A/N - Sorry for the long break between chapters, I was realized that I left a couple of plot holes specifically about what happens with Tai and Qrow after they get back from hell, so I rewrote a lot of chapter 7. I also added a small bit to the end of chapter 6 as well, but that's everything. Thank you all for the positive feedback and please enjoy!
Blake and Yang rushed into the training hall, dragging a limp Weiss behind them. They quickly scanned the building, searching for team JNPR, only to see them standing outside of one of the training rooms, looking through the doorway. The 3 girls quickly ran over to where their sister team stood.
Yang immediately grabbed the closest member of team JNPR, who happened to be Pyrrha. "WHERE IS SHE," Yang yelled as she violently shook her poor victim.
Blake, in what was quickly becoming a recurring theme, grabbed Yang off of Pyrrha, giving her an apologetic smile. "You guys said you found Ruby?" Blake asked, looking around for the missing teammate.
"Yeah, about that…" Pyrrha said, looking away nervously.
"Is something wrong?" Blake said as she gave her a confused look.
"Well… no… but.." Pyrrha rambled, "It's better if you see it yourself," She said, pointing towards the training room.
Confused, Blake and Yang entered the room, only to see pure carnage. Ruby was absolutely smashing through the holographic grim with her bare fists, dashing around the training room at speeds that they could barely keep up with. They silently watched in shock as Ruby continued to pound her way through the grimm, only stopping every once in a while to brutalize ones that appeared to be on the verge of death.
Although team Ruby was still in shock, Yang had a multitude of emotions going through her. She felt relieved that they had found her sister, happy that last night wasn't a dream, and a little bit angry that Ruby had disappeared without telling anyone. But one emotion dominated the rest of them. "Ruby…" Yang started to tear up at what her sister had become. Wherever her sister had been, whatever she had gone through, it had changed her. This was no longer Ruby Rose, the always energetic socially awkward, weapon obsessed teen. She had grown up, into something Yang barely recognized. Yang was ripped from her thoughts as both teams winced as Ruby violently stabbed a Boarbatusk through the head using its own tusk. It appeared to have been the last grimm, as no more were spawning in. Until suddenly, a limbless Beowolf near Ruby's foot lunged at her, its jaws wide open, prepared to chomp down on Ruby's leg.
"RUBY WAT-" Yang's warning was cut off as Ruby simply picked her leg up and brought it down on Grimm's head, smashing it to pieces. Ruby let her posture relax as the overhead speaker let out a buzz, signaling the end of the training exercise.
"RUBY," Yang shouted, running out onto the field. Startled, Ruby spun around, prepared to smash whatever had surprised her, lowering her fists once she realized that it was Yang. Ruby silently took off the headphones she was wearing, revealing that she was listening to some kind of Heavy Metal.
"YOU'RE OK," Yang yelled as she wrapped her sister in a hug. Confused, and seeing that Yang was too distraught to explain everything, Ruby turned to give Blake a quizzical look.
"You left without telling us anything about where you were going, we thought you disappeared again," Blake explained, walking over and joining the hug. Weiss stayed back with team JNPR, but instead of appreciating the scene, she was staring at the remains of the holographic Grimm scattered around on the floor. She had a fearful look on her face, but before anyone could notice, she calmed herself and went back to her dead faced expression.
Ruby silently nodded, before opening her mouth. "Sorry…" she rasped out. For a moment, everyone stayed still, appreciating the heartwarming scene. Until Nora's stomach let out a loud growl.
Everyone sweatdropped, as they awkwardly laughed. "Sorry," Nora grinned.
"I completely forgot that we were supposed to be getting breakfast," Jaune said, his stomach letting out a small complaint of its own.
"What time is it anyway?" Ren asked, pulling out his scroll. His eyes widened as he looked at the time.
"What's wrong Ren?" Nora asked as she leaned over to look at his scroll, her own eyes widening at what she saw. "Uh oh".
"What's up guys?" Jaune asked, noticing the pale faces of the two childhood friends.
"It's 8:50," Ren said, causing everyone else's eyes to widen, "Which means…"
"We only have ten minutes to get to class," Blake finished Ren's sentence, as she pulled herself off of the group hug.
"It took us 15 minutes to walk here, we can probably shorten it down to 10 if we sprint," Jaune said, rubbing his chin nervously, "But we'll be cutting it super close, and I don't want to have Professor Peach upset at us again".
Ruby sighed, seeing the worried looks of her teammates. She let out a cough, trying to get her teammates' attention. They all seemingly ignored her, as they prepared to sprint off in order to get to class on time. Exasperated, Ruby let out a louder cough, which again, no one noticed. She frantically waved her arms, desperately trying to get the frantic Teen's attention. She let out another sigh, realizing that she wasn't going to be able to get through to them audibly. I need to get my voice fixed ASAP, Ruby thought to herself. Giving up on trying to get the two teams' attention audibly, Ruby turned and grabbed the person closest to her, which happened to be Yang, before flinging her over her back. Yang's shout of surprise got Blakes attention.
Confused, the cat faunus asked, "What are you doing Ruby?" Ruby just gave her a pointed stare, before walking over to her and slinging her over her back as well. Blakes slightly higher pitched yelp of shock got the rest of the teens attention real quick. They all stared at her in confusion, as Ruby dashed between them, slinging them onto her back one by one. Jaune was the last one to join the pile, and ended up on top.
"What is going on, Ruby?" Jaune asked, confusion and panic evident in his voice.
"I… Run… You… Steer". Jaune's confusion and panic quickly melted away as he gave Ruby a nod of confirmation. The emotions returned just as quickly as Ruby dashed off, the wind blowing in his face.
Ozpin and Glynda were calmly walking through a rather long hallway, discussing how they were going to re-introduce Ruby back into classes.
"You want me to put her in to spar on her first day back?" Glynda asked, giving Ozpin a quizzical look.
"Yes, it's important that we get a gauge on how strong she has become since she returned," Ozpin answered, nodding his head. He thought back to the night previous, when Ruby had smashed through the whole desk with barely any effort. "Although perhaps we should take some precautions".
Glynda frowned at this, not liking the idea of throwing Ruby in to fight on her first day back, "But still, wouldn't it be better to atleast get her re-acclimated first? And what do you mean by precautions?"
"well- ," whatever explanation Ozpin was about to give was cut off when they heard a loud commotion in the distance.
"What's that?" Glynda asked, straining her ears to try and figure out what could be causing the cacophony of noise.
Ozpin simply stood, a knowing smile on his face. "Probably just a couple of late students," He answered. His smile slowly dropped as the commotion began to grow louder. "Maybe a number of late students," he said, starting to pick out a couple of recognizable voices in the commotion. Suddenly, they heard a loud shout.
"RUBY LEFT NOW," a familiar voice yelled.
Ozpin and Glynda sighed in unison, soft smiles on their faces as they remembered the first day of classes, when both teams had ended up sprinting to class due to how late they were. Those smiles quickly faded at what they saw. At the end of the hallway, a giant ball made up of Team RWBY and team JNPR, all being carried by Ruby, skidded around the corner, and started barreling down the hall. As the group drew closer, their once smiles turned to frowns.
"They seem to be accelerating," Ozpin observed.
"Indeed they are the headmaster," Glynda replied.
"PROFESSORS, GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY," Jaune yelled as the group only continued to accelerate.
Quickly realizing that Ruby wasn't going to stop, Ozpin grabbed Glynda, and pulled her to the side of the hallway. As the ball of chaos booked it past them, wind buffeted their faces, blowing around their hair. They watched as the ball of chaos continued down the hall, vanishing around the next turn.
"Well that was certainly something," Ozpin said, his usual calm exterior had cracked, revealing a look of shock.
Glynda could only nod, not quite sure what to make of what had just happened. After a couple moments of shocked silence, the two professors shook off the surprise and quickly righted themselves, continuing on with their discussion, putting the chaos that they had just witnessed behind them.
Suddenly, Tai came booking it from around the corner, where the mess had just come from. "I heard Ruby was missing," he panted, giving the professors a worried look.
Ozpin gave him a reassuring smile, "She's quite alright," He said, giving the worried father a calming pat on the shoulder, "She just passed by us with her friends on the way to class".
Tai let out a sigh of relief, before he finally caught his breath and righted himself. "If that's the case, would you mind pointing me in the direction of the cafeteria. I haven't had the chance to eat anything since I was looking for Ruby".
Ozpin let out an amused smile at this, sensing an opportunity for a bit of fun. He ignored the look Glynda was giving him, knowing that it was not a happy one. "Yes it's just down that hall and to the left, but in case you have forgotten, breakfast ends when classes begin," He said, feeling his smile grow. Tai's eyes widened as his face paled, his stomach letting out an angry growl. Without another word, he sped off in the direction the professor had pointed him in, which happened to be the exact opposite direction of the cafeteria.
"Really," Glynda asked, fixing Ozpin with a light glare. Ozpin merely responded with a light hmm, before turning to continue walking down the hallway. Glynda could only let out a sigh of frustration, before she turned to follow the headmaster.
Professor Peach looked at her students, before turning to the clock and frowning. There were 8 unoccupied chairs in the middle of the seating section, and there was only a minute before class was supposed to start. They're usually here by now, she thought to herself. Suddenly, she heard a loud commotion from outside her door. She sighed before walking over to the door to investigate. She suddenly jumped back as the 8 missing students came bursting through the door, spilling out onto the floor in a giant pile.
Jaune sat up groaning, "I said STOP Ruby, not GO FASTER". Ruby simply looked at him and shrugged, as if to say I did.
"That was fun, let's do that again," Nora said through giggles from her position on the ground.
"Let's not," Blake said, attempting to stand up before collapsing back to the ground.
Professor Peach pinched the bridge of her nose at the sight and gave the students a stern look. The students shuddered, and quickly got themselves sorted out, ignoring the bewildered looks from the rest of the class. Professor Peach sighed as the bell rang, and she walked over to her podium, and began the lecture.