AN: Finally managed to get this chapter finished. Would have had this up a lot sooner but university and exams had other plans. Will try to update more frequently from now on.
Beta reader/editor: Wyncrer the Sage
It was mid-morning when a bullhead landed on Beacon grounds. As the side doors opened, a woman with brilliant red hair and bronze armour stepped out.
As soon as she was clear, the door closed again and the bullhead started to fly towards the hangar. The woman watched it go, waving politely to the pilot that had flown her to Beacon. When it was gone, she turned towards the awe-inspiring site of Beacon's grounds and smiled. "It's good to be back."
Yang had a problem. A very serious problem. She had to somehow train up a guy with a completely different magic style to her own, who also had just about no combat training. If she was going to pull this off, she was going to need to make some tough decisions. Which brought her to where she was now.
"Four months," Weiss Schnee demanded.
"Two," Yang countered.
"Three," Weiss offered after some hesitation.
"Two and a half, that's as far as I'm willing to go," Yang claimed with steely determination. The two girls glared at each other across the dining hall table.
"Fine. It's better than nothing I suppose," Weiss eventually relented with a sigh. "Give me a couple days and I should have something by then." With this said, Weiss got up from her seat, and left the hall in the direction of the library.
As Weiss walked off, Ruby walked up and took the seat she had vacated. "Mind explaining what that was all about?" Ruby asked.
"A deal with the devil," Yang responded, sounding none too pleased about it.
"Uh?"
Yang sighed. "Weiss is going to do some research into Jaune's magic and teach him whatever she learns. In exchange, for the next two and a half months… I can't make any puns about Weiss' name." As she said the last part, her head slumped onto the table.
"Why would you agree to that?" Ruby asked.
"Actually I was the one asking her," Yang corrected. Seeing the confusion in her sisters face she decided to elaborate. "Ozpin told me that if I can train Jaune up, he'll let me take the S-class trial this year."
"Wow, that's so cool!" Ruby said excitedly, before a thought occurred to her. "Wait a sec. Are you just trying to get other people to train Jaune for you?"
"Well duh," Yang casually replied. "It's not like his magic or combat style has anything in common with mine, so what could I teach him?"
Ruby frowned. "That's not the point. Yang –"
Before Ruby could say any more, the doors to the dining hall burst open and a single figure strode in. Everyone in the hall went quiet and looked to the newcomer.
"Pyrrha's back!" someone called out and just like that the hall erupted into cheers, with everyone welcoming the red-haired wizard home.
When the noise and everyone's excitement started to die down, Ruby turned back to her sister to continue talking, only to be cut-off as Yang rose off her seat. "Later Rubes. I've got some more recruiting to do."
Pyrrha had only just arrived but already she could feel herself relaxing among the familiar faces and environment of the guild. In fact, there was only one thing left before she would be feeling completely at home.
"Hey P-money!" A voice as cheerful as it was aggressive called out. Without even needing to look, Pyrrha slipped her shield onto her left arm and raised it to protect her face. Just in time to intercept the flaming fist of Beacon's strongest fire wizard.
"Hello to you too Yang. Good to see you're as energetic as ever," Pyrrha greeted politely as she lowered her shield, completely unfazed by the attack.
"And it seems you're still living up to the title of 'The Invincible Girl'," Yang replied, as she massaged the knuckles on the hand that had punched Pyrrha's shield. "Speaking of which, I think I might have a challenge for you. Something you've never done before."
"I'm listening," Pyrrha said with a smile, deciding to hear Yang out.
"Teaching," Yang declared.
Pyrrha was silent for a moment before she started speaking, the polite smile never falling from her face "While I'm flattered that you would ask this of me, I'm afraid there isn't much I would be able to teach you." As Yang stared at her with mouth agape she continued, placing an encouraging hand on Yang's shoulder. "I know it can get frustrating at times, but if you keep going as you are, you will become a great wizard in no time. Of that I'm sure."
"I'm not the one who needs the teacher!" Yang spluttered out, her eyes turning red for an instant.
"Oh," Pyrrha replied as she started to feel the embarrassment of her mistake. "I apologise for assuming. But if you don't mind me asking, if it wasn't for you, who did you want a teacher for?"
"You wouldn't know him," Yang started explain, as eager as Pyrrha to forget about the wrong assumption. "He only joined a couple days ago. Name's Jaune. Ozpin asked me to show him the ropes. Anyway, he seems to have a thing for swords and shields, but no idea how to use them. I was thinking that since you also use those, you might be able to teach him to fight."
Pyrrha paused as she mulled the idea over. After moments that seemed like an eternity for the eagerly waiting Yang, she opened her mouth to give her response. Only to be cut off by a loud voice calling out from across the hall.
"Yang! Hey Yang!" Jaune shouted as he jogged towards his fellow blonde. As he arrived and paused for a moment to catch his breath, Yang opened her mouth to introduce him to Pyrrha, only to have Jaune start talking again.
"Hey Yang, everyone in the guild is talking about some big shot, called Pyrrha Nikos, returning today. Isn't that the person you were telling me about on our way back from Mount Glenn? You know, the one you were saying was a monster, a total demon and a nightmare given human form?" As Jaune listed off how Yang had described Pyrrha, Yang's face got progressively paler.
Finally realising that Yang hadn't been alone when he arrived, Jaune turned to her red-haired companion. "I'm sorry, where are my manners. I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc. And you are?" Jaune said as he extended his hand for her to shake.
Pyrrha looked at Jaune with a mix confusion, surprise and something else Jaune couldn't recognise, before schooling her expression back into a polite smile and reaching out to return the hand shake. "A pleasure to meet you Jaune. I'm Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos."
Jaune paled as he realised what he had just done. "I. Am. So. Sorry. I really should have known Yang was saying that stuff to mess with me. I'm still new here, so I guess I'm not used to her sense of humour yet."
"Oh, I'm sure it's no fault of your own. Though I'll have to talk to Yang later about her jokes." As Pyrrha was saying this, Yang turned around and tried to quietly slip away while Pyrrha was distracted. Only to feel Pyrrha's hand clamp down on her shoulder. "Why are you leaving now Yang? Isn't this the guy you were telling me about?"
"Ah, yeah, that would be him," Yang replied nervously, knowing Pyrrha's 'talk' would come in the form of a brutally one sided spar.
Pyrrha turned back to Jaune, but kept her grip on Yang. "I was told you use a sword and shield, yet you don't see to have any weapons on you."
"Well that's because I make them with my magic," Jaune explained, eager to move past his blunder.
"So am I to understand that you don't have any sort of non-magical weapon?" Pyrrha inquired.
"Ah, yeah?" Jaune said, his words coming out more as a question, than a statement.
"I would have thought that you would have taken care of at least this, Yang." Pyrrha said, releasing her grip on Yang as the blonde woman offered a meek 'oops' in her defence. "It is standard practice among wizards to have a non-magical weapon to supplement their magic. While magic is useful, we can only use so much before we run out of magical energy. Hence a weapon that doesn't rely on magic is an important part of every wizard's arsenal," Pyrrha explained.
Addressing the two blondes she announced, "While I'll have to give some thought before I agree to train anyone, the least I can do as a wizard of Beacon is help you find a weapon."
"What was that about training?" Jaune asked, as Yang breathed a sigh of relief, realising her plan might still be salvageable.
One bullhead ride and Jaune throwing up in a trash can later, the trio arrived in Vale. Yang and Pyrrha, being the more experienced in Vale, led the way towards the nearest weapon shop while Jaune trailed behind.
Yang and Pyrrha walked next to each without a word, an awkward silence hanging between them.
"So…" Pyrrha said, breaking the silence. "Mind explaining why you are trying to get a teacher for Jaune?"
"I already told you," Yang replied "Master Ozpin told me to show him the ropes."
"If that were truly the case, you would have dealt with this yourself. Instead you ask an S-class wizard to teach him. For some reason, you don't just need him competent, you need him to be good. The only person I've known you to go this far for is Ruby."
Yang let out a sigh, as she accepted that she had been caught out "Guess I really should have seen this coming. You didn't become the youngest S-class wizard in history for nothing. Truth be told, Jaune isn't up to the standard of the rest of us at the guild. He got in by recommendation, my recommendation to be specific. So, Ozpin said that I have to get him up to standard and he said that if I was able to train him well, I could participate in the S-class trials this year."
Pyrrha nodded. "I think I understand, but why are you in such a hurry to make S-class? We both know if you weren't accepted into the trials this year, it wouldn't be long until you were."
"What can I say, I'm not a patient person. Besides, S-class quests are where all the fun is and you know me, I'm always looking for a thrill. It's why I became a wizard in the first place," Yang answered with a smile.
"If you're going to lie to me, you should at least try to make it more believable." When Yang started to argue her defence, Pyrrha interrupted. "Everyone who knows you knows you became a wizard because Ruby was, and you wanted to look out for her." As the two continued their conversation, they failed to notice Jaune had stopped walking and was looking at a shop window.
"That aside, I won't be training Jaune." Pyrrha finished.
"What?! Why the hell not?" Yang argued.
"Because this is obviously a test for you," Pyrrha calmly replied.
Before she could continue, the two heard shouts coming from the direction they came from. They turned to see three men in black suits and matching hats drag a struggling Jaune towards a van.
Pyrrha and Yang rushed towards Jaune, only for one of the suited men to turn to them. Seeing him from the front, they saw that he also had red sunglasses, a tie, and a cigar in his mouth. As the duo got close, he removed the cigar and blew out a large cloud of thick black smoke, a cloud so large it could only have been magical.
This was confirmed as it further grew and enveloped the two women. As soon as Yang entered the cloud, she lost sight of everything, the smoke so thick she could barely see her own hand in front of her. The moment she took a breath she regretted it. She heard coughing beside her and knew Pyrrha was having as hard a time as she was.
The sound of a car pulling out alerted her to the fact that Jaune's assailants were escaping. Yang summoned flames and blasted the smoke away, just in time to see the van disappear around the corner.
"Shit!" Yang yelled as she punched a wall.
"It's okay," Pyrrha reassured between coughs.
"Jaune just got kidnapped! How the hell is this okay?" Yang argued.
"Because we can track his location using his scroll," Pyrrha countered, seeing Yang freeze she added "You did remember to install the app on his scroll, right?"
"I was getting around to it," Yang offered weakly. Seeing the disappointment on Pyrrha's face she quickly added, "But I might have another lead for us to follow." At this, Pyrrha's expression turned from disappointment to interest. "Those guys that kidnapped him, they looked like members of the Black Bear guild."
"That's good. Do you know how to get there?"
"Yep, and my bike isn't far from here."
"Lead the way."
Yang lead the way into the club that doubled as the Black Bear guild hall. It was around midday and so the only other occupants were members of the guild. All of them wearing the same black suit, with the red tie and sunglasses. Yang scanned the room for the Guild Master. A wasted effort when a voice called out from the bar.
"Welcome back Xiao Long. Do you need some more information?"
The owner of the voice was a tall man, with short hair and a neatly trimmed beard, wearing a white dress, with a black vest and a red tie, and was waving them towards the bar. This was Hei Xiong, more commonly known as Junior and the Guild Master of the Black Bear guild.
"You could say that," Yang replied, struggling to keep her anger in check, as they had no idea what sort of danger Jaune was in.
"Well before we get down to business, I just wanted to thank you." He must have seen the confusion on her face, because he continued. "That tip-off you gave me in exchange for information on that gang turned out to be really useful. We had a request up on our board from some mad scientist type guy, asking for rare magic users to use in his experiments. As it happens, that blonde boy you told me about was just what the doctor ordered."
Yang felt her stomach drop and she didn't even need to turn to know Pyrrha was glaring at her. As Junior laughed to himself Yang felt her rage reaching breaking point and stepped forward, only to have Pyrrha's arm block her. Looking at her red-haired companion, Yang saw she was indeed glaring, not at her, but Junior.
"That 'blonde boy' is a member of our guild. And if you know what's good for you, you will tell us where he is. Or better yet, return him to us this instant." Pyrrha's voice was cold, and carried a tone that promised pain to all that defied her.
"Sorry but that's not going to happen," Junior said, his voice now void of any hint that he was in a pleasant mood. "Not even for the great Pyrrha Nikos."
With that said he clicked his fingers, and all the guild members milling around the club surrounded the two Beacon wizards with weapons drawn.
"Now I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Junior said as he donned his own pair of red sunglasses and walked away from the bar.
"We're not leaving until you tell us where he is!" Yang called out, causing Junior to pause.
"Then I guess my boys are going to have to throw you out," he replied without turning around.
Yang and Pyrrha looked at the myriad of swords, axes and firearms facing them. "Isn't this a bit unfair. His whole guild against the two of us," Yang commented as she cracked her knuckles.
"Indeed," Pyrrha agreed. "For this to be a fair fight there would have to be some sort of handicap."
"What? Like, we fight with a hand tied behind our back?" Yang asked as some of the Black Bear members looked between themselves in confusion.
"Yeah, something like that. And if we weren't in a hurry, I might have taken you up on that suggestion. But right now, we just don't have the time."
As Pyrrha finished speaking, one of the decorative pillars around the dancefloor tore itself out it's foundations and swept across the assembled Black Bear wizards.
Yang and Pyrrha strode over the downed wizards, towards the startled Guild Master.
"Feel a bit more like co-operating now?" Yang asked as she extended her weapon, Ember Celica, into its gauntlet form.
"Miltia! Melanie! Where the hell are you?!" the scared Guild master shouted.
"We're like, right here," a girl in a white dress answered as she entered the hall from one of the back rooms, with a near identical girl dressed in red.
"Well don't just stand there! Stop them!" Junior roared.
"I'll deal with these two. You make sure he doesn't escape," Pyrrha commanded.
Yang nodded in response before running after Junior, who was attempting to distance himself from the Beacon wizards. Pyrrha faced down the twins, taking note of the metal claws wielded by the girl in red, and the bladed heals of the one in white.
"Isn't this like, that Pyrrha chick?" the red twin asked.
"You're right Miltia," the one in white, Melanie, replied. "And if we beat the 'Invincible Girl', we'll be like, super famous."
With this, a dark gas coalesced around Miltia's claws and the temperature dropped several degrees. Poison magic and ice magic, Pyrrha noted, but said nothing as she readied her own weapons and charged.
Miltia ran forward to meet her, while Melanie swept her foot across the floor, creating a layer of ice on the ground in front of Pyrrha. Undaunted by the icy ground, Pyrrha dropped to her knees and slid across the ice on her greaves, slipping under Miltia's claws as she sped towards Melanie. As she got close, she stabbed her sword into the icy ground, then extended it into its javelin form, lifting herself off the ground without losing any momentum. Now airborne, Pyrrha aimed both her feet at Melanie's head.
To her credit, Melanie dodged the attack by dodging to the side at the last second. As Pyrrha landed she switched her weapon back to sword form and turned to face her opponents, who now looked a lot less sure of themselves.
While this was happening, Yang used her flames to launch herself across the hall towards Junior. As she got close, she cut the flames and brought her right hand back to deliver a crushing right hook, only to have Junior step to the side and hold out his arm, clothes-lining Yang. Yang hit the ground hard and barely avoided Junior's attempt to stomp on her head. She climbed to her feet and faced off with the Guild Master, who now wore a smug grin.
With a roar, Yang sent a volley of fireballs and red dust shells at Junior. To Yang's surprise, the large Guild Master dodged and evaded every one of them. With an explosive release of fire and another roar, Yang charged in and delivered a blistering series of jabs, hooks, uppercuts and kicks, all of which was for naught as Junior blocked, parried and dodged everything she threw at him. Realising she was getting nowhere, Yang jumped back out of Junior's reach.
"Having a bit of trouble?" Junior asked with the same smug grin he started with. Yang didn't respond so Junior continued. "You remember my archive magic?" he asked as, with a quick gesture, he summoned a series of blood red panels into the air around him. On these panels was various information, and on one was a picture of Yang.
"Well a fun little trick I can do with this is if I have seen someone fight before, I can use it to predict how they will attack next," he announced proudly.
Pyrrha dived out of the way as her two opponents tried to overwhelm her with a mix of physical and magical attacks. On top of having to keep track of both their weapons, she also had to watch out for patches of floor that would suddenly be covered in ice, and a variety of other ice based attacks Melanie would send her way.
Miltia on the other hand posed a whole different problem. The poisonous gas around her claws was so corrosive that she couldn't block it and would often find herself leaping away from tendrils extending from Miltia's claws. Pyrrha dove to the side as skewers of ice erupted from the ground, only to jump backwards a moment later as a tendril of poisonous gas came down and dissolved the ground where she had been.
Holding out against these two hadn't been easy, but she had managed and now that she knew how they fought, it was time to go on the offensive. Pyrrha slammed her left hand into the ground, and behind her, the swords and axes of the fallen wizards lifted off the ground, covered in a black aura.
The weapons then shot out towards the twins, Melanie defending herself with a wall of ice, while Miltia met the weapons coming towards her with a wave of her poison. As the poison dissipated, Miltia was greeted with the sight of Pyrrha hurtling towards her with shield raised. The Beacon wizard struck her target, knocking the girl in red off her feet, hard enough to make sure she wouldn't be getting up for a while.
With only one enemy left, Pyrrha turned just in time to intercept the first in a blinding volley of kicks. Melanie fought with the desperation of someone who knew they were outmatched, holding nothing back and weighing everything on an all-out offense.
The kicks rained down from all directions with a shower of icicles from above, and ice spikes that shot up from below. But whatever she tried failed to connect. She attacked with blinding speed, but Pyrrha was even faster. Melanie attacked with a lethal ferocity, but Pyrrha's strength and speed were far beyond hers and when Melanie next kicked high, Pyrrha blocked it with her shield and swept Melanie's supporting leg out using her javelin. Melanie hit the ground and before she could react, Pyrrha slammed the butt of her javelin into Melanie's solar plexus, putting her out of the fight. Pyrrha stood triumphantly without a single scratch on her person.
Yang, meanwhile, wanted to punch that smug grin off of Junior's face so badly. Yet despite all she had tried, she had only managed to scorch his clothes a bit. He had even managed to see through her attempt to use her counter spell, what was usually her ace up her sleeve. If she was going to do this, she was going to need something that Junior wouldn't be able to escape, even when he knew it was coming.
"What's wrong?" Junior asked smugly. "Is the all the Sun Dragon of Beacon has going for her?"
She smiled. he had just given her an idea. She hadn't needed it to use it a while, but if anyone deserved it, it was this guy. As she watched, Junior's grin fell from his face. He knew what was coming and he knew there was nothing he could do.
He turned to run, but they both knew there was no out-running this. Yang breathed deeply, then roared "Fire Magic: Dragon's Roar!" The instant the words were finished, an unrestrained torrent of fire shot out from her mouth and engulfed the fleeing Guild Master.
Looking over to see Pyrrha had also finished her fight, the two victors strode towards the beaten form of Junior. The Guild Master looked like a boarbatusk had dragged him through a particularly vicious house fire, but he was still conscious and that was what mattered. Yang crouched down and gripped what was left of his collar and pulled him up enough to be looking at her face.
"Now, we're going to ask you again where our fellow guild member is, and you can either tell us, or I'm sure your archive magic can tell you exactly what will happen to you." Yang declared. "So, where is Jaune?"
Junior looked between the two women with unconcealed terror and opened his mouth to tell them everything they wanted to know.
Junior breathed a sigh of relief from where he lay as the two women finally left. The guild hall was quiet except for the groans of pain coming from his various guild members and the sound of footsteps leisurely approaching Junior's prone figure.
Junior raised himself up onto his elbows to look at the man in a white coat and bowler hat approaching from one of the hall's farthest corners.
"Thanks for helping out back there," Junior muttered sarcastically, to the one non-member of his guild that had been present prior to the girls from Beacon arriving.
"Well, you were handling everything so nicely, I really didn't see the need," the man replied in an equally sarcastic tone.
Junior sighed in resignation. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with this guy right now. "What do you want, Roman?"
Roman Torchwick smiled down at the beaten Guild Master. "Nothing too difficult. I'm just curious as to what exactly inspired that little showdown."
Junior was about to tell Roman just where he could shove his cane for calling the fight that trashed his hall a 'little showdown' when the cane wielding criminal dropped a small stack of lien on his chest. "And leave nothing out."
Junior couldn't help but ask, "What makes you so interested?"
Roman just smiled at this. "Let's just say I have history with Beacon."
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Yang rushed into Master Ozpin's office. Without looking up from the paperwork he was filling out Ozpin started to greet her "Good afternoon Ms Xiao Long, How-"
Only to be cut off as Yang's hands slammed down on his desk and she nearly shouted, "Jaune's been kidnapped."
This declaration was enough to have Ozpin set down his pen and look at Yang with undivided attention "What happened?" he asked.
"Apparently Jaune's magic is pretty rare. Because of this, another guild kidnapped him and are selling him to some mad scientist that wants to experiment on him. So, you need to order a rescue mission now!"
Ozpin went quiet as he thought the situation through. "I won't order any members of Beacon to rescue Jaune." He then raised his hand to stop the outburst he knew was coming from Yang. "I made Mr Arc your responsibility, and so it will be up to you to rescue him. To this end, I will allow you to use one of the bullheads to get there and back. And if anyone wishes to go with you, I won't stop them."
With that said, he picked his pen back up and went back to filling in the paper work. Yang was furious, but she knew both arguing and fighting the Guild Master would be a fruitless endeavour, so she stormed back towards the elevator.
As she rode the elevator down, she pulled out her scroll and called the number of someone she was sure would help her, Blake Belladonna, her best friend. The call connected and the familiar voice greeted her with a simple, "Hello."
"Blake, I need your help. I-"
"I know," Blake cut her off.
"What do you mean you know?" Yang asked in confusion.
"Pyrrha already explained the situation to all of us. New member, kidnapped by mad scientist, need to bail him out," Blake explained bluntly.
"Oh," Yang explained in surprise. "Wait, what did you mean by 'all of us'?"
At that moment, the elevator opened to the ground floor and standing there alongside Pyrrha and Blake was Weiss, Ruby, Nora and Ren.
"What are all of you doing here?" Yang asked in confusion. She was sure Blake would help, Ruby and Pyrrha as well. But the others were a surprise.
"Seemed like a good way to get back into things after my stay in the infirmary," Blake answered.
"Jaune's a friend and a guild member, there's no way I could leave him there." Ruby.
"Every second that dunce is still a prisoner is a stain on our guild's reputation." Weiss.
"Damsels in distress, mad scientists and I think Pyrrha said something about an island. Anyway, it sounded like fun, so Ren and I decided to tag along," Nora added excitedly.
"I'm the one who suggested we head into Vale, so I feel somewhat responsible," Pyrrha said looking down.
"So, is no one going to acknowledge the fact that Nora called this Jaune guy a damsel?" Ren chipped in.
Yang looked at the assembled group, not knowing what to say. Luckily, she didn't have to as Ruby spoke up. "Well now that Yang's here, what are we waiting? Let's go!"
Yang smiled. "Yeah let's," she declared as she led the group to the bullhead hangars.