Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Fate/Stay Night

Jaune opened his eyes silently praying that he would find himself once more in the backyard he had found himself in last time he stepped through in through that all too familiar door. Sadly, it wasn't to be but he was somewhat grateful that he wasn't being attacked at that moment. It was somewhat surprising to find that he had his weapon and shield already up and ready, Saber's teachings already showing off.

"So…is the guy we're meant to fight up there?" questioned Nora as she pointed towards the intimidating looking staircase straight ahead of them.

"If I had to hazard a guess, I would say yes," stated Weiss, the member of the Schnee family lifting her gaze to look towards the summit. She then took a quick moment to look at her surroundings and noticed they were on a road with the stairwell in front of them surrounded by a dense forest. It was clear that there was only one easy path up and if their opponent had any kind of long ranged weapon on them they would be easy pickings.

Nora's grip tightened on her hammer as a wicked smile spread across her face. "Well then, what are we waiting for!"

"Wait!"

The three female warriors turned to look at Jaune, the sole male member of their troop having startled them. "What is it?" asked Ruby.

"Well…you see the thing is…" said Jaune slowly as he tried to come up with something. He for one wasn't keen to simply charge into death's door once more and if anything he would love to encounter Saber once more to resume his training. He also wanted to be here as long as possible to ensure that he gave Shirou and Rin as much time as he could to help them find a way to escape from here. "We only just got here and this is the first time where we aren't being attacked. We should use this time to explore and umm…go on an adventure?"

Despite him sounding so unsure of himself, there was one word in that statement which triggered one of the group. "Hell yea, it's adventure time!" Nora practically screamed. "We've got our friends, we're in a distant land, or world or whatever this is. Let's go have some fun!"

Weiss looked towards Ruby as if searching for guidance, the youngest of the group seemingly biting at her lip as if trying to come to a decision. Weiss knew that her team leader had basically dragged her in here for a fight in order to cheer her up from something that was completely unrelated. It didn't even have to do with anything with the school. It was a Schnee family matter and she had no reason to discuss it with her teammates. Her refusal to speak up on the topic however had essentially doomed her to return here once more. Were they to go exploring again there was a possibility that they would run into Lancer once more. She couldn't help but hope that was the case.

"Alright," declared Ruby. "The more we learn about whatever this is the more we can prepare ourselves for next time."

Weiss internally cringed at the complete thought that Ruby was already considering the next time that they would venture into this world. Still though, despite sounding as masochist as it was, she did enjoy coming here to a certain degree. Being born into such a prestigious family and having seen the amazing warrior that her sister had become, she had believed that she was destined for great things. Then she had stepped foot into this room and quite literally great strength and skill had hit her faster than she could consider what was going on.

Her fight alongside Ruby against the incredibly talented Lancer had shown her many things both with her own level of skill and the belief she needed in her teammates. She couldn't waste precious seconds looking over her shoulder to check if Ruby was following up in any way, shape or form. She had to simply believe that Ruby was as much a fighter as she was and that she would react accordingly. This was something that they would have learned down the track but may have taken weeks, months or even longer at the worst case scenario. Simply put, that was a taste of what this room had provided for their team dynamic thus far. She couldn't wait to see what else this area could teach them.

"So, if we're using this trip as a reconnaissance mission, should we split up into pairs," suggested Weiss. "While we will be more vulnerable that way I don't really think it matters one way or another. At least this way we'll be able to cover more ground and explore more of this town."

"What town?" asked Nora, her response coming with the three other students pointing in the opposite direction of the stairwell. Looking at where they were pointing, Nora got her first actual glimpse of the size of the world they were in. "What the hell!"

"Yea, I kinda felt the same way," said Ruby sheepishly as she rubbed at the back of her head. "What about you Jaune?"

Jaune put away his weapons that he only just realized he still had out prepared for battle before scratching at his shoulder. "The last place I arrived in was a backyard of sorts," he said. "Managed to get a view in of the streets and whatnot before being forced into battle."

"Alright, so you guys go explore the town," said Nora pointing towards the two members of team RWBY. "Do what you need to do and explore every nook and cranny you can find."

"Where will you two go?" asked Weiss before Nora sent a chilling smile her way, the cheerful girl turning her gaze towards the staircase.

Jaune quickly started to mutter something barely coherent, it was clear however that his intention was to stop Nora's train of thought to little success. "I don't know about Jaune, but I came here for a fight. If they're up there, and I so hope they are, we'll do a little reconnaissance of our own. While you two are going to be getting the world downpat I'll be getting ready to tell you exactly how badly we kicked this guy's ass!"

Jaune resisted the urge to smack himself in the forehead at Nora's logic. Unfortunately he knew from prior experience that once his teammate had set her sights on something it was almost impossible to make her decision waver in the slightest. Still though, his priority was allowing Rin and Shirou to continue their work for as long as possible. If that meant that he had to stall for time against an opponent he was likely not combat ready for, then so be it.

He simply hoped that he didn't go down without a fight.

"Well then…best of luck," said Ruby softly as she signaled for Weiss to follow her as she leapt over the railing. Weiss merely shook her head as she watched her team captain completely ignore the safe route of the road for the illogical option. Taking a second to think about it however reminded her that the leader of Team RWBY was indeed the impulsive young girl which had already dropped who knew how many dozen of feet. It made perfect sense.

"Very well, if this is the course of action that you two are set on, then I wish you both the best of luck," declared Weiss before she charged forward and leapt over the railing much as Ruby had seconds earlier.

With Weiss and Ruby having left them alone, Jaune took a moment to ruffle away at the back of his head, scratching away at some stray bits of hair. "Are you sure about this?" he asked his teammate.

"No."

Jaune was genuinely taken back as he turned to his teammate only to find her visibly shaking, her gaze focused directly at her feet. Nora continued, "I'm scared, I mean if this person is anything like Berserker then we're going to get slaughtered."

"But why…"

"Why did I come? Because I need to get stronger so that the next time something like that happens I'll be able to do something," said Nora as tears began to stream down her face. Jaune didn't know just what 'something' she was talking about but knew better than to question about it now or perhaps even at all. If the pink haired fighter wanted to tell him at some stage then he would wait until that point, there was no way that he would force the information out of her. Nora rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand as she lifted her head to face Jaune. "I need to get stronger and stronger and stronger. Class and training can get me so far but it doesn't show how close I am actually getting towards my goal. That's why from now on Jaune whenever you come in here to train and fight you will bring me, understand."

Jaune bit at the inside of his lip as he listened to Nora's plea. To a degree it was true what she was saying in that there was no real way in Beacon to test how much further you were progressing. Everybody else in their classes were also trying their best to graduate and become fully fledged huntsmen. Hence unless you made an incredible leap in skill your fighting skill would evolve at roughly the same rate as those around you.

Here however it was a different story. The spirits plucked from Shirou's mind were incredibly powerful and were an incredibly convenient measuring stick. Even with his practice spars with Saber, every second he was able to prevent himself from getting felt like a milestone. A practice battle lasting more than four strikes when he could barely deal one to begin with was something to be proud about. Then exhaustion began to creep up on him after so many consecutive spars and he was barely able to land a single hit but the point was still there.

Even now with an unknown opponent in front of them, Jaune couldn't help but create some miniature goals in his mind. If he could block six attacks and land a single strike he felt as if he could die with a smile on his face and go forth tomorrow with a spring in his step. Sure it didn't sound like much but against opponents of this caliber it was better to aim low.

"Alright then," said Jaune as he slowly pulled his sword out of it's sheath before changing the weapon concealer into it's shield form. "Let's go kick some ass." Nora allowed a smile to spread across her face as she wiped away the last of her tears.

"Jaune…thank you."

"Anytime."

Walking through the isolated streets was unnerving to say the least, almost to the point where Ruby was more than a little tempted to reach out and take Weiss' hand in her own. Weiss was feeling almost as worried as her teammate but was doing a much better job of hiding it...for the moment. Were anything to come out and startle her at that moment she had no true inkling of how she would react, other than it would be unacceptable to retell such a tale in the face of her sister.

The thought of her sister along with the landscape they were traversing at the slowest of speeds begged the question whether her sister had faced such warriors during her training. Her sister was powerful, and she didn't just say that because Weiss looked up to Winter. Her skills were what had helped drive Weiss to take up the rapier, and she couldn't have been happier with her decision to do so. Her father however...

"Weiss look out!" shouted Ruby as she pushed Weiss to the side, barely managing to get out of the way of the spear that struck the concrete, cracks spreading out like spiderwebs all across the floor.

Weiss whispered a quick word of thanks as she got back to her feet and watched as the weapon which had nearly pierced vanished in a golden glow. "What the...no, where did that come from?" questioned Weiss, annoyed with herself for not having seen that attack before nearly being skewered. She could already picture Lancer berating her for not being aware of her surroundings.

"Oh, I'm surprised my attack has not spilled the blood of commoners upon the streets," spoke a voice from the dimly lit streets.

"Where are you, show yourself!" demanded Weiss feeling more than a touch insulted an being referred to as a commoner.

"Ha, as if I would need to hide from such pathetic mongrels," said the voice once more, clearer this time and allowing Ruby and Weiss to turn their gaze upwards ever so slightly to one of the nearby rooftops. Upon the tiled surface sat a young man with spiky blonde hair and wearing oddly casual attire. Compared to when they had encountered Lancer who looked as if he were always prepared for battle, the person before them almost seemed as if he was just relaxing after an evening stroll.

"Who are you?" asked Ruby as she readied her weapon, Weiss almost mirroring her movements as the two of them braced for battle.

This would not be a battle however.

It was more appropriate to say that this would merely be a lion toying with mice and as a golden glow appeared behind the man, both Ruby and Weiss felt that they had encountered the worst possible enemy.

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