Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.

"And now it's our turn!" Yang said happily as she bounced on her toes.

"Just remember to keep proper form?" Weiss chided as she tapped her foot.

"Ugh, alright. So, you're from Atlas. What can we expect from these guys?" asked Yang as she ran through some light stretches while the arena lift neared the end of its rapid ascent.

"Well, considering their Kingdom, academy, and armed forces are all merged into one, I think we can expect strict, militant fighters with superior technology and carefully rehearsed strategies," Weiss explained as the lift reached the top.

Both girls jumped as a form rushed past from behind their backs, an odd afterimage of a rainbow trailing behind the culprit as she rolled to a stop in front of them. The slim girl had moderate, red-orange hair that was done up in a quartet of ponytails, the top pair much larger than the bottom counterparts. Light blue highlights stood out in her bangs, and bright green eyes glittered mischievously at the Freezerburn pair of Team RWBY. She was dressed in a light blue tank top, hanging loosely over a purple bra, and wore dark purple shorts under a bright pink mini skirt, held in place by a white belt with a gold, smiley face buckle with a winking eye. A tiny purple button with a cat and another, smaller and green button with a smiley face were pinned over her right breast. White bracers protected both arms, and each leg was clad with shin and knee pads. Forgoing the usual boots, shoes, and sometimes sandals of fellow Hunters, the girl instead zipped around on a pair of red roller blades. An orange, feline tail swung behind her, colored in the same hue as her hair that faded into a white tip. She spun a pair of white nunchaku in her right hand.

The young man who stood next to her was far more reserved; dark skinned and wearing rectangular sunglasses. He traced with his fingers the rim of a black fedora trimmed with light blue as he glanced up at the two girls challenging him, a smirk on his features. A light blue tie hung loosely over his neck, the two ends hanging haphazardly across his chest. He was clad in a dark vest over a white, un-tucked undershirt, the tails of which hanging over the front of his striped, dark dress pants. A black holster filled with dust vials hung on his left leg. Silver dress shoes and a dark glove on his left hand completed his look as he stood with his arms crossed, his gloved hand holding a silver C trumpet.

"Or... whatever they are," Weiss said in defeat.

"Hey, you're Weiss Schnee right? The Heiress..." said the boy.

"I am," Weiss nodded with a smile and small bow.

"I take it you're pretty good with Dust then."

"I try my best," Weiss shrugged and averted her eyes from the light praise.

"Yeah, my dad was too; owned a little Dust shop of his own..." he continued, his tone changing from charming to begrudging. "... till you're father's company ran him out of business."

"Oh! I'm... sorry to hear that..." Weiss said dejectedly, but her condolences were lost on the young man.

"Sure you are," he answered sarcastically, earning Yang's ire.

"Hey why don't you-" the brawler started only to get cut off by the cat faunus in front of her.

"Hey! Why don't you!" she said mockingly. "That's what you sound like!"

"Uh..." Yang said with confusion, taken aback by skater's demeanor.

"Hey! Where do you get your hair extensions?" continued the perky cat.

"My... this is just my normal hair," Yang answered her.

"Ooooo really?"

"Yeah... is that a probl-"

"You should try roller blading sometime! It's super fun," she said, cutting Yang off again as she rolled around in little circles. "It might take you awhile though, since you're so... you know... top heavy."

Yang stepped back in shock at the comment, suddenly self-conscious of her bust as she glanced down, only to lash back out in anger. Weiss looked between the two with astonishment.

"Excuse me?!"

"Oh here we go..." sighed Ruby as she watched from the stands, the arena now shifting with the new biomes.

"Does that rainbow girl have a death wish?" asked Raine as his eye twitched.

"Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long from Team RWBY of Beacon, versus Flynt Coal and Neon Katt from Team FNKI of Atlas!" came Professor Port's announcement.

The biomes of the arena settled as the burly Huntsman began his countdown. The four sections for this match were split between desert, fire, geyser, and urban. Yang crouched in preparation, hands clenched into fists as she eagerly awaited the chance to pummel the catgirl into the ground. Weiss took her usual stance, Myrtenaster at the ready as she focused her attentions on Flynt. The Heiress knew better than to get between Yang and the target of her frustrations. Flynt stood with his feet shoulder width apart as he raised his trumpet, Neon crouching low as she prepared to rush forward.

"Begin!"

Flynt wasted no time, opening up the match with a screaming tone from his trumpet. The sound waves became amplified by his aura as a visible ripple in the air appeared, a cone of force enveloping Yang and Weiss. The two girls struggled to maintain their footing as his blast pushed them backwards, with Weiss casting a gravity glyph beneath her feet. She failed to do the same for Yang unfortunately, and when Neon rushed forward under her partner's boost, there was nothing to anchor the blonde brawler when she was hit by a shoulder tackle from the funky feline. The force sent Yang bouncing back into the urban zone of the arena, Neon skating after her.

A smirk on his face, Flynt let loose another cadenza, this time aiming solely for Weiss as she was left alone to face him. She rushed forward as quickly as she could, but was soon caught up in his overbearing tones. Still, she pushed on as she called upon gravity glyphs to close the distance. Taking advantage of her stubborn nature, Flynt abruptly cut off the stream. With no counter-force to fight against, Weiss was sent stumbling forward with a cry. Flynt smirked as she tripped passed, spinning on the spot and swinging a kick into her back. She tumbled into the fire zone in a heap.

On the opposite side of the arena, Yang angrily chased after a taunting Neon, firing a wild flurry of flares that did little but amuse the skating feline. She flipped over a blast and feel into a grind upon a ruined railing, blowing a raspberry and tugging down her lower eyelid with her finger. Yang growled in response and doubled up on her delivery of explosives, but the nimble faunus glided through the blasts like a dancer in the middle of a crowded club.

"Never miss a beat, never miss a beat," she sang to herself as she rode upon walls and collapsed pillars alike, all the while aggravating her blonde opponent further.

She zig-zagged through another volley of flares, this time spinning her nunchucks in hand and as she came close, she smacked Yang hard across the face. Neon took advantage of her urban surroundings, bouncing back and forth with an accelerating speed, ducking and weaving through Yang's furious attempts of retaliation. With each pass, she pummeled Yang with her nunchucks, purposefully aiming for softer areas to match her taunting. Neon then slid to a stop, taking both ends of her nunchucks in her hands and bending them. A tell-tale crackle of dust came as they glowed a light blue, and like a switch being flipped, Neon was back on the attack, smacking Yang in the calf and encasing her leg in ice.

"Look! Now you're bottom heavy too!" giggled the catgirl as she gave herself a smack on the rear.

Yang growled in response, stomping her encased foot on the ground and shattering the ice. She was too slow to react, unfortunately, as Neon went back on the attack, this time striking at Yang's right arm. Like her leg only seconds prior, this limb too became covered in a large block of ice, throwing the brawler off balance, and Neon continued having the time of her life; grinding on another railing and rolling smoothly between a pair of archways. With a smirk, she changed directions again, turning into a rainbow colored blur as she sped back towards her opponent. Jumping with her skating, Neon planted both feet into Yang's chest with an aura enhanced drop kick, sending the blonde brawler flying backwards into a wall. It splintered into a spider web of cracks upon impact.

Yang shook the dizziness from her eyes as she stared back at her infuriating target, the feline skater rolling in little circles once more.

"You should cool off," Neon taunted again. "Get it? It's cuz you're angry!"

Yang said nothing, choosing instead to clench her teeth and shatter what remained of the wall underneath her fist, cracking the ice into shards that fell with a chime upon the floor.

Weiss didn't fare much better with classy trumpeter, having been forced into a ranged battle amongst the super-heated landscape of a volcano. The two stared each other down, waiting for one another to make the next move. Weiss obliged him, spinning in a pirouette and flourishing Myrtenaster in intricate patterns. Four white glyphs then formed behind the Heiress, and with each spin, they pulsed and grew. Convinced they had sufficient mass and power, she finished her preparation and thrust forward with her rapier, a quartet of ice missiles firing from the glyphs. Flynt raised a brow at her change in tactics, but remained confident as the magma geyser in front of him began bubbling. He spun and flipped backwards, landing on his knees in showmanship, and let loose another blast from his horn, the sound waves timed perfectly with the geyser's eruption. The pillar of lava that followed was redirected, the molten rock vaporizing Weiss' attack in the blink of an eye.

"Too bad all that money can't buy you skill," he jeered, spinning his horn in his hand.

Weiss sneered in response, huffing and spinning the revolving chambers of her rapier. Settling on wind dust, she took stance again, meeting Flynt's tones with a twister of wind. The two forces canceled each other out upon contact, neither being able to push through. With Flynt grounded, her right rand twitched, and an array of glyphs surrounded him. She cut off the gust and jumped between her glyphs like reflections between mirrors. With each swap, she fired an ice shard, bombarding him in rapid succession and chipping away his aura. Flynt stumbled from the impacts, but forced himself to focus his Semblance.

Taking a player's stance once more, he blew with even greater force, his form multiplying into a quartet of clones, each one wearing a different color tie than the original; specifically yellow, green, and pink. They moved in unison with a slight delay, the one-man-band playing in harmony with himself with a powerful improv, his tones amplified four fold. The blast was too much for Weiss. She was launched from her attack between glyphs and sent tumbling to the edge of the biome.

"Whoa..." breathed Jaune and Arianna as they leaned forward.

"What's this?" asked a curious Port.

"It appears young Flynt has just activated his Semblance! And quite a remarkable one at that," answered Oobleck. "Ladies and gentlemen... feast your eyes on Flynt Coal's Killer Quartet!"

Flynt ran with the praise, flipping his fedora from his hand back to his head and tracing the brim. His copies followed with him, mimicking their maker perfectly. He glanced at the scoreboard, and with a satisfied smirk, sauntered forward, his copies receding back into his form.

"What's wrong, Schnee? This song too hot for ya?" he said with a smirk.

Weiss growled and got back to her feet, gripping Myrtenaster as she glared at the cocky musician.

"It's all good. Tell you what; I'll play on your terms," he suggested as he spun his horn and clipped it to his dust pouch. "C'mon... let's boogie."

She scowled and rushed forward, Myrtenaster poised to run him through. Flynt continued his smirk as she closed the gap, twisting and weaving between her strikes. The man moved as if he was performing a carefully choreographed dance, moving to rhythm only he could hear. His plated boot lashed out every now and then to parry a swipe that came too close for comfort, yet he never broke stride.

"And here I thought you rich types could dance," he mocked as he leaned under another slash that was poised for his throat.

"That's enough out of you!" Weiss spat, her ire growing by the second.

A white glyph enveloped her right hand. Pooling her aura into her palm, she slammed it into the ground forcefully, creating a shockwave of ice that flash-froze the impact area. Anticipating the movement, Flynt took to the sky and immediately twisted into a counter.

"Let's break it down!" he announced as he plummeted back down to earth with an aura enhanced ax kick.

Weiss' eyes grew wide as his heel made contact with her crown, slamming her face down into the ashen floor. Her head swam as her aura struggled to absorb the blow, the Heiress lurching forward from the blow. She crumpled to her knees in shock as her aura meter took a hefty blow; she wouldn't last much longer. Flynt snorted as he landed lightly on his toes, tracing the brim of his fedora as he drew his horn once more.

"Dang, and here I was expecting more from you," he mused with a shrug as his foot sat securely on Myrtenaster's blade before she could reach forward.

On the other side of the arena, Yang wasn't faring much better as she angrily chased the neon cat through the rubble and back to the arena's center.

"Ooooh! Flashy eyes! Ya know, you're actually really pretty when you're angry!" Neon sang with a little dance.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Yang bellowed as she rocketed forward with a pair of blasts from Ember Celica.

Neon smiled and increased her speed, circling Yang in a dizzying display as the blonde struggled to get a solid bead on her target. Stray blasts impacted throughout the surrounding environment but none of them had hit her mark.

"Get back here!" she yelled in her frustration.

"Look, I'm not saying that you should go on a diet. I'm just saying you really need to go on a diet!" Neon continued to mock.

"That's it!" Yang roared as she reached her boiling point.

"You're fat!" Neon answered simply as she held her arms out in fake sympathy.

Flynt smiled as he watched the exchange. Throwing Weiss a knowing smirk, he turned his back and activated his Semblance, his three copies lining up in formation to his left. Weiss looked back and forth between him and her teammate, and as she watched a magma geyser begin to bubble, she made a split second decision. Forcing herself to her feet, she rushed forward and tackled the real Flynt Coal from behind, canceling out his quartet and knocking them both into the sudden eruption from the geyser. A buzzer rang out as her aura meter hit zero. In a moment of hesitation, Yang and Neon turned their attentions away from each other, worried about the fates of their teammates.

"Weiss!" Ruby and Blake called out in alarm from the stands.

"Huh, that was pretty ballsy of the Heiress to do something like that," grunted Cyan as he watched with interest.

"It appears we have a double knockout on our hands!" announced Professor Port.

"Yes, in fact Ms. Schnee's aura has been completely depleted!" added Doctor Oobleck. "She sacrificed herself to take out Flynt. Wait... what's this?"

From the smoke and ashes stood Flynt Coal, his outfit scuffed and an angry scowl marring his features. He rolled his neck as he fought down the aching pains assaulting his body. It wasn't without a price though, as his aura meter blinked dangerously above the disqualification point.

"Ladies and gentlemen... Flynt Coal remains standing!" declared Professor Port.

"Great job, Flynt!" cheered Neon as she rolled over to his striding form. "Don't worry about her, she's easy! But kinda annoying..."

"And cue the dragon," commented Raine as he sat back in his chair.

The Caelesti could feel the energy in the air as Yang finally had enough. The ground shook as she drew upon the full might of her Semblance, a fact that Professor Port was quick to point out.

"Uh oh, it looks like Yang is angry! And you wouldn't like her when she's... upset."

Yang roared as several magma geysers erupted behind her, her eyes now a fierce scarlet. Cycling into a fresh belt of rounds, she lashed out with aura enhanced blasts, the flares now detonating on impact and digging craters into the ground.

"Yo Neon, go!" yelled Flynt as he prompted her to rush forward in a sound-wave enhanced charge.

Yang refused to back down, the brawler literally seeing red as she pushed forward with her shotgun blasts, meeting Neon in the middle and swinging wildly in her anger. Like before, Neon bobbed and weaved around the strikes, not paying attention to the increasingly ruined arena floor. Eventually, Yang lost her momentum and was sent soaring into the air, but that didn't deter her in the least, as she set her sights on Flynt towards the back. An explosive blast impacted to his right, forcing him off balance and redirecting his tones off to the side.

The cone that kept Neon pushing forward suddenly yanked her to her left as well, the rainbow feline stumbling amongst the continued barrage from Yang and blasting craters into the floor around her. Without a smooth dance floor, Neon was losing her beat. Now with the counter force no longer keeping her suspended, Yang fell back to the ground and landed in a roll, rushing forward with the opening she created.

Flynt refused to take the attack however, and forced his Semblance out once more, setting all of his attentions on the blonde dragon. Yang jumped into the air as he assaulted her with his tones, roaring out furiously as she forced herself forward with Ember Celica until finally she reached close enough to clamp her hands over the bell of Flynt's trumpet. One last pull of the triggers in her gauntlets sent a blast directly into his face, the power amplified by the sudden release of backlogged energy kept blocked up in his horn. The shockwave sent him sprawling onto the ground and knocking his aura down to zero.

"Oh! A sour note for Flynt," commented Doctor Oobleck.

"Never miss a beat, never miss a beat," Neon chanted to herself in a nervous mantra. "Never... miss a..."

Her hopes and dreams seemed to shatter as the toe of her roller blade got caught on a piece of rubble.

"Beat?" she squeaked with tears in her eyes.

She hit the ground in a wild roll that carried her directly into the mouth of a steam geyser. She screamed as it blasted her into the air, now a perfect target for the brawler she taunted the entire match. At long last, with her first smirk in the entire match, Yang took aim and fired her final round, her painstaking efforts finally rewarded as the flare made contact, detonating in a shower of rainbow colored sparks like a firework. She gave herself a fist pump as she watched her enemy fall to the ground in a heap. A final buzzer signaled the end of the match and the crowed erupted in applause.

Yang took a moment to catch her breath, her irises returning to their usual lilac color as she rushed over to her downed teammate.

"Weiss!" she called out as she reached the Heiress' ash covered form.

"I... don't think I'll be singing again for awhile," Weiss coughed out as she struggled to sit up in Yang's arms.

Yang sighed in relief and smiled.

"Ya know... I don't think that was proper form," she teased.

"Oh ha ha," Weiss weakly retorted with another cough.

"WHAAAA?!" came a high pitched squeal.

Weiss and Yang looked across the arena to find a shocked Neon clutching the sides of her head, her form oddly grayed out from its usual brighter colors.

"We lost? We lost?! Team FNKI LOST?! That was... that was... amazing!"

Like a switch, she lit up in a way reminiscent of her namesake.

"Oh my gosh, you guys were super crazy awesome! We should definitely party sometime! Right Flynt?"

Yang tilted her head in confusion at the sudden and complete change in demeanor of the girl who, just moments ago, was sending her into an unbridled rage. Weiss' gaze settled upon the musician who straightened up behind the hyperactive feline, a glint of new-found respect in his eyes.

"That was a gutsy move, Schnee," he admitted. "I dig it."

Yang and Weiss shared a look of relief and triumph, the two girls smiling to each other as the crowd continued its cheers.

"Great job you two!" praised Blake as she and Ruby ran up to join them.

"Yeah! Team RWBY is taking this all the way to the finals!" added Ruby as she knelt down to hug her bestie.

"Gah! Ruby! Too tight!" the Heiress squeaked out with a dusty cough.

"Eheheh, sorry!" the young Caelesti apologized with a sheepish giggle, the girl loosening her hold.

Weiss rolled her eyes as her teammates helped her to her feet.

"So what, that boyfriend of yours and his muscle-head of a teammate couldn't find the time to congratulate us?" the Heiress huffed.

"Yeah, that's pretty lame. Arianna isn't here either," Yang pointed out with a frown.

"They gave their best wishes, but it's also their match up next after intermission," explained Blake.

"Mhm," nodded Ruby in agreement. "They had to go downstairs to prepare, and Ari wanted to send them off."

"I guess they're forgiven then. Who are they fighting?" Yang asked as the girls made their way out of the ring.

"No idea, they didn't say," Ruby answered with a shrug. "But I'm sure they can handle it."

Amber hummed a small tune to herself as she toweled off the sweat from her face. She was dressed in a simple white tank top and orange shorts, the Maiden cooling down from her recent workout. Even though she was restricted to the tower, there were still certain amenities she was free to use, including a private gym specifically for the faculty. She hung the damp cloth, still warm from the sauna, around her neck as she grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, the cool liquid feeling like heaven as it glided down her throat. Sighing with content, she made her way over to the couch, the holoscreen showing a live display of the day's matches.

She watched with interest as Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc battled against the eccentric Fushia Dhalia and enigmatic Nocturne Merlot. Her eyes narrowed at the mention of the young man's family name. The thought of the estranged doctor whose lab was destroyed in the fall of Mountain Glenn left a sour taste in her mouth, but it appeared that his son didn't harbor any of the flawed genius displayed by his father. Her brows rose when Pyrrha and Jaune resorted to Breakthrough in their battle, though she supposed she shouldn't have been too surprised. Pyrrha's file was one of the first she had looked over last night; four time Mistral regionals champion and one of the top students at Beacon. Everything that there was to know about the Unbeatable Girl was on the dossier, including a personal edit from Ozpin stating that she was considered to be the next candidate for the Fall Maiden's power. Amber took that information with a grain of salt; she couldn't blame the aging Headmaster for making a contingency plan. Up until little over a week ago, she had all but surrendered her life as forfeit. Had their positions been reversed, she would have done the same thing.

Attached to Pyrrha's file was Jaune's, which was unusual considering the boy had absolutely no previous files stating his enrollment at any other academies, entry or otherwise. Further inspection of his paperwork then revealed his transcripts as false; the boy had forged his documents, yet Ozpin seemed to overlook the transgression anyway. Unsurprisingly, his track record had showed that he was dead-last in every subject, a series of grades that should have gotten him expelled, until those marks began to reverse roughly halfway through the year. The changes were subtle, but they were enough to warrant his continued enrollment. It was at this point that Ozpin had placed a cliff-note; the leader of Team JNPR had begun training personally under Pyrrha Nikos. From that point on, his marks improved exponentially and reflected a far better standing for the White Knight.

The fruits of his labors seemed to have been showing in spades as Amber smiled at his finisher against poor Fushia, though her musings were broken when a knock came from the door.

Wary of any unannounced visitors, she subconsciously drew upon her aura, regardless of how out of practice she was from her coma. Moving slowly with deliberate steps, she called out to the unexpected guest.

"Who is it?" she asked with masked suspicion.

"An old friend," came a gravelly voice.

She relaxed at the answer, letting her guard drop and swinging open the door. There stood Qrow, the weathered veteran leaning against the wall in front of her.

"It's good to see you up and kicking again," he continued with relief in his voice.

"Qrow," she said with a smile. "It's been awhile. Please, come in."

She stood aside and waved him through the threshold, the elder Huntsman setting his sword aside by the door.

"Can I get you anything? I don't have much but the water is cold, and I was about to brew a pot of tea," she offered as she busied herself in the kitchen.

"Thanks, but I've brought my own. I don't want to intrude too much," he answered as he settled on the couch, having caught the ending of Pyrrha and Jaune's match.

"Anything for old friends," she said cheerfully as she joined him in the living room, settling herself in the loveseat across from him.

"Amber... I'm sorry," he suddenly apologized as he hung his head.

"What...?" she asked with confusion.

"I was too late to save you," he continued, regret lacing his voice. "If I was just a minute sooner, none of that would have happened. I was a fool to leave you like that, and an even bigger fool in letting the ones responsible get away."

Amber's lips settled into a grimace. The visual memories were gone, but the pain was still there, as was the reason for their separation in the first place.

"Don't beat yourself up," she reasoned. "I was the one who insisted on traveling alone. I got careless because I've done it for so long. I didn't want you shadowing me, and if you didn't at all, I wouldn't even be here to begin with. In the end, you still saved my life, and my attacker still doesn't have all of the Fall Maiden's power."

"It's not about power; I failed another friend," he retorted. "I failed my team, I failed Summer, and I failed you."

"And if it wasn't for you, I would never have lived to see my son become a strong and just Huntsman," she declared certainty, forcing Qrow to pause.

She continued with a gentler tone.

"You have done so much more than you give yourself credit for. Taiyang bounced back because of you, Ruby and Yang absolutely adore you, and even from the Other Side, Summer will never blame you. Any weaker man in your position would have long given up on themselves and the world around them, and yet you still keep on fighting. It's beautiful to see."

The holoscreen showed that Yang and Weiss from Team RWBY were up next to fight, but the two old friends paid no attention.

"You're a good man, Qrow Branwen. You just need to learn to see it."

"They don't deserve the burden of my name," he grunted back.

Qrow scowled and took a long swig from his flask, though the action didn't perturb Amber in the slightest. She let him take his time. That nervous habit of his, regardless of how destructive it was on the body, had always calmed his emotions, and she didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise.

"Fine, you made your point I guess," he grumbled as he stowed away the now half-empty flask. "Enough with all the sappy crap though. You'll ruin my style."

"What? The dark and broody old man with a drinking habit like a fish?" she teased back.

Qrow snorted at the remark.

"Not funny," he replied as he watched his elder niece's fight with mild interest. "So the boy-scout is your son after all, huh? Ain't that a kicker."

Amber nodded.

"He is, but I feel like in blood only," she explained with concern. "I've been away for far too long. He harbors a great deal of pain and he doesn't trust me enough to talk about it. I want to be that mother he deserves, but I'm afraid I'm seventeen years too late for that."

"A hard pill to swallow," he agreed softly. "It's only been one day though. Give him time, and he'll come around."

"Maybe..." she murmured. "I just hope I'm not too late. I'm glad that he has your niece to support him."

Qrow smirked.

"Which one?"

"You know which one," she sighed with exasperation. "He and Ruby have grown so close together. When I was in my pod, it was difficult for me to differentiate one soul from the other. Those two have a bond almost as strong as the one I share with my husband."

"Can't say Tai would agree with that," Qrow remarked sardonically. "He's always been protective of his little girls, Ruby doubly so. I really hope I'm there when they break the news to him."

Amber let her mouth hang open in surprise.

"You mean he doesn't know?"

Qrow barked out a laugh.

"If he knew, your son would be in the hospital nursing a concussion."

"Well at least he hasn't lost any of his old fire," Amber said with a smile. "At any rate, she already has my blessing, and judging by your tone, I'm going to take a guess and say he's earned yours."

"You could say that," he answered with a small smirk. "Those two saved my neck in Mountain Glenn, and she just lights up when she talks about him. I haven't seen her that happy in years. I almost feel sorry for old daddy Tai. His little girl is growing up."

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they directed their attention to the match. Qrow chuckled as the little cat faunus literally ran circles around Yang, her ire growing by the second. He warned her, he warned her a long time ago that she needed to reign in that temper. At least here it was a controlled environment and not a battle to the death. He did let himself show his surprise however when Weiss sacrificed herself to cover her teammate.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day a Schnee throw themselves in harm's way like that," he remarked.

"You mean Winter hasn't?" Amber said coyly.

"This is different. This is a competition, and last I checked, Schnees love to win. They love it so much, they don't even contemplate loss as an option."

"Maybe Weiss isn't your typical Schnee?"

"Hell if I know."

It was at that point Yang had finally tapped into her Semblance, with the usual fiery display framing her for the camera. Qrow raised his flask in his own, silent cheer as she delivered the finishing blows to Flynt and Neon. Sloppy as it was in execution, he was still happy for her in pulling a win out of her rear end. Still, she needed a few more training sessions with Tai if she was ever going to gain complete control over her power.

"That was enjoyable, don't you think?" asked Amber.

"It was a mess," he answered with a snort. "At least they won."

Amber shook her head as she grabbed her scroll. Qrow raised a brow as she sat down next to him.

"So I've been meaning to ask..." she started as she flipped through the files Ozpin sent her. "I've been going over all of the dossiers of this year's roster, including all of the exchange students from the other kingdoms, and there were two in particular that gave me uneasy feelings."

She handed him the scroll, the veteran Huntsman selecting the first file with a wary gaze. His eyes narrowed as he read over the transcripts for Mercury Black. It said he hailed from Mistral, part of Team CMNE (Carmine) and was the heavy hitter, specialized in close combat; nineteen years of age, son of a now dead assassin. He quickly swapped over to the second file; Emerald Sustrai, also nineteen, and a street orphan also from Mistral who fought with a pair of kusarigama that doubled as revolvers. Neither of their Semblances were listed, but the pictures were all he needed.

"Son of a bitch..." he growled.

"Should I be concerned?" she asked seriously.

"They aren't directly responsible, but they were accomplices to your attacker last I checked. It makes sense; Ozpin said as much when he told me the tower got attacked. That means somewhere in here has got to be the leader."

He quickly navigated to Team CMNE's roster. He nearly snapped the scroll in his hands as his eyes fell upon a portrait; a woman with long, ashen black hair and amber eyes. Her smile was small and unassuming, but he'd recognize those eyes anywhere. Her name was Cinder Fall.

"Bullseye..." he whispered as he handed Amber back her scroll. "We found your attacker."

"Are you certain...?" Amber asked as she looked over Cinder's file.

"Your memories may have been suppressed, but mine are clear as day. That's her alright."

Amber frowned as a burning sensation welled up in her stomach. This woman certainly looked familiar, and her more distant memories did help her recall such a face.

"What are we supposed to do then? Do you think she'll attack me here in the middle of the school?" Amber asked as she set the contraption aside.

"Hard to say," muttered Qrow. "I'd imagine she's trying to maintain a low profile, so attacking you in broad daylight would only expose her. Unfortunately, your existence as a Maiden is heavily suppressed, which means even if we brought them in for questioning, we have no proof to pin to their names, and it would send the wrong message to the Kingdom of Mistral. As much as I hate to say it, they're here officially as students from Haven. I'll have to talk to Ozpin about this... how could I be so stupid letting something like that slip under my nose?"

He made to get up, but stopped when he saw the announcement for the next match.

"Speak of the devil..."

"So... what was it did you want to tell me about Emerald and Mercury?" asked Raine as he and Cyan waited patiently on the lift.

"Ari and I had a run-in with them when we first came to Vale," Cyan explained as he checked over his gauntlet. "They were hired by the White Fang to remove a deserter of theirs; a bookstore owner named Tukson."

"Tukson? Strange... Blake mentioned a couple months ago that her favorite bookstore suddenly closed down. She seemed pretty upset by it."

"Yep," confirmed Cyan. "The same Tukson who owned that store was the one Emerald and Mercury were hired to kill."

"But they didn't, I assume?"

Cyan shook his head.

"Ari had one of her visions, and insisted we pay him a visit that morning. A good thing too, because we barely beat his would-be killers by a couple minutes. We tried covering him while he went out the back, but they confronted us in the alley. Mercury tried picking a fight with me, but Emerald called him off. Hopefully Tukson made it to Vacuo, but we haven't heard from any of them since."

"So a pair of Hunters that went bad, basically," Raine summed up as the lift began its ascent. "Don't we get all the luck."

"That's what makes life worth living," Cyan said with a shrug. "Don't tell me you're getting tired?"

"Yes, all these shenanigans are just too much for my brittle bones to handle," Raine said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Oh well, more for me."

The two companions fell into silence as the lift emerged from the center of the arena. As if fate had some odd sense of humor, they found themselves face to face with the very topic of their conversation.

"Perfect. I've been hoping for a good challenge in this whole game," said a grinning Mercury as he bounced on his toes. "The scrubs on that last team went down too early."

"Emerald, Mercury," Cyan greeted stoically. "It's good to see you again."

The two in question maintained their facade, with Emerald leaning back on one foot with her arms crossed.

"What's wrong Cyan?" Emerald asked cheerfully. "Aren't you happy to see us?"

"Forgive my partner, he gets wary of certain characters," Raine commented as he stepped in. "I hope you two don't disappoint; he's told me a lot about you."

"Don't you worry about that," Mercury answered with a blood thirsty smile. "We always fight to impress."

Raine narrowed his eyes as his hand fell down to Tempest's hilt. These two rubbed him the wrong way, and Cyan's back-story didn't help his nerves. He watched them warily as the four of them lowered into their stances, the biome roulette flashing behind their heads; savanna, forest, geyser, and urban. Cyan extended Baal's claws, Raine drew Tempest an inch, Emerald stepped back and reached for her revolvers, and Mercury tensed his legs, his fists held in a low and loose guard. The tension between the four of them could be cut with a knife.

"Good luck you two!" cheered Arianna while their friends waited in anticipation, Professor Port announcing their face-off.

"Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai of Team CMNE vs Raine Zaffre and Cyan Gideon of Team ARC! Let the match begin!"

A/N: And cutting it there. I wanted to get this chapter out to you guys before the wife and I went on a birthday lunch. I turned 24 today, I'm so old! Anyway, Team FNKI originally struck me as a filler team. Their fighting styles, out of the entire cast, struck me as the absolute least suited for killing Grimm. So I decided to, in Flynt's case at least, make him more viable in a life and death fight. I wish they showed his fighting skill more instead of just making him stand in one spot the entire time. Flynt is one smooth dude, he deserved better, and the funky feline Neon has an entire song dedicated to roasting Yang; it's just a fun pair who are fun to write about.

Qrow and Amber have a heart to heart. He was there when she was attacked, so I elaborated a little bit on that backstory. No doubts in my mind he regrets being too late to save her, so I had her give him a bit of a pick me up while their investigation continues.

I hope everyone enjoyed this birthday submission, and stay tuned for ARC vs CMNE!