The Dreamer Gate

by Malignent

Thousands of Uruk-Hai are drawn to Remnant after a ritual gone wrong, and are more than capable of bringing their own taste of war to this new world. Now the people of Remnant must deal with this new and numerous threat. As the Tournament draws near, and the actions of the Uruk Leaders grows ever bolder, can peace truly be maintained?

16. Chapter 16: The Hot-Head

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of War/Mordor or RWBY.

This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and MANY canonical divergences.

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The Hot-Head

~Vacuo~

Passing through a Dreamer Gate was always uncomfortable for Ishga. Though he had never reached the open contempt for all mysticism that Hork had, the Hunter was simply not one to put stock into something abstract. Perhaps it was why he tried not to think about Skak's connection with his mysterious weapon, or why he'd never tried seeking out his own semblance. So passing through a portal to an entirely different location in the blink of an eye was something Ishga was sure he'd never get used to...

...but this time it was the sight that was waiting for him on the other side that truly gave him pause.

Before him the Grand Shaman stood with his back to him at the pinnacle of a sandy hill which overlooked a semi-destroyed village in the distance. Though he was silhouetted by the blaring sun overhead, Ishga noticed quickly that the Stormbringer's hood was down. He was watching as several vehicles crossed the seemingly endless sand towards the village in the distance, and the only thing Ishga could make out was the back of his mask. It was predominantly made up of a Olog's upper face, which had shriveled somewhat from whatever preservation process Pugrish had put it through. Some ratty brown hair poked from the face's eyeholes, but the impression of the Shaman having eyes in the back of his head was not lost on Ishga

"I know! Been a while since we had us a good raid!"

Ishga glanced behind him as Skak stepped from the Dreamer Gate already chatting with his Blood-Axe, following behind were several Red-themed Uruks along with some not in uniform, a good mix of the Dreamer's forces. Most were divided into groups, each with their own specific targets depending on the information provided by the Storm and Tugog's visions. But this is the one where the remnants of the Blood-Storm were needed most, especially if what they knew of the delivery was true.

"The tarks may waste them herbs on stupid things like medicines and whatnot," Skak continued "but what I'm wonderin' is how it works in a nice mug of grog!"

"Focus, Skak!" Ishga spat before turning back and pointing past the Shaman, who had already pulled his hood back into place "Get the boys into position, we need this done before those whelps get their mitts on our prize."

Skak merely shrugged before nodding to his weapon and turning to address the Uruks even as they continued exiting the gate "Alright boys, everyone knows where they's supposed to be? Once Pug over here does his thing we only got so much time ta get into position."

Though the red themed Uruks seemed ready and willing, it was the rabble from the Shanties who began peppering the Captain with questions. Leaving Skak to get them back into line, Ishga approached the Grand Shaman, taking note of the Stormbringer's staff. He'd never paid it much attention before, but it seemed odd, bulkier than usual staves, or perhaps it was the extra handles which drew Ishga's attention. He wasn't given much time to dwell on it before the Storm Ruler took note of his approach.

"They begin... You must move... Don't drag this out." Pugrish stated slowly before raising his staff a bit

"Despite how my underlings may appear we have quite the nice track record when it comes to dealin' with tarks." Ishga said before gesturing for the others and beginning the descent down the hill.

Nodding at his words, Pugrish took hold of the staff in both hands before angling it up towards the sky. As the Uruks followed Ishga past him, many gave the Storm Ruler a wide berth. Except for Skak, who nudged him with a smirk before casting his gaze towards the village below.

"Yeah, don't you worry none about us, Pug." he said "We'll get ya your plants, just make sure we get any left overs ya might not need, eh? Brewin's 'bout to get good!"

~Abandoned Village of Vishton~

When the Atlesian jeeps turned a corner and pulled into view, a number of gazes fell on them. Most were from a number of individuals hiding amongst the ruined buildings, but one came from a displeased looking man standing out in the open. Fixing a glare onto the approaching vehicles, the man had to force himself not to lay a hand on the scimitar strapped at his waist. Instead, he merely tightened his grip on the head wrappings he usually wore. Though the sun beat down mercilessly on his recently shaved head, he wouldn't want this entire deal to go south because he showed up looking like one of the many scores of raiders who used to call old villages like this their home.

So he waited as the jeeps began coming to a stop, the sight of several Atlesian Soldiers and Androids climbing out did nothing to alleviate how much of a sitting duck he felt like. Neither did the red headed specialist who seemed to mirror his look of distaste.

"Shane, I take it?" the woman asked as she exited the passenger's side and began approaching "I'm Specialist Riley, and I'm hoping the people hiding around us are with you."

Shane gave a low grumbled before nodding to the trucks "Is that all of it? I know you Atlesians might think you've been havin' a hard time lately, but no standard supply drops gonna be able to relieve the shit we've been going through."

Riley took a moment to lean back against the front of the truck with a shrug "Oh we know, trust me. Got enough back here to aid an entire city. But what I need to know is that you and your pals can actually get it back without running into any... issues."

"Thought your boss was supposed to be taking care of that? The Orcs got someone who can see the damned future, you guys said that wouldn't be a problem." the Vacuan man stepped forward

"Your folks will get their supplies, and please... they're called Uruks." Riley pointed out as she leaned back "Get those crates moved!"

"I don't care what they call themselves, they're bloodthirsty Orcs who've been bleeding us dry while you and those fucking cowards in Vale get to piss yourselves over your bullshit Festival!"

Riley hardened her gaze at that while the other hidden Vacuans began approaching to accept the crates from the androids "Lots of eyes on the tournament, Mr. Thrush. We gotta make sure it goes by without any problems or people might get scared, wouldn't want the Grimm to-"

"The Grimm? The fuckin' Grimm?" Shane interrupted before stepping forward and pointing an accusatory finger in the Specialist's face "I would get on my hands and knees right here and now and lick the goddamn filth out of your toes to deal with a single fucking Grimm over these Orcish pieces o' shit! Grimm don't parade around the corpses o children like they fuckin' trophies, don't mock you with the blood of your friends and family like its some kind of joke! Hell, I'll take entire hordes of them inky monsters instead of these fucks! And the Scarves-"

Riley merely watched as Shane caught himself before closing his hand into a fist and walking away "With those assholes keeping us on our toes all the time, let's just say Shade's had a harder time than usual keepin' our rowdier folks under control."

"I heard about what happened to-"

"Don't," he interrupted as he halted his pacing to glare at her "you don't get the fucking right to show me any of your worthless pity. Just make sure that you don't lead anyone back here when you scamper off back t-"

And then it happened, a single crack of thunder which sounded not far from the village which caused both the androids and Vacuans to jump from its suddenness. Shane's rant faltered as Riley pushed away from the truck, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky... where had it come from?

"Look!" a woman in a poncho pointed at a rising cloud of sand which seemed to have been kicked up by the lightning. Just how close had the strike been?

Next was the wind, picking up out of nowhere and blowing the cloud of sand towards the ruined village with a haste that sent alarm bells off in the heads of everyone in attendance.

"Hey!" Riley called out "Get those crates b-!"

An arrow plunged into the headlight beside her, spraying a small shower of glass her way as she backed away and followed its trajectory to a thin Uruk atop a crumbled saloon across from them. Seeing he missed, the Uruk gave a loud groan of disgust before drawing another arrow and releasing a war cry which was mirrored by dozens of other Uruks as they seemed to burst from every corner and alley they could.

"Ambush!" Shane shouted as he whipped out his Scimitar before using it to slice the next arrow out of the air "Knew it was too good to be true!"

An Uruk in red markings leaped at him from a nearby roof, only for a spinning disk to slam into his stomach and throw him against the building before returning to Riley's hand "Keep them away from the-"

"Sloppy!" a dry voice hissed before Riley had to leap out of the way of a spear tip.

Ishga spat on the truck's hood before pointing his weapon at her "Did you fools underestimate our master a second time?!"

"Let's hope they did!" Skak cheered as he pried his axe from the body of an android and jogged to his partner's side. All around both the Androids, soldiers and Vacuans were engaged in skirmishes with the Uruk-Hai ambushers.

"You aren't getting away with this too, you fucks!" Shane growled

"I've never failed a mission you impudent wretches!" Ishga cooed before drawing a second spear "That's called a Precedent."

"And Blood-Axe ain't gotten moist in a while." Skak shrugged "Don't really look good for you softskins. Oi! Somebody get this hunk o metal outta here!"

"No!" Shane shouted before lunging forth. Ishga grinned before leaping out of the way as Skak twirled his axe to intercept the scimitar, knocking it to the side and swinging around only for the Vacuan to duck and ram his head into Skak's side.

The bruiser merely chuckled as he soaked up the strike and turned, not expecting the sudden cloud of sand Shane sliced up into his eyes.

"Gah! Cheap and tricky!" Skak laughed as he tried rubbing the grains from his vision "Just how we like 'em!"

Shane slashed at the disoriented Uruk twice before Ishga tackled him from behind and threw him to the ground. Before the Hunter could leap onto him, Riley slid between them and kicked him back. Ishga skidded several yards away and looked up just in time to deflect the spinning disk and raise his spear to the sky "Fire!"

Riley caught the disk just as several crossbow wielding Uruks on top of the surrounding buildings fired in unison. She twisted to avoid the incoming projectiles, but was distracted long enough for Ishga's spear to tear across the Aura of her lower arm before she could fully evade.

As the ruined little village was turned into a small warzone, what with AK-Units and archers both trying to fire accurately despite the immense cloud of sand now encompassing them all, a single pair of red themed Uruks crept closer and closer to their target. While the others seemed to be trying to run off with the crates in the middle of the melee, they had a larger prize in mind.

"I always like to look on the positive side o' things, mate." the slightly shorter of the two pointed out to his companion whilst checking his crossbow "But you know neither of us know how to move that thing, right?"

His companion glared back at him before patting his heavily scarred chest "Boss said take stuff, lotsa stuff on truck, we take truck!"

"Just pointing out that this is the same boss that nearly cleaved you in half, lad."

"We soldier! We follow order, Shaggot!" the scarred Uruk growled before raising a machete for emphasis and leaping from behind cover "Move now!"

The archer merely gave an amused laugh before following behind "Lovin' the enthusiasm laddie!"

One of the Atlesians had just put a bullet in the leg of another Red-Marked Uruk when an approaching battle cry made him spin around whilst already firing. The Scarred Uruk slashed some of the bullets out of the air and soaked up the rest with his aura before ducking low as an arrow passed over him and struck the side of the soldier's helmet. It spun the Atlesian around, but he moved quick to spin back and train his rifle on the incoming Uruk as he tried to dart past the firearm. Before he could fire, the very edge of a crossbow latched onto his wrist and dragged his aim far off as the Scarred Uruk sliced the last of his aura away before kicking his knee in from behind and plunging the machete straight through the top of the helmet.

Shaggot released a battle cheer before suddenly darting back and shouting "Tark toy incomin', Bolgoth!"

The Scarred Uruk took hold of the dead Atlesian and spun around just as an AK-Unit began spraying gunfire at him. He pushed forward with his handy dandy meat-shield, letting it soak up numerous dust rounds until the android's clip ran dry. At that point, Bolgoth's free hand latched to the corpse's waist before hefting the entire thing over his head and lobbing it at the AK-Unit. The robot ducked under the body whilst reloading, the clip clicking into place just as the Uruk lunged at him. Quickly raising it's arm to deflect, the incoming machete nearly sliced its hand off whilst forcing it back.

It raised its rifle to continue firing, only for the archer to dart past whilst sweeping its legs out from under it with the prong of his crossbow, sending it stumbling right into Bolgoth's grasp.

Shaggot gave a hearty roar as his accomplice began tearing at the machine, but noticed something which cut his cheer short "They's going for our stuff!" he shouted as he pointed towards a Vacuan woman rushing the truck with an AK-Unit providing support.

One of the archers above heard him before whistling towards several others and opening fire on the woman. The AK-Unit was quick to level its weapon towards the archers, only for Bolgoth to throw the severed head of the robot he'd just savaged at it. The cranium collided with the Unit's back and forced it to stumble forward as the Vacuan woman yanked open the door and dove in despite the hail of arrows. She was quick to start the vehicle, and was just about to start driving when an arrow tinged with red dust struck the windshield and blasted a shower of glass and flame towards that her aura was just barely able to hold back. The AK-Unit recovered and laid down a suppressing fire which forced the Archers back, turning back just as Bolgoth rammed it into the open truck door before throwing himself on the driver.

As the two struggled, Shaggot was quick to bury the prong of his crossbow in the droid's head as his partner yanked the startled woman from the vehicle and tossed her to the ground. She tried getting up, only for the spikes of a crossbow to plunge into the ground beside her head before an arrow was launched directly between her eyes.

Shaggot yanked his crossbow up and wiped some sweat from his nose before he noticed the vehicle beside him moving... only it was moving backwards.

"Oi oi!" the archer shouted as he latched the prong of his bow to the top of one of the crates tightly secured to it before pulling himself up "Careful with this stuff!"

"I figure it out!" Bolgoth shouted as he pretty much began twisting and pressing whatever he could.

Shaggot had to take hold of the straps securing the truck's cargo as the vehicle sped backwards, forcing many combatants to launch themselves out of the way. A Vacuan man threw an Uruk against the wall of an old bank, noting the sudden look of fear in the Uruk's eyes as he prepared to gore him with a pike. However, the sound of wheels quickly approaching made the man look back and spot the incoming rear of one of the Atlesian trucks. Before he could move, the Uruk he'd cornered slammed into him from behind before throwing himself out of the way. The truck's rear collided with the man face first and buried both him and part of itself in the crumbling ruin's wall.

Shaggot had to pull himself out of the way of the wooden sign which collapsed atop the truck along with half of the building's crumbling front. The Uruk was quick to grab the sign before launching it off the vehicle towards another Vacuan who was making for the truck. As she leaped out of the way, Shaggot fired another arrow which broke against her shoulder and spun her against the side of the truck. Just as he readied another arrow, two AK-Units opened fire from the other side of the truck. Several rounds slammed into him from behind and nearly threw him from the vehicle. But as he stumbled, he once more latched onto the vehicle with his Crossbow's prong.

"Maybe this 'ere?" Bolgoth muttered as he pulled a lever.

Shaggot felt his feet being dragged along the sand as the vehicle lurched forward, dragging itself from the ruined bank. He reached up to take hold of the straps and pull his legs from the ground as the vehicle picked up speed. A gasp from behind made him glance back to find the Vacuan woman he'd shot was also hanging on with one hand. Her other hand clutched a dagger which she swung at the Uruk. He leaned out of the way, letting the dagger cleave into the straps holding the cargo, she swung again only for him to slam his foot into her jaw and pry her from the vehicle.

Once she was tumbling behind them, Shaggot pulled himself up using his crossbow. Once he was back atop the Truck, he spotted an AK-Unit also pulling itself up. The robot wasn't able to fully climb up before an arrow pierced its face plate. Shaggot stood atop the speeding truck and let loose arrows at any tark they passed. A voice called out from the melee "What the shrahk are you two doing!?"

Shaggot looked ahead where Skak and Ishga were both engaged with two tarks. While Skak seemed fully engaged with Shane, Ishga had noticed the incoming vehicle and was apparently not pleased with the sight.

"We take all!" Bolgoth roared as the truck sped up, though its shaky direction betrayed how finicky his control of it was.

Riley had followed Ishga's gaze, eyes widening at the sight of an Uruk behind the wheel "They've got the truck!"

"Not for long, you fucks!" Shane shouted as he dashed past Skak and reared back with his scimitar.

Shaggot merely smirked as he knocked another arrow, the tark was much too far away for him to even-

Then Shane swung his blade, which detached from the handle by an extremely long chain and sped towards the truck's front tire.

Shaggot's smirk died as he clung to the roof of the truck just as the blade sliced a massive gash in the tire. The vehicle went out of control immediately, twisting and flipping right off its wheels as the weakened straps finally broke and large crates tumbled from it as it spun rolled towards Ishga and Riley.

The Uruk darted away while Riley ducked under the truck as it sailed overhead, she still had to maneuver around its flying cargo once it passed, but stood unscathed before glancing back just as the wreck crashed into the saloon. Several archers leaped from the roof of the building as it crumbled onto the truck. Bolgoth and Shaggot both crawled from the wreckage before both they and the archers all rushed the fallen crates and began hauling them off.

Riley was about to intercept them when-

"Inattentive whelp!"

She turned back and leaped just as Ishga kicked a smaller crate under her. She landed atop it and leaped away as he launched a spear into the crate.

"Never take your eyes off the enemy!" Ishga berated her whilst drawing another spear from his pack "You Tarks have too much weakness to make up for already!"

As they clashed, Riley tried to think through situation. Given their mannerisms and attire these two would have to be the ones responsible for the train heist. The smaller one's constant criticisms of his foes and the larger one speaking for his weapon, they had to be the Blood-Uruks who served under the Dreamer. When they'd started drawing up plans to provide relief for Vacuo, the Dreamer was the first issue they knew they'd have to deal with. Still, as long as none of the other squads called in, then perhaps their contingency for this was still working.

But she couldn't trust reception in this weather, which was another thing. After ducking under a spear, the Specialist glanced up to the immense cloud of sand which was now blocking out the sun. There was no possible way that it wasn't correlated with this attack, but they had no records of any Uruks with the ability to affect the weather to such a degree. They had to have used dust.

As she ducked a kick and swerved out of the way of several more arrows, she caught sight of their Vacuan contact. Shane was doing significantly better, as Skak had nowhere near the level of Ishga's tactical maneuvering. But if that truly was the same Skak from the reports then...

When the Axe-wielder's aura flickered dangerously, the Specialist's eyes widened. She blocked another strike before throwing Ishga back and calling back towards Shane "Wait! Don't-!"

But Shane was far too focused on his opponent's weakened state, and with another heavy slash threw Skak back as the Uruk's aura shattered.

With a groan, Skak pushed himself back to his feet before patting at the laceration he now sported on the shoulder "Yeah! Now we're getting somewhere!"

Shane spun before launching the blade of his scimitar at the now-vulnerable Uruk, only for Skak to dive under it before leaping several yards through the air towards him. Shane gasped before leaping back, but Skak followed by lunging with an open hand. He dug his fingers into Shane's clothes before yanking him back towards him. Skak rammed his skull into the man's nose with enough force to throw the man back despite his aura.

The brawler raised his Blood-Axe, but a disk collided with it before he could bring it down. He spun as Riley sailed at him leg-raised, but the Uruk slammed his axe into her before she could land the hit. Though she managed to roll into a crouch, she stumbled whilst trying to shake off just how much force he'd struck her with.

Approaching footsteps made her spin and launch her disk as Ishga leaped at her, but the Hunter merely diverted his aim and launched a spear straight through her disk's handle and pinned it to the ground. Riley leaped back as he stabbed at her with his other spear whilst drawing yet another from his pack, "Never throw what you can't afford to lose, you wretch!"

Shane released a groan as he rolled onto his side, that fuck with the axe hit him far harder than he would've thought possible. And that had just been with his head! As his vision came back into focus, he saw the big bastard in question. Seems Skak had become preoccupied by two AK-Units that were hosing him down with dust rounds. The Brawler deflected most with his axe as he rushed them before leaping and burying his axe in the first one's head before swinging the entire body into the other one.

Shane was about to curse the metal soldiers when he spotted two of his own allies trying to capitalize on Skak's distracted state. A woman with dual revolvers opened fire on Skak, who turned and threw a robot's severed leg at the man running beside her.

Though he stumbled, the man shook off the impact quickly. Yet it wasn't quick enough to prepare him for Skak to leap right at him and cleave a large gash straight down the man's middle.

Shane's words died as he saw the man's aura struggle and fail to hold back the Blood-Axe's sheer force, and his expression was mirrored by the woman's as Skak relished in the spray of the man's blood before turning his gaze on her.

She immediately backed away whilst firing, but Skak spun the Blood-Axe to deflect her rounds before rearing back and launching it.

She crossed her revolvers to block the incoming axe, but it still left a large gash in the back of her palm before sailing past her head and lobbing off an ear as it flew by. She couldn't even cry out before Skak took hold of her wrists and forced her to her knees. As Shane rose, he could see her Aura visibly straining to keep Skak from shattering her wrists with his bare hands.

"Sorry lass," Skak shrugged before planting a heavy foot on the woman's shoulder "but ya weren't really puttin' these to good use anyway soooo~"

She could only scream for several seconds before Skak pulled both of her arms right off. She fell back and writhed in agony before the Uruk reared back and swung her own severed limb into the side of her face, silencing her with a sickening snapping sound.

Shane grit his teeth and tightened his grip on his scimitar before crouching.

"Wait!"

The Vacuan man glanced back as Riley landed behind him with a breath of exertion "You can't take him one on one, that Uruk's threat level increases extremely after his aura's been broken."

"I won't let him hit me next time." Shane replied before noticing something "The hell's your weapon?"

"Gone." Ishga called out as he twirled his spears before crossing them in front of him "Just what to expect from shrahk design."

"Damn it, you guys have a plan for this, right?" Shane whispered to the Atlesian as he kept his weapon leveled towards the hunter

"That sand cloud makes a retreat kinda risky-"

"Retreat? No!" he insisted "The people back home need that stuff!"

"Pity they got such shrahk delivery folk then." Ishga shook his head before calling out "We got enough for the gate lads, get them blasts going!"

"What?" Skak called out as he retrieved his axe from a Robot's head "What about the grog?"

"What about the grog!?" Ishga hissed as he raised his spear and pointed.

The archers who had maintained their position above the melee began firing explosive arrows which threw combatants off their feet and caused even more crumbling buildings to collapse.

Riley pulled Shane close and whispered "Focus on keeping your people away from Skak, I'll handle this one."

"But the suppl-"

"I don't care how little you trust us!" Riley bit "Just focus on what keeps the rest of your pals over there from getting torn apart."

The Vacuan man gritted his teeth before glancing over to see Skak charging through more gunfire spinning his weapon wildly "You tarks really wanna keep 'avin a go?!"

"Damn it," Shane cursed before glaring at the Specialist "if the guys back at Shade don't make it through the night, that's on you."

With that he turned and rushed after Skak, Riley merely sighed before lunging back out of the of another broken sign. The moment it collided with the ground, Ishga vaulted over it with arrows flying over him.

Behind one of the nearby crumbling ruins, Bolgoth growled as he watched his captains, but a jostle from his side returned his attention to Shaggot. The archer was nodding towards a third red themed Uruk who was in the midst of pressing a torch to a Dreamer Gate which had been drawn on the side of one of the buildings. At their feet were two more Red Uruks with a number of lacerations who, despite their wounds, were carrying a number of crates.

"Don't worry 'bout 'em." Shaggot smirked before patting the slightly larger Uruk's chest, right on a very distinctive scar "You of all lads should know how deadly the boss gets when he's like this."

Bolgoth didn't reply, only grunting when the torch-bearer called out "Is open!"

The wounded Uruks wasted no time in scampering through, and the Torch Bearer began waving over other Uruks.

Many began pulling back into similar gates set up in the midst of the Melee, dragging both Crates and their wounded back out of the fray. Though the sudden decrease of numbers was obvious, Riley's sight was locked on the single spear sticking up from the ground and the disk it was pinning. Ducking under two more arrows which collided with two-story building nearby, Riley snapped the spear with a swift kick before reacquiring her weapon.

"Not fast enough!"

Hearing that lecturing tone approaching quickly, Riley spun under Ishga as he sailed by. She deflected several jabs before darting past him, but he managed to see through her ploy quick enough to dart back out of the way of her next slash. She followed through with a kick which he did risk blocking, but before she could follow up-

"Captain!" one of the Archers shouted before a series of loud snapping sounds drew both the Uruk and Specialist's attention to the two-story building right beside them. The arrows had done too much damage to it, and it quickly began falling directly towards them. Ishga moved first, ramming the blunt end of a spear in the back of Riley's knee before rolling over her shoulder and darting out of the range of the falling building.

But the Specialist shook it off, taking a deep breath before pumping her legs and lunging forward. She could hear old walls creaking and splintering right above her, yet still managed to roll out from the other side of the falling building. But before she could breath a sigh of relief, pounding footsteps reached her ears from the unlikeliest of sources: inside the collapsing building. Jerking back towards the building, she just so happened to look through a window frame as it fell. Riley saw Uruk feet darting over old tables and door frames, and her eyes went wide as she realized Ishga was racing through the collapsing rooms towards her. Had he leaped inside the crumbling wreck specifically to close distance? The Spear which flew from the window frame and slammed into her seemed to indicate a yes.

She stumbled back from the impact against her Aura, but glanced up just in time to see the scrawny Uruk jump from the window frame towards her with another spear already raised. Riley rolled back out of the way, letting Ishga's weapon plunge harmlessly into the sand. But as she went in to strike before he could pull it free, he whipped it out spraying sand across her eyes. Riley hurried to dart away, but could already tell that Ishga's was more than willing to take advantage of her temporarily blinded state.

Before the spear could reach her, Shane shoved her out of the way before deflecting it with his scimitar. Ishga managed to dodge the next swing, but instead of retaliating merely raised his free hand and called out "Skak!"

The Vacuan man spun, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the Axe which lodged itself in his shoulder.

"I know, mate!" Skak cheered as he pressed down on the weapon "We ain't had this much blood in a good long while!"

Shane managed to kick the brawny Uruk away, stumbling back into Riley's grasp as Skak took a moment to run a tongue along the edge of his weapon.

"Boss, that's almost everyone!" shouted one of the archers before he leaped down from the building and disappeared down an alley.

Skak didn't seem to hear the call, as he merely rested Blood-Axe on his shoulder before grinning "Either of you tarks still willing to try us?"

"No," Ishga stated as jogged past his partner "Cloud's almost gone, we leave now."

Skak rolled his eyes at that, but argued no further as Ishga and him made a run for it.

Several of the remaining Atlas Soldiers made to follow, but a few stopped as sudden brightness reached them. The sun, which had been mostly blocked out by a sea of sand, was finally managing to shine down upon the battlefield. At that point only a handful of Uruks were still in sight, but that changed quickly as they hurried to disappear around whatever corners they could reach, several hotly pursued by AK-Units

Riley had to shield her eyes for a moment as she helped steady Shane, but he merely shrugged her off before gripping the wound and cursing as he made for the toppled truck.

The Specialist sighed as one of the Atlesian Soldiers jogged over "Ma'am, are you wounded?"

"Not as badly as he is," Riley nodded to Shane as the Vacuan made for a crate that seemed to have been busted open during the melee "get him some help."

The Soldier nodded before making for the angry man, but Riley instead turned towards the sky and closed her eyes for a moment as the sound of yelling gave way to groans and angered mutters. She heard Shane yelling out as he tried tallying up how much hadn't been taken, AK-Units reporting negatives in their attempt to track the Uruks, the numerous wounded calling out for aid.

When Riley reopened her eyes, she was surprised to find more people standing than expected. With how sudden and brutal the attack was, she'd anticipated far less to have survived. In fact, she could spot almost twice as many Uruk corpses littering the ground than human or Faunus. The reason for this disproportionate number of deaths was made clear when she glanced to the delivery trucks, and realized that the vast majority of supplies had been carted off. There were perhaps one or two more crates in addition to the broken one Shane was currently crouched over, but there had been dozens when they arrived.

She also noticed something odd about the Uruk-Hai corpses, but couldn't place her finger on it before Shane turned towards her with a glare.

"So what now, huh?" he grumbled before standing tall and stomping towards, rage apparently overriding the pain of his wound "You lot were talking all about contingencies and whatnot, but without those supplies, these aren't gonna be the only people to die today!"

Riley took a moment to glance to the side as she saw people rushing over to tend to the wounded, before pulling out her scroll and making a call.

"Hey, are you listening to me? We were kinda banking on this, lady!"

Riley raised a hand to him before gesturing to his shoulder "Might want to have that looked at."

Though she said that, she could already see his aura glowing as it tried to repair the damage as well as possible. She remembered the report on Skak's raw strength, but seeing it in action was just-

The call connected, and she wasted no time in reporting in "This is Specialist Riley reporting in, ambush began approximately ten minutes ago and over 95% of the cargo has been lost. Over."

It didn't take long for someone to answer.

"Copy that, this is Specialist Torin, All clear on our end."

Several more voices picked up, each one giving similar reports as the first, causing Riley to give a breath of relief before shooting a smirk back in Shane's direction. Once the last all clear was given, she spoke once more.

"Someone get on the line with the General, tell him that it worked."

---

~Amity Coliseum~

It had been as his analysts had surmised, but for some reason Ironwood couldn't believe how lucky they'd been.

Once the headmaster of Shade Academy's pleas escalated to active threats, he'd had no choice but to acquiesce. However, unknown to many of Vacuo's residents, Atlas personnel had found the resupply of their western friends to be ample for testing a theory of theirs. Ever since interrogating the first captured Uruks, they'd taken precaution when providing aid for one reason in particular: The Warchief, Tugog the Dreamer, and his foresight. The likelihood of him foreseeing any attempts at providing aid and intercepting them had been a looming threat since forever but, with Vacuo being put under increasing stress, Ironwood's advisers had provided a... well, less than pleasant opportunity to test just how far reaching Tugog's sight could be. They knew he had limitations, but Ironwood had been hesitant to risk resources on a chance the Warchief's dreams might fail him. And if reports could be trusted, the Warchief's visions only got clearer with time.

Ironwood would not risk the lives of his soldiers or the residents of Vacuo if he could not ensure that they received something, and so he fell to the suggestions of Professor Polendina once more. Having noticed a shift in the raids pulled off by the Warchief's forces, the Professor had surmised that they'd begun seeking out only certain items instead of the general aggression shown in the past. He'd supported this theory by pointing out that they'd foregone the safe alternative of striking the weakest targets, and only raided a location if it had an abundance of those specific items. Ironwood had to admit that his reasoning was sound, but there was always a chance that it was merely a ploy to throw them off somehow.

And so the decision had been reached that they'd send multiple supply caravans, an almost excessive amount, along vastly different routes into Vacuo. The plan was that they'd try intimidating the Uruks, even with their numbers it would be too risky to form attack parties for each and every one of them. This plan did hinge somewhat on Professor Polendina's hypothesis, as one specific caravan had been slightly overfilled with one of the items the Uruks had been searching for in a bid to draw their attention away from the others. It had also coincidentally been provided with the largest security detail.

The entire thing had been one big gamble, for all they knew the Warchiefs could've pooled their resources and knowledge to turn every single one of those Caravan routes into death traps, and that realization had left Ironwood unable to relax all day. But the Headmaster of Shade had begun threatening to cut off communication with them so they could focus on the problem, and they would need Shade's assistance in planning the raid on Hork's Tower. Surprisingly, it had also been her demand to keep the Shade Faculty unaware of certain aspects of the resupply. Against all odds, they'd been finding more signs of the Blue Scarves among their populace, and intervention from those lunatics would just make an already risky situation even worst. Ironwood chose not to dwell upon the silent insinuation that they could've somehow worked their way into Shade's staff, instead letting the more apparent issue of the extremely likely intervention by the Warchiefs to sour his mood.

He'd been unable to focus on the beginning of the Tournament purely because of this, Atlesian personnel were all over the place and the sky grew more dense with their ships by the day as they prepared for the Tower, but the ever-present worry of what could be happening past the Vale-Vacuan border weighed him down. Even as he sat among the crowd of the Amity Colosseum whilst everyone around him cheered on incredible feats of skill below, he continuously felt his mind wandering to his scroll. Then the call came in, and the General could finally ease his breathing once he stepped into one of the Colosseum's side halls as Riley explained.

The plan had worked far better than even he'd expected, the only caravan to be attacked was the one with an excess of Vapel plants, a key component of numerous medicines. The Uruks had completely overwhelmed them with numbers but, to Ironwood's surprise, despite being completely surrounded and outnumbered the casualties were on the lower side. As Riley explained it, the majority of the Uruks had been focused on stealing the Vapel plants as quickly as possible while the others distracted the security detail. If Riley's account was anything to go off of, there were actually more dead Uruks in the mix than Atlas or Shade personnel, though a number of brutal attacks were noted courtesy of one of their Captains.

This, beyond anything else, confirmed Professor Polendina's theory in Ironwood's mind. In every recorded skirmish with Uruk-Hai raiders, they'd slaughter or enslave everyone they could find. The fact that they'd go out of their way for the plants even to their own detriment meant they desperately needed them for something. And that bothered Ironwood, as according to prisoners most Uruks weren't too concerned about the quality of their medical practices. If they were to be believed, most medical practitioners among them could be likened more to maniacs from cheesy horror flicks. It seemed to be effective enough for them, so what were they using the Vapel plants for?

That wasn't the only thing in Riley's report that Ironwood pondered as he made his way through the hall. She'd stated how the Uruks leading the attack were the same ones who'd stolen an entire train full of dust and cargo, the remnants of the Blood-Storm led by Ishga and Skak. Despite there being more Uruk Corpses than theirs, Riley noted that none of them were wearing the red and white war paint associated with the Blood-Storm despite them being prevalent in the attack. The corpses matched the descriptions Team RWBY gave of the Uruks living in the Shanties, the rabble who served under Tugog. But the girls had described them as a bunch of bloodthirsty idiots who merely followed the orders of those higher than them in the Uruk-Hai food chain. Ironwood had doubted this many times, but if rabble like that guided by capable soldiers could pull off such a stunt even with their numbers in consideration, he hated to think what kind of danger those under the supervision of trained militants like Hork could pose.

They'd need to expect anything if they were truly going to take the Tower, underestimating the Uruks always led to the suffering of innocents.

Even as he walked closer to the sounds of the roaring audience, his mind struggled to push his concerns to the side. He finally stepped out of the hall and found himself surrounded on either side by cheering citizens all enjoying a vigorous match below. It was the picture of perfection, seats packed, pairs of AK-Units making patrols between the stands, and a bright sunny day to highlight the many battles the viewers came to enjoy. As he carefully made his way back to his seat, Ironwood allowed himself a moment of pride at how well everything looked despite the tumultuous times.

His eyes went up the announcer's box, where Oobleck and Port provided commentary to both the people in the stand and those viewing from all over Remnant. Ozpin couldn't have picked better hosts, as the two had quite an entertaining air about them. Ironwood's gaze lowered to a plethora of casual viewers, battle fans and teams who were no doubt itching for their turns. And as the General finally relaxed in his seat, he allowed himself to lean back and enjoy the brawl laid out before him.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Velvet slid down the rocky slope, flinching as explosions tore chunks of stone out behind her. She kicked off to another rocky hill and looked up for her attacker only to find more missiles speeding towards her. Throwing herself back away from the ensuing explosion and skidding onto another rocky outcropping.

"Ready for the next deck?!"

Velvet glanced up to see a tall, lanky boy in excessively colorful clothing standing tall upon the mountain she'd just escaped. Swinging in front of him was a large device that entrapped both of his arms from the elbows down. The odd device seemed to resemble a roulette machine of all things, and its wielder slammed it against the ground as its three slides began to spin.

"Seems like young Camble is once more leaving his next manner of attack up to chance." Velvet could hear Oobleck commentating "Will Ms. Scarlatina be able to adapt effectively?"

Velvet made a bee-line for him as quickly as possible, scaling the slope in hopes she could capitalize on his immobilized state before his weapon could finish its cycle. Just as she leaped up the final stretch to him, the slides aligned on an identical image and Camble was quick to raise the device as its bottom slid open.

Velvet's attack changed into a dodge real quick as a large beam of energy tore out of the machine and nearly engulfed her. She ducked under the beam and slid back as Camble aimed it after her. She swerved to keep out of the beam's range as it carved into the mountains trying to catch up. Finally, Velvet reach the top of one of the smaller hills and was able to duck on the other side of it.

"Ah, I just love that one!" Professor Port gave a hearty laugh "What could be more masculine than just throwing an immense blast of power right into your opponent's face?!"

"Yes yes, although Ms. Scarlatina's managed to drive Mr. Ling away from his teammates, Teams CFVY and VLCE still seem locked in quite the stalemate!" Oobleck turned his attention to the other half of the arena "Oh, but it looks like Kane's lost track of Fox, has the White Wolf's senses failed him?"

Wandering through the rocky desert environment was a twitchy wolf-faunus who's bloodshot eyes glanced fearfully from rock to rock, the sounds of gunshots and blades crossing causing him to jerk his head to and fro. Despite this, he still pawed at his nose in an annoyed manner, "Gah! What's going on? Why can't I find-?"

His whines were interrupted as a shadow grew over him, and he looked up just in time to barely slide out of the way of Fox's foot. The pale-eyed boy offered the Faunus no succor, spinning quickly to kick his legs out from under him. The Faunus managed to catch himself and roll out of the way of the next attract before bringing a long blow dart up and firing a dart-shaped dust crystal at him.

Fox slid out of the way of the dart, which embedded in the nearby rock before glowing red and exploding.

"Not the most exciting weapon, but anything that explodes gets bonus points from me!" Port chortled

"Oh but the blow dart harkens back to a quieter time! When getting the drop on opponents was the norm, but if Kane's the one getting ambushed I'm not sure how-" Oobleck's eyes went to another part of the arena "Oh! Yatsuhashi seems to have overtaken Eden's Guard!"

It was true, on the dividing line between the mountain and desert biomes a tall, husky woman with heavy clothing slid back as her aura flickered. Despite that, she hefted her massive shield once more to deflect another swing of her quarry's blade.

Yatsuhashi immediately stepped back as her other hand jabbed a large skewer past her shield, but she seemed nonplussed about her worsening situation "Big toy for such a little man!" she chuckled.

"Your attempt at overwriting the severity of the situation with humor is commendable." Yatsuhashi noted as he stepped back out of range of another jab before spinning and swiping her skewer out of her hand. Once more, her aura flickered as she stumbled before her now-free hand latched onto the side of her great shield and she charged into Yatsuhashi's next attack. His blade bounced off the solid surface right before she jammed the bottom of it into his gut. He swung his massive sword around and swept the large girl off her feet before she could follow up and slashed her away.

"Oh! And that will be all for Miss Appella!" Oobleck cried as the large boy took a moment to breath.

"Hey big guy!" he heard Coco cry over the sounds of minigun fire, and glanced over to see his leader trying to mow down what seemed like a girl who kept turning into smoke to avoid her attacks "If you got time, I could use a hand over here!"

In the stands, a particularly large boy watched Team CFVY start to overwhelm their opponents. His frown deepened as his teammate nudged him before nodding into the arena.

"Looks like our old punching bag's actually throwing a couple swings." Dove pointed out with a snicker "Think they finally managed to snuff out those pitiful rabbit instincts?"

Cardin ignored his question and instead turned his attention to his other teammates. Sitting on his other side was Sky, who swallowed nervously as he watched their competition actually get to work. But Cardin's true focus was Russel, sitting past Sky with crossed arms and a frown that put his own to shame.

"How about it, Russ?" Cardin asked "Still think you can stay focused enough if we go up against them?"

"Oh do tell!" Dove asked as he suddenly leaned past his leader to smirk at Russel "The big guy's not the only one who can't contain his curiosity."

"Sit down Dove." Cardin growled as he reached to push him away, pausing only as the recipient of their questions finally responded.

"Doesn't matter who it is." Russel said without taking his eyes off the battle "I won't hesitate."

The larger boy grumbled a bit at that, but merely turned back to watch as Port called out "And with that, only Camble Ling remains!"

Coco took a deep breath as she stepped away from the unconscious girl and gave Yatsuhashi a thumbs up as Fox landed beside them, "Right, now we just need to-"

"Incoming!"

All three turned just as Velvet slid by on the sand, a veritable trail of explosions following behind her. Once the smoke cleared, there stood the last member of Team VLCE staring down at them with the roulette machine entrapping his arms dangling low "Outnumbered four to one! Not a lucky day." Camble cooed before hefting his weapon and planting it in the ground atop the hill once more "But maybe fortune will forgive me!"

"Before he finishes!" Coco called out as she and Velvet hefted twin miniguns and opened fire while Fox and Yatsuhashi went in from the sides.

Camble ducked behind his machine, which forced him to bend his arms in what seemed like an extremely uncomfortable manner as the panels started spinning once more. He slid back as Fox dove out of him, but lost his footing on the sloped hill. He grinned as he watched Yatsuhashi dash towards him with his excessively large blade, "Ready to take a chance?!"

He raised his weapon out of the way and Yatsuhashi's sword slammed right into his side. Both of their auras flashed wildly for a moment as Camble was sent sailing into the air and crashed into one of the rocky formations which broke apart from the impact.

"Oooh, looks like Yatsuhashi was a bit unlucky with that one." Oobleck noted

Coco's head instantly turned towards Yatsuhashi who had to use his sword to prop himself up, releasing a breath of exertion as Camble's laughter rang out.

He stepped away from the ruined sandstone looking better than he did before Yatsuhashi's attack, raising the machine on his arms to check the outcome before giggling and pulling it apart, the slot machine split into two over-sized gauntlets which he raised to the sky, "Better luck next time, pal. Who wants the next roll?!"

Coco took that moment to glance towards the big display shown in the sky, and once more had to curse Camble's absolutely ridiculous semblance. It was the whole reason she had Velvet specifically lure him away from the battle until the rest of his team were properly dealt with.

He fired a cluster of blasts which curved in the air before trailing down towards them. As they scattered, Coco spotted Fox swerving around back, and she called out to him "Hey Fox, my man! Don't go rushing in, help Yats-!"

"Unnecessary."

As soon as she cleared the last blast, she was surprised to find Yatsuhashi right behind her. He'd managed to evade Camble's missiles despite the clear exhaustion.

"That's what I'm talking about big guy! Tanking through everything like a champ." Coco nodded before she noticed the aura levels up on the display fluctuate wildly again, leaving Camble and Fox at approximately the same level.

Camble stumbled from the unexpected blow to the back of his head, "Tied up, gotta see who's folding." he grumbled before spinning back with his gauntlet, Fox dodged and rammed a knee into his gut. Yet again their aura flashed and once more their the levels displayed changed drastically. Fox cursed as Camble suddenly surged forth and latched a gauntlet around his leg before yanking him off his feet.

"Two kings and an ace to your four sixes!" Camble whooped as he spun Fox before launching him into the air and taking aim "Ya bust, rookie!"

Though he crossed his blades to intercept the incoming barrage, with how low his aura was at that point nobody was surprised when the elimination buzzer rang and he ended up colliding with the ground in a heap.

"Oh! Even when pressured, Camble's semblance is still giving him an edge!" Port commented "Will his Gamble be enough to hold out against the rest of Team CFVY though?"

Coco bit her lip at that title: Camble's Gamble, what had to be one of the most bullcrap semblance she'd ever seen.

And she wasn't the only one who was aware of this, in the stands Jaune was thoroughly trying to think over the functions of Camble's semblance, in the off chance that he managed to pull a full save and win this round. Some people might think he wasn't giving Team CFVY enough credit, but with how the Gamble worked he was sure plenty would have issue working around it. Every single time Camble's aura flared up to defend from an attack, his semblance would immediately lash out in the direction of the attack and just swap aura levels at random with his attacker. Thankfully it seemed extremely limited in range, but it made every close range attack a risk for both parties.

Jaune could see the obvious solution, attack and dodge until his aura was low enough then use a ranged attack to knock it out without his semblance kicking in. The problem was that Camble seemed fully aware of this as well, and his mix matched weapon seemed designed around covering for it.

Coco had seen that too, as Camble once more clamped his weapon together and formed his large slot machine in time to soak up another round of minigun fire.

"Not enough!" He cooed loudly "Gotta get that poker face on if you wanna outplay the competition."

With him held in place by Coco's gunfire, Velvet swerved behind him before leaping at his exposed back.

He leaped out of the way and darted under neath Yatsuhashi's sword before swinging the machine behind him and blasting himself towards Coco, who quickly began shifting her minigun into its compact form and raised it just in time to intercept the swing. He spun and brought the machine around again, crossing weapons with her once more before lurching forward and ramming his head into her face.

Coco backed up a bit as their auras flashed, catching herself just as she spotted Camble's machine splitting into gauntlets once more.

"Unlucky! So unlucky!" he cheered before leaping at her only for Velvet to ram into his side and throw both of them off-course. Coco grumbled to herself as she watched the two trade blows. With how quickly they were swinging and Camble's semblance throwing their aura levels out of whack with each strike, it could go either way.

She had to hit him from afar before he managed to get a good hit in and eliminate Velvet, with both Yatsuhashi and her both so worn down he'd have little trouble dealing with them. And there was no way in hell Coco was going to let one dumb semblance ruin her team's shot at glory. So she thought, using what little time she had to breathe and look at this from a more analytical view.

They were too close together for her to barrage, with Camble's Gamble in play there was as likely a chance for her to accidentally hit Velvet and eliminate her. If she could just keep track of whose aura was going down and up at what point she could pinpoint her attack better, but they were just switching so fast that keeping track using the scoreboard left her no time to get a good hit in.

But then, how was Camble keeping track of it? He seemed fully ready to capitalize as soon as his semblance rolled in his favor, and was immediately ready to evade or defend when it didn't. He had to be keeping track in another way.

That's when Coco realized just how far his whole gambler shtick really went, he was using tells. Same way as at a Poker Table, he didn't need the scoreboard or a scroll or anything telling him when his Semblance had given him an opportunity, he had to have been just keeping track of tells to signify when to take advantage.

So Coco lifted her case and focused, even if they were moving too fast, even if he was doing his best to hide it. He had to have one as well. Even if he kept that shit-eating smile plastered on his face the entire time he... wait!

She saw it, right as Velvet swung a kick into his side, Camble gritted his his teeth together before throwing her off of him and rearing back with his gauntlets. Only for Coco's entire case to fly into the side of his face before he could bring it down. The case bounced off and landed at Coco's feet as she and Velvet both stared at Camble, who stumbled a bit before collapsing onto his back.

They kept staring right through the elimination buzzer.

"And that's it, people! Seems Coco just called Camble's bluff." Oobleck announced as the audience's cheers rose higher.

"Let's see if they can keep it up in the next leg of the tournament!"

In the audience, among those cheering out were Ruby and Yang, both of whom were apparently trying to see who could cheer louder, much to Weiss's dismay. As the teams began making their way out of the Arena, those cheers died down as Ruby leaned back with a sigh "Geez, I almost thought they wouldn't make it." she murmured "After seeing Fox go down-"

"Please," Yang waved her off "they had that bagged from the start."

"While I wouldn't say bagged is the proper term, Team VLCE never really did inspire much worry from me." Weiss admitted with a shrug before having to lean out of the way as Nora suddenly bounded over.

"Hey! Hey come on guys!" she shouted before jerking a thumb back to Team JNPR, who were all leaving their seats "We're gonna go give Team CVFY some cheers and stuff! You should definitely join in, the more cheer the better!"

Yang smirked before hopping out of her seat "After watching a play like that, how could I resist?"

"Well, they're definitely deserving of the congratulations." Weiss murmured, though she kept her gaze on the Arena.

"Come on Weiss." Ruby tugged on her sleeve "We've seen enough matches for today."

Finally, Weiss relented and stood "I guess we could all go have a meal together. If its quick enough, it shouldn't hurt."

---

~A Cave Somewhere~

Being flawed... hurt.

Not in a physical way, at least not much to Belfor. The weight of his obscenely large, deformed hands was no issue to him. Even weighed down by the armor and shield of a defender, his limbs provided no injury what with the armor being assembled around him. But as he stood amongst the rows of other trainees getting ready to practice moving with all his gear strapped on, he could hear them talking. Talking about his hands and the unusual circumstances of his birth. Though it hadn't been long since he was pulled from his spawn pit, he felt as if it had been years. The other Uruks laughed, claiming he didn't even understand the concept of years. Several of them hadn't even reached the first, but that was all it took for them to feel superior to him.

But Belfor knew the real reason for their taunting, massive hands which hung down to the floor and held both weapons and shields awkwardly due to the difference in proportions. It wasn't his patchy skin, excessively long tongue or his bulbous head. It wasn't even his misshapen head or his right eye which was twice as large as the other and hurt to move. No, all these flaws were paltry compared to the immense size of his hands. They were what made him stumble in training, what made him walk funny. The other Uruks excused everything else, but his hands were what made him a worst fighter.

Even while marching in his armor, it were his hands which got in the way again, making him snarl and readjust the way he held his shield and spear.

He'd been categorized as a Defender quickly, as most Uruks who were above-average in height were immediately considered prime candidates for the hefty weapons and shields that defenders were known for. When he first found how off-balance his hands made him, Belfor had sought to be granted the twin-axes of a Savage instead. But after being stuck as a Defender a while, he'd conceded that his hands would make using smaller implements like those axes unnecessarily trying.

So he bit back his agitation and tried getting used to being a defender.

"Seems the new armor's workin' out better than expected." their trainer noted as he looked them over "Guess the smithies really know how to work their slaves."

Belfor had heard his fellow soldiers talk about this armor, how it was apparently made of metals from robotic golems controlled by one of their enemies. Belfor had not yet encountered one of these enemies, but he already wanted them dead for making their golems out of such irritating metal.

"Lessee how it holds up after a quick jog though!" the trainer called for them to follow "And be careful not to shock the glob in front o' ya with them spears."

Belfor glanced up to the tip of his spear, where a faint throb of energy pulsed from a jagged yellow stone embedded in the tip of it. He didn't have long to examine it before something jabbed him in the back and his whole body jerked as a current passed through him. Once he shook it off, he cast a glare back to the trainee behind him.

"Trainer said jog, fresh spawn." he cackled before waving the tip of his spear "Better get moving."

With a snarl, Belfor hurried to catch up, already feeling that irritating armor chafing against his oddly shaped wrists. Through a tunnel they marched until they came out into a large crevice. Ramps had been carved up and down its walls, along which a number of tarks were being forced to mine, both for space and resources. Belfor had little time to focus on the slavers and their charges before the trainee behind him yelled for him to pick up the pace.

He focused on jogging, gritting his teeth as that damned armor once more dug into him in all the most annoying places. They jogged up several ramps before entering what actually looked like a building. Inside were lines of tarks working on things, itty bitty things that Belfor had no interest in wasting time considering.

"Hold it, ya grubs!" the trainer shouted to them, waiting until they all came to a stop "Hold formation here. I need to have a word with the armorers, you lot just make sure ya don't shock no one."

With that he walked over to one of the Uruks overseeing the tarks, calling out loudly to him before engaging in what Belfor could only describe as friendly trash-talking. Belfor sighed, holding his position as best he could with the discomfort weighing him down.

"Oi," said the Uruk beside him, the same one who'd jabbed him with that spear "how's it feel? The fresh skin, I mean?"

Belfor ground his misshapen teeth together, before his regular sized eye slowly turned towards him. Underneath the helmets they'd been given, Belfor could spot a single orange eye staring back at him through the gashes that had been carved into it. These were tark helmets, broken and beaten into a shape more fit for Uruks, with holes gored into them for convenience sake. Belfor hated these helmets too, his misshapen eye meant it squeezed on his head as he moved.

"You's the fresh spawn, I hear." the Uruk continued "First born in Remnant, ain't never tread the lands of Mordor. Bet you don't even know what a Caragor is, eh?"

Belfor merely grumbled in responses as he once more focused on not letting the armor bother him.

"When I signed up it was cause after a while, I figured the Shaman had his act together." the Uruk continued "Knew he'd be the one to prosper in this blasted land. But who knew I'd get the privilege of seeing the first unfortunate whelp to be born here? By the way, wasn't it the Great Shaman himself who pulled ya soggy arse outta that fetid pit?"

Belfor ignored him, but this time it was due to movement above. He spotted something familiar moving among metal platforms above, and soon saw an easily recognizable hood.

The Great Shaman listened as Ratlug explained the circumstances of one of their current endeavors, his feet barely making a sound upon the catwalk he traversed as the false doctor pointed down to the conveyors below. But the explanation was halted as a voice rang out above the ambiance of the factory, above the yells of slavers and slaves, and even Ratlug despite being right next to him.

"Vat-Keeper!"

It was a garbled, angry tone that he hadn't heard before. But turning to look to the floor below he found himself locking gazes with a very unhappy looking Uruk, one too flawed to be anyone but Belfor.

"The shrahk are you doing, Fresh-Spawn!?" The Trainer shouted as he marched over "Don't go bothering the Master outta nowhere like-"

"You were the one," Belfor hissed as he stepped out of formation "the one who pulled me from the clutches of my tormented kin. The one who granted me life, and all the pain that comes with it. Why, I ask?"

The Great Shaman tilted his hands to the side as Belfor dropped his shield and spear to the ground and raised his hands before him "Why let me live in this broken, twisted body? Why not let me burn and simmer with the rest of my flawed brothers? Why curse me with the challenge of living with such... such a disgusting form!?"

The Stormbringer merely stared down at him for some time, before casually gesturing to him "I...gave you nothing... but an anchor." he stated

Belfor's normal eye narrowed "What?"

"You drew yourself... from the pit...You wanted life... you earned life..." the Shaman clenched his raised hand into a fist "An undeserving Uruk... would've let himself wash away... but you earned it...with those hands of yours... you fought the pull of the pit... and gained life... on your own terms."

He lowered his hand down and cast a look around "Not many Uruks... or tarks... or any who walk the world... could lay claim to that..."

With that he leaned back and nodded to Ratlug, who rolled his eyes behind his lens-less glasses and continued walking.

Belfor kept both eyes glued to the Shaman even as he infuriated trainer marched over, even as the trainees began laughing to each other.

As he stared, his twisted hands balled into fists.

---

~City of Vale~

"This isn't gonna work!" Bebe whined as she pressed her back up against a trash bin

"You just gotta believe in the plan, buddy!" Krimp said as he leaned out of the alley "We already got you signed up and everything!"

"Ugh, don't say that word!"

He blinked before leaning back in and giving an awkward grin "Everything?"

"No plan, it just reminds me too much of... things." Bebe murmured before an arm jabbed her in the side, she turned and frowned at Melanie, who had just pulled a lit cigarette from her lips.

"Can you two just hurry this up, my break only lasts so long." she stated before taking another drag

"Why the hell did you have to bring her?" Bebe snapped at Krimp

"All a part of the plan, you gotta set a scene if ya wanna sell a character!" Krimp cheered before wagging his finger "And once you told me how your secret code works I knew the perfect way for Mellie to help."

"First of all, never call me that again." Melanie stated before glancing to Bebe "Second, the hell does he mean by code?"

Bebe stared at her for a moment before sighing and looking to Krimp "Well..."

"I figured that since our good pal here's part of a secret organization targeted by a whole big mean government, they'd have ta have some type o' contingency if they got's all locked up and stuff. I asked, and they got a whole secret code specifically for conversing with those in lock up."

"And the cops aren't gonna notice you guys talking weird gibberish to each other?" Melanie asked before taking another drag "You know meetings are monitored right?"

"Well, the one my bro and I have is pretty... natural, you could say." Bebe explained "We talk like a brother and sister normally do, and how we're doing diet-wise."

"The fuck does a diet have to do with- wait..."

"That's right!" Krimp cheered "All things pertaining to the foodstuffs are codes for certain things. A sudden change in diet wouldn't be worth looking into as long as you don't act too suspicious while doin' it."

Melanie immediately raised an eyebrow in Bebe's direction, "Oh?"

Bebe blinked "The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well it's just that you've been wearing your emotions on your goddamned sleeve since I met you. How exactly are you gonna sell a diet-based code in front of government officials without screwing it up?"

"Because she's doing it for family." Krimp answered for her while holding a determined fist over his heart "And nothing invigorates latent ability like the bonds of blood! You got ya'self a sister, surely you know this, right?"

Melanie stared back at him with a blank expression for a good... long... empty moment before looking away "So what am I even doing here again?"

Krimp picked back up without missing a beat "You're Miss Harbor's coworker, ya gotta help her get into character, Mel! Go for a walk, hash it out. Make her believe that she's just Little Miss Harbor going to reconcile with an estranged brother using a joint appreciation for healthy eating!"

"And... why exactly can't you do any of that?"

With a giggle, Krimp raised both of his arms in an exaggerated shrug "I guess I feel that she'll have an easier time with you, since I don't think she can relate to me too easy!"

"What, so she can with me?"

"Yep!"

Melanie sighed before glancing at Bebe "Why the hell is your cover name Harbor?"

"I mean... the name's worked before." Bebe mumbled

"Now then!" Krimp cheered "Who's ready to give an itsy bitsy performance?"

Melanie shrugged as she dropped her cigarette and stepped on it "Sure, let's get this over with. Come on."

Krimp gave them double thumbs up as they stepped from the cover of the alley, Bebe immediately drawing closer to Melanie as the two made their way down the sidewalk. It wasn't exactly crowded, most people would be watching the tournament in some manner. She tried not thinking about the herculean task before her, glancing to Melanie before trying to strike up a conversation.

"Why're you helping?" she asked "I thought everyone thought I was a fuck up."

"Oh you are, but this is way better than watching my own flesh and blood learn how to somehow be a bigger asshole than usual." Melanie stated.

Bebe went silent for a moment, mouth going dry as the two continued walking. Swallowing, she tried talking again only for her words to die in her throat for a moment.

"How do you think it'll go?" she ended up asking, actually causing Melanie's eyes to widen a bit

"You mean this whole act thing? Doesn't matter either way, if you get caught I wasn't aware of anything."

"No... I mean, my brother and I are going to be talking about some things that... well, we've never really talked about before." Bebe continued "And I don't know how he's gonna feel about it so..."

Melanie raised an eyebrow "The hell are you asking me for?"

"Well, I mean the only people I can talk to with siblings right now are you and Krimp." Bebe explained with a weak smile "And Krimp's situation is a little too..."

"I don't know what Krimp's been telling you, but don't go thinking we're similar just because of our circumstances." Melanie stated "My sister might be a lazy idiot, but we'd never get ourselves in a situation like yours."

She closed her eyes for a moment "He's your sibling, so expecting me to understand how he'll react is kinda worrying considering what you're about to do."

"I know!" Bebe exclaimed before gripping the sides of her head "B-But I-"

"Listen, I'm not saying you're even gonna end up reaching him, because you're gonna have to pull some sleeper agent-level acting if you want to keep out of the cuffs." Melanie said before pausing and smirking in Bebe's direction "But you might as well give up wondering how he's gonna react to whatever bombs you plan on dropping on him. After all, if there's one thing I've learned about having a sibling..."

She gave a weary smirk before shaking her head "Its that expecting them to act a certain way bites you in the ass every time."

---

~The Arceus~

"He really ain't even touched him?"

Galkar grinned before looking back at one of the Crewmates following behind him, "I always tell you lads, Expecting the boss to act a certain way ain't gonna do nothing for ya."

It was just an average patrol, organized mostly by Bubol as their fight with Felgrat's Caterers started turning in their favor. Ever since the boss had contracted the Black-Cloth to their side, that berserker had been tearing a path through the Caterers left and right. In just a few days, half of Felgrat's outposts had been captured, meaning they finally had cause for more extensive patrol routes, just in case those meat-hungry curs decided to try retaking lost territory. Coupled with Bubol's surprising spike in enthusiasm, and Galkar actually believed they were set to steam roll Felgrat's little whelps by the end of the week. Their success didn't go unnoticed, as the Caterers were quick to start beefing up their remaining locales with any forces who survived the Black-Cloth's rampage. But the real boon came from the unaffiliated Uruks who'd tried to keep out of the fight as much as possible. Now that they were looking to come out on top, recruitment flourished, meaning even someone like Galkar finally had soldiers working under him.

"I always heard the Diseased never missed a chance to fool around with a tark though." another Rookie asked as Galkar paused and gestured for them to start searching the area."

"He don't want this one to be touched, by him or any other." Galkar explained before gesturing around with his weapon "What the boss says goes, so I hope none of you is planning on going around his back."

"Nah, I hear what he does to traitors, thinking I'd like a chance to die with some dignity at least."

They were asking about the tark, a tale that sprung up as soon as the Black-Cloth scurried out from the depths. It was just a rumor that Galkar may or may not have helped spread, that the Berserker found the tark that went missing down there and had sold him to the boss for favor. Now Galkar knew that the Black-Cloth was downright lethal, he'd seen the results of his rage firsthand. But Bubol had just been using him so much, it was almost like the rest of them were just there to reap the rewards for him.

"Hey, think I found somethin' over here!" one of the Uruks called out as he lifted a piece of broken wall and tossed it to the side "Think one of those Caterers dropped their weapon."

Galkar walked over and kneeled beside him, he'd uncovered what looked like a burnt club that had been fashioned out of bent metal and torn cloth. He recognized immediately how it had been discovered, as it still emitted a burnt scent which had died down a bit with time.

"Ain't like the usual weapons..." he murmured before realization struck him "This is one o' Kruk's-!"

A scream from behind dragged his attention to another Crewmate who had been set ablaze, a Caterer carrying a set of flaming sticks in one hand reared back with his other before tossing a sealed glass in their direction.

Galkar scrambled out of the way as the glass shattered against the Crewmate who'd found the weapon. He couldn't even call for him to take cover when another Caterer with a torch darted in and set him ablaze.

"Firestarters!" Galkar shouted frantically as he shoved himself to his feet "Watch out for their-!"

An immense weight slammed into him from behind and threw him to the ground right before crashing into his back and forcing the air out of his lungs.

"Take! Take all!" he heard a voice shouting as more footsteps reached him "Write message in burnt blood!"

Barely managing to push himself onto his back with a groan, Galkar spotted a large Uruk pointing with an extremely odd contraption built around his arm. This Uruk noticed him moving and glared down at him, "Take whelps to kitchen, ready to cook."

"Kruk..." Galkar wheezed as he alternated between trying to breath and pulling himself away "you don't know... what you's do-"

A kick to the head resolved the issue quickly.

---

~Amity Coliseum~

Finding Team CFVY wasn't hard, they were in the halls just beyond the Arena having a chat with Team VLCE. Well, it would be more accurate to say Coco was having a chat with Team VLCE's leader. Coco glanced to the side and spotted both Teams JNPR and RWBY quickly approaching.

"Hey Ves, you mind?" she jerked a thumb towards them.

The leader of Team VLCE bowed "No worry, we must leave anyway. This one reacts fairly badly to having his aura broken." she nodded back to Camble, who was slung over the shield girl's shoulder.

"Folded...I had to fold!" he murmured as his team carried him away.

With that conversation ended, Coco turned back to smirk at the approaching teams "Well well, you guys here to congratulate us or scope out the competition?"

"That was amazing!" Nora shouted, hopping into the air before growing cocky look and nudging Ren "This guy right here was so worried."

"I merely pointed out the potential danger the combined skill-sets of their opponents posed." he was quick to defend "Making your victory all the more impressive."

"Especially from you, Vel." Ruby pointed out "I've seen you fight before, but wow! You were reacting far faster than I'd ever seen before."

There was a chorus of agreement from everyone else as all eyes turned to Velvet, who visibly trembled under the combined gazes until Coco wrapped an arm around her, "Probably the result of all that training we've had, right guys?"

"Gonna have to compare notes with me on that." Jaune gave an embarrassed chuckle "I always feel like my routines never really hit home."

"They're fine, Jaune." Pyrrha assured him before turning back to Velvet "But I must agree that you're performance has skyrocketed as of late. I'm certain many see it as a grand example of-"

"Actually..." Velvet interrupted before tapping her fingers together "I was just, acting on impulse."

"Latent natural ability?!" Nora gasped "Where's she been hiding it all this time?"

"No, I mean." Velvet struggled for a bit to find her words before looking to Coco "Like when Camble got the upper hand over you, I sorta just... acted? I don't know how to describe it."

Coco released her for a moment and thought on it before shrugging, "Guess ya just like me more than Fox, eh?"

"What!?" Velvet panicked

"I mean, you didn't jump in immediately after Cam got the better of him, did she Fox?" she glanced back to him with a cheeky smirk.

Despite her joking tone, Fox merely gave her a hard stare "No, you're absolutely right. I agree one-hundred percent."

Coco lost her smile at that, only for Ruby to pipe up "Anyway, we were thinking about having a victory meal. How about it?"

"Food would go a long way in fixing some of my damaged pride." Fox shrugged

"And considering our bout with Team NDGO earlier," Pyrrha noted "I'd say we all deserve a nice warm meal."

Under the weight of all the expectant looks, Coco glanced back to her team before turning back with a thumbs up. There wasn't much time for Nora to cheer in victory before Coco suddenly went wide-eyed as she felt at her side "Hold up, think I left my Scroll somewhere."

"What?" Fox gave her a perplexed look as she immediately turned and began heading in thee opposite direction "When would you even-"

"Hey I'll meet you guys at the fairgrounds after I find it, kay?" she didn't even wait for an answer before darting off.

Coco made her way through the Coliseum's infrastructure at a brisk pace, her smile slowly shifting into a frown as she sought distance from the people milling about as they either headed down to the fairgrounds or waited for the next match to be announced. Luckily, Coco found reprieve as Professor Port's booming voice eventually called out over the PA and noted that the next randomization process was about to proceed. Suddenly the hall seemed far more empty as people immediately began surging back to the stadium, finally leaving Coco alone to her musings.

Or, somewhat alone.

A girl with a hover board was trying to ignore an unfortunately familiar boy who had taken to leaning on the wall beside her. Coco only barely passed them, but she could already hear Dove spouting some extremely poor pick-up lines. Coco continued past them until she finally made it to one of the ship docks, on the complete other side of the coliseum compared to the one the others would use. There she finally took a moment to herself and was reaching into her pocket when a voice called out behind her.

"Never lost, eh?"

Blinking, Coco looked back to see Yang approaching her with her arms folded.

"Wow Yang, never took you for the sneaky type." she snickered "You come to help me look?"

"That's what I told 'em." Yang smirked before nodding down to her hand "But you never lost your scroll, did you?"

Coco sighed, pulling the device from her pocket and idly tapping at it, "Was it really that bad of a bluff?"

"I never took you for a lying type, Coco." Yang continued as she walked over "Definitely not to your teammates, doesn't seem like your forte."

"Well everyone needs time to themselves, you know?" Coco nodded down to her scroll "Play some games, think over the fight, the usual-"

"You know... don't you?" Yang interrupted her, "About Velvet."

Coco went quiet at that, her finger hovering over the screen for a moment before letting her arms dangle at her sides. Yang and her stood in silence for a while, which was only just broken up by Oobleck's announcement that the randomization process was beginning.

It almost seemed too convenient, or inconvenient depending on whose side you were looking at it from, that both of their potential spectators seemed to get the call at once.

"Team ABRN against... Team CRDL!" Oobleck announced,

Dove's unfortunate flirt victim threw up her hands immediately and tossed her board on the ground before turning and jabbing a finger in his chest in an open declaration of conflict. Dove chuckled all the while, up until she sped off towards the arena. He took a moment to brush himself off before running after her.

Once they were gone, Coco finally met Yang's gaze "So... you know about that too, huh?"

"Coco, everybody does." Yang stated before growing a confused look "Everyone who wanders near you guys can at least get a hint of what's going on, and both Fox and Yatsuhashi think you're just being oblivious to it. So why play dumb? What's in it for-?"

"I just don't wanna see it..." Coco murmured before glancing at her scroll before walking away to stare at the sky beyond the Coliseum, in the background they could hear the telltale signs of Oobleck readying the next match to commence.

Yang narrowed her eyes "What?"

"Like, if Velvet ever got around to asking me out or something, no bullshit or extra stuff... I'd have to-" Coco paused and looked back at her "I'd have to turn her down Yang, and... I really don't want to do that."

"Coco..."

"I've been trying to talk myself into it, she's a great person and adorable as hell but..." once more she looked away "I just can't see her like she sees me, Yang. I don't roll that way."

"Then tell her that. If you just keep putting it off it's only gonna make things worst in the end." Yang stated "We both know that, come on."

"But I'm supposed to help her!" Coco exclaimed "She...I mean I've been trying to make it up to her all this time."

"You mean with Cardin?"

Coco took a deep breath at that, over which Port could be heard signalling the match back inside the arena to begin.

"I didn't see any of it Yang! Even though I'm supposed to be the social butterfly, fashion icon popular chick, I couldn't even tell one of my teammates was getting dragged through the mud."

"What does that have to do with you letting this crush thing continue?"

"I don't want to take the idea away from her." Coco sighed again as her hands balled into fists "I already let Cardin and his posse exacerbate her issues out the fucking window, I wanted to help her see that she didn't have to let anybody tie her down. But how do I do that if what she wants isn't something that I can make possible for her? I'm literally the one tying her down if I say no but I just can't lie to her and pretend I see her as more!"

"I-is that how you see this, Coco?" Yang asked "You can't blame yourself for not... you know, being into her. If you do then you're just gonna drive yourself mad over it. If you believed in her more, I'm sure you could see that she'll be able to take it. You've seen how far she's come, and I think we can both agree that this is far from the worst thing that could happen to her."

Coco gave a small huff, but nodded as Yang walked over and gave her a a friendly shoulder punch.

"So no more, okay? You just gotta be the big, awesome Coco we all know and play it straight with her. As long as you just emphasize that you're still total besties, you know she can move past it."

Still silent for a moment, Coco finally smirked again "You pick up some counseling tips from those Uruk guys?"

"Oh god no," Yang matched her smile with a tired one of her own "Honestly, I'm surprised I'm not more traumatized after what I went through with those asshat Orc dudes."

The two shared a small chuckle before Yang nodded towards one of the airbuses "So you gonna tell her when we get down there? Blake's coming back later today, we're having something of a welcome back party... maybe- "

"Think I'm gonna need a bit to build up some fortitude!" Coco said with an embarrassed smirk

"And that is it ladies and gentlemen," came Oobleck's voice "Team CRDL will be moving to the next bracket of the tournament!"

Hearing that, Yang gave Coco a playful nudge "Maybe you could tell her after a rousing game of kicking Cardin's ass in the next round, eh?"

But Coco's confused expression made Yang raise an eyebrow, "Coco?"

"Yang... how long ago did their match start?"

Yang blinked at the question before thinking back a bit and growing a quizzical look to match Coco's "Wait..."

The two looked at each other for a moment before Coco quickly raised her scroll again and flipped to the live feed from the arena. As soon as the two saw the feed, both of them paused. In the center of the arena stood the entirety of Team CRDL, while Team ABRN had to be helped off the scene by what looked like classmates of theirs.

"In a stunning wipe-out victory," Port laughed "seems Mr. Winchester and his boys are coming into the tournament at full throttle!"

"Was it even four minutes?" Coco murmured

"There's no way Cardin's guys did this," Yang snarked for a moment before meeting Coco's gaze "right?"

Coco had no answer.

---

~The Arceus~

Kruk the Hot-Head, a rather dedicated warmonger with a knack for being deceptively flexible. Straight out of the pits, he managed to set both his instructor and half the rookies training with him on fire using a rather poorly placed keg of grog. After spending some time wandering without a captain and getting into duels with other soldiers, he eventually got himself a rank after burning a captain alive and taking his place. He would spend the majority of his time wandering near the Black Gate occasionally hooking up with Tugog the Dreamer or going chiefless and contesting with the Garrison. Upon entering Remnant he was one of the first chiefless captains to Bubol's Exodus of the tower citing a need to test the natives. Involved with the joint Chiefless taking of a Schnee dust quarry, he was captured and held in captivity since then... did I miss anything?

Uthug groaned once Gundza finished describing their problem.

No, I just can't believe he's still around. I'd have thought he woulda died before he could become a problem for us.

Like I said, Kruk is deceptively flexible. Despite being on the general lesser side of intelligence he's hardy and adept in combat. Given that he was one of the first Uruks captured with notoriety, it makes sense that Atlas kept him around until they could stuff him in here.

Uthug was standing several yards away from the scene of their current predicament. An entire patrol had just up and disappeared, the only remains were scorch marks and black blood staining this one part of their route. Uthug had no idea why Bubol had called on him to deal with it, until he heard about the Uruk who apparently led the attack.

"Yes yes, not many around here fixing together fire weapons in battle. But its kind of a theme for Kruk." Bubol cooed as he looked over a message that had been crudely etched into a wall with both burn smudges and black blood.

You ignite, now we fight!

"Is that even supposed to be legible?" Uthug asked as he squinted at the scrawled writing

"Words were never Kruk's strong point." Bubol shrugged as he leaned against the wall beside the message "But if there was ever an Uruk filled with a flaming passion for warfare, it would be him. Though it is kinda odd..."

Uthug noticed Bubol trail off, and wasn't about to risk the lunatic jumping to another topic "What is?"

"Well, Kruk used to be one of my main problems when I was dealin with the Caterers early on. He and his firestarters reminded everyone that makeshift armor can only do so much when ya being cooked alive in it. But I haven't heard from him in a good while. His were amongst the first lads to get nicked back when Atlas was doing tests, lost most of his boys without them even gettin' a fight. Wasn't as much wind under his sails after that, though he did keep allegiance with Felsy boy."

In all honesty, Uthug could probably tell just from the horribly written message what had caused Kruk's upsurge in activity. Given the timing he had no doubt this was just a violent response to the sudden pressure the Caterers had been under.

Actually, given what I know of Kruk's fondness for conflict, perhaps its less of a simple tantrum and more like a challenge. He was more of a Bubol type of person than someone I would associate with, but his lust for battle is commendable. Perhaps after being put in a situation where his soldiers couldn't fight back, his sense of helplessness easily drove him to Felgrat's easy promises. If anything, dealing with him should be far more straightforward than dealing with the Broken.

"Still," Bubol continued "if he's up and about I guess I'll have to start watching where I step again."

That made both Uthug and Gundza go silent for a moment, but the Shadow was quick to demand he ask for an explanation.

"Whatcha mean by that? He's just a guy who likes fire, right?"

"Oh he's far more than that, lad." Bubol snickered "He's kinda the reason we got chased outta the open, his lads were the ones who set up most of the Caterer defenses back before Atlas nabbed most of them."

Uthug could feel his confusion mirroring Gundza's "The guy who can barely talk or write, he set up all the defenses I've been dealin' with so far?"

"With some extra hands, yeah."

"Including that weird shrapnel launcher?"

"Indeed," Bubol nodded before rubbing his wart-covered chin "he's also the one who was supposed to make the very explosives that they was gonna use to blast their way out, but I made it a mission to cut off their supplies before he could finish 'em. That would've made things significantly more difficult."

Oh no.

"What!?" Uthug exclaimed "You mean you didn't kill him the moment you figured out what he was planning?"

"Without the resources to make the bombs, didn't see him as too much of a threat." Bubol waved him off before walking to some scorch marks and kneeling down to examine them "He seemed far too busy tearing up that half-finished tark kitchen. And after his boys got nabbed and he started laying low, I felt even less inclined to go fightin' him. Besides, I'll admit it's kinda partially my fault he got locked up... so I may have given him a pass."

Uthug tried to stay angry, but he was horrified to realize that he wasn't even surprised anymore.

If Kruk really is the one behind the whole explosive portion of the Caterers' plan, he could very well ruin everything if he finds a substitute for whatever Bubol cut him off from. And if he keeps attacking patrols like this, the Caterers' number advantage will become even more of a problem.

"Ugh, so now I got to go deal with him, right?" yet again, an annoying routine that was becoming infuriatingly apparent to Uthug.

"Well if you're gonna offer like that, consider it your latest mission!" Bubol giggled as he took a seat "Think of it this way, if he did manage to make some explosives and ya kill him, I could put them to much better use."

Though Uthug scoffed at that, Gundza gave a hum of interest.

He's not wrong, if Kruk really has been such a boon to the Caterers, his death will cripple more than I originally thought. I still question how he's managed to put together armaments and explosives but putting him out of commission as quickly as possible seems the best course of action.

"So then," Uthug gestured around him before glaring at Bubol "mind pointing me in the direction of this guy's kitchen?"

Bubol's pustule-covered smile widened even further.

---

~Beacon Academy~

"Ruby, I already know what you're planning." Blake said as Ruby helped her hobble down the hall "I don't know why you keep pretending."

"Why Blake," Ruby did everything in her power not to meet her eyes "Whatever could you possibly be speaking of?"

"Ruby, you had Yang and Nora take my bags for me and proceeded to walk me in a direction I know for a fact does not lead to our room."

Ruby gulped audibly, pausing just suddenly enough for Blake to have to steady herself or risk falling. Though she'd been cleared to return to Beacon, it had been recommended she use a crutch for another day or so before trying to walk too much.

"Come on Ruby, every time Nora suggested you celebrate something you were always the one to get that excited look in your eyes first." Blake rolled her eyes as they once more continued walking.

"Be that as it may, Blake." Ruby grew a sly smile "I can guarantee that you'll never anticipate what we're about to find in the library!"

"Oh, so you're taking me to the library, are you?"

Ruby blinked before slapping a hand over her mouth, spurring Blake into a fit of soft giggles. The laughter died down as she recognized the door of the library drawing closer.

"It's okay Ruby, not every party has to be a surprise." Blake noted "I'm sure I'll love it anyway. Been a while since I've been able to celebrate with everyone."

Ruby kept her hand clamped over her mouth as she reached forward to pull the door open.

Blake stepped through with greetings already on her lips, "Hey every-"

Masks.

Colorfully festive masks in every direction. The entirety of Teams RWBY JNPR and CFVY were waiting with masks covering their faces. It took a second of staring to prompt them into shouting a loud "Welcome Back!" to Blake as she tried to shake off her surprise.

"Told you~" Ruby cooed in her ear, and Blake turned to see Ruby struggling to slip a mask with some kind of rose theme over her head, "Ugh this stupid... geh! Jaune you got this with my size in mind, right?"

Even through his mask, which almost looked like a crushed grape, Blake could tell Jaune was rolling his eyes "Ruby, dress size doesn't exactly match up with head wear."

"Well why didn't you ask someone for it!?"

"You had Yang carrying Blake's stuff in, the guy at the stall was getting ready to pack up!" he tried defending himself.

"Well why not ask Weiss?" Ruby offered

"Why would Weiss know your head-size!?" Jaune exclaimed only for Weiss to sigh loudly

"Don't ask." she murmured before reaching up to a pair of white bunny ears which made up the top of her mask "And why was it that I couldn't have the Opera mask?"

Yang gave a long stretch before giving an affectionate rub to the odd-looking opera mask affixed to her face "What can I say? I guess they recognize my latent performance abilities."

"Aw," Velvet shifted her own monkey mask out of the way and eyed up Weiss's ears "I actually think they fit you really well, Weiss."

The Heiress immediately looked away "Can I get an unbiased opinion on that?"

Blake looked between them all for a moment, then closed her eyes and sighed "All this... just to surprise me?"

"I'll admit it's not my usual idea for a welcome." Coco said casually as she leaned against a very unhappy Fox in a clown mask "But it was just crazy enough to get me hooked."

Blake gave a look around before smiling "Thanks guys, I appreciate it." she said before immediately getting swamped in hugs. However, during this she noticed something "Though, I'm kinda shocked that Sun isn't-"

She barely got to finish before the sound of racing footsteps reached her ears and she turned around just to see Sun slide to a stop at the door frame. He caught his breath before centering his gaze on Blake and immediately pulling a flash drive from his pocket.

"Boom!" he snapped his fingers while waving the drive around "You guys said we couldn't do it!"

"No way..." Ruby said with awe "We told you about this get together a couple hours ago, how did-"

"You can thank me later." came a voice behind Sun as Neptune stepped into view and leaned against the door "It's a pretty rough cut, but I think you'll find it suitable."

"What did you do?" Blake asked as Sun presented the flash drive to her, taking it as he gave a smirk.

"Well first I gotta ask how the channels in the hospital were?" he asked while folding his arms "Get some good eyes on the tournament?"

"No..." Blake sighed "I was encouraged to sleep for most of the time, and the only thing I could get of the tournament was the news talking about it on my radio."

"Well don't you fear," Sun winked before gesturing back to Neptune "As soon as we heard you were out of commission, we made it our solemn duty to get you a master cut of all the fights you missed!"

"With a little help from us on getting angles," Jaune pointed out "As long as we all had different seats then there's hardly anything we could miss."

"You guys... didn't have to-"

"No no no," Ruby cooed as she and Yang pulled Blake into yet another hug "no trying to be humble. We made that video for you, so you're going to watch it with us."

"Yeah, you have to see our epic play against Team BRNZ!" Sun exclaimed "Come on, we can hook this baby up in the common room."

"Nora, fetch the cookies!"

"Gonna be great!"

And it was.

The night transitioned into a surprise marathon run of the tournament so far, with all the teams gathered and staring at the admittedly rough recordings of their fights. Nora and Ren had helped Ruby set out a plate of cookies that everyone snacked on. Of course, there wasn't enough matches to have occurred to keep them going forever, so as the last of day faded to night the conversation drifted to Blake's experience in the tower.

Most of Team RWBY was extremely forthcoming with their heroic fight through Hork's Tower, facing off against some of the Uruk-Hai elite, but Blake had been hospitalized for most of the time since her return. It left her unable to go too in depth with her experience during visits. But now she was free to detail everything that happened after getting separated from Ruby and Weiss. Everything from the unexpected explosive scenario to the initial duel with Uthug's captor, Tuka. But the scene which almost everyone got stuck on was-

"Krimp... nearly killed you?" Velvet asked

"I don't know if he knew." Blake explained "He said he thought I'd be able to take it but... if I had made the wrong move he very well could've ended up killing me. The guy is ridiculously strong."

"Ya got that right!" Nora folded her arms and nodded as she thought "Not many around here can stand up to me in a hugging competition, but he was the first to push me to my limit."

"Don't remind me." Jaune shivered before taking a second to think "But I don't know. Krimp always acts jovial and youthful, but it seems like quite the jump to assume he wouldn't know how dangerous his actions were."

His pondering halted as he realized he'd dragged everyone's attention to him "I mean, it just seems weird, right?"

"No... no I see exactly how it doesn't make sense." Pyrrha nodded "Krimp always seems so concerned with other people that for him to just suddenly not recognize the harm he might pose just doesn't add up."

"Because he's a liar."

Now it was Weiss's turn to be on the receiving end of attention as she carefully took a small bite off the cookie she'd been offered "Given what I've learned from Penny, I've concluded that Krimp is simply an A-Class liar."

"But I thought all those lessons were just about making friends?" Ruby noted before pouting "Weiss, you better not just be making up an excuse not to-"

"I'm not Ruby, I've been listening to Penny with extreme attention to detail." Weiss stated before glancing to her "And I can say with one-hundred percent certainty that Krimp's 'System' of friend-making is just a complicated string of lying. Its part of his whole act, he sets up and inserts himself into a scenario and acts a certain way to get people to make ill-informed assumptions about him."

"You sure?" Coco asked "Because Vel and I hung out with him a couple times, he just seems kinda dopey."

"It's all part of his act." Weiss continued "Remember how he met you guys?"

"Yeah," Velvet thought for a moment before recounting " He was asking us for directions to Beacon."

"And it just so happened that in one of Penny's more recent lectures she faked a need for directions just to trick Cardin and his gang into seeing her as a non-threat. It's all based on analyzing a person off of visual ques then presenting oneself in an certain manner through misdirection."

"Wow... I-I had been wondering why he always felt so off." Blake muttered "But... he is way more capable than his personality would imply. I always guessed he was lying in some way but-"

"It's fine, Blake. I probably wouldn't have noticed as quickly if I wasn't familiar with this particular brand of lying." Weiss nodded before looking aside with a stern look "He may present himself differently, but this type of thing is rather common back home."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, until Blake suddenly seemed to brighten "Hey, I didn't see any footage from Team CRDL's fight," she pointed out before glancing over to Sun "What happened with them? They get beat so badly you didn't feel like making a reel?"

"Well most of us thought that was how it would go too," Ruby admitted sheepishly "so only Sun's team was there to get any footage."

"Wait, then why didn't we see any of that in the comp?" Blake turned to Sun and Neptune, who threw up his hands in an exasperated manner.

"Because we couldn't even see the majority of the match." he groaned before settling his chin into his palm as he leaned back in his seat "The first move Cardin pulled was blasting up a massive cloud of dust with his mace which covered the arena for most of it. All we had were the Aura levels on the scoreboard and the elimination buzzers. Well, up until the end."

"Why make it harder for them to see?" Blake raised an eyebrow

"Didn't really seem to slow them too much," Sun shrugged "by the time the cloud started clearing only one of Team ABRN remained, the uh- the one with the board... Neptune?"

"Reese Chloris" Neptune answered

"Yeah, she rode out of there just as things were clearing up but-" he shook his head "Man, it was actually kind of hard to watch. Russel just charged into her while the others surrounded her. She'd managed to get out of that cloud with over half her aura, but Russel just started hacking away once the others had her pinned."

"I just didn't think it'd be uplifting to add in." Neptune said "Especially when we had all that footage from the others."

"So they got lucky in the first match," Yang waved it off before smirking "they'll have to deal with tougher customers come next round, right?"

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed before looking over the other Teams "I can't wait for the next set of matches, guys. I just know all of you are gonna be awesome."

"Awesome won't even begin to describe it," Nora declared as she reached over and dragged Pyrrha to her side "the stunts we're gonna pull out in that Arena will probably require new words to describe how epic they are."

"I don't really know about that," Pyrrha gave a small laugh before looking over the rest of them "but I'll do my best to not disappoint."

"Disappoint?" Fox shook his head with a smile "I didn't know you even knew what that word meant, Champ."

"Well-" Pyrrha began, only for Nora to interrupt her

"It might as well not exist when we step in the ring!" she stated

But despite the positive vibes and smiles all around, one person stayed quiet. She laughed along with them, looking confident as always, but something about that recent talk had soured her mood considerably. Not enough to break her perfectly maintained visage of casual enjoyment, but enough to keep her more quiet than usual. Because despite how good the night was going...

...she was just so confused.

---

~City of Vale~

"Mac? Oi Mac?"

Despite the calls of his fellow officer, Mac couldn't tear his eyes away from the screen before him. So transfixed was he by what he was witnessing that he jumped a bit when his partner clapped him on the back. Several other officers looked from their desks over to the two, many simply returning to their own business after a few seconds.

"Wuh-?" Mac began only to breathe a sigh of relief "Oh, sorry Trigger, guess I just didn't notice you."

Shifting his sunglasses out of the way, Trigger gave him a concerned look "Didn't notice-? Mac I've been calling you for ten minutes. I thought you were only handling one visitor, why are you still here?"

Mac turned back to the screen and stared once more at what was occurring on the other side, "Its Pence."

"Pence Harbor? The guy who kept going on and on about how horrid the food was around here?" Trigger gave a snicker "Guy was ramblin' so much that I didn't think anyone would come out as directly related to him."

"It's his sister... works at that music place that just opened-"

"Pug-Bringer Studio!?" Trigger exclaimed "Hey my wife and I love their synth instrumentals, you tellin' me that Mr. Nutrition himself is related to-"

"She drives around their main singers, she's not even part of their background staff." Mac said

"Eh, considerin' the antics those guys get up to I guess I shouldn't be so surprised." Trigger shrugged before realizing something "Wait, have they been talking this whole time?"

Mac merely nodded.

"Mac, you were cleared to handle this hours ago, what are you still-?"

"Had to run her through the extra screening due to her brother's dealings with the Fang, had to make sure she wasn't passing anything." Mac stated in an even tone as he kept his eyes glued to the monitor "Named Sally, dropped out of school after her parents got busted, eventually started a new life in taxi driving. Picked up by the Studio soon after their establishment. Seemed normal enough, story checked out with what we had on records... I thought she was just a girl trying to reconnect."

"That screening shouldn't take this long, Mac." Trigger pushed past him to get a look at the security feed "The hell have you been doin' all this-"

"The hell are you doing?! You understand what that much protein does to the body?"

Trigger's questions died immediately, slowly giving way to a chuckle as he looked past Mac to the screen he'd been transfixed by "No way..."

Separated by a solid wall, Sally and Pence communicated via a screen on each side of it facilitating speech for them. Flanking Pence were two Atlas-provided AK Units in case he tried anything. Sally looked flustered from her brother's outburst, but quickly cobbled together her next sentence.

"I-I just met someone at work w-who started talking about how much better I'd end up if... I tried adding in a little fiber?"

"You already tried that, and look where it's gotten you now?!" Pence grumbled "We worked out this diet together, why would you even think about-"

"I'm sorry!" Sally shook her head from side to side "This shouldn't be a problem, I know that!"

"Then why are you making it one? You've got yourself a stable job, if anything you can double-down on the diet now."

"No, I can't." Sally murmured "It's... things are very strict there unless you can dance and sing, but I can't just go bringing in strange foods on lunch break. It's too risky."

"Risky!?"

The number of officers staring at the interaction via the security feed had multiplied as many took note of Trigger's laughter. Many couldn't hold back the snickers which spread to the rest of the growing onlookers, "Oh my god... Oh dear god it's a family thing!"

"You don't wanna grow fat and helpless, do you?" Pence snarled "You know what happens if you just roll over and eat whatever's given to you!"

"I know that, I don't need you to remind me why we started dieting, I need you to remind me why it has to be this way specifically . I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry... just tell me why we watch what we eat?"

Someone had passed around a bag of chips, which many of the officers enjoyed as they watched. Mac, however, couldn't bring himself to eat, "I-Is she crying?"

Sally planted her hands over her eyes to try and help hold back tears.

"You know why, already." Pence stated "Its because of how unhealthy all of us got without it. Getting served the schlock that everybody else eats up with glee. None of them know how to eat, and so they just decide to let their crappy little ideas of nutrition rule them. We said no, we took control of our meals, and just look at how thin you've gotten!"

"B-But-"

"Sis... if you leave this diet, there's no hope for you."

Sally's eyes shot wide open at that, "I don't- I wasn't-"

"You sound a lot like those unhealthy pigs who stuff themselves full of sugar and fat." he narrowed his gaze at the screen before him and took a deep breath "Is that what this is? You go without me for a while and suddenly you think you have all the answers, think you can feed yourself? Well guess what? You can't!"

"But-"

"No, you can't! You just... fucking... can't. And nowhere is that more apparent than the fact that we're even having this conversation. If you were really devoted to building up a proper nutritional schedule, you wouldn't come to me crying about alternatives, you'd work hard, get in touch with a gym somewhere, and follow through."

"I...I..." Sally looked ready to panic, but merely ended up covering her eyes again "But I just need you to... help me, brother. Please... I want to eat right, the healthy way. But all these questions I have, I can't... I can't just stay committed to the diet without having them answered..."

The bag of chips had evolved into several bags which the audience passed quietly among themselves as they watched with baited breath.

"He's so hard on her..." Mac murmured

"All over a goddamn diet," Trigger gave a humored sigh "I gotta say, I thought Pence on his own was obsessive enough, but this... this is a pot of gold I didn't know I needed."

"What the hell are you guys doing?"

The assembly of officers turned back to see a very unhappy Atlesian specialist glaring at them.

"Oh, Specialist Maxwell, right?" Mac said as he leaned back in his chair "I didn't know Atlas was sending one of you today."

"A colleague of mine will be coming in to question the recently captured Scarves soon," Maxwell said as he approached "she asked me to acquire their reports for her."

"You guys couldn't ask us to fax you some copies, why?" Trigger asked without looking away from the screen.

"And miss out on seeing just how the V.P.D is holding up these days? Never." Maxwell shook his head before frowning "But that still doesn't answer my question."

Mac and trigger moved a bit to let Maxwell see the screen, a displeased groan rising up from his throat immediately, "What is this?"

"One of the Fang's boys throwing a hissy fit because his sister isn't eating properly?" Trigger answered

"Let me rephrase my question then, why hasn't their visit been concluded yet?" Maxwell snapped "Rules for prisoners clearly states that any and all interaction with contacts like this can and will be shut down if said contact is put through excessive stress."

"But that falls to the supervising officer." Trigger turned his smirk down to Mac, "What say you?"

Mac stayed silent for a while, his attention once more captured by the screen.

"Look at me," Pence said, drumming his fingers on the desk he was sitting at more and more violently "You look at me."

Sally finally pulled her hands away from her eyes, which were reddened from holding back tears.

"You know what happens to people when they just eat whatever falls in front of them like a bunch of slobs." he leaned forward and took a breath "Heart attacks, diseases-"

"I don't want-"

"Ya get laughed at and treated like garbage, people look down on you because you waddle like a waste of flesh. And it may not seem that way at first, but once you break a commitment like a diet, the slope gets a whole lot more slippery. Soon a little fiber turns into an excess amount of sodium, then the protein imbalance becomes far less notable. Suddenly meat intake goes through the roof and maybe you try to balance it out but nope, all that careful balance is suddenly out the goddamn window."

"Sorry Pence," a voice sounded out from a speaker above "your time is up."

"I-I'm done." Sally stood up as the AK-Units made to take her brother away.

"Don't do that to yourself sis!" Pence shouted as he watched her hastily move away from the screen, his yells becoming more desperate as he allowed the androids to pull him away from the screen "Don't make me have to see you do that to yourself!"

"I-I'm sorry, I'm done." She tripped over her feet a bit as she looked back to him "I love you but-"

"I'm...Done."

---

~Beacon Academy~

How had he done it?

That was the question that had been plaguing Coco all day. Despite the good time she had with all her friends celebrating Blake's return, she couldn't get that question out of her head. She managed to play it off cool as usual, smirking confidently and joking around as usual. But when the topic became a forefront of discussion, even for just a second, she's almost let her confusion show through.

How had Cardin done it?

She hated the fact that she couldn't just let this go like the others, but the circumstances of this victory just seemed odd. She'd actually chatted with members of Team ABRN before and even sat in for some of their training. While they weren't exactly the best team around, they certainly should've been more than capable of taking on the likes of Team CRDL. It was part of the reason why she'd expected them to come out on top. But they didn't. Not only had Cardin and his team won, but from what she could tell it was a near wipe out.

She'd been so curious that after Blake's welcome get-together, she'd gone to Neptune and asked to see the footage they'd managed to get of the fight. It had gone exactly as he and Sun explained, with the giant cloud blasted over the arena and the majority of Team ABRN getting taken out before it settled. Then Reese rode out of that cloud only for Russel to charge into her and knock her off her board.

It was strangely systematic to watch, Cardin and the rest of them rushing over to pin her limbs down with their weapons. Then Russel just planted himself on her and hacked away at her Aura until the buzzer sounded. Sun and Neptune were right, something like this would've never fit in with that battle video they cobbled together. It seemed far more vicious than Coco would've expected from Russel.

He always seemed angry, but then again most of Cardin's crew seemed to have 'bitter' or 'agitating' as a definitive trait. Coco thought back to their run in at the sports bar, if anything Russel seemed the most composed of all of them. But in the video, even from where Neptune had been recording Coco could tell that each strike was growing more frenzied by the second. And as she focused on that specific moment, she noticed something that made her eyes widen.

Cardin had to stop him.

It was a tiny thing, one most wouldn't have noticed given the setting. As soon as the buzzer sounded Cardin grabbed Russel's wrist and raised it up in a sign of victory. The others pulled away from Reese and soaked in their victory as well. Nothing too out of the ordinary for a team which had just wiped out their challengers. But after asking Neptune to replay it a couple times, Coco had no doubt in her mind. It wasn't audible from where they were recording, but Cardin had kept alternating from looking at Russel to the aura levels on the scoreboard. As Reese's Aura kept getting lowered quicker and quicker he seemed to yell something to Russel. And then when her aura finally gave, Russel was still rearing back when Cardin took hold of his wrist and pulled him up.

After thanking Neptune, Coco marched her way through Beacon's halls with more questions than answers. What was going on? Anybody could tell that Team CRDL had been training like sin ever since they started aiming their aggression inwards, but was it really enough to lead to such improvements?

This need for answers eventually drove her to Team ABRN themselves, as they were the only ones who could describe what had happened in that cloud. It had to be some kind of foul play, right? For a majority of the team to get wiped out so quickly, especially out of view of the audience.

A little asking around brought her to the Team Leader of ABRN first, as Arslan Altan had apparently been holed up in the training hall ever since she recovered. Coco was sure that she'd be able to clear up what had happened. But upon finding Arslan letting out some aggression on an unfortunate training dummy, Coco found the results lacking immediately.

"You were the first one eliminated, right?" She asked, remembering the scoreboard from Neptune's video "How'd that happen?"

"It was all because of that little bastard with the halberd," Arslan stated as she turned away from the battered dummy and rolled her eyes

"Who, Sky?" Coco blinked, taking a moment to think back on how she'd seen him fight before, and immediately growing confused "Why?"

Arslan gave a small groan "As soon as they blasted that cloud into the air, Cardin started charging me while talking some serious trash." she said before turning back to the dummy "And with how wide his arcs are I had no trouble ducking and diving."

As if for emphasis, she began laying into the dummy, though Coco could see her getting more agitated as shew did so "But as soon as I got in to give him a good thrashing, that little asshole just jabbed at me and threw me off just long enough for Cardin to start landing hits. I saw what they were doing, and I immediately tried circling around to get Sky out of the picture so I could deal with Cardin one on one. Managed to get back in my groove, and knew that both of them were just waiting for me to try something."

She stopped her flurry and smirked back at Coco "But nobody ever expects this."

A small dagger slipped from her sleeve and dangled at her feet by a small wire, "A good swing of this managed to trip Cardin up long enough for me to roll over him and get to his pal, but I heard him call out to one of his guys. Before I could even reach Sky, someone shot me in the back and blasted me right onto the guy's halberd. After that he jabbed me into the way of another one of Cardin's swings and..."

She shook her head before turning back to the dummy, "Would've cleaned the floor with the both of them if that other guy wouldn't have gotten the shot off."

The series of events had Coco baffled, these tactics were sound and coordinated to a degree she would never have expected for someone like Cardin. He always seemed pretty bull-headed, and that mentality had reflected in his fighting style pretty blatantly. But off-setting his weaknesses by using Sky to counter for him while also guarding Sky, it didn't really seem to fit his mindset. Of course, this ploy only seemed to work so far, if Arslan's way of describing it was accurate. Considering the weapons Team CRDL uses the only one who could've shot her at that opportune time was Dove, but that also raised the question of what everyone else was doing. If Dove was in a position where he could've reacted and fired with such accuracy, then the rest of Arslan's team should've been able to see her getting overwhelmed. What had kept them from helping?

Coco found her answer when she came across Bolin and Nadir by a vending machine.

"It was Russel." Bolin answered without missing a beat as he reached down to grab a can from the machine.

"What was Russel?"

"Whole reason I couldn't get to Arslan. I saw her having to deal with two of em at once, but that Russel guy was on me since the match began." he continued before jerking a thumb to his teammate "This guy tried to jump in and help but ended up in the same predicament."

Though Nadir sighed, Coco raised an eyebrow "How was Russel keeping the both of you tied down?"

"He was relentless." Bolin shook his head before taking a sip "The second that cloud went up the guy carved his way towards me using that semblance of his, speeding all over the place. I thought he'd be easier to handle when I could actually get a hold of him but then he started swinging furiously yet I still couldn't land a hit.. If anything, having Nadir jump in meant I couldn't swing as wildly to try and knock him out of that combo of his."

Once more, Nadir just gave a small sigh of discontent as Coco processed the information she'd just received.

"It didn't help that someone kept blasting at us the entire time, throwing us off our rhythm. But just when I thought I started getting used to his movement, the other half of his team showed up and clobbered us."

That had to be Cardin and Sky, but there were still two members of both teams left unaccounted for "What about Reese?" Coco asked "She made it out of that cloud with half her aura remaining. If you could spot Arslan then-"

"She was dealing with their last guy. Was pretty determined to bring him down." Bolin looked up for a moment as he thought "Before the fight started, the guy was making some serious passes at her. I mean we were facing each other down and this guy just would not shut up. I remember Cardin calling for him to keep quiet."

Bolin downed the rest of the can before crushing it, "But yeah, she was going in on him from what I could see. I could hear him still trying to hit her up, even while we were all fighting."

"Think I might be able to ask her how that went?" Coco leaned forward a bit, but Bolin shook his head.

"Nah, she kinda wanted the room to herself. After the battle, she wasn't in the best of ways. Seemed really shaken up, rest of us agreed she could use some sleep."

Coco understood that, from what she saw of the video things went south real quick for her. Pinned down while someone just slashes away at her aura, Coco wasn't about to grudge her some recovery time.

Yet despite knowing more or less how the match went, she couldn't bring herself to accept that Team CRDL had just pulled this sudden effectiveness out of nowhere. Once more she considered the effectiveness of their training as she made her way back to her Team's room, but found her thinking interrupted by turning a corner and coming across the very object of her confusion.

Cardin and Russel arguing about something beside a staircase. She couldn't tell what it was about, as Russel stormed off angrily right before she could focus on their words. He didn't seem to notice her as he stomped by, but the same couldn't be said for Cardin. The two watched Russel leave for a moment before Coco turned and locked eyes with him. He narrowed his gaze at her before folding his arms, "What?"

"What's happening with your team?" she asked

"Excuse me?" Cardin waved her off as he turned to walk away "I don't think that's really much of your concern, Adel."

Coco frowned, but gave a shrug as she drew closer "Look, I'mma be real with you, I've spent the past few hours thinking up and down how you managed to pull such a one-sided victory."

That made him raise an eyebrow "Really?" He smirked "Was it that surprising?"

"In all honesty, yes." Coco nodded, "And I hope you'll excuse me for getting a little curious about my competition, but I hung out with Team ABRN a bit, so you guys mopping the floor with them wasn't-"

"Expected?" Cardin gave a chuckle before his expression tightened "Bet you and the others were just waiting for us to get thrashed, eh? A little reprieve for all the shit we put the Faunus through early on?"

"Well I wasn't going to admit that when I first walked over here." Coco folded her arms "But yes, I was. You guys don't really have the best reputation around here."

"Pfft, thought so." Cardin looked away "All of you bastards getting off to the thought of those dumb-asses dragging me down with them."

"Woah," Coco raised her hands defensively "I wouldn't go that far."

"Well they won't!" Cardin looked back at her with balled fists, he glared for a few seconds before shaking his head and walking by "I won't let them. Just like I won't let any of you underestimate us."

She watched him walk away for a moment, "You didn't answer my question, Cardin. You guys pulled some pretty good plays, so how about a few tips from one team leader to another?"

Cardin paused and looked back at her with a grin, looking back at her for a moment before shrugging "Just study up. There's tons of fighting nowadays, and plenty to learn from."

"What happened to Russel?"

Cardin's cocky smirk disappeared as he once more fitted her with a glare.

"And don't try saying you don't know what I'm talking about." she continued before jerking a thumb towards herself "I saw the footage Cardin, and if you hadn't held him back then he very well may have done something permanent out there. You and your pals all have your problems, but I never saw Russel as the type to do something like that, or take on two students at once and come out on top. So what the hell happened to him?"

Cardin merely continued glaring at her for several seconds before giving a little grumble and turning away, "Real funny there, Adel. For a second I almost thought you were serious."

"I am-!"

"I said!" Cardin interrupted her "I wouldn't allow you to underestimate us."

Even as Cardin walked away, Coco found she still had far more questions than she was comfortable with.

---

~The Arceus~

"This is a kitchen?"

Uthug thought finding Kruk would be easy, given how famous he apparently was on the Arceus. But when all he was told is the direction he was located in and that it was a kitchen, things became annoying real quick. Not long into their search, Gundza had pointed out that most of the outposts that the Caterers had held up in could be considered kitchens, food was kind of their motif. They'd spent an hour wandering around checking areas, fighting off the occasional gang of Caterers or just random inmates who remained unaffiliated. He got caught in a trap set up by some type of looter, had to spend the next thirty minutes breaking out before tracking down the looter and snapping his neck. Uthug took some time going through the looter's supplies when he realized he still hadn't found Kruk.

Of course, it was Gundza who figured it out. Considering Bubol's wording, Kruk was most likely held up in the part of the ship that was actually supposed to be the kitchen, not the dozen or so that were set up by the caterers. Even then, they had to work off a rough understanding of the ship's layout that Gundza had gotten from Mitch's memories. It was finicky at best, but finally they stood before what did not look like a kitchen at all.

The entrance to Kruk's hangout had clutter, rubble, torn up wood, and other piles of broken junk framing it. From the drag marks and dark smudges it was clear most of it had been dragged out of the place.

Recently too.

Uthug could visibly see smoke trailing from out of the Kitchen, with flames at the far back which seemed to have been set on a similar pile of junk.

Makes me consider the ventilation of this vessel. Even though we're sealed in, unchecked use of fire like this would've caused everyone to suffocate weeks ago.

It was something Gundza could focus on, to keep him from thinking too much about how Uthug just strolled into the large open room. Perhaps he'd gotten used to Uthug just refusing to think things out, but every time he still couldn't help groaning at the level of carelessness his host was showing.

Uthug just wanted this dealt with quick, so he could get back to pushing back the Caterers and getting off this hellhole.

As they moved towards the fire at the back, Gundza noticed more about the room they were in. The ceiling was higher than usual, almost two stories tall. There were other doors to their sides, but most seemed hastily boarded up with metal and wood. Their were various scratches and torn placements on the ground, as if someone had torn out whatever had been nailed down and cleared it out. Probably explained the piles of torn up junk. The only other exit he could spot was a single set of stairs to the left going up to a door which seemed to lead to the room next door.

"Black-Cloth!?" a familiar voice cried out from the burning pit, and as Uthug approached he recognized Uruks tied to large metal poles with some kind of chords and suspended over the blaze. He could also recognize a number of bodies in that fire.

"Seems you've got ya'self in some real shrahk here, eh?" Uthug asked as he approached the blaze and folded his arms.

The one who had spoken up was Galkar, who writhed against the heated metal even as he tried raising his legs further from the blaze, "Quick, before he gets back! Ya gotta get us down!"

"Yeah no..." Uthug shook his head "I'm here for Kruk, then I'm havin' myself a nap. You lot got ya'selves caught, as far as I'm concerned that means ya dead."

"What!?"

"Besides, I seem to recall you proving to be far too annoying for me to try saving. But who knows? Maybe after I'm done turning this trap around on Kruk and clearing this place out, you lot might still be alive. I'm sure some of the boys can get ya down then."

Ah, color me impressed that you seem to recognize this for what it is.

Please, captives out in the open in clear distress. Not a single caterer in sight. I don't need your experience to recognize something's wrong with this picture.

"You can't just do that to me!" Galkar cried as he struggled with renewed ferocity "I won't- you can't! We're right here! Do something!"

If someone does end up getting them down, I hope you remember that every one of them will remember this.

That's fine, I'm fairly positive not one of them's gonna survive anyway.

As if on cue, the second he thought that he spotted a spark behind the hostages obscured by the smoke and flames. Not willing to risk it, Uthug backed up right before a stream of flames reached out and engulfed the still struggling Uruks from behind. As soon as the stream cut off, several Caterers began stepping out from behind the burning captives.

"I'll give your boss credit for presentation." Uthug noted as the Caterers took their time surrounding him, a rarity amongst them.

In fact, these Caterers stood out amongst the usual meat-carving curs Uthug had gotten used to butchering over his time on the Arceus. Sure they had the usual hats and aprons, but they all looked absolutely scorched or burnt in some way. With large burn smudges covering most of their clothes that weren't damaged in other ways. All of their visible hair looked singed to all hell, and they had a certain glee in their expressions that Uthug barely ever saw in Caterers nowadays. But there were only about seven of them, which seemed most confusing of all.

"Is this really what you lot call a trap?" Uthug asked before nodding to the burnt up corpses still suspended over the flames "That little stream of fire barely even got close to me."

"Not mean to hit." came another voice from behind the flaming captives "Not yet."

It was punctuated by a set of heavy footsteps, so Uthug was preparing to see a literal giant walk out from behind them. But no, it was somehow even more surprising.

That's him but... what in the dark lord's name is that?

It was definitely Kruk, a portly Uruk who only stood at the slightly taller end of the height spectrum, with a burnt apron covering his singed jumpsuit. Both the sleeves of his jumpsuit had been ripped off and the torso looked as if someone had dragged a flaming blade through it, revealing burnt skin beneath. Gundza even noted that Kruk managed to grow himself some rather impressive sideburns since the last time they'd seen each other, even if most of it was singed like the rest of his hair.

But all of that literally meant nothing in comparison to the massive contraption he had strapped to his back.

Is... is that an oven?

Whatever it was, smoke was pouring from it profusely, and it seemed to be hooked up to some odd cage that Kruk had built around his right arm. Running through the cage was a series of oddly bent pipes which ended in a somewhat bent looking nozzle that Kruk grasped tightly.

"I waited for warbringer." Kruk growled out as he looked Uthug up and down before marching around, keeping the circle of Caterers between them "But you tiny, I no see passion."

"Warbringer?" Uthug tilted his head to the side, trying his hardest not to let that ridiculous contraption distract him, "That what you guys call me?"

"It what I call!" Kruk stated before shaking his head "After hearing what you do to our soldiers, our kitchens, our front. Demand grand warrior, come show all dumb whelps on ship how really wage war! Really give boys challenge they deserve."

"You'd think that with how much trouble I've been giving you guys, Felgrat would've had a bigger force backing you up on this."

"Fel know nothing!" Kruk yelled as he finally came to a stop and raised his free arm to point to Uthug "He no know war, take too long, my boys gone, we all that's left. All others not give good fight we promised. I give these lads taste of real war, real fight, with real warrior. But we get you?"

Uthug had to admit, if he were in Kruk's position, he'd probably be just as dissapointed on initial contact. But despite the insults, Uthug couldn't believe how good this was going so far. That annoying runt was dead, Kruk turned out to have far less underlings than he'd expected, and the rest of the Caterers apparently didn't know anything about this so the threat of reinforcements just went right out the window.

Don't forget, all the Uruks you've faced in here so far were either underlings or forgotten lunatics, Kruk's been a well established captain for years. Besides that, he's got that flame-spitting device. I don't know how he managed to get that cobbled together out of an oven, but I can tell you right now that flames will eat up your Aura real quick.

"So I'm gonna guess here that you won't let me just take you guys prisoner so we don't have to go through the slog of a fight?" Uthug asked, knowing full well that he had no reason to hope for a simple solution like that. Indeed, Kruk's lackeys released small bouts of laughter, but their boss didn't seem to find humor in Uthug's words.

"No fight?" Kruk mumbled before growling "You need remember what Uruk for."

He hefted the cage on his right arm before pointing it and the nozzle towards Uthug, "No more talk! I show my boys real battle!"

Uthug followed the example of the three caterers behind him and lunged away as a spray of flames spewed forth towards them. He turned around to deal with the ones who had dodged with him, only for the sound of an incoming roar to draw his attention back to Kruk as he leaped straight through the lingering flames with the cage raised. Not anticipating someone as weighed down as Kruk looked to move so fast, Uthug actually had to catch himself and throw himself back out of the way as the bent nozzle tore into the ground. But Kruk didn't stop there, using the weight of the oven on his back to continue dragging the bent nozzle through the ground towards Uthug.

Oh dear, I assumed someone who primarily uses axes would be unable to adapt to such a strange choice of weaponry. Seems I was wrong, huh... go figure.

Uthug had to duck and weave as Kruk swung the entirety of the cage and jagged nozzle with surprising dexterity, looking for an opening to slide past it.

"Yes! Move good!" Kruk chuckled before calling out "Keep around him!"

Uthug took a split second to glance around and notice that Kruk's underlings were doing a decent job of following them in a circular formation. Each of them looking just as antsy as their boss to jump in, yet none seemed willing to jump in and risk getting caught up in Kruk's combo.

But that also meant that Uthug could focus entirely on Kruk. And so after managing to evade the rapidly swinging nozzle once more, he leaped back, prompting Kruk to lunge towards him with the nozzle to close the distance. The second Uthug slipped back, he jumped forward atop the hefty cage before hurling himself onto Kruk's stove and wailing on where it was strapped to him. Kruk planted himself before spinning quickly, yet Uthug held on...up until one of the lackeys got ballsy and charged into him from the side.

Uthug was sent flying from Kruk, rolling into an unsteady crouch before glancing up as Kruk reached back and felt the oven for a bit with a growl. Uthug had been trying to aim for the weakest portion he could see, yet the straps still held firm. However, he could see some smoke leaking out from a window on the front of the oven, inside of which a fire blazed.

"Okay, I have to know... how the shrahk'd ya get something like that to work!?" Uthug asked

"The Flame guides! Flame teaches! Teaches all how to better make war." Kruk bellowed as he regained his footing and pointed towards him "I show you! I show you what Uruk made for!"

At that he pointed the nozzle at Uthug and let loose another stream of frame which he had to dart to the side to avoid. The sound of breaking glass at his side preceded another fire sprouting up, only this time one of the Caterers came flying out of it with a flaming club raised. Uthug spun out of the way of the club before rearing back and driving his knee into the attacker's face before he could recover, sending him stumbling back as his aura shimmered.

Before Uthug could rush in to finish him, more glass breaking at his side spawned another blaze. As he swerved out of its way, he spotted another Caterer raising small vials of something and launching at them. Wherever they shattered, a flame would ignite.

Well, that's new. Why wouldn't more caterers be using these? They seem extremely useful for harassing foes from a distance.

"They're annoying as shrahk, that's what they are!" Uthug roared as he ducked past two vials before ramming his face into a caterers gut, ducking under a retaliatory swing of his flaming blade and kicking his knee in from behind. Once he was down, Uthug took hold of his forearm and snapped it back before prying his weapon out of his hand and kicking him away.

"There we go! Good battle need good weapons!" Kruk cheered before leveling his cage towards Uthug once more and spraying another stream of flame.

Well I'll admit that I'm suitably impressed. Beyond that gadget of his, Kruk's trained these lads fairly well.

How do you figure that?

They've already lasted three times longer than most Caterers against you.

That thought made Uthug groan as he once more sped away from the flames. Despite how long this fight had gone he'd only managed to disarm one of them, usually he'd be flinging bits of them from his nails by now. But instead of impressed, like Gundza, this knowledge only told Uthug it would take three times as long to put all of them down. He must've jinxed it. Just a few moments ago he was convinced this wouldn't be as strenuous as taking other Caterer positions... oh how quickly the world was to prove him wrong.

---

~Vacuo: The Tower~

"Enough to make several trips should the gate not hold up the first time. All that leaves us with is the Dust from the Storm and those treasures hidden in those infested caves."

Throughout the meeting, Ishga had kept his gaze locked on Ratlug, who either didn't notice or didn't care that the Hunter was evaluating him so blatantly. It had been called for once the results of the raid were indefinite, they'd gotten far more Vapel herbs than even the Storm had expected. After several attacks, Vapel herbs were singled out as the resource which would be hardest to find, as it wasn't native to Vacuo. Only medical practitioners had the stuff since it was usually imported from other lands,which meant that the pickings were always slim. But after such an impressive haul, the raiders' job was mostly complete. They'd be able to acquire the rest of their checklist with minimal ease. Which meant the ball was very much in the court of both the Garrison and the Storm.

So of course Hork had called for a meeting of sorts, during which they'd talk over where to proceed next. In truth, the main purpose was to figure out what the Storm was doing for their part in constructing the gateway back to Mordor. The Garrison was readying itself to enter a catacomb of deadly Grimm which they'd left uncontested due to its threat and distance from the Tower. But it just so happened that a certain vein of rare ore was located in those catacombs which would prove a great substitute for something needed in the Gate's construction. Once they had their forces fully prepared, it would be mostly a question of how long it would take them to fight off the Grimm and mine what they could from the cave.

Which left the Storm to gather large quantities of Dust. Only problem being that they'd not told anyone how they planned on doing so. With the looming threat of attack hanging over Hork, it must've been maddening to put up with the Storm's lack of details. Yet with them also providing extensive aid to the maintenance of his tower, there was no way he'd risk losing their support by calling their loyalty into question.

So this meeting was assembled, consisting of the Warchiefs and their chief supporters as usual. From his position at the Dreamer's side, Ishga kept watch over the Shaman and Ratlug. He could tell that both of Hork's Captains shared in his suspicion. Well, one of them at least. Dharg seemed more caught up with supporting whatever Hork said, but Pigug had stayed fairly silent throughout most of the meeting as well. It was hard to tell with his helmet, but Ishga was certain he was keeping the Stormbringer and his lackey in sight. And it was easy to see why.

Since they were helping with construction now, Ratlug's researchers were everywhere. No matter where Ishga looked he could always spot a pair of them looking over stuff whilst writing things down. They only ever seemed to converse with other Uruks when asking about structural stuff, but due to their painted skin and odd clothes they still managed to stand out like a sore thumb. But Ishga might have given them some leeway if that was the extent of their involvement. But it wasn't, since he'd spot them looking around the Shanties as well. They'd explained that it was mostly to keep track of resources which had been used to initially refurbish the Tower, but Ishga wasn't intent on letting it be just that. Thankfully, it seemed someone else high up in the Garrison forces mirrored his suspicions.

"Grog's all in good kegs," Dharg said whilst using one of his jagged replacement fingers to scratch at the table between them "just need enough dried meat for the trips."

"Perhaps you wouldn't need to go looking for so many tarks if the Blood-Boys had nicked more bodies from their raids." Ratlug pointed out with a grin

"We prioritized gettin' the items which were asked of us." Ishga stated "Time is not exactly on our side here, so spending it gathering bodies puts whatever we steal at risk."

"Just saying," the false Doctor shrugged as he raised his scroll and glancing back to Hork "so enough dried meat for the catacombs and back. Given how the raids went before today, finding a village suicidal enough to have not moved should prove a challenge."

"It will be done, and the ore will be ours shortly after." Hork stated before turning his attention to the Shaman "What about the dust you need? You haven't been too forthcoming with how you plan on acquiring it in such quantities."

Pugrish shared a look with Ratlug before leaning forward in his seat, "We take... from the Blue Scarves."

He said nothing more and leaned back, but before Hork could voice his frustration, Ratlug elaborated "Those Tark lunatics who are taking over the fang's territory in Vale have been growing their presence around there. Probably using the chaos created by Atlas's mobilization to-"

"Their what!?" Hork stood from his seat.

"Ogthrak... has taken note... of quite the increase in...the Atlesian military's presence." Pugrish pointed out

"Ships, soldiers, robots." Ratlug listed off "There's a hell of lot more of 'em runnin' around Vale."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Hork asked before taking a step away from the table "For all we know they're readying themselves for an attack that could happen any day now."

Ratlug shrugged "We didn't want you overreacting and having your boys bunker down all at once. We don't know whether they're attacking or just trying to fortify Vale until their measly little play fights are over. We can't slow down fortification like that on a fifty-fifty chance, not with how much is incomplete."

"Besides..." Pugrish turned towards Tugog "their attack... was not foreseen in the Master's dreams."

Ishga noticed Tugog's grip on the table before him tighten noticeably, as the Shaman's words seemed to strike a chord in Hork.

"You've been dreaming again?" Hork asked as he placed his hands on the table between them "I thought I told you to tell me when that happens."

"I'm not sure what he's talking about." Tugog glanced to the Stormbringer before settling his gaze on Hork "But I haven't told you because I myself am unable to decipher their meaning yet."

"What? I thought you said this land was making them clearer?" Hork asked before giving a small grumble "That something about this land's magic was empowering them."

"That is true, but the one I shared with the Shaman especially is..." Tugog paused for a moment "Well, a soaring bird is choked by a pale-handed puppet and shrivels as Vale is shaken by a sickly flame. That's all I got from it."

"Something's going to happen in Vale?" Pigug asked before turning to the Stormbringer "Perhaps you should get your lad out of there then."

"He will... withstand the flame." Pugrish said simply, only for Ratlug to continue.

"Besides, this should be great news for us in case they really are trying to get ready to go on the attack." Ratlug cackled "With all they got riding on things in that city there'd be no way they'd keep from using that fancy army to fight it."

A yawn from the other side of Tugog brought the Assembly's attention to Skak, who seemed none too interested in anything being spoken, "So if... if they got all those thingies fightin' this sick flame, they ain't gonna be usin' em on us?"

"That's exactly it." Ratlug snickered "All we need to do is get in using one of the Dreamer Gates, nab some dust from the Blue Scarves, then hightail it over here before this flame stuff starts up. Then we go get the Dark Lord while they's scrambling over whatever's about to happen, then we come back with all of Mordor ready to curb stomp the lot of them before they even realize how bad things have gotten!"

"Hold on," Pigug raised a hand and leaned his head on it "you expect these Scarves to be in possession of that much dust. While under Atleasian supervision at that? Am I to assume your informant told you of this as well."

"Indeed... this shall benefit us... on two fronts." the Shaman said carefully

"The Scarves have been scoping out Ogthrak's locale for a while now, he's scared they's gonna try targeting them as some kind of symbolic 'Destroying ignorance' thing. We nick their dust, slow them down and get an express ticket to Mordor in the process. We just gotta get in position for a quick nabbing, as one misstep will bring Atlas's entire military running to intercept. But our boys trained enough for it, so we should have everything in good time."

"Why haven't they used it yet?" Ishga asked, causing the smirk to fade from Ratlug's face "The Blue Scarves, if they're as crazed as you and your contact claim them to be , and they have that much dust, why they ain't using it yet? Ya said ya'self that they's a bunch of lunatic tarks, and I know lunatics. So why aren't they being more... looney?"

Ratlug blinked at that before fixing his lens-less glasses "Oh who knows why? Dumb tarks probably don't even know how to be properly destructive."

"As long as we get that dust, that's all that matters." Hork stated "How soon can you get it?"

The meeting continued like that, but something about Ratlug's answer didn't sit well with Ishga. He mulled it over through the the rest of the meeting and even some time after all parties had returned to their previous dealings. As Tugog led both his underlings to the large elevator, Ishga couldn't help but bring it up.

"Why was it the only answer he gave us that was vague?" he pointed out as he pulled the large lever and began the platform's descent.

"Pug's always been kinda thin on details," Skak said with a laugh "old bastard ain't really about words, ya know?"

"Not him, Ratlug." Ishga corrected before turning to Tugog "He was more than willing to talk on and on about every little thing during that meeting, yet for some reason the moment I asked why a group of apparently crazy tarks are just sitting and waiting on large stores of dust and weapons he gets all evasive. I can't be the only one who's seeing something wrong with that, right Master?"

Tugog leaned against his staff "It doesn't really fit with him." he muttered

"Exactly, so they've got to have something else going on." Ishga folded his arms and thought "The Scarves could be waiting for something, for all we know they could be orchestrating the flame ya saw in your dream."

"I saw no indication of what started the fires." Tugog looked back quickly before casting his gaze to the platform below "Although..."

"Or maybe they don't have any dust after all, Storm boys could be telling a bluff." He looked over to his Warchief "You notice how they're the only ones with eyes in Vale? They could tell us whatever the Shrahk they wanted and we'd have no way to check up on it."

"But who cares?" Skak asked whilst leaning on his axe and scratching the side of his face "As long as they get us the stuff we need's for the gate, who cares how they get it? Blood-Axe certainly don't, and I'm inclined to agree."

"It matters that they felt the need to be evasive in the first place!" Ishga bit before jerking a thumb towards his partner "I don't know if you've noticed, but Hork's given them free reign to have their boys run around the Tower however they wish. And frankly, their mastery over the Dreamer Gates is a very uncomfortable fact that I've yet to fully accept."

"We've not yet received word from Skog or Torz?" Tugog asked "I believe Dushrat had them investigating the gates before his little incident with Hork."

"Not a peep." Ishga said before thinking and growling "They went off to get the Storm's help with the gates and we ain't hear anything yet. What's the odds they got themselves done in?"

"Skog maybe, but I remember Muggrish to be quite the bruiser before he got himself stuck with the Corrupter." Skak said as he looked up with a happy sigh "By the lord, has it really been that long since they left?"

"Skak... it's been months you dumb glob!" Ishga looked back to Tugog "Their research was supposed to help us get just as good with the gates as the Storm, now those blue bastards are passing us up with lightning speed. On top of that, we don't even know where they're based at! They always have us enter or leave that cave through Dreamer Gates, so they could be anywhere on the map! Excuse me if I'm a little suspicious of when they decide we shouldn't know something."

"All this concern is warranted," Dreamer nodded as he looked back at them once again "I've yet to see signs of some form of foul-play, but its possibility is palpable."

"And we're just going to let this stay how it is?" Ishga asked as he gestured to his sides "With them always being on top of stuff while we're scrambling to keep our heads above water?"

"Hork was right," Tugog stepped off the platform as they reached the floor his bedchambers was located on "as long as we end up with the dust in our possession, how its obtained is fairly irrelevant."

"But-!" Ishga stepped forward, only for Dreamer to raise his hand.

"But this secrecy of theirs is too troublesome." he stated before turning and watching them continue to descend "So if you lads could keep tabs on what their researchers are really doing around here, I'd be greatly appreciative."

Ishga's eyes widened momentarily before he dropped to one knee "As you wish, Master. The Blood-Storm will not fail this task."

Tugog nodded before stepping away as the elevator continued descending. Ishga rose with pride, only for that to disappear immediately once Skak opened his mouth again.

"Think we could get 'em talking over a few mugs o' grog?"

---

~The Arceus: Kruk's Kitchen~

"Flame brought us to Remnant!" Kruk bellowed "Brought us for war!"

On your left!

I see 'em.

It was getting more and more annoying for Uthug to focus on evading Kruk's flames, his fire-starters, listen to Gundza's warnings, and ignore Kruk's ranting at the same time. These weren't Caterers, that's for damn sure. They were far more aggressive, giving him fewer openings to capitalize on, but then again they weren't his actual target. He'd been trying to put Kruk and that damn firespitter out of commission since the battle began, and would use any weapon he could get to wail on him whenever he could.

But the firespitter proved sturdier than it looked, as it still functioned with about six or seven broken weapons lodged into it. The fire-starters weren't helping, doing everything they could to force Uthug away from their Captain whenever he got a good angle. Not helping was the fact that most of their burning weapons left trails of embers in the air, nearly blinding Uthug on several occasions.

But despite all of that, he'd finally worn them down to only two fire-starters, the others lying in messy heaps around them. But even with his soldiers on their last legs and his firespitter shuddering from the damage it had sustained, Kruk still felt the need to ramble about fire and war and stuff Uthug couldn't give two shrahks about.

"Real warrior!" Kruk cheered as he waved the nozzle of his flamespitter "Hide amongst whelps I see. Flame guide you to us for proper battle. Give my boys proper death. Give me taste of real war."

"Fancy way of saying I'm gonna tear ya damned heart out ya fanatical bastard!" Uthug shouted while hefting a burning club he'd pried from a corpse's grasp.

"Ha ha!" Kruk laughed as he pointed the nozzle once more "Spoken like true Warborn!"

Uthug readied himself as another stream of flames sailed towards him, leaping out of its way and charging the closest of the two Firestarters and dodging under his skewer. swinging the club into the back of his knee, Uthug managed to grab hold of his head and shove him out of the way just as the other rammed into him from the side. Uthug held his footing, wrapping both arms around him before burying his knee in the Firestarter's stomach. The two stumbled back out of the way of another stream of flames, only for the previous attacker to wrap his arms around Uthug and haul him off his feet. The looter flailed immediately, rearing forward before driving his foot into his captor's knee.

The Firestarter's knee gave out and the two fell to the floor, where Uthug proceeded to plunge his fingers into his eyes until his victim ceased movement.

"More! We wait too long for this!" Kruk shouted as he helped the other Firestarter to his feet. Noticing his underling's heavy breaths, Kruk leaned down to him, "You feel? The pulse, the pound, the burn of fire inside. That's war, that feeling is gift given for our pain."

As he spoke, the Firestarter's breaths got even more violent until he raised his head and smiled "I feel it Captain, I feel it! It feels so damned good!"

Uthug stood tall as the two readied their weapons, eyes quickly darting down to the skewer dropped by the now-eyeless corpse at his feet. The final firestarter raced towards him, laughing all the while. Uthug ran to meet him, scooping up the skewer as he passed before ramming his shoulder into the Firestarter and burying the skewer in his skull as he fell. But he couldn't stop there, as he could already see the next stream of flame heading his way.

He ran to the side, with Kruk angling the nozzle to try and catch him. But Uthug once dodged underneath the spray of flame before leaping and burying the entirety of the burning club into Kruk's oven. It sank through the weakened metal as flames started to spill from the gaps. Sensing what was about to happen, Uthug didn't even wait to lunge away from Kruk as the flamespitter ignited and engulfed him in flames.

Uthug rolled onto his back, watching Kruk stumble in the flames for a moment before collapsing in a burning pile.

Impressive.

I don't need your comments yet, Shadow. Give me some time to breath, that guy didn't make things easy for me.

Oh? I wasn't impressed by you, all you did was your standard affair of hit something until it dies. I'm more impressed by how Kruk's ideals evolved since the last time I met him.

Uthug grew a confused look at that.

What do you mean?

Tell me something, how familiar are you with the Warmonger Tribe?

Don't know, don't care. That whole tribe thing never really stuck with me. Used to think we Marauders were special because we stole stuff, but then I see that literally everybody else steals stuff too so the importance didn't really hold up.

Uthug could practically feel Gundza rolling his eyes with accompanied sigh, and lied down and closed his eyes in preparation for the long speech he knew was incoming.

Many see tribes as just congregations of Uruks who share similar ideas, the Warmonger Tribe specializes in war. Many take the title of Warmonger, as we're all weapons of battle in the end, but that's not the same.

Why is any of this important now?

Well, while you were doing your standard kill everything routine, I took a moment to think about how Kruk could've built all of these gadgets without many resources and a blatantly stunted speech pattern. And it was during his rambling that I remembered he was a member of that specific tribe.

So? That doesn't explain shrahk, that idiot couldn't-

They only specialize in war, making them exceptionally resourceful on the battlefield, but they don't have many other talents. They might seem like idiots, lunatics, even downright confusing, but whereas you Marauders define yourselves by your greed, Warmongers are defined by warfare, therefore its the only thing they have to be good at.

Don't know why you think this matters anymore... he's dead.

Oh right, my time thinking about that also reminded me what his semblance was.

Uthug's eyes snapped open immediately, "His what!?"

Almost as soon as he said that, he heard it. Under the sound of flames roaring, he could hear a tiny sound which made his heart drop: snickering.

Yeah, you might want to prepare for further agitation.

Uthug slowly turned to see Kruk's still burning body push itself to his feet... only it wasn't burning. The flames still engulfed him, but Uthug could see the outline of a perfectly okay Uruk within.

"No..." Uthug uttered as the flaming Uruk turned towards him.

"Good fight for boys," the flame said as it gestured to the corpses around them

"No!" Uthug said again as Kruk tore open the cage around his arm and let the burning flamespitter fall to the ground behind him.

"You move good, Warborn. Far better deaths than others given." Kruk reached up and casually wiped some flame away from his face, revealing an ear to ear smile.

"No!" Uthug shouted as he pushed himself to his feet "What is this shrahk?! You don't just get to decide ya don't give a damn about being set on fire!"

Kruk raised his arms wide "This? Gift given by War, I walk as flame in these lands."

Uthug shook his head, still not fully believing the world could pull a reversal on him like this.

"You have thanks warborn!" Kruk chuckled as he reached down to take hold of the broken cage before pulling it and the burning wreckage of the oven off the ground "Wish you here weeks ago. Give others proper warrior death, no sneaky stealing at night. But war not just satisfied with simple good warrior, it want new battle. New fighting. New bloodshed to keep fire from grow stagnant. I carry its flame, cannot die good simple death."

Gundza, how exactly am I supposed to kill this guy if I can't even touch him without getting seared to a crisp?

Well, you aren't exactly one for plans so I'd say just improvise.

How do I improvise against this!?

"New warrior think on feet," Kruk cooed as he hefted the burning wreckage onto his back via the twisted cage "I make you think on feet. Show you deserve me dead, Warborn!"

And with that, he whipped the burning wreckage of his weapon over his head towards Uthug, who had to slide to the side as it crashed into the ground. With a yank of the broken cage, Kruk sent the burning heap sliding towards Uthug.

"Oh I see," Uthug groaned as he danced out of its range, only for Kruk to charge after him while whipping the wreckage onto his back again "who cares if Uthug breaks my excessively convoluted fire thingy, let's just break it even more and turn the entire thing into a damned flail!"

"You funny Warborn!" Kruk chuckled as he swung the makeshift flail again "Laugh doesn't win wars, though!"

"Would you shut up about war!" Uthug cried as he rolled under another swing of the flail and tried kicking Kruk in the back.

Almost immediately he had to pull back as flames latched to his blackened clothes, he hopped back while swatting at them, only for the flail to slam into his chest and throw him back off his feet. He needed a weapon, something with enough range to get at Kruk without risking the fire. Immediately his eyes darted back to the charred corpses still suspended over that one patch of flame. More specifically to the metal poles they were tied to. He made for them quickly, taking note of Kruk's heavy footsteps behind him.

Leaping over the flames to the other side, Uthug reached back and took hold of the pole Galkar's corpse was attached to before wrenching it off its stand. Before he could fully pry it out of place, Kruk's massive flail swung into the poles from the side, tearing all of them away and snapping the one Uthug had gotten a hold of.

"Nice thought," Kruk chittered whilst walking through the flames and dragging his flail behind him "not enough for War."

Uthug was remiss to see that the broken poles were now lodged into the tattered wreckage, essentially adding spikes to the already deadly implement.

"A-Are you kidding me!?" he exclaimed

Kruk wasted no time in sending the flail swinging towards Uthug once more, only for the Looter to turn and run.

Ah, trying to retreat?

And have him go and get another seven idiots I'll have to cut through to do this all over? No. I'm gonna get myself a better weapon.

So instead of running for the exit, he ran for the only other accessible door, which happened to be at the top of a set of stairs on the side of the room. The railing on it looked like he could break it off, but as he reached for it the flail sailed up over him.

"Oh you have got to be-" he wasn't even able to finish his disgusted remark before he had to throw himself against the door to keep from getting flattened.

"I like you fight." Kruk cackled as he climbed over the railing "But not too bright, shielding self from War's guiding light."

"Are you going to start rhyming now!?" Uthug exclaimed as he pulled open the door and backed into a hallway "Are you just trying to remind me of everyone I've ever hated!?"

"Many good song pass between warrior before run to battle." Kruk pointed out with a grin as he once more picked up the flail "Can't enjoy humor of War? Then you simply-"

"Don't you say what I think you're about to say, you bastard." Uthug stated

Kruk wiped some of the flame away from his face so Uthug could clearly see him wink "-Cattle?"

"You know exactly what you're doing, damn it!" Uthug roared before turning down the hallway and running. His eyes darted from the door to door, but found all of them boarded up, there wasn't a weapon in sight, and Kruk's uproarious laughter was drawing closer.

You're letting him get to you.

I know!

Well use that!

I can't without some damned range!

"You think too much, warborn!" Kruk bellowed as he began spinning the flail over his head again "War not like think, War demands action. New flame, new fire, new warfare!"

Uthug finally exited onto a walkway overlooking what have at one point been a freezer. It had the look of one, only with most of its meat hooks removed and a distinct lack of cold air being circulated through it. But most importantly, Uthug couldn't see any other way out in this massive freezer. But though Uthug cursed his luck, as there were even less potential weapons here, he heard Gundza sigh.

He's right. Though I hate to admit it, you're thinking far too much about this.

Oh so now you're going to pull a one-eighty on me? There hasn't been a single moment on this blasted ship when you haven't been whining like a little tark over me not thinking things through or planning. But now that I'm up against someone who I can't seem to hit, all of a sudden being suicidally reckless is recommended?

Yes.

Have you finally gone mad!?

Seeing as our options are limited here, I'll have to say that you must trust your natural tendencies here.

I can't touch him!

That's not what I mean. I might not like it one bit, but you work best without thinking. Berserkers thrive on being emotionally volatile and using that very volatility to react immediately to new scenarios with as much force as they can muster. In terms a whelp like you can understand, you're supposed to be extremely adaptable because of this. So do what you're supposed to, and adapt.

"But-!" Uthug began as Kruk leaped out of the doorway behind him and brought the flail down again. Uthug leaned out of the way as the flail slammed into the railings of the walkway before trying once more to crack Kruk on the back of the head. Though the burning Uruk growled, Uthug once more pulled away to find his arm covered in flames.

Okay, maybe adapt a different way.

But as soon as Uthug looked back to Kruk, he instead saw the flail swinging towards him. Only this time the twisted cage finally broke, and the entire makeshift flail fell apart into a rain of burning metal which covered Uthug and the entirety of the walkway.

Kruk gave a grumble as he dropped what remained of the cage, standing tall and looking over the burning rubble with a dissapointed sigh. Only for his eyes to snap open beneath the flames as the fire covering the wreckage changed.

"Ah!" he smiled as he saw what looked like weak, black fire sprouting up amongst the flame "Now that's more like it."

Uthug acted on impulse, but he didn't fully understand what was happening. All he knew was that the burning sensation he'd expected from being covered in the wreckage of Kruk's flail never came. Instead, he merely felt a bit hot. But he could see it, black flames dancing across his skin as if he weren't capable of igniting.

I knew it, I knew it!

While Gundza had a good while of repeating that phrase, Uthug took an unsteady breath. It looked exactly like Kruk's semblance, only a bit weaker. His flames also took on an odd, black and white hue, but that wasn't what concerned him at that moment.

If he couldn't feel these flames, he wouldn't have to care about Kruk's.

"You touched by War, truly!" Kruk laughed loudly "Born in flame like I!"

"Say whatever you want." Uthug muttered as he stepped closer to the railing, unused to the flames trailing from him "Won't change the fact that you just lost your advantage."

He took hold of the railing and pried a large piece of it off as Kruk waved off the threat.

"Advantage, disadvantage!" Kruk cackled before leaning down and grabbing a rather large hunk of metal from the wreckage of his flail "War not care, it only want battle."

"Don't think, just act." Uthug muttered to himself while snapping the lengthy piece of railing in half "Don't think."

Kruk smiled as he lunged towards him, with Uthug breaking into a run to meet him. Uthug ducked underneath the first swing of the burnt blade before turning and leaping at Kruk's back. Kruk managed to swing the blade back to catch Uthug, but the Looter slammed his heel into the side of Kruk's head before he was slashed away.

"More!" Kruk roared as he raced over, blade swinging. Uthug had to roll to his feet and start weaving out of the way of the frenzied assault immediately, eventually catching Kruk's weapon between his and ramming his head into Kruk's gut, forcing him back. Kruk pushed back further out of the way of Uthug's swings before charging into him shoulder first.

Uthug brought his weapons up to catch Kruk's next swing just in time, with him having to steel his stance to keep from getting pushed back.

"That all?" Kruk asked as he pressed down "Flame not hot enough."

Uthug skidded back out of the way before darting back in to clash weapons once more.

Like this the two traded blows, with Uthug's somewhat lighter build giving him just the edge he needed to evade most of Kruk's more punishing attacks. However, as he once more brought his jagged pieces of metal along Kruk's violently flaring aura, Kruk reacted far faster than he expected. His burnt blade came up and slashed one of Uthug's ill-fashioned weapons out of his left hand. The two watched it sail off the walkway for a second before both acted.

Kruk spun around while Uthug brought his remaining weapon up to intercept, but with only one was unable to hold it back and was flung against the railing harshly.

Before he could try and move, Kruk's foot slammed into his right hand and pinned his only remaining weapon there whilst raising his sword. Once more Uthug fought the urge to panic, instead lunging forward with his free hand to try and catch the incoming swing.

To the surprise of both them and Gundza, Uthug's hand phased into Kruk's wrist. There was a moment of stunned silence racing through all of them as Kruk turned to his stalled hand and tried to ineffectively continue with his finishing move.

That's-

Without pausing to listen to Gundza, Uthug grunted loudly as he flexed his wrist and forced Kruk's grip on the weapon to loosen. He ripped his hand back out of Kruk before reaching down and catching the fallen weapon before cutting a large gash up Kruk's torso. Coupled with the shock of having his aura broken, Kruk stumbled back enough for Uthug to leap onto him and begin viciously stabbing the remaining bit of metal into his neck. Kruk flailed as he tried to pry the Looter off him, only succeeding after his back slammed into the already weakened railing. He reached up to pull the jagged metal from his neck, only for Uthug to plunge the stolen blade through his chest and force him partially through the railing.

Kruk grabbed hold of the weapon and leaned towards Uthug with a grin "G-Good war."

That was all Uthug was willing to give him before releasing the blade and allowing him to fall off the walkway into the gutted freezer.

He stood there panting for a while, the black flames still leaking off of him as he collected himself.

You still there?

That seemed to snap Uthug out of his daze, but before he could respond to the Shadow's question, he instead gasped as he was covered in a sudden rush of heat. Glancing down, he saw the black flames returning to very normal looking ones, painfully normal ones.

Uthug cursed and sputtered as he tore off the burning clothes, leaving him in nothing but burnt and shredded bottoms as he tossed the rest over the rails as well.

Yep, still there.

"Can I get a moment to myself here!?" Uthug barked

Inside voice, I'm merely making sure you haven't lost yourself to some kind of rage-induced madness. Berserkers like yourself are more susceptible than most Uruks.

I'm fine, just wasn't ready for that thing to wear off.

That thing, is the key to my vengeance. I told you, your semblance has something to do with mimicking the semblances of others! With it, an opponent's advantages are yours to abuse as well! They weren't exactly perfect replicas but those were definitely Kruk's flame aura and my possession.

Uthug rolled his eyes before turning and trying to make his way back to the front of Kruk's kitchen "Flame aura might've helped, but if I hadn't acted when that shrahk ran out I could've ended up burning myself to a crisp. Ruined my clothes."

Oh we both know you're just gonna pick some new ones off the globs ya just did in, focus on the semblance! Mastering it is key to success in this realm, and with one as potent as yours, there's no telling how dangerous you could be! Though, I'm still confused by the intricacies of how it works. You know?

No, but I get the feeling you're going to tell me anyway.

I mean, Kruk's semblance running out means that there's some kind of arbitrary limit here. But the fact that you used mine means there's still plenty left unknown. Like, were you able to use it because of my presence in you at the moment? Did you have it since the train? If it was the train, then you might be able to hold multiple semblances at once. Do you see the possibilities here?

Uthug merely groaned as Gundza began rambling, once more he tuned the Shadow's speech out as he finally made his way back to the front of Kruk's kitchen, were the flames were finally starting to die down.

-but all of that is for later, right now we need to tear open the barricades Kruk and his fire-starters set up and see what they might be hiding around here. If only to make sure there's no explosives lying around for someone to screw around with.

Uthug knelt beside one of the corpses and began checking it's clothes.

Yeah yeah, clothes now... explosives later.

---

~The City of Vale: Penelope's Pallet~

"We've got a whiskey for table three."

Malts' paused halfway to the oven, slowly glancing back to Tabitha, who leaned over a counter and nodded back to the tables behind her, "Just whiskey? Nothing else?"

"Nope." she stated before stepping away.

Malts sighed and got to it, looking up to check the clock "I know your shift's almost over, but you can't take care of that?"

"Said he wanted to talk with you too." she waved back to him

With a raised eyebrow, Malts stepped out of the kitchen. Usually he'd be more stern about leaving his station, but with how late it was, and how few customers they had at the time, he was willing to let his curiosity take hold. After acquiring a beverage, he stepped into the dining area and sought table three, only for his eyes to widen immediately upon seeing the lanky figure lounging alone.

"Pretty dead in here, Malts." the figure noted as he looked around "Thought that incident with the guys from the Studio blew this place up in the media?"

"It's late, and you know that popularity doesn't work like that." Malts said with a small smile as he approached "We aren't exactly a nightlife place, Qrow. So I'm surprised you'd pick somewhere like this instead of an actual bar."

"What? Can't try and meet with old friends?"

"Picking up your niece after a bad stint at a bar hardly counts as friends, Qrow." Malts said as he placed the drink on the table and took the seat across from him "In all honesty, I'd say I know more of you from what Ruby and Yang said during their visits than actual interaction."

"They're saying good stuff about me, I'd hope."

"Enough for me to know that you wouldn't show up at a modest establishment like this without reason."

Qrow finally met Malts's eyes as he reached over to grab his drink, "Modest? Are you kidding me? The decor around here is just begging for attention."

"You'll have to take that up with my employer." Malts gestured around him "But if it doesn't take away from the food or drinks, I don't find much trouble with it."

Qrow took a long drink before finally setting the glass down and leaning forward "I want to ask you about the guys who raided Yires."

"That's what this is about? Qrow, the officials already took down most of our statements." Malts pointed out

"Yes, but let's just say I've been looking at things a bit differently than they would. Noticed it while I was on another job, but let's just say that certain things those raiders got up to before the crackdown at the Arena seem a bit too... off."

"Off?"

"Look, I just need you to recount what you saw, then I'll be out of your hair."

Malts gave him a questioning look, "Why wouldn't you ask your nieces? They've interacted with the ruffians far more than I or any of the Yires population had."

Qrow merely smirked, "Who do you think I'm asking after this?"

"Yo Malts!"

The two men turned to see Tabitha approach as she pulled on a jacket, "That's my time, want me to wait for you two to finish up with... whatever this is, or-?"

"Won't be necessary, Tabi." Malts held up his hand before gesturing to the door "I'll be a while, so I'll take care of closing. By all means."

With a nod, the Waitress made her way out of the establishment and onto the cool night-lit streets of Vale. She had a ways to go before she'd reach the bus stop, so she pulled her jacket tighter as she walked. This part of Vale wasn't normally busy, meaning there weren't many cars on the roads. Occasionally she found herself lit up by a vehicle, and at one point even had to shift out of the way of a pair of patrolling AK-Units, but that was it. Perhaps if this area was more congested, Atlas would have more androids monitoring it. But ever since the White Fang activities started becoming less and less prevalent, it seemed even other criminals were getting sick of Vale.

Which was perhaps why Tabitha found herself surprised when a man's voice called out, "Hold up!"

She looked to the side just as a man in a dirty hoodie stepped out of a nearby alleyway and cut her off, he wasted no time in peering at her suspiciously as another voice from the alley said, "She ain't one of them."

Despite the angered man before her, Tabitha found her eyes drawn inside the Alley, were another man and woman were crouched down sharing a bottle of alcohol while another woman farther back spray painted something on the wall. Tabitha almost assumed they were just a collection of drunken punks when one identifying feature stood out amongst their drab appearance.

Just under their clothes, barely peeking out of their sleeves, or through holes, were very conspicuously wrapped pieces of blue cloth. They all had them somewhere, the not in any places that would stand out unless looked at carefully. But she'd seen news reports, knew exactly what these people were. And any snarky complaints she'd usually give urchins were washed away by a deeper fear.

"She doesn't have any goddamn animal ears, man." the crouched woman shouted before prying the bottle from the crouched man's hands

"Could be hiding something under the coat." Tabitha backed away as the man before her lazily reached for her "Could be hiding explosives or some shit. Those terrorists could be having her blow up any number of things!"

"The hell would they have to blow around here?" the woman with the spray paint asked "Not much around here for anybody to break. Wouldn't spread enough terror to the people. Think, man."

"We could check just in case." the crouched woman asked "Wouldn't want anything slipping by."

Tabitha continued backing up, this was way worst than just some drunken punks. These people were Blue Scarves.

"Hey." the crouched man finally spoke up "Tearjerkers don't want us breaking any fanatics just yet. Gotta paint the place all up and stuff first."

"But if we let her go, think of everyone she could hurt if she is strapped." the crouched woman stood with a growl "So many innocent idiots getting torn apart because we let this piece go, no issue."

"What Tearjerkers say, the boss wants." the Painter said as she lowered the can and looked out to them "She walks for now, can't say much for when the painting's all done."

So with a grumble, the man standing in her way shifted back into the alley, "You heard her, get your ass moving."

Tabitha wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and quickly hurried by the alley even with the eyes of the Blue Scarves tracking her the entire time.

"Painting first, we can deal with the fanatics after we're all suited up." the Painter spoke to her comrades as she continued spray-painting the wall "Make them have a little taste of our pain, show them why we cry."

---

~Pug-Bringer Studios~

"Is she... crying?"

Krimp looked back at the Twins with a sad smile, "Just has to let it all out for a bit, she'll be right as rain once she runs out of eyewater!"

He'd been standing in front of the door to the storage room they often spoke in, only now the only sound coming from it were the ceaseless wails of Bebe.

Melanie and Militia shared a look before turning their attention back to Krimp, who glanced back at the door behind him a few times before asking, "I hope ya don't need her for anything right now, cause I don't think she's ready for anything at the moment."

"Well, I was going to ask how things went." Melanie said before nodding to the door "But I suppose this answers my question."

"I was sent by the boss," Militia shrugged "we're getting a mascot."

"A what?" Melanie raised an eyebrow before jerking a thumb behind them "I thought that Rolo and Banz were our mascots?"

"No, they're our main performers, the stars of the show." Militia grinned "We're getting a pug."

"A dog?" Krimp tilted his head to the side "I know we's named Pug-Bringer Studios, and that Oggie's character's supposed to have this thing for the little runts, but-"

"I'm sure there's some kinda marketing thing he's got in mind. Like, beyond just having a dog. He explained it in this convoluted way where the guys that don't approve of our content ratings are gonna see this as some kind of public image grab and call it out therefore getting us more media attention or some shit. I'm not much for mind games so I couldn't care less. Just supposed to let you know since, apparently, you guys don't get any of the P.A. system built around here."

"Wait what?" Melanie looked to Krimp "Bigsby's got a paranoid eye over most of the studio, why wouldn't this place have any comms set up?"

"He just wants all of the fun singing stuff!" Krimp laughed before leaning down and whispering "But back here's all the boring business stuff, so ain't no reason to bring too much attention around here. It's where all our secret friend-makin' meet-ups happen after all!"

"That doesn't make any sense, isn't the distribution bay back here?" Melanie shook her head "How would he-?"

"What about you?" Krimp interrupted "You seemed surprise by our incoming little buddy. Where were you? Thought ya break was limited?"

"Might've been caught up catching up on the Tournament on my scroll." Melanie admitted with a sigh "We performed for most of the day, wasn't really able to pay attention to it while the guys were dancing, so now that things are getting a bit slower I figured there was no harm in seeing a bunch of idealistic idiots beat the crap out of each other."

"Ugh, I'd care more about it if it wasn't the reason for Atlas having their boot up everyone's asses." Militia whined before scoffing "Seriously, ever since the Fang-"

She paused as the wails momentarily spiked in volume, causing all of them to look to the door behind Krimp. Once it lowered to its original volume, Militia tried again, "As I was saying, ever since the Fang-"

Yet again Bebe's crying increased, causing a smirk to spread across Militia's face as she stepped by Krimp and leaned towards the closed door, "White Fang?"

More sobs.

"White Fang." she said whilst holding back a snicker

Even more sobbing.

"No way." Militia laughed "Fang, Fang, Fang , Fang, Faaaaaaaaaaannng-"

"Are you sure she's gonna be okay?" Melanie asked Krimp as the two watched as Militia continued screwing with Bebe's levels of misery

"Ah, she'll be fine. She has to be, she just met her big bro!" he replied

"Yeah, but it kinda sounds like that meeting's about to drive her to alcohol or something."

"Well yeah!" Krimp said with a roll of his eyes "Every time I meet up with my Bro I'm always on cloud nine no matter how miserably it goes. Feel downright terrible whenever he insults me, or talks down to me, or says how much he hates being around me. Though I'd never get to crying and all, since I'm an Uruk and we don't really do that."

"I'm starting to think you're not exactly someone to go to for family matters." Melanie stated

"Really?" Krimp seemed confused, but then he smiled again "Well I guess I'll take ya word for it, buddy! Criticism is the best way to evolve!"

"It still doesn't sound like you're understanding the problem here," Melanie shook her head before gesturing to the door "And Militia, give her some goddamned space."

"But sis, she's making it too easy." Militia responded before turning back to the door "Fang fang? White White fang?"

Melanie sighed, "Okay, neither of you are making this any better."

---

~The Arceus~

"What... the shrahk... is this?" Uthug asked his question as carefully as possible, lest the scenario presented before him cause his black heart to explode from sheer rage.

Since dealing with Kruk, Uthug had had a good relaxing time of picking through bodies and taking a nice long breath. They hadn't found anything more than cooked inmates in the sealed off portions of Kruk's kitchen, which Uthug was just hungry enough to try before confirming that despite the wide pallet of most Uruks, cannibalism just wasn't as satisfying as tark meat to him.

After finding an inmate uniform with the least amount of tears in it, he'd made the effort to get it as similar to his previous outfit as possible. Which, of course, meant he had to cover it in as much black blood as possible. Gundza had stated how pointless it was, but Uthug rather liked standing out amongst all the drab inmate attire. He wasn't about to weigh himself down with heavy armor like Bubol's crew, and he wasn't about to wear a bunch of filthy tark garb like the Caterers. He liked how just having a different color scheme immediately set himself apart... plus, he was kinda getting used to the whole Black-Cloth moniker he'd gained.

So he cut open one of Kruk's boys and tried recreating the effect. Unfortunately, the result was haphazard at best. His original attire bore the scars of battle, and the result of all the black-blood he'd spilt had such a specific style of stain that recreating it with just one corpse was all but impossible. And so he was in quite the fussy mood when he finally set out to inform Bubol of his success. Though Gundza insisted that it wasn't even important enough to think about, the shadow enjoyed the argument. It was one of the few he and Uthug had that didn't directly put both of their lives on the line.

They were approaching the first Caterer base Uthug had wiped out during his bid to free Bubol. Now that their sphere of influence had grown, Bubol had had most of his underlings move here to keep pressure on the Caterers. Of course he had to throw a huge tizzy about leaving his precious mural of the tark girl behind, so several of the Crewmates were working to try and somehow find a way to carve it out of the wall and bring it over. That was an annoyance Uthug was glad to not have to deal with.

But usually there'd be at least some guards by the door who'd be ready to welcome him after a job-well done. Not this time, and some dumb glob had even managed to leave it open. They'd made a makeshift one to replace the door Uthug had broken during his rampage, so why the hell not use it? That question was on his lips when he entered the base and found the door guards on the inside staring towards the center of the open room. Dozens of other crew mates were also training their gazes on the center of the room, looking from the second floor or behind counters or peaking past each other.

Uthug didn't care initially, as he was still pissed about his ruined clothes and was more than willing to use the door as an excuse to ruin some poor recruit's day.

All those ambitions died when he found the thing which had garnered everyone's attention. Bubol was having a hearty laugh with someone, joking around about something when Uthug finally came across them. Bubol noticed his approach and nudged the Uruk at his side, and somewhere deep inside Uthug he found a hope that he had really gone mad and was just seeing some horrible delusion.

"Warborn!"

Nope... this was still reality... and it still seemed to hate him with a passion.

"Kruk!?" Uthug exclaimed as he reeled back from a mixture of shock, horror and confusion as the Uruk he was damn certain he killed not an hour ago stood tall and laughed at him "What are- How did- THE SHRAHK IS GOING ON HERE!?"

"Oh? Confusion not fit you, Warborn." Kruk folded his arms and gave a dismissive shake of his head "Not fierce enough for true war."

Uthug's head snapped towards Bubol, "You! Explain! Now!"

"He wandered in here about twenty minutes ago," Bubol giggled "and me and him have just been having a dandy time catching up on how we've been! It's been a while since I've had a good chat with this bastard-"

"B-but I killed you!" Uthug exclaimed "Shoved a jagged bit of metal right into ya damned neck, cut ya deep with ya own metal then tossed ya right on your ass!"

Kruk tapped at his neck, where Uthug could see a large new patch of deeply brunt skin covering the wound in question "Flame cares for wounds. Licks blood clean and keeps all inside." he said with a shrug "War not done with me yet, and I not done with you yet either."

"Oh you want me to finish the job?" Uthug growled as he shoved another Uruk out of the way and raised his hands "No problem, I'll be sure to tear you limb from limb this time. Let's see ya War bring you back from that!"

"Hold up there." Bubol intervened, stepping between the two before casually leaning back against Kruk "Be a bit rude to go killing an ally like that."

"A what!?"

"Kruk here came asking to join up!" Bubol cheered "Ain't that grand?"

"We was trying to kill each other literally an hour ago!" Uthug shouted

"Yes, you know true war, even if not accepting it." Kruk noted before rolling his eyes "Felgrat say my boys given freedom quickly, say we get real war. We locked in stalemate for weeks, and all my boys dead. Tired of false promise."

"You can't... you can't just change sides like that." Uthug cried before snarling and jerking a thumb towards himself "I was the glob who slaughtered the last of your lads for lord's sakes!"

Kruk laughed at that, "Managed keep promise to them!" he pointed to Uthug "You give them real war in end. Good deaths for good warrior."

"And it's been far too long since I've had a joker like him to hang around with." Bubol stretched before nudging Kruk again "Gotta tell you, lad. Ain't none of these boys got any humor about them."

"Such tragedy." Kruk nodded before looking around "All these boys, cowardly letting one real Warrior fight war. Not jumping in. Sad."

"You can't be serious, Bubol!" Uthug pleaded "You were the one who sent me to kill him."

"Funny how things turn out, eh?" Bubol cooed

Uthug looked inward, hoping that Gundza would have anything to help him convince Bubol just how terrible this idea was, but all he could hear from the Shadow were groans of disappointment.

"Now that we on same side, hope you expect many battle from now on." Kruk pointed out before frowning "Still not fully connect with War, need fighting with real warrior to grow. I gladly volunteer."

"What the-?" Uthug shook his head in disbelief "Wouldn't being on the same side imply we weren't trying to kill each other?!"

"No kill, but many battle." Kruk smiled wide "I keep you on toes, no want best warrior here grow used to fight with weaklings. Not good for Warborn."

"So what?" Uthug looked around them "Am I supposed to expect you to just pop out of nowhere and attack me from now on? Is that what you're saying?"

"Hah! You catch on quick, Warborn." Kruk nodded "Warrior need proper warrior to train. Need always be ready. Need to learn gifts of war."

"And what's to stop me from tearing you apart right now so I don't have to deal with it?"

"I won't allow it." Bubol stated simply, much to Uthug's further frustration "Kruk here's bringing plenty to the table, even offered to train up my boys!"

"Why do we need's a shrahk like him to train us!" one of the crewmates stepped forward "Just look at him!"

"Want example?" Kruk asked before walking over to him "We go now, weakling like you no understand why weak until beaten down. I help."

"What now?" the Crewmate gestured to his most recent burns "You look like you's barely recovered from the Black-Cloth tearing you up. What exactly is you supposed to do against an Uruk in full armor with plenty o-"

His words were cut off as Kruk stepped forward and rammed his head against the Crewmate's helmet, denting it. He didn't even get to stumble away before Kruk took hold of both his head and a leg before lifting him off the ground and bringing him down on his knee.

The Uruk howled as Kruk tossed him away "All weak! Think armor all need. Cowardly, no understand pleasure of war!" he bellowed to the rest of them before gesturing for them to approach "Disagree? Come and prove wrong! Love to see try!"

Uthug watched as only a few of Bubol's crew stepped in to take him up on that challenge, rushing in only for the Hot-Head to beat them back with equal ferocity. Bubol applauded the performance as more yells and cheers rose up from the surrounding audience, then nudged Uthug before saying "Great job out there, lad, managed to not only beat down one o' Felgrat's big boys but took him for me instead! Where would we be without you?"

Uthug reached for Bubol as he walked away before slowly tightening his hand into a fist.

Well, I'm not going to deny the potential advantages this can bring us. Kruk's definitely an adept warrior and knows his way around implements of battle, plus if he can get our warriors to a similar degree of ability to those firestarters-

"If" Uthug interrupted as he st himself down to watch the brawl before him with a deepening growl "Keyword is 'if'"

Plus he was right, if you're to help me achieve my vengeance then having a training partner who can push to your limit will help greatly. I mean, the possibility of him betraying us is there, but it's there for pretty much every Uruk so there's not much we can do about that. And hey, if he gets the boys passionate about winning this then they might be more proactive. You might not have to do everything ya'self! I mean, when have you seen the boys this enthusiastic about a fight?

Uthug looked around at the Crewmates who cheered on their allies or even Kruk as they threw down in the center of the room, noting many showing far more interest than he'd ever seen in the past week.

See? If this goes well, we'll be finished with Felgrat far before our captors can pull the switch on us.

And the only thing I gotta do is let this fanatical warmonger sneak attack me from now on? Yeah... great... that's...

...just great.

---

AN: And after a few months the story finally continues.

This probably would've been out sooner but the new year brought a few things I had to deal with first. Shouldn't take as long to do the next chapter, but I'll once again reiterate that I'm not one for predictions. We're getting closer and closer to the parts of the story I had developed more initially, so once we're there things should be a bit smoother than they've been for the past chapter or two.

Either way, let's talk Kruk.

I'll admit that he wasn't supposed to have an expanded role initially, when I started back then he was just kind of an introductory fight that I could use for the quarry incident. He never stood out much in SOM, but boy did he in SOW. Let's just say that while trying to get one off my allies in the game I'd forgotten that the nemesis I had on that save was Kruk, so when I faced him down the Arena I didn't initially recognize him.

That changed fairly quickly. He went from just a fire-crazed brute to a war-worshiping fanatic who seemed to define himself entirely around the idea of warfare. With an expanded arsenal, personality, and move set that managed to give him staying power that I never got from him in the previous game. And since I kind of had him on the back-burner it just made sense he'd wind up on the Arceus. The story from there is pretty cut and dry.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review or comment if you are so inclined to do. Things you enjoyed about it? Things you hated about it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.

Next Chapter: The Scorned