Round four! Begin!
Naruto, dressed in his usual attire, looked at the school uniform on its hanger in annoyance as it hung on his wall. It looked uncomfortable, plus he questioned the purpose of a uniform obviously made for appearance rather than function at a combat school. Naruto only smirked as he formed a hand sign, "Transform!" A poof of smoke enveloped Naruto before it vanished to reveal his normal outfit had been replaced with the uniform, at least in appearance. He was pretty sure this wasn't against the rules since no one else here could transform into other things. Plus this would save him time if he was selected for any sparring. If only he could keep Maelstrom on him… "… Better not. The uniform is one thing but I might get in trouble if they catch me with Maelstrom out of its locker without permission…" Naruto thought as he looked at the clock on his wall to see he still had time for breakfast, "I wonder if Auntie will still cook dinner…?" Naruto mumbled to himself as he walked out of his private dorm room to the cafeteria. Since the school provided food for the students and teachers even on days without class, it was safe to assume Summer wouldn't need to cook. That on top of Naruto's dorm room not being equipped with cooking facilities led him to believe other dorms were lacking the same equipment. Still, maybe he would see Summer at breakfast and he could ask her then.
Summer, however, was preoccupied with another matter; the meeting Ozpin had arranged for the morning. Ozpin seemed to be waiting for Summer as she walked out of the elevator into Ozpin's office. "Thank you for joining me, Mrs. Rose. I'll try to keep this meeting short so you don't miss breakfast."
"No need to worry about that. I had time to eat before coming here. So, what is it about Naruto you want to know exactly?" Summer asked in a cautious tone as she stopped in front of Ozpin's desk. Even if it was her old headmaster, she was always protective of people asking about Naruto. Past experience taught her that most people interested in her disciple had negative intentions.
Ozpin caught the tone in which Summer spoke, "Is this something you would rather not discuss?"
"Hm? Oh…" Summer smiled nervously as she scratched her cheek, "Sorry… Force of habit really. Whenever someone showed interest in Naruto back in his world, it was almost never for a good reason. I won't go into those details because that is his decision to tell, not mine."
"I see. Then I will try to keep this as impersonal as possible. I simply wish to the extent of Naruto's combat experience. He carried himself very well during the initiation and clearly held himself back. I feel Naruto himself could have taken out that large pack of Grimm by himself if he truly wanted to." Ozpin said as he folded his hands on the desk.
Summer sat there quietly as she sorted her thoughts. On one hand, she didn't wish for anyone outside her family to know of Naruto's status as a person from another world simply for the mess it could cause her dear disciple. On the other, however, this was Ozpin, a very trusted teacher who also was kind enough to allow Naruto to enroll with no history and for Summer to take up a job teaching at Beacon after missing for seven years. "... I suppose you have a right to know since this is your school. I'll have to keep it brief and explain in detail another time, and would ask you keep this between us for now Professor. Is that is okay?"
"Of course." Ozpin said before he lifted his mug, and so Summer started to explain Naruto's situation, including the fact he was not from Remnant. Twenty minutes later the summary of the tale was done. Ozpin leaned back in his seat, "Another world where the Grimm do not exist and warriors are trained when they're young children that can only be reached via a rare new type of dust. Both fascinating and concerning."
"It's not all glamor truth be told." Summer replied, "The lack of a common enemy for mankind led to more conflict between people. It seems like every country is simply looking for a reason to do battle with another. Skirmishes would break out very often all over the place. Always trying to find an edge over their enemies to the point they never noticed the real problems…" Ozpin raised an eyebrow in confusion. Summer simply shook her head in response, "Another story for another time… If the clock is right then I need to head for class. I know I didn't give a lot of details, but I hope this helped."
"More than you realize Mrs. Rose. Thank you for your time." Ozpin said. This information had left the gears of his mind turning.
Summer smiled, "You're welcome Professor. I'll take my leave now. Have to be ready to teach." She said before she turned to leave.
Once the elevator doors closed with Summer inside, Ozpin spun his chair around to stare out the window of his office, "His strange powers… another world… Could that be the source?" Ozpin said quietly to himself. He would have to look deeper into the rabbit hole on this matter. He would also have to consort the others of his hidden organization once he had more information. Hopefully, Summer wouldn't be too upset with him if he had to reveal this information to a select few individuals should events come to pass. If the dots connected, Naruto could become a revolution for the world of Remnant… or a target.
Speaking of the blonde, Naruto meanwhile had just finished breakfast and was heading back towards the dorms. He hadn't seen team RWBY or JNPR and figured he would check up on them. "In retrospect, I should have sent a clone." Naruto thought as he walked down the hallway towards the dorm rooms of his friends. Still not like he couldn't make it to class fast enough to avoid being late.
"T-To class!" Naruto heard Ruby tell from down the hall as he approached a corner. Suddenly Weiss rounded the corner and slammed into Naruto. Thankfully due to her smaller size the most Weiss did was knock some air out of him.
"Watch where-!" Weiss started to say, unaware of whom she had run into. Before she could finish, however, Ruby rounded the same corner and slammed into Weiss's back, followed by Blake then Yang. The combined force of the additional three girls knocked Naruto over resulting in a messy pile up in the hallway. A popping sound echoed in the hallway as Naruto's transformation dispelled from the impact.
"Ow… Next time… I don't worry about you all being late…" Naruto complained from his position below the four girls.
"Heh. Hey, Naruto." Ruby said as she lifted her head from his shoulder with an awkward smile. Naruto only grunted as Ruby noticed Naruto was out of uniform, "Why aren't you in uniform?"
"I was…" That was Naruto's only response
"Get off already!" Weiss commanded with a struggled breath. Being the smallest of the group, the weight of three additional people made it difficult to breathe.
"Yeah, yeah." Yang said as she moved her hands to push herself up. She pushed off something soft which gave way slightly before it stopped. "Keep your shirt…" Yang froze when saw what she had pushed, well more like who. Blake and Weiss were also staring wide-eyed at the scene. Yang had used Ruby's head as a prop, and accidentally pushed her sister's face into Naruto's where their lips met. Yang had just made Ruby and Naruto kiss, and since she was in as much shock as her team she held her hand there in place. Of course, team JNPR came at just the right moment to witness the entire event.
Ruby's normally pale skin put a cherry to shame as she came to terms with what was happening. Naruto was sporting a heavy blush himself as he froze in place, not sure what to do. Neither heard Blake yell at Yang, who quickly let go of her sister and climbed off the pile. Blake hurried off the pile and stood with Yang as they just watched. No one said anything as Ruby slowly sat up with her face still flushed. A moment of silence as Ruby started to shake. Everyone but Naruto took noticed and covered their ears before… "KAAAAHHHHHH!" Ruby screamed as loud as she possibly could before bolting off at full semblance speed. Doors ripped open by the sudden ferocity of the wind created in Ruby's wake. Even Naruto and Weiss found themselves being carried away and slammed into the far wall.
Weiss let out a groan of pain as she and Naruto slid off the wall. Weiss was fortunate enough to hit the wall upright where as poor Naruto was upside down, which resulted in his head knocking on the ground before falling over completely. "This is all your fault." Weiss commented as she stood up.
"I just came to check on everyone…" Naruto complained as climbed to his feet, "If you all hadn't been running late this wouldn't have happened at all." He argued as Blake, Yang, and team JNPR ran up to them.
"You two alright?" Blake asked. She received a nod from Weiss and Naruto which let her continue, "Then we should find Ruby and make sure she's okay."
"You all can look for her. I for one refuse to be late for class any more than I already am, which is her fault for holding us up this morning with that silly redecorating montage. Something like that could have waited until classes were finished for the day." Weiss said before turning heel and walking out of the dormitory.
Everyone was silent for a moment before Naruto spoke the words everyone was thinking, "She can be a real bitch sometimes."
"I'll say… Still, she is right about being late. You all go on ahead. This mess is my fault cause I didn't pay attention so I'll take care of it." Yang said. She couldn't really blame Naruto on this one. Not like he planned to be barrel over and pinned under by four girls. Everyone looked at each other before they shrugged and walked for the door. Yang was Ruby's older sister and this seemed like it was best handled by her.
Naruto dusted his clothes off as he spoke, "I'll help too. I'm kind of responsible for this mess too."
"Not sure that's a good idea. You're probably the last person she wants to see." Yang replied as she started for the exit.
"Then I'll take a hike if that happens. I should still try to talk to her." Naruto said as he followed Yang out of the dorm. He wanted to apologize for taking what he assumed was her first kiss based on reaction. Granted it was his too but in all honesty, he couldn't complain about that.
"Well… alright. I'll talk to her first and give you the signal if it's clear." Yang stated as the two broke into a run around the school.
Once outside the dorm, Naruto asked, "What class did you have?"
"Professor Port's. Why?" Yang asked as she looked to Naruto only to witness him produce three clones. The clones all transformed at once, appearing as Ruby, Yang, and Naruto in uniform. They broke off towards the school, leaving Yang surprised.
Naruto smiled at her baffled look, "They're just place holders. They'll make a distraction for you to take their place once we take care of this. I have a different class so I'll have to split after this."
"I'm so using you to skip the boring classes!" Yang said enthusiastically. Naruto couldn't help the nervous feeling he got from Yang now. She must not have known that his ability to transform also meant he could turn into other people. Then again it had really never come up. Ruby was the one most interested in learning about what all Naruto could do. Yang seemed more into his stories on his pranks and fights. She was a bit of a firecracker though, so it wasn't much of a surprise.
Naruto looked around hoping to spot the bright red cloak of his friend, "Where do you think Ruby would go?"
"Not too far. She's fast and will explore anywhere, but I don't think she would leave campus… Let me see." Yang said as she came to a stop and pulled out her scroll. She dialed Ruby's number and let the scroll ring.
Another ring later a song was faintly heard playing, "This will be the day we've waited for!" A yelp of surprise was heard over the song. Yang and Naruto headed for the source of the noise around the corner of the part of the school. Yang stopped Naruto just short of Ruby before she walked up to her little sister.
"Stupid scroll!" Ruby yelled as she fumbled to catch the scroll bouncing between her hands. She immediately closed the device to ignore the call with a sigh and hugged her knees again.
Yang could help the laugh at her sister's predicament as she peeked from around the corner, "Ignoring me already? You're growing up so fast!" Ruby yelped as Yang took a seat next to her, "You okay?"
"No, I'm not okay! I accidentally kissed my friend, and then I freaked out and ran away!" Ruby said in a spasm of emotions, "He probably thinks I'm mad at him or something…"
"Well, he was worried about you when you ran off." Yang said before she gave Ruby a playful shove, "I didn't think you were the type to freak out over a little accidental kiss though."
"It was my first kiss! Just because I'm not all lady like and fancy like Weiss doesn't mean I didn't have dreams about how it would happen!" Ruby said in an angry tone which caused Yang to feel slightly guilty, "I always pictured it like one of those fairy tales. An amazing sunset while the person I'm dating and I are standing on a romantic cliff or balcony, soft music playing…"
"An amazing dress?" Yang finished with a smile. She reached out around from around the corner and waved Naruto over.
"Ew no! The hood stays!" Ruby clarified, making her distaste for formal clothing known, "I'll never understand how other girls walk in those stilts. Still… I just didn't think my first kiss would turn out like that."
"Could be worse. At least it was with an attractive guy you know instead of some stranger. Speaking of said guy, Naruto has been standing around the corner the entire time." Yang said as Naruto peeked his head out.
Ruby immediately hopped to her feet at the sight of the spiky blonde and walked up towards him, "Naruto! Um… I'm… sorry about freaking out earlier…"
"It's okay. It was an accident, and if it makes you feel any better it was my first kiss too." Naruto said with a sheepish grin, "Yang is right, it could be a lot worse for us. I could have wound up accidentally kissing a Grimm or something."
Ruby couldn't help the giggle at the image of Naruto accidentally kissing a Grimm and freaking out afterward. "I'm just glad you're not mad. I don't do well with friends being angry at me."
Naruto smirked as he leaned down to Ruby and whispered, "If we should be mad at anyone, it should be Yang. Want to prank her later for revenge?"
Ruby smiled as well as she and Naruto turned to Yang with a mischievous glint in their eyes. Yang noticed the stare and couldn't help a nervous laugh, "Hey uh… what's with that look?"
"Oh, nothing." Ruby said sweetly as she walked away from the two, "We'd better get to class. Better late than never and all that!"
Naruto only laughed at Yang's nerves as he walked after Ruby. Yang meanwhile couldn't shake the chill from her spin, "Seriously what was with that look?!"
After a day of classes the one class Naruto was actually looking forward too came around, Summer's class. He had one class away from all his friends and with team JNPR. He was already sitting at a desk in the front row when team RWBY entered. Ruby took notice of her blonde friend and took a seat next to him, "Hey Naruto. Thanks for the help with the clones earlier today." She whispered, hoping her mother wouldn't hear. The last thing she needed was her mother finding out she was late her first day. Yang took a seat next to her sister with Blake between the blonde and Weiss.
"No problem. Anything interesting happens today?" Naruto asked. His day had been rather dull even with Nora in his last class. Diplomatic Relations was not an interesting class even it was essential for Huntsmen and Huntresses to know so they wouldn't cause international incidents.
"Oh, you know. I goofed off in Professor Port's class, got Weiss to snap at me for cheering her on, and then found out she doesn't like me leading the team. Then I talked to Professor Ozpin and he made the point that if I want to be a good leader I should always be at my best instead of playing around… Not my best first day." Ruby admitted. Granted it was her own fault but still.
"So long as you learned from it in the end." Summer said from in front of Ruby, causing the young girl to jump in freight, "I hope I won't have the same issues from you in my class Ruby. As Naruto can tell you from experience, I'm not near as tolerant as other teachers might be." She added with a sweet smile that unnerved everyone who saw it.
"How bad could it be?" Yang asked which made Naruto let out a nervous laugh.
"She had me stand on my hands for an hour with weights on my legs and threw knives at me if I started to slouch when I refused to study one day." Naruto answered, causing the girls to his right to all gulp nervously. Summer had simply pulled out a kunai and spun it on her index finger innocently before she walked back over to her desk.
"Is she a task master or something?!" Blake asked in a hushed tone.
Naruto scratched cheek with a small grin, "Well in her defense she did give me a warning that I would be punished if I didn't do my homework. It was really my own fault. She's strict but fair about it."
"We'll see about that." Weiss commented as more students filed into the classroom. She was mulling over the words Professor Port had with her over her own behavior during his class.
Summer used a remote to turn on the four monitors on the back wall. The monitors had various formations of four man squads battling a single opponent and on the last monitor simply had the word "Weakness" on it. The cross pattern formation, pincer formation, and arrow formation. "Good afternoon class. My name is Summer Rose, and I'll be your professor for Team Close Quarter Combat Expertise. First off, yes I am the mother of Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long and no I do not show favoritism. They will have to perform just as well as the rest of you, if not better, to pass my class. Now, to begin, how many of you have taken the time to get to know your teammates?" A few hands in the class went up, but most of the class's hands stayed down. "Hm, more than I would have guessed. Good for those who have taken this step. As for the rest of you, especially the team leaders, take note of this. You will need to know the strength and weakness of each team member in order to make effective battle formations. Your team mates will also be responsible for informing you of all their own traits. Which comes to our first lesson of the year." Summer said as she pointed at the last monitor, "Team weaknesses and how to overcome them. Your strengths mean nothing if your enemy can find out your weaknesses and exploit them. Can anyone tell me the weaknesses of their team?" No one raised their hands as all the students looked around nervously. "It's okay if you don't know of your team's weaknesses. That is the whole point of this lesson. Does any team care to volunteer and come to the floor?" Again silence filled the room for a moment before someone was heard laughing.
"My team doesn't have a weakness! This lesson is a waste of our time." The voice of Cardin Winchester said from the third row of desks.
"Cardinal, thank you for volunteering your team! Please go change into your combat gear and report back here. I'll come looking if you're not back in five minutes." Summer replied as she grabbed Scattered Skies off of the table. She heard the groan of a couple males as all of team CRDL filed out of the classroom to gather their gear. Once they returned they were standing in a line in the center of the classroom. Cardin had his mace resting on his shoulder. Russel Thrush kept his daggers rested at his sides. Sky Lark stood nervously with his halberd. Dove Bronzewing was the only one who stood battle ready with his Hallstatt sword. Summer studied the pose of her students for a moment, "Little space between them and only one ready to take this seriously. They'll do more harm to each other than they will to me." Summer lifted her weapon, "Come at me whenever you're ready."
All four of the teenagers charged at once, much to Summer's disappointment. Russel made it to her first as he had the least amount of armor and smallest weapon. Summer split her weapon apart as dodged Russel's attempt to stab at her. She smacked his wrist with the blunt side of her sword before triggering its morph mechanism. The blade flipped back onto the gun barrel and trapped Russel's wrist in her weapon. Summer dragged Russel around which moved him between her and Cardin as he attempted an overhead attack with his mace. Russel took the full force of the attack to the back as Summer released him from her weapon. Russel slammed to the floor as Summer displayed her acrobatic skills when she gave Cardin a powerful kick to his face and used him as a stand to flip herself over Sky's attempt to sweep her legs out from under her. Cardin stumbled back as Summer delivered slam to Sky's face with the butt of her weapon while in mid flip. With Sky dazed, Dove attempted to catch Summer off by firing off the gun built into the hilt of his sword. Summer simply deflected the bullets away in the direction of Dove's teammates. Sky took a few rounds in his dazed state while Cardin avoided the attacks. "Watch it!" He yelled at Dove. His distraction cost him pain as Cardin suddenly felt his gut be slammed by the full force of Summer with her blade.
"Wow. Mom is amazing!" Ruby commented as she and her team watched Summer more or less toy with Cardin's team. She would only strike when one of the boys left themselves wide open for an attack, but other than that she often had them attacking each other. Summer deflected Sky's halberd into Russel's gut before disarming Sky completely. She used Sky's halberd to pin Russel to the wall by his clothes as she avoided Cardin's attempt at a back attack.
"She is. Auntie's not even being serious." Naruto said as he watched. Cardin's team would be on the ground unconscious, possibly bleeding, if she was serious. "After I unlocked my aura and because of how it was unlocked, Auntie stepped my training hard. There were times when her attacks hit so hard it would finish my aura and me in one go."
"That must have hurt a lot." Yang said as she watched Cardin be thrown across the room against the wall.
Naruto laughed before he replied, "Oh yeah. I'd be bed ridden the next day guaranteed if that happened."
"What did you mean by how your aura was awakened?" Blake asked as she watched Russel be thrown on top of Cardin without his daggers.
Naruto hummed as he tried to figure out how to explain that one. Blake and Weiss still didn't know he wasn't from Remnant and he didn't want to explain that while in a class full of people who could eavesdrop on him. "Naruto had an incident with a criminal before Mom had a chance to awaken his aura for him. That fight nearly got him killed, and his aura awoke before that happened." Yang chimed in, covering Naruto's ass with a half-truth.
"How long ago was the fight?" Weiss asked. This topic had her interest more than the beat down of team CRDL. Considering his level of skill, Naruto's adversary must have been a powerful one to withstand his array of skills. One thing Weiss wanted to know about was Naruto's mysterious dustless abilities. If his semblance was wind, then just how did Naruto do those other skills?
"Four years ago." Naruto answered which surprised Blake and Weiss. Naruto had been fighting criminals since he was twelve? Training and tournament battles were one thing. Those were sanctioned and monitored with medical personnel on hand should any accidents happen. Battling outlaws, however… anything goes with all or nothing stakes on the line.
"Now class…" Summer called, regaining team RWBY's and Naruto's attention, "I hope you paid attention to this bout." She finished with Cardin's team all sprawled out on the floor in pain, "Cardin said his team had no weakness, but the fight shows otherwise. Their team coordination was absolutely horrible, which let me easily make their attacks hit each other. None of them took the time to assess the situation and make a plan of attack. They charged in blindly and as a result, lost. Had this been a Grimm or worse, a person who intended to do them harm, team CRDL would be tomorrows funeral services." Summer said as Cardin and his team picked themselves up and returned to their seats. "Let me make this clear. Carelessness will get you and others killed." Summer said in a sharp tone, "Never assume you will win the fight! You do not fight to win, you do it to survive." Summer continued as she holstered her weapons, "That is why you train, why you make tactics on how to use your team effectively, and why you learn from every battle! To make sure you and others see tomorrow. Never forget that. Any questions?" The class once again remained silent after the somber speech. Only one person's hand went up, which made Summer smile, "Yes Ruby, what is your question?"
"Um… How do we find our weaknesses? I mean… if we have weaknesses than it's something we didn't see or we would have trained for it right?" Ruby asked. Her mother's lesson was sticking to her hard. She must have had weaknesses that she did not know about.
"A good question Ruby. How does one find the weakness they have? The answer is they often don't find it on their own. It's revealed by battle with others or the help of friends. We as people are often blind to our own flaws, but not others. In that regard, your assignment today will be for each of you to make an accurate list of weaknesses as a team you all believe you may have." Summer said as she walked back over to her desk. "It is only in overcoming weakness that one can truly grow stronger. I hope you all will do well to remember that." Many of the students put on their thinking face at these words.
Another hand went up which caught Summer's attention, "Yes Weiss?"
"Do you have any examples of good exercises to find any weaknesses in ourselves or our teamwork?" Weiss asked with her pencil ready to take notes.
"Well, for individuals, as I said before one way is to do battle. Spar with friends, classmates, or small scale tournaments. You can even ask teachers to give you an evaluation. Teamwork, however, is another trial all its own. You have to not just learn how your teammates fight but adjust your own style to compliment theirs. You have to train yourself to not become your ally's target by mistake, much team CRDL. Cardin did most of my work for me with a little bit of misdirection during the battle." Summer said which earned a growl from Cardin. He didn't like being made a fool of by anyone, even teachers. Summer ignored Cardin's attitude since, in her mind, some humility would do the boy good. "One good method to practice teamwork is to shuffle your team into pairs and spar with each other. You can learn how your team fights from both ends of the spectrum of ally and enemy and use that knowledge to help your teammates improve or expose flaws. Other methods are as simple as just getting to know your teammates better. If you get to know your team well enough, you may find yourself knowing their moves in combat before your own." Summer said as she scanned her students. She definitely had their attention. Now she could only hope her lessons stuck. "Let's wrap up on this. I'll give you all one week to make a list of weaknesses of yourselves and your team as a group. Once that is done, we'll cover measures to cover those weaknesses." Summer finished as the bell for the end of class rang, "Class dismissed!"
"This is going to be a hard assignment…" Yang commented offhandedly. She couldn't argue that she had a weakness or two, but admitting was more difficult than it seemed. She was proud of her fighting style to overpower her opponent.
"True, but it will be helpful in the long run." Blake added as she stood up from her chair, "We'd best get started."
"Yeah. This and the rest of our homework… At least we have a week with this one." Ruby said before she turned to Naruto, "Want to join us?"
Naruto thought about the offer for a moment. Summer had helped him cover his weaknesses during his training years ago. That said, that didn't mean he couldn't have developed another one. "Sure. The more perspectives the better."
"You know, you have it kind of easy this time Naruto. You don't have to worry about the team aspect." Yang said as she and the others also stood up.
"Not quiet Yang. If anything Naruto has it harder than anyone here." Summer said as she had overheard her daughter, "You only have to worry about learning about your team members. When missions begin, Naruto will have to quickly and efficiently learn how to work and lead other teams of any who request him." Summer informed her, "Granted it's not something new to him." She thought in amusement, "You had all best get a move on. Don't want to miss the evening meal. I'll head out myself shortly."
Team RWBY and Naruto nodded and left the classroom as Summer made some preparations for tomorrows lesson. As they all walked down the corridor, none of them notice Cardin and his team loitering in one of the hallways. Cardin watched as they walked by with glare before he focused in on Ruby and Yang. He couldn't get back at Summer for making a fool out of him since she was a teacher, but he could mess with her daughter. "I'll teach her to make me look bad!" Cardin thought before he walked off in the opposite direction.
"Hey Naruto, do you think we can tell Weiss and Blake about… you know…?" Ruby asked as they walked, "They are mine and Yang's teammates so it's gonna come up eventually when they're around."
Everyone stopped as Naruto hummed in thought for a moment with his arms crossed, "Auntie said we should keep it a secret until later on, but you have a point… Well if Weiss and Blake promise not to tell anyone, I don't see a problem with them knowing about it."
"This wouldn't happen to be about those attacks of yours, would they Naruto?" Weiss asked as her interested peaked again.
"Yes and at the same time, no. We can't say any more without that promise." Naruto said with a shrug. Blake and Weiss looked at each other for a moment before they answered.
Alright so this chapter turned out a good bit shorter than I wanted, but I saw a small snag in my plot plan line. An easy fix so no worries. Another reason it is short is I wanted to give everyone something before the new year. I may keep the chapters shorter just so they come out quicker. Matter of fact, poll time! (this poll is also on my profile)
-(I attempted to work Professor Port's class into this chapter but it seemed better left untouched for Ruby's and Weiss's friendship to leave it be. Very hard to get the same lesson across with different words.)-
Poll: Are you satisfied with the 10k+ word chapters at the relatively monthly release or would you prefer shorter chapters at a more rapid release?
That should cover everything. The plot is going to pick up soon. I have a bit of bonding fluff I want to through in before I start that though, so at most two more chapters before it picks up.