Crimson XX: Exposed

"I'm sorry, what?" Kagura asked with a comically dumbfounded look on his face, an expression that even he couldn't hide with all of his experience and skill as a womanizer. True, the rest of his team was at breakfast now and it was only the two of them in JACK's room, but even when he was alone he hardly ever broke his calm and collected concentration.

"I want you to ask Cinder out," Yang Xiao Long repeated. "Come on, I really need this favor from you and it's not like you haven't already been checking her out. Don't tell me you're not game, the same person that keeps flirting with anyone here in a skirt?"

"I'm not saying I can't do this, I just usually don't get approached with these types of requests," he said with a sigh. "Back at Flare Academy I was asked by a couple of girls to take their shy friend out once to help build their confidence. That actually went well and she started taking charge… but I doubt that's what you want to have happen with Cinder."

"Of course not, what I want is to give her a reason to have some distance from Ragna," the blonde explained.

"So you're saying that jealousy is the reason you're asking me to date her?" Kagura asked, though not in his usual flirtatious manner, here he was actually dead serious.

"Not in the slightest; I don't have any reason to be jealous of Cinder."

"You mean besides the fact that she's moving on your man?" he muttered under his breath, only to receive a solid jab to the ribs from Yang. "I'm just saying, you're not fooling me."

"Okay, fine! But if I'm so jealous about all of this, then why have I been fine with Ragna spending time with the rest of my team?" she countered.

"Hmmm… maybe because there's a silent agreement between the four of you? Just a thought."

"Agreement?" Yang repeated with a scowl.

"Like I said, it's a silent one so none of you have been talking about it, but that seems to be what's going on," Kagura said, gingerly scratching the brim of his hair as he used his experience to determine this unusual situation. "Each of you has been spending more and more time with Ragna, and I'm not just talking about your studies, classes, and meal time. You've all been taking time with him outside of basic school activities whether it's sparring, shopping, movies, or whatever else it is that you four are dragging him out to."

"Have you been spying on us?" she demanded.

"Not me, no. But some of the female students that I've had the pleasure of entertaining can't get enough from a good love drama and they all somehow have way too much time on their hands," he explained, slyly adding a brag in. "They all saw you together last quarter and it's not hard to imagine considering that Mr. Dark and Brooding didn't exactly spend a whole lot of time with his own team during the previous term. You all gave them plenty of chances to notice you, at this point you might as well call it Beacon's worst kept secret."

"Are we getting to the point soon or do you have another half dozen observations to make?" Yang vented.

"I was getting to that. Those gossipers I was just telling you about all had different things to say about the five of you, but almost every single group had one common question to ask about Ragna." He then gave a small cough to clear his throat. "When is he going to stop playing around, grow a pair, and take the next step?'

"In other words, pick someone," the blonde clarified, though she actually didn't sound too hesitant.

"And at the moment, that's not something any of you want and I get that. Team RWBY and Ragna both have a good thing going here, even if most of the school still thinks he's some kind of sleaze," he summarized. "You all want to spend time with him and give everyone in the group of four a chance to do the same; a serious relationship would probably screw that up. But Cinder…"

"Not only is she making him feel uncomfortable just by being around, but she's been around him almost every minute of the quarter," Yang groaned. "And it's not like we've got a lot of chances to see him to begin with, our own project is murder enough already and that would've already made things difficult for us this quarter without her forcing her way in."

"I think that just means that you're all going to have to make whatever time you get with Ragna count when you get the chance," Kagura explained. "There's not much else anyone can do besides that."

"So you won't even try to ask her out?" Yang demanded, trying to keep the womanizer from weaseling his way out of her request. "Didn't think you'd be afraid of chatting up a pretty girl."

"You know that I'd never be afraid when it comes to that, there's no girl I can't find a way to chat up," Kagura boasted, with his classic smirk. Yang only crossed her arms and tapped her foot expectantly. "...Fine, if you gotta know I've already tried."

"You have?"

"Yeah, and it was one of the damndest things." He groaned at the mere memory. "When I started chatting her up she was about as casual and straight faced as she could be. Not a big talker herself though, couldn't really get that many words out of her."

"So your charm couldn't break through her the one time?" Yang asked with a roll of her eyes "Maybe you've got talent with womanizing, but even you should know that-"

"Let me finish, and then you can insult me," Kagura interrupted.

"Is that a promise?"

"No… and how the hell does someone as hot blooded as Ragna put up with you anyways?"

"One, I don't give him a choice. Two, he's sweeter than he lets on. Three, part of me thinks he actually enjoys it."

"...I'll agree with some of those. What I was getting at earlier was that while I couldn't get a single word out of her, all it took from her was one glace at Ragna to get her running towards him. Didn't stop and give me any word of warning that she was chasing after him, she just left while I was in mid-sentence. Now if this had been you or someone else from RWBY-"

"We wouldn't have stuck around that long."

'Does she want my help or not? Then again, she's not lying.'

"Still, that seems odd; almost like she's… lovestruck?" Yang considered, having a difficult time putting a label on it.

"I don't know, the only word I would work here is Focused, though I've got no ideas why it's on him; Ragna sucks at first impressions to put it lightly."

"Not as bad as Weiss used to be," Yang sighed. "Guess I'll have to figure something else out for now."

"I'm sure you'll manage, Ragna's quite a lucky guy to have you chasing after him," Kagura complimented, though he didn't have a flirtatious intent behind it… not as big of one at least. "Though I gotta ask, what would you do if he ended up making the choice and it wasn't you?"

"As long as he's happy with who he's with, I'd be fine," Yang told him before opening the door to team JACK's room. "Thanks for hearing me out."

"Huh," Kagura said simply as Yang shut the doors. Only once he was certain she was gone did he allow himself to sigh. "For such a flirt, she's a terrible liar."

Later -Mock Battle Hall-

"Whoa!" Jaune shouted, only barely managing to duck an incoming trident swing at the last second. He then raised his shield up just as his attacker stabbed forward, only to grit his teeth as he felt electricity surge painfully into his arm. Using a wide slash, he managed to stop his opponent's pressure before rushing forward for a rough shield bash. Now forcing them to the defensive, he made a low slash and forced them to step back before stabbing his longsword forward which was guarded against by the trident's handle. Making another slash which his opponent dodged, Jaune then blocked against another trident strike with his shield only to quickly shove the point off before the electricity could shock him. Deflecting the next trident swing with his sword, he readied himself for another charge and-

"That's time. Weapons down."

While Goodwitch hadn't spoken very loudly, she hadn't needed to as both students quickly stopped the encounter. Whilst Jaune had done very well during that fight, the difference in overall skill was rather apparent as he was covered in sweat and his blocking arm was about to go numb while his opponent still appeared to be fairly fresh.

"Mr. Arc, while you've shown great strides in your combat training I'm afraid that match is going to have to go to Mr. Vasilias. Your defense is impressive, but without a good method to end your fights all your opponent would have to do is continue poking at any holes they find in your defense."

"Ah don't feel down," his opponent said as he rested his weapon against his shoulder and held out an open hand to shake. "Good match."

"Oh, thanks. Va-?"

"Call me Neptune," the student said as the two shook hands before heading for the seat up top. Heading over to his partner Sun Wu Kong, he took a seat beside the blond monkey Faunus. "That's some defense he has, if it wasn't for my electricity going through his metal we would've been locked in a total stalemate."

"He's a toughie, word is he managed to build up all of that defense in the last quarter alone… actually it was only a few weeks," his leader said, leaving Mercury to give him an odd look. Abilities like that took time to strengthen and Jaune's level of defense would likely take years to even come close to. "It's just what I've heard around the Academy as gossip."

"Really? Any other gossip?"

"Maybe that you're teamed up with the Academy's top hearthrob and flirt."

"Please, I could tell that after working with Kagura for a day."

Meanwhile Jaune had just managed to make it over to his seat between his own team and Team RWBY.

"Nicely done," Ren complimented simply.

"Yeah! You were really moving out there!" Nora said with a bit more excitement. "You keep this up and it'll be a cinch for our team to take the Vytal Festival by storm!"

"Thanks for the confidence, but I still lost," the team leader told her realistically. "I still have a ways to go…"

"But look how far you've already come," Phyrra told him in words of encouragement. "If you'd gone into this fight at the start of the year or even after Ragna's training you probably wouldn't have even lasted that long. You just need to keep working at it with us, by the next time you're called on for a match you'll be able to really show them."

"Y-You think so?" Jaune stuttered. Turning away so the redhead wouldn't be able to see his embarrassed blush at the compliment, he turned to Team RWBY to get their input. Only to see Yang scowling something fierce to the seats a few rows down. "Uh…"

"You looked good out there." She said this without so much as bothering to look at him, in fact Ruby was looking the same way with an expression of slight worry and Weiss was watching with a glare nearly as sharp as Yang. Blake wasn't looking as she instead stayed focused in the book she'd brought, though she did seem to be tapping her foot quite a bit. Following Yang's glare, Jaune noted that they were all focused on Ragna sitting a few rows below them… with Cinder still wrapped her arms around his as he tried fruitlessly to keep his distance.

"That's still going on?" Jaune asked. "You'd think Ragna would have turned her down by now."

"You can ask Ragna about that later… if you can find a point where he isn't being hounded by her," Yang told him with heightening frustration… actually at this point she'd basically plateaued.

"And now it's time that we move onto our final fight for the day," Goodwitch noted as she looked over her scroll. "Will the representative from Haven Academy Mai Natsume please step forward?"

"Right here!" the spear woman said as she stepped forward, dressed in her usual red long coat for when she wasn't fighting. "Who am I going to be fighting for my first match?"

"Since it's your first time facing a student from Beacon, I think you should have the choice yourself," Goodwitch offered. "Of course if you'd like, I can give you suggestions for potential students."

"Huh…" Mai said as she looked over the rows of students. "Hmm…"

'Wait, I can use this to give Ragna some room!' Yang realized. Waving her hands as best she could, she fought frantically to get Mai's attention. While Goodwitch was too busy on her scroll setting up the next fight, Mai caught on and pointed to Yang with a tilt of her head only for the blonde to start shaking her head and violently pointing down to Cinder. Mai smiled and nodded, figuring that she got along well enough with Makoto to earn this friendly favor. 'This'll give him some time off… and show us what Cinder's able to do.'

"I think I've got someone picked out," Mai said as the instructor finished setting up the fight. "Today I'll try fighting against Ragna the Bloodedge."

'NO! I WAS POINTING AT CINDER!' Yang screamed in her mind. She then face palmed as she realized that the two were probably sitting too close to one another for Mai to have seen exactly who she was trying to get her to challenge. Seeing Ragna rise from his seat and get down, she knew that he was still getting a bit of time free from his forced partnership. 'At least we'll see how well Mai stacks up to one of our best fighters.'

(Cue Mai's Theme Variable Heart)

"Good luck out there," Mai wished him as she threw off her coat to better show her rather revealing combat attire. Ragna didn't have to turn his head to the stands to know that at least a few of the students were checking her out (Kagura was a guarantee at this point), but he didn't have the time to stand around and gawk as he brought the Aramasa up.

"Begin."

At Goodwitch's call, Mai quickly backflipped before throwing her crimson spear as hard as she could in midair. Ragna thought it was a pretty poor option for someone to throw away one of their only methods of attacking and easily managed to deflect the move with his sword. That was when he saw Mai quickly blitzing forward as her spear seemed to reappear in her hands. Grunting as he barely managed to side step the stab forward, sword and spear clashed as Mai quickly slashed from the side and Ragna was forced to guard the attack. Following through in her attack chain, Mai tried to get over Ragna's guard with a high kick as she used her spear for additional height.

Ragna let out a yell as he threw up a powerful uppercut that managed to send Mai into the air and followed with a high kick to send her even further up. Apparently his opponent was pretty capable at fighting in the air as she managed to find her balance and hastily throw her spear. It was still a poorly aimed shot and seemed to miss Ragna by a mile. Leaping up in the air to catch her, he suddenly felt his sixth sense activate and quickly slashed behind him out of instinct. Doing so he managed to again deflect the spear as it had changed direction and nearly caught him in the back. Up above Mai had regained use of her spear and forcefully swung down at Ragna, and forcing him to the ground even though he'd blocked the attack. Following after him, she drove her spear downward with enough force that Ragna felt the need to leap back to avoid it before clashing weapons with each other once more.

"Wow, Mai's got some serious moves with that spear of hers," Ruby commented as Mai threw her spear again, only for Ragna to dodge the attack before going after its owner. She cartwheeled back to dodge Ragna's sword slash and forced him to swing behind him again as she changed the direction of her thrown spear to try and get him in the back once more. "All that stuff she can do with it, is this what she can do with her Semblance?"

"That's what it seems to be," Weiss said as she watched Mai stab forward, her spear almost seeming to carry her forward and strengthen the attack. "And if she can call it back to her hand in an instant… it's like she has some form of absolute control of her weapon and the ways she can interact with it."

"That's amazing and all, buuuuuuut I think might also help if her weapon had firearm capabilities as well." Weiss took her eyes off of Ragna's match long enough to glare at her partner. "What? I'm not wrong."

"Speaking of firearms though, why isn't Ragna pulling out his sword rifle?" Blake asked as she glanced down at the Clarent which remained in its usual place in the scabbard on Ragna's back.
"If he pulled that out he'd be able to deal with Mai's longer ranged attacks much easier, so why is he only using frontal assaults?"

"Easy, because he's just playing with his food," Azrael smirked as he started to see his way of thinking in Ragna's actions. "Doing something like that would make this fight an easy victory, hell if he busted loose and went all out now there wouldn't be a damn thing she could do to stop him."

"I wouldn't underestimate her, Mai's fighting ability isn't something anyone should take lightly," Jin said, somehow coming to the defense of someone else's strength. "There's only so far that raw power can take someone, and that even applies to you. If Ragna threw caution to the wind all he'd do is cause severe damage to the fighting arena, something that would easily net him in a world of trouble. He has this opportunity to test his strategy and abilities against someone with a unique way of fighting at a distance, it'd be idiotic if he didn't use this to better his own fighting style... Not that it's something you'd ever understand."

"What was that?" Azrael growled like a rabid dog.

"Both of you calm down," Yang sighed as she continued to watch the fight, taking in the actions as she watched Ragna parry one of Mai strikes before forced her back, how he guarded against her kick before leaping away at the last second as her semblance control her spear as a projectile and nearly struck him… and smirking at the close call as he moved in to shorten the distance. "It really looks like he's having the time of his life fighting down there."

"See?" Azrael bit back.

"That doesn't prove anything," Jin answered with a scowl.

Down below Mai was continuing to push Ragna as she continued to prove what her semblance could do when put into practice. Now she was swinging her lance in a flurry of stabs so fast that normal eyes would only be able to see a vague blur. While it was tempting for Ragna to bring out his barrier to make it much easier to block the onslaught, he tried his best to handle it naturally by parrying with his sword and weaving within the attacks. Seeing the pattern of her attack, he saw an opening and committed to it, taking a small scratch as the spear point barely grazed him before delivering a sucker punch to Mai's gut. She lurched forward and gagged at the attack before Ragna spun into a roundhouse and sent her rolling back.

Trying to capitalize on the momentum, Ragna leaped after her to quickly bring his sword down. Mai however had timed the stop to her roll perfectly and leaped up with her stabbing towards the ceiling. Ragna managed to bring his sword back in time to guard against the attack, but once she was positioned directly above him she then pulled the reverse direction and sent her spear spiking down and sending the both of them to the floor. Landing with his feet to the floor, Ragna held the lancer's dive back long enough to shove the attack off before rushing forward.

Swiping with a quick horizontal slash, Mai leaped to avoid the attack only to see Ragna had predicted this. Bringing his sword around and quickly above him, Ragna swung downward and managed to force the agile user back to the ground before unleashing a second swing to completely break her guard and send her off balance. He saw Mai use her semblance to make a swing from the side and answered in kind to...

(End theme)

"...Wh… what the…?" Ragna grunted in surprise. The point of Mai's spear was held a mere hair's breadth from his throat. He still had his sword held mid-swing from the side, expecting that he'd counter against his opponent's desperate retaliation. Instead she'd gotten under his guard and held him at her mercy.

"It seems that the winner of the battle is Miss Natsumi," Goodwitch announced as she made a record of this on her scroll, sealing Ragna's fate of his first loss. "I hope everyone here has a good weekend, but I'd recommend staying ahead on your projects. Any of your upperclassmen will tell you that it's only going to get more difficult from here."

"Whew, that fight really came down to the wire there!" Mai told him, cheerfully giving a thumbs up. "You're something else! Thanks for the match!"

"...You're welcome," Ragna hollowly said to her. It wasn't that he was upset that he'd been bested in a straight fight, nor was he annoyed that his perfect record had been broken, it was the fact that the last deciding second of the fight had suddenly turned everything around. He'd been certain that Mai was going for a heavy side swing and she might've been fast for sure, but it hadn't seemed that she'd have been able to blitz under his guard like that. Sighing, he reset his blade and his back.

"You okay?" Mai asked with concern.

"It's nothing, guess I'm just a little tired," he told her. 'That sounds like I'm just a sore loser and making excuses.' "Not that I wasn't giving it my all out there, you've got some pretty nasty tricks yourself."

"Hee, thanks," she told him with a smile. "We should spar again sometime."

"I guess, but it might be hard to find the chance during Project Hell," Ragna said, trying to be realistic. It was then he noticed heading towards him from her seat. She had the same welcoming smile that she always had around him, but this did little to put him at ease. "I… Looks like I gotta go."

"Best of luck with your projects," Mai tried to tell him. It was weird to Ragna; Mai's kind nature wasn't that much different from Cinder's, so why was he fine around her and not with his own project partner? Nodding, the spear woman headed to the classroom's doors as the Reaper was left to deal with Cinder.

"Wow, you never told me you were that good of a fighter," the transfer student told Ragna. Her praise sounded genuine enough, but why did he automatically think there was something else there? "But I guess with a name like Grimm Reaper you'd have to be."

"True enough," Ragna told her, less focused on the fact that he'd lost a fight and now only figuring how he'd be handling the woman in front of him. "So when are we meeting to work on the project this weekend?"

"I guess whenever works best for you, but I'm thinking that we should try to do our best and meet a little bit every day," Cinder decided.

"You mean like we've been doing… every day after classes?" he added, his discomfort slowly becoming impossible for him to hide as he knew their meetings wouldn't just be for a little bit.

"It's always best to keep working while all of the material is still fresh in our minds and there's nothing wrong with working ahead early," she assured, slowly moving forward. Ragna could tell that she was going for his arm again… but there wasn't a whole lot he could do to get out of it. "In fact, I think we should get started now and-"

"Urk!"

"Huh?"

With Ragna so focused on his partner approaching him and Cinder so focused on going to grab his left arm, neither had noticed Yang come around from the side to grab ahold of Ragna's right. Both of them were at a loss for words as the blonde gripped his arm almost threateningly tight… but it wasn't Ragna she was threatening.

"Sorry, but I've got something I need him for tonight," she told Cinder with a glare, almost daring her to say anything in objection. It took her a second to shake the surprise off, but eventually Cinder did with a smile that seemed just a little more forced to Ragna.

"Sure, if you absolutely need him I can always work on my project with him tomorrow," Cinder said before looking back at Ragna. "Of course, if that's alright with you."

"I… guess it's fine with me?" Ragna said, though not feeling all too certain himself. The words had barely escaped his lips before Yang began dragging him off, likely just to get some distance from Cinder. Glancing around the room as she pulled him away, Ragna saw that there didn't seem to be a pair of eyes that wasn't on the two. 'Oh, well that's just great…'

"I never knew Yang could be so… possessive," Ruby noted, never seeing this type of behavior from her normally upbeat and flirty sister.

"Good for her I guess," Blake reservely said, still pretending to be more focused in her book.

'As long as she's keeping Ragna away from that... Cinder, I don't have any problems,' Weiss decided, but refused to voice her words aloud, though she still felt required to verify her own thoughts even when there was no one else to hear them. 'Not that I have any problems with him being around other women, I don't have any thoughts about that at all. It's just that Cinder's been making his life-!'

"Uh, Weiss? Your face is turning beet red," her partner tried to tell her, but the Schnee heir didn't appear to be listening. 'Ever since Ragna's gotten partnered up with Cinder, things have just been getting weirder and weirder for everyone… myself included.'

Meanwhile -The Hallways-

"Okay, okay! You can let go of me now," Ragna protested, finally getting his arm out of his blonde friend's grasp. "What was that? You looked like you were fighting over me or some crap."

"I wasn't fighting her; I just wanted to make sure she was giving enough room to breath," Yang told him as she put her hands on her hips. "You have a problem with that?"

"Hell yeah I do! The entire Academy just saw you drag me off! You know what kind of rumors that's going to start!?" He groaned. "As if they weren't bad enough already."

"Oh believe me, I already know that we've got people talking about us," Yang told him. "But since when did you care what anyone thinks of you anyways?"

"This is different; if this was just some assholes saying shit behind my back I'd just beat them down so they don't mention it again and call it a day. This is just giving them ammunition to cause us all headaches."

"To be fair, I was trying to get you out of a headache with this," she asserted as she grabbed her Scroll out and started tapping through it. "Working with Cinder must have you pretty stressed if you lost your first fight of the quarter."

"It's not like that, it's…" Ragna seemed to hesitate. "Well think whatever you want; what's this favor you wanted me for?"

"It's another one of those underground matches, and if we don't take one soon we're going to lose our spot as champs of the ring," Yang said as she started typing something out on her scroll. "Azula sent a message a few days back that if we don't take a match after a few weeks our placement's forfeit. We've already missed almost two months from back when we were getting ready for finals and if this quarter's only going to get busier from here this is our best option."

"Tch, then you should've made getting our match a bigger priority than dressing me up," Ragna growled at that memory. "Why would she let us know anyway? If you and I got disqualified wouldn't that make her and dad the champs by default?"

"Most people probably would, but it's not just about the champ's money for them. I've been texting with Azula and she's obsessed with getting tougher. We've been going back and forth talking about diets, fighting styles, workout routines, stuff like that. I don't know much about her father, but Rojo wants her to get tougher and he sees us as a good pair of rivals for her. They've wanted this fight for a while, so I think we should give them a good one." Putting her scroll away, she shot Ragna a smirk. "If nothing else, you'll at least get a chance to clear your head."

"While I'm about to get beat down by a tomboy brawler and her father?" Ragna scoffed. "Yeah, real relaxing. Might as well be yoga for me."

"Aw, c'mon! You know you feel right at home when you're fighting," Yang flirted. "If that doesn't sell it for you we'll grab burgers afterwards, my treat."

'She sounds really insistent on getting me to go with her to tonight's fight, even though she just saw me lose a match,' the Reaper though to himself. 'But if I turned her down I'd just be stuck working on projects anyways and I could always use some extra cash.' "Alright, you've got a date then."

"Now you're starting to see it my way!" Yang flirted as she playfully flicked the edge of her friend's nose. "Be ready at the usual spot by five! And try wearing something else for a change, put those clothes we bought to good use!"

"I got it, I got it," he groaned, rubbing the sore spot on his nose as he glared at his friend. Yang just gave him one last flirty wink before taking off, most likely to get changed herself. 'Wonder why she's having us meet at 5 though; the mainline title bouts normally aren't until 8 at the earliest and it sure as hell doesn't take that long to get to the venue.'

Later

"Sorta figured you'd be angrier with that blonde girl stealing your man; you didn't offer much of a fight," Mercury noted as he laid in bed and read over some manga he'd found in the school library.

"Can you quit calling him that? You know full well why Cinder's trying to do this," Emerald told him with ire, only for her partner to shrug.

"Might as well get in character now so I'm prepared if we ever need to act for real," he said before quickly growing bored with his book and tossing it to the side. "So, how did that chick manage to save him from your clutches?"

"You're rather naive if you think that I just let him get away; I have to keep up appearances while we're here and getting into a fight over him would be pushing it." Cinder then smirked wickedly, an expression that practically sent shivers down her teammates' spines. "Besides, I'm not just letting him walk away. Thanks to some info from Torchwick's network I happen to know exactly where they're headed."

"And you've got something lying in wait that they couldn't possibly trace back to you. Devious," Mercury decided. "But speaking of Torchwick and his goons, when can we expect Neo to show up? You've had to cover for her since she's been out, haven't you?"

"All part of the plan; I need the extra help to get by for a few weeks and who better to get help out of than Ragna himself?" She couldn't help but giggle and somehow this scared Mercury and Emerald more than her wicked smirk had. "I just need to keep my moves small for the time being, then when it really matters I'll start hitting him harder… and he won't be able to keep up that tough guy act any longer."

'That white haired moron has no idea what he's in for,' Emerald thought to herself, though she knew better than to feel any pangs of sympathy for an enemy of Cinder's. "And we're sure this won't get in the way of our main goal?"

"Leave that to me; I'll have everything in their place when the time comes," Cinder assured. "By the end of this I'll have broken Ragna's spirit completely, and when I've had my fun with him and the idiots around him then they can die with the rest of Beacon."

Later

"Nice to see that you actually got dressed for tonight. See what putting a little effort into your clothes can do for you?" Yang complemented the arriving Ragna as she leaned against her precious Bumblebee motorcycle.

"You weren't giving me a choice, just like when you all forced me out to buy this in the first place," the Reaper said with a shake of his head. Instead of his usual clothes, now he wore a light brown, long-sleeved, open biker vest that reached down to his waist. The vest has two buckles on either side, but they were meant for a cosmetic rather than actually closing the front. Underneath he had on a tight fitting royal yellow v-neck shirt, reaching just love enough to see his tattoo and the top of his pectorals. He also wore light blue tight fitting jeans that came with a dark brown leather belt. "At least you look nice."

"What do you mean at least? You're no slouch either buster. In fact, I'd say you should try wearing this more often," Yang tried to persuade. Her outfit was very similar in design to Ragna's, but showed off more skin. Instead of a jacket she wore a sleeveless dark brown leather vest. Beneath she wore a bright yellow tank top with a midriff to show a bit of her stomach. Rather than full jeans she had a pair of denim shorts complete with a long belt to hold them tight. "Since we match so much, some people will probably think we're a couple."

"Like they didn't already?" Ragna rhetorically questioned.

"Are you saying that's a problem?" the blonde questioned, adding a flirty wink.

"...I know better than to say too much when I'm dealing with you," he finished as he looked away, praying that he was keeping his blush under control (he wasn't).

'Nice to see that even with Cinder getting at him, he's still the same dorky Ragna,' Yang thought as she took a bit of comfort in that. "Anyways, we should be heading out."

"Right, but what time is the ma-?" Ragna couldn't finish his question as Yang casually tossed him the keys to her motorcycle. He snatched them out of the air, only to raise an eyebrow as she seemed to smile knowingly. "Care to explain?"

"Easy, I'm going to have you drive us there. Judging by the look one your face, I'm guessing you've never driven a motorbike before."

"Of course I haven't, you know that I've spent most of my life out in the wilds. The only thing I've ever done that was even remotely close to this was that one time I went horseback riding and even that was over a decade ago."

"Hence why you're coming with me; I'll be there to teach you every step of the way," she assured him. "After all of the fights you've been in and hunting Grimm in the wilds your entire life, you can't expect me to believe that going on a simple motorbike ride's what scares you."

"I don't scare easy, but I guess this explains why you wanted us to meet two hours early." Ragna then gave Yang a serious look. "I'm not sure you want me driving this thing though, I get the feeling it means almost as much to you as your hair does."

"Then I guess you'll just have to be gentle for once." The suggestive tone in Yang's words and the look she was sending Ragna's way would normally be enough to turn him into a blushing mess, but by this point he'd already dealt with plenty of the blonde's flirting and all it did was give him a slight blush… but he had the experience to know he couldn't let her have the final word.

"Actually, I was wondering when you'd want me to start getting rough," he said, finishing the sentence with a bit of evocative growl. Yang couldn't help but laugh at those words and Ragna's face finally broke into a small smile.

"Okay then Mr. Cassanova; let's see what you've got," she decided.

Although there wasn't exactly a lot to teach Ragna verbally about riding her motorbike, Yang proved to be a thorough enough teacher explaining the basics of starting, speeding up, braking, turn signals, and the like. For living away from society and never having driven before Ragna seemed to grasp the basics easily enough on paper, but what would really be the deciding factor was how he applied the information into actual driving.

"So don't start off full tilt and don't worry about getting on the roads just yet, feel free to take your time getting accustomed to the feel of the bike before you start driving it for real," she told him patiently, standing off to the side so Ragna could practice for the start.

"I get the feeling that if this wasn't yours you'd tell me to just go full force right off the bat and ride like hell," he felt the need to comment.

"You're not wrong," she admitted. "Now get on with it and start riding."

Rolling his eyes, Ragna started up the Bumblebee and slowly accelerated in slow drive. Giving his chaotic and unnerving style of fighting, he'd already learned how to hold his balance in extreme settings long ago so this wasn't a problem for him. Putting a little more speed on the bike, he managed to take a bit of a sharper turn before coming to a slow brake.

"So how's it feel?" Yang asked.

"I'm no expert with these things, but even I can tell this baby's a piece of art," Ragna as he started up the bike again, this time pulling off a wheelie right off the bat just to show off. Keeping a solid speed as he drove around Yang, he managed to pull off a few decent donuts before spinning the bike and coming to a stop right beside her. "I can tell why you like her so much."

"And with that stupid smile on your face I can tell you're as big of a fan," she noted, giving her own mischievous smirk. "But now's where your real test begins."

"Real test? What the hell's that mean?" he demanded. Instead of giving him a verbal answer, Yang got onto the bike right behind him… before wrapping her arms around his stomach and laying onto his back. "...Oh."

"If you're driving a motorcycle you've got to be able to perform under pressure," Yang instructed. Ragna didn't say anything, nor did he move as Yang held onto him. Even with as many times as she'd given him a ride, Ragna had always clung to the back so Yang would have at least a little room. Here there was no distance of the sort between the two. "Well, do you need me to let go?"

"...Do I fail the test if I say yes?"

"I think that goes without saying."

"Figures." Shaking his head, Ragna leaned forward and started the Bumblebee's engine. "Guess I might as well go for a straight A."

'Huh, a few weeks ago if I so much as brought this up he'd straight up yell at me that it wasn't happening,' Yang thought. 'But now he's actually starting to take things in stride.' Smiling softly as she rested her head on his back, the only noise for a while was the purr of the Bumblebee's engine along with the faint beat of Ragna's heart.

'...God damn they're massive!'

Meanwhile

"Yayoi-sama, I think I've found a good book on the fighting styles that are special focuses at Shade Academy. Given the rougher terrain we've been given to work with and the species of Grimm listed in the scenario, I think it's safe to say that we're a pair of Huntsmen stationed in Vacuo and would have trained at the Academy to get access to the jobs."

"Thanks for grabbing that Venus, this book should help us find out their fighting styles and discover a strategy that will satisfy our instructor's criteria," Tsubaki said as she took the book and started looking through the table of contents. "And you know that you can call me Tsubaki?"

"I… wouldn't want to disrespect your family's name," Venus Camellia told her random project partner, looking the slightest bit uncomfortable, but still managing to maintain eye contact under her glasses.

"I appreciate the courtesy, but there's really no need to be so formal," Tsubaki tried once more as she looked through the books table of contents. "We're just two students assigned to a project together; I'm not any sort of upperclassman and I'm happy to be working with you."

"Very kind of you to say," Venus said, giving only the smallest of smiles… on the outside. 'Ohhhhh… she's even kinder than I was led to believe. Working together with her this quarter is going to be heavenly. Especially with-'

"Venus, it looks like this book doesn't have any fighting styles in it that would benefit from the weapons that the Huntsmen are using in the scenario," Tsubaki said as she tried checking the table of contents again, only to come up with a similar result as the first time. "In fact… I don't think that these weapons styles are all that popular in Vacuo to begin with."

"B-But that can't be, I-I looked over all of the information we were given in the setting, the terrain, and even the Grimm we'd be fighting and everything matches perfectly with this scenario being set in one of Vacuo's wastelands."

"And I don't doubt you," Tsubaki said kindly. "It just doesn't sound like these are from Shade Academy, not with their weapons and…" Pausing, she looked over the details that they'd been given by Relius before tapping her finger on it. "Here it is, their armor."

"You mean the stuff that's been repaired several times rather than being replaced? Isn't that just standard practice in Vacuo?" Venus asked. "N-Not that I'm doubting you, of course!"

"You're right that it's a common practice there, but it's also something that most freelancing Huntsmen traveling as mercenaries would have to do if they wanted to save their money," Tsubaki said. "And they'd be able to find work in Vacuo, because the people there value strength over all else."

"That's… that's incredible! You were able to piece all of that together just like that? And you managed to use prior knowledge of the Kingdom to see that our instructor was throwing in a trick to the question! You're amazing Yayoi-Sama!"

"It's nothing too spectacular really. And again, you don't have to be so formal when you're talking to me," the redhead attempted to remind again, trying to be modest. "Also, if it wasn't for a story that my partner had told me about working in Vacuo, I would've been just as in the dark as you were."

'Tch, Ragna the Bloodedge then…' Venus thought with a scowl, doing her darndest to keep a neutral expression while her mind was turning into a violently raging storm.

"Either way, now that we know that those weapons styles can potentially come from any of the kingdoms. That means that we're going to have to study the different styles themselves and see what type each of the Huntsmen would benefit the most from given their build's and other attributes. Looks like we're going to need books focusing on their weapons now and…" Tsubaki paused as she glanced at one of the books that Venus had brought over. "Is that a book about the ancient kingdoms found all over the world?"

"Oh, why yes it is. I figured it would be useful for Professor Oobleck's project," Venus explained.

"Right, for the partner assignments," Tsubaki concluded. "Sorry, were you supposed to be meeting your partner later? We can meet some other time to finish our work here if you need to."

"No no, it's not a worry at all! I already have plenty of time set aside to work on that later," she insisted. "I was just thinking… since your partner is out now and can't help with the project… maybe I could lend my services a little more?"

"That's… a very kind offer to make, but I'll be able to work with him this weekend. You shouldn't have to worry about our project in addition to yours, that just doesn't seem fair."

"Oh, it's no problem at all. I'm more than happy to help a fellow classmate," Venus told her. Tsubaki was trying her best to figure out how to politely turn her down, but her assignment partner's intense… willingness wasn't exactly making it easy. And she wasn't the only one that could see that.

"Hmm… seems that Tsubaki has picked herself a rather adamant admirer," Amane Nishiki noted from a few tables down. "Interesting…"

"Really?" Mai asked as she leaned in to get a good view herself. "Huh, and she didn't have any last quarter?"

"None that made themselves obvious anyways, in fact the girl she's talking with now barely said a word to her the whole term… granted, now it certainly seems like she's making up for lost time. What about her tenure at Flare Academy? Was she quite popular there?"

"Yeah, she got plenty of attention back there," Mai said as she thought back. "Perfect grades, great in mock battles, charismatic, pretty; she was the all in one package. Of course, her heart's only ever belonged to-"

"I've noticed; he's my team leader," Amane interrupted as he thought back to the situation. "I can imagine that most of your old group probably had quite the adventures trying to put those two together."

"We had… more than a few," Mai said, thinking back fondly on a few of their attempts. "But… even though Makoto's stubborn and still hasn't dropped it, everyone else has decided to leave things be for… family reasons."

"Family reasons you say?" Amane asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do Tsubaki's parents have strict rules in place against dating boys?"

"You… might say that, but I'm afraid I can't tell you much else about it," Mai said, knowing that Tsubaki's secret was one that needed to be kept.

"I see, if that's the case I'll push no further," the dancer promised, sounding oddly accommodating for once. "In the meantime, I think that we've gossiped enough. Let's get back to our battle scenarios. I think for this one, this individual is in the perfect shape to-"

"We are NOT going to have him distract the bandits with a high stakes dance off," she scolded.

"But it works so well for me," Amane whined.

"Your Semblance is literally forcing things to dance!" the spear user screamed, earning a harsh warning glare from Instructor Goodwitch. "There's no way this would work without that ability."

"You can't say that for certain," Amane pouted stubbornly. "And at the moment I don't hear any better ideas."

'This is going to be tougher than I thought,' Mai decided glumly.

'Knowing how wide Relius's mindset is, dancing might actually be an answer for one of those accursed scenarios…' Goodwitch thought to herself with ire.

Later

While Ragna knew the venue wasn't that far, Yang had told him up front that she wanted him to take the scenic route while they killed time. They ended up riding all over Vale City, seeing more of it that afternoon than he'd managed to check out in the entirety of the last quarter of school and that was including all of the times Team RWBY had forced him out into the city. While she hadn't moved from her spot, Yang had made the occasional observation about some of the sights they'd passed by. That looks like it might be a good spot for a picnic or Something coming from that place smells awesome or for one place Don't go to this club, I got into a fight there once… that last one was Junior's if it wasn't already obvious. Eventually the scenic route came to an end, though Ragna had a feeling Yang just had him drive all over town until it was time for their match.

"We're here," he announced as the bike slowly came to a stop in the bar's parking lot. Yang didn't say a word as she got off the bike, only giving a brief stretch after staying sitting for the past hour. "So? Did I pass your test?"

"Hmmm… let me think," she mused to herself as Ragna rolled his eyes as he wished Yang would stop stringing him along like this. "You were a safe driver for your first time out, but that certainly wasn't a full throttle ride of nonstop thrills."

'Give me a break, I'm not trying to wreck your bike.'

"But I gotta say that I felt pretty comfortable and my company wasn't too bad…" Yang said before she added a smirk. "Even if he's usually a total ass about these things."

"Guilty, but you were resting your head quite a bit for me being such an ass," Ragna reminded with a smirk as they headed inside the bar that stood as a front for the underground fights. By now the bar owner was able to recognize them and quickly motioned for them to head down to the arena. Doing so, the pair headed to the front desk to check in.

"Ya-hang!" the receptionist said, putting some extra emphasis on the blonde's name. "Glad to see you finally managed to make it back down here; was worried we would never see you again." He then saw Ragna and his cheery demeanor immediately faded. "Oh, guess she had to bring you along too."

"That a problem?" the Reaper bit back gruffly.

"Nah, no problem with me. How are you going to take tonight's fight though? You gonna wuss out when the going gets tough, or maybe you'll just send Yang in for all of the hard work and take all of the credit for yourself?" The receptionist then promptly ignored him to continue talking toYang. "I tell ya Blondie, you could stand to do a lot better than having this ungrateful freak of nature as a partner. Most guys would probably be falling over themselves to back you up in the ring."

"It just means he knows I can take it," Yang said. "You mind setting us up for a fight tonight?"

"Sure thing, but maybe you should at least think about taking more Solo fights? Can't be much worse than what you're already stuck with."

'Okay, maybe this was a bad idea,' Yang thought as she gave a worried glance over to Ragna. He might've looked a little more pissed than when they'd first arrived, but besides that nothing much seemed to have changed with him. She hurried to fill out the rest of the information so that they could head over to the lockers and get changed for their match, but even once they got past the desk it would've been impossible not to notice all of the dirty looks that were being sent Ragna's way.

"Okay, why's everyone looking like they want to start shit with me?" Ragna crassly demanded. "This have something to do with what that idiot at the front desk was saying?"

"I mean, I guess it could be that. Or it might just be the fact that no one's managed to knock you out yet… and that you're not really giving anyone the chance when you leave early… or that you haven't really used your semblance here either…" she paused. "I guess if we've gotta summarize it, they're just pissed that you're not taking this seriously."

'That's what they think?' Ragna thought with a scowl. 'Well maybe that's what it looks like to them, but still…' "And what do you have to say about it?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. You're the one that everyone finds the need to defend despite the fact that you can beat their asses down in a heartbeat," he explained. "But you're the one that really gets to weigh in on it, so do you think I'm taking advantage of you?"

"If we're being completely honest, there's still a part of me that's pretty sure that you don't know how to take advantage of someone." Ragna did his best to treat that as a compliment. "But I know that even if you're the secretive type, you've never done anything to steer me or my team wrong. Besides, I'm the one that's dragging you out to these things in the first place, you've got a chance to step out whenever you want to."

"Just making sure, and what was that idiot saying about solo fights? Have you been coming here without me?"

"Yeah I stopped by a few times last quarter to try fighting on my own in solo fights. They don't give you as much since the doubles fights is their main draw, and..." She hesitated. "I guess I just wasn't feeling it. It just felt like something was missing."

"That so?" Ragna said simply as they both headed forward. "Any ideas what it might've been?"

"Well…"

"I think I've got a couple of guesses, but maybe this isn't the time to lecture the next generation," the two heard a familiar voice say. Turning, they both caught sight of a smirking Rojo and his stoic faced daughter. "Glad to see the champs are finally making their return."

"You might be the only damn person here who is," Ragna noted, thinking back to all of the dirty looks he'd gotten and likely was still getting. "You feel the same way they do?"

"It's hard to say no, but there's not really a whole lot I can do about it is there?" he explained with a passive smirk. "Truth to be told the stands might be filled every night because they want to be there when you eventually crack, so you're certainly working the crowd."

"You're giving me too much credit; I'm only here so I can grab a fight and get paid. You'll have to look somewhere else for a showman." he informed as he continued on for the lockers and left Yang with their opponents.

"...He seems happy to be here," Azula groaned sarcastically. "You better go and get ready yourself, the main event is going to be starting soon and they said there was going to be an announcement before the match began."

"An announcement? For what?" Yang asked. Azula just gave a dismissive shrug as she headed for her end of the ring. "...Does she take after her mother by any chance?"

"What tipped ya off?" Rojo answered as he rolled his eyes. "Best of luck out there; these last couple of fights have been total bores without you both, so I got a little excited when you messaged Azula to let us know you were coming."

"I'm looking forward to this too; give it your all out there," Yang said as the two fighters bumped fists. 'Now all I've got to worry about is keeping Ragna in a good mood.'

Meanwhile

"So?" Mercury asked as he watched his team leader pocket her scroll.

"We'll owe Torchwick one for this, but he's already talked with the ring owner and convinced him on what he needs to do if he's going to keep supplying them with information," Cinder said. "He even managed to get a stream of the fight set up for us, in case we find anything worth using to our favor."

"Right… so I've been asking around and apparently it's pretty usual for that Ragna guy to go without using his Semblance. They think he only showed it off one the entire last term, but I know for certain that what he used was a Drive ability if the info on his scuffle with Goodwitch is true."

"He fought Goodwitch?" Cinder questioned, having seen some of the Professor's power firsthand. "How well did he do against her?"

"The match ended in a draw, but it's hard to know how serious either of them were. Now most of the academy thinks he just has some weird type of Shielding semblance and they're content with that answer. You think that tonight's fight will force him to bring it out?"

"I doubt it, but the reason I'm doing any of this tonight is to put more pressure on him… and maybe have him suffer a little along the way," the antagonist decided wicked. "By the way, where's Emerald? I told her I needed her to be back in time to see the match live."

"Studying with Celica I think," Mercury said as he thought back. "I'm pretty sure those two were supposed to be meeting in the library this afternoon, so I'm sure she'll still be back in time."

"How did you get us so lost that we were in the city's Downtown area?" Emerald demanded, as Celica looked over a map of the city… while it was clearly upside down.

Back to the Underground Rumble ring

'Just about time for the match,' Yang thought to herself as she sat on her team's side of the arena. Ragna had yet to exit the changing rooms, so at the moment she left by her lonesome with a white fighter's robe to give her cover as she looked to the crowds. 'Every seat in the place is already taken and there are still people up trying to get bets in before the fighting starts; sounds like someone spread the word that we were coming out tonight.'

"Hey Yang! Hope you kick ass tonight!" one of the spectator's called from their seat. Smiling, she gave them a wave back. "And find a better partner! That asshole's just holding you down!"

'I guess since we haven't been here in a while to show our stuff, everyone's had plenty of time to stew over how Ragna handles his matches. I'm sure he'll say that he doesn't care, but all of this negativity has gotta be getting to the guy. Maybe they'll change their tune once he starts showing off again. I'll just go first so he can bring the fight home on a high note.'

"I'm back," she heard the focus of her thoughts say as he returned from the changing room. She was about to say hello, but only froze as she saw what he was wearing. "Is it too hard to ask you not to laugh?"

"What are you wearing!?" She demanded as she tried not to stare. Not only was Ragna missing the robes allowed between fights, but the pair of tights he had on were an uncomfortable shade of yellow that was hard for even her to stomach. "Tell me you didn't decide on those yourself."

"Nope, they were out of robes in the room and this was the only color of shorts left. They wouldn't even let me wear my regular jacket out, spewing some bullshit regulations. Assholes were probably trying to screw with me this whole time," Ragna groaned. "And if dealing with their sick joke wasn't bad enough, the weigh-in scale said I've put on some weight since we were last here."

"Weight?" Yang asked as she finally allowed herself to look away from the shorts. "O… Oh.."

"Dammit, I knew I'd been getting way too careless on what I've been eating. And instead of burning the extra calories off most of the time I've been lazing around or stuck studying." He groaned. "Hell of time to finally go shirtless and… Yang?"

While Ragna was hard on his physical appearance, this had likely come about due to Jubei's harsh training where it was necessary Ragna live off of less food and utilize calories more effectively in combat. As a result while he'd indeed grown stronger thanks to the harsh physical regiment he'd been put through for over a decade, his body had remained thinner than it should have been. While he'd still been keeping up on training with intense physical workouts along with competitive bouts of sparring, the newer and better balanced diet he'd been having along with allowing his body proper relaxation (as much Academy life would give him anyways), his form had started to become more physically developed not with fat, but with…

"Muscles..." she faintly sighed aloud as she observed Ragna's newly stacked and further ripped body.

"Oi Yang. Yang!" Ragna shouted, snapping his friend out of it. "What's gotten into you? Right before a match is a shitty time to be spacing out. Keep your head in the game."

"R-right, just checking to see that you gained weight," she defended, sneaking another glance at Ragna's chest. 'Maidens of the seasons! Why did we ever stop coming here!?'

'...Let her look, this is only fair after she was your back warmer on your way here,' the Reaper decided, turning his head away since he still felt embarrassed as she checked him out. 'Least I know I still look good.'

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, TIME FOR THE FINALS!" the announcer called out, cutting the moment short. "THERE HAVE BEEN SOME MAJOR CHANGES TO THE FORMAT TONIGHT! I NEED RAGNA AND ROJO IN THE RING RIGHT NOW!"

"Wait, they're calling on us?" Yang asked, realizing that her plans had once again been derailed that day. "...Guess that means you're on."

"Guess so," Ragna muttered as he gota few harsh cricks out of his neck and headed for the ring. "Wish me luck."

"You don't have any!" Yang reminded him with a smirk.

'Yeah, I used to think that too,' the Reaper internally decided with a small smirk as he entered the arena, the gate closing behind him. Rojo was already inside and performing a few pre-match stretches. "Do you know what's going on?"

"If I had to guess they're trying to choose the order of fighters to make things exciting and drum up more betting," he guessed, using some of the experience he'd gotten from doing this for so long. "It's weird that they didn't do this for any of tonight's other fights, I wouldn't have guessed they'd start with a championship bout."

"LIKE WE ANNOUNCED, THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME SERIOUS CHANGES TO THE RUMBLING STARTING OFF TONIGHT! IT'S NOT CLEAR SECRET THAT EVERYONE HAS A SERIOUS BONE TO PICK WITH RAGNA HERE!" The amount of jeering and booing he was getting was starting to piss him off to high hell. "YEAH, LITTLE SHIT'S GOT SOME NERVE LETTING HIS BLONDE SQUEEZE TAKE ALL THAT PUNISHMENT WHILE HE SITS PRETTY ON EASY STREET!"

'Seriously? Then how about you come down here and let these two punch your lights out?' Ragna thought to himself as the onlookers continued to insult him. Glancing back to Yang, he gave his partner a confused shrug which she returned to him… no reaction to the Blonde Squeeze comment though.

"THAT'S WHY WE'RE ANNOUNCING ANOTHER RULE TONIGHT, SO WE CAN ALL PUT THE LITTLE WEASEL IN HIS PLACE!" Ragna was pretty sure that these announcers were supposed to hide their biases while commenting on the matches, poorly hiding it most of the time but still. "ONCE YOU'RE IN THE ARENA, YOU'RE NOT GETTING OUT UNTIL YOUR ASS IS KNOCKED OUT ON THE GROUND! HOW'S THAT FOR YA!?"

"Hold on, what?" Ragna asked as words set in for the crowd around him. Quite a few of them were cheering at the new rules while a large majority was heading straight for the betting both to change their gambles to favor Rojo and his daughter.. "Son of a bitch."

"Normally I'd double down and still say that they're doing this to keep things interesting, but even for the underground this seems way too spiteful for the house to suddenly announce," Rojo muttered, before his body seemed to tense up. "Still, that doesn't mean that I'm letting you out on easy street for this match up, I've got a certain showman's appeal to uphold."

"Whatever, bring it then."

(Cue King of Fighters XIV Ryuji Yamazaki's Theme:C62)

"Thought you'd never ask," Rojo answered before he disappeared from sight, starting the match off with his standard Crimson Flash. Ragna grunted as he realized this time Rojo had managed to get behind him and he had to guard the blow at the last second. Rojo then went for a quick sweep to Ragna legs which he dodged with a short hop and spun into a midair kick which landed against Rojo's forearm guard. The fistfighter then used his semblance to blitz around Ragna and strike him in the back and send him straight into the cage wall… this all happened after the bell had been struck, but before the sound registered with the crowd.

'Damn, he's even faster than last time,' Ragna thought as he rolled away from the wall, narrowly escaping Rojo's horizontal kick as he rolled under it before catching Rojo's downward strike. Holding on tightly, Ragna roared as he managed to flip his opponent over him and sent him to the ground with enough force that he bounced upon impact. While he was still airborne, Ragna uppercutted him to send him further skyward before spinning into an overhead kick followed by a second much closer reach one that sent him into the cage walls. 'I gotta finish him quick if I'm going to have any chance of beating his daughter after this.'

Picking himself off the cage wall, Rojo wiped away a bit of blood from his lip as he stared Ragna down. In his fight with Mai earlier, Ragna had tried to take advantage and close in whenever he'd seen a clear advantage. Now he was staying back and assuming that Rojo had something planned if he tried to attack. While the older fighter didn't let on if that was the case, both fighters seemed to be moving a bit slower as they tried to get a sense of their opponent's next move.

"COME ON ROJO! KICK HIS ASS ALREADY!" someone from the stands shouted. Ragna let out a growl and Rojo used that brief moment of slight distraction to use his semblance and close in.

Rushing in with a full jab to start with, he circled around as Ragna blocked the attack and started up another only to use his semblance and sidestep him a second time as the Reaper fought to put up his guard to deliver a painful body blow. Trying to keep his opponent in one place, he went to grab Rojo's leg only for the fighter to step back out of range before leaping forward with a high velocity knee. Ragna guarded against the attack and had to fight to hold his ground as Rojo spun around in the air before bringing down a sharp heel kick onto Ragna's back and sending him stumbling forward. With Ragna unable to guard, his opponent took full advantage and rushed all around him with powerful strikes that Ragna had little way to defend against as most of the strikes got through. Forcing himself to retake his footing as he'd done the first time Rojo had used this move, he gave a wide swing and tried to retaliate only for the brawler to see the move come and let loose a series of punches to the Reaper's ribs. Ragna grunted in pain as he took the attack, but finally managed to grab onto Rojo's arm.

"Got you."

Pulling him with enough force that the brawler lost his footing, Ragna dragged him against the floor and threw him into the air. Using his chance now that his opponent was airborne, Ragna spun into a roundhouse so powerful that Rojo bounced off of the chain wall and allowed him to follow up for more damage. Giving a high to blast him higher, Ragna followed with a skybound uppercut before kneeing Rojo dead in the guy to send him over the arena wall… at least he would have if the former champ hadn't grabbed the edge and vaulted himself back into the arena.

"You're not winning by a ring out tonight," he promised as the crowd cheered for the fighting to continue. "And sorry to say it, but you're not looking too great there."

'He's not wrong,' Ragna thought to himself as he still felt the sting of every blow the brawler had put on him. He was already fighting on the ropes and he still had another fight to get through against Azula. Trying to avoid the brawlers attacks wasn't getting him anywhere and he needed to be done soon otherwise he wouldn't even get to his second fight. 'Right then, caution to the wind like usual.'

Rojo used his speed semblance to rush forward and deliver another powerful strike to Ragna's rib cage. Instead of trying to avoid or guard against the attack, the Reaper took the full force of the blow and fought to keep his footing before delivering a powerful uppercut straight under Rojo chin before smashing his fist into his opponent's chest. Rojo stumbled back and tried to come up from behind in order to attack, but Ragna committed a wide sweeping attack that forced the boxer to back away before coming in for another full strike. Moving to the side and narrowly avoiding the blow, Ragna counted with a clothesline that knocked Rojo off his feet before lasting him back into cage walls with a haymaker. Quickly rushing forward, Ragna roared as he performed a powerful lunging punch that seemed to carry him forward as his opponent retaliated in kind with a lunge.

Rojo's blow struck first, once again hitting Ragna's ribs and causing at least one of them to break. Gritting his teeth, Ragna powered through the blow and struck Rojo dead in the face. The former champ grunted as he fell back before landing to the arena floor with a dull thud.

(End theme)

"Ugh… dammit…" Ragna groaned as he bitterly held some of the bruising he'd gotten from Rojo's rapid pummeling. There was bruising all of his body that he couldn't reach and stung something fierce, though that wasn't nearly as bad as the broken ribs he still had. Around the arena he heard the jeering from some of the spectators, laughing now that he was on the receiving end of some punishment he couldn't get out of. Doing his best to put those voices aside and focus on himself, he headed for the chain doorway that would lead to his seat only to find it locked and blocked off by one of the security guards. "What the hell's the holdup? Open the door."

"Rules say you're in here until your team wins or you go unconscious; you're still in the arena," the thug said in a gruff manner, his tone making it sound like Ragna was intentionally trying to break the rules.

"You can't be serious ," Yang vented as she marched forward with a stern glare. "He needs to rest up just like everyone else."

"Maybe, but that's on him and not me," they roadblock grunted unmovingly. "As for you blondie, get away from the gate. Can't have you coaching your lover boy here for the next match."

'Okay, does everyone here just assume we're a couple at this point? Because I'm not complaining, but they sound pretty adamant about it,' Yang thought before she glanced at the other end of the ring and saw the beaten Rojo talking to the fresh Azula, likely giving her advice for the next fight. "Then what the hell is that?"

"...Winner's disadvantage. When this guy loses he'll be able to coach you all he wants," the guard said, though it sounded to the both of them that he was just pulling excuses out of his ass to make things tougher for Ragna.

"Just leave it be," the Reaper muttered stubbornly. "I'll be out of here soon enough anyways…"

"But-!"

"And get back to your seat," the guard ordered once again. "Next time you get close to the ring before it's time you two will be disqualified." Only seeing her partner give her a nod, Yang sighed as she headed back to her seat… somehow in worse spirits than whenever she caught Cinder latching onto her friend.

Meanwhile

"So?" Mercury asked as he and Cinder sat in their rooms and watched the match feed. "Are you getting your fix of watching this idiot struggle?"

"This is nice, but he still could be struggling a lot more than this," Cinder decided. "One bit that doesn't seem to make sense though is-"

SLAM!

The two nearly jolted as the door to their room slammed open revealing Emerald on the other side and BOY WAS SHE PISSED. Even Mercury who was the jokerster of their little trio knew better than to nettle her when she looked this bad and remained silent until she took a seat, only silently offering her some chips from his bag. Without the slightest thought toward courtesy in her rage, she grabbed a fistfull of them and chowed down while sending crumbs everywhere.

"So, how was the library?" her leader asked in a sweet, teasing tone. Mercury knew that Cinder was doing this on purpose.

"What library? And I don't want to think about it," Emerald said, grabbing another fistful of chips before Mercury could take the bag away. Deciding he'd already been damaged enough for one lifetime, he just handed the whole thing over and decided to leave it there.

"Well I've got something nice to keep your mind off of that red haired scatterbrain; we've got Ragna in his match and my demands through Torchwick are working just as planned," she decided while continuing to eye the screen.

"So he's already lost?" Emerald said after swallowing her second serving of chips.

"No he just won his first match, but he's hurting with no way out like I intended. In fact it's somehow going even better than I thought it would. Take a closer look at his injuries, what do you see?"

"Those were caused in one match? And he was the winner?" she questioned as he shook her head. "How bad did they look before they began healing?"

"They aren't healing; that's the point," Cinder said as her eyes scowled slightly. "I can understand wanting to keep the details of his semblance under control, but that doesn't explain why he doesn't let his aura heal him or why it's not acting as a barrier for their attacks. There's something else going on here."

"Maybe he's just even more stubborn than we thought at first," Emerald guessed.

"If he is, then he's willing to fight through a hell of lot just for some stupid pride," Mercury said, finally breaking the silence he'd held when Emerald had entered. "If I'm right, he's dealing with at least a few broken ribs and the rest of him isn't looking much better. It's hard to believe he can even stand in that kind of state, let alone try to participate in the follow up fight. Does he really think he can make it through another opponent in his condition?"

"Even if he manages to do so I'll still win; no matter what happens this will be his last fight in the arena," the sadist informed her followers.

"...So are we still watching?" Mercury asked. "I mean if you know what's going to happen, what's the point in watching him in the first place?"

"Because it's interesting, and this is a great chance to find any weak points he might have," Cinder said as she took a closer look at the screen. Both Emerald and Mercury gave each other concerned glances, but knew better than to speak their concerns aloud. 'I have to wonder, what part of that body is going to break next?'

-Back in the ring-

"ALRIGHT! THAT'S A LONG ENOUGH BREAK! NOW FOR THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!" the fighter announcer shouted. The crowd was absolutely wild as Azula entered the fighting arena, though the brawler wasn't giving them any attention as she focused in on Ragna. "HOW LONG DO YOU GIVE HIM BEFORE YANG HAS TO STEP IN AND SAVE THE TEAM? I GIVE HIM TWO MINUTES TOPS!"

'Shut the hell up,' Ragna groaned in his head as he tried to power through the pain he still felt all over. With the little time he was given in the ring and was forced to remain standing, all he'd managed was to catch his breath from the last match. Azula was fresh and worse she wasn't the type to hold anything back. The Reaper knew his options were limited if he wanted to get out of here before…

"Sorry the house is treating you like garbage." Ragna blinked a few times in surprise, this being the first friendly words he'd heard from Rojo's blue-haired daughter. "I hate the way you back out even more than they do, but that shouldn't get in the way of our fight."

"...So you'll-?"

"Save your breath; you need every bit you have left and it's damn obvious that's not going to happen," Azula finished, as she got into a fighting stance. "Even if I have to fight you when you're like this, that's not going to stop me from going all out."

(Cue Street Fight V: Ibuki Theme)

"Guess I should've figured as much," Ragna groaned as the fighting bell sounded once more.

Even though Azula wasn't nearly as fast as her father, that might as well have been a moot point for Ragna as his injuries prevented him from going nearly as fast as he usually could. Stepping back, he managed to avoid Azula's opening knee attack that had been aimed for his head. Trying to go in for a quick leg sweep as she landed, Azula easily guarded the attack and went forward with a wild swing. Even if Ragna had guarded against this attack, the shape he was already in wasn't helping matters and he forcibly slid back from the force.

Azula rushed forward to close the distance and managed to grab Ragna into a grapple. Working quickly before she could throw him to the ground and potentially end the fight early, Ragna brought his leg up between them and kicked as hard as he could to escape. While the move hadn't caused her much damage, it had at least given him a little distance. Flipping towards her with an overhead kick, Azula had looked like she'd been recovering but it had only been a ruse to get him within reach. Unleashing a very familiar uppercut, she sent Ragna into the air leading into her own overhead kick to catch him. Unleashing a much closer spin kick, Ragna was trapped in his airborne state as Azula finished off her combination with a grounded roundhouse kick that sent Ragna's back straight into the cage walls.

'Wait, is she-?' Yang thought with worry as Ragna was fighting to get back up. Azula didn't give him a chance as she lunged forward with a straight, the power of the punch carrying her forward as she slammed into Ragna's weakening guard. 'She is.'

"LOOKS LIKE AZULA'S TAKING A PAGE OUT OF THE CHAMP'S BOOKS! AND WITH THE STATE HE'S IN I'M NOT SURE HE'LL BE ABLE TO KEEP THIS UP FOR MUCH LONGER!" the announcer shouted.

As Azula went for a follow up lunge in the arena, Ragna managed to roll out of the way this time and counter with a quick kick to her back. This normally would've given him some decent breathing room, but now his moves were starting to lack the signature impact his style was known for. Backstepping to narrowly avoid her haymaker attack as it nearly connected with his face, he was starting to get a sense of just how limited his options were. Not only was Azula naturally strong after spending so much time in this underground arena with her father, her semblance was a very basic but effective strength enhancer. This made even something as basic as guarding a risk and working with such little stamina here after Rojo had drained him in the last fight made dodging just as bad.

'What a pain in the ass, I can't even get a second wind going since…' Ragna thought before he had to lean back to avoid Azula's quick forward jab. Noticing her as her leg tensed up, he realized that he was about to follow into a roundhouse kick that he normally did. Playing a bit risky now, he delivered a powerful full body charge, a move not in his usual arsenal. He managed to interrupt Azula's attack and score some damage before leg sweeping the still phased fight and drop kicking her into the air. 'Okay, maybe I can at least get somewhere.'

Leaping up with a powerful knee attack similar to the one he'd performed on her father, Azula managed to block the block and landed to the floor where she got a hold of her footing once more. Reeling back, she unleashed a powerful haymaker as soon as Ragna landed and left him with no options but to guard against the strike. He gritted his at the impact against his right arm which felt like it was on fire with all of the pain it was putting him through. Quickly twisting into his roundhouse kick, the blow was easily blocked by Azula who just as easily blocked the double jab that Ragna performed with his left hand.

Desperate to finish the fight, Ragna went for a quick and desperate combination. Starting with a leg sweep from the right, Azula again performed a crouching guard as he'd planned. Bouncing off her guard and spinning his body he then swept from the other side which was again blocked, but the force he'd put behind the attack was enough to stagger his opponent slightly. Then desperately bringing his leg up and around, he went for an overhead kick to finally get over Azula's guard and inflict some damage…

Had she not seen this coming.

Charging herself was a more powerful burst of Semblance energy, she managed to avoid Ragna leg and delivered a devastating upcut under his jaw to launch him off the arena floor. Grabbing the Reaper's leg, she then slammed him back to the ground with enough force to make the arena shake. It wasn't comparable to what happened next though as she leapt into the air and brought her fist down squarely on Ragna's chest and forced him to yell out in pain… before going still.

(End them)

"No way…" Yang could barely say as Azula got off of the down and unconscious Ragna. This hadn't been her plan in the slightest, she'd wanted to give Ragna a chance in his element to cut loose, not just hand him another loss for that day. Around her though, the stands were filled with cheering fans who were more than happy to see the Reaper's fall.

"AND HE'S FINALLY OUT OF HERE!" the announcer shouted, sharing the crowd's excitement. "NOW THERE'S NO WAY ANYONE IN THE RING CAN SAY HE'S NEVER SUFFERED A KNOCKOUT! AZULA TAKES THE WIN AND WE'LL COMING BACK WITH YANG'S FINAL STAND FOR HER TITLE-!"

"GET UP!"

That shout hadn't come from Yang, instead the apparent victor had roared out as she stayed in the center of the arena scowling down at the unmoving form of Ragna. She had a feral look in her eyes as she stared him down, the rest of the establishment going dead silent.

"IS THIS SOME GAME TO YOU!?" she shouted again, and again there was no movement from her opponent. Reeling her fist back, she let out on final roar. "ENOUGH PLAYING DEAD!"

"AZULA STOP!" her father shouted out, but too little too late as her punch screamed through the air and struck… The Arena Floor. "What the-?"

Ragna was back up on his feet, though it didn't look like he'd be able to stay that way for much long as he gripped his injured right arm and heavy gasps of air. Around him the stands were filled with irate patrons yelling that he should be thrown out for attempting to play dead and leave the match early, but there wasn't any time to announce it as Azula was on a destructive driven onslaught, using her Semblance at full power.

Ragna leaped back to avoid her first strike as she again slammed her fist to the floor and created a powerful shock wave. Ducking to the side, he managed to avoid her clothesline as the shouting from the audience only seemed to be getting louder. Blocking against yet another lunging knee, he was forced to use his already damaged right arm to guard. The impact was enough to make him gag as he stumbled back. Having enough of this display, Azula charged herself to full strength as she did one final lunge forward coping Ragna's technique… only for him to side step at the last instant in her blinded rage.

"Should've just taken the win."

CRACK!

The intense sucker punch to her gut literally knocked the wind out of her as she doubled over, taking the full force of everything her opponent had left. Barely able to stay standing, Ragna gave deep and heavy wheezes as he stared at the grounded Azula. Coughing a few times on his own spit, the ringing in his ears began to subside and made way for the harsh booing and the hate filled shouts coming from the stands. In the matches before, even when he'd won most of the spectators had left their aggression to the side and had placed bets on him and Yang to go home with a decent earning for their performance. Now with many of them figuring Ragna would have been too vain to allow himself to be KO'ed, they'd lost their money leaving nothing keeping their aggression in line. Giving a harsh wince at a familiar burning sensation, it was clear he had bigger worries at the moment.

"...Looks like the little shit managed to take a win after all tonight, and after playing possum too. That bastard's got some nerve if he's going to try and pull that here," the announcer growled. "Even still tonight's victory goes to him and Yang, still leaving her the…" There was a brief pause as one of the thugs came up to him and showed a piece of paper. Down below, Yang was waiting worriedly for Ragna at the gate as they let him out of the arena. "...Word just came in from the top. That was the last match in this ring for Ragna; as of tonight he's banned from ever coming back to this place."

"What…?" Yang asked as she grew cold, her face shortly frozen in terror before she became inflamed with red aura. "AFTER ALL OF THAT YOU STILL HAVEN'T SCREWED HIM OVER ENOUGH!?"

"C-Calm down Yang!" the announcer protested, staggering under her hellish glare. "You're still our champ of the ring! All you've got to do is find a new partner by-!"

"OH HELL NO! THERE'S NO WAY I'M COMING BACK HERE AFTER WHAT YOU TRIED! I'M OUT!" Some of the calls from around her were from enraged patrons thinking she was acting too big for her own good, others were fans and begging her not to go, while more still were saying that they could be her second if she stayed. All of these calls would fall on deaf ears as Ragna rushed past, gritting his teeth in pain as he clung to his right arm. Following Ragna into the changing rooms, the blond didn't bother looking back even once.

-And then-

"The hell are you doing here!? Get out!" Ragna shouted at Yang as he continued to grip his arm in pain.

"Those were some nasty hits you took to your arm and chest and your wounds aren't healing at all, can you blame me being worried?" Yang asked as she fished out a first aid kit.

"That doesn't mean you can just waltz right into the men's changing room!" the Reaper shouted again, glad at least that it didn't look like anyone was already inside and things were still way too hectic by the ring for anyone to get through. "Get out of here, I can patch myself up…"

"You know me well enough to tell that isn't going to happen," Yang said as she took out some bandages. "Now let me take a look at that arm."

"No, and leave me a-! Ugh!" Ragna doubled over as a surge of pain hit him straight into his pain. It took all of his will power not to black out then and there with the fact that he was still somehow standing even more of a miracle. Weakly lifting his head up, he was about to continue his fruitless debate with Yang to get her to leave him alone… only to see her stunned enough to where she'd dropped the first aid kit. Realizing what this meant he worriedly looked to his right arm… and had his fears confirmed. His limb no longer appeared to be normal human flesh, now instead something out of a horror movie wrapped in black bandages and topped with the familiar glove that everyone saw when he was actually wearing clothes.

"Um… what's…?" Yang asked, trying to find her voice.

"...Tch, this is why I wanted you out of the damn room," Ragna sighed as he facepalmed. It took Yang a second to calm down, but once she did it was easy to see that Ragna was carrying himself much easier now and his wounds finally looked like they were starting to heal. In fact it looks like they were healing even quicker than it would usually take Aura to heal. "You can quit staring you know."

"Sorry, but what the hell is that? All of a sudden you're arm's transforming in front of my eyes and…" she shook her head, still bewildered. "I was still trying to figure out what happened that match, now you're dropping this on me?"

"No one asked you to follow me in here, and I told you plenty of times to get out of here," the Reaper answered with a glare.

"Oh don't give me that, you know I was worried about you and I still am!" she shouted. Taking a step back and deeply inhaling to try and calm herself, she went with a more understanding approach. "You've kept these secrets from us for long enough, and you were getting your ass beat back there because of it… Can't you take this chance to get this off your chest? At least then maybe I can have some idea of why you had to put yourself through that."

"It's none of your-"

"Business, I get it. But just humor me this once, alright? Let me in, just let understand where you're coming from."

'...Dammit.' "...I have to focus to make it look like a regular arm," Ragna explained as he winced for a moment and the arm turned back to it's human appearance and his body seemed to stop healing itself. "If I ever get knocked out, then what happened in front of you would happen out there for everyone to see."

"Then is this one of your Semblances?" Yang asked, knowing that Ragna supposedly carried multiple as a Drive user.

"Just a part of one; I've got a stronger self healing ability than most Semblance users out there, especially when I'm in top form. Problem is that if I want my arm to look human then I have to focus on sealing both the Semblance and my basic Aura. Losing focus like that just shows this off like you saw." Feeling that he'd recovered enough of his strength, he forced his arm to take its human form. "That's something I'll do my damndest to avoid."

"I'll bet if you managed to keep something like that a secret like us for a whole semester," she realized. "But… why are you trying so hard to hide something from us? Do you think we wouldn't understand?"

"It's not that, it's just…" he shook his head. "I don't like looking at it; damn thing makes me think back to when I lost my real arm."

"You… lost it?" Yang asked, growing uncomfortable. "Did… did it happen when you were in the wilds?"

"Before that even. It happened… it happened back when my mom died."

...Ragna couldn't look Yang in the eye after he'd said that. The blonde herself was silent as she saw this newer side of the person strong enough to have the reputation of Grimm Reaper. Sadness... Regret... Self-Hatred… All of this and more was on display as he grit his teeth and clench his fists. She was no idiot, clearly there was more to it than he was letting on. For the moment though…

"Y-Yang?"

Ragna wasn't a hugger at the best of times, especially not when someone could see the arm that he hated, especially not when dressed only in unflattering shorts and still had bloodstains from the fighting he'd had to endure. But as his blonde friend brought him in for a tight embrace, he couldn't find it in him to push her away.

"Yang, I-"

"Are you going to hug me back?"

Taking a deep breath just out of his own nerves, he did indeed return her kind gesture with his own. The empty changing room of an underground fighting ring was hardly the place for this display of affection, but in Yang's mind it was only time for comforting Ragna at his most vulnerable point. He must have lost focus because she felt his arm turn from it's human guise to its real form, but all she did in return was give a soft smile.

Later -Outside the Bar-

If everything else that the place had done to try and rip Ragna off hadn't been enough, then the arena trying to refuse the Reaper his winnings had to be the cherry to top off his shit sunday. The owner's facade didn't last long, nothing really could again Ragna's scowl now that he was back up to full power and Yang's fiery aura heating up the whole room only added to the intimidation factor. Even still, it definitely left a foul taste in their mouths as the two left.

"Here's your share," Ragna said as he handed off half of his Platinum Lien to Yang though she didn't grab it right away. "Come on, you get something here after all of that."

"After all of what, I didn't do anything," she told him as the two stepped out of the bar that stood as a front for these fights. "In fact I didn't even drive us this time, you handled that one yourself."

"It was your bike that we rode in on," Ragna reminded. "And you were the one that managed to get me a needed break from studying. You deserve this just as much as I do." Finally giving in, Yang took the money and pocketed it. "That being said, it doesn't look like there's any prize money in our futures if we're not allowed back here. Should probably be a little more mindful on how we spend it."

"Not like we would've had a lot of time for matches this quarter in the first place," Yang reminded her friend. "But there's still something about this that I don't understand. The first time we came here you didn't know what was going at first, but if the thing with your Semblance was so risky…"

"Why did I keep coming back?" the Reaper finished as he leaned against the bike. "Well there are a couple of reasons really. There's the fact that you seem to have a way of twisting my arm to get what you want from me." Yang rolled her eyes. "The prize money we won certainly played into it too. Guess I also got some pretty good fights while we were here. But I guess if I had to pick the big reason… it'd be you."

"Me? You already said I was forcing you here."

"Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about," he said. Yang swore she could see a small blush starting to grow on Ragna's face. "I didn't notice it at first, but whenever we came here it always looked like you were having the time of your life. The way you fought out there, how happy you looked when the crowd was cheering you on, hell you even looked excited to be fighting even when you were getting your ass kicked. You had this way of smiling when you were here, you know? I don't know what it was, but..." He hesitated as he scratched the back of his head, just showing how embarrassed he felt. "...But just the way you were smiling was enough to make me happy to take that risk."

"You… you're serious?" Yang asked before giggling.

"H-Hey, I'm being honest here. I don't need you laughing at me," the Reaper said as the blush on his face turned pure crimson.

"Oh don't think for a moment that I'm making fun of you; that's pretty close to the reason I had for bringing you here tonight," she told him. "I just think it's sweet of you to tell me that."

"I ain't sweet," Ragna bit with bitter denial. "Besides, it's not like it matters anymore. I'm banned from this place and you already told me that the Solo fights here were lacking something for you."

"True true, but then I guess it's a good thing I'm taking you with me," Yang decided with a smile that made Ragna freeze for a moment as he recognized it. "After all, if I've got you with me I think you can still count on seeing the beaming face you love so much."

"...Along with whatever else you feel like dragging me into," he countered, but he gave his own soft and content smile. "So, burgers then? You told me you were treating tonight."

"And I'm a woman of my word, plus I've got a pretty good place in mind," she told him as she got onto the bike's back, leaving plenty of room for him at the front. "So? Ready for another ride?"

"I dunno if it's such a good idea to have me driving," Ragna admitted with a bit of playfulness in his words. "That last ride I took already had me feeling pretty cocky and after the shit I just had to go through I'm still pissed. 'Might end up taking out my aggression on the road if I get the chance."

"Then by all means! Let's make this ride to hell one for the history books!" she cheered for him. Ragna just chuckled as he got onto the bike's front and Yang wrapped her arms around him. "Hey…"

"Yeah?" Ragna asked, only for his passenger to lean forward and whisper something in his ear. Immediately what was left of his composure shattered as his face started rapidly heating. "Wh-what the-!?"

"Come on, get driving you," she told him with a smug smile. Ragna eventually managed to start up the engine and start driving off, but it was obvious to Yang he was just a little shakier than before. 'Try and beat this one, Cinder.'

Next time: Project Hell: Part 1

So it might not be in my best interest to end on such an obvious mystery, but I figured that this might give you some good material to theorize about. But hey, that's just a Theory. A FANFICTION THEORY… *Ahem* Moving on.

I'll try to have the next chapter out a little sooner, but I do have a bit of a request/reward chapter for EpicLinkSam on my Extensions side, so I'll be working on that first. It's nothing much, just a fun little romp.

Let's get to some of those reviews.

Ragriz: After much debating and other postings with nothing much to offer other than continued requests, I decided to block them. Hopeful this chapter also explained on how Yang sees the dynamic.

Wlyman2009: On ice eh? ...Weiss needs her own chapter soon. And Jin's taking notice, but he's also got plenty of his own worries to deal with now.

ArmantusCumPinnae: Not sure how much destiny is going to be able to change, but I guess we'll just have to see.

The Unplanner: Thanks for the lengthy review.

P3R50N4: NOT ANYMORE!

BloodedgetheReaper2113: Don't worry, I won't hurt her just for the sake of doing it.

Lovnag: True, but constant pressure can still get to anyone.

Fernandamichelleraya: Trust me, we've all been there.

Bizmack Alexander: Most basic way of putting it is she used to just feel sorry for the guy, but now that she's spent so much time with him there's something else there.

Guest (1): An interesting move, but a bit too far to do first thing.

Materta: Hard to say…

Reclusive Dork: Everyone seems to want her to make an appearance.

Zero: Thanks for the continued reviews.

Guest (2): If it does, there's going to be hell afterwards. That much is obvious.

Thanks so much for reading! Until next time! Ciao!