Problem Solving Through Dance

Beacon Dorms: The Evening of the Dance

Ouch, thought Wayne as he slipped on the last piece of his formal attire, a suit which was basically a much fancier looking version of his school uniform. Both he and Aegis were still fairly sore, but they were in good enough shape to attend a dance.

"You nervous?" Asked Aegis as he finished combing his hair. "You kidding," Replied Wayne, "I'd be less scared fighting an army of Grimm, how about you?" "Oh I'm nervous," said Aegis, "But so is Ruby, so at least I got that going for me."

"Good for you," said Wayne as he was about to put his gloves on, then stopped when he remembered what Weiss said about not wearing clashing attire. Well this is gonna be a fun night, thought Wayne as he set his gloves back down on the dresser, feeling a little odd not wearing them somewhere.

"You know if it'll make you less nervous I can embarrass the living daylights out of your, ahem, date if you want," Said Aegis. "No Aegis, I think we've both done enough embarrassing things for today, though I appreciate the offer," replied Wayne as he opened the door to head out, with Aegis close behind. "Ok, then I wish you luck, and offer my condolences," Said Aegis. Wayne rolled his eyes as they headed out, both in anticipation, and apprehension, of what the night had in store.

Weiss was waiting for them when they got outside of the dorms, wearing the same white dress she had been asking Wayne about. "Five minutes to spare, I'm actually impressed," Said Weiss. "We've had this conversation, I try to arrive early," replied Wayne.

"I know, what impresses me though is that you were able to arrive early and make your brother look respectable," Said Weiss. "I dressed myself thank you very much," Said Aegis, "Have you ever dressed-," "Aegis, not tonight," Said Wayne, cutting his brother off before he finished the insult.

"Fine," Replied Aegis, grudgingly, "By the way, where's Ruby at?" "She was having some difficulty getting down the stairs," Replied Weiss, "It seems our fearless leader has never worn heels before, so she told me to go on ahead and wait for the two of you."

"Well why don't you two go ahead," Said Aegis, "I can help Ruby when she gets out here." "You sure Aegis, I thought the idea was for us all to go together," Said Wayne. "Yeah but I'm sure your own, *cough*, date here is eager to get to the dance and see everyone," Replied Aegis.

"Weiss, what do you think?" Asked Wayne, turning to the heiress. "Well Yang has already gone ahead and may need some help at the door," Stated Weiss before she turned to Aegis. "Alright, we'll go ahead, but if I see Ruby crying for any reason when she walks in that door, Yang and I will make it so that you won't get out of the infirmary for a week."

"Right, right, don't worry," said Aegis, "I like Ruby a heck of a lot more than I like you and I plan on making this the nicest night for her that I can." "Hmmph," Weiss grunted as she turned back to Wayne. "Shall we go then?" Said Weiss, trying to sound civil. "Right this way," said Wayne, presenting his arm. Weiss slipped her arms around Wayne's arm as they began to walk towards the auditorium. Wayne heard his brother make a gagging noise as soon as they turned a corner, though Weiss likely couldn't hear it.

"Your brother is a piece of work you know that?" Said Weiss. "After living with him for the fifteen out of seventeen years of my life," said Wayne, "No I haven't noticed a thing." Weiss rolled her eyes at the sarcasm in Wayne's comment. "Though you know this whole thing has been something else so far," Said Wayne. "What do you mean?" Asked Weiss. "I didn't expect to even really be here tonight," Explained Wayne, "and now look, here I am not only being taught ballroom dancing but escorting a beautiful princess, or heiress." "You're right, it has been, weird to say the least," Said Weiss before a slight smirk formed on her face.

"What's with that look," said Wayne. "I was just thinking," Replied Weiss, "My Dad would be so angry right now if he saw see me being escorted to the dance by a half-faunus guy from outside of the kingdoms." "Overprotective or just has certain standards?" Asked Wayne. "Standards mostly," Said Weiss, "My father is a bit, strict to say the least." "Well you know what my father would say about tonight?" Said Wayne. "What?" Asked Weiss. "He'd say 'enjoy the night, and be happy that you get to spend it with your friends'," Wayne quoted. "He seems, like a good parent," Said Weiss. "Then he'd say try and sweep a beautiful girl off her feet," Wayne added. "I should've guessed," said Weiss, with a small laugh.

The Dance

"Well just look at you two," Said Yang as she stood behind the greeter's podium as they walked into the auditorium. Yang was also wearing a white dress, though this one was a little less conservative than Weiss's, "For a last minute pairing you two don't look half bad together." "Yaaaaang," Weiss whispered intensely. "Oh relax would you," Said Yang, "I'm sure whatever scheme you two cooked up will work out."

"You tell them then?" Asked Wayne. "I told them you were here to make someone jealous," Replied Weiss, "It was the only way they'd stop bugging me about it after you and Aegis had your little feud."

"Well either way," Said Yang as she directed them past the podium, "The party's just getting started, so get out there." Wayne and Weiss made their way to the refreshments table, neither of them quite knowing what to do first. "I'm guessing this is the first time you've ever tried something like this?" Asked Wayne.

"No I've been to plenty of dances and formal events," Said Weiss. "No I mean this whole, getting noticed through jealousy thing," Said Wayne. "Oh, well like I said, I've not often felt this way about a guy," Said Weiss, "Normally they try to get me to notice them." "Well how about this," said Wayne, "I swing by the table and get us some punch, you figure out what Neptune is up to and we take it from there, sound good?"

"It's a start," Replied Weiss. "Be right back," Said Wayne as he headed to the end of the table, wading through a crowd of dancers and couples, and those unlucky enough to be on the sidelines. This is gonna be a weird night, Wayne thought to himself as he looked back over. Suddenly he heard Yang cheer gleefully as a nervous looking Ruby and Aegis walked in the door. Ruby wore a red dress with a large black bow around her waist and Aegis was in his formal school uniform leading her by the arm, or rather supporting her as she tried not to stumble in her heels.

Due to the difference in Aegis and Ruby's height they looked kind of odd to say the least, but at the same time they made a cute couple. Wayne turned his attention back to getting the punch and headed back towards the direction Weiss had gone, a task made slightly more difficult by the large number of people clustered around the dance floor. That was when Wayne got his first surprise of the night. After maneuvering around for a bit, Wayne noticed that Blake and Sun had walked in.

Well you did it after all Yang, thought Wayne as Blake was accompanied out to the dance floor by Yang. Eventually Wayne made it over to where Weiss was and handed her one of the cups of punch while waiting on her to finish talking to another student. "Well at least somebody's got something goin' right for them," Said Wayne as soon as Weiss was done talking.

"Well the optimist would say the night is still young," Said Weiss. "And are you an optimist?" Asked Wayne. Weiss didn't answer right away. "Well how about this," Wayne said before Weiss could give him an answer. Setting his cup down on a nearby chair, Wayne offered his hand to Weiss. "What are you doing?" asked Weiss.

"I am still your date for the night, it'd be a shame if we didn't dance at least once," Replied Wayne. "I don't see how that's supposed to help," Weiss commented. "It's worth a shot and besides," said Wayne, "We're here to enjoy ourselves right?" Weiss looked unsure for a moment, but eventually relented and set her drink down next to Wayne's.

"Alright," Said Weiss, "Just one d-, your hand!" Weiss grabbed Wayne's hand, examining the scars on them, "What happened, did you get this from fighting Aegis?" "No, nothing like that," Replied Wayne, "These burn scars are much older, at least a few years." Wayne held up his other hand, which was covered in similar burn scars on his palm.

"Where did they come from?" Asked Weiss. "First things first," Said Wayne, taking Weiss's hand, "Are we still going to dance?" Weiss looked unsure, but eventually she relented and took Wayne's hand as they made their way out to the dance floor.

"So is this why you always wear those gloves?" Asked Weiss as they began to dance. "Pretty much," Said Wayne, "It's one of those things I get tired of being asked about, so you see why I wanted to wear them tonight." "Can I ask how you got them?" Weiss inquired as they moved across the dance floor, with Wayne leading the dance.

"I've already told you about one of my scars," said Wayne, "And this one is kind of personal, so how about this, you tell me about that scar over your eye and I'll tell you about the burn marks on my hands." Weiss looked sad for a moment as they continued moving step by step. "I got this scar fighting a giant armor," said Weiss finally, "It was a test from my father, though to this day I'm not sure if I was expected to pass it."

"Oh," said Wayne, "Maybe I should've told you about my scars first," said Wayne. "What caused those scars," asked Weiss. "They're self-inflicted," said Wayne.

"But why would you do that to yourself?" Asked Weiss. "My semblance," said Wayne, "The first time I ever used it, I not only destroyed the training target, I blew out most of the back wall. The energy release was so intense it burned my hands."

"But why hide it," asked Weiss, "It doesn't seem all that bad." "At the time, no, in fact these scars used to be a source of pride for me," replied Wayne. "Used to be," Weiss repeated questioningly.

"I used to be a lot more cocky than I am now," said Wayne, "I also used to exercise a lot less restraint with my semblance, so little in fact that me and my brother would destroy an entire training room every few weeks."

"I can kind of see how that could happen," said Weiss, "After what you did to team CFVY's training area." "It got so bad me and Aegis were assigned personal teachers, one to teach Aegis self-control, one to help me control my semblance," Said Wayne. "What wound up happening?" Asked Weiss.

"They both got so fed up with us that they took us to train on Signal's highest roof tops," said Wayne, "It was the only time we'd been allowed to release full force blasts of our semblances." Wayne slowed his steps a bit and let out a sigh as the memory replayed itself in his head. "Aegis busted a huge gaping hole in a building five miles away, and me, well my semblance went into the air and damaged the engines of a large passenger airship that was three miles away."

"Did," Weiss tried to find a way to ask politely, "Did anyone get hurt?" "Fortunately no," replied Wayne, "The airship managed to make an emergency landing, but if that blast had been even a few feet lower the engines would've been destroyed and who knows how many people would've lost their lives, all because I took the power I wielded too lightly."

"What happened after that," Asked Weiss. "Aegis and I had to transfer to Sanctum, after our parents managed to smooth things over with the headmasters, and after that I started wearing the gloves as a reminder, to never lose control, and like I said I got tired of being asked about it." "So all this time," said Weiss, "You weren't holding back because you thought you were better, you just didn't want to hurt anyone."

"It's difficult to say the least," said Wayne, "Even after all this time I still don't have full control of the form or the amount of energy I release." "And hear I thought you were the type of guy to look down on his opponents, even after all this time," said Weiss.

"Well you learn new things every day," said Wayne, "But enough depressing stuff, why don't we get back to enjoying ourselves, and keeping an eye on that Neptune guy you like." "I think I'd like that," Said Weiss as they sped up their dance with the increasing tempo of the music. Soon enough, though, the song ended and Wayne and Weiss separated, bowing to each other in a customary fashion. "Not bad," said Weiss, "It seems you can be taught after all."

"I have my moments," said Wayne as he looked over towards where Neptune was at. Doesn't seem to be working all that well so far, thought Wayne, well I guess that means it's my turn. "You go enjoy the party," said Wayne, "I think it's my turn to keep an eye on Neptune." Weiss nodded as Wayne headed over in Neptune's direction, taking the long way to avoid drawing any attention. Neptune wasn't really paying much attention to Wayne, fortunately, as he was busy making jokes with Blake and Sun.

The funny thing about playing off of someone's jealousy, thought Wayne, is they have to be jealous to begin with, and Neptune is either not jealous or really good at hiding it. Wayne continued weaving through the crowd, always careful to keep Neptune in his sight. Soon enough, Neptune headed towards the stairs to the balcony. Maybe it's time for a more direct approach, thought Wayne, as he headed up the stairs after Neptune. The stairs led up to a balcony which overlooked the main grounds. Wayne kept his distance behind Neptune and hid in the shadow of the door way when they reached the top of the stairs.

To Wayne's surprise, the balcony was already occupied by Jaune and Pyrrha, though Pyrrha was already heading back down the stairs shortly before Neptune arrived, not noticing Wayne as she walked by as he hid in the doorway's shadow.

"Jaune right," said Neptune. "Yeah," Jaune replied lazily. "This party's pretty lame huh," said Neptune, "Cute girls though." "Is that all you think about," Jaune said, with a sudden burst of anger. "What," asked Neptune, who was just as confused as Wayne was right now. "Do you even think about the girls you're hitting on, how they feel about you?" Jaune continued angrily.

"Woo where's this coming from?" asked Neptune. "How could you just turn her down like that?" Asked Jaune, with ire in his voice. "What, who," Neptune questioned with confusion. "Weiss!" Exclaimed Jaune. Ok, thought Wayne, I didn't expect someone to do this job for me.

"I uh, it uh, it just didn't work out," said Neptune. "What you think you're too cool, too many other options," said Jaune, "Weiss Schnee asked you to the dance, what in the world could possibly keep you from-," "I can't dance," said Neptune.

"Beg your pardon?" Said Jaune, now confused. "I can't dance man," said Neptune. "Oh you have got to be kidding me," exclaimed Wayne, startling both Neptune and Jaune, "That's the reason, this whole time, that was the reason?"

"Wayne, how long have you been there?" asked Jaune. "Long enough," Replied Wayne. "Well I guess that means my secret's out," said Neptune. "Not necessarily," said Wayne. "But I don't get it," said Jaune to Neptune, "You're so cool."

"Thank you," said Neptune, "I try really hard." "Maybe too hard," said Wayne. "So you'd rather break a girl's heart and go to the dance alone than just admit to everyone that you can't move to rhythm with music?" Asked Jaune.

"That about sums it up, yeah," Replied Neptune. "Well I certainly feel a lot better about myself," Jaune whispered. "You tried acting like a lady killer when you first got here," said Wayne, picking up Jaune's comment with his more sensitive hearing. "Oh that well I uh," Jaune stuttered.

"Well could you please not tell anyone," Asked Neptune, "If one or both of you want Weiss, she's all yours, I don't want to get in your way." "Do you like her?" Asked Wayne. "Yeah," Replied Neptune, "I mean I don't know her very well yet, but she seems pretty cool."

"Then just go talk to her," said Jaune, "No pick-up lines, no suave moves, just be yourself." "Yeah but-," Neptune tried to protest. "Hey you don't have to be cool all the time," said Wayne.

"In all honesty if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it," said Jaune. "Yeah, ok," said Neptune. "Go talk to her," said Wayne, "Believe me, it'll make her night." "Thanks," said Neptune, "You're both really cool guys." "Alright don't lie to my face," said Jaune, bumping Neptune's fist.

"I just try to be a good guy," Replied Wayne bumping Neptune's fist, "Sometimes it works." Neptune headed off the balcony, leaving Jaune and Wayne by themselves. "So I got to ask," Said Jaune, "How in the world did you-," "Believe me it's not what you think," Said Wayne, "Right now I can tell you this, I'm here with Weiss because she needed my help."

"Yeah but why you?" Asked Jaune. "I was apparently the only tolerable guy, in Weiss's opinion, who could help her," Replied Wayne, "But right now, don't you have something else to be doing?" A look of realization crossed Jaune's face. "You're right," said Jaune, "See you back at the dance." With that, Jaune headed off of the balcony. Well I accomplished something tonight, thought Wayne, as he took one last look at the view from the balcony before heading back down the stairs.

Back at the dance, things were progressing fairly well, Ren and Nora were dancing, Penny had shown up to enjoy the dance, flanked by two guards for whatever reason, and Neptune was finally talking to Weiss, who had taken up one of the seats along the walls of the auditorium. Also surprising, Emerald, in a flattering green dress, and Mercury, in a basic Haven uniform, had shown up at some point, though their leader, Cinder, was nowhere to be found.

I wonder what that's all about, thought Wayne as he started making his way over to where Emerald and Mercury were. Wayne didn't get too far, however, as a sudden commotion erupted near the dance floor. Now what, thought Wayne as laughter suddenly filled the room. Wayne tried to see what all the commotion was about, but instantly regretted it as he saw why everyone was laughing. "Oh what the # %," said Wayne as he tried to come to terms with what he was seeing. Out in the middle of the dance floor was Jaune Arc talking to Pyrrha, only Jaune was wearing a short, white dress with a purple bow.

You have got to be kidding me, thought Wayne, I'm gonna have nightmares for a week now. Nightmares or not though, it looked like Jaune had finally taken the hint that Pyrrha liked him.

"Well that's not something I ever needed to see," said Aegis as he, Ruby and Yang walked up behind Wayne. "I knew this was going to be a weird night," Said Wayne as he watched team JNPR take the dance floor. "Well what's life without a few surprises?" Said Yang, "Now come on, we're missing all the fun."

Yang grabbed onto Wayne's arm while Aegis took Ruby's hand. "I'm not sure I want to do this," said Ruby nervously as she and Wayne were dragged out onto the dance floor. "Don't worry about it," said Yang, "Like we said, just have fun." Wayne had to struggle to keep up at first as Yang led him through a more complex, and more improvised, dance. Eventually, though, Wayne found the rhythm and followed along with Yang as they spun across the dance floor.

"You know I think this is the first time I've ever been dragged out onto a dance floor by a girl," yelled Wayne over the music as he and Yang circled each other. "Well you're having a better time of it than my sister," said Yang as they both looked over at Aegis and Ruby. Ruby was making nervous movements in an attempt to look like dancing while Aegis shifted from one position to another to try and match the movements of his nervous partner.

"I know she's not the dancing type," Said Wayne as he took Yang's hand and twirled her around. "She's just shy, and this is her first time being dragged onto a dance floor by a boy," Said Yang. "It's a night of firsts for a lot of us I guess," said Wayne. Time flew by as the dance continued, with Wayne's only concern at the moment being to simply avoid bumping into people while he and Yang continued moving to the rhythm of the music. At some point, Ruby exited the dance floor, leaving Aegis to deal with Nora, who had been switching between him and Ren, not quite understanding how cutting in at a dance was supposed to work.

By the time the music stopped and Wayne and Aegis exited the dance floor, Ruby was nowhere to be seen. "What happened to Ruby," Asked Wayne. "She had to step out for a bit," said Aegis, who was now sipping more punch he'd gotten from the serving table.

"You step on her feet a little too much," asked Wayne. "You know I can dance better than that," Replied Aegis. "Yeah sure, that's why the practice room you and Yang were using has a boat load of craters in the walls, and a couple on the floor," Said Wayne.

"We were working a few things out," said Aegis. "You were just mad that she took some of your breakfast one morning when you had to run to the bathroom," said Wayne. "It wasn't just that," said Aegis, "She also took some of my honey."

"Mom sent us that honey to share with everyone," said Wayne. "And I did, I gave everyone a spoonful," said Aegis, "Yang took a couple when I wasn't looking."

"You've got to get that honey craving of yours under better control Aegis," said Wayne. "You know you love doing the honey bomb trick," said Aegis, "And besides, thanks to all that bashing up dance practice, we both got past our problems with each other, well the few problems we had anyway." Aegis finished his punch and tossed it into a nearby garbage can. "Well I think I'm gonna go find Ruby and she what she thinks of her first dance at Beacon," said Aegis, "What about you?"

"Me," said Wayne, "Well." Wayne looked around the dance floor until he noticed that a particular green-haired girl, suddenly didn't have a partner. "I think I got one more dance in me for the night at least," said Wayne. Aegis followed Wayne's line of sight and simply smirked when he figured out who Wayne was looking at.

"Good luck with that bro," said Aegis as he walked off. Wayne slowly pushed his way through the crowd of dancers, noting when he got close why Emerald was alone on the dance floor, Cinder had finally shown up and was dancing with Mercury.

"I guess we both came to the dance with different people than we expected," Said Wayne, from behind Emerald. "What makes you say that," she replied as she turned around. "Well let's see, last I heard you and Mercury didn't exactly get along," Said Wayne. "We don't get along all that well, we mostly just work together," Said Emerald, "But that does remind me, whatever happened to you accompanying that heiress to the dance?"

"I accompanied her, I danced with her, and for the moment, it seems the problem she wanted solved is solved," replied Wayne. "Well we can both say we came and danced," said Emerald.

"Would you mind dancing one more time," asked Wayne holding out his hand, "It'd be a shame, you coming to a dance and the only person you dance with is someone that drives you crazy." Emerald thought for a moment before gingerly taking Wayne's hand.

"Well since you're asking nicely," said Emerald, "let's see if those dance lessons you gave your word for were worth it." Wayne simply smiled as he took hold of Emerald's waist. The music had slowed down considerably now that team JNPR's little dance number had ended, and the pair swayed to the music as Wayne attempted the slowest dancing he'd had to do that evening.

"By the way," said Emerald, "I was wondering a couple of things." "Like what?" asked Wayne. "Well stop me if this is too personal or something, but how many scars do you have exactly?" Asked Emerald.

"Oh right," replied Wayne, "You must've noticed the scars on my hands then." "Your hands, your right shoulder, and Yang said you have two on your left arm," Said Emerald. "Well you've seen most of them," said Wayne, "I believe the only ones you haven't seen are the ones on my left arm and the ones I got on my stomach."

"You have scars on your stomach, that seems-," "Kind of cliché," Said Wayne, finishing for Emerald. "I was going to say it must be something else," said Emerald. "The story behind them isn't as exciting as you'd think," said Wayne, "Mostly a precautionary tale of why you try not to get separated from your hunting party."

"Oh, so you're not one of those guys who half-lies about where you got your scars so you can get girls?" Asked Emerald. "Believe it or not, I'm quite shy, and a terrible liar, heck I didn't even know who I was going to ask out until the night before the dance," Replied Wayne.

"Well that was going to be my second question," said Emerald, "If Weiss hadn't made you bring her to the dance, who would you have asked?" "Oh well um, there was uh, a couple girls I thought about asking, I just kind of doubted they'd say yes on, on such short notice," Replied Wayne. "Like who," asked Emerald.

"Well there was, uh, Yang, crazy as that sounds," said Wayne. "You're saying you're shy, but you still thought you could ask her out," said Emerald. "It was a long shot, she probably would've turned me down, but at least no one could say I didn't try," said Wayne.

"So who was the other girl you wanted to ask out?" Emerald questioned. "Oh you don't want to know," said Wayne, "You probably wouldn't believe me if I did tell you." "I can keep a secret," said Emerald, "And besides, maybe this girl likes you too."

Wayne took a deep breath, "Okay, she was this girl that showed up at the beginning of the semester and kind of caught my eye." "Did she smell nice," Asked Emerald. "She did, though she didn't seem to think being sniffed by a guy on her first day was all that flattering," replied Wayne.

"Well it might be common where you come from," said Emerald, "But it's considered kind of rude to just sniff someone everywhere else in the world." "Well you know, learn new things and all that," said Wayne, "But on the upside I was able to convince her to talk to me a little, had to convince her I wasn't a stalker first though."

"This girl," Asked Emerald, "Is she on a team with a powerful leader and a guy she can't stand?" "Well she hates it when you get her started on the subject of the guy on her team," said Wayne, "But apparently she doesn't hate 'em enough to say no when he asks her out to the dance, then again she once told me that all the other boys found her scary, or maybe she let the guy bring her along so none of the other boys would bother her."

"Would you say it's working, bringing someone else to the dance?" Asked Emerald, "It worked for most of the night," said Wayne, "'til this one guy popped up who knew what she really thought of her teammate, and now they're on the dance floor while the girl's original date is dancing with the team leader, who just now showed up for the dance I might add."

"Is it a nice guy she's dancing with," Asked Emerald. "He seems nice enough, maybe a little too nice for his own good sometimes," said Wayne, "I heard he was in the infirmary earlier for trying to help a friend and getting his brother or something mad."

"Well I think he did it because he gave his word," said Emerald, "And if asked about it, he'd say a guy is only as good as their word, even if they gave their word for something well, kind of lousy." "Well my hope is that the guy is able to sort things out and that the girl he's dancing with would be nice enough to forgive him for sniffing her back on the first day."

"I'm sure he's already told her," said Emerald, "And I'm sure her answer will be that all is forgiven, now that she knows he's not a total creep like her teammate," Said Emerald. "Well if she at least accepts the guy as a friend now, I think he'd be just fine with that." "Well here's what I think," said Emerald, stopping the dance as the music began to wind down, "I think the girl would consider him a friend, but what kind of friend, and how long she would consider him as just a friend well," Emerald turned and started walking away, "That's something they'll both need to figure out."

"Well it's a start," said Wayne, staring as Emerald walked away. The sound of Wayne's scroll ringing broke him out of his trance as he checked the caller ID and answered. "Aegis, what's going on?" Asked Wayne. "Someone was here," said Aegis on the other end, with a serious tone in his voice, "They attacked the guards at the tower and got away after Ruby got into a bit of a scuffle with her." Well that's just great, thought Wayne, I guess it really is back to work tomorrow.

"Well how was it?" Mercury asked Emerald as he and Cinder ended their dance, "You two warming up to each other, any plans for the rest of the night?" "Will you stop it already," Said Emerald, her good mood suddenly gone, "I'm just doing what Cinder asked me to do." "And would you say you're having success?" asked Cinder as the trio began walking out of the auditorium.

"He seems to be less suspicious of us at the very least," Replied Emerald, "I'm fairly certain he doesn't have any real reason to suspect us of anything, other than he thinks me and Cinder have mischievous grins."

"Well just keep him off the trail," said Cinder, "We'll deal with him and all of his little friends soon enough." "Too bad for him," said Mercury, "I think he might actually like you, if just for your body."

"He's not like that," Emerald exclaimed, suddenly defensive, "He cares about a person for more than just their appearance." "Where'd that come from," Asked Mercury, "You aren't starting to enjoy hanging around with that loser are you?" "No, I'm just letting him think I'm a friend," Replied Emerald quickly, "It's easier to learn their secrets that way, but he is more fun to hang out with than your sorry ## ."

"Careful, don't want to get too friendly," said Mercury, "You might have trouble killing them when the time comes." "Don't worry," replied Emerald, "When the time comes I'll kill whoever gets in our way, even Wayne Ursario."

And at last the dance is concluded, and all of the dance-themed titles. As always, thank you to my reviewers, followers, and viewers who give me motivation to keep posting for this story. Stop by next chapter as the journey to Mountain Glenn gets underway.