"Monsters! Demons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha ha!" Professor Port says as he paces in front of the classroom.
Weiss was the only one fervently taking notes, recording their professor's every word as she glanced towards her teammates, annoyed to find their so-called 'leader' looking bored and that she'd rather be anywhere but here.
Even their spare teammate, Hunter, looked to be paying attention to their professor's words with deep interest. At the very least he appeared to be a dedicated student. That was until he started scribbling something onto a piece of paper, likely notes, before sliding them under his desk to which she had a full view of thanks to sitting directly behind him.
He tosses it down a pool of mist and Ruby instinctively catches it with her offhand before unfurling it. Barely restraining a chuckle from whatever she just read, before scribbling her own response and throwing it back into the pool of mist it had emerged from, getting caught by Hunter.
She bites her bottom lip at the sight, frustrated. This was what happens if you hand over leadership to an unprepared, childish girl. If she was in charge they wouldn't be seeing this type of behaviour! She'd have them all whipped to shape.
"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy!" Port continues after the lacklustre response he got, "Now, as I was saying. Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses! Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"
Despite his enthusiasm in his words, it failed to get a reaction out of his students except for Hunter who gave a polite clap, echoing awkwardly through the lecture hall.
Port clears his throat before continuing, "That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man. Me! When I was a boy…"
And so he went on about an admittedly boring story that struggled to hold the interest of the class, even Weiss herself was having trouble paying attention despite her best efforts, something about advice from a cabbage-smelling uncle and slaying a powerful Beowolf near his village,
"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honourable!" Port exclaims after ending his story, through all this Weiss continues glaring at both Ruby and Hunter for their lack of attention, content with passing notes to each other through the latter's Semblance, "A true Huntsman must be dependable!! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits? Who will stand up to the challenge?"
He asks as he pats a rattling cage next to his desk, finally addressing it. Glowing red eyes indicate a Grimm trapped inside, likely young if it hasn't broken free yet.
Weiss immediately raises her hand, mostly out of frustration in seeing her teammate's incompetence, a burning desire in her to show them how a true student does things.
However, she wasn't the only one to raise her hand, with Hunter standing up to raise his as well. Suddenly he leaps up with energy and excitement he hasn't shown previously. The two waved their hands trying to get Professor Port's attention as he chuckled at the sight,
"My, my. Such enthusiasm from the first years. It almost reminds me of a story, where I had to compete with a rival Huntsmen of mine who chose the same mission I did." he laughs to himself as some of the class groans in anticipation of another long-winded story, "But enough stories for today. Why not make this interesting? The two of you may test your mettle, but the first to slay the beast will be the one to receive extra credit. Go, equip your weapons and combat uniforms, then return ready to face this monstrosity."
All the more reason for Weiss to do this. She can show up one of her slacker teammates, eventually all of them, slowly proving herself to be the one competent enough to be the team leader. By the end of the week, there's no doubt she'll be the team leader once they all see how competent she is.
"Oh? Quite an eager young man, I see. Reminds me of myself." Port chuckles as he sees Hunter immediately vaulting over his desk and those in front of him to eagerly jog to the podium where the Grimm was caged, reaching into a pool of mist and drawing out a cane with a sharp tip, "As I said, a true Huntsmen must be prepared to fight in any condition, in this case without their combat uniform. Glad to see you taking my lessons to heart young man. Weiss Schnee, we will await you if you choose to properly equip yourself, though."
Weiss spared a short glare at their additional team member before storming off to the nearest locker room where her equipment was stored. What was going on in that brute's head that he wanted to fight that eagerly without changing into his combat uniform? She heard from their 'team leader' that he was a Grimm hunting fanatic but still… Fine, if he wanted to do it without properly preparing himself, it was his wish.
It took her a few minutes before she returned to the lecture hall, all prepped and ready for combat while Hunter was still standing there waiting in his student uniform, holding that cane as his weapon.
"Come one Weiss and Hunter! Represent Team RWBY!" Ruby Rose cheers enthusiastically from her seat along with their other teammates with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
"Excellent, if the two of you are ready?" Port says, his hands on the cage's latch, "Begin!"
The doors to the cage immediately burst open and a Boarbatusk bursts out of the cage, roaring and glaring at the two students in front of it.
Weiss strikes first, hoping to get the killing blow quick before Hunter has a chance to. She leaps at it just as it charges, her blades locking with its tusks as Hunter watches, not having made a move.
"It's got weaker armour underneath! Go for it!" Ruby shouts from the sidelines, distracting Weiss long enough for the Boaratusk to twist its head, trapping Myrtenaster between its tusks and swinging her around like a ragdoll,
"A bold new approach. I love it!" Port exclaims as the Boartatusk flings Weiss away in one direction, and her weapon in another, "And now you are without your weapon. What will you do now?"
Before Weiss could do anything, the Grimm rolled into a ball and started rolling towards her as it spun rapidly, likely attempting to crush her into paste under its weight. As she was planning what to do, a burst of mist suddenly materialised next to it as it spun, Hunter appearing and striking hard with his cane.
The Boaratusk was staggered as it tried to get up, but Hunter swung his cane, changing it to some kind of serrated whip form and lashing at it with multiple strikes, entangling it before pulling hard and cutting up to bits, splatting the entire area and front row with Grimm gore, which consisted of the other members of Team RWBY and Professor Port.
"Oh gross!" Yang cries out as she wipes the goop off her face with her sleeves, "Give us a warning at least, we didn't even get to get our Aura up!"
Hunter shrugs in response as Professor Port claps,
"Marvellous work, young man. Exhibiting the patience and tactical nature a Huntsmen needs. You might learn a thing or two, Miss Schnee. Charging headfirst is definitely a valid tactic, Brothers know how much I do that in the field, but you must learn when and which type of Grimm to apply such tactics to."
Hunter bows in response to the class with Ruby being the only one clapping and cheering, as Weiss glares at him.
"That was wicked!" Ruby says to Hunter as they leave the class, "You gotta teach me how to do that."
"Don't you fight with a scythe?" Blake raises a brow as Yang searches her hair for any remains of Grimm, "Stop it, they all evaporated at this point."
"Just making sure." Yang grumbles, "It was everywhere, and I'm pretty sure there's a couple bone shards still left inside."
"W-well, I can try learning. I'm not a one-weapon kinda gal after all. It's great to have options." Ruby says, trying to sound convincing as Yang chokes back a laugh, "What did I say?"
"Heh, it's nothing." She coughs into a fist before turning to Weiss to distract herself, "Hey, are you still mad over not getting that extra credit? Guess being the early bird doesn't always mean getting the worm, eh?"
She nudges the white-haired heiress with her elbow, only serving to infuriate her even more,
"He just got lucky." she grumbles giving a side eye to Ruby, "Had I not been distracted by a certain someone, I would have killed it."
Ruby looks embarrassed, "Sorry, I was just trying to be helpful."
"Did I look like I was struggling?" Weiss shot back, "Of course, I knew it was a weak spot already! Have you forgotten that unlike you, I studied a full three years before enrolling in Beacon? Do you know how insulting that is to my skills that you had to point out something I already learned in my first few weeks of Grimm Biology?"
"Hey, like she said, she was just trying to help," Yang says defending her sister, crossing her arms as Ruby jumps in,
"Yeah, you made your point." Ruby says apologetically, "I'm sorry, I should have more faith in your abilities."
Weiss scoffs, "As you should."
Blake, watching this from behind, sighs and rolls her eyes. Then she feels someone nudging her with their elbow and turns, before quickly averting her eyes to avoid eye contact once she realises it was Hunter.
Still, she could see him making confused gestures towards Weiss, enough to understand what he might be asking. Despite how creeped out she was at the boy, she answered him, mostly out of annoyance at how the girl in question had been acting.
"It's just a Schnee being a Schnee." she replied softly and quietly to avoid said heiress overhearing her, "An ego to match the stacks of Lien. One which you trampled over when you outperformed her just now."
"How about we all just move on to our next class?" Ruby suggests hoping to avoid an argument, "We're gonna be late if we don't hurry. Our next class should be History with someone named Professor Oobleck."
"Jeez, a pop quiz on the first day?" Yang groans as she leans back on her chair and stares at the B- she got on her History quiz, "Beacon's no joke. This Professor Oobleck's brutal."
"Well, I'm just glad we didn't fail." Ruby chuckles nervously as she looks at her own quiz with a C grade. Turns out skipping two years meant skipping all the lessons she'd have learnt in them. She was gonna have to catch up.
Blake shrugs with her A- grade, "At least this doesn't count towards our collective grades."
"How about you Weiss? What did you get?" Yang asks and the heiress flashes her own paper with a perfect A on it, "...Well I guess you act stuck up for a reason."
"I am not stuck up!" Weiss argues, crossing her arms, "Are you so unconcerned? Our leader has the lowest grades out of all of us! And that's not accounting for our fifth member! Speaking of, where is he?"
"Professor Oobleck wanted to speak with him for some reason," Ruby informs before the door to the lecture hall opens,
" Doctor Oobleck!" said the doctor in question, correcting loudly with Hunter at his side holding his quiz and a note, "And we are finished, Hunter you may rejoin your team. I expect you to arrive for remedial classes this weekend. Understand? Good day."
The doctor closes the doors behind Hunter as Weiss glares at him, snatching his quiz from his hands, "Remedial classes? By the Brothers, how badly did you fail?"
She takes a look at his results, her eyes growing in disbelief at the sight as Ruby, Blake and Yang look over her shoulders.
"That's…concerning," Blake admits.
"I'm not sure if that's ballsy or stupid," Yang says in a similar tone.
"You didn't answer even a single question?!" Weiss shouts at Hunter's face, who remains as passive as ever, "I know this isn't graded, but what reason could you have to not at least attempt this?"
Hunter gives a couple signs with his hand and Ruby smacks herself on the head as if remembering something, "Oh my gods, you can't read…"
"He can't-?! How?!" Weiss asks, turning back to Hunter expecting an explanation, "Did you even go to school?!"
Before he could do anything to respond, she jabbed his chest with a finger, "Do you even know how Beacon works? Even as a temporary member, your grades are accumulated with ours! If one of us fails, it drags our grade point average down! Do you understand? You'll drag us down, you uneducated buffoon!"
"Hey!" Ruby gets between the two, pushing Weiss from Hunter, "That's enough! That's your teammate you're talking to, and you can't talk to him like that! Listen. We can work this out, he just needs some extra classes, that's all."
"Extra classes? This isn't you we're talking about." Weiss snaps, "It's one thing to barely pass, this is a whole other level! Now we're going to have to work harder dragging him along with us! As if being led by you isn't enough!"
Hunter's eyes suddenly change from confusion and disinterest, sharpening in a second and takes a step forward only for Ruby to stop him, calmly looking at Weiss,
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Yang asks jumping in to defend her sister, as Weiss glares at her,
"Isn't it obvious? She's a grade skipper, the youngest and least experienced out of all of us. Look me in the eye and tell me you think she's the best choice to lead us." Weiss challenges, and for a second there is a flicker of hesitation in Yang's eyes before Ruby interrupts,
"That's enough." she cuts in, looking at Weiss sternly, "If there's something you want to tell me, then we can do it. In private. You guys head on first, we'll catch up."
"But-" Yang tries to speak but Ruby interrupts, looking at Hunter,
"Hunter, take them to the cafeteria. It should be lunchtime soon." Ruby orders, "This is just a private chat between Weiss and me."
"Like hell it is, if she's going to badmouth my little sister, I-!" Yang tries to argue, looking angry at Weiss when Hunter surprises her by picking her up and walking off towards the cafeteria's direction, "What the heck? Put me down!"
Blake, not wanting to experience the same, simply glances back at Ruby with a nod and walks off, following Hunter as Yang struggles to escape his grip.
"Well?" Weiss crosses her arms at Ruby who shakes her head,
"Not here. There's an empty classroom we passed by." she gestures to it with her thumb, "Let's talk there."
"So what exactly is your problem?" Ruby asks once they were alone in the empty classroom, letting a bit of anger slip into her voice, "Look, I get we're not going to get along instantly, we only got to know each other a day ago, but insulting you teammates is going too far."
"What's my problem?" Weiss glares back, "You're my problem! Everything about this is my problem!"
"What are you talking about?" Ruby asks confused, "How am I the problem?"
"Do you know how much I've studied? How much I've worked for this? After all I've been through I should've been the leader instead! Look at you, barely paying attention to classes, distracting me in a fight, not taking any of this seriously and treating it like it's a game!" Weiss yells, all but screaming in Ruby's face who takes all the yelling but instead of looking angered, she actually looks saddened,
"Where is all this coming from?" Ruby asks, "We were working so well together back in the forest."
Weiss angrily sighs in an attempt to reign in her anger, "I admit, your tactics snagged us a victory, but tactics don't define a leader. It's experience, skills and knowledge. Something I really believe you lack. Whatever reason Ozpin chose for you to become leader, he made a mistake!"
She turns her back to Ruby, "I'll speak with him. By the end of the day, this error will be resolved or at the very least I won't have to be in a team with you."
But before she could touch the doorknob, Ruby interrupted her, "How about I make you the leader? I'll go to Ozpin myself, and ask him to place you in charge because I think that you'll be far better suited for it?"
This gets Weiss to turn back confused as Ruby steps toward them with a determined look on her face, "If he doesn't allow for that, I'll be the leader in name only. But in truth, you'll be the one running the scenes. The paperwork, team exercises, and all that. I'll convince everyone on our team to get along with this."
Weiss looks at her, tempted by the offer but her suspicions rising, there was no way she was going to hand it over on a silver platter like this so there must be a catch. "But…"
"Only after you beat me in a duel." she says, crossing her arms and staring into her eyes, "One on one, tonight. I'll book us one of the training arenas, say it's to practise sparring. First to break their opponent's Aura wins."
The seriousness in her voice and how stern her eyes were actually sent chills down Weiss' neck for some reason she couldn't discern, but not wanting to appear intimidated, she stepped closer to glare at Ruby.
"Why the challenge?"
"You think that I'm younger than you means I'm less experienced. I want to bet that I have more combat experience than you do. You think I'm less skilled than you? I think otherwise. You think I'm dumber than you…okay, the last part's true I can concede to that, but not for the first two." Ruby gets flustered near the end before clearing her throat, "My point is…if that's all it takes to be the leader I'm ready to put Lien where my mouth is to prove I'm capable. I'll have no complaints if you win because according to that logic, you're the better leader than I am. But if I win, you won't complain as well because according to your logic, I'd have proven I have better leader material than you do."
"You're willing to risk it all for your pride?" Weiss scoffs,
"No, I'm risking this because I don't want to mess with our team just because the two of us can't get along. I want to nip this issue in the bud, so do we have a deal or not?" Ruby asks, extending a hand.
Weiss stares at it for a moment before grabbing it and shaking, "It's a deal."
Weiss waits for her opponent to arrive in the isolated training arena, making last-minute checks with Myrtemaster as she waits, making sure all the proper Dust vials are loaded just as she hears footsteps approaching from the other end of the arena.
There was Ruby Rose, her opponent and obstacle in her way of becoming team leader, wielding her oversized gardening tool and wearing a different combat uniform, a dark coat with red accents, causing her to raise a brow at this.
"Why the wardrobe change?" she inquires out of curiosity as Ruby breaks her weapon apart into its rifle and blade form in each hand,
"Just breaking in new threads. Are you ready to start working properly in a team?" Ruby asks as she gets into a stance, pointing the blade challengingly at Weiss as the display board in the arena has her Aura bar fill up, "It's not too late to back out."
Weiss gets into a fencing stance and ready herself as well, "I think you mean if I'm ready to assume my rightful responsibility as team leader. Then yes, I am."
Ruby sighed in disappointment at this before placing her rifle at her back and taking out a coin from her pocket, "We'll start the moment this hits the ground. You can toss it however you like."
She flicks it over to Weiss who catches it without batting an eye, "Fine. Whenever you're ready."
"Whether I'm ready or not makes no difference." Ruby says grabbing her rifle from her back, "Our enemies out there won't wait for us to be. But I'll let you take your time, princess."
Weiss scowls at this before flipping the coin and getting back into her stance, the coin travelling high in the air almost touching the ceiling thanks to her Aura, before plummeting. The moment it bounces off the floor, creating an audible 'ping' sound, the two charge at each other.
Their blades clashed against each other and Weiss immediately realised their difference in strength, almost buckling under the force of her blow if not for using both hands to push against her blade.
"Tired already?" Ruby asks unfazed as she pushes down her blade on Myrtemaster with only a single hand.
"H-hardly!" Weiss shot back before activating Ice Dust in her weapon, creating a small column of ice to freeze the blade and Ruby's hand in place as she moved around to her exposed flank, only to be greeted by the sight of her rifle's barrel.
A shot was fired from it, forcing her to deflect it with her rapier but in the time it took for her to do that, Ruby breaks free from her ice trap and slashes at Weiss. She barely deflects the blow and steps back to get some space between them.
"You're strong…I'll give you that." Weiss pants as she analyses her opponent. Something was different about her, and it wasn't just the way she was dressed. The look in her eye was the most obvious, dead serious just like she saw in the forest against the Nevermore, only this time she was on the receiving end.
The way those silver eyes were staring at her, watching every move she made for the slightest hint of weakness. It made her feel like she was being looked down on, and it angers her further.
Using a white glyph she launches herself towards Ruby, striking with her rapier only for it to be deflected as she lands on the wall opposite of her, before bouncing back with another glyph, repeating the process like a ball ricocheting off a wall repeatedly.
But each time Ruby keeps up with ease, tracking her movements and blocking her blows without much effort, so she activates some Fire Dust. The next time Ruby tried blocking, the blast knocked her back and took some of her Aura with it.
Then she begins striking with rapid stabs at her, leaving no room for the girl in red to counterattack, and it seems she was being steadily forced back. She has her on the run now, she just needs to continue chipping away at her Aura, wait for the right moment then finish her.
However Ruby was still managing to block every last strike, the look on her face unchanged. Weiss scowls as she presses her assault,
"Stop that…stop looking at me like you're above me!" she yells frustrated,
"Where's all this coming from?" Ruby asks as if they weren't in the middle of a battle, "All that anger, is it just because you want to be team leader? Why do you want it that badly?"
Ruby then stops moving backwards and slashes at Weiss, who ducks in time and stabs upwards hoping to catch Ruby off guard only to get blasted in the guts by her rifle for her trouble.
As she stumbles backwards, stunned from the blow, Ruby drops her blade to Weiss' confusion only to see her curl her hand into a fist and punch her where she was shot. The power behind her blow ripples across her entire Aura and left her coughing on her knees, winded.
She gasped for breath as she pushed herself up with Myrtemaster, before realising that Ruby hadn't taken the opportunity and struck her while she was down. Instead, she took steps back casually, picked up her dropped blade and waited for her to catch her breath.
"Are you looking down on me?" She asks enraged before slashing at Ruby with her blade, ejecting Wind Dust and blasting her backwards before raising her blade and channelling Lightning Dust through her glyphs, creating a 'Time Dilation' glyph that boosts her movement and speed.
She dashes towards a surprised Ruby, the most emotion she has shown through the fight so far, her first strike was barely blocked and the second one grazed her Aura as she moved her head to avoid that blow.
Weiss stabs and chips away her Aura in a blitz as Ruby fires a shot from her rifle to launch herself back with the recoil; Weiss catches up a second later, slashing and stabbing with her rapier.
Then she gets lucky when one of her blows exposes a weak point in Ruby's guard and allows her to stab at her wrist. While her Aura took the blow, she accidentally let go of her blade, and at such close range, she couldn't bring her rifle to bear.
She stabs Ruby in the guts, the force combined with the momentum amplifying the blow sends her reeling back, excess Lightning Dust on her blade coursing through her as she kneels from the shock.
Taking her chance she brings her blade down only for Ruby to suddenly leap up and grab her wrist,
"That was actually pretty cool, Weiss. I can see why you think you're best suited for the job." Ruby says as she stands back up and pushes Weiss' arm to point the blade away from herself, "But you still haven't answered my question. Why do you want to be the team leader that bad? Do you hate me that much?"
"Why…do you…care?!" Weiss grunts as she tries to force the blade down, but Ruby's strength is too much. Both their Aura and build should be similar so how was she this much stronger than her?!
"Because you're my partner!" Ruby shouts as she headbutts Weiss, sending her stumbling back stunned, "Professor Ozpin said that once we locked eyes in the Emerald Forest we're going to train together to become Huntsmen for the next three years!"
"That was a mistake!" Weiss roars as she slashes only for Ruby to dodge, "I should have someone like Pyrrha Nikos as my partner, not you! I had it all planned out!"
"Planned out?" Ruby asks as she blocks a second strike and the two lock blades, "Had what planned out?"
"Everything!" Weiss screams in frustration, "I was going to be the team leader! With capable teammates! I was going to fix it all!"
"Fix what?" Ruby asks increasingly confused before Weiss realise what she just said,
"So just give up…!" Weiss snarls and pressed her blade closer to Ruby's face, "And let me win! Why do you even want to be a Huntsman anyway?"
"Because I want to be like my mother!" Ruby parries her strike before cutting her across the chest, taking a large chunk of her Aura out, "I want to save people! And I want to work in a team of friends just like my parents did! I want to go on adventures to help people!"
"That's a childish reason. The world isn't that simple!" Weiss glares before recovering and stabbing only for Ruby to suddenly drop her weapons, using both her hands to grab the blade and the hilt. Weiss tries pulling the trigger on Myrtemaster only for Ruby to grab the cylinder and stop it from rotating to the next chamber to fire.
"I know it isn't. I've seen it." Ruby glares at Weiss, "It's unfair, and it sucks! That's why Huntsmen exist! So we can at least try to balance out with some fairness!"
She then wrests the rapier from Weiss' hand and before the heiress could react, her own blade was pointed at her throat and she froze. But then Ruby does the unexpected again and flips the rapier and grabs it by the blade, handing Weiss the grip of Myrtemaster.
She felt two emotions at once, half of it being despair at this. It shouldn't be possible, someone who was two years her junior outmatched her this much. After all her hard work, all she's done, it shouldn't be possible. And she also felt anger, at being looked down on, on constantly being shown mercy in this fight, like the girl was pitying her!
She roars in anger, grabbing her blade and stabbing it towards Ruby. She was unarmed while she wasn't, this was her chance, and her overconfidence would be her downfall. But then Ruby dodges the strike, using her feet to kick her dropped blade up and grabbing it in a reverse grip before stabbing it at Weiss in a powerful strike, finally shattering her Aura.
"No…" Weiss groans as the feeling of Aura exhaustion washes over her body, struggling to get back up leaning on Myrtemaster to support her weight, "I can still fight…!"
"Your Aura broke, Weiss. I won and that means I've got the most leadership potential, isn't that right?" Ruby asks, kneeling down to get on Weiss' level, "Those were your own words weren't they? Are you going to back down on them now?"
"How are you…You skipped two years! I worked hard for all three of them, and even more before then!" Weiss says in shock, tears of disbelief flowing from her eyes, "So how are you better!"
"I wasn't always." Ruby sighed as she sat down, "In fact, if you met me before Beacon I don't think I could have won. You're a good fighter, Weiss."
"Not good enough." Weiss looks down defeated, "It wasn't supposed to be like this…"
"Your plans, what were they?" Ruby asks, "You never did answer."
"You keep asking that." Weiss growls, "Why? What's so interesting about that? Why do you want to know?"
"There's a lot of reasons. But most of all, it's like I said during our fight. Because you're my partner." Ruby repeats herself, "I don't want us to be at each other's throats for the next few years, not when we can be working together to become the best Huntsmen we can be."
She stands up and extends a hand towards Weiss, "I know I'm not the best leader right now, but I can learn. I want to learn to be the best leader I can be, just like my mother before me. You have your own dream, I could tell by how hard you fought me. We worked so well together back in the Emerald Forest, and I think if we keep that up we can become accomplish both our dreams, rather than getting in each other's way. So what do you say?"
"...I was wrong about you." Weiss sighs before grabbing her hand, letting herself get pulled up, "You're…the better fighter. Maybe you'll be a better leader than I think."
"I hope I won't let you down then, partner," Ruby says with a smile as they shake hands.
"I still think you could do with some extra classes though." Weiss points out, "Two years of studies isn't something to scoff at."
"Heh, I guess so." Ruby laughs awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.
"And make sure that your friend gets working on his studies." she says, sounding serious, "He might be a good fighter, but being a Huntsman needs intellect as well. If he can't even read…"
"Relax, Weiss." Ruby says, putting an arm on her shoulder, "He'll manage. Trust your leader on this. I already put plans in motion."
"...Mother, where are the Messengers?" the Hunter asks after failing to call them to grab his weapons for him.
She takes a sip from a cup of tea from inside the Workshop where the Hunter began searching for his equipment, "Ah, I asked the Little Ones not to comply with your requests for now. Huntress Ruby has told me about something concerning during your first day in school."
Evetta raised her hand as Messengers came out from a pool of mist and handed her items, "So she has left me with these. Children's picture books, an audiobook for learning how to read, and other educational items."
The Hunter's eyes widen before realising what this means,
"So until you learn, no more nighttime sparring with Ruby or tinkering with your equipment." Evetta says with a smile, as Hunter falls to his knees shaking his hands in the air in despair, "Oh do not be so overdramatic, we are going to have fun learning together. I have already looked at the material beforehand and the Valean written language is quite similar to ours. Now come, if we start now we may finish in only a few months."
"Come on, are you still mad?" Ruby teases as Hunter crosses his arms and looks away, "Sorry, but as your team leader I have to make the hard decision to prioritise your study life."
"...So what's she got you doing?" Yang asks from her spot next to Hunter, her only response being a grumpy glare, "Right. Don't want to talk about it. Gotcha."
She then glanced around the amphitheatre where their class was occurring, "Anyways, where's Miss Uptight? She doesn't seem the type to be late for class."
"I'm not." Weiss says, surprising her as she walks over to Ruby with two paper cups of coffee in each hand, "Five sugars and cream, right?"
"Oh, thanks, Weiss." Ruby looked at her gratefully, taking a sip as Weiss sat down on the seat next to her.
"Hey, so the rest of us don't get coffee?" Yang jokes, "What did you two get up to last night?"
"Eh, nothing much. We just came to an agreement." Ruby says as she chugs down her coffee Hunter looks at her drink oddly, "What, you've never had coffee before?"
He simply shrugs, arms still crossed and grumpy as Ruby holds out her cup, "I'll let you have a taste if you stop acting mad."
"What's got him in that mood?" Weiss wonders out loud and Yang nods,
"That's what I've been asking."
"He's just mad he can't spar late at night because he has to focus on studying." Ruby explains as Hunter looks tempted at the strange yet pleasant-smelling drink before remembering he was supposed to be mad, huffing and turning away, "Your loss."
As she says this, Glynda Goodwitch steps up to the stage in the amphitheatre, speaking through a microphone, "Good morning students, welcome to Live Combat Training. I will be your instructor for this course."
The entire amphitheatre quiets down as she speaks, "In this class, you will be learning how to fight one another in live combat, supervised by me. For our first class, I believe a demonstration will be beneficial to show you what is to be expected. I will randomly call up two First Year students to compete against one another using standard tournament rules."
"Ooh, combat trials already? Sign me up." Yang smirks, pumping her fists together excitedly, and Hunter leans forward intrigued.
Holographic screens are projected on the amphitheatre walls as two squares were filled with student profiles randomising before finalising on the competitors.
"Our first fight will be between…Pyrrha Nikos of Team JNPR and Hunter of Team RWBYH." Glynda announces as Hunter pumps a fist into the air and Ruby grows concerned,
"Oh no…" Ruby mutters to herself seeing the excited look and bloodthirsty grin on Hunter's face.