"WAKE UP YOU DOLT!" came a frustrated piercing scream, followed by a smack.
"Ow!" Ruby cried out, flinching as she rolled away from the pain, only to fall off her hanging bunk. "Weiss, I thought you said you wouldn't do that anymore!"
"I said I wouldn't do it so long as you could act responsibly! Today is the day of Glynda's test, and you're not even up! The rest of us are dressed and ready to go to breakfast!" Weiss huffed with her hands on her hips. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I bother with you."
"Are you still mad about yesterday?" Ruby mumbled as she got up, only to let out a yeep when Weiss gave her a glare that would have frozen a Grimm in place.
"Why yes, yes I am mad at what YOU did yesterday," Weiss said as her ice blue eyes glared at Ruby who gulped at being stared down by her teammate.
The heiress soon stomps towards the dresser, opened it up and started pulling out a few articles of Ruby's clothing before tossing it to the poor girl.
"Get dressed and ready," Weiss muttered before turning around and making her way out of the dorm room to give her teammate some privacy. Or just to fume outside, she then gave ruby another glare before yelling. "And don't forget to shower!"
With that the Schnee slammed the door, causing Ruby to wince from the show of anger from her white themed teammate.
"Yep, still mad," Ruby sighed out as she made her way to the bathroom. A guilty look on her face. "Can't blame her…"
Her friend and fellow huntress in training had every right to be mad. All of her teammates were mad at her after her little stunt yesterday. Ruby still winced when she remembered the worried faces of her team.
Yang pulled her into a tight hug as soon as she and Oobleck made it back to the rest of the group. Yang then smacked Ruby behind the head before chewing her ear off for disappearing like that right before hugging her again, glad that she was ok for the most part.
Blake looked concerned, and she gave Ruby a few words of disappointment and told Ruby not to go off on her own like that. But like Yang, she soon forgave the younger girl and was just happy she didn't lose the little ball of energy that was the leader of Team RWBY.
But Weiss was the harshest of the three. Giving Ruby a full half-hour long rant as they left the ruins. And unlike the rest of the team, Weiss was not willing to let Ruby off the hook JUST yet. Shown by how the Schnee heiress gave Ruby the cold shoulder for the rest of the day. Despite even getting the news of Ruby getting a perfect grade from Oobleck for helping said teacher discover some new information about the ruins did nothing to calm Weiss down.
In fact, when Ruby told Weiss about it while everyone was getting ready for bed the Heiress simply let out a humph before going to bed. Leaving Ruby feeling defeated.
"At least she's talking to me," Ruby said. Trying to be optimistic. "So she should be willing to forgive me later today!"
With that, the young teen soon got undressed and jumped into the shower to get a quick scrub before starting her day. After the shower, the silver-eyed girl quickly got dried before slipping on her usual outfit.
After doing her other needs for daily hygiene, Ruby soon exited her room and spotted Weiss waiting for her.
'She waited for me!' Ruby thought happily. She thought Weiss would have gone on ahead while still being mad, but no the heiress had waited for her leader! 'She's not as mad as I thought.'
"About time." Weiss scolded. "You'd think with your semblance you'd be able to go a little faster. You remembered to bring everything with you?"
"Yep!" Ruby said with a skip to her step as she gestured towards her sword. Much to Weiss's confusion,
"The sword?" the Schnee said with a flat look. "You're not bringing your scythe?"
"Nora did more damage than I thought," Ruby said with a sad sigh. "It's going to take the weekend for the replacement parts to come, and without them, I can't shift my baby into scythe mode."
"Well, a sword is more balanced anyway. Maybe that'll teach you to hone your basics more."
"That and uncle Qrow told me his sword mode for his weapon was more to fight people then Grimm," Ruby said while thinking back on that day. Ruby knew her uncle took out more than just Grimm. She understood why he did it but Ruby felt that she would only take out Grimm, hence one of the reasons she forewent the sword mode for Crescent Rose.
But now, after dealing with the likes of Roman and the White Fang has taught her she can't avoid fighting people and would need to shape up. Not only to be a better fighter but to also not hold her team back.
In fact, she might need to come up with some plans to add a sword mode once she has the parts to fix her pride and joy.
"So maybe I should at least use his teachings to their fullest in Glynda's class."
"Well, let's hurry up then. You won't get any practice standing around here."
"Right!" Ruby nodded, trying to sound serious but unable to stop herself from feeling excited.
Letting out a sigh from her leader's behavior, the Schnee heiress needed to keep herself from smiling. Reminding herself that she needed to still be angry at Ruby for at least the rest of the day in the hopes that it would show the young leader that her actions from yesterday had consequences.
'Though that might be hard,' thought Weiss as she watched her teammate ramble on about today's test, and how she hoped that they didn't have to face each other or worst Pyrrha.
Shaking her head, the Schnee heiress had to wonder where her old self went. Before Beacon, the heir to the Schnee throne would've demanded complete order from her team, and would not be struggling to stay mad at her red themed leader.
'Maybe it's for the best though,' Weiss thought. If she was her old self then she would have never accepted Blake for being a Faunus, or trust Ruby to lead their team or tolerate Yang's playful personality.
'And I would never have such great friends,' Weiss smiled at that thought before putting on a look of calm focus before Ruby could notice the change in her white themed teammate's mood.
What? She might have gone soft but she still plans on making Ruby learn from her mistakes.
Soon enough the two made it to the cafeteria where the rest were waiting and headed to the counter to grab their food.
"Sweet food!" Ruby thought with a sigh of content as she breathed in the aroma of the large quantities of food. She had missed dinner last night due to being in the nurse's office getting patched up from the injuries from her fight with the dark creatures yesterday. While not serious, the cuts from the yellow-eyed creature's attacks were taking longer to heal than normal even with Aura speeding up the process.
Which meant poor Ruby had to stay with the nurse while also going through a bunch of tests to make sure nothing was wrong with her body or aura. All the while missing out on getting anything besides an apple and a bottle of water from the nurse to eat that night.
But now she could make up for lost time!
With that, the red-themed girl was quick to grab as much bacon sausages and waffles that her tray could carry. Thanking anyone above for her semblance's side effect of giving her a high metabolism. Wouldn't have to worry about gaining weight from this little feast of she still got a lecture from her team when she pigged out like this.
Like right now.
"You know, one day you're going to eat too much even for your semblance to keep up," Wiess muttered as she carried a tray with nothing but a simple fruit salad and some orange juice. "And you'll be sorry that you didn't listen to anyone."
"Please~," Ruby said with an eye roll as she and Weiss made it towards the table with the rest of their team who were chatting with team JNPR. "I get plenty of exercise from Yang dragging me to the school's gym and running around the campus with Nora when she wants me to help her with something."
"And we appreciate that," Ren said. Hearing that part of the two girls' conversation. "You're the only one with the speed and energy to keep up with Nora when she goes on one of her little adventures looking for any hidden areas of Beacon."
"I'm telling you there is some super-secret hidden place in this school no one knows about!" the girl in question said with a determined look before letting out an annoyed sigh at her team. "Besides, you guys could keep up with me if you just stick with my training program!"
"Nora..," Jaune sighed out. "Last time we tried your training program, I broke both my legs, and Pyrrha had to wear a neck brace for a week for her Aura to heal her!"
"And Ren was in a full-body cast," said the Mistral champion as she rubbed her neck from the phantom pain she still felt. The young redhead was surprised that her shorter teammate could think up such a program that would have had her former instructors back home sweating in fear.
"Aw, you guys are such quitters! But I'm telling you, I'm sure there are some secret places here! Like a super-secret underground basement hiding all sorts of world-shattering mysteries!" Nora continued with glee.
"Sure thing, Nora. Sure thing." Jaune sighed.
"Glad to see them in high spirits huh Blake?" Yang said with a laugh, but she didn't get a response from the bow wearing member of the team. Confusing Yang greatly that she didn't even get a hum out of her, turning towards said girl Yang saw Blake glaring a bit away to the next table. "Blake?"
"Oww!" cried a nearby voice. "stop!"
The rest of the table turned to see an unfortunately familiar sight. Cardin Winchester, bully of the first years, picking on Velvet Scarlatina, one of his usual targets. The rabbit Faunus girl winced as Cardin pulled on one of her ears, the same brown color as her hair and eyes.
"Please, stop it…" Velvet whined.
"Seriously? Hasn't he learned yet?" Jaune growled, gritting his teeth. Though Cardin hadn't been anywhere near as antagonistic to him as he was earlier in the semester, Jaune still didn't get along with him. It didn't help matters Cardin just bullied others even worse now.
And poor Velvet was too sweet of a person to fight back in the fear that some of the students would think she was a member of the White Fang if she kicked Cardin's sorry behind until next Wednesday, something the young rabbit Faunus could easily do, being a second-year and all.
"It's disgraceful how he acts," Weiss said in disgust. "He's supposed to be a hunter in training. A protector of the people,"
Blake smiled a bit at her comment. Not even a few months ago Weiss wouldn't have cared a Faunus was being bullied
"Wish we could do something, but Velvet made us promise not to interfere," Pyrrha said in a low tone. The rabbit girl promised the two teams she would handle it and not to interfere, or worse tell her team about her lunchroom problems.
"Yeah," muttered Yang in annoyance. Usually, she would have said to hell with it and just bust Cardin's face over her knee but Velvet pleaded with them to not do anything. Pretty much in tears when she did. And that was able to force the two teams into listening to her. Even if no one liked it.
"What can ya do?" Nora sighed out. She too wanted to break the jerk's legs but she made a promise, and Nora never broke a promise.
"We just have to hope she finally does something about it before things get worse," Ren said as he winced when he saw Cardin yanked even harder on the poor girl's ears.
While this went on Ruby stared at the scene with growing anger. While she was someone to keep her promises and wanted to see Velvet stand up for herself. But the Faunus's inability or refusal to do anything about this was filling Ruby with anger she never felt before.
And that anger was growing as she balled her hand into a fist as she tried to keep herself calm.
But that all went out the window as soon as she saw Cardin pour Velvet's cereal on her. Causing the poor girl's ears to wilt down in sadness as she tried to hold back a few sobs while Cardin and his team laughed. All the while no one was willing to help. Only to look away while trying not to pay attention.
"That's it!" Ruby said while slamming the table. This made her team and team JNPR to jump from the girl's sudden outburst.
"Ruby?" Jaune blurted out in surprise.
"Hey, Cardin!" Ruby called as she stomped over. "How about you pick on someone who doesn't have a problem fighting back!?"
Turning towards where he heard his name being called, Cardin soon looked towards the angry Ruby with a smug smile as soon as his eyes landed on her.
"Well if it isn't grass mouth," Cardin said with a laugh. "What are you doing here? Thought you would eat the grass outside with how much you liked eating the lawn during Port's class."
"Wow. Nice insult Cardin. Top tier. Bet it took you a whole two seconds to come up with that one." Ruby snapped back.
This caused everyone to stop what they were doing and stared in shock at Ruby. They NEVER heard her make witty comebacks like that!
"What the...," Wiess muttered as she stared in shock. "When did she start acting like Yang!?"
"Guess she learned more than just fighting from uncle Qrow," said blonde muttered. That sounded like something her uncle would say.
"That's what your uncle sounds like?" Blake asked while not looking away from the scene playing.
"Yeah…, but maybe a little less sober, depends on what time it is."
Weiss could only look at her brawler of a teammate with a flat look.
"Let's just hope Ruby doesn't pick up THAT habit in the future…," sighed out the Schnee heiress.
"Wow. You got a death wish today, don't ya?" Cardin said, his attitude turning slightly more aggressive as he finally let Velvet go, Ruby now having his full attention.
"No I just don't like jerks hurting people," Ruby said. Not backing away even when Cardin walked towards so he could loom over the smaller girl to intimidate her.
It wasn't working and that was getting Cardin angry, as he glared at the younger student who just glared back at the bigger student.
"What? Am I supposed to be scared you're taller than me? I've beaten plenty of Grimm bigger than you. They also didn't have personalities like a dumpster fire." Ruby smirked, enjoying Cardin getting steadily angrier. 'Wow, no wonder Uncle Qrow likes to do this.'
This caused a few students to let out a few "oooh," while others broke into small laughter. All this, of course, made Cardin even angrier.
"Why you little!" Cardin yelled as was about to grab his weapon but before he could act on his anger a strong pressure soon enveloped him, locking him in place as he tried to fight this invisible force.
"Mr. Winchester. I can't say I'm entirely surprised," said a stern voice. Everyone turned to see Glynda Goodwich walking over, her riding crop pointed at Cardin, a violet sigil glowing in front of it.
"M-miss Glynda?" Ruby gasped out. Her previous bravado gone as she saw one of the strictest teachers in school looking at her and Cardin with her usual stern glare.
"I did expect a little more of you, Ms. Rose. Fighting is not allowed in the cafeteria," she continued as she releases Cardin. "If you two have a grievance with each other, I suggest you settle it in a sanctioned and supervised, manner."
Cardin only grumbled as he fixed Ruby with a glare, something Ruby was willing to send back. It seems this fire in her was still aflame, even if Glynda was bringing out more of Ruby's meek side.
Scoffing the tall teen turned around and made his leave. His teammates following close behind.
Sighing at Cardin's behavior, Glynda was about to make her leave as well before spotting Velvet. Said teen was trying to make herself as less noticeable as possible. Something quite hard with her breakfast on her.
Quickly connecting the dots the older woman let out a sigh as she pointed her riding crop at the young Faunus. Causing said girl to let out an eep and close her eyes. Waiting for whatever punishment awaited her.
But nothing like that happened. Instead, she felt her wet uniform start to dry and the sticky feeling from her cereal leave her. Opening her eyes she was greeted to the site of Glynda's semblance being used to clean the poor girl up.
It only took seconds for the last of her cereal to be removed from her person than flying off to the nearest trash can in the room.
"Miss. Scarlatina, I understand your desire to avoid conflict, but you really shouldn't be allowing this to happen." Glynda said in a stern, but somehow comforting, tone. "He'll only continue if you don't get him to stop." She then turned to the rest of the students. "The rest of you, finish your food. You have a test today, so you'll want to be prepared." She finished and quickly turned on her heel before leaving.
As soon as Glynda left the rest of the classroom was quick to descend into chatter as they all quickly talked about Ruby's sudden change in character and how there was pretty much going to be a grudge match between Ruby and Cardin.
Ruby let out a sigh of relief as she saw Glynda leave, glad that she didn't bring down the wrath of one of the strongest teachers in Beacon. Though now she was left wondering about her sudden outburst earlier. It was like a feeling in her heart was telling her to act, and she couldn't help but listen to it.
'What's going on with me?' Ruby thought as she placed a hand on her chest. First the dreams, then the girl she could see, and now this? What was going on with her?
And why wasn't it scaring her as much as it should?
But those questions would need to wait because a certain Fanus was looking her way.
"Ruby, I… I thought you promised me not to do that." Velvet complained. The expression on her face was a mixture of embarrassment and gratefulness, clearly not sure how she should be feeling in this situation.
The red-themed girl looked to the rabbit Faunus. Why was she upset? Ruby knew that she promised, but was Velvet that meek that she would rather endure Cardin's torment then fighting back?
"Velvet you can't be serious?" Ruby said as she looked towards said girl. "As Glynda said, you're just encouraging that jerk."
"I… I just don't want all this conflict. Especially over me. You haven't seen how Coco, Yatsuhashi, and Fox are like when they're angry. It's not pretty."
"They're only like that because they care," Ruby argued. Not letting Velvet make excuses. "But you could avoid them needing to interfere by standing up for yourself. You're strong Velvet, I've seen you fight when Yang asks you to spar with her."
"Well, I… I just… I'm… Sort of afraid of going too far." Velvet admitted. "Since I'm mostly using other techniques and weapons, I'm not so great at holding back with them. I'm afraid I'd cause some real damage. Cardin might be a jerk, but he doesn't deserve that much."
"Velvet…," Ruby trailed off. Letting out a sigh the silver-eyed girl sighed before placing a hand on the older student's shoulder. "Velvet, Cardin might be a bully, but he's still a fellow student who was able to make it into Beacon. He's able to fight, and if you want to be safe about it, you can always just ask Miss Glynda to challenge him. She seems to let students settle their problems in the ring.
Velvet tried to think of a response but just sighed. "I suppose you might be right. I don't like it, but I guess it needs to be done. I'll need to prepare myself for it, though. Both physically and mentally." Velvet smiled. "You're a sweet girl, Ruby. Always trying to help others. Just… be careful about that getting you into too much trouble, okay?"
Blushing at the compliment Ruby just rubbed her head awkwardly while waving her other hand bashfully.
"Awww it was nothing, no reason to say that, shut you're stupid little..." Ruby gushed embarrassed, mumbling under her breath as she blushed, getting a quiet giggle from Velvet.
"Though," Velvet said with a more serious look. "From the way Miss Glynda talked it sounds you might be dealing with him before me."
"Ha!" Ruby said with a bit of pride. "I can take him! I've won a few matches against him before, and he barely ever changes his strategy of attacking head-on."
"Well, be careful all the same. Even a fool can learn eventually. Take care of yourself." Velvet finished with a short bow before walking back to get a new tray of breakfast.
"Congratulations. You've managed to sound mildly more mature than usual." Weiss snarked as she walked over. Despite her teasing tone she couldn't help but show that she was proud of her leader.
"Uh, well, you know… Guess all that practice you've been telling me to do is paying off. Gotta be the best team leader I can be, you know?" Ruby smiled, trying not to sound bashful.
"I just hope antagonizing Cardin isn't going to come back to bite you. The guy does not let go of grudges easily." Jaune warned.
"Aww come on, I've put him in his place before. What's the worst he could do?" Ruby scoffed.
~~~~~~~~~(some hall in Beacon Academy)~~~~~~~~~
"That little brat!" Cardin shouted as he punched the wall next to him. He was alone right now, his teammates had gone on ahead, mostly not to be around him while he raged.
"Thinking she's so tough!" he raged as he thought back to the confrontation he had with the little twirp of a leader. Thinking she's so tough because she was able to impress that old coot Ozpin into letting her join Beacon two years early.
Letting out another growl the teen punched the wall again in anger, this time causing some damage in the form of a few cracks were his fist landed.
As Cardin stood there taking a minute to calm down, while also stewing in his anger the large brooding teen was interrupted by the sound of clapping.
Turning towards the sound, Cardin was greeted by the sight of a tall cloaked man clapping his hands as if he just saw a good show. All the while walking down the halls towards Cardin.
The man wore a rather simple leather hooded cloak, the hood pulled down to completely hide his face. There were two silver pull strings dangling from the collar and a large zipper than ran all the way to the bottom of the coat, which stopped around the ankles. The shoulders of the coat were somewhat pointed, and the sleeves of the coat were long enough that the fingers of the man were all that extended beyond them, while also being close fighting enough that they seemed just wider than his arms, and he wore black leather gloves. The coat was slightly unzipped at the bottom, enough to freely move his legs and showing that underneath was black leather pants and boots. The outfit just screams "I do not want to be recognized."
"My oh my!" laughed the cloaked man as he walked towards the confused teen. "That's a lot of anger your letting out there kid! You should be careful, from what I heard some nasty creatures around here like to tear the source of those feelings to shreds."
"Who are you supposed to be, freak?" Cardin demanded, drawing his weapon and getting into a fighting stance.
"Woah now kiddo!" the cloaked man said while raising his arms up in surrender, though his tone didn't change, showing he was afraid of Cardin. "Just a friendly face drifting through and decided on taking a little tour through this school, it being a place that breeds the best just got little old me a little curious is all."
"You wanna know about Beacon, talk to one of the teachers." Cardin scoffed. "Now buzz off, before I toss you out the window."
"Awww but then I would have to listen to a lecture while walking," the cloaked man said with a whine. "It would also mean I would've missed that little show you were in in the lunchroom."
Stepping forward the cloaked man was now standing over Cardin looking down at him, with a single yellow eye peering through the darkness of the cloak.
"And I got to say, pretty sad being talked down like that by little red back there," the cloaked man said, referring to Cardin's confrontation with Ruby earlier.
"You… You're dead meat!" Cardin seethed, charging at the man and swinging down hard with his mace. The blow never connected, as the man effortlessly grabbed Cardin by the wrist. Cardin looked shocked for a moment before trying to break free, only the man's grip to not let him budge. "What the-? Let go, damn it!"
"Hey now kiddo no need to go swinging like that," the cloaked man said in a playful voice. All the while not letting go of Cardin's wrist, no matter how hard Cardin was trying to pull away. "Besides I was just pointing out how annoying it is dealing with little punks who think they're all that is all."
"Shut up! What would you know!? What do you even want from me!?" Cardin practically shouted, still frustrated at his unexpected helplessness.
"Just thought you could use a little help is all," the man said, false friendliness oozing out of him. "From what I hear, you're going to be fighting little red soon, and I thought I should be a pal and help you out."
Cardin finally stopped struggling, staring in confusion. "...What? Why? What do you get out of this?"
"Besides seeing a good show?" the cloaked man asked while letting go of Cardin' wrist. "Just want to see where little red stacks up and all that."
"And just how would you help me?"
"You leave that to me," the man said as he held out a hand. "So what do you say? Want to show little red her place?"
Cardin looked at the man's hand for a moment, a feeling in his gut telling him that it was more than just a way to make an agreement. The thought of putting that little kid in her place was nice…
After a moment more Cardin smacked the man's hand away. "Find another chump for your games. I'll beat her on my own." Cardin spat before turning to walk away.
"As if," the voice of the cloaked man said as a hand clasped onto Cardin's shoulder. Dark energy oozing from the appendage as it soon started to latch on and spread all over the now scared teen's body.
"But sadly for you, you don't really have a say in the matter," the cloaked man said as he placed another hand on Cardin's other shoulder. Causing the dark energy to spread even faster.
-(back with Ruby and the gang outside Arena)-
"Hello, class. Good to see you all here." Glynda began. "As you all know, today will be combat practice. One on one against your fellow first years. I'm sure you know the rules, but just to reiterate, each match will continue until one side either gives up, is rendered unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, or until one combatant's aura is either completely or dangerously close to being extinguished. Any else goes. In addition, to prepare you for the Vytal Festival, the stage will have two different terrains, chosen at random, so don't forget to take that into account when you work on your strategies. I've scheduled your matches for today and will be calling you down two at a time. I hope you all learn something useful today. Now then, Mr. Arc."
"H-Huh? Um, yeah?" Jaune stuttered, surprised to be called first.
"You've made quite the improvement since first arriving here at Beacon, but you're not quite to your peers' level yet. Considering her skill and expertise, not to mention your familiarity with each other, I've put you up against Ms. Nikos. Both of you come down please."
"W-Wait, seriously? Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, looking befuddled.
"It'll be fine, Jaune. Just consider it another of our practice sessions." Pyrrha smiled comfortingly at him as she rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Uh, yeah. Okay, I guess." he smiled back, still nervous.
"Go Jaune! Do your best!" Ruby called.
"Don't break him!" Nora joked.
"Nora," Ren sighed out.
"Yeah…," Jaune muttered while giving Pyrrha a pleading look as they walked towards the arena that had changed to look like a desert on one side while having a small body of water on the other. "Don't break me."
The Mistral champion only smiled at her team leader before setting into a battle stance. Jaune soon followed suit all the while letting out a defeated sigh.
"Ready?" Glynda said as she looked at the two teens. Getting a nod from the two the combatants' teacher pulled out her scroll to see the aura levels of the two before shouting. "Begin!"
As the practice match began, the rest of the gang huddled up to talk while everyone else was busy watching the one-sided slaughter.
"So, who do you think we got paired up with? I mean, it was Professor Glynda's choice, after all." Yang asked.
"More than likely we will be matched with other students that will push us," Weiss said with a nod. "It would be pointless to see a one-sided match,"
"Like the one going on right now?" Blake said while wincing at the high pitch scream Jaune let out. Pyrrha was a sweet girl but she was also a slave driver when it came to training. Only really outdone by Nora when it came to training.
"I just want to get a lot of practice with my new partner here," Ruby said, patting her word. "I hope Crescent Rose doesn't feel like I'm cheating on her, though."
"You're disturbing relationship to weapons aside, aren't you fighting Cardin?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah, so I'm not really worried. I'll probably let the fight drag out so I can get in more practice." Ruby declared with a smug smirk.
"Ruby," Blake said with a flat look. "Don't get too big-headed. We have enough hot air as is with Weiss."
"Hey." Weiss huffed.
"Since she's the Ice Queen, wouldn't it be cold air?" Yang joked.
"Hey!" Weiss huffed again, more indignantly, as Ruby stifled a chuckle.
"Ok guys I think you poked fun of Weiss long enough," Ruby giggled out. "And don't worry Blake I'll make sure not to get overconfident."
"Good," the Faunus said with a nod. "Last we need is for Cardin to get a swelled head from getting a win from you being sloppy."
Speaking of Cardin," Yang said as she gestured towards the other side of the field, were the boy in question stood, though it was a bit unnerving to see the loud bully just stand there not doing anything. He was just standing there looking at nothing as his teammates could be seen trying to get his attention.
"What's wrong with him?" Nora asked as she watched Cardin's team trying to snap him out of whatever trance he was in. Heck, something must be wrong if he was letting them smack his face and shake them with the only sign of him even being conscious was the fact he shook them off if they tried taking him back towards the school, more than likely to the nurse's office.
Soon the group heard a bell go off as Jaune was seen being flung into the water in the arena.
"Match over. Winner, Ms. Nikos." Glynda announced from the arena. "Thank you for allowing Mr. Arc to learn something," she said as she adjusted her glasses.
"It was our pleasure, right Jaune?" Pyrrha replied happily.
"Yeah… Sure…" Jaune panted, using his sword and shield to prop himself up on one knee.
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha chuckled, offering her shoulder so she could help walk him off the arena.
"I'd say he did well, all things considered," Ren said diplomatically.
"Pfft, that was weak! I'll make sure to whip him into real shape by the Vytal festival!" Nora declared enthusiastically.
"Gods have mercy on that poor boy." Yang chuckled.
"Alright. Next is…" Glynda began, continuing the day's test.
Ruby watched as each match played out, most of them were going by so fast Ruby was left looking around and soon spotted Cardin staring at her. But not in a hateful way like she expected, but in the blank emotionless way he was doing ever since he showed up to class.
It was honestly starting to freak her out with how he was just staring at her like that, at this point she would have preferred him giving her one of his nasty glares or at least taunt her, this new attitude was so jarring.
Though the young teen didn't need to endure it for very long thankfully since miss Glynda called out her name.
"And the last match for today!" Glynda called out while looking towards Ruby. "Miss Rose Vs. Mr. Winchester."
"You're up, sis! Try not to go too hard on him." Yang joked.
"Uh… yeah." Ruby said, still caught off guard by how dazed Cardin looked as both of them walked down to the arena, facing each other with some good distance between them. "Hey Cardin, um… I know this is weird for me to say, but we don't have to do this, you know. We can do it later if you're not feeling up to it?" Ruby suggested, drawing her sword all the same. Cardin didn't react and just stared at her with a blank look on his face.
The arena changed to half rocky canyon and the other a rocky landscape with geysers.
"And begin!" Glynda announced.
[Kingdom Hearts - Shrouding Dark Cloud]
Almost instantly Cardin dashed at Ruby, his mace raised, closing the distance between them in barely a second.
"Whoa!" Ruby shouted, barely able to raise her sword in time to block the powerful overhead strike. Even though she used both hands to support the weapon the force Cardin brought down on her brought her to one knee, cracking the ground beneath her. In a panic, she used her sword to shove his weapon aside before using her semblance to gain more distance from him. "What in the-?"
She didn't even have time to finish her sentence as Cardin was up to her again, swinging horizontally at her body. She used her semblance to dodged over him before slashing at his head. She was shocked to see that he blocked it with his mace without even turning around, before sending her to the ground with a spinning backhand. She struggled to get her bearings, barely recovering soon enough to roll out of the way of another overhead swing that destroyed the ground where she had just been.
Ruby grit her teeth and used her semblance to charge straight at him before veering off the side at the last second, baiting out a swing that whiffed before swinging at his torso. He somehow managed to block that attack too, before taking out her legs with a sweep kick. Ruby landed hard on her back, and before she could recover Cardin grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up.
'What's happening? He's never been this good! He's swinging his mace around like it weighs nothing! And he's not just using pure strength either.' She tried to stab him with her sword only for him to catch it with the spikes in his mace. She looked at his face and was surprised to see his expression was completely blank. She also thought she saw his eyes glow for a moment and an almost unnoticeable dark aura around him.
Before she could process this any further Cardin headbutted her, dazing her long enough to give her a powerful swing, knocking her up into the air. Ruby grit her teeth through the pain long enough to see that she was going to land in the geyser area, giving her an idea.
She used her semblance to keep herself from landing hard and took her battle stance as Cardin rushed her again. She stabbed at him but he deflected the attack easily and countered. Ruby barely managed to parry the powerful hit aside and attacked again. Ruby did what she could to hold her ground, deflecting and dodging his attacks while countering with her own, trying to stay around the same relative area.
'Come on, where is it? I don't know how much longer I can hold out!' she thought. Soon enough she felt a rumble from underneath her feet. She deflected one more attack from Cardin before shoving him backward… right onto the exploding geyser. The blast of water was enough to send Cardin into the air, and Ruby finally had her chance. She used her semblance to gain distance from him before rocketing herself straight at him. With a bellowing battle cry, she swung her sword at him as hard as she could, the added momentum and the fact that he was midair sending him flying all the way to the other side of the arena, smashing into the barrier on the other end before falling to the ground.
Ruby stopped a moment to catch her breath before seeing him slowly begin to get up. 'Oh, you have got to be kidding! I better finish this now.' She struggled to her feet and dashed at him again. Just as she was about to deal what she thought was the finishing blow, Carding suddenly stood up and grabbed her face with one hand, stopping her attack and catching her completely off guard, before slamming her into the ground hard enough to crack it. She struggled for breath as she saw him raise his mace, the dust crystal at the center glowing. With all the strength she could muster she rolled out of the way, bracing for an explosion of fire and force.
Instead, much to her surprise, the explosion of force was not followed by fire, but by the earth rising up and forming a high wall around the two of them. Ruby was so stunned it left her wide open for a swing to the face, slamming her into the newly created stone wall. She struggled to get her bearings and took her stance, only to look in shock at what she saw. The dark aura that Ruby wasn't entirely sure was there before was now radiating off Carding like a cloud of thick smoke, and he charged at her even faster than before. Ruby tried to get away but each hit was fast as lightning and struck like a freight train. Even though she was somehow managing to block every hit the force behind them made her arms scream in pain as she kept getting slammed back into the stone wall.
Then, much to her dismay, one of the swings broke the sword, the mace plowing through it and hitting her right in the face. She could feel her Aura finally break as she spun, cutting and scraping herself against the stone wall before falling to her hands and knees. Ruby struggled to look up and, much to her horror saw that Cardin was raising his weapon for one final blow.
'Oh no,' Ruby screamed in her mind as she saw the mace descend down on her, and with no Aura, she knew this attack would not be something she could walk away from.
'He's going to kill me!'
Then, suddenly, he stopped. Ruby tried to move but realized she couldn't move either. 'What… What's going on? Am I about to die? Is my life going to start flashing before my-?'
He thought were cut off as she saw someone emerge from behind Cardin. Much to her shock, it was the same woman in the fox mask she saw before the same one from the ruin's inscriptions. Without a word she calmly walked over to Ruby before kneeling down, their faces inches apart as she just stared at her. After a moment she gently grabbed ahold of Ruby's hand, the one still gripping the broken sword for dear life, and pointed it at Cardin. The woman then leaned into Ruby's ear, saying a single word that she also felt compelled to say.
"Fire."
It took Ruby a few seconds to process what happened in the next moment. The woman in the fox mask vanished without a trace like she was never there to begin with. An instant later a ball of flame gathered at the end of her sword and shot at Cardin, hitting him in the chest and exploding with enough force to send him flying into the stone wall behind him, cracking it, and also hard enough to drop his mace.
Ruby blinked in surprise for a moment before realizing the situation she was still in when Cardin groaned and started to stand up. Summoning up all of her strength she pulled herself to her feet, quickly ran over to pick up Cardin's mace, and swung it at his chest as hard as she could. The fire crystal erupted in fire and energy, smashing Carding through the stone wall and sending him bouncing along the ground as the rest of the walls around her crumbled. Unable to keep her balance, Ruby stumbled forward before landing flat on her face.
[song end]
"RUBY!" shouted a chorus of voices as the rest of Team RWBY and team JNPR rushed towards the fallen girl.
"Oh, gods! Ruby!" Weiss cried out as she gently picked up her unconscious leader. Lifting her up to a sitting position as everyone else circled around them.
"I'm calling the infirmary so they know to expect you," Glynda said, pressing some buttons on the screen of her scroll. "Take Ms. Rose and Mr. Winchester there immediately. Afterward, head to your dorms, further discussions will be left to later. Now go." she ordered.
As everyone scrambled to do what they were told, and Glynda started guiding the rest of the class back towards the school, the same cloaked figure from before sat on top of one of the school's many roofs far from anyone would be able to see him.
[Kindom hearts 3: Omen]
Smiling that cloaked man was able to see the match between Ruby and Cardin perfectly.
"Good," the man said. The grin under his hood getting bigger as he saw Ruby being carried off. "It seems little red is made of sterner stuff, sad she was able to pull off that win by barely tapping into the true power in her heart."
Getting up the cloaked man stretched a little to get some kinks out.
"No matter," he groaned out as he finished his stretching. "She still has a bit of time left before the real show starts."
Letting a small laugh the cloaked man turned around, then a black portal soon opened up in front of him that he started walking towards. But before he completely stepped through the portal the cloaked man turned to the ruined arena and smiled.
'Kid reminds me a lot of you," the man said as he walked through the portal. All the while the image of a cloaked girl with a fox mask flashed in his mind, and his smile became more somber as the portal closed behind him.
"Ava."
[song end]
~~~~~~(later that night)~~~~~~
(Ozpin's office)
[Kingdom Hearts 2: magical mystery]
At the very top of Beacon Academy was the Office of one Professor. Ozpin, Headmaster and considered one of the most powerful men in Remnant, not only in political power but also one of the most skilled Huntsmen in history.
A man who commands respect and wielded wisdom that had men and women come to him in droves to train under his school. A school he ran that gave the world some of its best defenders.
A man who has so much power, it left most in fear at the prospect of him using it.
And currently said man was left confused at what he was seeing.
"How can this be," Ozpin whispered as he rewatched the fight between Ruby and Cardin. While Glynda was unable to see the rest of the match because of young Winchester's little stunt, Ozpin was able to see everything with the help of a little drone that had a birds-eye view of the whole event.
'I'll have to thank James for this little tool,' Ozpin thought while thinking of the General of the Atlassian military. 'Without it, I would have been in the dark about this little mystery.'
Pressing the rewind button for the tenth time in a row. Always to the part were Ruby was able to turn the fight around by pulling off something she had no possible way of doing.
"Now…," Ozpin said as his eyes narrowed behind his black glasses as he watched the moment Ruby fired a ball of flame from her broken weapon. "How is it you were able to do it?"
Though his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the Elevator door to his office chiming. Signaling that someone was visiting him, and he had a good guess at who it was.
Stepping through the open elevator door was one Glynda Goodwitch. More than likely just returning from dropping the two students who caused this meeting.
"Ozpin," Glynda said with a nod and a tone of respect towards her boss and leader. "You wish to see me?"
Nodding, the aged professor gestured towards a seat in front of his desk.
"Yes Glynda, have a seat," Ozpin said, and Glynda quickly did what he asked as she sat down with perfect posture expected from the second in command of Beacon.
"So," the silvered haired man said as he grabbed his favorite mug and took a quick sip of its content. Savoring the drink for a second before getting back on track before his assistant got impatient. "Are Miss. Rose and Mr. Winchester doing alright? From what I hear they both seem to have taken a nasty beating."
Glynda frowned at the reminder. The fact that two students were hurt during HER test while under her watch, but also the fact that the arena that was loaned to them from atlas would take time and money to repair.
"Don't worry," Glynda said while taking a small breath to calm herself. She couldn't lose her cool right now. She needed to stay calm and figure out what happened earlier today. "Ruby Rose and Cardin Winchester are doing fine. Their Aura took the brunt of the damage, and besides some bruises, they will be back to full health in no time."
"Good," the headmaster said with a nod. "An arena can be fixed, weapons can be reforged, but a life can't be replaced. It's good that we didn't lose anyone today."
"Ozpin?" Glynda asked confused at her headmaster's behavior. "Why are you treating this-!'
Glynda's question would have to wait as Ozpin's phone began to ring. Interrupting the blonde woman.
"That must be James," Ozpin muttered as if he saw this call coming.
"What?" Glynda said as she looked a little surprised. "Why would he be calling on your off-hours? He couldn't possibly have gotten the report of the broken arena."
"While I'm sure he'll wish to speak about that," Ozpin said with an amused smile at the thought of James Ironwood's expression at seeing a picture of the arena he lent them being destroyed.
Shaking his head to rid himself of the amusing image the headmaster's face soon cooled back into a perfect image of stoicism as he pressed the answer button to his phone.
"He's more than likely calling for the meeting,"
"Meeting?" Glynda asked. "Ozpin what could warrant a meeting with Ironwood?"
"A meeting of our inner circle," Ozpin answered with a firm tone as a hollow graphic screen appeared in front of him, it then showed the image of a man staring back at him.
The man on the screen was clean-cut, well-groomed with hair starting to grey on the sides, but he still looked youthful. His expressions spoke of experience even beyond his advancing years, the only oddity on his face a barely noticeable metal implant above his right eyebrow.
"Ozpin," the man said with a nod of respect towards his fellow headmaster. Ozpin doing the same. "Sorry if this seems rude but what do you need of me? I'm on a tight schedule, and I keep getting calls from a few people from the Atlas council, something about the arena we sent you to use?"
Glynda let out a soft cough as she looked away from the screen as Ironwood gave his fellow member of Ozpin's circle a confused look.
"I'm sorry to call you at such a busy times James, but I thought it was important to address a situation we have right now,"
"What situation?" Ironwood asked with a firm look on his face. "And how bad is it that we can't wait for Qrow to either show up or call?"
"The magic kind," Ozpin answered. Causing Ironwood and Glynda to gasped out.
[Kingdom Hearts BBS OST: The Key]
"Ozpin what are you talking about!?" Glynda shouted, losing her cool. "I thought you wanted to talk about the match Ruby and Cardin had!"
"And you're right," Ozpin said before pulling out an image from his scroll and sending it to be displayed on the screen with Ironwood.
An image of Ruby Rose.
"At least… I wanted to talk about the person from said match that used magic."
Looking at the picture of Ruby left Glynda stunned, and Ironwood was fairing no better. But Ozpin's words were able to snap her out of it as she stared at her leader wide-eyed.
"For that to be true, she'd have to be a-!" Glynda almost yelled before Ozpin silenced her by raising his hand, telling her to calm down.
"She isn't. I can say for sure, she isn't one of the four." Ozpin assured her.
"But then… how?" Ironwood asked.
"... Now that is the question, isn't it?" Ozpin said as he then sent the video he had been watching for the past hour as well, showing both of his fellow members the part were Ruby summoned a ball of flame to knock back Cardin.
As the two watched the video intently, they were left stunned to see Ruby do something only a few select people in the world could do.
"How…?" Glynda muttered. "How can this be if she's not a maiden?"
"That's what I've been asking myself," Ozpin muttered. He knew Ruby wasn't part of the four, he would know.
And he knew without a doubt she would never give her power to anyone, let alone a silver-eyed warrior.
"And what is that Aura coming off of Winchester?" Ironwood asked.
"Again I don't know," Ozpin sighed out in a rare show of frustration. "All I do know is that it's no longer with young Winchester."
"How?" Glynda asked.
Pushing up his glasses, the old headmaster sighed out.
"Trust me, I felt the energy Cardin was using from here," Ozpin said. "And as soon as Miss. Rose knocked him out the presence disappeared without a trace."
"It could be still there," Ironwood argued. Glaring at Ozpin. "We shouldn't take any risk. It would be better to quarantine the young man until we can be sure he won't be a threat."
Glynda would have argued with James about his extreme behavior, but even she had to agree with him. The power Cardin used was dangerous. And she shuddered at the thought of her student going on a rampage with the power and skill that dark energy gave him.
"That won't be a problem," Ozpin muttered while taking a sip of his drink. "I already sent word to Oobleck and Port to have young Winchester moved to another part of the school, had them take up guard, and watch over him in case the energy that was controlling him comes back.
"Then… All we can do is wait until one of them recovers." Ironwood stated a bit annoyed they couldn't do anything at the moment. "What should we do in the meantime?"
"For now," Ozpin said as he got up and walked towards his window and looked towards the horizon, watching as the sun descended downwards and the night sky slowly creeps in.
How ominous it looked. Like a foreboding message.
No…, more like a threat.
"We wait and see," Ozpin sighed out. Closing his eyes in frustration at his own lack of answers.
"It's all we can do," he said as he turned his back to the now darkened sky. Taking a seat the headmaster was starting to feel his age. His TRUE age as he gave his two close companions a tired look.
"At least…, until we can learn more about the situation," he said as he ended the call with a worried Ironwood and soon got up to leave with Glynda. Hoping the night air might calm his nerves.
Sadly you don't have time...
The door has been open…
And darkness has come.