I woke up the next morning, rested and ready for the day. Again, I had no nightmares last night, probably due to the fact that I was still giddy from asking out Velvet. That thought left two important questions in my head though: where do we go for our first date and how do I plan to win against her teammate on Thursday? Thankfully, the Vytal Festival was still two weeks away, so she wouldn't be spending a whole lot of time training.

I guess dinner and a movie will have to do until I can think of something better. I thought as I changed into my normal clothes with Castor and Pollux on my arms and let my teammates rest as I headed down to the cafeteria.

After I finished my breakfast, I headed outside to see a large crowd gathered around the statue in the middle of the courtyard. I pushed through the group of students to see Cinder with tears in her eyes being escorted to Professor Ozpin's office by a guy who kind of reminded me of Ruby, only older and wearing white with his otherwise red outfit and Professor Goodwitch.

"What's with her?" I asked a guy next to me.

He shrugged back. "Don't know. Cinder just started babbling on and on about how she 'couldn't work for her, and that Emerald and Mercury were going to do something awful for her boss.' whoever that is, and then she said something about using the Vytal Festival to draw grimm to the city."

Jeez, it's a good thing that Atlas' military left, otherwise they probably would've arrested her for saying that. I thought. It was no secret among the students that the military was paranoid to say the least. I mean, come on, who sends hundreds of soldiers and several dozen battleships just to make sure that we're safe?

I turned my attention back to the scene at hand and saw Professor Ozpin with an angry expression on his face as he stood at the top of the stairs of the clock tower.

Must be serious if Ozpin's mad. I walked away from the commotion and sent Velvet a text asking if it was still alright with her if we waited until after my match with Fox for the date. Just sending the message hurt me though; I really didn't want her to think that she wasn't an important part of my life.

Thankfully, she responded almost immediately saying that she was still okay with the idea that we waited until after the match.

Thanks for understanding. I sent back.

No problem :) She replied. I smiled to myself. She is incredible. I thought. I then headed off to find Professor Port to ask him a favor. I found the Professor in his classroom arranging some files on his desk absentmindedly with his back turned to me.

I cleared my throat to get his attention. He turned around with a smile on his face. "Ah, Mr. Taren! What can I do for you today?" He asked me.

"Well Professor, I was actually wondering if you could pass along a message to Professor Ozpin for me." I said, slightly nervous, remembering the angry expression on Ozpin's face earlier today.

He looked slightly curious. "What do you need me to say?"

I breathed deeply, hoping that Ozpin wouldn't lash out at me in his current mood for asking this of him. "I need you to ask him if he would supervise a match between myself and a second-year student Thursday at noon." I said.

The Professor nodded back. "Very well, I'll pass along the message as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Professor." I said as I exited his classroom, heading for the gym once more.

I ended up spending most of the next two days in the gym, my muscles slightly sore, but I was still psyched up to test myself against the other gauntlet user.

Today was the day of the fight, and I woke up rested and ready. I texted Velvet, asking if she wanted to meet for breakfast in the cafeteria and she came back with a yes a few seconds later. I changed into my regular gear, Castor and Pollux on my arms as usual and let my teammates sleep, Pyrrha and Jaune cuddling each other while Nora and Ren slept in their own beds. I smiled at my team leader his partner and headed out.

It was still early in the morning, the slightly chilly fall air paving the way for winter with the morning dew gleaming off the blades of grass in the sunshine. I made my way to the cafeteria and was greeted by the sight of a few students sitting in their own groups while Velvet sat with her teammates, Coco and Yatsuhashi on one side of the table and their rabbit faunus teammate and Fox on the other side, all of them silently eating their meals.

I grabbed a plate of scrambled eggs with sausages and a glass of orange juice and headed over to team CFVY.

"Hi guys." I greeted them.

Coco remained silent; Yatsuhashi gave me a wave, Fox merely grunted while Velvet smiled at me and gave a happy "Hey Joe." She motioned for me to sit next to her.

I smiled back and set down my tray of food. "So, did you ask Ozpin?" Fox asked me.

"Not directly." I replied. "But he did send me a message yesterday saying that he would be more than happy to supervise."

He gave me a mischievous smirk. "Good."

Velvet looked at me slightly concerned. "You know, you don't have to go through with this if you don't want to."

I shook my head. ""Your concern is appreciated Velvet, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

She still looked worried as she turned to Fox, who smirked back at her. "Don't worry Velv, I'll try not to cut him open."

I let out a nervous laugh at the statement. Scary thing is, he probably could if he wanted to. "If you do, at least try to avoid the throat." I said, trying to make myself less nervous.

"I'll try." He repeated as he returned to his meal.

I took a deep breath and ate my breakfast, trying to think of some way I could beat Fox, finding no feasible solutions as I finished my morning meal.

After my breakfast, Fox and myself agreed to meet at twelve in the sparring arena. I went down to the armory and prepared my equipment for the fight, sharpening my blades again, making sure that the gauntlets were still fully stocked with grenades and examining my armor for any scratches or chinks that my rival might be able to exploit.

Aside from the scratch marks on my left shoulder pauldron from when I was clawed during the breach, all my equipment was in perfect working order.

I breathed deeply to calm myself down and put both my hands on the weapons bench.

Why are you doing this? Is it to impress Velvet? Is it to prove yourself to a second-year team? Or is it something else? My thoughts were interrupted by Velvet calling my name from behind.

I turned to face her, smiling nervously. "Hey Velvet."

"Hi Joe." She replied, her face the epitome of concern.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

She gave a small nod. "I-I just don't want you to get hurt. The last student who sparred against Fox almost lost an arm."

I sighed, took a step towards her and gave her a hug. "Velvet, for the last time, you don't need to worry about me. With Professor Ozpin supervising the match, nothing bad is going to happen. He won't let either of us get hurt." I said from over her shoulder.

She returned the embrace. "Okay." I heard her reply. We separated from the hug and I looked at the time.

"I should probably start gearing up. Fox might be waiting for me already." I said, gesturing to the nearby clock that read 11:45.

She nodded and left me put on my gear. Well, it's nice that she's worried about me I guess. I thought with a small smile.

With all my equipment on, excluding Andrea's sword and including the mask Jaune made for me, I headed towards the arena where I saw Fox in his combat gear standing on the opposite side of the arena, Professor Ozpin with his mug and cane in hand standing in the middle of us and teams RWBY, CFVY and JNPR in the stands, among a few other first-year students, as well as a couple exchange students.

"I didn't keep you waiting, did I?" I addressed my fellow gauntlet user.

"Nope, I got here just a few seconds ago actually."

Before I could say anything else, Ozpin interrupted me. "Mr. Taren, Mr. Alistair has requested a slight rule change. Are you aware of what it is?" I looked at the old Professor, confused and shook my head. "He has asked that aura levels should drop to ten percent instead of fifteen before a person is considered knocked out. Do you agree to these terms?"

My eyebrows shot up and I looked at Fox, who merely smirked back with crossed arms. Why would he ask that? Actually, why does an extra five percent really matter anyway? It can't really hurt. I looked back at Ozpin and nodded. "I agree." I said.

He nodded back. "Very well then, I will give the standard countdown and you will begin." He said non-chalantly as he took a step back, out of our way.

"Three," I rolled my shoulders and took a fighting stance.

"Two," I took a quick look at Fox, who was still standing with his arms crossed and that smirk on his face.

"One," he's overconfident; use that to your advantage. I thought.

"Begin!" Ozpin's voice rang out across the classroom.

Immediately, Fox turned from a standing position to take two slashes at my chest, both of which I only barely blocked. I gave him a kick to the stomach and he took a few steps backwards.

"Not bad." He said calmly.

I merely grunted in response and shot three grenades in his direction, one in front of him and one on either side, all of which he dodged. I extended both my blades and charged at him in a horizontal spin, only for him to duck and sweep out my legs from under me, leaving me flat on my back. He punched downwards and I rolled out away from the hit, his fist connecting with the concrete where my face had been only a second ago. Retracting both blades, I shot a grenade from both gauntlets at him, the explosive force hitting both of us giving how close I was to him. Fox backed up and it gave me a chance to get back on my feet.

I took a quick look at my aura level, 85%. Damn, those things hurt. I thought as Fox charged at me again, delivering a straight jab at my chest, which I dodged. I kept both blades retracted as I blocked the hits he continually threw at me, relying more on his hand-to-hand skills rather than his blades. I managed to block a few, but the ones that got through took my aura down quite a few notches.

Fox kept me on the defensive until I made another sacrificial move as I fired a grenade into his chest from less than a foot away from him, sending us both flying backwards.

I went on the offensive and extended both my blades, delivering a slash to either side of my opponent's stomach. Thankfully, he was still stunned from the blast and they both connected, taking his aura down by at least ten percent. I stabbed with my right blade upwards at his chest, but he blocked the strike with his own gauntlet and pushed me away with his free hand.

We went on like this for several minutes, one of us putting the other on the defensive and getting a couple hits in until both of our aura levels were in the red, but still above ten percent. I was at sixteen percent while Fox looked to be at maybe eighteen percent. Ahead, but not by much. By this time, I had exhausted my supply of grenades from both my gauntlets and was breathing heavily as I blocked more strikes from my opponent. He managed to connect another slash to my stomach and I smashed my left gauntlet against his right one, leaving his chest exposed for a shoulder charge. I put my remaining strength into my right shoulder and smashed it into him, sending him backwards. His aura dropped again and I charged at him, blades extended.

What happened next was a mystery to me. At first, it looked like I was about to win with a slash to his arm, but he blocked the attack, uppercut me in the stomach, sending me into the air and he jumped into the air alongside me and pile drove me into the concrete floor.

I was extremely groggy as I lay on the floor of the arena. My back and chest hurt, that much made sense, but why was I bleeding from the shoulder? The pain didn't register for a few seconds until I felt a burning sensation from the left appendage.

I must've blacked out, because when I came to, I was in a bed wearing a hospital patient's gown and my equipment was sitting on a table next to me and a red-stained bandage on my left shoulder. My vision was blurry as I looked around to see the familiar white shapes of what seemed to be the school infirmary with a heartbeat monitor hooked up. I blinked a couple times and heard an unfamiliar muffled voice yelling. I looked around to see Velvet almost screaming at Fox with tears in her eyes, waving her arms wildly from the other side of the door.

I tried to get up from my lying position in the bed, only for my body to scream in protest, my chest and back feeling like somebody had hit them with a sledgehammer while my left shoulder felt as though it was burning. The heartbeat monitor beeped rapidly and I saw the rabbit faunus stop yelling at her teammate. She said one last inaudible thing to him before rushing in the room and taking a seat in the chair beside the bed.

"Joe! Thank Dust you're okay." She said with a small smile. I frowned slightly. Her eyes were red from crying and her voice sounded a little bit hoarse from yelling at her teammate. This was a far cry from the Velvet I normally knew.

"I guess you were right to be concerned." I said with a light laugh, making my chest burn in pain again. Her rabbit ears drooped as her gaze shifted to her feet.

"I told Fox specifically not to deplete your aura. If I'd known that he wanted to drop the aura levels earlier, I would've stopped the match." She said with an unusual amount of anger in her voice.

"Velvet." I called her name, but her gaze remained at her feet. "Velvet." I repeated. She looked up at me, sadness now present instead of anger on her face. "It's not your fault. You understand that, right?"

"But I…" She started.

"There was nothing that you could've done. The match was specifically between Fox and myself. If I didn't want to do it, I would've backed out. If anything, this is my fault for being so damn stubborn." I put my uninjured hand on hers. "And please don't blame Fox either, okay? He offered to take down the aura levels and I agreed, simple as that."

She smiled weakly at me and moved her face towards mine, her eyes closed and lips puckered. Our lips met and we kissed, it probably only lasted two seconds, but the connection felt much longer. In that moment, the pain was forgotten, nothing else mattered and we were the only two people in the world. She removed her lips from mine and she scratched the back of her neck nervously, her face incredibly red.

"I-I'm sorry Joe, t-that was…"

"Amazing." I finished for her, grinning wildly.

She gave a small nod back with a shy smile and a silence formed. "Well then, I should probably let you rest."

"You don't have to leave if you don't want to." I said faster than I intended.

"No, Coco wants us to continue training for the tournament." I nodded at her and she made for the door. "Oh and by the way, we're going out the second you're out of that bed." She said with a wide smile.

"Agreed." I said with a nod. She left the room and I put my head down on the pillow of the infirmary bed, closing my eyes.

"Looks like Coco owes me twenty lien." I heard Fox say.

My eyes shot open and I glared at the one responsible for putting me in the bed standing in the doorway. "So are you going to tell me exactly why the fuck you decided to slice open my shoulder?"

The red and brown clad fighter merely sat in the chair beside my bed and clasped his hands together, his gauntlets removed from his arms. "A test."

I looked at him confused. "A test to what? See if I would cry like a bitch at the sight of a little blood?" I said angrily.

"Nope," He replied calmly. "A test to see if you were the right guy for Velv."

"Enlighten me." I demanded.

"Well, when we were first-years, a couple guys decided to go out with Velvet and the relationships only lasted a week tops because of the fact that they were only interested in hanging out with us. Our team was the best of our year and everyone knew it. So they thought that if they were dating Velvet, it would make them untouchable. They used her to elevate their own social status." Fox stated.

"You still haven't gotten to the part as to why I'm lying in an infirmary bed with a cut in my shoulder." I said frustrated, but slightly intrigued.

He took a deep breath. "When Velv first introduced you to us, Coco, Yatsu and myself immediately assumed that you only wanted an excuse to hang out with a second-year team. So, Coco decided to stage a fight between us. I would deplete your aura, put you in here, and we'd see if you'd take advantage of Velvet feeling sorry for you. Coco bet that you would exaggerate the amount of pain you were in and guilt trip her into going out with you." I felt my eyebrows shoot up. "But, from what I just heard, you did nothing of the sort. You never mentioned the date, you didn't ask her to do any sexual favors for you and you made a joke about the pain rather than exaggerating it."

I took a minute to digest the information. "So can I assume that I passed?"

He smirked back. "That you did my friend, that you did."

"So did Ozpin punish you for depleting my aura?" I asked the blind man.

He chuckled. "He did, but after Coco explained why I did what I did, he severely reduced the punishment. Originally I was going to spend a month in detention with Goodwitch, but now it's only three days." His smile faded. "But in all seriousness, I actually feel kind of bad for putting you here."

"Hey, no problem man, you were just assessing who I was to protect a teammate. I would've done the same thing in your situation."

He nodded back. "The cut isn't too deep. It should heal in a couple days. In the meantime, I suggest that you think about where you're going to take Velvet."

I groaned and let my head hit the pillow again. Shit, the one thing that keeps slipping my mind.

"Having trouble deciding?" Fox asked.

I nodded. "She's incredible and I want to take her on a first date that conveys those feelings. The only big problem is, I have no fucking idea what to do!" I said frustrated.

Fox got up from his chair and leaned in next to me. "I may know of a place that she used to go to as a kid, but you didn't hear it from me. You just happened to stumble on it when you wandered around Vale one day." He said in a whisper.

I listened intently as Fox told me where to take Velvet for the first date that would almost certainly guarantee a second one. I thanked the blind man as he left and let exhaustion take over as I slept.

I guess even the most violent acts can be seen as good ones. I thought as I fell into sleep's sweet embrace.