*RIIIIIIING*

"Hm... Right on time." A formally dressed man with short light pink hair stood before his class students. To his pupils, he was known as Professor Peach.

Along the fourth row of seats in the classroom sat Neo, resting both of her elbows on the desk in front of her. Her notebook and pencil were at the ready for notes and such before her, but truth be told she had yet to feel the need to take notes in the classes she had been in so far. Instead, whenever she got the chance, she would draw and sketch. It was never really extravagant for that matter, either. What she felt no interest in saying verbally, she would sometimes put onto paper. Delicate and perceise strokes of her hand and pencil expressing what went on in that head of her's when words could not.

It was Neo's second day here and already she was struggling to adjust to the mundane schedule imposed on her. She had heard a plentiful amount of interesting and exciting stories and tales stemming from Beacon Academy, but perhaps it had slipped her mind that the more exciting activities such as actually fighting were accompanied by the more... boring things.

Luckily for her though, the bell had rung and signaled the end of class.

"Well, my students!" Prof. Peach spoke clear and firm to keep the attention of the class for just a few moments longer, many of them already beginning to gather their belongings to leave the classroom.

"It seems our lecture on Aura and Dust combinations finished just in time, did it not?" Peach ran his fingers through his hair, gesturing towards the exit to show the students may leave. "Remember those assignments I have given you! I expect them neatly on my desk on time!"

With that, he gained a collective although somewhat unenthusiastic acknowledgement from the students as all of them began to file out. Neo was among them, her notebook held firmly in her hand.

Classes for the most part were done with for the day. Once again, Neo was left to her own devices until the evening roll around once more. She began to head back towards the dormitory at a leisurely pace, deciding to take the more scenic route back to the dorm. She really should have been 'studying' for these various school work pieces being piled onto her, but yet again it felt rather pointless. It wasn't like she necessarily had to memorize and drill the knowledge into her head. All she had to do to succeed was pass. One way or another.

Neo walked along the halls of the building, intending to head to the other side of said structure. She figured there to be another building exit somewhere on the other side, so her time wasn't to be entirely wasted from taking the scenic route like this. The bulk of the other students going to and from clustered together quickly thinned out, soon leaving Neo to her thoughts.

Turning a corner, as if on cue, the sound of a yelling voice from not too far off broke the silence.

"Bullshit!"

Sounded awfully like a certain blonde she had recently met.

Her curiosity peaked, Neo's pace hurried along until she found herself ar a pair of double doors which had been left wide open along the hallway. She stepped into the doorway, mismatched eyes scanning curiously upon what she saw.

The room itself appeared to be a training room of sorts. In the center of the room was an area marked with lightly colored tape, probably signifying the sparring area. Around it were various things that would would expect to find in a room such as this. A few reinforced practice dummys, a healthy supply of weights, among other things. By the doors along the walls were some benches, allowing those spectating a spar to sit or allowing a place for tired students to take a moment to rest.

A rather tensed and angry looking Yang stood in front of a rather tall armored fellow. While Yang glared at him, her lilac eyes narrowed and her lips curled into an angry frown, the boy seemed surprisingly... confident. Almost smug, one would say. He grinned at the blonde, otherwise acting rather nonchalant. "What kinda proof do you have against me?"

From behind Yang, a girl with dark colored hair and a bow atop her head to match was making some sort of attempt to pull Yang away from him. Her hand planted firmly on Yang's shoulder, the brunette did not make contact with him not even once.

"I saw what you did to that Faunus girl!" Yang was practically seething. Literally. Neo could tell. "The Faunus are not animals, Cardin."

"Yang, wait." The other girl gave Yang's shoulder a tug. "Fighting him is pointless. Don't waste your energy on someone like him." Her voice became more hushed, yet remained firm and strong the entire time.

"Look, Blake," Yang gave the girl in question a glance over her shoulder. "If I don't, then who will?" She raised her hand in quick dismissal, causing Blake to slip her hand off Yang's shoulder.

Perhaps there was truth in the blonde's words?

Cardin scoffed, acting as if Yang's words meant nothing to him. "Did you even see her horns? She looked like some sorta farm cow or something!" He began to walk past Yang to exit, and Neo could already tell Yang was a mere couple seconds from stopping him forcefully. Before she could, however...

Cardin paused, squinting at the much, much smaller Neo.

"Eh?" He raised a brow at the mismatched girl. "Who's the kid?"

Neo gazed at him, keeping steady eye contact. She put her hand on her upper chest and widening her eyes slightly, making fake offense to his choice of words.

"Neo?" Yang asked, her voice suddenly somewhat softer then how it was prior to making herself known.

"She isn't a kid." Blake deadpanned, her attention turned towards Cardin and Neo now. "You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, Cardin." Her voice was serious, as if warning in nature. This amused Neo to a degree, as her words of wisdom were strangely true. Many times have people underestimated her simply because of her height. Countless times she has proven each and every one of them wrong. Each and every one of them met their defeat at her hand.

Perhaps this Cardin fellow would like to be added to the list?

"But she's just so... tiny!" Cardin's lips twisted into a smirk, followed by a cruel chuckle. Neo gave a small, mischievous smirk in response- though Cardin didn't seem to notice.

Ah, the poor sap.

Moving to one of the benches off to the side, Neo picked up an open Scroll which had been left there, presumably by one of the other three people present in the room. Setting her notebook down for a moment, Neo briskly switched the device on and let her hand glide across the screen as she typed something into a note taking application.

Yang, Blake and Cardin watched as Neo did this. Cardin looked the most confused, his brows furrowed at her. "What in the Void are you doing?"

With perfect timing, Neo ceased typing. Letting her eyes quickly skim over what she had written to confirm it was correct for a moment, Neo picked up her notebook and walked over to Cardin with open scroll in hand.

Before he could further question what she was up to, Neo turned the scroll over so that he may read what was written.

"You. Me. Courtyard. Hour before curfew."

Neo's grin turned into a soft smirk as she watched his expression turn into that of confusion. Now, it was just a matter of him accepting her challenge. Shoving the Scroll to him and making him accept it, Neo turned and began making her exit.

"Neo wait!" Yang called out, realizing she was departing again. She sprinted over to the room exit in an attempt to catch up to her and make her stop just right as she rounded the corner and went out of sight.

Unfortunately for her, Yang stopped in the doorway only to discover Neo was nowhere to be found. She looked down both ways down the hall, now looking confused herself.

Blake went up next to her, raising a brow in curious confusion. "What was that all about?"

While the two girls stood in the doorway, Cardin let out a small scoff to himself.

"An hour before curfew..."

Cardin stood in front of the statue in the courtyard, his mace in hand and resting on his shoulder. He watched in the light of the moon as Neo stepped out to meet him.

"Hey shorty! What's this crap all about?" Cardin called out, a grin of sure confidence forming on his lips as Neo casually strolled towards him. He was suited in the same attire as he was before when they had met prior, his cardinal emblem on his chest-plate practically gleaming in the moonlight. Unlike before however, she was also dressed in her regular attire. Much more freedom of movement, in her opinion.

In her hand Neo twirled her closed parasol effortlessly without any trouble at all. As she got closer she began to size up her soon-to-be competition.

"... Did you hear me, kid?" Cardin further spoke, now sounding annoyed at the lack of response he got. Neo ceased walking in front of him, both of them locking eyes. He looked down at her while she looked up at him.

"Are you deaf-"

Before he could even finish question of mockery, Neo suddenly stopped twirling her parasol. In the blink of an eye with a surprising amount of force, Neo swung her parasol upward.

Right where it hurts.

With a satisfying howl of pain, Cardin staggered back as his grip on his mace hilt tightened immensely. His free hand going to his groin, he suddenly looked a lot more angry then he was only moments ago.

"You little...!" Cardin spat, quickly raising his weapon above his head in an attempt to bring it down full force upon the much smaller girl. She dodged it with ease, jumping back a far enough distance from him to allow herself a bit of legroom. His mace collided with the concrete instead, causing a fairly large crack in the concrete where it connected.

He glared forward, watching as Neo used her momentum from her jump to spin herself around on one foot a few times, opening her parasol midway through the spin and ending it with a courteous bow and a smirk.

Now... Would he accept the challenge?

"Grahh!" Cardin practically roared, throwing himself into a full charge towards her with his mace once again poised to strike upon her.

Standing up straight again, once he was mere seconds away from being within range of her she made another jump back.

This time, she vanished into a flash of light.

It taking a moment for him to realize she had vanished, Cardin proceeded to slow himself down, almost struggling to due to his momentum. "What th-?!"

*WHACK!*

With another satisfying cry of pain, Cardin's legs finally buckled underneath him as he dropped his weapon, letting both his hands go to his groin. Neo had reappeared behind him, hitting him right where it hurts with a solid and swift kick from behind.

Ah, that felt good.

Cardin now lay on his side curled up, a drawn out groan of pain escaping from his throat. Neo stepped over, looming over him with her open parasol resting on her shoulder. He let out a hiss, beginning to try and recover by starting to prop himself up with his arm. "What the fuck was that about?!" He scowled, looking as if he was trying not to shudder from the passing pain resonating from his groin area.

Neo rolled her eyes, moving a hand to reach into her pocket. Out from said pocket she pulled a neatly folded note written on a white piece of paper. Giving it a quick flick of her wrist to unfold it, she held bent down slightly and held it out to him, all the while with that grin on her face.

Saying nothing, he snatched the note away from her. Prying his gaze away, he looked down at what was written on it.

"That was for calling me short. :)"

Cardin promptly let out a growl, seemingly ticking him off more then he already was. Clenching his fist and crumpling the paper up into a tiny ball, he swiftly began to move to lunge at her with his fist poised to attempt to beat her to a pulp.

Acting on twitch reaction, Neo immediately moved to deliver a fast kick to his side in retaliation.

That is, until a familiar feminine voice yelled out from behind her.

"Neopolitan! Cardin!"

This obtrusive voiced caused Neo to hesitate and slow just enough to allow Cardin an opportunity to get back. Using the fist he had planned to strike her with, he grabbed her leg and in one fluid movement swung her around to send her flying back behind him.

Unfortunately, this worked. Being as light as she was truly was a curse sometimes.

Fortunately for her, her semblance did just the trick.

Surprised by the sudden turn of the table, she had only a millisecond to save herself from hitting the stone ground. Neo triggered her semblance, teleporting herself a bit farther back and reorienting herself to come out of it and land properly on her own two feet - albeit somewhat stunned by it, which was shown by her almost shocked look on her face.

Realizing just who the voice had come from, Cardin staggered to his feet in a somewhat exaggerated manner. Not painfully obvious he was doing so, but Neo could tell. "Professor Goodwitch!"

Glynda Goodwitch strided over closer to the scene, her riding crop weapon held firmly in hand. "What is the meaning of this?" She sounded annoyed and stern in nature.

Neo straightened herself out, regaining her relatively collected composure in an instant. She closed her parasol, giving it a few twirls in her hand as if to act natural. Cardin on the other hand gave the shorter girl a glance. "She attacked me for no reason."

"Is that so?" Glynda questioned, eyeing Neo for a moment. Neo made a "tsk" sound with her tongue, narrowing her eyes in an accusing fashion towards Cardin.

Taking a quick glance over the scene, Glynda seemed quick to notice the crumpled up piece of paper Cardin had dropped before attempting to lunge at Neo. She walked over to it, kneeling down and picking it up with her free hand. Glancing at Neo briefly, she proceeded to un-crumple the note and read over the few words written on it. Her eyes narrowed, now looking like she was in some serious thought on what to do about the situation.

"Hmph." Glynda let out a noise of disapproval, slipping the paper away out of sight into her clothing. "Both of you," The teacher began, already beginning to walk away back towards the main school building entrance. "Come with me."

Neo shot Cardin a glare of distaste and annoyance, to which Cardin returned; albeit a bit more smug in nature.

Cardin should have considered himself lucky. Saved by the teacher he was.

FULL COVER IMAGE CREDIT TO いえすぱ ON PIXIV ( member_ ?mode=medium&illust_id=46300044 )