Here we are with chapter three of Conduit, and back from my little break. Once again I managed to hit 18 pages in OpenOffice. I am still not quite sure who will be paired with Erran, so I'd like to ask you guys. Should Pyrrha Nikos be with her, Winter Schnee (only cause I like older women for the most part, plus she is good looking anyway in my eyes), or have a yuri harem? And if I haven't mentioned that before I am sorry, this story will have a yuri relationshipp with Eve and someone at the very least. Lastly I changed my own timeline a bit with how I forged this chapter so dark things will happen a lot sooner than I had originally planned. read, enjoy, and review. now onto the story...
The next morning was not kind to me. I didn't really sleep much due to the pain, but then again I don't get much sleep anyway. I was groggy but with a yawn I slowly got out of bed. Once sitting upright on the edge of the bed I popped my neck getting several loud cracks in reply. Getting dressed wasn't too difficult through it was slow so I wouldn't hurt myself more by accident. Beacon's school uniform was a lot more comfortable than I had originally thought it would be. However having been born a guy before being "reborn", if you will, as a female the skirt was an interesting and strange feeling, but I preferred pants whenever possible.
I looked over my room which like the rest of the house was spacious, namely for the Beowolf. On the far wall opposite of the dresser I stood next to was a metal door that connected to Grendel's den. His den was a kind of cave like room with artificial moss for a floor that felt like the real thing. To the left of the door to Grendel's den rested a weapon closet that would be where I'd store my weapons that Rick was making for me. At the end of the right wall (as I enter my bedroom) was the doors to a walk in closet. Ozpin had been surprised when I asked to have that built into each of the bedrooms of the house but he didn't object, much to my surprise and delight. I've always been a fan of those since I've had to deal with small or shallow closets before. Next to that at the far end of the room from the bedroom door sat a king sized bed. The bathroom was located opposite of the walk in closet, so if I was laying in bed I'd look to the right to see the bathroom and left for the closet.
"Eve, you dressed yet?" Nolan said on the other side of the door.
"I am." I replied then Nolan entered the room holding the door nob. At this I raised an eyebrow.
"We're late to our first class, lets go." Nolan informed me.
At least we'd have Professor Port for our first class. I had only met the guy once and he seemed alright. Just like in the series Professor Port was a little on the heavy side with a round belly. "Okay." I said then we left for class. A long ten minutes later we arrived at Professor Port's classroom. I grabbed the handle of the door and began to push feeling pain swell up in my arms causing me to growl a little. Grendel gently nudged me aside as he pushed open the door with ease. At the sound of the door to the classroom opening everyone looked in our direction.
"This is a pleasant surprise." Professor Port beamed as his eyebrows shot up. His mustache was large enough to practically hide his mouth. The veteran huntsmen wore that odd brownish red suit type thing that I had seen in the series, as well as the time I first met him. "I wasn't expecting to see you and your team today Eve."
"I typically find moving around with sore muscles better than laying around doing nothing." I commented as my team entered the room with someone closing the door.
"I see." Port said with a pause. "How do you feel?"
I shrugged through the pain wincing as I did it. "I don't feel much of my body other than pain and soreness."
"Did we miss anything professor?" Raysel asked getting to the matter at hand, what we did (or didn't) miss of his class.
"No." Port answered. Looking around I saw an empty space for the five of us across from where Ruby's team sat. We took the empty seats with Grendel next to the wall and me to his left then Nolan, Isabel, and lastly Raysel at the side middle isle. Once we had settled into our seats Professor Port resumed his lesson, assuming that's what it was and not one of his "glory day" stories. "As I was saying earlier is there someone in this room who feels that they have the qualities of a Huntsmen or Huntress?" He said looking collectively at the class with an expectant pause.
A few moments after that Weiss's hand shot up. "I believe I do professor."
"Alright miss Schnee, you may change to face your challenge." Professor Port said before the heiress quickly left the room. It was then that I noticed the cage by the left side of the room in front of the seats. It obviously held something by the way the cage shook as whatever was inside tried to get out. Next to the cage rested Port's weapon, a rifle that doubled as an ax or so it looked like. Booted steps brought my attention to the door where Weiss entered dressed in her "combat skirt" as she called it in the series. Her rapier was attached at her waist before she drew it out with her left hand. Since Weiss was standing in the middle of the floor before the desks we all could see her and the cage off to the side. With a nod from Weiss Professor Port grabbed his ax and cut the padlock that held the metal chains on the cage.
A snort sounded off before the door to the cage swung open to reveal an annoyed Boarbatusk. It looked around pausing briefly on me and Grendel then focused on the human in front of it. The Grimm jumped up then rolled into an armored ball that raced towards Weiss. Said heiress jumped over the Boarbatusk with flip landing on her feet at the same time the Grimm bashed into the side of the classroom. The wall didn't have much of a mark on it from the tusks of the Grimm, but it did stun the creature briefly. As the Grimm shook its head Weiss just stood there watching it. Now would be the perfect time to attack the Boarbatusk to kill it, or knock it over and then kill it. A few moments after starting to shake its head the Grimm turned around to face Weiss. What an idiot.
The Boarbatusk charged at Weiss who took the hit inadvertently getting her rapier stuck in the tusks of the Grimm. She struggled to get Myrtenaster free of the tusks. This went on for almost a minute or so before the Grimm swung its head violently to the side sending the weapon flying out of Weiss's hands and the tusks. However there was one problem, Myrtenaster was launched at me. With a snap of my fingers a glyph, or rather a simple circle with a ring of tribal lines running around the edge and a star in the center, materialized stopping the rapier. At this the entire room went silent. Weiss stared at me and the glyph in front of me that held her weapon with shock, like everyone. The Boarbatsuk on the other hand seemed to be entranced if that was the right word since it had stopped fighting Weiss for the moment.
"What will you do without your weapon?" Professor Port inquired before time seemed to resume for the class. Weiss back flipped away from the Grimm putting distance between it and her. I stood up grabbing the rapier to dispel the glyph before tossing Myrtenaster at the heiress.
Weiss caught the weapon with ease keeping an eye on the Grimm. "It has no armor on its belly!" Ruby shouted out giving Weiss some much needed info it seemed. Isn't she supposed to know this before coming here? At that slight distraction the Boarbatusk charged only to slam into one of Weiss's glyphs. That knocked it onto its back allowing her to jump back onto a black colored glyph and stab Myrtenaster into the Grimm's exposed belly killing it.
"Well done!" Professor Port said then Weiss took her seat to Blake's right. I saw her look at me with some form of determination, or maybe it was shock still. I got the feeling that she'd want to talk to me later. I turned back to Port right as he went on again about his glory days so I promptly put my head on the desk and went to sleep. I was woken up by someone shaking my shoulder. Green hair greeted my eyes followed by azure eyes coming into view.
"Class is over, lets head to the next one." Nolan said then I sat up stretching with a yawn. Like the others I got up and left the room for the next class. The classes were pretty boring with the first day stuff, so I napped through them. Luckily for lunch my team was one of the early groups to the cafeteria. We claimed the far corner that gave me a great view of both entrances to the cafeteria.
We all sat in silence for a minute to eat before I broke it. "Were you able to recover your weapons Raysel?"
Raysel reached into a pocket and fished out something. That something turned out to be a twisted scrap of metal. "The dragon tore them all to pieces or melted them so I'll have to make new ones or buy some." Raysel explained.
"Are your axes working for you Nolan?" Might as well go through their weapons since I still hadn't gotten mine though I would in two more days.
"They're still working, but you almost fried the one I lent you to chop off the dragon's head." Nolan said making me raise an eyebrow. "The weapon wasn't meant to have a Conduit channel their powers into it. However that can be fixed with some adjustment, which I've already got going."
"There is no real damage to my daggers if you were wondering." Isabel said quietly before taking a drink of milk from the glass in front of her.
"That's good." I replied taking a bite from a slice of pizza. Without warning something grabbed my tail making me tense up. I turned ready to sucker punch whoever had done it till I saw that it was a child. What are little kids doing here? I tried moving my tail but the runt had a good grip on it, then I noticed the cat ears. The kid was young at maybe no more than 5 and looked a bit like Isabel did. "Would you let go of my tail kid?" I asked as politely as I could even though I just wanted to forcibly free it from his grasp.
"Erik, let go of her tail." Isabel said with a gentle but commanding tone. I watched as the kid's green eyes went to someone behind me then back to mine before he let go. "What are you and your brother doing here?"
"We got bored." Another kid answered from behind me. Glancing over my shoulder I saw another young boy who looked very much like the one who had grabbed my tail. Though he was a tad more muscular at least for a five year old.
Isabel sighed. "I know you two get bored but you need to say there until I get you." she said wrapping an arm around the boy next to her.
"But mom-"
"No buts." Isabel cut Erik off. These two are her kids? Just how old is she?
"How old are you Isabel?" I asked looking at her rustle the hair of the boy next to her.
"Twenty." She replied. "Ozpin allowed me to attend here after I had a talk with him."
The White one is coming. Grendel commented and sure enough I heard the clicking of her boots on the floor heading right for me.
I turned to face her just in time to have Weiss point a finger at me. "How are you able to create a glyph?" She nearly yelled at me with a glare. I remained silent watching her, noticing that Erik wasn't near my tail.
"Do you not know what I am Schnee?" I growled staring into those icy blue eyes of hers.
"Calm down Weiss." Yang commented pulling the heiress back with one hand.
"I won't." Weiss shot back trying to get closer to me, though with Yang having a grip on her uniform that won't happen. "Only the Schnee family can create glyphs yet you did so earlier. Just what are you?" her voice getting more irritated as she spoke.
With a sigh I snapped my fingers confusing Weiss who hadn't expected that action. "I'm a Conduit, human." I said slowly watching her tilt her head to the side.
"And that means?"
I smirked showing a fang. "Look at your feet."
When she looked her expression was priceless. Pure shock brightened her face as if a bolt of lightning had impacted just in front of her. "What the?!" Weiss yelled seeing ice that encased the bottom of her boots, keeping her in place along with Yang's grip on her uniform.
"Freezing your boots like that is nothing for me." I said putting my face near hers. "I'm the one who fought a dragon without any Dust, and beheaded it."
"So it is true then." Blake commented drawing our attention. "You are one of the few people to kill a young dragon."
"They helped too." I said gesturing to my team behind me.
"I'm curious, how do you know my name?" Blake asked making me freeze up. Shit. I should have been prepared for this after mentioning her name yesterday.
Maybe I could chalk it up to hearing her name from the night the others stayed in the ballroom, even though I hadn't been there? I hoped she wasn't good at spotting lies. "I heard your name while in the ballroom the night before initiation." I answered. Blake's eyes never left mine as she mulled it over then nodded.
"How are you feeling?" Someone said from behind Yang. Looking past the blond brawler I was greeted with a smile from Pyrrha and waves from the other members of JNPR.
I turned back to sit down followed by the others sitting at the end of the table with us. Erik came back over by me to avoid Weiss who looked irritated after my little show. I grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted him to sit on the end of the bench to my right
"Thanks." He muttered quietly looking dead at the table and no where else.
I patted his head twice before taking more bites of my food. "I don't feel half of my body right now and what I do feel is sore." I said answering Pyrrha's question.
"I should put some more bio-gel on your wounds." Raysel commented. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Its a medical gel developed by my family that quickens healing and seals wounds, plus it works better on Grimmbloods and Conduits then it does with humans or Faunus."
That would be helpful in the future. After that I finished my food and had small talk about the how classes had gone for the day. We did that until lunch ended and headed for our next classes while Isabel led her sons presumably back to the day care center here, assuming it was called that. The classes like before were more of the boring stuff that happened on the second day of the term. However when we got out of our final class Erik and his brother had managed to get out again from where they had been earlier. Isabel and Nolan decided to take a walk with the boys around campus leaving me to wander while Raysel went back to the house with Grendel.
"Why didn't I get named leader by Professor Ozpin? I should have been made leader not Ruby." I heard Weiss say from somewhere near me. It didn't take me long to find her standing next to a small garden patch with two stone benches.
"There is a reason why she was named leader, Weiss." I said leaning on one side of the doorway to the balcony like area.
"I deserve to be leader of the team not her." Weiss shot at me, anger in her icy eyes.
"That's one reason." I commented pointing at her. "You don't get anything by demanding it, you have to earn it."
"She's younger than me!" Wiess said spreading her arms. "She shouldn't even be here."
I sighed. She sounded like a kid throwing some sort of temper tantrum, or the rich kid used to getting whatever they asked for. "It doesn't matter that Ruby is younger than you. Ozpin asked if she wanted to attend here so I believe he saw something in her. Besides Ruby showed the qualities of a leader." I countered.
"What are the qualities of a leader according to you?"
Now that was an intelligent question. "Leaders are those that regardless of sex can evaluate a situation and formulate a plan of action, even in the thick of fighting. They are flexible and open to suggestions as well as do their damnedest to keep their team alive through a mission."
"I don't think Ru-"
I cut her off. "Who was it among you that came up with the plan to behead the Giant Nevermore?" Wiess opened her mouth then shut it. She bit her lip in annoyance, knowing I was right. "It was Ruby wasn't it? If she hadn't thought it up that Grimm may have likely killed you and the others." I growled hammering in my point.
"I see." Weiss said slowly taking a few deep breaths before letting them out. "Do you think Jaune is leader material too?"
"As much as Ruby, though he doesn't seem to have much confidence in himself." I replied then yawned as I stretched my arms over my head. "Ozpin isn't immune to making mistakes like the rest of us, so give Ruby some time to show you that she is a leader. In the mean time try to be someone she can depend on if need be." With that I left to give Weiss some time to think over my words and headed to the house. Over the next month I noticed that Weiss had taken my advice and was giving Ruby time to prove herself in her eyes. It was nice since they seemed to get along better. During that time everyone from teams JNPR and RWBY had become friends with my entire team, even to the point that Isabel's two boys liked to be around them.
That progress was good, but my facade that I was someone from out in the Grimm dominated countryside was cracking. It was mostly evident through school work, namely Professor Oobleck's history class and tests. There was only so much that had stuck from Ozpin's knowledge jam sessions over two months before the start of the term. At least today I might be able to guess answers to questions Oobleck might ask since he was going to cover one of the battles form the Faunus War.
"Can anyone tell me what many think is the turning point in the the war?" Oobleck said looking over the classroom sipping from his mug of coffee.
"The battle at Fort Castle." I answered before anyone else could.
"Correct." Oobleck chirped quickly zooming to another position in the front of the classroom. "What advantage did the Faunus have over General Lagoon's forces?"
A quiet click reached my ears causing me to look to the left side of the classroom seating. A tiny flying object smacked into the back of Jaune's head causing the sleepy blond to wake up. "What was that?" He mused drawing the attention of our teacher.
"Finally participating in class Mr. Arc?" Oobleck inquired leaning close to Jaune. "Can you tell me what advantage the Faunus had over General Lagoon's forces?"
"Uh..." He paused. I could see the wheels in his head turning. Would he actually come up with the right answer? "Binoculars?" At this the class laughed while I face palmed. Man, he was as hopeless as I remember from the show.
"Amusing answer Arc." Oobleck said barely masking a slight smirk behind drinking more coffee. "Care to share you're thoughts on this Carden?" He added as I watched the asshole lean back and put his feet up on the desk.
His eyes scanned the room before locking on mine. "It's easier to train an animal than a soldier."
I narrowed my eyes at him and let out a low growl. I guess he wasn't quite as much of a coward as I had thought. "You've never seen what happens when an animal snaps, have you?" I said keeping myself calm, even if he did a good job of annoying the hell out of me.
"Does anyone know the advantage the Faunus had?" Oobleck asked though he kept an eye on Cardin and me. Cardin scoffed and looked towards the front of the room clearly bored while I sighed and turned my attention back to him.
"Night vision." Blake and I said at the same time. "Most Faunus like myself have nearly perfect vision in the dark." I added getting another nod from the professor.
He zoomed next to his his desk then put down the mug he had been holding. "That's it for today, Arc and Winchester are to stay after class for additional lecture." With that the class dispersed out the door. I stood up then left the room walking quickly passing teams JNPR and RWBY. I stopped by the cafeteria to get a snack then went out to the Emerald Forest to train with my team as usual.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"Eve is kind of strange." Ren commented as his team and RWBY were all gathered in his team's dorm room.
"Naturally." Weiss said waving a hand upwards lazily in front of her. "She's a wolf Faunus and a Conduit."
"That's not the only thing that about her that's odd." Pyrrha said drawing everyone's attention. "From what I've noticed Eve has varying levels of success for classwork. Sometimes she does okay and other times she doesn't."
"Maybe she's one of those who don't exactly do well at school?" Yang offered only receiving silent stares from the others. "I've seen her bomb tests or do mediocre on them."
Pyrrha shrugged. "Yet, she does very well in Professor Goodwitch's combat class."
"I get the feeling that she is hiding something from all of us." Blake said thinking back to when she had first met the Conduit. "I remember during Initiation that she somehow already knew my name, though that was the first time I saw her."
"Now that you mention it." Pyrrha said thinking back to then. "Eve knew who our groups were before Ozpin formed them and told us to take on the Grimm we defeated. She seemed to know that we would win."
"She may be hiding something from us, but we can't go and ask her what that is." Ren said as Nora laid back on the bed her and Ren occupied.
Silence once again crept into the room as they sat there thinking. "We can beat it out of her!" Nora cheerfully commented with a grin.
"That kinda sounds like a good idea." Yang commented with a smirk.
Weiss face palmed. Leave it to the brawler to think fighting a Conduit was a good idea. "Eve is a Conduit, and don't forget she beheaded a young dragon." Weiss said wiping the smirk off the blond brawler's face.
"Right," Yang said slouching her shoulders.
"Even if we ask her she probably won't tell us." Pyrrha said then yawned. "We'll just have to wait until she is ready to tell us whatever she is hiding."
Ruby nodded looking out the window to the night sky. "Let's get some sleep." The scythe wielder said with a yawn. With that her team left JNPR's dorm room for their own for sleep.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"Before we begin with practice fights today there is something we have not covered about combat." Glynda said standing in the middle of the practice ring in the classroom which was below the seats all of us were in. "Conduit auras." She paused to do something with her scroll before a holographic screen materialized with a paused image of the dragon I had killed during Initiation. There was a few seconds pause then the image moved, showing me and my team fighting the dragon. This looked like it was a mobile drone that had captured footage rather than a stationary camera as the perspective changed. It changed to focus the camera on me, at the center of the screen, and my team with the backside of the dragon's armored head at the bottom. The video paused at a moment when my body was covered with electricity and a shard of ice had just launched from my hand. "As you probably know Conduits fight very differently from normal Huntsmen. They are able to harness the same energy responsible for creating or destroying planets to do nearly anything."
For this class I was dressed in my "combat gear" which was little more than casual cloths and the holsters for my weapons over them. I had on black tennis shoes, black cargo pants, and a gray long sleeve shirt. Attached to my belt and thighs were the two holsters for my bladed revolvers. The small of my back held my sniper rifle assault rife that was more or less compacted into a solid gray rectangle, similar to how Ruby carried Crescent Rose. On my back rested the sheath for the battle staff that Rick had made for me along with the other weapons. He had surprised me by making the two halves of the staff able to become sturdy swords capable of withstanding large amounts of power funneled into them. On my belt rested pouches full of ammunition for my weapons.
"Is there any known limit to what a Conduit can do?" One student asked from the far side of the room from where I sat with my team.
"No." Glynda answered as the video played again. The ice shard broke upon the dragon's plated armor though an incendiary bullet impacted just under one of the plates making the dragon draw its head back in annoyance. The video spanned back to show the full dragon from the perspective my team had at the time, and paused again. "Legends says that Conduits were able to create life like the dragon here and other creatures. However there is no evidence to support it."
"If they were that powerful how come there aren't many around now?" Yang asked getting a sigh from Goodwitch.
"I don't know why their ancient empire was destroyed, though Conduits today are hunted for their power. Or they are hunted as very dangerous enemies of the kingdoms." The professor replied. "Conduits have an aura but it doesn't function in the same way the aura of everyone else does. For them it doesn't protect against all injuries, since in this video Erran has numerous scrapes and cuts as well as the others of her team."
"Why would the two normal people have injuries?" Weiss asked looking over to my team.
"Isabel and I already had our auras drained from combat against a pack of Shadestalkers. Then we had to fight a dragon on top of that." Nolan explained.
"The aura of a Conduit protects them from major damage and permanently enhances their physical ability. For instance there are reports and videos captured of Conduits having buildings collapse on them and survive it. It is suspected that their auras can get stronger over time or by some form of training, and that with a stronger aura they can survive inhuman amounts of damage."
"Are they even Human or Faunus?" One student asked as eyes turned to me, the only Conduit in the room.
"Hard to say." I shrugged. I wasn't sure of the answer to that question. I am a Wolf Faunus and a Conduit at the same time. What one mattered more? Wolf Faunus or Conduit? "It is true that the aura of a Conduit doesn't do much overall damage protection since that dragon gave me lots of nasty wounds. But what our aura does is greatly increase durability on top of enhancing our physical abilities. That said it is separate from the power we use to fight with." I explained then Glynda nodded and the holographic screen vanished.
"What about Grimmbloods?" A girl with bunny ears asked. I looked her over recognizing the female Faunus as Velvet. "I've seen them fight like Conduits."
"Care to answer that Ms. ConCain?" Glynda said. Of course she'd have the only Grimmblood of the class answer that question.
"Sure." Raysel lazily replied. "Grimmbloods, or Grimmshifters, have genetic similarities to Conduits so we can use the same powers they have access to."
"Now that we have covered that it is time for practice fights." Glynda said tapping more buttons on her scroll.
"About time." Nolan commented focusing his attention on the practice arena belo, and so did we.
"The first two participants are Cardin Winchester and Jaune Arc." Glynda said then the two males made their way into the arena. "Begin!" Glynda announced from the sidelines of the practice arena. I had a feeling this was going to go badly for the blond knight. Cardin looked smug probably because he knew he could beat Jaune into submission. The blond on the other hand was in a loose stance that would leave him open to bashing from the mace that Cardin wielded. Without hesitating much Cardin rushed forward swinging his mace down vertically. Jaune blocked part of the blow with his shield making him take a few steps back as the mace slammed into the floor. I heard the stone of the arena floor crack clearly from the force. Several more times Jaune stumbled out of the way of Cardin's attacks while taking some damage to his aura. He never succeeded in landing a single blow on Cardin before he had been knocked down and out of the ring, in roughly one minute. Glynda sighed clearly disappointed. "It has been a month Mr. Arc and you are still behind your peers."
"That was pretty sad." Raysel said with a yawn. She was sitting next to me on my left while the rest of my team was on the other side. "He needs extra training or he's just gonna get beat down every time he steps into that arena."
"Agreed." Grendel chimed in from behind me. His ability to speak had greatly improved over the last month as well, so he didn't quite sound like someone speaking English for the first time. Though he still had a ways to go when it came to things like metaphors.
Jaune could get training from Pyrrha in how to fight in arenas and the like. However I think he needs to learn much more variable fighting, which I could provide. That would also be a good excuse to experiment some more with my powers to see what I can do from afar.
"That was a good try Jaune." I heard Pyrrha say from several rows of seats away, though from the blond knight's sigh I don't think he thought it was much of a complement.
"Eve." Glynda called from the practice arena. I stood up from my seat then walked up to the railing. I jumped over it onto the arena floor and moved to the center ring near where Goodwitch was standing. As usual she was holding her scroll jotting down things in there, notes on our practice fights most likely. "You will face off against Cardin Winchester." I couldn't help but grin. I couldn't have asked for any better, except for maybe facing off against Pyrrha.
Cardin walked back into the ring still looking smug though that was going to change shortly. "Those weapons won't help you dog." Cardin commented with venom once he was near the center.
Oh I was going to enjoy humiliating him in front of the class and his own team. I shrugged. "I like variety with weapons."
Cardin got into a two handed stance with his mace ready to swing it at my side. Meanwhile I got out my battle staff with one hand spinning it around before stopping it along my back. "Eve." Glynda said so I glanced at her. "Don't destroy the ring this time, or you will be fixing it." She growled almost glaring at me.
"I'll try not to, but no guarantees." I replied focusing my attention back on Cardin.
Glynda grunted then looked between the two of us. "Begin!" She called stepping back. Cardin rushed forward though to me he looked to be moving in slow motion. I stood there moving the battle staff to block Cardin's swing. The metal of my weapon wrung a little though I didn't exactly feel much from the side blow. Man, Grendel could hit harder than that. I just stared at him as Cardin realized his one attack didn't work, so I pushed his weapon back and hit him in the back with one end of the staff. Out of the corner of my eye his aura took a small hit shifting it down a little. Movement brought my attention back to Cardin whom was going for a vertical slam. I sidestepped the attack with ease letting it go by closely by me to hammer into the floor.
Once the mace hit the floor it exploded giving me a light burn on my left arm and leg. Cardin himself was smirking having caused me some damage, but that didn't really hurt much. He flicked his arm towards me but I used a burst of speed to get behind the oaf in a flash. He turned with the swing sporting an angry expression, more than likely pissed off that he was not hitting me. Cardin charged me once again swinging the mace around wildly. That didn't help him, but it did for me. I separated my battle staff into its halves and scored blow after blow onto Cardin steadily dropping his aura into the red. By this time he was beaten and tired and I could still go for a long ways. He swung the mace at me again where I flung it out of his hands with my weapons then put them onto my back.
I caught his weapon as it came down. It was heavier than I thought with a cage type design at the end of it capped with a reddish orb. As I had felt earlier the weapon was able to cause localized explosions. Or maybe that was Cardin's semblence? Nonetheless I spun the mace a few times in my right hand. The look on his face was priceless. Caught somewhere in between fear and awe, probably closer to fear. I tossed the weapon into the air baiting Cardin. The fool rushed forward to try and reclaim his weapon, but I grabbed it with my left hand spinning around to swing it upwards. The mace harshly smashed into Cardin's chest plate sending him flying into the side of the practice arena hard enough to crack it at the point of impact.
"Not a bad weapon, though you don't use it well Cardin." I commented tossing the mace over to the unconscious teen.
"Well done, Eve." Glynda said approaching the center of the room. "Professor Ozpin wishes to speak with you." I nodded before teleporting to my seat.
"He deserved wors-"
"That was AWESOME!" Erik hollered interrupting his mother.
I smirked. "Thanks, and you're getting into trouble again boys." I said making Erik rub the back of his head sheepishly. I looked to Grendel whom held Adam by his shirt collar in front of him above the floor. "Let go of him Grendel." With that the Beowolf set Adam down onto his feet. "We've got to go talk to Ozpin, take notes for me and that."
"Will do." Raysel and Nolan replied at the same time. I tapped Grendel on the shoulder then left the room. Once out in the hallway I teleorted us to the tower that Ozpin's office resided in. As it turned out I managed to get us into his office directly. Ozpin sat behind his desk though there was another in the room I had never seen before.
"Who the hell are you?" I growled sensing the same power that Raysel radiated. The man looked to be about the same age as Ozpin, maybe a little older with short gray hair and stubble beginning to show on a rough chin. One eye was a human looking green while the other was solid crimson, in the same manner as a Grimm's eyes.
"So you're the Conduit Ozzy has attending his school." The man said with a deep voice that seemed to resonate a little. He was dressed in largely casual cloth in the color of gray; a short sleeve shirt, pants, and combat boots. He didn't have any visible weapons on him, though I got the feeling he didn't really need one. Around the man's neck rested a ruby pendant in the form of a sword.
"Relax Eve." Ozpin said sternly. He seemed to trust this guy, so I guess I might as well trust Ozpin's judgment for now. I relaxed moving my hands away from the weapons currently strapped to my back with Grendel mirroring me a little. I could tell with a glance that he didn't trust the man near Ozpin. "This man is Cameron Drake, one of my old friends."
I sniffed the air a few times trying to get his scent. It didn't really ring human, but that was there faintly. Something else was the main scent. I could smell darkness from him and power which reminded me of Raysel a lot. "You're a Grimmblood aren't you?"
"You used you nose to figure that out?" Cameron mused. "I guess Wolves have the best sense of smell among Faunus."
"We also have very good hearing." I added getting a nod from Cameron.
"I'll take my leave." Cameron said walking to the elevator, taking it down. I watched the doors until I couldn't hear the elevator anymore and turned around to face Ozpin once again.
"I think it is time to tell them, don't you?" Ozpin said making me tilt my head in confusion. "The facade you have is cracking. They know you are hiding something from them."
"As I told you before I don't do well on tests no matter how much I prepare for them. Besides they don't know what I am hiding. And do you believe that they will take me seriously if I told them I wasn't even born on Remnant?"
"They will try to figure out on their own what you are hiding from them, if they aren't already." Ozpin countered looking me in the eyes over the knuckles of his hands.
Could I trust them with that? I know that Raysel wouldn't laugh at me for that crazy fact but the others? They just might laugh at that or be fine with it, I don't know.
Ozpin sighed taking a deep breath. "Let me word it this way." He paused closing his eyes briefly. "Do you trust your team with your life?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then shouldn't you trust them not to think you are mad?" He cut me off. I bit my lip then sighed. Ozpin had a valid point. If I trusted them with my life why couldn't I trust them with this bit of information?
Grendel nudged my head with his snout, a sign of comfort and or concern from him. I closed my eyes reaching up to pet his mask. "You're right." I said opening my eyes again to see a small smile on the headmaster's face. "I'll tell them soon, but there is something I'd like to bring to your attention."
Ozpin arced an eyebrow. "Go on."
"Jaune Arc managed to get forged transcripts to get into here."
"I know." Ozpin replied. "I made them."
"What about blond knight extra training?" Grendel asked making Ozpin silent as he thought. Once again I saw that light in his eyes dance.
"I was thinking of training Jaune after school out in the Emerald Forest where I normally do training to improve his combat abilities." I explained.
"Why the Emerald Forest?"
"What student in their right mind would go out there in the daytime, let alone night time?" I commented. "Besides where else could I go to train and not be observed by others?"
"I see." Ozpin said standing up to look out the window behind his desk. "I will leave Mr. Arc's training in your hands Eve."
"Does Isabel have any family besides her boys?" I asked. I tried asking her myself but she would politely avoid answering the question every time.
"Unfortunately no." Ozpin answered. I walked up to his right to look out onto the city of Vale. The view was quite breath taking even in the day. "They were all killed in a White Fang attack and the father of her two boys abandoned them."
Man that was rough, and ironic. The White Fang were supposed to be a voice for the Fanuns yet they turned into a group of bloodthirsty revolutionaries. Had they stooped so low as to kill their own kind to make a point? "Who gets her boys if she dies?"
"You think ahead Eve." Ozpin noted.
"Most of the time." I shrugged. "But honestly I know how dangerous our line of work is, and that death is very likely."
"If Isabel Stelsa dies one of her team mates will have custody of them, which is up to you."
"Sounds reasonable." I said looking out the window at the clear sky that was dotted with a few sky ships. "I'll talk to you later Ozzy." I added then walked over to Grendel. I gripped his collar before teleported us to Beacon's grounds, next to the knight statue. In the light of the setting sun the mounted knight statue looked impressive, like a shining symbol of stability.
I watched Grendel's head tilt one way then the other as he studied the statue. "What is human on?"
I couldn't help a smile as Grendel's head turned to me for an answer. "The creature the knight is on is called a horse. It allows for fast transportation and can be used for manual labor if need be." I explained. A deep hum echoed from him while mulling over the information. After a minute or so he looked at me and nodded. "Meet me in the Emerald Forest, I'm going to get Jaune for training."
"Okay." Grendel said charging off in the direction of the Emerald Forest, our training grounds. I headed for the student dorms in search of my target. I had an idea where the dorms for Jaune and Ruby's teams were but I didn't know exactly where. However I could track them all by scent, so I just followed that. Blake's scent was the one that stood out the most from the others with her being a cat Faunus. Ruby on the other hand always smelled like roses for some reason. I followed those two scents to the third floor of the student dorms where I could hear yelling from one of the rooms on the left side.
"You can't force answers out of Eve!" I heard Ruby say tentatively causing me to stop in my tracks. I quietly moved to lean my back against the wall and focused on what I could hear.
"I want to know what she is hiding from us too Yang, but remember what happened last time you two brawled?" This time it was Blake that spoke. I smirked at the memory. That was the only time Glynda made the mistake of having Yang fight me in a practice match which ended up destroying the classroom from Yang's semblence. I won in the end by encasing her in ice for three minutes.
"I...remember." Yang answered slowly. I got off the wall and went over to the door across from RWBY's dorm. I could clearly smell Pyrrha's perfume coming from behind it, as well as...pancakes? Putting that aside I knocked on the dorm room door.
"Hang on." Pyrrha commented before the door opened to reveal her wearing a gray tank top and blue jeans. "Eve?" Clearly the tournament champion was surprised by my visit as she stared at me for almost a minute. "Come in." she finally said moving out of the way to let me in. On one bed sat Nora with a giant plate piled high with pancakes.
"Don't you ever get tired of pancakes?" I asked shaking my head a little.
"They're too awesome to get tired of them!" Nora replied enthusiastically before going back to devouring the pile.
"What brings you here Eve?" Ren asked as he walked out of the bathroom dressed in his usual cloths.
"I'm going to barrow Jaune for a bit." I said putting a hand on said blond's shoulder then teleporting to the Emerald Forest before they could say something. Jaune instantly fell to the forest floor with a thud.
"What was that for?" Jaune complained getting up and stretching his limbs out.
"Got locker." Grendel said making me look to my right to see him with a equipment locker under one arm.
"Did you carry that out to here?" I asked getting a nod from the Beowolf Alpha. My god, he can be a handful.
"Where are we?" Jaune asked nervously looking around.
"Emerald Forest." Grendel answered for me.
"What?!" Jaune yelled clearly shocked. I sat down on a fallen over tree trunk. "Why are we in the Emerald Forest?"
"Training." I supplied.
"Training-"
"I know your secret Jaune Arc." I interrupted looking him dead in the eyes. The blond knight took a step back, eyes wide. "You somehow got your hands on forged transcripts to get into Beacon."
"Are...you...blackmailing me?"
My ears flattened as I hung my head. "No." I replied bring my head back up before waving a hand in front of me. In front of me two things formed out of icy blue glowing energy, vaguely resembling Beowolves. "I don't care about that, but I will provide you with training you can't get anywhere else." With that Grendel firmly set the locker down on the grassy earth vertically.
"Get weapon, fight those." Grendel said making Jaune sigh. The blond went up to the equipment locker and retrieved his gear then faced me.
"They look like Beowolves." Jaune noted as Grendel closed the locker and moved it next to one of the large trees around the clearing. This more or less functioned as a gathering spot for training with my team. It was somewhat far out in the forest which hid our night time training well, and supplied us with a number of Grimm for live combat practice.
"Sort of." I shrugged. Not bad for a first attempt. "As I said I am going to be training you, but I am also going to be getting training too."
"What do you mean? How are you going to be getting training if you are training me?"
"Good question." I replied. Finish the explanation Grendel.
Grendel nodded his head at me then walked over to the two Beowolf like constructs of blue energy. "She will control them from there." He said putting a massive paw on each head that was about shoulder height for him. "You are to fight these...fakes? Dummies?"
"Dummies works." I commented.
"She will get stronger at range combat and you get stronger overall." Grendel finished looking to me for approval. I smiled with a nod letting him he did a good job.
"I don't think I get it." Jaune said putting a hand on his chin. "I have to fight the two dummies you conjured up and you somehow are going to control them?"
Holy crap...this guy can be slow to understand. I guess that's to be expected when you aren't exactly trained to be a Huntsmen like Yang or Ruby was then attend a school for them. "We will go in stages to improve your combat ability, but keep this in mind." I said holding up a hand before extending my index finger. "One, I cannot teach you much on standard combat forms that can be found in class or in tournaments. Pyrrha would be a good one to learn from on that note." I extended the next finger. "Two, I'll train you every night and I won't go easy. Meaning that I will harm you but not enough to kill you." I held up a third finger at the same time Jaune paled. "Lastly these dummies will not be the only thing I use against you in our training, understood?"
Jaune stood there for a full two minutes before swallowing. He calmed down a little to where he didn't look white as a sheet. "I...understand." He answered.
"Good." I commented seeing Grendel come to me and sit down cross legged. I got off the tree trunk and put my weapons on the ground before sitting in his lap. I snapped my fingers and the two dummies came to life shifting their heads to look at me. "I want you to fight these two. They are quite frail so it shouldn't be too hard for you to destroy them."
"Okay." Jaune said then got into a stance where his shield was in front and his sword arm was hanging low. As he prepared to fight the dummies I focused my mind on them, sensing the bodies. After maybe a minute I could feel the two dummies as if they were a part of my body. Experimentally I tried flexing a hand, and to my surprise one of the dummies flexed a hand slowly. Again I focused my mind on the dummies this time feeling two bodies at once. It was almost like learning to move your fingers on their own without the others joining in. I moved an arm in my mind and the closest of the two dummies swiped at Jaune.
It responded to a thought command? Jaune's shield blocked the blow earning a grunt from him. He then shakily reached forward and slashed at the dummy that had swiped him. In my mind I pictured myself moving out of the blow in the form of a Beowolf and two things happened. One, the dummy moved out of the way at far faster speed than I anticipated. And two, the form of it changed to more closely match Grendel. I looked over at Jaune who was stunned. At that moment I had the other dummy, which had also changed to match the other one, attack Jaune. I guided its body around in just the same way as the other one. The second dummy missed Jaune's arm by a few inches. Damn. This wasn't easy at all! Putting that thought aside I resumed control and movement of the two dummies at once. Jaune backed up after I missed his arm. I positioned both dummies so they could pounce on him at ounce when I suddenly hit my head on Grendel's chest.
I growled feeling a little sting in my head. I looked to see both dummies I had conjured up ripped in half and Raysel standing before Jaune. I closed my eyes letting forth a growl. "Raysel..." I said quietly through gritted teeth.
"What are these and-" She stopped as I opened my eyes to look at her. "Eve? What is he doing here?" She added point to Jaune.
"What the hell?" I let out as she slumped her shoulders. Nolan and Isabel walked into view at that moment. "I was using those to train him!" I said pointing to the blue Beowolf halves on the ground.
Raysel put her hands up in surrender. "Sorry, I jumped to conclusions." I let out a sigh. It was a minor mistake on her part. "That aside I had no idea you could do that."
I rubbed my temples as the sting of pain eased away. "I just tried it earlier. And you should remember what Glynda mentioned earlier, that Conduits don't have known limits."
"Right." Raysel said then clapped her hands together and two forms materialized. They looked nearly identical to the dummies I had created, but glowed a soft purple instead of blue. "So you made something like these?"
I nodded. "I made them to try out a form of ranged combat while training Jaune at the same time."
"I see." Nolan said taking a drink from the canteen he carried at his waist. "We'll be over by the gorge then to give you two some room."
"Thanks." I said before he moved with Isabel out of sight to the east of us. Over that way we had found a gorge that was deep and dark. It allowed us to start training in caves where it was almost completely dark and full of Grimm. Raysel on the other hand stayed where she was. "You joining them?"
"Nah." Raysel commented gaining a purple glow in her eyes. "I'm going to help you train Jaune."
I smirked. "Okay. Jaune now you'll need to fight four dummies that are frail. I am controlling the blue glowing Beowolf dummies and Raysel is controlling the purple glowing ones."
Jaune gulped. "Alright." He said getting ready then looked around. "You do know I can't see in the dark like you right?"
Right...he's only human. "Just let us know when you can't see anything besides the Beowolf dummies." Jaune nodded then I recreated my two dummies feeling that it was already easier. Once again I took control of the two and moved them around to make sure I could move them how I wanted to. "Here we go." With that Raysel and I attacked Jaune via the dummies. After several hours the two of us were a tired and Jaune himself was unconscious and covered in bruises.
"He's got a long way to go." Raysel commented holding her hands over his chest which glowed a light blue. Over time his bruises were vanishing as she healed him.
"That may be true, but we got him started at least." I said placing my hands on his legs to channel power into them. I could feel the muscles in his legs slowly relax and take it in, healing the injuries Raysel and I caused there. I let out a yawn a few minutes later seeing Raysel move her hands away from Jaune's chest.
"Injuries gone?" Grendel asked looking over Jaune as the man slept.
"We healed the majority of them." Raysel replied taking a few deep breaths. "Controlling those dummies is more tiring than I thought."
"Agreed." I added then went over and draped Jaune over my shoulder with ease. "I'm going to drop him off at his dorm." I said grinning. I could have fun with this situation.
"What are you grinning about?" Raysel asked raising an eyebrow.
"I'll tell you at the house later." I said then teleported to the dorms. I easily carried the unconscious blond knight on my back around the dorms. As it turned out there was no one outside of their rooms at night. I got to his dorm room quickly and knocked on the door.
"What happened to Jaune?" Pyrrha said her voice ringing with obvious concern. She let me into the room where the other members were in pajamas and Pyrrha herself was in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I set Jaune down onto one of the unoccupied beds slowly so I didn't agitate any bruises Raysel and I didn't heal.
This opportunity was too good to pass up. "We had some fun in the Emerald Forest."
Pyrrha's green eyes locked with mine as they went wide. At the same time her eyes went wide a bright red hue decorated her cheeks and I heard Ren cough on something. I looked to him to see a cup of water in a hand. I could see that Pyrrha was speechless and stunned so I teleported out of the room before she could recompose herself.
I forgot to mention that I am trying to figure out what stories to post next (only to a maximum of four, since I don't write short stories). I've got tons of fanfictions on my computer and I'm not sure what one I want up here. What would you guys/gals like to see? halo, Overlord (awesome anime), Gate (another one), Warcraft/WoW, nartuto/fairy tail crossover, ROsario + Vampire (another try at it where Akasha Bloodriver is the love interest of the main OC)? leave a review with your thoughts on this and the question at the top of the chapter.