After a brief scare of the possibility of losing this story forever, I finished this chapter! Note to self: remember to make backups of EVERYTHING...

Hope you enjoy!
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"Geography of Northern Atlas?"

"Mountainous and snowy."

"Close enough."

Walker and Dante were currently studying up for the first exam for their Dust/Geography class in the library, the former asking the questions. The rest of Team SHDW was watching Team RWBY playing Remnant: The Game against each other. Team JNPR was doing their own studying, if you call Nora napping and Jaune trying to read a comic book studying. And Team ATUM was... doing what they did best; Auriel pretending to study, consequently bugging Uriel, Tatiana being too nervous to speak up, and Meta doing the actual studying.

Meanwhile, with Walker and Dante...

"Continent the Great War ended on?"

"Sanus."

"Correct. Color of Wind Dust?"

"Uh... Crap, this always gets me... White?"

"Technically correct, but considering Professor Peach teaches a nature-esque class, you'd get that incorrect. While Wind Dust can indeed be white in color, that's the modified version used in weaponry. The pure version of the stuff that's found in the wild is actually green."

"Argh!!" Dante cried, scratching at his head. "You'd think I'd remember which was which by now, but nooo! Thanks a lot, brain, you wet sock..."

Walker had to blink at that, "That's a... unique insult..."

Dante waved it off, "Me, Skyler, and Yang once made an entire list of original insults a few years ago. Skyler came up with the best one. Hey, Sky, what was that insult again?"

Skyler turned to them with a blank face, "Go step on a Lego barefoot, you ten piece chicken McNobody."

Dante smirked and pointed a finger gun back, "That's the one!"

Auriel immediately materialized over to them, "So... mind if I have a few? For purely scientific purposes."

Dante looked at her dead in the eye, "Shred a shoe, you absolute freaking walnut."

"Thank you!"

She disappeared back to her team as Walker shook his head, "You people from Patch have some weird traditions."

Skyler looked back at him and said jokingly, "What do you mean, 'you people'?"

Before Walker could reply, Ruby suddenly cried out, "Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

Yang smirked, accepting the challenge, "Bring it on!"

Ruby slapped a card down on the table, "I deploy the Atlesian Air Fleet! Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!"

Yang feigned shock and horror, "You fiend!"

"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time is only one turn!" Ruby smiled confidently, only to have it fade when Yang began laughing arrogantly.

Yang raised a card of her, "Pretty sneaky, sis, but you just activated my trap card! Giant Nevermore! If I roll a seven or higher, fatal feathers will slice your fleet in two!"

"But, if you roll a six or lower," RWBY's leader countered. "The Nevermore will turn on your own forces!"

"That's just a chance I'm willing to take."

Yang shook the D20 in her hand violently before rolling it across the table, rolling... a nine.

"Nooooo!!" Ruby cried out in horror. "My fearless soldiers!"

"Eh, most of them were probably androids," Yang waved off.

"Goodbye my friends... you will be avenged."

"I get that you girls are eccentric," Uriel told the girls from his spot next to Auriel, "But may you please keep the volume to a minimum? Some of us actually care about this semester."

"Oh really?" Yang shot back with a grin. "Does your team really share that sentiment?"

Uriel looked over to his leader, who was poorly hiding a shonen manga tucked into the textbook she was holding. He then looked at Tatiana, who'd been silently observing RWBY's shenanigans with mild amusement before making an eep sound when she noticed he was looking and immediately went back to study in her book. He finally turned his attention to Meta, who just looked up at him and shrugged.

Uriel responded to Yang's rebuttal by groaning and slamming his head down in his open textbook, "I probably do too much for this team..."

Weiss looked up from her cards and finally spoke, "I have... absolutely no idea what's going on."

"With the game or just in general?" Hazel asked.

"Yes."

Hazel nodded, "Understandable. I figured a simple game like this would be too much for you, Ice Queen."

Weiss responded by looking back at her rival with a glare before Yang came in to help, "Look, it's easy! You're playing as Vacuo which means that all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus."

"That sounds dumb," Weiss muttered.

As Yang continued to explain, Dante turned his attention to JNPR, "I don't suppose you guys are having any better luck with studying either?"

Jaune looked up from his X-Ray and Vav comic, "I gave up after trying to figure out how Vacuo got involved in the Great War..."

"Jaune, we've been over this," Pyrrha interjected.

"Yeah, I get it, yet I don't!" Jaune threw his hands up in the air. "They joined the war just because they felt threatened? Doesn't make sense to me."

"People have started wars over much less," Walker explained. "You'd be surprised how many wars got started just because some trade routes got overtaxed."

But back with the game...

"And that means..." Weiss said, still confused

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!" Ruby answered, partially laying on the table with tears in her eyes.

Weiss blinked before realizing the true power that lied in her hands, so she stood up and laughed maniacally, "Yes! Fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms-"

"Trap card."

"Eh?"

Yang shuffled Weiss' game pieces around on the table smugly, "Your armies have been destroyed."

Weiss collapsed back into her seat, on the verge of tears, "I hate this game of emotions we play..."

Ruby leaped into Weiss' lap and enveloped her partner in a hug, "Stay strong, Weiss! We'll make it through this together!"

Weiss hugged back, "Shut up! Don't touch me!"

"Oh, how the mighty hath fallen," Hazel taunted, but the Schnee heiress couldn't bring herself to even care to respond.

"Alright Blake, you're up!" Yang then said, putting her arms behind her head, assured in her victory.

Blake blinked, snapping out of a trance, "Oh, um, sorry, what am I doing?"

"You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the Kingdoms of Remnant!"

Blake shifted in her seat, uncomfortable, "Right..."

Skyler watched this exchange, trying to piece together Blake's thought process. He's been meaning to talk to her since getting back to Beacon, but hadn't found a chance to get her alone. You'd think it'd be easy, considering she was the most introverted on her team, along with clearly feeling distant ever since school started back up, but apparently not.

"Sup losers."

Skyler's own thought process was interrupted as Sun Wukong, the guy who'd been at the docks with Blake, appeared, holding his fingers in a peace sign. Along with him was a blue haired male with goggles on his forehead and was wearing maroon and blue attire.

"Hey Sun!" Ruby greeted.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake, Ice Queen," Sun greeted back.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Weiss finally asked.

"Geez, I cannot fathom why," Hazel replied sarcastically, earning her another glare.

"I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend," Sun said, ignorant of the interaction.

"Uh, aren't libraries for reading?" the blue haired guy questioned.

Ren and Uriel simultaneously threw their arms up, "Thank you!!"

The sudden action caused Nora to awaken, "Pancakes!"

"Shut up," Sun teased his teammate, "Don't be a nerd."

The guy shook a finger at the monkey Faunus, "No, no! 'Intellectual', okay? Thank you."

He then waved to the group, "I'm Neptune Vasilias."

"So Neptune," Weiss spoke up, "Where are you from?"

"Haven," Neptune answered, approaching her. "And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."

Weiss got visibly flustered, "Um, I'm Weiss."

Ignoring Jaune's distress in the background, Neptune replied, "Pleasure to meet you."

Sun turned his attention to Blake, "I never took you as the board game playing type."

Blake got up and shoved Sun aside to leave, "Right, well, I think I'm done playing actually. I'll see you guys later."

She trudged away, the room filling with an awkward tension. Skyler wanted to try and follow her, just for the opportunity to talk to her alone, but seeing as how easily she brushed off Sun, maybe now wasn't the best time.

To break the tension, Nora shrugged and let out, "Pfft. Women."

"I know, right?" Dante replied incredulously.
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Later that night, at almost curfew, no less, Skyler was walking back to his dorm, rubbing his eyes due to drowsiness. He knew he was probably working himself to an early grave trying to study both for the semester and strategize for the upcoming tournament he and his team were qualifying for.

But he had to work that hard. Whether he liked it or not, despite that one incident at the docks, Team SHDW was still green. There was the possibility of fighting experienced Hunter teams who have gone on actual life or death missions. Team CFVY, for example, came to mind, giving Skyler the shivers. If they were going to fight people like that, he needed his team to perform at their best.

It was only when he was about to open the door to his dorm when he noticed the piece of paper taped to the front of it, not addressed to anyone. Skyler blinked at it, confused until he saw the familiar handwriting, and immediately knew what this was all about.

"Do you like me? (Check one)
-Yes?
-Definitely?
-Absolutely?"

Skyler eyed the note with an unimpressed look, "Nice try, Xiao Long. But your plan has one simple flaw."

He took the note off the door, walked over to RWBY's door, placed the note there, and walked off, "Scotch tape is easily removable."
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"Yang?" Ruby asked the next morning, having opened the door and spotted the note. "Why did you place that note you wrote on our own door?"

Yang blinked at her sister before rushing over next to her, her mouth agape, "That little..."

She now had a choice: admit defeat and throw away the note... or admit defeat and actually respond. He placed that note back there as his own form of response, as if to say 'no u.' He had taken the fact that there were no names on the paper to his advantage. Yang growled and punched the door frame.

"Well played, Yin... Well played."
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For those of you who might be wondering, Auriel was reading Hunter x Hunter instead of studying. And honestly, who can blame her? I was hoping for this chapter to be longer, but ran out of stuff to think of including. Didn't help that this story temporarily disappeared and completely knocked out my train of thought. Till next time guys!