-Heh-heh... Hi. Yeah, really didn't think you'd see a new chapter put to this story, did you? Taking months to even years-long hiatuses in between putting out RWBY-related content? Maybe the CRWBY should hire me to write the actual show! XD

Anyway, I still have all these ideas for where exactly I'd planned to take this story, so it's not like I'm proceeding with this 'totally' blind. Guess all I'm fighting against is finding time to write as well as having the mood of inspiration strike me just right, which I'd guess is similar to what anyone else would be feeling. But, enough of me complaining and whatnot; enjoy this latest chapter! -


On the horizon, the gentle glow of the sun began to rise, higher and higher. Morning was dawning upon this new day in Haven Academy. The school was positioned so that the morning light shown upon the school and its dorms' windows directly. Many saw this as naturally symbolic.

Others... didn't quite view this with as much enthusiasm.

"Urgh...!" Liz groaned while still half-asleep. The blinds on her window just weren't cutting it; morning sunlight was pouring directly into her room! How could she ever get those precious five minutes of extra sleep like this?

Three hard knocks on Liz's door jolted her to action.

"Liz! Wake up already!" Gail's voice could be heard on the other side, "Are you seriously still asleep?!"

"Grrr, go away...!" the green-haired girl protested while trying to reposition her head back on her pillow. Maybe if she turned her face away from the-

Her thought process shattered instantly at the sound of her door bursting wide open. Liz yelped in surprise at the sight of the intruder. Gail stood in the doorway, nearly fully dressed in her Haven Academy uniform, with a cross expression on her face.

"I said get up! We've got to get ready for classes and you're still sleeping?" Gail exclaimed, "Angelita and Eleanor are already up, so up and at 'em!"

"Gah! J-just get outta here!" Liz frantically waved her hands in front of her, "I'll get up, I promise!" With a huff, the human turned around and retreated into the room she came from, pulling on the door so that it nearly closed all the way but not quite. Liz rubbed her eyes and her head with her hands, trying to shake the sleep out. So much for trying to get some more rest in...

Slowly she swung her legs over the side of her bed and touched down on the floor. The carpet on the floor greeted her feet, sending pleasant 'fuzzy' sensations up the backs of her legs. Liz yawned loudly and stretched her arms all around, at least as much as the space would allow. These rooms they slept in could barely be called 'rooms'; her own closet back in her own house felt bigger! Still, it was big enough for a bed and a desk at least, and a door that connected to a shared bathroom. 'The essentials' she'd heard one of the teachers describe them yesterday.

A quick look towards the cracked open door reminded her of what had just happened. What was that girl's deal? Not even her own dad would bust into her room every morning to wake her up like that! Not anymore at least...

"Ah well..." she said in between yawns, "Might as well get ready, since I'm up..."

After roughly thirty minutes of a morning shower and dressing herself, she exited the bathroom into the common room shared with her new team. They themselves were in the room as well, their heads looking up to greet her upon walking in.

"Finally! Took you long enough!" Gail nearly exclaimed.

"Good morning, Liz," Eleanor greeted her, a sharp contrast to the blue-haired girl.

"Yes, I'm here. And morning to you too," Liz replied, letting out one last small yawn, "Man, did you really have to bust into my room like that?"

"Well, I'm sorry the three of us were already up and about, waiting on you!" Gail pointed out, indicating to herself and the other two humans in the room. Liz simply shook her head dismissively, though at the same time to shake off the last bit of sleep in her eyes, "Alright team! Now that we're all up, we have time to get breakfast before classes officially start."

"Sounds good, I'm starving..." Angelita said while strapping Derma onto her back and over her uniform. She then looked back up to note that the other girls were giving her looks, "What?"

"Are you really going to carry that... 'thing', around with you wherever you go?" Gail asked, "You know they had us submit our weapons to-"

"I'm keeping Derma!" Angelita snapped, a little too quickly, "It's... it's not a weapon, but I don't want to... I just keep it on, alright?" She gave a point of her finger towards Gail in return, "And what about you? Don't you have to give up that pack thing you're wearing?"

"My flight pack isn't just for flying..." To prove her point, Gail's pack activated with the wings still retracted within so that her body was lifted just off the ground so that her toes barely scraped the ground, "It's also used for short-scale hovering. Because of... something that had happened with my legs, it technically qualifies as a handicap, which means I can keep it on in everyday 'civilian movement'. Is that what your, 'Derma', qualifies as?"

"Well... no, but-" Angelita stammered, trying to find the right words. Her Derma kept her back covered, but for very... personal reasons. She just couldn't be separated from it like Anky already was!

"Well," Eleanor spoke up, silencing the other two, "Maybe... we can make an appeal to the teachers, or even the headmaster! If it's not a weapon, she can keep it with her, right?"

"Don't we need to get going anyway?" Liz spoke up, then looking at Gail, "Wasn't it you who was pressuring us to get ready?"

"I know I was, but- oh never mind," Gail relented, "Everybody pull out your schedule cards when we get there, we'll compare them with each other to see who's got what and when."

"I hope we get similar classes, together..." Eleanor spoke, lowly but at enough volume that the others could hear her. With that the four girls took their book bags in hand and departed their room, bound for the cafeteria first.


"Right, let's make sure we got this down..." Oriel spoke as she walked. She and the boys of Team NVJO were walking down one of Haven's hallways, in the general direction of where classrooms were held. All four of them were dressed in their respective Haven uniforms. After having breakfast already as well each one was feeling energized to various degrees.

"Got what down?" Jackson asked.

"You know! The classes that we all have!" the girl reminded him, "I only caught a glance, but... It doesn't look like we have many classes together..."

"No, I don't think we do," Nikau said. The young man pulled forth his schedule card, the scrawny piece of paper he and the others were given before retiring last night. Written upon it were a series of numbers and letters, in a way that had him nearly scratching his head in confusion, "What's 'Calculus'?"

"Huh? Let me see..." Oriel looked at his card before him before frowning, "Oh, looks like you have a different class than I do."

"I do?"

"Yeah, you have that, Jackson and I both have Composition with Professor Mandarin, and... Victor you've got Remnant History," the younger girl said as she looked back and forth between each of the boys' own schedule cards.

"What's a 'composition'?" Jackson asked.

"So... History, then Combat and Sparring, then lunch?" Victor said to himself as he studied his own card.

"Oh good! And we've all got lunch at the same time it looks like!" Oriel said, "Okay so, Nikau your class is gonna be on the upper floors, Victor yours will be down this hallway and one room over to the right, and Jackson and I will-"

"Jeez, why are you in such a rush and hurry for this?" Nikau asked, causing the girl to wince slightly.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm just- I'm nervous!" she said, "This is my first time navigating the first day of a high-ranking school like this, alright? I don't wanna screw this up!" To her credit the green-haired boy did shake his head.

"It's fine, don't worry," he said, "So yeah, we'll all meet up with each other for lunch looks like..."

"Seriously, composition though?" Jackson spoke as both he and Oriel proceeded to walk down the opposite hallway away from the rest. Nikau gave a single shrug to the rhino faunus before he himself broke away for one of the stairs.

In no time Victor found himself alone. He wasn't alone as to be away from anyone else with other students walking all around him in various directions, but he was without his team. Their chatter was starting to get a little annoying to him, especially from Jackson and a little from Oriel. On the other hand, in that regard he was starting to appreciate the rather stoic demeanor of Nikau; if it weren't for that insufferable face he always seemed to be making!

As it was now though, he was nearly overwhelmed in an unfamiliar hallway with unfamiliar faces and voices.

"Alright, I better be getting to that one class..." he glanced down at his schedule card again, "'Remnant History' with 'Professor Roger Rohan'... Room 2-B."

With that he proceeded to make his way down the hallway. As he attempted to move however, a number of fellow students shoved lightly against his shoulder as they passed by. The faunus felt jostled by the harsh motion and even shot back a look behind him. But whoever that other student was had blended into the flow of students streaming through the hallway by now; Victor had lost sight of them. Thus, he was left with an irritable feeling that some human had roughed past him.

"Drgh, nevermind... not worth it," he said to himself before again making his way through the crowd towards his destination.

Professor Roger Rohan's Remnant History was in a large lecture hall with a couple of slanted walkways leading downwards towards a singular point of a platform raised above its ground by a foot or two. All around these walkways stood a number of seated areas of three where students entered and began to take seats in. The surrounding walls were plain white in color, as if deliberately designed to draw all attention down to the base of the room.

In one of the seating areas with three completely vacant seats, Victor took his place on the far end. No one to sit next to? It was whatever; he could figure all this stuff out on his own.

Around the same time that the last of the students began to enter the classroom, the door at the opposing end of the lecture hall itself opened. Professor Roger Rohan entered the room himself, wearing the garb of the Haven Academy instructor. As he made his way towards the large table at the lowered end of the room he scanned the entire crowd of students that had taken their seats with a gentle smile on his face.

"Good morning, students. It's good to see you all here!" he greeted the crowd in his usual warm tone. His eyes moved all across the room, catching sight of each students' faces and practically committing them to memory.

"As you likely already know, I'm Professor Roger Rohan, your instructor in the field of Remnant History," he continued, "But I believe before we get started, we need to first ask ourselves: what is history really? Or rather we should instead ask: what is history defined as?"

"Oh! I know!" a hand from the students shot up, "History is made by the winners! Those who actually win battles and stuff; history comes from people like them telling what happened!" Professor Rohan could only smile at the student's enthusiasm to answer, in spite of him needing to wait before being called upon.

"Well, yes and no," he explained, "While you've undoubtedly heard the phrase 'history is defined by those who win', I would argue the truth is a little more... complex than that. When you really think deep about it, history is really defined by those who live today to tell about it; recounting of experiences. There's another analogy some of you may have heard before: if a tree falls down in the woods, you learn of three stories- yours, mine, and the tree's." His analogy was met with a soft round of snickers throughout the students.

"Alright, alright, now then please open your textbooks. We'll start first at history's very first recording; the founding of the four kingdoms..."

The students proceeded to slowly pull out their textbooks, though with no shortage of small groans all throughout. Professor Rohan couldn't resist yet another smile as they opened their books to the subject matter at hand. History was always a favored subject of his, but the founding of the four Kingdoms in particular always gave him joy to teach as well. It was his sincere hope that this passion for events of the past could be adequately passed on to this next generation as well.

As class practically crawled its way at a Conesnail's pace, Victor found himself staring at words in his open textbook progressively blending together into one. He hated history, among other school subjects. He came to this school to be a huntsman, not a book-worm! What was even the point of all this when there were actual meaningful courses like combat?

As he felt that familiar feeling of nodding off start to grip him, his attention suddenly refocused upon where he was reading in his book. 'The Human-Faunus Conflict' that took place a couple years ago. Even now he could hear Professor Rohan talking about it as well.

"- along with the tactical leadership of Colonel Harvey Etna, now the very commissioner of the Mistral police. Oh, and as I understand it, his very daughter is here with us now!" This comment was again met with a small round of chuckles around the classroom, while the girl in question in the front rows could be see placing a hand to her cheek, "Alright, alright; forgive me, Miss Etna, didn't mean to put you on the spot like that."

"I-It's okay," Eleanor Etna stammered. With that Professor Rohan turned back around to write something upon the massive chalkboard again. A smaller round of giggles persisted but quickly died down. However, for Victor Rataxes, this was anything but funny.

So 'she' was here, and she just happened to have the same class as him at the same time no less. She likely couldn't see him, much less even know he was there from her sitting at the very front of the lecture hall desks and him sitting further up in the back. If all that weren't enough, the teacher just had to bring 'that' up: Colonel Harvey Etna... He could feel his teeth grinding hard in his mouth before he voluntarily stopped himself. Now wasn't exactly the right time to lose his cool.

'How much longer's this class gonna be...?' he thought to himself.

Roughly an hour or so of Professor Rohan regaling events of the past with occasional questions thrown to check students' awareness, the class bell gently rang out. Almost instantly the students made haste in gathering their things and quickly preparing to leave.

"A-Alright then, remember: a five-page essay on significant figures of the Founding Era and their impact on Remnant during their respective time periods!" Professor Rohan quickly called out to the departing students, "Thank you, and have a wonderful day!" His gentle request was met with another round of groans amongst the students even as they were leaving.

'Great, now I gotta write some essay paper on people too?' Victor thought to himself as he made his way towards the door, 'This sucks.' On top of this recent assignment he'd have to take care of, he also caught a glimpse of Eleanor herself walking out of the classroom, which only served to put another damper on his mood in the moment. Everything was shaping up to put him down it felt like...


Professor Celsius' Combat and Sparring was located in a large room on the ground floor of the Haven Academy premises. This large room was incredibly spacious, easily accomodating the dozen or so students that stood within, while off to the side a number of windows allowed sunlight to shine through. For many of the students this was very likely to be the most important lesson of their Huntsmen/Huntress careers: actually learning to be better in combat!

"Angelita? Gail?" Eleanor spoke up, having caught sight of her two teammates in the same room as her, "You both have this class the same time as me?"

"Yeah, looks like it," Angelita said, "And is this a class where we'll actually get to try fighting?"

"Finally, a chance to show off more what I can do!" Gail said before noticing something about one of her teammates, "Oh, I guess they wouldn't let you keep your armor thing on, Angelita?"

"No..." the short-haired girl's response was accompanied with a grumble, "Told me Derma wasn't 'essential'... It's not fair; doesn't feel right not having it on."

"It's gotta be only like during classes, right?" Eleanor tried to reassure the shorter girl, "It's not like you'll be without it completely."

"Yeah, I guess... still feels weird and wrong..." Angelita muttered as she rubbed the sides of her arms.

"Hm, I just thought of something?" Liz spoke up to her two teammates, "If this is in fact a combat class, do you think we would actually be fighting with like other students here?" Her inquiry caused the other two girls to glance around and the small crowd of fellow students they stood along with.

"Well, that would seem likely," Eleanor reasoned, "I mean, we can't exactly spar with the professor of this course, could we?"

"My guess is that we would be sparring amongst each other too," a new voice spoke up. The three girls of Team GALE turned to see none other than Arslan standing beside them.

"Oh, Arslan? I didn't know you'd be here too," Eleanor said.

"Good to see you three as well, though it looks like none of my teammates are here during this time," the platinum blonde noted.

"Yeah, doesn't look like Gail is with us either," Liz said with a quick glance around them.

"Do you think we'd actually have to fight Grimm in a course for combat and sparring?" Eleanor asked.

"That's unlikely, given how impossible it is for Grimm to be captured at all," Arslan shook her head, "Unless somehow this entire class were to be taken 'outdoors' to where the Grimm themselves were, which in itself feels a bit dangerous."

"Yeah, I see what you mean..." the taller girl reasoned.

Just then, the sound of footsteps could be heard in the room. All the students' attention were drawn to the front of the room and its source: the tall, stern-looking man dressed in the garb of a Haven Academy professor. He hardly said a word at this point yet the sound of his footsteps from his boots, his mere presence, his very stance he posed in commanded the attention of all students. He took a moment to survey the room for a moment before opening his mouth to speak.

"Good morning, students. You all should know who I am, but just in case you had forgotten somehow, I am Professor Celsius," he spoke, "As a prerequisite I must advise each and every one of you that there is to be no unauthorized nor unsanctioned fights nor actions of physical combat performed in this classroom without mine or another authorized professor's authority. Is this understood?" Soft murmurs filled the room from the students clearly caught off guard by this sudden command made of them, yet they nonetheless nodded their heads in agreement.

"Good, then with that, class has begun," he continued, "Before we begin, there is something that you all be instructed on first. What differentiates combat in courses like this from the more uncivilized combat in the field is a sense of familiarity. You will all get the chance to 'know' your opponent well enough before actually performing combat with them."

"Who cares about peoples' names? We're gonna fight Grimm, aren't we?" someone in the group of students spoke up. This sudden outburst earned a stern frown from the professor. Or perhaps his face was always maintaining that look and the interruption itself left it unchanging.

"Be that as it may, you may find combating a fellow huntsman or huntress in the field to be an inevitability," Professor Celsius said, "Also, a raised hand as indicator before speaking is preferred."

"Then, Professor Celsius, if I may?" Arslan spoke up with her own hand raised.

"Yes, Miss Altan?"

"So, how is this to go about? Will certain people be selected from here to combat each other, or will it be more along the lines of 'free choosing'?"

"I believe for now, for the purposes of the first day of this course this year, I myself will make the decision as to who exactly spars with whom," Professor Celsius said with a nod. With that he made his way to one of the far ends of the dojo mat and stood at the very corner, turning back around to the students, "Now then, if there is nothing else, perhaps we can begin a first sparring match of the day."

No sooner had he finished speaking and declared the exercise then students already began to shoot their hands up from the crowd, followed by numerous sounds of excitement.

"Here, here!"

"I wanna fight first!"

"No, me!"

In spite of herself, Liz could barely contain her own excitement as she more gently raised her hand as well, a smile gracing her face. This action went noticed by both Angelita and Eleanor, who both raised their hands as well.

The professor meanwhile maintained his stern face, completely unfazed by the students' sudden burst of excitement. His eyes scanned the group for a few seconds.

"Perhaps, Miss Arslan, if you would be so kind?" Professor Celsius announced. The students' clamoring was replaced by mild groans of frustration, while Arslan on the other hand had remained largely silent throughout. Her eyes did widen very briefly as she glanced to her sides. Nonetheless, she proceeded to make her way onto the practice mat.

"Arslan Altan? Isn't she part of that Team ABRN?"

"Is she their leader?"

"Did she really take down a Diamondback Grimm?"

"Now then, who here would care to be her sparring partner?" Professor Celsius asked, gazing out upon the students with an expecting stare. Unlike before however, the number of students raising their hands, as well as their previous eagerness felt slightly diminished. Only a handful of students raised their hands. Almost in response to this, Arslan's frown grew slightly.

"What the heck, I'll do it!" one of the students suddenly spoke up. Everyone's heads turned not only towards the voice, but to see the student in question already proceed towards the practice mat. As an additional sharp contrast, there was an absence of murmurs accompanying him as there were when Arslan stepped onto the mat.

"Right then, state your name please," Professor Celsius instructed. The boy in question turned to face the crowd of kids he had just emerged from. Almost like Arslan, his skin tone was of a similar shade to hers, along with a mess of olive colored green hair atop his head and dark yellow eyes. Along his neck were a set of vertical tattoos seen underneath the color of his Haven Academy uniform.

"Okay, um, my name's Sage. Sage Ayana," he introduced himself to the group. He then glanced quickly towards Arslan, as if remembering to be introducing himself to her in the first place, "And I'm part of Team SSSN, here at Haven."

"Excellent, introductions have been made, and both sides have a closer understanding of the opposing side," Celsius said, "Now then, if you'll direct your attention to the side wall right there, the corresponding locker in which you deposited your weapon will be found within." Before classes had even begun every student was required to relinquish their combat arms into lockers. To the surprise of all, these lockers were then instantly sucked into the ground right beneath their feet, almost as if consumed whole.

At first, the wall in question held no such lockers as Professor Celsius had claimed. Before either combatant could voice a question, a rumbling from the ground below could be heard and felt. Instantly, small compartments within the ground opened up, and two familiar shaped lockers practically burst upwards from below. The doors instantly popped open to reveal a kunai and rope in one, and a large flat sword in another. The non-fighting students voiced their amazement at this display once again.

"That's creepy!"

"Kinda looks cool though."

Both Arslan and Sage made their way to their lockers and retrieve their weapons from within. Once in hand, they made their way back to the sections of the mat they'd been standing on.

"And now, before the actual spar begins, we'll take this time for each side to briefly explain their weapon and its capabilities," Professor Celsius said, "Sage, would you like to go first?"

"Alright then; this here is my buddy, Pilgrim!" the green-haired boy said, presenting the long, wide blade for all to see the blade was easily twice the length of his own body, with sets of orange streaks running from the base and the tip. The handle was wide and thick enough to be held with two hands, which made it even more noticeable that the boy was supporting the entire blade with only one hand, "It may not be able to turn into some fancy gun like anyone else's, but this thing has sliced and diced through Grimm of all kinds! One time it even took down an Ursa!"

"Interesting; you're able to wield that weapon with only one hand despite its immense size and still maintain proper form," Professor Celsius noted. He then turned to the girl on the opposing side of the mat, "As for you, Miss Altan?"

"This is my rope and kunai," she said simply. She held the items in both of her hands for all to see. Almost immediately, the group of students erupted into laughter at the sight.

"Seriously?"

"Come on, what is that?!"

"Is that like a pencil tied to a piece of string?"

Various comments mixed in with the laughter could be heard. Even Sage couldn't resist a grin forming on his own face. Arslan herself simply glanced towards the group of students. The look upon her face was not one of anger or annoyance, but rather she appeared to be... puzzled? She was almost genuinely confused as to why these students were laughing so hysterically. In fact, the only people who did share in her confusion were the three members of Team GALE, all looking around them with similar puzzlement as well.

Professor Celsius on the other hand simply studied Arslan's weapons as intently as he had with Sage's. The sounds of juvenile laughter were tuned out for a moment, allowing him to better process his own internal thoughts. It was seldom he encountered a student with the most basic of weapons, being that they assume only a single form. Not only that, but both of these students appeared to have such types of weapons in their arsenal. One who held a type of buster sword with minimal to no injury to his wrist, and one who appeared to forego a conventional means of weaponry in favor of... a traversal tool, for lack of better description.

He held out his hand and threw a stern look towards the students, wordlessly silencing them. Slowly, but surely, the laughter of the students died down, and he was able to speak again.

"And you are quite proficient with your tool there?" he asked to which Arslan nodded.

"I am; it's a handy piece of equipment that aids me in traversing places, and even can aid me in combat," she said.

"In that case, I'm sure we are all eager to see how you perform with it," Professor Celsius said. With that he turned to the side and stepped completely off of the mat, leaving the two students themselves remaining and facing each other.

"Right then, introductions have officially been made," the professor announced, "This will be a one-on-one duel until one party suffers ring-out from the mat or their Aura is completely drained and/or shattered. Mr. Ayana, are you ready?"

"You bet! I'm ready!" Sage said as he hefted his blade up into both hands.

"Miss Altan, are you ready?"

"I am," Arslan replied. She rolled the rope of her weapon into a circular motion around her hand and held the knife within before easing into a combat stance.

"Then on my mark..." Professor Celsius raised up his hand into the air. He held it there for a few seconds, all eyes watching him anxiously, before finally dropping it down, "BEGIN!"

Sage wasted little time in dashing forward, Pilgrim held at his side and parallel to the ground. His intent was clear: a quick slash of his blade left to right.

Arslan was quick to move as well. Sage quickly reached her and swiped his blade across, but the girl quickly bent her entire body backwards to almost touch the floor with her hands past her head.

This single action took place within a mere second yet was enough to get the group of onlooking students cheering.

"Yeah! Come on!"

"Take her down!"

"You got this, Arslan!" Liz couldn't resist the urge to cheer herself. Her teammates next to her didn't quite share her cheering, but both Angelita and Eleanor watched on with smiles on their faces. They'd both seen Arslan in action before, and their confidence in her was just as high as Liz's.

The platinum blonde meanwhile quickly moved even while bent over backwards. With her hands planted on the ground past her head, she shifted her weight to them to release pressure off of her legs. Her left leg swung up hard to kick into the flat of Sage's Pilgrim even while she proceeded into a backflip. This action was met with 'oohs' and 'ahhhs' from the students.

Sage himself was similarly caught off-guard by this sudden move by his opponent. Not only had he missed his initial swing, but he felt his blade being kicked and almost loosed from his hand! His other hand shot to the hilt to stabilize and keep it from flying out of his grip.

Arslan on the other hand and flipped herself back onto her feet, momentarily posed her fighting stance, and was already moving forward herself. She quickly assaulted Sage with a flurry of straight, direct punches. They were straight jabs in which the boy was forced to play defensive and block them with the flat of Pilgrim's blade. Each punch upon the steel of the weapon produced a separate clanging sound.

In the middle of blocking the girl's strikes, Sage took a single step back to grant reprieve from the assault. With the momentary spacing between them he swung his blade horizontally again. This time Arslan evaded the blade's swipe by jumping clean and over it. She did not even touch the weapon this time, letting it fly past her and around to Sage's opposing side.

As the blade reached the other side however, he quickly dug its point into the floor directly behind him. The blade point sticking into the dojo mat he pushed his body weight off of it and held his leg upwards; a braced power kick aimed straight for Arslan's midsection!

Unfortunately for the girl, her body was still off the ground and hadn't touched back down. Thus, she was still mid-air and essentially powerless to stop the kick, much less avert the full strength behind it. Her eyes widened briefly, and she brought her arms close to her chest instinctively.

Everyone in the room gasped again as they witnessed the kick connecting, Arslan's Aura flashing around her body momentarily, and she herself flying backwards a couple of feet.

"That's it Sage! You got this!" one of the students in the crowed called out; a red-headed boy with hair combed over to the side.

"Arslan-?!" Eleanor gasped.

The girl in question flipped herself to skid backwards on the practice mat, her legs spread far apart and her hand supporting her bodyweight from front and center. She came to a stop and pulled her head up. In spite of what had just happened she sported a grin on her face. Sage had caught her off-guard that time, but she was nonetheless feeling so alive and alert!

The green-haired boy noted the smile on her face, returning it with a frown in response. He quickly dashed forward to close the distance between himself and his opponent, Pilgrim held to his side and prepared to slash at her again.

Once more he reached her and slashed horizontally. And once more she deftly ducked underneath the slash of the blade and allowed it to sail clean over her entire body. She brought her body back upright and quickly brought her arm up to block an incoming leg strike that would've gotten her again.

This time she countered with a leg sweep of her own, hoping to catch him off guard this time. Sage jumped clean over her leg and put himself within mid-air just as she herself had been. Before she could make a move to act, she could see Sage bringing Pilgrim from over his shoulder to swing down upon where she was crouched.

'He's too quick with his reactions!' she thought as she looked up at him, 'Hmmm... Maybe I can do something-!'

Her next set of movements were fluid. Firstly, she jumped back and slightly to the side, allowing Pilgrim to slam its edge down onto the mat where she once was. Secondly, with her hand held on the end of her rope she cast her kunai outwards just slightly that it landed past Sage's wrist. It looped around and Arslan tugged hard, effectively pulling Sage's arm out and off of Pilgrim's handle. The boy gave a yelp of surprise from the literal disarming of his weapon from him.

"Hey! What the-"

Before he could voice any further Arslan quickly kicked her foot out to break away Sage's other hand from Pilgrim's hilt. The crowd of kids broke into louder gasps at this sudden change of events. Now suddenly Arslan appeared to be in control of the flow of the fight.

The platinum blonde wasted little time in capitalizing on this opening she'd created for herself. Sage's central body was exposed as she channeled her Aura towards her unarmed fist. She allowed only a little to power her Semblance; too much strength into her Lion's Paw might do unnecessary damage, to the onlooking students, to Professor Celsius, to the classroom, or even to Sage himself.

Sage's eyes widened as he watched what was happening in front of him. He could see his opponent prepping her open fist at her side, and from the looks of it was planning to drive it straight into his belly! Worse still, Pilgrim was still on the ground and far from his grasp! What could he do?!

Sage brought his untied arm inwards to lightly shield his midsection, just as the girl's fist came flying forward. The force of the punch caused Sage's Aura to flash sharply and had effectively sent him flying backwards, just as he had done to her not too long ago. With a flick of her other wrist, she quickly dislodged her kunai from around Sage's wrist in the process.

The boy skidded across the practice mat with noticeably less grace than she herself had. He found himself skidding on his rear end, then transitioning to skidding on his back. All the while a series of grunts escaped his lips with each impact on the ground. And also, unlike Arslan, he was skidding much too fast to maintain any semblance of control over where he was going.

Sage tumbled straight over the edge of the practice mat before finally rolling to a halt.

"What?!"

"No way!"

"How?!"

"And match set!" Professor Celsius quickly declared, "The winner of this sparring match by ring-out: Arslan Altan of Team ABRN." The students' reactions were a mix of disbelief as well as mild cheering from the action they'd seen. A stark contrast from their earlier expectations when the match had first started.

"Wait, what was that?" Sage was also crying out as he pulled himself to his feet, "How the heck did you manage to do that!? It's not fair!"

"You were armed with a large sword against myself with my rope kunai, and you're claiming this to be 'unfair'?" Arslan pointed out, "I believe this is the part where we acknowledge a good fight?"

"I want a rematch!"

"Spar combatants! At attention please," Professor Celsius called out. Sage threw Arslan one last look before shaking his head. He walked back over to the mat to retrieve his dropped Pilgrim before standing in place. Arslan also stood at attention before the professor standing before them.

"An excellent combat display, from both of you," he said, "You, Sage Ayana; you showed excellent flow in spite of wielding a weapon that only appeared encumber-some."

"Er, thanks, I guess," Sage said, "Wait, what's 'en-cumber-some' mean...?"

"It means to be weighed down or restricted by something," Arslan shot him a look.

"Oh, right," the boy said. His facial expressions softened with melancholy, "Still, I lost that fight. Nothing I did ultimately mattered, did it?"

"That's not what I, nor any of us were witness to at the beginning," Professor Celsius said, a hand indicating to both Arslan and the students, "I would daresay you put forth a worthy offense. As I said, you displayed superb mobility with your weapon." He paused momentarily as the stern expression on his face returned, "That being said, however, there were times where the usage of your weapon's swings leaves you wide open for counterattack; hence your opponent being able to take advantage of that."

"Yeah, I know," Sage replied in a grumbling tone, "Maybe if I hadn't... Maybe if I could move a little faster between my strikes... That might not happen again?"

"That sounds about correct," Professor Celsius nodded. He then turned to Arslan, "And Miss Altan; despite possessing a tool that appears to be 'out of the norm' in regard to weaponry, you displayed resourceful maneuvering in not only using it, but being able to use it in the thickest of action."

"Indeed, Professor," Arslan said, "I saw an opportunity and I took it."

"Quick action like that is indeed to be commended," Celsius nodded, "However, even you were momentarily caught off-guard during the fight?"

"Yes sir, around when I had jumped into the air?" Arslan said. As she said that she momentarily glanced downward and clenched her fist ever so tightly for a brief moment, "I got careless, I will admit..."

"Finding oneself in midair can be a dangerous position for anyone," the professor simply said. Arslan glanced back up and nodded. "This was a good spar fight; I hope the rest of you took note of maneuvers and techniques used here. Thank you both; please return your weapons to their lockers and you may rejoin your classmates."

Arslan and Sage walked back to their respective lockers and placed their weapons back inside. Once the lockers were closed, they each slowly sunk back down as if the very floor itself were swallowing them once more. Neither Arslan nor Sage were entirely sure if they would ever quite be used to seeing the ground 'swallow' something like that.

They both rejoined the group of students and were met with rounds of approval. The stranger thing though was that it was actually both of them who were receiving praise, not just one or the other.

"That was actually a pretty good fight!"

"Intense!"

"So that's what Team ABRN is capable of?"

"Can I go next?"

"You did good, Sage," Sage's teammate Scarlett stepped up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. His gesture was accompanied by a gentle smile in addition, which Sage couldn't help but smile back at.

"Good fight, Arslan!" Eleanor said as the platinum blonde girl retook her previous position next to the three Team GALE members.

"Yeah, that was pretty nice," Angelita nodded, "You really can throw hard punches."

"It was nothing, really," Arslan modestly replied, "I just hope I can do even better next time."

"You know, Arslan; you think maybe the two of us could spar sometime?" Liz spoke up, "I'm feeling just confident I could take you down!" Arslan glanced towards the Faunus girl, looking upon her sudden bravado and nearly smirking at the sight.

"Perhaps... that could be arranged at some point," she said with a nod.

"You can punch hard... I kinda feel like I wanna go next," the nearby Victor Rataxes could be heard muttering at just barely audible level.

"Alright, quiet down everyone!" Professor Celsius called out, "I believe with the time we have left... we have time for one more sparring match. This time, let's have two new candidates step forward." At the mentioning of new candidates, a small round of disappointed groans rumbled through the crowd.

"Me! I wanna do this...!" Victor's voice announced. He further punctuated his point by stepping forth from the crowd of students and further into their field of view. This sudden action was met with Professor Celsius narrowing his eyes slightly, but he nonetheless conceded with a nod.

"Very well, we have our first candidate; who else shall volunteer?" In contrast, a number of students raised their waving hands up while remaining in the group. This included the various members of Team GALE as well.

"Oh, HECK yeah!" Liz said as she held her hand up, "I'd wanted to get back at him since the start!"

"Me too," Angelita added.

"Ahem! As we are stretched for time, I shall pick the sparring partner myself," Professor Celsius held up a hand in a dismissive manner. His hand then slowly pointed a finger out to the crowd, each student eagerly watching in anticipation. Eventually, his finger came to a stop upon one individual. One individual standing in the front row of the group of students, singling her out from everyone else.

"You, ma'am, if you would."

Eleanor Etna's eyes widened in surprise,

"Me?"

Victor Rataxes smiled.


-So yeah, took me long enough but I finally got a new chapter out for you all. My only hope is that I can keep the momentum going with this one as I have for my previous stories. Review, favorite, follow, all that good stuff, and keep on reading! -