A/N Holy crap, it's back... sorta. I notice I got a few new people showing up, so I figured I'd put the next chapter I had done up. ENJOY!?

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Chapter 11- With Friends Like These...

Hey, Dad, me again, here with your weekly update on the exciting, peril-filled life of a huntress in training.

Oreonna sat cross-legged on her bed, resting her back against the headboard as she typed out an email to the her father on her scroll. The black and white haired teenager shuffled in place slightly as she tried to get comfortable against the wood supporting her as she continued to type.

Things at Shade are starting to quiet down, but I guess I can appreciate that. Especially after, you know, almost dying during initiation (jk ;3). Not to mention how hectic it's been settling in here, I can't believe it's only been a week, it feels like it's been forever since I left Vale.

I've been getting used to things, Vacuo is nice this time of year, maybe a little warm for my taste, but I hear winters gonna get pretty cold, so I better enjoy it while I can. Mirage isn't far away either, so I'm able to do a little shopping in my spare time, which would be nice if I had any money, but I'll figure something out.

All in all, not many changes with me. Still studying, still playing the violin every night...

Oreonna frowned slightly.

... still miss you.

The cat faunus stopped typing for a moment as she pushed aside those familiar feelings of homesickness, she didn't want to make her dad worry any more than he probably already was. The cat girl had intended to use writing this letter as a distraction from such feelings, but now it felt like she needed a distraction from her distraction.

Living at Shade had been an adjustment to say the least, especially sharing a dorm room with three other people... well, two, really. Oreonna put her scroll aside and looked at her teammates, the ones present anyway, as she stretched out on one of the four beds in team MOON's room. Her partner Maybelle was sitting on her own bed to the cat faunus' left, the one closest to Oreonna. One of the cow girls legs was hanging off the mattress while the other was tucked beneath her, a textbook had been discarded next to her as the bulky faunus looked out the window between her and Oreonna's beds. She looked a little... forlorn was the first word that came to Oreonna's mind.

Before the cat eared girl could ask what was on her mind, a cry of, "Die, Penguins, Die!" rang out from the other side of the room. On the bed to her right, Oreonna could see a pair of orange, cleated sneakers as well as the legs attached to them, going off the edge of the bed and onto the floor. She could only make out Oran's knees from this angle as they twitched sporadically while the other "O" of team MOON shouted out; "NO! Not my parsley!" He was probably playing a game on his scroll, or at least Oreonna really hoped he was, otherwise his outbursts were very concerning to say the least. As the cat eared girl looked over at Oran, she couldn't help but also notice the fourth bed in the room, still as made and un-slept in as it had been when the four of them had first been shown to their dorm seven days ago. A large, locked suitcase next to the bed was the only piece of evidence in the room that their was a fourth member to their team.

Oreonna had barely even seen Nichol at all since initiation, aside from the classes the two of them shared. The violinist wasn't exactly torn up about the crabby girls absence, mind you, the two of them hadn't exactly bonded in the Blighted Catacombs, not to mention the brief interactions between the two before that.

However the fact that MOON was fractured made Oreonna uneasy and it was starting to effect the team's performance as a whole. Nichol never showed up for training or studying when they met up, she barely even spoke to any of them unless she absolutely had to, and apparently the silver haired girl didn't even deem them worthy of sharing a room with. Other teams at Shade seemed to be progressing and getting along just fine, it seemed like it was only the four of them that were having trouble. It was becoming apparent that without Nichol's cooperation, team MOON was going to start falling behind their classmates.

Oreonna sighed quietly. So things weren't perfect just yet, at least as far as her team was concerned, but aside from that, Shade was a dream come true for the cat faunus. The classes were exciting and challenging, the teachers were engaging, as well as all being distinguished huntsmen in their own right, and most of her teammates were-

Oreonna then realized she hadn't really told her dad about her teammates yet. The night that their team had been formed, she'd shot a quick message to her father to let him know she'd arrived safely and passed initiation, but in all the excitement, she'd completely forgotten to mention the people that had helped make it all possible, the cat faunus inwardly scolded herself for being so careless and rude. Without wasting another minute, Oreonna picked her scroll back up and reopened the e-mail she'd been typing;

Oh yeah! I totally forgot to tell you about my awesome new teammates!

The first one I met when I got to Shade was Oran. He's funny, or at least he thinks he is. Honestly I feel like I spend ninety percent of my time with him rolling my eyes at his lame "jokes". Seriously, I think my eyes have gotten more of as workout from him than the rest of me has from the actual training here.

But I'll give him this, he's great in a fight, I'm glad he's on my side because the guy can punch like nobodies business. He helped me a out a lot when I was down in the dumps my first few days here, he was the first one to make me feel at home. Oran's a good friend, I'm glad I met him, but I can't help but feel like he's hiding something. He has these prosthetic forearms and hands and whenever someone asks about them, he gets real quiet and tries to subtly change the subject. I know something happened to him, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about it, and I don't think it's a good idea to push him. I guess I just have to have faith that he'll tell me when he's ready. I really want to be as good a friend to him as he's been to me, it's the least I can do.

Alright, next up is Maybelle. She's...

Oreonna stopped herself for a moment as she tried to decide what words to use to describe her partner, but there were so many that came to mind. Strong, capable, kind, compassionate, fierce, too many to chose from really... Oreonna gave her head a quick shake to clear her wandering thoughts as she finally settled on a fitting word;

... amazing.

The cat faunus smiled to herself, she really couldn't have ended up with a better partner in her mind. Don't get her wrong, Oran would have made a great partner, and Oreonna certainly didn't envy the one the hyena boy had ended up with, but May was... different, she was just the kind of person Oreonna needed when getting used to a new space. The cat girl wasn't really the best at settling in at new locations apparently, but how could she have known, she'd only ever lived in one place before and the broadening of her horizons threatened to take a toll on her. With the craziness of this first week; new school, new classes, new teachers, Oreonna felt like her head was spinning most of the time, but May had been like a rock for her. Every time the cat girl had felt overwhelmed Maybelle was there to bring her back to down to earth, reminding her to take a much needed breath every once and a while. It had been the same way during initiation, Maybelle had kept calm under pressure and led the four of them to victory, her being chosen as their leader had been no surprise to the cat girl.

Oreonna had always been drawn to that kind of reliability, maybe it had something to do with growing up without a mom, her life had always been a little... unstable. Living in a single parent household wasn't exactly easy for father or daughter, they loved each other, but Oreonna always had to accept the fact that her dad wasn't perfect. He had broken more than a few promises in her life, not because he WANTED to, usually it was because he was working hard to keep them fed, afloat, or most of all, making sure Oreonna stayed in school, so she understood why. Eventually, the cat girl had just learned to accept that things probably weren't going to go her way most of the time, not because life was necessarily "unfair", it was just the way things were. But then their were people she met that just seemed to have everything put together, like they'd figured out a way to make this whole thing just... work, and Oreonna had always admired those people and the calming aura they had. So it made sense that the timid faunus was becoming such fast friends with Maybelle, she just represented everything Oreonna wanted to be, and with her help, she felt like she might just be able to get there someday. The cat girl rolled her eyes, if Yang were here, Oreonna was sure she'd probably make some kind of joke about how her faunus friend was just latching onto a different tall blonde or something. The cat girl made a mental note to write another email after this for her friend back in Vale whom she also missed.

However, without even realizing it, Oreonna found that she'd managed to type one long run on sentence about just how "amazing" her teammate was during her reminiscing. Rereading it, she found herself oddly flustered by what she'd written about Maybelle, she'd never really spoke/wrote about someone else so highly before, not even Yang, she was placing a lot of trust in May, who she'd really only just met. Of course, there was a part of the faunus girl hated that she needed someone in that way, that same part of her that had such a low opinion of herself and was always quick to criticize any mistake she made, she really didn't like that part of her, even if it had a point. She had to be independent now, she was training to be a a huntress after all, and that kind of life meant she couldn't always rely on others to help her. However, another -more sensible- part of her knew that she was still growing as a person and the only way she'd get stronger was with other peoples help, that's why they'd assigned them to teams in the first place, she imagined. That, and May didn't seem to mind that Oreonna relied on her, it was just another reason Oreonna looked up to her, in more ways than one given the height difference.

Still, it was a little embarrassing when she read back what she'd written, but who cared, it's not like May was ever gonna see it any-

"Hey, Oreo. Whatcha working on?"

Oreonna practically leapt up to the ceiling in shock when Maybelle suddenly seemed to appear next to her, looking over her shoulder at the black and white haired faunus' scroll. The flustered cat girl let out a squeak of surprise, then in an attempt to hide her embarrassing thoughts, she shoved her scroll down the crack between her bed's headboard and the wall it was against. The poor handheld device made a loud "thunk" as it fell out of sight behind Oreonna's bed.

Both faunus -Oreonna included- stared in confusion at what had just transpired. Maybelle was the first to speak up, "Uhhh... what was-"

"N-nothing!" Oreonna stammered out as she felt her face heating up, "Just sending an e-mail to dad is all." Somehow, in trying to avoid one mortifying situation, she'd steered directly into a worse one. Awesome. Seems pretty on par for the cat girls social skills.

"Uh-huh," the tall cow faunus said with a smirk, "Okay, cool," Maybelle turned away and walked back to her bed and resumed looking out the window sadly.

"Hey... everything okay?" Oreonna asked. If she felt so bad about relying on May, then maybe she'd feel a little better if her friend could rely on her too.

"Hmm?" Maybelle snapped out of her thoughts before rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, "It's... never mind, it's stupid, don't worry about it," Oreonna raised an eyebrow and stared the cow faunus down, silently urging her to continue anyway. "I guess... I'm just feeling a little homesick is all," the blonde finally admitted, letting out a small chuckle, "but I guess I probably shouldn't be complaining to you of all people about that, huh?"

"May..." Oreonna said sympathetically, "My feelings don't magically make yours unjustified, there's nothing wrong with missing your home and family, no matter how far away they are." The cat faunus understood too well what May was going through. The only difference between them was that May's family was on the same continent as Shade at least, since the cow girls home was only about an hour away. Sure it was nothing compared to the long airship flight that Oreonna had to endure, but that didn't mean she couldn't sympathize.

Maybelle seemed to brighten up a bit, but she still seemed a bit depressed. "Thanks, Oreo, but it's not just that, it's..." the bulky faunus looked like she was about to try and dismiss the subject again, but the diminutive cat girl gave a look that made it clear her leader had her full attention now. With a sigh, Maybelle continued, "Back home, on the farm I grew up on, there was always chores to be done every morning, like tending to the crops or taking care of the livestock. It's not that I don't have stuff to keep me busy when I'm here, it's just... I miss taking care of things... I guess." The tall faunus started absentmindedly rubbing the cow ear on the left side of her head with her fingers as she looked off to the side, "See? Pretty stupid, right?"

Oreonna smiled up at May. How was it even possible for a person to be this caring? Not only that, but apparently the lack of things for Maybelle to shower with attention was causing the cow faunus actual discomfort. The cat girl had to just stop and stare at her partner and wonder just how someone like this was even real? She'd certainly never met anyone like Maybelle before.

That didn't solve the issue at hand though, Oreonna pondered for a moment as she looked at the window May had been gazing out. It was fairly big, about three feet wide, it slid upwards to open, the side of the academy it was on seemed to get a lot of sun during the day, and May said she was used to taking care of plants, so maybe...

"I know it might not exactly be the same, but.." as Oreonna spoke, she was putting the final touches on her idea, her taller friend giving her an intrigued expression, "what if you set up a flower box or something in our window? I mean, I doubt you'd be growing giant stalks of corn or anything in it, but it might help, you know, scratch that itch?"

Maybelle looked at her teammate, then at the window, as if she was trying to picture what Oreonna was suggesting, "That's... huh... wow, that's a pretty good idea, Oreo." The cat faunus felt her heart swell at how excited her bovine leader was at her solution, "Heh, I guess I shouldn't sound so surprised, since you're clearly the brains of this operation."

Suddenly, team MOON's dorm room started to feel very warm to Oreonna as heat rushed to her cheeks at the unexpected compliment, the cat girl really didn't think she was THAT smart, she'd just had a good idea is all. Sure, maybe her teammates weren't as... scholarly as Oreonna, but that didn't mean they were dumb... Well... it didn't mean they didn't try, but they had their own realms of expertise.

Maybelle, for example, was a genius on the battlefield, as was apparent when they faced off with the Drakodo in the Catacombs, without her, none of them would have made it out alive. However, as had become apparent in the last week of classes, the cow girls study habits were... lacking. That was okay though, Oreonna was a natural teacher, she'd tutored Yang and her friends more than once in preparation for exams at Signal, so Maybelle was far from the greatest challenge the cat faunus had faced. Plus... her helping meant she got to spend more time with May... that was... fine with her.

Oran, on the other hand-

"HEY!" a shout of indignation came from the pair of legs hanging off the bed to Oreonna's right. There was a brief struggle as the appendages wiggled to unhook themselves from the mattress, before they flopped off the edge and onto the floor. A moment later, a scruffy orange haired head, along with a pair of canine-like ears popped up as Oran rested an elbow on his bed, "I'm smart too! Why can't I be the brains?"

Oreonna accidentally let out a half laugh, half snort at that, then immediately slapped both her hands over her own mouth in surprise at her outburst. Maybelle gave her an amused look as another wave of embarrassment overtook the black and white haired girl.

Oran gave a shrug, "Yeah, okay, point taken, but I'm street smart! That's the best kind of smart!" he reasoned.

"Oran, the last time you went into the city alone you came back without shoes," Maybelle said with a deadpan expression, "that's-"

"A very long, heroic, yet ultimately, uninteresting story," Oran interrupted, "which -as I said then- I won't bore you with the details of," Oreonna snickered a bit, her hands still trying to hold back laughter. She felt bad laughing at Oran's "misadventures", but the hyena faunus noticed her and gave Oreonna a wide smile, it really seemed like as long as other people were happy, Oran was perfectly fine with being the butt of the joke.

Less funny, was the only male member of team MOON's grades. Oreonna had tried tutoring him as well, but Oran was a force to be reckoned with when it came to getting distracted, his level of ADD was staggering, and honestly, more than even someone like Oreonna could handle. He needed a much sterner hand guiding him than the timid cat faunus was willing to offer, someone like-

Almost on cue, the door to team MOON's dorm opened slowly, all three of the faunus' heads snapped in the direction of the sound, and to all of their surprise, they found the missing member if their team standing in the doorway looking as friendly as ever. Nichol didn't even make eye contact as the silver haired girl walked briskly over to her bed. She looked haggard, like she hadn't been sleeping well, or possibly at all, Oreonna didn't know as the human had yet to spend a night in the teams dorm. Wherever she was laying her head, it clearly wasn't a comfortable spot, her short hair was a mess, her braids looked sloppily tied at best, and her orange eyes had bags under them.

"Hey, Nichol, where have you been?" May asked, trying to break up the silence that had taken over upon her teammates entrance. Predictably, the cow faunus didn't get a response, or even a look from Nichol, "Uhh... okay? We have that practical exam today in Professor Neights class so-"

"I know," the aggravated girl snapped as she dragged the old piece of luggage out from under her bed. All three of her teammates had been curious about what was inside the only personal belonging Nichol had, but the silver haired girl was the only one with a key and with her body obstructing it's contents, it seemed like the mystery would be solved at a later day.

"Oh... alright? Well, we'll see you there then," Maybelle said, finishing up the mostly one sided conversation as Nichol fished out a key from her pocket and popped the large padlock off the latch of her suitcase. The spear wielder grabbed a book out of the trunk before quickly re-locking it and shoving it back under her bed, then she turned and started marching out of the room.

"Wow," Oran said, a smirk forming on his lips, "I know we all have baggage in our lives, but at least Nicky was smart enough to hold onto the key to hers,"

The glare Nichol gave Oran was so venomous it made all the three of the faunus on the other side of the room flinch at the sight of it. The now thoroughly agitated huntress in training let out a snarl before opening the rooms exit.

"Oh wait, Nichol!" Maybelle shouted in a vain attempt to stop her teammate, "I was hoping we could maybe hash out a strategy before we-" SLAM! "Aaaaaaand she's gone. Super," the cow faunus sighed in exasperation as she fell back onto her bed.

Oreonna felt bad for her leader, it couldn't be easy leading a group of people who barely knew each other, and Nichol certainly wasn't making things any easier. The cat faunus looked to the digital clock on her nightstand, "We... should probably get going too, don't want to be late, right?" she said.

"Yeah," May replied dejectedly, as she stood back on her feet reluctantly.

"Um..." Oreonna rubbed her forearm sheepishly, "before we go..." May raised an eyebrow at the cat faunus, "do you think you could help me get my scroll?" Oreonna finally said as she meekly pointed at her bed.

The cow faunus let out a small chuckle, "Sure,"

After moving Oreonna's bed single handed, Maybelle and her two friends made their way out of their dorm and started heading towards the arena. Oran was smiling brightly and throwing a few practice punches out in front of him as the group walked together.

"You seem a bit more hyper than usual, Oran," Maybelle noticed as the hyena boy brought his mechanical fists up to his face and did a few quick dips and dodges as if he was maneuvering around an imaginary opponents jabs.

"Hells yeah!" he said pumping his arms, "It's our first big combat exam as a team since the Catacombs! It's gonna be great!"

His female companions didn't share his enthusiasm. "Yeah, it might be, if one of us wasn't exhibiting all the social and cooperative skills of a brick wall," Oreonna said bitterly.

Oran scoffed as he waved off the violinist, "Pssssh, what, you're worried about Nicky? It'll be fine."

"I don't know, Oran..." May said, clearly nowhere near as optimistic as the orange haired teen.

"C'mon guys, I known the Nickster is a little rough around the edges," Oran said in the biggest understatement of the week, "but she put her differences aside and worked with us against that giant nightmare lizard, didn't she? Trust me, give her a chance, and you'll both be surprised." May and Oreo exchanged worried looks, but Oran was seemingly determined to put there minds at ease, "It'll be fine!"


"THIS IS NOT FINE!" Oran shouted as he was carried upwards into a massive tornado, the ground getting further away as he rose.

A few moments earlier, a buzzer sounded off signaling the start of the exam, it was team MOON versus team NDGO in the last match of the class. The arena at Shade Academy lit up in a chorus of excited shouts as the large stone coliseums stands were occupied by a handful of other students excited to see the outcome of this fight. The sun shined brightly on the sand covered field of battle through the open roof of the coliseum, several sandstone structures jutted out of the earth giving off the appearance of some ancient dilapidated ruins. On one end of the battlefield, team NDGO darted forward, Nebula Violette in the front with her crossbow at her side. On the opposite end, team MOON also made their way across the sandy terrain, Maybelle eagerly leading her own team, flanked by Oran and Oreonna with Nichol bringing up the rear.

The blonde berzerker had tried to discuss some kind of strategy before the exam began, the cow faunus knew enough about Nebula and Gwen's abilities from their time together at Vast to offer some info, but NDGO's two other members she had no clue about. Of course, Nichol had opted to stand off to the side with her arms crossed, looking in the other direction during May's explanation, so there was no telling if anything the blonde had said had sunk in, or if the spear wielder had even wanted it to. Regardless, team MOON charged on.

"Oreo!" May shouted to her black and white haired friend running to her left, "Take care of Octavia!" Oreonna nodded and shot off towards her red headed opponent. "Oran! Dew!" the hyena faunus slammed his metal knuckles together and smirked, then fired off a blast of wind behind himself with both his arms sending him soaring towards his own target. "Nichol! You're on-" sure enough, Maybelle looked back to see her silver haired teammate was nowhere to be found. The cow faunus frowned a bit, even someone with her level of patience was starting to get annoyed with Nichol's lack of cooperation.

The blonde faunus turned back just in time to see a crossbow bolt flying towards her face. Luckily, she already had Alexandra Grande in hand and was able to bring her weapon up in time to deflect the arrow with the sturdy wooden club. Maybelle heard a giggle as she lowered her weapon from her view, "Gotta stay focused, May," Nebula said, standing in front of the cow girl smirking as she loaded another shot into her crossbow. May smiled back as she took her weapon in both hands and lunged toward the purple haired girl.

Unbeknownst to the students engaged in combat, Gwen Darcy was lurking just out of sight, four of her many throwing knives clutched between her fingers. The darker haired girl wasn't one for fighting up close, instead she chose to attack and support from a distance with her near perfect accuracy. From her position behind one of the many pillars sticking out of the sand, she scanned the combat zone looking for a target, then Gwen saw Octavia battling against a black and white haired faunus a short distance away from her.

The fiery red head seemed to be holding her own well enough, matching the cat girls sword strikes with her flame coated blade, but her opponents shield was giving her trouble since it offered defensive as well as additional offensive options with it's sharp edges. Gwen continued watching as Octavia let out a wave of fire from her weapon, but the faunus protected herself with her shield and immediately leapt forward for a counter attack.

Her target found, Gwen brought her knives up, preparing for a throw, but stopped when she noticed the shadow of the pillar she'd hidden behind had a human shaped silhouette at the top. The knife thrower looked up quickly to see a girl with silver hair and two long braids framing the sides of her face perched on top of the structure looking down on her with menacing orange eyes. Gwen took a step back in shock and the girl jumped down at her thrusting her spear at knife thrower.

Meanwhile, Oran launched himself with another burst of air towards Dew Gayl. The blonde saw him coming a mile away -Oran whooping like an idiot didn't exactly help him- and readied her staff, pointing its tip towards the advancing faunus. Once he was in range, Dew gripped her weapon tight as the dust crystal in it lit up creating a torrent of wind right in the hyena brawlers face sending him flying backwards rolling across the desert terrain.

Oran hopped to his feet quickly mid roll and dusted himself off, "Oh hey!" he said excitedly, "another wind dust user, person.. thing... neat!" the hyena faunus readied a fist as Dew rushed forward, her staff pointed at him again. "OK then, let's see which one of us blows harder... no, wait-"

The blonde fired another burst, cutting the orange haired teen off, but Oran was ready this time and threw a punch full of wind dust energy before it could hit. Dew's staff was powerful, but while her weapon fired air out in a spread, Oran's gauntlets shot a straight, focused, blast of air, much like a punch, right through her attack, dispersing it and sending the blonde off balance for a moment. That was all the invitation the hyena faunus needed as he charged in, nailing Dew with a few quick punches to her stomach and then one massive uppercut to send her sprawling. The blonde landed a few feet from Oran and struggled to get up to her feet, her head was down and she had the top of her weapon embedded in the sand to support herself.

Oran stopped his assault momentarily and flicked the side of his nose with his thumb in a taunting manner before approaching the downed huntress in training, "C'mon! If you're holding back because of the dumb 'blow' joke, I can assure you it wasn't my best-"

Dew's head shot up as she slammed her staffs head into the ground, sending a wave of sand up into Oran's face. The hyena boy coughed and sputtered as he stumbled backwards, "Ack! My beautiful face holes! Why!?"

After a few seconds of rubbing, Oran managed to crack an eye open to see Dew slowly churning her weapon out in front of her as she conjured up a small, green tornado about as tall as herself. Still slightly discombobulated, Oran fired out a few bursts of wind at the forming storm, but the man made twister seemed to absorb the shots and got bigger before Dew thrust her staff in the orange haired jokester's direction, sending the tornado forward.

Oran smiled as he planted his feet firmly in the ground, "Alright then, you asked for it, vile tornado!" the faunus inhaled deeply, his chest expanding to the same impossible proportions as usual, then he exhaled with all his might.

Oran's plan had been to overpower Dew's attack with his own and send it back towards it's creator, but unfortunately Oran was definitely not the brains of team MOON, as was demonstrated when his counter attack just made the tornado grow larger and larger, it now towered over the battlefield as Dew struggled to regain control of it. The now exhausted faunus boy stared wide eyed at the mess he'd created as the twister continued towards him, he tried to run, but using his semblance always left him out of breath, so he didn't get far before he felt the earth beneath himself start to drift away.

This was the point where things started to go downhill for team MOON.

Fortunately for Oran, the extra force he'd added to the tornado made it stronger, but also caused it to burn itself out faster, as the dust energy used to create it died out before the hyena faunus was more than a few stories off the ground. Still, as the storm dissipated, it sent Oran flying off and made him collide with several of the sandstone structures on his trip towards the ground, crumbling them into pieces before he landed out of bounds.

A loud buzzer went off signaling that Oran Bellows had been eliminated, the hyena boy tried to stand but his arms gave out from under him. The out of breath faunus settled for rolling on to his back and giving a thumbs up to no one in particular, "OK... (wheeze)... good game..."

May had been locked in combat with Nebula when she heard the buzzer, she looked up at the large screen hanging above the battlefield and saw that Oran's portrait had been X'd out. Dammit, she thought to herself as she saw the blonde member of team NDGO running across the arena towards Octavia and Oreonna. This is why the cow faunus had wished Nichol had just listened to her earlier, Maybelle's plan had been to have the spear wielder team up with Oran to take on Dew. The leader's reasoning being that they knew the least about Octavia and Dew's strengths, so they needed to focus on eliminating them first from the match. Now, thanks to wherever the silver haired girl had decided to run off to, Oreonna was outnumbered and-

Wait! May thought as she swung her weapon at Nebula, the dark haired girl having to switch her crossbow to it's sword mode in response. The gears finally clicked in place in Maybelle's head, she leapt up and slammed Alexandra Grande into the ground, the bell at it's end making a shock wave of sound and sand as it struck the earth, making Nebula scramble back to avoid the blast.

The cow girl saw her opportunity, "Oreo! Watch out!" she yelled at the cat faunus. Oreonna had her blade locked with Octavia's and looked back over her shoulder at the approaching Dew, "Oreonna! Time to even the odds!" her leader yelled.

The black and white haired faunus smiled, and as Dew went in for a blast from her wind staff, there was a telltale flash of light as two Oreonna's split apart in front of the blonde, not only causing her attack to miss, but also making the burst of air send Octavia flying back. As Dew let out a gasp of surprise at her own friendly fire, she was assaulted by the white haired Oreonna slashing at her with the sharp edges of Symphonic Discords shield, while a recovering Octavia was attacked by the weapons bladed bow courtesy of the darker haired half of the cat girl.

Maybelle let out a sigh of relief, impressed at how quickly Oreonna had managed to turn the tables in the fight back in there favor. That still left Nebula to her, and unfortunately the two of them continued to be locked in a stalemate. It'd been the same way back at Vast, Maybelle's power was easily countered by Nebula's speed, and vice versa, the two were an even match... usually. Today, however, in addition to focusing on fighting, May was also doing her best to try and keep an eye out for her teammates since this was her first outing as a leader. Add to that the stress of losing Oran so early, Nichol's disappearance, as well as May's distracted paranoia about having not seen Gwen since the start of the match. Though, the cow faunus had a feeling Nichol might have had something to do with her knife throwing classmates absence, or at least she hoped so. If Nichol was going to straight out ignore her leaders orders, she could at least try and be helpful by taking out an opponent or two. Regardless, Maybelle was optimistic enough to believe that maybe team MOON stood a chance in this fight now, but alas, things were about to go from bad to worse for them.

The black tailed Oreonna sneered as she parried another blow from Octavia's sword, making the red head stagger back. Octavia's sword glowed red as she swung her blade in a wide arc, sending out another wave of fire, Oreonna's blacked haired half raised her bow sword in defense, but without a shield the blast sent the cat girl skidding back on her feet. Meanwhile, Dew was firing off a constant flow of wind from her staff into the white cat eared Oreonna's shield pushing her backwards as well. None of this would be a enormous problem, expect for the fact that the two Oreonna's were getting further apart. The shield wielding cat faunus' normally peaceful face was starting to wince in pain as a migraine started forming in the back of her head, and her darker counterpart was experiencing a similar feeling as the distance between the two got greater and greater.

Maybelle didn't know this, but controlling two bodies was unsurprisingly stressful, Oreonna's semblance meant splitting her psyche into two halves, one serene and focused, the other aggressive and rash, the two main parts of her that made the cat girl whole. However the greater the distance between the two Oreonna's, the tougher it was to maintain the connection. In her studies to try and combat this weakness, Oreonna had compared this effect to a radio signal, the further the two points were from each other, the weaker the reception got. Oreonna was always trying to push herself to increase the distance she was able to work her two halves, but at present day, she couldn't manage more than 10 meters, even less when she was under assault.

Octavia delivered a downward slash to the already dazed black haired version of Oreonna pushing her even further away, the cat girl let out a short cry of agony as her counterpart over with Dew did the same. Then, as if pulled together by an invisible force, the two Oreonna's were thrust towards each other, colliding into one another with a second flash of light and leaving an exhausted, single, black and white haired Oreonna in their place. The cat girl panted on her knees as she grasped her head in pain, she barely had the strength to raise her head in time to see Dew pointing her staff in her direction, the dust crystal in it's tip flaring to life as it fired.

Maybelle's heart sank as she heard a second buzzer and turned to see Oreonna rolling across the desert sand as her aura broke, "Oreo! NO!" May shouted, Nebula saw her chance and slashed the distracted cow faunus across her midsection, taking a large chunk of May's aura with her. Maybelle gripped her side before growling in frustration and swinging her massive club one handed at Nebula in a wild attack, the crossbow wielder leapt back, landing next to Octavia and Dew who'd approached to assist their leader. The three girls smirked in superiority at their opponent, May held her weapon tightly in front of her, things weren't looking good, no way she could take all of them on her own...

Thankfully, Maybelle wasn't entirely alone, as she was reminded when a third buzzer rang out and Gwen Darcy came flying out from behind a nearby pillar, landing face down on the ground in front of her teammates, her aura completely gone. The cow girl looked on in awe as Nichol stepped out of the shadow of the same pillar, taking in the sight of the remaining members of team NDGO. The silver haired girl narrowed her eyes at the trio, before twirling her spear in her hand, launching four orbs of ice dust at the trio who had so kindly grouped themselves together making them an easy target. Octavia was quick to react as she swung a wave of fire at the ice, instantly melting it and sending the flames streaking towards Nichol. The spear wielder was unfazed by the approaching inferno and leapt into combat, instead of dodging the fire, she swung her weapons curved edge right into it, and no one expected what happened next. Nichols weapon seemed to absorb the attack as it's tip glowed red, then with a mid air spin, the orange eyed girl sent the fire dust attack right back at Octavia. The NDO of NDGO were caught off guard by the counter attack as the flames landed between them, kicking up a cloud of sand, the girls all coughed as they desperately tried to clear away the debris.

"Where is she?" Nebula shouted.

"I don't know! I can't see her!" Octavia yelled in confusion.

"Hold on!" Dew said as she used her staff to clear the air, revealing Nichol standing in the center of her opponents.

Before anyone could even gasp in surprise, the spear wielding warrior swung her weapon in a low sweeping circle, knocking all three opponents on their backs. Nichol wasted no time and continued her assault by rushing Octavia, the one with the lowest amount of aura at the moment. The red head hadn't even managed to get to her feet all the way before she was forced back to the ground, the girls sword coming up just in time to block Nichol's spear, but the power struggle that ensued wasn't going in Octavia's favor. As the point of Nichols weapon was being slowly forced down into the fire sword wielder's throat, Nebula and Dew had been able to recover and were about to leap in to assist when a giant club slammed in front of them. Nichol looked back to find Maybelle, who'd finally snapped out of her stupor, swiping her weapon upwards at the two girls, forcing them to back off.

The silver haired girl gave May an annoyed look, "I didn't need your help!" she growled out.

"Well, you just got it!" May replied as she batted away another crossbow bolt, "You're welcome by the way."

Nichol grit her teeth at the faunus, Octavia took advantage of the bickering between teammates and managed to shift the angry girls weapon so it implanted it's sharp edge into the ground just above her left ear, severing a few strands of her red locks in the process. Nichol looked back at her opponent just as Octavia kicked her roughly in the stomach, pushing herself back and using the momentum to roll to her feet. Nichol stumbled away and ended up standing back to back with Maybelle.

"You can't take them all on your own and neither can I, let me help you, Nichol!" the blonde berzerker pleaded, the two of them could only do this if they worked together.

But again, Nichol didn't listen and charged off at Octavia, the red head gulping loudly as the somehow even angrier girl stomped towards her, leaving May to take on Nebula and Dew alone as the two approached with haste. Octavia took a step back in an attempt to escape Nichol's growing wrath, but the orange eyed girl's look made it clear that if she wanted to get away, she needed to be a little more creative. Bending her knees slightly, the red head prepared herself and when Nichol swung her weapon Octavia pushed off with her back foot and started sliding across the sand beneath her feet.

Nichol's look turned to confusion as Octavia continued to slip across the desert arena seemingly surfing on the dunes around them. The red haired huntress leaned in and picked up speed before turning and rushing towards the spear wielder with her sword ready and delivering a quick strike across Nichol's shoulder, followed by several more quick slashes as she zipped by again and again. The orange eyed girl tried to regain the upper hand with strikes of her own, but Octavia's movements were too fast and erratic to get a bead on.

Finally succumbing to her growing anger, Nichol raised her weapon high into the air, ice dust gathering in it's tip, before slamming it in to the ground freezing the area around her. Octavia's feet went out from under her as the terrain went slick and she was sent sliding off, momentum completely out of control, but the ice didn't stop there. Meanwhile, Maybelle was having trouble fending off both Nebula and Dew, whose teamwork was much better than May and Nichol's at the moment, and the cow faunus soon found herself down on one knee and before she could get up the muscular blonde was hit by the full force of Nichol's ice attack. The faunus girl could only watch as the wave of ice washed over her, freezing her up to her waist and covering both her arms, and as luck would have it, Dew and Nebula were able to leap out of harms way just in time.

"H-hey!" May shouted over her shivers as she realized she was frozen in place, she tried to break herself free, but the fight had already taken too much out of her, no way she was getting out on her own. "Ni-Nichol!" her silver haired teammate looked back and Maybelle hoped she'd notice the predicament she'd just put her in and help, but instead Nichol rolled here eyes and went off after the weakened Octavia again.

Maybelle stared at Nichol in disbelief as she walked away, how could anyone possibly be this callous? Maybelle didn't have long to sit there before she saw the shadows of Dew and Nebula looming over her, Neb's expression was one of pity, but all the same, she raised her long sword above her head. The cow girl sighed and then grit her teeth as she prepared for what she knew was coming next, sure enough she soon felt the edge of her friends blade collide with her side. On the one hand, the blow was hard enough to knock Maybelle free from her icy prison, but at the same time, a fourth buzzer sounded off as Maybelle's aura dipped into the red.

Nichol didn't last long after that, as Octavia was joined by her teammates and the three on one odds soon overwhelmed the huntress in training. Maybelle just laid there where she'd fallen after Nebula's attack with her eyes closed as a final buzzer signified the end of the match...

... They'd lost.

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A/N- Eyyyyy short chapter, but its better than nothing, right?... right?... Well, at least we got a little action in here! Four on four fights are haaaaaaard, hope I did okay.

Anyway, I had to split this chapter in half for reasons. I haven't quite finished typing up this arc yet as it turned out being a lot longer than I thought. Or rather, one chapter turned into four and here we are I guess?

Hopefully we'll have another chapter done soon. Not sure if I lost any of you guys during the break, but like I said; I saw I got a few new watchers so I figured I'd update. Hope you like it! If you're new here, welcome! Leave a review? Don't? The choice is yours, my friend! I will surely continue to scream into the void regardless!