We're back for more TAaRR! Damn me and my long ass story names.

No, I don't believe that Ruby is actually Qrow's daughter in the show, I think Tai is a great dad to both his daughters. For the sake of this story though it wouldn't make sense to have Tai be married to two women and have kids with both, so Qrow is a dad here.

I'd like to preface this chapter by saying it's a little bit fight heavy. You've been warned if that's not your style (though if you watch RWBY that's more than likely your style).

See ya at the bottom!


Glynda Goodwitch stood before the class. As the clock ticked over to the next hour, she humphed and slammed the doors shut with her semblance. Nobody would be coming in without her notice now. Class had officially begun.

"We've been through this for weeks now but I'll restate it all the same," she said as she began to go over the rules. She'd stop repeating them soon, but she always made sure that the students knew exactly what not to do in her class.

Yang bounced her leg impatiently as she waited for the woman to finish repeating the rules. They knew not to go past fifteen percent! They knew about ring outs! They knew that they were graded and ranked based on their performance!

Bring on the fights! Bring on the good matches! And she meant the good matches. Watching Adam and Ruby fight was a sight to behold. Adam's age clearly gifted him with more experience, but Ruby had a gift for combat and a versatile weapon that left the two nearly evenly matched.

The class had yet to see Jaune fight in class. Knowing he was a champion and seeing why he was a champion weren't quite the same. Everyone was waiting to see him in action, Yang included.

"Pay attention and come down if you are selected," Goodwitch announced. The whole class turned their attention to the monitors located above and around the large room.

The two monitors slowed down, the first one ticking and landing on a ginger boy.

"Cardin Winchester, please report to the front," the deputy called. The large, armored boy did as instructed, his team chanting him on as he went down.

The other wheel slowed to a stop as well. It ticked over and landed on a redhead smiling awkwardly.

"Pyrrha Nikos, please come down as well."

Pyrrha groaned. This was going to suck. Suck a lot, too. Her team gave her assured grins and support. Ren gave her a big smile and two thumbs up. Nora smiled slightly and nodded her head to her. Jaune made no movement, but his eyes and smile were filled with nothing but support for his leader.

Her team's support made her feel better, so with slightly renewed spirits, she got down to the arena and stood across from Cardin.

She stood by the fact that this would suck, regardless of if her team was behind her or not. It wasn't just because she was the worst in their year. It wasn't just because everyone was watching. No, none of that compared to her opponent. It wasn't what one would think though. The issue wasn't that Cardin was stronger than her, though that was another problem in and of itself.

"Are both combatants ready?"

They nodded. Pyrrha wasn't ready.

"Begin!"

She ran in, shield in front of her. She allowed her javelin to extend, hoping the extra length in sword mode would help her deal with the large mace user. She reared back and swung out.

It was deflected easily. She was batted to the side shortly after with seemingly little issue. She winced, not in pain though. She knew what was coming. It was the worst part about fighting Cardin.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, nothing but sincerity etched across his face.

He was too damn nice! It was just another wound to her pride!

"Mr Winchester, what have we said about holding back?" Goodwitch reprimanded. He ducked a little in shame before taking a breath and steeling himself a little. He still looked worried for her, but wasn't about to help her up.

Pyrrha got back up, scrambling and falling into a weak defensive stance. Evidently, Cardin knew it was weak if his apologetic look was anything to go off of.

He broke through her defense in one strike. She went flying again.

"Yeesh," Yang winced in the crowd, "this is kinda painful to watch."

"No kidding..." Whitley watched in what could only be described as 'disgustappointed' as Ren called the white haired boy's normal disposition. The ninja said it was a cross between disgusted and disappointed. It fit very well.

Pyrrha was the odd one out of their group and it seemed like everyone knew it. Where the seven of them stood at the top of their classes in combat (and grades in Whitley's case), Pyrrha stood at the bottom. Where they all had unique, practiced styles, she seemed to have never been taught how to swing her sword. Where they all had impressive win streaks in class...

"And match. Winner; Cardin Winchester," Goodwitch called.

Pyrrha had yet to win a single bout.

"Mr Winchester, as always your physical strength is impressive. You still need to work on less direct approaches to combat. You also must stop taking it easy on your classmates. They are here the same as you, so I expect nothing but your very best," the deputy critiqued the boy.

He bowed his head. Cardin was easy to get along with, they all noted. He was polite and respectful to damn near everyone. Sure, he wasn't the most capable fighter but he also wasn't the worst. He and his team were a bunch of sweethearts, really.

"Ms Nikos," Glynda turned to the girl. She winced at the critical look.

"We've been at this for a month and then some now. With the Vytal Tournament taking place in Vale next semester, I hope you intend on improving your swordplay. In addition, I know you're a capable strategist, so do not waste that skill by attacking opponents like Mr Winchester head on," she told the redhead.

Pyrrha nodded, groaning as she rubbed her side. Even if Cardin was holding back, that mace was not something she looked forward to getting whacked by. And she'd been whacked by it a whole lot the last few weeks.

She blinked when a large hand entered her vision. She sighed and took it, Cardin hauling her to her feet easily. She regained her footing and made sure her clothes were in place. She didn't need to add wardrobe malfunction to the long list of things that had embarrassed her so far.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled. She sighed but smiled at him. It was strained, but it wasn't his fault so she couldn't be upset at him.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," she assured. After all, she was the one who couldn't win any matches. She trudged up to the stands and sat with her team.

Jaune reached over and rubbed her back. He did that every time she lost. Which was every time. He consoled her as best he could.

"Hey, don't get too down Pyr! We all have our bad days," he soothed. She sighed still anyways.

"Nobody is born a perfect fighter," Nora said sagely. Ren nodded rapidly.

"Yup! You think I became all ninja and master bowman in a day!? Nope! I had to practice for years to get this good!" Ren exclaimed.

Pyrrha winced. Years? Perhaps they all had many years, but she hadn't trained for more than a single one! She only got here because...

"The next matchup is.."

Pyrrha was torn from her thoughts as she looked back up. Now wasn't the time to think about that. She would improve! She would become a hunter anyone would be proud of!

"Adam Taurus," she called. The faunus stood and walked down. He'd fought a few times already. The only match he'd 'lost' was his fight against his partner. Other than that he'd carved his way through everyone else.

Whitley included. That had made the boy angry beyond words, but rather than become despondent from his loss, Whitley had vowed to beat the man the next time. Adam liked that spirit. He wished more people in the Fang had that confident defiance.

Pyrrha had also admired that. He'd lost to the bull, quite soundly at that, but he was right back in the fight! She needed to do that too! It was like Jaune said, everyone had their bad days. She wondered if Jaune had his own bad days.

"Jaune Arc. Please report to the arena," Goodwitch said.

The class hushed and mumbled to each other. This was what they wanted! This was the fight they all were expecting! The two strongest guys in the class duking it out! Even the two teams were excited.

Ren was practically vibrating. Nora leaned forward, eyes observant. Ruby's eyes shined as she watched the two limber up. Yang had a huge grin on her face, excited for a fight for the ages! Whitley watched intensely, wishing to see Adam defeated. So what if it was petty? Jaune was no slouch. Pyrrha waited to see her partner in action for the first time.

Jaune and Adam stood across from each other. Both stretched for a minute before eyeing the other. Jaune offered Adam a smirk. Adam noted that his smile wasn't the awkward one he wore when he was around others. This was bright, full of life, and dare he say, competitive. Adam returned the smile, though more tame. This was a fight he would be learning from for sure.

"Are both combatants ready?"

A nod from both. Both dropped into stance but neither drew their weapons.

"Begin!"

They did not. Neither one moved. That drew more whispers from the class. They studied each other fervently. Adam didn't know a thing about his style other than that he was apparently just as adept in attacking as he was at defending. Considering how much of a tower of defense the blonde seemed, that must've meant that his offense was terrifying.

Jaune knew of Adam's style and somewhat about his semblance. He knew his semblance allowed the boy to unleash some truly devastating attacks, but he didn't know how the man did it. He knew the tell for when the faunus was about to use it though and that was enough for now.

Adam moved first. He would test the blonde warrior's defense. When he found any form of weakness, he would exploit it as best he could. He fired twice at the champion, and performed a leap to close the distance immediately, drawing his sword and performing a swift overhead swing all in one fluid motion.

Jaune too finally moved though, his shield flying in front of him and deflecting the first two shots. When Adam leapt and slashed down at him, he simply moved his shield and slammed it forward, not waiting to see if Adam would dodge or not.

Adam's eyes widened at the move. He had such confidence that Adam wouldn't feint. He was right, and Adam was winded when the shield bashed him in the solar plexus, winding him and pushing him with it. Not wanting to be stuck in his reach, he planted his feet on the shield and leapt backwards. He would create distance so that the boy wouldn't be able to follow up.

He didn't expect the blonde to move so quickly. Especially not in that armor. Judging by the gasps in the stands, nobody else did either. Even Goodwitch looked somewhat impressed.

Jaune slammed his shield down this time, simply trying to crush the faunus with the slab of metal. Adam jumped back another step, sheathing Wilt as he did.

What leg strength did he possess to cover that amount of distance in a full suit of armor and a heavy shield!? Adam couldn't think further, needing to take this chance to attack.

With his shield extended, Adam took the chance to attack the boy. He rushed in, stomping down on the shield to keep it on the floor and firing at the champion while tearing Wilt free. He sliced once from his left and again from his right in quick succession. Jaune took the attack directly and everyone was on the edge of their seat. Adam put a lot in that attack, sure he wouldn't get too many chances. The harder he could strike when the chance arises, the less times he'd have to try and bait an attack.

He checked the aura readings to see how he did. He knew the heavy armor the boy wore would mitigate much of the damage, but with the strength he'd slashed with, he was sure to take a hefty blow to the aura.

"What!?" he yelled at what he saw. That was impossible! How could that even be!? Everyone else was just as floored. Could it really be?

Adam stood at eighty nine percent, having not taken a hit past the shield bash in the short confrontation. The issue was that Jaune took a few shots and two hefty strikes directly.

And he still had ninety seven percent left.

They don't call him The Immovable for nothing it seems.

Jaune also didn't let Adam think any further. Adam realized he was still standing on his shield and gasped as the blonde lifted the shield with him still on it and slammed it directly behind him. Adam was thrown off and had to roll before he could right himself. That was close. He could've been flattened by the sheet of metal.

He gasped and leapt back when Jaune finally unsheathed Crocea Gardien and stabbed directly where his chest had once been. Seems he wasted no openings either. With his speed, Adam now knew he could cover any amount of ground in very little time. But with a weapon of that size, surely the attacks would be manageable?

He was surprised again when ten thrusts were sent his way in less than fifteen seconds. They came fast, and evidently hard as he felt the wind around each strike buffer against him. Jaune finished his flurry of stabs with a hefty overhead slam. While the action would normally leave one wide open and would be easily telegraphed, it came much faster than anticipated.

He wasn't expecting the speed the overhead strike came with and was forced to block. He gasped as it connected with Wilt. That had charged his semblance by what felt like a third. For one person to be able to do that with one strike was insane.

Jaune didn't ease up, dashing forward again and stabbing twice in front of him. These stabs were even stronger than the previous flurry, but Adam had a chance to dodge to the side this time. He felt his coattails blow as the wind once again was kicked up.

The class watched the two fight. Adam finally started getting in and landing light hits on the boy. They didn't do much, but it seemed he realized he'd be better off chipping away at him than attempting big attacks.

Jaune was also getting more ferocious as the fight went on. He would stab and slam his lance, not particularly caring if it hit or not. To many, it was odd. As powerful as he seemed, he didn't connect many hits. Was he outclassed by Adam's speed?

That was proven incorrect as the champion finally switched it up on everyone.

Adam had gotten too used to the stabs and slams. He was always making sure to be out of reach or dodge to the side. The strange thing about fighting a lance was that as long as one stepped to the side, it was easy to avoid the attacks. He even anticipated another shield attack of some kind.

He was caught off guard as Jaune swung his lance in a wide arc in front of him. Adam didn't dodge backwards like he should've. He took the full brunt of the strike to the side, coughing as he was flung across the arena.

He looked up. His aura had gone down to about seventy three percent despite only taking about two to three hits. Jaune's was still ninety. Adam had a strong aura as a result of training. The fact that each of Jaune's hits had dealt so much damage was alarming.

He didn't have a chance to think about it as Jaune charged forward with his shield again. Adam raised his sword and blocked it, but grit his teeth as he was easily being pushed back by the advancing blonde. The strike had charged his semblance quite a bit, but he would need more to execute a full power one. Not ally he wouldn't use full power against another person, but he had a feeling that wouldn't matter to the tower before him.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the symbol on the shield before him glow purple.

The gravity dust exploded out, sending him flying back. He stabbed Wilt into the ground and stopped himself, tearing it free and hurling himself to the side when the champion was once again on him. His shield slammed heavily face down where Adam once stood, the blonde attempting to flatten him. He thought that'd be a good time to counter attack.

The edges of the shield glowed purple and he realized that wouldn't be a good idea.

The floor of the arena imploded as the gravity dust went from the shield to the floor. Adam went flying up with it. He turned in the air and looked down at Jaune.

His semblance was charged. He sheathed Wilt and allowed himself to fall directly towards the blonde.

Jaune narrowed his eyes as he watched the faunus fall. He was glowing. That meant that he would have to brace for this one.

In a flash of steel that left jaws open in shock, Adam flew the rest of the distance down, slicing horizontally into Jaune's shield as the blonde raised it to face the faunus. The sound was painful to everyone.

It was like a large metal boat being both bisected while simultaneously crashing into a mountainside. Wilt hissed as it tore across the surface of Jaune's shield, and the blonde grunted as he felt the sheer power behind the strike.

Adam landed roughly, rolling across the floor as he'd had to face directly down in order to execute that attack.

He checked the aura readings.

Adam stood at about forty percent.

Jaune stood around seventy five.

His semblance, when fully charged, could rend giant robots in half.

And the blondes aura only went down by fifteen percent.

He would've thought this unfair. Would've being the keyword as he didn't get the chance to when a lance slapped him square across the unprepared face and sent him out of the arena with twenty five percent aura.

"Winner by ring out; Jaune Arc," Glynda called.

The class erupted in cheers. That had been the most brutal match so far. While it may appear that Adam had been totally demolished, it was no small feat for someone to not only last so long in the arena with The Immovable, but to also take his aura down that much.

"Mr Taurus," Goodwitch addressed through the cheers, "you're a strong and versatile combatant. Your semblance and skill is well honed and your ability to adapt is impressive. While it wasn't possible in this simulation, when against a foe more solid than your offense consider allowing your team or yourself to run interference."

Adam nodded. Jaune was a tremendous opponent. Powerful, fast, precise, sturdy. He was nearly infallible in battle.

"Mr Arc," the blonde stood at attention, stowing his weapon away, "you are indeed as immovable as they say. Your offense and defense alike is unseen at your age. You leave yourself open but are confident in your aura and armor to protect you. I must wonder what your semblance would add to the mix."

Jaune nodded. It was roughly praise he'd heard before. Though he was actually quite happy. Adam had given him more of a fight than most people had. He'd actually would've likely been forced to a draw if there were any terrain around them. While he was indeed mobile, he was at a disadvantage when it came to the wrong environment.

He walked over to Adam and offered a hand. The faunus took it, allowing himself to be helped up.

"You're as strong as they say and then some. It would be an honor to fight again so etine," Adam smirked. His pride as a warrior wasn't wounded in the slightest. That had been an exhilarating fight that had kept him on his toes the whole time. Jaune smirked.

"I'd love to. Perhaps in the forest or with terrain effects. I admit that people are at a disadvantage when they have to fight me on flat ground. That's unlikely in a normal fight," Jaune said.

Adam found himself liking the champion more and more. He understood that the real world was a much different place than the classroom. He also knew what his own strengths and weaknesses were and was willing to admit them. That was the mark of a good warrior.

The two chatted more as they rejoined their teams. The class was still awry with charter as Goodwitch let the wheels spin again. Nobody from teams YSTR or PAVL were picked so they relaxed for the time being.

"You two! That was crazy! Jaune you're like a mountain dude!" Yang whooped as they sat.

"Such mastery with your weapon Jaune. So versatile with what really isn't a lot," Ruby mused, "it's admirable. Very admirable."

"Adam! That was wild when you did the big slice from the air right down to Jaune! It was like WHOOM! And then Jaune's shield was all KATHUNKA!" Ren flailed as he spoke. Nora held him down but nodded with his assessment.

"Adam's definitely the toughest opponent I've had in my time," Jaune said, "Nobodies ever gotten my aura that low."

They were all silent for a moment.

"THAT'S THE LOWEST YOUR AURA'S GONE DOWN TO!?" the less reserved members of their teams yelled. Jaune looked sheepish.

"Without counting any accidents or long falls? Yeah," he claimed. That surprised all of them. Seventy five percent was a lot of aura in reality, and the fact that he said that was the lowest he'd gone to? That was more scary than cool. He was truly a monster.

Pyrrha meanwhile was having a crisis. Jaune was a beast. He'd told her that everyone had their bad days. Apparently this was the closest he ever came to losing a fight, and it wasn't even close. What was she doing here!? Could she ever get to that kind of skill!?

She was worried. All her friends were amazing really. She hadn't had a lot of friends. Now she did, but they all outclassed her in every way. What if they left her? What did they gain from having her around? Sure they said she was skilled with strategy, but that could only do so much if she didn't have the skills to back it up!

Could she ask Jaune for help? He would likely say yes, he'd even said they could work together on fighting stuff. But after seeing him fight, could she really be helped? He was a tower, a mountain ever! She was more like a sapling compared to him. Even a heavily trained warrior like Adam hadn't beaten him, who was to say she could even get close to that?

It took this long to dawn on her. She was useless to her friends. They were string, skilled, and cunning where she was nine of those things. What would happen if they had to rely on her? She would let them all down is what!

"Pyr?" Jaune snapped her out of her reverie. She looked at him, her mood showing on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He wasn't a great people person but he wasn't blind.

"It's... Nothing," she smiled, covering it up. She couldn't dump this on him. On any of them! She had to find a way to get stronger, fast.

"Are you sure?" he pressed. She nodded, a big fake smile on her face.

"Absolutely positive!" she replied as cheerily as she could.

She needed to get stronger. For her friends! So she could protect them the way they'd been protecting her!


Nora noted, with no small amount of scrutiny, that something seemed off today. Having been friends with Ren for the better half of her life, she was quite capable of figuring out when something wasn't quite the way it was supposed to be. Perhaps it was something obvious, perhaps not.

But she had a feeling it had to do with Pyrrha.

She looked down the cafeteria table to where the redhead sat. Ren was on Nora's right, and Jaune was on her left with Pyrrha at the other end of the table. She looked okay. She didn't have the dejected look she normally had after combat class. Maybe Ren could use his semblance on her? No, that wouldn't be a good idea. It was meant for survival, not therapy. Then again, perhaps other fields of work could use semblances. What if a person who could control stone worked in the construction industry? Perhaps Ren's semblance was a viable answer to sadness.

She'd stow that one away for later though. Right now, her senses said that her new sister in arms had something going on. Something about had definitely seemed to shift. She seemed both mellow and determined all at once. What had caused such a change to the normally awkward girl?

Evidently she wasn't the only one who noticed. Jaune stared at their leader subtly. It was no secret to anyone that the boy was... Overprotective of his friends. Jaune had expressed to the rest of Team PAVL that he would appreciate it if they didn't treat him any differently due to his celebrity status. Nora had reduced that the boy likely hadn't had a lot of friends and now that he did, he'd fight tooth and nail to keep them.

He was intense in that regard. He was agreeable. Annoyingly so at times. Ren had wanted a movie night and when they were trying to decide what to watch, Jaune had replied 'that sounds great!' to every single option. Now she wasn't saying you couldn't be eclectic when it came to cinematography, but some of the movies that had been suggested were absolutely awful.

Another note to make about Jaune was that when he offered to train with you, he went hard with the training.

It was true that before today's combat class, they'd never seen him use his weapon on another person. That didn't mean they hadn't seen him fight. When they sparred in their own time, he would use his hands. He gave Yang a run for her money. His sturdy aura and armor, coupled by his strength from wielding such a heavy weapon made going hand to hand with him a terrifying thought. He'd batted aside a fairly solid strike from Mjolnhild with his right arm like it was nothing.

That's when Nora realised she needn't pull her punches when fighting Jaune. He certainly didn't, and it'd be rude to do so to him.

But that brought everything back around to right now. Something in Pyrrha had clearly changed, and he seemed very interested to know what and why.

"Pyr?" he asked. The nickname had come in their third week, and at first it made the redhead blush. Now it made her happy to know she had friends who gave her nicknames.

"Yes Jaune?" she asked, looking up from her food.

"You seem... Different," he noted. All of PAVL was looking now. YSTR didn't pay attention.

"Different? Different how?" she asked. Had her hair gotten messed up? Did she have something on her face?

"You seem more gritty!" Ren claimed. At her raised eyebrow he groaned and slumped.

"Ya know, normally you're all 'mmm' now you're all 'HMM' you get what I mean?"

No, she didn't. Neither did Jaune evidently, as the champion looked from Ren to Nora expectantly. The ginger sighed at her friend's antics.

"He means to say that you seem to have gone through an attitude change, Pyrrha," she supplied. Jaune let out an oh and nodded. He'd thought the same thing.

"I... Suppose so," Pyrrha shied away slightly. It wasn't so much an attitude shift so much as it was the shocking realization that she was leagues below all her friends and was likely more of a freeloader than a teammate.

"Is this about your loss in class? Don't worry! We're all here to learn!" Jaune consoled.

Easy for him to say. He'd secured his place at the top of the class today.

"It's not... Entirely about that," she stated.

"Then what's it about!?" Ren asked, slumping over the table and looking at Pyrrha from his end.

"Well... I just kinda feel—" the girl didn't get to finish as there was a commotion from a few tables away.

The eight of them turned, as did many others, to watch as the rabbit faunus from early pushed around the members of Team CRDL.

"Ugh, such brutish behavior," Whitley scoffed. By his side, Adam nodded, a stern look in his eyes as he watched.

"It's people like her that make so many despise the faunus," the bull commented.

Ruby seemed to hum with a deadly aura. Yang was rubbing her sisters back, though she too glared at the scene. Due to their passive nature and the second year's higher level of experience, the four boys weren't faring too well.

"I'm just saying," Ren spoke from the corner of his mouth, "laxatives."

They all sighed. The boy was an underhanded schemer. It was part of what made him such an insane fighter.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Pyrrha asked. Cardin and his team had been nothing but pleasant, so watching this happen was frankly just upsetting. Adam supplied her answer.

"Unfortunately," he still stared at the scene with unmitigated disgust, "it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked. Clearly the girl was about to fly across the room to show that girl a piece of her mind.

"Based on what we're seeing, people are apprehensive to stop her for a few reasons. Sure she's a second year and that might carry some weight, but it's more likely because of those."

Adam pointed to the ears atop her head. They were large, smooth looking, and currently twitching as the girl harassed the team of boys.

"I don't follow," Ren deadpanned. Adam rolled his eyes.

"The human students don't wish to get involved for fear of being labeled as racists. The faunus students don't want to get involved for fear of being labeled as 'race traitors'. Thus, nobody is doing anything," the bull explained. They all winced. That wasn't the ideal answer but looking around it was clear nobody was enjoying watching the scene. Some people even left the room entirely.

Pyrrha frowned. She'd do something regardless. Label her what you would, but doing the right thing was a featureless affair. She stood, but before she could move Jaune's hand clasped around her wrist.

"Don't do anything rash now Pyrrha," he warned, "these situations can be solved with words instead of violence. Just because the latter is easier, doesn't mean it's the right way to go."

She frowned at that. What was she going to do anyways? She definitely couldn't beat a second year. Could she talk the girl down? It seemed unlikely. She seemed angry at the world around her.

"I'll go with you," Jaune offered. As much as Pyrrha would love to be able to do this alone, she knew that if things got hostile Jaune would be able to defuse things with his presence.

What surprised her was when Adam stood as well.

"Harassments isn't tolerable, be it a faunus or a human. I'll join as well." Pyrrha smiled and nodded. Having an actual faunus might help their case as well, as bad as she might feel for using the man for that.

"Aren't you two afraid of what Adam just said though?" Yang asked. The two men looked at each other before shrugging.

"I have an agent," Jaune said as though that fixed everything for him.

"And I'm already considered a traitor to my people by a select group of individuals," Adam added. They knew what group he was referring to.

The other five watched the three of them walk off towards the scene. Yang wanted to move as well but Ruby told her to sit.

"So we're just gonna do nothing!? That's bull—" Ruby's glare silenced her next word, "crap. Bullcrap."

"I agree," Ruby sighed, "but if we all go over there it'd look like we're hanging up on her. Adam was right about what he said. It's a fickle situation. We should just make sure the rest of her team doesn't show up and do anything rash."

They nodded. That was also an issue. The rabbit faunus wasn't the only issue. Her whole team was quite the volatile bunch. String too, which made them even more self assured.

Pyrrha was panicking internally. Jaune and Adam were with her, so she knew the likelihood of anything coming to blows was low, but they'd left the talking up to her! Damn her and her hero sense! What the hell was she actually going to say here!?

They came to a stop before the girl. Currently she had her pointer finger jammed into Cardin's cheek as she spouted insults at him. To the giant boys credit, he took them pretty well. He winced as she liked harder but didn't move to remove her finger from his face.

"Um, excuse me?" Pyrrha spoke up. The girl looked up, then scoffed at the redhead.

"Aren't you the first year who can't even hold her shield right?" the faunus sneered. She had an accent and while she looked like a sweet girl, she was anything but.

Pyrrha winced at her words though. Had she not been holding her shield right this whole time? She thought she had been. Maybe she did need to talk to Jaune about helping her.

"I..."

Didn't know what to say.

Shit! Pyrrha swore internally. She had to say something! And hopefully not make an ass of herself in the process. Her mouth was moving before her mind registered it.

"I'd appreciate it if you stopped harassing these nice people," she said in one breath.

Everyone was watching, she noticed. The girl before her was giving her an incredulous look.

"Why?" she asked finally after getting over her surprise, "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Um..." well she couldn't fight her, that was for sure. She had a feeling offering her money also wouldn't do.

Apparently that was enough for Jaune who stepped forward slowly and calmly. That and he was afraid Pyrrha might be too polite to put her foot down.

"I think that stopping is just the right thing to do," Jaune said. He was quite frankly sick of watching this girl and her team harass all the first years. If she wanted to fight anyone, he'd gladly take their place.

She glared between him and Pyrrha. Her eyes finally managed to find Adam as well.

"And you? Aren't you a little too old to be a first year?" she sneered. Adam rolled his eyes.

"You do realize there's no age limit on when a person can go to an academy right? It's just fight college," he said, unimpressed.

People around them laughed at his words. The faunus before him only scoffed. Finally she took her finger away from Cardin and stabbed it into Adam's chest instead.

"You think you're tough shit just because you're older? Huh?" she prodded. Adam just blinked at her.

"Isn't that... Exactly what you think?" he was confused. Wasn't that where most of her and her team's harassment came from?

"Pfft! No! My team and I are just better than everyone else!" she claimed. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure," he said flatly. She glared harder.

"Fine then! Why don't we fight to prove it then," she challenged. Adam raised his hand slowly, pushing her finger aside and making a show of dusting his hand off afterward.

Back at the table, the remaining five members of the two teams waited. Ruby bounced her leg. This should be when he told her that he refused to fight and that it wasn't his intention. He'd gone over there to mediate, not to instigate a fight.

"I don't fight people below me."

Ruby's head could be heard slamming into the table from across the room.

"Below you!? I could kick your ass with my eyes closed and my arms tied!" she shouted. He yawned.

"Prove it then. Meet me in the training rooms in ten minutes," he turned his nose up at her. She humphed.

"Fine! I'll show you first years where you belong!" she hissed, stomping out of the mess hall. It was silent for a moment. Everyone watched the three of them to see what they'd say next.

"You're not gonna fight her, are you?" Jaune asked.

"Not at all," Adam replied.

"You never even intended to, did you?"

"Nope."

"Most would consider that underhanded."

"You have Ren on your team."

"Touché" Jaune smirked at the faunus. Adam sent a satisfied look back himself. The two simply walked back to their table and rejoined their teams.

Pyrrha was left standing beside the bewildered Cardin. He turned to the fellow team leader and sent her a look of thanks.

"Thanks for the help. Your friends are kinda weird," he said gratefully. She sighed and slumped.

"Yes. They are," she sighed as she walked back and joined the rest of her friends.

"Adam, you know she won't stop hounding you now that you've set her up," Ruby told the man off. He shrugged.

"I can handle it. If she's focused on me then she won't be paying attention to anyone else," he said without fear. Whitley rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"You're truly an enigma," he said, and before Adam could shrug him off he added, "and I mean that in the most insulting way possible." Adam smirked.

"Consider me insulted," he stated. They all had a laugh and went about their normal business again.

Pyrrha was quiet for a lot of the chatter. She was thinking about how poorly that could've gone down. What if she was alone? What if she got into a fight? Apparently she hadn't even been holding her weapons right! She needed change, and she knew she had to suck it up and swallow her pride.

"Jaune?" she asked. The blonde turned to her, aloof and waiting for her to continue.

"Can... Can you help me with..." her form? Her physical training? Her timing?

"... Everything," she slumped dejectedly. He sent a soothing smile her way.

"Of course. We can train whatever you want," he said. She smiled but still slumped.

"Thanks..." she said. She would've been more excited but the admittance that she needed help with everything was a blow to her pride.

"Pyrrha," Jaune said, gaining her attention, "there's no problem asking for help."

"Easy for you to say. You don't take any damage from anything," she sighed. He winced. That was true, he was a lot more durable than most people.

Still, it was true that he didn't mind helping. He may not be adept at swordplay, but he knew the basic form and could at least teach her how to be competent.

"We can start whenever you'd like," he said. She nodded.

"Can we do tonight? I would like to start as soon as possible."

"Sure," he smiled easily. Now he just had to figure out how to help her train without accidentally hurting her. He wasn't known for holding back.

Meanwhile, Team YSTR discussed a similar matter. They'd trained together a little but Yang had just suggested something that nobody had thought of.

"Team attacks?" Whitley repeated. His partner never ceased to leave him bewildered.

"Yeah! It'll make us even more badass!"

"Yang..."

"Er, I mean we'll be so much cooler!" she reiterated. Adam hummed.

"I suppose that a team formation could have it's merit. How would we pull it off though? We aren't exactly the most similar in fighting styles," the faunus pointed out.

Yang thought. She clearly had gears turning in her mind. How would they do it? They were all so varied in their own ways that it would be hard to make something work without a lot of training. Ruby stepped in before she hurt herself.

"How about we just try whatever we think of and see what works the best and go from there," she suggested. Adam nodded, that sounded plausible to him. Whitley shrugged. As long as he didn't have to hear his partner make a fool of herself while she tried to work through things.

"Oh! Oh! Pyrrha! We should do that too!" Ren exclaimed. Pyrrha thought about it. She supposed that she could only get better if they all trained together too.

"I don't see why not," Pyrrha smiled. Ren whooped and shook Nora, who just let it happen as she sighed.

Yang smiled. Leave it to her sister to come up with something. With a plan to start looking for team moves in mind, they all returned to the last of their food.

It was time to start getting stronger!


As I said, about half of this chapter was fighting. I'm setting things up for everyone to spend more time together and get better.

There's a lot to cover still and I'm writing a lot of the chapters in advance for this one unlike More Than You Can Chew. I'm enjoying writing this story a lot.

Not really a whole lot to say here. Before anyone asks, yes, Team CVFY are the bullies this time around and no, we're not done with them just because Adam pulled one over on Velvet. Rest assured, most characters will see their time to shine.

Please follow to stay updated and leave a review!

Have a wonderful time and stay lovely!


Omake: Waiting for Adam

Velvet tapped her foot rapidly. She stood in the middle of one of the training rooms, waiting for that older first year who talked so much shit. She checked her scroll. It'd been more than ten minutes now. He probably chickened out!

So why did it feel more like she'd been ditched?

She waited another twenty minutes before it dawned on her that she had, in fact, been ditched.

That bastard played her!

"Damn him and his edgy outfit and his beautiful eyes!" she swore.

She would make him pay! Nobody stood her up! Even if it was for a fight!