Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.

Amphitheatre, Beacon.

7:07 PM.

The Amphitheatre would have been the best place for their battle, but seeing as there were still hundreds of students idling about in the room, they would have to go elsewhere.

“Should we just find an empty room?” Claire asked curiously. “Some of those looked pretty big earlier.”

“What if we break something?” Teak asked, looking more nervous by the second.

“How about outside? We can stick to melee to avoid anything hitting any bystanders by mistake.” Lima said thoughtfully. “We don’t want to shoot someone who has their guard down accidentally.”

“Trying to weaken your opponents before the fight has even started?” Lux said lightly, “Coward.”

Lima glanced over at her, amused, her confidence really was the real deal.

“Do you even have a melee weapon, Lima?” Teak asked nervously, “I thought you only had the bow?”

Lux frowned at the comment but didn’t say anything.

“Eh, I can use one of my arrows to fight with, it will be fine.” Lima dismissed his concerns, “I’m more interested in seeing what you guys are rocking.”

“I just have my sword, um it’s a semi-automatic rifle as well.” Teak said sheepishly.

“I have two swords; they double as revolvers!” Claire said happily, sticking her tongue out at the short boy. “Jealous?”

“Yes, I’ll have to go buy three swords to make myself feel better.” Teak said good-naturedly.

Claire giggled.

“What about you, bright-eyes?” Lima asked curiously.

Lux preened at the nickname; he’d have to change it to something else later.

“Glaive with an Assault rifle mode,” Lux said confidently, before pausing for a second. “You only use a bow?”

“Just a bow,” Lima nodded. “I shoot these.”

Lima slid one of the metal spikes out of his quiver and extended it; he swished it around in the air for a bit.

“It doesn’t even look like an arrow,” Lux smirked.

“Tell that to all the Grimm I’ve shot in the face, lady,” Lima said wryly. “Oh wait, you can’t; They’re dead because I shot them in the face, with my arrow.”

Lux laughed.

They arrived at a clearing bordering the school, close enough so that there was still some artificial light from the buildings but far enough away to avoid the main fare. Lima vaguely remembered that both of the Faunus would have an easier time seeing in the dark because of their super eyes.

“Rules are simple; Aura drops below twenty percent, you are out; keep track of it with your scrolls and call it out once you dip below. No live rounds until we get the go-ahead from one of the teachers either,” Lima said firmly, “Apart from that, this is free for all, nobody is your teammate right now, attack everyone, forget about hurting each other's feelings, this is a training exercise, got it?”

“Yes.” Teak said firmly, taking a deep breath and drawing his sword.

“Got it,” Claire said easily, brandishing both of her swords.

“Ready,” Lux grinned savagely before she did an intricate flourish with her glaive.

Teak looked intimidated by the large weapon and her skill with it.

“Winner takes all,” Lima said, smiling, still holding onto his spike. “Three, two, one. Fight.”

Claire suddenly disappeared.

Lima dashed away from where he had last seen her, circling wide to the right to keep the other two in his line of sight.

Teak yelped and then landed on his back on the ground.

“I’m out!” Teak squeaked.

There was no way he had no aura left, so why had he given up? Claire suddenly reappeared near where Teak was sitting, one of her swords resting against his cheek, but she made no move to come towards them.

Well, that explained it.

He couldn’t dwell on it because Lux was rushing towards him with her glaive out to one side.

Lux swept the glaive into a wide slash that was far outside of his effective melee range, so he batted it aside with his spike, which was surprisingly much harder to do then he had expected. He doubted he would have been able to block that hit without his semblance.

Lux looked pretty surprised as well, but she used the momentum of the deflection to draw the glaive back towards her, did a tight spin, and then lashed out again in a downward strike.

Lima slapped the now extremely heavy weapon away with his spike, as well as the next six consecutive attacks that Lux chained into a seamless flurry. Claire disappeared at the twenty-second mark, and he immediately started zig-zagging backward away from her last known location, keeping Lux between them.

Lux gave chase aggressively, and when Claire reappeared again much closer to them both, Lima headed straight towards her. Claire looked surprised at the sudden attack and barely managed to avoid a series of spike pokes before Lux caught up with them.

Lima immediately dashed away back into the open field, making sure not to stay still for more than a half-second. Claire was acting as if she had a twenty-second time limit of invisibility before she had to restart it, but Lima had a feeling she was trying to deceive them.

Lima engaged Lux, deflecting, and retreating.

The second he saw a section of grass depress beside them, he dashed backward again. Claire landed a clean strike across Lux’s back and dropped her Aura by a third. Lux spun around in an instant and lashed out at her, and the power of her strike broke straight through the twin sword guard that Claire had managed to raise in time and drew a line against her Aura; diagonally across her body.

Lux followed the debilitating strike up with another chain of precise attacks, not letting giving her the chance to become invisible again. The relentless assault left Claire defeated on the ground, below the Aura threshold.

“I’m out,” Claire called completely out of breath.

“Hah!” Lux huffed, breathing pretty hard herself.

“Just you and me, bright-eyes,” Lima said mockingly. “Want to have a little nap first? You look pretty tired, swinging that silly stick around.”

Lux hissed angrily for a second before she dashed towards him.

This time she was clearly going for a low sweep, and Lima jaunted closer, blocking the inside haft of the glaive with his spike before launching a kick at her midsection. Lux twisted the weapon back towards her and blocked the kick with the shaft.

Lima deflected the followup strike to the side and used his semblance to make sure it sunk into the ground before he stamped on the shaft pinning it. The opportunity allowed him to take a quick swipe at her with his spike, and she attempted a forearm block against the spike.

It landed with a crack against her Aura and provided him more than enough contact to use his semblance on her. Lux was flung violently away from the impact, and she let out a yelp as she was sent cartwheeling across the grass at great speed. She smacked into the ground but managed to dig her heel in for enough purchase to halt her momentum.

The fight wasn’t quite over yet, because her Aura was still hovering just above the twenty-percent threshold, so he stepped forward to stand between Lux and her still-buried-in-the-ground glaive.

“What are you doing all the way over there?” Lima smirked, before throwing her own words back at her. “Coward.”

Lux immediately took off towards him, a look of fury crossing her face.

Was this what Sage had felt like every time the man had kicked his ass? He could almost understand why the old bastard had done it; It was nice being on the other side for once.

Lux spun into a kick in an attempt to outrange his spike once more, but he flicked the spike over and tapped her on the shin; she was immediately sent tumbling across the grass again. Her scroll beeped, and she blew out a frustrated breath from flat on her back that sent some of her blonde hair flittering into the air.

“I’m out,” Lux panted.

“Ladies and gentlemen! The winner of the first-ever Beacon Battle for Bragging rights has been decided!” Lima cried, “Completely uncontested! He’s powerful! He’s handsome! LIMA! The crowd goes wild!”

“Shut up,” Claire whined.

“You wanna play with the human?” Lima said cheerfully, tossing out a chain of bodybuilder poses, “You better be ready for the horns!”

Lux snorted, having not bothered to get up yet.

“Oh god, he’s mixing metaphors now,” Teak said weakly. “Surely, it can’t get much worse than this.”

Lima just grinned.

“Well, Captain Teak, your faithful squad, Malachite, is at your service.” Lima chirped, “What's our first order of business?”

“I guess we go to find our rooms?” Teak asked hesitantly.

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Lima said grinning.

“Telling.” Teak said awkwardly.

“You’ve changed Teak!” Lima cried, and Teak jumped at the sudden volume. “Ever since you became captain, you’ve become too bossy! Wah!”

Lux started laughing as she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

“Stoooop.” Teak pleaded, “Claire, he’s picking on me again, beat him up.”

Claire just giggled.

Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.

Malachite’s Dorm, Beacon.

7:59 PM.

“I thought there were rooms,” Claire said curiously, “This is a room.”

“So did I,” Teak said awkwardly.

It was a single room with four beds, four desks, and four dressers. A large window in the center of the wall opposite the door, and a door in the middle of each of the other two walls, one was the showers, and one was the toilets.

“Who cares?” Lux said breezily, claiming a bed in the middle of the room.

Claire wandered over to the bed against the far right wall and sat down. Teak claimed the bed on the far left, as far away from them both as he could manage. Leaving Lima, the bed in the middle left, which he promptly collapsed down on with a noise of contentment.

“No more trains, no more sleeping bags,” Lima said happily, “This is heaven.”

“This is awkward.” Teak mumbled. “We should buy a dividing wall or something.”

He seemed rather alone in his suggestion; Lima had no intention of spending any of his precious funds so frivolously, and Lux didn’t seem to care about the lack of privacy.

“Let's wait a couple of days first,” Claire laughed, “It might not be that bad, Teak.”

Teak made a nervous noise, and Lima couldn’t help but come to the poor guy's rescue.

“I’m setting some ground rules,” Lima said loudly, turning his face just enough for his voice not to be muffled. “If anyone attempts to invade the sanctity of one of us, they will be met with a combined ass-kicking from the other three; if it's particularly egregious, we will report the person to the staff immediately; no exceptions. No bullying in the room, no drama in the room, no inviting random people into the room without consulting the others, and absolutely no unwanted touching. Have I missed anything?”

“Define sanctity,” Claire said, amused.

“No crawling into bed with my boy Teak, he is an innocent flower, and I won’t have him sullied by your wanton advances,” Lima said immediately, unable to even bring himself to roll face up. “So, keep your hands to yourselves, ladies.”

“Aww.” Claire joked easily, “You’re no fun.”

Teak squeaked at the comment, and Lux laughed.

“Anything you guys want to add, any pet peeves that we should be made aware of to avoid arguments?” Lima asked after they fell silent, “I will warn you all not to touch my shampoo. It’s vanilla bean and cocoa butter; it smells delicious. It’s also expensive as heck, so get your own.”

“Really?” Lux laughed, “Your hair is short enough you could get away with using body wash.”

Lima found the willpower to roll over at stare at her in disbelief.

“Ew!” Lima said in disgust. “Washing your hair with body wash!? Have some self-respect, you degenerate!”

“Yeah!” Claire said loudly.

“What!?” Lux demanded, “What the hell is wrong with using body wash?”

“Yeah!” Claire said again, egging them both on.

“Are you kidding me?” Lima said, squinting at her; she had a lot of hair, and it didn’t look badly cared for but still. “You use body wash to clean your hair?”

“Its soap!” Lux said incredulously, “Its what it's for!”

“What!?” Lima cried, “I wouldn’t wash my ass hair with body wash! Teak! Back me up, dog!”

“Y-yeah!” Claire said giggling.

“U-um,” Teak stuttered, “I don’t use shampoo either…”

“Teak!?” Lima cried pained, “You can’t be doing this to yourself, man! You’re going to end up with a bald spot like Lux or something!”

“A bald spot!” Claire cheered.

“I don’t have a bald spot!” Lux punctuated her statement by pegging her pillow at his head.

“Hey!” Lima covered his head with his hands. “Just cause you destroyed your hair doesn’t mean you can attempt to assassinate mine!”

Lux hissed at him, and he peeked out from behind his hands to make sure he wasn’t about to be attacked, but she had already sat back on her elbows.

“I have something!” Claire said happily, “If I have a bad day, I listen to music on my scroll, so if I’m wearing my headphones and ignoring you, you’ll know why.”

“I do the same thing,” Teak smiled at her.

Claire beamed at the slight boy.

“Lima, are you sure I can’t-” Claire said, grinning.

“Absolutely not,” Lima said immediately, “Keep your hands to yourself, missy.”

“I do yoga in the mornings,” Lux huffed, “I’m not going to stop because you three are here, but I suppose I’ll try to be quiet.”

“I do yoga too!” Claire said happily, “We can do it together.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lux said, pleased.

“Hm,” Lima hummed, “I won’t have to do sparring in the mornings anymore, so I suppose I better go get some exercise instead.”

“Lima? Can I come with you?” Teak asked, hopefully.

“You two don’t want to stay here and do yoga with us?” Claire said sadly.

Lux rolled her eyes at the other girl’s attempt at guilting them.

“I do a bunch of flexibility exercises, but I don’t know any of the actual yoga routines,” Lima admitted easily.

“U-um.” Teak said nervously, “I don’t know how to do it either.”

“We can teach you!” Claire said grinning.

Lima scratched his cheek for a moment before shrugging.

“Sure, we can call it team bonding yoga.” Lima agreed, “We could do some sparring afterward if you guys are up for it.”

“I am,” Lux said immediately, grinning. “Class doesn’t start until 8:30 AM, so we have some time to kill, and I want another crack at you.”

Lima snorted; she had a one-track mind, sparring could be fun sure, but killing Grimm, now that was where the real fun was at.

“Is yoga hard?” Teak asked worriedly, “I don’t want to slow you down-Hey!”

Lima tossed Lux’s pillow back and hit the boy in the face.

“At first it is,” Claire smiled at him, “but it gets easier the more you do it.”

“That’s what she said!” Lima crowed.

Lux laughed out loud about the same time as Claire's pillow smacked into Lima’s face. He grinned, up at the ceiling, not bothering to remove the projectile.

“Some of the moves are quite strenuous,” Lux added easily. “and that’s also what she said.”

“Hah!” Lima cackled.

“Alright, Yoga in the mornings, followed by some sparring, breakfast, class.” Teak said curiously, “How about once the classes are all finished for the day?”

“Free time?” Claire said coyly, tapping her cheek with a finger.

“Lazy ass,” Lux said, amused.

“I’m going to head into Emerald forest again,” Lima said easily. “I left my handbag down there; I need to go find it.”

“What?” Lux said incredulously.

“He’s lying,” Teak said immediately, “He wants to go kill more Grimm.”

“Teak!” Lima whined, “Stop revealing all my dastardly plans.”

“Won’t it be dark by then?” Claire asked curiously.

“Probably,” Lima sighed; he hadn’t thought of that. “What's the worst that could happen?”

“You don’t see a Grimm that’s sneaking up on you?” Teak said, concerned.

“Then it eats you, and we have to tell the instructors,” Claire added, amused.

“You survive, unharmed?” Lux smirked. “And we have to deal with you for another four years?”

“Fuck off,” Lima laughed. “That’s just mean.”

The others giggled while Lux just looked pleased with herself. Lima shot off the bed and headed for the door to the showers startling everyone with the sudden movement.

“Shotgun first shower!” Lima said gleefully. “I might leave you some hot water if you’re lucky.”

“You better not use it all, idiot!” Lux said incredulously.

“I'm using it all!” Lima cried out, just to be a contrarian, “Its rapidly disappearing! Oh no, how could this have happened?”

“You didn’t even shut the door!” Teak said embarrassedly, “Lima!”

“You do it!” Lima cackled, “I’m far too busy using up all the hot water from all-four showerheads?!”

Claire started laughing.

“Bastard.” Lux huffed. “He better not.” Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.

Malachite’s Dorm, Beacon.

10:59 PM.

“Lima?” Teak said quietly, in the dark. “Are you awake?”

Lima rolled over onto his back to stare at the ceiling.

“I’m awake,” Lima said easily, “What's up, buddy?”

“I just wanted to say thank you..” Teak said quietly, “If you hadn’t helped me during the exam-I’m not sure I would have been able to land without hurting myself.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lima closed his eyes, thinking back to the exam. “Thanks for steering me back onto the actual objective, I get a little zealous with the, you know.”

“Killing Grimm?” Teak whispered.

“Yeah,” Lima said simply, “Hey, Teak, how about we put aside some time during the week, and I’ll help you with the Aura stuff if you want.”

“Really?” Teak said quietly, “I’m starting to feel bad with everything you’re doing for me.”

“As the recently discovered strongest member of team Malachite, it is my job-nay, my duty; to whip you all into shape,” Lima said, smiling, “Especially that Lux, no stamina at all.”

“That’s what she said,” Claire added, giggling from across the room.

“I will come over there,” Lux said threatening. “Neither of you are safe from my wrath.”

“All five feet of it.” Lima snickered.

The bed creaked ominously, and he found two luminous eyes starring at him in the dark. He slowly pulled the covers up to his chin; he was kind of jealous, all things considered. If he had the whole night-sight thing going on, he could spend hours in the forest; just think of all the Grimm he could be out killing.

Some people had all the luck.