Friday, June 1st

Jaune was surprised at how effortlessly his blade cut through the wolf-like shadow. What had once felt like a fight for his life suddenly felt routine – exploit the shadow's weakness, eliminate the target, and move on to the next area. His senses were getting better too – as the boar –like shadow came behind him, he turned in time to bash it with his shield, stunning it in place as Pyrrha speared it from above.

He surveyed the battlefield – Freya was floating above Blake and next to Yang, a green light healing a small scrape on Yang's shoulder. Yang smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Weiss and Penny were both slashing through a huge bear-like shadow simultaneously. The shadow collapsed on itself, disappearing into the black grain-like substance that vanished into nothingness.

This area was made of a multitude of platforms switching in and out of each other, inside what appeared to be a gargantuan tower – however, the walls seemed almost as though they were made of wood – like they were maneuvering inside a giant tree. The platforms themselves were flat stones, constantly shifting in shape and size. As they twisted and turned, there was a sense of ascension – that with every platform they moved to, they were getting higher up the tree and further from the ground.

"Didn't you say you were taking us directly to the guardian?" As they cleared all of the shadows off of this particular platform, Weiss sheathed her blade and turned to Emerald. "This is getting tiresome."

Emerald shrugged and gave a bit of a sheepish smile. "Sorry, the base of the chamber is the closest I can get you. This guardian is… particularly frustrating to track."

"And you said it's one of the last two remaining, right?" Blake added, watching as the platform they were on moved against the wall. There was a small outcropping – like a giant leaf set against the wall as a platform – that the group moved onto. The ground felt soft and spongy, and it was a nice respite from fighting shadows on the ever-moving platforms. The party moved off of their current platform and onto the giant leaf before Emerald continued.

"Yes. Then that's it – no more Grimm Hour." She looked downcast as she spoke.

Jaune put a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for helping us through it. I know it's hard on you." He turned to the rest of the party. "Honestly, I'm a little bummed that the Grimm Hour is ending myself."

"We'll still have each other when it's all over." Ruby chimed happily. "Just because we're not going to be killing Shadows anymore doesn't mean we can't still be friends."

"Agreed." Pyrrha softly smiled, stepping next to Jaune. "I'm not going anywhere." She turned to the rest of the group, spear in hand. "The thought of ending the damage the Grimm Hour does to people should make us happy."

"Elated!" Penny chimed, watching the next platform start to descend toward their current location. "It looks as though there are only two more platforms to the top."

"It's almost time." Emerald swallowed as the platform came into view. "Once this platform hits the top, the next shadow will be waiting for us."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Yang stepped off of the leaf and onto the platform "Let's go."

The group moved in full onto the platform behind Yang. Once they were all there, a small rune in the center of the platform let off a gentle orange glow, and the platform began to ascend into the air. Emerald fidgeted lightly with her hands as they began to ascend.

"What will you do?" Ruby's bright voice and infectious smile were right next to her. "When this is all done, I mean."

"I… hadn't really thought about it." Emerald said, eyes fixated on the next platform. "Mercury and I were on our own before we joined Salem… we don't really have anywhere else to go."

"What if you joined us?" Ruby gestured to everyone else – Blake seemed to be laughing at something Yang had said. Penny stood perfectly, eerily still – perhaps doing some kind of system check? Weiss was running a cloth along her rapier. Jaune was staring at the next platform with a thoughtful look on his face – while Pyrrha stared at Jaune with a similar expression.

"I'm… not so sure that would work." Emerald said with a sigh. "After everything that's happened, doesn't that seem kind of… boring?"

"It's more fun than it sounds." Ruby giggled to herself. "Everyone is always getting up to something… sure, some of the teachers are boring, and some of the homework is awful, but…" her silver eyes shot throughout the Shadow Hunters, "there's never a dull moment when you're with your friends."

"Friends, huh?" Emerald smiled slightly, "I guess… that does sound nice."

The platform suddenly stopped ascending, locking itself into place next to the final platform. They were near the top of the inside of the tower – the ceiling above them depicting a mosaic of a great tree whose branches connected to nine multicolored spheres, save one that was pitch black. The shadow hunters all drew their weapons to stare down the next platform which they found… completely empty.

"What's the big idea?" Yang stepped onto the platform and cracked her knuckles together. "I thought you said the final shadow was here?"

"Let me take a look." Jaune put his evoker to his head and fired. La Pucelle appeared behind him, and he could sense his surroundings as though they were a part of him. He could tell that the Shadow Hunters were in pretty decent shape – Blake was somewhat low on energy from keeping the party in tip-top shape, but otherwise there were no concerns… but despite his searching, he couldn't seem to find the Shadow.

"Let me help." Weiss stepped up next to Jaune and summoned Fairest. The mirror appeared before her, and its glossy eyes winked as the face within the mirror vanished. The mirror displayed a map of the current area, with small dots representing each member of the party on the platform. There was a large red dot that usually indicated a shadow – and it appeared to be at their current location.

"It says it's… right on top of us?" Weiss' confused voice shot through the Hunters, who all looked up in unison – just in time to see the black sphere of the mosaic above them… wiggle?

The sphere shook once, twice, and then fell from its place on the ceiling, descending towards the hunters and their platform like a giant cannonball.

"Everyone! To me!" Pyrrha cried, and in that split moment her evoker was in her hand. As the gunshot echoed throughout the chamber, Baldr was there – giant shield up and at the ready. A small barrier surrounded the party behind the Persona and shield as the massive projectile came hurtling towards it.

The black sphere collided with Baldr's shield, and Pyrrha groaned. Jaune – his senses assisted by La Pucelle – saw Baldr's strength immediately diminish. Baldr's shield shattered as though it were made of glass, and his barrier with it. Then, Baldr vanished in a puff of blue smoke. Pyrrha gasped in pain and held her head, falling to the ground.

Bouncing off of the impact, the black sphere went a few more feet into the air and then fell onto the platform. As it fell, it unrolled itself to reveal what appeared to be a giant black squirrel, a mask on the tip of its tale. As it unrolled, Jaune's vision and Weiss's mirror both displayed a 3-D image of the Shadow, along with the name 'Murderous Ratatoskr'.

"I've got you Pyrrha!" Jaune said as he ran up next to her, grabbing her by the waist and moving her away from the giant monster. He shuffled back, only to almost fall off of the side of the platform. He caught his footing and looked back – and down. He could only barely make out the floor in the midsts of all the moving platforms – a fall from this height was, without a doubt, fatal.

"I'll… I'll be fine…" Pyrrha groaned through gritted teeth as she lay on her side. "Help the others."

Jaune stared at her for a long moment, then closed his eyes and nodded. He ran toward the Shadow just as its massive claw came down on Yang, who barely brought her arms up in time to protect her face. Yang slid back hard from the strike, holding her ground as she spun to summon Sif. Sif's golden locks appeared, and as Sif raised her arm a bolt of lightning struck the Shadow – having seemingly no effect.

"Blake, give me a boost!" Ruby called, then she cried "Sukukaja!" Big Bad appeared behind her, and a blue light enveloped her body.

Blake nodded. "Tarukaja!" she shouted with her Evoker under her chin. Freya appeared, and a gentle red light enveloped Ruby…. Who then took off toward the shadow so quickly that she was a barely visible red blur.

"Kvasir!" Penny's voice echoed as her blade-nosed Persona appeared before her, striking at the Shadow with a flurry of blows. As the blade struck the shadow from behind, the front of the shadow was met with a series of red slashes that could only be Ruby and her Persona striking at lightning speed.

The Shadow let out a cry of pain and spun its massive tail, battering Penny and Ruby away from it. The two hunters flew through the air… and off of the platform.

"RUBY!" Jaune shouted, rushing towards the edge. He heard a whizzing sound next to his ear and turned to see a dagger jutting out of the stone. Penny's arm wrapped around Ruby as they fell, disappearing into the abyss… and then Jaune heard a 'whirr' as a barely visible string pulled Ruby and Penny toward the dagger. They came to the edge as Jaune helped them up.

Ruby gasped for breath as Penny stood, her dagger – and the accompanying wire – retracted into her wrist.

"Let's… not do that again." Ruby gasped, and Jaune nodded, turning to see how the rest of the group was faring against the Shadow.

Yang had made it onto the massive squirrel's right shoulder, and was unleashing a series of punches directly into the side of the Shadow's head. The shadow brought both of its claws up to her, smashing them together to grab her – but as they did, Yang summoned Sif. Sif's golden strands of rope-like hair tied around the shadow's approaching left arm, and Yang – holding onto Sif's hand – swung around the Shadow's body, using the momentum to fling herself onto the Shadow's left shoulder, where she continued her assault.

Meanwhile, Weiss had Fairest before her. The face in Fairest's mirror blew a kiss toward Ratatoskr, and a stream of icy wind struck the ground beneath the squirrel's feet. Blake rushed up next to her and nodded.

"Yang, hop off!" Blake cried. Yang turned and nodded, leaping off of the Shadow. As she fell toward the ground, she fired her Evoker in mid-air. Sif appeared once more, catching Yang in a tangle of golden strands. Yang landed against Sif's body, and as Sif collided with the ground she vanished, leaving Yang coming up in a rolling tumble before standing next to Blake and Weiss.

Blake fired her Evoker and Freya was there, firing a massive ball of fire right into the shadow's face. As the fireball collided with the Ratatoskr, the massive shadow was pushed back – losing its footing on the sheet of ice that Weiss had just created around its feet.

As it struggled to keep its footing, Jaune, Penny, and Ruby rushed forward. Big Bad, Kvasir, and La Pucelle all manifested ahead of the trio. Their Personas – claws and blades outstretched – collided with the chest of the massive beast. The momentum of their strike – combined with the already unstable hold the shadow had on its footing – sent the shadow sliding across the ice on its back, and over the platform.

As the shadow disappeared from view, the hunters all looked at each other, breathing heavily… there was a brief silence, punctuated only by their gasping breaths. There was a small chime, and with a soft orange glow a rune lit up within the stone, and then the platform started to ascend.

"W-we… we did it…" Jaune sighed heavily. "We did it!"

"… I can hardly believe it…" Emerald said, looking from the edge of the platform. "You actually took it out."

"I knew we'd… succeed…" Pyrrha said, a pained expression on her face. She slowly moved into a sitting position from where she had been laying on the ground.

"That was scary for a second there." Yang said, rolling her shoulder. "But nothing we couldn't handle."

As the platform ascended, the mosaic above them cracked open as the tree was split in two. The ceiling opened completely, the two halves sliding into the walls of the tower, to show the bottom of a narrow stone bridge behind it that stretched from the center of the room to the wall. Jaune smiled as the group went around using the last of their energy to heal whatever wounds they may have sustained.

As the platform locked into place, connecting to the bridge, the group all turned to Emerald.

"So, we'll rest up back at the dorm for a day or two, then head on to the next one." Jaune nodded towards her. Emerald's eyes widened as he spoke, and he just gave a carefree smile. "It'll be fun!" Jaune put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we have a place for you to stay."

"Do you now?"

The dark, sultry voice came from behind Jaune, and Jaune realized that Emerald's wide-eyed stare wasn't for him – it was for the young woman standing on the bridge. Her hood was pulled back, revealing her dark hair and amber eyes. Cinder was standing on the bridge, staring down the Shadow Hunters. She looked at the group, locked eyes with Emerald…

And smiled.