHS tape.
"Let's see... err... um... I don't know what to do here." Penny said, holding a VHS tape.
"Penny, that's a VHS tape, you're supposed to put it in like this." Ruby said, grabbing the VHS tape.
"But it went out of the thing."
"Because you pressed the eject button." Ruby said, putting the VHS tape back into the slot. And turning on the screen.
The video shows of last months footage... somewhere around November 11.
Character Change: Ruby Rose - Observer
The Club, 7:04 PM, November 11, Patron and Nightclub section
"So... now what do we do?"
"We watch the footage, Penny. Find out what the White Fang did, and more importantly how those grimm got here!"
It was a normal day at the club. The staff were doing their jobs and the patrons were enjoying themselves. So far... nothing happening yet. It seems like a regular day at the club.
"Let me just..."
The footage was fast forwarding. And went back to normal speed when White Fang was being seen.
There were two White Fang heavies, accompanied by a man wearing all black, he also had red air and bull horns. He went directly to the bar. The said man was wielding a sword. He went toward the counter with the White Fang heavies. Although they didn't sit down, neither did the bull faunas.
"White Fang, huh? We don't serve your type." Junior said in a dismissive tone.
"I'm not asking for service; I am demanding information." The Bull Faunas said.
"Well forget it, I don't do deals with terrorists."
"You've bought vital organs sold by a serial killer, sold gasoline to an arsonist. Yet, I cross the line."
"Organs sell well on the black market, and arsonists pay good cash. What you're doing is just pure terrorism, not only is there no gain for me, you'll also end up killing my clients."
"What I do is JUSTICE."
"There is no justice in what you do. I've seen what your organization does."
"Is that so? In that case, you leave me no choice. NOW!"
And just when he said that... a bunch of White Fang mooks have... opened the door and begin to walk in there in an orderly manner.
"Really?" The Bull faunas said.
"There was a door literally right next to us, do you expect us to just break in through the walls or something?" The mook asked.
"Yes! This building is going to be abandoned by the time we're done, so why should you bother?"
"I'm just saying, if we see a door, we're going to use it. That's what it's there for."
The bull faunas sighed and fired a round from his rifle. Initiating the attack. Afterwards, the mooks than opened fire at the patrons and non-staff members first.
"Wait, who is that guy?"
"From what I remember from Blake's description... I think that's her ex-boyfriend."
"Blake dated a terrorist?"
"Apparently."
The staff quickly intervened, starting an indoor shootout between the White Fang and Junior's grunts. Whilst the Bull Faunas just stands there, doing nothing. All the patrons are dead, and the grunts are taking a dent into the White Fang's absurdly large numbers.
"See, my boys can deal with you, just fine." Junior taunted.
"Oh, they were not trying to go after your grunts until now." the bull faunas countered.
After he said that, the mooks have opened fire on the grunts... sure, both sides are losing numbers, but the White Fang were winning overall. The body count is high on both sides. Afterwards, the White Fang heavies interveined took out the remaining of the grunts. Now it seems like Junior is doomed.
"Girls, deal with our trespassers." Junior said, getting out from the counter with his bat.
"Finally." one of the girls said, although both of them unsheathed their nail claws to attack the mooks.
The girls were slashing the mooks to death one by one, clockwork style. Using various claw attacks, followed by an array of kicks. The mooks had fell. Although those mooks won't be getting up.
They were struggling against the heavies, however. And Junior was busy fighting the bull faunas. Swinging his bat whilst the bull faunas was parrying each and every hit in a perfect manner. The bull faunas than laughed.
Junior's lite-huntresses did pull through, by stabbing the heavy's neck, and stomping their leg, taking them down for the good. Afterwards, the bull faunas released a sword beam from his blade, by sheating and unsheathing the sword, killing the girls.
Finally, he simply stabbed Junior in the chest and left him for dead... he than went into the employee's section. From there the tape can't provide more info.
"Okay. Now what do we do?"
"We eject the tape and find the next one."
"So... where is it?"
"It's gonna be in here somewhere... errmm... Oh, here we go."
The Club, 11:00 PM, November 11, Boiler Area
Well... that's what it's just called, it's really the power room for the entire building. It also contains the main area for plumbing. Not sure why the bull faunas is there. But it seems a couple more mooks are with him, carrying a bag. The footage here seems him walking down. Slowly walking down across the Boiler Area. There were boarbatusks, but they were quickly killed before the rest of the horde were alerted. The three faunas were walking down. And they continued to do so...
Well... that is until they reach a certain room. The wall had a doorframe there... but door, it was just a wall... with a doorframe around it. The bag was handed to the bull faunas... he than looks and sees the camera, and shoots it out. Blacking out the screen.
Character Change: Observer - Ruby Rose
Club Employee's Section, 9:14 PM, Friday, SurveillanceRoom
"Well, it seems we'll need to go through the Boiler Area." Ruby said.
"But there are no boilers, there." Penny objected.
"I know, it's just what it's called."
"Why?"
"Rolls off the tongue better than 'Power and plumbing area'."
"Fair point."
The two of them left the surveillance room. Penny turned on her flashlight and went to the Boiler Area. Whatever waits there is unknown for the moment. But it may be whatever caused this strange grimm infestation. Wonder what Blake's ex-boyfriend, Adam has in there.
Club Employee's Section, 9:44 PM, Friday, "Boiler" Area
Ruby and Penny were in the Boiler Area. Although much unlike most places. This room's power and plumbing room is older. So, the dust capacitor powered here is based off an older model. However, the power still up so it's still there. Ruby can tell because the lights were on. They were vampire-safe lights too... I.E, regular lightbulbs.
"Say... what's with the giant pizza cutter, friend Ruby?" Penny asked.
"Oh, this? This is Slice of Life. I like to change up my fighting style a bit." Ruby stated.
"Why would a huntress need two weapons?"
"Well, why not? It's always better to be prepared for any situation."
"Fair point."
And just like that, an array of Boarbatusks crawl in from the sewers. Penny went and used her floating blades to dispose them quickly before Ruby could react. Ruby was shocked to see how quickly she reacted. With how she used her blades to deal with the boarbatusks with just a flick of her wrist and some laser beams. It's actually impressive. Ruby's glad Penny's on her side.
As for the area she's in. There are many grates connected to the Vale sewers on the floor near the walls. With small holes above them... with enough room for boarbatusks to climb onto. It's a mostly grey area. There are many power lines and pipes here. And much unlike the rest of the employee's section, there's no tape here. So, Ruby would need to find the weird doorless doorframe room on her own. Being that this area is the source for the building's plumbing and electricity... there's most likely going to be forks in the path.
She than sees Penny running toward the left side... Ruby followed. Although discreetly. Guess Ruby dazed out after that impressive fight. She followed, but tries to stay discreet.
Eventually, she ends up heading towards the power area. In where as Penny finds some sort of weirdly half-trapezoid shaped object and begins to absorb power from it. And than puts it back discreetly.
When she turns around, she saw Ruby witnessing what just happened.
"Did you... see me...?" Penny asked.
"Yep." Ruby stated.
"It's not what it looked like! Hic!"
"It looks like to me you were draining power from something."
"You mean a dust capacitor?"
"Huh, so that's what those look like."
"The model is sixty years old, eventually when a new owner comes in, the power supply will be updated."
"But what were you doing with it?"
"I... errr... umm..."
"Because it seems like you were absorbing power from it."
"Well..."
"Penny, is there something you aren't telling me?"
"No! Hic!"
"Did you absorb power from that dust capacitor?"
"No! Hic!"
"Hmmm... what is your name?"
"Penny Poledenia."
"Weird... you didn't hiccup that time."
"Well... I... err..."
"It's okay Penny, you can trust me. I know how to keep a secret."
"Really?"
"If you tell me the truth, I'll lower my bandana in front of you."
"We do it at the same time..."
"Okay than..."
"One..."
"Two..."
"THREE!"
Ruby lowered her bandana, and Penny than opened up a circuit board on her neck and opened up her finger to show a jack. The two of them than look blankly at each other... not surprised or anything. Just... full out... unimpressed.
"You knew, didn't you?" Ruby and Penny both said at the same time.
Ruby than lifted her bandana up and Penny closed up anything revealing her robotics.
"How did you know I'm an Android?" Penny asked.
"I've acquired the knowledge from stolen information." Ruby stated.
"You hacked into the CCT?"
"No, that was Ren... but he shared the information with me. Now how did you know about my condition?"
"Grimm detection, it was how I found you downtown."
"They built you a grimm detection sensor in you, but not night vision?"
"Oh, I could very well see in the dark, I just thought you couldn't."
"I'm a vampire, how would I survive if I can't see during the time of day that I'd normally be awake?"
"How come these lights don't hurt you, yet the ones in Security did?"
"Sun-lights perfectly match the suns frequency in UV."
"And this is accounting for the ozone layer?"
"I think so... I think those lights were built with some sort of anti-vampire technology or magic."
"Most likely. It's weird that they look like the lights that were built all over Atlas Academy, though."
"Well... there goes my idea of transferring to Atlas."
"Definitely. I don't think General Ironwood would want you in Atlas."
"So... what were you doing in downtown anyway, I was just looking for what happened to the crime rate."
"Oh, me? Apparently, I've received a deviation command."
"Isn't that contradicting?"
"Please do not discuss paradoxes, they hurt my processors."
"That's normal, paradoxes tend to do that."
"Well... guess we're not going to discuss how we found out about each other's secrets?"
"Agreed, let's just... forget this ever happened."
"We still know about the..."
"Yep, we do. We just won't talk about to anyone else."
"Alright then, let's find the bag."
"Right."
Well after all of that, the two of them left the power room to look to where Adam and his mooks went. No doubt more grimm would be here to meet Ruby and Penny in the fight, but Ruby's prepared to slay some monsters.
Character Change: Ruby Rose - Jaune Arc
Beacon Academy, 10:10 PM, Friday, Outdoor Training Yard
Jaune was practicing his fighting skills. A simple sword and shield are not viable for ranged combat, so he's trying to get ahead in the close-range combat department to make up for it by practicing defensive and offensive techniques. It may not shoot bullets, or even lasers! But it's still a versatile set-up. And he must be getting stronger, since the shield is getting lighter in scabbard form. He's noticed that for quite awhile, but he's proud of that.
He was practicing against some ursai grimm. Practicing both defensive and offensive strategies, one focused on blocks and counters, the other focuses with interruption and damage. He's not perfected the latter yet, but he's working on it. He managed to get a way to get it down. He just has to act first. Sure Jaune, may not have his semblance unlocked yet, but he will improve his combat skills to make up for it.
"Fighting holograms isn't the same as the real thing. There's plenty of Ursai in the Emerald Forest." Violet said, from behind.
"It's still a risk-free way to learn." Jaune defended.
"And why would you need that? Maybe because you faked your way into Beacon?"
"Hey hey, keep it down!"
"Don't bother, everyone on Beacon knows you cheated your way in. It's why you're doing all the mundane tasks."
"How would you know that?"
"I had to do the same back at my first year of Beacon."
"You... snuck into Beacon too?"
"Yes, I was one point off from passing legitimately, so I exaggerated the truth to make it look like I qualified, but still sounding believable. You sounded like an adept fighter when you're a novice."
"How did they find out?"
"It was around the second semester they noticed I scored lower than the rest of my class. They found out I cheated, but was lenient since they checked my actual score was just one off."
"Well... it sounds like you're glad."
"Well, I wouldn't have improved otherwise. And even than, babysitting Dave... that was a mess to deal with."
"I know, right? How did Port get a Nuckaleeve into Beacon?"
"I don't remember the full story, but apparently he found it in the wild and rode it to slay a wyvern."
"Sometimes, I'm half-convinced he's just making these up."
"Same."
"So... why did you come here?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to spar for a bit." Violet said, unsheathing a sword and placing it in his left hand, Icepick grip.
"Isn't reverse grip impractical?" Jaune asked.
"You got to experiment when fighting, you got to keep the foe second guessing."
"Fair point, just let me..." Jaune said... before slaying the hologram.
The two gentlemen get up toward the Arena. Jaune preparing his fighting stance, as was Violet with his.
Jaune started with a strike from his sword, which was parried with Violet's own. Followed by a swift kick to knock Jaune off of balance. He quickly recovered and went for a shield bash. Only for Violet to again, parry it, this time followed by a sucker punch. Jaune than stepped back and waited for Violet to make an attack. Violet than went and did an upper-cut slice in which Jaune began to parry, only for Violet to feint it and have it attack sideways, getting Jaune out of pattern.
"The problem is that you need to change up your attack. By attacking, you need to prepare for counter-attacks." Violet lectured. Followed by him getting bashed after he spoke his sentence. In which he smirked. He than switched the hand the sword was in from his left hand to his right hand.
Violet than strikes him quickly and swiftly, barely giving Jaune any time to react. His aura was going down. Only for Jaune to recognize a pattern and parried his attack and than countered with a bash, and a stab. Jaune went in and went for a slash in which Violet prepared to counter in which than he bashed his shield again and than slashed it again. Afterwards he went for the bash, and Violet prepared to parry the shield and went on for a slice, in which Jaune counter-paried and went for a bash, only for Violet to parry that again. With his foot, kicking Jaune down.
"You really are learning." Violet stated.
"Well, I'll need to defend remnant, and even than, I still need to catch who caused the blackout."
"Ah, that. I've been investigating the blackout myself. I was wondering if we could exchange notes tomorrow."
"That, would be great."
"Very well, I'll be seeing you in the dormitory basement tomorrow, at 9 PM."
"I'll see you there." Jaune said, as Violet was leaving. Wonder what he'll learn. May as well head back to the dorm, it was getting late after all.
Character Change: Jaune Arc - Ruby Rose
Club Employee's Section, 10:10 PM, Friday, "Boiler" Area
Well... that was an interesting turn of events, grimm both normal and unusual there. Whatever was in that bag was important. Ruby found the room that was footage in the camera room, only to find the wall in the door frame blasted open and an open safe. Guess that means the thing in the bag was a bomb. The safe was empty, which means whatever the White Fang wanted here was gone... the question is... how did they know about the safe? Unless someone would tell them... but who?
Hopefully she finds out soon, she's been getting rather thirsty, so it's getting harder to think.
But that only leaves one question, where is the weird purple eyed human shaped grimm coming from? Ruby can't leave the building until the grimm are dealt with. But... she has an idea.
"Penny, can you find where the humanoid grimm are coming from?" Ruby asked.
"I'm an android, not a tracking device." Penny retorted, sounding offended.
"Hey, sorry. I just feel like we need to deal with this grimm problem before it spreads."
"I may not be able to find the source, but I know how to deal with the grimm... you may not like it though."
"Well, what is it?"
"If I overload the dust capacitor, I can set off a reaction that would blow up the building, followed by the extermination of grimm and the elimination of any of those grimm, and trap the ones here."
"You're right. I don't like it."
"It's the only possible solution we have, the alternative is to let them overflow the building."
Ruby sighed. "You're right. So... my question is, is there an escape plan?"
"We are close to the sewers Ruby. We could just jump to them."
"Alright. Fine, just let me find something to drink."
"Ruby, don't be silly, there's not going to be anything to drink here."
"People."
"How can you drink a person?"
Ruby slapped her palm on her face, and than lowered her bandana and showed her fangs, and pointed to them.
"Ooooh. Blood."
"Yep, sadly. I need to drink it to avoid me going all grimmy." Ruby said, raising her bandana back up.
"Grimmy?" Penny asked.
"You don't want to know, just... hopefully I can find someone or something to feed on to help sate my thirst."
"There was plenty of dead bodies back at the nightclub."
"Would you eat moldy bread?"
"No?"
"Those corpses are long dead, any blood in it would not be good for my body."
"Oh, I see."
"So... what do we do?"
"There's an entrance to the sewers across the power room... which is a poor place to have it in. But it'll give us enough time to go under the explosion and escape unscathed."
"That is a bad place to put it."
"I'll be overloading the dust capacitor... which will cause an explosion."
"How will you get out?"
"If I time this correctly, I can get out just in time before the capacitor explodes and sets fire to the entire building."
"Alright than, let's blow up a building."
"Very well... I'll need that pizza cutter though."
"What, why?"
"It's needed for the plan to be pulled off."
"I hope you know what you're doing."
"As do I. Go into the sewers, you don't sound like you have enough time to wait for me to blow up a building."
"Very well." Ruby said, giving Slice of Life to Penny, and than taking out Crescent Rose to arm, followed by heading towards the sewers. The humanoid grimm was also present, she had to slay them to get down to the manhole... hopefully Ruby can find a mouse to drink from to help her fend off the grimm inside her.
Author's Footnote: Aaaand that's the chapter here. Nothing much to say... no interview today because it would kill the mood. I also had to in-story explain why Aura doesn't work all the time in the story, which by the way, will happen a lot. So... see ya next chapter.