Over the two week in preparation for midterms Team STRQ would go about training in anticipation for the upcoming missions they would partake on. Raven and Tai didn't need too much training seeing as both were already the two strongest students in their class so Tai spent the majority of his two weeks studying for the test portions of the exams as he was not that confident in passing some of his classes. Raven used the majority of her time drawing up schematics for a potential upgrade to Omen that she had been thinking about for the past few months. Summer had by far the most difficult training out of anyone since Summer only had two weeks to get back to where she was before she was injured. Although her accuracy with a gun never faded during that time she was still terrible at using her hidden blades and had to make use of the notes she took while observing Raven during all of her training.

During one of her training sessions Summer was attempting to swing her blades in a similar way to how Raven did with hers, but she found that she just couldn't swing her blades with the same ferocity that her teammate did. Summer let out a huff of defeat as she sat down on a bench and lowered her head in defeat. "I'm never going to improve enough in such little time."

"Geez Sum, being a downer is supposed to be my job."

Summer raises her head in surprise at hearing someone else speak. She turns her head around as she knew exactly who that voice belonged to. "Oh hey Qrow, what are you doing here?"

"Was just passing by on my way to give Harbinger a new upgrade when I heard you." Qrow walks closer as he looks down at Summer. "I see that you're still struggling to use those blades of yours."

Summer tries to puff out her chest to act more confident. "Well I definitely have made some improvements on my sword wielding thanks to those observations I made during Raven's training." Summer then deflates a little. "But I'm starting to notice that Raven's techniques require a lot of upper arm strength which I am severely lacking."

"My sister's way of fighting can be quite taxing for most people to copy. You really should prioritize maneuverability over strength if you ask me." Qrow sits down next to Summer for a moment. "Besides, I'd say that fits more of your style if you ask me." Qrow rests Harbinger against the bench the two are sitting at as he takes on a more laid-back position on the bench.

Summer ponders over her partner's words for a moment as she activates one of her hidden blades to look at it. "I know that would be better for me... its just... how can a fighting style like that do any real damage to an opponent? I know you are able to damage people with your fighting style, but that could just as easily be chocked up to your semblance helping in that regard. My semblance is not very useful for attacking, it's purely defensive." Summer retracts the blade.

"Then make it work. You said so yourself during initiation that it could be used to throw your opponent off guard. Use that as your first step to figuring out your fighting style." Qrow spitballs ideas.

"That could work, but what if my attacks aren't strong enough to cut my opponent?" Summer worries.

"Then work on strengthening your arms. Come on Sum you should have thought of this already." Qrow face palms.

"I'm just stressed right now ok? I'm worried that I'll be the reason we fail our midterms because that darn cast kept me from improving this whole time." Summer is surprised she just said that out loud to someone else.

Qrow just sighs a little irritated. "Listen Summer, I've been on plenty of B-class missions before and this is going to be a C-class mission. It's even easier than what I'm used to. If push really comes to shove then I will deal with it."

"But that's not fair. I'm your partner. I should be helping you, not letting you do all the work. I am a better person than that." Summer seems much more serious now.

Qrow looks at the seriousness on Summer's face as he sees her silver eyes slightly peeking out from under her hood. 'Damn it, she's looking at me with those eyes again.' Qrow internally thinks. Qrow sighs as he gets up and leans his hand on the hilt of Harbinger. "Do you really want to improve that badly?"

Summer vigorously nods her head as she balls her hands up into fists. "Yes. I don't want to be a burden."

Qrow pulls up Harbinger and rests it across his shoulder. "Alright then... looks like we've got about two weeks until the midterms." Qrow begins to walk out onto the training grounds.

"Qrow what are you doing?" Summer asks.

"The best way to learn how to use a blade is to fight with it, and if this is really bothering you this much then I will take it upon myself to teach you through a more physical means." Qrow pulls down Harbinger into a ready position as he waits for Summer to join him. "I may not be as skilled at the blade as Raven is, but I'd say I've got a trick or two up my sleeve." Qrow smirks to himself.

Summer looks at Qrow with disbelief. "You mean... you would actually help me with my training?"

"Sure. This seems to be bothering you and I'd rather not hear you whine about it over the next two weeks. Plus I've been getting a bit too passive recently. I really need to get the blood flowing again." Qrow rolls one of his shoulders.

Summer pouts at the insult, but then straightens up and flicks her two hidden blades out of her sleeves and gives Qrow an appreciative smile. "Thank you Qrow. I appreciate the help."

"Oh but one thing Summer." Qrow points as if he thought of something.

"Yeah?"

"I am not doing that stupid regiment you put Raven through. I'll only train with you for one hour a day; not two. Also I'm sure as hell not waking up at five in the morning either."

"That's ok. I can work with that." Summer agrees.

"Then come at me Summer. Show me what you've got." The hint of a smile begins to form on Qrow's lips at the upcoming fight.

"You got it!" Summer brings her own blades into a ready position.


For the next two weeks Qrow and Summer would train together in order to get Summer back to the point she was at before the injury. During their fights Qrow would not hold back against his partner and Summer appreciated that fact. Summer slowly got stronger and stronger to the point where she was confident enough to say that her arm had finally fully healed.

It was now the day of the written portion of their exam. On this day the members of Team STRQ would go to each of their classes as per usual to take tests based on each of their classes, with the exception of combat class where they would receive their missions that they would go on. During lunch Tai had his head slumped down in a rather depressing manner.

"Whats the matter with you?" Raven asks nonchalantly.

Tai sighs as he drags his head up and gives the group sad puppy dog eyes. "I don't know how well I'm doing on these midterms. I don't know if I'll be able to pass them or not."

Summer reaches over from where she's sitting to pat Tai on the shoulder. "Oh cheer up Tai, I bet you did just fine."

"Yeah dude you're probably just over thinking it or whatever." Qrow offers.

"I don't know guys. I've never been that good at using dust, so I can't help but feel like I probably failed that test."

"As long as you didn't blow up the lab you should be fine." Raven offers.

"Well I'm not THAT terrible at using dust." Tai offendedly replies.

"Then you should have no problems with the test then." Raven responds back as she takes a sip of her tea.

"Did any of you guys struggle with your tests?" Tai hopefully asks so he can at least have someone to relate to.

"Nope." Raven simply replies.

"Nadda." Qrow responds.

"Sorry Tai, but it's a no from me as well." Summer rubs the back of her head.

Tai gives a loud, fake sigh. "Are you guys serious? Why am I the only one struggling with this crap?"

"Because look who we're talking about here." Qrow points to Summer. "Our leader is a total knowledge sponge. She actually WANTS to learn." Qrow points to Raven. "Rave is going to lead our tribe some day so of course she's going to bust her ass to learn as much as she can."

"Damn straight." Raven responds.

Qrow then points at himself. "And I'm just kind of going through the motions here, and hey it has worked for me so far." Qrow shrugs with a sly grin.

"Man why do you all have to be so smart." Tai sighs.

"I mean I wouldn't call you dumb at least." Raven tries to make her partner feel better.

Tears begin to flow from Tai's eyes. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me Rave." Tai tries to hug Raven, but Raven punches him in the face.

"Like that's going to happen." Raven declares.

'She's a feisty one alright.' Tai then grins to himself. 'I like it.'

"And besides, you're still the strongest fighter in our year so that's something to be proud of." Summer adds on.

"Wait... yeah you're right! Even if I'm not the brightest bulb in the box at least I'll last the longest." Tai smiles to himself.

"Yeah yeah, glad we were able to defuse your midlife crisis. Now I'm going back to eating." Qrow takes a bite of his meal.

Tai turns to face his partner as he asks Raven a question. "Hey Raven, what do you think our mission for the midterms will be?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is I hope it involves plenty of fighting!" Raven pumps her fist.


"Next up is Ms Branwen and Mr Xiao Long. Your midterm assignment will be to guard the local bank for two days." Professor Lot reads off to his two students.

Tai sighs in defeat. 'Man why do the two strongest fighters have to get the most boring job?'

Raven on the other hand looks absolutely livid at hearing this. "You've got to be kidding me right now. Are you serious Lot? Why do you have to give us such a lame ass job?!"

"For your information Ms Branwen, protecting the bank is an incredibly important job and one that will protect the financial stability of the people of Vale. It is of the utmost importance that you keep it safe and protected." Lance responds back with slight traces of venom.

"I am aware of the role banks play in our society, but it still feels like a waste of our talents to be used to simply guard." Raven argues.

"You can either choose to accept this mission or deny it and fail my class. I'd suggest you think about your answer." Lance responds.

Tai quickly turns Raven around and whispers to her. "What the hell are you doing Rave?! Are you trying to fail us?"

"I just find it ridiculous that are talents are being wasted on something like that." Raven whispers back.

"Just ignore what Raven said sir. We'll take the mission." Tai quickly tells Lance before Raven can object.

"Excellent. I am now sending the instructions and destination to your scrolls right now." Lance presses a few buttons on his scroll and within a matter of seconds Raven and Tai both get notified with their mission.

"Thanks again Professor. We'll be on our way now." Tai then drags Raven away as she makes protest.

"Geez, sis didn't really take that well at all." Qrow states from where his team normally sat.

"She's always fiercely passionate about everything she does." Summer tries to make light of it.

"That's just a nice way of saying she's hardheaded and stubborn." Qrow sighs.

Summer just shakes her head. "Come on Qrow, our mission is next." Summer gets up and starts walking down the steps.

"Right. Got it." Qrow lazily stands up and follows behind Summer.

Once the two made their way to the center of the arena Lance gave them their mission. "To round off the day we have Ms Rose and Mr Branwen. Your midterm assignment will be to clear out some grimm that have been appearing in the Forever Falls. Their has been an over population of Taeus in that area that requires you two to exterminate them."

"Aren't those the ones that look like bees?" Qrow asks Summer.

Summer nods her head. "That's the one." Summer then turns to face Lance. "Thank you very much Professor Lot. We will take on this mission."

"That is good to hear Ms Rose. Here are your instructions." Lance sends them their instructions to their scrolls and the two leave.


Later on in their dorm room Raven was laying on her bed and groaning loudly for the entire team to hear. "UUUUUUgggghhhhhh... Why do we have to have such a boring assignment." Raven rolls on her bed a little.

"Come on Raven. The bank is a pretty important place to protect." Tai tries to cheer up his partner.

"Even though you're right that doesn't mean it will be all that exciting. How many people even try to rob the bank anymore? Most criminals would rather rob a dust store than the bank anyways so they can sell it off for more money than the bank has on hand." Tai gives Raven a questioning look that says 'How would you know that?' "I know that because me and Qrow have robbed a dust store once or twice. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

"That's pretty illegal." Summer injects.

"Are tribe doesn't really care for the laws." Qrow responds in Raven's place.

"Whatever; the point is that nobody is going to try to rob the bank while we're there. We're just going to stand around like a couple of idiots for the next two days and it will end up being a total waste of time." Raven goes back to moaning in frustration.

"Quit whining like a baby Raven. Me and Summer have to go do pest control. At least you guys can stay in the city with actually good food and shelter." Qrow argues back to his sister.

"Easy for you to say. At least you get to fight something. I can't do anything unless someone attacks." Raven responds.

"Shouldn't it be a good thing that no one is trying to rob the bank?" Summer questions.

"I mean yeah it would be, but there's no fun in that." Raven protests.

Tai decides to ask his fellow teammates about their mission as he didn't want to hear anymore of Raven's whining. "So are you two taking an airship out their or what?"

"Actually someone is going to fly us out their tomorrow at about nine in the morning. We'll be forced to stay in Forever Fall for two days and kill as many Taeus as possible to keep their population under control." Qrow informs Tai.

"Speaking of which, weren't Taeus those ones that had the stinger that could shoot out of their body?" Tai asks.

Summer hops in to explain this one. "Those would be Lancers and they are more native to the Anima region. A Taeus is like a grimm bee with a fat fuzzy body that is the size of a football. They generally aren't very fast or strong, but they do have venom in their stingers and are known to repopulate pretty quickly." Summer pulls out her scroll and pulls up a picture of one for Tai to see. "Here take a look." Summer shows her scroll to Tai.

Tai looks at the picture and takes in its details. Its body is exactly as Summer described it. Except it also had some of that grimm bone armor over its head like most grimm did along wit two red wings to help it fly. The most striking feature was its stinger which was nearly as long as its body, but almost needle shaped. "Interesting. Can the venom kill a person?"

Summer pulls back her scroll and puts it back in her pocket. "It can, but only if you either have an allergic reaction or if you're stung by a bunch of them. Otherwise it will just make you feel pretty drowsy."

"For me and Summer it will be no problem. These things are pretty weak." Qrow comments.

"Yeah these things might as well be target practice for me." Summer confidently puffs out her chest.

"This is coming from the girl who was sooooo worried about being too weak to help on the mission." Qrow snickers to himself.

Summer blushes in embarrassment of the memory. "Well I thought we would have to fight something actually tough like a Death Stalker or a Goliath or something. Not these little grimm." Summer tries to argue.

"Still it's quite funny seeing how you were worried over nothing." Qrow gives Summer a pat on the back.

Summer lowers her head and comically sighs. "Looks like that training we did will go to waste since I'd rather shoot the Taeus than try to slice them."

"Eh it's fine. Not like it was that big a waste of time anyways seeing as it kept me limber at the very least." Qrow reassures his partner.

"Man I wish you were as nice to me as your brother is nice to Summer." Tai sighs out to Raven.

Raven sits up and just rolls her eyes at her partner. "That brother of mine just doesn't take anything seriously ever."

"So your meanness is chocked up to your seriousness?" Tai asks.

"I am not all that mean." Raven quietly pouts.

"You can be kind of an asshole." Qrow nonchalantly comments to his sister.

"Piss off Qrow, this is about me just being serious." Raven responds.

"Yeah yeah alright; whatever you say sis." Qrow lazily puts his hands up in defense and Summer giggles at the twins antics.

"Oh how I wish I had siblings." Summer comments.

"No you really don't." Both twins said simultaneously. Qrow and Raven both look at each other with some shock before looking away.

The rest of the evening went by with relatively nothing going on as Team STRQ went to sleep to rest up for their missions to come.


The next morning the Team woke up and all of them began getting ready and after a quick breakfast the four said their goodbyes at the entrance as Tai and Raven made their way into the main city of Vale to guard the local bank. Summer and Qrow went to the landing pads and boarded their airship that would fly them to the Forever Falls.

"Listen up kids, you will be dropped off in one of the clearings in the Forever Falls where you will conduct your mission. I will leave after you two unload your equipment from the airship. I will come back late tomorrow evening to pick you two up. Am I understood?" The pilot informs the two huntsmen-in-training.

"Loud and clear sir." Summer replies.

"Good; we should be arriving to our destination in about an hour, so buckle up." The pilot then goes back to focussing on flying the aircraft as Summer sits in an open seat and buckles herself in.

Summer looks up to see Qrow leaning against the wall on the other side of the airship. "Qrow? You really should buckle in. It might be a bumpy ride." Summer warns her partner.

"Nah I'll be fine." Their is suddenly some quick turbulence that nearly knocks Qrow over as he quickly balances to keep himself from falling over. Summer shoots him an 'I told you so.' look as Qrow sighs and rolls his eyes. "Oh alright." Qrow sits across from Summer and right as he is buckling in his bad luck flares as the buckle on his seat belt breaks when he tries to snap it into place. Qrow just blankly stares at the broken seat belt buckle in his hand, looks up to meet eye contact with Summer, then look back down blankly back at the seat belt buckle.

"You could always come sit on this side you know." Summer suggests.

Qrow puts the seat belt buckle down and stands up to walk over to where Summer is sitting. As he is half way across, the airship hits some more turbulence as Qrow nearly falls on top of Summer. Qrow quickly redirects himself as he falls right next to Summer instead of on top of her. Qrow quickly buckles in and Summer gives him a thumbs up. "Looks like we're all set now." Qrow comments.

"Now we just have to wait to get to the Forever Falls." Their is then a quiet silence between the two as Summer tries to make some small talk with Qrow. "So what do you think Raven and Tai are doing?"


"And these will be the uniforms you will be wearing while you work here." One of the staff hands Tai and Raven each a professional looking suit that they will need to wear while on the job.

Raven's eye twitches and Tai sweatdrops at receiving their uniforms. Raven opens her mouth to profusely object, but Tai quickly places a hand over her mouth before she gets them into trouble. "Thank you v-very much miss. We'll be s-sure to be out as soon as w-we can." Tai stutters as he fights against Raven's struggling.

"Excellent. I expect the two of you to do a marvelous job at protecting this bank. Do make haste." The staff lady leaves as Tai finally lets go of Raven who grabs Tai by the collar.

"What the hell was that for Tai?!" Raven angrily whisper shouts to Tai.

Tai lightly grabs hold of Raven's wrists as he gives her a deathly serious look. "Listen Raven I don't want to do this job any more than you do, but unlike you I NEED to pass this mission in order to pass the midterms. I can't afford to fail and the last thing we need is to piss off the staff here so please, as your partner try not to shout or scare anyone ok?"

Raven sees the seriousness in Tai's eyes and for a moment Raven couldn't even recognize him. 'Damn he's like a completely different person when he's serious.' Raven internally thinks. Raven lets go of him and grabs her own uniform from the two and heads off to change. "Fine, whatever. Let's just get this over with as quickly as possible."

Even though Raven can't see it she can just feel the smile that Tai is giving her right now. "Thank you Raven." Tai merrily says.


"Probably something that my sister hates." Qrow responds.

"To be fair I don't think Tai was really all that thrilled either." Summer comments.

"Yeah, but at least Tai knows not to complain about the mundane unlike Raven." Qrow responds.

After that their is a silence between the two as Qrow takes the opportunity to get a little shut eye before they get off. Summer uses the time to think of the most efficient ways to kill the pests and how they were going to go about camping for the night.

'Oh goodness, I'm going to have to share a tent with Qrow.' Summer blushes in embarrassment and turns her head to look at her sleeping partner. 'What are you thinking Summer? This is Qrow we're talking about. He could care less about such things. There's no need to be embarrassed. You do share a room with him after all. But then again it's with two other people and their will be a lot less space in that tent.' Summer curses her embarrassment and toughens up. 'No. I will not get flustered about this. This is a professional mission and I can't afford to think of such minor details.' Summer strengthens her resolve.


An hour later the two arrive at Forever Falls where they are dropped off along with their supplies. "I'll see you two tomorrow evening. Good luck out there." The pilot takes off as Summer waves back to him.

"See you then!" Summer shouts. Summer then turns around to see Qrow picking up some of their camping supplies.

"Come on, we've got to set up camp before we can proceed with the mission." Qrow beings to walk off.

"Hey now Qrow, leading is my job." Summer teases.

"Yeah yeah." Qrow dismissively waves off.

Summer pouts but goes to pick up the rest of the camping supplies. It was almost time to begin the second half of their midterms.

to be continued...

Authors Notes: Another chapter done. This chapter was more to show the interactions and personalities of the characters rather than the actual midterms themselves. Plus I think writing about how Team STRQ did their written tests sounds pretty boring so I hope you enjoyed reading this. Next chapter will be mainly focused on Summer and Qrow and occasionally checking back in with Raven and Tai, so look forward to reading about the missions they go on. As always I thank everyone who reads my chapters, I appreciate each and every one of you. What did you all think of this chapter? Let me know in the reviews as I always enjoy reading them. With all of that being said this is Exile Mansion signing off.