Students sat in the seating of an amphitheatre of a classroom while being addressed by their new instructor. Of the students in this class, Teams ARTS, ANTE, and FREZ were in attendance. For the twelve of them, this was their first day of class at Beacon. This particular class just so happened to be a combat class, and was taught by the notoriously scatterbrained Professor Carmen Maple.

"Now, I understand that you all are still getting to know each other, but I want to use that to give you all your first lesson in my class." Carmen stood alone in the battlefield in the center of the semicircle of seating, her hands clasped firmly behind her back as she childishly paced back and forth. "So, I'm going to be pairing you up and having you fight with some…" she burst out laughing. After a few moments of maniacal cackling, she finally managed to stifle her laughter. "Excuse me, I'm having all of you fight with some special limitations."

The looks across the student's faces were a mix of confusion and curiosity. This was a good thing. This would prove to make the lesson more effective. Professor Maple was a professional, regardless of how unprofessional she acted.

"I trust that you are all prepared for battle considering I asked you to wear your combat attire today and to be sure to get your weapons from your lockers. Since that is the case, I would like to call Bur-, excuse me, Arty Umber and Everest Hyperborean to the battlefield!" She couldn't help but smile at the shocked silence of her students.

"Haha! Have fun, Arty!" Timbre's words were confident, but her incessant tapping told Arty that her confidence was a straight lie.

Roland just shook his head. "You're dead, bud."

Arty pulled Pallette from his bag before throwing it over his shoulder. "Thanks for the encouragement guys."

As Team ARTS's leader walked down the aisle, he heard someone snicker. He turned back to find Alice twirling a pencil in her fingers with a malicious smile curving her lips. She waved. "Have fun, Umba."

Arty shrugged off her sarcasm.

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After he had stepped into the flat circular battleground, Carmen touched a small console against the wall, causing a clear light blue forcefield to separate the battleground from the sitting area. As the energy in the field settled, it became virtually invisible. Still, a hazy blue glow reflected off of the polished vinyl tiles of the battlefield.

"Don't want anyone getting caught in any crossfire," Carmen grinned, "you should've seen last year when I accidentally forgot to put up the field during Lurida and Anubis' fight! Good times… good times…"

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"Woah cool!" Timbre's mouth fell open as she looked at the metal base of the forcefield. She poked it. A bright shimmer rippled across the surface of the field from where her finger bounced off of it as if it were a solid sheet of glass. "This would have been nice to have on stage…"

"It's Force Dust." Alice snarked, "they use it in every decent combat arena, but I guess you wouldn't know that, hm?"

Timbre narrowed her eyes at the girl in the red dress. Less than three days ago you were goo-goo ga-ga over being in the same class as me, and now you're acting like a total bi- her thought was interrupted by a light tap on her shoulder. She turned to Sepia, who was flapping her hand and rolling her eyes as if to say 'ignore her'.

"Yeah… you're right." She nodded. This was Arty's time to shine, not her time to mope.

.

Arty walked up to the instructor. His opponent towering above both of them.

"EVEREST. GOING. TO. CRUSH. ARTY." Everest boomed as he tightened his grip on his club. The massive white bludgeoning weapon was about as thick as Arty's head.

Arty gulped and felt the color drain from his face. He had a strange feeling he was going to die. Or get eaten. Or both.

Carmen just laughed at the remark. "Now now, Everest. Wait a minute. For this battle, Arty may only use Ice and Water Dust in his weapon, and Everest may not use his own weapon."

"Aww…" Everest looked down meekly and walked over to the seating to pass off his club to Rime.

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The class laughed as they watched the small girl trying to handle the weapon that was almost twice her size. It fell to the ground with an earth shattering thud, and then was dragged away by Rime with a little help from Zero.

Everest returned to his spot in the ring in silence.

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Arty quickly pulled out the two allowed types of Dust. As he loaded the water Dust into the receptacle of the paintball gun, he frowned. It took me forever to find this stuff, I order it from the Dust shop in town, and now I'm using it my first day of class... "Awesome." He threw his bag up to Timbre before returning to the center of the ring. He looked to Carmen and held up his gun.

"Great, now," Carmen took a few steps back to give the students space to get on with their fight. "You two may begin when you are ready."

Everest looked down at the puny man before him. "IS. THE. DWARF. READY?!" He shouted at him. Despite the vacuum seal on the void within his skull, he still seemed to have at least some consideration for his opponent. He didn't enjoy unfair fights.

"Um… sure?" Arty watched as Everest popped his knuckles… right before he was punched with the force of a pickup truck right into the center of his chest, launching him backwards and slamming into the wall dividing the ring and the seats. He groaned as he pushed himself up from the new dent left in the wall.

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"Ow!" Timbre called out, her hands over her mouth. "That had to hurt…"

"That was insane!" Roland shot up from his seat in excitement. He checked his scroll. He gawked at the device. "His aura's already down by nearly a third! Only one punch!"

Sepia clapped happily at the first strike of the match. This was going to be good.

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Everest's feet shook the stage with each gigantic step. "EVEREST. DESTROY." He roared.

"You go, Everest!" Rime shouted from the stands. "Show 'em who's boss!"

Roland glanced at the girl and back to his partner. Something dawned on him. If Arty lost, then they would never hear the end of it from Alice. "Well come on, Timbre! That's our leader out there! He can take more than that!" He told his teammate before beginning to chant. "Arty! Arty! Arty!"

Timbre was a bit confused by Roland's sudden desire to actually be supportive for once, but she accepted it and hesitantly began to chant with him… until she remembered that Sepia was sitting next to her. She realized it might upset her to be the only one not able to cheer Arty on. That is, until she turned to find Sepia wildly flapping her arms.

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Arty shook his head. "Okay… not off to a good start…" He mumbled groggily to himself. "Let's try this on for size." He began running towards Everest, picking up speed with every step. The behemoth of a student raised his arms up, ready to crash them down on Arty. Before he could do so, Arty shot a paintball downwards. He knew that no matter which type came out, it'd do the trick.

A pool of water formed beneath Everest. Arty lowered himself down and slid between the caveman's legs. Tiles shattered behind him.

Everest was obviously confused by the sudden disappearance of the smaller, orange student. As he turned, his fur boot slipped in the water. His feet slipped out from under him. More tiles cracked as Everest's form smashed into the ground.

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Frost just watched with little to no emotion across her face. She was busy analyzing her new teammate. Everest is a big brute, but Umber is obviously better at thinking on his feet… She looked over to Rime and thought about Alabaster's mention of their "near symbiotic relationship". What he meant by that, she didn't know yet, but Everest was obviously struggling to fight back against Arty without Rime there. He's too big and slow, but if he could just land a couple more hits.

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With his back pressed against the wall, Arty aimed his gun at Everest. From his practice back home and his fights with the Grimm in the Emerald Forest only a couple of days before, he knew Ice Dust made an effective immobilizer. Water Dust on the other hand, he didn't have as much experience using. He had no idea what kind of effect it would have upon hitting an opponent. Might as well try it, Arty thought to himself as he began pulling the trigger. As the paintballs began to shoot from Palette's barrel, splashes of water began to soak the caveman. The chilling power of the Ice Dust began to solidify the water as Everest lay on the floor.

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"Is he… is he trying to cement Everest to the ground?" Timbre questioned, trying to figure out what her team leader was doing. Before anyone could respond, she heard almost maniacal laughter from her right. She looked over and saw Rime with tears running down her face and Frost looking ready to scold her.

"What's up with you?" Roland glared over at her.

When Rime was finally able to compose herself, she looked angrily at Roland before answering his question to Timbre and Sepia. "Let's just say that Professor Maple is making this purposely difficult for Arty to win, because he's about to get a taste of Everest's true power."

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As Arty began to prepare for another attack, Everest began to chuckle. "PAINTER. MAN. SCREW. UP." He stood up with ease, seeming to slightly glow as he got up. He towered over Arty. The grin that he gave Arty was one of almost feral glee. "CRUSH." He boomed as he threw a punch towards Arty's head.

The tiles behind Arty shattered to pieces, leaving a crater nearly three feet across. At this point, he really wanted to just accept the loss and run. That seemed to be all anyone could do against a guy like this. That crater could have been his face.

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"What the-?..." Timbre was now legitimately scared for her team's leader.

Rime was about to explain the situation when Roland held up a hand.

"Just hold onto your little head, sweetheart." He chided her. "You about froze him over in the Emerald Forest, and then he went to town on the Minotaurus. Now Carmen tells our leader that he can only use Dust that can make things colder. I'd take a guess that Everest's Semblance allows him to get a power boost in the cold."

Rime crossed her arms. "Looks like somebody's been paying attention," she unenthusiastically pumped her fist into the air, "10 points for Team ARTS..."

Roland was about to snap back at her when Timbre realized what that meant for Arty. "Wait… so… if Arty's attacks only make Everest stronger, how is he supposed to beat him?" Timbre asked.

Rime shrugged. "Beats me. I'm usually helping Everest beat opponents, not stopping him from doing so. Something tells me that your leader won't beat him..." She watched as Everest stomped a hole in the floor, almost cracking Arty's leg in half. "He's a tough cookie. But if he gets much colder…" She began to nervously twirl a lock of pale blonde hair with her finger.

Roland cupped his hands around his mouth. "Arty! Go for the head! Bash his head in like a watermelon!" His eyes held a sadistic gleam to them.

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Between dodging and looking for a chance to strike, Arty did manage to catch his partner's message. "Kinda busy right now, Roland!" He jumped out of the way of a flying fist and slid across the ice on the floor. His fingers curled around the barrel of his gun, and in a whirr of mechanical parts, the gun began to unfold and straighten out.

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"Wait…" Timbre stammered, "the paintball gun's also a… baseball bat?..."

"Oh he is so dead…" Roland muttered as he remembered what Arty had said about getting to know one another back in the forest. Knowing everything about one another apparently meant that Arty needed to know everything about Roland. Not the other way around.

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Yeah, so is this a 'real weapon' Roland? Arty smiled his toothy grin as he watched Everest charge towards him. Curie really did wonders with the new weapon form. He slammed the bat down on the ground, hoping the right paintball was loaded. The crackling of crystals as a block of ice enclosed the end of the bat told him that it was.

As Everest lunged, trying to grab at Arty, he found a boot slamming into the back of his head as Arty launched himself upwards. As the caveman turned his head, he saw the orange-clad boy turning in mid-air.

Arty brought his frozen weapon down on the back of Everest's head.

A shower of ice crystals sprayed across the battlefield.

The force of the attack slammed Everest's head face-first into the ground. He sat there groaning as the effects of his Semblance wore off.

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"Yay, Arty!" Timbre yelled. Her trained voice echoed across the room.

Roland pumped a fist in the air while Sepia silently cheered.

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Carmen walked over to Arty and held his arm up like a referee in a wrestling ring, "And the winner of your first battle is… Arty Umber, leader of Team ARTS!" she clapped as Arty returned to his seat. "Now think about what you've just witnessed. I hope that you all learned from this fight and use the lesson that Mr. Umber and Mr. Hyperborean here have demonstrated." She spoke to her students in a suddenly professional tone. "Brute force and strategy go hand in hand." Her eyes flicked over to Rime. "Strategy can get you through any situation and brute force can be a great tool when applied correctly. If that power has no direction, it won't be very beneficial to any party and can lead to disaster. If you have strategy, but no power, well… you get the same results." She paused and flattened her white coat. "Now, for the next fight. Roland Wells and Rime Chione, please, come on down." She seemed a bit anxious as she watched Roland descend the stairs.

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In a few moments, the two students stood face to face. Carmen looked back and forth between them. "Now, for your fight, both of you have the same restriction. Neither of you may use your Semblances." She pressed a few buttons on the console. As if by magic, the craters caused by Everest and Arty's battle flattened out and disappeared, returning the battlefield to its original pristine condition.

Both of them looked at her in shock, but Rime was the one to speak up. "Um… Ms. Maple? You do realize that I rely pretty much exclusively on my Semblance… right?"

"Same goes for me." Roland looked down at the fresh reel of paper that he had loaded into his weapon that morning. The passages from a book that he had already looked back over weren't going to be of use.

"I am aware. That's exactly why that's the stipulation for your fight." Carmen nodded.

"Well, that's going to be troublesome. Your Semblance and weapon are the same, aren't they?" Roland sneered.

"Yeah, um, sure. Let's go with that." Rime tapped her foot as she played with her necklace again. Before Carmen or Roland could add to the conversation, Rime quickly moved over to where Everest stood before his fight started.

Roland stood across from Rime with determination burning in his eyes. This fight was for an audience, and if his partner could beat a brick wall with some paint, then he had to beat someone of Rime's stature. Sure, he couldn't use Inkheart, but nowhere did Carmen say that he couldn't keep Writer's Block on his person.

"You ready, cowboy?" Rime asked with a smirk across her face.

Roland cracked his knuckles and took up a fighting stance. "Yeah," He shifted the typewriter that weighed down on his arm. "I'm as ready as ever."

Carmen nodded at the combatants and took a few steps back. "Begin."

Rime took the first opportunity to attack. She crouched low to the ground and tried to throw a few uppercuts into Roland's gut, but her fists only struck metal. "Ow!" She exclaimed while she pulled back.

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Timbre and Sepia watched with tense anticipation.

"Ooh… that had to hurt…" Timbre winced as she watched Rime shake the pain out of her hand.

"Wait wha-?..." Arty muttered exhaustedly from the seat next to her. He looked down to see his partner sniggering at the pale girl, who was still shaking the pain out of her hand. "Oh… ow… yeah… punching metal. That has to hurt… Much worse than getting punched by the two-ton caveman she has for a partner…"

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Writer's Block was held over Roland's stomach to work as a shield. He flicked the silverish parts of his weapon and winced. "Tungsten and steel alloy. It makes for one tough typewriter." He kept his fists raised to attack. It wasn't the right time yet. For someone as speedy as Rime seemed to be, he'd need to wear her down a bit.

"Quit bragging," Rime spat and threw a left hook. She managed to get a solid hit on his jaw, but coughed when she felt an impact in her right side. Despite the pain, she drove another punch home and sent Roland stumbling back a few steps.

"I don't need to brag." He rubbed his cheek where she hit him. "I don't gotta worry, either. I can't lose to someone as pathetic as you."

"Play nice, children." Carmen chided. Her eyes were still trained intently on Roland. She didn't seem to be looking directly at him. Her gaze seemed to have settled right over his shoulder.

While Rime fumed, Roland took a second to watch her movements. She let her guard down on her right when she took a swing from the left, so maybe he could exploit that.

Rime shot off towards her opponent, but kept her guard up as she got close. "I am not pathetic!" Her right fist flew towards Roland's face, and was met with his typewriter as anticipated. Fingers curled over the paper reel on the back plate of the weapon and she yanked it downwards. "I'll make sure you won't be using that mouth much more!" She shouted as she pushed herself upwards. Her feet lifted off of the ground. Thankfully, she was light enough for a man of Roland's large stature to keep up. Keeping her balance on Roland's typewriter, she delivered a series of quick kicks right to his face.

The grip on Writer's Block was so tight that he couldn't shake her off. Each strike sent a wave of pain through his head. After the sixth or so hit, he grabbed his opponent by her annoyingly loose jacket and threw her, sending her crumpling to the ground. He groaned as he got a little distance and wiped off his lip. "Oh, now you've gone and ticked me off…" His tail swung menacingly. Logic and reason flew out the window as he closed in.

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"Oh crap…" Arty groaned as he rested his head on the desk in front of him.

"What?... What's going on?" Timbre asked confused.

"He's gone full kill mode…"

He received nothing but a confused look from the singer.

"Ugh… I saw him do it with a bunch of Beowolves in the Emerald Forest… not pretty. Gonna make you think he'll smother you in your sleep or something. He goes mental…"

"Must be nice having a legitimate basket case on your team." Alice said mockingly from across the aisle.

"Shut up, Alice…" Arty said, returning his forehead to its place on the table in front of him. Roland's outbursts had already caused them trouble, but Timbre and Sepia still hadn't seen him at his worst. In fact, Arty doubted that even he had seen the full extent of his partner's rage. He did seem to have more fun than anything against the Beowolves...

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Rime rolled away just before Roland's heel would've stricken her in the head. It seemed that he was ready to get a little more brutal. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as uncertainty set in. She hopped up and tried to get some distance, but Roland wasn't having it.

"What's wrong?" He lobbed his fist at her face, but missed by mere millimeters. "Come on, I thought you were prepared!" He shouted at her and drove his fist into her sternum. She was sent sprawling backwards.

Rime sat up and struggled to her feet. "Bring it on…" She growled and held up her fists. She was going to be a Huntress, and would seem things far scarier than some psycho on another team. Fists rocketed towards Roland's ribs, and she kicked in an attempt to take out his legs. If not for his tail keeping him balanced, she could've made him fall.

Roland tried his best to defend against her blows, but took his fair share. Any normal student might've gone down, but he wasn't the average student. As much as he wanted to fall, he refused. He wouldn't let his body crumple.

"I'm done with this…" He growled and threw two rapid body shots from his right. He grabbed her jacket on the last punch and pulled her close. "Nighty night." He locked gazes with his victim before bashing her across the head with Writer's Block. She was sent to the ground without any sign of getting up.

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Students sat in shocked silence.

Turf was the first to speak up. "Looks like he's got a little… pent up aggression…"

"He's been like that since we got here." Navy scoffed. "Trying to pick fights with anybody and everybody." He shook his head. "He'll be out of here in a week at this rate."

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Carmen slowly approached. "Mr. Wells, don't you think that was a bit far?" She scolded.

"Right…" Roland shook his head to snap himself out of his rage. He knelt down and gave Rime a few light pats on the cheek. "Hey, Rime, good game. I'm sorry I kind of… knocked you unconscious. Are you going to be okay?" He asked his classmate as she slowly came to.

As her eyes fluttered open, she shot her fist upward directly into Roland's jaw. "Jerk…" She got up with help from Professor Maple and walked back over to her team. Her trembling fingers clutched her jacket. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she recounted her battle. In those last moments, she had no memory of a human attacking her. All she could think of were the molten eyes of a Grimm.

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"I said I was sorry… I lost my cool…" Roland made his way back to his team and sat next to Arty. He rubbed his side where Rime had gotten him more than a few times. "Looks like I've lost a few points with everyone here, huh?" He said with his eyes still on the battlefield.

"Well, on the bright side, once you get below zero points, more deductions can't really do anything else, right?" Arty said with a not so convincing smile.

Timbre elbowed him in the side.

"Sorry…"

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Carmen paced. "Now, while Mr. Wells' fighting methods may not be the most… orthodox, they were effective, despite him not relying on his Semblance. If you take away anything from this fight, it's that none of you need to rely too heavily on your Semblance. It's important to train your natural fighting ability. You never know when you'll be at the disadvantage because you aren't able to fly, or make fire… or bend ink… or… well, you get the point. The Creatures of Grimm will not just back down out of sympathy. They'll take advantage of your weakness and go in for the kill." She looked around at the still silent students. "Anyway, next we have Frost Aurora and Alice Crims. Please come down."

The two girls looked down at Carmen with surprised looks.

"No. No. No. No. Anybody but her." Alice said pointing to Frost with a gleaming red fingernail.

Frost slowly stood. "What's the matter?" She said calmly, "I'm perfectly content fighting with you." Half of her team had already lost, but this was a learning experience, not a time to show off.

Alice narrowed her eyes at her rival. She really wanted to smack what she perceived to be a smug look off of her face. "Fine." She turned, flipping her red hair as she began making her way down the stairs. She kept her posture and composure. She stepped into the ring with Frost as the force fields reappeared. She looked up to the instructor. "Professor, I'm ready for my battle." She curtsied.

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"What a show-off…" Arty mumbled to himself. He immediately shut up when he saw Navy glaring at him. He ducked his head behind his sketchbook and mindlessly scribbled to avoid his gaze.

"Frost!" Roland waved at the paler girl. "Break her neck! Stub her toes!" He thought of more acts of violence that he wanted Alice to endure. "Snap her fingers back! Shatter her nose!" He went on, despite the death glare from Navy. It didn't matter much to him, especially after their earlier encounter.

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Alice began stomping towards the stands. "Now you listen ta me Faunus, I am not afraid ta fu-" A light blue pulse radiated away from her face as she ran her nose right into the invisible forcefield. Her face pressed against it as if she had run into a glass door cleaned to near invisibility.

The ensuing laughter made the girl in red even redder.

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"Hey, uhm… Alice?" Turf scratched his head. "I, uh… think the force field is still up." He bit his cheek to keep from laughing.

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Before Alice could say anything, Frost cut in. She was already in the battlefield next to Carmen. "The entrance is over there, sweetheart." She angled a finger to the console by the edge of the arena a few feet to Alice's right. "If you would really rather kill the cowboy from Team ARTS than fight me, be my guest. But I'd recommend doing it in a less… self-destructive way."

Still red, she turned towards Frost, and then back to Roland. "I'll deal with you some otha time, Faunus," her index finger pointing at him. She stomped her way back over to Carmen and Frost. "It's fine, I'll just take my anga out on you."

"Girls… please. Behave." Carmen began to think about how combative this new group of first years seemed to be as she looked between the leaders of ANTE and FREZ. "Now, for you two, I have a very... let's say simple yet disabling restriction. Both of you will be required to trade weapons for the duration of your battle."

Frost looked at her in shock. "Um… Professor? She has… cards…"

"She has…" Alice scrunched up her nose, "I don't even know what you 'ave."

"That helps a lot. Thank you." Frost unclipped the dull silver bracelets from around her wrists. Freshly polished triangular blades that fitted over the back of the hand glimmered in the intense overhead lights. "Here." She smiled as she held them out to the girl in red.

"Thanks," Alice took the bracelets with a look of disgust on her face as she held out a deck of cards. As Frost reached for them, Alice tilted her hand over, spilling the cards to the floor. "Whoops!" She giggled as Frost bent down to pick up the cards. "Clumsy me! Didn't mean ta start a game of 52 card pickup." She fumbled to put on Frost's bracelets. "Now 'ow 'bout you be a dear, and tell me 'ow these things are actually weapons? Are they filled with Dust? Do they shoot bullets? What?"

"Do I have to tell her?" Frost asked Carmen as she crouched low in order to pick up the weaponized cards.

Their instructor thought for a moment, "Hm… No, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"Perfect." Frost smiled as she fixed the cards into a neat stack. "I appreciate that." She finally had all of the cards back together in a deck. "I assume that you just throw these, huh?" Her fingers pinched a card, the Queen of Hearts, and looked it over in her hand. Alice's heart-shaped emblem was emblazoned the back, and she noticed that it felt warm to the touch. She tossed it at the forcefield towards Team ANTE. It exploded upon impact. "That answers my question."

"Don't go an' waste 'em all, now." Alice reared herself back in an awkward fighting stance. Obviously, she wasn't big into hand-to-hand combat.

"I'll be sure to use them up before we're done." Frost said as she took three cards out at random and held them as if ready to throw. "I'm ready when you are."

"You're paying for a replacement deck."

"Bite me."

Carmen looked on, eyeing the two rivals before nodding and stepping back out of the ring. "Begin!"

"With pleasure." Frost whipped her arm out to launch the cards at Alice. Two flew off to either side, but one hurdled towards Alice's abdomen.

Alice felt herself flying through the air after the impact. She slammed against the wall hard. Damn… why did it have to be one of the spades?! Alice stood up and considered aiming the bracelets at Frost, hoping they'd do something. She pushed the idea out of her head. What will I do if they don't actually shoot anything? She ran forward, charging at Frost. She chopped her hands into her sides, careful to dodge the heavy metal belt around the Frost's waist.

Frost's movements were quick and graceful. She turned and sidestepped to dodge Alice's assault. "Careful, now." She took a step back and threw a card at Alice's feet. A small, localized explosion shook the room. Fortunately for her, it sent Alice upwards, a few meters in the air.

Unfortunately for Frost, she was sent flying backwards and spiraling to the floor. "Okay, so the hearts are all explosive… got it…" She groaned and struggled to get to her feet.

"Having fun, love?" Alice smiled as landed much more elegantly than the ever so graceful Frost Aurora.

As Frost was still recovering from the blast, Alice noticed the small buttons at the underside of the bracelets. "Hm, wonder what these do?" She aimed her right arm at Frost and pushed the button with her free hand.

The triangular blades shot forward with the loud hiss of compressed air. Trailing behind it was a length of shiny white ribbon. The blade hit Frost hard and launched her onto her back again.

"So, that's what these do." Alice said as she examined a length of the silky ribbon, running it between her thumb and index finger.

An icy feeling crawled up Frost's neck as she realized that Alice knew what her weapons did. They were on equal ground now in terms of experience, but Frost was having much more trouble adapting. "Yeah, that's right." She tried to compose herself. She held up three cards. All of them were spades, so that would hopefully do her well. Well if all the hearts exploded… She tossed the cards.

Thinking on her feet, Alice began spinning the bladed ribbons in front of her in a windmill movement. The ribbons smashed the cards before they could hit her. The concussive slams of her heavy-hitting spades forced her backwards through the air, but she kicked off the wall relatively unscathed.

She flew back towards Frost, arcing across the room, but felt one of her extra-sharp clubs slice against her dress. "Oh, now you're paying for much more than tha cards!" When Alice hit the ground, she took off running towards Frost again. The blades recoiled back into the bracelets, ready to be fired once more.

Cards whizzed by her ears, some sizzling and some roaring. As unnerving as it was, Alice's pride in her weapon was reemphasized by her own fear of them and her understanding on how to counter them. She ducked down to avoid an Eight of Hearts, sliding sideways while launching the blades outwards towards her opponent.

Frost stepped aside, allowing the blades fly past her. "You missed!" She raised her arm to throw another card.

"Wasn't aimin' for ya." Alice whipped her arm to the side.

Eyes went wide as Frost suddenly found the weight of the blades spinning around her, effectively tying her up in the ribbon.

Alice sneered, "At least, not directly."

"Stop it! This isn't how you use those!" Frost demanded.

"Maybe not for you, but for me," Alice ducked down, using all of her strength to lift Frost off the ground and throw her across the room. The girl in the white skirt slammed into the wall, leaving a good-sized dent in the plaster panels before sliding to the ground.

Carmen had to duck to the side to avoid the ensuing explosions and ice crystals from the remaining cards as they spilled from Frost's hands.

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Rime and Zero watched the screen of Rime's scroll as their leader's aura gauge quickly flashed red, stopping right before the bar went completely empty. She had lost the fight.

"Darnit…" Rime punched her hand against her knee, "0 for 3 for Team FREZ…" She shut her scroll and crossed her arms in a huff. She looked over to the quiet boy in the hoodie while rubbing the knot on her head. "Um… Zero?"

He looked slightly over to her.

"Looks like you're the last hope to prevent us from getting the reputation of the team of losers…"

'We've still got two of two. Take that, b****es!' Sepia texted her team, but the scroll that she had been issued by Beacon automatically censored her profanity.

Timbre couldn't help but laugh, "Looks like Team ARTS is the best so far, huh? Sure Alice won, but maybe that'll make her tantrum even worse if her teammates lose, huh?" She nudged her partner and Arty as they watched Alice return to her seat.

Alice scoffed, her crinkled nose pointing at her idol turned enemy, "That may be, but we have more chances than you psychos to make up for that. And besides," she looked over to Team FREZ, "at least my team has actually won a match already."

Frost stayed expressionless, "I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this. It's a learning experience, not a tournament."

Before Alice could retort, Carmen restarted the lesson.

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"Alrighty-o! So, what do you do when you don't have your weapon?"

No response came from her students.

"You adjust!" She gave Alice a thumbs up in approval. Her hand quickly flipped to give her a thumbs down, "But your attitude does need an adjustment, Ms. Crims. If I were on Team ANTE, I'd prefer if my leader was a little less… ill-tempered."

Alice stomped her foot underneath the desk and opened her mouth to retort, but a thick padded glove covered her mouth.

"She's fine miss! Sorry about the attitude. She just hasn't had her coffee today." Ebon smiled wide, hoping Alice got the hint to cool down.

Alice leaned back and huffed. Quietly, she began to whisper, "I don't even like coffee…" She crossed her arms. "I'm a tea type of girl." She looked over to the skier. "If you're going ta lie, at least make it seem like the truth, Ebon."

"My point exactly…" Professor Maple shook her head, "Anyways! Ebon, dear, how are you liking it here at Beacon?"

Ebon jumped back a bit, obviously not expecting the conversation to continue before two more students began wailing on one another. "Um, it's pretty great. A lot warmer here than home. And I've definitely met some… interesting people."

"I'm glad that you're enjoying your new home. It's good to see that our facility is enough to keep you happy." Professor Maple paced and kept a calm smile on her face, "Unfortunately, I think that ripping away that feeling of safety that you all begin to develop is incredibly fun. In addition, the greatest lesson that you can learn is that the world hates you and will do everything it can to rip you apart. You'll be fighting next, and against Zero." She finished her sentence with a cold grin.

While Ebon processed Professor Maple's words, he turned to examine his opponent.

Zero held an apple in one hand and a thin blade in the other, a katana. He skinned the apple with the tip of the blade while turning his head to catch Ebon's look of curiosity. After a few moments of painful silence, the spiraled apple skin fell onto the desk. The skin was bright red on both sides. The apple skin had been perfectly separated from the meat of the fruit.

Finding the apple skin to be a sufficient indicator of what he was up against, Ebon raised his hand. "Professor Maple, I haven't written my will yet…"

"Good, then you have incentive to do well! Come on down!"

.

With a final pleading gaze to his team, Ebon stood and pulled his ski goggles over his eyes. At least Zero wouldn't see him cry. With a final huff, he made his way down the stairsteps and into the ring.