Chp. 14: Stroll Through the Park

Cantareira State Park

June 25, 2020

It was dark in Watson's room as the latter was in his bed asleep. The door opens and walking in comes Qrow with a backpack on him. He walks over to Watson as he is in his bed still sleeping.

"Wake up, kid," Qrow said.

Watson didn't respond and was still asleep.

"Come on, we haven't got all day," Qrow said.

Still no response from Watson.

"Okay, kid you asked for it," Qrow said.

He tucks his hands underneath Watson's back and rolls him off the bed, waking him up. Watson looks up at Qrow, barely able to see him because of how dark it is and that he just woke up.

"What the hell?! What is your problem?!" Watson asked.

"Time for you to wake up. I'm taking you somewhere to start your training," Qrow said.

"How did you even get into my house?" Watson asked.

"I picked the lock," Qrow answered.

"Whatever. Just open the curtains," Watson said, looking annoyed.

Qrow walks over to the window and opens the curtains. When the curtains were opened it was still dark, much to Watson's surprise.

"What the...?! What time is it?!" Watson asked.

"It's four in the morning," Qrow answered.

"Four in th... Way that early?!" Watson asked as he was starting to get angry.

"Because it's to help you get used to waking up at unexpected times incase of a Grimm attack," Qrow explained.

"Did you do this to Yang and Ruby when you were training them?" Watson asked.

"Nope," Qrow bluntly said.

"What the fu-" Watson gets cut off by the veteran Huntsman.

"First off, they didn't wake up early like this when they were younger. Second, I was a teacher at Signal Academy as they got in when they got a little older and it was easier for me to train them from that point on. And thirdly, their father was also there to train them too. So since you're starting your training at a late age, your training is gonna be a lot different," Qrow explained.

"If you say so," Watson said.

"Now get yourself ready. The sooner the better," Qrow said.


Cantareira State Park

A half an hour later, Qrow and Watson had been taken all the way up to the Cantareira State Park by an uber driver. They then wandered into the park for a good spot to start Watson's training as Qrow carried a flashlight. Eventually, they found a good open area for Watson to begin his training.

"Right here's a good spot," Qrow said as he turned off the flashlight.

Watson was barely able to see Qrow standing right in front of him.

"So why are you training me in the dark?" Watson asked.

"Right now we need to work on your extrasensory perception," Qrow answered.

"My what?" Watson asked.

"Exercising your senses," Qrow answered. "I want you to defend yourself while I attack you. And this environment around you will make it a little difficult for you to find me."

"And how can I do that exactly?" Watson asked.

"A number of ways. Your hearing, smelling everything around you, feeling the wind, and you can even use your aura to detect the aura of other living things. Well except for the Grimm since they are completely soulless," Qrow said.

Watson looked down at his arms for a moment before looking back up, but as he did, Qrow was gone. Watson quickly looked all around him and the veteran Huntsman was nowhere in sight. Suddenly without warning, Watson felt something punch him in the face, knocking him to the ground. He looks up to see Qrow standing over him.

"Try to sense my next attack," Qrow said.

He dashed straight into the woods and vanished from sight. Watson stood himself back up and looked all around, looking for Qrow. He was unable to see him due to how thick the woods were and how dark it was right now. He then heard wrestling into some nearby bushes. He turned to the bushes and got into a stance and waited for Qrow to come out. But instead, out came a squirrel with a nut in its mouth, which then ran away.

"Okay. Where are y-" before Watson could finish, Qrow dashed up to him and punches him to the ground again.

"Try again," Qrow said before he ran back into the woods.

"Motherfucker," Watson groaned as he got back up on his feet.

Watson looked around to find Qrow again, hoping not to get punched again. He began to look around and listen for Qrow to pop out again. A slight breeze brushed against him and Watson then smelt alcohol. He widened his eyes and turned to his side and saw Qrow dash at his as he was about to throw another punch. Watson ducked down, avoiding the attack as Qrow passed him.

"AH HA!" Watson triumphantly taunted, pointing at Qrow.

Watson quickly felt something get caught up against his legs as it tossed him up in the air as he then fell back to the ground. Watson looked back up with a groan and saw Harbinger in its scythe form as Qrow held its handle by the tip.

"Oh, come on now!" Watson shouted.

"Again," Qrow said as he ran back into the woods again.

Watson sighed and got back up to his feet again and began to look around for Qrow again.


A couple hours later, the sun was rising and Watson was dangling by his legs on a tree branch doing curl ups as Qrow was perched onto another branch watching.

"Come on, Watson. just fifty more to go," Qrow said.

Suddenly, the branch Watson was dangling from snapped, causing him to fall to the ground several feet to the ground with a yell. Qrow sighed as he then jumps off the branch he's on and down to the ground to check on Watson.

An hour later, Watson was in a duel with Qrow. Watson tried wildly slashing at Qrow with his karambit knives as the veteran Huntsman easily blocked and parried away the attacks with his sword. Qrow swung his Harbinger and knocked Watson's knives out of his hands, and then kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Don't go all out on your opponent. You'll lose a lot more energy that way," Qrow said.

Watson picks up his karambit knives and gets up off the ground.


Another hour later, Watson was currently sitting on a log resting as Qrow stood aside from him.

"Is this how late trainers do their combat training?" Watson asked.

"Most do, Watson. But there are some that had been given little by little combat training during their time at a Huntsman academy. Like that Jaune Arc kid for example. He had no combat training when he got into Beacon until his partner stepped in and taught him. And she took things with him one little baby step at a time," Qrow answered.

"I guess that's true," Watson said. "So what's next?"

He got no response and Watson looked up at Qrow to see he was looking out into the woods.

"Qrow?" Watson asked.

The veteran Huntsman hushed Watson as took a couple steps forward to get a closer look. He noticed a pair of red glowing eyes peering through some bushes followed by a growl.

"Grimm," Qrow muttered.

The Grimm jumps out into the opening, revealing itself to be a Beowolf. It rushed over at Qrow and Watson. Qrow jumps up into a nearby tree as Watson rolled away from the charging Grimm. The Beowolf tried to swipe its claws at Watson as he backflips away from its attacks. Watson drew his karambit knives and slashed at its claws, slicing them off. Watson plunged his knives into the Grimm's throat and then slit it.

The Beowolf swayed back and forth for a moment as Watson took a few steps back. The Grimm falls to the ground in front of Watson's feet as it then dissipates into nothing. Watson hears the sound of clapping and turns around to see Qrow approaching him while clapping.

"Pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself. Your first kill," Qrow said.

"Grimm wise, yeah," Watson said.

"I'm gonna be honest with you kid. I already knew that Grimm was here the entire time," Qrow said.

"What do you mean?" Watson asked.

"I mean I already knew that Beowolf was running around in this park even before we got here," Qrow answered.

"Wait, what?! If you knew it was around, then why didn't you just kill it yourself?!" Watson asked in shock.

"Because I wanted to test you, Watson. I wanted you to kill it," Qrow answered.

As the two were talking, a hand slowly poked out from the bushes reached into Qrow's backpack and after a moment of digging around, the hand pulled out a small vial of earth Dust. The hand retracted back into the bushes with the vile.

"So all that training I was put through wasn't just to prepare me, it was to lure it out, wasn't it?" Watson asked.

"Yep," Qrow replied.

"And you could have just told me about it beforehand?" Watson asked.

"I wanted to surprise you," Qrow answered with a smirk.

"Very funny," Watson sarcastically said with an eyeroll.

"I thought it was," Qrow said with a chuckle. " Now that that's out of the way, let's get you back home. I bet your father is worried."

Qrow walks over to his backpack and picks it up. He then starts to walk away as Watson follows.

"Speaking of my dad, how did you convince him to train me?" Watson asked.

"It wasn't easy, but after I told him about what you have been doing and told him about your accomplishments, he decided to let me train you," Qrow explained.

"Yeah, he does worry about me a lot," Watson said.