Author's Notes: Welcome back to my OC story! It's officially been a year since I uploaded my first chapter of this and now we are back with more of the story! Enjoy!

What It Takes

Chapter 14: Team JADE

The three of them were eating lunch as they sat in the school's dining hall. Aurelia sat in the middle of the bench surrounded by her friends. She wore the usual Beacon academy attire: a red plaid skirt, brown jacket with a tan vest and white shirt. Her wavy, golden brown hair was tied up in its usual pigtail on her right side with a gold ribbon. The rest of it fell down slightly past her shoulders and the bangs on her right side fell slightly below her reddish brown eyes. Her olive skin seemed to glow as she talked animatedly with her best friend Celestia. She had long, dark pink hair with small floppy dog ears of the same color. Her eyes were a steel blue and her skin was fair. She wore diamond stud earrings and the same Beacon academy outfit that Aurelia had, except Celestia wore the uniform's optional dark red stockings as well. Across from them sat Basil who contributed to the conversation every so often, but seemed preoccupied about something. He had short messy brown hair and a small beard on his chin of the same color. His eyes were a deep shade of brown and his skin was white. He wore the male version of the Beacon outfit, which consisted of a black suit accompanied by a blue vest, white shirt and a red tie. He wore a chain around his neck which, although she couldn't see it, Aurelia knew the symbol of yin was attached at the end of it. She also knew that his brother wore the other half of the symbol, yang, around his neck. She only knew that because just last semester they had saved Basil's brother from a group of bad guys, after they had assumed he was dead.

Perhaps he's thinking about him right now, thought Aurelia, what happened last semester must have really hit close to home for him.

Aurelia started to tap her fingernails on the surface of the table nervously.

Come to think of it, she pondered, our encounter with those guys last semester made me nervous too. They were all quite powerful and escaped without so much as a scratch; they even were able to stop my rocket from blowing them up.

Her tapping got faster as she continued to think:

What if they attack Beacon? What if they come after us? What if I can't keep Celestia safe? What if-

"Aurelia are you alright?"

Aurelia jumped slightly as she was jarred from her thoughts.

"Wha- yea, yea I'm fine. Totally fine."

"No you're not," stated Celestia plainly, "you were tapping your fingernails on the table. You only do that when you're nervous."

Aurelia sighed. Celestia could always tell when she was lying.

"I was thinking about what happened last semester," confessed Aurelia, "I'm worried what they may be planning, if they're even planning anything. Maybe we should research them like Porph suggested."

Celestia put a hand on Aurelia's shoulder, "Well don't worry about it. We're surrounded by great huntsmen and huntresses. Not to mention every single student here is no stranger to combat. We are completely safe here. There's no need to worry."

Aurelia smiled at her and Basil, "Yea, good point," she replied.

She's right, Aurelia agreed as she touched her other shoulder, we're safe here, no sense to be worried.

Suddenly, the entire room erupted into a variety of loud noises. Food was being thrown everywhere and people were screaming, trying to get away from the chaos. All three of them stood up and saw what everyone was running from. Eight people, four on each side of the room, had turned the entirety of the dining hall into a battle field for a food fight.

"We should probably follow everyone else's lead," commented Basil.

"Good idea," replied Aurelia, "I'd hate to get this outfit dirty."

They made their way out of the dining hall as fast as they could and ended up in a courtyard area with a fountain in the center.

"I wouldn't want to be those guys when Glynda sees them," commented Basil.

"Yea," Celestia agreed, "glad we got out of there when we did."

"Got out of where?"

The three students turned. Standing to their right were two male students who they had never seen before. The one who had addressed them had short, red hair, bright green eyes and beautiful white skin. He had a light build with well-defined muscles. He wore a half-buttoned trench coat with a white button up dress shirt underneath. He had on tan khakis and shiny black shoes. He had a charming smile on his face as he looked at the three of them.

The other boy was also white skinned, with long, straight, black hair and thin brown eyes. He was just as muscular, if not more so, as the red haired kid. He wore gray athletic pants that had a black and white stripe going down both sides. His athletic jacket was gray with black trimming and he wore a black t-shirt underneath. His sneakers were white with black and red lining. His face wore a neutral expression as he looked over at the cafeteria.

"Looks like they were getting out of that," he spoke in a level voice.

The red haired boy looked over in the same direction and smiled wider as he observed the two teams having their food fight through the window.

"Looks like they're enjoying themselves," pointed out the red haired boy.

"If this is how students at Beacon conduct themselves, this tournament should be a cakewalk," the black haired boy stated.

The red haired boy turned back to the black haired boy, "Keep in mind, they are an esteemed academy. I wouldn't judge them by the way they behave in a cafeteria."

The other boy smirked, "True. We'll just have to wait and see. Who knows, maybe someone here can give me a challenge."

Basil cleared his throat and both boys turned toward them.

"So who are you guys?" asked Basil tentatively.

"Oh, so sorry," the red haired boy apologized politely. He made a short bow, "My name is Asita. Asita von Braum. And what may I call you lovely ladies?"

Aurelia became guarded, not sure of the boys' intentions. They were both taller than her, but Aurelia was confident she could take either of them down if they tried something funny.

"Aurelia," Aurelia said stiffly, "and this is Celestia," she continued, gesturing to her pink haired friend.

Celestia nodded shyly, acknowledging his friendly introduction.

"I'm Jett," the black haired boy said holding out his hand in front of Basil.

"Basil."

Jett smiled slightly, "Pleasure to meet you Basil. We're from Atlas."

"I figured that," Basil replied, "I've heard of the strength of some of the students in Atlas and you certainly carry that air about you. Also you talked about Beacon like you'd never been here before."

"Very observant," Jett complimented with a smirk.

Asita looked around a bit, "I must say, this campus is quite lovely, much more foliage than back at our academy." He turned to Aurelia and Celestia, "either of you two mind showing us around?"

Aurelia rolled her eyes, "No thanks," she replied, "we have to get ready for class tomorrow, now excuse us."

Aurelia walked off in the direction of the dorms, followed closely by Celestia.

"It was nice to meet you two," Basil said as he followed his two teammates.

"Likewise," replied Asita with a grin.

And with that, the three of them walked back towards the dorms.

Re sighed for what he felt was the umpteenth time.

He sat at a table dressed in his usual red zip up hoodie and blue jeans, along with yellow fingerless gloves and brown sneakers. e He He was hanging out with Namra and Wai in the library to help Wai train to control his semblance. Originally, Re wanted to just go to the training room and spar while Wai activated his semblance, so Wai could learn by doing. But both Namra and Wai rejected that idea, deeming it both dangerous and irresponsible. Instead, Namra thought it would be a good idea to get Wai to meditate which, apparently, was one of the steps Namra took when she took aura training classes.

I guess that explains how she doesn't run out of aura while keeping her semblance active all day, Re thought as he stared at yet another book on semblance control, even still, she's still pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

Re turned toward the window where Namra and Wai had cleared a space for meditation. Namra was wearing her brown tunic and cloak that covered her shoulders along with baggy black pants and tan sneakers. She also wore her signature black blindfold and a small tan scarf. Wai wore his blue leather jacket, black jeans and blue combat boots. Both Namra's eye-length shaggy brown hair and Wai's slightly long blue hair seemed to flow by themselves, as if there were a breeze somewhere. They were sitting cross legged and seemed to be in a deep trance, and had been like that for a while. Wai had been having some trouble getting started with it but, with Namra's encouragement, he had finally gotten into a trance. Re smiled, he was happy to see Wai progressing with his training, after what happened last semester, Re wanted to help out as much as he could.

Unfortunately, Re pondered bitterly, with Namra's training there's not much I can actually do to help.

Re went back to his book, rereading page twelve about aura levels for the fifth time when his mind drifted again.

Although it is nice to see Namra and Wai becoming better friends, Re considered to himself, and she is the expert on semblance control here. I just wish I could do more to help.

Re looked across the room to see Porphyrios and Sylvia conversing quietly together at the library computers.

I wonder if Sylvia is doing okay, deliberated Re, she was badly affected by what happened with Wai. She hasn't been that down on herself since back home. Maybe I should-

"Excuse me."

Re snapped out of his thoughts and turned toward the sound.

Standing in front of him were two girls. The one on the right had fair skin, blonde, shoulder length, straight hair and bright green eyes that were lit up even more by her smile. Surprisingly, she was only a head shorter than him, and he was almost six feet himself. She had a light build and wore a yellow and white shoulder-less striped shirt, long flowery skirt and white sneakers with red laces. Around her neck was a necklace of white pearls with a matching pair of earrings. Re was stunned by the girl's smile for so long that he almost forgot his manners.

"S-sorry," Re stammered apologetically, blushing slightly, "um…did you need something?"

Real smooth Re, he thought to himself.

The girl giggled slightly at Re's embarrassment.

God she's cute, Re thought bewildered, keep it cool Re, no more embarrassment.

"I was wondering if you knew where the Atlesian dorms were," she asked in a sweet voice, still smiling, "My friend and I wanted to collect some belongings there before exploring the school."

Until that point, Re had completely forgotten about the girl's companion, who stood to the left of Re. This girl was a few inches shorter than the blonde girl and had more well-defined muscles than her companion. She had short, shaggy, coarse black hair and half-lidded hazel eyes. Her skin was pale white, as if she hadn't seen the sun enough, which was surprising considering the rest of her attire. Everything she wore was black; her hooded form fitting jacket, skinny jeans, belt, running shoes, all of it was black. She also had three silver piercings on different parts of her ears. But there were two things that especially stood out about this girl. One thing was that she wore a small black face scarf around her neck, as if she was expecting an attack at any moment. The other was the black, panther tail that swung back and forth along the ground. She was certainly quite the opposite of the blonde girl in both appearance and personality.

"Oh you're from Atlas?" Re inquired curiously.

The blonde girl's smile broadened, "Yea!" she said enthusiastically, "My name's Daisy, and this is my teammate Ebony."

The girl called Ebony merely crossed her arms and nodded at Re, her tail still swishing back and forth. She seemed on edge, but Re didn't notice as he smiled and held out his hand to Daisy.

"I'm Re," Re replied, shaking Daisy's hand, "it's nice to meet both of you."

He reached out his hand to Ebony as well, but she did not extend hers, eyes staring intensely into Re's, as if trying to determine what she could do to break him.

Slightly intimidated, Re withdrew his hand.

"So you're looking for the Altesian dorms?"

"Yes we are!" responded Daisy again with a big smile, "Do you happen to know where they are?"

Oh boy I wish I did, Re ruminated to himself as he listed off in his head what places he knew about on campus, come on Re think, you gotta know where the guest dorms are, anything to talk to her more.

Re scratched his blond head as he continued to think, muttering to himself, "Dorm rooms…dorm rooms…"

Thankfully, assistance came in the form of Namra and Wai, both of whom had come out of their meditations.

"Hey Re," greeted Namra, her head facing forward, "who're your friends?"

"Hey Namra!" exclaimed Re, "this is Daisy and Ebony."

"Hello!" Daisy replied with a smile, while Ebony just simply nodded in Namra's direction.

"They were just asking me where the Atlesian dorms were located."

"Let me guess," Wai interjected with a smile, "you have no clue as to where they are, so you were hoping one of us did."

Re hung his head while Namra smirked slightly at Wai's jab.

"I was hoping it would happen more subtly, but yes Wai, that was what I was waiting for, thanks," replied Re, somewhat scathingly.

"Well thankfully I know where they are," stated Namra.

She pointed to her right, in the opposite way the girls had come in, "Exit that way and take a right and then a left. Then go straight until you reach the big fountain, then take another right and you should see them."

Daisy grinned widely, "Thank you very much Namra!"

"If you want I can walk you two there." Re suggested, "I may not know where the guest dorms are, but I do know a fair bit about this campus! I could give you a small tour?"

"Sure!" Daisy replied, excited at the prospect.

Ebony then interjected, speaking in a firm tone, "I don't think that's necessary Re, we can get there on our own."

"Oh come on Ebony!" encouraged Daisy, "It could be a lot of fun!"

Ebony rolled her eyes, but then shrugged her shoulders, not giving any more complaints.

"Well that settles it then!" Re said, standing up and putting his hands into the pockets of his red hoodie, "Let's get going!"

The three of them then walked in the direction that Namra said the dorms were, Daisy and Re conversing together, while Ebony lagged behind, uninterested in the conversation.

"They seemed interesting," Wai commented.

"Yes they did," replied Namra with a smile.

"What's with the smile?"

"Oh nothing," Namra spoke, dismissing the question, "come on, let's get back to your training."

Porphyrios ran his hand through his long, purple tinted black hair as he stared at the computer screen. He and Sylvia had been in the library for most of the morning. Since their encounter last semester, the two of them had been researching the ones who they had battled every chance they got, with little success. The only things they had found out so far was that the huge bear Faunus had been a part of the White Fang until he had been broken out of prison, the man who had broken him out was the same guy whom they had encountered at the warehouse, and, although it took some digging to find it, there had been a few robberies at the Schnee Dust Company that occurred after the Faunus had been broken out. Porphyrios rubbed his tired gray eyes as his pangolin tail swished back and forth. He then stroked his black beard as he began to think.

"I can't believe we can't find anybody in the criminal database that matches who we saw," spoke Sylvia, slumping slightly in her chair, "I mean the big guy was with the White Fang, but other than that, there's nothing on the other two."

Porphyrios turned toward Sylvia. They were both wearing their Beacon Uniforms and looked exhausted. Sylvia wore her hair down rather than in her usual ponytail, her hair cascading down to her shoulders haphazardly. Her green eyes had slight bags under them after staying up late with Porphyrios last night while they researched. Porphyrios had the same bags under his eyes as well and his hair was also disheveled, but only slightly.

"There's nothing here Porphyrios," Sylvia continued, "other than an increase in White Fang activity, there's nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe Ozpin was right to dismiss the issue; maybe we should just let the police handle this. They would certainly have just as much information as we do right now."

"No," Porphyrios replied, "if you want to give up that's fine, but I know there's something more to this. Maybe they're working with the White Fang."

"We already scratched that Porphyrios," Sylvia mentioned, "If they were with the White Fang there would have been much more security at the warehouse. There's nothing to find, no trail, no records, nothing."

"Then the police are gonna find the same thing," reasoned Porphyrios, "which is why we need to continue looking."

"What do you think we're gonna find that the police won't?" Sylvia inquired, exasperatedly, "This has nothing to do with us, and we're not getting anywhere, our teammates realized that a while ago when we asked them about it. They're not worried about it so why should we?"

"Because we need to protect them."

"From what? As far as we've seen there's nothing on the record aside from the Faunus. Plus classes start tomorrow, and I'm not willing to sacrifice study time for what has become a dead end."

"Fine," Porphyrios conceded, "if you want to give up then so be it, but I'm continuing."

"I'm not giving up," Sylvia stated, steel in her voice, "I'm merely realizing that this is pointless."

And with a swish of her hair, she picked up her stuff and left the library.

Porphyrios turned back to the screen.

I won't give up on this, Porphyrios determined, not as long as they're still out there.

Cole sat back at his desk in his black bowler hat and black suit and tie, pouring over maps and charts of data. He had expanded his operation since he had encountered the students of Beacon, he now had access to some of the best illegal equipment he could get his hands on, and he had several scientists and engineers working for him now. He was finally close to finishing one of his main goals.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Cole called.

The door opened and a skinny muscular boy walked in. He had short, spiky black hair and cold blue eyes. He wore a black tank-top, ratty old blue jeans and red sneakers. Wrapped around his arms were black fire tattoos that shimmered against his skin.

He looked at Cole and grinned sinisterly.

"I take it the test was a success," Cole stated simply.

"More than a success," the boy replied, "I feel like I could wipe this place off the map."

"Don't get over-confident," Cole scolded, "let me see the handiwork."

The boy removed his black tank-top to reveal more tattoos. On his chest was a black dragon and on his back was a giant fireball. Like his arm tattoos, they shimmered against his skin. Cole walked around the boy, his cold gray eyes examining the work.

"And the other test subjects?" he asked curiously.

"Most of them died in the process," the boy answered proudly, "the ones who survived are unconscious and recovering."

"Good," Cole confirmed, "Tell Professor Albin to continue as planned once Indigo and Roano come back from their mission."

The boy smirked again, "Will do, Cole."

The boy walked out to report to the professor as Cole went back to his chair. He picked up his scroll and dialed a number. He waited a few moments until a warped voice answered.

"You should really send me a message before you call me," the voice said, slightly irritated.

"Did I get you at a bad time?"

"Nothing I couldn't get away from," the voice continued, "but for future reference send a message first."

"Fine," replied Cole, "how's everything at Beacon?"

"Quiet for the most part," the voice answered, "however, the silver haired girl and the dark skinned Faunus are looking further into what happened at the warehouse."

"And?"

"Doesn't seem like they're making any headway, but I'm not entirely sure. Other than that, the rest of their teams are going about life normally."

"Find out how much progress they've made, it's vital that they don't interfere with our plans."

"Understood," the voice responded.

Cole hung up the call just as Coralia walked into his office with her usual orange silk shirt with floral patterning and long black skirt. Her long red hair hung past her shoulders while her bangs covered one of her blue eyes.

"Cole," she spoke in a stiff voice, "I came to tell you that the collars are ready and operational."

Cole smiled coldly, "Good that means we are almost ready for phase two. You're in charge for the week."

Cole slowly stood up and walked to the door as Coralia gave him a confused look.

"Why? Where are you going?"

Cole looked at Coralia and smiled again.

"I have to go see an old friend."