Chapter 2: Class in Session

Workout Gym, Beacon Academy

"Hrahh! Hrahhh!" Raven swung furiously at the training dummy.

"Uhh, sis, you don't need to get so into it," Qrow grumbled, sitting on a nearby bench with a bored expression on his face.

"Quiet, brother." Raven stopped to catch her breath, wiping the sweat from her brow. She glanced at her trusty red katana, Shadow Mobius. Glancing her finger delicately over its edge, she smiled. "Two hundred strikes in a minute, and no scratch. It's a start, I suppose."

Qrow snorted. "You know, you like to act cool, but you're really just pissed that you lost ONE match, aren't you?"

"Out in the wilderness, 'one match' can cost you your life-yours and others," Raven replied coolly. She pressed a button on the keypad. A computerized voice spoke. Reflex training initiated.

"'Out in the wilderness'?" Qrow muttered. "We're not cavemen, y'know…"

The training dummy was lowered beneath the floor, and about five small cannons came out from the walls. Training commences in 3…2…1…Barrages of energy beams were fired from the cannons. Raven darted left and right, deflecting the beams with Shadow Mobius.

Qrow sat on the bench quietly as he watched his sister train. Spectators normally shouldn't stay in the training area, but Qrow wasn't too worried about getting hurt-this was Raven Branwen, after all-the prodigy of prodigies.

"We have to be prepared for ANYTHING," Raven insisted, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she completed the training. Reflex training completed with 100% accuracy. "And if even Summer can match me the way I am now, I'll never have a chance against HIM."

Her brother frowned. "Hope she never finds out you said that."

"That's no concern of mine." Raven gritted her teeth, clenching Shadow Mobius in her hands. "I have to get stronger before it's too late-and you should too, if you know what's good for you, Brother."

"Heh, you don't need to remind me," Qrow grinned as he sharpened his greatsword, Reaper's Gambit. "I wish you'd make up your mind, sis-are Summer and co. our 'friends', or are we just bein' all 'blargh, emotional distance, you're all my pawns'? They can't be both, y'know."

His sister glared at him. The crimson glare in her eyes, and the bright gleam of Shadow Mobius as it glowed with Dust energy…despite himself, Qrow felt a shiver of fear.

"You know, Brother," she hissed. "Every once in a while, I wonder if you're actually taking what we're doing seriously. Do you think this is some sort of joke?" There was so sign of the wise, eternally calm and collected warrior Raven presented herself as.

"Uh, well-"

"Because it ISN'T!" Raven snapped at him. "The two of us, we are the only ones who can do it. We, who know the name of 'Valhalla'. Our mother…and Ragna…have you forgotten about them, Qrow? We need to take this seriously-or else, when we fail, we'll have to live with the knowledge that we had no one to blame but ourse-"

"Um. Hey? Knock-knock?" A boy's voice rang out.

Raven and Qrow froze. Slowly, they turned towards the entrance to the training room. Herman Whitehead stood by the door awkwardly, a sheepish smile on his face. "So, uh, I'm not…interrupting anything, am I?"

Raven narrowed her eyes. "How…how long have you been standing there?"

"Standing here? H-hey, come on guys, I'm not some creepy eavesdropper," Herman laughed nervously. "I figured you might know where the Grimm Studies classroom is? Still don't really know my way round this place…"

"Why there? There aren't any Grimm Studies classes today," Qrow inquired.

Herman grinned sheepishly. "Yeahhh, well…Heather told me she was gonna give me some extra lessons there today before class, at seven. I just woke up now, actually."

"Seven?! It's nine-thirty right now!"

The light-haired boy winced. "What can I say? I overslept!"

Qrow shook his head sadly. "You're fucking dead, bro. Heather's gonna grill your ass to Mistral and back."

Raven sheathed Shadow Mobius. She sighed, her personality returning to normal. "All right. Come with me, I'll show you the way. Brother, remember we have that field trip this afternoon." She walked up to Herman.

"I don't trust him," she whispered to her brother as she passed by. "I'm certain he heard some of that."

Qrow sighed. "Maybe. Well, at least this one isn't a sociopath in disguise," he joked.

His sister glared at him. "Sorry," Qrow muttered, looking down. "Too soon, I guess."

"That's a generous way to put it," she said coolly, and guided Herman out of the room.

Amethyst Meadows, Mountain Glenn

"Is everyone here? Splendid!" a chirping female voice reached the whole class through the windy fields. It was a beautiful day-the fresh spring breeze, the scent of flowers blooming, the dew-wet grasses rustling in the end all painted a very serene picture. In the distance, tall sleek buildings protruded from the ground into the sky.

It was the perfect atmosphere for a rigorous training program.

"You guys down to kick some butt?" Regal Swanwing of Team HTHR grinned, cracking his knuckles.

"You bet!" Tai laughed. "I've been training a lot over the break, I could break a thousand Grimm without breaking a sweat right now."

"Attention, lovely students!" the woman called cheerfully, clapping her hands. She was a petite, shapely woman, with a dark blue ponytail tied in a pretty green ribbon. She wore a lime-green qipao which left quite a bit of her long legs exposed. She's beautiful, Summer thought in awe.

Qrow gave a low whistle. "Damn. Who's that chick?'

Heather scowled at him. "That 'chick' is Fie Forrester, Professor of Huntsman Law, and a bona-fide A-rank Huntsman.

"Hey, she's 'A-rank', alright," Herman agreed, ogling Professor Forrester's chest. "She looks, like, as young as Miss Glynda, doesn't she?"

"What are you talking about?" Heather snapped. "She turned thirty-one last mo-"

The professor snapped her fingers, and a glow of Aura quickly immobilized Heather in place. Her eyes widened in surprise, as she struggled to break free.

"That's enough talking, kids!" Professor Forrester chirped. "We've got an awesome day ahead of us, so why don't we get started?"

"Um…okay, Professor," Everyone said nervously. Heather collapsed to the ground, wheezing.

"Please, call me Fie," Fie smiled. "As you know, today we're taking a trip to the beautiful Mountain Glenn district," she explained, as a large van with a green cellular symbol on it pulled up behind her. "It's the kingdom's first attempt at a major expansion, and YOU, Huntsmen and Huntresses, will be the ones to help make it a reality! Isn't it exciting?"

Summer smiled wistfully. "I did see a poster for a resort in the area…" she mused. "That would be nice if I had the money."

Qrow snorted. "What's so exciting? It's just more buildings and smoke. Big deal."

"And while some uncultured people who shall not be named may have no taste in beauty, class or aaanything worthwhile in life," Fie continued, flashing a quick look at Qrow, "I'm sure you're excited to fight some enemies, right? Pow! Pow! For great justice!" She pumped her fist into the air.

Everyone forced a laugh.

"So!" Fie clapped her hands energetically. "Before we get to the trip proper, I've got a VERY special guest for all of you!" The van's door opened, and a short man with greying brown air and a lab coat walked out. "I'm pleased to introduce you all to Doctor Merlot, the head of the Mountain Glenn expansion project!"

All the students clapped. Merlot…Summer thought. Where have I heard that name before?

"It is a pleasure to meet you, students," Dr. Merlot smiled. Despite his elderly, frail appearance, there was a bright fire in his eyes that showed his great passion for his work. "It really is a wonderful honour to see children of such potential. Potential is what I seek most in the world, after all. More than Dust-indeed, more than Aura-it is what has kept humanity safe from the Grimm menace since the beginning of time."

A whirring sound could be heard from within the truck. A humanoid, mechanical construct walked out to stand next to Merlot. It stood over six feet tall, with a turquoise gleam glowing from the cracks in its dark blue armor, and a sharp double-edged lance in its hands. Several people gasped.

"What is that?" Torrence Greene asked, awestruck.

"An android…" Raven murmured. "Humanoid robot soldiers. I didn't realize there were already working models. Impressive."

Merlot smiled. "I'm pleased to hear that you've heard of my work. Yes, this is the prototype for the 0343-DRAGOON soldier model-a superintelligent computer capable of analyzing and adapting to any fighting style, making it perfectly suited to subduing human opponents as well as Grimm."

"And…" Summer gulped. "Y-you want us to fight it?"

"But of course!" Doctor Merlot grinned. "You Huntsmen may have potential, but it is up to us to determine whether that potential is worth anything. Why, in a few years, my robots could well run the Huntsman business all on their own, and you'd all be quite obsolete-and you wouldn't like that, would you now?"

Some students started to murmur amongst themselves worriedly. Summer laughed awkwardly. He's just joking…I think.

Tai bumped his fists together. "A robot'll never beat the power of the human heart!" he declared proudly. "And I'm going to prove it!" He walked up to the Dragoon, ready to fight.

"Ohhhh, I like your enthusiasm, Mr. Xiao Long!" Fie winked at him. "Alright, let the match begin!"

"Hrahhh!" Tai yelled. His tattoos glowed red with Fire Dust. Mercilessly, he charged at the Dragoon and pummeled it with punch after punch. The poor robot let out a distressed whir as it crumbled under the Huntsman's sheer power.

"Heh! No sweat," Tai grinned.

The Dragoon got up. It swung its lance at Tai, who dodged and threw another punch. This time, however, the robot raised its hand to block it. Tai raised his eyebrows in surprise, but before he could react, the Dragoon jabbed him in the stomach with its lance. "Ugh!" he growled. He swung a few more blows, but the Dragoon dodged them effortlessly, and struck him again.

It's like night and day, Summer thought. The Dragoon had started off getting decimated, but now it had completely turned the tables on Tai. It had adapted to his 'punch-and-pray' fighting style.

The Dragoon swung its lance one more time. Tai, now exhausted, couldn't raise his hands in time to dodge it, and was sent flying into the ground by the impact. Fie blew her whistle. "That's enough! Ouch…that looked like it hurt. Better luck next time, Taiyang!" The Dragoon halted its attack.

"A-agh…" Tai groaned. Merlot shook his head. "Oh my. How disappointing," he sighed. "Would anyone else like to volunteer?"

"I would." Raven raised her hand. She walked up to the Dragoon as Tai limped back to the audience. "Excellent," said Merlot. "Let us go for a second trial then."

The Dragoon activated itself again. Raven unsheathed Shadow Mobius and parried the robot's strikes. Summer noted that unlike Tai, she went for a more defensive stance, dodging, parrying and feinting as the opportunities came.

As with Tai, the robot's skills improved and soon it was meeting her blow for blow. Eventually, the Dragoon managed to land a swift stab to her shoulder. Raven grunted in pain and retaliated with a blast of Dust energy from her sword. The robot collapsed to its knees.

"Well done!" Fie chirped. Raven sheathed the blade, panting.

"Impressive…" Merlot grinned, clapping. "I could tell by the way you fought…you intentionally supressed part of your Aura, didn't you? To prevent the Dragoon from reading your patterns."

"It didn't work that well…but that was the idea," Raven admitted.

Doctor Merlot chuckled. "That was very intelligent of you, girl. Now…any other volunteers?"

Several other students went up to face the Dragoon, but all of them were beaten as the robot slowly began to block and predict their every move. Summer and Qrow both came close to victory, but were ultimately defeated.

Excellent, excellent!" Merlot clapped his hands, laughing. "Now, I'd like to have one more before I leave for work today. Hmmm…" he frowned as he glanced at a student. "Look sharp, won't you, young man? Let us see you fight."

"Blargh?" Herman yelped, waking up. He'd somehow fallen asleep standing up, something Summer found both sad and impressive.

Heather shoved him forward. "Ugh, uh, okay," he sighed. He grabbed his weapon-a large white harpoon with a curved edge. "My trusty Vendetta and I can handle this…I think. Maybe."

The match began, and Herman began stabbing at the Dragoon. His weapon, Vendetta, was surrounded by a glow of ice Dust that froze the robot as it tried to get near him. The Dragoon retaliated with several swings of its lance, but Herman managed to deflect them.

He actually is really good, Summer realized. In fact, he didn't seem to be struggling at all. Even Raven had had a difficult time as the robot adjusted to her fighting style, but Herman was simply beating on it like it was nothing.

"Aaaand this!" he struck the Dragoon so hard it made a dent in its armour. The robot stopped glowing as it fell to the ground, motionless.

"Ah…" Merlot looked speechless. "Astonishing…I didn't think…hmm, perhaps there's a defect in its system?" He was muttering to himself, and no longer seemed to be paying attention to the students.

"Mmm. Well done. It seems I underestimated your skill, Herman," Heather said approvingly. Herman grinned at her sheepishly.

Summer turned to her team. Qrow was raising his eyebrows in surprise. "The lazy guy's pretty good," he murmured. Tai was nonplussed. Raven looked like she wanted to strangle a small puppy.

"Oh, wonderful!" Fie laughed ecstatically, as Doctor Merlot dragged the deactivated Dragoon back into the van. "What a successful test! Now then kids, let's make our way into the city, shall we? The day's still young, and we have tons more to see!"

Headmaster's Office, Beacon Academy

Ozpin set down his coffee. Leaning back in his chair for a moment, he closed his eyes, quietly reflecting on things long past. Finally, he gave a heavy sigh and pressed a button on his desk. "Bring me Headmaster Thane," he said. After a minute's wait, a holographic screen materialized above the desk.

"…Ozpin." The anxious face of Candor Thane, Headmaster of Shade Academy, appeared on the screen. Formerly a handsome man, age had not been kind to him, as his golden hair was greying at the roots and falling out, and his pale white face was growing gaunt and wrinkled. "I…I suppose you heard about my secrecy."

"Indeed I have," said Ozpin, with a chilling calmness. "Thane, have you forgotten about our agreement? For the sake of all of Remnant, being open with one another is paramount."

'I-I understand." Thane looked around nervously. "The truth, Ozpin, is that during my early days as Headmaster, I became worried at how technologically behind the Kingdom of Vacuo was. In a moment of greed, I struck a small deal with Atlas. They provided me with some, er, unauthorized prototype technology, and in return I was simply asked to loan them a small patch of land for some expansion projects."

"…I see," Ozpin murmured. "I must say I'm impressed you kept something like this secret for so long, Thane. I didn't think you had it in you."

Thane started furiously. "I-I never MEANT to keep it secret! But after the Winter Maiden's…incident, I felt I had no choice! I was already in too much hot water, surely you can understand-"

"I am not accusing you of anything," Professor Ozpin replied quietly. "Though I'm certain you realize how your credibility would've been affected when the previous Winter Maiden was assassinated on YOUR watch. I'm simply reminding you that keeping secrets from us will not do us any favours. Our enemy will latch onto such a weakness and tear us apart."

"…Of course," Thane muttered in shame.

"Still, to think Atlas would…hmmm." Ozpin took a sip of coffee, ideas swirling through his mind. "In hindsight of recent events, it all lines up…"

"It…what now?" Headmaster Thane asked.

Ozpin explained to him that Headmaster Onyx of Atlas was working for Salem, and that the 'Ouroborous Project' was somehow involved.

"That's…unbelievable," Thane murmured, wiping his sweaty brow. "I-I never suspected…"

That is because you are a fool. "The implications of this are enormous, as you might understand," Ozpin said slowly. "I think I can guess who your little 'candidate' is, as well. Fortunately, I have already taken measures to deal with the situation, but I will need your cooperation-yours, and Carnelia's."

"I understand," Thane said hesitantly. "But what the devil DO you have planned, Ozpin? If Onyx plans to…to do THAT…why, he'd reduce the whole continent into a smoldering pile of ash! What can we possibly do to stop him?"

"I have a few ideas," Ozpin replied. "Listen carefully to what I have to say…"

Fie Forrester is based on faeries, who are often associated with the forest (which is also green). Faeries are also characterized as being mischievous and playful (the ones that aren't malicious, anyway), just like Professor Forrester.

Candor Thane is gets his first name from the Latin word for "whiteness" and "honesty/openness," and his surname from the old term for a man of high rank who owned land granted to him by the king. Ironically, this guy is actually kind of a shady coward. Makes you wonder why he's even a Headmaster.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed!