10

"This is absolutely ridiculous." Blake complained.

"Is it though? Second Thoughts goes and drops a bomb on us like that, and adds the fact that you, specifically, need to have an eye kept on you? I for one think this is perfectly reasonable." Weiss would not smirk. She was above such things. But, oh, was she tempted to.

"I seem to recall you being called out as well."

"No, someone else was being warned against judging me for my family name."

"That's not the part I was referring to."

"Now, now, Blakey, there's no need to be all grumpy! You and I are gonna be the best of friends, attached at the hip even! Though you're still behind Renny, nobody can come between the two of us." Nora was all smiles, an arm wrapped around the faunus girl, threatening to snap her spine in half if she so much as thought about running off towards the docks.

"Yeah, Blakey." Yang teased in a sing-song voice, "No need to be grumpy!" She barely contained her laughter. "At least we let you talk your way out of the kid leash."

I'm kind of impressed that she managed to talk her way out of the leash without revealing why she's so against it…

There's another reason? She went on a pretty long rant, I thought she covered everything she could think of, Jaune thought back.

Nah, but that's her secret to tell, she'll let you guys know when she's ready I suppose. Though if Yang gets her going again I'm not too sure that she'll hold another outburst in… say something distracting, no need to have her dealing with that quite yet.

"Any ideas on where our two mystery friends might be? I know Second Thoughts mentioned the docks, but with all of the students that are coming in I'm not sure how we're supposed to single them out…" Jaune interjected.

"We could keep an eye out for interesting people and ask for their names!" Ruby chimed in.

"Yes, keep an eye out for the interesting people in the group of arriving huntsmen and huntresses. It's not like they're all meant to stand out or anything. We would be better off holding up placards with their names on them." Weiss scoffed, but kept her eyes peeled all the same.

"Well he certainly looks interesting." Pyrrha pointed the group towards one of the ships.

The group turned to look as a faunus that appeared to be their age jumped off of a ship, two of the workers yelling after him. A series of acrobatic flips and jumps found him running off the dock, being chased by two different men who had been on the shore.

"There is no way that a stowaway faunus who can't even be bothered to properly button his shirt is important enough that we were directed to come here specifically for him." Weiss scowled at the boy as he ran towards them.

"He's coming right for us. Without Second's forewarning, it's entirely possible that he would have encountered team RWBY anyway. Perhaps he bumps into one of you or something along those lines. Is he our man, Jaune?" Ren asked.

Probably a bad idea to stop him when he's running from the law right now, but we can at least get him to come back to us once he loses them. Repeat after me.

The blond faunus ran right up to the group, looking like he was going to pass them by when Jaune spoke up, gesturing to the girl beside him. "Hey Sun, Blake here is single."

Sun's eyes went wide as he stumbled, just barely managing to stop himself from falling flat on his face. He was not the only surprised one, with the rest of the group turning to Jaune, several with gaping mouths as the stowaway sprinted off, barely evading his pursuers. The chase rounded the corner, going out of sight before anyone spoke up.

"You- why-" Blake stumbled over her words, her face turning red with blush, "What was that?! You don't know anything about my love life, you can't just-"

Follow them.

"Come on, we've gotta chase after them!" Jaune didn't hesitate to interrupt her, eager to escape the verbal lashing he was about to receive. When he ran off towards the street that Sun had turned down, the rest of the group quickly followed after. Just as he was rounding the corner, Second Thoughts spoke up again.

Sorry about this, by the way.

Sorry for wha-

It felt like he had collided with a truck. Not having expected it, he yelped in pain as he fell to the ground. The rest of the group caught up to him as he looked to see what he had run into. Or rather, who he had run into.

A girl? But it felt like I ran into metal…

"Jaune, you buffoon, you ran this poor girl over!" Weiss was quick to scold him. His friends looked at the ginger as she laid on the ground, not seeming to be making an effort to stand or even move.

"Salutations!" she called out, a smile on her face. The group looked at each other, all silently wondering what exactly her deal was.

"Are you… okay?" Yang tentatively asked.

"I'm wonderful, thank you for asking!" the stranger replied, still laying on the ground. Pyrrha walked up to the girl, offering her a hand… only for the ginger to stare, seeming as if she didn't understand.

"Do you… need help up?" the champion hesitantly asked, only to be rebuked with a head shake.

"There is no need, I am combat ready!" The girl abruptly stood up on her own, ignoring Pyrrha's offered hand and smiling at the group once more.

Ruby, both eager to get out of this awkward situation and wanting to catch up with the guy confirmed to be their future friend, asked the stranger "Did you see which way the blond monkey faunus ran off to?"

"Indeed! The faunus had jumped onto the rooftops to escape the detectives pursuing him just before your group came around the corner. At his estimated speed and direction, assuming he stuck to the rooftops, he would now be approximately two city blocks away."

"So we lost him then." Yang sighed in frustration, choosing to ignore how this girl could apparently calculate that off the top of her head.

"Not necessarily," Ren responded. "If she's confident in her assessment, he would have escaped and is likely making his way back to ground level, if he hasn't done so already. With this many of us we could probably find him if we fan out and search. Though with Jaune's little comment…"

He'll find us, don't worry about it.

If that's true then why did you make me run after him and run into this girl?! Jaune questioned.

Why do you think?

"I have a feeling he'll be the one to find us." Jaune's words brought back Blake's blush as she was reminded of what happened. But before she could resume her scolding, Penny spoke up again.

"May I ask why you were in pursuit of that man?" The group looked at each other uncomfortably. How are you meant to explain that you were looking for a future friend as directed by a semblance when you saw him get chased off by the authorities without sounding a bit strange?

"We…." Jaune attempted to break the awkward silence, "uh, were hoping he would be our friend?" He cringed at the unsure way he said it.

"Your… friend?" The stranger asked, receiving hesitant nods in return. "That is… sensational! How great for new friendships to be forged!"

The strangeness of this entire interaction had many in the group feeling a growing sense of dread, their faces paling as they hoped their intuition was wrong. Blake, with Nora's arm still wrapped around her waist, was the one to muster up the courage to ask "What's your name?"

"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Teams RWBY and JNPR, sans Nora and Ruby with their strange ideas of what normal interaction looked like, gave Jaune a look.

"Why are you looking at me like I messed up?!"

Don't worry, she'll grow on you guys.

Watching through the security cameras, Ozpin watched teams JNPR and RWBY lead an unfamiliar pair onto campus. That new students were arriving was to be expected with the Vytal festival quickly approaching. A large number of teams were due to arrive today if he remembered correctly… but he normally made that sort of thing Glynda's problem, so he wasn't entirely sure.

The woman in question cleared her throat to get his attention. "Do you plan to actually discuss things, or are you going to continue glaring at your screen like a child?"

"I still don't see why we need a stupid meeting like this." Qrow complained. "Seems the kids have found their little friends out by the docks, Blake and uh… Sun, was it? They're here and not off hunting down the White Fang or whatever, so all the students are clear from the area and that means we go kick some ass tonight. What more do you want from me?"

"The topic of discussion today is not our upcoming meeting with the criminal elements in the city. Rather, the problem lies with the girl they've picked up." Ozpin sipped his coffee, his gaze far off.

"I hardly see how our students befriending a young woman from another team presents a problem for us. We should be glad that they're fostering good relations between the kingdoms!" Oobleck looked ready to fight anyone who disagreed.

"Were it any other student, I would be inclined to agree with you. But, seeing as she is an Atlas student, I… went fishing for information. It seems that Ms. Polendina is someone of significance, and not in a good way."

Goodwitch rolled her eyes. "Do you expect me to believe that James of all people would allow someone to represent his school in the Vytal festival that hasn't gone through background checks and come back spotless?"

"It's not that she is hiding something from James, it is that he is hiding something from me."

"Oh the horror," Qrow deadpanned. "Good ol' Irondick, living up to his reputation. Whatever shall we do. It's probably just some garbage about keeping an edge in the tournament or something, who cares?"

"Have you informed the man of potential oddities concerning your own students?" Bart questioned.

"I have no idea what you mean." Ozpin lied, clear for all to see.

"Here is a novel idea for you then. I suggest that any problems concerning the students that aren't immediately life threatening… stay between the students! Revolutionary, isn't it? Almost as if we have a fight against the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, at least, coming up and we should be focused on that instead of the friends our students make and whatever personal issues that they may have."

"Agreed," Glynda said. "I for one have better things to do than worry about the minutiae of the students' personal lives. I shall see you all tonight."

Two nights. They had sat through two whole nights of absolutely nothing, constantly on edge over a fight that never came, now going on three. Despite the fact that he wasn't even properly read in on Jaune's semblance situation, yet, Port had been invited to tag along for the extra manpower, and if Qrow had to listen to one more story the man had fabricated he was going to lose it.

"...and so I told myself, Peter you handsome devil, who cares if you're the one left behind by the bullhead? Those women and children would surely perish if left here a moment longer, and there are only so many seats. Even if the reports are true, and there are 500 grimm on the way here-"

"Quiet! It seems they've arrived." Glynda shushed the man, her crop at the ready.

"Finally…" Qrow brandished his weapon, the others doing the same as they watched the bullhead come down. Out strode several members of the White Fang, followed by Torchwick himself.

"...just this once, I had wished for Second Thoughts to be wrong." Bart mumbled, but Qrow was more focused on the number and positioning of the enemy. As Roman started barking out orders, they jumped down from their hidden perch, surrounding the criminals and blocking off their escape.

"You are under arrest," Goodwitch started, "I will suggest that you come along quietly, lest we be forced to get a bit rough with you."

"Yes, I'd like to make this quick. We do have a school to run in the morning." Ozpin looked the most relaxed of the group, but the way that the White Fang members flinched back upon recognizing him made his attitude seem justified.

"You stupid animals, don't just stand there! Get them!" The renowned thief raised his cane, firing off a shot and starting the fight.

I wonder if it was tonight. Wish I could have given them more solid information for the date…

Second Thoughts' musings were drowned out by the whooping and shouting of Jaune's friends.

"Can't you take it easy on me?! I'm the new guy, come on!" Sun cried out.

"Never show your enemies mercy!" was Nora's only response as she ruthlessly destroyed him, taking yet another win for the night. It was pretty impressive actually, how well she played the game while keeping an arm wrapped around Blake.

"Can you please let me go already? It's been days! I can't even sleep properly with how much you guys have been smothering me!" While Nora had enthusiastically taken to Blake-sitting duty during the day, she left the night to the girls' teammates, the three of them on a rotation.

"Nope! Not until we get the all clear!" Ruby cheerily replied, shoveling popcorn in her mouth as she watched Nora destroy Sun, adding yet another win to her streak.

"I don't see how anyone is meant to beat Nora, let alone the guy who's never played this before." Sun set his controller down with a sigh.

Penny might stand a chance. Actually she might crush Nora depending on… hmm…

"Do you wanna give it a shot, Penny?" Jaune asked. The newest girl in the friend group lit up at the question.

"Of course! It's simply sensational that I've managed to make so many friends! To be invited to a game night is truly an honor!" While they were still getting used to a few of her eccentricities, Jaune could say that after spending a bit of time with her, he could see how they might have ended up as friends, even without Second Thoughts' meddling. She was bright, cheery, eager to make friends. Something about her seemed a bit off… but she was entitled to her secrets. He hadn't exactly informed their two newest friends about his semblance yet, so questioning her would be hypocritical.

Normally I would be all for you telling them right away, but I'm not sure how to go about it in a way that won't end poorly.

End poorly? Penny seems like a nice girl, I just thought it would be awkward to drop that sort of thing on her right away before we even got to know each other. Jaune thought back.

It's not so much that Penny would be a problem… more so that she… is very open with her… guardian? It's hard to phrase this in a way that doesn't destroy her privacy. But anyway, if he finds out about me without getting to know you first, well, he's kind of an overprotective type, let's say, and he happens to have a lot of power in Atlas. So in my opinion, we should ease her into it.

I… see? He can't be that bad, right?

Second Thoughts was silent.

Well, what about Sun?

Sun is cool. He'll have your backs. Mostly Blake's, but you get what I mean.

Is he really that into Blake? He can't be any worse than-

"What?!" Jaune was distracted from his conversation with Second by a shout. Everyone was staring at the screen, watching as their reigning champ lost for the first time. Jaune had never seen Nora lose at this game, but Penny…

"...it's like we're watching a TAS." Ren commented, a modicum of shock actually managing to show on his ever unflappable face.

"What's a TAS?" Pyrrha asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Tool-assisted speedrun. The short explanation is that it's using a computer to give perfect inputs, stuff that even a Huntsman's reflexes couldn't match." Jaune answered. He thought he heard a laugh from Second, but it stopped so suddenly he wasn't sure if he imagined it or not. "Normally it's for people trying to discover the fastest way to beat a game, but this… Penny is amazing. Beyond amazing even, I don't think I've seen someone with this level of skill even among the people who do it professionally."

As the match came to an end with an overwhelming victory for Penny, Nora seemed to be caught between shock at having lost for once, and a deep respect for someone more skilled than her.

"I adhered to your words from earlier, friend Nora! No mercy was given!" The cheerful smile on her face didn't seem to match her words.

Nora's expression became a bit frightening at that proclamation. "Somebody hold Blake, I need a rematch!"

You know, on third thought, maybe this was a mistake.

Third thought?

Well, I'm Second thoughts, so when I have to think again it must be a third thought, no?

Jaune's heavy sigh was drowned out under the cheers and jeers of the group, while off in the distance an explosion rang out.