"So those crystals can really be used to make fire and other elements?"

"Of course," Weiss said, "Dust can be used for that and much more. It powers our technology, and it helps us survive against the Grimm. Just how isolated was your island?"

"It was… very isolated. Anyways, did you use this Dust to create those snowflake glyph platforms against that Boarbatusk?"

Weiss sighed. "No, that was my Semblance. And before you ask, a Semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user."

"Huh?"

"My Semblance is speed." Ruby said.

"And mine is what created those glyphs. They use Aura, so there is no way you could have known about them."

"I see… Now that I have my Aura unlocked, does that mean that I have one of those powers as well?"

"Your Semblance is something that you will gain in time, but it can take a while to unlock it or even figure out what it is."

"There's no quick and easy way to figure it out, is there?"

"No."

"I see… Anyways, thanks for explaining all of that to me. I didn't know about that on my island."

"About that, you said that you didn't have any Dust. If that's the case, then how does your weapon work?" Ruby asked.

"It's a powerful slingshot, but it also uses powerful ammunition. I use special plant seeds that are called Pop Greens."

"How do they grow so fast?"

"That's just a property of the plant. Some grow on impact, some in proximity of an enemy, and others can even grow in mid-air. I have a lot of different kinds of Pop Greens that I use in different scenarios, and I can use other types ammunition if I need to as well."

"What do all of your Pop Greens do?"

"All.. of them? I have a lot, are you sure-"

"Yes! Please tell me about them!"

"Alright, alright, although after this I would like to know more about scrolls. In order for you to fully understand my weapon, I must tell you a tale of when I was 3 years old. An absolutely massive Grimm threatened to destroy my island, and the only thing standing between it and my village was… me! I did not run away, as a matter of fact, I was the savior of my village! It was a fierce battle, but in one fell swoop..."

Four days. That is how long it took before Cardin stopped challenging Usopp in the sparing class. What infuriated him the most was that he lost to the same move four days in a row. No matter how much he tried to avoid it, a spike of bamboo would always send him flying into the air. On the third day, he actually managed to avoid the first bamboo spike, only to be caught by a second one as he was in motion.

Immediately charging forward didn't work either, as Usopp was always able to avoid his attacks. In the end, after four matches, all that was on Cardin's record was always having been defeated in one hit without landing a hit himself. Everyone in the class thought that he was incredibly weak, and some even questioned how he passed initiation. It infuriated him, but he realized that he would have to carry out his revenge some other way.

At some point, an incinerator was placed into the room in order to easily dispose of Usopp's plants that would normally be taking up space in the arena.

It was now the start of class for the fifth day of class. "Cardin, do you plan on challenging Usopp again?" Glynda asked.

"No, not this time."

"Good. That matchup was far too one sided for either of you to learn anything."

Cardin twitched.

Usopp gulped. "My free win… Now I'll have to fight someone strong this time… ugh."

Cardin clenched his fist, but then he took in several deep breaths. His revenge would have to wait.

"Now, for our first match, would Pyrrha Nikos and Usopp please come to the stage," Glynda said.

Usopp couldn't help but gulp again. Weiss had told him a lot about Pyrrha, specifically her reputation and her strength. "Fighting a champion… Is this my punishment for having it easy the last couple of days? Shouldn't you ask for volunteers first?"

"Usopp… This is just a practice match. Even if you lose, you should take the lessons you learned from that defeat and better yourself. This is in no way vindictive against you."

And besides, I would be surprised of you lost. You have more of a right to be confident than many of the students here, she thought.

"A-Alright..."

The two faced each other on the stage, waiting for their match to begin.

How am I going to win against her? Should I use Impact Wolf from the start? No no, Aura doesn't seem that sturdy, so that might hurt her badly. Although, maybe it was just Cardin's Aura that was weak, as the Aura bars never went down that fast in any of the other fights. At the very least, I'll need more than just a single bamboo javelin for this one.

"Let's have a good match," Pyrrha said.

"I sure am looking forward to losing."

Pyrrha frowned.

"You can do it Usopp!" Ruby cheered.

"T-Thanks."

"You'll be fine Usopp. No one will fault you for losing," Weiss said.

Ruby elbowed her. "Don't listen to her, you can do it!"

"If you are ready, we can start this spar now," Glynda said.

Both Pyrrha and Usopp nodded.

Ruby took out a notebook where she recorded all of the information that she learned about Usopp's Pop Greens. There were even sketches provided by the man himself. "This time for sure, he'll use something other than the Bamboo Javelin."

"Now let the match begin!"

Usopp took out a handful of seeds and shot them into the ground as Pyrrha attempted to reach melee range. A cluster of ten or so Bamboo Javelins started to grow under Pyrrha, but she managed to position her shield below her. Using her Semblance, she lifted the shield as she was on it up into the air at the same rate that the spikes were growing, creating the illusion that her shield took the attack mostly unscathed.

That shield's tough… The Bamboo Javelin seeds won't be enough here.

Usopp fired several seeds into the ground around the fighting arena, although he then took several shots in the head. Pyrrha's spear had transformed into a rifle while she was in the air. She gracefully landed in a spot next to the cluster of bamboo spikes.

Usopp panicked a little as he quickly fumbled with his scroll. Still at 83%? Good.

His breathing slowed down a little as Pyrrha charged forward with her rifle now transformed back into its spear form.

Usopp aimed his slingshot and fired another seed. Pyrrha, still moving forward, dodged the Pop Green which then flew into the ground behind her. One step later, however, four Humandrakes poped out of the ground behind her. Each of the humanoid looking plants attached themselves to one of Pyrrha's limbs, causing her to fall to the ground just in front of Usopp. Her spear left her grip as she fell, leaving her disarmed.

Usopp started to get more relaxed. "I warned you, now-"

The spear that had left Pyrrha's grip was sent flying into Usopp's gut with her Semblance. Usopp was sent flying away, and he checked his scroll as he was rolling on the floor. 58% now.

After the floating spear had hit Usopp, it flew back to Pyrrha and started to impale all of the Humandrakes that were pinning her down. As Usopp stood up from the previous attack, Pyrrha also stood up after having been freed from Usopp's plants. However, a shadow loomed over her. She turned around only to be swallowed by a Devil Pop Green plant. Her aura protected her from the digestive fluids, but it was quickly being depleted. Using her Semblance on her spear and shield, she barely managed to force an opening in the plant monster's mouth from which she could escape.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy. I'm at 58% and now she's barely been hit by anything besides that Devil. It's not looking-

However, just as Pyrrha escaped from the Devil, the buzzer rang signifying the end of the match.

"Pyrrha's Aura is completely depleted. Usopp is the victor."

"Eh? Is Pyrrha's Aura bar working correctly?"

"Yes it is."

"But I only hit her with one damaging attack."

"Regardless, that was enough. As a matter of fact, you should not use that plant in a spar again. It looks like it cares little for the rules of a spar."

Usopp looked at the carnivorous plant that was still trying to chomp at a Pyrrha that was out of reach. "Y-Yeah. Sorry."

The plant was torn from the ground by Glynda's Semblance, and it was immediately sent into the incinerator.

Pyrrha dusted herself off and walked up to Usopp. She held her hand out. "That was a good match."

"Well… Just because I was complaining didn't mean that you had to hold back."

Pyrrha's hand fell to her side. "I wasn't holding back!"

"Listen, I appreciate the fact that you're trying to defend my pride, but-"

"It's not about that! You've done nothing but win since the first day of school, and today was the only time you had to put any effort into it. Why do you think you're weak?"

Usopp paused. 'I am weak' is what he wanted to say, but he couldn't say it while looking into Pyrrha's eyes. They weren't the eyes of someone who felt they were stronger than him. Usopp realized that even though she was a champion, she was still a student who was learning. He sighed and held his hand out. "Sorry. Thanks for giving it your best."

Pyrrha shook his hand. "You didn't answer my question."

"The answer is… probably because of my experience."

Since school had started, a few weeks had passed. Cardin moved on to picking on Jaune both in Combat class and outside of it to help stroke his ego. Ussop, with money that he earned from working, managed to purchase some basic art supplies. While both Team RWBY and Team JNPR have expressed interest in having a team symbol, Cardin didn't even hear Usopp out, nor did he want him to do anything for his team.

According to the terms of his role as a reserve team member, he was technically supposed to be spending time with all three teams, but he couldn't say that he had actually been doing that. On a normal day, he would attend classes, do any homework assigned, study for a little, and then spend his free time in the library learning about the world. He would stay up late looking for any information that may help him return to his own world. So far, nothing that he read or searched on a computer was any help. He couldn't even find a rumor of travel to another world, but he wasn't going to give up just because the search would take a while.

Regardless, today he decided that he would try to spend time with Team CRDL. They seemed like a bunch of jerks, but who knows? For now, he would try to sit next to them at lunch.

At least that was the plan. As soon as he got near the cafeteria, he saw Cardin pulling on the bunny ears of another student. The rest of his team was laughing.

Hey hey, this goes beyond just being rude! No one is really doing anything about it either.

From a distance, Usopp fired several rotten eggs at the members of Team CRDL, being sure that the substance would soak deep into their hair. He then bolted away to the weapon lockers.

"Who did that?! It stinks!" Cardin yelled.

"Those eggs came from that direction," another member of his team said.

Enraged, Team CRDL left Velvet and chased after the unknown assailant. Everyone in the cafeteria stared at the scene. Velvet decided to move to a different table in case they came back quickly. After a little bit, everyone settled down and resumed their lunch.

"Could that have been Usopp," Ruby asked.

"You mean me?"

Ruby looked behind her, then to the place from where the eggs came from, and then back behind her. "Wait, how did you get here so fast? And you already have a tray of food?"

"What are you talking about? I was just getting my lunch when those rotten eggs were shot. And I don't even have Black Kabuto with me. It's in my locker."

"Since when do you leave Black Kabuto in your locker?" Blake asked.

"Since today. I've always wanted to use a rocket propelled locker. Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all," Ruby said.

Usopp sat down at the table and set his food down. He was about to to eat when he realized that everyone was staring at him. "What?"

"You were the one who shot the eggs, weren't you?" Blake asked.

Usopp was almost able to stop himself from laughing. After second, he regained his composure. "No."

Everyone raised their eyebrows.

Usopp started to laugh again. "Alright, it was me. Those jerks got what was coming to them."

"Did you unlock your Semblance?" Yang asked.

"What?"

"You were just outside the cafeteria, and you shot eggs at Team CRDL. Then you went back to your locker, and then back here? Or did you just throw those eggs?"

"I used Black Kabuto to fire the eggs."

"Then are you sure you didn't unlock some kind of speed Semblance like Ruby?"

"I didn't feel anything different. I was just running fast. It's something I have a lot of experience with."

"That's… strange."

"A lot of things are strange in my- er, on my island."

"Are people… stronger where you're from?" Pyrrha asked.

"Hmm? I wouldn't know. I'm pretty new to Vale after all."

"Alright… What about just based off the spars that you fought so far?"

"…I can't remember ever being on such a long win streak before. The people I've fought on my island were scarier, but none of them were students either. Anyways, Ruby, do you have a design for your team symbol yet?"

"Oh, I left it in my room."

"That's fine. What about-"

Usopp stopped himself when he saw that Team CRDL had come back to the cafeteria. Cardin and the others were scowling. It was obvious that they had never found who fired rotten eggs at them. Usopp couldn't help but giggle a little bit.

"Anyways, Jaune- wait, where is Jaune? I needed to ask him about the team symbol design as well."

"Jaune finished his lunch a while ago, so he left," Pyrrha said.

"Oh. Well, make sure to ask him about it."

That night, Usopp set out a black canvas on the floor of his room. It was sized to where it should fit comfortably on the top half of his dorm room's door. Next to him were paint buckets for red, yellow, and white. Paintbrush in hand, he began his work, quickly creating a perfect recreation of the Straw Hat Pirate Jolly Roger. He was the one who drew the original after all. Leaving it to dry, he left to the library for some late night research.

The next morning, using tape, the Straw Hat Flag was placed on Usopp's door. As he was placing the last piece of tape, Team RWBY exited their own dorm room. They noticed Usopp who took a step back to make sure everything was level.

"Is that your own personal symbol?" Ruby asked.

"It's… more of a reminder to myself. It's the symbol of a promise I made, so I suppose it is my personal symbol for now."

"Oh..."

"Do you have you have your design idea? I can start working on it after classes."

Ruby looked at the scrap of paper which had her relatively basic design. It was just RWBY with each of the letters as their respective color. Usopp seemed like a capable artist, so she could probably ask for a more interesting design. "Actually, I want to work on it a bit more."