Chapter 9


The Dock's

"Alright then, now that that's all cleared up, back to Beacon!" Ruby started on her way back before she was stopped by Weiss

"Ruby….it's this way" Ruby turned around, mumbling an apology as she walked the other way with her head down. Chatting amongst each other, with yelling occurring, soon they were at the Vale AirDock. While the other's got the tickets, Blake and Alex were just standing there. Blake just standing there and Alex was checking his watch for any damage that I may have occurred in the fight.

"Alex?" He looked up with raised eyebrow, wondering if he was in trouble. Weiss had yelled at him for about twenty minutes on the way, with Yang and Ruby lecturing him about running off and not contacting anyone. Alexis…She was fuming. She didn't say a word to him or even acknowledged his presence

"Yes? How may I help you?" Blake just rolled her eye, but couldn't hold back a small smile.

"You do realize you have to explain yourself, Right?" He just sighed, it's not that he wasn't going to anyway. He doesn't like to be reminded every time about the same thing over and over.

"Yes" He drawled. "Once we get back, I'll explain."

The rest of Team RWBY had comeback with them all having their tickets. Yang had bought Blake's ticket, claiming it was a "Peace offering". Blake had laughed at that. Alex had noticed that Yang was acting different around Blake. He just filed that under "should-ask-but-oh-well". Noticing that he still needed to buy his own, he made it to the terminal and tapped his scroll to the machine. Students at Beacon received free Transportation using the Airships with a tap of their scrolls on the pad. The ticket printed and he made his way to the terminal, not waiting for the others. He was so deep in thought that he ran into someone's back. Mumbling an apology, he made his way to his seat and the rest of the team joined. Alexis had decided to not sit next to him and opted for a small one seat on the other side of the isle, next to the windows. Yang had obviously seen him as he looked down sadly, but said nothing.

As the Airship landed, Alex was still awake. He was just staring at his Watch, thinking about the Weapon's manufacturing room he found earlier, aside from other things. Across from him, he noticed that Blake had nodded off on Yang's shoulder, and Ruby had nodded off on Weiss shoulder. Weiss herself was awake and didn't seem to mind Ruby sleeping on her…Until she noticed that Ruby was drooling, after which she shook Ruby very violently.

"Wake up you dolt! You're Drooling on me!" Ruby shot up awake.

"What! Oh, hey Weiss." She sighed, why did she let Ruby sleep on her shoulder?

"Come on, let's go back to the dorms, where you can drool on your own pillow." Yang had gently woken up Blake from her slumber. Alex got up and noticed that Alexis had fallen asleep in an awkward angle, and knew she would have some neck pain tomorrow.

"Lex. Lex, wake up." Shaking her gently, he was able to wake her up. She noticed that everyone had gotten off except her and Alex. Silently thanking him, she speed walked to catch up with the rest of the group, leaving him behind. Sighing, he walked out and despite being behind his team by a significant margin. He eventually did get to the dorm, though he was surprised once he walked in.

"Alright Alex, Blake said that you would explain what pissed her off. So spill." Yang was blunt about almost everything. Sighing, he grabbed his laptop and sat down on the table. Everyone had gathered around the table and was listening.

"Alright Blake, show me the part that you read" She scrolled through the notes until she found the paragraph, before sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms with a frown.

"Ok, so...-" he skimmed through the paragraph notes and what note, mumbling before finding a specific paragraph. "I can see how you would think that I'm the person ordering these experiments to be done. Jesus, the wording on this document is terrible. Anyway, unfortunatly the PNC didn't exactly have the...best...person to lead. My predesscesor was very racist and anti-faunus and blah so this was basically put into place to try to have somekind of "Final Solution to the Faunus Question'." He poointed to the

"Alright, questions?" Blake raised her hand instantly, still not convinced entirely.

"Alright, first what is a 'PPG Sensor' and 'ImageSense'? And why not include them in First Run Units?" Oh how he wished they knew how everything worked in the tech business…

"The PPG sensor is the Heart Monitor and Human Monitoring Sensor. That's how humans manage their Aura. The ImageSense sensor is what is needed so that Faunus receive that Aura monitoring feature. Basically, ImageSense monitors the unique parts that make up a Faunus. An example is Ears, Tail, gills if applicable, etc. It automatically detects whether you are a human or Faunus when you first turn on the device. The same way the scrolls do. Don't worry though, that information is kept on the device. If anyone wants that information, they need to literally have your scroll to get access tothat. As for the question "Why don't just use the PPG sensor only?" The PPG sensor was not made to do that and was never updated to. I will work on that in order to prevent this, but it won't happen for some time." Blake nods, not entirely believing him, but giving him the benefit of the doubt. If that makes any sense. Weiss asked her question confused how he couldn't do it, but the SDC could.

"I don't understand, Schnee Dust Corporation can do it, why can't you?"

"Weiss, I don't use any dust in my products. Or at least most, that's why." The reason he corrected himself was because the device on his wrist technically used dust. But it still used it, so it counted. Weiss nodded, understanding the situation. Yang and Ruby had listened as well, but didn't have any questions. When he looked to Alexis, all that pent up anger was ejected in the form of a simple question.

"Alright, now that that's out of the way, why didn't you tell us where you two were at?!" Yang and Ruby looked up at her, worried. Weiss and Blake just stared at her.

"Simple, none of you ever called…or texted for that matter." Yang, Ruby, Weiss, and Alexis eyes widened, not expecting that answer. "Also, I am about 99% sure that Blake was afraid of what Weiss would have said at the time. She wasn't exactly in the right mindset." That elicited a "Hey!' from Weiss, who just huffed and crossed her arms. Alex's eyes then widened when it hit him, Alexis had spoken to him for the first time that night.

"Finally, she speaks! Hours of glares and the silent treatment and the weird look!" Alexis gave him a hard look "Just like that!" And then she punched him in the shoulder…hard.

"WHY IS EVERONE HITTING MY ARM? IT HAS FEELINGS TOO!" He rubbed it, trying to ease the pain as he noticed her Frown slowly twitch into a smile as he said that. She proceeded to grab him into a very tight hug, one that could rival Yang's. He heard his back crack in multiple places and the air being literally squeezed out of him.

"Lex….Can't….breathe…..Air….Need" She loosened the hug, and he returned the embrace as she whispered something into his ear.

"Don't ever leave like that again, Ok? Please?" The way she had somewhat begged is what made him agree.

"Sure, but at least try to contact me before giving me the silent treatment? It isn't fair that I get blamed when no one called…" She nodded into his shoulder. They stayed like that for a bit until someone behind them cleared her throat.

"Ahem" They pull out of the embrace and saw Yang smirking. That caused both of them to blush at the awkwardness of the situation. Eventually they all got ready and went to bed.


Professor Port's Class

"Please take out your Number 115 Pencils. Hopefully you study and paid attention to my lectures, as everything I have said will be on this examination." Alexis smirked, she knew there would be questions from his stories. Next to her, Alex was just staring at the Professor as he started to pass out the exams with his arms crossed. Once he got it, he started to look through it. As he went through the pages, he started to smirk, there was no questions on any of his stories. As he examined the last page, his small smirk was oozing smugness everywhere. He turned slightly towards Alexis, who had conveniently placed her head in her hands, knowing she had lost. Eventually, they both did start actually doing the exam.

Weiss was the first out of everyone to finish, with Alex finishing as soon as she got up to turn it in. As they both walked up, they noticed Ruby and Yang were also done, and Blake was finishing as well. Alexis was the last to finish and turn hers in. While they had to wait for everyone else, they decided to do other things to preoccupy themselves while they waited. Weiss decided to take out a text book and study, presumably for the next test or something, Ruby was doodling something on a piece of paper, Yang had fallen asleep, Blake was reading a book, Alexis was playing a game on her scroll and Alex was folding some pieces of paper. Alexis noticed that and instead of tapping the screen to keep the Nevermore flying, she watched as he folded several pieces of paper. Yang had woken up and looked at Alexis, who still was preoccupied with watching Alex fold paper, before Yang whispered to her

"You know, just watching his hands move like that isn't going to get them to do that to you." Alexis, not wanting to cause a scene, blushed a deep red before letting her head hit the desk. That caught Alex's attention.

"Lex, you alright?" Nodding into the desk, he shrugged before he went back to his project. Since he technically won the bet, a first for him, he decided to allow his smug side come out for a little bit…Just a little bit. What he was doing was making a paper mold of a small briefcase that he will eventually make a metal version of later. After about half an hour of concentration, having to bin three different versions, and needing to go to the bathroom, he finished the paper "prototype". Ruby and Weiss had noticed him basking in the brilliance of something. Ruby tool the liberty of asking for both her and Weiss.

"Alex? What are you doing?" He immediately stopped basking in his brilliance, scratching his head sheepishly

"Uhh…Nothing?" Ruby, not believing him, took the small briefcase.

"Why did you make this?"

"Because I can, now give it back!" Shrugging, she tossed it back. He proceeded to cradle it, like one would with a small child. Rolling her eyes, Ruby went back to drawing.

Weiss noticed her drawing, but didn't say anything. She watched as Ruby concentrated, how her face contorted into a face of someone who is giving it their all. She noticed how her brow creased and how her tongue stuck out a bit. 'She does look while doing that. Wait!? What am I saying? I mean, is it normal for partners to think about each other like this? She does look good in her uniform I mean- STOP!' She shook those thoughts out of her head, then noticed the drawings. It was one of the Team. More Specifically, in pairs, such as Blake and Yang, and Alex and Alexis. They weren't bad either, but she noticed the last pairing. It seemed Ruby was putting more effort into the two of them than the others. Ruby then turned around and noticed Weiss watching her draw and quickly hid the picture, praying to every deity that she didn't notice the extra things she was drawing.

"H-hey Weiss. It's not what it looks like." She raised an Eyebrow….Really?

"So you didn't just draw us with our partners then?"

"Yeah, I mean-"

"Ruby, it looks good. Your drawings aren't bad. You have a really good eye for it." Ruby smiled at Weiss compliment. It was a genuine compliment. "Though, would you mind if I see them?" Ruby shook her head violently, making her hair move side to side.

"Why not?"

"It's a Surprise!" That part was true. Once she eventually finished, then she would show it to her team. Weiss just huffed and went back to studying. Eventually, the class ended and Blake had to wake Yang back up. Professor Port then made a small announcement to the class.

"Before you all leave, Professor Glynda Goodwitch has passed information on to me. She has informed me that everyone is to go to the Auditorium after Lunch. The Reason for this is because drawing for the Vytal festival is about to begin!" Everyone began speculating how this would happen, apparently they were starting the Qualifiers early to compensate for the extra transfer students. Beacon received a lot more than they usually do around this time. Everyone eventually went to lunch. Minus Ruby and Alex.


The Cafeteria

In the Beacon Academy cafeteria, Team RWBY are sitting together as Blake looks over some notes. These include the White Fang insignia, a picture of a Faunus with Horns, and possibly his emblem. Yang then slides up next to her partner.

"Whatcha doing?" Startling Blake, she closes her book.

"Nothing. Just going over notes." Nora flings a grape and Yang catches it in her mouth.

"Lame." Nora giggles as she continues to toss grapes at Yang with a spoon. Yang catches the fruit easily and gives Nora a thumbs up. Ruby, giving an enormous heave, slams a binder onto the table, catching everyone off guard. On the cover of the binder is written "Vytal Festival Activities, Property of Weiss Schnee." This has been hastily crossed out with a red marker pen, and with the same pen, a new title, "Best Day Ever Activities", has been written underneath. Alex appears not too far behind, with something clearly rectangular in his Backpack. Before anyone asks, Ruby clears her throat.

"Ahem. Sisters... friends... Weiss."

"Hey!" Ruby ignores Weiss indignant cry and continues with her speech

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

Yang catches another berry in her mouth, before saying "This ought to be good."

"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had... ever!" Weiss notices the scribbling and her name on the binder. Alexis also notices that the pen Ruby is using has her emblem on it

"Did you steal my binder?"

"And is that my pen?"

Ruby makes a 'peace' signs with both hands "I am not a crook." Both Alex and Blake are confused about what Ruby is talking about.

"What are you talking about?"

"Really Ruby, what are you going on about?"

"I'm talking about kicking off the Year with a bang!" She points her both her fingers at Blake and Alex. Yang, seeing the opportunity, goes for it,

"I always kick my semesters off with a Yang! Eh? Guys? Am I right?" Alex just face palmed

"God Damn it Yang." An apple then hits her in the face. She glares at the person who threw it, who happened to be Nora, and she was jeering her and her pun.

"Boooooooooooooooo!"

Ruby keeps going "Look guys, it's been sometime and a half and between exchange students arriving, qualifying for the Tournament and the tournament itself later on, this semester is going to be great! But, we are going to have really tough classes and less time to spend with each other as time goes on! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us." Weiss and Alex look at Ruby in surprise.

"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store."

"A bit of both Weiss…A Bit of Both…" he responds, noting the stare off between Yang and Nora

Yang, still glaring at Nora, picks up the apple and tosses it across the room. The apple proceeds to hit someone else in the back of the head, eliciting a "Hey!" Nora then starts to giggle at her.

Blake isn't too confident about Ruby's plans. "I don't know. I think I might sit this one out."

"Sit out or not, I think that however we spend this last day, we should do it as a team!" Weiss begins, Nora Screams "I got it!" as Ren tries to stop Nora from throwing two Pies, but fails.

"I for one think that..." she is interrupted by a pie landing on her face. Meanwhile, to her right, Alexis face is also covers by a pie.

Nora is shown to be the one who threw the pie, she sits down and points at Ren who has his head in his palm. Pyrrha's hand is over her mouth and Jaune simply sits staring wide-eyed. In the back, a Student shouts "Food fight!"

Weiss retaliates from the pie, throwing her milk at Nora but hitting Ren instead. Ren throws his bowl at Ruby, who ducks but throws her bowl and hits Juane. Yang throws a couple of apples, which hit Pyrrha. In return the Warrior then throws her drink at Yang, but ends up targeting Alexis, who was cleaning up. Alexis grabs her milk and chucks it at Pyrrah, but hits Nora, who had thrown her meatloaf at Yang but because she was hit as she go, that hit Alex.

Things escalated quickly after that. At one point, Juane ends up being tossed and hits a window, startling some students who are outside including a Blue Haired boy and his Monkey Faunus friend. Team JNPR begins to build a fortress-castle thing out of the Tables, with Nora being at the top and laughing maniacally

"Ahahahaha!" Team JNPR are standing on the levels that make up the tower of stacked tables. Nora is on top, with Pyrrah on the second level, and Juane and Ren occupying the third and fourth levels respectively. Nora then mocks Team RWBY in a sing-song voice.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

Ruby stomps her foot on a table and points at Team JNPR "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! She crushes a carton of milk in her hand "It will be delicious!" Team RWBY raise their fists simultaneously.

"Yeah!"

Nora gets serious at this point before jumping down, and beginning the real food fight. "Off with their heads!" The Hammerwielding girl gestures with her thumb slicing across her neck.

Ruby takes her leader position and gives orders to Yang. "Yang! Turkeys!"

Ren flips over a table of watermelons before JNPR begin to toss them against Team RWBY. Yang rolls over to the turkeys and sticks her fists inside them, proceeding to block and punch the melons as they speed toward her, then throws the turkeys at Jaune. Blake grabs two Baguettes and begins fighting Pyrrah, who also has a Baguette.

Pyrrah gains the upper hand as she breaks Blake's weapon and sends her flying back, and throws her Baguette at Yang, who manages to kick one of them but gets hit by another one. The impact knocks her back and she slides across the table. Alexis begins to fight with Juane, who unfortunately could only find a broken baguette. She broke off a piece of the wooden table and stuck a small metal rod that was on the floor to the side without sharp splinters, making a makeshift and very ghetto armguard-saw-thing with a handle. As Jaune tries to hold her back, Pyrrah sees him in trouble and throws a watermelon at Alexis side swiping her and thrown away from the action.

Alex was in a hand to hand combat situation with Ren before Nora throws mustard bombs, exploding everywhere and sending him back. Ruby grabs a tray and surfs the tables, blocking a baguette that Pyrrah throws at her before continuing her powerslide on the table. She lands on Pyrrah, she blocks but Ruby pushes up and knocks her back. Ren and Nora go on the offensive as Ruby falls back and allows Weiss to squirt ketchup on the ground in a spectacular fashion, causing Ren to slip and crash into a pile of tables.

Nora jumps over the tables as they are in the air and grabs onto a metal pole, which she then uses to grab onto a watermelon to create a fruit hammer. As she goes for Weiss, Ruby gets in front, takes the hit and is sent back flying. Weiss grabs a sword fish and begins to go at it with Nora's Watermelon Hammer. Alex had gotten up, and was instantly back into the fight as Ren grabbed some celery sticks and made him go on the defensive. Landing a few hits, he sent Ren back as Pyrrah jumped over him and shoulder checked him hard, sending him back into some tables and into Alexis, who was getting back up.

Weiss and Nora are still going at it when a strong hit from Nora knocks her off balance, and capitalizes as she smacks Weiss hard enough to send her into a pillar with enough force to cause it to collapse. Ruby sees this and taps into her semblance to catch Weiss as she falls.

As the pillar collapses around them, Ruby holds her in her arms, screaming. "Weiss, Weiss! Don't leave me! Nooo!" Weiss obviously wasn't dead, but did smile at Ruby's acting.

Yang and Alex go back on the offensive as Yang grabbed her turkeys and went against Ren with his celery sticks. Alex was barely able to block a few more watermelons that Nora threw at him, his watch activating and providing a small barrier that the fruit hit. Yang tries to kick Ren, but blocks it with the celery sticks. As they fight on, Yang gains the upper hand and hands Ren an Uppercut that makes him go airbourne. Ren's agility came into play as he flipped and threw more celery sticks at Yang. Yang dodged them and went airbourne, landing a hard hit on Ren from behind, sending him back into more tables.

Alex and Nora were in an even match, as he landed some hits and despite Nora hitting him with the Hammer, he was able to block a few and dodge some hits as well. As Nora tried again, Alex delivered a kick at the right time that hit the hammer mid swing and caused it to return-to-sender and hit Nora, who was sent back. Nora saw Ren down and instead focused her attention at Yang, who followed suit.

Soon the two were exchanging blows, but a miscalculated punch allowed Nora an open opportunity and hit Yang, causing her to go through the Roof and into the heavens. In the Air, Yang looked around at how high she was, and she swore she could see their little cabin from here.

Blake had gotten up and grabbed sausages. Using that, she was able to whip Nora back against the Vending machines, causing them to eject out cans of soda that were about to burst.

Nora meanwhile used MelonHammer to launch a few more watermelons at RWBY. Alexis was slowly getting up and didn't notice that one of the large fruits was coming her way. Alex was able to get to her in time and using his Grifball skills acted as some sort of keeper, blocking the melons from hitting his blonde partner. That included a spectacular dive to save a watermelon that had a curve to it.

Using the watermelons he just saved, he quickly lined them up and began to kick each one. Nora was not expecting the watermelons to return to her, including the one that smacked the side of her head. One of the melons was able to confuse Jaune with its curve as it hit his leg. Pyrrah was able to block and break the melons, and Ren simply dodged them.

Somehow, Nora was able to get a catapult and launch the remaining melons across the cafeteria. It didn't have a specific destination, but it seemed that they were going to rain dowm around the back where Alexis was.

Alex knew he wasn't going to be able to block them, so he threw himself ontop of Alexis instead to protect her from the oncoming waves of deadly/delicious fruit. The fruit didn't hit them, but Alexis wasn't going to complain about how close she was to him. She could smell the cologne he was using.

"You alright?" He asked her, flashing a smile as he helped her up. She simply nodded, blushing furiously once he returned to the fight. They were really, really close together that time.

Meanwhile, Nora throws the Soda grenades at Blake, who is caught off guard by them but is able to dodge them. Pyrrah sees the cans on the ground, and taps into her semblance. As the Soda cans lift, the brunette CEO's face turns from one of awe into one of horror as the he figured where those cans were heading.

As Pyrrah launches all the cans at once he pounds his fist into the ground, a small energy field emitting from his wrist worn weapon encompasses and protects him from the sugary drink grenades. Blake isn't as lucky as she takes the brunt of all of it and is tossed into the back.

Ruby gets up from 'mourning' Weiss' fictional demise and Alex gets up from being in the kneeling stance. Nora begins to smirk as Ruby sees Alex standing as well. They make eye contact for a brief second before they nod, a non-verbal plan had been hatched. He finds a two watermelons and places one on the floor before taking the other one in his arms.

Ruby begins speeding towards Team JNPR. Alex meanwhile begins to pick up pace, using the watermelon as a grifball and running towards "Goal". Pyrrah is about to use her semblance again to try and create a barrier, but Alex was able to kick the watermelon and managed to hit and disorient her.

Ruby fully taps into her semblance and begins to spin, leaving rose petals on the ground as well as causing enough momentum to pick up all the debris and Team JNPR. Alex drops the second watermelon/ball and sees Nora trying a last ditch effort to stop Ruby. He fires a screamer of a kick that manages to send Nora into Ren. That left Ruby free to continue her plan, the debris came barreling down and Ruby stopped before hitting the wall. Her cape creating a crater in the wall. JNPR is then swept up by the debris and slammed into that cracked wall and they are painted with soda and food. They slide off the wall, leaving only their outlines as Ruby comes back down.

The doors to the cafeteria open and Glynda enters the room growling. She proceeds to use her semblances to re-organize the room, fixing the damage done as well. Team RWBY and JNPR take a seat at one of the tables as she continues the repairs,

"Children, please." she adjusts her glasses "Do not play with your food!"

Nora burps aloud as both Teams JNPR and RWBY try to act civilized, but fail. A screaming Yang then crashes from the ceiling onto Alex. Yang gets up, dazed from the impact and notices him on the ground, vulnerable.

"Ow. Where's the leak mam…" He collapsed back onto the floor

"Let it go." Ozpin approaches her from behind as she sighs

G"They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

"And they will be, but right now they're still children." In the background, Everyone is laughing as Alexis helps a dazed Alex, to his feet as. "So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll get to have forever." Glynda sighs again, leaving the two teams to laugh with each other and enjoy themselves.


Author's Note: I renovated this chapter, hopefully it came out better than the original. The end result is the same though. Anyway, leave me some feedback to see what can be improved, I am open to it. Thanks for reading this and hopefully I entertained your glorious faces!