I awoke the next morning to the delicious smell of Ren's pancakes. On reflex, my mouth started watering and I took in my surroundings. I noticed a few odd things about this morning though, the first thing out of the ordinary being that I was off the floor, in a bed.

Okay, unusual but nothing to be worried about. I thought. The second thing to catch my attention was the fact that Castor and Pollux were on Ren's nightstand and not on my arms.

Why would I put them there? The last detail definitely got my attention though. I looked to my right to see Velvet's head lying on my chest, her small figure rising and falling slowly as she breathed.

Well. That's…different. I slowly got out of bed and tried to leave Velvet as she was. She started to stir and let out a barely audible groan as I slid my chest out from underneath her head. I got out of the bed and looked back at her, the rabbit faunus sleeping soundly with a small smile on her face. I brushed a lock of her long brown hair out of her eyes, behind her ear, clamped Castor and Pollux on my arms and got up and went to the kitchen to see if I could help out our resident chef extraordinaire.

"Morning Ren." I greeted the lotus ninja as he flipped another finished pancake onto a plate with expert practice.

"Morning. I trust that you didn't defile my bed last night?" He asked bluntly.

I felt my cheeks heat up like they were on fire. "No, are you kidding!?" I yelled as quietly as I could, trying to keep my voice down.

He smirked at me. "Relax, Joe. I was kidding. I heard you and Velvet talking last night."

I breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt the heat on my face. "Sorry we woke you then."

Ren shook his head. "You didn't wake me. What did wake me was Jaune getting a call on his scroll. I couldn't see who it was from the sleeping bag. Speaking of which, we should be heading out soon, so can you wake up the rest of the team?"

I nodded and proceeded to rouse the rest of my teammates. Jaune was easy to wake up, I just had to tap him on the shoulder and he almost bounced out of bed from shock. I left him to wake up his partner and I went to work trying to shake Nora out of her comatose-like state. After shaking her shoulder and calling her name, I remembered the secret Ren told me for waking the hammer-wielder.

"Ren made pancakes." I whispered incredibly quietly. Nora was a literal pink blur as she leaped out of bed, showered, changed into her regular combat gear and grabbed a plate of the pancakes that Ren had already prepared for her.

I'm surprised she didn't break the sound barrier at the speed she was moving. I moved to grab a plate for myself when I shifted my gaze to a sleeping Velvet.

I'm not going to be seeing her for a while, so I should probably wake her. I thought as I moved to wake her in the same fashion as last night.

She yawned and sat up from her position in the bed.

"Hi" I said with a wide smile and a wave.

"Hi." She replied, returning the smile. After taking in her surroundings she spoke again. "What's that incredible smell?"

"Ren's pancakes. You want some?"

She nodded. "Please."

I got up and grabbed two plates of the magnificent food glazed with syrup, along with a couple forks. I handed a plate and fork to Velvet and I sat in my desk chair as the six of us ate.

As Velvet ate, I could see her mood brighten significantly as she appeared to recall the memories of last night. The breakfast was short and my four teammates had already headed down to the lockers to grab their gear and ready themselves for the mission. I hung back to see Velvet on her way and to lock the dorm.

"Hey, Joe?" I heard her call me from the hallway.

I closed the door and locked it. "Yeah?"

"I-I just want to say thanks for the talk last night." She said with her gaze to the floor.

"Hey, it's no problem. I'm just happy that you were able to get back to sleep." I said with a smile.

She returned the smile and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Good luck on your mission!" I heard her call as she made her way back to her dorm.

That was…different. I thought in stunned silence. Thankfully, a voice in the back of my mind reminded me that I still had to grab the rest of my equipment from the locker room.

After a short sprint down the hallway, I regrouped with my teammates just as they were headed for the airship.

"Team RWBY has always performed well in the field. We should be focusing on our own mission." I heard Ren say to Jaune.

"We're gonna be deputies!" Nora said ecstatically.

"Hey, what's up, what're we talking about?" I asked Jaune as I adjusted my left shoulder pauldron.

He looked at me slightly worried. "I got a call from Ruby last night, but it was nothing but static. I'm worried that something might've happened."

I sighed. "Pyrrha, your boyfriend's a worry wart." She blushed at the mention of Jaune being her boyfriend and I smirked.

"But seriously Jaune, do you really think you need to worry when…"

I was cut off by the distant sounds of alarms in the city. A second later, the alarms sounded at Beacon.

"We're changing our mission, everyone onto the ship!" Jaune ordered. We all filed onto the airship and waited as the pilot took off.

"Still think I'm a worry wart!?" Jaune yelled at me as he hung on to the metal bar of the airship.

I just shook my head. There was no way he was going to be able to hear me beneath my mask, as well as the wind and sirens.

The pilot took a quick look back at us. "LZ's too hot and nevermores are closing in! Gotta drop you a ways away from the combat zone!"

The five of us looked out of the open doorway to see team RWBY fighting every type of grimm from creeps to a king taijitu near a huge hole in the middle of one of the streets.

The pilot continued to fly us away from where they were fighting and he dropped us off on the rooftop of a building about half a kilometre away.

We moved from building to building, taking long leaps between the tops of the buildings, moving as fast as possible. Suddenly, I heard the familiar sound of Magnhild being fired from behind me.

Another half second later, Nora zoomed past the rest of us with her hammer in hand, firing the grenades and keeping up her momentum.

"We should probably hurry up before she goes overboard." Pyrrha said concerned.

We picked up our pace and soon regrouped with Nora at the scene of the fighting.

"Let's move!" Pyrrha declared.

This is gonna be good. I thought. We all split off in an effort to keep the grimm focused on us and not the civilians.

I noticed a dozen creeps chasing after a few people and fired a few grenades at them, catching their attention. Five of them died when the explosives hit while the rest turned to face me and let loose an ear-piercing screech.

The lizards ran at me with their unusual legs and I charged right back, extending my blades, aiming for their unprotected chests and legs. The first one I kicked in the jaw, sending it flying upwards and I jumped to delve my right blade through its stomach. When I landed, two others leapt at me and I dodged to the right, severing one of the creature's legs leaving it bleeding out on the concrete ground. Its friend recovered and made to bite me and I dodged again, but maintained a close distance to it. The creep's head was oriented to the side and I took the opportunity to snap its neck. With a swift twist of the lower jaw and back of its head, I heard a loud crack and the beast's body dropped lifeless. Another creep jumped on my back when I wasn't looking and managed to dig its claws into my left shoulder.

My armor shielded me from the part of the attack but my aura took a hit and I still had full function as I rolled myself over on my back and put both my blades through its chest. I retracted them both from the corpse and shoved it off of me as I got up. The remaining three flanked me and I lunged forward with my blades as I stuck the one in front of me like a pig on a roast. Turning around, I retracted the blades again and finished the other two off with grenades.

Breathing heavily, I checked around to see how everyone else was doing. Nora was completely annihilating everything that crossed her path, so no problems there. Ren was moving so fast I could barely keep track of him while Pyrrha killed creature after creature, none of them even coming close to scoring a hit. My gaze shifted to our team leader slashing at the unprotected belly of an ursa, killing it quickly.

I felt myself smiling. Not bad, Jaune. I heard the roar of another airship's engines and I looked up to see reinforcements arriving.

The ship hovered overtop of the combat zone for a second and out jumped the four familiar faces of team CFVY. I watched as Velvet and Fox sprinted forward towards a couple of beowolves while Coco just strode forward as if she was on a shopping trip and Yatsuhashi just stood where he landed, looking around him at the half-dozen wolf-grimm that surrounded him.

Quickly panicking, I extended my blades and started running forward, only to see him unsheathe the massive greatsword strapped across his back and slam it to the ground, leaving a crater and sending out a massive shockwave last that sent every single one of the surrounding grimm flying backwards against the buildings, killing them the instant they connected.

I heard a roar and turned to see a boarbatusk rolling up into a ball, taking a spinning charge at me. I backed up against the wall of a nearby building and let it hit the hard surface, dazing itself and leaving the underside unprotected as I put my left blade into it's throat, black blood flowing from the wound.

I looked back at Yatsuhashi. Well that's new. I looked to see if Velvet was okay and saw the rabbit faunus fighting off a beowolf with nothing but her feet and bare hands, kicking it in the jaw and delivering punches left and right.

I ran forward to go help her, only to be hit by the massive paw of a beowolf that had run up beside me to take advantage of my tunnel vision. After flying through the air and through the glass window of a nearby store where a couple more civilians were hiding, I pulled myself up off the ground.

"Stay here and don't move." I ordered. The man and woman taking cover behind the counter merely nodded at me. I ran back out the door and I guess that my semblance must've activated because when I got back to my attacker, it was the same size I was. Even playing field. I thought as it took another swipe at me with its left paw. I held up my right hand to block the attack, but I had a lot of trouble holding its paw in place. Quickly, I delved my left blade into its wrist and twisted, damaging the nerves in its arm and immobilizing the limb. The beowolf howled in pain and backed up, leaving me with the prime opportunity to finish it. I retracted both my gauntlet blades and unsheathed Dusk, the morning light reflecting off it brightly as I effortlessly decapitated the creature with a single slash.

Huh. Andrea always did like to keep this thing sharp as possible. I mused to myself. After taking a small breather and sheathing the sword, I looked back to team CFVY.

Fox looked to be holding his own against the beowolf next to Velvet and I saw him look around quickly before his eyes landed on an ursa major in the middle of a group of creeps. I thought I saw him smirk as the bear-grimm and himself charged each other and Fox slashed its stomach several times with his bladed weapons before kicking it up into the air and just before the beast landed, punched it directly in the skull, sending it flying backwards. Next thing I knew, the ursa major was blowing up like a balloon and it exploded, sending the spikes on its back flying in every direction, including at his teammates. Coco was still calm as ever as the spikes barely missed her and Velvet took cover behind her giant of a teammate as he shielded both himself and her as he lifted his left arm to protect himself.

One of the spikes nearly hit me in the face, and I barely managed to cross my gauntlets to block the projectile. I looked around for any more civilians in danger, finding nothing and decided to focus on eliminating the threat.

Well, I did want more of an aggressive mission. I thought exhaustedly. I regrouped with my own team and we made quick work of a few more of the larger grimm until I heard the rapid firing of an automatic weapon. I looked around to see the leader of team CFVY with a minigun in hand, shredding beowolves, deathstalkers and a flock of nevermores.

Next thing I knew, the Atlesian military showed up, dropping off their new AK-200s with assault rifles and mopping up any leftover creatures of grimm.

Within a few minutes after the military arrived, the hole in the street was closed, no more grimm were seen and the remaining civilians were safe.

As a guy wearing a bowler hat and a white suit was being taken into military custody, our three teams convened and took a moment to relax.

I turned to team RWBY. "How did you guys get here so fast?" I asked.

Ruby scuffed the ground with her boot while Yang answered for her sister. "We were tracking a criminal related to the White Fang and he ended up ramming the train we were on straight into the end of a tunnel."

I was too tired to even bother questioning further. I turned to Velvet while the rest of her teammates conversed with each other and she looked at me with curious eyes. "Is that you, Joe?" She asked.

I was confused at first, then remembered that she had never seen me with my mask on. I removed the extra armor and smiled at her. "Hell of a morning, eh?"

She chuckled at the statement. "Yeah, I guess it has."

I opened my mouth to speak again, only to be interrupted by Fox calling my name.

I looked at the red and brown clad fighter. "Yeah?"

"Just wanted to tell you to get some rest and don't forget about our match this Thursday." He said with a smirk.

I laughed. "So long as you're not a sore loser, I'm looking forward to it." He nodded back with that smirk on his face and returned to talking with Coco and Yatsuhashi.

"Anyway, Velvet." I said returning my gaze back to the rabbit faunus. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to just … I don't know, hang out sometime?" I said nervously.

FOR OUM'S SAKE MAN! GROW A PAIR AND ASK HER OUT ALREADY! I chastised myself.

She blushed deeply and looked as nervous as I felt. "Y-you mean l-like on a date?" she asked quietly.

"Uh- yeah. I guess what I meant to say is: would you like to go out with me?" I repeated, scratching the back of my neck out of anxiousness. She looked at her feet and blushed even harder. "I'll understand if you don't want to." I added quickly.

She looked up from the ground and back at me. "N-no! It's alright, I-I-I wouldn't mind going out with you, Joe." She stuttered out.

I felt myself blush as Velvet said that. "Okay then, great!" I said excitedly. "But it'll probably have to wait until after my match with Fox."

Velvet smiled back. "Yeah, I think that sparring with you is something that he's been waiting to do for quite a while now."

We spent probably the next ten minutes trying to work out a good day for both of us when we finally agreed to just wing it. I let her go back to her team and I regrouped with mine, walking up to see Pyrrha giving Jaune a big hug as he smiled widely, returning the embrace.

"Don't you say that you're not strong enough ever again, Jaune Arc." I heard Pyrrha say over her partner's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Pyr. I won't." He replied as he released his girlfriend.

I turned to Ren and Nora. "Sorry we didn't go to that village, guys."

Ren just shrugged. "Another time." He said as he put a comforting arm around his partner's shoulders.

After the Professors had secured the area and sounded the all clear, all of us took an airship back to Beacon, where we would be allowed to have the rest of the week off.

During the short ride back, Fox and myself played rock, paper, scissors for who would have to ask Ozpin to oversee our sparring match. Of course with my luck, I lost and told my future opponent that I'd talk to the headmaster as soon as possible and we decided to start the fight at noon.

I sat back in my seat next to my teammates. "So… you guys excited for the Vytal Festival?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm excited!" Nora replied.

"What she really means is that she's excited more so than usual." Jaune corrected her.

Ren looked to be stifling a laugh at the comment about our energetic teammate.

"How about you, Ren?"

He nodded. "I would like a chance to test myself in the tournament." He stated plainly.

Absolutely exploding with ecstasy. "And you two?" I addressed Jaune and Pyrrha.

"This tournament will be significantly more interesting than the previous smaller ones I've participated in." Pyrrha said with a smile.

I smiled back. Yeah, four time winner of Mistral's regional tournament, its not like she's ever gone through this before. I thought sarcastically. "And you, Jaune?"

He gave me a weak smile. "It's going to be interesting, that's for sure."

I gave him a confused look. "Something wrong?"

He quickly shook his head. "No, not at all. Just a little tired." He stated.

I decided to let him rest and put my head back against the seat as we docked at Beacon.

The rest of my day was spent getting ready for the fight with Fox as I restocked my gauntlets with grenades, sharpened and cleaned the blades and hit the gym for a little exercise.

When I got back to my dorm after dinner, I noticed that Jaune and Pyrrha's beds were pushed together in the corner of the room, with Jaune sitting on the two combined beds reading an X-ray and Vav comic.

"You and Pyrrha aren't planning on having sex, are you, Jaune?" I asked as I set my duffle bag next to my sleeping bag.

I saw my leader's face turn beet red as he put down the comic on his nightstand. "No." He replied. "We were actually thinking that since you've been with our team for so long, it's only fair that you get a bed, same as the rest of us and we needed some space for it, so we decided that we should push our beds together in order to make room for yours."

I sighed. "Jaune, we went through this on day one. I'm perfectly fine on the floor. And besides, how are we going to get another bed? Build one?" I asked.

"Actually, I sent a text to Headmaster Ozpin asking if we could buy one for you. And even he agreed that it would be much better for you and that he was willing to pay for it." He finished with a smile and his face returning to its regular color.

I didn't know what to say. This guy who I had yelled at just because I was pissed off on initiation day was willing to go out of his way to make me comfortable.

"Wow… that-that's really generous of you, Jaune. Thanks." I said dumbfounded.

He smiled and waved me off. "No problem. It sounds like your bed should be here by the weekend." His smile subsided as I sat down in my desk and took out my books to get a little bit of studying done. "Uh… hey, Joe?" He said quietly, almost like he was ashamed.

I turned to face him. "Yeah, what's up?" I asked.

He took a deep breath. "I-I think that you should take my place in the Vytal Festival tournament."

I sat down in my desk chair. "Why?" I calmly asked.

He looked at me slightly surprised, like I was supposed to know the answer. "Because I'm probably the worst fighter at Beacon and we'd probably win if you were there instead of me?" He said in a confused tone of voice.

"You do realize that that's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard anyone say ever, right?" I replied calmly.

"Oh, and why not? Replace a crappy fighter with a better one, why is that so stupid to you?" He was frustrated now.

"Probably for three very important reasons." I said with crossed arms as I leaned back in my chair. "The first one being that if memory serves you right, I'm not an original member of team JNPR, whereas you are the team leader."

"But that really doesn't matter…"

"The second reason," I cut him off. "Is that when I was first assigned to team JNPR, you welcomed me with open arms, despite the fact that I lost my shit at you when you didn't deserve it. So I would feel incredibly bad if I took your spot in the tournament when you deserve it with all your hard work and training with Pyrrha."

He just nodded back. "What's the last reason?"

I smiled inwardly. He's beginning to understand, so that's something. "A team needs their leader in a combat situation, whether it's just a tournament or not. If I took your place, I wouldn't know how to direct everyone, I don't know their strengths and weaknesses whereas you do." I finished.

Jaune just looked at the ceiling as he digested what I said. After a few moments of silence, he took a deep breath.

"Alright Joe, if you really think that I should participate in the tournament, I will." He said as he gave me a friendly smile.

I nodded and returned the smile. "Good. Just don't doubt yourself again or else I'll tell Pyrrha and she'll beat any more self-doubt out of you."

He laughed and returned to his comic. "Thanks Joe, I'll try and remember that."

It was still a little bit early, around quarter after seven in the afternoon, but the day's events were catching up with me as I felt my eyelids droop. I hit the shower, changed into my regular cyan shorts and light blue t-shirt that served as my pajamas, and went to sleep.