9

"How long do you think they'll last before they lose?" Nora asked idly as Pyrrha fluidly spun into her opponent's chest, avoiding his attack due to being too close for him to swing and smashed an armoured elbow into his nose in the same movement.

But still I was optimistic about team CRDL's chances. "Five minutes." I put forward before returning my attention to the spar.

I winced as Pyrrha twisted in mid-air perfectly negating Cardin's strike before spinning as she landed, kicking out Sky's feet from under him and rolling away from Cardin's counter swing in the same movement. Then she vaulted over Cardin's form, knocking the two back as she bounced Akoúo̱ off of them.

Pyrrha's certainly not holding any punches.

Then again when did Pyrrha ever hold her punches?

"I'd say…four." Ren decided on, putting forward a more pessimistic but in all likelihood, also more realistic number on their attempts at holding Pyrrha off.

But still I continued to play devil's advocate, or rather team CRDL's advocate in this endeavour. "Oh come on, I mean there are four of them, they could use their numbers to their advantage couldn't they?" I asked Ren as Pyrrha whirled about as a dervish of death.

Ren scoffed at my optimism. "Well yeah unless that one person is Pyrrha Nikos." He rebutted bluntly.

We both winced as Pyrrha soared through the air to land on Sky's back with both heels landing solidly and by the look on Sky's face certainly painfully.

"BREAK THEIR LEGS PYYRHA!" Nora cheered as our aforementioned teammate continued in her systematic destruction of team CRDL.

It wasn't that they weren't fighting together, they had some pretty smooth two person combos between themselves. They were good, that was obvious to see, working cohesively against their opponent.

The problem was that Pyrrha was simply far better than they were.

Which is kind of expected from the girl who's been undefeated in the Mistral regional tournament for four years in a row.

Russel leapt forward unleashing a flurry of slashes from his twin scimitars that Pyrrha weaved around as she dodged, spinning Miló around her neck before knocking him off balance by throwing Akoúo̱ at the clearly unexpecting Russel, the shield being knocked into the air. He stumbled backwards as Pyrrha grasped Miló as it completed its rotation around her neck and unleashed a slash that struck the stumbling Hunter at a range far beyond his own.

Credit to team CRDL the instant Russel fell to my partner's attack Dove dived in to attack her, drawing attention away from his fallen comrade. Pyrrha however calmly kept her attacker at a distance, even firing Miló in its javelin form at him to grant herself greater strength in a thrust before she grabbed Akoúo̱ from the air to ward off a barrage of gunfire from Dove, lashing out again with her spear. She didn't strike him Dove spinning away from the attack before a loud whistle sounded out.

What's going on here?

Ah.

Looks like Cardin's been taking my words to heart, he's been training them well indeed.

In response to the whistle Dove dropped to the ground and suddenly Cardin reappeared, leaping over his kneeling teammate with his mace drawn back for a mighty blow against Pyrrha. And what looks like, I focused on Cardin's mace and let out a whistle. "Red dust crystal." I noted with a smirk, "Cardin's certainly not holding back."

Ren arched a brow at me as he looked on at the fight. "Again, it's Pyrrha. Remember the last time he held back against her?" Ren reminded me, even as Pyrrha dodged out of the way of the strike which let out an explosion of flame beneath her with a backflip

I bit back a chuckle at that, the memory of Cardin's twitching form being pulled out of the wall still clear in my mind. "Touché." I admitted

As someone who'd had their ass beaten into the ground more than once by my partner there are several things to look out for when fighting her. I mean there's her utterly ridiculous field of perception which seems to include the back of her head as a few of my bruises could attest to, the fact that again she's fought and won in every Mistral regional tournament for the last four years and thus has a great deal of experience when it comes to fighting other people as opposed to the Grimm, the fact that Miló has three equally interchangeable forms and Pyrrha can use each one of them with a level of proficiency that hinges on mastery, and can change between each form mid-swing.

But the greatest threat Pyrrha held, her true trump card as it were, was the one that she used the least. Her semblance of Polarity. Against the Grimm it didn't have much of an immediate effect but against other people it was nigh unstoppable. I mean it was magnetism being used against people who wielded metal weapons and some who wore metal armour. I even had a sneaking suspicion she could use it as a kind of radar or sonar, allowing her to remain aware of the position of the metal around her at all times.

The only perfect counter to something like that was to not use anything metal in the first place. Which meant go fight Pyrrha Nikos, 'The Invincible Girl', unarmed and unarmoured while she on the other hand was completely battle ready. So either a slow bloody death, or a swifter even bloodier death.

Joy.

I looked back at the field to see the remained of team CRDL either down or out, Cardin desperately fending off Pyrrha's assault before she blew past his all or nothing shockwave slam with a flawless flip before she ruthlessly exploited the opening that Cardin had left with his attack, a series of slashes sending his soaring into the air. Pyrrha wasn't done yet it seemed as she launched herself after him landing another series of slashes on Cardin's hastily guarding form.

"FINISH HIM!" Nora cheered, looking forward to another of Pyrrha's flashy and no doubt incredibly painful finishers.

What's Cardin in for today? The Guillotine? The Descending Bulwark?

I'll give Nora this much she's certainly creative when it comes to naming Pyrrha's finishers.

Even as Cardin was knocked out of Pyrrha's reach she placed her feet against her shield and leapt off it towards Cardin, no doubt with a little assistance from her semblance to keep it steady. She grappled with Cardin's tumbling form, blurring around his body until she was behind him, facing the other way using Miló to hold him in a choke hold. Then she threw herself down, flipping forward as Cardin let out a yell until all the air left his lungs with a 'whoosh' as his back was slammed into the ground so hard the stage cratered. Ren and I both winced sympathetically as a loud "ooh" was echoed by the other spectators. Then Pyrrha flipped backwards, Cardin being sent flying through the air once more to land with a crash, Pyrrha casually catching Akoúo̱ as it fell from above raising her weapons at the ready.

I let out an "Ooh" of my own both in recognition of my Partner's incredible fight, and of the beating Cardin had just had handed to him. I don't think he's getting up from that one. Cardin pushed himself to his knees but one hand went to clutch at his ribs tenderly.

Yeah, time for the med bay I think.

"And that's the match." Professor Goodwitch announced, making her way onto the stage as Cardin gave up trying to rise and collapsed to his side. Luckily his teammates weren't as how do I put this…

Injured?

No that doesn't do it justice, I know the word but it's just on the tip of my tongue.

Brutalised!

Yes that was it, the other members of team CRDL hadn't been as brutalised by Pyrrha and were able to help him to his feet and back to the stands watching the stage.

"Well done Miss Nikos, You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament." Professor Goodwitch praised my Amazonian teammate, a twitch at her lips that could have been a smile.

"Thank you professor." Pyrrha replied politely, nodding her head in recognition of the praise.

That's Pyrrha for you, ever humble even in victory. Especially in victory.

"Alright now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more Sparring match." Goodwitch announced, looking up in to the stands for our response. "Any volunteers? Miss Belladonna?"

Blake jumped, closing her book loudly as she looked up to face the Professor. Blake looked like a mess, bags under her eyes and twitching like she hadn't slept in days. Whatever had happened during the fight with what I later found out was an Elysium Paladin, Blake hadn't taken it too well.

"You've been rather…docile for the past few classes." Goodwitch noted, Blake turning away as the concerned criticism reached her, "Why don't yo…"

"I'll do it." A voice called out, projecting a kind of lazy confidence that seemed to exude from every syllable the male spoke. I turned to see Mercury raising his hand to volunteer, his ever present smirk on his lips as always.

"Mercury, is it?" Goodwitch asked as she adjusted her glasses, ensuring that it was him before continuing on. "Well, let's find you an opponent." She said scanning through her scroll to select his competitor.

"Actually, I wanna fight…" Mercury started his hand grasping his chin contemplatively before extending to point at Pyrrha. "Her." He finished, the light of something flashing in his eyes briefly.

Pyrrha?

"Me?" Pyrrha exclaimed, shocked at his choice.

Looks like they haven't met before so that's one prospective reason off the list.

Only a few thousand to go.

He saw that happen to Cardin and his team and proceeds to volunteer to go toe to toe with Pyrrha? My eyes narrowed minutely. Something's up.

I don't know what it is, but I'm getting a very bad feeling about this.

Professor Goodwitch seemed to be as confused to the choice of sparring partner as I was. "I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished the match. I recommend you choose another partner." She suggested, her eyes locking on to the transfer student from Haven.

"No it's fine." Pyrrha said to Miss Goodwitch, waving her off before turning back to face Mercury. "I'd be happy to oblige." She said to him, nodding her head in his direction.

Mercury shrugged at that and got up from his seat, casually strolling down the stairs to the arena, just as cocksure as before.

Ren leaned over towards me slightly. "Do you get the feeling this isn't just a regular spar?" He asked lowly, his eyes unmoving from the arena.

I nodded minutely. "Something's up." I agreed quietly as we watched Pyrrha pull Miló and Akoúo̱ from where they were resting on her back and into her hands.

"His weapons are odd." Nora spoke up, a keen focus entering them that was rarely present. "They almost remind me of Yang's Ember Cecilia worn on the legs but there's something else." She said her eyes narrowing. "I can't put my finger on it." She growled.

I raised a brow at that. Nora's knowledge on weapons and their enhancements was damn near encyclopaedic, even putting Ruby's knowledge of weapons to shame. Ruby knew the forms and names of most weapons. Nora knew their individual parts, how they were made and what they could do.

For her not to know something about his weapons…

I raised Mercury a few notches higher on my 'suspicious individual' list.

The mutterings of the various onlookers ceased as Mercury reached the stage.

He didn't cease in his stride, still as unwaveringly confident as he was when he'd first volunteered, his eyes locked with Pyrrha as he approached. As he came closer, his smirk reappeared on his face as he lifted his arms into a deceptively loose looking guard.

I looked over Mercury's form and bit back a scowl. It was deceptive all right. For all its appearances of being barely there, his form was rock solid, damn near picturesque in fact. This is no rank amateur here. This is someone who knows how to fight.

There was silence as the two stared at each other for a moment before they both leapt forward, Mercury lashing out with fierce spin kick that Pyrrha deflected with her shield. She quickly capitalised on the opportunity and swiped his remaining leg, sending him to the ground where he quickly recovered, spinning off the ground and flipping backwards to put a bit of distance between him and Pyrrha.

This early in the match means that was nothing, and Mercury's confidence seems as unshakeable as always, even in the face of that attack.

Pyrrha lunged forward with Akoúo̱ protecting her body, just as Mercury let loose a flurry of kicks, smoothly transitioning from one leg on to the other, the weapons strapped to his feet adding further force to his attacks. Pyrrha thankfully blocked them perfectly before knocking Mercury back further with a strike from Akoúo̱ to his chest.

He slid back and came to a stop, a shower of sparks lighting up as his feet dragged across the ground. I frowned slightly at that. "Sparks?" I murmured, trying to think how that had occurred.

His weapon maybe? But that's just around his ankle. Or it looks like it's around his ankle.

The huntsman in training made a face, as if silently saying, 'Not bad.' In response to this latest assault.

Conversation picked up around me but I remained focus on the fight below, keeping an eye out for whatever it was that had this sense of unease running through me.

Suddenly Mercury threw himself forward with a yell, spinning into an even fiercer combo then before throwing kicks at all angles high and low as Pyrrha defended as she was forced to give up ground diving away from his last kick.

I watched as Pyrrha palmed Miló behind her shield, my partner no doubt preparing for a counter attack and hiding the new position of her sword in light of that.

Mercury dashed forward and unleashed three rapid fire kicks into Akoúo̱ that sent Pyrrha skidding back further, landing in a ready stance before releasing a flurry of kicks that Pyrrha was forced to block with her shield, sending Miló spinning into the air. She went to retrieve it before another kick was sent hurtling towards her head on her unshielded side forcing her to use her free arm to block the attack.

Damn he's fast.

I saw Mercury's eyes focus on Pyrrha's loose grip on Miló for a moment before he spun, lashing out with lighting fast kicks as he leapt into the air, Pyrrha blocking one with her sword, the second knocking her shield up slightly, before the final kick slammed into Miló, kicking it out of her hands and leaving it impaled in the ground, tantalizingly close but still out of reach in the face of Mercury's potentially lightning fast assault.

He was aptly named at the very least. When he moves, it's like a blur, three strikes lancing out in the space it'd normally take to do one.

And now Pyrrha's in front of him without a way to strike back.

I saw Mercury's smirk widen slightly before he swiftly turned into another of his dizzyingly fast spins, a kick aimed for Akoúo̱, no doubt to shift it enough for the next kick to strike Pyrrha when suddenly Mercury struck nothing but air, landing awkwardly and going down on one knee, apparently having misjudged his kick.

Or maybe Pyrrha might have given him a bit of a helping hand with a hint of her Semblance.

As Pyrrha swiftly moved to recover her sword from where it lay impaled in the sparring hall's floor, Mercury remained knelt down for a few moments more, unmoving before he casually picked himself up to face Pyrrha's shield charge, her head ducked behind the shield, and her lower body too armoured for a single strike to pierce through.

A formidable assault by any means.

Mercury on the other hand was distinctly unintimidated by Pyrrha's assault, lifting his feet so he was standing on Pyrrha's shield before a sound akin to a high calibre rifle going off sounded out and he was flying backwards in a corkscrewing backflip before landing in a crouch a few feet away from Pyrrha.

Pyrrha charged forward unperturbed by Mercury's escape, sword and shield at the ready as she…

"I forfeit." Mercury called out lazily, turning away from Pyrrha entirely to address Professor Goodwitch.

…watch her opponent concede the match despite the fact he did not look defeated or even fatigued in the slightest.

Pyrrha gasped and altered her charge so she ran past Mercury instead of through him, coming to a stop a few steps past him.

"You…" Pyrrha began turning back towards the student from Haven. "Don't even want to try?" She asked, disbelief colouring her tone.

"What's the point? You're a world renowned fighter, we're obviously leagues apart." He stated with a self-depreciating shrug, his face hidden by his bowed head for a moment.

My eyes narrowed further.

Although the words may have certainly seemed reasonable there was something else there, something that seemed almost…mocking…in his words, that caused my fists to clench almost involuntarily.

Mercury was many things but tired certainly was not one of them. Despite his supposed modesty, he'd been able to match Pyrrha in a one on one fight without any assistance from anyone else.

Hell he'd even managed to disarm her for a moment, and he didn't even look like he'd broken a sweat doing it.

So why surrender? What did he gain out of this?

"In that case, Pyrrha Nikos is the winner of the match again." Professor Goodwitch commentated, even as Mercury's ever present smirk seemed to grown a tad slighter as I looked on, and Pyrrha seemed to be fighting a frown that sought to make itself known on her own face, Pyrrha's name being lit up in green on the screen above, signifying her victory. "Next time you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent." Professor Goodwitch said with a narrowing gaze of his own.

"I'll be sure to do that." Mercury promised throwing up a hand casually in acknowledgement of the request from Goodwitch, before he shoved his hands into his pockets and made his way back to his seat.

And then it hit me, a reason that explained Mercury's seemingly bizarre surrender.

He wasn't trying to win in the first place, he was just scouting for intelligence on Pyrrha, gaining as much knowledge about her fighting style as he could out of her before the tournament.

In all honestly, now that I thought about it, Mercury's attacks were methodical, not only increasing in speed as the match went on but also in precision, testing her responses to attacks from a variety of angles.

Slightly underhanded, yes, but still a sound strategy before taking on an opponent.

I mean being able to test how your opponent would react to certain attacks and situations, how they moved to defend, or twisted to strike? That kind of information was worth its weight in Lien before a fight.

I was drawn from my musings by the sound of the end of class chimes sounding through the school's announcement system, the students around my quickly stacking away their gear and making their way out of the hall and into the grounds of the school.

"That is all for today, and remember the dance is this weekend but you all have your first mission on Monday, I will not accept any excuses." Professor Goodwitch finished before she swiftly made her own departure from the sparring hall, heading off to her next appointment.

I waited a bit longer for the crowds to dissipate before making my way downstairs to wait for Pyrrha to make her way towards us, a combination of disappointment and frustration present upon her face.

I placed a hand on her shoulder while I smiled reassuringly while inwardly I braced myself.

That had the potential to turn into something very messy if I didn't handle it right.

As I've learnt over the weeks I've had Pyrrha as my partners, she gets very shall we say, particular, regarding the actions one takes when sparring. Give everything you have, hold nothing back, etcetera.

Mercury's actions flew in the face of the grand majority of them.

This will take a particularly subtle blend of high explosives.

And tact.

The thunderous expression on Pyrrha's face as she stormed, not walked, out of the sparring hall was pretty indicative of just how well my attempt to break it to her gently had gone down.

Essentially like a houseboat that was on fire as it proceeded to fall off a waterfall into a series of jagged rocks.

No one is arguing that it did not go down.

Only that it went down in a way that we did not want it to go down

"…ght you of all people would get that." I heard Blake say disdainfully to Sun before she walked off, not looking back at all.

Sun seemed to curl up in on himself at that, his shoulders slumping as he sighed dejectfully.

Ow.

I don't know what I missed but from the looks of things, Blake just tore Sun in half, or she might as well have from the way he's looking right now.

My attention was drawn away from my partner and directed towards my old friend who was looking particularly downtrodden at the moment.

"You doing okay their buddy?" I asked quietly, one hand reaching up to scratch the back of my head as I did so.

Sun sighed. "Oh just fine you know, trying to find what's left of my dignity after Blake crushed it." He noted sardonically, another sigh finding its way out of his lips.

I winced at that. Okay, looks like my earlier assumption of Blake tearing Sun in half may have been closer than I first thought.

"Do I want to know what happened?"

"I…" Sun hesitated before rushing the words out of his mouth. "I asked her out to the dance."

I blinked.

Oh.

He asked her out to the dance.

Wait, what?

"Seriously?" I asked, a tad disbelievingly.

I mean Sun of all people, willingly asking someone else to go to a dance?

And not as a joke?

Is the sky falling?

Sun glared at me half-heartedly and I put my hands up in surrender silently. "Yes, I asked her out to the dance." He said while he continued glaring at me. "Not that it did much good." He muttered quietly.

I sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "You know she's just going through some stuff right now with the whole…" I went to continue before realizing exactly how public a venue we were speaking in right now and hastily altering what I was going to say. "…thing that we went through last week."

Sun grunted before nodding and letting out a sigh of his own. "I know she just…" Sun hesitated, as if debating on whether or not to continue for a moment before turning to face me, a serious look on his face. "She's pulling a 'you' from back then." He said finally, his tone make it blatantly obvious to which 'then' he was referring to.

I blinked at that, before scratching the back of my head awkwardly. "Man was I really that bad?" I asked idly, slightly embarrassed as I tried to remember that time.

I can't remember much of it unsurprisingly, I was rather…well to call it driven wouldn't do it justice.

I was possessed, unable to sleep, to eat, forcing every moment of my time to my goal.

I wasn't in a good place then.

Until a rather…painful…intervention by a combination of forces, I realised the folly of my ways and didn't let my quest for answers consume me as it had previously.

"Oh no you were worse." Sun rebutted without flinching, causing me to chuckle sheepishly at that before his eyes turned a shade darker. "But if she keeps this up…" He added, the unsaid eventuality showing up clear in my mind.

I patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. "She's got a good team looking out for her." I reminded Sun, partly to reassure myself as well. "But if all else fails? I'll step in before she gets as bad as I did." I promised.

Sun nodded gratefully. "Thanks Jaune." He said with a slight grin, a hint of the typical signature Sun irreverence shining through once more. "I'd do it myself but I figured you'd be more convincing with your own experience." He revealed to me with a chuckle, patting me on the back before waving a goodbye at me as he went to go meet up with the rest of team SSSN.

Well that's something else to deal with then isn't it?

But now is not the time to go running after Blake.

From the look on the other girls of team RWBY, they're going to be having a little talk of their own with their faunus teammate.

Plus, I've got an appointment of my own to get to.

"Alright team let's get mo…" I started turning to address my team only to stop when I completed my turn.

My team was no longer there.

Oh like hell am I missing the first match!

I went to sprint off before a familiar and foreboding sound reached my ears.

Very poorly muffled laughter.

I turned to see a snickering Sun, holding up the near collapsed form of Neptune, who was shaking from the force of his supressed laughter. Besides them even the normally stoic Sage was cracking a grin and Scarlet's sly smirk told me everything I needed to know about what was going on.

I heard a familiar ruffling sound behind my back that only served to further solidify my suspicions.

I supressed a growl, an eyebrow twitching violently.

I should have known it was too good to be true.

Now glaring at the laughing forms of team SSSN I reached behind my back and pulled the sheet of paper that had been taped to the back of my shirt, my gaze snapping down at the words emblazoned upon it before my gaze narrowed a shade further.

Property of the Queen of Dance.

"Really?" I asked dryly, my eyebrow twitching as I envisioned preforming acts that at the very least would be considered premeditated murder to any jury you'd care to mention.

"Well," Sun started, a wide grin spread across his face. "I just figured if you couldn't get a date to the dance than at the very least you could ask her." He finished, waggling his eyebrows before the rest of team SSSN broke down into hysterics.

I could feel myself flush red even as I glared at the four of them. "You swore not to speak of that!" I half snarled, half whispered at them.

The thought of my teammates finding out about that…

Or God help me, if the Old Bastard found out…

A wry grin came across my face.

But if that's the game they want to play?

"Did you know they're still looking for the ones that made such a mess in Amelia Academy's trophy hall?" I said innocently, relishing in the sudden silence and paling faces before me. "They're even offering a reward for information leading to their capture, even after all that time." My grin was positively vicious now, like that of a Grimm before unarmed prey.

Or Ruby before an unprotected cookie.

Essentially the same thing really.

"You wouldn't." Neptune whispered, horrified as I bought up one of the greatest trump cards in my arsenal.

I said nothing, merely smiling at them as they stared back at me nervously.

Sage sighed. "He would." Sage admitted, a mix of defeat and resigned respect obvious in his voice.

I shrugged unashamedly, sticking my hands in my pockets. Hey if I'm already going down I may as well have a mattress of bodies to land on. My right hand felt a souvenir that had been left in my pocket after I'd confiscated it off the twins.

I supressed the look of triumph that fought to erupt across my face.

"Truce?" I asked, extending a hand to shake at Sun.

Sun smirked at me. "Truce." He agreed brining his hand forward to shake mine.

BZZT!

THUMP

I calmly removed the Makkuro and Mashiro 'Endless Joy Buzzer' from where it had been hidden in my palm, even as the twitching form of Sun groaned on the ground, Neptune idly poking him with his foot.

"See you later then." I called behind me, with a victorious smile, leaving behind Neptune, Sage Scarlet and one tazered monkey.

Time to catch up with my team.

My sword moved into position for the block and caught the downward slash sent my way by Pyrrha, preventing the attack from landing, before pushing it away and surging forward even as Pyrrha sought to do the same.

This was one of my favourite parts of training with Pyrrha, just me and her, no aura, no semblances, no shields, just pure swordplay and our wits.

I looked at Pyrrha, grinning as we locked swords once more, each struggling to overpower the other. "Having a bit of trouble there Pyrrha?" I asked still grinning as she gave a smile of her own.

"With this? I'm just warming up." Pyrrha replied with a teasing smile, one hand sneakily making its way up to reinforce her grip on her sword as she tried to make use of the conversation as a distraction.

My lips twitched slightly. Clever. When I first met Pyrrha she never would have made use of such a technique, due to the fact that it's…well…more than a little underhanded and possibly duplicitous in nature.

But considering the fact she's been sparring against me, a guy who was essentially raised by the most two-faced lying old bastard you could ever possibly fight, it's only natural she'd pick up a few things here and there.

"Really?" I said lightly, my eyes never leaving her own, "Care to prove it?" I dared her, trying to provoke her into making the next move.

Pyrrha's eyes lit up as I 'fell' for her trap, swinging with both hands at my head with a decapitating blow. My left hand rose up quickly to block with Candidus Mors but it wouldn't make it there in time and Pyrrha moved to smash through my hasty block that…

Never appeared.

My left hand was now empty.

Gotcha Pyrrha.

Instead of blocking, I bent backwards like a reed, my legs staying in place but my torso tilting backwards until Miló slashed past my suddenly out of reach face, even as I slashed up with my right hand in the same instant, Candidus Mors crashing into her cleanly, sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Whoo!" I cried out in celebration, quickly moving my empty left hand behind me to stop myself from taking a tumble of my own. "And Jaune Arc wins this week's round of First Strike!" I said with a grin, doing a little celebratory dance before I made my way over to Pyrrha and extended a hand down to the giggling amazon. "Good fight."

Pyrrha finished her giggling and pouted at me slightly. "I almost had you." She said still pouting, no doubt replaying the last few moments of the fight in her head before a smile retook its place on her face. "But indeed it was well fought by you as well Jaune."

Nora bounded forwards and grabbed the two of us in a crushing bear hug, spinning us both around with a laugh before setting us down again and turning towards Pyrrha as we both tried to regain our breath. "Almost only works for rockets and hand grenades." She said with a grin before her fingers twitched towards Miló. "But if you like I'm sure I can fit something in there." She finished with a manic gleam in her eyes.

Ren whacked Nora over the back of the head with his hand. "Nora we agreed on this. The Kingdom of Vale agreed on this. No more hand grenades, rockets or other explosive devices from you." He said firmly even as Nora's expression suddenly turned piteous, puppy dog eyes gleaming away in vain. "You overextended with your last attack." He informed Pyrrha, causing Nora to let out an outraged squawk at being ignored by her partner.

First Strike is a training exercise that The Old Bastard and Peter used a lot on me growing up, one I was surprised the others had never heard of and quickly endeavoured to make it a part of our regular training sessions.

Due to the fact the grand majority of your standard Grimm all seem to revolve around the common strategy of rip and/or crush your opponent as fast as possible from ultra-close range.

That was First Strike came in.

The exercise is simple in theory, extremely difficult in practice. Both you and your opponent fight within a circle usually one just large enough for the two of you with a small bit of extra space for movement.

If you leave the circle, your opponent wins. If your opponent strikes you cleanly anywhere on your body, your opponent wins.

If your opponent strikes you as you strike them, nobody wins and you start all over again until someone does.

Close quarters weapons only, no use of aura or dust beyond standard reinforcement

I spoke up agreeing with Ren. "You committed everything to your deception succeeding, so when I saw it coming you walked right into my trap rather than me walking into yours." I said explaining what had happened. "When you attack you've got to do so in a way that not only seeks to strike your opponent, but allows you to move out of the way of any possible counter in the same movement." I finished as Pyrrha followed each of my words intently.

"Right." Pyrrha said before her smile widened. "This is quite a refreshing experience for me, it's been an age since I've found a training exercise so intriguing, how did you normally go at First Strike with Tob or professor Port?" She asked, genuine curiosity visible in her expression.

My eyebrow twitched violently. "Well…"

I slammed into the tree so hard it cratered inwards, newly formed wooden splinters making themselves known through my clothes even as I watched leaves fall from the shaken tree through blurry vision.

"Laddie." The Bastard Chair's voice echoed through my ears, even as my head still spun, the ground refusing to stay in one place, "When I said you could dodge in First Strike, by no means was that a suggestion for you to dodge in to Peter's fist instead of away from it, you daft idiot."

A blurry burgundy form with a talking moustache appeared in front of me. "Jaune my boy, how many fingers am I holding up?"

I squinted at them, trying to make them out. "T-Twelve?"

The Bastard Chair snorted. "Close enough. Do it again."

"Jolly good." The talking moustache replied.

"…not well." I admitted with a dry chuckle, fighting back a shiver at the traumatising or as they liked to call it training that the two of them had put me through.

Nora puffed up her cheeks. "I still think it's stupid." she said, turning her head to the side.

I felt a tug at my lips at that. "Oh come on now Nora, you've gotten a lot better at your close combat haven't you?" I asked lightly, fully aware of the Warhammer that was currently held in her hands, as well as precisely what it felt like when it crashed into your chest at tremendous speeds. "Just because Magnhild is a bit unwieldy in situations where it's this close quarters, you're still doing great, and you've even improved your hand to hand to help address that."

Ren nodded. "Your form uses much less unnecessary movement than it used to." He added, praising Nora's improvements to her form, causing Nora to preen slightly from the praise.

Pyrrha and I bit back grins at how easily Ren appeased his best friend.

But enough of that for now.

"Okay team, you know what happens next." I said, rolling my shoulders and causing a symphony of cracks to ring out before I unstrapped Candidus Mors from my side. "Hand to hand time." I said as I placed the sheathed blade against the sparring room wall. "All weapons by the wall. You too Ren." I added with a narrowed gaze, remembering a certain 'unarmed spar' between the two of us which had me staring down the barrels of Stormflower mid-strike.

Not fun, I'll say that much.

Little cheat.

Not saying that I wouldn't do the same if I could.

But it's a bit hard to fit Candidus Mors up my sleeve.

Ren's mouth curved into a smirk as he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, Stormflower appearing from where it had been tucked within his oversized sleeves, before being placed by the wall.

Nora sighed and carelessly flung Magnhild in its grenade launcher form to where I had placed my own weapon, landing with a clang next to my sheathed blade.

Pyrrha unslung Akoúo̱ from her back, placing Miló by its side, sword and shield perfectly in place, ready to be picked up again, either through Pyrrha's hand or her Semblance at a moment's notice.

As soon as everyone had disarmed I stepped aside, letting our resident hand to hand expert take the floor as he set out to make us better. Or not as bad as we were at the very least.

"Okay disciples. And Jaune." Ren added as an afterthought, before turning back to the girls as I gave him the finger in response. "Today we learn the proper technique to countering an opponent's attack when they're physically stronger than yourself." Ren started, his tone falling into what I had long since termed Ren's asshole teacher tone. "But I'm going to need a volunteer for the demonstration…"

Wait…

"Now how about we all just calm down and think rationally here…" I started, trying to cut off the conclusion I saw approaching.

But I was too late.

"Jaune." Pyrrha said instantly, not even a shred of hesitation in her answer.

"I'm thinking…Jauney." Nora replied, hesitating with her answer if only to give me a greater fall for the disappointment that it would provide.

I sighed.

"And we have our lovely assistant for today, round of applause ladies and gentlemen." Ren continued, not missing a beat, even as Pyrrha and Nora broke into applause at his suggestion.

My eyebrow twitched violently at that.

Every single time.

You'd think after the first time they threw me in front of the dust plane I'd have learned my lesson but no, every time it came to this I held on to that little scrap of hope that someone else would be Ren's in most cases literal punching bag for his demonstrations, only to have it be cruelly swallowed whole by the unforgiving reality of the choices made.

"If your opponent is stronger than you by a strong enough factor then it won't matter if you block, they're just going to blow straight through it as if it weren't even there." Ren lectured gesturing for me to form to punch him, his guard in place.

I did so and Ren let the punch blow through his guard before I made it come to a stop before I hit him.

Ren continued on with his lecture, retaking his stance as I did the same. "The point isn't to make use of your own strength but rather, that you make use of the strength of your opponent and use it against them. To let their attack reinforce your own." He explained before motioning towards me. "Okay Jaune, throw a straight at me."

I obliged and launched a fist at my teammate, who shifted his head minimally, the blow rushing by his head but doing little more than ruffling his hair as his own fist zoomed towards my face before halting just before it.

"It's not only the force I'm putting into the attack, but the force that Jaune was pushing into the attack unknowingly as well. That being said you still have to look out for feints or you'll just be putting yourself in a more precarious position than before."

"Okay since Jaune's already fairly adept at this from his own training I'll ask him to team up with Pyrrha and guide her through it, while I do the same with Nora.

I turned to Pyrrha to see her punch one fist into her open palm and crack her knuckles ominously even as she smiled innocently towards me.

I bit back a whimper.

This might sting a little.

I held my nose, a face washer placed beneath my nostrils and continued to look towards the ceiling as we made our way towards the kids' accommodation for their time in Beacon for yet another addition of story time before we went to bed ourselves waving off Pyrrha's apologies as we walked.

"I really am sorry Jaune." My Mistral-born teammate apologised, looking very remorseful as she had since we had started this word game five minutes ago.

"I'm saying its fine Pyrrha. Again." I added, the blood finally ceasing to flow from my nose. "Just my aura acting up that's all it is."

"It was a very good punch." Ren commented with a smirk, although it was partially lessened by the large black eye that he was sporting as well.

Nora on the other hand was rubbing her forehead which was pretty red and well on the way to getting a lump of its own. "How can your eyeball be so hard Ren?" she complained, rubbing away at her forehead in what I assumed was an attempt to alleviate the pain.

Ren's unblackend eye stared blankly at Nora at this until our resident Valkyrie laughed sheepishly and apologised again for head-butting him.

And we're here.

Pyrrha went to open the door that led to the kids' room but I grabbed her and held her back, shaking my head slightly, a raised finger pressed against my lips preventing any questions as to why. I removed the face washer that I usually took with me to training and casually placed it on the suspiciously clean door handle. As I let go of it the fabric remained attached to the door know and as I went to try to pull it off my suspicions were confirmed as it held fast.

A small grin spread across my face.

So it begins.

Let's see what you've got, kids.

I twisted the door knob slowly, quickly taking note of the added weight on the door itself, my eyes flicking up to catch the glint of metal visible in the top of the door.

Let's see then, glue on the handle, bucket filled with…something on top of the door itself.

Plus whatever else is likely lying in wait on the other side of the door.

Now what I need is a decoy, someone to send in and trigger the traps inside.

I turned to my teammates, the request on my lips and found a series of unimpressed looks staring back at me.

I've taught them too well, so it seems.

Welp.

May have burnt that bridge.

I need someone much more innocent.

Much more believing.

Much more…

Gullible.

A thought struck me and I pulled out my Scroll, swiping through my contacts before making a call.

Luckily I know of another.

The scroll rang for a few moments before a familiar face appeared on the scroll. "Hey Jaune, what's up?"

I smiled cheerfully, my eyes tightly shit to avoid giving away the ruse. "Hi Ruby!" I began cheerfully, "I was just on my way to see the kids when I thought you might want some of the chocolate chip cookies that I gave them earlier."

"Chocolate chip?" Ruby whimpered, her tone more like that of a pining dog than that of a human.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Then again I did leave them in their earlier so they'll be all gone in no ti…" I started before Ruby vanished from the screen midsentence, a call disconnected message flashing on the screen.

Ren looked at me with a raised brow. "You are an evil, evil man." Ren said in an utter deadpan, the slight twitch of his lips betraying his supposedly disappointed persona.

Nora's on the other hand was much more emotional, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Jaune! You made cookies and you didn't tell me?" Nora asked, flabbergasted by my actions. "And then you told Ruby in front of me?"

Pyrrha coughed slightly to disguise her laugh, turning away from me as her cheeks flushed red from the force of her supressed laughter.

I felt a drop of sweat form on my forehead. "Uh, no Nora. There never was any cookies." I explained to the hammer wielder only for her grip to intensify and begin shaking me.

"Then there were never cookies! You fiend!" Nora gasped at me, even as she still shook me around.

I grasped Nora's hands lightly and raised a brow questioningly. "So does that mean you're going to stop Ruby from entering?" I asked casually, my lips twitching slightly.

Nora immediately let go of me. "And miss what would happen next? Not a chance." She answered firmly, Ren giving off a sigh behind her.

And she should be here in three, two…

Huh, looks like Ruby got faster since last time.

WHOOSH.

SQEULCH

"Wargh!" I heard Ruby cry out as she went from full speed to full stop near instantly.

THUD.

Ah, they put glue on the floor past the door as well to hold you in place, clever.

And devious.

SPLASH.

And there goes what was in the bucket.

Looks like…I sniffed the air lightly and then recoiled away minutely. Strawberry cordial.

Now that is evil.

Seriously when that stuff gets on your skin it leaves you feeling sticky everywhere, and the 'strawberry' scent gets old after the first five seconds.

"Hold fire!" I heard being called out from behind the beds. "It wasn't Jaune, set it up again."

I rolled my eyes at that.

Well they're determined if nothing else.

Doesn't mean I'm going to stand here and wait for them to do it.

"Set what up again?" I asked dryly, stepping over the fallen Ruby who was currently stuck to the floor of the kids' room.

Before me, frozen mid-step and carrying a whole assortment of beyond suspicious items like a full bucket of cordial, several containers of clear sticky glue and what appeared to be a container full of…glitter… were the kids in their entirety, all looking as if they had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Again.

Oh I was going to take it easy on them but that was until they bought glitter into the mix.

I am a guy who does many things.

Sparkle is not one of them.

"Buggar." Andy swore quietly only to pale when my gaze locked on to him. "U-Uh I mean…Phooey?" He stammered, a nervous laugh breaking out as I glowered down at him.

I silently raised an eyebrow at him, unmoved by his attempted redaction.

Andy bowed his head and sighed. "I'll get the mop." He groaned, slumping and dragging his feet as he shuffled away.

"Now then, where was…" I began before I was cut off by Mashiro pointing at me.

"Get him while he's distracted!" She commanded, dropping her pranking gear and throwing herself at my leg.

And just like that pandemonium ensued.

I staggered trying to remain upright as nearly a dozen small bodies surged around my form.

"OW! Who the hell bit me!?" I gasped out, looking down at my arm to find an unrepentant Pup looking back at me, his teeth clamped firmly around my left forearm. From the look on his face I'm guessing its Lutsu, that little devil.

But still even with all that I'm still in one piece, I'm still standing.

It was at that point of triumph I felt something collide solidly with my ankles.

"Whoops. Sorry Laddie." I heard the Old Bastard grunt with little if any sincerity behind me.

My ankles shuddered but I remained upright, limbs shaking slightly from the strain.

"Is that…all you've got?" I gasped out, forcing myself to stay upright.

It was at that point I heard a very familiar sound through the air, and felt s pair of claws latch onto my hair.

I looked up to see Spot looking down at me, an expression I could only describe as smug on his face.

Touché Spot, Touché.

Spot lifted his wings and still holding onto my hair gave one final flap of his wings, sending me teetering forwards before he let go and flapped away.

My balance artfully destroyed, I collapsed to the ground, the kids letting out a cheer of victory as my body hit the floor.

Tilting my head minutely, I raised my right arm to point at the supremely smug old man in the wheelchair that had just crashed into my ankles, Spot taking his place on one of the armrests. "Traitor." I pronounced solemnly as I pointed at him.

The my hand whipped over to where Lutsu was still gnawing on my left arm to grab him in a chokehold, causing him to realise his death bite on my arm as he flailed about frantically.

The Old Bastard scoffed. "Please Laddie, I was never on your side. You just happen to be on mine from time to time, that's all there is too it." He finished with a sly grin.

I let out a laugh of my own at that, pushing myself off the ground, pushing and in some cases detaching the various forms that were holding onto me.

Pyrrha let out a giggle and Nora a laugh from where they were seated on the bed, Ren already being dragged away by Po, trying to get the martial artist to show him some more "kick-ass kung-fu stuff" as Po put it.

"Okay kids, story time." I said loudly, the little rascals that had been slowly making their way off of me suddenly zooming to the bed, trying to claim their favoured positions for listening to stories.

I looked down at Lutsu, his head still trapped under my right arm and after looking at his glistening eyes for a moment rolled my own eyes and dropped him, at which point as was typical the supressed tears vanished like they were never even there and he hurdled the bed to re-join his brothers.

I went to go to the bookcase to select a book before I hesitated, a slight frown coming across my face.

I'm missing something here…

What did I forget?

Let's see…

Kids?

My eyes flicked over them stopping for a moment when I counted eleven only to see Andy walk back in with the mop over his shoulder and pulling the bucket of water on a trundle.

Check.

Nora?

I looked to the bed to see Nora, mid arm wrestling match with the Pups, all four working together to try and beat the 'Norrenasaurus Rex's' top half in a contest of strength while Nora seemed to be completely ignoring the match, not moving in the slightest as she chatted with Ana.

Or rather she talked at Ana while Ana nodded or shook her head at times.

Ren?

Still stick with Po and also being used as a pillow by Tucker, who is currently leaving a pool of drool all over Ren's leg, unbeknownst to Ren.

I fought to hide a snicker at that.

Pyrrha?

Is talking to the Old Bastard who is currently examining Miló with a practiced eye before handing it back to her with a grunt.

"Your sight's off one sixteenth of an inch after two hundred metres." He said shortly, cracking his fingers as he did so. "You may want to get that looked at."

Pyrrha looked utterly amazed at the Old Bastard's knowledge of her weapon after seeing it for only one time. "How is it you knew that Tob?" She asked earnestly, always eager for new knowledge to further her craft as a huntress.

The Old Bastard simply shrugged. "Just habit lassie. Believe me, work with rifles for as long as I have, you tend to pick up a thing or two over the years."

That's everyone, so what am I forgetting?

"Help me." I heard a voice say quietly, the cry muffled as if by fabric.

I turned to see Ruby's form still stuck to the ground, her signature red hood over her head and well and truly pasted to the ground, despite Ruby's attempts to dislodge herself from where the trap had been sprung.

Oh right, Ruby, forgot about that.

Heh, whoops?

"Tucker, kindly free Ruby from where she's glued to the ground would you?"

I looked at the slightly drenched Ruby who was giving me quite the gimlet eye at the moment, and causing me to feel more than a little worried about my own wellbeing.

"I'm getting the distinct impression you did not appreciate my little, ah, creative reinterpretation of the truth concerning the existence of the cookies." I said nervously, a bead of sweat running down my face.

CHA-CHUNK

Ruby smiled at me beatifically. "My, whatever would give you that impression Jaune? Ruby chirped at me, her eyes closed but somehow the presence of doom increasing even more because of it.

That and the face that I was staring down the business end of Crescent Rose's barrel and oh my word that is a big bullet that was just chambered at the end of it.

"Oh you know, just a feeling." I replied, fighting with every inch of my being to prevent any sarcasm from entering my reply.

I heard Ren snort behind me before his hand patted me on the shoulder. "How about you go get started making your apology in the kitchen, while I take over with story time for tonight?" Ren suggested, a smile on his face.

I blinked in surprise.

"Uh, thanks Ren." I said, honestly unsure what to think at this point. "Greatly appreciated. Do you have a story in mind you want to pick out?" I asked motioning towards the book case that was overstuffed with the books the Old Bastard had bought with him from Freshwater.

Ren shook his head. "No need. I've got one right here." He said tapping his temple with a finger before going to take a seat in my usual spot, the kids all looking towards him, Ruby now claiming a spot in the middle of the bed with a whoosh of her semblance.

I turned towards the door but before I was cut off from the sounds of the room by the closing door I heard the first few words of Ren's tale. "Our story begins many years ago in a small village, in the house of the Fa family, where we find the daughter of the Fa family, a woman named M….."

I grinned to myself as the door slid shut and I walked towards the kitchens.

Oh they were in for a treat, that's one of the oldest legends still existing in Remnant, a tale of love and sacrifice, of war and true heroics.

But one thing did bother me though.

Even here in Vale with its vast libraries and even in Beacon's massive library either, I couldn't find a single written version of the tale anywhere.

Sure it was certainly spoken of, everyone seemed to know the tale existed as well as the basic premise behind it, but no one seemed to know the actual tale itself.

Except Ren, for some reason.

Odd.

I shrugged my shoulders.

Eh, it probably doesn't matter.

Now then time to make those apology cookies.