Here's chapter 124, everyone.
"Blake, do you have a moment?" Weiss asked as she had Myrtenaster with her, while Blake herself was in the middle of her walking back to the dorm, since classes were done for the day.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah I can spare a bit of time." Blake said, noticing the sword on Weiss' hip. "I'm gonna take a guess and say you want to do a bit of training?"
Weiss nodded. "It's more on not wanting to rely on Ruby for my training. And no, I don't want you thinking I'd rely on you for this." She rested her hand on Myrtenaster. "I simply wish to expand on my skills with an opponent that doesn't fight with an oversized gardening tool."
Blake chuckled a bit. "I doubt Ruby would like you calling Crescent Rose that."
"Oh please, I called it that the other day… Though I would appreciate you not telling her I called it that again. She got way too defensive about it." Weiss said in response.
"I'd rather not be the one to say it anyways, but sure, we can do a bit of sparring. Just not for too long. I have, well, I wanted to talk with my parents again." Blake admitted, bringing a smile to Weiss' face.
"That's great. Maybe we can meet them through video call? T-That is if you'd be okay with that of course." Weiss didn't want to sound pushy.
Blake's ears twitched under her bow, as she thought about introducing the team to her parents before. "I don't see a problem with that, but… Um, I do need to warn you about my dad. He's a bit, uh, not that happy about things your dad… I mean, Jacques has done."
Weiss instantly felt a drop in her mood, sighing to herself as she rubbed her arm. "I guess I can't blame your Father for feeling that way."
"I'll talk to him about it." Blake assured.
"Right… Well, anyways, we should go get changed so we can train." Weiss didn't say it, but her facial expressions and her voice was all that was needed to show she wasn't all that fond of hearing about Jacques.
Blake's cat ears drooped under the bow, since she felt guilty bringing up the concern. Without saying a word, she followed behind Weiss.
A few minutes of walking past, and Weiss had realized that Blake was keeping quiet, so she sighed and stopped walking. "You know you shouldn't just stop talking altogether, Blake. I already told you I don't blame your Father for how he may feel."
"I know, but I shouldn't have brought that up." Blake admitted to feeling guilty.
Weiss rolled her eyes. "It's a valid concern, and honestly, if I just showed up on the video feed and he saw me, he would be able to tell that I'm a Schnee. Giving me the warning was honestly for the best."
"Why are you so forgiving of the thought of being blamed for his choices?" Blake asked, in reference to Jacques.
"I am not forgiving, Blake. I hate that people would try and lump me with the way he's tarnished my family's name… But this is your Father, so I can't just be angry with him." Weiss stated.
Blake shook her head, more out of disgust for how the world worked at times. "I guess we both know a bit about being judged unfairly."
Weiss frowned. "I can't say I know it on that level, Blake. It wouldn't exactly be right to-."
"We don't need to compare things like that. I'm just saying I get it." Blake reiterated.
"I… Suppose I get it too then." The two silently agreed to leave it at that, and had quickly went to their dorm, changing into normal attire and then making their way to the training room.
Once there, Weiss remembered one crucial thing that Ruby would do for her during training, and it made her blush heavily. "Ugh… I can't believe I forgot…" Blake's ears perked up, having heard her, as Weiss walked over. "B-Blake, you know of when I transform, right?"
"Yeah, it's a flash of light and, uh, well, you become a wolf. Not that hard to understand really." Blake said, unclear of why Weiss seemed so nervous.
"Um, well, you also know my clothes falls off when I transform." Weiss said quietly, her blush growing redder, as Blake's ears perked up again.
"Uh, yeah? But that shouldn't be a problem. You'd just change back without me looking." Blake assured her that she'd respect her privacy.
Weiss shuffled her feet a bit. "R-Right, but Ruby tends to gather my clothes for me, and even wraps my pendant around me, so… Would you be okay doing that too?"
Blake let out a small smile and chuckled lightly. "You're really nervous for that? I thought you were about to tell me a deep dark secret, Weiss."
"It's not funny! I… Ugh, I end up being naked when I transform, and maybe I've grown used to Ruby being the one to help me with my clothes is all…" Weiss pouted, and Blake chuckled lightly again.
"Hey, relax, I'm not about to make fun of you or anything. I get what you mean. You have a lot of trust in Ruby-."
Weiss had to interrupt. "I trust you too, Blake."
"I know, but I was just trying to say that Ruby is your number one for this kind of thing, but maybe you can learn to let all of us help you with this. I mean, you did help me in talking with my parents after all." Blake reminded.
"I-It's just so annoying." Weiss complained.
The black cat rubbed her arm a few times. "I can see why, but hey, the more comfortable you get around us about it, the easier it will be on you later on."
Weiss took a moment to take in her reasoning, and groaned, since she knew it was sound reasoning. "I suppose you're right, but I swear if any of you ever try to hide my clothes from me during those situations, I will shred every outfit you own."
"Noted." Blake smiled, not taking the threat to seriously, seeing as she wasn't one to mess with people like that.
"Good… Um, anyways, I don't believe I will up and become a wolf yet. Would you be okay training with semblances? I wish to fight someone who is also using their semblance." Weiss said as she grabbed onto Myrtenaster.
Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud and nodded. "Easy enough. Have you had practice with your glyphs?"
Weiss nodded. "Casting is getting easier, and it doesn't take as much of a toll on my aura as it did when I first started using them. Oh, and I've kept an eye on how you use your shadows, so don't think you can trick me, Belladonna."
"Seems a bit unfair that you know more about my semblance than I do yours, but I won't complain." Blake smirked.
"Oh please, you know as well as I do that is only because I recently discovered my semblance. Being able to know our semblances on the team is very important after all, so I'm sure you've taken a few notes on my wolf abilities." Weiss smirked back as she held a stance.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't." Blake took her own stance, and after the two waited a few moments, they both sprung into action.
Weiss didn't waste energy casting her glyphs yet, as they both clashed blades. Weiss had Myrtenaster in rapier form, due to her being in human form. Blake was pushing back, trying to gain the upper hand in physical strength, since overall she had more than Weiss in that aspect. Feeling the pressure of being pushed back, Weiss jumped back and casted her first glyph.
It was an attempt to grab at Blake's arm, like how she used her glyph to hold Cardin's weapon a few days ago. Blake wasn't too concerned, as the moment her arm was binded, she used her semblance and a shadowy mist of her was in her place, as she jumped in the air, knowing Weiss would have to block since she had to let go of her focus on the glyph.
Just as Blake landed down, she slashed Gambol Shroud at Weiss, with the white haired girl taking the blocking approach. "Ugh, always keeping the pressure up. I'm a bit surprised honestly."
"No offense, but I do know it takes concentration for you to use your glyphs. The moment someone figures that out, they'll exploit that." Blake said, almost like she was trying to teach Weiss of the flaw.
Weiss grunted at that, taking note of what she said, as she surprised Blake by pushing back and knocking her a bit away. Blake was open for an attack, and as Weiss stuck, Blake ducked from getting hit, and Weiss sidestepped from the attempted counter hit.
Both girls weren't ready to use dust at that point, as it was more training their melee abilities in combat, learning to conserve the dust they had, and to better themselves if they ever ran out of dust in battle.
Neither of them said a word, as Weiss tried to summon a glyph without raising her hand or fingers. She remembered she did it before as a wolf, and if she could do so as a wolf, she figured she could as a human no problem.
Blake heard the chime of the glyph behind her, but noticed Weiss hadn't raised her hand, so she gasped and turned, thinking it was a glyph that would push her back, but that gave Weiss the opening she wanted.
When she rushed up to Blake, she jabbed at her several times with her rapier, causing Blake to wince in pain from the quick hits. It didn't last long though, as Blake had no intention of just letting her continue the attack, so she unsheathed her blade, going into her dual wielding style, having cross slashed at Weiss when she unsheathed it.
Weiss didn't have the chance to move back or block, so her aura took a hit from the cross slash Blake delivered. She didn't have a tracker for her aura, so Weiss had to be careful. Out of the whole team, her aura was the weakest, and she knew that.
"I can't take too many hits…"
Thinking fast, Weiss did a backflip, trusting in her semblance, as a glyph had ended up forming right where she would land in the air. She was taking a gamble, but when she felt that she wasn't falling, Weiss looked down, seeing her body was staying still on the glyph. "I-It worked."
Weiss quickly refocused on the fight, using the propelling qualities of the glyph to launch herself right at Blake, who gasped but at least tried to swing both her blade and sheath at the incoming girl. Blake managed to hit her side, but not before taking a quick and momentum heavy attack from Weiss.
With a bit more confidence, Weiss summoned up another glyph where she'd end up from propelling from the first glyph, locking her feet down on it, only to shoot herself back at Blake. Another strike to the back, since Blake wasn't expecting her to fling herself like that again, and Weiss repeated the process of going from one glyph to the other, attacking Blake on the way to the next glyph as fast as she could.
Instead of just standing there and taking it though, Blake had enough and predicted where she'd go to next, using her shadow to dodge an attack, and the moment Weiss was about to shoot off to another glyph, Blake was there, kicking her in the stomach and sending her flying back with a loud grunt.
"Agh!" Weiss cried out in pain, clutching her stomach as she hadn't expected a kick like that. "Ugh, kicking… Really, Belladonna?"
"Oh please, don't complain about my feet when getting hit with a blade." Blake smirked and decided it was time to get a bit more serious, swapping Gambol Shroud to gun mode.
Weiss' eyes widened as she had to roll out of the way of the gunfire Blake was using on her. When she had enough moment, she jumped up and slammed her rapier down, producing an ice wall to block the incoming rounds.
"Moving onto dust? Okay… I shouldn't have used so many glyphs. I got too excited… Ugh, Winter would be so disappointed if she knew about this."
Shaking her head to get away from those thoughts, Weiss thought about how Blake was on the other side of the ice wall, so the element of surprise could be good to use. Her ice was cracking from the continued gunfire, so Weiss took a breath, swapping the blade on Myrtenaster to the sharp edged form.
Without a second thought, she used her Shapeshifting and became a wolf, grabbing Myrtenaster with her teeth, as she got ready. When the ice shattered, she jumped out at Blake from the crumbling ice, causing the cat Faunus to gasp, as she couldn't block with her weapon in pistol form.
Weiss slashed at her, hitting Blake back far enough to cause some damage when she fell. Letting the enemy recover though was never a good idea, so Weiss picked up on the offensive. Blake was on one knee, seeing Weiss charging at her, so she began firing rounds at the white wolf, who decided to take the shots, shocking Blake.
Not many knew, but Weiss had a stronger aura in her wolf form, so she just kept running at her, deflecting shots with her blade, and taking a few till she got close and slashed down at Blake, thinking she'd gotten her, but instead Blake's body turned into a shadowy mist.
The white wolf growled at that, as Blake swapped back to her dual wielding. "I didn't think you'd just take those shots, Weiss… You need to be careful."
Weiss wasn't ready to talk, so she ran at the girl, her size being large enough to give her a possible pouncing strategy, but as she got close, Blake swung one blade to the left, and her other was a jab. Instead of just focusing on one outright, Weiss used a glyph, making it have ice properties as it covered Blake's arm up with ice, the one jabbing at the wolf.
In that split second moment, Weiss bashed her body against Blake, taking the slash that Blake went for. With Blake being pushed onto her back, Weiss pounced onto her, slamming her paw down on the arm not covered in ice.
Blake gasped in pain, though her aura was at least taking most of the damage. As Weiss looked down at her, she was about to slash down at Blake, turning her head in a motion meant for swinging, seeing as she fought with her weapon being used with her teeth.
Another use of her shadow semblance, and Blake was free, as the ice on her arm fell to the ground and shattered. Weiss growled in annoyance, dropping her weapon, as she felt it was slowing her down to swing.
Seeing that confused Blake.
"What is she doing? She knows I'd have the advantage if she drops her only use of a dust catalyst without using her semblance."
Weiss turned to Blake, growling as she moved slowly in a predator hunting its prey like fashion. Blake was being patient as well, not wanting to take any chances with what Weiss could do as a wolf.
"There's nothing wrong fighting the way I was born. Even if things change, I know who I still am."
Weiss charged in that moment, as Blake slashed her blades, using dust to swing out electric beams at the white wolf. Instead of just taking the hit, Weiss did something unexpected to both girls. She howled, and suddenly the shockwave of the much louder than normal howl dispersed the electricity.
It was like time stopped for both of them, as Weiss gasped and felt her entire body was heavy. Blake herself wasn't too tired from the fight itself, but seeing a shockwave from a howl truly was unexpecting.
When she noticed Weiss swaying though, she sheathed her blade and ran over, grabbing at her the best she could from keeping her from falling. "Weiss! Whoa, hey, try to relax."
Weiss' vision was blurry, as she almost fell over even in Blake's grasp. Instead she allowed herself to lay down, panting heavily as she felt like her head was on fire. "Ugh… Blake… What was that…"
"You're asking me?" Blake moved her hand to Weiss' chest, feeling her heart racing beneath the fur. "Weiss, I don't know what you just did, but you need to try relaxing. Your heart is racing." The concern in her voice was raised after feeling just how fast Weiss' heart was beating.
The white wolf took a deep breath, several deep breaths, as she still felt a massive headache from the howl she let out. "O-Okay…" Weiss was shaking a bit, but she did her best to just calm down.
"Why are so many things happening with me?"
Weiss wasn't dumb. She knew it was clearly something to do with her abilities as a Hidden, but to cause a shockwave with just a howl. It almost felt unreal to have such a strength. In her mind, she knew of one thing she wanted to do, and that was to speak to Torn again.
I hope you all didn't mind this set up chapter for future events to really set in. It's not a lot in terms of story, but I liked getting this done to show that not just Weiss, but other Hidden are able to expand on more than just their physical animal abilities. Oh, and don't worry, I am not going to make these abilities overpowered. Obviously it takes way more out of them than just semblance use.
To JJ- I wanted to show that any character could have something good to them, whether it was who they were before or what they could be. Jacques is too stubborn and ignorant to see the problems he's brought upon his family, only focusing on what he deems as the good he's done. Willow can't continue trying to show him the wrong, if the man never understands what he's really done.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 124. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 125.