Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
Co-authored with ToxicExotic
Upgraded
Ruby couldn't help but be disappointed. After two weeks of working on it, she'd finally finished the upgrade to her beautiful Crescent Rose, but couldn't find anybody to brag about it too. Normally the first person she would have bragged about it to would have been Weiss, but after falling asleep in the blanket fort, the heiress had declared at dinner the night before that she was attending a spa for the day. Because Ruby knew just how hard her partner had been studying, a little too much in her opinion, she'd happily cancelled team practise for the day. It had also been what allowed her to finish installing the upgrade.
Yang had been missing for the entire day too, but her social media showed that she was simply wandering around Vale with Coco and Nora so she was definitely out of the question. However, Ruby knew exactly where Blake was, so was happily skipping her way to the training room to see her gorgeous girlfriend.
She's been a little curious about Blake's new trainer, Xanthia. She knew of the girl of course, that she was the best of the third years, second best of the entire school; but she'd never actually seen her fight and had never really interacted with her. All she really knew was that every time Blake came back from a session with her, the faunus was exhausted and took at least an hour to recover. So it was with great curiosity that she gently pushed open the door to the sparring room that the schedule said they were in.
The sound of clashing swords greeted Ruby the second the door was opened, the ferocious ringing of metal almost relentless as it bounced off the walls. Peeking her head inside, she saw two blurs, one black and one white, darting around the small stage below her. For any normal person, their movements would have been hard to track, but it was relatively easy for her. At least, Blake's were.
A look of deep concentration was on the faunus' face as she parried blow after blow, barely able to strike back against the sheer overwhelming speed of the other girl. Xanthia moved so fast, so perfectly, that even Ruby was a little shocked. With every parried blow, another two would come, and it almost seemed like trails of white followed every move the third year made, like a torch being wiggled back and forth in the dark. The light speckled off the blonde hair that ran down the back of her head to be tied into a ponytail, the sides shaved bare.
Stepping inside, Ruby made her way over to the small bleachers that lined the wall to have a better view. It didn't take long to see exactly why Blake's was tired every time she got home. Though she was definitely holding her own for the time being, she was obviously getting overwhelmed and completely unable to land a strike. Every time her cleaver would strike out, Xanthia's silver tanto would appear from nowhere to block it, the sword sliding gracefully along the Gambol Shroud to throw Blake off of her stance. The same was true for every gunshot.
The longer she watched though, the more mesmerised Ruby became. There were only really a few speedy fighters in their year, herself, Blake, and Ren; so she rarely got to see how a matchup went when both combatants were fast fighters. She was also proud to see that Blake was recognising Xanthia's tactics, how the Tanto seemed to be only for support, to deflect a blow or hook around a body part to reposition; and more and more, Blake began to punish it. However, as the faunus leaped out of the way to avoid a blow, leaving nothing more than a shadow behind, and performed a beautiful spin kick, a wicked grin spread across the other girl's face, followed by a blinding flash.
Even she was blinded by the light and had to cover her eyes. Not even a second later she felt a knife slip around her throat and instinctively activated her aura as a voice whispered in her ear.
"Play along, Red."
When her vision finally cleared enough to be able to see again, she saw Blake looking up at them in surprise.
"You forgot to keep an eye on your surroundings." Xanthia called out to her, her accent almost the same as Pyrrha's. "Now your opponent has an innocent. What're you gonna do?"
Unable to stop herself from doing exactly as Xanthia had said, Ruby felt a wide smile pull at her face.
"Oh noooo." She said, her extremely cutesy voice exaggerated to the point where she had to stop herself from laughing. "Won't some beautiful hero come save me?"
Despite the situation clearly being a teaching moment, Ruby saw a small grin flicker in the corner of her girlfriend's mouth, as well as feeling a chuckle from the girl holding her captive.
Blake's form moved, leaping high into the air in a sudden surprise attack. The captor was quick on the draw though, pointing her katana at the girl. The coils that rose from its tsuba glowed blue, and rings of electricity tore towards Blake, only for the girl to fade into smoke. At the same time, a shot rang out clearly, and Xanthia's arm slacked as Ruby glimpsed a bullet slam into the bottom of the elbow of the arm holding her, right where the funny bone was. Feeling her chance to be free, Ruby slipped out of the girl's grasp and spun while pulling out her weapon, extending it to sniper form and firing off a shot. It was dodged, but it gave her enough time to petal burst to Blake's side.
"I've gotcha back, Babe." She laughed, seeing the smile finally take over Blake's face.
"Nice shot." Xanthia groaned, rubbing her elbow over her white leather combat jacket. "Risky though. And you still haven't gotten used to making mobile clones without tiring yourself out, have you?"
It was true, even Ruby could hear Blake's deeper breathing at her side that usually accompanied her more advanced clones.
"Your clone based semblance means it takes less aura than the technique, but we'll work on that." Xanthia grinned at the lack of response. "In the meantime…"
The blonde thrust the blade of her tanto forward, a small flash coming from it's hilt. It confused her for a second, since the flash had been so much stronger before. She didn't have to wait long to figure out why, as a thin white outline sprung from Xanthia, its form almost like its owner's but made entirely of aura. Ruby had seen her father use the same aura technique plenty of times, but never used it herself. However, unlike anything her father had ever done, the aura body exploded into the same blinding light as earlier, and Ruby had to block her eyes.
Before her vision could even recover, a kick had been delivered to her back sending her stumbling forward, and the sound of metal on metal clanged behind her. When she did recover though, she used her own technique to sense where the girls were before swinging out her scythe in a smooth arc. She wasn't quite sure how it missed, but she met nothing but air.
Turning on the spot since she sensed Xanthia was still close, Ruby gave Crescent Rose a small spin just in time to deflect the wakizashi that surged towards her waist, only for the tanto to be hooked around the head. The girl's strength was beyond her own, and the spin stopped immediately as she pulled back. Pulled off her feet, Ruby stumbled forward and a kick was delivered to her stomach. She doubled over, Blake vaulting over her head and continuing the assault. Getting to her feet, Ruby moved in to assist.
"Why so slow, Red?" Xanthia chuckled while she effortlessly parried their blows. "Even as a team, you're never going to win like that."
Ruby didn't respond. She already had a plan.
Over the next few minutes, Ruby felt like she finally understood what it was like to be a member of Team CDNL when fighting Pyrrha or Weiss, because despite there being two of them fighting one girl, nothing they did seemed to work. While they did land a few hits while working together, it always felt like something Xanthia had allowed to happen, but the skill gap between all of them was clear as day as the girl predicted every move they made. However, Xanthia didn't know everything, even Blake didn't; so striking out with her scythe predicting that Xanthia would catch it with her tanto again, Ruby flipped the new switch on her scythe.
She couldn't help the smile that came to her face as she felt the whirring beneath her fingers. Crescent Rose's blade split down the middle, the two sides separating as a second blade pushed its way through them. It was a little thicker than the normal blade, the Dustal a cloudy white, and it's serrated edge gave it a wicked look. Taken by surprise, Xanthia's blade caught on the teeth of the new blade, and Ruby took full advantage of the opening to tear it from her hand. Obviously having seen the opening too, Blake appeared at her side and ripped her cleaver through the air, the downward strike blocked, but the energy wave that it emitted sent the third year reeling backwards and away from her discarded weapon.
"Hmm." The girl hummed as she landed in a crouch.
While Ruby would have loved to take that moment to brag about how the upgrade has already come in handy, the way Xanthia was grinning made her a little worried. As the girl flipped her sword around and kept her body low to the ground, both Ruby and Blake raised their own guard.
"Interesting." Xanthia whispered as the grin was replaced by a more serious look.
"Careful." Blake whispered as they waited. "She's fa…"
Xanthia shot forward in a flash of white. Even with how accustomed Ruby was to seeing at high speeds, she was shocked by just how fast the girl was. Seeing nothing more than a streak, Ruby spun her scythe and fired off a shot of fire dust, the motion deflecting the blow as the bullet cracked the ground and imbued her new blade all in one move. However, the glow she tried to attack as a followthrough, was little more than the same aftereffect she'd seen earlier when entering the room, and the wave of fire that burst from her new blade left scorch marks on the ground. Sensing movement behind her, she petal burst into the air as Blake gave a horizontal swing to intercept.
Unfortunately, as she came out of her roses, Ruby watched from on high as the attack was reversed, the bladed sheath being ripped from Blake'sher hands as electricity rushed through her body. With a swift kick to the gut, the faunus was thrown back, while the third year hurled the sheath into the air. There was no momentum in the air, and no footing. No way to get her scythe into position, so she let out another shot and plummeted towards the ground, only to be met by Xanthia, who swept her legs from underneath her, transitioning into a beautiful spinning front kick that connected with her chest. It sent her back by a few feet, even further away from Blake.
It was clear that was Xanthia's intention. Keep them away from each other, make sure they can't attack together. It was the smart play, and the girl definitely had the skill to pull it off. There was no way they were defeating her alone, but even as they both tried to close in, Xanthia would find a way to keep them apart. Rings of electricity, flashes of light, precise aura-fuelled kicks; the girl seemed to be well versed in how to isolate a target. Even in the few seconds they could get to stay by each other's sides, the older girl would duck, dodge, and parry every strike thrown at her. Until finally, as both of them charged, Xanthia leapt over Blake, parrying a blow on the way, and slammed her foot into the back of the faunus' head, sending her stumbling forward.
Ruby caught her just in time, but realised too late what her mistake had been. They'd fallen right into the other girl's plan, and out of her corner of her eyes, she saw Xanthia land right next to the tanto. To Ruby's surprise, a thin, hairless tail fell from beneath the girl's clothes and flicked the weapon into the air for her to catch beforeand snatch up her tanto, jamming its blade into the hilt of the longer sword. With a sudden flurry of movement, everything turned blue, and Ruby felt her eyes close as pain seared across her entire body. Dropping to her knee, Blake falling with her, Ruby opened her eye and saw the other ninja standing up, hardlight dust streaming off the end of the wakizashi and extending it by more than double the length.
A small beep from hers and Blake's Scroll notified them that they were in the red.
"Ughhh." Ruby replied, groaning as she stood up. "That hurt."
"Hard light will do that to you." Xanthia chuckled, raising her sword and slashing it to the side, the blue light degrading into flakes that quickly dissipated. She returned it to the sheath on her hip
"Now you know why I'm in pain whenever I get back from training." Blake moaned and picked up her sword.
"Well you are lasting longer than most people." The older girl laughed, her hair twinkling with light as she did. "And you two actually work well as a team. I can't remember the last time someone disarmed me."
"Thanks." Ruby beamed happily, giving her scythe a happy stroke, admiring the new blade. Out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted Blake looking at it too. "Blake's much better than me though."
"Maybe if you weren't holding back, then you would be better."
Though there was still a friendly tone to the girl's voice, the remark itself showed just how obvious it was that she often pulled her punches; or rather, slashes. Ruby also didn't miss that Blake looked away at those words. She knew how her team felt about her holding back in fights, unless it was against Grimm, and that she would have to one day change that, but she was still having trouble getting over the potential of accidentally hurting someone.
"Anyway, I didn't know your weapon has another form." Without being discreet, the girl pulled out her camera and snapped a picture while muttering something about a list. "Serrated edge. Interesting choice."
"Yep!" She shrugged off the earlier remark and happily raised her weapon, the blade having already turned back to its standard, cloudy white. "Brand new. Needed something to cut through Grimm armor."
"Mhm." Xanthia leaned down and picked up her bag, her pale yellow eyes looking at Blake, who was stretching her arm. "But I should head out. I've got a study session with Tuscan in an hour. You did great today Blake, but we'll work on your mobile clones next week."
"Thanks. Have fun." Blake smiled, fixing her weapon to her back.
With a small wave, Xanthia hopped up the stairs and left the room, leaving both of them alone. Giving her girlfriend a smile, Ruby skipped over and held the scythe out. A wide grin spread over the faunus' face as she inspected it.
"Hmm." She hummed, her finger tapping her chin. "And you're top of mechanics, you say?"
"Shut up!" Ruby laughed, pulling the scythe away and shoving Blake's shoulder. Hearing a small chortle issue from her girlfriend, Ruby was happy to feel a hand wrap around her waist and pull her in. "So, do you like it?"
"It's great."
"Really?"
"Mhm."
A kiss was placed on Ruby's lips, and she happily leaned into it. The slight hint of sweat and flowers rose to her nose, mingling pleasantly and causing a warmth to pool in her stomach. She always loved the spontaneous kisses, how Blake seemed to just randomly need her at a moment's notice.
"I didn't interrupt your training, did I?" She breathed when they finally parted.
"Nope. We were wrapping up anyway."
"Awesome." She collapsed her scythe, and fixed it to the back of her hip. "Sooo, are you tired? Or do you have enough energy to go get a drink and some food?"
Blake's stomach rumbled.
"Food and drink." She giggled. "Definitely."
Conversation surrounded Ruby as she sat at the food court table, leaning against Blake's side as she happily munched on fries. In front of her was Jaune and Pyrrha were being adorable, their new relationship something that made Ruby very happy to see since she knew just how long Pyrrha had pined after the boy. Apparently Pyrrha had finally snapped when the rest of her teams had gone to visit over the holidays and finally kissed him, and Jaune seemed just as happy as his new girlfriend. Ren however seemed quite happy in a world of his own.
He was very much like Blake, in that he liked to read whenever he had some free time and often remained quiet in groups. So it didn't surprise Ruby that her girlfriend was leaning over Ren's shoulder to read along with him. She didn't mind that Blake had opted towards reading, especially since she knew Blake was still recovering from the training session, and also because she could see Yang and Nora working their way over from the food stands.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Nora whined loudly. "Waffles are not the same as pancakes."
"Of course not." Yang replied with a grin. "They're better."
A loud gasp was issued from the pink-clad girl as she clearly took offence to such a statement.
"How dare you insult the deliciousness?" She half shouted, holding her plate of pancakes as if they were babies. "It's ok, she didn't mean it."
Yang's head was already shaking as they sat down, Nora digging straight into her food. From experience, Ruby knew it wouldn't be long before all the pancakes were literally inhaled by the stocky girl.
"So, Sis. How long you gonna make me wait to see it?"
Pulling her eyes away from the pancakes, which did indeed look delicious, she pulled Crescent Rose from her back and extended it into scythe mode, flipping the switch to pop out the new blade. With a proud grin, she laid it on the table, watching everyone's heads turn to inspect it.
"Ooooo. Pretty! But where's the grenade launcher?"
It was a regular complaint from the ginger girl.
"No grenade launcher."
"Lame!"
"Ignore her." Ren sighed.
"Yeah, looking pretty sick-al, Sis."
Ruby chuckled, but heard a low groan from her girlfriend.
"Does it add much weight to the weapon?" Pyrrha asked, genuine interest in her voice as she leaned close to inspect the teeth. "Dustal is kind of heavy. I have no idea how Reese's hoverboard worked with how much was in it."
"Reese had gravity crystals in the footrests." Blake added. And though she went to return to the book, she clearly realised she was being watched. "She may have bragged about it when she asked me out."
"Ahh." Ruby remembered when that had happened, and how she'd been a little relieved. It had been one of the first times she'd felt something more than friendship for Blake. "Well, it's a little heavier, but the regular blades are new too. It used to be one solid blade, the this is two thinner ones so the Dustal now works as their support too."
"Well, that's a smart design. Though I suppose the extra weight is good for momentum too?"
"Yup." She smiled, happy that someone understood weaponry.
"Maaan. I wish I had a cool weapon like that." Jaune sighed longingly.
"Your sword is fine, Jaune."
"Yeah." Pyrrha agreed with a smile. "I like your sword too."
"I bet yo…"
Yang broke into a fit of laughter as a piece of sushi landed in her mouth. It was already too late though, as both Pyrrha and Jaune were almost as red as the former's hair while Blake shook her head. Trying her best to ignore her sister's innuendo, Ruby gave her friend a small smile.
"But I can maybe help you work on a few upgrades. If you want?"
"You'd really help?" He asked, his face still bright red as he purposely avoided looking at his girlfriend. She gave a nod in return. "Then definitely."
"There you go, Babe." Blake grinned, throwing another piece of fish to the blonde. "You've got your first commission already."
"Well on your way to being a weapon designer." Yang added.
With a soft chuckle, Ruby bumped her shoulder into Blake's and stuck her tongue out at Yang. She still wasn't sure what she was going to do with her future, other than be a Huntress, but she did really love weapons and intended to go into the advanced engineering program. But that wasn't an option until third year, so there was still a while to figure out what would happen post-Beacon. In the meantime, she was more than happy to just spend time with her friends.
So as Yang and Nora began their usual arm wrestling competition, she picked her scythe back up and collapsed it back into travel mode. Taking her girlfriend's hand, she beamed up at her and ate some more fries as she happily nestled against the girl's shoulder to see what Blake was reading.
Raalm's Notes
Hello everyone :) So just a smallish chapter today. Mostly just to have a little fluff and show off Ruby's upgrade. It's not a huge upgrade, since we didn't wanna go balls to the wall and give her a double sided scythe that fires tank rounds lol, but it's just something to help her a little more against those tougher Grimm. Was also a little more of the supporting cast, and introducing Xanthia to show you why Blake is so tired after training.
Also, just to note on Xanthia's abilities, we showed off two here. One being her semblance, which allows her to absorb and redistribute light. The other being an aura technique that allows her to throw an aura copy of herself. She can also trigger her semblance on that aura clone and use it like a flashbang. Just wanted to clear it up :)
But anyway, that's it from me. The next chapter is around double the length of this one, and is mostly just fun.
Chapter 39 - Bonding Bees will be up on the 6th of June :)