Welcome to the next chapter of RWBY: Team DUSK, before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:

The School Life Cliché, Pt. 2

It has been two days since Daniel and Ruby talked on the dormitory's rooftop, with their time as students going at a pleasant pace afterward. Those from Team RWBY, JNPR, and DUSK all enjoyed their assigned classes, but of course, a lot of them were a bit boring or irregular at least the more or less punctual among their teams (meaning Weiss and Pyrrha most of the time). Of course, those aforementioned classes consisted of Professor Port and a hyperactive teacher who seemed to favor coffee a little too much.

In one of the classes of the well-liked teachers so far, there was a wide assortment of plants and flowers that sent a naturally pleasant smell into the students' noses. More so, for the Faunus sitting inside of the class who has a good sense of smell. Standing before them all was an equally pleasant woman dressed in clothes perfect for a botanist with hair tied in the back that reminded all of them of a peach.

Thumbelina Peach, the Plant Science teacher.

"Well, I have been hearing good things from the teachers when talking about the development in classes," Peach started as she paced in front of the classes letting out a pleasant air. "I'm sure that everyone is most excited in their classes that teach combat and things of that nature. But, I want all of you to remember that learning all of the things from lessons from my colleagues such as Professor Port and Oobleck is important as well. Also, mine, which will focus on teaching you to identify the various plants and herbs around you."

Hearing her words, one of the students, a male, not a delinquent, but at the same time not an honors student had raised their hand into the air.

"Yes?"

Peach seeing his hand allowed him to ask the question on his mind.

"Professor Peach, but what would learning about plants teach us? Shouldn't we be focused on combat training?"

The male student questioned.

Though neither of them wanted to bring it up, there was a single thought in a small number of the students, most of them didn't understand the reasons behind learning about plant life.

"Well, could anyone tell me if this plant here edible," Peach directed her attention to a plant placed on her desk with reddish berries. "Come on, don't be shy."

"Yes?"

After hearing her encouragement, the same male student decided to answer her question, but there seems to be some hesitation behind his response.

"I'm sorry, but that is incorrect," Peach replied gently as she crossed her arms into an "X" for dramatic effect. "It is a poisonous plant that causes paralysis after being eaten. Some plants grow fruits on them that appear edible, but are, in fact, harmful after being confused. That is the reason why there are classes such as this in an attempt to teach that so you'll never find yourself in a dangerous situation after seeing a fruit that appears edible. A trained huntsman can tell the difference between plants that are edible or poisonous. So, can anyone here tell me the three kinds of plants?"

Peach questioned as she looked among the crowd of students, one of them raised their hands, which was Alyssa who took a seat beside Sandra.

"Yes, Miss King."

"The three kinds of plants are editable, medicinal, and poisonous."

Alyssa replied.

"Correct, editable plants are, of course, the ones that you typically see in foods. Medicinal plants are used for several medical purposes. And poisonous ones you should avoid eating and avoid in general," Peach stated pointing to one of the fruits on the plant before turning toward her. "But, poisonous plants can have their uses as well based on their overall toxicity and uses. This one, in particular, if used properly can act as a numbing agent. Well, I believe that is all, let's continue with the lesson."

From there, Professor Peach continued with her lesson about various plant life, which a lot of the students all paid attention to. More so, since the explanation involving the poisons plants that most of them might encounter if they're out on the fields as Huntsmen-in-Training or Huntsmen. Sitting a little further back among them were both Daniel and Hunter, both of whom were paying attention to the lesson. Although Daniel took a slight glance at his partner who was more focused on the lesson, there was something else about him.

"…."

Daniel could see that there has been a solemn look on his face whenever he was around the rest of the team in either their dorm room or elsewhere. He turned to an unused page in his notebook, then started discreetly writing down a message in his notebook before sliding it near Hunter. Hunter stopped writing his note after noticing there was a message for him.

{Are you alright, Hunter? You've been acting weird the past two days. Pyrrha mentioned that you dodged a lot of the questions she asked you. Even Sandra thinks you're being a little evasive.}

"Oh, great now I've worried everyone without intending to do so," Hunter thought as he discretely glanced at the notebook, then slid it toward himself without letting Professor Peach notice. "But, what am I supposed to tell him? I don't want to rely on someone else like I did the entire time at Sanctum with Pyrrha."

Hunter was battling with himself, deciding whether or not he could tell Daniel about what has been going on with him for the past two days. His fingers seemed to be quivering uncontrollably, while holding the pencil in-between his fingers, seeming almost heavier to him. Hunter was strongly debating with himself as he continued going over his next response. One side wanted to tell him and the other didn't want to.

"I can't tell Daniel about it…them. There's no way that I can bother him with something like this," Hunter thought as he'd been able to recall the pain originating from the antlers on his head. "No, this is something that I want to solve myself…at least this once."

Hunter resolved himself, but there was some weakness in his heart about the decision as he was scribbling down his response on the paper. Once he was finished giving his response, Hunter slid the notebook back towards him without Professor Peach noticing them. After Daniel received the notebook again, he looked at the response and seemed to let a breath escape through his nose.

{I'm fine. Nothing is going on that I cannot handle. I'll tell Pyrrha the same thing after this period ends.}

That was the response that Hunter had given him and Daniel knew that he wasn't being truthful about the entire thing. But, at the same time, he didn't want to force him to mention something that he wasn't comfortable with at all since it wouldn't make anything better.

"I can't force Hunter into talking about anything that he doesn't want to. I know that I wouldn't be the most open in talking about some things," Daniel said getting into a thinking position about what he should do next taking a light glance towards Hunter who seemed focused on his work. "He's probably thinking that he shouldn't worry others. I can understand that one too, but…seeing him bothered about something doesn't sit well with me."

Daniel thought almost being too distracted to focus on the lesson but soon returns to taking notes about Peach's lessons about plant life.

Once classes ended, the students all started gathering their belongings before all of them started leaving outside of the classroom. All members of Team RWBY, DUSK, and JNPR were preparing to leave the classroom. Before even one of them could exit the classroom, there was a familiar voice reached their ears.

"Uh, could I please bother Mister Norden for a second?"

Professor Peach questioned causing their attention.

Daniel turned around after seeing his name being called wearing a surprised look on his face after hearing that he was the only person being called out.

"Uh, okay."

"What did you do, Daniel?"

Weiss questioned lightly tugging at his shirt sleeve.

"What makes you think that I did anything?"

Daniel shrugged his shoulders after turning to face Weiss who seemed to be looking at him with her usual stare.

"You're history in dealing with teachers."

Weiss bluntly replied crossing her arms giving him her usual Weiss stare.

"Oh, come on, was Daniel that bad with his teachers?"

Ruby questioned as she intervened between Daniel and Weiss.

"Well, those were Atlas teachers and those kinds of teachers are usually the more no-nonsense kinds of teachers," Daniel replied laughing dryly. "Come on, whatever it is, it shouldn't take too long, and besides in the next class, I don't think all of us share the same classes. So, you can all go on ahead."

"Way ahead of you."

Sandra who was already walking outside of the door waved her hands without even caring to look back toward her leader and before the words left his mouth.

"Well, you should all follow her lead. But, in a way that doesn't intentionally step on my self-esteem."

Hearing that joking response from him was enough for the others to walk outside of the classroom with Weiss giving him one more look before joining the others. This left Daniel and Professor Peach as the only people inside the class.

"So, Professor Peach, did I do anything wrong."

"Well, aside from not paying attention in class and passing notes to your partner," Professor Peach replied which caused a nervous laugh to escape his mouth believing that he was being discreet the entire time. "Leaving aside that tiny detail, I'd say that you've been one of my most well-behaved students."

Daniel could hear that Peach was being lighthearted about the situation, not seeming to find anything except her usual generous tone. She smiled toward him as she leaned against her desk touching one of the plants that were on her desk after placing the poisonous one inside of a proper container.

"Look, believe it or not, we were all students like you all and we did the same thing passing notes in the middle of classes and other things that I'd rather not go into detail about. But, now as teachers, our job is to entire that our students learn everything that we can teach them in the next four years," Professor Peach stated as she crossed her arms. "To me, you should take the same amount of care in teaching students as you would both growing and cultivating plants. You give them the right amount of care as seeds and watch as they develop. Ah, talking about growing and cultivating got me thinking about plants."

Daniel stood there as Professor Peach was standing there leaning against her desk reminiscing about her school life and plants, leaving him standing there in a bit of an awkward situation.

"Oh, look at me talking about plants," realizing what she was doing, Peach looked at Daniel as he stared back awkwardly. "Well, I merely wanted to ensure that you were properly paying attention in class the rest of the time. So, do you mind sharing what you wrote to your partner?"

"It wasn't anything like that. I…I had wanted to make sure he was alright since he's been a little distant."

Daniel replied not finding any reason to lie about his reason for writing a message to Hunter in the middle of class.

"I see. Well, as I mentioned about growing plants, it's impossible to rush things and produce proper results in the end. You'll have to take things slow and wait for him to feel comfortable enough to share his troubles. But, if you do believe that he's in trouble, then as a partner and leader, be there for him."

Hearing Professor Peach tell that to him caused Daniel to become far more resolved in his desire to help Hunter in whatever he was going through.

"Thanks for talking to me about this Professor Peach."

Daniel thanked her causing Peach to wave her hand wearing a gentle smile on her face.

"No need to thank me. I'm merely doing my job as an instructor."

She replied causing Daniel to leave the classroom after giving the go-ahead to proceed to go to his next class.

After walking down the halls of Beacon Academy as the other students were walking to their classes, but he then found someone he wasn't expecting. Standing there leaning silently against the wall was Blake who seemed to be waiting there for around the same time he's been in there talking to Professor Peach.

"Blake? What're you standing out here waiting for?"

Daniel questioned raising a brow as he was confused to see Blake waiting there for him.

After hearing her name being called by Daniel, Blake removed herself from the wall.

"I was waiting for you."

"How come? I did say that you could all go to your classes."

"Well, we do share the same class, remember?"

"Right."

Daniel recalls that most of their team didn't share some class periods and they were alone most of the time or with someone else from their little clique. This was among one of those times between Daniel and Blake who shared this class.

"I know, but you didn't need to wait for me."

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about something either way. And I thought that this would make it easier since we'd be able to talk before going to our next class."

"Alright," Daniel agreed as he and Blake started walking off toward their next class. "I almost thought that if it was going to be anyone, then it'd be Weiss waiting to grill me about what I did."

"Well, she did mention talking to you about that at some point."

"I spoke too soon. I'll have to endure questioning from Weiss."

Daniel laughed wondering what Weiss was going to be talking to him about, causing Blake to smile slightly then a more concerned look formed on her face.

"So, is everything alright with Hunter?"

Blake questioned as both of them started wondering.

"Well, Hunter said he was alright in the message that I gave him during class," he replied to Blake who didn't believe that was the case. "But, much like the excuse of either falling down the stairs or running into a door, I'm not buying it at all. All I know is that he's been acting weird the past two days and has been avoiding giving either of us…even Pyrrha an answer aside from the usual, 'I'm fine. Don't be worried'. If I had to take a guess, I think someone is picking on him because he's a Faunus."

Blake couldn't disagree with his reasoning as it wouldn't be odd for humans to pick on the Faunus because of their animal traits and treat them as if they weren't at all like normal living beings. In the past, some people treated them as if they were slaves and although the situation changed to where it wasn't like the past, it wasn't good for most Faunus.

"You should know this, but Faunus have become used to discrimination from almost all other humans because of their animal traits. Most of them favor living in a rather reclusive lifestyle because whenever around humans even if people they'd call their friends," Blake replied holding onto her arm as she looked toward the ground rather than in front of her. "It might even be worse for Hunter since he's unable to speak up for himself. Since he hasn't mentioned it to even Pyrrha, then he might want to handle whatever is bothering him alone."

Daniel could hear that Blake was speaking more actively than she ever had before a lot like when she spoke about the Faunus during their first meeting. But, he didn't feel as if it was the right time to ask whether or not she was a Faunus.

"I know all that, but I don't want Hunter to feel as if he has to get through anything that makes him feel this reclusive, because he happens to be a Faunus. I know that Hunter doesn't have the kind of mindset, but it was because everyone continued to push around Faunus causing them to feel alienated without someone to rely on that led the White Fang turning from a peace-keeping group into a militant one," Daniel spoke out loud without thinking but there was some more emotion behind them. His comment though did cause Blake to visibly flinch a little bit to the point of stopping in the middle of the hall. "Not, that I want Hunter to always rely on…. Huh, are you alright, Blake?"

Daniel stopped after noticing that Blake stopped for a moment and seemed almost distant from whatever he said while going on in their conversation.

"Blake?"

"…."

He couldn't tell whether or not she heard him, but Blake remained in the very same position and seemed almost stuck in a daze. Feeling concerned, Daniel approached Blake who didn't even appear to register him walking in her direction despite being visible. He could see that she looked the most nervous that she has ever been so far and it made him even more worried about her.

"Blake."

Daniel called her name once again while placing his hand on her shoulder, causing Blake to flinch slightly before staring at him as she did when they first met. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she seemed to have been thinking about something serious, but he couldn't tell the reason why she was looking at him like that.

"Are you alright? You kinda zoned out on me for a second."

"Y-Yea, I'm fine. It's just hearing what you said got me thinking about something…someone from my past," Blake replied as a more distant gaze could be seen in her eyes before shaking it off. "Well, shouldn't we be getting off to class?"

"Sure."

Daniel couldn't give another response aside from that considering Blake was acting odd at the moment because of whatever he said. Both of them were stuck in almost awkward silence the entire walking down the hall time with Blake seemingly not wanting to talk at all after their initial conversation.

"I didn't up step on a landmine, did I," Daniel thought as he scratched the back of his head. "Did she want to talk about just Hunter? If not, what was the thing she wanted to talk about?"

As Daniel was wondering about that, both reached their next class, Stealth and Security taught a woman named Ann Greene. Having entered the classroom and listening to the lesson, Blake appeared to have become focused enough to where she returned to her more normal demeanor. But, Daniel, on the other hand, was focused on the class, however, he was also focused on Hunter who was being more distant.

"I need to figure out how I'm going to help him,"

Daniel has could think of nothing else aside from ways to assist Hunter in whatever was bothering whether it was something small or if someone was bullying him because he was a Faunus.

Once all their classes ended, all the members of Team DUSK met inside of their room, which was fully completed, with all their belongings and room placed in the spots all of them wanted. Along the walls some posters depicted bands from both Vacuo, the Desert Eagles (a more normal rock) and Vale named The Achieve Men; several photos depicting nature from Vale and Atlas were posted around their desks. On the bookshelf underneath the window were some books.

Their bed was remodeled into bunk beds with stairs added to them; posted beside Sandra's bottom bunk was a red and black electric guitar, in addition to a tent meant to maintain her privacy.

All the members of Team DUSK gathered inside of the dorm room three of their members sat in the bed while the team leader remains standing pacing back and forth. The team members watched as their leader walked around their finished room wondering what he was thinking about.

"So, what is he doing?"

"I believe he's pacing."

Sandra questioned with Alyssa replying with the slightest hint of sarcasm that her partner would display, causing narrowed eyes to be directed toward her. Alyssa who was used to her somewhat constant mean streak simply let a laugh escape from her mouth. Hunter with his usual notepad, which he used to communicate with them rested on his lap unable to write up a single response.

"This must have something to do with me."

Hunter surmised, which was the result of his nervousness as his fingers seemed to tap on the cover of the pad in a rhythmic fashion.

"No, this has something to do with me. I haven't been making many attempts at communicating with all of them the past two days, it wouldn't be odd that everyone would start thinking something was weird," he started thinking in his head as his mind started roaring onto different topics. "I-Is Daniel going to say that I'm not being a good teammate or partner? N-No, he wouldn't say anything like that, right? N-No, Daniel isn't the kind of person to say anything like that to anyone of his friends…we are friends, right? I mean, could he even be able to rely on a…Faunus."

As Hunter's thoughts were becoming more and more depressing, which could be displayed on his face, if either Alyssa or Sandra could see it, then it would be too obvious to deny. Daniel paced around a couple of more times before stopping in the middle of the room and turning to face his teammates.

"Well, members of Team DUSK, I believe that there has been a certain issue that has occurred among our group so far," Daniel started off causing Hunter to become a little shaken after hearing those words. "So, I believe that in an attempt to bring the team together. Now, the first step was organizing our room together, which was I think was a complete success, right?"

"I agree. I believe that we set everything up in a way that we equally like," Alyssa said after taking another look at the room. "I didn't think that my partner would be into playing the guitar."

"Shut up," Sandra replied resting her head on her head. "I didn't have anything better to do at Oscuro aside from training. So, learning to play on the guitar was better than finding something to do in the sand."

"Didn't you have any friends?"

"…."

Sandra instead of giving a vocal response, instead looks at Alyssa armed crossed as if to reply, 'Do I look like the kind of person who'd want friends?'

"Right. I almost forgot who I was talking to."

In response to that other sarcastic response, Sandra rolled her eyes.

"Well, in an attempt to bring our team together. I believe there's only one thing I can think of."

Daniel started as a single negative response entered his mind.

"I-Is he going to kick me off the team? N-No, Daniel definitely wouldn't do something like that."

"I believe, we should," Daniel stopped for a second as Hunter felt his heart would skip a beat cause of the pause that seemed ominous at least to him. "Head off to Vale and hand out as an official team."

All the members of Team DUSK seemed surprised about the suddenness of that statement from their leader.

"Why the sudden departure?"

"Come on, we've been here for two days and we haven't taken an actual trip into Vale aside from going to collect the extra materials for the bunk beds. So, wouldn't it be a good idea to head off together as a team and have fun together as an actual team?"

After hearing his suggestion, neither of them even Sandra couldn't find a single response against that idea since all they've done so far was go to class and study the material. Aside from the combat training from Glynda, their combat instructor there hasn't been much for them to do or even relax.

"If going out and having some actual fun like normal teenagers doesn't help. I'll be paying for the meal."

Daniel suggested catching their attention.

"Not that I love being baited into it, but I have to admit that going to Vale for some…fun might be good."

Sandra replied much to their surprise since it wouldn't be odd for her to reject the suggestion.

"Well, that's an honest surprise. But, I hope that you don't end up regretting that offer," Alyssa pointed out jokingly before turning toward Hunter. "Do you want to go too, Hunter?"

Hearing Alyssa's question, Hunter had thought about the entire thing as he opened up his notepad, then started writing his response.

'That sounds good. Let's head out as soon as possible.'

Hunter showed them all his responses while giving them all a more genuine smile.

All of them could see that Hunter was looking forward to the outing with his teammates.

"Alright, then we should get prepared."

Alyssa suggested as she walked over to their team's shared closet, which was divided into four sections of their clothes and Sandra joined in and started showing for whatever they were going to wear.

After showing what they were going to wear, both Alyssa and Sandra retreated into the bathroom to get dressed in their regular clothes. Meanwhile, Daniel and Hunter remained inside of the main room getting dressed in their normal clothes with their backs facing one another as Hunter seemed to want to keep himself more hidden as he stood in a place where Daniel couldn't see him more so his neck.

"Look, Hunter, I know that this question might be a little irritating," Daniel said as he finished putting on his clothes aside from his shirt as Hunter was almost finished fixing the scarf around his neck and checked it multiple times to see if it wouldn't come off. "But, are you sure there isn't anything going on with you?"

"…."

Hunter thought about the words and what kind of response he should give him, then turned around to face Daniel and was shocked about what he saw.

"Look, I know you might feel as if I won't be able to stand whatever problems you're going through because I'm a Human, not a Faunus. But, trust me, if there's anything that you need help you can rely on me."

Daniel replied turning around to face Hunter who noticed several healed scars on his upper body, which would be covered by his shirt. Almost all of them seemed to have faded from time, being unnotable up close. But, the more prominent one was the X-shaped one on his chest, which seemed almost from different angles.

"What," it took him a while to realize that Hunter was focused on his scars as he put his shirt on. "Right, from time to time I forget about the scars until I see them or someone mentions scars."

"Our aura is supposed to heal injuries, but I guess that these scars meant his injuries were too deep to fully heal."

A thought like that entered Hunter's head as he placed his hand on his neck before picking up his notepad then started writing. Almost everyone knew that their auras could heal injuries, but if the wound was too deep or their aura wasn't strong enough to heal all of it, then it wouldn't be odd for scars to form. The far most notable example of that would be Weiss' scar.

'If you don't mind. When did you get those scars?'

Hunter showed him his question.

"Well, it was four years ago and I had to be in the hospital for four months afterward," Daniel replied, but not in his usual nonchalant manner instead of a more solemn one. "It wasn't from a fight with another student or accident from training…not that I'm going into much detail since this is supposed to be a fun outing for the entire team. It's around the same time that I decided to leave Atlas. Weiss knows about what happened, but she hasn't seen the scars that happened as a result."

Hunter noted that despite his attempts at maintaining his nonchalant look, his expression did seem a little neutral after mentioning that.

"That's enough of reminiscing about depressing pasts," Daniel said as he smirked heading off toward Hunter in a natural jovial fashion wrapping his arm around his shoulder. "Why don't we enjoy this time as Team DUSK?"

"…."

Hearing that from Daniel caused Hunter's mood to improve.

"You are a good person…like Pyrrha."

Hunter smiled more naturally as both of them heard the bathroom door opening.

"And we're ready."

Alyssa declared walking outside of the bathroom with Sandra dressed in their normal clothes, both of which were easier for them to move around in.

"Well, let's go. I hope you aren't lying about paying for the meal afterward."

Sandra pointed out as she already started heading off for the door leading outside of their dorm room.

"Alright, let's head out to Vale."

Daniel declared with renewed cheerful delight as he, Hunter, and Alyssa followed behind him.

After making their decision to travel out into Vale, the members of Team DUSK used the normal transport station, which was meant for students to move back and forth to Vale. Of course, there was a schedule meant for all the students who would venture to Vale and return to Beacon at the most appropriate times.

"Hah, it feels great being outside of Beacon for at least some time."

Alyssa said stretching out her arms as she walked down the streets of Vale together with her teammates who all followed behind her.

"So, if there any place that the locals can recommend?"

Sandra questioned as she looked around the location that all of them were in noticing both the various buildings and stores that all of them can enter.

"Well, since I found out my partner was interested in music. I believe that there's a place that plays and sells a lot of good music," Alyssa stated before pointing out the number of stores of that nature in the area. "There was one time where I, Yang, and some of our friends back at Signal partied a little to celebrate our graduation."

"I didn't take the goody-goody as a party girl."

"Well, I wasn't as wild as Yang could be sometimes, but we did have some fun together as a group. But, there's a lot of times where some guys tried flirting with us and one of them took it a little too far almost hurting one of our friends. Then, Yang, of course, punched the guys, though, I did join in too."

Alyssa replied laughing a little bit as she talked more and more about her past and time with Yang.

"Yea, because of our semblance our friends used to call us the Power Duo."

"That's something that we didn't talk about much," Daniel said slamming his first on top of his palm. "Neither of us talked about what our semblances were. All of you know that my semblance allows me to summon runes for several purposes and Sandra's semblance allows her to phase through physical objects."

"Of course, you'd figure that out. But, neither Alyssa nor Hunter did mention what theirs could do."

Sandra said as she crossed her arms glancing at the mentioned people.

"Mine isn't all that unique if you compared it to Daniel's Runes, but it tends to appear the most in my family," Alyssa explained. "Ours is called Pendragon, which lets me boost my physical abilities. It was actually because mine and Yang's semblances that we managed to befriend one another, which was during an intense sparring session. We're a good match and a bad match with one another based on the situation."

Alyssa shrugged her shoulders laughing lightly recalling the first time she met Yang during a sparring session.

Back then, both Alyssa and Yang met one another after being assigned as sparring partners by their instructor at the time. Alyssa laughed after recalling the high confidence she had back then believing that she could defeat her opponent at the time. But, that confidence was rocked after realizing that all of her attacks merely made Yang far stronger with every blow and got knocked down a little.

"My confidence took a serious blow…after also taking that first serious blow from Yang. But, despite that, we still became close friends."

"Well, that was some story. It was funny hearing my goody-goody partner wasn't so goody-goody."

Sandra replied showing one of her rare genuine smiles before Hunter seemed to be looking around.

"So, Hunter what can you do?"

Daniel asked before noticing Hunter stop in front of a discarded metal bottle cap from a glass bottle, which likely came from a beer bottle.

"…."

Hunter looked around before pointing at something that caught their attention.

"…a trashcan?"

Alyssa questioned noticing that the trashcan was at least three if not six buildings from their current location.

The three stopped then noticed Hunter facing forward without staring at the trashcan even inside of his peripheral vision. All of them waited as the bottle cap seemed to shine with a green light as Hunter flicked it using his fingers launching it forward at high speeds forward. Neither of them said a single word and merely watched as the bottle cap sailed forward maintaining the same path.

Hunter appeared to do a single motion of his fingers, as the bottle cap seemed to make a sudden turn spinning in another direction and altered its path towards the trashcan after making a sharp turn. Once it hit the trashcan, the bottle cap caused pushed it forward causing the trashcan to tilt around threatening to fall before stopping.

"I still can't control the force behind it and almost caused it to fall over."

"That was awesome!"

Daniel said after noticing the feat that Hunter showed all of them.

"So, Hunter can turn anything like a bottle cap into a projectile and even control where it goes."

Hunter nodded his head in response to hearing Alyssa's explanation smiling.

"Well, it seems that there are a lot of things that we can do with our semblances if we work together," Daniel said in a tone filled with confidence. "After this, we could hold a team training session with one another."

"Though, it doesn't sound like something that I'd want to be a part of. But, I'm more or less interested in whatever weird idea you come up with."

Sandra stated as she started walking forward, but neither of them couldn't help feeling as if she was becoming a lot more open with them.

As all four of them continued walking forward talking among themselves, there was another group of students in front of them. But, it wasn't a group that either of them was on particularly good terms with. Standing in front of the members of Team DUSK were the members of Team CRDL who were all talking among themselves laughing in a too cliché manner for bullies.

"Right, so all I did was pull the freak's horns, then he started crying and ran away."

Cardin declared mentioning horns.

"Hahahaha, that was a riot, Cardin."

The member with light green hair was done into a mohawk and shaved head.

"What a freak."

The member with light brown hair whose eyes seemed almost closed.

"Oh, look, I'm a Faunus with dumb horns."

The member with long dark blue hair combed in the back holding out his fingers in front of his forehead almost as if they were meant to be horns in a zany fashion.

Although Daniel and others cared at all, they knew their names were Russel, Dove, and Sky (Sandra hating the fact that there was someone like that who shares her last name) respectively who all seemed to stop after noticing them.

"Well, look, it's the members of Team DORK."

Cardin called out after noticing them.

"Really? Team DORK? Is that's the best that you could come up with?"

Daniel countered unamused about the comment.

"Oh, and what would the pampered rich kid from Atlas have said?"

"Well, I don't know Mr. Walking Cliché who looks like a bully from every high school television ever."

Daniel replied with great snark behind every single word causing Cardin to narrow his eyes toward everyone.

"So, does everyone from Atlas have that high and mighty tone?"

"Right, coming from the team who seems to pick on the people unable to defend themselves and not the people who can fight back."

Daniel countered again causing all Team CRDL to narrow their eyes towards them in a more standoffish fashion, with Daniel, Sandra, and Alyssa seeming to be prepared for a fight. Hunter was the only one who seemed uncomfortable about the situation as he avoided the gaze of the other team. It was then that a police car passed by at around the same time, causing their stance to become lighter not wanting to fight in front of officers who would detain them and inform Beacon about it.

"You got lucky."

"Back at you."

Daniel replied pointing at Cardin wearing his trademark confident smirk.

"Tch."

Cardin clicked his tongue as he and his teammates started walking past Team DUSK with the team leader all but staring at Hunter with the same hostile look. This caused Hunter to become more and more discouraged as it got more intense, which didn't go unnoticed by his teammates.

"I'll be seeing you all and the Horned Mute in class."

Cardin directed one more taunt at them but felt more aimed at Hunter.

"If I find out you're picking on Hunter. I'll personally introduce you to the ground."

Daniel threatened, which Cardin didn't even register instead walking off cockily with the rest of his team.

"I don't like those guys."

"Looks like that's something we can agree on."

Sandra added on after Alyssa rolled her eyes as she turned forward not wanting to even take another look at the departing members of Team CRDL.

"Well, let's not let this little distraction ruin our fun. Let me show you all the places where we can all have fun."

"Well, why don't we follow Alyssa's lead. And I can suggest the place that I ate at for the first time I came to Vale."

"Oh, what place was it?"

"It was somewhere around here," Daniel replied pointing in the direction where he ate after arriving in Vale for the first time. "That place had several good selections."

"I think I know the place you're talking about and it's one of my favorites."

Both Alyssa and Daniel started talking among themselves about the restaurant and other locations.

"…."

Sandra turned after noticing that Hunter was facing away from them being more closed off from them.

"You know if you have some problem with them, then you could tell us," Sandra said not turning to Hunter. "There was a reason that you decided to enroll in Beacon or whatever. If that's the case, then you shouldn't let yourself be picked on by a group with no purpose other than to take up space."

"Is Sandra trying to be considerate? Well, I think the person she doesn't get along with most of the time is Daniel, but I didn't think that she'd…."

Hunter started thinking before noticing Sandra pointing at him.

"And don't think that this is me attempting to be nice or considerate. I simply hate people who think that they can lord over people because they're stronger than them."

Sandra pointed out, but Hunter could see that she was still flustered about mentioning her previous comment and more flustered that she went to the trouble of taking those words to him.

Hunter blinked several times as Sandra started lowering her finger before breaking out into an honest and sweet smile, which Sandra couldn't deny wasn't cute.

"Whatever, if our team leader and partner if finished flirting with one another, then can we head off."

Sandra randomly started walking ahead of them in an attempt to avoid the subject.

"We weren't flirting with each other," Alyssa pointed out coolly. "Besides, Yang already claimed that for herself."

"Is he even the first person she's done that to?"

"Don't make it sound bad. Yang does that to catch most guys off guard since they'd always fall for whatever she tells them, then falls into an immediate right hook," Alyssa replied. "But, Daniel's the first person she's done that to for this long. Who knows, she could have taken a liking to him."

Daniel could instantly tell that Alyssa was now attempting to tease him about his and Yang's interaction.

"Well, she can do whatever she wants. It's not like her flirting is causing any trouble."

"Oh, does that mean Daniel doesn't find Yang Xiao Long attractive?"

Alyssa appeared to be pushing him more into a question, but hearing those words did cause him to recall the first time that the two of them met and the sensation of her breasts against his arm and seeing her face up close. He could feel the heat rushing up to his cheeks for the first time, but quickly recovered.

"I refuse to answer that question."

Daniel replied causing both Alyssa and Sandra to gain a notable smirk on their face.

"Did our leader avoid the question?"

"I never thought I'd see the time where Mr. Bumper didn't give an honest and not so nonchalant answer?"

"This might be something that I can tell Yang later."

"I don't know whether to feel pride or shame seeing my team members working together, instead to pick on their team leader," Daniel pointed out sound disheartened before turning to see Hunter following behind them. "Come on, Hunter, you don't want to be left out, right? Besides, I need someone on my side."

Hunter smiled at that response, then reached into his pocket pulling out a small notepad then started writing in it using a pen. All of them stopped to see what Hunter was writing who then turned it toward them.

'I might end up telling Weiss. He's been flirting with Yang.'

Hunter showed them before laughing to giving a silent chuckle, while Alyssa and Sandra seemed to laugh too.

"Hahahaha, that's a good one!"

Sandra laughed out loud as she pointed at the message.

"Gah!"

Daniel placed his hand on his heart feeling as if the entire team turn on him.

"Y-You all even turned my partner against me. I never thought that I would go through this kind of betrayal, which could finally break my heart."

Daniel dramatically said feeling himself losing more and more of his usual vigor as time passed.

"You're still our leader."

"Still haven't acknowledged you as team leader, yet."

"…."

All three of his teammates passed him up as Daniel was still standing there holding onto his chest before smiling at his departing team members.

"Well, I guess my team building idea went off without a hitch," Daniel said before sighing lightly. "But, it did hit me deeply after seeing them ganging up on me like that. I hope they're not serious about telling Weiss or Yang since that could end up going bad."

"Don't chicken out of paying for the meal Mr. Team Leader!"

Sandra called out after the three of them stopped seemingly waiting for their leader.

"Hah, a Norden doesn't go back on their word," Daniel declared with renewed vigor. "Well, so far I love being a team leader. I just don't want anything to ruin it."

After saying those last words, Daniel started heading back to catch up to his entire time. For the rest of the time, the entire members of Team DUSK went to all of the places that Alyssa did suggest for them, including the music store that she did talk to Sandra about. And near the end, Daniel did as promised and treated them to a free meal at the place Alyssa previously talked about. Finally, Team DUSK arrived at the port where the airships could return them to Beacon Academy.

A/N: Well, this is the end of the next chapter of RWBY – Team DUSK, this focused more on the members of Team DUSK interacting with one another and realizing some changes in one of their teammates. There were also some scars that Daniel saw on Hunter and some hidden words that he said moments before he left to follow his teammates. I know this might all seem slow pace, but there are several weeks between both the tenth and eleventh episodes so there's a lot of things that can be added between that time frame and the few months until the Vytal Festival so there's a lot that can be done here and there.

Also, I would love to hear everyone's opinions about the chapters in all the reviews.