Big Issues

Dance, Dance, Infiltration

Jaune ignored the laughter of the crowd of teens. He did find the way they parted in front of him as helpful though, he could seek out his target that much easier. Then there she was, facing away from him near the edge of the dance floor, red hair and equally red dress made her easy to identify. As he moved closer to her, the crowd continued to laugh and part until he reached her.

Pyrrha Nikos. Four-time Mistral Regional Champion, the 'Invincible Girl', celebrity who made it onto a cereal box, top first year combatant at Beacon. None of those accomplishments really mattered to him, just the young woman in front of him who was just starting to turn around, trying to figure out why everyone was laughing and giving her space.

Then she saw him, her eyes went wide as she stared incredulously at him. "Jaune?"

There he stood with an awkward grin, wearing a simple white dress that reached his knees but had no straps to cover his shoulders, a light blue ribbon tied into a bow around his waist, and his usual sneakers. "A promise is a promise." He says while lifting his hands to the sides briefly. Thanks to the recent weight gain he had like everyone else, he no longer was as wiry looking, the muscle definition he had when he came to Beacon was softened even if those same muscles were actually larger and stronger than ever.

For several seconds, Pyrrha stood silently with a grin slowly splitting her face as she remembered what he had told her the night before about her having a date. Yet even her control had its limits as she doubled over with a hand over her mouth before arcing her back to laugh loudly. In fact, it was the loudest that Jaune had ever heard his partner… kind of making him proud to be the one to do so, even at the cost of some of his dignity. It made him smile to see her laughing so much, now into an actual belly laugh- complete with her own belly shaking, but nearly everything on her was shaking with how hard she was laughing.

She wipes a few tears from her eyes, barely getting her mirth controlled enough to talk now. "Jaune, you didn't have to!"

"Hey!" The blonde shook his head. "An Arc never goes back on his word." His tone was surprisingly firm as he said that. Those words and his current deeds were proof enough for her that he'd do his best to fulfill his promises.

He offers her his left hand. "Now, do you want to stand there and laugh at me or do you wanna dance?"

How could she say no at this point?

She placed her hand in his. "I… would love to dance."

The contact and acceptance of his offer were all Jaune needed to make his grip on her hand firmer and pull her to him, the Champion too caught off guard to stop herself from crashing chest to chest with him though she laughed about it. She found herself enjoying the contact with him. No longer was he in his hoodie and armor, and neither was she in her own armor. Instead, they had nothing but the thin fabric of their dresses separating their skin from each other and with her softer body, she could feel more of him as she somewhat enveloped the young man; the muscles as they moved, his thinner frame compared to her own right now.

Likewise, Jaune could feel Pyrrha's soft curves as she was against him. With an extreme emphasis on the soft part yet he could still feel her toned and powerful muscles under her padding, making an interesting contrast of soft and firm without ever getting to hard bone.

But they had a dance to get to and the song had already begun. Jaune gave her a smirk before twisting into a spin, slightly dipping the woman in red as she chuckled in surprise and joy. Nearby, Ren and Nora had been taking a small break, the former with a drink in his hand.

"Ren! This. Is. Happening!" Nora shouts dramatically while making wild gestures with her arms and posing.

"Wait. What is happening?" He snaps his head from his best friend to his teammates as he tried his best to figure out what the short girl was going on about.

Moments later he followed Nora out onto the dance floor where space had been cleared out around Jaune and Pyrrha where they had already started dancing together. Soon enough the whole team was dancing, nearly in sync, to the song as the crowd cheered them on.

"But Baby!

It's time to make up your mind

I think!

That tonight is when the stars align!

Honey!"

The team broke off with their partners to continue dancing. Nora led Ren to the side with a grin as the grooved to the beat. Jaune and Pyrrha were having the time of their lives as the moved together with the music.

"I had no idea you were a dancer!" Pyrrha comments with a bright smile.

"Yeah, well these things tend to happen when you grow up with seven sisters." He never missed a beat when he said that but he did finish his sentence by closing the distance between them and dropping her into a deep dip.

"- you and I are gonna shine!"

Weiss and Neptune still sat together along the wall as they watched the other dancers, particularly the blonde and red duo tearing up the dance floor.

"So, what made you change your mind?" Weiss asks, mostly out of curiosity but also to continue the conversation they were having before Ruby had made her dance.

"Huh?" A really intelligent answer from the proclaimed intellectual.

"You said you were embarrassed at first." Weiss clarifies. She glances at the dancers before turning her eyes back to the boy she was talking to. She may have not noticed that she was still smiling since her dance. "What made you come talk to me?"

Neptune looks out to the dance floor with a smirk. "You're lookin' at him." Weiss followed his gaze to see Jaune and Pyrrha still dancing strong with the song. She saw how they moved smoothly with the music, spinning, laughing, light on their feet. For the heiress, she practically expected Pyrrha to be able to handle a simple dance and she wasn't disappointing. But Jaune, the normally clumsy and awkward boy was putting everyone to shame with his moves. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

"You've got some good friends looking out for you." Neptune comments, making Weiss continue her reevaluation of the blonde knight. If Neptune was willing to vouch for his help, she'd be inclined to believe it. There was so much confidence that the Mistral boy was putting into his words.

People looking out for her, Weiss Schnee. There were very few people that she could truly say who looked out for her before she came to Beacon. It made her sad to say that the list could be made on one hand with fingers left over. Her sister, Winter, was definitely one of them. Kline, her family's butler, was always one who did his best to cheer her up when she was upset or lonely… practically her only friend in all of Atlas.

But that list had exploded since she came here. Ruby, Yang, Blake… they were almost like sisters to her already and they were only in their first year as a team. Then there was Team JNPR, while she wasn't anywhere near as close with them as she was with her own team, they were friends close enough that she didn't feel the need to put on any kind of act. Sun was helping to change her opinions of the Faunus, with him helping Blake and convincing her to open up to her team and friends. Team DAIT were an odd bunch, willing to help them all but refusing to hold their hands, not that she minded, and having the sisters help with the dance had been a blessing. Then there was the boy next to her… while she had no definitive feelings for him there was enough to pique her interests and he was being honest with her now.

She could afford to take things slow… and she didn't want to chance being like her mother. At the very least, she could come out of this with another friend.

The lonely Ice Queen was having her heart melted and being surrounded by friends… and that was something she'd fight without hesitation to keep.

Up on another part of the balcony, two figures stood in a slightly dimmer area as they watched the dancers below them. They could see the 'Invincible Girl' dancing with the blonde doofus, the rest of their team nearby doing something with large hand gestures. Not far away were the pair that had helped to disrupt their plans, it was hard to miss the golden monkey tail and the girl with him. Even an Atlesian soldier had moved from his post and was dancing with a small redheaded girl, who according to their 'associate' had almost single-handedly stopped the operation at the docks earlier this year.

"It appears all of the dancers have partners." Emerald says, seemingly to Mercury.

"How long do I have?" a voice asks over a small earbud concealed by her minty green hair.

"We should probably be home by midnight, to be safe." Mercury answers.

"I'll keep my eye on the clock." A smooth voice says over the earpiece before going silent.

Ruby had finally gotten away from her sister who'd decided to snack a little more with Denko, Blake, and Sun. Anya and Itazura were both at the table already while Weiss and Neptune seemed to be deep into their conversation. Jaune and Pyrrha were still dancing without showing any signs of stopping, probably making up for lost time. And Nora… had apparently spilled some punch all over her dress and 'recruited' Ren to help her clean it so they could get back to the party. It really was nice to relax… or at least see the others relax. She even saw Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood sharing a few dances. Penny was under close guard by some soldiers, maybe she could talk to her friend in a few minutes, the one guard must be getting tired from moving the way he was in full armor.

She steps outside to a lower balcony for some fresh air, the night was going better than she thought and even had her one dance in- after turning it into a team affair. The young Huntress-in-training looks out across the schools' nighttime landscape and that's when she saw a figure moving quickly over the rooftops. They wore all black and moved like Blake when she needed to move quickly but unnoticed. Obviously, she only saw the figure as a stroke of luck but it raised her suspicions as to WHY there would be anyone doing something like that. Her eyes narrowed as her resolve grew and hardened to find out the answer.

A pair of eyes had seen the entire situation, from the person sneaking around to the red-dressed Huntress moving to investigate. Those eyes narrowed as their owner moved to follow.

Cinder Fall crouched near the corner of a wall near the bottom of the steps to the main entrance of the Vale CCT. While her black, nearly skin tight suit was nearly ideal for remaining unnoticed in the dark, the light of the shattered moon lit up the courtyard she was in, said suit contrasting with the light grey cement of the walls and grounds.

A peek around the corner revealed only a single guard at the door, the others she had managed to slip around during their patrols. Those patrols were sloppy in her opinion, for such an important position to have such lax security, the routes were longer than they should be, few intersecting patrols, guards spread thin. 'This will be easier than I thought it would be.' She smirks to herself.

She stuck to the shadows as best she could, with her skills to rival a highly skilled Huntress, getting the jump on the guard was easy enough. A quick strike to the back of his head, his helmet doing little, and he was knocked out. Cinder dragged the man over to the bushes and dropped him quickly, not caring if he was hurt any more than he was already.

That done, she quickly made her way through the doors, confident that she hadn't been spotted by anyone who'd raise an alarm and draw attention to the tower. That would be the last thing she needed tonight, could even compromise her mission.

Once inside, Cinder practically strutted her way into the main lobby where a guard was walking a patrol route just inside. Another pair were stationed just outside of the central elevator at the top of a short flight of steps. A fourth soldier was walking around on the other side of the lobby.

"Excuse me!" The first and closest one says loudly enough to echo within the room as he stopped as soon as he saw her. She kept walking as if she owned the place and he immediately repositioned himself to draw his pistol. "No one's allowed in this area." He warns again but she kept coming.

"Stop!" Was his final warning just as she began to run at him without a weapon.

Three shots were fired in quick succession which were dodged as she closed the distance, ducking under the final bullet as she switched to attack him from the other side of her approach, wrapping her right arm around his left that was holding the gun while her own left hand delivered a palm strike to his helmet.

The soldier who had been on the other side ran at them with a yell and his baton at the ready, only to be stopped by Cinder's heel in his gut thanks to a side kick as she maintained her hold on the first man and used his gun to shoot the attacker in the chest, his armor taking the hit and leaving the man alive.

Cinder released her hold on the soldier after kicking at his knee to force him to drop before flipping over his back and using her weight and momentum to throw the man through the air until his gut collided with a railing and he dropped to the floor unmoving.

The two elevator guards drew their batons and leapt down the stairs to confront the intruder. Cinder spun away as the legs and sleeves of her suit glowed bright red and orange and created a pair of obsidian scimitars within a swirling heated cloud. The first man to reach her was quickly swatted away, he barely was able to keep his own weapon between himself and her blade. The second fared little better as she first deflected his attack with one blade before striking his armor with her second blade. She took advantage of her position behind him with a swift sweeping kick that dropped him to the ground just as the other charged, this time seemingly ready for her as they traded several attacks with their weapons, Cinder being on the defensive. A kick at her knees unbalanced him enough and created a gap in his attacks that she took advantage of by driving the hilts of her swords into his face and knocking him backwards. A second strike from her hilts to the chest threw him to his back. To his credit, he was quick to rise to his feet but not fast enough to catch Cinder flipping sideways to use her considerable weight to land an axe kick to his head and shoulder that took him down for good.

Cinder took a moment to catch her breath and look around the lobby in case of any more soldiers. Yes, she may have plumped up so that she wouldn't have stood out among the student population but she hadn't gained anywhere as much as the other students. Where most of the girls had already doubled their initial weights, she had only packed on about fifty and she was quite glad that it settled well onto her hourglass figure. At least her cover story in her files from Haven said that her team had only caught the tail end of the chemical attack on the water supply, thus explaining why she and Emerald weren't as big as the other girls.

A pair of Atlas guards were descending in the elevator, ready for a shift change. One turns to the other, "Hey man, do you know the WIFI password?"

"It's Beacon, but replace the 'e' with a '3', and add a pound symbol to the end." His partner replies, the first one nodding in understanding.

The elevator hit the ground level and the doors opened to reveal a very curvy young woman wearing a very tight black catsuit with a very deep neckline, sleeveless, gloves almost long enough the reach her shoulders, heels, and a domino mask. Instantly, both men took a step back and prepared to draw their pistols. One of them looked past the woman to see three of the four guards sprawled out on the ground.

Then the woman calmly stepped inside with them, a small smile on her face, as the doors closed. She didn't even seem to care that a pair of Atlesian soldiers were about to draw their guns on her. That mattered little as once the doors had shut, she had begun her attacks and made short work of the men.

Ruby Rose walked up to the CCT and found that it seemed surprisingly void of life. Looking around near the main entrance, she found one of the guards laying in one of the flowerbeds. With a gasp of surprise, she quickly withdrew her scroll from her sash and used it to signal her rocket locker to launch. The self-propelled piece of storage equipment landed close by and opened automatically to reveal Crescent Rose within.

Not far away, the same pair of eyes who'd seen the young girl leave the dance to follow the infiltrator, watched as she grabbed her weapon and marched inside the tower.

"Hmm… that's handy." Cinder comments as she pockets one of the soldiers scrolls before walking into the communication room itself. Soon she sat herself down at the main terminal and began inputting some commands.

"A party guest is leaving." Emerald's voice came through her earpiece, drawing a sigh from the receiver.

"Which one?" Cinder closes her eyes in slight frustration as this was one of the things that could ruin her plan for tonight.

Back in the ballroom, Emerald and Mercury were dancing together to a waltz. A small turn gave the minty-hired girl a clear line of sight of the person in question. "Ironwood."

She could see the white-clad man slowly walking out the door with Ozpin standing nearby, clearly having just said their goodbyes for the night. "I guess the General's had enough fun for the night." Mercury quips.

"Should we intervene?" The assassin was almost spoiling for a fight. As annoying as he could be with his comments, he was even more skilled in battle and had few qualms about following her orders. He may not be as devoted to Cinder as Emerald was, but she didn't need him to be so long as he did as he was told.

A few seconds of beeping came from the terminal in front of Cinder before a black Queen chess piece was displayed. A few seconds later, all of the terminals in the room had activated and displayed the same image

"No." she says almost playfully. "We're done here." She finishes with a satisfied smile.

She'd barely taken two steps from the chair when the elevator arrived and Cinder ducked back behind the terminal before the doors opened once again.

Ruby Rose slowly walked out of the elevator with her scythe fully opened and ready to be used at a moment's notice. "Hello?" She calls out, finding it curious for the monitors to be on without anyone here to use them. Even more so considering the guards she found knocked out in the lobby and in the elevator.

A few steps in and she stumbles thanks to her 'choice' of footwear tonight. 'Stupid lady stilts!' She thinks to herself as she adjusts her footing carefully. She looks around the room once more. "Is anyone there?" She calls out, taking a few steps further in. "Hello?"

Unseen behind the desk, Cinder began to smile as she recognized the voice. She waited until the girl took another step closer before she smoothly and silently stood up.

"Excuse me. You know its not a masquerade party." Ruby quips as she watches the woman take a few steps into the aisle between the terminals and face her confidently. Even with the mask, her body language screamed that Ruby was beneath her, barely an inconvenience. "So why don't you take off that- "

That was as far as Ruby could get before the woman pulled a cylinder from her waist and opened one end with a twist before swiping it in front of herself to create an arcing cloud of ground glass that quickly glowed as the particles were heated and concentrated themselves into more than a dozen spearhead like shards. They remained suspended in the air for a moment before the woman swung forward with her left arm and pushed them as one at the young reaper at terrifying speeds.

Before Ruby could begin to spin Crescent Rose in front of herself to defend from the unexpected method of attack, a blue blur landed in front of her, revealing itself to be Talon with one arm cocked back as the other was held in front of her. The air seemed to ripple and the shards of glass stopped in front of the two girls before Talon thrust her other hand forward and the air rippled again, the shards flying back at their creator at high speeds.

Cinder was forced to dodge, the glass punching holes into several consoles. During that time, Ruby repositioned her weapon and opened fire, the target raising her right hand and the bullets were deflected with small flashes of orange light.

Cinder spun on her heel backwards as her clothes lit up in bright flames that swirled around the woman that manifested into obsidian swords. Ruby was quick on the draw as she spun her scythe to face behind her and pulled the trigger as she jumped, sending the girl high into the air where she brought the massive blade down onto the infiltrator. The attack missed as the black-clad woman backflipped away before she leapt into the air and her swords became a bow with a trio of arrows nocked.

A moment later, the arrows were loosed and they impacted the floor where they exploded almost on contact. While Ruby had jumped back to avoid the attack, Talon had moved forward and punched the air. The explosions literally had a hole punched through them, redirecting a portion of their power and Cinder was caught by the blast of air that sent her through a console.

Ruby dug her blade into the floor to catch herself and arrest her momentum, across the room Cinder rolled to her feet with a smirk. In the middle of it all, Talon stood at the ready with a fist ready to be thrown once more.

A ding from the elevator drew the attention of all three combatants, the doors opening to reveal General Ironwood himself. Ruby turned her attention back to the infiltrator with a smile, Talon's face turned to irritation when she turned back to her opponent, both girls finding the woman missing.

Talon cursed under her breath as her sharp eyes scanned the room, choosing to ignore the military man in favor of the attacker. Finding nothing and the only easily accessible exit had the General in it. Her eyes flicked to where the arrows had impacted with the floor, finding that the tiles and underlying sheet metal had been ripped through by the blasts. She cautiously moved closer and found that there was more damage, as a clearly superheated hole was made through the remnants of the floor supports and wires. Said hole gave the girl a clear view to the level below her. And as much as she wanted to dive down in pursuit, the glowing and burning remains of the materials were great for dissuading her from following.

Ruby began to look nervous as Ironwood scowled at the damage to the communication room before his gaze turned to the two girls.

"What happened here?" Was his simple question, his right hand lowering itself from the edge of his jacket near his chest.

Talon sighs as she knew that there was no way that she was getting back to the party tonight.

Cinder had forgone stealth, mostly, on her way back to the ball room. Soldiers were being scrambled all over the campus and she was sure that a few might have been following her as the approached the dance.

She may have been able to upload the program provided by Watts before the girl who had been an annoyance since before the school year had started. Then the other girl had jumped in, her semblance was apparently powerful, enough that Cinder would be wary of the girl from now on. She had stopped her attacks and used them against her, even throwing her through some of the computer terminals and desks, with such casual ease.

The fact that the chubby girl who never seemed to have a thought about anything but food could stop her so easily… it made her blood boil. Yet at the same time, made her desire for another round without interruptions.

Even so, right now she had to make a clean escape from the guards pursuing her. She ducked into a small room on the side of the building, moving her arms over herself as the air glowed gold and red as her catsuit transformed into a long black dress that glittered in the light, with an open back and a slit up the right leg, a wrap around her neck to keep the front up, her otherwise bare arms covered with black opera gloves that reached above her elbows. The mask was discarded before she opened the next door.

A pair of soldiers burst in from the first door and hurried through the next, only to find themselves staring at dozens of happy, dancing, talking, and eating students. They had no idea that they had just crushed the frail glass mask underfoot, they had no definitive leads on their quarry beyond a woman in black, and surely at least one of the students and the teachers overseeing the event would have noticed the infiltrator if she had come through here.

"Mind if I cut in?" Cinder asks as she stands close to Emerald and Mercury as they danced with one hand on her generous hip.

Emerald immediately released the taller boy and stepped to the side. "Of course." Cinder gave a curt nod out of maintaining civil appearances. She didn't waist any time leaving the pair as they embraced to dance.

"And how's your night been?" Mercury asks, keeping cover while being genuinely curious as to how the plan worked out.

"Hmmm… a little more… exciting than expected." Cinder answers almost playfully.

"Should we be worried?"

"Hardly." Cinder nearly chuckled. "They'll be scratching their heads long after we've finished what we came here for."

"So then, what now?" The assassin was pleased and hoping something would happen.

"Enjoy the rest of the night." Cinder smiles. "After all, it is a party."

"Don't you make me repeat it!

Have a banana.

Have a whole bunch.

It doesn't matter what you had for lunch.

Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it."

Cinder did her best to repress the scowl on her lips, the song was practically mocking her. If the acolyte in her arms knew what had happened in the tower tonight, he'd be making jokes and claiming that it was an inuendo.

Jaune and Pyrrha were finally taking a break from dancing, opting to sit at one of the tables as they rested and waited for Ren and Nora to return. Pyrrha had opted to eat a salad over Jaune's choice of BBQ chicken. That didn't stop them from sampling the others plate for a change of flavor.

Not too far away, Anya looked over the line up of food and saw how much of it was vanishing. She and Talon, along with the other cooks, had planned the amounts to cook almost perfectly to ensure that there would be little waste. These were mostly teenagers, who had large appetites normally without factoring in their energy requirements for their Huntsmen careers.

But that brought up the question of where her sister was. She should either be in the kitchen, out here with her, maybe on the dance floor and putting some people to shame. After what she had seen from Team's RWBY and JNPR, that would be hard to beat. Even Denko had gotten into dancing… in a sense. It just had to be translated into a form he could understand, fighting. Hopefully Talon wasn't causing any trouble.

Speaking of trouble, Itazura appeared to be fairly subdued. The faunus claimed that she was tired from not getting much sleep last night. She certainly looked like it. Yet the girl was satisfied… something that normally set off warning bells in her mind but the fox had assured her that everything was done and nobody was or would be harmed. And she didn't want to risk the wrath of the sisters or from Yang and Weiss if she would try to do anything to the party. Denko would either sit back and watch her get punished or help by blocking off her escape attempts. Anya was pretty sure that there would be a fair few of the others in their little circle of friends here who would 'assist' her if Itazura had done anything.

Instead, the fox had spent most of the night at the table that their friends had claimed, nursing her drinks and slowly eating, content to watch everything going on around her. A few boys and girls had asked her for a dance. Eventually she had decided to join Penny so the odd girl and the soldiers guarding her would act as a deterrent. It worked.

Denko was once again with Yang as they danced with Blake and Sun nearby just having fun. The former pair were doing some sort of combination of slow dance while mixing it with their 'new style'. The latter pair were doing something completely different to the music, Blake performing some sort of swaying prance that exaggerated her hips while Sun did some kind of stiff robotic movements next to her.

"Yeah, in the daytime I'm Mr. Natural

Just as healthy as I can be.

But at night I'm a junk food junkie

Good lord have pity on me!"

Once again, one of Talon's choice songs were playing and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Maybe because it was part of the stress relief of the party atmosphere. Maybe part of it was because the music was amusing and comedic. Maybe it was simply because the songs were different or they highlighted the condition that nearly all of them were afflicted with. Or a combination of some or all of those factors.

At least she had overheard Glynda telling Ozpin about the potential cure for The Issue plaguing many of the students and staff. Testing was required to ensure that it worked but it was reason enough to raise spirits, much like the engineers had finally found the source of the chemicals causing The Issue in the first place. A large capsule had been attached to the inside of one of the large main pipes after the filtration processers where the chemicals would leech into the water and be distributed everywhere. The first one had been found in Mistral and Lionheart had alerted the other academies and within two days the other three capsules had been found and removed. The remains were sent to the labs for analysis and testing of possible counters.

Outside, Atlesian soldiers were gathering around the CCT as they organized further patrols and investigations. Others were taking care of the injured. Engineers were on their way to assess the damages to the tower itself while techs were called in to check the systems.

Upstairs in the tower itself, Ironwood was questioning Ruby and Talon for their sides of what had transpired. He couldn't help but look around the room and shake his head at the damage that was done in a matter of seconds. Security would have to be tightened and he was sure that Ozpin would have to agree with him on that. Even Glynda would back him given what happened tonight. At the very least, only essential personnel would be permitted to have access to the tower, especially the communication room they were in.

The girls he was questioning had different reactions; Ruby was subdued as she sat on one of the chairs, clearly upset that the woman had gotten away like the woman and Roman Torchwick had before she was accepted into Beacon. Talon, gave the appearance of not really caring about his position- a common trait held by nearly all people from Vacuo as they held Atlas, then Mantle, responsible most of all for the conditions of their Kingdom. It didn't stop her from answering his queries, just made sure that her tone was tinged with annoyance from having to answer to him.

He could deal with that, he's handled worse.

A low song had just finished as the party wound into the night and technically into the morning. It wouldn't be long until it would be forced to end by the teachers and staff in attendance. Already, some of the food was being taken back into the kitchens and more than a few guests had already left for the night for one reason or another. Nurse Legume was hoping that the couples had protection, at least she was stocked up on supplies, just in case.

A new song began playing, starting with a slow guitar. Couples pulled themselves closer on the dance floor as they began to sway with the music.

"Yeah-ah-ah.

Your ass

Is wider

Than a

Bus tire.

Of you,

I'm not afraid

I want a fat babe!"

Giggles burst out from many of the female portion of the party guests as many couldn't help but feel a strong connection with the song already. A few of their partners laughed sheepishly, mostly from those who weren't simply with a partner for the night but had been going steady for some time or were simply very good friends. Ren and Nora were a good example as they had returned just in time for the song.

"Queen of the

All You Can Eat Buffet.

I want a fat babe!"

"Should we be thanking Talon for songs like this?" Yang asks Blake as they sway by each other.

Blake chuckles. "I don't know. But it is funny."

"At least it looks like Neptune is trying now." Sun comments as he spots his buddy in a far corner with Weiss as she does her best to help the much taller boy move in time to the music. For his part, Neptune looked almost scared stiff as a board, something he was prone to do when he was far from his comfort zone. But at least he was making some sort of effort.

"Cherry pie!

You've got that

Extra cushion!

Thunder thighs!

Much better

For the pushin'!

Slip and slide!

Next to you I'm

Always in the shade!

I want a fat babe!"

Yang was sent into a fit of giggles, burying her face into Denko's shoulder in an attempt to control herself. Meanwhile, Blake's thoughts turned to her favorite book series, Ninja's of Love, and some of the… juicier scenes, prompting her face to burn red. Elsewhere, Itazura and Anya shook their heads and their teammate's choice of music, as far as the content of some of the lyrics were concerned. Glynda coughed as she had been drinking some punch when the inuendo's were made. Many others in attendance had similar reactions.

Still, there were far worse songs that the night could begin to close on than this. Thankfully, none were within the playlist. But tonight would be very memorable for everyone for one reason or another.

AN: And the Beacon dance comes to a close! A bit more action than the last few chapters. To be honest, I had to watch the fight with the guards over and over again to try getting the details right. Must have replayed that scene twenty times and a dozen times for the Cinder and Ruby fight. Even Weiss finally got her turn for a bit of the heart to heart talk with Neptune. I hope you all enjoyed my expansion of their interaction compared to the original canon, had to utilize details from later volumes to get her thoughts correctly worked out.

Music used in this chapter are Shine by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams (as if anyone doesn't know this song by now as a RWBY fan), Eat It by Weird Al Yankovic, Junk Food Junkie by Larry Groce, and I Want A Fat Babe by Snacktreat Boys (Yes, it is a real parody song that can be found on youtube).

Next time, we get a fun introduction to a certain pup we all know and love... except for a certain cat girl. I hope you all enjoy these last moments of peace because the action will soon be ramping up! Haven't had that for quite a few chapters now, not since the Investigation chapters. I still plan to keep up with the expansion of their thoughts and deeper dives into what is going on around them all that couldn't be put into the canon show for time reasons. I'm not so restricted.

Also, due to some family issues I will not likely be able to post quite as often as I would like with a chapter per week schedule. Add that into several other projects ongoing at the same time and trying to have a bit of a personal life... as much as an anti-social introvert like myself can have. I'll still try to make sure that Big Issues is my top priority project, most of the others are more for fun than anything else. One of them, depending on how it is received on DA, might get posted here once it is finished, though that will be a while. Let's just say that it will be part of the crossover section.

As always, reviews and constructive critcism are welcome to help me improve my writing.