Chapter 10 – A Student's Life Goes On
Naruto is awoken by the sound of his scroll's alarm clock function. He is the furthest thing from thrilled as he is still tired from the night before. As his scroll continues to ring, he contemplates throwing it out the window. "I could throw it and no one would know it was me…" Naruto muttered out loud.
"I don't know the specific policy, but I highly doubt destroying your scroll would end well for you." Kurama noted.
Naruto grumbles and forces himself out of bed. He does his usual morning routine of brushing his teeth, taking a shower, and getting dressed. "Please don't let there be any tests today…" he whines to himself.
"Don't forget you also have that essay." Kurama reminded him.
"You're making me really contemplate not going today ya know…" Naruto comments.
"And you know damn well Goodwitch would hound you about it." Kurama retorted.
There was a long pause before Naruto relented saying, "Damn it." Naruto left his room and started slowly walking through the hall. Most of the other students were chatting like it was any other day. Naruto is still out of it enough for him to not notice a door in front of him come swinging open and hit him in the face. "Ow!" was all he let out.
Nora then jumps out of the room revealing herself to be the one who flew the door open. "Let's get going!" She yells out. Ren follows her out not reacting to her abrasiveness in the morning.
Jaune is the next to walk out and asks, "Did anyone else hear a thud?"
Pyrrha follows him out saying, "I think so." Naruto then moves the door further back holding his nose.
Jaune notices him and realizes he got hit by the door. Jaune exclaims, "On man, Naruto we're really sorry!" The rest of team JNPR turn around and realize what happened causing them to look embarrassed.
"Whoops! My bad!" Nora awkwardly apologizes.
Naruto lets out a sigh and says, "This day's going great…"
"Something wrong?" Pyrrha asks.
"I'll tell you guys later." Naruto tells them as he keeps walking. That was when another door flies open and hits Naruto in the face. Naruto holds his face and shouts, "Oh come on!" Naruto can then hear Kurama laughing hysterically and he shouts internally at him, "Show some damn sympathy ya know!"
Still laughing Kurama responds, "Don't put this on me!"
That's when Team RWBY start coming out of the room looking as tired as Naruto. Ruby is the first to notice Naruto holding his nose. Due to her being in a similarly groggy state as Naruto, she takes a few seconds to realize what happened. Once she does, she becomes very apologetic saying, "Oh crap, Naruto I'm sorry!"
Blake peaks her head out to see the commotion and asks, "Did the door just hit you in the face?" Naruto just looks at her and she gets her answer.
Yang comes out next and says, "Poor Whiskers."
"How did this happen twice in less than two minutes?" Naruto asks himself out loud.
"Twice?" Yang asks. As she see's team JNPR approach still looking a little embarrassed, she starts laughing and says, "This just isn't your day!"
"See? I'm not the only one laughing." Kurama tells Naruto. Naruto's face is unamused. Weiss finally comes out of the room and at first, she wants to dogpile on Naruto's misfortune, but she decides she does not have the energy to get into another verbal spat with him.
Pyrrha notices that Team RWBY looks as tired as Naruto. Curious, she asks, "Did you all get up to something?"
Team RWBY look at each other and say "Later." They then start dragging themselves to class.
Professor Port is once again sharing the exploits of his youth. This time the story was about trying to hunt a Goliath, a large elephant-like Grimm. While this is happening, Team RWBY are asleep and not hiding it well. Naruto has started falling asleep multiple times. However, unlike team RWBY, Naruto has an internal alarm clock named Kurama that won't let him fall asleep. He still isn't taking notes though.
"Mr. Uzumaki!" Port exclaims.
Naruto then had to shake the cobwebs and respond. "Uh, yeah?"
"Tell me, what do you think my first mistake was when pursuing the Goliath?" Port asked him to answer.
"Damn! I wasn't paying attention!" Naruto shouted internally. "Okay now think…he said a mistake…what would Kakashi-sensei probably say?"
"Mr. Uzumaki, we're all waiting." Port said to him, not letting him stall any longer.
"Uh, that you let your previous small victories make you overconfident and think you could handle something way bigger?" Naruto threw out as a guess.
Port kept looking at Naruto making him nervous until Port finally said, "That's correct! You see students, we can't let our accomplishments lead us to…" He continued to drone on.
Naruto breathed a big sigh of relief. "I can't believe that worked out" Naruto thought to himself.
"You listened to enough lectures from your old teachers to remember that one off the top of your head." Kurama commented.
Naruto knew that was true. It was kind of how his first big mission to the Land of Waves happened. He then noticed Port looking around the room to ask another student to answer a question. He knew he was safe since he had just answered the last one. But then he remembered he is sitting next to 4 prime targets. He then tried to subtly shake Ruby awake who was the one next to him. "Ruby come on…" he whispered.
Ruby started to wake up and was almost drooling from her daze. "What's happening?" she asked.
Naruto then whispered, "Wake them up, Port's on the prow." Ruby then shook Blake awake, who then shook Weiss awake, who was about to shake Yang awake when…
"Ms. Xiao Long!" Port shouted. This startled Yang awake. "Now tell me, what is the moral of this story?"
Yang looked to her teammates for help, but they had been asleep too. She then looked to Naruto who just shrugged. She looked around for anyone to help and when she realized there wasn't anyone she said, "To pay attention?"
Port just stared unamused and responded, "While that's good advice that isn't the answer. The answer is that any good Huntsman needs to know when your foe is too much, and you need to retreat. It will make all the difference on whether you become a legend or another tombstone in the graveyard." Considering how important of a lesson that is, Yang and her team felt embarrassed. "That will be all for today." Port announced. "Except for you Ms. Xiao Long. I want a 5 page report on today's lesson at the end of the week." This caused Yang to drop her head onto the desk. Now she has 2 punishment papers she has to write.
"Sorry Yang…" Ruby uttered meekly.
"Yeah, tough break." Naruto added.
"I'll try to help you write it." Blake offered.
"You don't know any more about the lesson than I do…" Yang said in defeat.
"I have plenty of notes you can use for it." They look over and see that it was Pyrrha who said this.
"Girl, you're a lifesaver!" Yang shouted.
"Seriously, what happened to you guys?" Jaune asked.
Blake let out a sigh and said, "It's my fault."
"Oh shut up…" Naruto let out, trying very hard not to dose off. Blake became annoyed at that remark.
"No, he's right." Ruby added. "Things just kind of happened, it wasn't your fault." Ruby then leans her head out to look at Weiss. "Right Weiss?"
Weiss just mutters, "Yup…" showing that she didn't have the energy to try and argue.
This is when Ren spoke up and said, "You still haven't told us anything."
"Oh, right." Blake responded. "It all started with an argument Weiss and I had and I ran away…" She and the others then went on to explain to team JNPR the whole story.
Jaune was the first to speak up afterwards saying, "Jeez, no wonder you're all barely awake."
"That's so unfair!" Nora erupted. Everyone just looked at her in confusion. "Why didn't you invite us?! That would have been an awesome fight!"
"Not like there was anything to be invited to." Naruto answered.
"Yeah, it's not like we counted on…well any of that happening." Yang added.
Jaune, looking at the time said, "We can continue talking about this when we get to the next class."
"Hold on." Weiss interjected. "What about sparring class?" The rest of Team RWBY and Naruto groaned.
"For the first time I actually hope I don't get called…" Naruto said.
Ruby sighs and says, "Come on everybody, let's go…" They all get up and head to their next class.
It has been a relatively uneventful sparring class. The only one from either Team RWBY or Team JNPR that has been called was Nora, who ended her fight in less than a minute on a poor kid who had no idea what he was in for. There was time for one or two more matches.
"Naruto Uzumaki, you're up." Glynda Goodwitch announced.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me…" Naruto quietly whined. Jaune patted him on the shoulder.
"Your opponent will be Cardin Winchester." Goodwitch further announced. Suddenly all of Naruto's reservations flew away as he had an eager grin.
This effect seemed to spread around as Yang said, "Oh this is gonna be a treat!"
"Woo! Go get him Naruto!" Ruby shouted. Blake and Weiss tried to pretend they were not into it, but they could not keep it up. They both did not like Cardin either, especially Blake after seeing Cardin's bigoted display in the cafeteria.
"Yeah! BREAK HIS LEGS!" Nora shouts, as that was what she wanted to do to Cardin when he was bullying Jaune. Goodwitch gives Nora a glare after that remark making her calm down.
Naruto heads to the fighting area and his Aura levels get displayed on one of the screens. "Today might be fun after all."
Cardin, looking at Naruto tells him, "I've been looking forward to this you punk."
"Yeah, that makes two of us." Naruto responds as he takes out his Orange Spark.
"Now, begin!" Goodwitch announces the start of the match.
Cardin swings his weapon and Naruto blocks the strike. Cardin tries to overpower Naruto but he's having no luck in that department, so he swings his weapon again and Naruto easily dodges it. Cardin continues to swing and Naruto continues to dodge.
"Jeez, Whiskers is just playing around with him." Yang comments.
"Think he should really be doing that?" Jaune asked, as someone who has lost to Cardin before.
"Oh he's fiiine." Ruby answers. "Cardin's no match for him at all."
Naruto still has not been hit and he tells Cardin, "Is that it? I thought you wanted payback!"
"Shut up!" Cardin shouts as he's clearly gotten mad and is swinging wildly. Seeing this, Naruto decides to mess with him in a different way. He lets himself get hit.
This startles the others. Nora yells, "What happened?!"
"See?! This is why I said he shouldn't take Cardin lightly!" Jaune says worried. Naruto continues to get hit another 5 times.
"Something isn't right." Ruby states. "There's no way Cardin should be landing these hits."
"He's just being arrogant." Weiss states.
"What do you mean?" Jaune asks.
"Take a look at the screens." Yang tells them.
Jaune then looks and says, "That can't be right…"
"I knew they were mismatched but this seems ridiculous." Pyrrha comments.
Cardin has a smile on his face. Having gotten in a number of hits has added to his confidence. When Naruto sees this, he sits down in the middle of the fight confusing Cardin. "What are you doing?" Cardin asks. "Are you giving up? I'm not surprised! A loser like you never had a chance against me." Naruto doesn't respond and just smirks as he looks at the screen.
Goodwitch decides to look at the screens as well and is stunned at what she sees. Despite Naruto being the only one getting hit, his Aura levels haven't budged while Cardin's have dipped into the yellow. She then thinks to herself, "Such levels of Aura are unprecedented for someone his age. Are we seeing things? Perhaps there's a glitch in the system." She then looks over at Naruto who is clearly unharmed and is not the least bit surprised at what the screens are showing. This tells her that it is not a glitch and is in fact reality.
"This is your last chance to back out before I put you on your butt." Naruto tells Cardin.
Cardin laughs at this and says, "Me back out? You haven't hit me once and I've been kicking your ass this whole time! Maybe I hit your head too hard and your brain's not working right."
"He's doomed." Yang says.
"Can't say he doesn't deserve it." Blake adds. Jaune is stunned at this. Was Naruto really this far above the guy that beat him?
Goodwitch, now knowing how much of a mismatch this is tries to speak up saying, "Mr. Winchester I strongly suggest you withdraw—" But Cardin can't be asked to listen, and he swings at Naruto. Naruto rolls back to avoid it and is back on his feet. He then puts his Orange Spark away.
Cardin cannot believe what Naruto just did and says, "You're such an idiot!" He then goes and swings again.
Naruto cross-counters the swing with a punch to the gut. This makes Cardin's Aura plummet to the red as well as knocks the wind out of him. "My fists hit as hard as any weapon!" Naruto tells him as he starts to do a spinning back kick when Goodwitch gets in the way. "Whoa!" Naruto says as he stumbles over from having to hold back the kick. This causes the class to laugh at him.
Ruby snickering says, "Looking good Naruto!"
"That was a graceful fall!" Yang shouts.
"At least there's some levity to the situation." Ren comments.
"Still the class clown even when you're not trying to be." Kurama states to Naruto.
"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki." Goodwitch declares.
"What?!" Cardin shouts indignantly. "He only landed one hit; what do you mean he wins?!"
"Mr. Winchester that is quite enough!" Goodwitch says berating Cardin. He shuts up but is still mad. "Mr. Winchester, take a look at the screens." Cardin then looks at the screens and upon seeing his red Aura levels as opposed to Naruto's unchanged Aura levels his anger turns to shock. Goodwitch then continues to lecture asking, "Mr. Winchester, did you not pay any attention to the lecture I gave to Mr. Arc after your match with him?" Cardin doesn't say a word.
Jaune then recalls the lecture quite well. She told him that that he needs to refer to his scroll to keep an eye of his Aura levels to know when to switch to a defensive strategy.
Naruto then comments, "He was too busy being a jerk."
Goodwitch starts to give Naruto a glare but relents recalling Cardin's "speak for yourself" comment when she told Jaune that they wouldn't want him getting eaten. She then says, "That will be all for today class."
Naruto heads back up to his friends getting high fives and praise.
"Why did you decide to mess around with him?" Blake asked.
"Why?" Naruto reacted. "Because just a beating isn't enough for a scumbag bully like Cardin. You gotta beat him AND humiliate him."
"I don't know about that." Jaune interjects. "Are you just going to forget about Cardin trying to get revenge on you and Pyrrha for humiliating him in class?"
"What did he even try to do for revenge?" Pyrrha asked.
"I remember getting hit by a jar of sap…" Naruto recalls.
"Yeah, it knocked you out of the tree." Ruby adds.
"That was only part of it." Jaune answers. "It was to cover you two in sap and then release a box of Rapier Wasps."
"What a lunatic!" Weiss lets out.
"See? This is why I said we should have broken his legs!" Nora exclaimed.
"Nora I think you have a problem…" Blake states.
"See my point though?" Jaune asks.
"Nuh uh." Naruto responds. "That happened because he got the humiliation without the beating. It has to be both."
"Makes sense to me." Yang added.
Pyrrha was contemplating what she heard and then said, "I'm not quite sure if bullying a bully is ethical or effective…"
"I mean, you say that but then what can you do?" Ruby asks Pyrrha. Pyrrha didn't have an answer.
"You know, Cardin hasn't tried to bully me ever since I saved him from that Ursa." Jaune points out.
"That may be true" Blake interjects. "However, did that make Cardin stop being a jerk and a bully or did he just stop bullying you?"
Naruto follows up on that saying, "And it's not like everyone can save Cardin like you did, ya know."
Jaune tried to think of a retort, but he had nothing, so he said, "Let's just go get lunch then."
The gang is in the lunch line waiting to get their food. It is pretty bland to say the least. They each get a small piece of bare bones meatloaf, an apple, some carrots, a biscuit, and some juice.
"Could they have put in any less effort in the meal today?" Naruto thinks to himself.
Kurama, seeing the meal through Naruto's eyes states, "I thought about trying to give you grief about whining, but you're right."
None of them are happy with the meal, especially who Nora lets out an audible groan and says, "This isn't fair…"
Naruto and the others start snickering from this and start heading over to find their usual seats. As they are walking, Naruto catches Cardin looking at him. When Naruto looks back, Cardin quickly hides his head. Naruto then smirks and then turns to Jaune saying, "Told ya." Jaune shakes his head but doesn't say anything. After all, he can't argue with the results.
As they all sit down Pyrrha says, "I can't say whether I like it or not, but your methods seem to be showing results."
"Yup!" Ruby adds. "I gotta write that down. Beating plus humiliation equals success!" This causes some chuckles around the table.
"It's definitely a better look for him." Blake let's out. Even Jaune who does not like the idea cannot help but share in the sense of catharsis of seeing the one who once bullied him acting timid.
Ren then changes the subject asking, "So tell us more about the Dust and what it did to that Ursa." The rest of Team JNPR started paying close attention as they were all intrigued.
"Well, it started by getting bigger" Ruby was the first to answer.
"How much bigger are we talking?" Jaune asks.
"It wasn't quite double in size, but the difference was very noticeable" Weiss answers. "However, the strength increase is much bigger than what the size increase would lead you to believe."
"What's worse is you would think the increased size would slow it down, but it's the exact opposite ya know" Naruto added. "Those things go like a speeding bus."
Team RWBY starts clutching their wounds as Yang says, "If that ain't the truth…"
"Are you guys okay?" Nora asks.
"This all happened last night so it's not like our wounds have had much time to heal" Blake answers.
"It was a relief that none of us got called on to spar today" Weiss adds.
Jaune, choosing to get back to the topic of the Ursa asks, "Any other changes?"
"Oh yeah!" Ruby states. "Its roar got even deeper and then its eyes and claws changed to the color of the Dust and glowed."
Since Team JNPR doesn't know what the Dust looks like Ren asks, "What does the Dust look like?"
"It's kind of a bright blue" Naruto answers.
"That doesn't help that much" Pyrrha responds. "There's multiple kinds of bright blue Dust out there."
"It kind of sparkles?" Naruto let out not sure how to differentiate it.
"I don't know about what it looks like in its raw state, but in the vial it looked like it was flowing" Blake added.
"Flowing?" Pyrrha questions. "I've never seen nor heard of a Dust like that."
Yang puts a pin on the point saying, "Like Whiskers told us, you'll know it when you see it."
While this conversation is happening, the rest of Team CRDL is trying to get Cardin out of his intimidated state. This starts with Russel Thrush saying, "Come on man, you're supposed to be the leader."
Dove Bronzewing then adds, "Yeah, you looking like this makes the whole team look bad."
"I just got my ass handed to me in front of the whole class and that bastard wasn't even trying…" Cardin points out.
Sky Lark then says, "Maybe you just need to mess with someone else to get over this funk?"
"Hey, you're a genius!" Dove says to Sky.
As they look around, Russel see's Velvet walking with her tray and says, "Hey, there's the bunny freak."
"Perfect!" Sky lets out. "Go get her man."
Cardin grips his fist, seeing this as an opportunity to get back his self-respect he heads right over to Velvet. As he approaches her, Velvet is a little shaken due to her last interaction with Cardin. Cardin then says, "Little bunny hopping through the cafeteria. Don't you know you're surrounded by Huntsmen?"
Velvet looks away and pleads with Cardin saying, "Cardin please stop…"
"A predator doesn't listen to the pleas of a rodent" Cardin responds as he is about to grab her ears and Velvet closes her eyes.
Hearing the commotion, Naruto stands up and yells, "Cardin! Are you really pulling this crap again?!"
Velvet after waiting a couple seconds opens her eyes to see Cardin backing up with a scared look on his face. She looks behind Cardin and has a smirk on her face. However, what she sees is not Naruto.
As Cardin continues to back up, he bumps into what feels like a brick wall. He turns around saying, "Huh? What did I…?" He then sees a tall and athletic-looking young man with shaved-short black hair and tanned skin, who wears mostly pale-green and brown attire. In fact, not just tall, but towering would be more accurate as he towers over Cardin who is quite tall himself. This young man is Yatsuhashi Daichi, one of Velvet's teammates. Yatsuhashi grabs Cardin by the back of his armor and holds him up with one arm.
Velvet then speaks up saying, "Thanks Yatsu."
"Not a problem." Yatsuhashi responds.
"Come on man, put me down!" Cardin pleads.
Yatsuhashi simply responds, "I can't do that. She hasn't reprimanded you yet."
Cardin then looks confused and asks, "Who? The bunny?" Velvet is getting rather annoyed at him only referring to her as a bunny.
"Her name's Velvet, get it right." A voice approaching let out. Cardin looks to see a young woman with fair skin, short dark-brown hair, and dark-brown eyes hidden by sunglasses. She has wavy locks on one side of her face, dyed with a gradient that starts as dark brown and transitions to caramel. She's wearing a long, cocoa-colored shirt with an upturned layered frill collar with a black single strapped waist cincher with black pants and is littered with accessories. This is Coco Adel, the leader of the team. She is flanked by a young man with dark skin and dark, messy copper hair. He is wearing a sleeveless, muted orange zipper vest with black lining and a high collar, a pair of black jeans, and brown laced shoes. His eyes are pure white meaning he's blind. This is Fox Alistair, the fourth member of the team. Together they are Team CFVY.
"Oh crap, Cardin's in trouble with second-years…" Russel states.
"Should we help?" Sky asks.
"Not a chance…" Dove answers. They stay at their table trying not to draw attention.
As Coco approaches Cardin, she lowers her sunglasses to give him a once over. She then says, "So, you think you're high and mighty enough to bully around our Velvet. I don't know if you got guts or are just an extra level of stupid." Velvet gives out a chuckle. Cardin cannot even get himself to speak right now he feels so intimidated.
"Hey, I think I heard of this guy." Fox states. Cardin perks up a bit thinking he might get a little respect.
"Wait, seriously?" Coco asks.
"Yeah." Fox answers. "He's the guy who got himself covered in sap in Forever Fall and attacked by an Ursa." Cardin's face sunk even more.
Coco busts out laughing and asks, "Wait, that's you?!" Yatsuhashi looks at Cardin like he's as pathetic as he is. Coco then continues to address Cardin wiping tears from her eyes from the laughter. "I don't know how such a loser like you thinks he's got any business bullying anybody, much less a member of my team."
Cardin has his head lowered and mutters, "I'm sorry…"
Coco places her hand up to her ear and says, "Come again?"
Cardin then says a little louder, "I'm sorry."
Coco looks at Velvet and then Velvet says, "Say it louder, loud enough for everyone to hear you."
Cardin then clenches his fist and shouts, "I'm sorry, okay?! I'm sorry!" Those in the cafeteria are trying to hold back their laughter, but Naruto and Team's RWBY and JNPR don't. Hearing them laugh makes the rest of the room start laughing too. Cardin then actually starts to shed a tear.
"Oh my gods he's crying…" Coco points out.
"Geez, now it's not even fun anymore." Fox says.
"Man, this has got to be the worst day of Cardin's life" Ruby points out.
"Is it bad if I feel sorry for him?" Jaune asks.
"It's not bad if you feel sorry for him." Yang answers. "He completely deserves it but it's not wrong for you to have sympathy. Just means you're a good guy."
Coco rolls her eyes at Cardin's pathetic display. "Yatsu, drop him." Yatsuhashi does just that and Cardin is on his hands and knees. Coco then squats down to get eye level with him and says, "If you ever mess with Velvet again, today will seem like a cakewalk." She then gets up and starts walking with her team. The rest of Team CRDL head over and help Cardin up and head out of the cafeteria.
"Damn, that was a little hard to watch by the end." Naruto states.
Nora sighs and then says, "Okay, we don't have to break his legs anymore."
Blake looks at Nora and simply states, "Nora you have a problem." Nora just shrugs it off.
As Team CFVY is walking by, Velvet spots Naruto and waves to him. Naruto then waves back. Seeing this, Coco asks, "Who's that?"
"Oh, that's Naruto." Velvet answers. "He's the one who stood up to Cardin the last time he was bullying me."
"That so?" Coco asks as she waves her team over to head to where Naruto is sitting. Yatsuhashi and Fox shrug and do just that.
"Uh…why are they coming over here?" Jaune asks.
"I have no idea." Weiss answers. Coco sits right next to Naruto and is giving him a once over.
Seeing this, Naruto says, "Uh, hey. I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"
"Yeah yeah I know" Coco states. "I'm just seeing what the big deal is."
"Big deal?" Naruto asks. "I'm so confused…"
"Oh, settle down first year." Coco tells him. "Velvet told me that you stood up for her when that creep messed with her before.
Velvet peaks her head over and says, "Thanks again for that."
"It was no big deal." Naruto stated. "Anyone would have done that."
Fox then chimes in saying, "If that was true you wouldn't have had to." Naruto opens his mouth to try and give a counterpoint, but he didn't have one. Velvet laughs.
"Lemme introduce the team." Coco states. "You already know Velvet, I'm Coco—"
Then out of impulse Ruby springs up shouting, "Coco Adel, the leader of the team! She wields Gianduja, her handbag that converts into a minigun! Then there's Fox Alastair who wields the gauntlet blades Sharp Revolution! Then finally Yatsuhashi Daichi who wields the hooked great sword Fulcrum! Together their Team CFVY!" All of Team CFVY stare at Ruby with bewilderment.
Yang then grabs her sister and sits her down before saying, "Sorry about that. She can get overexcited about people and their weapons especially."
"I dunno, I think it's kind of adorable." Velvet states. "What do you think?" She asks towards Coco.
"Uhh…nice to meet a fan?" Coco states having no idea how to address what just happened. Naruto, Fox, and Yatsu start snickering at her trying to handle the awkward situation. She then tells them, "Oh shut up."
Pyrrha tries to break the tension saying, "It was nice meeting you, but I don't think you want your food getting cold."
Coco looks down at her piece of bland meatloaf and says, "I think that horse left the barn. But point taken, we are running out of time." She stands up and grabs her tray heading off to where they usually sit. She then waves as she's walking and says, "See ya first years." Velvet waves as well as they head to their table.
There's an awkward silence before Naruto breaks it saying, "Today's more eventful than I thought it'd be!"
"You got that right." Blake expresses.
"At least none of it actually involved us." Yang states thankfully. "Well, except you Whiskers. Seems you can't avoid it."
"Yeah…at least it wasn't so bad today." Naruto retorts.
"It's about time for the next class to start." Jaune states.
"Ya know, we could skip." Yang states.
"I would really like to…" Weiss states.
"Same…" Blake adds. Ruby is thinking it over.
Naruto, recalling what Kurama told him this morning states, "Considering we're on Goodwitch's short list right now, you know she'd hunt us down…"
Ruby let's out a groan before saying, "He's right…" They then get up and start heading to class.
In a location well hidden from the eyes of the police is Roman Torchwick's hideout where he is currently lamenting the job that just went up in smoke. Neo currently has a bummed expression on her face as she sits on a box watching Roman pace back and forth.
"How?!" Roman shouts out in frustration. "How did that entire job get ruined by a small group of snot nosed brats?!" He knows Neo can't answer so he's just venting. "I can't believe one of those kids can fight on the same level as my best subordinate! What kind of nonsense is that?!"
"Maybe next time you should bring more than one person for back-up" A voice says stepping out of the shadows. This voice belongs to a young woman with medium-brown skin and dark-red eyes. Her hair is a light, mint-green with a straight fringe and bangs as well as two long locks on each side in the back. She is wearing a white top and an olive-colored crop top along with brown chaps with white pants inside and two brown belts. Her name is Emerald Sustrai. She is flanked by a young man with skin on the paler side with gray eyes and gray hair, partially slicked back while unkempt at the front. He is wearing a gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket that covers his upper body and a single notched belt with what appears to be a sash or bandana draped over it. Protecting his arms are a set of rerebraces and vambraces. This young man is Mercury Black.
Mercury has a cocky smirk as he struts around and says, "And maybe your ace isn't nearly as good of a fighter as you think she is." Neo narrows her eyes in anger at that comment and stands up before walking towards Mercury. Mercury keeps his smirk as she does.
Roman gets in her way and tells her, "Cool it Neo, we don't need his blood in here." Neo backs off but she still has an irritated look on her face. Roman then gets up in Mercury's face and tells him, "Now you, you little snot. Your pompous little ass would have gotten beaten twice as hard so cut out the bravado." Neo's annoyed face turns into a confident smirk.
"Big talk coming from the one who just blew a huge job." Mercury states.
"I've been pulling successful jobs all over town you annoying little stain!" Roman counters.
As the argument continues, they all hear the sound of heels approaching. They turn to see a woman with fair skin and ashen-black hair that covers her left eye. She has bright amber eyes and has on lipstick and violet eyeshadow. She is wearing a dark red, off-the-shoulders V-neck mini dress with yellow designs. She also wears a black chocker and there is a quarter-circle shaped keyhole revealing a tattoo. Of course, she is also wearing high heels. This is Cinder Fall, and they all turn to face her. By the way they all look at her she is clearly the ringleader amongst them. In a sultry and playful voice she says, "Now now, let's all take a step back." Mercury backs away from Roman after she said that.
"Now that's more like it." Roman says. "Now, about the job—" Roman starts to say when Cinder pins him up against a wall.
Neo goes to interfere when Emerald and Mercury get in her way. Emerald then says to Neo, "You're not touching Cinder, so do the smart thing and back off." Neo grits her teeth.
"Roman Torchwick…do you have any idea what you've done?" Cinder questions to Roman.
Roman looks around confused and says, "You're going to have to enlighten me."
"You were stupid enough to use that vial of Dust in a populated area!" Cinder answers.
"Hold on a minute." Roman states. "Am I really supposed to believe any of you give a damn about people getting hurt?"
"You absolute fool." Cinder tells Roman. "It has nothing to do with people getting hurt. It has everything to do with exposing the Dust's existence to Ozpin. Now he'll be actively looking for it and likely be putting his best people on the job."
Roman gets quiet as he cannot counter that reasoning. He then finally says, "I'm sorry okay?"
Cinder lets Roman go and starts walking around the room addressing them all saying, "We have to be more careful. Another screw up like this and we'll be in unavoidable danger."
"From what? The cops?" Mercury asks surprised to hear Cinder actually sounding concerned.
"Of course not." Cinder answers. "We have nothing to fear from the police. Even Ozpin is hardly what we need to worry about. No, another failure like this and we'll have to face her wrath…"
Chapter End
AN: There will be one more school related chapter before I start Volume 2 stuff. See you guys next time and keep your creative visions going.