"I am never having you pick out shirts for me again." Neo just smiled, looking up at Gales as they walked down the streets. Gales getting a few weirded out looks as people looked at his shirt. Said shirt was covered completely in girls, their faces twisted into weird expressions. Not that Gales knew what expression they were making to begin with. He wanted to take the shirt off and Neo wasn't having that. She found his appearance to be damn funny. Besides, she finally got someone to wear it; Roman didn't wear anything she bought him. "Just what expressions are these girls making anyway Neo?" He asked with a humorless edge in his voice.

The correct term would be "ahegao", Neo just wasn't going to tell him what it stood for.

"Neo~" The pint sized lady just grinned as she skipped along the road to beacon as gales Gale up. "I can just tell this is related to something dirty." The teen muttered as he put his hands on his hips and stared at the girl. He wasn't sure why, but Neo had chosen to change her her clothes mind you, rather it was her actual appearance. Her eyes were a single color and her hair was completely black. He was actually kinda curious on how she did that. 'I thought her Semblance was that cracking air-invisibility thing. Maybe it's something else?'

Neo just looked at him, that smile drifting to curiosity as Gales shook his head.

"It's nothing." The teen muttered as he walked up to Neo and ruffled her hair. "Just curious on how you did… this." Neo gestured to her hair as she twirled a few strands. "It's part of your power right? Your semblance?" Neo just nodded as the pair walked on, Gales adjusting bag Neo had loaned him, Alter's Song's scraps making a bit of noise as he moved it. Repairs were gonna cost a lot. Problem was he doubted he had the money for it. 'Wonder if Junior or Tukson had some work for me…' The teen thought as he crossed his arms in thought. Come to think of it, I need to see those guys anyway. Let them know I got into Beacon."

"Gales?" Snapping out of his thoughts, Gales turned his attention to see a familiar face staring at him.

"Theti?"The teen blinked before waving childishly and walking over. Neo followed curiously as she stared at the red haired woman. "Hey! I wasn't expecting to see you this morning!" Pyrrha's mom smiled, though it was quickly flipped as she looked at the teens chipper expression.

"You have some nerve, young man!" Gales flinched, the feeling of staring down a mama Rathian washing over him as the bag carrying woman glared at him. "My daughter was a mess when she called me last night!" She began as she raised one of her fingers and poked him in the chest. He recoiled. "It took me hours to get her to calm down and get a proper explanation. She said you never came back from an assignment in the Emerald Forest, she said she couldn't get in contact with you. She told me you died!" The woman exclaimed. "And how do I find you, walking around town without a care, with a pretty young girl!"

"I think you're in trouble."

"Wait - I can explain." Gales stated as he took a step back and raised the bottom of his shirt to show off the bandages. "See it's like this…"

Pines Farm

"You did him what?" Leonidas grumbled as crossed his arms and stared at Abel.

"I asked Oscar if he wanted to come with us."

"Why?!" Abel wasn't even remotely fazed by the brother's sudden show of aggression as the teen fastened his armor back into place. "Why the hell did you invite the farm boy to come with us?!"

"You don't need to yell Leo, I'm right here." The teen muttered. "It's rude to yell anyway." The teen admitted as he turned to his counterpart. "As I told Oscar, it might be good for him; seeing the world, and given some space to grow."

"So you want him to tag along with us, like what, a lost puppy?" Abel rolled his eyes.

"No, not like a puppy, an equal, and perhaps even a potential ally and friend." That earned him a laugh, Leonidas clutching his stomach as he threw his head back.

"Ally? Friend? By our lord Kaiser, that's why you want him with us; you want a new friend?" Leonidas shook his head. "Honestly what is with you?"

"I think it's a great idea." Lacus stated as she sat on a pile of hay, her attention turning from young cattle that were resting in the barn. "It would be nice to have someone new to travel with."

"What, you're tired of our little group already?" Leonidas asked as he turned to the girl.

"It's not that." Lacus stated. "But I wouldn't mind getting to know Oscar a bit myself." That earned her a groan.

"Oh great -you're crushing." Lacus just giggled.

"It's a bit too early for that Leo." the girl stated as she turned back to the cattle as she extended an arm and pulled some hay from her makeshift seat. "But he is cute, I admit that." Walking over to the cattle she bent down and watched it eat from her extended hand. "I'd like to get to know him because he's new, and you know about my curiosity."

"You're curious about a farm boy? You sure you're not crushing?"

"I'm certain." Lacus stated with a smile. "I live off my thirst for knowledge. I want to know what he knows, I want to learn whatever he's willing to teach."

"What the hell could he teach us?"

"How this world works." Abel admitted. "Where the towns are. The legends of this land, The tribes that inhabit it. The customs."

"We can find all that crap from a book." Leonidas muttered.

"You can learn from a book, or you learn from a person." Lacus stated. "Or you can learn by getting your hands dirty and searching for the answer yourself." She got to her feet and turned back to the boys. "We are ambassadors of this world, it would be rude to not take the time to learn from it's people. Besides the potential of gaining allies isn't that bad an idea is it?" Leonidas rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as Abel got the rest of his armor on.

"I don't see how the farm boy could possibly become a useful ally but, whatever." He shrugged. "He can tag along, but I'm not happy about this." The teen grumbled. "If he can't keep up though, we leave him behind."

"He'll keep up." Atalanta stepped into the farm with a number of chicks and chickens following after her and chirping audibly. Before the obvious question was asked she spoke again. "Call it a hunch, but I know he'll keep up."

"… why are you surrounded by poultry?" Leo asked the other unspoken question as Atalanta turned her head to look at the chicks, revealing that there was one nestled in her hair.

"They wanted to go for a walk."

Vale

Streets

"… and after I killed all the Grimm I dragged this battered and broken body of mine out the forest and into the city last." Gales finished his story in a casual- almost chipper tone. "I was planning on going to Beacon, patch myself up and crash but Neo found me before that and let me stay at her spot to recuperate a bit." Neo did a mock salute as Theti looked at her for a moment, any anger on her face having disappeared as she heard Gales story.

"I see… in that case; thank you Neo." Neo nodded her head as they both looked at Gales. "I'm sorry I was angry earlier." She stated as she frowned. "But your planning on Going back to Beacon now, correct?"

"Yeah I want to let the others know I'm still kicking." The teen muttered as he looked at the bandages on his forearm. "I'll be out of the field for a bit but it can't be helped." He sighed. "Man, and it feels like I just got back in the game, you know."

"We'll be safer here than outside of Vale." Theti stated as she saw Gales nod. "Either case I should let you go. The sooner you get to Beacon the sooner Pyrrha and the others will be able to stop worrying."

"Yeah~ I hate having friends worry, but it comes with the territory ya know." Theti nodded as she watched Gales drift off for a moment. "People worry when you do dangerous work…" The teen muttered as Theti nodded solemnly. "Anyway… is there anything you want me to pass to Pyrrha when I get to Beacon?" Seeing the change in subject, the woman shook her head and smiled.

"Oh no, I'll just call her in a bit." Theti stated. "As much as I wouldn't mind you passing something on, I'd prefer hearing her voice."

"Alright." Gale waved as he watched Theti start walking off. "I'll see you later, Theti."

"Take care Gales, and get some rest."

"No promises." With a smile Gales watched Theti go before heading off in his own direction. "Alright onward to Beacon." Neo nodded her head, nudging Gales as she showed him her Scroll.

"Who's mom was that?"

"That was Pyrrha's mom. She's nice."

"Pyrrha, as in Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Yep." Gales stated as he watched Neo blinked. "We met sometime after I first got to Vale, we've been friends ever since." Neo just stared seeming to run something over in her head before frowning.

Pyrrha Nikos; the "pride of Mistral", the "Invincible Girl", Pumpkin Pete's Cereal Mascot. She wasn't expecting Gales to be friends with such a prodigious figure in the Huntsman's Ranks. Maybe it was inevitable, after all the Invincible Girl had enrolled into Beacon herself.

"Are you on the same Team?"

Gales waved his hands in a "somewhat" manner. "I'll be cycling between her team and another." The teen explained as Neo raised an eyebrow. "I passed initiation on sort of a recommendation, but since there were already a full set of teams, I got put in a position where I sort of manage two of them." Neo made a muted noise. "I help em out on the field, can reorganize members into a new team, take over as leader if things get bad." Gales trailed off as Neo nodded, filing his words away into her head for later. Might be important to remember this. "Anyway, when we get to Beacon you should be able to meet the teams I manage." Gales smiled as he thought to teams RWBY and JNPR. "They're nice, I'm sure you'll like em." Neo shrugged. "I'm just not sure they'll like the shirt you gave me." Neo just smiled at that.

"I think it looks good on you."

It took maybe thirty minutes for the pair to reach Beacon. All the while Neo seemed intent on snapping pictures of the grounds, smiling as she did as Gales stared at her. 'Wonder why she's taking so many pictures…'

'Pyrrha mentioned something about people taking pics for something called a Blog, maybe that's it.'

"Maybe…" Gales put his hands behind his head as he walked on. "Actually, Neo." The pint sized girl looked at him. "Are you planning on becoming a Huntress." Neo shook her head. "Really? I remember when we fought together, you're really good. You could be a great huntress you know."

"I know."

Neo typed.

"But I didn't learn to fight to become a Huntress."

"Then why do you fight?" Neo didn't respond for a moment, seeming to think about something before sending another message

"Gotta learn to defend yourself in this world."

Gales blinked as he stared at the message. "Yeah I guess you gotta point." Neo nodded, her face becoming impassive as she stared ahead. Intuition told him that there was a whole nother story to that, but it also told him that this wasn't something she felt like talking about at the moment. "If you ever want to talk I'm all ears you know." Neo smiled.

"I know."

Gales returned the smile as he patted Neo's head. In return she elbowed him in the thigh as they walked on. "Either way since we're here, where to go first? Should I check in with my friends first of tell Oz and Glynda I'm back…" He pondered for exactly three seconds. "Friends it is!" Neo rolled her eyes as she followed the teen. She paused though when she looked at her scroll, a message coming in that she quietly read over before nodding. "Neo?" Looking back to Gales Neo just put her scroll away, walking up to Gales and skipped forward. "I'm hungry, you? Neo waved her hand as she made a so-so gesture. "If that's the case we're in luck - it's almost lunch time." The bell rang as soon as he said the words. "Correction, it is lunch time!"

Gales led Neo straight to the Cafeteria, and smiled as he pushed the double doors open. Neo blinked, her attention focused on all the food that was presented on the tables. In the back there were vending machines, as well as trays of sweets and - was that a swordfish? Were those whole mini turkeys? Neo actually started drooling as looked at the spread and started waking forward. Gales just snickered as he followed Neo to the back so they could grab some food.

"You know I don't think I've ever seen you not finish a cookie." Yang stated as she looked at Ruby, the depressed girl lazily staring at the sweet as she rested her head on the table. "You ok?"

"No~" Ruby muttered as she played with her food. "Gales isn't here." Ruby said simply as Pyrrha nodded weakly. The atmosphere around the table dropped slightly as they heard the confession. "You don't really think he's…"

"I'm sorry but I don't know." Pyrrha answered as she stared at the empty spot on their table. "I asked the infirmary if someone brought him in last light but…"

"We haven't heard anything." Ren admitted as he continued eating.

"Ugh." Yang slammed her fist on the table. "We shouldn't have left him back there." She muttered. "We should have stayed, and backed him up."

"How?" Weiss grumbled. "That thing wasn't even fazed by our attacks. We couldn't even scratch it."

"I know! But we could have done something instead of just running."

"You know sometimes running is the only option." Gales stated as he sat down at the table, Neo following right after him. "I'm just glad you guys made it here safely."

"Yeah but we left you behind and -" Ruby quickly raised her head, everyone did as they looked to Gales happily munching on his third plate of food and burped. "Gales?"

"Hey guys-"

"Gales!" Neo just watched as the table was flipped and everyone rushed the bandaged teen. Her plate resting on her lap as they pulled the teen into a group hug.

"My food!"