Don't mind me; just updating another chapter at one o'clock in the evening. No big deal.
Nightraze: thanks for the feedback. I am still struggling with the whole Narrative position of a fanfiction and I am really torn between the all-knowing POV and the simple third-person character POV. As such, any feedback is completely welcome and appreciated :)
And I always try to respond to my reviewers to let them know that I take them serious. I am glad to see that that can be considered a good thing :D
Shadow Spartan 117: why thank you, that is always good to hear!
"Three days ago, I saw a fanatical crowd behead and burn three innocent Faunus, just because they looked different. Today, I found out a terrorist cell planned to destroy an entire mall filled with shopping civilians. The day before yesterday, I saw a crowd of soldiers charge right into a minefield, because they had no means of crossing over otherwise. Today, I was forced to administer a chemical cocktail to a wounded woman so that she would tell me where her people were going. Yesterday, I saw a group of Faunus-children being abused and beaten by zealous citizens because someone betrayed their hideout. Today, I shot and killed a hostage to get to his abductor, to prevent an entire building from being incinerated. Tomorrow, nothing will have changed. Why is Remnant falling apart? Aren't the Grimm bad enough?"
Private diary of ████
Day 7, RWBY dormitories, 23:53
An entire day worth of stress could turn strange and over, just like that. After the shaking battle that took place at the criminal compound and the gruesome events that had come with that fight, it was only fair that they should have time to sort out their thoughts and get them on the right path again. As such, the Professors had decided to call off their scenario lessons and rummage a bit in their schedule.
And Ruby didn't have any problems with that. On the contrary; even after the nonsensical but secretly hilarious confrontation between the mysterious two-four and the Professor-Sergeant (Sergeant-Professor?) she could feel the fatigue and exhaustion of everything that had happened weighing down on her shoulders, pushing her down and pressuring her heart.
Even if the driver of that awesome jeep had been a miracle sent by the skies themselves, nothing lasted forever. She remembered how Weiss and Yang had replied when she had told them that they would be following the newcomer right back into the castle. Her older sister had been very happy that they could get a chance to talk about such a "magnificent vehicle" as she had put it.
Weiss had been less happy –although she had been as kind as to try and hide it. Of course that didn't work, but it was the gesture that counted in such situations. After two minutes of careful sneaking and planning, Ruby had finally gathered enough courage to confront the man.
"Ruby, who do you think will teach us the 'warfare' module coming day?" Weiss asked her.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to write about it in her dairy? Ruby didn't want to forget about the strange events and she had already written down how brutal and merciless the assisting mercenaries had been. It would only make sense for her to write about the new Professor and his unusual appearance, just as she had written about every day that had passed during her time on Beacon. Most of her initial doubts had disappeared, but there was still enough negative left.
"No idea…" She replied and grabbed her diary. The four of them had been sitting in their dorms for just under ten minutes now. Blake was taking a shower in the bathroom and soon, it would be Yang's turn. After that Weiss was allowed to shower and when everyone was done, she would take hers. It was only fitting that a leader allowed the team to go first, right?
Ah! Pencil!
Ruby remembered the brief conversation they had had with Mister Johnson. It was short and sweet, just how she liked her conversations with Johnsons.
Her pencil started moving up and down and she recalled what had happened and tried to engrave it on the paper.
"Mister? Who are you?"
"For now, you can call me 'sir! Yes sir!´"
She giggled when she remembered how she had jumped in surprise at the sudden rise in volume. The man was a Professor, so of course she had to call him sir. But it was his strange way of formulating his thoughts that seemed to catch her of guard.
"Sir! Yes sir!"
"Good. Now then; you mind telling me why you ladies are following me?"
"Sir…we…wanted to know what was going on and…we initially went for fresh air but then your jeep was there and then the masked man was mean and we wondered-"
Johnson had not given her the time to embarrass herself with rambling like she did when she was nervous, something for which she had silently thanked the man. Their 'conversation' had continued for a little while longer, but then the dark-skinned man had finally reached Ozpin's office and had waved them away.
"Students! Move like you got a purpose!"
And Weiss hadn't doubted those words for a second. His moustached mouth spoke and her body had moved: as soon as he had told them to scram, she had done so. Only Yang had taken the time and energy to protest, but an overwhelming glare of Johnson and an opening door had quickly shut her up.
Note: not sure if Ozpin or stare beat Yang, she wrote and sighed when she had managed to give form to her thoughts well enough to remember what had happened rather vividly. She would cherish these memories
Yang was sitting in a chair –Ruby had no idea where that had come from- and was flicking through some images on her scroll.
"How do you think it ended with professor Adamant?" Weiss suddenly asked.
Well…the Professor had left for Ozpin…no wait, he had left for clothes and THEN for Ozpin. Or so she hoped. "I guess that he reported to Headmaster Ozpin, right?" Ruby asked confirmation with her sister.
"I dunno…" Yang absentmindedly said as she brushed over the screen of her scroll. What was she even doing?
"Yeah right!" The white-haired girl angrily replied. "You simply didn't listen!"
"No idea what you are talking about…"
Weiss groaned in frustration and angrily grabbed a pillow to scream in, but Ruby was faster. Plucking the soft weapon out of her hands, she quickly placed a finger at her lips to signal for silence. With Weiss growing quiet and her eyes widening, indicating a sudden realization, she aimed with the pillow for Yang's head.
Her aim was true, her heart was pure and her pillow was really big. The fluffy device sailed through the air and hit her older sister right in her face, causing her to fall out of her chair while miraculously still holding on to her scroll.
"Hey!" The blonde yelled in anger and hit the ground with a 'thud'. "Why?"
"Because you weren't paying attention!" Ruby her, temporarily forgetting about the fact that she had been ignoring Weiss prior to that engagement.
But she had been so subtle…
"Oh excuse me!" The blonde growled as she got to her feet, her eyes filling with fire and the internal temperature of their dorm already rising two degrees. "Contrary to some people, I do not want to let go how those lowlifes had used frickin' armour in their attempt to murder us!"
Oh boy…she had done it now. She had put her team in grave danger…meaning that there was only one possible outcome now. Yang would either beat their behinds, or set fire to the room. And seeing as how a burning room had not been kind to team LACG, they were in some major trouble.
Why? Why had she thought it necessary to throw a pillow at Yang? Well…mostly because her older sister had been playing with her scroll for at least half an hour now. How to fix damage?
She swallowed as she realized just how she would fix this. It was time to kiss it up and start flattering. Bye bye self-confidence and ego…
"I'm sorry…" She said with the saddest tone she could muster and jumped off her bed. "I was angry that you ignored me for your scroll now that everything had been put right…I shouldn't have done that…"
Did it work? Did it work?
Nope.
Yang reached out and grabbed her by her neck, lifting her off her feet with great ease. "Did you honestly think that would work with me? I can see right through your pitiful attempts of sorry!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She frantically said, fearing for her buttocks. "It won't happen again!"
She felt like she was a bad kitten that was getting a reprimand from its mother. Her older sister was even holding her like a mother-cat would her children; by the neck. It didn't hurt her physically, but she was wetting herself emotionally.
"Sorry for what?"
"Sorry for nearly murdering you with a pillow!" She could see Weiss barely containing her laughter and that only served to add to the shame.
"And for your information, I was looking up on those old APC prints that I saved on an USB stick! Because I am SURE that I recognize them from somewhere!"
"I understand! Please don't eat me!" She cried in return, hoping that her sister grow a mercy.
Yang let her go and Ruby's limp body slumped to the ground, relief washing over it that she had been let go just like that. Throwing a pillow at her older sister was always a gamble…most of the times she could simply hide behind an insult that the girl had slung her way prior to the violence, but this time wasn't one of them. Why was she even so angry? It was only a pillow…
The blonde sighed and fell back in her chair, readying her scroll again. Ruby could see her attempting t suppress a smile. "I hate it when I forget something about a vehicle…it eats at me."
Ruby was about to give a reply to her bigger sister when Weiss chose that exact moment to pop up from behind her, going "I will eat you!" in her ears and scaring the living daylights out of her. Ruby cried with surprise and fell forwards to the ground, fearing that her young heart had given out. "Don't do that!" She yelped. "It's not funny!"
Weiss crossed her arms and gave one of her mighty stares of condescending. "Oh excuse me for thinking that you fearing you would get eaten by your big sister was funny. I must have misunderstood some deep emotional trauma."
She grumbled something in the form of a reply and crawled back on her bed. She was tired and a her heart was beating out a samba and even though she swore to herself that she would get back at Weiss, there was still a bit of curiosity that had been stirred inside of her. Yang had said something about the enemy APC's and how she had recognized them…but she had identified them at first glance! So what was wrong with that?
"Ehm…Yang? Sister dear who was holy mercy for all the little sisters?" She started.
The blonde growled something, granting her permission to speak.
"You already identified those things…so why are you still curious?"
"Because my book merely mentioned them, but not their original source. It has information on ALL the armoured vehicles from ALL of Vale. The latest mention of the Urutu goes back to a conflict between two cities in the kingdom of Vale –our Vale. But that was around the time that this book was made, so they don't state what happened to the vehicles after their most recent conflict!"
That was an entire mouth full. And now it was time to find out why her sister was so agitated.
She jumped off her bed again and sat down in front of Yang, who was still messing around with her scroll. "Since when does lack of knowledge bother you?"
"Since it can mean us finding out how the criminals got them." The blonde replied.
"But they are all dead…and tried to murder us…and nearly succeeded too." If she was right, the source of Yang's anger would be right there. In the near-death of people important to her.
Bingo. The girl averted her gaze ever so slightly and the muscles underneath her jaw tensed up, signaling distress. Her eyebrows met in the center and a small blush crept on her cheeks. "I know that…" She said, emotions practically oozing off of her.
Well, to her at least. Others were blinder to the intricate workings of the face than she was and…well; she had known Yang for almost her entire life. "So why the hard work?"
"Because!" Yang snapped and then seemed to relax. "Because people got hurt today…Weiss and Blake could have been killed and the two girls from LACG had to spend the entire day in the medical wing –hell, they will even have to spend the night there. And team JNPR would have been overwhelmed had those men not appeared…those men that value human life so little."
Ruby nodded, completely agreeing with her older sister. Their roles were completely reversed right now: while she had broken down near instantly when the violence got to her, Yang had kept her cool and watched over her. And now it was getting to Yang herself and it was up to her to assist her lovely sister.
"I know…" Ruby said. Weiss was still watching them, but most –if not all- of her happy attitude had faded away and she was staring at a point directly in-between them. It was as if she was not truly looking at them, but merely thinking about a painful thought while staring blankly ahead.
She made a mental note to ask the pale girl about that soon and focused her attention on Yang again.
"Hey!" She said and smiled. "It all worked out in the end, didn't it? We're all still alive and we have a full four years to learn how to become full-fledged hunters."
She remembered something that her uncle had told her once and added: "When learning something, you are allowed to make mistakes."
"I know…thanks…" Yang smiled and looked down at her again, meeting her gaze with eyes that were now calm and under control. "One of these days, someone will make YOU the victim of your own feelings."
"But that day is not now!" She joked and gave her older sister a hug. Blake Belladonna chose that exact moment to open the door and step out of the bathroom, letting a cloud of steam enter the otherwise already warm dormitories.
"What are you guys talking about?" Blake said and ran a hand through her dark hair. She already had her little bow propped on her head. How did that thing even work? How did Blake fix her bow on her head like that?
"Oh…this and that…" Yang smiled and leaned backwards. "Well…sulking about lack of information is not going to help. For now, it is you turn to shower, Weiss. "
"…Weiss?"
The girl did not respond and that asked for another pillow. And as the soft projectile sailed through the air and headed for the white-haired girl's head, Ruby briefly felt like she had just made another mistake. But that wasn't a problem: people were allowed to make mistakes.
'BONK!'
"Ruby! You insufferable little brat!"
Every now and then, at least.
23:59
"Now then…one more time with feeling…"
Professor Adamant's feet carried him automatically from one hallway into another, carefully avoiding obstructions like doors, rooms and people.
A black bowtie was being fumbled in his hand as his bet with himself was being set into motion, signaling his directions and velocity in the movement of his body.
The day had ended acceptably Johnson had appeared just like planned and now the school had another Professor in its clutches. Or was it her? Indication words were always very confusing when it concerned male or female words. Was a school male or female? Or…ambidextrous? Anyway, Johnson. The man was a good man and would make proper lessons for proper students. But the mysterious 'guests' of Beacon were nowhere to be found –Headmaster Ozpin had gathered all the Professors in Beacon for a debriefing and mister sinister captain face had not been there.
How could he? He wasn't even a Professor. But the professional Sergeant had been briefed on the situation and had wasted no time on working on his schedule. The teams had something waiting for them when they finally did get lessons again. But there was one big, stinking and red problem.
Apart from his sister having been shot of course.
No, the problem was that he had no idea what was going on. While he was not above ending lives himself, the way that the black-armoured men had utilized had been too barbaric. It had left too many traumas and scars to simply heal and without them even properly identifying themselves to the staff, the end result was said problem.
Ozpin had made a deal with someone to gain these reinforcements, yes. But who? And more importantly, why? The man had made it clear that while he did not even directly know the contact-person, the organization that was represented by him was not limited by feeble things as unfamiliarity. Basically; Ozpin had a vague clue as to who had come to help him, but that was about it. Why would such a well-meaning man choose to endanger his students by allowing armed strangers to get near his students? It did not make any sense…it was so unlike Ozpin.
Of course, he owed the Headmaster many times over and he knew better than to doubt him. But even so, the man had deliberately kept information from him and then refused to elaborate on the whys.
Matt not happy.
So what would he do if someone refused to give him the information he wanted? That's right; he dug. He would dig and dug and dig and dug until he knew what was going on and how to put a stop to it, if necessary.
So with that in mind, he had propped a bowtie in one hand and a fop-watch in the other. Fully prepared like that he had went on his merry way; skulking through Beacon Academy and trusting his superior sense of fashion to guide him to where he needed to be.
He had initially feared that the quest was going to take him all night once again, but this time proved to be different. After sixteen minutes and seven seconds of searching the place, he stumbled upon the secret that was so interesting for him.
The Mysterious Lima Two-Zero and his gang of numbers. What, did they think that being a number would stop him from finding them?
The Adamant smiled and put his bowtie away, trusting his sensitive eaves to do the dropping. Taking out a glass made out of glass, he readied himself for action.
End to wall, opening to head. Just like that.
"Report: what happened in the target-zone?"
"Sir. It went better than expected; they were sharp, even for students. The majority of targets had been secured and only a few vehicles were left. But Operative Greystone was taken down. Signs of major struggle, bullet-holes in the ground and ceiling."
"So the freaks can be taken down a notch. You said bullet-holes?"
"Yes sir."
Another voice interfered. "Sir, this can mean only one thing."
What were they talking about?
"It was Mantis."
"Mantis? Why would Operative Mantis be here?"
This was getting interesting. Very interesting. From what he had gathered, some shady group had ordered the boy called Operative Greystone to basically slaughter everything crime-related in the city in one fiery night. But…they talked like they knew the kid and even worse, they sounded like they also knew the one that beat his ass as well. He didn't care much for the crime-syndicates in the city and the fact that they had been all but exterminated only bode well for the future. But there was something else there. The true reason that these men were here.
The sound of chairs scraping over the floor shook him out of his thoughts and he immediately disappeared into a nearby hallway, stopping only with running until he had put as many, walls and people between him and the group of five soldiers. Something very shady was going on here…but he could not yet determine what it was and confronting these guys would only result in unnecessary collateral damage. It was such a blatant form of abuse to have information and not use it, but that was the only way for him to ensure the survival of the students for now.
Yes! He knew what to do now! As soon as he had escaped from the girl's toilet he was now standing in, that is.
…it seems that females never liked it when you are not in possession of at least one pair of XX-chromosomes. Well, that wouldn't be a problem…so long as he properly apologized to them.
"Yes Professor Peach…I am so sorry Professor Peach…It was not meant like that Professor Peach…please do not attempt to bash my skull in with that newspaper Professor Peach…"
JNPR dormitories, 01:12
One o'clock wasn't usually the given time to go to sleep, but sometimes things went the way they went. Simple as that. The stress had gotten to them all: to Ren's teamleader, Jaune, who had probably taken it the worst of all of them. To the usually ever-so calm Pyrrha, who had been too appalled to even speak when they had arrived in their dorms. Even to normally gleeful Nora, whose happiness had disappeared like snow in front of the sun when she had fully realized just what had happened to them.
But…even though they were all too tired to even communicate with each other after the tedious treatments in the medical bay and then the endless reports and gatherings with other students and Professors, certain things simply needed to be covered.
Like Jaune's complete and utter disillusion at the hands of the five dark-clothed soldiers. Even though a brief conversation with Ruby Rose had granted them with an insight on how she saw things, there was still too much doubt about the identity of those people. Headmaster Ozpin had told them that they were allies and had to be treated as such, but then Glynda Goodwitch had told them that they should leave them alone. The only official designation that had been overheard with them were the strange and foreign names of 'Lima two-zero' and Lima two-one'. But who those people really were was completely up to debate.
"Jaune, perhaps you should simply go to sleep?" Pyrrha asked their leader.
"Not yet…" Jaune replied with a hint of desperation in his voice. Ever since they had arrived in their dormitories, he had been alternating between searching things on his scroll and staring at the ceiling. The only thing that occasionally broke the silence had been small talk and minor conversations, but those had not been serious and did not last very long. It didn't help that Jaune was visibly exhausted yet insisted on staying awake.
But he could not blame the guy…after what he had witnessed and done, anyone would have broken. It was only natural. The only reason that he was trying to keep it together was because of his natural calm demeanor. And even that was on the verge of breaking; but Nora's presence was keeping him calm, ironically. There were only few moments where she was truly calm and serious and when she was like that, he always wished that she would go back to her happy and extravert way of acting. Seeing her like that kept him thinking rationally; it made him try to do anything to get her better again.
"But you haven't found anything yet," continued Pyrrha. "It is better to sleep now and search tomorrow."
"Tomorrow are the colleges…I won't have time to do so, Pyrrha. Please…try to understand."
But she understood better than he did. He had been personally hit by what had happened…especially after what he had pulled.
Eventually their team had rendezvoused with RWBY and what remained of LACG to attend a debriefing with Matt and Ozpin. After those conversations and exchanges of information, JNPR had stumbled upon the group codenamed as Lima. Both Pyrrha and Nora had frowned and gritted their teeth in an attempt to keep calm, but Jaune had not been able to do such a thing. When the leader of those soldiers had passed them, the blonde boy had been unable to keep himself contained.
He remembered perfectly clear what had transpired then. It had been the final straw for Jaune.
"You shot them!" Jaune had yelled. "You shot and murdered them even after they had surrendered!"
Three of the warriors had ignored his frantic cries. One of them turned around and faced the blonde from behind his faceless emotionless visor and their helmetless leader had actually locked eyes with Jaune.
"State your name and rank kid." The gritty-looking captain of team Lima had ordered.
"J-Jaune Arc from t-team JNPR, t-teamleader!" Had been the response. Then the two leaders had stared at each other for a few seconds, with Jaune desperately attempting to keep the façade of being under control all the way up and the aged man completely scanning him from his toes to his head. Eventually, the captain had spoken his mind.
"Arc," He had finally said, "You better keep true to the name of the Hunter, because a child like you won't be able to stomach otherwise."
With those insulting words left behind to plague Jaune's mind, the five people had withdrawn to some reclusive point in Beacon. They hadn't seen them again and frankly, he didn't want to see them again.
If he never saw those heartless killers again it would be too soon. But his leader had stayed completely influenced by those words and ever since, he had been trying to gather information on Beacon's so-called protectors.
"Jaune…" Nora said. "Listen to Pyrrha. She is smart."
"Thank you Nora." The long-haired girl said. "I know that you are shocked by what transpired…we all are. Bu do not pay heed to that man's words; he does not understand the way of the hunter."
"But what did he mean?" He jumped at her words. "What is 'otherwise' and what was wrong with the way of the hunter?"
"It was a warning," said Ren. "To mind your own business…or else."
"But…why?" Jaune then said. "Why would he say that?"
"Jaune please!" Pyrrha said and reached out for her friend, touching his arm with her hand. "If you would trust us…we can all work this out tomorrow but…just rest for now. We need to be sharp and strong for the coming days!"
"A new Professor arrived, I heard." Ren said, hoping that he wasn't too brusque with his new subject to aid Pyrrha's attempt to get their leader to calm down. "I don't know much, but he will be teaching warfare. For all we know, he might be able to answer you."
"But…" The blonde started, however Pyrrha would not have any of that. Her grip on his wrist visibly intensified and she pulled his attention with ease.
"Trust me then!" She told him softly, looking his hurt gaze with her bright, green eyes. "If you don't want to listen to the others, at least show that you trust me!"
Nora instinctively edged closer to him and put an arm around his wrist, seemingly very intrigued by the unfolding scene in front of her. "Why won't they just make nice already!" She said with an emotional voice.
The combined effort of the two ladies proved enough for Jaune to buckle and he sighed explosively. "Fine…" He muttered and deactivated his scroll. "But just…help me out with a few problems before we go to sleep, alright?"
"Anything," Pyrrha said without a doubt, causing their leader to grow silent again.
Her reply had come instantly, without even the slightest hint of hesitance. It was obvious that she cared about Jaune to a high degree, even if the boy wouldn't see that just like that. The effort that she went through to be of any sort of help at all to him was a positive thing to behold. It made him realize just how close his team was and how much they meant to each other.
When Jaune finally regained the ability to speak, he still sounded dumbstruck and shocked. But to a positive degree, this time. "Well…Ozpin's allies. Where did he get help like that?"
"I think that he had some favors to call in and that the lives of murderous criminals weren't at his top-priority then." He instantly answered, having already practiced that reply a few times before Jaune would actually ask the question.
"Alright…but who are they? Who do they work for?"
And that was the main problem. They had no idea who they were or where they came from.
"Perhaps they are mercenaries?" Nora tried.
"No…" Ren replied. "Mercenaries are in it for the money, but aren't professional enough. These guys are something else…I have read stories about both mercenaries and soldiers. They resemble soldiers more closely than mercenaries."
"Their sociopathic tendencies are distressing though…" Pyrrha added.
"Ehm…what are sociopathical tendencies?" Jaune muttered, looking not particularly happy with yet another thing that he did not know.
"A sociopath is someone who does not truly feel emotions." Pyrrha explained. She probably knew better than he did, so he let her explain away. "They do not experience the world like we do. There is no joy, no happiness and no warmth in their world."
"That is sad…" Nora whispered.
"It gets worse…" The redhead replied with an ominous tone. "They do not feel pity, or remorse or mercy. They are completely devoid of empathy…and thus do not feel a single thing when it comes to exterminating their fellow men."
He knew that those people were devoid of emotions…but to a degree like his teammate just described? That was very troubling. Surely Ozpin would not call for the help of people like them?
"Just like the Grimm!" Jaune exclaimed, another moment of sudden clarity shooting through the room.
"Well…yes…" Pyrrha said, obviously feeling uncomfortable with comparing humans to soulless monsters. "Yet I do not know whether they have Aura or not…I would guess they do."
"You know what…let's just call it a day for now." The blonde eventually sighed and put his scroll away, carefully placing it at the desk next to his bed. "I just…I…"
His stuttering indicated a great internal turmoil and if that went unchecked, it would make the team-cohesion more difficult.
"It's okay Jaune…" Pyrrha then said and edged closer to her friend, sitting down next to him on his bed. "Your feelings only make you human. Nobody should remain unfazed by what happened…and you are the only one that dared to speak your mind against those people. It only serves to show that you are a brave man."
Ooh that was a good one. And it made the kid blush, too.
Nora hugged him even tighter, as if she had a grudge against the air inside his lungs. "Yay! They made nice!"
Seeing her happy like that made him feel happy too. It didn't make sense for Nora to be serious and calm…it only meant that she was feeling depressed and he never wanted that. Now that she was returning to being her old, enthusiastic self he could also release the pend-up stress that he had been struggling with for half that day.
"Thanks you guys…" Jaune muttered and awkwardly scratched his head, looking redder with every passing second.
Well…that was what friends are for.
Day 8, Warfare Module, 8:25
Lessons starting immediately after such a taxing battle was actually a pretty good idea from the higher-ups in Beacon. It would give all the students the necessary distraction to make up their minds and adapt to the order of the day. They were being educated to be warriors after all; it wouldn't make sense for them if they couldn't get past the death of a bunch of nameless criminals.
But that aside, this module itself was one that everyone had been looking forward to. 'Warfare' was an intimidating name and only an intimidating man or woman could teach it. Grace knew she wasn't the only one who wondered what kind of person the Professor would be: all around her were students whispering with each other over the identity of their newest teacher.
"I'll bet that he is boring…" Lisa sighed from her position to the left from her, on the table. She was resting with her head on her arms and looked like she could fall asleep at any second. "…and that he will screw the warfare' module up."
"Watch your language…" Cho replied to her far right. "One of these days, Yang will kick your ass."
"They can't even hear me from over there!"
"You'd be amazed."
Grace could see Pyrrha sitting next to Weiss in a higher point than Ruby and Jaune, who were sitting one row below them. CRDL was scattered all across the classroom, while Yang sat next to Ren and Nora had joined Blake directly below Cho and Alessa.
Everyone was eager for the module to start, but not everyone seemed to be taking the eager into proper account. While most, if not all of the students were keeping their voices down, CRDL was proving to be a different story altogether. Because they were kind of separated from each other in the room, they thought that they had to compensate for that by being even noisier than ever. That basically meant four jerks yelling at each other from across separate rows, ignoring the fact that everyone was bothered by them.
And Lisa seemed like she was just about to lose her temper and scream for the males to be quiet, when the doors closed. Not just closed as in closing, but closed as in 'BAM!' closed.
At the top of the lecture hall stood a man.
"Holy-" Lisa muttered, but cut herself off at the last moment. It wasn't even necessary for her to cut herself off, because nobody was paying attention to her anyway. The man that stood at the top row was effectively drawing everyone's attention one-hundred percent to him and him alone.
"It is him!" Ruby squealed with delight. "The Sergeant-Professor!"
Sergeant who? Was that even a proper rank? Well…nothing about the man that was walking down the steps was proper so that could be left back in the think-tank. He was wearing military fatigues with armoured components strapped to his shoulders and a very fancy tie strapped to his chest. He looked like a soldier that was ready to go to war before visiting a job interview.
But the most prominent thing about him was the four-inch long cigar that was suspended between his lips. Was it standard regulation for Professors to smoke during class? Probably not.
It didn't help that he looked about as intimidating as a fully-grown alpha Beowolf, what with his dark skin and his super-serious expression and all. And seriously, what was with the cigar? She didn't even like cigars, so why was it giving her a fiber of 'awesome'?
Well…she was a fan of burning things, so there you had it.
And the worst thing was that Grace recognized this man the same way that she recognized Professor Adamant. She knew him from ages ago; he went all the way back into her childhood with Lisa.
She had been a very close friend to the Adamant family for at least ten years now. She knew about Lisa's problems with her older brother and she also knew about her older brother's…peculiar friendship with this new Professor.
Lisa had told her that Matt never saw fit to tell the complete story, but the gist of what had transpired was something akin to Matt having done something of such magnitude that this man was basically seeing him as a superior officer.
Professor Adamant had done something that had earned the eternal respect of this man that was never ever fazed by anything in life ever. She had heard the phrase 'hardcore' before in descriptions of Lisa when it came to certain topics, but if there was any man in her life that was deserving of the title hardcore, it would have to be this man.
In theory.
The Professor reached the lowest section of the auditorium and took his position next to a small writing desk.
"All right you greenhorns, listen up!" He barked, his voice easily reaching even the farthest point at the upper rows without difficulty. "My name is Sergeant-Professor Johnson! When you are not in my presence, you can call me anything that your degenerate hearts desire, assuming that your tiny brains can string together a couple of cusswords! But while I'm here, you will address to me as "Sir! Yes sir!". Do I make myself clear?"
It was silent. Nobody –absolutely nobody- could have expected a Beacon Professor to address them as a bunch of lowlife grunts like a drill-sergeant would, Grace included. It rivalled Ozpin's speech in capacity to destroy self-confidence and ego.
Lisa snickered. "This is Johnson alright…"
Johnson's eyes narrowed and he scowled. "I said DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!" His face leaned forwards as he shouted that and he caught almost half of all the collective students by surprise. Ruby and Weiss and Nora and Jaune all cried with fear and almost fell backwards and even the ever-so calm Alessa brought up an arm to protect herself.
"What-" Grace yelled in distress, but the next statement that came out of her mouth was completely obscured as virtually everyone in the lecture hall yelled: "Sir! Yes sir!"
As such was the magical influence of Sergeant-Professor Johnson.
"That's better." The dark-skinned man said and he returned to his relaxed stance. "Headmaster Ozpin has asked me to teach you the Warfare module. He has informed me that there is a severe lack of proper education on your part."
Grace snorted with frustration when she heard that. She had never gotten along properly with the man, mainly because of his attitude and behavior towards other people. Maybe that was why Matt had taken him under his wing –because Johnson needed improvement. But she and Cho seemed to be the only ones that thought so: Ruby and Yang seemed completely mesmerized by his words and even the ever-snarky Weiss kept her remarks for herself. But that could have also been because she always wanted to kiss-up with the people in charge.
Blake and Pyrrha came the closest to her disapproval, it seemed. The guys from JNPR looked absolutely flabbergasted by what was going on and Cardin was gawking at the Professor with fully open mouth, looking like he had just seen holy confirmation that god was in fact Velvet Scarletina.
"He has also informed me that the first-years I would be teaching are supposed to be the hardest of the hardcore! APPARENTLY I WAS MISINFORMED!"
This man was a complete and utter idiot. Why did he think that insulting students was a proper didactical method?
Well…apart from the fact that everyone was suddenly paying extreme attention with the most determined expressions that she had seen since the gathering in the amphitheater that had informed them of an impending attack. Perhaps most people were easily influenced like that, but not her.
"Ozpin spend all this time puttin' his schedule together for you? I was expecting a room full of badasses! Some of you look like you might be having a hard time putting on your own diapers, let alone beating back a full-scaled Grimm attack on your own species!"
"Not team CRDL sir!" Cardin Winchester yelled, apparently moved by the speech.
"Neither team JNPR!" Jaune suddenly shot back, glaring daggers at the brown-haired male. That Jaune of all people thought it necessary to speak his mind in the presence of dozens of students and a new Professor that had to be the epitome of manliness in his eyes was a peculiar thing.
"None of us are wearing diapers!" Ruby then yelled, taking her own team into the metaphorical weapon-comparison. "We are all badasses!"
"Amen to that!" Lisa then shouted, pumping her fist in the air.
Was Grace imaging it, or did a temporary look of satisfaction just play over Johnson's features? No…that man did not show his approval of life. She had to be imagining it.
"Now then! We already have a few candidates, but for now I will need two of you kids to assist me with a job for a real man!"
Two students immediately jumped at the chance to be seen as a real man. One of them was Russel Trush, who got to his feet and raised his hand and the other one was Yang, who merely smiled a very smug smile as she got to her feet.
"You got it sir!" Russel yelled.
"Oh please, he asked for a real man!" Yang laughed.
"And that would be you?" Cardin sneered with his arrogant voice. Multiple students instantly opened their mouths to give a sharp retort, but the blonde didn't need any help.
"I'm just the girl who's going to demonstrate that CRDL has no real men!" Yang yelled in return.
"Burn!" Grace shouted. Several students that were aware of her method to fight the enemy turned to give her an annoyed look. "What?"
Oh yes, irony. Yang's semblance had something to do with setting things on fire.
"Each one of you will step to my table and take seven of the books: "War is an Art."" Johnson then said and gestured to the right of his desk, showing two equally large stacks of books.
"How come we didn't see them until they were pointed out to us?" Weiss carefully asked, remembering the last time that a Professor had something that was invisible until mentioned.
Yang and Russel both walked down the rows until they had reached the books. "You are to distribute those books to your fellow students!" The Professor barked. "Last one to get rid of his or her books will receive a free ticket to twenty push-ups for his or her entire team! GET TO IT!"
Ruby softly whistled and Weiss nervously shifted back and forth. "Please be fast Yang…" Blake muttered.
"Do not mess this up idiot!" Sky Lark yelled.
"They're both screwed." Cho softly said.
"Agreed." Alessa murmured.
"Why is that then?" Grace asked.
"There are currently six teams in this lecture hall." The Cho replied. "Meaning twenty-four books to be delivered. One is reserved for Will, who is still in the hospital. One is for Johnson self, meaning a total of twenty-six books." Then he gestured to the large desk standing at the bottom of the auditorium. "Those are thirty-five books. The stacks won't run out, meaning both RWBY and CRDL will be forced to do push-ups."
"Oh…" She said and swallowed. "Poor RWBY…"
So this Professor guy wanted her to give people some books? That was no problem for her. It might be for mister Trush though. That guy looked like a chicken with those thin little arms of his. Sure, she knew that her own arms were also girly thin and yes she knew that said thinness did not say a thing about strength. Many guys had found to their dismay that she was stronger than the naked eye could tell.
So basically…Russel was a pushover and she was the best. That was the way things were.
"Hah! Books are easy!" The Mohawked boy said and slipped his fingers underneath the stack of books. "Easy as –yowww these things ain't moving!"
Hah. Sissy. Yang walked up to her own pile of 'War is an Art' and lifted the fifteen books without a problem. "Better luck next time!" She joked and started distributing the heavy books. They were no problem for her, but even though she could carry them with ease and Russel couldn't, she soon stumbled into a cleverly-laid trap. She had away at least ten books –and Russel seven- by the time that the mighty Professor added another rule to their game of power. "I hope you kids remember that ALL the books need to be given away!"
Well crap…Yang still had a few books left and even though Trush would most likely be half as slow as she was, their situation was still far from excellent.
"There are still three books left on your stack…" Ruby whispered. "And even then, most of us already have a book."
"You won't be able to give the remaining ones away." Jaune added softly.
She realized that. With a total of thirty books –thirty, she had counted them herself- there would still be enough books left to grant her team a one-way trip to twenty push-ups. Blake and Weiss would not be amused by that. So…what would she do to prevent her friends from falling to physical punishments?
"Take note of how Johnson said: 'last one to get RID' of the books," Ruby said and deliberately looked at a different direction, carefully taking any possible suspicion off of her in the process. Clever girl.
Yang looked around and determined that between her still holding two books and having one in reserve against Russell's still undistributed eight books, there would not be enough students to give them to. So basically…she had to spread her books out between the remaining students or risk angering her team. Great. Why did these stupid rules always have to mean that she drew the short end? What was wrong with the Professors at this school?
Well…there was only one way out of this. And as she jumped over the remaining two rows to get back to her leftover books, a new plan was already getting formulated in the tactical portion of her mind. Ruby was such a clever little thing…and she was totally right. She was right on the spot when Sergeant-Professor Johnson had ordered them to get rid of the books. And guess what she was good at?
Just a few more of the supposedly heavy things to go, but there were only a few students left and she had too many books left to give away. The solution?
Yang collected the rest of her books, marched up the stairs and opened the door. Whilst feeling the stares of a dozen curious students prying in her back, she flung the books into the hallway and closed the door again. She then turned around to face the Professor and was surprised to see that he had taken it upon himself to face HER instead, blurting up the stairs without any sound with the speed of sound. His face was hovering very closely to her and she could see Trush standing behind, making faces at her to indicate that she had messed up. That little brat!
"You there!" He barked. Her body instinctively backed up a few feet, until she stood with her back against the door. "What's your name?"
"Y-Yang Xiao Long…sir!" She said, hoping that she hadn't messed up in some way
"Gold is a little tacky…but it'll do."
Ehm…excuse me?
The man turned to face Russel Trush –and his entire team. That was a hard thing to do, seeing as they all sat separated and scattered across the lecture hall. But he could do it. "CRDL!" He then yelled. "Get down here!"
"S-sir!" Dove muttered. "S-she cheated!"
"I said…" The cigar-wearing man threatened, but he didn't need to continue on. As soon as he had started that sentence, the entirety of team CRDL came rushing down the steps to meet him in the center.
He nodded in approval and crossed his arms. "Drop and give me twenty!"
So when the four cocky bastards were working with their corporal punishments, the Professor continued with his lessons and Yang found her place back amongst the students.
"The traits of adaptation and flexibility on the battlefield are VERY important, as you can see. Miss Xiao Long; badass grade unlocked."
"Excuse me?" Weiss then bit at the teacher. "What sort of a grading system does that belong to?"
"Badass grades," The man answered, "are an essential part of completing this module. Gather enough badass grades and you will earn your team privileges."
That was…actually a pretty good idea. Rewarding students instead of punishing them was considered a method that always seemed to work. Granted, his method of bringing the information was retarded at best when compared to other teachers, but as long as it worked for them it would be fine.
"But for now, we will continue as planned. Remember that long battle that took place yesterday? Remember the bullets flying, your teammates screaming and your enemies dying? THAT is war! Open your books at page seventeen and you will notice that there is an example written down." Johnson looked at his list and frowned. "Rose! What do you know about the Death-war?"
Ruby looked as if she was having a hard time remembering something for a few seconds. Then she shrugged and stood up from her seat. "Sir! The Death-war was the latest fight where the Urakuntus tanks were seen!" She said loudly, probably trying to appease her new teacher.
"Urutu…" Yang whispered, but it was already too late. She figured that Johnson would completely chew the young girl out for a wrong answer and leave her shocked –but that didn't happen.
"Good shooting!" The man said. "But the name we are looking for is Urutu! What else you got?"
Ruby shrugged.
"Fine. Belladonna! Death-war, get to it!"
"Sir." She said, but kept her seat. "The Death-war is an increasingly-popular nickname for the recent conflict between the cities of Arcadia and Luna, here in Vale. It was cemented in history for the extreme violence that was used during the brief hostilities."
"Correct!" The man said and clasped his hands behind his back. "If your little eyes are good enough to read you will see a schedule on page seventeen that describes how to describe a war. Subject is the Death-war. Your task for now is to write the down in such a way that it will be clean and orderly to read for future references.
Lisa stuck her hand in the air.
"Adamant?"
"Sir…we need to follow the schedule in the book? Can we make our own additions?"
"Box Adamant! Think outside it!"
She looked at the example that Johnson was talking about and noticed that the specific order used to describe the fight was actually pretty detailed.
'Bringing order to war: when creating summaries of battles to reflect on or distribute between military factions, one needs to think out the facts and set them in a linear line to make the battle orderly. One way of doing this is to use Heckler's method as described below. Heckler was a general originating from...'
She skipped the description and went straight to the method.
Timeline
Larger conflict
Date
Location
Outcome
Belligerents
Commanders
Strength
Casualties
Source(s)
That was a pretty detailed list to fill in. How did Johnson want them to do this? The Death-war was between two cities with a population that bordered on the million.
"Listen up kids! The team that manages to work out the neatest and most badass script of the fight will earn one additional badass grade! GET GOING!"
Nobody wasted any more time and as simple as that, everyone started working. Whether this was an impressive and psychologically advanced method of making the traumatized students forget about the troubling events or a meager schooltask to work out mattered little. The way this assignment was handled by the Sergeant-Professor was…impressive, to say at the least.
"Lisa…" Grace whispered at her childhood friend. "Johnson as a teacher? Here?"
The blonde merely smiled –she was very fond of the man- and started writing. "Oh Grace…you will be in for a surprise."
"Long ago, in an age of darkness, the great ones met. One was a crystal, sharp and strong, shining brightly for those who needed light. One was a stone, wise and compassionate, unyielding in the fight. When their world was falling apart, they could not get over their issues and darkness threatened to swallow them all. Then came the shadow, enigmatic like a mystery. He proposed order and structure with promises of magic. And the three agreed to work together."
"Yang? Are you sure that is a bedtime-story?"
"Beats me. Ruby likes to hear it though, so I'm not going to worry about it."
Conversation between Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee, prior to warfare college