Watched the Blake trailer and holy crap! Was that a personal, relevant story about Faunus discrimination? Are we actually getting more of an actual look into this issue? Is it my birthday? You're getting my hopes up, Rooster Teeth. Bonus points if I'm assured that Blake has grown out of her brief slap-happy phase (which she will NOT be going through here, by the way.)

This week, I'm going to recommend a book series I read a few years ago called The Companions Quartet by Julia Golding. It takes place in modern times and centers around a secret Society for the Protection of Mythical Creatures. Members of the society are born with an affinity for a certain species of mythical creature and are given a Companion of that species. The main character, Connie, is a universal, meaning that she can communicate with all of them. It's a series with a very environmental message, which I like. And, of course, there are several dragons, including Connie's Companion, a golden dragon named Argand.

Anyway, enjoy!

After their last Monday classes, Team RWBY led their dragons toward the earth dragon stables for their first group lesson with Penny. There was a sense of apprehension and excitement in the air as they hurried along.

Weiss in particular was looking forward to this. Due to the top-secret nature of the dragon implant, she had tried keeping her questions to a minimum with Ruby, but she was truly curious to see this piece of Atlesian tech in action again. Also, the idea of being able to talk in a slightly more direct fashion with Specter obviously made her incredibly excited.

Ozpin was waiting for them, without Ragnar for once. He smiled at the team as they approached. "Hello. I trust you weren't followed."

Blake shook her head. She was used to checking for things like that. "No one, sir."

"Good, good." Ozpin nodded. "By the way, Miss Belladonna, you haven't had any threats from the White Fang, have you?"

"Not yet," Blake said. "My guess is that Adam hasn't thought to look for me here. He probably thinks that Pit died and that I'm hiding in the city somewhere."

"Good," Ozpin said. "I'll spread some false rumors to try and lead them away from here, just in case. In the meantime…" He took the implant out of his pocket. "Storm, you know what to do."

Storm trotted over, bowing her head to let Ozpin place Penny on her brow. She purred at the familiar, cool sensation of the metal spreading across her body.

The light turned on. "Salutations. I am the Physical, Emotional, and Neurological Implant. Designated name: Penny. Powering up." After a few blinks, it continued. "Rider recognized. Hello, Ruby Rose."

"Hello, Penny," Ruby replied to the now-familiar greeting.

"New Riders and dragons present," Penny continued as the light started blinking again. "No hostility detected."

"These are my teammates, Penny," Ruby explained. "We're going to practice talking to other people and learning from other dragons through you and Storm. Isn't that cool?"

"I detect that 'cool' is a positive adjective, so I will respond with an affirmative." The light turned yellow. "Awaiting instructions."

Yang was staring at the plate with a slightly uncomfortable look. "That thing's a little creepy. Does anyone else think so?"

"She can hear you, Yang!" Ruby scolded. "Sorry, Penny."

"I am incapable of feeling offended," Penny replied. "Awaiting instructions."

Ozpin smiled encouragingly at Ruby. "Go ahead. Penny will tell you if it needs to rest. I only wish to ask about the results of the switch on Friday. Have fun for now."

"Okay." Ruby looked back at Penny. "I want to talk to Storm. Please read her brainwaves and talk for her like last time."

"Acknowledged." The light flickered, then turned green again.

"Are we talking now? Oh, yes we are! Hi, Ruby! I love you!" Storm said through the implant.

Ruby giggled. "I love you too, Storm."

Blake smiled. "Wow, that's pretty much exactly what I expected her to say."

Storm looked at Blake. "Hi, Blake! I like you too. Not as much as I like Ruby, but you have Pit for that, right?"

The dragons, meanwhile, were stunned. Storm had told them about the implant, but hearing a voice like this coming from her was so weird. They could hear this mechanical voice just as they heard Storm speaking in their language.

Fang shook his head and snarled. He didn't like hearing two voices coming from the same dragon.

"Sorry, Fang," Storm said. "This is for talking to the partners. Can't help it."

Pit, on the other hand, was immediately intrigued. Could Storm translate for them?

"Yes, I can translate," Storm said. "That's what I'm supposed to do today, right Ruby?"

"That's right," Ruby replied, smiling at the stunned looks on her teammates' faces and the confused looks on Fang and Specter's. "Guys, now's your chance to ask your dragons anything!"

Weiss was the first to recover. She looked hesitantly at Specter. "Are…Are you happy, Specter? Am I doing a good job of taking care of you?"

"That goes for me too!" Yang cut in.

"Me too," Blake said.

There was a moment while the three warbled and growled their answers at Storm "Specter hopes you can turn down the temperature in his stall. Pit wants more red meat with his meals. Fang would like a new rubber toy. Other than that, they're happy. They love you a lot, though Fang won't admit it."

Fang snarled at Storm before turning away with a loud huff.

Yang snickered. "Aw, is my little guy embarrassed?" She wasn't even mad when her dragon smacked her with his tail and knocked her to the ground.

"Do you want me to tell you what they're saying as they say it?" Storm asked.

Ruby shrugged. "Why not?"

"Okay, well Specter just called Fang a brute, Fang called Specter a priss, and Pit's telling them to both shut up already," Storm said dutifully.

"That sounds exactly like what I'd imagine them saying," Ruby admitted with a giggle.

"Ooh, I have a question!" Yang said suddenly. "What's everyone's favorite color?"

Weiss gave her a dry look. "Really, Yang? That's the first thing that came to mind?"

Storm chirped as the light blinked. "My favorite color is red, because it makes me think of Ruby!"

"Aw!" Ruby squeaked.

"Fang likes purple," Storm continued. "Since it's the color of his favorite rubber toy, and Yang's eyes."

Fang barked angrily, curling his tail around himself.

"He says it's just because of his toy, but I know better," Storm said calmly. "Specter's favorite color is white, since it's the color of frost. Pit likes red too, since it's the color of meat and apples," Storm finished.

Fang's tail started lashing back and forth.

Storm hunched her shoulders. "I'm just answering their questions… Don't be mad…"

"Okay, okay," Ruby said, patting Storm's shoulder. "Let's not start an argument. We're all friends here."

Yang was grinning at Fang. "You like my eyes, huh buddy?"

Fang stuck his tongue out at his partner, heating up his scales to keep her from touching him.

"What I want to know," Weiss cut in. "Is whether our current training methods are effective for you. Specter, did you understand that I was trying to teach you to use your ice beam today? Does Storm think there are better ways to get the wind dragons flying? Are the fire dragons able to breathe fire yet? How are the water dragons doing, particularly Guang?"

"Slow down!" Storm lay down, putting her paws over her fins. "You're asking too many questions!"

"I'm sorry," Weiss said quickly. "I guess what I'm asking is, are we training you in a way that helps you understand your powers?"

Storm sat up again and nodded. "For me, yes. I know they're trying to get us to fly. I'm just nervous after seeing Nimbus crash. He's excited, but he keeps seeing double when he flies."

Fang yawned and grumbled quietly.

"Fang says that, if anyone's going to breathe fire first, it'll be Huo." She listened to a few more growls. "He also says that Titan still can't heat up his scales. Is that bad?"

The others looked at each other, frowning. That made three JNPR dragons that were having problems. Was Freya's lethargy possibly something to worry about as well?

Reading this train of thought, Blake asked: "Are there any other disabled dragons that you know of?"

Storm nodded. "There's at least one on every team, except for Team RWBY. I feel fine, and so do the others. Right?"

Pit, Specter, and Fang all nodded.

Weiss shook her head slowly. "That's impossible. Beacon keeps their brood dragons in perfect health, and representatives of the Schnee Dust Company personally handle the injections."

"How many disabled dragons are there on average at a school?" Blake wondered.

"One, maybe two every few years," Weiss murmured. "Three at the very most. Few enough for someone like Ozpin to hide them from the Council when graduation comes. There are always flukes, after all. But this…" She folded her arms. "If there is really at least one on each team…there's no way the Council will ignore that."

"And there's definitely more than one on each team," Blake noted. "We have Twiggy, Guang, and maybe Titan on Team JNPR. According to Ren and Pyrrha, both Tornado and Barracuda are somewhat deformed."

Storm warbled nervously. "The Council is bad, isn't it? They want to kill dragons like Ao Guang, don't they?"

Ruby winced, realizing for the first time how much the dragons could probably understand at this point. How many times have we talked about dragon culling in front of them…especially Twiggy, Nimbus, or Guang?

"Don't worry, Storm," Yang said. "We'll keep you all safe. Also, I have another question. I know Fang hates having his head pet. Are there any spots we should stay away from on the rest of you?"

Storm chirped. "Well, I don't want my fins to be touched. The same goes for Specter and his frills. Fang does hate when people touch his head, but nowhere else really. Pit doesn't really mind anything." She paused as Pit suddenly barked at her. "Oh, he doesn't want his belly rubbed. Blake doesn't do that anyway, but he thought he'd mention that."

"Noted," Blake said, patting Pit's head.

At this point, Ozpin returned. "We shouldn't strain the unit too much. Miss Rose, please ask Storm about her experiences during the switch."

Storm snorted and started talking without any further prompting. "Cardin is the worst! He didn't give me time to eat, and probably wouldn't have fed me even if Ruby had left the dishes empty. Then, he kept acting like he was gonna hit me when I didn't move fast enough. Then, he bullied Dove and called me and Nimbus names. Then, when he was punished by running extra laps, he yelled at me to keep going faster. Then, he tried to grab my fin when no one was watching!"

She curled her tail around her front paws. "He didn't feed me after putting me in my stall, and didn't let me out again. He also didn't wait for me to get to the stall. He just left the door open and left before I got there! It was so cold in there when I went in..."

Ruby clenched her fists. "Poor Mudslide was so skittish when I had her. She freaked out when I tried to scratch her behind the ear, and acted defensive around everyone." She stared up at Ozpin. "You should have seen the look on her face when I cleaned her stall and gave her treats. She couldn't believe it!"

Pit shuffled one of his forepaws, letting out a thoughtful rumble.

"Pit says he'll try to be friends with her when they move to the earth stables," Storm translated. "I will too. I thought she was just a bully, but she's got it worse than any of us."

"She's just a kid like you," Ruby reminded her. "She only knows what she's been taught."

Ozpin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I will definitely look into the matter." Meaning that I will require intensive counseling for Cardin. I don't care how much his father threatens me. If that doesn't work, I'll see about kissing up to the Council so that they may actually relocate Mudslide to a nice broodery. "I think Penny has done enough for today. You may have it detach, Miss Rose."

"Okay," Ruby said. "Penny, command: detach."

The light flickered a few times, waiting a moment before saying: "Acknowledged." The light went off and the metal retracted into the plate, which then fell to the ground.

Ozpin picked it up, frowning at it before placing it into his pocket. "I couldn't help but overhear the end of your conversation before I came over." He folded his hands behind his back. "You're concerned."

"Well, yeah!" Ruby said. "Is there really at least one disabled dragon on each team?"

"Yes," Ozpin sighed. "And it isn't just here. It's the same at Haven. I've been keeping my eye on Shade and Atlas, but we probably won't know anything from there until the Dragon Festival. I suspect that it's interior sabotage. The only unaffected team is you, and your eggs all came from outside Beacon."

"You're not even trying to keep it a secret from us," Blake noted with some surprise.

"There's no reason to, since you now know," Ozpin said. "Besides, I'm already having you test top-secret Atlesian tech, and am protecting one of your number from the White Fang. You clearly aren't mere children who will gossip about this to everyone they see. Please don't talk about this to anyone, by the way."

"What happens if the Council finds out about this?" Ruby asked. "I thought we were just gonna hide Ao Guang and Nimbus's problems, and hope for the best with Twiggy, but how can we hide this many disabilities in one entire year? What if it happens to the next group of freshmen?"

Ozpin ran a hand through his hair. "I…do not know, Miss Rose. I promise that I will do everything in my power to keep my students and their dragons safe. I wish I could say more."

"Well, we'll be protecting each other too," Yang pointed out, her eyes taking on a reddish tinge.

Ozpin smiled. "Good. That's exactly what friends and teammates are for." He checked his watch. "Well, I think you and your dragons have had enough excitement for one night. Goodnight, girls, and thank you."

Team RWBY was quiet and pensive as they returned their dragons to their stalls and went to their room.

"Do you think any of our dragons have crushes on anyone?" Yang couldn't help but wonder as she sat on her bed. The thought occurred to her randomly as she tried to think of a cheerier conversation topic. "Dang, I wish I'd asked that before."

"Can they?" Weiss wondered. "Elementals are sterile, after all."

"Doesn't mean they don't form romantic attachments," Yang said. "Remember those two injured dragons at the Violet Broodery, Ruby?"

"Oh yeah!" Ruby giggled. "Grif and Simmons, a fire and an earth dragon. They never leave each other's sides."

"So yeah, it can totally happen." Yang snickered at the thought. "That'll be something."

"They're still children," Blake said calmly. "There will be plenty of time to worry about the teen angst and crush phase next semester."

"Omigosh, you're right!" Ruby said with a nervous laugh. "That'll be fun, huh?"

Yang nodded. "At least we can always ask Dad about it. Though, I can't imagine Quake, Tempest, or Salty acting like teenagers."

"I bet it was adorable," Ruby giggled.

The four talked late into the night, decisively avoiding the subject of disabled dragons. Still, they couldn't help but wonder in the backs of their minds if something far more dangerous than the White Fang or Grimm would be awaiting them in the coming years.

I would quickly like to address a guest comment I received, because I would like to clear some things up. While I have started shipping some characters, others won't be in romantic situations for a while, such as Yang and Ruby. That does not mean that this fic is an Enabler fic. This is not an Enabler fic. I will never write an Enabler fic. If you see Enabler fics on my page, you can safely assume that my account has been hacked and that I am chained up in a basement somewhere. Please send help if that is the case.

If you like what you see and want to show extra support in exchange for rewards, my P/atreon is Solora Goldsun.

Peace out!