Ch. 31 Class is back in session
"Alright everyone, class is back in session. I hope for your sake you all did your homework over the summer. We're going to start with a quiz and then start on some lab work like usual."
Dust studies was the first class of the new term and professor Peach wasted no time on idle chit-chat. There were a few groans heard around the lab as well as a bit of panic from those that forgot about their homework.
In truth though, members of team BSMT and RNJR were having a hard time focussing on class. Ironically Blake was doing a good job compartmentalising avay what happened the prior evening. Her teammates not so much. Cocra and Maroon were trying to focus on their quiz, but kept glancing at their team leader, trying to keep an eye on her. Weiss on the other hand appeared to be focussed on her work, only for her pencil to stop moving for minutes at a time as she got lost in her thoughts.
As a result, Nora was now worried not only about Blake but about Weiss as well. She did well enough on her quiz, though she tried to blitz through it as fast as she could, so that she could keep an eye on Weiss and Blake. Ren was less involved in the initial emotional incident since it seemed the girls had it covered at the time, but probably due to the emotional burden of that evening Nora had a particularly bad night filled with nightmares. As a result Ren spent most of his night awake, and actually resorted to using his semblance to grant Nora a respite from whatever plagued her mind.
Ruby spent her night cuddled in Jaune's arms and it was only thanks to that that she fared better than Nora in the nightmare department. After Blake opened up a bit it quickly became obvious to everyone that the relationship she was in was… traumatic to say the least.
Jaune, similarly to Ren, was less involved in the initial incident. He backed off the moment it became clear that a large part of Blake's breakdown was Adam Taurus and her former relationship with him. Jaune even contemplated leaving the room completely, but elected to stay as a sign of silent support, albeit he kept his distance from the girls while they consoled Blake. He didn't need to hear what was being said. He knew from experience with his sisters what a messy breakup could look like, though admittedly none of his sisters had one this bad.
Though the fact that Ruby felt so disturbed by what Blake revealed clued him in on just how bad the whole thing was.
Unfortunately they didn't have the luxury of spending a few days dealing with the situation. Classes had started and they needed to prepare for the tournament that was mercilessly approaching.
=O=O=O=
"So… what has y'all so on edge all morning?"
Asked Yang in between the bites of her lunch.
"Oh it's… nothing really. Just some stuff that came up yesterday. I'll tell you later."
Ruby wouldn't normally hide something like this from her sister but considering the new company joining them for lunch she felt it would be better to be vague and tell Yang later. Especially since the person in question was missing from their table, along with her partner.
Yang cocked an eyebrow and looked towards Cocra for answers, hoping to get more from the usually so blunt member of team BSMT. When even Cocra shook her head, Yang decided to let the issue go.
"So anyway, let me introduce the new arrival, seeing as she isn't going to do it herself."
"Oh for… Yang, we've been over this." interrupted Sky.
"What? What did I… Ohhh! No! Sorry didn't mean it like that. I meant that neither she nor Cardin were paying any attention to us."
At the mention of his name, Cardin turned to Yang. Though he quickly looked to his girlfriend to see her gesturing in sign.
"She says she doesn't mind." translated Cardin for the rest of them.
"Ok, that's fair I guess… do your thing then."
"Ehm… so anyway. The inconspicuous little thing sitting in Cardins lap is Mint, one of the students from Haven here for the Vytal festival. She's mute and apparently the two of them are dating."
"Oh, wow uh… Congrats you two." Ruby was the only one that replied to the reveal in any major way. The girls simply weren't in any mood to discuss relationships, not after what had transpired yesterday.
"Well now I know something is going on. Maroon you'd normally be all over something like this."
"Yeah, sorry. Not in the mood today. Congrats to you two though."
In the end it was Jaune that decided to bite the bullet.
"Sorry, guys. We witnessed the aftermath of a pretty bad breakup yesterday and it kinda brought the mood down for all of us. Not gonna give any names, just thought you should know it isn't anything against Cardin or Mint in particular. Just… yeah."
"Thanks Arc. I appreciate the thought. Not that I care what you people think."
Jaune honestly didn't know whether to be surprised or not that Cardin didn't care about people's opinion. Initially it seemed he was trying to portray himself as having a certain image, but then again he was trying to be better, so maybe this was a change for the better.
"So, how did you two even meet?"
"Oh, Yang dragged us all to a dance club. A word of advice, when Yangs says she knows a place? Don't follow her, turns out she had a history with the club. Then again I met Mint there so I can't complain too much."
"A… history?"
"Don't ask…"
"Right."
=O=O=O=
"So uh, do you think we'll ever end up like them?"
"Like them?"
"Like Blake and that Taurus guy."
Jaune stopped working for a moment. He was currently finishing up the spear made from the electric dust alloy trying to finish it in time for having a team spar. He slid his chair away from the grinding belt and put the spear in his lap.
He looked down and sighed "I hope not… I'd hate to see you that hurt, especially if it was all my fault."
"But what if we do end up like that?"
Jaune was silent. He couldn't imagine that happening.
"I don't know…" he whispered.
He would have loved to say some cheesy line like "I'd rather die than hurt you like that." but he also knew in his heart that if there was something that would force him to… it may well be something out of his control.
Jaune was out of words. So he stood up and sat next to Ruby, embracing her lightly.
"I can't imagine something coming between us like that."
Ruby could see tears cutting their way through the dust and grime on Jaune's face. It was… somehow reassuring. So she embraced him back.
Maybe it didn't matter what the future brought, so long as she could be with him right now? It would turn out alright.
=O=O=O=
"There you are! What took you two so long?"
"Sorry, had to wash off all the filth and get changed first. Turns out the dust sticks to everything, probably static electricity or something."
"Right doesn't matter, I call dibs on fighting Jaune first!"
"That was kinda the plan. I'd rather not kill anyone testing this out and you're kinda immune to lightning."
"I'm more than immune, Jauney boy! Now let's get to it!"
"Alright then. Virga Fulgur!"
As Jaune spoke the name a spear just under two metres in length fully made of metal split from his aura.
"Introductions are in order. Nora, this is the Lightning Rod, or Virga Fulgur. Virga Fulgur, that is the enemy." said Jaune jokingly as he pointed the spear at Nora.
The spar started without any further delay as Nora shot out a grenade in Jaune's direction. Jaune jumped out of its blast radius with relative ease, but Nora didn't allow him much respite. A few more explosions later the arena was covered in a cloud of dust, limiting Nora's visibility.
"My turn now."
Nora was sure the voice came from pretty far away but underestimated Jaune's newfound reach. She only barely dodged the barrage of piercing strikes as Jaune employed every trick in the proverbial book. There was a mountain of knowledge of spear fighting in his mind that wasn't there only an hour ago. But there was more.
"Alright, it works as a normal spear. Let's get to the good stuff."
Jaune started to channel his aura through the spear. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, though unlike the piece of metal he and Ruby forged at Velia this spear was long enough to be controlled easier.
As a static charge filled the air around him he could feel and hear small arcs of electricity jumping through the slowly settling dust that Nora kicked up with her grenades.
Though Jaune wasn't the only one that got excited by the lightning. Nora had already extended Manghild and was charging into the charged cloud.
From then on it was a battle of glancing blows and sweeping strikes from the two weapon's.
Jaune knew that he didn't have the raw strength required to straight up parry any of Nora's blows. She had the weapon weight advantage and probably an advantage in raw strength too.
On the other hand Jaune had the longer reach. Though now that his footwork wasn't hidden by a dust cloud, he had a much harder time pressing the advantage.
Then there was the fact that with every glancing blow he did score, she delivered a substantial shock of electricity to Nora.
Now with almost any other opponent that would be it. Depending on where the hit landed it even had the potential of stopping the opponent's heart.
Not with Nora though. Instead with every hit she got better, faster and stronger. And a few minutes into the fight Jaune was starting to feel it. What previously would be just glancing blows were now strikes threatening to break bones.
Jaune was put on the back foot and his aura was being shaved off bit by bit. He was now in the yellow range of his aura while Nora was just barely in the green.
"Any last word's Jaune?"
Jaune smiled as he let loose with his aura. As the charge increased even Nora took a step back.
"Yeah, they're CRACK and BOOM!"
Jaune yelled as he firmly planted the butt of the spear into the ground.
As soon as it touched the floor a charge ran through the metallic walls of the arena only to release a blinding flash of lightning from the ceiling, followed only by a deafening boom of full on lightning contained within an indoor training arena.
=O=O=O=
"Mister Arc… Care to explain why you're here?"
"Uh… because I let loose a literal bolt of lightning in the training arena?"
Glynda Goodwitch couldn't help but sigh.
"And why did you think that was a good idea? You couldn't have possibly known what your actions would result in?"
"In my defence, my semblance gave me a pretty good idea of how much damage I could potentially do."
"And…"
"And the only person affected by it was Nora, who literally discovered her semblance by getting hit by lightning."
"So the injuries she sustained?"
"Were unexpected. The resulting thunder was louder than I expected and I honestly didn't expect she would faint."
"Well, you're lucky you didn't break her aura before that, you'd have at minimum burst her eardrums. As it stands her actual injuries are fairly minor. Of course none of us could have known that when we arrived at the scene. All electronics in the room fried. Miss Valkyrie unconscious and your other teammates dazed from the light and thunder."
"I'm sorry…"
"Well in light of this incident I'm personally prohibiting you from using that spear anywhere near my students. This includes the festival. If I had my way I'd confiscate it based on the collateral damage alone. Unfortunately as it is a part of your semblance I have no such right."
"Again, I'm sorry. "
"I swear if you somehow manage to build another weapon of mass destruction I'm going to make sure you serve detention with me for the rest of your studies. Oh and give your teammates these."
"Professor?"
"You're lucky Beacon's insurance covers consumer electronics damaged during training. Now take the scrolls and get out of my office."
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
So a few things regarding this one. First, I find it funny that in her pursuit of puns and humor Yang occasionally puts the proverbial foot in her mouth. I'm sure Neo wouldn't mind when it isn't aimed at her to mock her (like her parents would have done), plus I think she was a bit distracted at the time...
So moving on; the Lighting Rod is a bit too powerful to be used in a school setting, it is however a sign of things to come. Don't worry were steadily moving through the timeline of volume 2 of RWBY and since I've already mixed up the teams, volume 3 is going to end... diferent.
But that's about as much as I'm willing to spoil.
On a personal note, class is back in session indeed. I'm writing this monday morning before my first class of this semester.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch.32 A very sunny morning