AN: Hey everyone, ARC Alpha 12 here. I just wanted to put in a little statement regarding the rest of the year and my plans.

First off, this chapter will be the last chapter of 2022. There will not be a release in December to give me time to finish the chapter I'm currently writing and also to continue working on my video game, making reaction videos on YouTube, various nerd talks on TikTok, and focus on my job, which is ramping up into the busy season with the holidays around the corner.

I didn't want to skip a month, but for my own mental health, I need it. I'm going to be so busy until the end of January that I don't know what's coming. I do plan on releasing the next chapter as of the first weekend of January. I just need a little time to develop my story both here and for my video game.

You can find me on YouTube and TikTok under the same name, ARC Alpha 12, if you want to support me in other ways outside the fan fiction here. I'd post a link but this website won't allow it. You can also find my Linktree that way too-just add /arcalpha12 after the url.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and continued interest in RWBY Build Fighters, and I'll see you in the new year!

An intense tingling sensation had washed over Weiss as she held her eyes shut. It was weird, though not entirely unpleasant, but she did find it distracting.

She opened her eyes, still frustrated. "Grandfather, I don't know if-"

But her grandfather was gone. In fact, she was no longer on the floor of his hotel room. She found herself kneeling atop a long, polished black table, with several pairs of eyes locked onto her in shock.

One of those pairs belonged to her principle. "Mister Ozpin?!"

"Guards!" The young man sitting at the far end of the table called. "What is going on here?! This room is supposed to be secured from Arista transmissions!"

"Kurt, calm yourself," Ozpin called out, before turning back to the girl. "This is one of my students. Weiss, how are you here?"

Weiss looked at him, baffled. "Here? Where is 'here'? What's going on?! Where is my grandfather?!"

Panic overtook her, and she frantically looked around. There was a young boy, around Ruby's age, a red haired young man, and an older woman, possibly in her fifties, all looking at her while the other man at the end of the table, Kurt, scrambled to get up.

"Ozpin, who is this girl?" The woman demanded.

Ozpin inhaled slowly. "Councilwoman Ambers, Oscar, Kurt, Your Highness, this is Weiss….Schnee."

He said the name slowly, and most of the room, save for Oscar, seemed to register the name immediately. "Schnee," Ambers muttered. "That was the name of the missing Arian founder."

Kurt stared at Weiss. "Which means she managed to get in here with a raw Arista crystal."

Weiss slid off the table, leaving her Gunpla in the bins, and backed away. "Will someone tell me what's happening here?!"

"Of course." Ozpin stood up and approached her. "Miss Schnee, you're no longer on Earth."

He pointed out the window, towards the starry sky outside. It looked like any normal night, except for the gargantuan strip of land that divided the scene.

Weiss gasped. "What the…"

"You made it to Mars," the red haired man said with a cheesy grin. "Teleported all the way to Earth. Welcome to Arian."

Weiss looked back at Ozpin. "Arian? As in, the failed Mars mission? How did I end up here? What's happening?!"

Ozpin put his hand on her shoulder. "Allow me to explain."

He ushered her over to a chair and she sat down, her pale skin even paler from panic. Ozpin gave her a brief explanation and introduced the councilwoman and the crown prince of the colony, Reiji Asuna, to which Weiss nearly fainted. The Reiji? Here?

"I'm curious," Ambers asked once the history lesson was over. "How did you find us?"

Weiss was still shaky, but calmer now. This was really happening. Her eyes looked at the petite woman, who was dressed in a rather expensive-looking suit and was fiddling around with a strand of her salt-and-pepper hair. "I don't really know."

She looked down at her locker, noticing that the crystal there was smaller. "My grandfather told me to make a wish on my locket, to find the skill I would need to complete the modifications to my Gunpla in time for tomorrow's tournament battle."

Reiji's eyes lit up. "Oh, really? Wow! Then you came to the right place!"

Kurt shot him an annoyed look. "Your Highness, please! This is a rather dangerous security breach!"

"One that only could have happened because of Johannes Schnee," Ozpin added. "Nikolas Schnee's father, and one of the largest benefactors to the Arian."

Weiss looked at him suspiciously. "What does my great-grandfather have to do with this?"

"I did some digging on your family history," Ozpin replied. "I was curious, specifically about if you were related to Johannes Schnee. It turns out that Johannes was indeed a member of the Arian's crew manifest, and our records indicate that he spent three years here, which corresponded with the point where we found the first few Arista gems on Mars.

"Then, one day, he suddenly vanished here, without a trace. Nobody knows what happened. But records on Earth show he had apparently missed the launch, and so instead went off the grid on a…how did the news outlets put it? Close to nine-year spiritual retreat away from society."

Ambers opened her eyes wide. "Meaning he was the first person to discover the Arista crystals' teleportation properties and used them to return to Earth."

Oscar stepped up somewhat timidly. "But then…why did he never report us to the media? Or any government agency?"

Ozpin shook his head. "That is a secret he took to his grave. He settled down and started a family…but never once did he speak about the mission or the colony surviving."

Weiss leaned back in her chair, overwhelmed. "I…I can't…"

Ambers leaned forward, elbows on the table. She looked back at the girl, clear judgment and weighty concern in her eyes. "What are we to do with her, then?" She asked, watching Weiss carefully. "The Council is still debating on if we want to re-establish contact with Earth at all. They have very little to offer us. And if we return her, then she could reveal us to others, which could force an incident."

Weiss's eyes grew wide with fear, and she stared at the woman. Was she…going to be kidnapped?

Reiji growled. "Hey! We can't just keep her here!"

Ozpin nodded. "Quite right. Her absence will be felt. And we don't know if Johannes Schnee's son Nikolas has another Arista gem. If he does, then I'm certain he would use it to bring others here looking for Weiss."

Ambers stood up abruptly. Her face was etched with disdain for the entire situation. She despised having her feet held over the fire like this. Thoughts of an invading force from Earth riddled her mind, but Ozpin was right-even if she was trying her hardest not to admit it.

Keeping her here was a far worse off risk, with so many unknowns on Earth.

"In that case, I leave her in your care, Ozpin." Her eyes narrowed. "If Arian comes into the crosshairs because of you and Prince Reiji's obsession with Earth, however, the consequences will be on your heads. I want no part in these plans."

"Of course, Councilwoman. It was never the Prince's or my wish to involve the Council at all until proper roots had been established."

She nodded at Oscar, and the two headed for the door. Oscar flicked a saddened glance back to Weiss and Ozpin, before shutting the door behind the two of them.

Kurt looked at Ozpin and Reiji. "Well…this is a fine mess. Councilwoman Ambers is already on the fence about the reconnection."

Ozpin thought for a moment. Their next steps needed to be measured carefully.

Reiji, however, seemed unconcerned. "I'm not worried," he declared with a smile. He looked at Weiss with a hopeful smile. "You came here in hopes of finding someone to help with your Gunpla, right?"

Weiss nodded hesitantly, which made his eyes sparkle. "Well, why not at least get that done before going back? We can talk to the Old Man and get him to help build you a new Gunpla!"

Ozpin looked at him. "Are you referring to Mashita?"

Reiji nodded. "Yeah! Let's get Aila and her Miss Sazabi, and maybe that will give Weiss here some ideas for her new Gunpla! And we can use the PPSE here to create it!"

Weiss blinked. "Wait. I don't want to cause problems for anyone-"

Reiji interrupted her with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Don't worry about it! I have a little pull with him. Besides, I think it'd be rude to let you leave empty handed after coming all this way! Plus, it'll give you a chance to see some of the colony."

Kurt glared at the prince. "Your Highness, I feel that might be pushing the buttons Ambers is warning us not to press."

Reiji grinned. "I got this, Kurt. Trust me."

Kurt gave him a wary look. "Why does that make me more worried?"

Ozpin and Kurt had procured a small vehicle and escorted Weiss outside the palace. She was taken aback by the lush beauty of the massive courtyard and the brilliant, sunny day. The artificial lighting was nearly perfect, and the warmth and gentle breeze felt refreshing.

The space colony was, as she expected, gargantuan. There wasn't another word to describe her amazement.

The colony had the palace, which Ozpin told her was the primary government building and the main residence of most of the Council, including the Royal Family. Street vendors lined the roads of the small city, which reminded Weiss a lot of some of the smaller streets like Hawthorne, Stark, and Holgate back home in Portland, Oregon, or even Pike's Place in Seattle, not to mention many of the festival-laden streets she'd seen in Japan. Driving through them made it seem like she had never left, or that she had been teleported into a surreal anime world.

It was strange to see people use the little gems Ozpin described to her to teleport things to locations via containers, or even to transport themselves around via small service pads that he said were specially tuned as Arian's form of "bus station."

People still used cars, but with the massive rotating windows separating specific parts of the colony, the teleporters made possible by the Arista gems were more convenient for longer ranges. Ozpin told her every vehicle ran in hydrogen, which was readily mined from the ice that formed on collectors outside the colony.

The fact that vehicles were used at all seemed more a luxury thing than a necessity. The colony, overall, was not that large, and the teleporters were more efficient. Apparently, some just really enjoyed traveling, just like on Earth.

"I can't believe this was all designed over a hundred years ago," Weiss commented in awe.

Ozpin chuckled. "Not all of it. It took quite a while to fine-tune many of the major elements that we now use in our day-to-day lives. Much like on Earth, innovation takes time. We've just managed to adapt our research into the Arista gems to be used for a variety of purposes."

Weiss listened intently as Kurt drove down a side street. "We did model many of the interior areas after some familiar elements," Ozpin continued. "The previous generations didn't want to entirely abandon their homes, and once we realized contact with Earth was impossible at the time, having connections to the past seemed relevant to our progress."

"What about now?" She asked. "Couldn't you fix the communications array now?"

Kurt glanced up into the rearview mirror, wearing a cautious expression. "It's not a matter of 'if we could.' It's a matter of 'do we want to?'"

Ozpin closed his eyes. "Sadly true. As you've seen, and we've explained, there are a fair number of people who are beyond wary of what would happen if we contacted Earth. Most have no opinion on the matter, and there is a sizable percentage of the population that shares our views, but there are more who see the possibility of doing so as a risk, with the rewards being too few to see a benefit to us. And, with our population being what it is, we do need to consider the risk-versus-reward situation of such a reunion."

"We're pretty self-sufficient here," Kurt added. "Because we had to make things work on our own, without help, the detractors think we'd invite unnecessary chaos into our lives if we did re-establish relations."

"Arian, first and foremost, would need to be recognized not as a joint, multi-nation experiment, like it was originally intended, but as its own self-governing sovereign nation." Ozpin looked down as he thought, his thumb lightly stroking the gem embedded on the pommel of his cane. "One of the biggest fears is that we wouldn't be granted autonomy, and one or more nations would want to reclaim control over us due to the investment they or their citizens made to create the ship. Until we were assured that we could remain independent, some of those against reunification remain unconvinced."

Weiss felt a pang of sadness and guilt at hearing that. She was just a high school student, but she could already see the political storm that could brew over the first off-world colony coming back into the world's vision. Earth had evolved since the launch of the ship, but how much had it grown? Could Arian be accepted?

Would they actually listen?

She knew that politics was a convoluted game and far from her strongest subject, but it wouldn't take much for someone to envision the worst-case scenario, of armed military operations preparing to use force to retake the colony. A small transport wouldn't take Earth long to build and send off, and-

"Ah, we're here."

The young girl snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at the facility before her. While not as massive as Earth's PPSE, it was still impressive. It looked far more modern than most of the buildings around it, and certainly had a greater technological presence to it.

She noticed that there was a rather well-dressed young woman and a child standing next to an older man that was rather recognizable.

"Hey, that's the former chairman of the PPSE!" She blurted out, causing both Kurt and Ozpin to chuckle.

"Indeed. Hiruto Mashita is actually a native of Arian," Ozpin explained. "His situation is…complicated. However, I assure you that nobody would be better suited to assist you with your Gunpla."

Weiss nodded, before looking back at the group. To her surprise, a red light began shining next to the woman. After a moment, Reiji materialized before her eyes. Her gaze was filled with stunned wonder. She could hardly wrap her mind around how it must be to live here.

Their car came to a stop and the group exited, greeting the PPSE chairman and his assistant, as well as Reiji's wife and daughter, who Weiss learned, were Aila and Minerva. The young girl smiled up at her happily, holding onto her mother's hand lightly as she said hello.

"So, you're the Schnee girl," Hiruto said with a slight judgemental edge in his voice. His eyes seemed to drift over her, appraising her closely, taking time to look over the bin of Gunpla she carried, before glancing at Ozpin. "You told me you wanted us to help her. How, exactly?"

A slight twinkle of red light began to form behind Hiruto, and as the chairman spoke, the brilliant messy red hair and golden hues of the prince appeared, and he planted his arm on Hiruto's shoulder, leaning on him and throwing him off balance for a second. "We want you to do for her what you're doing for us-build her a Gunpla!"

Hiruto narrowed his eyes and growled at the prince. "You…. Where did you come from?!"

Reiji grinned. "I transported over after a rather stern warning from Ambers. Boy, she was worked up big time!"

"What Prince Reiji means is, we would like you to help design a Gunpla for her, using inspiration from the kits she has with her and her own notes," Ozpin clarified. "Weiss has expressed interest in building her kit on her own."

Hiruto's eyebrows shot up. "Oh?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes, please. I want to make sure this is my Gunpla. A model kit I built with my own two hands. I don't have the time or the tools to modify the one I currently have on my own." She blushed, embarrassed to admit her own lack of skill. "When I wished for help, I was brought here."

Aila gave her a soft smile. "Well, then you've come to the right place, I think." She turned to Hiruto. "Will you help?"

Hiruto's eyes stayed locked on Weiss. She was definitely honest. And the kits she had intrigued him. "Alright. Come inside. We'll see what my company can do for you."

The chairman led the way in, greeting Miss Baker at the entrance and informing her that the R&D department had a new, top priority project that was to take precedence over everything-including Reiji's Gunpla. The statement took her by surprise, but she nodded, understanding that time was of the essence.

Weiss half expected to be taken on a tour, but rather than waste any time, Hiruto led them straight to the back area, where the research and development team worked.

Once inside, he turned to Weiss. "So. What is this Gunpla you want help with?"

Weiss was about to speak but stopped herself. Her brow furrowed cautiously. "Wait…why are you helping me? You don't even know me."

Hiruto rolled his eyes dismissively. "Does that matter?"

"Just a little!" She shot back. "I've never met anyone who would go out of their way for someone they just met!"

She finished her sentence and immediately felt a pang of guilt in her gut. That wasn't true. She had met someone before who would do this.

Ruby would do this. And even Hathaway was willing to, from when she asked for his help before.

Her grandfather would do that.

She cursed herself in her mind. Her snap judgment was always jaded by the greed her father had always shown. The idea that nobody did anything for purely selfless reasons. She sounded ungrateful.

Hiruto watched her closely. His face softened a bit. It was almost as if he was looking into a mirror of his former self.

"Miss Schnee, do you know how I came to be the chairman of the PPSE on Earth?" He asked. "How Gunpla Battle came to the world?"

She looked up at him. She had never heard anything about how he had managed to bring Gunpla Battle to life, though now that she knew about Arian, she could see some ideas.

"My twin brother Mikio and I wound up on the streets of Arian after I lost my job as a technician. Arian is a kind-hearted community, but we require everyone to play their part. We don't have the population or the means to have many freeloaders, and when I lost my job, Mikio wasn't soon behind."

He looked up at the ceiling. "Then, we were given a golden opportunity-the passcode to the Asuna family's royal vault, where the largest Arista crystal had been kept for over sixty years, maybe longer. I can't quite remember.

"We made a wish together, to escape Arian, and we took the crystal with us before guards could catch us. And with that, we have whisked away to Earth, far from Arian's grasp."

He walked over to the desk in the room and sat on its edge. "Mikio and I decided to use our collective knowledge of how the Arista gems and crystals work to create Gunpla Battle. Mikio was the brains while I was the figurehead. I was…pretty lazy, while Mikio was the go-getter. He'd pose as me in board meetings while also getting a criminal element together to control things behind the scenes, while I wound up in interviews and in the public spotlight, enjoying life. Public affairs were more my strong suit, and the limelight suited me better than it did him."

He looked at the door as Miss Baker came in and nodded. "I even took Theresa for granted, though I think she rather enjoyed running things on my behalf."

Theresa smiled humbly. "Only because you made it a pleasure to work at the PPSE. Running things was hardly trouble. I did enjoy it."

"When Prince Reiji came to Earth by accident, I thought for sure we had been found out, but he didn't even know who I was at first. I did my best to sabotage him and Sei Iori during the Seventh Gunpla Tournament, but in the end…we wound up here again. And, from what I have come to understand, Mikio got arrested on Earth before the Eighth Tournament when he and his Gunpla Mafia tried to sabotage things before the new stadium's launch."

Hiruto crossed his arms. "I'm only here because Prince Reiji gave me a chance to redeem myself. To study Gunpla building and essentially recreate Plavsky Particle Systems Engineering here on Arian. I admit I didn't have an interest in Gunpla outside of making money before, but now? It's my passion to learn how to build and modify Gunpla kits, so I can bring customizations to Arian and even create new Gunpla that were never seen before like I tried to do with the Hi-Mocks."

Weiss listened intently and then nodded. "I'm sorry," she admitted, bowing her head. "I didn't mean to judge you. I'm just not used to most people being so kind."

Hiruto hid his smile and cleared his throat, waving her off dismissively. "All that being said, I'm not doing this for you. I'm interested in your Gunpla."

Reiji grinned and walked over to him, pointing a finger at his chest. "Uh huh! You've turned into a big softie, Old Man!"

The chairman's eyes snapped open menacingly. "Will you stop calling me that?!"

Reiji laughed heartily, which caused everyone else in the room to smile and chuckle. Hiruto snorted and chose to ignore the prince, sticking his nose in the air and tugging roughly on his coat to straighten it. "Now then. Show me your Gunpla and tell me your ideas."

And so Weiss did just that. Opening up her phone, she revealed to Hiruto sketches she had done, which he plugged into the computer and brought up on the monitor. He also looked over the Gunpla she had presented to him.

The Weiss Sinanju in particular caught his attention. He noted the inferior build quality of the knee compared to the other pieces, which Weiss explained, but he couldn't help but marvel at the craftsmanship. The kit was astounding, and he found himself fascinated by the multiple variations of the shield's transformations. He seemed almost unsurprised when Weiss told him that the Meijin had a hand in building it.

"How many forms can this shield take, exactly?" he asked, gently turning the item over in his hands as he studied it.

"Two-a swords and a shield, and a pair of swords," she replied. "And, while that functionality is something I want to maintain, there are a world of improvements I want to add to it primarily, the ability to hold a larger version of my Gunpla's rapier, Myrtnaster, inside it, and at least one other form-taken from a friend of mine's design for his Gunpla."

She opened her notes and showed him the sketches and concepts she'd taken from Jaune's new sword and shield combo, noting how his one handed sword could be combined with the shield to form a greatsword mode.

Weiss's design sketches were interesting to him. She had turned the Sinanju Stein into a metallic silver knight, and her ideas for the various Sleeves motifs across its body were essential to turn them into Plavsky particle reaction plastic, which reminded Hiruto of the Star Build Strike and the videos of the newer machines in the current tournament that Ozpin had shown him and Reiji. More specifically, the Star Build Strike's RG System.

It was more than that, though. Many elements of the design retained Sinanju Stein's psychoframe inside the vents and across the motif, which already made the machine substantially more difficult to pilot as it was.

Weiss also expressed her desire to incorporate the Sazabi funnels or, preferably, Rose Bits from Gundam Rose, into the design, altering the backpack thrusters of the Sinanju to hold them.

Aila jumped in at a certain point and offered her own assistance, explaining how she came up with her personal kit, the Miss Sazabi. The slimmed down, feminized version of the bulky Sazabi had proven to be a tried and true design, and Hiruto admitted it had elements that would fit this new Sinanju well. He and Weiss both added the ideas to the list.

Weiss explained how Ruby's RG System Kai worked, and she expressed her desire to add it to the Sinanju, but she didn't have any real details beyond what Ruby had told her. Hiruto took note of this; while he may not be able to perfectly replicate it without technical specs, he was confident he could think of something.

During a break between Hiruto's seemingly relentless tests and questions, Aila took Weiss aside. She sat next to her with a calming air, a surprising amount of regality for someone who wasn't in fact royalty.

"Tell me, what's the Earth line nowadays?" She asked. "I'm certain you haven't been to Finland, where I'm from, but surely things must have changed?"

Weiss thought for a moment. Eight years away was a long time. "Well, thinking about it, I guess there's been a lot of technological breakthroughs over the years.

"Nils Yajima is the current lead scientist at PPSE, and his wife Caroline Yajima runs Yajima Trading, which at this point owns most of the controlling interest in PPSE. Thanks to them, we have unlocked many secrets to Plavsky Particles-or, at least, enough of them to recreate Gunpla Battle."

She looks around the lab, where several technicians were working with Hiruto to translate his scribbled notes into the computer. "Your…Arista gems, was it? Our new Plavsky crystals don't let us do anything like this, I don't think. Or, if they do, it's not public knowledge."

Aila nodded. "I see. I didn't leave behind a family or many friends, outside of those I made at the Seventh Tournament, and I haven't seen any of them for many years. I was a homeless street urchin when Team Nemesis found me and used me for my abilities, so it's not like I have many fond memories to comfort me." She smiled slightly as she looked at her little daughter, who was curled up asleep on her lap.

"Arian is more a home to me than Earth ever was, but still…I wonder, sometimes."

"What abilities are you talking about?" Weiss asked, intrigued.

"I am particularly sensitive to Plavsky Particles." She glanced at Weiss. "The Flana Institute found me and tested me when I was about fourteen or so, and realized that, by watching the particles being generated and the way a fighter moved, I could with an almost perfect accuracy tell the outcome of a match, even against experienced pilots. Team Nemesis then hired the Flana Institute to use me as their fighter in the Seventh Tournament. And their expectations worked-until I met Sei and Reiji."

She glanced at her husband, who was talking with Ozpin in the corner. "Sei's RG System and the Arista gem Reiji wore back then disrupted my ability to see things clearly. Team Nemesis even used a machine, the Embody System, to control my emotions-which brought me great pain-but with a gem that Reiji himself had given me, I was able to fight through the pain and actually fight without knowing the outcome. Reiji beat me, of course, and we made a connection that day that led us here."

Weiss was stunned. She, like many others in the Gunpla Community, had heard rumors of some kind of control device used on Aila and the Meijin, but the fact that they were true…

"Are you okay? After everything that happened?" she asked, concerned.

Aila cocked her head in confusion. "If you mean because of the Embody System, yes. I didn't use it for very long." Her face grew dark as a thought crossed her mind. "But, when I heard that Salem had bought the rights and resources of Team Nemesis and rebranded them Team Godslayer, I couldn't sit by. Not after knowing what said 'resources' could contain.

"The Embody System is dangerous. I dread the idea of anyone else being put under its influence. And when Reiji and Ozpin concocted the idea to stop her plans, I fully supported them. Even if she didn't use the Embody System, the idea of her using the Aristas to influence Earth in any way, including Ozpin's worst case scenario, terrified me. And although I've only met her a handful of times, I can see her trying to do it."

Weiss's mind raced. Ozpin had been vague about a lot of things, but especially those concerning Salem. What exactly were they scared of?

Hiruto's voice caught her attention, and she looked up as he called her name. "Break time's over! We need your input again."

Weiss got up and headed over, with Reiji taking Minerva off Aila's hands to join her. She logged the things Aila said in the back of her mind for later. She might need to ask Ozpin for details in the future.

All in all, the three plotted and theorized for over three more hours. By the end of it, Weiss was yawning, as on Earth it would have been close to midnight.

"Let's make a deal," Hiruto suggested. "I understand that you want to build this with your own two hands. At this point, however, you need sleep. It'll take a few hours to produce the parts, and you have only twelve to get enough rest and assemble the Gunpla."

He turned to the screen. "How about you let me do the building, and I give you the files so you can maintain and update it?"

Weiss hesitated. This wasn't at all what she had wanted, but he had a point. Even if she did finish the kit, she couldn't build it and get enough sleep to be able to fight.

Hesitantly, she agreed. "I really would rather be the one assembling it. I feel like it defeats the purpose if I don't. But…."

"You could use the Weiss Sinanju instead, and then build the new one before the final match?" Ozpin suggested, but she shook her head.

"No. Ruby needs the best she can get to back her up. The Weiss Sinanju isn't that. This Gunpla will be."

Aila looked it over curiously. Her mind raced to how she could help. "Could I build it for you?" She asked. "I'm a better builder than Hiruto, and I think I could match your level of build quality well. It would feel as if you did it yourself when you pilot it, and you wouldn't have to worry about it being perfect. By the time you have it, all you'll need to do is some fine-tuning and maybe a little sanding and polishing."

Weiss paused, before nodding. "Alright. Thank you!" She looked back at Hiruto and gave him an embarrassed smile. "No offense."

The chairman shrugged. "Suit yourself, though I can understand you wanting it to not be perfect. I've found the best Gunpla are the ones that match your personal styles. Perfection is great for a display piece but sometimes it's the minor things that make a Gunpla great for battle. And if you break perfection, you can never get it back. Not truly, anyway."

Ozpin smiled. "Spoken well." He turned back to Weiss. "How about we return you home? I can bring you your completed Gunpla in the morning."

"That sounds good," Weiss replied, standing up and looking at everyone in the room. "Thank you all for your help. I honestly, genuinely, don't know what I would have done without your assistance."

She took Ozpin's hand and he prepared to leave, opening the top of his cane to expose an Arista gem, but before they left, Hiruto stopped them. "Ah, wait! What exactly is the name of this Gunpla?"

Weiss looked at the art she'd done. The silvery body, the regal, rounded, flared pauldrons, the large custom shield that mimicked all of the functionality of the Weiss Sinanju's multi-form weapon system and then some but had a more thematic look to it.

A name….

"Stalritter," she replied. "Sinanju Stalritter."

Ozpin smiled. "Steel Knight. Fitting."

Hiruto added the title to his notes. "Then then Sinanju Stalritter should be in your hands by the time of the next bout. We'll get to work on it right away."

"Do I owe you anything?" Weiss asked.

Hiruto only gave her a knowing smirk. "Win with it."