The Girl In the Crater

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Primary Writer: Keir Revival

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Editor: JohnDoe117

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Upon realizing the ring’s powers were real, Cardin hurried back to the main pathway. He was hoping to find another student who had lingered, but Cardin wasn’t optimistic. Most students should have made it to the auditorium by now.

Consequently, he was surprised to find a young woman lying in a crater.

She was scrawnier than most hunters and huntresses were, something Cardin noted would adversely affect her speed and strength. Each of her strides would carry her a shorter distance than someone taller. She wouldn’t be able to wield as heavy a weapon or move it as quickly as someone who was bulkier. And her skin was pale.

During the final two years of combat school, hunters and huntresses were allowed to begin live combat training. Teachers would lead squads of students into the wilderness and encourage them to engage lesser Grimm- Beowolves, Ursae, and Creepers- on their own. The teacher would only intervene if the student were losing.

Because the students were minors- sixteen and seventeen years old- the live combat training was optional. To participate, the students and their parents had to sign waivers agreeing the schools weren’t liable for any injuries and deaths during the exercise. Some opted out. Some couldn’t bring themselves to sign the waivers and risk their lives for training. Those cowards always had pale skin.

Real hunters and huntresses had tans. Their duty was to enter the wilderness and fight Grimm, not cower in classrooms.

The woman’s outfit reinforced Cardin’s opinion she wasn’t a real huntress. Her heels were awful for balance, her cape was begging to be grabbed, and her combat skirt meant her panties would be on display every time she jumped or did a flip. There wasn’t a speck of armor on her. Any blow she took would have to be nullified with aura.

Her only redeeming feature was her looks; even there, she fell short. She was cuter than the average civilian but fell short by huntress standards—soft instead of toned, pale instead of sun-kissed, scrawny instead of busty. The only thing exceptional about her appearance was her eyes. Cardin didn’t think he’d ever seen silver eyes before. They made him think of moonlight- calm and serene.

Cardin offered her a hand and introduced himself. In response, the young woman offered her name. Ruby Rose.

“What were you doing in the crater, Ruby?”

Ruby fidgeted. “Well, there was this girl, and we got into an argument. She started to wave around a canister of Dust, and then I sneezed. And exploded.”

“You should probably avoid her,” Cardin said. His thumb rubbed against his ring. It was still room temperature.

“First day at Beacon, and I’ve already made a negative friend,” Ruby muttered, morose. “Great.”

“Your friends didn’t get into Beacon?”

“I graduated early from Signal,” Ruby said. “I left everyone I knew behind. I have my sister, Yang, but I doubt we’ll be on the same team.”

Cardin reassessed Ruby’s competence as a huntress. “You’re a prodigy?”

Ruby looked embarrassed. “I’m a normal girl with normal knees!” What? “I just ran into a dust thief and got into a fight. Then I met Professor Ozpin, and he invited me to Beacon. That’s it.”

“And you fought Roman Torchwick?” Cardin- and almost everyone in Vale- had been keeping up with the string of dust heists orchestrated by Roman Torchwick and his hooligans. The thefts created an artificial shortage, which made everything more expensive.

Food, for instance, was transported into the city on trucks that ran on dust. Because dust had been rising in price, transportation costs also increased. Consequently, to remain profitable, businesses had to raise the price of food. Similarly, the cost of heating homes had been rising, as had the price of electronics, and most significantly for hunters, the cost of ammunition.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state Roman Torchwick was the most hated man in Vale at the moment. VNN spent at least an hour a day lambasting police for failing to arrest him.

Ruby grimaced. “I didn’t win. I beat a lot of his helpers, though.”

Torchwick’s followers didn’t have aura. Any hunter should be able to beat them. It wouldn’t warrant an invitation to the best Hunter Academy in the world. “That can’t be all you did,” Cardin coaxed. “Don’t be shy. You can tell me what happened.” The World Ring warmed, and a minuscule amount of his aura- less than a percentage- disappeared.

“I’m telling you the truth! I ran into Torchwick and his goons at a shop called 'From Dust Till Dawn.'” I stopped the robbery and beat some of his henchmen. After that, Torchwick tried to run away with the dust, and he even shot at me from his cane-gun, which I wouldn’t have been able to dodge. Luckily, Professor Goodwitch arrived in time to save me. Unfortunately, Torchwick still got away.”

Had the ring worked? Ruby’s story was more detailed than her previous description, but that wasn’t necessarily a consequence of the ring. Moreover, nothing she said qualified her to be in Beacon, which was what Cardin was trying to uncover. If the ring worked, then it could be Ruby didn’t know why the headmaster had invited her to Beacon. Alternatively, the ring didn’t work, and Ruby was trying to hide something. If the latter was the case, the added details she provided might have been a distraction.

The mental test was inconclusive. Cardin needed something more explicit. He changed tracts. “So you don’t have any friends in Beacon.”

“I don’t have any besides my big sis.”

“Would you like one?”

Silver eyes sparkled when she heard him. “Are you offering to become my friend?” she asked.

“I think we should be best friends,” Cardin told Ruby. “You can trust me with anything. You can tell me anything.” The ring warmed when Cardin mentioned becoming best friends and consumed a dollop of aura. It heated to uncomfortable levels when he told Ruby she could tell him anything and the aura consumption increased to excessive levels. Cardin interpreted that Ruby had more resistance to the latter idea than the former.

Ruby was delighted. She pulled Cardin into a hug in a flash, practically vibrating as she did. “I made a bestie on my first day in Beacon,” she crowed. “Take that, Yang!”

Given the aura consumption, heat, and Ruby’s reaction, Cardin was reasonably sure the ring had worked but relatively certain wasn’t good enough. To ensure the ring worked, Cardin asked Ruby, “What sort of porn do you watch?” If the ring hadn’t worked, the question would be a deal-breaker. You don’t ask someone what type of porn they watch in your first conversation with them. If the ring had worked, on the other hand, then Ruby would be willing to tell Cardin anything- including what type of porn she watched.

“Yang showed me some porn with guys and girls going at it, but I didn’t like it. I thought I was weird, but Yang told me I wasn’t. Different people have different kinks. She encouraged me to keep browsing, so I did until I found lesbian porn-”

“You’re a lesbian?”

“Yeah. I haven’t told anyone yet. Can you keep this a secret?” Cardin agreed, and Ruby continued, “I don’t watch a lot of porn, but when I do, I tend to watch petite lesbians.”

If that wasn’t confirmation, Cardin didn’t know what was. Not only had Ruby answered his question, but she had also come out as a lesbian to him. Something she hadn’t even shared with her family, evidently.

A smile crossed Cardin’s face. He had a ring that gave him mind-control abilities, and he was in a school with some of the hottest girls in the world. He was going to get so much pussy.