Author's Headnote: BRACE YOURSELVES! THE V3 CHAPTERS ARE COMING! Which means if you've watched the show, you know what's going to happen. If you haven't watched the show... well... I'd be very confused to why you're here. But I digress, let's hop into the chapter.

RWBY: Festival of Blood: Before the Tournament

Ruby Rose:

Aura Status: 100%

Thirst: Not Thirsty

Semblance: Wilted Petal Burst

Grades:

- Grimm Studies: B

- History: B -

- Dust Studies: B

- Combat Practice: A

- Mathematics: C +

- Weapon's Smithing: A +

- Tactics: A -

- Training Missions: B

Team Activity: Done.

Team Relations:

-Weiss Schnee: She's been a lot more chill and friendly since she's been cut off from her family wealth... and started dating Jaune.

-Blake Belladonna: Despite the different sleeping time, the two of them have made the relationship work.

-Yang Xiao Long: Had to tell Sun that she's not allowed to drink liquor. The sister bond is back to it's pre-vampiric state.

End of main character status report.

Island of Patch, 7:00 PM, Thursday, Summer Rose's Grave

The month of November has been interesting, she had to use the mind trick to fake her physical. Blake and Weiss passed theirs with flying colors, and by a work of miracle, Yang passed hers too. The tension and suspicion Weiss and Yang had over Ruby had washed away after Pyrefest and spending time with Ruby for the whole month, so their relationship had mended from that... and than some. As for Blake, well Ruby started to sleep in the same bed as Blake. Although Blake had trouble getting up because Ruby was sleeping on top of her and since only three beds were being used. Weiss had ordered a bed-reassignment for the dorm. Now the dorm has one double bed for Ruby and Blake on the left side of the bedroom, and a real and actual Bunk bed for Weiss and Yang on the right side of the bedroom. Although Weiss sleeps on the top bunk now and Yang at the bottom.

Weiss had been cut off from her family fortune after going over her allowance twice over... but the rest of her team has been helping her adjust... which including a more casual wardrobe. Jaune also asked Weiss out, and now they're dating. Pyrrha also apparently forgotten about the events that occurred for the past two months... which was weird. Ruby has also grown used to Ren's deeper voice. Penny is also seen more often at class-time, given that General Ironwood told professor Goodwitch she's excluded from combat practice... so it's been good to have Penny hang out with people now, although that won't last long given the Vytal Tournament starts in three days.

Ruby's visiting the grave of her dearest mother, Summer Rose. She goes here every year to talk to her mother. The conversations are pretty one-sided. It is on the edge of the cliff, according to her father, Ruby's mother visited the edge of the cliff to look at the sunset, because she always found beauty in the sunlight dipping into the night. So, it was fitting that she was buried here, since it was her favorite spot. The grave is not far off from the family home too. Her father also comes here every year, to bring a single white rose to the grave.

Ruby was across the final resting place her mother... ready to talk to her. No shame to that her mother would mind that Ruby's not alive either. Ruby lowered her bandana. Although she had costume makeup on because she's expected to meet up with her father for a family dinner soon.

"Hey... mom." Ruby said awkwardly... than smiled.

"Ya... yep... those are my fangs... I'm not exactly alive anymore."

"Well... it's a long story, but I'll tell you after dinner."

"But I did get into beacon early, that's great. Apparently, the headmaster thinks I'm special because of my eyes... which doesn't make sense to me, but hey... I'm on a team with Yang now."

"Yep, I'm the leader of Team RWBY... yes, it does cause confusion."

"There's Weiss. She was a bit ornery at first, but she's warmed up now. And I've met someone special..."

"Ya... her name's Blake. She is my girlfriend. You would have loved to meet her. She's on my team with Yang and Weiss. We didn't talk much at the start... but than I became a vampire and than... well... I've asked her to the dance, and we've kissed... and since than we've been dating ever since."

"Oh, and we've stopped this guy named Roman Torchwick. Twice. We've prevented a breach of grimm of entering the city! Well, my team did... and we've stopped him from ruining the Pyrefest."

"I've met all these friends outside my team too. There's Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, Velvet, Coco, Penny, Sun, and Neptune."

And than Ruby heard Zwei barking in the distance.

"Oh, I'll tell everything else later, Dad really wants me to go to dinner right now, catch back with you, later!" Ruby said, heading to the family house.

Island of Patch, 7:10 PM, Thursday, Xiao-Long-Rose Residence

Ruby's family home. This is where Ruby and Yang grew up when they were younger. It was mostly made of wood, since her father built it herself... except for the kitchen, which was appearntly the work of Yang's mom. Although that still doesn't explain why the cabinets are so high. It has two floors. the first containing the living room, the master bedroom, and the kitchen/dining room complex. the second containing three rooms, Ruby and Yang's room, the gymnasium, and the spare room.

Ruby was sitting down next to Blake, who decided to come for the dinner. Sun also came with Yang. Guess it's time their father would meet the current partners of his two daughters. Nothing to worry about here. Other than her vampirism. They were sitting down at the dining table, which had it's extenders out and spare chairs. Along with the food to be eaten. Ruby's appetite only wants Blood, but she eats the dinner not only to keep up a ruse, but that's it's rude to not eat.

"So... girls, who are your friends?" Ruby's father asked.

"Oh, this is Blake. She's one our teammates... and my girlfriend." Ruby stated.

"Straight to the point, huh?" Blake asked.

"Eh, why not?"

"Well... you're dating your own teammate?" Ruby's father asked.

"Well, why not? We're going to be in a team together, so we need to get a long and such... and since I like girls I..." Ruby said before being interrupted.

"Ruby, I get it, I get it. Both of you and Yang's mom were on my team as well, so I know what you're thinking. But be careful, if the relationship goes south, the team would break apart with no hope of fixing it." Her father stated.

"I know... So, I'm trying my best to not well... screw things up."

"She's a good leader. And a good cuddler." Blake commented.

"Have you been doing things other than cuddling?" Ruby's father asked.

"Other than kissing, no." Ruby answered honestly.

"Well... that's good. As for you, Yang?" Her father asked in a concerned tone.

"Dad, don't worry. Me and Sun have a healthy relationship. I know what I'm doing." Yang consoled.

"Well, I hope you do."

"We've mostly just been chilling and hanging out, and the most intimate thing we've done is kiss and cuddle on the bench."

"Well, that's good. I'm honestly not ready to be a grandfather just yet." He joked.

"Don't worry Mr. Xiao-Long, we're not going to do that for awhile." Sun stated.

There was a silence developed after that... it was awkward.

"So... we're going to be in the tournament." Ruby said, breaking the silence.

"And I'll be rooting for your team." Her father said.

"Thanks, dad." Ruby said.

"No problem for my kids. Just make sure you and your partners don't do anything stupid."

"Relax, me and Blake have been getting along well."

"Yep, you have nothing to worry about. Both of your daughters are alive and well and we're both healthy and mentally stable partners." Blake stated.

"I know, I'm just concerned considering I don't want to see Yang heart-broken again... or Ruby." Ruby's father said. "Yang's eyes were red for three whole months."

"Ya... It was not fun. But we've agreed to never bring Yang's ex-boyfriend up again. So, let's just drop it." Ruby suggested.

"Good Idea." Yang said bluntly.

The five of them went to discuss random topics. The topic of faunas has surprisingly never been brought up considering that Sun is publicly a faunas and Blake's a secret faunas. Yet again, those kinds of discussions rarely occur as the family just wants to help people, regardless of species. Good thing she's managing to hide her... condition from her father. Thankfully Yang took it better than expected... honestly, she was expecting Yang to freak out. Yet again, all the freaking out was likely done when Ruby was feral under Mt. Glenn.

Afterwards, the plates were put away and Yang, Blake, and Sun headed back to Beacon. Ruby stayed behind to simply catch up her mother on everything. In addition, Zwei also has returned back to her father's custody... so no worry about who walks the dog now.

After telling her mother... well her mother's grave about her adventures at Beacon... she headed back to the Beacon Dormitory. Where the rest of her team would be resting for the last day of school until the Vytal Tournament ends... except Ruby, she'll be studying all night for those tests, and making breakfast for her team.

Beacon Academy, 5:00 AM, Friday, RWBY Dormitory

Ruby just got out of the shower... if this were the weekend, she would have put her pajamas and hopped in bed with Blake. But that's not the case... she put her underwear on. A bra and briefs like normal. And than over that would be her school uniform.

She set her team's alarms to 5:30 AM. Thankfully Ruby managed to convince Yang to sleep at the bottom bunk so she doesn't risk hurting herself getting out of bed. She is after all, near-sighted. She can't really wear her contacts while asleep. So, it's best to just keep her near ground level. May as well grab a bloodpack from the fridge, the salt from the family dinner made her a bit more thirsty, but she knows it'll go away. She's rationing her bloodpacks because the vampires in the city of Vale have been scarce since Pyrefest. Ruby doesn't know why.

She's running low though, eventually she'll need permission to feed on Blake in her sleep at this rate. Sure, Blake has been donating blood to Ruby's mouth since day two of Ruby's vampirism... but that was when she was awake. And they've only been dating for a month... and have been sleeping in the same bed for about two weeks. She's very uncomfortable about the thought of drinking her blood while asleep... sure, she's drank from unconscious bodies before, but they were random mooks and she had little option. Guess Ruby would have to go out hunting... that's if she could find someone to drink from, the crime in Vale has stopped completely... and it's been making Ruby uncomfortable.

The amount of morally correct sources of blood have gone scarce and it's honestly driving Ruby nuts. She was only fine at the family dinner because she drank from Blake beforehand. But for the past month she has almost gotten feral for four times looking for criminals to drink from and vampires to loot. Thankfully she had fled the scene before she unwillingly kills an innocent. There is something wrong... she just knows it.

But no less, Ruby prepares to make breakfast for her team. Given she's the only up during this early, she gives she gives her team a sizable breakfast to help her team get through the day. Ruby wishes she'd get a breakfast... but given the morally correct way of getting what she needs is sparse... she has to ration... which is not good considering she'll not be as concentrated in class. It's a miracle her grades have been going up though. But no fret, she needs to feed her team.

Beacon Academy, 11:55 AM (Daylight warning), Friday, Mathematics (Weekly exam)

The exams... Ruby was not having this. She was thirsty, stressed, and feeling the negativity of the entire classroom. Thankfully she finished the test early, she's going over her work to check to see if she got the answers right before turning her work in.

Must... feed... shut up, you! Lunch is not until like five minutes you can wait that long yaselfish grimm!

It was bad enough she had to put up with the grimm trying to take over for the past couple of hours. But the feeling that the stress she has and the stress of the entire classroom, especially Yang doesn't really help.

She turned in her paper and went back to her seat... where she punched her head out of pure stress. The rest of the class didn't bat an eye when she did that. But she was waiting for the session to be over...

Character Change: Ruby Rose - Penny Polledenia

Beacon Academy, 12:21 PM, Friday, Cafeteria

Running Personality: Penny_

Combat Functions: DISABLED, please contact Administrator

Aura Percentage: 100%

Battery Life: 73%

Hardware status: Fully Functional

Grimm Prescence: 1; 1 Bypassed, 0 Danger.

Penny has been glad she'd be able to spend the month socializing with the students of Beacon Academy, although her notifications kept annoying her about her combat functions. It's not Penny's fault she had to get a combat inhibitor installed just to hang out with friends. General Ironwood doesn't seem to trust Penny around... people. Mostly due to the fact that Penny was built, not born. And he's worried that someone may hack into her systems and make her kill people. Despite this, Penny is an Artificial Intelligence. Where as virtual intelligence only emulates sentience and it's actions are mostly programmed (like a household voice such as Stella). Artificial Intelligence is fully sentient and sapient, and is fully aware of their surroundings.

Penny can make pretty much any decision on her own... except if it involves in engaging combat... because of the combat inhibitor. Which will be removed when the Vytal tournament starts and it's back to mostly avoiding people for the entire tournament. If only she was allowed to stay at Beacon...

Her battery life is kind of like sleep. If she runs low on her battery life, she'll enter a state of hibernation where she slowly recharges until the battery is back at 100%.

As for hardware, that is for her physical self. If her hardware is damaged, she has a limited window to transfer her AI to the nearest receptor. There are plenty of safe-points for her to transfer to in Atlas so she can transfer herself to her backup unit. Aura not included.

As for her aura, creating an artificial aura is actually impossible. Penny's aura is made from her creator's own aura (albeit she calls him father). Her aura can recover on it's own, but she'll never be able to develop a semblance, her mechanical physiology and abilities more than make up for it.

As for the grimm presence, that's Ruby. Penny was confused, but didn't act on why Ruby was marked hostile. She even asked General Ironwood to why Ruby was marked as a grimm. Apparently, she's something called a vampire. Creatures of the night according to what the General told her. Penny manually marked Ruby as safe when she saw her marked as a grimm though, Penny thought it was a glitch in her system, but she actually has become some sort of undead half-grimm. Although chances are Ruby doesn't know that Penny knows about Ruby's vampirism. So, no need to bring up something that would stiffin the relationship, it's better to keep Penny's knowledge on Ruby a secret than discuss it awkwardly. After all, chances are Ruby would do the same for Penny.

"Penny, are you alright?" Weiss asked.

"Apologies, Friend Weiss. I must have zoned out." Penny stated.

"Do you... do that often?" Blake asked.

"It is irregular." Penny answered. She is usually more so focused on every topic, guess those notifications are taking up all her attention when she's closing them.

"It's alright. Pyrrha here ended up forgetting the events of two whole months." Jaune said.

"Sorry, it must have gotten over my head." Pyrrha said, apologizing.

"Those tests must be hard for you, then?" Penny asked.

"Oh, Absolutely, I didn't study and they were incredibly hard."

"I hope you pass. I'd love to see you fight in the Vytal tournament."

"Same here."

"I'm glad we're all excited to fight in the tournament, I've been practicing all month!" Ruby stated.

"I'd be elated if your teams made it to the singles." Penny said, cheerfully.

"Don't worry, we've got Pyrrha over here!" Nora said, patting Pyrrha on the back.

"We're still deciding on who'd to take to the doubles." Ruby said.

"You'll come up with something when you win." Jaune said.

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Glad to see us friends are getting along." Penny said in an excited tone.

"On an unrelated note, where's your food?" Yang asked Penny.

"Oh, I had a big breakfast, hic." Penny lied.

"You have the hiccups?" Jaune asked.

"Yep. It's really bad, hic." Penny said.

"Wow, shame. Also, Ruby were is your food?"

"Oh... I uh... had a big breakfast." Ruby said.

"How big are your breakfasts if you aren't hungry for lunch?" Jaune asked.

"Very." Both Penny and Ruby said at the same time. Then the entire table followed up with laughter, except for Penny. Because she doesn't know why everyone's laughing.

Penny just got a notification, lunch ends soon, prepare for next class. Exams. They are quite tough for Penny. What? She's an android, not a supercomputer. Supercomputers think they're so smart, knowing every single thing an everything, Well Penny can actually physically move out of the room she's built, and isn't forced to shut-down when unplugged. And she doesn't need to be plugged in to charge, she's wireless! So, take that!

And as for accessing the Internet, her father strongly advised against Penny being able to access the internet without an external device. Penny still is curious to why.

But no matter, the bell rang and she had walked to the next class, using the door. She had to download a map of the school so she doesn't walk into a wall while going to class.

Character Change: Penny Polledenia - Jaune Arc

Beacon Academy, 3:30 PM, Friday, Indoor Combat Arena

Jaune had stepped into the arena. He was facing against his opponent. There aren't really exams for this class, it's pretty much the same every day. He was fighting Cardin again. Last time the two had dueled, it was at the first semester and he really made Jaune look like a laughing stock.

But yet again, this was way before he had undergone all that training Pyrrha showed him, and his own practicing. So Jaune thinks he's reading for this 1 on 1 duel with Cardin this time, he's ready. He won't lose this time.

Jaune had drawn Crocea Mors and have the scabbard turn into a shield. Cardin on the other hand drew his morning star. The arena was set and he was getting prepared.

"BEGIN!" Professor Goodwitch announced.

Cardin went on the aggressive approach, attempt to knock Jaune down, only for Jaune to parry the morning star with his shield and than bashed it back. He than attacked Cardin with a thrust from a sword. Now that Cardin's on the Defensive, he's able to implicated more offensive attacks. He sweeps with his shield and than does a sweep kick with his legs, knocking Cardin off balance.

While Cardin's trying to get back on balance Jaune used his sword to strike him down, knocking Cardin down to the ground. Although Jaune's not a dirty fighter, so he let Cardin get back up. Cardin than went and swung the Morningstar sideways, knocking Jaune back, ringing him out.

"Ringout! The Winner is Cardin Winchester." Professor Goodwitch announced.

"Mr. Arc, it's impressive that you've improved, and you've been a good sport for not taking advantage of Mr. Winchester when he was down. However, you do need to improve your reaction timing." She lectured.

"Thank you professor." Jaune said.

"As for you Mr. Winchester, You need to diversify your stratedgem. You've won the fight not because of your strength, but from your opponents kindness, there are many who would have taken advantage of your weakened state. You would have lost if Mr. Arc was one of them." The professor lectured.

"Whatever, teach." Cardin dismissed.

Jaune had went and changed back to his uniform to watch the next set of combatants face up. The fighting was thrilling to partake in, and it's good that Jaune's improving. Although he never sees Penny in these classes, he wonders why... could be related to Penny's secret. Then there's Ruby, who for some reason has been going up with a rainshade over her head, even when it's not raining. Is she afraid that the sunlight would kill her or something? But it's just Ruby, so chances are that it's something completely fine.

Speaking of Ruby, Jaune notices she's been using her semblance less often in duels. These last two months have been weird, Jaune can admit that. First crime has been up and crazy, now it's basically non-existent. There's something up, Jaune just knows it. He also noticed one of Haven students got some new boots. Hopefully he doesn't ruin them in the tournament.

On an unrelated note, apparently there was a large explosion just outside of Vacuo. The news never got into detail, but no one really knows how it was made. Jaune just finds it very interesting.

After the array of fights, the class was dismissed, then it's the Weekend, and than the Vytal tournament starts... Jaune can't wait to start it.

Character Change: Jaune Arc - Ruby Rose

Beacon Academy, 8:44 PM, Friday, RWBY Dormitory

Ruby was playing a video game with Yang and Blake. With her sitting between the two of them. Figured she'd do something casual with her sister and girlfriend before having to tell them something. So far, everyone's been having a good time. During this, she'd figured she'd have the discussion.

"I have something to tell you two." Ruby said.

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"Lately, the crime in Vale has stopped, and the influx of vampires have become non-existent so I can't get a regular source of bloodpacks..." Ruby stated.

"Ruby, you know you can feed from me." Blake stated.

"What about you, Yang?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby, you're my sister. And I've grown used to your... lifestyle. You can feed from my arm, but that's just about it." Yang answered.

"Thank you." Ruby said.

"But before you go biting on my arm or Blake's neck, how about you try investigating what happened to the vampires, first." Yang stated.

"I don't mind." Blake commented.

"It's still disturbing."

"No, no. Yang's got a point. Maybe I should investigate the vampire lair to find out why they're not popping out. I'll just take a small sip from my current bloodpack and I'll be heading out." Ruby stated, grabbing the bloodpack she's going through and taking a small sip from it before putting it back in the fridge. It's not in it's original container, but in one of those sealed plastic bottles.

Ruby headed out to the catacombs to find out what happened to the vampires. Hopefully she can go back to getting bloodpacks from knocked out vampires.

She would be feeding off of Blake more often, but she doesn't want to go over and cause another week of having to go dry from her. So, she mostly sticks to one Blake bite per day. A mix of Blake blood and bloodpacks has worked to get Ruby by... but given the decline of bloodpacks, the feral grimm has been trying to take control, only for it to be silenced from Blake's blood. She's been more thirsty lately too.

Vale Catacombs, 9:12 PM, Friday, Outer Tombs

Ruby was wondering the catacombs... they look a lot more damaged than usual. And by that, she means that it went from a highly maintained indoor graveyard to an ancient tomb after being on the receiving end of a rockslide. What happened here... most of the catacombs are caved in. Especially the path that leads to the rest of the tomb. What happened here?

Then she notices an insignia that dropped on the floor... it looks like. No, it is a White Fang symbol. The Pyrefest raid was a distraction, the White Fang had killed all the vampires, Ruby would check in and look for survivors, but given it'd be a month, chances are there is no one alive out there. But how a bunch of White Fang huntsmen managed to kill the Duke is unknown. Given that all the cards would have gone in favor of the Duke.

She can't really dig a way into the rest of the catacombs without risking being caved in herself. So, Ruby guesses whatever happened here remained a mystery, but it would explain the lack of vampires... but not the lack of crime.

Well... there is another way for bloodpacks, but she'll need to get the Headmaster's permission first. If he says no, then at least Blake and Yang are still offering to donate blood.

Author's Footnote: This chapter is mostly to justify the 1-month time skip, I need to justify why I'm doing these things, after all. Just saw 'Risk' and it's really going to give me Ideas on what will go down on the Atlas arc of this... if I get that far in the Fanfic, I just started covering Volume 3 in the timeline. I won't be adding the fourth character tage yet. But it will be there... soon. Honestly, I'd like some sort of feedback. But anyways, here's an Omake

Omake: Windows Vista, by Scrambleman17

City of Mantle, 12:31 PM, Monday, Mr. Polledenia's workshop

It was a long day. It was approaching winter so everyone was getting their prosthetics and cybernetics checked up before the long winter of mantle, where it'd be so cold outside the city that there will be constant rain. The city even had to expand it's sewage system with more floor grates so the city doesn't flood.

Pietro got a call from General Ironwood, wonder what Penny got herself into now.

"Ah, James. What did Penny get herself into now, I already installed a combat inhibitor, what else could you want?" Pietro asked.

"I can assure you; Penny has been staying out of trouble. I've made this call solely because I was curious about something." James stated.

"What exactly are you curious about?"

"How exactly did you manage to create a fully sapient artificial intelligence in the first place?"

"Well, I didn't exactly do it from scratch. I found this old box containing a laser disc, and I've managed to use it as a base for the AI."

"Old box?"

"It had a weird logo on it, had a colorful window on it. Red, yellow, green, blue colors on it. I couldn't exactly read what's on the box, had some incredibly alien language all over it. but it had an incredibly complex code."

"So... you took a weird box that had a foreign language on it, copied the code on it, and used it as a base for a complex AI?"

"Yep. I think it was a computer OS or something."

"Well... that's interesting."

City of Vale, 12:34 PM, Monday, Ironwood's Hotel room

Well, that didn't help. Considering that James is really stumped on what to do considering what happened to Penny. The soldiers said this is apparently a regular occurrence.

Penny's eyes were completely blue, with text all over them. And she's been making a weird beeping noise... that's constant and endless. And it's getting annoying.

"What do you regularly do?" James asked.

"We usually just turn her off and on again." The first soldier said.

"Ya, and that hasn't been working, in fact, it makes these more frequent." The second soldier said.

"Well, we're not computer experts, and we can't call one because it'd reveal that about Penny."

"Why don't we just call her father again and ask him how to fix it?"

"I don't think that's a good Idea."

"Hold on, let me try something." James said. Turning Penny off. "It's clearly a software problem."

James quickly turned Penny on, but did not run her personality program. He instead ran the core Software and set it to repair.

"It should repair itself in a couple of hours, and than I'll run her personality." James stated. "And don't worry, her memories and skills are safe, I just made sure I fixed any conflicts in the core software."

"How did you figure that?" The first soldier asked.

"I do it to my old computer all the time, should be good for another two years."

The two soldiers shrug. General Ironwood knows that when he does it to his computer, the essential files remain intact, so Penny's memories would be mostly intact.

Penny's body was still, with her eyes being pitch black with a single bar filling and depleting itself.

Two hours later, she rebooted.

"Salutations, world!" Penny said, leaving the room. Only to create a penny-shaped hole in the wall... next to the door.

"Whoops, I think it accidentally deleted some files." James said.

"You think? She literally created a hole in the wall!" The first soldier said.

"Why was her door-opening ability causing her to crash?" The second one asked.

"Don't worry, the file will re-generate itself once Penny starts to realize what she's doing is weird." General Ironwood stated.

Omake Footnote: A little light-humor to help with what will be ahead. I thought maybe do an Omake around Penny instead of Ruby this time, Ruby's the main-star, she doesn't need to appear in the Omakes now, does she? I mean, Ruby has yet to make an appearance in the intermission. Hoped you enjoyed the content and see you next chapter.