Vale: Day…
The ten days Ichigo spent in Vale, before Beacon, hadn't been to take in the sights. Now, aside from what happened literally earlier that day, it was a more appropriate time to take in what was arguably the only home he currently remembers.
Ruby and Pyrrha were more than happy to take on the role of guides and ensure it was a good day. After all, Jaune was saved from the Nightmare just earlier while Ichigo had little memory beyond his name. They went to the bakery, restaurants, parks, and various shops.
It all ended at an ice cream shop where Ruby paid for her team to have some ice cream. Of course, hers was the largest. With ice cream in hand, the team took to simply walking around until they heard yelling.
"Please stop! He's had enough!"
"Considering what your establishment has done, I'm not certain about that."
The group ran in the direction of the voices where they first spotted a Human standing protectively before a female deer Faunus. Both were dressed as baristas, and the guy looked as though he'd been put through the fight of his life. Both stood across from an older guy.
He had long, burnt orange hair in a pony tail and indigo eyes behind spectacles. His attire consisted of black dress pants and a matching, long-sleeved shirt with silver accents. The familiar symbol of a golden bird with outstretched wings was on the back of his shirt .
"What did he ever do to you." The female Faunus asked.
"This man isn't the only one I have problems with." The guy in black declared. "Because of your poor service, this man ended up kicking my brother out of his establishment. When I attempted to broach this civilly, he decided to kick me out as well.
Not only did he do a disservice to my brother but slighted me as well. As the head of the Winchester family, I simply could not let such insults slide. In my opinion, this man has no right to run an establishment especially if he'll cast the first stone by throwing coffee on me."
"You defended a boy and his team who assaulted my staff." The man declared firmly. "If anything, you should be glad I merely barred…"
Clearly, Winchester wasn't happy about the man further insulting his little brother as evidenced by wires, imbued with Aura, coming out his sleeves. They shot off at the coffee shop owner only for Ichigo rush in and grab all the wires between his two hands.
Ichigo looked back to the coffee shop employees before focusing on the Faunus. "Take your boss to be treated."
The owner just stared at Ichigo in shock while the Faunus nodded and began leading him away.
"What do you think you're doing?" Winchester asked.
"You're the last person who should ask that." Ichigo responded firmly. "From what I heard; you attacked that man for throwing coffee on you and/or throwing out your brother who assaulted that Faunus. Context says your brother must be Cardin, so he likely deserved it."
"I see now." Winchester narrowed his eyes as he studied Ichigo further. "You're the ruffian Cardin's told me about. Ever since Beacon began, you've been bullying my brother and his team. Now, you dare to slander his name on top of it. That is an offense that won't stand."
"You're delusional if you think your brother is the innocent one." Ichigo retorted. "Whatever lies Cardin seems to be feeding you, he's the bully."
Suddenly, the wire broke apart, leaving pieces of it in Ichigo's hands, before what was left reconnected and wrapped around Ichigo's leg. The swordsman attempted to draw his blade before he was thrown into a car with enough force to leave a dent.
"Ichigo!" Ruby yelled worriedly.
All three members of Team Rain moved to draw their weapons before Ichigo stood up with his sword drawn. "Stay back." Ichigo held his blade out. "He's all mine."
Ichigo charged Winchester. "He is fast."
The older guy then rushed Ichigo with his wires dancing around him. He sent them forward attempting to bind Ichigo's arm. The swordsman suddenly Shunpoed behind him, avoiding the wires, and swung his blade down.
Winchester managed to glance back just in time, and the wires wove together until they were strong enough to keep the blade from hitting him. The force of the striker was still enough to push the older guy back. Winchester and Ichigo both prepared to step this up.
"You're tough, but I won't give up until you apologize for besmirching the Winchester name!" Winchester shouted.
"If anyone besmirches your name, it's you and your brother." Ichigo retorted. "He's a liar, bully, and racist while you unknowingly support him by buying into his silver tongue."
They were just about to charge one another until the sounds of sirens stopped everything.
"This isn't over." Winchester declared before running off.
"Ichigo, we must go!" Jaune called out.
Ichigo sheathed his blade and hurried over to join his teammates before they moved somewhere they wouldn't be seen.
"Ichigo, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked concerned.
"Only that Menos from the forest was able to touch you." Ruby added worried.
"Don't worry because I'm fine." Ichigo assured. "Not like I expected no one to be able to toruch me."
"Hey, I said this isn't over!" A familiar voice shouted.
Team RAIN looked up to see Winchester looking down upon them from the roof. Ichigo reached for his weapon alongside his team. This time, they weren't content to let Ichigo fight alone.
"Hold it." Winchester jumped down. "If we fight here, the result will probably end the same way. We'll just end up having to stop because of the cops."
"If you don't mean here, then what do you mean?" Jaune asked.
Winchester pointed to Ichigo's right. Everyone looked at it and saw the flyer for the Valish Tourney. Ichigo had forgotten about Ozpin bringing this event to his attention what with everything that happened after.
"You said I was wrong about my brother, so I want you to prove it." Winchester declared. "I, Vermillion Winchester, will face you within the confines of that tournament. Through our battle, the truth will reveal itself."
Before Ichigo could retort, Winchester rushed out of the alleyway.
"Ichigo, you don't have to do this." Pyrrha stated. "Vermillion believing Cardin's lies means nothing when everyone in schools knows the type of person he is."
"No, you're wrong." Ichigo shook his head. "Vermillion believing Cardin draws him into situations like this. The good man lead astray. I'll accept this challenge and open his eyes. No matter his occupation, someone that strong shouldn't one day be locked up."
Amphitheater: Next Day…
Ruby and Pyrrha sat within the stands of an empty amphitheater while Ichigo stood across from Jaune.
"Alright, here's the deal Jaune." Ichigo declared. "I got two weeks of training ahead of me before the Valish Tourney meaning I won't have much time to train you like I agreed to. That's why I'm going to give you some initial lessons.
Once that's through, you'll mainly be training with Pyrrha any time I'm not training with her." He nodded his head from side to side. "Honestly, probably not the worst outcome since Ruby needs to work on your a weapon change."
"It sounds good to me, but are you sure you want to spare even this amount of time on training me?" Jaune asked. "Two weeks isn't a lot of time, and we did learn quite a bit about Vermillion after the fact."
"I heard from somewhere that the basics are one's foundation." Ichigo retorted. "If anything, this is a bit of training for me as well. Anyways, we're going to get started with a test of where you currently are." He drew Zangetsu. "Let us all know what we're working with."
"Right." Jaune nodded as he drew his own weapons.
"Good luck, Jaune!" Pyrrha cheered.
"Yeah, do your best!" Ruby added.
"Before we begin, this is just a spar, so we'll end thing at the point one of our Auras hits roughly 40%." Ichigo informed. "Since we don't have access to the big board, we'll count on our teammates keeping track of that."
"It'll certainly be me." Jaune stated.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it." Ichigo stated. "Even with your Aura reserves, it will be you. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't be training you in the first place. Anyways, I'll start off slow, but you need to give this your all."
"Reminds me of the time my dad and I sparred," Jaune commented as he brandished his weapons.
"Wait." Ruby spoke up from the sidelines. "I thought you told us your family didn't want you to be a Huntsman?"
"No, I told you my father tried to teach me until ultimately giving up." Jaune responded. "Back when he didn't, and got tired of me asking, he'd say we could spar to see if I had potential. When we did, he'd wipe the floor with me.
Couldn't get a single hit in." He sighed. "That was the first time my dad said I didn't have talent for combat, and I should go into another profession." There was no immediate response to his statement making him frown. "Did I say something wrong?"
Pyrrha and Ruby both paled upon hearing what came out of Jaune's mouth while Ichigo was stunned.
"Jaune, are you saying your dad spared with you as a kid when you had no training and declared you had no talent?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah?" Jaune tilted his head in confusion. "Don't you spar with people to see how good someone is?"
"Not like that!" Ruby exclaimed.
At this point, none of them could believe what they were hearing. Jaune felt he was missing something and couldn't figure out what. Luckily, Pyrrha was there to explain it in a way he would understand.
"Jaune, sparring has its uses." Pyrrha began slowly as she was attempting to say this delicately. "One, it keeps people from getting rusty. If you don't practice, your skills will decline. Two, it lets you practice new techniques and skills in a usually safe environment.
It should only occur once you have some understanding of the basics. Three, it is used to determine where someone currently is in terms of skill. Sparring doesn't help an amateur gain or show off combat skills against an expert."
"At most, you might learn how to dodge a bit." Ruby piped up. "Even then, it's not a great way to achieve that unless you have a slew of opponents to spar with. At most, you'd learn how to dodge a specific opponent. In short, your dad was just knocking you around."
After hearing all of that, Jaune lost his grip on his weapons, and they clattered to the ground.
"He never meant to train me." The blonde croaked out. "I knew my pops didn't want me to be a Huntsman, but he wasn't even willing to give me a chance." He was just in disbelief. "It wasn't that he thought I didn't have talent. He just didn't care."
Pyrrha and Ruby didn't know what they could say. Both could certainly see what he did to Jaune, but neither really knew what would go through that man's head. Even if he had a good reason, doing this to their friend was cruel.
"Must suck to learn that, huh?" Ichigo questioned drawing everyone's attention. "Take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt because I am an amnesiac, but your family sounds like they blow. From here, the question becomes what you're going to do about it?"
"What can I do?" Jaune whispered. "My family never believed in me… except for maybe my oldest sister. She at least helped pay for my trip to Vale. The rest of them never believed I could be a Huntsman. Didn't even care enough to try."
"If I was in your shoes, I've heard the best form of revenge is living your best life." Ichigo stated. "In that sense, I'd say to hell with my family and prove them wrong. That's exactly what you should do. Show them you do have what it takes.
Right here, you have three people who believe where they failed to. We can give you the chance they should have, but you won't change unless you're willing to put in the work yourself. The question now becomes, are you going to pick up those weapons of yours?"
Ruby and Pyrrha certainly weren't expecting that, but it was a moving speech that made them want to shout encouragement. They remained silent to give Jaune the time to think it over. Eventually, the blonde picked up his weapons.
"I'm not giving up." Jaune declared as he brandished his weapons. "You are right Ichigo. Perhaps only one member of my family ever believed in me, so I'll simply need to prove to the rest of them I can be a Huntsman. A hero!"
The doubt and weakness were absent from his voice. His eyes lost the cloudiness and were now only focused on the teammate before him. Even with this, it hurt deeply to know his parents never believed in him. That everything they did was to keep him from his dream.
At the same time, he learned it wasn't necessarily because of his lack of talent. It was their belief that held him back, not himself. The only way he would hold himself back is if he gave up. He knew that never happened. He learned from books and picked up what he could from Huntsman.
He even got fake transcripts to get into Beacon. All of those were steps to reach his goal. While he made his mistakes, that was part of life. Now, he had three people who believed in him enough to help him.
"That's the spirit." Ichigo brandished his own blade. "Now, let's see what we're working with."
The next moment, Zangetsu clattered against Jaune's raised shield which ended up knocking him on his butt with his shield skidding across the ground after it flew from his hand.
"Yeah, your stance is crap." Ichigo muttered. "Get back up. We're fixing that first."
"Thought we were going to spar." Jaune groaned as he pushed himself off the ground and picked up his shield. "A single blow hardly seems like one."
"You need to be able to do a few exchanges before getting anything out of this." Ichigo reminded. "At the very least, not falling on your ass after the first hit." Once Jaune was up, he used the tip of his sword to show Jaune how to stand. "Left leg slightly forward, right leg over. Feel how your balance is better?"
"Yeah, it feels completely different." Jaune marveled.
"That's the point." Ichigo stated. "I'd say your first step would be to practice this stance until it becomes second nature or learn a better one from Pyrrha to use." He walked back and brandished his blade again. "For now, let's try this again."
He swung his blade downward, and it clattered against Jaune's shield. This time, the blonde's shield stood firm.
"Go, Jaune!" Ruby cheered. "That's the way!"
"Whoa, I felt my entire body absorb the blow that time." Jaune stated. "No wonder Cardin has always been knocking me around."
"Jaune, your fighting style is meant to be that of a knight." Ichigo slashed his sword again forcing his teammate to block. "You take the blows before striking back. A weak stance will only end up with you on the ground.
Out there, Grimm won't stop just because you fall. Some people, depending on their values, will be the same. They will keep attacking. Lose your shield and sword? That's an opening to them that will be taken advantage of. Never let go of your weapon."
"Got it." Jaune agreed while keeping his shield raised in case Ichigo tried another surprise attack.
"Now, I'm going to start attacking you a little more seriously." Ichigo warned. "Last as long as you can and show me what you're capable of."
"Not the face?" Jaune joked.
"That all depends on if you keep that shield raised." Ichigo responded seriously.
Jaune ducked behind his shield as Ichigo swung his blade horizontally. This would have most certainly killed a normal person, and probably would have done in a person with Aura if it wasn't strong enough.
At this point, Ichigo began a series of consecutive strikes which Jaune did his best to defend against. Every hit against his shield caused pain to ripple through his arm. Ichigo was strong and the boy felt that even with Aura, he wasn't going to come out unscathed.
"I thought you would go easy on me!?" Jaune yelled.
"I am." Ichigo replied flatly before seeing an opening and slamming his foot into Jauen's gut knocking him flat on his back. "I'm going as easy as possible while still ingraining within you a lesson."
Jaune slowly rose to his feet. "What lesson were you trying to teach?"
Ichigo grabbed Jaune's other wrist and raised it, so the blonde was looking at the blade. "That this right here isn't meant to be dead weight or some decoration."
"What do you mean?" Jaune questioned. "This is a real sword."
"If that's the case, why weren't you using it?" Ichigo asked.
"You never really attacked with it, Jaune." Ruby called out. "That entire time, you were on the defense to the point that Ichigo never had to consider defending."
"It was hard enough doing just that!" Jaune explained loudly. "He's way stronger than me. How am I supposed to find room to attack?"
"I was purposely making exaggerated movements." Ichigo responded making Jaune go silent. "I didn't expect you to see every opening, but I expected a sloppy attack. When I realized you wouldn't attack, I decided to end the spar."
"If I attacked, wouldn't you have countered?" Jaune inquired.
"That's the point." Ichigo responded. "Through that, you'd start to recognize the difference between real openings and false ones. Look Jaune, you carry a shield and a sword. While I know anyone on this team will try to defend one another, there might be times that's not possible.
There will be times we might be kept from you, and you'll have to fight alone. Certain people and Grimm aren't going to stop attacking just because you won't attack back. Even with the truck load of Aura you have, standing there hoping to tire them out isn't always valid.
I have my own insane reserves of Aura, but you don't see me trying to wear my opponent down. In short, you need to be decisive." He moved into a defensive stance. "Now, attack me. Show me you can dish it out and not just take a hit."
Jaune took his stance and swung his blade in an arcing motion. Sparks flew as Ichigo met the blade head on with his own. The blonde pulled the blade back and struck again with more force before proceeding to strike repeatedly.
A small smile tugged at the corner of Ichigo's lips before he lept back and sheathed his blade. "That is what I'm looking for and what you should integrate into your style. You block with the shield before striking with the blade."
Jaune looked at his blade as he contemplated and took to memorizing those words. "Right, I think I got it."
"Good." Ichigo nodded. "Even though you haven't fallen near 40% of your Aura, I think we can put an end to this spar. Now, there's one more lesson I want to give you today before you spend the next thirteen strictly under Pyrrha. That's to observe as I train with Ruby."
"You want to fight me?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, I'm saving Pyrrha for last because I feel it'll be easier on Jaune to observe our fight." Ichigo stated. "That's not me knocking your skills Ruby. You have your strengths, but I think Jaune would benefit more observing our bought over the one I'll have with Pyrrha."
"Alright, I'm coming down." Ruby declared.
Grateful for a chance to rest his weary arms, Ichigo did have some serious strength, Jaune didn't argue. He took a seat next to Pyrrha while letting his weapons rest next to him. Ruby now stood across from Ichigo, pulled out her rifle, and shifted it to scythe mode.
"According to Ozpin, that's one of the most dangerous weapons on Remnant, and she's no mere beginner like Jaune." Ichigo thought. "That means I'll need to take this far more seriously."
"I know I shouldn't hold back against you Ichigo." Ruby smiled. "That's why I'm going to give this my best."
"If nothing else, you certainly have the right spirit." Ichigo responded. "Pyrrha, keep track and declare when either of us hits the normal threshold!"
"Got it!" Pyrrha shouted back.
To put it simply, Ichigo was faster and stronger than Ruby. That's not to say he was going to end this fight in seconds considering that would do nothing for his training. Ichigo merely utilized as much speed and strength as was necessary.
If Ruby used her Semblance, Ichigo countered with Shunpo. Beyond that aspect, he dodged, parried, and blocked whatever Ruby sent his way before striking with his blade pushing the girl back. This was certainly no Cardin situation, so he didn't send her into walls.
That's not to say Ruby wasn't impressive in her own right. The usage of her gun function gave her weapon a great deal of force and upped her mobility substantially. Her determination was something else of note as every time Ichigo knocked her back, she would rush back in.
Ruby eventually took her mobility to the next level as she began attacking Ichigo from the back or front. Shunpo was still an effective counter allowing Ichigo to keep up at the level of skill he was currently using.
"I got you!" Ruby declared.
She had zipped behind Ichigo and moved to deliver a vertical slice downwards that would be fatal to any normal person. Even with Aura, getting hit by that would still hurt.
"Nope." Ichigo declared as he sidestepped the blow.
The orange haired swordsman then reached out, grabbed Ruby's wrist, and picked her up. Before she could speak or attempted to get out, Ichigo slammed her into the ground.
Pyrrha looked at the scroll. "Ruby is in the red!"
"You put up a good fight, but I noticed two things that if worked on, would make you more difficult to beat." Ichigo responded.
"I am pure destruction!" Ruby countered. "Grimm fear me and Crescent Rose!"
"Jaune, last lesson!" Ichigo called out. "What did you notice Ruby do that could use work?"
"Well, when she used her Semblance to flank you, it looked like you knew where she was going to appear." Jaune responded. "Could you follow her?"
"My eyes certainly could, but after a while, I didn't need it." Ichigo responded. "The simple fact is that for as good as our leader is, she's predictable."
The girl's mouth fell open in disbelief. "What do you mean by that!?"
"What I mean is that your attack patterns were fixed." Ichigo responded. "While what you can do works against less experienced Grimm or combatants, like Torchwick, more experienced combatants will start to have a leg up on you at this rate. Then, you're in trouble."
"I see what you mean." Ruby thought back to their encounter with Torchwick. "He was easy for you, but I don't think I'd have done as well had I been alone."
"Another aspect you fall short in is physicality." Ichigo noted. "You're already speedy and most of your power comes from your legs with a weapon like yours. So, just imagine if you could put a little more muscle behind each swing. In short, I'd recommend you train with Pyrrha in that."
"Hm, you know, you're pretty insightful when it comes to fighting." Ruby noted.
"He really is." Jaune nodded. "The day I asked him to teach me, he didn't think he'd be any good at it."
"Well, I think he's proven that thought about himself wrong." Ruby declared. "In fact, as leader of team RAIN, I'm making you our team's official trainer."
"Ah, I probably should have kept my mouth shut." Ichigo thought. "Come to think of it, likely could have just left this to Pyrrha."
He didn't mind hard work, but it's not like he was looking to take on extra work. It's why he was content to not be a leader. He'd have accepted almost anyone in that role provided he wasn't one. The only exception was Weiss. At that point, he'd take the role to keep her from being his leader.
Ichigo got the feeling Ruby wasn't about to let him back out, but he wasn't about to just accept this outright. "I'll agree provided Pyrrha's put in the same boat as me."
"I'd be happy to help." Pyrrha agreed before giving a laugh herself. "Of course, I think there's even a thing or two I could stand to learn from you."
"In that case, I will only agree if the prior point is upheld, and Ruby helps me with you." Ichigo declared.
"Agreed!" Ruby declared. "So, it is settled. From here on out, Ichigo oversees our training with Pyrrha helping him with Jaune and I while I help him with Pyrrha. In the case of Ichigo, Pyrrha, Jaune, and I will all help him train."
"Now, there's still one more of you I need to spar with to continue my training." Ichigo declared. "Pyrrha, get down here."
"Are you sure about this?" Pyrrha asked. "Maybe you should take a break to recover."
"Nah, I'm fine." Ichigo held out his blade. "Especially because I can take it up a level. Zangetsu!"
Ichigo's Aura sparked to life around him.
"Alright Ichigo, but you'll need to come at me with your best." Pyrrha declared.
Ruby went to sit with Jaune while Pyrrha took her place across from the swordsman. Both brandished their weapons when Ichigo suddenly Shunpoed in front of Pyrrha and swung his sword into her gut knocking her into the back wall.
"Come on Pyrrha, you told me I should come at you with my best." Ichigo put his Khyber knife over his shoulder and turned his back to her. "If you can't defend against it, then…"
Suddenly, her spear impacted his back and Ichigo was sent stumbling forward. He managed to retain his balance and turned to see Pyrrha running in. She scooped up her weapon before charging him. Ichigo blocked her short sword in a way that would also block her shield.
"Ichigo, I can say you are most likely the strongest student Beacon has; however, your string of successes have made you cocky." Pyrrha informed. "Anyone with enough skill will turn that on you in an instant if given the chance."
Ichigo moved on the defensive as she attempted to strike. "While a tournament can certainly be fun, your competition will be there to win. That is something you can't forget because you will run into people with abilities that could end a fight you weren't supposed to lose."
"Alright, point taken." Ichigo shoved his foot into Pyrrha's gut making her stumble before once more swinging his sword into her gut. "Don't let the atmosphere make me cocky. Ensure the battle is won."
"Hey, Rubes!" Yang, with the rest of RBYN, joined Jaune and Ruby in the stands. "Why is Ichigo fighting against Pyrrha? Did they decide they were tired of waiting for the right combat class?"
"Actually, this was brought on because Ichigo is training." Ruby responded.
"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo exclaimed.
He fired off the crescent of Aura, but Pyrrha managed to roll out of the way before transforming her weapon into its riffle mode. She opened fire on Ichigo who began deflecting bullets and drawing closer.
"Oh, what's he training for?" Nora asked interested.
Ichigo swung his sword, but this time Pyrrha braced her shield with her short sword managing to block Ichigo. This started a sequence of Ichigo pressing the attack while Pyrrha managed to block him.
"For a tournament." Jaune answered.
Ichigo eventually resorted to unraveling the cloth and used it to swing his sword in unpredictable ways enabling him to start landing more hits on Pyrrha. He then pulled the sword back and rushed forward delivering a third gut strike.
"What tournament?" Blake asked.
Pyrrha managed to brace herself this time enabling her to act quickly and grab his leg. She used it to push Ichigo onto his back before attempting to bring her spear down on him. Ichigo rolled out of the way and lept back to his feet before charging her.
"Take a look for yourself." Ruby held up a flyer for the tournament while Jaune explained what happened.
Pyrrha hurled her spear at Ichigo who ducked low enough to the point he could pluck the weapon out of the air. He then turned it around and hurled it right back at Pyrrha while dashing after it. She managed to catch the weapon, but Ichigo swung the flat part of his blade into her head.
"That's horrible." Blake declared. "Are those two he attacked okay?"
Jaune nodded. "Yeah, Ichigo stepped in and got them to leave before Vermillion could do anything more."
Ichigo took advantage of how dazed Pyrrha must be to fire off a weaker, wordless Getsuga Tensho which took the girl off her feet.
"So, Ichigo is training for a tournament because he wants to open the eyes of Cardin's older brother?" Yang summed up.
Ruby and Jaune nodded while Ichigo held Zangetsu over her throat. Pyrrha tapped the ground signaling her surrender. Ichigo sheathed his blade and held out his hand which the spartan took. He then helped her up.
"Despite not remembering much, I've been in a few fights since waking up." Ichigo stated as they began making their way to everyone. "So far, you're the only one whose pushed me like that. Thanks."
"I know this was meant to help you, but this is the first loss I've taken since I first started out." Pyrrha nodded. "It makes me think maybe I should enter this tournament to sharpen my skills. Maybe even take you on at your best."
"Since I'm already entering, I might as well shoot for winning the whole thing." Ichigo smiled. "If I face Vermillion and get that goal out of the way fast enough, I'd certainly need the motivation to keep going. In short, you wouldn't hear me complaining about having you in it."
They made it back to everyone before Ruby and Jaune handed their teammates water bottles. The ones who just fought gladly drank some refreshing water.
"Beyond being Cardin's brother, who is Vermillion?" Yang asked.
"He's a graduated student of Beacon and head of the Winchester family since their father passed shortly before his graduation." Ichigo responded.
"Knowing he's a Hunter is one thing, but what's important about him being the head of the Winchester family?" Yang questioned.
"Turns out there's a reason our classmate has such arrogance." Pyrrha began. "The Winchester family has devoted itself to the council and been successful in their name. Their grandfather and father, Vermillion the I and II, signed on as their personal Hunters the moment they graduated.
Both lost their lives in defense of Mountain Glenn when it was overrun by Grimm, but Vermillion the III continued his predecessor's work. Despite losing anyone that could have taught him, Vermillion is said to be on track to surpass the Huntsmen they both were."
"Do you think you can beat him?" Ruby asked. "Not that I'm doubting you, but do you think you can?"
"It's not about thinking I can beat him." Ichigo declared firmly. "It's that I must beat him to help open his eyes to the type of person his brother is. Regardless of whether he can get Cardin on the right path, I need to get Vermillion back on the right path."
Seeing his determination, Ruby smiled. "Well, Jaune and I have already decided we won't compete." She nodded. "That means we'll be in the crowd cheering you on."
"Yeah, you can count on it." Jaune added.
"So, how long do you have to train?" Yang asked.
"Two weeks." Ichigo responded.
"Given we've just heard of this event, I'm not certain which among my team, even myself, would enter." Ren stated. "How about in the mean time we train with you as well? If three training partners is good, then seven would be better."
"Yeah, I'd love to try knocking you around for a bit." Nora declared.
"Sounds good to me." Ichigo walked on out before holding his blade out. "Who wants to fight me next!"
"I've been waiting for this." Yang declared as she stepped out across from him.
The two of them then charged one another beginning the next spar while the other six watched.
Guest: I don't doubt that Ruby would be capable of making a railgun, but I do doubt Vale having all the necessary pieces to make it happen. That said, a crossbow or shotgun is certainly possible. As for a dust capability, that might be more in the wheelhouse of a certain heiress rather than Ruby. Though it's certainly an upgrade I could keep in mind for the future. With the Ichigo suggestion, I'm kind of surprised anyone would suggest making him stronger. I mean, I'm not opposed to the suggestion, but I just didn't think anyone else would bring it it. Might be something that happens later though. Can't just front load all the upgrades, but I got one upgrade in mind coming up.
ArguableReader: I love RWBY Grimm Eclipse, and I totally plan to use it at its proper placement. Don't you worry about that.