Chapter Eighty-Two
People can adapt to anything. With the right incentives, people can even accept impossible tasks, or do overtime work. We stood knee deep in paperwork. We scribbled things we had no right to scribble, and more often than not we'd end up grabbing Chez from her newly arrived Box, which of course she had bought as soon as she had gotten a referral code from professor Snake.
"If cute cat girls were meant to do homework, then they would have given us brains and not cuteness!" she'd hiss at whoever's turn it was to drag her out of her heated, padded box and back to the table where we drowned our sorrows amidst Geography lessons that turned to Cartography that in the end became Geometry. Because yes.
"So two miles Southwest from Atlas, there is the Pythagoras theorem settlement," Gorm said, his face blanching. "And there are rectangle people fighting for supremacy-"
"No," I grumbled. "There's the old capital of Mantle, which was then moved here to Atlas. Atlas is both the seat of the government, of the scientific research academies, and of the Huntsman Academy of the same name. It's the safest, most secure spot in all of Mantle," I glanced at the ceiling, "And also the most boring."
"We just need to survive this semester," Zhelty mumbled under her breath. "Next one we should be more than capable of going on missions-"
"If we can manage to survive this one," Gorm grumbled, his head turning slightly. "Chez, don't. You still have your part to finish."
"B-But the Box," Chez whined, half a leg already inside the devil's contraption that somehow managed to work exactly as advertised, creating a cocoon of warm safety that once closed practically guaranteed you'd feel happy and safe, and keep the Grimm away from you. It was pure genius mixed with madness, and it worked beautifully.
It even had a floating system, so if you got thrown in the sea, you'd still be able to use it as some kind of safety raft.
"Chez," I sighed, and then rummaged through the pile of papers, I found what I was looking for, and rattled the box of crunchy candies we had liberated from Atlas' kitchens. "Want a treat?"
"I would hit you for stereotyping," Zhelty muttered, half-buried in paperwork herself, "But I might rip some homework in half if I move, and I don't want to move," she began to drown in the papers. "Leave me here."
"We can do it, Zhelty," Gorm muttered. "One final stretch, one final sacrifice-and the destined King shall come to save us-"
There was a knock at the door.
As four, we stared.
Gorm's threatening hoot was accompanied by Chez' furious hissing, and Zhelty's growl was second only to mine. Had a professor forgotten to give us some extra homework? We refused. We were done for the day. Done! We would never-
"Is this the right room? Team Sizzling Sunrise?" a male voice called from beyond the door. "I'm coming in anyway. Teacher's privileges~" the voice had a sing-song quality to it, and as it opened, the spiky-blond haired man known as Professor Vash stepped inside and raised his left prosthetic arm in a friendly greeting. "Yoh!" he said cheerfully. "Which of you is the Schnee?"
"Me," Chez said, raising her hand. "I am Wren Schnee!"
"No, I am Wren Schnee!" Zhelty said stubbornly, one hand emerging from the paperwork.
"I am Wren Schnee!" Gorm added, and I simply sighed and raised a hand in turn.
"I'm Wren Schnee," I grumbled.
"The last one sounded the most sincerely annoyed," Professor Vash said. He winced at the sight of the work in front of us. "Now, technically I just need him, but how about you make it a team exercise and you all tag along?"
"Tag along where?" Zhelty asked, her head emerging next as she was wriggling free like a worm coming out of its burrow for some sun.
"Is it somewhere fun?" Chez asked.
Professor Vash smiled, a pair of small glasses finding their way on the tip of his nose. "Depends on your definition of fun. Does beating up first year students count as fun? Who can say. Some people like it, some people find it-"
We were already assembled in front of him. "I would have a revolt on my hands if I refused," I muttered. "Team Sizzling Sunrise, reporting for duty sir."
"That's great," Professor Vash smiled. "Let's show you where you can go do my job for me," he chuckled as he began to walk, a hand emerging from his pocket with a doughnut finding its way to his mouth, whistling a catchy tune as we closed the door behind us and followed him religiously like small ducklings seeking to make mama duck proud. He was leading us to a place we could have fun; what was there not to like about it?
He was our favorite professor already. Even if we had met and talked for just five seconds, we were already aboard.
Even if we were probably going to do his job for him, we still would approve of him as the best teacher of Atlas Academy.
When we stepped into the Combat Arena, there were quite a few first year students standing on the benches and looking at us. "Hello my students!" he made a V sign at the Atlas students and winked, "As we all know, Remnant is made of love and peace, but the Grimm kind of ruin the picture. Sometimes you're going to have to face Grimm, and sometimes you're going to have to face brigands, bandits, or even worst, bandit-huntsmen," he filched another doughnut from his other pocket, threw it in the air and let it roll across his shoulders before grabbing it with his other hand. "There's a lot of nasty outside the Academy, and yet humanity keeps surviving, thanks in no small part to experienced huntsmen fighting for our continued survival."
He grinned as the single doughnut in his hand became four, as if it were a card and he a cheap magician. "So we have an experienced second year team who's got a lot more experience on the matter than other teams, and I decided to magnanimously let them enjoy themselves beating you lot up a bit." The four doughnuts returned to being only one, which he bit on. "You're in your second Semester already, and most of you should have already done their routine first mission shadowing an experienced huntsman. Some of you may have fought Grimm, but you've never been in real danger."
He placed both hands behind his head, and finished swallowing the doughnut. "Now, normally, I'd just bring you all on a field trip out in the frozen wastes of Atlas to see if Professor Snake's lessons have stuck while looking for a pack of Grimm adapted to the frozen wastes," Professor Vash said, "But I'm not going to bother with that. Instead, you're going to come down and we're going to use the Schnee hereby provided to get him to summon Grimm for you to fight."
I blinked at that. "Seriously?"
"Well, in the meantime his teammates can beat the crap out of whoever's not taking a turn fighting Grimm," Professor Vash acquiesced. "Of course, if you're capable of summoning them? Your older sister spoke highly of your abilities with your family's semblance-even surpassing hers, or so she said."
I raised an eyebrow at that. I was relatively sure this was just all Winter's fault and her unneeded gushing over her younger siblings.
Still, as I looked amidst the students on the benches my eyes fell to a furiously arms-waving figure of one Penny Polendina.
I grinned at that and gave her a wave back.
"That is my potential boyfriend right there!" Penny exclaimed loudly as people glanced at her to understand the gestures she was making.
"You wish!" Chez retorted. "That's my kittens' father you're trying to claim!"
Zhelty's fist was merciless.
Professor Vash gave me a thumbs-up. "Love and Peace. You've got the first one down at least."
"Can we make bets on ourselves winning?" Gorm asked as the first team of hopeful meat-shields came down ready to face my summoned Grimm, while another one instead moved to fight off against the trio of my teammates without me by their side to guide them, and lead them, and nurture them and-and they were all going to win, or so help me I was going to drag their sorry asses back to training as hard as we first did while in Vacuo.
"Meh," Professor Vash made a so-so gesture. "Don't want to ruin their hopes and dreams so much."
"You mean like that's not what huntsman teaching is all about?" Zhelty asked, puzzled. "Our professors told us that breaking us in early and making us cynical would without a doubt make us less likely to attract Grimm in general."
"They'd be walking balls of cynicism," Professor Vash retorted. "Better they seek a paradise of green pastures than to end up miserable balls of sorrow."
Zhelty shrugged. "Whatever rocks your boat. As long as I get to beat them up, how they feel about the world isn't really an issue."
Chez revved her Alice in chainsaw mode. Gorm quietly began to spin his Archimedes. Zhelty flexed her arm, her Alphonse popping her turrets out.
I, instead, too a seat at the far end of the arena and glanced at my group of four students ready to fight, and get beaten, by summoned Grimm.
"How hard should I make it?" I asked before getting started. "A single one, a pack...an experienced one, and elder Grimm-"
"Make it doable," Professor Vash said as he jumped past the hard-light shields protecting the stands and then landing on an empty bench, grabbing another doughnut from one of his pockets and laying down on the bench in question with one hand as a pillow. "I'll be grading their performances. The better they fight, the more their mark will be good."
I gave a nod. "So," I said as a Schnee Glyph appeared in front of me. "Let's start with the classics."
I snapped my fingers, and a pack of six Beowolves appeared from the glyph. Their furs white, their eyes icy-blue, they sniffed the air uncertain of their task.
"The four in front of you," I said. "Attack!"
Then all was a tornado of claws, fangs and fur...
...met with the fierce heroism of steel, bullets and Dust.
