She had been following them for a while now, but this was the first time they had left the dorms. That she was aware of. Blake watched silently as the green haired warrior helped the old man from 'Dust till Dawn' up after he stumbled from the ladder.

The ladder that the girl herself kicked. She apologized to the shopkeeper and asked for directions, producing a paper with writing on that she handed over. It was too far away for her to read without revealing herself, but they were close enough for Blake to hear directions to Tukson's Book shop.

She loved that place. What on earth could she want with him? Blake had originally thought that Jaune was being paranoid in regards to this team for whatever reason, but now she wasn't so sure.

She continued to follow her as she turned the corner and met with the assassin's son, whose name she did not know.

"I knew you were lost." He shot at her as soon as she passed.

"Mercury, I will pay you to shut up." The girl said, producing a wallet and waving it in the now named Mercury's face.

"That's not your money." He pointed out.

It wasn't! So not only was this team carrying an assassin, but also a thief?

Terrific.

"But it can be yours for five minutes of silence." She tried to bribe him. When her attempt failed, she took the money out and tossed the wallet.

"Ugh…this place is so dull," Mercury complained.

"I kind of like it." The girl said, "Tall buildings, diverse culture…"

"And nice dopey people to fleece?" Mercury asked her.

She stopped dead at that. "That's every city."

"Ooh, Emerald! Master thief!" Mercury began playfully acting out as a victim. "Please don't take my money! I have three kids!"

The girl, Emerald, glared at him, groaning in frustration before walking away.

"Ugh, someone's no fun today." He sighed before following.

The two soon reached Tukson Book Trade and entered it. Blake snuck in right behind them, which wasn't difficult, considering how widely Mercury opened the door. This was her domain, so she quickly made herself scarce, leaping atop one of the higher columned bookshelves and perching there, giving herself a good view for what was happening. She could hear Tukson humming a tune in the back room. Mercury quickly began to browse the store while Emerald marched up to the front and rang a service bell.

"Be right there!"

And then Tukson emerged from the back room's double doors carrying stacks of books as he walked backwards towards the counter. "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun!" He set the stack down. "How may I…" He turned around and paused after seeing Mercury and Emerald. "How may I help you?"

"Just browsing," Mercury responded as he shut the book he was skimming a tad too harshly in Blake's opinion.

"Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of The Thief and the Butcher?" Emerald asked, smiling politely.

"Yes, in fact we do."

Is it possible that they're just shopping? Were Jaune's suspicions groundless after all?

"That's great." Emerald said, clapping her hands together.

"Would you... like a copy?" Tukson tried, possibly going to grab the book in question.

"No, just wondering." Emerald responds as Mercury slammed another book, even louder than the first one. "Oh, oh! What about Violet's Garden? In paperback?"

"He's got it. Hardback too." Mercury answered for him as he produced the book.

"Ooh, decisions, decisions."

Mercury looked inside the book. "Eh, no pictures." He again slams the book shut and threw it on the ground. "Hey! Do you have any comics?"

"Near the front."

"What is he, a kid." Weiss says. "What kind of person looks for comics in a book store."

"Oh, no, wait!" Emerald speaks up. "What... about... Third Crusade?"

What.

Tukson hesitates, visibly unnerved. "Um... I..." Mercury and Emerald seem to be eyeing him carefully.

"...don't believe we carry that one." Tukson finishes his sentence.

Mercury loudly slams another book shut. "Oh."

"What was this place called again?" Emerald asked, hands clasped behind her back.

"Tukson's Book Trade." Tukson replies.

"And you're Tukson?" Emerald clarifies.

"That's right."

Blake found her breathing heavier as her body tensed up. Something was about to happen.

"So then I take it that you're the one that came up with the catchphrase?" Emerald asks.

"Yes."

"And, what was it again?" Mercury chimed in.

Tukson sighed before responding, "Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun."

"Except the Third Crusade." Mercury pointed out.

"It's just a slogan." Tukson defended.

"It's false advertising is what it is!" Mercury shouts.

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep, Tukson." Emerald says in a calm, eerie voice. Mercury pushed a switch near the entrance causing a front window to darken. But he neglected to lock the doors.

"I hear that you're planning on leaving. Moving all the way to Vacuo." Emerald continued as Mercury was securing the windows. "Your brothers in the White Fang won't be happy to hear that." Emerald said as Mercury darkened the last window, smiling darkly at Tukson. "And neither are we…"

The White Fang? Tukson? And he'd never said a word about it to her. Was she reporting on her whereabouts? Did Adam know where she was?

"You know who we are, don't you?" Emerald asked carefully.

"Yes." Tukson's voice dropped an octave as his anger rose.

Emerald followed up with another question. "And you know why we're here?"

"Yes."

"So... are you going to fight back?" Emerald asked as Mercury walks to stand directly behind her.

"Yes!" Tukson yelled as claws grew from his hands and he charged directly at the two, leaping from the counter aiming a strike at Emerald's head, but she sidestepped the telegraphed attack fairly easily. He tried to track her movements but was distracted when Mercury raised a leg and kicked him, forcing him back a step. Before Tukson could regain his bearings, his foot released a bullet, which pushed him back over the counter he had leapt from.

If there was ever a time to interfere, it was now. Jaune had just said to watch, to protect her identity. but she couldn't stand by and watch a fellow faunus get killed! When Emerald pulled out her weapons, two kamas that mecha shifted from a couple of pistols.

Before she could use those on the unsuspecting Tukson, who was doing his best to fend off Mercury's feet of fury, she pulled out Gambol Shroud and went on the offensive. She knew she wouldn't be able to cause too much damage as Emerald was already hyped up and her aura reflected that, but she could do something.

Wait maybe she didn't have to compromise her cover…

Using the ribbon function of Gambol Shroud, she quickly wrapped it around one of her kama, and yanked it out of her grasp, alerting both of them to her presence. She hopped down from the shelf she was on before they could see her. And on her landing, she caught the kama and in one fluid motion she turned and flung the kama directly into the window with all the force she could muster, which thanks to the training that Jaune put the team through on a DAILY basis, was a lot.

The window shattered and light poured in. Light meant people, which meant witnesses. Especially with something as random as a window shattering from the inside. And with her weapon out there laid bare, there was no way that they wouldn't leave. Just to be safe she shifted her weapon into it's gun form and shot out two more windows, shattering them as well. Now with three windows shattered, they would have to leave rather than trying to find her.

They just had to.

"Who the-"Mercury yelled as Emerald quickly grabbed him, stopping him from attacking Tukson, or trying to find Blake.

"That doesn't matter! We have to leave now!" She said, suddenly frantic, as even now she could see people peering into the broken window. "She concentrated, and suddenly those people outside walked away, like they were under a spell or something. While she was focused on something else, and Mercury was looking at her, Blake quickly found another shelf to hide on, one in a different section of the store.

"Just cast an illusion and call it day. I'll make it quick." He said, sneering at Tukson who was warily eying the two from behind the counter.

"There's too many people! Anyone could just walk by and see! And if we mess this up, Cinder will kill us!"

"Might be a bit late for that, but you have a point." He then turned to Tukson. "Later, Tukson, we'll continue this at a later junction!"

With their piece said, they left, and Blake with them. She would have said something to Tukson, but she was still shocked with the fact that he was in the White Fang at all and he'd never said anything. Besides she had done enough. He was alive.

"Whoever that was…thank you." Tukson whispered as she stayed in her hidden spot. There was a chance that they would be outside, waiting to see if anyone emerged from the store, so she would have to wait.

She had a lot of information to give Jaune at least. And as far as waiting it out goes…there were worst places to be stuck than a bookstore.

"Whatcha doing?" Yang asked.

"I'm writing notes on possible team attacks and combinations." Jaune said, closing his book. "And wondering what's taking Blake so long with…something I asked her to do." Jaune said, being purposely vague, aware of the audience that they had.

"Sorry I asked," Yang groaned, before catching a couple of grapes that had come flying at her from across the table with her mouth. "That's lame." She informed him, mouth still full of grape.

"And that's disgusting."

From the other side of the table, Nora giggled as she tossed more grapes at Yang with her spoon, Yang catching all of them with ease, giving Nora a thumbs up. Despite Jaune's best efforts, or knowing Yang, because of them, Jaune couldn't quite shake Weiss's team.

Suddenly Ruby came forward with an enormous binder that she slammed onto the table, throwing everyone off. It landed with a meaty thud, with the words, 'Best Day Ever Activities,' written smack dab in the middle.

She cleared her throat as she gesture to everyone at the table.

"Sister…friends…Weiss."

Weiss glared at the girl even as Jaune had a small chuckle at that. Her goal of making Jaune smile achieved, Ruby continued.

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

"This ought to be good." Yang said, right before she caught another grape in her mouth.

"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had... ever!" Ruby says.

"You know Blake's not here right?"

"I'm talking about kicking the semester off with a bang!" Ruby said, ignoring Jaune's factual statement.

Yang chooses to take this opportunity to make a joke. "I always kick my semesters off with a Yang! Eh? Guys? Am I right?"

An apple is tossed at Yang and hits her in the face. "Boooooooooooooooo!" Nora yells from across the table. Yang glared at her.

"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great!" Ruby tells her team "But, classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today."

Yang, still glaring in Nora's direction, picks up an apple and tosses it at avoided it skillfully, grinning as it sailed across the room and hit someone else.

Weiss stood up, dusting her skirt off. "This has nothing to do with us, so we shall sit this out. And Arc, don't think that I've forgotten about our duel!" She declared.

Before Jaune could respond, a pie flew from across the room and hit her in the face.

Jaune blinked.

Ruby blinked.

Yang burst out laughing.

Ren put his head in his palms.

Nora also started laughing.

Pyrrha covered her mouth with her hands, possibly hiding a smile.

The pie slowly slid off of her face, revealing the angriest face that Jaune had ever seen from the girl. At some point in the tense silence Blake slipped in but no one aside from Team JRBY noticed, giving her a nod.

Weiss stood there for a second, before she grabbed her own tray of food, she tossed it up in the air before a glyph appeared over the food, slowing it's descent. Another glyph appeared on her person as she spun around in a circle, almost reminiscent of a ballerina.

Jaune sighed, pulling his team away for cover as he realized what she was about to do.

Weiss was so dramatic. She had good form, he could give her that at least. As soon as the food was level with her foot, she lashed out, kicking everything her tray had to offer, the tray included, as they flew out in various directions at breakneck speed.

"Food Fight!" Someone yelled as everyone began to move, some doing their best to avoid the mess that someone had started.

Not everyone was of that particular opinion however.

"Ahahahaha!" Nora laughed maniacally from the top of a makeshift fort made out of tables. The rest of her team was standing around it on various levels, aside from Weiss. She was nowhere to be found, which Jaune found slightly unsettling.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She crowed.

Ruby stomped her foot on a table and pointed at the fort. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!" She stooped down to pick up a carton of milk, crushing it in her hand. "It will be delicious!" She raised her fist in a battle cry.

"Yeah!" Yang echoed, as Blake whispered to Jaune, "Are we really doing this?"

"I guess it's part of Ruby's 'best day ever' so…looks like it." He responded. "I'll fill you in later," He said at her curious look. She nodded and they both released cheers of their own.

"Off with their heads!" Nora declared as she jumped down from the top of her tower, and the fight started in earnest.

Ren jumped the side of a tray holding watermelons, launching them in the air, he then kicked them in the direction of the opposing team. Pyrrha launched her own watermelons in addition while Nora flipped a table stacked with the fruit, causing a barrage of watermelons to head directly for team JRBY.

"Why do we have so many watermelons?" Jaune wondered aloud even as his team armed themselves appropriately.

Yang rolled over to the turkeys and stuck her fists inside them, then started to block and deflect the melons as they sped towards her. Blake was at her side in a moment, attacking the projectiles with some loaves of bread that she used as swords. Yang then launched her turkey gloves at the group, forcing them to scatter. Each member of team JRBY then separated, going for a different member of team WPNR.

Blake chose to target Pyrrha at this point, leaping at her with her loaves, going for a direct attack. Pyrrha was armed similarly to Blake, but she was caught off guard when instead of one Blake charging at her, there were three.

She made a decision to jab at the one in middle, but that was a mistake as that one vanished. Blake punished her mistake immediately by slamming her left loaf into the girl's side, which was followed immediately by the right.

Pyrrha immediately tried to counter, but Blake who was used to sparring with Ruby at this point was used to watching for tells from opponents faster than Pyrrha was. She lashed out with her loaf and Blake ducked under it, holding her own loafs like a bat as she swung upwards, nailing Pyrrha in the chin.

She wasn't the champion for nothing however, as soon as Blake's loaves touched her chin, she lashed out with her feet, catching Blake off guard who received Pyrrha's feet to her chest for her trouble. She recovered herself quickly, tossing one of the loaves aside as she felt better one handed, as Pyrrha landed and reassessed her.

Blake smiled slightly. And then resumed her charge. Three Blakes charged at Pyrrha once again, and Pyrrha made the choice to leap backwards and throw some baguettes at her rather than play which Blake was Blake. The baguettes passed through one of the Blakes effortlessly, but two of the Blakes reached her.

She tried the left one, which blocked her, but was then surprised that the other one actually struck her as well. She shot a look at Blake, questioningly, but it was ignored. Her clones were solid enough to make attacks if she so chose. She just usually chose not to.

She picked up some links of sausages that she would use as a whip. She used this sausage whip to lash out at Pyrrha and grab the loaves that she was preparing to throw at Blake. She tugged them, causing her to stumble a bit, before righting herself, but that still allowed Blake to close the distance and leap at her, tackling her and causing them to fall into a stack of tables. Well, Pyrrha and a clone of Blake anyway.

Looks like Jaune was right as her clones being a viable attack strategy…

Ruby dashed forwards, charging straight at Nora, riding her tray across the table. She leapt up, with her tray held under her feet like a skateboard and bashed the watermelon Nora tossed right back at her. She saw another one coming and immediately vanished into three separate streams of flower petals. All of them torpedoed straight at Nora.

Nora looked at the three streams wondering which one would be the one attacking her. She eventually decided on the middle one and prepared herself. Her choice was the correct one as all three converged in the middle and Ruby reappeared, slamming her tray down on the forearm that Nora used to block.

She was surprised to find that the blow from Ruby actually stung a little! Nora tried to punch the little usurper, but she simply scattered into petals again before she made contact.

That was annoying. Nora leapt onto a table and using that as a base, she jumped upward to grab a pole that was hanging from the ceiling. As gravity began to make itself heard, she stabbed her pole into a watermelon, creating herself a makeshift hammer. She quickly swung her newly made hammer at Ruby, who had rematerialized in order to hit her with the tray again.

Ruby quickly switched from attacking to blocking, using her tray as a makeshift shield to take Nora's hit. The one hit Nora gave Ruby sent her flying across the battlefield, until she decided to use that momentum and strike back, once again turning into flowers.

Nora groaned when she saw that. "That's not fair! As Queen of the Castle, I demand that you stop that!"

"You're not Queen of my castle! I AM! Ruby yelled as she barreled back into Nora.

Yang reclaimed her turkey fists and decided to take over the team WPNR fort. Her path to the fort was blocked by Ren however, who was armed with leaks. He responded to her kick with a block, and his counterattack was dodged rather than blocked.

They quickly began to exchange a flurry of blows. Ren was thrown off a little by the weight of his leeks, but Yang was also a little discombobulated over the weight and size of her turkey fists compared to her gloves. But the fight went on, until Ren miscalculated, throwing everything that he had at a horizontal slash, probably aimed at Yang's stomach.

Yang would never know where it was aimed for, because she had ducked, letting the swing pass over her, responding with a uppercut that launched Ren into the air, and then slamming him back down with an overhead punch.

Before she could celebrate her victory however, Nora was there, using her watermelon hammer to launch Yang herself into the air, where she crashed through the roof, and was nowhere to be found.

"Yang!" Ruby cried, falling to her knees dramatically. "My sister! Why?!"

"There there." Jaune patted her on the back as she sobbed dramatically. "We will avenge her." Jaune said, holding a baguette in one hand awkwardly, using the other to patt Ruby's shoulder.

"We can-"

Jaune was interrupted by a swordfish in his face. He looked beyond the swordfish to see Weiss there, staring at him. Intently.

"Arc. We end this now."

Jaune stared at her as Ruby looked between the two. "I'm gonna go…help Blake. Yeah that's it! Good luck fearless leader!" Ruby called out as she dashed away.

The coward.

Then again, Jaune amended as he saw Pyrrha flinging soda cans at Blake using her semblance, maybe it was necessary.

"Alright then," Jaune acceded to the girl, picking up a tray and holding it loosely in his other hand. "Show me your best Schnee."

Despite the fact that Pyrrha had a veritable sandstorm of soda cans attacking her, Blake wasn't too worried. She could see Ruby heading her way, and trapped in the storm as she was, that guaranteed that Nora couldn't do much either. Indeed, she was off to the side, tossing watermelons and soda cans in that were fairly easy to avoid.

She saw Ruby give her a warning look and prepared herself. Ruby crouched down and once again prepared to use her semblance. She quickly bounced around the room, picking up speed and momentum. And various food stuffs along the way. As she gathered more and more food, she quickly reached the sandstorm that Blake was trapped in. She quickly grabbed the girl and continued moving, adding Pyrrha's cans to the already numerous items she had following her.

The wind that she had generated was so forceful that it launched Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora into the wall behind them as Ruby and Blake came to a sudden stop and leapt out of the way of the incoming food avalanche.

Soda and food covered the losing team as they were still pressed against the wall with no way to dodge. After a moment, they slid off the wall, leaving only their outlines, a pattern of the food that they were hit with.

"I love these guys." Sun comments from the cafeteria front door, having watched the entire thing. His friend Neptune standing next to him had different opinion, having been hit by the food hurricane that Ruby had summoned.

Jaune eyed Weiss seriously as he considered what her first move would be. This wasn't like facing Cardin. Weiss could be a legitimate threat if he let her.

Which he wouldn't.

Because Jaune was looking at Weiss and not looking down he didn't notice the glyph appearing under him. He did notice the effects however, as the gravity suddenly became overbearing in the spot he was standing in, almost forcing him to his knees.

As soon as Weiss saw him stumble, she charged at him, intent on taking the advantage. Jaune was having none of that however, boosting his aura so that he could withstand it and rushing forward to meet her.

Weiss's fish was deflected by Jaune's tray. He was originally going to try to block it entirely, but he could see that she had frozen her fish which increased it's durability and piercing power. If she wanted to play that way then so would he, he thought, pushing his aura into his tray and baguette.

She eyed the glowing items in his hand curiously but said nothing. Without warning she suddenly lunged at Jaune with her fish extended, leaving no time to deflect, forcing him to block. He didn't take any damage from it, but it did force him to lose sight of Weiss for a moment which gave her time to spin out of view and lash out with a kick.

Jaune deflected her kick with his baguette, or rather he tried to. Before his baguette met her foot, it was met with a small spinning glyph that took the blow, and then repelled it. Jaune rolled with the force back, using it to avoid Weiss's kick entirely and stepped backward.

She was trickier to fight then he had thought she would. He had to negate her glyphs, and he knew just the right way to do it.

'Amp five percent.' Jaune thought as he felt his aura course throughout his body, relishing in the feeling. He shot at Weiss at a faster speed than he had used so far, catching her off guard. He feinted like he was going to jab at her with his baguette, and when she made to avoid that particular motion, he smacked her in the side with his tray.

Stunning her with the blow, he punched her with his free hand. Weiss having seen the punch coming, leapt backwards to lessen the impact. What she didn't notice, was the white of Jaune's aura leaving his fist and entering her own body.

With his piece done, Jaune picked up his baguette and reengaged in battle with the girl. With all the movement going on, her fish would bound to defrost soon, especially considering all the blocks that Jaune would use, rather than deflect, to chip at the ice.

With his aura boosting her own, the next time she used a glyph, she would overshoot, making her vulnerable. And that was when Jaune would make his move.

Jaune continued to trade blows with Weiss, blocking rather than deflecting like he preferred, until he noticed her fish looking a little wilted. Weiss seemingly noticed this as well, as she tried to leap back and gain some distance.

Not that Jaune was willing to let her. As he kept his offensive going, with her narrowly dodging each strike or choosing whether to be hit by the baguette or the tray when she couldn't. Jaune could tell the moment that she lost her temper.

The second she did, her fish basically exploded in ice midswing. The ice even encapsulated her arm, surprising her. Jaune took this moment to dodge the sloppy swing and place his baguette at her neck.

"Looks like it's my win then?" Jaune asked.

Before Weiss could answer, the doors to the cafeteria opened, and Glynda Goodwitch entered the room growling. She then used her own semblance to fix and organize the room. She even removed al the food stains from team WPNR, which impressed Jaune. Weiss said nothing but Jaune could see her pout as Gynda defrosted the ice on her arm.

"Children, please," She said as she adjusted her glasses. "Do not play with your food!"

Nora burped aloud as both of the teams quickly tried to blame the other for the fight. Before Glynda could decide on a punishment, a screaming Yang crashed down onto one of the tables, causing everyone but Glynda to laugh.

She grumbled at that, but headmaster Ozpin approached and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let it go."

Glynda sighed. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

Jaune, who had never let down his earlier amplification, heard this.

"And they will be, but right now they're still children." Ozpin reminded Glynda, motioning to the two teams. "So why not let them play the part?" Ozpin then walked away from Glynda and towards the cafeteria doors. "After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever."

What did he mean by that? Did he mean that as huntsman and huntresses or something more? Jaune really needed to get with his team and go over what Blake had learned.

Something was about to happen. He could feel it.

And Tukson survives! Or does he? I dunno maybe he'll get to Vacuo like he wants. Not before team JRBY gets a hold of him though...

I've seen and researched that Blake's clones do have substance to them, as she can leap off of them, which means that they could also give one attack. Blake can choose whether they're substantial or not so she's pretty dangerous. Pyrrha wouldn't be so flat footed in a battle like that normally, but Blake didn't have any metal on so she couldn't use that to determine which one was real. She'd do better in bladed battle.

Yang's style didn't really change much, so I pretty much left it as is. She's more focused on evasion rather than tanking blows now, but that hasn't really come up as of yet. I'm thinking of having her play with the fire that her semblance released, sort of like how Tsuna from Reborn uses his gauntlets to fly? I think that would be neat. And she already uses her gauntlets like that on occasion so it would work out! We'll see. It would be cool if I could work it in organically.

Ruby and Nora was a mismatch if there ever was one. Ruby's too fast to hit and she can predict Nora enough to dodge…only without weapons she has nothing to that can put her down. She's getting faster at turning into petals though, which will never be a bad thing.

And Jaune and Weiss…having your aura boosted in a battle would be catastrophic if you weren't expecting it. Doubly so if you rely on your semblance and it's something delicate like glyphs. All in all, a victory for Team JRBY! More or less.

That's all my thoughts for now. See ya later and thanks for reading