Royal POV

"Alright, is everyone ready?" I asked. I was currently outside the school, standing in front of team RWBY and the rest of team RPRN. Everyone stood next to a large tree. As promised, now that everyone had found their meditation space, I was going to teach them a few aura techniques, starting with strength enhancement.

Every nodded and shouted to indicate that they were in fact ready, but before I began I gave a pleading look at Nora and Yang. "Are you sure you guys even need this? I mean It might just be a waste of your— "

"We're sure!" the two heavy hitters stated firmly, making me sigh and whisper, "This is going to bite me in the ass later on,"

I noticed black giving me a nod, as she heard me with her enhanced hearing. Nevertheless, I began the lesson. "Strength enhancement is fairly simple. You all know that when the aura is unlocked, you feel a bit stronger overall, if only a little bit." They nodded. "That's because the aura is encasing your entire body. To give a certain body part extra strength, all you need to do is direct a high concentration of aura in that area."

I glanced at Ren, "You're all probably wondering how you will learn a technique without having to touch your center. I will let Ren explain, as I'm sure he'll do it much more eloquently than I could. Ren?"

He nodded to me and demonstrated his disks, "The way I was taught to do this, was fairly simple. Because the Aura is the manifestation of your soul, it is also the manifestation of your passion. When you feel emotions, they are categorized by specific body heat signatures. I imagine something that makes me angry, happy, proud, or amorous, then I focus on the heat that comes with it, and try to will it to form in my hands, to protect me. Is that what you had in mind Royal?"

I nodded, "Yeah more or less. Thank you, Ren."

"That's all well and good," Yang said, "But "amorous"? what brings that out in you huh Ren?"

I sighed as Ren remained silent, and Nora's face practically screamed from her own curiosity. Thankfully, Weiss spoke up. Never thought I'd say that, "We're getting off track. Is it the same concept with strength enhancement?"

I shrugged, "Almost. the passion, the heat, all that's the same. But instead of willing it to form somewhere, all you really do is imagine the heat moving, shifting, and condensing itself into your desired muscles. Then comes the hard part: holding it there."

Ren raised an eyebrow, "I never had issue with holding my disks…"

I nodded, "Because the disks form outside the body. this involves building up aura inside yourself. Your body won't be used to it. The sensation is best described as "hot". The first few times you do this it will quickly become unbearable. Like many other things, constant practice is the only thing that will build up your resistance to it, and allow you to do it for longer. Now, let's begin."

I went through everything again, until one by one everyone started to feel it working. Yang scoffed as she activated hers, "I thought you said it would be hot. This is nothing!"

I smirked at her, "Just give it a minute."

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed, jumping in place, before deactivating the enhancement, "That was weird."

Weiss yelped too, "Okay, I see what you mean."

One by one everyone dropped the enhancement as it started to cause them discomfort, some lasting longer than others. Eventually, only Yang was left, though by the twitch in her eye, it wasn't because of natural talent. "Yang, if it hurts you can let go."

She shook her head and spoke through gritted teeth, "Nah I'm good."

"Being stubborn isn't the same as being strong." Blake spoke up, "You're going to hurt yourself."

The Blonde rolled her eyes, "Please! My hair regularly sets on fire, a little heat won't—and I can't feel my arms. Royal! I can't feel my arms!"

I nodded, "That's what happens when you push it too far. It'll wear off in a few minutes."

Her eyes turned red, "You could have told me!"

I nodded, "I could have. Now, who's ready to go again? Besides Yang of course." I casually dodged Yang's limp arm as she swung it at my head, and moved towards Ruby who raised her arm to indicate she was ready.

I stood next to her, "Alright Ruby, right now I want you to face the tree, and get in your best fighting stance." She nodded and did as I said, ending up in a karate pose like they do in the movies. I sighed and began moving her arms and legs, making her jump, "What are you doing?!"

"You better watch your hands buddy!" Yang spoke dangerously as her arms dangled from her shoulders, "I don't need hands to break yours off.

I simply rolled my eyes and looked at Ruby, "Sorry, I'm just moving you into a stance that would suit you best. You're small, light, so you can be knocked over easily. You need to stand so you can give yourself more support against incoming attacks. Can I continue?" She made an O with her mouth after I explained what I was doing, and allowed me to continue, setting her up in a good stance, with her fists in front of her like a normal person, instead of up in the air like some demented crane. I then walked in front of her, and carefully pushed on her shoulder hard, until I was satisfied that she wouldn't fall over easily. "Good. Now punch the tree."

She blinked, "Huh?"

"Do you mean after she activates the enhancement?" Pyrrha asked hopefully, but I shook my head.

"No, do it with your own strength, everyone else follow her lead as well, except Yang of course," I ignored her glare, "I want you to see just how much of a difference the enhancement makes."

Once they were all ready, I nodded, "Strike!"

Ruby didn't even make a scratch in the tree, not that I was surprised. The same was true for Weiss, Blake and Ren. Pyrrha managed to send a few pieces of bark flying, while Nora put a small crater in the tree. I really didn't want to give her any more strength than necessary.

I nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, now try it with the enhancement. You should know how long you have until it starts to hurt now, so time the punch accordingly. Do it whenever you're ready."

The first one to go was Ruby, always the fastest. She reared back, took a deep breath, then punched the tree with all she had. As her fist made contact with the tree, it began to dig its way into the bark, not stopping until it had made a hole deep enough to reach the center of the tree. I clapped her on the shoulder as I smiled at her work, "Good job, I take it you see the difference?"

The red hooded girl was looking at her fist still in the tree in shock, but managed to nod numbly.

"Awesome!" Nora shouted, before she turned to her own tree and punching it. Unlike Ruby however, here strike went all the way through, toppling the tree crashing down. Nora looked back at me with a smile, while Ruby was no longer in shock, now frowning. "Why couldn't I do that?"

I put a hand on her shoulder as everyone looked at what Nora had done in horror. "She must have had a more powerful emotion powering her attack. I wonder what it was…" I went to stare at Ren, who was just continued to prepare for his own strike, acting oblivious as always. I sighed and looked back at Ruby, "Don't worry about it, my first hit was about as powerful as yours. You just have to find a more powerful emotion."

She nodded, but still didn't seem satisfied, but I had to go check on the others. Weiss got a little farther than Ruby, but didn't get through the tree, the same for Blake and Ren, while Pyrrha managed to get far enough through the trunk that the tree fell down from the lack of support.

Yang got tired of waiting for her Arms to wake up so she ended hitting the tree with a leg sweep, taking it down neatly. I chuckled at her, making her turn to me dangerously, "What you think you can do better?"

I raised an eyebrow as her hair was starting to blaze. "Maybe take a chill pill? I didn't mean anything bad by it. But since you asked…"

I walked past her and picked up the tree she felled, powering my muscles to allow me to allow me to hold it on one shoulder, before I took a step back, and threw it into the forest like a spear, taking down three or four trees before it stopped. I turned to see my classmates staring at what I did in awe, "With enough practice, you can forgo relying on certain memories, and just use pure passion to fuel your attacks. When you get to that, I'm sure some of you may be way stronger than I. for now however, we will focus on extending how long you can use it. But first: Lunch."

I sighed on the way to the cafeteria, as the others wouldn't stop asking questions. For example:

"Is that all you're going to teach us?" Weiss asked, "As useful as it is, not everything can be solved with brute strength."

I shrugged, "For now, yes. It's basic and the principles can be applied to a lot. Ideally you all will start making your own techniques, once you're able to manipulate your own aura freely."

"But isn't that what we did by shifting the heat?" Pyrrha asked.

I shook my head, "It's similar but not the same. What you did was like a shortcut, and only works to accomplish simple things, like strength enhancement, and Ren's disks. Manipulating your aura freely, is more like… like you are freely manipulating all of your thoughts and emotions at once, instead of just one."

That unloaded an entirely different line of question, so I was relieved when we finally arrived at the cafeteria, where they stopped talking about it, lest someone hears.

After I had gotten my meal, and was sat at the table, I was happily enjoying my steak when I overheard something that made me freeze.

"Did you hear about the Grimm Reaper?"

"Yeah I heard he is some kind of "superhero" or something. Whatever that means."

"What's so special about him? Does he have some sort of special Semblance?"

"Maybe? I don't know man I just read a headline."

I stared down at my steak. "Superhero"? Really? that was about as far from the truth as you could get. Turns out the first thing the girl I saved did was contact a news station and tell them everything that happened. Maybe I should have just knocked her out and took her to the hospital that way…

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Yang sat down on the table next to me, holding her plate, as her arms were no longer asleep. "Grimm Reaper huh? What a lame name, though I guess he did save a girl."

I looked at her in barely masked horror, "You've heard of it?"

I heard someone sit down on my other side, and turned to see Weiss with her plate, "Indeed. apparently, he has the extraordinary ability to leap through the air at incredible heights."

I nodded, trying my best to keep a straight face. "Yeah, I heard that too, must be some semblance huh? Right Yang?" I turned to find the blonde brawler staring at me with narrowed eyes. "Uhhh…"

"He also apparently wears a silver mask." Weiss said, causing me to turn around and see her also staring at me.

My eyes widened as I looked between them, "Wait you don't think it's me do you?"

Before they could answer, the others came back with their plates. Weiss and Yang eyeballed me for a few more moments before joining their conversation, allowing me to escape into the comfort of my food, as I dreaded the conversation to come.

I was just doing that, while vaguely listening to the others conversation (something about katanas) when I heard an unfamiliar voice behind me, "Hey!"

I turned around to see a girl with two guys on either side of her. I quickly figured that they were part of a team, as they appeared to be color coordinated in shades of brown and tan. The girl looked down at me behind a large pair of aviator glasses, that clashed strangely well with her beret. The guy on her left appeared to be blind, judging by the fact that his pupils were white and foggy, and the guy on her right was built like a goddamn truck. As they all looked down at me with unreadable expressions, I desperately searched my mind to figure out what I could have done to piss them off.

As I did so, I had to come up with something to say in the meantime, "Hello?"

"Who are you guys?" Ruby asked from across the table, as everyone was now looking at the newcomers.

The girl flicked her hair flamboyantly, "I'm Coco, this is Fox," she gestured to the guy with the burnt orange hair, "And this is Yatsuhashi. We're part of team CFVY."

I blinked, that name sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place It. "Okay… can I help you?"

The girl bent down low, bringing her face close to mine quickly, making me lean back in confusions. I looked around at my team for help, But Ren was too busy trying to get Nora to eat her broccoli, while Pyrrha just looked as confused as I. RWBY was equally unhelpful.

I turned back to face the girl, who was narrowing her eyes at me as her glasses rested on her nose, finally she spoke again, "Are you Royal Belladonna?"

I looked back at everyone questioningly, and saw them all shaking their heads. So of course, I turned back and answered, "That's me."

The girl stared at me for a few more seconds before suddenly smiling, "In that case we'd just like to say thanks!"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "You're welcome?"

"Uhhh, what are you thanking him for?" Weiss spoke up, sounding more confused than me.

I shot her a glare, "Hey! I'm a good person, I'm sure I did something. But yeah," I turned back, "What are you thinking me for?"

The guys chuckled quietly while Coco just smirked at me, "Well you did help out our teammate. You remember Velvet, don't you?"

My eyes widened, "Oh! You're her team! That makes sense, cause of the…"

They all looked at me, "Cause of the what?" Coco asked innocently.

"The Color coordination!" Nora stated bluntly.

"Wait," Fox spoke up, "What does she mean by that? I never agreed to that!"

Coco ignored him while Yatsuhashi patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, "Well we wouldn't be Team CFVY otherwise! But never mind that, we have to figure out how to thank you."

I held my hands up, "Oh don't worry about it. It wasn't that big a deal."

The three deadpanned as Coco said, "She told us you took on a whole team barehanded."

I felt my cheeks staring to burn, "Uh yeah… but to be fair they were terrible."

They chuckled at that before Coco looked serious, "Still. Most people see Velvet getting picked on around here and just assume she'd stop it herself if she wanted to. No one seems to get what would happen if she kicked the ass of every guy who made fun of her. That's why we want to encourage awareness by awarding the people like you. Now, what can we do for you? Buy you a drink, beat up a jerk, maybe set you up on a date with Velvet…"

My eyes widened at that last part, and I was about to explain that that would not be necessary, when someone beat me too it, "Isn't that a bit presumptuous?"

I looked in utter shock to see Weiss glaring at Coco, "I mean he only met her once."

Coco simply smirked back at her in shrugged, "It was just a hunch, I'm usually good with those, but if he says he doesn't want to…"

"I'm pretty sure he does." I now looked in utter confusion at Pyrrha, who was giving Coco a slight frown, which was her version of a death stare.

"Yeah and he's 15," Ruby piped up, "Isn't he too young to drink?"

Coco looked at the three girls with an amused look before raising an eyebrow at me, "I didn't realize they talked for you."

That's when I got a grip and stood up, reaching out hand to shake, "A drink sounds good I think. But I'm busy tonight, and I don't know when I'll be free next."

"What!" the consecutive voices of Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha rang out. I didn't dare look back as Coco wrote down her scroll number for me and handed it over, "Let us know when you are. And feel free to bring your, ah, friends, if you want. Nice coat by the way." 6

I nodded to them, and they turned to leave, prompting me to turn back to my seat, where I was met with the heat of a thousand suns, as several girls were glaring at me, "What?"

Yang, who had been surprisingly quiet during the incident opened her mouth to say something, but was beaten by Ruby, "Wait you actually drink!? I thought the hangover thing was just a joke! Yang you told me I wasn't allowed to until I turned 17!"

Yang looked back at her in alarm, "You still aren't!"

"But Royal does it, why can't I?"

"Royal was literally raised on the streets—no offense—you weren't which means you have to wait!"

They continued to bicker back and forth, letting me turn to Weiss and Pyrrha, who were still frowning at me, "Okay seriously what's the problem?"

"There's no problem." Weiss stated, in a tone that stated that there very much was a problem, "You can go off and drink with random strangers all you want, it's not my problem."

I looked at her in disbelief, "Is that it? Look I don't know them very well but I think I got a pretty good judge of their character. Plus, they seemed fun."

"Did they seem fun, or did she seem fun?" Pyrrha asked with an edge to her voice that I'd never heard before, and really didn't like.

"They!" I insisted, but the two had already gotten up and stormed out of the room, followed shortly after by the bickering sisters, leaving me with Ren, Nora, and Blake. I slumped down in my seat and asked miserably, "Anyone else want to storm out?"

"Don't feel bad Roy," Blake spoke up, "I'm fairly certain you didn't mean any harm."

"I didn't!" I agreed, "I don't understand why they're acting like this…"

"Really?" Ren asked with an amused expression, causing Nora to look at him curiously. "I think it's fairly obvious that—" before he could finish, an irate Nora grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close to her crazed face.

"Is it obvious Ren? Is it?!" She then dropped him back into his seat and stormed angrily out of the cafeteria as well. Leaving Ren with a confused expression.

"What was that about?" He asked, causing Blake and I to roll our eyes in unison.

Later

I rolled over the events of lunch in my head, over and over, as I made my way to Juniors. I didn't understand why Weiss acted the way she did. I mean I get why she was in a bad mood, she's always in a bad mood, but she went from kind of defending me to throwing passive aggressive remarks at me in the blink of an eye. And I didn't know where to even start with Pyrrha. That really came out of nowhere.

I shoved these thoughts aside as I entered the club, and spotted a familiar flash of blonde hair at the bar. I almost went to say hi, as well as ask what the hell he's thinking, joining Juniors gang when I got my answer in the form of two girls in black and white appearing on either side of him, grabbing his arms in a way that went way beyond professional interest. I still had more questions, but I decided to save them for a later date, as I wasn't really looking forward to seeing the girls again. I carefully made my way around the bar, and headed to Juniors office.

I entered the office to find him on the phone with something. When he saw me, he held up a finger before saying, "All right… all right… sounds good to me. I got to go now, but I'll call back tomorrow to talk about making it happen. By—and they hung up. Well hello, Mr. Grimm Reaper."

I rolled my eyes as I walked forward and slumped in the chair facing him, "I should have just knocked the girl out."

He nodded in agreement, "Yeah probably, I get why you didn't though. You and your conscience."

I raised an eyebrow this contemptuous look, "You have one too you know."

He smirked, "Yeah but only a select few know about it, that's why I'm the crime boss and you're the accidental superhero."

I scoffed, "I think I prefer "vigilante" as inaccurate as it is. Anyways, any word on the gang I beat up? Did they leave town?"

He sighed, "You had right when you reported three nights ago. Only one guy saw you, and he got replaced as leader."

"By who?" I asked, "Someone stronger."

He shrugged, "You'd think so. My contact couldn't find out any more than that. We also don't know where their new base is."

I frowned, "How? Don't you have people following them?"

He stood up angrily and went to look through the window, "They managed to give them the slip."

I looked at him in disbelief, "Okay… no offense but are your guys imbeciles? Cause that was the vibe I got from the men in that building."

He turned to glare at me, "Of course not! If that's the case, then whoever is leading them now has a few more brain cells than the last guy."

I sighed. "Okay well… Any new info on you know what?"

His glare softened. "Still nothing Roy. Sorry. But I've put a description out to all my informants, if we find the sniper, you'll be the first to know."

I thanked him, but it didn't get rid of my frown. I started walking to the window, when he asked, "Where are you going? Don't you want a drink or something?"

As I slid the window up, I answered, "You weren't there Junior. They were going to do awful things to that girl, if I wasn't there to stop it…I won't let it happen to anyone else."

He scoffed, "So what? you're going to search the entire city for them? You know that's crazy, right?"

I looked over him as I began forming my mask over my face, and took off my coat. I tossed it to him, "Keep it safe for me?"

He sighed and set it on his desk before slumping back in his chair. "Just don't do something stupid. You're too valuable an asset to lose."

I chuckled at him as I tucked my hair into my shirt and pulled out the purple scarf from my back pocket, "I love you too Junior."

He simply sneered at me as I jumped out the window, beginning the first of many long nights, and marking the start of a very bad life choice.

Third person POV

Pyrrha made her bed angrily as Ren and Nora watched with concern. As she violently fluffed the pillow for the fifth time, Nora finally spoke up. "Hey Pyr… you okay pal?"

The redhead looked at them angrily, before pacing across the room "I just can't believe him! Not just the fact that he's out late again, but the way he was ogling that girl at lunch…"

The two looked at each other then back at her, before Ren said, "I don't think he was looking at her like that."

Pyrrha snapped her eyes to him, "Really? well you weren't as close to him as I was, trust me, he was taking it all in. And why wouldn't he? The fancy clothes, the cool sunglasses, the perfect body…"

Nora took a deep breath before saying, "Pyrrha, I think you're just feeling a bit jealous."

The champion stopped her pacing and looked at her in shock, "Jealous? Why would you think…" She trailed off as she saw the meaningful looks on her teammates faces, then proceeded to flop down on her bed, burying her face in the pillow. "Is it that obvious?"

"To us at least." Ren stated, not noticing Nora's eye roll as she continued, "Pyrrha, a said fact about the world we live in, is that the men we share it with are as dense as bricks when it comes to stuff like this."

Ren frowned, "I don't know if— "

"BRICKS!" Nora practically shouted at him, causing him to cede the argument quickly. Nora then put on a sweet smile and went to sit next to Pyrrha, who was still hiding in her pillow. "Trust me Pyrrha, he wasn't "ogling" that girl. I don't think he's ever ogled anyone in his life."

Pyrrha sniffed, still not moving, but she asked in a muffled voice, "Then why did he agree to have drinks with them? He never asked us to come drink with him…"

Ren sighed at this, "A: He probably figured that Nora and alcohol is a bad combination."

Nora rolled her eyes, "It was one fire."

Ren continued, "B: didn't you say before that you don't drink?"

She turned her head to look at Ren with a frown, "Yeah but— "

"And C:" Ren interrupted, "We never asked him either. That doesn't mean anything bad about how we feel about him or vice versa. He already trains with us, teaches us his aura techniques, he trusts us. Don't you think you should return the favor?"

At that Pyrrha had nothing more to say. She only let the tears fall down her face as she said, "I'm being such a brat…"

Ren's eyes widened, but Nora was already there, helping Pyrrha sit up to pull her into a hug, "No you're not sweetie, you're just in love. People in love do crazy things sometimes."

Pyrrha sniffed a bit as she calmed down, "I suppose… I still wish he would tell us what he's doing so late at night. Do you think he remembered the field trip tomorrow?"

Over in Team RWBY's room, things were not going as well. Ruby and Yang were in their bunks, each glaring at the wall as they couldn't look at each other, while Weiss was angrily doing her homework, which resulted in several broken pencils, only worsening her mood. Meanwhile, Blake just watched them all in disbelief, before finally she couldn't take it anymore. "Would you all just grow up?"

Everyone looked at her in shock, "Excuse me?" Yang asked.

"You're all acting ridiculous!" Blake explained "Yang, you're not Ruby's mother, you can't control everything she does!"

Yang looked like she was going to protest, but the Faunus had already turned to Ruby, "And you're a student at Beacon academy, which legally makes you an adult. If you want to try alcohol no one can legally stop you. So, don't blame your sister, just because you're too scared to try it alone."

The team leader looked down sadly, while Blake ended with Weiss, "If you are so concerned about what Royal does or who he hangs out with, you should try talking to him about it in instead of screaming at him for every little thing he does wrong."

The heiress looked at the Faunus in shock, "I do not— "

"Actually, you kind of do." Yang interrupted, causing Weiss to cross her arms and look away in anger, "And I think Blake's right. We are kind of acting crazy. And I can't control you Ruby, I'm sorry. I just… I need to get used to the idea of you growing up so fast."

Ruby nodded, "I'm sorry too. I don't know what I was thinking, Royal just mentioned how he drank, and I figured since he's my age…"

"Are you sure that's what it was," Yang asked with a smirk, "Or were you looking to impress him?"

"Oh, be quiet Yang," Weiss spoke up, a moment before Ruby was about to, "You know you like him too."

Yang's eyes widened and went to protest, but Ruby spoke first, "Yeah! You keep "teasing" him but it's really just you being all flirty and… wait a minute. Weiss? Does that mean..." she got her answer in the form of Weiss looking away with a slight blush.

"Okayyyy… So, our whole team is into the same guy?" Yang asked in a worried tone.

"Oh no." Blake held up her arms, "Don't drag me into this."

"Oh, come on," Yang drawled, "You can't say you don't feel anything for him. I mean he's— "

"Basically, my cousin." Blake finished for her, sending a gross thought into everyone's mind, "Yeah, that's what I thought. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a shower."

There was a moment of silence after the bathroom door clothes, where no one knew what to say. It was broken however when Yang asked, "Want to talk about his butt?"

The both answered at once "NO YANG!"

The next day

Royal, blissfully unaware of the events of last night, was working hard to suppress his yawns as Goodwitch led everyone through the red forest. He had been up until midnight looking for the criminals, inadvertently stopping a few crimes along the way, and had ended up finding nothing and having to call it a night.

If that weren't bad enough, things have been weird with Pyrrha and him all morning. She barely said anything, and wouldn't look him in the eye. On top of that, Team RWBY has been avoiding him entirely. He soon found himself desperately trying to think of what he did to piss them off.

However, he was drawn out of his thoughts as Goodwitch began her lecture about why they were there, how there were Grimm around, and that they should stick together, and avoid dying. Royal couldn't figure out why professor peach needed so many samples of tree sap, but he knew better than to argue, and followed his team into the forest.

Eventually they found a good spot, and started drawing the sap out of the wood. Ren and Nora were working together, sort of. Every time Ren would hand her a full jar, he'd look back a moment later to find it happy, and Nora looking happier. Pyrrha and Royal on the other hand were at their own trees, facing opposite ways to each other

Royal was having trouble focusing however, as he couldn't stop looking over at Pyrrha, who was facing away from him drawing sap into her own jar. After a few moments, he made up his mind and walked over to her.

Pyrrha tensed up when he spoke behind her, "Pyrrha? Look, I won't pretend to know what I did to upset you, but I want to say sorry for… whatever it was. If I knew what I could do to fix it I would…" He sighed as Pyrrha stayed facing away from him, rubbing the back of his head, "Alright well… I guess I just wanted to say that."

Pyrrha hadn't responded because she was too busy blushing up a storm, and trying to think of what to say. When she heard him turn to leave however, she quickly stood up and turned to stop him "Roy wait I—" however what she saw seemed to slow down time.

Royal's face was inches away from hers, his deep purple eyes looking directly into hers. For a moment, Pyrrha thought he was coming in to kiss her. it seemed a bit forward, and out of the blue, but she was oddly okay with that, and began to purse her lips to meet his.

Then he shoved her to the ground.

She landed on the ground with a huff and looked back to ask him why he did that, only to see his shirt, armor, coat, everything, soaked in red sap, and broken pieces of a jar sitting on the ground.

Royal examined his coat in horror, before hearing a familiar snicker. He looked up to see Cardin and his team looking down at them, laughing their assess off.

Nora and Ren were now by his side, glaring up at the team as Pyrrha stood up to join them. Before anyone could say anything, Royal roared, "If this doesn't wash out YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"

Instead of being intimidated, Cardin looked down at him with a smirk. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. Strange, I was aiming for the know it all bitch, but I think I like that it hit you better. Now why don't you just shut up, and enjoy our little surprise."

Cardin then held up a cardboard box, with a W on it. Team RPRN was uncertain what a box would do, until he opened it, releasing a swarm of Rapier wasps.]

Royal's eyes widened at the pesky Grimm insects, "Are you crazy? Those stingers pierce straight through Aura! You're in just as much danger!"

Cardin shrugged, "True, but they also can't resist the smell of the red sap that comes from this very forest. The same sap that you seem to be covered in. Woops."

Right on cue, the swarm made a beeline hehstraight for Royal, who was suddenly wondering just what he had done to deserve some much bad luck recently. He started backing away, before glancing at his teammates, "Get away from me, their stings go straight through and hurt like a motherfucker. I'll try to lose them." He then turned and ran before they could say anything, followed shortly after by the swarm as team CRDL laughed hysterically.

Pyrrha watched her leader go with concern, before hearing Ren shout, "Go! We'll deal with the miscreants."

Nora drew her hammer with an evil grin, "We'll break all their legs."

Pyrrha nodded to them and ran towards Royal, while CRDL took off into the woods with Ren and Nora in pursuit.

Royal was having a terrible time to say the least. he was trying his best to outrun the bees, hopping through the tree branches as fast as possible, but unlike regular insects, the rapier wasps were impossibly fast, and kept up with him easily. They soon surrounded began surrounding him, giving him tiny stings that cause enormous pain wherever they strike. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to keep going, but he soon found himself in so much pain, that he lost his footing and crashed to the ground, quickly becoming enshrouded in the wasps, being stung mercilessly.

Royal desperately tried slicing at them with his blades, only getting a few out of a dozen, before he eventually shouted, "Get off of me!"

To his immense surprise, the wasps actually listened all of them ceasing their attacks at once, leaving him panting on the ground as he struggled through the pain. After a moment of deep breaths, he managed to sit up, noticing the swarm just sort of sitting there, unsure of what to do. That is, until Pyrrha arrived.

Pyrrha had been desperately chasing after Royal, not nearly as fast as him but finding it easy enough to track the sounds of his cries of pain. She arrived just in time to see him on the ground, covering in small sting marks. That's when she noticed the swarm heading straight for her face.

They were moving too fast for either her or Royal to do anything about, but as they began surrounding her face, Royal shouted, "STOP!"

Again, the creatures obeyed, ceasing their attack on the redhead's face after only one sting on her lip. Pyrrha was frozen, looking at the creatures hovering in the air in shock. That's when the pain started.

She cried out, clutching her mouth in agony, momentarily forgetting the wasps that remained still where they were. As tears began to fall she was too busy trying to get over the pain, that she didn't notice Royal quickly approaching her. She did notice however, when he pulled her hands way and pressed his mouth against hers.

Now she was really frozen. She stood completely straight as she watched her leaders closed eyes centimeters way from hers. In a moment, all the pain was gone. In a word, she would describe the sensation as magical, as his lips were unexpectedly soft against hers.

She was just about to close her eyes and enjoy it, when he pulled away and spit on the ground.

She felt her heart sink as she saw a yellowish greenish liquid come out of his mouth; the rapier wasp venom. That's why the pain faded away, he was sucking the venom out of the sting on her lip.

She felt her cheeks burn brightly, and barely managed to look up and see Royal's doing the same as apologized, "I'm sorry! I would have warned you but there's a limited time before the venom spreads to far to remove. Do you feel better?"

She nodded numbly, before shaking her embarrassment away as she noticed the stings covering him, "What about you? you're covered in them!"

He then winced, as if just noticing the pain, before losing his footing and falling to his knees. Pyrrha rushed to catch him, but he waved her away, "It's alright. I've walked into a swarm of these before, when I was a kid. The pain wears off after a few hours."

Pyrrha was frowned skeptically, before suddenly going red again, "I could… you know… try to suck the— "

"No!" He shouted before reigning himself in, "Sorry, no. They've already spread too far to be sucked out, I'll just have to bear with it."

Pyrrha was saddened by that, (for more reasons than one) but then turned to the wasps, still hovering where she left them. "Uhhh, how did you do that?"

Royal looked at the swarm as well, "I have… no idea. I just shouted desperately and it worked."

He then went to stand up, causing Pyrrha to rush to support him, "Has that ever happened before?"

He shook his head, "I know I was shouting stuff the last time, and nothing happened then. I've shouted a lot of things when fighting Grimm, but they never listened."

Pyrrha looked at him curiously, "Maybe it's a new part of your Semblance. Something that developed later than the other things."

Royal kept staring at the wasps, "Maybe…" He then took out Spartan and Reaper and started cutting them all down while they just stayed still, waiting for further orders.

Once he was finished, he shook his head in confusion, "Weird… Oh well, I doubt we'll get an answer today. Where are Ren and Nora?"

Pyrrha suddenly looked furious, "They went to chase those bastards."

He raised an eyebrow, "Wow, another curse word."

Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, "I'm sorry! It just slipped out!"

Royal shook his head as they began walking through the forest, with Pyrrha under his arm supporting him, "Not complaining. Some people say it's wrong, I say it is an easy way to convey passion. I just don't hear you doing it very often."

Pyrrha nodded thoughtfully but didn't say anything. Royal found himself gritting his teeth again as the pain flowed through him in waves. Pyrrha noticed this, "Are you alright."

He nodded, "I will be. Though I didn't know that the wasps went crazy about this sap. Makes me wonder what all the fuss is about." He then ran his finger along his chest plate, collecting some on his finger, before bringing it to his mouth to taste.

That's when things got really weird.

Chapter 10!

So the next chapter may come around Saturday, cause tomorrow is my high school graduation, so I'll probably take the day off from writing. Or I might not, we'll see.