Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Ranma 1/2

What does it mean to be strong?

Some might say physical strength is what it means to be strong, others say in power like influence or money, and some say that it is to be strong in character.

In a way, all of these are correct. Strength itself is a relative term: a person's definition of strength isn't necessarily what it means to the next person.

It truly is a wonder that so many people have different perceptions of strength: physical, mental, spiritual, influential, financial, and so much more. Every single one, different from the other. Every single one unique. And every single one correct.

Strength also means power and the fact that there's a price to pay for power. Whether that be becoming ruthless, losing people you loved, or trading your humanity for it, there's always a price to pay for power.

Jaune knew this, Ren knew this, They both know that the other knew this. And are satisfied with that fact.

But still, they went ahead and did it in spite of that truth.

Now, what is "it" anyway?

We'll get to that at the very beginning.

Like most things, it all started with a conversation.

…

Team JNPR's room, which normally consisted of all of its members, had only half of them present. Jaune, fresh from the shower was sitting at his desk doing homework while Ren was taking his turn at cleaning himself.

While Ren was taking his shower, the blonde leader had a thought.

Normally, Jaune had very simple thoughts. A trait that's rare to people. Mostly consisted of school, family, and girls, the mindset and thoughts of Jaune would be insulting to a few, and enviable to most. A kind of simple soul, if you will.

That's not to say that he's stupid, although that does look like it. He is simply dense, not a moron. The Arc wouldn't have been the leader of his team otherwise. One might argue that a certain eccentric old man would do this for shits and giggles, but they always have an underlying reason, and anyone who says otherwise is a fucking liar.

But I digress. Right now, this fearless leader had a thought: He is incredibly weak. Compared to his other teammates and their sister team, he is currently the weakest. Obviously, that would be natural, seeing as he faked his way into this Combat Academy, unlike the others.

But more specifically, it's not that he is only weak, it's that the other members are too strong: specifically, the opposite gender. The girls are strong, in fact, too strong to be natural. Even considering the upperclassmen of Beacon, they are only slightly outclassed. In no way is Jaune insinuating that Ren is weak, that's not what he is implying in the slightest. But even he knew that when he compared himself to Ren, and Ren to the female members of his team, and team RWBY themselves; they are both embarrassingly more feeble than them.

And so, he made a plan.

As Ren turned the door, fresh from the shower, Jaune had his conclusion.

"Ren," Jaune said firmly.

"Jaune?" the oriental man asked. He's heard this tone of voice before; very rarely on occasion where they'll be driven into a corner in a mission, and on the off chance that it does happen, the fearless leader will somehow come up with a way to save all of them. Although why he's hearing this tone of voice when the two of them alone, he didn't want to find out.

"We need to train more, and I have just the place for it," he declared with an edge to his voice.

"Jaune?" Okay, now he's really worried. What situation could have possibly warranted this reaction from Jaune? Was there some sort of enemy or sect they shouldn't have offended? Did he have a dream about the future and therefore wanting to get us up to speed, if so; why now? Why not when the girls weren't out having a girls' day? Before Ren could overthink, Jaune spoke up.

"Have you ever noticed, that… we are kind of weak?"

"What?"

"Like, I know I'm improving, right? Because, I'm pretty much receiving training from like—the top teenage fighter of Mistral, and I KNOW that I'm stronger because back then, I couldn't point a sword to save my life. And I'm not saying you're weak, either. However! It's not that we're just weak, isn't it because the girls are just too strong?"

"What."

The Arc nodded. "Right?"

Unaware that he's probably already lost his only other male teammate to the first two sentences of his ramblings, he continued.

"So, I can say that I'm no slouch when it comes to slaying common Grimm, and we have you that's a monster that's agility… but, well, Blake has that too. And Ruby's faster than both of you, Yang and Nora destroys us in physical strength, Weiss has lots of applications she can do with her semblance, and Pyrrha… she's Pyrrha!" he shrugged.

"I… see…" Ren hummed. But that still doesn't explain his leader's outburst. And so, he asked.

"And? Jaune, we have different repertoires, and so we have different roles. We are just as essential as them," Ren stated.

"I know that; I'm not denying that we're useless to the team. I'm saying that the power imbalance between the two of us and the six of them is clear! We need to get stronger!"

Ren sighed. His leader was many things, and stubborn was one of them. From defending Pumpkin Pete cereal, to not asking for help during training until Pyrrha literally beat that out of him, and now this…

"Very well, suppose that we do go on this 'training trip' that you have offered, where are we even going to go?"

"Thanks, Ren!" Jaune beamed, and if he was a dog faunus – a golden retriever, perhaps – then he would be wagging his tail right about now.

"Some guy who told me to call him Mr. Brown gave me this flyer," the blonde took out a flyer from a drawer and inspected it.

"Uh-huh, and what's it about?"

"Apparently it's a training camp on the outskirts of Mistral, at a mountain range. Said that there are also hot springs for recuperation!" Jaune informed.

Sounds like a scam. Ren thought to himself. He ought to stop his leader now, but he wants to see where this goes.

Jaune handed out the paper and Ren took it.

"…Jusenkyo?" Interesting.

"So! Wanna go?"

Ren thought for a minute. He should refuse, and stop this. Prevent his leader from getting caught in a most likely scam in which he'll be forced to convince others into a pyramid scheme, or be forced into slavery.

But what if it's real? Normally, when encountering offers like these, he'd refuse immediately and stop Nora from agreeing to it. But he had also heard of this before, or at least a legend similar to it.

His parents told him of a place where warriors who have reached a plateau to break it. Of veterans becoming stronger than ever before, of fighters reaching higher peaks. He'd heard of it, and considering his past with Grimm, would most likely need it.

His parents also omitted the fact that most of those stories are fake, and the few warriors that have supposedly gone there were deathly afraid of water that's not been heated up.

"Very well," he acquiesced.

"Yes!" Jaune cheered.

…

Nora was bored.

Anyone who's ever interacted with Nora knows that a bored Nora is bad news. But can anyone help it if she's bored?

It's been over a month and her leader and partner still haven't returned from that so-called training trip. She'd understand if it was an official mission – seeing as missions normally take a lot of time to finish – but it wasn't. In fact, she was surprised that the Headmaster even agreed to this at all! This training had better have immediate and tangible results, or so help her she WILL create her own training regimen that she will convince (read: force) both her boys to do.

"…very well then, the next match will be Pyrrha Nikos against Mercury Black. You will have five minutes to gather your bearings, and after that will the match begin."

Huh. She was so bored that she didn't even pay attention to combat class – the one class she's actually excited about! This is bad. Her withdrawal symptoms are getting worse, she hasn't consumed any Ren-ium in days! If this goes on any longer then she. Will. Snap.

To distract herself from this, she stared at the room, conversed with team RWBY, and daydreamed about sloths and pancakes, but even then it's getting less and less effective the past few days.

And just as she was about to fall asleep as the next match was about to start – and isn't that a surprise? – the door opened and a voice erupted.

"Sorry, we're late!"

There. She recognized that voice. Finally, they're back! Nora beamed in joy. She really missed Jaune's voice. And since Jaune's here, then Renny's just behind him!

She turned her head to the doors and—

Woah.

They look different…

By that, she meant that they looked the same as ever. The same tailcoat, the same hoodie, barring the chest plate – thank goodness for that, armor sucks! – but they looked—felt different.

They had this aura – heh – of…well… confidence isn't the right word, but more like reassurance? She wasn't sure. It was like they had what Renny called an entitlement. Or was it enlightenment? Bah! Same thing.

The two talked with Goodwitch as she nodded and – wait what?

"Really, teach?" Mercury whined.

"Mr. Arc and Mr. Lie have decided to commandeer this match to face against themselves, and I agreed. You will have your match against Miss Nikos after, is that clear?"

Mercury clicked his tongue and walked back to his seat.

"Now, the both of you, get on the stage," Goodwitch stated. The both of them did so.

Huh. That's weird.

Ren's stance is different. Normally his way of fighting is defensive in nature. Relying on blind spots and chances for counter-attacks. But this… this looks like a mix of both offensive and defensive.

And Jaune… is not using his shield?

What.

"Jaune's not using his shield~~?" Nora heard Ruby's voice from her spot.

Hooh. Whatever training they had there must've been something, alright! Just the fact that she wasn't even a priority to Renny and that he immediately wanted to fight, something definitely must've happened.

Well then, let's see what that training did for you boys.

…

It's been a few days since that match and the only words that the girls could use to describe it was…

Ethereal.

It's almost as if it did not belong in this world. That fight looked less of a fight and more of a dance. A symphony of attacks. Every fist raised was intercepted in one way or another.

In no way are they stating that this was the most powerful fight they've ever seen; just that it is the most beautiful one so far. They know for a fact that Ren is stronger than Jaune, since the Arc only trained for a few months, and yet they purposely made their fighting prowess equal so they could execute it.

Well, that's the feeling from the first day of return, anyways.

The next few days however were weird.

Since when were they hydrophobic? It was strange, they seemed to be afraid of cold and lukewarm water. Judging by the fact that even though it was hot in the middle of the afternoon, they were drinking hot coffee! And they thought Ozpin was the only one, but apparently not!

It was… amusing to say the least.

And then it went on for a week straight and now it was downright annoying.

And so, the girls, by which they meant Nora and Yang, plotted.

The next morning, all of Beacon swore they just heard the most high-pitched shrieks in its entire history. And they said Summer Rose was a screamer, turns out her record just got beat.

A/N: Part one done! Maybe part two will come in later chapters, maybe not.

Anyways, been a month for me. By that I mean is that absolutely nothing happened, I was just procrastinating. Didn't even get to make an April Fools' special, not that I would wanna do it in the first place: I'm a lazy POS.

Well, that's all for now. Bye.