Chapter 13
Hitomi found herself sitting on a bed in an unfamiliar room. The bed frame is made of wood with a small mattress onto of it. She looked around and found the walls, ceiling, and floor to be made of logs with what looked like mud or clay between the logs. She sees a wooden dresser with a door to the right of it. Finally, there is a window on the far wall from the door with a woven window shade on it. The fox faunus also saw another bed next to the window. There was no one on it. Hitomi looked down and saw she was younger and wearing a white nightgown. She walked over to the window and moved the shade to look outside. She had to stand on her tip-toes to look outside, it was dark and for some reason, she couldn't see anything. 'I can see in the dark, but why can't I see anything out these stupid windows,' she thought.
Hitomi then looked around the room again. 'This place looks familiar, but feels wrong, very wrong,' she thought. She wanted to see more of this house. She wanted over to the door and opened it. She sees a long dark hallway. The fox faunus began to walk down the hallway. Every couple of minutes a window appeared. Hitomi looked out each one. She found the same result each time, it was dark and she couldn't see. By the time she reached her sixth window, she gave up looking outside. If she had looked out the last window, she would have noticed the red eyes in the distance. The longer she walked down the hallway the more ominous it became. There were no sounds other than her footsteps. After about twenty minutes of walking, she reached a living room. It had a fireplace on the far wall from the hallway on the right side of the room from where Hitomi is standing. The fireplace is the only thing she sees so far built of different materials, stone. An old iron stove to the right of the fireplace. A rug is placed in the middle of the room. On the left side of the room is a wooden table with four wooden chairs around it.
On the rug in the middle of the room there looked to be something laying on it. It was rectangular in shape. Hitomi walked over to the object. She saw it was a small picture frame face down. The fox faunus picked it up and turned it over. She tensed at what she saw, a picture of her family, her original family back at the village. The picture showed her father, mother, and younger brother. Her father was what you would call a pretty boy. He is a tall slender man with a pretty face. He has the same hair color as Hitomi and has magenta eyes. His hair goes down to his shoulders. He is wearing a white kimono and light blue hakama with light blue haori over the kimono. Hitomi's mother was almost a spitting image of herself, except for the white hair. She is wearing a simple red kimono with a white obi sash. Her little brother has the same hair color and eye color has their father except for his left eye is ivory. He looked a lot like a younger version of their father. He was wearing a light blue kimono.
Hitomi's hands began to tremble as she stared at the picture. She pulled the picture to her chest and began to cry. "Mother, Father, Koji," the fox faunus cried. 'It's been ten years, but…, but… it still…,' she couldn't finish her thought. The picture brings both happy and painful memories for the faunus. After a minute of crying, she felt the picture vanish. Hitomi panicked and began searching the ground around her for the picture. 'No no no, where did it go, please I want to see their faces for a little longer,' she thought in a panic. Then she felt the room began to heat up as a growl was heard to her left. Her left ear was moving to zone in on the sound. The fox faunus slowly moved her head in the direction of the growl. She saw the wall of the house and nothing else. Then the room burst into purple flames except for a small circle around the faunus. The orange haired girl froze on the spot paralyzed with fear. The room was burning hot now.
A crash came from the wall and a few splinters shot out. Hitomi jumped at the sound. She held her breath. The crashing continued and more splinters shot from the wall. Cracks began to form as the crashing continued. After a couple minutes of listening to the crashing sound, they stopped. Hitomi let loose the breath she was holding, Relieved that the crashing was done. The cracks on the wall are six feet long spreading out in all directions. Then a loud crash was heard and Magaru's head burst through the wall. Hitomi felt her heart stop at the sight of the dragon grimm. Magaru looked down at the fox faunus. It growled for a second and then roared. Hitomi screamed.
"Hitomi, wake up," a voice shouted. Then Hitomi woke up to her partner shaking her. Micheal had a worried and surprised look in his eyes. His ears were flat to his head. The fox faunus looked around to see her team looking at her with a surprised look on their faces as well.
"S-sorry," Hitomi said looking down. She rubbed her face and felt that her cheeks were wet.
"Oh shit," Micheal sighed tiredly. He rubbed his eyes. He was only up due to this being one of the few nights where he is a light sleeper. He had heard her crying and woke up to look at her. He found Blake to be awake as well. She was curious about why she heard crying.
"Hitomi, are you okay, what happened," Blake asked.
"I'm fine," the fox faunus took a breath. "Just a bad dream," she said.
"More like a nightmare," Micheal commented earning a glare from his partner. He pulled his scroll of the charger. He opened it to see the time. The light of the scroll shined on his face illuminating it, the sudden light blinding him. "It's 5:30 in the morning," he groaned.
"Sorry," Hitomi apologized sadly.
"Can you go back to sleep," the wolf faunus asked. He closed his scroll and looked at his partner. The fox faunus shakily nodded. "Do you want to go back to sleep," he asked. Hitomi shook her head. "Okay," he said. He took a deep breath and studied his partner. She was shaking slightly. "Would you be fine staying up by yourself or do you want one of us to stay up with you," Micheal asked.
"Either one is fine," Hitomi answered in a monotone voice.
"I'll stay up with you," Micheal said. He got up and put his scroll in his pocket. He held his hand out. Hitomi looked confused. "Come on, some fresh air could do you some good," the wolf faunus said. He also wanted the rest of the team to get some more sleep without worry about their distressed teammate.
"Okay," Hitomi said taking his hand. Micheal pulled her up onto her feet. It was the final day for Hitomi to use the wheelchair but has refused it to walk on her own. To which she has been doing well without much effort, though the team is still watching her closely in case she needed the wheelchair. Micheal led her out of the room and closed the door behind them. The other members of the team lie back down on their beds.
"What do you think her nightmare was," Ruby asked.
"Don't know little sis," Yang said tiredly.
"Well, Micheal is with her, let's just get to sleep," Blake said.
"Yes, please shut up and go back to sleep, we can worry about it later," Weiss retorted.
A few minutes later on the roof
Micheal opened the door to the roof. He looked down to make sure his partner was getting up the stairs alright. The wolf faunus geld out his hand to help Hitomi. She took it without any resistance. Once the duo made it onto the roof, the grey-haired boy closed the door behind them. He gestured for Hitomi to sit against the wall. She did so without saying anything. Her partner sat next to her and pulled out his scroll. He opened it and tapped on the "Grimm Wars," app. He had started playing since Ruby and Yang were playing it. A screen popped that showed to Beowolfs clawing at each other. Their bodies covered in scars. Under the picture, it said "Loading."
The duo sat there not talking for a while with a light breeze hitting them every once in a while. The orange haired girl was staring at the stars. The only noise coming from the wolf faunus' scroll. Hitomi glanced over to see what was happening. The screen showed a dinosaur grimm in what looked like an exhibit like area. The fox faunus recognized it as a Tectus. The grimm is bipedal, but due to the screen it's exact size isn't shown well. Hitomi remembers from studying grimm though it should be around seven feet long and somewhere around thirty-five to forty feet long. It has a lightly built slender body with a long tail that is long that it's own body. On its head are two small horns. It has two small arms that don't appear to be useful at all. It's lightly armored with the head and tail having the most and thickest bone plate. Bone plate also runs along its back. The bone plate on the tail is bladed on both sides on the last seven feet. The tail is also covered in barbs.
Micheal tapped the screen and the Tectus' head shot up alarmed. It looked around and its body slowly disappeared. 'That's right that species has camouflage abilities like a chameleon,' Hitomi remembered. The dinosaur grimm's body returned to view a few seconds later.
"Cool, but dangerous species right," Micheal said. He could feel his partner looking his direction. He tapped a button that said "Status," and a window opened in front of the grimm. It showed different thing varying from Lv., Hp, Strength, Defense, Speed, Etc. Its level is two with 123 Hp. 'Let's see it said this species was a frail speedy grimm with low damage, but it also has a high natural evasion and a ranged attack, I wonder if I made a bad choice for my starter grimm, the other two were Beowolf, which was the offensive one of the three with the highest attack, or a Boarbatusk, which is slow but has high defense and hp,' he thought. He scratched his head in thought.
"Are going to ask," Hitomi askes bring her partner out of his thoughts.
"About what," Micheal questioned.
"You know what," the fox faunus retorted.
"No," the wolf faunus answered.
"Why," Hitomi asked surprised. 'I would think you would be a little curious,' she thought.
"Do you want to talk about it," Micheal questioned.
"Not really," Hitomi answered.
"Unless you really want to talk about then I won't say anything," Micheal said. He tapped a button that said "Battle." It showed four options in order from left to right it said "Live, Local, Event, AI," and Micheal clicked on the AI option. It then showed options for a one-on-one, two-on-two, and a three-on-three option. The wolf faunus clicked on the one-on-one option. It showed a screen show two big squares occupying the top half of the screen. The bottom half shows a bunch of smaller squares containing question marks with one showing the side view of the Tectus' head. The right square showed a Beowolf head and the bottom right showed the number three. The left square contained a question mark. Micheal clicked on the Tectus' picture. The big left square changed from the question mark to the Tectus' side view picture. Then the wolf faunus clicked the battle option and then it showed a black loading screen.
"Do you even have an idea what my nightmare was about," Hitomi asked. Her partner's face frowned slightly having a good idea.
"I have an idea, it's related to the loss of your kind right," Micheal asked. His partner remained silent. That gave him the answer he needed. He turned his head to look at his partner. "Unless you want to talk about it, and I mean really want to talk about it, I won't force you to talk about it," he said with a gentle smile on his face. Hitomi sighed. "Think of it kind of like the reason for my depression, I don't want to talk about it till I'm ready, so until you're ready to talk about your nightmare, I won't push it," the wolf faunus assured.
"Okay thanks," the fox faunus said with a small smile. "Your battle started," she commented pointing to the scroll. Her partner returned his attention to the screen. It showed a 5x5 square grid in a clearing of a forested area from a topside view. On both sides of the gird occupying the middle square of the farthest rows from the center are the two grimm. Micheal's Tectus occupied the southernmost row and the Beowolf in the northernmost row. The top of the screen showed a blue rectangle that said "Your turn," in it.
Micheal tapped his grimm and a square around the grimm squares was outlined in green. Hitomi saw her partner's Tectus could only move within a three square radius around itself. The wolf faunus tapped the square to its upper right. The dinosaur grimm growled and walked in a diagonal to its new space. Micheal tapped the button in the lower right corner after the grimm stopped. The button said "End Turn." The rectangle at the top of the screen turned red and said "Enemy turn."
The Beowolf immediately howled and moved up two spaces and one space left. The rectangle turned blue immediately after the werewolf grimm stopped moving. "Hmm, it's going to catch up to me in two turns if I keep running," Micheal commented.
"Shouldn't the Tectus have a ranged attack," Hitomi asked.
"Yeah, with a range of two to three squares," Micheal answered as he taps the farthest square from his enemy. The Tectus moved right two squares. It now stood at the edge of the grid. The wolf faunus tapped the button to end his turn. The beowolf moved and ended in a square just two spaces away from the dinosaur grimm.
"So what are the differences between your grimm and the beowolf," Hitomi asked.
"The Tectus, has low hp, attack, and defense, but high speed, and extremely high evasion and critical rate, the crit, and evasion rate is about 25%, it also has the ability to double its evasion for two turns," Micheal explained pointing to his grimm. He pointed at the other grimm. "Beowolfs have high attack, decent speed, mediocre hp and evasion, low defense and crit rate, its evasion is around 10% and with a crit rate of 5%, its ability allows it to deal double damage for one attack every three turns," he said.
"High attack," the fox faunus questioned.
"I guess they had to give them something," Micheal said with a shrug. He tapped the Tectus and the movement range opened up. Though the square was the beowolf is standing is outlined in red. The wolf faunus tapped the Beowolf. The camera zoomed in and the screen turned black. The color returned a circular arena surrounded by trees from a side view. The dinosaur and werewolf grimm walked onto the screen and roared at each other. There is a considerable distance between the two grimm. Two long blue rectangles are at the top of the screen on each side of it with a picture of each grimm next to it. The Tectus' picture is located left with the beowolf on the right, in the rectangle were numbers. The beowolf's rectangle contained the number 184. The duo knew that was it the werewolf grimm's hp.
The Tectus growled then spun around and swung its tail. A barb shot out of the tail and flew at the Beowolf. It hit the beowolf and the grimm flinched and grunted. The number nineteen appeared above the werewolf grimm. The beowolf's health bar lowered slightly and the number in the bar is now 165. The screen turned black and returned to the bird's eye view from before. Micheal's turn immediately ended. The enemy grimm immediately ran up to the dinosaur grimm. The screen turned back to the side view and the grimm roared at each other again. They were just a couple feet from each other. The beowolf grimm jumped at the dinosaur and swung its claw.
The Beowolf hit the Tectus and the dinosaur grimm's head flew back. The number forty-three appeared above the grimm, the Tectus' health bar lowered by a third. Micheal groaned as the screen returned to the bird's eye view. "Why I made such a bad choice for a starter grimm," he shouted dragging out the "Why."
"How many wins do you have," Hitomi asked.
"I have only one win out of ten battles, even then I got lucky and did nothing but critical attacked Yang's Beowolf to death and she, unfortunately, or fortunately for me, missed every attack," Micheal said annoyed. He tapped on his grimm and tapped on it again. The Tectus highlight green and a square appeared above the grimm. It said "Camouflage," and the wolf faunus clicked it. The dinosaur grimm turned invisible. Micheal tapped his grimm again and tapped the Beowolf. It changed to the battle screen. The only thing you could see of the Tectus was its outline. The dinosaur grimm lowered its head and roared at the werewolf grimm. The Tectus rammed into the Beowolf knocking the werewolf over. A number forty appeared above the knocked over grimm. The screen returned to the bird's eye view. Hitomi looked up for a second to see the light of the sun coming into view.
"Okay, it's at 125, I have a chance but I need to do nothing but dodge and crit for three turns, and hope I dodge the Beowolf's ability," Micheal said to himself.
"So if I'm getting this right, you should have a 50% evasion rate," Hitomi asked.
"Yep, flip a coin, see if I live the next attack," Micheal said with a slightly annoyed tone. Then the beowolf was highlighted red and the screen changed the battle screen. The werewolf's eyes were glowing. It howled to the sky spreading its arms out. "You got to be fucking kidding me," Micheal said dejectedly.
"What," Hitomi asked.
"It's going to crit me with its ability and critical attacks never miss," Micheal said with a flat tone.
"Ow," Hitomi commented.
"Yep, another loss on the board," Micheal said sadly. The beowolf reared its arm back and thrusts its arm at the Tectus. It knocked the dinosaur grimm over with a large red 164 over its body. It returned to the bird's eye view. In large blood red letters, it said "You lose," appeared on the screen. Micheal closed the app along with his scroll. He banged the back of his head against the wall they were sitting against a few times.
"Stop before you hurt yourself," Hitomi said. Her partner stopped and rubbing the back of his forehead.
"Alright, just frustrating to lose all the time, that's all," Micheal sighed.
"It's your own fault for choosing a grimm that requires luck to win with," Hitomi commented.
"Yeah I know, so you better now," Micheal said ending in a question.
"Huh…, oh, yeah, I'm a bit better now, watching you lose helped," the fox faunus said. Her partner lowered his head and sighed. Hitomi giggled at her partner's misfortune. She gave a small smile to the wolf faunus. "Thanks though," Hitomi said.
"You're welcome," Micheal said with a smile. He opened his scroll to check the time. "Really that much time has passed, it's 6:15, time to head back and start preparing breakfast," he said. He closed his scroll and looked at his partner. "You coming," the wolf faunus asked.
"No, I want to stay out here for a bit," Hitomi said. She brought her legs up and hugged them. "I want to enjoy the sunrise," the fox faunus said looking into the distance.
"Alright, just come back soon okay," Micheal said.
"Okay," Hitomi responded. The wolf faunus walked to the door and put a hand on the handle. He began to turn it when he remembered.
"Wait, you don't have your scroll, how you going to get in," Micheal asked.
"I'll just knock on the door mutt," Hitomi deadpanned.
"Oh okay, see you later," Micheal said opening the door and entered the building. He closed the door behind him. Hitomi wrapped her tail around her legs. She stares at the sunrise as the sun was slowly getting higher.
'It's been a while since I've done this,' the fox faunus thought. She closed her eyes and breaths in the morning air. She stayed enjoying the quiet time till the warmth of the sun rays bombarded her face. She opened her eyes temporarily blinded by the light. Hitomi covered her eyes with right hand and stood up. She began her walk back to the dorm. Hitomi arrived at the door to her dorm a few minutes late. She was about to knock when she heard talking inside. She placed her ear against the door and concentrated. She heard Ruby's voice.
"Hey Micheal," the brunette said.
"Yes Ruby," Micheal said.
"What was wrong with Hitomi," Ruby asked.
"It was a nightmare related to the massacre of her village," the wolf faunus answered.
"Oh," was Ruby only response.
"Are you sure about that," another voice asked. It was Weiss' voice.
"Positive, I mention her village and she stayed silent," Micheal responded.
"Did she talk about it," Weiss asked.
"No, I decided to treat it like my depression, unless she wants to talk about it, don't force her, I think you ya'll should the same," Micheal said.
"That sounds fair," a new voice said. This time it was Blake's.
"Alright, but is breakfast ready yet," this time it was Yang's voice spoke up changing the conversation.
"Yeah, hopefully, Hitomi returns soon before breakfast gets cold," Micheal said. A few seconds later the wolf faunus said, "Or Yang eats it all."
"I'm gonna leave her some jerk," Yang retorted. Hitomi pulled away from the door and smiled at her team understanding. She was about to knock again when her ears twitched at the sound of a door opening behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see her neighbor and leader of Team JNPR, Jaune Arc.
"Oh Hitomi," Jaune said.
"Good morning Jaune," Hitomi said turning to the blond boy. Jaune walked out and closed the door behind him. He is in his pajamas.
"Good morning, are you alright, we heard you scream earlier," Jaune asked concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine, just a nightmare," Hitomi said giving a reassuring smile. Jaune gave a smile back. He then frowned and scratched the back of his head.
"Hitomi, can I ask you something," Jaune asked nervously.
"Sure, what is it," Hitomi answered.
"I asked Pyrrha and Ruby about it and they said I might be catching him in a bad mood, but I was wondering if he doesn't see me as a friend," Jaune said.
"Who," Hitomi asked.
"Micheal, I run into him between classes and when I say hi to him, he seems to get annoyed," Jaune said.
"When do you usually see him," Hitomi asked. 'Strange, why would Micheal get annoyed with Jaune, they seemed fine a couple weeks ago,' she thought.
"Mostly in the afternoon, when I talk to him around anyone of you guys he treats me like a friend, but when I try to talk to him alone he seems agitated by me just trying to talk to him," Jaune said. The fox faunus thought about it.
"Micheal has said that he hates the classes he has around noon, so it's possible that he's in a bad mood, but if you want my advice, I think you should just confront him about it," Hitomi said.
"Okay," Jaune sighed.
"Hey cheer up, it's probably nothing and he probably just in a bad mood," Hitomi said with a small smile on her face.
"Alright," Jaune said then he returned to his room. Hitomi knocked on the door to her room. Rapid footsteps could be heard approaching the door. It opened to reveal Ruby with ketchup on her face and pajama shirt.
"What happen to you," the fox faunus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I fought with Yang over the ketchup bottle and the cap pooped off and ketchup shot out," the brunette answered annoyed.
"And it got everywhere," Weiss yelled. She has ketchup in her hair and all over the front of her nightgown. Hitomi closed her eyes and sighed in relief.
"At least you didn't get the worse of it," Blake said. She had ketchup in her hair.
"Who did," Hitomi asked.
"Micheal did, he's in the bathroom right now washing off," Ruby answered.
"Yeah, he trying to become a grey wolf faunus again," Yang said.
'Guess I lucked out, thank you Jaune for unintentionally holding back from getting covered in ketchup,' Hitomi thought as she entered the room. A few minutes later Micheal stepped out of the bathroom in his school uniform. Strands of his hair were stained red.
Later that Day
Hitomi was sitting in her aura class with Ruby to her right and Jaune sitting on the row below her. The blond boy is asleep at the moment. She was somewhat paying attention to the elderly man talking. While she said she was okay earlier, she was out of it today and not really paying attention to anything. She didn't eat much or interact with anyone. Images of her dream kept popping into her throughout the day. They brought unpleasant images of her village back to her mind and they got worse as the day went on. This was noticed by her friends but said nothing. It was bugging Ruby though.
'I know Micheal said not to say anything till she was ready, but still, I wonder if she's really okay,' the brunette thought. She then returned her attention forward. She would talk to her later. The elderly man that was teaching was writing something on the chalkboard. His name is Nicholas Midnight. He appeared to be in his later sixties. He has grey hair that has strands of dark blue hair in it. He is wearing a blue suit and small glasses on his face. He wrote "Aura Rank," down and turned around. His eyes are purple. He has an open book in his hand. He closed the book and took a breath.
"Alright, let's go over something simple, aura ranks," Professor Midnight said in a monotone voice, the kind that could put someone to sleep. He placed the book on his desk. "An aura rank is as it sounds, the rank of a person's aura, but can anyone tell how exactly an aura rank is measured," he ended in a question. He looked around and saw a few hands raised. He then saw Jaune sleeping. "Mr. Arc," the teacher shouted. The blond boy woke with a start. "I imagine your sleeping because you know this already, so why don't you tell me how an aura rank is measured," the elderly man asked.
"By machines," Jaune answered nervously. The teacher sighed and closed his eyes in slight disappointment.
"Technically not wrong, there are a couple devices made to measure one's aura, but how exactly do those machines measure aura," Professor Midnight asked.
"Um uh," Jaune said in thought.
"By the amount of aura someone possesses," Hitomi answered for Jaune.
"Correct, thank you Ms. Hunters," the teacher said opening his eyes. Professor Midnight took a breath before beginning a speech "As everyone should know, everyone in this room possesses varying amounts of aura. Some of you possess little amounts of aura while others have an extensive amount of aura," he said. He walked over to the left side of the chalkboard with a piece of chalk in hand. He began to write letters from left to right. Some of the letters are repeated three times and some have a plus or minus symbol next to them. From left to right the letters go X, S+, S, S-, A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D. The teacher put the chalk down and turned to his students. "These are all the current ranks of aura," he said. He pointed the closest letter, D.
"D is the lowest rank there is, people of this rank are not allowed to attend any combat academy. We believe their auras are too low to be of much use in fighting grimm and history has proven that as well. Reports of all known D rank hunters throughout history have shown those of this rank have little success against grimm and have fallen to even small packs of Beowolfs or Rippers at full strength, but that's not to say these people are useless. We encourage these same people to join the military, police force, or become firefighters to put a tool as powerful as aura to use, in fact I know a few police officers who have aura, they are usually the ones sent into dangerous situations like a shootouts first as their aura will protect them for a short time," Nicholas said. He then moved onto the next letter.
"C is the next rank and as you notice is split into three categories, C-, C, C+," Professor Midnight said gesturing to the three Cs on the chalkboard. "This is because even among those of the same aura rank have varying levels of aura, not enough to be a rank higher or lower though," the elderly man said adjusting his glasses. "The rank of C is the lowest level of aura an academy will take. A C- sometimes doesn't make without exceptional transcripts to display they have the combat ability to make up for their low amount aura. You see a person grow so does their aura, even if it's not active, a soul mature along with its body, a person will usually rise one aura rank by the time their body fully matures, but people have risen two ranks before. So those of you with a C aura are guaranteed to become a B rank by the time you leave this academy or if you're fortunate enough an A rank. Those individuals of C rank aura usually to have better combat skills with weapons since they need that aura to protect themselves from potentially fatal wounds. These individuals also tend to have the most basic kinds of semblances, like inhuman strength or speed, but those of high ranks can have basic semblances as well, but those tend to have other effects or are an overall more powerful version of it, I digress. Hunters with C rank aura need to learn how to utilize their aura well, along with other ranks, of course, to be successful or they will run out of aura before they know it and die," the teacher ended this segment. He gestured to the nest rank.
"B is the next rank and the average starting rank for hunters and huntresses, most hunters aura start within this rank, myself included," the teacher said. He took a breath and looks around the classroom. He spots Jaune dozing off again. "Unlike those of C rank, a B rank hunter can balance between aura usage and combat skills. A huntsman or huntress in this rank has more leeway to use aura than a C rank, these hunters also have more variety of semblances, like the ability…," he stopped mid-sentence. He held his hand out palm open a bit to Jaune right. A small blue light shot out and hit the desk the blond boy was sitting at causing a tiny explosion. The explosion was barely a few millimeters wide but produces a loud sound. Jaune woke up with a scream and fell backward. "To make a projectile purely out of aura of varying sizes, the ability to use dust freely, ability to enhance an object far beyond what a regular hunter can and so on and so on, Mr. Arc I suggest you stay awake or next time I won't miss," Nicholas said ending in a warning.
"Should a teacher be threatening a student," Jaune asked getting up.
"This is a combat academy, not a public school, we teach and train you so can fight our enemies, the grimm and other threats that may endanger the lives civilians, they will kill you without a second thought, so we are given more leeway in punishing student who breaks our rules or don't pay attention in class to prepare you to fight," Nicholas informed with a glared. "Fall asleep in my class one more time and there will be a punishment," the teacher warned.
"Yes sir," Jaune said with a nervous nod.
"I don't like threatening students Mr. Arc; I enjoy helping them improve themselves either as a hunter or as a person, but sometimes that's the only thing that can get through some students' heads," Professor Midnight sighed. He readjusted his glasses. "Let's see, where was I," he said quietly to himself. "Ah, who of you know where average human or faunus aura is," Nicholas asked the class. He mostly got the same answers ranging from shaking heads and some "No." A few people nodded their heads. "Well it's something that needs a bit of research to know, but since most of you don't know, the average human ranges between a B+ to B rank, while a faunus ranges between B to B-," the teacher ended this segment.
"Now A rank, a rank that a handful of hunters start in and is usually the rank that most hunters grow into. This is technically the most common rank there is, a hunter in this rank can focus more on aura usage and application, while still balancing out combat skills of course, sadly outside of more freedom with aura usage there's not much difference between B and A rank in terms of usability. Though as aura ranks get high the semblances become more unique and diverse, element, such as fire or electricity, manipulation has been recorded for this rank or those with basic semblances can have effects, such as moving so fast they can pick up objects in their wind current or hitting the ground so hard they can cause small earthquakes," the teacher said.
"Now S rank, a rank for especially gift hunters, those hunters that are born into in A rank find themselves in this rank. Those of this rank are guaranteed success in the life of a huntsman with massive aura reserves along with powerful semblances. These lucky individuals can fight any threats that come their way," the teacher said.
"Has anyone ever started in this rank," a student asked.
"Yes, throughout history there have been individuals that have started in this rank, S rank hunters have been known to take down large, heavily armored grimm by themselves and have enough aura to fight smaller threats afterward," Nicholas said.
"What else have S rank hunters do, what kind of semblances do they have," Ruby asked.
"Well…," the instructor said going into thought. He was trying to remember what the stories were. "As some stories go, these individuals can cause a small to medium size grimm to disintegrate with an aura charged punch without the aid of a weapon, or manifest their aura into a weapon of their choice and use it as if it was a regular weapon whether it was a sword, bow, or firearm, or summon their weapon from anywhere in the world using their aura," Professor Midnight said. He sighed "But those are just stories, I've never met a hunter that started in S rank as they are few or far in between, I'm fairly sure they are just like any other hunter except for their massive aura. Some of the feats I've heard of would take a massive amount of aura to do that even an A rank hunter would run out of aura fairly quickly, as for semblances," he stopped taking a breath. "One has been reported to temporarily stop time for a second, one has teleportation, and one can slice through anything," the teacher finished.
"Finally, X rank, only one individual has ever achieved this rank, in fact, he is the reason why we even have this rank, all of you should, hopefully, know who it is," Nicholas asked.
"Oh, Douglas Evergreen, the only hunter to slay an Elder Scourge by himself, he takes on the most dangerous tasks there are, is always around to help people in trouble, he's like a hero from a story, but he's real, his weapon is on the boring side though," Ruby shouted gleefully. The last part she said quietly to herself.
"Yes, Correct Ms. Rose, Douglas Evergreen's aura reserves were so massive that he dwarfed S+ rank, so a rank was created for him, that alone made him known, but his slaying of the Elder Scourge, the most dangerous grimm known, made him a legend, he was also a teacher here for a few years, but went back to hunting because he knew he be more use there, but he does visit around a month or two after classes start to help train first years," Professor Midnight said.
"What is his semblance," Jaune asked.
"Glad to see you paying attention Mr. Arc, he calls it Detection and Negation, he has no fear in telling people what his semblance is because no has found a way to counter it, the ability to detect when any aura instantly and when a semblance is active even if he can't see the user and the ability to negate aura and semblances; he has used this ability to stop many corrupt or evil hunters or aura users from harming or killing civilians, when he shows up here make sure to give him the utmost respect," Nicholas answered. "One last thing I forgot to mention, the higher the aura rank the wider the gaps between the ranks, in fact, S rank is the only rank where person only ranks up partially due to the gaps between the ranks, A S- will rank up to S+ by the time he or she has fully matured," the teacher said. Then a bell rang. "Well remember to study and remembers today's lesson and Mr. Arc, my warning stay through this year and not just for today," Nicholas said.
Later in the dorm
Ruby came out of the bathroom in her pajamas. She saw Hitomi in her pajamas sitting at one of the desks studying. The brunette looked around the room and noticed Order's sword was gone. "Where's Micheal," she asked.
"With Blake, he asked her to monitor his aura while he practiced refining it," Hitomi answered.
"Oh, okay," Ruby said slightly sad. The reaper found her chance to ask Hitomi how she was feeling. "Hitomi, are you okay," the young leader asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine why," the faunus answered with a question. She turned towards her leader. Her tail was in her lap wrapped around her waist.
"Well, you've been acting distant today, more than usual," Ruby said.
"I'm fine Ruby, really I am, It's just that every once in a while I have that kind of nightmares. Then I'm just out of it for the day, they don't happen often, in fact, the last time I had that kind of dream was a few months ago, but I am fine," Hitomi said. 'I guess Micheal and I share one thing in common, we are both haunted by dreams of our past,' she thought.
"Alright," Ruby said happily. Hitomi turned toward the desk again and went back to studying. The brunette stared at the fox faunus' ears. "Hitomi," she said questioningly. She got an "Hmm," in response. "Can I touch your ears," she asked.
"What no," Hitomi said turning to her leader.
"Please just for a few seconds, I won't pull on them, I promise" Ruby pleaded. She clasped her hand together and gave the fox faunus her best puppy eyes.
"Ask Micheal, I'm sure he would be more willing," Hitomi said sternly.
"Okay," Ruby said sadly as she walked away sulking. Hitomi sighed.
"Fine, no pulling, they're sensitive, got it and only for a few seconds," the fox faunus said still in a stern tone.
"Okay," Ruby shouted excited. She got behind Hitomi and reached her hands towards the fox ears. The brunette gently rubbed the ears. The fox faunus shivered slightly upon feeling Ruby's touch but settled down the next second. Ruby was true to her word and didn't pull and only touched them for a few seconds. She found them really soft to the touch. She later asked Micheal the same thing when he got back to which he let her without any quarrels. This time she was allowed to pull on them. The wolf faunus just though it to be better to let her get that desire out of her system.
Author's Notes: As always, criticism is good.
A minor character, but his last name is derived from a shade of blue called Midnight Blue
Like I said, not every chapter will focus on Micheal. This chapter I wanna give Hitomi more spotlight. Since I kind of threw her in at the last second she going to be harder to write about. I'm going to make her work though regardless. I have a semblance for her and Micheal I just haven't decided when to reveal it yet. Also, a minor change for Hitomi is that her aura is magenta in color now. I forgot where I was going with the green aura and changed it to fit her color scheme. She does have a symbol as well. The same situation as her semblance, don't know when to reveal it, till then it's my secret.
Anyways, I was going to make the house Japanese styled as well. But two things, I got lazy and I'm not sure how durable a Japanese house is something ramming into. Though I'm pretty sure a monster the size of a train car could break down most walls without trying anyway. I'll probably change it at some point for now it stays. So basically fox faunus are Japanese as far as clothing and names go.
So, I decided to explain aura ranks early since I mentioned them. I got lazy with A rank because I couldn't think of what to give it to make it seem better than B rank. Do ya'll think I could have elaborated more on some ranks? I wonder sometimes if I put too many ranks and could have done just X, S, A, B, C, D.
I've been the thing about pairs for a while now. The thing is Micheal isn't the only person going to be in a relationship. I've been thinking for the others as well. Hitomi will have a relationship as well. The main two girls in my head right now for a one-on-one relationship with Micheal are Weiss and Blake. The main issue I've been having was who to pair Ruby with. I have thought about other pairs and decided on some that I like and could fit into the story, but Ruby has been a problem. I don't want her to be lonely. So I think it will be like this if I decide Micheal to be with Weiss, Ruby gets Blake. If Micheal gets Blake, Ruby gets Weiss. I'm honestly white rose (or ice flower, take your pick) trash, but I love ladybug as well. So it's hard for me to choose between them. Even though if you look through my favorites you won't find many ladybug stories, cause typically if there's ladybug there's freezerburn. I don't like anything Weiss x Yang related, sorry freezerburn fans I just don't like it. I'm just being honest with ya'll.
Then there is the harem idea. This always pops up in my head when I think of pairings. This is interesting because I kind of wants to make this humorous and serious at the same time. Like the idea of please every girl equally or having some drama in the team fighting over Micheal. Writing a good harem is hard because you got to try and give each girl a good amount of scenes. Regardless though as far as relationships go they won't happen till later. Even I still throw hints along the way.