Big Issues

AN: Just in case anyone didn't notice in the first chapter, this is a story that is built around weight gain but it is not the whole story. There will be much more than that to this story as that combined with the new team will eventually make some larger changes to the canon we know. Also, if you are here for shipping reasons... no spoilers will be given, you'll have to read for yourselves. Reviews are welcome.

Making things Double

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Who set the alarm?" The shortest girl in the room asks as she rolls over to face away from the noise source.

"I did. Had to make sure we got up for dinner." The sole male in the room says and getting the response he expected- the girl snapping upright and scrambling to put her boots on.

BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP!

"Another one?" The red and black clad girl groans as she stretches before smoothing out her skirt.

"That one's mine." The last girl admits as she brushes her hair quickly and turns off the loudly buzzing and flashing alarm on her scroll. The brushing wasn't for taming her hair, that has proved nearly impossible in the past, but to simply remove any knots that formed since the last brushing.

"Doubling up on alarms?" Now she shoves her feet into her black boots and buckling them tight.

"Actually, that's because we have the appointment with the nurse soon." The team leader responds for the other girl since she didn't have her ears on yet. Until she did, she'd hear little to nothing of the conversation unless they began yelling.

"Do we have to?" The short girl whines as she stretches some kinks out of her back by using a wall to walk her hands down as she bent backwards, easily passing the ninety-degree mark and sighing with relief as her spine popped a few times. The boy was in a similar state, though twisted horizontally so he was facing the wall when his feet weren't.

"Might as well get it over with quickly." The boy replies as he twists the other way.

The deaf girl finally puts her ears on and after a few seconds to adjust them, joined the conversation. "Ready to go?"

"I guess so. Let's get going." The boy says slipping his scroll into his pocket before opening the door.

The nurse's station was fairly spacious, though the number of machines and people within made it seem smaller. A trio of large machines sat along one of the walls towards the back, easily large enough to hold a few people if the large openings were anything to go by. The fact that a tall teen with slicked back orange hair, tall, broad, and fairly muscular was inside one of them was another obvious clue.

"I guess we're supposed to go in one of those." The dark themed girl thinks out loud to her teammates as they wait at the counter. The watched the young man stand still as several beams of light moved over his body, clad in his pants, socks, and shirt of the standard male Beacon uniform while the vest and coat were tossed over the back of a nearby chair, the tie apparently had fallen to the floor in a red heap.

"At least we don't need to strip down for these exams." The short girl comments after watching the boy for a few seconds, the rest of her team silently agreeing with nods.

"Sorry about the wait kids, just had to gather a few things." A woman rapidly says as she nearly trips before dropping an armload of folders onto a desk. A few moments later she picked up a few of the folders and bringing them to the counter.

"So, you're team DAIT? I heard a few things about what you did at Cloudspire." She asks as she opens the files and compares the photos within to the teens in front of her.

"Um… thanks, I think?" The short girl replies as she scratched the back of her head.

"You do have our thanks for helping to save the city. I actually have a brother out there. He works at the CCT relay tower."

"We didn't have much contact with the people there, too busy fighting by the walls." The blonde responds honestly.

"Don't worry, that's what you train for, to keep those who can't fight safe. That's why I got my medical license, to help keep you fighters on your feet as long as possible." The nurse rises to her feet and walks to the end of the counter with the files in hand.

"That is both admirable and sadistic at the same time." The dark-themed girl mutters to herself, the boy smiled at her pessimism while the short girl elbowed her in the ribs.

Thankfully the nurse didn't hear that and simply led the four to a smaller room set up with the basics. "Don't worry, we'll get your exams over with soon enough." She assures the team as they sit down and are handed a clipboard with a few pages on it and a pen each. "Just fill out these forms with your known medical history while I get ready for your samples." With that she left the room.

"I hate doing these things." The dark girl complains as she works on her forms.

The boy smirks, "Just finish it quickly and you won't have to worry about it."

"So long as you don't screw it up or you'll have to do it again." Mechanical ears twitched as the girl wearing them teased her friend.

Silence filled the room beyond the scratching of their pencils on paper until the nurse returned with a small cart and a tray with needles. "Don't worry kids, the blood sample is quick and painless. My semblance allows me to dull pain for a short time."

"That's useful." The boy comments.

"Yes, it is. Thank you for volunteering to go first, Denko." The nurse smiles sweetly holding the needle up.

Denko pulled up his shirts short sleeve to expose his arm and held it out for her. In moments the needle was in and drawing the dark red fluid from his artery, filling the cylinder in seconds before the nurse- Legume was on her nametag- replaced the vial with a second.

"There we go!" Nurse Legume withdrew the needle once the second vial was filled, replacing it with a simple band-aid.

Denko quirked an eyebrow at that bit of medical practice. "Wouldn't our aura heal a pinprick like that quickly?"

Legume flashed a small glare briefly before it melted into a much happier expression. "You Huntsmen are all the same, always thinking that your aura will protect you from everything. Covering any wound, no matter how small, with a sterile bandage is standard practice. Failure of that could harm the patient. I am dedicated to healing and so you will get a bandage whenever there is a wound that I deem requires one." With her piece said, she turned away and drew blood from the girls.

"Now let's go to the scanners. These machines will take your vitals, full body measurements, and even do some quick in-depth scans. Just remove any armor and excessive clothes before you hop in. Just stand still with your arms at your side." Peaches explains. The four reluctantly strip down to their underwear and take their turns in the scanners, entertaining themselves during the procedure watching the arms spin around them and watching the lights from the arms trace over their bodies.

"Hmm… you all seem to be quite healthy. Except you." Peaches turns from the data readings to lock her eyes on the shortest girl as she finishes putting her skirt back on.

"Me?"

"You're overweight." Was the flat response. Tactful this nurse was not.

"So? I like my body as it is."

"At least you've lost some weight since your last medical exam… about seven pounds." Legume seemed to relax as she said that and leaned back into her office chair.

The girl looks down at her soft stomach and grabs it gently. "I knew I lost weight when we were at Cloudspire. Stupid rations."

"Well keep up that diet and you'll be down to a healthy weight in no time." Legume states before turning back to her computer.

"Are you kidding? I gotta find some actually good food so I can get it back! Maybe a little extra!"

"This'll be good." The red-head comments to the blonde who simply smiles and nods. The other girl buckled her boots and stood up in front of the nurse.

"Anything else to check?" Her red eyes bored into the nurses' brown daring her to continue the argument with her sister. Her control over her semblance slipped a little, making her more intimidating to the medical practitioner.

Legume gave in, slumping back into her chair. "You're free to go." She waved them off, feeling weaker all of a sudden. That feeling lessened a bit as the red-eyed girl lead the rest of the team out of the door.

Professor Oobleck zoomed around the front of his classroom, darting from one side to the other with a mug of coffee in his hand. Nearly the entire time he spoke rapidly, stopping only to take a sip. The subject of the day was the landscape that helped to defend the four kingdoms.

"Now while many of you young Huntsmen and Huntresses are natives of the Kingdom of Vale, many of you are from the other three Kingdoms, Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral. Others are from outside of the kingdoms, whether it be from the small towns scattered across the continents, nomadic tribes, or from Menagerie.

Any and all aspects of civilization depend on their location, first and foremost. For example, Atlas is located in a rather isolated and inhospitable region of Solitas. The natural defenses are primarily the extreme cold of the continent, capable of freezing most Grimm to death within hours. There is also the fact that Atlas itself is kept isolated from the surrounding lands by advanced antigravity technology holding the city in the sky nearby the original city of Mantel. Other defenses include a small mountain range that leads to a canyon which renders most land-based attacks useless.

As for the defenses of Vale, to the west is a shallow sea which makes it difficult for any large aquatic Grimm to approach undetected. To the north and east is a large mountain range which is extremely hazardous to cross at the best of times. The south is filled with dense forests which prevent most large Grimm from passing through easily.

Vacuo is situated in the depths of a desert where the heat and sandstorms destroy most hazards to the citizens. A number of canyons stretching across the landscape also interfere with travel. Not to mention a few of the wildlife in the region will attack anything in their territory, whether it be man or Grimm." He pauses for another sip only to find that the mug is now empty. With a frown he zips back to his desk where a coffee maker sat, almost hidden by some of the stacks of papers strewn about the furniture. Quickly he places his mug in the proper location to be refilled but is interrupted from going any further by a question from a student.

"Professor- "

"Doctor!"

"Um… Doctor Oobleck, how do the nomads survive?" the student asks, thoroughly distracting the teacher from his source of caffeine.

"Ah! An excellent question! The nomadic tribes are always found on the continents of Anima and Sanus, as the conditions of Solitas are too extreme for prolonged exposure. Then there are the differences between the tribes, some are groups of bandits who raid small settlements before moving away quickly to avoid the Grimm that their attacks attract. The others are groups who keep on the move as to never provide the Grimm with a location with which they may besiege."

Yang was only half paying attention to the lecture, partially because the information wasn't exactly new to her. She was also distracted a bit by the tightness of her uniform, something that her teammates and some of their friends had in common lately. Even now she was being careful with how she moved to avoid straining the buttons too much.

At the same time, she was a woman of action and there was only so much that she could sit still. Granted, that was a common trait in the Xiao Long-Rose family… probably why they were all Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Yang looked at her team, Ruby was taking notes among her occasional doodles- nothing new there. Weiss was doing her best to write down everything that the teacher said that was relevant to the subject at hand- a difficult task given how fast the man spoke but practice made perfect and the heiress was probably the fastest writer in the school… after Oobleck himself. Blake was taking few notes herself, instead focusing on listening to the lecture- apparently having four ears made it a natural thing for her to be an auditory learner. As for herself, she had plenty of notes for the bits that she could write down before the subject moved on too far.

Now was a lull in the lesson as Oobleck was helping a student on the other side of the lecture hall. She raised her arms to stretch her back as it was getting stiff from sitting too long and bent over the desk. Despite the tightness of her uniform jacket, she continued to stretch looking for relief with the hope that she could be satisfied soon.

Then it happened.

The top button from her jacket popped off at the same time her back cracked and she'd taken a deep breath out of relief. The golden button flew far, eventually hitting the start button on the coffee maker where Oobleck caught the piece of metal before it could hit anything else, having zoomed across the classroom in that time.

The green-haired teacher glanced down at the now full mug, keeping a straight face even as a few giggles broke out through the class. "Thank you for the refill Miss Xiao Long." He picks up the cup and takes a sip of the fresh brew. "Ah… perfect." His actions stifled the laughter from the class… or it could have been the sound of a few stitches tearing that brought it to a halt.

While Yang was somewhat relieved that she could breathe a bit easier without the button constricting her chest so much, she was just embarrassed that she had popped a button. She blushed but didn't cover her chest- it just got the room that was needed, she wasn't going to put pressure on her girls again so soon. Suddenly Oobleck was in front of her, holding the golden projectile in his hand to her. She reluctantly took it back and slipped it into a pocket.

Zipping back to his desk, Oobleck changed to course of the class. "Now this will be a good time to inform you all that the Council's of all four Kingdoms have agreed to provide new uniforms and your choice of field equipment to fit your new sizes as required. These new clothes will be made according to the measurements obtained from your medical check-ups. If any of you wish to make any changes to your current attires, you will need to notify the fabricators of the modifications. They may request that you turn over your current outfits so they may get the details that you prefer correct. They have assured us that the old clothes will be returned with the new."

"What about our casual clothes?" A student from Mistral asks from the back.

"Unfortunately for you, the new clothes and equipment the Councils are willing to pay for are for school and your Huntsmen duties only. On the other hand, they have negotiated a small discount at most stores to make it easier for you all to update your choice of wardrobe when not in class or on duty." Pause for a sip before bringing out his scroll from a pocket. "I will send you all a list of merchants arranged by Kingdom who are on the list offering the discounts as well as the contact information for updates to the uniforms and Hunting attire."

A series of ring tones sounded out through the room, the sheer number and diversity making it difficult for anyone to pick out certain patterns beyond their closest neighbors as they all brought out their devices and examined the information. A few of the visiting students already began asking the natives of Vale for tips on which store has the best selections. The discussions were interrupted by the bell signaling the end of the class.

"Just a moment class!" Doctor Oobleck shouts from his place at the desk. "Read pages 213 through 245 and be ready for the test on environmental effects in battles next class." A few groans from the class made him frown before he dashed to the door.

"Remember that you are here in class to learn many of the details you require for your chosen profession. Learning them now is much better than doing so in the field where a simple mistake could cost lives… including your own." With that piece said he left the room in a blur leaving the students to make their way out themselves without obstruction.

Yang dropped her head onto the desk with a thud, the tightness of the remaining buttons on her jacket was in the back of her mind as she let her frustration out with a huff. Weiss simply packed up her books and waited for the blonde with Blake who was ready to leave as well. That left Ruby to pick up her sister, at least emotionally.

"C'mon Yang. Class is over."

"I know."

"Can you sit up? I'll help you carry your books." The younger girl offers.

"I'll get it." The blonde sits up straight and stacks the few books she'd brought for class.

"Um… at least you don't have to worry about popping that button anymore." Ruby tries to lighten the mood.

"Now she just has to worry about the others." Blake snipes as she looks at the two buttons that are pulled tight across the blondes' middle.

That got Yang's attention to snap her out of her funk. "You're not that far off." She pokes the disguised Faunus's stomach with a finger, the tight uniform jacket did little to stop the digit from sinking past the first knuckle. Blake predictably turned red at the teasing being turned back on her.

"Why are we standing around? Class is over and everyone already left." Ruby says as she shoves her sister books into her arms and grabs her own.

"My thoughts exactly." Weiss agrees as she begins walking away only to stop when she heard snickering behind her. Her voice turned could as she turned her head to her team. "What is it now?"

"Hehehe! Blue today!" Ruby gasps out as giggles overtake her.

"Wow Ice Queen, didn't realize your so cold that you have snow down there." Yang jokes, her earlier embarrassment forgotten thanks to her friends own.

"What are you talking about?" The shortest member of the team asks only to get no verbal answers but for Blake to reach behind her and pull her skirt down to cover her correctly. That turned the pale girl bright red in a flash and prompting another round of laughter from her three friends.

A few minutes later the four were walking down a hallway after dropping their books off in their dorm so they could go to dinner. Hopefully it would be something good on the menu tonight, since the current issue began the kitchens have been offering smaller portions, changing how they cook, and limiting what was made at all. To Yang and Ruby- the biggest eaters of the team, that meant that they haven't had a filling meal in weeks. Blake would go nuts on the days with fish normally, now she was being cut off before she'd even go through half of what she'd normally devour. Weiss… had attempted to go on a diet with a few other girls in their year. The results were far from expected- since whatever chemical was in their systems tricked their bodies into a starvation mode already, limiting what they ate to absolute minimum for a normal civilian, let alone an active Huntress-in-training, simply added the natural starvation hormones to their systems. Combined with their growing hunger, the girls had practically snapped in less than two weeks and most of them wound up not simply eating a full meal but stealing the meals of other students as well to devour as quickly as possible.

Weiss had managed to control herself to a full meal but managed to get several orders of take-out delivered by drone through their dorm window. Granted Weiss never got to see the sushi she'd ordered thanks to Blake, most of the chocolate covered fruit disappeared into Ruby, and the one time that Weiss really gave into her cravings and ordered a meat-lovers pizza… she'd only gotten a slice before Yang gorged on the rest. That's not to say she didn't get her fill, she did and then some while her friends ate the other things.

All of the dieting girls paid for it though, each of them gaining weight extremely rapidly thanks to their rapid consumption of food in a short time. That spike in their growth only lasted for a few days but the damage was done, they'd gained more than their fellows in comparison. On the bright side, the natural hormones faded after the binge and a few of regular meals.

That was when the blonde stopped and whisper to her sister, pointing to a small group of older students not too far ahead of them. "Hey Ruby, does that look like anyone we know?"

The team leader took a closer look at the team, taking note of the sole male- one with spikey blonde hair and donned in green clothes. The other one that was far more similar to a girl she hadn't seen for a few years; the prosthetic ears were shaped differently than she remembered but upgrades could have been made. The orange color scheme and hair seemed to match the memory as well.

"I think so." The young girl answers, somewhat unsure but the longer she looked the more confident she became in her identification of the duo.

Now Yang's mouth turned up into a grin that promised surprises. "Think we should greet them as we normally did before?"

Ruby's mind began syncing with her sisters, along with her expression. "Oh yeah!"

Weiss face palmed and leaned against the wall, Blake stopping nearby. "What are you two about to do?"

She never got a verbal explanation but a demonstration as the sisters began running. Weiss dropped her hand from her forehead to her mouth to watch with her black themed teammate. The older team heard the sound of running feet and curiosity took hold, making them turn to face the source of the noise. Doing so bared their faces to the approaching girls, inadvertently confirming their identities to them and bolstering their resolve.

Together they leaped as soon as they were within range. "Denko!" Itazura!"

The blonde and ginger turn fully in time to be hit in the chest by the human missiles, with the expected result of them being launched backwards past their teammates and onto the floor where they slid a few feet on their backs.

"R-Ruby?" The girl asks, recognizing the girls distinctive silver eyes, the red cloak, and her red tipped black hair.

Her assaulter sat up sitting on the older girls' legs with a bright smile. "It's been so long since I saw you!" She squeals before diving forward to give the girl a proper hug, one that was readily returned.

"Hehe, you've really grown-up Ruby. C'mon, let me up so I can see how much." Itazura laughs as she releases her friend and kicks her legs out from under her.

Once on their feet they look down to see the blondes still on the floor, though the male seemed to be having a hard time.

"Yang?" He gasps as he was being squeezed in a tight hug. One that pinned his arms to his sides leaving capable of trying to tap her back.

"Nope, you barely called while you were gone. If I hold you like this, I won't have to worry about you leaving again." The brawler responds with her face buried into his shoulder.

"Yeah?" He wheezes. "I doubt I'll be going anywhere if I can't breathe." A few more taps on her back.

"I guess I can let you go for now." Yang relents as she releases her hold but refusing to get up, instead propping herself up a bit to allow the older boy to breathe but still trapped under her.

Denko looked up at her face, framed by the same golden mane he remembered from before he left. But from his current position he was glad she was dressed as her chest was barely above his own, any time they breathed at the same time they'd touch.

"Um, thanks for letting me live but can I get up?" He tried to keep his eyes on her face or above.

"I dunno… you seem pretty comfy to lay on." She teases, accenting her comment with a little wiggle of her hips.

The sole male in the hallway was saved by Weiss yelling at her teammate. "Yang! Stop harassing the transfer students!"

The blonde sat up on her victim to glance at the heiress. "Relax Ice Queen. We used to do this all the time."

The short girl was skeptical. "Really?"

Denko pushes on Yang's shoulders to get her off of him to stand up though he did pull her up to her feet once his feet were under him.

"Unfortunately, it is." He responds.

"Oh, come on big guy. You know you missed me." Yang teases as she wraps an arm around his shoulders, barely having to reach much higher than her own since he was barely taller than she is.

Denko grumbled a bit, "Maybe."

"So, who are your friends Ruby?" Blake asks as she finally walks up to her teammates, as did the other two girls.

"Oh! Um… this is Itazura." The young girl gestures to the girl next to her. Messy orange hair done up in an equally messy ponytail. Though the headpiece she wore over her ears mimicked the movements of Faunus whos' trait was in their ears- something that Blake was very quick to notice and was familiar with. That bit of machinery was painted to match her clothes. Bright green eyes with a mischievous glint and fair skin. She was a little taller than Ruby herself while wearing a burnt orange colored cheongsam with wrist reaching sleeves and ending above her knees. A matching style of pants covers her legs with white cuffs at the ankles like the cuffs on her sleeves. A pair of simple black flats adorned her feet with white socks that disappeared up under her pants. Around her waist, holding her top close and accenting her figure is a light brown sash from which a pair of leather pouches hung just behind her hips. Swishing behind her is a fluffy fox tail that matched her bright hair and tipped with white.

"Nice to meet ya! Itazura Vulpes." She held out her hand in greeting, Blake reluctantly shook her hand and followed by Weiss. Blake could see that the heiress was doing her best to overcome her previous prejudices against Faunus.

"Denko Mori." The boy says as he crosses his arms as Yang finally releases him to stand by her sister. He has light blonde hair, pushed back into an unkempt spikey form as if he didn't even try to do more than push it back. Lightly tanned skin framed his blue eyes, which seemed to stand out thanks to the khaki t-shirt he wore under a green vest- one that looked to be as sturdy as a tactical vest yet without extra pouches. That vest was left open to expose the shirt underneath. Matching arm guards covered his limbs from elbow to wrist with a set covering from knee to ankle. Khaki cargo shorts were held up by a thick blown belt with a black buckle. Grey sneakers and white socks donned his feet. It was noticed that he was a bit stockier than their other male friends but not bulky with muscle or softened with fat.

The shortest of the team presented herself next. "Talon Eaglewing." She put her hands on her hips as she greets the freshman team. Standing barely taller than Weiss since the Schnee wasn't wearing her heels, Talon was wearing a blue crop-top with purple edging over a fishnet shirt that contained her sizable chest and stopped just above her stomach. Similarly patterned detached sleeves covered from just above her elbows to over the back of her hands. A blue skirt with purple edging covered her waist with knee-high black boots completed her outfit. The girl was short but made up for it by being bulkier than any of the girls on her team, not in muscle but by being chubby with a soft round stomach protruding over the waistband of her skirt. Her black hair looked rather untamed and reached her shoulders but it was held back from her face by a red ribbon across her hairline which contrasted with her deeper olive complexion and sky-blue eyes.

The last teammate stayed back where she was and kept her face neutral. "Anya Eaglewing and yes I am her sister." Anya stood about the same height as Blake with dark red chin-length hair and red eyes. She is wearing what looks to be a shirt made of black and red bandages that continue down the sleeves that ended at her hands covering their backs and held there by a loop around her middle fingers. Similar pants covered her legs over which is a short dark red skirt sat around her waist along with a heavy black belt with large black pouches at her back. Calf high black boots with red straps and soles adorned her feet. Her skin was surprisingly pale.

"She seems to make you look cheery." Weiss comments to Blake just loud enough for the Faunus to hear.

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult." The cat responds causing the heiress to give her an uncertain smile.

"What are you guys up to?" Denko asks as he shoves his hands into his pockets.

"Guys?" Ruby asks. "You're the only guy here."

He gives he a huff with a smile. "You know what I mean Short stack."

"Well… we were on our way to dinner." Ruby points down the hall with both hands.

"Oh great, so were we! You can show us the way!" Talon was eager to get moving.

"Sure, why not? You can eat with us and tell us about what you've been doing." Yang starts to lead the group but was passed by Ruby and Talon as they ran away.

"I see you've really grown since we last met." Denko comments to Yang before taking a bite of the burger in his hands.

"You could've tried visiting once in a while." She responds, stealing a fry off of his plate.

"We've been kept busy. Even when we had time off from school, we had missions to do. Plus, it's hard to get a decent flight across the continent when you have no money." He takes a fry from hers in kind.

"Doing missions that didn't pay you?" She takes a bite from her burger.

"Most of our pay went into other things. Weapon upkeep, car maintenance, yadda, yadda, yadda."

The brawler perks up at that. "You have a car?"

He shrugs before swallowing a fry. "We built a vehicle to go on missions with. Kinda still field testing it and making a few tweaks to its systems as we go. Theodore might be asking for a couple to be built for the Huntsmen going deep into the desert. Even thinking about sending some to the small towns and caravans."

"Can I see it?" She leans forward, nearly pushing her chest into her food.

"If we're lucky, it should be dropped off this week sometime."

"I can't wait to see what you made." Yang sits back and digs into her burger and fries once more, content to eat in silence with her old friend for now.

"C'mon Itazura, what have you been doing since you left Signal?" Ruby asks the Fox Faunus with a fry hanging out of her mouth.

The fox quirked a mechanized ear towards the young reaper as she sipped at her soda. She picks up a fry and waves it around a bit. "A little school here, a bit of hunting there, you know… write an essay one day, kill a monster the next."

"Oh, come on! You gotta be doing more than that! You're in your third year, we already do that and more and we didn't even finish our first semester yet." A few more fries disappeared into the youngest in the school.

"Longer missions, tougher Grimm, arresting some bandits… Being an upperclassman doesn't change much of what you do but your responsibility." Her tone was serious while she said that before turning devious. "Doesn't mean you can't have some fun along the way."

"What did you do?"

"There was this one time when we went to Atlas and slipped a bunch of syrup into the showers."

"You didn't!"

"It was the sweetest prank I've ever pulled. Five hundred gallons of syrup and seventy-three showers without being caught."

"Really?"

"Wait, that was you?" Weiss asks incredulously, pointing at the young fox.

"You have no proof beyond my claim." Itazura states smugly before turning back to her food.

"I heard about that from my sister, Winter." The girl says as she pokes around her plate with one of her fries.

"One of the biggest wastes of food I've ever seen. Do you know how many pancakes and waffles that syrup could have enhanced?" Talon complains.

"I would have thought about the waste of money. How much did that much syrup cost? The time spent on clean up? The cleaning supplies? The down time caused by the incident?" Weiss presses.

"Money isn't something that I'm worried about. I've tried some of the "High Society" food that they insist costs a lot of Lien. A lot of that is simply cheap ingredients thrown together with a big price tag for people like you Atlas types to flaunt without knowing what's in it." Talon uses a fry to point at the Heiress, unknowing or uncaring that Blake and Anya were watching with some form of interest as they ate their own food in silence.

"Take this meal for example. The fries are simple potatoes, lightly seasoned with some salt and spices for flavor and air-fried to be crispy on the outside while soft and moist on the inside." She begins, holding up a few fries and breaking them in half as a demonstration.

"The burgers are flame grilled, searing the flavor inside while being thoroughly cooked. The grill lets the fat flow from inside without soaking the meat in the grease. Adding the cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions to the meat and squishing it between a fresh baked bun… it gets all of the food groups you need all in one package." She reveals the layers of her meal through a literally bitten cross-section."

Denko leans over the table a bit towards Yang who leans in as well. "I prefer my burgers without the tomatoes and any meal without onions. The barbeque sauce though, that helps with the flavor." The blondes share a laugh as the chubby foodie continues.

"I dunno what they make the drinks out of here but I intend to find out. The bubbles on my tongue are great and there seems to be so many flavors to choose from. I gotta try them all."

"I think the better question is how did you get a second burger? They have been rationing what they serve since this whole issue started." Blake asks pointing at the girls' plate where a second sandwich sat surrounded by fries while the model burger was held in her hand.

"Foodie secret." She grins. In reality she'd simply swiped it off some tall boys' plate while he was laughing with some kid with a green mohawk. With the way he wasn't paying attention to his food, he was practically asking for it and it was better than it joining the fries on the floor soon after.

A minute later another quartet sat at the table, the shorter ginger dropping onto the bench made it shake under her weight while the other three were more delicate in how they sat. The four dug into their food, obviously hungry and judging by the scuffs, dirt, and smell of sweat and used Dust; they had just finished training not long ago.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby chirps as she tosses a fry into her mouth. The blonde simply waved limply as he dug into his burger. He was easily the most exhausted of the group, though the other boy simply seemed to be tired or apathetic… maybe both.

"More friends of yours?" Itazura asks the cloaked girl.

"Yep! This is Team JNPR. That's Jaune. "She points to the blonde as if his response earlier wasn't an indicator of who he was. "There's Nora. "The short girl flexes an arm at the introduction before taking a big bite from her burger. "Here's Pyrrha. "

"Hello!" The tall crimson haired girl waves and smiles brightly before turning back to her meal.

"And Ren!" The black-haired boy nods as eats.

Team DAIT looked at the freshman team, sizing them up as fighters much as they did with Team RWBY when they met them. They couldn't wait to see what they could do.

After dinner, the three teams walked through the halls making small talk as they made their way to the dorms. As they walked outside and exposed themselves to the afternoon sun hanging low in the sky but still had a while before setting. That was when Yang pulled out her scroll and showed it to Denko.

"Here's our team photo! What'cha think?"

The older blonde studied the picture as they walked and noted the differences between the time it was taken until now… especially on their figures. With knowledge of the current issue of the school, their growth was apparent.

The leader of Team RWBY, Ruby Rose, had gained weight fairly evenly over her body- he had half the mind to tease the girl about the 'baby fat' coming back. Another glance at the picture and the angle she stood at, puberty had been setting in clearly and it wasn't particularly hard to notice that she was at least even in the chest as her white-haired teammate- though given her black clothes and corset… he wouldn't be surprised if she was actually bigger in that measurement back then. Now with their recent growth, the younger girl was easily the larger of the two.

Speaking of which, Weiss Schnee, her body stored it's adipose differently than her leader, predominantly focusing on her lower half. Her arms had grown a little thicker leading down to her waist where her uniform jacket held back a small potbelly. Her skirt was in dire need of resizing as her wider hips and bubble-butt prevented the plaid material from covering everything properly- every few steps would inevitably lead to a swish and/or jiggle that would flash her blue undergarments. Thus, leading the older team leader to focus his attention elsewhere to avoid being labeled a pervert. That didn't stop him from noticing the thicker legs that held her up.

The next of the team is Blake Belladonna, the quiet girl with a bow in her hair. Even with her uniform rather than her more exposing and formfitting Huntress attire, he noted that her growth was similar to Weiss', settling on her hips and waist. Even nearly the same skirt problem was occurring, though she bore a smaller caboose than her shorter teammate- taking in account for height differences. A glance at the picture again, Denko did some mental math and comparisons leading to the conclusion that of the four girls- Weiss had put on the most weight so far while Yang remained the heaviest.

As for the heaviest girl, she was already a fair bit more top heavy compared to the other girls before, but it was difficult to tell if her girls had grown that much to forcefully remove the button on her jacket or if it was the fault of her torso thickening. Arms were notably thicker as well as her legs, wider hips supporting a bulging stomach held back by her uniform. Apparently, the sisters received some good genetics with how puberty had endowed them before the current issue and the genes stayed strong in keeping the fat distribution fairly even.

"Um… You've really grown." He mutters weakly, hoping that she'd take it kindly.

Fortunately, she laughed. The sight of her chest shaking a she did, made him glad that she wasn't in her Huntress gear that he saw in her scroll. Still made him avert his eyes out of respect for their friendship and her being a woman. "Kinda hard to deny that!" She admits, even slapping her soft stomach for emphasis. Ahead of them, Weiss scoffs at the blondes while Ruby giggles a bit.

Nearby, Nora had seen what the brawler had done and whipped out her own scroll to show the closest of the new students, Talon. "What about you? You know about being chubby, tell us what you think!"

While the chubby teen wasn't used to such an… excitable… girl as Nora, Itazura did give her some practice with dealing with it. Even Denko had his moments, especially when he found a fight that challenged him- the repairs to Shade Academy when him and the Headmaster whenever they got antsy was testament to that. Still, she looked at the picture, after she pushed the arm holding it away to a more comfortable distance.

Jaune had filled out a bit from what she could see, though from seeing how lanky he was to start with she'd be willing to bet that some of the weight he'd gained was actually muscle. Any fat he accumulated apparently did little more than slightly soften some edges of his body- not that there was much skin exposed for her to see. Granted, from the briefing of the issue from Ozpin and Goodwitch she remembered that boys weren't hit as hard.

Nora- the short ginger, seemed to have gained weight like Weiss but less so behind her. Leaving the hammer wielder with thunder thighs, not that her legs weren't thick before the fat settled there. At least it was obvious that she had the muscle to keep the chunky limbs moving. Her arms weren't spared either, adipose depositing on her other limbs readily while her torso had thickened and forcing the sash around her waist to wrap around more leaving a significantly smaller bow on her back.

Pyrrha is easily the tallest girl of the group, head and shoulders above Ruby, Weiss, Nora, and Talon. Still the older girl could see that her height would easily make her the heaviest of their entire group when combined with the weight gain from the issue hitting all four academies. Much like the Xiao Long-Rose sisters, her gains were more evenly distributed over her form. But being to only woman with armor, the lack of stretchability created more pinch points. That lead to her arms flaring once they left her gloves, the band on her left arm squeezing the flesh tightly. The neck piece she is wearing sat tight to the skin, emphasizing the growing second chin and her softening shoulders. Her armored corset forced her chest to bulge upward while the exposed flesh below it created a spare tire that sat over the edge of her skirt, sash, and belt. Her plumper thighs filled her leg armor to remove any extra space there was when the picture was taken.

Much like Jaune, Ren filled out a bit but only to the point of softening his features slightly. His clothes were already a bit loose before but now they fit slightly tighter. Once again, Talon had to remind herself that the chemicals in the water seemed to favor women with their gifts.

"Looks like your team is doing pretty good. A little extra padding never hurt anyone." The blue clad girl laughs as she pinches a love handle on Pyrrha causing the much taller girl to squeak in surprise and Jaune to blush a bit. "More bounce for the ounce, right?"

Pyrrha and Jaune locked eyes briefly as they turned red at the insinuation, Nora's face went bright as she glanced at Ren, who despite showing no reaction in his expression still got some color on his cheeks.

"Uh… what?" Ruby asks, the girl too innocent to understand. Weiss did what she could to hide the color on her pale skin, by speeding up to a brisk walk to get away from them all. Ignoring the fact that moving in that way forced her skirt to expose her far more often, only getting lucky that the area was sparsely populated. Blake locked her eyes onto her book, remembering another of her books with similar lines and references. Yang and Denko saw the reactions of the others and laughed with Itazura while Anya trailed the group shaking her head at her sister.

A few moments later Yang dropped back to Anya. "Did anyone show you the showers yet?"

"Goodwitch gave us a brief tour." Was the simple answer.

"How about we all meet up there so we can chat while we clean up?" The blonde asks.

"I'm not one for 'chatting'"

"Don't worry, she'll be there." Talon calls back with their Faunus teammate nodding in support. Even Ruby and Nora giving their thumbs up for approval. The three boys glanced at each other and shrugged, might as well clean up with the rest of their teams.