Volume III: Episode 10: Finals

Glynda closed the door without making a sound, a feat made all the easier thanks to her telekinesis semblance. That same power helped her clean and smooth out her clothes to look at least somewhat presentable. Somewhat. She'd still need to get a fresh change of clothes after so long wearing the same outfit.

At least James had finally managed to fall asleep. He'd need his rest if he was going to beat back the lies and slander that threatened to end his family line with him. If he-

Glynda cut her own thoughts off, walking past the purposefully incompetent guard keeping his eyes down as she walked off down the hall towards her room. She needed to clean up as well. She wanted to sleep, but that was off the table.

She presumed that the reasons why would be reiterated by Ozpin when she found him near her apartment door.

"Ozpin," she addressed him, "what are you doing here?"

"Just informing you that the rest of the council wants you at the hearing too," answered Ozpin, standing up a bit straighter from where he had been at rest. "I wasn't able to get them to back off."

She knew that would happen, that it was the only thing that could happen.

"I have other duties to attend to," she deflected, knowing that it wouldn't work but still feeling obligated to try.

"Duties to your family?" asked Ozpin perceptively.

"A wife has certain obligations," she confirmed pridefully as she walked past him. "Responsibilities to her husband and her children."

"You're expecting me to remind you that you aren't a wife yet and list off all your other duties that take priority as the time, but I'm not going to do that," Ozpin informed her, and she found herself turning to look at him in curiosity. "The wording of the Atlesian Provisional Council's indictment of James and some of the things said by their members has the Regency Council much more amenable to our situation."

Glynda held back a laugh but smiled nonetheless. "In other words, Novo's taken personal exception to Sleet's implication that all the women of Vale are also women of the night, and so, she's willing to stand with us simply to slight the one who slighted her."

Ozpin smiled. "Sometimes, humanity's worst impulses are liberty's best friends."

"Perhaps," allowed Glynda, and then she frowned, "but I'm afraid that brings me little comfort while my betrothed is all but condemned."

"Then would it bring you comfort to know that I have a plan?" asked Ozpin with a stance that Glynda interpreted to be "mischievous."

"What is it?" asked the blonde woman in a tone that she hoped wouldn't bely her worry.

"The first plan is that we keep James pinned down here long enough for General Colton to sort this whole mess out, possibly by giving him a disease that is relatively mild but communicable enough that the Atlesians would be terrified to take him back," explained Ozpin.

"You said 'the first plan,' so I hope you have more than just that nonsense in mind," groused Glynda. "You show a lot of faith in General Colton."

"The second is that we convince the rest of the Regency Council, after the hearing, to grant him citizenship and deny Atlas extradition rights."

"That sounds like a good way to start an international incident and possibly even a Second Great War."

"The third is that we fake James's death and spirit him away to stay with the Autobots."

"That's…" Glynda paused, thinking over the idea in her head a few times. "Actually, that might work. You'd need to convince James to go along with it though, and of course, he would need to get some way to hide his identity. Not to mention the fact that Kogetsu and Aska will have to be informed about this, and you will need to find a replacement for me, because I'll be leaving with him."

"I can work with that," proclaimed Ozpin, bouncing up into the hall. "For now, though, we need to get to the Parliament Building to stop our own hides from getting tanned."

"I'll clean myself up then," said Glynda before opening the door into her apartment and entering.

It has been a while since we've been wrapped up in one of Ozpin's zany schemes…

"Ruby?" Blake asked gently.

"Hmm? What's up, Blake?"

Weiss was first in the shower, getting ready for the meeting Pyrrha had arranged for them. Blake would go next, but for now, this gave her the opportunity to confront their team leader alone.

"You've been staring at that spot on the wall for ten minutes now," she informed her. "Is there- how did things go with Yang?"

Blake knew Yang had turned herself in, and Ruby had been summoned for some sort of mission by the headmaster. Ruby had been out all night that night, and ever since coming back, she'd seemed... distracted.

It must be hard for Ruby, with Yang rotting in some prison cell somewhere. The guilt that struck Blake at that thought felt muted, though; it was just one more thing she needed to make up for, after all.

"Oh, yeah!" her team leader said, nodding with surprising enthusiasm. "It went great! Better than I could have imagined!"

"So what's wrong?" prodded the cat faunus. Better to get Ruby to voice it.

"Nothing," Ruby insisted, shaking her head. "It's just- I found out we have a brother."

Amber eyes blinked in surprise. "'A brother'?" She hadn't expected that. Was that what Adam had been holding over Yang to get her to cooperate while he indoctrinated her?

"Yeah," Ruby confirmed. "On Yang's mom's side." She frowned and fidgeted with her cloak. "It's just... he's done some terrible things. He's trying to be better, but... I don't think he really knows how. And I don't know how I can help."

Blake frowned. Well, she supposed she couldn't have been the only member of the White Fang to have second thoughts, and the White Fang weren't the sort of people to whom one would confide being half-human. She wondered if she knew their brother. She almost asked, but... Ruby looked so lost and worried.

It could wait.

"...Ruby," she said finally, "do you know why I chose to come to Beacon?"

"To become a Huntress," Ruby answered without hesitation.

Blake chuckled. "Well, yes, but do you know why I wanted to become a Huntress?"

"To make fairy tales come true," was the bloodcrowned girl's reply, her voice soft and wistful. "We talked about it before initiation, remember?"

Blake had actually forgotten that conversation, but with the reminder...

"Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale," Blake pointed out.

"Well, that's why we're here!" the crimson-themed girl countered, undeterred. "To make it better."

"Part of it, I suppose," she admitted. "But I came to Beacon to become a Huntress so I could atone for what I'd done." She lowered her gaze. "I did a lot of terrible things with the White Fang myself, Ruby. I like to think becoming a Huntress will help make up for some of that. Your brother is probably feeling the same. He can be better, so long as he keeps trying, especially with you as an example to follow."

"You really believe that?" Ruby asked hopefully, silver eyes shimmering.

"Of course I do," Blake assured her, pulling her into a hug. "I have to believe that. About him... and about me."

Verte pounded on the door to Team JNPR's dorm room, stopping her fist in mid-air as the door opened to reveal Pyrrha's emerald eyes blinking at her curiously. Wait, was she wearing Jaune's Pumpkin Pete hoodie? No, of course not. That was silly. Pumpkin Pete was one of her sponsors; she probably had a whole closetful of their merch.

"Good morning, Verte."

"Morning, Pyrrha!" Verte chirped. "Hey, you don't need Jaune for anything before the singles matches start, do you?"

"No..." the redhead said hesitantly, shaking her head. "I, um, actually have to meet with Weiss and Blake; I have to introduce them to someone." She looked back over her shoulder. "Jaune? It's Verte."

Pyrrha stepped back out of the doorway, and Jaune slid in. "Hey, Sis," he greeted. "What's uuUPP?!" he squawked as she grabbed him by the collar and began dragging him down the hall. Jaune struggled a bit, forcing his sister to shift her grip, and as he bounced along, he shrugged and waved at Pyrrha. "Uh, I'll see you later, Pyr!" he called.

"Ow ow ow ow," Jaune deadpanned as Verte dragged him up the stairs - bouncing off each step - to the roof.

Throwing the door open, she hauled him up and pressed him against the wall.

"You knew, didn't you?!" she accused.

"About the headmasters?" he said. "Yeah, I knew."

"I mean about Lionheart!" she shrieked, shaking him back and forth.

His shoulders went slack at that. "No, that- that, I didn't know, Verte, I swear." He paused and hung his head. "I- I don't think even Ozpin knew. When he got the news..." He trailed off.

"So, he wasn't working for your conspiracy? Then who was he working for?!" demanded Verte.

"Salem, immortal witch-queen of the Grimm," answered Jaune instantly and honestly.

Verte glared at him in annoyance. "You're making that up."

"I really, really wish I was," he assured her. "The Seers are how Salem communicates with her agents. That's how we realized that Lionheart had been flipped."

"And how you knew to send your assassin after him," accused Verte hatefully.

"No!" exclaimed Jaune in shock. "Raven… Raven left years ago. I've never even met her. She's a bandit now and does whatever the heck she wants. We don't even have a way to contact her." He sighed. "None of us even knew about the Seer until the COPS called Ozpin to ask about it."

"You mean... you mean after..."

He nodded. "After he was killed."

Verte was silent for a moment, her mind working in that manic manner of hers, before she asked, "Did Lionheart know about you?"

Jaune shook his head. "No. I didn't even know about Lionheart until after he died. It sounded like he was pretty deep into Ozpin's confidence, though, so when he flipped-"

"You keep saying that!" objected Verte, giving him a shove. "What do you mean?! He was working for Ozpin until this witch lady you think exists-"

"She does," interrupted Jaune defensively.

"Shut up!" ordered Verte, giving him another shove. "Point is that Lionheart wouldn't just… Why are you the good guys? How do I know you guys aren't just as bad as the press and the Atlesian Council say you are?"

Jaune looked at her in shock and hurt. "Verte… it's me, Jaune! I'm not the bad guy here; neither is Ozpin or Ruby, and Salem certainly isn't the good guy. She controls the Grimm! That should be all there is to know about how evil she is and how little she cares about the lives of anyone. Cinder's one of her agents! You know, the one who blew up the Furchtlos?"

"Lionheart wouldn't work with someone like that!" insisted Verte. "You don't even have a reason for him to, do you?!"

"No," admitted Jaune. "No, I don't. None of us do. We have no idea why Lionheart betrayed us."

Verte's grip twisted his shirt. "Would Raven know?"

He blinked in surprise. "I... maybe? I don't know."

"It doesn't matter," Verte said with a weighty exhale. "I'll find out one way or the other when I take her life."

Jaune boggled. "What?! No! Verte, you can't!"

"Why not?" she asked derisively. "You've been living in Vale too long, Brother. Whatever those petty little men with their pretty little titles and promises of an Empty Throne say, we are not Valish. We. Are. Mistrali. Raven Branwen killed my teacher. There is only one response I can have for that: faida."

"A blood feud?!" Jaune sputtered. "No. No, Verte, that is not happening."

She paused, looking crestfallen. "You... you really wouldn't back me up on this?"

"First, what has Mistrali honor ever gotten anyone?" he asked rhetorically. "Second, when I said 'you can't,' I meant that literally. I've seen footage of Raven fighting, heard from people who have seen her fight; she'd kill you in seconds. And third... you know Ruby?"

She blinked in confusion. "Your ex? The one who ran into a three-way firefight and got shot?"

He stared. "How many exes do you think I have?"

"Well," she said with a shrug, "there's Weiss Sch- Weiss."

He groaned and closed his eyes for a moment. "We went on one date," he protested, then hung his head in resignation. "But yes, I am, in fact, talking about my ex who ran into a three-way firefight and got shot."

"What about her?" Verte asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Raven Branwen is Ruby's stepmother," Jaune explained, looking back up and meeting her gaze. He frowned. "Well, sort of. The timing is a bit backwards, and I'm not sure it actually works that way, but no one can seem to figure out a better word."

"Oh." She slumped, letting go of his shirt, then raised her head hopefully. "Vendetta?"

"That's still only going to get you killed in seconds."

She pouted.

When the Parliamentary Building had still been the Royal Palace, the Last King of Vale had renovated one of its ballrooms and the attached guest wing into the Parliamentary Chamber and then expanded it further. The massive room held seating enough for the Regency Council and a full assembly of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, along with their aides and attendants, members of the press, even a section for members of the common folk who wanted to view the proceedings.

Some might have said that it was a bit too much, but when he had had the renovations done, Ozpin's prior incarnation had been hopeful and anticipated that the population of the Kingdom of Vale would blossom such that every single seat in the massive auditorium would be filled by an MP from each of the settlements and districts in the land. The Great War had put an end to many of those ambitions, but since then, they had bounced back to even greater heights than they were at before the Great War… and yet still, there were empty seats.

Ozpin regarded the room and all those within it with a sense of awe. There was a sense of history here, of liberty soaking into the very wood itself. There was, perhaps, a fair bit of corruption mixed in, but that could be solved with elections. You couldn't pull off that sort of revolution in the old days without killing everyone, and that was just the way it had been. No more.

The headmaster's thoughts were suddenly broken by the sight of a shiny metal chrome dome near the front, and he decided to investigate.

"Destro, is that you?" asked Ozpin as he came to stand in the aisle next to where the man was sitting along with several men in suits wearing MARS pins.

"Ozpin!" greeted the head of the Mistrali Arms Research Syndicate jovially as he got up and reached out to shake the bespectacled teacher's hands, which Ozpin gladly indulged. "How have you been?"

"Oh, that answer changes from hour to hour these days," lamented Ozpin. "Yourself?"

"I was doing fine until this business with Cinder Fall started," admitted Destro. "She has humiliated myself and my company on the world stage with the Furchtlos and her little video release."

"It could be worse."

"True, I heard about what happened with Headmaster Ironwood. Nasty business that. Pass along my condolences to him, will you?"

"I thought your wife hated him?" asked Ozpin coyly.

Destro chuckled. "The missus can like or dislike anyone she wants, but she's not the one running the company. Ironwood has been a good customer in the past and a pleasant person to be around. It would be a shame if he were to lose his life because he was so blatantly framed for a crime he didn't commit."

"The Atlesian Council won't be happy to hear you say that."

Destro snorted. "If the Atlesian Council still have their jobs after this, I will be shocked. Better to make a deal with the winning side than someone who will be torn apart by an angry mob soon." He leaned in a bit closer to Ozpin. "Besides, Ironwood always paid his dues, while Sylvia still owes me two thousand lien."

"Sounds like a story, but it'll have to wait for now. I believe the session is about to begin," said Ozpin with a gesture with his cane to where the other councilors were getting ready.

He went to sit down at the central table, right next to Glynda, and Destro retook his seat. Before long, the other four members of the Regency Council filed in and took their customary seats at the table in front of the Empty Throne. At the center, of course, sat Regent First Minister and Speaker for Parliament Novo Aris. An empty chair stood to her right where Ozpin would normally sit when he attended these sessions. Further over from Ozpin's empty seat sat Regent Lady Mistress of the Posts Iris Arneaus. To the First Minister's left sat Regent Lord Grand Marshal John Keller, and to his left sat Regent Lord High Treasurer Felix Winchester.

The opening ceremonies, which everyone was quite familiar with, went completed without incident, and then they began. Ozpin was surprised, since it was going off much better than the time they had grilled that meatball production executive, which was just a mess from start to finish.

"I hereby call this inquiry to order," barked First Minister Novo with a snap of her gavel. "The objective of this inquiry is to begin an initial public examination of alleged conspiracy headed by Regent Headmaster Ozpin, which shall be done as quickly as possible. We have five other inquiries to get to this morning, so please don't waste our time, Headmaster."

Ozpin leaned forward slightly so that the microphone sitting on the desk picked up his voice. "I do not intend to, First Minister."

"That's good to hear," said Novo before glancing down at her notes and launching into the questions. "Headmaster, does this alleged conspiracy actually exist?"

"Yes, ma'am, it does," answered Ozpin calmly, and a murmur spread throughout the chamber.

Novo knocked her gavel again, and High Treasurer Winchester spoke next. "What is the purpose of this conspiracy? Are you truly trying to rule the world?"

"No," answered Ozpin calmly. "Our group is not trying to rule anyone, though I can understand why it can seem that way. Our membership does include several prominent members of the global community, after all. However, the purpose of our group is merely to defend the populace, much like normal Huntsmen but in a more secretive manner against the enemy… correction, one of the enemies."

The councilors all looked at each other, and Grand Marshal Keller took the next question with a great deal of interest. "Could you clarify? Just how many secret enemies are you fighting? Who are they?"

"As of this moment, Grand Marshal, we can safely say that we have engaged with no less than four ruthless terrorist organizations determined to rule the world that operate in secret," answered Ozpin, prompting more murmurs that he ignored. "We have already briefed yourself and the other councilors about one of them, and they have been marked as classified. The others are MECH, an organization of technology thieves that appears to be preparing for war with yet another conspiracy that remains unknown to us; Cobra, a rapidly growing newcomer that one of our agents has engaged independently; and the oldest enemy of them all, a nameless organization ruled by a woman known only as Salem that has found a way to control the Grimm, and in this manner, they have also become corrupt and obsessed with the destruction of humanity."

"That is… quite a lot to take in, if you'll excuse me, Headmaster," spoke John Keller.

"I apologize, Grand Marshal," replied Ozpin in that same even tone. "I must confess that perhaps the newer members of our organization might have rubbed off on me, for they found all of these revelations to be quite pedestrian and not in the least bit exciting. Even the reveal that magic is real mostly resulted in confusion over why I thought it was important."

"Excuse me, but did you just say that magic is real?" demanded Novo, leaning forward threateningly. "Are you mocking us, Headmaster? Might I remind you that you are under oath and that failing to tell the truth as best you are able is a criminal offense."

"Oh, no, I am being quite truthful," Ozpin assured them. "Women who can control the weather, men who can turn into birds, people who can shoot Grimm-melting laser beams out of their eyes, and many other things thought mere legends are very very real. Magic is real."

"And?" asked Winchester leadingly.

"And what, High Treasurer?" repeated Ozpin with a slight bit of confusion.

"And is that all?" finished Winchester. "With all due respect to you, Headmaster, I think your new recruits might be right. That all sounds very unremarkable, such that I am left wondering what exactly makes what you call magic so much different than a semblance that you think it is worthy of note."

Ozpin had to admit, he was starting to wonder what exactly Vale was putting in the water to make everyone so jaded, but he didn't express those feelings out loud. "Well, magical powers can be used in addition to a semblance and don't burn through aura."

That caused another murmur in the crowd, and the councilors briefly conversed between them.

"Very well, we are willing to concede that magic might exist and probably has some marginal utility," admitted Novo. "However, that begs the question of why you thought it was worth keeping a secret for so long."

"First Minister, Salem's modus operandi is to use deceit and manipulation to influence peoples and events," explained Ozpin honestly, and boy did it ever feel good to say all of this out loud. "Past experience has shown that if information is not handled with the utmost care and given only to the most reliable and trustworthy people, it results in certain defection to her faction. The most recent example of this was, sadly, Headmaster Lionheart of Haven."

"Do you expect the whole of Vale to bend the knee to this Grimm cult leader now, Headmaster?" asked Novo in a tone that oozed motherly disappointment.

Ozpin paused to collect his thoughts, and when he spoke, he spoke with both hope and shame. "For a long time, Councilors, members of Parliament, people of Vale, the answer to that question was emphatically 'yes.' It's what we all thought, and have thought for as long as our conspiracy of light has existed. The world, however, has changed, and is changing even now at a pace that none of us can anticipate. I had been counseled by an old friend thought dead but now returned - and my, isn't that just a sign of the times that such a statement hardly seems odd? - to reveal all that would be revealed and more, and though the message sent out by Cinder Fall and her villainous compatriots may have forced my hand, I now swing through with it gladly. So much darkness has been revealed of late, yes, but also so much light. The heroes of old are returning, just as new heroes are coming into their own. What better time is there to reveal these secrets?"

During the speech, the other councilors had glanced at the holographic clocks on their desk, and it was clear that they had found something disagreeable.

"Unfortunately, that time is later, as we're on a tight schedule," said Novo bluntly. "Now, moving on to the subject of the Furchtlos and the atomic bomb used to destroy it: Why was this ship being used to transport this 'Amber' person over Valish territory, and why weren't you better able to defend against this attack? Is there any validity to the reports that you were actually in collaboration with Cinder Fall to destroy the Furchtlos as part of a wider scheme?"

"No, First Minister, that is a complete fantasy," answered Ozpin, trying to keep what he was really thinking out of his tone of voice. "We did not in any way collaborate with Cinder. Amber was merely an innocent girl blessed with a power sought by people like Cinder."

"...this is that magic thing again, isn't it?" asked Novo in what might have been annoyance.

"No, actually, in this case, we believe that Amber's power was stolen using dark science," explained Ozpin without missing a beat.

"Does that require another explanation?" asked Mistress of the Posts Arneaus.

"Not at this time, no," declared Ozpin. "It might not even be relevant to this discussion. 'Dark science' is just the best explanation we could come up with given the nature of Amber's injuries following the first attempt on her life. To the best of our knowledge, what happened should have been impossible, so obviously, there is more at work here than we are aware of."

"Another thing you were not aware of is the location of Cinder Fall, the murderer who killed again after slipping through your clutches," accused Winchester derisively.

"Yes, yes, she did," admitted Ozpin. "Just as she slipped through the fingers of every lawman on Remnant, going all the way back to when she burned her stepmother and stepsister alive as a child. The simple fact of the matter is that though Miss Fall clearly had no idea the sort of power she was dealing with when she stole the atomic bomb, she is still a very smart, very dangerous person who is very good at avoiding her pursuers."

"And Amber was onboard the Furchtlos because…" began Arneaus leadingly.

"Because we felt that Beacon was no longer a secure position for her to be kept in her medically-induced coma, and with the failure to capture Cinder rapidly despite the resources poured into the manhunt, we felt it best to move Amber to the most secure location that could be found on Remnant: Atlas Academy," explained Ozpin.

"You put a lot of stock in Atlas and their vaunted military superiority, or perhaps you just put stock in your friendship with James Ironwood," observed Novo, and then for the first time that day, she turned to Glynda. "Professor Goodwitch, would you describe your relationship with James Ironwood as love at first sight?"

Ozpin kept his surprise in check. That was a rather sharp transition into a topic that seemed wildly off-topic.

"Madam Councilor, that is a private matter," Glynda informed her, the assembled crowd, and the TV cameras.

"Answer the question, Professor," insisted Novo.

"I… no. No, I would not say that it was love at first sight," replied Glynda, a very slight blush coming to her cheeks. "I first met him during my first Vytal Tournament. I had... affection toward another man, and it was James that pursued me. He continued to pursue me over the years, off and on, until I eventually reciprocated. Again, this is a private matter."

"It took years to win you over?" rephrased Novo pointedly, arching an eyebrow. "So do you really love him then?"

"Yes!" hissed Glynda with an ever so slight but noticeable note of fury to her voice. "I am engaged to marry him. I have sworn to be a loving mother to his two wonderful children and however many I might bear him in the future. I have comforted him in the dark and stood for him in the light. Where he goes, I go, though all the Creatures of Grimm may hound us. I have full confidence that he will win this battle against the baseless slander hurled against him by corrupt little fools who have never had the courage to do half of what he does. Yes, I love him, Madam Councilor. Is that enough of an answer for you?"

Novo nodded and looked down at her notes. "Yes, I think that will do nicely, Professor. Now then, Destro, what is the nature of this technological terror you've constructed?"

Ozpin could practically hear the whiplash in Destro's neck from that change in topic, or perhaps it was his own?

"You mean the nuclear bomb?" Destro asked rhetorically before continuing. "It is exactly what you described it as and more. It is the most powerful weapon ever developed by mankind. It is in fact a weapon so powerful that no one nation could possibly be allowed to have it. It is precisely for this purpose that myself and my wife, the Baroness, have devised a nuclear proliferation treaty to guarantee access to all kingdoms to this weapon. We at MARS are even going so far as to make the first delivery of these weapons to each kingdom free. That is how much we believe in peace."

All those assembled were openly staring at him.

"Laird Destro," addressed Grand Marshall Keller, leaning forward, "are you trying to turn this inquiry into a sales pitch?"

"Why, yes," answered Destro shamelessly. "Yes I am."

Ozpin heroically avoided groaning. It's going to be a long day.

"Like I said, this is a lot to take on based on overlapping thumbs and some 'um's' and 'ah's,'" the General said. "We're going to need more solid evidence than that, and no, her voting record isn't enough. People change their minds. Politicians lie."

"In her senior essay at Atlas Academy, she claimed that, 'a true Huntsman will always find a way for justice to be done,' and a few months ago, she said, and I quote, 'a true Huntsman cannot be found and cannot be trusted to perform law enforcement duties, which is better handled by police' minutes before - and I'm not joking here - voting to replace the Mantle Police with combat school students as a 'budget saving measure,'" stated General Flagg incredulously.

Colton made a conciliatory gesture. "Some people change their minds more dramatically and often than others. What about the DNA scan?"

"Sir," Flagg said, "we have access to the official medical records, but getting a sample from the councilor herself to compare it with is proving difficult. She's recently replaced her entire personal security detail."

Colton shook his head. "Not sure the official records will matter. If she's smart enough to pull this off for as long as you're saying, she's smart enough to have swapped them out at some point."

"But not the ones at Crystal Prep," Winter interjected.

The General looked over at her. "What was that, Targeter?"

"Crystal Preparatory Combat Academy, a prestigious combat school in Crystal City," she elaborated. "Councilor Sylvia is a Crystal Prep alumnus. They keep genetic samples on file for all their students for identification in case something happens."

"And those records are secure?" asked Colton curiously. "Why couldn't she have just switched those out too?"

"Crystal Prep's records are some of the most secretive and protected on the planet," Winter answered. "I only learned even about the genetic samples' existence myself after an unfortunate incident involving one my subordinates at the time who had graduated from there."

"And if someone there is on the take and switched them out for her?" prodded the newly reminted Commanding General, looking for a weakness.

"Not even the principal has full access to the medical records; CPCA is a very prestigious combat school, after all, with a very select student body who tend to come from wealthy and influential families," Winter assured him. "The principal, the dean, and the head nurse would all have to sign off on it to access them."

"How's the database secured?"

"Keycards."

Colton nodded. "You up for an infiltration mission, Targeter?"

"Me, sir?"

He looked around pointedly. "I don't see anyone else around here who managed to track me down and single-handedly penetrate the security cordon around me, do you?"

"So, who is it we're waiting for?" Blake asked curiously. Weiss had to admit that she was wondering too. After she'd asked Pyrrha for advice, she'd arranged for a meeting with someone here in front of Benni Haven's, away from the hustle and bustle of the fairgrounds.

Before Pyrrha could answer, a somewhat familiar male voice called out, "Hey there, Invincible Girl!"

They turned as one to see a shirtless, dark-haired man waving at them. He had a strong jaw and a chiseled physique and wore black trousers with a red sash over his left shoulder and a white bandanna around his forehead. He looked vaguely familiar, like she'd seen him in passing somewhere.

For her part, Pyrrha let out a long-suffering sigh. "Must you keep calling me that?"

"It's part of your branding," the man said as he walked up to them. "Trust me, the sooner you embrace it, the easier it gets." He looked over at Blake and Weiss, giving them measuring looks. "And you two must be the Princess of Pain and the Ice Queen everyone's been talking about."

"Firebrand," Weiss corrected primly. Since being granted the callsign yesterday, she'd made a few discreet calls to spread the word in the media.

The man smiled broadly and looked at Pyrrha, gesturing at Weiss. "See, Pyrrha? She gets it. You have to own your branding."

"Wait, back up," Blake sputtered, her ears flat on top of her head. "'Princess of Pain'?"

"Well... as Chieftain of Menagerie, your father is the closest thing to a king on Remnant these days," Weiss mused aloud.

Pyrrha coughed and said, "I met Mister Ito during one of my first sponsorship shoots. He taught me a lot about how this works. Since he's a Vale native, I thought he might know an agent he might recommend for you two."

"When you make a career out of sponsorships, you're entering a whole new world," Mr. Ito said. "I guess I should probably show you two the ropes."

Blake shook her head. "I- I wouldn't want to be a bother, Mister Ito."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "We'd be happy for the help, sir." She glared disapprovingly at Blake, causing the ninja catgirl's mouth to snap shut with an audible click, her next protest unspoken. That girl just did not know how to accept help sometimes.

"Please," he said, "call me Quick Kick."

"Here," Weiss said, dropping a big stack of folders on the desk in front of Blake with a loud thump and startling the cat faunus. The two of them had returned to their dorm after Quick Kick had given them a few pointers on handling the media and contact information for some agents he recommended.

"What's this?" Blake asked curiously.

"I've been analyzing Pyrrha's matches," the former heiress answered, "not just in Combat Course and the Vytal Tournament, but over the years in the Mistral Regional Tournaments. I figured it might help if you end up facing her."

Blake's ears perked up as she began leafing through the folders. "You really think I can win?"

"Oh, heavens no!" Weiss said blithely. "This is Pyrrha we're talking about."

Blake's shoulders slumped as she sighed. "I suppose you're right."

"I don't think she knows how to throw a fight, and she'd be offended if we asked," Weiss continued.

"Th-that wasn't what I meant," Blake muttered, her ears flattening on top of her skull as she glared ineffectually at her best friend.

Megatron eased himself back into his command chair. The report from Soundwave had been quite promising, as had the one from the engineering crew. It would soon be time to move.

He brought up the broadcast.

Might as well enjoy himself until then.

When Silverstream arrived back at the seats in the stands that she, sadly, shared with Molly, she had been expecting a bad reaction…

"Did you make that yourself?" snorted Molly.

…and she had been right.

"Yes," answered Silverstream defiantly. "Yes, I did."

What she had made was a black shirt with the purple Menagerite flower Weiss had revealed during her doubles match lit on fire with the word "Firebrand" written in fiery font beneath it. After she had found out about Weiss's new callsign, she had found the closest shirt to the design that appeared in her mind the instant she had seen that article and then set to work. It took her all night, but she finally had finished it early that morning.

She wanted to sleep so badly, but she also wanted to watch the Vytal Tournament and see Weiss's best friend bring home the glory. What she definitely didn't want to do was have to deal with Molly's pestering.

Molly's mom smacked her upside the head.

"Ow!"

Luckily, it seemed like neither did her mother.

"Behave yourself, young lady."

"Sorry, Mom," whimpered Molly.

As Silverstream sat down, though, she heard the most unexpected sound.

"It doesn't look half bad," admitted Molly sourly.

It was, just as surprisingly, pleasing to Silverstream's ears.

The mood in the barn of Sweet Apple Acres was mixed.

"Death stalks us at every turn," moaned Vice Principal Luna.

"The lucky ones are those who have passed," lamented Pinkie Pie.

"You two, I swear," complained Granny Smith. "One bad day, and you fall to pieces. Why, back in my day, we were lucky to have days that good. Every night, we'd say prayers of thanks that we all didn't die horribly that day, and the same in the morning, because we'd be lucky to survive the night."

"Ha! Luxury!" mocked Principal Celestia. "Why, back when I was a fahnenjunker, at least three men would die in my company on every field exercise, and we wouldn't be able to head back to camp until we'd completed at least a hundred."

The four ladies were all seated at a table at the back of the massive room, which was filled with every member of the viewing party that had been there in previous days, plus a few extras who had only come in to see the finals. Most were focused on their own conversations, but others were looking keenly on the holographic screen displaying a sports channel that dominated the display and several secondary sports channels playing below it that were just waiting to be enlarged. Other people were watching the tournament in their homes or attending other viewing parties, for the tournament was an important bonding ritual for the whole settlement to keep them together instead of fraying apart from petty internal political disputes.

"How can you possibly joke at a time like this, Sister, when the body politic is about to explode?!" demanded Luna in outrage, finally raising her head. "With Twilight Sparkle gone, civil war between Canterlot and Crystal City is now inevitable!"

"Yeah, stop being such a meanie pants!" objected Pinkie in a similar manner. "Can't you see that General Ironwood was the glue keeping us together? And now he's been framed for a crime he didn't commit and is going to be killed by those fools in the council!"

"I think you two got your scripts flipped there," observed Granny Smith.

"It's called empathy," preened Pinkie. "Maybe you should try it sometime."

"Ha! Oh, that burn stings, but I've had worse," boasted Granny Smith.

Celestia laughed, and then spoke with an upbeat tone. "I know things may look bleak now, but I think you should all be able to take comfort in the fact that we can do absolutely nothing to change our circumstances."

Luna and Pinkie both raised single eyebrows in unison.

"Hey, I know that look," chided Granny Smith. "Attempting to assassinate the council and the leaders of two of the biggest political parties in the kingdom won't get you anywhere."

"You mock, but what else are we supposed to do?" asked Pinkie. "Everything's changing so quickly. We've got to act now, or all will be lost."

"It's actin' this quickly that's gotten everyone into the mess they're in now," pointed out Granny Smith crossly. "Siddown and wait for a day or two. Both of you."

"How could you possibly recognize that look?" asked Luna in worried curiosity.

"Let's just say that this ain't my first rodeo, missy," preened Granny Smith.

"Riiiiiiiiiight," said Pinkie, raising an eyebrow. "That's not creepy at all."

"As for Twilight," started Celestia, changing the subject, "at the end of the day, her being at Shade is no different than her being away at Beacon like she has been for the last semester. If you're worried about her, you can just call her scroll when she lands."

"Do those even work in Vacuo?" asked Pinkie.

"Why, yes. Yes, they do," Celestia told her.

"Huh. Hadn't thought about that. Maybe she's got some zany explanation for all this," mused Pinkie.

"Or a perfectly sensible one," offered Granny Smith.

"What is sensible these days?" asked Luna, straightening up enough to reach out and take a glass full of hard cider that had sat there undrunk for quite some time. "Still, I'll play your game, old nag. I'll hold off on the over-the-top schemes."

"And enjoy yourself," added Celestia coyly.

Luna glared at her sister with the unremitting fury of a thousand suns for several long seconds before replying, "Maybe."

"Well, at least we know that Rainbow Dash will find a way to have a good time," preened Pinkie Pie, trying to regain some of her cheer. "I have a feeling she's going to be first up in the second-year semifinals."

Rainbow Dash paced up and down outside the tunnel leading into the arena proper, waiting to see if she would get called for the semifinals match.

At least I know I'll get a call eventually. Unlike from some people.

"You okay, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked. Her arms were folded, and she was looking as though she was starting to regret deciding to put Rainbow through to the semifinals.

"What do you think?" Rainbow muttered.

"There ain't no call for that," Applejack said, quietly but reproachfully. "Ah know yer upset-"

"'Upset'?" Rainbow repeated, rounding on Applejack. "I am not upset, okay? I'm angry. Twilight... Twilight's gone! She left! She left us! She left, and she didn't even have the guts to say goodbye to our faces." Rainbow growled in frustration. "And you know what the worst part is?"

Applejack folded her arms. "Ah think yer gonna tell me either way."

"This was always going to happen!" Rainbow shouted. "All that 'Shadowbolts forever' stuff. They always meant more to Twilight than we did. She was always going to choose them over us. She always did choose them over us." She ran both hands through her multi-colored hair. "When I think of the amount of time we wasted on that-"

"Don't say it," Applejack warned. "Don't finish that thought, Rainbow Dash, or Ah guarantee that you'll regret it once you cool off some."

"Why shouldn't I say it?" Rainbow demanded. "Why shouldn't I think it? She hung out with them-"

"They were her teammates."

"She let them laugh at us and insult us, and did she stop it?"

"She tried-"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure she tried really hard," Rainbow snarled. "And now she's gone. Just like that. Face it, Applejack, she was never our friend at all."

"Ah don't believe that," Applejack declared staunchly. "Twilight left because she thought it was the right thing to do, because of the danger-"

"Right, the danger, because a bunch of camels are going to be such a big help in saving Atlas from a conspiracy that scared the Commanding General of the greatest military on Remnant, a conspiracy with the power to get Ironwood fired and put on the chopping block," Rainbow said derisively. "She'll show up again wearing a white sheet and leading an army on horseback to save the day. We had to spend half the night convincing Pinkie to stop crying because of what she did." Not that Rainbow had gotten much sleep for the other half of the night. In fact, she hadn't gotten any sleep at all. She had been maddened beyond sleep - Twilight had murdered sleep - all Rainbow could do was lie awake in bed thinking about what she'd done to them. In the end, she'd gotten up and gone for a run, and even that hadn't tired her out enough to persuade sleep to come.

"Rainbow Dash, you need to calm down-"

"I need to be more like you?" demanded Rainbow.

Applejack drew back. "What did Ah do?"

"Even if Twilight turned out to be a... I thought that you at least would have had my back instead of siding with the damn Shadowbolts!" Rainbow snapped.

"AH got yer back."

"It didn't feel like it," Rainbow said, rubbing her face reflexively.

"Ah got yer back when you ain't acting like a mule with a corncob up its rear," Applejack growled. "Now, Ah'll be rootin' for you from up in the stands, but Ah hope a water biome comes up; maybe it'll cool yer head a little." She pushed her hat back on her head, turned on her toe, and walked away, her boots stomping upon the arena floor.

"Yeah, you can leave, too," Rainbow muttered. She clenched her hands into fists and then unclenched them again. She blinked rapidly as sweat trickled down her brow. She couldn't get it out of her head: Twilight, the Shadowbolts, Applejack siding with them instead of with Rainbow Dash. Just thinking about Twilight's face got her so mad... and so sad, not that she'd admit that.

She didn't want to admit that Twilight probably wouldn't even need to apologise to get Rainbow to forgive her.

"And to start off the second-year semifinals are... Sunset Shimmer of Haven!" Professor Port announced, prompting cheers from the crowd that Sunset never would have gotten when the tournament started.

"~But you will remember me! Remember me for centuries!~"

She snarled as the ego-stroking music played. Of course the backstabbing gloryhound would choose something like that. Rainbow really hoped she got called. She had some issues that she'd enjoy working out on Sunset's stupid face.

"And Rainbow 'Boomer' Dash of Atlas!"

"Yesss," Rainbow hissed and began to walk down the tunnel towards the arena, for once ignoring her own music as it began to play...

"~Awesome as I want to be!~"

...because right now, she wasn't feeling so awesome.

"This match is over," Principal Celestia murmured as she watched the two contestants emerge from the two tunnels to take their places facing one another in the central octagon.

Her sister looked at her strangely. "It hasn't even begun yet," Luna reminded her. "Are you that confident in your former protégé?"

Celestia's brow was furrowed. "Look how distracted Miss Dash is. I suspect that neither her head nor her heart are in this battle."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Luna admitted, with a glance towards the rather listless and dispirited Pinkie Pie who sat at their table and had started the day as a grey and barely moving husk of a girl with dark bags under her blank eyes. Now, of course, she was fearfully unhinging her jaw - probably - to swallow a giant pink cupcake.

"This battle was over before it even began," Celestia said, and Luna found that she could not deny it.

Rainbow was pacing up and down in the central octagon, too distracted to pay attention to the biomes that rose to surround her; as the doubles round had escalated from the team round's two biomes to four, so too did the semifinals escalate to eight. Rainbow continued to pace while she waited for the fight to start, but Sunset stood stock still on the other side of the octagon. She wore an ugly smirk on her face as she waited, her eyes glinting with amusement.

"So, Sunburst told me that Twilight ran away to Vacuo," Sunset began.

"Shut up," Rainbow growled through gritted teeth.

"So much for the magic of friendship, huh?" Sunset continued. "So much for unbreakable bonds and all that other stuff. Only, the way I hear it, she didn't go to Vacuo by herself."

"Shut up," Rainbow muttered.

"She took her real friends with her-"

"SHUT UP!" Rainbow yelled, rounding on Sunset.

Sunset only looked more amused as the countdown began.

"Three!"

"How does it feel, Rainbow Dash?" Sunset demanded. "To be abandoned and betrayed?"

Rainbow growled wordlessly. She could feel her hands starting to itch as she reached for Red Shift and Blue Shift.

"Two!"

"How does it feel to have the people you thought you could trust turn on you?"

Rainbow could feel her breathing coming faster now. It was like there was a red mist in front of her eyes.

"One!"

"You know, it's funny," Sunset said. "I spent so long trying to break you guys apart, and you ended up doing it all on your own."

"Begin!"

"Fill your hand, you two-faced bitch!" Rainbow screamed, at Sunset and at Twilight both as she charged across the distance separating the two warriors, a rainbow trailing behind her as she raised Red Shift and sprayed fire at Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset produced her own blade, the shining metal flickering as she blocked Rainbow's shots, but Sunset nonetheless staggered backwards as at least a couple of Rainbow's rounds hit home.

Rainbow drew Blue Shift as she reached Sunset, slashing downwards at her opponent's face with the south Animan-style short sword. Sunset parried, the similar blades ringing as flames began to engulf Sunset's body. Rainbow kept on attacking, slashing wildly downwards and crosswise, driving Sunset back in a furious flurry of blows. Sunset retreated, parrying desperately, the blows of Rainbow's sword ringing on her own, losing aura slice by slice as Rainbow hurled herself upon her enemy.

Sunset was on fire by now, her semblance engulfing her. Rainbow could feel the flames upon her face, could feel the fire of crimson and gold biting at her aura as the flames rose and fell from Sunset's skin. She didn't care. She didn't care about Sunset's semblance. Sunset thought that it protected her, but Rainbow was willing to take the hit. She just had to rip through Sunset's aura faster than Sunset could burn through hers.

Rainbow didn't let up. The smirk had vanished from Sunset's face as she struggled to keep up with the speed of Rainbow's onslaught. Rainbow would-

'Least you can do is respect her sacrifice.' The words of Applejack turning on her, betraying her, siding with the Shadowbolts, flashed into Rainbow's mind. She blinked, faltering in her onslaught. Sunset noticed and stepped into the breach with a counterattack, slashing across Rainbow's body, slicing into her aura with her own sword. Rainbow's spine arched backwards, a grunt of pain escaping her lips. Sunset drew back for another slashing stroke. Rainbow leapt backwards, firing Red Shift as she spun in the air. Sunset knocked the bullets aside with her sword. She didn't draw her own pistol but simply charged towards Rainbow as the latter descended.

Red Shift was empty now. Rainbow cast the gun aside and landed, balancing one hand upon the hard grey surface of the arena. She would jump back again and-

'What in the world did you drag Twi into?'

Rainbow hesitated, screwing up her face with pain and anguish. Why, Twilight, why did you have to-?

The flames alerted her to Sunset's approach a moment before Sunset's blow struck her in the small of the back, bending Rainbow outwards as she was hurled like a football across the arena. She hit the ground with an "oof," bouncing and rolling towards the edge of the central octagon. She could feel the cold of ice against her leg.

Rainbow didn't get up. She lay on the ground, one leg shivering with the cold of the biome, with her head in her arms.

"-headed to Vacuo-"

"-love you-"

"-

try to get along-"

"You've caused enough damage."

I wish I'd never met you, Twilight.

The flames had died down enough that Sunset's face was visible as she sauntered over.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" she asked in a voice that was utterly without pity. "The betrayal. The shock. You don't know who to trust any more, because if one person can betray you, then maybe they all can. If one person cannot be trusted, then can anyone? And then... then comes the rage. Do you feel it yet? Don't worry, you'll feel it soon. You'll hate her. You'll hate everyone. You'll want nothing more than to crush them, to stand above them and show them - show everyone - just how wrong they were to look down on you, to think little of you, to reject you."

"I'm not like you," Rainbow declared.

"No," Sunset agreed. "You're the one lying on the ground sobbing. You thought you were better than me. You thought that your friendship made you better. But look at you now: weak and lost and all alone. Now, do you want me to finish you off down there, or do you want to get up and see if you can't salvage a little dignity before the end?"

Rainbow lay on the ground, her breathing heavy. Her fingers closed around her blade. She scrambled upright, heading towards Sunset-

-who whipped out her antique pistol and emptied it into Rainbow's chest, knocking her onto her back and taking her aura into the red.

"Or, you know, that," Sunset said dismissively, as the buzzer sounded for her victory. She shook her head. "The Ace of Canterlot Combat School, Rainbow Dash. There was a time when I envied you. There was a time... a time when I dreamed of being you." Sunset's lip curled in contempt. "But, being awaked, I do despise my dream. Because I've outgrown you." She turned away, raising her arms up in the air as the cheers of the crowd descended on her head.

And Rainbow Dash lay on the ground, shivering as she felt the ice through the remains of her aura, and wondered... why?

Contrary to what Rainbow Dash thought, the reaction from the crowd was far from universally positive. To be sure, cheers arose from one section of the crowd, mostly consisting of Sunset's fellow Haven students, as the Mistralian academy had been taking a beating over the past few Vytal Tournaments, but the reactions from others were... mixed, to say the least.

"Truly, an uninspiring victory and a clear display of poor sportsmanship," commented a disapproving Professor Port. "The Grimm won't care what insults you visit upon them."

"A poor display by both competitors," argued Dr. Oobleck. "By the same token, the Grimm won't care if you're having a bad day."

"True, true," admitted Port reluctantly.

For her part, Velvet Scarlatina glared down into the arena, then looked over at her boyfriend.

"So, still say it's okay we lost to her?" she asked pointedly.

Lavi winced. "In the grand scheme of things, does the outcome of this tournament really matter?" he offered.

"Hmph!" was her miffed reply. "Rain better win his match and kick her butt in the finals," she declared.

"Rain will do his best," Lavi assured her hesitantly, "but that girl... she's strong. And ruthless."

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" she asked softly.

"You could say that."

Silverstream found herself leaning back in her seat. "That… was a little disturbing."

"Oh, come on," Molly cried. "'Disturbing'? That was just trash talk."

"She sounded like a supervillain!" Silverstream protested.

"Okay, it was very biting trash talk."

"Firebrand would never talk to an opponent like that," Silverstream declared. "And neither would Pyrrha Nikos, for that matter."

"Well… no," Molly admitted. "But the fact that she doesn't have class doesn't negate the fact that she still dominated that fight."

"I guess," Silverstream conceded. "I wonder what was up with that poor girl?"

"Something about that Twilight Sparkle of Team Fairstar," Molly replied. "The ones who lost to Team Ruffle in their doubles match. At least, that's what it sounded like from what Sunset Shimmer was saying. We'll probably never know for sure."

"No," Silverstream agreed softly. "Poor Rainbow Dash."

"Well, that was… a little disappointing," Rarity murmured, with genteel and ladylike understatement. That same understatement that was preventing much sign of her disappointment from showing upon her face.

"Rainbow Dash… lost?" Scootaloo asked in disbelief.

"She didn't seem to be hardly trying one bit," Apple Bloom complained.

"Now, girls, there's no need to be harsh," Fluttershy said. "I'm sure that Rainbow Dash tried her best."

"It didn't look like it," Scootaloo muttered.

Fluttershy's face fell. "She… she has a lot on her mind right now. We all do."

"But she was so excited about this!" Scootaloo declared.

"I know," Fluttershy said. "That's what makes it so terrible for her."

At the officers' table, Luna glanced at her elder sister out of the side of her eye. "Your prize student?"

"Former prize student," Celestia corrected primly.

"I do have to wonder what you saw in her," Luna muttered.

"She is tenacious and resourceful," Celestia said.

"Also cruel, vindictive, and certain things I cannot utter in the present company," Luna replied.

"That is why she is my former student," Celestia said. She frowned. "And yet… I cannot help but feel this is my fault. Oh, Sunset, what might you have become, had I only been a better teacher?"

"HA!" Megatron crowed, pumping his fist before pointing at the screen. "Now that's how you trash talk."

He found himself liking Sunset Shimmer. The girl had ambition, drive, and a ruthless streak that would take her far in life. Perhaps when they got around to conquering this world, he'd offer her an opportunity to channel that drive into something more productive.

Megatron considered that, then shook his head.

No... no, she was far too much like him to risk leaving alive when the time came.

Pity, that. Still, it would be nice to meet with such a kindred spirit someday. Before he had her eliminated.

Sour "Sakura" Sweet had risen out of her seat and was now standing stock still, staring down into the arena, hands clenched knuckle-white on the backrest of the empty seat in front of her.

It kind of worried Jet.

"Sour?" he asked hesitantly.

"That slanderous, egotistical, unmitigated... witch," Sour hissed. "Where does she of all people get off calling Twilight a traitor?" The backrest in her hands crumpled. "Losing to Canterlot was bad enough, but to have someone like her go on into the finals?"

She looked to either side at the rest of the team, and Lemon met her gaze with a silent nod.

Upper spoke up at that, picking up on the atmosphere. "This slight against a fellow Shadowbolt cannot be allowed to go unanswered."

"No," Jet found himself agreeing. "No, it can't."

The Shadowbolts knew Sunset Shimmer, of course: arrogant, hypercompetitive, disdainful... she might have actually made a decent Shadowbolt if it weren't for the fact that she seemed to think that she - alone - was a clique, that people would somehow naturally find her worth following despite her never having done anything to earn any loyalty. Twilight had filled them in on even more details, and, well, even for a Canterlotian, she was pretty terrible, and she had been the principal's personal protégé... which pretty much said all that needed to be said about what Canterlot Combat School's values and standards were like, didn't it?

"You have a plan, Sakura?" Lemon asked.

"Maybe," their team leader said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "I'm thinking we need to deflate that ego of hers a little. Teach her a little humility."

"I've got an idea," Upper broke in eagerly. "A friend of mine - well, a friend of a friend - is a first-year competing here. She's up for the singles rounds herself and a big-name tournament fighter in Mistral. What say we arrange an exhibition match after the Vytal Festival is over?"

Sour's lips curled into a vicious smile. "Sounds like an excellent idea if we can manage it. Go talk to your friend, see if you can get her on board."

"Count on it," Upper said with a nod. "If I know her at all, she's as offended by this as we are."

Pyrrha's parents had often told her that it was better not to open a day's combat. It was better, in fact, to go into the ring after a great fight, when the crowd would be warmed up and crackling with carry-over excitement.

It was advice that had applied more when she was younger and just starting out; by her last years - not to sound too immodest - it had sometimes seemed as though she could warm a crowd up quite quickly all by herself.

But now, as the second-year semifinals ended with a handy victory by Rain "Vanguard" Bailey of Team RRFL over the last Shade student still in the second-year bracket, as the cheers of the crowd continued to echo around the arena long after the fighters had departed, Pyrrha remembered her parents' words. They brought a slight smile to her face. It was certainly a better show to follow up on than the other second-year match, the thought of which turned her smile into a distasteful frown before years of PR experience smoothed out her expression.

Of course, there was no guarantee that she would be first up. Pyrrha's gaze swept across the other three competitors in the room.

Aska stood in one corner, calm and relaxed, her expression unreadable. Team APRC was acting like it had always been planned for Aska to advance to the singles rounds, but Pyrrha was sure she was a last-minute substitution. After all, Pyrrha had heard from Ruby, among others, that Penny had been looking forward to crossing swords with her in the arena.

Poor girl, she thought. Ruby had begged off attending the semifinals in order to visit Penny. At the infirmary. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

Arslan, Pyrrha's perennial rival, leaned against one wall, arms folded confidently. It would be a shame not to meet her in the finals-

Pyrrha broke that thought off and mentally rebuked herself for overconfidence.

She glanced at the final contestant, Blake, who stood by the door leading to the tunnels that would take them to the arena.

The cat faunus looked nervous. "Blake?" Pyrrha asked softly as she stepped closer. "Is everything alright?"

Blake looked up at her. "Yeah," she said quickly. "Everything's fine."

That was... possibly not true, but Pyrrha appreciated Blake's desire not to trouble her right before a match. It was generous, and that generosity ought to be respected.

Besides, there would be plenty of time to badger her into revealing what the trouble was that evening, after the matches were concluded.

The voice of Professor Port boomed out over the intercom. "And our first set of contestants in the first-year semifinals are... Arslan Altan of Haven!"

"~It feels like I have lost this fight. They think that I am staying down. But I'm not giving up tonight. Tonight, the wall is coming down.~"

The cheering of the crowd seemed to redouble in volume, echoing down the tunnel towards their ears as her chosen song began to play. Arslan had started playing up the "underdog" angle two years ago, and it seemed to be working for her. The Golden Lion let out her own whoop of anticipation and gave her own last, measuring look at her competition before stepping out of the locker room they had all chosen to wait in with an enthusiastic run.

Pyrrha offered a smile but refrained from wishing her luck. It wasn't that she harbored any ill will toward her old rival - she liked her a lot, actually, and considered her, if not a friend, at least a friendly rival - but if it came down to supporting Arslan or Blake, she was afraid there wasn't really a contest. And of course, there was always a chance that-

"And Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon!" Professor Port added after a pause as Arslan's song began to fade and was soon replaced with her own.

This time, the noise of the crowd was a great roar, a thunderous sound that shook the very Amity Colosseum itself. Pyrrha could only imagine what the reaction back in Mistral was like.

Blake smiled thinly. "Good luck out there. Be sure to win one for Beacon, okay?"

Pyrrha smiled back at her and nodded. "Thank you," she murmured. "I'll do my best." She turned away from Blake and faced the dark tunnel leading out into the arena. As she strode through the darkness, her booted feet tapping upon the floor, she put aside Pyrrha Nikos and assumed once more the mask of the Invincible Girl. At the fork in the tunnel, she turned right, as the second contestant announced for the match; Arslan, as the first announced, would have gone left.

The timing, as ever, was perfect.

"~I am invincible! Unbreakable! Unstoppable! Unshakeable!~"

She wouldn't have thought that it was possible for the crowd to get any louder, but as she stepped out into the morning light, the thunderous cheers hit her almost like a physical wave, the floor beneath her feet trembling from the volume as the cheering somehow grew ever louder.

Not quite loud enough to block out the shrill cry of, "Hey, Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha turned to see her teammates of Team RRANNBWW - or rather, her teammates of Team JNPR plus Sun, as Weiss was going to be watching from a VIP box with Blake's mother - seated directly above the entrance she had just emerged from. It had been Nora who had shouted loud enough to get Pyrrha's attention, but now that they had it, it was to a rather different set of blue eyes that Pyrrha's gaze was drawn to.

Jaune smiled, a smile as bright as summer sunshine. "Kick some butt, okay?" he called down to her. "You've got this."

Pyrrha raised one gloved hand to her lips and blew him a kiss. This made the crowd roar with even greater passion as Pyrrha turned away and completed her journey into the central octagon.

Arslan was waiting for her, arms folded across her chest, a look on her face that was halfway between skeptical and amused.

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed. "Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong," Arslan replied, her voice bubbling with an undercurrent of amusement. "I've never known you play to the crowd like that before."

"I wasn't playing to the crowd."

Arslan's eyebrows rose. "Oh, really? What would you call blowing a kiss to your beau as you make your entrance? I'm surprised he didn't give you a favor to wear around your arm."

Pyrrha's mind went to the ring, safely stored for the duration of the match in one of the pouches on her belt. "Well..." she murmured, a faint flush rising to her cheeks.

Arslan's grin widened. "You're all in on this, aren't you?"

Pyrrha shrugged. "I love him. What else can I say?"

Arslan chuckled. "I swear, I could knock you out of this tournament here and now, and it wouldn't dent your spirits one bit." She paused, her face and voice alike becoming a little more serious. "Just to be clear, I am in no way asking for you to throw the fight."

"I would never insult you by even considering the possibility," Pyrrha replied.

Arslan paused for a long moment, giving her a piercing look, then gave a curt nod. "It's a pity, really. I was kind of hoping we'd meet in the finals. Keep my second-place streak alive, you know?"

"You may yet still," Pyrrha reminded her. It was one of many reasons she enjoyed going up against Arslan; too many of her opponents in recent years had given up before the fight had even started.

"Oh, believe me, I know," Arslan replied, cracking her knuckles.

"Let's at least have some fun with this, shall we?" Pyrrha suggested.

Arslan's lips peeled back into a ferocious grin. "Are you going to stop holding back?"

Pyrrha arched an eyebrow. "Are you?" She had not forgotten what Arslan had done to Carolina in the doubles round.

The biomes rose around them: mountain, gravity islands, ruins, a geyser field, plains, desert, water, and forest. Pyrrha saw Arslan glance left and right and guessed that her perennial opponent didn't intend to simply face her head on.

It would be a shame to waste this unique arena.

"Three!" Professor Port boomed.

Pyrrha slung Akoúo̱ onto her left arm, and Miló dropped into her right hand.

"Two!"

Arslan settled into a combat stance, hands balled into fists, legs spaced, her silhouette dropping as she crouched.

"One!"

Pyrrha brought up Akoúo̱ before her, Miló drawn back, ready to strike.

"Begin!"

Arslan ran to the right, arms swept back behind her, her moccasins making no sound as she dashed towards the forest.

Pyrrha ran too, running in parallel with Arslan's course, not closing the distance straight away, not until she knew a little more about Arslan's plan. Miló switched from spear to rifle in her hand, and Pyrrha slowed a little as she rested the barrel upon her arm and the slit atop Akoúo̱, using her shield as a rest as she took aim as best she could while moving. She fired. Her shot struck the arena surface at Arslan's feet, making the other girl jump but neither slowing her nor striking her. She kept on running. Pyrrha fired again, and this time, Arslan leapt before the shot, her body turning in the air as she flung Nemean Claw at Pyrrha. Pyrrha refrained from using her semblance. It wouldn't have done any good, as Arslan had reforged her weapon out of non-ferrous materials a year ago; they'd never talked about it, but it was clear that she, at least, had figured out Pyrrha's semblance. Instead, she took it on her shield, deflecting the knife away with a deft motion of Akoúo̱ before allowing Arslan to pull the dagger back upon its rope.

Arslan had never intended to do her harm with it; it was the distraction that she'd wanted and the distraction that she'd gotten. Arslan was able to make it to the cover of the forest, disappearing into the trees.

Leaving Pyrrha without much choice but to go in after her.

She switched Miló into its sword form as she strode forward, the light glinting off her gilded armor as she advanced at a slow prowl, like a majestic catamount stalking its prey upon the Illucyan Steppes of Anima.

Sword at the ready and shield held before her, she advanced into the forest. The grass, artificial or no, crunched beneath her feet. It was quieter than a normal forest. There was no sound of bird or beast. No sound, either, of her opponent in the battle. Pyrrha peered between the trees, trying to spot a particular dark patch of shadow, a tree trunk that bulged in an unusual way-

A rustling sound above was all the notice Pyrrha received a split-second before Arslan descended from the upper branches of the trees in which she had been hiding, dropping down on Pyrrha with one leg outstretched for a kick.

Pyrrha dropped to her knees, curling up and holding her shield before her. She felt Arslan's foot strike her shield like a hammer-blow, the impact shuddered down her arms and made her body tremble, but it did not knock her down nor move her from her spot.

Time slowed. Pyrrha could feel the impact of the blow, but Arslan was still poised upon her shield, face contorted, one foot drawn back and the other outstretched, arms raised above her head. And while she was thus, Pyrrha rose to her feet and flung her arms - and with them, Akoúo̱ - upwards and outwards, sending Arslan through the trees and up into the air with a startled cry of alarm.

Pyrrha burst out of the woods, standing on the edge of the water biome as Arslan flew. She switched Miló to rifle mode, took aim, and fired, but either her aim had been off or Arslan's twisting and turning in the air enabled her to dodge the shot, for it didn't seem to land. Arslan flung her knife again, this time burying the dagger in the mast of the ruined ship that rose out of the water in the center of the biome. Arslan used the rope to pull herself towards it.

Pyrrha leapt. She threw Akoúo̱ onto her back as Miló changed fluidly from rifle to spear, and Pyrrha gripped it tightly in both hands as her leap carried her up onto the top yard of the ship's mast, just as Arslan hauled herself down onto it.

The wooden beam creaked beneath their feet as they balanced themselves upon it.

"You've gotten faster," Pyrrha observed.

"And you've gotten stronger," Arslan answered.

Pyrrha cocked an eyebrow. "Shall we take it up a notch?"

"Give them a real show, you mean?" Arslan asked. "I still owe you a beating for last year."

Pyrrha blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"What?" Arslan scoffed. "You thought I didn't notice?"

Pyrrha flushed. Last year... last year was when Arslan had finally put a crack in the Invincible Girl's reputation, scoring the first ever hit on Pyrrha in the arena. Arslan... Arslan was supporting her family on her tournament winnings and merchandising income, and the impact that doing what some had called impossible would have on her brand's value... she needed that money far more than Pyrrha had ever needed her untouchable reputation, and besides, outside the Vytal Tournament, it was to be her last time in the arena.

It had seemed an appropriate way to mark her exit from Mistral's tournament circuit. She'd thought she'd been subtle about it. Apparently, she hadn't been quite subtle enough, not to someone as familiar with her fighting style as Arslan, at least.

She almost replied, but then, her eyes flicked to the screens above. Arslan nodded in understanding and continued, "Don't get me wrong, Pyr. I appreciate it. I really do. It's just the principle of the matter."

Pyrrha inclined her head and nodded back. "I understand."

They fell silent and stared into one another's eyes, and on some unseen signal, they charged. The wood continued to creak beneath their feet, the mast swayed gently up and down like a seesaw as Pyrrha and Arslan came together in the center. Arslan's fists flew outward; Miló traced a golden pattern through the air as Pyrrha twirled it in her grip, blocking Arslan's strokes and lashing out with blade and shaft alike. Arslan's punches were fierce and relentless, and Pyrrha was forced to retreat a step in the face of them before coming on again, driving Arslan back in turn with slashes of Miló. Both of them tried to sweep the others legs out from beneath them and send the other plummeting down into the water, and both leapt up over the blows to land once more upon the groaning wood.

Pyrrha pressed Arslan back, then Arslan leapt up and over Pyrrha's head, her body twisting in the air so that she landed facing Pyrrha, who had turned to receive the furious flurry of punches and kicks that Arslan unleashed upon her in even greater intensity than before.

After a moment, Arslan backed off into a crouch, to Pyrrha's puzzlement. For greater stability? No, Arslan's balance was impeccable, much like her own-

Her eyes widened when she saw Arslan reaching down to the yard they stood on with one hand, ill-concealed by her other hand. She barely had time to prepare herself before the wood they had turned into their arena exploded. Allowing the splinters to shave down her aura in favor of interposing Akoúo̱ between herself and Arslan, Pyrrha fell through the air, feeling Arslan's fists and feet batter against the round shield.

They hit the water, and with a little help from her semblance on her armor and weapons, Pyrrha vaulted out and toward the edge of the water biome, quickly reorienting to face her opponent.

Arslan surged forward. Pyrrha threw her shield at her. The other girl caught it in both hands, slowing her down enough for Pyrrha to escape the water and regain the central octagon, water dripping from her boots down onto the grey surface beneath her feet.

Arslan threw her shield right back at her. Pyrrha stretched out with her semblance and pirouetted into the air to "catch" Akoúo̱, turning again as she landed.

Arslan emerged from the water and strode onto the sands, dripping gently upon them.

Pyrrha charged, and as she charged, she switched Miló from spear to sword in her right hand. She charged into the desert biome, kicking up the sand as she went, slashing downwards for the crown of Arslan's head.

Arslan caught the blade between both hands, palms enfolding it. Arslan lashed out for a kick, but Pyrrha brought her shield down upon Arslan's leg for a crushing blow.

Pyrrha pushed herself forward, headbutting Arslan hard enough to send the Golden Lion of Haven staggering backwards as the buzzer sounded for her elimination.

Arslan let out a low growl of frustration as the cheers of the crowd began to fall upon Pyrrha Nikos like the gentle dew from heaven.

"I thought," Arslan said, shaking her head, "that I might actually have you this time by using the terrain. I guess I should have known better, huh?"

"The day you stop trying," Pyrrha said, "is the day both our lives become immeasurably more boring."

Arslan snorted. "Yeah, right, not with the world in the state it's in now." She held out her hand. "As always, you were superb."

Pyrrha placed her weapons on her back and took Arslan's hand. "And as always, you were formidable."

"I try my best," Arslan replied. "Now, claim your reward."

"'My-'?" Pyrrha began, before Arslan gestured behind her with a nod of her head. Pyrrha turned, and a smile blossomed upon her face as she saw Jaune running across the arena towards her.

"Woohoo!" Molly cheered. "And Pyrrha Nikos does it again!"

"Is it always that exciting when those two go head to head?" Silverstream asked.

Molly looked at her.

"I- I mean… not that I really care or anything," Silverstream added hurriedly.

Molly grinned knowingly. "Yes, it is always that exciting." She rested her chin in her hands. "It's a pity that they couldn't meet in the finals, but all the same… I think that was one of their best fights yet. Everyone who said that the biomes in the arena really add something special were right; you wouldn't get a fight quite like that in a Mistral arena." She folded her hands behind the back of her head. "And with Arslan Altan out of the way, Pyrrha Nikos has a clear path to the finals."

She didn't care if it was Blake Belladonna or Aska Roku; neither of them could stand up to Pyrrha Nikos.

The finals were over before the second semifinal had even begun.

"-and winning by aura depletion, Pyrrha Nikos will be advancing to the finals!" Professor Port roared over the tiny TV hanging in the corner of Penny's room in the infirmary.

Ruby looked up at it and watched as Pyrrha and Jaune ran to each other in the arena.

"What's wrong, Friend Ruby?"

"Nothing," Ruby lied, shaking her head, thinking about all the time she'd… it didn't matter now. She didn't know what she didn't know, and she'd made a mistake as a result. More than one, really, far more than one.

"It doesn't look like nothing," observed Ciel from the other side of the bed.

The three of them were in the infirmary, or rather, an isolation room that was part of Beacon's extensive medical facilities. Due to Penny's robotic nature, she would normally have been worked on on board an Atlas airship or other secure facility with the necessary equipment to work on her. However, with the global retreat of Atlas's forces, those facilities were in short supply, and so, Rufus "Mad Dog" Madison had elected to use the prosthetics repair equipment at Beacon and his own tools to reattach the gynoid's severed leg.

It worked, and they had been able to cover up it happening at all, but Mad Dog had insisted that Penny still remain off her feet for at least 24 hours to give the regeneration systems of her body time to smooth things over. After making that proclamation, he had gone to get some sleep after so long awake. With Aska competing in the tournament, that left the oldest and most taciturn human member of the team to watch over Penny while she rested, a task that Ciel was soon joined in by Ruby.

"Something is clearly deeply troubling you," continued Ciel, unabated.

"I…" began Ruby, trailing off and then looking into Penny's kind eyes. "I was just thinking that there's a lot I need to apologize for. Things I've done, things I've said… they weren't right."

"I see," Ciel acknowledged. "Then what is the problem?"

"I... I don't know what to do."

"If needs be done, then do so," Ciel said simply. "If you need to apologize, then apologize."

"Do I?" asked Ruby. "I mean, I just… okay, you remember when I was dating Jaune?"

"Oh, yes, it's hard to forget something so shocking," observed Penny.

"Yes, well, seeing him and Pyrrha out there… I can't help but remember how we started dating. I pushed him up against the wall and basically declared that he was taking me out, even though he was, like, really really nervous and uncomfortable. Is that normal? It feels like it's wrong," wondered Ruby aloud.

Ciel blinked very noticeably. "Yes, Ruby Rose, yes, it is wrong. That's how you started dating?"

"And continued," muttered Ruby, pushing her index fingers together. "That's... basically how all our dates started for the first few weeks."

"Are you sure that's wrong, Ciel?" Penny asked curiously. "Sun's relationship with Blake Belladonna would suggest otherwise."

The blue-eyed sniper looked at them with an expression that, though stoic, still carried with it a great deal of weight that made the other two people in the room flinch away. "It seems that you both have stumbled into a great deal of moral degeneracy."

"That seems a little harsh," objected Ruby, her eyes still looking away and down at Penny's covered legs.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that forcing someone into a romantic relationship is in any way right or proper," ordered Ciel. After a short time with no answer, she continued, "Poor observation and poor planning leads to poor results. Still, you know now what you were doing was wrong, and thankfully, Penny didn't act on any of her thoughts. Which means that this is something that you might be forgiven about."

"'Might be'?" asked Penny curiously.

"No one deserves to be forgiven," answered Ciel in a kindly tone. "No one. And yet, when someone comes to you and asks for forgiveness, you must forgive them."

Penny considered that, her nose wrinkling in confusion. "Wait. If they don't deserve it, then why should I forgive them?"

"If we all got what we deserved, the world would be a pretty terrible place," observed Ruby thoughtfully and picked her head up enough to notice Ciel nodding at her. "Jaune isn't the only one I need to apologize to."

"I suspected that was the case," replied Ciel.

"I got to go find Maple," said Ruby suddenly, getting out of her chair.

"Oh, you're going to see Maple? That's just lovely. I'll join you," cooed Penny excitedly.

"I… she's one of the people I need to apologize to," explained Ruby, turning her head to look at the coppertop and noticing her confused expression. "What?"

"Why would you need to apologize to her?" asked Penny. "That would mean you did something bad to her, and… she's Maple. Only the worst of the worst could possibly hurt her."

"Yeah, well, just count me among them then, because that's what I did," said Ruby, eliciting a gasp of shock from the bedridden redhead. "I thought she'd led my sister into a life of crime, and it was all a big misunderstanding, but I wouldn't listen, and I threatened her because of it."

"If you need privacy, we'll let you go," offered Ciel with a nod.

Ruby nodded in turn, but Penny spoke up in contradiction. "I'd still like to talk with Friend Maple after Friend Ruby's done talking to her. I still know the place from when we were volunteering here. We can wait out in-"

It was at that moment that Penny decided to slip out of bed and stand up, but no sooner had she done so than did her left leg seem to collapse, and she slipped. Ciel reacted precognitively, moving to catch her by leaping over the bed even before she finished standing up. Such was her speed that she was able to stop the coppertopped gynoid from hitting the floor, though they both still fell in a tumbled mess.

"Oh my gosh, Penny! Ciel! Are you two alright?" cried Ruby, rushing over to help them.

Penny had a pained expression and was clutching her left leg where it had been cut. "I… I don't know if I can stand."

Ruby hoisted Penny to a sitting position on the bed, and Ciel stood up with all due decorum. "But I thought Mad Dog fixed you?"

"He did!" replied Penny anxiously, leaping to the defense of her teammate verbally even while keeping both hands on her leg. "I... I don't know why this is happening. It just… why? Why is this happening to me?"

Ruby felt her heart breaking at the sight of her friend's confused pain. "I'll go get Mad Dog. Maybe the welds broke?"

"I'll call ahead," concurred Ciel, bringing out her scroll.

"No!" objected Penny. "Rufus needs his sleep, and he's too good at what he does for his work to just fail like that."

"If that is the case, then he's still the only one here with the knowledge to uncover what ails you," pointed out Ciel, who then looked up at Ruby. "Go."

Not wasting a second more, Ruby left the room, passed the armed guards, and then kicked in her semblance to make best possible speed to Team APRC's dorm.

I'm sorry, Maple. I'll say that to you in person soon, I swear.

"'Invincible' indeed," murmured Megatron approvingly. He sighed, a wave of melancholy washing over him. "So nice to see old rivals - old friends - come together again."

He had to admire Arslan Altan's fighting spirit. It took a strong spark to keep trying so hard and so earnestly after so many failures. In the end, after all, everyone got knocked down eventually, no matter how good they were. Getting back up again?

Well, that was how winning was done.

Blake stood in utter silence in the arena's central octagon. Most would say that that was on purpose, and Sun would have to agree. The difference was that he knew that it was deliberate on the part of his girlfriend, who was continuing to train as a kunoichi and was darn good at it.

With all the craziness that had been happening in the world, it felt good to have that bit of normalcy.

"And again, we keep having to say this, but Blake Belladonna is not dead!" proclaimed Port over the stadium's loudspeakers.

Though, with that thought, Sun wondered just what had happened to his life that such declarations counted as normal. After all, most boyfriends didn't have to deal with their ninja girlfriends having their fake deaths faked. Then again, most guys didn't have girlfriends who went off on darn fool idealistic crusades against their ex-boyfriends while under the impression that they alone could save the world from his evil schemes.

"That woman down there is the real original Blake Belladonna," insisted Oobleck. "She is not an actress. She is not a clone. She is not a robotic duplicate. She is not a spy. She is not a reincarnation. Honestly, people, the things that have been said about her…"

What people probably didn't say, even Sun himself, was that Blake was self-centered. She had a bad habit of making every problem in the world personal, but she was getting better. He liked to think that he was getting better too, because he had the exact same problem. What other conclusion could he come to after having ignored the affections of not one but two young women?

"Moving on, Miss Belladonna's performance throughout this tournament has been quite exceptional!" Port boomed. "With a combination of skill, agility, and her semblance, she has managed to avoid receiving so much as a single blow from an opponent throughout the team and doubles rounds!"

"Indeed, a feat that few can claim to match."

As the announcers continued, Sun could overhear a discussion behind him. "You know, I wasn't actually thinking about it before, but I think that Belladonna girl might actually be an animated statue of the real girl."

Sun rolled his eyes and looked at Neptune, seated next to him. "Still can't figure out which one to cheer for?"

"Blake, of course," Neptune answered. "She's your girlfriend, and you're my bro. Bro code."

"But Aska's my friend, and your friend too, Bro," pointed out Sun.

Neptune turned and looked at him with a long-suffering look of disgust. "Bro, why did you have to go and make things complicated?"

"I just wanted to make sure you knew all your options, Bro!" replied Sun defensively.

Whatever they were going to say next was interrupted by the announcers counting down to the match starting. The battlefield had landed on a combination of mountain, gravity islands, ice, ruins, plains, desert, swamp, and forest biomes, and both Aska and Blake were preparing themselves for battle in the central octagon. The go ahead was given, and the battle started.

No sooner had the battle started than did the contestants surprise the audience by both throwing down smoke bombs and disappearing from sight.

Sun's blue-haired companion sighed. "I don't know what else I was expecting."

"Well, they could have replaced themselves with cardboard cutouts," answered Sun. "I heard from Pyrrha that two ninjas did that in the Mistral circuit once. It took people twenty minutes before they figured it out. It then took them ten more minutes to figure out that the match had been decided fifteen minutes ago."

"Give us a moment, people. We're searching for the contestants as we speak," chimed in Oobleck over the speakers.

"Man, I hope that doesn't happen here," commented Neptune. "I mean, they have aura meters, right? So that's got to help."

Suddenly, there was a sky-shattering crack as from the forest biome a lightning bolt leapt up to strike the shield that enclosed the top of the stadium.

"That was Aska," they said in unison. Then, without looking, pointed and said to the other, "Jinx!"

"Yes?" came the voice of one of the Atlesian fourth-years from behind them.

Sun turned around and replied with great volume. "We just said something at the same time."

"My mistake," was her cheery follow up.

One of the ruined skyscrapers in that biome had a gout of flame shoot out of one of its destroyed windows.

"Aska again," murmured Sun.

"She's taken a few hits," observed Neptune, looking at the screen and taking note of the position of the aura status bar indicators. "I don't think Aska's managed to hit Blake once during this." As if on cue, there was a flicker of movement, and they briefly saw Blake standing on the edge of the swamp and perforated by shuriken... before dissipating into nothing. "Not the real one, at least," he amended.

Sun leapt to his feet and put his hands to his mouth to make a makeshift megaphone. "Come on, Blake! Win it for the home team!"

Scarlet looked up from his position in the stands next to them. "'Home team'? But we're from Haven."

"And we're visiting," pointed out Sun, looking back down at him. "Besides, if we follow that logic, we'd have to cheer for Sunset Shimmer."

"Well, why not?" asked Sage, the green-haired and often overlooked member of Team SSSN. "I mean, she's the best Haven's got right now, and I kind of want a win."

"Yeah. I say we go with Sunset Shimmer," agreed Scarlet, sitting up straighter between the two. "She's the best in Haven, and if anyone can get us a win after we've been kicked when we're down for so long, it's her."

A string of shurikens impacted the hard light shield in front of the stands before exploding like the world's loudest popcorn string.

"Uh, guys? This is the first-year semifinals, not the second," Neptune reminded them. "Those were earlier this morning."

He got a string of apologies and acknowledgments as they turned their attention back to the arena. Another cloud of smoke was beginning to blow clear, revealing the two kunoichi standing across from each other in the central octagon, hands on their blades at their hips.

"Oho!" Professor Port bellowed. "With both their auras as depleted as they are, it may very well come down to whoever lands the next blow!"

Sun glanced up at the holographic display hovering over the arena. Both aura meters were deep into the yellow, though not quite as dire as Port had made it sound. Sure, one good hit could knock either one into the red, but a minor hit would not.

He looked down as the two faced each other. As if on some unseen signal, they dashed toward each other with blinding speed, stopping when they had traded places in the arena, each with her blade out in the follow through.

He then heard Aska's voice, soft but picked up by the microphones and amplified over the speakers. "A cold wind blows south. Two warriors seek justice. This fight is over."

Suddenly, the Blake in the arena crumbled and faded away as Aska dropped to one knee, and the buzzer sounded, announcing the end of the match..

"And Blake Belladonna wins by aura depletion and will move on into the finals this evening!" boomed Professor Port.

"This ends the matches for this morning. Please exit in an orderly fashion so we may shut down for maintenance. The Colosseum will reopen at four o'clock this evening, and the finals matches will begin one hour later at five."

At that announcement from Dr. Oobleck, Sun vaulted out of his seat and created a pair of clones, which then launched him down into the arena. Amber eyes blinked in surprise as he engulfed her in a hug and spun her around.

When he finally set her down, she gave him an amused smile.

"No kiss?"

He blushed. "I, uh, I didn't want to presume." He paused. "That's the right word, right? 'Presume'?"

"Yes, Sun," she said with a giggle. "That's the right word." And with that, she pulled him into a kiss. After a moment, when she pulled away, she tilted her head and asked, "How'd you know where to find me?"

Sun shrugged. "I'll always find you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"WAHOO! Yeah, go get 'er, Blake!" shouted Silverstream at the top of her lungs as she stood up and brought her wings around to frame her face even as she cupped her hands in front of her mouth. "Blake! Blake! Blake!"

"Ugh, how can you be excited about that?" asked Molly in exasperation from back in her seat. "That was clearly a sad and tragic fight… the parts of it we saw, I mean."

"It was like something out of a movie!" replied Silverstream in excitement as she turned around. "How could you hate that? Firebrand's best friend, Blake Belladonna, just won the day handily and without getting hit a single time. A tension-filled ninja battle fought in the shadows, a climactic showdown, and at the end, the girl gets the guy. What's not to love?"

"You don't know that she didn't get hit," complained Molly.

"Uh huh, yeah, I do," bragged Silverstream. "Blake uses the same amount of aura every time she uses her semblance, and it recharges at a pretty consistent rate, which means that in any given battle she's in, you can calculate exactly how many times she's used her semblance."

Molly narrowed her eyes. "Why did you take something cool and make it sound boring?"

Silverstream pointed dramatically at her. "Aha! You said that it was cool! You like Blake Belladonna after all!"

"I do not!" insisted Molly. "I'm just really glad that we're not going to be going to war with Menagerie is all."

"Pfft. That was always a load of hooey, and you know it."

"Okay, yes, but that doesn't mean I have to admit it," huffed Molly, turning her head away and nose up in disgust.

Silverstream gave her a very flat stare, and then her expression changed to a more lively one. "So what was it that won you over about Blake? Was it the romance with the dashing Sun Wukong? Black Sun is adorable, isn't it?"

"'Black Sun'?" Molly looked up in disgust. "That's ridiculous. It should be called Eclipse."

Silverstream sat back down and glared at her. "Black. Sun."

"It's uncreative," countered Molly sourly. "Eclipse."

Molly's mother sighed. "Here we go again."

Thundercracker turned the broadcast off.

That should have been Penny out there, he thought morosely. But it wasn't, and it was his fault, no matter what the Atlesians - from General Ironwood on down to the rest of Team APRC(T) - insisted.

Oh, certainly, they'd assured him Ironwood would have gladly put himself in the crosshairs to save anyone else, and that, he believed. But if it hadn't been for Thundercracker, MECH wouldn't have targeted Penny in the first place - it was him, after all, that they had wanted, not her - and she wouldn't have been injured, and Ironwood wouldn't be facing charges.

He really wanted to blast that smug smirk off Silas's face with his incendiary guns. And those cronies on the Atlesian Council for good measure.

Thundercracker shook his head and shifted his weight.

I can't put it off any longer, he decided and activated his long-range communicator.

"Thundercracker reporting in."

"Thundercracker, acknowledged." Primus, it was Soundwave. Of course it was Soundwave. The Decepticon communications officer gave him the creeps. "Your survival was calculated as highly improbable."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," he grumbled. "But for your information, I'm fine and back with the Atlesians."

"Understood," Soundwave said. "Continue current mission parameters and await further orders. Be ready to mobilize if needed."

"Copy that," he said, feeling his circuits tingle. "Anything else?"

"Negative. Soundwave out."

Thundercracker deactivated the long-range communicator and sat heavily down on the floor of the hangar.

'Be ready to mobilize.'

That wasn't good. It meant the higher ups were planning something, something soon. But what?

And more importantly... what was he going to do about it?

Megatron shook his head in disgust.

"Ninjas," he hissed, annoyed.

What else was there to say?

"Hmm," Luna murmured. "I would say that General Ironwood will be disappointed… but so much has happened recently that I doubt this will even register."

"It will register, at least to the extent that it registers with young Aska herself," Celestia said. "A parent always feels the disappointments of their children, even in the midst of their own most bitter travails."

Luna glanced at Celestia. "Speaking from your non-experience, Sister?"

"I suppose I am," Celestia murmured, sounding a little dispirited to be reminded of the fact. "However, that doesn't mean that I am wrong."

Adam and Yang sat at a table in the corner of the Ark's infirmary, eating lunch quietly.

"I watched your team match in the Vytal Tournament," Adam said, breaking the silence.

"Oh?"

"You were reckless," he said bluntly.

"Hey, I was worried about you!" she snapped defensively.

He snorted. "I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, good job with that," she snorted back. "Or was it my imagination when I hauled your shrapnel-filled butt in here?"

"Yes," he lied baldly. "It absolutely was your imagination."

She resisted the urge to punch him. Instead, she reached over and smacked him gently upside the head. "There's that bad advice from Raven again. Stop that." She paused, then tilted her head. "What about the other matches?"

He lowered his gaze, staring at his food as he poked at it with his fork. "Your teammate, Weiss... she is not what I expected."

"And Blake?" she asked tentatively.

There was a long pause.

"I'm... glad to see she seems to be doing better," he said finally.

Yang didn't know what to say to that, so instead, she turned her attention back to her own food. It wasn't exactly great stuff - most of what was available on the Ark was canned food and travel rations the White Fang liked to stock up on for emergencies, as they never knew when they could safely resupply - but it was serviceable.

"I taught her that move," he murmured. "That strike she used at the end of this morning's semifinals."

Yang blinked in surprise, then paused to turn it over in her head. Blake and Aska had charged past each other at high speed, each delivering a single, powerful attack with their swords, striking from the hip. It was, in fact, exactly like Adam's preferred fighting style. "Yeah, it's pretty obvious, now that you mention it."

"She was so young when we met," he said distantly. "I hardly paid any attention to her at all at the time. I didn't know who she was, who her parents were. Sienna Khan, though, she knew. She used Blake's presence to help legitimize her 'new direction' for the White Fang when she took over six years ago."

Wait, Yang thought, holding her tongue to not interrupt the moment. Blake's related to those Belladonnas?!

"I didn't really notice her until about three years ago," he continued. "We'd been in the same cell for a year by then, and she kept cropping up mission after mission doing something notable. She was good: well-trained, tough, talented, and devoted to the cause, but still a little rough around the edges. I showed her a few tricks, sparred with her, trained her." He scoffed. "For all that the media try to downplay our actions, keep our names out of the headlines to deny us recognition so they can keep painting the White Fang as a bunch of faceless goons, people still know what we do, who we are. Some had started calling me the Sword of the White Fang, like I'm some hero out of legend, but she... I thought she saw past that."

Yang reached out a hand and placed it on his, but he didn't even seem to notice.

"It was a year or so after that that we... grew close," he said, then fell silent.

"What happened?" Yang prodded after a moment.

He worked his jaw for a moment without speaking. "I... was afraid," he admitted finally, visibly forcing the words from his mouth. "I didn't... I was afraid of losing her. So I did everything I could, pulled every trick I knew, used every lesson I was taught to keep her close."

Yang held back a snark about how well that had worked out.

He glared at her. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything!" she protested.

"You were thinking it," he said coolly.

Well, that's gratitude for you! she fumed.

He sighed. "But... I suppose that's why it hit me so hard when she left me on that train. I guess she went to Beacon after that." He smirked. "From there, I suspect you know more than I do."

"Not that much more," Yang retorted. "You saw my scroll gallery. Um, she did spend a few months on special training learning to be a ninja, though."

"...that does not surprise me in the least."

"You gonna watch the finals?" Yang asked, changing the subject slightly.

"Perhaps," he said with a shrug. "It's not like I care about any of the higher years, and I already know how the first-year match will go."

"You do?" She arched a curious eyebrow.

"It's Pyrrha Nikos," he deadpanned. "I have seen her fight. I would be hard-pressed against someone like her."

"...versus Rain 'Vanguard' Bailey of Atlas!"

Sunset twitched, glaring as her opponent emerged to face her, his obnoxious intro music blaring over the speakers. Something about the song just offended her.

I have a firm grip on my dreams, she silently retorted to the offensive lyric. She would always fight to keep them alive, and she found the idea that one could trade passion for glory downright insulting.

Her dreams were within her grasp now, after all - some of them, at least - a part of her destiny ripe for the taking, and only this miserable little nobody from Atlas stood in her way. The fact that he was stupid enough to pick a song with the wrong kind of cat was equally infuriating. What glory was there to be found against such a simpleton?

And simply due to scheduling, her fame would likely be eclipsed by the first-year finals match coming up next.

She sometimes wondered what would have happened if she'd taken a gap year before going to Haven, but the specter of being overshadowed by the likes of Arslan Altan - the famed Golden Lion who had proven the lie to the Invincible Girl's moniker - and Verte d'Arc - the young prodigy let in a year early - made it clear that that would have been a mistake. Or perhaps she might have been saddled with a team of incompetents like Nadir Shiko and forced to carry them to the lofty heights of mediocrity which would be their pinnacle. Or worse yet, she might have wound up on a team with both, her successes credited to the already-famous, her reputation burdened with the failures of the incompetent.

No, better what she had now: a team that competed with her, challenged her, pushed her to excel rather than drag her down, but without the baggage of preexisting fame to cast an unfair shadow over her accomplishments. A team that let her shine such that the world would have no choice but to recognize her glory.

"Three!"

She drew her sword. Evenstar - short for Eveningstar, but that was too much of a mouthful to say all the time - was a custom-forged short sword, patterned after the wakizashi from southern Anima that was so popular among those in Atlas's ninja program. Simple, yet effective. It wasn't like she could afford the overengineered monstrosities favored by some.

"Two!"

The Mantellian pistol on her hip was both more and even less special than that. Precision-engineered but mass-produced before the lead up to the Great War, it was a nameless relic of history distinguished only by its age, a four digit serial number, and a crest that had somehow avoided being struck when the world went crazy, handed down to her by-

Sunset slammed the brakes on that train of thought. She would receive no acknowledgement from Sunset, not even in the privacy of her own mind.

"One!"

She'd show them! She'd show them all!

"Begin!"

Sunset dashed to her right, dodging the double-blast of buckshot from Vanguard, and quick-drew her pistol, snapping off a shot as she dove into the concealment of the wheat field biome. As she considered her options, a klaxon blared twice, warning of an impending biome change; like in the semifinals, the arena was divided into eight biomes as compared to the four of the doubles round and the two of the team round, but unlike in the semifinals, they would change randomly throughout the match.

She looked up at the holographic biome randomizers and groaned as she saw the randomizer for the very section she was hiding in spinning.

Oh, come on!

Sometimes - most of the time, actually - it felt to Sunset like the whole world was conspiring against her. Why else would she be so consistently thwarted from her destiny? But she refused to be denied. Sheathing Evenstar and holstering her pistol, she bolted for the next biome, a verdant forest, and lunged the last few feet even as she felt the topsoil give way under her as the biome was lowered to be tucked away and replaced with - she glanced up - a swamp.

She caught the edge of the forest biome and hauled herself up, scrambling to avoid being caught out in such a vulnerable position. Once she regained her feet, she looked around. This part of the forest biome was dense with trees, the sky obscured by the canopy, which cast dark shadows around her.

Of course, as an artificial construct, it wasn't teeming with the insects and small birds that would normally call such an environment home, but that didn't make the silence any less eerie.

She drew her pistol again and began warily stalking through the forest, eyes sharp for an ambush, momentarily wishing she was a faunus, as those deep shadows loomed large and especially foreboding.

She stiffened as she heard a guttural series of purring clicks, then spun and snap-fired.

Something - a rustle in the brush, a crunch of dried leaves, Sunset wasn't sure - warned her to move, and she did, diving into a bush and narrowly avoiding Vanguard as he pounced at her from behind, the claws on his gauntlets extended, the built-in shotguns blasting the ground he landed on where she'd been just a moment ago.

"Ventriloquism, huh?" she observed. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"You have no idea," he rumbled.

A strange and almost mad smirk came to her face. "Good."

She seized the initiative and charged, pistol firing, and Vanguard leaped forward to meet her charge, arms crossed to catch her bullets on his gauntlets. Soon, they met in melee, sword against claw. Sunset slashed and thrust and parried, which Vanguard met with swipes and punches. Pistol rounds and shotgun blasts echoed as they fought.

Sunset frowned. "Are you holding back?!" she demanded.

"What makes you think that?" he asked mildly.

She snarled. "Don't you dare take me lightly!"

"Very well," he agreed... and caught her blade in his gauntleted right hand, tugging it toward him. Startled, she clung to her weapon and moved with it... and saw stars as his armored left fist smashed into her face. And then again. And again.

Stubbornness and will allowed her to keep her grip on Evenstar's hilt, and she activated the fire dust within it, igniting the blade with a brilliant flame that forced Vanguard to let go and fall back.

Sunset grinned manically, brandishing the blazing sword and using the back of her off hand to wipe the blood that had splattered from her nose and split lip, even as her aura sealed the wounds.

"Now that's more like it!" she declared as Vanguard brought his arms together, combining and reconfiguring his shot-claws into a staff that he twirled slowly with one hand, beckoning her with the other.

Before she could respond to the silent challenge, however, the klaxon blared twice more, and the forest biome beneath their feet began to shudder. They each bolted for the nearest edge of the biome, away from each other.

When next they clashed, it was on an ice biome on the other side of the arena. Sunset's footing was uncertain on the slick surface, but she was able to compensate. Infuriatingly, Vanguard seemed uncannily steady on his feet, gliding across the ice almost as though he were skating. He came in close, lashing out with his staff-form weapon, scoring light hits that nevertheless sapped at her aura, and when she struck back, he'd catch Evenstar's blade on the shaft of his weapon, flowing away with the impact

Sunset snarled and charged as he neared an ice spire, and he spun, leaping up it, twirling his staff as he fired a semicircle into the icy floor between them. She scrambled wildly and veered away into a savannah biome as the fire dust rounds burned and began to melt the icy surface beneath their feet.

Two can play, she thought as she quickly swapped magazines and fired a volley of her own fire dust rounds at the ice spire, just below where Vanguard clung to it. The panther faunus from Atlas leaped clear of the ice spire and landed on the edge of the savannah biome, splitting his staff weapon back into shot-claws as he pounced toward her.

She reacted on instinct, activating her semblance to its fullest and most powerful extent.

The dry grass around her spontaneously combusted, and the grass further out lit up. The fire spread across the biome rapidly, engulfing everything in its path. There was no way that Vanguard could possibly avoid it... which meant, somehow, that he would, and that would be his downfall.

Sure enough, his form came leaping through the flames, right onto where Sunset's last position was. She wasn't there though. Instead, in her place was a trio of earth dust crystals.

The royal era pistol gave a short snapping boom, and a fire dust round lanced out to hit the crystal bundle dead on and explode in a tower of rock.

She was already running out of the savannah biome when she fired and wasn't inclined to look back over her shoulder to see if Vanguard had gotten caught in her trap. She had a way to win the contest now. All she needed to do was stay one step ahead.

"Dust has many uses and many meanings associated with it," explained newly retired Oberst Celestia as she stood next to a rocky outcropping with a very young Sunset Shimmer, bundled in winter clothing. "However, the most important thing to remember about dust is that it is volatile. Every dust crystal or powder you handle is a dangerous and lethal substance that can cause you serious injury. You must treat it with respect."

Sunset climbed up the rock that passed for a mountain in the biome of the same name and delivered a swift kick to a spot near the middle, revealing that it had been a large wind dust crystal painted over. She reached out and grabbed hold of it before it fell into the flames and continued the climb. Because of course there were flames; as soon as she set foot in the biome and saw the grass and trees, she lit everything on fire to help with the smoke screen that was filling up the whole arena.

Newly minted Principal Celestia held up the clay that was standing in for plastic explosive and alternated pointing at the disassembled gun cartridge and the bundle of wires and batteries next to it. "When building an improvised explosive device, it's important to choose the right detonator. Now, impact or ignition detonators can be useful, but they have obvious drawbacks in how they're detonated. That's why I prefer electricity instead."

Storm clouds were gathering overhead, and there was about to be a discharge. Why? Well, the answer was easy to see once one cut off the top of the mountain biome with a sword like Sunset had just done. There were lightning dust crystals inside hooked up to a computer system, a situation she corrected with a yank.

"Gravity is perhaps the weakest of the four fundamental forces of the universe, but don't let that fool you," said Principal Celestia as she sat with a teenaged Sunset Shimmer at their house's table. "With creative enough application, even the weakest of forces can bring down the strongest of foes."

Sunset hoped the decoy fire she had started in the forest biome that had just cycled in was enough of a distraction. She had seen Vanguard had freed himself, and worse, he seemed to be able to see through the smoke. He couldn't see through fire, though, and while she had used that to make a second getaway, she was also using it as a false flag.

She wasn't in the forest at all. She was on top of one of the gravity islands, ripping open the top to access its innards. She just hoped all the smoke kept the cameras from seeing what she was doing until she was ready.

Sunset Shimmer held her breath as she heard her mentor's voice. She had come home early and snuck in using some of the tricks she'd learned over the years. What was going on?

"Daybreaker reporting in. They're off the trail," said Principal Celestia, throwing Sunset's mind into confusion. "I've made sure the local newspaper won't report on the dust deposit at all. We now have full, exclusive access to the region."

The flame-haired teenager felt her eyebrows shoot up, and she narrowly avoided crushing her application to Atlas Academy. What was going on? What was Principal Celestia doing?

"Yo Joe."

She had just finished wiring up the bundle of dust crystals when Vanguard started to leap up towards her. Sunset didn't have time to think; she just had time to act, and when she had to act was on a razor's edge. She would have to rely on that intuition of hers.

"Good morning, Daybreaker."

"What did you just call me?"

When Vanguard was in the air, she leapt off the platform so that when he hit the floor, she was already gone.

He growled as, once more, Sunset Shimmer fled in complete countervalence of her psychological profile and everything known about her. Then he looked down and saw what had been done to the innards of the artificial gravity island. He saw especially clearly the dust crystals packed together and wired into a collection of wires that led into a cannibalized wrist watch.

"Oh, n-"

"Let me in! I'm the best fighter in the kingdom, and you know it. You need me."

"This isn't how it's done."

"Then change it! I'm more than ready to help rule the world from the shadows."

BOOOOMMRRRRRRRRRROOOM!

A terrific explosion tore through the arena. The timer set off the lightning dust, which in turn activated the gravity dust and wind dust. The gravity tore up shrapnel and compacted the wind dust, which in turn caused a frighteningly powerful compression wave that blew away all smoke and battered the force fields protecting the bleachers with all manner of debris… and Vanguard.

A happy grin split the flame-haired youth's mouth as she was sure she heard a buzzer through the ringing in her ears.

"Why are you shutting me out? Isn't this what you've been training me my whole life for?"

"Sunset, I… I'm sorry. I've made a terrible mistake. As you are now, you could never be a part of G.I. Joe."

"...You're not the only one who made a mistake."

Sunset Shimmer concentrated her aura in her head, healing as fast as she could. She could hear it now, the applause, the unmitigated adoration of the crowd raining down upon her. They loved her, they worshiped her, and though it was fickle, there was no lie in it, no hidden reality. She was their queen, and they were her serfs, and all was as it should be.

Victory would be hers forevermore.

She threw up a fist into the air, and using a special dust technique, she created a giant gout of blue flame that split and folded in on itself several times to create a towering winged lantern, the symbol of Haven Academy and the Kingdom of Mistral both, in the air.

Do you see me now, Principal Celestia? Do you regret not taking me seriously? Don't worry, if you don't now, you will.

"Sister?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"You're smiling," Luna pointed out.

Celestia chuckled softly. "Well," she said, "it isn't every day one gets to say that one taught a Vytal Festival champion."

"You haven't given up on her yet, have you?"

"I try my best not to give up on anyone," Celestia replied. "Especially those who were… dear to me." She began to clap. "Congratulations, Sunset Shimmer. I'm so proud of you."

I know we left on bad terms, but I know that someday, you will have what it takes to be a Joe.

Celestia kept her hands held at her sides as the elevator descended into the glacial ice.

"Trouble at home?" asked Alpine candidly.

"More than a little," admitted Celestia just as the elevator reached the bottom. "I hope this find is worth it."

"So do I," replied Alpine as he stepped off the elevator and started walking through the tunnel carved into the ice. "After all, this is the first time we've made a discovery like this."

Celestia followed him and soon found herself in a room with several other Joes that were working on monitoring the find. The find in question was… unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was creature about the size of a Beowolf frozen in an ice wall which had the body of a man, the claws of a Grimm, the mane and tail of a lion, the head of a cynodont, the fur of a bear, and the wings of a bat emerging from its back. Its eyes and mouth were closed, and its stance seemed to have been frozen in some sort of fall.

"Is it an NBE?" asked Celestia in both wonder and worry.

"No. It's completely biological," answered Blizzard, looking up from the computer on a portable table he had been monitoring, "and that's not the only difference it has with every other alien we've found."

Celestia's eyes opened wide in surprise. "It's alive?!"

"Got it in one," confirmed Alpine. "At least, that's what our instruments are telling us. That's why General Flagg has ordered our friend here to stay on ice for the foreseeable future, at least until we can figure out if he'll kill us all once he wakes up."

The retired oberst was inclined to agree with the general. This… this was the most monumental discovery in the history of Remnant. She just hoped in the end it would justify the hate she now saw in Sunset's eyes.

Rain groaned, staring at the sky above. That had... hurt. A lot more than he'd expected.

A shadow cast over him, blocking his view. It was the twins. Great.

"Well, well," Thunder said, "you lost."

"Winning was not part of the mission," he reminded them.

"Neither was losing!" Lightning countered.

He heard footsteps approaching.

"You had one job, Rain!" came the unmistakable voice of Coco Adel. "One job! Wipe that stupid smirk off Sunset Shimmer's face! She's smirkier than ever now!"

This was going to be a long stretch.

"Okay, she seems a lot less evil this time around," Silverstream admitted.

"She wasn't given so much chance," Molly agreed. "That… was a pretty smart move of hers."

Silverstream nodded. "Of course, against a first-rate fighter like Firebrand or Pyrrha-"

"Did you just compliment Pyrrha Nikos?"

Silverstream's eyes widened. "No," she said quickly. She cleared her throat. "Against Firebrand, there's no way a trick like that would have worked, nor… any fighter with… a certain level of… raw talent."

"So… Pyrrha Nikos?"

"You didn't hear me say that."

Maple watched the fiery Haven lantern rise above the stadium with a sense of awe. She had never been much of a sports fan, but that? She had to admit that that was impressive.

And hey, her team leader was a faunus, so maybe she wasn't such a bad person? …Ah, who was she kidding? If she ever met that Sunset Shimmer person, she'd probably get chopped up into beaver tail soup.

"Maple?" came a tremulous voice that made her heart afeared. "Can I come in?"

Ruby Rose stood in the doorway with her head bowed, and instantly, the fear of her last encounter with the girl evaporated. It was stupid, but she couldn't stay mad at that face. It was Ruby, and that was all that needed to be said.

"Sure, come on in," said Maple with a wave as she got up off the bed. "It's not like it's a crowded room."

Ruby looked around at the minimal care room that Maple had been moved to and its lone other empty bed, and then as she stepped inside and closed the door, she spoke. "I'm sorry."

Maple wanted to reply, but she held her tongue in confusion.

"I'm sorry that I went and accused you of… I'm sorry," she got out, tears visibly coming down her cheeks. "You were innocent, and I wouldn't listen, and I…"

With two quick steps, Maple reached out and embraced Ruby. The little one stiffened in her grip, but the mechanic still held on. Small arms reached up to return the hug.

"It's okay, Ruby," whispered Maple. "I forgive you."

"How?" asked Ruby hoarsely. "How can you just forgive me like that?"

"You were worried about your sister. Besides, you're not the only one who's messed up in your life, and I've done far worse to far more people," explained Maple sadly. "I'd either hate myself or be a hypocrite if I didn't forgive you."

Ruby sniffed and let out a small chuckle. "I'm still sorry."

Maple sighed good naturedly and let go before walking back to her bed. "I know that mood. It's the same one your sister has when she wants to get something out but can't find the words. So, what is it?"

The bloodcrowned girl went over and sat in the chair besides Maple's bed, clearly deep in thought. "I met Yang again, and she explained to me what had been happening. How she had been fighting the good fight."

The mechanic stiffened involuntarily once more. That was a bad sign. Ruby? Sweet innocent Ruby becoming indoctrinated into the White Fang?

"Me and Dad, oh, and the headmasters and Glynda and Uncle Qrow too, all met Bumblebee and Optimus Prime," continued Ruby.

They had gone and revealed that? That secret was out? She hadn't heard anything about it on the news. Was that the one secret not getting publicized right now? But… if the headmasters were okay with things, maybe the Autobots would finally be able to rest easy. For now, at least. It was only a matter of time before humanity turned on them and created ruthless teams of killers to hunt them like animals… like they were faunus.

Ruby talked on. "And… I met my brother."

Maple's mind came to a screeching halt. Wait. She has a brother?! When did this happen?

"He's someone you know."

Who could that possibly be? Ruby's brother was a member of the White Fang? Was that entire family just a bunch of White Fang sympathizers?

"His name is Adam Taurus."

Maple sputtered and hacked. "What?!"

"I know, right?" cheered Ruby obliviously. "He's great! First time we met, we spent all night catching up with each other. I'm going to help him reforge his weapon. Dad and him get along great. Uncle Qrow… I love him, but he knew about Raven having a son all along, and he said nothing. That was not cool."

There was a throbbing headache making its way through Maple's skull as she struggled to make sense of everything that she had heard. "Raven… Raven Branwen?"

"Yeah," Ruby muttered sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "So, Adam is actually the son of Raven Branwen, and she had him when she was, like, sixteen before she went to Beacon, and she kept him with the tribe, and then some bad stuff happened, but then she rescued him and trained him in the art of the blade. After she had Yang, I mean, and then left to go back to her bandit tribe. Anyway, don't tell anyone; the important part is that we're a family again."

"Adam Taurus is your brother," repeated Maple dumbly.

"Yeah, I already- oh! Do you think he won't like it if I tell people about this? He won't, will he? Maple, you've got to keep quiet about this!"

"I am never going to speak of this again," muttered Maple, shaking her head with wide eyes. She gave a brief glance at the pain medications on the side table and wondered what exactly was in them. This was a very vivid hallucination.

Before Ruby could reply, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Maple said extremely quickly.

The door opened to admit Ciel "Farsight" Soleil and Penny "Bladerider" Polendina, two Atlas students that had volunteered for medical duty after they had gotten back from their first missions. Maple remembered them because they were such an odd couple, a regular mismatched pair right out of a cop movie. She also remembered that little coppertopped bundle of energy asking Doc all manner of questions about his profession and her organs.

That girl should really keep to the Huntress track.

"Hello again, Patient Maple!" cheered Penny happily as she… was pushed in on a wheelchair by her friend… oh. "And hello again to you too, Friend Ruby!"

"Friend Penny!" replied Ruby. "You came!"

"Yes! I wanted to watch the Vytal Festival with friends, and we're just in time for the last finals match," explained Penny happily before turning to Maple. "How are you?"

"Fine," answered Maple in exasperation. "I'm perfectly fit, but the doctor wants to keep me under observation for a little while longer."

"An understandable precaution," said Ciel. "When last we saw you, you were still undergoing physical therapy and surgeries. You had your limbs shattered."

"Yeah, but… what's my business going to look like when I get back?" asked Maple worriedly.

"Better for having you there in prime condition to run it once more," replied Ciel stiffly. "I know what it's like to put all your dreams on hold because of a medical need, but I also speak from experience when I say that it does get better if you stay with it."

Maple nodded. "Let's just skip the pep talk and jump straight to the party, shall we?"

"Resourceful," observed Megatron. "This Sunset Shimmer continues to impress, and she certainly knows how to make a spectacle and play to the crowd."

"You think so, Boss?" Demolishor queried. "I mean, her semifinal match seemed to get mixed reception."

"It's because of her semifinal match that this was such an important move for her," corrected Megatron. "She's adjusting her image to counteract the negative reactions to that. Instead of whatever they saw that they disapproved of, what they see now is a champion representing Haven. Considering Atlas won the fourth-year, Shade won the third-year, and both finalists for the first-year are from Beacon, Sunset Shimmer has just turned herself into a symbol of national pride for Haven and Mistral with that stunt."

"Huh," Demolishor acknowledged, his brain module still clearly working through the lesson. "What about the other guy?"

Megatron's optics narrowed. "What about him?"

"He lost."

"Exactly."

The atmosphere in the stadium was thumping, and the crowd - reinvigorated by a few hours resting or enjoying other, less martial aspects of the Vytal Festival - was in an uproar that was, thankfully, distinctly positive. Pyrrha had already entered the arena to her intro music and the thunderous cheers of the crowd, and Blake waited anxiously for her own cue.

"And facing the fabled Invincible Girl tonight!" boomed Professor Port. "The Untouchable Girl! The Princess of Pain! Eight! Lives! Blaaake! Belladonna!"

Blake squared her shoulders and marched out into the arena, her heart lifting at the cheers that greeted her. To be sure, the cheers of support weren't as great as what Pyrrha had received, but it still felt... nice. She thought back to what Quick Kick had told her. As ridiculous as the whole "Eight-Lives Blake" nonsense was, it wasn't going to go away. She had two choices: she could own it, or she could fight it, and if she fought it... she'd lose.

Her ears twitched, and she smiled, looking up at the crowd and offering a V for victory sign. The cheers redoubled.

Finally, she reached the central octagon and faced Pyrrha.

The two of them faced each other, sizing each other up.

"So," Blake said, "this is how it ends."

Pyrrha nodded. "One shall stand."

"One shall fall."

"Three!"

I can do this, Blake reassured herself, holding Gambol Shroud in one hand while the other discreetly palmed a smoke bomb. Oh, actually winning was... unlikely, to say the least, but she would at least put up a good fight.

"Two!"

I can do this, she repeated the mantra in her head. At the very least, she wouldn't have to worry about Pyrrha's semblance. At least, not unless she managed to push Pyrrha into being more overt about it, and if she did, she'd take that as a win in and of itself.

"One!"

I can do this.

"Begin!"

I can't do this! she panicked as Pyrrha shot off like a rocket, charging toward her with a thundering recoil assist from Miló.

Now, some people might suggest that a reformed criminal and former terrorist like Blake Belladonna ought not find the prospect of a seventeen-year-old girl charging at her with a cheerful grin to be all that frightening. After all, with her sordid history, she had surely faced much worse odds, outnumbered and outgunned by experienced security and military personnel backed up by heavy mech and air support and genuinely attempting to kill her, which was a far cry from a classmate and friend trying to defeat her in a nonlethal duel.

Blake would tell such people to go screw themselves. They had never faced down a charging Pyrrha freaking Nikos. They had not spent two semesters watching that very same Pyrrha Nikos utterly demolishing entire teams in Professor Goodwitch's Combat Course on a regular basis without even breaking a sweat.

She didn't even have time to arm the smoke bomb. Instinct took over, and she watched, wide-eyed, as Pyrrha handily used Akoúo̱'s edge to decapitate her Shadow before spinning on her heel, her gaze locking onto Blake.

For her part, Blake deployed the smoke bomb, concealing herself long enough to relocate and get a breather.

Pyrrha stalked through the arena and the varied biomes in an echo of her match with Arslan earlier. She was nearing the edge of a forest biome when Blake burst out of the foliage, lashing out with Gambol Shroud's two blades in a furious series of thrusts and slashes.

The redhead seemed caught off-guard, bringing Akoúo̱ up to defend just a hair's breadth too slowly, the cleaver blade biting into her aura over her left upper arm, even as she fended off the sword with Miló.

"And first blood goes to Blake Belladonna!" Dr. Oobleck's astonished voice came over the speakers excitedly.

A curious expression crossed Pyrrha's face, but she quickly overcame her surprise and began dismantling Blake's defenses, pressing her back into the forest. Blake activated her Shadow semblance again, leaving her clone to be impaled on Miló's spear form as she retreated once more.

This was her only real chance. Hit and run.

And so it went, again and again, with Blake emerging to ambush Pyrrha, with or without the aid of a smoke bomb, only to retreat once the Mistrali champion reoriented herself.

"She's toying with her," Megatron observed. "Ha! And she can't even see it. Very impressive, Invincible Girl. Very impressive."

"Astonishing!" called Dr. Oobleck. "It seems the Invincible Girl may have met her match!"

"Indeed!" agreed Professor Port. "Several minutes in, and Miss Belladonna has scored several blows on Miss Nikos, who has yet to land a single hit in return!"

"But this is a risky strategy," cautioned Oobleck, "as she can keep using her semblance repeatedly like this for only so long."

Tell me something I don't know, Blake thought uncharitably. She'd managed to bring Pyrrha's aura down near the yellow, but the use of her semblance had brought her own down to a roughly equal level, if not slightly below, just barely still in the green. Worse, Pyrrha was adapting terrifyingly quickly and was beginning to anticipate her ambushes.

The fact that the redhead still wore that cheerful smile didn't help at all.

It was time to change things up a bit. Blake lunged out for another series of attacks on the Mistrali champion, this time from the concealment of a swamp biome, and just as before, she activated her semblance when Pyrrha inevitably turned the tide.

The Shadow Blake left behind froze as Pyrrha thrust Miló's blade through its chest - literally, as the ice dust she used in creating it activated - and Blake struck, leaping out again to unleash another furious barrage. This was her best chance.

If anything, Pyrrha's smile got wider as she let go of Miló and backed away, adroitly parrying and deflecting Blake's blows with Akoúo̱ and occasionally with her free hand, but as skilled as Pyrrha was, she had only a small shield to defend herself with against Blake's two weapons.

Pyrrha was half-disarmed and on the defensive, so why did Blake feel like she was the one on the ropes? Was it nerves? The fatigue that was beginning to set in?

The redhead hopped back, and Blake reacted instinctively, hurling one end of her variant ballistic chain scythe on its ribbon tether at her. Pyrrha ducked and reached up, allowing the ribbon to wrap around her wrist, and grabbed hold of it.

"I must thank you, Blake," she said pleasantly, straightening up. "This has been wonderful. Shall we step it up a little?"

Blake blinked, her secondary ears flat against the top of her skull. "Wait, 'step it up'?"

It went rapidly downhill from there.

Minutes later, Blake found herself scrambling backwards into a building in the urban biome and up the stairs, frantically trying to parry or deflect Pyrrha's relentless onslaught. The two had rearmed themselves in the interim, but it was taking all she had - and a few more expendable clones - to stay ahead. Even the fire dust clone had barely slowed Pyrrha down. Blake had prepared the urban biome a while back and hoped that her preparations persisted through the two biome changes it had gone through.

This was her last chance. Her aura was nearing the red, while Pyrrha had just barely entered the yellow. She had to make this count.

The klaxon blared twice, warning of a biome change as Blake emerged onto the rooftop. A quick glance up confirmed that this biome was changing, and she hurled Gambol Shroud over to one of the floating islands in the nearby gravity biome. As she pulled herself away and out of Pyrrha's reach, she triggered the charges.

She risked a glance over her shoulder as the explosives blew, collapsing the building she had just vacated and throwing up a massive cloud of dust as the urban biome began to retract downwards.

Did... did I actually do it? she wondered in stunned disbelief...

...just before Pyrrha shot out of the dust cloud toward her, grinning like a maniac as she calmly reloaded Miló in mid-air and resumed firing to recoil boost herself towards Blake.

The raven-haired faunus's eyes went wide as she saw the tip of the spear come in and collide with her head, nearly taking off her friendship bow in the process. It was the first hit that had been scored on her - the real her - since she had completed her ninja training under Storm Shadow. Blake had almost forgotten what it was like to feel that sort of pain or the exhilaration that came from getting back up again.

Blake found herself smiling as well as she twisted around and deflected a pair of shots from Miló with Gambol Shroud's blades. Pyrrha started to run again, and the faunus kunoichi used her semblance to get out of the way and above and behind her opponent to fire off a flurry of shots from the pistol mode. Several of the rounds hit, but others were deflected as Akoúo̱ slid into position.

The pair became a whirling, twisting mass of limbs as they stabbed and slashed at each other, like twin wind spirits vying for strikes. And strike they did, their auras were both depleting rapidly as each fought for hits against the other. Every thrust was instinctual, every block was like lightning, and the fight became an almost impossible task to follow, though Dr. Oobleck put forth a valiant effort.

Then, suddenly, Pyrrha's weapons were knocked away to fall off the gravity platform they had found themselves on, and the sword blade of Gambol Shroud came to rest against the redhead's throat while Blake stood behind her. The Untouchable Girl had the Invincible Girl in a lock. It seemed like the fight was over, even as Pyrrha's hand desperately clutched around the ceramic cutting instrument.

"Want to compose a haiku like Shadow did?" asked Blake huskily, her tone laced with excitement.

"I wouldn't want to shame you by thinking this fight over before it was," was Pyrrha's panting reply.

There was a cracking snap, and Blake's eyes went wide again as Pyrrha somehow found the strength and the placement to shatter Gambol Shroud's blade, the ceramic breaking where a metal blade might have bent.

A huff, a kick, and Blake found herself knocked back while the machete-sheath of Gambol Shroud was taken from her hand. She had barely half a second to register that her own weapon was coming back at her in the hands of Pyrrha Nikos. A brief black out of the same time span followed as she flew through the air toward the center of the arena.

The buzzer sounded like rolling thunder throughout the arena.

"After such a brilliant match, Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon's Team Juniper stands victorious as the first-year champion of the Fortieth Vytal Tournament!" boomed Professor Port.

Lying on her back, staring at the sky from where'd landed in the central octagon, Blake couldn't muster enough energy to offer more than a mild, "Yay."

It was over. It was finally over.

She blinked as her view of the sky was interrupted by a concerned redhead looking down at her.

"Blake?" she asked. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she croaked. "Just fine."

"I'm sorry about Gambol Shroud."

"Don't worry about it," Blake said, holding up the weapon and activating a hidden catch that allowed the stump of the blade to fall free next to her. "Do you have any idea how often this thing breaks?"

Relieved, Pyrrha smiled brilliantly and reached down, offering her a hand up.

No one should be that cheerful after a fight like that, Blake thought sourly as she accepted it. The cheering crowd grew louder, and to Blake's surprise... a goodly amount of the cheers were not directed at the newly-minted and still-undefeated champion.

A lot of them were instead cheering for her.

"Blake! Blake! Blake!" came the repeated cheers.

Blake found herself smiling as the two of them raised their hands in triumph, causing the crowd to cheer even louder. It was only Pyrrha's grip on her hand and her depleted aura level that prevented her from bolting when the official sportscaster and cameraman approached them.

"Quite the crowning achievement to top off your career," the sportscaster said.

"Yes," Pyrrha agreed. "This was a wonderful match!" She glanced at Blake. "I had so much fun! We should do it again sometime!"

"Yeah, sure," Blake muttered. Let's not and say we did.

"Anything to say to our viewers?"

Pyrrha hesitated, then reached down to a pouch on her belt. "I have something to say to one of our viewers," she said, looking up past the camera to where most of the rest of Team RRANNBWW was seated before focusing her gaze on the camera. Extracting from the pouch a gold band with a sapphire set into it and placing it on her finger, she declared, "Yes, Jaune. My answer is 'yes.'"

If the crowd had been loud before, they were positively deafening now. Up above, the holographic display showing their aura levels - now creeping back up as they recovered - were replaced with a zoomed-in shot of Jaune, who looked poleaxed, a grin taking over his face before he vaulted over the low wall in front of him and down into the arena, running toward Pyrrha, just as he had after her match with Arslan.

"By the way, Blake," Pyrrha murmured quietly, her eyes fixed on Jaune as she resisted the urge to rush to meet him, "did you actually rebuild Gambol Shroud for this match? If so, I'm flattered."

Blake gave a slight shake of her head in reply. "Believe it or not, no," she said. "I've... had reason to slip my weapon past metal detectors in the past."

Pyrrha nodded and turned back to greet Jaune, squealing as he picked her up and pulled her in for a kiss.

Blake smiled, watching the happy couple... then jumped as a pair of arms snaked around her from behind. Turning, she found herself gazing into a familiar set of blue eyes.

"Hey there," Sun said.

"You startled me."

"Sorry about that."

"And they lived happily ever after," Molly declared.

Silverstream sniffed.

Molly half-glanced, half-glared up at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Happily ever after, with him?" Silverstream snorted. "I wouldn't count on it."

Molly frowned. "Something wrong with Jaune?"

"He broke Weiss's heart!" Silverstream declared. "I, as an expert observer of Firebrand's moods, can tell that she's still carrying a torch for him, but does he care? No, because he's already made his way through Ruby Rose to Pyrrha Nikos in the space of a few weeks. He's obviously an irrepressible phil-… cheating scumbag. Pyrrha ought to watch herself."

Molly snorted. "Like Pyrrha's in any trouble."

"Oh, you think she's so much better than Firebrand?"

"I think that after a fight like that, he'd have to be a fool to get on Pyrrha's bad side," Molly replied.

Silverstream considered that. "That's a fair point. She deserved the win." She hesitated. "Firebrand… couldn't have pulled it off with so much style."

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"Well, don't expect me to repeat myself," Silverstream said. She fell silent for a moment before deciding that she might as well just go with it. She leapt out of her seat, her arms raised in the air. "YEAH! NICE ONE, PYRRHA!"

"Congratulations, Pyrrha," Weiss murmured wistfully as the display above the arena showed a zoomed-in close-up of the happy couple. "Good luck with your happy ending."

The VIP box was empty, aside from Weiss, Lady Belladonna, and her bodyguard detail. Weiss preferred it that way. Granted, she would have preferred even more if she was down in the stands, but VNN had cameras sweeping the stands looking for her, and the last thing she wanted was Maverick's uncle getting ahold of footage of her pining after Jaune when he was marching off to a brand new life with his brand new wife. Well, future wife.

Especially in Vale. The kingdom was a wonderful place, but ugh, some of the things the populace did was downright degenerate. She just knew that if people saw that, they would immediately assume that she was looking to become Pyrrha's "sister-wife," and that was just…

A shudder went through Weiss, and the others noticed it.

"Weiss, is something wrong?" asked Kali worriedly.

"Oh, nothing, just remembering something Ruby said a few weeks ago," replied Weiss before shaking her head. "Let's not talk about that. Please. I mean, Blake just fought in the championships, and we should be talking about that."

"Yes, she did very well, didn't she?" Lady Belladonna observed. "I'm so proud of her."

"She did," Weiss agreed. "Not many people can hold out so well against Pyrrha."

"What's she like?" the older woman asked. "Pyrrha Nikos, I mean. I'd like to learn more about my daughter's friends."

Weiss blinked in surprise, then looked thoughtful. "She's... really very sweet. Don't let the gossip rags fool you. That kindness? That generosity? It's absolutely genuine."

"Really?" Lady Belladonna asked curiously. "I would have thought her accomplishments would have engendered a bit of ego."

Weiss snorted. "She could use a bit more ego. With the way she was pining after Jaune for so long, it would have saved us all a lot of heartache."

"Would it now?" Lady Belladonna asked, an amused look crossing her face at the deer-in-the-headlights expression Weiss now wore. "Oh, don't worry, dear. I'll take you to Menagerie some time. I'm sure you'll meet some cute boys there."

That is such a terrible idea, Weiss thought. With her face, her hair, her eyes... for one thing, she wasn't keen on getting stoned to death. How could she expect anyone to look past what her father had done?

How could anyone, when even she couldn't?

Cardin was feeling a little uncomfortable. He and his father were alone in the VIP box reserved for the host kingdom's government, most of whom were tied up in the complexity of recent events. Regent Lord High Treasurer Felix Winchester had insisted they attend the first-year finals in person, needing to unwind after a lengthy discussion with the Grand Marshal and Destro over the acquisition of nuclear weapons. Of course, it was also for political reasons; with everything that was going on, the fact that his father had still made the time to show up to support Beacon would not go unnoticed.

Cardin wished Skystar was here, but First Minister Novo had had other plans, and thus, so did her daughter. He was glad Father had introduced them, even if it was blatantly political.

"My my my," Winchester patriarch. "The boy has quite lofty ambitions, doesn't he?"

Cardin gave his father a sidelong glance. "Huh?"

The Lord High Treasurer gestured at the jumbotron display showing the kissing couple. "Do you not see it, boy?"

Cardin took another look in case the image had changed. Nope, just still Jaune and Pyrrha making out like the lovey-dovey couple they were.

"What ambition?" Cardin queried. "Jauney Boy's got about as much ambition as a rock. He's told me to my face that he doesn't want the throne."

"Of course he did," his father scoffed. "Refusing the throne only makes him look better to the public. Have I taught you nothing, boy? Perception is paramount in politics, and all men, above all else, desire power. This? This just proves his ambitions are greater than I had dared dream. Why else would he woo Pyrrha Nikos of all people?"

Because they're in love? Obviously, painfully in love? Cardin suggested silently. And Pyrrha's sickeningly sweet and nice to him on top of being a major badass?

He didn't get why Jaune would go for a girl who could kick his butt so easily. While blindfolded. With one hand tied behind her back. But to each their own. And he supposed if Jaune didn't like girls who could beat him up, that would have thinned his dating prospects to near nothing.

"Indeed," his father continued, "why come to Beacon instead of Haven at all if not to reconnect with and capitalize on his Valish roots?"

Probably because he was afraid his fake transcripts would get found out if he went to Haven with his sister, Cardin thought with a mental snort.

"Vale and Mistral," his father mused, "why, it would form the greatest power bloc since the Great War."

"Father," Cardin interjected, "Jaune told me he'd make anyone who put him on the Empty Throne regret it."

"Hmm?" The elder turned to the younger in genuine confusion, then shook his head. "Of course. Why settle for the Empty Throne when he could forge a new one?" he asked, waving at the happy couple.

Cardin sighed and gave up.

Rarity put her hands over her heart. "Oh, my," she declared, wiping a single tear from her eye. "I know that it's none of my business, but, oh goodness, I do love a happy ending." She sighed contentedly. "I wonder who they'll get to do the wedding dress? Oh, Pyrrha has such a gorgeous figure to work with, and that hair, and those eyes. Why, I can see it now: something slender, with a very narrow skirt and a side slit to show off those lovely legs of hers, and a sash around her waist as a reminder of her personal style, then-"

"Uh, Rarity?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Leave her," Sweetie Belle said resignedly. "You won't snap her out of it… and it's not like she's hurting anyone."

"Of course, I shouldn't presume on the style of the wedding," Rarity continued. "Mistral has a great many different cultural traditions-"

"Even though it felt like a foregone conclusion, that was still a surprisingly exciting match," Luna observed.

"Quite so," Celestia agreed. "The outcome was never in doubt, but Miss Belladonna didn't give up for a single second. Her courage was quite admirable."

"I can't wait to see what she wears!" Rarity proclaimed, throwing her arms out wide on either side of her. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Fluttershy, please forgive me."

"Oh, yeah! Go, Pyrrha!" cheered Penny happily, her whole face lighting up in joy.

"Wow. That was… exciting," mused Maple breathlessly.

"It was quite the sight to see," agreed Ciel.

"They really went all out," said Ruby with wonder.

"Indeed. Pyrrha earned that victory," stated Aska.

Maple's head turned to the side, and she let out a cry. "When did you get here?!"

"I was always here," Aska informed her calmly. "I am a ninja."

"But… what… how did you get in?" stammered Maple.

"I am a ninja," repeated Aska.

"Why…?"

Maple was interrupted by Ruby putting a hand on her shoulder. "Maple, she's a ninja."

The beaver faunus looked around at the faces of the others and found only pity. "Have you all gotten used to this?"

Ciel shrugged. "I am training in ninjutsu as well, so I know how a lot of it works. No mystery, no fear."

"I theoretically know how it works, but that doesn't help me in Ninjutsu Class at all," said Penny, her face falling. Then she perked back up. "That's why I prefer dance!"

Maple blinked. "Atlas has dance classes?"

"Oh, yes," began Ciel with what passed for a smile from her. "Atlas has a course on etiquette as part of its core curriculum, and several types of ballroom dance are a part of that. Penny's interest goes beyond the required though, and she's really more of an enthusiast."

The coppertop's smile grew that much wider. "It's true. I love to dance. It's such a wonderful and expressive art form."

As the green-themed girl gave an all-too-pleased sigh, Maple glanced at Penny's wheelchair once more. "Will you be able to again?"

"I think so," confirmed Penny with a nod. "Rufus says the best guess he has is that I have shell shock."

Shell shock, also known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Some others in the White Fang had it. Few would admit to it, and fewer still would get treatment for it. Maple hoped Penny wasn't one of those people. She didn't want a sweet little girl like her to miss out on her dreams without the chance to relax with her hobbies because some cruel soul had broken that part of her mind.

"Still, when I get back to Atlas, I'll be looked at by some specialists, and they might have a different diagnosis," continued Penny with a shrug. "That's later, though. Now, I want to talk about that crazy move Pyrrha did with Gambol Shroud!"

And so, conversation between the five women continued long into the night, broken only by dinner and dessert. It was, in their minds at least, a wonderful end to a grand day. And, perhaps, that was what they all needed the most.

"Congratulations to Sunset Shimmer and Team Dust!"

Pyrrha stood with the rest of Team JNPR in the center of Amity Colosseum and watched as Ozpin presented the crowns of victory to Team DSST. In all honesty, the crowning ceremony had been going on for a while now, with a great deal of pomp and circumstance that Pyrrha found immensely boring and oddly routine.

She still found Sunset Shimmer's triumphant smirk somewhat irksome as the Haven student stood in pride of place among her team and accepted the crown signifying her victory in the second-year bracket, but the minor irritation - even combined with the boredom - wasn't enough to dampen her mood.

This was the end of the Vytal Tournament after all, a victory well-earned and the beginning of a new stage in her life. She stole a glance past Nora on her right to their team leader. A stage of her life with Jaune by her side.

"Pyrrha Nikos and Team Juniper of Beacon!" Ozpin called, and Team JNPR stepped forward to take the place in the spotlight, now vacated by Team DSST.

"It has been my pleasure and honor to teach you - all of you - here at Beacon this past year," Ozpin began. "Tonight, it is you, Pyrrha, who triumphed, you who brought victory, you who will be remembered."

Pyrrha nodded wordlessly. What he said was truth, though it brought her no comfort; indeed, it brought her considerable discomfort.

Ozpin smiled. "But what we know, what most people overlook, is how much you rely on your team, both on and off the battlefield. Jaune, I have seen you grow into an exceptional leader. Nora, your energy and enthusiasm inspires those around you. Ren, your level-headedness and temperament give your team an anchor to cling to. All of you are valuable in your own right. None of us - not even the greatest heroes of legend - can go it alone. Remember that."

I will, Pyrrha thought, pulling off her circlet as they bowed their heads for Ozpin to place their own crowns of victory atop their heads. There was little chance she would forget that, not with the bonds she had forged with Team Rainbow over this past year.

"Congratulations to Pyrrha Nikos and Team Juniper!"

With that, they stepped back and out of the spotlight as Ozpin turned to address the crowd in the stands.

"In light of recent events, I think it is more important than ever that we remember the purpose of the Vytal Tournament. Like the Vytal Festival as a whole, it is a celebration of peace. This tournament gives a means through which our great kingdoms can compete in friendship, with our bonds of fellowship strengthened and comforted with the knowledge that our allies remain strong and worthy. I do not know what the future brings - these are uncertain times, to say the least - but I do know that we, the people of Remnant, will face these trying times with strength and unity as one."

The ceremony went on a little bit more after that, but Pyrrha did not pay too much attention to it. After all, she knew in her heart that the professor's words would ring true for Team Rainbow. And come what may, they would stand against whatever the universe could throw at them.

"So, what did you think of that last match, Lord Megatron?" Demolishor asked.

"It went about as expected," Megatron replied. "It took her long enough to get serious, but I suppose she was enjoying herself."

He shook his head.

It's been fun, but it's time we closed this book and started a new one, as Optimus Prime always used to say, he thought, and then he spoke aloud. "Demolishor, alert the crew to begin preparations for take-off. It's time we made best possible speed for Vale."

"You got it, Boss," replied Demolishor cheerily, obviously happy to get back into the fight. While he was performing his duties, however, there was an alert. "Uh, message coming in, sir. It's Cinder Fall again. It's about attacking the Vytal Tournament. Again. She seems angrier than ever."

Megatron smirked. "Belay my previous order. It's time we made worst possible speed to Vale."

Demolishor saluted. "Aye aye, Lord Megatron."

"And... where did you say this flash drive came from?" Prowl asked, accepting the device gingerly from Taiyang. The man had returned with Jazz with some supplies for his daughter and stepson and the flash drive. It appeared to be a nondescript portable data storage device of Cybertronian make with a standard dataport connector.

"Team Rainbow acquired it on an infiltration mission to a Decepticon facility several months ago," Taiyang answered. "According to the report, a Decepticon appeared to have detected them and deliberately left it vulnerable."

"Suspicious," Prowl murmured. "Did this Decepticon have a name?"

"Counterpunch."

The Autobot froze. "I see." He paused and plugged it into the computer terminal. "Well, no time like the present to see what we have here."

He watched as lines of code began to scroll across the screen, his optics widening as he took it all in.

"What is it?" Taiyang asked after a moment.

Prowl couldn't tear his optics away from the monitor.

"Everything."

Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):

Well, would you look at that. How often do you see the Vytal Tournament actually end? That's actually one reason we decided to go ahead and let it finish. After all, Cinder's not calling the shots here, and Megatron... well, he's a fan of the sport.

Props once again to ScipioSmith for taking the time out of working on SAPR (seriously, he's a machine) to help with this chapter. Same to Cody for dealing with that messy Parliament scene.

Anyway, I want to say that I am deeply disappointed that I couldn't find a Pyrrha-centric music video set to Carrie Underwood's "The Champion." The only RWBY one set to that song I could find was all post-V3 stuff. "Centuries," strangely enough, came about by finding a Pyrrha-centric music video (which feels deeply ironic, since the official music video is a four-on-one gladiatorial match, with the one dominating until the four team up and beat him...) and realizing it fit Sunset a whole lot more than it fit Pyrrha.

"One More" is actually a song I've listened to for years. I found it shortly after watching Power Rangers RPM while looking for videos about that awesome but seemingly overlooked season of Power Rangers; there's a great RPM music video to this song, and it's stuck with me ever since.

I realize the little nod to Predator is a tad unrealistic, given how small the arena is, but I went with it anyway because it was just too cool, and we needed to spice up the match a bit.

Yes, that is us sneaking in another bit of dramatic irony at the last minute with the Ruby and Blake scene. A bit of a late addition solely for that purpose, really. Because I love me some dramatic irony.

The Adam and Yang scene was actually one of the last scenes added. I wanted to make clear the time gap between the semifinals and finals rounds, and we hadn't touched based with them in a while. Besides, the way those two bounce off each other and bicker remains a joy.

Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):

Major props to Cyclone and Scipio on this. I just felt like I couldn't do anything this chapter, but they pulled through. Cyclone especially, he was great.

The fight scenes in this were a terror, as always. However, the Pyrrha versus Blake fight is notable for just how long it's been in development, and how much of it survived, right down to the nostalgic reference to the Liger Zero vs. Berserk Fury fight that has been burned into mind since I was a child. It stands in contrast to Blake's other fight with Aska, which got the plans and lines for it changed several times over the course of the story and is radically different from how it was originally. Despite all of that though… I think that the Sunset Shimmer fights take the cake. They were a joy to write and read, just like all her team's fights this tournament. Not to mention that they were so varied and inventive… Fanboying over my own story aside, point is that I liked them. Heck, I liked them so much that I now want to go back to Team DSST in the future, even though they were originally just supposed to be bit characters that would only exist to be opponents of Team CFVY. (Yes, those plans are so old they were made before our opinions on Team CFVY had fully blossomed.)

You might be wondering then if they're going to be tied into the stuff going on in Atlas, and the answer to that is quite interesting…

I can understand why people like to cut the tournament short. It's a dramatic moment, and stops them from having to continue to write endless fight scenes that turn the chapter into a gigantic 28,000 behemoth that is a chore to write…. Or maybe that's just us. (Seriously though, I wasted like a week slamming my head against the Pyrrha/Blake scene before handing it off to others who could do it better so I could actually write.)

All of which is to say… I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully things will be looking up from here on out.

Author's Note 3 (Cyclone):

Hey, I only started the Pyrrha/Blake fight scene with a perfunctory ending. Then you went and, I think, over doubled the length of it to finish it off.