Volume CRBN!

by Dancesnapple

Four individuals. Four different people of different walks of life resulting in an adventure. Hopefully, a bond that can last. Team CRBN (carbon). Features: OC Main character, main team has two OCs alongside a lovable crime duo, and some family drama on all sides. Features a 'soundtrack' element for the fic. ENJOY! Story begins on third listed chapter. Very slow start.

57. 55 School!

Chapter Fifty Five: School?!

"... and here are the boarding rooms." Tai moves in a relaxed pace. He'd shown them where to find administration for any questions, many of the offices for specific help, the cafeteria which was being cleaned from some barbaric hurricane of a food fight, and now the residential areas of the school. Not that Carmine couldn't guess the layout, being surprisingly similar to Beacon at only one tenth the size.

The entire time, Carmine remained quiet, only half paying attention. Neo would jab him so he could voice inquiries on both their behalf. The girl was starting to get annoyed with him that he wasn't engaging.

Neo was most certainly going to grill him the second they're alone.

One of her stares behind Tai's back let him know she was worried he may be a compromised employee or something... He couldn't help by snort and shake his head at the girl. He ends up taking a second of the tour in the restrooms to text her that he knows Taiyang. He's not an AZRL plant.

No. He's just a liar.

The boy tenses in thought that it just HAD to be Tai's school they were infiltrating. How could he forget that easily?

"And here we find your assigned roomed!" Tai rounds on them by the dorm room. He opens the door, finding a very basic, gray, two windowed room with its own bathroom on the far side. A closet, basic dresser, and four single beds populate the room. Tai gives the two a stern look. "Typically, we expect full teams, and I'll have you know our cleaners will know if you two get up to anything unbecoming in here."

The stern finger in front of the teens catches their attention, both suddenly blushing at the implication. Carmine flares in a blush. "Whoa! What do you think we'll be doing in there?!"

Tai raises a brow at the boy, then to Neo as he narrows his gaze. "Don't pretend. I have daughters, and I teach plenty of unruly boys. Nothing gets by me. You won't be as sneaky as you think you are."

Carmine twitches at the lecture, outright steaming in his anger. He grumbles under his breath. "Who am I? Roman?" Neo swats his gut, hard, knocking his air out. Carmine glares at her. "What? You know that's why Roman wanted us gone- ack!" Neo stamps on his toes with her heel.

Tai places his hands between the two and slowly pushes them apart. "Alright, alright. Maybe she can be trusted to keep you two in line."

Absolutely offended, Carmine double takes at Neo's evil grin. "What?! Look at her! She's completely untrustworthy!"

"Hmm hmm." The girl hums a laugh as she enters the room first. Angry, Carmine stomps after her. Neo does turn, giving Tai a curtsy bow to thank him for his time.

The blonde man chuckles at the two. "Now, the only reason we're letting you two room together is because it's two nights, and we can't really separate another school's members from each other. But, that does mean if we have any other arrivals, they'll be filling up the two spots here. Understood?"

"Cool, cool." Carmine dismisses.

Tai smirks. "Alright!" He gives a thumbs up. "Check in to your assigned homeroom at 7:45 in the morning. You'll get directed from there."

The teens' eyes both bug out at the time. Carmine sputters. "But... you know we aren't students HERE right? Can't we just skip it and wait for the tournament the day after tomorrow?"

His hopes are dashed by a sudden shift in the air, Tai staring down at him with the air of a death impending super villain. "Skip any classes, and expect Mrs Burgess to confiscate you for detention. You're under our care now..." He suddenly smiles bright. "So just be nice and make plenty of friends! Bye!"

He shuts the door, leaving the two shaken teens alone. Both stare at the door in a daze, Carmine shaking his head. "Assholes..." He glances over, finding Neo with her cheeks puffed out and an angry pout. "What?"

Neo flippantly flicks her hand to the door, then to the boy. Her eyes do the talking for her, mockingly switches between various looks of disgust. She's mocking his faces for the last hour of touring.

His turn to scowl. "I wasn't that bad." Neo rolls her eyes, moving to a bed by the second window and plops onto it with a bounce. Carmine follows suit, taking the bed beside hers. When she gives a playful brow, he snorts. "If they pile more people in here, I'm not gambling on who sleeps next to me."

She hums another giggle, twisting to sit cross legged. She nods to him, signing out. "You gonna tell me what's up between you and Mr Perfect?"

"Didn't know you were into blondes." Neo rolls her eyes at his mocking. Her nose wrinkling in disgust makes him smirk. She doesn't like blondes? Interesting. She then levels a stare on him. He holds ground for a half minute as he settles before breaking in a sigh. "Alright. I met him back at Beacon. He visited the same week Blair got expelled, and I think Ozpin tried to have him talk me into choosing Signal for combat school."

Neo raises both brows and hums. Fairly decent confirmation that he would not be an AZRL plant. She signs out. "Then why do you look at him like you do when Ozpin comes up in conversation?"

He snorts at that. "He didn't tell me he was a member of Team STRQ." He watches Neo straighten in place. "Yeah. Qrow's teammate. Also, Su-..." He clams up, looking away. "He was teammates with the woman I... killed." He glances out the window, spotting the sunset over the sea in the distance.

She remembers. She remembers the boy snapping at her the first weekend they spent at their home in Haddon... One of the only times he's ever actually hurt her. All because she tried to relate to him.

Following Neo's train of thought, he turns away. "I'm sorry, before we go further. It's just..." He groans, rolling both shoulders to loosen up. "He did the same thing. He tried to relate and show his hurt. But, the reason he hurt matters. He wasn't able to be honest with me about who he was, that he still held blame for me... rightfully so."

Neo hardens her gaze on him. He cuts her off with a placating hand. "No, we're not having that argument again. Not here." He waits for her to settle back before he finishes. "If he had blamed me openly, or even showed anger, I could understand it and move on. That didn't happen. If he had done anything other than pretend he was some unbiased source, I could forget it. That didn't happen. Instead, he did Ozpin's bidding and told me words he himself wasn't committed to believing."

THAT she could see from his view. Seeing how Carmine's relationship with his own father has deteriorated so much from lies and secrets, she can see how his opinion of someone unarguably a legend could be so low.

"Everything he said DID help, too." He adds, dejected. A weak shrug cones too. "A little. Not much, but... all help it did was built on a lie." He kicks at the floor. "So, now I'm in a bad mood." He snorts, forced amusement. "Let's watch some wrestling or something before sleeping. 7:45 in the damned morning, jeez."

Neo giggles. "I'll be sure to compare it to AZRL schooling."

Carmine blinks in shock. "That seriously all the context you have for school?" He glances up in concerned thought. "I only had kindergarten and first grade before spending years at Beacon." He shrugs. "I'm sure I saw enough from Beacon."

She sends a skeptical brow. She'd only been home schooled until the one year of bouncing through schools with her mother before AZRL came. She barely attended class in that time, so she's very much running on limited knowledge. "How much did you observe there?"

He gives a nervous chuckle. "Well... I avoided everyone and everything..."

The girl collapses in a prat fall, shock of sheer ignorance flowing between them both. She straightens herself up with a light blush. They're supposed to survive a full day at school?!

Maybe they won't get any attention...

. . .

The two had woken up with only twenty minutes to get ready. Thankfully, Carmine had showered and dyed his hair just before they went to Signal, so he didn't require washing and re-dyeing his locks. Re-dyeing his precious red into this sickening, punch-able silver white.

Given the off looks some kids give him as he marches by, his neck hair stands on end. His shoulders want to hunch. He wants to disappear already. He didn't belong in a school. Plain and simple. All he did in public school was fight with bullies, and all he did at Beacon was teacher assist and hide!

Making it all worse is the fact that Neo is taking it in perfect stride!

The currently blue haired girl walked elegantly with a playful sway. Her eyes were unreadable, making her ever present smile come off arrogant or confident depending on who looked. When the two of them pause at an intersection of hallways, she sends a happy glance over her shoulder at the boy.

Translation: Come on. This is easy!

Carmine's death glare intensifies by a factor of ten. Translation: Shut the hell up.

When she keeps the stare, he sighs, pulling out their class schedule. Classes are separated by age group. Similar to a high school, there are four ages divided in the school. The equivalent to a freshman are 13, the entry age to the academy. Then there's the equivalent to senior upperclassmen at 16, Carmine's age.

The two discovered that Blair and Roman had Neo's undercover age one year higher than her own age at 15. So the two could remain together, they figured. This doubled convenience as all of their classes were together. Neat-O!

He also saw that there were two lunch periods. One for the freshmen and the juniors just before noon. The other was at noon exactly for the seniors and the sophomores. Being counted as seniors, he shouldn't expect any sophomores to pick any fights with him, and he shouldn't see any juniors or freshmen.

That worked right? The kids naturally flock to their own age group, only deigning to pick on people younger... He vaguely recalls the odd bully or two at Beacon picking on faunus students regardless of age group. His lips purse... Here's hoping.

They enter the classroom. Fairly generic. A beige paint job, cabinets, white board, and desks are all around. This is their homeroom, then. Also the location of their first class. Instinctively, Carmine wants to move for the back, but notices many people moving to specific seats, all separate. Even those entering the room together were separating.

Oh. Why? Assigned seating?! What kind of monster of a professor teaches their class like that?!

Instead, Neo takes the lead, pulling Carmine along to the front desk of the class room towards the teacher's desk. 'Mrs Burgess'. So, the detention teacher was their homeroom teacher? Lovely. She'd yet to show up, too.

Eager to get out of the staring, curious eyes, the two shrug and decide the awkward conversations of sitting in someone else' seats would be unavoidable. They move to the seats in the back. Sitting down, they share a look before shrugging.

Just a few more minutes... Unfortunately, they would not be spared.

An obnoxious, boisterous laughter in three tones echoes out as three boys enter the room. The first in was a tad short and stout, but had a very muscular build. He had tan pants tucked in at the ankles above flat black shoes typical of martial artists. His pants were held up by a tight black belt. His top was a maroon t shirt way too tight that it was also tucked in. He had white arm guards on both arms.

But his head... it reflected the light above. The kid was bald?! With large eyes and thick black eye brows!

"I told you, my dudes! We totally got here before the teacher and still had time to hit the breakfast!" The stout baldy says, trying to be slick.

Behind him, an athletic black boy with faded raven hair pushes in. He wears a white sweat band over his forehead. His top is a dark blue tank top under a loose unzipped gray jacket. He has white pants tucked into black boots. Rather than human ears, however, two large bunny ears droop down, framing the side of his face and almost looking like chin length hair on the sides to the untrained eye. A rabbit faunus of a different breed, it seems.

"Quick complementing yourself. You'll jinx it like last time." He turns to the last of the three. "Why you creepin' out there? Get in here, stupid!"

The last of the three steps on. He's a whole head and a half taller than baldy, and still a head taller than the darker boy. His body is lanky, torso longer than one would think. He has short brown hair combed out of his eyes. This one has a tight long sleeve black jacket, only unzipped at the top to show a white shirt underneath. Weirdly, despite the jacket, he wears khaki shorts showing long, skinny legs. He wears white shoes as well.

"Who said what about creepin'?! There's nothing happening." The third complains towards the dark one.

"Man, anytime you walk be creepin with how you built. Let's find our seats." The dark boy blinks and smiles as his eyes land right where Carmine doesn't want them. He nudges his friends. "Hey, more meat to cook tomorrow!"

Carmine and Neo glance at one another, blinking, before glancing back. "Pardon?"

The lanky doof leans around the two to get a look at the CRBN members. "What's with the old man and cotton candy? Did they show up to Signal in a white van?" Carmine's brow twitches. Oh, so this is immediate...

He takes in a deep breath, slowly exhaling. So be it.

The short stack perks up, but the dark boy mulls a thought over before muttering. "I'd be okay with it if that's candy with an I." He says, smiling at Neo. The mute pauses, eyes hollowing. Taking this as shock, the kid keeps going with a smirk. "Can't lie, she can cook me anytime."

Neo's smile begins to crack wide. Unsettling to anyone who knows her... Carmine would snort if not for a sudden burning in his gut. His eyes flash dangerously at the dark boy, but it's ignored.

The short boy smiles at the two. "Hello, my dudes. Seems you're in our seats-"

The lanky boy cuts in. "Not mine." He slides around them all, sitting in a seat beside Carmine. Awkward movement with his odd size and skinny proportions. He leans back and mimes a camera shot with his hands. "Alright, now fight for the seats." All four teens look at him. "What? Not my fight. Go ahead."

Neo bats her lashes at Carmine, asking him to speak. Rolling his eyes, he groans. "Maybe you can just tell us which seats aren't assigned, so we can move?"

"Hey, I'm fine with one of y'all staying." The dark boy says again towards Neo. He leans forward, hand on the desk she sits at. "What's your name?"

"It's common courtesy to give one's own name before asking for one." Carmine cuts in. Neo sends a withered look. Carmine loves using that. Recalling Taylor, she knows it typically sets the stage for antagonism.

Although, she kinda wants to see that with this douche-bag in front of her. She smiles at Carmine with a huffing laugh before looking back to the moron. He sneers at Carmine. "Courtesy is for those who matter, and her face definitely matters more than your mug." He gives a cocky grin for Neo. "Hello, my name's Deonn the bowerful!"

"Oh, cool. He's can't spell." Carmine quips, irking the other boy and earning snickers from the lanky one and Neo.

"My dudes, relax! No need for such hostilities!" The baldy speaks as if he's almost a surfer stereotype. He gives a friendly look and hand extended for both the students. "Hi, my name is Doto. Deonn's already introduced himself, and this is Dino." The lanky boy half asses a wave at his name being spoken.

Carmine hums before taking it. "My name is Zane, and this is Vanille."

The lanky boy, Dino, snorts, thumbing towards the two CRBN members. "So, we got food dyed vanilla and a gift from god. Can tell which one of your is pretentious."

A low growl leaves the CRBN boy. "Coming from the lanky stick and the all-'bowerful' being? I'm pretentious for a name?" He huffs. "Whatever. Nille, let's take those seats over there." He uses the last syllable of Neo's fake name as a nickname. Mostly because of its closeness to saying Neo like normal.

Neo attempts to move, but Deonn puts his hands up. "Hold on, we can be cool here like Doto says. Get to know you before we smoke you tomorrow."

Carmine almost bites a comment back, but stops when Neo gets up with a sinister grin and wink to him. Carmine smirks. "This from the guy who should probably check his pockets."

It takes a moment, but as Carmine and Neo move, Deonn checks and finds his own personal scroll and wallet. "What kinda stupid thing is that? All my stuff is here- I had twenty Lien in here! What the-" The boy grabs Carmine by arm, earning a glare off between them. "Hey, give it back!"

A second ticks before Carmine raises a brow. "I don't have what you're looking for." He knows Neo has it, so this is nothing more than one upping the guy. Deonn growls, reaching for Carmine's collar-

"Mr Bower! Sit in your seat this instant!" The shrill voice pierces everyone's eardrums, making each teen sway instinctively away.

Carmine blinks the pain away, noting the cringing look on Deonn's face. A snicker starts before Carmine grins. "Wai-wait! Mr Bower? You replace the word power with your last name to be cool?! That's adorable!"

A twitch in the dark boy accompanies him releasing Carmine and sitting down. "Go sit somewhere else you stupid ass." He grumbles under his breath. Doto sits in the seat Carmine vacated, looking studious.

The shrill teacher dips her tone. "Mr Maxwell, Miss Carson, I presume. Sit in these seats over here please." The woman directs the two to seats near the front. Carmine instantly hunches, refusing to settle in his seat. Thankfully, Neo is in front of him, so he can keep an eye on her.

However, for the first time he notices that her posture is just the smallest bit too still. Her shifting of weight is very, very fluid, but deliberate in each movement. Each movement is displaying someone capable of responding at a moment's notice, while her face remains collected.

Was this how she had to be in AZRL? Constantly expecting to be put off guard and needing a front? Still, he can also see the slightest twitch of her hand as Mrs Burgess places sheets for the CRBN members. All these years later, and she has to restrain a flinch from a teacher?

He raises a brow at the papers. As he looks them over, he waits for the teacher to turn around before he lightly bops the small of Neo's back with his foot. She flinches, but then sends a small smile over her shoulder.

She's not the only one that can be a distraction. He smiles before looking further in to the papers. History class notes? Wait! Their first class is history after homeroom?!

Oh right... this was school.

They hadn't even gotten to that part.

. . .

Okay. The concept of school is dead to him forever. Not ten minutes into the history lesson, he learned they were taking a pop quiz. He could only assume this was a chance for the school to also gauge the students from others. However, the quiz was ORAL! As in, they were being graded as a class. Which, in his opinion, cemented the idea that it was about seeing the responses of foreign students rather than impacting the kids' grades.

That being said, Mrs Burgess showed some contemptible glances when Carmine and Neo remained silent for some answers.

The basis of the quiz was on geography of regions. Again, pointing to wanting foreign students to talk about the regions they're from. However, they made it to the final question when the middle aged crone sends her cutting eyes to the CRBN members.

"Now, this last part will be more discussion worthy. I'd like to know everyone's personal experience with a unique group within their home region. For context, a unique group is any clan, organization, town, governmental authority, or social gathering."

"Does Signal Academy count?" One of the non-distinct members of the class asks, earning some giggles.

"No..." The woman drones, sending a glare that cuts the noise down.

Answers begin flowing as Carmine learns of some new details about Vale, even. Apparently, there was a scouting coalition that used Patch's forests, as well as the Emerald Forest around Vale to train civilians in survival in case of Grimm attacks. One kid was from the Vale ghettos, having had run-ins with Senior's old organization before Junior took over.

Suddenly, Dino answers as well. "I used to have time to join the Brother's Sanctum branch of churches in Vale. They mostly crowdfund off giving back to the community and mixing their prayers and ceremonies with local people. They were super cool." He then adds after an awkward pause. "One of their bigger priests went on a pilgrimage like two years ago. Apparently, they found out he passed away this past week."

Both Carmine and Neo flinch at that. Well... He doesn't quite know how to feel about that.

"Aw, yeah dude. Didn't the cops say that he died tied up in some faunus terrorist group that's been running around crazy?" Doto adds on. The weight further makes the two undercover students flinch again. "It's so nuts."

Deonn, noticing Carmine cringing, decides to put him in the spotlight. "How bout you newbies? What do you see out in Mistral?"

Carmine and Neo share a look as the boy answers. "It's probably the same answer for both of us, but we've had extensive interaction with the Mibu clan of Southern Mistral. They actually made Nille's weapon." Neo smirks and raises her parasol. "They're known for being blacksmiths, but were a powerful clan that kept bandits out of the South for a while."

Deonn snorts. "Your master blacksmith made an umbrella." He snickers into a full laugh. "That's so dumb."

"Oh..." Carmine mutters, looking at Neo as she sends a sickeningly sweet look at the other boy. "He's chosen death. Not smart." After the teacher scolds Deonn, Carmine adds. "Everyone born out of the clan has red eyes, but they seemed to be intermixed between humans and faunus, completely intermarried as well. They were also very, VERY religious."

Doto perks up and leans over to Dino. "Yooooo, is that scary blonde junior babe part Mibu?"

The lanky boy snorts. "Don't be stupid. That girl's a demon. She only has red eyes when she's mad. Nothing religious there."

"Right, right! I see your point."

Carmine notes the three bashing the unknown girl from another grade. He had to admit, Doto seemed okay, but Dino and Deonn seemed like right pricks. If they really are bullies, then whooping their asses tomorrow will be so much more worth it.

. . .

Next up was chemistry class. The two were placed into larger groups of kids taking parts in experiments. Carmine and Neo both looked at the hodgepodge of chemicals with beady eyes, sweating. Sure, they picked up the odd lessons from Blair in regards to biology and some scientific endeavors, but...

Well, Carmine's first words when Neo held up the sheet for him left him similarly disheartened. "I know... some of these words?" They managed to blow up a compound, resulting in angered glares from those that they were teamed with. Gave everyone else a laugh, at least... This is why Blair does these things.

When summarizing their findings, Carmine at least managed to eek out a C, Neo grumpily looking at a D for her lacking of defined terms. She scowls at the boy, startling him. However, he then gives a cocky grin, looking down on her from his nose to put as much arrogance forward as possible.

Score. Carmine: 1. Neo: 0.

. . .

Next up: Math...

He likes it. Easy, straight forward problem solving and equations. Carmine blinked at the sheet a few times processing the equations. A lot of algebra intermixed with geometry. Sure, SOME of it, he hadn't learned, but he could parse out enough to get a passing grade with ease. When he gets presented a wholesome B+, he looks to Neo, jaw dropping.

Neo grins with the A+ on her paper.

"Bullshit. You cheated." He immediately accuses, but the girl simply wags a finger at him.

Granted, the more he thought it over, the girl had knowledge drilled into her by AZRL. Math skills likely came from an analytical mind that had to calculate how to form her semblance over objects. He makes a mental note to ask if her semblance relies on any internal calculations of something.

Neo: 1. Carmine: 1.

. . .

One more class before lunch... Literature.

Okay, it was mostly language writing and calligraphy with a side of literary terminology. Carmine purses his lips, annoyed that his own writing was barely considered readable. Once again, he glares at Neo, who showcases gorgeous, perfectly curved letter characters.

The ending fifteen minutes of the class, they were each given a paper and pencil to write a short story. In the end, Neo's was given a B for lacking story structure, but no punctual errors. Meanwhile, Carmine's own sheet showed a B as well, having a greater structure, but misuse of certain words, signs, and sayings. However, he then notices that his has a minus mark beside it.

She grins madly upon noticing.

Neo: 2. Carmine: 1.

. . .

The bell rung loudly, leaving the halls full of half the student body. The sophomores and the seniors were out and about. Carmine and Neo arrive in the cafeteria, only to be utterly horrified by the disgusting slop that dared to call itself a pulled pork sandwich. Are those supposed to be chicken nuggets or popcorn shrimp?

The two settled at a cafeteria table, hopefully far enough from any group's preplanned spot. After no one initially came towards them, the two shrug and dig in.

Thanking whichever Brother for the forethought, the two had intentionally gone out and gotten food for themselves before arriving last night. Neo enjoys a host of fruit with several condiments like caramel, peanut butter, and chocolate syrup.

Carmine could only grimace at her. No fruit. None. Nope! Not for him. He places a single chicken, bacon, ranch sandwich in front of himself, marveling at its perfection. The girl raises a brow at the gluttony of a sandwich before her, noticing it was double meat. "Don't judge me."

"Look at this idiot. He has to buy a foot long cause he don't have one." Dino's voice cuts through Carmine's patience like a hot knife through butter.

Neo snickers at Carmine's deathly grimace. Thankfully, the three coming boys weren't entirely hostile this time. Deonn huffs. "You had to dig to get to a bar that low. That wasn't clever at all, idiot." The three boys sit just a few spots from the two. Dino was on Carmine's side, Deonn and Doto on Neo's.

Carmine snorts. "My god. I agree with that one." He rolls his eyes to the three. "So... idiots?.. Do you feel like sharing anything about your academy for us?" At Deonn's cutting glare, Carmine amends. "For Vanille, then?" He groans out. He's beyond done with this kid, but if he can use him to get some information... worth it?

She picks up on the ploy, coyly leaning and batting her lashes. Deonn purses his lips in a blush and tries to look cool. "I guess we can answer some questions. Be courteous or whatever for fools." He then cuts a glare at Carmine. "But also, give me my 20 Lien back!"

Carmine looks to Neo. "Like I said. I didn't have it." Neo smiles and removes the money from her pocket. She slides it over to the boy.

"Yo! Keep your woman in line! She needs to keep her hands to her own things if she don't wanna get smoked!" The boy snaps as he pockets his own cash back.

Neo pulls up a piece of paper, merely writing 'those' and a question mark on it. She aims it at the three, batting her lashes again. Dino is most open, Deonn still scowling.

"As long as you're not simply scouting the competition. No semblance talk in these parts!" Doto smiles as he voices the condition.

Carmine waves him off. "Nah, none of that. Just meaning to ask there's been weird talk from other academies about Signal's professors being weird. Does anyone stick out to you? I mean, I know you guys have a famous Team STRQ member and all."

Doto grins wide, animated. "Mr Long is the best, my dude! I wish he was the norm!"

"Only you think that." Dino scoffs after interjecting. "Everyone associated with him is weird, remember?"

"Yeah, but his classes are the most fun! Or- Wait. Are you still crushing on Miss Boyd? Didn't she leave you poisoned after you hit on her last time?" Carmine and Neo both jerk straight at that, causing Doto to explain. "Dino got bit by a poisonous snake on a trip. Miss Boyd is the new school nurse, and his dumb ass thought he could ask her to suck it out."

"Suggestively." Deonn adds before bursting into laughter.

Dino, furiously blushing, shouts back at them. "I saw it on a show that it's effective at removing poison, idiots! It was innocent!" The lanky boy pouts and crosses his arms. "Besides, she assured me it wasn't a deadly venom. Just a numbing toxic that would wear off after a while."

"Jeez. Doesn't something like that get staff fired?" Carmine chimes in. At the three's skewed looks, he realizes and clarifies. "Leaving a student like that! Obviously, doing anything with a student gets them fired. Keep up!"

He catches a dull look from Neo. The girl giving a lidded dull stare. Translation: Smooth... Not.

Dino snorts and turns away. "Nah! We Vale kids are just built different. We can take it."

"You're definitely built different. We know." Deonn snickers at the lanky, disproportional boy. "Man, what built you? Seriously, it's off putting."

"So this is fresh rejection, I see." Carmine smirks at Dino's expense. "Or is this a 'love at first sight, years long love' sorta situation."

Dino frantically shushes them all before answering. "Rejection is a strong term. I think I can graduate and have a shot!"

"If this creep-O ass manages that kinda pull at seventeen, I'll give up on life." Deonn mutters to Doto. He then looks to Neo. "Am I right?" She gives a coy grin before rocking her hand in an 'eh' gesture and nodding.

Doto cuts to the point. "She got hired on at the tail end of last year. Our last school doctor- er... Nurse- whatever, Mr Darren, got some big fluffy opportunity in Vale. Miss Boyd comes in, and suddenly the nurse's office is Dino's favorite place to go after combat class."

"It is not!"

Neo nudges Carmine from across the table, wriggling her brows before fake wincing. Carmine snickers. "That depends. How many times have you let yourself get beaten up to go see her? Be honest, now."

Deonn's and Doto's laughter answers for him as Dino flushes bright red and crosses his arms. "Shut up!"

The conversation moved on to other professors and teachers, but few held any real interest beyond the nurse being new. The second newest staff member was four years prior. They talked about part timers, even janitors.

Then Qrow Branwen's name was invoked.

Apparently, whenever the drunkard wasn't busy with Ozpin's bidding, he would pop in from time to time as a special teacher in combat class. Makes sense. His old teammate is one of the academy's most notable teachers, so of course Tai would give Qrow something to do there in downtime. Carmine had to send a hard kick at Neo's shin under the table when the girl let her eyes grow murderous at the name. She unfortunately repaid him in kind twice as hard when the three idiots left them alone again.

The bell rings, signaling time for the next class. Carmine is rubbing his thigh where the girl had kicked him as he leads her through the halls. Her proud smile turns questioning. Looking over her shoulder, she taps him, bobbing her head.

They weren't heading directly to their next class.

"Just double checking where the nurse's office is. Thinking that later, we'll have to try and scope the place out." He then sees Neo place a hand on her hip with a huff. "Alright. You'll have to check it out. What? You can lock pick and use illusions. It's practical." He sighs. "Anyone asks, we got turned around finding our way."

Neo smirks. She loves giving him hell. The nurse's office was close to the main administration stations. Its main door is glass with signs displaying the office. A name plate on the wall even states the name of the nurse. 'Nurse Practitioner Rita Boyd.'

"Really? A woman named Rita is the supposed hot nurse?" Carmine shakes his head to Neo, the girl nodding thoughtfully. "Seriously. That's gotta be the most unsexy name-"

The door of the office opens as a woman steps out. Her hair is a faded, rose pink, pulled into a tight braid draped over her right shoulder. The end of the braid darkens into a violet shade, highlights. She wears a white doctor coat that cuts off at the same length as her office skirt. At least her shirt is modest, buttoned up black. What isn't modest is her chest, the shirt tight and fitting her form.

Both Carmine and Neo stand frozen as the woman walks around them. She smiles innocently at the two with cool lavender eyes. "You two will be late for class if you don't move it."

Don't say it. Don't say the cheesy pick-up. Don't say 'Hello'-

Neo signs out with a wink. "Hello~ Nurse."

Miss Boyd smiles and marches by down the hall, leaving the two teens dumbfounded. It takes a moment before Carmine snaps out of it and looks to see Neo watching the older woman go. "P-pardon?"

Neo sends a flushed glare at him as she signs. "What? No one's that straight."

He snorts, but his face is still in shock. "Learn something new about you every day." He finally looks off in the direction the nurse went. "That said, I take it back about Rita making her unsexy."

WHACK!

She swats him upside the head, pushing him along for their next class. He yelps out as he flinches. "OW! What? As if there's not a puddle of drool left by you, too." He dodges the next swipe, noting the more scathing glare from the girl. He grumbles. "What I get for being a sucker for pink hair."

Neo momentarily short circuits at that, pursing her lips. However, she smirks afterward, continuing on.

. . .

Next class, which they were two minutes late for, is art!

Not entirely sure as to why combat school students would need to illustrate artistic ability. Then again, it may lend itself to the development of semblances that require it? He could see that. Neo is proof of it. Speaking of which, said girl decides to show off making a gorgeous painting!

However, upon further investigation...

Carmine scrutinizes the picture of the landscape on paper. A canyon with a sunset beyond it with excellent shading. It was the canyon that Mibu was located in! Still, he feels off looking at it.

So, he pokes it.

Shatter.

The image breaks entirely, revealing an almost grade school level of artistic finesse. Absolutely horrible coloration and shading. The girl was cheating with her semblance! Carmine sends a glare at the girl, who responds with a neutral poker face.

She signs silently. "AZRL didn't have arts and crafts..."

Flippant, Carmine makes her turn in the painting as is in the end.

Carmine: 2. Neo: 2.

. . .

Ah, technical science. Where the two failed horrifically in Chemistry, they weren't too happy going into this one. Granted, it all turned out to be for computers and use of technology in the field. Application of many a invention out of the glory of Atlas!

Both kids were excelling quite well. Carmine had learned plenty in his spare time at Beacon, and Neo was quite aware of many technological wonders when it came to security and practical use. It felt nice to come out far ahead in this class as opposed to the chemical explosion earlier.

All that said, the lesson had come down to identifying all the positives and negatives to a floor plan with an electronic security system. Carmine was able to get all the technical aspects correct, but Neo had the step beyond. The girl laid out all the nooks and crannies that Grimm could enter through. Because they were spaces she could get through, but she wouldn't mention that tidbit.

He got an A. She got an A plus.

Neo: 3. Carmine: a very disgruntled 2...

. . .

The penultimate class! Shop class!

Besides the obvious focus on engineering and practical job skills for outside of hunter life, this was the class that each student built and maintained their own weapon in! Granted, everyone already had their own weapons by this point in their schooling. Apparently, it was a special thing to have done during their sophomore years.

Still, he got to at least see each of the student's disassembling their weapons, cleaning, maintaining. It seemed like Signal had two stereotypes for weapons. Transform weapons between melee and guns, or a single mode weapon with guns somehow built in. Guns, guns, guns.

And he loves it!

Doto has a pair of orange and silver metal martial sais that transform into short range one hand blunderbuss handguns. A dual wielder, it seems. A sai is meant to bind and manipulate enemy weapons, and the short range guns seem to show a heavy preference of close quarters combat. Carmine had to wonder what his semblance was to back that up.

Dino seems to have taken a page from Rowa. His weapon uses some sort of disc with dust ports, but Carmine can't determine the meaning behind it. However, the slender boy seems awfully pleased with checking the serrated edges of the disc.

Deonn has a full on assault rifle. A large caliber, long barrel, and multiple magazines of lightning dust. However, it has a separation in the center, allowing the front and handle halves of the gun to each transform. Like Dino, he doesn't show off the weapon's fully transformed state, but Carmine got the impression that the front of the weapon becomes armor for the left arm, while the other side becomes some sort of melee focus for the right.

Some other innovations catch his eye, but he does settle into a trance as he tunes his armor. He notices that he's grown a little, needing to adjust the fitting of Jager to his calves ever so slightly. The Buster Armor needs minor adjustments in Schneider and Zero as well, so he takes the opportunity to abuse the shop to do so.

Thank the brothers that Panzer doesn't need anything. He really doesn't want to show that beautiful toy off to those idiots. He does take the time to clean down Heulin Noon. No matter how often he does it, it still reminds him of its origins, bringing a soft smile to him.

Neo perfectly cleans Hush within only a few minutes. The simplicity of the weapon was only compromised in the mechanics allowing the blade to poke out the top of the parasol at control. Cleaning and tending to the blade afterward finishes things up for them.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though. The teacher still assigned everyone a task as crafting a functional turbine engine... A bit of a big ask, but sure. Carmine goes nuts, noting many of the same tools as when he and Blair first made his Buster Armor at Beacon were here. He goes nuts and ends up with a functional small turbine battery.

He looks to Neo, nearly bursting into a laugh.

Neo's construction was much, MUCH cruder. It seemed to work, but the craftsmanship leaves much to be desired. She scowls at him while he grins like a cheeky doofus. Eventually, she conjures a shatter white flag, waving it one handed.

Neo: 3. Carmine: 3.

. . .

The final senior class of the day was one they were all eager for.

Combat and Grimm Studies.

Carmine felt his amusement leave him upon noticing the teacher. THIS was the class that Taiyang teachers. The man stands proudly looking over the group of excited students. He didn't seem perturbed when Carmine wasn't one of the smiling younglings. A perpetual ball of sunshine.

"Alright! So, today we have a number of foreign students here. I know we've had a couple coming in and out, but today is the latest for them to be here. This is the most complete this class will be for the next few months, so take in your fellow class men." He starts, pulling back some enthusiasm and speaking seriously.

He continues. "Many of these faces that you think you'll only see here could very well end up going to the same academy you move to upon graduation. Don't simply stick to your cliques. Befriend these individuals and learn from their experience. Form bonds, and maybe life will find a way to keep you bonded beyond school as well! How about a warm Signal welcome?"

The class begins a soft applause around for the foreign students. Outside of Carmine and Neo, he counts a good seven other students who seem surprised by the gesture. So including the CRBN members, that makes nine foreign students.

"Now," Tai calls attention after the applause ends. "Today will be spent with a bit of Grimm learning from our peers. See what we can learn from these other lands. Reese, what's the strangest Grimm encounter you've had?"

Ah, so it's going to be story time with each of the foreign students. He does notice a number of the students deflate at that, but the man's charisma seems to still keep student investment.

So, the two listen to the stories. This Reese girl talks about an encounter between her mother and a Nevermore in Vacuo. Her mother had hid the two in a cave until the giant bird Grimm eventually left in favor of other prey. Tai punctuated the story that Nevermore are dangerous in the open. The best way to deal with them is with coordination and limiting their movements. Grounding them is most important before landing a kill shot.

The next story came from a boy named Kane from Atlas. He brings up a case where one of his neighbors in a Mantle town had a Geist possess his furniture and start growing. The Atlas military managed to respond and pin the beast down before it possessed enough objects to grow into a substantial threat.

The discussion went as such. Student describes an odd Grimm experience, and Tai would explain how to answer such a situation. Sometimes, he gave an example. Still, the amusement died the moment his eyes landed on Neo.

She blinks and offers her card, which she'd shown Tai the day before when he gave the kids their tour of Signal. Still, he shakes his head. "You know sign language, right? Or would you prefer pictures?"

Neo sighs. She pouts, disliking her 'odd' Grimm experience. She ends by holding up a picture of a fat pig with black eyes.

"A Boarbatusk?" A kid snorts. "Her big story is a pig?"

Carmine blinks before double taking. "Wait, was this the time you were used as bait?" That gets attention back on the girl. Her mild blush brings an incredulous laugh. "I wasn't there for that one! Wasn't there like a dozen?"

She cuts a glare at him. He knows it was FAR more than a dozen. Well over thirty at the least! However, she refrains from mentioning this fact. That doesn't stop Carmine from snorting.

Taiyang whistles. "Being used as bait is a risky role in a team. Even more so when any kind of Grimm can swarm you. Boarbatusk can be nasty in crowds. Imagine trying to stop a barrage of rampaging monster trucks just barreling at you." He smiles for the girl. "Just always remember teamwork and sticking close to teammates, okay?"

Neo didn't need to be told that, but the man's optimism does bring a small smile to her as she nods. She then looks to Carmine. The rest of the class then follows suit, making the boy bug eye at them.

"Well, Zane? What's your odd Grimm exper-"

"Termigator." He blurts out instantly. Just the name leaving his lips brings about a surge of murderous intent. His eye twitches. "Fucker-"

"Language!" Tai shouts with bugged out eyes.

He continues anyway. "-took over a swampy pond near a farm and tried to take my arm. Named him Chomps after I killed him."

"First of all, language young man." Tai sternly puts forth in reminder when Carmine didn't pause. He then looks skeptical. "Termigators are rare, choosing only murky and humid areas of rain forests or specific environments. They're also ambush predators, so they don't take part in Grimm hordes. This has the benefit of making them mostly benign, but they can be vicious to hunt." He nods to Carmine. "How did it die?"

Carmine snorts. "Let it chomp me so I could rip its head apart from inside the mouth." Tai's eyes widen at that, so Carmine feels suddenly self conscious. "There were... reasons I couldn't attack the body, so attacking the head was the only option. And, well... the head is super armored from the outside."

Taiyang blinks. "Alright, class. Note to all of you. Never. EVER. Do what Zane did."

Deonn snickers. "Yo, this idiot let a gator chomp him." Half the class erupts into laughter, the other sympathetic at the boy killing such a Grimm on his own. The consolation of that half didn't stop Carmine from fuming at the rabbit faunus.

. . .

"FREEDOM!" Carmine grinds to a halt in front of the academy. The bell rings as he slouches in exasperation. Neo gives a grin as she catches up. "Save for a few fun spots, seriously, to hell with school." He stretches and pops his shoulders with a satisfied sigh.

Neo giggles and nods. She signs out. "If combat school is that annoying, I never want to end up in normal school." The two come to a stop at the campus gates. "Game plan?"

Carmine sighs. "We already know, right?" He looks around them, noticing a number of students pouring out of the school into the more urban sector of the island. He pulls Neo aside and speaks low. "Tail the nurse. She's the newest staff member, so checking out her personal accounts in her office will work fine. If you can't find her, just break into her office after hours."

She nods, but tilts her head questioning to him. The girl creates a shatter note card, showing Taiyang with a question mark.

"Why would I need to talk to him?" He recoils.

Neo shakes her head. That isn't what she's asking. She signs in a sigh. "He seems optimistic to the point of stupidity. Could he help?"

Carmine frowns back at her, shaking his head. "Whether he'd help us or not doesn't matter. He and his team are Ozpin's golden workers. Team STRQ remember? Letting him know we're here is like mailing ourselves to Ozpin's doorstep."

The girl pouts, but then her eyes track left curious. Carmine follows her gaze, finding the three idiots together. More specifically, the three have a younger boy surrounded. The sight alone makes Carmine twitch. It's just like Kerry. Be it first grade or here, a bully is a bully.

He sighs. It's not his job to police school bullies. He needs to lay low, stay calm, and-

Dino holds up cash as Deonn pushes the younger boy away. The three boys seem to have strong armed the underclassmen out of his money. Judging by their hiding behind a pillar to do so, it wasn't the first time.

It's fine. It doesn't bother him. It really doesn't. It does not bother him. It does not bother him. It does bother him. It bothers him. It bothers the absolute hell out of him!

"Bullies are dumb asses..." The boy grinds out, feet already carrying him closer to the boys. Neo simply blinks confused before briskly catching up after him. Seeing him get riled up was usually reserved for her teasing or against AZRL. Seeing it in a social setting was different. She smiles and watches to see if she's needed.

The underclassman stumbles back from Doto pushing him on his way. Deonn grins at Dino. "Alright! Food is on! We gonna head into Vale now, or later?"

Dino snickers. "I'm thinking seafood with this. Let's hit it up now!"

"Hold on." Doto pauses thoughtfully. "Shouldn't that one chick be coming through? Dino, the one that drew a picture of Deonn's dumb ass getting beat up by her sister." The rabbit faunus twitches as Dino snaps his fingers in recollection.

"Oh yeah! That was hilarious!" He snickers at his friend's expense. Deonn snarls from the side.

"Yeah, let's find her. She knows very little about respect with those freaky eyes of hers." He groans, looking around in a circle. "Where is her red tipped head at? Hell, where is the bimbo at, too. I think it's time we cook her too!"

Doto's smile drops as he notices Carmine step in the three's way back into the academy. "Hey there. You see a skittish underclassman with freaky eyes run through? You can't miss her."

Carmine's cool glare doesn't match the polite tone that escapes him. "Freakier looking than you guys? Need more to go off of." Neo stays off to the side, some other students stopping to take notice of the four boys.

Deonn scoffs. "Little punk looking pale girl with these freaky pale gray eyes and red tipped black hair. Her bitch of a sister side checked me last week, and now she making art of it." He smiles wide. "Gotta get some respect, you know?"

The currently silver haired boy snorts with a cocky smirk. "Respect is definitely needed as long as you're..." He lets out a mock laugh. "Respectable."

"Got a problem, now?" Deonn cuts a glare at him.

"I mean, three fourth year boys ganging up to hound an underclassman girl? At this point, I think 'respectable' means 'dickless'." Carmine mocks, eyes hardening as the three boys all direct full attention on him. The students in the area all take notice, slowly forming a wide circle to watch.

Doto frowns, hands up placating. "Oh, come on. I thought we were cool."

Dino chimes in. "Maybe the old man just likes defending freaks?"

Carmine barks a laugh, a fierce grin forming. "Freak? As if I'm not staring back at The Creeper, a scared Wabbit, and a cancer patient. Puh-lease." He lets his grin fall as all three boys before him drop all formalities, glaring at him. The kids around them snicker at the jab.

"This is by choice, dude. Rude." Doto rubs his bald head in an angry glare.

Deonn sneers at him. "Idiot, you're already on the list for tomorrow, but if you want to get cooked today, keep talking."

"So." Carmine puts a finger to his chin in mock thought, dropping the glare to adopt an aloof image. "I can step aside and let three pussies gang up on a younger girl like the oh-so big bad asses they are, OR-" His hand twitches to Heulin Noon at his side. "I can whoop all three of your asses right now."

A short silence comes over them. Only, it's broken as all three boys burst into laughter at him.

"Listen, man! Hehe! You seem cool, but you aren't from around here." Doto once more starts with a more neutral stance. "Let's calm down, and you don't have to get hurt."

Dino nudges the shorter boy. "No, let it happen. Let Deonn go at him. I could use the entertainment. Plus, one less competition tomorrow!" Doto thinks about it before smiling at the thought. So much for him being the nice one...

Meeting Deonn's glare, the dark faunus smirks. "Yeah! You wanna go right now?" His fist clenches, bones cracking tense.

"Hmph..." Carmine's face washes its look off. Calmly, he takes three steps back, squaring himself with all three of them. He then cocks his head off to the right, angling his left cheek to Deonn. He points to his face. "Take your shot."

The students begin to murmur around them, gossip flying as Deonn snorts. He steps up, rolling his wrist before shouting out. "You asked for it!" He kicks off into a sprint at Carmine. A collection of gasps echo out as the faunus cocks his right fist back as he closes in on Carmine. "GET SOME-"

Recall.

Carmine warps back to his original space, three steps forward, just barely to Deonn's right side. The flash is punctuated by Carmine ducking under Deonn's arm, then using his right hand to catch Deonn by the throat. Deonn's weight jeeps his bottom half swinging forward as his top is halted. His feet sweep off the ground.

The CRBN boy throws Deonn down in a choke slam. The faunus' impact on the ground kicks up dust as he rolls back to his friends. Deonn grinds to a halt, mildly dazed, but pushes off the pain. He stumbles to his feet, snarling.

Dino and Doto both blink in shock before Dino steps up. "Alright, idiot, let- OW!" A hard heel stamps his foot. Neo steps by the boys, coming to a stop beside Carmine with a grin. "Now, we got lil Candi wanting in the mix?"

Doto pulls Deonn up as all three boys brace themselves. "We bout to brawl, my dudes?"

Neo and Carmine exchange a glance before the boy trails his gaze to her hand. He smiles and nods, letting Neo walk by him. The girl marches to the ground, finding the boy the three had strong armed money from just before the conflict.

The younger boy blinks confused as Neo holds out his money. Money she'd just swiped back from Dino's own person...

Dino's eyes bug out as he suddenly pats himself down. "What the- HEY! You took our money!"

Carmine snickers. "No, that was his money." He states as Neo hands off the cash to its rightful owner before joining Carmine. The CRBN leader does drop the smile and glance at her. "Although, if I was a betting person..."

Neo pats her pocket with a grin.

"She took ALL my money!" Dino exclaims! He jabs an accusatory finger at the two foreign students.

"Whatever do you me?" Carmine smiles back with an exaggerated tone. "This is a donation for our dinner. What do you say, Nille? Food now or later? I'm thinking seafood." He parrots the three's previous boasts back at them, hitting right where it hurts.

Deonn, back up, snarls. "That's it! Let's smoke them!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

The loud shout makes each student flinch. The crowd parts as Taiyang marches out. A deep scowl shows as he scrutinizes each of the kids. "What is going on here?" He glares at the crowd as many of the onlookers suddenly disperse. However, the important few remain. "Well? Someone better fess up! Do I need to drag you back to the offices? Again, boys?" He glares at the three Signal students first.

Sending one last glare at Carmine, Doto speaks with a smile. "Just some last minute smack talk before the tournament tomorrow. There's no problem here, Mr L."

Tai's gaze narrows, looking to Carmine and Neo for a moment. Carmine remains neutral, almost irritable, but Neo smiles and nods with Doto's assertion. "That better be it..." The blonde teacher relaxes and speaks calmly. "If any of you five shows up to the tournament tomorrow at anything less than full health, all five of you will be confined to detention over the weekend."

"WHAT?!" Carmine, Deonn, Dino, and Doto all yell, Neo tensing dumbfounded at him.

The man smiles. "Incentive to not fight behind our backs. Now, off you go."

The three bullies glare at the CRBN members one last time before skulking off, grumbling to one another. Tai then looks to Carmine and Neo, the two shrugging before turning back to the academy. As the two leave, Tai can't help but narrow his gaze on the two.

"Something seems familiar about you..." He mutters to himself. He shakes it off a moment later, turning and taking his leave. "Just my imagination."

. . .

After reentering the academy, Carmine eyes the girl. "For a second there, I thought someone replaced you when it seemed like you only took that kid's money back. Moment felt naked for a second. How much more did that prick have?"

Neo grimaces and shakes her head. Translation: Not much.

"Aw well. It'll teach him. Also, stealing is bad. Stop it." He phones in the lecture, mind preoccupied. His far off tone remains as he continues. "Go ahead and wait for the nurse to leave, then break into her office. I'll call Roman and Blair. Let them know about her to see if she enters town." He takes a left turn, but she pulls at his shirt to stop him.

For a moment, he just stares off, but rolls his eyes back to her. Immediately, he's met with a raised brow. She mouths 'are you okay' to him. When he plays dumb, she signs. "You seemed much quicker to anger there, and I don't see psychotic chameleon faunus around here. Is it just the teacher?"

He raises a brow at that. What did she mean? Sure, he was just a tad quiet since leaving the scene, but can one blame him? He just picked a fight with three of the home grown students. A quick bit of reflection gives his answer. She's noticing the look in his eye, and he can't lie to her. "Some things that were said back there put an idea in my head. I think I have something to do while you check out the nurse's dirty laundry." He nods her off with a small smile. "Go on. I'll talk more about it later. K?"

Neo pouts, gesturing her fingers to her eyes then his. She's picked up on something, so she's not likely to drop it. The girl then smirks and walks off. Her antics bring a larger smile to the boy. Even if it can't last...

. . .

Four in the afternoon. An hour after classes left for the day. The office hours for the nurse's office showed she would be leaving until five thirty. Out to dinner, it seems. Neo waits until she spots the lights in the glass door for the office turn off. She watches Miss Boyd step out from the office, locking the door and leaving.

Neo lets five minutes pass before she checks her surroundings. Most of the staff had gone home, so the girl takes a crouch behind a pop machine. In a flash, she emerges. Her blue haired undercover visage was replaced with that of the very nurse she was investigating. She smirks as she walks to the door.

Pulling out tiny pins and makeshift lock picks. Literally fifteen seconds, and the office pops open. Neo is allowed free reign into the office with a smile. My, school locks are so lackluster. She snorts as she moves through the dark room.

The office is split into two areas. The first is a patient area with a single hospital bed, a small couch, two counters lined with cabinets of supplies. Each and every single container, drawer, and door has its own lock. Granted, that does mean she'll have to lock everything back to remain undetected.

A thought occurs... Neo turns back to the door and locks it from the inside. Just in case.

Moving on, the second area of the office is the actual... well, office. A desk, filing cabinet, computer, and more chairs. Neo makes an attempt at the computer first. If the nurse left it on, she might be able to access files-

Nope. Lock screen. The password hint reads 'Mother's Maiden Name'. Neo huffs annoyed.

Moving on to the desk drawers. Surprisingly, the locks for the desk are harder to get open. Though, if she had to guess, it's more to do with age and rust as opposed to complex design. She pops one drawer open-

Sssn ha!

A hiss and striking exhale sounds as a snake strikes out at the girl's hand! Neo flinches back, wide eyed! The snake is fairly small, but she can see the multi color scales. Poisonous, she thinks. She cringes. She can't leave it out, and it's trying to slither out after her!

Neo channels her aura shield, grabbing the reptile as it tries multiple times to bite her! Each time, its lunge is repelled by the invisible life force shield just over the girl's skin. She shoves it back in the drawer, closing the container and works to lock it back.

Soon as she gets the click, she sighs in relief...

What the hell kind of nurse keeps poisonous snakes in her school office?! Even worse, why keep its contained setup inside her desk! Are all of the drawers just homes for her pets?!

She gulps knowing there's only one way to find out... She makes a job of inspecting the drawers from under the desk. Of the seven drawers, five had heat pads built into the wood. Heat pads are used to keep humidity within reptile cages and environments.

That leaves only the top left drawer and center drawer.

Opening the top left, she finds it not even locked, showing a bunch of miscellaneous papers regarding various school policies. Lame. She moves on to the center drawer, frowning.

A tech lock. Fingerprint lock, no less. Neo scowls. Just when she figures there's something good. Bah! She'll have to pass it up. She moves on to the medical wing of the office. The filing cabinet likely has student records from years gone by for medical history purposes. Not necessary for her.

That left the counter cabinets. Neo spends the better part of ten minutes fighting with them to open. The most in-depth locks she's seen thus far. The girl manages to open, finding various medicinal drugs of all uses, fully stocked. Okay, that's understandable.

However, the last cabinet has a metal case inside... Neo sucks in a breath upon seeing it. The logo on the side.

A black SDC symbol.

Instinctively, the girl looks to the table where she left Hush. She hadn't seen that symbol since the first time the team arrived in Mibu... If that symbol is there, that means black dust. If it's black dust, then that can only mean...

She snatches the case, finding it also has a fingerprint scanner, just like the desk drawer. SHIT!

The undercover girl scowls, thinking. Sure, both the scanners would have traces of the woman's prints. Silly, she knows, but she ponders putting both scanners against one another hoping for enough print overlap to work. Then she realizes the prints would be reversed on both doing that.

Hmm. AH!

She finds clear tape within the basic supplies of the room. She needs powder. Very, VERY fine powder.

Crap. The only type she can find is blood clotting powder. A powder that helps close wounds and stop bleeding quite quickly. However, it's not ground very fine. It will have to do.

She uses the clotting power to dust the scanner of desk. The dust should cling to oils left by- AH! Left by fingerprints. A fingerprint becomes visible on the scanner. The girl grins, using the clear tape on the scanner and pulling the impression off! Neo then attempts using the same impression on the lock. However, no dice. She wishes very much in this moment to tell the lock to screw itself.

A quick glance at the lock finds her time at five in the afternoon. Crap. She's lost two thirds of her time.

Neo frowns, but turns to the SDC box. She repeats the process. Powder, dust for prints, peel impression with tape. She silently prays as she tries to tape on her own finger on the lock. She waits a full second in tense silence.

Beep.

It works! Neo grins as the box opens. Bingo... Three vials of black dust are impressed in the foam inner container. She contemplates taking it, but decides against it. If the nurse checks the box before tomorrow, she can be tipped off. Neo closes the box, replacing it in the cabinet before replacing all the supplies and locks in order.

Her next order is to work on the center drawer. Testing the scanner, she's satisfied when it opens. Inside the drawer, she finds two containers amid simple paperwork. One box contained a needle syringe with a blue infinity symbol on it. The other had four slots for syringes, but all were vacant save for one syringe that was empty. She can't tell what was in it.

However, context clues are key. Neo takes pictures of the containers with her scroll. She then closes the drawer and locks everything back up. Satisfied that she's nailed the nurse down as a very likely AZRL agent, she leaves the office.

Checking outside, she lets the illusion shatter, leaving herself back in her blue pig tailed identity of Vanille. Grinning, she turns around-

As Nurse Boyd comes around the corner, finding Neo in front of her office. Both blink like deer in headlights. "Oh my. Is there an issue you need assistance with?" The nurse approaches earnest. "You're one of the foreign students, yes? From Sanctum?" Neo can only give a numb nod. Recovering her cool, she quickly racks her brain for excuses.

The girl rubs at her throat, an action she hadn't had to do for years. She signs out. "May I have something for a sore throat? Even cough drops would work well."

Boyd blinks and hums in what looks like honest thought. She bobs her head back into the office. "Here. Let me check you up real quick and see what I can set you up with."

Neo gulps. Shit.

. . .

Carmine sits on a bench just outside the administration main offices. The boy watches videos on his scroll, but doesn't pay the slightest attention. To anyone watching, he's simply chosen an unconventional spot to relax. To him, he's thinking about how to go about this. A few ideas kick around.

The first he dismisses off hand is waiting for administration to go home for the day. The longer he waits, the less time he'll have to act on the information. Thankfully, it seems that only one staff member of the administration remained in the office. That was a blessing for him. Now, he just needed a way to bypass him.

He taps at his knee, humming in thought. None of his ideas were standing out. Maybe he should just wing it?

With a sigh, Carmine stands and memorizes the feeling of sitting on the bench. With an innocent look, he enters the office. Behind a counter desk is an older staff member, slightly overweight with graying hair, but dressed in a suit. A typical school teacher look. Definitely a pencil pusher.

"Oh, hello young man. What can I do for you?" He kindly asks. Perhaps he was only in his forties, but he could easily be in his fifties.

Carmine adopts a nervous smile and scratches the back of his head. "Hey! Maybe you can help me out. There's this weird leak in the restroom down the hall. Can you come check it out?"

The man blinks a few times and nods. "I can get our mechanic to check it out-"

"Well, that's the thing. It's not a normal leak, and I think you should see it so you know what to describe for them. I don't think it's ordinary at all." Carmine cuts in, thumbing over his shoulder.

The man scrunches his face, but nods. "Alright. Let me just lock the office up real quick-"

Carmine waves him on. "It'll take just two seconds. Come on."

The man fumbles his keys onto the counter by his computer. He sighs and nods. "Alright. Just a second." The older man follows the boy out of the office. The boy then picks up pace, quickly speed walking around the next corner. "Ah, slow down young man!" The older man speed walks after Carmine, rounding the corner.

He's gone. The boy is no longer in sight. The old man looks around, but snorts a laugh. "Young people can't wait. Oh well, the restroom he meant has to be the boys room this way..." He continues on down the hall.

Back in the administration office, Carmine warps into place. Recall! He smiles and moves to the door, quickly locking it from the inside. With the old man's keys on the counter, he'll have to find someone else to unlock the office for him.

Left alone, he rounds behind the counter and sits at the old man's computer. Carmine looks over the open program windows. Seems the old man was going over accounting for a trip next month for the first year freshmen. He minimizes the window and looks through the other open programs.

It takes a moment, but he finds what he's looking for: Student Record Database.

Quickly, he filters out past students, bringing the school's total student body down to an impressive seven hundred. He then organizes by last name alphabetically. However, his hand freezes on the mouse. An urge to suppress bile buildup in his gut seizes his throat. The tense boy slouches slightly, feeling ill. Okay, deep breath. In through the nose... And out through the mouth. Again.

The boy calms himself enough to continue, scrolling down and down the list. Through the A's, the B's, C's, and on. With each letter, his anxiety flares. The mouth almost slips from his hand as he sweats. He releases it, wiping his hand on his shirt. He continues after another breath.

O's... Olley. O'Malley. Omni... No Q's.

R's... Ramona. Ray. Reeves. Roanoke. Roark. Rory. Ro-

Rose.

Carmine flinches, eyes snapping shut. Deep breath. Deep breath. He swallows the lump in his throat and retrieves his scroll. He then looks at the information listed in front of him.

Name: Rose, Ruby

Class: 1st year

Age: 13

Semblance: Rose Speed (see attached)

G.P.A.: 3.2

Emergency contacts: Summer Rose (Mother, deceased) Taiyang Xiao Long (Father)

He would be angry about that later... To think that that man's lie went that deep. He was her father, and he refused to confront Carmine over what he did... Why?

No. Later. Taiyang isn't why he's doing this. It's a red herring. Focus on what matters, because it's right there.

There it is. Confrontation with reality, the boy's breath holds for longer than he'd care to admit. It's one thing to think everyone you failed or victimized is gone. That you can do things in their memory to make up for it.

However, it is another thing entirely to look at the physical proof. Proof that living victims remained. A person that Carmine left without a mother. Even the name almost jogs a memory.

"Oh, those are gonna be fightin' words with Ruby, young man." Summer had said... He said vanilla was a superior flavor to chocolate. Right as he is, the pleasant conversation piece taints. The woman had been so open about her own child. Someone she likely doted on and smothered with affection...

Carmine shakes it off. Selfish or not, he had to look into this. He opens a note app on his scroll, copying down the address listed in her file.

The door jiggles, pulling his attention up. The old man is back, attempting to get back into the administration office. Carmine takes a deep breath. He sends the girl's address to himself via a message app, then takes a breath. As the door is unlocked by another key, Carmine closes the student record... Then flashes in a Recall.

As the man enters the office, Carmine reappears on the bench down the hall from the office. Rubbing his head, he stands up, quickly double checking his scroll to ensure the address remains. Once satisfied, he grimaces. Pocketing the phone, Carmine leaves Signal Academy grounds...

. . .

On the outside, Neo remains passive, mouth open with a tone deaf 'ah'. Miss Boyd sticks the small flat stick down on the girl's tongue and uses a small light and scope to see into the girl's throat. She hums. "So, your vocal chords were surgically disabled. What was it that made them recommend that treatment?"

Neo, internally panicking, uses her scroll to type out the best lie she can think of. 'Poison'. She then adds. 'Not intended for me. Bad luck.'

"Good lord." Boyd wrinkles her nose. "I thought you were from Mistral. That sounds like Vacuo thuggery at its finest." She pulls the tools back, letting Neo give a nervous shrug. A light sweat comes off the girl, but the nurse doesn't comment on it. "Well, I can't tell any inflammation, so whatever pain you're having isn't severe."

The girl cracks a small nervous smile and signs. "Like I said, cough drops would even be fine."

The nurse smiles for the girl before moving to the cabinets. Surprisingly, she opens the one with the SDC box. Neo eyes the box curiously. The nurse grabs a pill box next to it, producing a basic pain reliever with only five small pills inside. She notices Neo's curious gaze, giving a smirk. "What? Surprised we have SDC approved supplies?"

Approved, eh? Well, let us test that. Neo nods to it and signs. "Black symbol? Shouldn't it be white?"

Surprisingly, the woman smiles. "Perceptive. Yes, actually. Though, the SDC produces several products that they classify product transport using color coding. The black is actually for a very specific type of dust that unfortunately lacks much purpose."

Keeping a curious look, Neo nods towards it, so the woman obliges. "Black dust, dear. It's purity and stability is even higher than that of white dust. Unfortunately... such stability has left it nearly unusable for most any type of technology. All elemental dust relies on levels of instability and compromised purity to produce their effects. Without that, black dust has virtually no use to a Hunter's arsenal."

Neo gestures to it with a furrowed brow. The nurse sends a look back, so Neo signs out. "Then why have it? What makes it different from white dust?"

Nodding in understanding, the nurse sighs. "The properties that differ between white and black dust seem to be an interaction with one some would consider 'void mass' or Grimm substances. White dust dissolves Grimm substances, working well to undo Grimm pools as well. Black dust, on the other hand, does not affect Grimm in the slightest. Rather, it almost blends in with Grimm material yielding similar properties to Grimm hunger."

"White dust also burns bright under interaction with aura, whereas black dust doesn't accept any aura. No matter how much effort you put into it, one cannot cast using black dust." She finishes. "So, no use to a Hunter." She then smirks at the girl, patting the box. "We have this box of old black dust as a demonstrative example of black dust. Every so often, we intermix black dust into the dust used in experiments to try and dilute the risk of large reactions."

The woman leans towards Neo, almost getting bubbly before pulling her interests back. "I could fetch some fire dust from Mr Long's classroom and demonstrate if you'd like?"

Neo just blinks. Once. Twice. This woman does not seem to be hiding anything. She seems... genuine! All of the information she gave matched up perfectly with what Blair had told her and Carmine before. Perhaps a little more detailed than anything Blair had said. Neo allows a smile and nods. Maybe there's a perfect explanation for it all. The nurse rushes Neo off with her, taking the five pill package and the SDC box with them as they leave the office.

. . .

Six in the evening.

Carmine marches down the dirt roads of Patch, deeper into the forests. His scroll is open on a web page showcasing a road map of the area. Of course, the roads disappeared before the point where his location marker shows. For an island so close to Vale, why do the online maps have to be so terrible?

In fact, the road itself was almost gone. He might as well be searching for a stupid log cabin! While he searches, he decides to go ahead and make his call. He taps Blair's number. She picks up on the second ring.

"Zane. How are you?"

"No one's close enough to hear you, and I'm out in the woods. No recording equipment." Carmine assures her. He does glance around himself quickly to be sure no one is hiding around.

"Okay, Carmine. Update us. What have you found?"

Carmine grimaces. "Well, if we were suspicious of the school staff, we're mostly fine. The newest staff member is the nurse who joined in the latter half of last year. Name of Rita Boyd if you know her." He hops over a hole in the ground, finally reaching pure grass with barely any exposed dirt. The map still said it was this way, right? He adds quickly. "The second newest staff member was four years ago, so very little risk there."

"I do not recognize the name, but allow me a moment..." He hears her tapping away, listening to minor breathing. Is that the ocean he hears? Sounds like wind, so they must be at the docks they arrived in. Blair comes back in after the long pause. "Says she graduated from Atlas Academy, but I'm not seeing any pictures on her record profile. Strange."

"Just in case she is connected to the enemy, just be on lookout for her in the docks. She has all her hand pulled into a large braid. Pink hair that darkens to violet highlights in the curved braid. Wears a doctor jacket and a fairly short business suit outfit underneath. Students go gaga for her." He grumbles the last part with an eye roll.

"Why should I expect you to be one of them?"

Carmine flinches from the scroll before yelling flustered. "I AM NOTHING LIKE ROMAN!"

"He's actually been a gentleman these last 24 hours-"

"No. Don't go into detail." The boy groans, feeling ill.

"If there is nothing else, how are you treated by school life?"

He suddenly pictures the three idiots from earlier, scowling. "I made record time in pissing off the local bullies." He ignores the woman's small 'no surprise' under her breath. "Most of the people are nice, but I think we both forgot something." He sighs. "Taiyang Xiao Long teaches at Signal. That was a fun reminder."

"I... see."

He smirks. "Glad to know I'm not the only unhappy one. Holding a grudge, Blair?"

"I have no idea what you are speaking of." Came the predictable defensive response. It earns a laugh from him. "Alright. Perhaps a small grudge." She takes a moment to calm herself. "Don't stand out too much. Keep in mind that AZRL will likely not target the winners of the tournament tomorrow to stay under the radar. Don't go for the win."

He grimaces. "Trust me. Soon as I eliminate the bullies and laugh in their faces, I'll let myself get eliminated. AZRL knows Neo's semblance more than any of ours, so I had a thought on how she can better help."

"Is she not with you?"

"Is Roman not with you?" He counters, having not heard any cut ins from the insufferable conman. "Neo is should be finishing investigating the nurse's office." He then registers a text sent to him.

Neo – Nurse almost caught me. Now stuck with her doing extracurricular experiments. Plenty of evidence she's with AZRL, but she somehow seems on the up and up.

"So... she just messaged me. Apparently, the nurse is hanging with her and MIGHT be clean as well, but there's still some suss evidence." Carmine summarizes. "They're still on campus with staff all over the place, so I have time before going back."

"I see. Roman and I have narrowed down any potential AZRL transports to one of three in the harbor. Each of the three aren't chartered to go into Vale's docks, so they must transport elsewhere. However, all other ships make a point to have clearance to make last minute Vale stops before their longer journeys"

She continues. "I am remaining on lookout for the crew members of the ships, but Roman has decided to be a touch paranoid. A good thing I feel, though. He's gone into Vale to secure a secondary means of fleeing the island if we get caught by the Hunters."

"Secondary means?" Carmine snorts. "A personal sailboat or something?"

"A jet copter from the air fields."

He pops out his breath as if it's been punched out. His bug eyed look snaps to the phone. "WAIT, WHAT?!" His voice cracks in a shriek.

"He is paying for the use of the vehicle from Junior." She emphasizes the almost foreign word when it comes to discussions of Roman.

Life returns to Carmine as he calms with a few breaths. "Jeez. Okay. Whatever." He sighs. "I'll double check that with him when I call later. See-ya."

"Take care."

He hangs up, pocketing the scroll. He sighs before pausing. The boy glances around himself wide eyed. Trees. Trees all around. Shit. He let himself get lost in the conversation! Where the hell did he end up? He pulls the scroll back out, pulling out the maps and waiting for the GPS to slowly load.

Five seconds. Fifteen seconds. Thirty.

It wasn't loading. He groans out loud. "Great... Get to find a mountain and hope I see town from there."

"Sucks right?" A new voice chimes in from ahead of him.

"AH!" Carmine jumps in fright, hand instinctively reaching for Heulin Noon. He stops himself as he looks ahead. The newcomer is standing ahead of her, smirking amused, but respectfully keeping her distance.

The girl is just as tall as he is. She has blonde hair in a luscious mane ending just past the shoulders. Most falls over her back, but her bangs frame her face and stop at her collar bone. She has a high cut brown jean jacket rolled up to the biceps and stops at the ribs, unbuttoned. Under it, a gray tank top with an orange design of flames around the v neck.

She has brown short shorts under a set of orange pleated fabric held by her belt. Knee high boots under that with metal clips and orange socks poking out the top just under her knees. She wears black finger-less gloves with two yellow metal... bracers? Gauntlets? Bracelets? Metal bands around her wrists.

She smirks with a slight mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Sup."

Carmine gives her an unimpressed look. "Hi? Do you like scaring people? I was like one second from firing on you."

The girl snorts, rolling her eyes. "Don't threaten me with a good time. Besides, what's the fun living in the woods when you can't catch someone unaware?" She grins at him. "There a reason you were skulking around looking grumpy?"

"What are ya? Robinhood with a sex change?" He proves her point with the grumpy reply.

She barks a laugh at that. "Saying you got money for me to take? Most people go to Goldilocks first." She shifts her stance, hand on her hip with a thoughtful look. "Say... I think I saw you embarrass the Three Idiots out in front of the school earlier. Foreign student? What has you way the heck out here?"

His turn to huff before containing a laugh. With a smirk, he catches her words. "Here I was worried I was the only one calling them the Three Idiots." He shrugs nonchalant. "I don't like bullies. What can I say?" He then glances around. "And... I was actually just trying to explore a bit, but got turned around I think. Weren't there supposed to be a bunch of houses still out here?"

The girl nods. "Yup!" She pops the p in satisfaction. Twisting in place, she points over the next hill. "My house is actually right over there. Most of the houses out here are people who like their woodland cabin homes. The dirt roads get matted down like once a year. Wait a month, and grass covers it again."

Carmine raises a brow. "Country bumpkins, I see." Then a thought occurs. "Wait, so how do addresses even work out here if there's basically no road?"

She shrugs with an honest demeanor. "Dunno. I just memorized mine and went with it." She bobs her head to the path behind him. "I was actually on my way to town. Gonna catch a bulkhead into Vale to hang with friends. Wanna come?"

He hums. He can find Summer's family home after the tournament tomorrow. Getting lost in the woods isn't exactly going to help the mission, and the mission comes first. Speaking of... "Actually, I should probably head back to the Academy. My partner is probably in need of her stare translator for conversations."

"You sure? Clubs are fun with more people!" She entices.

He gives her an off look. "Sneaking into nightclubs are you?" He sends a heated look at her. "At least just go to Junior's Nightclub. I- erm." He pauses, knowing he shouldn't know this being a 'foreigner', but continues now that he's started. "It's not like they check ID's there."

The blonde nods vigorously. "Where do you think we were headed? They make the best Strawberry Sunrises. This isn't my first rodeo. You in?" She challenges.

He snorts. Of course Junior's business is well known for its terrible practice. "Nah. I get enough degeneracy from two friends of mine already."

The girl shrugs. "Suit yourself." She blinks her violet eyes and grins. "Wait~. You two are the 'old man' and 'silent raspberry' people mentioned! The silver hair gives it away."

"My name is C- Zane Maxwell!" He almost snaps and exposes himself in a fluster. He crosses his arms in a scowl, then recalls. "Wait... are you the monstrous blonde girl that embarrassed Deonn?"

The radiating smile that meets him is almost too proud. "Got that right! All three of them have god complexes despite constantly insulting one another. I think they're secretly in love." She begins walking around the boy. "If you want to follow me back to the wonderful world of civilization, feel free. I got plenty more embarrassing stories of those three to tell."

Carmine measures his options, but decides to turn around and walk with her. "Who can turn down making fun of morons? Brothers know they drove me insane all day today."

Her smile widens after a second as she hums. "I would think they'd drive you... in-Zane!"

Pause. He freezes in thought. Did she just..?

Pause... Processing. Realization. Reality clicking. His face slowly twists into a wide, beaming smile as he snaps his attention to her. "YOU LIKE PUNS TOO?!"

. . .

An hour later, Carmine trudges down the hall arriving at his and Neo's board room. He'd left his unconventional companion at town after the two quipped the entire time. Yet, he didn't at any point ask her name. He was slightly disappointed at that. However, she'd assured him they'd meet in the tournament tomorrow.

He enters the room, finding Neo draped over her bed on the far side of the room. The girl remains in her illusion blue haired form until he closes the door. Immediately, it shatters as she gives a lazy wave.

He reciprocates with a blank stare. "Yo." He moves to his own bed and sits. "So, how was your time with your new girl crush?" He smirks at her expense.

Neo raises a single annoyed brow before huffing and signing. "A lot of dust lecturing using black dust." At his alert attention, she straightens herself up and explains everything she found. The mentioning of venomous snakes reminds Carmine of Dino's story. That he was bitten by a venomous snake, but she let him sleep it off.

The black dust was a large red flag, but after being shown experiments, even Neo was doubtful that it was actually a big deal. However, the drawer with the two types of syringes made him think. A blue infinity symbol gave him pause, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen it before.

Nodding, Carmine huffs. "Alright. We need to plan for the tournament tomorrow." Neo nods back, smirking devious. "Right..." He nervously starts before sighing. "I want you to get yourself eliminated before the halfway point of the tournament."

Neo's pride forces her up, ridged. She glares with wide eyes at the boy like he'd smacked her.

He holds up his hands placating. "Look! AZRL knows your semblance more than anyone else on your team, so the longer you're fighting, the more likely they may recognize you." He waits for her to slowly simmer. She settles into a narrowed gaze as she lets him continue. "So, I'm wanting you to get eliminated and spy on the crowd. We'll bank on AZRL attempting to kidnap me."

Suddenly, Hush's blade is at his throat! He yelps and falls back, off his bed. When he stands up, the girl is atop his bed, weapon in hand in a challenge.

Carmine sighs. "If it makes you feel better, I'm not planning on winning either. The winner of the tournament disappearing would definitely be too high profile for them to try anything on. I'll get to the endgame and take the fall. They pick me up, and you trail them while alerting Blair and Roman. I sit out the final hero moment because odds are I'll get screwed with Nomaura."

Neo continues to scrutinize him for a moment, then smirks. She steps down, signing. "Good. I'll expect payment after I save you, Dumb Dumb."

He chuckles when she uses her nickname for him. "Whatever, Neo. Let's just get through this weekend so I can stop having to call you Nille." He says the name annoyed. "I'm taking the shower first-"

Shatter!

The girl is gone, leaving him alone in the room. The door to the bathroom is locked shut. He blinks once before grinding out. "Bitch!"

So, very little Roman and Blair this chapter. Almost entirely focused on the kids. Had some fun with it! Just for some notes, I doubt I need to tell anyone who Carmine's new blonde pun loving friend is. The tournament starts next time, so it's going to be a fun time! It's been a while, but bringing back Carmine's pun game also.

For pronunciation, Vanille is said like so. Van Kneel. So, Carmine calling Neo Nille is like saying kneel.

Reviews:

Crimson_Mist (AO3) – Well, let me see. (looks at notes. Begins sweating nervously. Erases and remakes plans) You don't KNOW that... Joke aside, we shall see.

References:

The Signal Academy Seniors, AKA the Three Idiots are Deonn (Dee-on), Dino (Dee-no for pronunciation), and Doto (Dah-toe). Names are ripped straight from their source material. Much like how the Vale frontier minor characters were based on Yugioh Youtubers, these three are based off of three gaming Youtubers.

Deonn is based on Seereax. Dino is based on Rhymestyle. Doto is based on Dotodoya. Much like the early story characters like Joseph, these three characters have their traits and powers lifted heavily from the in-jokes and entertainment content from these three's gaming channels.

Rita Boyd will be revealed more in time.

Join next time in Chapter Fifty Six: Encounter! A Golden Dragon!