Chapter 4:

The Tiger and the Dragon

"Hmm, team RWZY? Team ZWRY, team WRZY, oh, nothing works. Come on, a little help guys," pleaded Ruby to her remaining two teammates as they entered cafeteria.

"What about team WZYR like fuzzy wuzzier? I mean the fuzziness has got to go up whether we include the new Blake or Zwei," suggested Yang as she scratched the corgi in question.

"Great idea sis," agreed Ruby as she bounced cheerfully to her sister's side. Ruby scooped the puppy from her sister's arms and spun around with the corgi in her arms. Apparently content with its new owner, the corgi barked happily. "See Zwei agrees too! Who's a good new teammate?"

"We are not replacing Blake with your dog," said Weiss before Ruby could descend into inane puppy talk.

"Blake has a number of admirable qualities that she brings to the team: intelligence, subtlety, fighting skill... cute ears, although Zwei has those too," continued Weiss while staring at the ears in question. "What does Zwei bring to the table? Only drool..." The puppy continued to stare at Weiss with his tongue out and tail wagging cheerfully. "Cute Ears..." The dog's puppy eyes focused on the heiress. "And absolute adorableness! He won't make sarcastic comments, brood about the White Fang, or cause team drama. Who'sa cutest new member of team RWBY," she cooed as inane puppy talk won the day.

The cat on Glynda's shoulder hissed following the heiress' comment. Admittedly, the corgi in Ruby's arms was also a likely culprit.

"Why, umm... hello, a fine afternoon to you, Blake, professor," stammered Weiss. "Is there anything team RWBY can do for you?"

"Not to worry Ms. Schnee," Glynda assured the nervous heiress, "I am well aware that you were not responsible for the earlier conflict. Your teammates, on the other hand, are a different matter."

The sisters in question gulped and slid a step back.

"Umm, yes, we're sorry, things did get a bit out of hand, you know how things can get," said Ruby in a rapid jumble of words. "Uh, yes, very sorry, and, uh, you know," continued the smaller sister as she held the corgi in front of her like some kind of protective charm. "Please forgive us," pleaded Ruby while shrinking further behind the dog and doing her best to imitate said puppy's eyes.

The protective puppy charm combined with Ruby's own inherent adorableness appeared to sway Glynda. "Very well Ms. Rose, apology accepted," said the witch primly.

"Uh yeah... sorry too, prof," Yang added casually.

Lacking either a corgi or her sister's weapons-grade cuteness, the blond's casual reply was somewhat less effective. The witch's riding crop flicked to the blond and the girl vanished. The transformation took somewhat longer than average as a massive golden-scaled beast uncoiled itself from where the girl once stood. The creature was easily sixty feet long with a snake-like body and an extravagant golden mane. A casual flick of its tail flipped a pair of tables through the air and carelessly smashed another into kindling as it rose from the floor.

Fortunately, the majority of Beacon's students were rational, intelligent individuals... well, that wasn't entirely true. A non-trivial percentage of Beacon's student body were borderline sociopaths all to eager to solve any and every problem they encountered by bashing it repeatedly with whatever gun/explosive murder device their demented little brains had concocted. Still, life at Beacon had imbued the majority of its students with excellent survival instincts or barring that, at least, the ability to smell crazy. As such, the majority of students had fled upon Glynda's arrival.

"Woah, this is awesome," bellowed the beast as an enormous gout of flame emerged from its mouth and blew out one of the cafeteria windows. By this point, a well-practiced mass evacuation of the cafeteria had already begun.

"Uh, woops," the dragon roared in an almost recognizable voice.

"Enough," snarled Glynda. The witch snapped her wand up instants before the dragon's head smashed through a flagpole and the creature transformed once more, this time into a screaming blond who promptly fell thirty feet to the floor.

"Do it again! Do it again," cheered Yang as she leaped back to her feet and bounced in front of Glynda.

"Wow sis, that was awesome," squealed Ruby. The bouncing proved to be contagious and soon both sisters were hopping up and down, the activity naturally drawing the eye of the few remaining students who lacked either the common sense or survival instincts to flee the cafeteria.

Glynda sighed, "I'll deal with you both later. Oh, take care of Ms. Belladonna would you. Cats aren't as relaxing as I'd hoped."

Blake was grumpy. She'd been deprived of her prey by a being that ought to have listened to her. The witch had been moderately accommodating, providing Blake with the appropriate amount of petting, food, warmth, and some amount of amusement. But perhaps, it had too much to expect of a human. And this latest outrage was simp...

She was jolted from her feline meditations as she was unceremoniously flung towards a very familiar mass of blond hair. Blake found herself in the blond's arms. The girl was a friend, a partner, Yang... Blake recalled. She would treat Blake right, even if the girl did have a peculiar fondness for the fuzzy, drooling enemy. In fact, the adoring attention of three humans rather than one might even be advantageous.

Yang's arms were pleasantly warm, a fitting place for a being of Blake's elegance. Strong fingers massaged Blake's coat and snaked a path across Blake's fur. Out of the corner of her eye, Blake noticed Ruby leaning towards her wearing expression of undisguised joy and curiosity. More to the point, her leader was completely ignoring the beast in her arms. The world as it should be.

Blake gave a low purr as Yang's delicious fingers traced careless patterns around her ears. Yet, such perfection was a delicate and fragile thing.

"So cute," Yang and Ruby squealed in sisterly unison.

Blake accepted her team's natural human reactions. Unfortunately, Yang had stopped her petting in order to wrap Blake in a tight hug. It was warm and not entirely unpleasant but meant that her partner had stopped her proper role of lavishing Blake's coat with attention. Still, Blake supposed she could accept a moment or two of distraction from her partner so long as the human resumed her proper role quickly. Still enough was enough. Coats didn't pet themselves.

Instead, the blond's hug grew tighter.

Release me, human!

The sound came out as a muted mew as the mighty blond continued to squeeze.

Ruby, help!

Weiss?

The world faded to black.

"Aww... poor thing, I think she went to sleep."

Professor Ozpin signed and closed his scroll.

Addendum:
Corgi's semblance may include some form of mind control. Previous observations suggested enhanced durability and immunity to flame. Conversion of thermal energy into increased durability/aura? A more general effect is also possible. Perhaps he drains the intellect of surrounding creatures and coverts it into enhanced toughness. Also has anyone considered the possibility that the corgi was Glynda's first victim?

Addendum II:
Ms. Xiao Long added to list. Increased combat power greater than average after transformation. Worthy avenue of study. Further experimentation should be conducted away from populated areas, including Beacon. Property damage, problematic.

Addendum III:
Father may also be suitable candidate. Bait and provocation necessary. Forever Fall suitable?