"You're the last report that I need, Coco, you know that this is just standard procedure for incidents like this," Glynda reminded her as she stared out over the school grounds, letting out a long sigh as the rain began coming down and pelted the tower window. Coco sat in the chair opposite the desk in the middle of the room, head in her hands as she pulled at her hair.

"I can't help but feel that this is all my fault," Coco explained as she looked up at her.

"You know that this was nothing more than a run-of-the-mill, Grimm clearing mission, there was no reason to believe that anything like this would happen. You assigned your team, they did the best that they could, and they made a mistake," Glynda reassured her. Coco shook her head.

"But I could have put them on clean up and had Harriet deal with the new Grimm," Coco clarified.

"Coco," Glynda stopped her. "I'm not looking for a pity party. You explain to me what happened, in your words."

"It started off like any other morning…"

"There's one thing left that I can still try to get you to open up," Ren told Neela as she sat across from him in his office and sighed, slumping back in her chair.

"I've told you everything, Ren," Neela insisted "But if you think it'll help we can try it." Ren closed his eyes for a long moment as if meditating before reopening them, finding a cacophony of colors swirling around Neela amongst the grey.

"There's anger and fear over Eliana I'm guessing, but…" Ren stammered as he struggled to pick out the other emotions. "It's hard to tell what else is going on… which is a lot…" Neela stared at him in wonder.

"Why didn't you try that first?" Neela asked him. Ren cleared his throat.

"Some people seem to find it a little intrusive," Ren explained as he reached for his scroll.

"Contacting Coco?" Neela questioned.

"Oobleck," Ren informed her. Neela groaned.

"Great…"

"Well?" Coco asked Oobleck.

"War is something that I understand at great lengths, and while I understand why Ren wanted me to come in and talk to Neela, I can't seem to put my finger on what just exactly is wrong with her," Oobleck noted. "She claims that it's nothing more than the stress of fighting Athena, losing her best friend, and having to deal with the pressure of losing the number one spot to one of fellow classmates, but if that were the standard by which we assumed students would have frequent and crippling anxiety attacks, we'd have to deal with them from multiple children every year. I almost wonder if there isn't something more going on with her that she's just unaware of, or unwilling to discuss with us."

"Something supernatural?" Coco asked, sipping her coffee. The doctor took a large swig from his thermos.

"As much as you and I both know that there are still strange happenings afoot despite the demise of Salem a couple of decades ago, I think it's something a little more normal than something like, say, a curse," Oobleck offered. "With that much being said, I can confidently clear her for today's mission that you have assigned them, I would only ask that you remind her not to overuse her semblance. "

"I'll do my best, doctor," Coco assured him as she checked her scroll for the time and hastily grappled her purse as she headed towards the commons to meet with NITE.

"Where's Neela and Ilia?" Titus asked Eren as he arrived just before Coco and they were joined by the majority of CBLT without their leader.

"Finishing up with Ren?" Eren suggested.

"What up, nerds?" Tawney questioned.

"Waiting for our teammates, where is Cobalt?" Titus asked them. Tawney shoved him.

"Why do you assume I would know?!" She shouted.

"Tawney, I think he was asking us as a whole," Lykos pointed out. Tawney looked at Lykos and back at Titus before chuckling, but the Atlesian militant did not look impressed.

"No, yeah, of course," Tawney agreed.

"Said he was going to check our ranks before we headed out for the day," Bái noted as Nora joined them also.

"Ready to go?" Nora inquired.

"Waiting for Cobalt," Lykos stated, sounding off-put.

"Okay, has anyone seen Ilia?" Titus questioned again. Eren shook his head.

"With Vin?" Lykos suggested. Titus removed his scroll to message her.

"Could be," Titus groaned. "You'd think, after as much yelling at them I do about being late that they would start making it a point to arrive on time."

"No rush," Coco stated stretching. "You kids have the easy job of cleaning up a pack of Grimm that's moving pretty quickly through the countryside in the woods far east of Vale. Harriet will be close by to take out any stragglers, and Team CBLT will be a few miles away with Nora to see if anyone at the campsite survived the attack. Hopefully, if anyone is there, they're still alive."

"Chill," Cobalt remarked as he approached. They all looked at him.

"No one is worked up," Tawney noted.

"No, I mean the Grimm," Cobalt added. "Chill. Do they exist?" He looked at Coco and Nora who both glanced at each other before shrugging.

"Possibly," Nora surmised.

"I thought you were checking rankings, not reading fables," Coco prodded.

"Got distracted on the way there," Cobalt offered. "Forum online says that they're making a comeback, one killed a whole village, not but a week or so ago in Mistral."

"Doubtful," Coco pointed out. "Even if they are real, the old tales all state that they can't work fast enough to wipe out an entire village. Usually, they get one kill, or maybe even two at best."

"Hmmm…" Cobalt began.

"Cobalt," Lykos interrupted.

"I know what we're doing this summer," Cobalt declared.

"No," Bái interjected. Ilia and Ivory showed up then.

"Ladies," Cobalt remarked.

"I have to get going," Ivory noted before leaving. "See you later tonight!"

"For sure!" Ilia called to her. She looked at Titus who looked her over. "What?"

"Where were you?" Titus questioned. "You weren't answering your messages."

"What are you, my dad?" Ilia asked. "I was having breakfast with the Arcs. No scrolls at the table."

"Doesn't change the fact that you were late," Titus grumbled.

"Blaine says 'hi'," she informed him.

"Don't think you can get off the hook like that," Titus scolded. "But tell him 'hi' for me next time."

"Are we good to go then?" Cobalt questioned. Nora nodded.

"We'll be on our way then!" Nora announced. "If you need anything, you know where to find us!"

"Sure," Coco replied. Neela headed towards them from the sidewalk that led out from the administrative building, and Coco had to guess that Oobleck had finished his evaluation long before Ren was actually done finishing up with her.

"You good?" Ilia yelled to her. Neela smiled sheepishly and gave a thumbs-up as she drew closer.

"Last night was my first episode in a while, so I should be fine," Neela insisted. "It was weird, I was just watching TV with Yang and Blake when it came on all of a sudden."

"You're sure you're okay?" Coco inquired. Neela nodded. "If you're not, they can probably handle this on their own."

"I'm good," Neela stated. "Really. I'm good."

"Alright, you heard her ladies, let's get going," Coco announced as she motioned with her finger for them to move towards the cliffside for their airship.

"What are the full details?" Titus pried as they walked down the long grandiose path that led to and from the school towards the airship dock.

"As I mentioned before," Coco reminded him. "It's a pack of Grimm that ravaged a campsite this morning in the woods to the far east of the city, and they are still heading to the north as far as the tourists knew. They said that it was a ridiculous amount of Beowulves and a Grimm that they couldn't identify, but if they aren't huntsmen, it could really be anything from an Ursa to one of those Camazotz."

"Sounds easy," Eren noted.

"Should be," Coco agreed. "But it is graded, so you still need to do your best and listen to your leader." Coco eyed him up. "Got it."

"Yeah," Eren concurred.

"Good," Coco stated.

"You coming with us, Coco," Neela inquired, hoping her godmother would say yes.

"Wish that I could but ONYX has a sparring match this morning that I have to be at," their teacher explained.

"Spreading yourself thin?" Neela questioned.

"I might be the head of the field instruction department, but there are plenty of teams I've never even seen fight in the field," Coco detailed.

"We're just special because of Neela, right?" Eren asked. Adel looked over her shades at him.

"No, because you're the team I chose to deal with Stardust," Coco offered as they climbed into the airship. "Now go out there and kick some Grimm ass!"

"Are we ready?" Ilia asked her teammates.

"Never had a problem taking down Grimm before," Eren bragged. Titus rolled his eyes before chuckling.

"We did once," he noted. "We should be fine as long as Neela doesn't have any experimental Dust." Neela laughed and waved him off.

"How was I supposed to know that stuff was potent?" Neela questioned.

"Experimental Dust from the SDC? How did you not know?" Titus cackled.

"So, it's a few minutes flight, right?" Eren inquired.

"Yeah," Ilia reassured him. "If it's something similar to what CBLT had to put up with at the beginning of the year it should be a cakewalk. Might even keep us in first place."

"They're getting awfully close, aren't they?" Neela noted.

"They wouldn't be if you'd get your act together," Eren scoffed.

"Hey!" Titus asserted.

"No, he's right," Neela agreed.

"What happened between you and that girl anyway?" Eren pried. "Nobody ever wants to talk about it."

"Eren!" Titus asserted.

"It's fine, Titus," Neela sighed.

"But Neela," Ilia tried to interrupt.

"Ren and Oobleck think that talking about it will help, so why not give it a shot. Especially if Eren's our teammate for the foreseeable future," Neela explained. Titus folded his arms and shook his head as Neela turned slightly to face Eren. "Eliana did something that she felt was unforgivable, but she's just blowing it out of proportion."

"Sounds familiar," Ilia noted glancing at Eren.

"We don't talk about what you saw," Eren reminded her.

"But Neela has to share?" Titus questioned. Eren sighed.

"My team failed me, okay?! Completely different." Eren shouted. "End of story."

"And you think they're unforgivable?" Neela asked. Eren folded his arms.

"I…" Eren began. He unfolded his arms. "Like I said, end of story."

"Maybe Orin did beat a little sense into you," Titus chuckled. Eren glared at him.

"Ease off," Ilia laughed trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"Hey, he wasn't late," Titus replied.

"I was having breakfast," Ilia defended again.

"I don't believe you, and still not a good excuse," Titus stated.

"Guys, I think we're here," Eren pointed out, directing their attention to a tree line that had countless Beowulves rushing out of it.

"This the place?" The pilot asked. Eren facepalmed.

"Yes," Titus agreed flatly.

"Yes, thank you," Neela replied.

"Hope you kids all prepared a landing strategy!" He called to them.

"We have," Ilia smiled, grappling Titus and leaping into his body.

"Really?" Titus asked.

Of course.

"You gonna be okay from this height?" Neela asked as Titus leapt out. Eren smirked.

"Just watch," He chuckled.

"I'll take that as a yes," Neela noted, jumping out next. Eren followed close behind. Titus swiped his swords beneath him with Gravity Dust loaded into them to slow himself, Eren blasted the ground beneath him with his semblance for the same effect and Neela grappled into the trees along the edge of the field, swinging a little deeper in than she intended, but watched the Grimm pour by her.

"Where are they heading so quickly?" Ilia asked as she climbed out of Titus's body and surveyed the area. "There aren't any people in that direction for miles, so they certainly aren't being drawn towards anything." Neela scanned the area but as far as she could see there were only more and more Beowulves that were moving as quickly as their legs would carry them, away from the campsite where they had first been spotted.

"I don't know, but we can start thinning the hoard and figure things out from there," Neela informed them.

"Can do!" Eren agreed as he blasted through the torrent of beasts, using his guns and semblance to tear through them as Titus had created a short wall between him and Ilia and the wave of monsters using his blades and Earth Dust. Ilia fired her tonfas over the top of the barricade, taking shots into the crowd and eliminating a small number of them as Titus did his best to clear out stragglers or any that got through. Why were there so many of them… and why were they stopping in the field nearby? "Does anyone else hear a high-pitched squeal?"

"No, why?" Ilia asked him after listening for a moment. He listened again. It was still there, but if she didn't hear it, maybe it was in his head.

"Neela!" Titus shouted.

"What?" She called back over the comms.

"Something is attracting them to that clearing," Ilia added.

"What do you mean?" Neela questioned for clarification.

"They're just stopping like that's the spot that they need to be, and that's all there is to it," Eren concurred. "Is this like what happened with CBLT?"

"Their pack of Grimm was running from a larger Grimm, but it's good to know that's not the case this time," Neela explained as she set up several arrow Dust tripwires and leapt down to join her team. Her sword tore through several of the Beos as she joined Titus and Ilia, firing arrows at the beasts that made it through her traps. "My tripwires will stop a few of them, but damn there's a lot!"

"Should we get a hold of Harriet?" Ilia asked.

"If they're just stopping here, we should be able to take care of them all at once when we've reached the end of the stampede," Neela explained. "No need to worry anyone we don't need to, we've got this in the bag."

"So how do we finish it?" Titus inquired.

"Probably wall them in or something to that effect," she said nodding at Titus. "Then I say we let Eren go crazy."

"I like that plan," Eren replied. She chuckled.

"Thought you might," Neela noted.

"Still doesn't explain what's attracting them to that spot," Ilia pointed out. "Look!" Many of the creatures were clawing at the ground as if they were trying to get at something.

"Strange," Titus grunted as he lifted a beowulf that had leapt over the half wall and planted it into the earth, running a sword through its chest. "They don't burrow."

"What's under there?" Neela questioned out loud. Through the noise and chaos, Neela made note of a ringing in her ears that seemed out of place, but her thought was cut off before she could mention it.

"Looks like we're reaching the end of the fun," Eren made them aware. Neela fired another arrow and scanned the woods. He was right. The numbers were thinning, only a few remained in the back and they were still moving fast towards their brethren.

"Great, I'll be able to get back to my report sooner than later," Titus sighed in relief.

"That was still an absurd amount of Grimm," Ilia pointed out.

"I expected worse when we first arrived," Titus chuckled. The ground shook, light enough at first that Neela dismissed it, but upon the second and third of the growing tremors, the Faunus looked up and spotted something worse. It was three times her height, identical to the rhinos that wandered the border of the desert on Menagerie, despite being Grimm Black with bone plates in random places along its body, its ribs distinct despite its bulk. It had two plates that protruded from its spine, its face mostly a bone that fused with its horns, two yellow eyes on each side.

"Titus!" Neela shouted.

"Hm?" He replied, peering over the wall and spotting the beast thundering towards them. "What the hell?!" It tore through several trees without slowing down, completely splintering them before sliding to a stop a few feet short of their barrier. Ilia, Neela, and Titus had already regrouped with Eren, several feet to the beast's right. Neela stared at the beast, sniffing the air, smoke pouring from its nostrils. It let out a roar, it was low and rumbling, but high pitched and screeching like a banshee, all at once. It peered around, smelling again and Neela questioned if maybe it had poor eyesight. The noise that had escaped its mouth had terrified the Beos, and despite their attraction to the field, they fled in disagreement and confusion.

What was this thing?!

Can Team NITE take the Krygore, or should they run? Next week, Chapter 35: Destroyed!

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

Until next week, stay classy!