Thanks for following along with the story so far, I hope you're enjoying it. I love to hear your thoughts about the story, it's part of my motivation that lets me know my work is appreciated. So thanks in advance for the support, it's part of the fuel that keeps this crazy train going. Enjoy. :)

"Huaa!" I shot forward with a lunge, stabbing at Ren. Ren maintained his stance, twirling one of his bladed pistols and parrying the thrust to the side. Without missing a beat, he hooked one of the blades on the spear's pole, to make it harder for me to keep attacking. Sprinting towards me, he closed the spear length gap, slashing at me with his free pistol.

Taking a step back, I avoided the blade by a small margin, throwing out a knee. With no other choice, Ren unhooked his pistol's lock on my weapon, using it to block my knee, before kicking my stomach.

"Ugh." Being kicked while one of my legs was off the ground caused me to lose my balance. Ren didn't waste this opportunity, his blades flashing past me, striking my chest. "Guh!" Regaining myself, I aimed the bottom of the spear at him, firing the grappling claw. His eyes went wide and he rolled to the side evading the attack, but I wasn't done.

Gritting my teeth, I viciously swung the spear to the side. The chain following suit, curving and wrapping around his leg much to Ren's surprise. Pressing the button once more, the chain retracted back into the spear, pulling him along with it. Using the momentum, I hauled the weapon over my head, throwing Ren and slamming him into a tree, as the claw returned to my weapon.

Firing the claw towards him again, Ren yanked his head to the side dodging it by a hair's breadth, the weapon sinking into the tree. Pressing the button I was yanked forward as the chain retracted, shooting in for a zipline kick and catching him square in the chest, sending flying him back. However Ren quickly recovered, using his bladed pistols, he dug them into the ground while flying back, creating two long lines in the dirt, and coming to a stop before firing his pistols at me. His shots pelted me all over, leaving stinging sensations, forcing me to be more defensive and try to avoid them. Despite taking some shots, I managed to avoid the worst of it, immediately clashing weapons with Ren. Sparks flew left and right under our blows as I was slowly being pushed back. Despite having more power, his speed proved troublesome.

Deflecting my weapon to the side, a kick landed on my ribs. Ducking under another swing, a slash caught my chest. Ren was simply too fast for me to fight against. For every attack I made, he could make three, and it was difficult to pin him down. The two of us traded moves back and forth, but I couldn't switch between defense and attack fast enough. After I blocked a move, I went to attack, only for Ren's next move to be moments away from hitting me. Constantly being on the defensive while occasionally being slashed or struck by him.

"Screw this." I dropped my guard, allowing Ren's pistol to slash my shoulder, and grabbing his hand soon after. Ren looked at me with surprise as I leered at him. "Gotcha." Using my free hand, I held the spear close to the blade, using it as a knife to slash his chest. As I quickly went for another strike. Ren jumped, twisting his body and attempting to use his momentum to throw me. However, I firmly planted my feet, gripping his wrist with an iron grip, and yanked him back into my weapon's path not allowing him to escape. Once more the spear struck Ren, breaking his posture.

If I can't beat you with skill, I'll fight you on MY terms. So what if you're faster than me? I'm stronger than you. All that speed doesn't mean much if you can hardly move. Ren frowned, pointing his pistol at my head. I quickly ducked to avoid its trajectory, but that was only a feint on his part. After I ducked, Ren brought his leg up in the air and cracking it down onto my hand tightly gripping him in an ax kick.

I grunted, involuntarily letting go of his wrist as it landed, my opponent finally escaping. Ren narrowed his eyes, elegantly moving his hands in a circle, a magenta light shinning from them as he slammed both of his palms into my chest creating a shockwave.

"KAAAAAAAAAGH!"

I could feel the air knocked out of me, the dark purple aura crackling around my body, before shattering. I lay there on the grass panting for breath, suddenly feeling exhausted after having lost my aura. Ren didn't seem to be in any sort of hurry, sitting down on the grass and patiently waiting. After catching my breath, I sat up, checking my scroll.

LIE REN: 46% Aura

AERO CAIRN: Aura Depleted

"Heh not bad, I did a little better this time." Ren bent down, offering me a hand and pulling me up. "Progress is progress after all."

"Are you two done yet?!" Nora yelled from a distance away, sitting on the grass. "I'm boooooored!"

Ren shook his head in amusement, glancing at me. "Come on, Nora isn't some you should keep waiting she gets impatient easily."

"Alright alright, we're coming YOUR MAJESTY!"

"Finally!" Nora shot to her feet running over to us. "So I was thinking we should celebrate the anniversary of the time we've been together."

Jaune tilted his head, "But it's only been a month."

"ONLY been a month?! Jaune! Our time together is precious I'll have you know!"

"Uh-huh...and this isn't AT ALL about the tower of pancakes special you kept 'reminding' us about right?"

"Weeeeeell..."

I smiled as the two of them bickered back and forth. Looking down at the spear in my hands, I gently rubbed my thumb over the weapon. Ever since I first held this thing, it almost felt like it BELONGED in my hands. Almost like it was a part of me. Some of the battles I went through felt oddly familiar, comfortable even. Training was going surprisingly well for me. Honestly...too well. Is this really the kind of progress I should have after only a month? It's enough to make me worried there's some kind of a catch. I lifted a hand, opening and closing it as a test. I'm in Aero's body right now, so it'd make sense that he wouldn't also be in this body right? 'You're not inside me...right Aero?'

"I'm just saying if we DID go to the Better Breakfast it would be the most fantastic and stomach filling thing we could do...just saying."

"I think I'm gonna start sparring with Ren from now on..."

"Huh?" The two of them looked up from their conversation. "What was that Aero?"

"Ren. I'm going to start sparring with him three times a day instead."

"Oh, okay." Nora shrugged it off. "Looks like you and I are going to be spending more time together Jaune.

"Wait, hold on." Jaune stopped, his voice taking a serious tone. "What about me?"

"You? I mean...you'll be fine. Just because I'm not the one training with you every day doesn't mean you can't improve."

"I know but," Jaune stopped, rubbing the back of his head. "I've kinda been enjoying my battles with you, and you're the only-"

"Awwwwwww!" Nora cooed interrupting him, "Looks like you two have been bonding.

"Yeah yeah Nora...look Jaune, just think of this as shaking things up. There aren't many new things you can learn by doing the same thing over and over again. It's good to have a bit of variety. Try learning from Nora."

"Yeah!" Nora's arm reached around Jaune's waist pulling him closer. "Just leave it to big sister Nora."

"Okay..." Jaune reluctantly agreed, seeming a little unhappy. I do feel a little bad for Jaune, but I have to switch to someone else. Fighting him isn't helping me anymore after I've improved. If I were to liken Jaune to a video game, he would be 'Easy Mode' while Ren would be intermediate. You can improve your skill playing on easy mode a few times, but that eventually runs out. If I don't move on, I won't improve. Speaking of improving, it's time for the next stage of my plan in preventing the fall of Vale.

Professor Port was unusually silent as his class started. He looked around at his students before his gaze focused on me for a moment. Port then scooted out of the chair from his desk and stood up, pacing around the front of the room. "I had an interesting chat with someone today." He began, glancing at me once more. "And they made some inspired points. So! Sometime this month, I shall later be dividing you all into groups of two. To ensure no sort of favoritism of any kind, I've written the students' names on these." Port lifted a ping pong ball, and on it was written 'Ruby'. These balls shall be put into this box here. Port said gesturing to his desk and they will randomly be sorted into pairs. Aside from your team, you will also hang out with this assigned person, learn about them, and learn how to effectively fight alongside them. You shall be quizzed on the knowledge of your partner, and Ms. Goodwitch has agreed to add this combat teamwork as one of her lessons. These teams of two will fight alongside each other and be graded by her."

There was a good bit of commotion from the students after Port explained this. Pyrrha raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms. Nikos?"

"Sir? Where exactly is this coming from? We already know how to fight with more than one person. Isn't this why teams were formed in the first place?"

"Ms. Nikos let me ask you something. You have become better at utilizing teamwork with the members you have is that not correct?"

"It is."

"And this is because you have learned over time to compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses in order to better draw out your capabilities?"

"That's right."

"And what if your team were replaced with entirely new members, what then?"

This time Pyrrha didn't respond immediately, a puzzled look appearing on her face. "What do you mean?"

"What if you were dropped into the Emerald forest with different team members than you currently have? Would you be able to work well with them right off the bat, or do you believe you would have just as hard as a time when you first took the entrance exam?"

"Well, I suppose I wouldn't be able to work with them immediately."

"Do you think the enemy will accept that excuse?" Port asked.

"...no."

The teacher gave a sage nod, turning his attention to the class, pacing back and forth. "As huntsman, you must be ready and able to fight to the best of your abilities no matter what. Putting people in teams is a good way to encourage teamwork."

He stopped, immediately jabbing a finger at us. "HOWEVER! Staying exclusively with the same people on your team can also breed dependence! A need for your specific teammates around in order to perform in groups properly. This will not do. Keep in mind your teams are only for your remainder of time here at Beacon. After that, you may find yourself parting ways with your team for various reasons. Differences in beliefs, a need to explore your identity, simply drifting apart over time, needing to keep a low profile for a mission. There are a great many reasons for a team to disperse after you leave this academy. Whatever the reason it is, the world will not simply wait for you to adapt to your new circumstances or allies. You must learn to work with any and everyone, connect with any or everyone. This is part of what it means to be a huntsman. To be able to adapt to whatever the world throws at you."

Port crossed his arms, his brows furrowing at the class. "Make no mistake. Our job as huntsmen and huntresses is great and noble indeed, however it is also dangerous. Those who cannot adapt may meet a terrible fate as many others have."

After class, Jaune gave me a nudge as everyone was packing up to leave "You were the one who gave Port that idea didn't you?" he said, turning to me.

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Oh come on, you just got through talking about trying new stuff and shaking things up. Who else could it have been?"

"Alright alright, keep your voice down. You're right, I did that."

"Why though?" Nora asked tilting her head. "I mean I'm all for hanging out with new people but still."

"Just like Port said, a huntsman needs to be able to work with anyone." And I'm going to need everyone to be at the top of their game during the attack on Vale. The top huntsman students from each academy were all present when things went to shit. Despite that, around less than half of them actually stayed behind and fought. If I can get everyone to perfectly be in sync with each other, that'll improve our chances. Step 1: Money. Step 2: Teamwork. "Now, I need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"I need you to distract Port so I can rig that box of his before he checks it."

"What?! But that's cheating! Nora, you agree with me right?"

"I'll do it!" Nora said excitedly. "Just make sure I'm not paired with anyone on team CRDL okay?"

"Oh come on! Ren?" Ren turned to Jaune with a helpless smile and shrugged. "Ugh, you probably just want to put yourself paired with Yang..."

"Sh-shut up! Who told you that?!" I glanced over at Nora who immediately evaded my gaze, whistling innocently. "Anyway, I wasn't gonna do that. But if by some chance it DID happen, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Now, are you going to help me or not?"

"I got your back fearless leader." Nora said giving a salute. "Me and Ren will distract him. Ren, you wait here and just follow my lead."

"Oh boy..." Jaune face-palmed. "Okay, I guess I can message you when Port is about to come back. And uh..." Jaune let out a light cough. "If you could see to it that I'm not paired with anyone from CRDL too, I'd be really grateful."

"Got it."

"Alright Aero, let's go." The two of us marched back to Port's class. Nora entering the room while I hid outside of it watching.

"Heeeeeeeeey professor."

Port looked up from a pile of papers on his desk he was grading. "I was talking with Ren, who is outside in the hall by the way, and he told me none of your old hunting stories are true!"

"What?!" Professor Port pounded the desk with his fist causing the papers to jump. "Why, absolutely every one of those daring adventures of mine is the complete and utter truth. Those tales are the ones of my childhood that made me the man I am today! Ones that I now pass down to make huntsman and huntresses of similar caliber! To question such a thing! Ms. Valkyrie, you said he was in the hall did you not?"

"Yup!" Nora chirped with a smile on her face. "C'mon, I'll show you." Nora led Professor Port out of the class, giving me a secretive wink.

Making sure to stay out of sight, I crept into the empty room. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any cameras here like Glynda's class.

"Okay let's see..." I pulled open the box, seeing the ping pong balls with the names written on them. "Let's see...ah! Jaune." I took Jaune's ball before grabbing another. I'm gonna put you with Pyrrha. You two aren't on the same team anymore so this little bonding experience should help push you two together again." I nodded in satisfaction having put them together. I'm really good at this huh?

"Let's see, who's next? Ruby? Hmm...let's put her..." I grabbed another ball "With Jacey. Sorry Pyrrha, I know you said you'd handle this team problem on your own. But just think of this as a helping hand. Which reminds me. Sophie, since you seem to be having issues with Pyrrha, why don't I give you someone you'll have some REAL issues with like Cardin. Maybe that'll teach you to appreciate what you have."

Wow, this is really fun. It's almost like I'm deciding their fates. "Okay, so now to make sure Nora's not with any of CRDL...I dunno, Blake. You're paired with Blake now. Now, where is Yang's..."

All of the sudden, the scroll in my pocket vibrated causing me to panic. "He's coming back already?!" I fumbled with the remaining balls before throwing them back in the container and closing the box. I just barely made it out of the room, when someone grabbed onto my shoulder, gripping me tightly.

"Well now, what do we have here?" said a familiar voice.

'Oh no...' I turned around, my heart thumping seeing Cardin behind me with a smirk. And it wasn't just him, the rest of Team CRDL was there with him as well.

"Look, it's our good pal Aero, isn't that right guys?" He said with a dark grin.

The other three chuckled menacingly. "So!" Cardin shoved me backward, Dove catching me as he did, forcefully holding my arms behind my back. "What do you say we hang out for a bit? I Haven't gotten much time to see you since you've been hiding behind your team." Cardin smiled cracking his knuckles before punching me across the face.

"Gah!"

Having lost my aura in the spar with Ren, my lip started bleeding. "Ah ah ah..." Cardin grabbed my shirt using it to wipe the blood away. "We can't have anyone getting the wrong idea about what happened here. We still gotta pay you back for the fun time you gave us back at the cafeteria." I struggled fiercely as he sneered at me, managing to get an arm free, only for Russel to grab it and lock me back down. "C'mon pal, you just got here, you gonna leave us so soon?" Cardin wound up his arm back, his fist hitting me in the gut and knocking the air out of me.

"Guh...you're..."

"What's that?" He moved closer to my face, standing right in front of me, leering at eye level with a smile. "I'm sorry were you trying to say something?" Leaning back, I headbutted his face as hard as I could.

"GAH!" Cardin grabbed his nose staggering back.

"I said...you're a wuss." Ignoring the pain, I smiled up at him. "You talk a pretty big game about me hiding behind my team, then sucker-punch me while hiding behind YOUR team. What's wrong? Can't take me yourself? I guess you need it to be four on one in order to stand a chance..."

"What did you say?!" As expected, Cardin took the bait, a vein popping out of his forehead. "I don't need ANYONE to crush someone like you!"

"What is going on here?" Having been so caught up in what we were doing, none of us noticed Professor Port approaching. Russel and Dove immediately released me, stepping back.

"Oh this?" Cardin shrugged with a smile. "We were just helping our friend here learn about dealing with multiple opponents. Like you said professor, no one's gonna wait for you to adapt right?"

"Oho! Already taking my lesson to heart, I applaud you Mr. Winchester. However, please don't make it a habit of practicing this indoors as you may cause damage and a scene."

"Don't worry teach, we won't." Cardin gave a fake smile pulling me close to him like I was his friend before whispering. "You're off the hook for now, but we WILL settle this one way or another. You take too long and I'll drag your team into this!"

"You son of a bi-"

Cardin gave me a rough shove forward, the professor still watching. "Alright Aero." he said in a cheerful tone. "I'll see you later, I'm SURE of it..." As Ren, Jaune and Nora arrived, he frowned, turning around to leave with his team.

"Aero!" Nora rushed over, squishing my face in her hands as she examined me. "Are you alright?! Did they hurt you?!"

"I'n fshine..."I answered, trying and failing to remove her hands from gripping my cheeks. No sooner had I said this when the cut from Cardin's punch earlier, reopened due to Nora's squeezing my face and starting to bleed again. "Ah! You're bleeding! I'm gonna-"

"Nora."

A calm voice came from Ren, and despite that fact it could barely be heard due to her shouting, Nora immediately stopped. "Yes Ren?"

"Why don't we just ask him what happened?"

"Oh...right...duh." Nora lightly knocked herself on the head. "I just got carried away and..." she immediately whirled back to me. "What happened?!"

A sigh escaped my mouth as I was met with Nora's intense gaze. It probably wasn't a good idea to lie right now. "I managed to get into the classroom and rig some of the results as I planned. But as I was leaving the room I was grabbed by Cardin and his team. I thought Cardin was just mouthing off when he said this wasn't over during the Velvet scene. Because neither he nor his team had bothered me up to that point. Turns out they were just waiting for me to be alone so they could ambush me."

"I knew it! First Jaune, and now you." Nora pounded a fist into her palm. "Time to go break some legs..."

"Nora, no."

"Nora yes! C'mon Aero you said it yourself, you can't just let some jerk walk all over you!"

I sighed once more pinching the bridge of my nose. "I won't okay? I'll take care of it."

"You don't have to do this alone." Jaune lightly elbowed me with a smile. "Just say the word and I've got your back too."

"Well look at you Jaune I'm impressed, I thought Cardin scared you, when did you grow a backbone?" I chuckled.

"W-what? Take this seriously, I'm trying to help you!" He rubbed the back of his head. "Cardin does make me a little scared, but if you're not gonna let that stop you, then neither will I."

"Heh. Thank you. All of you. But no."

"Why nooooooooooot!?" Nora pouted. "C'mon, know he deserves a broken leg or two..."

"Because we'd get in trouble. Evidently, this school doesn't care about bullying, but if we start a fight THEN suddenly it's an issue. They'd ignore what CRDL did and say that we were the ones at fault and punish us. Don't worry, I've got my own plans for Cardin and his lackeys. I'll make sure they pay. You should be more worried about your grades Nora."

Nora groaned at the mention of grades. "Ugh fine..."

Honestly speaking, my grades were even worse than hers. But it's not that I trying, I just had to catch up to gain basic Remnant knowledge before I could properly learn everything. And I refuse to have worse grades than Nora! "It's time to hit the books!"

After the study session, I went to bed and I couldn't help but be worried. I didn't actually have a plan to deal with CRDL. And Cardin wasn't just going to magically let this go. If I didn't find a way to settle this, he'd involve Ren, Jaune, and Nora. They might be fine with it, but I'm not.

These sorts of thoughts plagued me for about half an hour before finally dozing off.

"Huh?" As soon as I fell asleep I found myself in a white void. A vast emptiness appearing as far as the eye could see...save for one person. Looking around, in the void, I could faintly see the body myself standing opposite of me. And when I say myself, I meant my REAL body, the body of Nathaniel. My body looked at me in surprise, the two of us silently observing each other for awhile before drawing closer.

"This is an unusual dream." The other me spoke first, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

I looked him up and down, getting an odd feeling from seeing myself. "This is a pretty surreal dream if you ask me. Wouldn't we be unaware that it was a dream if that were the case?"

He didn't respond, giving me an unusual look as if I were a stranger. "Who are you?"

"I'm you...I think? I'm Nathaniel."

He widened his eyes upon hearing that. Reaching out a hand to me, he was about to say something when-

BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! An alarm clock screamed out ripping me from my weird dream.

"AAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGH!" I instinctively swung out with a fist, hitting the alarm clock and sending it crashing into the wall where it fell to the ground in pieces. "Hah...hah..." My heart furiously pumped in my chest still alert from the rude awakening. But as I calmed down and got out of bed, I got a strange feeling of déjà vu. Looking around, my teammates were nowhere to be seen. A familiar TV could be seen, the many video games I've played over and over again were neatly shelved on a shelf. This place wasn't where I went to sleep, but I'd recognize it anywhere.

"Is this...my room?!"