Chapter 11: Preparation

After their discussion Fae left to continue to work on her weapon. The rest of Team Wolf spent the rest of the afternoon in various workshops across the school. With Cana's help by they managed to create fully fleshed out blueprints for the conversion of one of Oz's shields into a drone, as well as plans for the construction of Liz's boots, Mark 1 versions. They would be little more than prototypes rather than a full execution. If they couldn't adapt to the new functionality then there was no point in trying to build something more in depth.

When they got back to their room they found Fae waiting for them. "I have good news!" Liseran instantly bounded over to the other girl as she squealed with excitement.

"Juicy gossip? Is it about Coco? Wait is this something the boys can hear?"

Warren rolled his eyes as he started to hunt for his nightwear while Ozwald just stared at his eccentric team member.

"No, nothing like that. We there is a Weapon Attachments and Modifications class!"

"...there is a class called WAM?"

Liz snickered at Oswald's joke while Fae frowned slightly before the noble continued. "More importantly the class has a teacher. Students from any year can attend the optional evening class and get help from a professional huntsman!"

The other three turned thoughtful at that. A professional huntsmen would have a lot more experience with experimental functions in weapons, his help could be downright invaluable to get the modifications done as soon as possible.

"Optional evening classes?"

Oz rolled his eyes as he went over to his desk and grabbed the paper he read earlier. "First year students have a rotating schedule. Grimm Studies, Combat Class, History of Remnant, Mathematics, Basic Physics and Chemistry, and Literature. There are open evening classes available to all years including; Advanced Sparring, Mock Team Operations, Weapon Attachments and Modifications Class, Survival Training, Historical Tactics and Applications, Psychology, and last but not least Grimm Theory. For more details and classes available to specific years visit the course enrolment counter in the library. For more information about Blah, blah, blah, not important. Anyways, I know the upperclassmen have a larger selection of classes including medical training, and piloting lessons."

Fae picked up her own copy of the paper and added, "Classes are paired and cycle each day. Outside of special circumstances there will be six days of class with every seventh day off."

"Special circumstances? Sounds interesting, what would count though?"

"Hm. Well I would imagine the Vytal Festival for one, as well as any field trips and the like." Liseran appeared satisfied at Fae's response as she continued, "Now as far as WAM goes-"

Pointedly looking away, she ignored the wide grin on Oswald's face when she used his acronym, "If we start from scratch, or in Oswald's case with his broken shield, starting from scrap..."

She smiled sweetly at the now frowning boy. "What is the soonest each of us think our first iteration in weapon improvements will be finished? Another day, two max should be all that I need to work the new parts into the Six Slicers."

"For the boots? Bit less than a week, then various tune ups for a month or so to get it 'right'."

"Drones? With Cana's help, I'd imagine four-five days tops. As far as hovering capabilities, no clue. I've never built a hover device."

"Repairs should be done by tomorrow. Timberwolf still has yet to get back to me on the material but generally a new carapace would take about two months."

The others turned to Warren in surprise. His mood visibly plummeted as he explained. "I don't fully understand the War Suit. I doubt I ever will. CANA knows everything about it but she has block that prevents her from disclosing how the aura conversion works. She has sealed off run-times, but she can't access unless specific conditions are met, like if it needs repairs. Even then the runtimes activates a lock-out that prevents most of her other processes from functioning."

"To clarify-" Warren rolled his eyes as he produced his scroll and set it down next to him. CANA's project appeared and addressed the team. "Warren's access to make modifications and authorize overrides is restricted. It is set so that when he turned 21 he will be automatically promoted to full permissions. This could be modified to be an earlier date, but only Dr. Remus Marune or Mrs. Lupa Argent-Marune had access to change-"

"HOLD THE PHONE!" Scrambling and shouting, Liz all but fell from her chair as she lunged closer to the scroll. "Your mom is the 'Silver Wolf'? The short silver haired wolf Faunus who graduated from Beacon?"

At that Fae's eyes went wide while Liseran continued, "My dad knew your mom! They went to Beacon together! Not part of the same team mind you, but still!" Ozwald laughed as he commented lightly, "Small world, huh?"

"It keeps getting smaller." The others glanced over to Faerien at her quiet response. "I actually...met your mother Warren." Warren was speechless as he stared at Fae. "Short, about 5'2"? My mother told me she was named Argent after her silver hair. A wolf Faunus whom wielded retractable claws, and her semblance was called, 'Shadows of the Pack', correct?"

Seeing as how Warren was still stunned to silence, CANA answered for him. "That is correct. Lupa Argent-Marune. Formerly the leader of Beacon's Team LUNR(Lunar). Her semblance allowed her to reside in an ally's shadow, adding her strength to theirs and enhancing their reflexes. Or she could allow her allies into her shadow, and add their strength to hers. She was reportedly able to 'carry' her entire team her ability hence the 'pack' naming."

"Reportedly?"

"I never bore witness to her using her semblance with more than one person."

Fae shook her head as she continued. "She was friends with my mom. I never knew she was married or had a child. I remember calling her-" her face flushed suddenly as she was caught up in the memory, "Um- I m-may have uh-well…"

Giggling Liseran moved over to her stuttering team mate and slung her arm across her shoulders, "What'd you say~? Come on, Miss Perfect Memory, let's hear it."

"P-pretty silver wolf lady."

Warren looked at her oddly while still mostly in a daze while Oswald facepalmed. "Seriously?"

"I was 7 okay! It was late, Mother was telling me a story and she popped up out of nowhere! I pointed to her and asked, 'Mother, who's the pretty silver wolf lady?' She said Mother raised me well, then they talked about how someone named Remus' work was faring poorly and how Lupa would be leaving Vale shortly. I get it now that they were talking about your father and the War Suit but cut me some slack, I only met her the one time! I didn't learn about her being a huntress and what her semblance was until later!"

"In any case..." Cana spoke up once more. "Back to the subject on hand, I cannot divulge the details the make the War Suit function. Warren does not yet have the authority to override that block so I am unable to teach him how to create a new suit or make any modifications that directly correlate with the aura conversion systems."

"That has got to be frustrating."

Warren started to shrug when the motion was interrupted with a yawn. His blinked his eyes in surprise as he checked the time. "Huh. I think we should turn in for the night if we want to make tomorrow's classes."

Fae agreed readily but Ozwald left quoting, "I need to unwind." Liz followed him out as the two remaining members of the team prepared for bed.

-x-x-x-x-

"So...why'd you decide to follow me?"

"Felt like it."

Ozwald cast the sniper a sideways glance before he shook his head and looked back to the night sky. The fractured moon hung high in the night sky, full and bright.

"Any particular reason why?"

"I got the hots for you and am looking for an inconspicuous bush to drag you into." Her deadpan tone was at complete odds with what she said, leaving Ozwald confused as he stopped and faced her. Even for a joke her tone sounded...off.

"Uh, gonna ignore what you said and focus on how you said it. You okay?"

Liz looked away as her posture changed. She almost seemed to...withdraw as she avoided looking at him. Instead of answering she asked, "How'd you discover your semblance?"

Um...what? Pausing his walk he turned and faced his teammate, confusion evident on his features.

"For me, it was incredibly...terrifying. In addition to being able to see tags through other objects I can...for lack of better words, 'filter out' everything except for the selected tags. Or I can leave everything visible and see the tags even through solid objects."

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she shivered. "It happened while I was in school. I'd just turned seven and it hadn't even been a year since I started living with my uncle's family. I got up to cross the room for...something, I don't even remember what anymore. Everything just...disappeared. I couldn't see anything at all, I thought I was suddenly stuck blind. I tripped and fell, and a wash of color spread across the ground. I know now that I effectively tried to Tag the ground but back then I freaked out. It didn't help that it was too large to Tag and I got a splitting headache because of it."

"That...gods that sounds awful." Laughing hollowly she tried to smile in response but it was bitter. "I screamed and cried. Called out for my parents, momentarily forgetting that they were dead. I could hear my classmates and the teacher, but I had no clue where they were or what was going on. My uncle was in the building, I forget why. They called him to the room and he scooped me up and suddenly I could see someone again." Her face softened. "I was so terrified. I refused to let go for anything. What if I stopped being able to see him? Would I be able to see anything normally ever again?"

She sat on a bench and looked to the moon as her iris started to cycle through various colors. "What happened?"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Eventually my aunt arrived and when she came in contact with me, I was able to see her. So I was passed to her and she was the one who noticed my eyes were changing colors. My uncle was more concerned with trying to calm me down so he hadn't noticed. She asked a few questions and started handing me things. I wasn't able to control the tagging so everything I touched was being dyed a random array of colors. Someone guessed, that it was my Semblance. Eventually I was able to see normally again and started learning how to control it."

Quietly, Ozwald absorbed what she said. She shifted on the bench and patted the spot, so he took the invitation and sat down. Eventually he asked, "Why are you telling me this? Why not our whole team or at least our leader?"

Silently she stared at the moon for awhile before she finally asked him, "What do you believe about semblances? That you are shaped by it, or that who you are shapes your personality?"

"I personally think it is determined by us. Like, who we are, what we want and the the situation in which it first awakens."

Nodding along with his words, Liz then interjected, "Now what does that say about Warren?"

[What?] Seeing his owlish look, she continued. "I agree with you. I think my semblance comes from me...not wanting to lose anything. I lost so much when I moved in with my extended family. Don't get me wrong, I love them dearly but my whole life was turned upside down. I didn't know anyone, I didn't know where anything was. I was always getting lost and I hated it. My parents were gone, and I left my friends behind."

She shivered as she asked him. "If my semblance was born from that feeling...of not wanting to lose anything and it granted me the ability to always see it. Then what caused Warren to develop his? Nothing can touch him while he is in the shadows. No living can go with him. Completely invisible, with no sign of him moving from shadow to shadow." Chills ran down his spine as he thought about it. Her voice snapped him out of it as she continued to muse

"I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Or maybe we are wrong and our Semblance is determined at birth and who we are has nothing to do with it. That would certainly explain why some people have so much trouble finding their Semblance." She stood and sighed. "Anyways. I just wanted to get that out of my system. Thanks for listening Oz." She waved goodbye as she turned and headed back to the dorm. He waved back and once she was out of sight, he checked his scroll. Pushing the conversation they just held to the back of his mind he hurried off. After a few minutes he reached the CCT tower and headed for one of the benches on the northern end. He checked his scroll again and mused to himself, "Right place, bit late though. So...where is she?"

"Over here."

Ozwald turned around and looked above him. In the tree behind the bench, Aqua sat on one of the lower branches. She smiled brightly and swung herself down as Oz tried to bring his heart rate down to normal levels.

[Jeez, just calm down. Be cool, relax. Remember, SHE was the one who asked to meet YOU here, so chill.] Casually as he could he asked, "So...you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah. I wanted to apologize to Warren. I kinda told my team about what happened between him and Coco. I didn't know that Ube likes to gossip so before I knew it, the whole school knew. I was wondering if Warren is, er...calm enough? To accept my apology?"

"He's calmer about it. He already talked to Coco as well, so it should be fine. Just be honest with him. Even if he gets upset at first, later on he'll appreciate the honesty." Nodding slightly she started to fiddle with her hair as the silence stretched between them.

Shifting his weight from foot to foot he asked, "Sooooo...Is that the only thing you wanted to talk about?"

"No!" It was hard to say who was more startled by her sharp response, him or her. "I mean I didn't really have anything else in mind. I was kind of freaking out about what to say to Warren. Should I wait? Will making make it worse? How should I word it? That kind of thing."

Ozwald feels his pulse start to tap-dance as tries to be suave and replies with, "That almost sounds like a convenient excuse you used just so you could talk with me." He flashes her a winning smile as she just stares at him with her jaw hanging open.

His smile starts to falter as he thinks [Uh...I don't think that came out right...]

Sweating bullets his panic levels rise when she bursts out laughing. Barely managing to speak through the laughter she asks, "Was that supposed to be smooth?" He blushes and mumbles incoherently as she covers her mouth in an attempt to muffle her giggles.

"It sounded so much better in my head..."

With an unrepentant grin she finally relaxed enough to stop fidgeting as she asked, "Well as for the one of the other things I wanted to ask you about. Coco mentioned your team found a solution to changing in the same room as your uh, co-ed team?"

Ozwald groaned. Of course Coco was responsible for getting her to ask him about changing clothes in front of the opposite gender, "Not really? We talked it over and brought up so good points. For one we need to trust each other if we are going to survive as huntsmen. If we can't even change clothes in front of one another, how can we trust them in live combat? Then we brought up first aid and potential awkward wound placement. It'd suck to bleed out if someone was to squeamish about undressing someone to treat a wound."

"That makes way to much sense. Wait, so how is that not a solution?"

"Cause we can't force trust. Sure we should reach that point eventually but that doesn't mean we already fully trust each other. Sure my team voted and agreed but Fae is very shy about it still so not really solved."

"Really? Isn't she like a princess or something? With an army of maids to help her dress and what not?"

That surprised him. [Is that the image people have of her?] In reply he deadpanned, "Does she seem like the type of girl who has everyone else take care of her?"

"Hmmm not really. But I don't know any of you too well yet."

"All the more reason to get to know one another better."

Surprise fluttered across both their faces as Ozwald tried to stutter his way to an explanation. "I er- t-that is to say, words? Words. U-um..."

-x-x-x-x-

"All the more reason to get to know one another better."

She froze as she felt a blush rise to her cheeks. [Oum help me, that sounds like a bad pickup line! So why is it so damned effective!?]

Taking a deep breath to steady her already racing pulse she brushed a loose strand of hair back as he stuttered and tripped over his own tongue. After she took a deep breath to settle her nerves replied as calmly as she was currently capable. "While I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that was NOT meant as 'pick-up-artist' as it came across..." pausing as he nodded vigorously, no doubt not trusting himself to speak.

"I understand the intent and agree wholeheartedly." She smiled as she felt her blush return. [Oum I'm going to regret this latter~]

"Besides, while it may be too early to know for certain...but I don't think I would-"

*DONG DING-DONG*

-x-x-x-x-

"Besides it may be too early to know for certain..."

[Know for certain? Know what for certain? Is she about to confess? Does she like me? Did I really make that good of an impression?]

"...but I don't think I would-"

*DONG DING-DONG*

The two of them jumped and reached for where their weapons would be...if they had them. As they looked up to the CCT tower nearby as it continued to chime loudly. Ozwald glanced back at her and saw that she had already checked her scroll.

"Midnight. Looks like I need to head back."

"So the princess must depart before the last toil of the midnight hour?"

[What. The. HELL!? Where are these lines coming from?] Burying his mortification as she replied with amused smile.

"So I am Cinderella now? You'll have to excuse me, I don't particularly feel like leaving one shoe behind."

"But then however shall I scour the kingdom in search of you?"

She turned away laughing, "Casting yourself as prince charming, already hopeless smitten?" Shaking her head she waved goodbye as she walked away, completely missing the expression on his face.

[Am I? I mean she's funny. We get along pretty well. She is strong enough to be a huntress. Not to mention she's smart and charismatic enough to be the leader of her team. Absolutely gorgeous to boot...I mean, just WOW, I can just get lost in her eyes...]

A moment passed as he fully processed his own thoughts before he groaned. [Oh gods I am falling for her aren't I?]

-x-x-x-x-

The days passed quickly as the new students rapidly adapted to the school's schedule. As for Team WOLF everyone's upgrades were progressing nicely.

Warren finished his repairs and with Timberwolf's recommendations started smelting an alternate alloy and replaced the material the made up his gauntlets. He was steadily replacing the rest of his suit but so far those were the only 'combat ready' components. Considering how he often only used the gauntlets while he made adjustments, it wasn't too much of a big deal.

Ozwald managed to repair his broken shield and implement an anti-gravity repulsor in it, but so far it was the only one as tuning it took much longer than any of them expected.

Liseran's new combat boots progressed faster than anyone expected. Using the blueprint's from the War Suit, they managed to put together a pair of lightweight boots that Liz integrated into her fighting style with surprising ease.

Fae's pistol packed a much greater punch and she ended up enlarging the blades of the hatchets to keep the weapons balanced. The upgrades came at the cost of extra weight causing Faerien's free time to end up focusing more on strength and endurance training to handle the heavier weapons.

Their progress was greatly assisted by the various teachers in the WAM course. Each day it rotated who was in charge of the workroom. As they adapted to the new life at Beacon, Liz's earlier words to Warren was quickly proved true. All huntsmen were weird. The various students learned about each teacher's...unique approach. Professor Goodwitch was incredibly strict but she was never harsh. Her judgment were accurate, and any time a student incurred her wrath, their punishment was appropriately fair. Her classes almost always included individual spars. She would often use her telekinesis to manipulate a mannequin to show case specific actions or to make a point to a student on what they did incorrectly.

Needless to say her class was the first to throw a curveball. After a few weeks at Beacon, the Professor made an announcement.

"Alright students. Today marks a change to the regular sparring sessions. Starting today, spars will be performed as pairs. Teams will be selected at random, and each team will nominate two members for the first match. The second match will consist of the unchosen members. After that another pair of teams will be chosen until we run out of time. I do hope that in your free time all of you have been devoting some time to team building exercises." Casting her eyes about the room she saw a disappointing amount of uncomfortable teams. A few more than usual seemed eager for team activities.

"Additionally as we progress through the following weeks the matches will escalate into full team matches. On the last day of this month, normal classes will be suspended for the first years' very first multi-team assignment."

The news had everyone's undivided attention. Sparing in pairs? Team matches? This class was already one of the more exciting ones and now an assignment that needed multiple teams.

Liseran was practically vibrating with excitement, something the strict teacher took note of as allowed herself a small smile and adjusted her glasses.

"The four team capture the flag free-for-all."

Capture the flag?

"More information will be provided as we draw closer to the class but for now..."

She input a few commands on her tablet as she crossed the room. On the screen above the stage the names WOLF & CFVY appeared.

"Teams WOLF and CFVY, please select two representatives for the first match."

The teams exchanged a large variety of looks, ranging from apprehension and casual interest, to barely contained excitement. Warren looked over at his teammates and said, "Well I'm pretty sure if we make Liz wait, she'll explode."

The bubbly girl beamed with pride as she leapt to her feet and ran for the changing room. "Alright, one down. Do either of you-"

"If it is not too much of an inconvenience..."

Ozwald groaned as he gestured for Faerien to go ahead. "Seriously Fae. That's twice today you've been overly formal. You know the rules. Once more and it's M'lady for the rest of the day."

Fae stood quickly, "R-right. I'm s-" Warren raised an eyebrow as he glanced over.

"-er, I'm departing. Wish me luck."

She hurried to the changing room as Warren looked over to Team CFVY. Coco seemed frozen in place as he realized they selected Yatsu and Fox. [Looks like Oz and I and going against Coco and Velvet. Well. This'll be...interesting.]

-x-x-x-x-

Before long the two pairs stood in the ring facing each other. This would also mark the first time the rest of the class would see Liseran's new combat boots. Warren and Fae weren't able to hide the changes to their equipment but Ozwald and Liseran had held back on using theirs before non-teammates.

They had a few ideas on how to throw their opponents off their game...but they also had a few techniques they could try and use against them. The real question was, would they have the chance to actually pull off their coordinated attacks.

Glynda activated the barrier around the ring, cutting them off from the rest of the class. She didn't activate it for every match, but certain students (like Liseran) had the barrier active for every fight they were involved in.

The fighters' aura bars popped up on the screen above their heads for the rest of the class to observe. "We'll follow the standard rule set. Drop your opponent's aura to red or ring out. Victory is obtained by eliminating both opponents, time is set for 15 minutes before a draw is declared. Are you ready?"

Both teams nodded, the girls held their weapons ready in their gun modes as the boys readied their single form weapons.

"Begin!"