Chương 741: 84
Chapter 84:
Fortunately, thanks to the fact that the majority of students were still away on missions, it wasn't hard for Ruby to secure the use of one of the training rings. Jaune couldn't help but notice that Ruby had reserved the largest available ring, generally used for multi-team battles, rather than individual matches, which resulted in it being nearly three-times the size of the rings for individuals.
"Wouldn't a regular sparring ring have been good enough?" asked Jaune, casting a wary eye over the expanse, even bigger than the ring that they used in Combat Class.
"Trust me, Kyo-nii is gonna need some room," said Ruby. "If we used a smaller ring, then there'd be a lot of collateral damage."
"Sounds to me like he's sloppy," commented Weiss, entering the spectator section, with Ashley at her side. Much like the spectator seating in Combat Class, the seats for this sparring ring were set into the balcony of an upper level, overlooking the whole ring. She and Ashley were accompanied by Winter, who took the seat next to Weiss.
"I might be, to a certain extent," said Kyo with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head again. Looking to Ruby, he raised and eyebrow. "You called your friends?"
"Yeah, well..." Ruby bashfully averted her gaze. "I thought they should see what you can do."
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," said Kyo with a shrug.
Yang and Blake arrived a minute later, Ren and Nora shortly after them. After Ren and Nora, Pyrrha arrived at a run, having apparently come from somewhere a little farther away. Then, much to Ruby's surprise, the members of CPPR filed in as well, Penny waving enthusiastically as she and her team settled into a set of seats in the gallery. They were joined by Qrow, who came over to speak with Ruby.
"Hey there, Rosebud," he said, grinning widely. "I'm lookin' forward to seeing if you can do better than me with this punk."
"I'll certainly try, Uncle Qrow," said Ruby.
"I think Ruby-chan will do quite well," said Kyo. "She's grown a great deal, while she was away."
"I've seen that," noted Qrow.
"Perhaps," said Kyo. "But you might be surprised at the extent. With those of us who really know her, we can draw out more than Ruby-chan herself often realizes she's capable of."
"Well now, that'll be something to see," said Qrow, before sauntering off to sit next to Yang.
Ruby turned to face Jaune, and was surprised when he leaned in and planted a quick peck on her lips. "Good luck out there," he said softly.
"Thanks," said Ruby, blushing at the public display of affection.
Ruby and Kyo set out into the ring. Kyo pulled his sword out of its sheath, discarding the scabbard off to the side, resting the nearly five-foot-long blade over his right shoulder in a casual stance. When the pair of them arrived at the center of the ring, they turned to face each other. Meanwhile, Jaune brought up the ring's safety barrier, wondering just what kind of fight they were in for.
As soon as the barrier came up, Ruby drew her sword, splitting the blade into two, holding the one in her left hand out in front of her, the blade angled to one side, while she held the other up and over her head, so that the blade ran straight down her back. Kyo brought his sword up off his shoulder, holding it out in front of him, the blade angled upward in a basic stance. The two of them watched each other closely, their bodies going completely still.
No one had thought to announce the start of the match, so it came as a shock when Ruby and Kyo blurred into motion in almost perfect unison. They rushed each other head-on, Ruby meeting the descending blade of Kyo's Tenro with Ibara, in her right hand, the two blades meeting with an echoing clang.
Almost immediately, Ruby was blasted back, her momentum completely reversed by the raw power behind Kyo's swing. Kyo didn't wait for her backwards flight to terminate, instead rushing right after her. By the time Ruby's feet had touched down, Kyo was already on her, his sword little more than a flash of silvery light in the eyes of the onlookers as he unleashed a flurry of slashes with a speed and finesse that belied the length and weight of his blade.
Ruby responded by working her two swords in tandem, the blades becoming crimson blurs as she intercepted and deflected Kyo's slashes. Rather than try to slow her backwards movement to a stop, Ruby kicked off the floor, kicking up a wave of petals as she accelerated her movement back. Kyo continued to press after her, his sword probing and striking. This time, Ruby bobbed and weaved, her body seeming to multiply as she danced between Kyo's strikes, though she still continued to give ground to him.
Suddenly, Ruby's angle of movement changed. Rather than continuing to backpedal, she abruptly shot off to one side, leaving another cloud of petals in her wake as she skirted around one of Kyo's downward strikes. Her own swords lashed out as she passed him, but Kyo's response was just as lightning-fast, allowing him to slip away from the line of her attack, while stepping around and bringing his sword up in an upward-sweeping slash. Crossing her blades in front of her, Ruby barely managed to fend off Kyo's blow, which lifted her feet off the ground. Before she could even start to come back down, Kyo had stepped forward, lowering the blade of his sword and bringing it across his front on a powerful sideways slash, which launched Ruby across the ring in the opposite direction. Yet again, Kyo went after her, attacking relentlessly.
"God!" gasped Ashley, watching the bout unfold.
"I've never seen anybody overpower Ruby like that," added Yang.
"Not surprised," said Qrow, chuckling. "Kyo's got a reputation for a reason. And this is him holding back."
"You're kidding me!" exclaimed Yang, staring at her uncle.
"Nope," said Qrow, his expression sobering. "Take it from a guy who's been on the receiving end of his strength, and that was six years ago. Demon Eyes Kyo hasn't shown a bit of what he can really do."
The instant Ruby's sandals touched the floor again, she shot straight upwards, leaving an expanding ring of petals in her wake that washed across the floor like a shockwave. Her sudden launch carried her over the line of Kyo's next slash and directly over his head. However, Kyo easily ducked beneath her counterattacks from above, and immediately pivoted around to launch another attack at her as she landed. His sword cleaved right through the fabric of her cloak, cutting it in two.
The cut cloak collapsed into a cloud of petals, revealing it to be a decoy. Rather than descend straight down, Ruby had instead utilized her Aura again, this time using it to propel her body off the air itself. Using it, she was able to alter the angle of her descent, while leaving a facsimile of her cloak as a decoy to distract Kyo. Her angle of descent prompted her to land off to Kyo's right, at his very feet. From her low position, she spun about, her cloak flaring out along the ground, while Bara glided mere inches off the floor at his ankles.
Kyo was already falling back, lifting his foot above the level of Ruby's strike. But Ruby continued her spin, following through with Ibara at a higher level, prompting Kyo to shift back to try and escape the radius of her reach. However, the tip of her sword grazed his leg, the edge grating against his Aura. It was little more than a nick, but marked the first blow Ruby had landed.
Then Ruby immediately had a premonition of danger, sensing a terrifying threat descending from above. Expelling her Aura from her feet, she shot off to the side as Kyo's sword cleaved down through where she had been crouched a second earlier. Upon striking the floor, Kyo's stroke hit with an impact that rocked the entire ring, his blade splitting the floor in a line that extended all the way to the edge, only stopping when it reached the barrier, which flared and crackled angrily.
However, even as Kyo's strike split the ring, Ruby appeared behind him in a flash, her own swords streaks of crimson light in the air. She attacked furiously with both blades, etching a complex weave of red lines in the air between her and Kyo. Kyo was already dodging, his body becoming a blur as he slipped away from Ruby's attacks. Just as Kyo had earlier, when he had been knocking Ruby around, Ruby gave chase, not giving her brother a chance to disengage. Turning to face her fully, Kyo wielded his sword defensively, even as he gave ground, his sword ringing against Ruby's twin blades in a furious tempo. From time to time, Kyo would lash out with a counterattack, forcing Ruby to either parry or dodge. But his efforts failed to break her offensive completely, and she continued her barrage of attacks.
Shifting forward again, Kyo gave up his retreat, driving in to meet Ruby head-on, Tenro blurring and flashing as it clashed against Bara and Ibara. Ruby used the sheer speed and ferocity of her own offensive to keep Kyo from making any powerful swings, which would have completely overpowered her. Now she and Kyo were battling on more equal footing, their bodies, especially their legs and feet, blurs as they danced around each other, surrounded by the flashes of the lights from above gleaming off the blades of their swords, further illuminated by the flashes that accompanied every clash of blades, their Aura creating bursts of furious sparks between them.
"Was Ruby always this fast?" wondered Pyrrha, her eyes wide as she watched the battle.
It was hard to tell, but, compared to her own experience fighting against Ruby, Pyrrha was fairly certain that Ruby was moving faster and hitting harder than she ever had against Pyrrha in any of their bouts.
"Maybe," mused Qrow. "Kyo's pulling the same trick he did against me, when he fought."
"What trick?" asked Jaune.
"Basically, he started this match at Ruby's optimal speed and pace," said Qrow. "As it's going on, he speeds up a little tiny bit more. He's doing it in such tiny increments, I'm willing to bet that Ruby hasn't even noticed yet. By doing that, he can get her moving past even what her top speed would normally be, because she doesn't realize that she's actually pushing herself harder than she would normally."
"Why?" asked Weiss.
"Best way to get someone to improve quickly is to force them to fight just a little above their best," said Qrow. "Everyone always has that little tiny bit more to give that they don't even realize they have. By drawing that out, and keeping them fighting at that level, you get their body to grow to meet the strain. Then you can get them to push a little further still."
"That's one heck of a way to train," said Nora.
"It ain't easy to pull off, especially for the teacher," said Qrow. "Doing that requires complete knowledge of the student's level, and pretty much perfect control over your own strength. Probably why Rosebud hasn't tried that with you, Jaune."
"Oh," mused Jaune.
"I guess that explains why they haven't tried anything more fancy," said Weiss. "So far, they both seem to be focusing on swordsmanship and footwork, for the most part. The closest Ruby has gotten to using one of her Manifestation techniques is that decoy trick she pulls with her cloak."
"I can see why Ruby booked the biggest sparring ring we have though," said Blake, her eyes going to the line that Kyo's sword had cleaved through the ring. "His power is no joke."
"You ain't seen nothin' yet," commented Qrow.
Ruby's arms ached, the shock of repeated impacts against Kyo's sword sending jolts of pain running all the way from her hands to her shoulders. What was more, she could feel Kyo's hits getting more powerful with each clash of their blades. She was aware of what he was doing, having experienced this pretty much every time she had ever sparred with him. She didn't resent him for that. She knew well enough that, if Kyo used his full strength and speed against her, she wouldn't stand a chance in a serious fight. Instead, he was limiting both his speed and strength to give her a fighting chance, not with the intent allowing her to seize any kind of win, but as a means of forcing her to power past her current limits.
Not that Ruby had time to actually think about what Kyo was doing. Her conscious mind had no hope of keeping up with the progress of events. If she even tried to actually think during this fight, that would break her focus and leave her open to Kyo's attacks, any one of which was probably more than capable of wiping out her Aura on its own.
Ruby pushed her legs harder than she could ever remember doing, dashing around Kyo, flanking him and trying to catch him off-guard, bombarding him with attacks from every angle, moving so swiftly that it almost looked as though several swift red shadows were darting around Kyo. He still managed to keep up with her, turning to meet her swords with his own, while bending his upper body like a reed in the wind to evade many of her other attacks.
The furious rate of movement was taxing for Ruby, not merely because of the exertion of her legs. Maintaining her control over the expulsion of her Aura from the soles of her feet to ensure the proper execution of her Shukuchi was critical. A single mistimed burst of Aura, or misjudging the power she needed, could send her legs flying out from under her, leaving Ruby sliding across the ring on her side or back. Increasing her speed required her to increase her control.
But she managed it. With every step she took and every strike she made, Ruby sent flurries of red petals dancing into the air, which swirled around the combatants in a vivid, crimson maelstrom. Then Ruby abruptly darted back, dancing away from the reach of even Kyo's O-dachi. In her wake, all the petals swirling through the air abruptly converged inwards on Kyo.
"Hanabi!"
With a series of crackling, sparking sounds, like a line of firecrackers going off; Ruby's petals sparked to life, filling the air with angry explosions that bombarded Kyo with a converging explosion of angry, red arcs of lightning.
Ruby heard Kyo's shout with her ears, but that was secondary, as she felt it before she heard it. Kyo's Aura exploded out from him in a red wave, completely blasting away the lightning Ruby had generated before it could even reach him. It was nothing more than a basic Projection, but the sheer power behind it was like nothing Ruby was capable of. Her technique was completely blown away...and Ruby herself wasn't far behind, the force of Kyo's Aura striking her like a slap across the entire front of her body, driving her back farther than she'd meant to retreat.
Skidding to a stop, Ruby saw Kyo through the red haze of his Aura, which lingered in the air, like a bloody mist. He brought Tenro up, holding it at the level of his face, the blade extending across in front of him, parallel to the ground. Bringing up the first two fingers of his left hand, Kyo rested them on the flat of the blade, right at the hilt, before tracing them along, the metal glowing a shimmering white in the wake of their passage.
To Ruby's eyes, the movement looked slow and deliberate, so smooth and practiced that Kyo might well have been doing it in slow motion. However, that was because her own internal sense of time had been suspended by the intensity of the battle, which had enhanced her awareness to levels she normally wasn't capable of. In real-time, Kyo's movements were taking less than a second to execute. That he was able to make it look so smooth and deliberate was an indicator of the sheer level of practice he had put into it. It was nothing more or less than pure mastery.
Ruby immediately knew what Kyo was about to do. She'd seen this technique so many times before, even been hit by it in previous sparring matches. She'd seen this technique lay out her Uncle Qrow in a single blow. She was also aware that she didn't have the time to close in and attack before Kyo used it. She was still struggling to bring her own backwards momentum under control. Once she did, and reversed direction, Kyo would have already launched his own attack.
So Ruby made no effort to close in. Instead, she brought Bara and Ibara together, the two swords becoming one once again. Bringing Akaibara up, Ruby mimicked Kyo's own motions, tracing the first two fingers of her right hand up to rest against the flat of the blade, right where it met the hilt of her sword. Then she too traced her fingers along the length of the blade, Akaibara blazing with crimson light to match that of Tenro's, the two swords letting out echoing chimes that resounded throughout the entire room, making the teeth of the onlookers buzz.
Kyo brought his left hand up to grip the handle of his sword behind his right, while raising Tenro over his head, so that the edge of the curved blade faced upwards, extending back and to his right, angled ever-so-slightly downwards. The air rippled, converging in around the blade, drawing in the red haze left behind by his earlier Projection, the atmosphere in his vicinity being condensed into the purest extension of his sword.
"Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Mizuchi!"
Kyo brought his sword down in a mighty slash that sent a wave of pure white, edged with red, washing across the arena, threatening to break over Ruby, and carve her into pieces. In the meantime, Ruby had kicked off the floor, tilting her body nearly horizontal as she went into a spin that made her cloak flare out around her, using the spin to bring Akaibara up and around in a descending strike, the sword's blade seeming to merge with the edge of her cloak, as Ruby met Kyo's attack head-on with her own.
"Kazebara!"
A razor-thin line of pure red bit into the incoming wave of Kyo's Mizuchi, splitting it in two, parting it around Ruby. Ruby could feel the attack rushing by her, its passage teasing at the edge of her extended cloak, completely shredding and obliterating whatever it came in contact with. Kyo had gone lightly, but his attack would have still cut effortlessly through her Aura, and opened up countless lacerations across her body.
There was a time where he would have never even thought about using the Mizuchi against Ruby, without Sasame nearby to heal any injuries. That he was willing to use the Mizuchi, under these circumstances, was a sign of his respect for Ruby's growth, the realization of which thrilled her to her core.
Against the force of Kyo's attack, there was no way for Ruby's Kazebara to reach all the way to Kyo. Instead, it merely parted the Mizuchi, successfully countering Kyo's attack. Looking past the split waves of white atmosphere, Ruby saw Kyo, sword still extended and lowered from his strike. Their eyes met, Kyo's Crimson Eyes burning with frightening intensity, a sign of his excitement, which was also betrayed by the joyous grin he wore. The combination of his grin and shining eyes resulted in Kyo's visage coming off as downright demonic. It was a sight to put fear into the hearts of most who saw it. However, the sight of that grin filled Ruby's heart with elation.
She wasn't just seeing it in his face. Ruby could feel it in the waves of Aura-infused atmosphere that washed past her on either side...pride. Kyo was proud of her, proud of how far she'd come, how well she was doing against him. The feeling of the pride he had in her made Ruby's own heart sing in response. Unconsciously, Ruby's lips pulled back, baring her teeth in an exultant grin that was a match for Kyo's own.
All of that was conveyed in the fraction of a second it had taken Ruby's sandaled feet to touch the floor after pulling off her technique. The instant she touched down, Ruby was off like a shot, hurtling across the floor at her top speed, Akaibara splitting in her hands once more. She crossed her arms in front of her body, so that the blades of Bara and Ibara were pointed behind her. As Kyo raised his sword to meet her attack, Ruby brought her blades crossing in front of her in an attack that had every ounce of her power and momentum behind it.
"Holy SHIT!" Qrow had been reaching for his flask at the moment he'd seen Kyo unleash the Mizuchi against Ruby. In that instant, his shock had prompted him to drop the container, sending it clattering cross the floor, bouncing off Yang's boot, and sliding across the floor to come to a rest further down the aisle. Retrieving it was the furthest thing from Qrow's mind, said mind overcome by a flashback of his own experience with Kyo's technique.
"What the hell was that!?" exclaimed Yang, her eyes wide, her voice nearly drowned out by the almost deafening clang of clashing swords below as Ruby closed with Kyo again.
"That's the trick Kyo laid me out with, when I fought him," said Qrow. "If Sasame hadn't been with him, I'd have probably bled to death, and he was taking it easy on me."
"And Kyo just used that on Ruby!?" asked Weiss, her voice tight with fury.
"It probably means that he respected her enough to believe she could handle it," said Pyrrha, her own voice surprisingly calm, even though her heart was pounding. She couldn't keep a happy smile from her face as she observed, "Besides, Ruby doesn't seem to mind."
It took a few seconds for the others to catch on to what Pyrrha meant. Ruby and Kyo had resumed their dangerous dance down below, their bodies blurring, flickering in and out of focus with each strike, dodge, and step. In those brief instants where they could make out the expressions on the fighters' faces, they were able to make out the identical joyous grins sported by Ruby and Kyo. The two of them looked as though there was no place they would rather be.
She looks so happy, thought Yang, a smile appearing on her own face. By now, she was past the point of feeling too much guilt over the fact that, not so long ago, she would have been terrified at the thought of Ruby putting herself in danger like this. The Yang from back then would have been at the edge of the ring, pounding her fists against the barrier in an effort to break through and save her sister. The Yang from back then wouldn't have noticed, or cared for that matter, about how big Ruby's grin was, how happy she looked. But now, she could simply sit back and enjoy the sheer joy expressed, not just on Ruby's face, but through every movement of her body.
Silently, Yang wondered if their father could ever be brought to see Ruby in this light, to see how happy she was, how strong she was. No matter how much time had passed, or how much Ruby had changed, Taiyang had refused to see her as anything beyond that helpless little toddler that Yang had pulled along on an ill-advised adventure in search of Yang's missing mother. He'd refused to see the powerful and beautiful young woman that Ruby had become.
Maybe there's something I can do about that, thought Yang, her fingers slipping into her pocket to graze against the edge of her scroll.
As she dodged past another powerful slash of Kyo's sword, Ruby danced around to one side of him. Instead of trying to attack him when she passed, she instead brought the blades of her two swords together, crossing them, then grinding their flats against each other as she pulled them apart. Bara crackled, crimson vines of thorny lightning climbing up its length. Meanwhile, Ibara's blade shimmered, red-dyed wind swirling and condensing around it.
Now turning in place, Ruby slashed at Kyo, who was still turning to face her again. Kyo sensed the attack incoming, and danced aside, the trailing sleeve of his kimono being nicked by the crescent-shaped wave of wind that flickered past him. Ruby followed through with a vertical, downwards strike from Bara, the crimson lightning winding around it crackling angrily, then extending to lash out like a whip, bending to strike at Kyo from an angle separate that of the her sword's strike.
Her excitement spiked when she saw Kyo try to fend off her lightning with his sword. Upon connecting with the the crimson arc of electricity, Kyo's sword flashed, Ruby's lightning flashing down its length and right up into Kyo's hand, sending a jolt up his arm and through his entire body, the resulting flinch causing his movement to falter, keeping him from attacking or defending. It was a fractional pause, one that would only slow him down for an instant, but that instant was all Ruby would need.
Even if he was faltering from coming into contact with Ruby's lightning, Kyo still had some control, enough to shift his weight backwards to try and throw himself out of the range of the next attack he knew was coming. And try he did. However, his movement was slow, and he felt as though he were in a river, fighting to climb upstream.
Even though he'd dodged the wind-blade from Ibara, that hadn't been the end of that particular blade's attack. Even now, the currents of air continued to swirl inwards to condense around the sword, creating a constant pull that drew Kyo's body towards Ruby, keeping him from escaping with the limited control he currently had over his own body.
Ruby raised Bara and Ibara together, joining the swords over her head, gripping Akaibara's handle in both hands. The wind that had swirled and condensed around Ibara merged with the lightning that still wreathed Bara, fusing together to form a sheath of intense plasma around Akaibara's blade, its color washing from red to an brilliant violet.
Tenro sang in Kyo's hand, his Aura blazing brilliant red, merging with the sword's white. "Mumyo Jinpu Ryu-!" he began.
"Yoake no Bara!" Ruby brought her sword down in a two-handed strike, the plasma condensed around her blade exploding with a crack like thunder.
Ruby was aware that Kyo possessed a defensive technique, Timbe, which allowed him to generate a curved plane of condensed air that could be used as a shield. However, she was certain that her technique had the power to cleave straight through it.
Instead, the power of Ruby's attack abruptly vanished. Even the thunderclap of the blade landing was cut short, as though someone had hit the mute button on reality itself. It reminded Ruby of her experience with Adam's Semblance, where he'd completely drained the power out of her Kazebara, and into his sword. But this was different. Whatever Ruby's sword had struck had simply made the power of her attack...disappear...as though it had never existed in the first place. That, combined with the sudden cessation of its noise made Ruby sense that she was in the presence of a phenomenon that transcended the very nature of the world itself, overriding things like the physics of force and sound.
The light of Ruby's technique had vanished just as abruptly, snuffed out like a candle-flame. It took an extra second for Ruby's eyes to adjust, mainly because, in addition to the light of her technique suddenly disappearing, things had become strangely dark. As such, it took Ruby a moment to comprehend what she was seeing. Something glittered above her, and her jaw dropped. Stars?!
Akaibara was stopped cold, its edge resting against a curving surface of hexagonal plates, joining together to form a semi-transparent barrier between her and her opponent. Looking up, Ruby saw that barrier washing with the colors and lights of the night sky. It was difficult to wrap her mind at the realization that she was looking at the shell of an enormous turtle.
Abruptly, white streams of air whipped outward, forming into the bodies of countless serpents, which lashed out to wrap around Ruby's body, entwining around her legs and arms, and seizing her torso in a crushing grip, locking her completely into place. Th-this is...!
This was a technique leagues beyond what she had been expecting. It was one Kyo's Ougi, his ultimate techniques, four techniques that represented the pinnacle of the Mumyo Jinpu Ryu, and made the Mizuchi Ruby had thwarted earlier look like a parlor trick. Never had she imagined that Kyo would use one of those techniques on her.
"Genbu..." intoned Kyo, a warm smile on his face. "The heavens are its shell, its body the earth, the air between a nest of serpents. Countless streams of air weave together into a protective lattice, forming an impenetrable barrier, the ultimate defense. The coils of the serpents will crush and tear anything in their hold to pieces."
The serpents of wind tightened their hold, squeezing the air from Ruby's lungs.
"Do you feel it...the caress of Genbu's serpents?" asked Kyo with a smile.
Then the crushing feeling of the wind holding her in place vanished, the wind dissipating into nothing. Ruby dropped to the floor, immediately collapsing onto her knees, gasping for breath, greedily sucking air into her abused lungs, her body sore and aching from being gripped so tightly. Had Kyo wished it, he could have transformed the serpents that had held her into whirlwinds that would have shredded her body into nothingness. Instead, he had dispelled his technique.
Her body shaking from the exertion and stress, it took Ruby a moment to raise her head to look up at Kyo, her hood falling back to let her see him more clearly.
"Looks like I win again, Ruby-chan," said Kyo with a wide smile.
Despite having lost, Ruby couldn't help but feel a wave of giddiness threaten to swamp her. Part of her had known that Kyo would win. He'd always win. If she ever won against him, it would be because he allowed her to. But Kyo respected her too much to grant her that kind of empty victory, instead using defeat to spur and inspire her to continue moving forward, until the day she reached his level, and claimed a genuine victory over him.
What thrilled her the most was the sheer pride expressed by Kyo's smile. Though it was more subtle than the grin he'd been wearing earlier, it felt more profound.
"That was amazing, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, extending his left hand down.
Tiredly, Ruby lifted her right to grip it, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
"I never expected to need to use Genbu against you," he said. "You really surprised me at the end. You grew much more than I thought."
Ruby was smiling so hard her cheeks ached. Even if Kyo hadn't been fighting at his full strength, she'd still managed to back him into the corner, forcing him to the point where he'd had to use one of his best techniques to turn the tables on her. It was more than she'd thought she'd manage to accomplish.
Abruptly, Kyo reversed his grip on Tenro, stabbing the blade into the ground so that he could take her in his arms and pull her into a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered softly, kissing the top of her head while Ruby carefully hugged him back.
The moment came to an end when the sound of a single pair of hands clapping in a slow tempo echoed through the room. Pulling away from each other, Ruby and Kyo looked up into the audience. However, the clapping was not coming from any of the three teams of students present, nor was it coming from Qrow or Winter. It was coming from behind them, where a trio of figures stood, the white-haired man in the center of the trio applauding slowly.
"An excellent match," declared Ozpin, smiling earnestly as he took in the siblings in the ring.
"P-P-P-Professor...!" sputtered Ruby, her face turning bright red, not even certain why she was embarrassed that Ozpin had been watching her match with Kyo.
Glynda stood to Ozpin's right, while General Ironwood flanked him on his left. Both of them were still wide-eyed with shock, overwhelmed by the display of skill and power they'd just been witness too.
Kyo laughed, yet again rubbing the back of his head with his left hand, as he pulled Tenro free with his right. "That's kind of you to say, Professor," he said. "I must say, Beacon really does agree with Ruby-chan. I had been expecting her to have improved since I last sparred with her, but not to this degree."
"K-Kyo-nii..." stammered Ruby, her face growing hotter.
Another set of hands joined in the applause, this pair clapping much more rapidly and enthusiastically. "Sensational, Ruby!" cheered Penny, jumping to her feet with an exultant grin. "That was a wonderful match!"
Her hand still shaking from the aftermath of her last clash with Kyo, Ruby fumbled a little, but managed to slip Akaibara into her sheath. In the meantime, a shocked Jaune managed to find the wherewithal to bring down the barrier. Penny didn't bother with the stairs down to the ring, instead throwing herself right over the railing so that she could rush to Ruby, and seize her in a crushing hug that reminded Ruby just a bit too much of the feeling of being wrapped in Kyo's technique earlier.
"Penny..." she managed to croak, "...air...!"
"Ah!" With a squeak of surprise, Penny released Ruby, dropping her back to the floor. Ruby stumbled, on the verge of keeling over, only to be saved when Kyo planted Tenro again and slipped his hands under her armpits to keep her from keeling over entirely.
"Sorry," said Penny.
"It's okay," said Ruby, Kyo steadying her until she could stand on her own again.
She barely had time to breathe, before she was swarmed by the rest of her friends, who gathered around her. Yang and Nora each seized her in hugs that were nearly a match for Penny's, leaving Ruby staggering between them, until Jaune took her in his arms, holding her close in a much more gentle embrace that allowed Ruby to recover a little. She felt him send just a little bit of his Aura into her, restoring some of her strength and calming the shaking of her limbs.
"Thanks," she said softly, looking into his eyes.
"Least I could do," said Jaune, smiling back at her, before letting her rest her head against his collar for a little longer.
"Gotta say, Kiddo, you scared me out of five years of my life," commented Qrow, smirking as he spoke. "You did better than I did, for sure."
"Thanks, Uncle Qrow," said Ruby, pulling away from Jaune enough to grin at him.
"No wonder she's so strong," commented Weiss, who was standing next to Pyrrha, the two of them keeping a respectful distance to keep from making Ruby feel overwhelmed.
"It's certainly understandable, if that's the caliber of training she's gotten," said Pyrrha.
Not far away, Ciel looked on, flanked by Piper and Rain. "So that is what the Mibu are capable of," mused Ciel.
"I can certainly see how Kyo was able to completely wipe out the White Fang," said Rain.
"No wonder the General didn't try to take him in," added Piper. "The soldiers and androids wouldn't have stood a chance."
Farther up, Ozpin couldn't quite keep from smirking at the sight of the awestruck looks on the faces of Ironwood, Glynda, and Winter. "So then...what do you think of Ms. Rose's performance?" he asked.
"That was..." Glynda was actually fighting to find the right words to describe her thoughts. "Her ability is far beyond what we thought it was."
"Granted, as one of her instructors, Kyo has the capability to draw forth potential that even Ms. Rose isn't aware of yet," noted Ozpin. "It will take more training, before she can perform at that level consistently."
Ironwood swallowed. "Winter...your thoughts?" he asked.
Winter blinked owlishly. "If this is the caliber of warrior that they produce, then we absolutely cannot permit Jacques or his cohorts to railroad through any plan to invade the Mibu."
"That much is true," agreed Ironwood.
"Granted, Kyo is more of a representation of the upper tier of the clan members, in terms of strength," said Ozpin. "Only a few of them could be said to be at Ms. Rose's level, much less Kyo's."
"Yet there is also the implication...that some members of his clan might be even stronger than him," commented Ironwood.
"Which would make it wise to not make enemies of them," said Winter.
"Very true," said Ozpin. "And, of course, they would be far more valuable as friends. After all, there is a great deal we can learn from them, considering that everything that we saw in this ring took place without the use of Dust." He lowered his voice, so that only Ironwood and Glynda could hear him. "Without the use of magic too."
Ironwood and Glynda nodded gravely.
After Ruby's sparring match with her brother, the group broke up once more. A tired Ruby retreated to her team's dorm room to shower after her exertion. Kyo had also broken a sweat, but not to the degree Ruby had, happy to simply wipe himself down with a towel. He was content to wait for Ruby out in the courtyard, while the others went their separate ways.
Weiss returned to her practice, with Ashley looking on again. Jaune, having been reminded by the brief topic of comics, during his and Ruby's earlier conversation with Kyo, caught an airship into Vale to pick up the latest issue of X-Ray and Vav, promising to share it with Ruby and Kyo later. Pyrrha also borrowed an individual training ring for her own use, lamenting that CRDL was still on their mission, meaning Dove wasn't around to help her test new applications for her Semblance. Fortunately, Yang volunteered to take Dove's place, hoping to do some training herself, and begin applying some suggestions Kyo had made the previous day. Blake, unsurprisingly, chose to retreat to the library. Ren and Nora joined Jaune for the flight into Vale, only for Nora to drag Ren off for some fun activities of their own (with Nora suspiciously refusing to use the word, "date").
After Ruby had finished with her shower, she dressed in one of the casual outfits Weiss had gotten her, the gray minidress this time, and took her combat outfit to laundry to get it washed. After that, she joined Kyo in the courtyard.
"That's a good look for you, Ruby-chan," he commented, upon seeing her new outfit.
"Thanks," said Ruby.
"Did your friends help you pick it out?" asked Kyo.
"Weiss did," said Ruby, her expression turning sour, prompting a laugh from her brother. "She dragged me into the clothing store and put me through three different outfits, before she finally settled on one."
Kyo laughed again. "You always did hate getting fitted for new clothes," he noted. "The only exception was when you were putting together your combat outfit."
"That's because everyone just uses me as their dress-up doll," groused Ruby. "I hardly get to say anything."
"Well...far be it for me to say anything about your fashion sense," said Kyo, who only ever seemed to own one outfit, though he actually did have a separate one for formal occasions, which he had worn a number of times that he could count on the fingers of one hand.
Ruby sighed.
"So then..." said Kyo, "...do you think our match helped?"
"Huh?" Ruby blinked, confused for a moment.
"Earlier, you said you were having difficulty grasping the concepts Sarutobi Sasuke articulated in his scroll," noted Kyo. "I figured that you asked for the match to get a little more experience, to see if you could get closer to the state of mind you needed."
"Um..." Ruby blushed. "Actually...I just realized it had been so long since I sparred with you, Kyo-nii, that that was the first thing that came to mind."
Kyo burst out laughing uproariously, prompting Ruby's blush to only become all the more vivid. "I suppose I've rubbed off on you a little," he said.
"Ugh..." groaned Ruby, ducking her head. "I wasn't even thinking about it. What a wasted opportunity."
"It doesn't have to be wasted," said Kyo. "After all, I fought you with the intention of giving you experience to that end. So, if you reflect upon what you experienced, you might find a better understanding."
"Oh..." Ruby turned her eyes upwards.
"There's no need to rush it," said Kyo. "But pushing yourself to the edge of your ability, the limits of your body and mind is where you will find the understanding necessary to achieve mastery over the elements, especially something like lightning."
"I'll try," said Ruby, her mind reflexively going over her experience once more, thinking about how it felt to clash with her brother, and push herself to her limits.
"Ruby!"
Ruby's attempts to do so were interrupted by the shout of a familiar voice. Looking towards the source, Ruby smiled to see Penny running towards her. "Hey, Penny," she said cheerfully, as the android skidded to a stop in front of them.
"I was hoping to see you again," declared Penny excitedly.
Ruby blinked, looking around. "Uh, Penny...you're not on the lam again, are you?"
"Oh...no," said Penny, blinking. "General Ironwood has been convinced to relax his restrictions concerning my activities, and has permitted me to move around more freely."
"Really?" asked Ruby. Upon seeing Penny nod, Ruby broke out into a radiant grin. "That's great!"
"It's really nice," said Penny. "I know Ciel and Rain are happy, since they get to go on a date together."
"I thought Ciel didn't like mixing her school life with romance," said Ruby.
"Well, according to Ciel, we are technically on leave," explained Penny. "Therefore, she is perfectly fine with spending her free time with Rain in a romantic context, particularly since she doesn't need to escort me anymore." Penny adopted a more sly-looking expression, and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, "I think this last mission helped her loosen up a little."
Penny and Ruby shared a giggle at that.
"Should I leave you two alone?" asked Kyo, his tone curious.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Ruby," said Penny, straightening up and looking to Kyo. "That was incredibly rude of me to interrupt your time with your brother like that." She bowed slightly to Kyo, her movement looking stiff and robotic. "My apologies."
Kyo held up a hand. "Please, think nothing of it," he said. "I'm glad that Ruby-chan has made so many good friends, including ones of such an unusual stripe as yourself."
"Um..." Penny did a good job emulating the way normal humans stiffened nervously.
"Yeah, Kyo-nii would figure that out even more easily than I did," said Ruby. "There isn't really a point in trying to keep it a secret around him." After all, Ruby had been able to pick up that something had been...off...about Penny from the moment they had met. It had taken her some time to truly figure out what it was about Penny that unsettled her. Kyo, with all his experience and skill, would have picked up on those odd cues from the moment Penny had entered his vicinity.
"Well...it's not much of a secret anymore," said Penny, "not around our friends at least."
During the debriefing following RYNB and CPPR's mission in Mountain Glenn, it was only natural that the revelation of Penny's android nature had come up. Ironwood was, naturally, quite discomfited at the realization of just how many people were now aware of Penny's secret, and had determinedly instructed them not to speak of it to people outside the two teams. At that point, Penny had revealed that Ruby had already learned the truth about her, which prompted Ironwood to broaden that stricture to include Team RASP as well.
In a subsequent discussion, the other three members of CPPR, primarily Rain and Piper, had pressed Ironwood to grant Penny more freedom, so that she could continue to practice at engaging in human interaction, and build further social experience. Though she agreed for the same reasons as the others, Ciel had avoided chiming in, mainly to keep from looking as though she wished to lessen her responsibility as Penny's partner and primary supervisor. The fact that it was something Penny's father had requested as well had ultimately convinced Ironwood to bend, and give Penny more freedom.
Penny and Ruby filled Kyo in on the fact that Penny was an android. The revelation surprised and interested Kyo. It also seemed to unsettle him, though that reaction quickly subsided.
"Does your father know how you were made?" asked Kyo.
"I'm not sure," said Penny. "He's always been vague about what research he was working on, when I was born. The one thing he did tell me is that there were factors that he has not quantified behind it, and that he has refrained from exploring the concept further."
"Why?" asked Ruby.
Penny blinked. "Well, Father said that he didn't set out to create me, a living android that is, and that it was more accident than intention that I was born. He calls me his Miracle Child, and says that I should stay a miracle."
"That is probably the wisest course," observed Kyo, his tone strangely grave.
Ruby threw a confused look at her brother, but he warned her off with a tiniest shake of his head.
"Actually, I did want to talk to you, Mr. Mibu," said Penny, grinning at Kyo.
"Please, just call me Kyo," said Kyo, "and what is it that you wish to talk about?"
Penny's smile faded. "It's just...I can't figure out what it was that you did during that match. Ruby's techniques are hard for me to understand too, but she mostly does just produce electricity with her Aura, and use it to control air. But your techniques...my sensors couldn't quite process what you did. The first one you used...it seemed to be just moving air. But I could tell there was more to it. And then the one you ended the fight with..."
"Ah, I see," said Kyo. "Well...it can be difficult to explain properly." He paused, mulling things over. "Let's start off simple..."
He leaned down and picked up one of the small pebbles strewn about the area, setting it down on the table. "For a moment, factor out things like modern technology, or your own strength, Penny-chan. Imagine yourself as a normal human."
"All right," said Penny.
"Now then, picking up a stone like this is a simple matter," said Kyo, pinching the stone with his index finger and thumb and picking it up, before setting it back down. "Of course, doing so requires that you exert strength, however little."
Penny nodded, while Ruby leaned back and listened with amusement.
"Now then," continued Kyo, "imagine if this stone was larger and heavier. If you wished to pick up a larger stone, you would have to exert more strength, right?"
Again, Penny nodded.
"Of course, the bigger the stone is, the more strength you have to use to move it," explained Kyo. "Ultimately, it would get to the point where it is too large and heavy for you to move with your own strength."
"All right," said Penny, still confused as to where this was going.
"Now then, factoring out the conveniences of modern technology, what are the possible ways that you could use to move that stone?" asked Kyo.
"Umm..." Penny blinked. "Maybe with simple machines, like a lever or pulley."
"Yes," agreed Kyo, beaming and nodding. "But it's strange, when you think about it, isn't it? After all, it isn't as though using a lever to move a stone means that it made you any stronger."
"It's not strange," protested Penny. "That's just basic physics. The lever magnifies the force used on one end at the other."
"Very true," agreed Kyo. "And that is the basis for all science and technology. You learn about the mechanisms within the laws of physics and chemistry in the world, and learn to work with those to accomplish things that a person would be utterly incapable of with nothing more than their own base strength and ability.
"But there are forces beyond mere physics at work in the world, mechanisms that operate upon the fabric of reality itself, which can be used to accomplish...greater things. That is the basis behind the more powerful techniques we Mibu employ, particularly when it comes to my Mumyo Jinpu Ryu. One's technique becomes a metaphysical lever, of sorts, evoking the mechanisms within the fabric of the world to achieve phenomena that can't be quantified by mere physics."
Penny stared at him for a long moment. "I...think...I understand," she said hesitantly.
"Ah...well...that's the way I can best put it into words," said Kyo with a sheepish grin. "It's not as though I've given much thought to articulating how my techniques work. I've always been more of a learn-by-doing type myself. My own teacher basically had to beat the secrets of the Mumyo Jinpu Ryu into me."
"Were you hoping to try it yourself?" asked Ruby.
"Um...sort of," said Penny. "I mean...I can augment my fighting ability by using Dust. However, I would like to experiment with learning more about how to use Aura the way you do, Ruby."
"Well, no harm in trying, I suppose," said Kyo. "Ruby-chan could easily start walking you through the three basic exercises."
"Sounds like a plan," agreed Ruby, grinning at the thought of introducing Penny to the same exercises she'd taught to her friends.
Ruby and Kyo spent the afternoon walking Penny through the three basic exercises of Aura-control. They'd worried that Penny's nature as an android might make it more difficult for her to understand the basic elements, they found out that the opposite was true. Once Penny had the basic nature of Tempering explained to her, and Ruby showed her how to do it, she was able to immediately Temper her Aura. Ruby figured that it had something to do with the cognitive functions of an android brain, as opposed to a human or faunus one. From there, they were able to quickly walk her through Suppression and Projection.
They left off there, letting Penny practice Projection until she expended the considerable amount of Aura she possessed. It was amazing to discover that Penny's Aura reserves exceeded even Jaune's. More than that, she recovered her Aura much more easily and quickly. It appeared that, even though she had a soul like a human or faunus, Penny's was functionally different on a certain level, which appeared to work mostly to her advantage.
By the time they'd finished, evening had fallen, and the three of them met up with their friends for dinner. Strangely, Jaune was absent, having not returned from Vale yet. Ruby was a bit confused, thinking that Jaune had only gone for a quick jaunt to the comic store. She'd figured he would have been back well before dinner.
By the time dinner had ended, Ruby was starting to get worried. It wouldn't be long before the last airship of the day departed, after which, travel between Vale and Beacon would be cut off until the next morning. Sure, Jaune had the funds to rent a room for the night. But just his being gone for so long, without any known reason, was troubling.
Ruby tried calling and texting Jaune on his scroll. But there was no answer. Her calls went straight to voicemail, and she couldn't tell if he had seen her texts or not. Her worry only increased when her attempt to locate Jaune's scroll with her own scroll's tracking app came up with nothing, the device unable to detect the signal of Jaune's.
Despite her unease, Ruby and her teammates returned to their dorm room. By this point, Ruby had changed back into her freshly laundered fighting outfit, still feeling more comfortable in it than any of the casual outfits Weiss had gotten for her. Ruby settled onto her bed, trying to remain calm, but still anxiously glancing at her scroll regularly. Her unease was understood by Weiss and Pyrrha, but they both remained optimistic that Jaune was fine, and the inability of the app to locate him was nothing more than a glitch.
"Hey Ruby, can you get somewhere private? There's something I need to talk to you about."
Ruby frowned, wondering what Jaune was up to. In just a few minutes, the last airship from Beacon to Vale would be leaving, where it would then pick up the last load of passengers traveling to the Academy, before shutting down for the night. I'd rather he talked to me in person, rather than risk getting stuck in Vale, she thought. But she did suppose that Jaune could be texting her from the air-docks.
Excusing herself from the room, Ruby moved a ways down the hall, where she wouldn't have to worry about being overheard, and texted Jaune that she was alone.
A few seconds later, her scroll rang.
"Jaune!" she exclaimed, answering it. "Where have you been all day? I've been really worried!"
"I'm sorry, but Jaune can't come to the scroll right now."
Ruby gasped at the sound of a voice that was most certainly not Jaune's. It was a woman's voice, low and smooth, but with the faintest hint of a sultry purr. The sound of that voice chilled her blood, mainly because she recognized it. Cinder!
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