Small Issues
AN: I had intended to have this up on Saturday as that marks the tenth anniversary of Monty Oum's passing. Hard to believe that it's been a decade already. But it's thanks to his vision that this series was even started and he made such an impact on all of us through his fight choreography and characters. RIP Monty OUM.
Ready for Summer
If there was one thing that Yang had been looking forward to in her piloting class, it would definitely be whenever she would be behind the yoke of an actual plane.
The takeoff went fine with no problems, and the weather was clear and calm, her flight to Vin de L'Arc-en-ciel was smooth. "Heh, I guess I'll see what Jaune's home looks like." The blonde laughs as she takes in the view from the windows of the cockpit as she flew over the countryside.
Out of nowhere, a massive murder of small Nevermore flew at her aircraft. While they individually did little damage, the swarm contained hundreds, more than enough to blot out most of the daylight around her as she was buffeted around in her seat, feeling the vibrations of dozens of small impacts every second.
"Damn it!" She curses as she fights for control, banking the Bullhead to get out of the murder.
CRACK!
One of the Nevermore broke through the glass with its head, dying on impact. But the fact that Grimm vaporize upon death meant that now there was an open hole almost right in front of the girl and wind was whipping up her hair all over the place and distracting her as the pressure dropped in the cabin.
In a snap decision, Yang took the craft to a lower altitude in an effort to stay away from the avian Grimm, leveling off well above the trees and hills.
Finally in the clear, she was able to take stock of the damages. The windshield was obvious but the lower altitude and flight speed made the wind more bearable. The wings had seen better days and one of the engines was acting up.
Overall, not too bad and there was no loss of fuel or other fluids needed by the engine… at least not yet. She could make it to her destination unless something big happened.
A few more minutes of unharassed flight passed and nothing had gotten worse and nothing on her scanners. With the clear skies ahead of her, she allowed herself to relax, though she used a rubber band to tie her hair back so it would be tamed… somewhat.
SssCCcRRrRreEEEeeeCCHHh!
A Giant Nevermore had dove onto the Bullhead and its talons ripped through the fuselage leaving long gashes in the crafts dorsal and port walls.
"Where the hell did you come from?!" Yang yelled as she flew out of the spin the aircraft had been forced into by the impact.
Risking a moment to look backwards, showing her that the damage was as bad as she thought, complete with far more wind blowing around the cockpit. Worse yet, some of the panels and braces were barely holding on after that impact. There was no way for them to last much longer and the gashes were making control difficult to maintain.
"Beacon Tower! This is Flight Alpha Omega Three! I am under Grimm attack and have sustained heavy damage!"
"Flight Alpha Omega Three, this is Beacon Tower. Will you be able to return to Vale airspace?"
"I'll try, Beacon Tower. Woah!" Yang banked hard to avoid the talons as the Nevermore returned. Using the turn to her advantage, she was able to get on course to return to where she began her flight, diving slightly herself to gain speed without adding extra pressure on her engines. Skimming just above the trees and accelerating just a little more, she was able to keep the Grimm off her tail a little due to it needing to flap its wings to stay aloft. "Beacon Tower! Will you be able to send interceptors?"
"Flight Alpha Omega Three, a pair of fighters are being launched on an intercept course. ETA is five minutes."
"Thanks Beacon Tower." Yang glanced back and through the gashes saw the Grimm aiming to take out another chunk of metal with its foot. Acting quickly, she banked into a tight turn that made the airframe groan in strain before she leveled out and accelerated, leaving the Grimm behind as it recovered from the failed attack and had to catch up.
She made sure to not stay in a straight line as she flew, always weaving back and forth at random times. This worked well enough, though her starboard engine began to rattle more and a stream of smoke was left trailing behind. Fuel was starting to leak, not much to worry about not making it back to Vale but it would be cutting things close.
Her head was on a swivel as she tried to keep an eye on her pursuer, usually just seeing the tips of its wings in her windows.
Then it vanished.
She couldn't see it anywhere nor on her scope. "Please tell me that thing gave up." She moaned, not expecting that it would be that easy.
"Flight Alpha Omega Three, this is Gold Leader. We see you on our scopes, we'll be coming in hot."
"Thanks, Gold Leader. I'll maintain speed and heading." Yang radioed back as relief began to settle in. Then her scope barely had time to warn her of the Grimm again before it made impact, this time tearing the entire tail off with its talons and sending her into an uncontrollable spin towards the trees below.
Yang barely had time to notice the details of the leaves and bark before it all went black as everything shook violently.
The door the the back of the cockpit opened and light streamed into the pod, momentarily blinding the girl inside.
"Not bad, Miss Xiao Long. Almost made it there." The instructor was genuinely impressed as he helped her from her seat and out of the simulator pod.
If there was one thing that Yang had been looking forward to in her piloting class, it would definitely be whenever she would be behind the yoke of an actual plane. But today, she'd had to settle for another simulator.
Granted, there was no expense spared to ensure that the simulators would provide as much of a real experience as actual fight as possible… just lacking the possibility of death when one crashes.
The simulator would twist and turn in any direction and Gravity Dust generators would ensure that G forces would be felt. High powered fans would blow on the capsule to make the fake weather conditions as real as possible, complete with artificial sun, rain, lightning, snow, and sleet. The simulator even had breakaway panels to mimic damage of various types with fans that would blow wind in the cabin and even lower the air pressure.
The windows are actually screens with very high resolution to mimic looking out actual glass, even having several hidden cameras in the cockpit that not only give the teachers a view of what the student is doing but allows the computers that control the 'windows' to shift slightly based on the movement of the pilot. Even the back of the pod had projectors to mimic the rest of the aircraft, as demonstrated when Yang could see the damage done and the winds swept through the plane.
She didn't want to entertain the thought of how much research and development went into making sure the small Grimm splatting across the windshield was as realistic as possible.
Simply put, if it could happen in the real world, it could happen here in the simulator.
And one of the tests that every student received was the 'Sure Death' test. Essentially they would be given a situation that would ensure that the pilot in training would 'die' due to a combination of weather, damage, and malfunctions… but the real test would be how they would handle the event and if they could somehow find a way to control the situation enough to have some chance of survival.
There would never be a warning of when the 'Sure Death' test would be given, just a window of time in the last three weeks of each of the three semesters so the teachers could judge for improvement.
This just happened to be Yang's day for it.
"Uuuggh…" she held her head as she groaned, the bright lights outside of the pod streaming in doing nothing for the adrenaline crash and being thrown around in her seat.
The teacher helped her out of the pod that had been lowered back down to its cradle, though by the time she was escorted to the comfortable chair nearby, most of her headaches had passed.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Yang asks.
"Yes it was, though I will commend you for doing better than most in that scenario. However, that program was meant to ensure that you wouldn't make it to your destination, you already know how well the computers compensate for the users actions."
"Yeah."
"For most who have that one, they are lucky if they survive the Nevermore's second attack. You managed to survive several. Good job."
"Thanks Mr. Gauche."
"I'll send the video of your flight so you can write a report on what you can identify as what went well, what went wrong, and ways to improve."
She couldn't help but to roll her eyes at having another report but Mr. Gauche took that in stride with a chuckle, far too used to that reaction from his students and knowing that he did that plenty of times when he was in their position.
—-
"Any plans for the summer vacation?"
Weiss sat at her desk working on her homework and trying to ignore her cloaked friend. Blake was occupied with something in a notebook that she wouldn't share with anyone else.
"Don't tell me that this is what you are going to do all summer!"
And Ruby continued to be ignored.
"Come on! Do you want to miss Yang's birthday party?"
"Sorry, the idea of birthday parties being fun has been ruined for me." Weiss finally replied. But she could almost feel Ruby's objection coming. "For almost half my life." And now she could almost feel her deflate.
"Same." Blake cut Ruby off before she could fully turn to the Faunus.
The girl collapsed to the floor to pout as she laid there. It was rather comical but it was something that cast doubt that she is one who could cut down Grimm with ease while swinging around a giant scythe that can also shoot high caliber bullets.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Yang loudly announced her arrival as she burst through the door, catching her sisters head with the edge.
"Gah! Owie!" The cloaked girl held her suddenly aching scalp as she rolled away in pain.
"Uh… what?" The blonde was confused as to why Ruby had been laying on the floor there and why the other two roommates were pointedly ignoring the girl.
"She wanted to know if we had any plans for the break." Weiss informed Yang with a sigh.
"And?"
"And what?"
"Do you?"
"I plan to stay here at Beacon and get ahead on my studies."
"Booooorrriiingg!"
"Ditto!" Ruby chimed in from the floor where she had gotten herself tangled up in her own cloak, leaving the other girls to give her odd looks.
"Blake?" The blonde decided to ignore her sister as she unwrapped herself.
"Got things to do."
"What? Is your Ninjas of Love fanfic that important to write?"
That comment got the cat to blush bright red, having been too absorbed in her work that she didn't realize that Yang was leaning over her shoulder to read a particularly… sultry part she had written. Of course, she jumped when she had been found out, accidentally smashing her head into Yang's nose.
But considering that happened before the whole blowup with Weiss and the revelation that she is a Faunus, that fanfic now ran as cover for what she's been writing since that incident at the docks- a compilation of everything she knows about the White Fang. And considering that she had been involved with so much of the leadership and a field agent, there was plenty to write about.
Though it was debatable if using a fanfiction of an already erotic novel as cover was more or less embarrassing than a books worth of insider knowledge of an organization that had gone from peaceful protests for rights to violent extremism.
Apparently, Yang took the blushing as an acceptable response. "Eh, try getting published when you're done."
"What do you want, Yang?" Weiss could tell the blonde had something else on her mind. She doubted that if she was going to take them for a flight thanks to her aviation class, that Yang would be able to keep her excitement in check.
"I just figured that we could have a weekend of fun." The blonde responded with a shrug. "Ya know… since our last try didn't."
"That sounds great, Sis!" Ruby had no problem agreeing, though she was still tangled in the floor, causing lilac eyes to roll at her situation.
While the team mom took care of her sister and leader, blue and gold eyes met as they recalled what happened that weekend, both of them rather embarrassed by how they acted but wanting to do better. Not just for themselves but for each other too… with the sisters and all of their friends as a bonus.
Ruby fell to the floor thanks to Yang simply grabbing her cloak and yanking upwards, unrolling the smaller girl to eventually hit the bottom with a thud. Apparently it was not the first time this had happened.
"Thanks! Let's ask JNPR about those movies they saw! I wanna see them!" The youngest in the room bounced to her feet and ran for the door.
Weiss and Blake shared surprised looks before turning to each other. "It's not the worst idea she's had for the weekend." The cat says.
"As long as we get our homework done this time." Weiss reminds the other two.
—-
Another day of classes for the students, many of them getting bored in one way or another. Thankfully, Port didn't go into long-winded tales of his youth on this day… but there were tests as they approached the end of the semester.
In fact, every class was having them, though thankfully not all on the same day. The most they had were two tests a day to cover each of their classes over the week.
And Port's class was taking their tests asking them to recall every bit of knowledge they have on Beowolves, Ursa, Nevermore, and Creeps- the four most common Grimm in Vale. Covering everything from how fast they move, their social structures, territory, attack patterns, combat capabilities, weaknesses, and more.
Oobleck had a variety of topics on his exam. Ranging from The Great War to The Faunus Rebellion to the foundation of numerous towns and cities around Remnant and major events that happened there.
Similarly grueling tests were conducted in all of their other classes , leaving everyone more than a little irritated and tired. But if there was one class that they looked forward to during all of this chaos…
"The victor is Yang Xiao Long." Professor Glynda Goodwitch announced as the two girls in the arena caught their breath and the winner of the spar helped her opponent up to her feet.
Glynda retrieved the girls sword from the wall with her Telekinesis, repairing the wall in seconds as she did. "Not bad, Ashlynn. But in the face of overwhelming force, it is best to find ways around it and possibly use that power against your opponent."
"Yes madam." Ashlynn took her defeat well with a bow of her head before the black-clad girl walked over to the stairs only to be tapped on the shoulder.
"Hey! Better luck next time!" Yang told her with a grin, her tone making it clear that her intentions were pure.
"I hope so." Ashlynn gave the blonde a wry grin as she rubbed her jaw. "I'll be feeling this for a while."
"Eh, you're still standing, that's better than most I fight where I give them an uppercut to finish a fight."
"Alright, you're on." Her grin turned to one of anticipation. "And I'll be watching those fists."
Glynda watched the girls leave and heard their conversation, glad that there were no hard feelings. She touched her tablet and ran the randomizer to select the next round of combatants. There were a few exceptions for who could fight, such as those who already had their turn this week or were banned from fighting each other like Yang and Nora.
A pair of names were chosen that really caught her interest as they had yet to spar against each other, though both had a bit of a reputation coming in.
"Pyrrha Nikos versus Sun Wukong will be the next round. This will be our last match of the day."
Both students had been waiting patiently for their turns, the blonde arguably less so, but considering that they both sat with the same group of friends they didn't have to wait once reaching the arena.
"Now, you both know the rules. You may begin in ten seconds." The teacher made sure that she made her way out of the arena and activated the hard light shields, dimmed the lighting for the audience, and double checked that the aura meters were working before letting the buzzer start the match.
BBZZZZ!
Sun remained unarmed for now, choosing to jump straight in at the Spartan, surprising Pyrrha with his boldness but she raised her shield to block his punch, only to find that it was a ruse as his leg snapped out and his sneaker caught the lower curve of the metal barrier and forced it to rise.
The redhead was caught unprepared for such a move, her arm lifting and leaving her middle open and her feet shifting to adjust, and the matching sneaker caught her in the stomach, pushing Pyrrha back several steps.
Up in the stands, Teams JNPR and RWBY were awed that their Spartan friend was literally forced on the back foot so early in the fight- it had only been a few seconds so far. Glynda was in shock as well, seeing the best fighter of her year being pressed like this.
Back in the arena, Pyrrha let herself show a small grin as this fight may actually be a real challenge as there were few in their year who could. And she wasn't going to let that little trick of his go unanswered.
She charged in at Sun with her shield ready in front of her and sword in hand prepared to thrust, watching as he responded by jumping back and she followed. Once close enough, she extended her sword into spear form, forcing the blonde to twist his body to dodge, turning that into a series of flips to put some distance between them.
"Haha! Alright, now this is getting fun." The monkey boy laughed as he readied himself for the next round.
"Quite." Pyrrha's quiet agreement was heard just before she charged in again.
Sun retaliated by drawing his staff from under his shirt, having its parts snap into place, and thrusted it straight into the center of the bronze shield, making contact while she was nearly the full staff's length away.
The sudden jarring rattled the Spartan's arm even as she was prepared for it, but she was rattled again when the shotgun on her end of the staff fired directly into her shield.
But the combo did as it was intended to do- stop her in her tracks.
Without wasting time, Sun stepped forward as he withdrew his staff, only to swing it down at the girls head. Such an blatant attempt was easily blocked by the shield but she found herself requiring her sword to block the other end of the staff as it used the recoil to assist in swinging up under her guard.
Then it happened again, but from her left side first, forcing her to block on the right with her blade.
Then again from above.
Pyrrha noted how each strike came hard and fast, each one was meant to hurt and not just to distract her. If she would try to ignore either strike to try to counter him, the next attack would make her pay for it. Add in the fact that they were coming in fast, less than a second for each pair of attacks, she wasn't being given time to do more than instinctively block.
Several more repetitions of the pattern kept the Spartan on the defense until her patience ran thin and she plowed forward, forcing Sun to stop and flip away.
Now that they had distance between them, Pyrrha shifted Milo to its rifle configuration and fired off several rounds, though each of them were blocked or dodged by the blonde.
Going on the offensive, Pyrrha stowed her shield on her back and returned Milo to spear form as she ran to meet Sun in the middle of the arena.
Once in range, Pyrrha swung for Sun's head, but the staff intercepted the spear. Instantly, the staff went for her legs only to be blocked by the shaft. Several more quick exchanges were made at various heights from both sides that were stopped by their opponents' weapons.
The Spartan trust straight at his chest but the monkey chose to spin out of the path and use that momentum to swing down on her head, Pyrrha just managing to pull back in time to block the strike, needing both hands to brace the spear and nearly taking a knee to both give her a mere moment to set up her defense and to absorb the force.
It was rather notable that their approach to combat was different. Sun remained light on his feet, always in motion, small hops and spins to his attacks and dodges while Pyrrha kept her footing as solid as possible even as she moved, her attacks coming swiftly and precise yet rarely dodged with a preference towards blocks and deflections.
The rapid strikes from both fighters continued, neither gaining or giving ground, the clashes sounding more akin to machine gun fire.
But something had to give eventually.
Pyrrha swung down hard and the staff split, though not from being broken but because it's wielder separated it. The surprise of that happening was just enough for Sun to twist around the Spartan and strike at her back with his now gunchucks.
CLANG!
The weapon hit the shield, protecting her much like a turtle's shell… that rang like a gong. That didn't go unanswered as Pyrrha thrust behind her and caught the blonde in the gut with the butt of her spear.
Both fighters took two steps back to recompose themselves, keeping their weapons ready for the next round. They took a step forward to continue and-
BZZZZZZ!
The lights came on as the buzzer sounded off, signaling the end of the class, causing both combatants to stumble from the interruption.
"I'm sorry, but it seems that you'll need to finish this another time." Glynda did look sympathetic as she could see the disappointment on both of them, not to mention the rest of the class as the fight had gotten everyone's attention and they were anticipating the outcome.
"No biggie!" Sun was quick to recover. "It was fun while it lasted."
Pyrrha took that in stride, offering her hand to the blonde. "You performed exceptionally well, I hope we can spar again sometime."
He didn't waste time, shaking her hand with a tight grip. "You bet I wanna see how this would've gone!"
Up in the stands, as she was gathering her things, Weiss noticed that Blake had actually watched the fight rather than writing in her notebook like she had with most others. Even her own teammates would only get the girl to look up to watch for a few seconds at a time.
"Are you alright? You seem distracted." Weiss set a hand on the brooding girl's shoulder.
The reply was quiet but curt. "I have a lot on my mind."
"Really?" Blue eyes tracked where amber was looking. "Is it Sun… or your old… um… associates?"
Blake turned her head away at that suggestion.
Weiss gave her a small smile and patted the shoulder. "I'll just say it's both. Come on, let's go get to dinner."
—-
"Now, we just need you to fit these into the plumbing and get out. Nothing more." Cinder spoke to four Faunus brothers.
They were best known for their abilities in industrial sabotage and messing with any facilities functions, for a price, able to get in and out without being noticed anywhere they wanted.
Rival factions in the Remnant underworld would pay them to make life uncomfortable for their enemies to encourage the rival to settle faster for terms that they wouldn't under normal circumstances, especially when both factions would prefer to not start a war between themselves.
It was admittedly a niche job but they had proven themselves to be the best in the business and it paid well enough for them to live comfortably with no worries.
"Ah, nice… you have it all prepared for us." The tallest of the four spoke with an accent that seemed more unique to him than anywhere Cinder knew.
"That will make things much easier, toots." The brother on his right comments as he takes the large package.
"And our pay?" The shortest one asks.
Cinder forced herself to smile knowing that her charges were watching from down the street. "Of course." She pulled a case from a pouch on her hip, one that was large enough to hold a scroll. "Here is the upfront fee."
The last brother took the case and opened it to verify, finding it full of Lien cards. "Hmmm, looks good."
"Of course. Further payment will be found at dead drops after each location has been dealt with, the final payment will come once the results become apparent."
"Five more payments, got it." The first one nods.
"Anything else?" Cinder asks, having already gone over the plan with them.
"Hmmm, not really. Just make sure the cash is where it's supposed to be and we'll get the job done. Kinda curious to see what's gonna happen myself, ya know?" The other three nod at that.
"Get the job done and the money is yours." She assured the quartet.
"Hehe, consider it done." The third one shared a matching grin with his brothers who took hold of his shoulders and they vanished in a blink.
Emerald and Mercury walked up behind the woman, the latter asking. "So… now what?"
Cinder smirks at that. "Now… we go to Mistral and have some fun during our summer break."
"And the tampering?" Emerald wasn't sure about the plan but was willing to go along with it.
"It will get done, as intended… with a small delay to throw off any suspicion that may arise."
—
Finally, the grueling week was over and vacation was just around the corner, the students just needed to make it through one more week. A week that had many sweating about the results of their exams even as classes had been reduced more to light-hearted reviews of what they had learned over the semester along with some preparation for the next. Not to mention the homework they would have to do during their vacation.
"Yes!" Ruby cheered once she received the results in a message on her scroll. "B's across the board!"
Yang caught a glimpse of the screen. "You do have A's in Weapons and Combat."
That garnered Weiss' interest, grabbing her leader's wrist so she could see. "But you received a C in History and a D in Botany."
"A high D!" Ruby countered. "It's a B average! Woohoo! Yeah!"
Weiss shook her head and looked to the elder sibling for help. "She's not exactly wrong." The blonde shrugged, leaving the Heiress to remember that Ruby had been bumped up two years and despite the efforts of both herself and Yang to help fill in the missing gaps, there was only so much they could do while still having their own work to do and neither had teaching credentials.
"And how well did you do?" The heiress tried turning the tables on the blonde.
Yang pulled up her records. "High B average."
"A's." Weiss showed her results.
"Blake?" Ruby turned to her quiet teammate.
"B." Was the simple response.
Sun sat down in the only open seat left between Blake and Weiss. "Foods gonna be coming soon." But he did have a tray of drinks for them.
"Didn't you get a drink?" Ruby asks once she saw the tray and the four cups that could fit on it.
Sluuurp "Yep!" He was holding his own with his tail, not bothering with using his hands as he leaned back to relax.
"And what were your grades?" Blake asked the lone male. They had all gone to the tea shop where the cat had confided with the monkey about her past. They were getting an early lunch before Ruby and Yang would be going home for a few days. They even had bags packed with things they didn't need at school.
"Eh, I got C's and B's and A's."
The girls were understanding as he had effectively transferred schools partway through the semester, which would interfere with one's grades to all but the most diligent students. And Sun would do just well enough to easily pass but had little genuine enthusiasm for the less practical classes.
"Oh yeah! My team will be coming soon, I'm sure you'll like them!"
"Oh? You think so?" Weiss gave him a questioning look.
"Yeah, they're all total hotties." He replied.
"You have my attention." Yang leaned forward with interest.
"Here's your order!" A waitress walked up with their tray of food, unintentionally interrupting the conversation.
—-
"Daddy!"
"Hey! There's my girls!" Tai proclaims as his daughters arrived from the ferry with his arms wide to greet them with a hug, which they gladly accepted.
"Hey, not so tight, Dad!" Yang complained as she was squeezed against her fathers chest.
"Ah, lighten up, Yang. I missed you too." Tai let her and her sister go. "So… how was school? Got your test results for the semester?"
"Yeah! B average!" Ruby cheered, echoing her earlier sentiments.
"High B's for me." The elder sibling told her father.
"Hmm, not bad. Still, you two are going to show me what you were struggling with." He may be a supportive father but he was still a teacher, one who wouldn't hold their hands but would still push them in the right direction.
"Botany." Yang ruffled Ruby's hair.
"Yang!"
"Haha, sorry but it's true!"
"You didn't have to tell him!"
"Oh please, it would have come out eventually. Dad did just ask about it." Yang laughed, only to receive a kick to the shin from a black and red boot. Unfortunately for Ruby, that only made her sister laugh even harder and her father joined in with a few chuckles at their interaction.
"Ah, I'm just glad to have my girls back for a few days." He pats both of them on the back. "Now let's get home, I have a big pot of stew waiting for you two."
"You made stew?! Which one?!" Ruby excitedly bounced as they walked down the road.
"Beef? Chicken? Turkey?" Yang asks.
"Not veggie!" Ruby hoped for more than just that. It was alright as part of a larger meal but not as THE meal.
"Hahaha! How about that stays as a surprise until we get back. I know Zwei is waiting for us."
"Zwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
The two blondes watched as the red streak tore down the road. "And there she goes. Good job Dad."
"Yep… I'm that good. Now…"
"Now what?
"Race ya home!" And with that, he took off after his youngest daughter and left the oldest behind.
"Hey! You cheater!" Yang shouts as she chased down her father on the dirt road. She may have a bag with a few items in hand to slow her but her youth made up for it so she could catch up.
—-
Knock knock knock
The door opened to reveal Weiss and Blake on the other side, much to Nora's delight. "Hey! They're here!" The excitable ginger shouts to the rest of her team.
"Nora! No need to yell." Ren retorts, though his version of yelling back at her was barely a raised speaking tone
And the girl seemed to ignore him, though her volume was now at a far more acceptable level. "Are you ready for some fun? We have trivia games!"
To be quite honest, the idea of spending time playing games was something that both girls would normally reject, though Weiss was swayed a bit by the idea of trivia and being supportive of Blake who thought it may be as good a time as any to reveal her little secret.
"Hey! Glad you made it!" Sun waved from where he sat on one of the beds, having been invited too by JNPR since they were friends and backed by the half of RWBY that remained to be another main source of support for Blake.
"Hey! We got drinks and snacks!" Jaune informs the girls as they take seats on the bed with Sun with Blake in the middle as a pair of the bedside tables were moved to hold said snacks and drinks and to be a play surface. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora sat on the other side of the tables on the bed, with Ren pulling a chair from the desks over to sit at the end.
In short order, mostly because the necessary items were already prepared, they were playing the game.
"Let's see…" Jaune looked at the card in his hand after drawing it from the pile. "When did Atlas lift off the ground?"
Weiss pursed her lips since it wasn't her turn to answer. That allowed Nora to try, which she should know since it was on their recent history exam.
"Ummm… fifty years ago."
"Close. It was actually forty nine years ago in the year eleven Post Vytal Treaty and year three thousand one hundred and seventy three of the Mistral Traditional Calendar."
"Aw man!" The girl whined as she flopped back onto the bed.
The spinner on the table was given a flick to land on Sun, who drew a card from the top of the deck before flicking the spinner, landing on Blake.
The blonde grinned as he asked her. "Alright Blake, what is the capital of Menagerie?"
"Kuo Kuana." There was no hesitation or excitement. Just stating the fact as if she was asked about her birth date.
To be honest, Sun had anticipated that she'd have this reaction as soon as he saw the arrow land on her after seeing the question.
Another pair of flicks for the spinner and it was Pyrrha's turn to test Ren. "How long does the moon take to orbit around Remnant?"
The question was unexpected, but then again it is a trivia game where topics would vary wildly. So in reality, the players should expect the unexpected.
"It takes forty three days for the moon to orbit Remnant."
"Pyrrha, how tall is a Leviathan?"
"A Leviathan is roughly two hundred feet tall."
"Weiss, what is the tallest mountain on Remnant?"
"That would be Mount Richbass in the Munros Range in Anima."
"Sun, what is the largest lake on Remnant?"
"Ah, that's easy. It's Lake Matsu. Really fun place to visit with those islands."
The game went on for some time, well into the night.
"Umm… hey guys?"
"What is it, Blake?" Jaune asks, seeing her sitting on the bed and looking uncomfortable. "Need the bathroom?"
"N-no!" She calmed herself slightly with a deep breath and reminded herself that Sun and Weiss were sitting next to her. "It's… I have something to tell you all."
All of JNPR sat up at attention for that, watching as the girl reached up hesitantly, grasping at her black bow.
"I-I'm not human, but a Faunus." She told them as the ribbon was pulled away to reveal her cat ears.
The teens sat there staring at the girl.
"Uhh… is that it?" Jaune asks to break the silence.
"Huh?" Blake blinked in shock.
"Were we supposed to be surprised?" Pyrrha clarified for her.
"I… ummm, thought you would."
Sun pats her on the back. "Told ya that they'd take it well."
Weiss straightened up in pride. "You got through to me, they were easy."
The others knew the girl was quite stubborn and proud, changing her mind was usually an arduous task unless she was already leaning that way. So that may not exactly be the brag that it was intended but the point was made. But there was one who seemed a bit… off.
"Nora, settle down." Ren warns the girl, too late.
"EEEEeeeeeeEEEE! They are so cute!" And the next few minutes devolved into chaos as Nora pounced on Blake in an effort to rub her ears.
"Nora! She's not a pet!" Jaune could be heard shouting among the chaos as Ren and Pyrrha moved the drinks and snacks out of the way.
AN: Another chapter down with Yang learning to be a pilot, semester exams, Cinder plotting schemes, Sun and Pyrrha have a fight, Ruby and Yang go home for the short vacation, and Blake opens up with more of her friends during a game night.
Plus, there's a few fun references hidden in plain sight... for those who notice them.
Review are welcome!