Chapter 15
Percy sat in his team's room as the other members of his team raced around frantically, practically pulling their hair out.
"We are so screwed for the Vytal Tournament! What are we gonna do?" Ruby moaned in distress, "Percy is involved in almost all our team attacks!"
"Don't be so dramatic," Percy chided her gently, patting her on the head.
"But you're our team leader!" Ruby argued vehemently in protest, "What are we gonna do without you?"
"Exactly. What are you gonna without me if I get lost on a mission and aren't with you guys? What if I get stranded? What if I get killed? How are you going to get by?"
"Percy, don't say that!" Weiss admonished him, horrified at the thought, but Percy only shrugged in response, "It's a realistic expectation that might happen. I'm not going to baby you four; the real world is much harsher, and not a fairy tale. You're here at Beacon to learn and get used to the real world, so this is what I'm giving you. What will you do first as a team without me?"
"Determine leader," Blake muttered quietly, but Percy picked it up, nonetheless.
"And who will that be?"
The four of them looked at each other uncertainly, but Weiss ultimately raised her hand.
"Weiss, I'm not a professor," he deadpanned, as the heiress blushed in response.
"Regardless, you are a good fit for the role of leader, once you swallow your pride."
Percy continued, ignoring the scandalized look on Weiss' face, "A leader must inspire morale in their team, and also be capable of leading in the field. A leader must take criticism to heart, and always seek to improve themselves. Tell me, Weiss, do you believe you have these qualities?"
"No…" Weiss said slowly, admitting it to Percy's muted surprise, "But I will try my best to imitate them."
Percy nodded, a smile starting to spread across his face, "Good. Then that is what I want from you."
"Speaking of teams, what did you enter us as?" Blake pointed out, "You forfeited from the Vytal Tournament so that we didn't have to pick, but what is our team name then?"
"Team RWBY, pronounced Ruby," Percy proclaimed, much to his team's chagrin.
"But you made me leader?" Weiss tilted her head in confusion.
"Look, PRWBY minus P gives RWBY, and it works perfectly," Percy grumbled, "I didn't even do that bad of a job."
"No you didn't," Yang snorted, "You're just simplistic, like all men."
"And you're blonde," Percy drawled, "We all face obstacles on our path to greatness."
"Y-You little shit! I'll pummel you into the ground!" Yang stuttered, eyes turning red, only held back by a frantic Ruby along with a struggling Weiss and Blake.
"Ooh," Percy teased, winking just for dramatics, "Kinky."
"What does that mean?" Ruby piped up, much to the horror of her sister, who began to struggle even harder to free herself from her team's grip, practically frothing at the mouth to attack him, but to no avail.
Percy didn't quite know why he wanted to piss off Yang today, but he did it anyway, even if he was effectively signing his own death warrant at this point.
"Oh I'm not quite sure, but Blake is, ahem, well-educated on the topic," Percy drawled again, taking delight in how much Blake stiffened, "She would be glad to be of assistance."
"No, I'm not very well-educated on the topic," Blake tried to deny it, but Percy wouldn't have it.
He grinned, immediately causing Blake to shiver, "Oh, you mean like that one book where the detective bends her over-"
Blake's hand muffled his mouth from saying anything more, refusing to meet his eyes as her face resembled a bucket of red paint, all while somehow refusing Ruby's cute begging to know what was going on.
"I am going to kill you," Yang practically snarled from being held back by Weiss and Ruby.
"Join the line," Blake growled, while Percy had to suppress a smirk. Someone wasn't happy about having their smut exposed.
"What happened to this being a team meeting for the tournament?" Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose in utter annoyance befitting the Schnee heiress.
"Uh… sorry?" Percy offered tentatively, leaning backwards when the irate heiress turned her icy blue orbs onto him.
"Hmph," she huffed, allowing him to continue.
"Anyway, Blake's smut aside," Percy smirked as Blake let out an indignant hiss in the background, "You have to have the ability to think on your feet, make new calls, and what not. I trust in your ability to win the entire thing. Frankly, you're the best team out there, so go show it!"
"Yeah!" Yang pumped her fist in excitement, "Group hug!"
Ruby shrieked as they piled onto each other in a mess of limbs.
"Y-YANG!"
"That was awesome!" Ruby cheered as she walked with the newly christened team RWBY, "We were like, BAM, BOOM, and HIYAA! And we totally destroyed them!"
Yang couldn't resist the smile that twitched over her lips at her little sister's enthusiasm.
"Yeah, we did pretty well," Blake commented in her usual fashion, although her stomach rumbled longingly, and loudly at that.
The rest of team RWBY turned to look at her, and the cat faunus blushed slightly in embarrassment.
"I mean, if you needed sustenance, you could just say so," Weiss shrugged at Blake.
"I mean, if you needed sustenance, you could just say so," Yang mimicked, mocking her and receiving an indignant 'hey!' in turn.
"Come on guys, let's eat!" Ruby cheered, turning to walk towards the stands.
"Hey! Might be hard to eat without this."
They turned around to see a smirking Emerald, waving Ruby's wallet around, along with their team leader in all his glory.
"Percy, Emerald!" Ruby whooped, bouncing on her toes excitedly, before she started checking her pockets frantically.
"No, no, no!" Ruby panicked, as Emerald and Percy shared a laugh.
"You guys did amazing!" Percy grinned with that troublemaker smile, as Emerald gave Ruby back her wallet.
"Aww, thanks Percy!" Yang punched his shoulder playfully, "we couldn't have done it without you."
"We just did though…" Blake pointed out.
"Shush," Weiss put a finger to her lips, "It's the thought that counts."
"I heard your team progressed to the next round too!" Ruby said.
"Y'know, I feel like we never see your team," Yang said, "How'd they do in the fight?"
"Uh…" Emerald intoned, before getting interrupted.
Percy chimed in, smirking and giving her the feeling that it wasn't good news, "Team CMEN did great! They dominated the other team and absolutely splattered all over their opponents!"
Yang choked on air, as Blake and Weiss spluttered in indignation, blushing furiously, all while Ruby stood there, confused. Emerald playfully shoved their stupid, innuendo-loving team leader, but couldn't wipe the shit-eating grin off his face. Yang might have had something to do with Percy's frankly rampant use of innuendos, but she wouldn't ever admit it out loud. She would never admit she was wrong, especially not to that smug handsome bastard.
"Y-You dork! What did you eat today that put you in a mood?" Weiss screeched, "Quit it with the innuendos!"
Percy shrugged, raising his hands up innocently, "What innuendos? Mind out of the gutter, Weiss."
"So," Ruby shrugged, looking hopeful, "Why don't we all go out and get some victory food together?"
"Oh, gosh," Emerald looked a little taken back, "That's so nice of you, but my teammates are all kind of…"
She looked at one of her teammates, Mercury, who was at a shoe stall. The man was actively sniffing a boot and proceeded to look at it with a confused expression on his face.
WTF? What did I just witness? Yang thought.
"Introverted…" she finished awkwardly.
"Really socially awkward!" Emerald whispered to them.
Yang sucked in air through her teeth, "Ooh… yeah… I can see that."
"So yeah! Looks like Merc and I are gonna be moving onto the doubles round. What about you guys?"
"Well," Percy interjected, "We decided to put Yang and Weiss into the doubles round, of course."
"I will happily represent team RWBY," Weiss curtsied, as Yang whooped, punching her fists together, "Yeah, we're gonna kick some ass!"
Emerald chuckled, her green locks shaking from side to side, "Well, if Mercury and I see you down the line, don't think we'll go easy on ya."
Pfft. As if they could beat her and Weiss. Nope, Yang Xiao-Long walked the walk and talked the talk.
"We wouldn't have it any other way," Yang said, smirking.
"Alright, well, we're gonna go catch some more fights," Emerald added, "See ya later!"
"Have fun!" Ruby chirped happily as Emerald walked away.
Emerald met up with Mercury as they left the team behind.
"So how are the new friends?" Mercury asked, air quoting.
"I hate them."
"Orders are orders," the silver haired man shrugged.
"I just-" Emerald clinched her hands together, "How can they be so happy all the time!?"
"Pfft… having that Jackson kid sitting next to us during the fights was annoying as shit. We couldn't even discuss any of our plans in front of him, and risking your semblance on him wasn't a good idea at all. Did you at least get what we wanted?"
"The Jackson kid is annoying. And it's the heiress and the bimbo," Emerald spared no insult for them.
"Hmm… alright. At least now we know who we're workin' with."
Weiss clenched her fists by her side, her teeth chafing against each other for the fiftieth time as some random girl from their class strolled up to 'congratulate them on their fight', when in reality, they just wanted to flirt with her team leader! Her team leader that had acted so fast and saved her from weeks in the infirmary! Whispering words in his ear, kissing him on the cheek, giving him their scroll number… Before they could even get to the restaurant, they had to form a faux formation around the man just so they weren't impeded!
Percy was a strange case. He attracted attention, of course, with his dashing looks… not that she'd ever admit that to his face, no. He was dense as a brick sometimes, but also made so, so many innuendos at other times. He was caring and kind as a team leader and as a friend, but brutal, cold, and distant as a trainer. Yet, she couldn't deny the benefits that came with having him as a brutal trainer. Her swordsmanship had improved by leaps and bounds, and he had even helped her with her glyphs, as he had a similar semblance with his sea green wards.
She was shook out of her reverie by her scroll vibrating in her pocket, and pulled it out. It was her father… a sperm donor of a father. Tch. She would rather get intoxicated and fight her sister while insulting her than answer his call.
Elsewhere, Qrow Branwen abruptly sneezed.
She put her scroll away, and followed the others to a Mistralian noodle soup stall.
"I'll have a bowl of the regular, please."
Tch. "How utterly boring," Weiss intoned.
"Yang Xiao-Long does not do boring," she shot back instantly.
"Oooh.. I'll take the regular too!" Ruby said.
Weiss huffed, "As expected."
"Hey, what's wrong with taking the regular?" Percy teased, "I'll have the regular too."
He turned to her, "Am I boring?"
"Uh…" Weiss stuttered as his deep sea green eyes bored into her, his face still wearing that stupid troublemaker smile of his.
"Yep, that's what I thought," he said, popping the 'p' playfully.
"Ugh. Fine," she rolled her eyes at his antics, "Low salt, number two, please."
"And number two is so much better than the regular," Percy wouldn't stop the teasing, and Weiss smacked him in the side.
"Shut it, dolt."
"Fish, please," Blake added.
Percy grimaced next to her, and Blake took an offended look on her face, "Hey, what's the problem with fish? They taste amazing!"
Weiss watched as Percy groaned, "Ugh. I just don't like eating them… I don't like eating fish. I like fish, but not eating them, y'know?"
"But why?" Blake asked, tilting her head defensively.
"They're sentient! Like, do you eat horse meat? Dog meat? Cat meat?"
The group instantly grimaced at the thought, especially since Blake herself was a cat faunus. Weiss understood where he was coming from, but…
"Aren't chickens and cows sentient too? I mean, all animals are sentient, so why fish specifically and not other types of meat?" Weiss had to ask, tilting her head.
"I… It's just a thing," Percy looked away, unable to explain.
The chef was incredibly fast, the five bowls being dished out in just under a few minutes with super speed.
Blake gasped at her meal, practically drooling over it.
"Where are the table manners, Blake?" Weiss teased, presenting her card to the chef.
"Aw, Weiss, what's the occasion?" Yang grinned.
"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round."
The man gave the card back to her, pointing a finger at the word 'declined' on his counter.
"What!? How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance," Weiss grumbled.
Blake put her hands on her fish bowl protectively, inching it towards her, but the chef took it back into the kitchen, and the cat faunus sobbed dramatically.
"It might have had something to do with your father's call," Percy offered in his usual fashion.
Of course, her sperm donor of a father. Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Maybe I could help?"
Weiss turned her head to see none other than team JNPR approaching the shop stand.
"Pyrrha!" Ruby cheered, spreading her arms.
"Aw, you don't have to," Yang declined it gracefully.
"But she could!" Blake leaned in to Weiss, amber eyes wide and pleading.
The redhead giggled at their antics, "Well, I think you all earned it after that battle."
"Ugh, I feel bad taking your money sometimes," Percy grumbled, but Pyrrha shoved the lien card in his face unceremoniously.
"I insist."
"Are you sure it's wise to have eaten before a fight?" Ren brought up, as they finished their bowls, all of them with contented smiles on their faces.
"Of course! It will give us energy!" Pyrrha affirmed happily.
"Don't warriors avoid coitus before a battle though?" Weiss asked.
"Of all people, you're the one that brings that up. I would have thought it would be Yang," Percy pointed out, "but not you. Mind out of the gutter, Weiss."
Weiss blushed furiously, turning red, "I was just asking!"
"Well," Yang yawned, "I have heard that women weaken the legs."
"There it is!" Percy declared dramatically, rising from his seat, "Yang Xiao-Long enters the conversation!"
"Oh, shut up," Yang batted a hand at him playfully, "Blake, any thoughts?"
"No."
"Oh? I mean as a class A closet enjoyer of adult novels, I thought you would have an opinion on this. I mean, what about that book where the secretary does the president of a company a nice favor-"
Blake interjected before she could get any further, a blush on her cheeks, "That never happened. I'm just an avid enjoyer of literature, and when did you and Percy read my books?"
"Contradicting statements, don't you think, Belladonna?" Pyrrha, surprisingly joined in on teasing her, the cat faunus only getting redder and redder by the second.
"Uh- moving on," Blake cleared her throat.
"Ughhh," Jaune groaned, "If I barf I'm blaming Pyrrha."
The Mistralian only patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, but Nora looked excited for some reason, a shit-eating grin on her face.
She leaned forward, "Ooh! Aim it at the enemy!"
"Nora… that's disgusting. But, if you do feel the urge…"
"Got it," Jaune groaned, managing to give a thumbs up to them.
"Better than nothing," Percy smirked, "I'm looking forward to you barfing all over your opponents. It might just be your best attack yet."
That, Weiss could agree with. Biological warfare was disgusting, but an advantage was an advantage.
"Well," Pyrrha interjected elegantly, standing from her chair, "we should be off."
"So, you think you guys are ready?" Ruby asked eagerly.
"Of course they are," Percy snorted, "I trained them."
"You mean pounded them, and us, into the ground?" Weiss snarked.
"Bah," Percy waved a hand in the air, grinning, "Technicalities. I didn't pound them into the ground for nothing. I'll have you know that I'm a great trainer, and the best one at that!"
Yang shoved him unceremoniously, causing Percy to tilt in his stool, "Shut up and stop being such a doofus."
Pyrrha giggled at them, "Well, I suppose Percy's training did help a lot."
Yang groaned in defeat while Percy cheered, "Great, now you've inflated his already huge ego."
"You love me," Percy grinned.
"No," Yang denied instantly, rolling her eyes, "I hate you."
"You wish you could hate me."
"Get a room, you two," Weiss shoved Yang, who started stuttering denials of how she wasn't flirting with him and she would never do such a thing.
Percy only rolled his eyes.
"To answer Ruby's question, of course we're ready!" Nora cheered, "We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team," she pointed to Pyrrha, "what's basically a ninja," she pointed to Ren, "I can bench five of me, and… Jaune!"
"We've trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh… Jaune!"
Ren leaned over the table, casting an eye at the still-groaning Jaune, "Are you gonna take that?"
"She's not wrong…"
"Of course she is!" Percy laughed, doing his best impression of Professor Port, "You're Jaune Arc. The Knight! I beat your ass into a pulp just for this? Nah, come on now!"
Percy slapped Jaune on the back boisterously, causing him to slide off his seat.
"The Knight, hm? Interesting name…" Weiss pondered.
"I mean, it works!" Percy shrugged, "Also Jaune, stop wearing a hoodie with your armor, you look like a goof."
"What!?" Jaune groaned in protest, "I thought it made me look good!"
"This is why men don't have fashion sense and we do," Weiss whispered to Blake, who could only nod in agreement.
"Would Team JNPR please report to the battle grounds immediately?" Professor Port rang over the intercom.
"Yes!" Professor Oobleck added, "Like they were scheduled to several minutes ago!?"
"Well, it looks like this is it," Pyrrha stated, getting up and starting to head to the bullheads.
"You better not lose, or I'll pummel you into a pulp again the next time we train!" Yang yelled.
"That's my line!" Percy narrowed his beautiful sea green eyes at her. Yang merely shrugged in response.
Jaune readied himself, even if he was shaking in his boots at this point. It was time to show the world who they were. Percy hadn't trained them for nothing! He was a brutal trainer; he would force him to exhaustion, and force him to dodge, or take a beating. He would kick him on the ground, just to prove a point. It was brutal, but it was effective. Percy had doled up on his team tactics, and stressed the importance of good field vision. Percy had managed to increase Jaune's fighting skill by leaps and bounds, and for that, he would be forever grateful to him.
Jaune watched the randomizers nervously. Team BRNZ had the woods side, and his side had the mountains.
"Three, two, one, begin!"
Three of Team BRNZ immediately headed towards them, while one of them ran into the trees with a sniper. It was only thanks to Percy's training that he saw this, and Jaune immediately pointed it out to his team.
"One's in the trees, Ren, pursue her!"
"On it," the pink-eyed man replied.
Jaune was forced to shield as one of them brought claws down on his shield, and he tanked it, waiting patiently.
There! Jaune slid Crocea Mors inside the man's guard, earning a small chip of aura. The man retaliated with a kick to his shield that left him off-balance, and Jaune had to jump over the man's sweeping kick. The man kicked his shield again, and this time, Jaune let it go flying.
He was without a shield, but it allowed him to score another hit on the man. Jaune dodged the retaliatory strike, but the guy clawed him several times, taking several chunks out of his aura. Jaune grimaced from the pain, but he hadn't been keeping him occupied for nothing. He leapt away, allowing Nora to sneak up on him. The man took a Nora-wielded Magnhild to the face.
Jaune grimaced in slight sympathy for the guy. He looked towards the woods, where he could see Ren pursuing the slippery sniper, but ultimately winning the fight. The sniper wasn't built for close range fights, and Ren was easily overpowering her.
Pyrrha was decimating her opponent, absolutely overpowering her with her sword and javelin tactics, rapidly switching them. She performed a leg sweep and slashed at their exposed sides, giving them a heeled boot to the face.
Jaune ducked under a sword swing and thrust his sword forwards in retaliation. However, the man ducked, and stabbed him between the plates of his armor, while also electrocuting him.
That hurt. Jaune froze up, falling to the ground. However, Nora had his back.
He watched as she let herself get stabbed with electricity, but Nora didn't even move. In fact, she only grinned evilly.
"Oho," Port grinned on screen, "Looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her semblance!"
"What?" the boy looked utterly confused, and Jaune gave him a little smirk.
Oobleck chimed in, "Yes, Miss Valkyrie's semblance lets her produce, as well as channel, electrical energy straight to her muscles. This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying."
"What?!"
Nora grinned viciously as the boy started backing up, a nervous expression on his face. Nora slammed the full power of Magnhild into the guy's nuts.
Jaune winced, That had to hurt.
The guy was sent flying into the forest, his aura drained, and just like that, he was disqualified from the match.
Jaune got up, noticing the thunder clouds over the top of the mountain. He had a vicious idea.
"Nora! Get to the mountain!"
"You got it!" she instantly replied, giving a hasty salute and zooming towards it.
Ren was still busy chasing the sniper, and Jaune and Pyrrha gave each other a nod to begin attacking together.
One of the guys sent two golden disks towards him, and Jaune dodged both of them, choosing not to use his shield. The man wailed disks on his shield, but Jaune executed a perfect roundhouse kick that he had seen Percy do, albeit much slower. Still, it packed power, and the guy was sent flying into a tree. Jaune pursued, swinging from side to side. He managed to barely dodge a frantic sword thrust, and he kicked the guy in the stomach, sending him backwards.
He turned around to see Nora finally reaching the top, as she held her hammer to the top. Lightning struck her, and she grinned, firing grenades at the enemy as Jaune ordered his team to retreat.
Team BRNZ slid backwards, and Nora jumped from the top of the mountain, bringing down the full fury of an electrically charged Valkyrie onto them.
They were literally buried into the ground as Nora panted from her blast.
"Ohoho!" Port laughed boisterously, "And with that, Team JNPR wins! Team JNPR advances to the next round!"
Jaune grinned, searching for his friends, before he finally found them. Team PRWBY was whooping and waving JNPR flags, and even Percy sported a prideful grin on his face.
It felt good to win.
Percy clapped Jaune on the back, causing the blonde knight to stumble forwards several paces, sporting that goofy grin on his face.
"Good stuff Jaune! You've really improved!" Yang looked almost impressed, as Jaune rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"Yeah! You were like BAM, HIYA! You guys were super duper awesome out there!" Ruby grinned at him.
"Eh, I wouldn't have done anything without Percy here," Jaune laughed awkwardly at the praise.
"Nope!" Percy grinned, popping the 'p', "I may have trained you, but this? This was all you and your team. We have to work on your semblance though… it has something to do with aura, so ask Ren if he could teach you, and use meditative techniques."
Before Jaune could ask him, Ren agreed, "I would be happy to assist you Jaune."
"Yeah!" Nora cheered, "Our F.L. is going to kick butt!"
"F.L.?" Weiss questioned.
"Fearless leader!" Nora declared, and she pointed at Percy, "And that right there is the U.F.L. The Ultra Fearless Leader!"
"I see…"
Percy felt his ring vibrating slightly, and his eye twitched in annoyance. Right now? Already?
However annoying it was, he trusted that Ozpin and Ironwood had important info to tell him.
"Hold up guys, I gotta go use the restroom," Percy fake-grimaced, heading towards the bathrooms.
He checked his back before veering off to the left and climbing some stairs. He expanded his senses, making sure there was no one around him before he veered into the staff area, and then paused at a room with a scanner in front. He allowed it to scan his ring, and the door opened with a hiss.
Percy stepped inside, seeing Ironwood and Ozpin already there, but no Qrow, or Goodwitch.
"Perseus," Ozpin greeted him, while Ironwood only nodded his head.
"What is it that is so important that it can't wait!?" Percy hissed, already slightly frustrated by the summons.
"I'm afraid it is what will happen next match," Ozpin tilted his glasses at him, as Ironwood crossed his arms, "Someone has bypassed the randomizer systems and our security. Percy, you have been inserted into the tournament as a one man team."
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'til next time!
Next Chapter: August 5th (1 week)
-thann3
