Kapitel 1795: 26
Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_Jolyne
Chapter 26
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Ahhh… the first sparring class of the year. Technically fourth, since they'd had three classes beforehand, but Professor Goodwitch had spent the first day going over a rough syllabus and explaining how they were free to do weapon's maintenance at their desks so long as it didn't require power tools or require high precision machinery, and that she'd be teaching proper sparring technique to anyone who needed extra tutelage in combat. She'd also spent the second day dragging everyone around campus to get them all used to the various on-site facilities, systems, materials catalogs, and assorted relevant tools and workstations meant for weapons maintenance and repair, as well as creation of new weapons to supplement holes in their existing kits. The third day had been spent going over safety rules that were largely the same as Signal's, but with a couple extra bits like "no summoning a rocket locker to ram your opponent in the middle of a spar- it's a valid combat tactic but it's rather against the spirit of a one on one sparring session" and "four versus one spars are allowed and encouraged if you have the appropriate skill level, but you're only allowed to do those twice a week at most".
Today, though…
Today (and for the remainder of their classes, mostly) would be all sparring and all combat! Ruby would get to watch how her classmates handled their weapons, handled their own bodies in a fight, and worked around each other's tactics with as much skill and strength as they could bring to bear! Oh, she was so excited!
Ruby practically vibrated in her seat as she waited for class to start properly, barely holding herself back from shapeshifting herself into her combat attire and just jumping into the arena right then and there- honestly, she didn't care who she was fighting so much as she wanted to see the weapons . Oh, glorious beautiful weapons… the world may be hard and cruel and prone to killing good people far too soon, but weapons were the one thing that would take care of the user as long as they were taken care of in return. Weapons couldn't betray you, belittle you, or call you slurs when they didn't think you were listening. Weapons, almost as much as a Semblance, were the purest expression of a Huntsman or Huntress' personality!
"Easy there, Rubes- you're leaking petals," Yang murmured softly as they all sat down, a gentle hand grounding Ruby in the present moment instead of her own fantasies about getting to clash Crescent Rose against someone else's weapons- truly, the best way to learn something about someone was to fight them. "Don't wanna get in trouble before you start fighting, do you?"
"R-right… sorry," Ruby murmured, clearing her throat as she forcibly made herself stop using her Semblance unconsciously. She couldn't really do anything about the rose petals already scattered on the floor (oh she'd have to apologize to the cleaning staff… she really hadn't meant to leave rose petals everywhere…) but she could at least clamp down on her instincts and make sure she didn't flood the room with petals.
Her cape still continued writhing as if it was alive, though, because it just kinda did that.
"You seem… excitable today," Blake hummed, holding a book in one hand and very casually reading as the remaining students all filed in and took their seats, the cat faunus sitting on Ruby's other side- about as far away from Weiss as she could manage, though she seemed less… tense around Weiss than normal. Ruby supposed that asking Weiss to talk to Blake about faunus history and crime statistics was an enlightening talk and seemed to go a long way to clearing the air between the two. Hopefully. "I wonder… is it because you want to fight, or is it for a different reason?"
"It's for the weapons! I've always loved weapons my entire life and they're my favorite thing ever- I've read so many weapons catalogs and training manuals it's basically the only thing in my head," Ruby chuckled, looking to the side as she cleared her throat and pulled Crescent Rose from her back and held it protectively in front of her- the entire bulk of the utterly ridiculous sniper scythe almost dwarfing Ruby's body as she hugged it to her chest as if it didn't weigh nearly half again her weight. "Well, that, and killing grimm."
"I think I got that from the bone spikes everywhere," Blake deadpanned, poking a plate of bone that was starting to stick out of Ruby's uniform top and gently pushing on it until Ruby retracted it with a little merp of discontent. "Are you going to go up first?"
"Mmm… maybe? If Professor Goodwitch lets me. She um…" Ruby blushed lightly, looking to the side a bit as she poked her fingers together. "Remember last week when Professor Goodwitch asked me to stay back for a few minutes?"
"Yeah? What about it?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow as she recalled the incident in question- she hadn't thought much about it since Ruby had spent less than five minutes there, but… she had looked rather put out afterwards, hadn't she?
"She said I'm not allowed to fire my best ammo at anyone," Ruby sighed, feeling rather put out as she pulled off one of her larger ammo pouches- thank goodness for Dust weave tech making them bigger on the inside- and set it on the desk in front of her with a metallic series of thunks that were, honestly, a lot more reminiscent of the sound of metal pipes being dropped than the normal clinks and clanks of bullets. "Best I can do is aim at the floor or the walls because they're super reinforced to handle all kinds of stuff getting thrown at them. Hmph."
Blake privately agreed with Professor Goodwitch- if Ruby hit a person with one of those shots, then no amount of Aura would protect them. Well. Probably. Either way- even with Aura, a 38mm anti-Goliath round hitting someone in anything other than a glancing blow… it'd probably shatter their Aura instantly and probably break multiple limbs. And that wasn't even getting into the secondary detonations that Ruby built into some of her rounds.
"... Yeah, best not fire at them," Blake muttered, then hummed and tilted her head as she looked over at Yang with a considering eye . "Actually… I have an idea, if you're up for it?"
Ruby blinked, looking over at Blake as she arranged spare magazines in neat rows- she had multiple extended magazines of .50 bmg since those were her most useful rounds, plus a lot of 4 gauge rounds that she shared with Yang on occasion, plus assorted ammo counts for all of her assorted weapons- sorted into neat universal magazine stacks as well as loose ammo for Crescent Rose's larger cartridges that had to be loaded in manually. "What kind of idea?"
"Mmm… If you volunteer to go first… try and get your opponent to surrender in less than ten seconds with a single shot," Blake answered, reaching over to nudge Yang and get her attention because she knew damn well the blonde was always ready to instigate her sister into doing something horrifically intimidating for shits and giggles. "Load in your biggest, most powerful cartridge and fire it at the wall, if you have to. See if you can psyche your opponent out."
"... That sounds kinda funny, actually…" Ruby murmured, actually seeming like she was considering the idea as she rubbed her chin. She quietly ignored Weiss half-hearted protests from where she sat on the other side of Yang.
"Do it Rubes! It'll be fucking hilarious!" Yang snickered, nudging Ruby's shoulder with her own and grinning as Professor Goodwitch finally walked into the room with a data pad in one hand and her ever-present riding crop in the other. "Look, the Prof is here- volunteer first!"
"Mm… alright. I'd like to actually fight sometime today, though…" Ruby sighed, shaking her head as she put her ammo pouches back on after taking inventory of her stock, Crescent Rose still perched almost daintily (for a nearly one hundred pound ultra lethal sniper scythe) in her lap as she turned her attention back to the front, right in time for Professor Goodwitch to start speaking.
"Students, it's good to see you all here and on time. If you've read the syllabus or have been paying attention in the last week, you know that today is our first concrete sparring class, where your initial class rankings will be set," Goodwitch started, adjusting her glasses as the holographic screen activated and showed an empty numbered list, her riding crop punctuating her words as she looked around the room. "Mind you, victory in a spar is not the only way to advance your ranking, though it is one of the criteria. Personal improvement, speed of takedowns, ability to quickly and efficiently take down an opponent without resorting to excessive force or wasting time and effort. Martial skill. Strength. Speed. Creative usage of your Semblances, on days that I allow you to use your Semblances. Those will all factor into your rankings, which will update weekly. I expect that all of you will put in your best effort into maintaining and improving your scores throughout the year."
She paused, then pursed her lips. "Note that lower rankings are not completely indicative of skill level or win-rate- sometimes, you will be on par with the others, but the numbers will not work out in your favor. It is not a moral judgement. So long as you put in the time, effort, and work… you will succeed in my class."
After one last look around, she stepped back and opened the hardlight gates to the arena, pulling up the class list and projecting it as she snapped her riding crop to the side. "Now then- who would like to volunteer for the first match of today?"
"I do!"
Notes:
Tomorrow: An object lesson as to why you should not fire Dust filled artillery indoors.
Someone may or may not piss themselves.
Cardin shows up.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein