Everyone really likes to focus on Cardin getting what's coming for him. That was what 90% of the comments related to last chapter dealt with. I know I left it at that, but we all know something like that was going to happen to Cardin. He just doesn't learn. I've been getting some questions about the dance come up and this book will end after the dance. The next book will have a short time skip, as I can't write every single day without making this story monotonous. I'm going to try to avoid too many time skips and just follow the main storyline with minor differences. There's going to be a lot more White Fang events. Now comment responses and then the story.

Onishin Tsukitenshi: Don't think he was going that far. He was just trying to show off for a girl. Not that it worked.

KingAllen: I could go into a long winded explanation about why, but I doubt people care here. I know my discord group is tired of the discussion. But, yes. Kamisato was a weak point. Ah, but remember. The original humans has innate magical talent but lost it. So you could argue they are talentless.

D. : Cinder was so good early on and then was just made a typical boring villain.

Batthan the Dark Knight: Honestly? Worst and Yang would be best friends pretty quick.

Angelfusion: I'll take that into account. Right now, Watts was the one who would be most likely to learn anything significant. Months will pass before it becomes relevant. Right now, Salem was just seeing if it was possible. I feel like RWBY world would be a great place to cast magic though.

Ahsoei: Touma needed some guy friends that share his appreciation of fine culture.

Fernandamichelleraya: A lot of random talks could fill up space, but it would honestly seem like filler. There will be some Accelerator with other people that won't talk about Weiss, so there's that.

Yuuji Akira: Touma needs someone possessive to make other girls jealous. It's the only way to keep things moving or Touma will just ignore them.

SkyChaser17: Touma needs to bring those guys to the side of righteousness. And perversion. Perversion is neither good or evil. Touma never really got to lead a team. Accelerator and Neo do whatever they want.

Takedo: I have a feeling porn mags will be a running joke here.

calderoneric758: I have decided if anyone will come through the portal already. Could be 1, two, many or none. Omake's might be okay for other people though.

shiroryuu012: Touma's going to hang out with Team RDL a lot, maybe Jaune and Ren will join in too.

Lovecrazyhedgehog: You're wrong there. Last Order is the real leader. Accelerator will do what she wants and Neo will have to or answer to Accelerator.

WriterAdam: Hmm, that's a good question. It might be hard to wrap her head around that experiment.

Prof. Pancakes: It's after Othinus but before Kamisato. Add a gap there. I always considered ley lines on Remnant, but I feel like they would be decaying. The pool of darkness is slowly decaying Remnant while the pool of light is pretty much gone. But that's just my opinion.

XiHeng: This isn't that kind of story, but I could see an Omake about that.

ShinyKyu: Weiss isn't used to being told no, but once Touma explained it to her, she did let him go. She's not completely unreasonable.

AMTT94: The way I see if is the difference between Sorcerers and Wizards in D&D. Sorcerers use rare innate talents while Wizards use study and intelligence. I could do something small like that. But remember, unlike in Toaru, Remnant probably doesn't have a lot of phases, so accidental magic would be rarer. By the time it becomes relevant anyways, a lot of time will pass, so it's not like Watts could instantly cast city destroying spells. Watts is the guy who would use magic correctly. Tyrian would cause the accidents. I could do something like that with Magic. Uses Aura since both are refined from the soul. Would prevent people from using magic indefinitely.

Idol Theory. What happens if you use Idol theory on the relics?

He believes Neo is teasing him to get a reaction. It's who that girl is. It's what she does.

808Joker808: I have a couple ideas how to get them to talk. But their relationship is going to be a lot of insult based humor. Like a lot of guy's relationships. I have some ideas for Accelerator to get along with more people besides Weiss. Got something big with Coco.

TykkiMikk: Yeah, she's been hanging around Worst too much.

Kuvukiland: I've seen Fanfic mess up with notifications a lot. The biggest thing with Team CRDL is no one ever asked them why they hate Faunus. They could be bullies, but Cardin seems to have a little more hatred. Or pent up stress. One or the other. Now that Jaune has a girlfriend, he gives of that 'taken' scent, along with being more confident. It would make him more attractive to girls, like he was told by his parents. Fake confidence is not the same as real confidence. Touma and Cardin being swapped has HUUUGGGGEEE significance. It will start being apparent this chapter.

Nine To One: Question is if Touma read it. Who are we kidding? Of course he is.

Cchang3: If it uses electrical currents, then Last Order might be able to. However, there's no indication that's the case. Semblances don't have to follow rules of Toaru.

WSarcasm: Yeah, let's not talk about Season 8 or the BS I'm worried will follow. Just wait until Touma learns about Ozpin's past. He's going to knock some sense into him. I want to do some stuff with Dragons ever sense Season 6 with the gods. It's what led to this story being born. I gave Sun some screen time again.

G119: Funny enough, some people think Weiss was TOO pushy. It's hard to get characters perfect. Nah, they show up, it's just there's so many characters in RWBY I can't give them all screen time without glossing over them. Might have Sun do that to Touma. He would fight, but not interfere with Touma.

Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or RWBY.


"We're going to be late!" Ruby reprimanded, zipping around her new room as Emerald shoved a book into her bag. "If we don't hurry, we won't have time to grab some breakfast."

Beacon had finally fixed the kitchens and now students could get food again.

"Are you always so hyper?" Ilia asked, her blueish-gray eyes following the hyperactive girl.

"Our first class is with Goodwitch!" Ruby exclaimed. "I know if we're late, it's going to impact our grade as a sign of me being a bad leader."

"So?" Mercury asked with a grin, pretending to lay back down on the bed. "Maybe I don't want to go to class today-… ouch!"

Emerald elbowed him in the side.

"Thank you, Emerald." Ruby beamed at her and then turned to her partner. "So Ilia, are you excited to attend Beacon? You just arrived, right?"

"This will be my first class here, yes." Ilia admitted softly. "I'm a little nervous."

"Don't be," Ruby assured her. "Goodwitch is really strict and tends to criticize, but she's just doing that to help us out. If you get called to fight in her class, just do your best."

Ilia wasn't really nervous about that. She was trained for combat and could fight well. What bothered her was seeing Blake for the first time since that girl left the White Fang. Would she really be able to keep her composure? Blake was sure to recognize her, but would she acknowledge it? They really didn't separate on good terms. Officially, Blake deserted the White Fang in the middle of a mission, which ended in failure.

It was hard to forgive her former friend for that.

At least Ruby didn't seem to hate Faunus.

"Why is she so cheerful?" Quietly asked Emerald to Mercury.

"Probably high on a permanent sugar rush if what I was told about her was right," Mercury muttered back. "I wouldn't be up this early if Cinder didn't make us."

"You remember what she said about behaving yourself?" Emerald hissed. "Don't make this harder for all of us. Just play along with this stupid game."

"If I suddenly change my attitude, it's going to draw attention," The annoying boy pointed out amusedly. "I need to do a little antagonizing or people are going to question it."

"Ugh, I hate when you have a point, even a bad one."

"You two coming?" Ruby called back. Mercury and Emerald looked up to see Ruby sticking her head through the door. "We're going to leave you behind. No breakfast for you… okay, I'll grab you something, but it will only be a doughnut or something."

The two spies sighed and followed, already missing Cinder's dominating presence compared to the undiluted sugar rush energy from Ruby.


"How did Yang beat us here?"

Ruby led her new team into Glynda's combat class, earlier than she ever remembered showing up. Her sister always slowed them down with her morning routine that seemed to take hours to wash her hair, along with Weiss constantly nitpicking at things to distract her. Ilia was cooperative, while Emerald seemed to have talked some sense into Mercury to drag him along. Since they were early, Ruby expected to be the first ones there.

Turned out Cinder leading Ruby's original team was already there.

"Ugh… Cinder wanted to be super early." Yang complained when Ruby questioned this.

"I'm actually impressed at how Cinder took charge," Weiss complimented, looking at the leader beside her. "Not too domineering, yet managed to show Yang she can't goof around."

"I had to leave a strong impression," Cinder replied evenly. "We won't be arriving this early all the time, but being late won't be tolerated."

"Thank god." Yang mumbled, collapsing on the table in front of her.

Jealousy ran deep in Ruby as she saw Weiss beam at Cinder. She always knew her partner wanted Ruby to be more mature, but this felt like a betrayal. This shall not stand. She'll make her new team awesome! She would prove that, even if she's young, she was still a great team leader.

"Let's sit down?" Ruby suggested glancing over at her team. "We can sit by-…"

"Blake?!"

Ruby was interrupted as Ilia stepped forward, looking apprehensive as she stared at the raven haired girl next to Yang. Blake looked up from her book, not caring about the introduction, and her amber eyes widened in shock.

"Ilia?"

"You two know each other?" Ruby asked in surprise, looking between her new partner and Blake.

"Ex-girlfriend?" Yang asked, raising her head and eager for juicy gossip.

"Ex now, since she's part of my har-…oompf!" Mercury's quip was interrupted by Emerald's elbow landing solidly in his stomach. That green haired girl actually enjoyed doing this and hoped Mercury would keep shoving his foot into his mouth so she could hit him.

"We… knew each other before… I came to Beacon." Blake admitted, her mouth dry. Of course that was true, but there was a much bigger gap she wasn't telling her present company about. She knew she probably would have to tell her team later. "I... didn't know you went to Haven."

"I decided to follow your example and help people as a Huntress," Ilia lied convincingly. It helped that she was a little embarrassed seeing her crush again, even if anger silently stewed beneath the surface at the thought of Blake's betrayal. "So I applied to Haven and was accepted."

"Her skin changes color?" Yang gasped as Ilia's embarrassment and anger turned her skin bright red. "That's adorable!"

"YANG!" Loudly rebuked Blake, Weiss, and Ruby.

"Oh… sorry, Ilia." Yang quickly apologized, knowing what she said could be construed as racist. "It really is cool though."

"It's no problem," Ilia assured her, waving her hand dismissively. "A lot of people are surprised the first time they see it." Yang's reaction was actually pretty tame compared to people calling her a freak and pretending not to be interested was better than blushing. It was a shame that the attractive blonde wasn't a Faunus.

"It's really fun to see what colors you can make her turn-…oomph!"

Emerald elbowed the idiot once again.

"Ignore him," Emerald advised the others. "He isn't racist, just stupid."

"I can understand that." Weiss agreed with a nod, noticing Ilia looking a little nonplussed when they met eyes. A lot of Faunus didn't like her due to her father, but she was working hard to change their opinions, along with any subconscious biases that were imprinted on her as a child. It wasn't something that could be changed overnight, but she was trying.

Ruby led her new team up in front of Cinder's team, who had taken the back row, and sat down. The two teams talked a bit, mixing and mingling, as the rest of the students trickled in. New teams varied wildly. Most of them looked awkward, but a couple seemed okay. Some people were friends before swapping leadership roles, so there wasn't always a big adjustment period.

Pyrrha and Nebula entered the classroom together, followed by Ren and Nora. Nebula already looked tired as they sat down. Pyrrha seemed to be trying to cheer her up, but the purple haired girl kept glaring at Nora. Not long after, Jaune entered behind the three new girls on his team. He looked to be in an awkward position, but didn't seem upset. Gwen seemed to be chatting with him a bit at least.

"Hey," Jaune greeted, as his new team sat near his old team. "Everything working out alri-…" Jaune looked at Nebula and then saw Nora pouting. "You didn't believe me, did you?"

"Believe him?" Octavia asked, looking between him and Nebula.

"I didn't think you were serious!" Nebula burst out.

"She follows the devil food!" Nora cried out, as Ren put a hand on her shoulder.

Jaune facepalmed as Gwen and Dew looked at each other in confusion.

"She'll forget about it soon enough." Pyrrha assured Nebula, smiling apologetically.

"What are you talking about?" Octavia hissed to Jaune, elbowing him in the side.

"Waffle versus pancake debate."

"…What?"

"Are you serious?" Dew gawked. "She gets upset over that?"

Jaune suddenly looked at her very seriously.

"Nora is passionate about that subject."

"Very passionate." Pyrrha agreed, with Ren, off to the side, adding his input with a simple sagely nod.

"That's pretty cool," Gwen complimented. "If you like something, you shouldn't let people talk down about it." She looked at Pyrrha. "By the way, hi, I'm Gwen."

"Pyrrha, nice to meet you." Offered the girl with a smile. "I hope you and Jaune are getting along well."

"We hit it off right away," Gwen replied with a small smile, hoping to make a good impression with her idol. Of course, Jaune knew she was lying, but decided not to say anything. The initial reason for approaching people is one thing, but he was hopeful that Gwen would see the real Pyrrha and both could end up becoming friends. "He was very thoughtful about respecting our boundaries."

Nebula rubbed her temples, knowing full well Gwen was just being a kiss ass. Dew didn't say anything, as she also knew the truth. While she respected Pyrrha's combat skills, she wasn't a fan girl like the youngest member of their team.

Meanwhile, Ruby had been eyeing them, trying to see how Jaune's team was adjusting. Team JNPR had always been a really tight knit team, sort of like a big family. Seeing them talk with members of Team NDGO like old friends, some minor teasing and friendly banter, made her feel like she needed to work harder. Mercury still teased her and she needed to figure out how to get him to respect her.

Then she realized something after glancing at the clock.

"Where are Team TAN and CRDL?"

"Aren't they just running late?" Mercury asked. "They actually got to sleep in, luuucky."

"Think they got in trouble?" Weiss asked from behind Ruby.

"5 Lien says Accelerator killed Cardin." Yang whispered to Blake.

Blake looked up exasperated and then shook her head. She had been watching Ilia and barely paying attention to the question.

"Dang, thought for sure…"

"Neo would be the one to kill him and Accelerator would throw the body into the forest." Blake corrected her partner. None of them really liked Cardin after all.

Weiss, Ruby, Yang, and even Cinder's team stared at her.

'She's probably right,' Emerald thought silently and shivered as a flash of Accelerator's rage induced transformation appeared in her mind.

Their worries were for naught however, as the door to the class opened and Touma stepped in. Ruby was about to wave him over to sit near them, when she stopped. Her jaw dropped as watched the bizarre scene before her.

Yang and Blake were equally surprised.

"I'm telling you, it won't work." Touma told Russel. "Body armor. Even without Aura, it was designed to boost him."

"You're nuts, man." Russel shook his head. "Body armor is easily broken. Even if he uses the best material possible."

"How can you two still be arguing over this?" Dove asked, throwing his hands up into the air. "You just started the series."

"Wasn't it your fault this debate started?" Sky asked jokingly.

"...I regret everything."

Ruby was trying to process how it was possible that Team CRDL, one of the meanest teams full of bullies, suddenly started acting friendly. Touma was so amazing. He could even turn jerks into friends. Maybe Beacon will be even better without them insulting Faunus. If anyone could change people's minds, Touma could.

"How…?" Weiss gaped like a fish out of water at the absurd scene before her.

"Hmm?" Cinder asked, glancing over at the heiress.

"It's… never mind, not important."

Touma and his new team sat down in their own seats, a little further away from the others. The clock ticked down and with only two minutes left before class, the door opened to let the final team in. Accelerator, Last Order, and Neo entered…

…no sign of Cardin though.

The original members of Team RWBY and JNPR shared some worried glances. None of them liked him, but if something happened to take him out of commission, there would be repercussions. He may have been a bully and a jerk, but he was still a student training to protect the kingdoms from the Grimm. Admittedly, none of those who knew him were entirely sure how to feel.

Touma, on the other hand, noticed and frowned. Neo winked at him as she passed, which actually only made him more worried. The girl was never happy like this unless she had done something bad. Accelerator wasn't giving away anything and Last Order didn't seem to be acting any different from her usual cheerful self. Before he could ask anything about the situation, the bell signaling the start of class rang out.

"Good morning, class." Glynda told them all, walking in the moment the bell range, clipboard in hand as she took attendance. "We're going to be doing something a little differently today. As you may be aware, with new teams there is always an adjustment period. In order to help with this transition, I've modified our sparring matches today."

Nebula suddenly felt the beginnings of a nervous sweat start to trickle down her brow. , The thought of having to spar against her new partner, the Invincible Girl, Pyrrha Nikos was a trepidatious thought. Although, thinking about it, it was probably slightly better than facing Nora after she answered 'waffles' to the hyperactive girl's question yesterday. She had been sure it was supposed to be a prank of some kind and didn't want to fall for it. That was a mistake she wouldn't make again.

"Instead of one on one matches, we'll be doing team two on two matches with your current partner," Glynda explained. "I trust you've been paying attention to how your partner has performed in their previous matches. Adapting to new or changing situations is vital; especially so for those in leadership positions. As professional Huntsman and Huntresses, you may be required to work with people you are unfamiliar with. The Grimm are numerous and no one can fight against them all alone. We are stronger together than we are divided."

"So we don't have to fight because of your Semblance, right?" Russel whispered to Touma.

"Pretty sure," Touma confirmed with a nod. "Goodwitch won't risk me in a spar since I can suppress Aura."

"Phew, now I can sit back and relax." Russel smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Thanks for making this an easy class."

"Lucky bastard." Sky muttered.

"I hope you have to spar Nikos when this is over." Dove added.

"First up, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark versus Sun Wukong and Reese Chloris!" Glynda announced.

"Hah!" Russel mocked. "Suckers."

"Bite me." Sky muttered, as he and Dove got up to get their gear from the locker room.

"Looks like Sun got swapped with Arslan's team." Yang commented, glancing over at the girl with a dark complexion, platinum blonde hair and olive green eyes sitting next to Neptune.

"Not sure if that was a good idea," Whispered Weiss as her eyes took on an analytical edge. . "Reese is kind of immature. Combined with Sun? That's a recipe for trouble."

"Don't you say that about ninety percent of people?" Yang asked, rolling her eyes.

"No, Weiss is right," Cinder stated. "Reese tends to act childish and is rather headstrong. I've noticed she tends to rush things."

"Like someone else we know." Blake smirked, shooting a sidelong glance towards her partner.

"Careful there, Blakey, or Zwei might find himself in your bed."

"Don't you dare!" Blake hissed back, her posture going stiff while glaring furiously at the blonde. There had been a part of Blake that hoped Cinder wouldn't want Zwei in the room either, but she had been oddly accommodating.

The four participants entered the ring. Sun's teammate was a green haired girl with teal eyes and two black facial markings on her cheeks. She wore a dark purple hooded sweater over black shorts and was holding a hover board. The moment she stood on it Ruby gushed over the weapon. Sun stood by her, confident, leaning on his staff. Dove was holding a sword and Sky held a long dark-blue halberd.

"Begin!" Glynda called out.

The fight lasted longer than it should have. Dove and Sky weren't the best first years at Beacon, but they were still Beacon students. Their tactics were simple, both taking advantage of the lack of obstructions on the ground to back the other up with clear sightlines. Though, they weren't really working together as much as they should have, but more of just fighting on the same side. Sun knew that the two of them were poor fighters on their own, but the combination of Sky's halberd and Dove's revolver-sword offered a surprising amount of versatility. As such both he and his partner had to plan according-

"You keep 'em busy, I'll take care of things!" Called out Reese, hopping onto her board before darting up into the air.

"That's a good sign of proper coordination." Muttered Emerald sarcastically, prompting a lazy shrug from Mercury.

"If she wants to act like hot shit, then she should be able to back it up."

"Language Mr., or I'll break out the swear jar!"

Mercury merely raised his hands in surrender at his new leader's not-so-scathing demands.

Sun had almost blanched at his partner's blatant disregard for the situation at hand. Not that he could complain. There were plenty of times he ran off and did his own thing in fights. Shaking the feeling off, he quickly moved in to intercept the duo, palming his staff and disconnected the weapon into its twin-form mode. The flailing nunchucks provided ample reason for his opponents to back off. Falling back, a mechanism in Dove's sword clicked into place as he sent multiple rounds downrange, forcing Sun to duck and weave while he was locked in melee combat with Sky.

Sun had the advantage, as he easily sidestepped all of the telegraphed strikes and responded with quick lashes to his opponent's neck and face. Sky stumbled back, aura flickering under the forces of Sun's rapid-fire blows. Dove provided a bit of an issue with his ranged attacks, being out of Sun's effective range. The most Sun could do was fire a shotgun blast in the guy's direction.

In the air above the arena, Reese could only be described as showboating, effortlessly gliding through the air on her hoverboard. Dove attempted to shoot her with his revolver, but she blocked each shot with ease until the cylinder was empty. Sun took the opportunity and moved to close the gap. Snapping the nunchucks together, he jabbed one end into the ground, firing the shotgun in the end as he did so. The shot served not only to knock Sky off balance but also to propel Sun up into the air and over the boy's head. Sun kicked off the boy's back and dashed for Dove.

At the same moment, Reese saw her opening. With Dove reloading and Sky on his back foot, she kicked her hoverboard into a steep dive, aiming for Dove's dirty blond bowl-cut head. Picking up speed, she hit the accelerator, feeding the Gravity Dust stored in her board, a cheeky smirk forming on her face.

Sky, regaining his balance, saw the two of them attempting to pincer his partner on the far side of the ring. Jamming the halberd into the ground, he squeezed the trigger. The force of the chambered Dust round propelled him forward, blowing past Sun. However, instead of lashing out with his halberd as the blonde expected, Sky shifted his body and shoulder-checked his teammate out of the way. Both Sun and Reese were still committed to their assault and the surprised evasion strategy had caught them both off-guard.

Sun saw the issue a split second before a purple and turquoise blur made a spectacularly violent impact directly into him, causing both Reese and Sun careening into the ground at high velocity. The crowd let out a collective 'ooh' as they both skidded to a slow stop some distance away from Sky and Dove, the both of which seemed equal parts confused and relieved.

"That had to hurt." Whispered Nebula with a wince to Pyrrha.

"Yes, Sun is a proactive fighter, whereas Reese is an opportunistic combatant." Remarked Pyrrha with a nod as Sky and Dove swiftly moved in and poised their weapons at the downed duo's respected necks. "They aren't unskilled, they are simply used to fighting in completely different ways."

"Winners are Mr. Bronzewing and Mr. Lark!" Glynda declared, using her authority as the one in charge of class to determine a victor outside of ring out or Aura depletion. In this case, if this had been a real fight, Sun and Reese would have been killed. "As you saw class, Miss Chloris and Mr. Wukong have completely different fighting styles. Focused on their opponents, they weren't paying attention to their teammate's position and strategy." She looked at Sun. "As team leader, this is something you need to be aware of."

"Sure thing, teach." Sun didn't seem disappointed and even gave Dove and Sky a thumbs up. "But damn, Reese's board hit me like a truck."

"Gravity Dust!" Reese bragged, beaming despite the loss. "Helps with the impact."

It seemed the two were hitting it off.

"You can discuss how your weapons operate on your own time, for now vacate the ring," Glynda told them, cutting off their conversation. "Mr. Lark, excellent job on supporting your teammate and using your opponent's actions against them." Sky grinned and high fived Dove. "The next pairs will be… Jaune Arc and Octavia Ember vs Ruby Rose and Ilia Amitola. Both teams, please go and collect your gear now."

"Awesome!" Ruby stood up immediately. "Let's kick butt, Ilia!"

"Huh? Oh sure." Ilia stood up, glancing at Blake who gave her a small smile. Butterflies ended up in her stomach as she tried to fight those feelings. Blake was the enemy after all. "Think we can beat them?"

"Of course, we're awesome!" Ruby encouraged, as they made their way to the locker room to grab their stuff. Her eyes fell onto Ilia's weapon once they grabbed it. "A sword? Awesome! Does it transform?"

"It can, into a whip," Ilia explained, swinging her blade and causing it to unfurl. Seeing Ruby's eyes sparkle with stars was kind of weird to her, but not necessarily in a bad way. "I tend to use lighting Dust to give it more of an impact. I dial the power down in duels though, as it can pierce Aura if we aren't careful."

"That's pretty powerful," Ruby agreed, turning Crescent Rose into its scythe mode. "This is my baby, Crescent Rose."

"It's…" Ilia really wanted to say over the top, but resisted the urge and instead offered a small smile. "Really impressive." Part of her wondered how a small girl used such a big weapon.

"I know, right?"

Meanwhile, Jaune and Octavia were also grabbing their gear.

"Try not to hold me back," Octavia muttered and then shook her head, remembering Nebula's words to be nicer. "Er… what I meant…"

"I know what you meant and I'm not upset with you," Jaune assured her, grabbing his sword. "If anything, I'm more upset with myself for not improving as fast as I want." He sighed heavily. "I don't know anything about Ilia, but Ruby's an amazing fighter. Her speed is going to be a problem for us."

"Do you have any sort of ranged option?" Octavia asked, examining her weapon to make sure it was still the same shape she left it in. Her weapon resembled a long kris, with reddish-orange marking running down the center of the blade. "I've never seen you use one."

"About that…" Jaune rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, causing Octavia to bury her face in her hands.

"Ugh… at least tell me something that can be useful for our fight," the red haired girl complained. "Like weaknesses or something."

"Ruby's fast, insanely fast, so trying to chase her is out of the question, but…" Jaune rubbed his chin. "Her attack patterns are kind of predictable. If we can figure out where she's going to move and you hit her there… we might have a chance."

"Why don't you do that then?"

"Terrible at offense, remember? Goodwitch tells me that every spar."

"…Right." Octavia crossed her arms. "We only have a minute, tell me everything."

"I'll do what I can to give you an opening, but feel free to use me as a shield. I have a lot of Aura, so I can take a few hits."

Octavia gave a small sadistic smile.

"Well, since you offered…"


"We're not going easy on you, Jaune!" Ruby declared, as the four of them stood in the ring.

"Pretty sure Professor Goodwitch would have something to say if you did." Jaune countered with a forced grin. Honestly, even with a makeshift plan, things didn't look good.

"Begin!" Glynda declared, raising her hand.

The second the word left the professor's mouth, Ruby swung her rifle up and took aim straight at Jaune. This was pretty standard for Ruby, so he at least knew what to do. In that same instant Ruby took aim, his shield was raised while simultaneously adjusting his footing as Pyrrha had taught him. The first shot connected and, like a rock, he didn't move an inch as the bullets reflected off his shield. Ruby's eyes narrowed after the first couple shots, shifting her aim and firing at his partner. Octavia, for her part, dove behind Jaune and effectively used the boy as her own personal wall.

"Flank them!" Ruby called out to Ilia. "I'll keep them pinned."

"On it!"

Ilia began running round the ring, gradually bringing Octavia in sight. Her sword was held at the ready. Eyeing Jaune, she remembered what Ruby warned her of. Jaune was solid, but didn't attack much, so as long as she didn't leave herself completely defenseless in front of him, she would be fine. All she had to do was knock Octavia away from him, let Ruby take down Jaune, and then they double team his partner. A simple strategy of divide and conquer, something Ilia was used to using on SDC guards.

She hoped Blake was watching and her eyes darted to the stands.

That one brief lapse of attention had cost her.

Octavia hadn't been hiding, rather she had been waiting for this moment. Ilia was separated from her partner and out in the open. With a swing of her kris, a torrent of flame shot out of Octavia's weapon. Ilia skidded to a stop and tried to dodge, but was knocked backwards, hitting the ground hard, yet managing to flip back up on her feet. With a sweep of her sword, the segments stretched into a whip, sparking slightly as it lunged at Octavia. Catching sight of this, Jaune shifted slightly and blocked the blow with the corner of his shield.

This time, it was his turn to suffer for his action.

Moving the shield left him open and Ruby exploited it; the high caliber round hitting him dead in the shoulder, jerking him to one side before correcting his posture.

"You okay?" Octavia asked upon hearing the boy grunt from the impact.

"Yeah, it just stings." Jaune muttered back, glancing between Ilia and Ruby. "Don't worry about me. Just keep an eye out for the opening."

"We can't play defensively forever." Hissed Octavia, her frustration gradually rising. "Charge Ruby and I'll worry about Ilia."

"Don't," Jaune warned, deflecting another bullet as Ilia began to move closer. "Ruby's impatient. She'll do it. Just frustrate them."

"I can only do a couple more fire attacks with the Dust I have left." Octavia warned.

"That will be enough... hopefully."

"Come on!" Ruby growled, shooting again before finally hearing a resounding click. She was forced to pop out a cartridge and replace it. "Ugh, stupid shield. Ilia, let's go!"

"Right!"

Foregoing the original strategy, both ladies charged forward as Crescent Rose shifted from rifle mode to scythe. That was always a scary thing for her opponents to see. A giant death blade swinging down upon them. Jaune had been on the receiving end of her baby plenty of times in their spars. Ilia was also dashing forward and Ruby was planning to time this right. Ilia sidestepped and swung her blade at Jaune's shield. It was deflected of course, but that wasn't what the chameleon girl was aiming for. Her blade stretched out and wrapped around the hilt in Jaune's hand. There was a surge of electricity as Ilia pressed a button on the hilt.

"Ahh!" Jaune yelled, dropping his weapon as the electricity crackled from Ilia's weapon into his.

"Now!" Ilia yelled, kicking Jaune, making him stumble backwards into Octavia

In a flash of rose petals, Ruby vanished to most people. In reality, she was using her high speed movement. One second she was in front of Jaune and Octavia, the next she was behind them. Her arms swung back to deliver a powerful blow at Octavia, effectively cutting off her opponent's offensive attack options. A bang followed when she fired the gun to propel even more force to the swing.

What she didn't expect was to see a shield blocking her view.

In an instant, right when Jaune was stumbling backwards, Octavia had grabbed his arm. With a movement that almost seemed dance-like, she spun them around, swapping their places. Now Octavia was in the front, already slicing horizontally with her kris, using the momentum of her centripetal movement to add extra force. Ilia was just able to block the attack with her own sword, but was forced away.

With ferocity, the two girls began to deliver a barrage of blows at each other. Blade crossed against blade as the two sword users swung weapons as fast as they could. Their opponent was either dodging, blocking, or parrying and the sound of their weapons colliding and scraping against each other echoed in the ring. Neither of them was worried about the other member of their team, because the moment they were distracted, their opponent would get a hit in.

Electricity crackled as Ilia tried to shock Octavia, who in return, shot fire from her blade, forcing them to separate for a moment. She charged Ilia immediately afterwards, because Ilia had range on her with that whip. Both of their movements were refined, gathering some compliments from the viewers.

"Octavia's been practicing." Nebula praised.

"Ilia's not a slouch either and she has the advantage," Ren commented. "If Octavia lets up, Ilia can turn her weapon into a whip. Once she gets going with that, approaching her would be problematic."

Pyrrha meanwhile, wasn't paying any attention to the spectacle that the majority of the class was focused on. She wanted to watch her new boyfriend perform and cheer him on. Though, she found it hard to.

The fight between Ruby and Jaune was anything but eloquent.

"Arc, you better watch your hands!" Yang roared, with the only thing keeping her seated being Blake's grip on her shoulder.

When Ruby had hit Jaune's shield, she had been swinging with all her strength, along with firing a shot from her scythe to add momentum. Hitting the solid metal when she expected to wipe out Octavia's Aura sent a shockwave up her arm, stunning the girl for a moment. Jaune wasn't in any better shape, as his shield was blown out of his hand, clanging as it smashed against the floor far in the distance. Jaune was now completely disarmed in the middle of a battle with a numb left arm. Ruby was off balance right in front of him but the second she regained her footing, he was dead.

So he made a snap decision.

Using his larger body and superior strength, he tackled Ruby.

"Nooo!" Ruby cried out, her balance now lost while trying to hold onto Crescent Rose. Since a scythe was bulky and unwieldy for close combat, she transformed it back into its gun mode.

Jaune was not looking forward to getting shot up close.

"Oh no you don't!" He grabbed her arm and twisted, causing her to drop her weapon as Jaune landed on her.

"You jerk!"

Jaune felt a little bad as he basically forced himself on the small girl. He had to remind himself this was combat class and anything goes, even if Ruby's name-calling made him feel like a dick. Ruby twisted and tried to crawl out from under him. The second she got loose, her speed would let her collect her weapon in an instant. Jaune was defenseless and would be a sitting duck. Thus he couldn't let up on her an inch.

"Sorry, Rubes!"

Ruby's arm was forced behind her back as he pinned her down, using his bulk to prevent her from getting up. This wasn't something Jaune could do to most people. Someone like Yang, Nora, Pyrrha, even Blake would easily push him off. Weiss wasn't physically strong either, but her glyphs would propel him away from her. Ruby relied on speed to fight, so if he took that away, she was helpless.

"Not fair!" Ruby cried out, squirming. "Get off! You're almost as heavy as Yang!"

"Are you calling me fat?!" Came an annoyed voice from the stands.

"I think she is!" Another voice, that sounded very Nora-like, called back, causing Ruby to gulp and go limp.

"Damn it, Ruby…" Weiss merely sighed, holding her face in her hands; utterly mortified.

"She seems rather weak in hand to hand combat." Cinder stated, sounding neutral in her assessment. Unknown to the others, her true intentions were anything but that.

"Tell me about it," Yang laughed. "She'll never spar with me to get better."

"I wonder why," Blake muttered. "Do you pin her down and give her noogies or something?"

"Er…" Yang rubbed the back of her neck as she looked down at the ring. "Sometimes?"

Blake rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the fight too. Though, she was focused on the other pair fighting, like most of the class.

Octavia was getting pushed back. Ilia seemed to have a lot more real life battles under her belt and was slightly nimbler. Her weapon could also stretch out partially, which allowed it to slip between Octavia's defenses, slowly chipping away at her Aura. Octavia glanced over at Jaune, seeing him pinning down Ruby. Good in the sense that she didn't have to worry about being double teamed, but he also wasn't going to be able to help her either. Ilia suddenly retreated to avoid a slash and Octavia took the moment to shoot another wave of flame.

The grin from the Faunus indicated that was a mistake.

Ilia jumped into the air mid swing and flicked her weapon. Octavia couldn't dodge from her position and the blade stretched out, hitting her in the stomach. Electricity coursed through her and she was flung backwards, smoking. Her weapon clattered to the ground as her body went numb. Octavia gritted her teeth and forced herself to roll, dodging the follow up attack that clanged against the floor. Ilia wasn't a slouch and wasn't going to relax just because it looked like she was winning.

To the side, Jaune took notice of the shift in battle and assessed the situation. Glynda was watching the fight, but didn't declare Ruby was out yet. That meant he couldn't get off her and help Octavia. Well, he could, but that would require him to lower Ruby's Aura below the threshold. Based on the screen above the arena, Ruby was nearly at full. The only idea that came to him to lower it would be to beat her up from this position.

If his parents ever heard of him beating up a young girl like that, he wouldn't be able to walk for at least a month.

His eyes darted around, looking for anything that would give him an idea what to do. If Octavia lost, he would be screwed. His sword was way on the other side of the arena, while his shield was closer to Octavia. He doubted she knew how to use it since she was such an offensive fighter. Panic was welling up within him as he finally looked down next to him.

Ruby's gun was laying there, just within reach.

An idea came to him, though Ruby might be upset.

"Sorry, Ruby." The boy whispered, reaching over and grabbing the gun.

"What are-… Jaune?!" Her voice grew hysterical the moment she realized what he was doing. "Don't hurt her!"

"Ilia or Crescent Rose?" The worlds slipped out before he could stop himself.

"...Yes?"

Jaune couldn't resist chuckling as he aimed the gun. This was made all the more difficult as Ruby began to struggle and squirm below him. The plan was to hit Ilia in the back with a clean hit, draining her aura and distracting her, giving Octavia the chance to recover her kris. Jaune forgot to account for the fact that he had fired a gun, like, twice in life; old hunting rifles his dad had. Crescent Rose was far from a standard hunting rifle. Never mind the fact that he was using a weapon with a powerful recoil with one hand.

So when he pulled the trigger, the bullet didn't go exactly where he wanted.

In fact, it was a miracle he managed to hit his target at all.

"AAIEEEEEEEE!"

Ilia's blood curdling scream echoed throughout the classroom and the audience was dead silent.

Horrified by what he had just done, Jaune unceremoniously dropped the gun . This was the worst possible thing he could have done. Ruby's gun was a high caliber sniper rifle. It was not a toy and those bullets hit hard. He was used to being on the receiving end of them, but most people weren't. Ilia probably didn't have her aura up all the way when he struck her with the surprise attack.

Much less where the bullet hit her, which was right square on the ass

Finally, someone in the audience snorted quite loudly at the absurdity. That single outburst was contagious and soon the entire classroom burst into a resounding fit of laughter. There were only a few people who weren't laughing. Weiss and Cinder, though Cinder did smirk a bit. She knew from experience situations like this were why you didn't let your guard down. Glynda of course didn't laugh, just staring in absolute disbelief at what just happened.

Octavia didn't have time to laugh or fully register what occurred. She picked up Jaune's shield as Ilia landed, her sword clattering to the ground and her hands on her butt. With both hands clutching the sides, Octavia swung the metal instrument with all her strength right at the girl's head. The metal hit Ilia in the side of the skull, causing the poor girl to collapse onto the arena floor like a sandbag. In the stands, Blake flinched at the blow; feeling pity for her old friend.

Once it became clear Illa was not getting back up, Octavia tore her eyes away to glance over at Jaune.

She did not look amused.

"Really?"

"I was trying to hit her in the back!"

"You could have hit me if your aim is that bad!"

"...but I didn't?"

After that perfectly reasoned argument, Glynda decided to step in.

"Miss Amitola has been rendered unconscious and Miss Rose is restrained," the professor announced. "Victory goes to Mr. Arc and Miss Ember!"

"Woooo!" Nora cheered. "Go, fearless leader!"

"Nora, Nebula is now our leader now." Ren reminded her.

"She can go lead her nasty waffles."

Nebula slammed her head on the desk in front of her. She really should have heeded Jaune's advice. Being so used to leading, you forget sometimes you need to listen to others. Pyrrha patted her back reassuringly.

"It's okay," Pyrrha assured her. "May I recommend, after classes today, you provide a peace offering? Ren can help make you some pancakes. I know it's not the most serious thing to many people, but it's important to Nora."

"I guess… I rather not have her hate me and make life difficult. She won't do that right?"

Pyrrha let out a nervous laugh and didn't respond to Nebula beyond that. When Nora was bored, much less if she didn't like someone, she acted out.

Accelerator, for his part, had been looking on bored throughout most of the fight. Though there had been a brief spike of amusement on his face after seeing Ilia's reaction to being shot in the ass. Nothing like Last Order though, who had laughed almost as hard as Neo. That multicolor girl was definitely a bad influence on his ward, but it wasn't like he was a shiny role model himself. The hero, the knight or, hell, even that blonde bimbo would be better for her. Not that he would ever tell the latter of the three that out loud.

"Here." Jaune said, holding his hand out to Ruby once he was off her. Naturally the first thing he did was hand her back her weapon. "Sorry about that."

"Hmmph." Ruby swiped her weapon from him and pouted. Like always, it wasn't intimidating or upsetting. Her expression just made it difficult to not laugh and upset her further. The girl inspected her weapon and then slowly smiled. "Congratulations, you beat me."

"Octavia did most of the work. I just shot your amazing weapon."

"She is amazing isn't she?!"


The next fight just finished with Nebula and Pyrrha's complete victory over a couple students from Atlas, when the door to the classroom opened. Most of the class turned to look. Showing up late to Glynda Goodwitch's class could be a death sentence if you didn't have a good excuse. Skipping her class without an excuse was the only thing worse. People were traumatized after serving detention with her. Those were the rumors at least. Mostly it was just that Glynda did not take crap from students.

"Mr. Winchester?" Glynda inquired, watching the boy stumble in. "Why are… What happened to you?"

Cardin was covered in dirt, the side of his head was shaved, and his uniform was in tatters.

"Ask them!"

He pointed toward Neo and Accelerator.

"I have no idea what he's talking about." Accelerator replied, but with a smirk that indicated he did indeed. Neo simply shrugged behind him.

"MISAKA saw nothing, MISAKA tells truthfully." Last Order's smirk was oddly similar to her guardian.

In order to prevent Last Order from spilling the beans, Neo had turned her around before knocking Cardin out. Accelerator actually did nothing except watch, though he was greatly amused at the sight. Before class, Neo vanished and hid Cardin's unconscious body out in the forest. Normally, Neo would have buried him alive but she had promised Touma she wouldn't kill him. If their new temporary leader vanished, she would be the very first suspect. This meant she had to behave herself and dial back her fun.

In a moment of generosity, Cardin was buried alive with a straw sticking out of the ground to allow him to breathe.

"I'm not interested in whatever game you all are playing." Glynda snapped, her eyes narrowing at Neo in particular. Unless she had proof, Ozpin warned her to treat the girl like any other student, which included punishment. After class, Glynda was going to immediately check the school security system. "You are all students at Beacon Academy and need to act like it. Mr. Winchester and Miss Neopolitan, you two will participate in the next fight..."

"What?!" Cardin demanded, furious they were escaping punishment. Neo was gaping, as she didn't want to partner with a blockhead like that idiot.

"…against Miss Belladonna and Miss Xiao-Long."

Never mind, Neo was totally on board and sprung up to her feet. Glynda was really good at inspiring her students.

"It's payback time, shrimp!" Yang slammed her hands on her desk as she stood up. "You're totally outclassed."

"Insults against your fellow students will not be tolerated here, Miss Xiao-Long."

"Sorry, teach!"

Blake actually felt a little optimistic about this. Cardin wasn't a great fighter, neither was he good at working well as a team. He was stronger than most people, but Yang was even stronger. Either girl could whoop his ass and Blake took particular delight in beating that racist. The problem was Neo, as that little devil was strong. She could take out Blake or Yang by herself easily. Together? With their teamwork? They could finally get some well-deserved payback. All they had to do was get rid of the muscle head.

Yang was obviously thinking along the same lines as they headed to the locker room.

Cardin was pissed, but not at who he was facing. He would love to put the arrogant blonde in her place. No, his anger was directed at Glynda for not punishing Neo and Accelerator for what they did to him. It was obvious that his new team was rebelling against his leadership. Granted, there wasn't much he could do against Accelerator, but knocking some sense into the midget would be so satisfying. Grabbing his mace, he was trying to think of a way to do just that and make it look like an accident. What he didn't expect was to find a small hand tugging on his sleeve.

"What do you want?" He snarled at Neo. Neo blinked once and then held up her tablet for him to read.

Follow my lead and we'll win.

"I'm the leader, not you!"

Neo rolled her eyes and typed out another message.

I want to beat those two, so help me win and I'll listen to you, along with no more pranks.

That gave Cardin a moment of pause. Everyone knew Neo's personality by now. A sweet innocent exterior with pure impish tendencies underneath.

"What makes you think I'll believe you?"

I have my reasons. You'll take care of Blake and leave Yang to me. I'll even throw in some secret nudes I have of them for you to jerk off to or whatever.

A bribe on top of winning?

That was enough to bring him on board.

"Alright, twerp, let's hear your plan."


"So, do you think Blake and Yang will be able to defeat Cardin and Neo?" Cinder asked Weiss.

"One on one, Neo will definitely win, no question." Weiss admitted. "That girl's skill is the real deal and she doesn't even use her Semblance in class. But… as we saw in previous matches, people like Arc who are awful in one on one…"

"Thanks, Weiss!" Jaune called up.

"…Shut it, you know it's true." Jaune could only nod at Weiss' words while Pyrrha glared hotly at the heiress. "But working with a teammate can make up for what their partner is lacking. Ruby and Ilia lost because Arc and Octavia worked better together."

Ruby hung her head in defeat, knowing Weiss wouldn't let her live that down. At least Weiss gave Jaune a little compliment. Maybe she was finally warming up to him. Feeling better after this thought, Ruby turned to Ilia.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked.

"My neck is killing me." Ilia grumbled, stretching her neck.

"I did get you good." Octavia laughed.

"Be nice and just admit you got a lucky shot." Dew reprimanded.

"I bet her butt is even sorer." Gwen giggled.

Ilia glared at her but Mercury took it in stride.

"Don't worry, Ilia. I'll massage it for you."

"I'll pass," Ilia countered, expression completely deadpan. "Otherwise I'll have to file a restraining order."

Emerald burst out laughing.

"So…" Nora nudged Pyrrha. "Going to congratulate Jaune for his awesome victory?"

"I… plan to, but for now, he should be working on mingling with his team."

"I think he is," Nebula commented. "Octavia seems to be talking to him more casually. Since she doesn't usually come up with team plays, I assume Jaune was the one who suggested the strategy." She shrugged as she eyed her former team. "He proved he has some skills, so there shouldn't be any friction."

"Jaune does have a way of getting along with people." Ren admitted.

"Wonder if Jaune will ask one of them out." Nora suggested, a little louder than needed. Since she didn't know Pyrrha and Jaune were together-together, her words were designed to push Pyrrha, not antagonize her.

It couldn't stop the temperature of the air around Pyrrha to drop a couple of degrees. Nora scooted closer to Ren while Nebula looked confused at the sudden feeling of dread.

As everyone chatted about the matches, the next two teams finally returned to the area. Yang was looking excited, while Blake was eyeing the crowd. Her eyes met Touma and he gave her a thumbs up. Russel noticed that small gesture and immediately started elbowing him in the side. Blake felt a little bad for that, but at the same time, at least he would be thinking of her as his new team teased him.

Neo and Cardin both looked confident, as they stood on the other side of the arena. Each for a different reason. Cardin just had a huge ego and would never admit he was out matched. Neo's confidence was deserved, being fully aware of her own strength and capabilities. Blake and Yang already suspected that back when they discussed their strategy.

"Are both teams ready?" Glynda asked, waiting for confirmation before raising her hand. "Begin!"

Yang and Blake didn't waste a second and charged nearly simultaneously, with Blake one step behind her partner. Move in quick, take out the weak link first, then apply their solid teamwork to take out Neo. She would, of course, have plenty of opportunities to attack them; but they determined the risk was worth it. Neo was a fast agile fighter and her kicks hurt, but they could take a few blows and still have plenty of Aura left. With Yang's strength and Blake's skill in aiming at weak points, Cardin would fall before one of them would.

Neo started to move out of the way, while Cardin tried to raise his weapon. It was way too slow as the two girls closed the gap in mere moments. Yang barreling straight through while Blake was off to the side, opposite of Neo so Yang's tough constitution could absorb any counter attacks. Neo didn't seem to bother trying to save Cardin though as she grinned. Blake had figured this was a likely possibility. That girl didn't like that brute any more than the others and was probably confident she could beat them both.

Yang's fist made contact with Cardin's face-…

"Huh!?"

…and the poor boy shattered.

Literally shattered into what looked like glass shards that smashed against the ground and vanished.

'Shit!'

That word passed simultaneously though Blake and Yang's mind. In previous class matches, Neo had never used her Semblance. There was no reason for her too. Her skill was enough to deal with most students without breaking a sweat. Because of this, they let their guard down. Neo had started off the battle with an illusion over her and Cardin without anyone noticing.

Blake caught movement out of the corner of her eye and raised her sheath to protect herself. Cardin's heavy mace swung through the air and collided directly into her side. The shockwave from the blow rippled through her entire body. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she had no choice but to fly through the air. Her last thought before hitting the ground was thinking Jaune really was tough taking so many of those hits.

Yang meanwhile only saw a knee colliding directly in her face.

"You little-…!" Yang growled, staggering back. She threw a punch at the midget standing in front of her, but the girl side stepped the blow and hit Yang in the side of the face; this time with her umbrella. "Gah!"

Lilac eyes turned red as Yang's temper rose.

"Watch it!" Blake's warning was all Yang needed to act; diving out of the way as Cardin's mace smashed against the floor where she previously was. Swapping her sword to its gun mode, she fired at Cardin, forcing him to raise his mace defensively. "Regroup!"

"She's right there!" Yang kicked at Neo, which missed as the girl jumped back, then followed up with a shotgun blast from her gauntlet. The blast hit Neo, who shattered into glass. "Not again!" Yang raised her arms to protect her face instinctively.

The attack never came.

Instead, Blake found herself dodging several rapid kicks followed by Neo's parasol. Her own counter attacks were being dodged or parried effortlessly. Swinging her sheath like a cleaver, Blake simultaneously swapped her gun back to its sword mode, but that motion cost her. Neo sidestepped the clumsy blow and wrapped the curved hilt of her parasol around Blake's wrist. Pulling her down, Blake's body lurched forward. A knee then collided with her face just like Yang, and then a kick to her gut lifted her up into the air.

Blake let out a painful gasp from the force of the blow, but tossed her weapon to Yang.

Yang had been fighting Cardin, who had engaged her while Neo swapped targets. Honestly, this was a pretty easy fight. Cardin telegraphed all his attacks with exaggerated motions. Yang side stepped Cardin's mace, hammering him with two fast jabs to his ribs, followed by a kick to the side of his knee, and finally a fierce backhand to his jaw. With his leg buckling after that kick, it was no surprise that the last blow made him hit the ground hard. Seeing Blake's weapon, Yang reached up and grabbed it, noticing the attached ribbon.

Grinning, Yang pulled it as hard as she could.

Neo tried to kick Blake again, but Yang pulled the girl away and out of Neo's reach. While flying through the air, the raven haired girl let loose another rain of bullets. Neo was forced to open her parasol to shield herself.

"Get Cardin!" Yang yelled, as Blake landed next to her. "Remember the plan!" They had a moment of breathing room before Neo rejoined the fight.

Or so they thought.

"Who is getting who?!"

Cardin roared at them as he swung his mace. The top opened, revealing a glowing red Dust crystal. He may not have been the best fighter, but as a front line fighter with armor, he could take a beating too. The mace hit the ground and the Dust crystal ignited. A wave of flames exploded outwards in a cone toward the two girls. Yang raised her arms to protect herself when she felt a hand on her arm.

Blake's speed would have let her dodge the attack, but she used her reaction to instead push Yang out of the way.

"Blake!" Yang yelled, as her partner was engulfed by fire.

Neo gave Cardin a thumbs up from her position.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Yang's battle cry echoed out around the ring as the ground around her exploded. Her hair seemed to literally turn into flames as she charged at the person who hurt her partner. Cardin tried to heave his weapon up to intercept, but Yang was having none of his shit. The flat of her foot touched down on the head of his mace, forcing it back to the ground while a single fist cocked back. And with a single swing, her knuckles solidly connected with the side of his face, causing his head to turn uncharacteristically far. His whole body swirling as he was sent flying out of the ring; only stopping when he crashed right into the stands.

"Mr. Winchester is eliminated due to ring out!" Glynda declared.

"That had to hurt." Uttered Sky with a shiver.

"Well, he took down Blake, so that's something." Dove pointed out, albeit a bit shaken as well due to the ferocity behind Yang's attack.

"No, she still has a little aura left," Russel pointed out, seemingly the only one relatively relaxed about the situation. "Looks like that fire Dust crystal Cardin uses wasn't enough."

"He uses cheap ones and keeps all the expensive stuff locked up," Dove snickered. "Bet he regrets that now."

"What excuse do you think he's going to use?" Russel asked, sighing. "That Neo didn't help him?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised Neo set this up to make him loose." Remarked Touma with a shrug, causing the other three to look at him. "Just watch." He rubbed his wrist unconsciously, hoping Neo would hold back a little bit.

The guys turned their attention back to the ring, along with a couple of the nearby girls who were listening.

As Yang turned around to make her way to Blake, her face paled. Blake was on the ground, struggling to get up, in bad condition but still in the fight. Her arms were shaking and she was panting, while her weapon was way out of reach. The immediate problem was, unknown to the raven haired girl, her arch enemy was standing right behind her. Neo gave Yang the biggest shit eating grin as she stabbed downwards with the tip of her parasol right in Blake's back, her hidden blade removing the last of Blake's defenses.

Blake gasped in pain and the bell indicating low Aura buzzed.

"Miss Belladonna's Aura had reached the red," Glynda announced. Using her Semblance, she lifted Blake into the air and out of the arena. "Continue the match."

"You'll pay for that," Yang growled, stepping toward her hated rival.

Neo's smirk never faltered as she strutted forward.

"Ah, that's what you meant," Russel realized. "Neo just wants to fight Yang, so she used Cardin to get Blake out of the picture."

"Pretty much," Touma confirmed with a nod. "Still not sure why she hates Yang so much."

"Maybe she got tired of those awful puns." Dove suggested with a short chuckle.

Behind them, Ruby involuntarily snickered loudly at that. Everyone knew about Yang's bad jokes. Last Order looked over at them, surprised at hearing the blonde's jokes were awful. She always found them hilarious. Accelerator found himself smiling too. It was about time Last Order learned Yang was not the least bit funny.

The sudden and sharp pain that ran through Touma's wrist prompted him to glance down. The skin was rubbed nearly raw and bright red. Surprised by the sight, the boy pulled his other hand back. He knew occasionally it felt weird, like something was moving under his skin, but didn't realize how much it had bothered him. With how red his hand was, he must have subconsciously been rubbing it for the last couple of days. Ever since that battle with Adam, things never seemed quite right.

Loud bangs drew his attention back to the ring, as Yang was delivering punches to send shotgun blasts at her opponent. The multicolor girl was sidestepping them easily enough, acting like this was simply a stroll in the park, even opening her parasol and using it to deflect several shots. The moment she heard a click, her strategy changed from dodging to a straight on attack. Yang didn't have a single moment to reload before the girl covered the distance between them.

"Oh no you don't!"

Yang raised an arm in time to stop the heel of Neo's boot from hitting her face. A quick adjustment of her wrist had her gripping Neo's leg before pulling it as she twisted in place. Swinging her around, she tried to slam the girl into the ground, but Neo wrapped her other leg around Yang's neck before swatting her hard in the temple with her parasol. The strike caused Yang's grip to loosen, allowing Neo to gracefully flip mid-air and land soundly on her feet. Shortly after landing, she gave a short bow to the audience. Rubbing her throbbing brow, Yang's eyes flashed red again, as Neo leisurely stood in the shade of her now open parasol.

"Quit aiming for my face!"

Neo merely smirked, tilting her head to the side as she began to write in the air, leaving behind bright pink illusionary letters.

Your face is stupid. I'm trying to fix it.

Every onlooker went silent. No one could believe someone had the balls to say that to an enraged Yang. Except for maybe Accelerator, who suddenly grew more interested in observing this fight. The situation was like a powder keg, as Yang's mind processed Neo's words.

"Oh, snap!"

"Damn it, Sun." Muttered Blake from her seat, face palming.

"You… are… DEAD!" Yang roared, colliding her fists together. Her hair began to glow while the air around her began to heat up. The very ground below her exploded behind her in a shower of debris as she kicked off.

"Her Semblance is literally a giant temper tantrum." Accelerator sneered from his spot, earning a couple chuckles.

"Well… he's not wrong." Ruby muttered, as Mercury was doubled over.

Neo's smirk never left her face, clearly unimpressed with the display by any means. Of course, she wasn't going to get hit by such an obvious attack. It had power and speed behind it, but since it was so telegraphed, all Neo had to do was side step it. The punch collided with the ground, sending up shrapnel in a large explosion. As Yang stood back up, a crater was left behind. Yeah, looking from behind her opened parasol that blocked the dust and scraps, Neo decided she definitely wasn't going to get hit by that. A couple more blows to the face should be enough to win the fight.

But was that enough?

To that devious girl, destroying her opponent physically and mentally was much more fun.

A small sadistic grin appeared on her face. An idea came to her. An awful, evil idea. Yang, still in a blind rage, charged at her once again, oblivious to the signs. No one else in the stands saw Neo's expression either. No one but one misfortunate boy.

"Oh crap…" Touma moaned. "I know that look…"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Yang's battle cry rang out as she delivered a punch right at the multicolored girl's head. Her speed was slowly increasing and it was almost capable of reaching Neo.

Almost being the key word.

Neo side stepped once again. This time however, that wasn't all she did. One leg jettisoned forward and cracked Yang in the shin right as her weight was shifting. This caused Yang to stumble and fall forward. Simultaneously, Neo reached out with the curved handle of her now closed parasol and hooked the end in the hem of Yang's black shorts. There was nothing else that needed to be done. Yang's momentum carried her forward as Neo just braced herself.

Those shorts were pulled down to the ankles of its owner.

The guys in the audience started going wild.

"I expected orange silk ones honestly." Touma muttered to Russel, causing the other guy to snort in amusement. He didn't expect those childish panties either.

"Always saw her as a thong person myself." Dove admitted.

Yang was wearing simple white panties with strawberries.

"Hey, we match!" Ruby called out and then slammed a hand over her mouth. Turning as bright red as her cloak, she sunk down into her chair, wanting to vanish into the void. Her new team did not overlook that comment, much to the young leader's dismay. Mercury, in particular, had once again doubled over laughing, head down on the desk and bagging his fist against the face of it.

Weiss and Blake both felt the urge to hide their faces at Ruby's admission and Yang falling for such a simple taunt. It was obvious what Neo had been doing. Cinder merely looked amused, though her mind was already considering how to exploit Yang's rage as a weakness.

Jaune, meanwhile, deliberately slapped his hands over his eyes the moment he realized what happened. His mom raised him well enough to not sit there and gawk at Yang's butt after she had been pantsed. Plus, he had a girlfriend now; a secret one for the time being, but a girlfriend all the same.

His new partner, on the other hand, had other ideas.

"Not going to peak?" Octavia asked, elbowing him lightly in the side as Gwen was laughing.

"Don't be perverted, Octavia." Dew sighed, pointedly looking away from the ring out of respect.

It was a good idea for Jaune to cover his eyes, as Pyrrha's gaze had both snapped upon and remained on him the second the commotion began.

'He better not be looking!'

As soon as that thought came to mind, Pyrrha felt a wave of guilt crash into her. She knew Jaune wasn't the type of guy to do that. Maybe it was the fact that he was on a team filled with other girls. Or maybe it was due to this being her first real relationship, romantically speaking. Whatever it was, she acknowledged that she was feeling a bit possessive.

"I'm sorry..." Pyrrha's apology, spoken under her breath, was all but drowned out by the rest jeers and laughter of the class.

Unbeknownst to her, Ren had taken note of where his teammate's eyes were looking at. A fact that brought a small smile on his normally passive expression. He was glad Nora was too distracted by Yang's unfortunate predicament to notice.

"That's enough!" Glynda stepped up and held out her riding crop. Neo was lifted back by her clothes while Yang's shorts slid back up. "I have had it up to here with your petty squabble." Yang was scrambling to her feet, face and eyes red as she glared at her opponent. "Miss Xiao-Long!" The blonde snapped to attention, her eyes turning their normal lilac. "Everyone in the audience could tell that your opponent used your temper against you. She antagonized you to make a foolish charge. You have sparred against her enough times by now to know that's part of her style. By using straightforward rage fueled attacks, you left yourself wide open to a counter."

"But-…!" Yang protested.

"Your Semblance may let you increase your strength by getting hit and getting angry, but anger without direction is a weakness," Glynda continued. "Learn to direct your anger in your attacks, rather than blindly charging."

"Yes, professor." Yang muttered, looking at the ground, her jaw tight and her face hot.

Neo, meanwhile, was smirking as one of her arch nemeses was berated. Her amusement quickly turned to bewilderment as Glynda rounded on her.

"And you, Miss Neopolitan. What you did was completely unnecessary. This is a place of learning and growing. These spars are not for you to try to humiliate your opponents with conduct unbecoming of Beacon."

Neo frowned and began to sign, looking annoyed, before remembering that Glynda didn't understand her intricate mute language. Only two people knew it well enough to translate and one grumpy albino had begun to learn. Instead, she walked over, grabbed her tablet , and began typing.

It was an accident.

"An accident?" Glynda repeated.

"Bullshit!" Yang fumed.

"Language or you'll get detention, Miss Xiao-Long." Snapped Glynda, forcing Yang to go silent, before rounding back onto Neo. "Although Miss Xiao-Long does provide a valid point. I do find it difficult to believe it was an accident."

Neo pouted and was going to type out her excuse that was obviously a lie, but decided that was too much work. Saving time, lowering her tablet, she waved at Touma in the stands for him to translate.

"She's saying…" Touma watched her, aware everyone's eyes were either on him or Neo. He wished she wouldn't draw him into her antics like this. "She antagonized Yang to make her attacks more predictable because… she's strong and Neo didn't want to take a direct hit…"

The actual language that devil girl used was a lot more colorful.

"…she was going to hook her parasol into Yang's clothes to pull her back while she was off balance to… really?" Neo nodded in confirmation causing the boy to sigh heavily. "To kick her in the side of the head to knock her out. Pulling her pants down was an accident."

"Best accident ever!" Someone called out, earning scattering of laughter.

"Who would have thought Yang would wear that!" Someone else called.

"I… grabbed the wrong ones this morning because Cinder wanted to get to class early!" Yang protested, a tint of scarlet red coloring her from the ears all the way down to her neck.

No one believed her, but before more arguing could take place, Glynda silenced them all with three words.

"That is enough!" All other noise in the classroom ceased as the professor continued. "Miss Xiao-Long, Miss Neopolitan, both of you have unresolved issues to work out. I think after classes today, both of you can report to my office for a team building exercise."

"Come on!" Yang complained. For the first time, she and Neo were in complete agreement. The expression of shock and dismay on their faces was nearly identical. Both of them appeared to have been slapped.

"Yes, I think you both need to learn to work together as classmates," Glynda confirmed, sternly eyeing the two ladies as she spoke. "After your afternoon classes, report to my office. If you decide not to show up… there will be consequences." Her glasses glinted menacingly, causing even Neo to gulp. "Now, please put away your weapons and take a seat."

Both girls grumbled but obeyed all the same.

"Miss Belladonna," Glynda continued, turning to the girl. "You worked well with your partner, but try to avoid laser targeting one opponent. It leaves you open when confronting multiple enemies."

"I understand." Blake replied with a curt nod.

"Mr. Winchester… good job at working with your new partner." That got some surprised looks, including from Cardin himself. "She is not the easiest person to work beside and you had some impressive combinations with her for just being made partners."

"I'm just that good." Cardin bragged, throwing his retrieved mace over his shoulder.

"Do not let your ego get inflated though," Glynda reprimanded. "As you saw, there are plenty of people stronger than you."

Cardin grumbled and once dismissed, caught up with Neo. The girl looked bored as he grabbed her shoulder.

"We won, so you'll keep your end of the bargain?"

Neo cocked her head and looked confused.

"The pictures!"

Neo snorted and held up her tablet.

What pictures? I just wanted to knock those two around.

Teeth grinded as the boy realized he had just been played.


"Over all, how would you say it went?" Ozpin asked Glynda, who had gone to his office after class ended.

"About what we expected," Glynda replied, passing over a file. "None of the new partners performed as well as they normally do, but oddly, some groups performed rather admirably. Mr. Arc and Mr. Winchester surprisingly improved the most compared to their previous matches."

"This was an experiment Theodore tried in Shade and I was curious as to how well it worked," Ozpin replied. "It's good to see some of our students shine."

"Looking at these assignments, I'm beginning to think they weren't random."

Ozpin smiled as Glynda stared at him.

"I may have fudged a few pairings," The headmaster slowly admitted. "There were some teams that I specifically wanted to demonstrate a different leadership style. I feel in the long run, this will benefit not only them, but the Academy as a whole."

"There weren't any obvious changes I noticed," Glynda huffed. "But it's only the first day. I do hope Mr. Winchester learns that he can't antagonize Miss Neopolitan. You know she was the reason he was in that condition."

"We couldn't prove it." Ozpin reminded her. "You even checked Beacon's security system."

"Her illusion Semblance makes it hard to track her and you won't use her ankle brace monitor as you should." Glynda crossed her arms.

"I use it as needed." Ozpin assured her. "The fact Mr. Winchester is alive and still walking is a miracle in itself. As future Huntsmen and Huntresses, our students need to learn to handle confrontation among their peers by themselves. If we keep intervening, they would be reliant. You can't change people's beliefs by force. Hide them to avoid punishment, but that doesn't change them. A lesson I know all too well."

"Is that why you put Mr. Kamijou on Team CRDL?"

"I mostly wanted Mr. Winchester to know there are some people who you just can't bully."

Glynda's eyebrow raised a fraction higher.

"Cannot or should not, Ozpin?"

Ozpin, in response, merely raised his mug up to his lips.

"Both."


Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or ideas, I love reading them. If you have a question you wish to ask and would like a quick answer, feel free to message me directly. I try to respond to those within a day or two. Comments, I tend to respond to in the next chapter. All mistakes are SilverFang88's fault.

SF88: Fuck you, Dark.

DB: I'm sure Ozpin has a plan for all this and it wasn't just for his amusement.