Here's chapter 84, everyone.
Whitley was tired. He wasn't sure why, but he was simply tired. His Mother seemed to be out more and more, and his Father was the same as always. Focused on his company, and yet, even then, he believed going to his Father was to help him. "Whitley, I'm a little busy right now, so-."
"I'm sorry for barging in unannounced, Father, but there is something I wish to ask you." Whitley said, and his Father motioned for him to sit so they could talk. As the boy took a seat in front of his Father's desk, he took a breath. "I'd like to know more about the direction of the company. In terms of where you are taking it, Father."
"You should know by now where it is, and where it shall be, son." Jacques folded his hands on his desk, thinking back to when he first acquired the company from Willow's father. "But if you need a reminder, the company will continue to expand its presence all around Remnant. In fact, it seems the headmaster of Haven finally has the protection that kingdom needs."
"That sounds wonderful, Father, but… At the same time, what is the purpose of continuing to expand? Money is never an issue, and I'm sure most kingdoms are completely supplied by-."
"Only a fool would think that enough is the end goal, son. What happens if we slow down? What happens when those hunters end up finding more means to supply themselves?" Jacques questioned, mostly testing his son.
Whitley took a moment to think on how to answer. His thoughts went immediately to losing money, and notoriety, but was it something to care about in his eyes was the real question he asked himself. "I suppose other companies will be relied on instead."
"That's part of it, and with that, no one out there will remember the name of this family, and what it offers to the world. Your Grandfather started this company when he was a huntsman, you know that, don't you?" When Whitley nodded, he continued. "Then you should know that keeping it alive for generations to come is how no one else in Remnant could hold a candle to the kind of influence we hold."
Jacques didn't care to be physically strong. He didn't care to fight, but what he did care about was simply having his way, and what better way than to be the number one dust supplier in Remnant. Something every huntsman and huntress needed for their weapons to protect the people of the planet. Not only that, but people like General Ironwood had also relied on his company for dust, so even with their differences, Jacques had some say in even the General's choices.
Whitley had a bit of a nervous twitch as he had a question. "I-I'm a little unsure still, Father. Won't some people go against the way you have grown the company? It's mostly discussions I hear about the Faunus and-."
"You have nothing to worry about, son. The Faunus simply bring false claims to try and solicit more money than they deserve." Jacques explained. "Humans and Faunus are easily treated fairly, but like those mongrels in the White Fang, some Faunus still can't see how good they have it."
The word mongrel made Whitley freeze up, as he remembered when he used the word mutt on his own sister. And while he did listen to most of what his Father told him, he also knew of what people would say of his Father and the company.
"O-Okay, Father. Thank you for this." Whitley got up and gave a respectful bow as he turned on his feet and walked to the door.
"Whitley," Jacques voice was one of the few things that could stop the boy from walking away, so he stood still, a few feet in front of the door. "I'd like you to know that while your Mother has things to say about how I run this company, you'll be happy to know your future is safely secured."
His future. It's how his Father phrased it. Not including his Mother, or even his sisters made him worried, but he simply nodded, not wishing to express his concern in front of his Father. "I understand, Father."
He left the room with a bad taste in his mouth. Whitley thought talking about the company would help him feel better, but in the end it made him feel worse. Still, it was something he was also glad to do.
"You're able to do that much with your semblance?" Yang asked her partner, who simply nodded, showing her that she could use dust with her semblance by creating an ice clone, only to jump away from it. "Okay! That would be cheating if you were in an ice sculpture contest. Just saying."
Blake playfully rolled her eyes. "It's not like I'd ever enter."
Yang shrugged in response. "Hey, it wouldn't be so bad as long as you don't get caught while doing it." She turned to look at the target wall, and as she took a breath, the blonde brawler thought to herself.
With an image in her mind, she was set, and keeping her eyes closed was something she needed to do. Blake was intrigued on what she was doing, and as Yang closed her eyes, she took a shot at the wall.
Not a moment later, she opened her eyes. They weren't red, and she was proud to see that she was able to continue hitting the mark she was aiming at. "Good… Just gotta keep that up."
"Keep what up?" Blake asked as Yang turned to face her, and the smile she had on brought a blush to the cat Faunus' face.
"Sometimes I tend to get a little angry when fighting, so I've been training myself to cool off. And it looks like it seriously helps out my aim too." Yang said proudly, and Blake was honestly happy to hear that.
"It does make sense that a calmer mind will help anyone in a fight." Blake agreed.
Yang nodded, but she sighed and held one of her gauntlets with the other hand. "When I close my eyes, I think about the day my mom and dad…" She closed her eyes again, since her heart began to beat a bit faster, and after a few moments, she was feeling calmer, while Blake's ears drooped a bit. "Sorry. Anyways, I think about when they split up… It used to make me really angry, cause my dad was miserable."
Blake almost felt like interrupting, but she didn't, wanting to respect her partner's moment.
"It's one of the easiest ways for me to get mad, so I make myself remember that day, and when I do, I figure out how to not be, well, mad." Yang brought her grin back up. "Like I said it's been helping a lot."
Just hearing her explanation showed Blake that Yang still had her own demons, and she hoped she could help her in someway in overcoming them. "You're honestly really brave in taking on that kind of memory so many times…"
Yang waved it off. "Eh, it's not as hard sometimes. Besides, just look at the shots I've taken."
Her boasting was a sign that she wasn't the kind of person to let something get to her that easily, so Blake did as she said by looking over at the target wall, seeing the larger hole made in the middle, as opposed to the four other off-centered shots she's taken.
"See? Now all I gotta do is work on moving targets, cause no way are Grimm just gonna sit there and let me shoot em in the head." Yang said while thinking of a way to train herself more.
Blake looked over at one of the training consoles, already knowing of a way Yang could test herself with it. "There's always the training program that lets you choose how the A.I can act."
"Hmm? Oh, well yeah I thought about that too, but those are more like human enemies, so it doesn't really show me how Grimm can move, but it's still worth a shot." Yang said, while Blake was simply glad she was getting somewhere in terms of helping Yang. "I'll try it out next time I'm training alone, since I know Ruby is itching to get some team practice in."
"Seeing as how that was the main reason we all came in here, I can tell she's probably getting a bit impatient about it." As Blake said that, she glanced over at Ruby, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her boot against the ground.
"Come on, you two!" Ruby yelled out, since they had finally taken note of her. "We're supposed to be training as a team here!"
Weiss rolled her eyes, but chose not to intervene, since she knew best on how her girlfriend could be like when she was impatient. "I'm sure they know that, you dork…" She mumbled to herself.
Ruby wasn't able to hear that since she was still flailing around a bit, trying her best to rush Blake and Yang to get over.
As they got over, they both could see how Ruby was pouting, and Yang sighed, having to be the one to get her sister to calm down. "Relax, sis. You know I was just working on some target practice. And besides, we got all day."
"Well yeah! But come on, I told you guys that I wanted to work on team attacks." The team leader said while her partner was playfully rolling her eyes. "So get your butts in gear! Cause it's time to come up with some powerful combos!"
Blake blinked a few times, confused by Ruby's enthusiasm, since she never expected a huntress in training to use the word, combo, like that.
"I'm all up for working on ways to improve, but shouldn't you be taking this a little more serious, Ruby?" Weiss had said from behind her partner, who spun around to face her.
"Sometimes you just gotta have fun with training." Her expression was much happier, and she readied Crescent Rose. "Now get ready too, Weiss, cause I got a really cool idea with your glyphs!"
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing as she looked to Blake and Yang. "Why couldn't one of you be here sooner so I wasn't the one being dragged into the first team attack…"
"Sorry, Weissy, but I actually had a reason to be late." Yang countered, while Weiss shrugged it off and held Myrtenaster up.
"Fine, but you should remember that my glyphs still need some work. So don't expect too much from whatever idea you have." Weiss stated, since she still didn't feel as confident with her glyphs.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I know you're still working on it, but this idea will be so awesome! And besides, it works a lot with how you're really good with dust." Ruby commented, as she took Weiss' arm and brought her over to the middle of the room.
Yang crossed her arms and sighed. "You know, Ruby… You didn't need to rush us over if you and Weiss were gonna go first."
Ruby stuck her tongue out at her sister, while she started to explain her idea. "Okay, so I know you like using your other semblance more, but I was thinking of you putting a glyph right in front of us, then using ice dust with it."
Weiss raised an eyebrow at that. "Couldn't you just use ice dust rounds?"
"This way we use less dust for the attack, and we'll have cover with your glyph protecting us." Ruby explained, as Weiss figured it was actually not that bad of an idea, especially for a moment where they'd need to back up and still be able to attack.
"I suppose that could work. Okay, well remember what I said about my glyphs." Weiss reminded, and she prepared herself, taking a breath as she thought about her glyphs instead of her wolf abilities.
Not a moment later, Weiss manifested a glyph in front of them, and as it spun, she raised her blade up, and kept it up against the glyph. The dust chamber spun until it got to ice, and when she used it, the glyph was empowered by ice.
Ruby grinned and slammed her scythe down, readying a sniper shot. Once she lined up with where she wanted to shoot, she fired. The sniper round went through the glyph, and as it did, a huge ice blast shot out, surprising Weiss, since she secretly didn't think her idea would work so easily.
"Ay! It worked!" Ruby cheered, while Weiss simply blinked a few times.
"That… Actually just worked?" Weiss questioned, and Ruby smiled proudly.
"Of course it worked! I knew that if I it was a more focused shot, then it would be way stronger. Just look at the target on the wall. It's completely… Covered… Wait, are we supposed to clean that up now?" Ruby asked, and Weiss facepalmed, while Yang simply walked over to the ice on the wall.
The blonde brawler smirked and activated her semblance, warming up the area around her as the ice melted, and showed her sister that the actual sniper round actually was off center by just a bit. "Almost got it, sis. Not bad."
Ruby grumbled something about missing the bullseye, while Weiss was simply happy that her plan actually worked. The white haired teen looked at the continuous spinning glyph and raised her hand, pressing it against the rune.
She smiled a moment later and felt Ruby poking her shoulder. "Hmm?" She turned to see Ruby giving her a proud look. "What?"
"Our team attack. It really worked." Ruby happily stated. "Now I gotta come up with a lot more kinds of cool attacks, especially something with your wolf semblance."
Weiss perked up at that, since her first 'semblance' was something she was more confident in using. "I would like that, Ruby, but don't strain yourself thinking too much on it."
"Ah, you guys worry too much." Ruby waved it off and grinned. "Hmm, maybe I can use my semblance to speed us up, and I throw you at a Grimm to pounce on!"
Hearing that made Weiss freeze up on the spot, finding that idea to be extremely dangerous. "I-I don't think so."
"What?! But why not? You know how much momentum you'd have if you got shot out at something from my semblance? No way would anyone be able to stay up from that." Ruby tried to reason.
"You are not throwing me at anyone, Ruby Rose. And you will drop it right now, as I am not about to be flung by your semblance." Weiss said while grimacing at the image of her being chucked at a Grimm.
Yang simply laughed at the idea, while Ruby pouted, and Blake was joining Yang in the laughter. All the while, Zwei was barking from the seats, wanting to join them on their training.
More stuff on Whitley, and Yang has her own way of growing as a fighter. Controlling her anger will help her in the long run.
To JJ- Blake and Summer, huh? Hmm, I'll have to find a good moment to really work those two in, as I've written something for Blake and her parents already that I hope everyone will enjoy. As for the Relentless, things have finally picked up with them and their leader.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 84. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 85.