Hell there everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of The Darkling Thrush!

This chapter is long over due. Everything that could've gone wrong in my corner of the world went wrong, the school work piled up and I just kicked off another story in the Kids Next Door corner of FF. So, I'm sorry I've been keeping you guys ready, but trust me, this chapter was worth the wait.

Not because of word count, mind you, but because of content. You'll see in a little bit.

Also, as always I'd like to thank everyone who left a review last chapter and a few who dropped reviews on other chapters!

Thank You MagisterShiryu, noone297, Baoh joestar, jin0uga, Nordlending, Guest, HuntyPlay and VergilXSparda! Thank you all for your thoughts on last chapters fight. I've been striving to create well thought out fights for the cast of characters that also play up to their own personalities and such. So, I'm happy that you all enjoyed that!

Well, I think I've kept you all waiting enough as it is. More notes down below! On with the story!

XXXVIII

The Vytal Festival: Part 3

It was later in the day when Team JNPR defeated Team BRNZ in combat. It wasn't the upset anyone expected. Team BRNZ was a favored team from Vacuo, known primarily for their efforts in the Rocky Region a month prior where they'd ran a herd of Bull Mongers off a cliff. But Team JNPR had Mistral's champion Pyrrha Nikos.

But, defeat at the hands of Ms. Nikos was not the case. For it was just Nora Valkyrie who bested Team BRNZ, who hit them all with her hammer and sent them on their way. Even uber charged with electricity, Beacon students were left wondering if such an incredible feat was capable not from her semblance, but from pent up rage left over from never being able to make good on her threats of breaking Cardin's legs.

So as soon as the victors left the field and the losers were hauled off on stretchers, the stadium began to prepare for the next match.

"Ah, well, Vacuo fans are sure to be hurting after that one, but this next one will have them on the edge of their seats!" Oobleck said as the next pair of teams took to the field.

"Team NDGO of Shade is certainly a crowd favorite." Port said as an image of Team NDGO appeared on the monitor. "News of their recent exploits defending a town in Vacuo from Grimm invasion has reached far and wide. But the real question is, do they have what it takes to best some of the toughest, testosterone-filled teammates we've seen so far! I'm of course talking about... Team SSSN!"

"I don't know, do we?" Nebula asked her team, a confident smile on her face as they took to the field. The indigo haired looked to her team, expecting some manner of reply, but instead she found them soaking up the applause.

It didn't surprise Nebula in the slightest to see Gwen waving to their audience with such vigor. She'd mentioned in passing of her history in the arts of ballet and the stage. She was a natural, the way she smiled and waved, the crowd couldn't get enough of Gwen. Dew was a different matter, often reserved and passive, as well as prone to snide remarks. But there she was, gracefully addressing their adoring public without a hint of stage fright.

And when it came to Octavia, Nebula was almost certain the firecracker would've whipped her hands into the air and given them all the bird just to get a reaction. But, instead, Octavia waved to the audience with just as much, if not more, vigor as her teammates.

Team NDGO reached the center of the arena and were soon graced with their opponent's lively entrance. While running off cocksure with her crossbow was more her speed, Nebula was one to prepare for predetermined fights such as this one. The moment she and the rest of her team were notified who their opponents would be Nebula made sure to brief herself on their history and scour any media site for archival footage of Team SSSN in action. Of which she found an amateur video taken of two their members participating in a highway brawl with Vale's up and coming star Team RWBY what appeared to be a rampaging robot.

From her findings it appeared Team SSSN to be a rather nice group of young men. Their leader was Sun Wukong, a native from Vacuo. It brought a smile to Nebula's face to see a faunus do so well for himself outside of their kingdom but saddened her at the same time as it was only when he left Vacuo that Sun could have reached this standing amongst his peers. For a moment, Talal popped into her head, the young aspiring huntsman, the first Faunus to attend Shade and Nebula briefly entertained the fantasy of the boy having shipped off to Mistral instead.

Neptune Vasilias was Sun's partner, and from what that video on the internet showed her, a master with technology. That was concerning, for Nebula nor her team had fought an opponent with the possibility of being technologically superior to they themselves. SO instantly in Nebula's mind, she marked Neptune as posing the greatest threat.

There wasn't too much she could gather on the rest of Team SSSN. Scarlet David and Sage Ayana didn't participate in the highway brawl and odds were they weren't in the kingdom at all. But Scarlet appeared to fancy himself a pirate, given by his choice of attire as he and his team stood across from them. And there absolutely nothing to go on about Sage, aside from his impressive physique and the giant sword on his back. If anything, of the team, these two were the second stringers.

"Ladies." Neptune flashed the team a flirtatious grin. "Alright, girls, try and remember: hands above the waist."

"Ignore him, for he... Yeah, he's dumb." Tem SSSN's leader Sun Wukong said, playfully slapping his teammate's shoulder.

While the rest of her team responded typically to Neptune's flirtations, Nebula smiled amusingly. For the most part, they seemed nice enough, quirky even. While Octavia and Dew balked at such implications of them ever going anywhere near his nether regions and Gwen looking to her side flustered over a decent looking guy hitting on her, Nebula played it off as her mind drifted to her goal: Winning.

Yeah, Team SSSN seemed alright enough, too bad they were nothing more than a stepping stone for Nebula to propel herself forward through the tournament.

With both teams at the center of the arena the match was now officially beginning as the biome randomizer activated. Nebula, like the rest of her teammates spared a look over her shoulder, as to know just what they had to work with.

Flickering through the selection holograms were silhouette images of biomes already seen throughout the tournament where other fighters did battle. Knowing what you had to your back was just as important as what was at your front. The last thing Team NDGO needed was something like the geyser biome and its unpredictable nature or the forest biome that Team BRNZ fought with last round. Fighting behind trees wasn't something NDGO was used to they grew up in a desert after all.

But call it a stroke of luck or proof that Oum existed and he was smiling down on Nebula this day as the randomizer came to a halt on a desert silhouette. Out of the ground popped large pillars of rock making suitable cover as they protruded out of the sand. Nebula's smile amused smile widened, evolving into a toothy grin at the sight of familiar sandy dunes.

"Alright!" Nebula celebrated. "Home field advantage!"

"Hey, don't forget, that's my turf too." Sun said cockily, reminding NDGO of his origins in Vacuo.

"Look, the ocean!" Dew called out as Team SSSN's biome raised out of the floor behind them. And to Dew's word, there was an ocean, or what counted for an ocean in this contained simulation of a battlefield. And, for fun, there appeared to be a pirate ship floating in the water. Seeing the ship and its cross bone sails made Nebula cast an amused look Scarlet's way.

"Three!" Port's voice boomed over the speakers as he counted down. Both opposing teams readied themselves for the melee. "Two!" His voice carried as Nebula waited with anticipation. "One!"

And then just as Nebula and the rest of NDGO were about to rush off forward, to take the battle to the enemy, Neptune burst forward, kicking up sand as he quickly dashed over to the other side of the arena.

Nebula stood shocked, her eyes following the blue haired boy as he sped up the side of a rocky formation on their side of the biome. Feeling a sharp prick of fear in her chest, Nebula spun around to watch the young man scurry his way up the formation and taking up what she assumed to be a sniper's post.

Seeing this, Nebula couldn't help let out a breathe of relief. Neptune very well could have run up and struck first blood, but instead he'd chosen to take the time to get into a suitable position.

"Neptune, what are you doing?!" Sage yelled sounding agitated with his teammate's actions.

"Oh, you know…just gaining the higher ground…!" Neptune bellowed from where he stood atop the rock formation, his weapon on his shoulder in a casual fashion. The action showcased the weapon for all to see, including Nebula, who quickly noted the pulsating blue energy within its dust cylinder. From the size of the weapon, she gleamed that it wasn't a sniper rifle as she'd first assumed, but rather more along the lines of a semi-automatic rifle.

"On the enemy's side?!" Sun questioned, sounding equally furious with his partner's actions.

"They would never expect it!" Neptune waved off their concerns, hiding the nervous glances over to the ocean biome behind his team.

The NDGO girls exchange looks. "Well he's not wrong." Dew shrugged.

Nodding, Nebula whipped up her cross bow and raised it into the air and cried out, "Open fire!"

And then that was the last thing she recalled before waking up in a makeshift bed in the infirmary…

"I'm telling you, I flew!" Dove shouted at the top of his lungs.

High up on top of the cliff overlooking the fairgrounds stood Dove staring down below, a cross expression on his face. Meeting the young CRDL member's stare was Russel who wore an equally unamused look on his face.

While everyone busied themselves with watching the ongoing fight between FNKY and DORK, or fancied themselves the brawl between the Atlas Officer and the drunken Huntsman down over at Main Avenue, Dove had ran off in a stupor, suddenly reminded of earlier events within Amity Colesseum. Russel had followed, more indifferent than annoyed, but now the young Thrush was stark pissed at his teammate's suicidal display.

"Did someone spike that burger you ate?" Russel responded loudly, aiming not to feed Dove's delusions. "Better yet, were there any drugs in that teddy bear you won?"

"In our match I flew! I flew! I can fly, Russel!" Dove claimed wildly as medical crews ran disembarked a landing Airbus, bringing with them on gurneys several fighters from the ongoing competition taking place over Vale.

"Look, Dove, I'm not saying I don't believe you. I'm saying…this seems a little dangerous. What do you think?" Russel said, hoping Dove would realize how dangerous his actions were.

But Dove played off Russel's concerns, brushing them aside with a sneer. "Oh come on, Blake literally can create clones of herself! And then Sun has that weird astral projection clone thing. Not to mention Weiss does that weird glyph thing and Nora literally is a god of thunder!" He argued, citing the many different semblances their peers possessed.

"Actually, thunder is the noise."

"What difference does it make?!" Dove shouted, spit flying from his mouth. "They all can do things fantastic things! How hard is it to believe that a man can fly?!"

"You mean like Superman?"

"No! No, not Superman!" Dove shook a fist in air against the sound of Russel's snickering down below.

"You sure? Superman can fly. That's like his thing." Russel said as he struggled to squash the urge to laugh.

"No! No! I refuse to be compared to that one note hero!" Came Dove's thunderous reply from high up there.

Whatever amusement Russel found in this dialogue shared was immediately dashed at the sound of Dove's comment. The smirk was gone, replaced by a frown. The elate eyes of his turned sharpened steel, similar to the pair of daggers he used. "I hear you shit talk Supes one more time you're gonna wish you can fly!" He shouted angrily.

"But I can!" Dove whined. "Just watch!"

Watching Dove take a step back to leap from the cliff Russel himself had feared falling from earlier that day, the young Thrush felt inclined to further voice his objections in the matter. But he held back his tongue, folding his arms over his chest. Russel resigned himself to simply observe what would no doubt be a learning experience for not only Dove, but also for himself. The youngest member of CRDL didn't know it, but he was educating Russel in the laws of gravity.

"Can stupidity best the laws of physics? Let's find out." Russel muttered to himself.

And so Dove leaped off the side of the cliff, unrestrained by passerby trying to catch the next airbus or by Russel who waited down below. The result was just as one would expect, who was Dove to think himself a man of power, who could defy all notions and take off into the night. And so the moment he jumped, he'd begun falling.

At first he didn't make a noise. Dove was too overcome with shock to let out the appropriate outburst. But then as he drew closer to the ground, the hamster wheel that was his mind began turning and he let out a low yell. He slammed against the grass covered ground, bouncing slightly before coming to a rest.

"…ow." Dove muttered as pain coursed through the front of his body.

"Guess not." Russel chuckled as he watched Dove roll onto his back. "So I hear you can fly, eh?"

"I don't understand." He groaned as he held his pained chest. "In the arena, I flew."

Russel shook his head. "You were tossed by a one man army who used the back of my head to make a pot hole. If anything he just threw you really far." He deadpanned.

"But everyone else has cool semblances." Dove protested the unfairness of his situation. "Cardin is immune to physical harm, Sky has some weird sensory lie detector shit, Yang goes super saiyan, and who knows what bullshit Jaune is going to pull out of his ass!" Tears began to swell in the corner of his eyes. "…This was supposed to be mine."

"You make a compelling argument." Russel deadpanned. "Are you sure there weren't any drugs in that teddy bear?"

"Russel! I'm being serious!" Dove snapped, whipping his head up and glaring at his teammate, only to wince in pain once more.

"You're being melodramatic." Russel quipped.

"You were there! You saw how useless I was against Team PSYK! If I had a kickass semblance I could've done more!" Dove shot back at Russel. But the Thrush noted his tone and choice of words. Dove held no ill will for he, but rather himself.

Russel sighed, now realizing the reason behind Dove's bizarre recklessness. No one on the team held anything against the boy, they all recognized he was giving it his all, trying his best to contribute. But now Russel recognized that deep inside Dove felt as if he hadn't been carrying his own weight, and his quick elimination during the tournament served to reinforce his insecurities.

"You an I both." The Thrush muttered, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Could have gone either way really." He shrugged before deciding it best to change the subject to something more urgent, like Dove's health. "Now do you want me to help you to the medical tent or not? You just jump from a sixty foot drop. You're probably all banged up inside."

Dove sighed, realizing there would be no argument between himself and his teammate. "No, my aura soaked up most of the impact. At least the darn got something right."

"Don't get too down in the dumps man, it takes a while for some of us to figure out what our semblances are."

"...The hell is your semblance anyways, Russel?" Dove asked in a manner that made Russel raise a cautious brow. Given by the expression on his face, Dove was utterly devastated. The manner in which he'd asked his question betrayed the undercurrent in hopefulness, or rather, melancholy. The fact of the matter was, Dove wasn't asking what Russel's semblance was, what kind of impossible ability his aura gifted him, but rather, Dove was trying to find commonality with Russel. He wanted to know if he even had one to see if someone could share in his pain.

Seeing the guy like that made it increasingly difficult for Russel to make light of the situation. Just what exactly was one supposed to say in this situation? Probably lie, and make Dove feel better, tell him he didn't have a semblance like him and was just a common man in the world of impossible men and women.

But there was nothing to be gained from lying to Dove. Nor would there be anything to be gained from a truthful answer, he'd only be reinforcing his insecurities. So seeing no real solution, Russel stuck to his gut with that shit eating smirk of his appearing prominently on his face as he uttered a laugh. "Painful-ass headaches." He snickered.

"Ugh. I'm being serious." Dove groaned once more, unsatisfied with the answer he'd received.

"You're lying on the ground after leaping off a cliff. You're anything but serious, Dove." Russel scoffed before turning on his heel and walking away. "I'mma go an see what else the fair has to offer. You comin' or not?"

"I think I'm just going to lay here for a while if that's alright with you." Dove spoke quietly as he longingly stared up at the orange sky, where the airships danced and birds balked at man.

Russel frowned at the sight of Dove. He felt pang in his head, almost as if it were a signal for him to say to console the boy. But that wasn't what Dove wanted to hear, not what he needed.

All Dove needed to know was that he had people who depended on him "Don't stay out too long now. Got ourselves a big day tomorrow."

The youngest of Team CRDL raised a hand and gave Russel a thumbs up. Satisfied, Russel went on about his business, giving Dove the time he needed to himself. So then Russel headed off back through the fairgrounds earing the sound of jollity and laughter of strangers with foreign accents belonging to Atlas and Mistral as well as Vacuo.

…After waking up on the cot, Nebula found herself feeling sore all over. It felt as if she'd sat out bare in the sun out in the deserts of Vacuo for weeks. Her mouth was parched and dry, her lips cracked and blistered and her hair was standing up on her head.

"What happened?" Nebula asked aloud.

"You were electrocuted, deary." A friendly voiced chimed in from the side. Nebula turned to gleam a look at the source of the voice, finding an elderly woman dressed in scrubs standing by some empty beds with a clipboard in hand. "You took quite the nasty hit during your match."

"My match?" Nebula questioned as she drew a blank at what the woman was saying. But the more she thought about it, the more she recalled. Yes, she was in the middle of a match. "Oh crap my fight!" Nebula exclaimed before wildly leaping off the cot. But sadly, Nebula had yet to evaluate her physical wellbeing and fell flat on her face on grass. "Ow." She groaned.

"Aye, yes, I shoulda warned ya about that, yea." The elderly woman bit her lip. "The disorientation and all that, yea."

"Ugh." Nebula groaned into the dirt. The elderly woman in scrubs then hobble along and helped Nebula back onto the cot. "Where am I?" She asked as she sat down.

"Y'er at the fairgrounds lass. No room for an infirmary at the big floatin' colesseum. They needed all the space for the hot dog vendors. The Vale economy isn't what it used ta be y'know." The woman answered with her thick accent. "Me boss gone and tol' me 'Tilly, ah need you to take these three youngens and get them some help.' And that there was what I did when we carried you and y'er friends 'ere lass."

"Uh…right." Nebula feigned understanding with a slow nod.

The thickly accented older woman in scrubs then walked over to some other patients of hers resting in cots, some of whom Nebula recognized, such as Panini Delso and the rest of Team PSYK. They were all competitors from the competition. And that was where she was supposed to be right now. Out there in front of the world fighting for her way to the finals. Right?

Nebula thought of the woman's words and pondered over her own memories. She was electrocuted, Nebula thought to herself. She was electrocuted in battle. She closed her eyes and concentrated and then everything began to unfold in front of her.

After running in after Neptune and leading the rest of Team SSSN to their side of the field, Nebula had signaled her team to turn around and engage the enemy. While Nebula Gwen and Octavia triple teamed Sun and Scarlet, Dew had eliminated Sage with a powerful tornado she'd conjured up with that dust crystal imbued spear of hers. Things looked bright for Team NDGO as they secured an early advantage, Nebula recalled a swelling adrenaline and excitement at the time. But then Sun had evened the floor by soloing Octavia and knocking the firey redhead on her ass.

In an effort to regain their lead, Dew had thrown Scarlet across the field as she'd previously done to Sage But unlike his broadsword wielding teammate, Scarlet was thrown towards the pirate ship resting on Team SSSN's side of the field and recovered by grabbing onto the mast. Nebula sprang into action with Gwen, and with the dancer's help propel led herself up the mast to battle Scarlet one on one.

Their sword fight was brief as Nebula had sacrificed her footing for a quick strike. Scarlet had capitalized on that fact and sent her falling to the ground. Nebula mentally berated herself over her mistake while Scarlet hung up Gwen by her feet. But in the end it was Dew who defeated Scarlet, or rather, it was a pair of coconuts.

With the odds in their favor once again, Nebula took action by rescuing Gwen from her predicament, then the trio regrouped in the water to deal with the remaining duo of Sun and Neptune. Everything seemed to be going their way. And just then, Neptune's gun switched into its secondary form, a trident, and then he stuck it in the water. Then that was when Nebula had been electrocuted...and lost.

She'd lost, Nebula thought to herself. She'd lost.

"I lost." She said quietly, as if she needed to hear them said in order to let reality sink in. "I lost."

Having such high hopes for the competition and heart set on victory, Nebula should have been feeling defeated, completely crushed by the shocking turn of events. But instead, she sat there on her cot, in complete denial over that it, in fact she was hard pressed into believing the battle hadn't transpired at all.

After spending some time seated in silence, with no interaction between the woman in scrubs Tilly or any of the other competitors, Nebula found herself lost in her own thoughts. She told herself that it was only a dream, that the battle had yet to even occur. She'd probably hit her head or fallen asleep while doing research on the enemy team. Heck, she probably electrocuted herself because she'd drooled all over the computer keyboard in Beacon's library.

But then, the longer her thoughts dwelled over her dilemma, the more real it felt. The memories that ad once felt blurred like dreams were no longer fantasies conjured by her mind. Instead, they felt as real as any other sort of experience she brought to mind. No longer was the feeling of standing in ankle high water a dream, now it was a reality, a past experience.

"I lost." Nebula uttered louder than before, catching Tilly's ear.

"Ah, yea, ye did lass. Sorry." Tilly said over her shoulder as she tended to a bruised Panini Delso.

"Fucking asshole blew us up." Panini cursed while Tilly tended to her wounds.

"I lost." Nebula said once more, her eyes widening slightly then narrowing. "I lost."

"Yeah, yeah, no surprise there Violette." Panini sneered as Tilly finished up bandaging her arm. "The blue haired hottie absolutely destroyed you girls. What a fucking riot."

Hearing Panini's venomous tongue, Nebula averted her gaze away from the grass. Seemingly snapping out of whatever trance had fixed her to reciting her defeat, Nebula took to viewing the wounded PSYK leader with a fixed glare.

"Ooh, so scary." Panini taunted, not at all fazed by the threatening look Nebula was giving her.

With a harsh grunt, Nebula leapt up to her feet, this time putting in the effort to land without falling over. She then began to stalk towards Panini, intent on sharing a few long overdue words with the girl. There was a flare in her eyes and a menacing unapologetic attitude that she carried with every step. For lack of a better way of phrasing, Nebula was pissed the fuck off and just found the perfect way to deal with her frustrations.

Panini raised her brow at the sight as Nebula's actions caught the attention of more battered tournament competitors. If the rest of Team PSYK could pull themselves out of their cots they would, because it appeared as though Nebula was about to beat the hell out of their leader.

Nebula had always imagined her and Panini coming to blows, over something such as the politics of Faunus Rights and overall equality. No doubt in the fray of some urban dispute, with both on opposite sides of the argument. Never once did she assume the upsetting trigger of their cataclysmic battle would be in part caused by simple name calling.

The distance closed between the girls and suddenly it became clear to them both, that Panini hadn't any fight left in her. The Team PSYK girl couldn't even stand, not after what happened in her match when she and two of her team were literally exploded after standing on a figurative powder keg.

One could practically see Nebula relishing in the fact. She didn't see some wounded warrior, but rather an unsympathetic monster who'd not too long ago contributed to a Faunus boy's suicide. If anything, Nebula was avenging Talal's memory. So once she stood towering over Panini, her face practically blackened out by her vengeful intent, she raised a fist and reeled in back.

It was in that moment Nebula saw in Panini's eyes fear. She was so helpless in her current state, powerless against the Team NDGO leader's fury. No one was rushing in to prevent her actions either, all standing idly to the wayside or resting in their cots unable to physically move. This was what a peer of their endured for months before taking his own life, Nebula thought to herself. This was what Talal faced everyday with some imposing force towering over him ready to strike while all the world watched.

But Nebula was never a bystander, she took action and hoped to make amends for all the cruelty the world offered that young man. And now here she was, the aggressor tormenting a wounded foe. This was not the battle she had imagined at all, there was no war over ideas, no weight behind her actions. That was the whole point of why she wanted to win the Vytal Tournament in the first place, to use it as a platform to spread a message of goodwill. Her actions as of now were any but goodwill.

Panini had to turned away unable to face Nebula's attack. But the strike she dreaded never came. Panini looked to see what had stalled the Violette, as if she had been waiting for her to beg or some other such nonsense. But instead, Nebula was simply gone.

"Hey, do you know what happened to my friends? My team?" Nebula asked Tilly on the way out.

The woman in scrubs had been oblivious to the near confrontation, too busy aiding other wounded tournament competitor. She simply looked over her shoulder, too ignorant of the tension still floating in the air. "The rest of yer team awoke some time ago, said that when ye woke they'd be about in the fairgrounds." She said jotting a thumb to the makeshift infirmary's exit.

Nebula thanked Tilly before carrying on. Many eyes followed the Violette as she left the long white tent that had been set up on the outskirts of the fairgrounds, but Nebula didn't care. She simply walked on in search of her team while loss of today and the victory that almost was haunted her.

All around Russel, people were celebrating the festival and what it represented.

Eighty years of peace wasn't an easy thing to achieve. Like every good relationship, it took a substantial amount of effort to make things work. There had been bumps in the road from then to now such as the Fauns Rights Revolution and the myriad of international incidents that had occurred along the way, but they were all still here not killing each other but instead sharing in the good times. And that was all anyone really could ask for.

Sure, there was still a lot of work to be done, that was something Russel acknowledged as an irrefutable truth. After all, if everything were perfect then, well, they wouldn't need Huntsmen or this tournament. There was still the threat of Grimm and the ever present danger that came with their existence, as well as deep underlying political tensions between nations.

'You'd have to be a fucking moron not to see it.' Russel bitterly thought as he passed by trio of Northern Atlesian's uttering a derogatory curse in their native tongue about Vale's racially diverse teams representing them in the tournament.

Now of course, Russel could be mistaken. Maybe everything was just peachy and it was his inner pessimist that made him see the world through muddy shades. But if there was one thing a socially stunted bastard such as himself could pick up from his days spent in the library back at Oakwood, it was every how to curse in twelve languages.

"Goat Fuckers." Russel murmured under his breath, but audible enough to be heard by the trio. They perked up in their seats at the word and their eyes quickly darted to Russel, not angry, more so shocked. Sensing their eyes now aimed at the back of his head, Russel looked over his shoulder and smirked at the visitors before holding up a fist and flicking them the bird.

They just sat in their seats, unsure how to act. And that was alright with Russel, all they did was give him something genuinely funny to laugh about.

Traveling through the fairgrounds was a different sort of affair than traveling with company. For starters, there was no one present for conversation, no one to lean over to and converse with or share in jollity of small pointless victories over hapless fools. It was just Russel alone with all the thoughts in his head, surrounded by the oddities of the fair as well as the men and women capitalizing on all tourists naive of the Kingdom of Vale.

"Last call for tours around Beacon Academy! Last call!" A voice caught Russel's ear.

To his far left, the Thrush found Willa holding up a poorly made sign labeled 'Beacon Tours'. It was public knowledge to the students that campus was open for visitors, just as the fairgrounds were, it appeared the word didn't spread to the tourists. There was a decent sized group of people hanging around, their wallets open and handing twenty lien to get led around campus by someone Russel had never pegged as the hustling type.

Willa was an oddity to Russel. As long as he'd known the WILL leader, which wasn't too long, Willa had always struck him as more of a civilian than a Huntress. In Goodwitch's combat class she usually tried to hide in the back of class and rarely took part in spars unless called upon. She played blackjack well enough, usually sitting in on Team CRDL's game nights. Then there were her extracurricular activities which included writing erotic fantasies about her fellow students.

"What's all this about?" Russel asked as he bypassed the line of tourists, making his way to the front to meet Willa.

"Making a quick buck." Willa shrugged. "Not everyone at Beacon has the luxury of being a Schnee."

"I hear that." Russel nodded understandingly, after all, he used to work on a farm. For a moment, the Thrush stood there overlooking the line and quickly noticed the presence of Willa's other two teammates Iliad Marble and Lambert White, both of whom were collecting the tourist's lien.

But it wasn't their presence that caused a few alarms to go off in Russel's head, but rather, it was the absence. "No Lance?"

There were only a few people Russel could say he hated, that he truly despised. Chief among them was a Faunus who could coat himself in organic metal, but also on that very small list you'd find Lance Grimsby. At the end of the day you had to do completely fuck up to be on the same shit list as a known terrorist. And Lance Grimsby fucked up the moment he crossed paths with Russel during The Dance.

"Oh yeah, I don't want to be anywhere near him." Willa said, lowering her sign, a disgusted look on her face. "Ever since what happened during The Dance, he's been weird."

"How so?" Russel asked, curiosity snapping him out of his venomous thoughts.

"I don't know how to describe it, he's just been weird." "It all started after The Dance, we tried to console him over the incident with the flagpole, but he just started screaming at us. We tried to be understanding, but then when things calmed down we asked about the keg and he just starts off again. And that's not even the worst of it."

"No, really? How bad can he be?" Willa shot Russel a dirty look for his sarcasm.

"Well, when we first met him he seemed like an alright guy. Like how Jaune tries to present himself with that cheesy line of his but actually succeeds. But after The Dance we start noticing things that weren't there before, something up with his eyes maybe, I don't know. Like there was something about them whenever me or Iliad walked into the room, whenever we mentioned Velvet or something."

"You wouldn't know where he is, would you?" Russel asked causing Willa shoot him a questioning look. "Just gonna check in on the guy, that's all."

"Last I saw of him was an hour ago over at one of the food vendors." Willa answered. "Said he wanted to meet some out of towners or something stupid like that."

"Thanks Willa." Russel thanked his fellow student and then turned to leave. But almost as soon as he'd departed, Willa caught his attention once more with quite the audible shout. The Thrush looked over his shoulder and found the Team WILL leader holding out a hand.

"That'll be ten lien." She said.

Russel just stared at the Team WILL girl, his mouth slightly open and a myriad of responses flooding his brain. But for the life of him, the best retort he could come up with was to burst out laughing and carry on his way to the food district of the fairgrounds while Willa's threatening curses fell on uncaring ears.

Though Velvet and even Jaune had become accepting of Cardin's company, the unsure glances the Winchester boy was receiving were less than friendly.

After the rest of his team had departed to allow Velvet and himself some time to catch up after a month locked up recuperating in a hospital wing, Team RWBY, JNPR, SSSN and a number of other unfamiliar students Cardin assumed to hail outside of Vale swarmed the burger shack.

While they all engaged in conversation, Cardin found himself isolated by their dialogue. Though a number of them made broad general statements and jokes, the general discussion held wasn't directed for Cardin's benefit but rather to exclude him.

Yes, some people still found it odd to be sitting across a man they'd come to negatively view. The transition between hated bully and friendly acquaintance was still ongoing, the new status quo unsolidified, this was the expected response.

Even though Velvet tried her best to include Cardin in the general discussion, most topics became inside jokes that further isolated Cardin who lacked the necessary information to contribute. And yet teams like ABRN and BRNZ could chime in uninitiated.

"So, you were saying you guys fought The White Fang?" Reese Chloris of Team ABRN asked.

"Oh yeah, we fought them at Mt. Glenn." Ruby said cheerfully. "We stopped their evil plans and stuff."

"That's hella rad." The skater girl, Reese, bobbed her head up and down, totally digging Ruby's story.

"And we helped too." Neptune interjected, more so directing his comment towards the other female peers present.

"So you keep mentioning, Neptune." Bolin Hori of Team ABRN said, sounding quite irritated by Neptune's attempt to capitalize on his part during The Breach to gain the attention of their female companions.

"Well it's true, me and Sun here even fought with Roman Torchwick on the highway a month ago." Neptune said, patting his partner on the back and causing him to almost choke on the bite of burger he was in the process of chewing. "Oh, crap, sorry man!"

"Not cool man! Not cool!" Sun shouted as he coughed up his meal. "Ugh."

"Ah, you guys got to do all the cool stuff." Nadir Shiko of Team ABRN said, slightly pouting. "All we did for our first mission was watch the grass grow."

"It was an excellent learning experience about patience of the hunt, Nadir." Arslan Altan, the leader of Team ABRN said, as she lightly slapped her teammate's back. "Maybe if you weren't too busy playing games on your scroll you would've gotten something out of it."

"Our last training mission, my team and I got stranded out in No Man's Land." Velvet spoke up, contributing to the discussion. "We ran so late, Team RWBY here had to take over as planning committee for our recent dance." She said, not at all noticing both Cardin and Pyrrha stiffing at the mention.

"In our mission we wound up at the Rocky Region of Vacuo." Brawnz Ni, the leader of Team BRNZ chimed in as he sat off to the side shoulder to shoulder with his team.

"It couldn't have been that bad." Cardin said, taking the initiative to partake.

But Brawnz didn't appear to take kind to Cardin's inquiry, finding it condescending in a way. "We ran against a herd of Bull Mongers. The only way to kill them all was to trick them into running off a cliff. I myself had to lead them over the edge. Trust me, it was bad."

"Uh, okay." Cardin said, not sure how to respond to that information.

"Whoa." Yang's mouth hang open slightly. "That's cool."

"Sometimes you how dangerous the job can be." Roy Stallion of Team BRNZ flashed the blonde bombshell a toothy grin. "But it's all worth it in the end."

"So, how about you Cardin? You never exactly told us how things went on your mission." Velvet spoke up, once more attempting to include Cardin.

At this, Cardin snapped to attention and thought back to a little over a month ago right after The Dance. Though most of the morning was a haze with Cardin almost running outside butt naked to rescue Russel, whom he assumed was in danger, the Winchester recalled what had happened next with them heading off to the backwater town of Oakwood and the covert White Fang operation.

"Fought some White Fang too." Cardin stated with a shrug.

"That's it?" Nora asked, raising a brow. "You just fought White Fang? C'mon Cardin give us details."

"Yeah, Team RWBY fought on a train rigged with explosives, Brawnz over there led a herd off a cliff. Where's the action and excitement?" Neptune asked, demanding more out of Cardin's story telling abilities.

"Uh, well…" Cardin trailed off as he thought back to when he and Russel stumbled onto the operation out in Oakwood Forest "The White Fang were pillaging the local academy's Grimm reserves after it closed down. We stumbled upon their operation and put it down."

"You stumbled upon it?" Yang questioned, essentially asking for Cardin to elaborate.

"We were called in to deal with Grimm, but it was just a pack of Creeps. But it was the condition of The Creeps that got me and my team thinking, that there was something else happening in the town." Cardin recalled the famished pack of Creeps he, Port and the rest of CRDL tracked back into Oakwood. "They were unleashed by The White Fang after they found out Huntsmen were called into town about Grimm."

"Wait a minute, Cardin" Ruby raised her hand in the air waving it to be called on as if she were in class. "If The White Fang released The Creeps in response to your arrival, then why were you guys called to Oakwood in the first place?"

Cardin paused for a moment, debating whether or not to share this part of his experience in Oakwood. But, seeing that everyone else shared their tales so far, Cardin couldn't argue against continuing his tale.

"There was a local couple in Oakwood, they called in for Huntsmen after discovering The White Fang in their town." Cardin sighed. "The White Fang killed them before we arrived and hid their bodies in an old cabin."

A hush fell over the assembled group while the proprietor busied himself with collecting empty plates and refilling equally empty drinks. It was at that moment that the tone of the conversation took a somber turn. The gathered Huntsmen and Huntresses looked amongst themselves as if they were silently contemplating not only Cardin's tale but the repercussions of it.

The truth of the matter was, they had faced the possibility of death in the field but none of them had ever been faced with it. Ruby and Yang's expressions saddened, Jaune started to look scared and fearful for not only himself but for his friends seated beside him. Velvet looked hurt by the tale. And Blake looked horrified since the mention of The White Fang killing the couple.

Cardin looked all around him and took in what he'd done without even realizing mood had turned sour and it was all Cardin's fault. But he didn't want to ruin their levity, that wasn't why Cardin had shared his tale. He wanted to feel comradery with his peers, but that wasn't the case. He'd only saddened their spirits. And there was only one way he recognized to rectify his actions.

"I forgot, I have to go do something." Cardin said, standing from his seat. His action snapped the majority of the group out of their depressing trances, save for Blake who was stuck thinking about the atrocities committed by The White Fang.

Cardin quickly hailed down the vendor and paid for not only his meal but for the rest of Team CRDL who departed prior and as well as Velvet's. "I'll talk to you guys later, okay?" He said before taking off into the fair.

"Wait, Cardin!" Velvet shouted, causing the Winchester to stop in his tracks. With his attention hers, Velvet gestured to the bill he'd just paid. "You bought my dinner."

"Yeah." He shrugged as if there wasn't anything to it.

"I owe you one." Velvet smiled appreciatively. "Say tomorrow, breakfast? How's that sound? It'll be my treat." She said, causing a number of eyes to shoot wide open.

Cardin stared dumbly at Velvet, drawing a complete mental blank. A part of him wanted to rationalize the gesture as one of friendship, but a part of his mind began wandering to someplace else, a thought of the gesture meaning something more. And then finally, Cardin decided to take a leap of faith. "It's a date." He smirked before turning his back to the Velvet and the dumbfounded Team RWBY and JNPR.

"What just happened?!" Nora exclaimed, pulling on her own hair.

"I have no idea." Ren shook his head, equally confused as the rest of them.

It had been around noon when Nebula had graced Amity Colesseum's arena. The sun was high up there overhead in the center of the sky. But that was some hours ago which the Violette had spent slumbering in an infirmary cot. Now the sun was far off setting over the nearby sea and the once blue sky was now dark red with a familiar nighttime darkness trailing it from behind.

Nebula couldn't help but stop and stare at the sight of the sun against the ocean. Growing up in a desert, she'd never had the fortune of seeing such a sight. There was something about the way the light shimmered through the water that was appealing and mesmerizing. There was no wonder why Beacon was built so close to Cliffside, this was the kind of sight one could look at for the rest of their lives.

But eventually Nebula removed her eyes from the distance, returning her attention to the task of locating her team. It should have been an easy task to locate the trio, given how often Dew checked her scroll, or how attentive Gwen could be to social media. But sadly, the trio of NDGO members weren't the only things electrocuted out there by Neptune, but also Nebula's scroll which she always carried in her back pants pocket.

With no means to contact her team, she was forced to walk through the fairgrounds in search of them, a task that was by no means easy. The crowds that seemed dull in the morning had grown lively at the entertainment provided by street performers, as well as by the activities vendors provided.

Walking past a ring toss booth, Nebula thought about what the fair offered her teammates would find attractive. She could imagine Octavia trying to win a stuffed animal at a carnival game, or at the very least enjoying the act of throwing a ball and obliterating stacked up pins through aura infused force. And then there was Gwen and her fascination for the arts, she'd probably seen a pair of performers dancing in the walkway intersection and stopped to watch or join in.

But it was probably what Dew wanted to do that seemed to be the most likely of possibilities. Whenever Nebula wasn't around, leadership of the team fell to Dew. And she very well could be doing literally anything. Dew wasn't just a jack of all trades in battle but she was also one personality wise. Though she had the habit of saying every negative thought on her mind and had that siren's song semblance of hers, Dew really was a nice person, though you had to try hard to find that part of her. Dew liked games, she probably liked carnival games. She liked performances, she also liked street performers. She could literally be anywhere.

Plagued with trying to ascertain just where her team might be, Nebula found it more and more difficult to think clearly. She paused a brief moment, shuffling herself off to the side of the walkway to let others pass by. There she tried to concentrate, but found herself wandering off, enticed by a nearby scent of grilled onions.

It had been some time since Nebula had last ate, the aroma of onions was driving her so crazy that her gut seemingly grew a mind of its own and demanded to be fed. It was absolutely tempting to break off her search for her tem for a moment and grab something to eat. But before she could make up her mind on the matter, a light went off in Nebula's head.

Her teammates were electrocuted just as much as she was. They weren't unconscious for as long, but still, time passed by all of them. They had to have gone for food. And it was with that realization that Nebula took off running through the fair, recalling that most of the food vendors were relegated to one part of the grounds.

Nebula's search took her past a quaint noodle shop to a mouthwatering venison stand as well as past a crepe vendor. Mentally noting the stands for later visitation, the NDGO leader continued her search before ultimately arriving at a secluded tent on the outskirts of grounds, right near a Cliffside overlooking what she assumed to be the Emerald Forest.

Taking a quick peak inside tent, Nebula found her search at an end. Inside the tent sitting at the counter was her team as they had their drink orders filled. But Nebula found they weren't alone, there was a young man around their age with them. And from the looks on Dew and Octavia's faces, they weren't exactly pleased by his presence. Gwen, on the other hand, was engrossed by the attention the young man was giving her as he chatted her up.

With a sigh of relief at finally finding her team, Nebula rejoined them by taking up a vacant seat beside Dew.

"Hey girls." Nebula said as she took her seat, quickly earning their attention.

"Nebula! You woke up!" Gwen exclaimed from the other side of the counter while the boy seated beside her cracked an off putting smile, taking the opportunity to reach out for Gwen's drink unnoticed.

"Yep." Nebula sighed as she hailed down a server and ordered a meal and drink. "Whiskey." She said, pulling out a fake I.D. Octavia had gotten her a while back before the incident at Grendel.

The server took the I.D. and looked at then back to Nebula, a skeptic brow raised. "You don't look twenty one." The serve said, handing back the card.

"And you got the worst plot of real-estate in the fair." Nebula said, raising a hand and gesturing around the tent. As it was, Nebula, her team and that boy seated with them were the server's only customers. No doubt this was in part due to the tent being so far out of the way. "I could use a pick me up, and so could you." She said as she reached into her wallet and revealed lien notes.

The server stared at Nebula for a moment tempted to argue with her, but later conceded, acknowledging the lack of business that funneled their way. So, looking past the Vacuan's age, the server went and fetched Nebula her drink.

"Holy shit Neb. I got you that as a joke, I never thought you'd use it." Octavia said, sounding quite impressed by her leader's actions. "I never figured you for a rebel."

"Ugh." Nebula groaned. "I can't believe we lost."

The trio of NDGO members exchanged concerned glances. "Well, we gave it our all. What more could we have done?" Dew said as the server came back with Nebula's meal.

"We could have won." The NDGO leader frowned as she thanked the server for her plate of dumplings.

The trio shared another glance and then to their male companion who looked seemingly perplexed by Nebula's arrival. "Uh, Lance, this is our leader Nebula. Nebula, this is Lance." Gwen said, introducing the young man.

"Uh, hi." Lance waved. "So, Gwen here tells me you killed a Goliath, that's pretty cool." The resident NDGO dancer nodded before reaching out and sipping her drink.

"Ugh." Nebula spat.

"Forgive her, she had her heart set on winning today." Gwen said, quickly turning her attention back to Lance, hearts for eyes.

"Least you guys competed, right? Must've been cool." Lance said, reaching out and claiming his drink and taking a sip.

"I'm a bit of a stage performer back home, but I've never had that big an audience before."

"Really? Sounds intriguing." He said, causing Gwen to giggle. Seeing this display, Octavia turned to her teammates and emulated gagging.

"We could have won out there today." Nebula said, catching Dew and Octavia's ears while Gwen was blissfully unaware, too busy talking with Lance. "It was three against two. We had Sun on the ropes and we made that stupid mistake. Ugh." She said bitterly before throwing a dumpling in her mouth.

"Neb, I get it, you really wanted to win. But moping about it isn't going to change anything." Dew said as she stirred the contents of her drink. "We just gotta move on."

"Dew, you don't get it." Nebula sighed. "I didn't want to win for 'me', but rather so I could address the world, call for an end to all this crappy tension between humans and faunus. You were there at Grendel, you saw how we were received by its people and what those madmen did. This needs to stop." She declared, reaching out and taking as sip of her alcoholic beverage.

Setting her drink back onto the counter, practically slamming it, Nebula began to laugh, concerning her teammates. She shook her head and sighed once more. "I was a fool to believe I could do it." She continued to shake her head, further sinking into depression. "I'm a Violette. We're destined to lose."

"You're being too hard on yourself, Neb." Gwen spoke up from the other side of the counter. "You led us out of Grendel didn't you? When the professor died, you took charge! You le dus to victory that day!"

"Gwen's right." Dew declared, reaching over and patting her partner on the back. "You aren't doing anything wrong, Neb. We just had crummy luck is all."

"Exactly!" Gwen shouted before reaching out for her neglected drink to take a sip, all the while Lance watched with anticipation. But before she could, a hand reached out and smacked her soda out of her hand. The dancer let out a surprised yelp, quickly gaining her teammate's attention. Gwen turned to the stranger who'd knocked her drink from her hand to protest his actions and demand compensation.

But her words fell on deaf ears as he busied himself with manhandling Lance. The stranger reached out and grabbed Lance by his shirt collar and hoisted him up off the ground.

"R-Russel." Lance gasped.

"The one an only." Russel smirked. Before any of the NDGO girls could ascertain just what was going on, Russel reeled his head back and slammed it forward against Lance's.

Lance let out a pained cry, his hands instantly shooting up to apply pressure to where he'd been struck. "What the fuck man!" He shouted before Russel loosened his grip, allowing Lance to fall flat on his ass.

"How the hell is it I keep catchin' you up to no good?" Russel questioned as he glared down at the fallen Lance.

"Hey, you can't just go around hitting people!" Gwen shouted, quickly shooting to her feet in defense of Lance. "What's wrong with you?!"

Russel turned his gaze away from the downed Lance to Gwen and eyed the dancer with a raised brow. "You're not from around here are you?"

With Russel momentarily distracted, Lance seized his chance to fight back. The Team WILL boy shot to his feet in an attempt to strike back at Russel. He reeled back his right arm and formed a fist. He then thrust it forward, socking Russel across the jaw.

Russel staggered backward, slightly stunned by the attack. He uttered a quiet curse beneath his breath and spat blood. He'd been in the middle of forming a sentence when Lance hit him, he'd bit his tongue. The Thrush just eyed Lance, a low burning anger in the center of his brain. He was now counting the ways he could hurt his so called 'peer'.

Nebula looked away from her meal to watch the nearby altercation. While Gwen understood his retaliation, she couldn't help but questioned Lance for his actions. The NDGO leader could see something off about the guy. It wasn't the blood running down his nose that had the gears in Nebula's head turning, but rather it was his eyes. There was just something off, something about them that informed hunger.

The NDGO leader momentarily glanced away from the pair to Lance's attacker. Her eyes shot wide, recognizing the young man with the mohawk from earlier. She recalled how the guy insulted a Team of Faunus huntsmen and then created an angry mob with his careless actions, indirectly harming numerous people. Though she didn't know Lance and there was something about him that didn't sit right with Nebula, she had some familiarity with the sleeveless delinquent, knowing him as a troublemaker and appalling racist.

"Seriously, what is your deal?" Gwen questioned Russel, quickly snapping him out of his violent thoughts. The NDGO ballerina stuck up a finger poked him on the chest in order to get him to answer her question.

"Hey, she asked you a question!" Octavia shouted from where she sat by the counter.

Russel glanced at Gwen's poking his person and smacked her hand away. Gwen jumped back in order to get out of Russel's way as he shot forward, quickly grabbing a hold of Lance and tripping him by kicking his feet out from under him. Lance attempted to struggle, but without the support of his legs, he was unable to prevent Russel from slamming his head against the counter.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Dew exclaimed, shocked by the violent act.

Nebula had spared Panini earlier her wrath, due to the fact that she was a wounded combatant as well as the nature of their current argument being anything less than worth the effort. But in this instance, intervening seemed more likely than inaction. This was a fight, an unsanctioned brawl. The boy with the mohawk had struck his opponent while they were looking away. Not to mention, he'd laid a hand on Gwen. She would not be sparing him.

So, Nebula sat up and knocked over her stool. Without a word, she then kicked it at Russel effectively sweeping his legs and causing him to fall onto the stool and crush it under his weight.

Lance picked himself off the ground as the rest of NDGO shot to their feet. The server shouted obscenities, demanding that one of them pay for the stool they'd broken all the while Russel staggered back onto his feet. With him, Russel raised up two of the legs of the stool and held them up like daggers. Russel pointed one in Team NDGO's direction, the other in Lances.

"Stay out of this." Russel uttered lowly as he waved one of the legs threateningly at NDGO.

"We're Huntresses, a little twig isn't going to scare us." Nebula took a step forward, not at all impressed by Russel's show of force. "Now drop it. Or we drop you."

"Never been in a five-way. Could be fun." Russel shrugged off Nebula's threat, earning appalled expressions out of the rest of NDGO.

"Gross." Dew muttered.

"Anyways." Russel turned back to Lance, who stood ready to defend himself. "You really didn't your lesson last time you pulled this shit."

"Not like you can prove anything. You destroyed the evidence." Lance laughed cockily, gesturing to Gwen's drink resting on the ground. Its contents emptied over the grass.

"Do I look like a cop to you? I'm just gonna beat the shit out of you." Russel said before quickly raising one of the broken off pieces of stool, intent on striking Lance.

But before Russel could even attempt to hit Lance, a foreign hand belonging to Nebula reached out and snatched the end of the reeled back piece of the wooden stool. Russel looked at Nebula in surprise, not even seeing her move. And without any effort, the Violette lifted her leg and pressed it against Russel's side and kicked him out of the tent while at the same time loosening his grasp on the leg she held and claiming it as her own.

Russel rolled out of the tent onto the fairgrounds on his back, skidding for the last few feet of the way. He a grunt, the Thrush picked himself up once more and raised the remaining leg in his hand and directed it toward Nebula who was just merging from the tent, the rest of Team NDGO behind her.

"We got your back, Neb." Octavia cracked her knuckles.

"No, I've got this." Nebula raised the piece of the stool as if it were her very own crossbow weapon.

"You've got this? How utterly dehumanizing of you." Russel chuckled as began to step forward, his makeshift weapon still raised ready to counter whatever his opponent could dish out. "I'm not an object ladies."

"Really? You sure? You're sure acting like a tool." Nebula quipped.

"Quick with words, but how are you with the swordplay? Or, in this instance, woodplay?" Russel said before lunging forward and striking at Nebula. Nebula blocked the attack, meeting the Thrush with and equal amount of force

"It's impolite to hit a lady, you know." She said as she wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.

Russel afforded himself a laugh before raising his weapon and using it to point at Nebula's indigo colored hair. "Could've fooled me with that haircut."

"You're one to talk. Nice fern." Nebula smirked at her retort.

"Scathing."

"Kick his ass Neb!" Octavia shouted supportively like a very hyper active punk rock cheerleader. "Beat the fuck out of him!"

As Nebula and Russel did battle with their wooden sticks, Octavia's loud obscenities quickly garnered the attention of nearby patrons at other booths. Once they took notice of the fight between Nebula and the Thrush, a crowd began to grow.

But even as the crowds grew and the fight raged on, Russel made an effort to keep an eye of Lance. The WILL boy stood there amongst Team NDGO looking hot under the collar. He spared glances to Gwen and back to the fight before him. It was an easy enough task for Russel, to divide his attention like the way he was doing, but Nebula was proving to be more capable of an opponent than he anticipated. Every strike he made she countered and every time he was forced onto the defensive she was utterly relenting.

So for the time being Russel was forced to give Nebula his full undivided attention and focus on the fight. But the moment that one eye of his he had watching Lance was averted, the WILL boy took off back to the nearby tent and claimed Gwen's drinking cup before fleeing into the night.

"C'mon Nebula!" Dew shouted, joining her teammate in support of their leader.

"Yeah go, Neb-whoa...!" Gwen exclaimed, hoping to join her teammates in cheering on their leader. But suddenly everything began to cloud around Nebula and the girl lost balance in her legs and fell to the side. Thankfully, Dew and Octavia were attentive enough and caught her.

"Gwen? What's wrong?" Octavia asked, concerned over her partner's unexplained action.

For a moment, Nebula looked away from her fight with Russel and to her teammates just to see what had happened. All she could hear was little snippets of conversation, but from the sounds of things something had happened to Gwen. With Nebula momentarily distracted, Russel struck her across the face with his weapon. The Violette staggered back, completely caught off guard by the attack.

"Huntress, huh? I doubt it. Even a rookie knows not to take their eye off the enemy even for a second."

"Yeah, I know." Nebula gritted before bawling her right hand into a fist. She knelt down and began to channel her aura into her hand, causing it to glow slightly. The next thing Russel knew, Nebula was punching him in the crotch.

The amassed crowd of onlookers all in unison let out pained looks as if they themselves had been struck by the same blow with some male members of the assembled audiences went as far as to cover their own private regions.

"What. The. Fuck." Russel struggled to say as he fell to his knees, an utterly devastated look on his face. He tossed aside his wooden plank and tended to his crushed balls.

"Even a rookie knows not to take their eye off the enemy." Nebula echoed Russel's words as she rose to her feet. "Idiot." She spat before turning to join her teammates in helping Gwen. "Is she alright?"

"I-I'm a-alright-alright." Gwen said unconvincingly as her teammates were forced to hold her up. "W-Where's Lance? Lance where'd you go?"

"Who cares about him, Gwen what's happening to you?"

"It hasn't even been a day and you're already getting into another scrape." Russel turned his head to sound of a familiar voice. There, he found Cardin emerging from a nearby crowd of bystanders, his arms crossed over his chest and a disappointed look on his face. "I could have sworn I left you in the hands of one and a half capable chaperones."

"Sky's…off with his…boyfriend," Russel did his best to answer his partner's questions. But the pain was something fierce and almost overwhelming. "Also, Dove jumped off a cliff."

"Sky has a boyfriend? Since when?" Cardin asked sounding surprised.

"I don't know…He's always running off and stuff," Russel grunted. "it's the only plausible explanation."

"Well I'm happy for him." Cardin nodded approvingly.

"Yeah…at least one of us is getting laid."

"And Dove? He jumped off a cliff?"

"Oh, please. He has an aura. He'll be fine." Russel waved off Cardin's concerns.

"So, what's this all about?" Cardin pointed to Team NDGO as they surrounded their fallen member.

"Ugh, it's fuckin' Lance." Russel sneered as he fought the pain. "He spiked that girl over there's drink."

"Any evidence to back up that claim?" Cardin asked, not to discredit his partner but rather to help him. Without any proof of the act then all they said about Lance was speculation. The Grimsby boy could just as well point blame to the vendor Gwen ate at or to Gwen herself.

"Not a chance, he scrammed with the cup." Russel muttered as he picked himself up off the ground once more.

"Damn. I've been meaning to pay him back for the way he's been pressuring Velvet." Cardin said, recalling all the times Velvet had confided in him about Lance's creepiness around her. "This would've been the thing to finally kick his ass out of Beacon."

"Whelp, least we know where he sleeps at night. We can always hang him upside down nude on the flagpole again."

"Someone, please call an ambulance! My friend needs help!" Nebula addressed the crowd sounding uneasy and fearful for Gwen's health.

"That's your cue." Russel directed at Cardin as he continued to kneel on the grass, holding his swelling junk.

"Right, of course, I have to be the responsible adult." Cardin lamented his current status while he dug into his pocket and withdrew his scroll to dial emergency services. "You do recall me being the one charging into a mob club three weeks ago, right?"

"Yeah? Well I was the idiot who volunteered to help you." Russel shot back with a laugh.

Some time passed and the crowd that formed to witness Nebula and Russel fight had grown at the sight of an ambulance arriving onto the fairgrounds. The red and blue lights clashed against the yellow emitted from torches illuminating the grounds.

A man and a woman dressed in red and white disembarked their vehicle, bringing with them a gurney which they placed Gwen on. They rushed the dancer off back to the ambulance with the nominated Octavia accompanying her partner on the ride to the hospital.

With the ambulance taking off, the scene had last its flare and the crowd began to disperse returning to the rest of the fair. When all was said and done Russel, Cardin, Nebula and Dew found themselves sitting down back at the tent where the entire incident began.

"Can I get a bag of ice?" Russel asked the server as he offered him a two lien note. The server, who'd long given up on attempting to acquire compensation for the broken stool, sighed and fetched the Thrush a plastic bag which the server then filled with ice.

Russel gratefully thanked the server for the bag and then limped back to where Cardin was seated. Sitting opposite of his partner at a table, Russel now took the opportunity to apply the bag of ice to his crotch and winced at the touch of cold.

"I tell you, Cardin, I've been thrown through gravestones, run through trees and even punched into the ground with such force that it created a crater, but out of all of those no pain measures up to what I feel now." Russel said as he reclined back in his seat.

"Uh, hey." Russel turned to see Nebula standing beside their table.

"Hi."

"Sorry about punching you in the dick there." She gestured to the back of ice. "I should have known that guy was a creep. There was just something off about him."

"Yeah, well we'll deal with him in due time." Cardin reassured. "What's the paramedics say about your friend there?"

"Well, we don't have the means to properly communicate between my team at the moment, so I can't call our friends for updates, but while the paramedics were here they said they were confidant it was a case of roofies." Nebula answered Cardin's query. "Me and my teammate are going to file a report with the local police, mind spreading the word about this guy?"

"It'll be our pleasure." Cardin smiled, indulging in the concept of ruining Lance.

Nebula then once again addressed Russel, guilt on her face. "Again, I'm sorry about beating the crap out of you. I know now you were just trying to help." She said, a small thankful smile appearing on her face.

"What're you talking about?" Russel simply shrugged. "I just wanted to beat him up."

Nebula just stared at the Thrush for a moment, not sure whether his response was some form of dry wit or just deadpan serious. She just simply nodded in acknowledgement of his help, regardless of his intent and simply turned to depart.

"Hey." The Thrush called out, causing Nebula to stop and spin around on her heel. "You got one hell of a right hook, girl."

"Hmph. It's Nebula, not 'girl'."

"Take care of yourself 'Not Girl'." Russel smirked to himself as he watched Nebula close the distance between herself and Dew.

"Ready to go?" Nebula jotted a thumb at the exit.

"Yeah." Dew shrugged, seeing no point in delaying their departure to the hospital. "You know, I know that guy helped and all, but I still think he's an asshole."

"Oh without a doubt." Nebula laughed.

"She seemed nice." Cardin said, referring to how Nebula carried herself when she apologized.

"Yeah." Russel nodded in agreement as he watched Nebula and Dew depart. "I guess she did."

"By the way. Good luck tomorrow." Cardin said as he waved down the server and ordered a drink.

"What are you talking about?" Russel asked, confused.

"Tomorrows the doubles round. Good luck." The Winchester said as the server handed him his drink.

It took a moment for Russel to fully register Cardin's words, to understand just what he was implying. "What? No, no, no way." The Thrush shook his head.

"Yeah. Both you and Sky." Cardin said as he dug into his pocket and paid the server.

"Oh what the hell Cardin, you saw me out there. They knocked the shit out of me today." The Thrush exclaimed, reminding Cardin of their fight with Team PSYK earlier.

"You also eliminated three of the enemy team. That's not bad."

"Yeah, because you and Sky distracted them long enough for me to set the damn trap!"

"There's no point arguing with me on this, Russel. I already sent in our selection. You're going to do fine."

"…Holy shit you actually believe in me."

"I wasn't lying earlier, Russel. I trust you."

Russel was at a complete loss of words. But then he quickly regained them as he realized it was too good to be true. "You and Velvet are doing something tomorrow aren't you?"

"Maybe."

"You sly dog." The Thrush laughed as he reached over the table and grabbed Cardin's drink.

"…That's my drink." Cardin protested as Russel downed the whole bottle.

"I know."

It was later in the night when Sky arrived at Ozpin's office. Earlier he'd been contacted by the Beacon Headmaster and told to fetch him some documents from town. To say the least, the Lark was surprised to find he'd been sent down a familiar alley near the merchant district.

There, Sky acted out the routine of leaning against a brick wall which somehow summoned Kevin out of the shadows of the alley. It was a confusing experience that left Sky with more questions than answers as Kevin handed him a stack of papers and sent him on his way. What exactly was his connection with Ozpin and for how long had they been working together?

But that was a matter for another day. Sky then spent some time trying to catch a cab back to Beacon, which wasn't an easy task. With the influx of tourists from the other three kingdoms, there wasn't enough to spare, this ultimately forced Sky to make the journey from the city to Beacon, a double digit mile walk.

So when he arrived at Beacon Tower, Sky was a sweating mess. Up the elevator he went, still clutching onto the documents Kevin had given him. He arrived, at Ozpin's door and knocked. He stepped in and found the Headmaster as well as the other members of his inner circle and one other, a greying man that smelt of booze who had a familiar fire in his eyes, the kind that reminded him oddly of Yang Xiao Long.

"What's with the kid, Ozpin?" The greying old crow of a man turned to the Headmaster for an explanation for Sky's presence.

"Sky Lark, allow me to introduce you to Qrow Branwen. Qrow, meet Sky." Ozpin gestured to the pair, sidestepping the veteran Huntsman's question.

"Lark? As in The Larks?" Qrow raised abrow.

"Yes, the archeologists." Goodwitch answered with a nod.

"Alright, now I'm starting to understand." Qrow spun around to his left, turning to face General Ironwood who stood secluded from the rest. "He fucking figured it all out. Jimmy, what fuck?"

"Oh don't look at me." Ironwood glared at his contemporary. "He made it past the death traps in the basement you designed."

"Even the Doom Scythes?"

"Especially the Doom Scythes."

"Anyways, uh, I brought what you wanted, sir." Sky cautiously spoke up, raising the documents he'd carried all the way from the city to Beacon.

"Ah, yes, good work." Ozpin extended a hand and gestured for Sky to deliver the documents to him. The Lark closed the distance between himself and the Headmaster of Beacon seated behind his desk and delivered the parcel of paper. "Kevin Twelve's physical reports are always so detailed. I do enjoy his penmanship."

"His last name's Twelve?" Sky questioned, not really expecting the man in the alleyway to have such an unassuming name.

"Oh, no, that's his designation." Ozpin chuckled. He then straightened himself, once more assuming his serious demeanor and addressed "I have another assignment, Mr. Lark. We've reached a consensus. Tomorrow, after the doubles rounds we need you to bring Pyrrha Nikos to us."

"If I may sir? For what purpose?" Sky asked, not following.

"You know why, Mr. Lark. It's about time we brought Ms. Nikos into the fold…"

"You arrogant bastard." Cinder bit her lip as she watched the live feed. Seated on her assigned dorm room bed, the evil mastermind that was Cinder Fall watched as Ozpin and his inner circle plotted, unaware of her prying eye. "Soon." She told herself. "Soon all you've built will crumble."

"How did your reconnaissance go?" Cinder questioned her two lackeys as they entered their dorm room.

"As well as it could go, Boss." Mercury answered casually while his mint green haired partner broodily made her way to her assigned bed.

"Is there something troubling you, Emerald?" Cinder asked, noticing her underling's mood.

"Russel messed with her again." Mercury said, instantly earning a menacing glare from his partner. "You missed it, he out thiefed her."

"He did not!" Emerald she practically screamed in Mercury's face. But the silver haired young man was unfazed by the display, in fact, he was smiling. Her eyes widened, realizing Cinder had witness the break in her cool collected attitude. She turned her head slowly and saw her leader staring with a cross expression.

"I expect more from you, Emerald. You showed great promise back in Mistral so I will forget this emotional outburst of your." Cinder spoke coldly.

"Thank you, Mistress." Emerald said, practically falling to her and kissing Cinder's feet.

"Now, who do we have to work with?"

"Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee are participating in the doubles round." Mercury said as Emerald provided visuals via the use of her scroll which currently, through the use of the Black Queen virus, was jacked into the Amity Colesseum's computer systems.

"Ah, yes, the local heroes." Cinder smiled at the pieces she had at her disposal. Without a doubt, Team RWBY's members would advance through the tournament, and either one of their chosen representatives would serve well in her plans. "Yes, they'll do nicely."

"If I may, Mistress?" Emerald spoke up, a devilish idea coming to mind as she further scrolled through the list of doubles round participants.

"Speak, Emerald."

"We've acquired knowledge of the Atlesain robot, why not tip the scales of the fight to truly see if its death would gain the reaction we need?"

"You're proposing we change the match ups in tomorrow's fights, but to what end Emerald?"

"To give the people of Remnant a hero." "Imagine that Atlas' robot defeats the villains of this tournament? It'll gain the favor of the world and it'll that much more emotional once they realize the false idol they'd put their faith in."

"You sound as if you have a particular match up in mind?"

Emerald smirked as her browsing came to a halt. On the scroll in her hands, were images of Team CRDL's representatives Russel Thrush and Sky Lark. "As a matter of fact, I do."

I write up outlines for every chapter in every arc. On my outline this chapter had three paragraphs. And somehow that translated to over ten thousand words of story. Because that makes sense.

Whenever I write anything related to Lance, I get uncomfortable. He's a very dark character in what he represents and does. So, I try my best not to have that utter shit person who getting hated on is their entire reason for existing in this story. That's sort of why narratively I've dodged writing the final word on Lance or Panini, because there's more story with those characters further down the line.In this chapter we also witnessed the first meeting of Russel and Nebula. If someone could figure out a ship name for them, that would be great. Part of why this chapter took so long to write was also due in part to rewrites. I just couldn't settle on how their first meeting should go. But then, I realized, Nebula wouldn't like Russel too much during an initial meeting.

And then I feel the circumstances of their meting is also important to Russel's character. He's not a traditional hero with altruistic views. He's the hero because he's our protagonist. He's very much a liberal individual who I imagine in great support of Freedom of Speech. But, the whole reason he runs into Nebula is because of how he went about it. He didn't show up to save Gwen from getting drugged by Lance, he showed up just to settle a score with the guy. He's not a knight in shining armor.

And we also saw Cardin and how he's dealing with fitting in with everyone now that he's not that guy they all hate. I think I may have confirmed a ship for this story, I don't know. So, next chapter, I hope will be out by the end of next week. It'll focus heavily on Pyrrha as we near the end of this arc.

Also, I'd like to make an announcement. I've decided to extent the story by 5 arcs. This decision was made because, well, I don't want to rush the narrative. That brings our total of arcs to 25 and our overall chapter total to 150 chapters.

'Til next time dear reader! Later days!