Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter 31 of Limit Breaker! How have you all been? Good? We're doing alright here!

Creativity: Not much to talk about right now though, so we're just gonna jump straight into the reviews for chapter 30:

Potassium: Why yes, it has been a while. It might be another while after this, sadly, but fear not. I'm not going anywhere. As for Gula's mounting frustrations with the plot, yeah I'm enjoying writing that. Maybe a little too much, but I'm enjoying it, nonetheless. As for Gula fights, we got a few of those coming up soon, so stay tuned!

Da heck: Don't worry (or sorry?), there's no Baby involved in this. Not even really sure where that even came from, honestly

Therecklessone: Well, I wish you all the best going forward in your armpit adventures. Gula yoinking Sienna out of trouble is more a recurring pattern of Gula pulling the rug out from under Adam without being aware of a rug being pulled, if that makes any sense. I still love it though. Thanks for the thumbs up from ya, hope you enjoy this one!

SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: You'll see. It might take a bit, but you'll see… Heheheheheheheheheheh…

Creativity: And that's all the reviews for chapter 30! We have anything to add, boss?

Author: Just the Discord password: ATpTXFJ

And with that, without further ado, allow us to proudly present chapter 31 of Limit Breaker!

"How much further?"

"Not too far, now! Just a couple more minutes!"

Pyrrha frowned as her and Yang continued to trundle through the woods, Weasel in tow. She knew that they were dealing with a bandit tribe here, but she imagined they'd have seen some signs of a camp or settlement if they were indeed as close as Weasel claimed they were. Something stunk about this.

Of course, both her and Yang had smelled something the moment they'd taken Weasel up on his offer. Inexperienced or not, they weren't stupid. If this clown knew where Raven was, he was almost certainly a member of her tribe. His wardrobe was a testament to that. Naturally, that of course meant a double-cross was inevitable. This was a bandit tribe they were talking about after all, and between the two bikes, Yang's shot-gauntlet and matching arm, Pyrrha's Phalanx armor and Legionnaire, they were probably a month's worth of lien bare minimum for the tribe. There was absolutely no way that the infamous Branwen tribe would let an opportunity like this pass them by, and especially since it was practically being offered to them on a silver platter.

However, Yang claimed she had a plan. She hadn't given Pyrrha all the details yet, but she seemed confident enough that it'd work. Though, now that Pyrrha was thinking about it more, she was a bit concerned about how much Yang was banking on the fact that Raven Branwen, the infamous leader of the Branwen Bandit tribe, was her mother, something that Pyrrha was still having a bit of trouble processing. Yang being the daughter of one of the most renowned bandits in the world was a bit of a shock, to say the least. Surprise aside though, Pyrrha hoped that Yang wasn't banking too hard on Raven helping them get to Ruby and her team just because they were blood related. Not that she'd have said it to Yang since she wasn't a heartless bastard, but Raven abandoned her as a baby to murder and pillage the Mistral countryside. That didn't exactly inspire confidence in her character and that character was already on shaky ground, what with all the murdering and pillaging. Still, Yang was confident that this would work, so Pyrrha decided to have faith and follow her on it.

"Alright, stop here!" Weasel suddenly called out. Pyrrha and Yang brought their bikes to a halt. Pyrrha was immediately suspicious as the scruffy man disembarked the bike and started heading into the woods.

"You two wait here. I'm gonna go on ahead to check that the coast is clear. The Grimm have been getting feistier lately." Weasel told them before he jogged off into the brush. Yang reached her hands up into the air to stretch before turning the engine off. Pyrrha did the same and also stretched.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that this is a trap." Pyrrha casually shared as she carefully swung her leg over the saddle of her own bike and repositioned Legionnaire to rest her right arm on the weapon.

"Oh, definitely. Still, I bet we'll be able to find the camp much easier this way. More bandits to interrogate, and likely backup in the form of the camp nearby." Yang replied easily. As if on cue, a gunshot rang out through the clearing. The ping of the fire Dust round impacting against Yang's prosthetic arm heralded the emergence of Weasel, who was flanked on both sides by several men and women, all of whom were armed with simple, worn-looking weapons. Still, Pyrrha decided it was better to assume that the guns were at least functional, lest she suffer any unpleasant surprises. She slowly lowered the arm that had been resting on Legionnaire to close her fingers around the grip of the weapon's sniper form. Yang held her hand up as she dismounted though, signaling Pyrrha to not draw her weapon. Pyrrha relaxed her arm but kept her hand where it was. She wasn't going to be surprised this time.

"I really, really can't believe you two fell for that." Weasel mocked smugly as he swaggered forward, waving his crude pistol about lazily.

"You brought a dozen people to deal with two girls. Should we be flattered, or…" Yang mocked back as she stretched her right arm across her body a couple of times, getting ready to fight. Weasel half-snarled, trying to hold back his frustration at Yang's indifference to the very serious threat that he and his fellow bandits represented.

"Alright you two, off the bikes. You messed with the Branwen tribe, and now you pay for it. Looks like you'll be walking wherever you think you're going." Weasel growled at them, only for Yang to unfold the left half of Ember Celica. The Bandits paused for a moment before they started advancing again.

"Blondy, don't be an idiot. You're outnumbered a dozen to one, and you also aren't fighting Grimm. Not to mention, we've also got the rest of the tribe waiting that way." Weasel warned in a carefree tone, not seeming to have noticed that he'd literally told Yang and Pyrrha the only thing they needed to hear.

"Wait, you said that they're that way?" Pyrrha asked, pointing in the direction Weasel had gestured in. Weasel smirked

"Yeah! That way! Not like it matters anyway. We're more than enough to handle you amateurs. We're the Branwen tri…" Weasel started to gloat before Yang popped the barrel of her prosthetic gun out and launched a blast past Weasel's ear, causing him to let out an undignified squeal before she began to systematically dismantle the other members of the tribe that Weasel had roped into this ill-conceived ambush.

Pyrrha watched and occasionally winced as Yang continued making fools of the bandits. In a matter of seconds she'd whittled their numbers down to one: Weasel. However, Weasel had already lined up a shot and was ready to take it. Well, that was right up until a high-power round struck the pistol and sent it skittering off into the forest, just in time for Yang to notice Weasel and use her blast jump to close the distance between herself and the bandit before uppercutting him ten feet into the air while she lined up a left hook that sent the rapidly descending Weasel into a nearby tree.

"I thought I asked you to let me handle it." Yang said pointedly as she cracked her knuckles and made her way back to Pyrrha, who shrugged.

"I got bored of watching." She replied easily. Yang grinned and gave Pyrrha a light punch in the shoulder.

"When did you start developing an attitude?" Yang ribbed as Pyrrha dismounted her own bike and the two started striding in the direction of the bandit camp.

"You… You think this is the end of it?!"

Yang and Pyrrha turned to look at Weasel, who was starting to get to his feet, using the tree he'd dented to support himself.

"Raven's gonna turn you into mincemeat for this!" Weasel shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. Yang shrugged.

"Maybe, but probably not. I'm her kid, after all." Yang replied easily as she and Pyrrha continued on their merry way, leaving Weasel as the color drained from his face and he slumped to the ground in comprehension of just how deep he was in it.

"I'm so fu…"

Unfortunately, Yang and Pyrrha were too far out of earshot to hear the last bit of that, though it wasn't hard to infer how it ended. Not that they cared all that much, as Weasel had indeed been right. Not a few minutes of walking through the woods later and they came across a large fort made of tree logs embedded into the ground. Needless to say, the guards were really surprised to see Yang and Pyrrha emerge from the foliage and immediately trained their weapons, only to stop when they got a good look at Yang and then looked very surprised and confused.

"We're here to see Raven." Yang said with authority, though Pyrrha wasn't sure what authority Yang believed she had over them. Still, the guards seemed to reach a silent agreement before one of them gestured with their chin to enter the camp. It was hardly surprising that the other bandits didn't seem to keen on the outsiders that were now strolling through their base, though they made no move to stop them, all the way up to the central tent. The commotion around Yang and Pyrrha was apparently enough to draw said tent's occupant out without one of the bandits needing to step inside; a woman dressed in black and red armor with a sword belted at her side. Her face was concealed behind a stylized helmet meant to look like a Grimm's. For a brief moment, Pyrrha wondered if Yang had half-faunus heritage as the mask looked like something a White Fang member would be wearing.

The woman reached up and removed the helmet to reveal a woman who bore a remarkable resemblance to Yang, save for hair and eye color. She eyed them shrewdly for a moment before her gaze softened a tad when she noticed Yang.

"Mother…" Yang greeted stiffly. The woman smiled a tiny bit.

"Yang." She greeted in kind, though in a far more relaxed manner before she started walking down the stairs.

"After all this time, you finally come to visit me! And you even brought a friend!" Raven observed in an amused tone. Yang frowned a bit. It was obvious to Pyrrha that Yang was only interested in business, which was a sentiment that Pyrrha shared as well.

"You already know that I spent years searching for you…" Yang started to say before Raven interrupted.

"And here you are! With time, patience and strength you've found your way to me! Now…" Raven began, but suddenly found things flipped when Yang cut her off.

"And I don't care about that right now." Yang finished, causing Raven to pause.

"… What?" Raven asked after a few moments, and she did not sound happy.

"I didn't come here for personal fulfillment. I'm here because I need to get to my sister, and you have the power to get me there." Yang explained succinctly. Raven scowled a bit at this reveal but stayed silent, which Yang took as an invitation to keep talking.

"I know that uncle Qrow is with Ruby, and I know that you can open portals to people you have a connection to. Therefore, if I find Qrow, I find Ruby. And since you can open portals to Qrow…" Yang began, only for Raven to cut her off again.

"And why exactly would I do that?" Raven questioned, a note of sarcasm in her voice. Yang put on her best smile and put her hands over her heart.

"Because deep down, we're family?" She asked with no small amount of hope, only for Raven to roll her eyes.

"Family…" She muttered as she looked away. Yang's arms fell to the ground and she shrugged.

"It was worth a shot." She replied, seemingly unconcerned that it hadn't worked out. Pyrrha on the other hand, was much more concerned since Yang didn't seem to have much else to bank on.

"Though I have to say, there's almost something funny about it; You spend all this time and energy trying to find me, and you only finally succeed when you only need me to make a different search a lot easier." Raven remarked, sounding genuinely amused. However, her smile quickly dropped.

"But I'll do you one better and save you even more time; Don't bother. If she's with Qrow, she's already too deep in with Ozpin's lunacy." Raven instructed Yang, who just rolled her eyes.

"If you want to get me out of your hair, you're gonna have to try harder than that, mom." Yang jabbed, though Raven didn't seem to react to it, though she did seem to stiffen a bit when Yang said 'mom.'

"I'm serious, Yang. Don't get mixed up in Ozpin's insanity. Qrow's too far gone and Ruby's well on her way. When I realized what me and my brother were really wrapped up in, I made the smart decision and got the hell out. Now I'm asking you to make the smart decision too." Raven impressed much more emphatically. However, Yang wasn't convinced.

"Look, if you really want me gone, just let me and Pyrrha go get our bikes and portal us to Qrow. It'll save us all a lot of time and breath." Yang insisted, though this only made Raven angry.

"Dammit, Yang! I'm trying to do you a favor here!" Raven frustratedly snarled back, catching Yang off-guard.

"Go back to Patch, go to Vale and help there, you can even stay here if you want! Gods know I'd be thrilled to have you in the tribe. Just stay out of Ozpin's business! It's too late for your sister!" Raven ranted before she stopped herself and took a deep breath.

"There's nothing at the end of that path, Yang. Nothing at all." She finished. Yang shook her head.

"Sorry, mom. I can't do that. I'm going to help Ruby, whether you like it or not." Yang replied, causing Raven to sigh shake her own head.

"Well, I can't say I didn't warn you. Neither can you, Yang. Remember that when you realize what you've gotten yourself into. Either way, you'll do it without my help." Raven declared loudly before she turned to leave. Yang frowned.

"Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere except through a portal to Qrow and Ruby." Yang declared back, causing Raven to pause.

"Yang, I'm only going to give you this one chance because we're blood. Leave this place." Raven growled as she glanced back with one blood red eye. Pyrrha glanced at Yang and became concerned when she noticed that Yang's eyes had turned to a familiar, fiery shade.

"Make me… Please…" Yang hissed back as her weapons unfolded. Pyrrha sighed and removed Legionnaire from her back and unfolded it into its spear form and prepared to call upon Phalanx. The bandits around them all readied their weapons but looked incredibly unsure of themselves. Well, that was until one deluded soul tried to rush Yang, only to find themselves on the receiving end of a blast that sent them hurtling to the left and crashing through a tent, knocking it down and revealing something that Yang and Pyrrha had not been expecting.

"Yang? Pyrrha?!"

"Weiss?!" Both Yang and Pyrrha exclaimed at the same time. Sure enough, Weiss Schnee herself was tucked away in a corner of the camp, previously concealed by the tent. There was silence for a few moments before Weiss muttered something under her breath before kneeling down in the dirt. A few moments later, something appeared in the cage with her and began growing in size, rapidly exceeding the vertical limits of the space and breaking free of the confinement, revealing itself to be a massive, armored knight armed with a great sword! Pyrrha and Yang watched in awe as the knight stomped towards them, followed closely by Weiss. Now that they could get a closer look at her, it was obvious that she'd been here for quite some time. Her dusky blue dress had several dirt and mud stains on it and she obviously hadn't had a chance to bathe recently.

"What are you doing here?!" Yang exclaimed as the three of them (and Weiss's knight that she apparently had) went back to back in preparation for battle.

"And is that an Arma Gigas?!" Pyrrha added as she caused several Phalanx plates to form a shield on her left arm, which in turn caused the bandits to become a lot more worried about taking her on.

"Never mind that! What are you two doing here?!" Weiss demanded as she looked around for her own weapon.

"Well, that's my mom over there, and I was hoping I could convince her to take us to Ruby!" Yang quickly explained before she turned to Raven.

"And why exactly do you have Weiss in a cage?!" Yang demanded from her mother, who just groaned and let her face drop into her open palm.

"Wait, what?! Your mom kidnapped me?!" Weiss near shrieked. With this particular revelation, Yang looked ready to go off on Raven, but Pyrrha interjected.

"Yang, we don't have good chances like this! We need more room!" Pyrrha hissed to Yang, who managed to reign herself in before turning to the entrance to the camp.

"Let's move!" She yelled before she began charging towards freedom with Weiss and Pyrrha quickly following suit, the latter using her shield as a hoverboard of sorts to keep the strain off her bad leg. However, they quickly found their progress impeded.

CRACKOOOOOOOOOM!

"ENOUGH!"

A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck the ground right in front of Arma Gigas and caused all three girls to skid to a halt. The turned back to Raven, who had a female bandit standing not too far away with her arm outstretched. However, what really drew their attention was the very familiar looking rapier held in her other hand. Raven turned to the girl and nodded to her.

"Thank you." The told the bandit, who bowed appreciatively to her leader as Raven turned her scowl on the trio once more.

"You three, in my tent, now." Raven growled before turning to the bandit holding Myrtenaster.

"Return Schnee's weapon." Raven instructed the bandit, whose mouth fell open in shock before quickly morphing into frustration, followed be resignation before she turned to Weiss and tossed the blade end over end to Weiss, who caught it easily and began looking it over critically, making sure it was still in working order.

"What's with the sudden change in heart, mom." Yang questioned suspiciously. Raven sighed tiredly.

"If you're really going through with this foolishness, I'm going to at least make sure you know what you're walking into." Raven replied before she stepped inside the tent. Yang, Pyrrha and Weiss glanced between each other before the silently began approaching the tent and stepping through the flap.

Amber couldn't recall the last time she'd been under such strain as this. She'd undergone grueling training back when she'd been an aspiring Huntress, both in combat school and at Haven academy. She'd fought tooth against Grimm in training missions. However, all of that paled when held up to training in the gravity machine.

While she'd been initially opposed to using the gravity machine without Gula around, her little encounter with a certain rogue bounty hunter had made her decide to throw caution to the wind. If that woman could mask her energy even better than Gula could, then she could be anywhere nearby, and Amber would never see her coming. While she had no delusions that she would pose any serious threat to rogue any time soon, Amber could still give her one hell of a fight if she pushed herself to the limit. Hence the gravity training.

Luckily, the controls were remarkably intuitive for something so ancient. The adjustment of a single large dial and boom: instant increase in gravity, and Amber was making liberal use of the higher settings. As it was, she was currently sweating buckets as she performed rapid series of punches and kicks, occasionally adding an energy blast in before she performed several backhand springs holding up her hands in front of her, wrists pressed together and palms forward as she began forming a sphere of energy within her grasp. Once it was large enough, Amber let out a shout as she unleashed her energy wave attack!

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite what she was going for. It certainly had the range and power she desired, but it didn't last very long. Still, it was progress all the same and she'd take something over nothing. Amber huffed before she decided that it was time to take a break. A brief flare of energy allowed her to leap clear of the gravity field, causing her to quickly accelerate due to the rapid change in gravity. She was quick to adjust though, going from free fall to flight in moments, floating down to the machine and disabling before her feet finally touched the ground. Amber rolled her shoulders, appreciating the weightlessness that came from the conclusion of gravity training. However, there was also something that came from gravity training that she did not appreciate, and it was currently wafting its way into her nose. Hardly a surprise when considering the intensity of her training, Amber absolutely reeked. Luckily, there was an easy fix not too far away. Jetting a hundred or so feet about the tree line, Amber flew off towards the lake located near Gula's cave and dove in before spinning like a top as she did so. The full immersion in water brought with it the wonderful sensation of cleanliness and the spinning action only made it better. Still, she didn't want to terrorize the poor fish that lived in the lake any longer, so she shot out of the water and flared her energy to instantly dry off. Amber let out a sigh of contentment before she flew back to the gravity machine. She'd left a pack there that contained her staff, a spare change of clothes and most importantly, lunch. The mere thought of food had her poor stomach growling like an Ursa. Touching down next to her pack, she eagerly dug through it before she retrieved her lunch, which consisted of a large salad, leftover stew from yesterday's dinner, an apple and a large canteen of water. She had a separate canteen for staying hydrated during training.

Lunch was quiet, but that was hardly a surprise considering she was all alone out here. Still, she enjoyed the solitude for a change. When Gula was around, everyone was always training around each other, even if they weren't really training together. Even if it wasn't by choice post becoming a Maiden, she'd gotten used to solitude to the point where extended stays among crowds made her anxious. She suspected that was the lingering sense of danger from when she was the Fall Maiden, but she had yet to slip from that mentality. In fact, her mutilation by Cinder had probably gone a fair way to reinforcing it to a point. Fewer crowds meant it was easier to pick apart energy signatures, which meant there was far less chance that she could be caught unawares.

Suddenly, Amber's thoughts were interrupted as she felt several rising energy levels from the clearing where Gula normally trained them, with one of them in particular rising above the rest. Amber cursed before she snatched her staff from the ground and took off towards the signatures, hoping that things wouldn't escalate before she arrived.

Luckily, things hadn't devolved to brawling from what she could tell, but it wasn't good. Ingo was standing across from everyone else and arguing very aggressively with everyone else. Amber touched down and briefly flared her energy to get everyone's attention.

"What's going on?" Amber asked in a no-nonsense voice. Ingo turned to glare at her.

"This isn't your business." Ingo growled getting a humorless laugh from Lila.

"Oh, don't go trying that to avoid her kicking your ass!" She barked back at Ingo, who snarled at her. Amber frowned before turning the group standing opposite of Ingo.

"What did he do?" Amber asked in a tired voice. She'd really been hoping that things wouldn't fall apart after Gula left, but that was probably too much to ask in retrospect.

"He came here trying to convince us to let him unlock our own Aura and he's been getting more aggressive when we keep telling him to go away." Garrow explained in a frustrated tone as he glared back at Ingo. Amber's frown deepened before she turned to Ingo.

"Ingo, you cannot possibly be serious about thinking that was..." She started to reprimand, only for Ingo to round on her, his face twisted in fury.

"Oh, don't you even start! I had you pegged as a Huntress from the start, and he's still training you!" Ingo shouted at her, causing Amber to pause. Gula and Amber had agreed that it was safer to keep Amber's… condition a secret from the town and trainees, but now it was looking like the secret was going to come out, one way or another.

"Come on, look all of us in the eye and tell us the truth! You've got your Aura unlocked, don't you?! How else would you have gotten this strong this fast?" Ingo pressed. Amber held her ground.

"I did have Aura, but I lost a significant portion of it at Beacon." Amber answered somewhat truthfully. Ingo scoffed.

"You lost your Aura? Seriously?! That's the best you can come up with?" Ingo jeered, but Amber held firm.

"During the fall of Beacon, I was fighting at the school when I was attacked by a Grimm that somehow poisoned my soul. Gula happened to be nearby and attempted an energy transfusion to try to stabilize. Instead, it caused my soul to be split and for the infected portion to be cast out of my body. If that hadn't happened to me, Gula wouldn't have even considered training me." Amber elaborated. Ingo sneered at her, clearly not buying the explanation. The others, while not as hostile in their disbelief, where nonetheless visibly skeptical and Amber couldn't blame them.

"Oh, so your soul got broken! Well, can you prove that you're missing a bunch of Aura?" Ingo baited. Amber just huffed in irritation.

"Well, if you were to use energy sensing to compare me and the Hunters in the village or even yourself, you'd be able to tell the difference. Still, I'd put the biggest point of evidence being that I'm not fit to burst on my own energy." Amber shot back, though she immediately regretted it. Taking shots at someone's health wasn't right, no matter the circumstances.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Amber apologized, but Ingo just scowled at her.

"No no, please, by all means: Tell me exactly what you meant." Ingo hissed back, to which Violet stepped forward.

"Ingo, look at yourself! The amount of energy you've got built up in you is well past the point of healthy! Your bones and muscles are at the brink from trying to contain all of that force! It's honestly a miracle your skeleton hasn't shattered yet!" Violet exclaimed, almost pleading with the boy and getting a pause out of him. However, it didn't last long as his recent scowl returned.

"Oh please, Gula harped on about that same note before he took off again, so don't think you can sell me on that bullshit too. He knows how strong I am because of Aura and he doesn't like it, and you guys just eat up his lies like pigs eat slop!" Ingo growled. Naturally, the others did not take well to Ingo's words, Ash in particular.

"Are you even listening to yourself?! We don't need to hear it from him! We can tell all on our own, and we can all tell that you are not okay, Ingo! And we aren't going to have our Aura unlocked and destroy our bodies just so you can keep deluding yourself!" Ash shouted back. Ingo's eyes narrowed and Amber felt her face drain as she realized that the line had been crossed. Ingo's energy was already simmering, but now it was approaching a boil as a blazing inferno of power erupted around him.

"Deluding… DELUDING?!" Ingo roared as he began stalking forward, hands balling into fists.

"We'll see who's deluded when I'm done with you!" He snarled before he rocketed forward, right fist drawn back to strike! Ash, Garrow, Violet and Lila were caught off-guard and didn't have enough time to power up, though they did react enough to begin entering defensive stances. They braced for Ingo's strike before a terrific CRACK rang through the air! Wind rushed past them, but no pain came, and it quickly became clear why.

Standing in between Ingo and the rest of the trainees was Amber, a silver aura exploding from her body as she blocked Ingo's punch with her crossed arms.

"Ingo, stand down! You don't want…" Amber started to say, only for Ingo to force her arms apart with his left and swing his leg up to knock her into the air.

"Oh, I really do want to do this…" Ingo hissed before he rocketed after Amber, who was still hurtling through the air while she shook off the punch. As she managed to begin righting herself, Amber could see Ingo closing in with a crazed look in his eyes. Amber gritted her teeth before she suddenly vanished from sight, causing Ingo to pause as his eyes widened. Not a moment later, Amber reappeared right next to Ingo and delivered a right hook to his jaw that sent him hurtling towards the mountains with a sound that reverberated throughout the forest. Amber shot after her opponent, snap-vanishing again to reappear behind Ingo and hit him square in the back with a roundhouse kick and sending him careening down to earth!

Amber frowned as she followed Ingo's trajectory down into the woods once more. In both strikes she'd felt more kickback from Ingo's body than normal, as if some of the force behind her blows was being thrown back into her limbs on impact. It could be Ingo's Semblance, but Amber wasn't going to make that call quite yet. For now, she had to stop this fight before anyone got hurt.

As she landed on the forest floor Amber could see the massive dugout from Ingo's crash, which he was still lying in and looking pretty thrown off. As he started to rise, he saw Amber standing not to far away, fists at the ready. He stared at her as he continued to get to his feet, his gaze growing more and more enraged as his mind replayed the two strikes he'd just suffered. They'd hurt. Even with his body reinforced by energy and shielded by Aura, he'd felt great pain in those strikes.

"Ingo, please don't make me do this! Just calm down and…" Amber tried again, but Ingo wouldn't hear any of it, instead letting out a guttural bellow as he charged forward again, this time gathering energy in his right palm and throwing it forward, unleashing a beam of destructive force straight at Amber! The former Maiden's eyes widened before she crossed her arms and flared her energy to shield herself, stopping the beam in its tracks before she let out a bellow of her own and unleashed a burst of power that disrupted Ingo's attack and threw him off-balance long enough for Amber to rush forward and deliver a devastating body-shot to Ingo's stomach, causing him to cough up spittle before she followed up with a straight punch to Ingo's chest, sending him hurtling back again. However, Ingo was quicker to recover this time, planting his feet and rushing forward while launching a barrage of energy blasts at Amber, who took to the air to avoid them before she charged up an energy sphere in each hand, both the size of exercise balls, and threw them at Ingo, one after the other! Ingo swatted the blasts aside before closing in and landing a wild punch to Amber's abdomen that sent her tumbling backwards and through a couple of trees before she came to a stop. Ingo was already in the air above her though, hands held above his head as he created a large sphere of energy in his palms before throwing it down at Amber! Amber's eyes widened as she saw the enormous blast rapidly approaching her, but she stood her ground and channeled all the energy she could into her arms and caught the blast, the ground cracking and crumbling beneath her from the force. With a heave and a shout, Amber shoved the blast back up towards Ingo, who quickly got out of the way and let out a yell of frustration before he shot downwards and threw a punch at Amber's head. This time though, Amber saw it coming a mile away and performed a backwards spring before launching an energy blast at her opponent, hitting him square in the back. Ingo let out another yell of frustration, slamming his arm against the ground and cracking it before he rose to his feet and got ready to charge again.

"Give it up Ingo! You don't have anything I don't have, and I've got years of experience on you!" Amber tried again, only to be met with failure.

"Shut, UP!" Ingo screamed as he threw himself at Amber again, his energy surging even higher! Amber tried to block the attack with one arm but was instead sent skidding backwards, letting out a yelp of pain as she grabbed the arm in question. She looked down at her arm and saw a large purple bruise already forming. Amber immediately checked her energy sense and swore as quickly leapt out of the way of Ingo's fist as it collided with the mountainside! His energy output was well above hers now and it looked to still be climbing steadily. She needed to end this, fast!

Amber let out a brief shout as she powered up even further before channeling a surplus of energy into her arms. Ingo was already rushing her again, but this time Amber was ready. She deflected all of his attacks before she swiped her arms outward in an X motion to break Ingo's assault, then swung her right leg up and caught Ingo in the chin with her heel! The impact sent Ingo hurtling straight upwards and dazed him while Amber began gathering energy for the follow-up. She'd never performed the technique before, but she'd been on the receiving end of it before and seen it demonstrated multiple times by Gula. She could make it work.

Rocketing upwards, Amber threw a fist wrapped in silver energy into Ingo's gut before she snap vanished behind him and delivered another strike to his back! However, she was far from done. Amber kept zipping around Ingo as she continued delivering blow after blow before she capped it off one more strike that sent Ingo hurtling downward and creating a crater on impact! Amber descended down to the ground, huffing and puffing as she caught her breath and reached out with her energy sense to make sure that Ingo was down for the count.

"Well, at least I can tell Gula that I've got the Riot Session down." Amber muttered to herself as she detected Ingo's energy under the stone and dirt he'd been buried under when he'd cratered from Amber's Riot Session. It had gone down to normal levels and she could also detect a few injuries. Mostly bruising, but she could also sense a couple of hairline fractures on one or two of his bones. If the fight had dragged on and Ingo kept pushing himself further, those fractures would have undoubtedly grown far worse.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. It began slowly at first, but then it escalated quickly. Amber swore as she sensed Ingo's energy steadily rising with it! Suddenly, it ballooned and erupted outward in an explosion of power that Amber just barely managed to retreat from as Ingo rose from the crater, his face twisted with wrath. The veins in his arms and neck were all bulging, as were the ones in his head, and his muscles looked like they'd swelled up a bit as well, though not in a healthy-looking manner. And on top of it all, Ingo's eyes had been blotted out with nothing but glowing red, as if his vision was consumed by the power coursing through his body and threatening to tear it apart.

"I have HAD ENOUGH!" Ingo roared before he rushed towards Amber, slamming his left arm across her clavicle and driving her backwards into the mountain to pin her before she could even react! Amber coughed and began trying to get her bearings while Ingo's other arm reared back, a violently sparking energy blast materializing in his palm as he prepared to slam it into Amber's face! However, just before he could unleash the attack a foot appeared in Amber's peripheral vision that slammed into Ingo's nose and sent him reeling, although he didn't budge from the spot. Recognizing the opportunity, Amber tucked both her knees up to her chest and lashed out with a double kick to Ingo's abdomen that sent him skidding back while Amber began powering up again, this time joined by Violet, whose kick had given her that opening.

"He's lost his mind." Violet stated fearfully. Amber wanted to disagree, but the red eyes and energy more chaotic than she'd seen before were very compelling arguments that Ingo wasn't in his right mind, more so than when the fight had begun. Ingo snarled at them before he began his charge again, only to be interrupted by an energy-imbued fist crashing into his right side, courtesy of Garrow. Ingo let out a yelp of pain and surprise before another of Gula's students descended on him. This time it was Ash, as he literally descended from the skies at breakneck speed and drove his heel into Ingo's skull, sending the boy crashing to the ground. However, not even this was enough to keep him down as he slowly got to one knee and slowly turned his crazed and furious gaze on everyone who dared to stand against him! His energy began to surge again before he threw back his head and swung his arms out as a wave of energy erupted from his body, throwing everyone away and letting out a howl of pure fury! His gaze zeroed in on Amber and he rocketed forward, kicking her in the ribs and sending her flying across the horizon before he shot after her and spiked her back down to earth.

Amber slammed into the ground and kept going as she created a massive dugout that ended when she slammed into the gravity machine. She groaned incoherently as she slowly got to her feet and took a quick look around to take in her surroundings before she heard the wordless bellow coming from above her. Amber looked up as she tried to ignore the pain from her almost certainly cracked bones as she looked up at Ingo, who had both arms held in front of him as energy gathered in his palms, forming a massive sphere. Amber's eyes widened as realized what was about to happen and moved to make a break for it before she realized that she had a massive problem. Even if she did manage to avoid the massive blast that Ingo was preparing, it would still hit the gravity machine and likely trigger a chain reaction in the many Dust crystals that were critical to its operation. If that much Gravity Dust went off at once, it was likely that the results would mean no more mountains, no more forest and quite possibly no more Grassbed when factoring in the extra kick from the Lightning Dust.

"Ingo, stop! You're going to kill everyone!" Amber shouted, but Ingo clearly didn't hear her. Whether it was his own shouting, the roar of the energy inside and out or his own rage the attack was still charging, and Amber realized that she wouldn't be able to stop him with words.

Amber planted her feet and let out a roar of her own as her power exploded forth, a towering inferno of dusky bronze energy surrounding her as her eyes glowed a similar color. She dragged her right foot behind her and bent her left knee a bit before she slammed her wrists together, palms outstretched and aimed at Ingo. A sphere of energy began to rapidly gather in her grasp as her fingers curled around it, funneling more power into the attack.

"You aren't going to break anything if you don't commit to it."

Amber wasn't sure why her advice was floating through her head now, but if her issue really was commitment, then this was the moment to commit to the attack. If she didn't succeed, it would all be over.

With one last roar, Ingo unleashed the titanic attack in the form of a red and yellow energy wave, to which Amber answered with her own bronze colored beam. The energy waves collided, and the beam struggle commenced with Amber immediately on the back foot. She could feel her energy wave been forced back and quickly. Amber let out a shout and poured more power into the attack, which seemed to do the trick as she could feel that Ingo's attack had not just been halted in its tracks, but that she was slowly gaining ground! Amber pushed harder, feeling her attack slowly closing in on Ingo's as she hoped that this is where it ended. Unfortunately, that was not the case as she felt Ingo's attack grow much more powerful and begin pushing hers back even quicker than before! Worse than that, Amber was rapidly approaching her limit for power output. If she pushed even further, she'd risk injuring herself and cutting the beam, which would lead to the Gravity Dust crystals going off. Amber gritted her teeth and planted her feet firmly in the ground as she poured everything she had into her energy wave with one last yell of determination!

However, Amber's shout was not alone as two more joined her from either side! In shock, she looked to either side of herself and saw Ash and Violet to her left and right respectively, both of them charging up their own energy waves. And they weren't alone; mere moments later Garrow touched down beside Violet and Lila beside Ash, both powering up and charging energy waves. As one, the trainees launched their attacks at Ingo's beam; light and dark Blue, purple, and orange all combined with Amber's bronze, swiftly evening the odds and then some as Ingo's energy wave was suddenly thrown backwards into his face! Ingo let out a surprised and frightened yell as he was suddenly consumed by the five beams before they slowly dissipated, and he tumbled to the ground. Nearly all at once, Amber and the others slumped over and began gasping for breath.

"And stay down!" Ash exhaustedly called out to Ingo. Amber was about to reprimand Ash for the jeer, but a loud BOOM coming from where Ingo had crashed. Amber's eyes widened as she saw Ingo back on his feet, huffing and puffing as energy was once again pouring out of his body.

"EVERYONE, GET READY!" Amber shouted as she braced for yet another attack. Ingo swung his arm back and created a massive energy sphere. His vicious glare lingered on them for a moment before he swung his arm around, sending the sphere hurtling towards the students! Amber began gathering what energy she had left to counterattack, only for a black and red object to suddenly slam into the ground on top of the sphere, destroying it instantly!

A heavy plume of smoke rose from the explosion, obscuring whatever had stopped Ingo's attack. However, Amber knew exactly who it was. The energy signature was unmistakable. There was a brief yell and an explosion of energy, and then all the smoke was instantly blown away to reveal their savior.

Gula slowly rose from the crater he'd created, crimson energy pouring from him like waves of demonic flames. His onyx eyes were filled with an icy cold fury as he glared at Ingo.

"Now… Now you've crossed the line." The Saiyan hissed, his energy spiking in preparation for battle.

AND WE'RE FINALLY DONE!

Creativity: Oh man, that was NOT supposed to take this long!

Author: Yeah, no kidding! I mean, between college and fixing up Before: KH, this project went dead silent for… Shit, only a couple weeks out from three months!

While I do maintain that this project is on a "when it's done" and "when I feel like it" release schedule, I do want to apologize for how long this particular wait has been. I'm not going to promise it won't happen again though, since I have final project and stuff like that next term in college. And then I'll be looking for work after that…

Still, this story isn't going anywhere if I have any say on the matter! That having been said… Author is a tired soul. I stayed up to get this done since I was so close to the finish line and didn't want to put off an extra 150 words until tomorrow. So, we're just gonna end the closing notes here.

Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!