It was the day after the loss to Team LLAC. This morning they had woken early and discussed the lessons to be learned from the battle.

Pyrrha said, "I ordered eight pairs of Velvet's sunglasses last night. I hated being unable to see what was happening and I want smoke bombs to be ineffective against us. Even if the use of smoke grenades and bombs is prohibited in the Vytal festival, will we often have to fight Grimm at night and so it is best to be prepared."

Nora added "No harm in being stylish as well."

Pyrrha smiled, "They are adapted Adel Bans with special lens."

Jaune said, "The main lesson I took was don't give someone with a telekinesis semblance any ammunition to use."

Ren nodded at that. As the person who had the misfortune to run full speed into a moving wall of hard floor he had taken the worse single knock to aura.

Nora said, "Agreed, fearless leader."

"Next time we fight them we will need to prevent them creating too much of their own. Besides trying to take Anne out first, does anyone have any ideas?"

Pyrrha said, "Engage them quickly in close combat especially whoever is carrying Lydia's baseball and cricket bat. See how Teams Ruby and Cardinal try to deal with them."

Jaune said, "When your shield missed Anne, both of you looked surprised. I can guess why you did, but any idea why she did?"

"She did not really believe that it would work to avoid her taking the hit let alone allow her to grab the shield. My bet is that she has only used it with small objects so far- that's part of why they in effect challenged us to ensure that the fight was held at the end of the training period and the arena had merely been patched up rather than fully repaired. She managed not only to redirect the shield she did so despite the fact my semblance was being used to ensure it hit her or at least her aura."

Jaune nodded, "TC was right to get her using it early and with Professor Goodwitch training her let's assume that she will be able to move larger objects by the Vytal Festival."

Ren looked thoughtful. "Even without that the cricket balls and golf balls stung yesterday. I don't know if that was just Lydia or a mixture of Lydia throwing hard and Anne finetuning the direction."

Pyrrha nodded, "Comparatively inexpensive and are reusable. Individually they may not pack much of a punch, but twenty heading to you at once can take bites out of the aura. I was told that Anne collected the marbles and all the balls at the end."

"Ok. We have time to think about this, but at least we know more about her powers now. I'm sorry that I underestimated her. We even thought that she might have some telekinesis powers." This was a sore point with Jaune. He had underestimated an opponent badly and in retrospect should not have done so.

Pyrrha said, "So did Weiss and so did I. Maybe it's because we are from Mistral, but we were prepared to believe that her powers were primarily defensive in nature and were limited."

Ren said, "No, you are being unfair on yourself, Pyrrha. She waited for more than two months before revealing the extent of her powers and compared with the rest of her team she is self-effacing."

Jaune knew what Ren meant. Lydia was a force of nature; Brede was elegantly dressed and had a presence about him while TC's exaggerated Atlesian accent meant that you could always hear him in a crowd. Anne was just a friendly girl who tended to be quiet in large groups. She had come over as someone who was just to be glad to be at Beacon.

Nora cheerfully contributed, "They say beware of the quiet ones."

Jaune said, "Ren's right Pyrrha. Perhaps she and TC played into a Faunus stereotype, but it is not as though anyone else spotted anything beyond that she was hard to fight at close quarters. Blair and Henry didn't spot it either and they had no reason to underestimate her solely because she was a Faunus. Remnant, Blair's semblance allows her to fool people so that she can withdraw from a direct confrontation and Velvet is meant to have a copycat semblance which allows her to mimic fighting styles. That's most useful when you don't have weapons of your own and rely on taking them from others."

"But we should have thought more about her. She was a wild card of Ozpin's after all and the first one he chose."

"Well, I was a wild card as well. Ruby admittedly is something special, but otherwise we were all people who missed out on a combat school education and did not qualify under the Mustang scheme. Blair is good, but Ruby's enthusiasm for team attacks really helps her."

Ren said, "Anne was also known to be a protégé of Dr Oobleck's and many students initially thought that her selection was about encouraging Faunus and students from poor areas of Vale that a hunter's life was a possibility."

Pyrrha said, "I know some said that it was an example of positive discrimination and doubted her."

Nora said, "Everyone quickly agreed that she deserved to be here but thought that Lydia was the star of the team and TC a good leader. Her role seemed to be protecting Brede while he wore down their opponents' aura with his bullets."

Nora paused, "None of us should be beating ourselves up about this. We did not underestimate her because she was a Faunus. We underestimated her because the team practiced in private until they were ready to unleash her on the rest of us and underplayed her abilities until then."

Everyone looked at her. "I spoke to TC last night. He sorta apologized for yesterday. Lydia's gymnastic ability had also been kept under wraps for the same reason."

Ren said, "Can we talk about Lydia? How exactly does her semblance work?"

Pyrrha said, "I think it's sporting all-rounder. She's not as good a shot as Brede, but she would be a strong also ran in a shooting competition. I am told that she was the best cricket, hockey, and lacrosse player at Pharos. In effect if she can use a sporting technique in a fight her effectiveness seems to increase by 50%."

Nora said, "I think the baseball bat will get used more now by her."

Ren said, "Cardin will hate this thought, but it might be a family semblance like the Schnees."

They all turned to him. "Cardin causes more damage with the Executioner when he swings it like a baseball or cricket bat than like a club. They are cousins and do have one set of common grandparents in common."

Jaune thought about it. He and Cardin mostly got along well. However, he did not feel that he or his team should broach the subject with the man. He had the sense that Cardin was sensitive about comparisons with his cousin, and she had without knowing it being developing her semblance for around three years. Perhaps Julia or Russel could be primed to suggest it. No, not Julia. She would be sensitive about upsetting Cardin now that they were officially dating. Russel was probably best although feeding the idea to him would require some thought.

He did not even think about hiding it from the man. His time in the LGDF had convinced him that Remnant needed stronger hunters and the more who had identified their semblance the better. Besides which the Vytal Festival was arranged to keep teams from the same academy from fighting each other for as long as possible and even if more than four teams from the same academy made the quarter finals would match up teams from different years. He would bet on Pyrrha beating Cardin one on one in the semi-finals or final even if the man adapted his style.

Pyrrha said, "Maybe, he still needs to hit us with it first. Let's keep an eye on Lydia's athleticism. I know your sister has a jumping semblance, Jaune. I doubt that Lydia's general semblance will be that strong but is there anything we should bear in mind?"

"Apart from knowing that trying to jump over her is not a safe move unless one has a huge clearance, we should watch for her being able to get out of trouble quickly or using it to flank an opponent. Amber used to do that in the first and second rounds at her Vytal Festivals. Even if she did not do it, the opposition were so scared of her doing so they were distracted when fighting her teammates and made mistakes or did not risk making an all-out attack."

Ren said, "I don't think TC will allow himself to be used as a springboard by Lydia that often. He did facepalm into the ground and joked that the White Fang would use it as a symbol of Faunus having their faces ground into the dirt by humans if they did that in front of the cameras."

Pyrrha said, "Apparently one of her great aunts is paying for an upgrade of her weapons or where possible having new ones made. The technology has improved over eighty years." Jaune saw a slight wince from Ren.

Pyrrha said, "Jaune, let's thoroughly investigate improving our team attacks. You were right to suggest that we follow Ruby's lead on that." If nothing else the defeat was a price worth paying for this concession. Admittedly Weiss's glyphs did give Team RWBY a wider range of possibilities than most, but TC had been correct to say that Ruby would probably have reacted more unpredictably to the ambush.

Nora said, "Perhaps let Ren or me have the first shot at naming them though."

Jaune held up his hands. "No argument from me." While he had meant Flour Power rather than Flower Power, he recognised that the name had not been sensitively chosen.

Pyrrha coughed. "Before we go to class, I have heard from my publicists this morning. The news of our defeat has hit the daily newspapers and TV talk shows in Mistral this morning. They will be letting me have a more detailed precis of the comments later today. They have told me to avoid reading the originals and certainly not read the BTL comments."

She must have seen that he and Nora were looking puzzled, "Below the line."

Jaune nodded. "Understood. Amber always said that she avoided those as it made her doubt that humanity was worth protecting from the Grimm."

Pyrrha smiled at that. "They warned me that the reactions fell into distinct types. Two categories use it to attack Haven and the combat school set up in Mistral. Basically, they divide between those demanding that Lionheart be sacked and those demanding that he be given power to make changes. The fact that Team Lilac has two Faunus members also had divided the analysis between those saying that Mistral should recognise and encourage Faunus abilities more than it does and the other talk about how unsporting the tactics used against us were and imply that this was because Faunus don't fight fair."

She paused, "There are also my extreme fans who blame it on my fellow team members. I did authorise a press release yesterday making it clear that was not the case, but I know that will only have a limited effect. Also, Salutations hit the stores today. They say that nothing we said in the interviews was embarrassing in light of what happened yesterday. However, it will add to the attention the fight gets."

They all then started to make their way to the first class, but Pyrrha kept him back. "Jaune. I'm sorry, but it is expected that they will pile on you as team leader and because of your sister Amber. I think you should speak to your family."

Jaune checked his scroll which he kept for communications from his family. This was another recommendation from Pyrrha which he had taken on board. Unsurprisingly there was a message from Amber basically predicting what Pyrrha had told him and saying that she would deal with the family. She was an acknowledged expert in being treated badly by the press, and his older sisters and parents had learnt how to avoid feeding the press. In Amber's case this had been easy enough as they could simply say that she was old enough to speak for herself and that while they might not agree with what she said, they defended her right to say it.

At lunch they sat with Team LLAC, Team CFVY and Team RWBY. This was in part because Pyrrha said that it was the right thing to do from all perspectives, but also because Team LLAC were also looking shellshocked and that Coco probably had some perspective to offer them.

TC said, "I only meant t' blow the bloody doors orff." Everyone from Vale laughed and Jaune presumed that this must be a quote from a film or TV programme. It certainly reduced the tension.

The Lynx Faunus said sheepishly, "I'd forgotten about Salutations coming out and did not appreciate what a big deal it was." He looked across at Coco and said, "Your brother handles your PR and sponsorships, doesn't he?"

"Yes. He wants to build his own business."

"Any chance he will act for Anne? It's just that Beacon has received a few hundred offers to sponsor or interview her this morning already." Anne nodded vigorously.

"I'll talk to him, but I can't imagine that it will be a problem. She's now the most famous Faunus in Remnant not called Belladonna or Khan. I presume that you want to avoid anything too tacky or her being ripped off." Jaune noticed Blair blush at this and wondered why.

"Quite. I am hoping that building his reputation is more important t' him than maximising his commission. Your family also has a decent reputation among the Faunus as only being moderately exploitative."

"Yes. I will make it clear to him what the parameters are. Basically, don't let Anne in for something he would not ask me to do."

Brede coughed.

"OK. A bit pickier than that. What about the rest of you?"

Brede said, "My family would not like it and I don't need the money."

Lydia said, "I'll think about it, but much the same for me especially now Great Aunt Dahlia is paying for the upgrade."

TC just raised an eyebrow. "No thanks. I'd hate t' be a role model to anyone."

Brede looked at him, "Are you certain old man? It's not like you earned a fortune in Vacuo."

"I prefer being inconspicuous."

He pretended to be puzzled at the laughter which greeted this claim.

Weiss who was reading Salutations harrumphed and everyone looked at her. She held up a page in Salutations which had a picture of Brede and Lydia next to each other. "Have you heard from your family yet, Brede?"

"No, why should I?"

Velvet said, "We decided not to submit the photographs of Brede with Anne because of the risk of them misconstrued."

"No offence, Velvet and Brede, but that would have been far safer than this."

"What's wrong with it?" Velvet sounded offended.

"Technically fine. I even like the call back to the old TV programme. Perhaps it might have been better not to have Lydia wearing the bowler hat although it is her umbrella and definitely to have avoided the look they are giving each other. By the way is the Umbrella another weapon of mass destruction?"

Coco looked more closely at the photograph, "I see what you mean, Weiss. The caption does not help."

Jaune looked at it. It read "Brede, we're needed."

Ruby said, "I still don't see the problem. It's quite clear to me that Lydia was just about to have a fit of the giggles."

Weiss said, "Does it make it more offensive when I say no offence meant? Brede with Anne would have been a pleasant picture with no acting up to the camera. Even if people speculated that they were having a relationship, the Campions would have dismissed it as a simple dalliance and Brede taking after his uncle."

Blair was staring at TC for some reason, but the Lynx Faunus just chuckled and shrugged as Brede replied, "That's part of the reason we did not choose it. It would have been unfair on Anne."

"Yes, but Lydia is almost an eligible match for Brede. Not acceptable to his parents, but too well connected to be a fling." The matter-of-fact way in which this was said and the fact that Brede did not challenge it shocked Jaune. Perhaps the really rich did live in a totally different world.

Yang said, "My turn to say no offence, but Brede and Lydia having a fling is not going to happen." The two teammates nodded vigorously.

"We all know that but look at that picture. The fact they know there is no UST mean that they aren't afraid to play it up."

"I see what you mean, Ice Queen." Yang was looking thoughtful.

Coco said, "Velvet, you did know that you were referencing a TV show where they famously left it ambiguous whether or not anything was happening was between them?"

Yang added, "Yeah, but everyone believed that they were at it like rabbits. No offence meant, Velvet. It's just that there are lots of them on Patch and they insisted on using our front garden."

Velvet gulped and ignored Yang. Normally she would have called her out on that remark. "I did not think about it that hard. Brede is a gentleman in all senses of the word and Lydia does kick ass. It just fitted."

Brede was turning white. "Lydia, I'm sorry. I should have realised."

He paused, "The caption does not help. Famously my family has a reputation of every second-generation marrying a woman who is stronger than their husband. That includes my mother."

Weiss added, "And the mothers make certain that their sons avoid anyone as strong willed as them."

"I am the spare and they look on me as being the Uncle Parsifal of my generation. I am the licensed eccentric. I don't think it will be that big a deal" Brede was now wearing the monocle and was practising his silly ass look. It did not help him sound any more convincing.

"Not until your older brother has children. Besides which Lydia's penchant for cross dressing and the fact that the caption suggests that she is the stronger of the pair will ring alarm bells."

Lydia protested, "Men's clothes are more practical. I've always preferred trousers and jackets."

Brede checked his scroll, "Uncle Parsifal's just sent me a message complimenting me on my taste. He's cc'd my parents and brothers. He's also congratulated us on the victory yesterday."

TC said to Brede "If this was a PG Woadhouse story we could just ask Planchet to give your father's butler a call to explain things." Weiss smiled at this and said, "You may as well."

Lydia laughed, "And most people would understand instantly that the last thing on Remnant Brede here wanted was to court me. Coco, did you see that my great aunts were in the same room together without fighting. I always thought they communicated with each other like Goliaths bellowing over primeval swamps."

Jaune realised that these references meant something to her, TC, Weiss, Brede, and Coco, but passed everyone else by.

Yatsuhashi was flicking through his own copy and tried to change the conversation. "The picture of Pyrrha and Jaune is very good, Velvet."

Coco looked at it and cackled. She almost said something and then shook her head although Fox laughed while Yatsuhashi and Velvet tried to restrain a giggle. Sometimes it was annoying that Team CFVY could share jokes which other people could not hear and suspected were at their expense.

Pyrrha reddened, but also said nothing. Jaune looked at the picture and knew that Lavender at least would be cutting it out and putting it on her wall. It was very flattering to him while Pyrrha always looked good.

Weiss turned to Anne. "You do know that the tabloids will be scouring the Lower East Side looking for stories about you?"

Anne looked nervous about this. Jaune had a vague idea that she only had a few friends from the past she stayed in contact with. Certainly, it was clear that her life had totally changed when her dyslexia had been diagnosed and she had been donated an ADA by the Travers Foundation.

Coco said, "Probably about you as well Lydia. Pettigrew is bound to be asked for a quote."

Jaune knew that Pettigrew was the ex-headmistress of Pharos who had resigned at the end of last term for reasons which he did not understand, but involved Lydia, Cardin, Dove, June, and Henry. His curiosity about the cliques in a Vale combat school was limited and he gathered that it was a long and involved story.

"Who cares what she says? I certainly didn't when I was there, and I definitely don't now?"

"No, I know you don't, but Brede's family might. You were rather rebellious."

"So, what. As Ruby said, it was clear that we were just larking about for the camera. It'll be a one day wonder at most."

He gathered that neither Coco nor Weiss believed that but knew from experience that nothing they would say would convince Lydia otherwise.

Blair maybe unwisely made the effort. "Lydia, the fact that you were in close combat with Pyrrha yesterday when her aura went blow the 20 percent mark means that the press and Brede's family will be a lot more interested in you and Brede than they would be otherwise."

"That was a team effort. Everyone knows that although I can give her a good fight, she is more talented than me and has my number in a fair fight."

Anne, TC and Brede all chorused, "And we do not want to fight in a fair fight as we will lose."

Blair ignored them. "You still were the person taking her on at close quarters. Outsiders will see you as the person who took her out."

TC said, "Thanks for the warnings. We will just have t' wait and see. I'll converse with Professor Goodwitch this afternoon. Perhaps she will have some suggestions or insights."

Pyrrha asked, "And what about you and the Mistral press TC?"

"First they would need to go to Vacuo to interview people who knew me, and they won't do that. Second, I was in the first Atlas team which reached the Rising Sun mine. I am certain that will do their best to pretend that I have no past or do not exist."

Jaune spent some time going through the photographs in Salutations. Pyrrha and he had a full-page photograph facing Weiss and Ruby. Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi had another full-page photograph to themselves. Otherwise, the team photographs were either quarter or half page size. He was interested in how some people had hidden themselves. Blair was wearing a Coco beret covering the ears and had chosen to wear the school uniform in the team photograph. Yang's mother – egg donor- was a controversial figure in Mistral and the caption suggested that she and Ruby were both the children of Taiyang and Summer. In the Team LLAC team photograph Brede and Lydia were again front and centre and although the pig tail could be seen, Anne and TC had both chosen to wear the school uniform and be very much in the background. This had the effect of making them less conspicuous. He was intrigued to see that Team CRDL and Team SFRN had chosen to have joint team photograph with Cardin and Russel both close to Roland Fawn, the Faunus member of Julia's team. He guessed that this was meant to send some message.

He arranged a series of calls to his family. He called Amber first.

"Hi doofus. Don't worry, the family all understand that the best fighters are capable of being taken by surprise. I reminded them that a telekinesis semblance is one of the most difficult ones to deal with. They also are happy to remind people that your semblance was only unlocked six months ago and that you are still playing catch-up."

"Thanks, Amber."

"If you don't believe me then watch the old tapes of the horse at her two Vytal Festivals. I would love to have seen her and the Schnee duke it out in their prime. I don't know which one is the more terrifying. It was bad enough when the Schnee summoned a Manticore, but someone who could drop a house on you might be worse." He knew the horse referred to Professor Goodwitch. Apparently the joke was that her initials were GG which could be pronounced gee-gee.

"So far it has only been debris from the floor of the arena. Pyrrha thinks she is capable of more with practice. Professor Goodwitch has promised to coach her."

"Look forward to seeing her in action. Loved the photographs in Salutations. You are clearly spending time in the gym. Watch out next holiday for Lavender's and the twins' friends. If you can't be good, be careful."

"Amber!"

"Just a polite warning, Jaune. Watch yourself when you speak to the twins."

He was not too flummoxed when the twins asked if it was true that it was his fault that Pyrrha had lost combat effectiveness because he was exhausting her during hand-to-hand combat at night. Jessica had added a nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more to that remark. They confirmed that Pyrrha's publicists had taken the line of congratulating Team LLAC on a well-conceived plan and had explicitly said that he had identified Anne as the threat. They had threatened to sell the photos off him in a dress to the Remnant Enquirer, but he was (almost) certain that they were only joking.

Interestingly they had said that a Team VBES was the dark horse team at Haven this year. It consisted of two orphans, an expatriate rich kid who had lived in Vacuo for six years and his best friend who was a monkey Faunus from Vacuo. The message was that they were contenders but had not yet really broken sweat. Only Team ABRN had beaten them and that had been early on before they had gelled as a team. Jaune made a note to ask Russel, TC and Fox about Sun and Neptune to see if they knew anything about them. They would be the one Haven combination his teammates would know nothing about, and they were certain that, even with him, they could take out the others. He made a note to talk to Pyrrha about this news.

Saffy and Terra were more interested in Lydia and Coco than Pyrrha, but otherwise had clearly been briefed by Amber as to what subjects to leave alone. They firmed up on the invitation to visit them during the holidays. They also updated him on the progress of Adrian.

Lavender, as he had expected, had the picture of him and Pyrrha on the wall behind her. She also had the picture of Ruby and Weiss. He was glad to see that confirmation that short women could be exceptional huntresses had clearly added to her confidence. She told him that dad and mother were out at Kulsa today. Reading between the lines, mother was convinced that a major Grimm attack was only a matter of time. Unemployment was around 20 percent, and the multi-Kingdoms were pulling out the more senior staff because the Branwen Tribe was now operating within one hundred miles. The northern part of Kurohari province had already fallen to the bandit queen.

Lily had texted him to say that her in laws were visiting and that it would be better to speak tomorrow. She did say that she had spoken to Amber and that she understood what she should try to say to anyone who asked.

Debo was on her way to Argus with her husband and the children for a holiday with his parents and to spend time with Saffy and her family. He wondered if Jasper and Debo would be moving to Argus or Mistral City. He knew that Jasper was expecting a promotion and that recently someone who was basically the equivalent of his brother-in-law ten years ago had been posted to Ansel to work for him. Anyway, he knew that he could rely on them to be supportive. Debo had turned into an aspiring politician's wife over the last few years and because Jasper was a centrist was not required to be controversial.

He did think for a bit after the calls about what was happening. He decided to go and see Ruby. She was probably the friend he felt closest to and while an innocent soul had a way of pointing out what was important.

As usual it helped speaking to her. Team RWBY had been impressed by Team LLAC pulling out all the stops. Weiss had regretted making the bet with Brede almost as soon as it had been made. Ruby said that she doubted that she could have come up with an effective counter to the smoke bombs and Anne's semblance on the fly and was flattered that TC thought that she could have.

She also said that she believed that TC was honestly more interested in giving his team members a chance to do well at the Vytal Festival rather than wanting to win it himself and had a blind spot in emotionally understanding its importance to most of the rest of them.

He was intrigued that as far as Blair and Yang could tell none of the Vacuoans and Faunus had wanted to bet against Team LLAC although none of them could see how they could win. Even Weiss had said that Winter had told her that in a life and death situation in Vacuo requiring improvisation, TC would have been the NCO she would have wanted by her side. It made him feel better that they had been sucker punched.

It also helped that Team LLAC had obviously been perplexed by Weiss's and Coco's reaction to the picture of Brede and Lydia in Salutations and that TC had been taken aback by the extent of the reaction to the result of the match yesterday. The sense that they had some sort of master plan for dealing with the world with aplomb had been vaguely irritating and to see that they had been flummoxed was heartening.

Perhaps TC and Anne did not appreciate how big a deal Pyrrha was in Mistral. After all, he had managed to ignore her existence for four years and he lived in Mistral. Neither of them had been on an obvious conveyor belt to the Academies.

He could understand why Anne believed she was invisible and had no real idea of Atlas sensibilities, but the other three should have known the score according to Weiss (or at least so Ruby said). He supposed TC was a Vacuoan, but everyone believed that he was the love child of an Atlas aristocrat and a Vacuoan Faunus. Ah, no wonder Blair had looked at TC – Weiss's remark about dalliances with Faunus had been rather close to the knuckle. Probably truthful and the Faunus would not use the Atlesian accent if he was really sensitive about it.

The site had some teething problems over the last few weeks, so I am not certain how many people read the last chapter. Obviously, I am running with the idea that student huntsman and huntresses are like elite sports stars and that there are huge numbers of people over analysing their every move.