Big Issues

AN: Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you are all staying safe and happy! And yes, you are getting to see the fight that pulled from canon 'due to time restrictions' ...and I hope that I did it justice. Beyond that, this is a short and relaxing chapter for what should hopefully be a time for you all to relax. On another note, I had hoped to have this out on Friday but I was unable to finish due to the holiday preparations with my own family. Here's hoping that I can have the next chapter in time for the balls to drop next weekend.

Vytal Tournament – Calm

The match for Sun and Neptune against another team from Haven was unexpected, it was rare for teams from the same school to fight each other but not unheard of. In this case, they were going against a team of third years and for that reason weren't favored well for a victory.

"Keep your head in the game." Sun reminds his friend, who wasn't quite back up to his normal public self despite being in the middle of the arena. The crew had done well enough that it was difficult to tell that Yang had bombed the stone floor at all, not to mention any damages from other teams.

"I know, I see how bad I screwed up." The blue haired boy mopes.

"Yeah, well… you're gonna do it again if you don't pull yourself together." The team leader tells him.

"I got it. I got it." Neptune gripes as he draws Tri-Hard off his back and unlocks it so it's ready to be used, the Dust inside creating a small whine as it powered up.

"Good." Sun nods as he looks to the two boys across from them, who were apparently enjoying the show and the blonde could tell they were going to go after his friend first thanks to how he's been acting.

Both of them were much bigger than either of the younger boys, around Yatsuhashi in terms of size. One carried a massive hammer and had dark skin and wore the clothes of a simple laborer- white stained shirt, grey pants that had seen better days held up by a thick leather belt and had boots on his feet and gloves on his hands. The other held a huge axe, had a red knit cap on his bearded head, gloves, red flannel shirt, blue jeans, and boots.

"Now we have Henry and Paul of Haven versus Sun and Neptune of Haven!" Oobleck announces as the biomes rise into place- forest, mountain, desert, and gravity. "Three, two, one, begin!"

It was immediately clear from the outset that the older boys were all about using their size and strength to their advantage, both of them swinging their weapons overhead at the smaller pair. The attacks missed their targets, both large and heavy weapons shattering the stone where they struck. Neptune opened fire as soon as he landed, hitting both of them a few times before having to jump away from another attack.

Both Paul and Henry chased after Neptune, who had to keep repeating to pattern of dodge and fire. But the pressure was getting to him, his lightning Dust rounds missing their marks more with every round. But with that pattern going on, Sun was forced to give chase, occasionally avoiding the random stray round. The monkey jumped high and came down with a kick to Paul's head, just barely avoiding the horns on his head. The attack knocked the larger man down to the ground where he rolled back to his feet to face his new target.

Sun smirked, realizing that they were now next to the forest biome and leapt into the branches and his smile grew when Paul followed after him. Now it was one on one and he was feeling at home in the foliage, just as much as he was in the desert.

Paul stopped in a small clearing between trees, trying to find his target, only for the monkey to get the drop on him again from above with a kick between the shoulders that made the larger man stumble and miss where Sun disappeared into the trees again. The next time Sun emerged; he had his staff out as he brought it down only to be blocked by the axe. The blonde kicked off of Paul's chest to disengage and separated Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang and laid into the taller faunus with a series of strikes from the gunchucks with occasional blasts from the shotguns at point-blank range. Some of the attacks were blocked by the axe but the rest were tanked until Paul found a pause in the assault and swiped at Sun. The axe missed the monkey but cleaved through a tree with ease.

Once more, Sun took to the trees to collect himself but Paul began cutting them down, expanding the clearing and quickly making the hiding places a possible trap.

Things with Neptune weren't much better as they moved into the mountain area. The rifleman having to transform Tri-Hard into its guandao form to deflect the stones flying at him- a result of Henry slamming his hammer into a boulder and instantly shattering the stone. The steel spike that was occasionally thrown at him didn't help much either as that had better accuracy than any of the stone shards. Thus, he was constantly on the defensive.

Henry threw another spike that was barely dodged and Neptune gulped as he saw the steel bury itself in the stone of the mountain. Then the blue-haired boy caught the handle of the hammer with the shaft of his own weapon, nearly forcing him to his knees from the strength behind the attack. But he noticed that there was a difference between this strike compared to the ones that hit stone. Even the spikes that were thrown had a difference depending what they hit.

They disengaged and Neptune moved to stand in front of a small tree, shooting at Henry to wear him down. Sure enough, the hammer man swung at him and struck the tree. The result was that the bark splintered but little else. Repeating near a small boulder, the stone was shattered despite that the larger man never seemed to change how hard he swung or his hammer had anything special beyond being large and heavy. It had to be his Semblance at work.

The only problem with figuring out the trick of his opponent was that the small pause to analyze and process the data, it left him open for a shot to the gut that threw him to the base of the mountain.

"Crap, that's gonna hurt." Neptune gasps as he struggles to his feet, only to see the large man barreling at him as fast as the massive man could run. Given the long legs he had, he covered the distance quickly. Henry pulled his hammer back and thrust it forward at Neptune like a spear, the target diving out of the way moments before contact. But from his place on the ground, he had a somewhat clear sight of the hammer tunneling into the mountain with its wielder following right after. Neptune was forced to lower his goggles over his eyes as the dust and rubble blew out of the short tunnel that was carved.

Neptune stood up to see movement within the dusty cave, Henry slowly wading through the broken stone, turning it to gravel at his touch, more than confirming that it was the work of his Semblance. But the amount of dust in the air gave Neptune another idea. He backed out of the cloud and shouldered Tri-Hard as a rifle and pulled the trigger. The electric bolt was released from the barrel and flew into the dust, the fine, airborne grains of silicates and other Dust particles were heated by the round and caused a chain reaction, creating an explosion that billowed out of the short tunnel. Henry was surprised by the move and was launched out of his burrow by the fireball to land near the desert biome.

Sun jumped from the remaining tree before it was felled. He had spent the past few minutes dodging branches from the falling trees thanks to the mad lumberjack faunus. Granted, the big man was probably mad because Sun had kicked him into the path of one of the trees as it fell. Or provoking him to headbutt the smaller faunus only to get his bull horns stuck in the wood of another tree long enough for Sun to beat his broad back with his staff a few times.

Now the fight moved to the floating platforms that shifted gravity into various directions and changed frequently, making for a very dynamic place to fight. Stopping on a platform that made him stand parallel to the ground, Sun saw Paul jumping up onto a platform. But the older man didn't realize the gravity shift until it was too late and found himself pulled up to slam into a platform above him headfirst.

The monkey charged the bull with a few leaps, idly enjoying the shifts in gravity as he flew, thrusting Ruyi Jingu Bang into the big man who was just sitting 'up', knocking him off the platform with the force focused at the end of the staff and punctuated with a shot. Paul fell down once the gravity of his previous platform was out of range, only to be pulled sideways and slamming into another hard enough that he lost his grip on his axe.

Sun saw this as his chance and used Via Sun, creating three golden clones that jumped at Paul before he could recover, converging on him from different angles. The first was able to drop its heel into Paul's gut before the man smacked it away, causing it to burst in a small explosion that blinded the bull. The second plowed into Paul from the side with a kick, launching him into another platform that reversed gravity just after contact, forcing the faunus back at the incoming clone who socked him in the face before exploding.

The pain and light distracted Paul from even seeing the third clone coming from below, striking him in the chest with its staff, spinning the man in the middle of a Lagrange point of the biome and disorienting Paul even further. The clone pushed off on the bull faunus, sending him tumbling back towards the original before fading.

Paul flailed his arms and legs as he tried to steady himself, leaving him too occupied with his own balance issues to see Sun launching himself from a high platform to dropkick Paul in the gut and ride him down to the ground, creating a small crater upon landing. The buzzer went off, indicating that Paul was disqualified by aura level.

At the same time, Neptune pressured Henry in the sandy desert. Without any stone around to shatter at his opponent, Henry lost one of his great advantages. Using his Semblance on sand was useless and he hadn't seen Neptune use anything yet. So, the two of them were fairly even now, though the smaller man had goggles that kept the sand out of his eyes and had a weapon that could do more than hit hard.

Neptune shifted Tri-Hard from guandao to trident to catch the handle of the hammer between the tines before electrifying the weapons, giving Henry a powerful shock that forced him to release his hammer. Neptune took the opportunity to flick the hammer away where it buried itself in the sand a fair distance away. Henry withdrew a pair of spikes from the pouches at his waist, not wanting to call it quits while he could still fight.

The big man thrust and stabbed at the younger Haven student with the spikes but had to back away before gaining any advantage thanks to his lack of reach compared to his opponent. That proved detrimental as Neptune thrust Tri-Hard into his chest and shocking Henry into unconsciousness. The buzzer went off, declaring that Henry had lost the ability to fight and Team SN were proclaimed to be the winners.

"I'm gonna be feeling that later." Neptune grumbles as he holds his gut walking out of the locker room.

"You'll be fine. Look at all of that padding you got under that jacket." Sun dismisses, riding the high of victory

"You took a hit and got back up, can't be that bad." Yang jokes as she and Blake walk up to the boys.

"Hey Blake! How'd we do?" Sun was quick to ask, causing her to smile at his antics.

"Good enough." She smirks, inwardly laughing at his reaction to the lackluster response of hanging his head looking defeated.

"Not bad out there. Glad you didn't try to out muscle those guys." Denko comments with a smirk of his own.

"I don't see that working well." Itazura laughs.

"They did better than I would have." Jaune admits, receiving a comforting hand on his shoulder from Pyrrha.

"I can't believe that guy had JUST a hammer!" Nora complained, obviously disappointed by the bare base of a weapon Henry had.

"Whatever, we're done for today." Sun was feeling some exhaustion from the fight and just wanted to sit down to recharge.

"Get a shower first. They were thinking of watching a movie or two tonight to relax before the final rounds begin." Blake takes a half step away from Sun as a joke, causing him to laugh awkwardly before sniffing himself.

"I dunno, I smell trees mostly." He shrugs, leading to Blake rolling her eyes.

"Lucky you, I'm covered in sand and soot." Neptune grouses, having seen the rings around his eyes from the dirt.

"Um… what happened here?" Yang asks, noticing that some of the seats were missing from their common room.

"Some of the other teams are having a party and needed more seating. Sorry!" A passing student tells her as she walks by.

"Great." Yang hangs her head, getting a rather close up look of her chest.

"We'll make due then." Pyrrha tries to be encouraging.

"Yeah!" Nora, Itazura, and Talon cheered.

A short time later, they had cleaned themselves up, gathered up Ruby and Weiss from their room, and prepared some food for their relaxing evening.

"So… how are we sitting?" Ruby asks, not seeing enough space for them all to sit, especially since most of the girls had grown so much. The snacks were sitting on the coffee tables in front of the two couches.

"I got it!" Nora nearly screeches before zipping around to grab people with her extreme strength and tossing them on the seats before they could realize what was going on. Denko was tossed onto the end of a couch, hitting the armrest with his elbow, Sun getting the same treatment at the other end. Ruby landed between them with a squeak and a slight groan from the frame upon impact. The blondes had the wind knocked out of them when Yang landed on Denko and Blake on Sun. On the other couch, Jaune found himself with Pyrrha on his lap with Neptune next to him with Ren thrown next to the taller boy. Talon landed on Neptune while Sage landed in a large armchair with Scarlet on him. Nora zipped around to sit Anya on a chair with Itazura on her lap before placing Weiss on Ruby with surprising gentleness.

Ren's eyes widened just as he processed what had just happened and what was going to happen… right before Nora slammed into him. "Done!" The energetic girl shouts with a grin.

"Um…" Denko wasn't sure of the situation, having to push Yang's hair out of his face.

The girl just leans back on him. "It's not that bad." She states as she grabs his hands and sits them on her belly and holding them there with her arms. They were all in their pajamas, though Ruby was wearing a pair of Yang's shorts since she hadn't gotten new pants yet. "Kinda like when we rode on my bike."

Ruby really didn't want to tell Weiss how cold her skin was but due to having to help the girl get a shower and reapply the skin cream for her burns, she knew that she could hold the girl around her surprisingly small waist. Doing so made the wide hipped girl lean into the much softer body of Ruby, not really minding that she had to lean on Yang's shoulder so her partner could see the television. Blake was in much the same position as Weiss, though without as much cushion to lean into while having more to sit on. Sun had wrapped his arms around her waist to catch her when she hit, though he had yet to release her and she wasn't complaining about being held.

On the other couch, Pyrrha was blushing as bright as her hair with her position, Jaune's only saving grace being his experience from having so many sisters and having dealt with being sat on more times than he could count or care to remember. Granted, none of them were as plush as the girl in his lap now and Pyrrha was a good friend, teammate, and mentor to him. Next to them, Neptune didn't know what to do with Talon in his lap, keeping his hands firmly on the cushion he sat on. This was new territory for him and it showed in his nervousness. Talon didn't seem to care as she sat on him, giving an odd mixture of a glare and look of amusement at the short ginger next to her.

Nora grinned happily where she sat, used to being close to Ren thanks to their time homeless with nobody but each other to depend on. She'd be lying if she said she didn't miss being so close to her best friend, and having the chance to eat enough to satisfy her stomach, sleep comfortably and safely. The hands on her waist let her know that he had some response beyond sitting stiffly and she relaxed against him.

Scarlet looked at Sage who had caught him, though neither seemed to be in much of a hurry to move. Meanwhile, Itazura simply repositioned herself to lay across Anya's lap, using the armrests of the soft chair to prop her head up. Her tail twitching idly as Anya was content to let the fox relax, one of the few she trusted to be so close to her.

The movies they watched weren't anything special, just three action/comedy shows that were entertaining enough to keep the four teams watching and enjoying just being teenagers. There were a few shifts in seating, Scarlet moving to sit on the floor but leaning against Sage's legs, Talon fell into her restaurant routine and kept the snacks and drinks filled. Anya made it through the first before leaving for the night. Partway through the second movie, Itazura became distracted by something on her scroll that went well into the night.

"Can I have some of the taiyaki?" Sun asks Blake, who was nibbling away at the treat as she watched the movie.

The cat faunus looked down at the plate and grabbed the last one, handing it off to her 'seat'. Weiss had watched as the monkey tried to look anywhere but at Blake as she leaned forward, trapping his hands between her thick legs and belly and revealing the shorts under her yukata. Shorts that were in need of upsizing. It didn't take more than a few seconds to retrieve the requested snack, but it was enough for the blonde to surpass her expectations and her teammate sat up again to pass the food over her shoulder. Weiss did find it amusing to see that with Sun removing his hand from Blake's hips to eat, the girl grabbed his tail and put it in the hands place.

At the same time, Weiss thought about the shower before the gathering. The water was kept cool to help soothe her burnt skin and Ruby helped to wash her long hair, doing her best to stay out of the water flowing on them as she preferred much warmer showers. They had gotten used to seeing each other in the nude when they couldn't use the showers in their dorms. Maybe not comfortable, but used to the sight and had seen how the other and their teammates and some of their friends had grown without clothes masking their sizes.

But it was a first that they shared a shower together and it was hard to not notice how soft the younger girls' skin is all over, with the exception of the calluses on her hands from handling her massive weapon. But her hands were gentle on her hair and skin to clean, dry, and reapply the medical cream before wrapping her hands again. The heiress was surprised that the hyperactive girl could be so gentle when she was nearly as rough and tumble as her sister. Then again, Yang had taken to the role of big sister to the whole team within the first week of school and at times could be almost motherly. It may have taken a while, but she had learned that Yang had practically raised Ruby. It wasn't much of a stretch to think that Ruby had learned to patch up Yang during that time… if only so their father didn't worry too much more over them.

Looking to her right, Weiss saw the blondes sitting comfortably together, sharing a large bowl of popcorn balanced on the arm of the couch. She had learned that the two had plenty of history together and they seemed to rely on the other for support. They often sparred together, even if their teams had already trained, the two seemed two get a second wind when they got close and would work it off productively. It also helped their teams as none of them could handle hand to hand combat like the blondes do, giving them a reprieve.

Even now, they seemed content to sit together. Denko absentmindedly drummed his fingers on her belly with the music, sometimes rubbing the soft orb. Yang held a large cup of tea with two straws, one of which was much longer so that Denko could reach it without moving. Neither of them looked to be moving any time soon and she wouldn't put it past them to sleep together on the couch if allowed.

On the other couch, Weiss was glad to see that Pyrrha had settled down since she had been tossed onto the blonde knight, apparently content to lean back against Jaune with her arm resting on the armrest. His arms around her waist kept her from sliding down his legs, her waist being the smallest of the gaining girls in the group behind herself thanks to her hourglass figure. Weiss and the rest of the group had gotten used to the boy and his Pumpkin Pete's onesie pajamas; it was still an odd sight among the teens.

The two of them were sharing a bowl mixed fruit, nuts, and pretzels as they watched the movies with the only real movement being when she had to reach for their drinks. Weiss was glad that Jaune had stopped trying to ask her out to dates all the time, now it was usually just asking if she wanted to hang out with their team. Maybe something happened at the dance, Neptune seemed pretty confident that it was with the respect that he had spoken about the blonde with. Though it was odd that Pyrrha had to leave partway through the second movie.

Speaking of which, the blue haired boy sat alone between friends and looking uncomfortable. In fact, he hadn't really been acting quite like himself since after the fight with NDGO. Weiss wasn't blind to seeing how their friends had given him the cold shoulder since then and it was affecting him. Neptune was seriously regretting his actions; he and Weiss may not have been dating but they had been bonding like when they were at the dance. It had apparently been after a talk with Jaune that got him to even talk to her and open up about a few things.

But maybe they could at least be friends, she didn't want to make this an issue for Sun to have to choose between his best friend and teammate and the girl he'd been helping to enjoy life almost since the day they met. She resolved to make sure to tell him so before he and his team went back to Haven.

Nora looked like she may have been enjoying sitting on Ren a bit too much, at least at first. But she had calmed down and really made herself comfortable on the young man. The short and very stout girl had a small smile on her face as she ate from a big bowl of popcorn she shared with Ren. The two had been extremely close since before coming to Beacon, Weiss had noticed, and there was some amusement in watching them getting flustered if anyone would suggest that they were a couple. They already did nearly everything but hold hands and kiss to seal the deal and right now it was obvious that they were enjoying their time so close together.

Still, it was kind of funny to her to see how long it would take for them to make anything official. Yang had suggested a betting pool within the first few weeks but that was shot down… sort of. The pool had unofficially started up a few weeks later from Pyrrha of all people. It was embarrassing for Weiss to admit out loud that she had participated but it was unanimous that half of the winnings would be going to the potential couple as a congratulations gift. For now, she could get some amusement from watching how well Ren's apathetic mask holds up as Nora gets excited by the movie and bounces around.

Sage and Scarlet were a bit harder for Weiss to figure out. Granted, she didn't spend that much time with them, mostly because they were content to do their own things together and because Sun would always pop up to hang out with them... and making Blake laugh, with Neptune usually not far behind. It was how she got to know him mostly. But the other half of the team seemed to be pretty comfortable with each other in close proximity.

Anya, when she was still watching the movie with them, was much like Blake with her generally preferring to keep her distance. Weiss had learned that the withdrawn girl kept her distance for the safety of others but her team refused to say why, telling everyone that it was up to Anya to tell them. The girl has proven nice enough but cynical most of the time.

Her sister Talon was the far more social of the family, almost always willing to talk to others and hang out. The girl's passion for food was explained by her mother running her own restaurant, but it was still a mystery to Weiss, despite her growth, why the older girl wants to be chubby. At the same time, she was as skilled as she claimed in battle as she is in the kitchen. It was odd at first to hear from the older team that the fattest among them was the most acrobatic and mobile but she had proved that size didn't always matter. Weiss would admit that early on in The Issue, the girl served as a bit of a role model with her body confidence and skills, helping to inspire her to increase her own training and push her team for more.

Itazura was… controlled chaos, she had found. Unpredictable at the best of times with what she'd do and how, apparently slipping a few hundred gallons of syrup past Atlas security and putting it in the plumbing all over the Academy during a short stay in the Kingdom was a good example of what she could do. But she was someone Weiss wanted on her side, and not just because of her skills as a Huntress or because she was still warming up to the idea of faunus being good when she met the fox. The girl was simply fun to be around so long as you could get past having pranks played on you at any given time. And knowing of her history and mutilation garnered plenty of sympathy from Weiss, knowing that just a few months ago she would likely have tried to justify the attack… and it made her sick.

There was so much that Weiss had experienced here at Beacon and little she regretted, yet she had grown from it all to be a better person, recognizing her prejudices and previous judgements and taking steps to correct them. She had more friends, true friends, than ever before in her life now and she'd do anything to protect them within her power.

With that thought in mind, she relaxed once more against the soft warmth that was Ruby Rose. Someone that she was truly glad to be her best friend. She let a small smile pull at her lips as she felt her partner adjust and slightly tighten her arms around her waist.

In a different building altogether, Cinder, Mercury, Neo, and Emerald were in their dorm room keeping away from all of the other students as usual. The thief lay on the floor reading, her large rear rising high behind her. Mercury wasn't too far away but he was doing pushups to keep himself occupied as he had trouble sitting still for long. Neo sat on her bed playing a game on her scroll, content to stay out of the way and enjoy a small snack of ice cream that she was offered as part of her pay to stay at Beacon with them to maintain the illusion of a team.

But it was Cinder sitting on her own bed and going through her own scroll that seemed to be the center of attention. The young woman had a love for the dramatic, which brought peoples thoughts and attention to her in turn. She also demanded respect, usually through fear. Though to be honest, Mercury had joined her not out of fear but to do something different and she let him be the assassin he was trained to be. Neo may have held some fear, but that was buried deep as she found some amusement in Cinder's plans. Emerald was the easiest, providing her with food and shelter so she never had to go back to living on the streets and the fear of returning to that life and disappointing Cinder kept her in line.

At the same time, Cinder hated that none of her associates with her Mistress feared her. One seemed apathetic as he feared no one, just stoically doing as commanded. One was too crazy to know what fear is beyond disappointing his Goddess, otherwise he was itching for a fight to kill. The last seemed to hold nothing but contempt for her, claiming that she's just a petulant child and would take any chance to insult her through his mustache. It was unfortunate that so much of her plan depended on his skills in technology or she would have gutted him and asked for forgiveness from her Mistress.

"Oh! That's interesting." Cinder remarks as she uncovers a file within Ironwood's rather extensive lists.

"What?" Emerald rolls over to face her leader.

"Oh, nothing." Cinder was practically teasing them with her tone as she flipped through the P.E.N.N.Y. files. "We're just going to be making a... hmmm, slight alteration to the plan." She uncrosses her thick legs from the ankle to rest her right on the knee of her left.

"What does that mean?" Mercury asks as he pauses in his exercise.

"It means that this will be even easier than we thought." Cinder replies with a smirk that was bordering on cruel.

In his office, Ozpin was sitting in his chair and watching the school at night, something he had done often to relax himself. Another day of raising the next generation to help defend the world from the Grimm, and by extension, Her. As much as it pained him to lie to so many people about the true, secret purposes of the Huntsman Academies, it was also necessary for the Kingdoms to exist as they are. Without the Huntsmen, the Kingdoms would be overrun within weeks. Without a centralized place to train so many at once for the dangers of their profession, far more would be lost due to lack of adequate training. This was the best way to ensure that the best minds and trainers passed on their skills to the next generations so that hopefully more would survive the perils of fighting Grimm before they could endanger the innocent civilians.

His thoughts were interrupted by the chime of the elevator and the doors opening. "You know he's making you look like a fool." Qrow didn't mince his words as he walked up to the desk with a mug in hand.

"His heart is in the right place." The Headmaster was quick to defend the General. "He's just… misguided."

"Sometimes I'm not even sure he has a heart." Qrow dismisses before drinking whatever he had, most likely coffee with a generous helping of alcohol.

"Real funny way of showing it." Anya grumbles as she watches one of the Atlesian warships float by slowly.

"Have you chosen your Guardian yet?" Qrow asks as soon as he finished drinking.

At that, Ozpin spun around in his chair to address his associates directly. "Maidens choose themselves. I believe that I simply found the right candidate. Ever since the day I met her, I had the feeling that she would be the one." The older man explains. "She's strong, intelligent, caring, but most importantly, she's ready."

Below them at the base of the tower, Pyrrha walked into the elevator with her usual confident mask that she wore in public.

"I really do hope you chose well, Old Man." Anya crosses her arms as she gives Ozpin a slight glare.

"Which is part of the reason you are here; a friendly face goes a long way."

"And what part of this is friendly?" The girl points to her face, a mask of irritation that was a common sight to anyone who met the Vacuoan woman. Her red eyes bore holes into the two men.

"You know what we mean." Qrow tells her, far too used to her attitude as it was close to his own and reminded him of his sisters.

"Yeah, and I enjoy being the emergency brake for your entire plan too." She turns away to stare at the dark skyline.

"Would you prefer to be first choice? You know full well who we don't want getting ahold of that." Qrow still hated falling back into teacher mode but it had become too engrained in him to not bring it up now and then, especially around the younger generation.

"I know, I know… still sucks that we're even in this position."

"Trust me, I know that too well. If I was just a little too late, things would have been worse." Qrow hated that fact, yet knowing that he had interrupted the process was considered a small victory.

"And if you had gotten to her sooner, she'd be here out of simple protection." Ozpin tells him.

"Yeah, then me and the kids would be out there tracking them down." The caped man had been through the discussion a few times with his boss, if only to vent his frustration of the whole ordeal.

"Then you may want to be ready, she's on her way." Anya informs them before moving to settle against a wall in the shadows. Qrow shrugs and follows suit on the other side.

Back in the party room, Itazura saw that her tracker had alerted her to the intruder accessing some files again and watched as she saw which ones. Notes were made on what apparently were catching their interest but it was a certain project that was lingered on the most that caught the foxes attention.

Her tracker was being put to the test to ensure that everything that happened on that end was known to her. Unfortunately, whoever this infiltrator is, they knew not to keep their plans on the device. At the same time, whatever their plans were, required the use of their scroll for the access to systems it has. That was something she could exploit if needed.

It was going to be a long night and she could bug Anya later about her activities.

AN: I really doubt that it took too much to realize who the opponents were based on in that fight, having all but spelled out everything for them. But at the same time, I wonder how many readers noticed that they were Rick Rolled back in RWBY's qualifying match?

We have a bit of a mystery and suspense building at the end that will be finished next time. Until then, I hope that everyone does enjoy their holidays and if you are legally able to drink, do it after you're done driving around or have a designated driver. For those underage... I'll just say that drinking is overrated.

As always, reviews are welcome!