Jet stood in front of Ozpin, who despite lacking the grandeur of his Headmaster status looked just as he always did. Ozpin regarded Jet with a warm smile. These meetings had been scheduled weekly, and they had grown closer over the course of them.
"So what would you like to know this time, professor?" Jet asked. Ozpin had taken to Jet as a rare opportunity to study a union between human and Grimm, and had asked about each of his abilities in turn.
"My study for today comes from a more practical source. We shall go to the Emerald Forest." Ozpin stated, rising from the chair he was seated in, and walked smartly around Jet, retrieving his cane as he did so. Jet followed, and soon both stood atop Sunset Hill, overlooking the forest in the afternoon sun. "Try to keep up." Ozpin remarked, before running with surprising speed towards the snowy forest.
Jet grinned, before unfurling his wings and taking flight, soaring above the trees as he tracked Ozpin's movements.
Surprisingly, no Grimm disturbed the pair as they reached a clearing, and Ozpin signalled Jet to come down, which he did by cannonballing down and landing in a pile of snow, blasting it outwards and knocking Ozpin down with the impact. He took it in good humour, and allowed himself to be helped up, before regarding Jet with a serious yet amused look.
"Really, Jet, was that necessary?" Ozpin chuckled. Jet dusted himself off, trying to contain his laughter.
"My apologies, sir. The opportunity was too good." Jet replied. "What brings us here?" he continued, looking around. They were in a circular clearing, with thorny bushes circling them. The size was similar to a small coliseum, minus the seats.
"Tell me Jet, why do you think I study you?" Ozpin asked, moving to the opposite side of the clearing.
"Two reasons that I can think of." Jet answered, keeping his eyes on Ozpin. "The first is that you would learn what we need to survive and attempt to live in harmony with us. The second, is that should some prove more… unstable than me, you can learn of our weaknesses, and dispose of those individuals if they become a threat."
"A reasonable answer." Ozpin mused. "As a hunter, it is my duty to defend humanity from external threats. When a potential new candidate enters Beacon, it is my job as a teacher to evaluate that candidate. That is what we are here to do."
"So what am I to fight?" Jet asked, unfurling his wings.
Ozpin smiled internally as Jet readied himself. The time had come to stretch his own legs. Human and hybrid locked eyes as he gave his response.
"I am to be your opponent." Ozpin responded.
Rather than being intimidated, as Ozpin had thought he would be, Jet instead grinned as a black scythe appeared in his hands. Ozpin immediately noted its similarity to Ruby's weapon, Crescent Rose.
"You are a formidable adversary, if the rumours are true. But so too, am I!" Jet yelled, before immediately charging forward with the laser scythe, glowing with a red aura that Ozpin took to be some sort of close range attack. He was proven correct; as he used his cane to block the scythe, the aura from Jet burst outwards in a blast, nearly catching Ozpin by surprise, though he leaped out of the way just in time.
Ozpin moved close and engaged Jet in a series of sweeping blows. A swing came from Jet that Ozpin blocked, but the counter strike was deflected by the haft of the scythe. The blade then swung from the opposite direction, Ozpin ducking before sweeping at Jet's legs, the boy jumping over it and kicking out at Ozpin, who caught his leg and attempted to slam him into the ground, but Jet used the momentum to twist in the air, both freeing himself and driving Ozpin into the ground.
As Ozpin rose, Jet unleased a brutal uppercut that sent the old teacher flying towards the thorn bushes, and Ozpin counted himself lucky that he stopped short of them. As he stood back up, he realised that he'd underestimated Jet, and how adept he was with his weapon.
Ozpin activated his semblance, and sent three energy bolts at Jet, who was blasted backwards. Ozpin kept up this assault, pushing Jet further and further back until he neared the edge of the makeshift arena. Hurling the last energy bolt needed to send Jet flying, he was surprised when Jet caught it, and turned it purple, before redirecting it at Ozpin, who dived out of the way.
Getting up for the second time, he saw Jet flying up in the air, hovering several meters above the ground, glowing a dark red.
"You're strong, sir. Most fall at this point." Jet remarked. Darkness started to gather around him as Ozpin watched, and he noticed several familiar weapons surrounding him, beginning to orbit the boy.
"What are you doing?" Ozpin asked, conscious of the ominous feeling in his heart as the darkness deepened. He heard the clinking of machinery followed by the CRUNCH of metal hitting snow.
"You could call this a 'super-activation' of my weapons. Jet Black Phantom, ACTIVATE!" Jet roared from the darkness.
The shadows disappeared from Jet with a purple flash. Ozpin suppressed a gasp as he gazed upon dark purple armour and blue lights. Ten icy blue dust crystals floated and hummed in deadly symphony as they hung behind Jet. Ozpin readied his cane as Jet's scythe came into being, larger and stronger, and yet still lithe and deadly. Ozpin read the name Astro Reaper on the weapon.
"Prepare yourself." Jet merely stated, before all ten of the crystals pointed at him and fired frozen rings of energy at him. Ozpin skilfully pirouetted and evaded the relentless barrage of ice blasts, the practical blizzard coming thick and fast. Amidst the relentless shots from the crystals, Jet swung his scythe, sending linear energy waves at the beleaguered professor. It was all he could do to not to get hit.
Evading projectiles left and right, Ozpin raised his cane, projecting a spherical shield around himself, which absorbed every attack. Jet ceased firing after several seconds of this, and closed the distance with shocking speed, Astro Reaper blazing a deadly trail as it sped towards its target. Shattering through the shield, Jet plunged the scythe into the snow where Ozpin was a moment previously.
Ozpin took the opportunity to attack, giving Jet a crack around the head with his cane and stunning him. Taking the advantage, he whirled in a circle before slamming into Jet, sending him up into the air. Ozpin leapt up into the air and was about to swing downwards, but Jet unleashed another red shockwave from the core of his suit, flinging Ozpin into the trees, the old professor vanishing from sight.
Staring into the mass of branches and leaves that Ozpin had vanished into, Jet wondered whether he had been too hard on Ozpin. There again, he had expected a harder fight. He lowered his scythe and the suit vanished.
That was a big mistake.
Ozpin came flying out of the bushes causing Jet to shriek in surprise. With a swift strike, Ozpin brought Jet low onto a knee, and soon thereafter Jet felt the touch of the cold, steel handle of the cane at his throat.
"First rule of combat here at Beacon, Jet. What was it?" Ozpin asked, sternly.
"Never let your guard down. Well fought, sir." Jet muttered as he took a hand Ozpin had out and hauled himself to his feet. Crouching, he offered Ozpin his back. "Shall I fly us out?" he asked.
"Certainly, if it would not be too much trouble, but please keep the acrobatics you perform with Miss Rose to a minimum." Ozpin replied, climbing onto Jet's back. Spreading his wings, Jet took flight, and soared above the sea of white and green that was the Emerald Forest. It was a smooth flight back to Beacon, and it was not Ozpin's first ride on his back.
Jet landed outside the door to Ozpin's office, and folded his wings as the professor clambered off of his back. He grinned as Ozpin patted him on the back, an unusually warm gesture given what had recently transpired.
"You are dismissed. One thing I neglected to mention." Ozpin called out to Jet as he turned. "Please do not take Master Arc for a flight. As I understand, he has a fear of heights. Something to note."
"Acknowledged." Jet responded, before making his way back to team RWBY's dorm room. The duel with Ozpin and the subsequent flight had drained him of energy. He would rest his body in his daily nap with Ruby, he reasoned.
Upon reaching the dorm room, he was surprised to find it empty. Not even Ruby was present. Frowning, he closed the curtains to darken the room and recharge his aura, before changing into a simple t-shirt and trousers, clambering into the floating bed and falling asleep. He resolved that perhaps Ruby was busy, and that was fine.
He wasn't prepared for what was going to happen next.