Beacon Classroom/Arena

The classroom was full of cheers and chants as the two partners battle continued.

Within the arena, a wild clash of White versus Red was happening and each one was doing its best to overtake the other.

Slipping under another swing of an airborne Crescent Rose, Weiss continually keeps herself from staying stationary. Hard to do when your opponent is literally vanishing into a puff of red every few seconds. After casting another white, speed-enhancing glyph, she was finally able to catch up to her opponent in certain aspects. That being said, the rose petal reaper wasn't at all finished yet, she easily caught her precious weapon and with a big grin plastered on her face, she lunged back into the fray.

She quickly avoided a speedy four-stab combo from Myrtenaster, followed up with two side to side swipes at her neck and chest. Ruby had to hand it to the the snow white huntress to be, her precision was remarkable and anyone else would definitely be having a harder time avoiding them.

A another brief exchange was made between them, Ruby was making good on her previous thoughts and stopped letting Weiss have the hope of touching her overtime. Shifting a phasing in and out of her opponent's effective range of attack, greatly frustrating the young Schnee in the process.

In response to her partner's intangibility, Weiss swiftly scrolled Myrtenaster's cartridges to a light blue, Ice Dust, she formed a similarly colored glyph at her feet. A blast of ice cold wind and frost shards spread from her position, creating a huge area of effect attack around her. Fortunately, the sudden tornado blizzard had successfully kept Ruby from continuing her barrage but she remained mostly unaffected from the change of pace.

All she had to do was bide her time until the storm faded and Weiss was fully aware of this. She had been caught up more than once so far simply because of her own misjudgments in speed usage, not anymore however.

She was going to win, evolved Semblance or not.

Soon enough, the winds began to settle and as they dissipated into nothing, so did Ruby.

The young Schnee heiress was not enjoying the moment whatsoever, quickly coming to the realization that opponent had figured out her patterns. She decided to stay as mobile as possible and hurriedly backed away from her current spot.

From a safe distance away, Ruby smiled confidently as she watched her opponent's retreat from her ethereal cloud formation. She made a point to assess her remaining Aura reserves and she was confident that she could handle her next set of ideas for the remainder of the match if she wanted.

"It's party time!~"

The little Rose could feel Scarlets joy and bubbly excitement spilling out of her mind and into her very being. She couldn't help but be absolutely giddy at the prospect of letting loose a little.

With that thought in mind, her petals abruptly shifted around her.

Before Weiss could cast another glyph, the spiraling red cloud dispersed. On the opposite side of the arena stood Ruby, having reappeared in her trademark black and red, gothic lolita and combat skirt. Now however, in the little reapers hands was one long and deeply red, ethereal scythe, its edges still partially flaking into petals. She leaned forward a bit as if to dash forward and completely disappeared in a red haze.

With her speed glyph still active, She raised Myrtenaster in a defensive position but it didn't matter as Ruby was already behind her and finishing a doubled down swing at Weiss's back. The attack was greatly successful as she had viciously chipped away a fair portion of her Aura. Panicked and on the defensive, she turned as she slide away, aiming her blade directly at Ruby to fire off a quick salvo of fire via a small, red, glyph.

From her position, a flurry of fireballs came screeching into Ruby's line of sight. The little reaper never tried to avoid the incoming assault, smiling the entire time as the heat grew closer.

Upon impact, the large plume of flames took up a massive portion of the arena itself, a smirk of satisfaction was found on Weiss's face as she assumed that her win was assured.

Suddenly, the click of a reloaded gun was heard directly behind her.

'Huh?'

That was the only response she could let out before the deafening sound of gunfire filled the arena. A single bullet was sent straight into the Ice queens chest, another chunk of her aura was taken. Around forty-five percent was left in her tank according to the overhead screen, she'd lost almost twenty percent.

At this point, Weiss realized that she was caught up in Ruby's rhythm. She, like many others in the crowd didn't at all expect Ruby to be so calculating and strategic. Many assuming that her playful personality kept her away from the more complex aspects of combat that many of her peers displayed.

She didn't like the idea that Ruby was holding back this entire time, but it wasn't like she wasn't always fast.

Sadly, Ruby wasn't going to give her any time to get her bearings straight, blinking away only to be seen again at Weiss's back.

Snow Angel ducked and slid away from the a few red storms of swings and slashes but caught a couple of nicks for the pleasure as she tried to counter attack with a few stabs and ripostes of her own. Didn't do much good for her, as she was being avoided and evaded so simply.

It was as if Ruby was completely disregarding her prowess as she smiled and gracefully vanished around her.

'It's got to be Scarlet making the plans here, no way Ruby's even smart enough think this far ahea-!?"

Another gunshot wrung out, this time however she erected a glyph shield to repel the oncoming projectile, she watched as it slammed into her shield anti-climactically.

'Was that it then, Ruby?' She mentally mused with a smirk before feeling a slight breeze on her exposed legs.

In hindsight, looking down proved to be her ultimate mistake as she was now completely unaware of what dangers loomed above.

Floating directly above her head like the avatar of death itself, Ruby sat quietly as her petals fluttered silently around her. Positioned on her fully unsheathed Crescent Rose with her legs crossed gave her the visage of a witch on her broom, her arms raised high and her ethereal scythe poised and ready for vertical chop of menacing proportions.

Weiss had absolutely no clue just how screwed she was.

With blinding speed, the trap was sprung with Ruby's attack now in full effect. Her swing was wide, purposefully as she had no intention of even cutting her opponent at all. She merely hooked Weiss's chin and throat by the inner curve of her scythe and began to descend into a falling twirl, scooping Weiss into the air and into the twirl as well.

The ice queen was completely unable to stop herself from being pulled by her neck into the air, everything was happening far too quickly for her to even try to conceive a plan.

Using the momentum gained from her sudden spinning drop, Ruby used all of her strength to pull Weiss into the loop over and her shoulder and across the stage. Her body soared above the arena floor, completely shocking the audience as she flew. Sadly, Weiss slammed into the floor outside of the ring quite gracelessly however, though she couldn't possibly be blamed for that when you consider just how it happened.

Just as quickly as she hit the floor, she shot upright and stood. Swaying and stumbling unsteadily as she glanced around with a look of pure confusion and dumbfounded-ness.

"W-wha jus...huh..?"

Weiss fell back to the floor not long after that. Following that was a rousing round of applause from the other students.

Once again, Glynda had to re-adjust her glasses at the very surprising outcome of the match. "W-well done Miss Rose, you are the victor. You're marked improvement has not gone unnoticed either, you did very well. Could you please escort Miss Schnee to the nurses office?"

Scratching her head, a bit embarrassed after realizing how intense she'd been. "Yes ma'am!~," the duo were quickly on their way out of the arena and into the locker rooms after that.

"Ok class, now who can tell me where Miss Schnee had went wrong...?"

A hand was raised from the very back row, connected to a lady who clearly wasn't having any problems in the looks department. Jet black, wavy hair down past her shoulders and piercing fiery eyes gave the girl an air of risqué.

"Yes ma'am, she should've continued with her larger scale attacks and gave Ruby no room to operate. The blizzard was good but she never should have let up from there." She finished her deduction and sat back down in one fluid-like motion, her darker skinned comrade eyeing her every move.

"Correct Miss.. er...?"

"Fall, Ma'am." The exchange student corrected with a soft looking smile.

"Ahem.. yes of course Miss Fall. Now as you all could see, Miss Rose successfully applied tremendous pressure to her opponent and managed to not only take away Miss Schnee's options but secure a win with a decent amount of Aura to spare."

Most of the classroom was alive with the sounds of note taking and small murmurs of how amazing the last fight was. The other half of team RWBY and their sister team were far more shocked than the rest.

"Dang, has Ruby been holding back or what!? I mean, she was awesome and fast! I blinked and she was across the room and back again! Ren, do you think we can be that fast too???"

"I doubt it, Nora..."

The hammer wielding bundle of jokes, Nora, couldn't help but let loose her insane ideas and thoughts on the fight as well. Sitting beside her, Pyrrha was also alight with excitement, all parties involved could see that she was itching to get the ring and duke it out with Ruby. Her obvious desire for a good fight was starting to rear its ugly head.

"H-hey Pyr, your eyes are getting glossy and you're starting to drool...," Jaune commented while scrambling through his uniform pockets for a tissue.

The redhead Champion nearly turned tomato red as she realized how she looked to the outside viewers.

Yang hadn't stopped laughing since Weiss was carried out, her howling and cackling revamping after looking at Pyrrha's drooling face. She just couldn't help herself then and she couldn't wait to see Weiss later today. Oh, she was gonna milk this cow forever and ever.

Blake simply shook her head in disbelief but solemn acceptance. Not to say that she wasn't impressed with her leader's improvements, but she definitely wasn't about to add her two cents to the mix this time.

"Ok class is dismissed! I want all of you to write a four-page essay on close quarters combat and how you can use it to your advantage by Friday morning!"

Everyone groaned at that...

The class was dismissed not long after that, to the joy of the more beaten and bruised of the bunch. Once the last of the students flocked out of her arena, she made sure to send a copy of what she witnessed directly to the Headmaster's office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FB~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ozpin's Office

Once again, the old Headmaster was intrigued to no end, and with good reason! Ruby Rose has managed to surprise him yet again, her Semblance was truly turning out to be quite the heavy-hitter.

He perused through the footage with a full cup of coffee in hand, paying close attention to key moments of interest that stood out to him. Differences in her movements, fighting style, and even mannerisms at times indicates that something has happened, or at the very least... something changed. He recalled the last odd conversation he'd struck with the young Rose and was still just as interested in what she'd would come up with as before.

His hunch from the very beginning had turned out to be true, she was without a doubt, a young prodigy.

Both Miss Rose and Miss Nikos were astonishingly talented in their own areas, but he hadn't expected Miss Rose to improve so drastically in such a short amount of time as well.

'Maybe... no, no... that would be far too much of a burden on the girl.'

The wise old man constantly was in the grips of his own inner turmoil, the decisions that he'd made and would soon have to make were weighing heavily on him. As much as he was impressed with Ruby's newfound skill, Pyrrha was still obvious choice based on repeated instances of excellence and overall maturity. The prodigy being two years behind in age did not bode well for her mindset mixing with the powers of a Maiden.

However, it is more than likely that Miss Rose carries the same gifts as those with her eyes usually do, and that could be molded into a weapon just as powerful, if not more so.

'Miss Nikos is the right choice... but with your eyes to match her, I believe the two of you could be the ace in the hole that we desperately need...'

He couldn't get comfortable or hopeful yet however, they still needed to be brought to speed if he even deemed it necessary. Children should be allowed to be children after all, burdening them with knowledge of this caliber wouldn't be fair... and yet, this is an academy that produces warriors.

They need to be ready.

Just then, the doors to his office elevator were opened, and Glynda Goodwitch strolled in like a woman on fire. "I'm sure that you've seen the footage by now, so may I proceed with my plans for the two of them?"

The Headmaster's eyes locked with his second in commands, he knew that she would ask him this. She'd been insisting on putting the two girls into an... extracurricular program of Ann, Peter and Glynda's making. She intends to take Miss Rose and Nikos under her wing and personally oversee their development, three hours of intense Semblance work and battle tactics for three nights a week.

To be clear, this program is nothing new to Beacon's Curriculum for our graduates and personally selected students, the one's that shine just a bit brighter than most. A handful of the brightest students in the most aspects were taken from each year, making a classroom of no more than five or six.

From 9pm to 12pm, a specialized outdoor class is mobilized in the heart of the Emerald Forest. There, the students would be given a crash course on a wide range of military tactics, strategies and niche close quarters combat styles with advanced Semblance training workshops and Dust work. All of which is taking place in dangerous Grimm territory were even the teachers involved must be on their guard during the three-hour class period.

Ozpin rubbed his forehead as he sipped his coffee, trying to fight the incoming headache that was sure to come regardless.

"...Glynda. I know that time is of the essence here, but don't you think you're doing a bit much at the moment?"

"No, I do not. The Vytal Festival is just around the corner and we've already got a full plate of catastrophe-level problems. Things are ramping up and I know that you can see it. Amber is down, we NEED a new Maiden, and we certainly need an active Silver-eyed Warrior on the field."

He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't finished by a long shot.

"We've still got to find out who even did that to her in the first place, not to mention that Roman Torchwick is stealing ludicrous amounts of Dust right under our noses. We need to prepare more Huntsmen and Huntresses as soon as we can."

She was being completely upfront about her desire to train the girls, that was incredibly unnerving to him.

He knew how... rigorous Glynda could and probably would be, he'd heard the stories from the previous graduates of her personal tutoring. Hell on Remnant, he remembered one of them saying.

With that in mind, he sighed heavily before trying to respond.

"Glynda... if I agree to this... can you guarantee their success...?" He wants to believe that the young ladies will be strong enough to overcome.

With a small smirk and mysterious gleam from her glasses she spoke.

"Without a doubt. I'd bet my career on it."

"Don't speak to soon because it may come to that... but with that being said, you have my support to pick your students." Without waiting another second, she pivoted around to face the elevator and left in little bit of a haste.

'Oh dear... she's eager too...'

He took another big swig out of his coffee mug, the next few months were going to be quite the spectacle. He was more than positive that he would have to contact Qrow and Taiyang and seek their approval for Miss Rose. Doting parents those two can be, even when one is her often drunken uncle.

He sighed again, being in charge is hard.

Meanwhile inside the elevator, Glynda sighed with relief, she softly smiled to herself. Finally, she had the approval she needed to polish the diamonds that have been placed before her.

Never let it be said that Glynda didn't care for all of her students, but she knew that others needed a more thoughtful and in-depth method of teaching. She knew very well that both Miss Rose and Miss Nikos were the best of the first years so far in terms of skill and application. While Miss Xiao Long was currently in that particular ranking, she's proven to be even more scatter brained than her sister at times, not to mention quick to anger and brash.

She was fully aware of what Ozpin had in store for the two of them and was going to make sure that they could rise to the challenge.

'What happened to Amber... I have to make sure that it never happens to the next Maiden.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FB~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

??? Beacon

In a dorm room on the far side of the Academy, a trio of soon-to-be terrorists disguised as students made plans for the fate of Vale.

"Ok, little red is definitely gonna be a problem later, especially with skills like that."

After having testing her skills personally and now replaying the earlier fight, Mercury was definitely giving Ruby a wide berth. His hunches were usually right, and he was willing to bet that it would be the case now.

Too bad Emerald decided to take a jab at what she perceived as a weakness in his demeanor.

"Uh oh, somebody sounds scared..."

"Screw you, minty fresh," Mercury looked up from his chair in annoyance.

"Enough.." The room was instantly engulfed in silence.

Cinder was more than tired of the way her... indentured servants constantly bickered amongst themselves. Truly, they were acting like such children. Though, she is the oldest of the three, the other two could very well have been students under different circumstances. Now, she had to reign them both in, being the adult of the situation.

Truly, if it wasn't for their unique skills she wouldn't have bothered, but a queen needs her loyal followers after all.

For that is what she desires to be, the ruler, and is what she'll do anything for.

From her seat at the windowsill, her shining, orange-yellow eyes gazed down at her subordinates with a sinister smile.

"The goal has not changed, we will simply need to make plans to "accommodate" for her as well."

Admittedly, she was rather eager to get out there and wreak some havoc with her own hands, but she digressed. For now, she'd have to let Roman do his part and wait. That said, this... Ruby Rose was indeed someone to keep an eye on, she'd advanced too uncomfortably high for her liking. She was always a problem from the beginning, but now there was evident proof of her suspicions.

'I need to know more about what she's capable of...'

Fortunately, chance to get all the information she wanted was coming soon. A certain dance was coming up in two weeks and she knew that Beacons security would be quite lax on that day.

"No matter, time is on our side after all. We'll stick to what we've been doing for now, we lay low while Roman steals for us and bide our time until our dear White Fang associates finish up their little plans in the Mountains."

Emerald, Cinder's new living shadow, smiled happily at the woman who saved her life. "Of course, Cinder!"

Mercury gagged slightly in the background at the scene, he wasn't such a loyal dog but he knew that Cinder was the brains of the operation without a doubt, so he conceded to her leadership. He was enjoying himself so far anyway, why not see how wild it's going to be.

"The final preparations will soon be underway, and if we play our cards right, we'll be having a good time while we do it."

Cinder does like to dance every so often.

Words from the Author:

I'm starting to explore Ruby's semblance and abilities in more detail, which is exciting as hell honestly. Thinking about having Pyrrha become the Maiden a little earlier than canon but that's in the works.

Cubia Out ;)