Chapter 10: When Pigs Fly
In which Yang and Sky meet the teacher's pet, and Dove reaches the breaking point.
"Welcome, young Hunters and Huntresses, to the fortress of yours truly!"
His mustache twitched as he spoke.
"Port's the name! But you can address me as Port!"
His tummy jiggled with every step he took.
"Prepare you minds and your bodies! For you shall soon bask in the splendor…of me!"
Yang bit her tongue to contain her giggles.
"In this fine institution of higher learning, we shall crack open the lobster of wisdom and collect the pearl of knowledge within!"
Oh, fuck. It was too much. She burst out laughing.
"I see I have inspired great mirth in the young huntress who stands before me. Soon, you all shall share in the pleasure I have brought her–" he winked, "–the pleasure that is Professor Peter Port, Ph.D.! Now, on to the lecture. There I was…"
Yang leaned back and kicked her legs onto the desk as the professor launched into a lecture. No matter what he said, she didn't need to hear it. You couldn't study how to fight. Fighting came from the heart. Specifically, tearing out your opponent's.
"–leaned in so close, I could practically reach over and steal the cigar out of its Grimm gaping maw. But I was wise enough not to, and the beastie soon succumbed to lung disease–"
The man was clearly a buffoon. She'd made the right call to not pay attention. Yang checked out her teammates as the portly man droned on about some great adventure he'd been on.
Ruby was sketching some kind of doodle drawing of the teacher into her notebook, but even her absurd caricature was not as funny as the man himself.
"–said her name, and Jinn the genie came out of the Relic. She was naked, blue, and naked. I considered casting her as a portstar for one of my portographic films–"
Blake was actually taking notes. Her pencil scribbled furiously, but she seemed to be struggling to find the 'pearl of knowledge' from the babble. Yang doubted that she ever would – the professor had gone off the deep end and was now clearly making stuff up. Genies and relics? Come on.
"–broke my left arm and both my legs in a single blow! But I still had one good arm and my axe, so I amputated the dead weight and dragged on–"
Weiss was completely flat. Pity.
"–believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits? Step forward and face your opponent."
Yang sat up. Finally, the good part. "I got this one, teach."
Yang proceeded down the center aisle to the front of the class. Port pulled a tarp off of a rattling cage to reveal the glowing red eyes of a Grimm within. Ruby and Blake cheered her on, but Weiss was silent and stared down at the floor. Yang primed her gauntlets and let the big man know she was good to go. His axe swung, and the door slammed open.
A pig lumbered out. Yang was pleased. She'd missed breakfast and was in the mood for some bacon.
Sky missed Feather's Edge. The Grimm that did a number on Team Castle had destroyed his halberd, but he'd been so focused on getting out alive that he didn't have time to process that he was unarmed. Once they'd been rescued, Sky felt it would've been distasteful to worry about a broken axe when lives were on the line. He hadn't dared to ask the bullhead pilot to turn around.
Now, watching Yang shoot shotgun rounds at a Boarbatusk, Sky finally could take a minute to grieve the loss of his precious weapon. Until he visited Beacon's forges and made a new one, he'd be out of combat practice entirely.
Sky sat in the front row with his team as the duel raged on. The girl seemed equally matched with the Grimm, which struck Sky as odd. She was a professional huntress student, yet she was taking hit after hit from her opponent's tusks and hind kicks. Her return hits made contact, but none of them could pierce the armored white hide.
Suddenly, her yellow mane burst into a mass of flames. Now it all made sense. She'd been letting the Grimm score a few blows while she met whatever condition was needed for her semblance to activate.
"No! Please, not that!"
The scream came from none other than Yang's own teammate, the Schnee girl. She'd fallen of her chair and had curled up into a ball, continuing to shriek as she buried her face into her arms. Yang's head jerked to her team, and Sky glimpsed that her eyes were red. She was angry.
"Yang, turn it off!" yelled their team's leader, the fifteen year old.
The flames ceased, and Yang blinked. When her eyes opened, they were once again their usual violet hue. Her expression had completely flipped to worry. Weiss stopped screaming but remained in her rigid, terrified state.
The Boarbatusk was not concerned for the young woman's well-being. Rolling into a ball, it charged at its opponent. Yang rolled out of the way but did not retaliate when the sphere of raw destruction crashed into the wall, exposing its underbelly. Why did she stop? Its stomach was completely devoid of armor. A single hit with her semblance would…
Oh, no. She couldn't use whatever semblance she'd planned this entire match around, and her aura had to be in the low yellow given how many direct hits she'd tanked. In other words, she was screwed.
Or not. A meaty first wrapped around the Boarbatusk's tusk. Professor Port hoisted the Grimm into the air and grabbed hold of its rear with his other hand. Raising the Grimm above his head, he flipped it upside down and pulled on both ends. The boar-like monster let out a final squeal as it was torn in two.
So, portly old Port can be a real huntsman after all.
"Sorry I had to go hog-wild, students."
Oh, for Dust's sake…
Port dropped the beast's front and back ends to the floor and rushed to Weiss. Pushing past Ruby and Blake, he swept the girl up into his arms.
"Worry not, girls, I shall rush young Miss Schnee to the infirmary. Class dismissed, read the textbook, homework due by…"
He was out the main doors before the class could hear his final instructions. Ruby zoomed off after him in a flash of rose petals, and Blake stayed to check up on Yang.
"If she's afraid of a little fire, then having a fire semblance on her team is going to be a problem," Ren idly remarked. "Weiss' future as a huntress of Beacon does not look favorable. It might be best if she resigned now to save hear team the trouble."
"Hey, buddy," Sky said, noting that Yang was still within earshot. "About that empathy thing you mentioned…"
Bronzewing's team was distracted. Understandably so, given the events of their Grimm Studies lesson, but they were distracted nonetheless. Bronzewing briefly considered requesting they focus on Professor Peach's lesson but elected to refrain. It was not his position. He was not the team leader.
He was not the team leader.
I. Am. Not. The. Team. Leader.
Bronzewing was unsure whether he was repeating such thoughts to remind himself not to overstep his position or because he was bitter.
He was the one who'd acted. He had consoled Arc on the bullhead before initiation. His semblance found the others – he practically created Team Adventure. He'd detected the Grimm and provided a plan to combat it. What had he done wrong?
Nikos whispered to Arc, "Do you think they'll be alright?"
"I'm sure they'll be fine. Weiss probably just needed to calm down," said Arc.
"But their team…if Yang's can't use her semblance, how can they hope to stay together?"
Thrush addressed her concerns in a hushed tone. "Don't worry, guys. They're a strong team, and Ruby'll find a solution."
Bronzewing's team had become…damn it. Arc's team, Bronzewing among them, had become quite enamored with the child prodigy after she escorted them to the bullheads in the Emerald Forest. Nikos seemed especially keen on making friends with Rose. Such behavior would be expected of a lone female on an otherwise entirely male team, especially when Bronzewing, Thrush, and Arc were acquainted with one another before the initiation. Nikos needed a friend of her own.
Pyrrha quietly murmured, "You're right, Russ. It's no secret that she's something special. Professor Goodwitch let Ruby come to Beacon two years early and choose her own partner, and Headmaster Ozpin put her in charge of Team Rainbow. He wouldn't be the headmaster if he didn't know what he was doing when he chose the team leaders."
Bronzewing's pencil snapped.
After class, the students filed out into the hallway. Thrush, like always, tried to encourage some manner of team bonding. This week's activity was introducing Nikos and Arc to the fast food scene in Vale.
"There's this one noodle stand run by an old man, and he sells the best grub in town! And the best Dust, and the best groceries, and the best – damn, that guy sells a lotta stuff. Anyways, Dove loves his noodles. Dove, tell 'em!"
"I believe I will sit this one out, Thrush."
"But Dove–"
"I would like to take some alone time to reflect on…recent events. Prosperity, team."
Bronzewing took a moment to compose himself on a balcony outside the hallway. He was not the team leader, but that would not be the end of Remnant. Nikos was the Invincible Girl, but she bore no complaints on the appointment. Arc would make an excellent commander. He had s̶k̶i̶l̶l̶ t̶a̶l̶e̶n̶t̶ p̶o̶t̶e̶n̶t̶i̶a̶l̶ a̶n̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ u̶s̶e̶f̶u̶l̶ spirit. Besides, there was nothing Bronzewing could do to make the headmaster reconsider.
Perhaps it was for the best. This way he could learn the value of humility. Lifting his head up and inhaling, he sensed Professor Port (rather, Port's protruding stomach) standing a distance away on the balcony.
A professor who had the headmaster's ear and could appeal the–
No. Absolutely not. Arc was his true friend. To betray Arc in such a manner would be to forswear all that Bronzewing held dear. The honorable course of action was to purge such thoughts from his mind, return to his routine, and make no further waves within Team Adventure.
And spend the rest of his life as a regular huntsman under team leader Arc.
"Professor Port!" called out Bronzewing.
Omake
Port: Sorry I had to go hog-wild, students.
Yang: Oh my…
Port: I really saved your bacon, Miss Xiao-Long.
Yang: Don't stop!
Port: Releasing Grimm on a student may be dangerous, but I refuse to let my lessons be a boar.
Yang: *violent orgasm*
Next Chapter: The Forges of Beacon – When you need a new weapon, there's only one place to go.