"So wait, you're telling me there's another person inside you?" Tristan asked after Kobalt had finished explaining to the rest of his team what his father had told him.

"It's a little more complicated than that." Kobalt sighed "I have a second personality that I apparently gave control over some kind of powers I have."

"And he can take control over from you?" Tristan tried again

"Kind of, it's weird." Kobalt said for the second time "But essentially yes."

"But it feels like it's still him doing everything, try to keep up." Justin shook his head

"Finally someone who gets it!" Kobalt exclaimed "Justin can you try to explain it to your brother if he still doesn't figure it out."

"I'll try, he can be dense at times." Justin nodded

"Excuse me?" Tristan yelled "I can be dense?"

"It took Kobalt about an hour and a half to explain that whole thing to you because you needed to hear it twice." Justin countered

"Wait it's been more than an hour?" Kobalt asked looking at the clock "Shit! I'm supposed to be heading to the Colosseum for the first round of the finals."

He looked over at Nickole trying to figure out what to do. He had promised to help her get to the stands to watch but he needed to get moving quickly.

"What are you waiting for, get moving!" Nickole ordered "Tristan get me my crutches."

"You sure?" Kobalt asked

"Are you kidding me? You can't afford to miss the finals, I'll be fine just get going." Nickole told him

"Don't worry I'll make sure she gets there in time." Tristan assured him

"Thanks." Kobalt said taking off as fast as he could from the infirmary. He hauled out of Haven and hopped on the first airship headed for Amity Colosseum. Fortunately it seemed he would make it just in time, people were still shuffling into the stands when he arrived. He filed in with the rest of the finalists just as they were heading out into the arena. Surprisingly enough it was Jazz who was right next to him at the end of the line.

"Hey, Nickole alright?" she whispered as the announcers started parroting the rules to the final rounds.

"Yeah, she's okay, nothing serious." Kobalt whispered back

"How bout you?" she asked

"I'm fine." Kobalt sighed

"If you say so." Jazz shrugged.

"Now without further ado let's get to the first of the one on one matches!" Sorrel shouted from the announcer box.

Kobalt looked up to the screen to see the randomizer start spinning through the remaining contestants. He hadn't even had a moment to look over the rest of the people he was up against. Jazz he knew, same with Furi, but all the other people were complete strangers to him. Until he caught sight of one, her face flashed for just a moment on the randomizer, but Kobalt hadn't forgotten what Luna Langlias looked like. He peered down the line to see her at the very front of it, beaming as if surprised to be there.

Oh please let it be her, Kobalt thought as the randomizer kept spinning. He would very much enjoy knocking her out for what she did to Nickole. But in the end it wasn't Luna who was drawn for the first round of the finals. Kobalt saw his picture up there though, right next to Jazz's.

"And there we have it, Jasmine Gale of Beacon versus Kobalt Ward of Beacon." Sorrel announced as the rest of the finalists left the stage.

"Geez is this thing rigged?" Jazz asked as the platform rose "If I didn't know better I'd say they set this up to lower Beacon's chance at winning."

"Who knows." Kobalt shrugged, wondering if Nickole had made it to the arena yet. As much as he wanted to be here right now, with everything that had just gone done another part of him really wanted Nickole here with him.

"Hey wake up man!" Jazz shouted, drawing his attention back to what was in front of him. He looked up to see the counter was almost down to zero. "You gonna take this seriously or not?"

"Excuse me?" Kobalt asked

"You're already drifting off over there." Jazz pointed at him "Am I so un-intimidating that you think you can zone out?"

"What? No it's not that." Kobalt told her

"Good, cause I'm not going to have anyone say I beat you because you were holding back on me." Jazz grinned, pulling her sword out of the sheath at her hip.

Kobalt slowly drew his own sword as Jazz rushed him the moment the timer hit zero. He casually blocked her attack, not moving an inch. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was entertaining the idea of stalling a few minutes so Nickole would be in the crowd. He didn't even bother counter attacking Jazz as she came at him, but the longer it went on the more something was bothering him. There was a low humming noise permeating through the arena.

"Do you hear that?" Kobalt asked Jazz as it grew louder and louder.

"Hmph, boy are you in for a surprise." Jazz grinned jumping back. "You've been all but showing off your semblance since the first day of school. Me, I've been waiting for this moment to show off mine."

Without another word Jazz raised her hand and slammed in down to the arena floor. The second she did the humming blasted into full blown techno music and the floor started rumbling. If Kobalt didn't know better, he'd have thought the whole platform was vibrating. The music got louder and louder and it was clear the audience was just as confused as he was. He was just about to ask Jazz what was going on when the tiles at his feet suddenly shot upwards as the beat dropped in the music and sent him flying.

"What the?!" Kobalt gasped as he flew through the air, high above he was able to get a pretty good look at the arena. Centered at Jazz the whole platform was resonating with the music, tiles rising and falling having been turned into bars by something. He landed back down with a thud as the music slowed down.

"Did you just…" he started

"Turn the whole platform into an audio visualizer?" Jazz laughed as she looked around admiring her work "Yup, God I can't tell you how long I've been waiting to do this! You should see the look on your face!"

"And the music?"

"Oh that's the best part!" Jazz exclaimed "That's me! I'm generating it! Cool huh?"

"You missed your calling." Kobalt told her "Shoulda been a musician."

"And you should've been paying more attention to the beat." Jazz smirked, rushing back in. The second she reached him the music picked up again causing one of the tiles at his feet to shoot up, nearly sending him flying and setting him off balance. Jazz sliced at him as he staggered to the side, nearly knocking him off his feet. She wound up and punched him square in the jaw, spinning him around as a bar rose and he slammed face first into it. Pushing himself back he turned around with a slice, instead of Jazz however, his blade bounced off another bar. As the ones at his feet shot up he heard a short whistle and looked up to see Jazz plummeting towards him, he raised his sword in time to block hers but she rotated down and kicked him dead in the chest. Another bar rose, sending him flying the second he reached solid ground.

Kobalt couldn't even keep himself steady, every time his feet touched the ground he was sent back up or had the floor dropped out from underneath him. Just as he managed to find a piece of the platform that wasn't bumping with the music he felt a presence behind him. He turned just in time to see Jazz dropped low, her sword in both hands as she thrust it at him. Her blade made contact with his chest as the beat dropped again. The attack alone sent him flying, but when the bars shot up he sped through the air even faster. He saw his feet fly past the edge of the platform and his heart sunk, he was about to lose. To Jazz of all people, he never thought she was anywhere near this good. But here she was, about to ring him out in the first round of the finals, it was almost infuriating.

"Kobalt!" a girl's voice shouted over the roar of the music.

Nickole? He realized, as his mind started racing. Where was she, had she made it in time after all? No. He focused I am not losing with her watching, not this easily.

Kobalt quickly sheathed his sword and channeled as much energy as he dared into a huge blast beneath him, propelling him back up towards the platform. He landed as Jazz used her semblance to cause the central set of tiles to raise her upwards, probably to gloat. She looked down as he landed and didn't hide her shock. Checking his scroll Kobalt noted his Aura was almost half drained at this point, he'd have to make every ounce of his remaining energy count. Jazz must've noticed his lack of Aura too, because that moment she turned her music up even louder, sending bigger waves pulsing towards him. Kobalt drew on just enough of his reserves to put himself into overdrive. With his senses heightened he was able to start getting a feel for the music, anticipating the when a tile would shoot up and how strong it would be. As he pushed forward he felt the music coming to a big finale, the ground beneath him shot up, propelling him high into the air. But this time he was ready for it, bracing himself as he went up. from there he could see Jazz had lowered herself back down as the music kept building up to what they both knew would be the end of this duel.

He landed back down, shattering a couple of the tiles on impact and took off running straight for Jazz. He rolled over waves and danced around pillars as they rose up in front of him. He was getting closer, mere feet from Jazz now. As a wall rose between them he leapt into the air above it, whistling as he sped back down. This time it was Jazz who barely managed to get her sword up in time to block his attack. There was no kick from him though as a set of pillars brought Jazz back up and left him in the dust. Kobalt jumped up, using the pillars rising from her music to get closer and closer to her. With one last burst of energy he propelled himself towards her, Jazz was ready though, her sword already slicing in an arc towards him. He parried it to the side with his own and dropped it, using his now free hand to land a solid punch dead center of her chest. He grabbed on to the pillar she was standing on as she fell to the ground. Hitting the ground was enough to knock out the rest of her Aura, ending the match. The pillar Kobalt was hanging on slid back down as Jazz's semblance faded. The music was still playing though, it must not take much out of her to keep that up. She managed to sit herself up, but she seemed pretty drained.

"Now that was not what I was expecting." Kobalt smiled walking over to give her a hand up. "Kinda wish we'd saved that for the finale or something."

"You're telling me," Jazz laughed taking his hand and pulling herself up "How are your opponents supposed to follow something that awesome?"

"I don't think they can." Kobalt chuckled as she shook his hand.

"You better win this thing you know." She told him "It's all on you for a Beacon win this year."

"Well when you put it that way," Kobalt shrugged "Don't have much choice do I?"

"No you don't." Jazz added "Come on, and grab your team. Drinks are on me tonight."

"You do know the rest of my team can't drink right?" Kobalt asked

"Neither can mine." She added as they walked off the arena "They're just coming to make sure we get back in one piece."

To Kobalt's surprise, the rest of JADE was already there waiting with Kobalt's team shuffling in right behind them. Nickole looked like she was having a hard time on her crutches.

"And here I was worrying you guys might miss the fight." Kobalt said walking over and steadying Nickole before she fell over.

"We nearly did, good thing they had it on the monitors outside." Nickole told him

"Wait you guys weren't in the stands?" Kobalt asked

"No why?" Tristan asked

"It's nothing," Kobalt shifted "Must've just been my imagination."

"Doesn't matter, were going out for a drink." Jazz insisted leading the way outside already.

"But we can't," Nickole started

"Just roll with it." Kobalt sighed "I think we're all too tired to argue."

"Should've known Jazz would want to celebrate no matter who won." Amy shrugged as they followed her out.

Kobalt took a deep breath and sheathed his sword, the last of the beowolves was slowly turning to smoke in front of him. He checked his Aura, it was just a little under half. All things considered that was better than it should be, still though he didn't like it.

"Hey how long till I'm back to normal?" Kobalt asked moving back to the console "It's getting to be a problem, last augmentation was months ago."

"All in due time Kobalt." The Chairman told him, "Now, do you have the colony's security data?"

"Yep." Kobalt grunted, pulling the rather large hard drive out of the main computer. Damn thing was almost as big as a large scroll and much thicker. He hooked it onto his belt, careful to keep it away from his left side and the magnetic holster.

"Good stand by for…" The Chairman started before cutting out.

"Uhh, boss? Something wrong with coms?" Kobalt asked, usually communications were clear unless they were doing maintenance on the tower.

"Hang on we're getting an unusual report from the dropship." Dusk called out "I'm patching you into their frequency."

"…position since he hit the ground." The dropship's com officer echoed in "But we've spotted some weird movement since he entered the security building. Can you confirm what we're seeing sir?"

There was a brief moment of silence before the Chairman cursed and came back onto the coms shouting.

"Kobalt get out of there!" he ordered

"Sir what's-" Kobalt started to ask as he moved for the exit, before he could finish the whole building shook.

"You don't have time for an explanation, get moving!" Dusk yelled again

"Sir!" Kobalt acknowledged, raising a hand and blasting a hole in the ceiling. He leapt through it and landed on the roof. The clouds had moved back over the moon and darkness was all he could see, but he could feel the presence behind him. Turning around all he could see were a pair of bright red eyes, big ones, swaying back and forth. His instincts told him to move just as the part of the building he was standing on burst apart as the eyes shot forward. Kobalt heard a light hissing as the eyes backed away and decided he wanted nothing to do with whatever they were attached to. He turned on his heels and hauled ass in the opposite direction of whatever it was he just saw. He jumped across the rooftops as he fled, hoping that would at least slow the thing down. His hopes were dashed when he looked down to see the eyes still following him from the streets below and he wondered just how the hell he was going to get away. Sensing his hesitation, the eyes pounced again. This time Kobalt barely managed to roll out of the way before what seemed like a huge pair of jaws clamped down on the air in front of him. He shot a quick energy blast at them and kept running.

"So guys, about that pickup?" Kobalt called out into the coms

"We're circling above, head for building at the eastern end of town." The pilot answered "We need to make this quick, that thing is fast."

"Yeah, well at least you've got an airship." Kobalt added "Imagine it on foot."

"That's your job not mine." The pilot told him coldly.

And I thought the directors could be icicles. Kobalt thought as he leapt across to another building, two more to go. But whatever was chasing him was starting to pick up on what he was running for, it had been all but ignoring him and had focused on following the dropship. To try and distract it, Kobalt drew his pistol and fired a few rounds. But his replacement lacked the firepower his old one had, and the rounds merely bounced off the creature. Though the quick bursts of light from their impact revealed the white plate that covered the creature's head. Kobalt hadn't questioned it must be some type of Grimm, but he could barely tell what kind of Grimm it was in this darkness. He wasn't even sure he'd seen one like it before. Of course, the type of Grimm it could be was the furthest thing down on Kobalt's priorities. Highest of which was getting in the dropship, which had just reached the building in front of him. With everything he had Kobalt pushed himself one last time and jumped as far as he could. He crossed the gap between buildings and landed in the ship's bay.

"He's in punch it!" the door gunner shouted as Kobalt managed to bring himself to his feet. Then he looked out across at the street he just cleared, and he knew the airship wasn't rising fast enough. The Grimm that had been following them was making a B-line right for them.

"I said punch it!" the gunner shouted, his finger slowly finding the trigger to his turret. As he started to light it up, Kobalt finally got a good look at the monster. It was huge, easily the size of one of Black Knight's larger airships, serpentine with a pair of fangs big enough to be swords. It opened its mouth and some kind of dark liquid shot out of it. Reflexively Kobalt tackled the gunner to the ground as the liquid his the turret, melting it right down to the frame. Kobalt brought himself up and started channeling every last bit of energy he had left. It wasn't much, and the Grimm was getting closer faster than he'd be able to charge up enough to hurt it. When it got close enough for Kobalt to make out its forked tongue, he fired off as large a blast of energy as he could manage. Straight down at the ground. As the beast closed in Kobalt's blast combined with the airship's thrust shot them up high enough to be out of reach. The pilot gunned the throttle forward and back to base.

"What the hell was that thing?" Kobalt asked as he slammed the bay door shut.

"Looked like a snake that got too big for my taste." The gunner breathed

"That was no king taijitu." Kobalt argued, "I've never seen anything like that."

"There are more Grimm funneling into the colony now too." the pilot added "I think that thing is drawing them in."

"I hope whatever's on this drive is worth it." Kobalt said as he looked down at the horde of Grimm now roaming the colony.

A/N

Yup, flashback at the end of a chapter this time. What can I say I felt like shaking things up, change the formula.

Plus I kind of forgot about it with the fight scene and all, I came up with Jazz's semblance WAY back and I've been saving it for this fight. Got the idea from my own audio visualizer, I just couldn't help but think what it must be like to fight on something like that.
Honestly this chapter alone makes me wish KNGT was a show instead, the fight would've looked much cooler than my description if you could actually SEE it. Plus if that had been the case I could've been subtly hinting at Jazz's semblance from the beginning, like having a mini one in her dorm room barely visible unless you look for it or having music play but not clear speakers.

And sorry for getting this one out later, went out to see the new Star Wars movie with my brother yesterday afternoon. And then we wind up hanging out at his place talking about the movie for more than a couple hours before I realize, "Wait, this isn't my house." And decide I should probably head home.

As always; comment, critique, tear my work apart and point out all the glaring flaws if you feel like. Just try to be constructive, I can't fix anything if all you do is slam it.