XXXI - Mast

~~~(XXXI)~~~

"This is a horrible idea, I just want to say."

"Ox, buddy, you've said that like twice already."

"I'm hoping for the third time's the charm to kick in."

He was squished in between Nora and Yang as they went about some practical joke on team CRDL. He didn't know how the blonde had acquired a key to their dorm, and he really didn't want to ask. He had heard many stories of the brutish team, so he wasn't exactly upset at them being the target.

"You say that, but didn't you come up with half of these?" Yang was right, he had easily come up with ways to embarrass the four in the terms of a prank. He wasn't usually one to go after others, but he'd make an exception for the bastards.

The plan was fairly simple, since they knew the team was training together, they wouldn't know they'd been messed with until too late. The four boys seemed to take an almost narcissistic pride in their appearances, like just about everyone else in the school, they were good looking. The plan was to mess with each in a different way.

Cardin would come back to find his shampoo had a rather unfortunate hair dye mixed in, same with his body wash. Russel obviously enjoyed his hairdo, so changing his hair gel to a semi-permanent glue would ensure it stayed that way. Dove would have itching powder in his clothes, even his socks, so that he'd be scratching himself all over. Sky was a bit of a hydration freak, so they decided to just put as many hot spices as possible in his multitude of water bottles.

"Won't it be bad if they're allergic to any of this? Seriously I know I said spice was the joy of life, but concentrated ghost pepper oils seems a bit much."

"Oh silly, it'll be fiiiiine. Besides, this is for a good cause!" The resident leg breaker had explained how they were a force of torment, not as bad as they had been before, but still a menace. The bomber hoped that this would give them pause in the future.

He sighed in defeat and began to pour oils into the bottles. This was going to come back at him, he knew it. Taking out a small shaker, he got to work on a secondary objective for the four. On the bottom of each pillow, he laid down sneezing powder. The idea was that when they went to bed, they would get a nose full and have a rough night. And if they didn't get it at first, they surely would when they readjusted their pillows.

The moment each of them completed their tasks, they left. The room was mostly as it has been when they came in, only minute changes showed there was anything amiss.

All they had left to do was wait.

~~~(XXXI)~~~

He was relaxing in his room, gently carving a dragon of Valean origin, when he got a message on his scroll. It was from Jaune. The team leader was asking why he and Pyrrha could hear yelling from team CRDL's room. Right, the two trained right above their room. The only thing he could do was tell him to ask Nora, and then set his scroll to silent.

Lifting up and inspecting his work, he knew it was coming along well. The wings had been an issue he couldn't resolve, so he just had them resting against the beast's body. It was closed like it was about to breathe fire on an unfortunate challenger, he hoped the girl would like it.

~~~(XXXI)~~~

The next day was a glorious day for Oxon's soul. He was finally free of the accursed wheelchair, he still needed the arm brace, but he could at least walk on his own. His aura still wasn't in great shape, but it was focused on his shoulder now, so it shouldn't be long until he was good. Only a day or two left until he got the clean bill of health.

Breakfast was fun as well, for all but four certain students. Team CRDL we're sulking at their own table, visibly infuriated by the laughter pointed their way. The fruits of his and his partner's work were pretty satisfying.

Cardin had a new, very pink, hair color. His skin was also a tad pinker than usual. Oxon didn't see the big deal, but he supposed for someone as hyper masculine as Winchester, it was a heavy blow. Dove was suffering through the itching power they'd covered his clothes in he had walked into the room barefoot so he could scratch the itch on the soles of his feet. Sky was looking at any drink in his vicinity with high grade paranoia, of course anything outside his dorm was safe, but he didn't know that. A laughing Russel thought he was the only one who didn't get hit, that would only last until he went to shower, that glue was supposed to be industrial according to Yang.

Speaking of the blonde, her and Nora seemed unable to contain their laughter.

"Oh boy, this is so much better than I thought it'd be! Cardin looks like a buff fairy!"

"I wonder how many times he used his shampoo to try and get it out? He probably made it much worse for himself."

"So it really was you three?"

"Shoulda seen it Weiss, the guy is a genius."

"Yang, please don't drag my reputation down lower, I don't need people knowing I helped you prank someone on top of my bad grades." Not like he cared for the grades, but he needed to keep up appearances. He was just glad he wasn't at the bottom of the combat hierarchy, he was lower half sure, but not bottom.

"Aw c'mon, I'm sure you'd make more friends if folks knew you could cut loose here and there."

"The eight of you, with the exception of Pyrrha and Ren, are more than enough for me. I don't think my head could handle any other crazies." Weiss gave him a shocked look at being in the "crazy" section. "Weiss, those study lessons were nowhere near "introductory"."

That got an embarrassed blush out of the pale girl, causing her face and ears to turn brilliant red. "W-well it's not my fault you didn't even have basic knowledge."

He held back the sudden urge to pay her on the head. It was harder than expected, having to hold his arm in its sling. Thankfully he was distracted in the form of Jaune shoving his scroll in his face.

"Dude, what the heck happened in Vale?" Looking at the screen, he saw some sort of social media. He didn't exactly know or use any, but he definitely recognized his face. It was him holding the broken remains of that reporter's camera with the caption: "Haven Huntsman Gone Wild!".

"Well, you see, there was this really annoying dude." He embarrassingly explained what happened between himself and the reporter. It was, admittedly, not his best moment. "And then he ran off into the sunset…"

"Yeah, the Vale Sun put out a pretty unflattering article. They said that you weren't a hero and just a brute. There's a few memes being made about it all."

Oxon only raised an eyebrow at that, he didn't understand what a "meme" was, and he didn't see much point learning. "Well, they ain't exactly wrong."

"Are you really ok with people thinking that?" He gave the worried reaper a casual shrug.

"It's not like I really care, besides, nobody will care once the festival tournament begins. Pretty sure Pyrrha will take up every article leading up to and during it." He took a drink of his juice, pineapple, the best liquid ever discovered.

"Yeah that's fair, but the paper also said you got Weiss pregnant." And his pineapple juice got sprayed all over the blonde teen in shock. "Thanks…"

"I'm sorry, what!?" How was that in the paper!? That, that definitely had not happened! He's never even kissed a girl! "How the fu- heck did they come to that conclusion!?"

"Don't freak out so much." Weiss was trying to calm him down, despite her angry blush. "It's a low quality tabloid that is only read by the most vapid readers. They write the most absurdly fake headlines in order to sell their paper. The amount of times my sister has been "pregnant" is in the double digits according to the Atlas Mail. Pure filth that's a waste of good ink."

That made him feel a little better, though he was confused as to why anyone snooped so close to a person's private life. How has nobody burned down their office? If it were Oxon that was constantly scrutinized and lied about for money, that building would have a rather fiery accident.

"Yeah, I'd have the same reaction if it were about me." It seemed his frustration bled through to his face. "It seems we have three celebrities among us now. P-Money and her championships, Weiss-cream and her family, and now Beef Jerk-y from The Breach."

"Beef Jerk-y? That's a new one."

"Yeah, remember back at Signal? You were the queen bee there! Weren't there some strange rumors about you there?"

"Yeah I remember sis, and I am more than fine staying out of the limelight if this is what it gets me."

Weiss and Pyrrha shared a knowing nod at the shared disdain for the media. He guessed the issues he'd recently had were daily occurrences for them. Back home, everyone knew each other, so situations like this were rare, even if there was a healthy rumor mill run by the older ladies.

I want off this wild ride, hopefully everyone will just forget about it… Once the tournament starts, I'll be old news.

With that hopeful thought, the rest of the meal flew by quickly. Oxon did his best at avoiding any further shenaniganry from Nora or Yang, much to their disappointment.

~~~(XXXI)~~~

It has been a few weeks since the incident in Vale, and Oxon had finally gotten full movement in his arm again. He'd been in the training halls ever since the resident doctor gave him the ok, he still needed to improve before the tournament. Which led him to this undesirable situation.

"C'mon beef teriyaki! Fight back!"

Oxon could only throw up a block with his left arm when Yang Xiao Long threw an intense punch. A loud clang erupted from the impact as he slid back a few feet. His arm stung a bit from the hit, his ego even more.

"I don't know why I agreed to this." With a bit of space, Oxon fired his rifle at the brawler. She was able to dodge half the shots as she rushed him. He took a half step to the side and swung for her torso, trying to either get her to back off or get hit.

Yang, of course, had her own plans. She slid on her knees before launching an uppercut to his chin. It was only thanks to his weight and footing that he didn't go flying. He did stumble his steps as he backed up, an annoyingly common occurrence, thankfully she was holding back.

An overhead swing left his body open to an attack, one that the girl rushed to exploit. To avoid the hit, Oxon pulled the trigger of his rifle, using the recoil of the blast to force the weapon to speed downward, he slammed the butt of the weapon into Yang's nose. A follow up underhand swing caught her in the hip. Yang hopped back, rubbing her nose with a fake glare.

"Come on Oxon! You got this!" Even if he didn't have a team to rely on, it seemed that Ruby was content to root against her sibling.

"Ruby!" The fake shock only earned a tongue stick out at her.

With the girl momentarily distracted, Oxon shot the girl in the forehead. With a flash of red eyes, she glared at the smoke rising from the barrel of Fratris. Well, looks like she wasn't happy about that.

"Uh, sorry?" Apology was not accepted. The girl rushed forward with a blast of her gauntlets and began to pummel him. Even blocking as many hits as possible, his aura was being depleted rapidly.

On one punch, Oxon stepped into her guard and shoulder checked the girl. Stowing away Bulls Breath, he fired his revolvers at the girl. Most of the shots landed, but his good marksmanship only meant the girl was able to activate her semblance.

His shoulders slumped as a golden blaze ignited around the girl. He deployed his shield, named Virginiana at Ruby's insistence, and prepared to tank the incoming hit. He hoped to bleed her of her aura by overtaxing her semblance since he was nowhere near winning against her in melee, he just hoped his defense could hold out long enough.

His plans were slashed when she jumped over him and winded up to hit his back. Sure his armor would mitigate a fair bit normally, but he didn't like his chances against her semblance. He was all too slow in moving his tall shield and took a powerful blow right to his lower back.

The red aura alarm went off before he hit the ground. He groaned in pain with his face flush to the floor. After a moment to collect himself, he began to get on his feet.

"Why did I agree to that?" Oxon rubbed his sore torso as he stretched a little bit. His body ached from the multiple punches the blonde had landed, thankfully his aura would prevent any bruises.

"Because I asked you so nicely?" The girl walked up and offered her first which he bumped. "That and you owe me for helping with Weiss."

"Didn't that help you and team RWBY just as much? Also I gave you that carving!" He thought he'd already gotten square with the girl.

"And it's super rad, but I'm still gonna use what I can to get a good spar in. You've kept weenieing out all semester." For a damn good reason, he hardly lasted sixty seconds against the girl. Sadly, he couldn't avoid the fight forever, and today he felt vindicated by his efforts to avoid it.

"And I think that will be the one and only time I volunteer to go against you."

"What if you get us in the tournament? Can't run away then." He would have been worried about that if not for his boss. Cinder had been giving him a few tidbits of information regarding their plans for the event. She alluded to having to worry about poor luck in the first two rounds.

"If that happens, I'll put my team in front of you. Pretty sure I have a slightly better chance against anyone else." Though it wasn't like he wanted to test that. His victory against Blake had been due to her exhaustion and he was convinced Goodwitch used him to make a point to the girl. Most of the time he fought middle of the road opponents, Jaune more than most.

"Hey, better us than JNPR, nobody wants Pyrrha in the first round."

"Yeah, I'll just ring myself out if I'm against Nora and her." Cinder be damned, he wasn't about to be crippled on live television. Cinder could incinerate him all she wants, he would take that over fighting those two monsters.

"Boooooo." Oxon rolled his eyes at that. She can boo him all she wants, she hasn't gotten the champion lower than eighty two percent.

"Oh shut it. You know my situation, I'm barely at the level of an average first year."

"Eh, whatever." The girl shrugged. "So what's your plan for the upcoming break? We're taking Blakey back to patch."

"Huh? Oh right, the summer break, Weiss told me about that." Apparently Cinder needed him to work with the Fang a bit in preparation for an upcoming operation. But other than a few hours here and there, he was cleared to take up a gig at The Club. "I got myself a part time job to refill my wallet. Kinda blew just about all my cash recently."

"A job? That's boring."

"Not all of us have a support system to go to. Pretty sure half of JNPR are also staying in Beacon." The fact that Nora and Ren were orphans was a surprise, but it seemed that more villages and frontier settlements fell than he anticipated. Oxon winced at the harshness of his words, he didn't mean to bring up their different lives. "It's fine, I worked at this place before Beacon and they're a good bunch. Mostly."

Lisian is still on my shit list after that night in the club. I have never been so embarrassed…

"Well there's going to be a party at the end of the month, my big birthday bash is on the twenty eighth." Huh, that was everyone but Ruby gaining a year so far. "If you want to join us you're more than welcome."

"Sorry, but I think I'll be a bit busy, I work nights and all." He had been failing at keeping a professional distance from the students here, so it was obvious he couldn't join them. Getting as attached to them as is wasn't a good thing.

"Oh come on man, I swear it'll be fun! I think you'd get along with my uncle." Meeting their family wasn't exactly something he wanted to do. If they were anything like Yang, then it would just be another headache with a penchant for puns.

"Maybe another time." Probably never, in reality.

"I'll hold you to that!" The girl looked at her younger sister who had her weapon ready. "Rubes, you wanna have a fight? My blood is pumping but I'm still in the green."

"Sure thing!" Oxon drank some water as he observed the sisters go at it. It bothered him a little that he was pretty much her warmup, but he wasn't skilled enough to be anything else at the moment. As he watched them, he noticed a message from Emerald, something had come up.

~~~(XXXI)~~~

Entering his dorm, he saw a rather smug Cinder looking at her scroll. At least it wasn't something that he'd done to upset her somehow.

"We have confirmed the location of the maiden. Thanks to our access to the CCT, we have records of suspicious transactions. Rather advanced medical equipment for a school, one that we haven't seen in the medical wing."

"How advanced are we talking here?" Mercury asked a pertinent question for once in his life. One Oxon happened to agree with.

"Experimental tech from Atlas. The exact specifications are highly classified, but it lines up with our timeline. It was all shipped to the school directly from the northern kingdom."

"So they have her here? Not in some facility in the city?"

Her?

"It seems that the headmaster and his subordinates have hidden her away, but we will find out where soon enough." At that moment, the leader of their group turned to him. "I predict that the good headmaster will approach one of the young girls on the teams you've become acquainted with, if you discover who, then we can use them to get what we came here for."

"Approached for what?" This was all kinds of confusing, which was frustratingly par for the course. "What exactly am I supposed to listen out for?"

"It depends on how much the girl in question trusts those around her." He really disliked the smirk on her face. "It could be anything, a question about a certain power, a fairy tale, or a critical and time sensitive choice. Either way, once you know, you will tell me."

He could feel the temperature in the room suddenly become uncomfortably warm. Clearly this was something critical. There was no trying to ignore this order.

"And what happens when we know? Are we just going to steal it or do a smash and grab?" If Ozpin was guarding it so heavily, then how would they sneak past him?

"Oh don't worry, we'll be using the tournament to our advantage. When everyone is unable to look away from their screens, there will be no one to stop us."

~~~(XXXI)~~~

Hope everyone enjoyed it! First person to figure out the shield's name gets a gold star.