And so a day or so later than usual I finally have this chapter done, at first I was going to keep it focused on Zen, but halfway through i decided to incorporate another part (you can probably guess where).

Anyhow here be chapter 4

The next morning

Zen awoke from a deep sleep, instantly looking over to Penny's side of the room, finding her bed yet again appearing as if it hadn't been slept in.

I'm sure I saw her go to bed when I did last night, perhaps she's in the cafeteria. Maybe she wanted to get a head start on today's training... I hope after everything that happened yesterday she's okay to train with me?

He thought to himself as he applied a fresh dressing to his arm, trying to replicate what the nurse did as best as he could.

She doesn't seem to be here, must be in the training rooms. Did I push her too far with what I said yesterday? Did I really help her overcome her worries? Or could she still be blaming herself, and she merely put on a facade, so that I wouldn't be feeling anguish for her wellbeing?

Pondering these notions as he exited the dining room, making his way to the next possible place where he might find his friend.

The sound of blades moving along the air could be heard as he got nearer to the main training room. Peeking through the partially open door, he could see the red head with blades in hand, creating long slow sweeping arcs one moment, then quick rapid slashes the next.

He sighed for a moment before entering, making sure not to disturb her.

Penny could tell she wasn't alone anymore, but continued practicing her attacks for a minute or two before finally taking a chance to rest. She turned to face him, smiling as she did, Zen however thought that there was a look of dismay on her before making eye contact with him.

'Good morning Zen, are you ready to start today's training?" she said as she looked at him.

Sensing something about the way he stood and stared, she asked with a slight concern in her voice, "Are you alright? You look as if you had just gotten up."

"Well yes, I was worried about you after... so I immediately went looking for you, thinking you were in the dining room. Since you weren't there, this was the only other place that I know of where you might be. And so here you are. And... well since I am here, we might as well start."

"So you mean you have not had morning nourishment? Are you sure that is a wise decision? You know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, given that you have had a time period of 7 or 8 hours without eating anything. In addition to that, we will be training for 4 or 5 hours before you can actually have something."

"I'll be good, trust me." he said, making his way over to where his training weapons hung.

As he stood in front of Penny, he could see her hands ever so slightly shiver.

Imagining why as well as what she could possibly be thinking at that moment, Zen decided to ask.

"Are you sure you'll be alright to continue with the training, we can either take it really slow today. Or if you didn't want to train, we can always spend time touring Beacon, it's such a large place, yet I've only seen three or four parts of it.

Maybe if we ask the Professor, he might let us take a trip into Vale, still have this whole, 'have no idea who I am' thing going on." he jokingly said, Penny was quiet for a while before she sighed and conveyed what she was thinking.

"I'm alright, I'm just worried that something like yesterday could happen again. I don't want to repeat seeing you getting hurt because of my lack of awareness... even if it was for a second or two.

I did have to report the incident to general Ironwood this morning, no doubt my father has been notified about it and I worry what he might say when we break for lunch."

"Did you want to talk about it?"

"Maybe afterwards. Right now we should carry on with the training, you seem to be quite the learner. I noted that you are very responsive with my directions, and you seem to be enjoying it, so that is always a positive notion." she noted as the trembling in her hands dissipated as she finished speaking..

"Well why not, you're a great instructor and you make it look like a dance rather than a conflict."

"Thank you Zen," she said before taking a deep breath, thinking for a moment before addressing him. "So how is your arm doing?"

"It's healing up quite well, in a week or so it should be fully healed, with little to no scarring."

"Well just to be on the safe side, I want you to fight single handed today. This might actually be beneficial to you."

"Beneficial? How exactly?"

"Well consider that what I di-, what happened yesterday were to occur if you were fighting a Grimm and it attacked you in the same manner. Or if you were sparring with someone and they manage to disarm one of your weapons from your grasp. Therefore you have to rely on one sword or arm, doing the work of two to attack them or defend yourself."

Once he realised that it was a real possibility, he paid close attention as they began. Penny, on several occasions, made sure he was alright to keep going throughout the lesson, still worried that he might faint from not eating anything for such a long time.

She would attack with one sword whilst he defended, then he would try to attack. Following this, she attacked using two swords, watching how he would guard himself. After three hours of practice, Penny halted their current progress, keeping her eye on the time.

"Okay, so I'm stopping here as I have to report to the general in an hour or so. However...we can still spar before hand, if you wanted to that is?"

"Was going to be sad if we didn't."

"I thought you wouldn't hesitate."

Once the fight began, Penny first kept her attention on attacking his right side, focusing on how would he deal with a blow as she brought both her swords down on him. She continued to attack in this fashion until he appeared complacent.

She now chose to attack his vulnerable side, charging at him with both swords poised for the hit. As her blades neared their target, Zen lifted his own sword, acting to shield his left arm.

Penny's weapons made contact and caused sparks to fly as they skidded along his sword, he moved his body along with his sword, so that Penny kept moving instead of stopping still like she would with her previous attacks.

As the weight of her blades finally subsided, Zen took the brief chance he had to strike. With the twist of his wrist, he brought the weapon to his chest before pushing it outwards, lunging at his opponent.

The tip of his blade made contact with Penny's back, her aura confirming he was successful with his attempt.

He didn't have time to enjoy the moment however, as Penny swivelled where she stood and with a single slash from her weapon, Zen's only means of defending himself was knocked clean out of his hand.

"Impressive with your quick thinking, taking the opportunity to attack me when you did. However, in most cases you have to anticipate where you'll be once you perform such a move, and as I have demonstrated, your place in a fight matters if you have limited options."

"C-could you repeat that last part again?" Zen said, still a little shaken at how quick the situation went from him having the upper hand, to almost having no hand at all.

"You just need to have a plan of action when you're sparring with someone. If you land a hit but think they can attack you straight after, defend yourself. If you think you can't... get as much distance between you and the other person as soon as your weapon has finished connecting with them.

Alright, I think after that we are truly done for the time being. Now let's go get you a late breakfast... or early lunch, depending on how you want to call it."

Once they entered the dining room, Penny said she'd return as soon as possible, dismissing her friends' concern to have something before going.

Come on Penny, relax. This meeting will be over before you know it, and when you're done you have the rest of the afternoon to just spend time talking with Zen... so stop worrying about what he'll say. You always enjoy receiving calls from your father...then why are you so hesitant for this one?

Penny thought to herself as she made her way towards the meeting room where the conference call between her father, general Ironwood and herself would take place.

It wasn't too hard for her to find, usually the meeting was held in the same location, also the presence of two Atlesian guards standing on either side of the door signified that Ironwood wasn't too far away. Once entering , she could tell that the meeting had already commenced, despite arriving early. Being welcomed by the general, Penny took her place as she greeted the two of them.

"H-hello father" Penny stuttered as she stood in front of the projection of her father, Ironwood standing off to her right side.

"Penny, good to see you are fine, no need to be nervous my child. I take it the general is treating you well ?"

"Yes father, he is. I am enjoying my time in Vale, you should see it for yourself, the temperate climate here means that there are a wide variety of flora, it's quite amazing.

And the city itself, so peaceful, even when it is at its busiest." she said, her tone picking up a little as she went to great lengths to describe Vale.

"Well it's good to hear that you made the time for your off day an enjoyable one. But now to more important matters." he said, Penny's expression became reserved as she listened to what her father would say next.

"For the past day or so you have been mentoring a boy in basic combat... he also suffers from amnesia correct?"

"Yes father."

"Professor Ozpin was very persuasive in convincing me to allow you to sacrifice your own personal training in order to teach him how to fight. Since you were the first person he saw , and you only did that because you went to investigate what has been described as an incident... Am I right in saying so?"

"Indeed, father"

He paused for a moment before his normal demeanour changed to indignation as something occurred in his head. His eyes became a deathly glare as he talked to Penny.

"Does he know?"

"Uh, no.. no, he doesn't seem to be aware of it. Maybe he might, but he's not being honest, in fear that I might cut ties with him or he's worried it might upset me. It could be possible that he has his own thoughts to worry about, so much so that he's not observing the little things I do..." Penny said , almost in exasperation, trying to stop her father from the two of them training together.

"Is he kind to you then? he said, the twinkle in his eyes now showing a more concerned expression.

"Yes, very kind indeed, an enjoyable friend to be around really. His name is Zen by the way."

"Well, if you think that's the case, I will not proceed further. His la-... Zen's lack of an aura does have me curious however. Perhaps when I travel to Vale he wouldn't mind being subject to... analysis." he said as he sat back in his chair, returning to a more calm and relaxed look on him.

"I'm sorry father, but what do you mean by 'when you travel'?"

"My dear girl, you do realise why I had set up this time for this call, don't you?"

Penny remained quiet, shuffling her feet as she stood, glancing away from her father as she knew what she was dreading to hear was about to be the main topic of discussion.

"Now, the general has informed me of your report with respect to the events that took place yesterday. From inspecting the coding that was sent to me, I can see the moment when it happened, so I will have to then come to Vale to correct the coding and reconfigure your sensors to prevent something like this occurring again .

However, for the time being, I want to hear from you directly, the moments that took place in that training room." he said in a stern tone.

After Penny explained what lead up to the fight as well as afterwards, trying her best to hold back any sort of distress she was feeling as she addressed her father.

He listened intently as she recounted the incident, when she finished he sat back in his chair, tapping his forehead with his index finger as his hand covered his face, sighing before speaking with a tired voice.

"Why is it every time you seem to make a friend, I get a call from the general saying something has happened with you and said friend?"

I'm beginning to think that your time spent with Zen is a wasted endeavour. He has nothing to contribute to your own training, he is merely learning from you, with the hours you spend guiding him, you lose in your own time in improving your skills.

Not to mention there is the ever present possibility that as he spends more and more time with you, he might put two and two together. Is it even worth the energy to teach him? Especially since he is unable to protect himself from something as simple as a minor flesh wound.

"Father! Zen is quite capable of fighting, and besides, he is only training with me until he regains his memories back. If he doesn't by next week, he will attend classes with fellow students. Once that happens, I can return to calibrating my skills as normal." she said in an almost defiant manner.

Her father was silent for the moment before speaking in a monotone voice.

"I will call again in a few days time with regards to updated protocols, I believe I have what I need and so I will allow you to return to your current duties. Take good care of yourself Penny, and try not to bring attention to yourself like this in the future."

"I-I will sir, goodbye father."

As Penny was dismissed and exited the room, Ironwood stood where Penny was moments ago, her father addressing him before finalising the meeting.

"And general... even though Penny is a success at synthetic aura generation... it's going to take you a long time and a lot of convincing before I build another someone like Penny"

Zen was left on his own for half an hour or so before she returned, looking quite pensive as she sat opposite him.

"Everything alright?"

"For the most part, everything seemed to be fine. But once I recalled what happened, my father wasn't too happy that I was able to lose focus as easily as I did, said that he needs to- I need to work on my ability to concentrate."

Hiccup

"I mean it was one simple mistake, more so an accident really. Surely you can afford one at least? You appear to be excellent at what you do, plus if it were anyone else, you'd not have this issue as their aura would have kept them safe." he said as he got up to return the tray to where it belonged, he stayed for a moment as Penny responded to his comment.

"But that still doesn't negate the fact that it happened. To my father, an error in my judgment could spell life and death for people, not just an individual but perhaps the entire kingdom...or all of Remnant."

Seeing how concerned she looked after her talk, Zen felt that he needed to try and understand her situation, having a somewhat mutual expression when he returned.

"Why don't we have a walk around Beacon?"

She agreed to the idea, and so once they were out in the fresh air and the afternoon sun shining down on them, he proceeded to engage in conversation.

"So after what you told me about your home in atlas, I imagine that you really didn't have much to do in the way of fun when growing up?"

"Well, my child hood really isn't worth mentioning really"

Hiccup

"So is your father really forceful with his strict rules? I'd imagine so after what you just told me."

"No, not at all in the slightest. My father is the kindest person you'll ever meet, well if not compared to my best friend that is.

He's an inventor, the best in Atlas, working with general Ironwood and the Atlesian military, designing and building various military equipment and systems. His greatest achievement has been the recently announced Atlesian knights, they're android soldiers that make up the unmanned portion of Atlas' army.

And after recent events that have transpired in Vale , his creations have garnered him the attention of private investors, wanting their own personal body guards at a fraction of the cost of contracting a hunter or huntress.

However some of his machines have been subject to attack from mercenaries, targeting them during transport from the main production facility, to wherever they are needed. But my father has made these knights quite resistant to attack, not to say they are indestructible, however you need to land an attack in just the right spot to destroy it in an instant.

The constant praise he gets from the rich, the ever present Atlesian army needing him to develop the next 'edge' in warfare against the Grimm, or sometimes the White Fang.

Those are the reasons why my father always strives for improvement, trying to find the most effective and efficient solution to a problem, always moving forward, never looking back... I guess it's in his nature now, being engrossed in his work, so much so that even his own daughter is subject to such scrutiny, a simple single error is as equal as failure."

Zen thought for a moment, pondering as he saw Penny's expression remain constant, she wasn't angry or upset, but rather she talked calmly. The last sentence she appear to have an expression of weariness, so much that it seemed she was weary of herself rather than her father's behaviour.

He finally spoke after a minute or two of silence.

"Well, after everything you said, it seems that he does care for you, and it could be that his 'scrutiny' is his way of showing that he wants you to have the best.

I mean, even with all his inventions, he see's you as his greatest achievement."

Penny went quiet as he said this. Afraid he may have done more harm than good, he backpedalled to the very early part of her conversation.

"You mentioned that your father was the kindest person I'd ever meet, but not so if I compare him to your best friend... so why don't you tell me about your friend then, sounds like someone I should meet immediately."

As soon as he finished asking her, Zen had never seen Penny appear to smile as she did at that moment.

"She's a great friend, her name is Ruby, she is fun, kind and very friendly to everyone she meets..."

For the rest of the afternoon Zen listened as Penny went on in great detail about her friend and the times they spent together, visiting Vale, exploring different weapons stores, playing with fireflies and anything else exciting or positive about her.

So was this an alright chapter? I'm alright with how it turned out, but I'm keen to write the next one, I have three or four concepts that I have to jam into one chapter as they would be too small if I separated them.

I was also going to name Penny's father Dr Ottoppeg, but I decided to leave it out as it's too on the nose for a name...plus the could be a chance he is never spoken to again so there is no need for a name. Plus I left out describing any physical features as I think it's cool for the reader to imagine what he might look like...plus every time aI think of him I don't want to fall into the sterotypical scientist stunt. That or picture Penny's father as Dr Light from Megaman (or having similar features).

Anyway that was all I had to say, RWBY Chapter 5 releases tomorrow, keen for that.

Now onto writing chapter 5.

Have a good one you legends.