It was nice helping Velvet. Being a Faunus and all I can only imagine the amount of discrimination she'd get because of it. When alone I too was bullied and looked down because of my Grimm ability or because I was basically a street urchin wherever I went. So I do know how it feels, albeit not as much as what she might have gone through, but still. If I can I'll do what I can to help her out when I can. IF it means carrying just a little of her workload, I'm all for it.

However after that, things have kind of been a bit… off. What I mean by that is the fact that our friend Jaune has been spending an uncharacteristically specific amount of time with the resident bully of our school Cardin Winchester. Like not being specifically targeted by him constantly, more so like he asks and Jaune goes to him without any complaints whatsoever. Jaune comes off as… too eager at times to help Cardin with whatever he's asking. It's been a couple days since I helped Velvet and when things started to get weird with Jaune.

That's why I decided to peak my curiosity about this whole mess and ask one of his teammates.

"Pyrrha." The red-haired huntress-in-training looks up from her book to me sitting across from her in the library.

"Oh, hey Ethan. Did you need something?" She asks me good heartedly but as soon as she sees the stern and focused look on my face, her smile falls.

"Jaune." She flinches a little at that, further proving that something is up. "I've seen him hanging out with Cardin. A lot more than he should and a hell of a lot more than with you his own team. Somethings up and if it's any consolation I wanna know." I bluntly request of her. Jaune may not come off as the best of a fighter or possible huntsmen at that, but damnit he's my friend and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone hurt my friends.

Pyrrha gets a subtle slightly nervous look about her before she looks around us in case anyone is nearby before looking back at me. "What makes you think somethings wrong with him?"

"Oh give me some credit Pyrrha. I've been to all of the kingdoms at least once and I've seen different forms of people getting what they want from others. Whether its by a knife to a throat or a stealthily hidden meaning behind a subtle threat, I've seen it." I explain softly. A lot of times I've seen, and been the on the receiving end, of muggings and stick-ups and other times I've seen from afar or online of some official being forced to do something that they don't want to do because of leverage from someone else. "And Cardin's got something on your leader to make him his personal lapdog." I lean closer to her, "So spill."

She gives me a wide-eyed look before looking down to the table and appears to be thinking. It doesn't look like she appears to want to tell me considering her tightened fists that curl up. I'm tempted to forget all about it, not wanting to push her and all, but she changes that once she looks up. "Alright, follow me." She gets up out of her seat and proceeds to walk out the library with me following. A few minutes pass as I walk behind her to wherever we are going but eventually we stop outside behind one of the buildings on the edge of the academy. She quickly looks around once more before looking at me. "Can you bring out Raven and Shadow to make sure no one's around? And to keep an eye out, please?" She asks. I'm a little shocked and stunned at the request on how much she wants to make sure no one is listening in, which of course sounds to me like its that much more important.

Without any argument from me, my hand flexes and my black Aura flows out. We look up and spot Raven flying in circles before perching on the corner of the building that rounds to us closest. Shadow silently stalks out of a nearby bush and he goes over to the other corner. With the both of them in place, they take up positions as lookouts and keep an eye out for anyone that may be watching or possibly eavesdropping on us. The fact that they don't sense anyone right off the bat is a good start. "Alright, you're good."

Pyrrha nods at the precaution and begins. "A few nights ago, after you helped Jaune and I helped you in Dr. Oobleck's class, I took Jaune somewhere quiet to offer my help to train him. As we both know, he's not exactly the most… experienced of fighters." She hesitantly admits.

I nod along. "Yes yes I have… noticed that too." The beat down that he faced against Cardin as a demonstration accentuated that fact.

"Well, what happened was, I tried to get him to agree to let me train him. You know to give him a bit of a push to get better. It… didn't go as well as I was hoping." She rubs her arm embarrassingly before continuing, "He got a little angry at the idea of being a 'damsel in distress' and he said—" She stops and quickly looks around again before looking at me expectantly. Concentrating a bit, through the link I have Shadow and Raven don't see or feel anyone else nearby that can eavesdrop on us. I nod at her, giving her just a bit of comfort again before she continues. "Jaune… faked his way into Beacon."

And with that, she reveals to me something that would clearly and obviously get our friend kicked out. Even so, I'm kind of surprised at the idea of Jaune of all people being able to fake his way into this place. "Jaune… Jaune Ark… your leader… was able to fake his way into THIS place?" I accentuate 'this' by pointing towards our feet with both hands.

"Yes! I don't know how. I never asked but he was still pretty angry at me after so I just left. Ever since that night he's been acting like he and Cardin are the best of friends when we both know they clearly are not!" She sternly states and I can't help but agree.

"And that's why you were so cautious right now, because you think Cardin may have heard?" I surmise and she nods.

"Yes. That's the only thing I can think of that he may be using to lord over Jaune."

I groan and rub my head, "Classic blackmail move. And on Jaune no less. He's been in Cardin's sights since practically day one." That's the best reason for why Cardin is pretending to act buddy buddy with Jaune. Suddenly going from bullying to asking for 'favors' doesn't just happen overnight without some sort of legitimate reason and that seems as good a reason as any.

"So… what do we do? I don't want to just tell everyone about Jaune's… special case, especially Nora, so I don't know what to do. Not without Cardin exposing him. I don't want Jaune to be kicked out." She says the last part sadly.

To be honest, I don't want to see Jaune gone either. Ruby and Yang were my first friends here in this place followed by Jaune. With work he can do some good here. Plus as an added incentive, there is no way I'd let a jackass like Cardin get the last laugh on him like that. "And I don't want to see him gone either." I mutter before putting a hand to my chin and begin to think. However I don't get to think long as Raven sends a signal to me showing we're going to have company. The groundskeeper. I quickly grab Pyrrha's hand, much to her surprise, and dispel my pets as we walk hastily to the opposite side. "Look, tomorrow we got a field trip to the forest so let's go deal with that first before we try to come up with any plans to help him." As soon as I say that, we pass the corner and I glance back as the groundskeeper comes into view but doesn't see us. "Don't worry, we'll come up with something. For now, play it cool." I quietly mutter to her as we begin to come into view of the main campus area. While I'm not looking directly at her, I can tell she's smiling.

"Thank you, Ethan." She replies quietly before splitting up.

"No problem." I reply just before we go out of earshot. As I walk with my hands in my pockets, I sigh at the obligation I now find myself in. 'Jeez Jaune. This is a hell of mess you've gotten yourself into.' Amidst my thoughts, I glance back to Pyrrha as she heads back to the library while I back to RWBY's room. 'Lucky for you, you've got friends willing to help. Not the fake kind you got forced into with Cardin.'


'Alright. What can we do? Cardin doesn't exactly have any secrets we can exploit to get him to back off so back-blackmailing him probably won't work. Intimidation? Maybe… he's a tough guy but maybe I can force him to back off. I've dealt with my fair share of guys like him so I'm sure I can do something. Might have to be when he's in a weakened state. Come to think about it, Nora was pretty excited to break his legs. I'm sure when he's sleeping in the nurses office recovering at night, maybe, just maybe, he might he might have a nightmare of some Grimm sneaking into his room, prepared to eat him and a disembodied voice telling him to stop.'

"Heheheheee." I quietly grin at the idea.

"What's so funny?" I almost jump at the voice. Looking down, I see Ruby looking up at me curiously to my spot on my bed. We're both already in our sleep attire and getting ready to go to bed. The others aren't here yet as they're doing some last minute preparations for the field trip tomorrow.

"Oh, nothing. Just something stupid. Nothing you need to concern yourself with." I try to play her off from what I'm really thinking but she continues to stare at me, even giving a smile questionable eyebrow raise. "Don't you have something to go do?" I quickly ask her.

"Yes. I am going to go find the rest of our team. Theirs no way I'm going to have US do all the work while their still sleepy eyed for not getting enough sleep." She explains and heads to the door under me.

"Well good luck with that." I say and go back to me thinking.

"Thanks." I hear the door close. "Hey, Jaune!" That gets my attention. Apparently she didn't close it all the way. Silently I climb down the ladder before going close to the door to listen. As I peek out the door, I see Jaune outside with a grinning and giggling Ruby, no doubt because of his slightly startled expression. "Long time, no see! Did you lock yourself out again?" She asks.

"Oh, uh, nope. Got it." He triumphantly states as he holds up his scroll. It also doesn't help that he tries to laugh it off but its pretty bad.

"So. Where have you been lately?" Ruby asks him. I have a pretty good idea myself on where he's been but as it stands she and not many others know

"I, uh..." He tries to come up with something from his stuttering but he flops and just sighs with a lowered head. "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin has me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't even talk to me, and…" He takes a deep breath through his nose before continuing. "I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea." With that train of thought he becomes depressed as he presses his back to his team's door and slides down to the floor. "I'm a failure."

"Nope!"

Jaune looks up at her in surprise at the blunt statement. "'Nope?'"

"Nope!" She says again before putting a bit more into her words. "You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure." It's a small statement but one that is very true. 'And that's why your my leader Ruby.' I can't help but think.

"But... what if I'm a failure at being a leader?"

For a moment, Ruby seems to think about it. "…Nope!" She doesn't think long.

It's not much in the way of words for him but Jaune laughs regardless as she joins him on the floor. "You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."

"Nope! Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid..." He groans and sinks lower to the ground. "... and you might've even been a failure the first day we met!" He groans even more and goes lower still. 'Geeze Ruby, laying it on a little strong aren't you?' I think as I watch the blonde leaders demeanor falter considerably. "But, you can't be one now. You know why?" She asks.

"Uhhh, because...?"

"Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us." She states a matter of fact. She then gets up and places her hands on her hips as she speaks. "We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you." It's not just Jaune who's surprised and inspired by her but me as well. Even though she's younger than anyone else in the entirety of Beacon, she's really coming into her place as a leader. I've seen Weiss give her tips every now and then on how to properly lead but this… this wasn't in the lessons. 'Well done Ruby.' She then gets up and starts to go down one of the hallways to go find our other teammates but soon stops and gives Jaune a small wave. "Have a good night, Jaune!" She goes off, leaving me to continue watching out the cracked door and a slightly inspired Jaune.

With new energy, Jaune pushes himself off the ground and faces the door to his teammates. I smile at the new confidence he has but his Scroll beeps, interrupting him. He pulls it out and plays what message he got. "Hey! It's your buddy Cardin!" Not surprising, my hands clench and my blood boils. "I know you're probably busy with that Dust project I gave you, buuuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps." Jaune flinches in response to the request. "And make sure they've got some really big stingers! It's important, so don't screw this up!" The message ends there so Jaune closes his Scroll just when it begins to beep again. He sighs as he wearily heads down the hallway and away from his room.

"Jaune." I step out and call his name. He stops and turns back to me, a defeated look about him as he looks at me. The leash Cardin has on him is a veritable tight but short one and he is not letting up at all. "… Hang in there."

"IIIII don't know…"

"Hang…" I interrupt him before he can finish. "… In there." After repeating what I said, I smirk before heading back into my room. This time I close the door completely and lay my hand against the wall. "Uuhhhhhh… damn…" I groan before clenching my hand. "Please, something happen soon." I can't help but hope as I get ready for bed.


The next day rolls around and like what was mentioned before, our field trip to the forest has commenced. Professor Peach has given us an assignment that requires us to be in the Forever Fall forest and since it's still a part of the Grimm infested territory, Professor Goodwitch is here to make sure everything runs smoothly and no one dies. That would be a shame… for some.

Even though it's teeming with Grimm, it doesn't detract at all from the beauty of the forest itself as we walk through it, all of team RWBY, JNPR and CRDL.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." She comments at the wonderous looks most of us sport from looking all around at our surroundings. The falling leaves kind of add to the atmosphere we are in. "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." The group stops, and Jaune, who's grunting and carrying a large case with six empty glass jars on top, tries to catch up with us from lagging behind some. I put an arm in front of him to make sure he doesn't bump into Cardin. Once he notices, he gives me a grateful smile. I return it as I edge my way to my teammates. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap." The professor reminds us of our objective as she holds up the jar for emphasis. I look down at the one in my own hand. "However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o'clock. Have fun!" She instructs and walks away. While she may be here to make sure we are alright, that doesn't mean she needs to babysit us as we work. Yang flashes us a smile and my team begins moving forth.

"Come on, buddy. Let's go!" Before I move forward though, Cardins voice stops me. I turn around to see Cardin patting Jaune and going off with his team in a much different direction. Meanwhile, Jaune miserably looks up at his team, where Nora and Ren are already walking into the forest's depths and Pyrrha is staring sadly at him. I'm further past her staring as well and I stare as well at him. He looks between the two of us for a second before he drops his gaze and turns to follow CRDL, much to our disappointments as Pyrrha sighs before she continues on.

"Pyrrha," I call her name, making her look at me as the rest of our teammates move ahead and she's about to move past me. "You okay?"

She looks down as she replies. "No."

"Didn't think so." I sigh and look down as well. "Let's get this assignment over with, then we can help him."

"Sure." She replies depressed and with good reason. Jaune is her friend and leader and he's forced to be a bully's lapdog.

Without much more to say, we pick up the pace and meld back with the majority of our teams. Soon enough after several minutes of walking we come to a promising spot for us to gather our samples and get to work. It's a pretty easy process in hindsight but can take awhile if you don't find the right tree. Even then it does take least of all several minutes to fill an entire jar with sap. Fortunately, I have a… semi-reliable plan to make this easier on my team.

And by that, Shadow and Raven come out from behind a set of trees that my team and I are looking at while NPR look at another set. "What are they here for?" Yang asks as she pets Shadow.

"Well, during my time alone and some general knowledge, I found most creatures have a fondness for the sweet tasting sap that we're here to collect." I explain before taking a quick look around. "And seeing as we're alone from people who don't know my ability…" 'I'm looking at you CRDL.' I think before nodding to my summoned pets. They head to the nearest tree and Raven latches onto the tree before tapping her beak a couple times at different spots before sending a fierce stab into the trees bark, making my teammates flinch a little. Once she removes herself, Shadow leans and sniffs the hole before letting out a scoff with a head shake. I grimace at that as they go to another tree.

"Wait, so Grimm love this stuff?" Ruby asks as she leans into the hole. A single drop of the sap begins to drip from it but its at an incredibly slow rate.

I nod. "Yeah, and seeing as how these two are part Grimm themselves…" I let the sentence hang as they get ready to check another tree.

"That does explain why there are Grimm in this forest even though it's close to the city." Blake comments from the back of the group. As most Grimm age and live longer, they tend to learn to not mess with most of the thriving cities and pockets of human civilizations, less they be killed. The younger they are the more violent they can be and greedy in getting what they want. 'Thank you Professor Port.' He may focus more on retelling us stories of his youth but the book he gave me worked wonders in expanding my knowledge. The younger Grimm that love the sweet tree saps seem to be the ones that roam around here in the forest the most.

"Somewhat." I reply. Before anymore can be said, loud 'tapping' noises can be heard. We look at where our sap experts are and see Raven nestled nearby with Shadow rapidly pawing at the tree as he stares intently at the hole she made. "Jackpot." I mutter and head over with my team. Shadow licks the growing trickle of sap from the hole and leans back so I can look at it. Once I do, I see it's still trickling out but at a much faster rate than the previous ones. "Spout." I demand with my arm leaned back. One of my friends places it in my hand and I go ahead and jam it into the hole, place my jar down below it before opening it up. Once I do, the red syrupy sweet sap makes itself known as it trickles out of the tree, through the spout and starts collecting into the jar.

"Awesome! This'll make it make it so much easier for us!" Yang happily states and the others.

"Yeah…" I begin to say before looking at my pets as they look for another rich tree. "But doesn't it feel like a little… cheaty, perhaps?" I ask. Not many students of course have this ability of mine so get the feeling that it just might come off as unfair for other students that have to do this stuff as well.

"Professor Peach nor Goodwitch never did say we had to abide to specific rules when gathering." Weiss points. 'That's also true.' I think pensively as they find another tree. I nod for Yang to go get that one, which she does with a grin and jar in hand.

"Besides chopping down the threes though." Ruby states.

"Oh yeah, that too." I mutter. In fact, that bit of info was courtesy of Ruby. Apparently to make sap collecting… exciting, she thought it would be fun to chop down some of the trees and split them open to get at it right then and there. Others expressed and somewhat supported the same idea but of course, we couldn't. in any case, Shadow and Raven find some more trees for the others to use to gather their sap further in. "There you go. That should do it."

"Sweet! Thanks Ethan!" Ruby happily says as she goes to start collecting.

"Nice work." Weiss says as well and pats my shoulder as she and Blake walk over to their respective trees. I smile at how I was able to help my teammates relatively well in this regard, as well as show my pets aren't just used for fighting and spying.

"Hey uhhh, Ethan?" I turn around at my name being called to see the three members of NPR coming up to me. Pyrrha looks slightly nervous, Nora has her head staring to the ground with Ren looking slightly cross at her with his hands behind his back.

"Hey you." I greet them. "What'd you need?" I ask. They don't immediately answer me as they continue to shuffle a little until Pyrrha answers.

"Do you think… you could help us find some trees too?" I look at her confused on the request. I look slightly past them to the trees they were eyeing earlier and find they were already punctured for their sap.

"Huh, why? It looks like you three already got your sap. Why do you—"

"Bluuu!" Nora suddenly burps loudly. She covers her mouth but we already stare at her. She gives us a wide smile with her hands behind her back but it further proves her guilt, seeing as how her teeth are stained a little red from the sap. I stare at her confused for a few seconds before my eyes glaze over to the others. With a tired sigh, Ren pulls his hands from behind his back to reveal the three empty jars of sap. I know they were once filled with sap because I can see the stains inside them.

"Heeeee." I sigh and shake my head. 'I know their sweet but… I didn't think enough for her to… drink it almost straight.' Nonetheless, I go ahead and nod to Raven and Shadow as they come up on my right. They go off as I turn to NPR. "Follow them. They'll find you some trees."

"Thank you very much." Ren thanks me with a smile and goes off with Nora to start following.

"We appreciate it." Pyrrha too thanks me and follows her teammates. I nod as I wave them off.

"No problem. Let's see if we can hurry. I don't know if we have a time limit but can't hurt to get going soon." I go ahead and suggest for them to do. They nod at the idea before they go on further ahead into the trees. As I watch them go however, I get this weird feeling in my gut. 'Why do I feel like I'm being watched?' I think as I glance around. My eyes fall on Ruby, who is sitting down next to her jar of sap and waves at me. Her jar is already filled up to just below the halfway mark so hopefully if the others are well enough in their trees, we'll be out of here. "Huh, okay then." I mutter after seeing its Ruby looking at me before staring at my jar. It's already at the halfway mark. "Nice."


"Cardin, wh-what's going on?" Jaune hesitantly asks as they stop on the small hill and look down to the other students.

"Payback." Is the leader of team CRDL's reply. After having to do their dirty work and fill all six jars of tree sap for them, Jaune was no doubt tired of having to do the work of cutting into the trees in order to get the sap and waiting to get at every single jar filled for everyone. Of course while there were only five of them Cardin requested he fill up six instead. Now Cardin brought him and his team to a small hill overwatch to down below where everyone else is. As soon as he saw Ethan alone and in clear view, he got worried about why they were there. As soon as Cardin spoke, dread replaced that worry.

Jaune's eyes widen in understanding. "Ethan…?" He watches as his friend leans down to his jar under the tree. "Wh-what are you-?"

Cardin interrupts him as he pounds his fist into the ground angrily. "That's the guy. Smug know-it-all, thinks he's so smart. My team told me what he did in the cafeteria to get me in trouble with Goodwitch. Noe its time to return the favor. Alright, boys…" After his explanation, he pulls out a buzzing cardboard box with a large "W" written on its side. "Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work." Apparently at the good work he did, Russel grabs Jaune by the shoulder, in which Jaune laughs nervously. "Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things loooove sweets." By this point Ethan finishes collecting his sap as he picks it up, filled to the brim. "And I can think of no better way to teach him a thing or two."

Ethan perks up for some reason and actually begins turning around. The members of CRDL shuffle back real quick to avoid getting spotted. "Puh." Jaune almost yelps as Cardin and Russel grab Jaune by his legs and pull him back so he doesn't get seen either. Soon they get to their feet and after Cardin painfully yanks Jaune up to his feet, he shoves the jar into his grasp.

"And you're gonna do it."

"Do what?" Jaune asks, though from what he can piece together, he can already hazard a guess as to what he needs the extra jar for.

"Hit him with the sap!" Cardin confirms it before he leans in close to Jaune's face. "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon." He threatens Jaune with the thing that's been keeping him as Cardin's servant the whole time.

Jaune looks down at the jar of sap in his hands and then up at the four grinning teammates waiting to see him hit Ethan, the guy who got them in trouble and beat them without much effort on his part. He turns towards the ground and walks closer to the edge until just his head is seen down. Ethan looks around a couple times before turning his back to Jaune again. 'He doesn't see me. It would be so easy from here. I could hit him and he wouldn't know. He's taken on worse. He could handle the wasps no problem.' Once Jaune is done thinking, he aims his throw at his friend… his first friend. 'Then… why can't I do it, if I know he can handle it?' He tries to steel his nerves and shaking hand to do the deed.

"Hey Ethan!" He freezes as he hears Ruby's voice, the same who just last night gave him some real confidence he's felt in a long time. She comes out of the trees right next to him. "My jars full. Soon as the others are done, we're good to go!"

"Awesome. Here." He hands his to her. "Why don't we put them over there so we don't lose them."

"Good idea." She takes his jar and runs past some trees.

"Thanks again for your help." Jaunes breath hitches as he sees Pyrrha come up to him. "We thought we were going to be here a lot longer thanks to Nora."

"I said I was sorry!"

"No problem! Go take it to Ruby. We're going to put them all together so no one loses their jar, or gets them."

"That's a good idea." She nods and walks to where Ruby went. Jaune's arm goes slack as he watches Pyrrha go out of view. 'Pyrrha… you were only trying to help.' He solemnly thinks as he remembers how she offered to train him, even though she knew his secret.

"What are you waiting for? Do it already." Cardin demands from behind him. Hearing that jerks voice breaks Jaune his contemplation and ultimately steels himself for what he's about to do.

"No." He firmly states.

"What did you say?" Cardin asks.

"I said…" Jaune begins to say as his grip tightens on the jar. "NO!" With a final yell, he turns right around and throws the jar right at Cardin. The jar breaks easily enough, but Jaune instantly recoils his hands to himself as he looks at Cardin's breastplate covered in sap. The other team leader, however, just looks at himself and laughs darkly.

"Oh, you've done it now..."

'Uh-oh.' Jaune thinks as he humorously laughs to himself once more with his hands still raised in an attempt for defense. Unfortunately the other members of CRDL, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark, grab Jaune's shoulders and pull him.


"Grrrrrr!"

"Uhhhhh, Ethan? Shadow is kind of… growly at me." Nora nervously says.

"I know!" I call back without looking to her. "He's basically saying 'you've had enough.'"

"Whaaaaaat? Cuh! C'mon!" She playfully says. "Is this about earlier? Don't worry, I'm not going to—"

"GRRRRA!"

Suddenly Ren finds himself holding onto a frightened Nora as she clings to him. As it stands, no one wants to have to go looking for anymore trees to drain of their sap, not even Shadow as he stands protectively in front of some of the filled jars.

"Good boy." Pyrrha pats the wolf Grimm's head as she places her jar down. "Looks like we're almost done. Few more minutes of gathering and everyone should have their quota fulfilled."

"That's good. To be honest I'm not too privy to getting ambushed by Grimm anytime soon." I comment.

"Ditto." Blake agrees from nearby as she waits for her jar be filled, which is almost about done.

We lull into a small bead of silence with my Grimm keeping an eye out for any hostiles. "Do you think Jaune's alright?" Pyrrha asks quietly as she comes up to me. I glance at her before looking at the others to see they aren't really focusing on us.

"I'm sure he's fine. Cardin may be a jerk but it's not like he's going to purposely get him killed."

All of a sudden we hear the roar of an Ursa break the silence we are in. Everyone begins looking around at the noise. "Did you guys hear that?" Ruby asks concerned as she gets up.

"Oh no. Please don't be…" I begin to hope it's not what I think it is. The thought is interrupted though as members of team CRDL come frantically running out of the woods past us.

"Ursa! Ursa!" Russel yells in a panic while pointing behind him, which leads him to run into Yang.

"it is." I groan.

"What?!" Yang loudly demands after she was completely unfazed by his collision into her. She wastes no time in picking him up by the front of his shirt and asking, "Where?"

"Back there! It's got Cardin!" He quickly says.

'Cardin?!' "Oh no." I mutter.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha says on why we're worried.

"Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby goes into leader mode as she begins giving us our orders. Yang drops Russel and both she and Blake nod before following out leader's order. "Weiss, Ethan, with me!" We nod as well as we ready our weapons.

"You two, go with them! There could be more!" Pyrrha too orders Ren and Nora to do the same in getting our instructor.

Thankfully the members of CRDL don't notice Shadow and Raven behind a tree as Russel gets up and runs scared out of his mind with his teammates. "Go with them. Make sure to warn them if they get ambushed." I instruct Shadow and Raven to do, in which they nod as Raven flies into the tree line while Shadow maneuvers between the trees. "Let's get moving." Pyrrha, Weiss, Ruby and I begin running in the direction that Russel pointed to.

We don't have to run far through the trees though as Cardin is attempting to run from the following Ursa. It leaps up over its prey and claws him away, stopping him from running. He manages to keep his Aura up so he didn't take any lasting damage from the hit but he's been thrown onto his back. He tries to get up and crawl away.

"Crap! Crap, crap!" I can hear Cardin's frantic voice as we move past more trees until we make it clear enough for us to see everything as a whole.

"Oh, no." Pyrrha says as we stop and take in the scene. Jaune is off to the side while Cardin is at the mercy of the Grimm with red sap covering his breastplate. 'Explains why it's focusing him down.' We watch as the Ursa, a massive one at that with lots of bone plating covering its body along with large spikes jutting out of its back, leans over its helpless victim, raising its paw and swiping it down... only to be blocked by Jaune's shield, Crocea Mors. We look in awe at the last minute save Jaune did for Cardin of all people. He struggles to defend a stunned Cardin from the Grimm's attempts to lean on him. Weiss and I get ready to intervene as she lifts Myrtenaster and I get ready in engage Razor's Revolt as we prepare to go help.

"Wait!" Pyrrha stops us from moving in to help. Since for whatever reason she doesn't want us to go, we simply stand down and watch.

Jaune takes the shield out from the Ursa's paw and slashes at its stomach, causing it to lash out and try to crush him. He rolls out of the way of the attack and as it tries to hit him again, he jumps over its swipe at his feet. However he is unprepared for when it launches a claw strike at him in midair, nailing him as he's sent tumbling back. He lands and rolls several feet away but I can't help but smile at his determination as he is immediately back on his feet and passes Cardin as he charges again. Still the Ursa knocks Jaune back behind it when he tries to do a leaping attack. Once he gets up though, he looks at his shield and grimaces. From my spot, I think I can see his scroll and a hint of red on his screen. 'His Aura's low. He can't take many more hits.' That doesn't stop him though as both he and the Ursa ready themselves for another clash against each other.

With a yell, they charge at each other with the intent to kill one another. Just as they are about to attack though, Jaune leaves himself open as he goes to attack the Ursa. At the same time, the claw swipe comes in that will surely kill him what with his low Aura. Before I can even think to intervene, something catches my eye and stops me. Jaune's shield begins to glow a little with a black field around it. Suddenly his shield moves up, right in the path of the Ursa's attack. The claw hits the shield head-on, making Jaune crouch as he deflects the hit and pushes his shield back up, whilst swinging his blade right through the Ursa's neck. In a loud tearing noise of flesh and bone, his sword cuts clean through and off comes its head. We all watch in amazement as the head falls to the ground followed by its body. "Whoa." I mutter at how good that was. Still, I'm perplexed on how it happened. 'What was that black glow?' I look to the others to ask if they saw it but as I see Pyrrha's hand glow the same black color, I make the connection.

"Uhhh… What?" Ruby asks, noticing it too.

"How did you…?" Weiss asks as well, equally amazed as the rest of us.

"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs, Ethan…" She trails off on her explanation as she looks at me, in which I just shrug. 'Even I don't know my semblance.' "… I don't know, but… My Semblance is polarity." She answers.

"Whoa, you can control poles…" Ruby doesn't understand what she means.

"What? No Ruby."

"No, you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism!" Weiss clarifies what Pyrrha meant by polarity.

"Magnets are cool, too…"

"Very cool." I say. 'Control over metal and magnets… wow.' Pyrrha turns around and starts to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asks.

"Yeah! We gotta tell them what happened!" Ruby says but Pyrrha simply smiles back at them.

"We could… Or perhaps we could just keep it our little secret?" She proposes and walks. Not seeing any fault in that, we don't argue as she walks away again. Ruby, Weiss and I smile to each other in an unspoken understanding and walk as well from a bruised Jaune as he sheathes his weapon. Once we're past more trees, I stop and look back at them from behind a tree to see what's happening.

Cardin, who is still covered in sap, looks up at Jaune as his savior offers a hand. Even though he was an ass to him, I smirk at the offer Jaune gives him. Cardin smiles as he takes it and is lifted back up on his feet. "Holy crap, Jaune!" He somewhat praises Jaune for his work in protecting him.

"Don't ever mess with my team - my friends - ever again." Jaune firmly threatens him as Jaune stares Cardin dead in the eye. "Got it?" He demands. Cardin himself though, if you can believe it, looks intimidated, possibly even apologetic as he stares at the guy he thought was so pathetic before all this. With his order spoken, Jaune turns and walks away from a frozen Cardin. They still don't see me, and they won't as I begin my walk back to where everyone else, a smile on my face at the backbone my friend has gained.


It's the next day after the field trip. Professor Goodwitch is none the wiser about what really happened in the forest. While we all played it off like it took us some time to find them, Jaune and Cardin returned making it up that they had to work together to take down the Ursa after Cardin spilled some sap on him. Seeing the threat passed, she didn't push and simply took us all back to the academy since we filled our quota's.

Thing is though, she was quite cross with the idea of how Cardin's team simply up and abandoned him to deal with the Ursa while another member of a team had to be the one to help him. Because of that, she has something special planned for them.

"As you all may know, as a team, working together can mean the difference between life and death out in the real world. Since team CRDL displayed a poor means of teamwork on the field trip yesterday, I have decided for them to participate in a battle for today to show all of you how a team is supposed to operate… as well as to evaluate them." She says the last part as she sends a glare to the team down on the combat floor. They flinch under her gaze before she turns around and stares at the rest of us in the stands. "In order to do this, they will go up against an opponent that I feel he will be up to the task, such as per the terms of his enrollment."

'… Why do I have a VERY bad feeling about—'

"Ethan Wright."

'WHY AM I RIGHT?!' "Huh?!" I ask a little too loudly for my tastes as she calls my name. The others somewhat have looks of surprise as well on their faces.

"You will be their opponent for this engagement. Please step into the ring." She gestures to the arena behind her. I stare at her for a few seconds with my lips slightly parted in surprise. I quickly turn to my friends around me as we look at each other with incredulous looks until I slowly begin to stand up.

"Uhhhh, okaaaaay." I hesitantly agree as make my way to the stairs and into the arena where my opponents are. As I walk I take note of Jaune's face as I pass by him and see the worried look he has. I may be good but I haven't really taken on an actual team before, and when I beat Cardin's team back in the cafeteria I kind of was expecting it. Now it's going to be full on combat and the odds are not with me. I wish to say otherwise but in fact it didn't take me long to get down onto the arena floor with CRDL on one side and I on the other. All the while, I can almost feel the smiles and grins CRDL has on the idea that they'll basically be able to get their revenge on me after some of the stuff I did. I'd be lying if I said I was slightly nervous about this all. "Uhhhhh, professor?" I call up to her. "I remember the conditions that I agreed to for joining this school year… but this seems a little…"

"Much?" Blake finishes what I was going to say.

"Yes, that." I agree before looking at her still in the stands with the others. "I mean, for one thing its four on one. I'm good but… I'm skeptic on the odds." I calmly try to explain to her why this doesn't seem like a good idea, especially for me.

"No Mr. Wright. In your case, it's four on three." As soon as she says that, my eyes widen and I can see my friends perk up at what she means. CRDL though is just confused at the different number stats.

"Th-three… ma'am?" I ask to make sure I heard her correctly.

She nods with a slight smirk, "You heard me, Ethan. You can't keep them a secret forever. You may have already told your friends and teammates, but the rest of the student body has to know to avoid confusion… and I think now would be the perfect time to reveal them, and show us how well you fight with them." Her words merit some logic to them but that doesn't immediately make me comfortable to showing everyone my ability. It was one thing with my friends and teammates, they I can trust, but others…

"Don't worry Ethan!" Jaune suddenly speaks out loudly. All eyes turn to him as he begins to cheer him on. "It doesn't matter what happens! Your friends will help you no matter what happens!"

"Jaune…" I mutter in slight awe at his declaration.

"That's right! Team JNPR's got your back!" Nora too says as she jumps to her feet and gives me a thumbs up. Ren and Pyrrha nod as well, backing what their saying.

It brings a smile to my face at their willingness to still help me even if things take a turn for the worst. "Yeah! C'mon man! Take them down with everything you got!" Yang excitedly yells with a grin as she throws some punches in front of her.

"Get 'em! Show those jerks who's boss and bring glory to team RWBEY!" Ruby loudly cheers me on as well. Without a doubt, seeing both my own team and another fully on board with it, I give them a firm nod as my confidence has been restored.

"Alright then," I mutter as I jerk my head to the sides, popping the bones to loosen me up. "Let's do this." I extend my right hand in front of me and concentrate. CRDL looks on confused as they watch my Aura swirl around my hand as usual for what I'm about to do. Once it's done, I extend my left arm outwards, further making my opponents confused.

It's only when a black blur flies out from behind me that everyone, save for those who know about my specialty, flinches and backs up almost. Raven goes ahead and lands on my arm and I can see the look of fear and surprise on everyone's faces. Except my friends who bare grins. Shadow stalks out from behind me to my right and glares at our opponents in a silent growl, making them recoil again.

"Wha-What is that?!"

"Idiot! Don't you see their Grimm?!"

"I know I see that but he's controlling them?!"

"That's…. not possible." The members of team CRDL go back and forth at the image they see of me surrounded by my Grimm-like allies. Shadow meanwhile stalks just a little further ahead away from me and Raven and it doesn't go unnoticed.

"C'mon guys! We've dealt with Grimm before! This'll be a piece of cake!" Dove boasts as he holds up his sword and meets Shadow half way.

"Wait!" Cardin tries to stop his teammate but he's too focused on the idea of this small Grimm being anything less than a threat, no more dangerous than the usual ones they face out in the field.

While Shadow slowly stalks up, Dove stomps forward and seeing as theirs no acts of aggression from Shadow, he brings his sword over his head and slams it down onto Shadow, fully expecting his Grimm opponent to be killed outright.

*CLANG*

Unfortunately for him, he's facing MY Grimm. My opponents stare surprised as they see Shadow's tail extend from behind him and form a reflective sheen around it before taking the sword strike head on. Dove keeps his sword pressed against the sudden blade-like piece he's facing off against.

*Snap*

Before he can think to mount a proper offense, or a defense nonetheless, I snap my fingers, making him look up at me. His eyes stay on me for only a second before he sees Raven doing something on my arm. He is completely unprepared though as she whips her wings forward sharply, followed by dozens of small hardened feather projectiles being sent through the air right at Dove. The assuming huntsman-in-training quickly pulls his arms up in a mock defense but it's too late. Having just a second to flare up his Aura, the feathers hit him hard. Many streak past him but most impact against his body, making them deflect off his barely Aura covered body but that doesn't last long. The feathers impact hard and before he can try to right himself, he's sent flying back through the air and is completely knocked out of the arena, or more specifically he's knocked into the wall as several feathers pin his clothing and outline his body to the wall. It also doesn't help that a buzzer can be heard.

"And now it's even." The professor tiredly states. In this setup, we have two means of winning: either by draining their Aura to the red, or knocking them out of the battle area of the arena we are in. In my case, I did both. She turns around and starts addressing the rest of the class. "As you can see student's, blindly charging in against your opponent when you don't know everything about them, or you assume you know, can and WILL get you killed in a real-life combat scenario. Now team CRDL has lost one of their members and now its even in terms of numbers, when they originally had the advantage. Remember this so you too don't come to the same disadvantage." She turns back to us on the combat floor and regards us, mostly CRDL, with a glare. "Now if you would please let me begin the match in the first place, then we can get started."

"Sorry." We all apologize to her and before properly getting into our combat stances. Raven is perched on my left arm with Shadow ready to pounce on my right and the other team of three is in similar positions. Once its shown that we all are ready and waiting to get this done, we wait with abated breaths as our views focus on each other and for the signal to start.

"Begin."

Sending a mental command to my duo, they engage their targets before they can make a plan. Raven immediately jumps into the air before she sends a flurry of feathers toward Russel. He brings his daggers up and blocks the hits better than his fallen teammate did since he anticipates them. As soon as he brings his weapons down he brings them right back up as Raven streaks towards him. A loud 'clang' can be heard as her hardened wings impact him and send him sliding back away from his teammates.

At the same time, Shadow pounces quickly and Sky has barely enough time to pull up his halberd to block Shadow's bite as the force slides him back a foot. Shadow stays latched onto the shaft of his halberd for a second as they struggle until Sky swings him around and sends him flying back to my side of the arena.

Meanwhile with those two now engaged, I focus my efforts on their team leader. I don't know the exact strength that those two have but if anything, I can have Shadow and Raven distract or possibly take them down long enough for me to whittle the biggest threat down to size. Cardin may be mostly brawn but that brawn can deal a lot of damage when he lands his hits. With his remaining teammates occupied, I move in so he can focus on me and not on backing his teammates up, which he should do but I think the temptation to put a beatdown on me will keep him from doing that. I charge forward with both Razor and Revolt ready to fight as he focuses me down with both hands on his mace.

Once I get within range, he focuses his power on a massive strike on me from overhead. That wasn't exactly something I was expecting so as soon as I can, I bring both my blades up and activate the helicopter function and get them spinning as fast as they can. Our weapons connect head on and the both of us recoil harshly from the hit. Because of the spinning, Cardin's mace jerks back hard from the recoil and is slightly stunned from the deflect. However that doesn't detract from the force he put into the attack knocks me on my back. "Arrrrh!" I grunt from the force exerted on my body and take a second to catch myself. Looking, I grimace as the screen above us reads his hit and my block almost took out half my Aura. "Damn." I groan at the massive hit at my Aura levels before I look forward. Cardin has already regained his senses and charges at me with swing coming in from low to his left to high right. I barely manage to set my blades back to normal before I roll forward under the hit so it misses me and leaves him open. I come into a stand with both my weapons ready before I step towards his opened back.

If his Aura hadn't taken the hit, that's what would have happened to his back. He grunts as my blades hit him from behind and does a wide swing back to hit me but its slow so I'm able to duck underneath and attack his front now. I launch a series of quick but small slashes and jabs towards him chest while he's open. I'm too quick for him to properly defend against me as I slowly whittle him down. After almost a dozen hits, I set the serrated function and bring both my blades down to attack him at once. He brings his left arm up in time to block my hits, saving himself from a massive blow to him but also leaving a nasty gash through his arm braces. The block is enough for him to swing his mace one-handed into an uppercut strike towards me. I barely have time to block myself from his hit but no time to steel myself. My feet lift off the ground as I'm sent flying into the air from the blow. I land on my back on the ground a little ways away from him and let out a grunt of pain as I stare at the screen.

Cardin's Aura has been reduced to 50% but mines down to 40% while the rest of his teammates are almost out as well. To my right I see and Raven still engaged in fighting with Raven coming in for another pass-by slice. With one of his daggers, and using lightning Dust in his weapon, he deflects her attack with his Dust infused weapon. Normally a normal block would have let her break through his defense and finish him, but I watch as the lightning addition sends shocks through her whole body, making her let out a shriek of pain as her body contorts.

Before I can help, I watch as he uses his other dagger and sends right through her body in an overhand stab downwards before hitting the ground. "Ha! Gotcha!"

"Nooo!" I hear Ruby yell but I'm only focusing on him as I watch Raven slowly disappear into black smoke.

Anger courses through me as I jump onto my feet and charge at him. The stomping on my feet gets his attention as he turns around only to be met by my angered charging form. "Raaaah!" I roar as I head butt him head on. I ignore the sting before I take advantage of his stunned state and let loose a flurry of strikes at him. My hits come quick and hard before my body starts twirling around in front of him, slicing and cutting his Aura down faster than he can defend against me. Once I stop, he regains himself just long enough for him to pull a trigger on his right dagger and it activates one of his dust compartments, similar to Weiss's rapier but it only adds just the dust element to the blade and that's it. He activates the fire dust and brings it down on top of me.

'That's not going to work.' I bring my left arm up and bash the weapon away, fire particles sparking away as our weapons impact each other but do no damage to me. I quickly curl my right arm around his head and pull him down towards me as my leg comes up to intercept him. I can hear him let out a loud grunt of pain as my knee lifts up and slams into his gut. As soon as I let him go, he begins to fall to the ground after I almost made him lose his lunch or lose his breath.

He doesn't get the chance to as I twirl around, going low to the ground and launch my right leg outwards into a low kick. Instead of falling to the ground, he's now sent flying backwards several feet until he rolls on the ground and off the ring. Another buzzer goes off but whether or not he would have been sent out of bounds wouldn't have mattered as my last two attacks depleted him into the red. I smile at having taken him out of the game.

My eyes widen as another buzzer goes off and I whirl around. I see two things that get my notice and slight dread. First, I see the weakly limping Sky walk his way out of the ring. Second… Shadow is on the ground, panting tiredly as he gives weak whines with Cardin above him… mace raised overhead.

He brings his mace down on Shadow's back. A sickening crunch can be heard as it breaks both him and cracks the ground around them. Cardin then pulls his mace back and proceeds to hit Shadow like a golf ball right out of the ring. "Oh no!" I hear Nora yell as he's hit.

"Shadow!" Ruby yells as well once he hits the wall harshly. He slumps to the ground with a thud and lays there.

I stare at him as he slowly lifts his head and stares directly into my eyes before he drops back unmoving. Like with Raven, I watch as he too disappears into a cloud of smoke. "HA!" Cardin's yell knocks me out of my thoughts. I shift my focus back to him as he swings his mace around a few times before letting it rest on his shoulder. "Alright, got rid of your pets! Now its just you and me." He threatens and slowly makes his way towards.

My hands tighten on the handles of my blades with anger as I too make my way towards him. Like before we engage in combat and although he may be tougher, I'm faster. Now that I don't have to worry about anyone else, my undivided attention is focused solely on this jackass and ohhhh am I angry. As soon as we get within range, he tries to go for an uppercut attack but I lean back as he misses. That missed attack his downfall as while he's open, I attack. Getting in nice and up close, like before I begin throwing different combos of attacks and slices all around him. After a moment, he manages to amount some form of defense by pulling up his mace to shield himself from my attacks. That's all he can do at this point as my attacks come in too fast for him to properly fight back against. He can simply only hold the shaft of his weapon up and defend as my hits lower his Aura to my own and slowly past it.

Unfortunately he wisens up and after one particular hit, he pushes back against me, nearly throwing me off balance. He capitalizes on this by quickly swinging around and sending his mace in a wide arc towards my legs. I'm suddenly weightless for a second before I slam onto the ground on my back and having the air knocked out of my lungs. While I struggle to regain my breathing, I barely have enough time to see the large blunt weapon swing down towards me before I roll to the side. The mace impacts just where I was, cracking the floor before it picks back up and comes at me again.

I roll along the ground as Cardin continues to slam his mace into where I was before. "Hold still already!" He yells angrily and having fed up enough of it, he grabs my foot and stops me cold.

"Arh!" With a yank, I groan as it feels like my leg is almost yanked out of its socket because of how he pulls me. Laying on my back I can look up as he stares at me with a grin that he's got me right where he wants me.

"Gotcha!" He yells and brings his mace down on top of me. In that moment I can hear multiple gasps from the stands at my defeat but I'm not done yet. I wait for the moment when he swings his mace down towards me and roll the top half of my body away. His weapon slams into the floor and before he can pull it back I roll over and wrap myself around the shaft of his weapon and arm. "Wha-?! Get off!" He demands angrily as he tries to tear me off with his other arm.

*Smack*

My answer to his demand is a foot to the face as I begin launching several kicks to his face in rapid succession. I only deplete his Aura by a little before he actually starts moving his head to avoid my kicks. He also decides he doesn't want me hanging out on him as he lifts his arm with me on it before slamming me into the ground. I grunt as my legs slip off him but my arms stay latched on. This only further angers him as I'm still holding on even by just a little. "I said… get…" He drags me along the ground for a second before swinging it forward. "OFFFF!" He yells furiously and the amount of power he puts into the swing finally makes me let go, straight into the air.

I tumble through the air a few times until I manage to orient myself just well enough for me to get my bearings. There is no way I can land in the ring so its inevitable that I'm going to get a ring out. 'But not without taking you with me.' Just before I start falling to the ground, I curl both my arms down in preparation. "Take… THIS!" I yell and through both my blades towards him as I begin falling to the ground without anyway for me stop myself. I land on one of the desks hard before rolling over and breaking some chairs behind them as I hit the ground.

Even in my injured dazes state, I can distinctly hear two buzzers going off. 'Good… got him.' I weakly think from my spot on the ground. "Ahhhh… ow." I groan as I lay on top of the destroyed chairs.

"… Are you okay?" I hear a familiar voice ask me even in my slightly dazed and battered state.

"Aaaahhh… no." I answer groaning before I try to push myself up. "But I'll live."

"Here. Let me help you up." Hands grab purchase on my body as I'm helped to my feet. Once I manage to stand and use the long desk as support, I find my helper and I smile.

"Ohh, thanks Velvet." I thank the bunny faunus for her help.

"No problem." She returns the smile.

"Ethan!" I loud voice speaks from behind me, causing me to turn and see who. Weiss quickly comes up to me as she stares at me with a very worried expression. "Are you okay?! You're not hurt are you?" She asks in concern for me after seeing my slightly battered form but I smile nonetheless.

"Nah, I'm good. A little rough around the edges but nothing that requires serious care." I ease her of her worry for me as I roll my shoulders a little.

"That's good then. I've been meaning to get you to train using my fighting style soon and I don't want you to be bed ridden for the opportunity." She lightly scolds me but the smirk means its not really meant to hurt, just that it would a real inconvenience for the opportunity to slip by.

"Of course. I look forward to it." I reply with a nod. As soon as I take a step though, I look down to the arena floor to see Cardin lying on his back with Razor and Revolt few feet in front of him. Taking a different route, I head into the arena albeit a little slower than I preferred because I was limping a little but eventually I make it. As I pass by my blades I pick them up and store them before walking over to the groaning Cardin.

As soon as I step close to him, he opens his eyes and looks up at me. "Ughhhhh… what do you want?" He tiredly and in an annoyed tone asks me.

For a while, I simply stare at his downed form until I crouch next to his head and look him dead in the eyes. I speak in a low tone so no one else can hear me. "I know what you blackmailed Jaune with." His eyes widen at that statement and my neutral stare down at him. He looks confused then as I actually give him a smile. "And frankly, with how much power you had over him, I can respect that. I mean, it's not often you get important info like that and are able to use it against someone. Dick move but, I respect your use of it." I tell him. I've been to a lot of places all over Remnant and I've watched plenty of instances where blackmail was used to great lengths. Heck even one guy saw prudent to try to blackmail me when he found out about Shadow and Raven. Threatened to tell the city guard in whatever place I was passing through about me. I don't really remember where nor do I care to because at the time I kind of feigned ignorance of the whole thing when he did tell them. Obviously without proof he wasn't taken seriously and lost face with people there considering he was threatening a child at the time. 'I think I was… 14… I think.' I mentally shrug at that. Still before I left, I went ahead and had Shadow and Raven give him the mother of all scares when he was sleeping, just as an incentive for him to not pursue me.

"Really? Wow, thanks." Cardin replies with a slight smile of relief. As another gesture, I extend my hand to him to take.

He takes my hand and lets me pull him into a sit before he begins standing up. However just before he can stand up, my grip on his hand tightens considerably, making him wince as I make it look like he's going into a crouch as he stands up. "But make no mistake… I respect the opportunity you took, but you messed with my friend. Do that again, to anyone else… and I'll make it so you can't ever become a huntsman." I whisper the threat into his ear before yanking him onto his feet. He grunts again from the rough treatment before I let him go and pat his shoulder in fake good nature. "Physically." I say one last time before I start walking back to my friends, this time not with a limp.

"Ethan!" All my friends start crowding around me once I make it to them as the rest of CRDL begin helping their leader up. "Are you alright?" Ruby worriedly asks me.

"Yes, yes I am." I answer in slight annoyance at having been asked a third time if I'm alright. I know they're worried about me but still. "Don't worry about me."

"Ethan…" Pyrrha speaks up as she comes close to me. She talks in a sad tone before laying a hand in a somewhat comforting gesture. "I'm sooo sorry… about Shadow and Raven." She finishes saying in a hurt tone, saddened to see what had happened to them in the arena.

"… What are you talking about?" I ask somewhat confused, which surprises her and the others a little. "Shadow's over there." I nod my head behind everyone. As one they all turn around to see the wolf Grimm chilling out on top of one of the desks, one of his front paws hanging off the side as he lays there. Blake quickly takes a few steps away from him before putting Yang between herself and him. 'Seriosuly? The others have already accepted them. How long until you finally do too?' Annoyed at the continued caution, I move on. "And Raven's over there." I nod in another direction. This time they see Raven perched on the railing for the arena to prevent people from falling in. I give them incredulous looks at what they thought had actually happened in the arena. "What? You thought I would have lost them so easily to these guys?" I skeptically ask them as I thumb towards CRDL as they finally make it out of the arena. They look like they're going to retort but a growl from Shadow puts that to rest. "Seriously its going to take a lot more than that to make me lose them permanently." When I say that with confidence, they appear relieved to see that my Grimm are alright. I'll admit, the first time I lost them, I thought it was permanent but soon after they were able to come back and still be with me. Handy.

"Well," Professor Goodwitch begins to say as she walks up to us, patting Raven as she passes by. "I guess there isn't much more to say than good work Mr. Wright. You showed exceptional skill in the fight and I'm sure you'll make an excellent huntsman eventually." She says and I smile and nod in return

"Thank you very much, ma'am. This was… an elightening experience." I reply. It's not often I was going to take on a full-fledged team myself and while I was worried at first, my teams overall support pushed me to fight as hard as I can. Even though, it ended in a tie, I'm still proud of my performance.

"As it should be, for everyone involved." She drifts her view from me and my friends to team CRDL, considering if they had properly planned on how to take me down, then they could have ganged up on my Grimm, taken them down one by one before focusing me. Seeing as how one of them immediately was taken down at the beginning, that kind of cemented how things would turn out. "Nonetheless, I think that's enough for today. Good job everyone. You may go now." She dismisses class as she walks away while tapping some commands on her Scroll tablet.

Seeing as class is done, my body relaxes as I begin making my way to the doors. "Good. Let's go. I could sleep for hours." I say as I walk up the stairs to the doors out of the room with everyone else following, including some other students curious about my following Grimm.

"Sorry to disappoint Ethan." Blake says as she falls in behind me.

"Why?"

"Because don't we have Doctor Oobleck next?"

"Arhhhhhh!" I loudly groan as I my legs give out and I fall to the ground. "Whyyyyyyy." I let out a muffled moan as I lay on the floor just in front of the door. 'Seriously?! I already feel tired as it is when I sit through his class! I can't deal with this now!' All the complaining in my head is useless in the end.


Professor Glynda Goodwitch stares at the group of students that begin making their way out of the room. After picking up Ethan of course. "I'll admit, I wasn't too sure about them…" She comments to herself as she brings up the combat readings from the battle.

Five Aura readings can be seen across the screen. Four of which are red with one barely a sliver of yellow left before turning to red. 'If he hadn't gotten thrown out, he could have officially won it.' She thinks before swiping away the results and turning off her Scroll. "But in fact, I think this might be an interesting year." With that last statement, she pulls out her riding crop and begins fixing the arena. "Albeit, possibly a messy one."


Just wanna go ahead and say I'm sorry everyone for the long wait. Lots of things kind of got my attention, shifted my focus, made me feel like crap or otherwise preoccupied a chunk of my time so some days I got easily distracted and didn't put as many words down as I would have preferred.

Still, I hope this long I-didn't-anticipate-to-be-as-long chapter makes up for the few months I've been quiet about this story. I plan to do at least one more chapter before moving on and getting to work on my other stuff as well.

Another topic I'd like to speak my mind about: the series. Pretty much I am all caught up with the show and saw just how things progressed for everyone we love (and hate) in the show. I'm very excited for what else Rooster teeth has planned for the next season of RWBY and I know its going to be epic and possibly emotional with gut-wrenching feelings. Probably also going to keep an eye out for other shows they'll be unveiling, mostly that gen:lock show. Looks cool.

Cf96: Thanks.

William Hoenicke: Glad you like it. My progress with the story may be slow but I can assure you I plan to not abandon nor put it on hiatus anytime soon. His ability was just an oddity that I figured might garner attention and I'm glad it did for a fair number of people.

As I said before, apologies for the months delay and hopefully I won't take as long in the next set of chapters. Although, just as a heads up, keep an eye out for possibly a new story in the coming weeks. Not sure exactly but still. Anyways, fave, follow, review, don't, whatever you want really. Just please go ahead to have a wonderful day and as always, have fun reading.