Leon Alexander Gates
-----
Kick, ding, thump, and like a stack of twigs, Alexander put Jaune on his ass once again.
It's been that way for the past hour now on the dormitory rooftop, repeating like clockwork until Alexander's mind and body went into autopilot.
There was no room for complaint, though.
This was for Jaune's sake, and if he even wanted to make it to next year, then he better learn to take a hit.
"Ugh." Jaune groaned and sat up. "I know I asked you to help me train for a bit, but can't you hold back? Pyrrha lets me train at my own pace. She's not this hard."
"That's because she's soft."
"Gee, you think so?" He rubbed his neck. "But she's taught me so much already."
Alexander grunted.
From what he's learned, Pyrrha brought Jaune up here most nights for extra lessons ever since they returned from the Forever Fall trip, and it paid off in Combat Class.
Jaune's footwork wasn't as stiff and clumsy. His sword swings were more powerful, precise, and less predictable. Actual thought passed between each of his moves, a far cry from the guy who charged in blind and flailed his arms no better than an idiot last semester.
Pyrrha did a good job ingraining the basics into Jaune's muscles, but it was slow. At this rate, Jaune would be fit to take the initiation exam once they graduated. Train at his own pace? No. What he needed to do was keep pace with training.
That one-sided crush kept Pyrrha from doing just that. However, luckily for Jaune, Alexander was here to give that extra push.
"Again," Alexander said and took position.
"Do we really have to do it again?" said Jaune.
He waited.
"Okay." He sighed and got behind his shield. "Ready."
Alexander stepped forward and planted his heel in the sheet of metal, shoving Jaune to the floor for the hundredth time this evening.
"Again."
"I know, I know. It's just. . . " Jaune exhaled his frustrations. "Maybe it's the shield. This was my great-great grandfather's when he fought in the war. Guess it's just old."
Alexander pried the shield from him.
"Hey!"
"Kick me," he said.
His eyes widened. "Wait, what?"
"Put me on my ass."
"Well, okay." He grinned and shook his leg. "If you insist."
Jaune drove his foot in the shield, only to yelp and clutch his ankle right after.
"You're weak, Arc." Alexander towered over him. "Hold firm, always unwavering and unshaken to what's in front of you. Be the backbone or else the shield is just junk weighing you down." He returned the shield. "Work on that, and you won't be looking up as much anymore."
Jaune brightened as if he finally figured out the hardest question on a test.
"And I couldn't have said it any better."
Alexander snorted at the new voice joining them on the rooftop.
"Well done," said Pyrrha. She strolled over, garbed in her usual armour. "I'll take over from here, Alexander."
"Oh, hey, Pyrrha." Jaune dusted himself. "How'd your talk with Roderick go?"
She smiled. "It was grand."
Alexander checked the time on his scroll.
"You wanna stick around and train with us, Alexander?" Jaune said.
"No." He walked away. "I have somewhere to be."
-----
Alexander entered the training hall, searching through the rows of windows for the right room until he found it.
Inside were a collection of benches, weapon racks, and training dummies lining the walls, simple and small compared to the more advanced room they used while training with Team CFVY.
On the wide, octagonal platform in the center of the room, whipping Red Fury around himself fast enough to become a blur, Stiofan jabbed and slashed as if the air itself insulted Weiss.
"Ah, glad you could join me, my friend," said the First Guard. He hopped down and ran a forearm across his sweaty brow. "I hope you're prepared for a good evening of training, and hopefully, your knee won't be a hindrance."
Alexander glanced at his knee brace.
"And as promised," Stiofan gestured to the table with the metal bottle and the brown paper bag on it, "I brought the muffin you requested. Made by yours truly, of course."
"Chocolate?'
He smirked. "Chocolate."
What a great guy.
Stiofan grabbed the bottle. "For now, we should keep the training light to not agitate your knee any further." He sipped his drink. "With the right treatment and care, I'm sure it will improve considerably, and by then, you'll be healthy enough for the Vytal Festival Tournament."
The training room doors banged open.
An orange and pink blob whizzed by, and Ren wandered in after it.
Alexander gave his teammate a look.
"Apologies," Stiofan said. "I forgot to mention that Ren asked if he could join us in order to release Nora's pent up energy."
"Oh, my gosh!" Nora skidded to a stop in front of them and bounced on her toes. "This is like the first time we've ever trained with another team!"
"Yes, Nora," Ren said, "but I'm just helping Stiofan with Aura control. Try not to over do it while you wait."
"You got it!" She saluted and dashed around the room.
"She's quite the lady." Stiofan watched the girl buzz through a weapons rack. "I'm exhausted already."
"I've known her a long time." Ren chuckled, arms clasped behind his back. "You kinda get used to it after a while."
Nora's exhilarated laughter was a knife to the ears.
Ren massaged the creases from his forehead. "Remind me to never let Cooper give her anymore energy bars."
Several weapons clattered through the hall.
Alexander ducked before an airborne flail knocked his block off, and he imagined how flat she'd be after introducing her to his truck.
"Anyways," Stiofan cleared his throat, "your skill with Aura is exceptional, and it's a pleasure to witness during Combat Class."
"I can say the same about you as well, Stiofan," Ren said and gestured to his weapons. "Your ability to plan and coordinate attacks is impressive. I'd be grateful if you taught me your techniques in return."
"It seems we both have something we want to learn from the other." He playfully shrugged. "At this rate, I suppose you wouldn't mind if we exchanged recipes as well?"
His eyebrows rose. "You cook?"
"I do."
"Ever make pancakes?"
"On occasion."
Ren crossed his arms. "Baking soda or powder?"
"Trick question." Stiofan eyes narrowed. "An even ratio of both baking soda and powder will only do, and for extra rise and fluffiness, whipped eggs."
The side of Ren's mouth cracked. "Do you just scoop it in the pan?"
"Do you take me for an amateur?" He scoffed. "A pastry bag, and if need be, a ring."
Respect stamped Ren's face. "Butter or syrup?"
"A simple question." Stiofan held up an imaginary platter and motioned his fingers around it. "A square of butter on top before a splash of syrup. For extra presentation, fruit slices around the edges of the plate will suffice."
They clapped hands and friendship sparkled around them.
"Alexander, could you watch Nora?" Ren said. "I promise not to take long."
Before he could decline, the newly acquainted cooking buddies wandered off to the training dummies, lost in their recipe rant.
All that talk about cooking reminded Alexander about the muffin waiting for him, but when he went to get it, he was hit by a fist of disbelief.
"Mhmm, tasty!"
Alexander scowled at the chocolate smudged across Nora's face.
"Hey, Lexi." She gulped the last of the muffin and did a tongue sweep to wipe the evidence clean. "That was one of the best muffins I've ever had. You should try it."
His face twitched.
"I wanna do something fun." She put a finger on her chin and hummed. "Let's see."
He growled.
"Don't be such a party pooper, silly." She crossed her jade eyes and blew her tongue out. "Wanna fight?"
'Will you look at that?' he thought. 'You read my mind.'
Alexander changed his backpack, Tereo, into a shield. "I'll play."
Nora clasped her hands. "Really?"
He went over to the central platform. "Just get ready."
"Okie-dokie!" She bounced to the other side of the platform and pulled the grenade launcher off her back. "Haha! Prepare to feel my wrath!"
On any other day, he never would've guessed the little girl in the pink skirt to be a threat, yet the weapon in her hands paired with that maniacal grin told another story.
Something wasn't right in that head of hers.
Alexander drew Tharros out from the shield and changed his beanie to a helmet.
Nora blasted a volley of rounds his way.
No one needed to tell Alexander to haul ass, so he bolted as pink explosions rippled behind him. Nora transformed the launcher into a war hammer and leaped, crushing the floor an arm's length away. He stepped on the shaft and ripped his sword at her head. She ducked, slipped behind him, and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Up and over!"
Alexander careened until Nora used the backside of his skull to crack the tiles. She let go, and he rolled to a knee, vision shaky.
"Smash!"
The hammer shadowed above. He stepped aside and deflected the strike off his shield. A well aimed buckshot at her exposed side let out a feral snarl behind bared teeth. She hefted the hammer, thrusting it at him like a battering ram. He shield swatted it, slashed her across the chest, and fired another shot point blank.
Nora reeled but remained standing, and her grin stretched even wider as she twirled the hammer around herself the same way Stiofan did with his spear. He couldn't get close, forcing him to cover up and deflect the hammer each time it came back around.
When she stomped her foot down and fixed her grip, danger signs flared, blaring at Alexander to get away.
His bad knee buckled.
The hammer came full force. His breath hitched, and the blow hit his shield dead on, blasting him over to the edge of the platform.
The shock shivered throughout his body. He propped himself on an elbow, but a flicker of movement outside the window caught his attention. The adrenaline rushing in him slowed time to a snail's pace. His vision sharpened and honed in on the exchange students watching on the other side of the glass.
Unlike the other academies, the students of Shade wore regular clothes rather than actual uniforms, making them easy to distinguish, and among the group outside the window, one stood more than the rest.
A girl in a grey turtleneck and a lavender coat with a crossbow on her back.
"Got'cha!"
Several thumps snapped him back to the heart shaped grenade launcher rounds raining on him.
Alexander groaned and prepared for the worst.
Pink shrapnel swallowed him whole, showing him exactly how that Ursa Major in Forever Fall felt after being stung to death by Rapier Wasps, and it spat him off the platform, next to Ren and Stiofan at the end of the room.
"I see you've been keeping Nora busy," Ren said and smiled at him as if everything was going to be okay. "Don't be angry. She's always like this."
Stiofan knelt beside them. "Are you alright?"
"Haha!" Nora whooped. "Take that, Lexi. I win!"
Alexander went limp and huffed his troubles away.
-----
Tannum "Cooper" Oakwood
------
Out of the stuffy academy and strolling the lovely evening streets of Vale, Cooper soaked in the fresh air, enjoying the city's sights and sounds, and all was well until he came across a tiny gal holding a parasol.
Cooper stopped at an intersection, whistling a tune at the lights to hurry up and change so he could cross the street.
Joining him at the corner was a gal, a whole noggin shorter than himself yet didn't seem to be as young, probably a handful of years ahead of his own.
Either way, whoever she was, she certainly had style and the lien to boot.
Her designer clothes, a dark brown corset and pants and a cropped white jacket with pink accents on the lapels, cuffs, and the interior lining, matched her luscious hair, a perfect split of pinks and browns mingling down the mane.
Twiddling over her shoulder was a pink parasol which casted a dim shadow across her face.
She gave a curious glance over, smiled and nodded, and he tipped his cap in kind.
After the lights changed, they crossed the streets.
Cooper made his way to the airbus stations, and oddly enough, a pair of clacking heels stuck to him like glue for what seemed like forever.
To make matters worse, a blatant gaze poked his back.
Cooper checked over his shoulder to spot the parasol gal trailing by his tail, oh-so-innocently looking at anything else other than him.
What exactly was her deal?
"You've been following me for a while now, darling." Cooper spun and bent down to match her level. "Do you need something?"
She smirked and shrugged.
"Nothing at all?"
With a finger on her lip and a thoughtful expression scrunching her face, she paused and shook her head.
What a cheeky bugger.
The gal suddenly skipped straight ahead to a nearby ice cream parlour, and she breathed on the window, fogging it up real nice.
Running a finger across the glass, she spelt: Me, Neo. Ice cream pls.
Cooper checked the door sign: Closed.
Neo frowned and pouted up at him with beady little eyes.
Each time she blinked, as strange as it was, her irises swapped between pink, white, and brown, both eyes sometimes settling on being different colours from each other.
Oh, that's just bloody fantastic.
How was he supposed to defend himself from such a ferocious attack like that? Not only was it adorable, but it was sad, really, and he couldn't quite bear to watch anymore, considering how much it reminded him of his old self scavenging for scraps in Mistral.
Cooper flipped his coin and slapped it on the back of his hand.
The result made him grin.
He breathed on the glass and wrote: Wait here.
Neo was hit by surprised delight before Cooper went around back.
After taking a laughable pick at the door lock, Cooper let himself in, and once he made sure the coast was clear and no cameras laid about, he opened the front entrance.
Neo jumped past him, drooling over the freezer holding the sweet coloured desserts.
Now, simply sharing the loot would be proper etiquette, but that was boring enough to make him want to fall asleep. There always had to be little fun involved to keep things interesting.
Cooper skipped behind the counter and slid open the freezer.
The chilly embrace welcomed him with open arms, and he basked in the sweet party of fruity aromas enticing his nose, moistening his lips and drawing him ever closer to the delicious treats waiting on the inside.
"Alright, I'll be your server today." Cooper spun his cap around. "May I suggest you take our very special limited time offer? One scoop, two scoop, three scoop, or more! Keep count? Who needs a score? Because in this store, everything is free for sure!"
Neo clapped and nodded along.
"What's it gonna be, then?" He tapped the buckets in order. "We got black cherry, mango merry, coconut dairy, grape fairy, some kind of berry, and there's still so many! How scary."
She hovered a finger over the pink bucket and flicked two digits up.
"Two scoops for strawberry, coming right up!" He stuffed a cone and gestured back to the frozen desserts. "Any more?"
She pointed at chocolate and vanilla, also flicking up two digits.
"Two scoops of chocolate and vanilla. Nice choice." Cooper finished the cone and handed it to her. "Here you go. One three of a kind just for you."
With a playful bow as thanks, she gave the stack a long lick and cupped her cheek, exhaling a mouthful of satisfaction.
"Well, now that our business has concluded." Cooper scooped himself a cone of vanilla, tossed lien on the counter, and hopped to the door. "It's time to take my leave. Enjoy, darling."
Neo gave a small wave, and it may have been a trick of the light or glare in the window as he walked out, but her expression changed behind the pane.
Whatever the reason, his tail shivered, and he couldn't quite shake the feeling something in there was far colder than the ice cream.