"You know what the greatest thing is about Fridays?" Eliana asked as she spun in circles, leading her teammates towards the training field coming from the dorms. Neela glanced over at Titus who was still working on some sort of reading assignment and then back at Ilia who was passionately tapping out something on her scroll before turning back to Eliana. Neela had to wonder what had happened a few days ago with Titus and Eliana. Eliana told them that she had been sworn to secrecy, but she informed them of a 'heart to heart' with Titus back at the dorm while they had been studying for their Grimm Studies exam, and now things seemed slightly different, in a good way. Titus was still more of a loner, but he didn't try to avoid doing things with the team now, even if he didn't always agree with the activity. Neela was in disbelief, perhaps Eliana's true semblance was the ability to fix people.

Or maybe it was just her signature smile. That was normally enough for Neela. She broke out of her thoughts and remembered that Eliana had asked a question, but no one else had answered it yet.

"What's the best thing about Fridays?" Neela asked. Eliana smiled and grabbed Neela by the arm.

"One-on-one training! I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like I get the most productive training done on Fridays!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus flipped the page in his book and stretched his shoulders.

"I prefer Saturdays," he told them. Ilia nodded as she continued to type away.

"Same," Ilia replied. Titus glanced over at her from his book and peered at her scroll. She pulled her scroll back towards her chest. "What?"

"Who are you messaging?" Titus asked. Ilia looked up at him with slight confusion and she could see Neela's smirk from the corner of her eyes.

"What's it matter to you?" She asked. Titus looked her in the eyes before returning back to his book. He shrugged.

"It doesn't. But if it did, maybe I just wanted to approve," he told her.

"Approve of what?" She asked slightly incredulous. Neela chuckled.

"I think that we should have to approve of your boyfriends. It's only fair, we are a team, right?" He replied. Ilia's face turned bright red and she couldn't find the words to tell him as Neela turned back to Eliana.

"I don't know what you did to him, but I approve," Neela told Eliana who laughed. Neela broke the awkward silence. "Anyways, what's better about Saturdays?"

"I prefer when we have our arena battles against other students. I've always been fairly competitive," Titus explained. Neela's mind returned to the initiation and the chaos that ensued as he rushed in without them. You don't say…

"I prefer the arena too. Nothing against any of the teachers, I just feel more in my element when I'm against someone who isn't going to explain to me how to do better, but beat me and then I have to figure out what I could have done differently," Ilia added. As they crossed in front of the campus building, they were joined by Team CBLT, who was heading to study hall.

"How's Team NITE faring today?" Cobalt asked as he looked them over. His scanner picked something up and he smirked. "I have to wonder, and it's just something that I've picked up on the last couple of times that we've hung out, but how come your heart rate is elevated only when Eliana is around?" In an instant, Titus' book was nowhere to be found and he had his arm wrapped around Cobalt, saying something in his ear that caused him to become pale as he nodded furiously. Neela's face had turned beet red and Eliana turned back to face them.

"What was that I spaced out for a moment," Eliana told them. Cobalt swallowed as Titus patted him hard on the back and stepped away.

"Nothing. It was nothing," Cobalt replied. "You guys heading to one on one training?" Eliana nodded in her usual bubbly manner.

"Yep!" She piped up. "We'll see you guys later!" They separated and waved to each other as they reached the field and Eliana ran to the board to see who she was going to be paired up with for the day. Eliana glanced back at Neela who was the second to arrive and she looked for her name.

"Jaune huh?" Neela said as she looked for the other two. "Ilia, you're with Coco today!" She called back.

"Who am I going up against?" Titus asked. Neela looked it over again and found his name.

"Looks like you'll be against my mom!" Neela called out. Coco approached NITE and took a pen to the paper, crossing off Yang. "What's going on Coco?"

"Your mom is busy handling something off campus that came up this morning," Coco explained. "Titus will be fighting Nora instead." Titus twisted and pivoted on his back, listening to it crack as he loosened up.

"Fine by me," Titus replied.

"Neo again?" Eliana asked. Coco smiled.

"Neo mentioned that you did well last time. She said that you're one of her favorites from this class," Coco told Eliana as she walked away. Eliana shrugged and smiled at Neela.

"Oh well, she might not give me immediate feedback, but at least she keeps things interesting," Eliana told them. They walked over the short lull in the terrain, stepping onto a large grass field that looked similar to where a team might practice football.

"Neela, going first again today?" Jaune asked as they waited on the edge of the field. They all glanced at each other and shrugged, Neela chuckled and walked out to greet Jaune.

"I guess so," Neela told him. Eliana whooped and hollered as she sat on the bleachers with her teammates.

"You can take him Neela," Eliana called out. Neela blushed and Jaune extended his hand, shaking hers.

"I've been looking forward to this fight since your mothers told me that you had chosen to attend Beacon. I'm honored to have this opportunity. That your girlfriend?" Jaune asked her. She blushed again and shook her head.

"No, we're just good friends. I should say that the honor is all mine. I never imagined that I would be squaring off against the White Knight," she told him. Even if she had known him for years, they had never faced off against each other in combat. He chuckled.

"I think they give me too much credit," he laughed smiling warmly at her. He took a few steps back, setting his feet, his shield in front of him with his sword drawn behind him, slightly above shoulder level and pointing towards her. She set her feet as well, lightly gripping her sword also, holding it with both hands to her right side. She extended her index finger on her left hand past her wrist, prepared to make her opening move. He still smiled. "Ready?" She nodded.

He took off with speed that caught Neela by surprise but she was still able to quickly fire her grappling hook, her goal to disarm him and end the match quickly. He managed to block the hook with his shield and swung down at her as she quickly blocked above her head, struggling as he pushed down against her, a shockwave crashing off of them and indenting the field. Titus' eyes became wide as he moved forward on the bleacher. He nudged Ilia.

"He's not holding back," he whispered in her ear. Neela struggled for a moment longer against his sword until she was able to push him away and she leapt back, swinging her sword through the air for show and finding her stance again. Neela took a deep breath. He was strong and he was fast. With one arm, he was able to keep her from moving her sword as she pushed back with two hands and all of her strength. She would have to fight him with wit, or else she'd lose for sure.

"You can't assume that the surprise attack you tried is going to work," Jaune spoke as he moved back to his battle stance as well. "You invested too much in your hook and when it failed, you were ill prepared to block me. In an actual battle, you might not get that lucky."

"Was it that obvious?" Neela asked. Jaune smirked and dug his feet in.

"I can't reveal my secrets," Jaune replied. He took off once again and she quickly reached back, scraping the arrowhead against her sword blade and throwing it away, blocking his attack as he reached her. As his blade clashed off of hers, the gravity Dust that had adhered to her sword activated and threw his attacking arm back. He threw up his shield to block as she had hoped and as she brought her sword down to glance off of his defense she transformed it into its bow form, leaping up before he regained his balance and launching back off of his shield. As she flew through the air she quickly prepared an ice arrow using her touchpad and drew it back as she landed. She fired it and Jaune sliced the air, destroying it before it reached him.

Neela felt a moment of panic, wondering how she was supposed to fight him if long range wouldn't work and he was stronger than her by far when it came to attacking head-on. The Dust attack had caught him off guard, but he wouldn't fall for it again. She quickly strafed as he made an attempt to close the gap again, moving swiftly as she loaded air Dust onto an arrow and fired three of them at once, quickly loading gravity and firing two in rapid succession. He split the air again, this time setting off the air Dust arrows as he did so, disrupting his attempt to destroy the gravity arrows. The second activated early, throwing the first arrow even faster and it exploded as it made impact with his shield, throwing him backward.

He maintained his feet and smirked as he watched Neela carefully calculating her next move. She was as good as he expected and decided to see how hard she could push herself. He ran towards her again, charging behind his shield with alarming speed again and she unleashed another slew of arrows that this time seemed to have no effect. He was a few steps out and she switched her weapon back to its sword form, greeting his shield as he pushed her back several feet, her feet sliding across the ground. What was he doing? She attempted to push back and as she did, he rolled off of her, watching as she fell to the ground and dealing a blow to her back with his sword. She landed on her chest and took a deep breath, rolling over and seeing Jaune's hand extended to her.

"When an enemy is moving you like that, you should maintain your ground, not try and overpower him when it won't help. They'll do what I did and use your momentum against you," he told her as he helped her up. "One more bout?" She looked at him and gave a weak smile, nodding at him. She had one more idea and perhaps it would be enough.

"Ready when you are," she told him. She reached back and grabbed an arrow, holding it in her left hand as she held her sword in her right. She broke off the tip of the projectile and swung her sword through the air again, another simple display of grace with her weapon. She set herself as he did across from her and gripped her sword with two hands again, the same stances that they had taken up during their first spat.

"Go Neela!" Eliana called out cheering. Neela smiled and watched as Jaune charged her again. She tried the same attack as before with her grapple hook and just as he had the last time, he blocked it. She swung up in preparation to block his sword this time and spat out the arrow tip that she had held before, she had slipped it into her mouth during her swordplay. It caught Jaune's eyes and as he tried to stop his momentum she was able to turn from his sword and bat the arrowhead into him. The gravity Dust activated, throwing the shield out of his hands and throwing him onto his back. Neela turned away and grappled his shield with her hook, clutching it and standing over him in victory with her sword pointed down at him.

"I think we can call that a win, right Mr. Arc?" Neela asked. Jaune looked up at Coco who was heading over from the bleachers and trying to hide the fact that she was laughing as she adjusted her glasses for no reason.

"Yes, I think that we could call that a win Neela," Coco told her. "Thank you for that lovely display. You're going to do great things someday." Neela beamed at Coco, nodding and heading back for the bleachers. She's going to be just as good as her mothers, if not better. "Who do we have next today? Hm?"

"I'm ready I suppose," Titus claimed as he stood and stretched one last time, moving to the field and waiting for Nora to join him, she was busy messaging someone on her scroll, but they all assumed it was Ren.

"I don't think you are ready!" Nora exclaimed with a wicked smile. "Prepare to be booped!" Neela snickered and leaned over to Eliana.

"I thought Titus was avoiding booping to focus on school work," Neela said. Ilia had overheard her and broke into laughter.

"Let's go, big guy!" Ilia called out. He smirked and looked over at the ladies, saluting them.

"Just watch and learn!" He called back. He removed his kopides and looked them over, he had recently had them modified to use multiple Dusts now, a barrel similar to that of a revolver's added just between the handle and blade for easy alternating of Dust. He swung them lightly and watched as Nora set herself, legs bent further than he would have expected, gripping her hammer with both hands. He grinned and nodded. "Ladies first."

Nora took him up on his offer and slammed her hammer against the ground, launching herself into the air and giving Titus a long moment to prepare. He crossed his blades and waited for her hammer to arrive, it crashed off of his swords as it did and drove him into the ground to his surprise as she fired it and drove through the blades, forcing him to lean back in order to miss her attack. As her hammer met the ground it freed his feet but she swung around faster than he expected and batted him away. He tumbled across the ground and found his feet as she was upon him again. He quickly switched to earth Dust and coated his blades and arms as she hammered him again.

This time he didn't move and managed to push her back, charging her as she swung back around again, laughing. He planted his blades in the ground, a large rock formation jutting up from the earth and greeting Magnhild, but the weapon refused to acknowledge his attempt to stop it and destroyed the stone, slamming into Titus who had stood back up. He left his feet for a long moment before landing on his back again and rolling over to his knees.

"This is fun, Coco! Why don't you let me train with the kids more often?" Nora called out. She walked over to Titus and reached her hand down. He looked at it for a couple of moments as his chest heaved before he took it and let her help pull him up. "A few things. When I was in the air, you had plenty of time to attack, but you assumed that blocking me would be better, not sure why, but, whatever. The second thing that I'll let you know is that you shouldn't underestimate the strength of your opponent. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean that I can't kick your ass, okay?" He looked at her with a kind of amazement and respect then nodded as his mind pieced together what had just happened.

"Okay," he replied. He stepped away and shook the shock out of his mind, trying to focus as he prepared himself again, he changed his blades to gravity. Perhaps he should have just stuck with that all along. She set herself again and smiled at him.

"Ready?!" She called out.

"Yes!" I hope so. This time she swung her hammer around into its gun form and opened fire as he switched to ice and crashed the blades against each other, forming a wall of ice between him and the gunfire. The rockets slammed against the wall and he flipped his blades to fire, ready for her to charge in, breaking through the wall and being blown backward by the fire Dust. It was a solid plan, but the wall shattered while she still had two rockets left and they slipped through, catching Titus off guard, who was convinced that his plan was flawless. He dodged the first but the second exploded as it slammed into his chest and drove him back, he stumbled but quickly planted himself, knowing that she could be fast and would no doubt be on him in moments. Her hammer crashed off of his blades as he braced for her attack and caused an explosion, tossing her back.

She used her hammer to stop herself, landing on her feet and swinging her weapon over her head, smashing it against the ground. A wave of earth rose up and tossed Titus about as he countered with gravity Dust, sending the wave back at Nora who used the shifting earth to throw herself forward through the air, swinging hard and hitting Titus's blades again. She transformed Magnhild into its gun form and let Titus swing through her attack, landing and wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling him down, kneeing him in the face. The force was enough and he landed on his back, dazed and staring up at her. She pointed her gun down at him.

"If you keep underestimating me, you're going to keep losing. You didn't have a backup plan when I managed to break through your ice wall with just my rockets and that hurt you. If you're always so sure of your first defense, you're going to be defeated by someone who is faster or offensively adept every time. Not really sure what they taught you in Atlas. Confidence is good to have, but being overly confident isn't going to help you at all." She reached down and helped him to his feet again. "Care to go once more?" Titus nodded, this time he had a foolproof plan.

"Sure, we can go one more time," he replied. He looked down at his scroll and noted his aura. He still had half of it left, nothing for him to worry about as far as that was concerned. He wasn't sure how she was able to do it, but she had powered through every one of his defenses so far, but there was no way that she could escape this last attack. He smirked to himself and prepared once more. He wouldn't need to defend this time, the match would be over before she could reach him because this attack was absolute. It worked on both people and technology, as he had experience with it in the past. "Again, ladies first." Nora sneered.

Before Nora could close half the distance, Titus adjusted his kopides and slammed them into the ground, the first spraying water up from under the earth and the second electrifying it, sending a massive shock through Nora. He knew it wouldn't be enough to kill her, but it would do quite a number on her aura and he would be able to declare himself the victor. He chuckled as he looked at his blades and began to walk towards his victim, but was stopped in his tracks. Nora was still standing, and traces of lightning danced off of her body and armor. Her eyes struck him with terror and before he could blink she was directly in front of him, her hammer nailing him in the chest and instantly breaking his aura as he was thrown across the field and landed only a few feet from the bleachers.

When he finally came to a stop he remained completely motionless, staring up at the sky. Had Atlas taught him wrong all along? Were there actually people out there that would be able to get in through his defenses and make a fool of him? His chest heaved but he refused to try and sit, knowing that it would bring extra pain.

"I think that Titus just received a lesson on the word 'assume'," Nora told them. "Once he learns better defense, I'd like to take him on again." Nora nodded at Coco who smiled at her and stood above Titus, looking down at him. His expression didn't change and his lungs were still working as hard as possible to breathe as he tried to calm down. He looked at his hands and felt relieved. His aura had broken, but he hadn't changed this time. That was what he feared more than losing. Nora left and headed back to the class that she needed to teach next.

"Two down, two to go," Coco told them. Eliana finally climbed down from the bleachers despite Neela's protests and checked on Titus.

"Are you okay?" She asked Titus. He glanced up at her and nodded.

"Didn't expect such strength from her," he gasped. "I'll be fine." Eliana helped him sit up and Coco pointed at Ilia.

"Ready to go Ilia?" Ilia leapt to her feet and grabbed her guns off of her hips, strapping them onto her arms.

"Sure, why not?" Ilia walked to the field with Coco as Eliana and Neela helped Titus up into the bleachers and sat him down gently. Ilia looked at Coco, unable to read her eyes due to the sunglasses and Coco smirked as she gripped her purse in her hand. Her finger lightly flicked against the handle on occasion as Ilia's fingers caressed her triggers, prepared to attack at the drop of a pin. Assuming that she could get in close, Ilia fancied the thought that she'd be more agile with her knives than Coco could be with her purse, but after watching Nora own Titus, Ilia no longer presumed that this would be that easy of a fight. Another minute passed, both combatants content with trying to read the other's thoughts.

"Has the fight started already?" Eliana asked. "Is Coco a telepath?" Neela shook her head.

"No, they're just waiting for the other to show their hand," Neela explained. Ilia finally pulled the trigger, firing directly at Coco who blocked a portion of the bullets with her purse before backflipping away, transforming her box into a minigun, opening fire on Ilia who had begun moving. She strafed just in front of the bullets, determined to close the gap between her and Coco, she grabbed a handful of Dust out of her pocket, throwing it and watching it drift away with no effect. Ilia fired back, forcing Coco to move and arc out in the same direction, so that they were making a large circle and running from each other, maintaining a constant distance. This was the desired effect and as Coco reached the spot that Ilia had released the Dust, one of her gunshots ignited it and she was thrown back from the fire Dust.

Ilia slid to a halt and tore towards Coco who landed on her back but immediately leapt to her feet, just to be greeted by Ilia's blades swiping out at her. Coco batted away her hands, turning her gun back into a purse, and slamming it into Ilia's chin. Ilia swung her hand out wide as she was falling, a mad attempt to catch Coco's hand, but the woman was wearing gloves and Ilia's attempt failed. She hit the ground and rubbed her chin as she tried to get up quickly so that Coco wouldn't feel the need to call the first match. She swung back around to face Coco who was pressing the attack instead of preparing to tell Ilia that she'd been defeated. Ilia took the hit from the purse with her guns, but it still caused her to slide back.

Ilia reached back, swapping out her magazines with fresh ones that were attached around her hip, something she was trying to reduce her reload times. She unloaded the barrage of gravity bullets on Coco but she blocked them all with her purse and showed no sign of being moved. Coco smiled again, and shifted the handbag back into the gun and preparing to open fire, riddling Ilia as she had taken off running. She hit the ground and tumbled to a stop, looking at Coco who sauntered over confidently, pointing her gun directly at the girl.

"How did you get me that time?" Ilia asked as she let Coco assist her with standing up. Coco smirked.

"I'm guessing that you're a better shot if you're leading with your right side," Coco told her. "Don't let your opponent notice those things, if you set up repeat scenarios, you have to make sure that you don't have any tendencies that might make you vulnerable. Care to go again?" Ilia thought it over and shook her head.

"I'm good, thanks Mrs. Adel," Ilia told her. Coco smirked and shook her head.

"Go text him, that's what you're doing instead, right?" Coco asked. Ilia brushed off the question and walked away. She turned back to the bleachers. "It's all up to you Elli! Let's see what you've got against Neo. The teachers are 6 for 7 today, see if you can at least take one win from Neo." Neo appeared next to Coco and curtsied, smiling as she watched Eliana climb down from her seat.

"You can beat her, Elli!" Neela called out. Eliana smiled back and waved.

"Thanks, Neela!" She called back.

"Mrs. Adel, how is this class graded again," Titus asked as his body had now almost completely recuperated.

"Attendance and effort. Show up, try hard, get a good grade, that easy," Coco explained. Eliana moved to the middle of the field with Neo and removed her guns, spinning them lightly around her finger, ready for the fight to begin. She had faced Neo the week before and had been beaten brutally, but Eliana had trained hard the entire week and was determined to get a win against the former assassin. Neo wouldn't have it so easily this time. Neela noticed the change in Eliana's eyes and looked at the other two.

"For someone so happy go lucky, her eyes are very intense when she's fighting," Ilia told Neela as she noticed it too.

"That's just how Elli has always been, fun loving in everyday life, but prepared to fight anyone who would try and take that away from her," Neela told them. Eliana waited for a long moment.

"Are you ready, Neo?" Eliana asked. Neo nodded and smiled. "Let's do this!"

Eliana quickly lifted the pistols and fired off several shots that burst against the parasol and scattered away as they dispersed against Neo's defense. She let down her parasol, reaching Eliana in three quick front flips, landing in front of her and kicking for the girl's side. Eliana batted her leg down and she switched her weight, leaping onto the foot that had been blocked and kicking out with the other, but it was also blocked by Eliana's other hand. Neo smirked for a moment as this block shattered her and she appeared behind Eliana. Eliana threw up a force field behind herself that Neo's parasol hook slid off of and she turned her body to face the instructor, firing two shots of ice bullets which stuck Neo's umbrella to the ground.

Eliana moved in to attack but Neo leapt, gripping her weapon and kicking hard, her feet planting in Eliana's chest. She leapt off of the girl, sending her reeling, and freeing the parasol as she slid to a stop. Neo looked at her umbrella, glancing back up at Eliana, truly impressed. Eliana was already set again, her weapons aimed.

"Wow," Neela said. Ilia looked down at her.

"That's putting it lightly. Eliana got annihilated last week against Neo," Ilia replied. Neela was impressed as well. Eliana had always told Neela that she and her father both shared the ability to adapt quickly to any situation, but this was something on an entirely different level. Had Eliana been holding this back this entire time just to impress her or the teachers? Neo was now teleporting sporadically around Eliana, but no matter where she teleported and tried to attack from, Eliana was able to block her. Neo backflipped away and slid to a stop as Eliana fired at her again, the earth bullets slamming into several clones as it appeared that Eliana was predicting her movements.

Neo swung her parasol hard, forcing Eliana to catch her weapon and she let it go, teleporting to the other side of Eliana before teleporting back to the same spot she had been before, She leapt up, slamming her feet against Eliana but was greeted moments before by a force field. She landed several feet away as Eliana swapped the hand that she gripped the umbrella with, nailing Neo with an ice bullet and freezing her. Everyone stood in shock for a long moment before Coco walked over to the two of them and looked Neo over. She glanced at Eliana.

"I have to call this. Eliana wins." Coco said. "I've never seen Neo push it this hard before." Neela and Ilia leapt off of the bleachers, leaving behind Titus who was still trying to regain his wits. Neela grabbed the parasol away from Eliana and tossed it aside, grabbing her and spinning her around.

"Elli, that was insane!" Neela shouted as she put Eliana back down. Eliana laughed sheepishly.

"That was pretty awesome, wasn't it?" Eliana asked them. She looked over at Ilia before looking back at Neela and squinting. "Why is everything spinning?" Neela raised her eyebrow as Eliana fell flat on her chest, Neela quickly hitting her knees and rolling her over.

"Elli? Elli?! Mrs. Adel!"

Eliana woke up on a cot in the small room of the nurse's office, Neela sitting on a chair beside her and working on her reading material for their Dust Studies class.

"I'm guessing you want me to explain what happened?" Eliana spoke softly as she sat up. Neela startled and set her book down on the nightstand beside the bed moving closer.

"Elli, what the hell?! You owned Neo in that fight, she could barely even touch you!" Neela searched Eliana's eyes and she was given a sheepish grin before she looked away and stared off into the hallway. "Elli?"

"My dad was adaptive, I've always said that. What I just did out there isn't easy for me to do, as my passing out would suggest. I can use my forcefield abilities to detect movement, it's like I'm making an incredibly thin barrier and I can feel everything that touches it. Dad was amazing at doing it, it's what gave him the upper hand and made him so incredible in fights. I decided that using it against Neo would be the best way to show that I could be just like him, but I should have known that it was overdoing it," Eliana explained.

"Elli, you don't have to push yourself like that to show people that you're his daughter. You do it best when you're just being yourself, that's what he would want," Neela told her. Eliana nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, I know." Neela smirked and nudged Eliana.

"That was pretty awesome…" Neela admitted.

"I know, right?!"

The kids of Team NITE are beginning to grow, but what has CBLT been up to? Next week, Chapter 20 - Fantasy?

A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE. Sa-Dui's artwork of Neela is out newest addition to the collection and you should check it out!

Until next week, stay classy!