Alabast has had to survive boring class after boring class. Phyrrha and Weiss helped him through it mostly. He didn't want to admit it but they were better students than he is.
Alabast has actually been amused by his team and team RWBY. He's enjoyed helping them get stronger. He wants to cut loose but knows there will be opportunities in the future. But it's annoying to always have to hold back. But he's been able to get used to it.
Then there is this idiot Cambin, Cadin, Casing? His name starts with a C. Anyway, this guy has tried his best to bully Alabast and his team only because Alabast is a wolf Faunus. He's seen the guy try to bully other Faunus but the guy stops when he enters the room and C goes and tries to poke the wolf to get a reaction. But Alabast has just been waiting for combat class to teach him his place. C is lucky he didn't keep harassing the other Faunus when he walked in, Alabast would have put an end to it one way or another.
Besides that nuisance, Ruby has been trying to bother him to hang out with her and her team more. For reasons like "being able to work with other teams is important" which Alabast finds rich coming from the girl who wanted to be on her sisters team only and not have to interact with others that much.
Alabast just found it easier to go with her whims for now. He actually didn't mind hanging out with everyone. Weiss has calmed down on her strictness but not that much. She was still acting like a Princess, but not a stuck-up Princess.
Blake has calmed down after a few days of Alabast not outing her as a Faunus but won't actively talk to him. Alabast has come to terms with her and him so he is focusing on the others. Yang is easy to get along with as long as Alabast ignores her 'hil-hair-ious' puns. She a nice girl who knows what she wants and helps others. She isn't all that complicated and is straight forward most of the time.
Pyrrha and Alabast have spent the most time together since she helps him study and train. He also helps her train her semblance.
The two of them found out the perfect way for them to train together isnt to fight. It's actually for Alabast to train his strength and technique while Pyrrha trains her semblance.
Since she controls metals polarity she can basically add resistance to any and all of Alabasts workouts since he has Bestia Fang on his wrists and the giant metal sword on his back. It sounds like Pyrrha has it easy but she has to actively try not to injure Alabast and she can train her focus on changing the polarity of multiple objects differently. Like having metal around his ankles press to the ground more than his wrists and sword.
The two are combat maniacs so they get along well. They don't care who would win, but if Alabast used a weapon made of his darkness semblance and not metal, Pyrrha would most likely lose. By how much is unknown though.
Ren and Nora have actually gotten closer. Alabast remembered that their relationship was weird and hardly went anywhere from what he remembered. But now they seem right at the cusp of getting 'together-together' as Nora put it.
Ruby just had so much energy. Alabast has caught her many times trying to catch and pet his tail. She's also tried scratching his ears but he has avoided anyone from doing that so far and he plans on keeping it that way.
He forgot what it was like to have such great friends, if he ever had any. And they didn't even know each other that long.
It was a Friday and that meant combat class for the first time. Alabast looked forward to setting a few racists straight, mainly a person that's name started with C.
As he was walking to class indoors he heard: "Ashy! Wait up! We can walk together!" From behind. He turned around and saw a short red caped girl running with a yellow, white, and dark black haired girls not far behind her. It was team RWBY. Of course it was team RWBY, nobody else even talked to him aside from his own team.
"Red" Alabast responds in a monotone voice.
"Are you excited for combat class?! I can't wait to see all the weapons!" Ruby squeaks when she thinks about the weapons. "I also can't wait to see how much we all improved!"
"Yeah yeah. It'll be a blast"
"Awwww. Cmon ashy! Show some more emotion!" Yang slaps his shoulder.
"It definitely wouldn't hurt" Weiss adds.
Alabast can only sigh at their attempts to get some emotion out of him. It's not as easy as flipping a switch. Ruby can be happy then sad to excited in three seconds. Alabast figures it'll just come naturally at some point.
"It's good that everyone is so interested in combat class" Alabast says continuing his walk.
"Ashy is just not having a good time with the school subjects" Nora loudly whispers appearing next to team RWBY.
"I am a wolf Faunus Nora. Did you think I wouldn't hear that?"
"Whoopsie!" Nora jumps back to Rens side.
Alabast sighs. "Haah. You spend your life not going to school and then suddenly you are forced to attend the best hunter academy in 'Sanus'. Talk about 0-100"
Pyrrha was going to correct him but just doesn't. "Close enough I suppose"
"So! Are you gonna put Cardin in his place finally?" Yang asks as she puts her fist in her palm.
"That's his name?" Alabast says to himself.
"He's been in a better mood since this morning! I think he's raring to go!" Nora says as she punches the air like she's shadow boxing.
"Nora, watch your punches" Ren chides.
Nora continues to shadow box as she looks at Ren. She ends up hitting a guys jay with an uppercut. The guy was pretty tall and had burnt orange hair. Alabast recognizes C.
C decides to try and hit Nora with a right hook while she turns to see what she just punched.
Before the punch can land Alabast catches the fist in his palm as he looks down on Cardin.
"I am sorry my teammate hit you. However, I will not allow you to hit her back. If you must exact your petty revenge then hit me" Alabast applies more pressure to his fist as he talks.
"Wha-?" Cardin looks up into the deep red eye that he is used to seeing look away. He hasn't had to deal with Alabast, he never defends himself making him an easy target.
"T-this will be settled in class. Leader to leader" Cardin gets his hand back and walks away followed by his three teammates.
"Thank you Alabast" Ren says as he stands on the other side of Nora prepared to do the same thing just a little bit slower since he was farther away.
"That was so cool and manly Ashy! You caught his fist and….." Ruby started reenacting the scene but with weird sound effects arm arm movements.
"I only did what is expected of me as a leader"
"Ok cool guy" Yang quips.
"I don't think it was because you were acting as a leader Alabast. You just want to hide behind that excuse" he heard Pyrrha whisper under her breath.
"Pyrrha" this causes her to jump a little, she forgot he had better hearing. "…..Whatever…."
He just went back to walking to class. Everyone follows him and talks about various things. It was mostly Ruby asking Pyrrha why Alabast called her name. Pyrrha tried to avoid it but eventually said that she thinks that Alabast is just using the leader excuse to be a nice guy instead of owning up to the fact.
"He has the 'bad boy' mindset and doesn't like being called nice or good. He doesn't get upset if you do, but he does correct you. Like Ruby whenever she brings it up" Pyrrha talks with mainly team RWBY but her team can still hear her.
Ruby whispers to Pyrrha. "Look at his tail…..what do you think that means? It's not like when he's happy"
Alabast's tail is moving side to side but flicks instead of moving fluidly.
"That is when he is irritated..." Pyrrha says looking at the tail and then looks up to his head and sees a red eye looking at them squinted.
"Do you see something you like?" He asks not too pleased by them reading his emotions based on his tail since he can't really control it.
"I know I do" Yang says looking at Alabast in his school uniform that barely hides his muscles.
Weiss and Blake sigh but only Weiss face palms. She also takes a peek at where Yang is looking and can understand her statement.
"You like Alabast?!" Ruby jumps onto Yangs shoulder and whisper shouts.
"It was a joke sis" Yang peels Ruby off and sets her back on the ground.
"Ohhhh! Hehe" Ruby nervously laughs since she didn't catch the joke.
Nora glances at Yang and then over to Pyrrha. Yet again telling Pyrrha that another challenger has appeared. Pyrrha slightly blushes but doesn't let it affect her since she knows that Nora is just waiting for her to react so she can gossip or do something drastic.
They make it to class and are able to get seats next to each other. Alabast and Ruby sit next to each other with their team on their respective sides.
"I can hardly sit still! I'm so excited!"
"You know that Goodwitch is gonna spend like 30 minutes explaining the rules and how proper huntsman/huntress are supposed to conduct themselves in combat right?" Alabast has his chin resting in his palm and glances down at Ruby who deflated visibly upon hearing his words.
"That is correct Mr. Noir"
He turns his gaze to Glynda Goodwitch who appears at the front of the room. Everyone quiets down while she explains that their scroll will display their aura in green, yellow and red. Their aura basically acts as an hp bar like in a video game and when it hits red you are eliminated like tournament rules state. She explains that the class is to be taken seriously and she won't tolerate any goofing around. Alabast stops listening here as she explains how you should behave in her class and what huntsman do.
After she is dont talking the wall behind her goes down revealing a stage and a giant hologram screen displaying two hp bars that are grayed out. There are also two doors that open up on either side of Goodwitch for people to change into their combat uniform and grab their weapons.
"Now, we will have two people demonstrate for us. Any volunteers?"
"I volunteer ma'am! And I want to fight Alabast!" Cardin stands up immediately and points towards Alabast who still had his chin on his palm.
Alabast looks towards the teacher and sees that she isn't to pleased with how Cardin spoke without being asked to. Idiot.
"Well Mr. Winchester, normally I would deny such a request for various reasons. However, I believe that you and Mr. Noir would be a good match to teach the other student. You two, get ready and step onto the stage and wait for the signal" Glynda adjusts her glasses and looks between the two students. She is aware of the way Cardin treats his fellow students and was waiting for the moment to correct his behavior.
"Hah! See you on the field….'Ashy'! Hahaha!" Cardin laughs and moves to one of the rooms.
Team RWBY and ANVL don't talk but just look at Alabast telling him to destroy him without actually talking.
"Haaaah. Fine" He stands up and makes his way over to the opposite room. But before he enters "So I have to get his aura to the red or he surrenders correct?"
"That is correct"
"And is there a time limit?"
"No. However if the two opponent take too long and nothing is happening there will be a warning and then if nothing continues to happen the match will be deemed a draw"
"Good to know" Alabast says as he enters the room.
4 minutes later Alabast steps onto the stage and waits for C.
5 minutes later Cardin steps onto the stage wearing armor and carrying a big mace as his weapon.
Cardin swings his mace around. "Ready little doggy?"
Alabast just stands there looking at Cardin without interest.
"What? I thought you were gonna be all bark and no bite. Guess you can't even bark!"
"Oh you're here. I thought you were looking for your dignity since you took so long. Guess you couldn't find it" Alabast draws his sword.
Over at the seats both team RWBY and ANVL look surprised. "Did he really just diss Cardin? And why was it like a kids response?" Ruby was puzzled and had to ask.
"It is fitting since it's Cardin, but you're right. Alabast really did do it" Yang responds. The others are just shocked and watch.
"Enough talking!" Goodwitch interrupts the murmurs of the spectators and the fighters.
The screen shows a picture of the fighters face on their side of the screen as their hp bar goes up to full.
Then the screen counts down from three to go and an electronic monotone voice matches the countdown.
"1…Go" and the screen goes blue and gets color to it.
Cardin walks towards Alabast holding his mace.
"I'll pay you back for that hit your teammate gave me earlier"
"Fine then" Alabast lowers Nights Fall to his side while holding it in his right hand.
"Are you serious?! Whatever, your funeral!" Cardin charges forward winding up his swing and smashing the mace into Alabast's diaphragm.
Alabast takes the hit and is sent back 15 feet and falls to one knee while he holds his diaphragm with his left hand. His head is down as the air rushed out of his lungs.
"Hahaha! Cant even take a single hit huh?!" Cardin laughs and taunts.
"Is that the cleanest hit we've seen him take?! And why did he not defend?!" Ruby is baffled by what just happened.
Nora has her head down. She's disappointed in herself that she made her team leader take a hit like that because of her. Ren puts a hand on her shoulder. She looks over at Ren with slight tears in her eyes and sees Ren pointing toward the stage.
"If that's the hardest you can hit I'm sorely disappointed. But I guess it doesn't matter since you won't be able to hit me again"
Cardin stops laughing as he sees Alabast stand up. He knows that his aura took the brunt of it but a hit like that should have kept him down for longer. Cardin gets into his stance ready to fight.
Alabast now standing up looks at Cardin and stands tall. He doesn't get into a stance and holds Nights Fall to the side angled down towards the ground but not scraping it.
"There's the bark I was expecting!" Cardin shouts.
Alabast slowly walks towards Cardin without stopping. Cardin watches Alabasts figure and sees so many openings that he thinks this is a joke. Once Alabast gets close enough he charges in and swings.
As the mace is swung through the air towards Alabast it all of a sudden is sent arcing into the air above. Cardin looks at his hands as he doesn't feel his mace in them anymore. He looks at Alabast and sees his right arm holding the giant sword above his head.
Cardin didn't think Alabast would be able to swing such a massive weapon so quickly and accurately with only one hand.
Then there is a crash behind Cardin.
"I'd recommend picking your weapon back up" Alabast says as he narrows his eye as he looks down at Cardin.
Cardin jumps backwards and picks up his mace and charges back at Alabast who lowered the sword to his side again.
"You'll regret that!" Cardin shouts and continually swinging and moving around to not stay stationary. But Alabast doesn't even block with the sword. He simply moves his body out of the way of the mace by an inch every time.
This infuriates Cardin as he swings faster and harder. His black mace also starts to emit a red aura as Cardin has his burnt-orange aura cover his body.
Alabast feels a certain pressure on his body after Cardin activates his aura. It's probably got something to do with his semblance. But Alabast easily ignores the pressure. This seems to confuse Cardin but he quickly recomposes himself.
Cardin swings towards Alabast but quickly changes trajectory to hit the ground causing a red dust explosion in Alabasts direction.
Cardin emerges from the smoke and dust from the impact the created a crater in the stage.
Alabast instead of backing up steps forward and grabs Carson's face with his left hand as his black aura comes to life around him and his red eyes seem more vibrant as he flares at Cardin and pushes the guy to his knees.
Alabast stands over Cardin while still holding his face. Cardin is watching wide-eyed as he was easily forced to his knees and is forced to look up into Alabasts face.
"Your semblance has something to do with intimidation or applying pressure to your opponents right?"
Cardin can't believe that not only had Alabast not been affected by it but also was able to guess it. His semblance is used as a passive rebuff against his opponents. It took him a long time to control it to not affect everyone and allow him to choose who gets affected by it.
Alabast makes his aura darker as he uses his semblance to cover his weapon and face in darkness. "This…is how you intimidate someone"
Alabast raises Nights Fall directly overhead and brings the blade crashing down towards Carson's face.
Cardin goes limp as the blade is stopped centimeters above his face. Alabast deactivated his aura and semblance while he tosses Carding body away from himself to the ground.
Alabast turns to the other students that watched this 'battle'.
"Anyone else want to take a shot at me!" Alabast shouts as he raises his arms to the crowd taunting anyone to try and challenge him.
It's silent. "That is quite enough Mr. Noir. Your opponent is already defeated so go change and get back to your seat. Team CRDL, collect your team leader and take him to the infirmary. Even if he wasn't hit he still passed out and needs to be checked up on"
Alabast goes to the room and changes back to his school uniform.
"Haaah. I didn't even get to hit him. Such a shame. But I think he got the message"