Ch 28: Team CFVY

His first day of classes started just like any other day had for the last ten years for Ray. With a 5 am workout.

"Good Morning."

"Mornin', Ray"

*yawn* "Morning…"

"Morning Pyrrha, Yang, Ruby. Glad to see I didn't have to go drag you two to training today." Ray greeted Pyrrha, Ruby, and Yang as they arrived where he was doing his morning stretches in the courtyard, even if Ruby still looked half asleep. Ray was glad to see his sisters hadn't needed his help to get up today. He had let them off yesterday since it was their first night at Beacon, and the excitement of being in a new place had exhausted them, but if they thought they were going to get out of training two days in a row, then they were going to find themselves waking up in the fountain.

The four spent the rest of the time till sunrise training together. Running, swimming, resistance training, weapon drills, shadow sparring, and meditation as the sun came up. Pyrrha could understand why Ray, Yang, and Ruby liked to meditate as the sun rose. The slowly increasing warmth of the rising sun welcoming a new day made the world feel more vibrant and herself more alive than she had ever experienced before.

She had been surprised during their morning run when Ruby and Yang had also started the Aura manipulation training Ray had shown her yesterday, though they were only able to hold two and three shapes, respectively. Ruby and Yang were equally surprised that Pyrrha was already able to separate a portion of her Aura, even if she couldn't hold it for long. How long had it taken them to learn how to do even that!? The gulf of talent was so unfair.

Their morning workout complete, the four returned to their dorm rooms to get ready for the day. The cafeteria would open for breakfast at 6 am and stay open till 9:15 am. They would then have two 1 hour lecture classes starting at 9 am with a 30-minute break in between. The cafeteria would open again for lunch from 11:30 am to 1:15 pm. Their afternoon classes would begin at 1 pm and consist of two more 1-hour lectures with a 2-hour sparring class in-between with 30-minute breaks in between each. 6 pm onward would be free time with the cafeteria opening for dinner at 6 pm and going till 10 pm. The cafeteria would remain open in a limited fashion for coffee and simple snacks such as fruit and bagels till 1 am for any who wanted to study late. They would also have practical lessons two or three times a week that would take them off-campus and would combine their three afternoon classes into one. Well… in general, that is. Classes at Beacon were very fluid, and you would rarely have the exact same schedule two days in a row, let alone the same classes.

All students at Beacon were expected to wear a uniform, including teaching assistants. For males, the Beacon Academy uniform consisted of black suits lined with gold, accompanied by a blue vest and a white shirt with a red tie. The females wore a red plaid skirt, black stockings of various lengths, and a brown jacket with a tan vest and white shirt with a red ribbon tied at the collar. As a teaching assistant, Ray received a modified male uniform in the same design, but the suit was white, and the shirt was black. The tie and vest were also a slightly lighter shade of red and blue.

As Ray finished getting dressed after taking a leisurely, long, hot shower, he heard a loud whistle and an energetic, "Good morning, Team RWBY!" from the room next to him.

Ray smiled, hearing it, [Sounds like Ruby has finally had her morning coffee and sugar. Poor Blake and Weiss, I wonder how they are taking it.] He heard another shrill whistle ring out, [I think I'll go check on them.]

Ray opened the door to Team RWBY's room without knocking. He, Ruby, and Yang had never developed the habit of knocking before entering each other's rooms at home. Opening the door, he found Blake, Ruby, and Yang yelling "Banzai!" with their backs to the door, one fist in the air, and tilting their bodies slightly to the side while looking up already in their uniforms. Ruby had even attached her beloved red hood to hers. Weiss, meanwhile, was kneeling on the ground on all fours, still in her faded-blue nightgown, looking like she couldn't understand why she had to endure this torture. On the floor with her were two haphazard piles of stuff that appeared to have been just dumped on the floor that.

"Uhh Weiss, are you ok?"

"Oh, hey Ray, we were just about to start decorating. Want to help?" Ruby turned to greet her twin.

*Shriek* "What do you think you're doing!? Get out!? Haven't you ever heard of knocking!?" Weiss jumped up and shrieked at Ray's intrusion, mortified at letting him see her like this, as she tried to use her fingers to quickly comb her hair. [Wait!? Why am I embarrassed?] Weiss's confusion fueled her embarrassment, and she grabbed her pillow and threw it at him.

"Get out!?"

"Well, I guess y'all are fine. I'm going for breakfast. See ya in class." Ray slammed the door shut before the feathered projectile hit him and left the girls to their decorating.

Reaching the cafeteria and getting his food, Ray looked around the cafeteria and didn't spot anyone he knew. He did spot some people he 'remembered', however.

[Isn't that Team CFVY(coffee)?] Ray spotted a team of two girls and two guys sitting at a table with an empty seat next to the girl wearing sunglasses and a beret.

"Hey, mind if I join you guys?" Ray walked over to them and asked.

"Well, if it isn't Rajeev Rose, the most talked-about man on campus. Sure grab a seat. I'm Coco Adel, the leader of Team CFVY, and these are my teammates Velvet Scarlatina, Fox Alistair, and Yatsuhashi Daichi." Coco said, gesturing to the bunny-eared Faunus girl next to her and then the two guys across from them.

Coco was a 5'8" human girl with milky white skin, dark-brown eyes, and short dark brown hair in a pixie cut, except one strand dyed caramel that hung from her right temple down to rest on her shoulder. She wore a pair of black aviator sunglasses and a black beret along with the standard Beacon Academy uniform for female students. Coco had a very sharp yet noble appearance that went well with the innate sense of confidence she emitted.

Velvet was a 5'6" Faunus girl with silky smooth white skin, a pair of chocolate brown rabbit ears, big break-your-heart brown eyes, and long brown hair that reached down to her waist. Velvet was also dressed in the standard Beacon uniform for females with only the addition of a small camera hanging from her right hip. Velvet had a cute button nose and soft pink lips that went very well with her shy and timid personality and made her look like a cute, defenseless little bunny as she seemed to try to withdraw into herself and scoot closer to Coco when Ray turned his gaze to her.

Ray found her actions extremely adorable and endearing and wanted to tease her. However, since it was their first time meeting and she was obviously not comfortable with him, Ray just warmly smiled at her before turning his attention to the guys.

Fox was a 6'2" human male with dark skin, messy, dark copper hair, and white eyes without any pupils or irises, showing that he was blind. Fox wore the standard male Beacon Academy uniform without any additions. His face had a long scar running through his lips, giving him a fierce appearance that was belaid by his easy smile and friendly greeting.

Yatsuhashi was a 7'0" human male with light tan skin and a very bulky and muscular build. He had small brown eyes and black hair cut close to his scalp. He had stern, if caring, facial features that went well with his quiet personality as he just nodded at Ray when he joined them. Like Fox, he also wore the standard male Beacon uniform without any embellishments.

"Nice to meet the famous Team CFVY. Please, call me Ray." Ray took the seat beside Coco.

Across from him, Fox laughed at his statement, "I'm not sure how to feel about you calling us famous after that epic entrance you made at the Team Ceremony. It was one of those times I really wish I could see. Just what kind of guy could give off that sort of pressure?"

"Haha. As the number one second-year team at Beacon, I'd say that you guys are definitely qualified to be called famous. As for my appearance, I can show you if you like."

The members of Team CFVY all looked at Ray funny, not sure if he was serious or making fun of them, "What do you mean by that exactly?" Coco's voice had dropped its initial friendliness making it very clear that if he was messing with her team, she would make sure he regretted it.

Ray smiled, seeing her protective streak, and decided that show was better than tell in this situation. "Can you give me your hand?" Ray asked Fox, raising his own. Fox paused for a moment to consider before reaching his hand halfway across the table. Ray took the offered hand and closed his eyes. For a moment, nothing happened, then Fox suddenly trembled and jerked his hand back.

"What did you do?!" Fox was clearly shaken. The rest of Team CFVY turned to glare at Ray as he calmly went back to eating his breakfast.

"My Semblance is Electromancy, and I am very, very good at the micro aspect of it. Your brain is fine, it's just your eyes that don't work, so I used my Semblance to bypass your eyes and send the electric signal that your eyes should have been sending directly to your brain. The signals are copies of what I observed coming to my own brain when I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, so it wasn't too hard to replicate." Ray explained. Team CFVY looked at him in shock at what he had just casually revealed.

"Abilities that deal with the manipulation of the mind shouldn't be taken lightly." Yatsuhashi warned him.

"I know." Ray nodded solemnly in agreement. He remembered that Yatsuhashi's Semblance allowed him to mess with people's memories, and it had caused him a lot of problems with his family when he had first awakened it and couldn't properly control it. He knew what he was talking about.

"Lighten up, Yatsu." Fox laughed, "But man. Who would have thought that that domineering presence could belong to such a cute-looking guy? Hey, want to follow me around for a couple of days and be my eyes." Ray threw his apple at Fox's face at that remark. Fox caught it out of the air before it could hit him.

"I don't think you need the help." Ray replied, making sure the smirk on his face was present in his voice. Fox laughed back at his reply and took a big bite out of the apple.

"Messing with your opponent's senses like that must be very useful in battle, too bad you have to be in contact with your opponent for that trick to work. Does it work on functioning senses or only ones that aren't working?" Coco praised Ray's abilities as she relaxed seeing her teammates getting along with him. She was just casually thinking out loud and didn't really expect an answer. They hadn't known each other long enough to start revealing the full extent of their skills.

"But… if he latched his Aura onto someone during a battle, couldn't he manipulate them through that? He is a hand-to-hand fighter after all." Velvet timidly interjected next to Coco.

Ray smiled mysteriously and gestured at Velvet with his fork, "She's smart." He said with a wink at Velvet, neither confirming nor denying Velvet's statement nor answering Coco's question. Velvet blushed at his compliment and quickly hid behind Coco.

Ray and Team CFVY finished their breakfast in a companionable fashion before splitting up to head for their first classes of the day.