Luka walked into the abandoned auditorium. He would have thought that he was lost of not for the presence of Professor Ozpin at the head of the class with Team Management written in chalk at the top of the board. Luka was still in his combat gear from training and had rushed straight over to the lecture, but it would appear to have been for naught. He nodded to the enigmatic teacher and took a place towards the back of the hall.

"I'm not that scary, am I?" Ozpin asked jokingly, smirking behind his cup as Luka waved him off, blushing slightly.

"No sir, but I prefer it up here." Luka replied.

Ozpin nodded to him and turned towards the door, waiting for the rest of the first year leaders to arrive. He didn't have to wait long as students in an assortment of different outfits filed through the door, none of them being the uniform. Ruby dragged Jaune in, spied Luka and scrambled up the stairs to meet him. She quickly took a place next to him, gesturing for Jaune to do the same. As soon as he had sat down, Cardin and another man burst through the door, roaring with laughter. Lukas features darkened as he examined the students.

"That can't be good." He said, mostly to himself.

"Cardins' new best bud. That's about eight heavily armed students out to get me now." Jaune sighed, sliding down into his seat. Ruby shot him a sympathetic look before trying to make herself as small as possible.

"What's wrong with you two?" Luka asked, unaware.

"Didn't you see that guy fighting?" Ruby countered, confused. "You were at the last lecture, right? Combat training?" she then added sarcastically.

"Of course I was, but I was probably too busy fighting Ren."

"I saw that. Looked intense." Jaune stated half-heartedly, shrinking further as the two men started to climb the stairs, still not noticing the cowering students around them, nor the impatient look of their professor.

"If Mr Winchester and Miss Wight would please take their seats, it would be appreciated." Ozpin asked politely and impatiently. The pair sat down two rows down from the group, eliciting sighs of relief from all three.

"Wait, she's a girl?" Jaune asked, shocked. Luka examined the armoured warrior. She was built like an ox, bearing thicker muscles than Cardin, who took pride in his own vanity. She didn't wear make-up, unlike most of the women he had seen, her face was rugged and scarred, and had her messy hair nearly shaven bald at the sides, the top coming down into a short pony tail offset to the left slightly.

"I don't see it." Luka replied to Jaune's rhetorical question, snapping the teen out of his momentary daze.

"Well, it is possible…" Ruby murmured.

"Obviously true, in any case." Luka replied, settling down with his notebook open, his pen in hand.

"Well, now that we are all here, allow me to welcome you to Team management classes. This first lesson shall be introductory, but informative, so please pay attention." Ozpin said, his voice projected throughout the room. A piece of chalk hovered behind him, writing on the board everything he said. "This course is not actually anything to do with team management. I didn't come up with the name, so from now on, this class shall be known as tactical and strategic training. In this course you shall learn the ins and outs of everything from commanding a strike mission to collaborating and orchestrating multiple assaults at once, and when were done with tactical training, we will be working with military elements and training to command an army. Any questions before we continue?"

A girl in the front row tentatively put up her hand.

"Yes?"

"Uhm, I can understand the need for tactical training, with squad based command, but why do we need training in commanding an army?"

"A good question indeed. Not every student at this school will become a hunter. While it is the preferred duty to become the bastion against the darkness that threatens to consume all, some students go on to become not Heroes, but Leaders, Commanders, people who will organise and lead a strike from afar."

"What's the difference?" a boy from three rows down called out.

"Contrary to popular opinion, it's quite different. A hero is someone who throws themselves into the enemy while performing an act of extreme bravery, valour and, to put it in plain terms, heroism. To defend not only your comrades but your people from the Grimm. That is a hero. That is a Hunter." Ozpin said inspiringly. A few students sat up in their seats, listening intently. He then turned towards the board, waiting a few seconds before turning back, his face dark and brooding.

"A Leader, on the other hand is someone who takes the duty of locking themselves in safety while telling their men to kill the enemy, and most likely themselves in the process. They get the agonisingly painful duty of listening to an entire squad of men get wiped out in a horrifyingly brutal way, and then have the audacity to tell the next team to the exact same thing and hope that the enemy is no longer too much for their soldiers to handle."

A few students were downcast, the prospect of leadership no longer as enticing as they thought, whereas most students looked shocked, unaware of the role a leader took. A select few, Luka included, showed little to know expression, either not expressing their discomfort, not feeling discomfort or, in Luka's case, re-enforcing what they already knew.

"Um… Sir… how is someone selected for a leadership role?" a small Faunus boy in the front row asked.

"Volunteers will be put through a selection process to see if they meet the requirements. Otherwise, it goes to who we believe are the most qualified."

"And what are those qualifications?" the Wight girl asked, her feet up on the table and her arms behind her head, looking extremely relaxed.

"Most of the time, it's whoever wants the position the least. And before you ask, we judge that on grades."

A few students who looked like they were planning to flunk the subject immediately straightened, paying attention. Ozpin smiled at their reactions.

"Now that the dark and grizzly part of the lesson is over, let's move on to something a little more light hearted." Ozpin said, a duster rising up to remove everything the chalk had written.

"Team Management 101. Or, now, Tactical and Strategic Command training."

Ozpin moved over to the podium, reached underneath and did something, but as he did, the floor at the bottom of the amphitheatre slid apart, revealing a massive table with a glass surface. The glass then lit up with blue light, a crosshatch of blue squares appearing upon its surface, the lines racing from one side of the table to the other. When all the lines had come to their end, they rose up, forming buildings, trees, spires and parks until it had formed a 3D holographic replica of Beacon. After a few seconds, the model changed into a fully, and accurately, coloured hologram.

"This is what is known as a Tactical Command Display, or a TCD for short. On this device, you shall have mock battles with each other, shown other battles from the past and possible scenarios that could happen here in Vale, as well as other theatres."

Ozpin pressed a button and the table split in half with a massive solid wall rising up in-between the two halves.

"This is to prevent 'screen cheating' as my former students have so lovingly named."

The two halves zoomed in to reveal two squads of four, one team on either side of the divider.

"Now, for the introductory lesson, I will show you the basic units we shall be using in squad based tactics. Later you shall get virtual units based off of your own squad, so as to help you in commanding your own team further. For now, unit 1 is your commander. This is both the weakest and the strongest unit." The chalkboard suddenly pushed out, rotated 180 degrees and returned to the wall, revealing a 95" screen. The screen lit up to show a detailed model of the soldier.

The model had a standard dark and light grey Vale military uniform with the red highlights of a special operations team, but had stars upon his shoulder. He had a sword and a pistol.

"This unit is a 'jack of all trades' kind of soldier. It can use a melee attack, a ranged attack as well as an aura based attack. In addition to this, a commander can call in special bonuses, like extra ordinance or an off-map artillery strike."

The screen flickered, showing the second unit. It wore dark grey heavy armour and wielded a great sword.

"The second unit is your melee soldier. Devastating at close range and heavy armour helps it against physical ranged attacks. This particular unit, the Titan, is susceptible to Aura based attacks, especially from a distance, and AP attacks."

The third unit came up on screen. It wore dark grey scout armour and wielded a massive rifle.

"The third type, the ranged unit, uses ranged weapons to devastate their enemies. If you get close to these units, usually they will fail in combat, as distance is the advantage. This unit, the Scout, is especially disadvantaged against melee and command units."

The final model flicked onto the screen. It wore cloth armour and wielded a massive staff.

"The final unit is indeed the Aura unit. These units are effective against Command and Melee units, but fall short in combating ranged soldiers. This model, the Arch mage, is easy to kill, but has a lot of power."

"Sir. This does seem a lot like a game." A boy in the middle of the stands stated.

"Indeed it does, but it is effective in training you for these situations."

The boy nodded, then asked. "What other types of units are there?"

Ozpin turned to the screen and waved his hand. It flickered until there was a massive list of all the different models.

"I really need to fix that…" he mumbled, turning around. "Those are all the unit types there are. But if you meant other models, then the list goes: Command; the Commander, the Sergeant and the Captain. Melee; the Minotaur, the Titan, the Assassin and the Duellist. Ranged; the Scout, the Sniper, the Trooper and the Mech. Aura; the Archmage, the Battle mage, the Farseer and the Warlock. It will take too much time to explain all their advantages and disadvantages and special abilities and all that technical stuff, so you'll do it for homework."

The kid sat back in awe.

"Now that that is over, any questions?"

No-one put up their hand.

"Well, we have ten minutes of class left, so how about a mock battle. Any takers?"

Wight stood up, her hand raised. Everyone else slinked back into their seats.

"Any challengers?" Ozpin asked.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Luka stood up, his hand raised.

"Sure, why not?"

"Why not? She'll destroy you! Both figuratively and literally!" Jaune whispered loudly at him.

"Worth a shot, I'd say."

Luka walked down and stood at the opposite end of the table, his opponent staring at him hungrily.

"Both teams ready?"

They both nodded.

"Start."

Luka immediately looked at the units stats. He'd played his fair share of strategy games, and knew that understanding the soldiers and their abilities were key to victory. He scrolled over the scout and found an ability which launched a probe at the enemy. He selected it and a small screen came up on his side of the divider. He then noticed the divider was an area mini-map, like in a computer game.

The probe pinged them three times. They were rushing him at top speed. He selected his commander, looking for the aforementioned off-map artillery strikes. He found one and launched it at where he predicted they would be. Seconds later, a blue banner came up on screen with the word 'VICTORY' fluttering on it. He laughed at its likeness to a computer game, and his opponent's rookie mistake.

Wight looked shocked for a second, then screamed in rage.

"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?"

"Luka predicted your position using the scouts probe, I believe. He then used the Commanders Artillery strike ability and wiped your team. Though the rubble crushing your surviving Titan was quite unfortunate." Ozpin consoled

Luka smirked. Terrain was realistic, it seemed.

"Well, due to Lukas' masterstroke assault, we still have some time. Any challengers for the reigning Champion?"

No-one put up their hand. Luka looked up at Jaune and waved him down. Jaune looked embarrassed at first, rejecting the offer, until Ruby pulled him up and pushed him slightly towards the front of the room. He stumbled down the stairs until he came to a stop at the opposite end of the table.

"Ready?"

They both nodded.

"Start."

Luka looked at his screen and found that he'd started in a different position. He sent out the probe and saw that Jaune wasn't moving. At all. He sighed and fired his artillery at Jaune. Seconds later, the screen shook with the impact, but no banner came up, or any confirmed kills. Luka looked at his soldiers again, checking their cool downs, when he spied an ability from the Archmage. It was a jamming ability that messed with the enemy's mini-map, the hologram and targeting abilities. Luka cursed and scrambled his solders. A few seconds later, artillery devastated his field of view. Luka looked up at the surprised Jaune, who was staring at his monitor. Luka's Scout had been incapacitated. Luka moved his Archmage over to heal as he regrouped inside a ruined spire. A minute later, after reviving his scout and moving closer, he detected Jaunes' soldiers at Beacons central spire. Luka checked his abilities and found an airstrike on the Titan. He targeted the spire and sent it on its way. Again, there was no kill markers, but Ozpin gave him a disapproving look.

"My office was in there, you know."

Luka smiled back and returned to his game, noticing that his screen was glitchy. He sent out the probe again and found that Jaune was behind him. Luka activated his own jamming ability and moved forward, running straight into Jaunes forces. He sent his Scout to better cover and set his Titan, along with his Archmage, up in the lower courtyard while his Commander took up a position within the actual spire, moving to outflank Jaune. The mini-map still showed that Jaune was behind him, but his soldiers steadily moved in front of him. He set up the scout and targeted the Archmage. Seconds later, the gun fired and 'Team 2 Archmage crippled' came up in the battle feed.

Jaune looked shocked, then looked at Luka. The interference left as the Arch mages' ability was dispelled. Luka rushed the rest of the formation with his Titan, his Archmage summoning a defensive field over the warrior. Luka noticed that the scout was missing and sent his Commander to look through the spire, the only defensive structure within the field of view. He fired a high-impact round from his Scout at Jaunes Titan, staggering it before his own hit it, knocking Jaunes off balance. Then, suddenly, his own Archmage was killed. Luka noticed a line from the ruins of the central spire lance out and hit the unit in the action replay on the divider. He immediately sent his Commander after it.

Jaunes Titan had gotten up and started fighting back against his own titan, Jaunes Commander also firing his pistol at the unfortunate Titan. Without the Energy shield, he would be downed before it could kill Jaunes own. Luka targeted the Commander with his Scout and fired. His commander took damage, but didn't die. Jaune moved the Commander behind cover, still in range of Lukas' Titan. Luka selected his Commander and used an Artillery strike on Jaunes forces. It had just come off its cool down, So Jaunes probably was about to. Two kills came up onscreen. Lukas' Titan and Jaunes' Commander. Luka ordered his scout to fire again, this time killing its target. As soon as the titan had fallen, Jaunes' scout took out Lukas from a pile of rubble near the fallen spire. Luka cursed, down to one man as well. He had the advantage of knowing where Jaunes scout was, while the scout didn't know his position.

He then saw an enemy probe. So much for stealth.

Luka moved the Commander up through the rubble, using the ruin as cover while Jaune constantly fired at him. Luka moved the commander up further until he found himself stumped. There were three ways around. Through a killing field, a long, flat gap between himself and the scout, through the spire and out into another, smaller killing field, or around the long way, through the dorms and into the cafeteria, where the Scout had taken refuge. He took the safe option, moving through the field. He heard the scout fire from time to time, trying to flush out the commander. Luka checked his abilities and activated the rocket strike, targeting the building. The rocket didn't kill the Scout, but it did put a massive blockade between the Commander and the Scouts' line of sight.

He heard the first years for the first time. They were oohing and ahhing as the battle took place. He looked up to see the screen displaying the battle on a 30 second time-lapse, probably so participants couldn't cheat. The bell went in the distance, but Ozpin gestured for them to continue.

"It shouldn't take long" he reasoned.

Luka turned back to the hologram and moved his Commander through the damaged Dormitories. As he got close he saw that moving over the damaged skywalk would open his Commander up to sniper fire. He moved towards the skywalk and saw the Scout waiting for him on the other side, overwatch activated. Luka smiled. Wong move. The last unit in the game for each team gained an extra bonus. The Commanders was called the 'Survival training', giving the Commander the same equipment as a trooper, as well as his own. Luka rolled a grenade down the walkway and saw it detonate exactly where the Scout was. Yet, there was no death message. A decoy?

He looked around the building and saw the sound marker immediately behind him. There was a shot as the wall next to his Commander was hit. Luka sent the unit straight for the Scout and slashed at him, killing the pesky unit once and for all.

The blue banner came up with the victory message as Jaune leaned backwards, groaning. When he righted himself, Luka saw that Jaune was far from sad. He had the widest smile plastered on his face.

Thirty seconds later, the hall erupted with applause.

"Well students, you now know what it will be like in this class. I expect everyone to have memorised every unit and their details, as well as assembled your own personal team, by next week." Ozpin ordered, walking out of the classroom. "Oh, and one more thing. Don't let the prospect of leadership deter you from this class. The scores you receive here will help you overall team Combat Effectiveness, so don't sell yourself short." He shot a look at Jaune before moving off again. "That is all."

The leaders began to slowly file out of the hall, many congratulating both Luka and Jaune on their game, though some were less than happy for the pair. As Wight and Winchester walked past, they threw sneers and death stares at Jaune and Luka, respectively. The final person to join them in leaving was Ruby.

"OH MY OUM! That was awesome! Jaune, you were all like 'nuke them from orbit', and Luka was all like 'oh HELL no!' and there were explosions and buildings falling down and guns and…" she immediately burst out, wrapping her arms around the two boys necks as she laughed.

"Okay Ruby, calm down. You'll get your turn soon enough." Luka laughed with her.

"But seriously! You were both awesome!"

"I guess we were." Jaune smiled, leading the way out of the hall "Well, for a first time, anyway."

"You were pretty good at it. Using my own tactic against me though, that would have been embarrassing."

"Well, it worked the first time." Ruby pointed out.

"It did indeed." Luka agreed.

"Certainly not going to help in the friends department." Jaune mumbled, more to himself.

"Who needs friends like that anyway?" Ruby asked rhetorically.

"Not you, you have a scythe. Who needs friends when you have oversized crop cutters?" Luka teased

"Hey! I'll have you know that Crimson is my bestest and most loyal friend!" Ruby defended in mock hurt.

"I'm sure she is." Luka laughed.

"It's a dude." Jaune corrected.

"Yup!" Ruby seconded as she skipped away, happily hugging the weapon as they made their way back to their dorms.

"Right…"

"You two coming?" Ruby asked, stopping halfway down the hall.

"Yeah, yeah, coming."

"…And there was this MASSIVE Nevermore, just swooping down and eating all my sheep!" Nora exclaimed, recalling her latest dream.

The three teams were, once again, at dinner. They sat at the same table and in the same order, though they had gotten changed into their casual clothes.

Amongst the light chatter, there was feeling Luka couldn't shake off. He felt his spine shiver over and over. He knew he was being watched, but by where from, and more importantly, who, he couldn't find out without causing a scene. Not yet. He was about to stand up and look around when Rachel interrupted.

"So, how was leadership training or whatever." She asked.

"Huh? Oh. It was good, I guess." He replied, sweeping the people in front with his eyes again, making sure it wasn't from that direction.

"Good? It was Awesome! You should have seen these two!" Ruby exclaimed, gesturing to Luka and Jaune.

"We weren't that good…" Jaune said modestly, coyly looking down at his food.

"Ursa shit!" Ruby retorted.

"Language!" Yang shot at her, slapping her arm.

"Sorry. Anyway, there were explosions and guns and he was like 'boom!' and then he was like 'kablam' and they took down Ozpins office and, and, and it was so freaking cool!" Ruby screamed, unabashed by her sisters chastising.

"Uh, you guys tell the story, I got to go…" Luka stated, standing up.

"Go? Go where?" Ruby asked.

"Where do you think?" Luka replied sarcastically.

"Huh? Oh! Right..."

The group laughed as Luka took off in the opposite direction, scanning the sea of students. He saw a white haired boy smirk at him. He motioned towards himself, staring at Luka, before taking off down the exit and into the hall. Luka broke out into a run after him, his only weapon, the gun, slapping his left ribs as he ran, his jumper unzipped which made it flap about as he ran. After dodging students and apologising while on the run, he made it to the door. The kid was nowhere to be seen, and the hall was almost abandoned. A third year student waved at him, grabbing his attention.

"Uh, I have a message from a friend." He said.

"A message? What's it say?"

"He said, 'Luka has made his move. Your turn.' Are you two playing some sort of game?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, it's a game. He's made his move. Right. What did he look like?"

"What?" the student asked sceptically.

"He's a professional cosplayer, he can almost shape shift." Luka saved, thinking fast.

"Ah. Well, sort of like you, except with white hair and red eyes." The man described.

"Cheeky bastard. Thankyou for telling me." Luka said, taking off in supposed pursuit of his 'friend'.

Luka head straight back to his room instead, thinking it over. What would someone who looks like me and is using my name what with me? It's obviously not good. His inner voice agreed, but could not find a solution. 'Perhaps we should ask her?' it suggested, the mental image of a familiar dragon coming to mind. Resolute in his plan, Luka deftly took off his shoes and slid into his bed, ready for answers. There was only one problem.

He wasn't tired.

Luka groaned, rolling back out of his bed. He needed a way to fall asleep, fast.

It's probably not the best idea I've had, and will raise questions… but here goes… He thought, following through with the one sure-fire way to make him fall asleep. He moved to one side of the room, clearing a small circle. He activated his semblance but, instead of draining the aura, he let it flow back out into electrical sources. He heard the light bulb blow, but kept going, forcing his energy out. Then, inevitably, he collapsed, unconscious.