Ch 16: Set!

"Looks like our lockers are right here." Ray said as he compared the locker numbers to the numbers on his scroll. A little farther down the aisle, Ray could see Ren and Nora pulling their weapons out of their lockers.

Ren's weapon was a pair of fully automatic pistols with sickle blades that were twice as long as the pistol grips, attached vertically under the barrels called StormFlower. The pistols were dark-green in color, and the sickle blades and gun barrels could collapse down to roughly half their full length, making them easier to store.

Nora's weapon was a giant silver war hammer and grenade launcher, called Magnhild, that was as tall as she was. The grenade launcher was fed by a six-cylinder revolver and could fire both single and full mag shots. The grenades could be launched in both hammer mode, to add greater power to her smashes, or in launcher mode when the handle is folded up beneath the hammer's head to form the shape of a more traditional grenade launcher, for superior range and accuracy. Nora was carrying her Magnhild in its launcher form on her back

Nora was back to scheming about how to ensure she and Ren ended up on the same team.

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal! *gasp* A secret signal, so we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?"

"Nora?"

"Yes, Ren?"

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." Ren commented as he stored StormFlower inside his sleeves.

"...That's why it's perfect!" Nora thought about it for a moment and exclaimed, "No one will suspect we're working together!"

"Come on, Nora. Let's go." Ren said, closing his locker.

"But not 'together-together'..." Nora giggled to herself as she skipped after Ren.

Ray couldn't help but chuckle at the antics of the two as he strapped on Bloody Storm.

"See you out there, Ray, Ruby, Yang." Ren called out as he passed them.

"See y'all." Nora waved.

"Oh, no. Not another convert to your weird slang." Yang complained to Ray when she heard Nora's use of 'y'all'.

"Well, ma'am. Y'all remember tha deal, I'm shore. Ya give up your puns, and I'll give up ma draaawl." Ray replied with a distinctly Texan drawl.

[Though nobody can properly appreciate my drawl here. How could RoosterTeeth, an Austin, Texas based studio, not incorporate any true southern accents or Texas drawl into their anime?] Ray lamented to himself silently.

"Never!" Yang swore, shaking her fist at him. "Hey, did you hear the one about the past, the present, and the future walking into a bar… It was tense." *ba-dum chiii*

Ruby groaned at her siblings and tried to change the subject before she was subjected to more weird accents and bad jokes, "I wonder what those two are so worked up about?"

"They're worried about the teams selection. I can't blame them. Any team without Ren is going to have a hard time handling Nora." Ray answered.

"Teams huh, I guess I'll just be on a team with you two." Ruby said hopefully.

Ray and Yang glanced at each other.

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Yang said, pulling her hair around over her shoulder to stroke it nervously.

"My dear sister, Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?" Ruby pointed her finger into Yang's face accusingly.

"What? No! Of course, I do! I just-"

"She's right, Ruby." Ray interjected, "You need to meet new people and learn to work together. It might help you break out of your shell. Besides, I'm probably going to end up not being placed on any team and instead fill some sort of special made-up role somewhere between a student and teacher so that Ozpin can justify sending me on missions above what my age would normally allow."

"Ugh, you sound like Dad!" Ruby groaned, purposely ignoring the implication that her twin brother would soon be heading into danger beyond what guys his age should be able to reasonably handle. "Okay, first of all: What does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly: I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!"

Ray looked at Ruby's B-cup chest that she was proudly sticking out and decided not to comment on that last part. As Ray and Yang continue to try and persuade Ruby, another pair is also discussing the formation of teams farther up the aisle.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on?" Weiss was asking Pyrrha, "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself!"

"Hmm… I'm not quite sure." Pyrrha replied, the face of a boy who had been able to keep up with and enhance her training this morning flashing through her mind. The image was followed immediately by the face of an unassuming blond boy that had, for some reason she couldn't understand, had caught her eye yesterday and persisted in her mind. "I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well... I was thinking. Maybe we could be on a team together."

"That sounds grand!"

"Great", [This will be perfect! The smartest girl in class, combined with the strongest girl in class! Together we will be unstoppable! I can see it now! We'll be popular! We'll be celebrities! We'll get perfect grades! Nothing can come between us now!]

Except Jaune.

"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." Jaune said, sliding in between Weiss and Pyrrha, trying to act cool.

"What do you want?" Weiss scoffed, thoroughly unimpressed.

"Nice to meet you, Jaune!" Pyrrha hurried to move to where Jaune could see her.

"Yeah, yeah." Jaune pushed the beauty paying attention to him out of his way so that he could focus on the one who thought he was trash. "So, Weiss, been hearing rumors about teams! I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Weiss couldn't help holding her head in her hand as she felt a migraine coming on.

"Actually, I think the teams are composed of four students each, so-" Pyrrha tries to turn Jaune's attention towards her.

"You don't say." Jaune turns around to advance on his new target. "Well, hot stuff, play your cards right, and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

Weiss hurries over to separate the two, "Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, snow angel."

"This is Pyrrha."

"Hello again!" Pyrrha gives Jaune a small wave at Weiss's introduction.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it."

Weiss scoffed at Jaune's lack of knowledge, "She's won the Mistral Region Tournament four years in a row! A new record!"

"The what?" Jaune still had no idea what she was talking about.

Weiss had reached her limit for putting up with Jaune's stupidity and started waving her arms around wildly in frustration, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

"That's you?!" Jaune gasped in awe, "But they only do that for athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." Pyrrha admitted, blushing slightly. "Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?" Weiss asked, smirking.

"I guess not… Sorry…" Jaune apologized with his head bowed in shame.

"Actually, Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader!" Pyrrha placed her hand on his shoulder and tried to cheer him up.

Jaune perks right back up at that little bit of encouragement, "D'oh, stop it!"

"Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!" Weiss said, looking like she wanted to throw up.

"Sounds like Pyrrha's onboard for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?" His optimism reignited, Jaune approached Weiss again, getting closer and closer as he spoke.

"All right, that's a bit too close!" Weiss raised her hands defensively, "Pyrrha, a little help, please?!"

Jaune looks back, just in time to see a red and gold spear pierce his hoodie and send him flying into a pillar, pinning him there. It was Pyrrha's weapon, Milo.

Pyrrha's weapons were Akouo, an extremely durable shield with a razor-sharp edged styled after the Greek Dipylon shields, and Milo, a short sword that could transition between a javelin form, a double-edged short sword form, and a rifle form. When not in use, she carried both of them on her back.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called out to him in apology.

Just then, Glynda's voice rang out over the intercom requesting all first-year students to report to Beacon Cliff for initiation immediately. Hearing this, all the first-years still in the locker room began filing out.

"It was nice meeting you!" Pyrrha says goodbye to Jaune as she uses her Semblance to pull javelin-Milo out of the wall and into her hand.

"Likewise…" Jaune mutters as he slumps to the ground.

"Having some trouble there, lady-killer?" Yang asks as she, Ray, and Ruby arrive on the scene.

"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" Jaune questions as he accepts Ruby's offered hand to pull himself back to his feet.

"Your confidence." Jaune just looked confused at Ray. He had just said that his display of confidence didn't work, and now Ray was saying that confidence was his problem.

"Ask yourself, honestly, Jaune, if you were truly confident when you approached them. Or, were you holding a fake-it-till-you-make-it mentality."

"Uh, um."

"Exactly. Pyrrha and Weiss are top-tier girls. They have been hit on by just about every type of guy there is. They can smell a faker a mile away. You want to play on that level? You're going to have to put in some serious effort and gain some genuine confidence in yourself. Otherwise, you are just going to continue playing the fool."

Jaune collapsed on Ruby's shoulder, almost crying from Ray's all too true scolding.

Yang slapped the back of Ray's head, "Nice pep talk." she scolded.

"Oww. What? It's true! And he needs to hear it." Ray defended himself.

"Come on, Jaune, let's go." Ruby said as she supported Jaune out of the locker room, dragging what little remained of his self-esteem along with him.