The day couldn't have been more perfect for training. For the first time in weeks, the summer heat had dropped out a little, allowing for the day to be fairly mild in temperature. Not so cold that Luna's body felt stiff, but not so warm that it would become unbearable the moment she started moving.

It had been a couple of weeks since Luna had revealed her plans for weapon upgrades, but today's focus was going to be on the few team attacks she'd pitched to the team later that day. Her and Astra, verses Lily and Cobalt, with the goal of using the combinations against each other and seeing how they worked in reality, rather than just theory. Astra and Cobalt's weapon upgrades weren't even complete yet, but Luna had planned these two specific attacks to be applicable without them.

There was an area of Beacon's grounds that was popular for training; a stretch of grass by a fountain that was surrounded by trees, rocks, and benches for anyone spectating. There were white paint marks in the grass that provided starting points for sparring, and the ground was soft enough that being slammed into it didn't hurt too much. Even when students weren't there for a fight, it was a nice place just to hang out, and Luna knew that Cobalt would go there to sketch sometimes.

There was already a larger crowd than Luna expected when she and her team approached the area, and it was easy to see why when she got closer.

"Lycoris Asano, I will throw you into the sun."

"I'd like to see you try!"

Tussling on the ground were Blaire and Lycoris of Team BLCD; no weapons, just bare fists, feet, and whatever other natural weapon a person could have. Ceionn hovered around them, clearly trying to interfere without being struck herself, and when Luna looked around for their fourth teammates, she spotted Dusk seated on a bench, casually looking at their scroll while glancing up at the fight every now and then.

As Luna watched in growing concern, Lycoris dove elbow first onto a grounded Blaire, who grabbed her as she came down and flipped her heavily onto the grass, before pinning the taller student down with one arm held behind her back.

"It was just a muffin!" Lycoris insisted, struggling under the weight. "You're being stingy!"

Blaire grunted as Lycoris threw her off roughly. "You're the one being stingy! I paid for it!"

"It was three dollars!"

"I wanted to eat it myself!"

"I can give it back if you want."

"Fuck you!"

"Guys!" Ceionn dodged flying fists and feet. "Chill!"

Luna hurried up to Dusk, the rest of her team quick on her heels. "Hey, shouldn't we stop them?"

Dusk glanced up from their scroll, looking to the fighting students briefly, then at Luna. "Nah. This is normal."

Luna stared at them, bewildered.

"But they're going to get hurt," Cobalt replied, shooting an anxious look at the fight. "Shouldn't we…call a teacher or something?"

Dusk shook their head. "They're fine. Let them fight it out. Besides, the teachers stopped getting involved ages ago." They looked back down at their scroll, unconcerned, as the shouts from their teammates resounded.

Luna looked at the fight again, confused.

Lycoris had Blaire pinned now, a line of spit dangling from her mouth, prompting a repeated 'get the fuck away from me' from Blaire. Suddenly, she understood. This wasn't a serious fight, this was a squabble between two old friends, pummeling each other like young boys in the schoolyard.

"You are disgusting." Blaire spat at Lycoris, wiping moisture from her cheek as she struggled to her feet.

"It's what you deserve." Lycoris insisted, as the two immediately ran full-force at each other.

"Come on, guys!" Ceionn begged as Blaire kicked Lycoris away. "You're embarrassing us in front of the younger students!"

"Give it up, Cei," Dusk called mildly from where they sat, without even looking up from their scroll. "They're almost done."

Luna watched the older students wrestle roughly, wondering if she would ever be close enough with her team to do the same thing with them one day. She and Cobalt had certainly never done it despite their years of friendship, but friendships tended to vary. Cobalt and Lily, on the other hand, she could see tussling like this.

Eventually, Blaire pinned a clearly-exhausted Lycoris to the ground again, ensnaring both of her arms behind her back and sitting on her legs. "Give in," She demanded.

Lycoris sighed grumpily. "Fine. I'll buy you a new muffin."

As Ceionn heaved a cry of relief, Blaire released Lycoris' arms, looking smugly satisfied. "Never forget, I am your leader for a reason."

"Yeah, whatever," Lycoris huffed as the two struggled to their feet. "Only because you have more fighting energy than a cornered raccoon."

Blaire stretched. "I think what you mean to say is 'wow, Blaire, you're so smart and strong and I'll never doubt you or steal your food again'."

"Alright, you three," Dusk put their scroll away and stood up from the bench. "Let's move along. Team LLAC want to use the grounds."

Luna shot them a look, wondering how they'd realized that when she hadn't told them anything.

Catching the look, Dusk explained, "You clearly weren't here to watch the fight and you've got your weapons. Pretty clear reason."

As BLCD walked away, the tone between them suddenly casual and friendly, Luna reminded herself to start practicing her own observational skills more often. Part of her wondered how in the world LLAC were ever supposed to catch up to the older team in terms of skill; it seemed virtually impossible.

But that's why we're here now, She reminded herself. To practice, and get better.

"Alright, team," She announced, "Take your positions."

As they did so, Luna was relieved that most of the watching crowd had left when team BLCD had; she wasn't sure she wanted so many eyes watching her team's first attempt at something new.

She and Luna stood next to each other, across from Cobalt and Lily, one pair of eyes meeting another.

"Ready…" Luna drew Striking Shadow, hearing Astra extend Light of the party and watching the other two draw their weapons as well.

"Now!"

There was no hesitation to start with the same sparring they usually did. Rocks flew to assemble upon Stoneheart as Cobalt swung at Luna with force, but she dodged, ducking down and sliding past him to slam Striking Shadow against his legs, tripping him up. Instead of hitting the ground, though, Cobalt was jerked up as Lily rushed over and caught him, while avoiding Astra's hammer at the same time.

Of course beating them wasn't going to be that easy, but that was the point. Would have been hard to practice team attacks if Astra and Luna beat their teammates before either pair got the chance to use them.

Luna darted over to Astra, dodging bullets from Evening Jade as best she could, though still feeling a couple hit against her aura. "You ready?"

Astra gave a quick nod, whipping out her hammer and grabbing the handle with both hands. Luna turned to face Lily and Cobalt, before jumping back so that her feet hit the head of the hammer, allowing Astra to launch her forward.

The force behind the swing was less than she'd anticipated, but she angled Striking Shadow as she flew at her teammates, whacking Lily's stomach with one half of the spear. In an actual battle, she'd have used the sharp end, but she didn't want to risk piercing Lily's aura too severely.

Lily was knocked back, both from the blow, as well as Luna's weight bearing down on her, and before Cobalt could help, Astra had already rushed at him with Light of the Party, taking advantage of the brief distraction and knocking him down.

"Oof," Lily let out a puff of breath as Luna stood up and allowed her to get to her feet. "Didn't think you'd try yours so quickly."

Astra rested her hammer on her shoulders, mimicking one of Nora Valkyrie's signature poses. "That's the element of surprise for 'ya."

Luna chuckled warmly at her. "Yeah, but we weren't exactly as effective as we could have been," She pointed out. "That amount of force isn't going to be enough if we're up against a Grimm or bulkier opponent."

Astra swung Light of the Party back down. "Hm…you did add a lot more weight than I was prepared for."

Luna crossed her arms with playful indignance. "Hey."

Astra jumped, blushing. "Wait, no! You're not heavy!"

Luna chuckled. "Don't worry, I know what you meant. What do you think we should do about it?"

Cobalt stepped forward. "Maybe you could try working more with momentum?"

Astra nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. "Maybe if I spin, and catch Luna on the fly…" She nodded with more certainty again. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"We can try it next time," Luna assured her.

Lily poked her in the arm. "Hey, not just yet," She admonished, "At least let Cobalt and I try ours first."

Luna chuckled. "Right. But we're still not going to go easy on you."

They took their positions again, until Luna gave the command.

This time, Luna raised her spear to Cobalt as he rushed at her with the still-re-enforced Stoneheart, the two weapons clashing, tiny specs of rock flying off as they pushed against each other's weight. After a moment, Striking Shadow gave way, and she dodged as the stone sword came flying at her face. Cobalt didn't have time to strike again though, as Astra rushed up and took a heavy swing with Light of the Party, missing him by less than an inch as he leaped away. Astra stopped just short of hitting Luna with her strike, stumbling.

Luna scrambled to her feet to stand beside her partner. Across the field, Cobalt had joined Lily, who shot a few bullets their way before taking a new stance. This was it.

The ground erupted between the two pairs, the grass and roots of plants being forcefully ripped away as the smell of disturbed earth flooded Luna's senses. And then, just as she expected, A collection of freshly-uncovered rocks and stones rose from the ground, and Luna and Astra could only brace themselves as they were showered with them and knocked to the ground.

"Ugh," Astra shook dirt from her hair as she sat up. "Why did theirs have to be so much dirtier?"

Luna leaned over and ruffled her girlfriend's hair, showering her with more dust and causing her to emit a high-pitched sneeze, before sighing.

"It's going to take forever to wash out."

Cobalt and Lily exchanged a high-five.

"I'd call that a success," Cobalt boasted. "Both of you down in one shot."

Luna stood up and blinked at the training area, now brutally torn up and covered in disturbed dirt and rocks. "You made a mess, though."

Cobalt frowned at the piles and clumps of earth. "I've never been great at moving dirt particles…" He kicked a clump back into place. "Yeah, this might take a while."

Astra walked over and flattened another clump with a shove from her hammer. "Hey, nothing a little teamwork can't fix!"

Cobalt sighed in relief. "Good. My mother would kill me if she saw all this."

As the four got to work on restoring the training ground back to normal, Astra brought up a question Luna hadn't even thought about yet.

"So, hey, what are we calling these moves?"

Lily looked up from where she was re-growing the grass. "Oh yeah, teams tend to name their attacks so that the leader can call them out in battle. We should probably think of something."

Cobalt piled rocks into various holes. "I think 'Nature's Wrath' would be pretty fitting for what we've done here," He commented. "It's nature, it's…wrathful. Would definitely make sense."

Lily shrugged. "Works for me."

"Sounds good," Luna agreed. She turned to Astra. "And what about us?"

Astra stopped her work and leaned on the handle of her hammer with a frown. "Hm…I don't really know what to describe our attack as, exactly. It's kind of just 'throwing my girlfriend at people with a hammer'."

"They don't need to describe the attack," Luna pointed out. "Team RWBY and JNPR's team attack names all related to the pair of those attacking. Like how my moms are Bumblebee, because they're black and yellow."

Astra's eyes glowed. "Oh hey, yeah! What could we do though…"

Something stirred in the back of Luna's mind. "I think I read somewhere that my name means 'moon' in an old language. And…if I remember correctly, yours means 'star'."

Astra gasped. "Holy shit!" She took her weight off the hammer, her eyes sparkling. "So we're like, what? The night sky?"

Luna grinned. "Nightsky. I like that."

Astra squealed. "It's perfect!"

With the matter of names resolved, the team got back to work restoring the ground, until the area looked almost as good as it had when they'd arrived, albeit bumpier and more uneven. Astra chirped that the terrain would be practice more challenging, and they'd launched back into practice.

The longer the session continued, the larger the glow of pride in Luna's chest grew. This was her team, learning and getting better, thanks in part to her leadership. Part of her felt selfish for patting herself on the back, but the other was simply in awe that she could ever have come up with these ideas, and that they were working.

For the first time, she finally felt that Glynda had been right to appoint her as leader. Maybe she wasn't perfect, and there were areas she definitely needed to work on, but she wasn't even done with the first year. There would be time to grow, and she was more determined than ever to do so. Her team was counting on her.