"Uh... Professor? What are we doing out here?"
Ozpin smirked, turning to his charges, specifically Summer Rose and the rest of her team. "Yes, I suppose that's a valid question." He says, criptically.
"That's not an answer." Raven Branwen drawls out, much to Miss Rose's dismay.
"Raven!" Summer squeaked.
"What? I'd like some answers. Like why did you call us out here in the middle of the Emerald Forest?"
"In the middle of lunch!" Mr. Xiao Long added.
"Tai!" Summer squeaked again.
Ozpin chuckled. "Well, you have a point there." He peers to the last member of the team, trailing at the back of the pack. "Anything to add, Mister Branwen?"
The black-haired teen blinks, seemingly surprised at being included in the conversation. "Uh... no, professor."
"Hm." Ozpin hummed. "Well, admittedly this trip was on a bit of a whim in my part. Then again, I've been planning this sort of trip for quite some time."
Summer frowned. "What do you mean professor?"
"I've reviewed your performances in your combat classes, and while your grades in other classes are... subpar..." He says, eyeing Taiyang. "Your skills are quite advanced for your age. Very advanced."
"Uh, thanks?" Summer says.
"I don't say this often, Miss Rose. As far as concerned, Team STRQ is one of the strongest teams in Beacon."
"Oh..." Summer murmured, almost in shock.
"That doesn't explain why we're out here." Raven says bluntly.
Ozpin smirks. "Isn't it obvious?" He asks, gesturing to the clearing he and his students had hiked towards. "I propose a spar. Four against one?"
Unsurprisingly, his students were shocked, all of them with various expressions of confusion and disbelief, all except Raven, who took it as a challenge. "What's the catch?"
"No 'catches', Miss Branwen. I only want to see Team STRQ in combat first-hand. I was planning on asking Miss Goodwitch on preparing a match between me and all of you, but..." Ozpin shrugs. "I saw no reason to create such a fuss over one sparring match."
Raven smirks, a glint in her eye showing pride and arrogance. "I accept."
"Raven!" Summer gawked. "We can't just fight the headmaster! He's... the headmaster!"
"He's also like... only a few years older than us." Taiyang points out. "We outnumber him four-to-one too. Headmaster or not, I'm pretty sure we can take him."
"B-But he's a prodigy! One of the youngest huntsmen to be appointed as headmaster! He'd kick our butts!" Summer protested, waving and gesturing with her arms.
"Yes, that's a possibility. If any of you feel this is pointless or unfair, you're free to leave. There's no shame in abstaining after all." Ozpin says, leaning on his cane. "Only in retreat."
Team STRQ looked amongst each other, as if trying to have a conversation with just the expressions on their partner's face.
Finally, Summer Rose drew her weapon. "We accept your challenge, Professor Ozpin."
Ozpin smiled, a feeling of pride in his chest. "Well," he begins, bringing The Long Memory up into a fencer's pose. "Whenever you're ready, Team STRQ."
Raven dashes to the fore, thrusting her Omen onto Ozpin's face, when-
-Ozpin moves Yang's metal arm to grab the red blade thrust towards their neck, Yang's considerable strength still leaving the sword inches from their throat.
A man in black standing over her partner. Beacon burning. A red blade. A flash of pain. Darkness.
Ozpin grunted, pushing unwanted memories away as he struggles against Raven Branwen for her weapon as chaos erupts across the bandit camp. If he could just disarm her-
A bullet finds it's way into Yang's shoulder, causing Ozpin to loosen his grip, giving Raven the leverage she needs to rip her sword out of Ozpin's grasp and sending a savage kick into her daughter's stomach, knocking the immortal away from her.
"He's mine!" Raven shouts, the Bandit Queen advancing towards her prey menacingly. "Anyone who interferes again, I'll have their head!"
Ozpin waits as Raven advances, taking the moment to survey that battlefield. Just as he thought, they were surrounded, Weiss fighting-
"The spring maiden!" Yang gasps, seeing her teammate fight the girl who, if Ozpin was right, possessed very powerful magic. "Ozpin, we have to help."
"A bit busy at the moment." Ozpin thinks, dodging another slash from Raven's sword. Just have to find an opening...
There! As Raven swings again, Ozpin grabs her blade again, and before she could react, lands a blow against the fire-dust blade.
(An interesting mechanic of Raven's Omen blades are the fact that they aren't metal- they're solidified and sharpened dust blades, the sheathe and pommel used to store and use the dust blades safely.
This way, Raven was able to quickly change dust types on the fly, fire dust to ice dust to lightning dust in seconds.
However, like all weapons, it isn't unstoppable. Besides the obvious lack of range, the blades, essentially being made of crystallized rock...)
Ozpin allows himself a small smirk, seeing Raven's shock as her blade snaps and breaks.
(...Are quite fragile.)
Before Raven could react, Ozpin lands a savage left cross across her face, hitting her again and again, not relenting or giving his opponent the chance to replace her blade. The fact that Ozpin had a few hundred years experience more of combat than Raven had been alive helped a bit with his assault.
Unfortunately, Raven was not helpless. She ducks Ozpin's next swing, grabbing Yang's right arm and twists it behind them, having the reincarnated wizard in a hold.
"Give up. Don't make your death more painful than it has to be." Raven snarls.
"No, thank you." Ozpin snarked, sending a pulse of aura through Yang's trapped prosthetic, and...
Click. Raven frowns in confusion, feeling the metal hand go limp, and is then flown back by a shotgun-enhanced punch, Ozpin now in a crouch, with one less arm, Ember Celica smoking and Yang's prosthetic on the ground.
As Raven recovers, Ozpin scoops up the prosthetic and puts it back on. He can still hear Weiss fighting, and judging by the screams and shouts of bandits occasionally flying through the air, Yang's teammate was handling herself well.
But it won't last long. Sooner or later, the spring maiden will use her full power, and she, the bandits, and Raven herself would quickly overpower the two of them.
"So what, we're going to run?!"
"Yes." Ozpin mutters, already spinning on Yang's heel, away from the groaning (but quickly stirring) Raven and running towards Weiss.
Weiss grit her teeth as Myrtenaster clashed with Vernal's weapons, the crescent shaped blades grinding against her sword. She pushes Vernal off, but finds three more bandits attempting to surround her.
They were dealt with quickly of course, but Weiss can't keep going on like this. Sooner or later she'll slip, and leave an opening. And with no time to summon-
A gunshot rings out, and Weiss's eyes widen, seeing the stranger that looks like Yang launch themselves into the fray.
Weiss was still unsure what to think about Yang's impersonator, and she hadn't had much time to think much more about them, (you know, because of the bandits attacking her all at once) but the opinion is largely negative. For all Weiss knows, this lookalike could be some crook with a shapeshifting semblance!
So when Not-Yang suddenly turned around and pick Weiss up, carrying her over her shoulder, the ex-heiress felt she was well within the right to start striking her savior/abductor as she was carried away.
"What are you doing?!" Not-Yang shouts, still using a voice that sounded like the true Yang's, but not quite.
"I've already been kidnapped once, thank you very much!" Weiss shouts back, slightly peeved that her attacks weren't bothering Not-Yang very much. Granted she wasn't using Myrtenaster since she wouldn't be able to hit Not-Yang properly, but she wasn't so scrawny that her own fists could be shrugged off without so much as a flinch, right?
"I-I'm not trying to kidnap you!" The stranger, who had admitted to impersonating her teammate and is currently carrying her away to an unknown fate, protested.
"A likely story! Who are you?! Where's the real Yang?!"
"It's complicated!" Not-Yang says, dashing past the camp's gate. "You don't have to trust me, but do you trust them to have your best interests in mind?"
Weiss frowns, not knowing what the imposter carrying her was saying, but actually focusing what was chasing behind them made her understand quickly. Namely, the horde of bandits chasing after the two, practically a stone's throw away. It's a wonder how they weren't shot yet.
Except... Weiss narrows her eyes, reaching out her hand and pulling back when she felt some kind invisible force push her back. Now that she wasn't distracted, she saw why they hadn't been interrupted during their argument. Everytime a shot was fired, the bullet bounces off that invisible force, leaving a green rippling in the air where it hit. Some kind of shield?...
"I can't hold it for long!" Not-Yang says, and Weiss thought they sounded fatigued. "Weiss, use your sword!"
Weiss hesitated. But only for a moment. She slashed Myrtenaster through the air, a wall of ice now between Not-Yang, Weiss and the bandits.
Weiss watched her handiwork as the stranger wearing Yang's face carried her closer to the exit. "That won't hold them for long."
"It won't." Not-Yang agreed. "Still, thank you."
"…I still want an explanation."
"You'll get one, I can promise you that." Finally, Weiss is set down on her own feet. "But that's for later. Preferably, somewhere far from here."
Weiss was surprised to see Yang's prized motorcycle, Bumblebee. "You stole Yang's bike!?"
"I didn't- oh, nevermind." The green-eyed Yang sighs in exasperation. "Let's just get out of here."
Not-Yang closes her eyes, and-
-Yang opens them, green fading into lilac. She looks at Weiss, then at the ice wall erected a few ways behind them, then back at Weiss again.
"Well?" Weiss asks. "I thought we were 'getting out of here'?"
Yang looks back at the ice wall again. As much as she was tempted to fight...
"Must I tell you how bad an idea that is?"
"It was just a thought…"
Yang gets on Bumblebee, revving her up. "Hop on, Ice Queen."
Weiss bristled, warily getting on behind Yang. "Hmph. Just because you 'saved' me doesn't mean you can call me that. Where did you even learn that nickname?"
Yang sighed. This was gonna be a long ride…
By the time the bandits got through the ice, Ozpin and the Schnee were long gone.
Raven Branwen growled.
It was well into the night by now, but Ozpin, Yang and Weiss were still riding through Anima on Bumblebee. Stopping for only a quick pit-stop to refuel (and it was nice to see the shopkeep manning Just Rite again, if only for a minute or two) the two have been riding nonstop since.
The only reason they've decided to stop and set up camp at all was because it had just become too hard to safely navigate the dirt road in the dark.
Which lead to their latest predicament…
"You said you'll give an explanation as soon as we were out of danger!" Weiss exclaimed, the glow of the campfire only highlighting her exasperation.
"And like Oz-I said, it's complicated!" Yang shot back.
"It's really not-"
"Oh sure, I'll just tell Weiss that I'm just the latest reincarnation of a hundred-something year old wizard tasked with defeating the queen of Grimm. She'll definitely believe that…"
"You'll have to tell her eventually."
"Of course I will. I'd just like to have proof when I do. Now keep quiet, it's hard having two conversations at once."
"-en uncomplicate it! You must have an explanation!"
"Weiss is at her wits end Yang. Unbelievable or not, you must give her some kind of explanation. Besides, I have some tricks up my sleeve that we could use as proof." Ozpin says.
Yang hesitates. "I'll sound insane."
Weiss scoffs, crossing her arms. "What, like that Branwen woman?" At the lack of a rebuke, Weiss blinked. "Wait."
Yang lets out a long sigh. "You better have that proof." Aloud, she said in a resigned voice; "What's your favorite-"
Vhwoom.
Yang paused, a familiar red glow pulsing behind her. Quickly, she turns around, blanching at the sight of an eerie, red portal.
Weiss drew Myrtenaster, pointing it at the portal. "What is that!?"
Ember Celica unfurled, Yang already preparing for a fight.
Raven's Nevermore mask emerged from the red first, coming through with her sword drawn and a murderous aura.
"Hello, Ozpin."
"..." Weiss's face scrunched up, turning to Yang in disbelief. "What?!"