"Wait, your grandmother that you've never met before showed up last night after we left and did battle with your mom? Is that what you're telling me?" Titus asked. "I mean, obviously crazier things have happened, but that's crazy enough itself. How are you taking it?"
"I'm a little pissed off for mom," Neela told Titus. "She had a point last night. Why, out of the blue, would Raven show up unless she needed something? She wanted to warn us about the White Fang? She could have just told Qrow, so I'm not really buying her story either." Eliana pushed them both forward so that they would continue walking down the path towards Emerald Forest.
"You're mom kicked some major ass last night. If Qrow hadn't stepped in the way, Raven easily would have died. It was awesome!" Eliana exclaimed. "I don't think I've ever seen your mom fight that hard." Eliana looked at Neela who seemed distracted. "Are you okay Neela? I mean, with the news of the White Fang being back and all."
"Of course! I'm tough, the White Fang have nothing on us!" Neela exclaimed. Her mind flashed back to the night that her parents were killed and she shook it off. They had found the mask in the woods on the first night of the school year. Neela assumed that they had missed it when they repaired and cleaned up after the Fall of Beacon, but it became clear that it had been left there more recently. She should have told someone about it, but she brushed it off like the pain she was brushing off now. There were some things that she needed to take care of on her own. "Right guys?"
"Yep. Nothing on us. Go team," Ilia replied dryly, her attention undivided on her scroll.
"Someone's making progress with overcoming their past, eh?" Titus asked. Ilia smirked and glanced across at him.
"I'm just texting him, that's all," Ilia told him.
"When are we going to meet this guy anyway?" Eliana asked.
"His name is Vincent Citrine and we are seriously just at the talking stage right now," Ilia repeated.
"Citrine? As in Citrine Weapons? They make some of the best quality weapons and ammunition around!" Cobalt exclaimed.
"Yes, one in the same… and would you back the hell up?!" Ilia shouted. Cobalt threw his hands up and waited for his teammates.
"Well?" Tawney asked. Cobalt glanced over his shoulder to make sure Lykos and Bái weren't listening.
"She's got a new guy! Name's Vincent!" Lykos yelled out. Cobalt looked back at him.
"Am I the last one to know?" Cobalt asked. Bái shrugged.
"Probably," she told him. They approached the cliff and they looked down into the forest, only Glynda waited for them.
"What are we doing today Teach?" Cobalt asked.
"Don't call me that," Glynda told him with a glare.
"Yes, Headmistress. Sorry, Headmistress," Cobalt replied. Neela stood on one of the launchpads and looked out into the woods. This was where it had all began. This is where they had all been set on their path together. It was absurd to think that it had only happened a few months ago. So many things had transpired since then, and they were only just getting started.
"In the past, we've allowed the students to choose the teacher that they'll be paired with when they begin field missions and other various assignments away from the school. However, this year we've decided on something slightly different. Much like initiation, you will be flung out into the forest as a team and the first teacher that you lay eyes on will be your mentor for the year. You will be graded on how well you fight and if you are able to defeat the teacher you will be allowed to choose a new one if you'd like," Glynda explained.
"Wait, you're saying that we're fighting a teacher when we land?" Titus asked for clarification.
"Don't think you're up to the task?" Glynda asked. "It's not about winning, it's about showing us how far you've come. That's what you'll be graded on. Ready?"
"I'm never ready for this part," Eliana cringed.
"On the count of three," Glynda told them. "One…"
"Why not use the same strategy as last time?" Neela asked.
"... Two…"
"It's not so much landing as it is crashing!" Eliana shouted.
"Three."
"Who do you hope that we end up with for our teacher?" Bái asked Lykos as they made their way through the dense woods looking for Cobalt and Tawney. Lykos pulled his pelt closer to his body, he was taken aback at the fact that they would do such a thing in such unforgiving temperatures, but he supposed he had lived through worse, and he could see that they were more than likely trying to acclimate them to conditions that weren't always in their favor. What if they had a mission in Atlas and they had no choice but to fight the Grimm or assailant outdoors? The reasoning sank in until he accepted it. He glanced at Bái.
She didn't seem affected whatsoever. Her teeth weren't chattering, she wasn't rubbing her arms for warmth. She was thriving, this was her element after all, in a matter of speaking. He feared the idea of what she could possibly do on a frozen lake in the middle of a blizzard without the bracelet on. Okay, they were specific requirements, and it never snowed that hard in Vale, but he still wondered what it would be like. He smirked at her and she beamed back with a smile that sat from ear to ear.
"If given an actual choice, I think I would have chosen Jaune or Yang, but since they're already assigned to teams with Upper Classmen, our options appear to be Mrs. Adel, Ms. Xiao Long, or Mrs. Arc. Between those three it's hard to say," Lykos told her.
"One word, Bellabooty," Cobalt said as he joined them from the bushes.
"Two words," Tawney said joining them shortly after and nailing him in the gut. He doubled over and hacked. "Shut up." Cobalt chuckled.
"Don't lie, you want to get your hands on it too," Cobalt informed her. A gunshot rang out and Cobalt was thrown back into the dense tree line, bouncing across the ground before finally slamming into a tree large enough to stop him. Lykos and Bái glanced back to make sure that he was okay before looking back up and noting Yang cocking her fist back again.
"I'm guessing they didn't tell you that the teachers were going to have assistants," Yang jested. "Oh, and only I get to touch the Bellabooty." Blake ran past her and swiped at Tawney, exploding into a cloud of gravity Dust and throwing Tawney onto her back.
"Yang, save the jokes for later," Blake told her. Yang nodded and charged in, her fists slamming off of Bái's shield as Lykos slid back and readied his whip. As Bái occupied Yang, Lykos moved quickly to attack, his whip inches from wrapping around Yang's arm when Gambol Shroud's cleaver was thrust into the way and Blake allowed herself to be pulled in. Lykos and Blake exchanged blows as a clone blindsided Lykos, batting him away. He slid past Cobalt, wrapping his whip around a smaller tree to stop himself.
"What's the plan?" Lykos asked Cobalt.
"Not saying Bellabooty?" Cobalt suggested shrugging.
"Cobalt!" Lykos snarled.
"I'm working on it!" Cobalt offered. Blake slid through the middle of them, firing at Lykos who dove out of the way and knocking Cobalt's sword out of his hand. He looked up at it for a moment before glancing back at her and taking off, but one of her clones now held his weapon. "Isn't this supposed to be a learning experience?" The real Blake chuckled, looking his sword over as the other disappeared.
"This is. You're learning today that sometimes you'll face enemies much more powerful than you are," Blake told him. "No way out. What do you do?"
"Do we surrender?" Cobalt pondered out loud. Lykos flew by, lashing out with his whip and disappearing, a Beowulf appearing behind Blake and letting out a roar. She laughed as she slid back towards it, assuming that he was trying to sneak up on her from the front but was quickly proven wrong when a boot slammed into her back and his whip wrenched away Cobalt's blade. Lykos greeted Blake's cleaver with Cobalt's blade, scattering his projectiles and forcing Blake to retreat towards Yang. He tossed Cobalt his sword as the shuriken returned.
"This is for a grade," Lykos reminded him gritting his teeth. "Don't surrender." He charged in and Cobalt shook his head. Of course, what was he thinking? He couldn't give up so easily! Distinguish clones from the real Blake.
*FILTER CONFIRMED*
Shards of ice scattered with each blow from Yang, ejecting from Bái in a flurry, pelting Yang before returning. Yang stumbled back, greeted by Tawney who slammed her tonfas into Yang's jaw. Yang reeled for a step or two, swinging her body back around, a Dust charged shot hurling towards Tawney before being stopped by an ice wall. Yang smirked as she charged and slashed through the wall, Tawney and her exchanging blows. They excel at teamwork for sure. Is it a product of watching out for Bái?
"Bái!" Lykos shouted. Bái turned too late, unable to block a slash from Blake, taking part of her aura. Bái slid back as an ice trail formed behind her, giving herself plenty of distance. Blake pushed on, keeping the girl from being able to reestablish her defense.
"Bái!" Cobalt yelled out as his sword formed and charged up. He fired, the laser deflecting off of Bái's shield and blasted through Blake, her body becoming stone. "Lykos, scatter!" The shuriken flew from him in multiple directions, tearing through the trees, Lykos glancing up above them, noting that his weapons had been misdirected in an awkward manner.
"There!" Lykos shouted. Bái raised a pillar beneath him and he leapt into the canopy, chasing after Blake and leaving Cobalt a moment to strategize how to progress from there. He split himself into two, sprinting in opposite directions. His doppelganger threw his weapon into the air, removing the limb that Blake was retreating across, forcing her to turn and face Lykos, who she became tangled up with. They fought hand to hand as the two tried to separate their weapons, Cobalt lining up his second shot. He fired to the side of Lykos, throwing them both to the ground, but Blake was thrown back by an arctic blast as she found her feet, ice pikes glazing her, a few catching her clothes and pinning her to a large tree.
"Yang!" Blake called out. "Now would be a good time to give me a hand!"
Yang chuckled as her fists glanced off of Tawney's tonfas.
"You may want to rephrase that!" Yang called out. Tawney slipped in through Yang's defending and cracked her in the jaw, Yang's eyes flickered as she gave Tawney a crooked smile. Yang let her guard drop, this time on purpose and Tawney laid into her, Yang allowing the girl to get in several good licks. Yang's hair ignited as she slammed her fists together, Tawney stumbled back as Yang wound up. Tawney's face shifted into slight concern, she ducked the first hit, slamming her fist into Yang's gut. Her eyes lit up, golden in color, a single shot tossed Yang from her feet, landing several yards away, taking a knee and gritting her teeth. Tawney bounced on the balls of her feet.
"The moment I've been waiting for!" Tawney shouted in a full out sprint towards Yang. Their fists met in full swing, the epicenter for a massive shockwave that tore down every tree within one hundred yards, throwing back the rest of Team CBLT and Blake. Tawney looked glanced at their fists and chuckled slightly before Yang grappled her quickly with her cybernetic arm and dealt another extreme blow, the girl's aura drained in that single hit. Tawney gasped and chuckled. "Shit…" She hit her knees before collapsing.
"What's the plan?!" Lykos shouted hurriedly as he helped Bái up. "Cobalt?!" Cobalt glanced at Tawney and then back at Yang, remaining mindful of Blake, but fully aware that she was on the move.
*TARGET IN MOTION*
I know! Cobalt glanced back at his clone, he knew that the weapon it held was incapable of any blasts like his own… but maybe he'd be able to use that to his advantage. Cobalt sprinted for his clone, pointing at Bái.
"Ice wall! Behind me! Now!" Cobalt yelled, she nodded and complied, giving him a moment to be hidden as Yang cocked back, Lykos and Bái diving back behind it to avoid the shots. She destroyed the wall as Blake came to a stop beside her.
"Which one's the real one?" Yang asked, knowing as well as Cobalt did from teaching him that only the real sword could also be used as a gun.
"There!" Blake pointed. "His clone damaged his armor when the limb crashed down from above him." Yang smiled.
"Thanks, babe," Yang replied, blasting the sword out of Cobalt's hands and he watched it for a moment in disbelief.
"Dammit!" Cobalt yelled. "Bái, Lykos! Serpentine, get me in there!" Lykos and Bái fired projectiles rapidly at Bumbleby, Blake stepping in front of Yang and becoming stone as they ran. A blast from Cobalt's laser blasted through the earthen clone and slammed into Yang's back, knocking her onto her chest, her aura wavering from taking so many hits from Tawney. She glanced back.
"That's not possible," Yang said to herself. "Unless…" He switched swords with his clones when Bái created the barrier! Bái stood above her with an ice spear in her hand, smiling.
"Do you yield Ms. Xiao Long?" Bái asked. Yang grunted as Lykos placed his foot in the middle of her back. She laughed.
"You got me," Yang admitted. Cobalt ran past quickly, his clone close behind, both with their weapon in hand. Yang smirked. Short term, Cobalt splitting himself in half was a great idea, but because the fight didn't end as quickly as he calculated, he's done himself in. He has one shot left and from what I've read in his file, cloning himself splits his aura until the clone is defeated. If she defeats his clone first, it's a level playing field again. And she's well aware of the fact. "You can do it, babe!"
Blake split herself into three, taking off in different directions, the real Blake sliding to a stop and watching Cobalt hesitate as his visor processed which one to take down. She sneered as he took aim, the clone lining up the shot.
"Well Ms. Xiao Long," the real Cobalt said placing his hand on the clone's shoulder. "I guess this means we've won." One of the clones whipped Cobalt's sword out of the clone's hand, the shot missing. Blake opened fire, forcing the real Cobalt to deflect the shots, the second of Blake's clones exploding into gravity Dust, throwing Cobalt back. The first clone that had disarmed Cobalt's clone threw out her gun, gripping the ribbon tight and spinning Blake around, launching her at Cobalt. She landed beside him, swiping at him and taking his aura out and causing his clone to disappear.
"Did your tech tell you that?" Blake asked. Her clones grouped up on her.
"Now what?" One of them asked.
"The river," Blake instructed them taking off. "Take care not to get wet." The second clone nodded.
"Right," It agreed. As they left Cobalt he rolled onto his side and groaned.
"Really? Afraid of water? How cliche," Cobalt complained. He watched Blake disappear as Lykos and Bái arrived. Tawney joined them a few moments later.
"Two on one now?" Lykos asked. Cobalt nodded.
"She headed to the river," Cobalt told them pointing. "That way." Bái and Lykos nodded and left the two of them, Tawney helping Cobalt to his feet. "Huh. Now that I think about it, why would she have told me she was heading to the river anyway? She should have just left and told the clones on the way there."
"I don't know," Tawney told him, "But I'd call this a moral victory."
"How so?" He asked.
"I'll tell you later," Tawney replied. Yang moved to them.
"You two okay?" She inquired.
"We're fine," Cobalt assured her.
"I took it easy on you," Tawney informed her. Yang laughed.
"Okay," Yang jested. Cobalt rubbed his forehead as he glanced around for his weapon. "It's too bad Blake already has a group, you guys seem like you have a lot of potential."
"What?!" Cobalt shouted as he deactivated his blade. "She already has a group?!"
"Yeah." Yang chuckled nervously. "Some of the teams came out here last week and the rest came out today. Blake was one of the teachers chosen for last weeks group, but we came down here to test Neela and her team. You guys ran into us before we could even find NITE."
"We were going to have to fight another teacher?!" Cobalt exclaimed.
"Calm down," Tawney told him. "We could have taken the next two teachers too." Yang shook her head.
"You guys can take on another teacher if you'd like, or you can keep the grade you end up with here, but then you'll be assigned to whichever teacher didn't run into a team," Yang told them.
"Is there the possibility of a makeup match?" Cobalt asked. Yang shook her head.
"We can take another teacher, Cobalt! By the time Lykos and Bái are done with Blake, we'll have our aura back!" Tawney declared. Cobalt looked at Yang.
"We'll take the grade here," Cobalt told her.
"I see her!" Lykos exclaimed. Blake ran along the riverbed with her two clones, making it a point to head for a set of rocks that would let her cross the water without getting wet. She was losing time and they were getting closer, Lykos couldn't imagine what would push her to risk the battle unless the water scared her. She wasn't really afraid was she? Why would she choose the river for the last locale, it would give Bái the advantage. Something didn't add up.
"I'll stop her before she can cross!" Bái exclaimed.
"Bái…" Lykos hesitated. The river rose exponentially to form a wall and Blake slipped through with her doppelgangers. Bái was justifiably confused and drew all the water back towards herself, it swirled around her in a cyclone, forcing Lykos to step back from her as the torrent lashed everything around her, created a barrier. He glanced back across the river. Where had Blake gone?!
"I can do this!" Bái exclaimed. "I'll use a tidal wave to clear the forest!" Lykos glanced about again, albeit too late as he watched Blake perched in the trees above, slamming a lightning Dust clip in and slashing at the air, a wave of electrical energy danced across the whirlpool around Bái before it filled with the lightning. The water crashed to the ground, sweeping Lykos off of his feet, and he rolled across the ground, avoiding gunshots. He leapt to his feet, his next move already planned. He threw his shuriken hard past Blake, letting them reach a great distance so that even Blake's heightened senses wouldn't be able to keep track of them. He scattered them further out, avoiding more gunfire. This was it, enough projectiles at random to her back would do the trick.
Two explosions drew his attention, undoubtedly her clones had been charged with fire Dust before they were created and their time had expired. It was the perfect scenario, he'd be able to focus all of his attacks on Blake and overwhelm her. His attention turned back to Blake to find that she was accompanied by four clones. Lykos was stunned for a moment. She has to be at her limit, doesn't she?! How many clones has she made now? It couldn't be helped, he would stick to the plan. The shurikens returned, flying at an alarming speed. As the projectiles smashed through the clones, they exploded into electrical bolts, focused into Blake's magnet on her back, a magnetic wave dropping all of them to the ground.
"Heh…" Lykos grunted. "Well, you got me, and since hand to hand against Gambol Shroud would be suicide, I concede." Blake jumped down and shook his hand.
"You kids put up a good fight," Blake told him.
"Thanks," Lykos replied moving to Bái and taking her up into his arms. "So you're our teacher huh?"
"That's a long story," Cobalt replied as the rest of them approached. CBLT joined back together and headed back for the cliffside, hoping to find refuge until they could either be extracted or climb back up once Bái regained consciousness. Blake and Yang watched as they left and Blake sighed, wiping her brow.
"Can you stop referring to me as "Bellabooty" in your classroom?" Blake asked. "The kids keep calling me that." Yang laughed.
"These kids can't deny it either, you've got a great ass," Yang replied. Blake gave her a dirty look and Yang took a step away from Blake, looking her over. "Overdid it on the clones?"
"A few more and I might have had problems," Blake told her. They headed after the kids slowly. "Also, was it necessary to slap my ass during the fight back there when you took down Tawney?" Yang glanced over at her and chuckled.
"What?" Yang inquired.
"Don't 'what' me Yang. It's probably going to leave a handprint," Blake told her.
"As much as I love you Kitty Cat, it wasn't me!" Yang protested. Her eyes grew wide for a moment. But I'd call this a moral victory. "She really is a maniac." Blake looked at Yang.
"What was that?" Blake asked.
"Nothing."
So it seems that CBLT more than likely pass, but who will be their teacher then? Also, as a side not because it was asked before, these teachers do not go all out against these kids. Yes, they would easily beat them. Next week, Team NITE looks to find themselves a mentor in Chapter 39 - NITE vs. Crosshares!
A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!