Today was combat class! It helped that it came after a seriously boring lesson about history from Dr. Oobleck, it was hard for Ruby to maintain a professional image since she had a working relationship with Dr. Oobleck, if she was slacking then it might stop him from helping her.
"I can't wait for this class to start! I want to pull out my baby and show it off!" Ruby gushes and hops around in her seat.
"Yeah... I can't wait..." Pyrrha mumbled
"Is something wrong?" Ruby asked and Pyrrha just stayed silent as she watched the arena.
Ruby opened her mouth to say something and Russel shook his head for her to drop the issue.
"Welcome students! This is Combat Class and I am your Professor, Professor Goodwitch." The blonde woman from the bullhead spoke. "Combat Class is where you will test and grow your fighting style against human opponents as Ancient Grimm have been known to become intelligent, thus meaning not all Grimm and mindless. It is also to prepare yourself for the Vytal festival this fall.
"Today we shall get a grasp on where you are in your training and what we need to improve on as a class. First up is Jaune Arc from team ABYN and Cardin Winchester from Team CBLL" Professor Goodwitch announced and the two respectively walked down into the arena.
"Go Jaune! Team ABYN represent!" the two woman from his team cheered and Ruby raised a fist to cheer him on. "You can do this Jaune, show em what you're made out of." Ruby cried out
From Cardin's team Sky gave a small cheer. The bow girl, Blake was the name Yang called her, was busy reading a book and Ren just observed the match.
"Team trouble?" Jaune asked and Cardin growled in frustration. "Leave it alone." He simply responded and he readied his mace.
Jaune took a sword and he held it in front of him ready to strike.
"The rules of this match is tournament style, the first to fall into the red, concede or ring out is declared the loser are you both ready?"
Both men nodded and she swung a hand. "Begin!"
Jaune charged forward brandishing his sword and going for a jab, a blow which Cardin easily swatted away and shoulder charged into Jaune throwing him back.
Jaune rolled into a stance and he lunged forward Cardin backed up and he swung his mace in which Jaune took the blow to his reinforced armguard and he ducked into Cardin's guard.
Jaune attempted to slice but was kicked away. He skidded to a stop and the two entered a stand-off, neither attempted to make the first move.
The silence between the two made even Ruby anxious about what was to come when Cardin cracked under the pressure and bull-rushed forward his mace already swinging.
Jaune side-stepped the swipe and he made a few choice attacks with his sword, attacks that Cardin shrugged off and the two exchanged blows before with a kick Cardin launched Jaune off the stage.
"Victory goes to Mr. Winchester from Team CBLL."
"Nice try fearless leader!" Nora bellowed from the bleachers.
"Great job!" Sky echoed in enthusiasm.
"Both of you did tremendously. Mr. Arc I'd applaud you on your aggressive strategy but do consider one which conserves energy. As for you Mr. Winchester, there were many gaps in your form that Mr. Arc could have exploited if he had noticed them. Do see that you minimize those as best as you can."
Cardin glared at the teacher before stomping back to his team where Ren patted the man on his back. Blake continued to ignore him. As for Jaune he was received warmly by his team, Yang pulled him into a one-armed hug and rubbed his noggin with her fist, a wide smile on her face. Ruby noticed that all of them appeared to be smiling... if only her team could have bonded that fast.
"Next up is Yang Xiao-long of Team ABYN and Russel Thrush of Team RRAN" Professor Goodwitch announced and the only boy on her team stood up.
"I won't ask for luck, but heh, Let me at em." Russel pepped himself up.
"Get your ass kicked." Ilia encouraged and Russel chuckled at that.
"A blonde bombshell like her? Maybe." Russel contemplated and Ruby heated up. "Don't think dirty thoughts about my sister!" Ruby panicked.
Ruby looked toward the stage to see her sister stretching and preparing herself for the upcoming fight.
"Sis don't kick his tooshie." Ruby exclaimed which drew many eyes toward her even her sisters, who raised an eyebrow at the statement."
"Totally kick his ass." Ilia cried out and even gave her a thumbs up.
Yang smirked at the display and turned to face Russel.
"You got quite the range of support." Yang bantered.
"Eh, I consider myself lucky to get all this attention, so want to show me yours hot stuff?"
"A talker huh... if I had known you were this dangerous I wouldn't have hung out with you."
"I can show you how dangerous I can be, just come a little closer." Russel took out his weapon of choice, two twin daggers. a flick of his hand made the motion as if daring Yang to come toward him.
"Stop flirting with my sister... Yang I change my mind kick his ass." Ruby shouted from the stands. Unbeknownst to the two below she had pulled out her scroll to record the match. The two fighters squared off as they observed each other.
"Gladly." Yang replied and Russel paused.
"Which are you referring to?" Russel had to ask and he got a face full of fist when Professor Goodwitch started the match.
"Both actually. Asking a brawler to get closer is only going to give me a field day." Yang crowed and she shot her gauntlets behind her, propelling herself forward to slam Russel into the ground.
Russel rolled to the side and took his knives to cut at her calves.
Yang took the hit and she maneuvered to slam her fist into his back if he hadn't rolled out of the way.
Russel hopped back and observed the situation and with a flick of his knife he threw it only for it to be bashed aside.
"You can do better than that." Yang growled and she smashed him into the ground when he attempted to retrieve his weapon.
Yang wailed on the poor fool until Professor Goodwitch called match. Ruby thought the fight was much to short and begrudgingly put her scroll away.
"Mr. Thrush, as much as you tried to rile your opponent, I will not stand for such jokes. On another note going for your weapon despite having another knife was an ill-advised strategy. "
Russel grumbled as he took back his knife and sheathed them. Professor Goodwitch turned toward Yang and spoke. "Ms. Xiao-Long, your technique is brutal but today it got the job done. I'd recommend you'd work on protecting your lower body for those who wish to incapacitate you by targeting your legs."
"Got it Prof, nice try Russel but you'd only touch me in your dreams." Yang taunted and she strutted back to her team who praised her for the win.
Russel slouched in his seat upon coming back and he refused to talk to the rest of the team.
"Pyrrha Nikos from Team RRAN vs Sky Lark from Team CBLL" Professor Goodwitch announced and Pyrrha gulped before taking her gear down into the arena.
"Go get em Pyrrha, show them what Team RRAN is all about! Do your best!" Ruby cheered.
Ruby was blind in cheering on her partner that she was ignorant on other facts.
"Pyrrha! Good luck!" Ilia called.
"Take it from me, Loss isn't so bad." Russel contributed to the cheers with his own.
Pyrrha looked toward her team, smile on her face as she waved.
On the opposite side of the field Sky Lark clutched onto his halberd and eyed the champion fighter warily.
"I'm glad that there is no pre-match banter, you may begin!" Professor Goodwitch announced and Pyrrha rushed forward spear at the ready and shield at her side.
Sky lashed out with his halberd and Pyrrha blocked the strike with ease, her spear already extending to jab at the armored man.
Sky dug his halberd into the ground and tried to vault over Pyrrha but she kicked it and Sky fell onto his back Pyrrha raised her spear to strike down only to pause. This was enough for Sky to kick Pyrrha back and retrieve his halberd and allowed it to swing.
Pyrrha blocked the attack and her spear was sent flying as it launched itself from her grip, bopping Sky on the head and with an agile flip Pyrrha took the spear in hand and landed on Sky smashing him into the ground and the match was called.
"Winner goes to Pyrrha Nikos." Professor Goodwitch announced to the class.
As she explained what Sky did wrong, she said nothing for Pyrrha except how her brief hesitation may cause problems in the field.
Whispers broke out in the room as people took note of how long the fight went on. Jaune and Cardin's match went for about three minutes, Yang's was at least bordering two.
Thirty seconds was all it took for Pyrrha to make short work of Sky, and if she hadn't hesitated then it might have bordered twenty seconds.
"You did great! Wow! You're so strong!" Ruby gushed as she was giddy with her team's first victory. Pyrrha didn't look so great as she smiled, a rather plastic smile at that. She was pale, she was shaking, she glanced around the room to see people staring, to see people talking and whispering into each other's ears.
She could already imagine it. "The Invincible Girl" from Mistral. The four times tournament winner she'd be swarmed by fans and even by her team.
A hand was placed on Pyrrha's shoulder and she looked up to see Ilia and Russel.
"Its okay, we have your back Pyrrha. If anyone comes to bother you I'll break their face." Ilia reassured.
"I'll give them a new haircut." Russel laughed and he took out a knife and twirled it.
Pyrrha couldn't believe what was going on... two people weren't going to put her on a pedastal? They weren't going to gush at how she as the Invincible Girl?
There was doubt in Pyrrha's mind and she wanted to closed them off from her.
"That was awesome! The ways your weapons moved and how it shot out! I liked how you spun the shield after you threw it!" Ruby clashed into her as she gave her partner a hug.
"You're not excited about me?" Pyrrha asked shocked.
"About you? What do you mean? I think your weapons are cool and you are a great partner!" Ruby smiled innocently and Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh.
Relief washed over her as she looked toward Ruby, the girl in question asking if she could examine Milo, a request she was happy to oblige.
Ilia was already glaring at an approaching figure and Russel moved to sit next to her in order to shield her from people's views.
Pyrrha could feel it. She was blessed to be on this team.
Combat class breezed by as Ruby observed the rest of the people fighting.
Ruby made note of Ilia due to her possible connections with Yang and she jotted them down.
Her scroll buzzed and she saw a text coming from one of her contacts
"The White Fang seemed to be up to something, I got in contact with one of my guys in the Fang and the situations already gotten bad enough that he is planning to flee. Something big is happening and it requires a lot of dust. Most of it is coming from Atlas but this girl came to the club and wanted to hire a few of my guys in acquiring some local dust. Just letting you know. - J"
Ruby thought for a moment. A White-Fang heist. A girl that needs a lot of dust?
"If something big is coming then we need to prepare for it. I'll see what the others have for data and I'll bring forth a plan." Ruby texted. She put her scroll down and sighed. She may have been assigned leader of her team but to be the head of an organization... she still had a long way to go before she was remotely ready for that huge task.
She quickly flicked toward Oobleck.
"J. had found out that something big may be happening to Vale. Something that includes a ton of dust. What might happen and what can we do to prevent this? Text this number and tell them that R. sent you." Ruby tapped away
She needed to go down into Vale and hold a meeting between all of her players. So far she had Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck. She had Junior as well as the Twins if she really wanted to include them into her forces. It was fine that she had the help of these adults but they were centralized in Vale. She needed more allies. Maybe she can get an idea who else to recruit when she can go visit Vale.
For now she had to focus on getting her team together. Maybe she could integrate them into the game... but that would only mean more people in Vale. Pyrrha would go to Mistral in four years time or she could stay here. Ilia would go back into the wilds and maybe into Menagerie, the continent where the Faunus were allowed to live after the great war.
She'd need to sneak into Team ABYN's room and nick Yang's scroll. Maybe it had more messages... but then again she mostly got letters and packages when it came to contacting her "game" group.
She looked up from her scroll to see Russel and Ilia leaving.
"Going into Vale?" Ruby asked and they both nodded.
"Yang got tired of us fighting and suggested we went out clubbing." Ilia explained and Russel groaned beside her.
"I don't like this either but Yang won't get off our backs if we continue fighting." Ilia berated the man beside her.
"I'm all for getting Yang off our back but can't we just do something else? Clubbing is fun but when its with you two it can be pretty hectic." Russel argued.
"It can't be that bad. I show restraint."
"Tell that to the last club we trashed." Russel brought up and Ilia just smirked. "I show restraint."
"Good luck you two, Pyrrha is going to show me what I missed the last two years of Prep school since I skipped those ya know." Ruby stared at her textbook that sat on the bed below her. Maybe she could make an excuse to not study tonight, she had to find out what Yang was doing now that she was at school. Now was the perfect time to act.
"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed and the two paused at the doorway.
"Do you know who else is going?" Ruby had to ask.
"Seems like all of Team ABYN. Arc wanted to make this a team bonding experience." Russel replied.
"How about we make it into a team bonding experience as well." Ruby suggested and the two blanched at her.
"What? I don't think taking a fifteen year-old to a bar would sit well with anyone. Especially your sister." Russel pointed out.
"We don't have to go to a bar, maybe a karaoke booth or the arcade." Ruby said.
"We'll fly that by Yang first. If so then meet us in Vale." Ilia ended the conversation and dragged Russel out of the door.
Ruby looked toward the bathroom where Pyrrha was currently taking a shower.
"Maybe I can hold that meeting after all." Ruby schemed and she sent three texts and head out the door.
Is Russel and Ilia going on a date? There is that thing Yang said where your hate becomes love... it can be weird like that ya know.
This chapter is on time thankfully and its about time for Ruby to have a face to face meet with all of her pieces. Will we get to see any of the inner-workings of the Wizard or the Grimm faction? Will the newest time traveler make a difference? Where is Weiss? Probably in Atlas. Look forward to next chapter, idk why you would.
Hopefully I can get this out to you guys next Tuesday but I highly doubt. Tuesday is now officially my busiest day with around 7+ things happening today. Thursday becoming a close second.
Honestly, I was only able to get this out today because I brainstormed and wrote most of this yesterday...
Anyway. If Tuesdays don't work out I'll be sure to let you all know what day I'll be uploading these chapters.
Soaring away- Falcon!