Chapter 3

As the week progressed, the structure of Xavier's classes began to get more cohesive. While the demonstration area left room to be desired for some, he would primarily leave demonstrations to more advanced students that either already knew or would adapt quickly to the techniques that he attempted to impart. However, technique training was hardly the only piece of the puzzle. Much of the class would become katas while he attempted to evaluate which direction may have been best for an individual student, be it a single discipline that they took to (or was simply easier to teach), or the basics of mixed martial arts. When Friday came around, however, there was a surprise he had been saving. The usual morning crowd would gather in the hallway, but as they did,, they would find their teacher outside a closed classroom. Xavier waited for some of the usual stragglers to arrive before, with a wide grin, making an announcement.

"alright everyone, i know some of you are dead on your feet but i've got a cure for that today... we're hosting class out in the courtyard, today isn't a day for demonstrations, we're going to officially start sparring practice" Reactions were heavily mixed about this announcement, ranging from excitement to sheer fatigue to reluctant acceptance and so on.

"I've been waiting for this!"

"Oh man..."

"A-alright then."

"I'm dead..."

Once everyone was outside, they were paired off with partners from different teams to practice techniques, each team, however, would have one member selected as an advanced student. Sort of a co-instructor to help their teams focus on what was necessary. Some were obvious, Coco, Yang, Pyrrha, others not as much. Advanced students were paired with the least experienced to begin training them in ways that Xavier had assigned, the morning class was the one he was most familiar with on a personal level, and as such they had an advantage in that he could adjust the curriculum to suit the individual student as needed. As things started, everyone would perform some basic exercises, stances and katas before sparring actually began. Many took the opportunity to speak to their partner about what exactly they wanted to train in, something Xavier encouraged where he saw it, but today was more about getting a read on everyone's individual abilities than anything... Results quickly began to vary from useful to straight-up comical.

As Xavier began to tour the student body, he took note of who needed further instruction. He showered praise on the efforts of some, while attempting not to single them out but... "...mr arc, no using your aura here, your technique needs to be refined a bit before that,"

"I don't think it'd make a difference even if I knew how! HRAH!" He slammed his body against Velvet as if he was trying to break down a door more than attack anyone. And she flawlessly countered every single time, before finally getting her arm under his and putting Jaune on his back with a textbook over the shoulder throw.

"..." He stopped and observed this for a moment before giving Velvet a nod. "ms scarletina, you can take a short break, jaune?" He looked at him with a small smile. "...let's see if i can't help you out a bit here,"

Jaune was panting, laying in the grass. "Oh... p-perfect..."

Xavier finally let himself laugh a bit and offered his hand. "you're worn out already, you don't train much do you?"

"Well uhh... I-I tend to train everything like uh... All at once, when I do so... No." He took his hand and stood up, wiping off his brow.

Xavier shook his head a bit. "not the best way to do it, when you train your body, focus on different parts over different days... now," He takes up a boxing stance. "i want you to come at me, try to think of why your strategy hasn't worked so far"

"Yeah, I remember hearing something like that once..." He rolled his eyes a bit, Pyrrha telling him the same thing last night. He put up his dukes and sort of... Started running with no plan, and no stance, before again lowering his body and putting the force all on his right shoulder, trying to knock him to the ground.

He grabbed Jaune's shoulder almost immediately, side-stepping and nearly putting Jaune flat on his face before catching him by the hood, and pulling him back to his feet. "you’re going to need some work... we’ll have to start from scratch if you think charging in with a shoulder tackle is a good way to fight an aware opponent" He practically grimaced that someone could even be so unprepared.

"Y-yeah well... I’m more of a sword and shield guy, not really here to... Punch things?” He awkwardly tried to excuse himself there.

"it's time to learn though, throwing your weight forward won't do much, charging like that will just end up with you on your ass... now," He took up a low guard stance. "do as i do"

"Well, uh... you know. If I do that someone else will come in for the kill and all that, right?" He took the stance anyway, improperly.

"in live combat yes," He chuckled a bit and demonstrated a quick combination. 2 jabs and a lunging hook. "...two swift jabs, and a hook, now you,"

Pyrrha stepped over with a bit of a blush, waving at Jaune. "Professor, D-do you mind if I step in?"

He looked over at her and nodded. "i don't mind at all, your other partner seems to be doing well... i think today his focus should be on shadowboxing," That was, to say, rehearsing a basic set of punches until they became ingrained in muscle memory. "everyone needs to start with the basics”

"Of course." She nodded a little bit, Jaune seemed relieved to have her come to his rescue. As she had no problems getting up close and physically adjusting his improper stance...

He observed for a moment before giving her a knowing smile, and moving onto... "ruby," He hadn't set her up with Yang to train, and for a reason. He had a good idea about what she should learn in particular, and as such, put her against someone that could make that work. "how are you coming along?"

"Hrmpmrhp." She was face down in the dirt, pushing off the ground to pull herself out of a face-shaped indent...

"S-sorry..." The much larger Yatsuhashi rubbed the back of his neck as he was torn between helping Ruby up or letting her do this herself.

Xavier blinked in surprise for a second before taking a deep breath. "okay ruby, pick yourself up there and i'll show you how to get around what just happened..." He smiled at Yatsuhashi. "your restraint is noted and appreciated,"

"I don't know If I can take being thrown again..." He laughed a little bit, backing away from Xavier.

"i won't actually throw you, just show her how," That... didn't make it seem better. "don't worry i'll have dummies soon for throwing practice i just haven't had time to make them," Nor any discussion with Glynda on buying them, admittedly. An oversight for sure, but one he had always forgotten when he actually got the opportunity.

Yatsuhashi sighed a bit, rubbing his shaved head. "Alright... But next time you're showing me how to get out of that." He lined up, moving to an angle so Ruby could see.

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"i'll show you this time too, but there won't be any follow-through to this demonstration," Once Ruby was back on her feet, he explained briefly about motion and leverage before showing what she should do, get your opponent's arm under yours, shift your feet to unbalance them, and twist. "...this is a very basic but effective throw, ...the way to get out of it is, once your arm is grabbed, plant your feet, grab your opponent's right arm and push forward" He was giving him the opportunity for some revenge it seemed. One that Yatsuhashi didn't take him up on, though seemed grateful for.

"Oooooh, that's how you do it!" Ruby's disposition shifted quite a bit from that, however... "So... How do you get strong enough to lift someone that big though?" She smiled innocently, still completely lost.

"it's not about strength, it's all about momentum," He paused for a brief moment and nodded to Yatsuhashi, who took the sign to take a break. "ruby, truth be told i think judo is the best art for you to learn, you'll probably specialize in how to throw bigger opponents but for now..." He would move a few steps away and place his knife on the ground. "oh, if anyone wants to, you can try to pick that up without aura for extra credit, but anyway..." He smiled at Ruby. "i want you to try and use what i just showed you on me"

Cardin bent over to attempt just that... It was heavier than he anticipated, but when he got a better grip he picked it up just a little before dropping and... embedding it in the dirt on accident. That caught the attention of a few other students, but even as tired as she was, Blake couldn't help but smile at the open challenge as she remembered the first night at Beacon.

"Um... O-okay. Let's do this!" Ruby laughed nervously.

Xavier nodded and took a boxing stance with his left arm out for once, figuring that not going southpaw would help for demonstration purposes. "remember, turn, grab, slide, twist" Gods above he hoped no one made a saucy joke out of that. Ruby would get into position with her guard up, and the punch that Xavier threw towards her face was perfectly angled and slow enough to let Ruby do what she needed to...

"AH!" She immediately caught his arm. "TRUNGRABSLDIETWIST!" She used her semblance to lunge into place before he was close enough, doing exactly as he said with wayyyy too much speed and force, launching his ass into the air. Xavier made a noise somewhere between excitement and terror as he was forcibly launched a few dozen meters upwards and then... He landed, hard. Making a bigger impact crater than Cardin would have from dropping the knife above his head. That probably got everyone's attention. Most of them were astonished... But then wound up crowding around Ruby and cheering! She was lifted up onto the shoulders of a few as chants of her name came from all around. A few of the more mature students, however, came to make sure he was alright, Namely Velvet.

"A-are you okay, professor..?"

Xavier slowly sat up from his small crater as best he could, there being a considerable pain racking his entire body. He uncaptchalogued a bottle of Faygo, labeled as "Squiddlescently Rainbow Influx Revival Flavor". The bottle itself was fairly basic, however, the liquid inside was rapidly changing colors, and upon opening it, it settled on red. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before taking a drink and... Hopping right back up, panting heavily. "ah fuckfuckfuckfuck, hothothothot!"

"Ah! S-sir?" Velvet quickly hopped down into the crater herself, despite Coco trying to grab her before she could. Velvet made her way over to Xavier, trying to console him or take the soda from him or... anything helpful, really!

After a moment of heavy breathing and blowing on his tongue, he calmed down enough to speak again. "sorry! sorry i'm fine... man, that may have broke a few bones if.. nevermind," He turned to Velvet and smiled as he added the strange drink back to his inventory. "miss scarletina, i appreciate your concern, are you alright?" Helluva thing to ask at the moment.

"Huh?" She blushed just a little, laughing. "I-I'm fine! I'm worried about you, sir!"

Xavier shrugged it off as he looked back up for a moment. The crowd had died down and students were simply chatting and waiting once more. Xavier gave a sly smile. "i've had worse, any day you don't get stabbed in the chest is a good one," He fought an instinct to pat her on the head, that may have gone just as bad as it would with Blake. Nevertheless... "we should get back to the others, want to see something funny?"

"Um... Sure?" She smiled nervously, waiting to see what he'd do. Xavier slowly rose from the crater, floating upwards with a grim expression on his face before taking a few steps forward, seemingly walking on air. His tone was deep (for him) as he spoke.

"ruby."

The entire crowd absolutely SCATTERED. Most of them fleeing all the way inside the school and away from class, the rest lining up by the wall as far from him as they could get... Ruby's face turned pale white as she turned... Her team the only ones to stand by her. Weiss gave Xavier a harsh glare, and undoubtedly had just as harsh words. Blake seemed uneasy when he made that face, biting her lip and keeping her hands behind her back. Yang meanwhile raised a brow and folded her arms over her chest, unsure of what to expect. Ruby stepped forward and lowered her head. "I-I-I'm sorry!"

He leaned in close once he got within a few steps of her, to eye level once Ruby raised her head a bit, and... Smiled. "don't be" He almost immediately laughed once he saw her expression of terror and surprise. He wasn't the only one, as Yang busted out laughing. Blake sighed with relief and visibly relaxed. Xavier continued. "that was frickin creative, your technique was good too! but next time, don't use your semblance okay? that kind of defeats the purpose of the training,"

"Um... Does it?" By now, Coco had helped Velvet out of the crater and the rest of team CVFY stood close by, all looking at Xavier with various stages of confusion, though Velvet seemed especially offput. She blushed a bit more... Obviously she was using nothing but her semblance since class began a few weeks ago.

Xavier, however, didn't seem to realize that exactly. Upon her questioning, he nods. "outside of class, feel free to experiment, however right here? i want to make sure you can use these moves properly with no special outliers, you've got to know what you're doing without your tools before you can incorporate them, does that make sense?" It was how he was taught, the body was the first weapon to master before anything else could be used. However, Velvet seemed hesitant to accept that answer.

"I suppose so... But a semblance is a tool you're never without, right? So it shouldn't matter too much..." She smiled a little bit. "I don't think it'd be too bad to practice with them, especially considering most people's wouldn't apply anyway." She clapped her hands together. "Take our team! I'm the only one whose semblance would have any use in hand to hand combat, but the others would be placed at a disadvantage when unarmed, meaning that it would be even more important for them to train with it than others, while those whose semblances are still in effect would have to train less, or even train to use their semblance in conjunction with hand to hand! Likewise those whose semblances aren't effective without their weapons would definitely need to practice being in such an asymmetrical scenario in which they're at a clear disadvantage, and furthermore..." She blushed dark, noticing the entirety of team RWBY staring at her with their mouths gaping open... her ears drooped and she looked away. "Or something like that..."

He also needed to pick his jaw up off the floor throughout that explanation. "...you know, i honestly hadn't thought of that," His outside perspective aside, he had to consider just how commonly his own abilities were used in combat just as often as the foundations of his original training, perhaps he wasn't entirely wrong per-se, but... "...a semblance is unique to the user so, ...well standardized education was always a bad idea," He shrugs. "i'll give you that miss scarletina, you're on your way to an a+ with that kind of effort"

Velvet's ears perked right back up as she gave a harsh blush. "U-uhm... th-thank you, um, s-sir... Um... B-bye!" And she dashed off, the rest of her team in moderate pursuit and waving their goodbyes. Coco was even laughing at the whole situation, saying something to the boys that Xavier couldn't quite make out.

He instead turned to team RWBY. "we'll call that time for today, ...but try not to give me that kind of distance next time ruby?" He paused for a moment before adding. "or... anyone else for that matter"

"um... R-right!” She nodded before commanding the rest of her team to move out, and so they quickly scurried off, Blake giving Xavier a small smile as she left. And now, he was all alone, Save for Yang...

"Preeeetty fun class today, Teach!" She remarked while stretching before placing her hands behind her head in a laid back manner. Her bright smile showed that she very much enjoyed herself today.

Xavier chuckled a bit as he searched for a cigarette. "thanks, i think i'll make this weekly, give the class something to look forward to on fridays..."

Yang nodded. "Yeah. Shame I can't get a ship downtown tonight, huh?" She swayed her hips a bit as she stood. With the placement of her hands, it showed off quite a bit. "We've got a date with the dance clubs, riiight~?"

Xavier nodded, blushing a bit as he turned his head from the display. "we do, but that's tomorrow..." He chuckled a bit, though, in the back of his mind there was still something that told him he had unfinished business... "tell you what, i'll cut you a deal,"

Yang gave him a curious glance before deciding to find out.. "Yeah? What's that?" She smiled a bit, crossing her arms under her chest and giving him a side eye.

"i'm gonna take the night to sort some stuff out, could use a little less confusion, ...but if i can get that, i'm yours all tomorrow, how's that sound?"

"ehhh..." She sighed, deflating a little. "Kinda sounds like you don't want me around confusing you..."

Xavier raised a brow, not thinking she would put it so bluntly. He gave a short sigh and shrugged. "...i'd like to be sure, or hell, even know when i'll be sure,"

She nodded. "Alright... But that means if you don't cancel on me tomorrow, I'll know you're sure." She smiled brightly. "Which means I am not gonna hold back!"

"if i tried to cancel on you i'd get my ass kicked," He laughed a bit. "...even if not, i don't break a promise," He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Now they were even. "...get to class, miss xiao long"

"Yes, Siiirr~" She blushed a little, sticking her tongue out as she walked away, swaying her hips and hoping he was staring as she left... He almost couldn't help himself... but whenever he was with her, he always wondered what she saw in him, ...and what their kids would look like but that was neither here nor there.