Volume 2 Chapter 13: Beaten

AN: So, writing this Author's Note on a Tuesday… yeah, I'm going to be trying to do something incredibly, incredibly foolish: I'm going to try and write four chapters in seven days. Something big's coming up in seven days, and I want to have an appropriate chapter for it. Of course, that means getting through this current arc. Good thing I already have it all planned out.

EDIT: Hang on, what? Why am I suggesting four chapters in seven days is anything other than a horrible idea? Someone go find me from yesterday and slap the stupid out of him, will ya?

Ugh, here we go, I guess. Kassidy gets in a couple fights this chapter. One goes better than she could have hoped, and one goes worse than she would have hoped, to put it mildly. Like I said, I'm sorry in advance.

(Perspective: Kassidy)

Kassidy drew the practice sword out of its place on the rack, then rolled her shoulders. Friday's combat training class would prove to be key in more than one way: after nearly eight months of training, it was finally time to put all the pieces together to her fighting style. Narud's work had given her muscles a slight boost to edge over where she had peaked a month and a half prior; benching one fifty might not sound like a lot, but that was still more than what Kassidy weighed, and she was stronger now than she had ever been before. She was top five in the freshman year when it came to speed, even after her classmates start throwing Aura into the mix. Several hundred separate spars with Yang, Weiss, and a few with Ruby for good measure. And, of course, a month of fighting the White Fang in a desperate attempt to slow the organization down. As she took her place on one side of the dueling stage, she told herself that putting everything together for the first time was all this duel was for.

"Russel Thrush," Glynda barked out. "Are you ready?"

Kassidy wasn't sore about what had happened several months ago, honest. She called the boy out for the sole reason of having a good opponent to test things on. Wiping off that smug smile, or making him regret that wink he just gave, or –

Glynda began the match, and Russel sprinted right up to her. While it might have been fast by White Fang Hired Help standards… forget Ruby, Yang was faster than that. Flipping her sword to the side, she sidestepped the swing from Russel's own training blade before slugging him in the nose as hard as she could with her fist.

Oh, who am I kidding? This is totally about payback.

"That wasn't very nice, little bird," Russel taunted, spinning his sword in his hand but otherwise remaining passive. The last time they'd dueled, it was a blowout win for the boy, so the fact that she had just so soundly won the opening exchange made him pause.

"Very few people have ever accused me of being nice," Kassidy replied. Deciding not to let Russel have all the time in the world to recover, she initiated with a charge of her own. Her attack was chambered, she was approaching Russel faster than he was approaching her… and, instead of attacking, she ducked under Russel's counter, coming up behind the boy while he was still mid swing. Remembering how Yang had always managed to take her out quickly whenever they had first began sparring, she adapted the style and went from there. Her sword crashed into Russel's rib cage, her shin immediately followed into his knee, and she followed up with driving her elbow into his cheek.

When Russel finally managed to counterattack – a clumsy backhanded swing that seemed like it was more for show than anything – Kassidy had already move, pirouetting out of the way a few paces from him, before immediately dashing back into the fray. Remembering Ruby's lessons on momentum, not to mention the experience and practice she got against the Paladin, Kassidy pushed herself as hard as she could, dashing in and out of the boy's reach and connecting with a solid slice each time. After nearly a solid minute of this, Kassidy backed off to catch a quick breath. While her opponent was simply trying to crawl to his feet, giving something between a groan and a snarl the whole way up, she took a quick glance to the scoreboard.

Kassidy Smith – N/A. Russel Thrush – 49%.

The boy hadn't been able to lay so much as a hand on her yet, all the while she was absolutely demolishing him. Everyone else was taking notice, too: apart from Ruby, Yang, and Nora yelling their heads off (and more reserved shows of support from Jaune and Pyrrha), the room was dead silent, absolutely riveted by the display before them. The weakest fighter in the whole school, without Aura, was soundly trouncing a member of a team that seemed more likely than not to be headed to the Vytal Festival Tournament. Kassidy, for one, liked her chances. At this point, he needed to use his trump card now, or –

"Rargh!" Oh, look, the trump card. Definitely couldn't see this coming. A dull, deep green glowed from Russel as he charged anew, though measurably faster than his first attempt. His Semblance – Momentum – let him store any momentum he's gathered, then continue building on it. Basically, it was the bastard child of Ruby's and Yang's Semblances. He wasn't as fast as Ruby like this, nor as strong as Yang, but his physicality shot up by more than a fair bit like this and he would only get faster.

Of course, even if Kassidy didn't have a hilarious advantage in the stamina department – I'm sure Yang could make a joke somewhere here – she had one now. Russel never was one for stellar physical conditioning, and his Semblance merely exacerbated that issue. All she had to do now was not get her ass kicked, and the boy's Aura would drop into the red all on its own.

And this is where months of Weiss' relentless, brutal training came in. Tempo manipulation, guards, parries, blocks – the Ice Queen's guidance lay not with offensive power, but with setting the pace of the fight, forcing your opponent to play your game, forcing them to make mistakes, and then brutally punishing them. Although, Kassidy did have a tendency to get more physical than Weiss ever did. A quick deflection to a side here, a shoulder check there, and every now and then an elbow or knee found themselves in Russel's gut whenever he overextended. She did her best to kill any momentum he generated the instant it started developing, and at the moment her best amounted to standing her ground against a force that had even given Nora pause when it had fully charged up. Of course, when Russel was swinging at empty space more often than not, the job tended to be easy.

Russel yelled again, a harsh cry of impatience and frustration that did little in the form of actually doing anything other than letting Kassidy know it was time to end this. She dodged out of the way of an overhead swing that could've probably broken bones, if it somehow hadn't swung a full half meter to the side, then smashed her training blade into Russel's nose. The crook of her elbow found its way around his neck, and she threw him over her hip, choke slamming him into the arena floor. Planting her boot on his sword hand and sticking her own blade in his face finalized the deal, as the green glow of his Semblance finally faded.

"Alright, that's enough." Glynda barking out the end of the match prompted her to get her training sword out of Russel's face. And no, she totally didn't put a bit more pressure on his wrist before stepping off of it. Turning around to face her professor, Kassidy got a front row seat to Glynda's analysis. "Impressive display of combat acumen, Miss Smith. Most impressive. I'd advise working on your offensive repertoire some – they were sloppy, and towards the end Mr. Thrush's own Semblance did more damage to his Aura than you did. However, overall you've shown clear and massive improvement. It might prove to be rather… tricky, if you were to decide to sign up for the Vytal Festival Tournament, but I think it might be safe to say that ability won't be the issue. Excellent work."

From here, Kassidy tuned out Glynda's rather epic dressing down of CRDL's swordsman, instead turning her attention to the stands. Her glance fell upon CMNE for a brief moment, and for an instant… is Emerald sweating? Nah, that has to be a trick of the light. At any rate, they seemed to be getting along with Ruby quite well recently, so Kassidy made a mental note to expect to see more of at least Emerald and Mercury in the near future.

Then, of course, Kassidy's eyes fell upon the seven people she could easily call her friends, without reservation or remorse, and every single one wore a large smile. Some expressed their happiness differently – Ren, for instance, seemed to be bodily holding Nora back from jumping onto the ring, a circumstance Kassidy was very grateful for – but their excitement at her victory couldn't be more obvious. Hazel eyes then connected with lilac. Yang was uncharacteristically rather silent and still, but the answer why was obvious: she was beyond tired from the past week. If there had been any doubt as to Yang's work ethic before, there were none now, as she would often put eighteen hour days between studying, training, and planning the dance. Yang needed a break. Fortunately, Kassidy had one on plan for tomorrow.

Still, I think I'm going to be roped into cooking dinner tonight. Hopefully Ren left me a usable amount of flour this time.

The concert was in the midafternoon, which meant that Yang had decided to head out into Vale that morning to work with Weiss on some things for the concert. Annoyingly, her girlfriend was already gone by the time Kassidy had returned from her Saturday morning workout with Pyrrha and Nora. And yes, it was an annoyance, since rather than go into town with Yang, Weiss had instead elected to remain in the dorm room, and the two communicated via Scroll so much that for a moment Kassidy had thought that Ruby's tendencies to be a chatterbox would be put to shame. The extra conversation certainly made working on the Grimm Studies assignment difficult.

"… and that is why pale blue and deep red is a superior color pallet choice," Weiss finished, capping off a five minute long argument as to why blue and red was better than yellow and green.

"Ugh, alright, fine!" she heard Yang groan over the phone. "I'll get us some quotes for the blue and red balloons. Don't even know why you're so hung up over the colors of the balloons."

"Did you not hear any of what I just said?" Weiss challenged.

"No, no, I heard the argument. I just didn't hear how the subject of the argument itself wasn't stupid."

That's an opinion we can both agree on, partner.

Having, at this point, developed a sixth sense (well, more like a ninth sense, in Kassidy's case) as to when Weiss was about to launch into a lecture, Kassidy decided it best to interrupt. "Hey, Yang, can you hear me? I'm pretty much all caught up in my studies, why don't you say I clean up and come out to treat you to a late lunch before the concert?"

A brief delay made Kassidy wonder if Yang had missed what she said, before the voice spoke over the Scroll, "Uh, shoot, if I knew you were planning on that I wouldn't have eaten already…"

Kassidy shook her head and waved her hand at the screen, for all the fact that Yang wouldn't actually see it. "Don't worry about it. I'll just make sure to put that time into looking a little nicer, I guess. See you in an hour?"

"Sounds great, partner. Lookin' forward to it! Alright, Weiss, you've…"

Kassidy tuned out the conversation at this point, instead going through what she had. Deciding eventually on a simple t-shirt, shorts, and… "Remind me why I let you convince me to pick up a pair of sneakers, Ruby?"

"Because boots aren't good for everything! Duh!"

Kassidy opened her mouth to comment on the fact that Ruby literally never wore anything other than boots, other than the shoes that were part of the school uniform, but a surprisingly fierce glare shot that idea down. Must've been hanging around Weiss too much. Might want to fix that before, heaven forbid, Ruby picks up any more of her partner's habits. She dashed into the bathroom, changed, used the minimum of fashion advice she'd picked up from her teammates to make one or two extra changes, and then picked up a small backpack. It payed to be prepared, after all, and so Kassidy had taken the opportunity to pack sandwiches, water, sunscreen, and – obviously – her pistol. Ember Celica had been thrown in too for good measure, since Yang went into town without her gauntlets despite Kassidy's repeated insistence that she shouldn't be unarmed with the White Fang as they were.

The Bullhead ride off campus was riddled with even more anxiety than normal, despite the fact that Kassidy had comparatively little trouble holding her stomach this time around. No, a myriad of thoughts ran through her mind, every single one about Yang. Worries about how she was handling the stress, to whether she had managed to get into trouble – or make trouble, knowing her – to stuff as simple as whether they were going to get to the concert on time. Yang'd had a rough week, and in all likely hood more rough weeks ahead of her, so Kassidy wanted to ensure her half day off was perfect.

Most of the worries related to Yang's bodily health proved to be unfounded when she landed to find Yang waiting for her at the station. Kassidy rushed forward, they embraced, and then Yang instantly went to the commentary.

"You're wearing shorts."

"I'm glad your eyes are still working, at least."

Yang gave a snort to Kassidy's snark, and continued, "You're wearing your hair down."

"Still rocking that 20/20 vision, I see."

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Yang teased. She took a step back to hold Kassidy at arm's length, kept a straight face as she looked her up and down, then nodded. "You look different. Real good, though. Glad you're feeling more confident about your body that you don't feel the need to cover up so much."

Kassidy shrugged. "Today was supposed to be a record high, and I don't deal with that kind of heat well. Figured shorter clothes should be the name of the game." They stepped out of the air taxi station, then Kassidy appraised her own girlfriend. "You're taller than me. Again. Strange that these couple inch growth spurts of your keep popping up at random, then disappearing again."

Yang laughed. "They're called shoes. You might want to try some that aren't combat boots at some point."

"I am," Kassidy replied, wiggling a foot around for emphasis. "And the answer is no, you're never getting me in heels, so quit asking."

"I didn't ask," Yang shot back, grin in place. "Though, if you really want me to…"

"I really want you not to," Kassidy replied. She stroked her chin in thought, then brought her bag in front of her and started digging around in it. "Gotta say, you look great as per usual, Firecracker. Though, your outfit does look like it's missing a certain pair of bracelets that are totally bracelets and not shotgun gauntlets."

Yang's preening was cut short at the mention of her weapons, at which she groaned. "Did you really…?"

"Yes, I did really," Kassidy answered. When Yang sighed, she reasoned, "Look, it's nothing to do with you, Yang. I know you're more than capable of handling yourself with or without them. I just don't trust the White Fang to leave well enough alone."

"I know you're worried," Yang said. "But c'mon partner, this is the heart of Vale. There's no way the White Fang –"

Yang was cut off by an explosion across the street blowing open a storefront. Instants later, people that Kassidy was willing to bet any amount of Lien were plainclothes White Fang members dashed in to the carnage in what was such a well-timed refutation of Yang's statement that it was up in the air as to whether they timed it based on what she said.

Of course, Kassidy could only get the worst of the views of the situation, seeing as how Yang had grabbed her up and curled around her, putting herself between Kassidy and the blast. When Kassidy finally squirmed her way out of Yang's grip, she dug through her bag again, more frantically this time. Yang opened her mouth to say something, but Kassidy cut off, "For the record, I'm not blaming you for that hilariously bad timing."

Yang nodded. "New plan: give me my gauntlets." When Kassidy's eyebrow raised, Yang explained, "A, I'd be shocked if you weren't going to go intervene, and second… well, I mean, we do have a few hours to kill before the concert anyway."

Kassidy did her best impression of a fish for a moment, before shaking her head. "That made no sense whatsoever, but I agree. Hopefully this won't take long."

The two Huntresses in training sprinted across the street, making excellent time as they sped to the obliterated storefront. Inside, they could see the suspects cramming every electronic they could get their hands on in backpacks. Kassidy met Yang's eyes, and the latter spoke up, "How about you circle around back and cut them off while I get their attention?"

"Stay safe," Kassidy muttered, before slinking around the side and keeping close to the wall. Yang got to work immediately, and Kassidy was sure she heard her girlfriend saying something about explosive personalities. Well, if there's anyone that can keep someone's attention, it's Yang.

Kassidy had managed to get to the far wall of the store, drew Rogue, slid home a magazine of electric ammo, and started to make her way around the back to circle the White Fang members. By and large, they seemed to all be staring down Yang, foolishly believing that they liked their odds facing down one teenage girl. There was one, however, that got Kassidy's attention more than what was reasonable. She was confused as the figure quite calmly abandoned their fellows, before their face rose. Kassidy found herself staring at a featureless red faceplate looking right at her, with the person behind it hefting a shotgun with an axe blade on the end over his shoulder, before he just as calmly strode out the backdoor.

Oh no, you are not getting away. You and I have unfinished business, Munsell. Yang must have seen him too, for she immediately kicked off the fight in the front of the store. Kassidy abandoned any pretense of stealth, charging for the back door and following her adversary out.

She barely managed to get into the alleyway when a shotgun blast forced her to dive behind a dumpster, leaving her backpack behind in the process. She chanced trying to take a peek around her cover, but his weapon fired again the instant her head appeared from behind it. Alright, Smith, not the first time you've been pinned down. Should be easy. Let's do thi-

"Good afternoon, Miss Smith," Munsell called out. "I apologize for interrupting your plans this afternoon, but… actually, I am not all that sorry. Your girlfriend has a terrible taste in music. I am doing the two of you a favor, really."

Getting her breathing under control, Kassidy fired back, "For someone I've only met once and talked to never, you sure know a lot about me. How'd you figure that one out, Munsell?"

"I did my homework," the man answered. Almost as if he knew that Kassidy was currently trying to see if she could put shots into the fight Yang was in, he said, "You need not concern yourself with your partner. The animals I managed to dredge together for this mission will pose no threat to her, barring the statistically improbable."

Kassidy obviously took note of the wording. "You sound like you're not with the White Fang."

"You are every bit as intelligent as I have heard, truly."

Rolling her eyes, she answered, "So… am I supposed to just assume you like blowing up storefronts whenever you're bored? Or rob warehouses, for that matter?"

"Not at all," he answered calmly. "My employer has taken a… curiosity in the White Fang, and has a vested interest in seeing it succeed."

"Do they now?" By this point, Kassidy had flopped on her stomach, and could actually see the guy's boots through under the dumpster. She would've taken the shot, too, if she weren't almost positive that they would be insulated enough to prevent Munsell from falling in a convulsing heap.

"But, you see, you have been a thorn in their side as of late. A rather impressive thorn, actually. For a girl with no Aura to speak of, you are surprisingly difficult to kill."

Alright, what's this guy's play? Sure, he's not giving me the grand scheme of things, but other than that I might as well be reading his diary or something. "And you're being surprisingly talkative to the girl that's been such a thorn in your side."

"You misunderstand me. You have been a problem for the White Fang – not for me. Which, I suppose, is for the best: problems that I have tend to have rather short lifespans. But, you see, this was merely a distraction."

"… doesn't admitting that this is a distraction invalidate the whole purpose behind it?"

"It would, if you were in any position to stop it. Relax, relax, you need not fear for your life. Not immediately, anyway." Kassidy did relax, but not from Munsell – rather, from Bob informing her that Atlesian Knights were mere moments away. She quickly tensed back up, however, when Munsell spoke again not from the other side of the dumpster, but immediately above her. "This is called removing variables from the equation. Goodbye, Miss Smith."

Kassidy stood and looked up just in time to see Munsell step away from the edge of the roof above her. She stepped out from behind the dumpster, and before she could get more than a few steps out of the alleyway the Atlesian Knights Bob promised rounded the corner. A full squad, too. Decently quick reaction time, considering they weren't at ground zero. She motioned with her pistol, "He got away on the…"

Her speech faltered when all nine of them aimed their rifles at her. The one in the middle activated speakers, calling out, "You are under arrest for terrorism and manslaughter. Release your weapon, put your hands on your head, and lay flat on the ground."

Kassidy facepalmed, muttered something about faulty programming, and replied, "I wasn't the one who bombed the damn store! The guy just got away on the-"

She was again interrupted, this time by a crack of a rifle. Fortunately for her, it was not lethal ammunition they were using. Unfortunately for her, it was not lethal ammunition they were using.

The human nervous system is a delicate thing, even at the best of times. The application of large amounts of electricity – say, the amount of electricity a Taser puts out – can interfere with said nervous system to the point of effectively paralyzing the target for a short time. Kassidy's body was many things, but almost above all her nervous system was even more delicate. With two separate sentiences, each capable of individually controlling her body, her brain and spine played a very delicate balancing game to ensure that they were both on the same page, as well as to minimize the chances of… unpleasantness.

The introduction of the lightning Dust Taser round to Kassidy's arm brought enough electricity to not just disrupt, but positively ruin said balancing act. Suddenly out of synch, her spine and her brain lost their ability to communicate effectively. Each intelligence assuming the other had somehow failed, they both tried to take control of Kassidy's body, with terrifying results for the girl in question.

For a solid five minutes, Kassidy couldn't see. She couldn't feel. She couldn't hear, or taste, or smell, or anything. She had been completely disconnected from her body. Reality was viciously torn away from her, replaced solely by pain. Blinding, crippling pain, pain that made her want to curl into a ball and cry rivers, if only she could. Pain that eclipsed even having her eye shot out, or her neck snapped, or her stomach stabbed, or her arm broken, or any other pain that was merely physical. For those five minutes, Kassidy's sole state of existence was one of pain.

Eventually, finally, her spine and brain managed to reestablish their connection. It took a few moments, but the world came back to Kassidy in pieces. The pain faded, leaving her light-headed and out of breath… if only those were the worst things that were happening to her.

When her senses came back to her, she felt her arms pinned behind her, something ratcheting closed around her wrists. When she opened her eyes, she saw an Atlesian Knight dragging her along the alleyway by each shoulder, towards a waiting police van. She had no time to compensate before they callously chucked her in the back, nearly breaking her nose on a bench. The doors slammed shut, and her balance was quickly ruined as the vehicle sped away.

AN 2: So, yeah. That happened.

Well, I kinda imposed a limit of 48 hours or less per chapter at this point, so I'm going to skimp on this Author's Note in favor of getting the next one done.

Coming up next: Kassidy's disappeared.

MC Gaming369: Unfortunately, and with a bit of shame, I must admit that I still haven't gotten past the first season of RvB. Something I'll need to fix at some point… just, probably not over this next week.

AgentDraakis: Glad to hear you enjoyed the chapter so much. Hoping you liked the change of pace… probably not. *preemptively ducks thrown objects*

Tykene: So glad you think so much of my writing. Into the Jungle is going to be updated sporadically at best, though I do aim to have it finished before RWKY. What comes after RWKY? In order to avoid spoilers… more RWKY.