Chapter Eighteen
When they arrived at their room Damian was unceremoniously chucked onto his bed and the others went about their daily routines. Nathan sat in his bed reading comment boards on his scroll, Ryu played games on his bunk a top of them. Gagana sat next to her desk reading unknown books. They had all only been here less than a week and were already developing habits. Damian thought about asking the others if they wanted to do anything, but quickly realised that they all seemed busy. His arms were still sore, so he decided to just mull over his thoughts.
He lay there for a while in a bit of a daze. He reached into his pocket to grab his scroll, when something brushed up against his hand. He pulled it out, and found it was the card that Ross had given him earlier. On one side was a symbol, a brown paw print with a yellow eye in the middle. On the other side was a note, which read:
"Dear Recipient, you have been proven worthy of further investigation by the faunus Protection Society. If you wish to help your kin, we meet twice a month in the park in the city centre. Kind regards, Ebony." Damian thought it seemed quite interesting, it also seemed too selective for it to be a truly wholesome group. He was brought back to his surroundings by a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." Ryu said, as he slid off the end of his bed and approached the door. He opened it, and there stood Scarlet and Mary.
"What's up, guys?" he asked.
"We found out there was a common room for us all to chill in!" Scarlet exclaimed excitedly. "Do you want to come?"
Ryu turned to look to the rest of his team.
"Yeah, I'm game." Nathan said as he sat up.
"You guys can go on without me, I'm in the middle of a good bit of my book." Gagana said from her corner.
"Okay." Damian replied, as walked off with the others. A few meters down the hall, Mary asked:
"Is she always like that around you guys?"
"Like what?" Damian asked.
"You know, all cold and shit," Mary replied. "That girl just doesn't seem like she enjoys being in a team at all."
"Well, there could be many reasons for that," Ryu began explaining, "such as the fact she was basically forced into this rag-tag band of people she barely knows. And then you have to take into account that she is the only girl in an otherwise all male team. I can see why she might feel isolated."
"Thanks, nerd," Mary scoffed. Ryu glared at her but she paid no heed.
"It is kinda weird, though," Scarlet said. "Most teams I know are all boys, all girls, or an even mix. I mean, we follow that rule and so do BRRO, URCA and BLDE."
"What about that other team?" Damian asked.
"You mean BLNC? They're three girls and a boy. So they're the opposite you guys, I guess." Scarlet replied.
"There was a boy in that team?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah, his name was Newt something." Scarlet replied.
"You really do a lot of social networking."
"Don't you try to remember all your fellow students?"
"No." Nathan replied, bluntly. Scarlet looked a little hurt.
"Uh, I mean, I remember you guys, 'cause you're so cool…" Nathan said attempting to recover the situation.
"Man, you're almost as smooth as Timmy." Mary said with a sarcastic giggle.
"Who's almost as smooth as me?" Timothy asked, as the group entered the common room.
"It's nothing captain cool." Mary said to him, coldly. Damian looked around the room. It looked very cosy, with a high roof and plenty of sofas and tables, at one of which sat Timothy and Richard. They walked over to the join them. Mary jogged up to Richard, and jumped onto his lap.
"Are you two a thing?" Nathan asked.
"Not really. I just noticed we weren't all going to fit around this table, and I'm the smallest, so I thought I'd grab a seat right here."
"Of course..." Nathan replied, still a little confused. He sat down next to Damian and Timothy, while Ryu grabbed the space next to scarlet and Richard.
"What have you guys been up to?" Timothy asked.
"What do you mean?" Damian replied. "We've been in the same classes as you lot all day."
"True, but you might have done something else in the meantime."
"Well I haven't. Sorry to disappoint." Damian looked his team to see if they were going to add anything. Nathan responded with a noncommittal noise, while Ryu blanked him, too busy playing a game on his scroll.
"Anyway," Scarlet said abruptly, "the real reason we invited y'all to join us is because these guys want to talk about a plan to sneak out and slay some Grimm."
"Hey, I was getting there!" Timothy retorted.
"What's this plan, exactly?" Damian asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"That was it." Timothy replied. Everyone stared at him blankly. "Well, okay, the plan was to come up with a plan!" He snapped, turning red.
"Dude. Chill." Mary said coolly, taking charge of the conversation, "Like Timmy said, we want to make a plan to sneak out and kill these Grimm, but-"
"You have no clue how to do it while Lafayette is watching over us." Ryu finished her sentence.
"Yeah, basically."
"We could just beat her in a fight." Ryu suggested.
"Thank you!" Scarlet replied, sounding very relieved by Ryu's words of reason. "If y'all can't even beat her, how will you ever beat any Grimm?" Mary looked a little upset.
"How am I supposed to get that strong without any way of training?"
"Couldn't you just train against us?" Nathan asked.
"Where would we train?"
"Why not just use the training rooms." Ryu suggested.
"Thanks, but the training rooms are booked up for a while now." Mary replied, frustrated.
"Can't we just use this room?" Nathan asked.
"I don't think that's allowed." Scarlet replied.
"Nathan has a point," Ryu said, "as long as we don't trash it too much nobody will notice, right?"
"Was that a compliment?" Nathan asked, wide-eyed. Ryu and the others laughed.
"Even a stopped clock is correct twice a day." Ryu chuckled.
"You know what? I'm not feeling quite so complimented anymore." Nathan replied with fake tears.
"Mary," Damian said, to grab her attention and get things back on track, "do you want us to set up the room?"
Mary attempted to jump up, but smacked her head on Richard's chin. The both of them rolled off the sofa, cursing. She got up, rubbing her head delicately.
"Ouch…Yeah, sure, let's give it a bash."
Richard and Damian began stacking the table, while Nathan and Ryu gathered up all the sofas. As they were finishing off, Gagana walked in.
"What are you guys up to?"
"Preparing this room for a fight." Ryu replied, as he pushed the last sofa into place, leaving a large empty space in the middle of the room. Gagana gasped.
"Why, what happened?"
"Blood feud over the map." Nathan replied. Gagana looked confused.
"Blood? Map? What are you talking about?"
"He's just pulling your leg Gagana." Damian said from across the room.
"Mary wanted to do some training, but all the rooms are booked up." Scarlet added.
"Why not train outside?" Gagana asked.
"That involves walking." Nathan replied. Gagana looked a bit agitated but didn't press any further.
"So, who am I fighting?" Mary asked excitedly. Nathan jumped to his feet.
"That would be me!" He said, grinning widely.
"Oh boy, this will be fun!" Mary replied as she started stretching.
"What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious," Mary replied, "I'm stretching now so I don't pull a muscle while fighting."
"I guess you'll need to be at your best to fight me." Nathan said, as he pulled out his weapon. "Guess I'll have to stick to hammer mode, not sure how we'd fix all the bullet holes I'd make otherwise."
"Good idea, for once." Gagana called from the side-lines.
The two fighters squared off and Scarlet started a count down.
"Three! Two!"
"What the heck are you kids up to now?" A voice exclaimed from the doorway. Everyone looked over to see Lafayette standing there, with a stern expression on her face. "You were about to have another fight, weren't you?"
"No we weren't!" Nathan replied quickly.
"Oh really? What is happening then? Do tell."
"A… hugging contest." He replied hesitantly.
"Uh-huh." Lafayette nodded. She didn't sound convinced. "Are you lot really that desperate to blow off steam?"
"I just want to train, but the training room is in near constant use by that team BLYD!" Mary shouted through clenched teeth. This took Lafayette surprise, but she recovered quickly.
"Well then, do you want to use my private room instead?"
"What's up with the change in tone?" Ryu asked.
"If you only want to learn, then I don't see a problem. Also, it means I can keep all of you within an arm's reach."
"Fair enough."
"Can we go now?" Mary asked gleefully.
"Sure, why not. Nothing like a little late afternoon training session." Lafayette laughed. With that, they all followed her into her office, near the top of the Academy. When they entered, they were not exactly surprised by how unprofessional it was. There were piles of stuff scattered across the floor, posters littered the walls, and the whole room reeked of booze. They didn't stay long, as Lafayette quickly strutted though to a door at the back, which led to the training room. It was plain and white, much like the one she and Ryu had fought in earlier.
"System commence Protocol Seven." She said, loudly and clearly. Instantly, a dozen combat dummies rose up from the floor. She clapped her hands, and a deck chair appeared beside her.
"Have fun, guys. I'm gonna chill here for a bit."
"Can't you give me a hand to improve?" Mary asked sincerely.
"I don't even know what you fight with," she replied honestly. Then she winked. "Take out a bot or two, and I'll see how I help you improve."
Without another word, Mary whipped out her ball and began spinning it between her palms. It quickly gathered speed and began to whistle. She pulled it back and into her side as it spun faster and got louder. Then she thrust her arms forward, the ball hurtled towards the training dummies. It collided with one, bounced off, and hung in the air.
"Yeah, you definitely need to throw that thing a little faster if you want to dent a Grimm." Lafayette said. She picked up a bottle of beer and took a swig.
"Oh, I'm not done yet." Mary retorted. She swiped through the air with her hands out flat. The ball began to spin wildly, and started to create gashes in the dummy, even though it was not in direct contact. Lafayette lifted an eyebrow, but still didn't seem that impressed.
Mary turned her attention back to the dummy, paused to take a breath, and clapped her hands together. The ball instantly stopped dead in the air, and the three closest dummies leaped forwards and crumpled around it like paper. The ball then fell to the ground with a resounding crash. The other students gave a short round of applause. They hadn't wanted to start training while Mary was still showing off. Lafayette looked pretty impressed this time.
"What exactly did you want my help with, again?" She asked.
"I think I need something to attack me, these dummies are pretty weak."
"Yea maybe you could work on some speed." Lafayette added lazily, "you guys want to help her?"
"Not me!" Nathan and Timothy said in unison.
"That is an extremely effective little ball you've got there. What is it?" Lafayette asked.
"Don't you have files on all of this?" Ryu asked. Lafayette turned to look at him.
"Shut it, nerd! I've got James on my back about that shit, and I don't need a kid who can barely fight his way out of a plastic bag going at me too." Ryu's mouth clamped shut it looked like he was fighting the urge to retaliate.
"Buurrrrn! That was savage!" Nathan laughed aloud.
"Oh Ruaridh left a comment on your file," Lafayette scoffed, "Yea give him a weapon and he'll analyse it in a matter of moments anything else give him a good five years and he might pick up." She cleared her throat.
"Bla Bla Mary. Bla Bla Ball. Bla air pressure, air blades, Bla Bla, totally usless to any other person. Bla." She put her scroll down then flung her arms into the air and let out a groan.
"That guy!" She exclaimed but didn't go into any more detail. Lafayette looked to the other students. "Are you guys going to sit around like a bunch of lumps or are you going to practice?" the students looked to each other and pulled out their weapons.
"I don't think we have enough targets?" Damian said as he looked to the nine remaining dummies.
"What are you on about?" Lafayette asked, "There are only eight of you lot total."
"Well, yes but these things seem to go down pretty quickly, no offence Mary." He added quickly seeing Mary's frown.
"I guess you have a point. System protocol three." Lafayette said aloud to the room. The walls flashed green and the dummies sunk back into the floor and in their place eight much more human looking robots took their place.
"These are Atlesian Knights, don't let them brake you." She said with a grin.
"Don't you mean, don't brake-." Ryu attempted to interject but was quickly cut off.
"I know what I said." Lafayette replied. She peered to her scroll, "I'll be back in a minuet." She said as she got up and left the room.
"Who thinks they can take down theirs the quickest." Ryu asked as he lied down and steadied his gun.
"Do you have to make everything a contest?" Gagana asked as she began stretching.
"Yea people with big guns tend to be like that." Nathan replied as he like the rest of the room prepared for combat.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ryu snapped.
"Oh you know, some of us need to compensate." Nathan replied.
"I'm going to have to ask again, what?" Ryu said this time sounding more genuinely confused.
"Too slow!" Damian said as he let a stream of missiles sore down the range to their target. The missiles hit spot causing a giant explosion.
"Damn it Damian you stole my thunder." Nathan laughed.
"I'd look again." Ryu said, looking down his sight. As the dust began to settle the three of the robots jumped out of the cloud and charged strait towards Damian.
"Fuck fuck fuck!" he shouted as he frantically tried to reload. Two of the robots grabbed Damian and held him stead while the third one began to punch him repeatedly in the gut. Ryu fired of a shot and hit the offending robot in the head leaving a massive debt and causing it to fall back. Nathan on the other hand ran up behind one of the robots holding Damian and batted it away with his hammer. Damian then pried the remaining robot off his arm. The robots quickly recovered and encircled the two boys. Gagana charge forwards and unleashed flurry of dust charged jabs which did very little to stop the robot as it continued to attack Nathan who was doing his best just to block with his hammer. Damian who was left with the other two robots roared at them to no effect as he activated his semblance, even with his ethereal claws and hide he could barely defend himself against the two robots. From across the room Timothy asked.
"Do you think we should help them?" As he and the rest of team STRM stood observing DRGN's efforts.
"Yea they don't seem like they're doing too well." Scarlet replied as she unholstered her guns.
Timothy snapped on his goggles and ran to help DRGN. Once in range he took out his weapon and sprayed Nathan and Damian out of the way with a large gush of water. Mary then flew her ball into the middle of the robots and attempted to crush them but only managed to pull them closer to each other.
"Don't pout Mary, you're doing fine just holding them in place." Scarlet said as she unloaded two whole magazines on the cluster of robots. Then in a fluid motion she ejected her magazine, chucked her pistol into the air clicked her fingers generating a stream of red sparks that darted through the air until they reached the robots. The sparks caused all the bullets to detonate and robots to be knocked to the ground. She then caught her pistol and slammed a new magazine into it.
"That was cool and all, pity it didn't do much." Nathan said as he watched the robots get back to their feet.
"Gosh darn it!" Scarlet shouted in frustration as she stomped her heal.
"I'm back guys." Lafayette said with a more chipper expression them before, "oh I see you having trouble with the robots."
"What are the students even doing here?" A voice asked from behind her.
"They said they wanted somewhere to train and I know old Ironwood wouldn't be too pleased if I'd have just let them use their common room."
"Touché." Gwynn said as he walked into the room.
"What are you on about?" Damian shouted back to the teachers as he sunk his claws into the robot's chest.
"Yea! We've got this under control." Nathan replied as he and Ryu started to make a wall of bullets between themselves and the cluster of robots.
"It's eight verses three." Lafayette said with a cackle.
"I'm sure you'd love those sort of odds." Gwynn said nudging her in the arm.
"True that!" She replied as she took out a fresh bottle of beer for herself and her co-worker.
Damian and Richard started yelling as they charged and punched one of the robot's heads from each side. It crumpled under the force of the two attacks and was left resembling a pancake, the robot then fell limp and lifeless.
"Yahoo one down two to go!" They shouted in excitement.
"You mean seven right?" Lafayette called over.
"Can you muppets hurry up. Holding these things in place is hard work." Mary said, her face red and sweaty.
"Might wana watch out Mary your aura is getting pretty low." Lafayette called over trying to be helpful but just coming across as condescending.
"Timothy," Scarlet said with a serious tone.
"Yes?" He replied. Scarlet put on her sunglasses.
"Put these fools on ice."
Timothy rolled his eyes but did as he was told and drenched the two robots with water then froze them solid.
Marry dropped to the floor. The ice quickly started to tremble and crake.
"Timothy could you douse them with some more water." Gagana asked as her first lit up again, sparks jumping from her finger tips.
"No problem." He said as he continued to spray the robots who had almost broken out of their frozen prison.
"Gagana let me give you a little power up." Scarlet said as she took Gagana's hand and started to flow her own electricity though her. She flinched a little but took and maintain Scarlet's energy as well as her own. With a burst of speed, she darted forwards and punch the robot, discharging all her energy as she did. The robots eyes glowed intensely bright then faded to black as it fell over and stared to let of smoke.
"Now for the grand finale!" Nathan shouted as he charged forwards with Ryu sprinting after him. Nathan swung his hammer with full force and sent its head flying while Ryu jumped into the air and brought his kwan-dao down cutting the robots body in two.
"Oh yea we're finished!" Nathan shouted, flinging his arms into the air.
"What about the other five?" Lafayette asked.
"Nah we're total done, so very done." Ryu replied.
"I guess you students should get some sleep, just because I know you were up late being semi-productive doesn't mean I'll excuse you if you don't show up tomorrow." Gwynn said his face giving a warmer vibe then his words. The students filed out of the room exhausted and sore and returned to their rooms.
"They did pretty well, didn't they?" Gwynn asked Lafayette once all the students had left.
"Yea considering the bots were set to my normal trading level I would agree."
"It seems like we have a pretty promising group of students here." Gwynn said with a smile.