Kyle's Adventures in Remnant.

Chapter 7: Progress… Made!

A/N: Usual scorekeeper stuff here. As of this chapter, the votes are 6 for Ruby, 3 for Yang, and 2 for Weiss, Nora, and Pyrrha. I'm still surprised I got Pyrrha votes, because of the whole Arkos ship thing. Any reasoning for this? Or am I just surprised for no reason? Any who... While there are… two or three more chapters before the season 1 finale, I believe… Ruby LOOKS like she's going to win this one. Onwards!

I've been training with the girls almost all the time when I was not studying for the past few weeks. They all have been very helpful and I love that they are using some of their time to help me. It started off as a required tutoring thing, as mandated by our amazing leader, Ruby Rose, much to Weiss' annoyance, I'd like to think even Princess and I are starting to get along ever better each session!

Ruby: Oh… when it was Ruby's turn to teach me, she brought cookies for me if I got things right, or did her mandated training exercises correctly. Other times I got them wrong, she would eat the cookie herself. Like, for instance…

Flashback…

"Okay, Ruby! YOU'RE MINE!"

"You need to catch me, remember?!" She was speeding through the forest, and I was right behind her, using my sound pulses and running to try and catch her. Her method of training was to gradually increase my movement speed. I would never be able to officially catch up to her, but she wanted me to get closer and closer each time we tried. The last few weeks have been good to me, but this one… I almost had her cape when she darted up a tree, and I faceplanted into the trunk.

"OW!" I yelled, plucking my head out, seeing her on the branch and munching her cookie.

"Almost had me!" She yelled down, playfully taunting me. She never insulted me, thank goodness.

"Really?" I asked her happily. She nodded.

"But you need to still try!" She zoomed again. I sighed, and reloaded my gauntlets, boosting off to get speed, then started running behind her. I was straight behind her again, and as I got a little better at Weiss' style, it's been easier, but not completely.

"Kyle! On me already?!" She asked, surprised. I smirked at her, and boosted off again. She swerved to the side, and I cushioned myself with my feet this time, and bounded after her again.

"RUBY!" I hollered after her. She looked back, seeing me about to tackle her. She slid down, and I began rolling uncontrollably along the ground into a thorn bush, and I hopped out of it, yelping in pain.

"ALWAYS WITH THE THORNS!" I yelled, plucking them out of my butt for the thirteenth time, literally.

"Kyle, you can't just do a straight rush. You need to swerve." She told me, munching another cookie. I growled, and jumped at her. She wasn't expecting it, and I tackled her to the ground.

"What was that about swerving?"

"I wasn't ready!" Ruby told me, then looked up at me. "Um… Kyle?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"You can get off now." I got off of her as she told me.

"Sorry, Bossgirl." I told her. She smiled.

"You need to catch me for real. Not when I'm stuck in one place. Let's try again." She zoomed away again. The rose petals she always made were right behind her. I smirked, winding up my arms, then went after her again. After some time of going after her, I got tired, and fell to my knees.

"Wow…" I said. "So… tired. Need… water…" I saw a stream, and began crawling towards it when Ruby zoomed back, seeing me pulling myself slowly towards the water.

"Okay. Time out." She said. She moved me to the water and helped me drink some.

"Thanks, Ruby." I had said.

"Well, I guess we can give this a break for now, Kyle. You did excellent. Much better than the last few weeks, in fact. You earned this."

"Cool." I replied. "At least I can keep up with you in short bursts thanks to my sound blasts."

"Weird. Your Semblance is lightning, but your gauntlets make sound bursts." She noted.

"Well, I can charge my gauntlets with lightning for lightning punches. Kind of like what Yang does with her gauntlets." I explained.

"You need to put your Aura into it for lightning projectiles, though." She said.

"And I still can't use too many of those at once or I get tired." I said. When I fought Torchwick, I could only use one of those bursts per day. Now, I can use two. Big improvement, considering.

Ruby said, "Well, want a cookie? I saved the last one for break." She gave it to me, and I ate it.

"You're so thoughtful, Bossgirl." I told her.

"Do you have a name for everyone?" She asked me. I shrugged.

"Still working on Yang's. I need something other than Blondie." I replied.

"She wouldn't like that one."

"No kidding. Weiss hates Princess. I called Blake Bookworm once, and she only gave me a look. Don't know what that means."

"Hmm…" We both thought about it.

"Whatever." I said. Ruby shook her head.

"Wish I knew." She answered back.

Weiss: Weiss, like she promised my mom, helped me in my academics, mainly, but she also was teaching me 'battle efficiency' or something like that. We would sit in the library as she lectured me on various topics, or lecture me even on off days.

"Look Kyle, it's important for you to not only have a strong body as a Huntsman, but a strong mind. I'm sure Professor Goodwitch and Professor Oobleck stressed that on you." She told me.

"They sure did. But I REALLY like punching things. Like Yang." I told her while I wrote.

"I need to grade that review when you're done, by the way." She told me. "I promised your mother you would get good grades, and I intend to go all the way on it, even if we don't necessarily like or agree with each other."

"Princess, it's cool."

"Shut up, Sapphire." I broke my pencil.

"Can't I call you Princess just ONCE without dealing with THAT name I don't want to be called?" I asked her.

"No." She replied haughtily, smirking widely. Good thing we were in the library, or I would have slugged her. And she knows it. "Kyle, just finish the review, and then we'll go to our battle practice."

"Okay." I told her, pulling out a new pencil.

"This is open book, thankfully. We're not dealing with a big test yet." She told me. As I finished, she studied my answers while looking at her answer key.

"Uh huh… Mm hmm… Oh… Okay… Yeah…" I saw her marking a lot of them. I couldn't see what she was marking, though. Her grading always makes me nervous. I saw her write words, too. I was twiddling my fingers, with small beads of sweat coming down my head.

"As I thought." She said. I gulped. "This was adequate. You have a C+."

"WOO! Bringing dinner to the table!" I quietly yelled.

"You still need study help. Maybe Blake can help you with this as well." She said. "I wouldn't be super happy about a C+, by the way." She said. I nodded.

"I understand, Weiss."

"One or two of these will be passable for you, but I don't want to be held back a year because you couldn't get a B or an A. But… that is why I'm helping you. You're a slight liability at the moment… but only a SLIGHT one." She said. I rolled my eyes at her, not caring if she noticed.

"If only you went to Signal or something…" She said again.

"Are we going to combat practice now, or…?"

"Yes. Follow me to the training grounds, if you would." She said. I just followed her, and saw her with Myrtenaster out as she had a dummy before her.

"Normally, I'd have a giant knight to fight, but considering your current skill level, we'll go with this."

"Weiss…"

"Kyle, please understand. I'm not trying to make you fight more than you could handle. Besides, Yang and Blake both told me about your problem with the Ursa the first day of school."

"But I am WAY better than that now! I can kill an Ursa with no effort on my-"

"Kyle… you muscled it. You didn't use a strategy."

"It's a savage creature. I didn't have time to…"

"Just watch and listen."

"Excuuuuuse me, Princess!" I literally saw a vein bulge on her forehead, and the cylinder on her sword changed to the blue one.

"Uh oh." I said. She rushed at me charged up by her glyph, and I got struck, encased in a solid block of ice.

"Let THIS be a lesson to you. Do not EVER call me Princess while I have access to my weapon!" She yelled.

"Gaahh…" was the noise I made through the ice. She made the cylinder go red, and then she melted me out with fire.

"Whoa!" I said.

"Now, will you watch me and see how you can still be somewhat precise, especially with big, metallic, clumsy hands like yours?" She asked. I nodded. "Good. Now, observe. And please try to focus ONLY on my blade."

"Yes, Weiss." I watched her blade now. As I focused on the tip of it, she was moving incredibly fast, making cuts in the dummy I could barely detect. The Schnees seem to all be good at this from what I did learn from her. Almost everyone had the ability to use a sword like Myrtenaster. I just wasn't expecting to see it done this well. Once she was done, she curtsied to the dummy.

"Um…" I released a sweatdrop behind my head.

"Did you follow that at all?" She asked.

"I followed the cuts. Not the blade itself." I said, still amazed.

"I took it easy on you back at our last battle, because you weren't that skilled yet. Plus, Yang would have had my head."

"You said you wouldn't murder me."

"Also because of that. Now, I'll get a fresh one, and I want you to keep in mind the vulnerable areas we discussed last week."

"Makes sense." She set up a fresh one.

"The gut and face would be the best places for you to hit. I don't expect you to be fast, but you need a good rhythm regardless. Don't waste your Dust either, because you still need control."

"Not on a dummy. Come on. What do you take me for? An imbecile?"

"Maybe the first few days of school, but you do have a brain in there. I want you to use it."

"Yes, ma'am." I replied, walking to the dummy now. I took a deep breath to see if it would help.

"And… go!" She monitored me as I slugged the dummy repeatedly. I did have a bop bag at home, thankfully, so I used this the same way I used my bop bag. I made one big gut punch, with my fist bursting through its gut.

"Whoa!" I said.

"That is what you would do to someone who doesn't have an Aura at all. It's also what would happen if YOU got hit that hard, since your gauntlets suppress your Aura exponentially." I gulped.

"That's scary." I said.

"I bet it is. You remind me of when I was starting this. Of course, I was much younger, but it is a fact. My older sister, Winter, taught me everything she knew, and I want to pass on as much of my knowledge to you as I can… because Ruby said so…"

"And my mom." I interrupted.

"And your mother." She said. "We still have a long way to go. One day, you could fight the giant knight that I usually did, but until then, you'll stick with me holding back. Got it?"

"Of course. You said that last time, too, I think."

"I did?"

"Something like that."

"Hmm… I don't remember it quite like that, but I'm glad you understand. Now…" She drew her sword again.

"Show me what you already are capable of."

"My max, huh?"

"I need to see exactly how well you stack up."

"Gotcha!" I rushed at her right away. She sidestepped at a speed faster than I could see. I saw a glyph on the ground, then saw her coming back to my left. I caught her blade before it hit me, and I tried to slug her in the gut, when she flipped over top of me, kicking me with her boot to my right cheek. I stumbled back.

"Come on!" She yelled. I boosted myself at her this time, and she swung her blade down, deflecting my gauntlet, and then she swung it up, knocking me backwards a few feet. I felt a small cut on my cheek.

"Oops. That was a little closer than I intended…" She said.

"Whatever. We're not done."

"Agreed." She got a glyph up in front of her as I hopped at her again. It bounced me away as she used another glyph to launch herself at me, and she went to slash me in the air. I charged my gauntlets with Lightning Dust, then caught her blade, and then slugged her with an enhanced punch. We both fell to the ground as I rushed for her, giving her an overhand punch, knocking her head down, then I gave her an uppercut, knocking her upwards. When I went to jump at her, she saw me, and I saw her cylinder change from red to green. She then pointed Myrtenaster at me, blasting me into the ground with a tornado. It left a small crack in the floor, and she came back down, going for an impaling strike, but I brought my gauntlets in front of her blade, holding it back.

"Good reflexes, I have to admit." She told me. She then flipped away as I tried to use a sound burst to launch her, but she moved at her choice instead of mine. I ended up pushing myself into the ground more. I got up, and as my gauntlets were turning into cannons, I saw her coming at me again. I couldn't reconvert them, and was forced to fire the orbs, so I did. My absorption of their recoil has also improved significantly, so I stayed still, but I noticed her glyph made her move, and I was slashed again. I didn't even see her move! I fell to my knees, only feeling a cut across my side that was not deep, thankfully.

"That would have killed you if I intended it to." She told me. I nodded, panting.

"Sorry for the cuts, but I think we can agree that I won for today."

"Yeah… Sure…" I said, panting.

"One day, we'll need to get you to control your instability. You'll be much more powerful then." She explained.

"Can we go back to lesson plans?" I asked her. She sheathed her sword, nodding, as my cannons became fists again, and I reloaded my Dust.

Blake: Blake's style of helping me was based on improving my stealth. Since I was less strength-based… if that's the proper word, than Yang, I should be able to sneak around better. We were back in the Emerald Forest, like when Ruby was training me on speed.

"These exercises are going to be pretty simple, honestly." She said, putting her book down for a moment.

"Like, how?" I asked her.

"I'm the stealth mistress on the team, apparently."

"That's why you're Agent Blake." I said.

"What happened to Bookworm?"

"I couldn't tell if you were offended or not, so I stopped using it for that."

"It sounds better." She smiled. I just rubbed the back of my head. "Don't get full of yourself. We haven't even started yet."

"So, what are we doing out here?"

"Stealth exercises. We're both supposed to sneak around the forest and try to find each other while the other isn't looking."

"Um… I may be faster than Yang, but… I make a lot of noise. I can't move fast otherwise."

"We'll see how this fares for now. If it's that bad, we'll try something else." She said. "Now, let's start."

"Wait a-" She vanished, and I began to move. This just seemed a tad unfair. She had that shadow clone… substitute… whatever it is Semblance, and I barely have access to mine. Plus, I suck at sneaking. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! I looked through the trees, trying to hear her out. She was so silent. How was I supposed to know when she was near me or not?! I rolled into a bush, and began looking up from it. I heard a twig snap, and rolled towards another bush. There is no way she's going to easily catch me. I poked my head out again, then pulled it back in immediately.

"Hi." I heard. Blake was in the bush with me. I hopped out.

"WAH!" I hopped out of the bush as she walked out.

"Too easy?" I asked her.

"That was the… second bush I checked." She answered.

"Crap."

"New idea." Blake said. "We'll worry about the forest later. After all, you did manage to sneak past the White Fang. That wasn't easy."

"Blake…"

"Yes?"

"Are you SURE you didn't hear anything else about my Dad? Torchwick said he was dead."

"No. I just know where he was last seen. I wasn't there myself." She said. I feel like she's hiding something from me about this, but I didn't want to not trust her. She's my partner now, like Yang is. I gave her the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

"Let's try looking around the academy for each other instead. It may be a fairer place to sneak around in."

"Yeah." We went inside the academy.

"Okay. Remember. Same goal as before. Just try to be stealthy about it." Blake said. I nodded.

"3… 2… 1… Now." Blake said. We split up, and took different routes. Once we left each other's sights, the exercise began anew. As we scrambled, I was scrambling through the dorm hallways, trying to find things to hide behind and checked every hallway before I moved. I had not yet found her, and this game of hide and seek was still going on. I got to our dorm, and Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were all gone. I tiptoed in, seeing Blake wasn't secretly hiding somewhere in there, to my knowledge, and noticed I was all alone, and she couldn't stop me from reading her book! But we were still on a stealth exercise… Maybe I could use it as a bargaining chip? No. I would just read it. So… I grabbed it, and slid under the bed. Hiding right under her nose. She wouldn't expect it. I then flipped the book open, and began reading. I had to know why this was for her eyes only! YES! MUHAHAHA! As I read, my eyes got wide. This was a… Oh God. My eyes were glued as I kept reading. This book was very intricate about its love scenes. Dang. I was enticed and absorbed. So much so, I forgot about the passage of time. Blake then walked into the room.

"KYLE! I know you're in here! I've checked every other place in this academy!" She then turned her head, and gasped when she saw Ninjas of Love was gone.

"Kyle… Show yourself, please. I know you have my book now. The one meant only for my eyes!" I was frozen in place, not knowing what to do. Do I return it, or do I hold onto it and hope she looks elsewhere? I heard a sword get unsheathed.

"This is your last warning." She silently said. I slid the book out, while it was closed. She sheathed her sword back, then looked under the bed. I was sweating profusely, and crawled out.

"Did you like it?" She asked me. I nodded.

"From what I did read." I replied.

"What did you read?"

"Enough. Sasami just got to see the love of her life and they began hitting it off. Her and Hashirama, I mean. They got intimate and stuff."

"How about we go to the store I got this so you can finish it, since you seemed to like it so much." She asked.

"That would be…" She looked me in the eye while holding her copy.

"Now, I will only tell you this ONE more time. Stay out of my collection. There are things that would scar Ruby in here."

"I can see that."

"Good. Since I won for today, we'll just get you that book." We walked out to get it together. This was going to be a good day today, I could immediately tell. As we said, we went to Tukson's Books to find it. There was one in stock. As we left, I was already re-engulfed.

"Already with your head back in it? Maybe we should start calling you Bookworm." She said. I rolled my eyes. She smirked, and we were soon back at the front yard of the academy reading our copies of the book.

"Oh God. They're into THAT." I commented. Blake nodded.

"Is there a fanbase for this?" I asked.

"Oh yeah." She told me. I grinned, and she laughed back.

"You're definitely different from a lot of people." She told me.

"I get that a lot. Mostly from Mom."

"I can see why." I think we're friends now because of this.

Yang: If I had to describe my training with Yang… it would be like saying your objective for the day was to smash through a brick wall with nothing but your bare fists. No Aura or Semblance, and that wall fought back. I was punched into a corner of the ring, panting furiously. By the way, we were dressed up differently for this. Yang was in her pajama top, and workout shorts, wearing yellow and black boxing gloves. I just took my jacket off, and changed to shorts instead of my signature pants. Since I had to wear my gloves for my Semblance, they let me stick with it. Besides, Yang didn't seem to mind me wearing them. I offered to put on real gloves while I wore rubber ones under regular gloves, but she said the Indigo Volt weapons were fine. I know why. I needed the extra oomph in my punches to get her to feel anything.

Yang said, "You know, you are learning from the different moves I taught you, but you still seem to be just fighting on instinct and not thinking at all." Weiss shook her head as I got to my feet, and charged at her. I gave her a right hook, which she blocked, and then she landed a gut punch. I froze, then clobbered her in the face, and kneed her in the gut, then elbowed her to the floor. She got up, and walloped me in the face. I almost spit out my mouth guard, but I kept it in. I spun around to keep my balance.

"YOU CAN DO IT!" Ruby yelled. Yang bowed to her. "Not you, Yang! Kyle needs all the support he can get!" She replied to Yang's gesture.

"Ruby, we're sisters!" She replied back.

"Yeah, but I want Kyle to win one time… at least." She responded. Blake nodded.

"Part of the exercise is for him to try to win."

"Yeah… you're right." Yang said. I roundhouse kicked her in the face after she said that. As I went for a knockout blow, she caught my fist, and her fiery hair turned on.

"You didn't call a time-out…" I sheepishly replied. She smirked at me when she looked at me again, and thank goodness her eyes were still lavender.

"Yes. I didn't. You're right!" She yelled, kicking me in the gut, then pummeling me towards a corner. I tried blocking her combo, but I still felt the impact of Yang's hits. I know her Semblance is taking the force of a blow and using it to boost her power, but we haven't been fighting that long! She finally used an uppercut to get through my guard, then kicked me into the corner. She backed up, then took a deep breath.

"Oww…" I said.

"He's okay!" Yang yelled to the girls. They looked happy.

"Phew…" Ruby was relieved as I got up. I stumbled before growling, and swung at her again, but after one block, she gave me the red eyes, and I stopped.

"You're too beat up again." She told me.

"O…kay." I said, gulping.

"Kyle, I know you hate losing, but you REALLY need to actually use the skills we teach you." She said. "Is what we're teaching you rubbing off on you at all?"

"The one thing I seem to be sucking at is planning and using my tactics accordingly. Ask Weiss." I replied. The three ladies looked to Weiss.

"It's true." She replied. "He's good at learning, but not at applying. I don't know how that is even possible." Ruby looked to me.

"Kyle. When you're ready, I want you two to have another match. But I need you to use what you have learned. It doesn't matter if you win, or Yang wins… again… but you need to show how good you're getting! I mean, Cardin kicked your butt in one-on-one the other day!" She said. "And he sucks against Pyrrha!"

"Not a fair comparison. Pyrrha won a lot of championships in the past in Mystral." I replied.

"You got me there…" Ruby replied. Yang sighed, and looked at me.

"Kyle." She said. I looked at her.

"Do you feel pressured having Ruby, Weiss, and Blake here?" The three of them got widened eyes.

"Yang!" They interjected.

"Let me finish." She said. "You're not used to audiences, are you?"

"N-no." I was ashamed to admit that, but with the announcement of the Vytal Festival Tournament happening soon… it made me feel like I would hold the team back more than I already was. She smirked.

"Tell ya what, Sparks. Let's make these one on one sessions for now, like with the other three. I'll see if that changes your performance at all, 'kay? Besides… It takes sparks to start a fire." She said, snickering. I chuckled, too, as the other three sighed.

"You three should finish your homework. I'll keep an eye on Kyle." She said. Ruby looked at me. I nodded.

"Please?" I asked her nervously. Ruby looked at Yang. Yang looked to me, then to her, and back at me. Weiss and Blake looked at each other.

"Okay." She said. "But don't do anything his mom wouldn't want you to do." She added.

Yang said, "Yes, Bossgirl."

"Hey!" I said. "That's my name for her."

"Okay." She said, putting up her hands. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake left, but Ruby looked back at us for a moment. Yang shooed her. She finally left the room.

"So… what do you want to-" Yang asked as I fell to the floor.

"I wanna take a nap." I told her. She decided to lie down next to me.

"I'll join you. You made me a little tired." She said.

"Really? I couldn't tell." I replied. She laughed, and I laughed with her. As we laughed, I dozed off.

Later… I opened my eyes, seeing we didn't move at all, and Yang was still sleeping. I looked at the exercise equipment around the room, and began to ponder what I could possibly do to beat her. Each punch I land would only make her stronger depending on how hard I hit her. Is it possible for me to even beat her yet? Apparently I got her tired… Or she said that not to make me feel bad. I dunno at this point. When I got to my feet, Yang yawned, then got up.

"Ready?" She asked me. I nodded.

"You know I won't stop trying until I do win, right?" I asked her. She nodded, stretching. I followed her cue.

"You can bet your butt this'll happen the same way, right?" She smiled.

"You trying to push me?" I asked her.

"Anything to make you go 100%. Trash talk can pump someone up." She replied. "Sapphire." My veins on my forehead bulged.

"Take that back." I replied. She smirked.

"Make me." She said.

"BRING IT, BLONDIE!" I yelled. She had a tick on her head now.

"You're gonna regret that, Tesla." She told me. "By the way, you can call me sir." She added. We hopped into the ring right then and there.

"BRING IT, YANG!" I yelled. She growled.

"YOU BETTER GIVE ME YOUR A GAME NOW!" She yelled back. "BECAUSE THIS IS REALLY GONNA BE A BRAWL!" We gave each other a battle cry after that, then began laughing.

"Okay, okay… enough trash talk." I said.

"So much for that…" She said.

"Oh, that was for real?" I asked.

"Kind of." She said.

"Okay, then. Prepare to get schooled!" I yelled at her. We both rushed at each other, throwing a punch into each other's cheeks. Yang immediately followed up with another left hook, then an overhand to knock me to the ground. I rolled away, getting up, and I swung my fist into her gut. She grunted, and nailed me in the gut with a knee. I backed up, and she began to push me into the corner of the ring with a Dempsey Roll. I was blocking it, but yet again, the impacts were really strong, and I could still feel them. She then used a high kick to pierce my block, and whipped the same leg down for an axe kick, knocking me to the floor. I tripped her to the ground, then went to punch her as she was down, but she caught my fist, and punched me in the face again, and whipped me into a neutral corner. I jumped at her, and faked out a punch, using a thrust kick to her gut. I then followed up with a spin kick to get her into a corner myself, and I began hitting her with jabs to keep backing her up, as she powered through my assault, and sent me backwards. I took another left to the gut, and a kick to the face. She then spun around, nailing me with a back kick, and spun around again, hitting me with an uppercut, and I flew into the air. She hopped up, punching me back into the ground with a gut punch. Her blows were getting stronger. I could have sworn she was already getting stronger. She then used a knee drop on my gut. I held in a yelp of pain that time. I swung at her, only to have my fist get caught. She was growling, and I headbutted her to get her off of me. I flipped to my feet, and drop kicked her face into the canvas of the ring, making a shockwave. She got up immediately, and I saw that her eyes were red now. I froze in fear.

"Not bad!" She yelled happily. She then rushed at me. I tried to punch her across the cheek when she caught my fist, smiling as she clobbered me, and I was sent flying backwards into the blue corner. Her hair was now lighting on fire. Was she enjoying this that much? I gasped, and saw her coming at me again. I charged my fist with lightning, hoping it would put her down. I hit her with a right hook, and she fell back again. "Now you use your Semblance?" She asked.

"I have to. You're using yours." I replied. She had that grin again.

"Well… there's justification there, I admit." She hopped at me, and I charged both of my fists to full. This was my only chance now. I just know that if I don't take her down fast, she's going to pulverize me into nothing. I grinned myself. We hit each other again. Her body shook as the lightning went through her. I then gave her an overhand to uppercut combo, and a front kick to the jaw, and then a double fisted smash to the top of her head, knocking her to the floor. She flipped back immediately, and then she nailed me in the gut. All of the wind flew out of me the moment she punched me in the gut. I coughed saliva at that impact. Wow… I took that, and lived? I fell to my knees as she got up.

"Come on…" She said. "You pushed me this far." My eyes narrowed, and I gave her a lightning uppercut to the chin. She caught my hand with her glove, and gave me a left hook followed by a right high kick to my jaw. I fell to the floor. She backed up, and took a deep breath.

"Phew…" She said. I got up, and stared her down.

"I'm still up." I replied.

"Sorry. I just… had a lot of pent-up anxiety. This is so weird for me." She said. She was calming down.

"How?"

"Fighting you is… fun." She said.

"That's good."

"Sparks start fires. That's just how things work…" She said.

"Maybe you just love fighting so much." I replied.

"Possibly." I said, still panting for breath.

"You still good?"

"I can keep going until you knock me out." I told her. She smiled.

"Kyle, I can't do that. This is just training and preparing you."

"Well, you certainly were on your way there…" I said to her.

"Kyle…"

"Let's finish this like a real fight!" I said. She froze.

"Only if you're certain." She told me.

"We've gone this far." I told her, getting to my feet, smirking.

"Okay." She smiled, turning her hair on fire, and her eyes red again. "I was feeling like I could finish it myself." She finished. I felt my lightning getting stronger, too. My gloves were setting out small sparks as I got up.

"Last punch seals it?" I asked her. She nodded. "Okay…" I said. We jumped at each other, and made one final collision with both of our right straight punches. I literally felt a shockwave go through the room. I smiled as I fell.

"Thanks for going all out for once…" I said.

"It was certainly much more that last time, Kyle." She replied, calming down completely, looking normal again. My lightning died down, and I smirked.

"Are you saying that STILL wasn't your max?" I asked.

"Nope. Certainly pushed me this time, though. You do better when you're not being watched." She said.

"Can all of our training sessions be like this?" I asked her one more time. She laughed.

"Sure. If you insist, Kyle." She said. She gave me her hand, and pulled me up to my feet. I began stumbling, but kept my balance as she took off her boxing gloves. She helped keep me up as we walked to the room so I could really sleep for the night. I saw her looking to the windows opposite my face as she helped me there. I didn't think I needed the help, but I let her if it would make her feel better. We ended that night as usual, in our PJ's, then Yang snuggled me close.

"Sorry if I hurt you too much." She had said.

"It's okay. I made you fight me longer." I replied.

"Ruby looked worried when she saw the bruises on your cheek."

"They'll heal."

"Later than ours. I'm done."

"Aura is an awesome thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah." We stopped talking. "See ya in the morning."

"Yeah, Sparks. Night."

"Sure. Bruiser."

"Huh?"

"Bruiser. That's your nickname."

"Sounds nice." She said. I was used to the snuggling by now, like I was used to being tired after training almost every day after class. Should I be worried about getting used to a girl snuggling me? This has been going on for weeks. Maybe Yang is a hugger. Actually, I'm sure she is. Maybe it's normal for her. "Well…" She said again. "I believe you're making good progress. You're WAY better than you were when we started. You've been paying attention to Weiss, according to her, so, you're doing very well. We're all proud."

"I should be thanking you all for wasting your time with me. I haven't done anything in return yet, and…" Yang turned me around slowly. I looked into her eyes.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say, you've been MORE than welcome on the team. The K is not an afterthought as far as we're concerned."

"That's so nice to hear." I told her.

"Tell the others, too. They'll like it. Especially Weiss. She thinks you're not paying any attention."

"I am, though!"

"Your grades have been pretty good."

"I promised I wouldn't let you all down, and I have not yet. I'm feeling good about that."

"You certainly gave me a fight."

"I sure hope I did."

"And you used the lessons we taught you. You KNOW we're proud."

"Good night, Bruiser."

"Good night, Sparks." I turned myself back over, and dozed off, finally. Tomorrow was going to feel so good. Speaking of tomorrow…

The next day…

It was combat class, and I was cheering on Jaune when he was fighting Cardin, even though Jaune was losing.

"JAUNE! STOP TOYING WITH HIM AND KICK HIS ASS!" I yelled, trying to encourage him to fight harder. Maybe not the wisest words of advice, but… Hey. Why not? Jaune then ran at Cardin, who dodged his next sword swipe, and then he swung his mace into Jaune, knocking him across the floor, and making him drop his shield.

"Oh God…" I said. Jaune then rushed at Cardin, who blocked his sword swing with the mace.

"This is the part… Where you lose." Cardin told him.

"Over my dead… OOF!" Jaune got kneed in the gut, making him drop his sword now. Cardin then raised his mace in the air, and was about to drop it onto him when Glynda said, "That's enough, Cardin." I shook my head.

'So much for encouragement.' I thought. The bars they showed had Cardin at full green, and Jaune in low red.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has dropped into the red. In a tournament styled duel, this would indicate Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and the official may call the match." Ruby, Pyrrha, and I had been sitting there at that point. Pyrrha's face was straight, not showing any emotion. If anything, I thought she'd be a little mad. Ruby looked like she felt bad, and I just looked mad at Cardin. Prick's been annoying me since Day… 2 or 3 of school here. I forget. Keep in mind, this happened when none of my teammates were around me at the moment, and I had just got my lunch together.

Flashback to two weeks before…

"KYLE!" Ruby yelled, signaling where I should sit. I was about to go there, when I got blocked by Cardin and his mooks. Russel, Dove, and Sky.

"O… Kay…?" I asked, looking around.

"Hey, Tesla. I think you and me need to talk for a moment."

"If it's about lunch, I already have plans."

"Yeah. With the girls."

"And what might you be insinuating?"

"I know you're not exactly the strongest of us guys here, but being on a team of chicks?"

"Hey. The teams were entirely random and you know it."

"Not the point. How can you be OKAY with this?"

"Are you saying I'm one of the girls just because I'm on a team full of them?"

"Cut around the crap. I like you, Tesla." I don't think my last name ever meant anything to this asshole… Seriously. I guess he never heard of my Dad. It seemed to affect everyone else in the school in some way, but this guy seemingly knew nothing. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, you really don't. So, since we have both established we don't like each other, I suggest we move on and-" I got blocked off by Russel, the guy with the green mohawk.

"Cardin isn't done speaking to you yet." He said.

"My partner here is right. Why do you feel so good siding with the girls? Are you really one or something?" My anger peaked for a moment. I saw Ruby out of the corner of my eye getting Yang's attention.

"I am not really one, if you must know, but I will tell you one thing."

"Oh?" Sky asked me. He had long gray hair, and looked almost exactly like Cardin.

"You four are interrupting my lunch, and I only have half an hour until my next class. So, if you would kindly…"

"If you would kindly….. See? Just like a girl! They're already rubbing off on him!" Cardin said as his friends laughed. Dove then knocked over my tray. I was about to attack him, when I heard a "Hey. I believe this one's ours." My teammates were already there.

"Hi. You may have met me. Yang?" Yang said. Cardin didn't look worried.

"Yeah? So? What are you going to do? Boob me to death?" They all began laughing again, when Yang's eyes got red.

"Last warning, boys." She told them. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake looked like they were getting ready to brawl themselves. I was at that point already.

"'Last warning boys… Ooh, I'm a girl and I AAGH!" Yang clobbered Cardin into the wall behind me, leaving a Cardin shaped indent.

"Anyone else want a piece?" Yang asked them. They shook their heads at her. "Good. Now, use your money, and get a replacement lunch for my partner. Now." She said. Russel, Dove, and Sky scrambled, and got the lunch together.

"Good." Yang told them, patting Sky on the head.

"No one picks on this one but us!" Ruby hollered, making everyone look at her. Weiss and I facepalmed, leading me to hold my head for a moment. Metallic facepalming is never good.

"Oops." Ruby said, holding the back of her head. We got to the table as I got a replacement lunch.

"Thanks, guys, but I think I could handle myself." I said.

"Not against all of Team CRDL at once." Weiss said. "And especially not Cardin." I gave her a deadpan expression.

End flashback.

"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now, please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura will help you to decide when it is appropriate to attack or when it's better to move to a more… defensive strategy." Jaune looked at his scroll as she said this. "We wouldn't want you to get gobbled up by a Beowulf, now would we?"

"Speak for yourself." Cardin said, leaving the arena.

"Remember students, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms arrive in Vale, so keep practicing." Right… the Festival. That means tournament. That means I can't fight in it. All I can do is hope my teammates win the championship. I can prepare for the next one. I'll be way more ready then than now. There's no way I'd be good enough to fight all these other students this year. Yang, Weiss, and Ruby all looked so excited to hear this, while Pyrrha and I backed off in surprise.

"Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale." Pyrrha hung her head down, and so did Jaune. I decided to go up and try and get Jaune up as the bell rang. As I got him to Pyrrha, who also stood up to take Jaune to the cafeteria, the girls all surrounded me.

"The tournament! I CAN'T WAIT!" Ruby yelled.

"The organization… the planning… OOH!" Weiss said.

"I can't WAIT to destroy all the other kingdoms' students and take the championship for Beacon!" Yang said. I laughed nervously, then looked disappointed.

"Kyle?" Ruby asked. I shook my head.

"It's nothing. Come on, let's get some grub." I said, walking ahead of them. Ruby and Yang looked at each other worriedly, and I heard Weiss talking.

"There's no way he'll be ready for the tournament then. Besides. They'll only let up to four of us fight at a time." She had said. I shook my head as I ran. I didn't need that affirmation. I knew I wasn't going to be ready by then. Yang and Ruby had gone up to me, stopping me.

"Kyle, it's okay! Really!" Ruby said.

"Well… she's right." I told them. Weiss looked down, feeling bad.

"Look. It's like I said a few nights ago. You are not an afterthought. You are just as much a member of our team as the rest of us. You're just… not as… experienced…" She immediately looked like she regretted saying that. "Point is… we have never treated you as anything less than us. You're a part of our team. For the long haul." Yang added.

"Let's just get Blake." I said, running back to meet up with her.

"Kyle!" Ruby yelled to me. I turned to look at her. "I promise. We'll win for you! Okay?" She had said. I smiled back.

"Okay." I simply said back. When we met up with Blake, and got our lunches, it was time for story time with Nora! My favorite part of lunch!

"There we were… In the middle of the night…" She said. Yang and I were engrossed in this. Blake was reading her book. Ruby looked worried, Weiss was checking her nails, Jaune was playing with his fork, and Pyrrha was fixated on Jaune.

"It was day…" Ren interjected. I also loved how Ren corrected every part of her story. It was SOO amusing.

"We were surrounded by URSAI…" Nora kept going.

"They were Beowulves." Ren added.

"DOZENS OF THEM!"

"Two of them."

"But they were no match! And in the end… We took them down, and made a boatload of Lien by selling Ursa skin rugs!"

"Ugh… She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now." Ren said.

"Tell it as many times as you want, guys." I told them. "I could hear these stories ALL DAY…"

"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked. I looked at him now, finally really noticing his plate and that he barely touched it.

"Oh, yeah! Why?" He responded.

"Well, you seem a little… not okay." Ruby said. Oh. That's why she was worried. I kinda thought it was me.

"Whoa, Jaune. There has to be something up. You barely touched your food…" I took note of it. Pyrrha looked at me funny for a moment. I gulped.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look!" He made some nervous laughter after that. I sighed.

"I know how you feel…" I said.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school." Pyrrha mentioned. Yep… That. He was messing around with a rabbit Faunus.

"Who? Cardin Winchester? He just likes to mess around, you know? Practical jokes?" Jaune said.

"He's a bully." Ruby bluntly said. I had to interject.

"And his friends are lunch haters!" I yelled.

"They are?!" Nora asked me.

"YEAH!" I yelled to her. Ren sighed.

"Another one?" Ren said. Blake pulled me back down. I had been sitting between her and Yang the whole time.

"Please! Tell me one time he's 'bullied' me." Jaune said, yet again with nervous laughter.

"I can name three." I said. "The time he rapidly flung his arms around at you, scaring you… The time when you were getting in class, and he activated your shield as you were going in, blocking the doorway… AND the day we were given our rocket-propelled lockers, when he shoved you in one, and sent you flying all the way to the city!"

"Wow." Weiss said. "You remember all of that, and you still have trouble getting a 'B' on the mock tests I give you?"

"Hey. Those tests are hard." I responded. Weiss went back to her nails.

"I didn't land THAT far from the school…" Jaune said.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." Pyrrha said.

"OOH!" Nora yelped. "WE'LL BREAK HIS LEGS!"

"AND HIS SPINE!" I added.

"Don't encourage her." Ren told me. I sat back down in a hurry, with a Weiss facepalm, and a laugh from Yang. Ruby chuckled too.

"Guys, it's fine. It's not like he's a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone."

"Doesn't make it better." I said to him, when Velvet said, "Please stop…" I saw Cardin pulling on one of her rabbit ears.

"I told you they were real." Cardin said.

"What a freak!" His friend, Russel added. Velvet walked off.

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha said.

"You're not the only one." Blake added.

"Must be hard to be a Faunus." Yang added. My right eye twitched.

"No." Blake said.

"Blake… come on…" I said.

"No." She argued. I chucked my plate at Cardin, which had mashed potatoes. It got him square in the back of the head.

"HEY! WHO THREW THAT?!" He yelled. Everyone stayed down, including me, but I gave a victory sign under the table.

"What did I just tell you?!" Blake whispered.

"Do we break his legs now?" Nora whispered.

"No." Ren responded.

"Aww… you're no fun." She said back.

"Jaune-y boy!" Cardin yelled, seeing Jaune was still standing up from earlier.

"Oh no…" He said.

"You threw this! Now you need to pay!" Pyrrha gasped. I jumped to action.

"No, Cardin. That was me." I said. "And you've been picking on a friend of mine for a while. Not cool, man."

"Oh, Girly-boy Tesla thinks he can take me on now, huh?" Cardin said. I squinted at him.

"You have ten seconds to take that back, shitstick." I told him. Yang tried pulling my jacket down.

"Kyle!" She said. I stayed up.

"No, Yang. A man must stand up for himself, and his friends." I got in front of Jaune, who was beginning to freak out.

"Dude! What the heck are you doing?!"

"Standing up for you, pal." I said.

"Can't you do it a different way?!" He asked me. I shook my head. Cardin took a swing at me, but I ducked under him, and charged up a sound burst, launching him through the cafeteria into the wall. Russel, Dove, and Sky all looked surprised.

"Yeah." I told them. "I always wear my weapon." Blake was looking very angry now. Jaune scrambled away, trying to get out of the crossfire. I grinned at the other three, who all ran at me.

"Fucking chodes…" I whispered. I blasted the three of them away, too.

"That was for the Faunus girl!" I yelled after them, as they hit the wall, too. Cardin got back up, growling.

"You're dead meat, Tesla!" He yelled. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all got in front of me.

"If Kyle's getting in trouble, we're all going with him!" Ruby said.

"If you want him, you go through us!" Yang said. Blake shook her head.

"Why am I doing this…" She said, as Weiss got out her blade.

"Stand back, he still needs to get his A's and B's." She said.

"WEISS!" I yelled.

"Yep. I always need to embarrass you." She responded.

"ENOUGH!" I heard Glynda come in. "What happened here?" She asked me.

"Well… if you must know…" I said. "Cardin here was bullying a rabbit Faunus, and I decided to teach him why bullying is wrong."

"By blasting him into the wall?" She asked me.

"Well… they only seem to understand a good beatdown." I said.

"Very well, you've earned yourself ANOTHER afterschool detention until dinner. Class time excluded."

"WHAT?!" I yelled at her.

"And Cardin… you too. Come on." Glynda said to him.

"Professor Goodwitch, he-"

"You were about to attack him, and now is not the time for a fight. Wait for combat class for that one." She told him. As we left the cafeteria, I saw the rabbit girl, who had apparently seen the whole thing. She was smiling at me. I just smiled back, still following Glynda and Cardin to their 'detention room', supposedly being Professor Port's room. Port was sitting at the main desk.

"You again, Mr. Tesla… and Mr. Winchester. What a surprise!"

"They both instigated a fight in the cafeteria. Kyle's teammates were defending him, and it started supposedly because Cardin was bullying a female Faunus. I took him here because of instigated fighting." She told him.

"Very well." Professor Port said. "You know the drill, Kyle."

"Sure do." I replied. Honestly, this was only my second time here, but Ozpin did let me have it for coming here the first time. He'll probably have some words for today, too. Cardin and I sat on opposite sides of the room, as Glynda left.

"So, would you boys like to hear a story about my early days as a Huntsman?"

"Sure." I said. Cardin looked at me angrily as I shrugged.

"Cardin, this is a good one. Now… when I was a young boy…" I tuned him out to look back at Cardin. I just smirked.

"You're dead..." He worded with his mouth.

"You're just answering for your wrongdoing is all…" I mouthed out back. He bared his teeth at me, as if I cared. I just felt it was time for him to answer for what he did. We walked into Oobleck's class later, as I walked in, I was offered the seat next to the rabbit girl I helped earlier, by her herself. I looked to Blake, who nodded the okay, as Pyrrha took her spot. I sat next to the rabbit girl, in the row in front of Weiss.

"Hey." Weiss whispered. I looked up to her.

"Hi." I said.

"Why are you sitting there?"

"She offered." I answered back. "No big deal. I was going to take the seat next to Blake, but then she offered just now." Rabbit girl wasn't paying any attention to this.

"O… kay. I always thought you wanted to sit next to one of us. Or one of Team JNPR if we're not there."

"Not today apparently… I know it's weird, sitting apart from me, but…"

"It's fine." She said, going back to looking at Oobleck.

"Thanks." The rabbit Faunus said to me. I shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. He's been messing with one of my buddies since school began." I told her.

"I bet sitting in detention alone with him was rough."

"It actually made it more interesting. Kept Professor Port from boring me to death."

"Wow. Oh, my name's Velvet."

"Kyle Tesla's my name."

"I thought it was Sapphire." Oh. She was there when I was put on Team RWBYK…

"I refuse to be called that."

"Makes sense, I suppose. It made you sound more feminine."

"True." I replied.

"And you said Tesla was your last name?"

"The one and only."

"Is Kalin Tesla your father?"

"His one and only." (A/N: I meant to change brother and sister in an earlier chapter to friend in editing, but it never went through.) She smiled.

"You have his eyes." She's referring to the Tesla Blues.

"Not his beard though, thank goodness." Velvet chuckled.

"Nice meeting you." I told her.

"You too." She replied. Oobleck got our attention by clearing his throat, then began with the lesson.

Later…

Jaune was snoring as Oobleck kept talking. "Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly referred to as the Faunus War, humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie!" He stopped to sip only what I assume was his coffee, which made me blink in surprise. It's so hard to keep track of his position as he's moving.

"Now!" He continued, "While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of this uprising can still be seen to this day!" Everyone's gaze kept following him as he zoomed around the room, but this is not good for people that tunnel vision easily, like myself. I always lose him for a brief moment before I find him again, and while Oobleck is my favorite professor here, he is very hard to follow, and Weiss always sees me after his classes to see if she can tell I was listening or not. As he sipped his drink again…

"Now…" He zoomed again, making me refocus. "Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated against because of your Faunus heritage?" One guy raised his hand, and then Velvet slowly raised hers. I sighed to myself.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence." He sipped his drink again. He must run out of energy really fast.

"I mean, I mean, I mean, just look at what happened to the White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the War?" Weiss raised her hand, and I did at the same time.

"Mr. Tesla! Finally contributing!" He said.

"Thank you. The battle at Fort Castle, right?" I asked him. I looked to Weiss, and she sighed, then just gave me a nod of approval with a straight face.

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?!" Suddenly, Jaune said, "Hey!" and Oobleck ran to him.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" I was getting ready to answer it again myself, man… Then I saw Cardin snickering to himself, and sighed angrily. Guess I need to give him a more thorough pounding. I could feel Blake's stare at this point, though, and I looked to Blake to see her angry. I gulped.

"Uhhhhhh…. The answer…" Oh God, Jaune was going to pull something out of his ass… No…. "The advantage… the Faunus had… over that guy's stuff… Uh, Binoculars!" My face fell to the desk, surprising Velvet slightly. Oobleck sipped his drink as I heard Cardin's laugh in the middle of everyone else's.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin! Perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on the subject! And Mr. Tesla, Please get your head off the desk. It is not nap time." Oobelck said.

"Yes sir." I said, getting my head up as Cardin began to answer.

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." He said. My eye twitched again, and yet again, I felt Blake's evil stare, making me stop.

Pyrrha had said, "You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Cardin got mad, looking to her.

"What, you got a problem?"

"No. I have the answer. It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." Cardin growled.

Blake added, "General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the General was captured. Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." She said the last sentence while looking at Cardin, and the class was "OOOHH"-ing at Cardin, who got up from his seat. Mine was the loudest as well.

"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat." Oobleck said, then zoomed up to Jaune, snapping me to full attention again. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." Jaune, after laughing himself, said, "Ooh…" As we began leaving class, I saw Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora leaving together, then Pyrrha staying behind, and I got back together with Weiss and Blake.

I said, "Agent Blake, PERFECT work on the back sass of Cardin back there! You BURNED him good!" Blake sighed.

"Thanks…" She said after the sigh.

"And Weiss, your tutoring is really helping! I actually remembered an answer! I feel so good again!"

"Thank you, Kyle, but aren't you supposed to be making your way to Professor Port's classroom? Detention is resuming again." Weiss told me.

"Shootin' me down, huh, Weiss?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Only for your own good. You're lucky that detention was only for today." She said, walking back to our dorm. I sighed, walking back to Port's classroom. When I got there, I saw Cardin wasn't there, but something was on Port's desk.

"Mr. Tesla. Good to see you again. Hopefully for the last time on my office hours, I hope."

"I'll work towards it, sir." I told him. Port knows he's my least favorite professor, but I try not to be a dick to him when he's forced to deal with me, like on detention time.

"I have a note that Ms. Scarlatina wanted me to give you. You trying to steal her heart?"

"Not really… I just got back at Cardin for her is all." He handed me the note.

"I see… Well, she wanted me to give this to you regardless. Where IS Mr. Winchester?"

"He's with Professor Oobleck-"

"DOCTOR Oobleck."

"Doctor?"

"Yes. He insists upon it, but it's because he IS a doctor, unlike Ms. Goodwitch and I. Thank you for informing me, and I shall be supervising you while you're here. Do your readings, study for upcoming tests, whatever you must do, Mr. Tesla. I'll let you go at lights out time."

"Of course, Professor Port." I said, walking to my assigned desk. I opened the note right away, and read it to myself.

"Dear Kyle,

I wanted to thank you for helping me out today. I didn't need it, really, but you insisted on it because you saw an injustice, and tried to right it. I apologize that I got you dragged into detention with Professor Port. I hear it's very boring. I've never gone there myself, and I'm a second year student! I also hope Ozpin isn't mad at you for this. Maybe telling him why you're there will make him ease up slightly…? I don't really know.

Also, it's been a while since a human that wasn't on my team did something like that for me, and that does mean a lot. Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi might want to talk to you later, but for now, I'll tell them what happened, and hopefully they're not mad at you either, but I doubt it. The worst that might happen is Coco might slap your butt, but she only does it to us, so you should be safe from it.

Again, thanks, and I hope we can be friends later. You seem like a nice guy… and all…

Velvet." I put the note away.

"Slap my butt?" I asked myself. I shrugged, and dove into my schoolwork. I had to finish writing an essay about my experiences with hunting Grimm on my own, anyway. As I wrote, I thought about what was up with Jaune. He has been kinda messing up in school. Granted, I was, too, but Team RWBY are all helping me with it as much as possible, and I have been applying myself for their sake, also to not make my Mom angry with me. Does he need help with his schoolwork like I do, too? I'll try asking him about it later when I get out of here. I'm sure we can work something out when it's time for Weiss' turn to help me, and he is attracted to her. She might not like it, but she might understand if I explain it to her. Speaking of explaining, I heard the door open, and I saw Ozpin walking in.

"Good evening, Professor Port." He said.

"Headmaster. It's nice to see you at this hour. Did you wish to have a word with Mr. Tesla?" I buried my face into my paper when I heard that.

"I'd like to hear his side of the story, because I heard two different tellings of it. One from Glynda, who I know didn't see the entire thing, and this bunch of second year students saying one of them witnessed it herself. I'd like him to clarify it for me." Ozpin said. Second year students? Was he mentioning Velvet?

"Why of course." Port said.

"I know you've been overhearing us, Mr. Tesla. You're not in any additional trouble. I just want to hear what you have to say."

"Yes, Headmaster." I replied, packing my books and papers away. Good thing I was only one paragraph away from finishing it at that point. I walked out with Professor Ozpin. When I did, I saw Velvet, out of the school uniform, with a girl wearing a black beret, a darker skinned guy in an orange shirt, and a very tall guy with a sword on his back. I almost froze in place when I saw him, but kept following Ozpin. We stopped when we got to them.

"Kyle, is Velvet the girl you helped today?" Ozpin asked. Velvet walked up to me.

"Did you read the note?"

"I did. Thanks." I told her.

"As I understand it… Velvet said you stuck up for her because Cardin was picking on her in the cafeteria. You did not just attack him for no reason?"

"Y-yes." I answered. I was still intimidated by the towering guy. He was a full head taller than Ozpin was, almost dwarfing me.

"That is all I wished to know. I also wanted you to meet Team CFVY."

"Hi. Name's Coco." The girl in the beret said.

"Fox." The darker skinned guy said.

"Yatsuhashi. Velvet's partner." He walked closer to me, making me look right up at him. I gulped quietly. "I would like to thank you for backing Velvet up today. She did not need it, but the way you did so was brave, if somewhat stupid as well." He outstretched his hand. I shook it, and MAN did this guy have a grip!I almost felt my gloves crack. I was too scared to really feel somewhat offended.

"Headmaster Ozpin tells us your Kalin Tesla's son." Coco said. I nodded to her.

"You ok, kid?" Coco asked as she lowered her glasses so I could see her eyes.

"Y-yeah! Sorry. Yatsuhashi's height is kind of intimidating." Yatsuhashi chuckled.

"Perhaps. I apologize for scaring you." He said. Fox had his arms crossed.

"He also tells us you're new to this Huntsman thing. You certainly have the attitude though. Gotta say that." Fox said, smirking. I nodded again.

"You ever have a problem with Cardin, or you just wanna hang out… Talk to us." Coco pulled up my scroll.

"Whoa!" She gave it back, and I saw my contacts had a 'Team CFVY' label. I smiled.

"You're okay." Fox told me.

"See ya." Yatsuhashi said. Velvet just waved bye while walking closer to Yatsuhashi. As they began walking off, I saw that Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi had all walked off, but not Coco yet. I then felt a smack on my butt.

"Nice hustle." Coco said with a straight face as she turned her back to me and walked towards her teammates. I didn't know how to take that, but I guess I'm their friend now. That's cool.

"You seem to be making new friends all the time, Mr. Tesla." Ozpin said.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Go back to your dorm. I'm sure your team wants to see you." I nodded, walking back to my dorm. I saw Pyrrha walking back to the dorm opposite from us as I got to our hallway.

"Pyrrha?" I asked her. She stopped, looking at me.

"Hello, Kyle." She said.

"Are you… OK?" I asked.

"Not… exactly." She said. I never really talk to her unless her team and my team are around, so this was a little awkward.

"Did Jaune make it out of Oobleck's lecture yet?"

"Yes. He's… taking some time alone."

"Okay. Um… How's… Nora and Ren doing?"

"Kyle. Something's really wrong with Jaune."

"What?"

"You seem to be his best friend, and I would like to know if there's a way I can help him."

"Okay, Pyrrha. What's up?"

"He apparently got a hold of fake transcripts and was admitted into Beacon that way. I want to help him do better, and prove that he is capable of doing great things here, but… he doesn't want it."

"Oh. The muy macho alpha male routine. My Dad did that to my Mom a lot."

"It's worse than a parental argument. If someone else finds out, he could be expelled, and… my team would be without a leader."

"That's true…" I began to ponder.

"Next time you see Jaune, can you please urge him to consider allowing me to help him do better?"

"Kinda hard to undo the alpha male mentality. It usually undoes itself after a big enough incident, though."

"Are you sure it will work itself out?"

"I could say something, but it would probably make it worse." I said to her. She hung her head down.

"Oh…"

"Look, Pyrrha, it has nothing to do with you. I can say that."

"His great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were all heroes before him. He could never amount to it, and it's all he ever wanted to be, Kyle."

"Well, I guess we could test something, but it's a little risky."

"What is?"

"You pretend to flirt with me and be with me, I guess. It'll get him to talk to you."

"No."

"Understood." There was no way that was working, but it was the only idea I had.

"I will… consider it if it gets extreme. But I don't want to lie to him."

"Got it. Well, see ya later. Maybe next combat class? You and I have some unfinished business to attend to." I said. She finally allowed herself to giggle.

"We shall see. Good night."

"Good night, Pyrrha."

To be continued.

A/N: If anything seems like a HUGE romantic hint now, that is not my intention.

A/N 2 (YEARS LATER): Pyrrha is from Mystral. How did I not remember that?