A/N: I. AM. SO. SORRY! I haven't updated this in SO LONG! It's been almost a month now! Well, my reasons are as follows. For the first part, I was just really lazy, and had a fair bit of schoolwork to get through, so I didn't write anything. I also spent some time developing another story idea I had. That will (maybe) come out sometime in the future. Anyways, for the last 2 weeks, I've been off Hiking, cross-country skiing, and running activities at a camp for about 3,000 younger people. I had no time (and no computer) to write in that period, and I only just got back. So here I am, writing the 4th chapter. This story has a while to do, as there are still some questions to be answered, and even asked.

Ruby and Blake were sitting down, talking on the couch. After Mitch and James had told Ruby about themselves, and Ruby had properly introduced herself to them, they had gone out to talk with Davis and some other people Ruby and Blake were sure to meet soon. Now they were talking about all the things Ruby has to deal with.

'It will take a while for you to get used to the sensitivity of your ears. It normally takes a few days for the body to adjust to it, so until then, everything will seem excessively loud. You may also find it weird at night, because you will be able to see everything much more clearly. You may also want to avoid bright lights and flashes, because while the might have only caused you to lose you sight for a small amount of time in the past, it can send you reeling now, and even permanently blind you, so be careful.

'Your eyes will adjust during the day, and everything won't seem as bright, and you'll also get used to it a bit. Really all you need is time for everything to feel normal. Also, you'll need to figure out how to control your tail. I can't really help you with that, but just imagine it like learning to walk, it can't be that different. Your teeth will just take time to get used to.'

Ruby looked at Blake, taking in all the information.

'Soooo… My hearing and eyesight will adjust, I need to learn to use my tail, and my teeth will just take time to get used to?'

'Pretty much, yeah. Well, we need to get some sleep, training starts tomorrow. Let's get some rest, and tomorrow after training we can call Yang and Weiss, I'm sure they're killing themselves with worry for us.'

And with that, Ruby and Blake went to sleep. It was 10 PM at this point, and both were tired from the day. James and Mitch returned at midnight, and seeing the 2 girls asleep, went to bed themselves.

Tomorrow would be a big day for them, after all.

The shrill alarm cut through their sleep, waking them up. Blake groaned, scratched the side of her head, and pulled herself out, and onto the floor. She stood up, yawned and stretched, and went to get changed.

James and Mitch, on hearing the alarm, jumped out of bed, and quickly got dressed, then set out on an early morning jog.

Ruby just pulled herself out of bed, wondering why she could see everything so well, when she remembered the previous day. She quickly touched the top of her head, making sure that it wasn't a dream, then went over to get dressed. She quickly realised that she faced a problem.

'Blake, we need to cut a hole in my skirt, otherwise my tail won't fit anywhere.'

'Oh, I didn't think of that. Have you gained any control over your t-' She was cut off by Ruby's tail brushing along her face. It was quite soft. 'I'll take that as a no'

'Yeah, sometimes I accidently make it zoom around somewhere, but I haven't figured out how to properly control it, let alone ease it through a small hole.'

Blake sighed, they would need to do this anyway, so she got Ruby to cut a hole in her skirt where the tail would be, than put it on. Then she grabbed Ruby's tail, and forced it through the hole.

'There, now you are all dressed, and your tail isn't going to rip your skirt off.'

Ruby just shook her head, than motioned for Blake to get dressed. Blake grinned, and quickly changed, then they walked off towards the cafeteria 'Ruby, it's in the other direction.' Well, Blake walked off to the cafeteria, Ruby didn't remember where anything was. 'Coming!'

Ruby and Blake walked into the cafeteria, and went to sit down on the table with Mitch and James on it.

'Hey you two! Looking forward to your first day of training? It'll be hard, and Davis is running it, so expect no mercy, and plenty of Grimm. And a few robots.'

'We are so ready, we're going to kill everything he throws at us, and ace every assessment he gives us!'

Mitch just shook his head. He knew that attitude, and it was a good one to have going into the training rooms, but it was very hard to get through the training, it was information overload for every day, for an entire year. By the end of it, it was hard not to wake up at 4 in the morning, do a few hundred push-ups, than sit-ups, than 20 laps of the entire facility. It also gave you brilliant work habits though, and you learned that free time was a luxury, and not something to be expected.

Ruby and Blake got their food, and wolfed it down. Then they stood up and left the cafeteria. They had about 5 minutes to get to the training area, and they would have to run.

'Welcome to training. You will be practically living here for the next year. At the end of this training, you will know your own fighting style inside out, as well as your partners. You will be able to communicate silently, command an army in battle, be able to drive almost any vehicle you find on the battlefield, and know everything there is to know about weapons. Also, a boring course for a boring job, just so you can fit into society a little bit. You will pick your extra course later, but for now, you will watch a demonstration of me taking on a large pack of Grimm, then you will be analysed for your skill level, and we will make you better.'

Davis then turned around, and walked into a glass arena, with blood splatters everywhere. He was in his full combat suit, with gadgets and weapons all over it, and he put on a helmet, which seemed much too large to just be to protect his head. He shut the door, sealed it, than pressed a button.

About 20 packs of Beowolves charged in, and ran straight towards him. Davis started shooting them with two large automatic pistols, with ammo feeds going into the suit, and ran right at them.

He jumped over the first Beowolf, shooting it with his guns, and ripping its insides to shreds, sending gore everywhere. He then let go of his guns, and they retracted into his suit. He them pulled out his two katanas, and started spinning. His blades cut through the packs, taking them down easily.

He jumped and rolled out of the way of attacks, which also sent him into a new pack of Beowolves, and he kept on going like that. Blood and guts flew everywhere, intestines landing on the window, and the small pools were slowly forming into a covering over the floor.

He performed a cartwheel, twisting and kicking some Beowolves at the same time, then pushing off the floor with his hands and spinning around, shredding their necks, and killing them.

It was all over very quickly. All the Beowolves lay dead, their bodies dissolving like they always do. All the gore from the fight went as well, till it was only a layering of blood on the floor that showed you it happened.

He pressed a button, and the floor tilted inwards slightly, making it funnel-like, and the blood drained through a hole in the floor.

Ruby and Blake were shocked at this. There were easily 200 Beowolves inside that room, and Davis killed them all easily. Even Ruby's tail had frozen, which really said something. Ruby and Blake both were thinking the same thing, I really want to be able to fight like that.

Ruby then noticed that her tail had stopped moving, and took the opportunity to figure out how to control it. She concentrated really hard, and managed to twitch her tail. Her grin growing, she started to move it, then stop it, then move it again.

'I've managed to control my tail!' Ruby shouted out in excitement. Davis looked at her, bemused. Then he shook his head, and told Ruby to get into the room.

'This test will find out what you can take from a mindless enemy, like Grimm. I will let out a constant stream of Grimm, and however many you manage to kill before your Aura drops into the red is your starting base. Blake will then do the same test.'

Ruby entered the arena, and pulled out Crescent Rose. Davis sealed the door, then let in the first pack of Beowolves.

Ruby utterly destroyed the pack, being able to take them out quickly with her large weapon.

The second and third packs came out as one, when Ruby was only half done with the first. She dodged the attacks of the extra Beowolves, and span around, cleaving a few in half.

She deflected a Beowolf's attack, and blew its brains out with her gun. She then used her semblance to dash around, cutting the Grimm to pieces.

More packs flowed in, and soon Ruby was overwhelmed by the amount of Grimm. She span around, and flitted from place to place, but her Aura was drained. When it went into the red, Davis pressed a button, sealing off the other packs, and then killed all Grimm in the arena with a small explosive that had been implanted into them all.

Ruby's count had been 10 packs when she went red, she had killed 86 Grimm, and had beaten her personal record. But she was still nowhere near the level that Davis was at, and she had a feeling that she would be exhausted for most of the next year.

Also, she knew that after this, she would have classes teaching her more, and probably tutors pointing out every flaw in her technique, and teach her to be better. She also had a feeling that there would be a lot of homework, and fitness and Aura expansion as well.

She slumped into a chair, exhausted from the effort she had put into the fight. If they came out individually, she probably could have taken a lot more, but with so many Grimm at once, she just had nowhere to go.

'Blake, it is your turn now. Ruby's base point has been calculated, and tomorrow we will start work on increasing her maximum, and yours as well.'

He then motioned for Blake to walk into the arena. She walked in, and Davis sealed the door, then let out the first pack, just like with Ruby.

Blake performed well against the first pack, standing until the Beowolves swiped at her. Then she used her semblance to get out of the way, and cut the Beowolf's head off. She then used her semblance to dance around, killing the rest of the pack, but the second and third came down upon her.

Blake changed Gambol Shroud's form to pistol, and threw it around, pulling on the ribbon, pulling out chunks of meat and spurting blood everywhere. As Blake spun around, and her blade flew through the air, more packs came out into the arena. Blake used her semblance to get out of the way, and then changed Gambol Shroud back to its default form.

She jumped around, slashing everywhere, but she was soon overwhelmed, and all the use of her semblance tired her out. Her semblance went into the red, and the fight ended.

Blake walked out of the arena, and slumped into her chair. She had killed 48 Grimm, and had 8 packs in the arena when she went red.

'Blake Belladonna, you killed less Grimm than Ruby, but I think your fighting style is better suited to smaller encounters, with harder enemies. Ruby's fighting style tends to be better suited to killing everything around her. That is all for the arena today. You will get a 15 minute rest, then we will begin the lectures. All studies will take place as a lecture, you will need to write notes on everything said, and then you will be given work to do when we finish.'

Blake and Ruby just stayed seated on their chairs for most of the break time, then stood up, and got themselves some snacks and a glass of water.

Ruby had a bit of trouble, as she was still getting used to her teeth, but she managed to eat something as well, so it was fine.

The rest of the day was filled with lectures. First off on more advanced tactics that can be employed on the battlefield, then and introduction to sign language. After that was weapons principles and designs- Ruby was very good at this-, then lunch.

After lunch, which was really just a short half-hour break so they could eat an prepare for the next lectures, they had individual tutoring on how to use their weapons better, then a long tutoring period, where they could start on the work they had, with Davis in the room.

Then to finish off the day, they had to select their normal courses, and have an introductory lecture to what they would do on the course. Ruby picked Mechatronics (Robots) for hers, and Blake picked Computer Science.

At the end of the day, Blake and Ruby felt like they could learn no more.

'This will be the exact structuring for every day for the next 364 days. You may go back to your room and finish all the work you have to do. Then you may call your friends, as long as you have the video turned off, and you don't explain what this place looks like, and don't reveal anything that's happened her. You can say that you have a really hard training schedule, but anything else is not allowed to be said over scrolls.

'You may be able to talk to them in person, and tell them a bit more, but not until your next free day, which is Christmas. Have a nice evening.'

Davis then got up and left the training grounds, leaving Blake and Ruby to make their own way out.

'Let's get back to the dorm, we need to do this work, all of its due tomorrow, and it'll take us about 3 hours to get through it all if we can work fast.' Blake said to Ruby, standing up and stretching.

'Ugg… that was sooooo boooring! AND it took forever as well!' Ruby complained, leaning back in her chair, finishing the last of the questions, 'we have to do this for a whole year?' Ruby slumped back in her chair, defeated.

'Come on, Ruby, it's only been one day, we can get through this, we'll get used to it soon, and then it'll be smooth sailing.' Blake encouraged, trying to keep Ruby's morale high.

'I guess so… Anyways, now we can call Yang and Weiss! It's been 3 days since we last talked to them!' Ruby got her excitement back all at once at the prospect of talking to Yang and Weiss.

'Okay, I'll call them.'

Blake got out her scroll, made sure that the video setting was turned off, asked Mitch and James to leave the room, as they were talking between themselves about random things over on the other side of the room. She pressed the call button, and waited for them to pick up.

It took about 2 seconds for them to do it.

'BLAKE, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED US SOONER, AND WHERE THE FUCK IS RUBY?!' Yang yelled, coming up on screen. 'AND WHY IS YOUR VIDEO OFF, WE CAN'T SEE YOUR FACES!' Yang was very angry, and when Weiss walked into the room, it seemed it would only continue.

'BLAKE, I SWEAR TO GOD, WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU HUNDREDS OF TIMES! YOU SAID YOU WOULD CALL 3 DAYS AGO! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALERTING YOUR TEAMMATES TO YOUR WELLBEING?'

Blake just shook her head.

'Just get it all out, you two. We haven't been able to call because we've been training hard for the last few days, and also figuring out where everything is. We are both perfectly fine, and we would love to be able to turn on the video, but because of secrecy regulations, we can't.'

'HEY YANG, HEY WEISS! YOU'D LOVE IT HERE, WE DID THIS AWESOME TRAINING THING, AND I BEAT MY OWN RECORD OF GRIMM KILLED IN ONE GO!' Ruby shouted into the phone.

Yang and Weiss chuckled, both looking very relieved. They had bags under their eyes, and it seemed like they had lost a lot of sleep over them.

'That's great Ruby, how many Grimm did you kill?' Yang asked

'I… don't think I'm allowed to tell you. But I can tell you that the training program we are on is sooooo hard, it's all lectures, then we get tonnes of homework, and the fighting training takes everything out of you, but I really think it'll improve our skills a lot.'

'So, what are you allowed to tell us?' Weiss asked, 'and why can't you tell us more?'

'That's all we're allowed to tell you about what we've been doing, and we can't because someone might be listening into this call. If we met you in person, and it'd have to be here, than we could tell you more. For now, let's just talk about what you've been doing, and whenever we can call, we will. But don't expect it to be very often, as we don't have a lot of spare time.'

'Ok then, I hope we can see each other soon, maybe you can expand on this training program, and I might be able to have a go.' Weiss said.

They spent the next half-hour talking about what Yang and Weiss had done, then went to bed.

After all, it would be a long year.

A/N: Well, that took longer that I had hoped for. I planned to have this out yesterday, but it just took a while to write, so I had to sleep, and write it over 2 days. Normally I just sit down and write everything, then read it, then upload it. Anyways, that's pretty much what the training is like. Don't expect many more chapters of just the training, as it's boring and repetitive. The next few chapters will be plot advancing, and will probably span the entire year. I hope to have this first little bit out of the way in about 5 chapters. After that, we can get into finding out more about the secrets that have been revealed, and some that haven't just yet. I may put a chapter up on what Weiss and Yang are doing, if you guys want it, but I think this will mainly be from Blake and Ruby's perspective. There won't be any shipping in this story really, for reasons that you will find out much later on in the story. Anyways, please review so I know how I'm doing, and I hope to update sooner from now on. Till next time.