The week passed without incident. The classes were as difficult- or easy- as they always were, and everyone easily adapted from being on break. However- while the majority of the students took this opening week to relax and get used to the workload, Teams PBNY and JWLR were anxiously awaiting the weekend. Blake had stirred them all up with a desire to deliver justice, not bothering to mention how unlikely it was that they'd actually run into the White Fang this first investigation. At least, that's how Blake perceived things.

More likely, however, was that the students of Beacon didn't really do anything to begin with, and they were eagerly waiting for a chance to get some action. The only school-sanctioned mission the class received during the first semester was a trip to Forever Falls, and most students hadn't encountered any Grimm there- save for the obvious.

Jaune never thought of Beacon as particularly 'easy going,' but reflecting on the events of the first semester, all the action was caused by him and his friends. His fight with Weiss, the missions with Blake, the raid with Yang; the most that was directly caused by Beacon was the spars in Miss Goodwitch's class, but even those only happened twice a week at best.

"I love the view of the city from the airship. Don't you, Jaune?" Ruby wondered as she stared out to the city skyline.

"Yeah. I used to have motion sickness, so I never really had a chance to appreciate the view. Now, though, I can't get enough of it." He answered honestly. If there was one, entirely positive, aspect of his life being a game, it had to be the lack of motion sickness. Gamer's Mind was a blessing. "What do you think, Yang?" He carried on the conversation to the girl sipping from her flask right next to him.

"It's fine, I guess. I've never been one for taking in the 'finer points' of life. But you already knew that, right Goody?" The blond admitted.

"Goody?" Weiss cut in. Instead of standing to take in the view, she sat with the rest of the team, sans Blake, at the table they all grabbed.

"That's my nickname for him." Yang explained. The heiress took a moment to digest this information.

"What nickname should I have for you, Jaune?" She asked her leader. Said leader just shook his head.

"Don't force it, Weiss. It's not a competition. If a nickname comes around, you'll know." Jaune advised sagely. The white haired girl took time to digest this as well.

"The pilots said we'd be arriving in five minutes, everybody. Get ready." Blake announced to the hunters-in-training, making most of them shiver in anticipation. Jaune would've rather had the cat faunus wait with the rest of them, but he wasn't surprised that she insisted on riding with the crew. She always had to be on top of things- at least when it came to the White Fang, that it.

Now, they'd be getting right into the action.

"Umm… We're early." Blake admitted awkwardly to the team. In their rush to beat up some terrorists, they had arrived an hour before Tukson's Book Trade opened to the public. "I forgot he has a late start on Saturdays."

"How are we gonna kill two hours? I can't just sit and eat, this mission already has my blood pumping!" Nora complained.

"Well, while we're here in the city, why don't we buy some new clothes?" Jaune suggested. Everyone gave him an odd look, so he defended himself. "Honestly, we wear the same clothes everyday. I think the only person I've ever seen change their style is Blake, and that was only a jacket." And, there was the date, but nobody involved in that fiasco wanted to bring that up.

"It's our combat attire." Pyrrha stated as if that explained everything.

"Yeah, that we always wear. I have to do laundry everyday just to stay fresh. What's the problem having another combat outfit?" Faithfully, Weiss came to see his reasoning.

"He's not wrong about the laundry load. And I could go for a new outfit, especially since we're dealing with terrorists. Something less recognizable would do us all a service." The heiress added her insight, seeing the benefits to his proposal even more than he did.

"But where would we store out clothes after we changed? We can't exactly stop the White Fang with shopping bags in each hand." Ren pointed out. Considering the feats Jaune knew this group was capable of, he wasn't sure if he agreed with that statement, but he understood the reasoning. Still, though, Weiss had him covered.

"My family actually owns a Combat Attire shop not too far from here. We can stash our clothes there until we go back to Beacon and I can get us all discounts." The heiress offered.

"A discount? Well that settles it." Yang decided. "Let's get ourselves some new digs."

Ruby definitely made the biggest change in her attire. Abandoning the combat skirt, she took a page out of Yang's book, donning a black jacket with a dark red trim, a dark red shirt with her black rose symbol on the lower left side, black shorts, and even some fingerless gloves. Her main outfit issue has always been navigating the forge with a dress, so she decided to cut the dress entirely. All together, Ruby appeared far more mature than before. If it wasn't for her diminutive height, Jaune thought the reaper would look the same age as everyone else.

Weiss was a different story. While the heiress proclaimed a need for 'something less recognizable,' she bought yet another dress. This one did away with white color scheme in favor of a mixture of greys and blues. Jaune pointed this out to her, but the team member was resistant to change. As a compromise, he suggested that she let her hair down, to the girl's shock. Still, Weiss agreed and let her long white hair flow freely. That had everyone turn their heads, and they noted that from that back, she looked like an entirely different person. Any remaining reservations the heiress had vanished when Jaune noted that the style looked really good on her.

Blake, being the only one with a different style previously, simply leaned in to her persona. Like the badass ninja she was, the white in her outfit was discarded for more black. As a splash of color, though, the faunus also equipped herself with long white armwraps that could be seen at her shoulders and wrists underneath her black trenchcoat when she moved at certain angles.

Yang, like Weiss, was of the mindset that her wardrobe wasn't broken, so she didn't need to fix it. She bought her jacket, shirt, and shorts all brand new, but they remained in a similar style to what she wore previously. The jacket was slightly longer, and Ruby informed him that it was just like the one their Uncle Qrow wore.

Pyrrha took the opportunity to find some casual clothing. Jaune already knew that she was a big celebrity or something, but he balked when she admitted that this was the first time she had ever bought her own clothes. Previously, her clothes were determined by whatever brand her publicist wanted for her at the time. With newly found freedom, the champion decided that the intricate nature of her old armour was not her style. She bought a plain red hoodie and some fitted jeans, and kept it as simple as that. Jaune didn't know that they even sold 'combat' hoodies, but considering that he wore a hoodie and jeans in battle, and they weren't even combat ready, he really couldn't talk.

Ren kept things simple. He traded his long sleeved coat for a vest and bought some pink armbands to cover most of his newly exposed skin.

Jaune… He didn't know what to do. His stats screen always had a spot for armour- 'Basic Combat Gear' was the current label- but his actual stats were completely unaffected. Vaguely, he remembered that in some RPGs, the characters would have both an actual armour slot, for the stat bonuses, and an attire slot, for the aesthetics. However, he had no attire slot. Did his armour just not do anything?

As he continued to debate this dilemma in his mind, his friends took matters into their own hands. Together, they picked him out a new outfit and practically forced him into the changing room. When he stepped out, he wore a snazzy black jacket over a blue to yellow gradient shirt, with dark blue jeans and fingerless black gloves to round things out. Despite the compliments, June wasn't entirely sure about his new style until a familiar *pop* gave him reassurance.

Unlocked: Styled Combat Gear
Bonus: Permanent +2 CHA
[OK]

Finally, there was Nora. She adopted a new short sleeved half jacket with a pink skirt- very reminiscent of her previous style, but… There was something so… Familiar about her appearance that he couldn't quite understand. When she saw him staring, her eyes met his with a look that he was unable to comprehend fully.

"You don't like it?" She asked without any discernible emotion, no smile on her face.

"No, it looks fine." Jaune refuted, shaking his head to rid himself of these random, useless, thoughts. In response, Nora just nodded and walked away.

The leader of Team JWLR decided that it would be for the best if he didn't think about what just happened.

"Finally, we can kick ass and look good doing it." Yang cracked her knuckles as they walked back over to Tukson's Book Trade. She, Jaune, and Blake took up the front of the pack.

"True." Jaune agreed lightheartedly. At this, though, Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? So you think us girls look good as well? Tell me, Goody, who do you think looks the best?" The boxer teased. Jaune was so used to Yang's behavior now that he didn't even need Gamer's Mind to nullify lust or embarrassment or any other uncomfortable emotion. Instead, he turned to her.

"I-"

BANG!

OOF!

And the next thing he knew, the novice hunter was laid out on the ground, with a previously unknown weight atop him. When he opened his eyes, that weight turned out to be a mint haired, dark skinned, woman, just as confused as he was. Then, that confusioned turned to anger, and she raised a fist off his chest to- be caught by the wrist and pulled off him suddenly.

Jaune was pulled to his feet by Blake, and he could finally take stock of the situation. The person who saved him from any physical retribution was a grey haired man, who gave a nervous smile to them that contrasted greatly with the woman's scowl.

"Ahh… Sorry about that." The grey haired man apologized. "She really should have watched where she was going. Especially around corners." The woman didn't look particularly sorry, but Jaune wasn't about to start a fight when they had terrorists to catch.

"It's no problem. We'll be on our way now." The situation ended there, and Team PBNYJWLR finally turned the corner to the book shop. But… the light's still weren't on. The sign still read 'Closed.' For reasons unknown, a chill went down Jaune's spine.

"He's still closed? Is this his day off or something?" Weiss questioned indignantly.

"No… This isn't right. He never takes a day off." Blake ignored the question, fear evident in her voice.

"Uhh… Guys?" Ruby had walked over to the door, only to find that it wasn't even locked. Hesitantly, she pushed the door open and they all crowded inside. Bookshelves were knocked over, and loose pages were scattered around the floor. Blake was the first to look behind the counter, and her absolute stillness drew everyone else soon after.

There was Tukson. Dead.

Why did I decide to change their outfits? Because unlike Roosterteeth, I don't have to pay animators to do so for me. Also, I've never really described outfits in writing before, so this was some good practice for me. Ren, Nora, Yang, and Weiss are all in their Volume 4 attire- with Weiss' hair being different and Yang wearing a jacket that looks more like Qrow's.

So, two chapters in two days, huh? Yeah, don't expect that often. This chapter was even shorter than the previous one, but you all don't seem to mind.

I considered holding off on posting this chapter until next week, but decided against it. Would you rather I post chapters right when I finish them, potentially having large gaps of content between each post, or would you rather I wait a week before every chapter for a more regular stream of content with smaller potential gaps?

I wanted to also clarify some things from the last chapter. The bonds in Team PBNYJWLR haven't been reduced to zero, rather any negative bonds have been brought back up to zero- which only refers to Ren. Also, when I talked about Jaune being a flat character, I meant more of a 'static' character, which is the better term. Also, I was referring to the Jaune in this Fan Fiction, not the Show's Jaune.

Until next time,

-RMV