Aoi Hyoudou: The POLL IS NOW CLOSED! And you guys have spoken! The story's pairing is…a tie between Ash/Yang/Blake and Ash/Yang/Ruby? Hmm…That is a problem. Most likely, I will give the poll a few more days, but cutting out the other choices that didn't make it to the final two. Sounds fine, yes? Anyway, enjoy!

Training

I

{…}

The next day, Ash was summoned to Ozpin's office, not because he was in any trouble or got caught falling asleep again during Professor Port's lecture. No...There was a significant reason why Glynda Goodwitch suddenly pulled him out in the middle of the lecture and accompanied him to the headmaster's office.

The real reason was…

"Hello, nephew," Ozpin greeted his nephew with a smile in a casual tone of voice as he sat behind his desk and stared at the black haired teen, who was standing before him with Glynda right by his side.

"Hello, un-I mean…Professor Ozpin." Ash returned the smile.

Ozpin chuckled in amusement. "Relax, Ash, you can still call me "uncle" when we're alone." Glynda frowned, which didn't go unnoticed by the latter. "It's fine, Glynda," He reassured his fellow colleague with a smile. She sighed dejectedly, but said nothing as she knew it was futile arguing with the man.

"So…why am I here?" Ash asked carefully, not wanting to sound rude in front of the two adults.

The headmaster smiled. "Down to business, I see." He became serious. "Very well, I requested Professor Goodwitch to pull you out of class today because I've decided to move your training a day early."

"Oh?" His nephew blinked. "So…when I'm starting?" he asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"Now,"

"Now?" Ash was clearly surprised.

Ozpin nodded and glanced at the veteran Huntress. "Glynda, if you please." The blonde woman walked up to his desk and scooped up a pile of clothes resting on top of it as she walked back to the black haired teen and held it out to him.

"Here," He gradually accepted the new set of clothes from her and blinked. "Go change." she told the latter with a poker-faced expression on her face.

"Umm…"

"Now, Mr. Ketchum!" She raised her voice a little.

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Ash quickly darted out the room, not wanting to upset the blonde woman any further.

A few minutes later, the now hatless Pokémon Trainer reentered the office and dawned a new look, which consists a navy blue V-neck shirt, gray sweatpants, a pair of black Kung Fu shoes, and a flowing navy blue sash tied around his waist. Amazingly, his new outfit felt very light as he tugged his shirt and tapped his foot to the ground, which was unusual for a typical set of clothes.

Ozpin smiled as he stood up from his seat and grabbed his cane near his desk. "Now that you've changed, please follow me, Ash." he stated casually.

Ash glanced at his uncle and inquired, "To where?" He was quite interested where they were going.

The headmaster simply chuckled. "You'll see,"

Ash blinked.

{…}

The elevator ride to Beacon Academy's underground chamber was awkward, REALLY awkward as he was standing in-between Ozpin and Glynda, glancing back and forth. He was hoping one of them would explain where they were going, but alas…no one said a word nor did they spare him a glance. He also noted that there was no elevator music, like the elevators back in his Pokémon journey whenever he visited a department store and used an elevator to reach the top floor, they would always play some kind of music to keep their guests and shoppers from being bored. Nope! This elevator ride was a simple one, no music at all! When it finally reached its destination, it opened and they stepped through.

Ozpin and Glynda led the Pokémon Trainer through a long hallway as he observed his new surroundings, completely astonished that a massive chamber was hidden beneath the school. Who else was aware of this other than his uncle and Professor Goodwitch? They walked and walked, which felt like hours. As they continued to walk through the hall, Ash noticed another hallway, which led to a corridor dimly lit by wall-mounted torches that cast a pale green light. When asked what was down there, both professors simply disregarded his question and told him to keep walking. He stared at the pair suspiciously, knowing that they were hiding something that they didn't want him to find out just yet.

The party approached a door at the end of the hall. It opened and they walked through. Ash was astonished what he stumbled upon once they were inside. It was a built-in dome, specially designed just for…him? He noted a training ground site in the distance, surrounded by an artificial forest with vast trees. There was also a spring with a flowing waterfall. When he glances up, the dome was simulating a bright, blue sky, even mimicking the warm temperature. But the most notable part of the environment was the gravity, it was very dense. It was giving him a difficult time just to keep pace with his uncle and Professor Goodwitch as they walked up to a flat boulder.

"Here we are," the headmaster proclaimed as he and Glynda both glanced back at his nephew, who was clearly out of breath as he was bending over on his knees with sweat streaming down his face. "Tired already, Ash?"

Ash chuckled wearily as he glanced up and grinned. "Nah, I'm fine," he lied through his teeth between heavy pants. "Just need to catch my breath, that's all." He straightened his posture.

"Good," Ozpin smiled. "In the next three months, you'll be training here."

"Only three months?"

"Hopefully, three months will be enough," said confidently the headmaster, having faith in his nephew that he will able to complete his training within the timetable. "After all, you're Sir Aaron's descendant."

Ash's face twisted into a deep frown. "Are you sure, uncle? I mean…I met someone before who looked exactly like Sir Aaron. His name is Riley and he can use aura. Wouldn't he be more of a better choice than me?"

"While your friend does sound like the obvious choice, I wouldn't change my decision about you, regardless." Ozpin chuckled in amusement. "I still believe that your aura is very compatible to Sir Aaron's."

"How do you know?" the Pokémon Trainer asked with a hint of hesitation.

"I just know," Ozpin replied simply, leaving no room for argument.

Ash sighed dejectedly.

"Anyway-" The headmaster returned his focus back to the main topic, regaining his nephew's attention. "-your first lesson today is…meditating."

"Meditating?" The black haired teen blinked.

"That's right, Ash, for the next ten days I want you to meditate your mind, body, soul, and aura with nature. Sounds simple enough, right?"

Surprisingly, it was.

Ozpin might not be aware of his nephew, but Ash does have experience with meditation on several occasions during his days as a Pokémon Trainer, meditating with Pikachu, Infernape, Pignite, and of course…Ash-Greninja, in order to prepare for Gym battles and challenges. So, this shouldn't be new to him. However, he didn't know if he'll able to meditate naturally under this type of environment with the gravity being so dense. That still remains to be seen, but he'll try to work it out, somehow.

Ash nodded, putting a smile on his uncle's face. "Very good, now please take your seat on this boulder right here." He instructed the teen, who obliged as he walked up to the flat boulder and sat comfortably on it, Indian-style.

"Now, what?"

Ozpin chuckled. "Now-You'll be meditating in this exact spot for five days, to see how it goes before moving your location to somewhere else."

"For how long?"

"Eight hours a day should be a good start." The headmaster smiled.

"Eight hours?!" Ash's mouth gaped out like a fish out of water.

"I didn't say your training was going to be easy, Ash." His nephew made a face. "Also, I'll be sending Glynda every now and then, to check on your progress." The latter immediately flinched nervously as the blonde woman glared in his direction.

'Great…' he thought with a tired sigh.

"As for me, I won't be staying around to witness your training because I'm obligated to my duties as headmaster." Ozpin spoke when he noticed the frown on his nephew's face. Then he added, "But don't worry, I promise I'll be here to start your next lesson."

"Okay…" Ash sounded a bit disappointed.

"Good luck, Ash. Come along, Glynda." Ozpin and Glynda walked off, leaving the poor teen alone sitting on his rock.

"Alright!" Ash slapped his cheeks, trying to motivate himself. "Let's do this!" He straightened his posture as he inhaled a deep breath and sighed, slowly shifting into a comfortable position and relaxed. 'Meditate.' He gradually closed his auburn eyes as his breathing matched his heartbeat. 'Me-di-tate…' He repeated it over and over again in his mind, hoping to block the boredom lingering in the air 'MED-I-TATE!'

{…}

One hour later, per Ozpin's request Glynda returned to the training dome to check on the Pokémon Trainer's progress. The sight she stumbled upon when she arrived at the teen's location was really intolerable. Her right eye twitched violently as she noticed that Ash fell asleep in his spot, snoring softly with his arms crossed and a small trail of drool dangling from his mouth.

"Mr. Ketchum!" She lost her composure, startling the poor teen awake as he jolted and glanced around frantically with a dazed expression on his face.

"Huh?! What?!" He eventually locked eyes with Glynda as she glared sharply at him. "Oh…Hey there, professor," he greeted nervously.

"Mr. Ketchum, why aren't you meditating?" Ash made a face.

"Because it's boring," he whined childishly.

She sighed exasperatedly as she pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly annoyed with the teen's lack of motivation. "Sometimes training isn't fun and games, Mr. Ketchum. Please take your training seriously." He frowned.

"But-"

"No buts, Mr. Ketchum, go back to your meditation at once, or else I'll force you to skip lunch and dinner altogether until you get in all eight hours for the day." she threatened.

"You're not serious, are you?" One quick glance at her face and he knew she was dead serious. "Okay, okay, I'll meditate!" He immediately straightened his composure.

Glynda's lips twisted into a small smile. "Good and to ensure you stay on task, I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"What?!" Ash gasped in surprise. One glare from the blonde woman immediately shut the teen up. "F-Fine," he groaned with a tired sigh. Reluctantly, he shut his eyes and relaxed, wishing the day would end already. When he peeked an eye open, he noticed that Glynda was glaring at him. He quickly shut it close with a sweat drop.

'This is going to be a long day.' he thought wearily.

{…}

'What a day…' Ash dragged both feet through the Dorms' hallways with an exhausted expression on his face at some ungodly hour in the night, followed by his stomach rumbling with hunger. His first day of training didn't go as smoothly as he hoped for because of Glynda's strict supervision. He still couldn't believe she forced him to spend the whole day and clearly the whole night until one in the morning to practice his meditation, costing him a meal.

All he wants now is some rest, praying that his stomach can survive until morning for a big breakfast.

When he finally walked up to Team RWBY's dorm room door and reached for the doorknob, he noticed that it was locked when he twisted the knob to the right. 'Great…Just my luck!' He ran a hand through his messy ebony hair in frustration. With no Scroll of his own to access his identification, he was simply locked out of the room. He could try knocking and hoping one of the girls would open the door for him, but then…he would've to contend with one cranky Weiss. His best option is…to sleep in the hallways. While it wasn't an ideal place to begin with, it was better than sleeping in the cold outside.

Reluctantly, he rested his head on the carpet floor and curled up into a small ball, hoping that sleep would take over his fatigue form.

His stomach growled again.

It was going to be a long night.

{…}

Morning arrived and Ash groaned weakly flat on his stomach with bloodshot eyes and heavy bags dangling underneath them. His restless body and stomach kept him up all night, denying him several hours of sleep. Then he sensed someone crouched down to his level and smacked him in the back of his head, not too hard, but hard enough to jolt him up to his feet.

"OW! Hey!" The somnolent youth rubbed his aching head and fixed his gaze forward as he noticed four familiar ladies were standing before him in their academy uniforms.

It was Team RWBY.

"See girls, I told you he was still alive." Yang teased with a grin.

"Ash, what were you doing sleeping on the floor?" Ruby asked.

"The door was locked last night. I couldn't get in." he answered groggily.

"Oh, that's right. You still don't have a Scroll yet."

"Why didn't you knock, Ash? Afraid Yang might molest you if you did?" Blake teased with a tiny smile on her face.

"N-N-NO! I was just afraid what Weiss might do to me if I woke her up." Weiss looked really offended as she placed both fists on her hips and glared sharply at the teen.

"H-How dare you accuse me of such a thing!" Yang rolled her eyes and snorted.

"Ash does make a good point. You're cold as ice because you're Ice Queen. Get it!" Ash and her teammates groaned at her bad pun. "Or…how about this? You would make a good Ice-type Pokémon Trainer because you always give guys the cold shoulder."

"Yang-" Ruby shook her head at her older sister's lousy attempts to be funny. "-please, stop."

"Oh, come on Ruby! I thought I nailed it." Yang pouted angrily at her little sister.

"A-Anyway-" Ash suddenly interrupted the two sisters before they engaged in a silly argument. "-does anyone know what time is it?"

Blake pulled out her Scroll and read the time on the screen. "It's 8:40." Then she glanced at the Pokémon Trainer and asked curiously, "Why, Ash?" His eyes widened when he realizes something.

He was late!

He was supposed to meet Glynda at 8:30 A.M. in Ozpin's office, to start his second day of training.

"Oh, no! I'm late! I'll see you guys later." He sprinted off quickly in the opposite direction, leaving behind a perplexed Team RWBY.

{…}

After a brief stop at the Dining Hall to catch a quick breakfast, Ash raced over to his uncle's office where he was confronted by one aggravated Glynda, who glared daggers in his direction for his tardiness. "Sorry I'm late! Are you mad with me, professor?" he asked with a piece of toast in his mouth.

"What do you think?" she deadpanned.

"Right…" He lowered his head in defeat.

{…}

His second day of training didn't start off with a bang, either. Just like the first day, he had to spend an all-nighter, to get in all eight hours of meditation for the day. He was scolded for falling asleep several times.

On the third day, he did show a slight improvement in his meditating, lasting up to three hours before losing focus once again with Glynda's constant glaring, causing him to restart from the beginning, which led to a third straight all-nighter in a row.

On the fourth day, in order to prove the blonde woman wrong that he wasn't a nuisance, he sat comfortably on his rock and blocked all distractions around, including Glynda's presence. He relaxed his breathing and kept his mind focus on one thing: his aura and nothing else. He surpassed the four hour mark, earning his lunch, but when he tried to push forward, he simply couldn't go any further because of boredom. Glynda was clearly annoyed that he was still allowing boredom to be a huge distraction to his training, although she did look quite impressed that he was making progress in just a few days since day one. That counted for something.

On the fifth day, Ash sat Indian-style calmly on the boulder, eyes shut and his breathing in rhythm with his heartbeat. Distractions were no longer the problem as he learned his past mistakes from the previous four days and used them as his strength to get past four hours without stopping for a lunch break. Glynda was impressed how much he improved just from yesterday, believing that he was finally taking his training more seriously than before. As the day quickly approached dinner time, the veteran Huntress noticed that the teen's body was emitting a faint blue light, strongly implying that his aura was starting to manifest. However, the blue glow quickly vanished when she heard the latter's stomach growling, breaking his concentration.

Ash blushed and rubbed his head sheepishly with a nervous laugh as he stared at the blonde woman.

Glynda rolled her eyes, but cracked a small smile.

At least he's making a good progress.

The next day, a shirtless Ash sat Indian-style with both eyes closed shut on a boulder in the middle of a flowing waterfall as rushing water was streaming down against his neck and back. He groaned with clenched teeth as the freezing water was touching his bare skin. The purpose of this meditation was to strengthen his concentration. Thirty minutes have already passed and it seems he was at his limit, slowly losing his composure as the raging waterfall swept him off the boulder and into the spring. When he resurfaced for air and coughed frantically, he glanced over in Glynda's direction and grinned sheepishly with a nervous laugh.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

On second thought…maybe he wasn't making good progress at all.

At the end of the day, he fell into the spring water several times.

{…}

The following day, he tried his luck once more, hoping to make up for all the mishaps that occurred the other day. He sat in his usual position with both eyes closed shut, using the breathing method to relax as the flowing water was streaming down his neck and back. He was making good progress as the day was reaching noon, however, what he didn't expect was a random log falling off the waterfall and clocking him in the back of his head, toppling him forward headfirst into the water. He floated unconsciously with a big lump on his head and swirls for his eyes.

Glynda palmed her face in annoyance.

{…}

The next day, in order to prevent the same incident from happening twice in a row, he was ready. As he was meditating at the waterfall, another random log appeared and plummeted towards him from the waterfall. Sensing that danger was coming, he quickly tilted his head to the side without budging a muscle from his spot, eluding the log.

Glynda was quite impressed with his reaction time.

However, when he shifted back and relaxed a bit, a random red salmon swam out of the waterfall and clocked the poor teen in the back of his head, toppling him forward headfirst into the water. Both the Pokémon Trainer and the fish floated unconsciously with swirls for their eyes.

Glynda sweat dropped.

{…}

The following day didn't help Ash's cause either as he was viciously mauled by a school of red salmons, revenging their fallen comrade.

{…}

On the tenth and final day of his first lesson, Ash didn't meet any major setbacks as he spent the whole day meditating at the waterfall, making up for the past two days of inconvenience, involving random logs and vicious fishes. And speaking of the red salmons, he didn't need to worry about them anymore as Glynda did him a huge favor and turn them into fish sticks.

At the end of the day, he completed his first lesson, despite not being satisfied with the results.

Tomorrow was his second lesson.

He hoped it won't be as weird as the first.

A/N: Yeah…I didn't want to bore you with Ash doing the same routine throughout the whole chapter so I added a few funny moments to keep you entertain. Also, I forgot Yang did bad puns, so I added that part in the chapter for the fun of it. Sorry, but reading Ash meditating does sound boring, that's why you shouldn't ask why I skipped through his first lesson so quickly. Don't worry his next lesson will be more interesting since he's going to learn how to channel his aura, which will be a difficult task, even for him. The only reason he was able to channel his aura the first time in the anime series because of Sir Aaron's special gloves. Without them, it's going to be a challenge to get past the basics within the given timetable. As for Ash's Pokémon if they are going to have a role in this story, yes, they will have some kind of role, but it's too soon to tell. For those who have been asking for Serena, she will have a few minor cameo appearances, but that's it. After all, this story isn't about her and her relationship with Ash, although I could use it for an interesting twist later on down the road. We'll see! Once again, the poll for the pairing will be up for a few more days. If the result is still a tie, then expect an AshxTeam RWBY, then.