Port's words had an affect on Yang. She redoubled their training, but more than that she focused on expanding the breadth of their skills. The emphasis on combat might not have been what the professor had wanted, but then he should have been clearer. For all Port's talk of high minded ideals, well all the stuff he implied about ideals, they were fighters. In the end their job was to kill and die, being stronger in combat was the fastest way to improve.

That was easier said than done of course. No one simply woke up and decided to be better, and then was. Improvement took time, and effort, and work, and sleepless nights. Luckily whenever they faltered they had Yang pushing and prodding them relentlessly. It was somewhat out of the model he'd built of the girl, Jaune had initially pegged her as a thrill seeker, but she was driven. Part of it, a large part, was probably the desire to be the best but Yang had more depth to her than he had first thought.

All of that might not have mattered, they'd all spent years training to reach their current levels, but for the 'last master of the lotus style.' Ren had worn his voice out trying to explain the intricacies of focusing aura, but he'd succeeded. Partially.

Ren shook his head as their leader blasted Jaune across the roof. "No! No! Yang, you need to hold it in longer."

"That's what-"

Jaune managed to cut her off her reflexive comeback with a somewhat diffuse blade of aura. It barely pushed her, the only visible result was her hair being blown back by the projected pulse. He took a second too long to admire his effort, it might not have been especially good but it was his- and Nora with a full swing hammered him.

It took a few seconds to control his tumble through the night air, his shield worked fine as a lifting surface, but Nora had sent him on a low ballistic arc. The engineering college flashed beneath him and a frantic contortion kept him from wrecking the roof of the machine shop. He'd lost his balance and tenuous stability with the twist though and it was frowned upon to damage the grounds. Luckily there was a fish pond that wouldn't mind being a crater temporarily. It turned out water did feel like concrete at high speeds, who knew?

He dug himself out of the muddy bottom, a few quick kicks sending him to the surface despite the weight of his sodden clothes and armor. The engineers were having some sort of cookout or bonfire on their quad and all of them were staring at him. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Beacon did other things than train hunters, especially since most other students had the sense to keep their distance from the hormonally driven weapons of mass destruction. Seeing a fully armored man plunge out of the sky and into their party was only likely to increase that, so Jaune just gave them a nod and started the long jog back to the roof.

One of Yang's goals was to increase their stamina, that conversation had included more nudges and winks than anyone was really comfortable with, so Jaune didn't use his aura during the trip. As a result he was breathing pretty heavily by the time he made it back to his team and discovered them sitting on the parapet.

"So why are we practicing on the roof again? We pay a lot of tuition to have access to air conditioned training rooms." Yang took one look at him, soaked and covered in mud and nearly fell off of the roof laughing. Nora caught her, hooking her with the haft of her hammer, but she was also grinning.

"No one wanted to say it Jaune, but you really need to take more showers." Nora was entirely serious, and her tone was almost sympathetic. "Yang was hoping you'd take the hint when she mentioned training in fresh air, but I thought giving you a dunking might be more productive."

"She's right, you're really playing into the Valean stereotypes." From anyone else Jaune could have taken that, but from Ren it was the basest betrayal. "What's next? Cheese and wine parties?"

"Pick up your weapons and I'll show you all whining!" In retrospect that wasn't the greatest threat ever. Yang did fall off the roof this time. She gave them a thumbs up from the ground, then vanished back into the building for the climb up. Nora and Ren still looked far too pleased with themselves. Apparently getting Ren out of his shell was a long term project of the shorter girl and Ren traded insults so rarely that he had fewer to celebrate. Jerks, all of them.

Jaune unstrapped his armor and pulled off his hoodie, wringing out the scummy pond water into a growing puddle. Yang emerged back on the roof, glowing as ever. "So why are we training on the roof?"

She deliberately stomped over, Ren's lessons on aura enhancements making the roof shudder with each of her steps. "Well I thought it might get a little loud."

"And the sound proofed training rooms don't account for that?"

Yang's familiar smirk covered her face. "I like the idea of keeping Cardin and his little crew from getting any sleep because of all the explosions."

Typical. "Classy."

"I try." She clapped, letting out an amber wave that left her both shocked and pleased. "But not sleeping will hurt us just as much, so with the power vested in me I declare this training session adjourned!" She flung herself into the sky with a leap and sped herself on with two dust shells, aimed to collide with the wall of Cardinal's dorm. Her landing was a little more subdued, but Nora mimicked her and exploded into the sky with a deafening bang. Jaune and Ren shared a look of resignation before Ren left via the stairs, with Jaune picking up his dripping equipment and following.

"The shower thing was a joke you know." Jaune sipped his coffee and tried to conceal his satisfaction. He had known, but using all the hot water was a time honored Arc trick, the things you learned with seven sisters. "I mean it didn't bug me, but Nora and Ren were looking a little blue."

"They'll get over it." Even if they didn't Jaune wasn't sure he could bring himself to care right now. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the air was just warm enough that girls were wearing their summer clothes, and he didn't have any tests hanging over his head. People watching in Vale was the perfect way to squander a Saturday. "Are you doing anything today? Or is this it?"

Yang stretched across the table from him, he was sure she was doing it just to tease him but he didn't want to find out. "As much as I'd like to laze around in the sun all day, Ruby is coming to the city for some sort of team excursion. I told her I'd tag along, we don't really see each other as much as I was expecting."

"I guess it's different with just one sibling, I like having some space from mine."

"We've always been close. I'm glad she made it to Beacon with our year, it would have been even weirder without her here." For a second she was contemplative, then her native energy filled her again. "But while we're waiting let's play a game, you point out someone and tell me something about them and I decide if it's true or not."

Jaune knew what she was doing, she wanted him to use his semblance more and was hoping this would reduce his inhibitions. He had seen the cost of not using it, and against random strangers it wouldn't feel as bad a breach of trust. Oh well, a few irrelevant secrets weren't that important. "Deal." He pointed to a random man and gave Yang a second to study him before opening his mind.

Fat, eats well, office job, not enough exercise- no that was boring, Has a ring, it's shiny, takes it off a lot, no it's just still new. God this guy had the least interesting life imaginable. Has a slight limp, injured knee, played ball in school, misses it, believes highlight of his life has passed- boring and banal, lovely. "He's embezzling from his boss."

Yang gave the man a searching look, then shook her head. "I say no. He looks like a standup fellow." Jaune set his drink down a little more heavily than it deserved. "One point for team Xiao Long then! My turn to pick somebody." She twisted, scanning the crowd then pointed to a blonde faunus with an inability to understand buttons. "Him."

From Vacuo, no Mistral, hunter trained, here for the tournament, arrived without his team, leads his team, wanted to have fun without pressure, bit of a kleptomaniac, stole the banana, monkey faunus. What a walking stereotype, Yang wouldn't see it coming. "He likes to steal fruit."

Yang gave him another look, lingering just an instant longer than was strictly polite. "Nope, I vote for the intrinsic goodness of anyone who cares that much about their core."

"He actually escaped the police after stowing away to get here."

Yang sighed, at last turning away. "What a waste of a body. For a minute I thought I'd found someone to share the difficulties of being really really good looking with."

"Humble much?"

"It isn't bragging if it's true," she glanced at her scroll for the time. "Now pick somebody before I have to meet Ruby."

Jaune wanted someone fun, he did like learning secrets but he had standards. Sadly the crowds were entirely anodyne, just people also out to enjoy the weather. He gave them one last look before settling on a girl with bright orange hair. "Her, carrot-top."

Yang nodded, and then Jaune let the rest of the world fall away. Shy, cautious, worried about hurting people, she's heavy, heavier than a girl her size should be, not a girl, not human, never human- "What the hell."

Yang's purple eyes were wide. "What? What did you see?"

"She's a robot." The girl, no android, was picking its way through the crowd, each step deliberate. She, it was worried about crushing people's feet, didn't want to hurt people, could hurt people, built to fight, combat ready. "And she's dangerous."

"Who's dangerous?"

"Rubes!" The rest of her team had arrived with her, Pyrrha and Blake chatting as Weiss hunched under an awning looking increasingly burnt. "Jaune and I were playing a game, it's not-"

"Who?" She followed her sister's line of sight and brightened. "Oh I just met her! It's Penny!" Ruby dragged Weiss out of the shade over to them, "Weiss ran into her earlier, she's really strong!"

"She's a robot." Jaune's deadpan statement silenced her.

"She's a little odd" said Pyrrha after the moment passed, "but that's not a nice thing to say about her. I've met plenty of people who would benefit from a little more socialization."

Jaune couldn't help but feel she meant him, and blurted out a response before he could think it through. "No she really is, like with nuts and bolts and wires."

"You're saying she's made of metal?" Pyrrha had a way of saying things nicely that also conveyed her complete disbelief. "There's an easy way to-" her mouth dropped open and she paled. "She is made of metal."

Now all six of them were staring at the girl as she walked deliberately through the square.

Ruby stamped one foot, sometimes she acted her age and seethed. "I don't care if she's a robot, she's my friend!"

"You just met her!" Weiss looked exasperated, although that might have been her reddening skin.

"I can make friends as quickly as I want!"

"She's coming over here." Blake's interjection stopped the incipient argument as Penny approached. Jaune felt uneasy, from her evident weight to move so smoothly she must be immensely strong and he was beginning to sense her aura. She might not be hostile, but she was dangerous.

"Salutations!" She certainly sounded real, but his semblance was alerting him to all the little things that betrayed her true nature. "I didn't expect to see any of you again today, Vale does have so many people!"

"Yeah, it's crowded today." Ruby took the lead, the only one unconcerned. "We're going to try to see the competitors for the tournament, we're headed for the docks."

"I was just there, several ships from Vacuo are due to arrive in the near future."

"Wait a second." Yang's raised hand brought the android to a stop. "If you just met shouldn't you have come from the same place?" It might not have been the most important question but Jaune was also curious.

"I've been riding the bus in circles. You can stay on as long as you like for the price of one ticket, and it is an efficient way to tour the city." She straightened with her hands held behind her back. "I believe I have seen all that is visible from the bus though. Do you mind if I accompany you for the rest of the day? I too would like to meet the other teams in the Vytal Tournament."

"Um.." Ruby looked to Pyrrha who seemed torn for an instant before rallying.

"Of course you may come with us, and you've actually met half of another team just now. Yang Xiao Long and Jaune Arc. Yang's the leader of-"

Penny's eyes went wide. "Source Yellow?" Yang's snickers only cut off when Jaune flung a packet of sugar at her. "I didn't realize that you were a real person."

Yang cut in before he could. "He's a little robotic on occasion, but he's a real boy." Penny's face fell, it was almost enough to convince Jaune she felt emotions before she brightened again.

"Well it is nice to meet both of you, I am Penny Polendina."

"Charmed," Yang said as she stood, throwing some Lien on the table. "Well Jaune, want to come along with us?"

Jaune finished his drink and shook his head, keeping Penny in his view at all times. "Way too much estrogen for me I think."

"Coward, I thought you'd want to get the inside scoop."

Hanging around Penny for information he'd have weeks to gather didn't seem worth it. Besides, if something did happen he'd be of no use without his weapon and Pyrrha could handle her with ease. "I've learned enough today I think, text me if there's anything though."

"Sure thing Mr. Yellow." The six of them vanished into the crowds and Jaune turned towards Beacon. Things here just kept getting weirder.

AN: So this is the last chapter currently written, so updates will slow. For those of you who previously read this elsewhere, new content is coming.