Disclaimer: I own nothing of RWBY which belongs to Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Owm.
Chapter 6: Where Cinder regrets her Partner Choice
"Ruby can you explain why you got such a low score on your test?" Cinder glared down at the little girl. Said little girl 'epped' before running behind a certain red-head that only sighed in resignation.
"Cinder, getting a 50 isn't such a low mark. In fact she managed to pass the test. And didn't you say that Ruby needed to catch up on the two years she missed out on?" Pyrrha said while guarding her partner.
The poor girl was shivering a bit to the glare that she was unused to being shot at her. Pyrrha on the other hand was steadier and much more used to assertive people trying to intimidate her.
"That's not the point. In fact, the fact that she managed to only get this low score at the beginning which is a summary quiz that is meant to be the easiest test you get to do is worrying" Cinder retorted. "The followings tests, quizzes and exams will only get harder from here."
"If you don't improve I'll take away your cookies" she stated.
"No Cinder!"
"Yes Cinder" she rolled her eyes before making pointed looks at Pyrrha to aid her when the time came to take away the cookies. However all she got back was a wry smile and shake of a head.
Cinder scowled to that. But no matter, she had time to deal with Ruby sooner or later. There was someone else she needed to deal with now.
She turned her eyes to a certain blonde who was cringing heavily.
"Speaking of tests, can you tell me why you failed yours Jaune?" she sweetly asked. There was no way in the deepest part of hell that Cinder was going to be 'kind' to him no matter his answer.
"I…umm…am lacking in a lot of ways?" he stuttered out. He had a feeling that telling a lie would not be good in this situation and that his partner could somehow tell if he was lying.
"Well I suspected this would happen" Cinder rubbed her forehead. What was worse than dealing with crafty people? Dealing with idiotic people. The former she knew how to deal with but with the latter, there was really only a few ways to deal with them.
Make them smarter, make them more competent and so on.
Hopefully Jaune would fare better in actual combat. He would be at least somewhat useable in that part of a Hunter's lifestyle right? She needed a foundation to ever train Jaune to a proper level after all.
"Don't worry! I'm better in a fight!" he tried to assure her. Considering how badly he did in his tests, she really doubted that.
-o-
Jaune moved sluggishly with the motions as he swung his sword again. Cardin blocked it with too much ease that he didn't even bother to dodge it. The leader of Team CNDL was tall, taller than even the blonde and with the brute strength to match. For the leader of Team JCRN who had awakened his Aura only recently, this level was strength was beyond him.
Not to mention he was quite unskilled in a number of other things.
"This is where you lose" Cardin arrogantly declared before pushing back Jaune without even attacking him.
In a way, Ruby pitied Jaune at the moment. Not because that he was going to lose but the resulting fallout with the team when they are behind their team walls. Cinder made it clear that the team was going to be good and as the team leader, Jaune had to at least live up to the team's expectations.
'She is also really scary when she wants.' She remembered that she thought she felt flames crawl up her back when Cinder 'suggested' she should do some more readings to catch up on the stuff that she missed out on.
The young Huntress did just that in fear of what Cinder could do to her. Her leader's partner was not only strong but really smart as well. How could she know what smart people could do to her?
It was like dealing with Yang when she's keeping a secret. Ruby had never been able to loosen those lips on her sister when she actually made a serious attempt in blocking information from Ruby. It was mean but she couldn't do anything to her sister.
-Just like she couldn't do anything to Cinder.
Nagging or annoying her only made the punishment worse. She shivered at the sheer thought, the sheer heretic act that Cinder was willing to drop down to. How could anyone destroy cookies in front of her eyes like that? They were made to be eaten not burnt to ashes like that.
'Really, what's the point of making Jaune the leader if Cinder is the one who's taking charge…' she sighed.
Still, Jaune was still new to this leadership thing and she doubted she would be better than him in that regard. Pyrrha from what little she could tell simply wasn't suited for the leader role and Cinder was too suited for it in a bad way. In that way, Jaune was really the best pick for leader in Team JCRN.
'Though Jaune should be more forceful to what Cinder can and cannot do. Restricting my cookie supply isn't a good thing!' she pouted just at the moment Jaune was defeated.
"Wow, blondie over there got his ass kick" Yang commented to her side.
"Well Cardin does have an advantage with being taller, stronger and having armour that's pretty high quality" Ruby replied. "And Jaune isn't that good at fighting yet. Cinder will probably be making sure he's up to standard by the time the first semester of the year ends."
"Ah that Cinder right?" her sister pointed at the fuming unofficial sub-leader of the team. The cloaked girl whined at the fury in her eyes. Yep, Jaune is going to get it after class. Still, it's a bit surprising that Pyrrha wasn't trying to stop Cinder from doing this.
Usually her partner and the other woman didn't get along that well compared to everyone else. Sure Cinder was only a bit mean but it was always for something good. Like…rewarding her cookies when she did well in tests and…removing them when she didn't.
"Students as you can see. Mr Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and the official may call the match" the professor said.
"However while in an official duel, regulations exist to protect your lives, battles against the Grimm will not have anyone hand-holding you. The Grimm will take any chance to take your lives and managing your Aura may just be what keeps you alive or leave you dead."
There was silence as everyone listened.
"While class has just begun for everyone, we will make sure to cover single battles, double battles and even team battles in this class by the end of the year" she pointed to the screen where images of different Hunters fighting each other appeared.
"What about battles against Grimm?" someone asked in the class.
"That will occur next year when we are assured that everyone can fight well enough that a Beowolf may not eat any of you up with ease" she glanced at Jaune. "Remember that you have time to get stronger and to not neglect your training. Mr Arc, Mr Winchester please return to your teams."
"I will now explain-"
Absently listening to what Professor Goodwitch was explaining about how Aura worked to prevent serious injuries and so on, Ruby flicked her eyes to the book she was reading. She more or less knew what the professor was saying from her training with Uncle Qrow.
…Though his words were a lot less formal and involved a lot more alcohol, drinking and slurs.
"Hey you okay?" she asked as her leader sat down next to her. Jaune's shoulders were slumped and she didn't blame him. That was actually a bad fight.
"No…" Jaune muttered with his head down.
Ah, he was depressed. Ruby wanted to clear him up but Uncle Qrow said that doing that would only encourage people to keep on making mistakes that they couldn't. That and Cinder was really scary when she wanted to be.
Sighing a second time, seeing Jaune not reacting well to Pyrrha trying to encourage him, Ruby got back to reading. Better to catch up now or Cinder might take away her hidden stash of cookies.
She always seemed to be able to find them for some reason.
-o-
Jaune Arc sucked at fighting.
That was something she had expected but nonetheless seemed to have too much expectation for the blonde to actually be competent in. Now that she thought about it, that was the conclusion she had from the beginning but it seemed to adrift away sometime during initiation.
Was he more charismatic than she thought? Nah, that couldn't be it. Her partner couldn't argue his way out of a paper bag…in a literal sense. Cinder was charismatic when she wanted to be. Jaune was simply not though did it count as charisma when it came from pity?
Still, he could lose for all she cared but did he have to lose to that buffoon? She had passed the cafeteria with the idiot with an armour fetish boasting that she couldn't be that much better if her partner was so weak. It took all she had not to burn his face off.
Fool. She would need to deal with such things in the next combat class. While she was skilled as a dust user and that was admittedly her strongest trait, she was still skilled in close-combat. It was just
She believed she was on rotation to fight next lesson with Ruby. With only so much time to a single class, Goodwitch divided teams into two of which can fight in their class.
Jaune and Pyrrha fought today so she and Ruby would fight next time.
But right now her attention was on the blonde that was looking over the many bruises he managed to let be inflicted on him. She grimaced at the sight of someone who was supposed to lead her (even in appearances only) look so weak. These were not proud wounds but ones to be scorned at.
"Jaune" she said coldly. "I am displeased with your performance."
The room paused when she said that. Understandable considering the weight of her words. She had managed to get Ruby to earnestly study on her own and Jaune to do the same to some degree.
"Am I supposed to be making excuses right now?" he sighed starting to rub his numerous bruises again.
She should get Pyrrha to help him with those later. God knows she didn't have the patience to aid him at the moment. She was more likely to just hit him and made sure to stand clear away from the blonde just in case her instincts would get the better of her.
She shook her head, "Not at all. We all know that you are not up to…standards when it comes to a number of things. While Ruby here only needs to catch up on her studies which can be done in a good amount of time, it appears you will be needed to be coached on everything."
The blonde flinched and she didn't care.
He would get stronger if only to shine more so his shadows could cover her movements better. That and this would be the perfect time to forge Jaune into a decent lover if her cover required that.
"Being bad at studies isn't that bad at Beacon. While the Academy would prefer you would have a proper education in case Hunter life isn't for you, combat is different. There are no Hunters that don't fight. Being bad at fighting is much worse than being bad at studying" she spoke making sure to convey how she felt about those who failed like Jaune just did.
The real world was a harsh thing Grimm or no Grimm. Although she cannot sympathise to those too weak to take their fates into their own hands, she did note that there were those who were born strong and those who worked to be strong.
Jaune was neither so he had no excuses as far as she was concern. He was good enough to forge transcripts so this should be a piece of cake to him.
"Then I just have to be stronger?" he wondered. The question was so innocent she wanted to laugh. If it was a matter of just getting stronger than the world would've been a utopia by now.
No, getting stronger wouldn't change anything. And especially not for Jaune who thought on such little ways.
It was time to make him understand how much more he had to grow and what his reaction would be to that challenge. If he couldn't…well she guessed mixing in with these teens was harder than she willing to go for.
"No" she glared at him. "You have to be more than just stronger. Any competent fighter can deal with the likes of Cardin Winchester. While he is considered…above average in combat class, in reality there are just too many ways to defeat him with ease. Speed. Skill. Power. You are lacking in all of these things."
And it was the truth. While she already knew that Jaune Arc was not the best fighter out there from a single look, she underestimated how much weaker he was compared to the other students. Even a trained civilian without Aura could take him out at his current state.
Aura could only do so much and even his vast reserves were useless without the skill to use it at all.
"…Are you suggesting to train me?" he peeved at her with curiosity and was that excitement mixed with horror?
What? It wasn't like she was bad at teaching. Look at Emerald and how she ended up. She was a powerful fighter who made use of her semblance to take down foes with ease and her attitude was perfect for a tool.
Mercury…she had nothing to do with his training or his attitude.
"Actually we're going to train you. All of us" she said. There would be too much to do if she had to babysit him all the time after all.
"What?"
"Huh?"
Both girls looked surprised before a look made him retract those faces and turn them into nods of 'understanding'. At least they trusted her enough to play along, especially Pyrrha who seemed to be a lot colder to her than the rest of the team.
Was she still made she stole Jaune as a partner before her?
While she was superior in terms of pure power alone, the Champion of Minstrel was a person with an abnormally high level of skill that she might be able to match her for a time and Ruby while still unpolished, she could develop into a formidable foe.
It was an ironic twist of fate that the two students that would be the most trouble against her in her plans would end up in the same team as her. The other students? She could take them all on with ease with time to learn their habits.
It was better to get a gauge on her team-mates true capabilities now when she had the chance. While she had an idea on what Ruby's semblance was, she had no idea on what Pyrrha's was and Cinder had no doubt it had something to do with how she managed to always win in a fight four years in a row.
And thanks to Ruby's connection to Team RNBY, she could also scout out the abilities of the other team at the same time. While not on the same level as the team she was on, with the exception of Jaune, they were quite powerful in their own rights.
All of them were among the top students on combat class already. It makes her wonder, why Ozpin allowed Jaune to be among such students with high potentials.
"Wait. How will that even work? I mean I can get Pyrrha training me because my set of sword and shield but you're a dust user right? And Ruby uses a scythe which can't be further away to how I can fight" Jaune said suddenly. He was nervous, afraid even.
Strange. She would need to probe more.
"Silly Jaune" she patted his cheek. "There are more ways than one that you can be trained."
-And more ways to break a man and remake him into a tool.
"I am suddenly more afraid of you than Professor Goodwitch" he carefully stated. He visually shivered and backed away some more as he did.
She chuckled knowing that it was the truth. While the Professor was a skilled Huntress able to match her from their skills in using dust alone, with the power of the Fall Maiden, no matter how incomplete, Cinder was sure she could beat her.
"No one is as scary as Miss Goodwitch!" Ruby cried out in protest
"That's Professor Goodwitch Ruby" Pyrrha sighed patting the girl's head. "And remember when Cinder took away your cookies?"
Ruby 'eepped' before dashing as far away from Cinder as possible remembering that incident.
"Don't take away my cookies!" she said. Surprisingly enough, she saw the same look on many Faunases oppressed by humanity.
"Are you slacking on studying?" an eyebrow was raised. Ruby amusingly shook her head rapidly enough that she started to get dizzy and by then it was more of a blur than any kind of face. Good, another thing to note about her semblance.
"Then I won't take your cookies" she smiled though her leader seemed to gaze away from her, paling.
Did she not adjust her smile to be pleasant? Another thing to work on then. She needed to act better if she wanted to fool the likes of Ozpin no matter how foolish he was in letting her into his school.
"I fear that we must do extensive training for him to become…ideal" she turned to the red-head who scowled back at her. "Will you aid me in this task Pyrrha? Surely you knew some of the best ways on building up a body for Jaune to have."
Her partner didn't notice the slight drool that was quickly wiped off of the red-head's face. The girl was surprisingly perverted than most ever realised. A teenage girl would have fantasies of the boy they liked.
Did this mean…Pyrrha liked Jaune? Huh. She didn't know what to feel about that. Well, she can analyse the emotions later. She still needed help if she didn't want to spend all her time with Jaune, training him personally.
"I will help you" Pyrrha said a bit too willingly, seeing how Jaune reacted to that. She ignored his reaction as she looked at her leader, "Cinder has a point in that you need to get stronger. Even though we have time…it might be too late if we keep stalling when to start. I don't want you to die."
Cinder had to smirk seeing how the girl looked at her when she said that.
"That and you want to keep an eye on me" she tried imitating one of those 'eye-smiles' but it seemed it didn't work. Pyrrha only glared harder at her.
"Of course" Pyrrha retorted. "You don't seem like the type to hold back and would push too much from our leader. Though, why are you dictating on what we should do? I get that Jaune needs training but why right now?"
"I agree with this woman" Jaune expressed his unimportant opinion.
"Simple. We must be exceptional in all that we do" she paused before sighing at the confused looks. "You are possibly one of the strongest fighters in the school hands down. Ruby is a prodigy noted to have skipped two years to get into Beacon. I'm someone who is an exceptionally powerful dust user. And Jaune? He's our leader. What do you think would happen if he's the only one failing among all of us?"
"That I'm coasting off you all? That I don't deserve to be on the same time as everyone?" the male muttered bitterly. It seemed like this had been brought up before but…when? Was it in the last few days or even before his move to get into Beacon with more dishonourable means?
"Yes" she decided to confirm his fears. "They will say all of that and more but more importantly-"
She got two extra set of glares for that.
"I will not look at anything lower than exceptional, at the top of everyone else. And I intend to drag each and every one of you up with me. I am no once in a century genius suddenly appearing but I am someone who has bled more than most to get where I am right now."
And it was the truth. She was not originally a good fighter, being unskilled in archery and with swords. She bled her hands too many times to count to get this far.
She was not a genius dust user that could bend the elements through sheer instincts. She burnt and froze herself too many times to count to get this far.
Power was earned but some can be taken such in the case of the power of the Maidens. Even the esteemed Pyrrha Nikos wasn't a natural genius that immediately was a monster to the eyes of her foes but rather one that worked hard enough to get recognition and never stopped improving.
"I'm feeling you mean more than what you are saying by that" Pyrrha frowned while Cinder only smiled even more.
She was not able to search for the remains of the previous Fall Maiden. Sure she could feel that she was at Beacon but not exactly where. And with Ozpin on constant guard for her, Cinder had no way of getting to her without a massive and drawn out fight.
"Cinder here has a lot of secrets. You can tell by her smile. It's all twisted up that it's always halfway to a frown" said Jaune.
"Huh?" she blinked in surprise to that analysis.
"What? I can tell how much you really want to punish me for embarrassing you, you know" he muttered with a cloud of gloom.
Was Jaune…somehow more perceptive when he was depressed?
"I'm surprised you managed to get all of that from a few expressions" she honestly said. She was used to lying more than people would ever trust her for.
"I'm used to knowing how much people are disappointed in me" he waved it off.
However this only caught Cinder's interest even more. Jaune Arc was not supposed to be a puzzle to her. He was supposed to be a dim-witted fool she could manipulate. Everything could go wrong if he had 'inner-depth' that she could not see.
She needed to redefy this as soon as possible. Not to mention Pyrrha Nikos was a lot shallower than she expected. And less said about the cookie and heroism mind of Ruby Rose the better for her sanity (there was no way someone could be that innocent).
In a way, her plans were already starting to derail…
"Then what should we start on?" Pyrrha tilted her head. "Normal physical exercise may help but the effects might take too long for any noticeable effect to appear."
"I suppose evasion training would be the best basis training Jaune can get for now but we shouldn't discount regular exercise to get his stamina up" Cinder mused. "The ability to dodge is surprisingly something that most people seem to lack in and having more stamina to fight is always a good thing."
"Then we can focus on making sure he can use a sword properly before learning to block with one" she continued.
"But he has a shield. And those are generally used for blocking"
"So? Don't tell me that you don't block blows with your weapon when you can? I know that you tend to block that way to make an opening for a counter-attack from that 'fight' you had with that poor student" she decided to level out some praise.
Still, the Huntress shook her head, "The level of skill doing such a thing is currently beyond Jaune. It would take him months if not years to properly time attacking and defending well enough to be a viable strategy. It's better to just focus on making sure he can block attacks before pushing him to think to dodge them."
"Dodging attacks works just as well or even better than blocking. I rather not have my partner fall under poor habits" Cinder argued.
"Poor habits?" Pyrrha's eye twitched. "A poor habit is when you don't use a shield to block. Of course, learning how to evade attacks is essential but it isn't the kind of thing you would teach a front-line fighter as the basis of their fighting style."
"Honestly I think Jaune will be better off learning to dodge first before trying to block something he can't block" she countered.
"But that's still not a good reason to forgo using a shield completely!"
"I fear that learning how to use both a sword and shield is currently beyond him. And using one automatically makes him slower which is why he didn't use one against Cardin…at least I hope that is the reason."
"Not really…" Jaune admitted.
"Okay" Cinder nodded. "He's an idiot that has no clue how to fight at all."
"Hey!"
Ignoring the foolish boy that was going to be needed to be trained half to death sooner or later, Cinder moved to address Ruby. Perhaps she had something to say that would convince Pyrrha that making Jaune learn how to dodge was the better idea. She rarely met someone so stubborn in their belief.
Then again, usually all she needed to do was flash her chest a bit or her leg and they would agree with her. Cinder wasn't planning on seducing her team for one.
"Ruby. Will you help us aid Jaune in his training?" she asked.
"Yeah sure" Ruby's reply came with a shrug. "But I don't get why you two are focusing so much on whether he should learn how to dodge or block. He can learn to do both."
"I fear it's more complicated than that" she kindly said to the girl.
"Is it?" Ruby shook her head. "Jaune needs to learn how to fight but that doesn't mean he will always be sticking to dodging or blocking. Being flexible is a lot more important. He needs to learn how to fight not dodge or block blows."
Cinder thought about it and realised she was focusing a bit too much on one aspect at a time. It was in fact better to spread out his training to multiple areas so he was much more rounded but there was a problem with that.
"My partner needs to get stronger as soon as possible. Covering all areas to avoid clear weaknesses will take too long. Focusing on one thing before moving to another will speed things up considerably when it comes to not sucking at fighting."
"Isn't unbalancing his training what we're trying to avoid?" Pyrrha asked. Her look was full of skeptism.
"Not exactly. Jaune is our leader and we know that he isn't good in a fight. Better to train him so he can survive than expect him to climb his way up to our level anytime soon."
"So…you're saying we'll be training Jaune to survive rather than to actually win?" Ruby looked in disbelief. "Didn't you bring this up because Jaune didn't win to begin with?"
"Yes" Cinder nodded. "But the first step to winning is actually surviving."
And at the same time, getting multiple perspectives is a good way to make sure there isn't some flawed logic somewhere. Training Jaune was going to be a long-term thing and she wouldn't have all the time to just focus on him. It was best to get the team in this as well.
Pyrrha seemed happy enough to send her aid but what about Ruby?
"Any ideas of what kind of training Jaune should have Ruby?" she asked in the kindest tone she could manage.
"Hmm…" Ruby thought about it. "Maybe make him go through training to prevent him from flinching? That's what Uncle Qrow started me off on. Hesitation on the battlefield can kill. So all we have to do is scare Jaune until he can't be scared anymore! Or when he doesn't react that much to being scared."
"Great idea" Cinder nodded. That was something she never would've considered. That lesson was already ingrained into her bones by the time she started her training. It was do or die back then and there were no second chances and many of the comrades she gathered were the same as her in that regard.
She was admittedly a bit jealous that someone actually taught Ruby that instead of life cruelly doing it for her.
"Shouldn't I have a say on what kind of training I want to get? I mean, I'm not going to run through the Emerald Forest just because you all thought it was a good idea!" Jaune spoke his dissatisfaction loudly.
"Not at all" she immediately denied. "If you had it your way, we might as well wish for you to magically get stronger one day."
"I'm not that bad. I do exercise and make sure to practise with my sword" he protested. It was weak though.
"But how much progress have you made with only self-practise? Pyrrha is exceptionally skilled with weaponry and even an hour with her will be more than a month of progress training on your own" she snorted.
Why people insisted on their pride only to fall short and weaker than others was beyond her. Better not let his pride get hold else his ego might cause him to do something truly foolish later on.
"W-Well..." he tried to think of another argument but failed.
She rolled her eyes and immediately decided to cut away a particular one she was sure he would be able to come to with time.
"Being a 'tactician' is almost useless for a Hunter and those who say so are just trying to be kind to you. A Hunter fights at speeds that are beyond normal human and there is no time to even think. Teamwork is ingrained as instincts though countless hours of practise" she continued to say. "Well I suppose your mind can be useful for making new ways to train at least."
"Did you have to put me down like that?" his shoulders slumped. "I wasn't even going to make that argument. I was more luck than anything else that allowed me to look like I knew I was doing."
"Trust me. You knew more than what you thought you knew you were doing."
"Is that a new tongue twister?" Ruby muttered under her breath.
Cinder could only roll her eyes again hearing that. "We can start your training when you're all healed up. Next time, you better make Cardin eat dirt or else."
She looked away as Pyrrha took that as a confirmative that she should help patch him up. Large Aura reserves or not, bruises weren't things that could be instantly healed by a novice user like Jaune.
Now all she had to do was endure the boring process of training someone from scratch without maiming someone.
A/N: Oh Cinder, did you really think partnering with Jaune was a good idea? Sure the principle of masking yourself as a helpful partner was sound in theory but not at all in practise. Reality is often more gritty and disappointing then we expect. It's one thing to know that you have to team up with someone incompetent to actually experience it. Is it no wonder why she would want to push Jaune to get stronger as fast as possible so she didn't need to take care of him so much?
Anyway, this chapter is among one of the harder ones write up simply because this is literally the half-way point of the story and I can't show everything that would happen in between the beginning of the year to the halfway point to the dance. Did this story just use the Initiation Test as half its content? Yes, yes it did. The reason is simply because this had always been intended as a short series. And when I say short, I really meant short.
Know that this chapter and the next chapter will have a massive time-skip even if you don't immediately see it. Months of school-life, dialogue and character interaction and development skipped. Like I said, this series will be short and this is planned so I don't spend months writing this series rather than a week or two.
I know that people will complain on how the story took a dive from this point on...and well that's kinda expected seeing the pace of the story changing so much.
Also there will be a lot of stuff that happens in the background that you guys won't see that changes things a lot of things. Well, I think I can sum all of that up in the epilogue when that comes.