Searing opened her eyes and shifted in bed just a bit. "Human," she concluded. "Why is Discord making me human so often?"

Just as she was pondering the question, the door to the bedroom she was in exploded, none of the shrapnel coming close to her. "Gooooooood morning, Searing!" Discord cheerfully proclaimed.

"Aaahh! Discord!" Searing was fully awake and upset at that.

"Oh, you're already up. That's good. It's time to start getting prepared for school."

Searing deflated at the proclamation. "Again? Actually, no. I'm not going to go through that again, no matter what you say."

"It's only for the summer, and there are dorms on campus. Besides, I'm sure you'll like the subject the school specializes in."

"Probably not."

"Combat."

Searing was suddenly in Discord's face. "When do I leave?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. Today is for preparing and packing. Technically, if you really want to get technical, your stuff is already prepared and packed." He pointed to a pair of packed suitcases with Searing's cutie mark on them. "I did some pockpicketing to get them from you."

"Then let's get going already!"

"In your pyjamas?"

Searing was suddenly aware of the loose fitting sleepwear she was in. "Oh." Secondary to that was her skin, now a tan color instead of the familiar red.

"I'm sure you can find or make something you like out of the stuff in the suitcases. If not, I can point you to a shop. I'll get some breakfast made while you do that."

After Discord left, Searing opened the suitcases, both holding a lot of clothes. Within them looked like all the clothes she'd accumulated during her trip, and so she started her clothing coordination quest.

Discord heard Searing approach the kitchen. "Well now, let's see what you-" He had to pause when he saw Searing's choices. Heeled boots, yellow leggings, red and gold ankle length qipao, the belt for Sharkbite, Sharkbite itself, and the black and yellow pirate jacket, all topped off with a tricorn hat. "Snnnk." He broke out in hearty laughter for at least ten seconds. "Oh, oh my. What is with that selection?"

"It's stuff I like," Searing said. "What, do you have a problem with it?"

"No, no. Not at all. It's just. . . Such a chaotic look! I mean, what are you going for there? If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd been tainted by my flavor of chaos. Certainly not Tzeentch's chaos. His brand of it is so boooooriiiiiiiiing."

Out in the Warp, Tzeentch glared(?). "Oh, it is on, Discord!" He proclaimed. "I will beat you in our next game for sure!"

"SHUT UP, TZEENTCH!" Khorne angrily shouted from his skull throne.

"Oh, Hello Khorne Flake. Are you looking for your chainaxe again?"

"YES."

"You need a wrist strap for it or something. I think Nurgle is using it in another of his brews."

"NURRRRRRGLLLLLLLLLE!" Khorne and his skull throne left the scene.

"Teeheeheehee! All according to plan~"

"Please tell me he's not here," Searing pleaded. "Also, why do I have four ears?" Searing took her hat off, revealing two bright red pony ears on top of her head.

"For now, you're not human. You're a faunus, basically a human with some kind of animal trait. Trust me when I say that it makes a difference with some of the people here. Also, your magic is locked for now." A ding sounded from a timer. "Ah, there we go." Discord opened the oven and pulled out a loaded tray. "Hot pocket? Careful, it's hot."

Searing reached to grab one and quickly pulled her hand away from it, seething in mild pain and surprise. "That's hot." The burn, thankfully, looked very mild, the kind of thing that she would forget about after a couple hours at most.

"I did say they were hot. Speaking of heat, are you sure you want to wear that jacket? It is summer here."

"Yes. It's awesome, I like it, and I sailed the high seas with it."

"If that's your choice." Discord set the tray down and rummaged through the fridge for a bit. "Where did I. . . Of course." He went to the freezer portion and pulled out a book. "Here you go. A little primer on this world. Nothing but cold, hard facts."

Searing took the cold book and opened it. Soon, she was learning about the world of Remnant.

It was early in the afternoon when Searing finished the book and passed a test Discord gave her. The two were not necessarily related. Still, she now had a bunch of Lien, and it was a short walk to town. From what she saw, it wasn't that much different from other places she'd been. Shops here, shops there, the occasional cafe or restaurant, and people walking around. Some of the people, like her, had some kind of animal characteristic.

More interesting though was that nobody really seemed to care that she had a katana at her side. "Is it affecting the people here?" She mused as she idly walked around. "They're not ponies, so it shouldn't. . ." Her thoughts trailed off when she saw a group of four men on the other side of the street walking by with very apparent weapons holstered on them in one way or another, and nobody cared that they were carrying a variety of weapons that also looked like they had gun parts. If anything, they seemed to be getting occasional praise for something they did, though Searing couldn't make out the exact words.

She came to a stop next to a shop called From Dust to Dawn. Remembering some stuff about Dust, she decided to walk in and take a look. Inside was one old man, busy at work cleaning the powdered Dust dispensers. He paused just long enough to look at Searing and give her a polite nod and grunt in greeting, a gesture Searing returned.

She walked around the small shop, and soon found herself towards the back of the sales floor, next to a set of shelves filled with a variety of informational pamphlets, gossip magazines, two kinds of gun magazines, weapon design and maintenance books, and comic books.

One magazine, the Monthly Fang, caught her attention with its emphasis on faunus rights. She started reading it out of curiosity, and found herself in a weird position of sympathy and disgust. "The harsh treatment is wrong," Searing considered as she read an article about the Schnee Dust Corporation. "But if this Dust stuff is so important for everyone's survival, what good would blowing up a Dust mine do? Why not cooperate? Talk it out?"

As soon as she set the magazine down, someone spoke up behind her. "You want to join the Fang?" Searing let out a shout of surprise, turned around, and was going to slap whoever startled her, were it not for whoever it was, some silver eyed girl wearing red and black, pulling out something metal and blocking her hand with it. She couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen years old. "Hey, this isn't the place to fight!"

"Ahh. . . I'm sorry," Searing sheepishly said as she withdrew her hand. "I just. . . I startle easily."

"It's fine. But are you really thinking about joining the White Fang? I have heard of humans joining them, but it's very rare. Like, finding a friendly Grimm rare."

"Well. . . Their cause sounds good, but their methods. . ."

"My dad says they were once peaceful, but they've been getting more violent recently." Her attention was suddenly caught by something on the shelf and she let out a gasp. "A new edition of Sniper's Sight!" She promptly forgot the conversation, zipped over to the gun magazine (not to be confused with a gun magazine), and was lost in its bullet loaded depths.

Searing left the girl to her literature and decided she'd had enough of the store. On the way out, she picked up a free newspaper.

Just down the road, she found a little cafe and decided to go in. It was a nice, cozy place with people chatting, working, and playing games. There was even an upstairs patio she could go to, though she would have to order at the counter on the first floor, so she went there.

"Hello," the barista, a young woman with decorated deer antlers, greeted. "What can we get for a huntress like you?"

Searing didn't feel like correcting her. "I'll have a mediummmmm. . . Golden cappuccino, and. . ." She looked at the pastry display. "A bacon wrapped breakfast muffin."

"Alright, that comes to 1200 Lien."

Searing pulled out the plastic cards that made up her budget and saw that each one was worth 5000 Lien. She handed one of them to the barista, she handed a few plastic cards back, and Searing dropped a few in the tip jar. "I'll be on the patio upstairs."

"Thanks for telling me." Just as Searing left, the barista continued. "No, seriously, thank you. You would not believe how many people go up there without telling us."

Searing simply nodded as she went up the stairs to get to the patio. She found an empty table and claimed it, sitting with Sharkbite out of the way against the railing. A minute later, the barista showed up with the cappuccino and muffin. "Here you go. Enjoy."

"Thanks," Searing said just before the deer faunus left. She took a sip of the cappuccino, sat back, and started reading the newspaper.

An hour or so later, Searing was done. The barista had collected the food waste at some point while she was reading the paper, and all Searing really got from the paper was a mess of political drama, financial market stuff she couldn't understand, a few comic strips, and some interviews with huntsmen and huntresses.

She threw the paper away on the way out and decided to just go home and get ready for the combat school.

The next day, Searing found herself at an elevated pier with an airship waiting. To her confusion, there were people of various ages getting on, including some kids as young as the red and black girl she'd met the previous day. There were even a few parents bringing toddlers with them.

"Discord?" Searing asked her "guardian".

"Yes, Searing?"

"Why are there - you know what, I'm not going to ask."

"That's the spirit. Now get going. I have some other things to do."

Searing didn't give him any farewells, instead just grabbing her suitcases and following the people around her. As soon as she was on the airship, she got in a line with other people carrying luggage of their own. Soon, she came to a counter, where she gave them the luggage, her name (which got her an odd glance), and left to the main floor of the airship.

The crowd, naturally, was quite mixed. Old, young, middle age, human and faunus alike. Searing did her best to keep to herself, mostly by staying by a window and looking out upon the edge of wilderness and civilization. It seemed like a good way to stay alone amongst a crowd.

"Heeeey, what's a fine lookin' lady such as yourself doing here?" A random guy asked.

Searing, surprised and upset at the approach, turned and grabbed the guy's arm before tossing him away from the window, sending some attention towards her. She said nothing, instead just shooting the guy a glare to get her point across before turning back to the window.

There was a small lurch as the airship took off, and the scenery slowly changed as the flight began.

Disembarking was a slow process, though it could have been worse. The luggage people had taken the time to sort everything by name during the flight, so they didn't have to search for long. Additionally, not everyone was getting off. Well over half of them were just giving their farewells to friends and family. Searing got her suitcases pretty quickly, thanks to her deciding to be one of the last passengers to get off.

When she got off the ship and onto solid land, she took a moment to marvel at Signal Academy. The buildings had a simple elegance and an elegant simplicity to them, the greenery in the courtyard was well groomed and maintained, and the weather was good.

"If I may have your attention, please?" A woman in a uniform of some kind shouted over the din of the decently sized crowd. "Before we start the Signal Summer sessions, please take your belongings to your dorms. As soon as you do, please head to the auditoriums. You will know which one to go to after you get your key. Dismissed!"

Once again, Searing followed the crowd, this time to one of the big buildings to the side. She looked around, and caught a glimpse of a shooting range, a few people there with some practice guns. Nobody around her paid any mind to the reports ringing out from the range, so she didn't either.

"Lines are a thing here too, apparently," she mused as she waited in line. Looking ahead, she saw the process of something going on involving a pair of devices, one staying with the staff, the other staying with the student.

When Searing's turn came, she recognized the parts, or at least what they resembled: the Assault Grip and a matching red Progrise Key. She kept her excitement in check as she held the grip portion, then the staff member attached the key. A few seconds later, the key portion lit up green. The staff member, with practiced ease, took the devices, removed the grip, and gave Searing the key portion. "Your room is number 503."

"Thank you." Searing put the key in her sleeve and started the quest to find room 503. Along the way, she caught glimpses of the other students using their keys to get in their dorms.

The dorm was a small affair, designed for only one person, with an attached bathroom. After putting the suitcases in a corner of the room, Searing lay down on the bed and opened the device, the screen coming to life with a number of preloaded apps, all related to Signal.

One notification came up, reminding her to go to one of the auditoriums, specifically auditorium B. With a useful map available, she took the initiative and went to her destination.

"Welcome, everyone, to Signal's summer session," the blonde man onstage said. Something about him seemed a bit familiar, though she wasn't quite sure what it was. "It's my job to make sure you're all in shape before I unlock your aura. Now, some of you are going to be attending Signal for the regular school year, and the rest of you are here for other reasons. You all know who you are and why you're here.

"Before we start on the fun combat part, I will tell you about aura and semblances. Aura is a manifestation of one's soul, and-"

Searing cut him off. "Come on, let's get to the fighting already!"

He looked at her. "You're that eager to fight? Well, I suppose a demonstration can be arranged. Come on up here."

Searing got on the stage and released Sharkbite's sheath from its spot on her hip. "Ready when you are."

"Oh, you won't be fighting me. You'll be fighting my assistant/daughter." He clapped twice to cue his assistant. Searing's breath caught in her throat when she saw just who the assistant was. She was tall, had long blonde hair, violet eyes, was in excellent shape, and had two gauntlets on her forearms, ready to go. The slightly younger appearance barely registered in her head.

"So, you're the first one I get to spar with?" Yang asked as she cracked her knuckles. "Come on, don't look so scared. I'm not going to hurt you that much. My gauntlets aren't even loaded. See?" Yang opened the gauntlets, revealing them to be empty.

"I. . ." She could feel her heart beating harder and harder the more she looked at Yang. It was like seeing an old acquaintance, but there was something more to it than that.

Yang got tired of waiting and kicked off, taking advantage of Searing's distracted state to launch the first attack. Searing barely managed to parry the punch with the sheath, and didn't have any time to think before the next attack came from the other direction, hitting her shoulder hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to do anything serious. "Come on, where did all that bravado go?"

"That's not my Yang," Searing told herself as she quickly recovered. "Looks like her, sounds like her, dresses like her, but not her." After collecting herself, she flicked Sharkbite out of its sheath and waited for the next attack.

Yang took the initiative again and threw another punch. Searing reacted, pulling Sharkbite out enough to get the pointed end of the teeth in the way of the punch. The teeth shattered when they got hit, surprising Yang just long enough for Searing to pull the sword out the rest of the way and take a swing, shattering more teeth on her opponent's upper arm.

Searing capitalized on the surprise, going on the offense with katana swings and sheath jabs. Yang, for her part, was actually enjoying the surprising challenge that Searing was providing.

"Alright, that's enough!" Taiyang shouted, bringing the fight to an end. He turned to Yang first. "You did a good job restraining yourself, Yang."

"Thanks, dad!" Yang happily replied.

He turned to Searing next. "And you had some decent swordplay there. Good footwork, too."

"Cutting edge skills for a newbie." Yang and Taiyang shared a high five when groans came from some of the audience. "You even had me on the edge a couple times." More groans.

"Thanks," Searing said before sheathing Sharkbite and smirking. "I hope I can sharpen my skills while I'm here."

"Wwhhyyyy-hy-hy-hy?" A guy in the audience cried out amidst the groans.

"Oh, she's good," Yang remarked.

"All joking aside, thank you for the demonstration," Taiyang said. "As you can see, Yang has no injuries on her hands, arms, or anywhere she got hit by that sword. That is all thanks to her aura protecting her body. While aura is durable and can protect you from all manner of damage, it is not infinite. If your aura runs out, your best defense is to run away.

"Aura also serves to reinforce your weapons and anything you're wearing. It's strong enough to tank small arms pretty easily, and even higher calibers can be stopped, but once again, it is not infinite. Having armor does reduce the strain on your aura, but it can have other drawbacks that have to be balanced out.

"Semblances are an innate aura powered ability that every huntsman and huntress possesses. For example, Yang's semblance allows her to get stronger with each hit she takes. There are some who have a telekinesis semblance, or one for speed. Whatever your semblance is, building a combat style based around it is always a good idea.

"For now, we're going to go out to the field and run physical evaluations. You need to be in good shape before anything else can happen. If everyone would follow me, please."

Searing found the exercises to be rather relaxing, even as she worked up a sweat. Out of everyone in her group, she was one of the most physically fit people there, a fact she took some pride in.

Even as fit as she was, the heat of the sun, combined with her black jacket, hat, and the physical activity made her feel the heat. Once everything was done, she sat down in the shade of a tree, took her hat off, and started fanning herself with it.

One of her classmates, a tall guy with short dark orange hair, noticed the extra ears. "What is a filthy faunus like you doing here?" He demanded.

"Cooling down," Searing coolly replied as she got to her feet and hung the hat on a stub of a branch. "What is it to you?"

"Faunus are no better than animals, and should not be allowed in these prestigious academies."

"Are you sure you want to provoke me?" Searing noticed a crowd forming around them. "I don't know if you noticed, but I have a sword. You're unarmed." She flicked the blade out. "But if you really want to get hurt, come at me."

"Your sword's no better than a stick since the teeth broke off. . ." He stopped when Searing slowly drew the sword, revealing a full set of new teeth on the blade. "Uhhh. . ."

"How about you leave me alone, and when we have our aura and semblances, we can properly fight? Put the hatchet on the shelf, and we can pick it up later."

". . . You know what, that's fine. I'll still beat you like the animal you are." With a huff, he stormed off.

Searing sheathed Sharkbite and went back to relaxing.

Searing woke up to the sound of knocking. "What is it?" She blearily asked as she got up.

"Delivery for Searing Victory!" The delivery guy on the other side said through the door. "Is this the right dorm?"

"Yeah, yeah, one moment." She got to her feet and opened the door. Behind the delivery guy was a flat cart with four large metal cases on it. "That's all for me?"

"Yes, including the cart. Sign please."

Searing accepted the offered pen and clipboard, signed the paper, and took the cart into her room. "Thanks." After closing the door, she inspected the cases. Each one had a single electronic latch on it, and she couldn't figure out how to unlock them. Fingerprint, voice, even her room key/very useful device didn't do anything. After giving up, the key lit up with a message. By reflex, she opened it and checked it. It was from Discord. "The locks on the cases are aura sensitive. Until you get it unlocked, you can't unlock it."

Searing let out a groan before checking the time: a few minutes before her alarm was due to go off. "Better get started."

Once her morning routine was done, she made her way through the halls to the outdoor classroom/exercise area/agony inducer and waited. The first other student to show up was the one who had bullied her. This time, he had armor and a weapon on his back. "Today's the day, horse."

"Pony," Searing corrected.

"Whatever. I just got my weapon today, and I am going to put you down."

Searing scoffed and waited for class to start. "He's just being a bully. Aaaaand I just realized I don't know his name. Or anyone except Yang. I'll find out later."

The rest of the class showed up over the next fifteen minutes, along with Yang and Taiyang. When everyone was assembled, Taiyang started speaking. "Alright, the last two weeks have been rough, but you've all made it through, so now it's time to unlock your auras. Yang and I will go around to help you with this. Are there any questions before we start?"

A meek woman towards the front raised her hand. "Does it hurt?"

"It tickles for a moment. Anyone else? No? Then we'll begin." Taiyang and Yang left their area to go through the students.

The fact that Yang chose to go to Searing first did not escape her notice. "Hey," Yang said.

"So, do I have to do some kind of dance, or. . ." Searing trailed off.

"Just stay still, relax, and close your eyes." Searing did as Yang said, then felt a hand on her right shoulder and over her heart. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."

Searing felt something inside her unlock, for lack of a better term. It was similar to when she could first use her magic again after her time at Crystal Prep. "Wait a minute." Searing kept her eyes closed, even as Yang disengaged and moved onto another student. "What's this?" She felt her new aura, and it was pretty good. Next to it, she felt her magic, now unlocked. She cracked an eye and conjured a small flame in her hand for a brief moment. "Okay, that's-" A third, smaller thing joined the magic and aura, all three linking together. "That's different."

"And that's everyone," Taiyang said. "Now, onto weapons. Ideally, you will want melee at the least, and mixing in some ranged options is a good idea that many take advantage of."

"Hey, I want to try my weapon out now," the bully guy said.

Taiyang sighed. "I knew this would happen. Alright then. I presume you have an opponent in mind, Cardin?"

"The horse girl, of course." Cardin pulled his mace, Executioner, from his back and pointed it at Searing.

"Pony!" Searing retorted as the class made space for the combatants.

Taiyang pulled out his scroll and brought up the aura gauge program. "You two can fight until I say to stop. Hopefully, I won't have to step in."

"Alright, a fight!" Yang cheerfully cheered as she walked up. "Ready. . . Go!" She punched skyward, firing a round from a gauntlet.

Searing and Cardin charged. As they approached each other, Cardin brought his mace up for a downward swing. Searing saw the telegraphed move and brought Sharkbite in its sheath up to block the attack.

As strong as Searing was, Cardin was stronger and had more weight to put behind the mace. She quickly realized that staying in that situation was a losing move and leapt back, putting some space between them and drawing Sharkbite, its teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

Cardin charged again, but this time, Searing was ready. When he was in range, he swung at a diagonal, and Searing blocked it with the flat of her blade. She focused her magic in familiar ways into Sharkbite, and when an opportunity presented itself, swung at Cardin. The teeth exploded on contact with his armor, stunning him.

She capitalized on the opening and got a few more explosive strikes in before backing off and sheathing the sword. The teeth needed a bit of time to regrow, after all. "You do realize I've had time to practice before, right? You're a novice, and I've got skills."

He didn't respond, instead going back in with the mace, swinging again, but this time not aiming to hit her. She responded as he'd hoped, moving back with each swing, now that the teeth were gone. One upward swing stopped just in front of her face, he pushed a button, and an explosion went off, stunning Searing, who heard it twice as much as anyone else. With the opportunity, he started landing a few good hits on her body.

Searing, painfully aware of her situation, managed to steel herself. "I won't lose!" She told herself. "I won't yield!" The hits started to hurt her less and less. "I will never break!" She caught the mace with her free hand mere inches before it would have hit her head, then swung Sharkbite upwards at his wrist.

Cardin reflexively let go of his mace, and as soon as Searing tossed it aside, she went in, swinging Sharkbite with reckless abandon. He managed to block some swings with his forearm armor, but Searing still brought the onslaught.

"Alright, that's enough!" Taiyang called out just as Searing got one last slash in, Cardin down to ten percent aura and Searing at a more comfortable thirty percent. "As you saw, Cardin was highly dependent on his weapon, almost too dependent. As soon as he was disarmed, he stopped attacking and went on the defensive. Searing, who clearly has some experience, was easily able to get through and land her attacks after that.

"We will be practicing unarmed combat so that, even if you lose your weapon, you aren't defenseless. Searing, Cardin, you two may skip this morning's lesson so your auras can recover. I expect to see you in class after lunch."

Searing respectfully bowed before taking her leave. Cardin collected his weapon and left in a huff.

Back in the room, Searing looked at the metal cases. She carefully put a hand on one of the locks and it clicked open. Inside the case was something that brought a big smile to her face. "Fireblast!" She eagerly pulled out the horned helmet and admired the long unseen armor.

After a minute (or three) of just looking at the helmet, she looked in the case and saw the rest of the armor, all recognizable, yet altered to fit her human/faunus form. Under all the armor pieces was the black bodysuit that would make it comfortable to wear. Within the folds of the bodysuit was a letter, which Searing promptly read.

Dear Searing,

Now that you have your magic and aura unlocked, you can really bring out this armor's potential. I have no idea what kind of semblance you've got, so it'll be up to you to figure out how to work with it.

Crimson Breaker and your cannons are just as overpowered as before, so be careful with them. Aura isn't exactly known for taking those levels of energy that well. The Grimm are fair game, though.

And as a bonus feature, the cart can transform and attach to your armor so you can easily carry your oversized and overpowered weapons. Now go show that Cardin guy who the real boss is.

-Chaotically, Discord.

To say Searing was happy would be akin to saying water was kind of damp. Without hesitation, she took the bodysuit, went into the attached bathroom for some privacy, and changed.

The only part left uncovered by the bodysuit was Searing's head. Everything else was covered in the easily applied piece, but for all the coverage it had, she felt more exposed when she looked in the mirror. The thing fit her like a glove, making each curve stand out all the better. "I think I understand Human Searing's modest choices now," she said to herself. "Ah, enough of that. It's armor time!"

Searing made sure the curtains were closed and the door was locked before she started sliding the armor pieces on, starting with her body. Each piece made a rather satisfying click when it secured itself, and with a little experimentation, she discovered that removing the armor was as simple as giving it a pull. "I hope it knows I'm the one pulling it off and not someone like Cardin, or a Grimm."

Once everything except the helmet was on, she went to the bathroom and looked at herself again. Overall, it was a big improvement, and it was something she wouldn't mind wearing to town. Proper armor was always a good thing to have, and the Fireblast set had the added bonus of easy application and removal.

"Now, let's see the weapons." Searing left the bathroom and opened the three weapon cases. Two of them had her laser cannons and the third one had Crimson Breaker, all of them polished to a shine. She gently picked up the deactivated sword and practically cradled it. "Ah, my favorite sword. How I've missed you." As much as she wanted to bring it up to nuzzle it, she forced herself to not do it, lest she accidentally activate the blade and decapitate herself.

She found herself to be less restrained with the cannons, embracing them like they were long lost foals. The power that each one held was spectacular, to say the least, and she knew it. She also knew not to fire them indoors.

She was pulled out of her reverence and adoration of her weapons when someone knocked on the door. After carefully setting the cannons aside, she opened the door. "How can I - Yang?"

"Hey," Yang casually greeted. "Sweet armor. A bit heavy on the red, but it looks good on you."

A blush came over Searing's face at the compliment. "T-thanks."

"Anyways, I'm here to check up on your aura." Yang pulled out her scroll and held it up. "And it looks solid. Also, it's just about time for lunch, too."

"It is?" Searing checked her key. "Wow. I'll just go change back to my-"

"Hey, you should wear that to lunch. Cardin would definitely have second thoughts on fighting you if you've got that much armor. And if he does pick a fight, your defense would be ironclad."

"Hey, don't steel my ideas like that."

Yang smirked. "It's nice having a friend who can take punches like a champ."

"Well. . . I got nothing." Both of them laughed at Searing's concession. For a moment, Searing forgot that the Yang in front of her wasn't the one that ran the Carne Den. "I'll see you in the cafeteria, then."

"Oh yeah. I have to go check on Cardin. I promise I won't tell him about your armor."

"Thanks." An idea planted itself in Searing's head, a devious smirk graced her face, and she ran to the cafeteria.

Three minutes into her plan, Searing was starting to rethink it. "Is this. . . It WILL be worth it. I just have to hold out a bit longer. . ." She found a second wind and steeled herself, ready to carry out her self assigned mission.

It was another two minutes before Cardin stormed in, and he stopped at the sight of Searing. "Uh. . ."

"Hi!" Searing, standing in plain sight with her hand up, waved at him. "I liked your idea of armor a lot, so I made some of my own. It does need a bit of refining, though, I will admit. Oh, I left the helmet in my dorm since it's lunch."

Cardin slowly walked away to get some food and a table away from the suddenly armored faunus. Yang failed to hide an unladylike laugh as she leaned against the doorframe for support, the display having been too much.

Searing wasn't done, even as she finally lowered her arm. "And I didn't even get to tell him about my cool new weapons," she said with enough volume to elicit the reaction of Cardin stiffening up a bit. "Oh well." She decided that enough was enough and sat down to enjoy her now lukewarm lunch, which was totally worth putting up with since she really got Cardin's pride and Yang was laughing on the floor.

Author's Notes:

And now the story is officially a RWBY crossover. Yay!

As for what Searing's semblance is? That will be displayed in the next chapter.