Chapter 3.5: Intermission.
The seven students followed Watcher out of the viewing room and gazed around at the building they were in as well as looking at the many rooms that they passed.
The first room looked like an art gallery, there were many pictures on walls with different styles of art. Some of them looked…inappropriate so to speak.
The second room was a library with numerous shelves, tables, chairs, a coffee machine, sleeping bags and even computers. Some books were floating in midair with some of them having words spilling out of them. Blake looked interested as she saw some of the books have suggestive covers.
The next room was…an empty room. There was nothing, no furniture, no paintings, no pictures, nothing. Confused, they looked closer, yet found nothing before they all shrugged and followed Watcher.
Eventually, after a bit of walking, Watcher stopped in front of a large door and put his hand on it.
"Well, here we are." He said before opening the door. At first, a light blinded them before it diminished and their jaws dropped in shock at what they saw.
The room. Was. Huge.
The room had all the training equipment necessary for a fighter. Ranging from weights to treadmills to punching bags to even shooting ranges. Drones made from black metal stood in the far end of the room with a large open environment in the center. A boxing ring, a swimming pool, automatic BB guns to even a-
"Is that a mine field?!" Nora asked, pointing at the large field, which had blinking lights at the ground with the sign that said 'watch out for mines' on it. That and a large sign on the wall that said "Mine field".
"Yep, this place is my own personal training ground. I have all the necessary tools for lifting, fighting, shooting and so on. Occasionally, whenever it is time for a break you can come here to train to hone your skills. Can't have you all just sitting around here and eating fast food." Watcher explained as the students immediately went to different exercises. Yang whistled as she saw the number on the weights.
"Holy hell, you don't see anything like this in Beacon." Weiss looked around some more and stumbled upon an ice rink with a single drone in the center.
Blake found a yoga mat and raised an eyebrow before turning to Watcher.
"You do yoga here." He nodded.
"Yeah, it helps me relax, plus helps me with flexibility." She nodded at him whilst seeing several different discs next to a large TV.
"Oh, this looks so cool!" Ruby exclaimed when she saw a large rifle placed near the shooting range. It looked rather simple yet had some sort of strange glow to it. Pyrrha nodded as she looked at it before looking at the inanimate drones at the open environment.
"Ren! Let's go to the mine field!" Ren sighed as he felt his partner pull him towards the mine-field, he held his ground though as she tried dragging him.
"Nora, no."
"Nora, yes."
Watcher shook his head whilst smiling under his mask at the ginger acting the way she did. He clapped his hands. Suddenly, he heard beeping coming from his gauntlet and looked down to see a blue button on it. He pressed it as a hologram appeared with weird symbols, frowning when he read them before turning it off and looking at others.
"Alright, can you all listen to me?" They turned to him as he pointed to the open environment.
"We have a break at our hands, but I have something urgent to do. So I will leave you all with this here." He went to computer panel and pressed a few buttons allowing the door to pope and the drones activated.
"This here is Adaptational Training Environemnt or ATE. In here you will all fight those drones," he pointed at the drones "They are specially made to adapt to your fighting styles and the more you fight them the harder it will get, you with me so far?" They all nodded at him as they entered the ATE.
"How does it start?" Weiss asked.
"The ATE will start when you give the call or say that you are ready. I will set the difficulty to your level and the drones will fight you one on one and will not focus on the other person, you cannot attack the drone that is fighting another person, you can only do that in Team Fight mode. Right now it is on One on One mode so get ready." They pulled out their weapons as the drones' eyes glowed red and they proceeded to scan their opponents. They all took fighting stances as the area around them turned into a forest.
"Setting the difficulty to 'Hurt me plenty'. The drones will attack you with the intent to kill so don't hold back." Watcher said as he put in the commands and the drones' eyes glowed yellowish green. Much to students' shock, the drones then had weapons come out of their bodies. Yang's opponent had spiked gauntlets on the hands and spiked boots and took a kick boxing stance. Ruby's opponent created two scythes with levers near the handle and chains on its arms as it crouched slightly on the ground with the scythes' blades behind it, Weiss's opponent created a cutlass and took fencing stance. Blake's eyes widened slightly when she saw her opponent create a katana with lightning dancing around it and a shorter sword strapped to the waist, it took a iaijutsu stance, ready to pull the sword out at a moment's notice. Ren's opponent formed two gauntlets with sharp blades in the forearms and clawed fingers as it crouched slightly with its arms in a cross. Nora grinned when she saw her opponent create two axes with serrated edges and hold them in a Viking stance. Finally, Pyrrha's opponent made a sword and a shield and took a basic stance.
"When you are low on Aura or you are unable to fight, the drone will stop and the training will only end when either you win or they do. Remember: no teamwork. That will be for a different time. Are you ready?" The students nodded at him.
"Bring it on!" Yang shouted as Watcher pressed the button.
"Let's break their legs!" Nora shouted before she rushed at her opponent with a hammer swing. It blocked it, creating a crater under it, before striking at her as she used the handle to block them. The others were engaging their own opponents. She swung her hammer again as her opponent barely dodged them. She used her grenades for more destructive force and succeeded in hitting her opponent, sending it flying. The drone used the axes on the ground to stop his momentum before running at her at which she grinned and readied her hammer for a swing. Her opponent dodged her next attack before proceeding to attack her with fast strikes, taking a chunk out of her aura before kicking her in the face and staggering her with a double swing.
Yang was grinning as her opponent used several boxing styles to attack her. She blocked the hits with her own and used her shotgun gauntlets to get a hit. To her surprise he blocked them with both his hands and feet and using her openings to strike at her. Each attack fueling her Semblance as she kept grinning throughout the entire fight. Her opponent's gauntlets then burst into flames before it began to viciously strike at her with fast but light attacks. It gave no chance for a counter as it even used kicks. She side stepped to avoid them before going on her own barrage at it as her hair started glowing.
Ren dodged under the claw swipes, flipping as he dodged one aimed at his head before trying to hit it and only managing to hit the weapons instead. His opponent was aggressive as it always closed in whenever he tried to fall back. He managed to get a hit but took one as well as his opponent head butted him. He shook his head before deciding to go on defensive and dodged the attacks and making fast strikes whenever he saw a chance.
Weiss huffed as she tried to strike her opponent but ended up getting paired as her opponent used her mistakes to close in on her. She used Fire Dust to enhance her attacks, managing to stagger her opponent and went at it with quick strikes. She used her glyph to propel herself but her opponent managed to recover and disarmed before giving her quick strikes with great precision, taking a toll on her aura. She grunted before using a glyph on herself and got Myrtenaster back before attacking her opponent again. She tried using multiple glyphs to confuse her opponent but each time her opponent either dodged or simply shrugged off her glyphs.
Ruby used her Semblance to speed around her opponent to catch it off guard. But it somehow predicted her moves and always jumped or ducked under her attacks. She then used her weapon's recoil to get a hit but her opponent used the scythes effectively to block them and even using the triggers to parry her and try to hit her. He was succeeding and she lost a chunk of her aura. She huffed before deciding to use a different tactic. She used her semblance to try to use an attack from above but her opponent used the chains at the arms and swung one of the scythes at her while she was in midair. She used the recoil to dodge only to be surprised when her opponent threw one of the scythes at her with great force, forcing her to use her Semblance to dodge again. Unfortunately, she appeared right in front of her opponent who kicked her in the face with great force, making her fly back before using Crescent Rose to stop herself as one of the scythes returned to the owner.
Blake dodged a cut form the katana before using her sword to block the smaller sword. She used her sword and her sheath in conjunction but her opponent used both his swords to parry her every move with equal speed and agility, at times even getting a hit on her. She narrowed her eyes and jumped back before doing a wide swipe and creating a purple arc which her opponent destroyed with a strong swing of his own sword. She shifted her weapon to a kusarigama and began a ruthlessly attack on her opponent using her gun's recoil to strengthen the impact. To her surprise, the drone managed to block her attacks, she used her clones to try to get the jump on him but her opponent's sword glowed as it sheathed it…before swinging it in a wide arc horizontally. Her eyes widened when she saw a lighting arc and she jumped to dodge it before he swung his second sword vertically to create another one and she used a clone to dodge it. She huffed as she saw it take a low stance with the sword pointed downwards before she attacked it again.
Pyrrha blocked a sword swing before taking a swipe and met her opponent's sword before it kicked at her legs, throwing her off balance and tried to bash her in the face. She blocked it, then used her javelin to deliver fast and powerful strikes at the drone and then used her shield to bash it in the face. It took all the hits before throwing the shield her, surprising her as it then began to swing the sword at her with vicious speed and strength, not letting her counter attack as it picked up the shield and used the sword in the conjuction with it, forcing her to side step or dodge the attacks. She tried using her Semblance but to her shock, neither the weapons nor the drone even budged before it charged at her again and she forced on the defensive.
Watcher saw their training, nodded, before creating a blue portal and went through it. Appearing on the other side he took a look at the empty space and was confused when he saw no one around.
"Hello?" He called out before another portal opened up and a person wearing an attire identical to his came out. Except she had a more feminine figure and brown glowing eyes along with a scaled scarf around her neck. Soon enough, more portals appeared as more hooded people came out, each different size and structure with one of them even being mechanical and another being as small as a mouse.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," a robed figure said as he came to the center "Thank you for coming at such a short notice. Let the meeting of Watchers commence."
Sometime later.
Yang groaned when her opponent threw her to the ground, even more so when it put its foot on her back. She looked up and saw everyone else being tired with some like Ren and Weiss lying on the ground with their weapons next to them. She even saw Pyrrha kneeling and using her spear to support herself as their opponents stood over them.
"Training simulation ended. Shutting down the drones." They heard a female voice say as the drones removed the weapons and went to their places before they each shut down.
"You alright over there?" Watcher asked as he saw their states.
"We-We're fine." Ruby groaned out, having a slight bruise on her cheek as she lay face up on the ground.
"I guess you all had enough. Come on get up, you can rest when we get to the kitchen." He told them as they all picked themselves and each other up. Yang grabbed her partner by her arm and helped her as she was struggling to stand up, Nora and Ren helped Pyrrha as Weiss was helping Ruby and they followed Watcher out of the training room into the kitchen. As they went through the rooms again, they saw the gallery again and had a closer look at some of the art.
Nora giggled as she saw Weiss make a funny face when she saw an ice statue of herself wearing a pure white dress made of snow. Ruby had a look of awe as she saw a picture of herself wearing a mask and holding two smaller scythes. Yang whistled as she saw a painting of herself covered in flames and horns sticking out of her head fighting a crystal dragon. Blake raised an eyebrow when she spotted a painting that had her covered in ninja attire and holding a bloody katana.
Ren smiled slightly as he saw a painting of an older looking him with a child on his shoulder. Nora had stars in her eyes upon the sight of a statue of herself fighting a giant snake while wielding a lightning hammer and wearing Viking attire. Pyrrha gasped as she saw a statue of herself looking down on the ground with her shield held in her hands, she looked like she was sad.
But the three stopped as they saw one particular painting. The painting had a burning background with bodies lying around, some looked like they were cut in half, rivers of blood were flowing out with lightning flashing the skies. But at the center of the painting was Jaune, except he looked different. He had a slight stubble and several scars on his face, pure revenge and hatred in his eyes as he stood over the corpses while wearing a terrifying white armor with his hood up. In his left hand was a double handed Crocea Mors and in his right was Manghild, both weapons were dripping blood, on his back was Akouo and lastly, StormFlower was strapped to his thighs.
The three looked at the painting and couldn't help but shiver as they saw the look of hatred on the painting. Yet for some reason they started feeling…dread, fear. Almost like the Jaune in the painting was looking at them directly.
"Guys!" They snapped out of their trance as they saw Ruby waving at them "Don't fall behind." The three looked at the painting before they all went after the others, missing the writing under the painting.
'Vengeance carried out by a peaceful person…is more destructive than evil done by a monster'
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: Hey everyone! That's right, I am back to writing this fanfic. You might be wondering why I didn't do the next chapter right away instead of the intermission. Well, two reasons, one to announce my return and two, I didn't have a reaction in mind so I made this to try to make up.
Now, you guys remember how I said that I was getting frustrated due to FNDM. However, I realized that the FNDM wasn't the only thing at fault. It was everything that had to with RWBY that stopped me from continuing this. There was just so many things at once that I ended up getting conflicted and eventually was burnt out. Now that I had time to think and look back on some things that changed my perspective slightly.
The first is Bumblebee: Look, I know that many of you might not like me when I say this: I wouldn't mind a lesbian ship on a show so long as it isn't prioritized and no one makes a big deal out of it. The reason why I don't like it is due to its fans, they are crazy and that it practically threw away the character development for both characters. I don't know about you but it feels like CRWBY is just doing it to shut up the fans that love it, except it ended up backfiring.
Second, I realized that the entire craziness with both fans and critics gets really annoying. No, seriously, listen to the fans and they will tell you how awesome the show is and use really bad reasons. Listen to the critics and their own subscribers and you realize that they keep bringing up the same points over and over again so much that it gets annoying and you get apathetic. I am serious: 'Volume 4 this, Volume 5 that, Ruby is bad, Mercury is the best Adam is wasted and should have defeated the team, RT is pandering to SJW, and so on'. The worst has to be their followers who keep using the 'Monty' argument even when they hate it when FNDM does it. Yes, you can say that many things that they bring up do have a point, but when they keep bringing up the same argument but word it differently, you realize that you already heard this stuff a thousand times and even if you look at it from their perspective, it is still the same argument. And it gets annoying.
All in all it made me change the way I look at RWBY, at FNDM, at critics and so on. But with all this, one thing that remained is that I still like the show even when it has so many flaws. People can argue all they want, I will listen to them but I will still stick to my views, with a few tweaks. It ain't the perfect show, it ain't the best show, it never was even when it started and it never will be in the future, but for all that it is, it is still one of my favorites.
Thank you for reading this chapter and until next time. Farewell.
