A/N: I ownd neither Highschool DxD nor RWBY, and get zero monies from doing this.
As to common review questions answered, here we go:
Rewrite the first two chapters: Right now that would kill my forward momentum and maybe the fic. I will revisit them once I'm enough chapters ahead of the most recently posted that I feel comfortable going with twice monthly updates instead of monthly like I am right now.
Other supernatural beings/the sacred gear system and devils and such in Remnant not just Earth. I'll explain that in more detail once we get into the next arc after the one we're in right now. For now though, Both Earth and Remnant have thousands of years of written history, and even more unwritten.
Aside from Ruby being named leader the team she shares a name with, the remainder of the Initiation Ceremony is uneventful. The upper class-men all disperse, and the freshmen, each team armed with a slip of paper denoting their dorm room, form a semi-lost river flowing towards what will be their homes for the remainder of the school year. The dorm halls are fairly plain, walls painted a 'safe' beige, wood floors probably oak or pine, the hallways only truly noteworthy for their vaulted ceilings and full length windows.
Teams Ruby and Juniper are the last two to find their way to the hallway their dorms will be in. Situated on the top floor of the freshman wing, they exit the stairs leading to the top floor, to find a long hall to their right, the showers/bathrooms and an over-sized dorm with 'RA' on the door instead of a number at the front of it. To their left is their floors lounge/common area, where the other four teams that will be housed on the floor are gathered around the familiar, to Jaune and Ruby at least, form of Coco Adel.
The well-dressed huntress in training waves the two teams over, where they are forced to stand, as the other teams have already claimed the assorted couches, chairs, and even a few end-tables as seats. "Names Coco Adel, and I'll be your RA for the year. If you need me and can't find me, talk to one of my teammates, they'll get ahold of me for you." She pauses, glancing around to make sure everyone is listening to her. "Lights out is at ten pm, and I'll take any noise complaints seriously. If there's a sock on the door the noise complaints being leveled at, I wont interrupt you, but I will be sharing the recording around campus."
She pauses again, giving the freshman a chance to wince in preemptive embarrassment, then begins pacing the plush green carpet instead of leaning against the loam-brown wall. "Beacon has a pretty strict three strikes and your out policy on drunkenness and lighter party drugs. Everyone has to blow off steam somehow though, so don't be blatant and force me to bust you, because I'd rather not."
She stops and turns to level a glare at the twenty-four freshman, a few of whom are still bruised and bandaged from the rigors of initiation. "The policy is zero tolerance on hard narcotics though, and if I catch you, I'll drag your stupid ass to rehab myself." her scowl shifts to a more easygoing smile after letting the silence hang heavily for almost a minute. "Fourth floor is a bit more cramped, and the shower stalls are in one unisex room instead of two gender segregated, be mature and respectful. Common rooms a bit nicer than the other floors though, and we get patio access. Don t give the janitors a reason to bitch at me about them."
The gathered freshman all shift uncomfortably as she lets her sunglasses slide down her nose to allow her to properly glare at them. She slides the glasses back up her face, and the easygoing smirk returns. "This is where most of the other RA's would force you all to do some stupid 'getting to know each other' activity. But you're all probably tired from the last few days, and being neighbors doesn't mean you have to be friends, so we'll skip that. Any questions?"
Yang raises a hand, and Coco nods at the blonde brawler. "Yea, why are you of all people an RA?"
Coco shrugs. "Gets my team a break on room and board, as well as those all-access cafeteria cards you either have to be a full ride scholarship, family of faculty or absolutely loaded to get. I've still got money from my time as a model, but not enough to be stupid with it." All of teams RWBY and JNPR shift uncomfortably at that.
Another student asks about their belongings, which had been moved to their dorms during the formal ceremony announcing the new teams. A few more questions about the showers, bathrooms and lights out, and then the tired freshmen plod towards their new dorms. The rest of his team all opt to take showers straight off, but Jaune, figuring that the entire floor is likely thinking the same thing opts to wait a bit. He spends a while going back over the mission brief he had, to his horror, already read several times and simply forgotten about thanks to his nerves.
Then his scroll goes off. He doesn't recognize the number, but for lack of anything else to do answers it, and is rewarded with the smirking visage of Rias Gremory. "Hey there, Mr. Secret King of the Bael. Looks like you survived your initiation."
Jaune scowls at his crimson haired friend "If you keep calling me that, the wrong people will find out and I'll end up getting assassinated." More than a little cross at how cavalier she is being about how precarious his situation is in the underworld.
Blue eyes still twinkling, her mass of hair shifting just enough that he thinks he can make out some of the clubroom her peerage uses as a base of operations she presses. "Who would possibly want to assassinate you Jaune? You're mostly harmless."
He shrugs, doing his best to match her tone through his frustration "Oh, I don't know, any one of the super traditionalist centuries old clan heads or their over zealous children and retainers? I am just a mid-class devil who's only been a devil for half a dozen years after all." He shrugs "The Old Satanist faction might try for it too, I already pissed them off pretty bad by drinking the poison they were trying to slip Misla, you know, your cousin Sairoargs birth-mother, who they've wanted dead since before either of us were born by decades?"
Rias shrinks back at that, her playful demeanor switching to contrite concern. Jaune, however, does not relent. "I'm certain that they wouldn't be mad at all to find out that not only did I survive thwarting their attempt on Mislas life, but was promoted to King and granted my own peerage for that. Add to that the fact that the power spike of my promotion cleansing the poison lasted all of thirty seconds before it all drained away to leave me weaker than I had been when I did that, and the fact that I'm on a world that maybe dozen devils know about wouldn't be able to stop them from coming for me."
"Just how bad is it then?" Rias asks, shifting uncomfortably in her throne-like seat.
Jaune sighs "My physical strength is spiking and bottoming out at random, and I barely have enough fine control to use magic." He manifests his wings, which start twitching wildly as a grimace of pain slides across his face. "Flying is right out, I'm pretty sure my devil instincts are going haywire as well because my motion sickness being back makes absolutely no sense at all."
Rias taps at her chin, thinking for a few moments before asking "Is it permanent? Because if it is..."
Jaune shakes his head "No, both Sairoarg and Lord Bael agree that I just need to complete enough pacts to reach the same level as a High Class Devil and it should even out. And since Lord Baels scouts weren't able to find any supernatural forces in play in Remnant, I get to bend some of the rules you have to live with on Earth to the point I may as well be breaking them."
"Sounds like someone has a plan, care to share?" Rias prompts.
Grinning Jaune just replies "If it works, sure. What about you, fix your fried chicken problem?"
Rias sighs, holds her right pointer and ring fingers to her temple and with a tone of tired stubbornness she answers. "I think I may have reincarnated my solution, I just hope I have enough time to draw out the potential."
"Oh?" Is all Jaune can really say to that, leaning against his headboard awash with curiosity.
"Eight pawn pieces to re-incarnate a single Sacred Gear wielder. Who then found me my second Bishop, an incredibly powerful healer, within a week of his joining my peerage." Jaune lets out a low whistle, more than a little impressed by Rias turn of luck. "What about you Jaune? Started building your Peerage yet?"
He shrugs "Haven't had the time to start hinting at the truth or making recruitment pitches yet, but my team and one other all seem like likely candidates. If I play my cards right and things work out the way I hope they will that is." Work out of the way, the two of them start talking more about their personal lives, which really means Rias starts venting about her forced fiance Riaser, and her older brothers embarrassing antics.
Which is lucky, as shortly after Rias starts venting, Pyrrha enters the dorm clad in short sea green athletic shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt, towel hanging around her neck, hair unbound and damp, uniform bundled under one arm and shower caddie held loosely in the other. "The wait for the showers is pretty much over Jaune." She greets him as she sets her belongings down on the bed to the left of the one he had claimed. "Oh, sorry to interrupt, I didn't realize you were taking a call."
Jaune shrugs. "That's fine, just catching up with one of my friends from Tartarus." Before turning to Rias "If you don't mind, I'm gonna go then. I'm probably pretty ripe after spending most of the day fighting in the woods."
Rias just shrugs amiably. "That's fine, if you don't mind me asking, who's the hottie?"
Figuring that the pair will probably meet at some point, but still fearing for his sanity Jaune replies. "That's my partner, Pyrrha." The tournament champion waves amiably at the girl on the other side of the scroll, a light blush spreading across both Beacon students faces. "And this is Rias Gremory." gesturing at the scroll.
"What academy did you go to then, if you don't mind me asking." Pyrrha asks in an attempt to break the ice, a flash of both jealousy and hope crossing her face.
Jaune chuckles. "Oh, Rias is going to a different prep school now. She's kind of expected to take over the family practice for her brother once she's old enough."
Tilting her head in confusion as she plops down on the bed next to Jaune she asks. "Why would she attend a combat school if she's taking over a business?"
Smiling, Rias replies. "Because its a contract law firm that caters to huntsmen and huntresses." She confidently rattles off the cover story that had been prepared for her should any of Jaunes peers meet her.
"If you two want to keep talking that's fine, just plug my scroll in when your done please Pyrrha." Jaune interjects as he stands up to go shower off.
Jaune passes Ren clad in loose fitting pajama pants and Nora similarly clad to Pyrrha, though in pink and black, as well as team RWBY all clad in their sleepwear on his way to the showers. He waves to all of them, but like most of the rest of the students, they seem too tired to do much more than wave back. By the time he is finished and back to his dorm, the rest of his team, and the dorm wing, judging by the lack of light shining under the doors he passes, is asleep.
_-*R-DxD*_
He walks back into the ballroom from the bathroom and sighs. Another one of the mind-numbing social events he has no choice but to attend as a member of the Clan Baels heir apparents peerage. He looks around the well appointed chamber, straightens his tie and sighs. Sairoarg has a bored look on his face, standing opposite Raiser, who has an arm around the waist of a positively wrathful looking Rias.
Off in another corner Ravel, Kuisha and a gaggle of other noble devil women titter and gossip. Nope.
Jaune decides to just re-join the rest of Sairoargs peerage to wait out the ball. He walks past Misla, who is watching watching either the string quartet providing entertainment, or the assorted pairs of dancing devils with moderate disinterest. He just barely hears a sneeringly sychophantic voice offer to refill Jaunes kings moms drink. The offer isnt out of place from a waiter, but the tone is.
Deciding he could go for another glass of wine, Jaune changes course to get a fresh drink on his way back to his comrades. He can hear the waiters footfalls behind him, and doesn't look up until his own glass is full. Jaune is more than a little shocked to see one of Katerea Leviathans patsys dressed as a waiter. The shock shifts to worry when he catches the devil tip something into one of the glasses he had taken, before taking a sip from the other.
Jaune slides the glass he had taken back to the ones set out to be taken and racks his brain as to who exactly is trying to slip the Lady Bael something. High class, to be sure. Minor nobility from a Clan sworn to the Astaroth, one of the ones always going on about blood purity. And he's lowering himself to act as a waiter?
Shouting an accusation or knocking the likely poisoned drink from his hand is right out then. The word of a mid-class reincarnated pawn is as good as garbage compared to the pure-blood scion of some noble clan. Especially one furious at being caught doing a servants work. Jaune would be a smear on the floor within minutes. Nothing for it then.
Jane falls into step with the assassin, reaches over, plucks the full glass of wine from the other devils hand and downs it in one go. The nobleman blusters, and Jaune feels like fire is tracing its way down his throat. "You insolent wretch! That was for Lady Bael!" He shouts after his shock fades, and Jaunes vision starts to go blurry.
Jaune can feel something trickling its way down his nose. Probably blood. "I'm sure you'd have liked that." Before dropping to a knee as his stomach starts to burn. Damn, that was probably something designed specifically for High Class devils. A commotion starts to spread as the room starts to spin. He can hear the sound of fighting as he falls over and the room fades away.
"-doesnt look good. Probably wont make it." Who?
"Not even Phoenix tears?" Sairoarg asks.
The world fades away again. Focus! "-feeds on a high class devils powers and magic, consumes them from the inside out."
"Jaunes only mid-class though!" Misteeta?
Sad sigh. "We all have the potential, realized or not." Lord Lucifer?
Everythin fades away again. "-modified the promotion ceremony. Should boost his power enough to cleanse his system if it works. Might kill him too. Dont know what will happen if it doesn't." Lord Beelzebub?
"Do it." Sairoarg. Something heavy on his chest. Everything's so white.
Pain. Painpainpainpain-
Jaune jerks awake, mouth set in a silent scream. He wipes the sweat from his forehead and looks around to see his team still sleeping, and cancels his scrolls alarm function for the day, it was going to go off in five minutes anyways. Nora is sprawled out across her bed, half hanging off it, her blankets wrapped around her feet, no more on the bed than she is. Ren looks like he hadn't moved an inch, almost corpse-like in his calm, and Pyrrha is curled in on herself. Jaune changes into a set of workout clothes and starts his daily workout regimen. Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups in the doorway, then a run through campus.
Once he starts his run, he finally allows his mind to wander a bit. Team leader. Perfect. The chaos of the last two days, trying to suss out who would be his equals, peers, subordinates, wash-outs, all of it done. No more worrying about sabotaging a potential alliance or making a powerful enemy without knowing it. No more awkward limbo of equals but not. Its finally time to step into the role Sairoarg had been not so subtly grooming him for for the last half dozen years.
Granted, both of them would have liked a few more yet. Lord Bael isn't exactly a small fry. Jaune takes another steadying breath as he rounds a corner and easily passes a few other early morning joggers and turns his thoughts to his team, and hopefully his peerage too. Pyrrha seems to be a genuine, caring girl. Supportive and polite, seems to a be a versatile skill-based fighter, but he got the impression that she wasn't going all out during initiation. More than a pawn to be sure, but until he tells her the truth of what he is, and see's more of her fighting style he isnt sure what piece she would be best as in his peerage.
He rounds another corner, and his thoughts flow to the other girl on his team. Nora Valkyrie, earnest, straightforward and bombastic. A bit of a mischievous streak from what he's seen so far, and a straightforward, aggressive powerhouse of a fighter. Perfect Rook material, however he is almost certain her loyalty, and joining his peerage will hinge on her partner, Lie Ren.
The quiet man seems to be analytic and observant, reserved but not shy. Once Jaune tells his team that he is a devil, he doesn't doubt that Ren will have the most questions. As a fighter he is swift and precise from what Jaunes seen, making excellent use of acrobatics and accuracy. Jaune wants to say that the other man will make a good knight or bishop, but he doesn't know if Ren has the mind and talent for magic, or if his analytic mind would make for a better right hand as Queen than Pyrrahs loyal nature.
Jaune slows to a stop to start a few sets of star jumps. Team RWBY could make good additions to his peerage as well, and his budding friendship with their leader is a good inroads to that, provided the dynamic between the two teams proceeds along its current positive course. Ruby, aside from being a chipper optimistic prodigy that's as awkward in social settings as he knows he still can be when there isn't a clear role for everyone involved, is probably going to have a hell of a time getting settled in as leader.
He can wait that out though, focus on his team, learning their fighting styles and cementing his initial thoughts on them, or correcting them if he is wrong. Rose, should he be able to recruit her team to his peerage, focuses so heavily on speed and positioning to land killing blows she cant be anything but a Knight should she be re-born into his peerage.
Her sister, Yang seems to be another straightforward individual at first glance. Fun-loving, genial and outgoing. A powerful, straightforward fighting style that screams Rook makes that choice easy. Getting past the filial protective streak he is almost positive he will run into once he starts making his play to recruit team RWBY will likely be his biggest obstacle. And, in a rook will be perfect to re-purpose to protectiveness of the entire peerage.
Jaune alternates to jumping jacks, and turns his thoughts to Blake. Shy and reserved, she will be difficult to approach most likely. Probably a loner, so she will likely fight being part of a larger, tight knit group that a peerage is, or drink it up like a dying desert traveler finding an oasis. Again, he will need to get to know her better to be sure if she can be recruited. But if she proves to be a good fit, her mobile, precise fighting style, especially with what he thinks were glimpses of her semblance he saw during RWBYs fight with the nevermore would make her perfect as a Knight.
He turns his thoughts to the last truly known option for recruitment currently open to him. Weiss Schnee, on the surface at least, seems to be a typical heiress. Prim, proper, poised and always in control of her emotions, he suspects she will take to Underworld politics like a duck to water. The problem will likely be getting her to accept a subservient role to one socially 'lesser' to herself. Hopefully, having Ruby as her team leader will do that for him, or at least go a long way to accomplishing that end. As far as what piece in his peerage she will be? Bishop, what she did with her semblance, amplified by a bishopps magical prowess will make her an unholy terror in a Rating Game or straight up fight.
While Jaune goes through a few sets of up-downs, he considers Auroras team, as well as potentially his RA Coco and her teams as recruits. However, he doesn't really know enough about Adel or anything about her team to consider. Three years until she graduates though counting this one, so that plan can go on a back-burner.
The same goes for, well, all of his huntress sisters and their teams, not just Aurora. In addition to being older, he wont see them often enough to properly soften them up for the truth of what he is now. Doubly so to recruit them, their teams, and in a few instances, families. That said, having his sisters as devils is uniquely tempting, especially if he is able to claim one of the fallen or fallow Pillars of the underworld and form House Arc. Branch families not only increase clan stability, but open up more political options. With a satisfied grunt, he sets off to finish his run, passing by even more students starting the day off with a run as he heads for his dorm.
As he quietly pads down his floor to grab his shower cady and uniform, he adds assessing the other teams on his dorm floor, and year in general for potential recruits to his mental to do list as well. Granted, he will need to suss out the wheat from the chaff as well, if what the briefing Lord Bael had had prepared for him is anywhere near accurate. It may even be best to wait until the first year attrition has run its course before moving his potential recruitment base outside of his own team and team RWBY now that he thinks about it. However, only time will tell, so that issue gets left tabled for later. After a quick shower, he returns to the dorm just as Ren wakes up.
The calm teen looks at the still catatonic Pyrrha and Nora. "I'll wake Pyrrha if you wake Nora." he weakly offers.
Jaune shakes his head. "Lets just take care of our own partners." A rueful grin on his face, Ren makes his way over to Nora as Jaune starts lightly shaking Pyrrha by her shoulder. To his mild embarrassment, she mumbles incoherently and pulls his arm towards her chest. Sighing, Jaune reaches out with his left arm to shake her more forcefully.
His second attempt to wake his partner is about as effective as his first, though he does manage to keep his second arm free. Jaunes attempts to gently rouse his partner are for naught, as something about pancakes being uttered by Ren results in an even louder, far more energetic cry. Shortly after that Jaune can make out Ren uttering a startled gasp, then a loud crash. With a startled yelp Pyrrha tries to bolt upright, but being on her side ends up headbutting Jaunes thigh and getting caught in her blankets.
After Pyrrha exfiltrates herself from her bedding and Jaune reclaims his arm, the redhead blearily sits up. "What?"
Jaune shrugs "Ren and I were trying to wake you and Nora up." The partners look over to the other half of their team to see Ren now pinned to the floor by an excited, albeit bleary-eyed Nora. "So I figured once you three are dressed we could start setting up our dorm, then head for breakfast before our first class?"
The rest of his team mumble their assent, and, after an awkward bit of turning around and waiting for the girls to give an all clear the new team sets about unpacking their things. Four dressers are filled with clothes, and the closet with dress shirts, slacks and dresses. Ren rolls out a meditation mat and sets up a small fountain next to it. Jaune quickly pieces back together a mostly disassembled entertainment center which Pyrrha then sets a nice looking flat-screen and sound-bar on.
As Pyrrha rolls out a nice looking round Mistrali area rug that Jaune figures is the perfect size for him to hide his home summoning circle under, Jaune and Nora set a pull-up bar and speed-bag off to the side of the closet. Ren, holding a small hotplate and skillet looks around the room. "I think we're running out of space."
Pyrrha nods, as she helps Nora hang posters "Maybe we could loft our beds?"
"It would get us more floor space, maybe even enough to get a couch or something across from the T.V." Jaune agrees. "Lets talk to Coco after classes today to see if Beacon has the struts we need to do that." As he uses a stud-finder to mark off where to mount the pull-up bar. He really had gotten lucky this morning using the doorway and it not breaking on him.
Their room about as set up as they can reasonably get it, team Juniper sets out to get breakfast. The cafeteria is decently full, but the wait for food isn't overly long. Ren takes a light breakfast of a bagel, some sausages and tea; Nora takes a stack of pancakes and a glass of apple-juice, which she complains the whole meal about not being as good as Rens. Jaune opts for a hearty meal of biscuits, gravy and bacon and coffee; while Pyrrha stops off at the rather impressive omelet bar, before re-joining the team at the table they had found along with a glass of milk.
After a few minutes of eating mostly in silence, Jaune decides something needs to be done. "So... why Beacon?"
Pyrrha shrugs. "There was no way I'd be judged fairly, or escape my own fame in Mistral. I really don't like the cold so Atlas Academy was right out and Vacuo..." she trails off, and both Ren and Nora nod in apparent understanding. Pyrrha sighs "Though it doesn't seem like I truly escaped my fame." Her statement punctuated by a handful of scrolls flashing as pictures are taken of her, and her new team.
Jaune grins, and, having actually read the report Lord Bael had had prepared for him, lies. "Don't worry Pyrrha, I still don't have a clue why your famous. Aside from that cereal thing Weiss mentioned yesterday, which, doesn't really seem like that big of a deal now that I think about it."
Ren chuckles at Jaunes apparent denseness. "Even traveling Mistrals villages Nora and I weren't able to avoid hearing of and seeing the exploits of the famous Invincible Girl. It was practically crammed down our throats."
Nora nods excitedly. "Four time Mistrali Regional Tournament champion-"
"In my age bracket." Pyrrha tiredly interjects, a pained look on her face.
"Never once defeated in an official match!" Nora presses on, seemingly oblivious to her teammates discomfort. Ren side eyes her, then pokes her, shaking his head lightly once he gets his partners attention.
Jaune, sensing a potential rift forming, sweeps in. "So she won some matches. Doesn't change who she is as a person, does it? And that's what really matters here." Pyrrha casts a gaze at Jaune that could be adoring or grateful, and Nora sheepishly offers an apology. "So, what about you two?" Jaune asks the clearly close Ren and Nora."
Nora goes still, so Ren is the one to answer for the two of them. "Beacon of Hope Initiative. Full ride scholarship from Signal through Beacon. The customs officer that caught us stowed away on a cargo ship didn't waste any time getting the two kids with their auras unlocked and one who already had his semblance signed up for that."
Pyrrha tilts her head in confusion, pushing her now empty plate forward. "But, didn't you say the two of you spent your youth traveling Mistral?"
Nora chuckles awkwardly at Pyrrhas pointed question. "We thought we were headed towards Mistral City..."
"I let Nora hold the map." Ren supplies, voice not bearing a hint of emotion at that comment.
"So, what about you Mr. Leader?" Nora asks, eagerly leaning forward, Ren snatching the sticky, but empty plate out of her elbows path just in time to keep her from slamming them into it.
Jaune pushes his empty plate forward as Ren starts gathering up the teams dirty dishes. "All three of my sisters who became huntresses came here. Seemed like the thing to do."
Nora lets out a low whistle as the team stands to leave the cafeteria. "Wow, three sisters. What was that like?"
"Seven actually. Two of my older sisters didn't want to be huntresses, and two are younger than me."
Pyrrha covers her mouth. "Oh my, your parents must have been..."
"Yea, we all try not to think about it. And got to boarding schools as fast as we could." Jaune chuckles and rubs at the back of his head. "Though, that might have had something to do with there being so many of us too."
Team Juniper make their way to Grimm Studies with a few minutes to spare, and are able to get a seat together in the middle of the lecture hall, allowing them both a good view of the whiteboards at the front of the class, the professors desk, the ostentatious bust to the desks right, and the empty space in front of the desk. Shortly after they enter, a portly, mustachioed man with a confident stride and squinted eyes saunters to the professors desk. Jaune fights back the urge to groan and bash his head into the table in front of his team.
Professor Port, apparently, has a solid gold bust, of himself, in his own classroom. Most devils Jaune knows don't have an ego that big! Team RWBY dashes into class and grab seats front and center moments before the bell rings, then he starts his lecture. No course goals, no syllabus, no outline of what they will learn passed out, just launches into a rambling description of what he'll supposedly be teaching them. Most of that involves talking himself up, except for the one incredibly creepy moment that Jaune is pretty sure Port had tried to flirt with Yang.
Again, Jaunes a devil, he knows that once a devil is past their age of majority there are no taboos, just what your Clan will and wont tolerate. That said, mortals, be they human, faunus, dwarf, elf, yōkai or any of the other myriad races that exist, still very much do have hang-ups about age. A man who looks to be at least a poorly preserved fifty, putting 'the moves' poorly or not, on a seventeen year old girl is most certainly not accepted in most social circles or societies.
He is also, incredibly boring. Jaune actually misses when he shifts from blathering about the purpose of the course to lecturing. Either way, Nora had fallen asleep at some point before that shift. Jaune is pretty sure Ren is either meditating, or had simply spaced out, because no one should be able to go that long without blinking or moving. Pyrrha at least is still valiantly trying to scribble down notes from the mans rambling, seemingly aimless tale-telling.
Sparing a glance down to team RWBY, Jaune sees Ruby doodling or goofing off blatantly throughout the lecture. Most of the rest of her team seams too be enjoying her antics, save Weiss, who Jaune would bet his weight in gold is glaring at her teammates going by what he can see of her body language. Between helping Ren strategically poke Nora awake to keep the girl out of detention and trying to follow the Professors rambling tale, the situation in team RWBY does not seem to improve.
All of this comes to a head as Ports lecture comes to an end. "The moral of the story? A true Huntsman must be honorable. A True Huntsman must be dependable. A True Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated and wise." The tubby man pauses, probably as much for effect as to allow students to write what he had just said down. "So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"
Weiss hands shoots up almost before the rest of the class has time to register that a question was asked of them. "I do, sir." she grits out as if she is grimacing, which wouldn't surprise Jaune.
"Well then, lets find out. Step forward, and face your opponent." The professor replies calmly, gesturing to an bulky cage that had been wheeled into the classroom halfway through the lecture.
It takes the heiress less than five minutes to change from her uniform into her combat gear, and stomp back into the classroom at the ground level, scowl on her face as she assumes a near perfect duelists stance. Her team start cheering her on, which goes mostly ignored, save for Weiss shouting down her team leader. "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Jaune cant hear her reply, but going by how the prodigy sinks back in on herself, she hadnt taken the admonishment well.
Before any more byplay can occur, Port grabs his blunder-ax off the wall, and announces "All right. Let the match begin!" Before he chops the lock off of the cage and steps behind the low wall separating the student seating from the lecture stage. A hog like grimm, boarbatusk, if he remembers correctly, all but launches out of the cage at Weiss, who lands a glancing blow off its armored hide as she rolls out of its path.
Port more quips than advises, Ruby cheers on her partner, and Weiss launches herself headlong at the grim, Myrtenaster extended for a lunge. Weiss' blade gets stuck, and the grimm nearly launches the petite girl as Ports commentary drones on. Jaune, however, remembers something the man had said earlier in the class. Of course I knew better than to take the boarbatusk head on, fighting to your foes strength is pure folly, after all. Ruby shouts more encouragement to her partner, who pauses to glare at the younger girl, allowing the grimm to wrench Weiss rapier from her hands and throw her to the ground to tumble a few feet from the beast. "Ho-ho, now what will you do without your weapon?" Port asks the girl who is in no position to respond.
She does, however, manage to dodge the grimms next charge, which leads to it careening into the student seating and falling over. Weiss sprints to recover her weapon, missing the perfect view of the grimms unarmored underside. "Weiss, go for its belly, there's no armor underneath!" Ruby shouts, trying to help her partner.
Weiss wheels about to shout back at her partner. "Stop telling me what to do!" Jaune recalls the professor having also mentioned something about that being a boarbatusks weakness during his lecture, but the beast rolling into a ball and launching itself at the heiress cuts off his train of thought. Rotating to face her opponent, Weiss arrests its momentum with a well timed glyph. As the beast rebounds away from the no longer present barrier, its stomach now exposed, Weiss summons another glyph to leap onto, which shifts color as soon as her feet touch it, launching her forward to bury her blade in the still stunned grimms neck.
As Port congratulates Weiss, and wraps up class, Jaune cant help but groan. "I think I'm gonna hate this class."
Nora, having been awake and at the edge of her seat for the entire fight looks to her leader. "Whys that?"
As team Juniper gather their notebooks and books, Jaune answers. "Because just about every major strength or weakness Weiss had to circumvent or used in that fight got mentioned at one point or another in Ports lecture." He throws up a set of air-quotes around the term 'lecture'.
"Oh? So you were paying attention." Pyrrha replies, grinning a bit.
Jaune sighs. "Barely. I didn't even think to take notes."
Pyrrha just shrugs. "I wasn't sure what to do either, so I just wrote down his story." She admits as they pass a loudly bickering team RWBY.
"You what?" Ren deadpans.
"How?" Nora exclaims as an angry looking Weiss stomps past them.
"It would be rude to not pay attention to someone who is telling a story. I was just doing whats right." Pyrrha replies calmly with a serene smile on her face.
All that Jaune, Ren and Nora can do is blink at the redhead for the next few moments. Jaune eventually breaks the silence. "If, if you don't mind doing that for the rest of our classes with Port, we could all work together to pick the useful bits out of the lecture after class?"
"Not at all." Comes Pyrrhas chipper reply as Jaune leads the team to what looks like a chemistry lab.
Nora nudges Ren. "So, what class are we headed for?"
They walk into the lab, and are surprised to see Coco, three other upper-classmen and a tanned slip of a young woman in a lab coat with wild, slightly greasy crimson hair in a frayed, dirty and burnt lab-coat over a tattered knee length black skirt and a blood red and charcoal corset. They mix in with the other confused looking students, and, after the bell rings, the woman in the lab coat claps her hands and announces. "Right, normally you kidth would have Applied Dust Theory with Profethor Aera Shar. But, thee's thtill on her way back from a thymposium in Atlath today. Tho, the Headmathter has decided to have your RA's show you the different facilitieth around camputh."
Her cheery, reedy voice and pronounced lisp making her seem more or less harmless. She grins, revealing row upon row of dagger like teeth, and suddenly the shark faunus innocent demeanor seems far more sinister. "I'm her athithtant, Maggy Chiffon, and will be overseeing the labth when clasth ithn't being held in here." At that, the grinning young woman waves them off and wanders deeper into the lab, muttering to herself.
Jaune and his team along with the rest of the teams from their floor save RWBY gather around Coco. "So, where's team RWBY at?" Is the first thing out of her mouth. When all she receives by way of reply is a flourish of shrugs and uncertain noises, she shrugs herself and announces. "Their loss I guess. Anyhow, this is one of the two classes you wont have every day." She begins, leading the teams out one of the Dust Labs doors. "This one will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The other class will be Weapons Maintenance and Improvement, Tuesdays and Thursdays after lunch, in the Machine Shop, which is where we're headed."
One of the students chimes in. "So, we just get a free period the days we don't have those classes?"
Coco glares down the student after spinning to walk backwards as she leads the teams. "If you're stupid, yes. If you're smart, you'll use those periods either to get ahead on homework, for team training, or to get caught up in those fields."
Knowing that he has precious little knowledge about Dust, Jaune decides to ask a question himself. "Is the Dust Lab open during the off days?"
Coco nods. "Both the Lab and Machine shop are always open to students, and on the days they aren't being used for classes there will be a few Seniors who were able to test out of their last year for those classes tutoring for extra credit." The group walks in relative silence after that, eventually the sound of machinery starts to become more audible as they approach their destination, well away from the rest of the classrooms.
A slender young woman with honey colored skin clad in beige cargo pants and a grease-stained black tank top strides past the group and offers Coco a passing greeting. "That was Lilac, she's Professor Shangs daughter, and will be your TA in his class. She normally keeps an eye on the machine shop between classes too, to make sure none of you knuckle-heads maim yourselves with the machinery." As if to drive her point home the entire group can hear a pained scream echo from inside the heavy doors they had come to a stop in front of. Moments later a pissed looking Lilac stomps back past them, and for a brief moment a cacophonous roar can be heard when she passes through the heavy steel double doors, revealing a large room with stained concrete floors and a multitude of presses, lathes, grinders, welders and other more specialized tools and machines within.
"-warned you about how you were using that lathe a dozen times last year. I cant believe you didn't listen to the warning I just gave you five minutes ago. You're gonna have detention for a month once you get out of medical-" A ranting Lilac all but drags a pale-faced and shaking student past the group of freshman, blood dripping from the badly mauled hand he is clutching to his chest with his uninjured one. All that the group of freshman can really do is gape at the spectacle.
Coco smirks and moves to follow the pair once they get out of earshot, motioning for her charges to follow. "She's normally a sweat-heart, but, as you can see, is a stickler about shop safety." The walk takes less than five minutes, and the group find themselves in front of a large white building with a red cross front and center above the main door. Coco leads them through said door as she explains. "This is medical. Most of you will make at least two or three visits here a semester. Try to keep it from getting over that number, or you'll meet Doctor Ivory, the Cheif administrator here, and trust me, you don't want that." The group passes the wounded student from before, a satisfied looking Lilac leaning against the wall as a statuesque mocha skinned woman with shocking white hair in a lab coat dresses down the injured student.
Coco nods at the trio as they pass them. "Poor idiot wont get patched up until Ivory is done lecturing him. Might even get his first strike towards expulsion based on incompetence." She shrugs as most of the freshman cringe. "Anyways, emergency care, rehab, and preventative procedures are all covered by your tuition here. Most out-patient procedures are available pretty cheap, but for most other major procedures you'll be taking a bullhead down to Vale." She stops in front of a large directory, and the group follows suit. "Pretty much everything above the first floor is recovery wards, and there's an info desk in front of the lift up, so you shouldn't need to wander to find the room anyone you want to visit is being kept in."
She leads the group back out of the Medical wing, passing the bullhead docks and main courtyard. She points out a squat, wide building with a small garden and plenty of benches in front of it to the right of the towering dorm buildings. "Thats the library, the only bigger one in Vale is attached to the Capitol building. Free access to all students, and your ID gets you full access to a pretty good selection of scientific and scholastic periodicals. The sort of peer reviewed stuff you'll need for essays." She points to a building identical to their dorm hall on the far side of the library. "Overflow dorms, the transfers for the Vytal Festival will probably be mostly getting put up there towards the end of the year. Until then, its pretty well abandoned, if you feel like grabbing some privacy that's a good bet."
Ren cuts in. "So, what are the warehouses behind those buildings for?"
Coco smirks. "Ah, noticed them, did you? Most of its just storage for the school, but there's some rental units in case you have more stuff than can fit in your dorm. There's a garage too if you have a set of wheels you'd rather not leave at home for a year."
She leads the group across the courtyard and away from the main building, still mostly walking backwards through the crowd. Eventually a series of large greenhouses and what looks like a tent city can be seen behind her. "If any of you took, or decide to take Plant Studies, or Advanced Wilderness Survival, you'll be spending a lot of time out here. But that's pretty much it, aside from the CCT tower in the main building, the barn they put you up in on your first night, the amphitheater and some other places you lot have already been to. Feel free to do whatever for the rest of the period."
At that, Coco cuts through the gaggle of freshman and struts back towards the main area of campus. Most of the students begin to disperse, team Juniper standing around a bit awkwardly, unsure what to do. "So, History is next, I guess?" Jaune offers after a few minutes of awkward silence and standing around as the crowd disperses.
The quartet slowly make their way back to the main school building in companionable silence. Well, mostly companionable silence, Nora spends most of the walk talking at Ren. Jaune thinks she said something about beds, which causes Ren to perk up. "Actually, we might have more luck getting our beds lofted if we ask at the housing office instead of our RA."
Jaune inclines his head at the usually quiet guy. "Good idea." He glances down at his scroll, and figuring they have enough time leads the team on their new course. The clerk they end up talking with ends up being the guy Jaune had found out about the gambling ring some of Beacons clerical staff apparently have, but Jaune is able to keep things cordial with the bald bookie.
By the time they make it to their next course, History, the lecture hall is pretty full, so they end up split apart instead of sitting as a team. To say Oobleck walked or ran into the lecture hall would be a gross understatement, it feels more like he had teleported. White shirt half tucked in, tie hanging loose, green hair windswept and collar standing stiff, aside from his perfectly positioned glasses the man looks like he had either just rolled out of bed or sprinted halfway across campus.
"So!" He begins with no preamble as he picks a stack of papers off his desk. "I am Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, and will be educating you on the history of Remnant for the final four years of your official schooling." He glances down at the stack of papers in his hands, grimaces, darts back to his desk to switch it out for a separate stack then passes the stack to a student off to the far right of the classroom. The man talks a mile a minute is all Jaune can think as he launches into a description of the course and its goals.
Jaune manages to pick out 'history repeating itself', 'knowing where huntsman will be needed before you are called' and 'avoiding further tragedy by preemptive action'. From the droning rapid-fire diatribe. Glancing around the room, he spots Nora limply slouched in her chair, gaze unfocused like someone had just boxed her ears. A yelp draws his attention to Pyrrha, who is nursing what looks to be a cramped hand.
Jaune manages to make eye contact with Ren, who just shrugs, clearly as lost as Jaune. "Now, I realize that I am speaking rather quickly, and I assure you that I will have proper notes on the whiteboards behind me for each class, and will speak at a more sedate pace so that you can properly glean the meaning of my lessons. However..." Oobleck pauses to take a sip from his thermos. "today I have much to cover and a short time to do so. Of course, the full syllabus I am about to recite to you is also available in print. Hard copies of it are currently being passed around, but that is no excuse to not pay attention to todays lesson, as some things will only be provided verbally."
_-*R-DxD*_
An hour and a half later, a dazed pack of freshmen silently shamble to the arena for combat class. It doesn't take too long to change from their uniforms to their combat attire. The classroom itself is a large combat arena illuminated by a series of spotlights, ringed by stadium seating with a large display screen on the wall opposite the seats. Professor Goodwitch is standing at the center of the arena, crop drawn and arms crossed as the freshman teams start finding their seats. "Welcome to Combat Class. Here you will improve you skills as huntsmen and huntresses directly through sparring, and, later on, missions outside the City." She begins pacing as the students watch in silence. "Weekday classes will involve regular spars, and feedback provided by myself afterwords. You will be graded and ranked based on your performances." She swings her riding crop as she turns to face the students. "If I do not have any volunteers while there is still time for another bout before class ends, two will be selected at random."
Jaune cant help but raise his hand, and Ms. Goodwitch is quick to call on him. "Is that all that this class will be then, Professor?"
She shakes her head. "No, starting this weekend the Freshman and Sophomore teams will go out into the Emerald forest to keep the local grimm population controlled. The teams on the first floors of your respective dorm halls will go this week, second floor next week, third after that and finally the fourth floor teams before the cycle repeats."
Cardin raises his hand from where he is lazily sprawled into a seat off to team Junipers right. "Will we all be going at once? Cuz that sounds like it might get a bit hectic."
Goodwitch shakes her head. "No, the Sophomores shift will be from eight AM until four PM. Freshman from noon until eight PM."
"What about the upper classmen?" Another student, Jaune is pretty sure its the over-eager kid who had cheered during the start of Ports lecture earlier today, interjects.
Glynda nods at the eager huntsman in training. "Those Junior and Senior teams that are not deployed on missions will be similarly rotating, but held in reserve for emergency evacuation and support duty." The class goes quiet at that. Academy faculty always try to keep rumors, especially negative ones contained. But when eight of yesterdays wash-outs had left in body bags, and half of what was left after that on stretchers, not under their own power, word travels.
Not seeing any more students with questions, Goodwitch presses on . "Now, this week will be somewhat hectic, as I will need to individually observe and score all of you. Once that process is complete I will average the scores of each team and split you into three divisions. You will then receive updated schedules as to when your official classes with me are. The divisions not currently using the main arena are expected to use the sparring rings adjacent to my classroom during this period. You will be overseen by either Teaching Assistants I have selected from the upper classmen, or professional huntsmen or huntresses on light duty acting in the same role."
Pyrrha raises her hand, and Goodwitch again is swift to call on her. "Will these be our divisions for this class for the entirety of our time here?"
Smirking ever so slightly, the professor shakes her head. "No, I will re-evaluate each divisions composition on a monthly basis and re-arrange them as I see fit to ensure as fair of matches as can be expected. Furthermore, academic and medical attrition usually leave us with only enough Sophomores for two divisions, and by the end of your Junior or start of your Senior year there will likely only be enough teams remaining to warrant a single division." Again the classroom falls silent. Goodwitch asks the class "Now, do I have any volunteers for our first round of the school year?" Jaune raises his hand. Goodwitch nods as he stands and begins making his way to the arena. When no one else volunteers Goodwitch harumphs and starts the randomizer. It slides to a halt on the image of a squinting young man with dusty brown hair. "Dove Bronzewing, if you would join Mr. Arc in the arena?"
Well, that's a wrap for August! What'd ya think? Drop a review and let me know, and thanks for sticking with me this far!