RWBY: Child of Grimm - Reloaded

8: See You Later

Months have passed since Ryu struck the killing blow against the Celestine Devil and a few things have changed. For starters, Ryu surprisingly spent less time with his father. When Qrow asked him about it, Ryu answered that less time spent with him meant more time spent alive. That said, the time he spent with his father could never be called wasted. They laughed, they argued, they played, he even paid proper attention during his father's lessons. If they were a family of humans, not one person would see anything but a perfectly normal, happy family. That was exactly what both of them wanted. One last year where they could be a family.

The second change came about with Qrow. The amount of lessons spiked by three times. He took the boy's lessons far more seriously as well, even going so far as to stay sober for a whole morning, just to make sure the boy was taught everything he needed. The time had to arrive eventually, however, for Qrow and the two cave dwellers to say their goodbyes. One final lesson remained, then they would have to go their seperate ways.

"Ready, kid?" Qrow placed the unnamed blade over his shoulder, eyeing up the boy in front of him. While Qrow, not phased by his opponents focused gaze, stood lackadaisically, Ryu stood a few metres away with Dragon Fang gripped tightly in his right hand. "As ready as I could be." Ryu responded with a firm tone, prepared for what was to come. Qrow lowered his blade to the ground and dragged it around himself, drawing an average sized circle with himself at the centre. "Twenty moves. If you can get me an inch outside, you win." Ryu gulped nervously. "And remember, the purpose of this isn't just to test you. It's to show you that you don't need to knock out or kill your opponent to win. Keep 'em distracted, tire them out, flee, keep the fight going until your allies show up and most importantly, survive. As long as you survive, you haven't lost." Qrow's serious demeanour quickly have way to a cocky smirk.

"Now come on. Show me what you've got." Qrow was confident. The boy could tell that much from his face and his posture. He had no doubt in his mind that his teacher would not make the task as easy as it sounded. "Well? You coming or wha-" Ryu charged towards Qrow, swinging his blade as he neared his target. The sound of steel clashing against steel rang out as their blades pushed against each other. "That's one." Qrow's smirk widened into a proper, arrogant smile.

Ryu clicked his tongue, stepping away before rushing back in with four consecutive strikes. "Come oooon. You're gonna have to try harder than that." Qrow taunted the boy, prompting his young student to swing down at him with a wide arc. The inebriated teacher responded with style, shifting his body to the side to allow the blade to harmlessly strike the ground. "And that's six." Qrow placed his foot on Dragon Fang's guard, keeping it locked against the ground. "Wha-" Ryu let out a short, mumbled cry of confusion as Qrow focused his aura to the ring on his finger and slammed his clenched fist into the boy's open side.

Ryu suddenly found himself treated like a rag doll, tossed across the hard ground. Knowing exactly how it would feel if he let himself stop naturally, most likely via a tree or rock, he reached out with his hand and dug his fingers into the ground. When he eventually skidded to a stop, he glanced up to see Qrow chuckling at his misfortune with both swords in his hands. "I thought you were not going to attack me!?" Qrow continued to chuckle at the accusatory question. "Now, when did I say that?" Ryu had no response, growling in annoyance.

"Your opponents are usually gonna be grimm or bandits. I'm testing you to see if you're ready to face them." Qrow lackadaisically lobbed the unnamed blade to the boy who caught the hilt in his right hand. "They're not gonna play fair, so why should I?" Ryu thought on his mentor's words for a moment. Not only did they make sense but it was also something he should have expected from his teacher. He had almost forgotten about Qrow's more playful, annoying side after he had started taking his lessons so much more seriously.