46

Chapter 46:

"Are you okay with this?" asked Ruby nervously, looking at Jaune, who stood beside her.

"Why are you asking me?" her partner retorted. "I've already said I'm fine with this. If you can't go into Vale to see Ashley yet, then the next best thing is to invite her over here. Ozpin gave his permission, and we're all settled." He paused. "I figured you'd want Weiss and Pyrrha here too."

"Um...Well...I was hoping to kinda ease her in," said Ruby, tapping her fingers together. Ashley knew that she and Pyrrha were teammates, but Ruby was a little worried that Ashley's response to seeing Pyrrha Nikos in the flesh might put Pyrrha off a little. But what really worried Ruby was how Ashley would react to meeting Weiss.

Still, there was nothing to be done, except go through with it, and allow the chips to fall where they may. Hopefully, Ashley wouldn't be too quick to judge Weiss, simply on the basis of her father's reputation.

They watched as the airship dipped down towards the platform. Given that it was Sunday, there was no shortage of students returning from Vale, after visiting it in the morning, although many more were waiting to board the airship, eager to spend the last afternoon of their weekend enjoying the Kingdom's amenities. Still, they held back as the passengers disembarked from the airship.

Ruby scanned the crowd of students, and broke out into a smile when she saw Ashley's tail, raised up behind her, almost like a flag, marking her position amongst the students.

"Ashley!" Ruby shouted, jumping up and down, waving to get her friend's attention.

Hearing Ruby's voice, Ashely's eyes immediately swiveled around, and after a few seconds of looking, zeroed in on Ruby's position. Then it was Ashley's turn to break out into a grin. "Ruby!" she shouted back, rushing towards her friend.

The two of them approached, then abruptly stopped just a little ways away from each other, not sure how to properly greet each other for a few, awkward, seconds. Then Ruby resigned herself to throwing caution to the winds, and wrapped her arms around Ashley in a hug, which Ashley quickly returned after a few seconds.

"You made it," said Ruby, pulling out of the embrace.

"Of course I did," said Ashley. "I can't believe you were able to get permission for me to come."

"It wasn't that hard," said Jaune, coming up behind Ruby. "Professor Ozpin's a pretty nice guy, when all is said and done."

"Is this...your partner?" asked Ashley, staring at Jaune with wide eyes.

"Yep," said Ruby.

"Nice to meet you, finally," said Jaune with an easygoing grin. "The name's Jaune Arc; short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

Ashley gaped at him for a second, before closing her mouth and puffing out her cheeks. "Pfffft!" Then she burst out laughing.

Ruby laughed along with her, while Jaune chuckled as well. Straightening up, Ruby gently elbowed him in the side. "Nice intro," she teased.

"Thanks," said Jaune, grinning back at her. "It's a gift." Knowing that Ashley was going to be slightly intimidated by the prospect of coming to Beacon and meeting other students, he figured that defaulting to his old greeting was a good way of breaking the ice, and showing her that there was nothing to be worried about.

Ashley relaxed after a moment, wiping her eyes. "It's nice to meet you," she said finally. "Ruby's told me a lot about you."

"And we've heard a lot about you," said Jaune, extending a hand, which Ashley took.

They began to walk towards the main campus. The trio got a few odd looks, though whether it was because Ashley was a faunus, or clearly not a student, or some mixture of both, they couldn't say.

"Did you get through Vale okay?" asked Ruby, a note of worry in her voice. She still remembered the circumstances of their first meeting all too clearly.

"It was fine," said Ashley. "I mean, it's not as though Vale is the kind of place where I'll be jumped simply for setting foot out of the Faunus Quarter. I've made the commute between my home and my job, not to mention from home to school, plenty of times, and that was the first time anyone actually tried anything with me."

She paused. "I mean, it's not as though I didn't get some looks, but that was par for the course." She remembered getting quite a few odd looks while she was on the airship as well, though that might have been as much about her being a civilian taking a flight to Beacon as it was about her being a faunus.

As they approached the campus, Ashley momentarily forgot about their conversation, her eyes going wide as she tried to take everything in. She clearly hadn't expected to see such a beautiful locale, certainly not in a school that was for Huntsmen and Huntresses. "Wooow...this place is amazing!"

"It's pretty neat," agreed Ruby, before grinning shyly at the aghast look Ashley sent her. "Spend almost every waking moment in one place for a few weeks, and you get used to it."

"I guess," said Ashley, going back to taking in the sights. "This looks more like one of those high-class private schools you see on the holo-dramas than a Huntsman Academy."

"Well, you're not wrong," said Jaune, "especially when it comes to the classrooms. But you should see the arenas."

Ruby nodded. "We'll show you that later," she added.

"Really?" gasped Ashley, clasping her hands together, with her eyes sparkling in excitement.

"You bet," said Jaune. "We might even hold a match for you to watch."

Ruby's nod of agreement was met with an excited squeal from Ashley. Admittedly, she liked the aspects of a more "normal" friendship. But she supposed that there was nothing wrong with showing Ashley the unique parts of the Beacon lifestyle.

"Where are we going now?" asked Ashley.

"Our dorm room," said Ruby. "Our other teammates are waiting there."

"You mean...Pyrrha Nikos?" asked Ashley, her eyes sparkling again, before she froze, realizing she was beginning to act like a fangirl, and trying to school her face to a more neutral setting.

"Yes," said Ruby, coughing awkwardly, and not just because of Ashley's reaction to the prospect of meeting Pyrrha. "Um...I should tell you about our other teammate, Pyrrha's partner."

"What about her?" asked Ashley, her excitement faltering in the face of Ruby's worried tone.

"Um...the fourth member of our team is...Weiss Schnee," said Ruby, swallowing as she watched the myriad emotions flash across Ashley's face.

"Y-you mean...th-there's a Schnee at Beacon?" asked Ashley, her face paling slightly. "And...she's on your team?"

"Yep," said Ruby. Coming to a stop, she turned and rested her hands on Ashley's shoulders, a bit of an awkward gesture, given that Ashley was taller than her. "I...I um…know that the SDC has a rocky history with the faunus...b-but...please don't hold it against Weiss. She's not her father."

"B-but then...why did you...?" Ashley waved her hand in a vague gesture.

"I just...didn't want you to be blindsided by it," said Ruby. "Weiss told me how faunus feel about her family. She didn't exactly have the...best...view of faunus herself. But she's gotten a lot better about it. I think you two could get along, if you get to know each other."

Seeking affirmation, Ashley turned her gaze to Jaune.

"Well...she's prickly," Jaune admitted, giving Ashley a sheepish grin, "and pretty uptight. But she's actually fairly nice, when all's said and done. On top of that, we're all friends with the faunus member of a second-year team, and they get along pretty well."

Granted, it couldn't exactly be said that Weiss and Velvet were friends, except by association through their mutual friendship with Ruby, but they were certainly plenty cordial with one another. It helped a great deal that Velvet was one of the most inoffensive people on the face of the planet, in their humble opinion.

"It'll be okay," said Ruby, giving Ashley's shoulders a squeeze. "Weiss is actually pretty nice, once you get to know her. She's actually pretty afraid of meeting you too. She really wants to make a good impression."

"It'll be fine," said Jaune, trying to reassure both of them. "Of course, there's no point in putting it off either. So let's get this done."

With that, he began to gently urge them back into moving.

"Weiss, please stop pacing like that," requested Pyrrha, her insistent tone masking the amusement she actually felt, seeing Weiss in the throes of her anxiety over the prospect of meeting Ruby's friend. "She's not going to bite your head off."

"How do you know that?" asked Weiss frantically, whirling about to stare at Pyrrha with wide eyes, an expression of frantic nervousness that looked positively alien on her face. "I couldn't even go out for coffee with Ruby's sister, near the Faunus Quarter, without touching off a small riot. My father is pretty much the boogeyman of faunus. How in the world could she ever accept me?"

This feels so...strange, thought Pyrrha, amused by that notion. Weiss Schnee was the daughter of the most influential family in all of Remnant. She'd been born into a position of absurd wealth and privilege, the kind of things that caused people to automatically gravitate towards her, if only for the most selfish of reasons. Back in Atlas, and even here in Vale (among the upperclass at least), people would fight tooth and nail for the chance to become "Weiss' friend". Weiss' attitude towards such interest in her was jaded and cynical in the extreme.

All of which made it a breath of fresh air to see her fretting so much about wanting to make a good impression on her teammate's friend. This was the closest to a normal schoolgirl that Pyrrha had ever seen Weiss act. It was also a sign of just how much Weiss was beginning to truly embrace life at Beacon, and move past her status. Weiss, as she'd been when she'd first arrived, would have likely scoffed at the idea of meeting a low-class civilian, much less a faunus one.

"Look," said Pyrrha, getting to her feet and resting her hands on Weiss shoulders, "there's nothing you can do but put your best foot forward. Ruby, Jaune, and I will do our best to help you. I think you'll do fine."

"Do you really...?" asked Weiss.

"I do," agreed Pyrrha.

There was a click from the door latch. Weiss suddenly squeaked, then darted behind Pyrrha, actually cowering behind her back, an action that left Pyrrha completely at a loss as for how to respond.

"We're here," declared Ruby, stepping through the door, Ashley following close behind her, her posture nervous, with Jaune bringing up the rear.

"Hello," said Pyrrha cheerfully," stepping forward to greet Ruby's friend. "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Pyrrha Nikos."

"W-wow," gasped Ashley, her eyes wide. For a second, she was at a loss for words. Then, after a few seconds, she found herself blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "Can I have your autograph?!"

Unable to help herself, Pyrrha broke down giggling, an action that was mirrored by Ruby and Jaune, prompting Ashley to flush and bow her head. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's perfectly all right," said Pyrrha, after a moment. "I'd be happy to give you an autograph later."

"N-no, it was rude of me," demurred Ashley, averting her eyes. "I know you just went through a lot, because of all that fame, and I just went and..."

"It's fine," said Pyrrha, resting a hand on Ashley's shoulder, and giving it a friendly squeeze. "But first, there's one last person for you to meet. Right, Weiss?"

There was a startled squeak from behind Pyrrha, Weiss peeking out, then ducking back behind her partner, an action that had Ruby and Jaune both as dumbfounded as Pyrrha had been earlier. For her part, Ashley backed up nervously. Jaune kept behind her, keeping Ashley from backing up too far. In the meantime, Pyrrha stepped aside, not allowing Weiss to keep hiding behind her.

Awkwardly, Weiss shuffled forward, her eyes diverted down. "Um...Uh...H-hello," she said. "I-I'm Weiss."

Jaune, Ruby, and Pyrrha gaped unashamedly, unable to properly compute the notion of Weiss acting so...shy. This wasn't like her at all.

She really wants to make a good impression, thought Jaune, amazed by the prospect.

"Um...H-hi," replied Ashley, taking a nervous step forward, so that the two of them were now face-to-face. "I'm Ashley."

Weiss slowly lifted her face, almost afraid to meet Ashley's eyes. Pale-blue met deep forest-green. For a long moment, the two of them stared at each other. Weiss' anxiety was making her want to duck her head again. What she was doing flew in the face of years of conditioning at the hands of her father and tutors. She was the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, an elite far beyond the status of a lowly faunus civilian, like Ashley. By all rights, it was an insult that she was even in the same space as this nothing of a girl. That was the kind of mindset her father had certainly sought to instill in her, once upon a time.

But these weeks at Beacon, being around Ruby, dealing with Velvet, meeting Ruby's sister, talking about her family's conflict with the faunus; all of that put Weiss off her balance. For the first time, she found herself genuinely worried about making a good impression. Sure, Ashley was merely Ruby's friend. But Weiss was Ruby's friend too, and now she found herself desperately wanting to do the best she could to be friends with Ruby's friend.

For her part, Ashley's mind had become dominated by a single realization, one that had kicked in the moment Weiss had raised her face and looked directly at her. She's beautiful! She'd seen Weiss on the holoscreen before, of course. She'd even seen snatches of Weiss singing at concerts. It went without saying that the Schnee heiress was good looking. But now, seeing her up close, Ashley found her cheeks heating up.

Weiss' silvery hair and pale complexion gave her appearance an ethereal quality, something that almost marked her as some enchanted princess from a fairy tale. The vertical scar running down over her left eye should have detracted from that. However, it instead served to ground her beauty, making Weiss humanly, rather than inhumanly, beautiful. Combined with her petite build, and her uncharacteristically shy demeanor at the moment, and Ashley found Weiss to be the most beautiful person she'd ever laid eyes on.

"It's...nice to meet you," said Weiss, hesitantly raised her left hand.

"L-likewise," replied Ashley, hesitating a second, mostly because she was right-handed, so it took her mind and body a second to properly match Weiss' gesture. Raising her own left hand, Ashley took Weiss'. All at once, Ashley found herself fascinated all over again.

Weiss' hand and fingers looked so small and delicate. Yet, the instant Weiss' grip closed around Ashley's, Ashley could feel her strength. Weiss' skin looked silky-smooth over her knuckles and the back of her hand. But the inside of her fingers, from the tips down to base were lined with callouses. This was the hand of a swordswoman, a warrior. That realization only made Weiss all the more fascinating to Ashley's eyes.

The awkward moment continued, the two of them not realizing how long they stood there, hands clasped, while the others looked on with a mixture of confusion and amusement. No one wanted to say or do anything, lest the moment be ruined. There was an unspoken agreement between the other three people in the room to let Ashley and Weiss work this out for themselves. As long as there were no signs that things were about to go south, then the best they could do was stand back and see if the unlikely pair could get along.

"I...I've heard a lot about you," said Weiss.

"That's nice," said Ashley, still trying to wrestle around her own confused feelings.

"I g-guess you've heard a lot about me too," said Weiss.

"Yeah," agreed Ashley. "But now I think a lot of it isn't true."

"Depends on what you've heard," said Weiss, looking down again.

Unfortunately, while there was an unspoken agreement between Weiss' teammates not to interrupt the moment, said agreement had not been struck with the members of RYNB, as demonstrated when Nora abruptly poked her head around the edge of the door.

"Hi!" she shouted, making everyone in the room jump and yelp. "Is Ruby's friend here yet?"

Ashley's reaction was particularly intense, as she shrieked, jumping several feet in the air, while her tail stood straight up, running parallel to her spine, bristling as all its fur stood on end. Touching back down, she released Weiss' hand, whirling around to stare at Nora in shock, lacking any idea of how to respond to the orange-haired girl now grinning at her.

Before Ashley could even figure out what was going on, Nora was through the door, and standing right in front of her. "Hi!" she repeated. "I'm Nora! Wow! You're so cute!"

"Um...uh..." Ashley stammered, completely at a loss for how to respond.

"It's so exciting to meet you! I've wanted to say hello for so long!" Nora continued to ramble, clamping her hands around Ashley's shoulders and lifting her off the floor. Ashley could only squeak and whimper as Nora began to shake her about energetically, the incredible strength of her arms making Ashley feel like she could be broken in two any second now.

"NORA VALKYRIE!" Weiss' voice was like a clap of thunder, cutting right through Nora's ramble. "PUT HER DOWN, RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

Startled, Nora dropped Ashley immediately, Ashley landing awkwardly on her feet and stumbling back, only to find herself supported by Weiss, catching her before the disoriented girl could topple over backwards. Ashley gasped, looking over to see Weiss glaring fiercely at Nora, who had the awareness to look abashed.

"That is not how you treat a guest!" Weiss admonished her fiercely. "Ashley's a civilian. With your strength, you could hurt her, if you're not careful."

"I'm sorry," squeaked Nora, stepping back nervously.

Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha traded nonplussed looks. "That's the most Weiss Weiss has been all day," Jaune remarked in a whisper.

The other two nodded their agreement.

"I'm terribly sorry about her," Weiss said, her tone now more clipped and businesslike. "Nora tends to think that manners are things that happen to other people."

"I-it's all right," said Ashley, staring at Weiss in awe, practically seeing her for the first time...again.

"Are you all right?" Weiss asked, wanting to make sure that Ashley was steady before she let go.

Ashley nodded wordlessly. Weiss took her hands off Ashley's shoulders, then, as though realizing what she'd just done, blushed furiously and looked away. "I...uh...I didn't mean to..."

"I-it's all right," said Ashley.

"Huh?" Nora canted her head, confused.

"So I guess she's here then," said Yang, poking her head around the door next. "Hey there, Ash. Good to see you again."

"N-nice to see you too, Yang," said Ashley, still recovering from the shock of meeting Nora, coupled with her first brush with Weiss' real personality.

Yang stepped through, followed by Ren and Blake.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," said Ren, bowing politely to Ashley. "I apologize for Nora. She can be a little...much."

"It's okay," said Ashley.

Ashley's gaze drifted to Blake, their eyes meeting. "Hello," said Blake softly.

"Hi," Ashley said back, feeling strangely uneasy for some reason. There was something about Blake that made the hairs of her tail stand on end, though Ashley couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Ruby noticed the interaction, realizing that Ashley might be sensing the fact that Blake was a faunus. She wondered if she ought to try and divert Ashley's attention, but subsequently decided that she would only head things off if she thought Ashley was going to out Blake to the others.

"So, what do you think of your first taste of Beacon Academy?" asked Yang, grinning.

"It's amazing," said Ashley, relaxing in the presence of Ruby's older sister. Seeing someone, besides Ruby, who she'd met before apparently eased Ashley's nervousness, though Ruby noticed that Ashley had subtly shifted to keep away from Nora, who at least had the awareness to look contrite, after scaring Ashley half to death.

On the other hand, Weiss couldn't quite keep herself from scoffing, momentarily forgetting her previous nervousness, and desire to make a good impression on Ruby's friend. "Please, all you've seen are the dorms and the courtyard. It's not as though this is any different from other boarding schools."

"She's not wrong," noted Pyrrha.

Granted, none of them had actually considered going to a normal boarding school. But a dorm was a dorm, no matter where you were, and Beacon's were no more elaborate than any number of other schools, mundane or otherwise, across Remnant. Their most advanced feature was the locks on the doors, keyed to the scrolls of the people occupying each room, and even that was a common part of other school dorms.

Ashley had been a bit startled by Weiss' shift to a more assertive attitude. But she wasn't too uncomfortable with it, much to Ruby's relief. After seeing Weiss and Ashley meet like each was afraid the other would bolt at the slightest provocation, it was good to see Weiss falling back into her more normal behavior, and that Ashley wasn't being put off by it.

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "Since you're here, we should give you the full tour."

"I-if you're all right with that," said Ashley nervously. "I mean...I don't want to just be a tourist."

"It's fine," said Yang. "We can show you where we hang, all the cool spots. Heck, we can hit the sparring ring too."

Ashley nodded eagerly at the prospect. Despite what Ruby had told her, Ashley still had a hard time internalizing the idea that Beacon was a relatively normal school, one with an exceptional curriculum, but still a school, when all was said and done; complete with things like classes, homework, projects, and the countless other mundanities that made a school a school. However much she tried, she couldn't completely abandon the idea of Beacon that had been planted in her head from the wild rumors of those who had never set foot in the place.

So they set out, Yang leading the way, with Ruby and Ashley following immediately behind her, while the others brought up the rear. Yang was all too happy to show Ashley the classrooms, unused during the weekend. Ashley was both shocked and impressed to see the layout, with the tiered rows of seats, reminding her of the classrooms of some high-end colleges she'd been looking into.

Of course, each of the classrooms were also unique, emblematic of whichever teacher taught there. There was Oobleck's classroom, with pictures and diagrams scattered across the walls, and even covering the blackboards, some connected with strings, making it look like the lair of a conspiracy theorist. There was Dust Science, with its laboratory setup, featuring equipment that Ashley had never laid eyes on before. Each of the other classrooms featured different appearances, showcasing the unique course-load Beacon students were expected to shoulder.

And, of course, there was Port's classroom, which had blackboards decorated with detailed diagrams of different Grimm, a wealth of information that Ashley had never seen in her life. To her, Grimm were monsters, things from nightmares that she had been diligently been taught to avoid at all costs. But, in this classroom, she was getting to see the Grimm as the students of Beacon saw them, as obstacles and enemies, to be analyzed and understood, so that they could be fought more effectively.

It was an odd experience to be sure. Ashley felt she was looking through a curtain into another world, and surprised to find that it looked amazingly like her own. At the same time, there was a very real difference. It might have looked like a normal school. But the subjects these students studied were anything but.

"I understand," said Ruby, when Ashley voiced her feelings on the matter. "It feels weird to think that we're at a school for hunting monsters, but you actually have to do homework, read textbooks about the monsters, and write papers about the monsters."

"You mean it's a drag," groaned Yang, making Ashley laugh. "I mean, at the end of the day, all you do is hit it until it's dead, while making sure it doesn't hit you back."

"But understanding what you're up against is the best way to ensure you can do that," countered Ren.

"Yeah, but that doesn't make it any less boring," said Yang. "I mean, you should sit in for one of Professor Port's lectures, Ash. If there's one thing that's totally amazing, it's the way a man can make teaching about the hunting the eternal enemy of mankind the most boring thing on the face of the planet."

Ashley briefly thought that Yang was joking, until she noticed that everyone was nodding along with her.

"At least he does practical sometimes," ventured Pyrrha.

"True, that does liven things up," added Blake.

"Practical?" Ashley looked to Ruby for clarification.

"Sometimes, Professor Port brings a Grimm into the classroom and has one of us fight it," Ruby explained, making Ashley gasp in shock.

Behind them, Weiss blushed furiously and looked down.

"And have all of you done this?" asked Ashley.

"Not all of us," said Nora, disappointed.

"There's well over a dozen students in each class," Ren reminded her, before addressing Ashley directly. "Keeping Grimm in captivity is difficult enough that we only have an opportunity every couple of weeks, assuming the Professor can actually obtain one. And, even then, it's usually just one student who gets to fight."

"Of course, we can schedule training sessions in the Emerald Forest," added Ruby, her teammates nodding, remembering one such particular training session.

"Wow..." whispered Ashley. It was disconcerting to hear these students talk about something that she would never consider doing, as though it were a casual activity.

"Yeah, I guess it's a pretty big deal," noted Yang casually. "I mean, do anything often enough, and it becomes pretty ordinary, after a while."

"Until you wind up fighting a Duba," commented Blake wryly.

"Yeah...then it gets tricky," admitted Yang.

"But enough of that," declared Nora. "Where do we go next?"

They decided to visit the library. It was certainly one of the more impressive places on campus, and Ashley was shocked to see the plethora of books on display. It was certainly considerably larger than her own school's library. After that, they visited the sparring rings. To their good fortune, they found one that wasn't in use, and were able to secure it for themselves.

"So this is where you fight each other?" asked Ashley, looking around.

"Well, one of the places," said Ruby.

The sparring rings were not as impressive as the room used by Goodwitch for Combat Class. Instead of the upper balcony, with seating for a number of students, the sparring rings, while being almost the same size as the ring used in class, were simpler in design, with an outer ring of benches lining the wall, seating fewer spectators, which was understandable, as these were meant to be used by one or two teams at a time, mainly for individual matches. There were a couple of larger rings, capable of hosting multi-team battles, as well.

The proximity of those benches to the center of the action was a bit unnerving to Ashley.

"Don't worry," said Yang, gently patting Ashley on the back. "The shields here are top notch. It'd have to be a pretty serious hit to actually break through them. Now then, who wants to go out there?"

"Huh?" gasped Weiss.

"Well, we went through the trouble of taking up this ring, might as well use it," declared Yang. "Besides, Ashley came all the way up from Vale, so we should give her a show."

"That's true," agreed Ren.

"It would be remiss of us to take this ring, then not use it," added Blake, prompting an askance look from Ashley, who still felt unsettled by the black-haired girl's presence.

"Well, I think Ruby should be one of the participants," said Ren.

"Me?" asked Ruby.

"She's your friend first," said Ren. "If anyone is going to show off for her, it should be you."

"Y-yeah...well..." Ruby gazed bashfully down at her toes.

"Let's set up the randomizer and pick an opponent for her," said Yang, using her scroll to interface with the ring's controls. Opening it up into tablet mode, she brought up the display, showing Ruby's portrait on one side, while a wheel of portraits, representing the rest of them spun on the other side, before slowing down to reveal Ruby's opponent...Weiss.

Weiss gasped, and her eyes went wide.

"Well, the god of random numbers has spoken," declared Yang with a grin. "Go get your weapon, Weiss."

Overcoming her surprise, Weiss drew herself up, projecting as much confidence as she could. "Very well then." She turned and strode out to get Myrtenaster from the nearby locker room.

"Are you okay with this?" asked Ashley, giving Ruby a worried look.

"It's okay," said Ruby. "We do this all the time."

"In class, usually," added Pyrrha.

Silently, the members of both teams noted that they should spend more time in the sparring rings. RASP in particular had never actually visited the rings, occupied as they were with Jaune's basic training, though that had become less of an issue, now that Jaune was working on his own.

"Have you fought Weiss before?" asked Ashley.

"Actually...no," admitted Ruby sheepishly.

"I have!" declared Nora cheerfully.

"Is she strong?" asked Ashley.

"Super-strong!" replied Nora excitedly. "She beat me, and I've got these guns!" She flexed her arms, with their impressive muscles, for emphasis.

"Although, in this case, strong means skilled," commented Ren. "Weiss' style is extremely refined and precise. I think you'll be impressed."

A few minutes later, Weiss arrived, Myrtenaster at her hip. "Ready?" she asked Ruby.

"Yep," said Ruby, fingering Akaibara's hilt. The two of them headed out into the center of the ring, while Yang brought up the arena's shield.

Ashley's eyes caught the shimmer of green energy climbing up in front of her, before it vanished from her sight. "Are we really okay right here?" she asked nervously.

"Yep, replied Yang, rapping her knuckles against the shield producing ripples of green light that spread out from the point of impact, along with a faint crackling sound.

Warily, Ashley reached out in front of herself, only to stop when Pyrrha gently rested her hand atop Ashley's own. "I wouldn't advise that," said Pyrrha. "It does give you a jolt, and it can be quite painful, if your Aura isn't unlocked."

Squeaking nervously, Ashley stepped back, sitting herself down on the bench behind her, keeping her hands pressed to her lap.

"Don't worry too much about it," said Yang.

Ashley nodded, then suddenly got an idea. "Is it okay if I record the fight?" she asked.

"Uh...sure," said Jaune.

"Just...please don't put the fight out on the network," pleaded Pyrrha.

"I won't," promised Ashley, pulling out her scroll, and turning on the video recorder.

Out in the ring, Ruby and Weiss assumed their starting positions; Weiss with her rapier poised to thrust, pointing right at Ruby; Ruby with her sword held up over her head, the blade pinched between the middle and ring fingers of her right hand.

"Begin!" shouted Yang.

The pair blurred into motion instantly. Weiss rushed forward, executing her trademark sliding lunge that allowed her to launch a swift thrust, right at Ruby's chest. Ruby countered it by whipping Akaibara around in a rapid parry that knocked the thrust aside. Following through, Weiss unleashed a rapid series of thrusts, the blade of Myrtenaster becoming a flickering blur between her and Ruby. Ruby's response was to maneuver her own sword with her wrists, sweeping it in front of her in tight crescents, curving streaks of red intercepting the white flashes of Weiss' thrusts.

Then Weiss stumbled forward, her latest thrust finding no resistance. Ruby had vanished, leaving only a flurry of petals where she'd been before, Weiss tottering into the space she had occupied. Ruby was already behind Weiss, Akaibara poised to swing. Weiss gasped. Her own senses might not have been honed to the degree that Ruby's were, but she could definitely sense the threat from behind. Besides, it was the only logical way Ruby could have moved, considering the circumstances.

With a flash, a white Glyph spun into being beneath Weiss' feet, launching her upwards without her needing to bend her legs to jump. Ruby's sword slashed through the space Weiss had been standing, while Weiss' Glyph carried her over Ruby's head. Another Glyph appeared in the air behind Weiss, launching her back down at Ruby, like an arrow from a bow. Ruby darted back, escaping the line of Weiss' strike, before darting back in, trying to catch Weiss before she could dodge again.

Another Glyph appeared beneath Weiss' feet. But, this time, instead of launching her into the air, it instead sent Weiss sliding off at an angle, her high-heeled boots sliding across the floor of the ring as smoothly as though she were skating on ice. At the same time, the Dust-chambers of her weapon revolved, the fire-Dust chamber rolling into place, while Weiss slashed her blade through the air in front of her, flames trailing off it to form a burning crescent of yellow, orange, and red that flashed across the space between her and Ruby, a wave of flame that washed across the ground.

Ruby was a streak of red as she shot upwards over the wave, descending on Weiss with a powerful slash of her sword. Weiss threw herself backwards, Akaibara slamming down where she'd been standing with a crash, actually splitting the surface of the ring. Falling back, Weiss selected the ice-Dust chamber next, thrusting down into the ring at her feet, utilizing her favored tactic of unleashing a wave of ice-spears at her opponent. It also created a wall of ice that cut her and Ruby off from each other.

Seeing the points of Weiss' ice spears coming at her, Ruby remained dauntless. Rather than falling back, she shot forwards, seeming to deliberately throw herself onto the points of Wiess' weaponized icicles. However, with subtle turns of her body, Ruby slipped between the points, at the same point, drawing back Akaibara, holding it in both hands, with the blade pointed in front of her, poised for a two-handed thrust. A crackling thread of red lightning climbed the length of the sword, winding around it, almost like a thorny vine. As she reached the wall of ice, she thrust forward. "Takenoko!"

The lightning leapt out from the tip of her sword with an echoing crack, striking the wall ahead of the tip of the blade itself, sword and lightning both punching right through. Weiss shrieked as the lightning struck her, the sudden jolt causing her muscles to seize and spasm, keeping her from dodging when the sword followed, the tip striking her shoulder. There was a flash of red against white, sparks of the two colors shooting off in different directions from the clash between their Auras, before Weiss was thrown back away from Ruby.

Ashley gasped, shooting to her feet, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be recording. "Take it easy," said Pyrrha, resting a reassuring hand on Ashley's shoulder. "Weiss' Aura took the hit."

Ashley stood there, blinking dumbly for a moment. "I guess I should have known," she said. After all, she'd seen Ruby's match with Pyrrha, which had involved each of the pair landing blows on the other with their edged weapons. But it was one thing to see that on a screen, another entirely to watch it happen to someone she knew, right in front of her own eyes.

"It does look crazy," agreed Jaune.

Calming down, Ashley sat back down, and resumed recording.

Ruby advanced, the ice crumbling away from the force of her last attack, giving her an opening to proceed through, so that she could capitalize on the hit she'd just landed. But Weiss was already responding. A black Glyph appeared behind Weiss, pulling her through it and sending her flying out the other side at a greater speed. At the same time, she swept her rapier through the air, creating a quartet of much smaller Glyphs, which then launched white bolts at Ruby, arcing through the air like missiles.

Not faltering, Ruby twisted, turned, and danced between the bolts, which exploded against the wall of ice behind her, before dashing forward again, leaving a trail of petals in her wake. Ahead of her, Weiss landed, driving Myrtenaster into the floor again. Abruptly, Ruby lurched to a stop with a startled squeak, finding her feet pinned to the floor by the appearance of another black Glyph. Ahead of her, she saw Weiss draw back her weapon for a powerful thrust, though Ruby was still out of reach.

The chamber of wind-Dust slid into place next, and Weiss thrust out at Ruby with a loud shout, unleashing a horizontal tornado that flew right at Ruby, hitting right as the Glyph holding Ruby in place expired, the sudden surge of wind sending her flying and spinning backwards.

Weiss swept her weapon through another crescent in the air around her, creating another series of miniature Glyphs, which glowed orange and red, launching fireballs that slammed into the remains of the ice-wall she'd created, shattering it into fragments. From there, Weiss reversed her grip on Myrtenaster, and drove into the floor again. Another Glyph, this one glowing green, appeared right where Ruby's windblown flight carried her, erupting in a tornado that quickly swept Ruby up into it. Also drawn in were the shrapnel that Weiss had made of the ice-wall, becoming sharp-edged hailstones that circled through the whirlwind, bombarding Ruby from all sides.

Ruby wrapped herself up in her cloak, channeling her Aura through it to harden it, until it was as strong as a sheet of armor, the ice shattering impotently against its folds, while Ruby rode out the turbulent whirlwind.

"Wow!" exclaimed Jaune. "Weiss totally has the advantage here."

"She might even win!" declared Nora.

Ashley watched with wide, eager eyes, wondering just who would emerge from this bout the winner.

Ruby kicked out, firing her Aura out through her feet, using the action to propel herself out of the weakening tornado. She shot towards the floor, managing to get her feet under herself and slide to a stop. As she stood upright, Weiss appeared behind her with the flash of a conjured Glyph, using it to angle her approach to come at Ruby from her blindspot, so that the folds of Ruby's own hood kept Weiss out of her field of view.

As she approached, Myrtenaster poised to deliver a devastating thrust, Weiss thought she could hear the faintest hissing sound from Ruby. Nonetheless, she attacked. Myrtenaster struck Ruby right in the neck, the silvery blade plunging into the folds of red fabric...which then dissolved into a cloud of petals. Beyond that lay only empty air, with no sign of Ruby.

Before Weiss could even begin to try and locate her opponent, Ruby rose up from below, having sunken down into a crouch, taking her below the line of Weiss' thrust, turning and rising to bring her blade up in a slash, aiming right for Weiss' torso. Akaibara struck with a flash of red and a pained shriek from Weiss, who was thrown backwards from the blow. She landed on her back…hard. Still, she managed to quickly use what remained of her momentum to roll back onto her feet, rising up to a standing position. As she did, she created another set of miniature Glyphs, aiming to use another barrage of bolts to try and slow Ruby's pursuit, and buy herself more time to come up with her next move.

Another faint hiss reached her ears.

"HIbana!" A barrage of bolts of violet plasma slammed into the miniature Glyphs, shattering them, the thundering cracks of their discharges staggering Weiss. Ruby followed in the wake of her attack. Desperately, Weiss drove Myrtenaster into the floor, conjuring another wall of ice. Forgoing attack this time, she focused on conjuring as thick and solid a barrier as she could manage, hearing yet another hiss from Ruby as she did so.

But Ruby moved as though she knew exactly what Weiss was going to do, firing her Aura from the soles of her feet to launch herself upwards, just enough that she was able to use Weiss' rising wall as a foothold, before it could even begin to grow to its full height, stepping off with another sharp, precise application of her Aura to send her in a flipping dive towards the floor, an arcing blur of red touching down directly behind Weiss, poised to strike.

Gasping, Weiss turned, raising Myrtenaster, bracing the flat of her blade with her right hand. But that did next to nothing to stop the force of Ruby's strike. Although Weiss' block kept Akaibara from biting into her Aura once more, she was still thrown backwards into her own ice-wall, cracking it with the force, the impact driving the breath from her lungs.

Through her blurred vision, Weiss could see Ruby closing in again. Desperate to escape, Weiss created another Glyph, using it to throw herself to the side. She heard another hiss, then, to her shock, she saw that Ruby was directly in front of her, having matched her movement perfectly. Weiss caught a glimpse of a red flash over from where they'd just been, and saw that her Glyph had been turned red by its contact with Ruby's Aura. That was when Weiss realized that Ruby had deliberately stepped down on the Glyph, when Weiss had created it, using it to propel herself in the same direction as her opponent.

Akaibara flashed once more, and Weiss screamed, her body slamming into the barrier with an angry crackle, before sliding to the floor, Myrtenaster tumbling from nerveless fingers.

"And that's the match!" declared Yang.

"Is she okay?" asked Ashley, shutting down her scroll and standing up worriedly.

"She got her bell rung, that's for sure," said Nora.

Yang brought down the safety barrier, and Weiss' friends swarmed around her, including a concerned Ruby, who sheathed her own sword and crouched down in front of Weiss.

"You okay?" asked Ren, supporting Weiss from behind and gently massaging her shoulders.

"Ouch..." was all that Weiss had the wherewithal to say.

"She'll be fine," declared Nora.

They helped Weiss over to the bench, where they sat her down next to Ashley, who looked on worriedly.

"Sorry, I guess I got carried away there, at the end," said Ruby sheepishly.

"No...it's fine," said Weiss, who was beginning to feel a bit more lucid.

"That was amazing!" gasped Ashley, gaping at them. "I never imagined that Huntresses could do things like that!"

Weiss and Ruby both blushed.

"Yes, well, when Weiss cuts loose with her Dust, she really makes Nature's Wrath live up to its name," commented Pyrrha.

"But Ruby was even more incredible," said Weiss, sighing.

"You almost had her a couple times there," Ren pointed out.

Weiss wondered if that really was the truth. Glancing up at the screen, still hovering over the ring, she could see the differences in their Auras. Ruby had taken Weiss down almost to the critical zone with only the scant few hits she'd landed, while Weiss had barely managed to make a dent in Ruby's Aura. Even if Ruby hadn't won by ring-out, Weiss wouldn't have been surprised if the match had lasted longer than a few seconds beyond that attack.

"Well, we're set for another twenty minutes or so," said Yang, checking her scroll's clock. "By the time the ring's fixed, we should be good for one more bout."

"Fixed..." Ashley's eyes glanced out towards the ring, noticing where it was pitted and split by the attacks the combatants had exchanged. Now those deformations were filling in, the ring mending itself before her eyes. The ice structures Weiss had created were crumbling and dissolving.

"The rings are capable of self-repair," explained Blake. "Special vibrations break down Dust constructs, while earth-Dust is used to fix the surface of the ring itself."

"During Combat Class, Goodwitch fixes the ring herself, 'cause it's faster that way," added Nora.

"She can do that?" wondered Ashley.

"Yeah, Professor Goodwitch's telekinesis shouldn't be underestimated," said Ruby.

"She's capable of performing molecular bonding to rejoin broken objects," added Pyrrha. "She uses her Semblance to call all the debris back together, then just merges them as though they've never been broken in the first place."

"Wow..." whispered Ashley. The more she heard, the more she realized that Huntsmen and Huntresses really were an existence apart from the world she knew. It wasn't merely that they went out to fight the monsters that occupied people's nightmares. They were capable of things that bordered on the magical to her mind. She figured that such things were well beyond the reach of an ordinary mortal like herself.

Yang seemed to read Ashley's mind. "Don't get too starstruck," she said, gently patting the girl's shoulder, careful to moderate her strength. "We started out as regular people too, even Ice Queen, here."

"Hey!" protested Weiss weakly.

"But we have been training most of our lives to cultivate the skills you see here today," added Pyrrha.

Outside of Ashley's field of view, Jaune shifted nervously, and studiously averted his eyes.

"It isn't as though the people who come here are superiorly gifted," continued Ren.

"So don't sell yourself short," finished Ruby, smiling at her friend.

Ashley nodded, figuring that she needed to think this over more. She did have to admit that, for as incredible as the things they could do were, the people she'd met today were just people, from the way they acted and carried themselves. They could be shy or confident, prone to erratic behavior or remarkably steady. Having them all around her, talking so normally, did make them seem rather ordinary to Ashley, even if what they did was so extraordinary.

"So, who wants the next bout?" asked Yang, looking up to monitor the progress of the ring's self-repair.

"Ooh!" squealed Nora, jumping up and down. "Pick me! Pick me! Put me in, coach!"

"In that case, I nominate myself," declared Yang, already winding her right arm.

"You're welcome to her," said Ren, sporting a relieved smile.

"This fight's going to be loud," commented Blake, giving the pair a wan look as they strode out into the ring, while Ren took over the job of bringing up the barrier.

Ashley twitched, looking at Blake again, a pensive frown on her face. There was something about Blake that struck Ashley as...strange. But she couldn't quite place it.

Still, that notion was knocked out of her head completely as Yang and Nora went at it in the ring. Ruby and Weiss' fight had been impressive, with the pair looking as though they were dancing, in between flashes of elemental energy. But Yang and Nora were powerhouses, with fighting styles that were best described as "explosive." Bangs and roars echoed out, barely muted by the safety barrier. Fiery bolts collided with pink shockwaves. Gauntleted fists slammed into a massive warhammer. Forced apart by colliding blows, Yang fired fire-Dust rounds from the barrels of Ember Celica, while Nora replied in kind with grenades from Magnhild. When they closed in, Yang ducked and weaved, throwing out swift punches, punctuated by shots from her weapon, while Nora whirled her hammer through swift spins, countering with swings that unleashed explosive shockwaves upon contact.

It was hard to tell who had the advantage. At range, Nora seemed to have the edge, her grenades exploding in a wider radius, inflicting damage, even if they missed hitting their target outright. But Yang's shots had a higher velocity, enabling greater accuracy on her part. In close, it looked as though Yang had the advantage, able to come right in, stepping well inside the reach of Nora's long, bulkier weapon, to deliver swift attacks. However, Nora's mastery of her hammer was not to be underestimated, and her handling of it allowed her to keep pace with Yang, even right up close.

It was a slugfest, but one that Nora seemed to be winning. Though both of them lost Aura with each exchange, Yang's was dropping faster than her opponent's. The longer the fight went on, the wider the gap between them grew. Finally, it looked as though Yang was at her limit, her Aura hovering just above the critical zone, while Nora still had a healthy chunk of hers remaining.

Ashley leaned forward, on the edge of her seat, certain that Yang was about to lose. Then she heard Ren mutter softly behind her. "It's Yang's win," he said.

"Nora forgot about her Semblance," added Blake.

As the pair closed in for a final exchange, Yang's body abruptly began to shine from within, her hair glowing brilliantly, yellow motes drifting off into the air behind her. Her eyes turned a brilliant crimson color, and Yang unleashed a mighty punch. For her part, Nora saw the attack coming, but all she could do was shriek and put up her weapon to block the incoming attack. It was useless, Yang's punch unleashing a mighty explosion that blasted Nora backwards, slamming her into the safety barrier even harder than Ruby had blasted Weiss against it earlier. Not only that, but Nora's Aura advantage vanished completely, what remained of her meter dropping all the way down into the critical zone from that one hit.

"Ring-out and knockout," declared Ren, bringing down the barrier.

Nora sat up, her head swaying around in woozy circles. "Whoo...can someone stop the ring from spinning...I wanna get off."

The others laughed, as Yang went to offer a helping hand to her teammate.