Raindrops pass harmlessly down the man's face as he stares down Blake and dodges her attack. They were well underway in their second spar that was part of the grand plan, but it was going nowhere. Both the man and Blake have apparently memorized each other's fighting styles to the point where neither could even touch each other; to be honest, it felt like trying to fight through mud, which was almost literal when one considers the swampy field they were trudging around in.

After several long minutes of easily dodging around each other's strikes, Blake throws up Gambol Shroud and declares, "That's it. I'm not feeling it, so you win. This is going nowhere."

Despite little to nothing being accomplished, the man and Blake start heading home, passing through the field and getting onto the streets. With the desire to actually accomplish something, the two make a turn down an alleyway for a shortcut and slow pace a bit.

"So, I think I know why we couldn't hit each other just now," Blake says, commenting on the very boring and slow spar she just had.

"Oh, yeah? Was it the rain?"

"Somewhat. Rainy fields clearly don't make the best battlefields. But no, there's another reason."

"Which would be?"

"You simply weren't trying. I don't think you were taking me seriously."

"Then that would mean you weren't taking me seriously, as your performance was pretty lackluster too."

"You underestimate me, you know. Just because it was slow doesn't mean I didn't know what I was doing."

"You did seem like you had a plan."

"I did. And that plan was to conserve energy so we'd be good to fight the person fol–"

Blake fell to the ground before promptly shattering into pieces. Before the last of the rock clone could even settle, Blake was standing at the ready, her weapon in hand as she faced off against her opponent.

Having predicted most of the events thus far, the man faces off against Ilia, equally prepared to throw down. The master plan, after all the pet shops and toy stores, was to try and corner the chameleon, and he thinks it was working. Before him was Ilia, standing in shock that her sneak attack had failed so miserably. The slow fight with Blake was purely for show, designed purely so they could avoid every attack to save aura and stamina for a real fight with her. It was the second part of the plan, the first being to pretend Blake to date to rattle the lovestruck Faunus. The next part was to wait until she attacked, then face her down full on energy, which seems to be working wonders at the moment.

"You've become predictable, Ilia," Blake says, pleased with herself.

"Adam told me to get you back. I won't fail him," Ilia responds, retracting and snapping her whip. "Traitor."

Blake fulfills another part of the plan as she says, "I didn't betray anyone. I fought for unity and peace, not terror and revenge. The White Fang was to bring us together, not tear us apart!" Blake was confident that Ilia wasn't truly bad at heart; if anyone could be swayed to see the light, it would be a young, impressionable girl raised on hatred that could be shown compassion. If all else failed, then Ilia could be brought to the police, but Blake wishes to change her mind.

"Adam is fighting for us!" Ilia says, still on guard and leaving no openings. "You just can't see what he's done for Faunus!"

"I have seen it! I see it through the eyes of the people he's hurt, the lives he's ruined! Yes, the Faunus have been mistreated, but creating a cycle of revenge is just going to lead to more bloodshed. We can work together and make a peaceful world!"

"Shut up," Ilia screams, slashing at Blake with her whip. As opposed to yesterday, her strike is formless and chaotic, and Blake merely bats it away with her sword. It was clear Blake's words were forcing her to face the facts and that she was trying to deny it. "What we're doing is best for the Faunus! What will happen we he betrays you!?" She points at the man with her weapon.

"I won't betray her. Why would I?"

"Because she lied to you! She belongs with us! With the White Fang!"

"And? So what if she lied? Heck, I didn't even know she was a Faunus until yesterday. She felt like she needed to hide that from me, but here I am, standing by her side. Blake is my friend, and I won't abandon her just because she used to be White Fang. She told me that she left the White Fang because she saw what they were becoming– what Adam was becoming. That's all I need to know."

Ilia's whip lance begins wavering as her hand starts shaking. "But what if…" She trails off, unsure of what to say. In her defense, Blake has been lying to the man about her being a Faunus, but that was no betrayal and neither was leaving a group that had lost its mission.

"You don't have to do this, Ilia." By this point, Blake's voice was calm as well. One would never guess by her tone that she was speaking to someone ready to kidnap her. "I believe that you know right from wrong. You can see that what the White Fang have been doing is wrong. We can fight the right way!"

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Ilia screams, throwing her hands to her head. Holding her face, she tries to ignore what Blake is telling her; had Blake intended to harm her, now would be the time, as her guard was completely down.

"Come-" Blake starts before Ilia furiously slashes her whip. It poses no threat but silences Blake.

"This is the only way! Adam is the only way for Faunus to get what they deserve!"

The man starts to question part of what he planned. The next sentences could either greatly help or completely sway Ilia to the dark side depending on how she took it, but he needs to take the risk. "Ilia, I want to tell you something. You and me, we're the next generation; me, Blake, we're going to grow up and see the world change, but we have to be the ones to change it. We don't want to see the world fall into violence again because there's enough without a war."

"Can't you see we're fighting for the future? For peace?"

Deliberately ignoring Ilia as she clearly was starting to doubt her own words, the man says the thing that would potentially paint a target on his back. "I'm lucky enough to be dating Weiss Schnee." Ilia stops and recoils. Before she can act, he finishes, "And Blake here is her teammate. We fight together, we go to school together, we see the world changing. Imagine, the Schnee heiress is in a team with a former member of the White Fang; think, if Blake is able to be on the same team with a Schnee, then that means we're seeing the world where Faunus and humans are equal."

Unable or unwilling to process the fact that Blake would ever ally herself with a Schnee, Ilia meekly says, "Wha… What?"

"It's true, Ilia. I'm on a team with Weiss Schnee," Blake says, her weapons down. "But she's more than just my teammate; she's my friend, and we trust each other. Sure she's a bit rough around the edges, but she isn't her father. She wants to take her family's legacy back and make it so that we're treated equally!"

Ilia stands across from the man and Blake, speechless. Faced with facts and the revelation that Blake was on the path of forgiveness, he imagines that her entire worldview was in the process of shattering. She lowers her weapon and stares at the ground, tears forming in her eyes.

"Stupid girl!" cries a voice from behind Ilia. A massive shadow closes in before it forms a tall figure with equally massive bat wings. "You're letting a traitor get to you!? We're on a mission to capture her, not let her lie her way into your head!"

"Yuma! I wasn't… I'm not…" Ilia looks back and forth between Blake and her companion. Judging from the looks of him, he was a big deal in the White Fang.

This was bad. The man had planned to blindside Ilia, and he even imagined she'd have a partner, but this guy seems powerful. Blake has already readied her cleaver and sword, so he readies up as well. Ilia, meanwhile, stands confused.

The alleyway remains silent for a moment as Yuma judges which side Ilia is on. Clearly angry, he spreads his wings and lowers his body, ready to attack. His grand motion was interrupted by the soft sound of something being placed against the back of his head.

"Bang!" yells Sun.

"What!?" Yuma cries, turning his head just in time to catch a blast from Ruyi Bang (Jingu Bang? One of the two gun-chucks). With a flash of light, the bat Faunus falls to the ground, his aura insufficient to block a direct headshot; luckily, Sun's call out gave him a moment to prepare, letting him not lose most of his brain, but still knocking him completely out.

Ilia confusedly stares at the newcomer, still unwilling to fight. Sun waltzes further into the alley, waving hi. "Man, that was a lot of hype for nothing. You'd think a guy like this would be harder to put down; I mean, I feel like my aunt could have taken him with a serving tray or something."

"And, success." The final part of the plan reinforces what the man told Blake: she'd always have people who would help her, no matter what. He went ahead and informed Sun about Ilia and told him to hang back in case he was needed. The monkey Faunus was more than happy to assist, proving that Blake's past didn't define her. And now, it was three on one, assuming the unlikely event that Ilia still wants to fight.

"So, Ilia," Blake says, already over Yuma's surprise appearance. "Are you willing to-"

"Bastard!" Yuma shouts, unfurling his wings and using them to return to his feet. "I'll get you for thAAAGGHHH!"

In another anticlimax, Ilia retracts her whip, having just used it to electrocute Yuma. The bat Faunus once again falls to the ground, having proved to be no threat at all. Ilia stares at what she just did, then lets out a breath.

"I-Ilia?" Blake says, staring at the chameleon girl.

"Blake," Ilia responds, putting her weapon down and smiling. "I… I think you're right. About everything." Her skin begins to turn to a soft shade of pink and her cheek spots turn reddish; the man wonders if this indicates that she's feeling some sort of mix of joy and ease, or maybe it's related to her crush on Blake. "If Weiss Schnee can change, then so can I." Nervously, she looks to you, specifically your shoulder. "C-can you forgive me?"

"Of course. You're Blake's friend, so that means you're my friend, too."

"And mine!" Sun says, walking up to Ilia and patting her on the back. She recoils at first, but turns a bit pinker and starts to laugh.

Blake takes a moment and gives a long sigh. "Well, that's all that settled. So, what now?"

Ilia looks down at Yuma's slightly charred body. "I'm a traitor, too, now, I guess. But first things first, we should… you should turn him over to the police. I… I think I need to go clear out our hideout."

"Sounds good!"

Once again, cops start to show up thanks to the gunshots. Ilia, still a criminal despite her new colors, takes off to figure out what to do now while the man, Blake, and Sun settle things with the police. You briefly explain how a White Fang member attacked them in an alleyway (conveniently leaving out Ilia), and let the police take Yuma away without many questions.

While everything was now settled, there was still plenty to do. Though Ilia was now on the good side, she still left; both the man and Blake have no way to contact her, though they think that she knows what she's doing. If and when she shows up again, they're certain that she's finally where she needs to be. With all that out of the way, he and Blake say goodbye to Sun and head home, happier than ever.