The Spectacular Ruby Rose

by Matthewmatt14

Ruby Rose had always dreamed of becoming a hero. A chance encounter with a radioactive spider gifts Ruby with abilities straight out of a comic book! With powers she had previously only dreamt of and evil in every corner of Vale, Ruby decides to take the law into her own hands as The Spectacular Spider-Woman!

14. Schoolyard Hero

Consciousness slowly returned to the young Rose as the moonlight gleamed through the window at just the right angle to shine upon her closed eyelids. Ruby clamped her eyes shut further to prevent any light from disturbing her much-needed sleep.

"Nghh!" Ruby grunted in annoyance as she brought her blanket up to cover her eyes. That was by far the worst night's sleep of her life. Despite her wanting to go back to sleep, her body refused to grant her that mercy. Reluctantly, Ruby brought the blanket down and looked at her digital clock.

3:31 AM.

She had slept for 17 hours straight. The recovery time was necessary to heal her broken body and recover her aura. She was in so much pain yesterday that it was hard to even think. She had to get stronger so something like that didn't happen again. Tensing her muscles, Ruby slowly brought herself into a seated position. Thankfully, the 17 hours of sleep was more than enough to heal all her broken bones, her ribs no longer shifted in her chest, and she was no longer in any pain.

Removing her shirt also revealed that the burns she suffered that night were totally healed too, there wasn't even a single scar across her abdomen. Her skull-rattling headache was gone too.

She flexed her muscles a small amount to test how well her healing factor did its job. Blood rushed to her arms and muscles bulged beneath her sleeves. The fabric stretched like a rubber band to accommodate the solid arms of the young girl.

"Not bad," the hero smiled to herself. It seemed that a long sleep was really all she needed. Her healing factor worked by targeting the most important injuries first while leaving the other injuries until the worst of the damage was healed. The problem with that was the fact that healing the worst injuries took longer than the smaller cuts and bruises.

She had to be careful when healing for that very reason. If she disturbed the healing process at all then it could take much longer for her healing factor to finish its job. Say for instance, using her Semblance in a reckless way to finish a fight quickly despite knowing it's a bad idea.

In reality, she only needed like three more hours of sleep to finish healing before that fight. Using her Semblance like that had rattled a few ribs badly, in turn, she needed more time to heal.

"Ugh… I'm never doing that again," She uttered fragmented musings under her breath, lost in her own reverie.

Through her heightened senses, she picked up on the deliberate rhythm of her father's heartbeat echoing in her ears. The slow thumping indicated that he was sleeping. She caught Zwei's little heartbeat right next to her father's too.

Ruby slid open her closet door and pulled out her destroyed costume. There was no way that she was ever going to put this thing on again. It didn't smell too bad at least. It smelled like ash and blood but it wasn't overpowering.

She tossed the costume back into her closet while making a mental note to dispose of it later. She obviously couldn't throw her costume into the trash at home out of fear that her father would see it. She normally just found a secluded area and burnt her destroyed costumes to ashes whenever she needed to.

There's no way I'm getting back to sleep right now. I guess I have plenty of energy to patrol for a few hours, and I don't have school tomorrow thanks to that bet I made with Dad.

That bet was not one of her smarter decisions, there were so many things that could've gone wrong during that fight. Her opponent only needed one hit to end the fight considering her aura was almost gone, her own Semblance almost depleted her aura enough by itself, she didn't even have Crescent Rose on her for god's sake.

Still, it paid off in the end. She earned the extra few hours to heal and got an extra day off. Even if it was risky, it was worth it.

Ruby removed the false bottom from one of her dresser drawers and pulled out her spare costume. She would need to get more material to make another one to replace the destroyed spandex in her closet. Ruby admired her form in the mirror before slipping her mask over her eyes. The Spandex hugged her body in a way that perfectly showed off her physique and also allowed her to move without being restricted by the synthetic fabric.

She clenched her fist a few times while feeling the spandex stretch around her body to accommodate her muscular form.

I really need to figure out a way to make a more durable costume. It's very impractical to have to make a new costume every time I get into a big fight. But where could I find a fabric that's strong enough?

Spider-Woman brought her hand up to scratch her head while deep in thought. That was until she took a good long look at her wrist, or more specifically, the mutated spinneret that was held within.

"Oh, there's an idea."

Spider silk was one of the strongest materials on Remnant, five times stronger than steel in fact. If she could somehow use her own webbing to construct a new costume, then her wardrobe malfunctions would be a thing of the past!

There were a few problems with that idea. For one, her webbing was much stronger than normal spider webs, so working with it would be hard. Two, she didn't have the knowledge to do such a thing anyway. Three, she didn't even know if it was possible to break her webbing down enough to make clothing out of it. Four, her webbing dissolved after about a week anyway.

Spider-Woman shoved that idea to a different corner of her mind to deal with later. Right now, she had something else she wanted to test out.

Spider-Woman focused deeply on a tingling sensation that flowed through her entire body. From the pits of her stomach to the tips of her fingers, the energy rushed through her muscles and deep into her bones. Within her gaze, blue electricity crackled and weaved like a captivating storm. Like a live wire, her muscles crackled and twitched with the electrifying energy of a bolt of lightning.

And then…

ZAP!

The most beautiful blue color exploded into existence around Spider-Woman's fingers as electricity danced between her spandex-clad digits. With a mixture of awe and curiosity, she raised her hands to her face, examining closely the tangible changes that her newfound capability had bestowed upon her.

Her amazing new power allowed her to generate her own bio-electricity.

Spider-Woman had no idea how this was even possible. There wasn't a single spider on Remnant that could produce electricity like this. But she did recall James Cobalt saying something about one of their Oscorp Spiders discovering a Semblance that allowed it to generate its own bio-electricity. Maybe it was related somehow.

Spider-Woman brought her two charged hands closer together and watched in fascination as the streaks of lightning jumped across the gap and crashed into each other. As the two small streaks of electricity converged, a crackling symphony filled the air, resonating with a sharp, sizzling intensity. The collision produced a vibrant burst of energy, accompanied by a small discharge that sent tiny thunderbolts falling from her fingers. The hissing and snapping of the electric currents merged, creating a dazzling cacophony that echoed through the surroundings, leaving an electric tang lingering in the atmosphere.

"So cool…."

I just get more amazing every day!

This new power was more useful than it appeared on the surface. The funny thing about electricity was that it interacted with aura in a very unique way. The human brain produces its own electrical signals which it then sends to the rest of the body to perform actions. Without those signals, the body could not survive.

Aura knows this, as such, it ignores those signals so the body can work properly.

But! Aura isn't smart enough to tell the difference between those electrical signals and actual electricity. That's why Hunter's muscles still seized up after being struck with lightning dust. Sure, aura would prevent the electricity from doing any damage, but that didn't stop the electricity from traveling throughout the body to temporarily paralyze muscles.

Just like how aura would prevent someone from getting burned but wouldn't stop someone from feeling the intense heat. Or how aura would stop someone from getting frostbite, but wouldn't make the extreme cold disappear.

Now that she could produce her own electricity, she had a reliable way to fight people with aura.

Spider-Woman grinned behind spandex and clenched her crackling fists.

"I need a name for this power, bio-electricity doesn't roll off the tongue. How about I call it my venom sting!? Yeah, that sounds cool! Wow, I just came up with that too."

Spider-Woman cut off the flow of electricity and her room was plunged into darkness once again. This new power would take time to master but it was sure to be worth it in the end.

She honed in on her Spider-Sense to make sure the coast was clear before jumping out her window and making her way into town. One thing she learned while being Spider-Woman was that most nights were really boring. Absolutely nothing happened most nights. If she was lucky then she would get to stop a purse snatcher or something, but that was it.

One thing she noticed was that her nights were much more eventful when she first became Spider-Woman. She liked to think it was because criminals were deterred based on her presence in Vale. She liked to think that they didn't commit crimes because they knew she was always around.

She had no way of knowing, but it was nice to dream.

Swiftly and with remarkable agility, Spider-Woman propelled herself forward by shooting a web line toward a nearby edifice, embarking on a thrilling journey through the urban landscape. It barely took 30 seconds before her Spider-Sense buzzed lightly in her skull. She allowed her sixth sense to gently pull her in the direction of the danger so she could put a stop to it.

She clung to the side of a concrete building that had zero lights on inside, despite the absence of illumination, her Spider-Sense told her that she was in the right spot.

Sliding a window open, Spider-Woman crawled inside quietly and skittered along the ceiling after closing the window behind her. The presence of a toilet told her that she entered through the bathroom.

"At least it's clean."

Dropping to the floor, Spider-Woman opened the door just a crack to see who or what was on the other side. The room was pitch black but focusing on her night vision allowed her to see perfectly. The room was completely empty apart from a single spider spinning a web in the corner. It was almost poetic.

Her Spider-Sense pulled her towards another door. It was only when she focused on her enhanced hearing that she heard mumbled voices coming from the other side. Clenching her fist and preparing for a fight, Spider-Woman pressed her ear against the door.

"It's all there count it."

There was some ruffling and what sounded like bills rubbing against each other. Spider-Woman could only assume that someone was counting money.

"Everything seems to be in order. The big man will be pleased."

"So, where is it?"

There was some more ruffling followed by a few footsteps.

"Here, exactly as requested." A sharp click echoed throughout the room and a relieved sigh escaped the man's lips.

"Pleasure doing business with you."

"The pleasure is all mine."

Ok, I've heard enough.

Spider-Woman twisted and pushed the door open softly. She expected there to be just two men exchanging money for drugs, but what she found were several men all armed with various weapons hovering over a small coffee table.

Every single one of them turned to stare at her.

"...uhh...Oops! This isn't the bathroom! Ehehe….eh…"

She stared through the barrels of nine weapons all at once.

"Ok, fine."

She jumped to the ceiling to avoid the storm of bullets that would've turned her into Swiss cheese. She kicked off the ceiling and slammed her skull into the nose of one of the perpetrators, knocking him out cold.

"There's one."

Ducking to avoid another hail of bullets, she spun on one heel and brought her other heel up to swipe across the faces of two unfortunate criminals who just so happened to be in her way.

"That's three."

She rendered the rest of the weapons useless by quickly firing a volley of web bullets down the barrels of each remaining gun. One criminal ignored the webbing and fired anyway. This proved to be a mistake as the bullet that just so happened to be infused with fire dust collided with the webbing and exploded in a shower of fire and superheated metal.

The gun exploded in a shower of shrapnel and dust. The metal shards embedded deeply into the man's hand, rendering it a useless pile of flesh and blood. She ignored the man's pained screams and simply delivered a punch to his head to knock him out and spare him the pain.

"That makes four."

The rest of the criminals dropped their now useless ranged weapons and whipped out various sharp objects. There was a machete, a plain old kitchen knife, and even a baseball bat with nails shoved into it.

Deadly in the hands of someone who knew how to use it properly, but wildly ineffective against someone who can lift a bus and move like a bullet.

She leaned back and placed her palms on the ground behind her to serve as an anchor. Once her hands were firmly in place, she lifted both her feet in the air and coiled the muscles in all four of her limbs.

Pushing off the ground with incredible strength, Spider-Woman soared through the air until each foot made contact with a criminal, once they did, she extended her legs to their full length and sent the two criminals crashing into a nearby wall. They crumpled to the ground in pained groans.

"That's six."

Only three left.

She brought her left hand up in time to pinch the blade of a butcher's knife that would've sliced her head open if she was too late. Well, actually, it would've just crashed into her aura but it still would've hurt a lot. The blade shattered when she applied a bit more pressure on it and the criminal was left with a useless wooden handle. He never got the chance to use it as Spider-Woman threw her head back and broke the man's nose with her skull. He collapsed to the ground silently.

"That makes seven."

Firing a web line to the coffee table in the center of the room, she pulled with a great deal of force and ducked right before the table crashed into her. Instead, it passed harmlessly over her head and crashed into the criminal trying to sneak up behind her.

"I believe that's eight."

She reeled her fist back in preparation to throw a punch at the last remaining criminal. Only to realize that the last man had taken advantage of the chaos and ran out the door in a panic, correctly realizing that he was outmatched.

"Ooh, are we playing catch the criminal? I'm really good at that game."

Webbing the door shut behind her, Spider-Woman jumped out a nearby window and pulsed her Spider-Sense around her to locate the criminal. It didn't take more than a second to locate him throwing the door to the building open and stumbling out with a briefcase in his hand.

He also didn't take so much as three steps before a web wrapped around his foot and sent his face crashing to the ground with a pained groan.

"Aaaaand that makes nine."

Spider-Woman jumped to the ground and skipped over to the downed criminal. She gave a few light kicks to his stomach for fun before pulling the briefcase out of his desperate grip.

"Hmm, I wonder what could be inside." Spider-Woman brought the briefcase close to her ear and shook it lightly. She couldn't hear much inside, which either meant it was empty, which was unlikely given its weight or whatever was inside was packed tightly.

There was a small padlock below the handle but Spider-Woman simply squeezed the metal and crushed it beneath her knuckles.

She flipped the clips keeping the briefcase shut and opened it before sighing at what she saw.

It was just a few bricks of some white powdery substance. She didn't have to be a genius to know what it was. She had never even seen drugs like this before she first became Spider-Woman. The first time she saw it she almost thought it was going to explode and kill her. After a few times, she just got used to it.

It probably wasn't the best thing for a girl her age to be desensitized to drugs of this caliber. But then again, it also wasn't the best idea for a girl her age to go around fighting crime as a vigilante with superpowers.

She lifted the bricks out of the case to check underneath them for anything extra. After confirming nothing was beneath the drugs, she webbed the injured man to the concrete sidewalk and webbed the drugs to the ground next to him.

She scaled the building and crawled back into the window she climbed out of. After tearing the webbing off the door she opened it and entered again. Her Spider-Sense went off as she placed her hand on the handle but she didn't stop. As soon as she opened the door a spiked baseball bat came rushing to her face.

She didn't so much as bat an eye before crushing the bat in her bare fist and webbing the hand of the man who tried to harm her to a wall.

Opening the second briefcase, she was once again unsurprised to see the thing filled with lien. She had never seen so much cash in one place before she became Spider-Woman. Now, it was just a normal Tuesday.

"Where do you guys get this much cash anyway?"

Tossing the briefcase on the coffee table, she walked over to the man still struggling to free his hand from the web prison. She pressed his face against the wall and began riffling through his pockets. Once she located his scroll, she dialed the emergency number.

"VPD what's your emergency?"

"Hello, It's Spider-Woman. I busted a drug deal on the corner of Riley Ave and Kaine Terrace. It's a brick building on the... hold on." She counted the windows on the building next door to confirm what floor she was on. "Eighth floor. Everything is taken care of, just need these bozos taken away."

"Ma'am I highly suggest yo-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah, just hurry up will ya."

After placing the scroll on the coffee table and waving goodbye to the struggling man, Spider-Woman scaled the building and sat on the rooftop to wait for the police.

She absentmindedly flicked through her scroll for a few minutes to pass the time. There wasn't much in the way of news right now, apart from the Vale council leaking that she had escaped Beacon under Ozpin's watch. The reactions were fairly mixed but most people were happy that she escaped. The public had gradually warmed up to her over the last two months.

"Wow, has it been two months already? Feels like I was bitten by that spider only yesterday."

Her transformation into Spider-Woman was easily the most painful thing she had ever experienced, but she would do it all over again in a heartbeat. She loved being Spider-Woman.

Spider-Woman wasn't so arrogant to think she was the only one keeping Vale safe though, she knew that there were lots of strong Hunters that took up their arms to protect the public too. She was just one cog in a gigantic machine that kept Vale operating.

Spider-Woman was pulled back to reality when her enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of sirens approaching quickly. Her eyes caught red and blue flashing lights a few blocks down the street too.

"That's my cue."

Gravity acted upon Spider-Woman when she casually stepped off the building and plummeted toward the ground. The ground never came due to a single web line being ejected from her wrist which pulled her to safety at the last second.

She even waved to the police as she passed overhead.

---

The rest of the night was totally uneventful. Not a single interesting thing happened apart from that drug deal. Spider-Woman often enjoyed nights where she had nothing to do because when she was bored, everyone was safe. She spent the majority of the night practicing her swinging technique and perfecting her mid-air tricks. Looking good was an important quality to be a hero too. Time seemed to slip away unnoticed, and suddenly, the sun began its ascent, peeking over the horizon before she could grasp the passing moments.

School at Signal would be starting soon. With her having the day off, she had the entire day to be Spider-Woman. The streets gradually filled with citizens going to work or running early morning errands. A few of them stared in awe at the swinging vigilante as she performed various tricks mid-air.

"Goooood morning Vaaaaale!"

Most of the citizens waved back and gave various greetings of their own. They couldn't see her wide smile under her mask.

She could feel her stomach rumbling as she unfurled her web wings and glided on the wind. She used most of all of her calories from her last meal to heal all the damage she had taken from Roman. She should eat something.

Anchoring a web on a building, Spider-Woman pulled herself to a higher altitude while pulling her scroll out of her pocket.

It only rang once before there was an answer. "Hello?" Yang said.

"Morning Yang," Spider-Woman said with a smile. "Did you find Blake yet?" She already knew the answer to that question obviously but playing dumb was the best course of action to protect her identity.

She wanted nothing more than to tell her sister about who she really was. Not a single day went by where she didn't consider letting it all out. But if she did that, if she allowed herself to fold under the pressure and tell Yang that she was Spider-Woman then not only would Yang be in danger, but she would worry way too much about her baby sister.

It wasn't worth it. She loved Yang too much to do that to her. Yang would understand why she chose to be Spider-Woman, but she would also insist on helping her. That was something that Spider-Woman could not allow. This job was much more dangerous than being a Hunter could ever be. Not in the sense that she fought tougher opponents, but in the sense that she was always working against the law.

Not only that, but if Oscorp ever discovered who she was then her life would be over in an instant. She would have to run away from home to protect her family. Either that or turn herself in and sentence herself to certain death.

She kinda wanted to avoid that if possible.

"Yep, we got her right here." There was some shuffling and an annoyed squawk from the girl in question. "Team PWBY is back and better than ever."

"Yang! Get off me! Stop petting my ears! Nyaa~ that feels goo— W-Wait! No! I'm not a house cat!"

Spider-Woman had a feeling she didn't want to know what Yang was doing.

"W-Well… That's great! I'm glad everything worked out in the end. I'm sorry I wasn't much help."

Heh— as if.

"Don't worry about it, Rubes. You should stop by for breakfast sometime. We can tell you all about it. It's a pretty crazy story."

Spider-Woman's stomach growled again at the mention of breakfast. Her mouth started to water too.

"W-Well, now that you mention it. I have the day off today and I haven't eaten breakfast yet. Can I stop by?"

Yang paused for a second as if she was gathering her bearings. "Why do you have the day off? Don't tell me you're playing hooky. Shame on you Ruby. Shame Shame Shame."

"Yang! Stop that! I have the day off because I won a bet with Dad. It's... actually a funny story."

Yang laughed. "Now this I gotta hear. Okay then, stop by. We still need to get ready for the day so take your time."

"Great! I'll see you soon. Bye, Yang."

"Bye Ruby, love you."

"Love you too."

---

Luckily for Spider-Woman, Vale was quite peaceful today, so there was no need for her to patrol for the entire day. She made a quick trip home to put some normal clothes over her Spider-Woman costume and grab Crescent Rose before heading out to Beacon.

The last time she was at Beacon, Weiss had told her that there were bullheads that took the students to and from the school, so there was no reason for her to travel through the Emerald Forest as she did.

The problem with that was the fact that only students and staff were given passes that allowed them to travel to and from school for free. For a visitor like Ruby, she would have to pay a fee to travel by bullhead.

Now, Ruby wasn't broke by any means, so she could easily afford a ticket to get on the bullhead. The problem was that she really didn't want to do that.

She was more than capable of running through Emerald Forest and protecting herself from whatever Grimm came her way. She was also much faster than most Grimm and easily faster than anything that was living in the forest. She could just outrun them if she didn't feel like fighting. But a simple slash from Crescent Rose was more than enough to dispatch any Grimm that came her way.

So that's what she did, she just ran through Emerald Forest instead of taking a bullhead. It wasn't as fast as a bullhead, but it was cheaper, and that's all she really cared about. She ran into a few Grimm while trekking through the forest. A few Beowolfs, an Ursa, a baby Nevermore, and a couple of Creeps. Each of them was killed with a single slash. She didn't even need her superpowers to kill them.

Besides, she was sure that Ozpin had cameras here so the staff could identify any Grimm that had gotten too big so they could kill them. She didn't want to show off too much out here.

She made it through the forest without issue and the beautiful lights of Beacon became visible. She could only imagine what the school looked like at night.

Ruby walked into the front doors without any issue. This was a school packed with trained warriors so there was no need to hire a security guard to protect the entrance.

"Umm...where is the cafeteria again?" She looked to the ceiling hoping for an answer to fall through the roof. Nothing came of course.

Instead of standing around like an idiot, Ruby decided to be proactive and look around for help. Luckily for her, there was a large map of the interior of the school posted on the wall to her right.

"A-HA!"

Ruby examined the map for a few seconds before locating her current location and tracing a line with her eyes to the cafeteria. She made a mental note of the turns she would have to take before heading off.

The school was like a damn maze! It was as if it was constructed with the sole purpose of confusing everyone. She just hoped that she would get used to it when she became a student.

The acceptance rate for students was ridiculously low, though that was likely because so many future Hunters applied to the school. They couldn't accept everyone obviously.

Ruby used to doubt her ability to prove herself against so many other students. Because of the low acceptance rate, she just assumed that she would be one of the unlucky ones. But, ever since she was bitten by that radioactive spider, she knew without a doubt that her skills and unnatural abilities would guarantee her a spot at the school. There wasn't a single student in Signal that could match her as she was now, even most of the Beacon students couldn't so much as give her a challenge.

Most of the Beacon students were more skilled than her, having trained for a few more years than she had. But her superpowers closed that skill gap and then some. She didn't need to predict an opponent's move if her Spider-Sense did it for her. She didn't need to worry about an opponent being faster than her because she could dodge bullets.

Even if an opponent was faster than her — then what? They would then have to subdue a girl much smaller than them who could deadlift a bus, move like a bullet, and start dodging an attack before her opponent even thought about throwing it.

It was the very definition of unfair. Like pitting a house cat against a lion.

She often felt bad about the gap in ability. That's why she didn't use her Spider-Sense when sparring at Signal. Of course, she still won in the end. Her reflexes combined with her Semblance were too much to handle.

Holding back was much harder than she expected it to be. It was so hard that she shattered her alarm clock on more than one occasion when she was getting used to her abilities. Crescent Rose was made of stronger metal so it remained undamaged despite her strength. Though, she was sure that she could crush her baby like an aluminum can if she wanted.

Not like she would ever do that of course.

She was so lost in her thoughts that her Spider-Sense had to buzz lightly to warn her about the oncoming door that she had almost walked face-first into. Grateful that her Spider-Sense saved her from embarrassing herself, Ruby realized that she had arrived at the cafeteria with no issue.

It wasn't difficult spotting the golden waterfall of hair that belonged to her sister as she sat down to eat with her team as well as team JNPR. She pulled her scroll out a second later, probably wanting to call her and ask where she was.

She never got the chance because Ruby ran behind her before she could react and pulled her sister into a tight bear hug. Though she made sure not to crush her spine in the process.

"Yaaang! I missed you!" Ruby squealed in delight.

"Ruby!" Yang spun around to wrap her arms around her sister. "I was just about to call you," Yang equaled Ruby's excitement. "You're right on time. Go grab a plate and join us."

Ruby obeyed and joined the two teams a few minutes later with a plate filled with breakfast foods. She made sure not to overdo it so she could swing home without getting sick. A proper diet was essential to being a superhero!

Well, actually, no it wasn't. At least not for her. Her metabolism had spiked when she was bitten by that spider, so she now could eat a lot more and retain her energy much easier than before. Despite how much she ate, she never seemed to gain a pound.

Still, it was best to eat healthy.

"So," Ruby began as she filled her fork with assorted fruits. "Tell me everything. I want to know all the little details."

And so, Yang did.

She left out specifics like how Blake was a faunus and a former member of the White Fang. But Yang told her about how a huge argument created a rift between everyone and caused Blake to leave. She told her about how they scoured the streets of Vale trying to find her and their lack of luck. Blake even chimed in at a few points to add some missing details that Ruby already knew. Like how she met another faunus named Sun who decided to help her with an 'issue,' as she put it.

"And then! Oh, I bet it was so cool! I didn't get to see it though. Tell her Blake," Yang practically demanded.

Ruby looked to Blake, knowing full well what she was going to say next.

"Hmm." Blake swallowed her mouthful of food before honoring Yang's request. "It was pretty cool." Team JNPR also leaned in to listen to what Blake had to say. They obviously hadn't heard the story yet. "I stepped in to stop Roman Torchwick and the White Fang when backup arrived. Torchwick knocked me back and I thought the White Fang would overwhelm me. That was until Spider-Woman arrived to save me."

Of course, Ruby already knew what happened, but Blake didn't know that. Ruby faked surprise and leaned closer to Blake. "Spider-Woman was there?!"

Blake smiled behind her juice. "Yes, you should've seen it. She completely outclassed Torchwick in every way. I helped Sun deal with the remainder of the White Fang while Spider-Woman dealt with Torchwick."

Come to think of it, where is Sun anyway?

Blake continued her tale while the students leaned in with their full attention. Ruby was only half paying attention, considering that Blake was telling her about her. She didn't really need to hear the story considering that she was a part of it.

"I just hope she's ok," Blake said with a frown. "She was hurt pretty badly."

Ruby had the urge to reassure her that Spider-Woman was just fine but wisely decided against it. Instead, she just kept it vague. "Well, she is Spider-Woman, I doubt something like that would keep her down for long," Ruby commented.

"Sounds like you had a crazy night," Jaune spoke in between bites. "All I did was get the crap beaten out of me by Pyrrha." Jaune rubbed a sore spot on his chest.

The girl in question immediately flushed red and waved her hands in front of her. "D-Don't make me sound like the bad guy! You asked me to go hard on you!"

Nora shook her head in disappointment. "Shame on you Pyrrha, beating up a defenseless little boy like that. Shame."

"NORA!"

"Regardless," Weiss began, ignoring the blushing redhead. "I'd say that everything turned out alright. Blake is back, everyone is alive, and Torchwick didn't escape with any dust."

True, there was no use in dwelling on what could've been when things were just fine as it was.

"Also," Yang spoke up with a devious smile. "Turns out that Blake here is a total Spider-Woman fan girl."

Blake immediately flushed red and began sputtering denials. "Yang! NO!"

"Yang, yes! She totally freaked out when she got an autograph from Spider-Woman. I think she said something about framing it over her bed."

Blake looked ready to pounce on the blonde brawler before Penny wrapped her powerful arms around the faunus to prevent her from leaping. Ruby turned to Yang and gave her the most adorable pout she could muster. "No fair! I wanna meet Spider-Woman too." Ruby added in some puppy dog eyes to guilt trip her sister.

Unfortunately for the silver-eyed warrior, Yang had grown immune to Ruby's adorable charms years ago. She ruffled the young girl's hair and pulled her close to her chest. "Maybe next time Ruby. I'll get you an autograph if I happen to run into her again."

Ruby's pouting subsided as she returned to her meal. The idea of Yang giving me my own autograph is really funny.

"Well, I'm glad everything worked out," Ruby spoke with a relieved sigh. She turned to Blake. "I knew that everyone would be okay with you being a faunus." Honestly, I was a little worried about Weiss but it appears that my worries were for nothing. Everyone is happy and I didn't die. Yay! Ruby brought a crispy slice of bacon to her mouth before noticing eight pairs of eyes all staring directly at her. Blake's face in particular was as white as Weiss' hair. "Umm...did I say something weird?"

Yang managed to shake herself out of her stupor first. "What did you just say?"

"Um...I-I just said that I'm glad everyone accepts Blake for being a faunus."

It was Weiss' turn to speak up. "We never mentioned that she was a faunus," Weiss' eyes narrowed

...Oh…

It was quite impressive that Ruby could fit her entire foot in her mouth and still manage to form a coherent sentence. "Oh...uhmm...O-Oh, wow! Blake, y-you're a faunus? I never would've guessed. Ehehe..eh...heh…"

Blake's eyes narrowed threateningly at the young girl. Ruby had to push down the instinctive urge to apologize. Ruby looked to Yang with eyes begging for assistance. Of course, Yang being the treacherous older sister that she is, simply decided to give her a thumbs up and pretend that helped.

Dammit, Yang!

With Yang being less than no help, Ruby turned to her best friend in the whole wide world. Someone who would never under any circumstances betray her. After all the training that she did for him, there was no way that he would even think about leaving Ruby all alone in her time of need.

Meowing echoed from Jaune's scroll.

Is that asshole watching cat videos!?

With no one willing to help her, Ruby couldn't avoid Blake's question. Instead, she decided to fall onto her backup plan.

Plan B: Make Blake look stupid!

"I-It's a really b-bad disguise Blake," the secret vigilante said dejectedly. Blake's bow flattened against her scalp and her eyes widened. Her cheeks also darkened at Ruby's admission. Ruby pushed forward. "Your bow wiggles so often I'm surprised that no one else has noticed. It never even shifts from that exact spot on your head. Hell, the bow is even shaped like cat ears for crying out loud."

Blake's face got progressively redder and redder with each of Ruby's reasons. Yang being as unhelpful as ever, smiled at the girl's suffering.

"Yang told me about your love for fish too. I've even noticed you hissing sometimes. You're basically just a walking stereotype."

If Blake's face had been red before, now it was red enough to perfectly camouflage against Ruby's red cloak.

"I suspected you were a faunus when we first met, but after a while, I just sorta accepted the fact that you were one. I don't have any problem with it by the way." She was quick to reassure Blake.

Blake took a few seconds to gather air into her lungs and cool off her burning cheeks before stammering a response. "D-Did...did you really know from the beginning? W-Why d-didn't you say anything?"

Ruby shrugged. "You were keeping it hidden for a reason right? Everyone has a part of themselves they hide. Even from the people they love most. I wouldn't want you spilling my secrets to everyone either so I just kept my mouth shut." Breaking someone's trust was something that Ruby could never forgive herself for. If Blake really wanted to keep her heritage a secret from everyone then Ruby wouldn't ruin that for her.

"I won't pretend to know the reason why you did it." That's a lie. I know exactly why you did it. You wanted to escape your past and decided to go into hiding by posing as a human. Even if that was barely hiding at all. "But I knew it must've been a good reason."

"B-But...why didn't you confront me about it?" Blake stammered.

Ruby lowered her milk from her lips. "I didn't want you freaking out that someone knew your secret. Ignorance is bliss as they say. Besides, what would I even say? 'I know your biggest secret and there's nothing you can do about it?' That would just make everything worse."

Blake seemed to accept that answer. She reached up and prodded her concealed ears. They twitched with every poke. How Yang had no idea she was a faunus was a mystery that will never be solved. Blake appeared to be lost in thought.

"Are you going to keep wearing it?" Ruby asked.

Blake seemed taken aback at the question. "I...uhh...y-yes. I-I think I will. I want to be judged by my accomplishments as a Huntress. Not by my race."

"Is there discrimination here at Beacon?"

Blake didn't answer with words, instead, she turned her head a bit to the left. Ruby followed her gaze and rested her eyes on a large student with burnt orange hair laughing along with his team. Nothing appeared to be wrong with that situation at first, that was until Ruby noticed that they were laughing at a pretty girl with large bunny ears protruding from her head. She tried to make herself smaller and ignore the laughing students.

"Oh...I see."

Ruby had the sudden urge to go over there and smash the guy's face into the floor. She wasn't a student here though, she could get in a lot of trouble if she did that.

"Also, I heard you meow after Yang pet your ears over the scroll."

Blake's blush came back with a vengeance. It wasn't any of her business whether or not Blake wore her bow. If she felt more comfortable with it then who was she to say anything?

"Enough about Blake's ears! I wanna hear about how you got the day off," Yang spoke excitedly.

Ruby looked up to see eight pairs of anxious eyes all trained on her. They all wanted to know the answer.

"Well," Ruby began, thinking about how best to lie about her day off. "I was training the night before last, and I pushed myself way too hard. My everything hurt."

Yang shook her head. "I keep telling you that you can't push yourself that hard every day, Ruby. A lesson from pain is always an informative one."

Ruby pouted. "My aura wasn't enough to fully heal me overnight so I was still hurting yesterday morning. Dad noticed me falling asleep in class and chewed me out. Made me come up and spar with another student. I was so tired that I even forgot to bring Crescent Rose with me that day." Ruby patted the massive weapon resting on her back. "So I had to fight without it. The bet was that if I could win that spar without my weapon and not take a single hit in the process then I would get the rest of the day off and the entire next day off."

Ruby's smile split her face. "I won."

Yang whistled, impressed. "Damn, you actually managed to win a fight without your weapon? How the hell did you manage that? Your CQC is terrible."

Subtly wasn't a word that existed in Yang's lexicon. "I used my Semblance in a way my opponent wasn't expecting. I worked really hard to come up with a new move and it worked."

I still need to come up with a name for that move. How about... Petal Power? No... or maybe Petal Rush? Petal Rush sounds good, guess I'll go with that.

"You came up with a new move?" Yang asked curiously. "How does it work?"

"Oh! It's actually really interesting. Through really intense training I've learned how to activate my Semblance in a single part of my body rather than my entire body. By doing this, I can activate my Semblance in my entire arm to build up a crazy speed while staying in one place."

Yang whistled again. "Damn, I seriously can't believe how strong you're getting."

"Oh, it gets better. I activate my Semblance in my entire arm and throw a punch at my opponent. The tricky part is actually trying to hurt them in the first place. Hitting someone with a fist made of rose petals doesn't hurt at all. Right?" Yang nodded and she continued. "So, I activate my Semblance in my arm, throw a punch at my opponent, then, the instant before I make contact, I deactivate my Semblance. This allows my fist to materialize and regain all its mass while keeping all the speed that was provided by my Semblance. By doing this over and over again in rapid succession, I can throw dozens of enhanced punches in a single second. I used this move the other day and managed to knock my opponent out of the ring."

Yang wasn't the only one to give her a surprised look. Pyrrha and Jaune were looking at her with bewilderment as well. Though she could see Pyrrha's brow twitch ever so slightly.

"That's... I-Incredible!" Jaune said, slapping his hands on the table and rising slightly. "You're saying that your already monstrously powerful Semblance has gotten even stronger? You never fail to amaze me, Ruby. You're incredible."

Ruby's cheeks flushed a light pink at Jaune's words. She predictably began to sputter denials. "I-I'm really n-not! I-I'm j-just...ah...I'm really n-nothing special."

Yang wiggling her eyebrows suggestively only made Ruby blush even harder.

The only people who'd ever praise her were members of her immediate family. Dad, Yang, and Uncle Qrow. Occasionally a teacher would praise her for doing well on a test or something but those moments were few and far between.

It made her feel all giddy inside that someone actually thought she was cool. Not Spider-Woman either, Jaune thought Ruby Rose was cool!

Heh, I guess I am pretty cool, Ruby smiled.

"You two lovebirds need to get a room already," said -who else- Yang.

"Y-Yang!" Ruby sputtered, cheeks crimson. "I told you it's not like that!"

"Sure Ruby, I'll pretend I believe that." She shifted her attention to the blond across from Ruby. "You better treat her right Vomit Boy. Also, use protection!"

Now it was Jaune's turn to flush red while Ruby flushed an even deeper shade of red. Jaune wisely realized that opening his mouth in front of Yang would only spell disaster for him so he kept his mouth shut and distracted himself with breakfast.

Ruby shoveled more food in her face in an attempt to ignore Yang. She needn't have, Yang continued eating her breakfast in silence.

The bell rang a few minutes later and multiple students hurriedly finished their breakfast and dashed for the door. Yang took one last bite of her apple and wiped her mouth with her napkin before tossing the core with incredible accuracy straight into the garbage.

"Alright, time for class." Yang swept Ruby into a large hug which she returned. "Good to see you again Rubes, glad you could make it."

"Mhmm! You gotta come home soon, Zwei misses you. He lays on your bed sometimes."

Yang looked particularly upset at the news, exactly as Ruby expected. No one wants to see Zwei sad. "Damn, ok fine. I'll come home soon, I promise."

Ruby broke off the hug and smiled up at her sister. Without warning, she ran over to Jaune to give him a tight hug as well. Jaune seemed to stiffen as soon as she pressed her body against his, but she was convinced she was imagining things.

His body felt firmer than last time. His arms and chest were much more solid. However, she couldn't see anything due to the annoying shirt that was blocking her view. It was clear he was working very hard to improve himself.

She looked up into his eyes. "Nice to see you Jaune, keep up the hard work."

Jaune's cheeks were a little red for some reason, Ruby couldn't figure out why. "Y-Yeah. Nice to see you t-too."

Yang leaned closer to Ruby after she broke from the hug. "Don't think I didn't notice you feeling up those muscles."

Ruby squeaked in embarrassment. "I-I... I g-gotta go! Bye!"

Ruby immediately bolted for the door only for her Spider-Sense to buzz just in time for her to stop herself as the door opened. Another half second later and the door would've smashed into her face. To her surprise, Headmaster Ozpin walked through the door and locked eyes with her.

"Um... Hello Sir," Ruby greeted shyly.

"Ah. Ms. Rose. Good morning to you. I was just stopping by to refill my thermos." He lifted his presumably empty thermos to show her. "It appears I have run out of my own coffee grounds. What are you doing here? Don't you have classes right now?"

"No sir, I have the day off. I just stopped by to have breakfast with my sister. I was just heading home." A small lie, I was actually going to suit up and patrol for a little longer before heading home.

"Hmm...I see." Ozpin's eyes widened slightly as if he had just gotten an idea. "Well then, if you have nothing else to do today then might I offer a suggestion?"

Ruby's eyebrow rose slightly and her interest was peaked. "What did you have in mind?"

Teams PWBY and JNPR had just arrived behind her. "Good morning Sir," Yang spoke respectfully to the much older man. "I hope you slept well."

Ozpin smiled at the blonde. "I slept fine, Ms. Xiao Long. Although, I am due for a new mattress."

The rest of the students gave the headmaster various 'good mornings'. Penny was easily the most vocal of them all.

"Good morning Sir!" Penny waved dramatically despite being less than five feet away from the veteran Huntsman. Ozpin returned the greeting with a wave of his own.

Ozpin returned his gaze to the silver-eyed warrior. "As I was saying. Ms. Rose. I have a proposal for you." Yang leaned forward to hear Ozpin's words better. Ruby swallowed a lump in her throat in anticipation. "How would you like to be a Beacon student for a day?"

…

…

"Eh…?"

Ruby Rose has encountered a fatal error. Attempting to recover data... recovering… recovering... recovering... recovery failed. Hard reset initiated. Please stand by…

…

Reboot successful. Attempting to recover corrupted files... Files successfully recovered. Launching Program.

After Ruby had successfully reset her brain, she repeated Ozpin's words back to him. "You want me to join Beacon?!"

Well... she yelled those words back to him rather.

"Just for a single day," Ozpin reassured her. "You would go back to your normal life tomorrow and continue to study at Signal, just as you always have."

Me? Attend Beacon for a day? I gotta admit, that's a pretty enticing offer. I have the day off today so it's not like my schedule is busy, and my normal patrolling hours are after school anyway. I obviously won't know all the material yet and they're definitely not going to review older material simply for my sake. But this could be a learning experience that I really should get. Classes shouldn't be all that different from Signal. The basic premise of the school is exactly the same. To teach the future generation of Hunters how to combat the Grimm. The only difference will be the material learned. In Signal, we have the basic classes like Math, Science, History, and stuff like that. But we also have classes more about what it's like to be a Hunter, like Grimm studies, Combat training, Dust Theory, and Weapon Maintenance. The Hunter aspect of the school was always the focal point but there were other mandatory classes that the school board required. Also, I'll be going to Beacon soon anyway. It's not a bad idea for me to get a head start on the material that I'll be learning. Also, learning the layout of the school wouldn't hurt either.

She was about to respond when Yang wrapped her arms around her excitedly. "Ruby! This is the chance you've been waiting for. A chance to see what Beacon is really like!"

"I agree," Ren spoke up for the first time today. "This is a chance you shouldn't pass up."

Not like I ever intended on saying no anyway! Whelp, there goes my day off.

Ruby looked straight into Ozpin's eyes. Her own eyes had a fire in them. "Ok! I'll do it!"

Ozpin smiled. "Wonderful, I shall inform our staff of your presence. You can join classes with your sister for today. You obviously won't be expected to know the material but you should pay attention either way."

"Yes Sir!"

"Wonderful. Have a pleasant day, Ms. Rose."

Ozpin walked off into the cafeteria, leaving the nine students behind.

There was a pregnant silence surrounding the students for a few seconds before Ruby broke it with a few words.

"Well. Let's do this!"

---

Ruby didn't exactly know why she was expecting classes to be more exciting at Beacon. It wasn't a normal school, but they still did normal student things.

She knew she was getting her hopes up when she expected classes to have a sort of flair to them that separated Beacon from other schools like Signal. When you get down to the basics of Beacon, it's a school.

And school is boring!

The first class of the day was math.

Just math.

Not the cool kind of math, like trying to figure out the exact angle and strength of which to fire an arrow from a bow while accounting for wind direction and speed to pierce the head of a Beowolf half a mile away.

More like quadratics.

Just quadratics.

Ruby hated quadratics.

Jaune's head was lolling back and forth while Blake was reading a book. Her enhanced vision allowed her to catch some of the words from the pages. She could confirm that she was reading a book not meant for a 15-year-old like Ruby.

Hell, Weiss appeared to be the only one actually interested in what the teacher was saying. Penny might've been paying attention, but it looked like she was lost in her own head while her face was frozen in one particular expression. She didn't even blink. She almost looked like a robot that was on energy saver mode.

Still, despite how much she did not want to listen. She still took in every word the teacher was saying.

For about five minutes.

Anything not related to the subject at hand wormed its way into her thoughts. Thoughts of Spider-Woman, Roman Torchwick, Operation Breach, the White Fang. Really, there were a lot of things she needed to worry about as Spider-Woman. She just wanted to stop people from dying at all costs.

That White Fang recruitment rally is soon. I gotta finish some new equipment before I'm prepared for that. I'm really hoping to end Torchwick's thefts once and for all there. I punched him out of commission for a while with my new venom sting. It'll take him a few days to recover from that. That's valuable time that I can spend training or making new gadgets. That massive shipping container of dust that blew up in my face had electric dust in it, that's why that punch was so powerful, I absorbed the electricity and added it to my venom.

Maybe I should make a new costume. Not that I'm getting sick of my current one or anything but changing things up could be really nice. Maybe add some more colors or a different design for my spider insignia or something.

Actually, I should make an all-black costume to help with stealth. So many ideas, not enough time. Gotta upgrade my web shooters too. I wanna add a web grenade, that sounds really cool. Maybe do something with gravity dust.

The school bell rang and all the students began packing up, some students were already packed and bolted for the door. Ruby didn't have any of her school supplies with her so she just waited for Yang and friends to finish packing.

"Math isn't too exciting I know," Yang tried to console Ruby. "It only really gets interesting once dust theory class starts."

Ruby pouted.

---

History class was much different from anything at Signal. Not different in the sense that the material was different, but different in the sense that the teacher was absolutely insane.

Dr. Oobleck was... interesting... to say the least. She had met the man briefly once before after she battled The Green Goblin, but that short interaction wasn't enough to pin down his entire personality.

The good Doctor glided across the room with a full thermos in hand, moving so fast that even she had trouble keeping up with him. Well...actually...her neck was just getting tired from moving it so often to track his movements, she could see where he was moving just fine.

The Doctor seemed to enjoy calling on students who clearly weren't paying attention to his lessons. Catching those students off guard and watching them stutter a response was something he clearly took great pleasure in. As such, Ruby made sure to pay extra attention in case she was called on. Unlikely given that Ozpin had already told him that she would be participating and that she was still in Signal.

He was going over the great war between humans and faunus. A war which the faunus had won handily. The man clearly wanted the newer generation to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Some students didn't seem to care that much, such as the same racist boy from earlier who was snickering with his teammates about something she didn't care enough to listen to.

"Tell me," Oobleck began. "What were the faunus promised after they successfully bested the humans and put an end to the great war once and for all? You!" Oobleck pointed.

Ruby's gaze followed Oobleck's finger, trying to find the student he was pointing to. Only to freeze solid when she realized he was pointing close to her. Well...not close to her — Directly at her.

Oh damn. Don't panic, you know this one.

Ruby took a second to gather her thoughts. "Well... I wouldn't say they were promised anything, but they were fighting to put an end to the discrimination that they faced on a daily basis and to abolish slavery. Those were the main things anyway."

"Correct!" Oobleck shouted louder than necessary. "The great war was fought because the faunus desired equality between them and humans. The faunus never had a desire for war in the first place. They only wanted to be treated as true equals."

"They didn't get that though," someone spoke up. It took Ruby longer than she cared to admit that it was her who spoke.

Oh shit... I've spent so long fighting the White Fang as Spider-Woman that I just said what they all said to me!

Ruby didn't know exactly how many students were in class at the moment and she really didn't care enough to count them all, all she knew for sure was that every single one of them turned to stare at her. Ruby felt heat creep up her neck at all the attention she was receiving.

"Oh?" Dr. Oobleck gave her a questioning glare. "That is also correct. But can you tell me what it is they received instead?"

Well, at least I know the answer to this one too.

"They got a Grimm-infested island in the middle of a Grimm-infested ocean as far from Atlas as possible and told to live there. They got promised equality and got condemned to an almost certain death," she said solemnly.

Dr. Oobleck frowned but nodded at her words. "This is also correct. You're on a roll today Ms. Rose. I'm impressed you're so knowledgeable about the great war."

Ruby flushed. "I-I'm really not that knowledgeable. I just know that Atlas was really bitter about their loss and decided to cover it up and pretend it never happened," she said quite bluntly. A couple of students chuckled at her obvious insult toward Atlas. Ruby didn't hate Atlas but she did hold some resentment toward them for their decision. It did unintentionally make the White Fang into the terrorists they are today after all. As a result, they were partially responsible for the creation of Spider-Woman.

Oobleck seemed to agree if his expression was anything to go by. "Yes, although people are much more accepting now than they were in the past, Atlas is easily the farthest behind in accepting our fellow man."

She could only imagine how badly Spider-Woman would be treated in a kingdom as racist as Atlas. She already wasn't treated very well in Vale, but the citizens were becoming more accepting of her every day. The law enforcement? Not so much.

---

History class passed by without issue. Dust theory was next. The instructor, Professor Peach, was a shorter woman with peach-colored hair and eyes -who would've guessed- and large round glasses. She also had a small beauty mark on her lower left lip that added some character to her already beautiful appearance.

To her surprise, Professor Peach not only included her in class but also treated her just like any other student. It was a nice gesture that she appreciated very much. Each student was given a couple of vials of dust and told to create ice dust.

Ice dust was tricky to create. The idea wasn't too complicated, but the process in which it was created was unusual. Ice dust is created by infusing water dust and air dust together. But you couldn't just throw the two types in a blender and get ice dust. The infusion process was delicate and precise.

Ruby slowly poured the contents of the dust vial into a mason jar and began the infusion process. She had her Spider-Sense so she could bail if things looked explosive.

She had done this a few times in the past, the first time landed her in the nurse's office for the entire day with her entire left side covered in ice. Not too fun.

Her eyes trailed along the classroom to see how the other students were doing. Weiss was already done but that was to be expected considering that dust was her specialty in combat. She was also a Schnee, so being the heiress to the largest dust company on Remnant had to play some part in her success.

Yang looked like she was praying to any god that existed for her experiment to not blow up and damage the tsunami that she called hair.

Jaune's entire arm was covered in ice. Ruby had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep herself from bursting into laughter at the blonde boy's suffering. Nora wasn't even trying to hide her laughter.

Penny was… wait... what?

Penny had used her entire supply of dust already and created a statue that was comprised of vials of ice dust. Not only that but there was zero waste as well.

Damn.

She returned to her own work in silence and finished fusing the dust together. She wasn't sure if she was successful so she pinched a small amount of dust out with her fingers and snapped her fingers with the dust still between them. The reaction was instant, a small amount of ice quickly spread down her fingers, it only made it halfway before the reaction stopped and the ice stopped spreading.

A smile spread across her lips.

Her Spider-Sense buzzed lightly, indicating the approaching professor. Ruby quickly removed the ice from her fingers and presented the full vial of dust to Professor Peach.

"Excellent work Ms. Rose. I'm impressed."

It was a stroke of luck that they were asked to make ice dust instead of something else. The only dust types that Ruby had ever used for Crescent Rose were ice dust, gravity dust, fire dust, and electric dust. So she knew those types better than the others.

"Thank you, Professor!" Ruby cheered.

---

Next up was Grimm studies. This was a class that was more Ruby's style. Learning the behavior of all the Grimm as well as their habitat and behavior was essential knowledge if someone wanted to be a Hunter. Specifically the easiest and most effective way to kill a Grimm.

Some Grimm were easier to learn the weaknesses of than others. Like the Beowolf. Its face was armored pretty well but its neck was an obvious weak spot. Crescent Rose was powerful enough to take full advantage of that weakness. Boarbatusk's were heavily armored on their backs but their soft underbelly was a great weakness that Ruby had exploited on numerous occasions.

The instructor, Professor Port, was a friendly man with a large belly and mustache. He was definitely a man who held a great passion for the work he did. Various posters of the anatomy of Grimm were plastered all over the room and there was even a small fake Grimm skeleton sitting on his desk. It looked to be an Ursa.

There was also a cage in the room that appeared to be rumbling for some strange reason. The ringing of her Spider-Sense did little to comfort her.

She turned to Yang to ask her about the cage.

Why does Yang have a pillow?

Then Professor Port began to speak.

Oh... that's why.

Ruby's head fell into her hands as she paid approximately zero attention to whatever the large man was saying. Something about how he single-handedly defeated a pack of over 500 Ursa and garnered the attention of the entire female population of the village he saved. Even Weiss appeared to be lost in thought. Paying zero attention to the man. How Professor Port didn't notice a good ten students actually sleeping was an answer she would never get.

Still, she tried her best to listen to what the man was saying. There might be useful information in his lecture somewhere, she just had to find it.

"Ms. Rose."

Ruby's head shot up as the professor called her name. "Uh. Yes?"

Professor Port smiled. "Headmaster Ozpin told me that you would be participating in class today, I'm glad to see the next generation of Huntresses are taking the initiative and jumping at the chance for a new learning experience." At least he was a friendly man. Too many teachers these days were assholes who hated their jobs and the students they were forced to teach.

"Thank you, sir. When Headmaster Ozpin offered me the chance I took it."

"Capital!" The professor's voice boomed across the classroom, startling several students awake. "Then perhaps you would like to put your skills to the test against the very creatures that we band together to fight against." Port rapped his knuckles against the large metal cage, causing whatever monstrosity lay within to writhe in anger.

Her? Test her skills against a Grimm? It wasn't an unusual proposal. She could fight a lot of Grimm with relative ease even before she got her spider powers. Now that she had them she knew that whatever was in that cage would pose no threat.

The only problem in fighting this Grimm now was her powers. She could probably kill that thing with a single punch if she didn't hold back, something only someone as strong as Yang could pull off. For all intents and purposes, Ruby Rose should not be that strong. If she did fight that thing then she would have to hold back a ton, maybe even get hit a few times to really sell it. She also had no idea what was in that cage to begin with, it could only be something that once lived in Emerald Forest since she could reasonably assume that Professor Port didn't travel to Mountain Glenn to capture a Goliath or something.

Come to think of it, how did Professor Port manage to capture a live Grimm anyway? He might've mentioned it during one of his stories that she was half asleep any case, there was a Grimm in the room who was just begging to be slain by her blade. Really, there was only one thing to do.

Ruby gently slapped her hands on the desk and rose to her full height. "I'll do it!"

Peter's mustache quivered in excitement. "Wonderful! Please make your way to the front of the class and show the shadowed beast what you're made of!"

With Crescent Rose strapped to her back and a full aura in the tank, Ruby walked gingerly to the front of the class. A good amount of the students made some not-so-subtle remarks about her age and inexperience. Some say things like 'She's just a runt' or 'She's gonna get mauled.'

If only they knew.

"Are you prepared, Ms. Rose?"

Ruby didn't respond with words, instead, grabbed her sweetheart from behind her and brought it forth with a practiced and graceful twirl. The sharp tip of the weapon slammed into the ring with a loud crack.

"Excellent!" Peter hefted his large double-sided battle axe over his head. "Let the match... BEGIN!" He swung his axe down, shattering the lock that held the cage shut.

The metal door fell forward with a mighty crash, unleashing whatever lay within. Ruby shifted her baby into its rifle form and waited for her opponent to emerge.

A massive creature with two equally massive bone-plated claws burst forth from the confines of the steel. A massive tail swung back and forth with a bulbous stinger dangling from the tip. A small bead of purple venom dripped from the tip of the yellow telson.

A Death Stalker.

Mother fu-

Ruby exploded into a flurry of rose petals at the command of her Spider-Sense, dodging the sharp stinger that had nearly pinned her to the floor.

Oh great... It just had to be a Death Stalker.

Normally, Ruby would just plunge her fist straight through the Grimm's skull, but with everyone watching her, she couldn't afford to be too strong.

"Professor!" Yang called from the stands, panic dripping from her lips. "This is too much!"

"Calm down Ms. Xiao Long. You need not fear, I shall step in to dispatch the monster should things get out of hand. After all, I once saved a town from a hoard of Death Stalkers when I was a wee lad."

God dammit stop talking!

Crescent Rose discharged a fire dust round directly at the dangling stinger. Predictably, the bullet did but a small amount of damage to it, and the Grimm was angered further. Shifting her baby into its scythe form, Ruby slammed the body of the weapon into a claw that threatened to cut her in half while simultaneously using the centrifugal force from the weapon's mass to give her some extra speed before batting away the stinger that once again almost punctured her skull.

Death stalkers didn't have a lot of weaknesses. They had really thick bone armor on most of their bodies. Its razor-sharp claws were also protected by bone armor. Its stinger was very sharp and its venom was very poisonous.

No Grimm is infallible, however.

Ruby jumped straight up to avoid a pinching claw and landed gently on said claw. She bolted along the arm of the monster while avoiding the offending stinger. Crescent Rose sang a song of steel and blood as Ruby swiped her blade back and forth along the body of the giant monster, scoring a few large gashes in the armor and causing the scorpion to roar in pain.

Ruby leaped off the back of the Grimm and struck a dramatic pose to look cool. For some strange reason, the Grimm didn't seem to care how cool she looked. The only thing that was on its mind was killing the scythe wielder. The venom-tipped stinger missed Ruby's head by a fraction of an inch as she tilted her head backward. Thank you, Spider-Sense! The stinger was instead buried a good way into the arena.

The stinger itself was very durable, easily able to take pot shots from a weapon like Crescent Rose. But the area right before the stinger that wasn't protected by the bone armor wasn't very strong at all.

Ruby hooked the blade of her sweetheart right between the stinger and tail of the giant monster. The gears of Crescent Rose quickly shifted around to change the type of bullet that would be discharged.

Gravity dust was useful for propelling herself when she needed to get extra distance when falling. But she mainly used it to gain speed or add power to her strikes while fighting.

The scythe-sniper hybrid let out a devastating crack as the gravity-enhanced bullet not only hit the Grimm in one of its ten eyes but also provided enough recoil for the scythe to shear through the connective tissue that connected the stinger to the tail. The Scorpion Grimm screeched in agony as black Grimm blood gushed from the new wound. The tail whipped back and forth, spraying the blood everywhere. Some of it splashed on Ruby's face and into the audience.

Ruby took advantage of the opening she created by firing another gravity-dust-filled bullet behind her — which rocketed Crescent Rose's sharp tip into the bone-plated armor protecting its skull. The force of such a devastating strike was enough to send cracks along the bone armor and send the Grimm backward to the edge of the ring.

Good, the armor is damaged. I think I can remove it without looking too strong now.

Ruby blurred forward and reeled Crescent Rose backward in preparation for another devastating strike. That was until her Spider-Sense buzzed to warn her about a claw approaching her tiny body.

Acting on instinct, Ruby brought her open palm to the side in the path the claw was sure to take. Tensing her muscles, she prepared for the claw to meet her flesh.

The claw met her palm with a loud crack, loud enough to cause some students to wince. It wasn't Ruby's bones that cracked however, it was the armor beneath her fingers that were crushed beneath her incredible strength. Ruby didn't so much as budge an inch.

Crap! Too much strength!

Ruby brought Crescent Rose down in a wide arc that cut clean through the thin arm that held the deadly claw.

Ruby made an effort to stumble when the claw hit the ground, showing that it was too heavy for her to lift. It wasn't but no one needed to know that.

With the Grimm missing two primary methods of attack and currently reeling in pain, Ruby brought the tip of Crescent Rose right between the Grimm's skull and the armor protecting it. The blade bit deep between the two as the Grimm roared.

Ruby briefly caught Yang's knuckles going white from how hard her fists were clenched as well as her dumbstruck expression as she watched her baby sister fight a Grimm 20 times larger than her.

The screams of the Grimm only got louder as Ruby shoved Crescent Rose upwards, prying the armor away from the Grimm. Muscle desperately clung to the armor in an attempt to keep it in place. It was all for nothing as Ruby's strength was easily able to pry a chunk of the armor off the monster. It also helped that her earlier strike had damaged the skull enough to make it easier.

With the soft flesh of the Grimm's vitals now exposed, Ruby brought Crescent Rose upward in preparation to deliver the final strike.

Its honed edge parted the air, a whispering prelude to the impending strike. In a moment of deadly precision, the blade found its mark, piercing through flesh and muscle before erupting from the other side and into the arena with an audible crack. The soulless eyes of the creature widened in pain as the foreign metal invaded its body. Ebony lifeblood spilled forth, staining the arena and the outsoles of her boots.

The Grimm tried lifting its claw to deliver a strike from beyond the grave but lacked the strength to do so. The Grimm gave one last whimper before its legs gave out and it slumped to the floor — dead.

Ruby tore Crescent Rose free of the monster's skull in a shower of blackened blood. She twirled the massive scythe around in circles to clean it of the Grimm's essence.

The only saving grace when it came to Grimm was that as soon as one of them perished, all traces of the Grimm would evaporate into nothingness. All blood, limbs, teeth, anything that once was a part of a Grimm would cease to exist once it perished. Even the smell of it would be no more.

The black blood on her face was no exception, the stains became smaller and smaller before her cheeks were clean once again.

Ruby rested Crescent Rose on her shoulder and whistled a small victory tune from a video game she loved.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Professor Port congratulated the young Huntress. "You truly are a Huntress in training!"

Ruby flushed red as she rubbed the back of her head. "Aw stop, you're making me blush."

"Tell me, what was your plan of action when facing your prey? I know we just saw it happen but I would like to hear what went through your head." Peter's mustache vibrated with his words.

Her plan? Well, she couldn't very well say that her plan was to hit it till it died. That didn't sound very Huntress-like. "Well," she began, trying to come up with the right way to make it sound like she had a plan, "I knew that the bone armor was too thick for me to break through quickly, there was no way that I was going to puncture it without it attacking me."

Professor Port nodded, so she continued.

"I needed to limit the ways that it could hurt me. Cutting off its stinger seemed like the best idea, most of the tail was unprotected so I thought that was a good place to disarm it. I couldn't slice the stinger open for fear of being covered in venom," Ruby explained.

"Yes yes, very good Ms. Rose. What next?"

"Hmm, I knew that I couldn't get all the way through the bone armor but I knew that I could damage it. I knew that if I broke the armor around its skull it would be easier to pry off a piece protecting its head. Then I just... killed it."

There, that sounded like an explanation of the events that just happened dressed in a way that sounded like she actually had a plan.

"Very good, Ms. Rose. You went into battle with a plan and the tools and skills needed to execute that plan. Very impressive."

"Heh, yep, that's what happened," she lied.

"I must say, your strength is something quite special considering your size. To be able to swing a weapon like that with such ease speaks volumes to your training and discipline."

Ruby smiled and puffed out her chest in pride. "I wouldn't be much of a Huntress if I wasn't strong enough to wield my own weapon. I drink milk." Ruby twirled her weapon around and folded it back into its compact carrying form before strapping it onto her back once again, where it shall rest until her next battle.

Oh god, did I say that out loud?

"Congratulations on your victory Ms. Rose," Peter congratulated once again. "You will make for an exceptional student once you officially enroll in Beacon. For now, you may make your way to the locker rooms and get cleaned up."

"Yes sir!" Ruby activated her Semblance and rushed out the door. In truth, she didn't actually need to get cleaned up. She hadn't even broken a sweat during her battle. But it was better for her if she looked like she needed it.

It wasn't until she was down the hall did she realize that she had no clue where the locker rooms were. It was through sheer stupid luck that she managed to stumble across them. Ruby ignored the girls who were already inside getting changed and walked over to the sink. Washing her hands and splashing her face a couple of times helped refresh the secret spider.

I hope I didn't overdo it. That was a really tough Grimm, might've given Yang trouble.

There was no shortage of exceptional students at Beacon and Signal. If she showed too much strength then everyone would most likely assume that she was just a prodigy. Jumping to the conclusion that she's Spider-Woman would be insane. No one would look at a single gifted young Huntress in a world full of them and assume that she was Spider-Woman. There were thousands of girls just like her who were just as likely to be Spider-Woman in the eyes of the public.

Of course, her being a human would throw them off even more. Everyone on Remnant thought Spider-Woman was a faunus, and perhaps they were right. Ruby had no idea what she was anymore. Human, faunus, hybrid? She had no clue. Hell, her genetics probably didn't look human anymore. No human had spinnerets mutated into their wrists after all. Well, no human except for her.

Ruby dried her face and hands with a paper towel before exiting the locker room.

Her Spider-Sense warned her just in time to prevent her from crashing into Yang. "Hey Ya-Mph!" Yang pulled the short Huntress into her chest, muffling her speech and causing her to flail like a flaming hellcat.

"Ruby! Are you okay?!" Yang pushed Ruby away from her and began frantically checking her for injuries.

"Yang! Stop it! I'm fine. I didn't take a single hit." Ruby jumped backward to gain some distance from her overprotective sister. "You were there, you saw me not take a hit." Ruby saw the rest of team PWBY as well as team JNPR approach from behind Yang. They all looked relieved upon seeing her. Ruby spoke up before any of them could voice their concerns. "Guys, relax, I'm fine, see?" Ruby spread her arms wide to show her lack of injuries.

"Ruby," Weiss began, "that was a Death Stalker!"

"Um, yeah, I know Weiss. I was there, remember?" Ruby sarcastically replied which caused the white-haired girl to blush.

"That battle was sensational!" Penny exclaimed with a wave of her arms. "The way you expertly robbed the Grimm of its methods of attack while simultaneously dealing damage was excellent."

"You're so strong!" Nora yelled in excitement while hefting her giant hammer above her head. "We gotta fight sometime! Oh! Oh! Oh! Let's fight now!"

Thankfully, Ren came to her rescue and placed a hand on Nora's shoulder. "Relax Nora, I'm sure the teachers wouldn't appreciate you destroying another hallway."

Another?

"Mmnngg! Fine…" The ginger girl deflated and backed off, much to the silver-eyed girl's relief.

"Guys, it was nothing special, really," the secret hero tried to brush off her battle.

"That was so cool!" Jaune gushed. "I knew you were strong but I had no idea you were that strong."

Ruby was beginning to flush red at all the praise she was getting. "G-Guys... I-It was just some dumb Grimm. I'm sure you all could've beaten it too."

Well... everyone except Jaune. B-But he was getting better!

"A-Anyway, it doesn't matter. Let's just head to our next class, please," Ruby pleaded to her sister, cheeks crimson. She could tell that Yang wanted to say something else, but her throat refused to force the words out. With a defeated sigh, Yang relented.

"Fine... I had no idea you were that strong, but I guess I should be more proud than surprised. We have combat class with Ms. Goodwitch next."

"Perfect! Let's go!" Ruby's chipper attitude returned in an instant.

Yang sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

---

The combat classroom was much bigger than the ones at Signal. There was a fair distance between the desks and the arena, no doubt to protect the students from the battles that took place there. There was also a giant monitor above the arena for what Ruby could only assume to be for displaying the aura of the combatants. Signal had the same thing but it wasn't as big. Ruby recognized the woman standing in the arena as the same person who was with Ozpin after the Green Goblin attack and after the battle at the docks. She could only assume that was Glynda Goodwitch. She struck an imposing figure, seemingly commanding respect simply by existing.

Her riding crop she held in one hand did little to ease her worries about the woman. What kind of person uses a riding crop as a weapon?

A sadist, that's who.

But Ruby could tell just by looking at her that she was very strong. The only weapon she had was a riding crop, but she could tell that was all she needed.

"Welcome back students," the woman's voice boomed across the classroom. Ruby had to wonder if her Semblance allowed her to command authority with her words. "I would like to fit as many matches as possible in today so let's get straight into it." She looked around the room – presumably to choose a pair of fighters to showcase their skills – before her eyes landed on Ruby. Ruby flinched at the woman's intense gaze.

Despite her intimidating features she still managed to send a soft smile at the girl. "Ah, Ms. Rose. Headmaster Ozpin informed me you would be joining us today. Be sure to pay close attention to the battles you shall see today. Getting to see more experienced Hunters in action is an opportunity you shouldn't take for granted."

Ruby saluted the older woman. "Yes Ma'am!"

Ms. Goodwitch swiped upwards on her scroll a few times before continuing. "Perhaps you shall get a chance to spar with a student yourself." Ms. Goodwitch teased the girl. Ruby would love a chance to spar with someone more experienced. Fighting random criminals and drug addicts wasn't exactly exciting. They all went down after one or two punches, she wanted someone who could really push her to fight as hard as she could.

Roman injured her greatly due to his dirty tricks, not his combat excellence. The last good fight she had was against the Green Goblin, and she couldn't enjoy the fight at all due to the circumstances.

"Let the matches begin, the first match is Blake Belladonna Vs. Sky Lark. Please make your way to the arena."

The matches progressed pretty quickly. Matches typically lasted only a few minutes at most. The more sturdy fighters managed to drag out the matches for longer but the matches were still quicker than she was expecting considering these were Beacon students. Then again, she was only watching the freshmen. The seniors would no doubt be much more skilled and interesting to watch.

With one notable exception. That exception being the red-haired beauty named Pyrrha Nikos.

Pyrrha was placed into the ring with her very own sister. Yang was one of the strongest fighters she knew. Able to take on multiple Signal students at once and still come out on top. The very picture of strength and technique. The very same sister that never stopped smiling when she was fighting a strong opponent. Who could hold an entire ton above her head. Able to shatter concrete pillars with her Semblance and literally got stronger the more she got hurt.

Was completely outclassed!

Pyrrha wasn't a fighter...she was a monster.

Pyrrha danced across the arena. It was almost as if she was the wind itself. Seemingly avoiding attacks without conscious thought. Delivering her own devastating blows against the blonde girl. Switching seamlessly between fighting styles, so many that Ruby couldn't keep up with them. She used every available option to hurt her sister. Her weapons, her body, and even the debris that was scattered throughout the arena. The weirdest part was that Yang's strikes always seemed to fall short. Regardless of how she attacked, her blows never landed.

Yang tried, she really did. She tried multiple methods of attack, from keeping her distance and attacking with her gauntlets to trying to get off a counterattack. She even tried slipping her up with her Semblance.

Pyrrha didn't even notice. She didn't even take a single hit. Or even show the slightest bit of emotion during the entire fight. The same bland expression never once left her face.

"Winner by aura depletion Pyrrha Nikos." The audience gave various polite claps at what had just gone down, most of them looked indifferent to the outcome, this must've been a regular thing for them. "Make your way to the locker rooms and get cleaned up, we have time for one more match."

Ruby made eye contact with Yang as she passed, though the sharp glare Yang sent at her sister made it clear she wasn't to say a word about what just happened. An order that Ruby was all too happy to obey, she wanted to forget what she had just seen too.

Pyrrha didn't even bother going to the locker rooms. She only had a thin sheen of sweat across her forehead for her efforts.

What terrifying skill.

"Ms. Rose."

Ruby jumped from her thoughts at the sound of her name being called. "Uh, yes?"

Ms. Goodwitch gestured to the arena. "Perhaps you would like the opportunity to battle today?"

Aww yeah, this is what I've been waiting for. Time to fight someone who can actually think and strategize. Not some mindless monster that only wants to kill.

"Yes please!" Ruby pulsed her Semblance and landed in the arena with a twirl. Crescent Rose at the ready. "Let me at 'em!" She glanced across the arena curiously, wondering who it was she was going to fight. Glynda jumped back a tiny bit – surprised at the girl's Semblance. She regained her composure immediately though.

"Let's see." She gazed across the arena. "Mr. Arc, you shall be her opponent."

Huh, Jaune?

The blonde boy in the stands slowly stood and made his way down the stairs into the arena. He didn't look confident in his chances, but he did look excited for the upcoming battle. Well, they both knew how this was going to end, but they would make the battle worth it regardless. Ruby sent a cheerful smile and a small wave at the blonde boy. Jaune returned it with a smile of his own.

"Please insert your scrolls into the computer."

They both did as instructed and their auras were displayed for everybody to see. Both of them were full and healthy. Though Jaune's was much larger than hers.

"Are both fighters ready?"

Jaune replied by getting into a defensive stance and unsheathing his sword and shield.

At the very least, I can make this a learning experience for him.

"Jaune," Ruby's voice caused the boy to stiffen and stand at attention. "I'm going to start the fight with a right hook straight at your face. Deflect the blow with your shield and counterattack with your sword. Okay?"

Many of the students looked very confused as to why she would tell her opponent exactly how she was going to attack but Ruby had other plans in mind.

I want to get him used to blocking and dodging. I'll slowly get faster with my attacks, forcing him to push his limits.

Ms. Goodwitch looked particularly perplexed at what Ruby had just done but she didn't comment on it. "Prepare yourselves."

Jaune bent his knees and got his shield into position. Ruby placed one foot in front of the other and prepared to launch herself to Jaune.

"BEGIN!"

True to form and exactly as she had promised, Ruby blasted toward Jaune with unbelievable speed and rocketed her right fist toward his face. It was only thanks to the earlier warning that allowed Jaune to bring his shield up in time and smack her fist to the side.

Following her earlier instruction, Jaune used the opening he created to thrust his sword into her abdomen, threatening to impale the young girl. In an incredible display of agility, Ruby twirled out of the way at the very last second. She dug her heels into the ground to slow her momentum.

"Good. Very good," Ruby praised. Jaune smiled and stood a little taller. "I'm going to swipe Crescent Rose across your abdomen now. You should dodge."

"W-W-Wait hold-"

Again, Ruby kept her word as Crescent Rose unfolded from her backside and the razor-sharp tip sang through the air toward Jaune's torso.

Jaune sucked in a breath to protect himself from agony. It just barely worked. He felt the wind around his stomach part as the bladed edge of Ruby's battle scythe damn near cut his aura in half. But he dodged, that's all that really mattered.

"Going to kick you in the groin now."

"Eek!" Jaune yelped in a not-very-masculine voice. She was sure that all men would've sounded the same if put in the same situation. Jaune brought his shield in place just in time for Ruby's booted foot to crash into the steel. The force of her kick pushed him back some. He got back into his fighting stance immediately.

"Hmm?" Ruby's judgmental eyes scanned his body before she casually walked up to Jaune with Crescent Rose still deployed. Crocea Mors sliced downward in a wide arc with a powerful arm commanding it. Ruby sidestepped the sharp blade without even trying.

Jaune brought his shield to his chest to protect himself from the inevitable counterattack, only to stiffen when Ruby started to kick his legs closer together.

"Your legs are too far apart," she corrected. "Also, you gotta bend your knees a little more," she pushed him down by his shoulders. "You need to be prepared to dive at a moment's notice." She then grabbed his sword and shifted his attacking arm slightly, she did the same for the shield arm. "Keep your sword here when defending. It's the perfect place to launch a counterattack from and it doesn't get in the way of your shield."

Ruby gave a few experimental punches to his shield once he was in the correct stance. He didn't budge under her onslaught. "Much better. With a solid stance, you are a much more serious threat." Jaune took a moment to get used to his new stance before nodding his head and readying his weapon. Ruby brought Crescent Rose over her shoulder like she was preparing to swing a baseball bat.

"Duck," Ruby ordered.

Jaune did so. The rush of air above his head and the way his hair fluttered in the breeze told him he was just barely successful.

"Jump."

"Dodge left."

"Shield."

"Parry."

Ruby announced every single attack before they were thrown, giving Jaune just enough time to listen to her orders and avoid the attacks before she launched into another one. She got a little faster with each one, forcing Jaune to push himself. Eventually, she stopped announcing her attacks altogether and just kept swinging. She even gave Jaune a few openings when he countered for him to launch a counterattack. Those attacks never landed but the intention had been for him to learn.

He kept up with her pretty well. She didn't know what training the rest of his team was putting him through but it was clearly working. His strength and speed have increased dramatically and his control over his aura was much better than before. The main problem was his sword technique. He was using his sword as if he were much faster than he actually was. He shouldn't rely on speed so much as power. It made sense though. He was being trained by Pyrrha, who was incredibly graceful with her weapons, she was obviously trying to teach Jaune the same way she was taught.

Ruby would have to correct that later.

The bout came to an end a couple of minutes later when Jaune's constant dodging started to tire him out. The heavy breathing, sweating, and panting could attest to that. Ruby whipped the body of Crescent Rose to the blonde's face, to his credit – he did try to dodge, he moved his foot back to get out of the weapon's trajectory. He was successful in avoiding the attack but was unsuccessful in staying on his feet. His back crashed into the arena with an audible thud.

He tried to push himself up before the sharp tip of Crescent Rose rested atop his neck, promising a world of agony should he continue. Jaune debated trying anyway for a second before his head dropped down to the arena with a defeated sigh. "I yield…" Jaune groaned.

"W-Winner by surrender, Ruby Rose."

Ruby folded Crescent Rose and hooked it onto her back before offering Jaune a hand which he gratefully accepted. Her super strength pulled him up with no effort. "Nice work Jaune, you're getting stronger."

Jaune smiled at the girl and let himself chuckle. "You destroyed me," he said.

Ruby shrugged. "Yeah, but you're still getting stronger. You made me use two percent of my power this time."

This time Jaune laughed much more audibly. "That was the most cliché thing you could've said. You sound like a crappy anime villain." Ruby laughed along with Jaune before they were interrupted by Ms. Goodwitch.

"Ms. Rose, while I do appreciate you trying to help Mr. Arc with his combat training, do know that it is not a very good idea to tell your opponents how to avoid an attack before you throw the attack. Also, don't think I didn't notice you pulling your punches. Being reluctant to hurt someone is a good way to get hurt yourself."

Ruby saluted. "Yes Ma'am!"

"Mr. Arc, work on improving your offensive capabilities. The best defense is a good offense. You should be grateful that Ms. Rose has sought to teach you a few things in your battle. Don't let her kindness go to waste." Ms. Goodwitch addressed the entire class. "That is all for today. Don't forget the assignment that is due Friday or the homework that is due tomorrow."

The class started filing out of the room while Ruby and Jaune reunited with the rest of their friends. Yang had returned from the locker rooms and was looking much happier than before.

"That was nice of you Ruby," Ren started, "helping Jaune like that. I can see why you two are friends."

"Or maybe…" Yang began in a teasing voice, "Ruby just didn't want to hurt her boyfriend. Aahhhh... to be young and in love."

Ruby's cheeks dusted a light pink and let out a groan of annoyance. "Yaaaang... noooo."

The rest of the day passed by without incident, with a few more classes as well as lunch. She learned a lot and also picked up new experiences.

One thing was for sure.

Beacon was pretty cool.

---

AN: This chapter was fun.

Next chapter whenever I feel like it.

Just bought Helldivers 2 so I really hope I won't spend too much time playing that when I should be writing.