Just so everyone knows - because it's becoming something of note and I've had a few submitted - but I won't use AI-Generated images for any of my covers. I see fanart as something that is wonderful to receive, and it always brightens my day and, as you can see, I always credit those artists when they send me something and I use it. I've had one or two ai-generated pieces that are probably better than the cover arts of some of my existing other works (and some sent for Remnant Invicta) but I refuse to use them. No offence to those sending them, but it just doesn't take any effort compared to learning a skill and putting hours into a piece of artwork.

I guess I'm lucky that ai-generated novels are still very clumsy and poorly structured and won't reach real writer levels for a long time (if ever - a lot mare variables in writing than art; consistency and plot holes for instance), but I hate the idea that artists online could be losing work to people slamming words in an ai generator. I won't be a part of supporting that.

Cover Art: Mysterywhiteflame

Chapter 8

"The beds are more important than the bonus prize," said Flynt. "There's no guarantee we'll be strong enough to win the bonus anyway, so I say we go for it."

"No. No. No." Neon shook her head. "The very fact she wants our prize tickets is because she knows we have a good chance of winning them. Don't you see? If the odds were against us, she'd have asked for something else."

Both made good points. Jaune agreed with Flynt that they ought to prioritise the dorms; they'd be using those for two months, whereas the bonus prize would be a single day of fun. Risking everything for that wasn't worth it.

On the other hand, Neon raised an interesting point about their chances. It would have been safer for his senior to ask for an immediate reward like money or a favour, but she'd chosen to bet on them winning. There was no way she'd have done that on the first, with each team against two older teams, and it was clear Winter and Ironwood were going to change the challenge up from that. Whatever this new one was, it was something more achievable.

"What do you think, Penny?" asked Jaune.

"I think that the first assessment was to punish us for being complacent and teach us to train harder. If the second test was as impossible as the first then it would not reward our effort. Therefore, the assessment should be simpler." She paused, and then added, "In theory."

He hadn't meant the psychological aspect, but he could see where she was going with it. It was like teaching a dog – that old adage about having to reward them for good behaviour, and how you shouldn't keep the stick away forever as it'd start to think it wasn't allowed it. If the first assessment had been to take their luxury dorms away and make them hanker for a chance to win them back, then the second should be that chance.

"Do we really want to take that risk?" asked Flynt. "Sure, it might be easy to give us a chance, but it also might not be. We're training to be huntsmen. What's to say they don't make it even harder to teach us how to deal with failure or some such? Penny's angle works more with young people. We're expected to be old enough to suck it up if we fail."

"This is easily solved, isn't it?" asked Neon, dangling her legs out her pod. She flicked a bit of glitter she was toying with toward Flynt. It stuck to his knee. He swiped it away, annoyed. "The senior wants four tickets and you're eager to give yours away for the answers. You can sacrifice yours and we'll keep ours."

Flynt crossed his arms. "How is that fair?"

"I'll sacrifice mine," said Jaune. Ciel had already raised the fact it should be the leaders to lead by example, and he agreed. "We're looking to involve four teams total in this, so ideally that'll mean only one lost ticket from each time."

"And if it doesn't go ideally?"

"Then we'll have to ask for more people to give up theirs – but if that does happen then doesn't that make it clear we'd have been screwed without the Intel?" He'd caught Neon out, and she bit her lip. "If only one team out of four can win even when we know what this is, then that means we'd have had no chance without. If that's the case then the seniors will deserve all four of ours for having helped us pass the minimum target."

"I guess…"

"We don't have all week on this," pointed out Flynt. "If she makes the deal to another team and they accept, she won't need us. Then we'll be back to square one again. I say we put it to a vote. I'm in."

"I'm in," said Jaune.

"I as well," said Penny.

Neon was the odd one out, and quite obviously more upset about it all than everyone else. The faunus scrunched her face up and gripped her brightly streaked hair in both hands. "Ugh. You're all so defeatist."

"Do you want to keep these rooms or not?"

"Of course I want to keep them."

"Two words," said Flynt, smirking. "Communal. Showers."

"Gah!" Neon rocked back as if she'd taken a bullet to the forehead. "Okay, okay, I'm in! Uck. There is no way I'm going from having an en-suite to communal showers. No way."

It was such a small and simple thing, but they'd had their fair share of horror stories from the others. Not that the showers were bad or mixed or anything like that, but they were the kinds without cubicles, and where people were showering elbow to elbow. Compared to what everyone used to have, and what JCKP still did, it was a huge downgrade. Their dorm had a large shower with a frosted frame, sliding glass and multiple shower settings – including misting and Jaune's favourite: extreme power. It felt like he was being blasted by a hot tidal wave. The other dorms had a toilet and a sink, and that was it.

"Cool. I'll tell Ciel in the morning and we'll see what we can get."

"I have a suggestion!" crowed Neon.

"Oh…?"

/-/

Ciel met him outside in her tracksuit bottoms and a tight-fitting black top. Her blue eyes glinted in the low light of early morning, when most others still slept, and it was cold out. She was shivering in her top with her arms bare, but then both of them had tried bringing jackets before and suffered for it. As cold as it was now, they'd be unbearably warm once they got running. At that point they'd be thankful for the cold air.

"I got approval from my team on the information trade," said Ciel when she saw him. "You?"

"They approved reluctantly, but Neon had an idea." He waited, and Ciel nodded to show she was listening. "She says we should make the trade with just our two teams first and find out how hard the assessment is. Then we decide if we need more."

"Why? Adding more teams reduces the loss of prizes on both of ours – especially if the assessment is simple enough to be completed."

"Because Neon thinks we should make the same deal we're making here to other teams in our year."

The idea was simple, devious, and a little bit cruel. Only a little. If they sold on the information for prize tickets of their own then they'd be helping other people reclaim the luxury rooms, and again for the low, low prize of a single ticket here and a single ticket there. They didn't even need to demand all of them. Just one ticket from four different teams – assuming they earned them – would pay back the investments of his and Ciel's teams entirely and let all of them go on the luxury trip after. It was a very Neon plan, which was to say it was self-serving in its entirety and benefited their team over everyone else. Naturally, Flynt loved it. Just as naturally, Penny had been awash with guilt at the idea, to the point that the other two joined forces to convince her it wasn't extortionate at all and could actually be said to be helping weaker teams win their dorms back. He wasn't sure if she was fully convinced or if she'd just reluctantly agreed so as not to be left out.

Ciel, however, had no such qualms. "It's a good plan. We can offset our costs. It's almost sub-contracting. We'll have to make sure the teams we approach can be trusted to stick to it. We should prioritise the weaker teams who are more desperate."

"You're surprisingly into this."

"I said a leader should sacrifice their comfort for the sake of the team," she said, shrugging. "I did not say they should be happy about it."

"Fair enough. Shall we go?"

The morning's jog was as painful as it ever was. People continued to come and go, joining and dropping off, and more than half left partway through to get a shower and prepare for the morning. Ciel and Jaune were among the last thirty or so who saw it through to the end, their chests heaving and their voices sore from singing. As painful as his legs felt, he was glad he'd stuck with it, and proud of having made it through to the end, even if that was on hands and knees, shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"Not bad. Not bad." Their benefactor approached with a wry smile and flushed cheeks herself. "You both made it through to the end this time. Give it a few more weeks and you might even be upright for it. So…" She crossed her arms. "Did you give my offer any thought?"

"Yes," said Ciel. "And we're prepared to agree with the terms of four tickets. Assuming, of course, your information is good."

"Oh, it's good. As am I. Here." She produced a piece of paper, upon which had been written out an incredibly simple set of terms. They just stated that their teams had to give up four tickets for whatever the prize was to her team, and that it had to be done by a certain date.

"You want us to sign a contract? How are you even going to enforce this?"

"Winter Schnee is many things – chief upon them is a stickler for agreements. Sure, I'll get a stern talking to for taking bribes from first years, but I guarantee you'll get worse for backing out on me. Besides, you're planning to stick to this honestly, right?"

"We are," said Jaune. "Alright. Fine."

Prepared for it, the senior produced a pen she must have been carrying for this purpose, and Ciel and Jaune signed their names and teams down. The older student then took a photo of it on her scroll for safety and folded the contract away back into her pocket. "It's just a precaution. I doubt you'd welch on me when you come jogging every morning. That'd make things awkward for the lot of us."

"Are you going to tell us what the assessment is or not?" asked Ciel.

"Alright. Alright. Feisty little ones, aren't you?" The senior planted one hand on her hip. "It's a survival test. It'll be December when they take place and that's not an accident. The weather is at its worst, and Atlesian storms can be deadly. It's when the most problems happen with the Grimm not because they're any more active, but because it's harder to see them coming in a storm and it takes longer for Atlas to mount a response. This is meant to simulate that. You'll be expected to travel from a certain point to another, over the course of a number of days."

"Where?" asked Ciel. "How many?"

"Specifics get changed every year. It's usually about three days with two nights. You get to make requisitions for equipment and supplies."

Jaune gasped. "That's why we've had lectures on administration lately! It's prep for this."

The senior laughed. "Surprise. Surprise. Your lessons are actually useful. Yeah, you can usually catch a few hints on what's coming from what you're taught. Pro tip: you can requisition food and limited supplies, but the real winners are those who spend a little of their own money on the side."

"Insulated tents," said Ciel. "Heated meal rations." Her eyes narrowed. "No wonder you were prepared to wager on us winning. With advance information, it's almost a given. The only way people fail is by being unprepared."

"Or by getting his with a freak storm. Nothing is guaranteed. Every team is monitored and you'll be pulled out if anyone gets sick. You can also opt-out and will be evacuated back to base. That's a loss, of course."

"What's the bonus condition, then?" asked Jaune. "This sounds like an all win or all lose kind of test. How do we go the extra mile and get the prize?"

"Loss is not making it. Win is making it the full number of days." The senior smirked. "The bonus is a little more demanding, as usual. It's also where cheating like you are now trivialises things. You're told you need to get to a location and clear out some Grimm. Fake Grimm. Cardboard. Just knock them down. What you're not told is that you'll come across a survivor of the attack, who will request you exfiltrate them to your starting point. You have the option of accepting or refusing. Obviously, it's a plains clothes soldier."

"But we're not warned about it," said Ciel, clicking her tongue. "And, of course, we wouldn't have requisitioned extra food and supplies to cater for them, which means those seeking the bonus reward have to make their already tight resources stretch even further. And I assume them or us getting sick or falling behind will result in immediate failure."

It was clever, devious even. By not informing them of the extra person they'd have to account for, they'd be faced with the very real scenario of coming across a Grimm attack and not knowing if you were going to find survivors or not. The lesson was obviously to be extra prepared and plan for all eventualities, but he really didn't think anyone would have gotten it on their own. The winners would likely be those who just took a risk and managed to tough the return journey with limited rations.

Now, however, it really would be trivial – assuming no upsets or mistakes. They could requisition extra food, but some more, prepare an extra sleeping bag and thermals, and take the added "survivor" with no difficulty at all. We might want to prep for two just in case Miss Schnee plays a nasty prank on us, but all things told this is looking like a clear win. Better yet, it was something they could handle on their own and therefore sell the Intel on to other teams for their prizes.

"It's an interesting challenge," said Ciel. "With another nasty trick. As expected of our teachers. Is there anything else you feel we should know?"

"They'll pick a really shitty area for it. Wherever the snow is heaviest and the weather the worst. You might actually be able to predict the area if you pay attention to the forecasts. Make sure you bring as much insulation as you can, but not so much it weighs you down. High-carb foods as well. You'll struggle to light a fire out there, and a stove is too heavy, so you want rations with flameless heaters. I'd keep an eye out for some seriously heavy duty sleeping bags as well. You will need to pitch camp at least twice through this. Other than that, bring everything you would on a real mission. The instructors like to throw curveballs. Those will break your ankles if you're not careful."

"We'll keep our wits about us," said Ciel. "Thank you for the information."

"Sure. Sure. Have fun plotting, you two." The senior left with a wave back at them. The moment she was gone, the two were plotting.

"We can totally sell this information on," said Jaune. "But we should do a contract."

"I will write one up," said Ciel. "We should each try and find two teams to cover our losses. You can have Rain's. I believe I know some that can be trusted and who are eager to reclaim their rooms. Put feelers out but don't reveal anything until I have the contract."

"We're telling our teams, right?"

"Yes. Of course. We should be subtle gathering the resources we need, however. No reason to tip anyone off."

"I'm more worried about Miss Schnee finding out and deciding to change the test to catch us."

"All the more reason for us to keep this quiet, and to have as few teams involved as possible. We should arrange a team outing down to Mantle to look for supplies. This is Atlas and it's the start of winter. Camping and survival stores will have plenty on offer. It'll draw attention if we suddenly start requesting all this from military storage but what we buy in our own time with our own money is our business."

"This weekend, then?"

"I'll ask my team and let you know after lunch."

/-/

Saturday morning came with free time for everyone, and theirs wasn't the only Bullhead shuttling students down to Mantle, nor even the first. The floating island of Atlas technically had everything you needed, but that was technically. If you wanted certain brands of goods, clothing, or just hobby stuff that wasn't essential to military life then you needed to go down into the city. Thankfully, that wasn't difficult or expensive.

It was cold, however. Bitingly cold. Atlesian winters were no joke.

Jaune stood on an icy patch of pavement with his hands shoved in his pockets and his fluffy collar bunched up under his ears. He was grateful for the heavy blue coat his mom had bought him a year or two ago, even if it wasn't quite enough to keep the cold out. Flynt, Penny and Neon had much more rugged overcoats lined with fake fur and insulated in all the right places. Neon's was, sadly, painted in all the wrong places, looking like she'd fallen into a paint factory that had soon after exploded.

"It's striking," said Neon, pouting.

"I definitely feel like it's punching me in the face," quipped Flynt. "So yeah, sure. Striking."

"Shut it, you boring jazz man. Penny thinks I look awesome. Right, Penny?"

"Um. Yes, Neon. You look sensational."

"Aww. Thanks babe."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Is your tail tucked up in there?"

"Yep." Neon wriggled her butt. "It has a lined inner coat so it's nice and warm. It's really hard to find clothes that cater to faunus appendages that aren't ears."

"Do you sometimes with you had ears instead of a tail?" asked Flynt.

"The tail does more than just look good, you know. It helps with balance. I'm a lot more acrobatic with it than I would be without. Plus, it's cute."

Jaune smirked. "Did anyone actually say that?"

Ciel and her team arrived before Neon could carry out whatever evil punishment she had in mind for him. The team behind Ciel nodded briefly to them but didn't look interested in talking. They'd mostly kept to themselves thus far, with only the briefest introductions and the odd comment here or there. It didn't look like that was about to change.

"You're here early," said Ciel. "Good. Let's try and get this done quickly."

As the Atlas local, Ciel knew more about where to find a good shop than he did, so Jaune followed her and her team down several busy streets, away from the landing zones and past at least one mall. They were brought instead to a store inside a walled-off shopping site; one of those places where six stores were sharing one large car park and renting space in two long buildings. Next to a clothes store showing off the latest sneakers, which they had to drag Neon away from, was a rugged-looking store with the windows showing mannequins in climbing and snow gear, with tents, pickets, stoves and other things like walking, climbing and hiking equipment. It even had ski and snowboarding gear, which he hadn't realised would be such a big deal in Atlas, but which seemed so obvious now.

The inside wasn't overtly busy. The store was split into several sections denoted by signs above: camping, sportswear, sporting equipment, survival, shoes. There was a second floor as well, which looked to have more of the skiing and snowboarding gear.

"We can requisition tents from the quartermasters, can't we?" asked Flynt. "What do we need from here that we can't get there? Extra rations, obviously, but what else?"

"An extra sleeping bag at the very least," said one of Ciel's teammates.

"Extra thermal wear," said Ciel herself. "We don't know for certain how well insulated this survivor will be and I, for one, don't want to lose because they come in uniform. I'd suggest extra sleeping bag lining for everyone as well. I'm sure they will give us some basic supplies, but how useful those will be…?"

"It's a harder test if we have crappy gear," finished Jaune. "Yeah, that sounds about right. And I bet they want to test our administrative requests by following it to the letter. We ask for a basic tent and we'll be given a thin one for camping in temperate climates. They're going to bust us on every box we fail to tick and every spelling mistake."

"Honestly," said Neon, pulling her hood down. "Let's just double up on everything. It won't be expensive if we split costs between four people."

It was that they went with in the end, moving around the various sections in a group of eight picking out two of everything they could think to need. The store clerks looked interested, but no one bothered to come up and ask if they needed help, perhaps recognising the emblems on their shoulders or just able to tell that they knew what they were doing. Aside from thermal and insulated sleeping bags, plus an extra for the survivor, they picked up a whole bunch of underlining for their clothing, including waterproof socks and a baggy set of pants that felt like a binbag, but which could be worn under your normal ones to keep water out.

The tents were a harder deal. The store had a wide variety, most of which were insulated since it was winter and all. The temperate ones would come out in the spring. Still, there was a lot of options, from single-man tents to huge, almost luxurious ones which came with flat-packed chrome stoves that could be set up with a little chimney going out a sealed hole in the top of the tent. One of those had been erected on a display, and Jaune poked his head in to whistle at how airy it looked inside. Warm, too.

Also expensive, and big and likely annoying to set up. They settled instead for something larger than a normal four-man tent, but not too big. It was rugged and heavy, with far more ropes and spikes than normal to keep it down, and a thick bottom to ward off any chill from the snow. The lining had several layers, including tear-resistant ones in case they got it caught on anything. More importantly, it packed down into a manageable size that could fit on someone's back.

"Do we want a portable heater?" asked Flynt, looking over several dust-powered ones. They looked heavy, even when they were designed to be portable. There was only so much you could do to lower weight.

"Can't that cause poisoning?"

"Nah, man." Flynt laughed. "You get little ways to vent it in tents nowadays."

"Won't the quartermasters have some?" asked Neon.

"You want to risk being given one that's a piece of junk?"

"Better safe than sorry," said Jaune. "We can see what they give us and decide which we want to take when the test comes around. Let's grab it for now. Neon, can you go and check the ration sections? Make sure they have flameless heaters. We're not cooking anything."

"Sure thing." Neon skipped off.

"And Penny-" He paused, realising that Penny was nowhere to be seen. Or rather, he could only just make out her hair as she talked to Ciel a short distance away. They were in front of a clothing stand, with Ciel looking exasperated. Jaune walked over and caught the tail end of their Ciel's voice.

"-be suspicious if you did not. Just because you don't need something is no reason not to have it when a normal person does need it."

"I know but-" Penny caught him in her peripheral vision and jumped. "Jaune!" she cried, then slapped Ciel's hands away even though the other girl had stopped talking. "Um. What's wrong? Ciel and I were just… um… she was telling me about-"

"It's fine." Jaune waved it off. It must have been about her prosthetic. Penny was still going for regular medical check-ups that happened most nights, and she was still being evasive – and a terrible liar – about the need for them. The team had pretty much gotten used to it, though he knew Neon and Flynt were both curious and a little worried about her. Penny obviously wanted it kept a secret however, so he hadn't said anything about her arm. "Ciel is right, though. You don't want to be the odd one out or that'll look strange."

"Y-Yes. Thank you." Penny looked to Ciel and shook her head desperately.

"Well, Jaune is right," said Ciel. "Thank you for your support. And for looking after Penny. If she had her way, she would freeze to death." Sighing dramatically, she turned to him. "Have you managed to procure some tents?"

"Yes. Flynt grabbed a dust heater as well." He saw her brows draw down and said, "We know we can get some from storage, but we're not sure how good those will be. There's a chance they won't be as good."

"I suppose it's better to spend now than suffer later. Their equipment must at least be standard quality, however; I highly doubt we'll be given defective equipment. Are the tents big enough for five people?"

"Big enough for six."

"You think they will go that far to catch us out?"

"Maybe." He shrugged. "But mostly it's because the tents come in sizes for four, six, eight or more. It's always even numbers."

"Fair enough. My team and I plotted through last night on all the things we thought they could try and spring on us." Ciel brought out her scroll, upon which she'd typed a list. "I thought you might want to hear them. Penny, you should offer your own thoughts as well if you have any."

"Y-Yes. Of course!"

"We brainstormed the following scenarios: extra survivors, missing survivors, injured survivors, live Grimm, hostile enemy forces, booby traps, a changed extraction point, and completely changed mission objectives."

That… was a lot. Jaune was wincing by the end. "You definitely thought of everything there. I mean, the last one could be anything at all."

"I know." Ciel put her scroll away. "And I'm not happy about it. Hopefully, they won't change, but as huntsmen and huntresses we need to be prepared for variable objectives and sudden changes, and I can't help but fear this would be a prime opportunity to learn about that."

"It might be too much. Initiation was on paying attention to orders and cooperating, the first assessment was on training hard and dealing with superior enemies. This one is already about survival in hostile environments, preparation and filing correct administrative requests for equipment – and about dealing with unknown variables like the extra survivor. Do you really think they're going to spring more on top of all that? It seems a little too soon for me. This'll be our third month here."

"I agree. However, I think it best be aware of what could go wrong."

He couldn't argue with that. "Ideas, then?"

"Extra food, extra equipment, bring all accessories like med kits-"

"General Ironwood did mandate every team have one medic," interrupted Penny, poking at her chin with one finger. "That is good practice in general but could also have been to prepare for this."

"Exactly. That might just be to keep us safe if we get injured out there, but it could also be a test for if the survivor is faking an injury." Ciel paused. "Or is really injured. This is going to be unclaimed territory. Grimm and other wild animals won't be hard to come across."

"We get the idea," said Jaune, sighing. "So, instead of bringing enough rations for five people for three days, we'll bring enough for six people for four days. Play it extra safe. I guess the ration packs don't cost that much all things considered."

"They keep for a long time either way. I'm sure we'll have ample opportunity to make use of them if this is what constitutes our second assessment test. There will be six throughout the year, and four years of this." Ciel sounded annoyed, but she was also smiling faintly. "It's exciting in a way. I came to Atlas expecting good teachers and pertinent lessons, but this is far more than that."

He had to agree there. This kind of real-life experience in custom-made buildings, and even a fake cityscape, was the kind of stuff he'd thought only cops and special forces got to use. It was crazy to think they were going to be only a quarter of the way through the year and already sent out on their own in the wilderness with the Grimm. Scary crazy, but also exciting crazy. Jaune wasn't too worried with a full team around him, but while everyone else was preparing by gathering supplies, he was going to have to hit the simulator rooms for some extra training outside school hours.

I'm not going to let them down this time, thought Jaune. This time, we're not just getting through this by the skin of our teeth. We're going to blow this wide open and claim the big prize.

Mmmm. Very much enjoyed watching all those youtube videos on extreme camping, stealth camping, and other things over the last few days as a bit of research for this. Some of the tents you see in those are so cool.

Some of the food the people cook, though. Urp. I watched one with hot dog sausages (fine) cut up into small bits (fine) and mixed in a pan with just a whole lot of butter and cheese. I was like, "Okay, so, what is going in with that?"

Nothing, apparently.

Like, I get that it's high in carbs, etc, but oh god that looked like the unhealthiest and unhappiest meal I've ever seen. And the guy is like "Mmm, now this is delicious."

"It's just an ocean of melted cheese with sausage bits floating in it!"

Next Chapter: 19th November

Like my work? Please consider supporting me, even if it's only a little a month or even for a whole year, so I can keep writing so many stories as often as I do. Even a little means a lot and helps me dedicate more time and resources to my work.

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur