Chapter 16
Author's Note: Okay, here we are, just a few days before the start of Team RWBY's first year at Beacon. This will be the second arc out of potentially four. As always, your reviews are greatly appreciated; I love seeing what your guy's thoughts are regarding my chapters. After all, it's you people that catch my mistakes and give me better ideas for the story. Now, if you'll excuse me, I just got my ears pierced and I'm going to go and wash them again because I have an extreme obsession with preventing infection…courtesy of my job. :P
The forest was beautiful; leaves had changed color from a bright green to a dark maroon. There were a wealth of trees in the distance, at least 500 acres of land and all of it Grimm free. Unfortunately, there was something more important to be concerned with at the current time. "Nothing works…absolutely nothing." Blake thought as she glanced through the trees. Suddenly, an explosion could be heard in the distance and a few trees could be seen falling down. "I suppose she found the enemy…not like it will make much of a difference." She thought as she stood up and began running through the trees to the site of the explosion.
"Stay still!" Yang shouted as she cocked her gauntlets and fired a volley of hell-fire at her opponent. Nothing hit. Even when one of the flaming projectiles looked as though it was heading straight for its target, it seemed to phase right through and explode off in the distance. "What the fuck!?" Yang yelled as she disposed of her empty cartridges and reloaded her Ember Celica. She fired her gauntlets backward, launching herself forward with amazing force. Her right fist was pulled back, ready to strike, but as her metal-plated knuckles were but a few inches away, a hand simply pushed her arm to her left causing her to completely miss her target and stumble past. After just a second, she regained her composure, immediately turned around, and fired…but there was no one there. Before Yang could even sense her opponent's whereabouts, she had been knocked down to a kneel from a kick to the back of her knees, followed by a major force of aura pushing her entire body to the ground, completely immobilizing her.
As Yang was being held in place, helplessly, a glyph formed underneath their enemy, launching them upward. It didn't have much of the desired effect, however, since it took only a few backflips in the air before the enemy was safely standing on a tree branch. Yang took the time to retreat to her teammate in the forest. "Are you alright?" Weiss asked.
"My pride's been wrecked…" Yang stated between gasps of air.
"What did you expect from taking on the fight alone?" Weiss asked condescendingly.
"Don't know…but now I'm expecting a miracle or else we're not gonna win this." Yang said still looking at their opponent who was kindly waiting for them to make the first move.
"Guys, I got an idea…" Ruby said over the intercom.
"We're all ears, Rubes." Yang said.
"Each of you, go to opposite sides of the tree he is standing in." Ruby said. Both Weiss and Yang did so without hesitation, making sure not to get too close. "When he falls, get ready to attack…" she finished.
Ruby peered through her scope from a distance, taking note of the wind and range of her target. Her finger slid across the trigger as she lined up her shot, knowing that she won't get a second chance. She curled her index finger around the trigger as she watched the leaves in the wind. The leaves were shaking violently due to the strong gust of wind, but as soon as it passed, the leaves were almost completely still…and Ruby took her shot. The bullet screeched through the air, tearing through the wind and any unfortunate leaf that got in its way. The bullet came to a sudden halt right in its target…not the enemy, but the branch below them. It seemed to shatter like glass causing their opponent to fall to the ground. The second the girls heard a loud thud hit the ground, Yang and Weiss moved in.
"Eat this, bitch!" Yang yelled as she moved in from the enemy's right with Weiss attacking from their left. Yang's arm swung forward, just as Myrtenaster did, letting out a bellowing burst of fire from her fist. Myrtenaster's blade struck into the ground just as Ember Celica's flame coated the ground in soot. Once again, their target had dodged, but this time, in a predictable way.
They had leaped into the air, already preparing for the next attack. Before it could be delivered, however, the enemy felt a tug against their leg. "Weiss, now!" Blake yelled as she pulled on her ribbon which had been tightly knotted around their opponent's legs, causing them to be dangled upside-down. Without hesitation, Weiss activated two more glyphs around each of their enemy's wrists, pulling their arms outward from their body.
Ruby joined with her teammates on the ground and all looked up to their seemingly helpless opponent. "Ha! We gotcha'!" Ruby yelled as all of the ladies admired the target hanging upside-down, from the legs, in the shape of a cross.
Yang took no time loading one of her Pulse Slugs into Ember Celica, pulling her right arm backward, and taking aim. "Kiddie gloves are coming off, now…eat this!" she shouted as she unleashed the power of her greatest invention. The slug went flying through the air, and, as predicted, exploded on contact. Immediately following the explosion, the tension that was held on the ribbon that Blake was pulling on, to keep the target hanging from the tree branch, causing her to let go. All of the girls began to celebrate their victory as Yang placed her hands on her knees and let out a large sigh followed by labored breathing, "I can't…believe…we actually…did–"
"UGH!" Ruby grunted causing all of the girls to turn and face her. Yang's eyes grew wide and blood red as she saw her little sister gripping her belly in pain, tears rolling down her face, followed by her collapsing onto the ground unconscious.
Yang was enraged, "How the fu–"
"AHH!" Weiss screamed, once again, causing Yang and Blake to swing their heads toward her only to see the unconscious figure of their ice cold teammate, blood running from her mouth with noticeable swelling from her jaw.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Yang said as she and Blake got back to back, watching for any signs of movement. "This is ridiculous, my slug had to have hit or else it wouldn't have gone off." She continued as the girls continued to pivot in place to their right, monotonously turning. "This fucker gonna do anything or what…" Yang wondered aloud as she continued to pivot with Blake to her back. As she was moving, she was seeing the bodies of her unconscious teammates laying on the ground with each rotation of their pivot. Ruby laid on the ground, unconscious but still with her hands around her stomach from earlier, which enraged Yang even more. Weiss was lying unconscious with blood still dripping from her mouth, and her jaw beginning to turn slightly purple and yellow from bruising. Their pivoting continued until they had reached one full rotation and Yang saw something which both angered her beyond reason and scared her lifeless…she saw Blake's body lying unconscious with blood running from her nose and right eyebrow with swelling coming from right above her nose.
Yang, eyes red as fire and tears threatening to emerge, swung her body around to see who she was back to back with only to have a hand grasp her forehead. "You son of a bitch…" she whispered to none other than the Knight-General himself.
His eyes initially looked lifeless and devoid of care, until he spoke, "Rule number one: Never stop fighting until the battle is over." Lionel said as his eyes changed to a deeply caring and emotional look. He then sent a quick, powerful surge of his aura through his fingertips causing Yang to fall unconscious instantly and tumble to the ground. "If this were a real fight, you could have easily lost your friends…" he said to the unconscious girls.
Lionel scratched his head and began to pick up each of the girls, placing Ruby and Weiss on each of his shoulders and carrying Blake and Yang in his arms, the girl's arms and legs dangling from his body. "And to think school starts back in just a few days and this is where they're at in their training…we've got a lot of work to do…" he thought as he trudged his way through the forest. "…work and dieting…" he whispered with a chuckle.
"Shit!" Yang shouted as she sat up from her previous sleeping position. She was laying on a couch which had another portion of couch protruding from the end of it in a perpendicular fashion forming the shape of an 'L'.
"Is that really necessary?" Blake asked causing Yang to look over to her partner who was sitting just a few feet away holding an ice pack to her right eye.
"You okay?!" Yang said as she stood up, only to stumble from her lightheadedness.
"Be careful…that attack I used takes a toll, mentally." Lionel said while sticking his head out from another room.
"And I'm fine…my forehead just hurts." Blake said.
Yang darted her head around looking for her sister next, only to see her still unconscious on the perpendicular part of the couch. "What about Ruby?" she asked.
"She'll be fine, she's probably just too busy dreaming about cookies to actually join us anytime soon." Weiss said from behind the couch Yang was laying on, also holding an ice pack to her cheek before walking over to the side of the couch Ruby was lying on.
"Did you really have to go that far, bro?" Yang slightly shouted so the Knight-General could hear her in the other room.
"I don't take training easily…if you don't have an adequate punishment for failing, you don't try your hardest to improve." He said from the other room.
"Besides…weren't you the one who said 'Being our admin will be the best decision he ever made' a few weeks ago?" Weiss asked sarcastically. "What's the matter, can't handle it?" she asked in a mocking tone as she sat next to Ruby and lifted the sleeping leader's head so she could slide her legs under to lay it back down on her lap.
Yang scoffed, crossed her arms, let her body fall back to the couch in a pouting fashion. "As if…I was the last one who got beaten, so you're not one to talk." She stated.
"Actually, it was entirely my decision who got knocked out, and I chose for you to be last to teach you a lesson." Lionel said as he walked into the room carrying a pot and two plates, all covered with lids.
"Which was…?" Yang inquired.
"Firstly, don't be so overconfident, and secondly, don't give up." Lionel answered as he walked over to the girls and raised the lid on the pot revealing a delicious smelling stew, stirring it with the ladle, and walking back to the other room, which the girls had figured was a kitchen.
"Overconfidence is part of my personality so I can't help that, but I NEVER give up!" Yang stated when she saw the Knight-General emerge from the kitchen again with five bowls and silverware.
"It's fine if you have an overconfident personality, but if you're overconfident in your actions and refuse to acknowledge the power others may have, it will only serve to be your downfall." Lionel said as he began to scoop out the stew into one of the bowls. "As for giving up, I recall you not doing a single thing, toward the end, when I grabbed you. I did not restrain you or otherwise impede the movement of your arms and legs…but seeing the bodies of your teammates had utterly taken the fight out of you and that is something that will get you killed every time." He said as he handed one of the bowls to Yang.
She took the bowl from the Knight-General and seemed to simply stare at it for a few seconds. "I know…I just don't want to lose anyone else…" she partially mumbled as she stirred her bowl of stew.
"Who are you referring to, if you don't mind my asking?" Lionel asked as again began to scoop more of the stew into another bowl.
"It's not important; I'm over it…but not giving up is important, and you're right…I did give up. I won't let it happen again." She stated still looking into the bowl.
"That's one of the basic signs of depression…" Lionel stated as he handed the second bowl to Blake, who took the bowl but was more interested in the conversation taking place.
"Excuse me?" Yang asked in a slightly annoyed, but mostly confused tone.
"I'm not saying you're clinically depressed…but I've learned a lot through the years. I asked you about something you obviously did not want to talk about and claimed that you're 'over it' trying to move the conversation somewhere else. If that wasn't enough, you then agreed with my criticism of your fight, without arguing, when your personality dictates that you would generally do the opposite." Lionel explained before grabbing a third bowl and stirring the stew around more.
"Seriously? I'm doing something wrong because I'm agreeing with you…not everything has a secret meaning." Yang said in a scolding manner.
"See? You're arguing with me now…because that's what you do when you're criticized. That's who you are." Lionel retorted as he scooped more stew into the next bowl.
Yang sighed, sat her back against the couch, and looked toward the ceiling.
"If you don't want to talk about something, that's fine, just say that. But you need to trust your teammates. Blake told you that she used to be a member of the White Fang…that kind of information can get her thrown in prison. But, she trusts her teammates – friends – enough to relinquish that knowledge." Lionel explained as he handed the third bowl to Weiss who, like Blake, took the bowl but was more interested in the conversation.
Yang continued to look toward the ceiling before sighing again. "Obviously, Rubes and I are half-sisters." She said as she glanced at her sleeping sister while still keeping her face pointed upward. "My dad married…someone…all I know is that it's my uncle Qrow's sister. Maybe they never got married…maybe it was a one-time thing, I don't know…regardless, I was born. And she just up and left…we don't know where or why. Like I said, I don't know how close my dad was to her, so I don' know if it hit him all that hard…but, I do know that I'm pissed off about it. I'm pissed because she didn't want anything to do with me and I just fucking lost her." she explained in a sad yet enraged tone, her right hand still holding the bowl of hot stew and her left lying palm-up on the couch.
Blake grabbed her left hand, "You can't seriously blame yourself for that. Maybe she wasn't ready for–"
"No." Yang said, releasing Blake's hand and placing her hand on her forehead, shielding her eyes. "My dad had saved up almost thirty thousand lien for when I was born…you know hunters aren't fucking rich. My birth was something that was planned and my mom just said 'fuck it' and left. I don't know why I care…I didn't even know her, I always considered Summer to be my mom. Summer, my dad, my uncle Qrow, and my birth mom were all on the same team in Beacon. So, when my birth mom left, Summer found out not long after and began helping my dad with taking care of me…" Yang said, tears swelling up in her eyes when she first said Summer's name. "…'cause she's just that fucking awesome." She finished as tears began to slide down her face.
Lionel, Weiss, and Blake were all listening quietly for Yang to continue. Blake Sat her bowl of stew onto the table before sliding closer to Yang and putting her arm around her shoulder. "You don't have to continue if you don't want to…" Blake said.
Yang began to sniffle and rubbed her eyes before shaking her head in response to Blake. "I'm good…" she said as she took a deep breath. "Summer helped My dad take care of me for about a year, then they got together…but, I don't think they ever got married. Nine months later and I had a little sister. But then, about three or four years after that, Summer left for a mission and never came back." Yang explained as she again glanced to Ruby. The mere sight of her sister sleeping peacefully made tears, once again, swell in her eyes. "I lost another person…I'm tired of losing people. I' always afraid that my uncle Qrow will go out on a mission and won't come back…now I have a team that I don't want to lose…and if I even think about the possibility of one day seeing a car drive up to me, watching two hunters get out, and tell me that Ruby is…I'd rather kill myself…" Yang bellowed as tears flooded from her eyes.
Blake said nothing but did her best to comfort her agonizing teammate. Weiss watched on, seemingly thinking about what Yang had said while subconsciously running her hands through Ruby's hair.
"Thank you for sharing that with us." Lionel said. "You are obviously concerned about your loved ones based on your past…I would even consider this a mild form of PTSD. Yang…use this passion to your advantage. I saw what happened during the Hunt when Blake got hurt. If you could somehow learn how to control that massive surge of energy, you would be a force on par with the Knights themselves." He explained.
Yang looked up and began to wipe the tears from her eyes. "But I don't want to have to wait for someone to get hurt for me to use that power…" she said in between sniffles.
"You don't have to…it's not like that power came from thin air. It's in there somewhere…you just have to learn how to bring it out. And I think you need to train in the realm of aura control. From now onward, Monday and Wednesday evenings will be a day for you to train your aura control. I will show you methods of meditating and a few techniques that require a specific amount of aura. Right now, you fight by simply unleashing a tsunami of aura through your body…but if you can learn to coordinate controlled amounts of aura into your punches and kicks it will drastically improve your skills…without changing your fighting style!" Lionel explained in a content tone, thus raising the overall mood of the room.
"I always figured that aura control is something I shouldn't worry about since I've learned to fight so well with just unleashing everything I have…" Yang stated. Her tears have stopped and she isn't sniffling anymore, but her eyes are still bloodshot.
"True…and for most that would be adequate. But you're not just a boxer. I've seen how meticulous you are when you train at the boxing gym. You want your moves to flow perfectly and to be able to move through the air with minimal effort. Most boxers are focused on making their strongest punches and kicks connect with their target, in order to do serious damage. You've moved past that, however…you already know that your punches and kicks will do unrivaled damage, so focus more on improving your technique. You treat boxing, and indeed fighting, as more of an art form." Lionel said with grace.
"I agree. I've seen how fluent your moves are and, with the right management, your technique can be improved upon greatly." Weiss said.
"And she's the one to ask if you need help with aura control and I'm not around to demonstrate. Those glyphs require a large amount of aura specifically managed in small portions." Lionel stated.
"Fine…if I can keep people safe I'll do anything." Yang said in a serious tone before sending a smile out to her friends.
Blake smiled back before removing her arm and picking up her bowl of stew. "If you even need to talk, we're here for each other." She said.
"That's the thing about fighting for the ones you love…it makes you stronger, which, in turn, makes them stronger. But don't forget the most important rule about being on a team: one person can't do everything…" Lionel said as he picked up on of the plates and removed the lid to reveal a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. "…so if you each protect one-another, then there is nothing to fear." He finished before placing the tray of still hot cookies next to Ruby's face.
"Cookies!" Ruby shouted as she sat up from Weiss' lap. Just as she was about to reach of one, the Knight-General pulled the plate away from her. "Awwww…" she pouted.
"I can't let you spoil your lunch." Lionel said as he placed the lid back on top of the plate of cookies and sat them down on the table. He then picked up the fourth bowl and began to scoop out stew for Ruby. "How are you feeling, Ruby? Did I punch you too hard?" he asked mockingly.
"No." Ruby scoffed. "…you just caught me off guard." She lied causing each of her teammates to let out a giggle. Ruby glanced at each of her teammates and noticed the bags of ice but was more concerned with her sister's bloodshot eyes.
"Yang, are you okay? Your eyes are red…and not the 'I'm gonna kick your butt' kind of red." Ruby inquired as the Knight-General handed her a bowl of stew.
"Yeah, his attacks just pack a punch. It actually caused me to cry a little bit." Yang lied.
"What can I say…I need to learn to watch my own strength…" Lionel said sarcastically as he slid the last plate in between everyone and removed the lid revealing a plate of garlic bread to go with the stew. He then proceeded to pick up the last bowl and fill it with stew.
"Thank you for the food." Blake said before taking a spoonful of the food with a bite of the bread. Despite how long the food had remained uneaten, it was still very hot.
"Yeah, thanks." Yang and Ruby said followed by Yang cramming her mouth in her usual Yang fashion.
"Ugh, do you have to eat like such a barbarian?" Weiss asked rhetorically before turning her attention to the Knight-General who had just finished filling his bowl. "Thank you for the food. I'd hate to be a bother, but it looks like vegetable stew…may I ask what is in it?" Weiss asked.
"Don't worry…I've read your file, I made it with beef broth instead of vegetable broth and there are carrots or onions." Lionel said.
"You don't like that stuff, Weiss?" Ruby asked.
"No, I come from northern Atlas. Our bodies, that high north, have adapted to do without high levels of Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 comes from soil that uses fresh water…and since Vale is in such a tropical location, there is a lot of rainfall making all of the vegetables farmed here high in B12. It's normally fine, but onions and carrots accelerate B12 absorption which can make me very ill." Weiss explained before taking a bite of her food.
"Nerd!" Yang said with a mouthful of food.
"Oh, hush you insufferable brute." Weiss retorted.
"Well, at least you're all such good friends…" Lionel said as he took his first bite of food. "School starts the day after tomorrow, so I'll let you have tomorrow and your first day of school off from training so you can get used to things. But I want to see you all here immediately after school on Tuesday, understand?" Lionel asked causing the girls nodded their unison before going back to their food. "That's when the real training starts…" he finished causing each of the girls' eyes to go wide with worry.
"I got my ass kicked for a warm-up?" Yang thought…her teammate's thought not being very different.