Chapter 18
Author's Note: Just so you guys and gals know, school does start back for me this Monday (as I'm sure it does for many of you, too.) I didn't have much of an issue uploading chapters at the end of last semester when I started this story, so I don't anticipate having any major time dilemmas. But, just for the record, if something crazy happens and I have to choose between writing a chapter and school or work, I'll have to choose the latter. I don't see it happening, but if I break from the usual Thursday upload schedule, that will be why. Enough of that...I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
Yang was mad. Her eyes were blood-red, but she had them closed and was crossing her arms in some futile attempt to calm down. She wasn't about to step in because even she knew this was for Ruby's own good. Both her, and their uncle, had told Ruby about her major fighting flaw, but only the Knight-General was doing what was necessary to help her.
Ruby threw another punch toward the Knight-General while using her semblance, but, again, he evaded it with ease by simply pivoting his body to the right. As soon as Ruby flew past him, he grabbed the back of her neck and threw her into a tree. "Getting tired yet?" he asked.
Ruby didn't answer but instead vanished in a flurry of rose petals before appearing behind him and attempting to kick him in his right side. He caught her foot, lifted her up allowing her to hang upside-down, swung her overhead, and slammed her into the ground. After not moving for several seconds, Lionel knelt down and placed his hand on her back. He sent a pulse of his aura through her body which caused her to awake with a jolt.
"I'll go and train some more…" Ruby said while finally admitting defeat.
"Good. Because if you ever get into a scenario like this in a real fight, and you don't have your weapon, you will need to be well versed in hand-to-hand combat." Lionel explained.
"Yes, sir." Ruby replied.
"Perhaps next time you won't turn your nose up at his suggestions." Weiss stated.
"I just always thought that, if it happened, I'd be fine without my weapon. I would still attack with my semblance and I'd win." Ruby explained in a childish way.
"Sorry, Rubes, but that's not how it works." Yang said.
"Now Ruby, you need a lot of help in the melee department, and we'll make sure to get that sorted out." Lionel said before Ruby nodded her head in agreement. "Yang, I've already explained to you that most of your problems are either mental or focus based. Learn to channel your aura better and you'll be good." He said casually.
"I got it covered." Yang replied.
"Blake, while your specific fighting style is perfected far better than your teammates' fighting, I've noticed a serious flaw in your mindset while on the battlefield." Lionel said causing Blake to give her instructor undivided attention. "You go lone wolf far too often. During our training you ran off on your own before planning to trap me with your ribbon…and that was Ruby's idea. During the hunt, you chose to stay back and use a sniper rifle instead of going with your team. While I understand that you're used to working in the shadows and operate as a spy, we're a team. You can't make that decision on your own…if the mission calls for it, then that's fine, but you need to be in an understanding with your team." Lionel explained in a serious tone.
Blake sighed. "Yes sir, I understand. I will make sure that it doesn't happen again." she said with a saddened tone.
"Don't like criticism?" Lionel asked.
"I'm angry at myself for making such a stupid mistake." Blake said.
"It's not stupid. Like I said, your particular fighting skills are the best out of your group's skills and you have the most experience. You analyzed the situation and figured that what you did was the best course of action. All I'm telling you is that it isn't your decision to make, it's a group decision. If your teammates agree that it is the best course of action, then by all means, go for it." Lionel said kindly.
"Yes, sir." Blake stated.
"You guys aren't going to drop the 'sir' are you?" Lionel asked in a joking tone.
"Thank you, Lionel." Blake said with a chuckle.
"Lion sounds better." Yang said.
"Both are fine with me…just drop the 'sir' before I start getting arthritis and drawing social security." Lionel said causing the girls to laugh.
"We should probably head back to our training." Yang said.
"That's fine. But I need to speak with Weiss for a moment." Lionel said causing Weiss raise an eyebrow. "Follow me, please. The rest of you have PT until lunch." He finished.
"So, what are my flaws?" Weiss asked after they were no longer within earshot of the rest of her team.
"To be honest, you're pretty well-rounded. You're a strong fighter; you have some experience, albeit less than Blake; you know when to follow orders; you even have some of the most advanced technology and dust available to you." Lionel explained as they made their way to the porch.
"But…?" Weiss droned as they both sat down on the stairs leading up to the porch.
"But…you're careless and that causes you to make mistakes." Lionel said as he clenched something in his hands.
"I understand that I was injured during the Hunt, but I assure you that one mistake does not make me careless." Weiss argued.
"But it does, actually. You don't notice things that are right in front of you." Lionel said as he waved his hands around, swinging the piece of metal in his hands with it.
"With respect, I assure you that–" Weiss stopped as she noticed what was in Lionel's hand. "Is that…my tiara?" she thought before placing her hand to the top of her head finally noticing that her hair had been let down.
Lionel pressed a button on his scroll before speaking. "That took you three minutes and seven seconds to notice." He said as he stared at her while holding out her tiara.
Weiss sighed. "What can I do to help myself improve my awareness skills?" she asked in a meek tone as she took the tiara back from Lionel.
"Offer to help Yang with Paou Thai practice. You'll put the gloves on and catch whatever she throws at you, which will help you improve, and Yang gets to do her favorite workout. Other than that…just sparring with her is the best way to improve." Lionel said.
"Any particular reason you want me to spar with her, specifically?" Weiss asked.
"Because you're Ruby's partner and I'm sensing some hostility between you two." He said.
"We only do that in good fun…" Weiss stated.
"But neither of you actually care to spend time with one another outside of training. Ruby and Blake don't have that problem. I believe that the two of you have come to a subconscious consensus that you will not spend unnecessary time with each another…and that will get you both killed." Lionel explained.
"Honestly, I think that it is only because we're not partners that we don't spend more time together." Weiss said.
"This might surprise you but that's not how teams work. They pair you in groups of two for fighting purposes but make no mistake, you are still a team of four." Lionel said sarcastically causing Weiss to nod her head. "She probably isn't too happy that you're taking over the role of her sister's best friend…whether nor not you see it that way. On the other hand, you're against her because she is such a good fighter and yet has no discipline. I can see the rage that causes in your eyes; after all the training you went through and 'here comes this brute who can do it just as well and still has time left over to laugh and enjoy herself,' right?" Lionel stated, hitting the mark every time.
"Well, that isn't fair! She's a brute who, for some unknown reason, is able to come out on top of every fight she has!" Weiss complained.
"That's because she has a burning passion for the sport of fighting. Above all else, you're mad at her because she has a passionate and unconcerned outlook on the world and she did nothing to earn it; she's mad at you because you have the kind of life she can only dream of and you didn't have to work for it. You're both mad at each other for the way that you were born and that's stupid! Am I wrong?" Lionel half yelled.
"No." Weiss said as she lowered her head yet again. "And so the only way to resolve this is a fight?" she asked meekly.
"I think you can both learn something from one another. As I said, for as long as Yang can remember, she has been the one by Ruby's side. Fighting her is the only way to let her know that you can do that job just as well, if not better. Fighting is the language she speaks best." Lionel stated.
"I understand." Weiss said before looking back up to the Knight-General. "Surely you didn't take me away from my teammates just to tell me that, did you?" she asked.
"No. I need your help." Lionel said.
"Anything you need, I'll do my best." Weiss responded.
"Your father was one of the key financial supporters for the creation of those preservatives, correct?" Lionel asked.
"Yes. Why?" Weiss wondered.
"I have reason to believe that he is attempting to do the same thing the White Fang are trying to do." Lionel stated.
Weiss was confused, "My father would never side with the White Fang…he hates all faunus in general. Where did–"
"He's not working with them, he is attempting to do it first so they can't do it at all. I don't know if he is doing so because he truly doesn't want them to have that power, or if he wants the power for himself…regardless, that is not a risk I am willing to take." Lionel said.
"What exactly is he doing?" Weiss asked.
"I can't say right now…but if we can't take care of the White Fang during our upcoming mission, I may have no choice but to tell everyone. I digress, I really need your help. I need you to obtain any information from the Schnee Dust Company regarding the preservatives, a Kraken, or Codename: Leviathan. Can you help me with that?" Lionel asked.
"I will do my best, but I can't promise anything." Weiss stated with worry in her eyes.
"That will do. If you think that you've gotten yourself to deep or are in any danger of being exposed, then pull out. I don't want you getting hurt or someone getting tipped off about it." Lionel stated.
"Understood." Weiss said as she stood up and began to walk away but stopped after just a few feet. "I have heard the name Leviathan before. When I was younger, my father took me to a board meeting with the rest of the SDC officials and they were talking about it. If my father is planning something, it's been years in the making." She said while looking back at the Knight-General.
"I figured as much…thank you. You can tell your team about this if you want, but I thought it might be easier if they didn't know…but, it's up to you." Lionel said.
"I would rather have them in the loop. But regardless, I won't let my father hurt anyone else. That is a promise." Weiss said with tears glimmering in her eyes but with an atmosphere of confidence and determination around her.
"I know." Lionel said with a smile as Weiss walked back to her teammates. "She really does act just like Marianne. They all act just like the original Saviors…there's no way in hell I'm wrong about this." He thought right as Weiss made it back to her teammates.
"Everything good?" Yang asked.
"That depends. It turns out my father is planning to do the same thing as the White Fang for his own gain." Weiss stated.
"Are you sure?" Blake asked.
"Lionel seems to believe so." Weiss answered.
"I really wish he would tell us what is going on…" Ruby said.
"Yeah, it would make things so much easier." Yang added.
"The White Fang are capable of some truly horrific things; I can't really blame him for not wanting us to know too much. Personally, I would be happier not knowing some of the things they did." Blake said.
The ladies nodded their heads in understanding. "Well, let's not get all depressed now. Did he give you any pointers for fighting, Ice Queen?" Yang asked.
"Yes. He told me that I need to work on my awareness during battle and to focus on paying attention more. He suggested sparring and Paou Thai training with you." Weiss explained.
"Fuck yeah! Anytime you wanna do that just hit me up!" Yang exclaimed making it know that it was her favorite workout.
"How about a sparring match between you two first?" Blake asked.
"Sure, I don't mind." Yang said.
"That is fine with me; he actually suggested a fight between the two of us a moment ago." Weiss said.
"Why?" Yang asked.
"He said we both have a lot to learn from one another and that this is the best way to teach it." Weiss said.
"What are we supposed to be gaining from each other?" Yang asked.
"Respect." Weiss said.
"Yeah, if it wasn't for the fact that you two are on the same team, I could never see you getting along." Ruby said.
Both Yang and Weiss stood staring at each other. "You ready then?" Yang asked.
Weiss drew Myrtenaster and took her most elegant stance followed by the cocking of Yang's Ember Celica as she lowered her center of gravity preparing and entered her boxing stance. "You seem relaxed." Weiss stated.
"Is there any reason not to be?" Yang mocked.
Blake pulled out her scroll and activated the battle app the girls are so familiar with. "This is a tournament style fight, understood?" she asked.
Both girls gave a nod in agreement. "Why do we hate each other?" Yang asked rhetorically.
"That remains to be seen." Weiss stated.
"Begin!" Blake shouted.
Weiss immediately summoned a glyph below her feet to propel her forward at amazing speeds. Yang didn't move and was prepared to face her head on until a glyph appeared right in front of Yang, launching Weiss into the air as she flew over it. Weiss back flipped over Yang and summoned another glyph behind Yang that she landed on to propel herself toward Yang's back.
Yang jumped into the air and pulled her fist back before she came back down to the ground. As she fell back down, she punched the ground with as much force as he could, sending a shockwave and a ring of fire spiraling outward from the impact.
Weiss punctured Myrtenaster into the ground summoning a mist of ice which effectively canceled out the fire that was heading for her. When the mist vanished, she was greeted by Yang's boot heading for her. She pulled Myrtenaster out of the ground and held both ends of her blade out which caught the impact of Yang heel, sending Weiss sliding backward.
Yang immediately began to fire upon Blake using her Ember Celica. Looked up from her defensive position and saw the blasts of fire heading her way. She summoned many small glyphs around her body which, after a slight delay, fired an ice dust projectile. Most of Yang's rounds with intercepted by Weiss' ice projectiles, however, some of each managed to get through to their opponent.
Weiss was hit once in her right shoulder, leaving a bloody burnt area where some of the fabric of her bolo jacket used to be. She managed to flip out of the way of the other three before they hit her. Yang had decided to place her arms up to defend her upper body and was hit three times by all of Weiss' projectiles that got through. Weiss' projectiles were not made of solid ice, but rather was a concentrated form of pure ice dust which expanded upon impact. Yang was hit in her bicep, forearm, and abdomen all on her left side. The ice seemed to almost freezer burn Yang's skin on contact, but due to her semblance, she managed to avoid any particularly bad injuries. The areas she was hit were still almost completely numb and discolored, however.
"As I figured, she doesn't bother dodging smaller attacks. It's probably some sort of intimidation factor she has, but regardless…even if I can't defeat with sheer power, I'll simply use her overconfidence to my advantage and whittle her down until she can no longer fight." Weiss thought. Weiss wasted no time as she swapped dust in Myrtenaster to her less common yellow vial. She summoned a glyph under her feet, once again propelling her forward holding Myrtenaster behind her but still having it pointed forward.
"This again?" Yang shouted as she again prepared to face her head on. Weiss could see Yang glance down at the ground in front of her every so often to see when the next glyph would appear, but alas it never came. As soon as Weiss was just a foot away she shot her arm out in an attempt to stab Yang, but yang took almost no effort to block the point with her gauntlet.
"You're gonna have to do better than–AHHHHH!" Yang suddenly began to scream and her body began to shake violently. Weiss had activated the yellow dust – lightning dust – upon impact with Yang's gauntlet which was made from metal. Yang was being horrifically electrocuted.
Before this could even continue for a few seconds, Yang managed to bring her other arm back and swing at Weiss. Weiss was nailed on the right side of her face, which sent her hurtling toward a tree. Yang fell to her knees as Weiss impacted the bark so hard it knocked the caused the tree to fall backward before being caught by the branches of other trees. Weiss had a huge gash in her cheek and the white of her right eye had turned red from a popped blood vessel. She had blood coming from the eye, the gash, her nose, lip.
Weiss pushed herself of the partially fallen tree and stood up to glance at her opponent who had her head pointed toward the ground as she was on her hands and knees. Yang had many burn and wounds around her body from the voltage that was previously surging through her. Weiss once again readied herself in her fighting position. Yang looked at her opponent as she stood up; her eyes were once again blood red and her aura was emanating enough heat that the grass she stepped on would die immediately.
"Finally, the warm-up is done…" Weiss said as she held Myrtenaster with both hands at the stomach level with the blade pointed vertically. The dust chambers began to rotate stopping at the cyan vial this time. Yang cocked Ember Celica and began to fire a barrage of flame at Weiss who did a 360-degree spin while slashing her blade in a circle around her body. As the blade whipped through the air, the cyan dust activated causing a massive surge of wind to be created at the point in which the blade sliced through the air.
The gust of wind was so strong, it atomized Yang's attack in seconds and uprooted most of the trees around them. Yang was sent flying backward until she made contact with one of the trees in the distance. Weiss activated another glyph under her, launching her toward Yang yet again. As she neared the tree that Yang had hit, she saw that her opponent was nowhere to be found. Before she could deactivate her glyph's effect, she was halted by a fist resting on her abdomen. With the full speed of Weiss' glyph and the stance Yang had taken, Weiss was understandably in an immense amount of pain.
Weiss fell to her knees puking what looked to be a vile mixture of blood and bile. Yang grabbed Weiss by her hair and pulled her back up to a standing position.
"I don't think Yang is in her right mind…" Ruby stated while she looked on in horror as Yang placed her arms around Weiss' body in a familiar fashion. Ruby remembered the name of the wrestling move Yang was about to perform: The Bloody Sunday.
Yang picked Weiss up, flipping her upside down in the process, and then proceeded to let her body fall backward. Weiss' back slammed into the ground, absorbing most of the weight of the impact and leaving Yang more-or-less unharmed. Yang then rolled on top of Weiss and was about to begin pounding her face with her gauntlets when she was suddenly sent flying into the air. As she attempted to backflip back onto the ground, she realized the force was not letting up like it usually does.
Yang stopped about fifteen feet in the air and was unable to move. He arms and legs were extended from her body in a star formation and she was facing toward the ground. She turned her head and noticed that she was laying against another glyph; while the other glyphs would generate a pushing effect to launch people away from it, this glyph was generating a pull toward it.
Yang began to activate her semblance to an even greater extent. The Glyph seemed to be cracking under the sheer pressure of her aura. The glyph couldn't withstand the force any longer and shattered, releasing Yang to fall back to the ground. As she landed, she looked up at Weiss who noticed the shape that Yang was in. The boxer's eyes were red, her hair was flaming, and she had bruises and slowly cauterizing wounds all over her body.
Weiss activated her dust revolving chamber once again, only this time all of the colors of were activated at the same time. Many tribal looking lines began to appear on her weapon as well as cover her body in a symmetrical pattern. Each of the six colors of dust, she had in Myrtenaster's chambers, were represented on different places of her body. The colors would weave and wrap around one another, across what skin she had revealed, and would end on her feet, hands and face. On her hands, the red dust would stop at her index fingers, the blue on her middle fingers, the yellow in her ring fingers, the cyan on her little fingers, the purple on her thumbs, and the white would form an intricate circle on her palms. Her feet were presumably in a similar fashion. On her face, the red would be above her eyes and the blue below; the cyan was above her lips and the purple below them; the yellow would lead itself from the cheek bones down the chin and dipping under the ears; the white wrapped around her forehead as though it were a crown on her skin.
Yang charged her opponent and pulled her arm back, ready to strike Weiss down with a single punch. A loud and bright burst of flame appeared and when it subsided, Yang's eyes were wide with shock. Weiss had her hand held out from her body and was holding Yang's fist; Weiss had caught Yang's punch. Ruby, Blake, and even Yang herself were completely speechless. The event of not having someone be decimated after taking one of her punches head on, at least somewhat, snapped Yang out of her rage.
"What the fuck?!" Yang snarled as she noticed the white pattern on Weiss' skin was brighter than the other colors. Yang figured that whatever colored was lit up on Weiss' skin was representative of what power she had available to use. Her assumption was vindicated as the yellow pattern lit up before Yang felt the familiar sting of voltage surge through her body.
Weiss let go of Yang's fist and watched her fall back to the ground. Yang opened her eyes but was surprised to see Weiss walking back about five feet before turning around and readying herself in one of her elegant fighting poses. After a few seconds of neither girl moving, it finally struck Yang what was going on. "She's waiting for me to get back up." Yang thought. "Why didn't you attack?" she asked, already on the borderline of sanity and rage once again.
"That wouldn't be fair, now would it?" Weiss asked mockingly.
That was it. When it comes to Yang, you can punch her, kick her, shoot her, stab her, and you would still have a chance, however small it may be, of living. But you never go easy on her in a fight. Yang jumped back to her feet and reloaded Ember Celica, all while glaring daggers at Weiss. Yang reentered her boxing stance and stood, waiting for Weiss to make the next move.
"You're done." Yang said. Those were the last words that the sane Yang would say.