Chapter 35

They were called to the breakfast table before their old professor could actually begin their story, but seated at the head of the table, he continued on easily, "My meeting with young Cobalt was like many tales, very interesting, " Ozpin began, "It began with me bumping into him at a newly opened, rather quaint little cafe."

Qrow snorted for some weird reason, but Weiss ignored him, as did the others, "He was polite enough about it, and that was it for the first little bit, I went and ordered, he took a seat and began eating I believe," Ozpin continued on, "That would have been the end of it really, had the White Fang not decided to attack said cafe, apparently they weren't happy with them for some reason, I believe if I remember right, one of them had wanted to buy the shop themselves for their own buisness but was outbid by the owner."

"Ugh..those idiots are everywhere." Yang groaned through the bacon stuffed in her mouth.

Yuck! Weiss made sure not to look at her, and instead focused on the professor turned teenager. "I was going to take care of them myself, there were over twenty of them after all, armed with weapons and a few even had their aura unlocked," Ozpin explained, before shrugging, "I didn't even need to lift a finger in the end. Young Cobalt leapt into action and beat them into submission rather quickly, and with his semblance it wasn't much problem for him to deal with a few untrained aura users."

Ozpin looked up at the roof a bit and sighed almost forlornly, "Even now, his skill in close quarters combat impresses me, he had no trained style, only what he picked up on and honed himself over the years he spent growing up in the street, fighting the odd grimm, other street dwellers, gangs and more," the boy professor hummed, "It was beautiful in a way, violent of course, but the fluidity of his movements and the power in his young body even without enforcing himself with aura was like art."

Ozpin titled his head down and looked around at each of them, "Young Mr. Stone was perhaps the most skilled and talented fighter of your year." he admitted.

Yang snorted, "Yeah right, the kid was good, I'll admit, but he had nothing on P-money." the blonde retorted, and Weiss was annoyed to see Arc nod his head vigorously in agreement.

"..Yang." Ruby admonished quietly.

It was annoying, more so because Weiss couldn't really refute it. None in their year had been able to even land a scratch on Pyrrha. Well, beyond Cobalt himself, but she had handled him in the end and broken his leg during their fight and won decisively.

Ozpin chucked genially, "Oh make no mistake, Miss Nikos was quite a bit stronger than him, but more skilled and talented? I'd say he might have just edged her out," he replied easily, "They are both talents that are perhaps born only once in a generation, to have two in the same generation is quite something. The difference though, is while young Mr. Stone had to work his way up, muddling his way through alone, Miss Nikos had the best equipment, training, trainers and sparring partners that money could buy. If the lad had access to such things himself growing up, I'm quite sure he would have been quite a bit stronger than even Miss Nikos herself."

Had or rather, was Cobalt truly that talented? Weiss was all for advocating how amazing her friend was, and there wasn't anyone in her age group at the table, besides Oscar who he hadn't overcome at some point during their class fights. The only reason he ever lost, besides against Pyrrha, was because they tended to have multiple fights per class and the more he used his aura the lower it dropped.

..But Pyrrha was Pyrrha. There was a reason she was called the Invincible Girl. She hadn't just been undefeated in the tournaments where some of the greatest young talent in the world turned up, she had also rarely ever even been touched in any of those fights.

"Whatever." Yang shrugged her shoulders at the reply.

Ozpin chuckled and stood up from his seat, and Weiss noticed as he picked up his plate that it was empty. How did he eat so fast? "I'm not saying any of this to put down any of your accomplishments or abilities, all I'm trying to say, is that Cobalt was an impressive young man," he said, walking over and putting his plate in the sink before turning back to them and leaning against the counter...somehow with a mug of hot cocoa or coffee in his hand, "And that is why I invited him. He was a prodigy of great skill and his drive to improve perhaps one of the most intense I've ever felt, even in all my years."

...It explained a lot to Weiss. But at the same time, left so many questions unanswered