AN: Sorry that this took a little bit. I was having really bad abdominal pain for a couple weeks that made it really difficult to write. If it feels like this chapter is a bit directionless, that's why. I'm not entirely proud of the action here, either, unfortunately. Hopefully, it's a little better than last time, though.

The last section of this chapter was actually a little uncomfortable to write for me. You'll see why.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 19

Yang cracked her knuckles as she stood in the center of the arena, Ember Celica on her wrists. Dick Face stood across from her, a large mace in his hand, but instead of his usual smirk, he simply glared at her. Aw, poor boy. He wasn't expecting a girl to stand up to him and now he's pissy.

She was going to enjoy this so much.

"Students," Goodwitch said, "Just to make sure everything is clear, I will explain the rules one more time. If either of your Auras drops to 15% or you leave the arena, the match will end. I will also step in to end a match if I deem it necessary. Am I understood?"

"Loud and clear," Yang said, giving her a mock salute.

"Got it," Dick Face said, hefting his mace over one shoulder. Yang smirked. There was his first mistake. He should know to never take such a relaxed stance against an opponent. This meant he was either overestimating himself or underestimating her.

Probably both.

This might be even more fun than she first thought.

"So, Dick Face," she said to him, garnering the desired reaction.

"What the hell did you just call me?" he growled. Yang could hear some snickers from the stands around her.

"Dick Face," she clarified. She could practically feel both Goodwitch's and Mom's glares at her nickname for the worthless pile of crap in front of her, but she knew that if they saw what he tried to do, they would understand. "I think we both know how this is gonna end."

"Oh, really?" he asked. "And how's that?"

"With you flat on the floor like last time," she said with a smirk, watching as he got visibly angrier. "So why don't you just forfeit now and save everyone some time and yourself a whole lot of humiliation?"

"Oh, I am gonna enjoy putting that big mouth of yours to work, Blondie," he said, eliciting shocked gasps from the other students, mostly the girls. Yang just scoffed.

"How original," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Kick his butt, Yang!" Ruby yelled from her seat.

"If you two are quite done," the annoyed voice if Goodwitch chimed in, "We have a match to get to. We don't have all day." Yang and Dick Face both nodded, not taking their eyes off each other. "Begin!" Goodwitch shouted, and Dick Face made his second mistake.

He let his anger get the better of him. Uncle Qrow had always taught her and Ruby that people never fight smart when they're angry, so the best way to give yourself an immediate edge in combat was to do your best to piss off your opponent. She had met enough "macho" guys like him to know that the fastest way to piss them off was to go for their pride, and just like all the rest, his was way too easy to bruise.

She knew she had pissed him off when he roared and charged at her, no finesse to his movements at all.

She ducked underneath his first wild swing, jabbing her fist into his side. He recovered faster than she expected him to, but still not fast enough. When he brought his mace down, she grabbed his wrist and punched him in the stomach, firing off her Ember Celica as she did. His body attempted to fall forward, but she didn't release her grip on his wrist, keeping him upright. She punched him in the face and flipped him over her shoulder.

He landed hard on his back, and she sat on his chest and punched him in the face again. Before she could get another punch in, he was able to bring his mace up and hit her in the side of the head, and a small explosion emanated from the mace head.

Yang was disoriented for a second, and that was all Dick Face needed to get his foot underneath her and kick her off. She rolled after hitting the ground, looking up at him. She had somehow missed the crystal in the center of the mace head, which was no doubt a Burn Dust crystal. That explained the explosion. But then something else got her attention.

Something smelled charred. Her eyes widening, she looked down and saw…

Black tips.

He made his third mistake…

He had singed her hair!

"You…" she growled, her vision turning red, her sign that her Semblance was kicking in. "You motherFUCKER!" She screamed, firing her gauntlets behind her to launch herself at the monster in front of her. She planned to humiliate him during this fight as payback for what he tried to do to her in the hallway, but now?

Now be needed to die.

She flew through the air, her gauntlets' recoil and sheer rage propelling her forward. When she reached him, she threw a shotgun-powered punch to his face, sending him falling backwards. His body moved to fall backwards away from her, but before he could, she grabbed his ankle and yanked him back toward her, punching him in the face again. This time, the force of the blow sent him straight into the floor of the arena, creating a small crater where he lay.

She was snapped out of her rage when she heard a loud buzzer sound off.

"That's enough," Goodwitch called from the sidelines. "As you can see, class, Mister Winchester's aura has entered the red, meaning that this match is over." Yang looked up at the monitor, and sure enough, Dick Face's aura was sitting at 11%, while hers was at 93%. She looked down at his prone form and smirked as he slowly pulled himself out of the crater in the floor, sending a venomous glare at her. "Can anybody tell the class what Mister Winchester did wrong?"

"He picked a fight with Yang?" Ruby asked from her seat, making Yang laugh. She wasn't wrong. Out of all the mistakes he had made, that was probably the biggest.

"Anybody else?" Goodwitch asked through grit teeth, her annoyance evident in her voice. No one answered. "He lost control of his emotions. Let this be a lesson to you, class. Many opponents will attempt to distract you with taunts. Do not let them get to you. However, Miss Xiao Long, in the future, please refrain from issuing such taunts in the future. This is sparring class, not a locker room."

"Yes, ma'am," Yang said.

"As for you, Mister Winchester, control yourself. You lost control of the match the second you let Miss Xiao Long's taunts affect you."

"Understood," he said, glaring at Yang like the sore loser he was.

"Professor Branwen, is there anything you would like to add?" Goodwitch asked, turning to Mom.

"I think you covered everything for Mister Winchester," Mom said. "As for Miss Xiao Long," Man it was weird hearing Mom refer to her like that, "You made the same mistake he did at the end, and lost your temper. You charged straight at him like a bull, and if you hadn't already thrown him off or if he was more skilled, then he could have countered you."

"Got it," she said, not too terribly stung by her own mother's criticism, since she did manage to insult Dick Face while she was at it.

"If that is all," Goodwitch said, "Then you two may return to your seats." Yang and Dick Face made to leave, but then Goodwitch stopped them. "Oh, and one more thing, you both have detention."

"What?!" Yang asked. She already had detention, damn it!

"Why?!" Dick Face demanded.

"You, Mister Winchester, have detention because your sexist comments will not be tolerated."

"What sexist comments?"

"You said, and I quote, 'I can't wait to put that big mouth of yours to work', did you not?"

"Yeah, and?" he said, still not getting the hint.

"That sexist comment, Mister Winchester. As for you, Miss Xiao Long, your profanity is unacceptable."

"But I already have detention," Yang protested.

"Then you will serve an extra day with me. Dismissed." They could tell from the tone of her voice that she would not tolerate any further arguments, so Yang and Dick Face just slumped off to their seats, while Goodwitch used her Semblance to fix the crater in the arena that Yang made.

"Great job, sis!" Ruby cheered for her after she sat back down.

"Shame about the detention, though," Blake chimed in.

"That's one way to take the wind out of my sails," Yang said.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so vulgar, that wouldn't have happened," Weiss said.

"Yeah, our uncle might have rubbed off on her a little too much," Ruby said with a giggle. "We were able to vacation in Mistral last year with the money from the swear jar."

"Hey, Uncle Qrow contributed plenty!" Yang defended herself.

"Regardless, I can't believe he was such a pig," Weiss commented, disgust clear in her voice. "What did you mean by 'last time', though when you were taunting him?"

"He tried coming onto me the other day and wouldn't take no for an answer," Yang said simply. "He then put his hands on Ruby, so I laid his ass out."

"Disgusting," Blake said.

"He got lucky then that all that happened was a humiliating loss and detention," Weiss said.

"Yeah, hopefully he learned his lesson," Ruby added.

"Somehow I don't think it'll be that easy," Blake said, looking up at Dick Face who was still sending Yang a hate-filled glare.

"Now then, class," Goodwitch said once the crater was fixed. "Let us move on to our next match." She pressed a button on her scroll and started the randomizer back up. After a few seconds, the pictures stopped. The anger at Dick Face was dropped and Team RWBY suddenly found themselves excited again. "The next match will be Ruby Rose vs. Pyrrha Nikos."

Pyrrha couldn't keep the grin off her face as she walked onto the arena in the middle of the classroom, Milo in her right hand and Akuou strapped to her left. Ruby and Yang were two classmates that she was looking forward to fighting, and she was happy that she was getting to fight one of them so soon. Especially since she was incredibly curious about that weapon of hers.

She was impressed by Yang's display against Cardin, so she was looking forward to seeing what her sister could do.

She saw her opponent standing across the arena from her, a confident smile on her face. That alone was refreshing for Pyrrha. Usually most people she fought against were dreading having to fight her, but Ruby looked genuinely excited.

"Okay, students," Professor Goodwitch announced, "The rules are the same as last time. You will fight until either of your auras falls below 15% or you fall out of the arena. Understood?"

"Understood," Ruby and Pyrrha responded in unison, getting into a ready position.

"Begin!" Professor Goodwitch shouted. Before Pyrrha could even blink, Ruby had transformed into a torrent of rose petals and was speeding towards her. Only Pyrrha's honed reflexes allowed her to get her shield up in time to stop the student-sized missile headed straight for her, but the impact was still enough to send her skidding backwards a few feet.

She pushed her shield forward to try to displace Ruby and open her up for a counter-attack, but to her surprise, she saw the red form of the girl flip over her head and land behind her. She turned around just in time to see the girl's weapon headed straight for her. She quickly reached out with her Semblance to redirect the sword.

Only nothing happened.

In a panic, Pyrrha tried to raise her shield to block the attack, but her failed attempt at using her Semblance left her with too little time to react. Ruby's weird sword that apparently wasn't made of metal struck her in the chest, sending her stumbling back, leaving her open for a follow-up attack, which the red-cloaked girl capitalized on.

The second she had an opportunity to, Pyrrha rolled away and put some distance between herself and Ruby.

A hushed silence had fallen over the students watching the match. She imagined that they were stunned at seeing "The Invincible Girl" being forced to retreat like that, let alone actually being struck.

Which brought Pyrrha to the main issue. For some reason, Pyrrha's Semblance didn't work on Ruby's weapon. The only way that was possible was if it wasn't made out of metal. But that couldn't be. It certainly felt like it was made of metal.

She needed a plan, and fast.

Ruby wasn't about to let her get a moment to catch her breath. She pointed the tip of her Keyblade at her opponent.

"Petalra!" She shouted, and a wave of rose petals larger than usual flew out of the tip of her Keyblade and bombarded the redhead across the arena. She saw Pyrrha raise her shield just in time, and was able to roll out of the way in time as a few bullets escaped the cascade of petals.

Two could play at that game.

Ruby shifted her Keyblade into its sniper rifle form and fired the second that Pyrrha left the cloud of rose petals. Her shield was still up, but the rifle shot carried enough impact to stop her in her tracks anyway. Another shot knocked the shield away, and Ruby charged, changing her Keyblade into it scythe form, Pyrrha was trying to recover as quickly as possible and get her shield back up, but Ruby knew it wouldn't be in time. She smirked as she closed in on her opponent…

"Freak!"

Ruby's eyes widened at the memory.

What was she doing? Why did she think winning would be a good idea?!

At the last second, she redirected her attack so the blade of her scythe would get caught on Pyrrha's shield. The two girls struggled for a few seconds before Pyrrha threw Ruby back using her shield, the younger girl deliberately launching herself farther so she was sent flying outside the ring.

"And with a ring-out, Miss Nikos is the winner," Miss Goodwitch announced. Ruby just sat there, trying her hardest to not cry at the memory. "Miss Nikos, that was an excellent throw at the end there, and your reflexes are nothing short of impressive, given that you were able to block attacks that quickly."

"Thank you, Professor," Pyrrha said respectfully.

"Miss Rose, your speed and ability to keep Miss Nikos on her toes was impressive, but make sure that you're able to follow through with all of your attacks."

"Yes, Professor," Ruby said, her voice much smaller than she would like, much to her shame.

"Now then, you are both dismissed," Miss Goodwitch said, and Pyrrha calmly walked off the stage.

Ruby, however, exited the classroom in a Semblance-fueled burst of rose petals.

She didn't want anyone to see the tears.

"I'm going after her," Aqua told Glynda after seeing Ruby leave like that.

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure, but she was clearly upset about something."

"Fine," Glynda said, and Aqua took off after her daughter.

Ruby sat on her bunk, her knees pulled up to her chest, letting the tears flow freely. Things had been going so well, and then she had to start remembering Signal. The things people said. The way they used to look at her. The scorn.

She almost repeated her mistakes from Signal, and ruined everything. How could she be so stupid?! She couldn't win a match!

She heard a knock on the door.

"Go away!" she shouted, assuming it was Yang. There was a second knock. "I said go away!" A third knock. "Leave me alone, Yang!"

"It's not Yang," Mom's voice called from behind the door. Ruby was silent. "Wanna let me in?"

Ruby waited a few seconds before hopping off her bunk and quietly walking towards the door. She opened it up and let Mom in, the blue-haired Master taking a look around the room.

"So, this is what the dorm rooms look like," she observed, before her gaze stopped at the makeshift bunk beds. "I'm assuming these are your handiwork?" She asked.

"Mine and Yang's," Ruby answered sheepishly. Mom raised an eyebrow. "They're sturdier than they look." At that moment, one of the ropes holding Ruby's bed up decided to shift, making a creaking sound. "Ignore that," Ruby said quickly. Mom pinched the bridge of her nose.

"At least tell me you're not on the bottom bunks."

"We both took the top bunks," Ruby said. "Weiss and Blake are underneath us." When Mom's skeptical look didn't go away, Ruby decided to change the subject. "Why are you here?"

"You threw that fight," Mom said, freezing Ruby in her tracks. "There's only one reason why you'd do that. Are you okay?" With a huff, Ruby sat down on Weiss's bed.

"I don't know," she said. "I was fighting like normal, and really getting into it, but then I remembered what happened at Signal and panicked." She looked down at the floor for a few seconds. "What do I do?" Mom sat down next to Ruby and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"There's a big difference between Beacon and Signal, sweetie," Mom said, pulling her daughter into a one-armed hug. "You have a team and friends here. People who will stand by you."

"I guess," Ruby mumbled.

"I know that the idea of showing people what you can really do scares you, but deliberately throwing fights isn't going to help. Your teammates need to have a good idea of what you're capable of. Besides, how do you think Pyrrha feels about you losing to her on purpose?"

"She probably feels like I wasn't taking the fight seriously."

"Exactly. Your confidence is something that we can work on with your team, but for now, can you promise me no more throwing fights?"

"I promise."

"And can you also promise me you'll apologize to Pyrrha?"

"I can do that, too."

"Thanks, honey." She squeezed a little tighter, Ruby leaning her head against her shoulder to return the hug. She moved to get up, but Ruby caught her hand.

"Can we stay like this a little longer?" She asked. "It's been a while since we've done this."

"Of course," Mom said, smiling at her.

"And Mom?" Ruby asked, prompting her mother to look at her questioningly. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"I bet you think you're hot shit, huh?" Dick Face said to Yang in the hallway outside of Goodwitch's classroom, using his body to block the way. They had both changed back into their uniforms and classes were over for the day, but they had to serve their detention for their conduct. Well, for Yang it was her first of two days of detention.

Seriously, how the hell had she managed to get herself two days of detention in the first week of school?

"I am, thanks for noticing," she said, her trademark smirk on her face.

"Yeah, keep laughing," he said, still trying to keep up the whole "tough guy" act. It would've been adorable if it wasn't so pathetic. And, you know, if he wasn't a trash human being. "I'll make sure to wide that stupid grin off your face."

"Kaiden," she said.

"Cardin," he corrected.

"Yeah, I don't care. I've laid you out twice now, so what makes you think third time will be the charm?"

"That wasn't a fair fight," he said.

"What, you're accusing me of cheating?" She asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Of course!" he yelled. "Goodwitch said it herself, you threw me off my game. You can't take me in a straight fight."

"I could kick your ass with both hands tied behind my back. You just can't handle that a girl is stronger than you, so now you're bitching and whining about the fight 'not being fair'. Grow a pair, Dick Face. You're training to be a Huntsman. If you don't want to be thrown off by taunts, then learn to control your emotions. But don't blame me." She could tell by how red his face was that she managed to royally piss him off. "You ever want to try again, I'll take you on any time. And I'll even lay off the taunts so I don't hurt your wittle feewings," she said, throwing one more taunt in there for good measure. "Now if you'll excuse me, we both have a detention to serve," she said, pushing her way past him and into Goodwitch's classroom. Dick Face angrily stomped in after her.

"You're late," Goodwitch said warningly.

"Won't happen again, ma'am," Yang responded easily, taking a seat in the front of the class. Dick Face just grumbled before sitting a few seats away from her.

The glares from that jerk were going to get old really fast. The thing that confused Yang the most about Dick Face was his insistence on pretending that he was in any way tough. She hoped she wouldn't have to put up with him for much longer before he finally got the hint.

For now, she just wanted to go back to her dorm and sleep.

She was on her way to do just that when she ran into a familiar face.

"Yo, Blake!" she cheerfully, getting the black-haired girl's attention away from her book.

"How was detention?" her teammate asked.

"It was with Goodwitch and Cardin, so about as well as you'd expect," Yang said with a sigh. "I just wanna go to sleep."

"I can imagine."

"Can you believe that that asshole accused me of cheating during our spar?"

"How could he possibly think you cheated?" Blake asked.

"Apparently since I got under his skin, he thinks that made the fight unfair. What a baby."

"I honestly didn't think my opinion of him could get much lower," Blake said. "I have a feeling he's going to keep proving me wrong."

"Probably," Yang said. "So, whatcha reading?"

"I was catching up on some reading about the Color War," Blake said, showing Yang the cover of the book.

"Why?" Yang asked. "Didn't combat school cover that?"

"I didn't go to combat school," Blake answered, shocking Yang.

"But how are you so good?" Yang asked, dumbfounded.

"I grew up outside the Kingdoms. Learning to fight was a necessity. Besides, I'm not exactly self-taught."

"So, why didn't you join Ruby and Weiss's study session?"

"I study better on my own. I read at a fast pace and being with others is just gonna slow me down." At that moment, Yang let out a long yawn.

"Well, I'm gonna head back to the dorm. I'll see you later."

"Mhm," Blake mumbled, getting back to her book.

Cardin angrily slammed the door to his team's dorm, startling the rest of his team.

"What's your problem?" Russel asked him.

"That Xiao Long bitch is my problem," he said. And what a problem she was. It had been a while since he had seen a girl that sexy, so naturally he'd wanted to, uh, "get to know her better". And with the way she was dressed, he could see she had a lot to offer. But then the stupid bitch went and told him no, and then didn't even have the good graces to take her beating from him like a good little slut. "She needs to learn her place." She needed to learn that whatever Cardin Winchester wanted, he had. Sure, she didn't know when to shut the fuck up, but it was nothing a little duct tape couldn't fix. Besides, it was worth it for a body like that. He just needed to knock her down a peg, remind her of who's in charge, and make it clear that it's much healthier to stay on his good side. "I have a job for you boys."

"What do you need?" Sky asked.

"Gather some information about her. Her strengths, weaknesses, the works," he said. If he was going to put her in her place, he needed to make sure that it was thorough. He needed to destroy her utterly.

One way or another, Yang Xiao Long would be his.

AN: Yeah, that last part with Cardin was super uncomfortable to write, for obvious reasons. This is kind of a downside to me writing the narration to match the thoughts of the person it's focusing on. Just to avoid confusing anyone, I absolutely DO NOT condone anybody thinking about someone the way Cardin thinks about Yang. It was just necessary to write it like that because it was from his perspective, and like it or not, this is how he thinks of Yang.

As you guys can probably see, I'm planning on having Cardin be a more serious antagonist for Volume 1 instead of just the dude that bullies Jaune.

We will soon be getting to the first class with Aqua, so I'm looking forward to starting that.

As always, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you all next time!