A cacophony of metal against metal rang out as Jaune sat watching his friend work. Ruby was the most focused he had ever seen her as she meticulously hammered the small piece of glowing metal. After another hammer strike she held it up with a pair of tongs, a scrutinizing eye carefully examining for any malformation, before dunking the piece in a small barrel of oil. After only a few moments she pulled the metal out to reveal a blood red blade with a blade length of roughly eight inches with a few extra inches for the handle.
As Ruby gave a satisfied nod she took the blade to a grinder for sharpening. Meanwhile Jaune sat watching in interest even as his hands moved with on their own. A small stack of rectangular strips of paper with intricate designs sat to his left, all with a red border surrounding what the untrained eye would believe to be meaningless calligraphy. These were paper bombs, one of the few bits of fuinjutsu that Tsunade was able to teach him.
Fuinjutsu was something of a scarce art practiced in the elemental nations. Truthfully it's not very surprising considering how difficult it can be. With the slightest mistake a piece of Fuinjutsu could be rendered useless or in the worst case scenario accidentally activated. The later of which had happened plenty to Jaune during his training. Thank the brothers for aura.
Unfortunately Tsunade had little interest in the subject and had only pursued it in order to keep a steady supply of paper bombs during the war. Personally Jaune would love the chance to learn more about the obscure art. With the ability to lay traps, teleport, or even erect barriers it seemed it would have been an amazing addition to his arsenal. Alas for the time being he was relegated to creating simple paper bombs.
As for why he was here in Beacons forge, well he had finally decided to add melee weapons to his arsenal. Specifically sets of kunai and shuriken, although they are not ordinary sets. No, these kuani and Shuriken are specially made out of pure dust.
With a special process called 'Dust Forging' a weaponsmith such as Ruby is able to turn normal powder dust into dust blades. From there it's as simple as shaping the blade into whatever form the client wants, in this case kunai and shuriken. Of course the practice is somewhat expensive considering the amount of dust needed, the materials for safety, and the smiths own skill.
Luckily Jaune has the money to spare and with the company he's looking into partnering with dust won't be an issue for long. There's also the fact Ruby already had some of the materials with her in case she wanted to try upgrading Crescent Rose with a dust blade. The rest Jaune was more than happy to pay for especially if Ruby was doing the work personally.
"So these are bombs?" Coco asked from her seat across from Jaune as she looked over the stack of paper bombs. "How? There's no trigger or explosive as far as I can see." She questioned.
"Paper bombs or explosive tags are made out of a special ink that reacts to the energy my semblance produces. They're infused with this energy and when activated will release that energy causing and explosion." Jaune explained finishing his current tag before setting his calligraphy set aside and showing Coco a bowl of ink. "You see this?".
"Yeah it's ink, couldn't you use a pen?" She asked with a raised brow.
Jaune shook his head. "No, this ink is mixed with my blood and chakra. It's what infuses the ink with the properties to react to whatever tag I create."
Coco let out a low whistle. "Sounds complicated as hell, wouldn't a grenade work just as good?"
"If I threw a grenade or paper tag at you which are you more likely to dodge?" Jaune asked rhetorically.
"Touché."
"So where's Caesar?" Jaune asked as he looked around the forge. It was still a few hours before curfew so his temporary team had elected to spend time working on strategies and getting ready for tomorrow.
"She went to get permission to head into the emerald forest so we could test out your new weapons." Coco replied.
"Ah...I didn't think about that. It probably would have been a bad idea to set off a lot of explosions in one of the training rooms." Jaune stated with a nod. "Do you think they'll let us? I mean we have an exercise there tomorrow." He questioned.
"The head mechanic and engineering professor is a close friend of hers, we'll get permission. I would be ready for a lecture later on though...just in case." Coco stated with a knowing look.
"Oh ye of little faith!" Caesar proclaimed as she walked into the room with a wide grin.
"I have faith, faith you'll land us in trouble somehow." Coco shot back.
"She's just sore a party my team threw went a little crazy." Caesar said looking to Jaune with a slight smirk.
"Your 'party' got five teams detention, three dorms burned down, and one hell of a chewing out by Goodwitch." Coco replied more curtly. If Jaune were a betting man he would say one of her eyes were twitching. The way that Caesar seemed to sigh as if remembering a fun time didn't seem to help.
"I know, those were the good old days." Caesar stated with a wistful smile.
"Whatever grandma." Was Coco's snarky reply.
"Anyway, good news boss we've got permission to head out for the forest." Caesar reported happily.
"Awesome, thanks for that Caesar." Jaune stated giving the older girl a smile.
"N-no problem." She replied with her own wide smile. "So when are we heading out?"
"As soon as Rubys-"
*CLANK!*
Jaune was interrupted by the sound of metal, muffled slightly by cloth, hitting the table just in front of him. There with a beaming Ruby Rose standing behind it was a cloth that held an assortment of kunai and shuriken of different colors. Each color representing the type of dust that was used in its construction. Red for fire, dark blue for lightning, ice blue for ice, green for wind, and so on and so forth.
Taking one of the ice kunai Jaune stepped away giving it a few test swings and stabs. It was the same weight as a regular kunai, same sharpness, and the same ease at which it was handled. Deciding to test the original purpose of this project Jaune channeled a bit of his water chakra into the blade and the reaction was immediate. The blade was encased in ice that shot out to about the length of wakizashi, however it was straight like a tanto and double edged.
"Holy shit/That's hot." We're the unanimous responses of Coco and Caesar respectively.
"Rubes this is amazing." Jaune complimented as he gave the impromptu sword a couple of test slashes.
"It better be, working with dust blades are a pain in the neck. Especially something as small as shuriken!" Ruby replied with a playful pout.
"Caesar got us permission to head into the emerald forest to try these out. Do you want to take a break first?" Jaune asked.
"You kidding?" Ruby asked indignantly. "Let's go test these babies out!" She cheered.
Jaune walked up to the table and stored everything in his storage shocking the three girls. "Alright let's go!" He cheered while walking out before anyone could ask any questions.
Vale, Juniors
Considering it was mid-afternoon most people would say there's something inherently wrong with a club not preparing to open for the night and one Hei 'Junior' Xiong would completely agree. You see Junior was many things a businessman, a father, an uncle, and depending on who you asked he toed the line between criminal and legitimate. He was also temporarily out of business thanks in no small part to a huntress in training trashing his club.
As Junior watched a crew of workers put the bar shelves back together he couldn't help but huff in annoyance. A month, a full fucking month his club had been out of business and most of his guys were still laid up in the hospital. It was luck and only luck that his girls, Mil and Mel, hadn't had worse that a sprain the the scuffle.
Normally anyone that cared to do such a thing would be enjoying the view of the bottom of the ocean from a pair of cement boots, but this time there were reasons he couldn't do anything. The first was that the headmaster of Beacon himself was covering for the brat that had caused everything.
Of course the headmaster was generous with financing his clubs repairs and his peoples medical bills. It was the only thing keeping Junior from having that brat tossed in jail. Then there's the fact he would have undoubtedly had to deal with two Branwens and the blonde of team STRQ.
Qrow and Taiyang would probably be reasoned with easily enough, but Raven? No Junior knew about her one save rule and wasn't willing to see if it applied to legal matters.
"Damn what happened here?" An all too familiar voices asked.
"Huntress in training." Junior shot back with some annoyance.
"Ah you too?"
"So that's why those guys I lent you landed in the slammer." Junior stated. He had already known that, but he felt like making polite conversation for once.
"So I guess I won't be getting any muscle from here for a while." Roman Torchwick stated with some annoyance. "Great, guess I'm stuck with those animals." He muttered under his breath.
"I'd figure Neo would be enough for you? Speaking of where is she?" Hei asked not seeing the gremlins anywhere in sight.
"Probably raiding what's left of your ice cream." Roman replied with a shrug. "She's been extra mopey since 'you know who' went to Beacon."
"Tell me about it." Hei groaned. "The twins were a pain in the ass ever since the kid stopped hanging around here."
"Heard from him since?" Roman asked curiously.
"Yeah few days ago, called asking for opinions on what to do with a lot of money. Gave him some info on a few investment opportunities that might catch his eye." He explained.
"Oh, suddenly struck it rich? I'm hurt he didn't call." Roman replied dramatically.
"Oh he asked for you alright, apparently those transcripts did get caught. The headmaster let him in anyway." Hei explained in a tone that made it clear Roman was getting warned.
"Good to know, so how much-"
"A lot, inheritance of some kind. I didn't tell him about the club either...at first." Hei stated.
"Oh, didn't want a piece of the pie?" Roman asked genuinely curious.
"You don't swindle family...unless they're assholes and we can both agree Jaune isn't an ass." Junior rebutted.
Roman scoffed "You don't have to convince me, besides I'd hate to be in the room when Neo or the twins find out if someone ran their mouth about the kid. He's got a bleeding heart that's for sure." The thief replied as he repressed a shiver. He still didn't know where Neo had buried the last guy that talked shit about the kid.
"Pft, please the girls talked to him about what happened. Next thing I know he's offering to buy out the club and renovate it. All while offering me a partnership while he stays hands off." Junior stated with a deadpan.
"Huh." Was the only reply Roman could utter since he knew the club wasn't cheap. "So did you?"
"Do I look like an idiot to you?" Junior asked incredulously. "Hell yeah I took the deal, do you know how much I'll save in insurance and billing because of active and former huntsman discounts alone?"
"Huntsman huh, hey next time you talk to the kid let him know I need a favor." Roman stated as an idea started to formulate.
"What are you planning Roman?" Hei asked warily.
"Something that might save both our necks." Roman stated nodding the the woman who suddenly appeared out of shattering glass.
Emerald Forest cliffs, next day
Jaune stood together with his temporary team as they waited for professor Goodwitch to explain the second part of the exercise. He had already suspected it would be a survival challenge of some kind, maybe even a mock initiation. Regardless of what it was his team was ready.
They had spent several hours exploring the forest and testing out both his new weapons and their strategies yesterday. Not to mention he used the opportunity to test out some of the more dangerous techniques Tsunade had taught him. He would forever remember the face Ruby made when he punched straight through an ursa major's skull.
Considering he went from a measly four tickets to fifteen he would say it was most definitely worth the hassle. Even if Glynda did give them a stern warning about the dangers of the forest after they returned to Beacon proper.
"Attention students."
Everyone gave the professor their undivided attention as she stood in front of them with the headmaster and professor port at each side.
"Today your challenge will be simple...survive." She stated grimly causing a few brave student to mutter to themselves. "This will be a battle royal between all participating teams. The rules are that if your aura reaches the red you are automatically out. There will be absolutely no crippling or death blows allowed...and we will be watching." She explained grimly. "You will have ten minutes to enter the forest from this position and when that time is up you will be free to engage anyone you come across. Bullheads are standing by as we speak to drop teams off."
Professor Goodwitch immediately activated the timer in her scroll and at first no one moved. It was only after a few seconds of seeing the countdown start that students took off running for the mentioned bullheads. After a few minutes there were only two teams still standing in the clearing, one seemingly bored and the other watching the first with cautious curiosity.
"Is there a reason you've decided to remain?" Ozpin asked looking at the two teams curiously.
Ren stepped forward even as his teammates regarded him with curiosity. He had stopped his team from leaving citing concerns an increased level of danger in the forest.
"As much as I would like for my team to participate...it would be foolish to enter a lions den if our objective is survival." Ren stated as he crossed his arms.
"What do you mean Mr. Ren? Surely your team is a capable lot or do you have doubts that trouble you?" Port asked as he twirled his mustache with a raised eyebrow.
"It is because I have no doubts that I refuse to allow my team to enter the forest any further." Ren stated firmly.
"Alright we trusted your lead here, but now I'm just confused." Lucy stated as she planted her hands on her hips and stared at Ren.
"Tell me, everyone, all four of our original leaders are a team, yes?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, what's that got to do with this?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Where were they for most of the evening yesterday?" Ren asked.
"They were here." Velvet replied. "Coco told us they spent a couple of hours in the forest training."
"Oh my/crud."
Everyone, with the exception of Ren, looked at Pyrrha and Nora in a questioning manner. The pair looked pale, almost as if they were haunted by something.
"Indeed, you see headmaster you made a mistake." Ren stated seriously causing everyone to stare in shock at the normally stoic young man.
"Oh, and what mistake was that mister Ren." Ozpin asked with a raised eyebrow.
*BOOM!* BOOM!* BOOM!*
In perfect sync with Glynda's countdown reaching zero the forest was suddenly alight with the sounds of explosions. From their position they could see smoke rising into the air suddenly as more and more explosions went off.
"I don't believe it." The deputy headmistress stated more to herself than anyone else.
She held up her scroll to show that over a dozen students had already been eliminated. Some were having their aura dropped into the red as soon as an explosion was heard.
"Your mistake was to think any member of team JNPR would enter that forest with the goal of survival." Ren replied as he looked across the sea of tress as more explosions rose. "Especially if our leader took time to prepare."
Two minutes before start time
Cardin Winchester was not in a good mood. First he was barely in the middle of the scoreboard for this stupid exercise thanks to Xaio Long and Valkyrie. If those two bitches had just listened to him than they would have thrashed Arc's team and been on top.
Then he got paired up with a couple of stupid third year animals. Some bear bitch and her mutt of a boyfriend along with that crazy blond pyromaniac. Him! Cardin Winchester was being forced to work with these fucking animals!
"Alright times almost up, get ready." The bear bitch announced as they stood in the same clearing the bullhead had dropped them off.
"Why didn't we just go in?" Cardin asked his time dripping with condescension. The bear bitch had the audacity to roll her eyes at him before nodding to the mutt.
"Because something smells off and it's stupid to rush ahead." He stated, his monotone voice sounded almost annoyed.
As soon as the timer went off Cardin rushed forward even as the animals tried to stop him. Fuck them, he was a Winchester, he wouldn't be caught dead listening to some mutt twink and a flea infested bitch.
Just as he got several feet into the forest his foot tripped a line of thin wire. So thin that he didn't even know what he did until Cardin was hanging upside down high into the trees. Unfortunately there was little to no time to react as he heard a sizzling noise to his left.
Looking over Cardin saw a piece of paper with weird writing and red border. He saw nothing else as his vision went white following a large explosion.
With Weiss
Weiss Schnee was not happy with her temporary team, no not the team, it was one Jane Doe. The older girl being a Faunus had nothing to do with the matter she was simply tired of dealing with constant disrespect. From the very start of this exercise she had been questioned, needled, berated, and very closely humiliated. It was only thanks to her years of training that she, reluctantly, kept herself from killing the mouse faunus.
She had wanted to lead, to have a chance at proving herself, was that so wrong? Apparently so since once she stated her intentions the older girl had immediately come down on her. Could she have worded her intentions somewhat better than 'I will be leading'...perhaps.
That, however, did not give Jane the right to act as though she had never worked for her position. She had put blood, sweat, and tears into her training and to have it attacked by someone that knew nothing of her struggles was insulting.
She shook her head as she walked behind Fox into the forest. She needed to focus on the here and now, it wouldn't do to be distracted in a hostile environment. Just as the thought left her mind Fox fell forward stopping her in her tracks.
"Fox?! You good?" Sky asked as he moved closer.
"Fine, I just tripped over some-"
*SSSSSS*
"DOWN!"
Fox covered his head as Sky fell to the ground immediately. Weiss' confusion at the situation would have cost her dearly if not for her being tackled to the ground by Jane. The timing was perfect, just as their bodies met the forest floor explosions rang out around them.Aura protected them of course, but had they been standing they would have taken far more damage.
They laid still for a few moments before everyone started to rise. "Everyone good!" Jane asked as she helped Weiss to her feet.
"Good/everything's in one piece." Were the immediate replies of Fox and Sky.
Jane took their affirmations in stride as she looked over Weiss for any injuries. "What about you Weiss?"
For a moment Weiss was reminded of her elder sister with the way Jane searched for the slightest scratch. "I'm well...thank you." Weiss stated in gratitude.
Jane nodded with a slight smile before getting everyone back on their feet. Perhaps Jane wasn't as bad as she had once thought...like Ruby. Perhaps Weiss would need to work on making better first impressions.
*bang!*
The crack of a sniper rifle was the only warning they had before a fire dust round hit to their far right. The reactions were immediate as everyone ducked for cover, whoever the shooter was they needed far more training in the heiresses opinion.
"Sorry Weiss! I'll make it up to you later!" Was the call of one Ruby Rose, her voice growing distant.
Alarm bells rang for Weiss immediately, Ruby was the best shot she knew. She wouldn't miss unless-
"Run!" Weiss cried as she charged forward.
Her team followed instantly as another sizzling noise could just faintly be heard before another explosion. Weiss' eyes widened as this one set off a chain of explosions across where they had taken cover. This forest was now far more dangerous than originally intended and her partner was part of the reason. Weiss did not know how to feel about this.
Caesar was in love. There was no doubt in her mind that she was in love with Jaune Arc and it had only taken two days of knowing him.
A series of explosions were set off on a team primarily made of seconds years scattering them amongst the trees. From her position in the canopy above she fell onto the nearest student shattering their aura as her shield made contact.
Quicker than the others could react she was upon them with a smile that betrayed her manic glee. She slapped the seconds dagger aside with the brunt of her shield, slamming the pommel of her sword against their forehead throwing them backwards and into unconsciousness.
The last two would have tried to save their friend if they hadn't been assailed with a barrage of gunfire courtesy of Coco. The fashionista pinning the pair in place before her semblance activated. Caesar loved her own semblance, but 'Hype' was incredibly useful for a gunner like Coco.
The barrage of explosive rounds not only shattered their preys aura, but sent them flying backwards into another tree. No sooner were they out did Coco drop from the treetops and throw down an emergency beacon. It would send this teams location to a bullhead for retrieval, even if they wouldn't be out for very long. Even then, with the amount of traps in the forest grimm wouldn't even make it close to anyone unconscious.
Another explosion in the distance drew the pairs attention, they shared a nod before setting off. Caesar checked the map Jaune had made for their team as they moved, careful to avoid the traps he had highlighted in red. Hours, this entire plan had taken a few mere hours and so far not a single team had completely entered the forest unscathed, except theirs obviously.
It took less than ten minutes to get to the last explosion they had heard. When they arrived they saw two members of the team that had set off the explosion already out. Caesar saw the other two running at Jaune only for him to flip through a series of 'hand seals' and an enormous pillar of water from the adjacent pond formed into a dragon before flying off towards the pair.
The first was a fellow third year that saw it coming and jumped out of the way. The second, she didn't recognize them so probably a first year, wasn't so quick and was torn off his feet and slammed straight through a tree before collapsing into a second.
The third year raised his crossbow at Jaune only for him to throw some of his shuriken. They barley made contact when they exploded into ice freezing the weapon and its owners hands together. Jaune used this distraction perfectly as he charged forward, vaulting over the weapon, and knocking the third year down with a double mule kick. The third year would have still been able to fight if Jaune hadn't brought a fist down shattering his aura and cracking the ground beneath him into spiderwebbing.
Jaune took a breath as he surveyed their surroundings to ensure their wouldn't be any surprises. When he was satisfied he looked to them with a smile.
"Hey how'd you guys make out?"
"Plenty of tongue and a bit of groping, she just couldn't keep her hands off me." Coco replied with a wink.
Caesar rolled her eyes with a small smile that widened slightly as she saw a Jaune's face redden. He must have enjoyed that particular thought hmmm...she wouldn't be opposed to a little sharing Coco does have a nice ass.
"We took out two teams and found three more taken down by the traps." Caesar stated showing off her fangs with a predatory smile. "How was your own hunt?"
"I found four teams that were taken out by explosions before I found these guys." He replied. "I wonder how Ruby's doing?" He questioned aloud.
"She's good kid, found one team taken out by explosions and ran into her partners team." A gruff male voice stated.
A moment later and an orange salamander covered in black spots crawled out of the ground beside Jaune.The amphibian was roughly the size of a large dog as it stood on four short legs beside Jaune. Coco shivered, but Caesar smiled further seeing the creature. This was Karyuu, Jaune's 'summons' or whatever that meant.
She wasn't sure what to think at first upon seeing the large talking lizard yesterday when Jaune introduced them. At first she was skeptical about it being related to Jaune's semblance, but he made a rather compelling argument. Apparently it was one of the few techniques that could influence space and time to summon a special animal to aid him. In this instance Jaune explained that he was connected to salamanders in some way.
She was still skeptical if she was being honest, but she was introduced to an animal that could walk, talk, and breathe fire. Yeah after that she had other priorities than worrying about where it came from. Beside Schnees could do something similar couldn't they?
"Ruby ran into Weiss' team?" Jaune asked slightly concerned.
"She's good kid." The salamander stressed. "Followed the plan to a 't'. Set off a few traps before hightailing it out of there."
"Good, that team would be a bad matchup for Ruby to get caught by." Jaune stated with a sigh of relief. "We should get back to it, I'll double back and meet up with Ruby. You guys finish up your search and link back up afterwards." He ordered before disappearing a moment later.
Caring, but also a ruthless hunter and tactician. Yes Caesar was very much in love with Jaune Arc.
Emerald Forest Cliffs, two hours later
Two hours...the exercise lasted only two hours out of the allotted eight that Ozpin had planned. It was an accurate if not conservative amount of time that an exercise of this magnitude should have lasted if Glynda was being honest. After all one shouldn't expect a battle royal that includes every single student in their academy to last only an hour or so...ordinarily.
This year however things were far from ordinary and that trend would continue today as well. The team composed of Jaune Arc, Caesar King, Coco Adel, and Ruby Rose had utterly decimated their opposition. After reviewing camera footage and speaking with some teams as they were returned to the cliff side she could safely say that team had taken down just over three fourths of the teams that entered the forest. Three fourths!
The remaining one fourth of teams had still been affected by losing a good deal of their aura. This subsequently aided in shortening the time of the exercise, especially since many students were reduced to just above being in the red. Glynda was equally as proud as she was shocked.
On one hand Jaune's team had rigged the entire forest with enough traps even Salem herself would be hesitant on entering. On the other his team had adapted to using ambush and guerrilla tactics almost expertly to decimate their opponents. Glynda really couldn't decide if she should express her pride in the four or her annoyance. Luckily for her this was one of the few times Ozpin was actually useful.
"Never, in all my years as headmaster, have I seen such a display."
In front of Ozpin stood the aforementioned team that had turned the forest into their personal hunting grounds. Ruby looked slightly nervous at the seriousness of Ozpin's visage as she shuffled from shifting her weight from one foot to another. The other three looked completely unrepentant for their actions.
"Respectfully sir, miss Goodwitch gave everyone the location for this exercise. The fact we were the only team to take time to prepare measures against our fellow students speaks to our level of preparedness, not our disregard for any supposedly broken rules." Jaune replied evenly as he took a step forward.
Glynda could almost see the glares of their fellow students attempting to immolate them on the spot. Their teams were mostly an exception to this besides miss Schnee, who looked torn between pride in her partner or anger at her current state of being covered in mud, dirt, and multiple scorch marks.
"Fuck you Arc, you fuckers cheated!" Came the statement of one Cardin Winchester. Winchester had been unlucky enough to hit multiple explosives in rapid succession. The last of which practically shredded his armor, truly the boy was either being punished by karma or just that unlucky.
"In what way did they cheat Mister Winchester?" Ozpin asked snapping his gaze to the boy.
"Wha...but you just said-"
"I meant that in all my years as headmaster I have never seen such a display of critical thinking and strategic brilliance." Ozpin corrected with a smug smile. The attention of every student was now on Ozpin as he spoke.
"Tell me as huntsmen if your goal is survival why rush into a hoard of grimm? Why put your life and possibly those you protect at risk if there is no true benefit?" The headmaster questioned as he looked over his students.
"Truthfully there were two ways to earn full marks on this exercise." He stated.
"The smart way, where you didn't pointlessly risk your lives with no goal." He pointed to the two teams that had refused to enter the forest.
"Or the brilliant way, where you stacked the cards against impossible odds to come out the victor." He gestured to Jaune's team.
"What was the point of this then if it wasn't to win?!" Winchester asked in disbelief.
Ozpin shook his head as he stared at the foolish boy. "The grimm care not for victory nor defeat. They are endless and when one wave fails another will eventually take its place. You however, are part of a finite number, a group that each and every member holds important value. Whether it be as leaders, your years of training, or the many different skills you all possess. Never rush to your death if there is no reason to do so." Ozpin stated before beginning the walk back towards Beacon.
Some of the students clapped politely at the speech. Others were busy obviously contemplating the headmasters words of wisdom. Glynda knew better, the exercise had been exactly what it was at face value.
The students would have fought each other in a free for all environment and scored accordingly based on teamwork and tactics. Jaune and his team had completely wrecked that plan the moment they decided to overwhelmingly outsmart their entire student body. This was Ozpin trying to save the teachers asses rather than admit even he got surprised.
Would she or any teacher say anything? Absolutely not, that would be tantamount to admitting their students got one over on them. They couldn't have that.