Chapter 23

After that exercise, I and the rest of team ARJN went to our room to go work on our homework. It's here where I ran into yet ANOTHER problem.

'The battle of Briggsford? What the hell's that?'

Past wars, current technology, the development and uses of dust, the beginning of artificial intelligence. I was seriously lacking in knowledge from Remnant's past, or even knowledge on it's present. Forget studying, I couldn't even understand half of what I was being taught.

"Well that's just great, not only am I the weakest student at Beacon, but I'm also the dumbest..."

"Oh come on Aero, you're exaggerating." Nora laughed, making a flippant gesture with her hand. "What'd you get on the mock test we made?"

I grimly held up my paper, causing Jaune to wince and Nora to burst out laughing.

"Thirteen percent?! Hah! That's pretty low huh?"

"Nora you're not helping."

"Oh lighten up! I got 44%!" Nora slung an arm around me and pulled me close to her.

"We're failure friends!"

"Please stop..."

"I mean...I don't think I should be saying tihs Aero, but..." Jaune paused for a moment. "Couldn't you just use your psychic stuff to figure out the answers? Then none of us would need to study right?"

Nora let out a loud gasp, shaking me back and forth.

"Can you?! Can you do it?!"

"Stop-st-stop sh-shaking m-me!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Anyway no, I'm psychic, not omniscient. I don't know everything."

"Even if you somehow did, you still shouldn't cheat." I felt a hand from behind on my shoulder. Looking behind me, I saw Ren wearing a serious expression. "Even if you were given the answers on a test, that would only help you on that specific question. If you're going to memorize the answers, you might as well memorize your lesson instead."

"Ugh...fiiiiiiiiiiine." Nora grumbled. "Hmm? Hey Aero, where are you going?"

"I'm just gonna go on a walk for a bit..."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah...I just need to clear my head. Ren, you're in charge, work 'em to the bone."

"W-wait!" Nora cried, starting to look nervous all of the sudden. "Ren takes things literally! You have to-"

"By your orders then." Ren said, a faint smile touching his lips.

"Bye Nora." I interrupted, closing the door.

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"Phew."

'All that studying was giving me a headache. Looks like catching up on present knowledge is one more chore added to the big list of things I need to do to save Vale.' I casually strolled through the big grassy field around Beacon, feeling a cool breeze, and dead leaves crunching under my feet. Lazily kicking a pinecone between two adjacent trees.

"GOAL! Heh heh."

It'll be fall kinda soon huh? I don't have a lot of time to work with, do I? How exactly AM I going to save Vale anyway? I suppose I could just tell Ozpin but...actually, that might work! If I just tell Ozpin about the attack on Vale, then I can get HIM to deal with it. I mean sure he'll be reluctant to believe me, but I could just tell him that I know he's a body snatcher. That ought to get his attention.

"It's perfect! Ozpin will prevent the attack from happening in the first place, and Salem will..."

Shit. Salem won't be any worse off will she? She'd still be out there, with her forces completely unharmed. She'll just hide in the shadows till she makes a new plan and strikes again. And the second time Salem makes her move, I won't know what it is since I changed the timeline and she'd do things differently...

"I can't tell Ozpin..." In order to get the best possible outcome, Salem's forces need to be beaten during the attack so she can suffer losses. I could tell Ironwood to set a trap but...no...he'd definitely tell Ozpin, and then they'd have an argument and-

"Aero?"

"Hmm?"

I looked up and saw a familiar red-haired student approaching. Pyrrha waved before matching my pace and walking alongside me.

"No team ARJN with you right now?"

"Nah, just going on a walk at the moment. I'd often go on trips like these to take the edge off and relax."

"Oh, Im sorry. Am I interrupting you during your stress relief?"

"No it's fine, I could use the distraction. Wanna tag along?"

"That sounds nice." Pyrrha said giving a small smile. "Might be just what the doctor ordered. How are things with your team?"

"Things are going well enough..." My right hand moved and lightly stroked the injury on my left forearm. "Maybe a little shaky, but...progress nonetheless." My actions did not go unnoticed by Pyrrha. She cast a worried glance at my arm and then back at me.

"Where did you get that?"

"What, this? Nah it's just a scratch. I just got a little careless during a practice session." She still looked a little concerned so, I opted to change the topic. "So. How are things with your team?"

Pyrrha blinked in surprise "Things are...going...well." she said, her eyes suddenly avoiding mine. "About as well as I should have expected anyway..."

"About as well as you should have expected? What's that mean?"

"It's nothing...I didn't mean anything by it."

"Now hold on." I know how soft-spoken Pyrrha tends to be about these sorts of things. If something is bothering her she'll usually keep it to herself and pretend everything is fine. "It doesn't sound like nothing. Come on Pyrrha, you can tell me."

Pyrrha paused for a moment, her emerald eyes wandering around, before she closed them and let out another sigh. "Very well. Truth be told, I am worried me and my teammates do not see eye to eye on some matters."

"Matters like what?"

"Matters like, working together, who should be in charge, or even just acknowledging me."

"That bad?"

"I'm afraid so."

I grimaced before taking a deep breath and sitting down under the shade of a tree. "Well...we're not going anywhere, why not start at the beginning?"

"I suppose..." Pyrrha sat down a comfortable distance away from me, carefully adjusting her sash. "It all started soon after entering the Emerald Forest.

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Pyrrha fell from the sky, her sash dancing behind her like the tail from a comet. She ignored the roaring winds, focusing her attention on an up and coming tree. Readying her shield, she took the brunt of the impact on a large branch, smashing through it and several others before rolling to control her remaining momentum. She immediately snapped to her feet, her spear turning into a rifle to scope out her location.