Capítulo 701: 44
Chapter 44:
"And you actually gave him your contact info?!" exclaimed Weiss in disbelief.
Jaune rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well...yeah," he said. "It made sense to me. And Dove seemed on the level." In retrospect, he wondered if it had been a good idea to bring this up right before bed. The last thing he wanted was to get into an argument with Weiss that would carry through the night, even though tomorrow was Sunday...and he was probably incapable of actually arguing with her to begin with.
Weiss smacked her face with the palm of her right hand. "Of all the stupid...doltish..."
"I think it's a good idea," said Pyrrha, Ruby nodding her agreement.
"You two don't actually think that any member of that team is worthy of any trust?" asked Weiss, glaring at them skeptically.
Ruby quailed. "Well...Dove seems...different," she said, tapping her index fingers together.
Pyrrha nodded her agreement.
It had been apparent for a while now that Dove was cut from a different cloth than his teammates. Whereas Russel and Sky apparently went along with whatever Cardin wanted enthusiastically; be it bullying Jaune or faunus, or causing some other form of disruption; Dove always seemed to stand back, looking on with plain disapproval. Of course, he had never really done anything to stop them either, merely commenting irritably on their behavior. But then, he was in a one-vs-three situation, whenever his opinions clashed with theirs, which probably didn't make it any easier for him to dissuade them from whatever course of action they settled on.
"Besides," added Pyrrha, "it isn't as though adding Jaune to his contact list will let him know where Jaune is. If he doesn't register Jaune as a teammate, he can't track Jaune's location with his app."
"True, I suppose," said Weiss with a sigh. She turned an intense gaze on Jaune. "But you still need to be careful. Regardless of how trustworthy Bronzewing seems, you can't be absolutely certain of that. If he starts asking about where you are, I advise you to think very carefully before telling him."
"R-right," said Jaune nervously, more unnerved by Weiss' attitude than the prospect of Dove betraying him.
"What annoys me is that Cardin and the others are actively looking for Jaune," grumbled Ruby. "Why are they wasting time looking for him, when they could be working on getting better?"
"If anything, I think that's what Dove's angry about," added Jaune.
Weiss groaned. "Because that lummox, Cardin, is a boneheaded idiot, who believes that losing to someone he deems weaker than him is sufficiently emasculating that he believes he can't move on until he's taken some measure of retribution, typically a measure even greater than whatever the perceived slight against him was."
"Quite true," agreed Pyrrha. "I've dealt with people like that before." Of course, that had been before her reputation had really taken off. Prior to her being saddled with the label of Invincible Girl, she'd dealt with her fair share of sore losers, who took her defeating them as some kind of personal insult, sometimes going to absurd lengths to get back at her. Of course, once her renown had reached celebrity-status, and after her reputation in the ring had been thoroughly solidified, that kind of response had tapered off, as people, including her opponents, began to take her victories as an inevitability.
"Is there anything we can do to get Cardin to back off?" wondered Ruby.
Weiss rubbed her temples. "It's unlikely," she said. "If the threat of Professor Goodwitch's wrath isn't making them check their behavior, then it's likely that nothing short of them being slapped with the actual consequences of their actions will get through to them. And, if that's the case, then they're probably going to wind up expelled before long."
"But what about Dove?" asked Jaune.
Weiss looked at him, actually looking somewhat saddened by the prospect. "I don't know," she admitted. "I certainly hope he wouldn't wind up going down with them. But...if the rest of his team is implicated..." She shrugged uncertainly.
Jaune wasn't happy at the idea. He'd actually spent a couple of productive hours with Dove, trading blows with the other boy. Dove was a completely different opponent than any of Jaune's current teammates, and certainly different from Cardin. Their impromptu sparring session had been intense. In the end, Jaune had been left lying on the ground, after Dove's swift and acrobatic sword style had finally found its way through his defenses. But Jaune had actually managed to land a couple hits, which was more than what he had been able to say about his match against Blake.
On top of that, as a fellow sword-user, Dove actually had some helpful advice to give Jaune about how he used his own sword, for all that their respective styles were very different. Jaune had left the session with a few new techniques and exercises to try, which would hopefully allow him to refine his own style even more.
It would be a shame for someone like that to wind up being thrown out of Beacon because his teammates couldn't rein in their troublemaking tendencies.
"Let's just hope that something can get through to Cardin, and he learns to back off," said Ruby, though her tone indicated she didn't have much hope in the idea.
"Enough of that," said Weiss with a sigh. "All we can do is try to steer clear of that buffoon and his cronies as much as possible. At least he hasn't tried hitting on Ruby again."
Ruby nodded, quietly relieved. Even after Sasame had left, Cardin hadn't made any further overtures towards her. It was likely that his treatment at Sasame's hands, and the fact that she was Ruby's sister, had caused him to back down, if only out of fear of Sasame's reprisal, if she ever found out he'd done anything...untoward...to Ruby.
"Anyway," continued Weiss, a smile appearing on her face, "I must say that Ruby and Pyrrha's interview was a pleasure to watch, myself."
Ruby and Pyrrha immediately flushed red.
"I haven't seen it yet," commented Jaune, having been out training, while it had broadcast. He'd wanted to watch it, but figured that doing his part for his team came first.
"Yes, well, it'll be up on the network for you to watch, when you have time," said Weiss dismissively. "Someone put it up on the holoscreen in the common room, and I think that half the students in the dorm were glued to it the whole way through."
"Um...uh...h-how did they handle it?" asked Ruby nervously.
"It's hard to say," said Weiss, a slight smirk on her face. "Pyrrha talking about her Semblance made more than a few people scowl, but that says more about them than what it says about her."
In retrospect, Pyrrha could understand if her words made some people angry. After all, she'd laid out that her Semblance didn't make her invincible, by virtue of the fact that Ruby had been able to force her to a draw. That being the case, it left the implication that no one else had been able to manage even that much, much less defeat her, because they themselves weren't willing to do the work needed to overcome such a disadvantage. People had taken solace from Pyrrha's status as the Invincible Girl, believing that no amount of work and effort on their part could make a difference against her, and now she had basically accused them of using that belief as an excuse not to work harder.
Ruby swallowed, wondering how people were taking her part in the interview.
"How did they handle Ruby?" asked Jaune.
"I suspect she will be quite popular," said Weiss, her smirk widening. "Once they played the video of her bringing down Torchwick, all pretty much everyone could say was how incredible it was."
Ruby blushed furiously. Pyrrha reached over and rubbed her back sympathetically, understanding that Ruby was likely to be at the center of attention for a while. "You'll be able to manage," she said. "At the end of the day, you don't need to do anything differently."
"We might want to consider disguises, if you ever want to go back into Vale again," added Weiss.
Ruby slumped with a sigh. It had been her hope that this interview would stop people talking and speculating about her all the time. But it only seemed to put her further into the spotlight. She just wished that all the fervor over a single sparring match with Pyrrha would just go away.
"So he wasn't in the weight-room?" asked Cardin, slipping his tank-top over his shoulders.
"Today he wasn't," replied Russel, sliding into a light t-shirt. "Only saw some upperclassmen, and if they know when he comes in, they weren't sharing."
Sky was already in his sleeping outfit, lounging on his bed and starring at the ceiling, when he gave his comment. "I didn't find him in the simulation room either."
"That asshole's hiding from us," growled Cardin, thumping his fist against his desk. "Where the hell is he?" He turned his gaze on Dove, who was also reclined back on his bed, arms folded behind his head. "Where'd you look?"
"Library," answered Dove.
Cardin snorted.. "Like he'd be there."
"Wasn't looking for him," said Dove. "I needed a reference book for that paper on whiptails I have that's due Monday." He sat up on his bed, swinging his legs around so that they dangled off. "And you have one on rapier wasps. You might want to get cracking on that."
"So you weren't even looking for Arc?" asked Cardin, genuinely aghast.
"Nope," said Dove, forehead creasing in a scowl, the only visible indicator, as it wasn't actually possible for his eyes to get any narrower. "I've got better things to do with my time than help you settle a pointless grudge."
"So you're cool with Arc making chumps out of us?" asked Russel furiously.
"Arc's doing squat," Dove retorted. "If anyone is making chumps out of you chumps, it's you chumps. I didn't come to Beacon to waste my time playing king-of-the-goddamn-hill, like we're still in elementary school. I've got more important things to worry about, like actually passing class."
Cardin's lips pulled back into a growl that was almost feral, baring his teeth. His hands clenching into fists. "I thought you were a member of this team," he growled.
"I am a member," said Dove dismissively. "And it looks like I might be the only member, seeing as you guys care less about actually becoming Huntsmen and more about finding the fast-track out of here, probably with Goodwitch's heels up your asses."
He pointed directly at Cardin. "You should've been able to walk all over him in your matches, but now you're oh-for-two, and you haven't done a damn thing about it."
"He got lucky," growled Cardin.
"No," Dove replied, "you got sloppy. I know you can do better than that. But, whenever you get out in the ring with Arc, you swing that mace around with all the grace of a braindead gorilla. You refuse to take him seriously, and he winds up turning your own stupidity against you. You leave openings a complete amateur can exploit...But it's somehow his fault for exploiting them?"
He jabbed his finger into Cardin's chest. "The first time, you lost because you blew yourself up with your own attack. The second time, you left an opening so wide that Arc was able to beat you with an attack that left him lying flat on his face. When are you gonna get your head out of your ass and actually stop treating this like a damn game?"
Dove hadn't exactly picked his words to calm Cardin down, so he wasn't remotely surprised when Cardin's response was to snarl, then actually lash out at him. Dove saw Cardin's punch coming from a mile away, reacting with all the grace his training had imparted to him, catching it, using Cardin's own momentum to throw the taller, heavier boy to the floor, before maneuvering around to plant himself against Cardin's shoulders, while wrenching his attacking arm back so that it was threatening to be pulled out of its socket.
"Look at you," snarled Dove, red-hot fury surging through his veins. "This is why Arc keeps beating you, because you don't actually give a shit about any of this. You could've spent this day training, working on getting good enough that a klutz like him has no chance against you. Instead, you three all blew it looking for Arc so that you could...what...beat him down again, do something that'll get us suspended, if not expelled?"
Taking one hand off Cardin's arm, Dove put it up against the back of Cardin's head, then used it to smack his growling face into the floor, stunning him so that, when Dove got off and released his arm, Cardin didn't immediately follow up by trying to swing at him.
"I'm done with this crap," growled Dove, glaring down at Cardin, before transferring his glare to the other two members of his team, who stared at him in shock. "I've got better things to do than waste my time on your dick-measuring contest with Arc. My advice is that you give it up, and actually focus on what you're supposed to be at Beacon to do. But if you can't manage that, then leave me out of your idiocy."
What Dove didn't say was that, if he got wind of them planning another stunt, he'd go straight to Goodwitch. If he couldn't get through to them the way she wanted, then he'd just have to go to her and hope that, by being the one to alert her to them, he'd at least get out of whatever punishment these three brought down on their heads.
With an angry growl, Dove stalked out of the dorm room. He figured he'd head to the common room and chill there for a while, at least until things cooled off. Reaching his destination, he flopped down onto the couch there with a grunt.
"Oh!"
The startled exclamation drew Dove's attention to the kitchen. To his surprise, there was Pyrrha, in the process of filling a kettle. Rather than her typical outfit, or her uniform, she was wearing her pajamas. Even her hair was out of its trademark ponytail, and cascading freely down her back.
"Hey, sorry to bother you," said Dove, before letting out a tired sigh.
"It's all right," said Pyrrha, turning on the stove, letting the kettle begin heating.
Dove watched her as she set out a teapot and started spooning leaves into it. Clad as she was, in a pale-pink spaghetti-strap nightgown, which did little to disguise her impressive figure, Dove could understand why Cardin and the others were jealous of Jaune, especially if he got to see this every night. Having seen them in their own sleepwear, before the initiation, Dove knew that Ruby and Weiss' own choice of pajamas was plenty...he couldn't call it provocative, but they certainly didn't do anything to undermine how attractive the other two girls were. To be honest, he found it a marvel that Jaune was still sane.
"You're up late," he noted.
"Yes...well...it shouldn't be much of an issue tonight," said Pyrrha.
That was true. On Friday and Saturday nights, curfew was suspended, so that students could stay up for as long as the felt like, provided they weren't actually disturbing anyone who wanted to sleep. This time of evening, it was rare to find anyone in the common room, which may have been why Pyrrha was out here in the first place.
"Bit late for tea," he noted.
"It's an herbal blend," Pyrrha replied. "It helps me sleep."
"This a regular occurrence?"
"Not really." Pyrrha paused at the kettle's whistle, then moved to pour the water into the teapot. "Some nights, I could just use a little extra help."
"I can understand that," said Dove.
To his surprise, Pyrrha brought the teapot to the table in front of the couch, then set out, not one, but two mugs, setting one right in front of Dove.
"I'm good," said Dove.
"You should try it," pressed Pyrrha. "It's good for calming the nerves."
Dove chuckled. "I can see why you'd need that, after today."
Pyrrha giggled nervously, her cheeks turning pink.
"You two did good in that interview," added Dove.
"Thank you," said Pyrrha, pouring out a mug for each of them. Picking hers up, she took a speculative sip from it, while watching him warily. "You aren't upset about my Semblance?" she asked, lowering her mug.
"If anything, I'm kicking myself for not figuring it out on my own," said Dove, snorting. "But I guess, if you've gone this long without anyone figuring it out, that just goes to show how good you are with it."
"It does?" asked Pyrrha, though she'd gotten similar comments from her friends.
"Hell yeah," Dove answered emphatically. "If I had that kind of Semblance, you'd bet I wouldn't hesitate to start juggling my opponents' weapons. But you, you kept using it so subtly that it took Ruby backing you into a complete corner for anyone to see what it is. And, in all that time, none of your other opponents figured it out on their own. Managing that takes serious skill."
Pyrrha blushed intensely. Looking at her, Dove was amazed at how vulnerable and...soft...she looked. This was Pyrrha with her guard down, not dressed for battle, not carrying her modest celebrity persona, nor the confident champion persona she had in the ring. It was strange to think about how normal she actually was. In a sense, I guess that's why she has such a hard time, he thought. For a lot of people, thinking of Pyrrha Nikos as "normal" in any context just did not compute, so they could never engage with her in any normal fashion.
"May I ask about your Semblance?" asked Pyrrha.
"Sure," said Dove. "It's nothing to write home about. I call it Equilibrium. Basically, I never get dizzy or disoriented. You could stick me in a tumble-drier, and I'd know up from down the whole time."
"That's...actually quite impressive," noted Pyrrha. "It certainly explains why you can use such an acrobatic fighting style."
"Yeah, well, it's a work in progress," said Dove. "Even if I never get dizzy, it doesn't mean I can keep my balance. It's a bit of work to get my body to do what it needs to, in order to keep from planting on my face sometimes. It doesn't exactly do the work for me when gauging my momentum, coming out of a spin or flip."
"But still, that's quite an ability to have," said Pyrrha. "It's good to know your limitations. You're working on refining your skills, just like the rest of us."
"Well...most of the rest," Dove amended for her, thinking about his teammates.
Pyrrha just giggled at that.
"Any reason you're being so chatty with me?" asked Dove. His voice dropped in volume considerably. He doubted his teammates would be following him anytime soon, but he certainly didn't need them to know he was covering for Jaune. "I'm guessing Arc told you about our arrangement."
Pyrrha nodded, her own voice dropping to match his. "And we're grateful for it."
"It's no big deal," said Dove, leaning back and taking another sip from his mug. "I just want to keep Cardin out of trouble, so that I don't get thrown out with him. It's a pain in the neck that I need to actually do any work in that respect."
Pyrrha nodded, her smile actually widening. "That's true," she said. "But you didn't have to spar with Jaune too."
Dove snorted again. "If I've realized anything from watching your team, it's that I need to work myself harder. Sparring with Arc was as good a way as any."
The smile that remained on Pyrrha's face told him she wasn't fully buying his self-serving excuse. "If that's the case, would you be willing to spar with me?" she asked.
To his surprise, Dove found himself grinning at the notion. "Well...if you're offering, I guess I wouldn't mind that much. Am I gonna be your training dummy for all the new tricks you're coming up with for your Semblance?"
"Absolutely," said Pyrrha, beaming.
"Heh..." grunted Dove, "Bring it on."
Sunday came and went. Ruby and Pyrrha continued to do their utmost to carry on normally, despite the eyes and whispers that followed their every step outside their room. Ruby was the focus of fascination, and no small amount of admiration, but Pyrrha continued to be the subject of bitter resentment, most people not liking what she'd said about her Semblance, and what she'd said said about them. In the end, Ruby and Pyrrha joined Blake in the library, settling down with some nice books for some quiet reading time.
While they were enjoying their quiet time, they actually saw Dove come into the library, albeit from a distance. It looked as though he was doing all right, checking out a book, presumably for one of the homework assignments they'd been given. Seeing them, he glanced their way, and Pyrrha offered him a smile and a wave, the latter of which he returned noncommittally, before going back to what he was doing.
With the beginning of the week, it was easy to see the rift that was developing within Team CRDL. In the dining hall, Dove entered separately from his team, and took up a seat well away from them, something his teammates also did. They sat apart during class, often on opposite sides of the room from each other. Cardin was the most obviously upset, frequently throwing glares Dove's way, which Dove pointedly ignored. Sky and Russel stayed with Cardin, but the looks on their faces indicated how uncertain they felt about the whole situation.
Academic classes went as they usually did, which was well enough for RYNB and RASP. They couldn't help but notice that Dove was the only member of his team to hand in his assigned fauna-report in during their Survival Skills class, where each student had been assigned to write a detailed report on a single type of animal, covering everything from their behaviors, to the hazards they presented, to how they might be potentially useful in some way. The rest of Dove's team had nothing to show for the entire weekend they'd been assigned to complete it, which had resulted in detention for the three of them after class, where they would be forced to write their reports in a less than ideal environment.
The major change came during Combat Class. For the most part, it proceeded as normal, until Glynda's selection process, randomized this time, picked Pyrrha for a match. Her opponent had protested, first demanding that Pyrrha not be permitted to use her Semblance. However, Glynda had overruled said protest and, with the threat of detention, the unhappy student had descended to face Pyrrha in the ring.
The resulting match had been a farce, with Pyrrha's opponent blatantly not even trying to win, which resulted in a severe scolding by Glynda, and him being assigned detention anyway. Despite that, many other students glared and edged away from Pyrrha when she returned to her seat.
Two days later, it was Ruby's turn. To her surprise, her opponent was quite eager to face her, attacking with enthusiastic gusto. Ruby managed to defeat the other girl without exerting herself overly much, not even needing to separate Akaibara. It seemed strange to Ruby, seeing her opponent return to the stands, seeming almost…triumphant…despite having lost. It was almost as though she had replaced Pyrrha in people's minds. Ruby had managed to force the Invincible Girl to a draw, but had not demonstrated some form of what they considered to be a game-breaking Semblance, which made her the girl to beat. Ruby honestly couldn't say how she felt about that.
There was one other wrinkle this week though, and that was Friday. Instead of their regular classes, the first-year students were instead ushered aboard a few bullheads, which ferried them out to the forest of Forever Fall, which occupied a swath of land north of Vale, running up along the coast of Sanus for miles. For a while, it ran adjacent to the Emerald Forest, which lay directly north of Beacon itself, but stretched eastward.
Ruby had fond memories of making her way down through Forever Fall, when she had been making her way to Vale during her training excursion. She loved the scenery, the fact that that nearly all the vegetation, from the leaves on the trees to the very grass beneath their feet, was dyed a vivid-red color. It reminded her of Kyo's eyes, not to mention that red was her favorite color to begin with. It was a sight of stunning beauty, with the leaves always falling and littering the ground, giving the impression of a land that had been permanently set into autumn, hence the name.
"Ahhh...I never get tired of this," sighed Ruby, turning to take in as much of the scenery as she could.
"It is very beautiful," agreed Weiss. "But, like Professor Goodwitch said, we aren't here to sightsee."
"It doesn't mean we can't," Ruby pointed out.
"Yes, but we should at least try to get our assignment out of the way first," replied Weiss, hefting her jar, each of them having been given one. "Once that's out of the way, we'll have all the free-time we could ask for."
Their assignment couldn't have been simpler. Professor Peach, by way of Glynda, had required that each student fill one jar of red-sap from a tree in the forest.
"You're right," said Ruby, her admission drawing a proud smile from Weiss, though that was the sole display she permitted herself.
"What's the big deal about this sap anyway?" asked Jaune, looking at his own empty jar in confusion.
"It has a variety of uses," explained Blake.
"And it's delicious!" added Nora, holding up, not one, but two jars. "The stuff's the best syrup. I can't wait to get some to go with Ren's pancakes."
Nora's friends all glanced to Ren, who merely shrugged. "She's not wrong," he said. "The sugar-content is substantial, and it doesn't even have to be boiled down." He then gave Nora a pointed look. "But just one jar."
"Aww..." groaned Nora, sagging defeatedly.
Besides being simple, their assignment was also quite easy. Finding the right trees had been no trouble, and it was the work of seconds to insert the tap, and a matter of minutes before a jar had been filled. Unlike sugar maples, the red trees of the forest gave up their sap rather freely. In order to keep any one tree from being over-tapped though, each student found their own, which wasn't hard, as groves of the appropriate trees were plentiful.
The sole hitch in the whole affair was that Nora's love of the stuff overrode her restraint, the one extra jar Ren had permitted her not being enough to satisfy her craving, which prompted her to turn to the other members of her party. As a result, if one did not guard their filled jar carefully, their ears would pick up a slurping sound, and their eyes would turn down to find said jar suddenly, and suspiciously, empty.
Having filled her jar, Ruby settled down against the trunk of one of the untapped trees with a relaxed sigh, taking solace in the overall quiet of the setting. The first-year students had been able to spread out over a fairly wide area, ensuring that RASP and RYNB weren't stuck around their fellow students. It was pleasant, not being the center of attention for a while. Ruby knew that Pyrrha appreciated it even more, not having to worry about the resentful looks that followed her nearly everywhere else.
"It really is amazing out here," said Pyrrha, settling down next to Ruby, the pair of them keeping their jars in front of them, hands resting on lids to fend off the dreaded Nora.
"Yeah," said Ruby. "You should see it from the peaks just a little farther north from here. The red goes on for miles and miles..."
"Maybe we'll get the chance to climb them sometime," said Pyrrha.
"That could be fun," agreed Ruby.
The two of them leaned back and relaxed, listening to the idle chatter of their friends, neither of them needing to speak to fill the silence between them. Sometimes, it was nice to just sit back and let the world pass them by.
And then...
"Sluuuuurp!"
"NORA!"
Weiss' enraged shriek jolted the pair out of their pleasant reverie. Looking over, they saw an incensed Weiss chasing an apologizing Nora, who, for all the "sorries" that spilled from her mouth, didn't look even remotely contrite. Weiss brandished Myrtenaster, threatening to freeze Nora in place to ensure she didn't steal anymore sap, while the others looked on.
Ruby and Pyrrha exchanged a look, then broke down laughing.
Ruby's laughter abruptly cut itself off as she felt a familiar malice, which washed over the group, before focusing in on Jaune, who was taking as much amusement as everyone else in this affair, unaware of the sets of vindictive eyes glued to his unguarded back.
Ruby rose to her feet, her movement surprising Pyrrha, who looked to her in confusion.
The source of the malice that Ruby had detected, predictably, came from a certain trio of boys, watching the other two teams from behind the crest of a nearby hill. Cardin, Russel, and Sky were there, laying down on the grass so that their heads just barely peeked up over the top of the hill, trying to get as much concealment as they could. Dove stood behind them, looking on without even a token effort at veiling his contempt.
"There he is," growled Cardin, his gaze settling intently between Jaune's shoulders.
"So, what's the plan?" asked Russel.
"I'm glad you asked," said Cardin with a smirk. "You may be wondering why, despite the fact that we were asked to fill just one jar of sap, I got two."
"Yes, that is one of the many questions I've been asking myself lately," grumbled Dove behind them.
Reaching beside his prone body, Cardin pulled up the white box he'd discreetly smuggled out of Beacon for this trip, setting it in front of himself, along with the second jar he'd filled. "Now, according to that lame-ass report I had to do on rapier wasps, they absolutely love this sap."
"You caught a bunch of rapier wasps?" asked Sky, his eyes widening.
"Wasn't too hard," said Cardin. "Like I said, they love the sap. Put a little in the box, and you've got 'em. Now, all I have to do is take this jar, and chuck it at Arc, over there. Once he's doused with the stuff, we open up the box...and watch the show."
"Are you serious!?" blurted Dove. "You want to set a swarm of rapier wasps on the guy? Are you trying to kill him?"
"He's got Aura, he'll be fine," scoffed Cardin, "probably."
Dove had his doubts. Rapier wasps were nasty little critters. Getting their name from their absurdly long and straight stingers, they were highly aggressive and persistent, often dogging a target for hours, after one of their nests was disturbed. Their venom, while not particularly potent, was nonetheless painful, and some people were allergic to it, which would upgrade an attack to potentially lethal.
Grinning sadistically, Cardin rose to his feet, cocking back his arm to throw the jar. But, when he actually tried to throw it, he found himself swinging an empty hand. Cardin stared dumbly at it in confusion, before turning towards Dove, who had deftly plucked the jar from his hand right before Cardin would have tossed it.
"All right, I've had enough of this crap," growled Dove.
"Give back the jar," growled Cardin.
"Sure..." said Dove. "...Here!"
Abruptly, Dove threw the jar...at Cardin, smashing it against his bird-decorated chestplate, splattering its red contents across the metal, as well as Cardin's shirt, where it quickly began to soak in.
"There you go," said Dove, a smirk on his face. "I'd think twice about opening that box now, if I were you."
Baring his teeth, Cardin growled, drawing out his mace, brandishing it towards Dove. "All right, pal, you think you can undermine me, huh?"
Dove made no move to draw his weapon. "I don't need to undermine you," he replied. "I don't know what the hell Ozpin saw in you that convinced him you deserved to be a leader, but you better damn well start showing it. The only leading you've done is leading this team right into a ditch."
"We'll see about that," snarled Cardin. "Russel, Sky, we're teaching this jerk a lesson."
Russel and Sky tensed, their hands going to their weapons. Dove tensed as well. He had no doubt he could take on any of these three individually. But if they decided to gang up on him, that was a different matter. Besides... "Come on, guys. Use your heads for a change. This has been getting ridiculous. You've blown so much time and energy on this grudge you have against Arc, and for what...?"
Russel faltered, his daggers lowering. Sky, however, tightened his grip on his halberd.
"Are you really that upset about Arc being on a team with three girls?" pressed Dove skeptically. "Are you really that big a bunch of hormonal idiots? For God's sake, you act like him being on a team with them means he's sleeping with all of them...or something. Seriously, can you try and grow up at least a little?"
"You know," rumbled Cardin, "I've just about had my fill of you talking down to us. I'm going to remind you exactly who is in charge here."
With that, Cardin lunged forward, leading with a swing of his mace.
"What was that?" asked Pyrrha, catching the distant sound of breaking glass.
"I think Cardinal's up to something," said Ruby, her eyes fixed on the hill, where she'd sensed the three boys' malice leaking from. Something else appeared to have caught their attention though. They were moving off.
Ruby set out to climb the hill, Pyrrha following her. It wasn't very far to go. At the top, Ruby frowned at the white, cardboard box, lying near a few scattered glass shards, the glass and ground around them splattered with spilled sap.
"What happened here?" mused Pyrrha. "What's in the box?"
"Don't touch it!" said Ruby quickly, picking up a definite sense of danger from the box and its contents.
Frowning, she crouched down and gently rested her fingers atop the lid. From within, she could feel the vibrations of countless buzzing wings, and tiny bodies battering against the interior. "Rapier wasps," she said softly.
"Why would they have a box of rapier wasps?" wondered Pyrrha. Then her eyes went to the broken jar. "Oh my..."
"Yeah, that's what I think too," said Ruby. "I think they were gonna throw the jar at Jaune, splash him with the sap, then open the box."
"So why didn't they?" asked Pyrrha. "Why is the jar broken up here?"
"I think Dove stopped them," said Ruby.
Pyrrha gasped.
Ruby looked out into the forest, in the direction CRDL had moved. She couldn't see them through the crimson undergrowth, but she could sense the turmoil of Auras in battle, particularly one Aura striving against three others. Dove was fighting against the other three members of his team. Standing up, Ruby sighed and looked to Pyrrha. "I guess we should help him out."
While Ruby had no issues with helping Dove, the fact that he was even in a situation where he might need help was galling. The behavior of the other three members of CRDL was nothing short of disgraceful, and now they were trying to beat down the one member who was trying to instill at least a modicum of decency.
"Ruby? What's going on?" Jaune arrived atop the hill, accompanied by the others.
"Cardinal was getting ready to play a prank," said Ruby, gesturing to the box of wasps.
Jaune was about to ask for more clarification, when an angry roar echoed from nearby, a powerful one at that. It was so loud that the listeners felt it in their bones, the vibrations knocking a fresh rain of leaves from the branches of nearby trees.
"That sounded like a big Ursa," noted Yang.
"Ursa Major, at least," agreed Ruby.
A few seconds later, there was a loud rustling from the vegetation in front of them. The others tensed, readying their weapons, but Ruby held up her hand, already sensing what...or rather, who...was coming. A few seconds later, Sky and Russel burst through the foliage, running for their lives. Russel, so terrified out of his mind that he wasn't even looking where he was going, ran straight into Yang. He practically bounced off of her, stumbling back. Before he could fall over, Yang reached out and grabbed him by his shirt, hoisting him off the ground.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"Ursa...really big Ursa!" gasped Russel.
Yang let go of Russel when she caught sight of a flash of petals out of the corner of her eye. Looking over, she caught a glimpse of Ruby's cloak as it vanished amidst the leaves, Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha quickly rushing through after her.
You have got to be kidding me! Dove was aghast at his situation. It was bad enough that he'd gotten into a straight-up fight with his teammates, forced to fight a defensive battle against the three of them. However, it was even worse when they emerged into one clearing...only to find a massive Ursa Major coming from the other end. The roar the beast let out was impressive, startling the four boys out of their brawl.
Immediately turning, they brandished their weapons at the powerfully-built, bear-like creature, noting the backwards-sloping spikes that extended from its back as it lumbered towards them, snarling and gnashing its teeth. As it did, its attention homed in on Cardin, and the sap that was splattered across his chest.
Huh...So Ursas like that stuff too, noted Dove, leveling his sword at the creature. Who knew?
Truth be told, seeing this massive monster up close was terrifying. It was certainly bigger than anything Dove or the other boys had encountered during initiation. However, he was fairly certain that the four of them would be able to take it.
Then Sky and Russel had rushed off with panicked shouts.
Dove groaned at his own teammates' cowardice. A look at Cardin told him that Cardin would have run, if he could. But Cardin also realized that the Ursa was interested in the sap splattered across his chestplate, which meant that his running would only incite it to pursue. They'd have to kill the Ursa. The two of them brandished their weapons, getting ready for the fight.
Then a crashing sound echoed through the forest, and a second Ursa Major, just as large and ferocious as the first, emerged from the tree line, growling and snarling.
"What?" deadpanned Dove, a bit too shocked to muster any fear. Two Majors...?
"Crap!" blurted Cardin, falling back another few paces.
The first Ursa noticed Cardin's vulnerability, lunging forward, rising up on its hind paws. Cardin brought up his mace in a clumsy block, but the swipe of those powerful claws knocked it completely out of his grip, while the force behind the blow sent Cardin sprawling.
"Dammit!" exclaimed Dove, turning to try and get the first Ursa off Cardin. However, that became the furthest thing from his mind when the second one charged. Cursing even more, Dove turned, lining up his sword, and the gun built into the hilt, with it, firing off several shots. A few found their mark amidst the wiry fur of the Ursa's shoulders, but the others just glanced off the bone-mask that covered its face. In any case, the shots that did strike home didn't seem to manage anything other than irritating the Grimm.
Dove was forced to leap out of the way, the Ursa barreling past with all the finesse of a runaway train. In the process of executing his flipping evasion, Dove lashed out with his sword, slashing along the beast's side. The Ursa roared in pain and anger, before rounding on him, rising up on its hind legs, unleashing a series of slashes with its forepaws. Dove jumped and danced, spinning and flipping over, before ducking under, swipes that would have blown through his Aura in just a couple hits. As he did, he tried to retaliate, but the Ursa's reach kept him from striking any serious blows with his sword.
All the while, the first Ursa loomed menacingly over Cardin, raising one paw to deliver the finishing blow, while Cardin tried desperately to crawl away.
Then, to make things worse, a third Ursa, yet another Major, emerged from the trees.
What the hell? Dove exclaimed mentally. Is there a convention going on?
It was common knowledge that Grimm grew larger and more powerful, the older they got. If they managed to survive their younger, more impetuous phase, they could grow and mature, their new forms gaining new designations to fit the increased threat they presented. Beowolves could grow into Alphas, Ursai into Majors...and so on. The period required for them to achieve such growth was unknown, with estimations ranging from a few years, to decades, to possibly even centuries. However, more often than not, an Alpha or Major generally led a pack of smaller variants. For multiple Ursa Majors to congregate like this...something must have been seriously wrong.
However, Dove couldn't afford to waste any time thinking about that. He was doing his utmost to deal with the Ursa that was attacking him, while the other one was about to kill Cardin. Now a third had entered the fray, leaving them with very little hope of victory, much less any chance of coming out unscathed.
The first Ursa, the one about to kill Cardin, raised a massive paw, presumably to strike his head from his shoulders. Cardin cringed and whimpered, closing his eyes as it approached.
A loud clanging noise echoed out.
Nervously, Cardin peaked one eye open, then the other, seeing a head of blonde hair, and the back of an armor-covered hoodie. Jaune now stood between Cardin and the Ursa, his shield up, fending off the powerful claws that had been about to strike Cardin. Jaune had braced his shield with a growl, before lunging forward with a shout, leading with a powerful slash of his sword. His step took him inside the reach of the Ursa's forelimbs, before it could think about trying to attack him, his sword flashing and cutting across the monster's chest.
The Ursa reeled back with an angry roar, staggering on its paws.
At the same time, a gunshot echoed out, and the Ursa attacking Dove suddenly sprouted a red and gold javelin from one eye, prompting the beast to abandon its attack, rearing back with a pained roar of its own. The javelin jerked, then pulled free, prompting another cry of pain from the beast, while the weapon itself returned to the hand that had thrown it, Pyrrha coming up to stand beside Dove, brandishing both her weapons. Dove glanced sidelong at Pyrrha, and flashed her a relieved smile.
Red and white flashed past them, Ruby and Weiss coming to a stop before the third Ursa.
"What's going on?" asked Weiss, aghast at the spectacle before them. An Ursa Major leading two or more smaller Ursas wouldn't have been surprising. But three Ursa Majors...
"This is bad," said Ruby, taking in the situation with a sober gaze. If there's this many Majors here, then that means something must have brought them together.
The trees from where the Ursas had first emerged began to sway, accompanied by the snapping of countless branches, and the sound of trunks cracking and splintering. They could see a few trees abruptly sway dramatically, their red-covered tops abruptly falling over out of sight, accompanied by a loud crash. Something very large and powerful was making its way towards them.
A black mass appeared amidst the trunks, striding forward, plowing through another two trees at the edge of the clearing, batting the trunks aside with contemptuous ease. The monster that emerged caused everyone's mouths to go dry.
"A Duba..." Ruby whispered, her eyes going wide.
The monster let out a roar that shook the very earth beneath their feet.
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