A team too LARJ

by Johno 343

This is a story about a team of four students at Beacon Academy and their adventures. Life at beacon is about to get interesting. With RWBY and JNPR along for the ride, it's certainly isn't going to be normal. Their past, growth and trials will shape these characters to become great hunters/tresses. This is the story of team LARJ.

18. Chapter 18

Hello everyone once again! Johno 343 and Bugdevil are back with Volume 2! Better than ever and not to mention an array of new Characters coming your way!

Before you begin read: It's a little late from us: But we would like to thank the late and Great Mounty Oum for his work: If it wasn't for the creation of RWBY. A Team Too LARJ wouldn't have been created. Both of us would like to extend our condolences to his family and friends.

Please, Enjoy the Opening for Volume 2

Arc 4: New tricks, Chapter 16: Beacon on the Horizon

---

Haven Region, Unknown area. Darkened warehouse

(Insert Music: Medal Of Honor Warfighter - Dark Theme (Versus Remix))

Voices pandered in fear as they crashed through the door, breaking the door off its hinges, but not enough to break it completely down. A group of 17 huntsmen rushed into the house to escape the incoming thunder storm, but nature's wrath was the least of their concerns.

"Secure the area, make sure we are protected!" Yelled the leader of the group as he turned around, seeing his comrades lock up the building - near every square inch of the warehouse was in lockdown. "We have to make sure that monster doesn't get the goods!"

"Aye captain!" one of the hunters yelled out before looking outside.

His blood turned cold.

"Captain! It's found us!" He screamed.

Standing outside the building was a figure the height of an average teenager. It was impossible to see who it was, covered in a sliver cloak with blue dust lines running all over the cloth, it danced wildly with the raging wind. Slowly down both arms shining dual blades slid down as it grasped the hilt of the blades.

The hunter quivered with fear as he readied his rifle, he took aim and fired.

All the cloaked figure did was moved to the right as the bullet whiffed past it, before lifting its head.

Two shining blood red eyes glared the hunter down.

"M-monster-" Those were the last words of that poor hunter, as the figures sword pierced his head. The man died on the spot.

In an instant the figure that had been outside was now standing on top of the corpse, pulling out the blade, blood splattered everywhere as the dirtied figure swung its blade to rid of the excess blood before turned towards the other hunters around the compound.

"F-fire! Don't hesitate!" the leader shouted and the sound of a multitude of barrels, arrows, launchers and laser fire vibrated through the room. All the projectiles aimed in the attacker's direction. The figure in retaliation crouched before jumping towards the nearest hunter and cutting his head off with a clean and swift move. Without any pause the figure ran towards its next target. The next hunter was prepared as he readied himself and loosened his muscles before punching straight at it.

He wasn't going to die here, not when there was a fat pay check at the end of it all.

The figure only glanced at him before putting the swords away and flipping backwards, moving into its close combat stance, the two moved ahead to trade blows.

While this was happening the array of bullets was flying straight at them, but to their horror, the figure knew where the bullets would hit, it was almost as if she was dancing to a beat only she knew, and that beat was helping her.

On the other hand the brawler was hit by his own comrades' bullets, not killing him, but it was enough to place him on his knees as his blood escaped the injuries. This allowed the figure to slide behind him and twist his neck in a 360 rotation; the sound of his neck snapping heralded his death before he settled hard to the ground.

The leader watched his men go down one by one; every single one of them met a swift end. Each time his heart was stopped momentarily in fear before kicking back into rhythm. As the last of his men died before him, the figure jumped down to the ground and walked towards him, the blade covered in his comrades' blood, shrieking in fear the hunter pulled out a rather large revolver and fired, but the blade simply sliced the bullets as they approached her at high speed. He continued firing before an empty clicking sound met his ears.

Throwing the gun away he stepped back, both in respect and fear of his attacker in front of him. But with each step the murderer would come closer to him. He had no choice.

Rummaging in his pocket he pulled a small glass container with multiple sheets of paper on it and threw it into the air. "If you want it so badly, here you go!"

The cloaked figure looked up for a split second, allowing the man to act.

Pulling out a secondary gun he took aim and fired all rounds into the figure, creating bullet holes from the waist up, he could have sworn to see blood dripping.

Because that's all he saw before a sword plunged right into his heart. Falling to his knees he looked up feebly to see the blood red eyes looking down on him.

"Heheh… Who knew they would send the 'Fool-proof' after us… we must be special if they sent you here." He coughed up blood. "D-don't think that they will get away… they will be stopped… and you will find your end, 'Fool-proof'...!"

"Your words mean nothing." It finally spoke. "As long as they have a plan, I am merely a tool at their disposal. Once I have lived out my usefulness that is all there is to it. I will have no regrets." Its voice was cold, stoic and little feminine.

"You… truly are a human without a heart." The man smiled bitterly. "See… if you can follow those words when the sword is plunged into you." Giving one finally breath, the man died, sliding of 'fool-proof's sword with a thud.

A moment passed before the figure walked towards the glass container, as she reached for it, the sudden pain rushed through her, crying out in pain the figure slowly brushed past her cloak revealing the bullet wounds where the man had shot her.

Bringing her two fingers into her hood, a glow of blue appeared. "Blue Dust to Black Works… Mission Completed. Sustaining multiple gunshot injuries." She panted.

"Roger that Blue Dust, release Bio foam from suit." A sound of compressed air escaping from inside her cloak accompanied the foam that covered up her body, but the contact of blood and foam caused pain to become more severe. She screamed out before clenching her teeth. She beared the process until it came to a stop. Breathless and all exhausted she reached inside of her hood.

"Bio-foam succeeded, but need medical attention." She whizzed. "Activating beacon." Pulling her sword out of the man's body again, the hilt illuminated her in bright green light, causing her to shield her eyes. Painfully standing up she moved towards a nearby wall and sild down to ease the pain.

"Copy that Blue Dust, a Bullhead is en route to your location, a medical team will assist you until you return, Black Works out."

The line went dead.

Still in pain she winced as she moved her right hand under her cloak, before pulling out a picture. Her once emotionless face was warming up with a small smile.

"Mama… Papa…" And with that she passed out.

---

Highway 52, Cannon Valley Desert, 12 Miles from Vale

(Insert Music: The black Keys: Gold on the ceiling)

The ever hot desert was quiet, with only the slight breeze to set the mood. Vultures and Coyotes happily feasted on a dead Ursa's body as they ripped the meat from its bone from the side of the road.

But that tranquillity was interrupted by a roaring engine in the distance. Animals looked up to see a shimmering orange thing coming towards them.

An open top car sped past them causing the group to scatter away before return back to the carcass

Everything about the track car was orange and black, the suspension: Orange. Bonnet and front: Orange. Bumper and Exhaust: Orange.

Everything else was in Black.

One might get the impression that the person driving the car had some sort of obsession.

"Gold on the Ceiling~ I ain't blind, just a matter of time, before you steal it~"

The one driving this car was the A in LARJ: Akashi Mayhiro.

Wearing black tinted goggles and a Black/Orange striped scarf hanging tightly around his neck, he sighed before stepping on the accelerator and moving it up a gear.

"There's nothing but road and sand, where is the cities or at least a small village?" The brown haired boy combed his slightly neat hair.

Akashi looked at his GPS, showing that he still had 6 hours till he even reached the borders of the kingdom. Closing his eye for a split second he smiled.

"I'm coming home everyone!"

---

Somewhere in Vale - Velmón Mansion - Training arena

Juge Velmón and Travis Velmón stood face to face. Around them were deep gashes and scorch marks everywhere. In fact the only thing that was still untouched was Travis Velmón himself.

Juge panted as he gripped his prized weapon, Morte Consumptis, before looking his father in the eye.

"Father." Juge started. "Please allow me to test my strength against you one last time!"

"Come." The older Velmón smirked as he gripped Severer and Bringard in both hands. "Show me all that you've have learned in your training!"

"Sir!" Juge pulled out his trusty dagger and threw it at his dad at high-speed, but the older man blocked it with the smaller axe giving him a look of disappointment.

"Really?" But he stopped his sentence, seeing that his son had disappeared.

"Gah!' Travis' honed fighter's instinct kicked in. Crouching down and barrel rolling out of the way of Juge's air attack, he steadied himself, his look of disappointment turned into amusement. Juge on the other hand stared his father down, ready to take on anything.

'The exact same look Julia said I had when I was younger.' Travis smiled.

Juge swung Morte Consumptis around before igniting it, making it look like he was protected by a fireball.

"That's just showing off boy, doing that will get you killed!"

"Father, I wasn't showing off!" Juge yelled before twirling fast enough to become a blur "This is my way of improving myself, become better than the person I was!"

He jumped forward.

"Fire Technique: Fire Arch Destruction!" Swinging the whip back and forth before jumping into an uppercut motion, fire shot from Morte Consumptis making its way towards Travis.

"Not too shabby!" He breathed before cutting the flames in half "But not enough power!"

"Then, let's see if I can weaken your defences!" Fighting off the dizziness, Juge rushed towards his farther, the latter readied himself for the attack.

Juge pulled out another dagger from his jacket before feinting an attack his whip and then parried both Severer and Bringard.

'Just in a small amount of time he managed to parry with just a single blade!' Travis was more than impressed. "Does the breath of death on your neck make you become like this Juge!?"

"No!" Juge cried out between blade clashes and using his whip to snare his father. "My Team expects me to become better! They too are training just as hard as I am!" His legs swept at his dad's feet; however it failed against a man who had more experience than him. Travis attempted to kick him away. But...

Juge caught his boot and the full force of it.

"!?" the older Velmón fell off to his backside before his son took the charge and turn his whip into his ice mode.

"This is the end!" Juge shouted as he brought his whip to Travis' face.

"..." That was what Juge thought. But he couldn't move his dominant arm; it was entangled in wires, just inches away from his father's face. "What?"

"You're strong, damn strong Juge, but you still have ways to go." Travis chuckled. Juge shook his head.

"Not yet, I still have-"A touch a cold silver made contact with his throat. Travis produced a dagger of his own. "...I admit defeat, father."

"This was no fight Juge, it was a test." Travis smiled at his son before standing up and taking his hand. "Go, clean yourself and head off to Beacon, classes start tomorrow."

"Yes." Juge bowed. "Thank you for everything... dad."

"Heh... when was the last time you called me that?" Travis rubbed the back of his starched neck and nodded. "Get out of here Juge, I'll see you soon."

"Right." Juge nodded before picking up his dagger and clipping his whip, walking off.

"Wait Juge!" Travis dug into his pocket before throwing a set of keys to Juge who caught it with ease.

"What is-? Father this...!"

"I know, I kept it in clean condition ever since I bought it in my reckless years... Your mother wanted me to get rid of it, but I think it still has a purpose." He slightly shivered at the memory of the first fight he and his wife had after marriage. "The gear is all tailored to you, plus there a small gift."

"D-"

"Not from me, your friend from your team send it to us." He waved him off. "I've got work to take care of kid, see you soon."

---

Velmón Mansion - Garage

Juge zipped up his leather jacket and jeans, slipping on black gloves with his family crest on it. Nodding and seeing how comfortable it was he readied himself as he turned to his father's prized possession.

Xamha: X1 pro-series, built just after the Faunus/Human War, only a few exist of the original concepts of how motorcycles were meant to be. Juge had admired it since his dad showed it to him.

Now he was the caretaker of it.

Juge smiled warmly, giving silent thanks to his dad before spotting a large orange box on the seat. "He said I got a gift from someone. That orange design..." He tilted his head with an obvious guess.

Walking towards the box and bike, with his gear on his back, he carefully opened the box before seeing several black steel daggers with his semblance symbol on it. Underneath the lid it said:

[Promethean Blades MK 6: Oblivion]

A small note fell from the lid, Juge took the slip.

"I noticed that your blades were about to break, sure you've got plenty, but these... I think you will like them. I won't have my rival lack in the weapons department!"

-Akashi

Juge shook his head before placing the weapon box in his bag; he would need to arrange them once he was at Beacon.

"How kind of him." He said with a hint of a smile.

Getting on the Xamha, he turned the bike on revelling in the noise it produced, he loved to meditate, but this was his guilty pleasure.

The garage door lifted, revealing the beautiful front garden and driveway, in the distance the city of Vale was in sight. Revving the bike once more he took the full force of air hitting him.

Not bad.

---

Vale City – Close to Beacon Academy

All eyes were on her, but she didn't mind.

All boys were checking her out, she did mind that a bit.

Some of them tried asking her out, but she rejected them. Obviously.

Some persisted, so she had to 'gently' let them down.

"…" Looking down as the last boy to ask her out ran, she turned around and made her way.

From everyone's perspective they were looking at a goddess, or so they thought.

The way her red hair flowed behind her, her toned body was almost hypnotic. Her big blue eyes were looking ahead.

The perfect combination of gold and black clothing made her stand out from everyone. Just how her black headphones mixed well with her hair.

"Who is she?" One of the passersby looked from afar. "Is she a transfer?"

"No idea, I haven't seen someone that good looking in a while!" His friend commented. "I mean what girl could pull of red, black and gold?"

"True, but we do have girls with special hair you know? That Holly chick, the radio host had white hair."

"Wasn't it silver?"

"…I don't really know." The guy admitted before seeing the red haired girl getting out of sight. "Well what do you want to do know?"

"Come on, we still have to join one of those club before the end of the week."

---

Beacon Academy - Courtyard

"I told granny that I wanted my old clothes mended~" The girl whined. "But she gave me her clothes instead~!"

With that in mind the 'goddess' everyone was trying to pick up was no other than the leader of team LARJ, Lucy Stripes.

The girl hummed as she continued walking towards the Mess Hall, despite the distracting pickup lines she had managed to overhear something about a food fight between two teams, both in the first year apparently.

"Might be worthwhile to check it out." Lucy nodded and looked at the blue sky. "Why did granny have to make Riza stay back~?" she frowned. "It's lonely to go back to the dorm by myself."

She approached the lunch building just west of her dorm as she spotted a mass amount of students running out of the hall, covered in tomatoes, condiments and other edible items; she kept clear of the wave of students before peering inside.

"Whoa." Lucy wasn't one to be surprised by a lot of things, but this time she was. It was like a tornado had come through and destroyed everything and anything. But amidst all the chaos, her trained eyes spotted eight familiar figures going at it.

"I don't know if I should be surprised by this." Crossing her arms over her sleeveless shirt she tilted her head.

"Are you kidding me? They're awesome!" She turned her head towards the voice beside her.

A tan-skinned boy with short spiky light-blonde hair and dark-gravy eyes was watching the battle as well. He wore two red wrist bracers and an open loose-collared white jacket with no shirt underneath, displaying his muscular abs. He was also wearing blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt. White bandages on his legs and a chain hanging from the belt loop on the right side of his pants gave him a pretty 'physical guy' look.

He sported black and yellow sneakers and a twisted golden necklace around his neck, with a round pendant bearing a emblem that reminded her of a monkey. The most prominent feature though had to be his long thin tail, growing straight from his body. A Faunus.

"I mean come on... A food fight!"

"Don't mind him beautiful, he thinks everything is awesome. Easily impressed guy." Spoke another voice behind them.

A teenage boy also with tan skin, dark blue eyes and messy light blue hair that was shaved on the sides and in the back.

He wore a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket with a wide, upturned, black collar and a pair of grey jeans with black padding strapped to the sides. The back of his jacket displayed a silver retitle.

Lucy especially noticed the black fingerless gloves and a pair of yellow-tinted goggles worn on his forehead.

"No I'll agree with your friend here~" She smiled at him. "This is something I would like to do with my team too~"

"See Nep? Even she knows it's too good to pass up." The blond placed a hand over her shoulders. "Name's Sun Wukong, I know team RWBY but the other team- not so much." He gave her the thumbs up.

"Nice to make your acquaintance miss...?" The blue hair man leaned closer to her, the air was written 'he's trying to flirt with you' and Lucy cringed slightly.

"That's Neptune Vasilias." Sun dead-panned. "My sorta friend and teammate."

"Hm-hmm...~" Lucy gave amused with a smile "Lucy Stripes."

"Lucy? That is a cute name for someone like you." Neptune smiled coolly, but was hit in the face by a stray tomato. "Oh man! My clothes!"

Sun and Lucy started laughing, both of them ducked under a flying table.

"Weiss, Weiss! Don't leave me! Nooo!" Ruby Rose, the leader of RWBY cradled Weiss in her arms as a pillar crumbled behind her.

They watched the climax of as the caped huntresses destroyed JNPR. Each member fell of the wall quietly.

"Wow."

"You can say that again."

"I love these guys." Sun said with a smile while Neptune looked far from impressed, maybe because grape soda covered his clothes and face.

It was then the party was over, when Goodwitch stormed into the Mess Hall and proceeded to re-organize the room and scold RWBY and JNPR. However a sudden burp from Nora had them fall over themselves.

"That's them ~" Lucy nodded before heading out the hall. "It was nice meeting you~" She bowed to Neptune and Sun before walking out.

"H-hey wait!" Sun walked beside her "If you're not busy, wanna hang with us, were do you have to go anyway?"

"Nowhere really, but I think I'm not on 'good' terms with those guys for now ~" She giggled and rubbed her head. "But some company would be nice, until my team gets back."

"What's your team's name?" Neptune appeared beside them, still wiping his face with a napkin. "Anyone would kill to be in a team with you, I bet."

"I'm the captain of team LARJ, first year students just like RWBY and JNPR." Lucy pointed at herself with a happy expression. "What team are you guys on?"

"Oh, us? I and that guy are both part of team SSSN, maybe you've heard of us before." Sun answered back. "We're the cool guys from Haven Academy in Mistral!"

"Hmm~" Lucy smiled before heading inside the common lobbies, seeing a poster pinned to the wall. "What the...?"

"Huh? Oh!" The monkey Faunus. "They even have clubs here in Beacon! Sick!" He cheered as his tail flailed around. "I hope they have something wicked, like judo or fruit bars!"

"Fruit bars are not considered clubs." Neptune interjected.

"But I saw a bar in downtown that was called a Club." Lucy and Neptune just stared at the blond boy with wry smiles.

"Maybe I'll join a group with a lot of pretty birds, if you know what I mean." The blue haired huntsman giggled before getting a disapproving look from Sun.

"What?" He didn't seem the least bit understanding.

"Luuuuuuuuucy!" Suddenly the more or less charming hunter was tackled to the ground by an orange blur. "You're back!"

"!?" Lucy found it hard to breath as her body was hugged to pieces. "Can't…breath…..Jasna~"

"Whoa, sorry 'bout that!" The orange figure stood u. The girl dusted off her clothes and gave Lucy a hand. This wild tomboy was a member of Team AKJA, Jasna Zora. "Well you did just leave us hung up and dry for two weeks! Even after a mission, we were worried you know!" She pulled up the leader of LARJ and slapped her hard on the back. It was her tough affection that might have been more deadly than the mission Lucy had come back from.

But before she could even talk to her, the short-haired girl's mood shifted.

"Lucy, are these pigs annoying you?" She asked in a calm manner as she glared at Neptune and Sun, who in turn looked at her funny. "I've never seen a monkey-pig before."

"M-monkey-pig?!" Sun repeated in shock "That's 2 nouns!"

"Don't interrupt me." Her stare froze Sun in place and she faced back at Lucy again. "So are they?"

"No we aren't doing anything special, but I never got your name crimson beau-" That was all Neptune managed to press out before Jasna took his head and drove it hard into a wall, making a hole.

"Didn't I tell your pig-monkey friend not to interrupt me!?" Jasna buried his head deeper into the wall, she expected an answer from him, but it never came.

She probably had knocked him out cold.

"Nep!" Sun cried out as Jasna stepped back and assessed her work, the blond Faunus ran over to his comrades body and tried to wake him up "Speak to me buddy!"

"Dude… that's like… a lady…." The blue haired hunter murmured before falling into darkness again.

"Oh my~" Lucy giggled as she watched Sun cry over his friend's body, just like in a movie. "Jasna, there was no need to do that you know~?"

"Meh, he had it coming, no pig will touch me with their filthy paws." She rubbed her nose in disgust before pulling her away.

"Aren't they feet, if we are talking about pigs?"

"Come on, let's go meet Anto, Alex and… K-k-irk-pig." Lucy noticed that she forced out the name of AKJA's sniper... before adding a pig to it anyway which made her relax.

"Alright then, Bye-bye Sun!"

"Neptune!"

---

Vale City - Shops

"Ms. Stripes… I really am grateful to you for training me, but buying me a whole set of armour and clothes is just too much!" A certain blonde fox Faunus stuttered before pulling over an article of her clothing.

A young looking woman with long black hair and green eyes, she tied her hair in a high ponytail and left a few locks of hair to dangle on either side of her face, crossed her arms in disappointment before glaring at the changing room.

"Are you turning down my generosity?" She spoke clear and deadly causing a few customers to move away from her. "It sounds like you are Riza."

"N-no! I would never turn down your kindness Ms. Stripes!"

"Stop calling me that, it's Margret. Margret Stripes!" She roared as she pulled a kunai from her cleavage and threw it and the change causing Riza to scream.

"Oh my god!" Riza screamed. "You nearly killed me!" 'Again.' She added in her head.

"A true huntress is always prepared for danger when it is least expected!" As if on cue, wind in a seemingly airless place started blowing causing Margret's hair to ruffle in the wind. With her arms crossed underneath her big breasts she stood proudly before the changing room. "Have my lessons meant nothing to you Riza Inari!?"

"No! Master!" Riza blurted out, but quickly covered her mouth. 'I said it again.' This scary woman awakened some sort of submissive instinct inside Riza.

"Humph, good." The scene described above quickly disappeared as the black haired woman walked away. "Come to me once you're ready to show your battle gear."

"Right."

(Insert Music: Mike snow: Paddling out)

"Margret… I'm ready." Riza mumbled as she stepped out of the changing stall.

Her long blonde hair was cut back to the base of her neck, expect for twin ponytails tied by two yellow and blue ribbons adorned on the side of her head.

Her chest was now protected by a white breastplate, unlike her last combat gear, it was sleeveless around her shoulders, but on both arms to the elbow covered by blue dust chainmail. Her forearm was covered by thick plated steel, small spikes on the back gave it a draconic look. Her torso was wrapped in simple yellow clothing, strings that kept it together were criss-crossed in a fashionable manner.

From the waist down she was wearing a rather large protector adorning her symbol in the middle, a large sheet softly woven rolled down just above her feet, giving her free movement and protection. Her legs were also encased in hard steel just above her thighs.

The black haired woman marched towards her and assessed her, walking around her, getting a look around her, she finally nodded with a smirk on her face. "See? This suits you perfectly!"

"Thanks… but all this armour, isn't it too much?"

"Is it too heavy?" Margaret raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, it's really light… like it's more light than my normal clothing even… but does it have to look like I've come from the medieval times?" Whined Riza as she looked at her clothing again, but her response was met with a hard slap to the back.

"Nonsense Inari, now come on, lets buy your clothing! You need to head back to Beacon tonight. Have you completed your work?"

"Yes master." Riza rubbed her temples before walking behind her teacher.

---

…A few moments later…

---

Riza rubbed her shoulders and body, she had opted back to her Beacon uniform, her twin tailed hair style was framing her face. Breathing out in relief, she took a bite out of her muffin that Margret had bought.

"After this, you make your way straight to Beacon, your teammates should have arrived already you know."

"I got it." Riza brushed her comment off before taking another bite of her muffin. "Why did you send Lucy off before me?"

"Because there was something I wanted to talk to you about." Her green eyes met Riza's green/blue eyes in an instant, the calm aura around her suddenly tensed.

"Do you remember the last time I sent you the kill the Grimm in the black forest?" Margret's eyes looked deeply into Riza's. "You killed 3 times the amount I asked to kill."

"…" Riza stayed silent.

"Not only that, you had an expression on your face that only someone who is willing to toss their humanity away, just for the sake of killing the darkness, would have." She took a sip of her tea. "Not to mention your tail looked more feral, like it was alive."

"So that's why Lucy wasn't hugging my tail afterwards." Riza knew something change in her teammate that day.

"You're not the only one to act like this before Riza, I had a teammate that had lost his loved one to the creatures of darkness. He became obsessed with killing everything that was related to them."

(Insert Music: Bravely Default: Silence of the forest)

The older women lowered her head. "Soon after that, he lost sight of everything around him, and he eventually turned even on us… those actions he took led to his death… not by Grimm, but a death penalty ordered by the Mistral council."

Riza's legs grinding against the chair were the only thing breaking the quietness every now and then.

"You could imagine what kind of pain my team went through after seeing him spiral out of control and there was nothing we could do. He pushed us away… we should have helped him. Just to see him descend into madness like that." She flexed her hand to push away the anger.

"Master…" Riza's tail drooped down.

"You are no different kid, keep walking down this road and sooner or later, you will be hunted down by those you care for… whatever grudge you have for those thing… you need to let it go."

"…My family… My real family was taken away from me master… Mother is in a coma, the doctors have no idea when she'll ever wake up." She gritted her teeth. "It's send my entire world into chaos… and you're telling me to let it go!? Just like that!?"

"If you put it like that Riza, then yes. I'm telling you to stop harbouring a grudge form a beast. If you keep running down this path, it will lead to anything by happiness." Margret's glare matched Riza's. "You will drag down everyone around you. I don't want to see Lucy suffer through that."

"…That's something, I've already decided on master." Riza stood up her hair hiding her eyes. "Even if it cost me everything I know, I swear I will kill all the Grimm that stand before me." She bowed to her. "Thank you teaching me these past two weeks."

"Tsk..."Margret cursed. 'Fine… if I can't get to you then maybe…'

As the black haired woman looked up, she saw Riza already walking away, bag and weapon strapped behind her. Shaking her head she ate Riza's muffin and drank the rest of her tea before placing a few Lien on the table and walking away. "Then her only hope is my granddaughter and her team..."

Walking away from the café, Margret Stripes turned a corner before bumping into someone, her tall figure made her keep her balance, as for the smaller figure in front of her...

"Kya!" A near silent voice yelped as she hit the ground. Margret looked down.

"Another Faunus?" The girl who had fallen down had snowy white hair that fell down to her lower back, a tight black blouse with dark green collar and a tie. It was matching with the skirt she was wearing and her black stockings. The Faunus girl rubbed her head before looking up at Margret.

'She has two different eye colours?' She mused.

"I-I-I'm Sorry Miss! I walked without t-taking care!" She bowed to the black haired woman. "Please forgive me!"

"Hush… sure whatever." She said while stretching out her hand to the white haired girl, who took it with great caution. Getting back to her feet, she bowed again before running away in a comedic fashion.

"Strange girl." Ruffling her hair she sighed before looking at her hand. "Why does my hand feel so cold?"

---

(Change music: Dan Auer Bach - Heartbroken, In Disrepair)

City of Vale, Highway 65 - Hologram Bridge

Akashi weaved through the traffic; he was taking streets that weren't in some kind of traffic jam… He could not take it easy when he was running late. The sun was about to descent into the horizon, but the sky was still blue.

Shifting up a gear he revved his car, the speedometer was heading past 80 KPH. He smirked at her continued speeding past the car that was going slower before indicating to the right. According to the GPS, the road would take him off the highway and into the city of Vale, were a quiet road would lead him to the academy.

"I'm finally home-!?" A black bike shot past him, quickly getting ahead. He glared at the bike that sped past him with ease. His competitive spirit awakened. "Oh no, you don't!" Kicking into the next gear the speedometer reached 120 as he tracked down the bike a few 100 meters away from him. Catching up to it quickly he kept his distance as he followed its movement on the highway.

"In five kilometres, turn right. Head right on the road to Vale central, then turn left." The GPS spoke.

"Right… there is always next time." Moving into highest gear he sped up and overtook the bike, but not without having a quick glance at it. "Wait… a Xamha X1!? Those things are freaking Rare! Yang would kill to get a hold of one of those!" Akashi giggled as a sudden image of the blonde brawler on her knees begging crossed his mind. Soon his smile turned into a frown. "That would be sad… such a proud huntress swallowing her pride… I think I'll keep this to myself." There was no need to mention the bike to her after all.

"Turn right." Signalling to everyone behind him, he turned right and to his surprise... The Xamha did as well. "I see…?" Akashi clicked his tongue before moving to the left to head to the city and to his surprise the bike did as well.

"…" Akashi was interested now. "Is he a hunter or something?" Shaking his head he gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Nah, he's just going to town for something."

"Continue 15 kilometres to reach target location: Beacon Academy."

"Finally!" Akashi smiled as he saw a clear road with all lights turning green. "Let's tear it up!" Moving his hand to his centre console he pressed the 'sport' mode. The car suddenly went silent before turning into a much louder machine. He slammed his foot on the accelerator, the force slamming his head back on the seat.

Revelling in the changing of gears the noise the engine was making, he quickly got up to even higher speeds, but the speed limit here was 40 KPH. He gave a chortled laugh as he saw every citizen looking his away as he sped past them. To them he probably looked like an orange blur.

As he entered the scenic route he shifted back gears till he was at the correct speed limit before looking at the mirror.

The black bike was still behind him.

"…Okay, he's a student if he's on this road." Shaking his head he looked forward until he noticed something familiar.

A fox Faunus with blonde hair and a bag hanging over her shoulder.

"Wait… Riza?" She was walking on the side of the road at an astounding pace. "But the academy is like a heck long away!" Akashi tried to find a good place to stop before indicating the biker behind him that he was pulling over. Gently easing the car back to first gear, he honked the horn to gain the girl's attention. At once the girl turned around as Akashi turned off the car and jumped out.

"Yo! Long time no see Riza!" Akashi grinned at her and he looked at the blonde Faunus. "Did you change something about your hair?"

"…Who are you?" Riza gave a puzzled looked at him. "You seem to know me, but I don't know you."

"Eh?" Akashi lowered his hand. "Hey, Riza… it's me."

"…?" The Faunus tried to find some familiar resemblance in the young Mayhiro. "No, sorry I don't remember you... is that biker your friend?"

"Huh? The biker?" He turned around to see the same black bike from before had pulled over, the biker was covered in black clothing. The only thing not black about him was his brown and brown shoes. Stepping off his bike he removed his helmet, revealing...

"Juge!" Riza sounded surprised. "I didn't know you rode a motorcycle!"

"I didn't before, but I did get my license over the break we had. It wasn't much of a break considering the training I did with my farther." Juge nodded as he walked over to his teammate and shook her hand, which slightly confused her. "Something the matter?"

"Well… in most cases… but sometimes after being separated for long, hugging someone is better you know?" Riza smiled awkwardly at him. "It's been a while."

"You are right..." Juge stared at her. "But I'm not exactly the hugging type."

"Right, I forgot." Riza crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Now back to the question, Juge is he a friend of yours?"

Both were looking back at Akashi. The Velmón narrowed his eyes a bit before looking at his clothing.

Standing before them was a tall teen with cleanly cut but spiked hair, the long strands of hair resting above his eyebrows were mostly covering his forehead, but most of his head was hidden below a cap and goggles. He was cleanly shaved and had a sharp look in his eyes. An orange scarf hung from his neck and swayed with the gently wind, covering his lower face.

He was wearing a light blue jacket that was partly open near the top, with one flap rest on the right and the other on the opposite. His jeans were a darker blue and his shoes… were actually orange armoured protectors. Generally he was pretty orange. This guy was obviously obsessed with the colour.

"Do we know you?"

"Not you too Juge. It's me!" Akashi tried to reason with them.

'Told you they wouldn't recognise you.'

'You, shut up.' The voice inside his head was not helping the situation.

"Forgive me and my partner's memories, but we have no recollection of our meeting." Juge bowed slightly. "Are you a student of Beacon?"

"Yes. Well but-"He was not sure what was going on. Maybe it was the fact that his face was mostly hidden. His voice was also hoarse, because of his training. He sounded like usual just with a bunch of sand on his vocal cords.

"May we get you name? I promise I won't forget it again."

'Well… I did say to Riza "Don't be surprised if you can't recognise me next time!", but this was not what I expected.' Akashi shook his head and smiled. He just got a mischievous idea.

"Right, it's no big deal. Name's Kagami May- I mean Kagami Tetsuya. I'm a freshman just like you guys; I'm a member of Team SERN. Nice you meet you again." He saluted with a smile.

'Aaaand… the clock starts now. Time: 1:54 pm.' He would count the time until they realized his schemes.

"Nice to meet you Kagami. You know, your name sounds familiar. One of my teammate's father has the same." Juge was staring at him with squinted eyes. He seemed to have doubts already. Akashi would have been a little disappointed if he found out so fast. "But we all must head to Beacon now, correct?" Luckily he was too goal oriented to dig deeper.

"Yeah, I was driving along this way until I saw Riza walking alone. You need a lift to Beacon?" 'Kagami' pointed towards his car. "I've got enough space for both of our stuff."

"Thank you Kagami, I will take you up on your offer. "Riza said with a smile and curtsied. "My name is Riza, sorry for not remembering you." She seemed pretty oblivious. So much for animal like instincts. Akashi barely hid his laugh.

"Like I said, no big deal, now let's go. I've got team members that are worried about me." Akashi chuckled as he said that.

"No kidding, I know that my leader is at Beacon already. All that remains is that airhead." She exhaled. "I am ready guys." She patted 'Kagami's' shoulder and walked towards his car "Orange car? You really love that colour, don't you?" One of her fox ears stood at an angle while she thought about something. "Wasn't that Akashi's favourite colour too? He always said it was the greatest."

"I would agree with him no doubt, he seems like a cool guy." He walked towards the car and opened the trunk, allowing Riza to place her gear in the car. "We're burning daylight, how are you with fast cars?"

"I haven't been fond of it, but if you insist." She shrugged. He turned to Juge, who was gearing up again. "You have a rare bike there man. Race you to Beacon?"

"I accept your challenge!" Juge smirked as he started his bike.

The two nodded before Riza and 'Kagami' got into the car, activating the ignition. The car roared into life, before he kicked it 1st gear. Leaving a trail of dust the group heading to their main destination.

---

Vale, Beacon Academy - Training ground

"They really are doing this." Alexis Mayhiro yawned as she starched her arms to rid herself of the wobbly feeling in her arm. Looking at the newly re-vamped training grounds, the arena itself was a circular motion with a large score board with the words 'updating in progress' written in bold letters. "Glyn-Glyn, why are they doing this again? For the festival right?"

"You've already answered your own question Alexis." Goodwitch replied back while typing something on her scroll. "At least you pay attention to your surroundings for once. I'm expecting you to bring your best into this semester, unlike the last. The first year students are going on their first mission this time around. Even you are participating in them, are you sure you can handle it?"

"It's nothing like exterminating Grimm, it's rather dull. Recon missions, just avoid Grimm and simply observe them." She played with her blonde hair "Ozpin forbid me from taking Alpha on the mission."

"With good reason. You tend to forget about your body state and go all out like in your youth. Do I have to remind you of what happened with the third years last time?" Her glasses reflected the light as she gave her a stern look.

"Yikes, you still remember that?"

"I can't forget that you landed 34 students in the hospital after having one cup-"

"Bottle." Alexis corrected her, but that only made her friend angrier.

"Exactly, they wanted to see how you fought and you destroyed them!"

"…Riiight" Alexis remembered the events of that night. "I got a warning and a 'fortnight without pay', plus I had to do community service around the campus. Even though I was injured myself." She rubbed her head and chuckled "Oh what a night ~"

"Today I had to deal with RWBY and JNPR's food fight, scold Ms. Zora for hurting another male student - a transfer at that- and now I have to babysit you while they finish up the arena here." She took of her glasses and rubbed her temple. "They don't pay me enough for this."

"Yeah, Yeah. Teachers live on crumbs and all that." Alexis leaned over and placed an arm over her shoulder. "But at least you have me, right?" She grinned.

"I suppose that's right." The emerald eyed woman looked down with a twitching smile. "You did promise me that you would follow me wherever I go…" She couldn't tell if it was a blessing or a curse most of the time.

"So, while we're passing time... Who do you think in the first year is going to go the longest?" Her green eyes brightened up with passion. "I'm placing bets on Nikos!"

"Really? Not even thinking of your own brother?" Glynda raised an eyebrow at her. It was highly unusual for Alexis to think so objectively. "But Ms. Nikos shows a lot of promise indeed, I would say that she does stand out from the rest."

"Ah, but don't forget that Scarfac- I mean Schnee is holding up well. I could say that for all members of RWBY." Alexis tapped her jaw line.

"Indeed. Then there is JNPR too. Mr. Ren and Ms. Valkyrie are both improving as well. Mr. Arc on the other hand-"Glynda saw Alexis looking at her. "I can't really say. You did take him under your wing if I recall correctly."

"Damn right I did and he is willing to go beyond his capabilities when it comes to his friends. I can vouch that he'll be the dark horse in the tournament." Alexis said with a smirk.

"I see… Having your support could turn the odds either way. Then what about Team AKJA?"

"I can't really say. Their teamwork in steadily improving, yet… something is lacking still, I can't really put a finger on it." She mused.

"For once, I can agree with you. Something does seem to be amiss within AKJA… Ozpin might know something that we don't."

"He always knows." She replied with a bored expression. "Last but not least-"

"Team CDRL?" Glynda said.

"Meh, I can't stand them. They remind me of the rebellious me in my teens, Faunus haters and bullies in general… even to my own family."

"It was a dark time for you." Glynda stayed stoic. "You said that you were tired of being the nice one. I never understood how you got the impression of being the kind of us two."

"It worked for a time… then I found out my lineage, just like Akky did and when I got my ass handed to me by you a long time ago I finally saw what I really was in the mirror." Alexis totally ignored Glynda's comment.

"Let's get on with the sobs stories. It's the future we have to look at."

"Ms. Goodwitch, Ms. Mayhiro?" The women looked down to see one of the workers looking up at them. "The place and the board are ready to do."

"Thank you. That will be all." Alexis smiled gently at him, gaining a blush from him. "Now that that's out of the way, what do you want to do?"

"Well I have other errands to do Alexis, however. The student behind you might want to talk to you." Glynda pointed behind Alexis before getting up and walking away.

"What- what?"

"Professor Alexis Mayhiro." The older woman shivered and looked behind her. She knew that voice all too well. "Charmed to see me again, right?"

"You… You said that you wouldn't come for the festival."

"Well, that WAS the case… until mother told me that my darling Akky had gotten a new weapon. His very own weapon. I couldn't resist, so I signed myself and my team to be transfer to Beacon Academy for the festival." A girl much shorter than Alexis smiled at her.

Alexis shivered.

"Now. Would you be so kind to guide me to where my Akky is? I would enjoy it so much to see my foolish Akky." Her grin was not boding well.

---

Beacon Academy, Library

Kirk sighed before looking down at his drawing. While the rest of his team was with JNPR, he carefully sketched out the scenery of RWBY, Sun, Neptune and Jaune talking. The afternoon sun was fitting for a scene like this.

"Kirk." The blue haired teen looked up to see Alexandra staring at him. "What are you drawing now?"

"Just this." Over the two weeks, Kirk slightly opened up to the team, even to Jasna, who was currently like Nora... sleeping on a book, while Antonio was trying to wake her up, only to be punched in the face by her in reflex.

"Can I see?" she held up her hand. "There better not be any dirty images here."

"No."

"Good." The black haired girl looked at his drawing for a while and then pointed out something about Weiss. "You forgot her tiara here and the hand seems a bit wonky."

"Yes." Kirk nodded before she handed back his drawing. The teamwork had paid off greatly for him and his leader. Alex had started tolerating his antics to a degree, but was still prone to aim her gun at him when he touched his camera. True to his word to the headmaster he had stopped taking pictures of girl's undergarments and resorted to bring out the beauty of them as a whole, even though some things were still borderline. Because of this Jasna's beat downs had been cut by 15%.

However as he did the last touches of his work, everyone saw Blake standing up and leave her team. Kirk noticed that she bore dark bags under her eyes. If he said anything, it would result in Jasna getting on his case - again. So he kept quiet.

Something buzzed in his pocket before talking out his scroll; a large flag was his main screen that read. "Sunset of the lake."

Nodding to himself, Kirk picked up his gear and tapped on his captain's shoulder. "Kirk, what can I do for you?" Antonio was in the middle of cleaning his bruise around his cheek with a handkerchief.

"Another drawing. It's the lake. Near emerald falls." He spoke with is small voice. Antonio nodded before shaking Jasna awake, this time he avoided her swinging fist before the girl sat up. "We're heading to the lake, it's almost time for training again."

"Ahhh… do we have to?" She whined "Can't Kirk-pig chose somewhere closer for once?"

"I would also like to head to the lake; according to Kirk it is beautiful at this time of year." Alex nodded. She had decided to trust the blue hunter's sense of aesthetics a little bit. At least if it was connected to nature.

"But!"

"No buts." Alex stared at her female teammate. "We've started this, we are not going to give up that easily."

"Finnnneeee!" She dragged out before slapping her hand on the table and getting up "It wasn't like I was going to ambush the pigs anyway…"

"Who?"

"Those two pigs on my Lucy's team!" At once everyone turned to Jasna "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No one has seen them for two weeks, today is the last day before classes start back up." Pyrrha spoke up. "Nobody knew about when they would return except for Jaune maybe. I didn't hear of Lucy's return either-"

"Red haired chick with a body of a goddess?" Neptune raised his hand up, getting everyone's attention. "She was hangin' around with us while you guys had a food fight."

"WHAT?" Everyone shouted, the blue haired man nodded.

"Leader of LARJ right?" Sun spoke up "Last time I saw her is when the scary looking girl over there took her away after she used Nep's face to make a hole in the wall."

Neptune's face was covered in band aids.

Everyone looked back as Jasna with a glare, even Antonio shook his head. "Dear Jasna, why were we not informed of this beforehand?"

"I dunno, I felt it wasn't important till now Anto. So they're coming back tonight? What's the big deal? Until my sweet little fox Riza comes into my arms I really don't care."

"Jas, they've been M.I.A. since end of last semester, we all are feeling a bit miffed about their 'leaving' behind our backs. We want answers." Yang spoke clearly with her eyes showing a shade of red. "Do you know where Lucy is now?"

"I think it will be about time for them to reunite near the tower of four - the West building." She ruffled her hair lazily.

At once everyone rose from their seat and nodded.

"Then let's give them a 'warm' welcome, shall we?" Yang laughed darkly before being pulled by the jack by her younger sister. "Rubes!?"

"Later sis. We have Blake to deal with first." The young leader dragged her away despite the protest. Weiss sighed before saying goodbye to Neptune. Walking after her team she whipped her head in thought.

"The buffoon is coming back, huh?"

Then it was just JNPR and AKJA left.

"Actually, I would rather train before seeing LARJ come back." Antonio admitted. "Time is of the essence, I for one would not like to return when it is already dark."

"I agree." Alex nodded. "Training is essential." Her attitude seemed very Spartan.

"Where Anto goes… I go."

"Drawing. First priority."

With that team AKJA stood up and left the library leaving JNPR to themselves.

"Well… shall we go see LARJ?" Jaune said lightly unsure to his team.

"Sure." Ren nodded as Nora cheered.

"I get to bear hug Jugey again!" She spun her arms in preparation.

"It would be pleasing, something other than studying till night falls." Pyrrha nodded as she cleaned up her area and the team moved on.

While the commotion was going on, next to a pile of books sat a white haired girl with pink eyes. Licking her index finger she just turned to the next page and continued reading.

"What a bunch a loud morons."

---

Beacon Academy, Garage

"Thanks for letting me borrow the car port until I can find a proper place to park Kagami." Juge smiled at him as he zipped down to his combat gear. "I'm surprised you had bought this port outright."

"I had it a long time before this, like, when I was writing out the enrolment forms, they wanted to know if I wanted to park there, so I agreed to the price and terms." 'Kagami' handed Riza her gear before taking his own. "I'm guessing we part ways here right?"

"Not really, would you like to come see the rest of our friends? It's the least we could do after forgetting you." Riza smiled at him.

'We ARE friends, fluffy.'

"Okay then, I'll be glad to be your friends once again ~" 'Kagami' grabbed the keys to his car before checking his gear. "Bags, notebook, glove and scarf – all ready!" He nodded to himself, then looked at Juge and Riza. "Bring it!"

---

…five minutes later…

---

(Insert music: Voice within: DJ Deckstream)

"So….you guys were gone for the holidays right?" Akashi walked beside Juge as they headed towards the west tower. "What gives?"

"Just training Kagami, that's all. We all promised each other that we would be stronger the next time we meet again, beside I owe Juge here a fight." Riza elbowed the man beside her. Wincing at her attack he quickly regained his composure.

"That is correct, when shall we contest what we gained?"

"I'm ready to fight you anytime!" Riza looked at him with fierce looked in her eyes; it was more deadly than Weiss's glare. "I'm not the same girl who keeps throwing her spear and starts shooting everywhere!"

"Judging by your aura and look I'd say you've grown more than I expected." Chided Juge, which earned him another elbow shot.

"Don't look down on me or Lucy. We've been training none stop." Huffed the fox Faunus before looking at 'Kagami'. "What about you? What were you doing around the holidays?"

"Training, just like you guys. Besides getting my licence to drive of course. But I had this really scary mentor that always tried to kill me for real. In the end it thickened my skin and gave me some real experience." 'Kagami' chuckled. "Though we didn't get to work on my weapon skills that much. He focused on my hand to hand combat and survival skills mostly." He shot his fist forward and smirked.

"He taught me that getting to the top of the best hunters would be a long road, so why not enjoy what lies ahead instead of having tunnel vision." He did the opposite to his left hand and pulled it back. "So my first objective to becoming epic is to defeat Yang Xiao Long in the hand to hand combat challenge!"

"Father did say to aim high. But I must warn you, Yang is incredibly strong. Her skill may be rough, but when you touch her hair it's all over. I suppose you know that much already." Juge nodded with a knowing expression. However Akashi chuckled at that. "Something the matter?"

"No, when you say that if you 'touch Yang's hair you're dead', I'd say that's your opening!"

"Really?" Riza's ears perked up as they entered the building and walked up the stairs. "Mind explaining yourself?"

"It's simple really, I've seen her go nuts and what I could gather from her fights is that she used that fear to break a person's psyche, while that is happening, each time you hit her, she gets stronger. Sound like an unbreakable wall, right?"

"So far, you have a solid argument." Juge nodded, in fact he was making comparisons to his own mental notes in case he was ever in a situation with Yang. Surprisingly he had come to a similar conclusion.

"There's only one thing that stops her from having a perfect combination of all that she possesses: Her anger."

"Anger!" Riza snapped her fingers. "Rage, sudden actions and furious punches that have no reason behind it!" She did have experience with that herself. "Use her anger against her, now that I think about it, if you're able to hold your fear when she gets angry, it's easy to find openings in her attacks!"

Juge cupped his chin "I had theories about it, but mulling over it, does prove it can be very useful." Yet he still felt not completely convinced. Knowing Yang she was probably aware of her weakness. This was an interesting point, but he would go a step further.

"But like you said Juge, it's only a theory, I need to prove it's a fact once I'm in the arena with her." He smashed his fists together. "That's why I need to improve even more!"

"I admire your drive Kagami." He stressed the name a little too much. "But you have others that want to be the best in Beacon as well." Juge placed a hand over his shoulders. "I myself am aiming to become Beacon's top student. Not to mention our last remaining member is my rival in that goal as well. You certainly remember?"

"Really now? That is interesting" 'Kagami' smirked before looking up. "Well the dorm level it coming soon, shall we?"

As the 3 entered the final stairwell they were met with a sudden wind that forced them to close their eyes for a second before opening them to see a beautiful skyline with the sun setting. They saw a girl with red hair cleaning her katana, she paused for a second and looked at them.

"Jugey~ Riza~" Lucy placed her weapon on the seat before tackling all of them into a big hug. "I missed you~"

"It's good to see you again Lucy, thank you." Juge spoke as he ruffled her hair, trying to not get overwhelmed. Riza hugged back before pulling out. "Before we talk, this is-"

Lucy looked at 'Kagami' for a moment, before she broke into a big grin and she too tackled him into a hug, burying her head into his chest.

"Akky~ you look kinda cool, welcome home~" She muffled into his new jacket.

However, Riza and Juge stared in shock. Riza because she had not realized it and Juge because Lucy had only needed one look to tell.

"AKASHI!?" The fox Faunus made an unbelieving face.

"Heehaw, took you guys long enough!" Akashi looked at them with a huge smirk on his face. "About 1 hour and 56 minutes." He looked at Riza as he stroked Lucy's hair. "Didn't I tell you not to be surprised the next time you see me?"

"I- but…how!? This is…" Riza was fumbling with her words before quickly taking out her scroll and showed a picture of Akashi in the first semester "This is Akashi!"

In the picture showed a shaggy haired teen with his hair all over the place, wearing nothing but a black shirt and cargo pants. He also had a dopy look on his face.

This Akashi was past all that, and looked almost presentable.

"Yeah... I liked that old me, but my trainer forced me to cut my hair and put on something more stylish. Damn that guy doesn't look like it, but he sure has taste in fashion." He pulled back from Lucy's hug. "With that in mind, team LARJ is ba- Upahhh!" A sharp blow to the head stopped him from talking as he crouched in rubbed his head. His scarf and goggles had been knocked off, which made him look a lot more like his old self.

"That's for making me look stupid you dumb idiot!" Roared Riza as she began hitting him relentlessly, while Akashi begged her to stop.

"Not my fault you couldn't recognize me!" He said with his hoarse voice.

"No excuses, you should have told me earlier!" She hit him in the solar plexus.

"Really Akashi, you know how to infuriate others, don't you?" Juge crossed his arms in disappointment. "I had already guessed, but I expected you to say something. Poor Riza here must feel humiliated-" A well aimed kick to his chin send him to the floor. Riza had become a lot more flexible!

"That's Akky for you~" Lucy laughed as she saw Riza jump on Akashi's back and put him in the sleeper hold. "Riza doesn't like being seen as someone stupid."

"So I've noticed." Juge leaned back while rubbing his chin and saw the sunset. "On this day-"

"LARJ is back in action~!" Lucy cheered. "Now we have one last task to do."

"Trying to separate these two?"

"You're going to kill… me… Rizaaaa…" Akashi gurgled out the words.

"Then die!" Replied the fox of death.

"No." Lucy smiled "We have to face the others~"

"You mean?" Juge looked at her with a neutral expression.

"RWBY, JNPR and AKJA. I've gotten numerous messages, one of them shows that we're to meet them tonight for 'punishment' and if we don't we're going to be in a heap of trouble."

Akashi, who had nearly passed out form a lack of oxygen, suddenly stood up and released himself from Riza's hold, making her fall on her butt with a yelp. He dusted himself off and walked towards the two. "Punishment, jeez! They should have seen the 'punishment' my trainer did if I didn't catch enough fish for dinner and breakfast!" He sighed. "But let's go meet them anyway."

"Sure, but there's someone you have to say sorry to Akky~" Lucy turned her teammate around. Akashi saw Riza curled up into a small ball, bringing her knees to hide her face. It was almost like she-

"Riza… are you... sulking?" Asked Akashi.

(Insert music: Beneath the hollow moon: Bravely Default)

"Shut up, you numbskull." She mumbled under her breath. "You made me look like a fool!"

"Hey, come now." Akashi knelt down towards her and touched her wrist, making her flinch. "I didn't mean to insult you."

"Well you did, and I won't forgive you!" She shook off his hands and buried her face into her knees deeper. "I hate you!"

Akashi looked towards Juge and Lucy, who in turn shrugged their shoulders. "Uh..." Akashi looked at Riza and then crouched before her.

And then he started poking her forehead "Poke."

He paused for a moment before he poked her again. "Poke"

"Stop!" Riza shouted. "I'll get pissed if you do that!"

"Poke!" Akashi giggled.

"I said stop it!" Riza shouted as she stood up and got him in the Boston crab submission "I'll break your legs now!"

"There is the I Riza I know, you were really being a downer, and you know that right?" Akashi knew she wasn't putting in the energy she usual did.

"It's because you fooled me!"

"I fooled Juge as well; I'd say he's taking it well." Akashi spoke back.

"Like I said, I did already suspect you-"Lucy lightly slapped his back. "...Yes it's easy to get fooled if you haven't seen someone in a while. Even I was dancing in his palms." The last bit was a little overdramatic, but Juge was not known to be the most subtle person.

"Come on Riza, I didn't mean to do it."

"…Fine!" She dropped him before glaring at him. "If you pull that kind of joke I again, so help me god, I will take one of your limbs and shove it somewhere!"

"Where...?"

"Some-where!"

"Right, right!" Akashi laughed nervously before pulling her into a one arm hug and Juge in the other arm. "Good to see you're okay Fluffy. And you aren't holding a grudge either, pal?"

"…Get off me perv." She lightly joked before pushing him away. Juge did the same without replying. "Nice to see that you're still that same Akky as before." She rubbed her ear while using the nickname Alexis gave him. As expected he frowned, which made her smile.

"That aside, it's good to see you guys again, you ready to kick ass this semester!?"

"I'm more than ready ~!" Lucy nodded with a confident grin.

"Do you even have to ask?" Juge grabbed his whip and his new black daggers.

"Then!" Lucy walked in front of them towards the door "Team LARJ re-enters the scene!"

(Insert music: Granrodeo: The other self)

---

…Minutes later...

---

Team LARJ renewed walked towards their dorm with all the students looking at them, together they gave on an aura of confidence and being ready to take on anything. They saw team CDRL posing in their room since their door was opened. Professor Goodwitch scolded a bunch of students… along with Alexis.

"Alexis, what did I just say about showing off your fighting skills?!"

"Aww… but that one wanted to -hic- sheeeeee it!" She whined. "Be a sister Glyn-Glyn!"

As they arrived at their dorm, they took a deep breath before opening the door, the place was the same as two weeks prior, but something was different… the tension! As they entered the room all of LARJ smirked and turned to the right. In front of them was team JNPR. Weapons ready and all.

"Jaune." Akashi smiled as he readied himself. "Long time no see, right?"

"You have no idea Akashi." He laughed with his left eye closed.

"Jugey!" Nora waved to the young Velmón "You ditched us without saying goodbye! That wasn't nice. I'll break your leg as compensation~!"

"She means she's upset that you didn't say goodbye to us." Ren explained "But so am I?" He didn't seem too sure. Ren was probably just swept along with the mood.

"I see. Then shall we settle this in a more civil fashion?"

"Riza, Lucy, Akashi, and Juge. Welcome back to Beacon." Pyrrha started. "And welcome to the hardest night!"

"Tonight, you'll face us!" Nora grinned as she gripped her hammer harder. "One on one!"

"I'll welcome that challenge, just like granny said. First impressions are the best~" Lucy drew Yin and Yang and pointed at them.

The two teams looked at each other before a small cough disrupted them. "If you are so keen to test out your strength, then you might as well do it in the arena." Everyone looked to see Ozpin standing in LARJ's doorway.

"Headmaster!"

"Welcome back LARJ, I trust that everything went well, you will hand in your assignments the first week." The silver haired man smiled.

"Yes!" LARJ spoke.

"Then, let us head to the arena, I will speak to you about the food fight after this Mr. Arc, along with Ms. Rose."

"Aww… come one!" Jaune fell on his knees and hands and cried, making everyone chuckle.

---

(Change Theme: Kuroko no Basket: Serin High School)

Team RWBY's Room

"You're listening to Beacon Radio!"

"Hello everyone!" Holly Cruz' voice sounded excited and happy at the same time. "This is big news!"

"Huh, around this time?" Weiss looked at Yang's radio and turned it up for everyone to hear, gaining her team's attention.

"There's apparently a hot match about to go down tonight and it's been given the 'go' by none other than the headmaster of Beacon himself! Teachers, students, transfers and everyone who accidentally switched on this channel, drop everything you're doing and head down to the newly reeedone battle hall! 'Why should I?' You ask?" Holly giggled.

"Because I'll be your commentator along with my co-host Zacks!" Holly cheered. "If you want to kick off semester número dos with something huge, it doesn't get much bigger! The battle of the first year students!"

---

Team CVFY's room

"Newbies?" Coco jumped off her bed and headed out. "This will be interesting, you coming?"

"Sure." Fox followed her, along with Velvet and Hatsuyashi.

"I wonder who would do such a thing."

---

Outside of Beacon, Courtyard

"According to my wonderful sources this will be 4 one on one fights, standard rules apply, just like the previous fights this academy has had." Holly spoke again. "This will be a fight between first year students of team JNPR and team LARJ!"

"WHAT!?" Jasna shouted as she began shaking Antonio. "You see what happens if we don't get there first? That could be us fighting them!" She pointed a finger at Kirk. "You and Anto will have to substitute them then!"

Both the boys paled while Alex smirked at their demise.

---

Somewhere in Beacon Academy

Leaf felt something tug on his arm, looking down he saw Mia looking at him "You want to see LARJ duke it out right?"

"Yes!" squealed Mia.

"Fine, fine. Emma, you coming?"

"Yeah sure, it's not like WE'RE WAITING FOR YOUR TEAM TO ARRIVE!" Emma shouted out the last part, making the two clean their ears out.

"Whatever, come when you're ready."

---

Beacon Library

"There you are." The girl with pinkish eyes looked up to see three silver haired teens looking at her. "If it's about the fight, I'm not interested." She returned to her book.

"I assure, you my dear Asuna this is no ordinary fight. It's him fighting." The girl smirked.

"Really?" Asuna closed her book and stood up, placing it back on the shelf. "Fine then, I'll humour you Mari. You always drag me around for such meaningless things."

Mari smirked "Good, that's settled then, Natalie and Kane. We will go post-haste to the building."

---

Unknown dorm number

"Well?" A grey haired teen looked at the woman with amber eyes.

"Fine, it should provide some entertainment and intel on the students here at Beacon." She grinned darkly, so did the Emerald haired girl next to her.

---

Beacon Academy, Battle hall

LARJ and JNPR saw that students and teachers were piling into the building, just to see their teams fight.

"You must forgive me students, but with the Vytal Festival going on, I felt it was the appropriate timing to give a small taste to the other first years and transfer students. Just to show what lies ahead of them." Ozpin pushed his glasses up.

"Oh man…" Jaune quivered before a warm hand touched his shoulders, it was his teammate's. "I-I can do this! My training with you and Professor won't go to waste!"

"That's the attitude!" Beamed the red-headed girl. "You'll do great!"

"Really? They had to make this public?" Riza sighed before gripping her staff. "This is turning into a major headache..."

Akashi watched as they all came in, he fished something out of his bag, it was too things.

A black covered gauntlet with the words 'Mayhiro' scratched on it. And a long midnight blue headband. His eye softened. "Mary…" Letting go was hard, but instead he bound her tighter. This time she was with them.

As the final crowds of the students gathered, Ozpin motioned the two teams to stand on opposite ends and tapped his cane on the ground and gained everyone's attention.

(Change Music: Kuroko No Basket 2 OST [CD1] - [01]【Winter Cup】)

"Ladies and gentlemen. Hunters and huntresses. Teachers and to everyone who has come here tonight." Ozpin began.

"Tonight is the eve before the 2nd semester begins, tomorrow you embark on your journey to become what you have dreamed of, harsh challenges and roads will surely be on your way, but know this: Countless hunters have gone through this before, there is no easy way. There is only hard work, your team and your drive for achievements." He paused.

"As you know the Vytal Festival is almost upon us and what better way to start this semester than with an exhibition match from the students of Beacon!"

A thunderous roar of approval came from the crowd.

"Then without further ado, let us see what these hunters and huntresses have learned so far!"

Pointing to the large score board the image changed.

LUCY STRIPES

AKASHI MAYHIRO

RIZA INARI

JUGE VELMON

VS

JAUNE ARC

NORA VALYRIE

PYRRHA NIKOS

LIE REN

"With the Festival, the fights will be based on your skill, tactics and your overall grade. But with this we will let the board decide our match-ups."

In an instant the pictures of both teams started moving with the 'VS' in between them. The pictures started slowing down until they came to a halt.

Holly Cruz's voice spoke up. "First match of the night!"

'The Foxy huntress with a heart of Gold!'

RIZA INARI

VS

NORA VALKYRIE

'The leg breaking happy-go-lucky Huntress!'

"Who came up with these embarrassing subtitles?!" Riza made a fist, with a small blush on her face.

"So funny ~" Nora on the other hand seemed to understand the joke.

Nora and Riza looked at each and nodded, it was bound to be a good match.

"Second fight!" Holly announced happily.

The huge screen went off again.

'The Apologetic Huntress of Victory'

PYRRHA NIKOS

VS

JUGE VELMON

'The Cool and Collected Heir'

Murmurs echoed around the arena. Pyrrha looked down while Juge smiled at her. It was easy to see that Pyrrha knew they were talking about her and her 'streak'.

"Third fight!" Holly pointed ahead.

'The Silent boy with deadly looks!'

LIE REN

VS

AKASHI MAYHIRO

'The hunter with hidden talents!'

Ren and Akashi looked at each other before looking back at the screen.

"Last, but definitely no least: The leader match!" Holly was spurring on the crowd from her commentator's desk.

'Leader of JNPR!'

JAUNE ARC

VS

LUCY STRIPES

'Leader of LARJ'

Cheers erupted again, before Ozpin settled them down. "With that out of the way, the students will ready themselves before coming out again, in the meantime, talk amongst yourselves." He motioned the two teams to the opposite hallways. They both gave one final glance before heading to the changing rooms.

"This will be very interesting." Ozpin smirked.

---

Changing rooms: LARJ

(Change music: Humming Urban Stereo - Space Loves Disco (Feat. Simone - D'Sound)

"Well, Riza you're up!" Akashi patted the fox Faunus on the back before getting a 'don't do that again' look from her. "What?"

"Come on Akky, don't hit me that hard." She said as he threw himself back on a nearby seat. Using the nickname again to annoy him. "Now if you would excuse me, I'm going to change into my battle gear, though it would be an unfair disadvantage against me…"

"What?" Juge tilted his head in confusion.

"Yep~ Riza got herself a new attire because of my Granny~" Lucy sang while walking towards her blonde friend. "If you would be so kind. I'll help her change~"

As the two boys watched their respective teammates head into the changing rooms they sighed, looking at each other.

"Pyrrha, huh?" Akashi fished for something in his bag before seeing a black gauntlet inside. "That's something that one would refuse right off the bat. You've got a plan?"

"Not really, but then again... It will be the first time I'll be clashing with her. We would be on even ground." Juge reminded Mayhiro. "But something tells me that Pyrrha won't take this lightly."

"No kidding Juge, you got my daggers right?"

"You mean Oblivion?" Juge took out his newly equipped daggers. "Getting something from a weapons company that is a near mystery is beyond me, you have my thanks."

"It's all good, I told you I would be the foundation of LARJ and if you need anything I'll see if I can get it." He gave Juge a thumbs up. "Should I tell you its secret or would you rather find out in your match with the Spartan girl?"

"You know, I'll find out myself Akashi. I will decline your offer." Juge nodded as he twirled the blade around his hands. "It feels very light compared to my other daggers."

"Trust me, what I've given you is something you don't want to lose, it's really powerful if used correctly. I couldn't think of anyone that could use a dagger as well as you."

"There is my father."

"I don't know him, so you're the expert on small blades at the moment." Akashi waved him off before grabbing a bundle of clothes. "I've got to change. Talk to you in a bit."

"Understood." The young Velmón nodded before looking at his black daggers. A sound of metal hitting the ground made him turn around, his eyes widened as he saw Riza's new gear.

"Cool, huh~?" Lucy stared at Juge, expecting a reaction.

"It looks like you've come from medieval times Riza, but it does suit you in combination with your weapon, I suppose." The brown hair hunter pointed to her golden staff attached to the back of her waist."How do you feel?"

"I feel... naked." She blurted out. Her tail, which was peeking out of her armour, looked bushed up.

"Pardon? From here it looks quite heavy!"

"Well it isn't Juge, its light as a feather and I feel naked!" She brushed past her teammates and assessed herself in the mirror, adjusting the black ribbon on her right bang. "Oh damn it all! Lucy! Can you help me tie on the loops?"

"Sure~" Lucy ever helpful immediately took care of it. "All done! You are looking so cute ~"

"That's not the intention! You two... are you ready!?"

"As always!"

"Let's roll~" Lucy nodded before the three walked back to the arena.

"..." Akashi heard the footsteps of his teammates quieten down before sighing. "Don't leave me behind so casually!"

---

(Change music: Kuroko No Basket 2 OST [CD1] - [07] [Prelude])

As Riza lead the team towards the main area, cheers could be heard as from inside the corridor. Riza steeled her nerves as she subconsciously gripped Ryuyari tighter before seeing Nora and her weapon Magnhild ready for action on the other side of the arena.

"Riza, show us want you've learned so far." Juge patted her on the back while Lucy looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"Don't worry." Lucy lifted up her shirt to reveal multiple wrappings on her stomach "She did this to me, I wasn't being serious and she got mad~"

"Lucy, I told you not to show that!" Riza quickly pulled Lucy's shirt down before composing herself. "I'll just have to show everyone!"

Juge averted his eyes. Lucy had a tendency to show her body at impulse, which was not good for his heart. He wondered about the events that led to the injury though.

"Will all hunters and huntresses who are not participating in this fight, please exit the arena until further notice." Ozpin announced. Lucy, Juge, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren stepped off the platform as they made their way to the stands for the teams.

Riza and Nora slowly made their way to the centre were the silver haired hunter was standing. "Ms. Inari and Ms. Valkyrie. I trust you know the rules, but to those who don't, this is not a fight to the death, the fight will end when one person's Aura has either been mostly depleted, entering the red level. The fight can end if one person forfeits or is unable to continue." Ozpin looked at them.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes!"

"I will act as referee, now then. To your corners proud Huntresses!" The crowd yelled as they got ready to fight. The flat-screen above flickered to show both huntresses' pictures with a green bar below them. A timer sat in the middle.

(Change to fight music: Wangan Midnight Tune 5: Fallen Angels)

Riza turned around and held her weapon in both hands, so did Nora.

Riza started breathing deeply to calm her senses. She had to shut out the audience, the expectations and anything, but her opponent. Her eyes opened fixated on Nora.

Her prey.

"Are you ready!" Ozpin shouted. "Then!" Ozpin raised his arm.

"Let the Match begin!"

Nora smirked as she quickly changed Magnhild into its second form and unleashed an array of pink grenades at the blonde fox girl. Riza crouched to the floor before taking off to the left like a blur of yellow and blue light. Nora laughed harder as she kept firing at the fox while the Faunus smoothly jumped, ducked and occasionally sliced a shell. The cut grenades didn't explode, gaining her a few surprised look from her friends.

"Nora is harsh on the offensive, but Riza doesn't budge. I wonder where she learned that grenade trick, seems handy!" Holly commented.

"Time for a counterattack!" Riza pressed a button on her spear to change it into its shotgun form. She returned the fire to the hammer user. Nora on the other hand switched back to her first mode and jumped out of the way and into the air, zeroing in on Riza.

"Let's go!" Riza shot a couple of bullets at her, but it proved ineffective against her hammer that simply smashed them away with a blast. Clicking her tongue in disappointment she moved back to her staff form.

'You should know that your staff is more powerful than you think Riza." Margret twirled Ryuyari around. "Try throwing that grenade at it."

She did and her eyes widened as the black haired women thrust her weapon at it, but the result was not what she was expecting.

"Watch me, Margaret!" Riza held her golden staff as Nora readied herself to slam the hammer onto her. Then she moved the tip of her spear as Nora brought Magnhild down, the hammer itself was incised in purple aura.

The two connected.

What was supposed to happen was Riza's weapon to be smashed into bits while sending the Faunus deep into the ground within an inch of her life left. What actually happened made a few hunters and huntresses stand up in pure surprise.

Nora's force was sucked into the tip of the spear before the force was ejected from the bottom to the spear creating a huge turmoil that shook the arena to the core, and pieces of the ceiling's plaster had fallen off and dust rained down.

But most importantly, Riza was unharmed, in fact: she was smiling.

"What the-?" Even Nora was showing a reaction, although not as extreme as the rest. Nodding Riza pushed the orange haired huntress back before charging at her as she moved into the show her close combat skills.

"That's it folks! I am officially baffled. The force of that impact should have crushed our cute foxy Riza, but she simply deflected the energy somewhere else! This is incredible." Holly was holding the microphone close to her face as she stood up and pointed at the scene.

"HOW!?" Ruby shouted as she watched Riza attack Nora, the fox had improved her fighting style a lot. It was evident since Nora was being hit in the side and in the face by the blunt end of Ryuyari. Her aura was going down faster compared to Riza's. "I didn't know Riza was that quick?"

"She fights with much more focus than before. She makes use of her Faunus senses too." Blake smiled at her friend that was fighting. "It seems that she's trained herself to use her spear as a staff and mixed in some strikes."

As Team RWBY continued watched, another team was analysing the fight.

"That's Riza?" Juge remarked turning to Lucy. "That's a huge difference from two weeks before."

"Obviously Jugey~" Lucy tapped him on the nose. "Riza just used to cover herself while Granny was beating her down until she broke out of that notion, then she began fighting with her hands and legs. I was surprised at how well she adapted to it~"

"Your grandmother is a rough person it seems." Juge smiled as he nodded. "It does look like I've got my hands full when she fights me later on… whenever that is."

"Wooooh Rizy!" Nora cheered as she used the handle on her weapon to block Riza's straight forward spear attacks. Riza only grabbed it with her hand to pull Nora forward and elbowed her in the face, causing her to be become disorientated to her surroundings.

"Ouch! What brutal precision, what unrestricted moves. That one is going to last." Holly was frowning in sympathy.

The blonde ducked low and swept the hammer user's legs before jumping into the air. She swiftly reached the still disoriented Nora.

"Spear Crush!" She yelled as she drove the spear deep into Nora's body where the exploding tip activated and engulfed the hammer user in flames before Riza rolled to a distance. She held out her hand in front of her as Ryuyari was placed behind her. Ready to attack again.

"I can't see anything, but after such an impressive attack, can Nora still move?!" Holly and the audience looked at the dust cloud expectantly.

"There's no way she'll stop after just that." The fox looked up the screen and saw that Nora's health as in the orange while she was still in green. There were 2 minutes and 24 seconds left till the match ended.

"How..." Nora caught Riza of guard as she busted from her fireball with her hammer ready to take her down. "Is that?!"

The hammer made contact with Riza's breastplate; the force had sent her flying into the wall, creating a large crack in it. That attack took a chunk out of Riza's Aura levels, bringing closer to Nora's.

"Gah… Lucky shot Nora!" The girl wiped the blood coming from her mouth onto her blue steel gauntlet. "But you attacks are nothing compared to hers!"

She shrugged off the rubble on her before leaving the hole and readied herself once again for a fierce assault.

"Then take this!" Nora once again fired dozen grenade shells at there before re-loading and repeating the process. Riza stood her ground as she settled to the ground with her weapon aimed down before her eyes flashed blue.

"Silent Strike: Lying Strike!" Moving her hand towards the lower half of her spear Riza held it like a sword before quickly cutting the shells like before. The explosion never happened as they landed on the ground, the dust and gun powder leaking out of them. "It's going to take more than a few grenades to defeat me Nora!" She roared before running towards the short haired huntress.

'Only a minute left... make this count and unleash it!' She told herself as Nora knew the time as well.

As Riza halted and skidded towards Nora who swung for her midsection, she jumped and landed quickly in the hammer user's blind spot, following up by delivering a sharp kick to the chin, the momentum caused her to do a back flip as she landed on the ground before driving the spear into her multiple times, the explosions were controlled and landed rapid hits on the girl making Nora go into the defensive.

"Riza is unleashing an onslaught of attacks! Nora can't keep up!" Holly was at the edge of her seat.

"Now it's over!"

(Change music: Bravely Default: Agnes Theme: Wind's course)

Her spear started glowing as she continued striking Nora, the rapid movement and the light from the spear caused her to shelf her eyes. Smirking, the fox grabbed Magnhild from Nora's weakened hands and used it to strike Nora away before she threw the hammer away.

"This is my final move! Think you can take it!?" The spear glowed brighter as she gripped it tighter in her dominant hand, her left one.

"Burning Fang!" The spear ignited in flames and hit Nora in the stomach before a massive explosion erupted; encasing all that was near in it. As the fireball caused everyone to shield their eyes, a buzzer sounded. After the fire died down it revealed a knocked out Nora, Riza's staff right next to her.

"Then match is over! Then Winner: LARJ's Riza Inari!" Holly exclaimed excitedly.

The crowd was cheering for her (with a few boos because of her being a Faunus) as Riza pulled a new invisible string, making her spear fly towards her. Satisfied she raised her hand in victory as her teammates came towards her.

"Good work Riza, I'm really impressed!" Juge shook her hand.

"That's Riza~" Lucy hugged her.

Team JNPR rushed over to Nora with a few medics before showing that she was completely fine, the force caused her to lose consciousness for a moment, but she was already back up. She slapped Ren's back as he checked her with worry.

"Wow, Riza is really strong?!" Jaune watched the big screen showing highlights of the fight. "It makes me wonder just how long I have to go before I can catch up to you guys..."

"Indeed, Riza has not reached her full potential yet either." Pyrrha watched her talk with her team. "But that doesn't mean they are getting out of this without a though fight, right Jaune, Ren?"

"Humph." Ren looked around. "He doesn't seem to be here…"

"I'm fighting Lucy, she's crazy strong!" Jaune cried.

"And my fight… is next." Pyrrha grabbed Miló and Akoúo̱ and headed to the arena.

"Go for it Pyrrha!"

"Try your best!" Nora who was now sitting down to recover cheered her on too.

(Insert Music: Tonight - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 Soundtrack)

Thefamous huntress, Pyrrha Nikos, headed towards the arena feeling confident, her green eyes fixed upon the floor as she was deep in thought.

"My opponent is that Juge Velmón. If memory serves me right, the Velmóns have an outstanding battle record from each of their heirs." Additionally she had seen some of his skill in the Survival Test. The problem was that the same applied to him. He was already aware of her Semblance too.

She slowly trailed towards the middle as she saw the boy in blue come out. His eyes were locked onto hers.

"No matter, I will give my all in this fight."

The young Velmón watched as she raised her shield in a defensive stance, her spear ready to counterattack at any time. He took out one of the Oblivion daggers and spun it around before placing it back in its holster.

"To think that Pyrrha would be my opponent already... interesting." he gave a slight smirk before he met them in the middle were Ozpin was standing.

The screen above flickered.

Second Match!

'The Apologetic Huntress of Victory'

PYRRHA NIKOS

VS

'The Cool and Collected Heir'

JUGE VELMÓN

"I'm sure you know the rules of the fight, but I had forgotten to mention there is a timer, should you fail to finish the fight in the allotted time it will end in a draw. Are you ready?"

"Always." Pyrrha stuck out her hand to Juge.

"Yes." Juge smiled before taking her hand, a sign of good sportsmanship. The two nodded before making their way towards both sides.

"Then, the second match of the night... begins!"

Pyrrha without hesitation ran out of her spot and a fast charge as she raised her shield to attack. Her counter stance was a feint! Already throwing her enemy off before the match began... that was the move of a famous huntress, alright.

Judge readied himself as he held his whip in his dominant hand and the black dagger in the other. The red haired women shield bashed him hard causing him to grunt a bit, but he held his ground as he used the force of her attack to fall back, using Morte Consumptis he flicked his wrist as he activated his semblance and wrapped the long thong around her waist and threw her a fair distance in order to regain his composure.

Whatever happened he had to keep his dagger out of her reach. Her magnetism manipulating power was a problem, but his whip was a luckily not even partly made of metal.

Pyrrha looked at him before stabbing the ground with Milo, turning her body to face him and threw her shield at him before landing on her feet. Juge deflected it with his black dagger before seeing her run towards him as she turned Milo into its rifle mode. She had already fired a couple of rounds at him while he defended himself.

"Bullets... I can see them!" Juge barrel-rolled past the first few bullets before seeing the last one attempt to pierce his shoulders, out of pure reaction, he tried blocking it with Oblivion.

'Damn it, I did it out of instinct! This isn't going to pretty!' His daggers were not made to deflect bullets.

That's what he thought, but just like the audience he was surprised.

Instead of the bullet breaking the newly acquired blade, it instead cut the bullet like it was paper as it came into contact. Juge's reflexes were already amazing enough, but that dagger was useful too.

"Impressive..." Juge held Oblivion backwards as he looked at Pyrrha and motioned her to come at him.

"This is incredible everyone! These two are experts at what they do and I feel kind of intimidated by Juge right now!" Holly admitted with a laugh.

"Not bad. It seems his gear has been improved too." She smiled as she retracted her shield back before turning Milo into its 3rd form. Xiphos Form, a similar version to a dagger, but bigger. "Fine then I accept you proposal Juge!" She put on her game face before the two collided with their respective daggers. A small shockwave hit them both, but neither gave in.

The crowd watched as the blurs of red and brown, black and blue fought around the arena. Both fighters had cuts and scratches on them. Juge's scarf was cut and fluttered away. Pyrrha's belt was ripped and fell to the ground.

"Hey… Doesn't it look like he's pushing her back?" People in the crowd commented.

"Yeah, Pyrrha is an internationally known huntress and an icon, yet his newcomer is holding his own against her!" Another student talked.

"Would you look at this folks!" Holly voice was filled with excitement and awe. "Juge Velmón is an unknown hunter yet he's doing just fine against Pyrrha Nikos! Is this real life? Just what are these first years capable of!?" She too was inspired. "Keep at it you two!"

Yang watched with admiration as her purple eyes followed him move about as he fended off the red haired girl's attacks, just to move onto her again. Her lips curved upwards as she leaned on the rail. "Go get her Jugey, I'm rooting for you!"

Ruby, Blake and Weiss looked at her before turning back to the fight.

"Do your best... Both of you!" Ruby yelled.

'Crush him Pyrrha! Show him why you're the best.' Weiss thought to herself. There was no way that someone famous like her would lose here. Weiss had always wanted to be Pyrrha's partner, so it a loss what was not permissible.

"…" Blake kept watching with squinted eyes.

"Hah!" The armoured women bashed her shield against Juge, breaking out of the blade fight. She jumped high and spun in a 360° motion before throwing Milo at him. Juge breathed out before redirecting Akoúo̱ using his dagger and using Morte Consumptis plus his semblance again to grab Milo and throw her weapon away. He knew...

"She's open now!" Wasting no time the brown haired teen grabbed Oblivion and aimed it at her. However his battle-honed instincts told him something.

'Wait… is she trying… oh no!' His body was already in motion as he saw her confident smirk. She touched Oblivion before grabbing his head and hitting it with her knee making his stumble back a few steps. Using the momentum, she used her semblance to retract her weapons, before back flipping to a safe distance.

"That one hit deep! Would you look at the clock too? Only roughly 1 minute left! Time to go all out." Holly explained.

Juge gritted his teeth, she had touched the dagger. Seeing her fight before he knew that she had control of his dagger now. "Damn it, I got careless."

"Sorry Juge, but I'll be taking over that weapon now." The red haired huntress raised her hand and activated her semblance and held it towards the black dagger as she was already swinging her Milo at his side.

"Why did Juge's hand stop? Is he terrified? Why is she called the apologetic huntress? So many questions!" The commentary intensified as well.

It wasn't like Pyrrha to become surprised in combat, but for this type of situation... She did.

"W-what?!" her eyes fixated on the dagger "Your blade… it's metal right?!"

"I thought so too… but then again." Juge gently grasped Oblivion. "Considering who gave it to me, it was obviously not what one expects." He thanked Akashi in his mind while deflecting Milo with the black dagger.

"Wait wait wait! Isn't Pyrrha supposed to be able to control magnetism?" Ruby seemed confused.

"Which means this dagger is not made of metal." Weiss concluded.

"Enough!" Juge crouched low before putting Oblivion away and channelled the dust into Morte. "Dual Dust mode: Activate!"

The energy gathering in his weapon made Pyrrha step back.

"White fire!" His whip ignited in white flames as he began moving it on a figure 8 motion, gaining more speed.

"..." Pyrrha could only hear her heartbeat increase with each pulse. Her red hair was covering her green eyes

'Since when… did I feel pressure like this?'

'Since when did I feel like I can't see a clear victory? It's been so long...' Her body started shaking with excitement.

Her lip trembled before they curved upwards. She could feel her breath get ragged.

As if in response to this boy's iron will she also sprinted ahead. She was intend on using her full skill this time. There was no holding back against an enemy who earnestly threw everything at her!

The white fire clashed with the shield and a spear cut through the flames, straight at Juge's face.

'!'

They both stopped as the spear softly touched Juge's throat and a whip had tightened around Pyrrha's.

-Beeeeeep-

"Ooooooh time-out! What a shame! Things just heated up too." Holly seemed as disappointed as the rest.

Pyrrha and Juge were stuck in their deadlock and only noticed the situation after a while.

DRAW

The screen above declared.

(Change music: Persona 5 OST Preview - "Battle Outcome" HD)

A small amount of groans erupted before they started cheering for the both of them. Both students relaxed and let their weapons sink down.

"Good match Pyrrha, that last move was way faster than anything you showed before!" Juge nodded, however he raised an eyebrow when he saw the famous huntress looked at him with a gentle smile.

"Yeah… the next time we can cut loose is the Vytal tournament. Hopefully we can face each other again there." Pyrrha nodded as they shook hands. "I'll be waiting… Juge." His eyebrows were further raised as he could have sworn her eyes glinting for a second. Like those of a predator.

"I'll look forward to that then." Giving one last shake they parted back to their teams. However the red-haired woman continued to look at Juge before walking back to JNPR were Jaune and Ren were looking at her.

"I'm really impressed by Juge, he stood his ground." Ren commented on him before looking at his weapons. "I guess it's my turn."

"WHOA! I can't believe that Juge stood his ground, I would have gotten a heart attack if you would lost to him Pyrrha!" Jaune looked more exhausted than herself. "…Pyrrha?"

"Hm?"

"You okay?"

"Oh... yes… I'm doing great… better than great Jaune." She mused before looking at Ren. "You're up Ren."

"Mhm." Jaune patted Ren on the shoulder before taking care of Nora, who had still not managed to stand up by herself again.

"Just kick him until he cries~"

"I can't do that Nora..." Ren sighed.

(Change music: Kuroko No Basket 2 OST [CD1] - [22]【Stalemate】)

Changing rooms

"Without further delay let us head to the 3rd fight of the night!" Holly shouted as the crowd rallied again. Akashi zipped on his final piece of clothing before looking at the mini screen again.

"Show time."

---

The sudden cheers soon turned to whispers as they started looking at LARJ.

"Where's the other guy!?" One of them shouted.

"Don't tell me he chickened out already!"

Riza looked at Lucy and Juge before looking at the corridor where he was last seen.

"Akashi?"

Ren was concerned too for his opponent; he knew that Akashi was not one to run from a fight.

---

"Mari… this 'Akashi', is he a coward?" Asuna spoke as she turned to her white haired teammate.

"Certainly not Asuna. Akky is a simple minded nuisance, which is exactly why he doesn't run form a fight." She smiled at her.

"If you don't mind answering me Mari..." The timid girl behind her tapped her on the shoulder. "What is his fighting style?"

"Hm… Last time I checked it was a hammer, an inferior copy of little Alexis'… and somewhat like my own, but he left the Academy in a childish rage and then he returned back to Beacon with a new weapon." She shrugged. "Your guess is just as good as mine. If he is not clinging to the image of his sister then he probably chose something at random."

---

He could hear the crowds getting restless.

That didn't help him at all. Nervousness was sickness and he didn't know the treatment.

---

"…" Alexis saw the screen.

'The Silent boy with deadly looks!"

LIE REN

VS

'The hunter with hidden talents!'

AKASHI MAYHIRO

"This is to be expected Alexis, you're concerned for you brother." Glynda watched her twitch. "But for what it's worth, Mr. Mayhiro will be fine."

"That's not I'm worried about Glyn-Glyn." She spoke quietly "I'm worried about what Akashi is going to do to Ren."

"What do you mean?" The witch asked with a frown. "Lie Ren is a skilled hunter himself. "

"Warmachine took Akky as his pupil."

"…what?" Glynda looked at her doubtfully. "War's disciple... Warmachine, the hunter that single handled quelled the siege of Heartbay in Vacuo." She recited her knowledge.

"The one that is responsible for the annihilation of one of the headquarters of the White Fang, none of them survived his attack." Alexis bit her lip. "That 'thing' doesn't have a heart, he killed what he wants to kill and does it to the beat of his own rhythm." Her green eye met Glynda's. "I'm scared that he'll turn Akky into something I can't hug!"

"Figures. I don't think this boy will turn into a monster like him." She tried to comfort Alexis. "But it would be a blessing if he managed to straighten you out now." She added.

"Akky!" Alexis cried behind her glasses.

….

"Wow… your seem happy about these fights Mia!" Leaf patted his youngest sister on the head, earning a pout from her.

"Well… I'm exited you know! New people to see and stuff!" Mia exclaimed loudly before covering her mouth. "Ah...Em..!"

Leaf turned around to see Emma sitting down next to them. "Have they arrived?"

"Yep, your captain's pissed at you, so is Mia's team." Emma sighed. "I told them to go see the loading office from there."

"Thanks sis."

"Whatever you say, crappy brother."

---

1 week ago - Forest

"Akashi…. how well do you know your semblance?" Warmachine asked as he took a bite of his fish. He had lifted his mask a little around the mouth area.

"Enough to know that I can't change the density of other object. Whether it be living or dead." Akashi spoke.

"Indeed. You don't have the power to do that, but…" He paused. "Akashi, how well can you control yourself?"

"Huh?"

"How well can you compose yourself?"

Akashi tilted his head.

"I won't teach how to use your bow; instead I drill into your body and mind how to control yourself in harsh situations. You will learn in four days, then I will move you to the next stage. If you can survive that is." Warmachine fixed his masked and stood up. "We now head were the Grimm sleep. Come without your weapon."

---

Beacon, Arena

Akashi stepped into the light as he saw the crowd go nuts again. Nodding to himself he continued walking towards the middle were Ren stood.

"Told you he wouldn't run~" Lucy spoke.

"Of course not. None of us would." Juge just crossed his arms.

The man walking in wore a black high collar, short sleeved shirt, his right hand was heavily covered by a black gauntlet while his left arm was wrapped with stain wrappings.

His shirt consisted of four different coloured streaks near his stomach. Red, orange, gold and blue.

His thighs were covered in a white cloth tied together by a black rope, but underneath it was an orange armour plate that protected his legs all the way to his feet.

"That is an eye-catcher." Riza commented on his new clothes.

"Like you are one to talk." Blake said teasingly.

"Looks like Lucy and me aren't the only ones that changed this semester. Almost all of us did." She giggled before looking at Juge.

"This is a traditional attire of my clan. I can't just change it on the whims of fashion trends-"

"Yes, yes, you are so traditional Jugey~" Lucy just patted his head by standing up; she managed to reach it while he was sitting. Riza almost broke into a big laugh, but managed to cover her mouth.

"Go Akky!" Alexis yelled from above them.

Akashi nodded at Ren as he met him in the middle.

"Gentlemen, I trust you know the rules?" Ozpin spoke. Both the boys nodded. "Good, to your positions then!"

Ren and Akashi bumped fists before walking away.

"Strange. Where's Black Eclipse?" Juge noticed it right off the bat. "He's not carrying it with him."

"That's right!" Riza said before cupping her mouth. "Hey Akashi! Where's your weapon!?"

The young Mayhiro looked at them and gave them the thumbs up, before turning his back on them.

"Did he just ignore me?" A vein popped on her head. Her anger was redirected by a sudden glomp of her tail. Lucy was rubbing her fact against it.

"Fluffy ~"

"Not again...!"

---

Akashi looked at the blue bandana before tying it onto his head. "Mary, watch me!"

Ren readied himself.

Ozpin looked at the two.

"The 3rd fight... Begins!"

Ren knew.

Most of team LARJ were the first to come out swinging, he observed all of them and made mental notes of them. He braced himself for the young Mayhiro to come out and hit him.

That didn't happen.

Akashi stood there and watched him. He didn't move a muscle.

"…" All he did was just stare at him

"…hm?" the green dressed hunter raised himself before returning the stare right back at him.

"…" Akashi continued looking at him before sighing.

He raised his hand.

"I forfeit this match."

"WHAT?!" Nearly everyone in the stands collapsed.

"Y-y-you can't be serious! This is an outrage!" Holly's voice sounded hurt.

"No need to yell. I forfeit this match." He shrugged his shoulder and looked at the headmaster and Ren. "Sorry guys, I just know when I don't stand a chance. If I went all out I would go too far... so I can't showcase my training yet."

"…" Ren shook his head with a neutral expression.

"I admit... I am a little surprised Mr. Mayhiro, are you sure that you don't want to retract that?"

"Yes Headmaster, I'm not ready."

"Then it can't be helped. Akashi Mayhiro has forfeited his match. The winner by default is Lie Ren." Ozpin spoke before Akashi turned back towards him. And into the glaring eye of his teammates. Well except for Lucy whose face was hidden inside a fluffy tail.

Riza, the one who was already angry rushed out to meet him and scold him. "You Idiot! What ate hell are you thinking?" She skidded to a halt and channelled all her energy into her fist. "Answer me!"

Akashi looked up and sighed again, the Mayhiro took a step back and caught her fist easily; supporting her leaning weight he pushed her back to a standing position. "What?"

'Did he just take my attack?' Riza was surprised, usually he would be caught off guard and take a hit in the solar plexus. She didn't really put any technique or thought into the punch, but it was still a surprise.

"I'm not ready Riza, simple as that. Don't misunderstand, I have trained, but it's not enough to get where you guys are." He looked down solemnly.

"…" Juge looked at him before rubbing his head. "Right, no use crying over spilt milk, there will plenty of other times to fight. I was interested to see how you would deal with Ren's ranged combat, not using your bow. Looks like that was impossible after all." He smiled understandingly.

"Just don't get too full of yourself yet. I might overtake you while you are still looking at me with your sympathy!" He pointed at Juge before facing Lucy "Sorry cap, you're up next!"

"Eeeh?" Lucy looked up from her comfortable living pillow. Her expression said 'I have to fight too?'

"Would you let go already! And don't you dare forfeit out of laziness!" Riza grabbed Lucy's face and pulled her cheeks.

---

"Akashi… forfeited?" Jaune was stunned before looking at Ren.

"It's not like he didn't stand a chance. I couldn't read him. It felt like he could have struck at me any time. But he didn't seem to be sure himself."

"You mean?"

"Akashi is developing a new fighting style, something that we have yet to see." Pyrrha told Jaune. "He doesn't want to reveal it yet."

"What a bothersome guy." Jaune went silently into thinking mode before getting another nudge from the red-haired huntress. "Huh?"

"The last fight is all yours Jaune. Good luck!" She beamed at him.

"Huh… AH!?" The blonde looked up to the screen.

'Leader of JNPR!"

JAUNE ARC

VS

'Leader of LARJ'

LUCY STRIPES

"Oh okay, oh-oh-okay, totally fine, just going against Lucy!" Jaune calm himself before heading towards the arena with his weapon ready. As he saw Lucy walking down as well, he had to admit.

"Did Lucy become really cute?" He couldn't help but to admire her. Those clothes and the new hairstyle had completely changed her image.

As the two met in the Arena, Ozpin for the 4th and last time was standing in the middle.

"Hey Lucy, how are you?" Jaune asked with a smile.

"Good as ever Jaune~ You?" Lucy smiled brightly at him, making Jaune blush a little.

"G-good... good luck!"

"You too!" Lucy bowed a little. Before skipping towards her end. And so did Jaune.

"For the last match! Begin!" Ozpin shouted.

"I forf-"

Crack. As the first syllable left Lucy's mouth the sound of something getting crushed could be heard. She looked up and saw Riza crumpling her pack of pocky. Her eyes widened in despair.

Something inside her changed!

"Aaaaahhhhyaaaa!" Jaune cried out as he pulled out his sword from the sheath that turned into a shield and charged at Lucy. In this time training with Alexis and Pyrrha, his stamina and strikes had grown tremendously, he could run for 3 km without losing his breath, not to mention that his senses had sharpened as well. He was a little above average now as Alexis had put it.

As he swung as Lucy, the red head girl smiled as she skipped back and his attack missed. He looked at her again before swing with less strength and more control. Again she dogged. And black flipped away from him. Grunting he took a page from Pyrrha's stlye and decided to shield bash her. 'If she thinks she can keep avoiding me, then she got another thing coming!'

The girl giggled before bending her knee and jumped over Jaune, making him spin around to reveal his sword in hand. He feinted a strike to the stomach as Lucy back-stepped before crouching to the ground and attempting a leg-sweep.

It failed.

As Lucy skidded to safety, she acknowledged Jaune's improvement. "Sorry Jauny… but I can't afford to lose!" Because her pockys were held hostage.

"Then!" Jaune yelled as he ran at full pace towards her, shaking her head Lucy grabbed Yin with two hands, raised it close to her head and exhaled.

"This aura... LARJ's captain is going to deal the final blow. Can the hero of our hearts take this hit?" Holly said silently.

The world around Lucy became silence, the noise of her inner music was there, she could feel him coming closer to her, she gently took as step back and bend her knee a little and opened her mouth.

"Respect."

For Jaune, it was seeing a disappearing act... she was there, and the next moment she was behind him with her blade sliding back into its hidden sheath.

Instead of feeling stunned he felt completely paralysed. His whole body had stiffened up as if he had been petrified.

For everyone else...

Jaune's pants were now shorts.

His hood was cut off.

Multiple deep gashes were dealt to his shield.

Red lines were all over his body and face.

Indeed it could be said he was lucky to still stand.

But he was already KO'd.

The crowd was silent as Lucy cleaned her sword and ran towards a KO'd Jaune.

"Sorry Jaune, next time you will definitely hit me once~!"

Ozpin was again the first to recover.

"Jaune Arc is unable to fight. The winner is Lucy Stripes! This match Between LARJ and JNPR ended in a 2 – 1 for LARJ. Therefore today's exhibition match is over!"

The audience cheered and clapped.

"Thank you for tuning in and taking your time to watch us everyone! Beacon radio will have a post match commentary later tomorrow, so be sure to tune in again!" Holly was all smiles, though after the crowd left she looked exhausted.

"You pushed yourself with an event in public." Zack, her co-commentator patted her shoulder.

"No, I am fine. It was nice to do this for a change."

Down at the arena the teams gathered and talked about the events. Even though JNPR lost, it was clear that these results were not necessarily the real measure of their ability.

"We are back!" Akashi and Lucy raised their fists, each putting one arm around the other's shoulders. Juge stood behind them with a smile, while Riza rubbed Lucy's head.

Thus the normal days returned to Beacon... for now.

---

Till Next time!

Johno 343 and Bugdevil