We do not own RWBY or any other copyright content. All rights to it go to Monty Oum (God rest his soul), VIZ Media, and their original owners. We own all OCs.
Writing credits go to Uzumaki Ricky, Monsterhuntergod, Sharad the hedgehog, and Traines. Return of the Dragon Warriors
Volume 1 Chapter 17: Today, We Train
"Come on, Snow-Sprout! I've conditioned you better than this!! Put your calves into it!" Sylver roared with fire in his voice, glaring at his student from atop a large stack of tractor tires.
"Yes…! Master…! Sylver…!" Whitley strained out as he pulled said tires by a rope with Sylver sitting atop them.
"Dahlia, chalk down another lap for him! He called me master again!" Sylver called out, pointing to his teammate firmly.
"Got it, sugah," Dahlia replied, pulling out a clipboard as she began writing it down.
"Aren't you being a bit hard on the kid?" Hunter asked, lounging atop the tire stack with Sylver.
"I gave him one rule. You'd think he would've learned by now just to call me 'teach' or something like that," Sylver replied with a shrug.
"And why is he doing this again?" Hunter asked, his eyebrow raised curiously.
"He started training under me about four or five years ago. He wanted me to whip him into shape," Sylver replied nonchalantly.
"It…! Was…! Two…!" Whitley strained out as he kept pulling.
"Better than I expected, at least! Now you're close to the level of conditioning for an average Huntsman-in-Training! We can do better," Sylver respectfully and ominously replied, a wolfish grin stretching across his thin lips.
Hunter and Dahlia looked at each other in concern before looking back at Sylver. "... What's wrong with you Zodiac types, sugah?" Dahlia asked in disbelief.
"The better question is what's right…" Hunter muttered, shaking his head in dismay.
"Meh. When your people are the first line of defense against the Grimm for fifteen hundred years, you either get good fast or you die and have to explain to your ancestors why you sucked," Sylver replied with a shrug.
"Sylver, my friend! Good morning!" Azura's voice called out chipperly.
Team SHDW, save for Whitley, turned to look at where it was coming from. From atop their large stack of tires, they saw all the members of teams RWBY, JNPR, and AZRE walking towards them with Azura carrying a picnic basket. Each wearing clothing more fitting for athletics and training and carrying athletic bags. But what really caught their eyes was that the boys of this group were laden down with grills, coolers, and bags of groceries.
"Huh. You're out here by five o' five instead of five AM sharp. Did you sleep in or something?" Sylver asked, raising an eyebrow with a grin.
Azura simply shrugged. "I felt like going easy on our new friends today." He replied with a playful smile of his own.
"The hell you mean going easy!?" Jaune squeaked, barely able to speak as he labored under the burden of pushing a large chest full of something.
"At least I haven't put you all in weighted clothing yet," Azura responded with a chuckle.
"Azura, you do know that we could help you with all that, right?" Yang asked, crossing her arms as she looked at him.
"Ah, but my dear Yang. It would be impolite for a gentleman to force a lady to have to bear such heavy loads," Azura replied with a smile.
"What part of him is gentle!?" Jaune snapped, sweat pouring down his face.
"Do I hear someone wanting to graduate early to the next part of the training?" Azura asked, a slightly feral grin on his face.
"Shutting up…" Jaune mumbled, looking away swiftly.
"I'm hungry. When do we eat?" Nora asked impatiently, tapping her foot.
"I brought breakfast for us. We can eat before training," Azura replied, lifting the picnic basket.
"Then what's the rest of that for?" Hunter asked.
"Cook out for lunch," Zhan said with a smile. "I cook a mean barby."
"That's offensive," Ember quipped.
"That's rich coming from the Vacuan farm girl," Zhan replied.
"That's enough, you two," Rena said sternly.
"Do not…! Let Weiss…! Cook…!" Whitley yelled through his exertions, breathing heavily between his words.
"Oh, it was one time!" Weiss snapped in response.
"What happened?" Ruby asked curiously.
"We do not speak of it!" Weiss harshly told her team leader.
'It was bad. Unbelievably bad. Many sausage lives were lost that day…' Silfrdrengr's voice said in dog form from one of Team RWBY's bags.
"Her cooking was so bad it was considered to be against the Vytal Conventions," Whitley replied with a grunt.
"I said we do not speak of it!" Weiss snapped at the two.
"Dost the lady protest too much?" Blair said with a smirk.
"Now then, everyone. Breakfast time. After breakfast, we stretch while we digest, then start training," Azura told them.
"Alright, Frostie Pop! You can stop dragging us along!" Sylver ordered before hopping off the large stack of tires.
"Thank the Heavenly Emperor and Empress…!" Whitley groaned before dropping the rope and flopping to the ground.
"How long did you have him do that for?" Weiss asked as she helped set up plates for everyone, glaring daggers squarely at Sylver.
"What time is it now?" Sylver asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Five o' seven," Ren said after looking at his watch.
"About three hours and seven minutes," Sylver replied with a shrug.
"I hate Winter…" Whitley groaned before collapsing in front of the picnic spot.
"Why? Winter's a lovely season," Ruby replied in confusion.
"That is the name of our elder sister, Ruby," Weiss replied with a sigh.
"Oh, I think our uncle mentioned someone named Winter. As he put it, 'a hard-ass bitch who takes nothing from no one and wouldn't know what fun was if it danced naked in front of her,'" Yang explained with a wide smile when remembering that.
Whitley shrugged. "Yeah, that sounds like Winter." He replied.
Weiss glared at her brother. "Whitley!" She snapped at him.
'I mean… that's not inaccurate,' Silfrdrengr chipped in. 'Now Ruby. I demand my morning head pats.'
"Here you go, Silfie!" Ruby cooed before patting him on the head.
"I hate how you've domesticated my dragon…" Weiss groaned.
Sylver shrugged with a smile. "Yeah. She's got a knack for that with animals. Some may say a true talent." He said with a surprisingly affectionate tone.
"... Isn't that a little racist?" Blair asked, a frown on her face and an eyebrow raised.
"What do you mean Blak… Blair…?" Sylver asked, catching himself. 'Saved it…'
Blair gulped dreadfully at that before swiftly covering her face with an egg salad sandwich brought by Azura. Azura raised his eyebrow at Sylver before looking at Blair and keeping up that inquisitive expression. Soon, however, things drifted away from that awkward moment as people began to eat. The food brought was simple, but filling. Sandwiches, small omelets, fruit, granola, and thermoses of milk. Yang noticed some space between her and Azura and scooted closer to him.
Looking at Azura, Yang frowned. "Azu, you've got some egg on your cheek. Didn't Mrs. S teach you better than that?" She replied, causing Azura to look down on his cheek.
"Oh. My apologies, Yang. Give me a moment," Azura replied before moving to wipe his own cheek.
"Don't worry, I've got it," Yang replied before wiping his cheek off with her finger and sucking the bit of egg off her own finger as Azura blushed.
"Um… Yang. That's… a bit improper…" Azura said, trying to put on a brave face.
Yang smiled playfully. "Only if your mind's in the gutter, hot stuff." She teasingly replied.
"Yang. Don't you start the day with filth," Ruby huffed and snarled.
"I thought it was cute," Blair simply replied as she munched on an omelet sandwich.
"You read ninja smut in public. You don't get to talk," Ruby growled at her, before turning her head slowly to glare daggers at her.
"It's adult-oriented literature," Blair replied with a mild glare as she continued eating her sandwich.
"'Ninja smut?' What's that?" Whitley asked in confusion.
"I'll explain when you're older," Weiss sternly said, before swiftly returning her focus to her food.
"Well, what about the whole 'mind in the gutter' thing…?" Whitley asked, further confused.
"Also, when you're older," Sylver replied, beating Weiss to the proverbial punch.
"When you're done, hand me your plates and utensils, then we can then hand out your weighted clothing," Azura explained after dabbing his mouth with a napkin.
"Is that what I was carrying in that chest?!" Zhan asked in disbelief.
"Oh heaven's no. That was just the clothing. The weights were in Jaune's," Azura replied, waving his partner off.
"I hate you…" Jaune sighed in frustration.
"Good. You have taken your first steps towards true strength," Azura replied with a knowing smile. "Now please move that chest further into clearing for me, Jaune."
"Here, let me help you, Jaune," Pyrrha offered politely.
"No, no, no, Lady Nikos. A lady should not be helping a man with such a menial task. Zhan, please go help him," Azura replied, waving off Pyrrha's offer.
"Scooch over, Dork Knight. Lean the way I lean," Zhan said with a sigh, getting up and swiftly getting to work pushing with Jaune.
"Then push!!" Jaune growled with annoyance.
Whitley looked down at his watch, before turning and tapping Sylver on his shoulder. "Um, mas… teacher Sylver?" He spoke.
"You're learning, snowflake. And go ahead," Sylver replied with a grin.
"It's five thirty-four, sir. You're late for your morning video call with Snow," Whitley explained, gulping a bit.
Looking down at his watch, Sylver's eyes widened in shock. "Oh shit, you're right! Ruby's in charge of your training while I'm gone, Whit!" he shot out before grabbing his scroll and running out of the clearing.
Weiss raised her eyebrow in confusion at seeing that. "Why did he get in such a panic over calling a puppy?" she asked.
Whitley looked at her in confusion. "I didn't say Snow was a puppy," he replied.
"Then why did he run off like that?" She asked in confusion.
"Oh, she's a little sweetie! But she does act like a little creature sometimes," Ruby said with a smile.
Azura sighed, stood up, and brushed himself off before addressing them. "All right, people. Enough chit chat. Time to get down to the brass tacks," he said sternly before waving for them to follow him.
Following his instruction, everyone stood from their picnic spots and followed Azura into a large clearing. Next to the blue-haired boy were two large, open chests. One had sets of black, weighted vests, armbands, and leg bands. The other had strips of iron laying snugly inside.
"We will be starting by getting you used to your new weighted clothing by having you do basic training tasks while wearing it. Allow you to become accustomed to always having them on," Azura explained, motioning to the training equipment.
"Is that why you asked for our clothing measurements and body weight last week?!" Jaune asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Azura answered unblinkingly.
"And how is that supposed to help us?" Ruby asked.
"The training weights give you added resistance beneath your Aura, forcing your muscles to work overtime to compensate. The weights increase muscle tone, boost cardiovascular output, and build stamina, specifically in the shoulders, arms, and upper back for the arm weights, which is great for improving your reaction speed and hand-eye coordination. Meanwhile, the leg weights specifically train your leg muscles for increased speed and kicking strength, while the weighted vests help build muscle strength, burn more calories, and enhance bone density," Azura explained as he began stripping off his upper bodywear to show off his own weighted vest and armbands underneath his clothes.
"So how much weight should we each be working with?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.
"Your total for your starting weights should be about five to ten percent of your total body weight. The weights on the vest should account for about 70% of the training weight, while the leg weights account for 20% together, and the arm weights cover the last 10%. For example, say Yang starts at a total weight of twenty pounds. Her weighted vest would then be around fourteen pounds while her leg weights are two pounds on each leg, and her arm weights are one pound on each arm." Azura explained, then stood aside to allow them to come collect their clothing and weights.
Later: 5:46 AM
"Azura? Are you sure these weights are accurate?" Ruby asked, panting a bit from the strain of the new weight.
"Yes, Ruby. I am quite sure. I calculated them based on the body weight you each gave me last week. Although, since Pyrrha already has elite conditioning, her weights are heavier than the rest of you," Azura explained.
"That doesn't give off a weird vibe at all…" Zhan muttered.
"Right. Onto the actual training. To make it easy to start, we will do some basic exercises to help you get used to the weights. Then we can do some sparring." Azura explained with a smile.
"Easy for you to say! You're not wearing twelve extra pounds of weight!" Ruby called out with a pout.
"Twelve? Rubes, I'm wearing twenty!" Yang called out indignantly.
"To warm everyone up before sparring, we will do several laps around campus," Azura said with a smile.
"Wh-What do you mean sparring…?" Whitley asked nervously, only for Azura to place a hand on his shoulder with a sympathetic look.
"What does it sound like? Did Sylver not teach you anything?" Azura asked, raising his eyebrow skeptically at the boy's sudden change of tone.
"It's what he taught that scares me…" the boy said, his voice trailing off in a fearful tremble.
"... Going to need to talk with him later… Anyway, onto sparring. Everyone, pick a partner. We are going full-contact, unrestrained to get a good idea of what everyone can do and what your limits are," Azura told them with a smirk.
"Welp, I'm gonna go a few rounds with you, blue boy," Yang said, a challenging grin forming on her lips, her fists slamming together, a loud crack echoing through the woods as her knuckles cracked.
"Actually, Yang, I think you should spar with Weiss or Blake. This would make for a good opportunity for you to bond with one of them as a teammate," Azura explained, shaking his head negatively with a smile on his face.
"Uh… Azura… this seems kind of…" Jaune started, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
"... bat-shit insane?" Nora asked, finishing Jaune's sentence for him.
"Yeah…"
Azura raised an eyebrow. "In what regard? This is how I was raised and trained." He replied, genuinely confused.
"Yes, but you're not normal," Nora supplied chipperly.
"Well, how else are we supposed to learn what your best is if we don't see it?" A sassy, feminine voice asked from the other side of the clearing, causing everyone to turn to look at the source.
Before them was a tall, busty, beautiful Faunus with sky blue hair, sky wolf ears atop her head, and sapphire blue eyes. She wore surprisingly warm-looking but skimpy clothes for the current time of year, reminiscent of a Solitasian northern raider from the days before the founding of the Kingdoms. Her outfit consisted of an animal-fur coat, a blue, skin-tight motorcycle-racing bodysuit, blue fingerless gloves, and no visible weapons on her, aside from a hunting knife. She had a sassy smile on her face as she sat perched on a rock at the edge of the clearing. However, the most noticeable thing about her was that her face resembled Sylver's closely.
"Uhhhh… and you are…?" Jaune asked, confused.
"Hi, Sapphy!" Ruby called out, waving at the girl.
The girl smiled and playfully waved back. "Hey, Tiny Flower!" she greeted Ruby back.
Ruby pouted. "We're the same age!" She pointed out.
The girl grinned playfully. "You're still tiny, Tiny Flower." she replied.
"It's not my fault you're a giant! Just you wait, I'll catch up! I have a foolproof growing method!" Ruby replied, a glint of determination in her eyes.
"What, drinking milk?" The Faunus beauty asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"... Maybe. You can't prove anything!" Ruby defensively said.
Weiss looked at Ruby in disbelief. "Um… how do you know this girl?"
"That's Sapphire, Sylver's twin sister. I've spent dinner with their family plenty of times," Ruby replied in a blasé tone.
"... There's TWO of them?!" Weiss asked in disbelief, eyes wide in shock.
"Oh, trust me, Ice Queen. There's only one of me," Sapphire replied with confidence.
"Why does everyone call me that…?" Weiss asked under her breath in frustration.
"Because you're an icy…" Yang began to say only to be cut off by Weiss.
"All right, all right! Let us focus here. Sapphire, why are you here?" Azura said, frustratedly pinching the bridge of his nose.
"You don't want me here?" Sapphire asked playfully.
"I did not say that. It is just that…" Azura began to say only for Sapphire to interrupt with a giggle.
"Oh relax, Blue Blood. I'm just teasing. Sly texted me asking me to fill in for him while he's in the middle of his call." Sapphire replied amusedly.
Azura sighed. "Of course he did…" He replied frustratedly.
"Well, yeah. Did you expect him to leave his team high and dry?" She asked in response.
"... Fair enough. You can help me demonstrate then, Sapphire," Azura answered with an exasperated sigh.
"Ah, so you're doing 'Hope you survive the experience,'" Sapphire replied with a smirk.
"Got it in one." Azura replied.
Whitley's eyes widened, eyebrows raising so high they seemed to fuse with his hair, his face going even paler than normal. "Ohhhhh no…" He replied with a shuddering groan of fear.
"Don't worry, Whittling Knife. You've already survived the experience." Sapphire cheekily told him.
"... What is that? And why do I feel like I should be worried…?" Weiss asked, looking to her brother in concern.
"The source of my nightmares…" Whitley replied fearfully.
"... Well, that's not fucking ominous at all," Nora said bluntly.
"We go into individual full-contact, unrestrained spars. You do not stop when your Aura gets low. You stop when you see blood," Azura explained.
"How about no killing? Can that be a bar…?" Jaune asked fearfully.
"Well, of course, Sir Arc. We cannot train you if you are dead. You just stop when you see blood, maybe a few teeth," Azura replied, waving off Jaune's concerns.
"... What?!" Jaune asked in disbelief and fear.
"Um, Azura? Maybe you should start with something more… basic? You know, for the less combat-oriented…?" Pyrrha asked, concerned for her team leader and partner.
Azura looked at Pyrrha in confusion. "What are you talking about, Lady Nikos? This is basic." He replied as Pyrrha looked at him like he had grown two more heads.
"Pyr, Pyr," Nora said, patting the red head's shoulder, "You seem to fail to grasp that they are utterly and completely insane. No matter what you say, they will counter it." The explanation was said with a certain level of clarity.
"I'll have you know that we've only had to send four people to the asylum in the last three years! One of them was my uncle, but that was for completely different reasons…" Sapphire offendedly replied.
"Indeed. Now everyone, pick your partners. Anyone caught holding back will be punished with a thousand laps around the clearing for each time they hold back," Azura said simply, not missing a beat.
"... A thousand laps? You're kidding… right…?" Ruby asked in disbelief.
"Oh, Lady Ruby. When it comes to training, I never jest," Azura replied, a look of complete seriousness in his eyes.
"... Weiss? Wanna partner up?" Ruby asked nervously.
"Only because we can't get out of this…" Weiss sighed as she and Ruby walked to a less crowded part of the clearing to give themselves space to fight.
"Ready, Blair? Remember, we can't hold back," Yang asked her partner with a grin.
"If we must. Honestly, this is giving me bad flashbacks…" Blair replied as she and Yang took another part of the clearing with more trees for better maneuverability.
Nora cuddled up to Ren. "Weeell, I already have my sparring partner!"
"Actually, Nora, I think you should spar with me or Pyrrha. That way, you don't accidentally hold back," Jaune pointed out, trying to put his foot down with authority, his voice slightly catching in his throat.
"But… But Ren…!" Nora wailed tearfully.
"Jaune is right, Nora. We can't take any chances of having to run a thousand laps in this training. Something tells me we're going to need all the energy we can spare…" Pyrrha sighed in response.
"But Ren and I haven't been apart since childhood!" Nora cried, tears cascading down her cheeks.
"Nora, I'm still right here," Ren said, coughing into his hand awkwardly, eyes softening at the outburst of the shorter girl.
"For now! But you're going to be too far away during sparring!" Nora wailed in despair.
"Come on, Nora," Pyrrha sympathetically said, dragging her tearful teammate to another part of the clearing far away from the others.
Jaune looked at Ren with a nervous smile. "Well, Ren, it looks like it's just us guys. Try not to kill me, please…"
"Jaune, that would be against the rules. And I'd rather not deal with whatever the punishment would be for that," Ren replied with a shrug.
Jaune gulped. "R… right…"
"... That was a joke," Ren replied awkwardly.
"O-Oh. Good one…" Jaune replied as he and Ren walked over to their own part of the clearing for a private spar.
Azura smiled as he looked at the rest of the group. "All right, everyone! Watch me and Sapphire closely! Because this is how Zodiacs train!" He announced, turning to Sapphire as he drew his katana.
Sapphire simply cracked her knuckles with a grin as Aura formed around her hands. Soon, the Aura in her left hand formed into the shape of a northern raider's Ulfbjörn sword, while the Aura in her right hand formed into the shape of a large, round, northern raider's skjoldr shield. As the two constructs solidified in her hands, Sapphire spun the sword in an arc before giving it a few test swings. Finding the weight to be to her expectations, she dropped into a battle-ready stance as Azura did the same.
"... What the what?!" Jaune asked in disbelief.
"That is so cool!" Nora piped up excitedly.
Azura and Sapphire began circling each other like dueling lions preparing for battle, watching for an opening in their opponent's guard. "I can make any non-ranged weapon out of my Aura to fight with." Sapphire explained.
As the others absorbed that information, the two Zodiac royals rushed each other. Sapphire slashed with her blade only for Azura to draw his wakizashi to block it, Sapphire pushed back against his short blade. Azura slashed with his katana, forcing Sapphire to block with her shield. Pushing off from each other, the two began a brief clash where one would slash with their main weapon only for the other to block. Sapphire would attack with her sword, Azura would defend with his sidearm blade. Azura would slash with his own sword, Sapphire would block with her shield.
Breaking off the exchange, Azura rushed back in and slashed with both blades, forcing Sapphire to block both with her shield to defend. Seeing an opening, Sapphire attempted to thrust with her sword, only for Azura to swerve his head aside to dodge the stab. Dropping down to his hands in a handstand-like position, Azura swung his leg upwards in an arced rolling kick aimed at Sapphire's cheek opposite to her shield. As soon as the kick connected, Sapphire was sent flying as she rolled in midair to recover. Digging her Aura blade into the ground, Sapphire slowed her momentum as her weapon dug a small trench in the dirt and stone.
Pulling her sword free, Sapphire barely got her shield up as she blocked a pair of sword blows from Azura. Pushing back, Sapphire created spikes on her shield to force Azura to jump back. Dismissing the spikes, Sapphire gave chase as she slashed with her blade, forcing Azura to back step from her swings. Thrusting forward, her sword transformed into a spear mid-thrust, forcing Azura to dodge again. Raising his katana, Azura attempted to cut through the haft of her polearm only for Sapphire to shrink it back down to a sword.
Rushing in, Azura went for a barrage of fast slashes of his blade, forcing Sapphire on the defensive as she blocked with her shield. Dropping down, Azura swung his leg out in a kick to sweep her feet, forcing her to jump to dodge. Sweeping his leg in a full circle arc, Azura used that leg to push himself off the ground and rush in at her. However, acting quickly, Sapphire let her knife slip from her hip as it dropped down, slicing at Azura's cheek. Jumping back, Azura checked his cheek for blood and found none, the cut having been a bit too shallow.
Excluding Blair and Hunter, Teams RWBY, JNPR, AZRE, and SHDW had their jaws dropped, their eyes bugging out, and their tongues hanging out in sheer disbelief at the display of skill before them. They did not see any signs of wasted movements in that exchange, the two combatants seeming to flow like water over stone from one move to the next. They did not even seem out of breath from that exchange.
Hunter's eyes glowed, indicating the use of his Semblance as they were left wide in surprise. He let out a whistle of appreciation. "They're good…"
Blair nodded in response. "They're very good…" She agreed.
Azura smiled at Sapphire. "I would say that that's enough for the warmups, wouldn't you Sapphire?"
Sapphire giggled. "Yeah, I think we've given them a good opening act. Now it's time for the main event." She replied playfully as they both closed their eyes to focus.
Ember's eyes widened in disbelief. "M-Main event…?!" she timidly asked in disbelief, her voice barely a whisper.
"Tha' wuzza warmup?!" Dahlia asked in shock.
"Trust me, it is," Whitley whimpered in fear with Ruby, at the same time, waving it off confidently.
"... Ruby? Why are you acting like this is normal?" Yang asked in disbelief.
"Oh, we sparred on some of our dates," Ruby replied dismissively.
"... Why?!" Yang demanded in shock.
"Something about how, if I'm gonna date a prince, I need to be able to protect myself," Ruby answered with a shrug.
"That is surprisingly coherent from your boyfriend," Yang uttered, surprised at the level of foresight from the wolf Faunus prince.
"I know, right?" Ruby replied before clearing her throat, "Anyway, let's focus on my maybe future sister-in-law kicking your boyfriend's booty."
Yang blushed a bit. "Your silence would be greatly appreciated, Rubes…"
Ruby giggled playfully. "See? You even sound like him now."
With that, azure-blue sparks of electricity began coming off Azura's Aura as the heat around him picked up. At the same time, sky blue gusts of wind began coming off Sapphire's own Aura as the temperature around her grew colder. Opening their eyes, the two smirked before disappearing in twin bursts of speed. The ground cracked beneath where Azura's feet had been as a strong gust of wind blew chunks of grass off from where Sapphire's feet had been. The two met in the middle in a clash of blade and shield as a small shockwave erupted from their positions, kicking up grass into the air from the air pressure of the impact.
In a furious exchange of blows that nobody but Ruby could see, the two began trading shots as they attempted to get through the other's guard. From the others' perspectives, the two became blurs of motion that they could barely see. However, from Ruby's perspective with her Semblance, she saw each move. Azura swung with his katana, forcing Sapphire to block with her shield before attacking with her blade. Azura responded by blocking with his wakizashi before going for a kick at Sapphire's temple that she barely deflected by raising her shield upwards.
Azura spun with his deflected kick in the ball of his other foot, planted his leg down, and lashed out with another kick as Sapphire's midsection that she barely blocked with her shield. Slashing with her blade, she tried to bring it down on Azura's ankle only for Azura to kick off her shield with enough force to dodge before going in for a thrust with his katana. Sapphire deflected with her sword before trying to bash him with her shield, forcing Azura to jump over the attempted shield bash and slash down with his wakizashi. Sapphire raised her shield and blocked the cut as she pushed him back, gaining some breathing room. Finally, the two rushed in at high speed and went for twin thrusts with their blades.
The two thrusts made contact at the same time, just barely getting through each other's Aura enough to draw a little bit of blood. In a brief moment to the view of the others, the two reappeared into view as they broke apart, their chests bleeding ever so slightly as blood dripped from the tips of their swords. Our heroes looked on in stunned disbelief before someone finally spoke up.
"... What the hell?! Who won?!" Zhan asked in shock.
"Neither. It was a draw," Ruby replied in amazement, causing everyone to look at her. "What? I have a speed-based Semblance so that I could keep track of that."
Wiping the blood from where they both got hit, Azura and Sapphire turned to look at the others. "Okay. Did everyone get that?" Azura asked.
"Get that?! Most of us didn't see a thing!" Nora yelled out in shock.
"Well, all right then. Your turn," Azura replied with a shrug.
Later: After the Sparring Sessions
A tired huff of air left Ren's lips, sweat caking his face as he bent over, hands resting on his knees. "H-how are you doing, Jaune?" he asked his blonde friend. Glancing up from his knelt position only to find Jaune lying face down in the dirt; small groans of pain leaving him to show that he was still conscious.
"That… was… hell…!" Weiss groaned, dropping Myrtenaster as she plopped herself on the grass beneath her.
"At least this wasn't as bad as Iron Body training," Ruby replied, panting lightly as she spun Crescent Rose before putting it away.
"Iron what now…?" Weiss asked in exhausted confusion.
"You had to be there," Ruby said simply, waving off Weiss's question.
Yang panted lightly, hands on her knees. "G… gimme a second…" She told Blair, holding up one finger to indicate she needed a moment.
Blair, on the other hand, coolly relaxed against a tree. "That was intense." She replied in a deadpan.
"How… are you… not out… of breath…?!" Yang asked in frustration.
"Hoʻomaʻamaʻa mau au." Blair replied simply.
"Valean, motherfluffer. Do you speak it…?" Ruby questioned, too tired to be polite.
"I train a lot," Blair said with a shrug.
As she breathed to let herself relax from the extensive training, Ruby realized something. "Wait… that language… you're from Menagerie?" She asked in disbelief.
"I thought only Faunus lived on Menagerie…" Yang added as she caught her breath.
"I knew someone from Menagerie who taught me the native language." Blair replied easily.
"Oh. Good enough for me," Ruby replied with a shrug.
"Water and towel off break, everyone!" Azura called out, a cooler in hand as Sapphire carried over some towels.
"Maybe you're not so crazy…" Jaune groaned in joy as he slowly woke up.
"I will take that as a compliment." He replied as he and Sapphire handed Jaune a water bottle and a towel, which he gladly accepted.
Once the water bottles were passed out, everyone took their time rehydrating and roweling off. As they did, Azura and Sapphire smiled as they looked them all over. Other than being exhausted and a bit roughed up, none of them looked all that bad off. Even Jaune had done fairly well.
"All right, now that we have a good idea of where all of you are at, we can work out training regiments another day. For now, drink your water and get dried off because next up is laps around Beacon. And Ruby, no Semblance. It's a marathon, not a race." Azura explained as he sipped on his own water bottle.
"Laps? Oh, well that's not too…" Jaune began to say only for Sylver's voice to interrupt.
"On your hands," Sylver said as he came back into the clearing, having finished his call.
"…" No words came from the blonde's mouth; instead, a pained whine left him, eyes slightly misting with tears.
Everyone turned to look at Whitley as Weiss addressed her brother. "... Please tell me that they're not serious…"
"Just be glad you're not doing it in your underwear in arctic temperatures… like I had to do…" Whitley sighed, already getting back up as he looked at Sylver and Azura. "You guys had to do that too, right…?"
Azura looked at Sylver and Sapphire. "In underwear in the freezing cold? I do not remember that part of Sensei's training."
"Oh, I added that part," Sylver replied with a smile.
Azura raised an eyebrow. "Why? Was it to toughen him up faster as part of a crash course in Zodiac training?"
"That… and because it was funny," Sylver chuckled.
Whitley glared at Sylver. "I hate you… so much…"
Sylver grinned in response. "I know. Now chop, chop, people! It's lap time!"
With the order given, everyone sighed as they assumed handstand positions. One by one, they started walking on their hands to do their laps. It was especially difficult for Jaune, who had forgotten to take off his armor beforehand. Little did they know that their hell under their… "eccentric" friends had only just begun…