"Hey, there, amigos! It's me, Sally! Remember? Back in chapter six? I talked to Svetlana? Except she was calling herself Rachael Red? Anyway, I've got a little question for you dudes… no, it's not 'do you ever wonder why we're here?' God knows we've run that into the ground. My question is; 'who would win in a fight?' Now, we could just argue back and forth on the subject like a bunch of idiots on the internet, OR we could ask some professionals…"

Death Battle

Team JNPR, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were resting in the common area, maintaining their weapons, when Nora broke the silence. "Hey?" She asked.

"Yeah?" Ren replied.

"Do you ever wonder… who'd win in a fight between Winter and the Meta?"

Jaune scoffed. "No. Only hopeless nerds on the internet care about crap like that."

Yang simply snorted. "Yeah, why do you think she's asking you? Am I right?" she called out, holding up her hand as she did.

"I'm high-fiving you, but my heart isn't in it…" was all Ren said with a sigh as he reluctantly did as he said.

Weiss meanwhile hummed a little in reply. "I suppose it would be a little interesting...but Winter would totally win."

"You sure you're not just saying that because she's your sister?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't realize that being a Schnee immediately meant victory, Miss 'Lost to Yang in her last sparring match'."

"Hey, guys," Ruby suddenly declared as she approached the group. "What are you talking about?"

"We were just wondering what would happen if Winter and the Meta fought…" Ren explained.

"Fought who?"

"One another," Ren said with a deadpan expression.

"Another who?"

Weiss couldn't help but blink at Ruby's question. "What?!"

"What?"

Yang, long used to Ruby's quirks, merely sighed in reply. "Give her a second…"

"Oh!" Ruby said with a grin. "You're talking about Death Battle!?"

Ren blinked in reply. "...I mean, sure?"

"Awesome!" Ruby called out with a large grin. "I think Uncle Qrow has some people who can help with that: be right back!"

Weiss turned to Blake. "Do you have any idea what she's talking about?"

"No." Blake replied. "But I do know that you're still wrong."

"Okay, I'm back!" Ruby called out as she returned.

Blake merely blinked in shock. "That was fast…even for you..."

Ruby just gave a smile and a shrug in reply. "Yeah, Uncle Qrow managed to find two of his old buddies from his days as a Guardsman that are the best choice for this sort of thing."

""The best choice'?" Blake couldn't help but ask. "Really?!"

A Few Minutes Later...

"And that's how you write your name with a ninja sword!" One of the men boasted, proudly. He was wearing a red shirt with a yellow lightning bolt, a pair of blue jeans, black tennis shoes, and a gray flat-bill hat with a matching yellow lightning bolt on the front. But what drew everyone's attention was the katana in his hands that looked similar to Raven's.

"Alright, alright, that's enough screwing around," a young man wearing glasses, a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows called out with a serious expression. "We've got a job to do."

"Oh, fine!"

Weiss looked to Blake with a flat expression in response. "Seems you've forgotten that just about everyone Qrow Branwen knows has more than their fair share of issues…"

Blake merely blinked in response. "Uh, you do know that we're included in 'everyone Qrow Branwen knows', right?"

" ...and that proves me wrong how, exactly?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Worry about that later." Ruby called out before she proudly spread her arms as she introduced their guests. "Please give a warm welcome to… Mr. Amazing and Trashfan!" She tried to make her introduction more grand by imitating an echo with her last word.

"It's Mr. Astounding and Flashfan." the man with the glasses said with a deadpan expression.

"So how are you going to do this?" Ren couldn't help but ask. "Are you going to draw some names out of a hat? Toss some chicken bones around?"

Mr. Astounding just smiled in reply. "It's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle."

"...why did you say it like that?" Jaune couldn't help but ask.

Flashfan merely sighed in annoyance. "Just… just watch."

THE META

"Once upon a time, before the moon was shattered, there lived a woman named Salem, who had been trapped in her tower by her cruel father," Mr. Astounding began.

"Wait a minute," Flashfan interrupted. "I thought we were discussing two badass women and which one of them would win in a fight to the death. Why are we starting off with a fairy tale?"

"Trust me: it becomes relative later," Mr. Astounding declared before clearing his throat. "Anyways, long story short, a knight named Ozma appeared and rescued her from her imprisonment. The two of them eventually fell in love, got married, and lived happily ever after...until Ozma got sick and died, leading to the moment where Salem would attempt to trick the Gods of Light and Darkness themselves into bringing her husband back. As punishment, they cursed her with immortality, making it clear that she was not allowed to die until she faced the power of human bonds and thus learned the importance of the balance of life and death."

"Yeah, good on you gods: give a woman with a vendetta against you and is obviously a few cashews short of a trail mix the inability to die," Flashfan said with a roll of his eyes. "It's not like she'll raise up an army and force you to wipe out all life on the planet or anything."

(insert scene of the God of Darkness wiping out humanity here)

"...well, shit."

"But that isn't the end of the story: far from it, actually," Mr. Astounding declared. "Centuries passed, and slowly but surely life began to return to the Remnant that remained of the planet the gods had created...but through it all, Salem remained, and the gods knew that they could not leave her unattended, so when the time came to choose a champion to challenge her in their stead, they knew that only the wizard knight Ozma would fit the bill."

"Which means that Salem technically got what she had wanted all along, right?" Flashfan said with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, Ozma is alive again just like she wanted, after all."

"Well, not exactly," Mr. Astounding remarked. "Ozma was back, but he was no longer the same man he was before...literally: the gods arranged it so that he'd reincarnate into the body of a like-minded soul every time that he died, ensuring that he would never truly be alone. Even still, that didn't stop him and Salem from reuniting and uh, picking up where they left off."

(insert scene of Salem and Ozma's children playing together here)

"Aw, that's sweet." Flashfan declared.

"Indeed, but unfortunately, the good times wouldn't last forever," Mr. Astounding said with a sigh. "Turns out that while Ozma was away, Salem had attempted to use the Grimm spawning pools to try and end her own life, only to have their essence bound to her, making her incredibly violent and unhinged as a result. So much so, in fact, that this ended up happening."

"Mommy?" the youngest of the four children called out as Ozma attempted to have them moved to a safer location.

Salem merely glared, her hands curled into talons before attempting to strike Ozma down with her magic, with Ozma intervening, only to have the children caught in the crossfire.

"JIMINY FREAKING CHRISTMAS!" Flashfan exclaimed. "Okay, if I wasn't convinced that Salem was an irredeemable monster before, I sure as hell am now. Well, anyway, after committing child murder, Salem apparently hadn't noticed that her kids inherited their dad's reincarnating abilities. And thus, those four unfortunate girls were blessed and/or cursed to be the Four Maidens; Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. And sadly, Fall ended up with the short end of the stick when she became bonded to the second most irredeemable monster Remnant has to offer… Cinder Fall."

"Or as she would come to be called later, The Meta." Mr. Astounding declared, before giving a smile. "See, I told you that I was going somewhere with this." He then cleared his throat. "But the way that the power of the Fall Maiden came to be held by Miss Fall is… unique in nature. See, normally, when a Maiden dies, their powers are transferred to the last person in the previous Maiden's thoughts, or to a random individual if the person is either male or too old to properly receive the powers...but with Cinder, that's not the case...at all."

(insert scene of Cinder stealing the power of the Maiden from Amber here)

"Yeah, she's a bitch," Flashfan said, "though to be fair, it's not completely her own fault."

"Long story short, Ozma eventually reincarnated into a man called Ozpin, who sought to give 'his' daughters permanent bodies," Mr. Astounding explained, "and after consulting with one Peitro Polendena, who had hoped to give his own stillborn daughter, Penny, a chance at life, they began working on the P.E.N.N.Y. Project, or as it would become known to the rest of the world, Project Guardsman: a secret operation that would help to give the Maidens more permanent bodies by digitizing them."

"Buuut then Kernel Sanders' evil twin found out about said project, decided to profit off of it, osted Ozpin from said project, and split up the Summer Maiden into several entities by torturing the poor girl to the edge of sanity and past it." Flashfan called out with a frown. "Not even two seconds and this guy is quickly becoming the third most irredeemable monster in all of Remnant."

"Well, one of these Maiden fragments was called Priscilla, and her path would cross with Cinder's when the latter ended up joining Project Guardsman as Agent Crimson for...reasons?" Mr. Astounding said with a light frown. "It's never actually explained."

"Hey, give us a break! It's hard writing crossover fanfics!" Flashfan barked back with a glare.

"Well, fourth wall breaks aside, Cinder proved to be one of the very best, even before receiving Prisciila's aid, in no small part thanks to her Semblance, Scorching Caress." Mr. Astounding went on to explain. "With this, she can heat up and reshape virtually any object in any way that she so desires it. In an alternate timeline, she was even able to use her Semblance to do this."

(insert scene of Cinder reducing Pyrrha Nikos to ash here)

Flashfan sniffed as he wiped away a stray tear. "Aw, c'mon, man… don't bring that up. Pyrrha's alive, and nothing bad ever happened to her. Eeeeeveeeeer…"

"Hence, why I said 'in an alternate timeline'," Mr. Astounding said with a sheepish grin.

"Well, when she's not using her semblance to vaporize your favorite person ever, Cinder can use Scorching Caress to forge weapons out of dust." Flashfan went on. "Y'know, that substance used to fuel everyone's weapons! Gun-sword? Not good enough. Sniper scythe? Don't waste my time! Shotgun gauntlet? Close, but no cigar. Rocket hammer? Badass, but still something's missing. I know! I'll forge my own weapons out of ammunition on the fly!"

To better demonstrate, Flashfan took one of Cinder's swords and held it up for all to see. "I mean look at this thing! It has almost no weight and yet it cuts like steel!"

"Hey! That's mine! Give it back!" Jaune demanded, angrily… only to be painfully blasted aside with a wave of flames as Flashfan swung the glass blade. "AAAAUGH!"

"Heh, heh. Well, in conclusion; I love this thing." Flashfan nodded, satisfied.

"Her Semblance certainly made her a force to be reckoned with," Mr. Astounding said with a nod. "And yet, according to Pearl, the Maiden's Logic, Cinder was actually a rather kindhearted individual. One who had craved power, no doubt, but not the type of person who'd commit senseless murder, so what happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened!" Flashfan declared. "Project Guardsman goofed up and accidentally turned her into a monster."

"That's...not inaccurate, actually," Mr. Astounding remarked. "Remember how I mentioned that she'd end up crossing paths with Priscilla? Turns out that she had inherited the Maiden's Ambition and Creativity."

"Well, apparently being creative means you're fucking evil, because Cinder went loco soon afterwards." Flashfan called out.

"Right. Desperate to find her other 'siblings' and rebuild herself into a 'proper' Maiden, Priscillia subtly manipulated and brainwashed Cinder Fall, turning her into the ruthless mercenary known as 'The Meta'." Mr. Astounding went on to explain.

"And it probably didn't help when she stole the Fall Maiden, too." Flashfan felt the need to put in. "I mean, imagine having two other voices in your head. That'd be enough to drive anybody bonkers. Too bad they can't all have good voices in their heads like mine!"

"You… have a voice in your head?" Mr. Astounding asked, cautiously.

"Yeah! Spencer Speedforce!" Flashfan replied with a grin. "He tells me to do things…"

"Ooookaaaaay…?"

"Anyways, with her newfound powers, The Meta went on a rampage, betraying her fellow Guardsmen and stealing their Maiden Fragments," Flashfan went on to explain.

"As well as numerous bits of equipment that Project Guardsman utilized," Mr. Astounding said with a nod. "Including a Domed Energy Shield, which she was able to use to survive a Manta class aircraft practically landing on top of her."

"It can also block bullets, explosions, and even shells from tanks: allow us to demonstrate." Flashfan called out as he placed a Domed Energy Shield around Jaune. "Here's Jaune inside an Energy Shield."

Jaune merely quirked an eyebrow in reply. "Yeah, so?"

"And here's a tank operated by Nora," Flashfan called out as Nora got into a tank that looked a lot like Sheila.

"What could possibly go wrong?" Nora said with a grin.

"Oh, shoot…" Jaune couldn't help but declare with a slight gulp.

"If you say so: fire in the hole in one," Nora called out with a manic grin before firing off a shot.

Jaune merely cringed at the sound of the tank shell being fired...only to realize a few seconds later that nothing had happened. Opening his eyes, he allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief upon realizing that Nora managed to miss the Domed Shield entirely. "That was a close one…"

Flashfan, meanwhile, wasn't as impressed. "Let's try that again, fellow legbreaker…"

"Sir, yes, sir," Nora called out with a grin.

As if on cue, the Energy Shield suddenly ran out of juice, causing Jaune to panic. "Wait: it ran out of…" ...and that was as far as he got before he found himself screaming out in pain as he was hit by the tank shell, though thankfully his Aura managed to protect him regardless.

"Now if the Energy Shield had been there, Jaune would have been fine," Flashfan said with a smile.

"Wow," Nora declared with a chuckle. "Science is fun!"

"I've said it for years!" Mr. Astounding could be heard yelling from a safe distance.

"As if that wasn't enough, The Meta's Active Camouflage turns her practically invisible, her strength boost enhancement grants her...well, super strength, and most impressively of all, her temporal displacement device and slow time down to a crawl." Mr. Astounding went on to explain.

"She can turn invisible and stop time!?" Flashfan called out in shock. "Man, she sounds invincible!"

"Au contraire, Flashfan: she does have her weaknesses," Mr. Astounding said with a light grin. "While powerful, her Semblance is entirely dependent on her Aura, and if she uses it up taking too many heavy hits, she loses it completely. Also, running so much equipment alongside so many Maiden Fragments consumes a lot of power...but still, that hasn't stopped her from defeating several Guardsmen and stealing seven different Maiden fragments."

"And even without her Aura, she can take a hit and keep on going," Flashfan declared. "She's even had her throat severely injured twice and both times she was able to make a full recovery in a matter of days! Badass."

"But when all is said and done, her greatest weakness is her own arrogance." Mr. Astounding remarked. "Despite having victory literally within reach numerous times, she can't help but bask in her own supposed superiority when it's least convenient. This destructive habit of hers has even led to her own demise, as seen when one Raven Branwen and a group of reckless children were able to tie a car to her and throw that car over a cliff into the freezing ocean."

"Yeah, but let's be fair, buddy: that's a pretty hardcore way to go." Flashfan said with a grin.

Cinder conjured a blade of dust from her palm and threw it directly at the photograph of the little red troublemaker. The new Fall Maiden chortled to herself. "... 'use my imagination,' eh? I can work with that. It's always so nice talking with you, Priscilla." She pulled out her scroll before accessing the backdoor she had inserted into the school's computer systems not so long ago. "...and don't worry; I know exactly what to do."

"Hey, wait a minute: where'd you get all this footage?" Blake suddenly called out. "Have you been spying on us?"

"Don't worry about it." Mr. Astounding declared.

WINTER SCHNEE

"Here's another fairy tale everyone knows; once upon a time in the land of Atlas, there lived a noble young woman named Willow Schnee." Flashfan took his turn to narrate. "Willow had it all; money, fame, power… and then, unfortunately, her paths crossed with a guy named Jackass."

(insert scene of Jacques Schnee slapping Weiss here.)

"'Jacques.'" Mr. Astounding corrected.

"To-may-to, to-mah-to." Flashfan retorted, dismissively. "Anyway, Jacques somehow convinced Willow's father to arrange a marriage, and used his influence to take her seat at the Schnee Dust Company. He even took his wife's last name, because… reasons? But at least two good things came out of their marriage; Winter and Weiss Schnee. Anyway, when she refused to take over the family business, Winter was disowned by her dick-head dad and cut off from the family fortune. Luckily, Winter proved a lot more resourceful than she was given credit for. She joined the Atlesian Army and quickly rose in the ranks, catching the attention of her superior; General James Ironwood. Ironwood invited Winter to join his black-ops group named Project Guardsman, and wasn't too surprised when she found herself at the top of the leaderboard. The only problem was that Project Guardsman was… kinda owned by the aforementioned dick-head dad."

"Which didn't necessarily affect her status at Guardsman." Mr. Astounding pointed out. "But it certainly tended to open up old wounds."

"I'll say." Flashfan grumbled. "Winter ended up pushing herself to be the perfect soldier, constantly striving to prove to Ironwood, her dad, her fellow Guardsmen, and herself, that she was the best of the best. Even pushing away her girlfriend at the time; Agent Silver."

"Also known as Maria Calavera, though you might know her by her more infamous name, The Grimm Reaper," Mr. Astounding declared before clearing his throat. "But unstable working relationships aside, Agent White did end up achieving her goal of being one of the best Guardsmen to ever exist, in no small part thanks to her hereditary Semblance, known simply as Glyphs."

"Oh, yeah," Flashfan called out with a grin. "This Semblance basically makes Winter a walking swiss army knife. She can produce multiple glyphs on any surface or even in mid-air, each with their own unique abilities."

"Black glyphs can hold a person in place, while white ones propel things forward." Mr. Astounding said with a nod, "But to truly appreciate what this Semblance can do, let's talk about what the Schnees can do with Dust."

"Make people sneeze by blowing it in their faces, more than likely." Flashfan declared with a deadpan expression.

"What?! Nononono! I'm not talking about that dust." Mr. Astounding remarked, before holding up a vial of red colored crystal. "I'm talking about this Dust."

"Give me that!" Weiss called out as she grabbed the vial, accidentally causing the top to pop off as some of it started spilling everywhere, making a nearby Ruby's nose start to twitch in irritation. "I will not let you hoodlums just wave this stuff around like it's a cheap trinket. Honestly, you need to be careful when…"

"Uh, Weiss," Ruby declared with a nervous expression as more and more Dust got in her face due to her partner's temper tantrum. "Maybe you should take your own advi...ah, AH...ACHOO!"

Flashfan chuckled at the large explosion that had occured. "I told you it could make people sneeze."

Mr. Astounding just groaned in irritation. "Anyways, there are four main types of Dust: Air, Lightning, Fire, and Water, and Winter is also able to mix Air and Water together to create Ice Dust, which she and her sister are incredibly skilled at wielding to create giant blocks of ice for defence or offence as the need arises."

"I guess that's why their friends always refer to them as the 'Ice Queen,'" Flashfan said with a grin."

"Quite," Mr. Astounding said with a slight frown. "She can also attack with fire, produce wind blasts, create barriers to defend herself with, and with Lightning Dust, she's able to dilate her own time through use of her glyphs, dramatically increasing her own speed."

"And just like her sister - and supposedly everyone else from her mommy's side of the family - Winter can use her glyphs to summon magical clones of the Grimm she's killed!" Flashfan added. "And seeing as how she's a veteren huntress as well as a Guardsman, I think it's safe to say she's killed quite a lot of Grimm in her time."

"However, despite all of her power, there was one person she never could manage to defeat," Mr. Astounding declared. "Agent Summer Rose...even though technically the real Summer Rose was a prisoner of her father and this was a robotic duplicate that Jacques had…"

"Yeah, yeah: just add it to the pile of reasons to hate Papa Schnee," Flashfan called out with a roll of his eyes. "Regardless, Winter soon realized that she wouldn't be able to beat Agent Rose without a little assistance."

"And so, Winter would swallow her pride and ask her father to give her not one, but two of the Maiden fragments that Jacques had created," Mr. Astounding declared. "These were Patricia and Polly, the representations of the Maiden's Fear and Joy, respectively. They gave her a healing unit that boosted her Aura's own capability, and the capacity to slow down her perception of time down to the millisecond."

"And boy, did that give her an advantage, even helping her to take down Maria, who's Preflexes Semblance helps her to react to attacks almost before they happen," Flashfan remarked.

"But her distrust of others would end up leaving her at her most vulnerable," Mr. Astounding lamented. "And give one Cinder Fall the opportunity she'd need to steal the only two friends she had left from right under her nose."

"Despite losing Patricia and Polly, Winter eventually partnered up with Agent Gray's one-time Maiden Fragment partner, Penelope!" Flashfan continued. "Penelope represents the Summer Maiden's memories, which turned out to be super-helpful in the long run! Penelope can remember other Maiden fragments, and by extension, what they remember! This gives her a bit of an advantage when managing Winter's suit and aura. I mean, when she's not remembering how much she loves a certain red hooded huntress." The others stared at Flashfan. "What? I'm a Nuts and Dolts shipper. Shoot me."

Mr. Astounding cleared his throat. "Anyway, Winter's aura is also impressively strong. While there's no exact way to measure the durability of one's aura, Winter's aura allowed her to survive falling off of a glacier, crashing through several of her own glyphs, and landing in below-freezing waters… all at the same time."

"Wow…" Flashfan muttered, doubtfully. "That sounds… impressive?"

"Impossible?" Mr. Astounding suggested.

The two narrators smiled. "Impressable." They fist-bumped before moving on.

"But even without all of this, Winter is far from defenseless," Mr. Astounding declared. "She always carries around a .456 APC, a standard Guardsman firearm, as well as her own sword, a long curved blade that, when the proper trigger is pulled, produces a second blade, allowing her to fight with two swords at once, which, as alluded to earlier, is capable of channeling her dust for various attacks."

Flashfan nodded as he held the weapon in question in his hands. "It's not as flashy as a katana, but damn if it doesn't look cool! And just like he said, this sword can shoot dust like there's no tomorrow!" To demonstrate, Flashfan sliced the sword through the air, sending multiple waves of different types of dust everywhere.

"Ow," Jaune called out as he'd blasted with a stream of fire. "Why me?"

"It just feels right." Flashfan declared.

"Anyways, if her encounter with Cinder proved anything it's that she couldn't stay a Guardsman forever," Flashfan went on to explain. "She and Penelope set out on a mission to collect as much experimental armor equipment as possible, and let me tell you: she did a pretty good job. Aside from regaining the healing unit and time distortion ability that she lost when Cinder took Polly and Patricia - bitch - she also managed to even the playing field by obtaining her own Domed Energy Shield, adaptive camouflage, and a speed booster."

"Unfortunately, like the Meta, Winter's Semblance is completely dependent on how much Aura she has, and isn't always the most successful fighter without it. Also, Penelope has merely a fraction of a full Maiden's power, and running all of Winter's equipment at once takes a lot out of her." Mr. Astounding declared. "In battle, if Winter isn't careful, she can accidentally push Penelope too far and cause her to short-circuit, for lack of a better term."

"Yeah, she's kind of hot tempered for someone Agent Grey, aka Qrow Branwen is always referring to as the Ice Queen," Flashfan couldn't help but remark. "Although, again, you can't expect someone to grow up with such a total douche of a father and not have some anger management issues."

"Regardless, Winter is one tough woman," Mr. Astounding said with a grin. "She's fended of multiple Summer duplicate androids at once, helped stop an island wide war, and was once able to hold her own against Adam Taurus, whose Moonslice Semblance can shatter Spider Droids and even cut through a person's Aura if he has enough time to charge it up."

"She and Penelope were even skilled enough to track down Jacques Schnee, who had gone into hiding, just to help him kill himself," Flashfan declared before giving a frown. "Geez, I don't like the guy, but that got seriously dark real fast."

"Who...are...you...?"

Winter, having heard the voice and understanding this is a test, got her sword ready with a determined look on her face. "I'm your true warrior."

"Alright, the combatants are set!" Mr. Astounding said with a grin. "Let's end this debate once and for all."

Flashfan smiled. "It's time for a DEATH BATTLLLLLLLLE!"

DEATH BATTLE

In the training center of Project Guardsman, Agent White was seen pushing herself to the limit to complete a challenge set by the computer. Using her sword to slice through the holographic discs that flew through the air, the veteren huntress was unaware of the dark figure watching her.

Winter simply sighed as she finished her work out routine. "Time."

Penelope merely winced as she appeared on Winter's shoulder. "Sorry, Winter: didn't quite break any records this time around." She then smiled. "Oh, and I've got a message from your sister while you were training: she wanted to know if we're coming for movie night."

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Winter said with a shrug, "though no offense to your friend, Penny, but I hope Ruby isn't picking the film this time around…"

"Hey, the films she picks can be entertaining at times...though I will admit that for some reason, I was creeped out a bit by that whole 'No strings on me' the villain of that last movie she picked out had," Peneleple called out, before freezing as she sensed something. "Uh oh…"

"What is it?" Winter asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh, I think we're about to have company," Penelope couldn't help but gulp in reply.

Winter responded by raising her weapon, only to gasp upon recognizing the figure before her. "Agent Crimson?"

Penelope could only wince upon hearing this. "Not exactly…"

Cinder's mind suddenly felt as if it were on fire as all of the Maiden fragments began speaking to her all at once.

"There she is…" Polly cheered.

"She's the last of us…" Patricia said with a nervous gulp.

Phoebe, currently torn between relief and panic, could only mumble out a nervous "Penelope…" in response.

"So...she did survive…" Pearl said with a sigh.

"Take her out…" Paulette growled.

"Make us whole!" Luna/Pamela said with a glazed over expression.

Priscilla, meanwhile, merely smirked as she gave a simple order. "Take her."

The Meta crafted two swords out of dust and crashed through the window onto the training grounds.

Penelope gulped as she turned towards Winter. "Okay, if we win, I'll be sure to have so that you can pick the movie…"

FIGHT!

Winter backflipped away from the Meta and loaded her sword with air and water dust. The Guardsman created a barrier of ice in an attempt to trap her opponent, but the ice quickly vaporized due to the Meta's semblance. Winter thrusted her blade forwards, firing dozens of shards of ice at the Meta, but the former Agent Crimson easily deflected them with her blades.

"This isn't working!" Penelope yelled out.

"I can see that! Just hang on!" Winter shouted as she used her glyphs to boost her speed, getting in a few quick hits in on her opponent, before Cinder used adaptive camouflage to disappear. "Penny, where is she?"

"I'm on it: scanning," Penelope said with a nod, before she suddenly yelled out in a state of panic. "On your left!"

Winter quickly held up her sword again, blocking Cinder's blow and shattering the glass blade. But the Meta simply kicked Winter aside and forged a bow and arrow with more dust. Arrow after arrow, Winter only narrowly dodged the projectiles until one of them grazed her cheek. Growling, Agent White got down into a defensive stance. Separating her swords, Winter threw the smaller one at the bow and shattered it, then charged at her with the larger one. Unfortunately, Cinder gripped the blade with her bare hands, slapped Winter aside, and broke the weapon in half.

"Polendina, I need armor enhancements!" Winter called out as she got back to her feet.

"Which ones?"

"All of them!"

"Uh, that doesn't seem like a good ideeeeaaaaaah!" Penelope yelled out as Winter charged straight at Cinder...only to freeze in her tracks as the False Maiden utilized her time dilation abilities, much to Penelope's ire. "Oh, fudge…" she called out before a blast of fire threw Winter against the wall, leaving Penelope momentarily panicked as Winter struggled to get back up with a grown. "Dammit! Okay, focusing on the healing unit... Winter, can you hear me?"

Instead of answering, her partner rolls to the side, pulling out her gun before unloading the entire clip into their opponent. Penelope smiled as Cinder fell to her knees. "You got her!"

"Not yet, she hasn't." Cinder growled out as she got back to her feet.

Needless to say, Penelope was not pleased. "Okay, seriously: WTF?!"

Winter tried to punch Cinder, but the stronger woman gripped Agent White's neck and pinned her against the nearest wall.

"Hey, wait wait wait wait! Wait, hold up!" Penelope called out, briefly cringing mentally as Phoebe, Patricia, and Priscilla all appeared before her, whispering "It's her" - though obviously for different reasons - to which Cinder only responded with a growl. Knowing that she had Agent Crimson's attention regardless though, Penelope cleared her throat. "Uh, hey, so I know that you're about to pummel her white-haired face in, but before you try and steal my consciousness, I've just one thing to say to you." She quickly gains a smirk as Winter grabs the weapon Cinder was using earlier and points it at their opponent's head. "Oh! Son of a Bitch!"

The glass arrow pierced through Cinder's skull, popping her eyeball out of its socket as she slumped to the ground.

KO!

Winter sighed as she got back up, feeling a spot of pity as she looked upon Cinder's lifeless corpse. "Penny…"

"Yeah?"

"No action movies."

EXPLANATION

"Holy shit." Ren and Nora remarked, together.

"Ha!" Weiss bragged. "I told you! I told you!"

"I still don't quite understand how Winter won, though," Yang called out. "I mean, don't get me wrong: I'm glad she did, but Cinder's the stronger opponent, right?"

"Perhaps, Yang, but strength isn't everything," Mr. Astounding declared. "This was, no doubt, a very close match. Both compantants had access to the Maiden's power in some capacity and their Semblances perfectly countered each other. In fact, there's plenty of reason to believe that Cinder might have taken the win under different circumstances."

"But we're not focusing on some alternate timeline where the bitch killed the Invincible Girl," Flashfan said with a glare. "We're here to discuss who would win between these specific women and who would come out on top more times than not...and when it came to capabilities, Cinder came up short."

"Cinder may have been able to survive the Manta crash thanks to her Domed Energy Shield, but Winter was able to survive being thrown off a cliff into the canon below while her Aura was in a weakened state after losing a fight with Agent Rose," Mr. Astounding remarked.

(insert the scene showcasing the moment where Winter was thrown off the cliff is shown here)

"We know that a similar instance occurred in an alternate reality where a bunch of idiots were fighting in a box canyon in the middle of nowhere," Mr. Astounding declared before showing some calculations. "The soldiers in that reality typically are roughly 7 feet tall while in armor. Scaling that to the drop that we see here, we can deduce that Winter would have fallen at least 200 ft, which - given that we're not seeing the entirety of the drop here - would likely have placed an ordinary person in intensive care even in the best case scenario."

"But not Agent White: she was back on her feet and on the run before even Agent Rose realized that it had happened," Flashfan said with a nod. "And remember, this was back when her Aura was weakened and without an Energy Shield protecting her. Still, Winter's issue with impatience would likely have caused her to do something reckless like, say, trying to use all of her equipment at once, which Cinder could take advantage of with her time displacement ability. Lucky for her, though, she had Penelope there to access her healing unit for her and help her come up with a better plan of attack."

"Which leads us to what is perhaps the most important aspect of the fight: the relationship between the Maiden fragments and the women carrying them." Mr. Astounding remarked. "The Meta was brainwashed and manipulated by Priscilla, who then proceeded to do the same to the spirit of the Fall Maiden and six other Maiden fragments, effectively leaving poor Cinder's mind a jumbled mess of voices and commands. By contrast, Winter and Penelope work together as partners, with a mutual trust, both being perfectly capable of making judgment calls to make up for each other's weaknesses. Combine that with Winter's own skill in close range combat and there's no question that she could overcome The Meta's raw power."

"Wow." Yang chuckled. "No wonder Winter reduced the Meta to cinders and ashes!"

Flashfan smirked and elbowed Yang. "The Meta put up a good fight, but in the end, Winter left Cinder with no choice… but to Fall!"

"The winner is Winter Schnee," Mr. Astounding called out with a grin.

"Hey!" Raven shouted as she and Taiyang stepped through one of her portals. "What in the hell are you doing?! Wasting time with…" She paused once she saw the two visitors and aimed the tip of her blade at them. "Who the hell are these idiots?"

"Whoa, easy there, ma'am," Mr. Astounding called out with a calming gesture. "We're just visiting the base on business: we just have to wrap a few things up and we'll be on our way."

"Whoa!" Flashfan commented. "Nice katana! And is that a scabbard with dust?! That is so awesome!"

Raven chuckled, feeling flattered. "Well, what do you know?" She remarked, putting her weapon away. "Someone who has an eye for the finer things in life!"

"You better believe it, ma'am!" Flashfan nodded.

"Y'know, you remind me of someone…" Raven's face suddenly fell. "Almost like the son I… couldn't have."

"Huh, that's funny." Flashfan replied. "I was just about to say you remind me of the mother I never knew! When I was just a little baby, she dropped me off at the abbey to be raised by nuns because she was forced to run away from her family after getting the Spring Maiden's powers!"

Everyone turned to the chieftess, who now wore a startled expression. "Oh…" She gulped. "Weeeeell, how about that…? Well, I should be going, now. Nothing to see here…"

The group watched as Raven created another portal to Patch and slowly stepped through it. Once the portal closed, again, everyone turned back to Flashfan. At last, the comic book enthusiast spoke. "What a nice lady!"

To Be Continued…

Disclaimer: The representations of Flashfan and Mr. Astounding are exaggerated and fictitious. These characters do not properly represent their backgrounds and/or personalities to any proper extant.