Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.

The afternoon sun beat down and Nora was more than happy to finally be out of her stuffy school uniform and into her much more comfortable combat clothing. The skirt and nearly nonexistent sleeves were much more breathable than the layers of shirts and undershirts and jackets that they had to wear for classes everyday. She spun in a circle with her arms up in the air just to feel the light breeze whip around her sides.

"Aren't you excited Renny? We get to try out the new training room tonight? And Blake said Ruby is feeling better and she's gonna come and Yang said Weiss wasn't really that sick and she thinks she was just more embarrassed so she'll be there too. You know how Weiss is when she gets embarrassed so that means she'll be trying extra hard tonight. Ooooh I can't wait." Nora stopped spinning and felt herself lean involuntarily off to the side. She tried to regain her balance and focus on Ren, spinning had made her a little dizzier than she thought it would.

"Yes, it should be a lot of fun." Ren put a gentle hand on her shoulder to steady her.

"Doesn't spinning the other way help you get un-dizzy?" Nora began spinning the other direction, "I think I have to spin even more though right? To balance it out." Together they continued to make their way towards the classrooms where their new training room was as Nora spun.

"Hey, uhh Ren, why is Nora spinning like that?" Jaune caught up behind them and looked rather concerned.

"So that she won't be dizzy." Ren nodded at Jaune and they continued on.

"Oh.. uhh… Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Jaune shook his head and matched their pace, "So did you hear from Team RWBY? Are they all gonna be able to make it?" Jaune slid his hands into the pockets on the front of his hoodie. Nora finally stopped spinning and for a second it felt like it had worked. Then she reeled off to the other side, tripped over the edge of the sidewalk and went tumbling into the grass.

"Yeah Jaune. They're all gonna be there." Nora lifted her hand from the ground to get his attention and it whirled around in her vision, "I'm gonna take a quick breather though." She let her hand fall loosely to her side and prayed to Oum that the clouds would stop whipping around so fast.

"So I thought that since the classrooms are a bit smaller that maybe we should do little matches and not full team combat tonight." Jaune regarded Ren rather seriously as they both took their seats on opposite sides of Nora.

"Guys, stop moving so much, it's not helping." Nora but her hands on the sides of her head to try and stop the movement.

"Sorry Nora," Ren turned his attention back to Jaune, "That would probably be best. Were you considering one on one matches?"

"Yeah, maybe. That or partner stuff." Jaune kicked his feet out in front of him and leaned back in the grass, "I think it would be cool to mix up the partners too, like you and me as partners or Pyrrha and Nora."

"Me and Pyrrha get to be on a team? We'll be invincible!" Nora pumped her fists into the air and immediately regretted it as the rush caused a whole new bout of dizziness to wash over her. She closed her eyes against the spinning and bit the inside of her cheek to try and focus on something.

"It'll just be nice. Since out in the field we might get split up into all kinds of pairs." Jaune looked between the two of them. It was like he wanted them to say he was right and it was a good idea.

"That sounds excellent Jaune." Pyrrha approached from the sidewalk. She had been in the gym still, trying to get in the workout she usually did after their training before hand so she could complete her morning run afterwards. She was afraid that the gym would close too early for her to finish if she didn't get it in before then.

"Oh hey Pyrrha. You think so?" Jaune patted a spot on the grass next to himself, beckoning her to join them.

"Oh yes. It will be wonderful to work on all of our different team work elements together. I know that Team RWBY has focused on that quite a lot already. Part of Ruby's Team Attack plan I believe." Pyrrha seated herself easily next to Jaune, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them against herself so she looked like red and gold egg with a bright smile. Nora sat up, the dizziness appearing to have finally left her in peace.

"He said we get to be partners Pyrrha." Nora pumped her fist in the air again, "Can I launch you at them like I do with Jaune?" For a second Nora thought she saw the ghost of fear or worry pass over Pyrrha's face but that was impossible. Pyrrha wasn't afraid of anything in combat.

"Uhh, I do believe we should practice that move before we try it in combat." Pyrrha tried to smile but Nora could tell that she didn't want to try the move without practice first.

"Okay, okay. But we have to try sometime. I mean you have a shield and that's how I do it with him already." Nora dropped her hands behind herself and stared up at the sun. The warmth felt fantastic against her skin and she really wished they could train outside today. As fun as using a classroom on their own would be, outside was always better.

"Alright we should get moving if we don't wanna be late guys." Jaune rolled forward to his feet and extended a hand to help Nora up as well. Nora grabbed it and yanked herself forward, nearly pulling Jaune down alongside her. He straightened himself and adjusted his chest plate slightly, making sure it was still centered. Ren and Pyrrha stood and they all headed back towards the classrooms.

"Jaune, have you talked to Ruby considering this new idea?" Ren was on Nora's far side so she walked a little slower so they could see each other while they talked.

"Uhh yeah, a little a while ago. You know before…" Jaune trailed off as the topic of the breakup came up and seemed to lose a little of the steam he had earlier.

"I'm sure that Team RWBY will think it's a wonderful idea." Pyrrha chimed from Jaune's far side, "They'll understand that the room is too small for everyone to fight all at once."

"It was actually, uhh it was actually her idea." Jaune looked at the ground as they walked, obviously embarrassed that they had been giving him the credit when it wasn't his plan. That wasn't really a big deal though, without Jaune they wouldn't have gotten the idea from Ruby so it was still kind of his.

"Well then I'm sure they'll be more than agreeable." Ren smiled politely at Jaune. The doors to the building were still open so they continued on inside. The class they had been given to use for training was immediately next door to Professor Port's classroom so they all knew their way inside. Yang and Weiss were waiting for them when they got there, leaning on the wall outside the door and talking amicably for once.

"Hey you two. Been waiting long?" Nora ran over to meet them and they stood. Weiss stepped away from Yang closer to the middle of the hall so she could greet Team JNPR.

"Good afternoon everyone." She waved happily to them all. She looked much happier than she had been earlier today and definitely better than when she had run off to the bathrooms in such a hurry. "No we haven't been waiting long. We've only been here for a few minutes actually." Jaune waved to them and walked forward to undo the lock with his scroll.

"Yeah, just waitin' on all of you. Ruby and Blake are gonna be here soon too. Blake went to go get her stuff out of the lockers and Ruby said she had to run back to the room for something." Yang pounded her fists together in anticipation, "You guys ready for this?"

"Oh yeah," Nora went in for the high five and Yang met her enthusiastically, "Jaune said they want us to split up into pairs and stuff since we can't really do team fights in the room. Me and Pyrrha are gonna wreck you." Nora sang out as she danced past Yang and into the room.

"Oh, we will see about that." Yang followed her in and the rest filed in behind them. Jaune flipped a few switches near the door and turned on the overhead lights. The room looked exactly like the sparring class they used in the mornings for Professor Goodwitch's class. Large sections of stadium seating, an open arena area with high walls to protect the observers a raised viewing area for the Professor and a huge display to monitor and display the combatant's aura levels during the fight.

"So, we're allowed to use the display screen and the arena but they said we've gotta stay out of the professor's spot up top," Jaune jerked his thumb up at the small observation area that Professor Goodwitch usually used to watch their bouts. "Other than that I guess we just have to remember to like shut the lights off when we leave."

"Oh yeah." Yang leaned down to tighten her boots, "Alright who's first?" She stood and flicked both wrists out and towards the ground, activating Ember Celica. The golden gauntlets extended into place around her fists with a series of clicks.

"Wouldn't you like to wait until Ruby and Blake are here?" Pyrrha offered from her spot on the ground where she was already ensuring her shin guards were properly fastened on.

"If we wait for them everywhere we go, we'll always be late. Despite Ruby's constant chatter, she is in fact almost always late." Weiss placed both hands on her hips, "I believe we can begin now and they should hopefully have arrived by the time our first round is finished."

"Yeah totally, we can go now." Yang headed down towards the arena below, "Unless anyone up there is too chicken." She snickered and turned away.

"Oh Yang, I swear." Weiss stomped one foot and clenched her hands in fists, "Stop bringing that up." She stomped down the stairs after her teammate in an angry huff.

"Okay well, I guess Ren and I can go first then." Jaune drew his blade and extended his shield.

"Oh," Pyrrha stood from fixing her armor, "Okay. Do your best you two. We will be here. Cheering you on." Pyrrha offered a small smile and sat in a nearby bench. Jaune and Ren hurried down the stairs to catch up to Weiss and Yang. Pyrrha pulled out her scroll and accessed the classroom's monitor, displaying the four aura bars. The fight began with a bang as Yang launched herself directly at Ren.

"So Pyrrha. What do you think we should do? I think you should jump in and get them off guard and the I'll come in and hit 'em once you get them off balance." Nora unfolded her massive hammer and held it above her head as if it weighed nothing.

"I supposed that would work. I assume we'll be facing Ruby and Blake, so we just need to watch out for Ruby's ranged attacks. I can deal with her in close combat." Pyrrha looked away from the battle to address Nora but immediately returned her attention to the fight.

Jaune was practically hiding under his shield as Yang managed to spar with both he and Ren simultaneously thanks to a constant stream of speed enhancing glyphs from Weiss. The aura drain on the heiress was obvious and Nora thought they might have a chance if one of them could take her out. But with Jaune hiding Ren had his hands full.

"Get her Jaune!" Nora yelled, hoping that some encouragement might get Jaune out from behind his shield. Caution was good and all in a real fight but he needed to strike back. This was only training anyway so the worst that could happen is he would lose the match. Jaune seemed to hear her because as soon as Yang darted back towards Ren to keep him off balance as well he lunged out from his defensive position and charged at her exposed backside.

"Hey guys, did I miss much?" Blake asked as she sat next to Pyrrha on the bench. She looked up and quickly noted the aura levels, seeing that Weiss and Jaune were already fairly low but Ren and Yang appeared to be ready for more.

"Oh no, this is the first fight." Nora giggled, "We thought it might be cool to switch up the partners but it looks like you guys already have a lot of practice like that."

"Yes, they're teamwork is truly remarkable. If you and Ruby click as well as them then Nora and I may have some trouble." Pyrrha laughed but never tore her eyes from the combat below.

"Are you kidding? We have to fight you two?" Blake sounded truly stunned. "No way," she laughed, "That's gonna be a crazy hard fight no matter what we do."

There was a loud bang that drew Nora and Blake's attention back to the fight below. Jaune went sailing across the arena and his shield went soaring up into the stands, stopped only by the translucent energy shield surrounding the combat area. Boy was Nora glad that Jaune had remembered to turn that on when they got here.

"Well it looks like we might have to do something else if Ruby doesn't show up soon." Nora joked as they watched the fight, "I don't know how long even Ren can last against Yang and Weiss all on his own." Nora glanced up and saw that Weiss's aura was already very low, despite having been unscathed for most of the fight she had drained a considerable amount of power to speed Yang along.

Ren rolled under a committed jab from Yang and came up facing Weiss. He loosed a barrage of shells at her and leaped directly into the air to avoid Yang's next attack. Weiss raised a defensive glyph and Yang bellowed and jumped after Ren but she wasn't quite as fast as him, even with her glyph enhanced speed. Ren turned through the air and landed behind Weiss. He swung both pieces of Storm Flower in a flurry of blows at her unguarded back. Weiss collapsed as her aura dipped into the red and she was out of the fight. Ren leapt off to the side and rolled to avoid Yang's furious strike as she came barreling down on top of him.

"I don't Nora. He seems to holding his own." Blake smiled. Nora was glad that Ren was doing so well. He hadn't much chance to showcase his abilities this semester, always going up against weaker opponents of not quite getting a chance to really fight since he was on the same team as she and Pyrrha. It was nice to see him really able to cut loose and show off his fighting prowess.

"Hey, uhh, sorry I'm late." Ruby was so quiet Nora barely heard her over the combat. She was in her combat gear, had Crescent Rose folded across her back and was carrying...Zwei?

"Oh hello Ru-" Pyrrha turned from the combat but stopped short when she saw the dog. She shook her head to quickly regain her composure and continued. "Hello Ruby, don't worry at all. You're just in time to start your match. Zwei barked happily and Ruby sat, clutching him tightly in both arms. Blake stood and backed away several steps, moving to the other side of Nora and Pyrrha.

"Ruby, why did you bring him?" Blake raised an arm defensively in front of herself and Nora could swear that her bow folded down on her head like it was scared too but that had to be her imagination.

"Uhh? Oh I'm sorry Blake. I totally didn't think." Ruby stood and took a few steps away from Blake. Apparently she really didn't like dogs. "I just… He's been cooped up in the room alone all day. Someone usually comes after classes but we were all coming here. I was worried he might be lonely or freak out or something." Ruby lifted Zwei out in front of her and looked in his eyes. "You can behave though right?" She set him down in the aisle and moved back to sit down with them, though a bit further away now to give Blake a buffer. Blake sat down by Nora, leaving all three of them between her and the dog. Zwei barked once more and curled up on the floor.

There was a particularly loud explosion from the arena that drew all of their attention back to the fight they were supposed to be watching. Ren crumpled against the wall and Yang fell to her knees panting but pumped one fist in the air triumphantly. Nora checked the screen and saw that Yang's aura was well below half so Ren had apparently put up quite a fight. But Yang had even activated her semblance so her and Weiss's strategy had won them the day. No matter how hard Ren had fought he just wasn't able to overcome the amount of damage Yang had done early in the fight.

All four of them began the climb the stairs back to the others. They looked a little ragged and tired but were in high spirits. It had been a good match and they all seemed fairly pleased with the way it had come out. Jaune looked a little distracted as they approached but he was probably just upset he had lost first. He had only been training way harder for a day though, he couldn't expect to catch up that fast.

"Wooo, good fight guys." Nora called out as they reached them. She ran forward and wrapped Ren up in a big hug. He laughed slightly and smiled, trying his best to reach his arms around her as well despite the fact that she had them pinned to his sides.

"Yes, it was very enjoyable." Ren squeezed out through her iron grip and she set him down.

"Uhh why is Zwei here?" Yang looked down at the dog who was excitedly circling her legs.

"Oh, I brought him." Ruby said shyly. "I thought he might be lonely."

"Ruby, you can't just bring him all over the place. We aren't even really supposed to have him." Yang leaned down and patted Zwei's head affectionately.

"Oh no that's okay," Weiss swooped down and scooped the dog up off the floor. "We can watch him while you guys spar. Can't we little guy? Yes we can." Weiss trotted off towards an empty set of benches continuing to talk to the dog in her arms and scratch his ears lovingly.

"Alright." Nora pumped Magnhild in the air again, "Let's fight already." She charged down the stairs without waiting for anyone to respond. It was her turn, Jaune and Ren already got to go first and she was more than a little tired of waiting.

She heard Pyrrha coming down behind her, metal armor clanking lightly with every step and the significantly softer footfalls of Blake and Ruby behind her. Alright, so the plan was to keep them close and hit them hard. Wasn't that always the plan?

They reached the floor and split into their two teams on opposite sides of the small arena. Ruby unfurled her massive scythe and swung it about her waist to loosen up her arms. Blake stretched both arms quickly over head and inserted a new magazine of dust rounds into her gun. Nora rolled her hammer back into it's ranged form and nodded to Pyrrha to show she was ready to go. Their aura meters appeared on the screen and a small beep indicated the start of the round.

Pyrrha charged in hard and fast, giving them little time to react. Blake darted in front of Ruby as she collapsed her scythe and caught Pyrrha's charge with her scabbard, she slashed out with her sword and backflipped out of the way of Pyrrha's counter, leaving a flaming copy of herself for Pyrrha to make contact with. Nora ducked and rolled to avoid the explosion she knew was coming and came up firing at Blake as she flipped through the air. Pyrrha rolled away, letting the shock wave carry her and left her shield up to catch several rounds from Ruby's rifle.

Nora unfurled Magnhild into hammer mode and charged at Blake, planning to meet her right as she landed. She swung hard but Blake kicked back almost before she hit the ground and flew out of range. Nora let the momentum carry her in a circle until she faced Ruby and charged. If Blake was too quick to hit then the least she could was keep Ruby occupied while Pyrrha dealt with Blake.

Ruby saw Nora coming and spun Crescent Rose back out into a scythe. She leapt just slightly and spun head over heels to bring the scythe down in Nora's path. Nora side stepped the strike and brought her hammer around to catch Ruby in the chest. There was a flurry of rose petals as Ruby dodged from midair using her semblance and landed beside Nora. She swung sideways with her scythe and caught Nora in the shoulder. Nora skidded across the floor of the arena and came to a stop by where Blake and Pyrrha were dueling.

Blake was doing an impressive job of holding her own against Pyrrha but it looked like she was pushing herself hard to do so. She left a series of clones as she dodged and dove around Pyrrha's blade. Ice clones and fire clones, slowing Pyrrha's swings and forcing her to dodge away from fiery dust explosions. Nora rolled back onto her feet as she finished her skid and charged at the pair dueling. She swung her hammer hard and finally connected with her opponent. The blow hit Blake hard as she didn't see it coming and sent her crashing into the nearby wall.

Ruby came rocketing over from where she had hit Nora and caught both she and Pyrrha in a wide swing. Pyrrha performed a side flip over the blade, clutching both arms tight to her sides but Nora was so busy watching Blake sail into the wall that she didn't see the strike coming until it was too late. She held her hammer out in front of her and caught the blow on the handle but the force was still enough to activate her aura shield to prevent her from getting hurt. She had let Ruby land two solid hits on her now and she could feel it.

Pyrrha charged at the little reaper and clashed her blade against the haft of Ruby's scythe. Nora recovered from the blow and went to join Pyrrha in the fray. Several rounds slammed into her back and spun around, surprised to see Blake still in fighting condition after a direct hit from Magnhild. She flipped her hammer back into a grenade launcher and fired several canisters at the other girl, hoping the explosions would be enough to knock her the rest of the way down. Unfortunately she was still quicker than her. Blake leapt into the air, cut one of the oncoming dust rounds in half and sent the shards flying off into empty section of arena behind her.

Nora backed up a few paces and spared a glance over to Pyrrha. She and Ruby were still battling fast and hard and it didn't look like she would be able to come to her aid anytime soon. She turned Magnhild back into a hammer and prepared for Blake's charge. She caught the first two strikes on her handle and deflected the blades off to the side, spun the head around and forced Blake back. She spun around and brought the head down but Blake was gone, a wisp of shadow where she had been just moments before. Nora tightened her grip and swiveled her head to find her opponent. She was nowhere, had she gone to help Ruby? No it was still just her and Pyrrha over there. Then she felt the blow come from above. Blake landed behind her as she followed the overhead strike through.

Nora feel forward, taking her massive hammer with her. She rolled and spun around to face her but Blake was already gone again, another flaming clone in her place. Nora lifted her weapon in front of her to try and block some of the explosion but still felt the heat rake her sides and face. There was a strike at her arm and her grip loosened as her aura weakened. Another blow to her legs and she felt her legs buckle under the force. She raised her eyes to try and find Blake but was too late to get her hammer into a guard. Gambol Shroud came tearing across her vision and then all Nora could see was the ground. She raised herself up just a little and watched as Blake tore across the arena to join Ruby against Pyrrha. She heard the buzzer but already knew what had happened. She had lost.

A/N - Oh boy, Grimm Eclipse is a lot of fun. I just got a chance to finally play the full version with two of my buds and ohh boy was that a blast. Then I realized it was four am and figured I should probably post the new chapter because I won't be up at any reasonable hour. So here you go, earlier than usual but still totally obeying the schedule.

Ruby finally leaves her room, Yang and Weiss get to fight together, Nora loses a round and Zwei makes an appearance outside of the dorm room. Fun chapter, not a whole lot happened but what did happen is pretty significant. I mean, Zwei left the dorm. That's a big deal right? Definitely life changing for the characters I think.

Sorry if there are a few more spelling errors or what not in this chapter. I usually give it one last read right before I publish it but due to Grimm Eclipse I was a little too tired to do so faithfully so please let me know if you find any glaring ones.

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you're still enjoying the story. Tuesday's chapter promises to be just as exciting.

-Zach