Hello, everyone! This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing back in! Okay, here we are. New chapter, new content. We're going to back to original content once more, and I really hope that this feels like it'll work out after you've read it, because we've got another part in in the making right now, but I was thinking we could make another update while we put the finishing touches on it. Alright, now that I got that out of the way, here goes the next part of the story!

NOTE:

-This is a collaborative effort between me, Noctis Gaelum and Alastar the hawk. We claim ownership over nothing except our own original characters.

SMWK

The following day…

Beacon Academy's amphitheater was as quiet as could be. You could hear a pin drop even if you weren't trying.

It was early in the morning when Glynda Goodwitch decided to step in. As the designated combat instructor, she had made a habit of very meticulously checking her students' transcripts, and she seemed to have a thing for doing so directly at the same place where she'd usually impart her classes. Was it the quiet? The familiar ground? The fact that no one would just go there first thing in the morning just because? No one in the student body really knows why she does it, so there's no telling.

Either way, she was getting ready to do so again.

Taking a seat without so much as a word, she opened her scroll and began to browse through all the available files. She found that the near-total silence was pretty good for organizing and studying all the information on the teens that she was expected to teach.

…Except today.

She had barely taken a look at the list of names when she heard something. A very faint sound, like someone was breathing. Reacting about as quickly as could be expected from an experienced Huntress, Glynda turned up the intensity of the lights and stood up, riding crop in hand.

"…What?"

Against every law of chance, sitting right in the center of the stage with his eyes closed, it was the exact same person that she was going to look up on her scroll first: Wyatt Whirlwind.

He looked as though he hadn't noticed her presence, but before she could take another step…

"Greetings, Professor Goodwitch." He opened his eyes and stood up, followed by a small bow. "My apologies. I didn't mean to startle you."

She stared at him for a few seconds. "Mr. Whirlwind, don't you believe it's a little early for you to be here?"

"It's never too early for some training." He smiled as he approached her. "I figured I'd give myself an early start."

He let himself drop down to the floor and began to do some push-ups.

Glynda's reply was very simple. "I see."

"Would you like me to leave, Professor?"

She didn't even look at him. "Not unless you're planning to start another fight."

That comment made him flinch for a moment, but he eventually kept going.

"No need to worry about that, Professor. I do not wish to engage in another fight like that. In fact, I've decided to remain as far away from Miss Xiao Long as possible for the rest of my time here." He was very adamant in his statement. "I do not intend to fight her ever again."

She sat down and immediately went back to working on her Scroll. "You might have to at some point."

"What?!" He exclaimed while sitting down. "But you just said—"

"Not everything happens the way we want it." She immediately interrupted him. "I'd hope it doesn't happen for some time, but it's possible that you'll find yourself fighting her again."

"Personal experience?" Wyatt asked with some interest.

She immediately turned to look at him, although her expression remained neutral. "Do you believe yourself in a place to ask that, young man?"

"I…" He stopped himself when he noticed that. "…I think I will go back to my meditation now."

He made his way back to the center of the stage, afraid that he might have gotten himself into thin ice with Glynda, and did exactly as he said.

Later that morning…

Slowly but surely, all of the student teams began to gather at the amphitheater. Some of them were waiting for their first class to begin, while some others were still trying to wake themselves up completely. A few of them were even stretching in anticipation.

One group in particular seemed to be really excited to begin… or at the very least, its leader was, judging by how she kept ogling every single one of the other students' weapons like they were on display at a museum.

"Wow!" Ruby Rose didn't even try to hide her excitement. "Oh my gosh, your weapons are so cool! What are they made of? Do they fire long-distance shots? Can they transform? Did you make them yourselves? Can I hold one of them? Please?"

As she practically hovered over one of the teams, none of them seemed to have anything to say. They were completely taken aback by her enthusiasm.

"Ruby…" Her teammates, on the other hand…

The mention of her name quickly got her attention, and she turned her attention over to the rest of her team. Weiss was pinching the bridge of her nose in clear annoyance, Blake was too preoccupied with a book to even look at her, and Yang looked like she was amused by her little sister's antics.

"Hey, sis, don't you think we should get moving already?"

Ruby gave an awkward chuckle in response. "Sorry."

"Could you at least try to act mature for once?" Weiss crossed her arms. "Our next class is about to start, and I would prefer it if our team leader didn't drool all over the room."

Ruby frowned at that. "Hey! I'm not drooling!"

"Come on, Ruby." Yang wrapped an arm around her younger sister's shoulders. "Let's go find some good seats. I'm pretty sure this is going to be fun."

And just like that, Ruby seemingly perked up.

"Just do me a favor and try not to fall asleep this time, alright?" Weiss immediately remarked.

Suddenly, she noticed that Ruby's eyes widened at something.

"Hey, look! It's Team JNPR!" The girl's comment was just loud enough that it got said team's attention right away, and they noticed she was waving at them. "Hey, Jaune!"

"Oh, hey, Ruby!" Jaune Arc, the blond boy from the entrance test, whom Ruby had befriended not long after arriving on Beacon, waved right back at her. Not long after that, he also noticed that the rest of Team RWBY was right there with her, and he immediately focused on Weiss. "Milady."

This earned him nothing but an eye roll and an annoyed grunt from the white-haired girl.

Yang waved at them too. "Hey, guys."

"Hello again!" The next member of Team JNPR to speak up was Pyrrha Nikos, a young prodigy best known for winning the Mistral Region Tournament four times in a row… and appearing in a cereal box as a result.

Having exchanged greetings with their friends, Team RWBY took their seats right next to them.

"You guys excited for our first combat class? I know I am!" Nora Valkyrie spoke up, her enthusiasm and voice making an impression about as big as the hammer she used out in the battlefield. "You guys think we'll get to clobber someone today? Because that would be awesome!"

Her friend Lie Ren, the last member of their team, offered a brief response. "Calm down, Nora."

"It's just the first class." Pyrrha interjected. "Professor Goodwitch might just teach us how her class will work instead of making us fight right away."

Ruby was the next to chip in. "But it'd be so cool if we could have at least one fight." She grabbed her weapon and looked at it for a moment. "It's like Huntsmen and Huntresses get to really know each other when they fight." Then she turned to her teammates. "Remember what happened with Team SMWK?"

"I… don't think any of us are going to forget that anytime soon." Despite not even looking away from her book, Blake was apparently still paying attention.

Yang offered an expected response. "You mean us casually splitting the gym in half with our little game of tag? I know I remember it!"

"You and about half the academy, probably." Weiss replied dryly. "It's a good thing Professor Goodwitch was able to fix everything."

Her response was more teasing than anything. "Aww, don't be so sour, Ice Queen."

"Hey! Don't call me that!" Weiss yelled at her, angry at her sudden nickname.

Ruby turned her attention over to Team JNPR again. "Hey, speaking of, have you seen any of them? I wanted to say 'hi' to them before the lesson started."

"Not really." Jaune spoke up, while the rest of his team just shook their heads.

As if in response to that, they heard a voice coming from behind them.

"Oh, hey, look! It's Team RWBY!"

All eight of them turned around at the sound of that, and they saw a familiar group approaching them: two Faunus and one human—three fourths of Team SMWK.

"Hey, guys!" Maza waved at them.

Ruby quickly approached them. "There you are! Aren't you excited for our first lesson?"

"As excited as I'd be for a root canal." Set's response was… graphic.

She blinked a few times. "You're not a morning person, are you?" It was almost like she found his reaction funny.

"The moon is my mistress, Hoodie. I thought the tail kinda spelled that out."

This got another groan out of Weiss, along with a facepalm. Ruby still seemed amused, while Blake didn't react at all.

"Hey, hotshot!" Yang, meanwhile, gave him a friendly greeting.

He immediately perked up at that. "Well, if it ain't Sunshine the Punch-packer!"

"You know it!" She followed this up with a thumbs-up.

He shot a cocky smirk at her. "TNT'd any gyms lately, or is that only for your 'Pick on Titan' sessions?"

"Nah, that was just a fluke." She looked at the three for a moment. "By the way, where is he?"

Kale shrugged. "We just figured he got a head start. He was already gone by the time we woke up."

"He's probably more of a morning person." Maza giggled for a bit. "Why else would he suggest a jogging session at 5 AM?"

Jaune's eyes widened at that. "That… sounds like a bit much."

"Well, at least he's organized." Conversely, Weiss didn't seem to mind the thought.

Surprisingly, Ruby and Kale had the same response to that comment. "Oh, boy, here we go…"

"I'm sure he will appear eventually. He doesn't sound like the type that would skip a class." Pyrrha gave her own thoughts on the matter.

Suddenly, Maza gasped loudly.

"I just remembered! You're Pyrrha Nikos!"

Pyrrha was confused by the comment, but remained composed. "Um, yes. Hello."

"You were on a cereal box!" Maza quickly got closer to her. "Do you have some cereal with you?"

"U-Um… no, sorry." She replied with a nervous laugh.

The Faunus girl backed away, clearly disappointed. "Aww…"

"You… probably shouldn't eat Marshmallow Flakes anyway." Pyrrha gently tried to ease her disappointment. "Turns out it isn't very healthy."

Some of the others looked like they wanted to say something to that, but couldn't bring themselves to do so out of fear that things would just get more awkward.

"Well, anyway…" Trying to defuse the tension, Jaune approached Set and offered his hand. "My name's Jaune. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you properly."

"Set Prowl. All bark and bite." He instead offered him a fist to bump. "No need to be a stretch, bub."

Jaune chuckled at that before nodding and completing the gesture.

"And these are my teammates." He turned to one of them. "First off, there's Ren."

He simply nodded and waved at them.

"He's a bit quiet… sometimes… or, well… a-a lot. Uh, most of the time." Before he could stumble on any more of his words, Jaune quickly turned his attention to the next person. "A-Anyway, I think you already know who Pyrrha is."

She waved at them, much more lively than Ren was. "Hello again."

"Hi. Nice to meet you." Kale waved back at her.

Pleased with the results there, Jaune looked at his last teammate. "And finally, we have—"

He couldn't say anything else, however, as Nora quickly interrupted him.

"Hi! My name's Nora!" Before anyone knew what happened, she approached Maza. "Hey, you're Maza, right?" She turned her attention to the Faunus girl's batons. "I just gotta say that I really like your weapons. They look awesome!"

This got a laugh out of her.

"Thanks. I like yours too." She ogled Nora's weapon in a similar manner. "Is that a hammer that's also a grenade launcher?"

Nora proudly showed off her weapon, and then she gave it a small spin. "You bet!" Right on cue, it transformed into a grenade launcher, just as Maza had said. "How about you? Do your weapons change into something else too?"

"They combine into a staff!" Maza replied, almost coming across like she was trying to imitate Nora's enthusiasm. "A staff that fires all kinds of Dust."

The hammer-wielding girl gasped overdramatically. "No way! Even Gravity?"

"Yes! Even Gravity!" Unsurprisingly, Maza was just as exaggerated in her assertion. "I always fire it at the ground, though. It's like getting a boost from a small rocket!"

Nora laughed at this. "I know exactly what you mean."

As the two kept on talking about their weapons, the others were too busy staring at them, utterly dumbfounded.

Even Blake was surprised enough that she dropped her book. "Oh my God, there's two of them."

"Goodness' sake, I thought one was enough rainbows." Set couldn't bring himself to look away from the scene for even a second, his voice giving away his shock easily. "Your mornings colorful perchance, J?"

Jaune replied in a similar fashion. "Y-Yeah…"

"Well, looks like those two are going to get along just fine." Ruby chuckled at the scene.

Weiss immediately turned to her leader, her eyes widening as she did. "That's seriously all you have to say?!"

"Oh, c'mon. Aren't you happy they both found a friend?" Yang interjected. "No need to be cold as… Weiss!" Then she flexed her eyebrows, a huge grin making its way to her face. "Eh? Eh?"

Right away, all of her peers turned to her, as if they couldn't believe she had just said that. Even Maza and Nora stopped their conversation when they heard her.

"Boo." Only Nora said anything about it, though. Maza just looked confused.

Set turned his head, eyes closed, and exhaled heavily, followed by a much-needed response. For him, at least.

"God damn it, Blondie."

Yang just leaned back against her seat, not even feeling ashamed of what she had said.

"So… the class is about to begin." Hoping to avoid any more tension, Ruby spoke up before looking at Kale. "Do you want me to help you find your teammate?"

Before he could answer, he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Everyone, please take a seat." The group turned in its direction, only to find that Glynda had finally entered the room. "It's time to get started with our class."

Kale sighed at this. "I guess it's not going to happen now." Then he turned to Ruby again. "Thanks for the offer anyway."

"Don't worry." In response, she patted his arm. "We'll keep an eye out for him."

Jaune nodded. "Us too. Team JNPR's got your back."

"Aww, thanks, guys!" Maza happily thanked them both.

Nora gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Hey, don't mention it. Teams are supposed to stick together, right?"

"Tch… tell that to Breeze." Set freely expressed his unhappiness. "Oh, wait… you can't, 'cause he's not even here."

The others decided not to comment on this, preferring instead to just sit back down and let the class begin. Just as before, Teams RWBY and JNPR sat right next to each other, while the three members of Team SMWK decided to sit behind the two groups.

Eventually, the amphitheater settled down enough that Glynda was able to start her class.

"Welcome, everyone." As expected, she came across as sharp and stern to all of her listeners. "This is going to be your first combat class." She adjusted her glasses slightly. "As you're probably already aware, one of the main reasons that a Huntsman or Huntress is chosen for a job is because of their fighting ability. Not every job calls for a combat specialist, of course; there are plenty of opportunities for those of you who are more inclined towards the idea of espionage or information retrieval."

Set grinned confidently. "Like the top Wolf sitting here. No one beats me at stealth. No one."

While most of the group didn't react to it, his boasting got some chuckles out of Yang, as well as his two teammates.

"However, when you're expected to eliminate the creatures of Grimm, or capture an escaped fugitive, or even something like getting to safety during a less aggressive mission, it's important to keep your skills at their absolute best." Whether or not she heard the comment, Glynda kept going as if nothing had happened. "Especially if your mission forces you to fight another Huntsman or Huntress, or even someone who was trained in their ways but was not officially made into one."

Maza raised a hand. "Like mercenaries?"

"Yes, that's one possibility." Glynda answered her question without skipping a beat. "And even though every aspiring Huntsman or Huntress tends to train in their own unique, personalized style, it's important to consider the thought that there might be someone out there who has a similar style and can match your every move, and you need to be ready if the situation calls for you to counter their techniques before they can think of doing it to you."

"Oh, so we're going to learn how to be unpredictable during a fight?" Nora asked excitedly. "I like it!"

Before Glynda could say anything to that, Pyrrha gave her own thoughts on the matter.

"I think it's more about trying to outthink your opponent, Nora." She turned away from her teammate to look at her teacher. "The idea is that, if you're fighting someone whose skills are like yours, they'd know what to expect from you, but you'd know what to expect from them too, so you need to think and react faster than them." Then she looked at Nora again. "Being unpredictable is good too, though. You can use tactics that they wouldn't expect to tip things in your favor."

"That's correct. Thank you, Miss Nikos." Pleased with her answer, Glynda brought her Scroll into view and started working on it. "And I think that the best way to demonstrate that would be through a practical exercise."

After she tapped the screen a few times, the students noticed a pair of displays with blank portraits on them that appeared in another part of the room.

"Now, we'll see which of you are going to be the ones to show what we've discussed."

The portraits began to rapidly cycle through a number of different pictures. Some of the students gulped, looking at Yang nervously, while others looked around, trying to find the last member of Team SMWK.

Clearly, they feared what might happen if they met again.

Their fears ended pretty quickly, though, as one of the portraits finally stopped on an image, and it wasn't either of them.

"Dove Bronzewing, from Team CRDL." Glynda named him directly, as if she could tell how tense the atmosphere was getting. The boy in question stood up, while his teammates began cheering at his inclusion.

Soon enough, the second image showed the one who'd be his opponent.

"And Voda Priepast, from Team VRDN." The room's attention immediately went to said student, who was also being encouraged by her teammates.

She was a girl with blue hair, which was messy and tied up into a ponytail, along with matching eyes and a tanned complexion, as well as some freckles right beneath her eyes. She was also wearing a black sleeveless shirt, which had frayed edges where the sleeves would normally be, and a red neckerchief with a picture of what seemed like sharp teeth arranged in the shape of a smile, along with blue shorts, black low-heeled boots, dark blue fingerless gloves, and a long, asymmetrical piece of dark blue material tied around her waist, which reached to her knee on the right side.

"Niiiice!" She did some arm stretches for a bit, which also let everyone see that she had what looked like dorsal fins on both of her elbows.

Glynda stopped looking at her Scroll and turned her attention to the two for a moment. "Both of you, please come down here."

"You got it, Professor." Voda stood up and turned to her teammates. "Wish me luck, guys!"

They gave her a thumbs-up, which she was quick to return, and then she did as Glynda had asked.

Cardin Winchester, the leader of Team CRDL, addressed his teammate as he made his way down. "Go ahead, Dove. Show that animal who's boss."

He laughed along with his other two teammates, when suddenly, he felt something hit the back of his head. He quickly turned around to try to find whoever it was that did it, but all he could find was a piece of ice on the ground melting.

"What the…?" He stared at it for a moment, as if it was something he'd never seen, before turning to his teammates. "Did you guys see anything?"

They both had the same response: a confused shrug.

While they were distracted, the class just kept on going as normal, as Dove and Voda found themselves out on the arena, with Glynda standing right between the two.

"Alright, students, listen up." She immediately spoke to them. "This is just a basic fight. One-on-one, no time limit, and most importantly, no using your Semblances. We're only testing your combat skills and your weapons." Then she looked at each of them for a moment. "Understood?"

Dove nodded before bringing out his weapon: a short bronze sword with a revolver mechanism and a short-barrel built into the hilt, which he had named "Hallshot".

"Hey, nice!" Voda readied her own weapon in response: a relatively simple-looking handgun with a bayonet at the front. "Your weapon's kind of like mine!" And right on cue, it suddenly transformed into what looked like a cutlass. "This should be fun."

Suddenly, she surprised him by offering her left hand to him.

"Let's have a good fight, alright?"

He just stared her down, which she responded to by… switching to her right hand.

"Sorry, I forget. I'm left-handed. Not everyone is." She chuckled sheepishly. "So, what do you say?"

Still, he did nothing but stare at her in silence.

"No handshake then?" She took her hand back, preparing herself for battle instead. "Yeah, okay, you're right. Actions speak louder than words. I can respect that."

The two backed away from each other, and Glynda soon began to put some distance between herself and her students as well.

"Are you ready?" Both of them nodded. "Okay then… begin!"

Right away, Dove took the initiative and rushed in to attack, but his first strike was blocked by Voda. He followed it up with two side attacks, and then he tried an overhead hit, but all of them were deflected in the same way.

"Ooh, eager for a dance?" She pushed him back, and then she got back into position. "Great! Here, I'll lead."

She then surprised him by running in his direction and preparing for an overhead attack much like the one he had tried on her, only for her to release the sword mid-maneuver, grab it with her other hand in a reverse grip, and landing a hit on his side during a spin. He quickly retaliated, taking a swing at her head and another one at her legs, but she managed to duck them both.

"Missed me! Missed me!" Voda dodged a stomp aimed for her head by rolling to the side. "Now you've got to kiss me!"

Dove was caught off-guard when she aimed her weapon at him, which had changed back into a gun, but he bounced back quickly and managed to deflect all of her shots. He then seized the opportunity and went for her head again, only for her to pull a quick spin and a sweep kick, which made him fall to the floor. Voda quickly bounced back up, but just as she transformed her weapon into a cutlass again, he surprised her with an attempted stab to the chest.

"So-rry~" She chuckled as she jumped back. "Missed again—"

While she managed to avoid the stab, she was still hit when he pulled the trigger and fired a few rounds at her, all of which connected successfully and made her fall to the ground.

Both of them managed to stand back up, and Voda took the chance to make another quip.

"Okay, I guess we're both leading."

The two rushed toward each other and engaged in a sword clash, both of them trying their hardest to push the other back, all the while their classmates watched them with excitement and awe.

Ruby was at the edge of her seat. "Oh, this is so intense! They're really good!"

"Finally!" Set exclaimed, clearly getting into the altercation. "An interesting class!"

Kale also had a comment of his own. "Wow… she's really exploiting that strategy."

"What strategy?" Jaune was curious about what he was saying. "You mean all of her banter?"

He nodded. "It's a good distractor. When you're scared, running your mouth lets you forget about it, and when you use it on someone who gets what you're saying, they'll probably be so annoyed that they'll target you and neglect everything else, so it's good if you're the bait for a team attack, or if their irritation gives you an opening for a surprise move."

Both Jaune and Weiss looked at him for a moment, surprised and impressed by his explanation, respectively.

"You're right." Their attention was quickly diverted by Pyrrha's retort, however. "Even so, it doesn't look like Dove is falling for it. He's fighting smart and keeping his focus where it should be. I'd say that they each want to take control of the fight, but the other just won't have it."

As if in answer, they all heard Cardin's voice again.

"Come on, Dove! Stop playing with that fish and just finish her already!" His irritation was pretty clear.

Yang frowned at that. "It's too bad his teammates don't see any of that…"

"Can I draw him a permanent smile?" Set was growling. "Please?"

"Just ignore them, boss. It wouldn't change anything." Maza responded, surprisingly serious in her tone. "People like them aren't even worth the time it'll take to explain things."

Before anyone could think of questioning her sudden tonal shift, she abruptly switched over to a big, happy smile again.

"Besides, that just means that we get to actually enjoy the show, while they're too busy complaining."

Speaking of said show, Dove and Voda finally separated from their clash, and quickly followed it up with a series of quick sword clashes. Soon enough, he took a vertical swing at her head, holding his weapon with both hands, but she stopped it with her own weapon. He managed to get a few more in there, trying to get her to relent, but in the middle of another one, she landed a kick on his chest, forcing him back while she did a few backflips.

Once they were far enough from each other, she landed on her feet.

"So… had enough yet?" The two were finally starting to show signs of exhaustion, but Voda was still the only one talking. "Do you want a time out?"

Dove just let his weapon talk for him, forcing the Faunus girl to dodge his shots.

"Okay, that's a 'no' then." She took a few shots of her own, but he deflected them all by spinning his sword. "Oh, well, it was worth a… shot."

That finally had an effect on him. Namely, he groaned at her pun.

Aha! I pinched a nerve. She smirked at this. Let's keep it up.

Taking the opportunity to reload her gun, she was pleasantly surprised when she saw what was in her hand.

Neela, you're the best.

Normally, she'd favor regular bullets, but she had received a little something from one of her teammates before class: an ice Dust cartridge.

Dove looked at her skeptically as she aimed her gun at him again.

"Freeze!" She fired a single shot at him.

He blocked it with a quick move of his sword, but this time, he was caught off-guard by the block of ice that had formed on it upon contact.

"Oh, hey, look at you." This comment got him to look at her again, and he immediately noticed her confident grin. "How cool is that?"

Once again, Dove made no effort to hide his irritation at her words. He pointed his sword at her, but before he could pull the trigger, she took another shot, freezing his hand in place and stopping his attack.

"Here, have a cold one!" She topped this line off with a chuckle.

Suddenly, the boy snapped, charging right at her with the intent of attacking her directly.

Voda reacted quickly, jumping up to avoid his swing, and during said maneuver, she took a few shots at him in specific spots, basically freezing him in place. Before he could even process what had happened, she threw her weapon up into the air, followed by two strong punches to his frozen hand: one to shatter the ice and one to make him drop his sword.

"Can you chill out now?" She raised her hand, and right on cue, her weapon landed right on it, having transformed into a cutlass again in midair. She quickly brought it up to his face, the blade protruding from the bottom of her hand this time. "Because I've been perfecting my icepick grip."

Dove was pretty angry at this development, but ultimately, he could only hang his head before her, knowing full well that this had officially ended.

"And that's the match." The two of them turned to see Glynda approaching them. "Voda Priepast wins."

Immediately, they could hear their teammates cheering or groaning at this.

"Whoo, that was a close one!" Voda stepped back as Dove struggled to free himself from the ice. "You are good. I swear, it's like you were reading my mind!"

She then surprised him by transforming her weapon back into a gun, switching out the ammo cartridges again, and taking a few more shots at him. The ice finally shattered, and he fell down to the floor.

"Let's have a rematch someday." She kept speaking even as he picked up his sword and stood back up. "What do you say, Dove?"

However, he merely glared at her for a moment before walking away, grunting in irritation as he did.

"Uh… okay, I guess not then." She shrugged. "Oh, well."

As she made her way back to where her friends were sitting, Voda failed to notice the way Dove and his teammates were glaring at her. She was quickly greeted by nothing but praise from all three of her friends, and she thanked one of them in particular for the ice Dust that had tipped things in her favor before turning her attention back to the stage.

"Alright, everyone, settle down." Glynda called for everyone's attention. "Before we continue with the class, does anyone have any other questions about this exercise?"

No one said anything. A few of them were still reeling from what they had seen, while some others were unfazed, but all of them stayed silent.

"Good. In that case, let's continue with our next match." She adjusted her glasses. "We've seen what happens when two people with similar styles face off against one another. Now, we're going to test what happens when the combatants have completely different weapons and fighting styles instead."

Once again, she brought out her Scroll and began to work on it.

"Please be me, please be me, please be me…" Maza chanted in whispers, crossing her fingers while looking at the spot where Dove and Voda's pictures were previously displayed.

Her excitement got a laugh out of Nora.

"I like this Maza girl." She nudged Ren with her elbow. "It's like she gets me almost as much as you do, Ren." She paused for barely a second. "Almost."

A small smile made its way to his face.

Set had himself a chuckle. "You know, for once, I do not hope I snooze. In fact, I wouldn't mind getting picked." He turned his sights to Voda. "Admittedly, I'm psyched to see what other strong guys are just waiting in the wings!"

"You and me both. That fight was something else!" Yang seemed just as invested as him. "The next ones are gonna have a hard time topping that."

Kale chuckled softly. "Well, chalk another one up for the Faunus."

Said comment briefly grabbed Blake's attention, but she turned away from him before he could even notice that.

"Hey, guys! Guys!" Ruby pointed right in the direction of what she was staring at. "I think the first one is coming up!"

Everyone else looked in that same direction, and sure enough, they could see a vague silhouette forming there. After a moment, it started to clear up.

"It's…" Weiss seemed pretty surprised. "…it's you, Ruby."

Right away, Ruby's face lit up like a lens flare.

"Oh! Oh!" Maza exclaimed in excitement, watching the second image very closely. "Maybe I'll get to fight you next! I hope I do. That'd be cool."

Jaune turned in her direction. "What if it isn't you?"

"It'd still be cool." She shrugged with a grin. "No matter who it is, it's still Ruby fighting, and I really want to see Ruby fighting. I bet it's going to be super amazing."

Blake pondered for a bit before speaking up.

"It might be someone that prefers quick, precise attacks. Professor Goodwitch did say that this would be a match between opposite forces." She then looked at Ruby. "Your weapon is all about strong strikes, right?"

The younger girl nodded. "Yep."

"That makes a lot of sense." Pyrrha agreed with Blake's logic.

Ever since they saw the picture, Weiss had been busy thinking about who Ruby's opponent would be, but after hearing her teammate's take on it, she decided to give her own opinion.

"Personally, I'd look at it from a different angle." She turned to her team leader. "Ruby, you're a good strategist, but as a fighter, you're reckless and chaotic, and sometimes you just don't take the obvious solution, which causes nothing but problems." Then she looked at the others. "I'd counter that with someone more cautious and analytical, as well as coordinated and consistent… someone with an actual battle plan and the ability to adapt as the plan changes."

Ren's response was brief. "I agree."

"Someone who adapts… cautious and analytical…" Set briefly mused over Weiss' words. "I have at least three people in mind, and one of them might be rather… dumb to pick."

Nora looked intrigued. "Sounds like you already have an idea of who it could be."

"Wanna go on, hotshot?" Yang asked him right afterward.

He shook his head. "…For once, I'm actually afraid to answer. Only one of the options would be safe."

"Hey, I think it's stopping now!" Maza immediately got them to look at the picture again.

True to her words, it started to slow down, and once it finally settled on an image… most of the group didn't seem to know what to say.

"…I can safely say I didn't see that one coming." Kale made a simple comment.

Ren was quick to add to it. "This is… enticing."

"Was that one of the three people you were thinking of, boss?" Maza asked with a raised eyebrow.

Set nodded. "…The safe option."

I have to be honest here: after seeing the Volume 1 episodes that focused on Jaune, and then Pyrrha's solo fight against Team CRDL in Volume 2, I couldn't stop thinking about what Glynda's classes would be like, and after talking about it with the guys, all of that thinking eventually materialized into what we got here. It's been a particularly long and busy one, but we really hope you enjoyed reading it. Now that we got that out of the way, time for the names on this chapter:

- Voda Priepast: Voda and Priepast are the Slavic words for "water" and "abyss", in that same order; the intended allusion was to give the idea of a very deep blue.
- VRDN: Pronounced "viridian", just like the color.
- Neela: Neela is an alternate spelling of the Hindi name Nila, which means "sky blue."

Now, Voda in particular is a very special case here. She was actually not our creation, but rather, she was featured with the permission and blessing of the person who conceptualized her just for fun: fellow site member ChimericOni. He and I have been friends for years, and even though we haven't had a whole lot of visits and there are no reviews to speak of, he's been supporting us since even before we started writing. We wanted to extend our appreciation for that, and we sincerely hope that this did a good job of getting that across. Thanks a lot, buddy. This one's for you.

Leaving this on a cliffhanger for now, but we expect to be done with it in good time. Who is Ruby going to face off against? You'll have to wait and see, so for those of you who really are curious, please stay tuned.

This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing off.