Volume III: Episode 2: Round One: Fight!

Sunny "Radstorm" Flare tried not to pace in the small garage attached to Beacon's campus which had once held a motorcycle or something like it. Perhaps, in another world, it would have held a motorcycle again, but it was not this world. No, this was a world of cloaks and daggers, where nothing was what it seemed.

Sunny wanted to go back.

"Straight Shooter… Sugarcoat," began Sunny suddenly, and the girl with the twin-tail hair perked up. "When they get here, don't hesitate to use your semblance on them. I don't want to sign off on anything if there's some big hole in his argument."

"We don't even know if he's going to be making an argument," pointed out Indigo "Daiku" Zap. "He could just be coming here to pump us for information."

"Somehow, I doubt it," retorted Sunny.

There was a silence, and into that silence, Twilight "Magic" Sparkle replied, "Isn't it dreadful? Here we are, four members of the Atlesian student body, discussing how best to conspire with Vacuo."

"Why'd you have to say it like Vacuo is our enemy?" Indigo complained.

"Besides, we're doing this to save Atlas," argued Sugarcoat somberly. "I've known civilization is incredibly fragile since I unlocked my semblance, and after what you told us, I can't help but wonder what I'd see if I looked at Atlas now."

"Whatever is going on, it must be bad," Sunny mused aloud as she began pacing anyway. What Twilight had said... it worried her. A lot. "What could force the General into all this cloak and dagger stuff? What could drive Weiss Schnee to join the White Fang?"

General Ironwood was an open and direct man who deserved Sugarcoat's callsign as much as she did. Unofficial orders? Reverse psychology? He wasn't stupid. He knew Twilight - her sister-in-law was the JAG, for crying out loud! - so he had to have known what his request to Team JSPR would have resulted in.

"Have you heard some of the stuff she's said when someone pokes the faunus button?" Indigo asked, bringing Sunny's thoughts around to the SDC heiress. "Girl's a fanatic."

"I just wish that I could have helped her," said Twilight sadly. "I wish I could have seen that a good friend of mine was falling down such a dark path. Maybe then I would have been able to stop all this from happening."

Twilight shook her head. "Well, no sense dwelling on the maybes. She's made her bed of glass, and now she has to lie in it. I'm just glad Lemon Zest wasn't around to hear anything she said."

"Indeed," agreed Sunny. "She never seemed to let the extra ears hold her back, but hearing a Schnee go on about faunus liberation might just break her… then again, she was arguing with Rainbow Dash at the time."

"True, maybe she isn't so bad," allowed Indigo.

"I'll go with that," added Sugarcoat.

Twilight just crossed her arms and pouted. "Guys, I'm right here. And if anyone messes with the Rainbooms, they'll have to answer to me."

Before any of the others could reply, there was a swift knock on the sliding door to the garage, followed by several more in a coded pattern. Sunny brought up one of her wrists and used a scanner suite built into the large bracer attached to it to run a sweep of what lay beyond. That done and finding nothing amiss, she gave a nod.

Twilight brought her hand up, surrounded by a faint glow, and the sliding door raised itself in her telekinetic grip. On the other side was Spike Witwicky, Twilight's cousin and their contact. Beside him was a man who, despite his plain clothes, exuded the same sort of military discipline that was baked into people like General Ironwood, Specialist Schnee, and almost the entirety of the Atlas Academy faculty. The door closed soon after they stepped in.

"Hello again, ladies," greeted Spike with a nod before gesturing at the man. "Allow me to introduce Colonel Ivan Nikolevich Brekhov, commander of the Oktober Guard."

The man, Colonel Brekhov, gave his own nod at each of them before he began speaking with a slight North Vacuan accent. "So, Comrade Witwicky informs me that you wish to know the precise details of what is going on. Correct?"

"Correct," answered Sunny, speaking for the team.

"Why?" asked Brekhov. "Why do you want to go ever deeper into the dunes?"

"Because there's something wrong in Atlas," answered Twilight. "We've got powerful, prominent people like General Ironwood and Weiss Schnee acting scared and like they're in a spy movie. We need answers, and if Vacuo's where we have to go find them, so be it."

"Hmm," Brekhov hmmed as he and Spike exchanged meaningful looks. "Tell me, do you believe in aliens?"

Sugarcoat's eyes flicked between the two men, obviously using her semblance to those who knew her. "Please tell me you're joking. It doesn't look like you're joking."

Somehow, someway, Brekhov kept a completely straight face as he explained, "Put simply, elements in Atlas - partly the government, but mostly the SDC - are in league with a faction of robotic aliens from the planet Cybertron called the Decepticons, with the SDC funneling workers - slaves, really - and resources to the Decepticons in exchange for technology and a cut of the energon that transformers like the Decepticons need to survive. Several months ago, elements of the White Fang in Vale raided a factory to the north of here and in the process freed many of our people, who brought stories of this home to Mother Vacuo."

Spike nodded and elaborated, "Vacuo doesn't have a military - it doesn't really even have a government - but we needed some way to defend ourselves. Hence, the Oktober Guard."

"We have... an arrangement with the Vale White Fang. They supply us with intelligence, and we offer them material support. Despite our initial misgivings, this has proven to be a profitable arrangement," continued Brekhov.

"And Weiss Schnee's trip to Park Place?" Twilight asked. Of course she'd still be worried about the Schnee heiress. The girl made friends easily, got attached easily, which was so very ironic, considering how she was when Sunny had first met her. "Where does that fit into things?"

"I'm afraid there are a number of possibilities, none of which we can confirm or deny," Colonel Brekhov said. "For her own safety, if for no other reason. Still, this 'Park Place' may prove valuable information, and you have done us a great service by sharing it with us. Thank you."

"I know this is a lot to take in," began Spike with a placating tone.

"You think?!" Twilight snapped harshly. "Spike, this is… this is huge!"

Spike gave an awkward shrug. "Well, yeah, literally. Still, you wanted to know what was happening, and this is what's happening."

Before Twilight could say anything more, Sugarcoat broke in. "Why are they called transformers?"

"Because they can transform from a robot to an alt-mode that looks like a Remnant vehicle," answered Spike quickly. "They also got these things called Pretender Shells that allow them to look like a human or faunus, but we've got precautions for that, right?"

"Da," replied Brekhov in an affirmative response to the question. "It is likely your General Ironwood is aware of Pretenders and suspects infiltration."

"So, wait, hold on," demanded Indigo, getting up from the box where she had been sitting. "You mean to tell me that Atlas has been infiltrated by shape-shifting alien robots?! That's nuts! What's even your proof for any of this?"

"Pictures," replied Brekhov simply, bringing out a folder from inside his coat and passing it over to the flustered girl.

Indigo took the folder, looked at the contents, and then blanched. "Oh no. Oh no."

"The Decepticons aren't the only faction of these robots, are they?" asked Sugarcoat pointedly.

Spike looked at her. "I'm sorry, but we just can't say. We don't know everything."

"Logic dictates that there must be," observed Sunny Flare, as she considered the wealth of new information. "Never mind. Where do we sign up?"

Spike seemed a bit taken aback. "Sign up?"

"For Shade," Twilight explained, picking up on Sunny's line of thought. "If Atlas has been infiltrated by these... 'Decepticons,' then... Spike, you know I do a lot of R and D work for the Atlesian military. I won't have my work fall into the wrong hands, and at this rate, if I go back and stop working on them, I don't know I won't just disappear."

Sunny nodded. "And Twilight's our friend, part of our team. We aren't going to leave her hanging, are we?"

"No," agreed Sugarcoat.

"Not a chance." Indigo gave a firm nod.

"Shadowbolts forever," they chorused.

"Are you sure about this, Twi?" Spike asked worriedly after a pause. "I mean, your other friends-"

"I trust Team Jasper to keep the other Rainbooms safe, and... and Team Scarlet will understand," Twilight interrupted. She gave her cousin a smile. "Besides, 'no sacrifice, no victory,' right?"

"Yeah," he agreed reluctantly. "'No sacrifice, no victory.'"

There was a thundering roar as the flight of Night Ravens descended toward the island of Caledon, off the western coast of Anima. Once the seat of power of its own kingdom before the Mistralian Empire stretched its hand out and cast its shadow over it, Caledon had still clung to its own traditions and culture, even through the Mantle-dominated suppression of same.

Kali couldn't actually see where they were going, but she knew what Dainty would be seeing as they descended. The precisely paved and immaculately maintained airstrip they would be landing at ran along an otherwise grassy dell, and on the hill overlooking said dell and airstrip was a castle that dated back into antiquity, its original builders only remembered in the myths and legends passed down the family line, long enough ago that it was unclear whether the castle and land were named for its founder or vice versa. Massive and imposing, Castle Destro had been built from solid slabs of stone, but not just any stone, but ironstone native to mainland Anima, which must have been quarried many miles away, transported first to the coast and then over the water to build it here.

A truly impressive feat for when it had been built, a triumph of unknown means at the time, the specific methods used long lost to the fog of history.

Thinking about it helped distract her from the landing sequence, and she was jarred out of her thoughts as she felt the Night Raven touch down on the runway. Once the aircraft came to a halt, though, it still wasn't quite time to disembark. The four Night Ravens taxied into hangars, and the security detachment disembarked first.

So it was that by the time the command module carrying Dainty and Kali descended, someone was already waiting to welcome her.

As she got up, she couldn't keep a smile off her face at the familiar figure waiting for her. Long black hair, librarian glasses, and close-fitting black leather clothes. It almost made her seem like she was still a teenager, but Kali thought it was fitting for her.

"Baroness!" she cried as she strode forward, arms outstretched.

"Come now, Kali!" her old friend protested as she returned the hug. "I think we've known each other long enough not to stand on formalities."

"I don't know," Kali said teasingly, pulling back and shooting Ana a wry smile. "You seem awfully insistent on the title whenever you're on the news."

"Please," Ana said, rolling her eyes, "that's for the press and the gold-digging parasites, not my friends. If you're going to address me by my title, then I'm going to have to insist on addressing you by yours."

"Okay, okay," Kali surrendered, "you've made your point, Ana. No need to be dramatic."

"Me? Dramatic?" Ana asked, putting on an air of injured innocence. "Perish the thought."

Kali snorted. "What's with the Vacuan accent?"

"I'm merely trying to reconnect with my ancestral roots," Ana replied with a sniff. She grinned. "Still, Kali, how have you been? I hope your flight went well."

"It went very well," answered Kali cheekily. "The takeoff and landing could use some work, though."

"It's not that bad," Ana assured her, and at her friend's glare, she continued, "though I admit that, perhaps, a more stable high speed transport could be developed."

"Thank you," said Kali with a flourish of her hand.

"Ma'am, your luggage is ready," interjected Dainty Dish, the item in question near her.

"Oh, thank you, Dainty," said Kali before taking hold of her luggage and looking back at Ana. "My guards will probably want to keep an eye on me. Is that all right with you?"

"Of course!" cheered Ana. "We are quite used to hosting dignitaries and their security personnel. Quite used to keeping them off of each other as well. After all, it's like Cully always says…"

"Neutrality is good for business!" quoted both Kali and Ana simultaniously in a terrible mimicry of James McCullen Destro XXIV's native Caledonian accent.

They both laughed.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Kali," said Ana with a smile that seemed bigger than ever. "Come now, let's get inside the citadel. It's been ages since you visited Castle Destro, and I want to show you what we've done with the place."

One tour of the castle later, Kali and Ana were sitting in the entertainment room and drinking the tea that was customary for Mistralian high society. Indeed, tea was also the traditional hot beverage of Menagerie, drunk plain as it was in southern and eastern Mistral, while here in Caledon, it was served with milk and sugar. Personally, Kali preferred coffee, but everyone around her seemed to prefer tea. So she drank tea, and really, it wasn't so bad… but it had been better when Blake was around to share those moments with.

"You're troubled," observed Ana with a note of concern. "What's wrong?"

"What isn't?" replied Kali rhetorically, glancing into her cup briefly. "I was just thinking about my daughter, about Blake."

"I see." Ana nodded solemnly before looking up. "You know, the offer still stands to have the Iron Grenadiers extract her from the White Fang. In-house rates."

Kali shook her head softly. "That's just the thing. I got a letter recently claiming to be from one of Blake's roommates… at Beacon. She claims that Blake has joined the academy and is a star student there."

"That's… how is that even possible?" asked Ana, obviously trying to keep the bewilderment out of her voice.

"I don't know, but the letter was signed by a 'Weiss,' no surname given, and she was inviting me and Ghira to the Vytal Festival," explained Kali before continuing somewhat primly. "The letter also spoke extensively about how wonderful our work in the White Fang was from what they had read and heard about from Blake, and then asked if it was real."

"'Weiss,'" Ana repeated, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. "Your daughter would be... seventeen, right? A first-year?"

"That's right."

Ana leaned back. "Weiss Schnee is a first year student at Beacon Academy. You... don't think...?" she trailed off, unwilling or unable to finish the preposterous thought.

Kali's grip on her teacup tightened. "The possibility had crossed my mind, but... this is ridiculous, right? Tell me this is ridiculous."

Ana didn't say anything.

"Ana?"

"There are signs that all is not well within the Schnee family," Ana began hesitantly. "The eldest child, Winter Schnee, chose to join the Atlesian military and was disinherited for it. Weiss Schnee, the middle child and current heiress... she chose Beacon instead of her native Atlas Academy, closer to home."

"Beacon is the most prestigious of the four academies," Kali reminded her.

"That it is," Ana agreed, "but between her last public appearance and when she first arrived at Beacon, she gained a rather prominent scar over her left eye, and the lyrics of one of her songs, 'Mirror Mirror,' is... suggestive."

Kali closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was a possibility that had occurred to her, yes, but it was one she was unwilling to dwell on. When she spoke again, she spoke in desperation. "So what's this I've been hearing about an Atlesian cruiser being destroyed by a bomb?"

Ana rubbed the back of her neck, as if she had gotten whiplash. "That was a rather extreme topic change."

"What happened, Ana?" Kali pressed. "There aren't many people out there who could create something so... destructive."

And Ana knew all of them. It was a necessity of success in business to know one's rivals, after all.

"You speak of confidential information," was Ana's reply.

Kali pressed her lips together as she turned that over in her mind. That just proved MARS at least knew who had built it. If it wasn't MARS's work, then it was that of a rival, a rival who MARS had penetrated with their corporate espionage.

"Let's consider what will happen in the future from this," Kali said. "Whatever else, that bomb demonstrates that such power is possible, so regardless of who built it, others will be working on replicating it."

"True."

"So, what happens when it gets out?" Kali asked. "Whoever has them will rule the world, any other kingdom only existing at their pleasure. Ana, I will not have the faunus at the mercy of humans again, not if I can help it."

"Kali-"

"Whether you built that bomb or are working on replicating it, I want them," Kali said firmly. "This is an arms race Menagerie cannot be allowed to lose."

"It's not one you can afford to win either," Ana warned. "If you have it, what do you think the other kingdoms would do? What would you do if, say, Atlas got it first?"

Kali opened her mouth, but had no reply. "The genie is out of the bottle," she said instead. "We can't just pretend it didn't happen, that this weapon doesn't exist."

"And if any one kingdom acquires it, the others would strike first, and they would be forced to use it," Ana said. "No matter who wins this arms race, we all lose, and the Grimm inherit Remnant."

"And what do you suggest?"

"Proliferation," was Ana's simple answer. "Cully and I have discussed this rather extensively. As powerful as this bomb was, if every kingdom acquires them and gains the ability to deploy them simultaneously, no one would risk using them for fear of retaliation. Given our special relationship with Menagerie, we wouldn't dream of leaving you out."

Kali nodded, thankful at the reassurance. Ana may have discarded her DeCobray name to embrace her ancient heritage as a descendent of House Cisarovna, potentially the last surviving cadet line of the pre-war Vacuan royal family, and she may have been tempered with time and maturity, but she was still Kali's close friend, still the same passionate firebrand who had marched right alongside her, back when they were both in the White Fang together. Which also meant she was the same person who had agreed with so much of what Sienna Khan advocated for, right up until the moment when she had been kicked out of the Fang and assassins sent after her.

Actually, taking everything into account, the idea of proliferation was a very forward-thinking proposition that seemed rather at odds with Ana's normal desire to see the world order overthrown. Whatever this weapon was must have really had her spooked… which meant that MARS had to know the specifics of the weapon, which meant that they had to have created it. Of course, if they had created it, then they would be advertising it from the rooftops, with James walking straight up to General Ironwood to shamelessly sell him a copy of the bomb that had killed his men. They weren't advertising it, though, which meant that things hadn't gone according to plan, which meant that someone had probably stolen it before it could be tested.

Ana continued. "We're considering drawing up some treaty or contract or something right now. Hopefully it will result in peace for our time, or at the very least war that doesn't destroy the world. It's where we keep all our stuff."

A chuckle escaped Kali's lips. "The great arms merchant Destro, an advocate for peace?"

"Come now, Kali. MARS has diversified quite a bit recently," pointed out Ana.

"Oh, I know. I bought one of your washing machines, after all," admitted Kali.

"You mean the washing machine I gave you for your anniversary?" asked Ana, one eyebrow raised.

Kali shook her head. "No. I found out I needed a second one for the yacht, and so bought one from MARS to match. How did you get it so small anyway?"

"Trade secret," confided Ana with a noble chuckle, and then her eyes lit up. "Oh! Why don't we turn on the Vytal Tournament? If your daughter has applied to Beacon, then she's sure to be in it."

"If she qualified, she's sure to be in it," corrected Kali.

Ana let out a dismissive snort. "Kali, if your daughter didn't qualify, then Beacon is clearly guilty of discrimination… or she's become lazy. Either way, we'll be forced to extract her."

Kali rolled her eyes. "All right, enough with the extractions already. Let's just turn it on."

With a somewhat mirthful expression, Ana picked up the remote lying nearby and turned on the extremely expensive holographic display to bring the flat screen into view. It wasn't hard to find an appropriate sports broadcast of the tournament; it was the leading event all over Remnant, after all. The stands looked absolutely packed, and eight teenagers were squaring off against each other in the center octagon.

"And the next match is Team Auburn of Haven against Team Cardinal of Beacon!"

Kali watched as the dark-skinned leader of the Haven team sauntered up to the all-male opposing team.

"Say," the girl said, "you guys know Jaune Arc?"

The tallest boy, wielding a large mace and wearing a breastplate with a bird emblem on it, laughed. "Yeah, what about him? He's a putz."

"Had some fun messing with him, huh?"

"So what if I did?"

The girl grinned.

"It means I'm going to enjoy this," she declared. She looked back over her shoulder. "Reese, boys, stand back." She looked to her opponents again and cracked her knuckles. "I got this."

"Congrats, guys," Jaune said as Team ABRN returned to the arena after Arslan had single-handedly pasted Team CRDL... and made it look easy to boot. He shook his head. "I don't know whether to be happy or upset."

"Oh?" asked Arslan, arching an eyebrow.

"Well," Jaune said with a shrug, "on the one hand, Beacon solidarity, but on the other, it's Team Cardinal."

"I'm more worried what the tabloids are going to think," Pyrrha said worriedly. "It's not like they have the right context to work from."

"Pfft!" Arslan blew it off. "Let 'em gossip. Who cares what the rags say?" She gave Pyrrha a friendly punch to the shoulder. "I think you guys are up next. Go get 'em, champ. Be seeing you in the finals."

With that, Team ABRN filed out.

Jaune took a deep breath, now that the distraction was gone. Because it was Team JNPR up next, and their opponent...

"Are you all right, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked. "Are you going to have any problems facing your sister?"

...their opponent was Team VTLK.

"Not in the sense of holding back, if that's what you mean," he said quietly. "But Verte... don't let her fool you, Pyr. She may be a wild child, but she was always better at this sort of thing than I was. While I grew up daydreaming about being a hero, she was working toward it: studying, training, getting into scraps at school. There's a reason she got in a year early, and I've been playing catch up this whole time."

Pyrrha placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Then let us handle her," she said. "We're a team, remember?"

"Right." Jaune nodded, reaching up to his shoulder and placing his hand on hers. "Thanks, Pyr. Nora, if you end up fighting Verte, don't rely on your semblance. She calls her semblance Dissemblance. It allows her to disrupt other people's semblances with a touch."

"Got it, fearless leader," Nora acknowledged.

With that, Team JNPR marched out through the tunnel and across the bare metal finish of the arena's pre-match configuration to the central octagon that marked both the designated starting area and the only safe place within the arena to stand when it reconfigured itself.

The two teams eyed each other warily.

"Sorry, little brother," Verte d'Arc said solemnly, breaking the silence, her tongue subconsciously working the gap in her upper teeth, "but world-class champion on your team or not, I've got to win this. Professor Lionheart believed in us, and- and we're not going to let him down." She glanced to either side at her team. "Right, guys?"

Her team gave a round of nods and murmurs of agreement.

Filled with unease, given what Headmaster Ozpin had told them, Team JNPR refrained from replying.

"This match will feature Beacon's own Priiide of Mistraaal! Teeeeam Juniper!" boomed Professor Port's voice over the loudspeakers. "And facing them today is Team Vantablack, known as Haven's Shame!"

Jaune's eyes goggled. "Oh gods, she's gonna kill me."

The suddenly murderous look on his sister's face did little to disprove that prediction.

Dr. Oobleck picked up from there as the digital biome randomizers spun. "And the biomes for this match will be ice and swamp!"

Around the eight contestants standing in the central area, the sections of the arena descended, being replaced with a swampy morass behind Team JNPR, with rocks and logs protruding from the muck to provide some - if limited - solid ground, and a slick, icy plain behind Team VTLK, with frozen spires thrusting up toward the sky.

"Three, two, one, begin!" Oobleck announced.

With that, the two teams went into motion. Hector charged, and Jaune met the charge, bracing his shield against Hector's long dagger - Claw - and using his sword to deflect Hector's spear, Tooth. Ren moved into support, only to be intercepted by Lauren, the Havenite's metal staff, Lævateinn, blocking his way. The two engaged in a quick exchange of blows, neither getting through, before backing off and eyeing each other warily. With a smirk, Lauren twirled Lævateinn and seemed to multiply, moving to flank Ren, who backed off uncertainly.

"For those unaware," Port narrated, "although they are a Beacon team, Team Juniper's members all hail from Mistral, and they recently made the news by uncovering the culprit responsible behind the Mountain Glenn disaster. And in contrast to their nickname, Team Vantablack consistently scores extremely well in their practical exams, excelling particularly in teamwork exercises."

"Indeed," agreed Oobleck. "They would likely be one of Haven's top teams if it weren't for their disturbing tendency to destroy parts of the campus."

Meanwhile, Alkim began galloping around, drawing her bow, Winter's Friend, and firing it into the melee with remarkable precision. A volley cut Nora off from joining the fray directly, and another forced Pyrrha to keep Akoúo̱ up even as she flung Miló in javelin form at Lauren, somehow pinpointing the real one and disrupting the Haven student's semblance, causing the duplicates to vanish.

For her part, Verte leaped back, skidding on the ice, reaching down with one hand to slow her slide, before straightening up and drawing her weapon, slamming one end of the cylinder into the ice. Telescoping legs unfolded from it and locked into place as she sighted Fire in Disguise's mortar configuration. Smoke billowed out around her as she fired.

"Smoke and scatter!" Jaune ordered.

With that, Team JNPR disengaged, falling back into the uncertain footing of the swamp with Nora firing a spread of smoke grenades as Verte's first volley arced down onto the central platform, dispensing more smoke. Soon, most of the arena was engulfed, but mortar shells kept arcing above the smoke cover from the icy half of the arena to descend onto the swampy half, shaking the ground with their detonations.

"Oho!" Professor Port declared. "It seems Team Vantablack's fabled teamwork skills are on full display here! Team Juniper has fallen back to regroup."

"An interesting tactical decision," observed Dr. Oobleck. "With her weapon's mortar configuration, Miss d'Arc can bombard Team Juniper with near impunity."

As if in response to Dr. Oobleck's comment, grenades began arcing up out of the smoke on the swampy side of the arena on opposite flight paths to the mortar shells, hammering somewhere onto the icy plain.

"Ah, I stand corrected," Oobleck retracted. "it appears Miss Valkyrie is engaging in counter-battery fire!"

"I hope this battle doesn't go on too long," was Port's follow up comment. "I'm not sure how much more of this kind of pounding the arena can take!"

Eventually, the indirect fire duel petered out and died, and with no more smoke shells or grenades being fired, the air began to clear

When the smoke finally dissipated, it was obvious that what had once been a smooth icy plain with occasional ice spires reaching futilely for the sky had been turned into an icy lake with small icebergs floating around, jagged and broken.

Of the two teams, there was no sign.

"Oh, Juniper!" Verte's voice sang out, seemingly from nowhere. "Come out to play-ay! Juniper! Come out to play-ay!"

"You want me, sis?" Jaune's voice shot back from somewhere in the swamp side of the arena. "Come and get me!"

An arrow seemed to erupt from nowhere, embedding itself into one of the bog's trees before exploding.

"And now we see a much more impressive feat of Miss... ter? Fey's semblance!" Professor Port said.

"Indeed," Dr. Oobleck agreed. "Illusions can do much more than show what isn't there, after all. It can also conceal what is there."

Suddenly, a gout of flame erupted near the swamp, sweeping across the foliage, and Verte appeared, her weapon now in a rifle configuration, the fire sweeping out from an underbarrel mount.

"Fine!" she declared as she marched into the swampy morass, sending the gout of flame ahead of her. "I'll burn you out then! Come on, bro, don't you just love the smell of fire dust in the morning?"

"No!" Ruby cried. "Don't rush in!"

"Aren't you supposed to be rooting for Team Juniper?" asked Weiss.

"...but I like Verte," Ruby pouted. "We have so much in common!"

Verte paused, letting the fire die down briefly, and looked around.

"You know," Pyrrha's voice echoed conversationally, "this bog is a bit too wet to burn very well, unless you have the right accelerant. Some petroleum-based fuels would work better when you need that extra 'oomph.'"

Behind Verte, a figure began emerging from the muck.

"Verte, behind you!" Hector called out.

Team VTLK's leader spun, shifting her weapon into its melee configuration, its tip already flaring... but even without the muck slowing her down, it would have been too late. Pyrrha Nikos was under her guard.

Fire in Disguise's melee mode was an unorthodox weapon: a thermic lance, essentially a plasma torch in a stick. Intended to scorch its way through all but the toughest Grimm, hide and bone plate and all, when wielded against a human or faunus opponent, one hit was enough to burn through pretty much anyone's aura. Even a glancing blow would be devastating.

At this range, one on one against a mobility fighter like Pyrrha, Verte's only hope rested in landing that one hit. On Mistral's four-time regional champion who had only ever been hit in the arena once since she started competing as a child. Even as she swung, she tried to back away to get some breathing room in which she could take advantage of her thermic lance's greater reach.

Pyrrha stepped into the blow, raising Akoúo̱ and thrusting it forward, catching Fire in Disguise on the haft and deflecting its lethal tip away, even as Miló in her other hand reconfigured from sword to rifle. Pressing the muzzle to Verte's chin in a grip that should have been awkward but somehow wasn't, she pulled the trigger with her thumb.

Verte's head rocked back, stunning the girl as the point-blank shot instantly dropped her aura down well into the yellow.

Meanwhile, Hector appeared from the aether and began loping in, his feet uncannily stable on first the broken ice, then the overgrown muck, but before he could come to his team leader's assistance, he was intercepted by her brother.

"Sorry, pal," Jaune said, squaring off against the other boy. "I'm afraid Pyrrha's dance card is full right now."

Hector's eyes narrowed, and he thrust Tooth forward in a feint, sending Claw darting out in a quick thrust when Jaune parried the larger weapon with his shield... but Jaune's own sword met the smaller blade, deflecting it. They broke apart for a moment, studying each other warily. Eventually, they pressed forward and clashed again, testing each other, again to no effect.

"You are not without skill," Hector observed. "Your sister would have had us believe otherwise."

"She wasn't wrong," Jaune admitted. "Not back then."

Verte tried to bring her thermic lance to bear on her opponent, but even as she did so, Pyrrha shifted, spinning Miló as it shifted forms into a sword and almost negligently slicing through a net arrow from Winter's Friend, then brought Akoúo̱ around, once again knocking Verte's more cumbersome weapon aside. Verte spun Fire in Disguise, trying for a thrust with the butt of the weapon. Pyrrha sidestepped, seemingly into to the thrust even as she brought Miló down. There was a flicker, and the illusion broke, Pyrrha's blade having blocked the true strike, the thrust that connected with Pyrrha's gut proving to have no more substance than the smoke that had previously flooded the arena.

"You know," Hector said conversationally as he continued to test Jaune's defenses, trying to get past him to help his team leader, "last year, I would have faced your teammate, Pyrrha Nikos, in the Mistral Regional Tournaments if I hadn't lost the semifinal match to Arslan Altan."

Jaune smirked. "Who do you think's been teaching me?"

"A worthy challenge, then," Hector said, smiling in anticipation as he lunged forward again, trying to get around Jaune.

Pyrrha slashed with Miló and struck Verte across the temple, sending her to the ground... and her aura into the red.

"And Verte d'Arc has been eliminated by aura depletion!" announced Dr. Oobleck.

Verte groaned. "Avennnge meeee..." she implored melodramatically.

Another volley of arrows flew out, but Pyrrha had already disappeared.

"That's a trick I learned from watching my friend Blake," Pyrrha explained helpfully from wherever she had concealed herself.

The next volley of arrows battered Jaune's aura, even as Hector pressed the attack, hammering into Team JNPR's leader. Jaune had come a long way since arriving at Beacon, but Hector was still slipping or smashing his way through the blond knight's defenses with almost as much ease as Pyrrha did when she stopped holding back in their spars.

"Nora," Jaune called as he braced his shield against the onslaught, feeling his aura drop from another pummeling. "Danger close!" There was a pause, and frustration crossed his face as his arms and legs began to buckle. "Now, Nora!"

With that, a series of grenades popped out of the foliage and descended around them, clustered mostly around Hector, but there was no way for Jaune to evade the blasts himself.

"And in an unexpected sacrifice play, both Jaune Arc and Hector Troy have been eliminated by aura depletion!"

Alkim's eyes darted around, Winter's Friend ready as she searched for a target from atop her perch on one of the icy spires. She drew another arrow... and threw herself off the ice spire, just in time to avoid Ren's strike. She spun and fired the arrow, which the martial artist evaded, the arrow's timed fuse activating the ice dust within and forming a chunk of ice harmlessly in the air behind him as he leaped down after her, pressing close. Alkim shifted Winter's Friend into a quarterstaff - even as she struggled to keep her footing on the broken, bobbing terrain - and parried as best she could, but it was clear she was out of her element.

From a seemingly empty patch of ice near the edge of the swampy area, the sound of sword striking aura-protected flesh echoed, and Lauren fell to the ground, suddenly becoming visible. The androgynous member of Team VTLK rolled over and looked at the one who had attacked.

Pyrrha gave a friendly wave. "Hello again."

Then she pressed the attack.

"Lauren!" Alkim cried out, breaking off and taking a flying leap - along with a few rounds from StormFlower that chipped away at her aura - over a gap in the ice to land between Pyrrha and Lauren. Here, the ice was less shattered, and her footing was more solid as she squared off against the Mistrali champion. "You leave him alone," she snarled, pinning Pyrrha in place with a death glare.

Pyrrha gasped in surprise and took an involuntary step back before gritting her teeth and advancing again. A moment later, she felt a hand on her shoulder and the semblance-induced fear draining away. She glanced over and gave Ren a grateful smile before lunging toward their opponents.

"Oho!" came Port's voice again. "It seems Lie Ren's semblance, Tranquility, serves as a perfect counter to Alkim Khojaeva's Empathic Manipulation!"

Pyrrha leaned in low, leading with Miló in javelin form, which Alkim deflected with a spin of her staff... only to be surprised as Pyrrha fell back, and Ren vaulted forward over her in a sweeping kick that sent her weapon flying. Lauren charged forward, Lævateinn - now in the form of two swords - in a double thrust. For a moment, it looked like they would hit Ren, but as he rolled in mid-air to a landing, the thrust went high, just barely missing him before he landed in a crouch, StormFlower raised, and fired into Lauren's gut.

"Lauren Fey's aura - already stressed from such extensive semblance use - is in the red, leaving only Alkim Khojaeva to face three to one odds," Oobleck declared.

"Indeed," boomed Port. "It's not looking good for Team Vantablack."

Alkim backed away from Pyrrha and Ren, keeping them both in her line of sight. She didn't notice Nora creeping up behind her until she tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around to face the ginger.

"Hey," Nora said, hefting Magnhild, "I can appreciate wanting to protect your man like that, but... this match is over."

Wham!

"Impressive," Megatron mused as he watched the feed. "Most impressive."

Team VTLK had demonstrated capable teamwork, but they were too specialized in their tactical roles to adapt... and their leader too impetuous to properly take advantage of their specialization to the fullest. They would learn in time. Or they would die.

Their opponents, Team JNPR, however, had performed quite well, better than some gladiators he'd faced whose names he had long since forgotten. They too had their tactical roles, but none of them appeared so overly specialized that the loss of one meant defeat for the whole team. He approved.

His optics drifted to the taller, red-haired female. Her bio was certainly impressive. There were few who could claim to be undefeated in the arena. The humans called her invincible.

Perhaps one day, I'll put that reputation to the test.

"Not going to join the others, bask in your moment of glory?"

From where he was watching his mother and sisters comfort Verte over her loss, Jaune started, glanced over, then shook his head. "This was never about glory, Dad, and Verte needs them a lot more than I do right now."

"...I never gave you enough credit, did I, Jaune?"

The younger blond shrugged. "It's fine, Dad," he lied. "I mean, I did get eliminated, after all."

"You sacrificed yourself to bring victory," Jacques d'Arc corrected. "Given how much that must have hurt, that's a mark for you, not against you."

"Yeah, well," Jaune stalled, shifting uncomfortably, "there's a reason we're sending Pyrrha and Nora into the doubles round. They're our skill and power, and two on two means strategy and stealth aren't as useful."

"I see." With a sigh, Jacques said, "Well, I suppose I'd better go join the girls."

"Dad? Can I... talk to you about something tonight? In private?"

"Of course, son. You know you can always turn to us if you need anything. We're family."

"Thanks, Dad."

"And yet, they still took a casualty," sniffed Silverstream. "I bet Team Ruby won't take any losses in their team match."

"Hmph!" was Molly's response. "Pyrrha Nikos doesn't need a team to kick butt!"

"Oh, so that's why her team went down a fighter?" Silverstream suggested. "Because Pyrrha Nikos is a glory hound who only cares about making herself look good?"

"What?" screeched Molly.

"I bet Weiss Schnee understands that the four vee four round is an ensemble piece, not a solo act," Silverstream said with just a hint of smugness in her voice.

The sound of Molly grinding her teeth like a saw filled the immediate vicinity and garnered several annoyed looks from other spectators who could put up with childish squabbling - this was the Vytal Festival, after all; if you couldn't argue about who was best in the bleachers of the Amity Arena, then where could you? - but for whom this was a step too far.

"If you had been paying attention," Molly growled. "You would have noticed that everything Pyrrha Nikos did was in service of a plan to achieve the team's goal." A sly look crossed her face. "But then, since you're the sort of person who idolizes Weiss Schnee, you obviously don't have great observational skills."

Silverstream's face reddened visibly. "Why, you little-"

"Silverstream, calm down," Sky Beak said, his own voice calm and serene. "There's no need to get worked up."

"But Dad-"

"More to the point," Sky Beak continued, a trace of amusement in his voice. "If you don't calm down and stop arguing, you'll miss Weiss Schnee's first match."

Silverstream's eyes widened, and she immediately assumed a rigid posture in her seat, back straight and eyes fixed upon the arena itself, as though Molly and her foolishness had ceased to exist.

She might as well have as Team RWBY made their way into the arena.

"I'm sorry about that," Becky said mildly.

"Oh, don't worry," Ocean Flow replied. "Why, when I was their age-"

"Mom, shhh!" Silverstream hissed. "You're going to miss something important!"

"I just wish Dad could be here," lamented Ruby.

"He was here yesterday," Weiss noted. "He's been in and out of Vale all semester. What happened?"

"He had to go back to Patch for a Grimm extermination mission," Yang answered with a yawn. "A sleuth of Ursai with a Major leading them."

"Are you going to be okay, Yang?" asked Blake. "You look dead on your feet."

"I'll be fine," Yang said, waving off her concern.

"You were almost late," observed Weiss, looking decidedly uncomfortable in her old Huntress outfit, with the SDC snowflake on her back. "We're about to go out on the field now, and you just got here three minutes ago."

"I'm fine," insisted Yang.

If Yang was fine, then Blake was the demented fusion of a decadent Atlesian and a profligate Valean. She was most emphatically not fine, and her insisting otherwise was just nonsense. It was depressing too. After all-… her thoughts stopped as Blake realized that they hadn't been there for Yang at all during the course of the school year.

It wasn't their fault, though! There was always something coming up, and Yang had seemed so able to take care of herself. It wasn't until recently that the blonde seemed to be falling apart at the seams.

"Contestants, make your way to the center octagon," ordered Professor Oobleck over the loudspeaker.

It just didn't make any sense to Blake, though. The last time Yang had acted like that was while searching for Maple, and there wasn't anything like that going on now. So what was it? What was she hiding?

"Our next match is Team Bronze of Shade versus Team Ruby of Beacon," Oobleck announced.

Team BRNZ consisted of Brawnz Ni, Roy Stallion, Nolan Porfirio, and May Zedong. Blake didn't know much about them, but from their weapons, she estimated that the three men would rush into melee while May held back and used her sniper rifle to pin them down. The problem with that, of course, was that RWBY wouldn't play ball.

At least Team BRNZ proved that a lack of creativity in team names wasn't exclusive to Beacon and Haven. It seemed only Atlas had managed to avoid naming a team after its leader this year.

The randomizer spun around and came to select volcanic terrain for RWBY's side of the field. The holographic icons spun again and settled on the urban ruins for the BRNZ side of the field. It would be a set-up that slightly favored the Shade team, as their sniper would have an easier time accessing the high ground, but Blake was confident that that would be little problem for Ruby.

"Three, two, one, begin!" Oobleck announced.

Like clockwork, Team BRNZ reacted predictably and rushed forward while their sniper retreated. Too slow, much too slow, Ruby was sure to cut her down. All Blake needed to do was focus on backing Weiss up while they kited the melee fighters, and Yang… Yang would rush forward with the deafening crack of her signature gravity rounds to meet Team BRNZ's charge head-on.

The three melee members of the Shade team were close enough together that Yang was able to catch the center one with her feet and the two on her right and left with her fists. She then launched herself into the air with another pair of blasts and a kick. Then, while in the air, she turned over and spun like a top, firing continuously as she did so, and when those rounds hit the arena, they sprouted into the jagged stone spires typical of rock dust.

The two on either side - Nolan and Roy, according to the readouts on the arena's gigantic monitors - managed to dodge, barely. The one in the center, though, Brawnz, was entrapped by the jagged rocks and unable to move. He might have been able to work himself free, but Yang came down on top of one of the few exposed parts of his body like the hammer of the forge goddess.

The buzzer sounded, and in the background, the repeated cracks of supersonic ammunition reminded Blake to be on her toes and always be dodging.

"Incredible!" came Oobleck's voice over the speakers. "Yang Xiao Long has defeated Brawnz Ni in seconds and has dealt significant blows to both Roy Stallion and Nolan Porfirio. Meanwhile, May Zedong has failed to score a single hit, while Ruby Rose has landed both her shots so far."

"I haven't seen an opening this fast in years!" commented Port. "Such raw aggression! Team Ruby isn't giving their opponents a moment to breathe!"

He wasn't precisely right. Weiss and Blake were still moving into position to flank the two remaining melee members, and Ruby's little sniper duel would probably have some gaps. Not to mention that they weren't going to let Yang rest.

Roy Stallion fired two buzzsaw blades from his arms, and they rocketed out to ricochet off Yang's shot-gauntlets. She blocked them twice more, and while dodging strikes from Nolan's cattle prod too. As this melee was happening, the blonde's hair started to burn, and thrice and four times, the blades ricocheted off her gauntlets. Then, suddenly, out of seemingly sheer dumb luck, one of the sniper's rounds was closing in, and Yang managed to reach out and block the shot that otherwise would have missed, turning her hair into a replica of the sun's surface.

That power, those skills. It's almost like she's fighting like… like... Blake's thoughts trailed off. No, that's not right, she reconsidered, shaking off the strange thought. Adam fights with a sword, with a quick draw style. It was utterly incompatible with the hand to hand style Yang was using. So why is she reminding me of him? she wondered.

Almost as if on cue, Yang snapped her arms out, and blades popped out of Ember Celica, coming up to parry Nolan's cattle prod. After a brief bind, the two began clashing, and though Yang had two blades, their inflexible mountings lessened any advantage she had from them, and it was clear that Nolan was the more experienced at this sort of fighting as he managed to slip the tip of his cattle prod through Yang's guard. She let out a cry and seemed to freeze in place, convulsing and twitching… but so did the melee. That was their opening.

Blake rushed in and swept the legs out from under Nolan. Weiss came in from the other side, and when Roy fired his buzzsaws again, she froze them in mid-air, leaving them to clatter harmlessly to the broken floor of the octagon. Blake snapped off several rounds of .355 Sivispacem into Roy, and when Nolan swept his prod up to hit her, he found his weapon passing through a shadow clone. Blake was moving to attack Roy now, and Weiss started to engage Nolan in a fencing duel, all while Yang got herself off the ground as her eyes seemed to glow red, her hair an inferno.

There was another crack, and the floor near Yang exploded. She, in turn, exploded with movement, recoil boosting on gravity rounds towards one of the buildings like a flaming ball of pitch hurled from a catapult. The blades on Ember Celica had retracted, but she still hit with power far greater, delivering a punch that caused a massive explosion that brought the whole ruined structure crashing down.

A small figure could be seen leaping from the building as it was collapsing, and with a crack, it was sent tumbling out of the air to the sound of the buzzer. It was soon followed by two more when Nolan and Roy hit the ground. Just like that, the match was over.

"What an incredible battle!" cheered Oobleck. "I'm sure Team Ruby will be over the hills with joy over this. What do you think, Peter?"

"I think that you need to find a new word," answered Port.

"What?"

"'Incredible.' You've been overusing it. Try to mix it up a little. Like… explosive! That match was explosive! See? It's easy."

Ignoring the banter from the broadcast booth, Team RWBY cheered their victory. Well, Team RWB did. Yang was walking towards the exit almost as soon as the end was called. Not even sticking around to celebrate?

Ruby was quite clearly down about the whole scenario, her face… hard, empty, like she had been expecting it. After a moment, she seemed to gather herself and disappeared in a Petal Burst after her sister, with Blake and Weiss trailing behind at a more sedate pace.

"Hey, Yang, that was great!" Ruby said with painfully false cheer, just as they stepped out of the arena proper and into the hallways leading to the locker rooms. "You channelled your semblance through Ember Celica! That was so cool! And those upgrades? Totally awesome!" She pouted. "But why didn't you let me work on them?"

Yang gave a tired laugh and a wan smile. "Come on, Rubes, I just wanted a couple of blades, not an Atlesian army knife," she said, ruffling Ruby's hair good-naturedly before power walking away.

"Yang, wait!" Ruby called. "Aren't you going to stay for Penny's match?"

"Nah, I've got stuff to do," the blonde brawler replied, waving off her sister. "Cheer her on for me, will ya?"

"Yeah..." Ruby sighed as she watched Yang leave. "Will do, sis."

"Her semblance?" Blake asked as she and Weiss caught up to their dejected team leader.

"Mmhmm," Ruby confirmed with a nod. "She calls it Burn. With each hit she takes, she gets stronger and can dish out twice as much as she took. She's always had to actually take the hit before, but now, she can block them. She must be training really hard."

That semblance... to take an incoming blow, amplify it, and turn it back on her attacker. Once again, Blake was struck by how eerily familiar that was.

"Come on," Ruby ordered, heading down the hall.

Blake and Weiss looked at each other in worry, but then followed after Ruby. Yang's behavior was… unacceptable, and there was no other way to put it. She was clearly destroying herself, but why?

Again, Blake found herself asking what secrets Yang was hiding, and this time, she resolved to get to the bottom of it, no matter the cost.

Suddenly, as they walked down the corridor, they heard a sound from one of the small locker rooms and went to investigate. What they found was one of the Team BRNZ members, May Zedong, being verbally torn into by one of the Shade professors, a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman with a face that seemed to be carved from sandstone.

"You're better than this!" scolded the teacher.

"Yes, Professor Janack," agreed May, her gaze cast down.

"I taught you better than this!" clarified Professor Janack in a tone that made it clear she was hurt.

"Yes, Professor Janack," repeated May, her visible grey-blue eye unmoving.

Professor Janack pivoted on her heel and put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder.

"Don't just keep saying that!" the teacher bellowed, her voice harsh. "What's wrong, May?! Why did you miss every shot you fired?"

"Should we do something?" asked Weiss quietly.

"What can we do?" replied Ruby in kind.

"Everyone's the hero of their own story," reasoned Blake sadly. "For them? We're just background characters. Antagonists that show up in one chapter and then are forgotten about afterwards."

With that rather analytical take on the situation, the trio of girls left the corridor and went back to the stands. They had their own story to tell and their own heroes to cheer for. They wouldn't find either in the locker rooms today.

"So, what would you say that Weiss Schnee accomplished in that battle?" Molly asked. It was now her turn to sound smug, and the sound was almost unbearable to Silverstream's ears.

"...Team Ruby managed to win their battle without taking any casualties, just as I predicted," she replied defensively.

"Because Yang Xiao Long did all the work of four people," Molly said. "It's clear to me that Weiss Schnee - and the rest of her team - are being carried by their competent teammate. Ha! She's the Pyrrha Nikos of her team."

"The- nobody carries Weiss Schnee!" Silverstream yelled. "It... you know what, she is the Pyrrha Nikos of her team, because they're both clearly so obsessed with making themselves look good that they forget that this is all about the team. It was obvious that Xiao Long's recklessness ruined the team strategy."

"So what? She still kicked butt," Molly countered. "I like her. She's my new second favorite."

"Really?" asked her mother . "Arslan will be devastated to hear that."

Silverstream just about resisted the urge to harrumph, mainly because Molly had just proven that there was no point arguing with her. She was obviously a flake, the kind of person who only followed someone because they were popular and successful. She'd probably drop Pyrrha Nikos too after a single disappointing performance. She, Silverstream, was a true fan. She'd stick by Weiss Schnee through thick and thin.

And besides, Weiss was going to show her mettle for sure in the doubles round.

"Hmm," Megatron grunted disdainfully as he analyzed the match.

By all standard metrics, Team RWBY had performed far better than Team JNPR, with both a faster victory and no losses compared to Team JNPR's lengthier battle and single loss.

Still, he wasn't impressed. A part of it was certainly due to the caliber of their opposition, as Team RWBY's opponents had failed to leave even an impression in his memory banks, while Team VTLK had demonstrated teamwork, creativity, subterfuge, and battlefield control.

As for Team RWBY's performance... they were powerful, certainly, but they lacked coordination and teamwork.

Still, there was something familiar there...

"Demolishor," he said, "bring me the encounter reports from Barricade."

"Yes, boss."

Changing out the broken pieces of the arena ended up being a snap, thanks to the structure's modular design and the presence of many, many replacement parts. By the time the next match's time slot came around, it looked like Yang Xiao Long had never graced its surface. Even so, everyone was sure that the maintenance personnel were hoping not to use those features again, especially considering who was doing the fighting.

The crowd cheered as Team APRC made their way out of the dark tunnel and out into the currently barren and metallic arena, marching in single file in order of their names to take up their positions in the central octagon opposite their upcoming opponents.

Ciel followed the lead of Aska up ahead in ignoring the cheers as they took up their positions. Rufus, just in front of Ciel herself, raised his hand briefly to acknowledge their supporters before placing the suitcase he carried - the Mk II, if she wasn't mistaken - on the ground and donning it, then standing at ease with his hands clasped behind his back to face their opponents.

Up in the stands above, Coco Adel tilted her head forward, peering over her sunglasses down at Rufus Madison. "I like his style."

Not far from her, Ruby pumped her fist into the air and waved at Penny. "Go-o-o-o, Penny!"

Penny, in contrast to her teammates, seemed delighted by the applause that was falling on her head; she had a bright smile upon her face as she waved excitedly, turning this way and that so that she was facing everyone who might be cheering for her.

"Penny," Ciel said. "Restraint."

Penny's grin faded just a little but remained a smile, just as her hand lowered a little bit, but she kept on waving.

A soft sigh escaped Ciel's lips. You'll never change, will you?

Ciel's brow furrowed a little as she studied the four almost but not quite identical Huntsmen facing APRC. They were swarthy fellows, dressed in black outfits. Not ninja costumes; rather, they gave the impression of field fatigues that happened to be coloured black. Their faces were nondescript, with few features - the first hints of a youthful beard, a scar under one eye - to distinguish one from the other.

"The next match," the voice of Beacon's Professor Port boomed out across the stadium, "will be between Team Apricot of Atlas!"

The cheering roared louder, and Penny gave another little flourish with her hands, restraint seemingly a distant memory. Team APRC was a largely unknown team, which had done little to distinguish itself - in the public eye, that was; Ciel was confident that they enjoyed the good opinion of their teachers and superior officers within the command hierarchy - but the wealth of Atlas ensured the kingdom was always well-represented in the stands at the Vytal Festival, no matter where it might be held, and the Atlesian crowd always cheered lustily for all their teams, whether they had heard of them hitherto or not.

"And Team Rain of Shade!" Professor Port declared, Team APRC's opponents receiving a slightly more muted reaction; Vacuo could rarely muster a particularly strong attendance in any tournament that was not held in Vacuo, but the crowd of course included people who would cheer for everyone.

As Ciel attempted to run down the four members of ironically named Team RAJN, now that she had a team name to match them up to, she found to a degree of consternation that that nondescription extended past their appearances.

Ronald Tadur, seventeen years old, hails from Granite; Aaron McMahon, seventeen years old, hails from Boulder; Jerome Jivoin, seventeen years old, hails from Graystone; Nicky Lee, seventeen years old, hails from Little Mesa; status of all four subjects is unknown.

That's it. That's all there is.

The furrowing of Ciel's brow became a little deeper. That was really all there was? Had her encyclopedic store of knowledge, retained in the mind that Rufus had compared to a computer, failed her, or were they fighting a team of ghosts?

...No, she realized with a twinge of frustration, we're fighting a team of Vacuans, the worst record keepers on Remnant.

Ciel sniffed. Ultimately an irrelevant question; they would go on to win this battle regardless. The honor of Atlas demanded no less.

The terrain randomiser was scrolling through the possibilities; either ice or desert would have satisfied Ciel. Shade teams liked to talk of a home field advantage in the sandy dunes, but the truth was that the desert, like the tundra, suited the Atlesians: you could see your enemy. And that went double for a team like APRC which was oriented more towards ranged than close quarters combat.

Sadly, it appeared that fortune was not with them upon this occasion; they were assigned forest upon the RAJN side of the field while rocky outcroppings sprung out of depths of the arena behind APRC.

A slight but rather irritating smirk appeared upon the face of Ronald Tadur, and the black fatigues that he and his team-mates wore transformed immediately into forest camouflage.

"Very impressive," cooed Penny.

Indeed, Ciel thought with just a touch of chagrin. Since when has Vacuo produced such things?

She glanced at Aska, but her team leader appeared undismayed. Admittedly, it was hard to tell with her stoic face and her eyes concealed behind her mirrored sunglasses, but nothing in Shadow's posture suggested any concern whatsoever. But then, to conceal such things was the ninja way.

Beacon's Dr. Oobleck took up the announcement duties from Professor Port. "Three," he declared. "Two, one, begin!"

The buzzer sounded to commence the battle. Farsight wrenched Distant Thunder over her shoulder from across her back, the great gun unfolding in her hands, and the blades of Floating Array sprouted from Bladerider's backpack, but by then, Team RAJN had already melted away into the forest and become quite invisible.

"It looks like Team Rain has decided to adopt a strategy based on concealment," Doctor Oobleck declared. Farsight sometimes wondered why the commentary - geared towards the audience at home - was piped into the arena when so much of it was simply a restatement of what was right before their eyes.

Shadow drew Magorox from across her back; the blade glowed blue with the ice dust that charged it. "Mad Dog, Bladerider, with me; Farsight, cover us from higher ground."

"Understood," Farsight replied. The high ground was not that high, and once her teammates entered the woods, it was unlikely that she would be able to provide effective support - that would be why the Shade team had fled there; it was the same logic that drove the White Fang to hide in caves and forests - but she would be at a disadvantage at close quarters if she entered the woods with the rest of her teammates, and if RAJN attempted to slip around behind the other three members of APRC, then Farsight would be in position to deal with them.

As her teammates advanced cautiously into the forest on the eastern side of the battlefield, Farsight turned in the opposite direction, hopping from rock to rock, her skirt flapping around her legs as she leapt - her stockings were long enough that at no point did she ever fear she might be in danger of exposing her thighs - until she had reached the largest of the rocky columns that rose out of the grassy scrub on that side of the battlefield. She knelt, one knee resting upon the rock, with the barrel of Distant Thunder pointed towards the ground, yet ready to rise up at the slightest provocation of the enemy.

Yet they gave her none. She could not see a single member of Team RAJN, nor indeed could she see any sign of her own teammates as they disappeared into the woods in search of the elusive Shade students. They would be three against four in there, but those three were some of Atlas's best, hand-picked by General Ironwood himself. Admittedly - while the backgrounds of Shadow and Mad Dog, the parts that hadn't been redacted out, spoke for themselves - she wasn't entirely sure what Bladerider had done to bring herself to the attention of the General, but her performance in all arts of war besides the stealthy seemed to bear up his good opinion of her. And in Bladerider's case, the fact that her entire record had been redacted spoke as loud as any number of legible paragraphs might otherwise have done. The point was that if they could not beat four Shade students, then it would be a black day in the history of the academy.

And yet, at the same time, Farsight could not help but worry. The tundra and the desert suited the Atlesians because you could see your enemy, and having seen him, you could shoot him from a distance. The forest, the marsh, the mountains, these were less suitable conditions, but they were, somewhat ironically, the sort of conditions in which a Shade team - well-versed in stealth and survival, skills needed to survive, let alone thrive, among the lawless dunes of Vacuo - might excel in.

Be strong, flowers of the north, be swift, but above all else, be vigilant.

She waited, the crowd expectant around her and the arena silent before her. There was not even any commentary to tell her how the contest was going.

"It looks like Team Rain is playing a waiting game," declared Professor Port, and for once, Farsight was not displeased to hear him.

A shot rang out from the forest in front of her. It did not sound like one of Mad Dog's missiles and certainly not Bladerider's lasers. It was a short, sharp, slightly heavy sound, and only the first salvo of a fusillade of shots that soon echoed out of the trees, along with flashes of fire stabbing outwards, flashes that were all Farsight could see as they emerged from out of the dense forest.

"Oho!" cried Professor Port. "Team Rain has sprung their ambush! How will Team Apricot respond?"

Farsight put the stock of Distant Thunder to her shoulder, raising the rifle up and looking down the scope. She couldn't see the enemy, she couldn't see her own allies...but she could see flashes of green light that must be Bladerider returning fire, she could see explosions in the trees and hear the distinct whine of Mad Dog's missile pods, she even thought that she could see the icy blue of Shadow's blade, even though she could not see the hand that wielded it.

A buzzer sounded.

"Jerome Jivoin has been eliminated!" Doctor Oobleck cried. "I think it's safe to say that that did not go according to plan."

"Even the best laid trap can falter if the quarry is stronger than you anticipate," Professor Port opined in what was perhaps meant to seem a sagely manner. "Let's see what Team Rain has up their sleeves now."

Judging by the way in which the fire in the forest - from both sides - was slacking off, what Team RAJN had up their sleeves next was to go to ground again. Although, having already lost one man in their first and evidently failed attempt to divide and conquer the Atlesians, Farsight was not-

Me. Farsight didn't know how they planned to do it, but she could see as clear as the sun shining down upon them here what the next move of their opponents would be... and that meant that she had to move. Now.

She leapt off the rocky pillar moments before a rocket struck it, blowing the top of her former vantage point to smithereens. Hot air washed over Farsight as the shockwave blasted her forwards more powerfully than her jump, turning her over in the air. Farsight curled into a ball, keeping her grip firmly upon her rifle, and rolled as she hit the ground, but for all that, she could still feel the impact grinding down her aura. She rolled to a stop and immediately rose to a half crouch and began to run, dodging another rocket fired at her by one of the two Shade students who had - somehow - crept upon her unnoticed to spring their second ambush of the day.

Farsight took cover - even it only lasted for a moment, it was better than nothing - and snapped off a shot with Distant Thunder towards one of her two opponents, the one who had fired the rockets from what looked like a multi-barrelled launcher. Distant Thunder roared, and a chunk of stone was blown away as her enemy took cover.

Precognition, on. Farsight's eyes glowed brighter as she activated her semblance, seeing not only where her second enemy - presently charging towards her with some kind of wickedly curved desert knife held in one hand - was but where he would be by the time her shot travelled. Farsight took aim at the future echo of her onrushing opponent and fired. There was a loud bang from Distant Thunder before her foe was hurled backwards, his aura severely depleted.

And then Bladerider arrived. No doubt the Vacuans had not expected that any other member of Team APRC could get back across the field to reinforce Farsight in time, but they should have wondered why she had been assigned the callsign "Bladerider."

Bladerider flew upon a board of swords, the blades of Floating Array criss-crossing each other beneath her feet to form a hoverboard on which she flew, balanced perfectly, hands clasped together beneath her back, a determined smile upon her face as she flew into battle.

Farsight, her semblance still active, got to see her in action twice, once in the future echo of her assault and then as she actually did it. Bladerider leapt from her sword-board as she closed the distance on the Vacuan with the rockets - Aaron McMahon, according to the display - hitting him with a flying kick that reminded Farsight of one of Thundercracker's moves as he would transform from airship to robot with a kick at any hypothetical enemy standing in his way. The blow sent McMahon flying, and Bladerider turned her attention towards the other RAJN member, Nicky Lee. Bladerider's swords hovered around her, spitting green laser beams that hammered the Shade student without remorse, staggering him, pounding him as he attempted to find cover, dropping him into the red in a matter of mere seconds.

"Nicky Lee's aura is in the red, eliminating him from this match!" Professor Port declared. "Team Rain is two down without having eliminated a single member of Team Apricot."

Bladerider flung out her hand. Her swords fell like hunting hounds upon the stag that was Aaron McMahon.

"Aaron McMahon has also been eliminated," Dr. Oobleck declared. "With only their team leader left, it seems highly improbable that Team Rain will be able turn this around now."

Farsight looked towards the woods, to see the future echo of Ronald Tadur emerging - only briefly - from out of the cover of the trees.

The brief emergence, possibly a misjudgement of the cover, was all she needed to take the shot with Distant Thunder. Her rifle roared, and the leader of Team Rain was hurled back into the forest darkness, minus most of his aura.

"Ronald Tadur's aura has passed under the threshold, and with that, Team Rain has been defeated," announced Dr. Oobleck. "Team Apricot of Atlas stands victorious."

"YES!" Penny yelled, jumping up into the air with her hands raised above her head. "We did it!"

Ciel bowed her head, a slight smile upon her face. "Thank you, Penny, for all of your assistance."

"No problem," Penny cried, approaching Ciel and holding out one fist.

Ciel stared at it as though it might be infected.

Penny waggled her fist. "Come on. You know you want to."

Ciel knew no such thing, but nevertheless, she held out her own fist... which felt like a train had slammed into it when it received Penny's "'fist bump," knuckles first. She struggled to maintain her composure as it felt as though her aura had dropped into the red.

"Congratulations, Penny," she said, in a voice slightly hoarse from the pain.

When General Ironwood wheeled in the jumbo high definition holographic protector so that he could watch the Vytal Tournament from the concealment of his hangar, Thundercracker was unenthused. He hadn't cared for the gladiatorial games back on Cybertron, so why would he care about them on Remnant? In fact, it would probably be something that he wouldn't want to see anyway, because, well, there was a good chance that someone could have their brain module splattered all over the arena to the cheers of thousands of fans. Someone like Mad Dog, or Farsight, or Shadow, or... Penny.

So it was with barely controlled terror that he watched the opening rounds of the tournament. Remarkably, incredibly, no one died. Even when that Arslan girl brutally took down Team CRDL single-handedly. However, rather than alleviating his fear, it only intensified it, such that by the time Team APRC's fight rolled around, he was just about ready to rocket away to Amity Arena to get them out of there.

By the end of the battle, he was standing as tall as he could and cheering. "WE WON! Wahooo! Way to go, Penny!"

Thundercracker paused for a moment before continuing.

"And Farsight and Shadow and Mad Dog! Go Team Apricot!"

Alright, maybe there was something to this whole Vytal Tournament thing.

Penny certainly knows how to play to the crowd, Megatron mused appreciatively, a faint smile crossing his face. It's like she was sparked for the arena.

"Huh," Demolishor's voice broke his train of thought. "So that's Thundercracker's partner? Not bad, I guess."

Megatron glowered at the other Decepticon, who shrank away from him.

"The prototype seems to lack any real killer instinct," Megatron grunted, concealing his approval behind a scowl. "Perhaps Starscream was right to cancel further work on the Targetmaster project."

Yang struggled to keep her eyes open as Bumblebee roared along the roads. How long had it been? Two days? Three? No, that couldn't be right, could it? She had to have slept somewhere in between, right? Right, there was that two-hour power nap she'd taken... when was it?

"Yang, you don't look so good," observed Bumblebee worriedly.

"I'll be fine once the action gets going," replied Yang, as she tried her best to use her aura to sustain herself.

"You'll be better if you catch some sleep," pointed out Bumblebee. "Come on, put your glasses on and let me take over the drive."

On that suggestion, the sunglasses compartment just in front of the rear view mirror popped open, and unconsciously, Yang reached up to put on the Autobot-grade tactical visor over her eyes.

"All right, Bumblebee, you win," allowed Yang, shifting in her seat. "I'll catch a few zees."

There was a crackle over the radio.

"Guys, this is Hound. Cinder just ambushed us approximately ten clicks north-northeast of Old McHenry's. Reinforcements needed!"

Yang growled. "So much for sleep. Let's get her."

Bumblebee's reply came in the form of a dramatic swerve onto another road.

"I better get my mask on," Yang said to herself as she reached over to grab her bag. She reached for it and grasped several times before she realized that there was nothing there. Her head whipped around and found the passenger seat completely empty. "What?!"

"What's wrong?" asked Bumblebee, somewhat distracted by the road.

"My pack. It's…" - a flash of memory came to Yang's mind - "it's still back in my dorm. I left it there, and I forgot to pick it back up before I left."

"Should we go back and get it?" Bumblebee inquired with a note Yang couldn't quite identify.

The blonde contemplated things before answering. "No, I can still manage with my glasses, and my roommates won't just root around in my stuff. I'll just get it later."

"You got it," confirmed Bumblebee.

"Blake, what are you doing?" asked Ruby worriedly as she watched her black-haired teammate kneeling over Yang's bag.

The tournament was winding down for the day, dusk was settling in, and the teams were heading back to their dorms. For Team RWBY, this meant going back to a room without their Y, again. This time, though, instead of leaving barely any trace of herself, she had left her kitbag behind, and this had resulted in a bit of a moral quandary.

"I'm getting to the bottom of this," declared Blake, pausing for only a moment before going back to examining the bag. "She's been gone for days now, and she almost missed the tournament. She's not giving us an answer, so we'll just have to find our own."

"Orrrrr... maybe we can just wait till she gets home and ask her what's wrong," proposed Ruby, bouncing to close the distance with Blake.

"We already tried that, Ruby. That's why Blake's resorting to these methods," Weiss reminded the bloodcrowned girl, sidestepping to partially block her path. "Look. If we don't find anything, or if it's nothing big, then we can just cover the whole thing up so there's no issue."

"'No issue'? 'No issue'?!" squawked Ruby. "The issue is that you're violating my sister's privacy!"

Blake made a wave with her hand. "Stop being so Valish, Ruby. It'll be fine."

"'Fine'? 'Fine'?!" objected Ruby, her face becoming ever more like her namesake. "This is a serious breach of trust, and I swear if you do this, I'll… I'll… I'll…"

The bag was unzipped, and Blake began patting down the far end, reaching through the items inside.

"Hey! I'm calling Ozpin!" declared Ruby as she reached into her clothes for her scroll.

"There's a secret compartment in the armor plating at the back," reported Blake, ignoring the comment.

Ruby started to bring up the professor's number.

"Got it open," continued Blake. "Oh, hello, what do we have here?"

Weiss put her hand on Ruby's. "Come on, Ruby. Just humor her for a minute. You can-"

"Frak."

The expletive, sharp and shocking, cut through the air like a knife. Ruby and Weiss both turned their heads and looked at Blake, who was holding in her hands a collection of items that looked very familiar to Weiss. They were publications: White Fang books and pamphlets... and an especially large sunglasses case.

"What?" asked Ruby dumbly, her voice going very small.

Blake put the publications down and examined the case. "This has a biometric lock. Luckily, I've already prepared a solution."

The raven-haired girl reached into a concealed pocket on her person and brought out a glove that she peeled something off of before running it along the edge of the case. With nary a sound, the case popped open. The contents of it sent all three of them reeling.

Cala Ferny Brown could not keep the grin off her face as she walked with little Calliope in a stroller in her hands and her husband by her side to the spot where they had parked their ground car. The day had been… wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Which, in her opinion, was a welcome change of pace from how it had been recently.

"So, hun, what was your favorite match?" Chris asked affectionately, and perhaps a tad rhetorically.

Her beloved husband knew she was not nearly as interested in sports as he was, but on this, she decided to humor him; after all, besides the networking opportunities, the day spent with the two of them was wonderful. "Well, Team Solar versus Team Funky was certainly a foot-tapping affair. I had no idea that Atlesians could be so energetic, and that dashing rogue Sol Silver had so many wonderful toys."

"Okay, okay, I get it," relented Chris good-naturedly. "No need to go totally gaga. Also, what do you mean, you didn't know Atlesians could be energetic? Aren't you Atlesian?"

"It's complicated," she replied simply. "Now where was I? Oh yes, Teams Jasmine and Shadow. They... well... I certainly remember the skeleton army, but what was fighting that again?"

"An army of… fungi? Plants? Something like that," answered Chris haltingly. "I think it was that Potted Plant girl on Team Shadow or something. You're right, they didn't make much of an impression. I'm surprised Beacon has a ninja program, though. They were barely more than silhouettes."

"Team Zinc, on the other hand, made quite the impression. Aspidistra never saw it coming," continued Cala.

"Caro'ina! Caro'ina!" cheered little Calliope at the name, bouncing up and down in her stroller as she did so.

"That's right, Calliope. Carolina did kick butt," cooed Cala as she leaned over the stroller to look at her little bundle of joy.

"Yeah, but did she have to kick testes too?" asked Chris, his free hand automatically going to shield his personal items.

Cala pursed her lips. "No. No, I suppose she didn't. That really was a dirty move, wasn't it?"

"Yes. Yes, it was," confirmed Chris as they reached their car.

A few minutes of strapping little Calliope, the stroller, and their bags into the car, and they were on the road again.

"You were cheering pretty hard during Team Ruby's match," observed Chris as he drove along.

"I'm an SDC regional manager; I can't do less," pointed out Cala mirthfully. "Though it was odd. There's something wrong with that Yang girl, I'm sure of it. I really hope they get her the help she needs. Miss Schnee and the Belladonna girl were something else, though; even I was able to see how in sync they were."

"Hmm, a faunus and a human working together? What will they think of next?" asked Chris rhetorically.

The secondary ears on Cala's head twitched at that, but she just rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's a mystery," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Almost as much of a mystery as why Arslan decided to solo that entire team when she found out about them accosting Team Juniper's leader," mused Chris.

"It's not that mysterious," Cala informed him. "According to Reese, Pyrhha and Jaune are dating, and Arslan's been rooting for them all semester."

"What?! Really?" exclaimed Christopher, faux-scandalized. "She didn't say anything about that to me."

"You're a man, honey," pointed out Cala. "Matters like these require a woman's intuition."

"Very well, keep your secrets," relented Chris good naturedly.

"I will, thank you very much," replied Cala. "Still, you should be able to get that if those Cardinal guys have been messing with them… well, that happens."

"Oh, I can imagine, but you know the tabloids are going to have a field day with that, right?" Chris chuckled. "As far as the public knows, Pyrrha and Arslan hate each other. Though I suppose 'Arslan Altan, defender of love' is a pretty good headline grabber too."

"Anyway, who's left? Oh! Team Sun and Team Kashmir, they were a very interesting perspective on marketing, if a bit lewd," mused Cala before a blush came to her face. "Sorry, that's just my natural Atlesian prudishness showing up again."

"Hey, I agree with you," countered Chris. "Shame about what happened to their opponents. The blue-haired guy really lucked out when Kogetsu and Ice were hit by that hazard."

Cala coughed. "Yes, well… last one! Apricot versus Rain. I think I might have liked that one the best. That Bladerider girl is just such a sweetie, and very personable too. I think we might need to talk with her at some point about becoming a spokeswoman for the SDC."

After all, they needed all the good press they could get at that moment. Everyone in Vale seemed to be turning against them, and they kept losing product to brigands. There was even that… that… false flag! There was no way it could be anything else, because the very idea that the SDC would kidnap anyone was just absurd.

Her sister had been put in charge of the investigation, and Cala really hoped she could come up with something that would clear the SDC's name. Calliope, the elder one, was an extremely diligent worker, and very thorough. It was no wonder why Mister Schnee himself had taken an eye to her, and if anyone was to uncover the truth of the matter, it was her.

"Hey, look who's asleep," Chris said softly.

He was glancing in the rearview mirror, but Cala could twist around in her seat to see her precious baby girl fast asleep in her carseat. And as she gazed upon that sight, she once again found the troubles of the time melting away. In the face of a babe, all things seemed just.

And that was a reminder, Cala knew, that as long as she had her family, everything was going to be okay.

Together, Yang and Bumblebee howled at incredible speeds down the back road. It was a feat that, perhaps, Yang could have managed when she was at the top of her game. She needn't risk it this time, though, because for Bumblebee, this was old hat, having spent millions of years burning rubber on Cybertronian streets that were often more rubble than road, never mind his time on Velocitron.

Still, there were plenty of blind corners in those back roads, thanks to walls of trees and large rocks, and though Bumblebee's sensor suite was top of the line, there were still ways of getting around it. Certain materials, certain emissions, certain means of concealing either, just seemed to slip through the cracks. It was just such a crack that the armored truck that hit Bumblebee's side stormed out of.

The Autobot flipped side over side into the treeline, transforming as he did so. Yang flew out and deployed her shot-gauntlets to slow her descent with recoil blasts. They both tried to get a handle on who was attacking them.

Their attackers made themselves known when a pair of green and silver Skygraspers flew overhead and deployed two similarly-colored Paladin-290 mechs from under their tails.

"These guys again," growled Yang, her adrenaline-soaked mind flashing back to that awful battle at the docks all those months ago.

Before either of them could formulate a plan, the Paladins deployed a pair of missiles that deployed into giant electrified nets. On instinct, Yang deployed Ember Celica's blades and sliced through that which would have ensnared her. Bumblebee reacted just as fast and in the same way, though his body was big enough that he still got hit by part of it and yelped as he threw the zapping piece of entanglement away.

Troops were deploying, all in grey and green jumpsuits, and the Paladins were taking aim.

"Who are you people?!" demanded Bumblebee as his right arm transformed into a plasma cannon while his left drew forth his blaster.

Yang tapped her earpiece. "Sunfire to any available support! We've been ambushed!"

One of the Paladins started to run towards Bumblebee, who fired a partially charged plasma ball that took out its legs. The men in masks opened fire on Yang, and she broke for cover with a snapping recoil boost. The Skygraspers circled overhead menacingly.

"Sunfire, this is Silverbolt. We're rerouting to your position," came a welcome note to her ear.

"Acknowledged," she replied before snapping out of cover on another pair of recoil boosts. She spun in the air and came down in the midst of the masked men. Her fists were as lightning, and Ember Celica's barrels blazed with every strike.

One of the masked men fired a dart on a cable from an attachment on his gun, and when it hit Yang, it delivered a powerful electric shock that made her cry out in pain.

"Not again!" shouted Yang, and then with a scream still coming from her lips, she deployed Ember Celica's blades and cut through the cable connected to the dart.

The blades swept out again and managed to catch one of the masked men in the gut. His aura, already weakened by multiple blows from Yang, broke. Then his armor parted under the assault of the alien technology in Ember Celica and the strength of a trained Huntress. Then his gut was hewn open.

Yang was in the moment, didn't see and didn't care. Someone did, though, and as the blonde pressed her attack on the others, they intervened. With a thud, a man in a similar outfit, but with his eyes uncovered, his face bearing several scars, dropped down from one of the orbiting Skygraspers.

"Get him out of here!" ordered the man, his voice firm, gesturing at the eviscerated man, and the others moved to obey.

Briefly, Yang glanced over at Bumblebee to see him using some of the moves she had taught him to box with one of the Paladins while trying to dodge some goop being fired by the legless Paladin. He had his fight in hand, but she still moved to give him support. The big man went to block her, though.

"Not so fast, little girl," he said. "Your dance card's full right now."

"Mind telling me who I'm dancing with then?" asked Yang angrily, unconsciously falling into a quip as she did so.

"Name's Silas," replied the man, raising his fists in a guard like what she used. "Leader of MECH. Glad to finally meet you, Sunfire. Cinder's told me a lot about you."

"Cinder," growled Yang as she threw herself into the fight. "How many of your people did she kill to gain control?"

"None," replied Silas professionally, deflecting her blows. "This alliance is merely a temporary arrangement."

"You think that, but she'll still find a way to control you," retorted Yang, her irises briefly turning as red as the veins visible in the rest of her eyes. "She's a monster."

Silas dodged one of Yang's strikes, and dealt out his own that left her reeling.

"And you're running yourself ragged," retorted Silas. "If I were your commanding officer-"

"But you're not," Yang interrupted, launching another flurry of attacks, "so shut up and tell me where Cinder is so I can rip out her spine!"

"Tsk tsk," Silas clucked his tongue disapprovingly and shook his head as he parried her blows. "Sloppy. Reckless. You're angry. I get that. Cinder is the sort of person who doesn't care about collateral damage, but... this? Revenge is a sucker's game."

"That's why Cinder's doing this," pointed out Yang.

The fight was moving at a strange pace now, and Yang was struggling to come up with a way to end it.

"And that should be a big flashing warning signal for you to stop," lectured Silas before knocking Yang's feet out from under her and sending her to the ground. "It's going to get you killed. It's killing you right now."

Yang fired off another recoil boost and flipped back up. Bumblebee seemed to be getting the upper hand, but now, he was fighting off the soldiers as well. She needed to help him, but Silas was stopping her.

"Heads up!" warned Air Raid over her headset a split second before the Aerialbots transformed and landed in the clearing.

"Well played, Sunfire, well played," complimented Silas before gesturing with his hand.

A series of canisters dropped off the wings of the Skygraspers overhead, as if they were bombs. One of them was a flashbang. By the time Yang recognized this, it had already gone off.

One bright flash and a stunning sound later, Yang found herself looking at a bunch of her friends, her Autobot friends, and half an abandoned Paladin.

"Hey, Yang," began Bumblebee, drawing her attention. "You don't look so good."

Yang blinked, realizing for the first time that it was night out. How long had it been like that?

"I… I think you're right," she realized.

Jaune had barely knocked on the hotel room door when it swung open, revealing his father on the other side, waving him in. Moments later, they were seated at the hotel room's tiny coffee table, each with a glass of water. The silence drew out.

"So, uh, where's Mom?"

"Out with the girls," Jacques replied. "Therapy shopping for Verte, with dinner and a movie."

Jaune winced. "How's she holding up?"

"Pretty well, all things considered." The older man let out a heavy sigh. "She's beating herself up for failing to uphold Haven's honor in Lionheart's memory, but she'll get over it."

"He believed in her," Jaune said simply. "I can- I can appreciate wanting to live up to that."

They lapsed into silence for a bit.

"So," his father said, "I'm guessing you didn't want to talk to me about Verte, so what did you want to talk about?"

"What was it like?" Jaune asked. "When you met Mom?"

"Is this about your girlfriend?"

Jaune flushed, eyes wide. "Wh-what?"

"Your girlfriend," Jacques repeated. "Pyrrha."

"Wh-what- how did you-?"

"I saw that look on her face when you introduced us to her," Jacques said simply. "That was a 'meet the parents' face. She's the one who believed in you, isn't she?" 'When we didn't' was left unsaid.

"...yeah. Yeah, she was," admitted Jaune, gazing into his water. "When no one else did - when even I didn't believe in myself - she was always there, always willing to reassure me, to help me... and to train me into the ground so I could be what she saw in me." He looked up. "How did- how did you know? That Mom was the one?"

"Would you die for her?"

"In a heartbeat." There was no hesitation in his answer. He shook his head. "But I'd die for any of my teammates."

"True," his father acknowledged. "Fairly common among Huntsmen. Would you kill for her?"

Jaune pressed his lips together but didn't answer.

Jacques let out a weary sigh. "So, it's like that, is it?" He got up and walked over to the hotel room's minibar.

"Dad?" Jaune asked, surprised, as his father returned with a bottle of amber-colored liquid and two shot glasses, one for each of them.

"You've killed before." It wasn't a question. "This isn't a conversation to have without a drink."

Reluctantly, Jaune accepted the shot of whiskey. "That's... not what I came here to talk about, Dad," he said. "I just... this thing with Pyrrha. It's- She's... amazing. I- I want to- but I'm worried I might be rushing it."

"You're a Huntsman, Jaune," his father said, his voice hard. "Pyrrha's a Huntress. In this line of work, outside of combat, there is no such thing as 'rushing it.' Life's too short for that."

It was not nearly as late as it could have been when Yang finally stumbled in through the door. Ruby felt her heart ache, and she wanted more than anything to rush her to bed. She didn't know if the others saw it, but she was exhausted. The thought of just what had made her that tired, though, what she had been doing, sent a chill to those sisterly concerns.

It probably wasn't true, but Ruby desperately wanted this intervention to turn into a debriefing where Yang would tell them all the secrets she had learned on her infiltration mission. She didn't want to believe that her sister was involved in political violence, didn't want to believe that her sister was only interested in Sun because he was a faunus, didn't want to believe that her sister agreed with anything that horrible woman Sienna Khan said.

Blake slipped in between Yang and the door and flicked the light on, and Yang blinked owlishly at them.

"Oh, hey, guys," she said. "You didn't have to wait up for me, you know."

"We're worried about you, Yang," began Ruby. "Whatever you're doing, you're not sleeping well. It's hurting you. It's hurting the team."

"It- it's fine," Yang insisted. "Just... just something I've got to take care of."

"That's not the only reason for our concern," Weiss said, cutting to the heart of the matter.

"Huh?"

Weiss pulled out what they'd found. "What is this?" she asked. The question was largely rhetorical. They knew what it was. There was, after all, no mistaking the Grimm-like visor mask for anything else. It was painted more ornately than most, with red and yellow markings curling and coiling around the edges.

"How did you get that?" Yang demanded, eyes flickering red. "Did you- were you going through my things?!"

"Answer the question, Yang," Ruby pressed.

Yang drew herself up and said stonily, "That... that is a gift from a friend."

"'A friend'?"" Blake sputtered, darting forward and snatching the mask from Weiss. She shook it up in Yang's face. "Yang, do you have any idea what this is?!"

Yang arched an eyebrow. "Enlighten me," she said, her voice as dry as Vacuo.

"This is a White Fang mask!" Blake ranted. "Do you know what they've done? They're terrorists! Murderers!"

This was bad. Blake was letting her emotions take over, going way off-script.

"Blake," Weiss interjected, "now isn't-"

"They perverted a good cause, twisted good people into monsters," hissed Blake, steamrolling right over Weiss. "They've set back faunus rights by decades!"

"They're getting better!" Yang snapped, interrupting Blake's tirade. "I'm making them better!"

Her words echoed in the sudden silence that followed.

Blake stepped back in surprise, silently mouthing Yang's words as they sank in, as if trying to make sense of them.

"Yang..." Ruby said, only to get interrupted by Blake.

"You're claiming that you, a human, joined the White Fang and have been reforming them from the inside?" Blake asked, her voice low and riddled with disbelief. "Are you even listening to yourself?"

"I know it sounds crazy," admitted Yang, "but it's the truth! What would you know about it anyway?"

"What would I-?" Blake echoed, then reached up and yanked her bow off. "I know plenty! I was one of them! Remember my ex we talked about? His name was Adam, and he-" She suddenly broke off as Yang's expression shifted. The blonde was looking at her as though something was finally clicking. "Yang?"

"Huh," was Yang's response, simple and understated. "I'll be damned. He was right. He's gonna be even more insufferable than usual."

Weiss let out a disturbed squeak. Ruby, for her part, stood rooted in place, unable to wrap her mind around what was happening in front of her.

But Blake? Blake's eyes went wide. "You know that beast?!"

Yang's own eyes narrowed. "Blake, I get you two have a history - God knows, he was a murderous ass when we first met - so I'm gonna let that one go," she paused and put her hand out palm up. "Now give me back the mask. It means a lot to me, especially considering how long it took to get him to trust me."

Blake's face was awash with horrified realization. "Adam gave this to you."

Yang didn't respond. Then again, it hadn't been a question.

"This is for your own good, Yang," declared Blake as she parted her fingers, allowing the mask to drop to the floor. Yang dove for it, but before she could reach it, Blake's heel came stomping down on the white, red, and yellow object, snapping it in twain down the middle.

"NO!" the cry of rage tore its way out of Yang's throat, her hair bursting into flames, her eyes flaring red, and she rose up, fists clenched-

WHAM!

-and punched Blake with the speed of a striking viper, sending the raven-haired girl crashing backwards into her bed, destabilizing the stacks of books that suspended Yang's bed over it, and the whole makeshift bunk bed collapsed.

Finally, Ruby managed a strangled, "...Yang?"

Yang's anger seemed to evaporate as she looked at the other half of her team, the stunned shock on Weiss's face, the fear on Ruby's.

"I-I'm sorry," Yang said as she took a step back, then bolted out of the room.

"I think... I think we underestimated how much that mask means to her," Weiss observed numbly as Ruby burst into a cloud of rose petals in pursuit.

"Yang, wait!" Ruby called as she pursued her sister, but the blonde ignored her pleas and continued to run.

Yang's feet pounded the pavement as she exited the building, racing for the street ahead, but the head start she'd had was quickly disappearing.

Ruby was almost there. Just a little further, and she'd catch up, and then... and then what? Ruby wasn't sure, but she wasn't going to just let her sister run off like this, not until they'd gotten this straightened out. It was bad enough when Blake had run off, but not Yang!

Suddenly, a car - a canary yellow Panther Chevron - pulled up, its door popping open just long enough for Yang to dive in before it closed up again, and the car drove off, accelerating with a squeal of tires.

Ruby wasn't giving up yet, her Petal Burst allowed her to chase them off campus, but...

...but her semblance, like all semblances, consumed aura, and soon enough, exhausted, Ruby could do nothing but slump to her knees in the middle of the road and watch the taillights disappear into the darkness...

Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):

For the record, we actually did randomize the biomes for the Team JNPR vs. Team VTLK match, based on the 11 icons for the biomes listed in The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. We just skipped the "gravity dust floating island" biome and rolled 2d10. We also randomized the biomes for the Team RWBY vs. Team BRNZ fight, though we rerolled when the first roll got us double ocean biomes.

If you're wondering why Verte's semblance was mentioned and never used... it's because we sort of came up with what her semblance would be before writing the fight scene, realized Jaune would mention it, and then the situation never came up for it to be used, in part due to his forewarning. As for how Jaune would know Verte's semblance without knowing about aura? Well, knowing that some people have superpowers - and that Verte can disrupt those powers with a touch - is one thing, and once he did have aura explained to him, he's smart enough to figure out what that all meant in the new (to him) context.

The Team RWBY vs. BRNZ fight was originally planned to include some other stuff, like Yang doing a Wonder Woman walk toward May, deflecting shots with Ember Celica before unleashing her semblance. Then we actually rewatched the canon Team JNPR vs. BRNZ fight and noticed something... odd. May Zedong misses every single shot. More than that, when she's taking a shot at Nora climbing the mountain, she takes 11 seconds to line up her shot, waits a full second after Pyrrha is blocking her shot with Akoúo̱ before firing, and was clearly aiming to miss, since the range was far too short for bullet drop, and there's no indication of a crosswind in the arena. Food for thought.

Huge thanks to ScipioSmith for writing one of the fight scenes for us, as well as some of the audience reactions. Fight scenes just aren't our forte.

In fact, each of the major fight scenes in this chapter was written by a different person. Can you guess who wrote which one?

So, there it is, guys. The big blowup everyone's been waiting for. Not much to it, is there? It's... honestly not much more than the canon blowup with Blake or even this 'fic's blowup with Blake, and it was never intended to be.

That said, there are still further revelations to come, both for the characters and for readers like you.

Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):

So, that was the big blow up scene that we had prewritten for months. It's probably going to cause a riot, but we're not too worked up about it. I mean, it's been written for months, so it's kind of old hat for us. Not to mention that in the last week we've come to the realization that we've kind of already done this, and that all that's different is that now it's Yang running out instead of Blake… which, ironically, is kind of what we set out to do with flipping around "Burning the Candle." Yep, that's right, this was originally supposed to happen in volume 2. Why the change? Well, besides not wanting to have Yang on the run for so long there was also the simple fact that the Vytal Tournament is a better setting for everything that we have planned over the next several chapters. There's also going to be a ton of other stuff going on this volume too though, and I'm sure those that don't abandon us after this chapter… or chapter four… or chapter five… anyway, those who don't punch out in the next few weeks - and it will certainly be a lot of people, we are not expecting people to like this, and in fact are expecting people to hate it - will possibly enjoy some of the stuff we have before the volume's finished.

Again, thanks to Scipio for writing what he did, because without him we'd still be writing this monster.

Oh, but these were some great fights though, weren't they? I don't have much to say this chapter, but I am curious what you favorite match of the episode was? Are there any you're sad to have missed? Let us know in the comments below.