Sorry for being late, I have no excuse. I'll make sure to post it earlier next week to make up for it.
Glynda felt… apprehensive, to say the least, as she stood at the entrance of the refugee camp waiting for Neo to arrive. Theodore's word had hit were it hurt, as she had always blamed herself for how Neo turned out, but maybe what was harder was to accept that Neo had grown without her, and the fact it was harder to accept only made her feel all the more guilty.
It had taken her a lot of time to gather her thoughts, but she had finally accepted that she had to move on and shouldn't try to punish Neo for her bloody early years. She wasn't a little girl anymore, and according to Theodore she had indeed learned better by herself. There was still the problem of what had happened at both Beacon and Atlas, but if Theodore was going to take responsibility for it then she shouldn't blame Neo any further.
Glynda sighed. She was glad that she had managed to convince Ruby and her friends not to accompany her just yet, as she wanted to be able to talk to Neo alone. This probably wouldn't be an opportunity that would come by often.
Neo arrived early, just like she had always done for her lessons all those years ago.
"Hello, Neo. It's nice to see you," said Glynda.
Neo cocked her head to the side and held her arm towards her, hand open expecting her weapon.
Glynda felt her heart tighten in her chest. It was clear that Neo had long since moved on and only came here to get her weapon back, but Glynda didn't want to miss this opportunity.
"Before that, I wanted to say that I'm sorry. Sorry for not being there for you, sorry for having made you feel like you needed to run away like you did, sorry for not trying harder to find you," she said, her head hung low, before she took out Neo's weapon and slowly placed it in her hands, "I'm not going to ask you to forgive me, I'm… I'm just glad you've been well, and that you found a place where you can be happy."
Neo was certainly taken aback by Glynda's words, and while she did take her weapon back, she didn't feel like leaving quite yet. Instead, seeing the sorrowful look of her teacher, she stepped forward and hugged her, surprising the older woman.
Glynda soon hugged her back, and a few tears fell as she embraced the girl she had seen and helped grow for seven whole years.
Neo eventually broke the hug, stepping back with a newfound smile. No matter how much she might have wanted to deny it, she had always wanted to make her teacher proud, and seeing her finally accept who she had become made her feel like she could take on the world.
She was about to leave, raising her hand to waive Glynda goodbye, when Ruby appeared from behind a tent along with the rest of her team, dashing towards her.
"Neo!" she shouted as she crashed into her, hugging her tightly, "I was worried when miss Goodwitch said she wanted to talk to you alone but I'm so glad you're both doing well!"
Neo tried to push Ruby away, but it seemed her hug with Glynda had told Ruby that she was huggable in some way, and just like she had seen her do many times before with her friends, the younger girl wasn't letting go.
As Neo sighed in defeat and Ruby broke the hug with a bright smile, Glynda felt her cheeks heat up. She couldn't believe the kids had been spying on them and had seen her in such an embarrassing situation.
"I didn't know miss Goodwitch had a soft spot in her heart," said Yang as if to hammer the point home.
"Girls!" sternly said Glynda as her crop slapped the air, making Yang instantly regret her jab, "I believe you are in need of some more training, and it just so happens that I have a couple hours to spare."
Yang shuddered and both Blake and Weiss glared at her, while Ruby had her eyes focused on her scroll.
"Guys, Neo said that they might have an idea as to where Tyrian and Mercury are," said Ruby, "Want to join?"
Her team sighed in relief and eagerly agreed, only for Ruby to receive another message from Neo on her scroll.
"She's saying it can probably wait for a bit, though," read Ruby.
Yang looked in complete horror as Glynda's sadistic smirk seemed to match Neo's own as she pushed them towards the edge of the camp so Neo could take part in the training as well.
She should not have said that.
Glynda had set up some spars. At first, she wanted to make team RWBY fight their partners while she had a spar with Neo like old times, but Yang had insisted to fight against Neo, so instead she would spar against Ruby while Blake would spar Weiss, after she was done tearing apart all of Yang's mistake, first of which being that she thought she had a chance against Neo in the first place.
Neo observed Yang with a sigh. The girl really kept trying to fight out of her league, either overestimating herself or underestimating her opponents.
Name : Yang Xiao Long
Age : 19
Level : 15 (04%)
Class : Brawler [You fight with your fists. Is there anything more to add?]
Path : Unyielding explorer [You aim to seek the truths of this world, and nothing is going to take you down]
Destiny : None
Title : The Protector
HP : 16/16
AP : 113/113
STR : 20
CON : 16
DEX : 13
INT : 12
WIS : 13
CHA : 14
Semblance : Burn [You convert the damage you have taken so far into additional strength you can us until your aura is out. Using it makes you angry, and being angry makes you use it]
Status effects :
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Defenses :
AC : 18
For : 25
Ref : 19
Will : 20
Neo held down a laugh. While Yang seemed to have tried hard at increasing her dexterity since the last time they had fought, in the end she could only improve by so much. With their current difference, Neo didn't even need to use her illusions to take her down with ease.
That wouldn't stop Yang from trying apparently though, as she rushed towards Neo to attack. Her fist was easily blocked by Neo who followed by a light stab with her parasol.
- 17 AP
Yang took a step back as her breathing was cut short for a moment but soon stepped back into action, throwing a punch that was in fact just a feint for her kick to connect.
Neo saw the kick, and could have avoided it had she used her illusions, but she had decided on giving herself this handicap and would stick with it to the end. Still, she would make sure to reduce the damage as much as she could without using Dust.
- 7 AP
As proud as Yang might have been to land a hit on her, Neo found the perfect opportunity to strike and hit Yang's neck with Hush, blade sticking out of its tip. It didn't pierce, as aura was there to protect her, but the damage was significant.
- 34 AP
Yang punched Neo in the gut, making her slightly wince, then right in the face with a blast of her gauntlets on top.
- 14 AP
- 24 AP
Neo certainly didn't appreciate being hit in the face, of all things, especially when she could've avoided it had she used her illusions, and riposted by smacking Yang back in the face with Hush before stabbing down in her leg.
- 30 AP
- 20 AP
The hits instantly brought Yang down in the red, as she had less than 10% of her AP left, while Neo was still around 60%, and Glynda called the end of the match, much to Yang's dismay.
"Neo, you didn't use your semblance nor your Dust," admonished Glynda, "This won't be much of a training if you hold back."
Neo rolled her eyes and pointed at Yang that was panting heavily while rubbing her neck, the ghost pain of Neo's blade hitting her throat still present. Glynda only sighed, understanding that Neo wasn't taking any spar with Yang as something worth any training in the first place.
"Miss Xiao Long," said Glynda as she let Neo go, "While I commend you for improving your strategy in a fight, you must first figure out when an opponent is too far out of your league. Moreover, that last exchange would have been a prime moment for you to use your semblance, and had you done so you probably would have been able to bring Neo to under 40% of her aura, at the very least."
Yang hung her head low, understanding that she had indeed been too bold in thinking she could best Neo in a fight, even after training for so long, and that actually made her wonder how much Ruby had improved if she could hold her own against Neo in a fight.
"Now, miss Rose," said Glynda, "Come here, we'll spar."
Ruby was surprised but quickly took place in front of Glynda and readied herself for a fight.
"Reactive, good," noted Glynda, "Miss Schnee, please monitor our auras. You'll be charged to end the fight as soon as they hit below 20%"
"Yes Professor!" answered Weiss as she grabbed her scroll.
"Good. I'll leave you the first hit, miss Rose," added Glynda.
"You're sure?" asked Ruby.
"Yes, go ahead," said the professor, "I am better in a fight than I look."
Ruby nodded and dashed in, her speed and scythe actually taking Glynda by surprise and slashing at her hip, sending her flying.
- 35 AP
While she was down, however, Glynda used a small crystal of Dust to create a blizzard around them, and another to slowly heat herself to counter the frost. Ruby didn't have access to that, so she was stuck in the freezing weather.
- 17 AP
Neo quickly looked at their respective aura levels to get an idea of where they were at while Glynda was preparing her next move and Ruby was trying to get used to their new conditions.
Name : Glynda Goodwitch
HP : 11/11
AP : 72/107
(--)
Name : Ruby Rose
HP : 12/12
AP : 79/96
Ruby really was a glass cannon, hitting hard but easier to take out. That being said, her speed should be enough to make it work.
She used her semblance to close the distance between the two of them, and while Glynda had created solid rocks out of the sand with a combination of Dust and her own semblance, Ruby managed to weave through them and the cold to hit the teacher once again.
- 31 AP
Her position, however, didn't allow her to avoided the stones turned into spears that stabbed her, making her wince and dash again.
- 24 AP
- 14 AP
That's when Neo noticed that Glynda was keeping the blizzard strong to keep at wearing down Ruby, who was finding it harder and harder to move around.
It was surprising. Both were at 41 AP right now, and even though that meant Glynda had a slightly lower percentage of her aura left, it was impressive that she was managing to keep Ruby on her toes.
Ruby understood that she wasn't in a good spot as well, and out of desperation cleaved right through Glynda's head. Neo was waiting for the – 49 AP notification to drop, signifying the critical hit Ruby had struck, but there was nothing. Instead, Glynda broke apart like she was made of ice.
And what Ruby had hit, indeed, was very much made of ice, and Glynda appeared behind her, her rocky spears still flying through the air. Ruby was able to dodge them just in time, but the ice cold kept chipping away at her aura.
- 19 AP
So close, Ruby was nearly in the red, but she managed to land one last hit on Glynda before she lost the three aura points she needed to get below 20%.
- 24 AP
"Stop!" shouted Weiss, "miss Goodwitch is under 20%, Ruby wins!"
With a snap of her crop, Glynda made the blizzard disappear and Ruby was able to breath and move around again.
"Good job miss Rose," said Glynda, "You've appropriately understood that you wouldn't be able to hold against the blizzard and that you needed to take me out as soon as possible, although paying more attention to my attacks might have helped you win by a larger margin."
"Thanks professor," said Ruby, "I'll remember it."
Yang, Blake and Weiss, on the other hand, were all stupefied that Ruby had won that fight. Maybe they were starting to understand just how much Ruby had grown after Atlas.
Well, Blake and Weiss still needed to spar, but Neo wanted to rest well and prepare before they followed the trace of Tyrian and Mercury.
They might only be going to check things out at first, but one was never too cautious.
This was such a close fight. At first, I wanted Glynda to win to show that even with the level difference, she was a teacher for a reason, but then she had to roll a 2 when she only needed a 4 or higher to hit, and Ruby was able to clutch it out and survive the last tick of the blizzard and take her out.
For reference, the blizzard ticks deals between 12 to 26 damage, while Ruby's attacks deals between 16 to 49 damage.
To be continued on February 26th
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 18
Level : 21 (38%)
Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]
Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]
Destiny : All for one [Everyone can die, if it means you get to survive]
Title : The Gamer
HP : 11/11
AP : 65/110
STR : 12
CON : 11
DEX : 20
INT : 23
WIS : 13
CHA : 17
Semblance : The Gamer
Status effects :
Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]
Defenses:
AC : 29(34)
For : 22
Ref : 28
Will : 25