Well here we go again and let me just say this chapter was an absolute pleasure and pain to write. I'm glad I happened to re-read The Rogue King's great story Pyrrha(c) Victory which gave me the idea for this chapter (If you like Arkos and haven't read it what's wrong with you, go read it after you read this and tell him I said hi). It was fun revisting and playing with Character who only had minor roles back in the trailer chapters. That and it gave me a chance to look at a side of th characters I haven't touched on with many of them. So I'm gonna quit talking an let you get to reading.
Disclaimer: RWBY is own by Monty Oum and Roost Teeth Productions...if I owned it we'd be having a series of episodes dedicated to meting everyone's parents and the embarrassing moments that entails.
It was a quiet Saturday for Team RDCP. They could appreciate quiet, quiet meant no classes, no weekend exams, no crazy adventures to get themselves out of, in other words all was good. They decided to enjoy this well-earned peace by staying in their room and doing nothing to varying degrees. Dae was taking it upon himself to educate Peizhi in the joys of videogames, Robin was relaxing with one of the books he'd borrowed from Artemis, and Eris was tinkering with her Scroll's camera thinking of new ways to tease Robin. That is until Professor Ozpin's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Attention students, with the Vytal Festival approaching we know many of you will be having family joining us here in Vale for the celebrations so we thought we would use this time to invite your parents to come and see how you are all doing and meet with us to discuss your time here at Beacon." He announced before taking an embarrassingly audible sip of his coffee. "We will be giving you time to get in touch with them, but we have also taken the liberty to invite some whose family are too far to reach by conventional means. We hope you will make good use of your time in the coming week and prepare a fitting welcome for your families. Signup sheets will be available outside each class for you to schedule meeting with your professors. That is all." The team sat in silence for a minute letting it sink in.
"This is great." Robin smiled. "I haven't talked to Grandpa since before I got caught up in Djack's business, it will be great to see him again."
"I wonder if they were able to get ahold of Master and the others, maybe I should go to the CCT and try checking in, I'm not sure a letter would get therein time." Peizhi wondered out loud.
"Wait, you still use…analog mail?" Dea said his face scrunching in disgust. "What is this, the dark ages?"
"Hey!" Peizhi gave him a playful shove. "Master and the monks are all just really old fashioned, plus Scroll calls all the way to the borders are expensive."
"Well you guys have fun with that, I'll be taking it easy and enjoying having the room to myself." Dae grinned hopping back into his game.
"What do you mean, aren't your parents coming?" Robin asked quizzically.
"Nah, round this time of year my folk's be out on another one of their trips looking for new flowers to bring back to the shop. They're probably knee deep in some field way out in Mantle right about now. " Dae explained as his character let loose with a sticky grenade. "So have fun sweating it out in the parent/teacher conferences." He chuckled.
"What about you Eris?" Peizhi asked still trying to figure out the controls as Dae handle a brunt of the games enemies.
"Ha! My folks may think I'm less of a disappointment now that I'm going here, but there's literally no way they'd come by for a visit." Eris laughed despite the sad looks of her team.
"That's terrible!" Peizhi said ignoring the game. "I'm sure if you asked them, they'd be happy to come."
"Listen Whiskers, I'm not gonna lose any sleep on whether they come or not. I'm sure they're busy having tea with some nobles or getting my sisters to tear each other apart over the inheritance. So just let it go okay." Eris closed the subject there and by now the rest of the team knew better than to press her anymore on the subject.
One week later….
At last the day had arrived and Robin and Peizhi had spent the better part of the last day and a half cleaning, organizing, and re-cleaning the room to the point Dae was about to lose his mind. "Okay this is where I draw the line." Dae said returning to the room after grabbing a quick snack in the cafeteria to find Robin standing on his tiptoes trying to reach the top of the windowsill with a feather duster and wearing an apron.
"I don't see a problem here." Eris chuckled sprawled out across her bed while casually snapping a picture of Robin's get up and moving it to an inconspicuously named folder on her Scroll.
"I'm sorry Dae, but I just want everything to be perfect for when grandpa gets here." Robin apologized untying his apron and moving to the closet.
"That doesn't forgive what you did to Icarus!" Dae screeched snatching his teddy bear off his bed and pointing it accusatorily at his partner.
"All I did was wash him." Robin countered earning an even angrier look from his partner.
"No, what you did was callously toss him in the washing machine. Would you do the same to me if I smelled a little bad?" Dae challenged.
"I know I've thought about it a few times." Eris mentioned offhandedly as she played with her Scroll.
"Listen Dae, I'm sorry." Robin said stepping out of the closet. "Hey where's Peizhi?"
"Weren't you listening?" Dae asked gingerly tucking Icarus under his arm. "She told you she was heading down to airship dock to meet her Master, she told you to head down and meet her when you got done vacuuming."
"What?!" Robin's eyes shot up to the digital clock one the wall and his eyes went wide. "Gah! I'm late!" Robin rushed to the door throwing it open prepared to make a mad dash down the halls only crash into a heavy older body. "Ugh, why does this keep happening to me?" He growled in frustration before looking up to see who he'd crashed into.
"Blast it, is this how ye' greet me after not call'n for over a month?" Came rough bark. "I swear they ain't be teaching you any manners in this damn school." Standing in the doorway was stout old man with scraggily unkempt gray hair and matching bushy beard dressed in a beaten and oil stained brown leather duster with one sleeve rolled up to reveal a mechanical prosthetic arm with a stern look in his eyes.
"Grandpa!" Robin exclaimed jumping up and capturing the gruff old man in a hug.
"Aye, aye, it's me." The old man said patting his grandson on the back. "Now are ya' gonna invite me in or have me stand in the hallway all day?"
Robin quickly ended his embrace and ushered Cutter into the room. "Yeah, c'mon in grandpa. How was your trip?" Robin asked failing to hide his excitement.
"Blasted airships." The old man baulked. "Give me solid ground any day, I don't care what them blasted scientist say, man weren't meant ta' fly."
"That's what I said." Dae piped up getting the older man's attention.
"Oh, grandpa this is my team." Robin said gesturing to Dae and Eris. "Well most of them, Peizhi went to meet her master." Robin chuckled nervously still feeling a little guilty for not doing the same.
"Ah, I heard a lot 'bout y'all." Cutter grinned. He seemed to perk up as something off to the side caught his eye. "Ah I see ya' finally started follow'n in me footsteps and started tinkering." He chuckled moving to one of the desks covered in parts and tools. "Even went out an' found yerself some fine tools too." He beamed as Robin blushed sheepishly.
"Um, actually that's my desk." Dae chimed in moving to greet the old weapons smith.
"Grandpa this my partner Daedalus Verde." Robin introduced as Dae shook the man's hand.
"Good to meet you sir." Dae said putting on his most polite face.
"Same to ya', I hear you've got a bit of the smith'n bug in you." Cutter laughed. "Though if'n ya' don't mind me saying it looks like you tried kiss'n a forge." He said gesturing to Dae's various burns and earning a snicker from Eris.
Dae chose to ignore the comment in favor of examining Cutter's robotic arm. "Whoa, I've never seen a prosthetic arm like this, is this a total custom build? And is that…" He marveled as Cutter grinned.
"Aye, I had my way with her, gave her the old Cappson touch." He said flexing the metal limb. "You've got a good eye lad, though I'd expect noth'n less from someone who could re-work one them old radio-packs into such a fine weapon." The old man praised reaching over Dae shoulder tapping a mechanical finger on Fulcrum making the young inventor beam. Cutter now turned his attention to Eris who'd finally gotten off her bed and was politely standing off to the side. "An' you must be Catherine."
Eris stepped up and smiled sweetly. "Please call me Eris, it's a pleasure Mister Cappson." Robin and Dae were a little taken aback by just how polite Eris was being, but Robin wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"I see the boy wasn't kidding when he said ye' were…interesting." Cutter said making Eris seem to perk up.
"What, Bun-I mean Robin talks about me?" She said wrapping her arms around Robin's neck from behind making the boy blush. "I hope it's all nice things."
Cutter was about to say something when he noticed something besides Eris' arms around Robin's neck. "What's that yer' wear'n boy?" He asked gruffly pointing to his collar.
"Oh, this? Um, this is…" Robin's blush intensified at the mere thought of how to explain the collar when Eris interrupted.
"It's a present I got for him to celebrate his being named leader." Eris explained with a warm hearted smile.
Cutter fixed the two with a stern glare, not having missed the resemblance of the collar's tag to the insignia on the grips of Eris' weapons. "Well that was mighty kind of ya' girl, but last I checked collars were fer' pets not huntsmen."
"Well Grandpa it's about time we start heading out for our conferences." Robin blurted out quickly slipping out of Eris' grasp and trying to usher the larger man out of the room.
"Hold yer' horses boy." The old man protested as he was all but pushed into the hall by his grandson.
"There you are Robin." Peizhi called from down the hall. "I'd like you to meet…"
"Cutter?"
"Weizhi?" Cutter gasped as he locked eyes with shades wearing monk. "What in blazes are you doing here ya' old Sot?" Cutter grinned crossing his arms.
"I could ask you the same you dirty old coot, I thought this place was supposed to be respectable." Peizhi's master jeered sauntering past his student and up to meet the old weapons maker.
Robin wasn't sure exactly what was going on, he assumed the old man was the master Peizhi had told them about. He was tall and lithe with age with a sharp smile with a long swaying mustache, long braided ponytail, dark triangular sunglasses, and dressed in simple gray and white monk's robes carrying thick gnarled looking walking stick. The fact the two old men knew each other was a whole other surprise altogether.
"And what would a' old rogue like ya' know from respectable?" Robin's grandpa laughed.
"I'm a changed man I'll have you know." Weizhi protested loudly. "But had I known my Peizhi was sharing a team with a Cappson I'd have already pulled her out of this damn school. Headmaster must have a screw loose."
"An' what's so wrong with Cappson?" Cutter challenged as Peizhi hurried up to the group.
"Wait Master, you know Robin's Grandpa?" She asked earning a smug smile from old sage.
"Yeah, though I can't say he's much for company." Weizhi laughed ruffling her hair as Dae and Eris moved to join the group in the hallway.
"Like yer' one to talk." Cutter huffed. "Though I see yer' still partial to them Faunus girls eh? One finally get you ta' settle down?" Cutter chuckled pointing to Peizhi and earning a blush from the master and student.
"Wha, no! She isn't my daughter, I mean no she is, but it's…" The old man stuttered fumbling over his words.
"I was abandoned at the temple as a baby, Master and the monks took me in and raised me." Peizhi explained.
"That's right, and I couldn't be prouder of her." Weizhi gloated. "Now how about you introduce me to your team."
"Of course Master." Peizhi said rushing over and grabbing Eris by the arm and pulling her forward. "This is my partner Eris."
"Good to meet you girlie." Weizhi grinned shaking her hand. "I hear you're one hell of a fire cracker."
"That's what they tell me." Eris said giving her partner a mean look for the abrupt introduction, but she'd already moved to pull Dae and Robin over.
"And this Robin and Dae." She beamed. Her master took a minute to look the boys aver while stroking his chin.
"I thought they'd be taller." He stated flatly mortifying Peizhi, shocking Dae and Robin, and angering Cutter.
"What's that 'posed to mean?" The old man barked.
"Cool it Cutter, it's just after all the letter the kid's been sending us back home I can't help but have some high expectations." Weizhi explained extending his hand. "It's great to finally meet you boys." He said as they each shook his hand. "I trust you've been nothing but gentlemen while sharing a dorm with student." He said narrowing his eyes behind his glasses once more gaining a round of mortified expressions and laugh from Eris.
"What are you imply'n you old womanizer!?" Cutter all but bellowed. "My boy would never think'a do'n such a thing!"
"I find that hard to believe considering he's your grandson." Weizhi said making Cutter roll up his other sleeve threateningly.
"Them's fighting words if'n I ever heard." Cutter growled putting up his dukes.
"I'd be happy to knock around your wrinkled old kiester." Weizhi grinned slipping into a fighting stance and readying his walking staff as Robin and Peizhi moved to stop the two while they ignored their protests.
"Hey what ya' doing with that beat up ole' stick? You finally break that sword you begged me ta' forge fer' ye'?" Cutter challenged.
"Ha, are you going blind in your old age? It's right there." Weizhi said pointing to Quilin sheathed at Peizhi side.
"Ha! Ye' gave yer' weapon to the girl?" Cutter laughed relaxing his stance. "You have gone soft."
"Ha! I tried to talk her out of it, but when I told her it was time to pick a weapon she just begged to have that old piece of junk." Weizhi laughed.
The young team stood gawking at the old men until Cutter turned to them with a big smile. "What are ye' whippersnappers look'n at, ain't you ever seen a pair of old men having a laugh?"
Peizhi let out a sigh of relief. "Well that's good to hear, but c'mon Master we've got to start heading to our conference."
"Well you kids have fun with that, we'll just hang back and hold down the fort." Dae gloated earning a pair of odd looks from the elderly men until a loud scream echoed down the hall.
"Daedalus Verde don't you dare move!" Dae went stiff as a board as a look of utter terror came over him.
"Fra-Fra-Francesca!" Dae shrieked pointing down the hall at a tall young woman stomping towards them. She was dressed fashionably in a white halter top with thin orange stripes and tight black jeans with a handbag which matched her long untamed grass green hair. As she drew closer Dae seemed to finally snap out of his horror stricken paralysis and turned prepared to flee, but she was on him in seconds securing a painfully tight headlock around his neck.
"I told you not to move spaz!" She chastised with an angry scowl.
"Wh-what…are you…even….doing here?" Dae managed to get out while futilely struggling against her hold while the rest of his team looked on in confusion.
"What? You thought you could weasel your way out of parent teacher conference just cause mom and dad were out of town didn't you?" Francesca growled while Dae wordlessly pleaded for help.
"Wow Dae, you never told us you had a big sister too." Peizhi offered ignoring Dae's struggle altogether.
Francesca turned to the Faunus girl and stared at her for a moment, blinking once, then twice before bursting into laughter. Dae took the opportunity to sneak himself out of her grasp taking a few minutes to get his breath back. "Ugh, guys this is my little sister…" He said joylessly.
"Francesca Domainena Verde, at your service." She greeted while striking her best cute girl pose. Robin couldn't help but notice the family resemblance when she held the pose for a moments longer that necessary.
"Alright well this is the team, Eris, Peizhi, and Robin the leader." Dae unenthusiastically introduced.
Francesca walked up to Robin and bent down and took his hand in hers. "Thanks so much for looking after my brother, I hope he hasn't caused any trouble with one of crazy inventions…or started any fires….or blown anything up." Francesca seemed to get more depressed as she went on and Robin had to try his best to keep a straight face as he recalled an incident for each of her examples.
"Hey! You're making me sound like some kind of nut." Dae protested noticing Cutter and Weizhi eyeing him strangely now. "And how are you supposed to pass as my guardian…" Francesca grabbed Dae by his coat and pulled him close before tilting his head to the side.
"Hey Dix, do me a favor and pull up that message I sent to his Scroll, and stop helping the spaz screen my texts while you're at it!" She ordered into his ear piece. Dae's wrist display chirped and he took a minute to read it before making a pathetic face. "You've got to be kidding me." He moaned while Francesca sneered at him. "Yup, mom and dad sighed off on the permission form, so I'll be able to attend all your conferences and tell them all about it." She laughed haughtily as Dae slumped his shoulder in defeat making his teammates pity him a little, all except for Eris that is.
"Well I guess all that's left is fer' yer' folks to come barg'n in, eh girl." Cutter chuckled turning to Eris.
"Oh, my parents won't be coming today." She said in the same sweet tone she'd used with him earlier. Cutter seemed to eye her for this, making Eris feel uncharacteristically nervous. "Hey boy, we got any special plans fer' lunch?" He asked Robin not turning his gaze from Eris.
"Um yeah, I got us mostly early appointments so we should be done a little past noon, why?" Robin asked not sure what his grandpa had in mind.
"That's great, then the girl can join us fer' lunch when we're done." Cutter laughed.
"That' a great idea!" Peizhi cheered earning a smile from her master.
"I don't have a problem with that, our lunches are comped right?" Francesca chimed in getting a mean look from her brother.
"N-no, really it's fine, really." Eris tried to convince.
"Nonsense! I didn't come all this way just to see how my girl is doing, I want to get to know her whole team." Weizhi proclaimed.
"Then it's settled." Cutter announced. "We'll see ye' at lunch then girlie." Cutter said before heading off down the hall with Robin on his heels. The rest of the gang left in quick succession until Eris was left standing alone outside the room.
"Great, just great." She sighed.
First Conference: Sergeant Rlee's combat Lectures….
"First let me just say, Robin is a good kid." Rlee began obviously feeling uncomfortable sitting behind a desk and talking to parents. "But he was pretty rough around the edges when he first got here."
"That's no surprise." Cutter nodded with a solemn expression. "There's only so much a weapons smith like meself' can teach a boy who's so dead pressed to be a huntsmen."
"Well I wouldn't sell yourself short Mr. Cappson, cause Robin had a firm foundation to start out with and he's come a long ways through training to make sure he won't be left behind by the rest of the class. If he keeps it up I'm sure he'll be a fine Huntsman someday." He said filling Robin with a measure of pride. "Now I don't know what the rest of the professor will tell you, but it's my firm opinion that Robin is one of, if not the best leaders out of this year's batch of students."
"Wh-what?" Robin gasped unsure he'd heard the drill instructor correctly.
"Don't act so surprised Cappson. While you might not be on the same level as Argo or Windsor in terms of one on one skill, you keep a cool head, lead by example, and aren't afraid to trust your team. In my book there isn't much more to good leader than that." Rlee explained.
"Hear that boy?" Cutter said slapping his grandson on the back nearly knocking the dumbstruck lad out of his seat. "I knew ye' had it in ya'."
"But don't let it go to your head Cappson. This just means I'll be expecting a lot more from you from now on." Rlee added gruffly in spite of the small smile he wore.
Second Conference: Professor Port's Grimm Studies Class…..
"Why Miss Bagheera is a splendid student. She studies hard and takes an active part in the class." Port boasted while Weizhi listened intently. "Why I remember how on the first day she eagerly volunteered for our demonstration and dispatched that Ursa with remarkable tenacity and skill."
"An Ursa?" Weizhi turned Peizhi with a shocked look on his face. "You fought an Ursa on your first day?!"
"Indeed, it was quite a sight." Port laughed missing the apprehension in the old master's voice.
"Master please." Peizhi pleaded. "It's what I'm here to train for."
"I…I know, it's just I don't usually think about you going out and fighting the Grimm." Weizhi sighed placing a hand on his student's shoulder. "It will take some getting used to." He gave her a reassuring smile.
Professor Port was finishing a tangent he'd begun, missing the scene between his student and her guardian entirely. "But Miss Bagheera's resourcefulness when dealing with Grimm is one of her greatest strengths, I was considering using footage from her battle with the King Taijutsu during the initiation in an upcoming class."
Weizhi's eyes went wide. "A King Taijutsu!?"
"Master!"
Third Conference: Combat Tactics and Effective Stratagems with Professor Arch…..
"While I'm sure many would agree Daedalus is not the most ideal student." Professor Arch began choosing his words wisely while taking note of the harsh look Dae's sister was giving him. "But while his grades may reflect a certain, lack of interest in academic endeavors, I believe if he merely applied himself a little he could easily excel in my and other classes."
Francesca slammed a fist into the back of Dae's head eliciting a cry from her older brother. "What the hell Dae!? Do you have any idea how much mom and dad worked to get the tuition for you to go here?"
"Hey take it easy, I've been busy, and it's not like I'm failing?" Dae argued. "And I'm not the one who almost repeated a grade for not doing almost a whole semester's homework." He shot back further angering his sister.
"Now, now please." Arch interrupted hoping to stop the sibling quarrel from escalating. "While Daedalus' scholastic motivations leave something to be desired, he also already exhibits many traits we spend years trying to drill into our students." Professor Arch breathed a sigh of relief when the two seemed to cease their bickering and turn their attention back to him. "Daedalus has displayed a keen tactical mind and an aptitude for lateral thinking that allows him to make up for what lacks in physical strength. Combined with his natural affinity for working as part of a team makes him an asset I'm sure his partner is quite grateful for." As Professor Arch finished he was glad to see that Francesca seemed to be somewhat more pacified and Dae was ginning madly from the praise. "But I must warn you Mr. Verde, should you continue to ignore your scholastic responsibilities I can assure you that you will find yourself in a disadvantageous relationship with Professor Goodwitch."
The look on Dae's face told the professor his warning had had the desired effect.
In the Cafeteria…..
Eris sat alone pondering just how much she really didn't want to be waiting for the rest of her team right now, that is until a very distressed looking Jackie walked up and collapsed at her table resting her head in her arms. "Yeesh, what's wrong with you?" Eris asked surprised to see the usually energetic girl in such a way.
"Ugh I just can't take it." Jackie groaned not bothering to lift her head.
"What, is Djack not giving you enough attention again?" Eris asked familiar with the effect it had on her friend.
"Ha! You don't know the half of it." Jackie laughed mirthlessly finally raising her head to look her friend in the eyes. "He's in full on daddy mode right now. I couldn't get him to pay attention to me if I lit myself on fire and gave him a hug." She sighed. "Combined with my dad being here, it's just too much."
"Ouch, and you said Djack's dad came too? You must be having a real shit day." Eris marveled just thinking of the storm brewing with Team SPDN.
"You have idea. I'm hiding from my dad now." Jackie moaned before looking at her friend curiously. "Wait a sec." Jackie said suspiciously. "I know your folks wouldn't be caught dead here, so why do you look like someone shit in your cereal?"
"Ugh don't remind me, I'm waiting around to have lunch with my team and their parents." Eris sighed.
"Oh, finally meeting the dwarves-in-laws?" Jackie joked.
"Yeah, not funny." Eris said sending a dry look Jackie's way. "But seriously they're all just so…normal, I have no clue how to act around them and I can only stand doing the whole polite Eristone girl bit for so long."
"Hey if you're looking for advice on how to deal with normal you're asking the wrong girl." Jackie told Eris matter-of-factly. "Hey who's the kid?" Jackie asked pointing to Eris' right.
Eris turned and almost jumped to find a small girl with long silky aqua colored hair staring up at her. "You have funny hair." She stated plainly forcing Jackie to stifle a laugh.
Eris fought back her anger on account of the girl's age while she just stared expectantly up at her. "That's not a very nice thing to say." She managed to get out through gritted teeth.
"You've got a lot of rings in your ears, didn't that hurt?" The girl asked ignoring Eris.
Eris sighed and decided to go along with the girl for a minute. "The first few times, but you get used to it. I was actually thinking about getting my nose pierced soon."
"Ew gross." The little girl said sticking out her tongue. "What would you do when had to sneeze?" At this point Jackie was shaking with laughter and Eris was realizing she still didn't have the patience to deal with kids.
"Shouldn't you be in daycare right now?" She asked barely hiding her irritation.
"No!" The girl protested. "I'm here to see my brother."
This piqued the two girl's interest when a frantic Artemis came running up to their table. "Brunnhilde! There you are. You can't go running off like that." She gasped out of breath before squeaking meekly when she realized who were sitting at the table.
"So she's with you." Eris said harshly.
"I'm s-so-sorry if she was bo-bothering you!" Artemis gasped taking hold Hilde's hand.
"So who's the kid anyway?" Jackie chimed in ignoring the fiercely annoyed look Eris shot her.
"I'm Siggy's sister." Hilde blurted out proudly. It took a second for the gears to click into place before both girls erupted into laughter.
"Well that explains her manners." Eris managed to get out when her laughter subsided. Now that she knew, it was hard to miss the family resemblance when Hilde puffed out her cheeks in anger.
"C-c'mon Hilde, let's not bother the nice ladies." Artemis said leading the pouting 10 year old away much to Eris' relief.
"Crap Eris, my dad just walked in so I gotta ditch." Jackie cursed leaning down as she moved away from the table. "Have fun with your little boy toy and his friends." She taunted before making a break for the door on the other side of the cafeteria.
Eris sighed and leaned her head in her hand when her Scroll went off. She opened up and read the message from Robin "On our way to lunch." Eris sighed again as she closed the Scroll. "Oh joy."
It wasn't long before everyone was joined together around the table and listening to Dae energetically tell the tale of their initiation with Peizhi and Robin adding details in here and there. "And so then Robin asks me, do you trust me?"
"Hey, you did the same thing." Robin interrupted between bites of his sandwich.
"Yeah, except my idea was a simple distraction, yours was to ramp us off a log like 400 feet into the air with an angry snake monster right behind us." Dae countered obviously still bitter about the experience.
"Yeah I seem to remember your simple distraction being a small forest fire." Robin joked earning Dae another small ear full from his sister.
"I always wondered why you guys came crashing out of the sky back then." Peizhi laughed while her master looked at the two boys with irritation.
"So you're why Peizhi had to fight a King Taijutsu!" Weizhi roared ready to get out of his seat when Peizhi wrapped her arms around him in protest.
Cutter, who had been surprisingly silent for most of the meal, fixed Eris with a grin. "I hear from the boy you helped tackle that King Taijutsu, sure must be quite a tale."
"Oh, yeah, but Peizhi really tells it better." Eris said giving her best fake smile to the old man.
"Nonsense, taking on a Grimm that size is no mean feat." Cutter pressed making Eris curse his persistence.
"Really, it wasn't a big deal." Eris insisted.
"No way, it was awesome!" Robin piped up surprising the table. "You took on that thing like it was a bull in a rodeo." Robin quickly launched into an excited telling of how Eris fought the Grimm. Eris was legitimately surprised by Robin readiness to jump to her defense and was thankful that everyone was too engrossed in his story to notice the faint blush that had crept to her cheeks. Well almost everyone, Cutter did a good job of hiding his grin.
Later while touring through Beacon….
Robin was leading the group through the schools various facilities while Peizhi played tour guide pointing out various landmarks and tidbits. Francesca and Dae brought up the rear with her occasionally glancing at different passersby. "Hey Dae?" She finally spoke up. "Do you have like any friends besides your team?"
"What do you care about my friends…wait…no, not this again." Dae started to speed up getting Eris' and Peizhi's attention while Robin was busy showing his grandpa and Weizhi one of the training rooms.
"What's up?" Pezihi asked noticing the siblings.
"She's trying to get me to hook her up with some guy here so she can live out her weird romance novel fantasy." Dae blurted out. "Shut up!" Francesca screamed swinging at Dae who dodged and hid behind Peizhi. "She wants to reenact how our mom and dad met." Dae teased making his teammates wonder which was supposed to be the older of the siblings.
"Okay, I'll bite, how did your folks meet?" Eris asked Francesca who was still glaring daggers at Dae.
"Just picture it, a simple girl who wants to be a florist meets a young strapping Huntsman in training." Francesca began, a dreamy look coming over her eyes. "They meet and it's love at first sight. He spends every moment sneaking off to see her and bringing her a flower back from every mission he goes on. Finally after years of courting each other they can't stand being apart any longer and they marry. It's not long before they settle down and use what money he's saved to help open a flower shop and run it together." As she went on Francesca could barely contain herself earning a weird look from Eris and snicker from her brother. "Er, well I know it sounds stu…"
"That's so romantic!" Peizhi squealed.
"R-really?" Francesca marveled as the excitable Faunus girl gushed over the idea.
"Well it ain't really my cup of tea, but whatever y'know." Eris said offhandedly.
"Yeah, yeah, but there's one problem." Dae pointed out finally moving from behind Peizhi. "None of the guys here want to date a fifteen year old." Dae thought his point had great merit, but the ominous aura that followed scared him.
"What's that Dae? You're saying none of the guys here guy would want a delicate flower like me as a girlfriend." Francesca asked stalking menacingly towards her brother.
"Yeah scorch mark, what's so wrong with liking someone younger huh?" Eris asked following behind her and cracking her knuckles.
"We-well, you see, what I meant was…" Dae stuttered out while backing away from the girls.
"Hey guy I was…" Robin began but was cut off by his partner throwing his arms around him.
"Thank Dust you're back!" Dae cried getting an odd look from Robin.
"Um…okay Dae." Robin muttered trying to get out of his friend's grip. While this was going on Cutter leaned to Weizhi and whispered, "I tell ye' what, that boy ain't right."
"As I was saying." Robin began finally managing to pry Dae off. "Um, Grandpa and Mr. Weizhi were hoping we could put on a, um…"
"We want to see what you've got." Weizhi finished loudly making Robin jump.
"Aye, we've spent most of the day listening to the green one talk about how good ye' kids are, now we want to see fer' ourselves." Cutter went on.
Several minutes later in the training room….
The team gathered around Robin out on the training floor while the rest of the group sat up in the stands on the floor above waiting for them to begin. "Okay guys we don't have much time to get ready. I set the number of training bots to random so Dae once we start I want you to disrupt their number. Eris you take the left, Piezhi go right, I'll work clean up in the middle while Dae runs support. We've got this." Robin ordered before turning towards where the bots would enter from. Above them a warning light buzzed loudly and flashed red twice, then chimed and turned green as the shutters on the far wall shot open. "Now Dae!"
"Way ahead of you man!" Dae called back already hurling a cluster of assorted grenades at the opening. The resulting explosion made it hard to tell just how many of the droids Dae was able to dispatch, but soon the remaining training bots charged out at them.
"Okay team, divide and conquer!" Robin cried as he, Eris, and Piezhi leapt into the fray. Eris was the first to strike swing her Crazy Apples through the first few droids. This was just the kind of therapy she needed after spending almost a whole day playing the polite good little girl. She cackled as she wrapped up one droids arm and pulled him in front of her as a pair of droids switched their weapons to guns and opened fire. Once her shield had outlived its usefulness she spun around and hurled what was left of the bot into her attackers before pulling back her blades and leaping into the remaining group of droids with a sadistic smile.
Peizhi was doing a good job of keeping her group of droids on the defensive by extending Quilin into its spear form and twirling it around creating a protective perimeter around herself. Whenever a droid seemed to show some courage and move to attack she'd lash out with a flurry of powerful thrust reducing the machine to bits of scrap. When the bots realized they could not breach her defense they changed their tactic and readied their guns while surrounding her. Peizhi was caught off guard and scrambling to react when she heard Dae shout. "Peizhi jump!" Not questioning his advice Peizhi focused her aura in her feet and leapt high into the air just as Dae finished rolling a batch of shock grenades into the midst of the droids. The sound of circuits frying and motors seizing filled the room and Peizhi came down as the last of the lightning dissipated.
In the center Robin was falling back on his default strategy of dodge, shot, and flip as he tried to keep his batch of robots distracted and tightly bunched together. He fired of a pair of shots into two different bot's heads when heard a call from Eris. "Bunny behind you!" He fired a blast at the ground and flipped into the air just as the droid came in for a slash. Robin tucked himself in the air before firing blast above him sending him crashing down boots first on the unsuspecting droid and crushing its chest. Robin didn't waste any time going back on the attack firing off shots and blasts in quick succession to keep the droids off balance.
It wasn't long before the last of the training bots were defeated and the buzzer above sounded signaling the end of the training sequence. "Ah, can we go again, that felt good." Eris asked holding up one of the droid's heads before jokingly tossing it at Dae.
"That was a fine show." Weizhi congratulated as he and the others made their way onto the field.
"Ha, yer' girl over there wields that sword better than ye' ever did!" Cutter laughed Making Peizhi feel proud.
"Hey, who do you think taught how to use the damn thing?" Weizhi countered as he and Cutter slipped into another argument.
Later at the airship docks…
After another hour or so of touring it finally came time for the team to bid their families farewell. Piezhi was in the middle of a heartfelt embrace with her Master while giving him various messages to send back to the many monks back at the temple while Francesca was in the process of lecturing Dae about studying more and keeping out of trouble so Cutter decided now was the right time to take Robin off to the side. "Okay boy, I just wanna say I'm proud of ye', and I know I don't have to tell ya this but if yer' ma and pa were here they'd be even prouder than I could ever be." He said kneeling down and putting a hand on the boy's shoulders.
"I know grandpa, I'm glad you got to come." Robin said pulling the gruff old man into a hug.
"Me too boy, me too." Cutter said before standing again. "But there's something I gots to tell ye'. Now you know I'll always be yer' kin, but now you got a team of yer' own." He said gesturing over to rest, but pointing out Eris in particular standing a ways off on her own. "And now they're your family too, so remember to look out fer' them just like they were one yer' own. Ye' understand?"
"Yes sir!" Robin said saluting the old man making him smile.
"Atta' boy!" Cutter laughed.
Back with the rest of the group Francesca was just finishing her lecture. "Okay Dae, now don't forget mom and dad will be coming home from their trip soon so don't forget to call, they worry about you."
"I know, I know, I won't forget." Dae sighed wishing his sister would hurry up and get on the airship already.
"Good, now try to remember to stay out of trouble, at least for their sake." She warned while Dae nodded.
Suddenly something caught Dae's eye and mean little idea formed in his head. "Hey Francesca, I think I may know a guy for you after all." He said getting her attention.
"Really, who? Who?" She asked anxiously.
"He's right over there." Dae said pointing to one of the other landing platforms where Nidhogg was frantically waving to a departing airship. "Want me to call him over?" The look on Francesca's face said it all.
"N-no, that's fine, I think I'm good." She said rather hurriedly.
"You sure, he's a really great guy." Dae grinned.
"Yeah, I re-really need to get going anyway. See you later." Francesca said with a wave before hurrying to join the two old men as they began boarding the airship.
It wasn't long before the team was watching the ship disappear over the horizon. "Well that sure was fun wasn't it guys?" Peizhi beamed wiping a tear from her eyes.
"Yeah, fun." Eris repeated back in a tired monotone.
"Yeah, let's go with that." Dae added in a similar tone.
Robin turned back to his team remembering what his grandfather had told him and smiled. "Hey guys it's been a long day, so how about we order a pizza and just take it easy for the rest of the night?" He said watching his team seem to brighten up.
"Aw, my bunny has the best ideas." Eris gushed wrapping Robin in a hug as they started heading back to the school.
"That's what I'm talking about, I want ham and pineapple." Dae chimed in.
"And plenty of anchovies! Don't forget the anchovies!" Piezhi added with a hopeful bounce in her step.
"Hey guys!" Nidhogg called jogging up to the team with his usual big gin plastered on his face. "Hey little dude, who was that cute girl you were talking with?" He asked Dae as they turned towards the dorm.
"Absolutely no one you need know big guy." Dae stately flatly.
Man was that fun right? There were a ton of parts I was so happy to get to (mostly stupid stuff like Francesca's full name being a joke I'm sure no one will get) and playing around with a side of Eris I rarely get to mess with. In case you haven't figured it out I'm this is a three part story where I'm gonna re-tell it from each team's perspective. It's been fun coming up with how everyone's families complimented them and mixed with the other members of the team and their parents. Next we have Team SPDN and JASN and I'm not sure who to go with so if you have a preference tell me in the reviews cause I love hearing from you guys.
So like always (cause I'm shameless and crave validation) review and vote in the character poll.
Til next time.