AN: I have made a terrible error in judgment. I bet with someone that I'd have this finished by the next Saturday, almost a full week in advance.

It is now the next Saturday.

I never started, fuck my big mouth, dammit!

Anyways, yeah, if you see this on the 2nd of April, I just worked my mind and motivation to the max, so if you are feeling ever so kind, do leave a review.

Give me validation for this cursed existence and the pain I make myself go through.

Also, people in the discord have given me such naughty ideas. The Battle of Beacon will be a fun time all around!

Final aside, there is a review that I wasn't able to respond to. If you review, I reply via PMs, I personally don't like answering in ANs, bit too much word padding, imo. Not gonna reply here, just final notice if said person happens to read this.

Hope you enjoy, I'll see you at the end of the chapter.

-Lambda38

p.s.-Almost forgot that I'm doing this, but the story has a new piece of cover art, done by the ever magnificent Jerzu. I was quite pleased, and then FF had to go and cut off the top and bottom, so… Yeah. Still a nice cover art, and yeah, bye.

Chapter 10: Teachers Meeting

I stare across the desk at Glynda, who is giving me the coldest glare I've ever seen. I resist the urge to shift in my seat as I feel a bead of sweat trickle down my back, keeping my breathing steady as she continues to stare me down.

"Do you have nothing to say with how you conducted yourself with team NNPR?" Glynda asks, voice like steel.

"I was specifically asked by Ms. Nikos to help her with her technique, the rest of her team didn't ask anything of me, so I left them to learn from their peers and went to teach Ms. Nikos," I reply slowly, turning over the training session to figure out where I went wrong. "We trained and I returned to find that the rest of team NNPR had not performed quite as well against the two students I'd left them with."

Glynda takes her glasses off of her face and pinches her nose, giving a sharp sigh at my reply, making me blink slowly.

"Have you learned nothing over the last few months on how to train a team?" She demands sharply, pushing her glasses back onto her face. I freeze at the brisk nature of her query. "You are a Professor of Beacon Academy, you have a standard to live up to, and while you've managed to do so well enough in your classes, and with team RWBY, your performance with team NNPR is nothing short of a disgrace." I flinch at that, fighting the urge to curl in on myself. "Not only did you leave more than half of the team, not even enabling them to learn through watching you and Ms. Nikos practice, you left them with two fourth years, one of whom has the largest demerit list in the Academy! On top of this, you ordered them to fight without their weapons, and while out of your supervision, Ms. Nakashima almost lost her head due to Mr. Anderson losing control of his weapon!" My eyes widen at the news.

I'd noticed she'd lost her hair, but I didn't realize that it was quite that problematic, I think quietly, as Glynda narrows her eyes further at me.

"If that wasn't bad enough, you overworked Ms. Nikos to the point of exhaustion that she couldn't even attend her classes today!" Glynda snipes, looking more than a little aggravated. "I would say that it is a bit more than a little careless of you, and unbecoming of someone in your position." I blink for a few moments, flexing my fingers in my lap as I resist the urge to scan the room for exit points.

"I had faith that Mr. Anderson and Mr. Rubeus would be able to keep the rest of team NNPR safe-," I try to defend, before Glynda slams her hand down on her desk, making me flinch as I meet her frigid glare.

"You must do better than this, Professor Chrome," Professor Goodwitch states icily. "Do not take your students out into Grimm territory in order to practice these techniques. I've allowed it due to Ozpin's insistence that you know what you are doing, but you have demonstrated that your ability to judge risk is less than adequate. Furthermore, while I understand that Ms. Nikos asked for help when you met, the entirety of team NNPR requested your assistance after class, with the original request being filed by Ms. Nakashima."

"I find that somewhat unfair, Professor Goodwitch," I reply, doing my best to not twitch under her gaze. "I admit, utilizing the skills of students I haven't taught is something I should not have done, however, I taught Pyrrha as I know how to. I admit, perhaps it was a bit too much, but this is the first time I had taught her on an individual basis. I will do better, if they ask me for assistance again." Glynda stares at me, looking less frigid and more exasperated.

"You haven't addressed why you split the team apart in the first place," she reiterates, slowly interlacing her fingers. "On no prior occasion of teaching, whether it was team RWBY or one of the rare occasions you taught another team, have you split a team apart, even if you focused on a single member. What changed?"

I exhale heavily through my nose, thinking for a moment.

"Ms. Nakashima is less than pleased to learn from me," I begin slowly, my colleague steadily boring a hole into my retinas. "I'm not entirely sure where it stems from, but her dislike has a tendency to affect the students around her in the classes she attends, so I suppose that I might have allowed that to influence me."

"You realize how unprofessional that is," she states, suddenly looking far more tired.

"I did not apply for this position, nor do I understand why Ozpin wanted me for it," I reply candidly, prompting an almost undignified snort from Glynda. "I won't pretend that I was ready for it, nor that I am used to dealing with unpleasant people for extended periods of time."

"You cannot allow the opinion, statements, or actions of a student to influence your behavior, Professor Chrome," she states, any of the small softening she'd gone through erased in a moment. "If you are to teach team NNPR again, do not allow your personal feelings to interfere with your work. If you need advice on the matter, Professor Port has a plethora of experience."

"You don't?" I query curiously.

"Of course I do," she states with some finality. "However, in the early years of being a Professor, I turned to my coworkers to learn. You are performing well enough, but you aren't doing much in order to develop your abilities as a Professor."

I can dedicate myself to learning to be a better Professor or to better my abilities with Aura and my other skills, I think idly, not allowing my apathy to show on my face as I nod. I would much rather be better able to handle what is to come than waste my time.

"Having said that," Professor Goodwitch states as she stands, narrowing her eyes at me again. "Follow me. I feel the need to educate you on how not to teach your students to fight."

I stand up, following behind the Professor, feeling somewhat uncomfortable as I am led to the training arena that I host my more active classes in. I note that several students whisper to each other and move towards the stands as Glynda and I take to the stage.

I glance around, noting the wide array of large and medium sized unsecured barrels, weapons, benches, and other various items neatly ordered off to the side of the stage.

I get the feeling that this was preplanned, I think, starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable as Glynda takes the tablet from the teaching podium, her own Aura levels appearing a moment before my own, and once she is done, she turns to approach me, a crowd starting to form in the seats surrounding us.

"Take this," she states, a spear levitating away from the wall with a flick of her crop. I grab the weapon, looking at her in confusion, not stopping her as my sword pops out of its sheath and moves to the wall.

"Is there a particular reason I'm using a weapon I rarely have before?" I ask, moving through a few basic motions with the unfamiliar stick as Glynda halts roughly thirty feet from me.

"I'm going to impress upon you why you do not expect a person, even a skilled Huntress in training, to fight without their personal weapon, even to practice another," Glynda states, giving me a frown. "Fight with this spear. No Aura techniques, no attempting to use a sword." I stare at her in disbelief for a moment, before falling into a perhaps basic stance, my weapon point directed towards my fellow Professor. "This match will proceed until one of us reaches twenty percent of our maximum Aura level, or is sent out of the ring. Are you ready, Professor Chrome?"

Her voice echoes around the room, and I can see at least one student recording us in the stands. I give her a nod, and she pushes her glasses up her nose.

"Begin!" She calls, flicking her crop and causing a cascade of the items already set up for her use to fly into the air, a few directed towards me.

I dart forwards, trying to get close to her before her weapons can reach me, and I find doing so relatively trivial.

I thrust my weapon towards her, keeping my senses open to where I can detect her Aura washing through the air with her new weapons, and as Glynda sidesteps my sloppy thrust, prompting me to switch the stab to a sweep with my new weapon, only to be blindsided as something slams into my back.

I find myself flattened to the ground by whatever heavy object slammed between my shoulders, and grunt as I push myself off the ground, slipping out from the object as Glynda takes control of it to pin me down further, slipping past several barrels and leaping onto a table as it flies past, looking back to see a weapon rack where I had been.

How did she manage to slip past my senses? I wonder as my eyes return to my opponent, who is gesturing like she's conducting a band, smirking slightly as I turn and bat a sword away with my spear, glancing around to see the air filled with far more things for me to dodge than I perhaps should like. I know she isn't able to hide her Aura, so how did she-?! I hear air parting around something behind me and dive into a roll to my left.

I did not anticipate that my spear would get stuck, however and what would normally have been a perfectly acceptable tumble turns into me cursing as I sprawl onto my back without any fanfare. I immediately adjust my grip on the spear and roll onto my feet, barely missing getting crushed by a barrel.

I grip my spear like a baseball bat and infuse it with some Aura, slamming into a table that was going to hit me and shattering it into pieces.

Moments later, I curse as Glynda controls the pieces of the table and tries to jab me with them, all the while maneuvering the dust produced from the splintering into my eyes.

I curse and shut my eyes, feeling beyond irritated at how the splinters feel against my eyelids.

I squint towards Glynda, before noticing a sword lancing towards me from the side, completely unaffected by Glynda's Aura.

Ah! I think as I duck under it and sidestep another barrel, shifting between Glynda's carefully weaved net of attacks as I extend my Aura senses. She isn't fooling my senses at all, she's just-! I feel an upsurge in her Aura behind me, and take half a step to me left, grinning hard enough to hurt as a mace passes harmlessly by. She's launching them at me because she knows I can tell where her attacks are coming from, but at a distance, I might miss it! Clever. I dart forward to avoid another table and jump to avoid the bench that would've swept me otherwise.

A massive hit to the side of my head informs me that perhaps I made a mistake in taking to the air as my neck cranes to follow the hit, my body following into a full tumble, my spear leaving my grip as something hits my hand.

Fucking hell, this is fun! I think as I slowly stand up, blinking rapidly to try and dislodge the dust Glynda sent at me. I look over to see her breathing slightly more heavily than I'd expect, and look at the gauge on the wall, noting that her Aura is down to almost seventy percent, while my own rests at ninety.

"Feel like giving in yet?" I ask, wondering why she stopped attacking, and note that the majority of the items she'd been using have been placed down. Now, she only has a few swords, my spear, and a mace in the air. "I can guarantee I can keep up-!" I finish with an ungraceful yelp as her Aura clings to my left ankle, dragging me into the air. "I call bullsh-!" The mace which had been launched at me before meets my swinging head with perfect accuracy, making my vision go black for a second.

When I come back, I find myself being used to drill a hole in the ground with my back, a sword spinning in my gut.

I cry out as I prepare to extricate myself, but the moment I infuse my arms and legs with Aura in order to bat away the sword and stand, I am dragged skyward again by my foot, and after a moment, left hanging upside down as her Aura retreats. I hang in midair, gravity trying to take hold again as I sense her Aura moving towards me from several directions.

I lash out with my leg, doing my best to kick my sword away from me, and miss as another blade slams into my side, launching me higher and knocking the wind from me, straight into the point of a falling spear which falls in between my shoulderblades like the hammer of Thor, sending me face first into the ground.

I force Aura through my body, pushing off the ground and twisting to grab the spear before Glynda can pull it back. I yank it from her Aura, launching forward with a pulse of Aura, the weapons which had been closing on me sent flying.

I zero on her location, my eyes wide open as I close the gap in less than a second, the woman narrowing her eyes as she prepares for me. My first thrust misses, while she prepares to slam me with a burst of her Semblance, my second thrust grazes her cheek, her wave of pseudo telekinesis launching towards me, and my third thrust strikes her dead in the center of her chest as her wave hits me.

She is sent back with a grunt as I am blown off my feet, flying head over heels in a dizzying display, trying to make sense of things, and manage to orient myself in time to stumble a landing on my feet.

I shake my head to clear out the dizziness, panting, before looking towards Glynda, who is breathing heavily still, with her hair slightly more disheveled than normal and a hand on her hip.

I glance around for my spear, which had been lost to me, before I realize something.

"I'm outside the ring," I state monotonously, taking a steadying breath.

"Indeed, Professor Chrome," Professor Goodwitch states, making my eye twitch.

That was the most fun I have had in months and it ends with a damn ring out? I think, not sure whether I should be disappointed or relieved. A quick survey of my Aura brings the fact that she managed to whittle me down to almost half. I glance towards the display, noting that she's barely fallen by a few percent since last I checked.

"That is, the end of it, I suppose," I state, glancing around to see that the seats have almost completely filled up, many looking awed, a few looking unimpressed, and quite a few looking as disappointed as I feel. "You won, Professor Goodwitch." I walk over to the woman, groaning as I twist and my spine pops. "Not that I am unused to harsh training, but what was the point of giving me a spear if I've never properly trained with it?"

"Because you told team NNPR to only fight with their Aura," she replies, taking a few moments to get her breath back, being quite so kind as to levitate my sword over to me. "Much the same, I merely sought to teach you how it is unreasonable to ask them to utilize Aura technique to fight when all of them only can perform a single technique, and a defensive one at that."

I turn her words over in my mind for a moment, before looking away, as I sheath my sword.

"I can understand that," I mutter, feeling my face flush slightly.

"Well then," she turns to the crowd in their seats. "This is the end of the spar between myself and Professor Chrome. I'm sure there is already a recording being disseminated amongst the student body, be sure to study it in order to learn what could've been done better, and strive to better yourselves. Good day."

I follow after Glynda as she walks out of the room, not speaking until we've left the now chattering students behind.

"You could probably get a copy of the recording and go over it in detail with your classes. It may be more effective than simply trusting them to do it themselves," I comment slowly, focusing on using my Aura to soothe my aches and pains.

"I could do that, but it would interfere with my current lessons. I've learned that going too far off course is hardly preferable when my students might find themselves on missions within a month," she replies, before we fall into a mostly companionable silence. We walk until we reach her office, before she turns to me. "I realize I was unable to impress this upon you in the way I would've preferred, Alicia, but don't exhaust your students as you did with Ms. Nikos. It does more harm than the practice they perform benefits them." I give her a nod.

"I understand," I reply. "I will do better, although I don't know how much I'll succeed."

"Put in the effort to improve, and you will," Glynda states, before turning to her office door. "I will see you later."

"Indeed, Glynda," I reply as I step off.

I walk for a short while, heading for my office, and upon reaching it, I realize that someone is waiting for me.

I turn the corner with a small huff of annoyance, looking over to see Silvia already giving me a shit eating grin, dressed in a Beacon uniform.

"You really got taken for a ride, didn't you?" She comments, holding up a scroll, showing my fight with Glynda.

"You never arrive on time, it seems," I reply with a sigh. "Come inside, before someone sees you." Silvia laughs as she opens my locked office, prompting my eye to twitch as I follow her inside, closing the door behind me before doing a sweep of the office for anyone trying to hide, as Silvia pulls out a device and scans for bugs.

Don't act like you haven't already been all over this office, I think with annoyance as I confirm that we are alone.

"Why are you here, Silvia?" I ask as I take my seat, gesturing to one of the plush leather chairs across from my desk. "What is so important that you had to come to me?"

"What makes you think that I need a reason to come and see my adorable little Hunter," she waffles, winking at me. I stare at her until she sighs dramatically, waving her hand dismissively as she leans back and crosses her legs. "Fine, fine, I'm here because I've come across some interesting information."

"Is it pertinent to any of the investigations that I am doing?" I ask, wondering if she knows about them even if I haven't told her. Would not be the first time.

"Can't say that they are, but if they are, then all the better, I'd say," she states, taking a thick scroll out from her coat pocket and tossing it at me.

I catch and open it with no fanfare, immediately having a camera flash at me, scanning over my eyes. After a moment, the screen reveals a document, which begins scrolling as I read.

I narrow my eyes as I continue reading, sighing as I realize that things are going to only get worse from here.

Adam is getting far more support than I expected. The Silver Hand has been practically cut to shreds, I finish reading as a sour taste fills my mouth, meeting Silvia's eyes as she hums a merry tune. I suppose that this is to be expected, given what has happened. I suppose that Salem would adapt her plans to include such extremely beneficial events.

"Has this been noticed by anyone else?" I ask, receiving a negative response, before standing. "I'm going to have to speak with Ozpin about this. As much as I'd prefer to avoid the man, he cannot very well ignore this."

"Have fun, Alicia," Silvia calls. "Oh, and I have a reservation for us at Brimstone tomorrow night, we need to have a long chat, all right?"

"Understood," I reply as I exit my office, striding towards Ozpin's building.

AN: Mother fucker…. So anyways, that was a single day's worth of work and effort put to the grindstone.

I am not used to this.

Having said that, it was interesting to put ideas I had been floating and planning to paper in a short amount of time, but I definitely don't want to do it again.

Anyways, my little wager also includes me updating yet again next Saturday, so you have that to look forward to as well.

Goodbye, I am going to sleep for an hour and then play some damn D&D.

-Lambda38

p.s.-So, it occurs to me that I should leave a link to the artist of that pic and, y'know, let ya'll see their other work if you wish. So, uh, that'll be on my main page, because fanfiction is weird.