Volume III: Episode 3: Sundown

Finding the location for the meeting… well, finding the meeting place had been a pain. What they had gone through to even get the meeting place location? Well, that had been even worse.

"How are you holding up?" asked Velvet worriedly, quietly.

"Like I could refill a salt lake with my sweat," answered Lavi with a tone that sounded just as nervous as Velvet felt.

The interrogation had been intense, delving not just into her motivations and experiences, but also her past. There had also been, strangely enough, medical tests too, but she'd put her foot down before allowing them to take samples. She was willing to go through a lot for Vale, but she couldn't, in her wildest imaginations, imagine a prospective terrorist being okay with that. It had to have been a secret test, and judging from the results, she'd been right. On the other hand, for all their paranoia, they seemed... rushed. Distracted. Like something else, something more important was on their minds. Not, generally speaking, a good sign when talking about a terrorist group that had been remarkably quiet recently.

Tonight, they were mingling with some other recruits in a cavernous garage. It wasn't quite the abandoned warehouse she'd been expecting, but she'd been able to pick up from the grumbling that the White Fang had apparently had to stay on the move. Was someone else tracking them down?

The timing was... less than ideal, since it was getting late, and they would be competing in the second year team matches for the Vytal Tournament tomorrow morning. That, in the end, was one reason Velvet and Lavi had been chosen. With both Team CFVY and Team RRFL participating in the tournament, any disguise or false identity any of them could put on would be hopelessly inadequate.

"You," a voice from behind them said, freezing them in place.

Slowly, they turned. A young man stood before them, his White Fang mask a bit more elaborate than most, decorated with red filigree. His black and red outfit was intimidating, as was the sword he wore at his belt. The fact that he looked a little frazzled took away from that, however.

He walked up to them, sizing them up, before looking at Lavi. "You're the Atlas student, aren't you?"

Lavi nodded, swallowing hard. Velvet couldn't blame him. This... this had to be Adam Taurus, leader of the Vale White Fang.

He placed a hand on Lavi's shoulder and said, "Good. We could use people like you."

"You mean Huntsmen?" Velvet blurted out.

Adam turned to gaze at her for a moment, then shook his head. "No. Well, yes, good fighters are always appreciated, but right now, someone with Atlesian connections is more valuable than another pair of fighters could be." He turned to look back at Lavi. "Don't do anything stupid. I'll need you to return to Atlas a free man to deliver a message for me."

"Yessir."

Velvet felt a chill run down her spine. Atlas? The White Fang in Atlas had been quiet for quite some time too, laying low after a disastrous kidnapping attempt in which the victim got loose and started killing all their guys. What were they planning now?

The early pre-dawn air of Patch was cool, misty, beautiful in a way that almost made you forget about the monsters living in the dark. It was a thought that would have terrified many people not named Glynda Goodwitch, but she was named Glynda Goodwitch, so why should she be afraid of any monsters? After all, she was the scariest monster on that island.

Which, of course, wasn't to say that the one she was going to see wasn't a strong and powerful monster in his own right, but… well, Taiyang Xiao Long had never been nearly as scary as she was. In fact, he gave the impression of being a sweet puppy despite the fact that he could kill a Beowolf in two seconds with just his pinky fingers and a boot to the head. He was just too much of a dork to be scary, except for when he was protecting or avenging someone he cared about.

A fond smile crossed her lips as she thought of him.

As the Bullhead settled down in one of the clearings in front of the Xiao Long household, the engines powered down, and Glynda rose from her seat, then hesitated.

"Miss Nikos," she said, "this... this is probably a conversation best had in private."

"I understand," the Mistrali champion replied from the cockpit, her voice forcefully professional. "I'll wait here."

"Thank you for understanding."

As she disembarked, Glynda noted the car parked out front curiously. She'd heard Zippy had met an unfortunate end, but the new car was... not what she would have expected for Tai.

The car's presence meant wherever he was, he was in walking distance. The fact that he hadn't come out to greet his visitor meant he was out of earshot.

Probably collecting firewood, she concluded as she made her way around the house. Her gaze flicked up to the chimney poking out of the roof and shook her head. The fireplace had given him and his family no small amount of trouble over the years. I told him it was a terrible idea.

Rather than take shelter under the lean-to near the rear of the house or under the trees, she waited out in the clearing behind the house. The weather was mild, and the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. The crisp, autumn air was almost cold enough for her breath to start misting.

She didn't have long to wait. Perhaps ten minutes had passed before Tai came sauntering out of the forest, a tree resting on his shoulder, his corgi, Zwei, yipping along behind him.

He paused at seeing her, blinked and shook his head a few times, then approached her, dropping the tree off at the edge of the clearing.

"Well, hello, Glynda," he greeted her cheerfully. "What brings you here?" He gave her an exaggerated leer and waggled his eyebrows. "You didn't decide to ditch James for me, did you?"

Glynda rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Give it up, Taiyang," she said reflexively. "You are not building a harem, and certainly not one with me in it."

Anyone else might have been offended, hurt by the comment, but not Tai.

"Well," he said teasingly, "Raven left, and Summer died, so it wouldn't technically be a harem..." He trailed off suggestively.

Glynda clenched her fists and screwed her eyes shut. "Stop," she hissed. "Just... stop, Tai." She glared at him. "That ship sailed a long time ago."

He blinked. "Wait, what?"

Glynda coughed and shook her head. "Not important," she said hastily. "I'm here on serious business. It's about your daughter."

Taiyang's smile vanished. "What happened to Ruby?"

"Why do you assume I'm talking about Ruby?" she asked curiously.

"She's her mother's daughter," Tai pointed out, "and she's been training those eyes of hers."

Glynda considered, thinking back to happier times. Summer Rose had certainly been... unique, with the same brave, selfless heart her daughter showed today. And the same inability to leave well enough alone.

"...fair enough," she acknowledged, "but I'm actually here about Yang. Have you heard from her since last night?"

"Yang?" Tai blinked, then shook his head. "Not in weeks. What's going on, Glynda? What's this about?"

Glynda pursed her lips, pondering how to phrase it. "Throughout both semesters, Yang has spent a lot of her free time in Vale. Over the past few days, she's disappeared entirely and returned exhausted and sleep-deprived. Her team... investigated and found evidence she may have joined or been working with the White Fang. When they confronted her about it, she admitted to joining the White Fang and associating personally with the Vale White Fang Leader, Adam Taurus. She then assaulted one of her teammates and fled, and her current whereabouts are unknown."

The fact that Yang had fled in a Panther Chevron that matched Bumblebee II's color scheme... and Bumblebee was now gone suggested that it might be a transformer as well, perhaps one of Cliffjumper's "Autobots." This, however, was not the place to brief Tai on that particular... complication.

Tai stared at her, his mouth working wordlessly as he suddenly sat down on the ground.

"...I guess she takes after her mother more than I thought."

"I'm sorry," Glynda offered.

Tai shook his head as he picked himself back up. "Gimme a few minutes to pack. I'm going back to Beacon with you."

Glynda arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Yang may try to contact you here."

"This is Yang," he said, shaking his head again. "Whatever she's doing, she's doing it for a reason, and she's not going to come crawling back home until it's done."

She sighed. "...very well."

A few minutes later, they were walking to the Bullhead, Tai with a pack slung over his shoulder and Glynda with Zwei in her arms.

"By the way, Tai," Glynda said, nodding to the other vehicle on the property, "compliments on the new car."

"Thanks," he said half-heartedly. "After Ruby's driving lessons, I kinda had to get a new one."

"Still, a Ferdinand?" she asked. "Isn't that a bit… pricey?"

"You wouldn't believe the deal I got on it," he said as they climbed aboard the Bullhead. "Dealer thought it was cursed, for some reason, but I've not had any trouble with it. Besides, it spoke to me."

"Miss Nikos, we're ready to go," Glynda informed their pilot. As Miss Nikos began powering up the Bullhead, she looked back to Tai and arched an eyebrow. "Spoke to you?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod. "First time I turned the engine over, the radio was on, and I heard the smoothest jazz coming out of those speakers. The sound system in that thing is amazing, and the subwoofer lets you really feel the base."

"I see."

Tai sighed as he leaned back in his seat. "I'm just glad Ruby's got her head screwed on straight."

Maple opened her eyes very suddenly, a side effect of having spent so many years on a set schedule working at her garage. While there would normally be a minute or two of grogginess unless her alarm woke her up, there was none of that at that moment. No, all she felt was shock and confusion at a pair of silver eyes staring down into her face from barely a foot away.

"Ruby?" asked Maple blearily.

"Where's Yang?" asked Ruby darkly.

"What?" was Maple's immediate response before a sudden shot of panic flowed through her, and she became very awake. "What happened to Yang?"

"You happened," growled Ruby as her face contorted into a mask of hate and rage. "You're a member of the White Fang. You've been a member this whole time."

With each of those words, Maple felt her world shatter into pieces. She had always known that this day could come, but now that it was actually here, she felt like she was going to cry. It was a despair more thorough and complete than when the SDC had broken her body. Her garage, her friends, her life… all gone.

"You turned Yang into a terrorist like you," continued Ruby in that same tone.

"No. No," Maple muttered, even as her mind spiraled down with the notion that Yang had been exposed too. "I didn't… I… I told Yang not to get involved."

"Liar," hissed Ruby. "How else could she have joined?"

"You know those faunus she helped that night?" Maple said softly, suddenly, as if on automatic. "She brought them to us. She didn't know who else to turn to. And then... and then she went back."

"'Went back'?" Ruby echoed.

Maple nodded. "To where they'd escaped from. Some of us went with her, but not me. I don't- I'm just a mechanic. But... the things they saw there... the things they told me about..." She trailed off and shuddered. "It was supposed to be a rescue mission. Just... one job. But she didn't stop. She wouldn't stop."

Ruby was looking at her with an expression that was as cold as the grave. "She kept this from us for a year?"

"She swore me and everyone else to secrecy," explained Maple, her voice dying, tears in her eyes. "Most of us didn't even know who she was under the mask. She wanted to keep you safe, keep you out of it. I guess it doesn't matter anymore."

"No, it doesn't," snapped Ruby.

Before things could continue, the doctor power walked over to them and addressed matters with a very firm voice. "Miss Rose, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I don't know what you two are talking about, but it doesn't matter. I'm not going to have one of my patients die of a panic attack on my watch."

Ruby glared at the doctor, and then back at Maple. "You're right, it doesn't matter. We're done here."

The bloodcrowned girl spun around and strode out of the infirmary, her cloak billowing around her as she moved.

Doc went about checking her vitals after that, but Maple knew how it was from the inside. She couldn't feel anything, not a thing. Not a thing, but a small sense of worry.

After all, if Ruby knew about Yang, how long would it be until she knew about the Cybertronians? How long until Arcee and Bumblebee and all the other Autobots she had come to know were being hunted like Grimm? How long until society fell apart because of the fear and terror people would feel about people who were different living among them?

Maple didn't know, but she prayed there wasn't an answer.

Morning in Beacon's cafeteria was generally a less crowded affair than lunch or dinner time, as those seeking solitude rose earlier to avoid the crowds, and in so doing, removed themselves from the aforementioned crowds.

Blake was one such early riser, as was Weiss. The former preferred avoiding large groups of people, while the latter was averse to repeating what had happened on their first day of classes: barely making it to class without breakfast had not done her - or her metabolism - any favors.

Weiss sat across the table from Blake and watched with more than a little concern as the team ninja stabbed her spoon viciously into a bowl of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes, muttering, "Stupid redheads."

The snowcapped girl's eyes flicked down at the bowl of cereal, from which a collection of marshmallows shaped and dyed into a cartoony rendition of Pyrrha's face stared back at her from the sea of milk, surrounded by other marshmallows shaped like Miló and Akoúo̱, all intermingled with corn flakes shaped into the distinctive face of the cartoon rabbit Pumpkin Pete.

She looked back up to Blake.

"What on Remnant could Pyrrha have done to make you so angry?" she asked, arching one well-sculpted eyebrow.

"What?" Blake blinked at her in confusion, then shook her head. "Not Pyrrha. Adam."

"Adam," Weiss deadpanned. "You're seeing Adam - your ex - in a bowl filled with tiny little Pyrrhas?" She paused. "Um, Blake, should Jaune be worried about you going after his girlfriend? Because if so, we really need to coordinate."

Blake blinked again. "What?"

"That was a joke," said Weiss in a voice devoid of all emotion.

"Oh."

Weiss shook her head. Blake must be really out of it, but... the subject was raised now, and a question had been niggling at her. She'd been in a bad place before, but Yang...

"What I don't understand is how he could convince Yang - a human! - to join the White Fang," she blurted out.

Blake scooped another spoonful of cereal into her mouth and gave her a sad smile. After swallowing, she said, "I think... I think all he'd have to do is show her his face."

The Atlesian girl raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Rating your ex rather highly, don't you think?"

"No, Weiss," Blake said, shaking her head, "he... he has a brand on his face," - she held up her free hand up to her face around her left eye and across the bridge of her nose - "right here. 'SDC' in big, bold letters. He got it in the mines. If he showed Yang that, well, I'm not surprised she'd join, especially after what she ran into at the beginning of the school year."

Weiss felt her mouth drop open, quietly horrified. That... that was... why did that even surprise her at this point? Even as she asked, she knew the answer. Because it was careless. For all his faults, for all that Jacques Schnee ultimately did not seem to care about anything but the bottom line, anything that could influence that bottom line - like bad PR - was something he cared about a great deal. Moreover, it was spiteful, wasteful, a special effort to hurt someone that her father had never been willing to exert. At least, that was what she'd thought. What happened to Adam... that was monstrous.

"If he'd shown me that, I'd be willing to join," she whispered. At Blake's level stare, she added, "Well, assuming they got over the whole 'murder me' part."

"Weiss," Blake deadpanned, holding her thumb and forefinger up a hair's breadth apart, "you were this close to joining already, and that was without them getting over the 'murder you' part."

She flushed at the reminder.

"Still," Blake continued, her expression thoughtful, "depending on when she joined, I think she could be Sunfire. It makes sense. It makes a lot of sense."

Something clicked for Weiss. "Sunfire. Yang. Yang Xiao Long means 'little sun dragon' in High Mistrali, and her hair lights on fire when she uses her semblance. I think you're right."

Blake put her spoon down in her cereal and palmed her face with both hands. "How could we have been so stupid? Of course Yang is Sunfire, of course she's sleeping with Adam, and of course she's been lying to us this whole time about everything she's ever done or said. Why didn't I catch on sooner? No one can be that passionate about faunus rights and not be a member of the White Fang."

"I'm right here," declared Weiss, pointing at herself with both hands.

Blake blinked and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, no offense?"

"None taken," replied Weiss sarcastically. "Now, what was that second thing you said? You think Yang is doing what with Adam?"

"Sleeping with him," repeated Blake. "I saw them interacting when they didn't know I was there, Weiss, and I know what I saw. Adam and Sunfire were clearly lovers, and if Yang was Sunfire this whole time, then that means that she's Adam's lover…. somehow."

"Well," Weiss allowed, "that's... a theory." An insane theory, in her opinion, but Blake never did anything by halves. Apparently, that included wild speculation.

Blake sighed, clearly not having heard Weiss's thoughts. "Of all the things I thought I'd share with Yang, our taste in men wasn't one of them."

"You really think there's something going on with her and Adam?" Weiss asked skeptically.

"I... well, maybe?" Blake hazarded. "There's definitely something going on there. She also practically threatened to make a move on Sun if I didn't."

"Of course Yang has a thing for Sun," Weiss snorted. "Have you seen the way she looks at him?"

"Yeah." Blake nodded. "I'm kinda shocked Sun hasn't figured it out."

"But by that same token, she's in love with Sun. Why would she be in a relationship with Adam?"

"It's possible that Adam isn't giving her a choice, and she's being brainwashed into thinking she likes it."

Are you even listening to yourself? Weiss once again attempted to find out if her family semblance could manifest as telepathy.

Blake was nodding to herself by now. "Yeah, that makes sense. I think I've figured it out. Adam must have been grooming Yang to be the new Fall Maiden."

So far, evidence suggested "no."

"You mean like Cinder?" Weiss hazarded, trying to follow Blake's logic.

"Cinder's too much of a wild card," Blake said, her hands moving as if she was drawing connections between images only she could see. "They would want someone... pliable, someone who would take the powers and then take orders. Yang fit the bill, and she wouldn't have known about Adam's ways enough to avoid them. It would fit too, if that car she bought at the beginning of first semester was a transformer. The power of the Fall Maiden, a new trump card, that must be very enticing to a people who have fought long enough to destroy whole planets."

"But she's still human," Weiss said, feeling a little ridiculous at pointing out something so obvious. "Why not get a faunus to take the powers?"

Blake's answer was delivered with deadly seriousness. "Because no one in the White Fang would think twice about knifing a sleeping human."

Weiss had several things she wanted to reply to that with. However, before she could say any of them, they were interrupted by one of the doors to the dining hall opening up. Who it was was quickly revealed by the cloud of rose petals that came through and reformatted itself into Ruby Rose.

"Good news, Yang's not a terrorist. Bad news, she's on a crusade against the SDC," quickly said the bloodcrowned girl.

"What? How do you know this?" asked Weiss pointedly.

"I interrogated that snake, Maple, and got her to spill the beans," answered Ruby with a note of anger. "She told me that Yang's been working with the White Fang ever since that first night where she freed the slaves. She brought them to the White Fang after, and then she was part of the raid that busted up that factory from a while back; you know, the one where we first went out as Team Rainbow? After that, they've been working together on one mission after the other."

The snowcapped girl blinked, once, twice. "She's been working with the White Fang for almost a year now?"

"Yes," summed up Ruby briskly.

Weiss's eye twitched slightly. "Ruby, that means she's a terrorist! By definition, she is a terrorist, even if she wasn't an actual member, and she's still giving aid and comfort to an organization that's using violence for political ends. That's literally the dictionary definition of 'terrorist.'"

"Emphasis on the comfort," muttered Blake.

"What was that?" asked Ruby, her eyes darkly snapping to the black-haired girl.

"Nothing!" shouted Weiss. "Blake's just letting her imagination get the better of her. It's nothing you need be concerned with, Ruby."

Blake rolled her eyes, and Ruby snorted. "I'm not going to be listening to Blake, not after she let that poison into our lives."

"What?!" gasped Blake, whirling on Ruby to find herself fixed with a death glare.

"Hey, none of this is Blake's fault," said Weiss, rushing to the aid of her friend.

"Yes, it is," insisted Ruby. "If she hadn't taken us to Maple's way back then, we never would have been put on the course of getting a new Bumblebee, and Yang wouldn't have had a ready contact with the White Fang. We also never would have come into contact with Tukson, and that would have been one fewer point of infection for Yang to get hurt with. It's because of her that all this started."

"That's not fair," growled Weiss. "I knew about Tukson's affiliation with the White Fang too. If you're going to blame Blake, then you're going to have to blame me too."

"Oh, I do blame you too," assured Ruby, and at the snowcapped girl's crestfallen expression, she let out a grunt. "Doesn't matter. I'm going out to comb the city for Yang. First, I'm going to burn Tukson's to the ground, and then if he doesn't tell me where Yang is, I'm going to move on to every White Fang position I can find and keep busting skulls 'til I find her."

"Ruby, you're not thinking straight," said Weiss as tactfully as she could. "You can't just go around hanging people from rooftops or something 'til you find her. We don't even know where to begin with finding the White Fang if you… you know, off Tukson."

"Okay, then I'll capture him," said Ruby assuredly.

"No, you'll leave it to NEST," came the familiar voice of Taiyang Xiao Long from right behind the bloodcrowned girl.

Ruby spun around and found herself face to chest with her father while Weiss and Blake were both left to wonder how he had gotten there without them noticing.

"We can't just sit here and do nothing!" shouted Ruby defiantly. "Yang's somewhere out there, and we have to find her! We need action! We need movement!"

"We need you to calm down," interrupted Mister Xiao Long, letting Zwei down to put his hands on her shoulders.

Ruby visibly stiffened at that.

"I know you want to save your sister, Ruby. I do too. I want to bring her in, and get a straight answer from her on what's going on when she's not sleep deprived and getting her stuff destroyed by her roommate," continued Mister Xiao Long, with the last part being said with a glance at Blake, who shrank back...

...though that might be because of Zwei under the table, gazing up at her and wagging his tail eagerly.

"Tempers were running high, mistakes were made," Weiss argued as she rescued her friend by scooping up the little ball of adorableness, "but the White Fang is a... sensitive subject for Blake."

The father and daughter pair each raised a single eyebrow skeptically.

"You don't say," deadpanned Mister Xiao Long. "Well, I'm going to take Ruby here, and we're going to find out what progress NEST has made. They've been on the White Fang case since the Merlot incident, after all, and unlike us, they're not emotionally compromised."

With that, the two left the cafeteria, and Zwei leaped out of Weiss's arms to follow, leaving Weiss and Blake once more alone.

"This is all my fault," moaned Blake morosely over her cereal.

Weiss sighed. It was going to be a long day. A really long day.

Qrow Branwen shaded his eyes as he looked up at the morning sky.

It's too early for this, he thought grumpily, but four very familiar supersonic aircraft flying over Vale was... well, not something he could ignore. Especially not when they were obviously heading to Beacon.

He glanced around the street, then ducked into an alleyway. Moments later, a black bird cawed as it flew out of the alleyway and began desperately and futilely trying to beat its near-namesakes to Beacon.

"Our first match of the day," boomed Professor Port, "and the first of the second-year team matches is Team Coffee of Beacon against Team Volcano of Haven!"

Velvet idly fingered Field, the gift from Lavi tucked into her belt, and stifled a yawn as Team CFVY stood across the arena's central octagon from Team VLCA. As the biome randomizer spun, she looked over the opposition.

Violet Valeria stood tall and proud, with violet eyes and brown hair in a pageboy cut. Her outfit - in shades of blue and purple - was plain and utilitarian, with light, flexible armor. She wore a round shield on her arm and a pistol on her hip.

"Let's have a good, clean fight, shall we?" she suggested.

Coco nodded, looking at her over her sunglasses. "I'm game for that."

With bright blue eyes and blond hair done up in pigtails that made her look younger, Lily Cornelia tipped her wide-brimmed, high-crowned hat in a wordless, cheerful greeting before popping some bubblegum. She wore a white flannel shirt under a leather vest, with rough-hewn jeans tucked into a pair of calf-high leather boots with spurs in the East Vacuan style. Wasn't there an Atlesian girl who also dressed a bit like that? She had a lever-action sword on her back and a rope, of all things, wrapped around her waist, though Velvet had certainly seen far stranger fashion choices.

Cicero Ward wore gleaming golden armor - breastplate, pauldrons, arm and leg greaves, and a plumed helmet - and had a fairly conventional pair of shortsword pistols on his belt. The helmet concealed his hair, but his dark eyes glittered with interest and jovial anticipation.

Rufus August rested a blood-red curved tower shield onto the floor, shifting in the heavy plated armor he wore that concealed his features. A stubby-looking gun with a folded bayonet that was just a little bit too long and wide-bored to be a pistol hung at his hip. All in all, it did not look comfortable, and Velvet couldn't help but wonder how that much weight affected him in the field.

Velvet turned her attention to the biome randomizer, which settled on ice for Team VLCA's side and gravity islands for Team CFVY's.

"Three two one begin!" announced Dr. Oobleck in his usual rapid-fire.

With that, Rufus began pounding toward Yatsu, shield first. Surprised, the big Mistrali took a step back before bringing Fulcrum down on him. Rufus caught the greatsword on his shield. The blade slid off at a strange angle as he seemed to twist with the energy... somehow. Even as Yatsu struggled to bring Fulcrum back around, Rufus spun and smashed his shield into him with an ease that belied the shield's size and sent him flying.

"Yatsu!" Velvet called out in urgent worry.

For her part, Coco leaped back, landing on the closest of the floating islands, unfolding Gianduja. Violet dashed toward her, firing her pistol and flinging her shield at her. The shield went wide, flying past Coco, but the pistol rounds landed home. Coco ignored the bullets, letting them chip away at her aura in favor of leveling her multi-barreled weapon at the other team leader... just in time for the shield to loop around one of the smaller floating islands to strike Coco in the back of her head even as she was spinning up Gianduja's barrels.

Coco grunted and stared as Violet caught the shield on the rebound. That thing does not obey the laws of physics, she groused over the telepathic network Fox had set up for them.

"Hoho!" Professor Port cheered. "A clever move from Miss Valeria, using one of the floating islands' gravity wells to slingshot her shield around for a surprise attack!"

Fox was crossing blades with Cicero, the two dual welders seemingly evenly matched.

Velvet ignored Anesidora. Field in hand, she entered the fray, but rather than confront the only unengaged member of Team VLCA, she went for the team leader, hoping to give Coco the room she needed to start laying down some serious firepower.

The long bayonet struck Violet's shield, but Velvet quickly recovered, throwing a quick jab with her empty offhand. Violet let her aura take the punch in favor of keeping her shield between her and Velvet's blade as the rabbit faunus lashed out with it again and again.

Once again, Velvet found herself glorying in the moment as she traded blows with the shield wielder. These were skills she'd honed through long practice, and while her semblance made it easier - when she used it, it was still her body that went through the motions, her nervous system sending the commands, her muscles performing the tasks - she wasn't using it now.

Velvet, down! the warning thought from Coco echoed through Fox's semblance, and Velvet immediately obeyed, dropping to the ground as the rope Lily had been wearing around her waist - a lasso - narrowly missed snagging her weapon arm. She rolled out of the way as Violet tried to take advantage of her prone position, then briefly activated her semblance to kip-up back to her feet.

Ow, she thought. Gonna have to practice that one more.

Velvet heard the roar of Gianduja firing, and she was vaguely aware of Rufus stumbling back, pelted by the stream of bullets, allowing Yatsu time to recover. The big Mistrali charged at the Fox and Cicero, breaking up the little duel they had been fighting through sheer mass and momentum. Velvet leaned back to avoid a swipe from Violet's shield, far enough that she found it easier to turn it into a backflip to regain her balance.

Gianduja roared again, this time forcing Violet to block with her shield as she ran for cover behind an ice spire. Velvet turned her attention to Lily, who brought up her lever-action sword. She fired twice as Velvet closed, but the Beacon student evaded both shots. The sword bayonet met the lever-action sword briefly as Lily blocked Velvet's first blow, but she twisted the bind quickly, forcing Lily to disengage and back off, lest she be disarmed.

Velvet let her. As much as she wanted to press the attack... that wasn't the plan. She had to conserve her aura, even more than the others. Coco was shifting targets constantly, slowly chipping away at their auras, forcing them to defend themselves, but never quite able to focus fire long enough to eliminate any of them. Meanwhile, Yatsu was posing a localized threat with Fulcrum and absorbing fire. Fox and Velvet? They were doing their jobs too, keeping members of Team VLCA engaged or distracted.

"It appears the two teams are in a bit of a stalemate!" commented Dr. Oobleck. "Neither side appears to have a clear upper hand!"

"Rufus!" ordered Violet.

Rufus tossed something at the ground, and when it detonated, it revealed itself to be a flashbang, and the four members of Team VLCA used the distraction to disappear somewhere, presumably behind the ice spires or among the floating gravity islands.

"And Team Volcano has chosen to regroup!" Dr. Oobleck narrated excitedly.

"Indeed," Professor Port agreed. "A smart move. Each member of Team Coffee brings a considerable amount of combat talent to the table. It will take teamwork and some creative thinking to upset the balance, one way or the other."

A long, tense moment followed as Team CFVY looked around warily, regrouping on one of the higher floating islands near the center of the arena.

"I don't like this," Yatsu murmured aloud, rather than sending it through Fox's telepathic link.

As if on cue, Lily's lasso flew out from behind one of the ice spires, tightening around Gianduja's barrel assembly. With a yelp, Coco was pulled off the gravity island and over behind the ice spire. Team CFVY immediately pursued, even as Gianduja began to roar again.

Leaping over the ice spire, Yatsuhashi brought Fulcrum down onto the frozen floor, sending a spider web of cracks throughout it, destabilizing it. It was then that Rufus charged him again, but this time, Yatsu grabbed the heavily-armored Haven student instead of striking him. He grunted as Rufus fired his shotgun at him at point blank range but powered through, dropping Fulcrum to grab Rufus's shotgun and yank it out of his hands, disarming the other boy. With a mighty heave, Yatsu hauled Rufus off his feet and hurled him through the air. Without his weapon to recoil boost and alter his trajectory with, Rufus flew helplessly out of the arena.

"Team Coffee draws first blood as Rufus August has been eliminated by ring out!" Professor Port chortled.

A concentration of fire from the three remaining members of Team VLCA descended on Yatsuhashi, sending the big guy stumbling as his aura dropped from the low yellow and into the red.

"And Team Volcano evens the odds, eliminating Yatsuhashi Daichi through aura depletion!" announced Dr. Oobleck.

Velvet looked around for Coco, only to see her bashing Gianduja - now in its handbag form - against Violet's shield. The other girl clearly felt the blow through her shield, though a quick glance showed her aura didn't waver, hovering still well in the green.

Her, Velvet realized. She's the real threat.

Fox was engaged with Lily, and his two weapons against her one meant he was managing to slip the occasional blow through, chipping away at her aura.

Velvet faced off against Cicero, a bad match-up for her, with his two swords to her one bayonet, in a mirror to Fox's match with Lily, so she fought conservatively, backing away and parrying with Field when needed.

"You seem timid," Cicero observed with a frown. "Timidness does not befit a Huntress."

"Maybe," Velvet acknowledged, "or maybe I'm just waiting for the right moment."

"Coco Adel has been eliminated by aura depletion!" announced Professor Port.

Velvet glanced at the giant display above. Violet's aura was still in the green, if just barely. Cicero's was in the mid yellow, and Lily's was in the upper yellow and decreasing rapidly as she battled Fox.

Not yet.

Velvet's own aura was a bit higher than Violet's but not by much, and Fox was about even with Cicero's... and dropping.

"Fox Alistair's aura is in the red!" Dr. Oobleck announced. "That leaves only Velvet Scarlatina of Team Coffee facing three-to-one odds!"

"A remarkable turnaround by Team Volcano!" Professor Port commented, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Now, she thought as she hopped back and sheathed Field... pulling out Anesidora.

She already knew which picture she wanted, a snap she'd taken of Team JNPR's most irrepressible member giving a goofy grin and a peace sign.

A hard-light copy of Magnhild formed in her hands, and she immediately fired a full spread of grenades, which hammered Lily and Cicero's auras, driving them into red with the onslaught of unbridled firepower.

"And Velvet Scarlatina evens the score again, eliminating both Lily Cornelia and Cicero Ward through aura depletion!" Professor Port seemed much more cheerful with that announcement as Velvet shifted the copy of Magnhild into its hammer form and leaped into the air, her semblance guiding her.

Violet caught the hammer against her shield, the impact sending a shockwave rippling out across the arena. Velvet had known Violet was the biggest threat, but she'd thought she'd had her measure.

She was wrong.

Violet moved, faster and stronger than she'd been before, and Velvet had to draw on defensive maneuvers copied from dozens of fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses to stay ahead of her. But the style, while a blend of both familiar and unfamiliar sources, was unchanging, and as they fought, Velvet began to see patterns.

After a moment, they disengaged briefly, and Velvet glanced up. Violet's aura was incrementally ticking lower. It had to be her semblance at work. Velvet considered that, weighed that in her mind even as she analyzed what she'd seen of how Violet was fighting, then charged.

Team VLCA's leader had no trouble blocking Velvet's weighty swings with the hard-light copy of Magnhild, and her pistol would occasionally bark out, chipping away at Velvet's aura... but there were limits. And Violet had only two hands, for shield and pistol.

Velvet shifted her grip on the ersatz Magnhild to a single-handed grip and kept swinging, kept getting blocked, even as her other hand drew Field and began thrusting forward, finding the gaps in Violet's defenses, subtle things her Photographic Memory had picked up during the fight.

What followed next was a battle of attrition, an intricate dance between someone supremely skilled and another who had perfected an understanding of the tiniest flaws in those same skills.

Velvet grunted as another punch struck her forearm. Her aura couldn't hold out much longer, not against this tempo of fighting, not with the enhanced speed and strength Violet was displaying. Even knowing where to strike and how to block, almost seeing Violet's most common moves before she made them, it was proving to be a hard fight.

"Violet Valeria has been eliminated through aura depletion!" Dr. Oobleck's announcement broke through the haze that had fallen over Velvet, disrupting the rhythm of battle.

She blinked and looked up. Sure enough, Violet's aura had just barely dipped into the red. Her own aura was barely above the red line.

"Good fight," Violet said, shaking her head ruefully. "We'll have to do this again sometime."

"Yeah," Velvet murmured, staring in disbelief at the crowds cheering and chanting her and her team's names. "Sure."

"Hmph," Megatron grunted. "A costly strategy, but an effective one."

"Boss?" That was, of course, Demolishor. Too many of their number remained in stasis, something Megatron hoped to change once the space bridge was brought online.

"Miss Scarlatina was their trump card," he explained patiently. "The others sacrificed themselves to weaken their opponents enough for her to finish them off herself."

"You mean they did that on purpose? How do you know?"

"Of course they did," Megatron assured him with a nod, "and we know because we have detailed files. It appears their growth is coming along nicely, appearances aside. It means they're also likely to continue to be underestimated."

Amid the mixture of cheering and groans around her, Rarity leaned forwards to delicately pluck an apple fritter from the table. "As exciting a fight as that was, personally, I'm a little disappointed that Miss Adel's combat skill didn't match her fashion sense." She sighed. "It would have been nice to be able to point to her as an example of why it wouldn't hurt Applejack and Rainbow Dash to let me spruce them up a little."

"Oh, come on, Rarity," Sweetie Belle cried from where she and her friends sat on the floor at the back of the barn. "That was a great fight."

"That was an awesome fight!" Scootaloo cried. "I've never seen any team go three down and come back from it before."

"I can recall a certain unkempt young crow accomplishing that feat once upon a time," Principal Celestia said from where she stood at the back of the barn, with a knowing glance towards her sister besides her.

"I prefer not to recall the embarrassment," Vice Principal Luna growled. "That being said, Miss Scarlatina has certainly set the bar quite high. It may be impossible for any of Canterlot's own alumni to clear it."

"I wouldn't worry too much," Principal Celestia replied. "It may not be our motto the way it is for Crystal Prep, but if there's one thing I've learnt from these girls, it's that they all know how to exceed expectations when the time comes."

Principal Celestia had lent the senior branch of the Apple Family one of the big projectors from Canterlot Combat School, and - after Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom had spent the day getting it ready for everybody - it seemed like half of Canterlot was gathered in the barn to watch her son and daughters kick some butt in the Vytal Festival. Square bales of hay had been turned into seats, while a few tables dragged in from the house had been augmented by various people bringing their own tables, just as a lot of them had brought their own food too. Holiday lights strung up along the walls gave the place a festive air appropriate to the occasion, and now young and old alike sat intermingled in the building, sat upon the soft straw, watching the picture streamed from Big Mac's scroll to the projector while they tucked into snacks and treats. And what snacks! What treats! The Apples and Pinkie Pie had both, after their fashion, outdone themselves with a selection of freshly baked goods, with the question of whether they had an apple component serving to answer whether they had been made by an Apple or a Pie; other, less freshly prepared items brought by other hands rounded out the copious and wide-ranging selection available. It was, everyone present could agree, a grand turn out and probably the next best thing to actually being able to go to Vale for the Festival.

Which was why it was a little strange that Pinkie Pie, whose idea it had been in the first place to get as many people together to watch in one place, seemed so unenthused by it all. She sat on her own upon a lonely bale of hay set apart from all the others, her legs twitching gently. As Team FIST marched out into the arena for the second match of the day some time after CFVY had finished, it almost looked as though there was a tear in her eye.

"Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy asked gently, moving her hay bale closer to her friend. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, it's... I just have this feeling, you know?" Pinkie said. "This feeling like... like we're never going to see Twilight again."

"Never see Twilight again? What in Remnant do you mean, Pinkie?" Rarity demanded from the other side of the voluminously-haired girl. With due regard for her outfit, Rarity spread a picnic blanket over her hay bale before she sat down on it. "This is only the Vytal Festival, not a fight to the death. Nobody gets hurt, nobody even gets injured, and once it's all over, Twilight will be coming home with Rainbow Dash and Applejack."

Pinkie looked at her. "What if she doesn't?"

"Well why wouldn't she, darling?" Rarity asked in response. "Yes, Twilight has some... questionable taste in the company she keeps - what she sees in those vile and vulgar Shadowbolts, I have no idea - but I can say with complete confidence that she wouldn't just... leave. Where would she go? Leave Atlas? That's about as likely as her leaving us. Put it out of your mind, dear. It's nothing worth worrying about."

Pinkie stared into Rarity's eyes, her own uncertainty melting away in the heat of the confidence displayed by her friend. "I guess you're right," she said, before producing a pair of pom-poms out of nowhere and yelling, "GO, TWILIGHT!"

The call from Ozpin had both Weiss and Blake somewhat concerned. Only somewhat concerned, though. A call on their scrolls with no explanation telling them to be at a certain place with little to no warning? Standard procedure these days, just in case anyone managed to intercept their encrypted point to point transmissions, but it was also being done right in the wake of Yang's escape the previous night, and that was concerning.

Perhaps they had managed to track her down? Blake would have done it herself, but Yang's whopper of a punch had sent her to the infirmary with a black eye, and the others decided to sleep on things instead of ending up like their secretly White Fang roommate. Their secretly current White Fang roommate. Ozpin had, in turn, talked to NEST about apprehending Yang with the minimum possible attention.

It was not information about Yang that greeted them when they reached the observation room overlooking the Emerald Forest they'd been summoned to. Flanking the door were a pair of armed sentries dressed in black and gold pressure suits, and was that the emblem of Menagerie on their shoulder pads? Before Blake could take a closer look, however, the sentries waved them in. When they entered...

"MOM?!" Blake blurted out.

Inside the observation room was a multiplicity of people. Of course, there were the obvious bodyguards standing around, dressed the same as their fellows outside the door and wielding various weapons. What really drew Blake's eye, though, was the woman sitting in one of the chairs, dressed in a pressure suit too, but sporting features so similar to Blake's own.

Kali Belladonna, Blake's mother, had come to Beacon.

"Hello, dear," the older black-haired woman greeted, rising to her feet and stepping toward Blake to pull her into a hug.

"How did you even know where to find me?!" Blake blurted out.

She pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "Sweetie, your match yesterday was on international television," her mother replied gently. "If you were trying to hide where you were, you've made some peculiar choices."

"She's got a point," pointed out Weiss unhelpfully.

At that, the older woman turned a curious look on the snowcapped girl.

"And you must be Weiss," she said before looking back at her daughter. "You know, Blake, after you ran away five years ago to stay with the White Fang, in all the many times I pictured seeing you again... it certainly wasn't through getting a letter from your best friend, Weiss Schnee."

"So you did get my letter," Weiss said, ignoring the look of betrayal Blake shot her as her starry eyes continued to look on the older Belladonna.

"Yes, we did," Blake's mother confirmed. "Apparently, the courier ran into some... difficulties along the way."

"How did you even know it was me?" asked Weiss.

"Miss Schnee, the letter's return address was this school, you coming here was big news, and 'Weiss' is a very Atlesian name. It wasn't hard to figure out."

"Yes... well... please don't use my surname," Weiss said, shrinking back.

"She's kind of sensitive about the subject," Blake hurriedly explained, shooting her mother a "later" look.

"...Clearly, you've had a very eventful five years," the older woman observed.

"More like five months," Blake corrected, then reconsidered. "Well, eight or ten."

"Why don't we sit down, and you can tell me all about it?"

Blake felt her cat ears try to press down onto her skull through the bow adorning her head as her eyes darted around the room. "Mom, it's... a lot of it is kind of... awkward."

"I can step out if you like?" Weiss offered softly.

"NO!" Blake snapped reflexively, shaking her head. "No. It's not you, Weiss. It's..." She trailed off and glanced at the bodyguards.

"We can't leave the room, ma'am," one of them said. "It's protocol."

"What?" Blake asked. "What protocol? When did this happen?"

"Mostly, sweetie, right after you ran away," her mother informed her. "Back when we thought you'd been kidnapped."

"Oh."

"But," she continued, "Dainty, why don't you and the others just step back, put your helmets on, and activate the noise cancellers? That should give us enough privacy, don't you think, Blake?"

Dainty seemed to consider that for a moment. As she did so, her nose wrinkled, and she sniffled. Eyes suddenly wide, she donned her helmet and sealed it shut. "An excellent idea, ma'am."

The others soon followed suit and stepped back, giving them a fair illusion of privacy as they sat down.

"So, tell me, Weiss," the older woman said, "am I to take it that you sent that letter without my daughter's knowledge?"

"Uh, y-yes, ma'am." Weiss nodded. "Blake was away, undergoing special ninja training at the time."

"'Special ninja training'?" her eyes turned to Blake. "Something you want to tell me, sweetie?"

"It was... an arrangement with Professor Greene," Blake explained. "I took up the offer after I... ran away. Again."

"It was my fault," Weiss quickly claimed.

"No, it wasn't!" Blake snapped, glaring at her friend. "I ran off because I realized I was a hypocrite, and... and I hurt you, Weiss. Even knowing about... everything, I still judged you by your name. That was wrong of me, and I can't apologize enough."

Weiss shook her head emphatically. "Oh, no, Blake. I already got into this mess with Pyrrha once. You can apologize enough."

Two sets of amber eyes blinked at her.

"What?" Blake asked.

"There was a thing," Weiss said, blushing furiously. "Just... ask Ren about it, if you must."

"I... see," Blake's mother offered.

"Besides," Weiss continued, "you were just trying to stop me from doing something stupid."

"Weiss, you were this close to trying to join the White Fang," Blake reminded her again. "They would have killed you."

Weiss looked away. "I know," she said softly.

Blake heard her mother suck in a sharp breath, and those two sets of amber eyes met.

"Like I said," Blake murmured, "a lot's happened in the last eight or ten months."

It was then that a familiar voice drew Blake and Weiss's attention to the door.

"Wow, I never knew this place was here, Dad."

"Yeah, most people don't," came a male voice. "It has - well, had - a fantastic view of the Emerald Forest. The instructors used to use it to monitor initiations before the camera system was installed. Not sure who these guys are."

"Someone you know, Blake?" her mother asked.

"That sounded like Ruby, our team leader," came the automatic answer. Blake immediately regretted it.

"Wonderful!" her mother said, rising to her feet again and heading to the door with a lightning speed that should not have looked so dignified. She flung open the door and took in the two people outside.

Yes, it was Ruby, and oh, look, that was her father, Taiyang, with them. And the little demon too.

"Hello!" the lady of Menagerie greeted cheerfully. "I'm Kali, Blake's mother. And you must be Ruby, her team leader!"

"Ah, hi?" Ruby offered uncertainly. She coughed. "Um, yes. That's me. And, uh, this is my dad, Taiyang Xiao Long."

"Delighted to meet you," she said. "Come in, come in! Blake was just about to tell me what's happened these past several months."

"Bark!"

Blake's mother looked down at the demon and betrayed her daughter in the worst possible way as she gushed, "Oh, how adorable!" She crouched down, arms out. "Come here, you little cutie!"

Zwei, the little furry abomination, obliged the traitor.

Moments later, all five of them were seated, with Zwei perched in Kali Belladonna's lap, and a semi-awkward silence fell on the room, only to be broken by the only seated male.

"So, Kali Belladonna, huh?" Taiyang asked. "Blake's mom?"

"That's right," she confirmed with a nod while stroking the dog like a supervillain.

"Great, maybe you can help," he said. "I recently learned my daughter ran off to join the White Fang. I don't suppose you have any advice?"

At the interest glittering in her mother's eyes, Blake buried her face in her hands. Oh, no.

There were a lot of issues going on in the life of Indigo "Daiku" Zap at that moment: secret conspiracies, alien robots, defecting to Vacuo, the SDC being the bad guys, the Rainbooms being moderately less terrible people than they usually were. The world seemed to have turned on its head.

Even this match that would normally seem so simple and fun now seemed so strange and layered with deception. Which, frankly, sucked. This was going to be her last competition with Atlas, and she couldn't even say that it was a going away event because no one could know that they were going until they filed the paperwork and left for the desert.

Daiku had always been a competitive girl, but she had also been lonely. The only child of rich parents who were never around and who raised her via the old standard of throwing her at the school system and letting the butler pick her up when it was time to go and work on her electives. It was in those electives that she found her two big passions in life: sports and architecture. Of course, when she had entered her teens, her parents had attempted to get her to become a proper lady for high society functions, but since they outsourced everything else in her childhood to others, she had managed to get her butler to enroll her in Crystal Preparatory Combat Academy. It was there that she had met her first friends.

Crystal Prep was a pressure cooker; there was no other way to put it. Its motto, Semper Plus Ultra - "always further beyond" - was not just meant to be a descriptor of their relationship with rivals like Canterlot Combat School, but it was also meant as a reminder to the student body that no matter how good they were, they could always be better. That meant that whenever they hit a wall, they were encouraged to go beyond and surpass their limitations.

Even for a girl who loved competition like she did, though, in those first few weeks, the stress was getting to her, and then she met Lemon Zest, that faunus with the ears on her head who just kept rocking out and never gave up. She was her first friend at Crystal Prep, but she wasn't the last. They met Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, and Sugarcoat soon after at a training event for the school's competitive team: the Shadowbolts. Then a few months after that, she almost literally ran into Twilight, and the rest was tubular history.

History which was about to come to an end.

It wasn't so bad for Daiku - she never had been close to her family - but Twilight? She was like glue with her kin. Sunny? She was almost literally walking in her parent's footsteps. Sugarcoat? She didn't bring it up, but she was worried sick about her parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and every other living member of her family almost constantly.

Twilight had been right, this really was dreadful.

She was just glad that her teammates trusted her enough to let her spin Stormbringer while she was standing at the tail end of the group in the center octagon. They were perfectly calm and at ease, which was more than could be said for their opponents. They were eyeing her modified sledgehammer warily as it twirled through the air.

One word came to Daiku's mind as she slammed the shaft of Stormbringer into her hand to deliver a powerful electric shock from the contact plate into her palm: Good.

Her semblance, Battery, was a wonderful thing. Not just because of what it could do, but because of how she had gotten it. Back during her early days at Crystal Prep, another bunch of girls had come in and started bullying her because she was friends with Lemon Zest. They had told her that if she was going to hang around with animals, then maybe she was an animal herself, and then locked a shock collar around her neck. It had hurt like nothing before in her life… and then it didn't. They kept trying to shock her, but all it did was keep filling her up until she decided to let it all out. The look on the face of one of the bullies - Ilia, she remembered that it had definitely been Ilia; she'd been in the back, watching, laughing - when she unleashed that lightning bolt on the others was utterly priceless.

They had tried to get the principal to throw her out after that, but while Cinch turned a blind eye to bullying, she also turned a blind eye to people striking back against their bullies; Crystal Prep, as she put it, was a combat academy, after all. So Indigo got away scot-free from zapping those losers in the face, and after that, they seemed to give them some distance. Oh, they still slung those insults and spread those rumors, but those meant even less than they did.

"Our next match is between Team Fairstar of Atlas and Team Beechnut of Haven," announced one of the Beacon professors over the speakers.

There wasn't any banter between the two teams, which was to be expected. Team BCHT were not the most memorable people. Daiku doubted they could even sling a good insult.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," said the lone girl on their team. "Why do you guys do that whole cheesy, 'Shadowbolts forever' thing?"

The question was asked as the digital slot machine appeared in holographic form for the terrain selection and began to spin.

"It's because the sports team at our old combat school were the Shadowbolts," replied Twilight with a friendly voice.

The slots on BCHT's side of the field came to rest on the volcanic biome, and the back panels began to retract to allow the ridiculously hot fake lava to rise to the top on its panels of the arena.

The guy with the sniper rifle raised an eyebrow. "Didn't they change the name to the Crystaleers or something?"

Daiku's eye twitched at the reminder of the ultimate betrayal that Principal Cinch had meted out in order to make the school more "marketable." The school took pride in being tough, in being hard, in teaching students to never give up and that a true Huntsman always found a way for humanity to live another day, in truly embodying their motto in every way they could. Shadowbolts was a team name that embodied the strength and skill that every Crystal Prep student strove to have. "Crystaleers" was quite literally a name thought up by committee in order to appeal to those steamroller parents who didn't want their lazy good-for-nothing brats to be challenged.

Honestly, they were worse than even the Rainbooms, and that was saying something.

The biome randomizer on FIST's side came to rest on the forest option, and the familiar terrain began to rise up in like manner to the volcanic terrain.

"We don't recognize the legitimacy of that change," said Straight Shooter, living up to her name in a way that didn't sugarcoat it.

"Three, two, one!" announced the Beacon professor. "Begin!"

Instantly, their opponents, and the stadium, disappeared. Team FIST was surrounded by a sphere of darkness centered around Radstorm. It was a sphere that shrank as the rest of the team huddled close to her and began to move as quickly as they could perpendicular to their opponents.

"And it looks like we're seeing the use of one of Team Fairstar's most uncanny abilities: the StealthGirl field," narrated the big Beacon professor.

"Indeed! Team Beechnut will have to come up with some innovative strategies to overcome this," agreed the fast Beacon professor.

As if in reply, the air became filled with the staccato sound of weapons fire as Team BCHT unleashed their sniper rifle, shotgun, and automatic rifle.

Magic visibly held in a cry as a few of the bullets flew through the outwardly invisible bubble to hit their auras. It seemed like an exaggerated overreaction to Daiku, but then again, at one point, it wouldn't have been. At one point, she probably would have cried out at a few little bullets bouncing off her aura, but not anymore.

She still deployed some of her drones and had them deploy their hard light shields while covering them, though. That was just common sense. As was the additional drone that dropped down from her backpack to move along the ground and deploy a tiny fiber optic cable that moved outside the bubble.

They hunkered down and clustered around Twilight's scroll as she viewed the feed from the cable.

"They're moving out into the forest, that's good," observed Radstorm very quietly, moving her hand in front of the scroll. "We can hit them in the back then. Can you see where to do that, Straight Shooter?"

"Of course," whispered Straight. "I'm just worried what they'll do if they don't go down in one shot, especially the rocket launcher guy."

"Maybe we could sow some confusion within their ranks," offered Magic as she looked carefully at her scroll and then pointed at the border between the biomes. "I think I can use my semblance to create a smokescreen with a trick that Professor Snake Eyes taught me."

Daiku silently raised an eyebrow at the none too surprising revelation. Professor Snake Eyes did sometimes play favorites, after all, and Magic was definitely the student he gave the most attention to outside of the ninja course... even if it wasn't immediately obvious because, well, he was a ninja. Not even Magic seemed to know why, though.

"Could work, do it quick, though," ordered Radstorm.

With a nod, Magic handed off her scroll and turned around to reach out with what was presumably her telekinesis before seeming to throw something. That something was a collection of parts of the volcanic biome and was briefly visible flicking across the sky in the camera before hitting the ground of the forest… and starting dozens of tiny fires. Those fires, of course, started to rapidly burn amongst the leaves and start a rather large smokescreen.

"Oh ho! It looks like Team Fairstar has been inspired by their recent mission to the Emerald Forest," cheered... Professor Port! That was his name, Professor Port. She knew she'd be able to remember eventually.

As he had been talking, they had taken binocular respirator masks off the side of Magic's very large backpack and quickly donned them, with Daiku stowing her goggles in one of her closable pockets.

"They handled themselves exceptionally well in that environment," continued Professor Port jovily before his voice took on a deadly air of mirth, "but Team Beechnut are no slouches either, especially when their opponents make such a critical mistake."

"Mistake?" asked all four members of Team FIST in unison, their voices distorted by their mask's vocabulators.

They all looked up as one and found the smoke drifting into their black bubble above their heads.

"Run," ordered Radstorm with wide eyes.

Their little bubble was soon filled with bullets, and while the drones spilling from Magic's backpack did their best to block shots with their shields, the other members of Team FIST scattered in all directions. With the ambush ruined, their plans were in tatters. Except they weren't, because the Shadowbolts were more than a team; they were best friends, and in the immortal words of Twilight Sparkle, "friendship is magic."

"Tanya!" Magic called out in dismay as one of the drones, its shields failing, tumbled to the ground, smoke pouring out of a bullet hole punched through its chassis.

Daiku spun Stormbringer so fast, it was like a ventilation fan in a skyscraper as she was running, and then suddenly, she let it go while holding onto the nanoweave strap on the butt of the sledgehammer's grip. The hammer, driven forward by the inertial intensifier inside it, flew at incredible speeds through the air towards the forest. Hanging onto the strap for dear life, Daiku couldn't help but grin like a maniac behind her respirator mask.

Stormbringer smashed through one of the trees, bringing it down to the arena floor. The second and third trees suffered similar fates before Daiku had slowed down enough to turn around and jump off the fourth to redirect her movement back into the burning forest. She had caught sight of one of her opponents on her way in and wasn't about to let them get away.

Still, what a waste of perfectly good wood, lamented Daiku in her head. If there's enough left over, I hope they allow me to take it. We'll only have a few days left before we go to Vacuo, but I still think I can make a bed or something out of those trees.

Daiku's head snapped back, and a split second later, she registered a deafening crack. Another moment, and she registered the pain in her neck. Of course, there was only one person on Team BCHT notable enough in any respect to be a pain in the neck of an Atlesian.

She touched one of Stormbringer's electroplates for another shocking jolt of energy as she straightened herself and stared into the eyes of that one dude who had it in for Black Out.

"How did you survive that?" asked the guy whose name Daiku was sure she would remember eventually through eyes watering at the smoke surrounding them.

"Aura and years of dance class," replied Daiku cheekily in a voice that was mechanically translated by her mask's speakers.

Without giving another reply, the guy fired his rifle again. This time, though, Daiku was ready and sidestepped the shot quickly enough to actually dodge it. It shouldn't have been that easily, but to be fair to the guy, there were extenuating circumstances.

Not giving him the chance to respond, Daiku brought her hammer in to sweep him aside, only to find her attack deflected by a bayonet that he held in his hand. That was odd; his rifle didn't appear to have a bayonet lug on the tip. Then it hit her, and she laughed.

"What's so funny?!" he demanded.

"Did you just copy Black Out's fighting style?" she asked mirthfully, though that was probably not what it sounded like to others.

The guy glanced down at his bayonet and then back up at her. "No," he denied weakly, and then more forcefully declared, "What's the problem, anyways? He stole my name and my slot in Atlas. Why can't I steal his fighting style?"

"Because you can't back it up," replied Daiku before going on the attack again, but just like before, she was deflected, and this time, he came in for an attack, and she was forced onto the defensive. "Okay, maybe you can."

"Of course!" barked… Stall! His name was Stall! "It'll take a lot more than one hammer-wielding idiot to defeat me!"

"Gregory, Leona, and Phillip incoming!" cried Magic over the comms system built into the mask's earpiece.

As Daiku and Stall continued to trade blows, a trio of drones swooped in from above and deployed machine guns to begin peppering the guy with bullets. It did damage, but more importantly, it distracted him. She could hit him with Stormbringer, but she decided to show how her weapon got its name first.

"Two thousand volts coming up!" she cried as she thrust out her hand, making him turn his head just enough that he saw it coming, not that it mattered.

There was a flash of light, an ear-splitting crack, and then Stall found himself flying back from the force of a lightning bolt. The buzzer sounded. Another victory.

"And Thomas Stall is the first to be eliminated!" reported the fast Beacon professor.

"Congratulations, you've been discharged!" she told the probably unconscious Stall.

Daiku could hear the sounds of battle now, and closest to her, she heard the report of Radstorm's laser rifle. She was already moving towards it when the buzzer sounded again. She doubted it was her friend.

"Curtis Letson follows his friend to the sidelines," narrated Professor Port, confirming Daiku's thoughts. "Now, it's two versus four, but it looks like Team Beechnut are about to turn it around."

With that, Daiku pivoted around and turned back to the central octagon, catching sight of Radstorm doing the same with her own trio of drones following behind.

"Team, Radstorm. Report," came the order over the comms system.

"Little busy in the middle right now!" replied Magic.

"Frozen, but not out," answered Straight Shooter in a chilled voice.

"About to break cover," reported Daiku.

It was then that she saw what was happening as she broke the treeline. Straight Shooter was mostly frozen in a block of ice near the border of the volcanic zone. Magic was wrapped up in a grapple with the guy with the rocket launcher, while the girl on Team BCHT had grabbed the backpack. They were all very close to the lava zone, and the drone swarm was staying back in an anti-guided missile defensive formation.

The next part happened in slow motion for Daiku.

While the girl was holding onto Magic's backpack, she yanked backwards, and then explosive bolts on the straps of the backpack fired. She was sent by her own momentum backwards, tripping into the volcanic area. Then Straight Shooter, still with her hand clutching her pistol and barely able to move, fired, having aimed at just the right spot to cause a lava bubble to explosively burst. The girl was taken into the red on her aura.

Simultaneously with that, Magic was freed up to move with the removal of her backpack. She redirected the force of her attacker, and then in one swift movement, turned around him to pin his arm to his back with one hand while drawing her pistol and bringing the barrel up to the back of his head with the other. She pulled the trigger, and his aura dropped as well.

A double buzzer sounded, and the crowd went wild.

"Unbelievable!" shouted Professor Port over the speakers. "A total elimination for Team Beechnut with Joseph Balkun and Julie Haun taken out of the match! I really thought they could turn it around there, folks, but Team Fairstar reversed their reversal in the blink of an eye."

"Can we get a slow motion replay on that?" asked the fast Beacon professor.

As the commentary continued on, Daiku walked up to Twilight and gave the girl a fist bump with a smile. "Told you two wearing contacts today would pay off."

Twilight scoffed behind her respirator. "Maybe, but as soon as we get out of here, I'm switching out for my glasses. I do not look good with contacts. Should probably check on Sugarcoat, though."

Together with Sunny Flare, the group walked over to where the woman with the twin-tailed hair was still frozen.

"Do you have any idea how ironic this is?" asked Daiku. "You're like half an inch away from the lava zone."

"Ha ha," deadpanned Sugarcoat dryly. "Can you guys get me out now? My teeth are starting to chatter."

"I got it," replied Sunny Flare with a chuckle before aiming her laser rifle at the ice block encasing her friend.

Let's see those jerks in Team Jasper do better than that, thought Daiku competitively before looking up at the sky with sadness mostly hidden behind her mask. It'll be the last chance we ever have to beat them at something.

"Woohoo!" Pinkie yelled, blowing a party streamer out of her mouth as she waved a pair of pom-poms in the air. "GO, TWILIGHT!"

Rarity leaned away, cringing a little at the sudden noise. "Pinkie, dear, she can't hear you."

"But we can," Fluttershy murmured mildly.

"That was amazing, wasn't it?" Pinkie asked. "Did you see that thing that Twilight did with the backpack? Whoosh! And then she was like BANG! And that guy went down!"

"She's certainly come a long way," Rarity acknowledged, "and it appears the rest of those ruffians from Crystal Prep are not entirely without skill either. Not that they'd be anything without Twilight's toys, of course."

"They did well," Vice Principal Luna said, "but I'm not sure there's much to be said for the caliber of their opposition."

"Haven teams are often poorly served in the Vytal Festival for... whatever reason," Principal Celestia agreed. "That hasn't entirely been the case so far, but... you're right, Team Beechnut didn't raise the bar for their school. And yet, I don't think it's fair to judge Team Beechnut like that. Despite appearances, they did come very close to turning the fight around in their favor. Team Fairstar got lucky."

"If that's how Twilight did, I can't imagine how Rainbow Dash is going to blow them all out of the water!" cheered Scootaloo eagerly, and then she frowned. "Anyone know when she's coming on?"

"Looks like we'll just have to watch every fight today," said Apple Bloom in a non-answer.

"Not bad." Demolisher nodded appreciatively.

Megatron scowled. "A poor measure of their skill."

"Huh?"

"Reports on Team Beechnut's combat capability suggests an... unimaginative group," he explained. "Capable, but lacking in creativity and adaptability. Acceptable for line troops, perhaps, but hardly elites."

"What reports?"

Megatron just gave him a level glare that softened. "The reports you prepared for me, of course," he said. "I appreciate your discretion in not reading them."

"Operational security, sir."

"Oooh, those Fist girls are something else," said Penny chipperly as she watched the match.

"Fairstar," corrected Aska automatically, recalling all the other times she had had to correct Penny's pronunciation of the upperclassmen's team. It was a normal thing between them if Ciel wasn't around, or if she was on the opposite side of the seats as she was then. In fact, some could even say it was too normal…

Aska felt a slight chill down her spine as she watched the swarm of drones tear the stadium apart while trying to intercept the missiles fired at them. That, of course, wasn't the cause of the chill. No, the cause of the chill was something she would acknowledge only now.

"Very impressive, brother," she allowed, not even deigning to look to her side and see where once Penny had so obviously sat there was now only her twin brother, Kogetsu. "I'm curious, though, do you believe the Grimm can be killed by you disguising yourself as a little girl?"

"No, I don't," replied the man so close to her in every feature one could think to have. "Don't worry about Penny; she is in a better place right now."

"You and I have a very different idea of 'better,' brother. What have you done with her?" demanded Aska.

"I told her that Ice has not ever had ice cream," answered Kogetsu seriously.

Something clicked in Aska's head, and then she covered up the hysterical laughter that she wanted to let out at the expense of her brother's cold-hearted teammate with a smug smirk. "I see. No doubt she is finding new meaning to the words 'brain freeze.' Penny would not allow for anything less."

"No, she would not," said Kogetsu with a smile that soon turned into a frown. "Have you heard the news, Aska?"

The black-haired girl felt a dull punch to the gut and nodded. "I guess I'm still in a little bit of shock over it. I mean… I mean…"

"You mean that you're finally starting to come out of that stupid 'we're not related unless the doctor says so' phase," finished Kogetsu.

Her head snapped around to glare at her twin brother. "Kogetsu!"

"What? It's true," he told her. "You've been a pain in Dad's backside for years now. Always so obsessed with a dead legacy that you haven't been able to see that you've got a whole living family here waiting for you. I'm just glad you're starting to relearn that, yes, adoption is a thing now, when we're about to get a new member of the family."

"I… I don't want to forget," Aska said softly, surprising herself. "I don't want Benigumo to have won."

Kogetsu actually looked ashamed at that. "I… I don't want him to have won either, but…" he trailed off and got a little bit more steel in his voice, "but if we don't accept new members into our clan, isn't that what's going to happen? Isn't that what's going to happen to Dad's clan? Koryu, Ironwood, both at the end of the line. Our legacies were both gone and done for before we met each other."

"You're getting very poetic," observed Aska.

"Maybe this needs a little poetry," insisted Kogetsu. "I mean… I don't know about you, but… I kind of want to know what it's like to have a mom."

Aska was quiet for a very long moment before answering. "I do too."

The two twin siblings sat together in silence at that.

"Hey, Shadow, are you- WHOA!" shouted Rufus from Aska's other side, nearly jumping out of his seat and pointing at Kogetsu. "Where did you come from?!"

Before either of them could reply, Ciel looked up from behind Rufus, her normal calm seeming to shatter. "Excuse me, but WHERE'S PENNY?!"

"Uh, I can explain?" offered Kogetsu weakly.

Qrow slouched in the elevator as it rose up Beacon Tower to Ozpin's office. When the elevator stopped and the doors slid open, he stepped out, eyes sweeping across the three occupants.

"Oz, Jimmy, Glynda," he said, nodding to each in turn. "Just who I was hopin' to see." He raised an eyebrow as he noticed the change in decor. Gone were the gears and other clockwork mechanisms. The walls were bare except for the windows, and the carpet was as cookie cutter as it got. "Felt the need to redecorate, Oz?"

"Something like that," Oz said neutrally.

"So kind of you to grace us with your presence," Jimmy growled. Qrow suppressed a smirk. He could almost hear his teeth grinding from here.

"Qrow," said Oz before he could needle the general further, "why are you here?"

"You sent me to get intel on our enemy," Qrow said, "and I'm telling you, our enemy is here."

"We know," Jimmy said.

Qrow scowled. "Oh! Oh, you know. Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed!"

"Who do you think blew up this office?" the Atlesian general asked, leaning forward. "A little late with that warning, don't you think?"

Aw, crap, he thought. "Well, excuse me, General," he retorted, pulling out his flask. "I was a little busy dealing with Cobra, but it turns out, no, they aren't working for Salem." He took a swig. "By the way, Oz, you might want to watch out for Cobra, but don't worry; they don't have any Night Ravens anymore."

The three of them exchanged looks.

"And who exactly is Cobra?" Glynda inquired.

"A ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world," answered Qrow.

"Oh, so like MECH," Jimmy said, nodding understandingly.

Qrow blinked. "Like who?"

"MECH," Ozpin answered. "They're the ones who stole the Dingus."

"The Dingus was stolen?!" The DNGAS had been a critical part of the plan to transfer the remaining half of Amber's Maiden powers to a suitable candidate. "And you're telling me Salem's agent was here, in this office?" He shook his head. "Why didn't you call me?"

"We have reason to believe our communications have been compromised," was Jimmy's grim answer.

Qrow's face was flat for all of half a second. "What?"

"Qrow," began Ozpin, his voice serious. "Have you heard about the atomic detonation that destroyed the K.A.S. Furchtlos?"

Qrow glanced between the three, measuring their expressions. "Uhh, depends. What the heck does 'atomic' mean?"

It was Glynda that spoke up, lecturing like she was in a classroom. "Every piece of matter in the world is made up of these tiny little things - far too small for anyone to see, even with a microscope - called molecules. Those molecules are made up of even smaller things called atoms. Splitting those atoms releases the energy stored within." She gestured out the window at the ugly black scar upon the Emerald Forest. "As you can see, it is a great deal of energy. Hence the name 'atomic' weapon."

James hopped off from that. "A Haven student by the name of Cinder Fall stole the prototype atomic bomb from MARS, and used it on the Furchtlos because it was the ship carrying Amber to Atlas. She cared about this because she was the one who originally attacked Amber, she was the one with the other half of the Fall Maiden's powers, and she was working with Salem the whole time."

"What?!" Qrow was finding himself repeating that word a lot today. Amber was dead? That was- he'd saved her! "Get Leo on the line," he snarled. "How did-?"

"We can't," interrupted Ozpin. "Leonardo is dead."

Qrow… Qrow didn't have a response to that. How could he? He had just been told that one of the four headmasters of the academies, a friend, was dead.

"He was found dead in his office a few weeks ago. Someone had snuck in and beheaded him," explained Jimmy. "While investigating the crime scene, Mistrali law enforcement also found a Seer in a hidden room attached to Leo's office. We can only assume then that's how Cinder Fall gained entry into Haven, because Leonardo was working for Salem."

"What?!" roared Qrow, his sorrow turning to rage in an instant.

"It explains so... so much," lamented Ozpin.

"He's given her a lot of victories, but getting the Atlesians to pull back their military from everywhere on Remnant and return home has got to take the cake," observed Glynda.

"He did what?! How?!" demanded Qrow.

"The recall order was issued by a three to two majority vote in the Atlesian Council the morning after the destruction of K.A.S. Furchtlos," said Jimmy in a cold dead voice. "I voted against it and was overruled. I'm only allowed to remain here in Vale in my capacity as headmaster. That's why the three remaining ships of Blue Squadron aren't here anymore."

"You brought your ships to Vale?" asked Qrow, outraged. His expression then shifted to shock. "You were overruled? How?"

"It's been becoming a trend," replied Jimmy dryly. "Guess I'm just nowhere near as persuasive as I used to be."

"James, stop it," protested Glynda. "This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. It's all the fault of Soundwave and the Decepticons. He's been manipulating the council, and we all know it."

"'Decepticons'? 'Soundwave'?" stumbled Qrow, mentally trying to keep track of all the new players in the game. "And I missed all this?!"

"That's what happens when you go dark," pointed out Jimmy.

"What else have I missed?" asked the lost Huntsman, dreading the answer.

"Doctor Merlot survived the Mountain Glenn disaster, and we have confirmation he caused it," Jimmy informed him.

That uptight mule was laughing inside, Qrow knew it.

"Please tell me you killed him," pleaded Qrow.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to confirm that Merlot was killed when he was yanked off the shoulder of his sentient giant transforming island base slash laboratory by an Elder Wyvern," Glynda said without batting an eye.

"Yanked off his what by a what?!" asked Qrow, batting many eyes.

"Sadly, at this time, we have to entertain the possibility that Doctor Merlot is in the clutches of Salem at this very moment," explained Ozpin, ignoring his subordinate's expressions. "She likely wanted him after his successful experiments fusing Grimm with toxic dark energon."

"'Energon'? Isn't that the new fuel the SDC's been shoving in our faces lately?"

Glynda's face was most perturbed. "So you've heard about that, but you haven't about James leading the Elder Wyvern away from Vale or the Atlesian forces being recalled or any of the many other things that have happened recently?!"

"In my defense, I've been going down the world's longest rabbit hole to find someone who… apparently… attended classes here," summed up Qrow as his eyes darted between the trio and then grinned sheepishly. "And the SDC's advertising is just that good. Come on, you got to admit that their jingle stays stuck in your head all week."

Jimmy snorted angrily. "I don't entertain the jingles of traitorous slaver scum."

Qrow blinked. "Excuse me?"

The Atlesian brought out his scroll and whipped it open like it was, well, a scroll, quickly bringing up a picture of a boxy blue robot standing in a featureless room. Then he started talking crazy. "This is Soundwave. He represents a group of aliens from the planet Cybertron called the Decepticons, and he's wormed his way into the SDC and the rest of the Atlas Council. He has access to the CCT network, and we suspect he's managed to acquire full network privileges. They're behind the energon, and to make it, they're using slave labor supplied by the SDC."

"You're joking," Qrow deadpanned desperately, the wheels of his mind spinning in place. "Alien robots?"

Ironwood pulled his scroll back a bit and fiddled with it, before showing it to him again. "For scale, if that helps." Qrow squinted. The picture was zoomed out, and in it, he could now see a strip of metal running across the room with tiny railings on it, and standing on it was a tiny figure...

It was Winter. Where was the ice queen, anyway?

"Oh. So, now it's giant alien robots?" he sputtered. "This is crazy. Are you listening to yourself, Jimmy?"

"I'm genuinely surprised you don't know about this, Qrow," Jimmy replied in a tone that made Qrow want to punch him. "After all, your niece is buried in this up to her neck."

"Ruby?" exclaimed Qrow automatically. "How'd she get mixed up in this?"

"She's not the one you should be asking about," said Glynda with a sad note in her voice.

Jimmy sighed morosely. "Qrow, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Yang Xiao Long's motorcycle was destroyed near the beginning of her first semester. We now believe her replacement vehicle may have been one of these alien robots in disguise. This would make sense, since they have the ability to transform into facsimiles of Remnant vehicles."

Qrow blinked. "Okay. Okayyy. Okay, wasn't expecting that." He was regulating his breathing, but… Yang? Involved with evil giant transforming robot aliens? "Any more bombshells you want to drop on me, Jimmy?"

The stupid jerk actually replied. "She's admitted to being a member of the White Fang and escaped Beacon last night after being confronted by the rest of her team. We have NEST looking for her - with orders to avoid confrontation! - but she hasn't been seen since."

"...who's NEST?" asked Qrow, blurting out the first thought to jump to mind.

"The National Emergency Strike Team," Ozpin answered. "The Vale Council formed them in response to growing tensions in the wake of the Furchtlos's destruction."

Qrow felt himself grasping for his flask automatically, his mind… shorting out. "...I need a drink."

"Qrow, I can tell you from personal experience that there is no drink in the world strong enough to block out this sort of shock and pain," Ozpin informed him sadly.

"Oz," bit out Qrow, "I just found out aliens are real and my niece- excuse me, my human niece is a faunus supremacist terrorist. If a drink strong enough doesn't exist, then I'll brew one myself. Or maybe I'll get it from the giant transforming alien robots!"

He unscrewed the cap of his flask and took a hearty swig. "Please tell me Ruby's doing okay."

"She ran ahead of her friends into a three way firefight between the White Fang, MECH, and the SDC and ended up getting shot," deadpanned Ozpin.

"That was Ruby?" gasped Qrow.

"She's gotten much better," said Glynda defensively. "After all, Ruby has been independently planning and leading operations against the Decepticons in Sanus - Ozpin and I only learned about it when she chose to bring it to our attention - since almost the start of classes this year with Team Rainbow, a team that she formed herself from members of three different official teams. She's really grown into her own."

Before Qrow could even comprehend that, Jimmy picked up on it.

"Indeed, she was even involved in a mission with Specialist Schnee and Team Apricot that, when it's declassified, will be forever written into the history books," he said oh so grandly. "You must be very proud."

"I know I am," said Glynda, picking up the line. "I'm glad to call her a friend."

Qrow looked down at his flask. "Maybe I have had a bit too much to drink. Is that all?"

Jimmy and Glynda actually reached over and intertwined their fingers without exploding.

"We've decided to get engaged," Jimmy announced.

Qrow looked down into his flask again and started drinking again. He stopped just long enough to shout. "Nope! Not drunk enough!"

"Qrow, stop it," pleaded Ozpin.

"Can't hear you, Oz. I'm already moving to the bar," said Qrow as he walked back towards the elevator. "Man, I bet the ice queen doesn't have to deal with this."

Winter Schnee had often entertained thoughts of patricide. In the last year or so, she was contemplating those thoughts more frequently and more seriously.

It was only filial loyalty that stayed her hand. Not to her father, no, but to her sister. With what their father had mired the SDC into, his death would mean Weiss, as the heiress, would be drawn into the mess... on the wrong side. Assuming, of course, Whitley didn't make a play for the inheritance himself, which would just entail a whole slew of other problems for Weiss.

Of course, Weiss probably wouldn't know or care about these efforts. She hated Winter, and justifiably so. She wouldn't even use her semblance anymore if she could avoid it, so disgusted was she by her family.

Whatever happened, though, Winter swore that she would make the world safe for her sister. At least in a relative fashion. She might die to Grimm, but it would be a warm day on the northern pole before she died to this vast conspiracy that had infiltrated the whole world.

And there really was a vast conspiracy that stretched across the planet. Her old commanding officer had been right. These… Joes... were everywhere.

She couldn't go to the General, not on the word of a man thought dead, anymore than she could go to him about the suspicious gaps in the Decepticons' employment records. But who else could she trust? And that was when she realized she had stared at the answer in the face not too long ago.

The news media had been relatively subdued about what they'd found in that old Mantellian bunker, and it had swiftly been pushed out of the news by the destruction of the Furchtlos, but a list had been published of people who had been found in suspended animation there.

Except one. And why would his recovery be covered up?

It had taken some finagling with General Flagg to get access to the archives she was in now, but tracing the personnel and equipment sent to retrieve the stasis pods was her only clue to figuring out where he'd been taken.

James Ironwood may be the General, but this man... he was the General, the one who'd forged Atlas from the shattered remains of Mantle into the sword and shield of Remnant, the pillar of civilization it was today, the same Atlas that was now under threat, by Decepticon and Joe alike. When he'd disappeared, some people believed he would return, like some mythical hero, when Atlas needed him the most, to light their darkest hour.

A time much like now, she thought.

Maybe she was wrong. But it felt right.

It feels right, but I think I've reached the end of the trail here, lamented Winter as she began to do what someone in her position needed to do when leaving a digital archive. I'm close, though. Even if I can't trace the personnel from there, there are only so many facilities that have the necessary medical equipment to perform this sort of operation, and I know them all now.

She finished what she needed to do and left the archive. When she was about to exit the building, however, she ran into the most unusual sort of sight. It was… Duke. Of course it was.

"Hey, Targeter, how's it going?" asked the blond man cheerfully. "Fancy meeting you here on a day like today."

"Duke," replied Winter, her voice living up to her name. "You are the last person I would have expected to see here."

"What? Don't think I can read?" he asked with good-natured sarcasm.

"I don't think you can willingly," she shot back.

"Hey, I'll willingly follow orders all day long, Targeter," he quipped as he began to move away, and then he stopped. "Actually, before I forget. Targeter, what do you think of Councilor Sylvia?"

Winter paused and turned to him. "What do you mean, Duke?"

"Well, it's just that my ma asked me who she should vote for in the next election, and I wanted an opinion from someone who actually paid attention to that sort of thing," he reasoned, sheepishly bringing a hand around to the back of his head in embarrassment.

Winter dredged up what she could recall about Councilor Sylvia... beyond the fact that the snake, along with the other two elected Councilors, had formed a bloc that seemed determined to drive Atlas into the ground. The three elected members of the Atlas Council served six-year terms, with alternating elections every two years. Councilor Camilla represented the city of Atlas, while Councilor Sleet represented Mantle. Councilor Sylvia's seat - representing the entire kingdom, Atlas, Mantle, and the outlying settlements all together - was up for election next year, and... that was all she could recall.

She shook her head. "Then you shouldn't have asked me, Duke. The moment I entered the academy, I did my best to ignore politics as much I could."

I wish I hadn't, she lamented in her mind. Maybe if I hadn't, I would have been better prepared… It doesn't matter now, I suppose. Right now, I'm the only person on Remnant who knows what's going on and can do something about it.

Duke shrugged. "Shame. Can't believe we're in the same boat. Ah, well. Catch you on the flip side, Targeter."

Winter walked away from that encounter, and she kept walking. She kept walking, and she kept her cool. No one could know the panic that was in her mind that came with the remembering of one simple fact.

Duke's mother moved to Argus two years ago. She can't vote in the council elections.

Kali Belladonna was a lovely woman and clearly a loving mother, Tai concluded.

"...and, I suppose, the most important thing is to just keep on loving her, because eventually, she will come to her senses, and when she does, she's going to need to know that her parents still love her very much and are just happy to have her back," finished Kali in a summation that tugged at the heartstrings, hugging Zwei to her chest.

Blake, apparently, was the lone person remaining unmoved. "Yang's mother is a mass-murdering psychopath," she deadpanned. "I don't think she's going to be too broken up about her joining the White Fang."

"Oh. So... like Adam," extrapolated Kali. "Though I must say that I'm really surprised how tolerant he's become. Working with humans? I didn't think he had it in him."

"How dare you talk about Summer Rose like that!" Ruby objected.

Amber eyes blinked in confusion at silver. "What? I was talking about Raven!"

"Yang's made it clear that she doesn't consider Raven her mother, remember?" Weiss pointed out, looking at Blake.

"Oh," Ruby acknowledged. "How dare you talk about Raven Branwen like that!"

Kali looked between the teenagers curiously.

"Raven is... troubled," Tai offered.

"She leads a bandit tribe, Ruby!" Blake argued.

"Yeah, that," Tai confirmed with a nod.

"Raven Branwen, was it?" Kali probed. "Of the Branwen Tribe?"

"...I take it you know of her?" Tai asked.

"We've met," she answered, her eyes narrowed into slits. "She was drunk, she took me hostage... I get the feeling she didn't exactly plan ahead."

"That, um, no, she probably didn't," Tai agreed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Before Kali could reply, they heard a scuffle at the door and turned to look... just as one of the door sentries flew through the door and into the room.

Weapons were raised, and everyone rose to their feet.

"Whoa, hey," said the unkempt intruder, raising his hands. The smell of alcohol wafted out from him. "Juss' came to grab m'buddy, Tai."

The guards fired. Fortunately, they were firing lightning dust darts, apparently intent on zapping him sober.

"What the?" the drunk asked a split second before the probes activated. "BZZZAAAABBBABABABA!"

He dropped to the floor and flopped like a dead fish as the thousands of volts of electricity flowed into his body and froze his muscles up.

"Uncle Qrow!" gasped Ruby in shock and horror.

The power flow stopped for a second, and a moan escaped the drunk's lips. "Oww…"

"Qrow, what the heck are you doing?" Tai asked as the shocks ended.

"Hey, Tai," Qrow said, waving lazily. "I just got some news and really need a drinking partner."

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked. "Are- are you okay?"

"I'm not drunk enough to be okay, kiddo."

Tai sighed. Qrow must have heard about Yang. "My apologies, ma'am," he said, bowing to Kali. "I'll take my brother-in-law here off your hands and get him out of the way. Would you mind keeping an eye on Zwei and Ruby, make sure she doesn't run off half-cocked and get shot again?"

"Of course," she said with a well-practiced smile. "Wait, 'again'?" She looked over at Ruby. "That was you?"

"Oh, come on!" Tai heard Ruby complain as he manhandled his brother-in-law out of the room.

Beacon did not have a wet bar, this was known to most, but what was not known to the public was that there was a secret bar just for members of Team STRQ located in a secluded location on the campus. It was something that Summer had put together in their second year as a gift. It was something she had come to regret soon after, but it still sometimes had its uses, especially since someone had apparently kept it stocked over the years.

"So, how have things been?" asked Qrow after downing his shot glass, filled from the nearby bottle of Apple Family Cider from Sweet Apple Acres. "I mean, besides Leo working for Salem, Ruby becoming the leader of her own little conspiracy, and Jimmy and Glynda tying the knot! I still can't believe they did that."

Tai raised his eyebrows. "Really? I hadn't heard about that. Good for them. All I've done lately is get a new car."

Qrow looked aghast. "This is just nuts. We're in a shadow war with giant alien robots. My niece is a terrorist. You got a new car. Please, Tai, tell me you've got some good news. Something normal. Like, have either of them gotten a boyfriend or something?"

Tai couldn't keep his lips from curling into a smile. "Well, last I checked, Yang had a thing for some blond transfer student from Haven, a guy named Sun. But he was too busy chasing Yang's teammate, Blake, to even notice her feelings, and I think Yang was actually helping them get together."

Qrow blinked. "'Blake'?"

"She's the dark-haired girl whose mother's visit you interrupted," explained Tai. "She's a former terrorist raised in the White Fang. Apparently, she ran away from home to stay with the White Fang, then ran away from the White Fang to come to Beacon, then ran away from Beacon to become a ninja."

Qrow stared at Tai, refilling his shot glass, then grabbed another and filled it. "Want a drink?"

"No thanks," declined Tai, shaking his head.

"More for me, then," Qrow said, shrugging and downing both shots. "What about Ruby?"

"Well..." Tai hesitated. "She was sort of dating this kid named Jaune for a while."

"'Was'?" Qrow echoed, raising an eyebrow as he... refilled both shot glasses. "What happened?"

"She dumped him," said Tai suddenly.

"What'd the little idiot do?" Qrow snarled as he gulped down both shots.

"Nothing," answered Tai. "She insists it's not his fault, but she won't tell anyone why. He's with his teammate now, a sweet girl who's apparently had a thing for him for a while but just couldn't spit it out."

Qrow paused before refilling the shot glasses. He held up the bottle and squinted at it. "Blast. This stuff is stronger than I thought. I could've sworn you just said-"

"That Ruby basically pulled a Raven, while Yang's pulling a Summer," summed up Tai. "Yeah. I... kinda did."

"Then this stuff isn't strong enough," reasoned Qrow, skipping the shot glasses and going straight for guzzling the whole bottle. "Are you sure you didn't get the two of them mixed up at some point?"

"No, no, they're still just the same as they always were," replied Tai sadly. "At least… at least, I thought they were."

Qrow reached out a hand and started to pat his brother-in-law on the back. "Hey, don't worry about it, Tai. We'll get her back. We'll find out why she's done this, and we'll bring her home."

"We'll bring her to jail," corrected Taiyang.

"We'll stage a breakout and go to ground," rephrased Qrow.

Taiyang looked at him strangely. "How can you be getting so drunk from a non-alcoholic beverage?"

The scraggly black-haired man chuckled. "Non-alcoholic? Come on, Tai, this is pure distilled…" Qrow's eyes had been drifting towards the bottle and shot open when he realized there was a picture of a small redheaded Apple girl drinking a glass over the words "ALCOHOL FREE!" in big, dynamic, yellow and green font.

"No," Qrow whispered, setting the bottle down and scrambling over to the fridge where the rest of the secret bar's supply was kept. "No," he repeated as he checked each and every container in the cooling unit. "No!"

"What's wrong?" asked Tai curiously.

"It's dry. It's all dry, Tai!" choked out Qrow.

"Really?" At this point, Taiyang was desperately trying to keep his face straight. "Not a drop of alcohol?"

"Not a one. Who could have done this, Tai? Who could…?" Qrow trailed off, evidently having figured out that there was only one person who both knew about the cache and had the ability to refill it. "Raven. Raven!"

"Guess she still has some connection to someone here," muttered Tai thoughtfully.

"She's evil, Tai. Pure evil!" the more scraggly of the two shouted before getting up and walking away. "We have to stop her before it's too late!"

Taiyang sighed to himself. "Here we go again."

As Team JSPR waited in the dark corridor for the final call to enter the arena, Rainbow Dash tucked her hands behind her head. "This feels good, doesn't it? No problems, no secrets, no conspiracies, just a stand-up fight for fun and honor."

"Eeyup, the true spirit of the Vytal Festival," Applejack said, a small smile playing on her face.

"Buuut," Rainbow said, drawing out the word, "I still think we need to take her out first. Come on, Spurs, you know she's the most dangerous out of them."

"I know that, and that's why I want to leave her for last," Applejack insisted. "If we go all in on her first, then we'll go down to numbers, and we'll be vulnerable."

"So long as we take her out with at least two people to spare, we'll be fine," Rainbow insisted. "This is Team Bloodmoon; she's the only one worth worrying about."

"That's why we're gonna sweep the rest of 'em and then take care of her," Applejack insisted. "Once we've-"

"Dented our auras," Rainbow interrupted.

"-eliminated the rest of her team, we can focus on her without any problem."

"Don't either of you think it's a bad sign that we're about to get called, and we still don't have a game plan?" Flash asked.

"No," both of them chorused at once towards the cub of the team.

"We got a game plan, ninety percent of one," Applejack said. "It's just Ditzy that we don't agree on."

"Will Teams Jasper and Bloodmoon make their way into the center of the arena!" declared Beacon's own Professor Port from the commentator's booth.

Applejack pushed her hat a little further back on her head. "Maud? Anything profound to say before we hit the dance floor?"

Maud Pie blinked. "Heart of jasper, you have lines of colour, rising, higher and higher. You have no fractures. You are strong."

Rainbow nodded. She didn't understand what Maud was saying with these rock poems half the time, but they kind of put everyone in the right mood, somehow.

"That about sums it up," Applejack declared. "No fractures, strong."

"No fractures, strong," Rainbow repeated.

"Okay, everybody, let's move it out," Applejack said, as she led her team out of the darkness of the corridor beneath the arena and into the light of the stage itself. They marched out in name order: Applejack in her farming duds, spurs jingling slightly on her boots; Flash Sentry in his gleaming armor, his shield so big, it covered one side of his body completely; Maud Pie, pickaxe slung across her back, her gown descending to her knees; Rainbow Dash in her white ninja outfit, sword and submachine gun strapped to her back, but with her face uncovered, because come on, in what stage was she supposed to be able to hide while dressed like a ninja?

"Team Jasper of Atlas!" Professor Port announced. The cheers for them were loud, but not so loud in Rainbow's ears as the imagined cheers that she could hear in her mind from all the folks back home.

This one's for you, Scootaloo.

"Team Bloodmoon of Haven!" Professor Port declared.

Rainbow meant it as no offence - okay, maybe it was kind of an offence - to Team BLDM to say that they had the biggest divergence between how cool their name was - seriously, Team Bloodmoon - and how, well, not cool the members of said team were. Don't get her wrong - they were all really nice people, and some of them were even Rainbow's friends - but they were just not cool enough to deserve a name like Team Bloodmoon.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Ditzy waved cheerily as Team BLDM fell into position facing their Atlesian - in school; they were all from the Kingdom of Atlas, which made it a crime that General Ironwood had lost out on Ditzy Doo to Lionheart as far as Rainbow Dash was concerned - opponents.

Rainbow grinned. "Hey, Ditzy. May the best Huntress win, huh?"

"Don't expect us to go easy on you guys," Lyra called good-naturedly from across the central octagon. "Haven needs a win."

The biome randomiser did its thing, and soon, the terrain on which they would have their battle was decided: a grassy field, speckled with rocks and culminating in a looming mountain, rose out of the depths behind Team JSPR, while behind Team BLDM arose a tundra field of ice that put Rainbow in mind of some of the wilder places back home.

Lucky break for us, Rainbow thought.

The four members of BLDM - Bon Bon in her shining armor; Lyra in her many-coloured cloak, a harp slung across her back; Ditzy Doo in a white T-shirt and orange shorts, with no weapons visible or otherwise; Minuette with what looked like a giant toothbrush and tube of toothpaste slung across her back - faced their JSPR opponents with affably good-natured looks upon their faces. They were all friends here; this wasn't a grudge fight. May the best Huntsmen win.

"Three two one!" counted down Professor Oobleck, Beacon's history teacher, so fast it wasn't punctuated. "Begin!"

"Flash, go for it!" Applejack snapped, sending Flash Sentry charging forward, his great shield held before him and his sword drawn, dashing up the center of the arena towards Ditzy Doo, who stood waiting to receive him in a martial arts posture straight out of a Mistralian movie, complete with tiger claw hands.

Lyra reached for her harp, bringing it out from across her shoulders and beginning to strum upon the strings.

"It looks like Miss Heartstrings is going to use her semblance, Song of Courage," Professor Oobleck said.

There was a crack from Applejack's One in a Thousand, and Lyra stumbled back, her music stilled.

"And it looks like Miss Apple is determined to stop her," Professor Port noted approvingly.

Minuette tried to intercept Flash amid his charge but was interrupted by a rock thrown by Maud. She batted it away with her oversized toothbrush, but a second rock followed hard on the heels of the first as Maud turned on her heel amidst the rocks, arms outstretched like a ballerina, lifting them up into the air with her semblance and throwing them at Minuette like tennis balls.

Applejack chambered another round, twirling her gun expertly in her hands to work the lever with a showy flourish, before taking another expertly aimed shot at Lyra.

"Lyra, get to cover," Bon Bon shouted, gesturing behind them both.

That was Rainbow's cue. While Bon Bon turned away, distracted for the moment, Rainbow covered the distance separating the two of them, surging across the central octagon with a rainbow trailing behind her, back bent, head down, shoulder turned as she slammed bodily into the heavily armored girl, lifting her up off the ground as Rainbow's body rose and she wrapped one arm around her opponent's waist.

With the other hand she drew her submachine gun, Red Shift, and sprayed fire in Lyra's direction as she ran on, bearing Bon Bon back with her, into BLDM's icy half of the field. Rainbow stopped, slipping on the icy surface - that was why she'd stopped; if she didn't, she'd skid herself right off the battlefield - as she flung Bon Bon as hard as she could out of the arena.

"Oho!" cried Professor Port. "Are we about to see our first exit from the battle?"

Rainbow didn't know for sure, which was why she switched her grip on Red Shift to a two-handed one and kicked up the cyclic rate as she fired on Bon Bon.

The bullets ricocheted off Bon Bon's all-enclosing armor, ripping at her aura as they did so, but as she shielded her face with one armored hand, Bon Bon retained the presence of mind to grab her morningstar, Jawbreaker, and fling it outwards. The chain extended as the spiked ball dropped to the ground, digging into the icy surface of the battlefield as it landed with a thud.

The chain began to retract, pulling Bon Bon back towards the ground.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she crossed the distance to the grounded morningstar in a flash, grabbed the chain, and gave it a yank towards her, redirecting Bon Bon's descent into a path straight towards Rainbow.

More specifically, towards Rainbow's now-drawn sword, Blue Shift, which slammed into her face as Rainbow hit her with her secret technique, Niji Sonikkbuumu no Waza.

25% of Rainbow's aura drained away in an instant as the sound of her attack, louder than any cannon, echoed throughout the arena. Her aura as shown on the board was on the verge of dropping into the yellow.

But Bon Bon's aura, on the other hand, dropped all the way into the red as she was once more hurled upwards by a force even more powerful than Rainbow's initial toss, arms flailing wildly and helpless as she soared upwards and upwards…and then dropped like a stone to land on the ground... outside the battlefield.

The buzzer sounded for a double elimination by aura depletion and ring out.

Rainbow turned around to see Lyra scrambling for cover behind an icicle-bush kind of thing as another shot from Applejack just missed her and shattered some of the icicles.

Lyra flinched away, then looked at Rainbow Dash. A look of resignation seemed to cross her face as she drew her sword and rose up to charge-

Another shot from One in a Thousand took her aura below the threshold. Lyra slumped down onto her knees as the buzzer sounded, head bowed in despair.

The buzzer sounded again, shortly after, to announce the elimination of Minuette.

"Remind me why we do this again?" Lyra moaned.

"The Festival, or being Huntresses?" Rainbow asked.

"I know why I'm training to be a Huntress," Lyra replied. "I want to know why we volunteered to put ourselves through this humiliation. We are hardly the team to embiggen the spirits of fellow Havenites."

"Don't be too broken up, because your teammate's about to make all that lost ground back again," Rainbow muttered, because it didn't really matter that three members of Team BLDM were out of the match while Team JSPR hadn't lost a single person yet: Ditzy was still fighting, and Ditzy was kicking tail.

No matter what he tried, Flash couldn't land a single hit on her. When he shot, when he thrust or slashed with his sword, Ditzy was just not there. She twisted her body, she leapt from foot to handstand, she twirled in place, it was like she could sense the hits coming and knew exactly what to do to get away from them. Meanwhile, Flash was having no luck at all in dodging her hits, the hits that just kept coming as she turned almost every dodge into a blow, every leap into a kick, the hits that beat against his shield like waves beating on the shore. Ditzy was making him look like an incompetent chump, and she was doing it all with this really sweet smile on her face that was probably melting the hearts of every straight guy in the audience. Flash's shock absorption semblance was keeping him in the fight - in the sense that it had stopped him being drop-kicked out of the arena already - but he was burning aura fast. It was a miracle that he'd been able to hold out for as long as he had, the way that Ditzy kept leaping in to land a hit and then leaping back before he could counter.

Flash growled with frustration as he thrust his shield forwards, Rho Aias crackling with lightning… but of course, Ditzy wasn't there. She back-flipped, landing on her hands and then leaping away again, waiting for both Flash's charge and his lightning dust to expend itself before she threw herself upon him again. Her fists pounded upon his shield, her leg lashed out to sweep his legs from under him and then - still smiling - she delivered one final punch into his armored abdomen to drive him into the arena floor as the buzzer sounded.

"And the last standing member of Team Bloodmoon has managed to claim a member of Team Jasper!" Professor Oobleck proclaimed. "But how will she… wait, what's she doing now?"

What she was doing now was giving Flash a consolatory hug.

"It's okay," she said. "You fought really well, Flash."

You know, Ditzy, if you wanted him to stop mooning after Twi and notice you, you'd have had a better chance if you'd stuck around in Atlas instead of going away to Haven, mused Rainbow Dash

Ditzy got up, fists clenched, and looked around the three remaining members of Team JSPR. "Okay," she said. "Who's next?"

Rainbow aimed Red Shift at her and let fly; the gun rattled, but Ditzy was already moving, running away from Rainbow Dash and in the direction of Applejack and Maud. Rainbow ran after her…right until the bullets ran out; she stopped, reaching for her spare magazines while Applejack's rifle cracked repeatedly. Ditzy danced like a jackrabbit at a hoedown, leaping from foot to foot as Applejack's rounds didn't hit her any more than any shot fired by Flash had done. Maud wrenched an enormous boulder from the rocky field and threw it at her, but Ditzy simply batted it aside with one hand as though it were made of foam. Ditzy ran, and Maud and Applejack alike both ran to meet her, Applejack reversing her gun to use the stock like a club and Maud drawing her pickaxe from across her back. The pickaxe had a shotgun in the middle of the handle, and Maud fired it a couple of times, but Ditzy simply leapt like a tap dancer, jumping and turning in the air and spinning again when she landed.

Applejack was the first to reach her, swinging One in a Thousand for Ditzy's head; Ditzy ducked, driving one fist into Applejack's stomach. Applejack doubled over, and Ditzy hit her again with an uppercut that arced Applejack's back in reverse as she staggered backwards. Maud swung her pickaxe, but Ditzy grabbed the handle, then grabbed Maud herself by the belt, picking her up and throwing her into Applejack.

The buzzer sounded again as Applejack's aura dipped into the red from Maud's impact.

Rainbow stopped worrying about reloading her gun and simply rushed for her, fast as she could, rainbow trailing behind her.

Ditzy, like all the best fighters, kept coy about what her semblance actually was - it was one of the reasons why it was such a pity she was a second year; Rainbow would have paid good money to see her go up against Nikos - but Rainbow had seen her fight often enough to reckon that it was some kind of super-reflex thing.

But here was the thing with those kinds of semblances: it didn't matter a bit if you could see the attack coming if you weren't fast enough to do anything about it!

So Rainbow charged as fast as she could, the rest of the world seeming to grow so slow around her, Professor Port's voice from the commentator's booth seeming more of a yawn than any kind of words she could make out. The rest of the world seemed trapped in amber as she dashed towards Ditzy, who turned but slowly, so slowly, as she began to twist out of the way.

Niji Sonikkbuumu no Waza! thought Rainbow as the blast from her sword caught Ditzy with a glancing blow.

Even the bang of the attack seemed slowed, lingering like the rumble of an avalanche instead of dissipating like the bang of a gun. Ditzy winced in pain as Blue Shift hit her in the side, launching her spinning into the air, her wall eyes closing for a moment. Rainbow leapt into the air, spinning just like Ditzy, spinning into a kick into her abdomen to hurl her back to the ground, just as the ground rose up to meet her under the guidance of Maud's semblance.

This, Ditzy could see coming, but when you were falling to the ground with nowhere to stand and the ground was rushing up to pound on you, there was only so much you could do. She squirmed and twisted in the air like a salmon leaping out of the river, but enough of what Maud was throwing at her caught her to take her aura under the limit and draw the final buzzer of the match.

"The final member of Team Bloodmoon has been eliminated!" Professor Oobleck declared. "For a moment there, it looked as though Miss Doo was going to pull off a shocking upset, one even more impressive than Miss Scarlatina's display at the beginning of the day, but at the end of the match, it is Team Jasper that stands victorious."

As the cheers rolled in for the victors, Ditzy picked herself up off the ground. "That was a great fight, you guys," she said cheerily, holding out one hand. "Congratulations."

"You too, sugarcube," Applejack said, taking her hand. "You nearly gave us quite the turnaround at the end there."

"We've always got to do our best, right?" reasoned Ditzy.

"If you wanted to do your best, you should have stuck around in Atlas," Rainbow said. "Maybe then, you'd be in with a shot at, uh-" She gestured at Flash with her head.

Ditzy's cheeks reddened. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."

Rainbow smirked. "Yeah, of course, you don't."

Then a thought hit her with a shock… they had lost two of their own to Team FIST's clean sweep. It came just as a sound from the audience drew her attention.

"Hey, Rainbooms! That was pretty good," called out the distant figure of Sour Sweet from Team SSCL's ringside seats. "For a bunch of amateurs!"

"Ugh, who let Team Scarlet have a megaphone?" groaned Rainbow Dash as the Shadowbolts, once again, claimed victory.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo cheered, pumping her fists into the air. In honor of the match, she was wearing her home-made Rainbow Dash hair, the rubber headpiece sitting slightly awkwardly on top of her head. "Go, Rainbow Dash!"

"I gotta admit, if it hadn't been for Rainbow Dash, then Applejack and the rest could have been in a whole mess of trouble," Apple Bloom said.

"Well, of course," Scootaloo said. "Rainbow Dash is the most awesomest Huntress to ever come out of Canterlot! Team Jasper wouldn't be anything without her in it."

"Now, hold on just an apple-pickin' minute!" Apple Bloom replied, her voice rising. "That ain't even close to true, and you know it!"

"Girls, please don't fight," Fluttershy murmured. "Remember the spirit of the Vytal Festival."

"Yeah: butt-kicking in the ring, unity outside of it," Pinkie said cheerily.

"Pinkie, language, please," Rarity said in a tone of mild reproach. She paused for a moment. "You know, it always astonished me that Ditzy could be such a talented fighter. She doesn't seem to have the nature for it."

"Who does have the nature for it?" asked Fluttershy. "Not Applejack, at least I don't think so."

"Not Maud either," Pinkie said, her voice losing a little of its good humour. "I guess... they've all got something they want to protect so badly that it lets them do almost anything."

"Interesting," Megatron mused. Team JSPR were capable enough, but there were many capable warriors on display in this tournament. "Demolishor, put a note in Ditzy Doo's file. She might prove a useful asset."

"You sure, boss?" Demolishor asked. "She seems a little too... nice."

"I'm sure we can reprogram her if necessary," Megatron said, dismissing the concern. "It worked well enough on Barricade."

"...uhhh... yes, sir."

He found her on the Beacon Cliffs.

"Hey, sis."

His younger sister suddenly stiffened, hands automatically reaching for Fire in Disguise. They were both armed, of course. The Beacon Cliffs were among the natural barriers that made Vale defensible... but it wasn't like Grimm couldn't climb, even setting aside the flying ones.

"Jaune?" she asked, turning to face him. "How did you find me?"

He snorted. "I know all the best moping spots here at Beacon. The roof of the dorm's my usual spot, though I learned to be careful which window I mope over."

"What do you want, Jaune?" asked Verte, her voice despondent.

"I wanted to see how you were holding up," he answered honestly.

"I'm fine," she insisted. "Why don't you go back to celebrating with your team? With your girlfriend?"

Jaune cocked an eyebrow at her. "Okay, sis, now I know you're not fine."

"Excuse me?" she demanded, blinking at him in a mix of irritation and confusion.

"C'mon, Verte," he said. "Since our match yesterday, you haven't teased me about having a girlfriend once."

"Just... go away, Jaune," she sulked, turning her back on him again to look out over the Emerald Forest. Patches of burned trees were visible in the distance, and it would take time for the forest to recover, but the flames from the bomb had never gotten this close to Beacon.

She jumped a little as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug from behind.

"Gerroff!" she cried, flailing her limbs wildly at him.

"Nuh uh!" he refused. "I'm not letting go until you tell me what's wrong. And I've got a lot more aura than you."

"Fine!" she snapped. "You wanna know what's wrong, Jaune?! What's wrong is you!"

Jaune's arms went slack at that, and she broke free, staggering away before spinning around to glare at him, hands twitching for her weapon.

They stood like that for a moment as Jaune pieced things together.

"I've taken everything from you, haven't I?" he asked softly. "All those years training, getting into Haven early... Pyrrha was probably expected to go to Haven too, but instead, she came to Beacon, ended up on my team. You were supposed to be the rising star, the young prodigy, come to take things back for Haven after its string of losses... and we knocked you out of the running in the first round."

She didn't respond for a long moment.

"It's not fair..." she whispered, blinking back tears. She didn't resist as he stepped forward and pulled her into another hug. "Youngest student to ever get into Haven... and then I met Ruby. And she's great! But..." She trailed off.

"One more thing that made you special, taken away," Jaune finished. He shook his head. "No, Verte, it's not fair. Life's not fair. Can you imagine what it would be like if we actually deserved all the crap we get? But you're my sister. You're Verte d'Arc, and in my book, that's pretty darn special already."

She pulled back to give him a deadpan stare. "...what cheesy movie did you get that line from?"

"I'm serious," Jaune complained. "Verte d'Arc, you're still my little sister. You might not be the youngest Huntress to get into an academy, but you're still the youngest to get into Haven. You can still dribble my head back and forth all over this forest. You are awesome, and you're going to make an amazing Huntress someday. Everything you've done? You earned that. I'm just a guy who got lucky during initiation." He gave her a goofy grin. "Luckiest guy in the world."

"You dope," Verte said, shaking her head, an involuntary smile crossing her face. "You really have it bad, don't you?"

"Are you sure that you want to watch this match?" Velvet asked, as she and Lavi took their seats in the colosseum. "You wouldn't rather, I don't know, go around the fairgrounds or something? Maybe celebrate your team's victory?" Something to take their minds off their continuing infiltration mission that didn't involve watching Team DSST.

"You don't want to scope out the competition?" Lavi asked her in response. "Either one of us might end up facing Dust or Indigo in the next round."

Lavi was a really sweet guy, but there were times when it felt to Velvet as though he was instructing her, or trying to, and to be honest, the fact that it was coming from her boyfriend - even if that was still a new and exciting thought that brought a goofy grin to her face - rather than her team leader and actually did have things to teach her didn't make it grate any less. "I know," she said. "But it's not like we don't know who's going to win; you could just read up on Indigo if you wanted to."

Lavi looked at her, a slightly curious expression on his face.

"It's not like Team Dust are going to win," Velvet pressed on. "They're the worst team in the entire second year. They've got coordination worse than-" she bit back the last words, and hastily looked around in case Coco was around to hear them. She couldn't see her, but her team leader had developed a slightly annoying habit of following her and Lavi around whenever she could get away from Fox and Yatsu long enough; Velvet wished she'd cut it out.

"You've come a long way," Lavi reassured her.

"And Team Dust?" Velvet asked.

"Let's just say... I've got a feeling about those four," Lavi said, leaning forwards in his seat a little for a better view as the two teams made their way out onto the field.

Lightning Dust led the team that bore her name - if that was, in fact, her real name, something which Sunset had grave doubts about, given how pat it was; more likely, she had given it to herself to match her powers - out into the center of the arena, wearing a bodysuit that hugged her figure, all black save for the jagged green stripe that ran down her chest and neck. Sunset followed, dressed rather more casually in a black vest over a blood red tank top with black pants. Sunburst and Trixie, bringing up the rear, had more of a theme going on with the wizard capes, but in Sunset's opinion, Trixie pulled it off a little better, if only because she committed to it with the hat, too.

Team NDGO, lining up opposite them, seemed to have more of a coordinated theme going on with their outfits, although Sunset couldn't have put a precise name to what that theme might be beyond the fact that they kind of seemed to go together. They didn't stand in a line, but formed a rough cluster in front of DSST; they seemed relaxed, confident even. They probably thought they had this whole thing in the bag already, what with the way that Team DSST's reputation had preceded them into the arena.

Practically nobody had cheered for them as they came out, and there seemed to be a lot more free space in the bleachers than normal.

Trixie stamped her foot. "Nobody's here! The Great and Powerful Trixie wanted an audience for her Vytal debut!"

"Stop whining," Sunset snapped. "Do you want to win, or do you want to be popular?"

"I think you're making quite an assumption with that question," the leader of Team NDGO, Nebula Violette, said loudly from across the octagon.

Team DSST ignored her, with Lightning Dust speaking as though she hadn't. "Is there a reason that I can't be successful and popular? You know, like Pyrrha Nikos or something."

Sunset's eyes narrowed. "Do you want an alphabetical list of all the ways that you are not like Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Hey!" Lightning yelled. "Just because you think that you're so-"

"You really think that they have a chance?" Velvet asked, as the camera lingered lovingly upon Team DSST dissolving into a three-way argument between Lightning Dust, Sunset, and Trixie, while Sunburst tried ineffectually to calm everything down, helpfully lowering the volume. One particular close-up showed Sunset making mouth flap gestures with one hand as Lightning Dust spoke or shouted. Team NDGO looked like they didn't know whether to laugh or cringe.

Lavi didn't reply, but as the terrain rose up behind the two sets of competitors - some ruined buildings and a courtyard of stone behind NDGO, a geyser field behind DSST - he kept his eyes fixed keenly upon the Haven team.

"You want to run this team?" Lightning demanded.

"Yes!" Sunset cried.

Lightning looked momentarily taken aback by that answer. "Well... you can't," she said.

"You have no discipline," Sunset said, "you have no brains, and I have no idea why Lionheart made you team leader. It's obvious that the leader of this team-"

"Should be the Great and Powerful-!"

"Oh, shut up!" Lightning and Sunset chorused.

"Excuse me," Nebula Violette said. "We're in the middle of a fight!"

"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, so are we!" Sunset yelled as she turned to face them.

"Um," Sunburst murmured tremulously, "I think she means that the start of the match was just called."

Sunset stopped as the booing of a lean crowd who were starting to wish that they, too, had gone to the fairgrounds instead assailed her ears. "Really?" she said, her voice sharpening even as it became quieter. "Well, thank you for not taking advantage of us while our backs were turned. I salute your honor as true suckers," she added, as she bowed to the opposition with a mocking flourish. Judging by the way the booing got worse, this hadn't made her any more popular in the stands. "Okay, here's the plan-"

"Screw planning," Lightning Dust declared as - her whole body crackling with electricity - she began to charge towards Team NDGO. They, in their turn, began to descend upon the lone and isolated leader of Team DSST like a pack of hyenas descending on a lioness.

Sunset growled wordlessly in frustration, her face contorting through rage, exasperation and despair. "How can you... what did I ever do to... agh! Sunburst, hold off the staff wielder!"

"Right, I'll try," Sunburst said, as he moved after Lightning Dust to confront Dew Gayl.

"Trixie-" Sunset began.

Trixie folded her arms. "You don't get to tell the Great and Powerful Trixie what to do!"

"Stop talking in third person!" Sunset screamed. "It doesn't make you sound cool! It sounds stupid!"

"You know," Velvet said, allowing a slight hint of teasing to enter her voice. "You can admit you're wrong any time you like."

"Am I wrong?" Lavi asked, not taking his eyes off Team DSST.

"Half their team is having a screaming match," Velvet reminded him, pointing to Sunset and Trixie in the center of the battlefield, very much in one another's faces now as they exchanged insults with one another in lieu of exchanging blows with the enemy. Smoke was starting to rise from Sunset's arms.

"And yet, with only half a team, they're holding their own against Indigo," Lavi observed.

That was not an entirely false statement, Velvet could admit; she could admit to being incorrect slightly easier than Lavi, it seemed. Sunburst was holding his own in a very symmetrical fight against Dew Gayl - she had a spear with a wind dust crystal lodged just below the tip, he had a staff with a wind dust crystal set at the tip - and their fight seemed to consist of the two balancing each other out while Sunburst kept a healthy distance away from anything like close quarters combat, but it was Lightning Dust, holding her own against all three remaining members of Team NDGO, who was showing her skill thus far and getting the crowd on her side in spite of everything that had gone before. Through sheer force of will - and a relentless focus on Team NDGO's leader, Nebula Violette, which had forced the other two Shade Huntresses to follow in her wake - Lightning had driven Team NDGO out of the central octagon and into the ruined city biome on their side of the field. And there, she held off the whole pack of them.

Her body was wreathed in lightning as she fought; that must have been her semblance, electricity generation. She wore it like armor, crackling up and down her black and green suit, and when the blades of Nebula or Octavia struck her, the lightning rippled down their weapons, snapping like dogs, to shock whichever of them struck. The three Huntresses of NDGO tried a different tack, hanging back a little and using their ranged advantage - Nebula's crossbow, Gwen's assortment of throwing knives, Octavia's fire dust - to bring down their shocking opponent from range. But Lightning Dust worked hard not to give them the opportunity; she wasn't content to be just a target for their knives or quarrels, she didn't stand still to take the fire from Octavia. Her movements were swift and athletic, she leapt up into the air and used her lightning - some kind of magnetic pull towards the iron in the concrete? - to glue her feet to buildings, or else to swing off them using her lightning as though it were a rope. She could close the distance against Team NDGO as quickly as they could try to open it up with her superior mobility, and lightning crackled in jets from her hands to show that she was not without ranged weapons of her own, not to mention the way that it exploded from her whole body the moment any of the NDGO trio got too close. Velvet had no doubt that, if her team had been able to get their act together and coordinate - or if Sunset and Trixie had been able to stop arguing with one another - Lightning Dust would have been a match for any single member of Team NDGO, maybe even for two at once if she got lucky.

There was also no doubt in Velvet's mind that she was going to lose. Watching Lightning Dust's aggressive, powerful display, watching Nebula, Gwen, and Octavia flow around the Haven girl, taking their shots and keeping their distance, was like watching a pack of dogs set on a bear: the bear was stronger, but the dogs would nip and bite and tear at the creature until they brought it down. Lightning Dust was getting hits in on her opponents - she had taken the auras of all three of them into the yellow - but her constant use of her own semblance was burning through her own aura fast, and it wasn't as though she hadn't been touched by the NDGO three in turn.

Velvet watched as the three of them surrounded Lightning Dust, closing in as the lightning that wreathed her began to sputter out.

She seemed to be panting for breath even before a final wave of flame, conjured by a sweeping slashing stroke from Octavia's sword, knocked her off her feet.

The buzzer sounded, but as Professor Port announced Lightning Dust's elimination from the match, Velvet couldn't help but think that although Team NDGO would go on to win this match, the story would be of how Lightning Dust had done better than she should have done, and Team NDGO had done worse than they ought.

"This match is over," Lavi declared.

"I know," Velvet said. "Team Dust is done."

"Hmm?" he said, giving her a sidelong glance. "No, this is the moment when Team Dust wins."

"What?" Velvet asked, her pitch rising a little in disbelief. "But they-" She fell silent as the Trixie that was embroiled in an argument with Sunset Shimmer abruptly disappeared...

...and another Trixie appeared in the shadow of one of the ruined buildings amongst which Team NDGO had been fighting, her wand glowing blue as a wave of ice erupted from the tip to engulf the ground, spreading out in a cone-like shape towards and through and all around the three huntresses of Team NDGO, encasing their feet in the ice.

Velvet saw her own shock reflected on the faces of Team NDGO as Trixie's triumphant laughter echoed across the arena.

Sunset abruptly pulled the pistol from her holster - Velvet wasn't a weapons buff, but she had photographed enough to gain a passing familiarity, and that was an old pistol, a Great War-era Mantle weapon with an unusual toggle-lock action and a long, slender barrel - and shot the startled Dew Gayl, torn between her duel with Sunburst and the plight of her teammates, not aware of Sunset at all, five times, enough to take her aura below the limit and eliminate her from the match.

"What happened?" Velvet asked, as Sunset drew the sword from across her back and advanced at a run towards the immobilised NDGO trio, and as she ran, her body was consumed by flames, skin and clothes and hair alike obscured by the rising red-gold flames until it seemed as though Team NDGO were facing not another Huntress in training but a demon of fire sprung from some forsaken pit.

"Smoke and mirrors," Lavi explained. "If I had to guess, a high-end holo-emitter, common enough among stage magicians that the really good ones make a show of proving they aren't using one. The arguments between them, not noticing the beginning of the fight, all of it misdirection to throw off their opponents... and the audience. They used their reputation for discord to lull the enemy into a false sense of security, so that when Lightning Dust rushed in on her own, nobody questioned if there might be more to it than a hotheaded team leader and a team that wouldn't follow her. A more scripted version of what Team Ruby pulled yesterday against superior opposition."

"But now they're a man down," Velvet said.

"And now they have two fresh warriors and one almost fresh," Lavi said, "against three worn out Huntresses with low auras."

Velvet slumped forward. "And I fell for it."

"It was supposed to be fallen for."

"But it didn't fool you," she pointed out.

"In Atlas's ninja program, we are taught to look underneath the underneath," Lavi explained comfortingly, putting an arm around her shoulders and hugging her. "As I understand it, ninja courses in Beacon are limited to students who can find the classroom, like Team Shadow, or who get special recommendation, like Blake Belladonna. It's... not a skill set generally useful against the Grimm." He gave her a smile that lit up her world. "If you like, I can give you a few pointers?" he offered. "It won't make you a ninja, but given your semblance, you should be able to pick up on things pretty quick."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Yeah, I'd like that."

As for the match itself, it was as Lavi had said: Sunset and Trixie had their auras intact, and Sunburst's wasn't that badly depleted, while all of Team NDGO had seen their auras battered by the fight with Lightning Dust. And they couldn't move.

It was all over, bar the shouting: DSST tore NDGO apart.

"And in that shocking upset, Team Dust emerges victorious and will be moving on to the doubles round!" Doctor Oobleck yelled in astonishment.

Nebula groaned. "So...you were only pretending to hate each other? The entire time you've been at Beacon?"

"Oh, no, we really can't stand one another," Sunset said. "But that doesn't mean that we can't work together for something that we all want badly enough."

"Listen!" Trixie cried, as the cheers and applause of the crowd fell upon them like rain. "They're cheering! They're cheering the Great and Powerful Trixie!" She swept her pointed hat off her head and bowed, turning to the different sections of the audience in turn.

Sunset closed her eyes and let the acclaim wash over her. It wasn't real love - she was smart enough to understand the difference - but for now, in this place, at this time... it would do.

Now there is a kindred spirit, Megatron thought as his optics focused in on the victorious Sunset Shimmer. He thought back to their newest ally. I wonder how far the parallels extend?

It was worth investigating.

In the barn, the reaction was one of stunned silence, broken only by the applause from Principal Celestia.

Rarity stared, her eyes wide. She could hardly believe what she'd just witnessed. Sunset won? Sunset won while behaving like that?

"And to think, we almost didn't bother to watch this match," Fluttershy said.

"Are they allowed to do that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Everything goes except attacking once someone's aura has gone down," Vice Principal Luna informed her. "What Team Dust carried out was a successful ruse de guerre." She sniffed. "Not that that makes it particularly honorable."

"Perhaps not," Celestia allowed. "But it was exciting to witness, don't you think?"

When Yang woke up, she had a brief moment of wondering where she was. She was laying on a cot inside a massive, cavernous room filled with stasis pods. Bumblebee was nearby too, and watching her.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked gently, shifting to get a little bit closer to her.

"Like I've been asleep for days," replied Yang easily.

"Not quite, but almost," said Bumblebee. "You've been asleep ever since you jumped inside me."

The statement confused Yang, but then, suddenly, her memory drifted back, and the tears began to flow freely from her eyes. She had ruined her life, completely and totally. Looking back, she could see that she had let her temper get the better of her, and when she had thrown that punch… well, she'd burned her last bridge.

She'd tried to keep Ruby out of this, but that wasn't possible anymore. Ruby wouldn't stop until Yang was brought in, assuming that the cops didn't get involved first and arrest her and everyone else for being associated with the White Fang. Of course, if that happened... they'd all be killed by the SDC and the Decepticons. Her father, Ruby, Zwei, Weiss, Blake…

"Maple!" she cried out, reaching to wrench the blanket that had been covering her aside.

"Hey, hey, hey, easy!" protested Bumblebee, reaching out one big mechanical hand to block her from getting up. "Maple's fine. Arcee left a couple hours ago to keep an eye on her, and her last report said she was okay. You don't need to rush out and try to rescue her."

"But… I… Bumblebee, my roommates, my sister, they know I'm part of the White Fang," stammered Yang through puffy eyes.

Bumblebee backed off a bit at that. "Oh. So that's what that was about the other day."

"They found the secret compartment in my bag," continued Yang, her voice speaking of its own accord. "They tried to talk to me about it, and it turns out Blake was a member of the Fang too; in fact, she was Adam's old partner, and I was still trying to wrap my head around that when Blake broke my mask, and I wasn't thinking straight, so punched her through a wall and… and… and…"

Without prompting, Bumblebee scooped her up and pulled her into a big robotic hug. "Hey, it's okay, Yang. I'm here. Just let it out. Just let it all out."

The blonde did indeed let out a choking sob into the Autobot's metal shoulder. "My life is over, Bee. I don't know what to do."

"You'll think of something, Yang," comforted Bumblebee. "You always do."

She cried for a good long while after that until a thought raised its head.

"Cinder," growled Yang.

"'Cinder'?" asked Bumblebee in slight confusion.

"She's behind everything. The White Fang thefts, the destruction of that Atlesian ship, all of it," insisted Yang. "If we can bring her in, we can maybe provide enough leverage to make things right."

"Do you think that will work?" inquired Bumblebee pointedly. "Will that set right what once went wrong?"

"I… I don't know," admitted Yang, her hands futilely trying to grip onto the living metal of her friend's body. "But what else can I do right now? She's playing with us, I know it. Whatever else, we can't let her win."

Bumblebee nodded. "One step at a time. Okay, let's put together a plan to get her."

Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):

First off, thanks to ScipioSmith, again, for helping with the fight scenes (and giving us a fight scene we weren't even originally planning to include).

A lot of people are getting caught up here on recent events, so I suppose this also works as a summary chapter.

By the way, regarding the references we've made to the MCU in this story, as well as the TaleSpin expies? We figured out a justification for them, and it all comes down to Kenner.

We try to aim for just '80s Hasbro or Hasbro-created stuff... but Hasbro did buy Kenner, and Kenner did make the Star Wars toys back in the day, so that's our paper-thin excuse for now.

Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):

Thanks to Shinzakura for the translation of Rainbow Dash's secret technique.

Other than that I'm not sure what to say. I couldn't think of anything while writing this, and we seem to have run out of time. This took so long though. I really hope people enjoy it.

Next chapter should be easier, and far more important… so, you know, no pressure, right?