Again, I apologize for the late update. I have been through a lot recently, and I'd rather not discuss it in detail here. I just hope you all enjoy.
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It's not that Team CRDL were particularly bad fighters. They were decent enough, they got the job done. If they had entered the Academy at any other year, they might have actually stood out. Unfortunately, they had the displeasure of being in the same class as multiple children of professional Hunters, the Schnee family heiress, a veteran White Fang formerly, many orphans with little to lose, whatever the hell Team ATUM was, and, most pertinent to the current moment...

Cardin crashed to the floor and let out a "Lucky shot..." before collapsing in a heap with his teammates.

The untouched champion of Mistral.

"And that's the match," Glynda proclaimed. "Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

Pyrrha bowed in humble gratitude, "Thank you, professor."

Glynda tapped her Scroll," Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?"

She looked up at a certain secret Faunus, ignoring the impatiently waiting hands of Hazel and Weiss, "Ms. Belladonna?"

Blake snapped to attention, dark bags under her eyes, Glynda continuing, "You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you-"

"I'll do it."

All eyes turned to one of the few foreign students that chose to temporarily transfer to Beacon until the Vytal Festival was over. His name was Mercury Black, who belonged to Team CMNE (Carmine) from Mistral with Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and one final member that nobody had met yet. They seemed nice enough to everyone, but were sort of enigmas at the same time. They were just kinda... weird.

"Mercury, is it?" Glynda addressed. "Very well, let's find you an opponent."

"Actually," Mercury responded, pointing at Pyrrha, "I wanna fight her."

Pyrrha pointed at herself in confusion, "Me?"

Skyler raised an eyebrow highly at that. Did this guy not see what just happened? Scratch that, Mercury and his team were from Mistral, so he wanted to fight her even with her reputation? Whenever Pyrrha was picked out as someone's opponent, whoever said opponent was always groaned and wondered what they did that day to suffer such a fate.

'So what is this guy's deal?' Team SHDW's leader pondered.

"I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished the match," Glynda initially refused. "I recommend you choose another partner."

"No, it's fine!" Pyrrha interrupted with a smile. "I'd be happy to oblige."
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While Skyler would've liked to think that Mercury had realized the error of his ways early on in the fight, but part of him seriously doubted that. There was no doubt that Mercury's forfeit was suspicious, but as to what that might imply left Skyler scratching his head. Why would someone be so insistent on fighting Pyrrha only to simply give up not even thirty seconds later?

Regardless of reasons, there was enough time for one random selection of two fighters, and that just so happened to be...

"Nora! Uriel! You're up," Goodwitch announced.

Uriel gulped a little while Nora giggled excitedly, jumping down into the arena. He soon followed with a sigh, receiving a sympathetic pat on the back from Meta. Nora hefted Magnhild over her shoulder while Uriel fell into the area soon after, brandishing his sword pulled out from his winged armor, Adramelech Bane. He knew that close combat with Nora was what one would call "suicide", but he had very few options otherwise.

Sure, his Semblance, Gravity Well, could pull Nora away, but he discovered the hard way that she was a freak of nature with enough strength to resist it. And without any reliable long range attacks or an option of ring out...

"Begin!"

Uriel resigned himself to his fate.
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If Hazel had a nickel for every time she saw an awkward blond guy get his invite to the upcoming dance harshly rejected by a member of Team RWBY today, she'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Jaune wasn't too surprising. Team JNPR's leader been pining after Weiss pretty much since the beginning, much to Weiss', Pyrrha's, and, indirectly, Hazel's displeasure. There's only so many times one can get rejected before giving up, but Jaune was about as stubborn as a mule. This affected Hazel in particular because, in her perspective, Pyrrha was RIGHT. THERE. And seeing how much unnecessary pain and annoyance it was causing everyone involved was grinding on Hazel's nerves more than the back and forth between Skyler and Yang, and that was saying something.

Sun Wukong, on the other hand? While he and Blake were in a "will they, won't they" phase ever since that night at the docks, that had at least had been both mutual and was building naturally. Hazel knew Blake was having a tough time, what with Roman Torchwick seeming to actually join up with a more radical faction of the White Fang, out to seemingly make the group act more like terrorists than ever before, but she had been obsessing over it to this much of an extreme? Yeah, she needed help.

Speaking of the upcoming dance, Hazel had been so caught up in the preparation that she had almost completely forgotten about the "ask someone to the dance" part of it. Sure, it was usually customary for the guy to ask, but Hazel never really was one to uphold to societal conventions. She had been patient, but it seemed as though Dante wasn't going to ask her, which was a shame. Sure, she didn't know if he even liked her in that kind of sense, and even if he did, it would most likely be in a platonic fashion. No one wanted to go alone to a school dance.

Hazel sighed as these thoughts temporarily came to a halt when she opened the door to her dorm... only for them to come screaming back at the pure ridiculousness of the sight before her.

There was Dante, a sign in one hand and a melting yellow stick—was that butter?!—in the other. The sign read "You butter go to the dance with me!" and his face was red with embarrassment, his eyes wide and his mouth was a straight line. Just looking at this scene caused Hazel's brain to blue-screen trying to process what it was seeing.

When motor functions came back, she said, "...How long have you been standing there?"

Another awkward pause occurred before, "...An hour."

"An hour?"

"My limbs are very tired."

"And what if-"

"Hoo boy, that was an explanation and a half to Walker twenty minutes ago..."

There was yet another awkward pause before Hazel slumped and accepted the reality of her world, "Sure."

Dante blinked, "What?"

"Sure, I'll go to the dance with you," Hazel reiterated, stepping back to leave the premises. "Just... stop this and take a rest."

"Oh thank the gods I didn't buy this butter for nothing."

"That's your primary concern?"

"Would it help if I said that this wasn't my idea?"

"Who is more foolish: the fool or the one who follows him?"

"...Fair point."

"I'm just gonna... go now."

"You do that."

Hazel then closed the door and walked away, completely forgetting why she went to the dorm room in the first place. She turned the corner... and started howling with laughter. If this was her life now, at least Dante was keeping it entertaining.

And she'd like for it to stay that way.
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I dutifully apologize once again if this chapter is a bit short. I was originally going to write out the whole fight between Nora and Uriel, but it was a foregone conclusion once you realize that Nora is just a bad matchup for Uriel. Poor dude. He's not even team leader, yet he has more stress than any of them. Fun fact, it was originally going to be Dante vs. Nora, but then I came up with that last scene and I needed Dante in good health to be able to pull it off.

And if any of you complain about Skyler being cliche-ly suspicious of Emerald and Mercury, I would like to remind you that Mercury's whole attitude during this episode raises ALL SORTS OF RED FLAGS. The canon main characters are just idiots for not at least questioning it. That's all Skyler will do, but still, nobody noticed?!

Other than that, I cannot wait to get to work on the next chapter. I already have a portion of it done, now all that's left is to write around it... Though knowing me, I'll unintentionally have you guys waiting for another year for me to write less than a thousand words. Till next time guys!