The boat-like ship touched down on the grass, and Cinder began to think to herself, "Not exactly what I had in mind, but close enough."

A hatch at the side of the ship opened, and a girl in pink, white, and brown clothing and a black derby hat, and a pink umbrella on her shoulder, with her left shoulder leaning against the frame of the ship

Cinder smiled, and said, "It's not what I pictured, but it'll do."

The girl rolled her eyes, and held out her hand to stop Cinder, who gave the girl a confused look

The girl then turned around and put her hand on the ship, and suddenly, shards of pink glass began to encase it, until finally, it completely covered the ship in a illusion that made it look exactly like Atlesian ships

Cinder then commented, "Well, color me impressed, Neo."

Neo and Cinder boarded the ship, but before they lifted off, Cinder had said one last thing, "You know, one person once asked me if I believed in destiny. I'm glad to say I still do."

/

Jaune fingered the red fabric in his hand, and he thought about that one day, back in Beacon, when one of his most precious friends died to Cinder. Pyrrha. Jaune thought about her red hair, how it was always combed and tied into a ponytail, and her emerald green eyes, how they showed no fear in the face of danger, her courage to defend others, her skill that made everyone else look drab. Her red spartan armor, which was never dirty, and was always shiny and strong. One moment, Jaune had her beside him. The next, the only thing he had was her red fabric that she wore around her waist. In her memory, Jaune did the same. Every night, he would watch a video that Pyrrha handmade, teaching and guiding him through both offensive and defensive sword and shield practices. There was never a night when Jaune didn't go to bed before training.

Jaune couldn't protect Pyrrha. He wasn't strong enough then. But Jaune vowed that he will become stronger, strong enough to where he could beat the likes of Ren and Nora. Jaune will become strong. In order to protect the ones he loved. Then he would teach Cinder a lesson, not to mess with his friends. Jaune HAD to become stronger. Or he would not be able to stop another friend from dying.

Jaune heard a knock at the door of the dorm given to him, Ren, Nora, and Oscar by the Atlas Academy, and Jaune looked up to see Oscar standing there

"Yeah?" Jaune asked

Oscar replied, "We've gotta get to training and get in a last duel before Itachi leaves on his assignment."

Jaune nodded

Apparently, Sasuke, Winter, and Itachi had an assignment that they had to take care of tomorrow morning, about what they wouldn't tell. However, Itachi wanted one last training session with Oscar and Jaune, due to the fact that Jaune was still behind the rest and Oscar was not as experienced as them.

Jaune then tied the red fabric around his waist, and leaving a strip to hang off the side of his waist

As Jaune and Oscar walk through the academy, Jaune asks Oscar, "Hey, uh, Oscar, have you ever felt like you're nothing but a drag on your teammates sometimes?"

Oscar gave Jaune a sincere look, and answered, "Well, yes, I do. I'm the least experienced of you all, and on top of that, with Ozpin a part of me, I keep feeling responsible for you all, as if it's my responsibility to protect you all. But whenever I'm not any help at all, I feel as if all I am is dead weight, a weak link. Why do you want to know?"

Jaune looked at the cold, blue marble floor in front of him, and replied, "Well, you may not be as experienced, but if anything you definitely would give me a hard time in a fight. I'm probably the least skilled of all my team. And it gets to me. It gets to me all the time. I feel utterly useless sometimes, and I feel I might let my team down because I'm not strong enough."

Oscar gave Jaune an understanding look, then replied, "Well, that certainly is true. However, what you lack is skill or battle prowess, you certainly make up with something else that could even be more dangerous than battle skill. You have smarts. Your strategy skills and quick thinking has helped your teammates multiple times, and had it not been for you, I think there would have been a couple of times where your team would have never made it without you."

Jaune sighed, and said, "You're right. Thanks Oscar."

Oscar nodded, and said, "You're welcome. If you ever need any advice, I'm here."

Jaune nodded

Soon, Jaune and Oscar reached the training room, and saw Sasuke and Itachi chatting together.

As they arrived, Itahci turned around and said, "Well, I see you have accepted my offer for one last session."

Jaune replied, "Yeah, I'll do anything to get stronger to help my teammates."

Oscar then said, "Well, seeing as how I'm practically Salem's archenemy right now, I'm gonna have to learn to defend myself against her."

Itachi nodded, and said, "All good reasons for good causes."

Jaune then said, "Uh, Itachi, I was wondering if I could go first."

Itachi shook his head, and replied, "I don't think it will be me you're sparring with this time, but with each other. I merely want to see your match to assess what needs to be worked on while I'm gone."

Jaune nodded, and turned to Oscar, and said, "Well, I guess we're about to find out who would win."

Oscar gave a small smile and replied, "Well, I bid you good luck then."

Jaune smiled, and replied, "Same here for you too."

Oscar pulled out the small handle that was clipped to the back of his waist, and turned it to battle mode, and a metal pole slid out, turning it into Ozpin's cane.

Jaune held his sheath with his left wrist like a shield, and the sheath then actually turned into a shield with the sword still sheathed in it, and Jaune withdrew it.

"Now is when I find out how strong I've become," Jaune said to himself

Jaune put his shield in front of him, and remembered all those times when he would stay up at night, and practiced a video made by Pyrrha to help train him.

"All right Jaune, just like we practiced, follow these instructions…"

Jaune took a deep breath

"Shield up. Keep your grip tight."

Jaune held his yellow and white shield in front of him, and tightened his hold on the handle of his blade

"Don't forget to keep your front foot forward. Ready!?"

Jaune put his left foot forward, and dug his foot into the ground for better traction

"Ready?" Itachi said as Oscar went into a defensive stance as well\

"Go!"/ "Go!"

Jaune yelled with effort as he lunged forward, and thrusted the tip of his blade at Oscar's chest, who parried the attack with his cane

"Again!" Jaune heard Pyrrha's voice say again in his head

Jaune rammed his shield into Oscar's chest, who grunted as he slid backward a coupled of feet, and Jaune raised his blade above his head, and brought it down with enough force to make the air around his sword to ripple

Oscar held up his cane with both hands, and easily blocked the downward slash, and kicked out at Jaune's stomach, forcing Jaune to back up

"Again!" Jaune heard Pyrrha's voice say once more, and Jaune then raised his shield up and blocked Oscar's strike, and Jaune slashed at Oscar, who backed up to dodge his attack

Jaune then held up his shield in front of him, and gathered a little kinetic energy in his shield, and raised the shield above his head

Oscar then shouted in effort and jumped up to attack Jaune with his cane, and Jaune slammed his shield into the ground, and the kinetic energy he gathered was let out, and the ground and air around Jaune rippled as a small shockwave of force went flying out, sending Oscar flying backward

However, Oscar flipped in midair, and landed on his feet, and charged at Jaune

Jaune stood up and slashed at Oscar, who ducked under his slash, and then thrusted his cane at Jaune, hitting him in the chest, and then thrusted again, and again, until he had done multiple thrust attacks in a few moments, successfully hitting Jaune in his stomach, chest, and mid-section, his aura taking all the hits, and Oscar finished the attack by channeling some of the chakra given to him by Sasuke into one last thrust attack, and Jaune however managed to block the last attack with his shield, however the chakra concentrated into the attack super-powered the attack, and sent Jaune sliding backward a few meters, and Jaune had fell onto one knee

Jaune gave a surprised look at Oscar, and said, "Whoa, that was awesome. How did you do that?"

Oscar then said, "I don't know. I guess it was just a natural instinct. However, I had used chakra in that last attack to pack more of a punch."

Jaune smiled, and stood back up, and said, "Well then, lets kick it up a notch."

Jaune then channeled electricity dust into his sword, and his blade lit up with electricity.

"Here goes!" Jaune said as he charged at Oscar

Jaune did a low slash towards Oscar's legs, who backflipped to evade Jaune's attack, while kicking him in the chin at the same time, and Jaune stumbled backward, and Oscar took that moment to lunge forward and thrust his cane at Jaune's chest, however Jaune raised his shield and blocked Oscar's attack, and countered by slashing at Oscar's stomach, and when the blade connected with Oscar's stomach, his aura taking the electrocution that followed, Jaune then applied more force into his swing, and sent Oscar flying as if Jaune was hitting a baseball

Jaune then pointed the tip of his blade at Oscar while he was in midair, and using the kinetic energy he gathered, shot a streamline of force at Oscar, and the already gathered electricity dust in Jaune's sword then turned the streamline into a small electric beam.

Oscar weaved in midair, and the small electric beam just almost brushed his cheek, and he could feel the heat from the beam brush against his cheek

Oscar then landed back on the ground and faced Jaune

Jaune then slashed his electric blade forward, and a thin wave of electricity went flying towards Oscar

Oscar rolled forward and under the wave, and then kicked Jaune with both feet in the chest, who went flying backward

Jaune landed on his back with a "Oomph!"

Jaune looked in front of him in his laying down position to see Oscar charging towards him, and Jaune rolled backward to dodge Oscar's cane which he was thrusting towards him

However, what Jaune didn't know was that Oscar had channeled Wind Style Chakra into the tip of his cane, and Oscar shouted, "Futon: Setchi-fū no jutsu (Wind Style: Grounded Wind Jutsu)"

Suddenly, the a great burst of wind went flying out in all directions, and Jaune was blown backward into the air, and he could feel wind blades clawing at his aura

Jaune hit a nearby pillar, grunting as he fell down

Jaune forced himself onto his feet, and looked at Oscar, who stood in front of him, and in concern said, "Hey, you alright? Did I overdo it?"

Jaune shook his head, and said, "Naw, I'm good."

Jaune then closed his eyes, and began to focus. Suddenly, Jaune felt his aura levels rise, until they had filled up to 90%. Jaune opened his eyes to see a dumb-founded look on Oscar, who then asked, "Did you just use your semblance on yourself?"

Jaune replied, "Yeah, I figured out I could do that while training."

Itachi nodded approvingly, while Sasuke said, "Well, how intriguing."

Jaune then went back into his defensive stance, and said, "Alright, lets do this."

Oscar went held up his cane in a defensive stance as well, while Jaune decided now would be a good time to pull out a trick

Jaune stopped the concentrating electricity dust into his blade, which went back into it's normal state, and then Jaune pointed his blade at Oscar, who had a confused look

Suddenly, the air around the tip of the blade rippled, and went in a streamline motion that hit Oscar in the stomach, taking him by surprise, and the shockwave sent Oscar into his knees

"Agh! What-," Oscar managed to say before another shockwave hit his shoulder, and Oscar fell onto his bottom

"What was that!?" Oscar said

Jaune then raised his blade above his head and slashed downward, and a thin shockwave of force that made the air ripple went flying towards Oscar. It was a bit hard to see, but this was easier to detect, and Oscar was prepared this time.

Oscar rolled to his left, and the wave of force went flying towards Sasuke and Itachi, however Itachi summoned his Susanoo to stop the shockwave

Oscar got up to look at Jaune, and barely had enough time to duck and dodge his slash

Jaune then followed up by hitting Oscar's face with his shield, then during a diagonal upward slash across Oscar's chest, then finished up by channeling what little stored energy he had left into his shield, and ramming Oscar with it, and the stored energy gave more of a punch, sending Oscar sliding backward a few meters and onto his knees once again, his aura taking all the damage

"That's all the stored energy I have. I'll have to wait until my shield gathers more," Jaune thought to himself

Oscar panted, but managed to stand up, and said, "Attacking with shockwaves? And ones that I can't see very well too. That's pretty good, but I didn't feel as much force in that last shield ram as I did before. Could you probably be low on stored energy?"

"Uh oh, he found out," Jaune said to himself

Jaune was barely able to raise his shield and block cane attack, who had struck with unexpected speed, and Oscar then followed up by kneeing Jaune's stomach, then spinning around elbowing Jaune's shield out of his grip, which went flying and skidded across the floor.

Oscar then finished his attack by hitting Jaune's temple with the butt of his cane, which sent him stumbling backward, but he had managed to stay on his feet

Jaune closed his eyes to try and increase his aura once again, only for Oscar to attacking him with his cane

Jaune's instincts forced him to stop concentrating and to hop backward away from Oscar's attack, barely dodging it.

Jaune then grabbed the his blade with both hands, and raised it to block Oscar's downward strike, and Jaune, remembering something from a training session he had with Pyrrha back in Beacon, Jaune then rammed Oscar with his shoulder, hitting him off-balance, and then Jaune sweeped Oscar's feet out from under with his sword.

Jaune raised his sword above his head, and proceeded to bring it down, but Oscar kicked him back, and then flipped back onto his feet, and jumped forward and struck out at Jaune's waist, and Jaune blocked it with his sword, only for Oscar to throw a fist at Jaune, which Jaune managed to catch before it could hit his left temple

Oscar grunted in effort, when Jaune jumped up and brought up his knee, hitting Oscar in his chin

Jaune then landed back on his feet, and went for a forward right kick towards Oscar's chest

Oscar caught Jaune's foot and using his cane to sweep his leg out from underneath him, and Jaune landed on his back with a yelp, and Oscar held on to his foot, and put the tip of his cane only inches away from Jaune's face, and channeling Fire Style chakra into his cane, and small flames licked the tip of Oscar's cane, and Oscar thrusted the cane multiple times into Jaune's body until his aura broke, and Oscar then said, "Checkmate."

Jaune panted, and said, "Well, that was pretty cool."

Oscar's cane then turned back into its more compact form and he clipped it to the back of his waist and helped Jaune up, and Oscar then said, "Hey, you were pretty good. But I gotta say, I was not even going at my best."

Itachi then jumped down from the pillar that he had been observing the fight from, and said, "Well, you both have progressed greatly, shattering any expectations I may have had for you previously, but quite obviously, you still have lots to learn."

Itachi looked to Jaune and said, "While you have improved in battle skill, your defense is strong, so long as you have a shield. Without your shield, you end up leaving yourself vulnerable to any opponents that are more agile or aggressive than you. I would also suggest not depleting your gathered energy so early. So try learning how to keep up a strong defense without a shield as well. Also, when your fighting, your body is so tense. Try relaxing, loosen up a bit."

Itachi then said, "And as for you Oscar, your agility attacks are good, but you end up draining your stamina in doing so. Also your wind jutsu still needs to be perfected. Your use of rapid attacks is good for overwhelming, but try attacking with stronger attacks more often as well. That is all."

Oscar and Jaune nodded, before Itachi dismissed them.

Jaune then began to think to himself, "I'm still not strong enough. But I will be soon. I just have to keep training, until I become strong enough to teach Cinder a lesson. I HAVE to grow stronger. And I will, for you Pyrrha."

/

Salem and Madara looked down, one in surprise, one in disappointment.

Deidara's head sat on the table in front of them, but despite the fact that only his head remained, Deidara was still very much alive.

Deidara's head spoke, "My lord, please, I need my body back. I have to get back at that br-"

"I have given no such order, Deidara. Nor have I given any order for you to attack Sasuke in Argus. But you disobeyed me, and now look at what happened."

Madara then interjected, "Your pathetic 'art' is nothing to the power of the Uchiha, especially one with the power of the Mangekyou. You should be more considerate of who you pick a battle with."

Deidara made an annoyed face, and said, "Yeah, like the Uchiha who betrayed us."

Madara chuckled, and said, "Well, I see that you've been fooled as well."

Deidara's mouth opened, and he said in a confused tone, "What do you mean?"

Salem then said, "Itachi may not be with us, but whether he decides to help us reach true peace is entirely up to him."

Deidara then said, "Your fool, Itachi will not help us, he puts his brother's well-being above everything else."

Salem then said, "Which is exactly why I know exactly what he will do."

/

Quince was no ordinary faunus. Matter of fact, he was a huntsman. But being a faunus huntsman that happened to live in Mantle around many people who discriminated his kind did not bode well for him and his family.

Quince got paid fairly for his work, but it wasn't enough to keep a roof over him and his son's head. And now they were living on the streets. Thank god that Robyn was able to get to Atlas where conditions weren't as terrible. Robyn lately had been sneaking some of the families in Mantle to safe quarters stationed up and hidden Atlas.

Quince looked at the stack of money in his hands, and looked up to the sky

"Thank you. Whoever is up there, thank you for this blessing."

Quince then walked into an alley, and after weaving through many other alleys, he then found a set of stairs that led down into an abandoned subway station. As Quince walked down the stairs, Quince thought, "10,000 Lien! Why so much!?" Quince got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around him, and the entire station was filled with tents and makeshift homes for multiple Mantle families, both human and faunus.

Quince walked into his section, and walked towards a red tent that had room for three adults

Quince then said as he walked into the tent opening, "Hey, champ, guess what? We might end up having that hot dinner after a-"

Quince looked up to see his son gone.

"Huh?"

Quince got out of the tent and said to himself, "Where did that kid go?"

But Quince already knew. Quince then changed out of his old-torn clothes and put on a gray set of armor, which had a short fur cape that started at his waist and ended at his knees, and he set two double-bladed battle axes on his back, with a knife at his waist and a short sword

Quince left the subway station and traveled a block North, and climbed up an emergency ladder up the side of an apartment complex, and he saw his son, sitting there, a wolf faunus with brown instead of white fur. Like his mother.

Quince sat down next to his son, and said, "Whatcha doing?"

His son replied, "Looking at home."

Quince looked down and saw Mantle, their previous home

Suddenly, Quince heard a sniffle, and he turned to see a tear slide down his son's cheek, his hazel brown eyes puffy, and Quince said, "Hey, hey, don't do any waterworks on me kid."

Suddenly, the boy shot in and grabbed Quince in a tight hug, and he said, "I want to go home."

Quince put his hand on the boys head, and he said, "I know. I do too. I truly do."

Suddenly, Quince heard steps behind him, and he turned around to see a scorpion faunus behind him, with his barbed tail seemingly a cybernetic one

Quince then said, "Hello, can I help you?"

The scorpion faunus then said, "Why yes. I would like to know, are you the great Huntsman, the 'Iron Werewolf,' Quince Youngstrom?"

"Why yes. Why do you ask?" Quince asked

Quince made sure that he had the two battle axes that he had strapped to his back, due to the fact that this fellow faunus did not seem very mentally stable just from his looks. Plus he looked rather familiar

The Scorpion faunus then said, "Well, I am aware that you do not approve of Ironwood's actions, yes? And that you're here to change that."

Quince nodded slowly, and said, "Yes, that's correct. Also, what's your name?"

The scorpion replied with a rather creepy smile, "Tyrian. Tyrian Callows."

Quince recognized the name, and his eyes lit up, and in a flash, he was on his feet, two battle axes drawn, one in each hand, and his gray aura activated, and Quince shouted in rage, "You! You murderer! You killed my wife!"

Tyrian then said with a sick smile, "About time you recognized me."

Quince turned to his son, and he said, "Go get Robyn. And remember, stay in the shadows."

The boy faunus nodded, before he scurried off, and Quince pointed one of his axes at Tyrian, and said, "I will kill you for what you've done."

Tyrian then replied with a insane-like laugh, "SO many have said that. And look at what happened to them. Like your wife."

Quince screamed in rage, "DO NOT SPEAK OF HER!"

Quince charged at the scorpion faunus, with full intent of chopping that sick smile off the scorpion's face.

Tyrian smiled and said to himself as he activated his wrist blades, "After this one, just 6 more to go."

The blades then clashed in the moonlight

Hey guys, D211 here, I'm just here to ask for any filler requests since I'm now entering the filler phase for my story. PM me and I will consider any suggestions I get and whip up what I can. Anyways, that was all, live, laugh, love everyone, and stay safe! Toodles!