Clanking metal, gunfire, and loud buzzing explosions rang out from within one of the training rooms in the Beacon Academy weapons workshop. The rectangular rooms were set up so that the Huntsmen and Huntresses in training could practice their techniques. Each one allowed the practicing teams to train in recreations of real-world terrains. Some included entire artificial forests, city blocks, or rocky gorges. Two of the rooms, the ones in highest demand, could simulate nearly any environment using Dust, holograms, and other equipment. Team ASHS was using the basic room that resembled a gymnasium for their late-afternoon training session.

"C'mon, Anubis. Couldn't we have reserved one of the funner training rooms?" Set pulled three arrows out of the black and gold quiver hooked at his side. He pulled back the string on his weapon, a golden bow with red embellishments at the curved bladed ends. When he let go, every arrow flew the entirety of the forty-foot length of the room, piercing three targets in the center. Bullseyes. He grabbed the bow by the center of the frame and pulled it backwards. The frame folded in half. He swung the newly-formed fan axe behind him, slicing a straw dummy in half. "I mean, the space is great, but it's so… boring."

Anubis aimed his collapsed khopesh-pistols ahead of him and fired at a larger straw dummy resembling a warthog, more specifically a Boarbatusk. He lowered the guns and observed the scatter of bullet holes on the cloth surface. He sighed in annoyance. "Set, I've told you before, and I really don't want to tell you again," he hooked the blades to the clasps on either side of his dull gold and dark green shendyt, "But it looks like I have to." He turned to his twin brother, "If, by some miracle, we represent Beacon in the Vytal Tournament this summer, we need to work on our…" he looked over to see the other twins, Sköll and Hati, trying to balance their weapons on the bridges of their noses, the golden twin with a longsword, the silver with a battleaxe, "team skills."

Anubis walked over to them and flipped his arms upwards, knocking the loosely-balanced weapons off of their faces.

"Hey!" they protested.

"As I was saying," Anubis felt the headache coming on, "We wouldn't even pass through the Team round if we're not able to work together."

"Yeah, but," Set put an arm around his brother's shoulder, "but… the tournament coliseum has those badass biome battlegrounds. So… tell me why we didn't rent the cliff room or the room filled with water and the floating platforms? Heck, why not that crazy, adaptable, future room simulator thing?"

Anubis scowled and slowly lifted his brother's arm off of him, "Because, Set," in one quick fluid motion, he lifted his brother up and slammed him down against the ground and onto his back. He knelt down and looked him in the eye, "if we can't even work together, what's the point of fighting on a cliff or in a body of water?"

Hati laughed and pointed at Set, "He's got you there, bro! But… the water room does sound like a lot of fun…"

Anubis stood and growled, "Don't. Start. Hati."

Sköll smiled slyly as he began juggling his battleaxe in one hand, "But, Anu…" He said with his best puppy-dog whimper, "we're bored in here." He tapped the blade of the weapon against Hati's wooden shield, "How are we supposed to work like this if we can't even focus?"

Anubis reached up and grabbed his pointed dog ears. He pulled them downwards, a gesture that told his brothers that he was getting annoyed and/or stressed. "I… hate… you guys…" He muttered under his breath. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "Well… unfortunately, because of a certain trio of troublemakers, Team ASHS is the only second-year team to have their equipment and reservation privileges restricted."

Hati folded his arms behind his head and grinned, "We get bored alot, don't we?"

"Which is why," Anubis let go of his ears, "I'm trying to keep you guys busy. It's very unlikely, but I'd like to go the rest of the semester without the four of us spending any more time in Professor Alabaster's office. If I have to hear any more about the wonderful process of growing cranberries, I'll lose it."

Sköll leaned over to Hati with his mouth covered, "If you ask me, our little bro lost it when the four of us got teamed up last year."

Anubis, having extremely sensitive ears, heard this. He felt his head beginning to throb as the anger rose in him. "You know what, Sköll? You can-"

"Hold up!" Set pushed Anubis back, preventing him from attacking their smart-aleck brother. He stood for a second, his Faunus ears perked up as he seemed to listen for something. He ran to the door to the training room, knelt down, and pressed an ear against the wood.

Anubis watched Set as he sat there listening to the door, "Set, what are you d-"

Set shushed him.

"Set…" Anubis began to stomp over to him.

"Shhhhhh!" he pointed to the door, "it's Gavin." He listened for a second, "he's talking to Xannie."

Anubis shook his head and shrugged, "So…?"

"Hold on…" Set listened and intently. A mischievous smile spread across his face from what he heard.

.

"Gavin, why are you so worried about all this?" Xannie asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"Because," Gavin sounded stern, "I don't believe that it was just rats in the tower's vents. After the maintenance team found the damaged ductwork, I remembered Carmen telling me about a student from twenty years back that managed to scale the tower to the top of Alabaster's office. I'm hoping it's just some copycats, but with this extremist group causing trouble across Remnant, I'm just worried that there's something bigger going on…"

Xannie scoffed, "Gavin, I can tell you that the probability of the Grimm Brotherhood even attempting anything at Beacon is slim to none. It has to be some adrenaline junkies trying to be the next school heroes and make it to the roof of the tower," she giggled. "How much you want to bet it was Team ASHS?"

Gavin thought for a moment before responding, "I wouldn't put the Luna brothers past it. I'm just glad they boosted security after the first time, considering the sensitive equipment up there. If someone messed with the CCT transmitters, then all the communication across Remnant could go down."

Their boots began to thud against the ground as they walked further down the hall, their voices trailing off as they moved.

"That's a scary thought," Gavin said as he and Xannie began to move out of Set's range of hearing, "Could you imagine what chaos would ensue if Team ASHS got near that stuff?"

"I can, and let me tell you that most of the possible outcomes aren't very pretty..."

.

Set heard the weapon workshop entrance door open and close as Gavin and Xannie left.

Sköll ran up to Set, "What'd they say, dude?" his silver wolf tail began to wag back and forth, "Anything interesting and not boring?" He wasn't even bothered by Anubis snarling nearby.

Set grinned as the gears turned in his head, "Oh yeah. Anu, you aren't gonna like this, but you're going along for the ride."

"I. Hate. You. Guys." Anubis looked up towards the top of the Beacon Tower, hidden high above the grey cloud-cover. Rain beat against their leather jackets and armor.

"Well," Set rubbed his hands together in anticipation of the challenge, "I think this is gonna be what cements Team ASHS in Beacon history!"

He and his brothers stood near one of the flying buttresses of the colossal building. They picked the support structure on the opposite side from the entrance to the CCT area, as far away as possible from any potential traffic. The secluded grove of trees surrounding the buttress allowed them to start their ascent without anyone in the central courtyard seeing them.

Sköll and Hati stood nearby, also gazing to the the skies. The scarves they usually wore around their necks were drawn up like hoods to cover their faces from the rain.

Sköll, in his makeshift blue hood, knocked his knuckles against the bricks of the pillar, "You mean that all the pranks and being overall screw-ups won't do that?"

"Or, you know, showing our skills at the Vytal Tournament and possibly winning it for Beacon," Anubis muttered under his breath.

Set waved him off, "That's all beside the point. Our objective right now," he pointed to the sky, "is to get to the top of this tower."

"Or," the team leader furrowed his brow at him, "we could go back to the training room since we still technically have it reserved for the next hour and put some effort into how we work together in combat."

Sköll moved backwards away from the group. He knelt down like a runner ready to start a sprint, his fingers touching the ground, his right foot back, "Aw, c'mon Anu," he sprinted forward and scrambled up the wall, grabbing onto a small ledge about ten feet up before hoisting himself onto it, "We can work on your teamwork jazz together with this and have fun with it too!" He looked down at his brothers, "We all win!"

"Heck yeah," Set repeated the process and joined Hati on the ledge, "C'mon guys! The weather sucks up here!"

Anubis was fuming. He was about to start yelling when he felt Hati put a hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon, bro. Let's humor them. What's one more referral on Team ASHS's record?"

Anubis looked at him incredulously, "This wouldn't be just a referral, Hati… Messing with the CCT could get us expelled."

Hati sucked at his teeth for a moment, "Look at it this way: we're still on Alabaster's good-list for helping out with Yamuna. He knows us. There's nothing malicious about this. You know what people say, it's just ASHS being ASSES. At worst, we get detention again." He nudged his brother, "I doubt we'll get expelled just for trying to climb the tallest structure in all of Sanus."

Anubis was about to retort, but, knowing his brothers, there was no arguing. "Fine, I'll go, but, when we get caught, I tried to talk you all out of it." He watched as Hati ran off to join Sköll and Set as they scaled the stone pillar.

"And when we get expelled, you three can do the explaining to everyone back in Menagerie!" He took a step back, his sandals crunching the grass as the rain began to pour harder. He hesitated, as if about to turn and leave, but then dashed, kicked off the wall, and jumped. His fingers dug in the mortar between the bricks to begin the ascent.

.

"Come on, Anu!" Set called while looking over the edge from the peak of the buttress. Looking down, he could see a soaked Anubis about twenty feet below, still climbing.

"Shut up, Set!" His foot slipped, almost throwing him off of the structure. Looking down, he could see the ground far below him. He regained his footing, "Sandals. Aren't. Good. Climbing shoes!" he scurried up the rest of the way. He kneeled over with his hands on his knees and huffed. This was the third climb that they had made, and easily the most arduous thus far.

Set slapped him on the back, "Glad you could join us, Anu!"

Anubis punched him, sending Set sprawling to the wet ledge, "Stop calling me Anu!"

"Okay, okay!" Set laughed as he slapped the water at his twin before pushing himself up.

Sköll and Hati laughed as he watched the other set of twins argue.

Hati looked to Sköll and rolled his eyes. "Hey! Anubis! Set!"

Just as Anubis had Set pinned to the wall and was about to throw a punch, the two snapped their heads to look at them.

Hati pointed behind him to the sharply inclined ramp that connected the pillar to the tower. "Considering we're doing this in the rain, how are we gonna, y'know, run up this thing?"

Anubis shrugged, "Don't look at me!" he narrowed his gaze at Set, "This was your idea. You figure it out." He shoved his twin towards Hati and Sköll.

"Fine, fine!" Set fixed the broad collar around his neck and pulled his sleeves back down, "You need to calm yourself, Anu…" he mumbled.

"What was that?!" Anubis shouted.

"Love you too, bro!" He walked up to the ramp and watched as the water ran down the ramp and poured off the sides. It couldn't be walked across without risking falling to the concrete, and the distance was certainly far enough to break their auras and cause a nice loud splat when they hit the ground.

"If only the sun was out," Sköll stood beside Set and watched the water, "Then we wouldn't have to deal with this water."

The words clicked in Set's head. "Sköll, you're a genius!" he whipped around and looked to Hati, smiling as he eyed the emblems on his brother's shoulder pads. The etched wolves with suns behind them glared back at him from the dark brown leather.

Hati looked uncomfortable as he rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm himself up, "Set? What're you looking at me like that for? You're freaking me out dude."

"'If only the sun was out!'" Set yelled, "You can do that!"

Hati gave Set a wary look, "You want me to go Lunacy and evaporate a bunch of water just so we can climb the stupid tower?..." He looked to Anubis for help.

"Hey, you went along with this too," the leader said bluntly.

Hati groaned, "Why can't Sköll do it?!"

Sköll laughed, "Cuz wet ice isn't exactly easy to run across, duh. If we did that, we'd definitely fall to our deaths."

"Okay! Fine! Fine…" Hati conceded. "Just stick close while we run. But I'm warning you, it's about to get pretty warm out here if I'm gonna evaporate this water."

His three brothers watched as Hati's golden eyes flashed bright right before he was enveloped by a swirling inferno. When the flames dissipated, a wolf covered in fur the same dull gold as Hati's hair stood before them. Small flames flickered off of its body. Hati turned to Sköll and Set with the same annoyed look he had given them moments before.

Sköll pat Hati's back, "C'mon bro! Let's get across this thing before somebody notices Beacon Academy has a new beacon!"

Hati grunted and tensed up. The heat emanating from him intensified. Anubis, Set, and Sköll felt their clothes and hair begin to dry as the wave of heat enveloped them. The rain now evaporated when it got within a few feet of the team.

"Okay," Set panted as beads of sweat trickled down his face, "Let's get across before I melt."

Hati snarled at Set and began to run, his paws slamming loudly against the tiles. The brothers stayed close as they made their way across the arch, the rain that was flowing across the tiles disappeared as it crossed into the moving bubble of heat.

Anubis looked up and saw the sky darkening further as the sun set. "Guys, it's getting dark. We need to hurry before anyone notices the glowing wolf ru-" Anubis yelled out as he felt his foot slip off of the side of the arch. For a split second, he could see the lamp posts glimmering below him in the darkness. Right as he was about to go over the edge, he was held back by the back of his jacket. When he regained his footing, he turned to see Set smiling at him.

"Told you we'd be working on teamwork if we did this," he chided as they continued running, "Don't worry, Anu. I'm always watching your back, even if it doesn't seem like it."

Anubis was surprised for a moment. It wasn't very often Set acted as a team player, especially one that actually watched for his teammates rather than himself. He grunted, "Whatever, Set. Let's just go."

The brothers made it to the exterior wall of the tower at the end of the arch. The field of heat quickly dissipated as Hati reverted back to his regular self.

"That… was… miserable…" Hati doubled over and was panting heavily, trying to catch his breath.

"C'mon, bro. It couldn't have been that bad." Sköll smirked.

Hati quickly threw a jab at Sköll's shoulder, "It wouldn't have been if I didn't have to be a living space heater! You know as well as I do that it takes a lot out of us to expand our thermal fields."

Sköll rubbed his sore shoulder. "Psh… why do you gotta go giving that a complicated sciency name? I always just called them Heaty Bubble and Coldy Bubble."

"I actually prefer Hati's…" Set leaned against the wall, "Sounds cooler."

"Regardless," Anubis took control of the conversation, "What now, genius?" He looked up above them where the massive building punched through the grey clouds. The sky beyond was completely black. "We're not even halfway to the top of the tower."

"Don't worry," Set opened his jacket and reached inside. He pulled out a short golden staff and his black and gold quiver, "the genius has had a plan for just this occasion."

Anubis's eyes widened, "You brought your axe?!" Anubis stormed over to Set as the staff expanded and the blade unfolded, revealing the fan-shaped blade.

"Technically, I'm using the bow, not the axe, but yeah."

Anubis felt his blood boiling behind his eyes, "I told you to leave that stuff in your locker!"

"You did," Set nodded thoughtfully, "but I didn't leave it in my locker," he opened the blade via the hinge and unfolded it into his bow. He notched an arrow with a long trail of wire attached to the end, "We can go rappelling," he stated and launched the arrow up about ten stories and into the side of the tower.

"I thought this might be cool for a battlefield that's different from a gymnasium," he smirked at Anubis, "I rigged it up the other day because the idea came to me," he held three specially fitted carabiners to the rest of his team, "We get to the arrow, I'll pull the line up, and then shoot the other end up so we can keep going."

Hati looked to Anubis. Both had faces of disbelief. "Did… did he actually?..."

"Come up with a decent plan?..." Anubis finished, "Although, Set, rappelling means to de-scend, not a-scend."

Set began clipping himself to the wire and motioned for the rest of his team to do the same, "Close enough."

Hati examined their way up carefully. Having grown up with Set, he knew his skill with a bow well. The arrow would serve as a good enough anchor for all of them, and their climbing skills were good enough for him to trust that they wouldn't all fall. The Hati seal of approval was given when he clipped the carabiner to his belt and attached the wire.

"That's two!" Set began looping the end of the wire into his belt, "Sköll, you in?"

"Duh!" Sköll fiddled with the device and managed to attach it to the wire after a few moments, "All that's left is Anu!"

Anubis stood defiantly. Was this where he could finally draw the line? This went far beyond the antics that Team ASHS had pulled before, all of which also had his name attached to them. Getting detention would be the least of their worries. This punishment would go far beyond what they normally got, but would it be worse if he, the leader, abandoned his team? If they got hurt and he wasn't with them, then he would be a disgrace. A deserter.

"Fine," Anubis forcefully clamped onto the wire, "Let's just get this over with and get back down."

"I knew you'd come around, Anu!" Set began the climb with Hati right behind him, Sköll behind Hati, and Anubis taking up the slack as the caboose. It wasn't long until they hit the first arrow, cuing Set to tie an arrow to the other end of the wire and sent it skyrocketing up a few more stories. He rinsed and repeated the process a dozen or so times until the team reached the lip below the spire atop Beacon Tower.

On the way up, Anubis couldn't help but notice something strange. There seemed to be holes pierced in between the bricks every few feet or so, the edges of which were charred and melted. Perhaps these marks were what the last climber left behind.

"Finally!" Sköll yelled, "the summit is in sight!" he cheered triumphantly.

Anubis grabbed the dark-colored tiles. That's when he noticed an issue. "Guys… there's no way we're getting onto the spire from under here. That's at least a twenty foot jump from here to the edge," he looked down to the clouds below them and felt his knees tremble a bit. Though Team ASHS were good climbers, this was far above Anubis's usual comfort zone.

Set realized his brother had a point. Even if he could shoot an arrow close enough to the edge, there was no guarantee it would hold at that angle. "Um…"

"Set…" Anubis held tight to the wire with one hand and cracked the knuckles on the other, "don't tell me you managed to think this far ahead, and didn't think about how we'd get onto the actual roof…"

"Way to go, Anu! That's exactly what happened!" Set put away his weapon and began assessing the situation, "If we jump, we die, huh?" he gazed down to the ground below, "I really didn't think this through, but at least we have each other!"

Anubis looked down and whined. "Great… Now I'm stuck here. In the middle of the night. Hundreds of feet off the ground. With my stupid brothers," he tugged at his ears again, "I really hope this gets better before it gets any worse…"

The four brothers stayed there for a moment, hanging over the clouds by a thin wire. Their toes barely kept them balanced on the lip below the spire, and the bricks served as somewhat stable handholds.

As the cool night breeze blew past them, Sköll's eyes lit up. He tilted his nose up, sniffing the air and tilting his head around. He hit his brother with his hand.

"What is it, bro?" Hati asked.

"You smell that?" Sköll sniffed again, "that… burny, metallicy smell…"

Hati tilted his nose up and smelled. "Yeah… I do…" He looked to his brother excitedly. "It smells like a bunch of computers running! Anubis! There has to be a hatch into the CCT tech room nearby!"

Anubis had always been thankful he and his twin brother had been blessed with enhanced hearing, but he was now equally thankful for Sköll and Hati's strong sense of smell. "Really?! Can we reach it from here?" His shoulders slumped. "Please tell me it's not above the ledge..."

Hati shook his head no, "No way bro. Smells way too close for it to be up there." He pointed towards the cliff, "wind's coming in from the ocean. It has to be this way around the tower."

"Bet it has a lock on it," Sköll thought out loud. Even though Beacon was chock full of great warriors, the tower was too tall for the vast majority of them. The lock on the hatch probably wouldn't be more than a padlock, "I can pick it. I've got my lockpicks on me," he pressed himself against the bricks and began making his way around the ledge, "Come on, guys! We can actually do this!"

Anubis glared at him for what had to be the hundredth time that night, "I thought I told you to get rid of those things?..."

"Hati still has his firecrackers," Sköll told his leader without looking back.

"Stop trying to change the subject," Anubis pointed at Hati, "and I'm taking those from you as soon as we get back to the dorm. I don't want us to repeat the incident with the exploding apple on Professor McGouran's desk."

Sköll sighed and leaned his head back as if remembering something pleasant, "Good times. Goooooood times."

Anubis shivered against the cold, "Set, just… just get us to the hatch and get us inside. I'll figure out a punishment for disobeying direct orders from your team leader later."

"That's on Sköll, man," Set focused a few feet ahead, "Aaaaaaand, there it is."

With lockpicks at the ready, Sköll braced himself against the wall to keep himself from falling. As expected, the hatch was a steel door with nothing but a padlock holding it closed. It was rusted over, which wasn't in his initial plan. A quick bash with his elbow and the padlock fell away. He passed his lockpicks to Anubis without looking, "Here, you can confiscate these now."

Anubis took them and stuffed them inside his jacket pocket, "Good. Glad you're complying for once."

"Hey, just think" Sköll climbed into the open hatch followed closely by Hati, Set, and then Anubis, "if I had complied, we would still be hanging outside in the cold and dark Vale night."

The room they had just entered was filled to the brim with flashing green lights and sleek black computers. Giant, rectangular boxes formed hallways, all of which radiated heat. Fans from within the electronics, as well as the vents in the walls, whirred like clockwork in the dimly lit heatsink of a room. All of this was contained within the spire atop Beacon. This powered all communication throughout the Kingdom of Vale and was a vital component to communication across the globe. This was the brain of the CCT.

"Woah…" Sköll looked around in wonder, "and here I thought Hati gave off some serious heat."

"Shut up, Sköll," Hati glared at him.

"C'mon!" Set raced to the opposite side of the large maze of electronics, where a silver ladder shimmered in the darkness, leading up a dark shaft in the ceiling above, "Bet you that leads to the top of the roof!"

Anubis grunted in annoyance, "Well, considering there's a sign right next to the ladder that blatantly says 'ROOF ACCESS', I'm pretty sure it couldn't lead much of anywhere else."

Set had already disappeared into the ceiling, "Stop spoiling my fun and climb, Anu!"

The rest of the team followed close behind, Anubis still taking up the rear out of spite. The ladder led up to a panel in the tip of the spire, presumably to give access to the main antenna. Once they got to the open air, the wind whipped around the team. All of them would have been knocked off had they not been braced for the gale.

Sköll howled into the night, "I'm just glad that we came up the other side of the tower, or else we would've gotten blown away like fleas long before we got here!"

Set latched onto the base of the antenna, "We've done it! Now get up here! The signal is great, and we need to get a photo out to let everyone know!"

Sköll and Hati pushed against the wind to go up to Set, who was holding onto his scroll with a vice-like grip.

"C'mon, Anu!" Set could barely be heard yelling through the wind.

Anubis tried to cover his watering eyes as he pushed his way hesitantly towards his brothers. He pushed himself to Set's side as they leaned against the small railing dividing them from a slippery slide to what would definitely be certain death. Hati pushed up against Anubis's other side, while Sköll pushed up against Set.

Set held up the scroll to where the holographic screen faced them, showing their squinting faces as their hair whipped around wildly in the wind. "Okay you guys! Say cheese!"

"Just take the damn picture, Set," Anubis snarled as the simulated shutter clicked.

"Let me see! Let me see!" Sköll tried to take Set's scroll.

Set shoved it back into his pocket, "When we get back on the ground there, silver wolf!"

As his brothers bickered, Anubis caught himself staring off into the night sky as it stretched onward into infinity in every direction. The stars dotted the dark surrounding the fragmented moon above. Through the clouds, he could see the faint glow of the city below the cliff. Despite the wind, he found the sight pretty calming, even beautiful. It wasn't very often that his brothers' antics led to something like this.

"So, how's the view?"

Anubis shouted and nearly jumped out of his skin as the female voice came from the other side of the railing. He sprawled to the ground and began to push himself backwards with his elbows. He kept going until he hit Set's feet. He blushed when he realized how much of a fool he must have looked like in front of Lurida as she floated up from below the railing.

Lurida looked even more furious than she did astounded, "Well well well… Looks like Gavin was right about you guys being the ones sneaking throughout the tower… I think you guys should know that Alabaster has known what you were doing since Hati used his Lunacy, and I'm just sitting there in awe that Xannie actually got a prediction about Team ASHS correct," she rolled her eyes, "They called me to come get you down when you got to a safe extraction point," she crossed her arms and began tilting to the side in her antigravity field, "I tried to get you all before you got to the maintenance hatch, but you idiots went in too fast. You better thank me if I don't drop you on the way down, understand?" she splayed out her fingers and the team began rising.

Sköll smiled stupidly, "Sup, Purps?" he flailed around a little as he became weightless, "How's our little sis been doin'?"

"If you morons weren't constantly in detention, then you'd know that she's fine. It'd be awesome if you had more time with her after what happened a few weeks back," Lurida grumbled. They slowly floated off the side of the spire and began descending towards the one of the windows of Alabaster's office that was open.

The Luna brothers found themselves floating downwards and into the well-lit office.

Lurida lowered herself down onto the ground. As soon as she did so, she shut down her Semblance, causing Anubis and his team to fall to the ground with a thud. She smiled when she heard grunts and wheezes of pain from behind her. "Found these idiots on the roof, Professor."

Anubis felt like jumping back out the window when he looked up to see Professor Alabaster standing before him.

Despite the time, he was still in his usual fitted suit jacket and black slacks. The only addition to his attire were the bright red bunny slippers.

Anubis quickly shoved his brothers off of him and jumped to his feet in attention, "Hello, Professor Alabaster… sir…"

"I congratulate you all on your accomplishment tonight," Professor Alabaster tapped the padded sole of his slipper against the tile floor. He tipped an egg-shaped glass of red juice to take a sip, "Please, tell me, what made you all think that I wanted to relive a night from twenty years ago?"

Professor Maple sat in a chair on the opposite side of the room, but she had on a pale red nightgown beneath a white zip-up hoodie instead of her normal attire. Though, as if to contrast Alabaster, she was dead asleep and snoring.

For once, Anubis fumbled to find the words to explain himself, "We… we… uh… were just… um…"

"I got this, bro," Set pushed Anubis to the side to address Professor Alabaster. "Sir, you see, we just so happened to hear about the night you mentioned only moments ago. When we heard that one student made it to the top of Beacon Tower, we decided that we should be the first whole team to make it to the top of Beacon Tower!"

Anubis shoved him out of the way, "You idiot!" He looked to Professor Alabaster pleadingly, "Sir, I can assure you, I didn't want to climb the tower. These dolts dragged me along to-"

Professor Alabaster held out his free hand to tell Anubis to stop talking. "How about I just give the four of you a week of detention and leave it at that? You'll be spending your time up here with me, naturally." He walked over to a group of good-sized potted bushes dotted with bright red berries. "You can help take care of the plants."

Anubis felt like screaming at the mention of his prized cranberry bushes. Then is registered in his mind. They were only getting one week of detention? No suspension? No expulsion?

"Sir, why only one week…?" he finally asked.

Professor Alabaster chuckled, "As Set said, only one student made it up there, and they left their team behind. As wrong as it was for you four to do that, at least you all did it as a team. No one got hurt, the CCT system is perfectly fine, and I feel that you four are better for it at the end. It's the first time that I've seen you all cooperate," he tapped at his scroll and showed them footage of their climb, "If you four ever try that climb again, then I certainly will expel you, but not this time."

Set, Hati, and Sköll pumped their fists in the air and shared a few high-fives while Anubis stood in disbelief. Him staying with the team was what kept them from getting expelled. Being the leader of Team ASHS had been a nightmare, but that bad dream seemed to be softening.

"Um… sir…? Can I head back to my dorm now?" Lurida asked, "I don't mean to interupt, of course. I was just having a good dream for once. One where Chris Matte took me out for the day, and…"

Sköll scoffed at her, "You still have a crush on that guy from Team Ocean?"

Lurida glared back at him.

Before she could pummel him, Professor Alabaster spoke up. "Yes, you are dismissed. Send young Yamuna my regards, and take Team ASHS before I have them spending the night tending to my plants," Professor Alabaster clapped his hands to wake Professor Maple up, "Carmen! You're free to go as well!"

"NO MORE PELICANS!" Professor Maple screamed and shot up to her feet. She blinked a few times, "Oh… sorry… Grimm pelicans… bad dream… yeah…" she sleepily hit the button for the elevator and leaned her head against the sliding metal doors.

Anubis held his head just higher than usual as he followed his brothers and Lurida into the elevator.

As the doors closed, Carmen, through her grogginess, whispered to Anubis. "So, I remember that night. The one when that student first climbed the tower. Don't tell Alabaster I said this," she held out her fist to Anubis, "but good job being the first team. Must've been hard keeping these three in line for so long."

Hesitantly, Anubis returned the fist bump.

"Carmen, please," Lurida whined, "don't encourage them!"

"Encourage them…?" Carmen laughed hard enough to bring her to the edge of her sleepy haze, "No, no, not at all. I already encouraged them. I'm where the idea came from."

Anubis' eyes lit up, "You mean… the marks on the way up…?"

Set nodded, "Totally knew it."

"Yeah, I saw those too!" Sköll stared at Carmen in disbelief.

"So you've always used your laser swords?" Hati looked between his brothers and their instructor.

"Arco Iris has been my weapon set since I started my training. They work as great climbing tools," she grinned. Once the elevator dinged and opened to the empty lobby of the CCT, she began making her way towards the doors, "You all have a nice night! Sleep well! I know I will!"

Lurida followed her out, but Team ASHS stood in the elevator dumbfounded.

"Well that was- wait!" Set held out his arm to stop the elevator door from closing.

Hati pushed it the rest of the way open and began heading for the doors with Sköll, "Nice one. Let's just get to bed. We had a busy night."

"Got that right!" Sköll jogged for the doors as the shut behind Lurida.

"I guess we did kind of earn it… horribly…" Anubis joined them, "Set, come on."

"Yeah, that's going to be an issue."

Anubis was about to question what his twin meant by that, but then understood when he turned to see Set dangling from the top of the elevator doors by the wire attached to his belt.

"Wanna give your bro a hand?" Set waved helplessly.

Anubis considered this for a moment. His brother certainly deserved to be stuck but… "Yeah. I've got your back," he began the long process of freeing Set, "Even if it doesn't seem like it."