Blitz sat on the railings of one of Beacon's many balconies. It was on a tower second only to Ozpin's office when it came to height but he felt no fear even while his legs dangled off the edge of his precariously high seat. The wind felt colder all the way up here, it reminded him of home in Atlas. Unlike home however, when he looked towards the horizon he couldn't help but be amazed by how gorgeous the scenery was.

The Emerald Forest though said to be infested with Grimm, actually looked quite peaceful. The trees swayed in the wind and the leaves blew eastward, swirling and racing alongside the breeze towards the morning sun.

It's been a while since Blitz had some time to enjoy things like this. For the first time in a long time he was actually feeling a sense of serenity. In a place like this, surrounded by people his age who didn't have a care in the world.

He looked down towards the garden and spotted some hunters in training having a good time singing songs together, one boy played the guitar as his companions sang along with the tune. They all seemed so happy, bright futures ahead of them and people to enjoy their adventures with.

Blitz felt a slight pang of jealousy at the sight. He knew these kinds of experiences weren't for him. He was built for.. other things, and yet he couldn't help but want what they had. Freedom, peace of mind, but more than anything he craved for a quiet life. One where he could experience life the way he wanted to. He had been blessed with incredible abilities but an entire nation depended on him to use them for the benefit of all.

He took care of the odd jobs, the dirty work, the things Atlas would never get away with if done in public. Killing Grimm was one thing, but killing humans? Faunus even? Even if they were the scum of the earth, killing them was still frowned upon by most of society. It's just that the Atlas higher-ups had one day decided that removing them entirely would be much easier and more cost efficient for them.

Someone had to do it, and that someone had been him. He had always been told that it had to be done for the good of the people, and in a way they were right. Crime rate in Atlas had never been so low, those punks on the streets were too scared to try anything. The innocent felt safe and they all praised him for his good work.

Recently however, Blitz had started to question if it was at all worth it. After all, he had been committing mass genocide on a monthly basis for almost three years. All his victims, everyone he had brought to "justice" they were too much to count..

As he continued to mull over some particularly bad memories, he heard some footsteps coming from behind. A few seconds later a voice called out to him.

"Oh there you are!"

He turned his head to acknowledge the voice of his easily recognisable partner. Seriously, Penny couldn't sound any more awkward if she tried.

At the sight of the bubbly girl, Blitz' memories brought him back to the events that transpired yesterday and the complete beatdown he received playing board games with her. It didn't matter what they played, cards, tabletop, rock paper scissors, he never won a single game. It was as if he was playing against a supercomputer..

It's been a while since Blitz had been so utterly dominated at something.. It made him cringe just thinking about it.

"Blitz? what's wrong?" Penny asked, snapping him out of his trance.

"Nothing. What's up?"

"Our first class starts in a few minutes so I came to check on you in case you've forgotten."

To be honest, he did forget.. School wasn't anywhere near the top of his list of priorities at the moment. He wasn't about to tell Penny that though.

"I was just about to head over.." Blitz mumbled his lie as he scratched the back of his head and looked away from the girl.

"Splendid! Then we can go together!" Penny had her hands locked together behind her back.

"Sure.."

…

The two contrasting teammates walked together towards the gymnasium. Penny was skipping up and down as if going to her first class of the year was the best thing that has ever happened to her. Blitz on the other hand looked like he had just spent fifty years in prison. He was pretty much dragging his feet across the floor.

"What do you think we're going to do today?" Penny asked as she skipped with her partner trudging beside her.

"Hopefully nothing.." He mumbled back.

Penny raised a finger to her lip as she replied. "I doubt that we'll do nothing. These classes are supposed to help us practice for the tournament after all."

They were headed to the gym so Blitz knew that there was a good chance that today's session will involve at least some combat training. He just didn't want to believe it.

"Even though I am extremely excited, I also feel a little nervous at the same time.. Is that normal?" Penny asked wide eyed and curious.

"I'm sure you'll be fine.." Blitz replied as he thought of the other day when he caught a glimpse of Penny fighting off hordes of White Fang on her own.

"You're better than almost all the competition.." He added.

Unexpectedly, Penny began smiling with her mouth open as she beamed with joy at her companion. Blitz thought it was a little creepy.

"Erm.. What are you doing?" He asked as he leaned away from all her grinning.

"I believe that I have just received my first compliment from you!"

Blitz narrowed his eyes at the strange girl beside him.

"I suppose you did.."

The girl was nuts but she never ceases to amaze him. She was kind of loud and can still be a bit of a nuisance but he was glad that they were on good terms. In a way he was grateful to have a partner who was happy to do most of the talking for him. She was trying her best to be a good partner so he tried his best to be nicer.. As nice as he could possibly be anyway.

…

When the two of them stepped into the gymnasium, Penny immediately started gawking at the design of the coliseum like arena. It wasn't quite as extraordinary as the outdoor Vytal Festival Arena but to have such a magnificent space just for practice was special enough on its own.

It looked like most of the students arrived before they did and were already in their seats.

"Hey over here!" A voice called out to them and just the sound of it was enough to make Blitz' eye twitch.

He looked over at the source and there he was.. Freakin Jaune pointing to some empty seats beside him.

"...Might as well." Blitz sighed as he motioned for Penny to go on ahead.

As they got closer, he noticed that the rest of Jaune's team and Team RWBY were all sitting next to each other, with Jaune being at the far right.

Penny sprang towards Ruby, her closest friend in Beacon as soon as she was in sight.

"Salutations Ruby! It's good to see you."

"Hey Penny!"

And just like that, Blitz was left alone with none other than the blonde blunder himself.

"Hey." Jaune quipped as Blitz took a seat at his side.

Suddenly a voice that was even louder and more obnoxious than Penny on a bad day sounded off out of nowhere.

"Hey you're the guy who always gets attacked by food!" An orange haired girl splayed herself over Jaune's lap just to point a finger an inch away from Blitz' nose..

He didn't think much of Nora Valkyrie when Jaune first introduced them but it looks like Team JNPR has its own resident nut case.

"Nora get off me!" Jaune pushed the girl back to her seat beside him and chuckled sheepishly before turning towards Blitz.

"Hehe.. Sorry about that, she can be a bit.. difficult.

"I know what you mean.." Blitz replied as he glanced at his own partner chatting away with Ruby.

A sharp voice then echoed all throughout the area silencing all the chatter from the students.

"Settle down children! Class has officially begun."

In came Glynda Goodwitch, one of the more respected teachers of Beacon. She carried herself with an unparalleled grace as she made her way to the center of the arena. As soon as she reached her destination, she began her introductions.

"Good morning students, I assume you already know why you are here. In the following days before the tournament we will be preparing you for your matches and honing your skills so that each and every one of you will able to perform at the highest level."

Glynda began pacing, eyeing the hunters in-training as she passed them.

"We will be simulating official matches by allowing you to spar with each other in mock battles. The same rules apply, the winner shall be whoever gets their opponent's aura into the red zone."

Blitz heard an audible gulp coming from Jaune sitting beside him. He was sweating, obviously nervous. The people beside him however were a different story.

"Did you hear that Ren?! I'm sooo gonna break their legs!" Nora had her arms wrapped around the poor raven haired boy as she vigorously shook him back and forth.

Ruby's sister Yang had an outburst of her own.

"Finally! We get to do something fun!" She cried.

The rest of the group looked eager for action as well. Some had been waiting for a chance to test their skills, some were craving for a good fight, and some were just happy that they didn't have to listen to another one of Port's lectures.

Blitz just wanted to take a nap..

They weren't the only ones excited about it either. It seemed all the students currently present were also pretty hyped. They began chattering away as soon as they heard the news.

"I'm so gonna win this!"

"I feel sorry for whoever's gonna fight me!"

"Time to show everyone what I've got!"

"I hope I don't get paired up with someone too strong..."

The voices of the crowd died down when Ms. Goodwitch forcefully cleared her throat.

"AHEM!"

Silence overtook the room as she continued her introductions.

"Please try to take these exercises seriously.. Treat it as a learning experience. It's the only practice you're going to get during class hours."

Ms. Goodwitch looked down at her clipboard and scanned what appeared to be a written list.

"Now then, why don't we begin? Is Mr. Wukong present?"

She eyed the students around her to try and catch a glimpse of the monkey tailed faunus.

"Present!"

Sun stood from his seat on the other side from where Blitz sat. Neptune Vasilias, a sharply dressed blue haired boy sitting beside him, winked and gave him a thumbs up as he made his way to the arena.

"Ahh good." Ms. Goodwitch remarked. "Let's start things off with one of the top prospects from Shade academy. Is there anyone in particular you would like to face off with?"

Sun stood silent for a few moments, taking in his surroundings and eyeing a couple of students. He thought of a few who would be a good match for him..

A couple of guys he knew from the lower ranks should be pretty easy pickings.

He could probably give Weiss a run for her money. He doubted her style of combat could fend off all the clones he could make from his semblance.

For a second he even thought of challenging Neptune since he pretty much knew everything about him. But what kind of practice would this be if he didn't challenge himself?

An idea struck the monkey tailed faunus at that moment and he pointed in the direction of his chosen adversary.

"I'd like to try my hand against the Mistral Champ if she doesn't mind?"

Pyrrha Nikos sat next to Team RWBY as well as her own teammates. She smiled at her challenger as she rose from her seat.

"I would be honored to oblige." She gave him a little bow as she spoke.

Most of the audience started clamouring at this point, surprised that someone would actually of their own free will, pick Pyrrha Nikos as their sparring partner.

"Oooh bad move Sun." Yang commented as Pyrrha stepped down into the arena.

Blake couldn't help but facepalm at her fellow faunus' decision, "He's got to be nuts…" She whispered.

Blitz stared at the two students preparing to battle and pondered on the possible outcomes.

Most of them ended with Pyrrha's undeniable victory..

"Are you both ready?" Ms. Goodwitch asked the two students, now with their weapons drawn.

Both gave their instructor a quick nod.

"Then begin!"

…

Sun's semblance allowed him to create copies of himself that had the full capacity to fight on their own. Most of the time he would use these clones to distract and misdirect his opponent long enough to find an opening and strike. That strategy would prove to be ineffective against Pyrrha as she cut through the duplicates faster than Sun could make them.

At this point it was pretty much a chase between a cat and a mouse. Sun's clones held his opponent back, but with each fallen clone, she came one step closer into striking distance.

Sun was desperately trying to find a weakness he could exploit in the unbeaten warrior but found none. Spear and shield in hand, with striking grace and perfect form. Pyrrha Nikos was an unstoppable force. Slicing and stabbing her way to victory.

As soon as she got her chance after defeating all his clones, Pyrrha lunged forward and bashed Sun with her shield.

"Urrpph!"

Right then, Sun realized that he was now in an inescapable close quarters brawl with her. His face adopted a sheepish grimace as he knew it was over.

"I'm screwed…"

Shortly after saying so, Pyrrha slammed her shield along with Sun into the ground with so much force that it cracked under the pressure.

She pointed her spear at her prey's neck as she pinned him to the ground with her shield.

Before she could do any more damage, Sun yelped, "I surrender!" putting his hands up over his head while immobilized on the ground.

A muffled buzz echoed through the arena signifying the match was over. Pyrrha helped Sun get back on his feet as Ms. Goodwitch took a step closer and began going over her comments.

"Excellent work as always Ms. Nikos. I look forward to seeing you perform in the tournament."

Pyrrha gave her teacher a nod as the stern disciplinarian turned her attention towards Sun.

"Mr. Wukong, you did well considering who you were up against but there is always room for improvement. You had only one strategy going into the fight and when it failed, so did you. Try to have a plan B next time.."

Sun scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

Meanwhile back at the audience seats, Jaune was celebrating his partner's victory.

"Yep that's Pyrrha for you!" he declared while crossing his arms and looking rather smug.

"Well it wasn't as if we weren't expecting this.." Blitz mumbled to his seatmate.

"Let's go Pyrrha! You rock girl!" Nora Valkyrie shouted at the top of her lungs drawing the attention of a handful of students and causing Pyrrha herself to blush.

After taking another look at her list, Ms. Goodwitch decided that it was time for the next match.

"Ms. Xiao Long please make your way to the arena."

Yang shot up from her seat and vaulted straight down to the stage.

"Heck yeah!"

…

During the next few hours Blitz watched as student after student fought against each other to test their skills. For a bunch of first years they weren't bad at all. Most of the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR won their matches with the exception of Ruby who had found herself in a bad matchup against Yang. Even Jaune was able to pull out a win by defeating one of Cardin Winchester's cronies who had sorely underestimated his improvement.

"I still can't believe you would pick me. Me! Your own sister!" Ruby berated her older sibling seated next to her.

"C'mon Rubes. I couldn't let you fight anyone else. If anyone's gonna beat up my little sister it's gotta be me." Yang pinched the scarlet girl's cheek only to have her hand slapped away.

"Yaaannng!"

"Hahahaha!"

Blitz sat quietly and tried to ignore the bickering sisters. He turned all of his attention towards the match between Penny and a student who had chosen her as a sparring partner based on her appearance. Her opponent probably thought that she wasn't going to be much of a threat due to her innocent, klutzy, and child-like nature.

Penny had him wrapped around and subdued in microfilament wires during the first minute..

"Well done Ms. Polendina, your mastery over your weapon is extraordinary." Ms. Goodwitch commented.

Penny responded with a high pitched "Thank you!"

Blitz was actually quite impressed with his partner's combat skill. It would take a tremendous amount of concentration to manipulate all those blades at the same time. Though in a way he wasn't too surprised.. He did compare her brain to a supercomputer after all.

Ms. Goodwitch checked two more names off her list and began speaking up once more.

"It seems we are down to our last pair of combatants. Since you two are the only ones left, you'll just have to face off against each other. Will Neptune Vasilias and Brenner Ragnar please make their way to the arena?"

Blitz winced at the sound of his full name. Ironwood must have used it to make his transcripts. As he slowly rose from his seat, Jaune just had to push his buttons.

"Brenner huh?"

"Shut up.."

…

Neptune rose from his seat eager and raring to go.

"I'm feeling pretty good today! I think I'll try to wrap this up quick. After all.." he glanced to the side to spot a pair of girls giggling in his direction, "It looks like I've got some more interesting things to do with my time."

Sun Wukong stared up at his best friend in amusement and disbelief.

"Man, you are sooo full of yourself.." he chuckled out before seeing Neptune's opponent heading down the stairs on the other side of the arena.

His eyes shot open when he saw who it was.

Brenner Ragnar was.. Blitz?

"Uh dude.. I think you might wanna take this fight a little more seriously.." Sun turned to the side and tried to warn his buddy, only to find that Neptune had already started to make his way down.

"Don't say I didn't warn you.."

...

Blitz eyed the foe who stood before him. Some smug blue haired twit who was looking at him like there was no way he could lose.

"I'll try not to make this too embarrassing for you. No promises though."

Blitz kept silent but decided right then and there that he didn't like this guy.

"Good luck Neptune!" Two girls from the audience began cheering for his enemy. They were pretty cute..

Neptune proceeded to smile and wink at the young ladies causing them to fawn over him even more. Giggling and squealing like nothing Blitz had ever seen.

Yep.. he definitely didn't like this guy.

"Brenner was it? Hey I saw you sitting over there, lucky son of a gun, that's a lot of fine ladies. You think you could introduce me to the Schnee princess?"

Doesn't this guy ever shut up?

"No."

Blitz pulled his hammer out from his belt and immediately his whole body started pulsing with lightning.

"Well you're no fun."

Neptune kept radiating that smug demeanor as he drew his own weapon. A rather impressive looking, high tech gun. It looked like something from a sci-fi movie, glowing blue in some areas.

"Are you ready?" Ms. Goodwitch called out to the two young men facing off against each other.

They both gave a quick nod.

"Then you may begin."

"Let's get this over wi- Urrrmphhh!"

Out of nowhere, Blitz' hammer came flying towards Neptune at blinding speeds. It only took a second after the match had started for it to crash right into his chest and send him soaring through the air.

He crashed right into the walls also acting as the bleachers for the audience. A resounding clash of breaking stone and falling rubble echoed throughout the arena. Bits and pieces of the now obliterated stone wall flew all over the place and a smoky cloud of dust crackling with lightning surrounded the point of impact.

Members of the audience were understandably having a difficult time processing what just happened. The whole event happened in the blink of an eye.

"What the hell was that..?"

"What happened? I didn't see!"

"Holy smokes.."

The murmurs among the crowd were getting louder by the second.

When the cloud of dust in the arena began to clear, Neptune's unconscious body was revealed, half buried in the stone wall. At first glance of the structure, it looked like it had been hit by speeding truck and a poor boy had been caught right at the middle. The enormous monitor that displayed the combatant's aura levels showed an extreme contrast. Blitz' aura had remained completely untouched, Neptune on the other hand…

"One percent?" the voice of Jaune Arc rang out amongst his group.

"With one attack…" Blake, who is usually quite reserved couldn't help but point out the fact.

Blitz stood silently as he raised his right hand. A moment later and the hammer that had been pinning Neptune to the wall flew back into his possession. Dr. Polendina had added that particular feature a few years back. Magnetic recall made possible by the machinery in his glove.

"It appears.. that Mr. Ragnar has won this match.." Ms. Goodwitch was still processing the entire event. James really did bring a monster to Beacon…

"Mr. Ragnar, though you were able to easily defeat your opponent, I advise you to be more careful next time. The safety of the students is still our top priority."

Blitz gave her a nod and turned to make his way back to his seat. The whole arena was deathly silent. A number of eyes were trained on him. Unlike when Pyrrha destroys her opponent, the atmosphere at that moment was completely different. No sounds of applause, no remarks of praise, no gasps of amazement. They looked.. Terrified.

It wasn't as if Blitz wasn't used to this treatment. This had been his whole life after all. Everyone was always running scared of him.

Pyrrha was an idol, she was someone who showed care even towards her opponents. She always showed respect and carried herself with dignity in her matches. Her public image was nothing short of heavenly.

Blitz on the other hand was an anomaly who had just wrecked his opponent so hard that he could have seriously gotten hurt if the hit was any harder.

If life was a video game, his stats sat at around a perfect ten on strength and skill. It's too bad those outstanding stats are balanced out by a zero on charisma. His face before the match just oozed out the feeling of "I really want to kill you right now."

It was no wonder why people were always on guard around him.

The silence continued as Blitz climbed the stairs back to his seat. "This again huh..?" he thought as he walked through the tense environment.

It was at that moment when the sound of clapping echoed throughout the room. It wasn't the applause of an audience, not by a longshot. The source came from a single pair of hands.

"Great job Blitz! I knew you could do it!"

Blitz' eyes went wide as he slowly turned his head towards the voice and there she was.. The awkward mess that was Penny Polendina being his one and only fan.

"Do you even realize how stupid you look right now?" was all Blitz could think of as his partner continued to clap for him alone.

Even so.. In that silly mess of a situation. For the first time in a long time, Blitz couldn't help but give Penny a faint smile as he watched her embarrass herself. A smile that was nearly imperceptible, yet truly genuine.

He chuckled to himself as he felt amusement tugging at his heartstrings.

"Idiot.." He whispered to no one in particular.

A/N: So my second year of college has officially begun so I feel that I have to tell you guys that I won't be updating this in a while most probably. I'm also planning to write another story for a different fandom so there's that too hehe. As always I hope you guys enjoyed this.