A/N: Hello everybody! This story is not dead, and I am back to write it again. Of course, it has been a while but due to college being an adjustment and keeping up with schoolwork, alongside moving to a new city for college, and just not knowing how to write quickly or just wanting the quality of my writing to be the best it could be. I am going to be frank; I really regret not writing more content in general this year, especially RWBY content. Seeing my profile and the promised stories I have teased to have started this year has made me realize how overly ambitious this is. There will be an update on my profile shortly after the episode released (around 30 minutes or less after posting the chapter) but long story short is I will be making sure to think about which stories to prioritize. Not only that but college has taken up time and I had to make time in between studies to get this chapter out, couple that with slow writing speed and yeah. I am not saying this an excuse but as an explanation so if something is not coming out on time you know why.

RWBY: REBN – Season 1

Episode 12: Rivalry for the Ages

After a week following Jaune and Cardin's talk on the roof, Jaune found himself spending multiple days making excuses to his teammates so he could fight Cardin in a desperate effort to keep his secret under wraps. Said fights were raw and brutal, as Jaune found himself in multiple places around the school including locker room, Cardin's dorm room, Jaune's dorm room, and the dining hall. Every fight left Jaune tired and sore with a few bruises from lack of hand-to-hand combat experience. With each fight came less time for academics and more excuses Jaune had to make to get away from his team to fight Cardin.

"I'm so tired, I can barely think. I better find a way to beat Cardin soon, the sooner I can beat him the sooner this can end." Jaune thought to himself.

"Mr. Arc."

"I barely stayed awake for Aura Training; I don't know if I can stay awake for the rest of my classes. Maybe during lunch, I should get some coffee to get me through the day." Jaune internally monologued.

"Mr. Arc."

"What am I going to do? I can't afford to get kicked out of Beacon, but how can I even stay at Beacon if I am just going to be useless in a fight. Maybe I could figure something out, but what I can't just be a decent huntsman. How can I even unlock my semblance? I just want to do better."

"Mr. Arc!" Professor Oobleck remarked for the third time, breaking the blond boy out of his thoughts.

"Huh?' Jaune questioned still in a daze.

"What advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" Professor Oobleck questioned.

"Uhh…. they had….. binoculars." Jaune guessed to the laughter of everyone else.

"Typical Jaune, of course he would say something like that. To be fair it is far easier to train an animal than a soldier." Weiss thought to herself shaking her head

"Does anyone else have an answer?" Oobleck said after briefly sighing.

"The answer is night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." Ren answered clearly.

"That's correct." Oobleck moved on. "Anyway, moving on to…"

"Why did I say that? Of course it wasn't binoculars, I really need to get it together. I can't cause any more unwarranted attention to myself." Jaune thought.

By the end of class, everyone was leaving and Jaune barely got a chance to leave his desk before Professor Oobleck stopped him.

"Mr. Arc, I would like to have a word with you." Professor Oobleck firmly stated.

"O-okay." Jaune muttered, dreading the worst.

"While you were never the best student in my class, recently it seems that your grades in this class have been slipping more than usual." Oobleck pointed out, seeing Jaune briefly look away.

"I don't know if it's a lack of interest, but whatever it is it stops now!" Oobleck emphasized.

"You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it." Oobleck added with a hint of concern in his voice.

"I understand." Jaune commented.

"Good, now run along and don't forget to read through pages 51 to 91." Oobleck concluded.

As Jaune left the classroom and passed Cardin in the hallway, he would eventually make it to the cafeteria to where his friends, particularly his team were concerned about him.

"So, what did you think our assignment for Hunter Regulation and Law?" Weiss asked Pyrrha.

"Well, honestly I thought it was very interesting. I like how we have to memorize the many things we can't and cannot do with each hunter licenses at each level." Pyrrha remarked.

"I am also doing well in my other classes, even with survival in the wild and…." Pyrrha began to say.

"That's great, Pyrrha." Weiss casually dismissed. "Just think with our grades and high social status there will be nothing we can accomplish. Everyone here will be kissing the ground we walk on."

"Yeah… Weiss I need your opinion on something." Pyrrha started, wanting to bring up her hang-ups about her fame. "It's about..."

"Like with Dust class, ever since the first day of class my success has been solidified. The professor was extremely impressed by my experience with Dust…." Weiss continued, ignoring Pyrrha

"What's wrong with me, she makes this seem so easy." Pyrrha internally remarked in envy as we cut to Blake and Ren.

"So…. classes are going well for me." Blake started to talk to Ren. "How about you?"

"Things are going well, I just signed up my classes for next semester." Ren remarked. "I am taking Psychology next semester."

"Psychology is fine, it's a class where I can just take it easy." Blake replied thinking about moving on from her past and a certain friend.

"Oh, that's good." Ren responded noticing Blake's facial expression

"Um, Blake?"

"Yes?"

"Nothing, I thought you have something else to say." Ren stated, about to go back to his lunch.

"Come on Blake, this is supposed to be a fresh start, act like it." Blake thought to herself.

"Actually, I was thinking about an old friend… someone I met a few months before Beacon. He's very important to me."

"I see." Ren replied thoughtfully.

"We would spend our free time reading since he owns a lot of books. In fact, I was introduced to some of my favorite novels thanks to him." Blake commented.

"That must have been nice." Ren said with a smile.

"Yeah, it was." Blake replied as we then turn to Ruby and Nora.

"The shooting range was awesome today! With Crescent Rose I was shot down all the targets in the room." Ruby recounted.

"You should have seen the amount of weights I lift in the gym. When I was done, I was so jacked! Look at my muscles Ruby, look at them!" Nora exclaimed enthusiastically.

"They are really defined…" Ruby remarked in awe.

"Check out this video I made of me destroying all my targets in under 2 minutes." Ruby stated showing Nora the video from her scroll.

"Woah! You were so far away." Nora commented looking intensely at the video.

"If you thought that was good you should see how I use my sniper rifle while in scythe mode." Ruby added.

"That's nothing compared to the massive destruction caused by my grenades launcher!" Nora said in an exaggerated fashion.

"Really then, let's see all the ways you can fight with your grenade launcher and hammer." Ruby mentioned as she clicked an app on her scroll. "This app can scan whatever weapon you have and show you various fighting techniques and lets you add your own attacks."

"If you want, I can show you how the app works after classes?" Ruby offered.

"Hell yeah!" Nora replied.

"Hey everyone! Tonight, I'm going to a party on campus with team CNTL (cyan teal). You know my pre-Beacon friends Cody, Nick, Terra and Levi. Anyone want to come with." Yang offered to the sound of silence.

"No." Weiss curtly refused.

"That sounds wonderful, but I have to decline." Pyrrha said.

"I already have plans tonight." Blake quickly rejected.

"How about you Ruby?" Yang questioned.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to show Nora how this weapons app works and then I might go out on my own for a while." Ruby explained. "It's about time I start meeting some more people."

"That's great, I couldn't be happier." Yang remarked cheerfully.

"Huh…. Ruby is getting along better than I thought…" Yang said with a twinge of disappointment and sadness, as she touched her hair.

"I wonder if Jaune would like attend the party." Ren commented.

A few seconds pass as Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren notice Jaune's absence from the cafeteria.

"Has anyone even seen Jaune today aside from classes?" Ruby asked before a chorus of "nos" answered her question.

"I wouldn't worry about it; I think he is just busy that's all." Pyrrha tried to defend to no avail.

"So have any of you noticed that Jaune seems different?" Yang questioned.

"Yeah, it seems like he is always tired, he kept making up crazy reasons for why he had to go somewhere around campus. I mean if you are going to make up crazy stories at least put more effort into it." Nora responded.

"In fact, this reminds me of this one time." Nora started to the groans her friends.

"There we were, in the middle of the night..." Nora mentioned.

"It was day." Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursa..."

"They were Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!"

"Two of 'em."

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora finished.

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now." Ren mentions.

"Anyway, it does seem like Jaune seems more upset. In Sparring class, he was trying harder and harder to win the fight in the quickest amount of time. Sometimes he would find him in between classes training extra hard like he is trying to prove something." Ruby remarked. "What do you think about this Pyrrha?"

"Uhhhh, well…. I" Pyrrha started to say trying to find a way to avoid revealing Jaune's secret. At that moment Jaune showed up with some food.

"Oh, thank goodness." Pyrrha thought in relief at the sign of Jaune.

"Hey guys." Jaune managed to say while carrying a plate full of food.

"Oh hey, Jaune." Yang responded as she saw him. "Are you doing okay?"

"Who me, yeah I'm fine…. never been better." Jaune replied as he went over to sit next to his team. "Why do you ask?"

"It seems during the past week you been focused on something else recently." Pyrrha commented delicately.

"You made various excuses for why you have to leave your team to go who knows where and then you come back with multiple injuries and fatigue to the point to where you can barely function in class. I should know, I had seen how you acted in World History and Sparring class." Weiss bluntly responded to glares among the two teammates.

"What? Someone had to say it." Weiss tried to defend herself.

"The point is, we are just wondering if you are doing okay." Blake remarked.

"If you have something to say, then we will not judge you harshly for it." Pyrrha reminded, giving a knowing look to Jaune.

"Okay…. I was on the roof above my dorm when…" Jaune started to say before he noticed Cardin out of the corner of his eye. "You know what never mind, it's not that important.

"Jaune…." Nora said in a more serious, concerned manner.

"Seriously though, everything is going to be okay." Jaune reassured as he sat at a different table trying to focus on his studies.

"Well now something is clearly up, something must have happened. Why should we trust what he is saying…?" Weiss chastised.

"I trust him." Ren added.

"What?"

"It has almost been a semester at this point, during this time I had the chance to know Jaune. Despite his flaws he has proven to be a trustworthy person and has helped us all individually and as a group. If he thought something was a problem, he would be upfront about it." Ren reasoned, everyone silent as they thought about what Ren said.

"Damn…. It's only been a month and a half and shit's just getting started." Yang quipped.

"We should just let this play out, getting involved will only complicate things." Pyrrha added.

As the rest of the group were talking about Jaune, Blake noticed Velvet still being tortured by Cardin as he kept pulling on one of her rabbit ears.

"Remember what Velvet said, remember what Velvet said, remember what Velvet said." Blake mentally repeated.

"Unfortunately, people like Cardin and their mindsets can't easily be changed even after getting involved." Pyrrha commented noticing Cardin tormenting Velvet.

"Agreed." Yang said in solidarity.

"I know… lets break his legs!" Nora suggested.

"No offense Nora but if we did that, we would get suspended." Yang said.

"Easily for some people to say, especially since they never had to deal with shit like this." Blake remarked, her "bow" briefly twitching.

"Did that bow just twitch?" Yang internally questioned.

"Well, what did you think would happen? This beast and the rest of their kind are just waiting to be trouble. Look at her does anyone know what she does during her spare time, for all we know she is using those ears of hers to gain an unfair advantage…. It's unnatural." Weiss spoke up to the group's annoyance.

"I thought Beacon had standards about who they let in but apparently not." Weiss added, now with Ruby glaring at her.

"You have no right…...?!" Blake commented with gritted teeth.

"And what right do you have to deny this?" Weiss questioned.

"Seriously Weiss, you know Velvet wouldn't act like this." Yang remarked in exasperation

"Are you sure about that?" Weiss said. "Why would her team let this happen if something wasn't up?"

"Do you want to know what I think about your attitude?!" Blake commented in a barely restrained fury

"Go ahead tell me." Weiss fired back.

"Oh no…." Yang thought.

"Anyway! The Forever Fall field trip coming up in a few days so I was thinking we can go to town and get our supplies tomorrow." Ruby blurted hoping to ease the tension.

"That sounds great cuz, we can all get supplies and hopefully everything will go smoothly." Yang stated with glares from both Blake and Weiss.

"And we can get our supplies tomorrow as well." Pyrrha added as Ren and Nora nodded in agreement.

"That will not be necessary. I already bought my supplies for the trip beforehand." Weiss remarked with her intentions clear in her eyes.

Weiss briefly glared at Ruby, communicating their grudge before she left the table and went somewhere else, recalling a memory from her past.

"Don't make the same mistake I did, Weiss. A real Schnee would be better off alone, people are only good to you for so long before they move on to someone else better than you." Weiss remembered, hearing a familiar, early forties sounding feminine voice.

"It's a shame. Weiss and I worked well during the initiation, but ever since…. I don't know I just thought I would make a breakthrough with her at this point." Ruby acknowledged.

"I heard that a team was going to have an empty slot by the end of the semester. Maybe Weiss might try to take it." Ruby added.

Before anyone could say anything, lunch was almost over, and the two teams eventually went to their last classes for the week

"Hey Pyrrha, we were thinking what we could buy for the…. field trip tomorrow…." Nora started speaking as she and Ren realize Pyrrha was not at the door. "Oh…. Pyrrha's not here."

"She must have gone out to find Jaune." Ren noted.

"Is it me or do you think something more is going on with Jaune. He was talking about being on the roof before he stopped talking for some reason." Nora mentioned.

"That's…. a good point…. There must be a reasonable explanation for this." Ren muttered.

"I mean I'm just saying what I thought about what happened. Not only that but Pyrrha seems to know something about what's going on with Jaune." Nora brought up.

"Pyrrha has grown close to Jaune within the last few weeks." Ren noted.

"We already know that, but something else is going on." Nora responded as Ren stumbled upon something.

"Hey, what is this?" Ren thought as he picked up something near Jaune's bed.

"What do you get there?" Nora wondered.

"It's a copy of Jaune's transcripts. I found it crumbled up under his bed next to his suitcase." Ren remarked. "But something is off about it."

"Well, what is it?" Nora questioned.

"Wait a second." Ren stated really focusing on Jaune's transcripts. "This transcript looks different."

"Yeah, Jaune's transcripts do look different." Nora said with concern as she pulled up an example of a legitimate transcript on her scroll.

A few moments of silence pass as both Nora and Ren realize exactly why their team leader is acting so weird…. and the implications of what they found out was not good in the slightest.

"You don't think he…"

"Yep… he did."

A/N: So that was the chapter. What do you think about the characters in this episode? Yes this episode was mainly set up but I tried to make the character dynamics fun and make some important step for some characters like Yang, Weiss, Jaune, and Blake. Ruby showing Nora her new app is the basis for the team attacks that will be seen in season 2, also Cody, Nick, and Levi are all Faunus. Ren and Nora are going to find out and deal with Jaune's transcripts by the end of this arc. So, it this issue would not come back right out of nowhere 7 seasons after it was relevant (cough *Volume 8* cough). I hope Ren and Nora are handled well particularly Nora seeing how outside of 2 full volumes they are just a comedic duo most of the time. I have noticed how my release speed is impacting my view count/reviews seeing how I am far from the first person to make a rewrite of RWBY. If there is any way I can make this fic stand out more from the rest, please let me know. Since it will be a LONG while since I will get to some of the more well thought out story moments and my interpretation, I am willing to share my plans with all of you regarding the future seasons of RWBY: REBN and my plans for each story arc. If you want me to do this, just tell me in a review. With changes involving my life and the site of (with their removal of reaction fics for bullshit reasons) I might take precautions to ensure my fics do not get deleted. Anyway, please tell me what you think about the episode. Happy Thanksgiving….until next time….