Author's Notes


Merry ALMOST Christmas!

Or whatever holiday you celebrate. Maybe Festivus?

At any rate. Hope you enjoy this action heavy chapter.

Remember to review, follow, favorite, and comment. It feeds me.


Chapter 35: Twin Shredders


"Team Blake's Obsession, GO!"

Leaving Blake to stew, each team split to deal with their targets. The quicker they dealt with the enemy, the sooner they could assist the others and snowball the skill advantage they probably held.

Torchwick, ice cream girl, and the mech were easily the most dangerous enemies on the field. While the Vacuo's Fang were worrying, Pantera had faith that her team would be able to deal with them long enough for the two members of SSSN to finish their fight and aid them. Asroc might hold back, but Gibril was itching to tear through them and Teseo would quickly follow her lead and cause untold mayhem. Those two were just too cute!

But her grand plans for her team's interpersonal relationships will have to wait. She had the same goal as them, if more dangerous: hold back ice cream girl until JNBR could assist her. Torchwick might be Huntsmen-level, but she'll be shocked if the man can actually hold his own against four first-year Beacon students wailing at him.

Thrusting her beloved Kogarasumaru at the girl, when the expected parry came, she pulled the trigger, sending card-shaped Dust explosives of her own invention and ingenuity at point blank. She quickly warped herself out of the blast zone with a quick mirror.

Her smirk widened when the explosion went off and the ice cream girl shattered into mirror shards. Just as a thin blade pierced right through her heart. She turned to stare at the girl behind her.

"Ooooh, a misericorde! You don't seem like the kind of girl to show mercy to your opponents. We can agree with that, right?" Pantera flicked her eyes nonchalantly to the blade piercing her heart. The incredulous look on ice cream girl was… exquisite!

"I do love the contrast between the name and everything else," Pantera cooed huskily.

That did it. The ice cream girl ripped her blade from her by tearing through the side… shattering her illusion. The girl's wide eyes of surprise became even more delectable.

"Seems like our Semblances share some… similarities," Pantera reappeared a few feet away, giving her hips a bit of sway as she walked towards the girl, who now observed her warily. "Maybe we can share notes. What's your name?"

The girl narrowed her eyes and took a more serious stances, distinct from the lackadaisical one, with her parasol open, meant to unnerve her opponent.

"Cat got your tongue?" Pantera teased, shooting their resident catgirl a look just as she kicked Torchwick on the back, courtesy of some pretty flashy combo with her partner.

The ice cream girl sent her a flat look and pointed to her mouth, then made an 'x' gesture on her throat.

"Oh… you're mute," Pantera winced. That last joke was a tad bit insensitive in retrospect. She didn't even blame the girl when she stabbed her throat from behind, leaving the illusion Pantera has been talking with to fall into pieces.

"I know it was insensitive of me, but don't you think you're overreacting?" She asked the mute girl, unconcerned by the blade through her neck. Her opponent narrowed her eyes and looked from side to side, waiting for an attack. Not a bad course of action, all things considered…

"Write your name in the air," the Pantera-illusion asked as the cracks of her illusion began to spread.

The mute girl rolled her eyes and gave her a quick rundown of her name in sign language. Ha! Jokes on her. All languages are beautiful, and she loved to learn what she could.

"Neopolitan?" The illusion finally shattered.

Neo jumped back, only to crash into a mirror behind her and suddenly find herself transported into a fast approaching spike-whip thrown by the real Pantera. Neo contorted her body just barely enough to dodge the attack, transitioning into close range. Dual wielding her parasol and blade, she forced Pantera to block Hush's blade in exchange for a direct hit from the sturdy parasol, followed up by two kicks to her midsection.

With her opponent on the defense, Neo pressed on and threw the parasol at Pantera's face, scoring a hit. While the blond-pinkette recovered, Neo thrusted the thin blade right below the ribcage, but Pantera managed to recall the whip section of her weapon and deflected the blade with the dagger-size spike, letting the blade to sail pass her while simultaneously giving Neo her flank. She prepared to retaliate, raising the bigger spike of her weapon.

Neo was not having it, and continue her overextension into a split, transitioning into a low, spinning kicks that swept Pantera off her feet.

Pantera didn't fall to the ground, but into a mirror she quickly summoned. Neo, ever the quick learner, ignored the mirror shattering, using those few seconds she saved to roll towards her parasol. Picking it up, she opened it above her, blocking the large spike thrusted at her as the Huntress-in-training fell from where she reappeared above.

"Huh… wasn't expecting the parasol to be a shield…"

Pushing the talkative blond-pinkette away, Neo disengaged and regarded her opponent with a glare. Never she would have thought she'd have to deal with how annoying her own Semblance was. Though that wasn't entirely accurate…

Pantera, on her end, remained unfazed and smiled calmly at Neo. "I think we can say I won the Semblance lottery. Don't you agree?"

Neo bit back a growl. She was not enjoying being bested at her own tricks.

"You do have a good luck charm with you, right? Every mirror broken is like seven years of bad luck. I have this snowflake charm my brother gave me!"

Neo blinked. She did have a lucky charm Roman gave her under the pretense of that same excuse. An ice cream- she shook her head. No time for distractions! Time to overwhelm the girl. She dashed at the illusion, because of course it was an illusion, and dispelled it with a powerful slash of Hush, activating her Semblance to look like she shattered alongside the other girl's highly – and worryingly – realistic illusion. And wasn't that galling: her illusions dispelled with a stiff wind and the blond-pinkette could recite an entire monologue with a blade through the throat!

Once more she threw her parasol, this time into empty space. And was awarded with the satisfying sound of a broken mirror as the Huntress-in-training reappeared just where Neo had predicted. She would have chosen the same spot had she been the girl. With Pantera stunned, Neo slashed at the girl's Aura and dodged the retaliating spike while closing the distance even more, elbowing her opponent square in the face before sending a front kick that had the girl reeling back. But she wasn't done, thrusting Hush once more while the girl was still recovering.

Only for her reality to shatter once more as she was transported further away from the girl.

Bullshit. That girl's Semblance was utter bullshit and Neo expressed as much through sign language.

"Not so fun when you're on the other side?" Pantera managed to say with a shaky smile, clearly wary of Neo like she wasn't before.

Neo couldn't yell, but she could very well hand sign aggressively. My Semblance doesn't also include teleportation!

"Jealousy is such an ugly look on you. You should be sweet… like Neapolitan ice cream!" Pantera gasped. Neo looked incredulously. Was the girl just realizing her whole theming!? "Which is based on the ice cream, your looks or your name?"

Neo refused to answer that.

"Neo!"

She looked where Roman was getting his ass handed to him. Right, the plan was to deal with her nuisance quicker and help Roman. Even she would avoid a prolonged fight four against one. And escaping wasn't an option here.

"Eyes on me, dear," her tormentor taunted.

Yeah. No. Neo opted to run towards Roman. Maybe they'd have better luck two against five.

The illusion she left behind exploded as Dust cards impacted it.

Keyword: maybe. She really hoped hers and Roman's teamwork was up to the task.

-o-

Roman was smirking, but that was a superficial sentiment. Truth be told, he wasn't nearly as confident as he looked. He could take on one first-year Beacon student. No problem. He could stand his ground pretty well against two. Arduous, but still manageable. However, he knew his limits and four students was definitely pushing it. And if the way his opponents stood against him meant anything, they were an actual, proper team, trained to work together.

People got so bogged down thinking that quality trumps quantity that they forget quantity had a quality of its own. It all depends on the pieces in play and the brats divided their forces well. Where each individual's quality wasn't enough, they placed a team to bolster their chances. And where they could afford only a few of them to deal with the Fang's number, they did.

It was flattering that he was stuck facing four at the same time, but he honestly could do without those faint praises. He needed every edge he could scavenge. He sized up the four rugrats facing him. He already nicknamed Kitty Kat, so in the spirit of fairness, he should give each of them a nickname!

"Hey there, Kitty Kat," he sent a two fingers salute towards Blake, putting on his smuggest, award-winning smirk. The girl bristled. Perfect. An enemy that let their anger get the best of them was an enemy easier to handle.

His attention switched to the blond kid with the mismatched armor and hoodie. "I think I'll call you Noodles." No greater reaction than a raised eyebrow. Not ideal, but he'll work with what's given to him.

He pointed at the other boy, then raised his hand to his hair, grabbing between his index and thumb a few strands and running his fingers down their length. "Streaks." Again, not much of a reaction. Something told him dealing with Kitty Kat had desensitized these boys.

Finally, he shifted to the last girl, and froze. What was he going to call her? The obvious answer was 'Ginger', but that was just asking to have the nickname be thrown back at him. Hmmm… she was short…

He snapped his fingers. "Shortstack!"

The girl growled. Success! And Streaks eyes narrowed from relative calmness to sharp distaste. An unexpected consequence, but welcomed, nonetheless.

Noodles proved to be the voice of reason. "He's trying to get a rise from you. Keep focused."

Roman was betting on Noodles being the team leader. Guess it takes all kinds. He maintained the smirk and took on a fighting stance, holding his cane like a sword pointed towards the floor. His halfhearted fighting style meant to unnerve weaker opponents was not going to cut it.

Unsettle the enemy. Play defensively. Wait for Neo to finish her fight and aid him. That was the strategy. He threw the first jab with his words. Now it was the twerps' turn to pick up the ball and make their move.

"Ren, Nora, Ninja Trick!"

Ugh. Team attack names. These really were kids.

Shortstack leveled her grenade launcher, lobbing three shells his way. Roman aimed his cane and shot down each one, leaving a trail of multicolored smoke in their wake.

And robbing him of line of sight. He didn't even get a chance to mutter a curse as Streaks rushed out of the smoke, guns blazing and earning a few potshots. Once in striking distance, the boy deployed the daggers on his pistols and unleashed a ferocious stream of jabs and slashes interspersed with burst of bullets. The kid was fast and efficient, putting Roman on the backstep, forced to use Melodic Cudgel more like a small staff to keep up with his speed.

"Blake! Fastball Special!"

Roman wasn't an idiot and knew Blake was Kitty Kat. That's why the change in tactics from Streak caught him off guard. Closing the distance to the point where even his daggers lost their effectiveness, the boy basically body tackled him. Against all commons sense, Roman felt a sense of calmness overcome him. It was unsettling, but still a kind of serenity, making him drop his guard.

The rational part of his brain screamed at him that something was wrong, just in time to push off Streaks and block the downward slash from Noodles, who took the moment of distraction to break through the smoke screen and made his attack. For a second before impact, the blade shined white and Roman found himself grunting, his knees nearly buckling from the sheer power behind the swing.

Noodles was packing some hidden strength behind his noodly frame. To avoid the shield bash that followed, Roman raised his right leg and used the shield as a makeshift footstool and catapult, creating some distance from both boys.

A sound like a cannon was heard from beyond the now receding smokescreen, a signal for Noodle to duck as the angriest cat Roman ever had the misfortune to meet flew straight at him, a single cleaver-like blade at hand. With a desperate sidestep, he managed to block it as Kitty Kat flew past him, the blade of her sheath scraping against Melodic Cudgel.

She can continue her merry way. At that speed, even Aura won't spare her the pain of crashing into a wall. Another salvo of bullets drew his attention as Streak rejoined the battle. Once more, he closed the distance to an uncomfortable degree. Roman prepared himself to be tackled again as the boy attempted to do whatever he had done before. What he didn't expect was the boy jumping above the swing from his cane and land, hands first, on his shoulders.

Once more an eerie calmness wash over Roman, forcing himself to ignore it and keep the head in the game. But the damage was done. By the time his sluggish brain realized Noodles had his sword stabbed into the ground, his free hand holding unto a ribbon, it was too late. His reflexes weren't up to the task as the boy pulled the taut ribbon back.

Streaks pushed off him with his hands and lucidity came back like a truck just as Kitty Kat slammed feet first into his backside with equal power, pulled back from her flight by Noodles. The attack sent him sprawling to the ground, while Kitty Kat continued on and landed on Noodles' shield, picking up the sword-gun mechashift she left with the boy and aimed.

Roman rolled out of the way, sending a flare towards the duo in the hope of buying whatever respite he could get. It worked, as the duo disengaged, avoiding his shot. Taking a back to back stance, they brandished their weapons in his direction, the slightest of smirks in their face

The thief groaned. Partners. Beacon and its curriculum were really starting to fray his nerves. Quickly standing up, he aimed his cane and shot several explosive shots at the duo. Noodles took a vanguard position, tanking each shot with frightening ease as he ran forward, Kitty Kat following close behind.

Too close for Roman to shoot safely, he switched Melodic Cudgel's explosive rounds for lightning. Noodles tried to tank the shot and instead received a buckshot of lightning coursing through his shield and into his body. Or at least what Aura couldn't mitigate. The boy began to shine, his golden Aura encompassing him completely. Whatever he was doing, Roman was willing to bet it meant he wouldn't be down for long.

And he still had to contend with Kitty Kat, who ran past her partner and engaged Roman in close quarters, forgoing defense for a reckless flurry of slashes with both her blades. It worked to a degree, Roman needing to block each attack and wait for an opening. Soon enough, one presented itself and Roman shot an explosive shot at her feet.

The girl saw it coming, if her widened eyes were any indication. The explosive round ripped through the ground and through her… or through her damned clone. Right, she can do that. Roman stopped the descending slash from the now falling cat girl. She hadn't completely escaped the explosion; the barest hints of singe clothes revealed as much. But it was hardly what he would call a hit.

A sword ripped through the girl and now it was Roman's turn to stare in surprise as the blade slashed a substantial chunk of his Aura from his torso.

He backed away and glared at his attacker. Noodles. And of course, Kitty Kat hadn't quite been slashed through. Merely a clone while the real one ducked below the sword. This is why he didn't allow himself to dream too big. Life had a way to disappoint.

Movement caught his periphery and Roman was quick to aim an ice Dust round to the ground, creating a barrier between him and the approaching Streaks.

His quick wit backfired when the ice barrier exploded towards him, the monstrous strength from Shortstack blasting through it and sending shards of frozen water his direction. He did his best to mitigate the attack, but there was only so much he could do, and his Aura chipped away.

The girl dexterously swung her war hammer in an attempt to hit the thief. So far Roman had managed to block his opponents' attacks. But for this girl? Nope. He was not risking blocking that hammer. One clean hit would almost assuredly shatter his Aura. And even if a block would not, chances were the wall he would subsequently crash into would finishing the job.

So Roman dodged. He ducked, jumped, rolled, and weaved in whatever way he could through the girl's powerful and relentless swings. It wasn't long before her partner joined in. Roman's hope that their youth meant they lacked experience fighting together like this was quickly dashed, as the duo easily carried on their attacks in sync, the girl effortlessly swinging her hammer around the boy, who took each miss from the girl as an opportunity to get in and press the number advantage.

This was the moment Roman realized that whatever these kids might lack in individual skill, they more than made up for it in teamwork. He has witnessed professional Hunters, teams from all the way back when they were green rookies, with less acumen for fighting together than these brats. Each partner pair complemented each other with frightening effectiveness. And as a whole, their initial moves were well executed and set the pace for the entire fight.

He was not going to win this. And if he continued to fight discreetly, he was not going to last long enough for a miracle.

He had to throw subtlety out of the window.

"Neo!" he yelled, hoping his own partner got the message that she needed to end her fight now.

This time he was the one to close the distance to Streaks. He allowed the boy to swing one of his sickle-like daggers across his face. Only that he didn't, instead barely missing an awkward punch, his hand holding a fire Dust crystal

Roman kicked the boy away from him and aimed the stolen green pistol at the fire crystal. Streak, in panic, let go of the Dust, but not fast enough, the bullets hitting their target and triggering an explosion, engulfing the boy and sending him back.

"REN!" the redheaded girl screamed, attempting to close in and hit Roman. It forced the thief to change his target, firing the green pistol with reckless abandon and driving the girl back to avoid eating the bulk of the bullets. If her intent was to draw attention away from her partner, mission accomplished. Roman still got the respite he wanted.

There were still a few bullets in the clip, so he turned and sent them to Kitty Kat and Noodles, halting their own approach. Once the gun clicked empty, he threw it as far away as he could, over one of the roofs of the surrounding buildings, and out of the lot. If anyone wanted to waste time looking for the gun, power to them.

The telltale whirling, shifting, and clicking sounds of mechashifting caught his attention. It came from behind him, where Shortstack was. He reached inside his coat and retrieved another fire crystal, letting it rest on his open palm in front of his chest. He closed his eyes and waited. As soon as the expected sound of a grenade being fired reached his ear, he reached for his Aura.

In front of him, Kitty and Noodles recoiled as a grenade impacted the blonde's shield. He turned and aimed Melodic Cudgel at the ginger's feet, where a fire crystal clinked as it impacted the floor. The follow-up inferno rose to encompass the girl, who yelped and jumped back. No doubt her Aura received a sizeable hit from that.

"Now!"

Roman turned towards the command. Out of the smokescreen caused by the grenade, one, three, five cat girls dashed out, swords drawn to cleave through him. He swung at the first to arrive, only for her to dissipate into nothing. The second and third also proved to be decoys. The fourth flanked him from behind, thrusting her sword through him. Roman bet on her also being an illusion and wasn't disappointed as it dispersed upon contact. Which left the fifth right in front of him. Confident, he dodged the blades and swung at her flank. However, rather than either dispersing or hitting the real deal, a solid stone sculpture manifested, trapping his cane in it.

"Wha-"

Between his fatigue and surprise, he didn't saw the shield that bashed him from the side, with enough power to rip Melodic Cudgel from the stone. Roman hit the ground rolling, creating some distance. His Aura held, but he held no illusion that it could take another attack without shattering and letting the attack through in the process.

Unsteadily, he rose to his knees and looked at his opponent.

And froze.

He saw himself standing a few meters in front of him. The girl with the hammer, having recovered from his trick shot, descended with a mighty downward swing and shattered the him in front like a mirror.

"Where is he?" Kitty Kat asked.

"The ice cream girl, Neo," another girl, the one that confronted his partner, joined the team he has been facing. "The girl's Semblance are mirror-like illusions. They should be hiding close by."

A hand rested on his shoulders from behind. Roman tensed and turned, only relaxing when dichromatic eyes met his green ones. Neo raised a finger to her lips and Roman zipped his mouth. Neo's illusions didn't account for sound.

Neo quickly went through a series of hand signs, which Roman returned in kind.

'Aura?'

'Cannot take another hit. Your battle?'

Neo frowned. 'Semblance like mine. And stronger. I'm the better fighter, but it would have been costly.'

Roman clicked his tongue. A quick look over the rest of the battlefield painted a clear picture. They were outnumbered in the matches that mattered and outmatched in the others. The kids had picked out their fights well.

Vale's Fangs were a zero to the left, those Quill guys were being pushed back, and Moniqa was having trouble against Sparky and his team. If their extraction didn't come soon, there will be nothing left to extract.

-o-

"GAH!" the Quill's soldier screamed as a red shockwave hit her straight on, serrating her Aura to near depletion.

"Fall back!" another ordered, taking her place against the redhead fighting them.

Gibril scoffed. These Vacuo's Fangs were clearly a cut above the Vale riffraff, but still well within her team's comfort zone. They didn't get to be the best damn team in Haven by settling for average!

The fact Vacuo's White Fang employed actual tactics rather than surrounding them and hoping for the best already made them a threat not to be underestimated.

Two golden chakrams raced past her from behind and towards the Quill that challenged her, driving him back to avoid being crushed. Gibril slashed her Iron Maidens across the ground, sending a vicious wave of red dust towards her opponent.

The Fang accepted the challenge and pushed forward, swinging his halberd to disrupt her attack, the swing dispersing the wave back into inert dust. No explosion. No fire. Just regular red-colored powder. Empowered by that knowledge, he continued his charge.

Gibril smirked, raised her left hand, palm open and facing upward. Then pull the arm back as she clenched her fist.

The White Fang toppled forward. Two blood red hand axes struck him from behind. Gibril rushed forward and picked them up, making it a point to step over the fallen Fang. People saw her weapons and assume they were equipped with capital D Dust. Then they realized it wasn't Dust and foolishly lowered their guard, not even stopping for a second to think why she carried grinded iron with her, if they even bother to realize it was iron.

It helped in multiple ways that it was red colored. It misdirected her opponents, aided her control, and, if her opponents bothered to ask where the red came from, unnerved them.

Two more terrorists moved to double-team her but were stopped as three mines were thrown at each of their feet, the explosions forcing them to fall back.

"Gibs!"

"Tess…" Gibril acknowledged her teammate, heaving her axes into position and kicking the downed faunus for good measure. Behind her, Teseo aimed at a cluster of Fangs with Circuit Rain. Doing justice to its name, the glove threw a rain of green colored hard-light Dust spears, reminiscent of a circuit board. The attack scattered the enemies, allowing Teseo to summon a small squad of training robots between the divided Fang. They won't do much as far as damage went, but the time bought would allow them to pick off individual terrorists with more ease.

"How's your Aura holding. You've been using your Semblance liberally," she asked the green-haired faunus.

"Ahhhh, you care."

Gibril growled but refrained from hitting him. Now was not the time or place for slapstick violence. She threw both axes at the nearest opponent, who expertly blocked and sent them flying above him. Poor fool.

Teseo winced as the axes curved upward and fused into an actual iron maiden, falling directly into the skull of the unsuspecting White Fang. To someone without Aura, that was an assured kill, the weight of the metal contraption caving the skull in.

As it were, the poor man's Aura shattered in a flash of light green and his body fell limply to the ground. Alive but out for the count.

"What about you?" Teseo created a shield to block a mace, followed by a gun on his other hand, firing at point-blank range. The fabricated bullet shattered on impact, but its momentum still threw the Fang away. "You got pretty banged up by the mecha over there."

"I'm doing fine." On a fit of curiosity, she glanced towards the sheet of metal she ripped off the mech. Still holding the first two Fang they brought down. Good. "Besides, if they make me bleed, this fight is as good as over."

A surge of surprise flashed through her when she heard Teseo sigh besides her.

"I know. But I rather you didn't."

She couldn't help the slight blush the overcame her upon hearing the sincerity in his voice. "D-don't get mushy on me, you jerk. Head on the game and out of the gutter."

"Desperation moves should be saved for desperate situations," Teseo said with uncharacteristic sobriety. Then, as if the last few seconds never happened, he was back to his laughing self. "But sure thing, Tsun-tsun! How's the weather?"

She scoffed at the nickname but couldn't help the smile on her face. "Shut up, you idiot."

"But casual dialogues tilts them and make them start inting!"

Asroc took that instant to join them, leaving behind the Fang he had been dealing with. "If you two are done flirting, we should join with the worst half of SSSN."

"We're not flirting! Tell him, Tess!"

"…"

"Tess," she hissed

"Yes dear," the toothy menace drawled, grinning through it "Tsun-tsun says we're not flirting."

Asroc shook his head. "I can't tell which of you is more whipped." Not waiting for either of their response, he threw his chakrams towards where Sun and Neptune finished dealing with the Vale's Fang, forcing a path through Vacuo's more dangerous counterpart.

-o-

As soon as each team went their own way, Moniqa sent a barrage of missiles at GV and his entourage. She hoped taking the initiative would rattle them. It was not meant to be, as the Kamizono twins ordered those floating orbs to shoot down the missiles with a continuous stream of electricity that forced her to block with the lightning rod. Preying on their inexperience was a no go.

She carefully appraised each student. GV was a known quantity. The Paladin had been modified to deal specifically with him. And with the relatively enclosed battlefield, his cataclysmic and quite frankly absurd finishers were limited if he wanted to avoid friendly fire. Even then, she knew about them and what to do to mitigate as much damage as possible. Unless he had come up with something new, she felt a degree… not confidence, but preparation to deal with anything he could throw.

The brunette girl was a complete unknown. The segmented blade suggested a whip and the pistol some degree of marksmanship. But that was about it. Thankfully, her Semblance picked some hesitance and insecurity from her. Not enough to be paralyzing, but enough for her to make the educated guess that the girl wasn't as confident in her abilities as the rest of the team.

The Kamizono boy was worrisome. Call her crazy, but that pod of his gave out ominous vibes. It felt alive, but off at the same time. When she met Lumen the day before, she kept that opinion to herself, not wanting to further antagonize the bot. She wrote it off as the nerves from meeting Mytyl. But now, with her Aura flaring and her Semblance in high gears, there was definitely something off with the bots.

The effortless way the boy carried his shield suggested it wasn't anywhere near as heavy as it looked. And the pistol suggested mostly light weaponry, better suited for hordes of small Grimm. But these were Hunters. He was outfitted like his sister, who already exhibited high mobility. And his shield probably had some sort of mechashift mechanism integrated into it. Then there were his emotions: calmness, determination, focus. He was scrutinizing her as much a she was scrutinizing him and that was dangerous. It was a lot like GV, but with an underlying intelligence that put her on edge.

And then… Mytyl.

Moniqa felt her throat constrict uneasily when looking at the girl. She didn't want to fight her. No matter how much she attempted to rationalize it, she remained stuck looking at the girl's crimson eyes, lavender hair, and the two strands that happened to look uncannily similar to two antennae. The similarities to Cyan were uncanny and she was having a hard time looking past them.

Even her Semblance picked up a scant familiarity in her emotions, even if right now she was looking at her with determination rivaling her brother. Her equipment also matched her brother's, so Moniqa expected a similar fighting style.

Steeling herself, she drove the Paladin right into the team, shocking them into moving out of the way, She swung the lightning rod hoping to hit either GV or the brunette girl, but the two proved quick on their feet, changing direction and diving under the attack.

Between GV and the twins' apparent arsenal, she was betting on melee range to be her best hope. That didn't stop GV from attempting to overcome the lightning rod, needles sticking into the 'thigh' of the Paladin.

Only for the electricity to redirect effortlessly to the rod. She will have to send her compliments to the engineer.

Another salvo of missiles flew around her to each of her opponents. GV raised his flashfield in defense while the brunette girl deployed her whip and swing it wildly, cutting down the missiles before they hit.

"Lumen! Polarity!"

"Lola, follow and sync!"

Behind her, the camera showed the twins hovering some distance above her. Both their pods suddenly changed to a red and bronze color scheme, the holographic part of their bodies switching to a circlet floating around the upper part of the orb. The smaller orbs began to rapidly rotate erratically around them. Upon reaching them, the missiles crashed against a barrier, dismantled by a force only perceivable with each destroyed missile.

Moniqa turned the mech to shoot down the twins. However, she didn't even get the chance to hesitate against Mytyl, the twins already on the move. They flew in opposite directions towards the floor. Her eyes naturally followed Mytyl, seeing her ricochet from the floor.

That was a mistake. A loud thunk from behind rattled the machine. The camera showed Copen ricocheting off the chassis, coming to a stop midair, the thruster of his boot and armor keeping him afloat.

"Lola. Glyph. Fire."

Between the bot's white color scheme, the snowflake, and the small red glyph of an 'X' wreathe in flames that appeared at the end of his pistol's barrel that reminded her of the Schnee Semblance, Moniqa had a bad feeling about this.

She moved out of the way, but to her horror when Copen fired, the bullets, engulfed in flames after passing through the glyph, followed her unerringly, connecting with the leg Copen kicked off from with a loud explosion.

The Paladin's leg momentarily gave in and Moniqa recoiled as bullets pinged off the bulletproof cockpit. Following that, she raised one of the Paladin's arms as a sword scraped off the surface to zero success. She looked down to see the brunette girl attempting to breach the glass. What was she doing?

A warning blared through the cockpit. Her eyes widened. 'Malfunction on the arm? How? Why? A nick from the sword shouldn't have caused anything!'

Her musings were stop cold. Chills ran down her spine when she heard a worryingly familiar crackling sound.

Completely blindsiding her, GV appeared jumping over the stuck arm and right in front of the cockpit. A sword of electricity chirped on his left arm, Dart Leader on his right. Panicking, she forced the Paladin to trash around and throw off the boy, but not before the sword was impaled into the glass of the cockpit, almost reaching her before GV lost his footing.

She was just glad he didn't feed his entire Aura into Luxcalibur. It would have been difficult for him to pull it off at that range given the preparation needed. But if he managed to do it, the fight would have ended there and then.

Retreating away from where GV landed, shots of ice burst at the joints of the machine. Mytyl and Copen knelt at each side of her, guns trained at her and white sigils with an 'X' and snowflake motif adorning the mouth of their pistols.

The attack was followed by the brunette extending her whip to stab the encased jointed. The sword-whip shattered the ice easily and reached the joints themselves. Sirens blared, malfunction after malfunction blinked into existence on the Paladin's head display, the self-diagnosing system flashing critical errors on each joint hit by the sword.

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. But Moniqa was sure she could count each joint individually and call it enemy action. The girl was definitely doing something to the Paladin. When the ice broke, she hoped for the attacks to be lapses in judgement, freeing the blocked joints for her. She hadn't expected for what were supposed to be love taps to cause critical damage across the board.

Letting out a low guttural growl, she armed every ordnance available to her. The machine was falling around her, so if every missile and bullet available to help bought her even one second, it was ammunition well spent.

Where was her reinforcement? What are they doing? They were meant to prevent a scenario like this. Three full teams and a half. Even if your average Quills were better trained than your average Fang, she didn't fancy their chances against an entire team of Hunters-in-training. In fact, she didn't like any of the matchups at all. Their own numbers weren't enough to overpower the numbers and quality of GV and his group.

She was mentally simmering over the absence of her reinforcement, but the rational part of her mind arrived at the simplest and most worrying explanation as to why GV got so many people with him. The blond boy had even more reinforcements backing him up. These are the ones that slipped through Quill's net.

Leave it to GV to brute force his way through her contingencies.

"Ordnance armed." A robotic voice informed her around the Paladin. Missiles soon followed.

The attack would buy her a few seconds, but she wasn't counting on anything more. She pulled her scroll and quickly speed dialed the number she was given.

"Requesting extraction. We're getting massacred here!" Moniqa yelled into it.

"~I don't hear a please~"

An unfamiliar voice. Smooth, silky, intelligent. And a bit arrogant, too. Moniqa didn't know who had been roped in for their extraction if things went downhill, but now was not the time for this.

"Are you our extraction or not!?" She snapped at the device.

A sigh was heard from the other end. "I suppose I am. I was hoping I wouldn't be needed. Alas, it was not-"

"Are you getting us out or not!?"

Her nerves frayed further by the chuckle that followed. "No love for the finer arts, I see. Fine. You have an illusionist with you." Moniqa didn't even get to answer. The voice continued on, suggesting he already knew about Neo. "I'll create a distraction impossible to ignore. It's up to you to gather everyone quickly and flee. I'll be there in a few minutes"

"Minutes!?"

"I'm not exactly low profile. Just hang in there. Oh, before I forget, my distraction is… gross. Try not to panic."

The call ended with a click.

This was their extraction plan? Using Neo's Semblance? If she went to jail, she was going to kill Zeno.

It's true they needed one hell of a distraction so that Neo could hide all of them effectively, but she had hoped for something more. It also meant the Paladin was lost to them, but given the circumstances, not much she could do about that. She had accounted for that possibility, presenting those Paladins and baiting GV knowing the risks involved.

She'll just have to put her hopes on Zeno pulling through with his contacts and machinations.

-o-

"Boss! I'm detecting a high number of explosives!"

"Lady Mytyl, seems like the pilot is planning to unload everything. Defensive and evasive maneuvers recommended."

Both Mytyl and Copen created some distance away from the mech with a blast from their rocket boots, ending hovering several meters off the ground. Unprompted, both of their respective ACPs activated the Polarity module, P-bit rotating rapidly and creating an unseen electromagnetic barrier.

"GV! Kohaku! Missiles incoming!"

GV's eyes narrowed at Mytyl's warning. It was rare to see Moniqa get desperate. Even during Quill's lowest points, she kept a cool head. She must know that no number of missiles, not of that quality, could penetrate his flashfield. She was buying time, but for what?

"GV," Kohaku said besides him. "The others!"

His eyes widened, refocusing on the Paladin. Between Copen's, Mytyl's, and his shield, they couldn't stop all missiles. Some would slip through and potentially endanger everyone else, regardless of affiliation.

Kohaku recalled her sword and held the flat of her sword towards GV. "Tag and electrify my sword."

"What?"

"Just do it!" She ordered. "We'll worry about drawbacks later."

With no time to argue, GV chose to trust Kohaku. With a swift change of clips, he tagged her sword with five needles across five different blade segments, then activated his flashfield.

As soon as the electric bolts hit her sword, Kohaku winced, pushing as much as her Aura as she was willing to risk in order to mitigate the effects of the electricity on her. The sword wasn't exactly an insulator, but her sister had made it a point to make sure it could mitigate electric attacks to some degree. She knew from experience how devastating lightning could be.

It also meant she could pull off what she was about to do. Under normal circumstances, she might not be able to completely imitate her sister's Semblance-fueled fighting style. But with GV providing the Semblance part to Kon's style while she provides the swordmanship…

A barrage of missiles erupted from the Paladin. A good number of them crashed into the twins' barrier but the rest spread across the battlefield.

Eyes on the prize, Kohaku swung and extended her blade at the salvo, GV's electricity cackling violently in its wake. Even though the sword-whip itself missed most of the missiles, GV's lightning extended the attack's effective range considerably, culling through many of the projectiles and disabling whatever electronic resided in others.

She reversed the swing for another pass through, clearing yet another set of missiles. Recalling back her sword, she coiled her legs and brought the electrified sword to a low stance next to her hips. Gathering what Aura she could spare without dropping her defenses, she jumped to meet the few remaining missiles, which were too scattered to catch in a single swing.

Or at least in a single standard swing. With the jump, she twisted her body into a spin, letting her sword extend and cut through the remaining projectiles, forming a deadly disk of blue light for anyone seeing to witness. Upon landing, her legs gave in and her hands dropped her sword, having gone numb from GV's Semblance. She wouldn't be fighting much more for tonight, but she had done it. All missiles were destroyed and contained.

With the missiles gone, the Paladin stood defenseless, and Mytyl was not going to waste this opportunity. Landing back on the ground, she signaled Lumen to go back to normal.

"Copen, how about we finish this and pay your debt to GV, two birds with one stone."

Copen landed on the other side of the mech and grunted at the reminder of the ill-conceived bet. He also signaled Lola to return to normal. Reading his intentions, the pod ordered the P-bits to rotate rapidly around Copen and along the ground, forming a circle parallel to it. On his hands, a crimson metal edge popped around Aix Gear; a melee add-on Copen opted to install to the shield after one too many times finding himself in the need of a melee alternative besides kicking.

Opposite to him, Mytyl reversed the grip of Divider on her right hand, such that the barrel of the pistol rested on the outside side of her hand, parallel to her arm, and her pinkie on the trigger. Not ideal for firing, but that wasn't the purpose of the unorthodox grip. The barrel of the gun rotated 180 degrees, with the spikes the were once at the bottom now on top of the pistol, where they shot out slightly to reveal three sets of daggers erupting along the barrel. From the shortest one closer to the muzzle and increasing in size until the largest towards the halfway point of the barrel.

Lumen's P-bits mimicked the Lola's rotation.

"Ready to bedazzle them with, I quote, ominous poetry?" Mytyl blithely asked her brother, straightening her stance into a cocky posture, Divider carelessly resting on her right hand while her left prepared to snap her fingers in a moment's notice.

Copen grunted in annoyance, but nonetheless hefted his tower shield next to him, ready to explode into action and swing his ad-hoc greatsword at whoever was brave enough to stand in his way.

-o-

Inside the cockpit, Moniqa was frozen in place, her eyes stuck on the brunette girl. The sword-whip and the lightning. She had seen those moves before. Not in person, but during her research periods of potentially dangerous Huntsman and Huntresses. Her boss made it a point to take pin that specific combination.

She didn't get a chance to ponder thoroughly what it meant. She caught movement at her peripheries and turned just in time to see the Kamizono twins readying to attack. And from Mytyl's giddiness and Copen's resignation, Moniqa had a bad feeling she was about to be on the receiving end of whatever bad influence Gun Volt was on his team.

-o-

Mytyl grin widened as the P-bits around her rose upward to the air.

"Dual blades, perform your-"

On the opposite side, Copen sighed, and Lola's P-bits followed Lumen's lead. With less enthusiasm than his sister, he continued her poem.

"-passionate dance, ready to-"

"STRIKE WITH CONVICTION!" Both twins intoned at the same time.

A second of silence passed before Mytyl finally snapped her fingers. Then all hell broke loose. The P-bits of both bots descended upon the Paladin, savagely ripping through the already crippled mech without mercy. Challenging all notions of physics, the small spheres shredded through the armor of the war machine like paper, relentlessly reducing all but the cockpit into scrap metal as the limbs and body of the Paladin crumpled under its own weight, no longer having the structural integrity to remain upright.

Each twin crouched slightly, the rockets of their armor and boots bursting to life, ready to lunch them towards the machine. With a simultaneous nod to each other, both Copen and Mytyl dashed into the air, Copen dragging Aix Gear's edge into a massive sideway swing while Mytyl brandished Divider, her speed ensuring the misleading effectiveness of the short blades.

"TWIN SHREDDER!" both twins yelled, Copen resigned while Mytyl all but laughing.

Their respective blades met the metal and glass of the cockpit, effortlessly cutting through while making sure not to cut so deep as to injure the pilot. Crossing each other and taking the opportunity to share a look – Mytyl one of glee while Copen a small nod – the twins continued their dash past the mech, halting their movement and allowing their respective armors to transitioned them into a slow descend.

On the ground, the Atlesian mech crumbled. The legs finally gave up, disintegrating into unsalvageable pieces. The arms had fallen long ago. The torso and cockpit sported a sizzling 'X' cross slash, the metal and glass glowing bright red from where the twin's Dust-infused blades had torn through.

Rejoining GV and Kohaku, the twins landed, with Lola's sand Lumen's P-bits rejoining them shortly after.

"That was great!" Mytyl cheered enthusiastically, providing a stark contrast to Copen's more subdued and embarrassed reaction.

"Never again," he groused, glaring at the one responsible for their little poem. Gun Volt.

"Don't make and lose another bet, then," the blond boy said, subtracting importance to Copen's stink eye.

"Kaleidoscope!"

The four members of KVKC turned to meet Team Juneberry, plus Pantera.

"Jaune! Jaune! Did you see my finishing move!?" Mytyl skipped excitedly towards her fellow team leader but stopped upon seeing Jaune's less than eager look. "Something wrong?"

Ren answered. "We lost track of Roman and his accomplice."

"Neo," Pantera added. "She's an illusionist, so they might be hiding close by, if they hadn't escaped yet."

That was worrying. Mytyl was about to speak up to Lumen, but Copen beat her to it.

"Lola, infrared scan!"

"On it, Boss. Ahummmm," the machine began to needlessly hum, before turning towards the Paladin. "There-GAH!"

Lola's effort was rewarded with a bullet, courtesy of one Roman Torchwick, who was sending daggers the little pod's way. Next to him, Neo harrumphed annoyingly at Roman for breaking her illusion, even if the pod he shot tattle on them first. Jamming Hush into the cuts on the cockpit's glass, Neo used her weapon as a lever and pried open the machine, with the help of a kick from inside.

Pushing herself out, Moniqa jumped out of the wrecked Paladin and landed on the ground next to Roman. All students quickly trained their ranged weaponry at the three criminals.

"M-moniqa?"

"I knew we couldn't trust her!" Lumen yelled from her place next to Mytyl. "Let's arrest her and be done with it."

The White Fang's officer's green eyes met Mytyl's hauntingly familiar crimson ones. Mytyl flinched at the intensity behind Moniqa's eyes, a far cry from the teasing, if slightly melancholic, expression she wore when they met the day before. Nonetheless, she kept Divider trained at her.

Despite being held at multiple gunpoint, Moniqa kept her poise. Unlike Roman, her Aura still stood, barely battered thanks to the Paladin taking the brunt of the damage.

"Miss Kamizono," Moniqa said softly, barely acknowledging the girl before her sight shifted to GV. "Must admit, GV, being in the same team as her… don't you consider it a bit… distasteful?"

"Don't!" GV growled warningly.

"Almost like a replacement guppy-"

Her eyes zeroed on Mytyl, who flinched at the comment.

"What is Quill doing in Vale? What's your plan? Why do you need all the Dust?"

She ignored GV's questions. "I have to wonder… how much of your team is in Beacon by their own merit and how much because you carried them in?"

"This is getting us nowhere," Copen said, stepping forward and shifting slightly to stand in front of his sister, who was now faltering a bit. "I'm sure the Headmaster will forgive us if we put you out of commission until reinforcement arrives."

The thinly veiled threat quickly changed Moniqa's tune. She finally acknowledged GV's original questions. "Our plan hasn't changed, GV. We are fighting for faunus all over Remnant. As for the Dust? What could an allegedly terrorist organization need with the primary and most expensive, volatile, and versatile fuel in Remnant?" She asked rhetorically.

"So, the White Fang is the brain behind this operation," Blake said, her eyes narrowing in accusation. "With that amount of Dust… you're preparing for something big. What is it?"

"And why is Quill in Vale?" GV added.

"Now, why would I divulge our exact plan?" Moniqa asked back. "You're smarter than that, GV. I don't need to spell out to you why Vale."

"The Vytal Festival," Kohaku muttered, loud enough for her allies to hear.

"As for why Quill in Vale?" Moniqa shrugged. She discreetly glimpsed towards where the rest of the Fang members where barely holding the other students at bay. They had managed to regroup to some extent, gathering their fallen allies while the better fighters did their best to fend of the even better trained Academy students.

"Vale's faction leaves much to desire. We thought of giving our brothers and sisters of the Fang a helping hand," she said offhandedly, still eyeing the fight across the lot. "GV. Miss Belladonna," she addressed both ex-members, "I suppose there's nothing I can say to convince you to rejoin the Fang, right?"

"What?" Blake said, caught off guard by the offer.

GV, however, saw beyond it. "You're being awfully chatty."

Moniqa smirked. "I think we both know I've always erred on the side of talking too much."

Copen eyes narrowed in realization. "You're stalling,"

Moniqa didn't answer. Instead, movement above the battlefield, in the direction where the Fang were making a last stand, caught her eyes.

Her face paled. "I'm going to kill him..." she muttered to no one in particular. Next to her, both Roman and Neo gaped in disbelief and dawning horror.

A buzzing sound reached the group of Hunters-in-training. And soon after, a cacophony of screams from both White Fang and their allies. Upon turning to see what was happening, they were swarmed by a cloud of insects.

"WHAT IS THIS!?" Kohaku screamed, covering her head as the insects – flies from the sound they were making – buzzed all around them, some even prickling their Aura, despite of how ineffective the attacks actually were.

"Boss/Mytyl, we're sensing a high concentration of Aura from the swarm," both Lola and Lumen reported to their respective twin.

Copen, whose reaction was to also cover as best as he could from the swarm, swatted and grabbed a fistful of the bugs. Only for the 'dead' flies to dissipate into nothing.

"It's a Semblance!"

The sound of shattering glass was heard over the incessant buzzing.

"They're escaping," Pantera said, recognizing the telltale sound of hers and Neo's Semblance.

On his end, GV moved to create some distance from his teammates, switching the bolt and clip in Dart Leader for the omnidirectional capabilities of Orochi and the high tagging number of the Ramiel Clip. Shooting upward, the small drone hovered several feet above them, spreading darts around them. GV followed the shots by activating the his flashfield. The tendrils of electricity homed to the flying darts, scything through the swarm and diminishing their numbers.

Repeating the process two more times, the swarm began to disperse. The only people left in the battlefield were the Hunters-in-training.

"They escaped," Blake groused. GV grunted, sharing Blake's displeasure with how things developed.

Nora felt to her knees and cried to the sky. "What kind of soul has bugs as a Semblance!?"

Ren kneeled next to Nora and comforted her, patting her back.

Mytyl shivered, hugging herself and rubbing both arms with her hands. "Admittedly, that's a pretty nasty Semblance… even if the bugs can only serve as distraction."

"Assuming they can only be a distraction," Copen said. "For all we know, that was the owner's goal and didn't bother to put in the Aura for more."

"Suddenly, Port's and Goodwitch's stunt with the Kafkas makes too much sense," Mytyl lamented, finishing her sentiment with a sigh.

"ARRRGH, WE HAD THEM ON THE ROPES!"

KVKC, JNBR, and Pantera turned to see where Gibril had punched the floor in frustration, hard enough to bloody her knuckles. Teseo and Asroc kept a respectful distance from the volatile redhead.

"I better deal with that," Pantera said with a sigh.

"We cannot let them escape!" Blake screamed, in equal part anger and frustration.

"Do you know where they went?" Pantera asked the cat girl, who didn't respond. "I didn't get a good hit on Neo, so her Aura is in top condition. Even if disguising such a large group stress her abilities, it should be enough for them to escape… assuming she is being truthful and cannot teleport like I can."

"B-but-"

Jaune placed a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Let it go, Blake. We also have to check with Team RWPY and Ozpin's reinforcement. They had their own battle and there could be even more enemies waiting."

GV looked at Copen. "The Paladin was modified to deal with me, right?"

Copen nodded at GV's question. The blond boy sighed. "That means there's a high chance at least one person I rather not fight in our current condition is in Vale. Maybe even leading the squad that stopped RWPY."

Blake's cat ears drooped and her gazed dropped, but she nodded, nonetheless. To have victory swiped away at the last second…

She clenched her fists and stalked away from the rest. Worried, Jaune attempted to give a reassuring look at the rest of them, especially Ren and Nora, and went after his partner.

"Call RWPY and Ozpin," Pantera said as she began walking towards her own team and her juniors from Haven. "Hopefully they are fine, and we can get a bullhead to pick us up."

As if summoned by her words, a red streak jumped over an adjacent rooftop and landed on the lot.

"Oh good, you are fine," Ruby managed to utter between heavy breathes, uncharacteristically winded from her Semblance-fueled run. The telltale signs of combat were present on her – dirt and smudges in both her person and her clothes, as well as small cuts present in her dress. Her posture suggested she hadn't escaped the battle without her fair share of bruises too.

"Ruby!" Mytyl exclaimed. "Are you ok? Where's the rest of your team?"

"We're fine!" Ruby quickly assured, before wincing at the sudden movement. "Mostly. We all got battered pretty badly. Yang's and Weiss's Aura shattered towards the end. Even Pyrrha and the two Huntsmen Ozpin sent had trouble dealing with their leader and another Fang."

Her demeanor quickly brightened, and she reached for the back of her belt. "On the plus side, I found this!" As if holding a trophy, Ruby raised the half of Stormflower Roman chucked out of the battle. And winced, again, as she exacerbated her injuries.

"Leave it to Ruby Rose to find random weapons lying around while running at full speed," Copen said, scoffing in amusement. Ruby chuckled sheepishly and handed Ren his weapon.

The Mistrali boy looked at Copen. "For the record, I take offense about calling Stormflower a 'random weapon'."

"Noted." Copen's attention returned to Ruby. "Two White Fang against Pyrrha and two Huntsmen?" He asked for clarification, his stern face betraying the surprise everyone was showing openly.

"Yeah…" Ruby trailed off, with a frown of her own. "Those Fang were much stronger than we expected. Especially their leader."

GV brought a hand to his chin and closed his eyes, humming in thought.

"Somebody you used to know; I assume." Mytyl prompted, her normally cheerful demeanor absent.

"Probably," GV admitted. "We should report to Ozpin. Did we call a bullhead?"

Before Ruby could answer, a bullhead flying Vale's crest interrupted their conversation. Pantera, along with her team and the odd half of SSSN, joined them. Jaune and Blake rejoined them shortly after. The grip Jaune had on Blake's shoulder didn't escape GV's notice. Knowing Blake, that's a problem down the pipeline.

"Let's go," Mytyl said as the bullhead landed. She looked at her partner uneasily. "We can consolidate our info then."


Author's Notes


God, this chapter (and the next one) are so heavy in action! Proofreading them is a chore. Action is far from my forte. Hopefully things went well. Originally, I was going to add the aftermath here, but with the length of the chapter, I figured it would be better left for the next chapter.

Ok, rundown:

Neo vs Pantera: Ever since I came up with how Pantera/Zonda was going to be presented in this fic, I knew her Semblance would mimic Neo's. I was looking forward to this fight. While Pantera has the strongest Semblance, Neo is the better fighter. Hopefully that came across well enough.

On a side note, if Neo's Semblance is powerful enough to disguise an airship, it's powerful enough to hide a dozen of mooks.

Pantera's Semblance: Her Semblance is Phantasm Mirror, is basically a more powerful version of Neo's Overactive Imagination. Like Neo, she can create physical illusions. Unlike Neo's, her illusions are much more lifelike and resilient. In addition, she can summon mirrors that can provide a couple of utility, including limited teleportation. The major limiter of her Semblance is her Aura levels.

Given how powerful Pantera's Septima is in canon, I nerfed it. However, I still kept it as a top tier Semblance, standing side by side with Azure Striker, Telekinesis, and Glyphs.

Pantera's Weapon: Pantera's weapon are two spikes, a shorter dagger-like one and a bigger jousting lance-like that collapses on itself for transportation. They are connected by a metal whip. The weapon is called Kogarasumaru (after her glaive in the games) and is meant to mirror her female and male self from the games. The big spike is reminiscent of… the crotch spike while in male form, while the whip and short spike are reminiscent of the tail in female form. In addition, the card-shaped projectiles mirror her favored kind of projectile, given her Alice in Wonderland motif.

JNBR vs Roman: I'll admit, I'm proud of this fight. When it comes to the three main teams, I wanted to make JNBR the best at teamwork and tactics. RWPY's fighters are all individually strong (for their year), while KVKC, while lopsided initially, has started to even out and become an all-around powerful team. However, how I see it, JNBR is the team whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts (but not greater than the sum of RWPY and KVKC parts). Coming up with ways to show the team's and partner's dynamic was fun. Nora and Ren fighting without getting in each other's way, Jaune's and Blake's yo-yo team move, as well as using Blake's clone, powered by Jaune's Semblance, to hide Jaune's telegraphed but powerful attacks. Overall, fun fight to write for a man that is not as enthused about writing fights,

Roman's fighting style: As I've said before, I'm of the opinion Roman was done dirty in canon. He went out like a chump. Besides upgrading his fighting skills to 'above first-year', I also gave him a Semblance. Apparently, he was originally meant to have Fiona Thyme's Semblance, but since that didn't happened… Since Semblances and Aura are big things in this fic, I figured "sure, why not?"

His Semblance is Sleight of Hand, and it allows him to switch the position of an object in his possession with another object close by. The exact measurements are not known, but it must be something Roman can hold. Aura expenditure and the difficulty of the switch increases with distance (up to a maximum of a couple of meters), the shape, and size of the object, and if the object he's switching with is being actively held by someone. I'm avoiding writing myself into a corner here, so I'm keeping these things vague. Also, air counts as an object in Roman's possession, so he can switch with "empty space", so to speak.

Gibril: Just to make it clear, the red dust stored in Gibril's weapons is not fire Dust. It's grinded iron, dyed red.

Lumen's and Lola's Polarity: I was wondering how Pyrrha's Semblance could be reflected by the pods. Then it occurred to me there's a particular technique of Lola that I haven't implemented yet and would serve as a good mimicry to Polarity. Lola's version of the flashfield.

Luxcalibur: Specifically the version from the OVA. The big, finisher version from the games is another thing.

Kohaku's lightning blade: The moves used by Kohaku's when GV juiced up her sword are based on the moves used by Blade in-game.

Twin Shredder: I cannot have GV have all the haiku fun! Twin Shredder is Copen's (finisher) skill in Luminous Avenger iX. Originally, it's performed by Copen and Lola's idol form. I adapted it so it is performed by Copen and his twin, Mytyl. Which makes the name of the attack much more apt. I also took some artistic liberties in its exact mechanics, since the game… well, takes artistic liberties with its presentation, making it hard to tell what exactly happens. Speaking of artistic liberties.

Aix Gear and Divider: Make them more mechashift in order to give the twins better close-range options.

Flies Semblance: Geez, I wonder who could this be? Whoever they are, since we are on Remnant and Sumeragi is not hilariously evil, expect some changes to their character.


Reviews


Jackejsh: Reading your comments throughout the first chapters was a trip and a half. Though interesting given your… limited knowledge of Gunvolt, as you said.

mega-dark: Thanks for the holiday gift. Much appreciated. Glad you like how I'm handling Teseo. I find his 1337 speech insufferable in canon, so I toned it down. Funny enough, in canon I too am waiting for Mytyl to go all "The Muse" on whoever is unfortunate enough to cross her. But it seems like ASG3 will skirt around that.

Also, I'm more of an 'Indigo Destiny' man than 'Igniter'.

IsekaiFanBoi: Review says it was posted for chapter 22. So more PoV for letters? Now there's a thought. I added those chapters because Kohaku was underserved, but I could look into adding more. Though by now I don't anticipate much more of those chapters.

The Walt: For whatever reason you say that, and I think of 'Those Who Fight Further', despite not being a battle royale song.

XenoGamer186: Did I? I guess I have been putting GV against people that know him well enough to abuse the weaknesses I placed on him. Then again, in the games the people that do have weapons specifically designed to neutralize him aren't shy about using them.

Must admit it's hard dealing with him in such a way that he isn't overpowered in the world of RWBY. Something worth looking into.

XenoVise: The similarities aren't lost to me. As for Dystnine, his existence as is would cheapen Penny's. It's tough to work him in without some major revamps.