Extra-Curricular

AN: Yeeeaaahhhh... This one became shorter than I thought. But what can you do. Next one should be longer.


It has been few days since team RWBY's little mission. And right now, it was time for combat class with Pyrrha currently facing off against a team of first years. But this time was different. Instead of Miló, she was wielding Talos' Megalance, with the said Blade linked to her.

"Lady Nikos is very strong." Joana commented, taking immense pride in such a strong warrior being under her lord Driver's command. The mecha-knightess was sitting next to Jaune, watching this, quite frankly, unfair fight.

"That is quite true." Otohime replied from her seat behind Ren, "Lady Nikos is most skilled indeed. And that skill is currently working in tandem with Lord Talos." That wasn't even a boast because even without his spear, Talos was easily repelling any attacks that the opposing team threw at the Invincible Girl. Even going so far as disrupting their teamwork with seemingly no effort.

"BREAK THEIR LEGS PYRRHA!" Nora cheered at the top of her lungs.

"YEAH!" Electra cheered with her Driver.

"I should ask you not to corrupt little Electra, beast." Otohime said to Nora with a venomous look.

"Otohime." Ren said sternly.

"...My apologies, sir." Otohime said, looking suitably chastised...for a moment anyway.

With team RWBY, Dragunov scoffed, "I can take him."

"We know." Yang dead-panned. Talos and Dragunov had a sparring match once. And it seemed like the metallic Champion was, overall, equal to Dragunov. "Overall" because despite his own impressive strength, Talos can't match Dragunov. According to Talos himself, he doesn't "possess Superstrength".

As this conversation happened, the battle was nearing its end. Pyrrha wasn't the four-time Mistral Champion for nothing, and she had Talos, a powerful warrior Blade, on her side. Meaning that the first-year team she was fighting against never stood a chance. Honestly, the two teams almost missed team CRDL, just because they would've loved to see them get pummeled like this. But after Cardin and Russel were arrested, Sky and Dove were promptly expelled from Beacon due to their complicity towards Cardin in regards to his plan that birthed Roze.

Talos slammed the last boy onto the ground with no effort whatsoever with his shield-arm.

"Impressive Ms. Nikos." Glynda commented at the performance, "You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament even without your Blade."

"Thank you." Pyrrha replied with a smile, while Talos nodded in acknowledgment.

"Now, we have time for one more match." Glynda announced to the class, "Any volunteers?" And then her eyes fell on one particular student, "Ms. Belladonna. You have been rather docile for the last few classes. So why don't you-" "I'll do it." Mercury interrupted raising his hand as he did.

"Mercury, was it?" Glynda questioned as she then turned to her personal scroll, "Very well, let's find you an opponent."

"Actually, I want to fight them." Mercury said, pointing at Pyrrha and Talos.

"Me?" Pyrrha exclaimed in surprise.

"Do you have a death wish boy?" Talos spoke in annoyance towards the arrogant youth.

"I'm afraid Ms. Nikos has just finished her match, I suggest you find another opponent." Glynda spoke up.

"No, it's completely fine." Pyrrha said hastily, before offering Mercury a friendly look, "I'd be happy to oblige."

With that, Mercury entered the arena with his greaves on. "Talos, please don't do anything." Pyrrha asked her Blade, who scoffed at the request.

"I will act if it looks like he gets an upper hand." Talos replied, still glaring at Mercury who was smiling.

A lot of people thought he was being friendly with that smile. But to Talos, it came off as condescending and arrogant. He would give this brat a dose of reality whenever the opportunity arose. Regardless, Pyrrha wanted a one on one match, so she was using Miló instead of Talos' weapon.

With that, the signal ran and Pyrrha and Mercury charged at each other. Mercury using his greaves attempted to kick Pyrrha, but the red-haired girl easily blocked them.

As the fight waged on, Talos' ire was rising. This brat kept on smirking arrogantly when he thought no one was watching. But that's not why Talos was angry, it's because he got the impression that this boy wasn't even trying. Granted, Pyrrha wasn't going at him with everything she had either, but to Talos, Mercury's behavior and actions were the ultimate insult. Even after the boy seemed to step up his game, it looked like he actually won something whenever Pyrrha managed to block him. "Is he trying to figure out how to defeat Pyrrha in the tournament?" Talos wondered in his head, "Coward."

When Mercury managed to kick himself off of Pyrrha's shield, which she had raised to block the said kick, Mercury decided that he had learnt enough for now, "I for-" "Pyrrhic Rush VICTORY!" But the poor boy was interrupted by getting hit by rapid series of jabs from Talos' spear, before getting one last strike to his stomach, which sent the silver-haired boy against the wall. If it wasn't for his aura, Mercury would've been skewered.

"TALOS!" Pyrrha shouted, "You weren't supposed to do anything!" As much as Pyrrha was angry, she couldn't deny that Talos closing the distance between himself and Mercury faster than either could react was impressive. Much less the rapid series of strikes that made up his level 1 Special.

"I apologize Pyrrha." Talos apologized, "I just couldn't help myself." That was partly true. That brat was about to forfeit. Unfortunately for Mercury, Talos decided to unleash his ire upon him in the form of his special that shared Pyrrha's name. A fact that would've made Pyrrha embarrassed in any other situation.

As this happened, Mercury was getting up with his aura flickering at the treatment he had received. Reigning his anger in, he forced a smile, "Wow! That was some powerful attack." He even managed a cheer into his tone, "I guess picking a fight with you two was a mistake after all."

"Mistake indeed." Talos grumbled, earning Pyrrha's attention.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Indeed Mr. Black," Goodwitch said as she fixed her glasses, "I would strongly suggest you to pick your opponent's better in the future."

"I'll keep that in mind." Mercury said, reigning in his fury with extreme effort as he walked out.

With that, the buzzer rang, signaling the end of the class. The sound surprised Blake, who had dark rings around her eyes.

"My lady, are you alright?" Nox showed on his scroll, even though he could see the answer plain as day.

"Nox, for the last time, I'm fine." Blake growled in annoyance, before getting up and walking with a folder she had been trying to read up until now. The dark ninja wasn't convinced, but he still followed his Driver dutifully.

As the two teams exited, Emerald stayed behind to wait for Mercury. And then he appeared, "You okay?" It's not that Emerald was concerned, it was more because it would be bad if he got too hurt.

"I'm gonna turn that rust bucket into a crushed can one day," Mercury finally let out his frustration, "Still, at least I learned something."

"You're the one who wanted to fight both of them," Emerald pointed out, "Cinder told us to only figure out if Pyrrha was a threat."

"Shut up." Mercury grumbled.

Outside, team RWBY along with their Blades split off from team JNPR who had their own activities for the rest of the day.

Blake once again had her nose buried in the folder that contained notes on their progress with the investigation.

"Hey, Blake!" Sun hollered to the fellow faunus as he jogged to her.

"What is it, Sun?" Blake asked in annoyance.

"Uhhh...you doing okay?" Sun then asked, seeing that Blake looked more annoyed than usual.

"I'm fine." Blake resisted saying that through her teeth.

"Sooo...There's this dance coming on this weekend. Sounds lame right, but I was thinking that...maybe with you and I, not as lame." Sun said.

"What." Blake looked incredulous at what Sun was implying, with Nox shaking his head at Sun's poor attempt at asking her out.

"The dance this weekend. You wanna go or not?" Sun asked with a smile.

Blake gave the monkey boy a withering look, "I don't have time for a stupid dance. I thought you of all people would understand." With that, Blake stormed past her concerned Blade and teammates.

"Stupid girl." Dragunov muttered.

"What?" Yang and Weiss asked in unison.

"She's practically committing suicide with her obsession." the draconic Blade clarified, which didn't ease the glares from the white and yellow members of team RWBY.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Dragunov." Roze sighed, earning blanched looks from Yang and Weiss. And this time, Ruby joined them.

"I wouldn't use Dragunov's words," Dahlia said in concern, "But I agree that what Blake's doing isn't good for her health. Not to mention her looks." Then the ice bunny glanced at Sun, "Nor is it fair on poor Sun."

True to her words, the monkey boy looked very downcast.


In RWBY dorm, Blake was miffed, "You want me to what?"

"We want you to go to the dance this weekend." Ruby said with a worried look.

"That's ridiculous." Blake said in irritation.

"You can't sleep, you hardly eat despite Nox's best efforts, and to be honest your grades have begun to drop." Weiss listed off. The sad thing is, she's not joking about Nox's efforts. The ninja Blade took every opportunity to make Blake eat or take rest. But every time Blake rewarded him by yelling at him.

"You think I care about grades!? People's lives are at stake!" Blake shouted with a furious look.

"We know." Yang said in a soothing tone, "And we're still trying to figure out what Torchwick's up to."

"Thanks to you and Sun, we know they're operating somewhere southeast of Vale." Ruby said cheerfully, unfortunately, that earned a glare from Nox at being ignored. "And y-you too Nox." Ruby's hasty correction only made the dark Blade more annoyed.

"And the Schnee Company records singled out Vale as the primary target for robberies." Weiss added in.

"Which means that whatever they're planning is likely to happen in Vale." Roze thought aloud.

"Don't forget about their missing military tech." Yang added in, which earned a scoff from Dragunov.

"That thing was no match for us." the draconic Blade said with his arms crossed.

"But there are still unanswered questions." Blake argued, not believing that her teams wanted to abandon the mission.

"And we will find them in time, my lady." Nox shoved his scroll in front of Blake's face, before rolling out more. "But with the rate you have been going, I fear that by the time we do find out their plans, you will be in no condition to do anything about it."

"SHUT UP!" Blake swiped Nox's scroll away in fury, "You don't tell me what I can or can't do!"

"He's not telling you what to do." Dahlia said sternly, "Your body can only go on for so long without proper sleep. You have rings under your eyes, and your skin is losing color."

"Blake!" Yang called out with worry clear on her face, "All we're asking is for you to relax for one day. We'll make sure you'll have a great time."

"Yeah, Yang and I will plan the whole thing." Weiss said proudly.

"What?" Blake questioned.

"Team CFVY's away mission took longer than expected," Dahlia explained, "So Yang and Weiss were asked to handle the preparations. Of course, I will help too."

"In other words," Dragunov piped up, "One day of fun R&R. Then we get back to work, rested and ready." Dragunov flexed his muscles for emphasis.

"So, what do you think?" Ruby asked happily.

"...I think this is a colossal waste of time." Blake said, before moving to the door, "I'll be in the library." And then she left.

"I will go with her." Nox showed before following his Driver.

As soon as the two left, the remaining Blades and Drivers sighed. "Why does she insist on killing herself?" Dragunov wondered aloud.

"WHAT!?" Ruby and Roze shouted in unison.

"Dragunov." Yang said, not sure how to feel about that.

"I mean, there are much less straining ways to do that." Dragunov said, completely missing the problem here.

Dahlia covered her face with her hand, "Dragunov...while I don't appreciate your wording, it's true that at the rate she's going Blake will either burn out or do something stupid."

That calmed down Ruby significantly. But before she could speak up, someone knocked on the door.

With a sigh, Weiss went to open it with her remaining team mates and Blades looking at who it was.

"Weeeiiiiissss~!" Jaune sang as he played a guitar, with Joana behind him, looking like she wanted to say something...or be anywhere but here. With that, Weiss slammed the door on Jaune's face. But it looked like Jaune didn't take the hint as he knocked again, "Come on, open the door. I promise not to sing."

"Milord, please. She clearly does not wish to hear you." The team heard Joana say.

Weiss rolled her eyes as she opened the door again in a moment of madness.

"I lieeeeed~!" Jaune sang again, which made Joana look like she was in physical pain. "Weiss Schnee. Will you accompany me to the dance oooon...Sunday!" Jaune sang, pausing a little on the last part.

"Are you done?" Weiss asked coldly.

"Yes." Jaune said with an awkward smile.

"No." And Weiss slammed the door in Jaune's face again. This time, it seemed like he got the point, as there were no more knocks. "What?" Weiss said, seeing as her team was staring at her.

"And you're wondering why everyone calls you the Ice Queen," Dragunov said with a smirk, "Even if that title belongs to Dahlia."

"Thank you, Dragunov." Dahlia said with a smile, before giving Weiss a look, "Weiss, I know Jaune might be a little...overbearing, but did you have to be that cruel?"

The white-haired girl sighed at Dahlia's talk, "All the boys only want the perks of my last name. Besides, I already have a date in mind." The heiress smiled at the last part.

Which caused both Yang and Dragunov to snicker.

"What!?"

"Nothing." The Blonde and the Blade said in unison.

"Well, date or no date," Ruby then said, "None of this will matter if we can't get Blake to come along."

"Hopefully Nox will be able to convince her." Roze said with a sigh.


Few minutes after the incident, Jaune and Pyrrha were training at a roof. It seemed like Jaune had Pyrrha in a power-struggle. Until she swept Jaune's legs thus tripping him. This made Pyrrha laugh a little as she put Miló away. "Your swordplay has improved immensely." Pyrrha complimented on Jaune's progress as she helped him up.

"Couldn't have done it without you." Jaune said, dusting himself.

"Lady Nikos is a good teacher." Joana said, happy to see her lord making progress. Even if it isn't with her weapon.

"I still think you're too soft on him." Talos commented. If he had a say in this, he would've put Jaune through a wringer.

"No one asked you." Pyrrha said, making it clear that he does NOT have a say in this. Then she directed her usual smile at Jaune, "So, are you ready to move onto aura?"

"Actually, I was thinking if we just skipped aura tonight." Jaune said, earning a frown from Pyrrha.

"Come on, I know you get frustrated, but I'm sure we can discover your semblance any day now." Pyrrha said supportively.

"That's not it." Jaune said with a sigh, "...Never mind, you wouldn't get it."

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, putting her hand on her leader's shoulder, "You can tell me."

"Weiss rejected milord's invitation to accompany him." Joana answered for Jaune.

"Oh." Pyrrha didn't like that answer.

"JOANA!" Neither did Jaune like his Blade revealing that kind of information.

"Again?" Talos dead-panned with his arms crossed. His voice having an unusual echo, aside from the usual metallic tone.

Pyrrha gave Jaune an awkward grin, "Well, Jaune. You know what they say, there's plenty of fish in the sea."

That gave Joana an idea," Milord, why not ask Lady Nikos to accompany you?"

"Why?" Jaune asked in confusion, downing Pyrrha even more.

"I mean...if Weiss refused you, then why not go with someone who would not reject you." Joana explained awkwardly, "I mean no disrespect to you, milord." That last one was added hastily, because that was borderline insulting Jaune. In Joana's mind anyway.

"Pfft, yeah right." Jaune laughed, "I'm sure Pyrrha has guys lining up to ask her out."

Talos' hands clenched at Jaune's words. "You would be surprised." the metallic Blade said, keeping the edge out of his voice.

"Oh please. If Pyrrha doesn't have a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress." Jaune said, and with that, walked out of the roof.

"Lady Nikos," Joana said, moving in front of Pyrrha, "I am so sorry for my failure." The knightess bowed deeply before following the brick wall that she calls her lord.

"...I still don't understand why you pine over that waste of space." Talos said, feeling that Jaune wasn't even worthy of breathing the same air as Pyrrha right now.

"...I'm not asking you to." Pyrrha said with hints of anger.

Talos sighed, knowing what would happen if he pressed the issue. So instead, "Why do you not use your semblance to its full potential?"

"What?" That threw the Mistral Champion for a loop.

"In all your fights, you never use your semblance to do more than adjust your opponent's trajectories," Talos said in a much softer tone, "But you could do so much more with it."

"Talos, I don't want to talk about it." Pyrrha said, as she begun to walk away.

However, she soon felt her Blade wrapping his armored hands around her. "I don't care this time. Whenever I ask about your semblance, you brush me off." Talos said in an annoyed tone.

"Let go." Pyrrha said, as she began to struggle.

"...Make me." The tone Talos used, made it sound like he didn't think Pyrrha could do it.

So, with that, Pyrrha started using her semblance to pry him off. Only, Talos just tightened his grip. The girl put more power into it, but Talos still refused to let go.

"Do you truly believe that a weak pull like this is enough to even make me put any effort?" Talos openly mocked his Driver, "This is why you are weak, you reject your potential."

"SHUT UP!" And with one mighty push, not only did Pyrrha pry Talos' arms off her, but also threw him off the roof. As Pyrrha heard a satisfying thump from the ground below, she fell to her knees from the effort. Not only did she fight against the metal Blade's impressive strength, but she also his weight.

Any thought she had was cut off as she heard a loud thump that shook the whole roof. Lifting her head, Pyrrha saw Talos had jumped back up to the roof. Despite his weight, Talos is able to leap long distances, and jump into great heights. "A good throw, but it tired you out." Talos said, much less hostile than before, "But I wonder... if there are multiple enemies that have equal skill, but greater strength, what then?" Then the metal Blade walked towards his Driver and kneeled to her level, "A semblance like yours has the potential to crush almost any foe with ease. So why not do that?"

Pyrrha understood what Talos was trying to say, but, "I don't want to crush my opponents. I want to win with my strength and skill, not because of a 'superior' semblance." Talos could hear the air quotations on 'superior'.

"Then don't." Talos said, surprising Pyrrha, "However, should an opponent stronger than you appear, wouldn't you like to have that kind of option available?"

"...Maybe," Pyrrha said as sweat dripped off her face into the floor," But I still wouldn't want to use it. Because if I broadcasted my powers, it would give my enemies time to find counter-measures."

Talos nodded in understanding," I can see your point, but that would be all the more reason for you to train your semblance more, if only as a last resort. Because right now, you were struggling to just throw me off."

"...Can we do that another time." Pyrrha asked her Blade that apparently insisted on being her coach, "I don't think I have enough in me to train effectively right now." Sad truth is, Pyrrha has never strained her semblance like she just did with Talos.

"I'm okay with that." You could hear the smile in Talos' voice.


In an exchange student dorm room, Emerald and Mercury had just finished adding Pyrrha on their little list.

"That living weapon of hers is also a problem." Mercury grumbled, earning Cinder's attention.

"Oh? Do tell," the black-haired woman who pretended to be a teenager said.

"From that Nikos girl's fight, I could tell he was fast for someone wearing an armor that heavy looking," Mercury told, still annoyed at the surprise attack he took.

"That's not all," Emerald chimed in," When Mercury was about to forfeit, the guy leaped at him with speeds and strikes too fast for my eyes."

"Is that so?" Cinder asked, pausing in her sewing to fish out her scroll to play a certain footage. "That still doesn't sound as destructive as this." Cinder said aloud as the footage of Dragunov's Burning Rage was played. Neo had managed to record the moment before they fled. This scene infuriated the black-haired woman, a power like that belongs to her alone. "How dare that thing reject me." Cinder thought aloud as she glanced at her now healed hand.

"Whatever security measure Atlas put on those things is pretty bad if it allows Faunus to use it." Mercury commented.

"Well why didn't you try to get one," Emerald asked the silver-haired boy.

"Hell no," Mercury shot back," You saw what those things did."

"Good point," Emerald replied, still shivering at the pool of blood that came from all the minions that failed to acquire one of those living weapons.

As this conversation happened, Cinder returned to her sewing. Still thinking about the Blade that caused that fiery inferno. Dragunov he was called. "Such power is meant for me and me alone." She swore to herself, wanting to figure out how to make these weapons serve her...as is her right.


As Cinder was fuming with impotent rage, Blake was in the library, searching for news articles about any recent White Fang activities.

Truth is, she was already nodding off a little. "My lady, please, go to sleep." Was the text that was shoved into her face.

"I can't." Blake said, swiping the scroll away.

Nox didn't give up, though "Please. You can't keep going like-" Blake didn't finish reading the scroll, before snatching it from Nox's hand and throwing it away.

"Now you listen to me! If you want to stop me, then save your ink." Blake said in anger, "Until Torchwick and White Fang are dealt with I CAN'T REST!" That last shout startled the dark Blade. "Either you make yourself useful and help with this or disappear FOREVER!" Blake was tired of Nox being obsessed to stop her from investigating.

That last one made Nox's eye widen before he went to pick up his scroll and brought it back with a text "As you wish." With that, Nox left with his head hung low.

With Nox gone, Blake would finally be able to find answers. Her team and even her own Blade may have stopped caring about the investigation, but she hasn't. "I will do this alone if I must." Blake said resolutely, and returned to what she was doing


AN: Whelp... here it is... Not much to say except now everyone knows that Cinder can't be a Driver and Emerald and Mercury are too scared to try.