Sorry about the lack of uploads, I haven't had access to my computer in a few weeks. Let's upload a few chapters today, shall we?

Neela sat down as Ilia made small talk with Tori Redgrave, the tattoo artist at Blackwell Ink, showing her a picture of the Manticore as they both kind of geeked out about it and the artist inquired about Ilia's vision for the ink. They tossed around ideas and details and finally settled on one before Ilia took her shirt off and laid on her chest on the chair, looking at Neela who looked out of place and nervous. Ilia chuckled.

"First time in a parlor?" Ilia asked her. Neela nodded as she admired the mosaic across Ilia's back, never realizing before that the girl had so many tattoos of Grimm and that each one was one that she'd personally defeated. There was another that seemed higher up on Ilia's neck, just below where her hairline started, but it was hard to make out since her ponytail normally covered it. "Think you'll be getting anything today? I can make some suggestions if you'd like. Not saying you have to, but it's a great way to express yourself. Every single one on my body has a story."

"I'll think about it," Neela told her. A large Beowolf on her shoulder blade. A Deathstalker in the middle of her lower back. The sleeve tattoo of the Wyvern that curled down her arm. Song lyrics on her left forearm. A King Taiju, that Ilia had only now just pointed out that was eating itself, around her ankle. The Manticore would be to the right of the Deathstalker, which Neela agreed with. "I'm not even sure what I would get."

"We could do anything, really! Moments that are important to you are easy ones to come up with, like a few of mine!" Ilia blurted out. "I mean, she can. She's the best in town." The artist chuckled and sanitized the area. Neela's scroll went off and she checked it quickly, Ilia looking up at her and scolding her. "Hey, no scrolls during girls' night!" Neela laughed as she replied and put it back away.

"It was Yang, I had to reply to her," Neela explained. "What's this one in the middle of your back?"

"Which one?" Ilia asked, shifting to try and look back which only irritated the artist. It was Ilia's name in a gothic style text with dates beneath it, a Griffon on both the left and right side.

"It's your name, but the dates would suggest your commemorating someone," Neela pointed out.

"Oh," Ilia said, her excitement fading quickly. "That's for my mother."

"Her name was Ilia too?" Neela asked.

"Yeah," Ilia sighed. She took a deep breath. "It was the least I could do for her."

"Do you have one for your dad too?" Neela asked, examining again.

"Didn't care much for my old man," Ilia noted. She smiled. "How about a sleeve tattoo with the original White Fang flag? That would look awesome!" Neela waved her off and smirked.

"Nah," Neela denied her. "Though I do think I have an idea for one now…"

"I'm buying her a tattoo!" Ilia exclaimed as the artist shoved her back down.

"Stop moving!" The woman yelled.

"It's still a maybe," Neela laughed.

"You're totally going to do it," Ilia goaded her.

"I'm home!" Neela declared. She tossed her bag across the living room and it landed on the couch, opening and spilling its contents all over the living room floor as several Shadows raced in from the hallway and attacked Neela with a barrage of hugs. "How's it going, Shadow?"

"Good!" Shadow mumbled with her mouth full of cookies. She swallowed and gasped before speaking again. "You look happy!" Neela winced slightly as she lifted the real Shadow up and the decoys faded.

"I feel happy today," Neela told her. Shadow giggled.

"Good!" Shadow scrambled away. "You staying for dinner, sissy?"

"Yeah," Neela agreed with a nod. Shadow disappeared into the kitchen.

"Sissy is staying for dinner!" She declared.

"Is Neela here?" Yang asked her daughter.

"Yep!" Shadow shouted as she bounced about.

"Okay. Go get washed up for dinner," Yang told her. "And no more cookies." Shadow pouted and folded her arms.

"One more cookie," Shadow bargained. Yang sighed.

"Okay, one more, but then, no more," she instructed her daughter. Shadow quickly snatched one from the plate near the stove and took off down the hallway.

"Hey, mom," Neela greeted Yang as she entered the living room and they hugged. Neela exhaled in her warm embrace, pulling back as Yang looked her over.

"Did you have a good time with Ilia tonight?" Yang asked. Neela nodded and smiled.

"Yeah," Neela admitted. "It was nice to get away from it all for a day."

"I'm glad to hear it," Yang noted, still eying her up. "Get anything done?"

"Would you be disappointed if I did?" Neela inquired.

"Of course not!" Yang clarified. "I was just curious. I thought about getting one myself for the longest time, but I still haven't narrowed down what it would be."

"You want to see it then?" Neela asked as she grabbed her sleeve to pull it back.

"Yes!" Yang exclaimed. Neela pulled up her left sleeve to reveal a tattoo on her forearm. In cursive was the date that she'd been rescued by Yang and Blake in black with a yellow outline. Yang's emblem was found at the beginning of the numerals and Blake's finished them.

"What do you think?" Neela asked. Yang smiled and held back tears.

"I think I might cry," Yang admitted.

"I wanted to do something that meant a lot to me, and this… this means the most to me," Neela said with tears in her own eyes.

"Now I am gonna cry!" Yang blurted out as she hugged her daughter again.

"You gonna tell Blake?" Neela questioned.

"Hell yeah, I'm going to tell Blake!" Yang declared. "Just let me get a good picture of it." Neela smiled at her mother and Yang felt a wave of relief wash over her. For the first time since Athena attacked, Neela seemed genuinely happy.

Eliana opened her eyes slowly to find Neela was lying next to her, breathing slowly and smiling as she noted that her friend had woken up.

"Neela, what are you doing here?" Eliana asked in a groggy state, still in disbelief as she rubbed her eyes to try and focus on the girl.

"Your mom told me that you didn't want to see me anymore," Neela explained as Eliana's chest tightened.

"That wasn't exactly what I said," Eliana confessed as she managed to sit up, Neela following suit.

"But is it what you meant?" Neela asked her with sorrowful eyes that begged Eliana to tell her otherwise.

"Of course not," Eliana explained. "I just… I didn't think that you'd want to see me anymore." Neela swallowed hard and stared off into the corner of the small bedroom.

"Why wouldn't I want to see you anymore?" Neela asked.

"Because I hurt you!" Eliana blurted out.

"I told you before Eliana, there's nothing that can separate us," Neela said as she brushed Eliana's bangs out of her face for once. Eliana watched Neela's hands, one of them resting on her cheek for longer than Eliana felt was appropriate and she blushed.

"So, you forgive me?" Eliana asked her. Neela chuckled softly.

"Of course, I do," Neela reassured her. "Shadow's fine, and Raven went the best possible way that she could have." Eliana tried to smile but she struggled to do so.

"I still feel awful," Eliana told her.

"I'm here for you, Elli," Neela explained. "We'll work through this together." Eliana nodded and gave Neela the smile that she'd come to adore, the two of them sitting in silence for a long moment, Eliana's eyes tracing a pattern out of the carpeting as she gathered her thoughts.

"I… I remember what you told me… in the Vault," Eliana noted as she blushed, refusing eye contact.

"It was rushed," Neela told her. "I should have waited…"

"I think I feel the same," Eliana told her. Eliana faced her, Neela's face bright red as Eliana smiled. The whole time the signs had been there, and she had just been so oblivious. Eliana leaned in, her lips inches from Neela's.

"Are you sure?" Neela asked.

"More sure than I've been about anything in a long time," Eliana confessed. She closed the gap, kissing Neela gently on the lips, and the two girls melted into each other, Eliana pulling away first out of breath, a sudden lust gripping hold of her as she tackled Neela onto the bed, the two of them quickly tangled in the sheets, Neela kissing Eliana's neck hard, causing her to gasp and groan involuntarily.

"Eliana?" Came a voice at the door. The sound of her door opening gripped her violently, throttling her out of her dream and back into her bed where she was still just as out of breath, her chest heaving. No…

"Are you alright? There were some strange noises coming from in here," her uncle Corrin said. She became flush, embarrassed as she sat up and nodded, covering her face.

"I'm fine," Eliana told them.

"You don't sound fine," her aunt Grace replied, feeling her forehead. "And you're burning up." Eliana gently removed her hand and stood, composing herself and shrugging.

"Nope, totally fine," she insisted to them as she squeezed through them to the door. "I'm going to go visit dad."

"At this time of night?" Grace asked, reaching out to stop her.

"I'll be fine," Eliana noted. "I've fought way worse than anything I might run into out here."

"Be careful!" Grace yelled as Eliana slammed the door behind her, breaking out in a full-blown sprint, the cool air feeling great on her body. It was just a dream… but I want it so badly!

LIKE THEY'D FORGIVE YOU!

Once she'd put some distance between herself and the house she slowed to a jog, passing by the occasional merchant that was traveling late, trying to make it to Haven before they were jumped by bandits so they'd be ready to sell their wares the next day. She felt the presence of a lone Beowolf on occasion, but they seemed to show little interest in her, only wanting to feed on the fear of the weak that were unfortunate enough to wander out of the city limits in the dead of night. Eliana came to a stop at the path that led back to her childhood home, surely her father had words of wisdom to get her through this. She waited a long time, though nothing came to her, instead her mind recalling the carnage they'd come home to that fateful evening.

Eliana shook her head. No, she wasn't here to dwell on the death of her father. There had to be something that he had told her once that she was overlooking.

"I told you that I didn't want to come back here," A voice spoke, startling Eliana. She turned to her right, a younger version of herself, entering her pre-teen years, stared at the house in anger, glancing up at her mother and crossing her arms. "I don't understand why you'd want to come back."

"Why wouldn't I want to come back?" Violet asked her daughter as she began down the path.

"This is where…" Eliana started before getting choked up. She stopped herself. "This is where it happened."

"This is where it all happened," Violet told her with a smile. "Where we were married. Where you were born and raised. Your father built this house with his own two hands. So many wonderful memories."

"Why do you act like it didn't happen?" Eliana asked. The older girl wanted to comfort her younger self but her mother took care of that for her, hugging her daughter.

"I understand that it happened, but dwelling on the bad only brings me pain, Elli," Violet explained. "Why wouldn't I dwell on the good instead?"

"That sounds like something Neela would say," Eliana told Violet. The real Eliana chuckled.

"She's a smart girl," Violet laughed. "I'm glad the two of you are friends." Eliana nodded.

"Me too," Eliana told her in unison. The memory faded as Eliana phased through them and made the trek back to her father's grave. She listened for his voice, his laughter filled her as she sat cross-legged in front of his headstone and sighed. "It's been a while, dad. Not as long as all the other times I waited to come visit you, but longer than it should have been." Eliana looked up at the stars, thinking about what she needed to say most. "I messed up, dad."

"I'm not perfect. I'm not as good as you, though I guess that would take more than anyone has to give. To be as good as you. I hurt Neela, and I know that she'd forgive me, but I don't deserve it, and it hurts to think about. I should protect her, even if it's hard. And this is the best thing I can do, right? So, I'm going to stay here a while longer. Maybe I can start over… or maybe one day I can go back once I can trust myself again. Guess you'll be seeing a bit more of me until then. I feel like I'm talking in circles, but you always did know what I was getting at. I have to remember the good with Neela and move past the bad, but it'll never be like it was before." Eliana sighed and pushed herself up to her feet. "You always were the best listener. Love you, dad."

Eliana walked back to the main path that led back towards Haven, holding her head as high as she could on the way back.

IT MIGHT NOT BE NEELA, BUT YOU'LL MESS UP AGAIN!

Eliana shrugged off the feeling. She couldn't keep living in fear of hurting anyone else.

"Help!" Yelled a voice down the path that was carried to Eliana on the breeze. She sprinted for the cry, moving as fast as her legs would allow, finding one of the merchants she'd passed had gone down an embankment and their wagon had rolled over, pinning them beneath somehow. Eliana tore the fabric apart to find several people within, all wearing masks similar to those of the White Fang.

WE KNEW YOU'D BETRAY HER!

Eliana scrambled backward. "Help me!" She glanced towards the cry before looking into the wagon again. They were gone.

"Hold on, I'm here!" Eliana yelled at them. She used a forcefield to assist her in rolling it off them, the woman had cat ears and a baby in her arms that was screaming loudly as she uncovered it.

"Please don't hurt us," She pled.

"I'm here to help you," Eliana insisted as she helped the woman to her feet.

"Oh, thank you," She said as she looked the wagon over and cradled her child, rocking it back and forth. "Ever since that Zilla was taken down at the hands of a Faunus, things have been rough out here for us."

"What?" Eliana asked, confused.

"Some Beacon student," she explained. "We know that she was only trying to make things better, but word spread like wildfire that Zilla's fears were coming true, and the people of Mistral began to believe it. The attack on Beacon didn't help either, it's almost like we've gone back to a time before the Faunus War." Eliana took a step back. "It's nice to know that there are people out here still willing to help Faunus."

"I'm a huntress in training," Eliana told her. "It's an honor to help those in need." The woman nodded but frowned.

"Not even all Huntsmen feel that way towards us," she explained as Eliana helped her up the drop-off. Eliana's mind reeled. They had caused this discrimination in the process of fighting it? She knew what she had to do now. Starting with a conversation with Stratford.

"Did you hear the news?" Ivory asked Vin as she flopped down onto the couch in the sunroom of the beach house, staring out at the waves as Yvonne obstructed her view for a moment, glaring at the girl as she continued on her way to the bathroom. Vin sipped on his coffee as a naked man stumbled into the hall and stared at them before covering himself with his hands. He combed the room over with his eyes, trying to find Yvonne before Vin pointed towards the door with his hand. "She's in the bathroom." Vin shot her a look and sighed in frustration as the man rerouted through the sunroom and knocked on the door.

"Vin had it right the first time," Yvonne called through the door. "I need a shower and I wanted a little something to remember you by. There might be a towel in the laundry basket by the door there that you can use to head back up to the dorms. Hope it was good for you too." The man looked back at Vin who still pointed at the door.

"I don't know what to tell you, it's just how she is," Vin explained. With that, the stranger left and they were in silence once more. "For the love of Oum, return Cobalt's calls. If he keeps calling the beach house I am going to put a hole through one of the windows sooner than later."

"Cobalt knows the rules," Yvonne called back to them as she started the shower. "When my calendar is open again, I'll call him. There are just so many cute freshmen though, and I'm dying to find out which one of them actually knows how to please a woman."

"Probably none of them, they're freshmen," Vin yelled, shaking his head.

"Then how's about you show me how it's done," She asked.

"No!" He shouted.

"It was worth a try," Yvonne giggled. Vin took another drink of his coffee and stared at the newspaper.

"Anything interesting in there?" Ivory asked him as he thumbed to the next page.

"Strakh somehow got away from the Atlas Military again," he noted.

"Almost makes you wonder if they know what they're doing," Rowan added as he also left Yvonne's room and joined them, only wearing his boxers.

"Put on some clothes," Ivory demanded.

"Oh come on, you've seen worse," he scoffed. She rolled her eyes and looked back at Vin again.

"My question still stands," Ivory noted.

"Which was?" Vin inquired.

"Did you hear the news?" Ivory repeated. Vin looked up from the paper.

"Depends on the news," Vin offered.

"Neela isn't the top of the second years anymore," Ivory informed them. Vin sprayed his coffee as the front door opened and he wiped his counter off with a nearby paper towel.

"What?" Vin asked.

"No shit?" Rowan added.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Ilia asked, closing the door behind her.

"Is Neela not in first anymore?" Ivory blurted out.

"As far as I'm aware… did you guys hear differently?" Ilia asked them.

"Just a few things on social networks," Ivory told her. "It's probably nothing though."

"Goodwitch!" Titus yelled as he slammed his fist repeatedly against her office door.

"Titus, it's not a big deal," Neela insisted as she tried to pull him away. "It wouldn't be fair if they left me in first if I haven't been putting in any work recently."

"There are extenuating circumstances, I think that it's completely reasonable," Titus replied as he went back to knocking loudly on her door.

"Did you happen to see Eren this morning?" Neela asked Titus. He paused for a moment.

"Not that I can recall, why?" Titus questioned.

"I've been a little hard on him and wanted to apologize," Neela explained.

"I think that's going to be an involuntary reaction from you towards him for a while," Titus noted. "You subconsciously treat him like that cause he's not Elli." Neela rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, Dr. Oobleck, I'll be sure to remember that in the future," Neela stated cocking her hip.

"It's true!" Titus insisted. He looked past her. "Oh, hey, Eren!"

"Listen, Eren, I'm sorry about yesterday but you need to listen to me when I tell you to do things in combat," Neela instructed as she turned around to find an empty hall.

"See?" Titus asked. Neela sighed.

"You made your point," Neela agreed.

"Open up!" Titus demanded as he returned to pounding on the door.

"Titus!" Coco yelled from her office. "If you don't stop that racket I'm going to give you detention just because I can! Go to class! Or breakfast! Or wherever the hell you're supposed to be right now!"

"I have a complaint and it's a situation that needs to be rectified quickly," Titus explained heading down the hall to her office.

"Detention?" Coco threatened again. Titus grumbled and kept walking past her door. "Thank you!"

"Really, it's fine," Neela said again. "I'll be ready to fight again soon and then I'll be back in first in no time. And I wouldn't worry about our team losing first place. Soon we'll be paired with our third years and we'll get even stronger! As soon as we can get that damn Eren onboard…" He shook his head as they left the administrative building.

"There you go again," Titus pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah," Neela dismissed him. "Is the other part of it the fact that they didn't give it to you?"

"I can't fault them for that," Titus exhaled. "Lykos beat me fair and square, he deserves first place for a while."

"Boy, you've eaten the whole humble pie since you started here, haven't you?" Neela laughed. He scoffed.

"I've always been humble," he stated with his chest out.

"Nothing wrong with taking a little pride in your work," Neela said as they entered the cafeteria. Team CBLT entered at the same time from the opposite end and without missing a beat, Tawney rushed across the room and slid to a stop a few inches from Neela.

"Not so untouchable now, huh!?" Tawney taunted, throwing gang signs and getting in Neela's face.

"I never claimed to be, you always just assumed I was," Neela replied. Tawney turned red and stepped back.

"I never said that!" Tawney shouted. "After I pass you this year you'll never climb back up."

"We'll see if that's how it plays out," Titus laughed.

"Who asked you?" Tawney barked at him. Cobalt trudged over and dragged her away from them.

"I'll be taking my maniac and leaving, sorry," Cobalt offered.

"Let me go!" Tawney shouted.

"Come on, we can rub it in their faces later, Neela's having a rough time," Cobalt scolded. She wrenched free.

"Fine," she frowned. "Have you seen Bái or Lykos this morning?"

"Bái said she was going to have a one on one lesson today with Coco, and Lykos has been restless as hell the last couple of days. He's probably passed out in one of the school's lawns if I had to guess," Cobalt remarked.

"I wonder why he's having such a hard time sleeping," Tawney pondered.

"Something has got to be bothering him," Cobalt added.

"Did anyone tell him he's in first yet?" Tawney questioned as they got in line for breakfast.

"Glynda came by the dorm room last night…" Cobalt began before glancing at her. "Where were you last night?"

"You have to ask?" Tawney questioned. Cobalt looked at her for a long moment.

"Yes, apparently, I do," he replied. She groaned.

"The weight room, obviously!" She exclaimed. "I hardly even have to leave the dorm for anything now! It's the best! If you're ever looking for me, odds are, I'm probably in there." Cobalt's scroll went off and he nearly dropped it as he fumbled it out of his pocket. "Yvonne?" He stared at it for a moment and put it back away.

"No," he dejectedly remarked. "One of the shops in town telling me that they got some of my parts in for my next project."

"It's probably something stupid," Tawney guessed.

"It's not, thank you very much," Cobalt fired back as he grabbed several slices of French toast with the tongs and tossed them onto his tray. "It's science stuff, you wouldn't understand."

"I can go with you if Yvonne's too busy," Tawney offered. He glanced back at her as he walked towards the table and sat down.

"If you want to," he replied.

"Pfft, you've got it all wrong," she defended. "I just know that you can't be left to your own devices."

"Gee, thanks," Cobalt mumbled. "Still… I wonder where Lykos is."

Lykos had been gripped by an unexplainable fear for months, but he refused to tell anyone about it as he didn't want to worry Bái, and he was the only person that he could truly trust to protect her. His mother had killed herself, his father was the cause and he'd let the man die, the people that were the closest, that he trusted the most, were gone in the blink of an eye and he had no one but himself. This was his burden to bear. He would protect Bái no matter what it took, and now that he was the top of the second years, he was filled with new-found confidence with which he could take on the entire world if it came down to it. Bái was everything to him. He stood in the tops of the trees, watching as the second train of the day raced past on the tracks, the auto-turrets disabled as it blew past the old station that remained in Forever Fall near the school, not wanting to put the students in danger if they were out hunting Grimm when it traveled through.

Today was the day, and he had known it for quite some time. Getting the information was actually easier than he expected, Titus had casually been telling Ilia in the cafeteria that the largest shipment of Dust for the entire year was being sent from the northernmost point of Vale on a high-speed train to the city of Vale. It would be there for a few hours to unload half of its contents before it would continue on its way to the west coast to be loaded onto a boat and then sent to Vacuo for much lower prices than Strakh offered. When that thing had attacked before it had told them that it was created for collecting Dust, and this was the single largest trap anyone could have set for it. Lykos was prepared to take it down.

The third train wouldn't be coming for another 10 minutes, which left Lykos with a period of thinking up any last details that he needed to patch in his plans, and wondering if he shouldn't turn back. He'd seen what it had done the last time, and they had barely managed to get away from it alive, but he had to keep it away from Bái and this was the best way that he knew how. Something changed in the air once there was five minutes before the train's arrival, and he could sense that the android had entered the forest. He took one more look over the area before heading towards the spot they'd found him the first time. He found bandits, wearing White Fang masks which gave him pause. The White Fang were dead, weren't they?

"If we get caught with these masks on we're going to get worse than just a slap on the wrist from the police," one of the men spoke to the other as they lugged a large device towards the tracks.

"Mercury told us to wear the damn things," The man in charge yelled at them. "He must have a plan. Maybe he thinks it'll scare people away. I just don't understand why he didn't send the Stardust Gang out here to do the dirty work like he normally does."

"They've probably got more important things to do," the third noted.

"Like what?" The first asked as he let go of the device and the other man carrying it dropped it close to his feet. "Anymore the Stardust gang just spends all their damn time in that bar. If you ask me, Mercury has gotten too comfortable."

"I don't care what you two think!" The boss shouted. "If this earth Dust canister doesn't make it onto the tracks before that SDC train comes through, you can both forget about any of the money we might have scored from this job."

"I have to ask that you put down the earth Dust and let me take it off your hands," said a voice that sent a chill through Lykos. He turned his head slightly to view Damu, the machine walking slowly towards the men, still as naked as he'd been the first time.

"First, who are you?" The boss asked. "And second, how'd you know we had earth Dust in here?"

"It does not matter why or how, what matters is that you hand it over so that I will not be forced to hurt you," Damu informed them. "My directive is not to injure, but to collect any and all Dust that I come across."

"He looks kind of freaky," one of the goons pointed out. "I say we give it to him."

"I refuse!" The boss declared. "I'd much rather face off against this thing than face Mercury's wrath later."

"We're running out of time!" The third noted.

"Then take care of it!" The leader ordered. He stood, wrench in hand as he took a step towards the automaton. "Come on then!" The canister erupted and Damu manipulated the Dust, coating the three of them in earth Dust before they could react. As the men became stone, one of the slots in the machine's backlit up, activating gravity Dust. It floated through the air from his fingertips but tore the statues apart, leaving nothing behind but traces of dirt. It absorbed the rest of the Dust from the canister into its body, quaking with power before stabilizing. The train's bell rang, alerting the two of them to its arrival and Damu moved before Lykos could attack. It burst through the trees, an absurd wave of gravity Dust threw the train on its side and a controlled stream of wind Dust laid it gently in the grass to keep it from blowing the entire forest away.

Lykos needed to leave. This was the stupidest idea that he'd ever had. Damu had grown stronger since the last time they'd run away from him. There was no way that Lykos would leave here alive if he engaged. His legs carried him forward without his cognitive permission. Death was certain. He had to protect Bái but was this cost worth it. Lykos stopped a few feet away, watching the robot work methodically, organizing the Dust into type as he tore open the boxcars and gently lifted and set down endless crates. On occasion he would absorb the Dust, pausing for a moment as it coursed through his system before returning to his task.

"What do you want with Bái?" Lykos asked, drawing its attention. He hesitated for a moment before turning around to face Lykos, its face as emotionless as ever as it blankly stared through the huntsman. It contemplated whether or not it knew the man before it returned to his task, hardly giving him the time of day. Lykos felt his fear being overcome by frustration and he took another step closer to the humanoid, grabbing it by the arm against his better judgment. It glanced back at him, blasting Lykos away with gravity Dust with enough force to send him through several trees.

"I assume you mean that girl that had Dust somehow intertwined with her DNA," Damu noted as he absorbed more of the Dust before moving multiple crates at once, like a telekinesis user who had mastered their powers and had even gone beyond. Lykos stood, his aura had taken a decent hit, but it wasn't anything significant to worry him yet, and he assumed that his aura would keep the machine from destroying him instantly. He shrugged it off, removing the hilt of his whip and allowing the shuriken to assemble from his pelt as he spread out his arms and took an attacking stance.

"I'm not going to let you take her, or any of the rest of this Dust," Lykos informed him.

"If you stand in the way of my directive I will have no choice but to eliminate you," Damu informed him, facing the student once more. Lightning fizzled off of Damu's body, arcing into the ground and the remaining shell of the bomb that Mercury's men had brought with them. "Your semblance is useless against me, and though your skills may be apt, those weapons will be unable to damage my body. Do you still feel confident in your abilities?" Lykos smirked.

"Yeah, as the top of the second years, I guess I do feel a bit confident," he replied. Without warning, two Alpha Beowolves crashed through the tree line, both in a blinding rage as they stormed into the area around the rails, completely trampling Damu as he was caught off guard. The three of them tumbled around a bit as Lykos tried to make out where the android was in the pile, his illusion holding up well against the real Alpha that was trying to defend its territory. Lykos prepared to move in once his fake had been taken care of, but Damu forced his hand, using wind Dust to slice up the Grimm with ease, floating as he emerged and came closer to Lykos.

"That won't net the same result a second time," Damu informed him. Ice pikes rose from the earth as Lykos sprang backward on his hands, landing on all fours consecutively before a knife of air Dust removed a tree from its stump, and a follow up of gravity sent it crashing into Lykos's path. He used his whip to catch a nearby trunk that was intact, swinging out of the way before nailing the downed foliage. He careened through the air, his throwing stars scattering as his feet made impact with another tree and he leapt off as Damu destroyed it. "How long do you think you can survive? Will you run once more?"

The shuriken missed their target, flying past Damu as he used a slight push of wind Dust to remove them from their paths, a bolt of lightning firing from him towards Lykos and he found himself unable to dodge as he was in midair. He took the full force, flying further into the forest, mind-scrambling as his body met a wall of earth that Damu had created behind him. He had to keep Bái safe. He had to. He couldn't let her die like his mother had. Damu came closer, the trees splintering around him as he floated towards Lykos.

"This is the best that Beacon has to offer?" Damu questioned. "It's no wonder that the Atlas military figured they were better off with an army of automated defense systems."

"Not yet," Lykos stated. The shuriken came back, wrapping themselves around Damu and restricting him with Dust lines, coursing lightning through the lines that lit Damu up, but appeared to have little effect. He snapped through them with ease, the projectiles returning to Lykos. He formed his whip quickly, diving forward as an Ursa crashed through the stone pillar behind him and thundered into Damu followed by several others. Lykos remained motionless as the stampede ignored him, running simply to get away from a second Alpha that he'd created as a means of moving the pack towards them.

"Trivial," Damu informed him as he disintegrated them with a blast of fire Dust. "You are no more than an annoyance and once I'm finished with you I will take Bái and return her to Mistral. I was tasked with bringing back everything that is or contains Dust, and that includes Bái." Lykos charged again, this time avoiding two Dust attacks as he made it in close and attacked Damu with his whip, but it had no effect. The android gave him a blank look once again. "Do you not understand? There is nothing that you can do to me that will stop me."

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean that I can just give up," Lykos informed him.

"You won't need to give up," Damu told him. An arc of lightning disbanded Lykos's whip, sending the shurikens firing off in different directions. "Death will find you soon enough." Gravity Dust crashed into Lykos, tearing his aura apart deliberately, completely shattering it before the robot laid his hand on Lykos's chest. "To think that you'd be so foolish. I find it interesting." A large laser beam crashed into Damu from the side, crumpling him and sending him flying towards the train. Lykos glanced over to see Cobalt who stood behind an ice lens, emerging from the woods with Bái, Tawney, Coco, and Nora.

"Dammit Lykos," Cobalt yelled at him as he reached him first. "You can't go off on your own like this facing off against things that are clearly going to mess you up."

"Are you okay?" Bái asked, brushing his cheek.

"I'm okay," Lykos coughed as he stumbled and took a knee.

"We're here to help, you know?" Cobalt stated.

"Since when did you become such a reasonable person?" Tawney asked. Cobalt smirked.

"I decided that we needed to get more serious after the White Fang attacked the school," Cobalt noted. "So I've been watching the most serious anime that I could find." Tawney groaned.

"For a second I thought he was being sincere!" Tawney shouted.

"What do we know about it?" Coco asked.

"It's powered by Dust," Lykos declared. "I can't seem to damage it with my shuriken, they aren't strong enough. He just absorbs Dust, so that's kind of out. Not to mention, his control over it is insane." Coco nodded and noted the train.

"And he just so happened to stumble upon the largest Dust collection of the year…" Coco offered.

"So what do we do?" Nora asked.

"What if we overload it with electricity?" Cobalt asked. Nora smirked and bent her legs.

"Sounds like a plan to me," she declared.

"How fortunate that someone turned up to rescue you," Damu spoke as he found his feet and repaired himself. The robot made his way towards them as Cobalt moved to the front of the group.

"Oh?! You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?" Cobalt shouted. He gave a smug grin as he placed his hand over his mouth, his fingers resting near his nose. "I suppose that's fine, I can't beat the shit out of you if you don't come closer."

"You think this is a joke?" Damu asked as he drew nearer still.

"Get ready," Coco instructed Nora. Nora nodded, lightning surging through her body.

"Next you're going to say 'Anyone who stands in the way of my orders needs to be eliminated!" Cobalt yelled.

"Anyone who stands in the way of my orders needs to be eliminated," Damu informed them.

"Cobalt! You mind getting ready!?" Tawney asked.

"My mind is completely clear. As long as I maintain my breathing, there's no way that he can hope to defeat me!" Cobalt declared.

"I hate you!" Tawney screamed at him.

"Now!" Coco ordered.

"You got it!" Nora replied. She leapt, Coco swinging her purse around and launching Nora as she landed on the handbag, crashing into Damu who absorbed the lightning, but the force of her swing tore him in two and his body scattered, screaming through the woods at high speed.

"I don't think he's finished!" Lykos informed them. Dust began to drift through the air from the crates near the train towards Damu's segments. Coco sprinted past Nora.

"Come on!" Coco called for her. Nora followed, leaving the students behind.

"Bái, keep an eye on Lykos," Tawney told her. "I'm gonna take this psycho and we'll go help Coco and Nora." Bái nodded.

"Got it," Bái replied.

"I'm not a psycho," Cobalt debated.

"Yep… sure…" Tawney said with an eye roll.

"It's not working!" Nora declared as she crashed back out of the woods past Cobalt and Tawney, gravity Dust trailing after her as it planted her firmly in the ground. Coco mowed down several projectiles that Damu had hurled at her, standing at the ready, but clearly concerned.

"I don't think overloading his circuits is going to work," Coco pointed out.

"Useless," Damu stated, throwing Coco back with wind Dust and using her to take Nora's legs out from under her.

"I think it'll still work," Cobalt declared.

"Did you hear her?" Tawney asked. "Are you being dense on purpose?"

"I'll distract him," Cobalt told her.

"I'm not following, Cobalt," Coco informed him.

"You can amplify Dust, can't you?" Cobalt inquired. Coco brushed herself off and chuckled.

"Now I follow," Coco replied.

"Damu!" Cobalt shouted. "Face me one on one."

"Just die already," Damu declared. Cobalt chuckled, creating his clone behind him and covering his face with his hand.

"My stand, Red Like Roses Part 2, shall deliver swift justice upon you!" Cobalt declared. His 'stand' raced past him and slashed vigorously at the android. "Damu Damu Damu Damu Damu Damu!" Damu punched a hole through the clone with a single blow, causing it to dissipate on contact and he stepped towards Tawney and Cobalt. Tawney backed away slowly as Cobalt held his ground.

"Any last words?" Damu inquired.

"I have one last thing I can try… my secret technique…" Cobalt explained. He turned around and sprinted away as Coco gripped Damu from behind, wrapping her arms around him.

"How long do you think you can contain me like this?" Damu asked. Coco smirked.

"Long enough," Coco offered. Damu made an attempt to remove her before one of his canister slots exploded, freeing him as she was forced to let go and she stumbled away. Damu nearly fell onto his chest, stabilizing himself at the last moment as he glared at them.

"How dare you!" He erupted in anger, the first of any emotion he'd shown. The crates were torn open and Dust raced to his body from every direction.

"Not so…" Coco shouted before being thrown back. She crashed across the ground, Nora racing in and slamming her hammer into Damu's head. It failed, he'd produced a constant enough supply of earth Dust to create a continuous rock barrier until her swing couldn't maintain its momentum. He used a wave of hard light to push her away from him, eliminating everything in its path as she held firm against it.

"My mission must be completed!" He declared, taking in more Dust than seemed possible.

"This can't be good!" Tawney yelled.

"Then stop him!" Bái offered in reply.

"Easy for you to say!" Tawney scoffed.

"Fine, I'll take him on!" Bái announced as she rushed towards the artificial intelligence.

"Bái!" Lykos called out before gripping his side in pain.

"Give her a chance!" Cobalt noted. A wave of gravity Dust slashed the air, crashing through a wall of ice as Bái charged in closer, deflecting or nullifying his Dust with her ice. "Come on, Maniac!" Cobalt followed after Bái as Tawney grumbled and sighed.

"Fine! Fine! Whatever!" She protested but followed.

"I won't let you take me!" Bái informed the android as they drew closer with her help. This only proved to make it more angry, reduced to a constant stream of wind Dust to try and hold them back as Dust channeled endlessly into his body.

"I will finish what I came here to do!" Damu thundered. He cracked Bái's defenses, removing the students from getting too close before focusing on Coco once more.

"He's not absorbing the ice!" Coco noted. "That must be the nodes I fried!"

"So we don't need to get close enough to hit him…" Cobalt suggested. Bái nodded at him, removing her staff and extending it. "Time to go on the offensive!"

"Do you really think it's that easy?" Damu cackled.

"You sound awfully worried," Nora mentioned as she made her way back towards the fight.

"Nonsense!" He exclaimed. He threw another wave of wind Dust behind him to keep Coco and Nora from getting closer but a lance made of ice impaled him through the chest, distracting him for a long moment. "Enough!" The area surrounding him was lit on fire, stopping Bái in her tracks as she stared at the flames.

"Cobalt!" Lykos yelled.

What's happening?!

Get rid of everything!

Burn all of the evidence!

They're here!

"Sun's getting real low!" Cobalt shouted. Tawney attempted to grab Bái but was pushed backward by a freezing wind, a wall of ice rising to separate them. The same happened to Cobalt as he tried to make a move.

"No!" Lykos yelled finding his feet but netting the same result.

"She's panicking!" Tawney noted.

"But this time she moved us out of harm's way," Cobalt pointed out.

"That wasn't Damu's wind attack?" Tawney inquired.

"I don't think that it was," Cobalt offered.

"So this is why they sent me to get you," Damu stated as he floated towards Bái, lowering his voice.

"I'm not leaving with you!" Bái screamed. The air chilled, swelling around Damu and slowing him as it affected his circuitry, extinguishing the fire he had started.

"I guess now is probably a good time," Coco told Nora. She leapt, placing her purse beneath her feet as Nora launched her, Coco landing on Damu as she took him to the ground. "Like I said before, long enough!" Two more of his slots erupted, leaving him earthbound as he rolled over and threw Coco off of him, Bái's assault slowly wearing off as she came to.

"My turn!" Nora shouted. She came down on Damu, sending enough volts into him to kill a normal person and frying his circuits enough that he overloaded and shut down temporarily. Coco laughed as she slowly found her feet. She stumbled a bit and Nora helped balance her.

"Guess I can finish him now," Coco noted.

"I don't think so," another voice argued as he stepped from out of a rift above Damu. "To think they felt this robot could do a better job than I could."

"Paris," Coco stated as she glared at him.

"I do have to say, Abigor's toy did keep all of you busy for quite some time," Paris noted.

"Abigor was behind this!?" Coco shouted at him. She attempted to rush him but stumbled on the way there.

"I can handle this!" Nora declared. Paris dropped Damu through a rift and leapt in with a wink, disappearing before Nora reached them. Bái's ice wall shattered as Cobalt sliced through it, letting the three of them tumble over what was left to get to Bái.

"Bái!" Lykos shouted.

"What happened?" She inquired. Coco slammed her fist on the ground and pointed at Lykos.

"Don't do that ever again!" Coco scolded him. "If you know about a threat, you tell the staff, police, somebody! You all are as bad as Team RWBY." Nora helped her up off of the ground.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Cobalt pointed out.

"Also, we're doing things a little differently this year," Coco added. "Nora's going to be your field instructor for the year."

"OH MY GOD!" Cobalt shouted.

"As opposed to fighting you guys this time?" Tawney asked as she pushed Cobalt away from her.

"That's just a thing they do for the first years to psyche them up," Nora laughed.

"You say that like you guys held back," Cobalt chuckled. He glanced at the two of them. "Wait, really?"

"You kids would get destroyed if we didn't hold back," Coco assured him.

"Oh yeah!" Cobalt yelled. "Bring it!"

"Maybe after you graduate," Coco replied as she left.

"I guess our first mission is going to be cleaning up this mess," Nora blurted out laughing.

"Seriously?!" Tawney asked.

"Better get to it, huh?" Nora replied as she walked back towards the school with Coco. "See you kids in a few hours! Ren and I will have protein shakes at the ready!" Cobalt looked at his teammates.

"Hold me…" He whimpered.

"Why?" Lykos questioned.

"I'm scared."

Is that a Jojo's reference?! Yes. Next week, Chapter 10: Discord!

A big thank you to AG_Nonsuch, Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. The artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.

Until next week, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay classy!

I'll have another chapter or two out later today ;)