Baby I'm baaack! And I gotta say... thank you all. 100 Reviews, 200+ Follows and 150+ Favs, and in such a short amount of time? I love you guys. Now, onto Reviews!
JmonsterNEO: Oh, you have NO idea dude, I've got some SHIT planned for Cinder and Ruby!
merendinoemiliano: Happy you liked it dude! I put a lot of work into how Ruby feels about aura and how it shapes her fighting style and mentality. Also goofy Weiss ftw XD
Alucard45: Yeah, honestly better late than never, it's really nice to see Yang outright say that Summer is her mom, but as for Grimm hybrids, well, we'll just have to wait and see what the show's got in store for us :p. Happy to clarify dude! As a matter of fact, I've thinking about going back to the chapter and probably editing it to make it a bit clearer that Ruby's holding back more towards the end. Glad that the exposition was interest, honestly I tend to struggle with it in an action-based story, so considering the quality, I'm pretty proud of it! And of course, Ruby's gotta be a training maniac.
Now on the topic of Yang. Of course, I wanna make it clear that not everything has been revealed about Yang yet, though you're correct that she's very similar to her canon self in terms of overall attitude (with a few things different). As for her combat/physical ability, you'll actually see more of it this chapter, and without saying too much she does outright train more than in canon, though not as much as Ruby does in this fic. Though, it's not so much her physical ability that I want to focus on, largely because I feel that Yang's just more physically gifted than Ruby (the latter being more mentally gifted), but it's actually going to be a point of conflict later down the line. Speaking of which, the crime-fighting was actually one of the first things I'd ever thought about when the story was still just a concept, I'm really happy that the idea turned out so well in the context of the story XD. Ooh, now the scar is actually something really exciting, but I don't wanna say too much besides this: it's the main reason why Ruby fights the way she fights, why she puts such a massive emphasis on both physical and mental control and concentration. Won't say much beyond that because surprises ;D. And yeah, leading back to Yang and Ruby actually working together, them meeting up in the same hospital was also part of the initial draft of the fic XD. FOr the last part on Weiss, you're actually right on both accounts. It's implied earlier that Ruby doesn't have 'the gang' back at Signal because in this case, she's kept to herself too much and neglected forming real connections. Ironically, it's because of this that she's able to empathise with other people (like Weiss), which is also helped by her ability to read emotions. And dude, you're gonna make me tear up, thank you so much! I'm really glad that you're liking the writing of the story even in spite of my screw ups, and that means a lot!
KHARAKI TAKAN: Oh, you've actually brought up something that slipped my mind; YAng does chew Ruby out, but it's more in the manner of 'holy crap you scared the shit out of me please don't do something like that again I don't want my little sister to die' kinda chewing out. The way I see it in the show proper is that every character in some way or the other really needs polishing, but I agree with all of your examples. Especially Blake: I thought Atlas would be her time to shine, maybe have a Raiden vs Armstrong showdown against Jacques. I still think Ruby can be redeemed via some clever writing buuut... yeah, probably not gonna happen. I get where you're coming from with Weiss, but Imma stand my ground on this one with my own reasoning, with my pride as a writer! XD. Now, with what Ruby's saying and implying with Ozpin being aware of the Silver Eyes and their capabilities against the Grimm (at least as far she she knows), along with her suspicions on Summer Rose going missing because of him, I believe that Weiss is more than smart enough to see what Ruby herself is trying to imply and fills in the gaps on her own. You're not wrong about it being exactly from the show, though it's meant to be played off more as an ironic joke. Even still, I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! The show as it is now honestly isn't doing too bad, though there's definitely points that make my roll my eyes. I would argue that Yang is not a Mary Sue... she's just a character with shit-poor writing later into the show XD.
Leon Murasma: Ayyeee, happy you're enjoying the fic so far man, read on!
Fomoriam191: Sorry dude, but I'm afraid that I don't exactly know what you're trying to say. I'm aware of Guilty Gear, but not enough to actually say anything about it.
Travis S: Super happy you're liking the story man! I have no words for Cardin's fate as of yet ;D And as for freckles, you actually might be surprised with what I've got in mind!
Now, that being said, onto the show baby!
Fighting Rose
Chapter 10
Royal Guard and Revelations
For Jaune Arc, all was not right in the world. Especially right now, as he stood hunched over and gasping for air. His body hurt all over, his arms and chest and face trembling from the heavy strikes he'd repeatedly taken from Cardin's mace. Taking a big gulp of air, he shakily lifted his sword and shield, facing the bored Cardin down one last time.
"YEAAAAA!"
He yelled and charged forward, winding his lanky arm so far back you could've sworn that it touched the moon before swinging down with all his might. Cardin rolled his eyes and sidestepped, idly whacking Jaune hard enough to fling his shield from his grip and sending him onto his face. He scrambled to his feet, shouting as he gripped his sword with both hands and charged in once more with the exact same attack, Cardin blocking it with ease as he pushed back.
"This is the part where you lose," He said simply, utterly bored at fighting this pushover.
"Over my dea-OOGH!" Cardin viciously kneed Jaune in the stomach, the smaller boy crumpling like a wet sock as Cardin went in to finish him off.
"That's enough!"
The lights flipped back on for the rest of the room, Cardin yawning as he stepped away from the recovering Jaune while Glynda stepped up onto the stage.
"The match goes to Cardin Winchester via aura depletion. Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. You need to learn how to look at your aura-gauge to determine whether an offensive or defensive strategy works best. Wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, would we now?"
"Speak for yourself," Cardin muttered as Jaune flinched.
"Now, on account of that match being rather… short," Glynda said tactfully, "We still have time for one or two more. Are you willing to take another match Cardin?" The aforementioned boy looked up at his aura gauge, still at 100% before smirking and nodding. "So be it. How about…" Many people over the last three weeks had been subjected to beatings from Cardin, his natural strength combined with the surprising swiftness of his attacks making him a formidable opponent. Needless to say, few were willing to fight him. Few except…
"I'll have a go at him teach!" Yang said as she stood up and made her way down, adjusting her gauntlets.
"Ah, Miss Xiao Long. You've been rather docile since the start of the year, so this is a pleasant surprise."
"Just scouting out the competition, bringing myself up to top condition, y'know?" Yang said confidently, a few murmurs worming around the room. "Anyway, let's get this thing started, eh big guy?"
Cardin was instantly more cautious and excited. Even though Yang had indeed only fought a handful of times, she'd more than made her mark as an equally dangerous fighter as he was, if not better. "Heh, let's see what you've got blondie. The other one was barely good enough for a warmup." Her eyes and grin darkened for a second. Yang wasn't one who took to kindly to her friends being put down… even if Jaune was a bit of a wet noodle.
"Yaaang!" Ruby called out, "No getting cocky, take this seriously! Work on your movement and Semblance charging before you switch to striking!"
Yang calmed down quickly gave a thumbs up in her direction before the dust barriers for the arena were set up again. She suddenly snapped her finger, pointing at Cardin with a shout of "Trickster!" as she bounced lightly on her toes.
"BEGIN!"
Cardin was the one to dash in first, a quick but wide swing meant to cover the greatest possible distance and area. Faster than anyone expected, Yang did a simple backstep that easily got her out of the way. More surprising was the even faster dash that brought her right in front of Cardin on the same beat, the boy lurching back as a heavy right-cross smashed into his hasty guard with a loud *CLANG*.
Yang chased after him with that same dash again, weaving right under another quick swing from his mace and popping a quick jab-cross for his head. His guard came up quicker and was much more solid this time, the punches just barely making him step back before he thrust the top of his mace for her stomach, only for her to quickly dash to the side yet again.
"Since when could Yang move so swiftly?" Weiss wondered, "Though… her power seems to be lacking somewhat."
"So did she get that from you, or the other way around?" Blake asked Ruby, remembering Ruby having called out something similar to that during her fight with Weiss.
"She got it from me. Yang never had any trouble being mobile, but I helped her out with speed using parts of my Crescent Slayer style. Speed and movement are what makes up my 'Trick', so when I taught her the basics, she developed 'Trickster' for herself."
"Ooh, let me guess," Blake wondered, "Channelling aura into the muscle-groups of her legs?"
"Close. That helps too, but more for kicking and hitting stuff. The secret's in the toes."
Weiss and Blake looked back at Yang, still successfully kiting around Cardin's array of attacks while dashing in to give quick but relatively light punches. Looking very closely, they could just barely see the stone underneath Yang's toes crack every time she pushed off to dodge, the sheer level of control to her rapid movements genuinely surprising.
"So Trickster for dodging," Weiss muttered, "Striker for melee, Gunslinger for range. Well-rounded for sure, but… you said something not too long ago about a fourth one for her semblance?" Ruby just grinned. Just as she did that Yang and Cardin had stopped moving, the latter noticeably annoyed.
"C'mon, I thought you had more in you than that blondie. Or maybe I'm just that amazing?" Cardin groused.
"Ooh, mid-battle banter, not bad!" Yang laughed before she stopped bouncing. "Hate to break up the fun though. I think now's the time for me to wrap things up, since I've seen most of what you can do." Her light and loose stance changed entirely as she slowly breathed out and closed her eyes, knees bent as if in a traditional karate stance while her hands slowly moved, her right protecting her stomach and her left up and shielding her face.
"Royal Guard!"
Her eyes flashed open, a dim red glow pulsing from them as her hair lit up slightly at the same time. Cardin backed off for a second, unsure of what to do for the moment. His resolve hardened before he charged in, his mace flashing out in a series of rapid strikes from every possible angle, making sure not to give her a single opening and overwhelm her defences.
*CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG*
Her eyes and arms darted around rapidly, his mace smashing fruitlessly into Yang's arms. Cardin felt the full force of the strikes connect, saw his mace perfectly slam into her guard, yet her body never moved a single inch. Her stance was the same, her breathing even and the grin on her face never wavering. It was like she was just soaking up the force like a sponge, unaffected no matter how much power he put into it. With every hit, her hair glowed more and more, eyes shining a vivid blood-red and the air around her heating up. Sensing danger, Cardin backed off and clicked the trigger of his handle, priming the Fire Dust in the head of his mace to explode at maximum force with a single powerful downward swing. Yang never gave him the chance.
"Trickster to Striker!" She burst forward right at Cardin, noticeably faster than before as the ground visibly cracked. Her form was tight and compact, drawing power from her legs, twisting her hips and waist with her flaming aura literally spiralling to her fist with the flow of power.
"Burning Buster!"
Her right cross caught him on the thickest part of his armour with a *BANG* and a flash of what looked like a flaming drill, launching him clean off his feet and out of the arena. Everyone was silent as he flew all the way to smash into the wall with his aura instantly reduced to 30%, his chestplate promptly shattering as he fell to the floor, clutching his stomach in the exact same way Jaune did ironically enough.
"… th-that's the match!" Goodwitch called as Yang dusted herself off with a smirk, basking in the cheers of the crowd.
"So, how was I?" Yang asked as she got back to her team, Blake giving her an impressed clap while Weiss was also noticeably impressed.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you Style-Switched at the end, that was really cool! It's good to see that your Trickster and switching have improved a lot." Ruby gushed while Yang preened, flaunting her luminous hair. "Still though… you didn't any kicks." Yang blanched and quietly sat down, not looking at Ruby as the latter glared playfully at here.
"… You haven't been keeping up on stretching, haven't you?"
"I have!" Yang whined shakily, only for Ruby to grin wider.
"That settles it, I'm working your flexibility if it's the last thing I do!"
"Noooo…" Yang groaned wilting as her colour and vigour seemed to be drained from her.
…Lunch time…
"Interesting!" Pyrrha wondered aloud, "So you use your movement-based style to avoid and observe opponents in order to get a feel for their timing, your defensive style to both tire them out or charging your semblance with their own attacks, and then unleash your stored power with your own offense, mixing in ranged and melee combat. That's an incredibly well-rounded fighting strategy, even against opponents of greater strength and skill!"
"Yeah, well, Dragon-Burst is just that much more awesome because I'm awesome," Yang bragged, smoothing her locks of hair with a grin.
"Ugh, you're still using that lame name?" Ruby groaned as Yang gasped in mock hurt, "HuR dUr, mY sEMblAncE iS DrAGon-BurST, sO coOoOL! I told you, just call it Exceed! It's super cool because it's so simple!"
"I, Yang Xiao Long, admit that Exceed is a cool name," She said in a faux regal tone, before immediately dropping it, "But Dragon-Burst is just cooler!"
"Pyrrha, help me out here!" Ruby whined as the redhead giggled.
"Well…" She pondered for a moment, "Dragon-Burst is certainly an… interesting title, but I'll have to agree with Ruby on this one. Exceed is simply a better name." Yang wailed in despair as Ruby cheered.
"Heck yeah! Put 'em up Pyrrha!" Ruby cried in victory as the two girls shared a powerful high-five.
"I think," Blake spoke up without looking away from her book, "That Dragon-Burst suits Yang just fine. It's very… Yang."
"…Blaaaake!" Yang cried dramatically, fake tears of joy pouring from her eyes while Blake just pat her shoulder with a small grin. Ruby groaned and looked to Weiss, who was daintily eating a salad, and opened her mouth to try and ask for her input, only for her to raise her hand and shut Ruby down with a smirk of her own.
"No comment."
Ruby wept as she melted into the table face-first. Poor child.
"Seems like your team is mutinying," Pyrrha teased, knowing that Ruby simply didn't any response at all.
"Shut uuuup," She groaned, pulling up her hood. All seemed well for the majority of Team RWBY and JNPR, especially as they got a laugh from Nora's recurring dream. Well, all of them except…
"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked softly, noticing the boy idly picking at his chicken nuggets.
"Huh? Oh! Y-yeah, I'm doing fine."
"No you ain't," Ruby said bluntly, "Cardin's been pushing you around for the past few weeks. He's a bully."
"Whaaat?" Jaune said lamely, "He just likes to mess around. Name one time he 'bullied' me!"
"He knocked all your books out of your hands the one time," Yang said instantly.
"He made your shield deploy while you were entering class, making you look like more of a buffoon," Weiss followed up.
"Rocket locker incident," Ruby finished simply. Jaune was quiet for a moment, struggling to find an excuse to cover for his ineptitude at dealing with such childish tactics.
"I-I mean, I didn't land that far," He said, even lamer than before, "Like I said, he's just… a practical joker!"
"O-OW!" All eyes sharply turned to see Cardin and his team picking on a rabbit Faunus, the big man himself gripping her ear and pulling on it harshly. "Please stop doing that!"
"… that lookin' like a practical joke to you, Jaune?" Ruby ground out, her gaze razor-sharp and making the blond flinch away in shame.
"Disgusting," Pyrrha scoffed, her own muscles bunched up.
"Always some hum- someone," Blake corrected, though not before Ruby raised a brow at the slip, "Who enjoys picking on any perceived weakness." All was silent on their table for a moment before Yang huffed, her eyes flashing red.
"Yeah, that's it, kicking his ass-!" She snarled before Ruby just held up a hand. "Ruby, you're not saying we should let shit like this slide!?"
"Yang, no punching," She said with a devilish grin, "…Heimlich manoeuvre."
"…Ooooh!" Yang realized, the exact same grin on her face as they both picked up a single grape each. Confused and curious looks were shared across the table until Yang subtly chucked her grape with surprising force, bouncing right off of Cardin's noggin. The boy twitched at the impact, letting go of the Faunus' ears as he turned around and opened his mouth to shout.
It was then that the rest of RWBY and JNPR looked to Ruby, seeing her hand glow with aura and the grape lodged in her fingers, perfectly in place to be…
"Jackpot."
*FLICK*
The grape shot so fast through the air it was practically invisible, perfectly flying into Cardin's open mouth. The boy recoiled and grabbed at his throat, quickly turning purple as he practically fell over himself in a panic while his teammates fruitlessly attempted to help him in his flailing.
"Oh no! Someone appears to be choking on some food!" Yang cried out dramatically, catching everyone's attention as she stood up and raced over. "Worry not, fellow hunter student, I can help!" Cardin, knowing Yang's incredible strength, knew just how much her 'help' was going to hurt, frantically shaking his head and hands. "Careful fellow student, keep that up and you'll choke faster! Now… come to mama." Yang sent a quick wink to the Faunus girl, the latter taking it as her que to bounce while Yang proceeded to Heimlich the grape out of Cardin so hard, it smacked into the foreheads of the rest of him team members with enough force to put them on their backsides. The room erupted in both laughter and cheers thereafter.
"And that," Ruby said with a grin to the awed occupants of her table, Pyrrha, Weiss and Blake struggling not to laugh while Nora openly howled, even Ren's face betraying a chuckle. "Is how you prank someone."
…Final class, Doctor Oobleck…
"And so, the vast majority of humanity was quite adamant on centralizing the Faunus population on the 2/3rds desert island of Menagerie. Quite blatant if you ask my personal opinion but moving swiftly on!"
Doctor Oobleck was both a renowned Hunter and Historian alike, adding onto that was the man's ability to naturally move (and talk) at incredible speeds. Though trying to keep up with the man's vernacular was difficult to say the least, his lessons were never truly boring.
"Now I know this may seem to be ancient history, but you should do well to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" He paused and took a long *siiiip* of something that smelled like coffee, only far more… dense. "Now, have any of you been subjected to discrimination because of your Faunus heritage?" The hands that went up visibly made Oobleck's face tighten, be it in anger, disappointment or frustration, perhaps all of the above. "Dreadful, simply dreadful! It is this ignorance after all that breeds violence! Why, why, look at the White Fang!"
He zipped back to the front of the class, taking his mandatory sip of what was most likely dust-fuel. "Now, who can tell me what the supposed turning-point in the third year of the war was?"
"The battle of Fort Castle!" Weiss answered promptly.
"Precisely! Now, what advantage did the Faunus have over the 10,000 strong human forces and their commanding General despite the latter's forces attacking on one of the darkest nights of the year?"
Cardin, sitting right behind a snoozing Jaune, snickered as he flicked a piece of paper right at the back of his head, only for it to never land, disappearing in a flash of red. He sat up straight in shock, turning a glare to Ruby Rose, who was sitting beside Jaune. She just gave him the side eye and a smirk idly rolling the paper in her hand.
"Mr. Winchester, you seem rather eager all of a sudden!" Oobleck called out. "Please, enlighten us."
"W-well…" He coughed into his hand and postured confidently once more, "It's easier to train an animal than a soldier."
"You're not the most open-minded of people, are you?" Pyrrha asked coldly.
"What, got a problem, champ?" Cardin bit back.
"No, I've got the answer," She retorted with a grin, Ruby idly clapping at the comeback, "It's night-vision most Faunus types have varying degrees of night vision, essentially rendering the general's attack unsurprising."
"What's more is that the attack ended up hindering his own army rather than doing any substantial damage," Blake stated, "And so the attack force was defeated and the inexperienced General captured. Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have made such a rookie mistake." Chuckles went around the room as the flustered Cardin made to stand up, only for Ruby to continue on.
"Oh, and don't forget that the Dark Knight Sparda was there too!"
The class went silent, the human student population all confused, most of the Faunus population staring at Ruby in shock and Oobleck looking on in pleasant surprise, a surprisingly excited smile on his face. "…Do go on miss Rose."
Realizing she put herself on the spot, she gulped at the weight of the stares before steeling herself and continuing. "W-well, supposedly when the general's forces had attacks, even if the Faunus had night vision, a good deal of them were still asleep. The first one to respond to the attack and hold off the human forces single-handedly was Sparda himself, giving time for the Faunus to fully pull themselves together. Had he not been there, it's unsure whether the losses would've been higher on the Faunus side. They say he took out five-thousand troops all by himself too."
"Dude, what page was that info on?" Someone whispered in the back.
"That…" Oobleck said after a moment, "Is correct. Though, I have to say, that information isn't exactly… very well known, especially among the human population and in textbooks." A sigh of relief went up from a few people. "Where did you get this information?"
"O-oh, um… I just… stumbled across it one day."
"Well keep stumbling across it!" He said, addressing the rest of the class now. "I've said previously that ignorance breeds violence. Likewise, ignorance is blinding! There are many things that you do not know about this world, secrets that may at the very least shock you. I can only educate you on the barest of things much later into your time here, but seeing as Miss Rose brought it up and I sense a good deal of confusion, I'll summarize. The Dark Knight Sparda is a very old and verifiable legend in Faunus tales. Though the battle at Fort Castle was his last recorded battle, he'd been alive for even older conflicts, including the Great War when he was in his prime years of 25 to 30 years of age. Legends say he fought in battles even before the Great War, but those accounts are unconfirmed." Oobleck raced up to the whiteboard and idly chucked the map that was on it away, taking a few markers and flying across the board to draw. "My drawing skills are not as good as my fellow Peter, but this should be adequate!"
When he was done, the mostly-black silhouette of a figure in the middle: he faced the room, a claymore in his hands with the tip on the ground, massive ram-horns curving downwards as red eyes gleamed.
"The King of Vale, the one to end the Great War," Oobleck listed out, "Bardock of the Saiyan Faunus tribe, who stood up to King Kault of Mantle and his subsequent bloodline. Finally Sparda, the Legendary Dark Knight and next Faunus hero. Two are people most of you will not have heard of, yet Beacon has… a handful of resources on them. Your homework will be to gather as much on them as possible for next class. Everyone besides Mr. Winchester and…" He suddenly flicked a marker with surprising speed to smack right on Jaune's forehead, the boy waking up with a start, "Mr. Arc, please stay back for now."
It wasn't too long after that Weiss, Blake, Ruby and Pyrrha were waiting outside the room as Oobleck chewed the young men out.
"So, The Wolf-Knight of the Gods and Dark Knight Sparda, huh?" Blake started, much to Ruby's embarrassment. "You're pretty well-read on Faunus literature."
"Y-yeah…" Ruby admitted. "But I read about human heroes too! Queen Arturia of Vale, Musashi of Mistral, the tales of the Doomslayer, Black Iron Tarkus, Sly Marbo, I really like all of them."
"Hmm," Blake hummed with a small grin, "Nerd." Ruby only turned redder.
"I'm curious, I have never heard of the name Sparda before," Weiss wondered, "Even if he was a Faunus, his relatively important role in the battle should have given him a mention in common history. I've also never heard of a… 'Sayin'… Faunus before."
"Pfft, it's 'Saiyan,'" Blake corrected Weiss smarmily, "And the reason you don't hear about Faunus heroes in your history classes is because history is written by the winners: humans."
"Didn't the Faunus win that war?" Pyrrha asked innocently.
"Yes and no. Faunus scraped and clawed their way to abolish slavery, and sure, they might've succeeded in the end, but look at where they are now. A minority still discriminated against, and the only place to call home being a tiny island that 2/3rds desert. And it's called Menagerie. They still got the short end of the stick, and history was written to make it look like if the human commander was competent, the Faunus would've been crushed. The idea that there are Faunus heroes and just powerful Faunus in general, like the Saiyan tribe, is a threat to human ego."
"Kinda hate to sound like I'm pandering," Ruby sighed, "But it's true, at least as far as I know. A lot of the knowledge I got on aura? Got it from old Faunus texts like Sparda's exploits. Heck, he's kinda the one I based my style as a whole off of! Humanity in general was and is way more focused on advancing tech and dust right now. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but aura's been pushed to the side because of it for a really long time, no thanks to a lot of valuable texts being destroyed by human hands even as far back as the Great War. Even a lot of Faunus seem to take the old tales as just that nowdays: old tales. I wonder if there's any other Faunus our year who knows about aura like tha…"
Something seemed to click in Ruby, her eyes popping wide. She snapped her gaze to look at Blake, the older girl doing a tremendous job as suppressing a massive flinch, though she couldn't hide the shriek of fear that scratched across her aura. That was enough to make Ruby cough, closing her eyes and trying to send out as much 'calm' from herself as possible.
"Blake, you've got a piece of paper in your hair," She said, sneakily hiding Cardin's paper from Pyrrha and Weiss as she pretended to take it out of Blake's hair.
"O-oh…" Blake was quick to help her take it out, her usual demeanour back in place. There was confusion in her aura for a moment before it was drowned out in realization and utter relief, turning back to Ruby with the first actual smile the younger girl had ever seen from Blake. "Thanks Ruby."
"It's no biggie," The girl in red said with a beaming smile.
"Affection, how disgusting," Weiss cringed as Ruby laughed, though Blake was quickly back to her usual snarky self.
"What, never experienced affection in that broken home of yours?" Blake shot back, much to Weiss' ire.
"I-you-how dare you!?" Weiss shrieked. The two immediately went into a back and forth, the tension in the air quickly growing more and more. Ruby and Pyrrha grew slightly uncomfortable at the open aggression between the two girls, both of them quickly glancing at each other before subtly nodding.
"… I feel as if we missed something," Pyrrha wondered aloud.
"Heh, not surprised that you did," Ruby shot back just as loud. "Remember your second tournament finale where you missed almost every single attack?"
"Hah! Are you suggesting I need more than one to put someone like you down?" Pyrrha asked with a grin. "Not like you could go down any further height-wise…"
"Going there huh? You wanna go right here, right now!?" Both of them practically smashed their foreheads together, instantly shutting Blake and Weiss' bickering up. This time it was they who shared a look between the other, granted with thinly veiled disgust, before breaking Ruby and Pyrrha up from starting a brawl in the middle of the hallways, regardless of how relatively friendly it was. It also helped that Jaune and Cardin were finally let go.
"Ruuuby," Weiss called out sweetly, "If you and Pyrrha are done measuring up each other, I have cookies ready for you~!"
"HMMM." A face made of pure shadow and eyes that were pure white quickly turned to look at Weiss, though she was far from intimidated.
"Please stop making that 'gimme cookie' face," Weiss sighed Ruby 'calming down' in an instant.
"Fiiiine… catch you later then chump," Ruby said with a little grin to Pyrrha.
"Same to you brat," She returned, both of them sharing a subtle little wink before they went their separate ways. They eventually met up with Yang, having just exited from her Physical Conditioning course with some of the other first years. While everyone else looked every shade of exhausted, Yang only seemed mildly winded, an odd kind of elegance to her confident and steady movements.
"Hey sis! How was conditioning?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, well, Miss Goodwitch is still a slave-driver," Yang laughed, wiping a bit of remaining sweat from her forehead. "But honestly, she really ain't as bad as you are. Just got used to Goowitch's style faster, not to mention all the leg exercises you tortured me with really helped stay alive."
"Call it even for all that upper-body crap that you forced onto me," Ruby growled playfully, the sisters sharing a snicker as they travelled back to their dorm. Yang noticed something odd though, an eyebrow raised as she saw the unusual smile on Blake's face. Granted, any smile on Blake was unusual, because Blake.
"Blake, you good? I mean, you're actually smiling, so I dunno if that's good or bad."
"Huh? Oh, yes, I'm actually quite well," She replied, unable to hide her smile in time. Though, Yang's own big smile startled her somewhat.
"That's a relief. The smile looks good on ya!"
Needless to say, Blake didn't bother to hide her smile for the rest of the day, much to Ruby's pleasure. It also helped that it annoyed Weiss.
(TWBY Continued...)
Ahem, Royal Guard Chads, rise up! Swordmaster may have the coolest moves, but nothing beats th of Royal Guard. I know the chapter was a mix of exposition and a little action sprinkled in, so let me know how you felt! Also, let's see if people can figure out how many legends I just name-dropped in the chapter. I've always been dissatisfied with RWBY's lack of actual badass lore, and tales of heroes and villains and the like, so decided why not spice up the lore of RWBY, eh? Now, with all that said, love you all so much, and peace ouuuut!
Also Saiyans. Yeah. Don't worry, no planet busting XD, but makes you wonder where I'm taking that...