Over the next several weeks, Tai accompanied Qrow to the forest and watched how they fought during sparring. Between the four teenagers and Qrow, they were more skilled but Qrow could almost always keep up with his semblance active. If anything, it looked like they were teaching him.
By the end of it, Qrow could reliably keep pace with them without the need for his semblance at all. He had gotten even faster then before and Ruby was meeting the results of this practice head on during her training with Qrow.
The two men were walking up the walkway leading to the front door, the sun dipping beneath the surrounding trees.
"So," Qrow began. "What do you think of them?"
"They're trustworthy," Tai stated. "Extremely dangerous, but trustworthy. I'm not worried about Ruby and Yang's safety if we bring them along next time."
"I'll talk to the guys about it." They walked inside and told Ruby and Yang.
Two weeks later, the four of them went into town and Qrow brought them to a diner. It was a busy morning. They were directed to their booth and a waiter promptly came up to them.
"What can I get for you today?" Qrow turned in slight shock. "Hello Qrow."
"Ulquiorra? I thought it was your day off today," Qrow said.
"You know this guy?" Yang asked.
"Yeah," Qrow responded. "He's one of the new students I've been telling you about. Why are you working right now?"
"I thought that since most of our training takes place in the afternoon, morning-shift wouldn't hurt. I get off work in," he checked his watch. "One hour."
They ordered and Ulquiorra sped off, taking orders and waiting on customers.
"Damn," Yang said. "He's almost faster then you, Ruby."
Five minutes later, their food was in front of them, for the most part. Ruby's food was almost gone already. They ordered some dessert and Ulquiorra brought it as quickly as he could. Yang could swear he had engines in his back the way his shirt was billowing.
After they were done eating, they waited outside for half an hour before Ulquiorra came out.
"Where's your sword?" Tai asked.
"I asked Jushiro to hang on to it for the time being. My boss says I can't store it in my work-locker." And they went off again, onto the bus and down to the edge of town where the clearing was. The other three looked like they were just getting there too. "Perfect timing."
Ruby's eyes widened when Barragan embedded Arrogante into a stump. "Oh, that's so cool! Can I look at it? Please?"
Barragan raised an eyebrow before turning to Jushiro. "Are you absolutely sure this is safe?" he whispered.
"It should be," Jushiro whispered back. "I've never heard of anybody being able to use a zanpakuto that wasn't theirs."
"Alright," Barragan replied to Ruby. "Don't cut yourself."
Immediately, she grabbed the haft and began trying to pry it out of the stump. After a minute of effort, she finally managed to dislodge it. She studied every inch of it, from the edge geometry to the balancing. Surprisingly, she could hold it above her head with very little effort, one-handed. "Whoa! This is lighter then I thought it would be. What's it made of?"
The four strangers huddled together and began fiercely whispering. In less then five seconds they broke the huddle and turned back to the other group.
"It's a special material," Jushiro responded. "We don't know how to make it, but it's something from our hometown."
Way to not be suspicious, Qrow thought.
"Really!? That's so cool!" Ruby turned to the other three. "Can I look at your weapons too?"
They obliged. Lots of oohing and aahing later, their weapons were sheathed again. Afterwards, Jushiro opted to show Ruby and Yang a few things while everyone else talked. Soon, the sun dipped behind the trees and everybody headed home.
This repeated over the following weeks with different people sparring with the sisters while the rest discussed copious amounts of things that I cannot describe.
Six months before the new students would enter Beacon, the entrance tests came around. Gin, Ulquiorra, Jushiro, and Barragan all passed with flying colors and received their invitations three weeks later. With the invitations came a schedule to tour the school before the start of the next year.
The very next day, while everyone else was out working, Gin was sitting on a bed in their room with numerous books splayed out in front of him, and the phone rang. It was a cheap, rotary-dial sitting on the sidetable, so it actually had a hammer to strike the metal bells and was incredibly easy to maintain. They were in all the cheapest rooms.
"Hello?" Gin answered.
"It's the manager. We have a V.I.P. guest coming to stay for a week and we're swamped. If you take care of this and the only complaint is about your smile, the next month of your extended stay is free." Gin's eyes opened slightly.
What kind of guest is coming? "I'll get right on it. When will they be arriving?"
"This afternoon, at 6:00."
"I'll be in the lobby waiting." He went to hang up the phone.
"No, it'll be the roof. They're coming in from overseas."
"I see. I'll be waiting for them up there then." He hung up, put his bellhop uniform on and headed to the roof. Ulquiorra had said there was a landing pad up there but Gin had never seen it before. It was an airport runway with how big the building was, room enough for a dozen aircraft to take off and land comfortably.
Five hours later, a bullhead with a snowflake pattern on the side landed in front of him and the doors opened, revealing three people. Two white haired women with swords and lots of luggage, and a stout man who looked to be a butler.
"Good afternoon, esteemed guests," Gin said as he sucked in his reiatsu as much as he could. The two women jolted and went for their weapons, as if they hadn't even seen him. "Oh come now, no need for that. I will be your bellhop for your stay here." He bowed slightly.
Weiss stared at the white-haired fellow standing before her and picked up on something Gin couldn't hide. He knows how to fight. With the way he holds himself, there's no way he doesn't.
Winter didn't take her hand from her weapon. This man has killed before. That smile on his face gives everything away. She placed a hand on Weiss's shoulder. "Let me do the talking."
She stepped in front of Gin and circled him while talking. "Tell me, can we rely on you to solve problems?"
"Only as much as I am able," Gin answered.
"What would you do if someone attacked us on these premises?"
"You needn't worry. If that does happen, I will take care of it."
"Can you fight?"
"I can."
"If I attacked you right now, what would you do?" She whispered in his ear.
"It is an unusual circumstance," he whispered back. "I would not fight back unless you threatened the safety of other guests, and if that would be the case, I wouldn't even need a sword." His smile dropped, his eyes opened slightly, releasing just a touch of reiatsu before reverting back.
As soon as Winter felt his reiatsu leak out she was hit with a memory from about four months ago. "It was you wasn't it?"
"What was?" Gin asked.
"That surge of power that reached all the way into Atlas. It felt incredibly happy, joyful even. It was you, wasn't it?"
Gin chuckled. "Ozpin didn't say it had reached that far. Yes, that was me, my aura unlocking more specifically."
Winter's eyes widened, but she quickly hid her shock. "I see." She stood next to Weiss again. "Klein, would you help him with our bags, please?"
"With pleasure, Madam," Klein responded. Gin stepped forward and the two got to work. Nearly filling the elevator with the suitcases and boxes, Gin stood right in front of the doors, hands behind his back so they could see him at all times. The elevator opened and he moved the luggage to their room. Klein helped as much as he could but was struggling to keep up with Gin's absurd strength.
It was a three-bedroom, room I guess, with a central area and an extravagant bathroom for each sub-room. Klein showed Gin where to put everything and within fifteen minutes, everything was in place. Gin, standing by the door, pulled out a pen and a notepad.
"If you need anything, call this number." He finished writing his room number down and tore off the paper before handing it to Winter.
"Why is it not in the registry?" She asked.
"Special circumstances, you see." He bowed slightly. "If that will be all?"
"One last thing," Winter said. "About your smile, if that's alright?"
"It's the natural resting position for my face." He clenched his jaw as his tongue tried to flick out, his smile not faltering. Winter noticed.
"I see," she said as she turned away. "That will be all for today."
"Very well," Gin responded. "Thank you for your patronage." He left the room and in the elevator, halfway down to his room he said, "Not even a tip?"
A few days later, on Ulquiorra's day off, he stood in a gun store, browsing the merchandise.
"Aren't you a little young to be looking for a weapon?" The faunus man at the counter asked.
"I'll be going to Beacon next year and I don't have a gun. I've been saving for the past five months to get one."
"Well, what do you have already?" He crossed his arms.
"This." Ulquiorra pulled Murcielago from his sash and placed it on the counter. The faunus man examined it.
"Quality blade you have here. I've never seen anything of such exquisite quality. Do you have a semblance? And what else can you do?" He sheathed and handed it back to Ulquiorra.
"My semblance is not meant for combat, but I can produce an Aura Blade."
"How old are you again?"
"I'm going to be seventeen when the new year starts," he lied.
"And you already know an advanced technique like that? I thought it was only veteran huntsmen who could do that kind of thing. What kind of gun do you want?"
Ulquiorra put a hand on his chin. "After all the research I've done the way I fight, it'll have to be one-handed. A pistol with enough power to shatter an aura cloak in a single shot would be preferable."
"I don't think that's possible. All sorts of people come with all sorts of different amounts of aura, and that's not even getting into the differing strengths of it." He thought for a second. "I do have something that might interest you though. It's an experimental weapon I've been working on for a while." He ducked under the counter and dug around through boxes and other various things.
"What would that be?" Ulquiorra asked.
The man popped back up with a box in his hands before putting it on the counter. "I'm not sure if it works, but I've been trying to design a gun that fires aura bullets. I haven't unlocked my aura yet, so I can't test it, but if you help me I'll give you a thirty percent discount on what I was going to sell it for. How's that sound?"
"If it works, that will be agreeable. What would you usually sell it for?"
"If it works, it's going to go for at least five thousand, maybe six. I'm also going to patent it if it works."
Ulquiorra did some quick math. "That means I'll be paying at least three thousand five hundred. That's half of what I can spend." He thought for a while longer. If I can use my aura for ammunition, that will offset the cost in the long-term. It's a sound investment if it proves successful. "I'll help you."
It worked, and so Ulquiorra went back to the hotel with a gun resembling a fifty caliber revolver. The next day was their weekly meeting with Qrow, Gin opting to stay behind to be on call for the Schnees. Ruby and Yang were with Tai on a trip somewhere, so for the first time in months, it was just them and Qrow, for the most part.
"Well," Qrow said. "You guys have been advancing quickly, though considering your backgrounds, that's not surprising. It's almost to the point I don't have anything to teach you anymore that you won't learn at the academy, but since we're here, is there anything specific that we should do?"
Ulquiorra stepped forward. "I purchased a new weapon yesterday and would like to test it out, as well as the limits of my regenerative capabilities."
"And how," Qrow sighed, "do you intend to test that?"
Ulquiorra pulled his arm out of his sleeve and thrust it out to his side. "Cut it off."
"Going straight for the extremes?" Qrow ran his hand through his hair. "There are easier ways to do it, you know."
"Like what?" Ulquiorra tilyed his head slightly.
"How about I just stab you in the arm before I go about cutting it off?"
Ulquiorra rolled his eyes. "It would be faster to just remove the arm. I merely wish to know if I can still regenerate as I once could."
"Then I'll do it," Barragan said.
Qrow threw his hands up. "If you guys want to mutilate each other, you're paying the hospital bills." He walked away and leaned against a tree.
Barragan and Ulquiorra got into position and with a mighty swing of Arrogante, Ulquiorra's arm fell from his shoulder, spewing blood. Qrow looked away. Ulquiorra picked up the arm and pressed it against the stump before sending his aura to the area. Within seconds the arm repaired itself and after a brief test, was in perfect working order.
"Again," Ulquiorra said and his arm once again left his shoulder. Foregoing the severed limb this time, aura rushed to the stub and to Qrow's surprise, and everyone else's relief, his entire arm grew back. First the bones and tendons, then the veins and muscles, and ending with the skin and any other soft tissues.
Ulquiorra flexed his new fingers and stretched the new muscles before drawing Murcielago for a test swing. The unlucky tree stump was cleanly spit in two. Perfect. He then pulled his new gun from the holster attached to his sash and aimed.
Green energy poured into the barrel and coalesced into a solid projectile. He pulled the trigger and the green sphere shot out at the speed of a Cero, annihilating a tree stump a hundred feet away and raining splinters.
"It seems that's all the power I can put into a single shot. Barely even worth comparing to an incomplete Bala, at best. Even Lilinette Gingerbuck could produce more devastating power with less effort."
Jushiro walked in front of him. "Then shoot me with it. I have taken her Cero head on, so I think I could make a comparison."
"Very well." Ulquiorra aimed and fired, covering Jushiro in a cloud of dust.
Coughing as he waved the dust out of his face, Jushiro stated, "You're right, that was pathetic. I've seen untalented students who could fire stronger Byakurai. Rukia's first attempt was stronger then that. Even Renji's first attempt was stronger then that. I hope this doesn't aggravate my lungs."
Ulquiorra tilted his head. "Will that be a problem?"
"I hope not," Jushiro coughed. "I'm surprised I've been able to go this long without them flaring up. I'll get it looked at sometime soon though."
"I see. Do you want to risk taking another shot?" Ulquiorra asked. "I wish to test something."
"I could. Why? What do you have in mind?"
"I want Barragan to shoot you as well. I wonder if there's an upper limit on how much power we can output." Ulquiorra turned to Barragan. "Do you mind?"
"Not at all." Barragan took the gun and aimed at Jushiro as he braced for the impact. Barragan squeezed the trigger and fired a purple projectile, striking Jushiro square in the chest and kicking up another cloud of dust.
"No stronger then the first," Jushiro coughed as he waved the dust from his face. "Was that as strong as you could do?"
"Yes," Barragan replied. "I tried putting more power into it, but I couldn't. It almost felt like a latch closing a door or a faucet being turned off."
"Interesting." Jushiro put a hand to his chin. "Fire at me again. I wonder how strong I can make it before sending it back." Barragan gave the gun back, Jushiro released and Ulquiorra fired.
Qrow sat up a little higher when he saw the energy blast absorb into Jushiro's left blade. His eyes widened when he saw the talismans glowing one after another, and nearly fell out of his head when the energy blast came out the other side at five times the size. Ulquiorra took the blast head on, enshrouding him in a much bigger dust cloud.
He waved it from his face and asked, "Do you know how much stronger you made it?"
Jushiro looked between the two halves of his weapon before answering. "I was trying to make it ten times stronger, but I could only get it up to five. Five times the speed, power, volume, frequency, and density."
Ulquiorra did some quick math. "If you increased each one of those five aspects by five, that would come out to an increase factor of twenty-five, would it not?"
Jushiro shook his head. "Increasing all of them at once by five only means a five times increase because they're just aspects of the attack. All of them together make up the whole."
"I see," Ulquiorra replied. "Aside from that, we can assume my high speed regeneration hasn't been improved by the transfer, but that now leaves the matter of the arm." He looked at his previously severed arm on the ground next to him.
"Don't you usually leave behind your severed limbs?" Barragan asked.
"Yes, but that's because they would not be discovered by anybody who might find their presence to be suspicious. Here is an entirely different story. If someone was wandering around out here and found a severed arm on the ground, the police would likely get involved. Considering it's my arm, they could track us down and then wonder why I'm not missing one. I would rather not deal with that, even as a possibility."
"Then why did you get it cut off in the first place?" Qrow questioned as he walked over.
"I told you earlier that I needed to test the limits of my regeneration. If I couldn't regrow the limb, I fully intended to reconnect it."
"And what would you have done if you couldn't reconnect the first time?" Qrow stood in Ulquiorra's face.
"But I now know I can," Ulquiorra stared back. "If I couldn't, I would have gone from there. I see no reason for dwelling on what-ifs, they only get in the way."
Jushiro sighed from the sidelines. "How about we call it a day, then? We've found out valuable information about what we can do, so that should be enough."
Qrow scoffed. "Fair enough."
They all went home.
One Month Before Admission
Jushiro was in the waiting room at the hospital. Nothing was wrong with him, but he had finally saved up enough money to go in for a checkup and they weren't nearly as expensive as he had expected. That, he was grateful for.
He was called in to the doctor's office and explained how he had been suffering from a lung illness since he was an infant. He also said that it hadn't flared up in the past eleven months and wanted to know why. Numerous tests and a week later, the two sat across from each other.
"Well, Jushiro," the doctor said. "By all accounts, you're completely healthy. We couldn't even find any signs that you've been effected by an illness at all. Your immune system is strong and your heart is healthy. Your vision and hearing are also fine, far above average actually. There's nothing wrong with you."
Jushiro sighed and smiled. "Well, that's a relief. I was worried that I was still suffering from it. Thank you for your time and I hope the next patient is just as lucky." He stood, bowed, then left.
Three weeks later, Ulquiorra, Barragan, Gin, and Jushiro stood at the helipad on the roof of the Royal Inn and Housing Establishment. Each of them held a suitcase containing whatever extra clothing they had acquired over the last year. They were wearing what they had originally come through with, after a good cleaning.
The bullhead came down, spewing exhaust and blowing away any debris. They boarded and it took off, taking them to the main ship where the rest of the new students would be boarding as well. They disembarked upon arrival and boarded the much bigger ship. As it ascended, all but Ulquiorra, saw a real view of the city of Vale from above.
"Ulquiorra! Jushiro! Gin! Barragan!" They turned and saw Yang calling them over. They obliged. "Man, it's hard to call you all by name at once. They're really long. Is there an easier way to do it?"
"I've read that each team is assigned a name," Gin answered.
"That's what you can say when we get ours," Ulquiorra added. Ruby popped out from behind Yang.
"Hey guys," she said timidly.
"You're here too?" Jushiro asked. "I thought you still had two more years at, Signal?" He turned to Gin, who nodded in response.
"She beat up a petty criminal," Yang said enthusiastically as she ruffled Ruby's hair. "Impressed the headmaster so much he let her in two years ahead of everyone else."
"I'm still not sure if it was the right decision though," Ruby said. "I don't think I'm good enough for this yet. Not like you guys are, at least."
"You can keep up with us for the most part," Ulquiorra said. "Not only that, Qrow said you were speeding up when he was training you too. Whatever lack of skill you had before has been more then made up for. I think it also made a bigger impression on Ozpin then you would have otherwise."
"You guys know the Headmaster?" Yang asked.
"In a sense," they all said in unison.
"Oookay," Yang said. "Well Ruby, at least you won't be entirely alone here."
"Yeah. I still would have liked taking my other friends with me though. I'm going to miss them."
"They'll be here in two years," Ulquiorra said. "But you can also see them on weekends or vacations."
"Yeah, I suppose." Ruby kicked a non-existent pebble.
Ulquiorra looked ahead. "We're landing."
"How can you tell?" Yang asked. The ship lurched and stopped.
"I heard the engines changing speed." They disembarked, passing a blonde boy throwing up in a garbage can. Must be motion sickness.
BOOOM!
Gin jerked his head in the direction of the explosion, hand on Shinso. Ruby was standing in a cloud of multicolored smoke with another girl who was yelling at her. Taking his hand off Shinso, he started walking towards them when he sensed another presence heading in the same direction. Turning to see what it was, he saw a girl wearing black with a black bow in her hair.
He stopped his advance and waited to see how it would play out. The smoke cleared and recognizing who it was, his smile just grew wider. The girl in black intervened and Weiss stormed off. The blonde boy from the garbage can was approaching from behind her, so he watched until Jaune helped her up.
She can do this. In the mean time. "Excuse me," he said as he stepped in front of Weiss and bowed. "May I help you with your luggage?"
"You! You were the bellhop at the hotel, the one with the really creepy smile!"
"I'm so glad you remember me." He stood straight and took a step forward. "Berating her like that wasn't very nice, you know."
"And how would you know?" She crossed her arms.
In response, Gin merely flicked out his tongue and walked off.
"No way, he's a faunus?" Her arms fell to the sides. "Wait! Don't walk away from me!"
She grabbed his shoulder and he turned around. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Most faunus hate my family and I, but you never showed any hint of it. Why not?"
"I bear no ill will to you, your sister, or your butler. I know that your father is the one in charge, your mother let it happen and your grandfather didn't want her to marry him because he knew it would happen. If I'm going to blame anyone for the Schnee company's failings, it's your father, not you." He turned and walked away, leaving Weiss flabbergasted.
"Nobody's ever bothered to make that distinction before."
Author's note: Okay, this should've been out two weeks ago. The last half of this chapter was written in one night. Goes to show how lazy I am. Anyway, I actually got the chapter to end where I wanted to this time but now I have unforeseen events to put into future chapters. In all honesty, I was struggling to find things to write about before they got to the school. Most of the stuff I was considering was either too complicated for my liking, could be brought up later, or just straight-up pointless. I know I keep saying this every single chapter but I have found a new writing spot so hopefully I can get more writing done faster. At least it's been a little over a single month between chapters instead of three! Anyway, that's all I've got for right now, so until next time. End author's note.