Knuckles of steel slammed into her cheek for the fifteenth time since the fight began. She stumbled back only to take another kick to the stomach. Saffron's chain whip rattled in her shaking hands. Every strike hurt worse than the last.

"Just give up…" Kokonatsu passed his fist right over the chain and rods that Saffron was trying to use to shield herself, "You. Can't. Win!" he shouted as he threw another forceful punch into her nose.

She slid back, a dribble of blood coming from one nostril and a dark purple bruise forming across the bridge of her nose. Had it not been for her exceptionally strong aura, she would have had broken bones instead of a few bruises.

"I told ya already, shuga…" her knuckles turned white as she blocked an incoming kick with her weapon. She took a step back away and began spinning her whip around her, "I ain't focusin' on winnin'... I know that I can't… don't be so dull, sweetheart."

Lavender light glowed around Saffron. Her aura was wavering from the beating that Kokonatsu was giving her, but she still stayed on her feet. Her eyes darted around to survey her full situation. Namib was already down, and Pepper wasn't looking too great either.

"C'mon…" Saffron kept her chain whip spinning, "Don't pull ya punches… just 'cause I'm a gal…"

Agent Kokonatsu acted as if he were going for another punch, but he countered a surprise attack from Pepper instead. The loud clacking of her school dress shoes made it obvious where she was coming from. He swiveled, grabbing her by the shoulder of her uniform, and threw her into Saffron. Both of the girls went sprawling against the boards.

Saffron hugged Pepper close to her to keep her from further harm as they tumbled across the boardwalk.

"We… we can't… we're going to die, Saf…" Pepper quivered in her leader's arms.

Out of the corner of her eye, Saffron saw Midas and Titian getting ready to break position. That was exactly what Kokonatsu wanted, and she knew that much. She steeled herself for her teammate.

"Nutmeg," Saffron got up with Pepper's hand clasped in hers, "Hay Fever and Attraction…" she smiled at Kokonatsu through the pain aching across her body. Her Semblance went into overdrive. Even Ahab and Sepia were affected from the boat lodged in the ferris wheel, leading to Xannie and Roland being forced to hold them back from jumping. Titian held onto Midas' arms, and Namib was simply too weak to get up.

Then all of them fell into a sneezing fit. Even Saffron, who was mostly immune to Pepper's Semblance, had to wipe her watering eyes. Between both of them, every single person on the boardwalk was falling ill, and every single person who even had an inkling of attraction to women was being pulled under Saffron's spell.

"What the-" Kokonatsu couldn't finish expressing his confusion as he was overcome by a fit of sneezing. He was told that his mask would help dampen the effects of the SPCE girls' Semblances, but apparently that wasn't entirely true. All they had to do was consciously intensify their Semblances' effects to cover everyone around them, including those on their own side. He felt the cold spray of mucus and saliva sprinkle his face inside the confines of his mask. He couldn't do a thing in this condition.

"Go!" Saffron shouted as she and Pepper lunged out of their spot and into the open boardwalk.

Pepper held her lance close to her chest. She angled the point right at Kokonatsu's mask. The lance seemed to unravel, the tip widening and folding downwards to resemble a firearm. Three pellets shot silently out of the end of her weapon and poofed against the bone mask. An orange haze exploded against its surface.

Pepper spray burned in Agent Kokonatsu's eyes, but the feeling was made a lot worse when the point of the girl's lance slammed into his shoulder.

"Thanks, hun!" Saffron darted past Pepper and caught Kokonatsu in her chain whip, "Now, let's pick up where we left off," she pulled him close as he fell and pressed herself against his chest, "Not so keen on hittin' me now, huh?" She playfully booped the end of the fox mask's nose with her index finger as she batted her eyelashes towards the deep glowing orbs in its sockets, "C'mon! I love when a boy gets down 'n dirty!"

Kokonatsu would have made a comeback, but he was too busy shouting from the pain in his eyes. He had to fight his desperate instinctual urge to rip off his mask and wipe away the burning sensation in his eyes. If he let this continue, he'd be completely at her mercy and be exposed. If that happened, the Brotherhood would certainly eliminate him. He struggled against Saffron's chain whip.

"Nothin'?" Saffron scoffed, "Cat got ya tongue?" she didn't even wait for a response. Her horns slammed up into his chin. She let go of one end of her whip to release him, but used the new distance to rear back and ram her horns into his gut. The dull tips caught the leather and nylon straps on his chest piece and sent him flying into a balloon stand.

"Get up," she strided over to him as the bouquet of multicolored balloons were released from the end of the cart, "C'mon! Get up an' hit me back!"

"I don't think he can, Saf." Pepper chuckled nervously, "I think we wo-."

Saffron felt the sudden wave of fear return. For a moment, she was the predator, but it was all taken away in an instant as Pepper's voice was cut off.

"You'd like to think that wouldn't you?" An eerily calm and feminine voice laced in static called from behind Saffron, right where Pepper was earlier.

Saffron turned to find a new Grimm-masked operative standing behind her. Pepper laid crumpled and unconscious at Captain Sanguwalker's feet.

Unless Sanguwalker was into girls, Saffron was in over her head. She straightened her hat and readied her whip, "Midas, with me. Titian, you stay gua-"

A tendril of black paint ripped through the air and slammed Saffron down against the boardwalk. Boards cracked underneath her from the impact and sent splinters jabbing into her back. Saffron's desperate scream formed a smile underneath Sanguwalker's mask.

"Saffron!" Midas yelled as he watched Saffron disappear into the mess of wood. Judging from the lack of a splash, she was still on the boardwalk, or rather, in the boardwalk. He raised his flintlock, the golden sheen a bit brighter than normal, "Isn't that the freak you and Ledning chased earlier?"

"Yeah…" Titian broke her weapon in half, each shifting into handguns burning with the same energy as the blade. "She's not exactly a fun person to deal with. Led tried to take her on… and I already told you how well that went." Titian's light-hearted demeanor was gone. She was hellbent on giving a beating, and she was angry. It wasn't often that a target got to her as much as Sanguwalker apparently had in their earlier scuffle.

"Oh, it's you!" Sanguwalker inched towards Midas and Titian. She waved Kokonatsu along with one of her six black tendrils, "It is great to see you again!" She said to Titian, "Where did your little silver-haired friend go?" she tapped the end of her mask's beak as she cocked her head to the side, "Oh… right… I did a real number on him… didn't I?"

Midas ignored her comments, thinking back to the bruises he'd seen on Ledning earlier that day. He watched as the black tendrils moved around the bird-masked woman. "Yeah, well, I'll be sure to repay the favor for him!"

"Calm down, Goldilocks, she's trying to bait you into attacking first," Titian said flatly as she aimed her guns at Sanguwalker. "And now that the SPCE girls and Mr. Sandstorm are out of the fight, it looks like it's up to the two of us to protect this stupid thing."

"How exactly do you think we can do that?"

"I don't know. You're the leader. You think of something."

"We have to try to split them up. Each go one-on-one with one of them. Saffron and Pepper seemed to be getting the upper hand on foxy-boy for a moment, but I don't know about bird-brain."

"Kokonatsu's going for the boat group, and judging by his hand-to-hand preference, you'd be more suited to fight him. And you're a better climber than me."

"But what about-"

"She has an actual weapon from what we can tell. If I can get a good feeling on whatever those tendrils are coming from, I can corrode it and maybe take her out of commission. He's just really good at punching."

"But-"

"Good plan, Midas. Now get ready!"

Kokonatsu pried himself up from the broken balloon stand and followed his superior's command to advance. He wiped the remaining pepper spray from his mask. "You better back down, kid…" he clenched his fists, "I'm not the killer type… and I don't want you to be my first exception..."

"But it'd be my pleasure!" Midas fired, the slug passing mere inches between the two villains. The sign above the boardwalk entrance exploded and crumbled apart.

"Interesting. So that's what your Semblance looks like when you intend to hurt a person instead of a Grimm." Sanguwalker noted as if she were observing a wild animal. "No matter," She shoved Kokonatsu forward, "Get going. We don't have much time until the Maelstrom arrives."
"I thought you were in charge of keeping it on its rampage?" Kokonatsu shot back.

"Their annoying friends got ahold of some of our Grimm control devices from our more incompetent drones and have diverted the Maelstrom from my originally intended path. Now enough questions. Go!"

Kokonatsu darted forwards with his fists raised. The boardwalk cracked as he launched himself upwards.

Midas cocked the hammer back once again to make another attempt to attack, his opponent's boots slammed into the boards not even a foot away from him, throwing him off balance.

Kokonatsu raised his fist to strike, then used his other hand to cover up the end of his new target's gun.

Midas fired anyways. Even with an aura, the blast should have been strong enough to launch him backwards.

Kokonatsu's arm was sent back, but nowhere near the incapacitating launch it should have been. He returned the attack, driving fists into Midas's face and torso. With a final spinning kick, Midas fell back against the golden frame of the ferris wheel.

Midas groaned as he was suddenly forced harder against the reinforced metal by Kokonatsu's forearm. Luckily for him, his aura was still holding strong.

"Don't. Get. In. My. Way." He threw Midas to the side by the collar of his jacket and immediately began ascending the tilted ride.

"I just got this thing dry cleaned…" Midas gave an exasperated chuckle. "When the Atlas military gets ahold of ya, I'll have to ask General Lionbutt if she'll have you reimburse me before she throws you in prison!" He looked back to see bursts of red light and black tendrils flying back and forth from the other fight. He wanted to back Titian up, but as he took another second to watch, it was obvious she could hold her own for the time being. Besides, he had his own mission to attend to. There was no telling what Agent Kokonatsu would do if he actually managed to get aboard the boat.

.

Dante kept a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel of the boat. Her breaths raced past her lips. She felt light-headed enough from overexerting herself, and the hyperventilation certainly wasn't making matters any better. A panic attack?! Really?! I have to have a panic attack now?!

"We-we're getting close!" she stammered out. Lurida raced across the water a few hundred feet to their left, and Opal and Oro ran parallel to each other along the beach to their right. A brilliant flash of multicolored light exploded out from Opal every time Oro tried for a strike.

Arty was firing Nova Dust paintballs at the towering monster rushing towards them. Despite them normally obliterating anything in front of them, the resulting explosions seemed to be doing nothing more than just annoying the beast. "Um… guys? I think this thing's way more powerful than we originally thought. My Nova's not doing anything to it!"

"Hold on. I can enhance your weapon. Take the wheel, Rime," Dante stood up and pushed Rime into her seat, giving the poor girl no other choice to grab onto the wheel and hope.

"Dante, I don't know how to-"

"Hold it still and keep your foot down on the right pedal," Dante flipped through the pages of her book with her trembling fingers. She tried to push down each racing breath, "Okay, Arty. Let the flames… of…" her eyes widened as pain ripped through her head. She fell to her knees, but kept trying to read, "Let the flames of chaos… flow… across…" tears formed in her eyes. She knew she couldn't get the words out. She knew that she was at her limit, "the…" she held onto her stomach. Try as she might, she couldn't push the panic attack down, "and…" a sob passed her lips as the pain grew, "take…"

"Hey! Dante!" Timbre told Arty to keep firing as she ran to Dante's side, "What happened?!"

"I… I can't…" Dante shivered. She finally fell over on her side and let her tears flow, "I did too much. I'm useless now…" she looked at her book of poems with a mixture of disgust and rage, "We're down one now because I overdid myself…"

"No, you did fine! We can still handle things from here!" Arty shouted as he continued his seemingly ineffective attacks. "Timbre, call Roland and Sepia. Ask for a status update on the gun!"

Timbre made sure Dante was laid as comfortably as possible on the speeding military vesile before pulling out her scroll.

Rime jumped up and quickly snatched it from her hands.

"Rime! What are you-"

"Let me call. It's something I actually know how to do. You take the wheel, T."

"Right…" Timbre jumped into the driver's seat and kept them on course, slowly angling the boat away from shore to move around the boardwalk they were quickly approaching.

.

Roland was leaning against the starboard side railing to keep up with the fight below. He put his scroll on speaker as soon as it started ringing, "Status report, right?" he didn't wait for an answer, "Saffron, Pepper, and Namib are down. Sanguwalker is back, and has some new guy with her. I'm guessing he's called Kokonatsu, and he's climbing up to us. Midas is on his tail, and Titian is holding off Sanguwalker," he paused for a moment, "Oh, and the gun isn't looking great. We might be able to get one shot off, but that's it."

"But it's ready to fire!" Curie called from the bow, "I'm just making some last-minute tweaks to improve the accuracy!"

"Get that?" Roland asked.

"Yeah… I think so." The sounds of explosions and a running engine tearing through water came in loud and clear from Rime's end of the line, but the sound quickly began to merge with the sounds coming directly from the boat coming up to the boardwalk.

Xannie jogged over from the gun, "About how long until it's in position?" she asked into the scroll.

"Um… hold on, let me check." Rime held the scroll away from her mouth as she asked the group on the boat. "It's about two minutes give or take. Maybe four?"

"That's not good enough!" Ahab shouted while winding rope back into the metal box attached to his hip, "We need more time!"

"Hey! Calm down! We're just getting it in position. It's up to you guys to aim and fire at it!"

"Right. Got it. We'll have it ready to fire when you get here." Roland finished before Ahab could shout again. He turned back to Curie and Sepia, "Be ready to fire in two minutes. That's how long you've got to put the finishing touches on!"

"Going as fast as we can, but we'll make it happen!" Curie shouted back as she slapped some metal panel inside the gun closed.

"Oh… and Roland?" Rime shuffled on the other end of the line.

"What?"

"I don't want to worry you… but your sister… she's not doing too good. She tired herself out from using her Semblance so much. She's pretty much out cold in the boat right now."

"Damnit, sis…" he pinched the bridge of his nose. As much as he admired his sister's ability to push herself well beyond her limits, he hated it about just as much, "Don't let her out of your sight. If she wakes up and starts saying anything, freeze her mouth shut. She'd kill herself before she gave up."

"I'll keep a close eye on her, Roland. Don't worry." The line went dead as she hung up.

"Okay… not to sound blunt, but it's obvious our situation isn't the only one going down the crapper…" Xannie commented as she listened to the scuffles and gunshots from down below.

"That's what she gets…" Ahab grumbled. He kept his gaze cast over the side of the boat. Kokonatsu was nearing fast, "She thinks she's so selfless, but-"

"Shut up about my sister and do your damn job," Roland began typing away at Writer's Block, "Xannie, leave Kokonatsu to me, Midas, and Ahab. I want you on support so can get as much info as you need to get a good read on him. If things go from bad to worse, Sepia and I will switch out and I'll help Curie," he glanced back to see Sepia pointing at various components of the gun with her eyes flickering with a bright golden light. Her Semblance was streamlining the process of fixing the gun for Curie, but she'd be even better in a fight, "You can be our trump card if you can learn enough about him."

Xannie nodded as a majority of her rings expanded and floated around her. "Right. I'll go ahead and set up a perimeter." She darted down the starboard side with her rings zipping along behind her.

With Xannie gone, Roland was left alone at the railing with his half-brother. He finished typing out a double-bladed axe jutting out from Writer's Block's ream, "I know that you're not the most supportive person when it comes to Dante, but this really isn't the time," he readied himself to fight, "You're on her team. Act like it."

Ahab spat onto the ruined boards of the deck before sneering at Roland, "Don't tell me how to act towards my real family, mutt," Ahab shoved past him and headed further down the railing to where Kokonatsu was bound to come up, "We'll get the job done, with or without her. That's all that matters."

"Real family… huh?" Roland followed Ahab out, "I don't know what that has to do with anything considering that your only real family is Shirley and Dad. If Dante cares about me, the Faunus born because Shirley wasn't good enough for Dad, then I know you don't have it in you to care about her."

The sound of metal sliding against metal rang out as one of Ahab's harpoons shot from his weapon. He shot around and held it horizontally underneath Roland's adam's apple.

Roland wasn't fazed in the slightest. He'd been through nearly two decades of this type of behavior, after all. "I'm not going to stand by while you talk that way about my sister, Ahab."

"Keep talking, brother. All it does is get you in more trouble." He sheathed the harpoon, his point made. "You're lucky we're actually trying to kill something. If we had been back home, you bet I wouldn't have let you off so easy."

"You're the least of my worries, Ahab," Roland shoved past him, "I've fought people worse than you, killed things that are stronger, and overcome challenges greater than anything that you could ever throw at me. You aren't a threat to me."

Ahab sucked at his teeth for a moment, considering pulling out one of his harpoons again, but even someone like him would know that there was more important things to be done, "Whatever. Let's just defend this stupid boat."

.

Lurida watched the glow begin to fade from the paint smeared across her arms. The Dust was finally almost used up, but at least they were almost to the boardwalk. Well, here goes nothing…

She emptied out the attraction devices from her tube into the zero-gravity field around her and smeared the remnants of wet paint from her hands onto them and the others floating around her. She splayed out her fingers and allowed all the attraction devices to shoot off towards the boardwalk, then used the last bits of Dust that still clung to her to send herself shooting back towards the Maelstrom team's boat.

"How is Opal holding up?!" she shouted as soon as she grabbed the railing of the boat and threw herself over it.

The team looked towards the beach. Oro was right on Opal's heels. They watched in horror as the masked figure raised their arm, releasing a large cloud of steam.

"Opal!" Timbre shouted.

"Yeah? Whatcha want?"

Opal suddenly appearing in the middle of the boat in front of them. Another trail of rainbow after images leading from her to the beach where Oro was left stunned from her target suddenly disappearing.

"Good god!" Lurida jumped, clutching her chest. "You about gave me a heart attack!"

Timbre jerked the boat to the side to avoid a piece of lumber from the boardwalk. They finally made it, and the Maelstrom had followed without too much of a hitch. She eased down on the throttle, readied her gloves, and turned to the other students, "Okay. I hate to do this, but I think that it might help us here…" she took a deep breath, "Stay calm and don't panic while we fight this thing. We'll all be fine."

"Wait, what are you?..." Lurida began to ask.

"Just trust her, okay?" Arty cut her off as a strong sense of confidence and courage fell over him. Despite the shock of the revelation, he was really starting to appreciate Siren's Song.

"Yeah! Let's kill this thing!" Rime jumped over the edge of the boat. Using blasts of ice from her necklace, she was able to make large frozen stepping stones on the surface of the water. Lurida followed close behind, and Opal took to jumping across the ice platforms with Rime.

Dante also appeared to be caught in Siren's Song. She began to push herself up using her elbows.

"Okay… I think I've had enough of a rest…" she got one foot under herself. Her legs shook as she stood up straight. After flipping a small mechanism, her flare gun opened up to expose a small empty receptacle. From a pocket in her cloak, she pulled a small bright red Dust crystal and loaded it into the gun, "I'm ready to keep going…"

"Dante are you sure?" Arty asked, his voice full of concern. He was almost scared what Roland would do to him if his sister got hurt under his watch. He looked back to the short girl hopping off across the stones. Wasn't she supposed to watch Dante?

Timbre held Dante by the shoulders, "You know, you should really res-"

Dante pointed up at the ferris wheel to show Timbre the masked man scaling the structure. He was just a few feet from getting to the yacht's hull, and then he'd be an issue for the boat crew.

"Get me onto the boardwalk… I can't fight the Maelstrom… I can't use my Semblance… but I've still got my weapon. I may play a more supportive role in my team, but I can still fight," she clacked her flare gun back together, "Don't try and use your Semblance to convince me not to keep my brothers and my friends safe… it won't work…"

Timbre was taken back, "You… you know about Siren's Song?..."

"Roland tells me everything nowadays…" Dante managed a smile through the needles of pain shaking around in her head, "It's like he trusts me again, and I'm not letting that trust go to waste. Get me over there and I'll do my best to keep those two GB agents from hurting anyone else."

Timbre was about to object when Arty cut her off.

"Timbre. Think you can make a bridge for her?"

"But, Arty!"

"No buts, Timbre. If she has a plan, then let her do it. Remember, we may be the Maelstrom attack team, but we're not the ones that are actually going to kill it." He pointed to the yacht. "That up there is our only real chance. If that new GB guy gets up there… there's no telling what he's going to do to Roland and Sepia since they're on the list, too. I don't even want to think about what he'd do to Ahab, Xannie and Curie. So please, let Dante do what she needs to do. They're in trouble up there." He sighed, "Anything's better than nothing right now."

Timbre was a bit peeved that she was being shut down, but she understood the stakes. "Alright." She aimed a fist to the boardwalk and launched a wire. It stuck firmly into one of the main supporting pylons. "Your balance good enough to run on this? Or should I use the body-throw technique I've been working on to get you over there?"

"I'll be fine. I'm a decent swimmer if I fall…" Dante grabbed the wire between her hands and put a foot down on it, "But… shoot me with some Gravity Dust just in case…

.

"That's fantastic…" Roland held up his axe as Kokonatsu jumped over the railing onto the boat. He looked beyond to see the Maelstrom's shadow looming across the boardwalk. Its bulbous white head pulsed with dull flashes of rainbow colored light along the veins of color running through it. Its eyes twisted and turned as it examined the boardwalk and its occupants. It raised its tentacles to attack, but a few ice spikes to the eye made it focus the attack on the girl running on ice platforms beside it.

"So… are you gonna give a big long introduction to us, or…" he looked to Ahab and Xannie as she neared. Her Semblance must have told her that he and Ahab wouldn't be able to take him by themselves, which he definitely didn't find reassuring. He finally faced the molten eyes of the newcomer, "can we just get to throwing you off the boat so we can get on with our day?"

Kokonatsu balled his fists in preparation for a three-way attack. "No need. It'd be a waste of my time talking to another Faunus."

"Then talk to us then. I'd love to know your plan in full detail. All crummy villains end up spilling the beans every now and then." Xannie held her arms out, the controls on a holographic screen causing her bladed rings to spin like table saws.

Ahab elected not to waste any more time talking. He rushed Agent Kokonatsu with two harpoons raised. He brought the hooks of both down towards his head, their steel gleaming through the air.

They clanged loudly as they collided with Kokonatsu's crossed arms. He had successfully blocked the sloppy attack and repaid it with a swift kick to Ahab's stomach.

"Ah!" Ahab fell back. His harpoons clattered to the side as he hit the deck. He slid all the way to the open area on the stern of the yacht. With the stern being the part of the boat that was actually lodged into the ferris wheel, his back hit a stray beam to stop him.

Kokonatsu ran and raised his foot for another attack while Ahab clambered to get up.

"Deja vu…" Roland muttered. He swiped at Kokonatsu's side from behind, having kept up the pace with his adversary. Behind him, Xannie's rings shot forwards and around him.

Her rings zipped the air and clanged against Kokonatsu's gloves. The rings slammed down into him over and over. Xannie had no intention of giving this lunatic any room to breathe.

Roland backed away from Kokonatsu as Ahab got back up to join the fray. He leaned against the starboard side to get a look at the gun, "Can you two fire on the Maelstrom now?!" he shouted back to Curie and Sepia.

Sepia clapped as Curie climbed up through the broken windshield to the bridge of the yacht.

Curie flicked on the LCD display and looked through the camera mounted behind the sights of the gun, "It's… almost… in… range…" she watched the gun turn and level itself on the monster. The Maelstrom's eye was moving back and forth within the crosshair. "It's gonna be close, but I think I can shoot it!"

"Sepia! Slam the paint into the barrel!" Roland shouted.

Sepia threw three vials of Nova Dust down the barrel of the artillery gun. The breaking of glass and ensuing splat told her that it would cover the inside well enough. She hopped down from the gun and ran across the deck to take cover, then whistled to tell the boat crew that it was good to go.

The plan was going downhill fast. Kokonatsu latched onto a pair of Xannie's rings, "I've had enough of… WHAT?!"

The rings collapsed around his hands and threw him down against the deck. Two more closed around his ankles to pin him down completely.

"This guy is secured! Our success rate went up dramatically! Fire when ready!" Xannie happily shouted back.

Curie waited until the crosshair was completely filled with the white and rainbow sheen of the massive creature. "Firing in 3… 2…"

.

As the fight on the boardwalk raged on and the Atlesian scouting boat continued to circle the Maelstrom, a deafening boom echoed across the island. The left barrel of the yacht's artillery gun exploded into a great ball of fire, blowing that half of the gun apart. A similarly burning projectile shot towards the Grimm. The artillery shell, charged by Arty's Nova Dust paint, caused a second explosion against the Maelstrom's giant round head.

"Direct hit!" Arty cheered as dark black smoke enveloped most of the monster. The sense of triumph was short-lived, however, as he watched the tilted ferris-wheel slowly continuing its course towards the ocean, completely at gravity's whim. "No… no no no!"

Snaps and splashes echoed across the ocean as the concrete pylons beneath the ferris wheel crumbled. Unable to stop it, the attack group could only watch as the structure tilted further and further. With a thunderous splash, salt water sprayed high into the sky as the wheel hit the water below. The golden supports had worked for a time, but something had gone horribly wrong.

"Curie!" He knew he should've expressed worry for his teammates and his best friend. Even Xannie and Ahab should've been called for, but as he watched the ride where he had realized how happy he truly was with his life outside of Atlas, the only name he could think of to call for was Curie's.

Rime and Opal stood still as the ferris wheel crashed into the water. Neither of them could do a thing as it crumpled lower and lower into the ocean. Lurida tried to float towards it, but she knew that she wasn't going to get there fast enough. They all could only watch and hope as the black smoke faded around the Maelstrom.

Rainbows shimmered across the surface of the Grimm. A wad of crunched metal sloughed off of its flesh. The artillery shell had merely crumpled against the monster, but the impact was enough to give the students a revelation as to how the thing was surviving against the Atlesian military. The shimmer across its body was something that they all knew well.

"That thing… it has an aura?..." Timbre whispered in disbelief.

Arty threw an entire vial of white paintballs against the floor of the boat and jumped on them.

"Arty! No!" Timbre reached for him, but it was too late. He had already launched into the sky above her.

Left alone on the boat, Timbre cursed to herself. "Dammit Umber… Dammit!" She ran and jumped into the driver's seat and floored the gas. If her leader was going to possibly get himself killed, she was at least going to be there to watch his back.

.

The groans and aching whimpers coming from inside the yacht were starting to be drowned out by the sounds of rushing water filling the rooms within. The bottom half of the boat was sinking fast, but for the time being, the bow was still out of the water. They weren't quite dead yet.

Sanguwalker jumped back away from Titian. Her tendrils rushed back behind her and began pulling her away from her opponent, "Well, it has been wonderful fighting you once again! I think you've got enough to deal with for the time being."

Titian snarled as she looked to the other members of her team lying about the boardwalk. She knew they were all still alive. "Dammit…" She turned to give a last glance to Sanguwalker, but she was already gone. "Dammit... dammit…" Titian ran for the ferris wheel, knowing that others were still on it, including members of her own team. She jumped down off of the boardwalk and began hopping from beam to beam of the mostly sunken ferris wheel. As she neared the minty-green hull of the boat, she saw a flash of gold amongst the metal. At first, she thought it was just a piece of the supports Midas had strengthened earlier, but then she saw tan skin start to move amongst it.

"Midas!" Titian jumped carefully from beam to beam until she reached him. He was still breathing, thank god, but he was definitely banged up and soaked from the ferris wheel falling. As she helped him to his feet, pounding on his back to get out any sea water in his lungs, she took a chance to glance at her scroll. Of her team, Midas still had around half of his aura following the fall. Curie's was mostly intact, with only a small fraction gone. She more than likely got beaten around inside the cabin of the boat, tossed like a ragdoll as it fell and hit the water. Ledning's aura bar was nearly full, and her own was closer to one-fourth. "Dammit. Well, at least we're all still alive."

Midas coughed and let Titian help him gain his balance on the side of the ferris wheel. "Oh… hey Rusty. What're you doing out here?"

She egged him to start moving to the yacht with her. As they ran across a beam, she filled him in, "Bird-brain ditched and the ferris wheel fell into the water. The Maelstrom's still kicking and… you're not going to believe this, but it has an aura."

"What?! Look, Titian. This isn't the time for jokes."

"I'm dead serious, Midas. Look." She pointed to the giant squid monster. The only sign that it had a super-Dust-charged artillery shell hit it was a little singe mark on the side of its head, above its right eye. "I've seen your buddy Burnie use Nova Dust before. It should've at least taken a chunk out of that thing. But when that shell exploded against it, there was a large shimmer of colored light."

"Like when your aura gets hit…"

"Like I said, moron."

They climbed up onto the exposed bow of the Forté yacht, having to hold onto the guardrails and slowly descend towards the cabin in order not to slip and slam into any walls.

A whistle pierced the air. Sepia pulled herself over the railing of the boat. In the final fall of the ferris wheel, she had been tossed off. Only the rail caught her foot as she fell.

"Sepia! You alright, girl?" Midas motioned towards her, but she was already running down the near vertical deck.

He can't swim! He can't swim! Why is it the Otter Faunus that can't swim?! she raced down the yacht using every rail and window to help her descent that she could. If Roland, Xannie, and Ahab were caught by the beams of the ferris wheel, then they would be fine for a little while.

Her heels clacked against the fiberglass walls of the boat that she was forced to stand on as she reached the crumbled stern. Water slowly rose as the ride began to crumple under its own weight on the seafloor. Luckily, Xannie, Roland, and Ahab were all piled up and dazed on what was the center support of the ferris wheel.

"Sepia… glad you're safe…" Roland pushed himself up and began helping Xannie and Ahab up, "How are the others…?"

'Midas and Titian are fine, and I think Curie is, too. What happened to that guy that you were fighting?' she signed to him.

In a flurry of motion, Sepia was thrown against the broken boards of the deck. Xannie received a quick kick to the face, and Ahab was slammed back down against the metal supports.

"You runts are really starting to get on my nerves."

Roland reached for a grenade, but he found himself being forced against a bent beam originally intended to support one of the ride's cars. He felt Kokonatsu's powerful punches slamming into his face.

"Stupid Faunus! Always ruining things for everybody! First the stupid heifer on the dock, and now I have to deal with some rich kangaroo brat!"

"Hey!"

Kokonatsu froze with his fist reared back. He turned to see a girl dressed in red crouched down on a bright yellow passenger car.

Dante flipped the switch on the side of her flare gun. The Fire Dust crystal inside glowed so bright that every crack and crevice on the weapon glowed bright red. She squeezed the trigger, "Back off of my brother!"

A fully charged Dust crystal exploded out from her gun, sending her crashing into the water below. The crystal burned through the air. Light poured across the yacht as the crystal burst like a star against the side of Kokonatsu's head. Bone cracked across his mask, and the force of the explosion sent him flying straight through a support beam and hurdling down into the foamy water of the sinking ferris wheel.

Roland rubbed his eyes. His back ached from being pressed even harder against the beam by the explosion, "Ahab," he tried to shake off the daze that Kokonatsu had left him with while pointing to where Dante had fired from, "She-"

Ahab was already up and jumping from beam to beam. Upon reaching the car Dante had been standing on, he dove into the water.

"Hey guys." Midas commented as he and Titian slid down next to them all. "Damn! You sent that freak flying!"

"Please… not so loud... Oh geez that hurt…" Xannie said, rubbing her jaw as she pulled herself to her feet, "Thank goodness for aura…"

"Well… kinda…!" Curie cautiously climbed down from the bridge. The lenses of her glasses were cracked and her hair was even messier than usual, but other than that she was fine. "Aura's good for us, but… I don't know how we're going to deal with the Maelstrom now. I don't even think it's a Grimm."

"What do you mean?" Xannie asked.

"I mean, I don't think that thing is really a Grimm. Look at it! Have you ever seen a white and rainbow-colored Grimm before? Last I checked, they've only been black and red… This thing can't be a Grimm. It can't be… but judging from what we know the Grimm Brotherhood is up to, I'd say the most likely answer is that they managed to make an artificial Grimm."

Xannie's eyes went wide with understanding while everyone else left on the boat looked at her as if she were crazy.

"That's impossible…" Midas cracked, "I mean, Atlas looked at weaponized Grimm at one point, but they abandoned that venture decades ago."

"It would explain the aura… and how it's surviving on Vytal." Xannie began tapping away at a holographic panel, obviously not too shaken by the sinking of the boat and ride that it was attached to, "Ever since mankind settled on Vytal, any Grimm that made it anywhere near the island would just… vaporize. If this were a real Grimm, it'd be hundreds if not thousands of years old, but even old and powerful Grimm die on Vytal. If they're truly sticking to that story Lurida told me to look into, then it makes sense for them to make something to fit their whole agenda. Vytal is heavily protected from people, not Grimm. So it makes sense for them to… I guess bioengineer something like this. How… I don't have a clue…"

"Maybe they stole the old research notes from Atlas?" Titian suggested, despite knowing full well that General Léon wouldn't let something like that get by on her watch.

"There's no telling…" the screen in front of Xannie dissipated, "I also don't have a clue as to how we beat this thing… If you're right, this isn't even a real Grimm, half of our gun blew up, we're on a sinking boat, and about half of us aren't in any shape to fight. I'd say our chances are in the 'slim to none' range as of right now…"

Roland tore off his axe and shaped it into a straight rod, "The Maelstrom team had to see its aura too. If it has an aura, then it can be broken. It's probably close after Atlas attacked it and we fired on it. Once the Maelstrom team breaks it," he tossed the black and white rod to Curie, "We fire again with the barrel that didn't blow up. There's the new firing pin. Yes, it'll hold up for one shot. Think you can get the other side of the gun functioning enough to pull this off?"

Curie examined the rod carefully. "Did you… you just made a firing rod with your Semblance? How did you even know how to make this?"

"I've read a lot of books, Curie," he began clacking away at Writer's Block once more, "A few of those books were about guns. I just made a bigger version of what's in your typical pistol."

Sepia gave a thumbs up from behind, And Curie tried to tell me that it was nothing like the ones in my guns! Ha!

"But can you make that happen if we're all helping you?" he asked again.

"Y-Yeah! I can! I can do that!" Curie nodded quickly, "I fixed the whole thing for the most part. We can do thi-"

A strong wave rocked against the half-submerged boat and the ride. It lurched, sending the boat leaning forwards. The ferris wheel had finally settled, and gravity took its hold on the heavier end of the boat. Roland, Sepia, Xannie, and Team MTLC minus Ledning scrambled to jump onto the boat as the deck leveled out. When the creaking finally stopped, the boat rested peacefully atop the crumpled ferris wheel.

"Yo…" Midas croaked as he pulled himself up, "Everyone good…?"

"Yeah…" Titian pried herself up off the deck.

Curie straightened her glasses, "I'm alright."

Sepia clapped to confirm that she was, in fact, still alive.

Roland looked out in horror as he leaned up, but he was relieved to see that Dante was already being safely dragged through the water to the beach by Ahab. He let out a sigh of relief. However, this sense of security disappeared as a shadow grew around them.

Xannie flipped herself over onto her back, "Oh god…" her eyes widened as the pulsing white tentacle descended upon them.

.

No. Don't you dare. Arty felt a strange mixture of panic, courage, and disbelief. He knew what he was doing was crazy, but as he watched the tentacle readying to slam into the yacht where his friends were, he had to speed up his plan to beat the Maelstrom with everything he had. The air Dust on his boots kept him aloft, zooming along the surface of the water similar to how Lurida had done earlier. He'd done this enough times to actually be used to it, unlike his first fumbles back in the Emerald Forest upon arriving at Beacon.

"Arty!" he heard someone call from next to him.

"Timbre?!"

"You're going to get yourself killed you moron!" She jumped up onto the seat, wires drawn, "But you're not doing this alone!" She fired a wire at the tentacle and reeled in, sending her winding around the Grimm's appendage. The wire began tightening around it, causing it to bulge and twitch violently. Timbre landed on top of it and held on with all of her might, but it was obvious neither her or her wire would hold for much longer, and it was still on its crash course with her dad's yacht. "Arty! Hit it!"

Bone plating cracked out around Arty's boots as his feet connected to the Maelstrom's tentacle. He let himself fall back off the side of the appendage, then turned in midair with his bat glowing violet, yellow, and red. He and Roland hadn't quite figured out a name for the mixture yet, but it was a toss up between Galactic Dust and Supernova Dust.

The end of his bat connected with the Maelstrom's tentacle, and nothing happened for a moment aside from a flash of violet, yellow, and red light. Then his ears popped as if were in the depressurized cabin of an airship. Rainbow colored light collected around the epicenter, then the world went black for Arty. Black fire burst out from the point of impact with a visible shockwave. Arty was sent flying back and the Maelstrom's appendage was sent rocketing back away from the yacht.

Okay… definitely more powerful than we envisioned… Arty thought to himself as he soared through the air. He turned, gritting his teeth as he saw another tentacle reaching for him. "But I think I have enough in me for one more hit!" He reeled Palette back, ready to strike, but he didn't account for the jerky and unpredictable movements of the tentacles. With a quick flicking motion, Arty found the air being knocked out of his lungs as he slammed full-body into the tentacle.

Timbre shared a collective wince between herself, Rime, Lurida, and Opal. She had already clipped her wires and landed on the same ice platform as Rime and Opal to give Arty space after saving the group on the boat, but she never once thought that he would be stupid enough to use the newest iteration of he and Roland's line of 'Dust that should never be used'. Then her scroll dinged, and so did Arty's in all likelihood.

Roland Wells: I'm thankful for it right now, but I'm just gonna say that we need to get rid of all of that Gravity and Nova Dust mixture…

She quickly messaged back.

Timbre Forté: how close do you think we are to breaking its aura now? those explosions werent exactly tiny

A response came almost immediately.

Roland Wells: It's gotta be close. I doubt that Atlas would use anything close to something as unstable as we've been hitting it with. Between us and them… Xannie says that it can't have much more left, but there's no real way to know.

Timbre swore to herself, realizing how helpful Carmen would be in their current situation. She quickly typed back a response.

Timbre Forté: so we just need to keep hitting it

Timbre closed her scroll and returned it to its pocket in her corset. "Great… looks like we're stuck fighting directly for the time being..."

Rime crossed her arms, "You got a plan since your leader's kinda…" They all winced again as they watched Arty go flying again as the Maelstrom tossed him towards the center of the island. "Oh geez…"

"Arty!" Timbre yelled.

"He'll be fine for tha time bein. Kid's got enough Gravity Dust on 'im ta cushion tha fall! We just need ta start wailin' away!" She looked to Rime as she crouched down on their icy platform with her knees bent as far in as they would go, "Oi, Shorty, you might wanna make this thing a bit more stable. Eitha that or get outta tha way!" Multicolored afterimages formed around her flip-flops. She aimed her boomerang down between her feet, and used her Semblance to click the activation button a few dozen times before the slug could get all the way out of the barrel. Her weapon emptied itself, causing an explosion at her feet. The ice cracked and melted as she was sent up into the sky like a ballistic missile.

Opal shot off with a trail of afterimages behind her. As her speed increased, she shot right past the Maelstrom and into the sky above. Then she kept going. And going.

"Guess she's not coming down for a bit!" Rime pulled her hand away from the platform. She jumped onto another platform, "Good luck-woah!"

She ducked to avoid a stray laser blast from Lurida's orbiters, then stood back up, "Good luck, T!"

"Right…" Timbre stood stunned for a moment as she watched the small orange dot soar towards the Amity Perch. "We're going to need it…" She shot a wire at a tentacle and launched herself off of the ice block.

.

I'm dead. I'm definitely dead. Wind whipped past him, causing his hair and clothes to flutter rapidly. Yep. I'm dead and this is the afterlife. Everything is dark here.

Hey, buddy, chill the hell out. It'll also help if you opened your eyes.

Arty obeyed. Upon opening his eyes, all he could see was blue sky and clouds. Yep. I'm dead, and that's the voice of a god or some other deity talking to me. Hi… whoever you are.

I'm flattered, kid… the voice in Arty's head cut out for a moment, then came back in with hazy pop, Orchid says that you'll be fine. She'll keep your wounds down to a minimum. She just wanted me to make sure that you wouldn't freak out too bad.

What? Who the hell is Orchid? And If you're not a god or… whoever, who are you? He looked down at his body, noticing he was flying through the air. "Oh crap… why is it always me?" Luckily Palette was held in a white-knuckled death grip in his right hand. He hated the idea of losing his weapon again. Upon observing himself further, he noticed there was a slight glow around him, but it wasn't his aura. Hey, are you sure I'm not dead? I look kinda… ghostly.

That's Orchid's thing. Your aura is gonna break, and this is gonna hurt a lot, but you won't die. Vince sent us when your professor noticed a bunch of you had gone off, and when the general came up screaming about you guys stealing a boat.

Yeah… our bad. You said Vince, right?... You're with that Vincentas guy? And what exactly do you mean by 'this'? The experience of talking to someone in his head was extremely unnerving for Arty, and that was only intensified by the fact he was flying at high speeds hundreds of feet off the ground.

You ask a lot of questions, don't you? How about you worry about your landing on the tower. Orchid will fill you in there.

Landing? Arty turned just in time to see the white brick of the Perch of Amity rapidly approaching his face before everything around him became nothing but pain and dust. He groaned as he rolled against cold tile. He was back on solid ground at least.

"How nice of you to land in the recovery area!"

Dazed and confused, Arty lifted his head to see a woman clad in all green jogging over with a similarly pale green box with a white cross emblazoned across it. Her coat reached down to her ankles, but was only buttoned across her torso. Black hair had been ironed straight down her back, and it all flowed out from a mint green beret with a golden pin on the side.

She cracked open a pale yellow tablet and held it up to Arty's nose, then gestured down to the rows of makeshift beds around the circular courtyard far below. Dotted amongst were a few of his friends who were either in a bed themselves or out helping around with first aid. Out of all of them, Cayenne, Damascus, and all of Team ANTE were busting their butts the hardest to get every injured person taken care of.

"You have particularly good aim, or particularly good luck, to have landed here. Good show!" she cracked open another tablet to make sure that Arty was fully awake.

Arty shoved her hand away, "Good lord! What the heck is that stuff?"

"Sulfur," she smiled as she tossed the tablets out of the archway of the tower. She glanced up at the chunk of white stone that was missing from the top of the arch that Arty came in through. They sat in a circular hallway in the top of Amity Perch. Behind them, the center of the circular space was taken up by the large point of a jagged white crystal coming down from the ceiling. Arty quickly realized that it was the bottom of Amity Coliseum.

Orchid gestured to the broken arch in front of her, "That chunk there is where you hit your head. I'm thankful that I was able to keep you healed up enough to withstand that impact. Your aura is broken, though, as I'm sure you've noticed. You had just enough to survive with my help. That certainly is unfortunate… or is it incredibly fortunate? Perhaps the former..." the woman popped open her first aid kit and went to work patching Arty up without so much as asking first, "Burne 'Arty' Umber, correct? Basic memory test: tell me your mother's name, tell me how old you were when your sister was born, and tell me what you had for breakfast this morning."

Arty didn't know what else to do but answer. "Uhhh… Daphne Umber, ten, and… I just had some coffee... and a funnel cake… I'm sorry, but, who are you and why are you asking me so many questions?" He suddenly jumped up and ran for the archway, "My friends! I have to go help them!"

"Woah!" the woman grabbed him by the back of the shirt and pulled him back to where he was lying before. Her strength came as a surprise from her small frame, "I'm Orchid, but you might know me better as Vincentas' wife. Second, I'm making sure you don't have any obvious brain damage. It'd suck if everything up there got all scrambled, right?" She let out a nervous chuckle, "As for your friends, you can't help them with a concussion and no aura. If you need to calm down, I can have you take a benzodiazepine."

"Please… no more tablets. I'll be fine. So… this is going to sound crazy, but, a voice in my head told me your name as I was flying here, and that was before the concussion."

"Oh you don't have to worry about that. That was just Dorimizu. He's one of my teammates… or co-worker, rather. That was his Semblance. I know, it's pretty weird talking to him for the first time, but you're not going crazy. I'm actually talking to him right now. Told him you were fine," Orchid began examining Arty's head by parting his hair, "Feel free to watch your friends. It won't be long before the Atlesian military gets to them and puts an end to this madness," she pointed out to the fleet of boats speeding across the coast, "They will be safe and sound then."

"But the Maelstrom… It'll wreck the rest of the island! The military couldn't do anything before. If they don't come with bigger guns, they're not going to finish that thing off before more people get hurt!"

"It is for them to handle, not you," Orchid went on wrapping Arty's head, "It is not for you to worry about… what… what is that…?" her eyes widened at the line of color streaking down from the sky towards the Maelstrom.

Arty smiled as he watched the rainbow-colored streak with her. "Oh… that's my friend Opal."

Orchid's eyes widened, "SOME OF MY STUDENTS ARE OUT THERE?!"

.

"She's coming back down!" Curie shouted as she finished replacing the damaged firing rod with the one Roland made. She slammed the hatch in the weapon's base shut. "We only have one more chance with the artillery. We need to make it count if we're going to save anybody."

"Better hope that thing's aura breaks from whatever she's planning to do…" Titian commented watched the Maelstrom from the railing.

Sepia held up her scroll, 'Oh, it will. Afterimage is… pretty good when she gets enough force behind it. Hitting that thing at terminal velocity should do the trick.'

Color burst out above the Maelstrom. Opal smiled from within a shell of after images of herself. Her multiplied fist came down on top of its head in a flash of rainbow colored light. Its white flesh caved in from the shockwave that rippled through it. She fell into its elastic skin and used it to jump back towards the water. Upon looking back, she let out a loud "Woohoo!" as she saw the rainbow fractures across the Maelstrom that she was hoping for.

After being hit by the best guns that Atlas had to offer, a super charged artillery shell, a band of students, an incredibly unstable Dust mixture, and one giant punch from a girl-gone-missile, even the strongest aura would have to shatter. The Maelstrom's aura broke with a flash of prismatic light that dazzled the entire shoreline with every color of the rainbow. The giant monster let out a deep gurgling roar that seemed to emanate from deep inside its bulbous head.

"Midas, now!" Roland shouted from the busted windshield on the bridge.

Midas slammed his hand against the artillery gun. The entire weapon began to shine as it became a gilded version of its former self. Inside, the last remaining shell glowed gold, yellow, and red with Midas' Semblance and Arty's Nova Dust.

"Fire!" Roland shouted.

Xannie stabbed the button with her finger as soon as the monster entered the crosshairs on the screen.

Everyone on deck dove for cover as the gun exploded, firing the remaining shell as it did so.

.

From their perch at the top of the tower beneath Amity Coliseum, Arty and Orchid watched as a bright golden object soared from the downed ferris wheel and into the Maelstrom's right eye. The shell exploded, blowing half of the Grimm's head off. The tentacles flailed for a short while before finally falling limp against the sand and water. Even from their distance, they could see a white mist rising from the dead beast.

"We… we did it…" Arty chuckled. "We actually did it…" But something didn't feel right. He didn't feel accomplished. The fact that this thing had an aura meant it had a soul, and they had all snuffed it out. But it was attacking the island. It wasn't normal. We had to do it. He looked over to Orchid, who stood rigid and stone-faced as she gazed out to the destruction down below. "Hey… are… are you okay?"

Orchid flashed him a smile, "Yes. Yes, of course. I'm just… taken back that you kids just actually killed that Grimm," she went back to tending to Arty's wounds, "Now we can put all our focus on the Grimm Brotherhood…"

"They're still on the island? I thought they were retreating?"

"Atlas is catching whomever they can," she sat back upon finishing his bandages, "Don't relax quite yet. General Léon is not happy with you kids at all…"

"Oh… I bet not…"

Arty stared out at the fading mass of white and rainbow flesh. Though he couldn't see them from so far away, he could just imagine how everyone must have been doing. Roland would be staring out at the Grimm with a cold smile on his face. Timbre would be jumping around and screaming with joy along with Rime and Opal. Lurida would already be passed out with a small smile of success on her lips, and Xannie would already be running out along the ice platforms to congratulate her sister on a job well done. Saffron, Pepper, and Namib would all be laying out on the boardwalk with a feeling of joy and relief as their efforts were proven to be worth the outcome. Ahab would be blowing the whole thing off while Dante fought through a rush of sleepiness to cheer for their accomplishment. Midas would be screaming at the top of his lungs, and Titian would join in to share in his celebration. Curie would already be running to the Pillars of Vytal to check on him, but he also imagined that she would be crying tears of happiness in knowing that it was all over. He didn't know it at the time, but his artist's imagination was spot on in every account.


"Okay. Just got a text from Saffron. Léon and Shirley just wrapped things up with lecturing Team SPCE. Opal said that Team STON already got a talking to, and Xannie says that Team GLXY is pretty shaken up after their talk." Roland listed off. He sat cross legged on a blanket laid out in the courtyard around the Perch of Amity.

"Rime said that her punishment is… one thousand push-ups each day… as recommended by Frost after General Léon decided that she hadn't done enough to warrant any legal action given the circumstances," Timbre looked up to the rest of her team. All of Team ARTS with the addition of Dante sat in a circle of blankets to recover, "Don't you think that the general is going to be upset that you're not with your team, Dante….?"

"I just barely kept a lunatic from killing my brother… do you really think I want to let him out of my sight? I already talked to Robin about it, and he gave the go ahead," Dante took a bite out of a stale piece of bread. Beside her sat a pile of ten demolished MREs, less than desirable rations meant for Atlas soldiers, and she was in the process of chowing down on her eleventh.

'Here I thought Roland got hungry when he used his Semblance too much…' Sepia leaned her head against Roland's shoulder, 'How's MTLC holding up, Arty?'

Arty took a sip of water from a canteen. "The usual. Stern talking to from the General and Lieutenant General and the punishment of cleaning the bathrooms and the obstacle course. Once they get back to Atlas that is."

"What do you think your parents are gonna do when they get here?" Roland gently sat his hat to his side and put an arm around Sepia with the same absent mindedness as usual. He didn't want to say it out loud, but he was just glad to have her so close to him after everything, "Your dad gonna scream his head off at you, or…?"

"I'm pretty sure my mom's going to be worried sick when she hears I got backhanded by a giant octopus and my dad's going to be just as furious as the General." He took another sip of water, "I'm more worried about whether or not we're going to be expelled…"

"We're not going to get expelled, Arty…" Timbre fell to her back on her blanket, "We'll get in trouble again… sure, but not expelled."

"Yeah, but that was kind of… our idea to go out there and try to fight," Arty looked up to the sky, "but maybe you're right… we'll probably just get yelled at and disqualified from the tournament."

"Right… because kicking a bunch of students out of the tournament during the celebration of one-hundred years without war for taking on a mythical Grimm and killing it to save thousands of lives when full-fledged Huntsmen and Huntresses were not present would be fantastic press, wouldn't it?" Roland rolled his eyes, "The tournament is under all four kingdoms. If they're gonna kick anyone out, then they probably need the approval of all the headmasters, and you know that Alabaster has our backs."

"Mother wouldn't dare remove any teams from the tournament. That would only give further legitimacy to the Grimm Brotherhood's actions…" Dante looked over to Sepia, "What's she saying…?"

Timbre looked over to her partner to translate, "She says that Shade's headmaster probably wouldn't do anything either. Apparently he's pretty lax."

"You don't think our parents would pull us out of it, then?" Arty looked off at nothing in particular, "I mean, Timbre, your dad already tried to tear you away from Beacon before. What's to say he won't do it again? I already know my dad hates the fact that I'm going to Beacon, so this isn't going to go over well with him at all…" he sighed, "I'm just scared that somehow, some way, somebody's going to tear us apart and away from the lives we want to live…"

"You haven't the slightest clue how much joy I would take in doing that, Burne," said the woman standing as straight as a rod just a few feet behind Arty.

Arty felt his blood run cold as he saw the two adults walking towards him and his team. He shot to his feet and, out of pure habit, saluted General Khidna Léon and Lieutenant General Tsuga Kauri. He didn't know why, maybe deep down, he thought he could earn her favor at least a little bit before she handed down her punishment. "General Léon, ma'am."

Timbre forced a smile up at the woman and her glorified secretary, "Oh, General Léon! We were just talking about you!"

"Yeah. I was just about to say how much of a bi-" Roland was cut off by a flying MRE to the head from Dante's direction.

"The next one's for you, Sepia," Dante held one of the bricks of food towards her next target.

Got it, Sepia gave a thumbs up in understanding, I'll keep it down as always.

"Great… the little monster's corrupted Headmaster Wells's daughter, too." Tsuga sneered, "Why Onyx decided to let him into his school, I'll never know. Maybe the old coot has gone off his rocker."

"I am not in the mood to listen to your snide remarks today, Lieutenant General." Khidna growled. She pushed back a few frazzled strands of hair into her bun.

"Ma'am, we are willing to accept whatever punishment you are to hand to us," Arty said quickly.

Tsuga sneered, "Oh, you can bet your a-"

"What did I. Just. Say. Kauri?" General Léon snapped her neck to her subordinate.

At that, Tsuga finally shut his mouth.

She sighed, "I want this day to be over as much as you all do, so I will make this brief. You children have disobeyed direct orders from an officer of Atlas, conspired against the plan that Atlas itself laid out, stole one of our boats to carry this out, put yourselves all in the line of fire without taking any of the proper pathways to do so, aided in laying waste to an entire boardwalk, and you all could have easily gotten hundreds killed had anything in your improvised plan gone wrong."

Timbre shot to her feet, "The Maelstrom destroyed the-"

"But," General Léon went on, "you all were working to do what you believed would best help the general public. I acknowledge that none of you are soldiers, and that none of you are disciplined enough to be. You all acted as Huntsmen and Huntresses, and did so by acting without question for the good of the people during a time of crisis. I do not agree with your… choices, but they were ones that Huntsmen and Huntresses would make."

"So we're not in trouble…?" Roland piped up.

General Léon shot him a glare, "I am leaving that matter up to your individual headmasters. I have far more important matters to attend to."

"Th-thank you, Ms. Léon." Arty stuttered.

Tsuga took a step towards Arty, "Don't you dare refer to her as anything other than her rank you miserable little-"

"Thank you as well, Arty," General Léon turned on her heels and strided away from the group.

Arty's hand fell away from his forehead. Did she just…? And by my nickname?...

"That's your cue, bub," Roland grinned up at Tsuga, "Have fun with the paperwork!"

Sepia stuck her tongue out at the official while signing a plethora of obscenities.

Tsuga opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by General Léon once again.

"I do not have time to wait on you, Kauri."

He huffed and stomped away with her, his face red with embarrassment.

"So… is that it?" Timbre asked, looking to her leader. "I mean… that went way better than I expected it would."

"I… I guess?" Arty answered.

"Well then…" Dante finished off her eleventh MRE and stood up slowly, "I should be on my way. Mother would probably like to speak with Ahab and I. Thank you all for allowing me to help today," she smiled as she began heading the same way that General Léon had.

"Hey, Dante?"

She turned to face the odd boy in orange.

"You did great out there today. I just wanted to say thanks… again." Arty held his hand out to her.

Dante quickly wiped away what might have been a tear forming in her eye, "I'm… glad that I could be of assistance… truly, I am," she grasped his hand and pulled him close, "and thank you for helping him when I couldn't. He'll never tell you how much you've all done for him, but know that it's more than he could have asked for."

"Oh…" He looked back to his partner, who only nodded in response. "N-no problem, Dante…"

Dante let go, "I look forward to the chance of fighting you all in the tournament! I'll see you all later," she made her way towards the eastern section of the Pillars of Vytal and disappeared between two marble columns.

'What was so important that she had to whisper?' Sepia signed as Arty sat back down.

Arty flubbed his words for a minute, "Oh… just… she was thanking me again… and saying she was glad we didn't die."

"Right… so…" Roland looked around at all the wounded civilians and students. Though there were hundreds affected, very few were majorly injured. Not a single casualty was reported despite the destruction that had befallen Vytal. People were already up and helping the medics tend to others. From what he heard, there were already people in town making repairs to the buildings. It seemed far too good to be true. That had to be part of the Grimm Brotherhood's plan, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why it would be. If they wanted to cause fear and show they meant business, why did they let everyone out alive?

None of that mattered for the time being.

He let go of Sepia to get ready to stand, "How about we head down to the city when we're feeling better. We could help get things back to normal. Between all the students… I bet we could have everything repaired in a few days. They're saying that there isn't a whole lot of major damage to buildings… except for that one condo… and the sea ports were hit pretty bad," he read off his scroll, "I mean, being Huntsmen and Huntresses isn't only about fighting, right…?"

Arty shrugged, "I mean… yeah. That sounds like an idea I could get behi-."

"Timbre!"

She jumped at the sound of her own name, "Turf?!"

Not caring how fast he was running, he tackled her in a bear hug. "Are you okay? I heard about what you guys did to the giant octopus Grimm thing that was attacking the island!" He held her at arm's length, as if checking to see if she still had all her parts and wasn't injured. Upon seeing she was pretty much unharmed, he brought her closer again. "Oh gods! I was so worried when Alice told me you guys ran off."

Timbre couldn't keep herself from laughing. "Turf! I'm okay. Really!" She looked around to her teammates, "We all are."

"Are you guys crazy though? You're just first years! Not even the third and fourth years were allowed anywhere near that thing!"

"I dunno…" Arty scratched his head, "Just thought we had a plan. The military couldn't make a dent, but we… kinda just went for it."

A wide grin filled Turf's face, "You guys are nuts," He went over and slung his arms around the rest of Team ARTS, "and I think that's why I love hanging out with you guys so much!"

"Ow…" Roland pulled his head away from Turf. Taking a beating to the face usually lead to at least a headache afterwards, "How are Alice and Ebon?" he thought for a moment, "...and Navy?"

"They're fine for the most part. Got into a little scuffle with some of those Grimm Brotherhood guys while we were training farther inland. No biggie for us though. Some lady in a green beret showed up and led us back here and had us help out."

"You met Orchid?" Arty asked.

Turf's eyes looked up and away from him, as if deep in thought, "Is that her name? I never actually caught it."

'Wait, Orchid is here? Vincentas' wife?!' Sepia's eyes lit up, 'She's the best sniper in all of Vacuo!'

"Oh yeah… should've guessed you'd know her…" Arty recounted his experience with the medic at the top of the tower. "How someone as… pleasant as her ended up with a jerk like Vincentas, I'll never know."

'Vincentas is a jerk, but the rest of his team from school are pretty awesome!' Sepia added as the conversation continued.

"Well, one forced sulfur up your nose and the other beat you with a door." Timbre giggled, "I'm surprised you don't hate her just as much."

'How could he? She's kinda weird, yeah, but she's super nice. I'd even say nicer than Ms. Weaver,' Sepia grinned up at Roland.

"I'll fight you on that one," he chuckled, "So… since Dante ate the food that they provided for all of us, do you guys wanna go get something to eat before we start helping out with the repairs? Maybe Team ANTE wants to come along?" he looked to Turf. Now that they had had a year to get to know each other, he hoped that Alice would be more open to the idea.

Turf smiled, "I bet she'd be up for it. Considering the day we had, we all deserve a break. Besides, everyone's starting to get back up on their feet. I'm really surprised there weren't any… you know."

"Deaths?" Timbre finished his sentence. She seemed to shrink back at the mention of the word. Memories of Koruss came briefly flooding back.

Turf tapped out a message on his scroll, presumably to his team. "Yeah… it's incredible. A giant albino sea monster attacks the one place in Remnant that doesn't have to worry about Grimm and everyone comes out relatively fine. Pretty unbelievable if you ask me." His scroll dinged and his smile grew wider, "She said she's up for it. Looks like this'll be the first time Teams ARTS and ANTE actually went to hang out for once."

As they went to meet up with Alice, Roland couldn't help but remember something Curie had said:

"Judging from what we know the Grimm Brotherhood is up to, I'd say the most likely answer is that they managed to make an artificial Grimm."

He tapped his lips as he went through the events of the day in his brain, What would they gain from artificial Grimm...?

"What the hell are they planning?..."

Roland turned to Arty, "What?"

Arty shook his head as he stood up, "Nothing… I was just thinking that exact same thing…"

"I didn't…" Roland furrowed his brow, "Didn't realize I was thinking out loud…"


Footsteps echoed off of the limestone walls of an empty bazaar. Textiles lined the skylights stretching across the narrow alleyways that made up a winding maze of market stalls. Oranges, blues, golds, and greens brought the dead market to life. Everyone had been moved away from their businesses to the hills inland to wait the attack by the Maelstrom out.

One girl sat alone on a stool in the bazaar, though. The market stand behind her was brimming with dyes of the brightest colors that could be produced in Vacuo. She had just placed a cleanly folded black cloak into a cardboard box at her feet when someone came through the cloth divider into the room. "Oh, Kokonatsu! Good to see you again! Sorry that I didn't get to stick around and help too much with the kids, but I had a few other things to tend to," she tucked a lock of black hair behind her ear. A rainbow of color shone bright underneath the thin veil of jet black that served as the outer layer of her hair.

Agent Kokonatsu, despite his short time within the Grimm Brotherhood, was given the privilege of wearing one of the highly coveted Grimm masks. The only reason he was ever given was that it was a gift for showing so much dedication and skill so early after his induction. "Doesn't matter. Everything went fine in the end… except the part where I got shot in the face with a flare gun."

Captain Sanguwalker shrugged, "Sometimes you have to take a hit for the team. That's not to say you weren't actually trying to cause harm. You fought very well for your first time in the field, Kokonatsu," she hopped down from her stool and smiled at the pepper spray covered mask. Her black and rainbow hair levitated for just a moment while she looked him over. Her dark eyes finally settled on the glowing eyes of his mask, "I congratulate you on a job well done," she held out her hand. Dusty spots of red, yellow, and purple covered the dark skin of her arms all the way up to her shoulder. What was once a pristine pale yellow shirt and a pair of bright white jean shorts had become a mottled mess of dozens of different shades of color.

Kokonatsu glared back at her.

"Come on. I won't bite. I may outrank you, but I honestly believe that one day we can truly be equals. At least let me make this small gesture now to show my respect."

Reluctantly, he shook her hand. "Right…"

From the archway behind him, he could hear the cloth divider being pushed out of the way as a third person came to join them.

Sanguwalker smirked as she returned to her seat and crossed her legs, "Ah, Agent Deathstalker. How nice of you to finally join us."

"Yeah, sorry. Midas just would not shut up about how he couldn't believe that the General let us off so easily," Titian stopped between Kokonatsu and Sanguwalker, "That, and how worried he is that his cousin's still in recovery… how funny is that, right?" she nudged Kokonatsu on the arm before returning to her superior, "Nicely done, by the way. You made our fight pretty convincing."

"Thank you. To you as well, and they never would've gotten such a good shot on the Maelstrom had you not degraded the supports of the ferris-wheel. Had Kokonatsu here not led his meddling cousin to the boat, the whole mission might not have ended so well." She glanced to the girl in red armor. "It's nice to see how well your Semblance combats his. That's good to note for any… future conflicts the Atlas branch may have with him."

"If he's around long enough, of course. I mean, we've already got Kokonatsu around, so Golden Boy is more of a hindrance than anything," Titian laughed, "I don't give him enough credit, though. He did help kill that thing, so… he's got that going for him. Commander Maelstrom's gotta be thrilled to bits that that thing isn't around to cause us any more trouble. There's not much more than those self-righteous jerks standing in our way now."

Kokonatsu reached up and grabbed his mask. Upon taking it off, silver-gray hair spilled out. Ledning Coyle looked to the two women standing before him. "Yeah. But we have the upper hand. They're nowhere closer to figuring out how close the Brotherhood has gotten to them."

Titian smirked, "See? I told you guys months ago. He's a natural at this stuff." She walked over to her partner, circling him in a stiff-legged march, "All that pent up rage and jealousy." She stopped and grabbed him by the shoulders from behind, "That thirst for power. That feeling that we were wronged by the world. All of us feel that way, Led. Once you opened up to me about your dear old father being the leader of not only Midas's dad's team but also the general of all of Atlas itself, I knew you had to feel cheated. Like you weren't living up to the expectations left by Team Orichalcum. There just had to be something in you that'd bring you to us eventually. Thank god I decided to speed things up a little, hm?" She leaned into his ear, "I bet you can't wait to see the look on Midas's face when you have your boot over him, ready to crush him like the insignificant bug you always knew he was."

"You know that's not why I want him gone," Ledning yanked away from Titian's grasp, "With him gone, then it's just me to do what has to be done. Commander Maelstrom made it clear that I'm better suited for the job she has in mind. I'm here to do what's needed for the Grimm Brotherhood. That's it."

Titian pretended to pout, "Aww… are you sure that's all? You know you don't have to be as obedient as if you were actually under that Léon hag. Commander Maelstrom is far more lenient with getting satisfaction from what we do. Maybe that's another reason you were so ready to join our cause."

"Shut. Up. Titian." Ledning balled his fists, the dark-colored metal coating his hands at it had earlier. Maybe someone just needed to teach the girl a lesson about pushing people's buttons. Maybe that would get her to drop it.

"Enough," powdered dyes shot out from their baskets behind the market stall. They encased Ledning's hands in a swirl of colors, "Now is not the time for this. Everything has gone according to plan, and we've even got the added benefit of having the third one of them confirmed to be awoken now. Let's not ruin the gains from today by snapping each other's heads off, alright?" She looked between the two Agents, "You wouldn't want me reporting to Lieutenant Chiman that we had an incident of Brother on Brother violence, do you?"

Both shook their heads.

The dye around Ledning's fists fell to the ground as Sanguwalker stood, grabbing the box containing her field attire as she did so. "Good," she headed to the bazaar's exit as they heard merchants beginning to return. "If you want to fight, leave it for the tournament, okay?" The dividing curtain fell as she disappeared into the growing crowd, nobody the wiser as to who she really was.

Titian smirked and looked to Ledning. "Better get changed out of your field outfit. Don't want anyone seeing you in that now do we?" She poked him in the chest before leaving to follow Sanguwalker, presumably back to the Atlas students' hotel to regroup with those foolish enough to fall for their facades.

Ledning tightened his grip on his mask. When everything was over, the world would be a better place. No unnecessary death. No pain. No expectations. With those few sentiments in mind, he got changed and packed up his clothes in another box as Sanguwalker had. Not long after, the Grimm Brotherhood's most promising recruit went on his way without a single regret from the day. From this point on, there was no turning back.