Chapter 14: Strained

Things, in fact, did not go better for Team VIEW. It had been about three weeks since initiation, and Viralious was at the end of his rope with Eckhart's bullshit. Viralious had hoped that like Tai said, Eckhart would just need time to open up to them, but truth being told he was becoming more and more distant. He only met with them to finish class assignments or to compare notes. During sparring class whenever he was asked to practice a team attack or partner with Viralious he became short and would do the bare minimum. Viralious honestly didn't know what to do, he knew this wasn't how teams normally acted but he didn't know how he could fix it. After all, every time he tried talking to Eckhart about something he would just get up and walk away. However, currently Viralious and Winter were practicing semblance control after classes as Viralious didn't want to think about his insubordinate teammate.

"Okay, now try using the glyphs to slow your momentum." Winter says in a scholarly tone.

Moments later, Viralious is sent flying across the classroom, he tries to follow Winter's advice and does manage to use some of the glyphs to slow his momentum, but unfortunately, it's not enough and he still slams into the side of the arena.

"You alright?" Winter asks, slightly concerned while walking up to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Viralious says standing up, "I think I'm getting a little better at this, though if you don't mind, I'd prefer to not be thrown at the wall again." he continues with a chuckle.

"Alright, do you want to try using lighting dust and practice time dilation?" Winter responds

"Winter, remember the last time we tried that?"

During the second week Viralious and Winter were practicing time dilation and somehow managed to get Viralious stuck going about 1.5 times normal speed for a good hour or two... It was funny at first but after it wore off Viralious was horribly nauseous and ended up vomiting everything he had eaten in the past week.

"Yes, but we need to practice at some point if we want to use it properly."

Viralious lets out a sigh, "I understand but I'm not really in the mood to throw up before dinner."

Suddenly Viralious' scroll vibrated. Pulling it out he sees a message from Professor Basil.

"I just got a message from Basil; she wants me to meet her in her office." Viralious says in confusion.

"That's a bit of a surprise, I figured she would have gone home for the weekend by now." Winter responds with a shrug.

"Yeah, well it's probably important. I'll catch up with you afterwards." Viralious says silently thanking the mouse professor giving him the perfect excuse to avoid that particular training, before turning and exiting the classroom.

Viralious' mind races as he walks to Basil's office, the spontaneous nature of the message slowly feeding his anxiety.

Why does she want me to speak with her? I don't remember doing anything stupid… maybe she wants to talk about my poisons? UGH, I wish she just said what this would be about.

Viralious stops in front of Basil's office and notices she has added more comics, this time there's now a comic showing a Beowolf being walked on a leash as well as a cat faunus complaining about Mondays.

Viralious knocks on the door and in a few moments, Basil calls out. "Please c-come in." Stepping in Viralious glances around the room, it's similar to the last time he was in there. However, the plants look like they have started to thrive. There's also a photo sitting on her desk of her, Makoto and Kaine sitting at a table with the caption 'Girls' night.'

"H-he-Hello Viralious, p-please t-t-take a sea-seat." Basil says motioning to the chairs in front of her desk. Viralious sits down and stares blankly at the mouse professor.

"So, Basil, why did you call me into your office?" Viralious says wasting no time

Basil closes her eyes and breathes in for a second. She then pulls up a list on the computer in front of her.

"This here is the rankings list of the first-year students. I was looking over it and was surprised by Team VIEW's placement." Her tone shifting to militaristic confidence

Viralious glances at the list and is extremely surprised to find team KNGT as the top spot. Going down the list he finds Team VIEW ranked 4 out of 6 teams.

"There has to be some kind of mistake, we're ranking highest in sparring, our grades are regularly in the top 5 in each class and we don't get into trouble or pick fights." Viralious says in surprise.

"That people have actually reported." Basil deadpans.

"I don't have to answer that question, I know my rights." Viralious chuckles out.

"Good, know them well," Basil chuckles back before coughing, "The reason for Team VIEW being placed as the 4th best team is we look at four overall factors, academics, sparring standing, behavior, and teamwork. Team VIEW has ranked 1st,1st, 2nd, and 6th in these categories accordingly." She continues in a stern voice.

Viralious lets out a sigh, "It's that obvious, huh?"

Basil nods, "Tell me Viralious, what's going on behind the scenes?"

Viralious leans back in his chair "It's Eckhart, he's… He's a little mad that he wasn't made the team leader. He seemingly takes everything I say to him as a personal slight and refuses to actually be a team!" He says getting more exhausted as he goes on.

"How do you know that he's upset about not being made the leader?" Basil Chimes in

"Well, it's pretty obvious, he was stuck up before we were a team, but afterwards is a whole 'nother ball game. That and Ifiral straight up told me about it." Viralious responds with a shrug.

Basil just nods allowing him to continue. "Look I get it, I'm not the best leader, but I'm trying. I can see this team doing great things. When we were fighting that Geist, we each were able to perform and execute a plan to perfection that led us to victory. but now it's like a whole different group of people." He finishes hanging his head down.

"He wants you to abdicate your position as leader of the team so he can be the leader." Basil deadpans.

"I know… I probably should so we could act-"

"Viralious Rose, no you are the best candidate for the leader of Team VIEW. I understand that having an unruly teammate can be degrading but why haven't you done something about it yet?" Basil says in surprising fury.

Viralious is taken aback by her sudden outburst and the mention of his last name before the breathes in "I called my stepdad and he said just my mother just tried being friends with her unruly teammates he said that giving them some space helped…" he says in a quiet voice.

"No offense, but your stepdad's an idiot." Basil says scoffing.

Viralious laughs slightly, "Yeah, honestly, I'll give you that one." He then puts on a mocking voice, "Hmmm let's see here, I have this daughter that is a perfect fusion of me and my wife. What should we name her? Oh, I know, let's drop the first three letters of my name and keep it the exact fucking same." he finishes putting emphasis on the exact.

Basil chuckles "V-viralious language please, I'm still your superior."

"Right, sorry." he straightens out in his chair.

Basil sighs, "Viralious I'm giving you until next week to get this issue fixed on your own or I will be informing Ironwood about it. Believe me he will make you all do 'bonding missions' that are the dumbest shit you will ever do" Basil says giving air quotes to the bonding missions. "I mean seriously I've seen him make teams sit and watch paint dry! Each time they talked while watching it he would add another layer! Seriously who does that" She says to no one in particular.

Viralious attempts to imagine his team trying to complete the task that Basil just described… quickly growing horrified as it would probably be at least 40 layers before they even got close to the end. "Alright, threat received loud and clear. I'll call a team meeting and hopefully find a way to nip this in the bud." he says in a quiet sigh.

"Oh don't nip buds Viralious, oftentimes letting it bloom is better." She says in concern.

"It's a figure of speech." Viralious deadpans.

"Oh I-I-I well… I-I- ummm g-good lu-luck Viral-Viralious, I h-h-hope that we d-don't have to in-involve Iron-Ironwood." Basil stammers out embarrassed.

Viralious nods then stands up exiting the door. Basil continues to sit at her desk before pulling out a different scroll then her normal one and typing something into it.

Viralious Rose. Status: Promising, further observation and intervention required to be an optimal candidate. Monitor scroll and location. Prepare GS1 and build a file on their team.

She then swiftly closes the scroll after hitting save before dropping on the ground and breaking it with her heel.

Viralious doesn't notice this however as he's typing a message to his team on his scroll while walking out.

Sorry for the short notice, but team meeting ASAP. Basil shared something with me that I need to talk to you all about.

Closing his scroll, he breathes in and sighs. "This is going to be an interesting team meeting."

Ifiral sat on the couch in Team VIEW's common lounge arms crossed. He was questioning why their leader might have called this meeting out of the blue.

"What do you think Basil wanted to talk to Viralious about?" Winter says from her seat on the chair on Ifiral's left, she was the first to get back and was shifting around uncomfortably in her chair.

Ifiral shrugs before Eckhart who's leaning against the mini fridge that they bought off a fourth year responds "It's probably something frivolous." His tone is dismissive.

"I don't know, I don't think Viralious would call a meeting if it wasn't important." Winter responds.

Before anyone could speak again Viralious opens the door walking into the room. He's a little shocked that everyone was gathered before him. Stepping in he takes a seat next to Ifiral on the couch before motioning for Eckhart to sit. Something that Eckhart doesn't do.

Sighing, Viralious begins, "Thank you for coming on short notice… Especially since it's the start of the weekend." His tone is serious.

"Well, you're the leader and we figured that it had to be important." Winter responds. Ifiral simply nods while Eckhart looks away.

"Right, well I'll cut right to the chase. Team VIEW has been ranked 4th out of the first years for this first ranking period." Viralious says continuing his serious tone.

"WHAT!?" the three other members yell in surprise.

"We've constantly ranked highest in combat and academics… I mean we also have mostly stayed out of trouble why are we-" Winter says trying to rationalize it

"It's because of teamwork. Team VIEW is ranked dead last." Viralious says glancing towards Eckhart.

Everyone in the room is silent before Eckhart jumps in. "Viralious I think this speaks to your ability as a leader, you-"

"I'm not the problem here, Eckhart. Basil specifically told me that it's because you refuse to be a teammate and take everything I do or say as a personal slight against you." Viralious says his true emotions coming into view, he's sick of Eckhart's bullshit.

"I'm the problem? Really? What lies must you tell, Viralious? Look I understand being a bad leader makes you want to point fingers but admit it you are-"

"Eckhart, you're the only person doubting my skills as a leader, not Ifiral, not Winter, none of the professors, and not Ironwood. Ever think that you might be wrong?"

Eckhart moves from his location in front of the mini fridge and starts walking towards Viralious who has stood up and crossed over the couch to look directly at Eckhart.

"Viralious, I'm not wrong here, Ironwood is a fool to have not chosen me as the leader of this team, what's more is no one has questioned him since he's the headmaster, so they think his word is law. Well get it through your fucking skull that I'm the better pick." Eckhart says in venom and shoves Viralious back.

Viralious stumbles for a second but doesn't fall over "Eckhart, admit it you're not seeing the forest for the trees. I understand I figured you would be the leader of this team, but Ironwood chose me. I don't care if it was the right choice bu-"

"IT WASN'T THE FUCKING RIGHT CHOICE, SO ADMIT IT! I'M THE BETTER CHOICE FOR LEADER AND YOU SHOULD ABDICATE THE POSITION TO ME!" Eckahrt says screaming clearly getting pissed.

"NO ECKHART, I WAS MADE THE LEADER SO I'M ASKING NICELY LET'S TRY TO PUT THIS BEHIND US AND MOVE ON!" Viralious responds in equal furor.

"I THINK WERE LONG FUCKING PAST THAT VIRALIOUS!"

Suddenly they are cut off by a knock on the door. Ifiral sensing this as his way to possibly avoid this confrontation goes and opens it. Standing in the doorway is Delphi with a worried expression on her face.

"What's up Delphi?" Ifiral says deadpan.

"I… um…heard shouting and wanted to see if you all were okay… do you mind if I come in?" she says in a timid tone.

Ifiral steps to the side allowing for her to step in. Hearing her enter Viralious had taken a step away from Eckhart to make it not seem like they were minutes away from tearing each other's throats out.

"Um… is everything alright?" Delphi squeaks out.

"We're fine" Eckhart spits out with venom.

Viralious gives him a side eye before looking at Delphi and an idea jumps into his head.

"We're having a bit of an argument currently Delphi. That being said I just thought of a way that you might be able to help. If possible, could you grab your team? I want their input on this." Viralious says in a surprisingly calm tone given a minute ago.

Delphi tilts her head in confusion and Eckhart raises an eyebrow. Delphi then nods "Umm sure I can… grab my team… we were just about to go to dinner anyway." she says in a confused tone before turning on her heel and walking back out the door.

"Viralious what are you planning?" Eckhart says in a mix of confusion and anger

"I'd rather say it when everyone's here, but I will say you'll like it." Viralious says calmly.

"Viralious… you're not planning to do something rash are you?" Winter says in a bit of concern.

"Rash? No. Stupid? Probably." Viralious responds earnestly.

Moments later the door opens again and all of Team CARD enters. "So Viralious, what's your great idea that you want us to help you with? Need us to break into the general's office to change a grade or something?" Russet says in a joking tone.

"No, but I'll keep that in mind for future reference." Viralious chuckles.

"Don't drag us through the ringer for stupidity, Russet." Ariel says, slapping his back.

"Right. So seriously, what's up?" Celica says, putting her hands on the back of her head.

"Would you all be willing to spar once on Saturday and once on Sunday this weekend?" Viralious says addressing Team CARD.

Team CARD glances around themselves for a minute before most shrug and leave it to their leader to decide. "Umm, I guess that would be fine… If you don't mind me asking Viralious… Why?

Viralious straightened out before speaking, "I don't know how obvious it's been, but Eckhart wants me to abdicate my position as leader of Team VIEW." he says in a simple tone before continuing, "I believe that Ironwood had some reason for making me a leader and I believe that good enough… that being said, I want to be fair. So, I'm proposing a way for Team VIEW to choose the leader moving past this weekend. Each day we will go head-to-head against you guys and will follow the directions of either me or Eckhart to a T. Then at the end we put it to a vote. If Eckhart wins, I'll abdicate my position with no questions asked. But if they choose me, Eckhart, you have to accept that I'm the leader no more trying to get me to abdicate the position. So, Eckhart, are these terms agreeable?" Viralious says looking to Eckhart.

Eckhart ponders for a moment before asking "What happens if there's a tie?"

"Then Team CARD will vote on it. If there is still a tie, we ask Professor Kaine." Viralious says calmly, "So Eckhart are these terms agreeable to you?" He speaks while extending his hand for a handshake.

Eckhart looks at Viralious' hand running the proposition continuously through his mind. This was his chance, and he would have the perfect opportunity to prove it.

Stepping forward Eckhart grabs Viralious' hand and shakes it "I believe they are Viralious." His tone is neutral, but a smirk appears on his face.

"Alright then, do you want tomorrow or Sunday?" Viralious says loosening his grip on Eckhart's hand.

"I'll go tomorrow since I'm obviously the better choice." Eckhart says in pure confidence.

"Alright, Delphi does 3 PM work for you guys tomorrow?" Viralious says turning to the deer faunus.

Delphi thinks for a moment before responding, "I…. I think that would be… fine."

Viralious then turns to the rest of his team, "Any objections from you Winter? Ifiral?"

Ifiral closes his eyes for a moment before shaking his head, "No, I'm fine with this."

Winter thinks through it for a minute, weighing each possibility before shaking her head, "No, while I can't say I agree with it completely. It will get to the root of the issue."

Viralious smiled and turned back to Delphi, "Alright then tomorrow at 3 we'll spar." He then turned his head to Eckhart, "From this moment until after the match with Team CARD you're the leader of team VIEW." His tone is neutral.

Eckhart smirks at this hoping it becomes a permanent title.

"Alright, well then, sounds like we've gotten this all figured out but I think we should go prepare… Considering I've now got to go up against that scar face over there." Ariel says pointing to Ifiral.

"You know I was planning on swapping from fire dust for tomorrow, but I feel like burning a bitch now." Ifiral says in a joking tone to Ariel.

"Ariel's right, we should probably actually go and get dinner and maybe go over some strategies for tomorrow. Also, Ifiral, please be a little gentle with Ariel, she needs to be able to walk as girls night is coming up." Celica says in a slightly jovial tone.

Ifiral smirks slightly before responding, "No promises." his tone showing he fully understood Celica's meaning.

"Right… Well have a good night Viralious." Delphi says before turning on her heel and exiting the dorm, the rest of her team following suit saying small goodbyes and waving while leaving.

Viralious just stands there in the middle of the room before turning to Eckhart, "So what's the plan Eckhart?" his tone is calm.

"I'll let you all know tomorrow for now go get something to eat, work on classwork or train. I'll be making a phone call." Eckhart responds commandingly before turning to Ifiral basically saying "I need you to not enter the suite for a bit".

"Understood. Winter, do you want to train a bit more with your glyphs?" Viralious nods while speaking.

"I'll catch up with you there, I'm also going to make a quick call." Winter responds and starts turning to enter her and Viralious' suite.

Ifiral then turns to Viralious and says, "Viralious, I was thinking of a team attack we could practice. I'll tell you about it on the way to the practice area."

"Alright, might as well." Viralious says stepping to follow Ifiral out of the room. The two stepped out the door and made their way to the training area.

Character change: Viralious - Winter Schnee

Location Atlas Academy: Team VIEW's Dorm room: VW Suite

Winter stepped into the suite and breathed a heavy sigh. She wasn't exactly happy with the prospect that Eckhart could become the leader of her team but that wasn't truly what was bugging her. No, that was the message she received on her scroll before the Team meeting.

Winter, we need to talk. - Jacques Schnee.

Five simple words was all it took to drain any sense of comfort from Winter. Five simple words to make her dread the future. Her mind raced with the possibilities of what her father wanted.

Is he calling to tell me that he's revoked my title? Is he telling me he's found another suitor? Or did he decide to withdraw from our agreement of me going to Atlas?

Winter stood there for a moment unsure if she should respond or tell her father that she's just busy… Eventually after biting the bullet she presses the call button next to her father's name. The scroll rings for a minute quietly giving Winter hope that he won't pick up until a slimy voice comes over the speakers.

"Ah, finally Winter, you should answer your scroll when I call. A good heiress listens to their parents." Her father says in a tone showing no warmth or love.

Putting on a fake smile Winter breathes in before speaking "I'm sorry father, I would have responded sooner but I was busy with my classes. I-"

"Spare me the excuses Winter, I'm simply calling to let you know that Wednesday of next week there's a gala I expect you to attend. Klein will be at the station at 6 PM. Do not be late." His tone is stern and leaves no room for interpretation.

Sighing, Winter responds, "Yes, father."

"Good, now Winter, why is it that you are not the leader of your team?" His tone is slightly aggravated but also curious.

Winter went ramrod straight, dreading this question.

How did he know? Why was he interested?

Recomposing herself, she responds, "General Ironwood thought that Viralious was the best pick for team leader as he was able to coordinate the fledgling team into defeating a Geist during initiation." She responds scholarly.

Her father's eyes showed no emotion and just stared straight into her. "Well, the General might be wrong, what are your opinions of your team Winter?" he asks as another trap.

Thinking quickly she responds, "Eckhart as you know is very knowledgeable and skilled, Ifiral is strong but a little headstrong but his mind is in the right place. Viralious…" She trails off trying to think of something to say before continuing "he's a skilled fighter, a learning leader but most importantly he admits his mistakes and sticks by us when we make one as well." she finishes in a simple tone.

"Hmph, I know about them. I've run a background check on each of them. Remember Winter you are the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company don't forget your image." Her father responds in a low threatening tone.

Winter simply nods "I know father, now is there anything else you would wish to discuss, or should I just remember the gala?"

"For now that is fine, that being said Winter I do expect you to call. After all, I am your father." He says in a smug tone.

Not that you care about me at all. "I will try to find time to give you a call, please give Weiss my regards, Father." She says before hanging up. Immediately afterward she lets out a sigh. Talking to her father was always draining especially when it was for something as simple as a gala… she would get dressed in fancy clothes, stand around for a few hours then go back like nothing happened. Sighing, she marks the gala on her scroll's calendar and makes a mental note to tell Viralious about it so he could plan accordingly.

That's when the weight of the weekend hit her, by Monday it was a real possibility that Viralious would no longer be her team leader. It was a thought that worried her more than she would have wanted to admit.

Shaking her head, Winter exits her suite, then the dorm and makes her way towards the training hall to join her teammates.

Character change: Winter Schnee - Viralious

Location Atlas Academy: Combat Training Classroom

"Now try moving in a downward spiral." Ifiral chimed out.

Currently Viralious and Ifiral were practicing switching between their two fighting styles to trip an opponent up. Viralious was focusing on aerial mix-ups while Ifiral would focus on keeping the target's ire. The move that they were trying to perfect would have Viralious deliver first a leaping slash upward while Ifiral moved in to deliver a cross slash, ending with Viralious spiraling down into the target with his blades. So far results were mixed. The only way that they could get proper timing is if Viralious used his semblance to copy Winter's and stagger his descent with a glyph holding him in place.

Viralious brings the blades down spinning not in the downward spiral like Ifiral had suggested but as a buzz saw. This time the attack connected with the simulated Deathstalker and ripped through the simulated armor.

Standing up Viralious turns to Ifiral and smirks, "While I like the downward spiral, I think the buzzsaw's effectiveness speaks for itself." His tone is content.

Ifiral just nods before raising his blade facing Viralious. "Well, I don't disagree but let's see it in action against a moving target."

Viralious smirks and brings up a fighting stance before rushing towards Ifiral.

Ifiral raises his blade blocking Viralious' forward advance before Viralious uses said blade to vault himself into the air. Ifiral seeing that Viralious plans to use the said attack they have been practicing on him, he starts to raise his blade to block high, but he can't move it. Confused, he glances down and notices that Viralious has placed a spinning black and purple glyph below his feet. Ifiral quietly thinks to himself as Viralious is spinning downward like a buzz saw towards him.

Cheeky bastard using an attraction glyph. I could dodge out of the way… Damn this attack takes forever to connect no wonder we stagger it in a team attack… I wonder if I could catch the blades with my teeth?

Viralious' blades connect with Ifiral's shoulder before jumping backwards and turning to Ifiral's smirk plastered on his face.

"You think that'll work?" Viralious says with a inquisitive tone

"Cheeky git… Hmph yeah, the glyph will make this work a lot better. Now heads up the attack is slower than a sloth on painkillers moving through sap. Might want to keep it as a team maneuver." Ifiral responds, returning a smirk.

"Okay, so if it's so slow why didn't you dodge?" Viralious says raising an eyebrow

"Cause I didn't feel like it and was wondering if I could catch the blade with my teeth… ended up catching it with my shoulder." Ifiral chuckles out

Both Viralious and Ifiral give a short laugh, then they turn to watch Winter enter the classroom.

"Come to join the stupidity, Winter?" Ifiral jokes

"I believe that training is never stupid, Ifiral… Viralious, I wanted to ask you about your deal with Eckhart… Do you think it's really a good idea?" Winter says in a curious tone.

Viralious breathes in for a second and turns to Winter and looks her straight in the eye "No, I don't think it's a good idea, hell I don't think that it should have happened. That being said, it's the best path forward." he says in a simple tone.

"How can it be the best path forward but not be a good idea? I don't understand why-"

"Winter, there were two paths before me at that moment: the deal I made with Eckhart or let the issue fester and have Ironwood get involved." Viralious interrupts with firm resolve. He sighs before continuing, "I don't know about you, but I don't think watching paint dry as a team is the greatest way to get Eckhart to be a decent teammate." he continues in a joking tone.

"Right…" Winter says trailing off.

"So, you are expecting us to fail?" Ifiral jumps in with.

"No, I expect you to choose who you think is the better leader. So tomorrow follow Eckhart's orders, No lip, no hesitancy, follow his word to the T." Viralious says in a serious tone.

"But why?" Winter asks.

"So it's fair… Now then enough talk about this, any ideas for team attacks you want to workshop?" Viralious says in a smirk.

"Yeah, I was thinking you and Winter could do the tango on a glyph to distract the target." Ifiral says in a joking manner.

Viralious rolls his eyes and Winter facepalms. Winter then turns and looks Viralious in the eyes and says, "How about we practice time dilation against Ifiral?"

Viralious smirks "Yeah sure… I'll try not to throw up this time."

The three ended up continuing training for the rest of the night, Viralious to his credit did not throw up after the time dilation… he ended up having to sit out due to nausea after 2 hours. In the end the three returned to the dorm and went to sleep preparing for the morning where Eckhart would lead the team against Team CARD.

A/N

The plot finally picks up! So, the reason for the time skip is pretty obvious as I said in the previous author's note we had only covered the first two sentences of my story planner. This chapter finished up the first paragraph of it. I ended up picking up the pace for the story as I really don't think I should have kept the previous pace (3 chapters for the first two sentences). This story would be 70 chapters before I finish the second Arc. I like long stories, Catnip and Man of Honor are two of my favorite stories on this site but if I kept that pace, I would drop this story if I was the one reading it. So yeah, there will be a few time-skips between some chapters and plot points. I will try to keep them short and only pass up days that nothing really happens. So, with that explanation out of the way let's take a look at what happened in the chapter.

The Winter and Viralious training scene at the start is just supposed to show that yes Team VIEW and specifically Winter and Viralious are trying to improve their skills and teamwork even though Eckhart is being a sourpuss. The points of Viralious being thrown and trying (and failing) to catch himself with Glyphs is just a bit of comedy along with the explanation of the Side effects of Time Dilation… Speaking of which, are we ever going to see that in the show proper again?

Next is Basil's office, it's the "Get the plot moving" button. That being said, I tried to write it in a way that forward the plot without exactly just handing the characters the script. So, the exact points are just to spell out to Viralious that he needs to get his team together as It's not going to get better if he doesn't address it. Mostly it's just showing Basil and Viralious' characters moving the plot forwards and some jokes at Taiyang's expense.

Next is the actual confrontation with Eckhart, I wanted to make this be the big explosion of both Viralious' and Eckhart's feelings with the whole situation on display and get into as close to a physical fight as possible before Delphi steps in. Now the Idea for the fight honestly just came to me one night while I was writing, and it felt like a fairly simple way to resolve the conflict in a fair manner. So, for that the next 2-3 chapters are going to cover the fights (and aftermaths).

Next, the phone call with Jacques is plot set up and it will be addressed in a later chapter. Lastly the final training scene is a continuation of the first scene and getting Viralious' true feeling out into the air. Overall, I still think I've lost a bit of my motivation with Writing this story, but it wasn't anywhere as bad as chapter 13. I got delayed writing this chapter as I had 2 quizzes, a paper and 2 Exams this week. So fun fact I try to keep 2-4 chapters ahead of what I have posted on FFNet. This way I can have a buffer for AmeobaHewdraw to edit AND if I cannot write for a week, it's less likely to give a delay for you guys. So with classes actually in session I'm having less and less time to write and but I should be able to hammer out at least 1-2 chapters a week depending on how much homework/exams I got or if I decide to go party on the weekends (if I wanted to I could just lock myself in a room and crank out 4 chapters over a weekend but that's how you burn yourself out quickly so unless I am in a writing mood don't expect it.) That leaves us off with the next chapter Eckhart taking the reins as leader. Going to be interesting as I find him the hardest character to write for, but I'll make it work.

Side tangent if you haven't already, go watch Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners. I watched it the night before finishing this chapter because I had a sore throat and didn't want to go out and I cannot recommend it enough! Actually, made me jump back into Cyberpunk 2077 and just mess around with quick hacking (something that I want to incorporate into this story but honestly is going to be too hard to explain so I won't… AU story idea maybe… If someone wants to make a Cyberpunk RWBY fanfic, I'll be your editor/beta because I feel I cannot do it justice.)

This is where I would like to thank my Editor AmoebaHewdraw (Who I wish would make an account to FFnet so I could have an extra pair of eyes proofreading this as it gets copied over… Some things have been cut out and I'm working on fixing them) who makes this story actually readable.

Until Next Time Xcom Out