[5/25 (Sunday) - Morning]
[Beacon Academy]
"-erval—Clerval... Wake up!"
Getting poked in the ribs sure was a foolproof way to be woken up, Clerval mentally thought groggily as he stirred awake from his slumber. Slowly opening his eyes, he was surprised that the first thing that he saw was Ruby, dressed in her usual garb, leaning over his, relentlessly poking a finger into his side rather forcefully as she chanted what sounded suspiciously like some kind of ritual.
"Wake up—Wake up—Wake up—Wake up—Wake up—"
Letting out a low groan at the persistent annoyance in his room, he rolled onto his side, tugging the blanket up and over himself to try and get more sleep, hoping that his friend would grant him a few more precious minutes of peaceful rest.
"Hey, hey, don't go back to sleep!"
Grabbing onto the blanket, the two quickly devolved into a tug-of-war. But alas, the experience of a younger sister proved superior to that of an amnesiac, and the blanket was swiftly ripped from his grasp.
Clerval sighed as he eventually sat upright, the prospect of sleep slipping further and further out of reach. He then glanced over at Ruby, who quickly folded his blanket into a neat bundle, once the drowsiness faded from his mind.
"How are you here?"
He swore that he checked the lock on the door before going to bed, a habit that he picked up since the first day of Beacon. His answer to the question came in the form of a bright grin as Ruby held up her Beacon-issued identification card.
"Team leaders get unrestricted access to our dorm rooms, and since you're our fifth member, your dorm counts!"
Great.
Getting up from his bed, he stretched before asking. "What do you want?"
"Well! Jaune was talking about training with the team when I heard that you joined their team training exercise a week ago!" She suddenly zipped over to his table and hopped on top of it, striking a dramatic pose. "If Team Jupiter held one, then Team Ruby needs to get some team bonding in too!"
Out of nowhere, she produced a whistle and blew on it, sending a piercing "TWEET" that sent shivers down his entire spine. Well, he winced as he shook his head to clear the ringing from his ears; if he was still groggy before, it clearly vanished after that.
"Get dressed, Clerval! I wanna see you outside our dorm at 0730 hours!"
Her expression hardened with sudden determination as she marched toward the door, hand already on the handle.
"I've got an Ice Princess to wake up early. Wish me luck! Hyyaaaah!"
With a battle cry, she flung the door open, darted out, and dived into her own dorm, immediately blowing another deafening "TWEET!" that echoed through the hallway.
A second later, the sound of a banshee-like scream followed as chaos erupted in Team Ruby's dormitory room.
Palming his face, he sighed into his hand before moving to freshen up.
In the end, Clerval found himself standing outside Team Ruby's dorm for over an hour before they finally emerged.
He tapped his foot patiently, one brow raised as Ruby stepped out first, offering him a sheepish smile.
"Yang took the longest to shower."
"Of course I did," the blonde brawler cut in from behind, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "It takes effort to maintain hair this luscious, you know?"
Blake, who stood the furthest away, crossed her arms and glanced toward their team leader. "So, what's the plan for this 'team bonding'?"
Her amber eyes then flicked to the girl in white who stood silently next to her, a death glare firmly planted on the back of Ruby's skull. "I think there's someone who's about to explode if you don't explain our upcoming plan."
But it seemed that Ruby didn't let it bother her as she brought up her Scroll. "We're going to exterminate some Grimm!"
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[5/25 (Sunday) - Morning]
[Beacon Academy - Emerald Forest]
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Deep in the Emerald Forest behind Beacon Academy, everyone stood back and watched as Weiss dispatched a group of Beowolves with her Dust-revolving rapier and her unique Semblance.
"This is somewhat therapeutic," she muttered as she launched a wave of ice that froze the footing of the Beowolf before her with the pull of a trigger. Summoning a Glyph midair, she uses it as a platform to vault over the Grimm with ease, landing behind the trapped Beowolf as she stabs forward with a simple thrust, piercing straight through the mindless creature's skull.
Jumping to the side to avoid being skewered by claws, she gracefully adjusts her stance with her rapier angled skywards before launching forward. A shining, white Glyph manifested beneath the ground just as both Weiss and the remaining Beowolf lunged at each other, closing the distance in a split second.
The Beowolf hadn't expected the Schnee-born to slip out of danger at the last second with a twirl, her heels landing on the ground before she seemingly glides effortlessly across it.
Sliding out of control on the slick, frictionless surface, the Grimm could only watch helplessly as Weiss skated towards it with her rapier, Myrtenaster. Swinging the blade that was clad with gusts of green wind, she slashed a deep gash across its body.
A second later, the wound erupted violently, the Beowolf shrieking in agony before collapsing to the ground, limp and defeated.
Halting her momentum as the Frictionless Glyph faded from their sights, Weiss drew a deep breath and gave a small nod to Ruby.
"As much as I hate my mornings being interrupted... it was a good exercise."
Before Weiss could add anything else, Ruby zoomed forward and wrapped her in a tight, koala-like hug.
"I knew you'd like this, bestie!" "G-Get off me!"
While the two partners were busy, Yang gave an amused chuckle as she placed both hands on her hips. "Still, I can't believe Beacon's offering Lien to exterminate Grimm. Kinda surprised you found out about this, Rubs."
Letting go of her bestest partner ever, her chin was held high as she let out an exaggerated, mock-noblewoman laugh.
"You see, I was scouring the internet when I found out that Professor Port posts Emerald Forest clearing requests in Beacon's forums! It was a bit awkward messaging a lecturer, but eventually I got the details from him."
Tapping on her Scroll, she expands it to its tablet form as she shows everyone a map of the Emerald Forest in its entirety.
"So! The Emerald Forest is sectioned into twenty-two Blocks, labeled A to Z. We're currently in the beginner Blocks which are the first ten letters. Intermediate Blocks are the next ten, and the advanced Blocks cover the last few letters."
"Our request currently is to kill fifteen Grimm in Blocks C and D each, so thirty Grimm in total. And each kill is 10 Lien, so we're getting 300 Lien if we complete this request!"
"So!" She closed her Scroll and slipped it into her pocket, grinning with excitement. "Each of us gets to handle six Grimm, no helping each other, so we can gauge everyone's combat style and limits. Once we're done, maybe we can spend another afternoon sparring against each other or something. How's that sound?"
"It is acceptable," Weiss noted, cleaning her blade with a handkerchief. "I'll take a backseat for the time being, having already completed my quota."
Yang punched her fists together. "I like it! Gives us a chance to see what everyone's really made of. Plus, six Grimm each isn't too much, lightweight even."
"I'll wait for my turn, then," Blake said, bringing out a book to occupy herself.
With Clerval giving a nod as the last member to agree, Ruby's face lit up with a bright smile as she pointed ahead. "Alright then, Team Ruby! Let's do this!"
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NEXT UPDATE: 7 May, Thursday
A/N: Sorry for the wait; one of my lecturers decided to move up one of my assignment deadlines to last week Friday, which caused me to take a one-week break to focus on that instead of uploading.
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