Team XISR Dorm (Morning)
Russo was a heavy sleeper. "WAKE UP, YOU LAZY PIECE OF-" But even he couldn't sleep through Sapphire punching him in the face with an Aura-imbued fist.
"Ow! What the heck was that for!?" Russo screamed.
"It's 8:54." Welter said. He, Sapphire, and Ivy were all wearing their uniforms.
"And?" Russo asked, not understanding.
"Classes start at 9!" Ivy explained.
"Oh." Russo said before getting out of bed. He went into the bathroom for 2 seconds before coming out in his uniform with his hoodie over it. "What are you idiots waiting for? Let's move!" the blonde shouted as he ran to the door, only for it to open and hit his face.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Ruby said, being the one who opened the door.
"It's fine." Russo said, eyes as spirals again. Shaking his head, they went back to normal. "Now then, let's move!"
Port's Class (Day)
"Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey!" Port said before laughing. Needless to say, nobody else thought it was funny.
'Even Yang and Russo's jokes are funnier.' Sapphire thought as the class collectively cringed.
"Uhh, and you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three Kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen, Huntre-" Before he could finish that statement, a pencil flew past his face and embedded itself in the blackboard behind him. Looking at his students, he saw Russo with a particularly livid glare. Gulping in fear, he continued his speech. "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot help themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"
For some reason, someone cheered at that. Port went on to rant about himself, saying almost nothing of worth. For this reason, Russo felt no reason to listen anymore.
"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" Port listed as Ruby had fallen asleep. "So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"
Weiss wanted to raise her hand to prove herself, but someone else beat her to the punch. "I think I qualify."
Everyone looked to see Russo standing up, a confident smirk on his face. The educational part of the lecture didn't interest him, but he had a feeling something more practical would be just what he needed.
"Then come down and face your opponent!" Port said as the cage beside him shook violently.
'Where did that come from?' the rest of Team XISR thought.
After retrieving Vesuvius from the locker room, Russo stood a few feet from the cage in a fighting stance.
"Let the match begin!" Port announced as he used his weapon to cut open the cage's lock and letting out a Boarbaustk.
It rushed at Russo and tried to stab him with its tusks but was flung back by his sword. "Really? I expected more from a beast like you!" Russo said as he rushed the Grimm with a series of thrusts. Angered, the Grimm curled into a ball and used a Spin-Dash attack to repeatedly strike Dominic's back. "Clever. But not good enough."
Vesuvius opened up, and Russo took the chance to run his blade through the Boarbaustk while it was curled into a ball. The sound of metal searing through bone rang throughout the classroom before the blade detonated, leaving behind nothing but black dust.
"Bravo, bravo! It appears we are in the presence of a true Huntsman in training." Port praised as the bell rang. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"
"Great job down there, Russo!" Ruby said, proud of her brother.
"Your weapon is really...unique." Blake commented, still unnerved by the red glow the sword emitted when it was open.
"I was inspired by my uncle." Russo explained. "The idea of a blade that opens up to become another weapon came from him. The only difference is that I went with a bomb instead of a scythe."
Weiss walked past the group, trying not to make eye contact. "Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune asked.
Russo saw everything Weiss said to Ruby. It took every fiber of his being to not punch a hole in the wall.
"Hey, Ruby." the blonde said to his sister
"Do you think Ozpin made a mistake?" Ruby asked, tears forming in her eyes.
"You wanna know what I think? I think you have the potential to be a great leader. It's just that some people can't recognize greatness when they see it." Russo said, referring to Weiss.
"So, you think I'm great?" Ruby asked, wiping away her tears.
"Of course. It's only your first day as a leader. Eventually, Weiss will respect you as I do." the boy said, pulling his sister into a hug.
Meanwhile, Weiss sat down on a bench on one of the balconies.
"Weiss, can I have a word with you?" Welter asked as he sat down beside his sister. "Why did you yell at Ruby like that?"
"You heard that?" Weiss asked, embarrassed.
"Yeah. Her brother saw too. You're lucky I talked to him before he got to you. He would not have gone easy on you." the boy explained, trying not to think of the hell Russo would've put Weiss through.
"Well, she was being a child! How can she ever hope to lead Team RWBY like that!?" Weiss asked.
"She IS a child, Weiss. So are all of us. Give Ruby a chance, she might surprise you." Welter said. Seeing that Weiss still wasn't convinced, he tried a different tactic. "You've met Russo, right?"
"You mean that guy who claims to be your best friend? Yeah, I've met him."
"You know he was top of his class at Signal?" Welter asked.
"I did not." Weiss admitted, surprised. "I never took him as someone with that kind of skill.
"Just goes to show: Never judge a book by its cover." Welter said as he left, leaving Weiss to reevaluate her opinions about Ruby.
Goodwitch's Class (The next day)
Combat was always Yang's favorite class. It was the only time of day she could let loose and pummel her problems away. However, she would not get that chance today.
"Would anyone like to volunteer?" Goodwitch asked.
"I would!" Sapphire said, excited. If there was anyone on Remnant more ready to fight, it was him.
"Is there anyone you'd like to spar with?" Goodwitch asked.
"Oh, yeah. HIM!" Sapphire shouted, pointing at his brother.
"That was right in my face." Russo complained.
"Alright then. Get your weapons and come down to the sparring ground." Goodwitch said.
"So, who do you think's going to win?" Weiss asked Ruby and Yang.
"Hard to say. They both don't hold back when fighting each other, but Russo's at a bit of a disadvantage." Yang said.
"Why's that?" Blake asked.
"He usually sticks to using Fire Dust, while Sapphire prefers using Ice Dust. And that's not even mentioning his biggest weakness." Yang explained.
"What would that be?" Weiss asked.
"He hates the cold. And Sapphire knows this." Ruby said as the two entered the arena.
Their Auras glowed as they waited for the fight to begin.
"Begin!" Goodwitch shouted.
Sapphire started by lunging at Russo with one of his scythe-blades. The blonde barely dodged it and delivered an Aura-powered punch to his brother's face. The impact knocked Sapphire back a bit, but he quickly recovered and flung shards of ice at Russo.
Acting fast, the blonde deflected the shards with his sword before firing off dozens of flame attacks. Understandably, his brother countered with dozens of ice shards. This resulted in an explosion that kicked up dust and obscured their vision. Not wanting to waste time, Russo dashed forward and slashed the cloud of dust with his weapon, hitting Sapphire's with an audible clang.
Unfortunately, Sapphire froze his brother's sword to his scythe. Russo tried to remove it but was too late as his brother slammed him into the ground before throwing him into a wall.
"Ugh. You've gotten faster." Russo said, left eye glowing red. "But not fast enough."
Sapphire didn't understand what he meant until the sword started to shake, opening up and sending refracted red light through the ice. His eyes widened as he separated Vesuvius from his own weapon, barely escaping the blade's explosion.
"Yararararara!" Russo laughed as he retrieved his weapon and slashed too quickly for a human eye to track. His brother tried defending using the handle of his scythe, but the repeated strikes ended up snapping it in two. The blade opened up once more before detonating, reducing Sapphire's Aura to zero.
The match that came after was nowhere near as entertaining as this one, though.
Lunchroom (Day)
"There we were, surrounded by Ursai." Nora said, trying to tell a story.
"They were Beowulves." Ren corrected.
"DOZENS OF THEM!"
"Two of them."
"But they were no match. And in the end, Ren and I made a boatload selling Ursa-skin rugs!" Nora said triumphantly.
"She's been having this recurring dream for over a month." Ren explained.
"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked her partner.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, why?" Jaune asked.
"It's just, you look a little...not okay." Ruby said.
"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look!" Jaune said, giving a thumbs-up.
'He's a worse liar than Mom.' Russo thought to himself until he heard the sound of mockery. Normally, he wouldn't do anything, but this was different. Team CRDL was picking on a brown-haired rabbit faunus. The boy grit his teeth and held on tight to the table.
"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first day of school!" Pyrrha said.
"Who, Cardin Winchester? Nah! He just likes to mess around. You know, practical jokes!" Jaune said, trying to convince his friends.
"A joke shouldn't happen at the expense of another person." Russo said, the table splintering under his grip.
"Yeah, he's a bully." Ruby said.
"Name one time he's bullied me." Jaune asked.
"Doorway." Yang said.
"Book." Blake said.
"He shot you into the sky." Weiss said.
"I didn't land that far from the school." Jaune said, nervous.
"We needed Sapphire to get you out of the ocean!" Ruby yelled.
"If you ever need help, you can just ask." Pyrrha said, trying to help her friend.
"OH! We'll break his legs!" Nora exclaimed, thinking it was a good idea.
"I think someone beat you to it." Ivy said, pointing at Cardin and his team about to pull on Velvet's ear. But before they could, Russo grabbed his wrist.
"Uh, do you mind? We're kinda dealing with a rodent problem here." Cardin said. However, this just made the blonde angrier. He held on to Cardin's hand tighter until his wrist broke. "OW! You little-"
Cardin never finished his sentence, because when he saw Russo's face, it was completely void of empathy or mercy. He grabbed Cardin's neck and lifted him up, choking him as he did so. "Hello, Cardin. It looks like you're having fun." Russo said with a sadistic grin. "Now, what gave you the bright idea to try something as stupid as this?"
"Listen, it was just a little joke! Please let me go!" Cardin pleaded.
"Bad choice of words." Russo said before throwing Cardin out the window. He then turned to the rabbit faunus. "You okay, Velvet?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." the girl said. "It's not the first time something like this has happened."
"Well hopefully, it'll be the last." Russo said with a smile. He raised his fist. "Signal buds?"
"Heh. Signal buds." Velvet said with a chuckle, fist-bumping the boy.
"What the hell was that!?" Nora asked.
"I've never seen him that angry before." Welter admitted.
"He never had a reason to be that angry before." Yang clarified. "Velvet used to go to Signal. When she got into Beacon, Russo became pen pals with her."
"But why'd he get so worked up for just a little bullying?" Weiss asked. Blake gave a silent glare to the heiress when she said that.
"Russo doesn't like it when people exert their own power on the weak, especially when the one being oppressed is a family friend." Yang explained, looking at her brother as he left the room.
She could tell that his smile was fake.