"All of you should be ashamed of your actions here today. You all are the future of this generation and your reckless behavior could have caused not only serious damage to the school, but also put those around you in serious danger.", Ozpin says, scolding all three of the teams standing before him.
Cardin takes a step forward and growls at the Headmaster, shouting, "They started it! My team and I were just minding our own business and that disgusting mutt starting causing problems! He even-", but before he can finish, Ozpin shouts, "ENOUGH!", causing everyone to flinch in response and Cardin to step back to his team.
Ozpin takes a deep breath, taking a moment to recompose himself before saying, "You all are at fault for the altercation. I don't care who started it, this all shouldn't have happened in the first place. You all are lucky that this happened inside the city walls and not out in some village. Grimm are easily drawn to such conflicts and the ones who end up paying in the end are the helpless citizens who can't defend themselves. Both of you should think more about what your responsibilities as Huntsmen will be in the coming years and how exactly starting a meaningless fight would be nothing but a burden on those around you.", as he glares at Persi and Cardin.
"And as for you four...", Ozpin adds as he turns his attention to RWBY. Pushing up his glasses, Ozpin turns focuses on all of team RWBY before saying, "You all were beyond careless. Though, I guess I should commend you for finding a way to blow up the Dust Lab on your first day of classes, this action can not go unpunished."
"But, it was-", Weiss begins to say before Ozpin lifts a finger and glares at her, causing her to stop in her tracks and simply listen.
Ozpin looks to all the students in his office and sighs before saying, "The purpose behind the randomized team selection at the beginning of the year was developed years ago in order to promote both working with and against one's own faults, not only as Hunters, but also as people. Working together as a cohesive unit is one of the most valuable and powerful skills in the Hunter's assets against the Grimm. Though lone Hunters aren't uncommon, many of you will go on to continue working in teams with other Huntsmen or Huntresses. This skill isn't optional, it's a necessity." The Headmaster takes a long sip from his mug, causing tension to flow through the air almost to the point where it would choke a person to death, but stops and places his cup on his desk before turning to his students with a stern glare. "Luckily for all of you, you aren't the first students to cause Glynda such distress. There's already a program here at Beacon to deal with 'problem students' such as yourselves.", Ozpin explains, causing the students to look to one another in confusion.
Ozpin goes around his desk and pulls out three papers from one of its drawers while saying, "This program is known as Big Brother, and is made up entirely of second and third year teams here at Beacon. They'll help you all work out those little 'kinks' in your personalities by the end of the year. You'll meet your Big Brothers tomorrow after classes are done, that is if you manage to not blow yourselves up or kill each other in the mean time."
The three teams go to turn away, but are stopped when Ozpin slams his cane down on the table, causing them all to stop in their tracks and glance back at the old man, who seems to be glowing with his dark green aura. "I don't recall dismissing you three.", he growls as he glares over his glasses at them, causing the teams to all return to their original spots and wait.
Ozpin writes down each of the students' names down on the papers in front of him, writing SAPR's and RWBY's on one and CRDL's on another before writing all three teams' names down on the third paper. "As for the damage you all caused to my precious school, I'm assigning you all some community service. That should keep the twelve of you out of trouble and poor Glynda's hair for a while.", Ozpin finishes as he places all three papers into a basket on his desk.
Weiss reaches for her purse and says, "Damages? Oh, that won't be an issue. I'll just-", but before she can finish, Ozpin raises his hand, stopping her as he says, "It's not money I'm concerned about, Miss Schnee, but your teams' attitudes. I believe you all need to humble yourselves some before you can even think about calling yourselves Huntsmen." With this, Weiss lowers her purse and Ozpin sits down in his fancy chair before saying, "You are dismissed."
And as the teams leave the room, Ruby stays behind, which surprises the old man. With a raised eyebrow, Ozpin asks, "Can I help you with something, Miss Rose?"
"Yeah, um...I just wanted to ask you something...if you don't mind that is...", Ruby nervously replies as her team-mates leave her behind.
Ozpin, with his elbows on his desk and fingers interlocked, he asks, "What might that be?"
Ruby gulps before hesitantly asking, "Are...are you sure you made the right choice? You know, making me the leader?"
Ozpin tilts his head and asks, "Now why would you ask that?"
"It's just..everyone on my team. Weiss, Blake, even Yang...they're all more experienced than I am. And I doubt that they really think of me as a real leader. So, maybe you made a mistake?", Ruby explains as she nervously twiddles her thumbs.
Ozpin simply sighs before saying, "Miss Rose, I've made many mistakes in my life, but I wouldn't say that your appointment as leader is one of them."
"What do you mean?", Ruby asks in disbelief as Ozpin stands from his desk and walks over to her.
He places a hand on her shoulder and says, "Miss Ro- ...Ruby...you might be a bit younger than your team-mates and a bit childish, but it's only been one day. Being a leader isn't just a title, it's a badge you wear constantly, and sometimes a burden. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, that what reason do you give others to follow you? You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility. I suggest you take some time to think about how you will uphold it."
Ruby, not truly sure what he means by that, simply nods and Ozpin adds, "Good, now run along now. I have paperwork to work on, accident reports to write and check, and whatnot." As she leaves, he returns to his desk, and when she closes the door behind her, he lets out a sigh of relief before looking to his paper work. He then looks back to his cup before taking his glasses of his face and placing them on his desk to rub his face and say, "This is going to be a long night."
Back in SAPR's room, they're finally returning for the afternoon, and when the door closes behind them, Sapphire's burning eye targets Persi as she shouts, "What the hell was that!?"
"What do ya mean!? I was defending myself from that psychopath!", Persi exclaims, defending his actions.
"YOU! THREW! A! VENDING! MACHINE!", Sapphire shouts as she pokes him in the chest.
Ash adds onto this, saying, "He was assaulting that Faunus girl. Though, to take such violent actions after taking only a plate to the back of the head seemed...uncalled for to say the least."
Reginald fires back, saying, "That guy got what was coming to him! Picking on people who can't defend themselves is disgusting and simply picking on them because they're a Faunus is even worse!"
"Don't bring that into this! We're not going on about some political bullshit, Reginald! Persi broke a table, a vending machine, a window, and the fucking wall in the cafeteria! We're lucky we didn't get suspended!", Sapphire shouts, which doesn't phase him in the slightest. "Not to mention all of our weapons were taken from us for the next couple days.", Sapphire adds with a growl as she crosses her arms and glares at Persi.
Persi bites back, growling, "Hey, this isn't all my fault! It's that racist, Cardin and his goons' fault!"
Ash steps between Sapphire and Persi before saying, "We need to stop this, now. This isn't solving anything."
"But he-", Sapphire tries to say, but gets cut off when Ash points out, "Remember what the Headmaster said. It doesn't matter who's fault it is, we are a team now. One unit. If one of us causes a problem, then the blame falls to us as a team." Ash looks to his team-mates one by one before saying, "We simply need to put this behind us and move forward with what knowledge we gathered."
Sapphire lets out a reluctant sigh before saying, "I hate to admit it, but you're right. It doesn't really matter now, what's done is done." Looking to the kitchen door, Sapphire notices a notice taped to it before saying, "How about we try to make something to eat? We didn't really get to eat much at lunch, so we're all probably starving."
They all nod in response before she grabs the notice and sees it's from Glynda and it says, "Your teams' joint kitchen has been stocked for your first week. Both teams will have to work together to maintain a steady amount of food by using the weekly allowance earned from your classes. Please be sure to use these provisions wisely, as they'll be the only free supplies you'll be provided with for the entire semester. -Professor Glynda Goodwitch"
As they all enter the kitchen, they see RWBY is already there, having what seems like a makeshift dinner as they argue over something. Yang and Ruby are sharing a bowl of popcorn, Blake is eating what seems like tuna salad, and Weiss is having a Caesar's salad. They all stop their argument when SAPR comes into the room, however, and Ruby smiles to them before happily saying, "Hey guys! Look, we have food now!"
"Yeah, we got the note from Professor Goodwitch.", Persi replies as he checks the fridge for food, and Reginald sits seat to Yang's right.
"So, what are you guys up to? Other than stuffing your faces that is.", Reginald asks as he reaches over to steal some of Yang and Ruby's popcorn.
Yang slaps his hand away while saying, "Just getting yelled at by the Snow Queen, nothing new."
"I wasn't done, Xiao Long!", Weiss exclaims as she stabs her fork down into her salad.
"What? Do you have another complement for my explosive personality?", Yang asks with a grin before taking a hand full of popcorn into her mouth.
Weiss points at the blonde and scold her, saying, "See? That's what I'm talking about! There is no way any of us can take you seriously if you're doing nothing but making those stupid puns!"
"That's just Yang being Yang, Weiss. She runs on puns and alcohol.", Sapphire notes as she sits down at the table.
"Aww, you know me so well~", Yang replies with a smile before tossing a piece of popcorn to her friend. Sapphire catches the popcorn in her mouth as Ash sits down to her left.
"While we're on the subject of your alcoholism, it's against the school rules, Yang! You could get us in serious trouble again if any of the Professors found out!", Weiss points out before Yang just waves off her concern.
"Nah, it's fine. The rules only say I can't have drinks on school grounds, so I'm not technically breaking the rules."
"You should take this just a tad more seriously, Yang. This is our futures we're talking about, and I'd rather not get expelled because one of my team-mates 'wanted to have a good time.'", Weiss continues, using her fingers to make air quotes, before taking a bite of her salad.
Persi finds a few bottles of water in the bottom drawer of the fridge and says, "Ash, Sapphire.", earning their attentions before tossing them some water. After catching their bottles, Sapphire opens her's before taking a sip while Ash just sits his down on the table. Persi goes back to the fridge and starts building himself a sandwich out of the multiple meats and some bread in the fridge.
"Yang is correct. While the Headmaster allowed me to stay here before Beacon opened its doors for the Spring semester, I had plenty of time on my hands to not only train, but also read into the rules of the school. The rules about alcohol are only limited to actions on campus.", Ash explains, earning a raised eyebrow from all of RWBY.
Blake takes a moment to breath after enjoying her bowl of food before looking over to Ash and asking, "You were here before the school year started? How long have you been here, Ash?"
Ash waves her curiosity off, saying, "I've only been here a few weeks before the school's opening. I come from a temple of monks from southern Anima, so we don't make a lot of contact with the outside world or the four Academies."
"Oh, southern Anima? Isn't that area full of volcanoes and stuff?", Ruby innocently asks with her usual childish curiosity.
Weiss rolls her eyes at this and snobbishly says, "Ruby, that's Eastern Anima. Sheesh, you're such a kid. You don't even know basic geography."
Ash waves off her innocent mistake and says, "It's fine. The area is quite mountainous and full of trees and wild life. It's a fairly peaceful place, so Grimm encounters are few and far between."
Ruby's eyes widen before saying, "Woah! You guys must have all kinds of sweets and stuff there to help you stay calm!"
Weiss glares at the young girl, but Ash simply lets out a chuckle as Persi finishes his sandwich: a triple-decker sandwich with a slice of every meat in the fridge. Before Ash can continue on, everyone gets distracted by Persi's over-sized sandwich.
"Persi, what the hell is that thing?", Sapphire asks him as he sits down to Reginald's right with the giant sandwich on a plate.
"A sandwich, obviously.", the bear replies as he cuts the giant sandwich straight down the middle with a nearby kitchen knife. He hands one half to Reginald and leaves the other half for himself before saying, "Here, have some."
"Bet I can finish it before you can!", Reginald suggests with a grin on his face as he looks over at his partner.
Sapphire lets out a chuckle before saying, "Are you two going to have a sandwich off or something?"
Persi gives his partner a wicked grin before saying, "I'm twice your size, bud. You don't stand a chance, little man!"
"Bring it on!", Reginald exclaims before digging into the sandwich.
As the two dig into their food, trying their best to one-up the other, Yang and Ruby cheer them on while eating their popcorn as Weiss just facepalms. Sapphire grins at the sight of her team-mates already competing with one another before taking a hand full of popcorn from the sisters' bucket. Sapphire then glances over to see that Ash and Blake are staring each other down, but once they feel her looking, they break eye contact and continue on doing what they were doing. "What was that about?", Sapphire thinks to herself before giving Ash a confused glance.
Ash glances over to see her concern before asking, "Are you alright, partner? You seem worried about something."
Sapphire gives him a smile before waving him off and saying, "Nah, it's nothing. Just thinking about some stuff is all. We should probably head to bed soon." Their conversation is quickly overshadowed by the sound of Yang's and Ruby's cheers as Reginald finishes his part of the sandwich first to everyone's disbelief.
"That...that's not physically possible...", Blake says under her breath in complete disbelief at the sight of Reginald thoroughly beating Persi in this eating competition.
Reginald lets out a laugh, signaling his victory before saying, "Looks like I win this time!"
Persi, still struggling to finish his part of the sandwich, looks down at what remains before saying, "I didn't think this sandwich was that big...ugh.."
"That was so awesome! I can't believe Reginald managed to fit that much in his mouth! Did you see that Weiss!?", Ruby exclaims before looking over to see Weiss' annoyed glare.
Weiss growls to herself before saying, "Ruby, could you please stop being so childish!? You're supposed to be our leader?"
"Come on Weiss, Ruby's still a kid. Give her some time and she'll definitely grow on you, right Yang?", Sapphire says to the Heiress before turning to Yang.
Yang stays silent for a moment as she eats her popcorn and pretends to not hear that, but gets pulled into the conversation when she feels an elbow hit her right in her ribs. The blonde looks over to see her little sister glaring up at her, to which she lets out a light chuckle and says, "Yeah, if you give her a chance, she's not that bad. Once you get used to her, she's not that bad of a team-mate."
"While we're on the topic, you!", Weiss adds as she turns her attention to Blake, who's been zoned out since her stare-down with Ash, pulling the girl out of her own little world back into reality.
"Me?", Blake asks with a confused glance and Weiss responds with, "You're far too quiet, and moody, and distant beyond compare. You need to stop that, it's annoying."
Blake just rolls her eyes before getting up from the table and saying, "I'm going to bed."
As she leaves the room, heading to bed, Yang calls out for her, saying, "Blake? Come on, don't let Weiss freeze you out. Come on, we still have some popcorn~ Blake? Blake!?" Blake simply ignores her partner and heads straight to bed, leaving her team behind. Weiss doesn't seem to care as she continues to eat her bland salad while Ruby and Yang look on with concerned frowns.
"Well, we should probably head to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.", Sapphire says as she gets up from the table. After Persi finishes the last of his sandwich, he and the rest of his team retire to their room for the night.
The next day both SAPR and RWBY are standing at Beacon's landing dock. Yang looks down at her scroll, seeing that it's nearly five o'clock in the evening. "So, where are they?", Blake asks with her arms crossed, tapping her foot as she glances around.
Ash looks to the position of the sun and says, "The message we all got this morning said to meet here once our classes were over. We need only be patient."
"I don't know about you, but I would rather be studying for my classes than standing here doing nothing.", Weiss says in her usual irritated tone.
"Come on Weiss, we have to do this. If we don't go through with this, we'll just get in trouble.", Ruby says, earning a glare from her partner.
Weiss, however, walks up to Ruby, getting right up into her face before sticking her finger right in the little red girl's face and saying, "None of this would be happening if it weren't for you, Ruby! We're only stuck in this situation because of your idiocy."
"That's enough. We need to be ready in case these guys from the Big Brother program show up.", Sapphire says as she keeps her eye open for any hint of the people they were supposed to meet.
Persi rubs the back of his head nervously before saying, "At this rate though, we'll be here all afternoon. It'd be nice if these guys just showed up already."
They're all surprised by an unknown voice telling them, "Good, you're all here." When they turn to find the voice, they see a team of four people standing before them.
One is standing in front of the other three, she's a teenage girl with a fancy outfit which includes a fashionable dark brown beret, a pair of black wire-rimmed aviators, and a large shoulder bag she's holding in her right hand. Two of the people standing behind her are clearly Faunus, as their animal ears are showing through their hair, one having red fox ears while the other has brown bunny ears. The fox-eared boy has darker skin than his team-mates with messy dark copper hair that matches the color of his fluffy ears. The girl to his left has long, brown hair and brown eyes that match her long brown rabbit ears. And finally is their final team-mate, who manages to even tower over Persi in size and muscles. The mountain of a boy looks fairly bland, his face lacking any real special characteristic, with his shaved black hair and tan skin.
"We're team CFVY(Coffee), the second year students assigned to deal with you little trouble makers. You should probably know-", the leader of the group begins to say before Weiss interrupts her.
"So you're the people who kept us waiting so long? Do you know how long we've been waiting here!?", Weiss snaps, causing the leader of the group to look at her as she pushes down her sunglasses to get a real good look at her.
The girl fixes her glasses before letting out a fake cough and continuing, saying, "As I was saying, Princess, Headmaster Ozpin gave us very special permissions with you all. One of those permissions is being able to drag you through the mud like the dogs you are, and if you don't listen: we simply report you as defecting and you'll be thrown on the first airship out of Beacon. Now drop and give me twenty, Princess."
Weiss, gritting her teeth as the other members of her team and all of team SAPR look on in disbelief, complies with the girl's demands and drops down to the ground before starting to do pushups. As she lifts herself off of the ground for the first pushup, she feels a sudden weight added to her back, which causes her arms to wobble and shake as she just barely manages to keep herself from falling flat on her face. Weiss looks up to see the girl is now sitting on her back, looking down at her nails painted a light brown.
The girl glances down to see Weiss glaring at her before saying, "What is it Princess? I don't remember telling you to stop." Weiss simply glares at the ground before slowly continuing her pushups.
The fox Faunus boy walks over to his leader and leans over to her ear before whispering to her, "You're having too much fun, Coco. And I don't believe the Headmaster gave any of us that much power."
Coco lets out a heavy sigh before saying, "Aw, you just had to ruin my fun, didn't you Fox? I guess I should get serious about this." As she gets off of Weiss' back, she says, "Alright, Princess, you can stop now.", and motions for her to stand up, irritating her even further before she stands up with a scowl on her face.
"Why you-", Weiss begins to say before Reginald lets out a laugh at Weiss' expense.
As Reginald says, "Ah, that was great! You should've seen your face, Schnee! It was priceless!", the heiress glares back at him, to which he only grins.
"I'm sorry about Coco. She can be a bit...excessive at times, but she means well. I'm Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina.", the bunny girl says as she steps forward somewhat sheepishly. Velvet then points to the taller boy next to her and says, "This is my partner, Yatsuhashi.", before pointing to the other Faunus and saying, "And he's Fox."
Coco pats Velvet's head while saying, "Now, with that out of the way, we should get to it. Since there's eight of you, we'll each take two siblings per person and take some time to really get to know each other. Sound good to you guys?" The fashionable leader turns to her team and they all seem to nod. "Alright, now-", Coco begins to say before suddenly pulling out four straws out of nowhere and shouting, "DRAW!" Doing as they're told, Coco's team-mates each draw a straw, leaving her with only one straw in her hand before they each reveal their straws.
"W-what the hell are you guys doing...?", Persi asks with a confused tilt of his head as everyone else also looks at the team in confusion.
The team looks to him with slightly surprised glances before Fox says, "We're drawing straws, what does it look like we're doing?"
"Yahoo! Looks like I win again!", Coco exclaims as she raises her straw up into the air.
Velvet looks to her own straw and then to Yatsuhashi's before saying, "Looks like we tied, Yatsuhashi. Which means..." The three all look to Fox, who's holding the short straw in his hand, not even looking down at it, but still knowing he'd lost. "Sorry, Fox... Looks like you got another bad draw.", Velvet says sheepishly before her partner looks over to her.
He simply nods before telling her, "It's fine. I'm used to it.", and the three look on as Coco walks up to the two teams.
"Alright, then I'll draft my two siblings first.", Coco says with a smirk on her face as she lowers her sunglasses to get a better look at her options. She looks the eight of them all up and down before thinking, "Damn, these guys all look pretty good. The boys might lack any fashion sense, but at least they have a bit of character to their clothes... Oh well, I guess I'll go by my golden rule." Ruby suddenly finds Coco's finger in her face before Coco says, "I'll choose this little cutie first!"
"C-cute..?", Ruby asks with a confused glance before Coco pats her head and says, "Yep! I just love cute things. Just ask Velvet and Fox~" Coco then looks around again before pointing oncemore and shouting, "And you'll be my second choice!", this time her focus falls on Sapphire.
"Me?", Sapphire replies with slightly raised eyebrow.
Coco happily nods with a grin on her face and says, "Yep, now you two stand over by me and let the others pick their siblings for the day."
Coco, Sapphire and Ruby all step aside and Velvet steps forward. She looks to her options and puts a finger to her chin, thinking about who she should choose. With one finger, she points to Blake and with the other she points to Persi before saying, "You two are coming with me." The two look to each other before simply shrugging and doing as the bunny asks, walking over to her as Ruby and Sapphire did with Coco.
As Velvet steps aside and gestures for him to step up, Yatsuhashi steps forward and look to the remaining pairs. He sees Weiss and Reginald, who are still getting on one another's nerves, before looking to Yang and Ash, who don't seem to care about the situation. He points to the later two before saying, "You two, I choose you."
"You sure you have enough badges to handle me, big guy?", Yang jokes with a wink as she and Ash move to the giant's side.
Fox turns toward Reginald and Weiss, who are giving off a negative aura as they glare each other down, before sighing heavily to himself and saying, "Good grief." He motions for the two to come over to him and reluctantly, they comply.
"Great, now that we're all buddied up, let's go have some fun. We'll meet up her around sunset, yeah?", Coco says, earning a nod from the rest of her team before they head their separate ways.
Off in team CFVY's room, Coco and Sapphire are sitting on a bed together as Ruby tries on some of Coco's outfits and dresses. "So, how old exactly are you Ruby?", Coco asks with a slight smile to the girl.
Ruby takes a deep breath as she sucks in her little gut, letting Sapphire tie up the ruby colored dress' corset to a perfect size before she replies with, "Fourteen, but don't go underestimating me thinking I'm just some kid!"
Coco waves her hands defensively before saying, "No, that's not it at all! I was just surprised to see someone so young here at Beacon is all. You have to be pretty strong to get into Beacon, and since you're so young, that either means you bought your way in or you're one tough cookie."
As Sapphire tightens the the corset a bit more, Ruby lets out a light squeal before whimpering, "Too tight! Too tight!"
"Sorry! Let me loosen it a little for you.", Sapphire says in a panic as she unties the corset and loosens it a bit. As she tightens the dress up again, it seems to fit perfectly without suffocating Ruby.
Coco puts her cheek in her hand before saying, "Come on now, Ruby, turn around and let me see you in that dress~"
Ruby sheepishly turns around and says, "I-I don't know, Coco. I'm not really much of a 'dressy dress' girl, you know?"
"Aw, but it looks so good on you~", Coco replies with a soft smile.
Ruby then looks to herself in the mirror before asking, "D-does it really look that good on me?"
Sapphire nods and tells her, "Yeah, you look great Ruby. It really goes great with your hair."
Ruby blushes slightly before sheepishly saying, "Okay, okay, but I'm not taking this dress, Coco. I hardly even know you..."
"Oh come on, it's fine. Besides, I need to get rid of a few things, so I thought, 'why not give them away?' Now, you're next Sapphire.", Coco replies with a grin. Coco then picks up an outfit she had sitting next to her before tossing it to Sapphire, who looks down at it with a confused glance.
"Coco, I don't know about this...", Sapphire says as she looks down at the puffy white shirt and brown pants.
Coco winks to the girl before telling her, "Trust me, it'll look good on you."
Sapphire lets out a heavy sigh before starting to change into this new outfit.
As Sapphire does this, Coco goes to her closet while saying, "Okay Ruby, I think I still have something you can wear with that." Coco rummages through many boxes of shoes before pulling out an old red shoe box. With one blow, the dust coating the lid is sent flying before she opens up the box to reveal its contents. Coco leans the box to show Ruby the crimson high heels in the box before saying, "Now try these bad boys on."
"Heels? I don't-", Ruby begins to say before Coco pats her back and tells her, "Come on, they'll look great on you. Just try them on.", before putting the box in her hands. Ruby looks down at the heels nervously before sitting down on the bed and slipping on the ruby slippers.
"I still don't know how I feel about this, Coco...", Sapphire says as she fixes her hair after finishing buttoning the poofy white shirt and fixing her pants. As she turns around, Ruby is surprised to see that Sapphire looks like she's dressed like a pirate.
Coco claps her hands together before saying, "Excellent! It looks pretty sexy on you, Sapphire."
"I look like a damn pirate! Is this some sort of joke!?", Sapphire shouts as she shakes her fist at Coco in her rage.
Coco lets out a giggle before saying, "Come on kid, lighten up a little~", and heading back into her closet for something.
"Could you be serious for one moment?", Sapphire growls with her arms crossed as Coco continues searching through the stuff in her closet.
Coco lets out a lone chuckle before saying, "I was getting to that part. So, Ruby, how'd you guys manage to get thrown into this program in the first day?" She lifts a large white box from the bottom of the closet before taking it to her bed and dropping it down.
"Well, we kinda...sorta...maybe blew up the Dust lab.", Ruby sheepishly replies earning a slight chuckle from the fashionista. "It was an accident, I swear!", Ruby exclaims in a panic as she waves her hands defensively.
Coco just chuckles at her childishness before saying, "It's alright, I believe you, Ruby.", and turning her attention to Captain Sapphire. "And I heard from Velvet what you and your team did.", Coco says in a more serious tone as she walks over to Sapphire. She's surprised when Coco places her hands on her shoulders and says, "Thank you."
Sapphire raises an eyebrow at this, and Coco notices before explaining herself, saying, "As you've probably heard, it's against the school's rules to start fights with anyone outside of sparring during Sparring class and personal training. That means that we wouldn't have been able to touch a hair on those douchbags' heads without getting kicked out of Beacon. So, thanks for dealing with those guys and getting Velvet out of that."
Sapphire just rubs the back of her head nervously as she looks away and says, "Well, it wasn't exactly by my choice exactly. Persi just kind of started the fight and it got way out of hand."
"Oh, is that so?", Coco asks as she takes her hands off Sapphire's shoulders before looking to Ruby. "Then you two have the same problem as leaders.", she says as she heads over to her over-sized box and opens it. The two other girls look over her shoulders to see the box is full of hats and tiaras of all shapes, colors and sizes.
"Hats?", Ruby asks with a confused look on her face, to which Coco grins.
The fashionista then pulls out a pirate hat and a tiara and shows them to the girls. "Being a lovable goof or a noble warrior is all well and good, but you have to remember that you're always wearing your leader outfit. And if your hat doesn't match your outfit, nobody's going to take you seriously now, will they?", Coco explains as she places the tiara on Sapphire's head and the pirate hat on Ruby's head. After dragging the two over to her standing mirror, Coco adds, "You need to make sure that your outfit matches completely, or those under you won't feel any need to follow you." As she switches their hats, she finishes her statement by saying, "Once you have the a matching hat for your outfit, you'll be one step closer to earning your team-mates' respect and loyalty."
"You guys getting this, or am I just talking to a brick wall here?", Coco asks, earning a nod from both of the girls. She smiles in response and says, "Good, but we're not done yet. We still have all kinds of 'bonding' to do~ Now let's get those clothes off and try on some more dresses, hmm?"
Sapphire and Ruby look to each other with worried looks before hanging their heads in defeat as Coco returns to her closet for more clothes.
Off in Vale, Fox, Weiss, and Reginald are walking the city streets. Fox is doing some Dust shopping for his team while Reginald and Weiss simply follow. As he picks up a Lightning Dust Crystal, Fox rubs the gem between his fingers before setting it down.
"Ugh, this is so tedious. Why do we have to help you with your shopping exactly?", Weiss complains, which causes Fox's ears to perk up.
As he picks up a ball of Water Dust, Fox feels the shape and size of the gem while saying, "Because the Headmaster considered both of your teams to be in need of some aid. And it seems like none of my team-mates wanted to deal with you two."
"You mean deal with her.", Reginald retorts, trying to correct him, which causes Weiss to growl.
"Me!? They likely wanted to avoid having to deal with a psychopath like yourself!", Weiss snaps back at him as she gets in his face with a glare and a point of her finger.
He pushes her back as he gets in her face as well, saying, "And you think they'd want to hangout with some uptight, thinks-she's-better-than-everybody snob like you? Yeah right! You Schnees are so arrogant, it's annoying!"
Fox simply continues his shopping as the two continue to bicker back and forth, throwing insult after insult at each other before Weiss finally snaps at Fox, saying, "Can we just leave now? I haven't been here for more than twenty minutes with this delinquent and I already have a headache." As Fox proceeds to purchase his chosen Dust Crystals, Weiss lets out a sigh of relief before saying, "Finally, now I can head home and-", but before she can finish Fox tells her, "We aren't done yet."
"Like it or not, we're stuck with each other until sundown. Now, I think I'll take you guys to my favorite place here in Vale.", Fox says as they leave the Dust shop.
Later they arrive at the Vale's docks, overlooking the open river that flows through Vale all the way from Beacon's falls to the ocean. As they follow Fox, he glides his hand along the railing separating them from the river. As his hand reaches a bent part of the railing, which seems to be pushed slightly out, he turns to his right and sits down on the bench across from the dent.
Weiss and Reginald look around for a moment before Weiss asks, "Why exactly are we here again?"
He pats the bench with his hands, after setting his bag in his lap, while saying, "Just sit down for a moment and relax."
Reginald doesn't hesitate at all and simply sits to Fox's right as Weiss, still a bit skeptical, says, "Why would I need to relax? I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much."
Fox simply shrugs before saying, "That's fine too, the bench isn't why I brought you two here anyways. This is."
The two wait patiently as they say nothing, waiting for something to happen, but nothing significant seems to happen. Weiss looks around with a confused look before glaring at Fox and barking, "Is this funny to you? Trying to trick us like this?"
"No, listen closely.", Fox says as he raises a finger and she begrudgingly complies and when she does, she's surprised. She hears the sound of the river flowing gently, not too loud, but not as still as dirt, and the sound of fish leaping into the air from the water. As she seems to relax a bit, her muscles relax and she lets out a sigh. "See? All that stress just melts away.", Fox says as he motions for the girl to sit down, which she reluctantly does. Fox relaxes a bit further on the bench, letting his head hang over the back of the bench as he faces the sky and says, "I come here every now and then when life's getting a bit tough. Sometime's, I'd just sit her for hours, listening."
"Ah, you know what? This isn't that bad.", Reginald admits as he stretches his arms and legs before putting his arms behind his head and propping his feet up on the railing in front of them.
There's a moment of silence between the three before Weiss asks, "So..what else do you do here? Do you watch the clouds? Anything else?"
Fox shakes his head no and Reginald raises an eyebrow at the girl before asking, "And how do you expect him to do that?"
"Excuse me?", Weiss asks in her usual preppy tone to which Reginald replies, "How is he supposed to 'watch the clouds' if he's blind, Snowflake?"
"He's blind?", Weiss asks and Fox replies with a nod.
As he continues to face the sky, Fox says, "You sniffed that out pretty quick. You're almost as nosy as Coco when we first met."
"But, how do you get around? More importantly, how can someone who can't see fight?", Weiss asks in disbelief as she turns to Fox.
Fox raises his hand to the sky and says, "I might be blind, but I can still see in a way. It's almost like a second semblance if I had to describe it in any way."
"Faunus already have heightened senses, and according to some studies: those who lose their eye sight tend to have their other senses boosted to compensate for their lack of vision. Given that, if I had to guess, you probably use some sort of echo location using sound-waves. Am I right?", Reginald says as he rummages through his vest's inner pocket.
As the silver boy pulls out a pack of cigarettes, Fox nods and says, "Bingo. You're pretty observant, kid."
Once the boy puts a cigarette in his mouth, Reginald lights it and takes a smoke break before saying, "I got a bit curious when I first saw your eyes, but when I watched you buying Dust earlier and when you were following so closely along the railing helped me put it together."
Fox lets out a slight grunt as he sits up straight and says, "Well, that's enough about me. What's so wrong about you guys that you got tossed into the Big Brother Program on the first day?"
"My team beat up a couple of idiots during lunch. They deserved it though.", Reginald replies as he takes his cigarette out of his mouth and points the lit end at Fox.
Weiss scoffs and replies with, "What's wrong with me? More like what's wrong with my team-mates! Our 'Leader', Ruby, is a complete dunce not to mention she's two years younger than all of us! Yang is too much of a goof and beyond reckless! And Blake lacks any communication skills whatsoever! Honestly, the only way this team could be any worse for me is if I was put on a team with him."
"Says the girl who does nothing but complain.", Reginald fires back after blowing some smoke her way.
She fans the smoke away from her face with a cough before snapping back, saying, "You jerk! How dare you!?"
"Because you're too cocky, that's why. Honestly, it's like you think you deserve to be leader or something.", Reginald replies as he leans back on the bench oncemore and looks off to the river with his cigarette in his mouth.
Weiss scoffs and adds, "Well we'd be better off if I was the leader. I wouldn't be goofing off during class and I'd have everyone put in their places by now."
"That's quite the statement, even from someone as skilled as you, Weiss.", Fox says with a raised eyebrow.
Weiss glares at the Faunus and snaps back, saying, "What would you know about being a leader? You're just some fashion queen's sidekick!"
There's an awkward moment of silence between the three as Reginald takes another drag from his cigarette. The silence is only interrupted when Reginald says, "Ouch, hitting the poor guy when he wasn't looking. That's a low blow, Snowflake, low blow."
Off at Beacon's Gym, Yang is doing bench pressing as Yatsuhashi spots her and Ash is practicing his barehanded fighting on a sand bag that's hanging from the ceiling. Yang stops her presses for a moment before telling Yatsuhashi, "I think I need more weight on there. Mind helping a girl out?", to which he simply nods.
As Yatsuhashi loads more weights on there for Yang, she goes on, saying, "You know, it's nice to have someone to talk to about these sort of things. Sometimes it's easier to just ramble on about these things to someone who isn't as involved." "I know she's my sister and all, but I'm not sure how I feel about having her on my team. I was hoping she'd branch out a little more and find more friends, but it seems like fate had something else planned, huh?", Yang goes on as Yatsuhashi finishes loading her weights and gives her a thumb up.
She lifts the weights up over the rack before letting her arms fall a bit, slowly lowering the weights. As she lifts them back up, she continues talking, saying, "I'm not mad we're on the same team or anything. That's not it at all! I just...I just want her to stop depending on her big sister coming to save her all the time. She needs to get stronger on her own, that way if I'm not there to save her, she won't need me to." She slowly drops them again as she asks Yatsuhashi, "Am I being selfish? Is asking so much from my baby sister really that much...? What do you think, Yatsuhashi?"
Once she asks this, she lifts the weights up oncemore and Yatsuhashi gets a ping on his scroll which he checks and his eyes seem to focus heavily on the message. "I have to go. I'll be back.", Yatsuhashi quickly replies before leaving the Gym with his scroll in hand.
Without Yatsuhashi there to help her, Yang's arms start to wobble and she says, "Yatsuhashi? Hey, Yatsuhashi! Yatsuhashi!" Before she can even process what's happening, her arms seem to give out on her and the weighted bar starts falling straight at her throat! Her aura flares as she braces herself for impact and as she shuts her eyes, she waits for the impact of the bar.
When she opens her eyes, she's surprised to see Ash has the bar and is lifting it up. His aura flares and he lifts the bar up to its pegs before dropping it down on them. Yang quickly sits up and turns to Ash before saying, "Thanks for that. Didn't expect my arms to give out on that much weight. I knew I should've stuck with 200 pounds."
Ash seems to give her a cold glare before going back to his training and saying, "You shouldn't be so reckless. You should aim to push yourself, but do so with more caution next time."
The blonde hangs her head, hiding her slightly red face with her hair, but perks up when she hears Ash ask, "Why are you afraid?" When she looks up at him, she sees he's glancing over at her over his shoulder, waiting for an answer.
"Me, afraid of anything? Please! I'm not afraid of nothin!", Yang confidently answers with her usual grin, but Ash only continues to glare at her.
The boy lands three quick blows on the sand bag, knocking it back a good bit before saying, "You're worried about your sister. You think something might happen to her and in the end you won't be there to save her." Yang's cocky grin fades as he says this and she watches silently as he dodges around the sand bag, landing blow after blow on the poor thing. Ash lands a powerful rising elbow on the bag before stopping it with one hand and saying, "It's good that you're questioning these things. People need others they can trust and depend on in these kinds of conditions, but by fearing some inevitable event that may or may not occur, all you're doing is setting a self-fulfilling prophecy in place that will only distance you from your sister and eventually your entire team."
Yang just chuckles at this before saying, "You think I'm gonna be distant? If anyone's distant, it's Blake. She barely opened up to any of us. She doesn't even take off that bow of her's when she's going to bed."
"Trust is a crucial part of teamwork. You have to trust that whatever your team-mate might be doing, they're doing it with a plan or some form of reasoning behind it and respect it.", Ash replies as he turns to the blonde with a slightly kinder glare than before.
Yang puts her chin into the palms of her hands before asking, "Yeah, but how can I get her to trust me if she doesn't let anybody in?"
"Blake will open up in time. For now, I'd suggest simply being there for her when she needs you. That's the best thing partners can do for one another.", Ash replies, earning a devilish grin from Yang.
Yang jokingly replies with, "Says the guy who threw his team off a cliff.", and Ash simply nods in response.
"Exactly. I trusted that they would be able to handle the situation while also avoiding that Grimm. Though we only knew each other at that point for a brief moment, I took a chance and put my faith in their abilities.", Ash replies with a raised finger, which causes the blonde to giggle.
Yang stops her giggling for a brief moment before saying, "I'm just talking your ears off, ain't I? Come on, it's your turn to complain."
He turns back to the sandbag, returning to his training, as he says, "I have no problems with my team.", which earns him a raised eyebrow from the girl.
"I get not having a problem with Sapphire, since she's one of the best fighters in our class, but Reginald's a reckless idiot and Persi is basically bipolar Superman...", Yang points out with a confused look on her face, but Ash doesn't seem to budge.
"They all have their positives and negatives. Sapphire is strong, but she lacks confidence in herself. Reginald has both skill and confidence, but he lacks focus. And Persi has the power to do great things, but his mind seems fogged by something. They aren't perfect by any means, but I can work with them.", Ash explains as he continues punching the sand bag.
Yang nods to his response before asking, "Okay, so what about you?", to which Ash stops the punching bag with both hands.
"What about...me..?", he thinks to himself as he down at the ground, still holding the sand bag still in his hands. He contemplates this for a moment before answering with, "I believe I have skill and focus, but I lack...motivation..."
"Motivation?", Yang asks, to which he nods in response.
"Correct. I feel as if I lack a purpose for being here. I left the temple to train here to help fight off possible Grimm attacks, but those are so far in between it seems almost...pointless. Yet, because of my skills and my abilities, I was told this was my path, so here I am.", he explains as he stops his training completely and looks down at his hands. As his gaze turns cold, he mutters to himself, "This is the path I walk, but not one that I've chosen."
They're both surprised to hear a voice say, "But in the end, it is your path and your path alone, so you must walk it..." They turn to see it's Yatsuhashi who said that as he walks over to them, returning from whatever it was he was doing on his scroll, while saying, "..to the very end."
Ash's gaze returns to his hands, which he clenches before looking to Yatsuhashi and nodding.
Blake, Persi, and Velvet are all walking through Beacon's gardens as Velvet weeds and prunes the area. Velvet crouches down and plucks a weed right out of the garden before placing it in Persi's basket. "Isn't this something Beacon's gardeners should be working on?", Blake asks with a raised eyebrow.
Velvet shakes her head no and replies with, "As Huntsmen, we should aim to help as many people as we can. No matter how minor the task, we should try our best to help every person we come across. This garden is one of the many tasks students are asked to take care of." She then presses a button on the box she has handing from the back of her belt and it begins to glow. The ominous blue light shoots out from the box and into her hands to form a pair of holographic hedge trimmers. She then uses these trimmers to cut the nearby unkempt bush back into formation with the other bushes.
"Whoa, I haven't seen anything like that before!", Persi exclaims as he watches the digital trimmers disappear back into the box.
"You think so? I made it myself.", the rabbit replies with a gleeful smile to which Persi and Blake both nod. Velvet holds up the box to them and says, "It uses a bit of Ice Dust, Lightning Dust, and Light Dust to generate the weapons. It took some time to build, and even more time to master, but it was well worth the time I spent on it."
Persi raises an eyebrow at this and asks, "But, if you have such a cool weapon and you're a second year, why were you just letting Cardin and his lackeys knock you around yesterday?"
The bunny girl's ears quickly flops down as she retreats back into her timid shell before she replies with, "Well...it's a bit complicated..." Turning away from the other two, Velvet looks back to the flowers and as she notices a wilting rose, she sheepishly answers with, "If I would've fought back like he wanted me to, I would've only been justifying his thoughts of the Faunus. Then he'd just move from me to some other poor girl who can barely defend herself, so I'm going to let him get his frustration and anger out on someone who can take it, rather than let someone else take on the risk. Who knows, maybe in the meantime I can find some way to befriend him and help him understand our point of view better? I can only try, right?", to which Persi and Blake glare.
"So you're putting yourself in harm's way just so this guy can get his socks off on beating down on those weaker than him? Why would you even bother trying to change someone like him? People like him never change.", Blake sternly replies as she gathers the cut off limbs on the ground and places them in her basket.
Persi ways in as well, adding, "All that'll do is get ya hurt, Velvet. I've dealt with guys like him all my life and trust me, all they do is get worse. It's better to deal with them now when they're young rather than when they're out there with a flamethrower and a God complex."
Velvet crosses her arms in response while saying, "I know my limits. Even if it's painful and it seems pointless, I'd rather make friends than enemies. Cardin is just...a bit challenging is all..."
"You mean he's a deranged sociopath that thinks he can do whatever he wants to us just because we look a bit different. I really don't understand it, Velvet.", Persi replies as he shakes his head.
She just pats him on the back and says, "You're worrying too much about me, both of you are. Shouldn't it be the other way around? You two got in some serious trouble yesterday. Especially you, Persi. You're extremely lucky that your whole team didn't get kicked out of Beacon for that fight." As she walks past the two of them, she motions for them to follow before saying, "Now let's get moving, there's weeds that need plucking and plants that need trimming!" They both look to her contagious smile and smile in turn before following her on her quest.
Later, once the sun begins to set on this day, all four groups meet up at the point where they first met. Velvet, Blake and Persi are covered in dirt, Sapphire's and Ruby's faces are covered in all kinds of makeup, Reginald reeks of fish, and Yang is drenched in sweat.
"Looks like we all had fun today.", Coco chuckles as she looks at the others.
"I can't believe you pushed him into the water.", Fox says, still somewhat shocked by what happened.
"I swear, I'll get you back for that Snowflake! Just you wait!", Reginald proclaims as he leaves alone.
Velvet looks to Yatsuhashi and asks, "So, have fun at the Gym?" The giant shakes his head no and Velvet sighs before asking him, "Your sister, she's still in the hospital, right?", to which he nods sadfully.
"Well, I'm all wet and sticky, and not in a good way, so I'm going home to get a shower.", Yang says before walking off.
Ruby follows close behind her, shouting, "Wait up Sis! I need some help getting all fifty layers of this makeup off! YANG!"
Blake and Persi look to Velvet and nod before leaving to return to their respective dorms, leaving Sapphire and Ash to deal with all of team CFVY.
Ash walks over to Sapphire and notices her makeup, but before he can say anything, she growls, "Don't ask. Let's just go home already." The mummy simply nods in response and they bid CFVY farewell before returning home together.
As the last of their siblings leave, Coco asks, "So, how'd they do?"
"I only heard a little bit, but it seems like Yang has a good head on her shoulders, but she worries far too much about her sister. Ash, however, seems to be doubting his reason to fight, but lacks no faults other than that.", Yatsuhashi explains with a slight smile as he crosses his arms.
Velvet scratches the back of her head nervously before saying, "Well, I really couldn't read Blake too well. She's a bit too mysterious, even for me, but Persi was like reading an open book. They're both really something else."
"The Ice Queen didn't have any troubles complaining about her partners the whole time, along with everything else. And as for Reginald, he tries to act like he doesn't have a care in the world, but I can sense that when he was talking to Weiss, he worrying about something.", Fox says as he throws his bag of Dust Crystals onto his shoulder, holding it with one hand.
"I wouldn't worry about Weiss too much, Ruby 'll get her to come around eventually. We just need to give them a little bit of time to get to know each other. As for Sapphire, she was just as expected: the unstoppable powerhouse fighter girl. But I'm still trying to figure out who she's trying to prove herself to?", Coco replies as she puts her hand to her chin and thinks about it for a moment. The fashionista suddenly snaps out of thought before snapping her fingers and saying, "Alright, team CFVY! Time to return to base! And tonight, Velvet's cooking dinner!"
"Again!? That's not fair Coco!", Velvet exclaims in despair.
She gives Velvet a quick pat to the butt before saying, "Come on now, Velvet. We all know you make my favorite dessert~", which causes the bunny's face to turn red.