AN: Indeed Ruby is no ace when it comes to MS's but if anything Gundam and rwby have shown even those without innate skill can do get things if they train hard enough.

CHAPTER 23

A spray of bullets pelted against the shield Ruby's GM held. She looked around and saw one of the Vacuo students go down as the bullets exploded on contact leaving red paint all over the machine. The radar showed the enemy unit's less than a click away. A GM comes from the forest on the left signaling ally.

"Coco reporting in the enemy has entrenched themselves on a hill overlooking the field. What's the call captain?" Coco said over the headset.

"Did they notice you scouting?" The calm voice of Ren asked.

"I don't believe so Ren," Coco said hesitantly.

"We need to distract them. Cardin you and Nora you'll attack from the front. Coco you and Ruby try and surprise them from the forest. Neon and I will use your guy's attacks to try to surprise them." Rens GM reaches done and grabs the dust spray gun and heat rod from the fallen Vacuo GM. "Let's move out!" Ruby followed Coco down the forest trail she had used earlier the sound of gunfire echoed from the field and she winced thinking how quickly those two would fall if they didn't finish soon. Seeing the side of the hill Ruby rushed forward blocking out the thought that had popped up. 'Weird it's not like Jaune to leave such an opening undefended.' Coco tried to stop her when two Zaku's emerged from the tree line and fired on the two girls.

"You were right they fell for the trap sir." A cool voice said over the headset. Jaune smiled. 'Is it wrong I knew Ruby would fall for the trap?' He shook his head ridding that thought from his head. Jaune had warned her before about being reckless so hopefully, she would use this as a learning experience. Cardin and Nora were the ones he sent up in the front. Not a bad plan they are heavy hitters and if they got close enough they would easily take out a good amount of his team.

"Where are you, Ren?" Jaune asked no one in particular.

'He likely saw the trap when it was sprung and retreated further back to fix his plan.' Char offered.

'Perhaps. If Cardin and Nora are upfront and we got Ruby who do you think the other one was and who's with Ren? ' Jaune questioned.

'Ren likes quick mobility so likey the cat is with him so the one with Ruby was likely Coco.' Char guessed.

"Ok listen up everyone we outnumber them but we can't get cocky don't let down your guard," Jaune told his team.

"OH NEPY!" The sing-song voice of Nora rang out before she jumped over the barricade taking Neptune and an older Beacon student out. The others brought her down quickly after.

"Nevermind. Flynt I'm guessing Neon is with Ren so do you think you can stop her?" Jaune asked. The other Beacon student fell from a headshot taking Cardin with him.

"I should be able to," Flynt's cool voice replied.

"Down to the Wire now Sterling how will your class handle it?" Ironwood asked while watching the monitors. Many new recruits tended to freak out when they've lost the advantage in battle or surprise and that's how they made mistakes.

"These kids are superb huntsmen/huntresses in training they have surprised me at every turn. Sure we need to work on Miss. Rose and Miss Valkyre's tendency to rush in without thinking and Mr. Vasilias's fear." Sterling started watching the playback.

"Odd because I've seen Miss. Rose fight in combat class she's a prodigy if there ever was one. Yet all the reports say she's mediocre to decent at best in an MS. Any ideas?" Ironwood asked.

"I watched a few of her fight's I'm thinking it's an inability to adapt to weapons, her file says she dedicated most of her time at signal perfecting her scythe. Perhaps she didn't see the point in using other weapons." Sterling sighed.

Flynts Zaku was taken out along with Neons GM when they both landed blows that would have killed each other. Ren sighed as that was the last ally he had but it also meant Jaune was also alone. Preparing himself for the next part he made sure both of his spray guns were charged.

'Be careful Ren, Jaune knows you're coming for him.' Amuro cautioned his friend.

"I know. We are tied right now so this will determine who's better." Ren told his friend. 'I need to get better to keep my new family safe.' Ren looked at the picture he and his team took after the dance. Ren ran a quick diagnostic on his GM finding he had about half an hour of Run time left and pulled out his scroll and started a timer for fifteen minutes as a Zaku kicked his GM in the cockpit causing him to become slightly disoriented by all the bouncing.

Flynt's signal died and Jaune sped off. He passed a GM riddled with paint marks, he was going the right way. In a field behind the tree line, he saw a GM with two heat rods and two spray guns. Ren was distracted and Jaune took that moment to strike with a swift kick he sent the GM staggering back. He quickly pulled out his rifle and pointed at the cockpit to find the GM had done the same with its spray gun.

"Guess this is a stand-off, Ren." Jaune joked as he opened his comm channel.

"Seems so. Sorry but I intend to win." Ren said as he dropped the spray gun and pulled Jaunes rifle throwing him off balance. When ren tried to flip the Zaku Jaune activated his vernier stoping the flip and pulled out his ax striking the arm that was grabbing him. The electrical paint sent a shock through the arm leaving it unstable for the moment. Using the momentum he swung his Zaku to pin Rens GM and raised his Ax to end it unfortunately Ren had been quick enough to grab his pray gun and disabled Jaune's ax arm before kicking him off.

Mercury watched from some cameras they had set up to spy on all the students. He scoffed at the last conversation he had with Cinder. She didn't understand how dangerous these two were or how these mechs would change the world. She was so focused on finding that girl they had attacked for some fancy magic powers. Power like that was worthless it was nothing but a crutch or so his bastard of a father said before he took his semblance. Mercury had to push himself to peek conditioning and then he took his revenge and killed the old man. The woman was unhinged and obsessed. He had plans to get one of those machines and all he had to do was wait to strike. What he would do after was still up in the air. He winced when he saw the single-eyed suit, er Zaku lands a devastating chop with the ax, if this wasn't training the thing would have cleaved through the GM's arm.

"Mercury stop watching those idiots we have to devise an alibi for what's coming." Cinder yelled from the door.

"Right away your majesty." Mercury rolled his eyes.

Both down an arm Jaune and ren circled each other waiting for an opening. Ren raised his spray gun and Jaune rolled grabbing his discarded ax. Jaune brought the ax up at an angle barely scratching the chest of Rens GM as he dodged but he did knock the spray gun away and Ren grabbed a heat rod from his back. Ren thrust at Jaune who barely dodged and got a small nick on his chest as well. Jaune rushed in knocking Ren's sword to the side and bringing the ax down with all the force his Zaku could handle causing the shoulder to scream as metal strained.

Ruby had been sitting in her GM for near half an hour when the buzzer sounded signaling a win. The GM's computers came alive and she was able to lift her suit from the pile of trees she fell on. Coco's GM was helping a stuck Zaku out of the pile of fallen trees. She looked around and saw GM's and Zaku's leaving the hill. She saw Nora in the group and rushed to her teammate.

"I can't get over how fun this all is Ruby!" The bubbly girl said over comms.

"Yeah, fun for you maybe you don't have a crazy girl yelling your name before she 'kills' you." Neptune groaned over comms.

"Should have been paying attention Neppy!"Nora giggled.

"Sorry I messed up Nora. I forgot Jaune was in charge of the other side and I should have been more cautious." Ruby quietly spoke.

"It's not your fault we all made mistakes but that's what these mock fights are for. We get to see our flaws without any lasting damage to us." Nora consoled the little reaper.

"So where's the rest?" Coco asked. They look around and see a GM and Zaku riddled with small scratches making their way to the meeting point. The Zaku's arm dangled loosely and with a gasp, Ruby rushed to its side.

"Jaune!" Ruby skidded to a stop by him. "Are you ok?!"

"I'm fine Dear. I just pushed the Zaku too hard." Ruby felt her face flush as Jaune said that on an open comm channel.

" *Whistle* Dear huh I figured you'd call her something cheesy like My Rose. or Cookie Lil bro." Coco teased as the rest caught up.

"Well I tried Cookie but that just made her hungry and caused use to lose stove privileges for a week when Miss Goodwitch saw the mess Ruby made when Ruby added too much flour to a cookie recipe." Jaune chuckled.

"It's not my fault the bag broke…" Ruby giggled at the memory and how Jaune had to stop her from downing a whole bag of chocolate chips. It still surprised her they were able to salvage the cookies though all the cleaning they had to do was the worst.

"So what's the count at now?" Coco asked wondering who won.

Blake, Yang, Weiss, and Pyrrha made camp while Professor Oobleck wrote down the days' journey and made a note that a pack of Goliaths was in the area but they seemed docile for now. The girls were exhausted as they had to fight off multiple Grimm to get to the outer ruins of Mountian Glenn. Oobleck sat across from Weiss and pulled a notebook out.

A question for you Miss Schnee? A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So... why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas? Oobleck asked the young girl as she cleaned her weapon.

"It's exactly as you said: I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty." Weiss finished cleaning her blade.

"Interesting. Tell me, Yang: Why did you choose this line of work?" He turned his gaze towards Yang.

"Huh? Well, to fight monsters and save-" Oobleck held up a hand stopping her.

"No, that is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a Huntress." Oobleck explained.

"The honest reason? I'm a thrill-seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. It's a win-win, y'know?" Yang shrugs.

"I see." He makes a note stating Yang still seems to have some trust issues remembering a talk he had with Tai not long ago about how close Yang and Blake seemed. "Miss Nikos how about yo-" He counted three girls he spun his head looking around. "Where's Miss Belladonna?"

Blake took time collecting wood to look around the ruins for clues. She stepped lightly as she saw fresh footprints. On a wall not far off was a white fang marking and as she got closer the ground gave way and she fell. Using her training Blake went to grab Gambol Shroud but it wasn't on her back. She grabbed a beam and spun landing in a crouch in the shadows. Two guards burst through a door as Blake skunk further in to avoid their line of sight.

"Be careful you animals we don't want these creatures escaping before our explosive entrance!" Roman Toirchwickk walked by some White Fang grunts loading Grimm on a train.

"I have to warn the team." Blake pulled out her scroll sending a quick message before seeing a lazy grunt and in a quick motion she dropped upon him and dragged him in the shadows.

Roman sighed thinking how foolish this whole plan was. One wrong bump or one idiot with fire dust and they are all Grimm chow. He sighed as two guards came running.

"What is it, can't you see I'm busy?" He growled.

"Sire we have some bad news…" one of them said. "Someone got down here through a hole in the roof." The other said.

"Tell me you caught them… Ah, great. Get a group and start looking!" Roman shouted. He looked around and saw a female grunt leaving the restrooms.

"You come over here." The dark-haired grunt looked around and pointed at herself. "No your sister. YES, YOU!" Roman growled.

"Y-yes, sir?" the grunt asked.

"Got a question for you girly." Roman looked at the train. "If you were being forced into following some dangerous people what would you do?"

"Sir?" The grunt looked concerned.

"It's just hypothetical. Don't worry me and your edge lord of a boss don't get along so I won't tell him anything." Roman looked at her.

"Well I'd wait for the perfect moment where I'm far enough away from them and I'd use whatever transport was the closet nearby to get as far away as possible, whether it is say a train or a bullhead." The grunt said.

"Interesting. Take 15 then find the intruder." Roman fiddled with his cane.

AN: Happy new year lets hope 2022 is a better year.