Bangs and bruises: Chapter 4

PEACH; (En route to cafeteria...)

She had missed a few non important classes but she wanted to get some advice from her brother, who was happy to help her out. She was making her way to the cafeteria for dinner, as she had already missed Rouge in the library, she figured she would be early, being dinner was not for another 15 minutes. She expected to find Hero and Ariel, whom she knew should be out by now, and she was expecting Rouge to waltz in late like nothing ever happened, but she was not expecting what she saw when she walked in. Rouge, sitting with Goodwitche's daughter, two plates towering with food in front of them, probably taller then Rouge herself, as she devoured some ribs, while sipping coffee and laughing with the Goodwitch girl. Rouge looked up towards Peach and instantly beamed and smiled.

"Ayeeee, Groot!" She waved the taller knight over, and she just sighed. Rouge was in rare form. She was a little upset that the little fashionista was not that open with her own teammate as she was to this random girl already on day two, but closed down on the feeling. Peach made her way over to the two giggling girls that were stuffing there faces with food. Something was off.

"You actually let this coffee brat get away with that name?" Rouge just giggled with a drum stick and half a pancake sticking out of her mouth. Something was really off.

"Weelll," Rouge, thankfully, swallowed the pancake and took the drumstick out her mouth before she spoke. "She probably didn't want to have to beat me to a pulp!" The blond snorted at that. Peach made her way over to the side of Rouge and looked down at her. Rouge looked up at her cheesing, and Peach noticed the blood shot eyes behind the shades.

"Your dusted aren't you?" The blond lost her tea through her nose and Rouge got lost in a giggle fit. She couldn't believe it, well, considering who she was, maybe it was expected.

"Dayyyumm, am I the only one who doesn't know about certain dusty effects? See what happened was..." Rouge started to say as the blond elbowed her.

"Don't let Hero catch you like this, he won't be too pleased." Rouge seemed to gather her composure for a quick second.

"Hero boy? Where is that beautiful snow cat anyways?"

"The white haired Fox?" The blond questioned

"Cat, no, snow leopard!" Rouge corrected with a giggle. She really hoped the girl kept her shades on.

"OH, hes such a cutie!"

"Tell me about it! His skin is velvet soft and when you rub his ears he has the cutest purr!"

"Oh my god! I so have to meet him!"

"Yeah... but I think him and Jaws may have a thing going on." Rouge said sadly.

"Aww booo, oh well. Kayreen Goodwitch, by the way." The blond said holding her hand out to Peach, who hesitated before she shook it.

"Don't you mean Angel Dust?" Rouge snorted.

"Peach Arc."

"Ohh, sister to Jaune Arc?"

"That would be me." Peach replied

"I do love my blonds!" she elbowed Rouge who was inhaling the rest of her ribs "But thanks for introducing your partner Rocket, rude bitch!" Kayreen teased. Yeah thanks a lot Peach thought to herself. "After all you told me about her and how cool she was I thought you would have been happy to see her." Peach raised her eyebrow in confusion. Cool?

"This true Rocket?" Rouge blushed and chocked on a bone, while looking up at her taller partner,

"Hey Groot! When did you get here?!" She grabbed her hand while laughing, finally pulling her down to sit next to her.

"Much better!" Peach just shook her head. "And yes," Rouge managed to put a serious tone on, despite the ear to ear grin she had. "She may be silent most the time," Rouge glanced at Peach with a blood shot eye, "well maybe all the time. But she got it where it counts. I'll open her up, by the way its only day two right?"

"Here here." Kayreen said as she toasted Rouge with her mug, coffee to tea. Well at least her partner held her in a high regard, she would just have to break out of her shell. But Rouge was such a fun loving little girl. The only thing she had thought to do with her partner was study. Ughhh curse my stiffness. She looked over to see Rouge studying her. She then ran a hand across Peach's back.

"Are you okay Peach?" She was shocked to hear the part of her name come out of her lips. And she smiled softly at the dusted fashonista.

"I'm wonderful, thank you Rocket."

"Good to know Groot!" And... moment passed. "Hey Groot you thirsty, I hate tea but I got you!" Rouge leaped up wobbly, and skipped over to the juice bar.

"She's a good kid ya know." Peach glared at her fellow blond.

"And yet you went and got her dusted!"

"Oh calm down, she's a grown woman despite her size. Older then me at least. Besides, it's not like there is any laws against smoking dust." The blue eyed girl rolled her eyes, and winked at her. She could tell that she was dusted as well, but she was a pro. "Don't worry I'm not as heartless as my mother, I'll make sure she's safe."

"What about your own partner?"

"Who Spartan?" She burst out in laughter, " One, he can take care of himself. Two, he doesn't fully approve of what I do yet. Besides, the kid is terrified of who my mother is." She took another sip of her tea "Honestly, before Rouge no one even thought to say a single word to me. Being Goodwitches daugther has given me ZERO perks. But here comes this tiny coffee brat and the first thing she says to me is an insult." the dust head laughed. Yup that sounded like the Rouge she knew. "People won't even speak to me cause they figure I'm some stiff like her, or I'm some spy. Besides the fact that I've been living in her shadow since birth. So I have not really," she glanced in the direction of the juice bar "ever had a friend before." She said in a plain voice, wondering if the dust was still effecting her. "But don't worry, I'm not taking your partner away from you." Peach considered the girls words. It made enough sense, part of her felt bad for the girl.

"Trust me , I know how you feel. And thank you. I'd like to get close to her, but we are so different."

"Just give her time, I've seen her eyes, I knows those eyes. And the instant I seen her I knew she was putting on a front. She tries to be a tough girl, and that's fine with me. But I know that's just a front."

"I think everyone knows that. But it works for the most part."

"Oh yeah, the whole school was talking about the hacked initiation video. My mom was more then pleased to add another Adel to the school list..." She sipped her tea and flicked her wrist and both mug and empty tray vanished. "Hey listen, I'm feeling a bit low, tell the coffee brat I'll catch her later. She's all yours kid."

"You don't have to leave you know." She instantly felt bad for the other girl. And though she was a drug using dust head, she was a decent girl.

"Naw," she laughed, back to her normal self "Ill be good, trust me on that." She smiled and waved "See you around Peachpuff." Peach gave her a nod as she noticed Hero and Ariel coming through the doors, and she waved her hand to get there attention.

"Heyy Peach! Your here alone?" Ariel made her way over, sitting down next to Peach.

"Rocket went to get me some tea."

"That sounds good actually." Hero added, "Want anything Ari?" He asked.

"Just a bottled water please." She smiled after him.

"So how are you feeling?" She asked Ariel,

"Much better thank you. My aura is fully recovered, and my shoulder isn't sore anymore. By the way, Trinket?"

"Rocket brought it to the room after the class."

"Great... So are you, ready for tomorrow?" Peach glanced up to see Rouge skipping back towards the table.

"Not in the slightest." Tomorrow she would be sparring her partner, and she wouldn't be holding back...

ROUGE;

The day seemed to be dragging along slowly. Hero and Rouge were finally leaving Advanced weapons studies with Professor Qrow. Her favorite class already, being she loved tinkering with weapons, and the teacher had called her a Yang 2.0, but her thoughts were elsewhere. Next class was with Goodwitch, her spar with Peach, her partner at Beacon. She was not afraid to fight, she was afraid to lose. She had obliterated countless scores of Grimm from the face of Remnant, but as far as fighting actual people, she didn't do that often.

"Hey, Hero, I'll meet up with you at class. I need to get some extra ammo." He glanced down at her with a worried face and those big white eyes,

"Everything ok? I have no problem walking you to your locker." He said calmly.

"Yeah, I'll be good thanks." She sped off, not sparing a look back as she grabbed her scroll out and dialed a number. It rang, but went to voicemail.

"Yo, you reached Coco, I'm probably on a mission or too busy with the Team so leave a message and maybe I'll hit you back, laters..." *beep*

"Hey Coco, it's me Rouge. I know your busy, I just... I just needed some advice. Didn't mean to intrude so I'll just catch up with you later." And she hung up with a sigh. That probably sounded terrible. She made her way to her locker and equipped her belt that kept all her red dust chambers for Cinis and Pulverem, double checking it to make sure she had quick access to each chamber. I can't even take much time to reload she thought, Peach will be all over me. This was the first time she ever felt unsure of herself, and it sucked. Well lets just get it over with, who knows. She grabbed her headphones and started blasting her favorite tune to hype her up as she walked to her spar class.

"I'm caffeeeeeeine! I'm a baaaaaad dream, I'm a raaaaad scene, I'm a taaaaad mean, but I'm nooooooooooot... Afraid to take you out!" She started head banging as her scroll started to vibrate in her pocket. Upon noticing it was Coco, she instantly picked up.

"Rouge, Cristina, Adel." Uh oh, she never called her by her full name. Well there were those few times. "Talk to me, tell me what's wrong?" She figured her sister had to be on a mission, so she was slightly confused.

"Aren't you busy on a mission?"

"And?" Coco quickly responded, while Rouge heard her mini gun firing off rounds, most likely at some Grimm "I don't care if I was toe to toe with Mercury again or Cinder, if my little sister needs me, they can kick rocks! YOU know that. Plus Yatsu is covering me, right?" there was a pause which she figured was just a nod of approval from her giant teammate "So what's up kid?" She took a second to compose her thoughts, knowing her sister would never judge her.

"I have a spar match this period and, I'm," she paused "I'm afraid to lose." She could tell Coco almost chuckled before she spoke,

"Look, we do a dangerous job everyday. And what for, to keep people that cant defend themselves safe. I can't tell you how many times I've lost fights, or how many times I've needed Yatsu or Fox to carry me off the battle field. Its not about winning, it's about surviving. And it's just a spar match, you may lose or you may win, who cares. The point is to learn so when you get out here, your ready for anything. Trust me kid." She heard Fox yell out for support up high and she heard her gun fire off more rounds. How he even knew something was coming from the sky, she had no idea.

"I do trust you." Rouge quickly replied.

"Win or lose, you make me proud Rocket. Besides, everyone in the school already knows not to fuck with you. You want to know why?"

"Cause I have my bigger sister to kick some ass if I need?" This time Coco did laugh.

"True, but no. You have Team HARP watching your back. And I know you got there backs. Trust in your Team kid. Its no longer a solo job, that changed the day of initiation. And when you spar, don't hold back."

"Thanks Coco, means a lot. And I wont."

"Good, now kick some ass kid. Fox, get the left flank! Velv, Cover me! Gotta run kid, flock of Nevermore. Love you, laters." And her scroll went black. That's where she wished she was. Not stuck in classes. She glanced at the time, 2:06,

"Fuck I'm late!" She made a mad dash down the hallway, almost tripping over a few kids, then stopped at the door of her class to compose herself. Straight face, check. Hand on hips, check. Shades, check. She took a breath to calm her nerves and walked in and instantly all eyes were on her.

"Miss Adel, glad you could make it." Miss Goodwitch said while glaring emeralds at her. Oh FML. "If you would be so kind as to make your way to the arena, your partner is waiting for you." She gestured to the center ring where Peach was patiently waiting for her with a straight face as well. Rouge took a deep breath then plastered a grin on her face as she made her way down. Upon reaching the steps to the arena, she started clipping the ends of her sleeves to her shoulder clips so she would have full movement of Cinis and Pulverem, as she made her way up the steps and faced Peach.

"Hey there Groot." She grinned at her teammate. "You ready?"

"Hello Rocket, I'm ready, are you?" She said calmly, still expressionless.

"Heh, I was born ready." The barriers all around them went up and changed to a solid white, to give the fighters, "privacy", even though it was a two way mirror, it left out distractions, as well as provided protection to those outside the arena "Lets do this."

Rouge got into a fighting stance, right foot forward, both hands in front of her, still in hand form. She was still not sure how to start off. She should have thought of this before, but she really wasn't sure of her partners powers, she knew she was fast, and as strong as a Grim Goliath, but that's it. Go big, or draw it out. Eh, go big or go home. She kept Cinis in front her, putting Pulverem behind her back trying to hide it, while switching it into cannon form and charging it up. Hoping Pandora could not see it. Even though it was humming to life. Curse my way of looking and sounding bad ass ugh! Damn those Iron Boy comics!

"Begin!" Goodwitch called out. Nobody moved a muscle. Still straight faced, long sword in front of her in a salute. Time seemed to creep by now. Rouge decided to take the first shot. Transforming Cinis into sword form, she hoped to distract Peach, while thrusting Pulverem forward, she instantly let go of the charge she was building, and Pulverem lashed out at full blast. She barely seen if it hit her when she was crashing to the floor, something big and heavy hit her from behind. So during her fall, mid roll, she changed Cinis back into cannon form and took four shots before she even righted herself in a crouch. While also swinging Pulverem, ejecting the clip mid swing to soar in Peach's direction to give the knight something else to worry about. She knew she got lucky with at least 2 shots as she heard Peach grunt from above, and without thinking she blasted herself to the left and caught a glimpse of her axe coming down where she just was. Damn, she's fast as hell. She ran Pulverem across her hip to load another charge in while finally able to lay a eye on her partner, spinning her sword with one hand, and ripping the shield off with the other, she shield charged her, both sword and shield out. Rouge knew it was a trick, the girl had moved way faster then this only a few seconds ago. So she waited to the last second...

ARIEL;

The first time she seen Peach, teleport, for a lack of better words, behind Rouge and back hand her while she fired at empty space, she started to worry for her smaller teammate. She had never seen anything quite like that. Now Peach was charging at Rouge, but she stood her ground, grin finally gone as she was taking the fight seriously. Right before Peach would have crashed into her, Rouge fell back and was prone, back pressed flat to the floor, blasting her way under Peach, and as she passed by under her she landed two shots from Pulverem, and a slice from Cinis, which launched Peach a few feet into the air and crash down hard on the leg that took the hit. Peach looked up and quickly raised her shield to block three more fireballs. Now both of there auras were just ready to pass into the orange, still green. Peach at 86% and Rouge at 89%.

Funny how a back hand did the same amount of damage as four shots and a chop from her smaller teammate. Peach could clearly take hits for days, but if Rouge took five or six more hits, serious hits, she would be done. Peach had only back handed her, a chop would rip Rouge apart. Her face was now scrunched up as she jetted skyward to take shots from the safety of the air. Peach crouched, and what looked like tiny explosions in her boots went off when she jumped, giving her a extra push. Rouge brought Pulverem back to her side, quickly charging it up when Peach suddenly disappeared. Rouge quickly shot Cinis at nothing, propelling her arm back, barely catching Peach's sword on Cinis, never even looking back. She's quickly learning Ariel thought. If those things were not cybernetic, she would have needed one, as sparks shot out from the impact, and Rouge was propelled to the floor from the force of the hit, but she blasted her way to safety, and avoided crashing into the ground, which Peach came down on one knee, hefted her sword at Rouge's retreating back and shot the axe out. Rouge was turning as it slammed into her midsection and flung her into the barrier wall like a rag doll.

"Ohhhhh!" The class cheered on. Peach's axe came flying back and stuck to her bracer and Rouge slid down the wall in a heap. She tilted her head at Rouge who was holding her chest with Pulverem, and was charging up Cinis while getting up to her feet. Peach's aura was still fresh in the orange, and Rouge's was a hit away from dropping into the red, at 47%. Ariel already knew the outcome. She could see Rouge was hurting, but she wasn't going to back down. A quick glance at Goodwitch and she noticed her eyes were squinted, head forward, deeply focused on the 2 Huntresses. Rouge was breathing heavy while still charging up Cinis, which Ariel was sure it was fully charged, she was just thinking of a way to land a few hits on the knight. She looked up at Peach across the arena who had her sword pointing to the floor, she nodded to Rouge, who turned her head to spit, and nodded back. Peach raised her sword and charged again. Rouge aimed her arms behind her and blasted off towards Peach. Mouth open wide screaming with righteous fury. Right before they clashed Rouge slapped both arms together and a huge explosion filled the middle arena. The classroom got silent, as the aura level screen seemed to fail to catch up. Then smoke started to clear and a loud *Ding* rang out.

"Match!" Goodwitch called out. Rouge was depleted of aura, completely zero'd out, sprawled out on the floor, arms smoking, another hit would have meant certain death. Peach was beside her on one knee, about to pick her up, armor smoking as well, and aura level, finally into the red at 27%. Rouge sacrificed herself to try to take out Peach, and she succeeded, at least in wiping out an enormous chuck of her aura. If only she could land two or three shots like that, it would have been a match. As the barriers went down, Peach had Rouge cradled in her arms like a baby, and walked out of the door without saying a single word. A soft hand landed on Ariel's, and she looked over to see Hero looking at her, and he nodded. She smiled back, knowing what he was already thinking. They had ALOT to discuss before the team up...

HERO;

"So you can manipulate all forms of dust?"

"Yup, I can take red dust and use it to shoot fire balls, or blue dust and make ice, yellow dust for electricity, you get the idea."

"With nothing but you finger tips."

"Correct, any form, all forms." Hero and Ariel were in the Library getting to know each others combat styles. Unlike himself, Ariel was mainly ranged.

"I don't use Trinket as a melee weapon, unless its really needed." She had told him. "Ill admit, I'm not that great with it when it comes to melee, or holding them. I treat them as ballistic dust missiles, or shoot dust from them. It gives me 4 platforms from which to hurl elements. Both my hands. and both the spears, if needed, but like I said, I'd love for you to train me a bit." She said while smiling.

"I'm going to help you with that. I know Trinket can change into 2 spears, I'd like you to learn how to dual wield them with your hands." She nodded.

"Normally I'd focus on the dust inside Trinket to hurl or move it around as I see fit." Now that was interesting.

"So your telling me, that any weapon, or chamber that has dust in it, or on it, you can use at will?" She thought about that for a few seconds,

"Well, yes." she replied "If it contains dust, I can manipulate it... I think I see where your going with this." He smiled warmly at her as ideas started to form in his head.

"You can basically, deflect Rouge's shots with your hands, and rip off her ammo belt if you really wanted."

"Never thought of that, but yes!" she beamed at him, "If her cannons are full of dust I could just toss her into a wall and hold her down if I really wanted.

"Peach does not use dust, so I will mainly be focusing on her." He thought about that for a little bit. "No, we don't want to give your trump card away so easy. Being Peach is built like a tank, I'm betting Rouge will be hiding behind her most of the time to take shots at us. So we are going to need your ice walls from the start. As soon as the match begins I could rush Rouge, we will need them separate. Without a tank she will be open to attack, and she will go down fairly easy."

"What about Peach, don't discount her so easy, seeing what see can do,"

"If things go right, Ill be able to see her do it, before she does it, which chances are high that I will" Ariel nodded at that.

"I just need Rouge away from you, I'm a lot more agile then you, and I can already tell she favors the cannons over her blades."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked

"I've barely seen her use them, besides, I dual wield, and I know a swordsman when I see one, she strikes me as range all the way. Maybe, she can deflect a few slashes here and there, but when it comes down to a melee fight between me and her, its a no brain-er." He noticed Ariel frown slightly,

"Whats wrong?" he asked while reaching for her hand. She looked up at him and smiled.

"It just feels weird talking about our teammates as if they are some targets to take out." He chuckled.

"Its just for now. The sooner we get these matches done, the sooner we can get to other things, and besides, its just a friendly spar match." He winked at her.

"So what are your ideas about Peach?" He paused to think a little. Though bigger then her, she had thick armor, and a heavy weapon with a shield. He would have to slow her down in order to really get to her.

"I'd need you to freeze her up as best as you can. Her armor is metal as well, so you should have no problem using yellow dust to zap her. You will just have to be on your guard in case she teleports. If I see it coming, I will do my best to intercept. Her strength is in melee, if she gets to close, she could easily overpower you, maybe even me. Unless you put up some tough ice barriers." He thought of his spar with Ariel. "You had gotten my boots and sword stuck in your ice when I tried to shatter it a second time, how?"

"Blood lust. When I get, angry, my powers get a lot stronger, well part angry, part focused. But it really tires me out if I do it to much. But it makes my dust effects more potent."

"We need to get out and try a few things." He glanced at his scroll to check the time.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we need to get down to the spar room for a training session."

"But as 1st years we don't have access to them, or, never mind." He grinned as she caught on. "But Jaune said Goodwitch will kill us if we get caught."

"So we make sure that Goodwitch is busy."

"I'm assuming you know how?"

"Oh, I have a few ideas..." Thinking of the dust head...

ROUGE;

"C'mon, don't be scared! Ill protect you little sis! Daddy has been teaching me everything he knows! Just stay behind me! No don't run! They will chase you if you do, no, Rouge come back! RAWRRRRRR!" She awoke in a cold sweat instantly powering up Cinis, and instantly wincing from pain in her chest, she fell back down to what felt like a bed. She couldn't feel her arms and Cinis seemed to not be responding.

"Rocket, Rouge!" She didn't want to open her eyes, was all these years just a dream? Am I really back at the village on that horrible day, it cant be.

"Just leave me alone!" She yelled out hoping the Grimm would vanish.

"Rouge, wake up, its me!" So her sister was finally there to pick up the remains again, what was left of her little sister.

"Its all your fault, you did this to me!" She cried out at the voice which now almost sounded like her sister was crying, that was not how it went.

"Rouge I'm, I'm so sorry... I, I didn't mean to... Please..." That didn't sound like her sister, and it sounded muffled now. She slowly opened her eyes to a bright light. Must be dead? But her eyes started to focus, and she noticed Peach in a chair to her left with her head in her hands.

"Awww shit..." She realized she lost her shit again, and it was just a bad dream. She also noticed Kayreen and Destin of team DICK standing by the entrance with confused looks on there faces.

"Awww fuck me." Peach looked up with red rimmed eyes, and confusion all on her face. "Uh, false alarm, bad dream..." she said while rubbing her head wishing she really was dead.

"Maybe this is a bad time?" the Spartan said.

"Don't worry I have just what you need girl!"

"NO!" The Spartan and the Knight said at the same time

"Sheesh, just trying to help. Clearly the poor girl had a rough day, and sleep." Rouge just stared at the ceiling, not sure what to do or say.

"Are you?"

"I'm fine Groot." She looked over at the two DICKs, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, we just got out of detention, thanks to your leader apparently." the Spartan replied,

"Hero boy being a bad boy huh?"

"Something like that." The dust head responded. "He needed to use the sparring room, while I kept my mom busy in detention." She shrugged, "I'm there almost everyday, but I still told Hero I'd collect on this debt, and I wanted company with me today so I brought Spartan."

"Please." he huffed "You dragged me into it."

"Oh quiet you. I know you were dieing to run around the library naked!" She bust out laughing while the Spartan slightly blushed and shook his head. She put her arm around him.

"So you let her get away with that?" Peach asked Destin,

"No but, I mean you try sleeping in the same room with a dust head witch that can make fire, water, or make things disappear with the flick of the wrist. Poor Chris was taking a shower when suddenly the water turned into chocolate syrup!" The dust head giggled into her hand,

"Ahh man, good times. You should have-"

"Anyways..." The Spartan cut her off by putting his hand over her mouth. Which he quickly pulled away when she had licked his hand. "We just wanted to see how Rouge was doing. That was a good match, sad you missed mine, but I look forward to seeing you in action again Rocket." Kayreen elbowed him. "Err and you to Peach!" He quickly added

"Yeah that was pretty intense."

"Wait, did you say Hero was using the training room? With who?" The two DICKs looked at each other and the Spartan spook up,

"He was training with Ariel." Rouge turned to Peach who was looking back at her with the same face, most likely thinking the same thing. They were getting in extra practice to beat them. She looked back toward the DICKs.

"Thanks for stopping by, it was really sweet, Ill have to get up with y'all later, Spartan make sure you leave me your scroll info," she winked at him and he grinned, "Now tell no one what you saw in here and get the FUCK OUT! Thanks! Bye!" They looked at each other confused and Kayreen was about to speak but Peach spoke first.

"What she means is she is grateful for everything, but as our teammates are preparing for our duels tomorrow, we are very very far behind and need some time alone to discuss some things." That was the longest sentence she heard her partner speak since they met. She was proud. The two seemed to understand this and said there goodbyes. Kayreen winked down at Rouge and wiggled her fingers. She held her hand out, and the witches wrist flicked. A small pipe and a little baggie of dust appeared in her hand, thankfully, out of sight of Peach. She was def hitting this shit when everyone went to sleep tonight.

"So how is your chest?" Rouge felt her midsection, and it still hurt a lot.

"Still sore as fuck, but I've had worse so I'm good." She seen Peach frown and remembered that she had said something about being sorry, and she didn't mean to. "Look P... What you heard, that's for another day, or week, or year. But what happened today was not your fault. If it was me who beat your ass as good as you beat mine, you know I'd be mushing your face in it." Peach laughed, she actually laughed! Maybe there is a human in there after all.

"Yes I know, but I didn't want you to end up in the infirmary."

"Aww shit, like I said, I've been through a lot worse then low aura levels and some bruised ribs. TRUST ME. Were doing this to learn. And I sure learned a lot from it. I learned your a helluva lot faster then you look. Teleporter?" Peach finally looked to be her normal self.

"Yes, that's it in a nut shell. I look at something, and I can be there in a instant."

"What about me?" she looked confused.

"What about you?" Rouge sighed

"Can you teleport me with you?" Peach's eyebrows drew together in thought and her jaw worked a little.

"I've never done it, but I believe I can." Peach replied,

"Good, I have a few ideas about that. But me, unlike ice and lightning, I can control any type of fire, not dust, just fire. If there is a spark, and oxygen, I can manipulate it, and make it into a fire. As well as draw on it to power my aura. Big secret is, Cinis and Pulv here, when activated are glorified candle lighters." A few laughs escaped Peach as she shook her head.

"I've seen what those things can do and I refuse to believe that."

"Seriously, from a little spark, I channel my semblance into it, making it a flame, in turn making me fly, or shooting fire balls. It takes a lot of focus. Why do you think I need to charge up for bigger blasts." Peach took on a more serious demeanor now. She felt weird telling someone else other then her sister about her powers. "But, I've been practicing since I was a little girl, so its second nature to me now. Though for the big blasts, that requires me to channel a lot of the dust into the shot, those are what really draws on my ammo, and my aura. I can take it nice and slow for a long time, but when I got a big target and go full blast, and if I use all my dust, all I have left is the blades. But I barely use them honestly."

"We could have Hero teach you later. But for now, Malleus is a long sword, I could teach you defense, not so much offense on it. I rely on powerful precise strikes. I can handle Hero enough easily, hes quick, but It will take him a lot to wear down on my defenses, and while hes doing that, you can be focusing on taking them both out. Were going to need to stay close together to be able to overpower them."

"I have an idea about that, you may not like it though." Peach arced a eyebrow,

"If it will helps us out in the match, I will do anything."

"Okay. Well right from the movie, do you remember that scene with Rocket and Groot when they were escaping that prison..."

HERO;

He dried himself off and slipped into some boxers while wrapping his towel around his mid section. The in room bathrooms were tiny, barely space to even move around, so he was going to have to get dressed in the room. He walked out and noticed his scroll was lit up, so he went over to check it. It was 7:23 and Peach had sent him a message.

*Good morning Hero. Rouge is feeling better but she stayed overnight and I stayed with her in case she needed something. We will be seeing you guys for breakfast, please save seats if you get there first. Until later...* Through his peripheral vision he seen two large amber orbs looking his way from under covers. He chuckled to himself. Which he knew she heard cause he seen the spying eyes disappear for a bit, then came the red hair, and the pink face returning to its normal color.

"Good morning Hero." She said in a sleepy voice that almost sounded like a purr.

"Good morning, how did you sleep?" He asked her

"Wonderful, thank you. Sleep after a good spar match is amazing." She rolled her covers off and rolled off of the bed. He never seen her in sleep wear yet, but his heart skipped a beat when he caught a glance at her stretching in front of her bed. Cute red painted toenails, long silky legs leading up to small red boy shorts, giving him a perfect view of ALL her curves, front and back, toned midsection and a small blue tank top, which he thought she was now starting to feel a little cold. So much skin he thought, is she really going to be sleeping in nothing but underwear these four years? Still things he was not use to. He licked his lips, feeling like they were dry as he brought his head up to meet her eyes, and realized he just got caught staring at her, and she was smirking at him. He quickly turned his head away, and tried to calm is racing heart. She giggled and picked up her towel before making her way over to him. She gently placed her finger on his chest and ran it down to his belly button and stopped at the edge of the towel. Her gaze followed her hand, then she looked back up, face red.

"I'm glad to see your, fully awake." she said with a smile, "Maybe Ill cook something for you to eat when I get out." She said with a wink.

"Uhhh, I-" She placed a finger to his lips to quiet him.

"Shhh." she said with a smile, and a stroke to one of his cat ears that made him purr as he leaned into her warm touch, then she made her way into the shower. He turned his head as she walked away, taking a final peek, and got caught again as she turned hers to meet his eyes with a red face, and a wink before she closed the door. Hero stood there motionless, damn its hot in here, he felt he could use a cold shower. He glanced down, and face palmed his head. Well there was no possible way she didn't notice THAT. Ughhh. He heard the shower turn on, as he started thinking of ways to impale himself on Sunder...

HERO;

"Begin!" Hero instantly shot Sunder in Rouge's direction before she even finished the word, but mid flight she and Peach vanished. Oh no, he thought as he stabbed Thunder into the floor to slow him down,

"Arrg!" He heard someone yell out behind him. How did I not see that coming? He turned to see Rouge was now on Peach's back, who were both behind Ariel. Thankfully she had erected a ice wall behind her when he launched at Rouge, which took most of the hit that Peach dished out. Ariel was now back flipping under Peach's relentless side swipes, and Rouge's onslaught of fireballs, when he shot Sunder out, hilt first towards Peach's head. Before it hit, Hero came soaring after the blade, toward the Knight. He felt a change in the air, and shot Thunder straight up as Peach's axe came blasting below to where he was a few seconds ago.

"Ari bolt!"

"Got it." She stabbed Trinket into the ground with one hand, creating a ice wall to slow Peach's advance on her, while using another hand to hurl a bolt of lightning towards the returning shield. All the while Hero, shooting Sunder, blade first, into the ground slightly behind Peach and Rouge. The shield took Peach in the arm and she started to spaz from the electricity running through her shield, and now body, while Rouge landed a shot in Ariel's chest that sent her flying, dropping her aura to 76%. But Hero's knee was arcing towards the fashionista that was to busy in delight at landing a shot. Peach, still unable to move, and Rouge's head slowly coming up to see Hero coming at her face. Her shades were down a little and he seen her eyes widen as the heel of his boot caught her jaw. She flew off Peach's back, and crashed hard on the floor from the impact. Hero had Sunder out to finish her off, ready to cleave her, when she blasted to the side, barely missing her face. She tried to escape by blasting off towards the ceiling, only to have Sunder lodge into Pulverem, and he hauled, slamming her back to the ground, face first which brought her aura down to 67%. I don't think so, he thought to himself. She bounced twice before coming to a stop. She looked to her left arm that was sparking, ripped the blade out, switched Pulv to blade form and blasted towards Hero...

PEACH;

Her body was still spazzing from the shock, while Ariel pulled back and flung Trinket towards her head. She glanced at the area behind Ariel, and the instant before Trinket would have taken her head off, she was behind her, shock gone, giving Ariel a swift kick in her ass, propelling her forward towards the ground face first. Peach didn't waste any time, she leaped into the air, bringing Malleus down to cleave Ariel's back. She was on her hands and knees when suddenly a white flash dragged her out of the impact zone, and all that was left was a patch of white. When her sword hit, it skidded on a newly formed ice patch, and when her feet landed she ALMOST, slipped and busted her ass. She felt a slight heat on her back, and a little added weight, as well as a slap on her shoulder. Then fireballs were soaring over her head towards Ariel. She put her hands out in front of her, seemingly catching all of Rouge's blasts, and flinging them away, which prompted the smaller girl to stop and growl. Peach was scanning left and right for Hero, and could not find him.

"Lets see if you can stop this one Jaws." Rouge said as she heard one of her cannons powering up, "DOWN!" she quickly shouted and Peach instantly obeyed. Where her head was just a second ago, a white flash flew by, along with a knee that barley missed Rouge on Peach's back. She heard a deep grunt, while sparing a glance behind her, noticing Hero was tumbling through the air and his pant leg was on fire. Rouge had a grin on her face, and Pulv was a flaming red blade. She seen her quickly turn serious, and Peach thought they may as well be screwed. She didn't even think, her head was already facing another direction, so she was instantly there, and while glancing back to where she just was she seen Trinket in two pieces soaring, while sparking electricity. Peach almost fell on her knees as she felt her armor getting heavy. She wouldn't be able to do that too many more times. Yeah jumping drained her, but jumping her and someone else, she had never tried and it was starting to wear on her already. The two spears turned and started arcing back towards her and Rouge, as well as a few ice spikes from Ariel's hands.

"Hold on, its time we up the ante!" Rouge shouted...

ARIEL;

Trin and Ket were nearly about to slam into Peach, while suddenly she blasted off into the air towards Ariel, Peach, now using the smaller girl as a jet pack, with her axe already soaring towards her. She rolled out of the way, looked up to see Peach's armored boots aiming for her head, so she rolled again while flicking her hand, shooting ice into the girls boots as she landed, only to feel someone land on her back and wrap arms around her neck. Her head darted to the left, picking up a loud humming sound, and half a centimeter away from her face, she was looking into Cinis, she had to squint as it was so bright, already fully charged and ready to fire.

"Say goodnight Princ, OMMPPFFF!" She didn't finish as a flash of white came in from her right, flashed behind her, and suddenly the weight was lifted from her back. All the while the beam that was meant for her, slammed into the knight whose feet were still frozen in ice. She was chopping at the ice when the blast slammed into her full on. Wiping out half of Peach's aura, which was now in the orange as she dipped to 56%. Every ones was in the orange, save for Hero who was still in the green at 86%, but near orange. She erected a ice wall behind her, while calling Trinket back towards Peach, who shook her head to clear it. She brought Malleus and Securis up quickly, blocking one with the shield, and redirecting the other with her sword. Suddenly Securis was flying towards her, Ariel quickly gathered her strength, focused on the yellow dust in her armlets, and hauled bolts towards the axe that was flying towards her. But it was coming at such a high velocity that her bolts didn't do much. She tried to dive out of the way but was to slow as her leg took the hit during her dive, and sent her spinning. Pain shot up from her leg to her chest as she could have sworn her leg was just ripped off. She landed on the floor in a heap about to roll over but winced from the pain in her leg, not broken, but hurt like hell, and it was smoking from the currents that were running through the shield. And she noticed a armored boot coming towards her face. Ugh not again, she sighed as pain and darkness consumed her...

ROUGE;

"Ariel is out!" she heard Goodwitch call out. She would have grinned or said some smart comment to Hero, if he wasn't being relentless with his blades. She was barely keeping him at bay, and he was slowly depleting her aura. She caught Sunder with her left blade, jumped over Thunder as he swiped it along her legs, but caught a fist to the face as she had jumped. GRRRRRR. She was getting angry. Where the hell is Peach. I need a second to reload! She managed to block another two swipes to her mid section, only to miss three that slashed through her legs, and she started to fly back. She seen Hero's eyes widen, still focused on her, and he was instantly soaring towards the ceiling as Peach's axe came soaring under him, right over Rouge's head. She popped open Cinis, ejecting a steaming clip, and reloaded it, while checking her aura which was at 22%. She was still using Pulv as a sword, because Hero had busted it. He was going to pay for that. She started to make her way to Peach's back, only to have her push her away, as a sword came and wrapped around one of Peach's arms, where Rouge would have been, had her partner not pushed her away, and the wire went taunt. Had it been Rouge caught, Hero would have pulled her up and certainly finished her off. She seen Peach grab the wire, with both hands, and she pulled with all her might. Rouge was getting back to her feet as the sheath that held Hero's sword fell to the ground near Peach, with no Hero, she looked up to see him soaring down, both hands on Thunder, which was crackling with electricity, getting ready to cleave Peach as she hefted her long sword and barely caught his blow on it, one hand on the hilt, the other on the opposite side of the blade. After one second of contact, the ground shook from the enormous shock wave, and Rouge almost fell over.

"UP!" Rouge shouted as she charged and aimed Cinis above Hero. Peach flexed and shot Hero into the sky with brute strength while she shot Cinis at full blast toward the rising Hero, and lost sight of him in the bast. "We-" was all she remembered as she was lost to darkness.

HERO;

"UP!" He heard Rouge call as he caught a glimpse, oh I don't think so, he thought to himself. He let Peach toss him up as he pointed Thunder to the corner of the ceiling. He shot up and away, but he knew to Rouge, it looked like he went through her blast. Halfway to where he shot Thunder, he called it back, aimed for where Rouge's head would be and shot. In an instant he was soaring back down, under the expanding cloud of fire, and his hilt struck Rouge right between the eyes.

"Rouge is out!" Goodwitch called out. He landed on the floor near the knocked out fashionista and felt the air change. He ducked under a swinging Malleus, and used Thunder to block the shield Peach was charging him with, nearly shattering his arm. She stabbed straight at him with Malleus, which he jumped onto, and ran at her at full speed, slashing at her open head twice before front flipping off her shoulders and landing a heel on the back of her head. Behind her, he slid, while reaching for Sunder still on the floor, attached both sheaths to his belt and spun to face Peach, aiming his blades at her, hilt out. Her aura was close to the red, and his had finally dropped into the orange, her at 32% and him at 76%. She picked herself up and turned in his direction, jumping towards him, using the little rockets in her boots to give her height and speed, shield out in front, sword back ready to strike. He shot Thunder towards her direction, and right when they were about to clash, he had already shot Sunder towards the ceiling, propelling him up, while calling Thunder back mid flight, trying to get his toe to connect with her forehead, but she was instantly gone. Behind him he already knew, as Thunder was arcing back under him. Had he not used Sunder to lift him skyward, she would have cleaved him, but he knew her plan, so she appeared with no target, landed on one knee, and she was using her sword to hold her up. Falling back down behind her, Hero brought both of his swords down her back, and landed behind her in a crouch. She staggered forward, now on both knees, as she used both shield and sword to hold her up.

"Match! Hero and Ariel!" Goodwitch called out and the silence in the room finally erupted in to clapping. "Silence!" she yelled out as the room INSTANTLY got quiet and Hero felt his jaw tighten as if she had shut every ones mouth. He looked up to the board and seen that Peach's aura was now in the red at 15% exactly. He walked over to her, patted her back, and hauled her up to her feet.

"You ok?" He asked her. She nodded.

"I'm good, thank you. That was, something else. Are you okay" She said to him.

"Thanks, and oh yeah I'm fine. You did great out there. Cant wait to go over what we learned." She gave him a warm smile and a nod.

"Indeed. That was, fun." She smirked. He hadn't seen this side of the girl, and it was nice that she was enjoying herself, and wouldn't harbor any ill feelings.

"Lets see if our partners need to go back to the infirmary again." he said as he made his way over to Ariel and she chuckled behind his back.

"Oh I know Rouge wont be happy, she almost leaped for joy thinking she got you." he laughed

"Yeah I know, I Imagine Ariel isn't to happy about taking another boot to the face" he joked back and she laughed.

KAYREEN GOODWITCH;

After Team HARP had finished there team spar, Team DICK was next up. It was Destin and Ivory, vs Chris and Kayreen. What was turning out to be a fierce battle quickly became 1v1 as Kayreen set Ivory on fire, draining the rest of her aura, and a fierce ice roundhouse kick to the temple from Destin, knocked out Chris. Now it was the leader, vs the mage of the Team. Kayreen was currently on the defensive, the Spartans armor was glowing yellow with electricity, stopping most of Kayreens attacks. Her ice dust was useless. Fire didn't seem to do much to the guy. And he seemed to be everywhere at once. He was currently using a red glowing blade that protruded out of his left arm bracer, to try to land a hit on the dust head. He would get close but she would vanish in a puff of smoke every time his blade, fist or foot got near. She was just bobbing and weaving out of way of his attacks. He charged at her at lightning speeds, when she ducked out of the way, shot her hands up, and he went flying into the air on a stream of water, armor short circuiting out as he hit the floor, he lay unmoving.

"Stop playing around and get up!" She yelled at him. When he didn't respond, she went up to him, about to lay a finger on him when suddenly he was up on his feet beside her, armor in flames, with a elbow crashing into her back. He went in for the kill when she started crying, confused, he kept his ground not trying to be drawn into a trap.

"How could you just hit me as I tried to help you, what kinda of man are you?!" She said through wet sobs. He still kept his ground but his armor powered down.
"Gotcha!" She flicked her wrist and he was frozen solid from the neck down. Kayreen got up as she started walking circles around him, while taking her bong and extending it to full size, she aimed it at his face and blew as a dust cloud shot into his face. She then inhaled and blew out some smoke as she walked around him. "Awww what's the matter playboy?" She teased while running a finger on his cheek. He just glared at her, eyes slowly burning white. "Don't tell me your getting mad?" She said while inhaling another puff. "You did it first. By the way, hope the cold doesn't shrink your junk." She said with a wink.

"Miss Goodwitch!" Kayreen turned towards the teacher and smiled.

"Yes Miss Goodwitch?" The teacher narrowed her eyes.

"We are in the middle of a spar, please just get on with it!"

"Oh I'm sorry mommy." She said with a wink, and inhaled on her pipe some more. She turned towards Destin as he was on fire, ice long melted, with fury in his eyes.
"Oh your no fun Dest." She flicked her wrist and his eyes widened in sudden and fatal surprise.

"Ahhhhhh!" He yelled as he started jumping around scrambling to take his armor off.

"Aww I got you boss man!" She flicked her wrist and his armor completely disappeared, save for the fire ants now running across his body. "Ill save you!" She sprayed him down with water, with the flick of her wrist, and a towel appeared in your hand "Don't worry I got you!"

"Match, Destin!"

"What?!" Kayreen fumed and made a fire bolt in her hand while turning to her mother. The teacher lifted her wand and Kayreen went soaring into the wall with a thump.

"Mr. Roseus, please get a change of clothes. Miss Goodwitch, you will go to your room, and report back for detention after class."

"But mom!" Goodwitch waved her wand and Kayreen's jaw snapped shut and she floated out off the class room. And she was gone, being controlled by her mother and locked away into her room where Destin soon joined her to change into some clothes.

"That was a cheap match Kay. You need to take these seriously."

"Yeah yeah. How can I when I can teleport you into space with the flick of my wrist and a spell? I could have ended you and Ivory with the flick of my wrist within five seconds if I really wanted. This shit is pointless. At least for me. Y'all know what I can do, I know what y'all can do. I don't see a point to me fighting people, unless I'm really trying to take them out. I destroy, not hurt. Its my gift, curse. What do they expect me to do, pick up a sword and fight when I can move shit miles away from me. I mean your a great fighter don't get me wrong, and I have nothing but respect for you, I'm just starting to feel like I don't belong here. Like I should just be doing a solo act somewhere. Would be better for everyone, my mom included." Destin just stood there listening to her. He didn't know that's how she really felt. He didn't know what to say. So he sat down next to her and put his arm around her, which she leaned into. Then he noticed he was still in his towel, but part of him didn't care. He had a beautiful girl in his arms, and for the moment, she had complete trust in him. "I'm sorry, I can be such a pain at times. I guess I just don't know how to handle my frustrations. And everyone suffers because of it."

"You know your not in this alone. I don't fully understand what your going through, but if you let me I can try to help. I mean, I get that being here with your mom, having seemingly limitless powers, but being held back. I do feel your quite advanced for alot of the mage's, or dust users here."

"Ozpin wanted to put me on a 3rd yeah team. Some team who lost someone in a support role, but no, my mother said I still need training. I don't think I'll ever be good enough for her."

"Well I'm happy you made it on my team, despite how you may feel. You can make this team really strong, we need you. With out you, we're just DICs." She laughed at that and looked up him with red rimmed, bloodshot, green eyes, and she melted into his arms.

"Ah emm." Someone cleared there throat from behind them and Destin noticed he forgot to shut the door, and the Elder Goodwitch was standing there.

"You spying on me now? How much did you hear?!" Kayreen snapped out.

"Enough." She said in a calm voice. "Could you please talk a walk with me Kayreen."

"I'm kinda enjoying myself over here if you don't mind."

"Now, please." Kayreen sighed and let go of Destin and made her way over to the door.

"You probably would have spell dragged me out of here anyway..." She grumbled.

"Please get dressed Mr Roseus." Destin blushed again and made for his dresser...

"Hey wait, wheres my armor Kay!" He shouted as he heard her giggle from the hallway as it appeared on his bed...

Updated: 2/3/2016