IMPORTANT

This site has been screwing up lately and not showing the chapter until hours or days after release. If you find this happening to you in the future, I do upload over on AO3 as well at the same time as here so feel free to read over there.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions

Co-Authored with ToxicExotic

Aggravation

It had been a long week for Blake. The teachers had finally decided to start preparing them in earnest for an upcoming exam, which meant a stack of coursework that was quite literally too big for her to carry in a single hand; so almost every spare minute she'd had during the week had been spent pouring over books and journals. In fact, she was pretty sure that she had both read and written more words in the past week than she had in the last few years. All of that time spent huddled over a desk had left very little time for anything else, such as training or time with her girlfriend, and had left her shoulders and back a little stiff.

Unfortunately though, for as much work as she had to do, it had not managed to pull her focus from the thing she was dreading the most. Her parents' arrival in Vale. With every second that she had spare, her attention had immediately returned to her Scroll to look up more stories on the Faunews website; however, since her parents had left five days ago, it had merely been out of habit rather than expecting any actual news. No, she doubted she would receive any actual news for a good few days until they finally arrived. What she did know though was that both her mom and dad were travelling to Vale, and that they were using trucks and boats. That was hardly a surprise though, since she knew her dad was terrified of flying and would avoid it whenever he could.

Regardless of knowing that there was no new information, the compulsive tick of checking her device remained; and even as she sat outside on what Ruby had dubbed a 'mandatory relaxation session', the soft breeze following a short rainfall blowing through her hair, her eyes were still glued to her device. So much so that she was caught completely off guard when a large glob of mud struck her in the shoulder.

"Gods dammit, Weiss." She growled, looking up to see a shining white Boarbatusk rolling in a patch of mud. "Will you keep that thing under control?"

"Hey!" Weiss snapped her fingers at the beast, causing it to stop and look at her curiously with mud dripping from its body as she turned back. "And it is under control, thank you. I don't know why it did that. My Lancer is perfectly behaved."

All of them looked towards the giant, white hornet summon that was asleep a few feet away. Though what Weiss had said was technically true, it would be more correct to say that the Queen Lancer actually did nothing at all. Unless in combat, every time Weiss summoned it the giant beast simply went straight to sleep and ignored any order it was given.

"Aww, come on guys." Yang chuckled, scraping mud off herself and throwing it at the boar summon which quickly waddled over to her. "He's just a playful little mudball." She reached out and scratched behind its ears. "Who's a good little mudball, huh?"

"Yeah… well he can keep his mud to himself in future." Blake grumbled and swiped the sticky filth from her shoulder. "I'm tired of getting caught in the splash zone of your antics."

"Guyyyys." Ruby pouted, lifting her head from where it had been on her lap. "This is supposed to be a relaxing time. No fighting allowed."

"Whatever." Blake scowled, returning to her Scroll.

"Fine." Weiss sighed, dismissing the boar which had tackled Yang to the ground and making all the mud that was on it drop onto the blonde.

Shaking her head, she scrolled down the page and simply looked at smaller articles about her home. Just as when she had left, the stories weren't very big; after all, it was hard to find huge stories in a small town. As such most of it was simply smaller stories regarding the expansion of the port, fresh attempts to build into the desert. There were also a few White Fang articles, but they were quickly passed over as she had no interest in reading about them.

"Hey." Ruby said quietly, reaching up to swipe a little more of the mud away. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Blake replied shortly. "Why?"

"You've just been a little…" She hesitated and tapped her fingers together. "Grumpy lately. You sure you're okay for the clearing mission later?"

To be quite honest, the constant questioning of her mood from her team was getting tiring, and only making it worse. Sure she had been on edge a little, but how could she not be? Her estranged parents were going to be arriving in four days, at most, and she would have to finally make the decision on whether she would see them or not. Who wouldn't be a little antsy? She wished her friends would understand that.

"It's killing Grimm." She breathed impatiently. "If anything, it'll be cathartic."

Glancing over the top of her scroll, she saw some doubt in Ruby's silver eyes. But, as their eyes met, the doubt faded and she gave a small nod and returned to her position on Blake's lap. "Okay."

Looking down at the reaper, Blake immediately felt a little bad for being so short with her. She knew Ruby was just concerned, so she reached down with her free hand to run her fingers through the strands of red-tipped hair. It was a small action, but one that both her and the redhead found comforting.

"Alright, Snow Angel." Yang groaned as she raised her feet and stretched her arm. "Wet t-shirt contest, and then we can practise this new move?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Weiss spin her rapier and blast a geyser of water at the blonde, instantly washing away the mud and causing the ground to be even more sodden. Before it could even settle though, Yang stopped her stretching by slamming her fists together. A small heatwave ripped from the girl, instantly drying the ground around her. With steam billowing around her, even Blake had to admit she struck an impressive figure.

"You got this, sis." Ruby cheered with confidence only for it to falter a second later. "Just uhh.. Face the other way, please."

"Thanks." The brawlers scoffed and turned around to face away from them. "Ok, Weiss. Hit me like I know ya want to."

Without hesitation, Weiss pointed her rapier at the floor a few feet from Yang. A brown glyph appeared and a large grey spike shot at the blonde, who crossed her arms to block it. The stone crumbled on impact, Yang not even budging. In fact, the only thing that happened was the brute's hair shone a dazzling blonde.

"Aww," Yang grinned and shook her arm. "Love me so much you can't even hit me properly." Weiss rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Alright, ready?"

The heiress gave a quick nod of her head and raised her weapon as Yang clenched her fist. Even from where she and Ruby were sitting, Blake could feel the air grow hotter and hotter, until her partner's hair burst into flames. With a small amount of interest as to whether her partner would finally achieve her goal, she watched as Yang reared her fist back and struck out toward Weiss. As she did, the fire from her hair travelled down her arm, the flames licking at the skin and folding in on themselves before finally surging outwards from Yang's closed fist in a significantly large fireball. Though Weiss summoned a hardlight barrier to block it, she needn't have bothered since the fire died out half way between them.

"Aww… dammit." Yang breathed with no small amount of disappointment, before instantly perking back up. "Better than last time though. Again!"

Not needing to watch Yang repeat the same process over and over again, Blake looked back down at her Scroll and found a small article about someone she had known, Mata. Apparently his mother had opened a small little restaurant on the island that people were enjoying. It was news that wouldn't really mean much, but Blake knew it had always been the woman's dream so couldn't help but smile a little.

"Been a few days since I've seen you smile." Ruby commented with a smile. "I've missed it."

"Hard to smile when I'm just looking at numbers and equations for Peach all day." Blake replied, continuing to read the article. "Hard to stay awake too."

"Yeah…" Ruby said, her smile fading a little. "Blake?"

"Mmm?"

"You know you can tal-"

"Hey girls!"

The extremely excitable voice cut Ruby off and Blake couldn't help but groan. Looking up, she saw Neon standing in front of her wearing a pair of ripped blue leggings, dark shorts, and a sky blue top, each emblazoned with a rainbow of varying kinds. Though Blake had been trying to be more hospitable to the girl, especially after the conversation with Flynt, she wasn't in the mood for someone with so much energy at that moment. Stood next to her was Flynt, wearing his usual crisp suit and fedora, though his accents were a pleasant pink today.

"Oh.." Ruby replied, her eyes flicking to Blake before returning Neon's smile. "Hey Neon. Hey Flynt."

"Sup guys?" Flynt said, his eyes immediately flicking over to Weiss.

"Nothing much." The leader replied. "Just taking a team break from coursework. You?"

"Saaaame." Neon yawned in an exaggerated manner. "Flynt kept me cooped up so long I was starting to feel grey."

"Better gray and coursework done than colorful and failin' classes." He said with a grin.

Blake doubted Neon would agree. If there was one thing she had learned about Neon, it was that she prided herself in being colourful. If there was ever a time where she wasn't sparkling like a rainbow, it probably meant there was something very wrong. Though even then it was always rectified very quickly.

"Is that Faunews?" The girl asked suddenly, completely ignoring her partner and leaning down to look at Blake's scroll. "I like that site. I like looking at all the tails. I mean, they're not as pretty as mine, but tails are super awesome in general. Shame everyone in Atlas hides them."

"I agree… though probably for different reasons." Her remark earned a poke in the stomach from Ruby.

It was impossible to tell whether Neon had understood the jab because the girl had already stood up and pounced over to the sleeping Queen Lancer.

"Wow!" She exclaimed and leaned down close. As she did, the hornet's head moved a tiny bit towards her. "I've never seen one of these up close. I didn't think they would be so fluf-"

BZZZZT!

As Neon's hand reached out to touch it, all hell broke loose. The Queen Lancer, which had been peacefully sleeping for almost an hour, suddenly awoke and a loud buzzing tore through the quiet courtyard; loud enough to make them all flinch as it rose into the air and smacked Neon aside with its large head. The girl's quick reflexes took effect, but the offended summon immediately fired sharp projectiles that slammed into the ground around her and kicked up patches of dirt. Its extendable stinger shot out at a nearby tree, ripping a branch away and throwing it so hard that it dug up the ground Neon had jumped off only seconds ago.

"HEY!" Weiss shouted, quickly arriving between the pair as both Blake and Ruby stood to their feet. "What are you doing?"

A loud chattering joined the buzzing as the lancer's mandibles shook angrily. With a swipe of its huge body, the stinger shot out and slammed aggressively against the floor. As if to protect his partner, Flynt stepped in front and raised his weapon to stop it should it attack.

"Stop this! Now!" Weiss ordered her angered summon.

Just as usual, it paid Weiss no mind and continued its angry buzzing, so the girl raised her hand to dispel it. However, seeing it as an opportunity, Blake rushed forward and seized the girl's arm.

"Leave it." She demanded, looking Weiss right in the eye. Thankfully the girl listened, but kept her hand where it was. "Ruby," She said and turned back to her girlfriend. "She's your best friend, sort this out."

Their eyes met for a second and she saw that the silver orbs were filled with confusion. However, with a small nod towards Weiss, the girl finally understood and scratched the back of her head. Thankfully the summon seemed unwilling to attack Flynt, so Ruby had time to think. It only took a second however, and Blake witnessed an idea form behind her girlfriend's eyes.

"I think… that…" She looked from the lancer to Neon. "Neon should apologise for trying to touch it."

"What?" Weiss asked incredulously with a scowl. "It's aura, Ruby, it doesn't understa-"

"Neon!" Flynt said in an authoritative voice, stepping aside so that he was no longer in her way. Blake pushed Weiss backwards a little too. "Apologise."

Though she exchanged an anxious glance with her partner, the girl gave a nervous nod and slowly walked forward. Despite the buzzing increasing in volume, the Lancer didn't attack.

"Umm… I'm really sorry, Miss Lancer." She said in a low voice, as if she knew she had done wrong. "I really didn't mean to scare you, you just looked really fluffy. I meant no disrespect."

Blake had to give it to the faunus. As stupid as she looked, she really was treating it like a serious matter. Though given what Flynt had said about her, it shouldn't have really been a surprise. Thankfully though, it seemed to work and the buzzing grew less intense until the great hornet landed back on the ground.

"What the…" Weiss mumbled, glancing at the now docile Lancer with confusion as Blake let her go.

"We've been trying to tell you, dummy." Yang replied as she sideled up and pulled Ruby into a hug. "They act on their own all the time. You're just lucky my awesome sis here knows how to handle them."

"Heh." Ruby replied and pushed Yang away. "It's nothing. They all just feel like Weiss, just different parts of her."

"Interesting." Flynt chuckled, walking up to the Lancer and kneeling down in front of it. "Lancers look much prettier in white."

Though it chattered a little as he held out his hand, it quickly moved its own head in to let him touch it. If Blake wasn't mistaken, a small blush fell across Ruby's face and the reaper looked away from her partner. However, as if embarrassed herself, Weiss raised her hand and dismissed the creature before turning to face Neon and Flynt.

"I'm sorry." She said, though her mind was clearly elsewhere. "It shouldn't have acted like that."

"No problem." Flynt shrugged and rose to his feet. "Not the first time Neon touching something she shouldn't've has landed us in trouble. Right, Ne?"

"You say that like it happens a lot." The girl pouted. "But Flynt's right. I should have been more considerate of it's feelings."

"Feelings…" Weiss hummed. "Right." She turned to her partner. "Ruby, with me please."

"Oh… uhhh sure." Ruby followed Weiss, who had already taken off, but turned back to address Blake and Yang. "Meet us at Glynda's office in two hours."

"Got it." They both replied with a sigh.

"We should head off too." Neon said, cheering up a little more. "Ivori will freeze us if we're late for practice."

Exchanging a goodbye as the two Atlesians walked off towards the training rooms, Blake returned to her spot under the tree and leaned down with a groan to pick up her Scroll. The earlier sudden movement had caused her stiff shoulders a little pain. Knowing that wouldn't be great for fighting Grimm, she pocketed her device and set about stretching her limbs a little.

"At least that is finally going to get sorted." She grumbled at her partner.

"Finally." Yang chuckled. "Though if Mudball digging out my underwear is Weiss' repressed lesbianism, then I'm gunna need a way to let her down gently."

"You're really calling it Mudball?" Blake shook her head, ignoring the other comment.

"Perfect name for it." Yang shrugged with a small bark of laughter. "Anyway, wanna spar a little before we go hunting?"

With nothing else to do and in need of a warm up, she gave a small nod.

"Sure."

If there was one thing that Blake loved about the more densely packed forests of Sanus over the sparse trees of Anima, it was that the heaviest of rainfalls were defended against by the thick canopy of leaves. Many times during her earlier training she had found herself trekking through swamps and wetlands, both of which required so much more energy and tired her out; but the fact that Emerald Forest protected itself from the elements for the most part, at least enough that the ground was still solid, meant they had a much easier time traversing the overgrown area.

It was also good because fighting Grimm while sloshing around in thick mud tended to cause more mistakes. And when fighting creatures that wanted to rip people limb from limb, even a single mistake could be fatal. So, thanking Oum as she landed on dry ground from her backflip, she slashed upwards with her sheath and cut the Boarbatusk in half.

It had been almost an hour since they had entered the Emerald Forest, and so far the Grimm had been semi regular. Barely five minutes would pass before they stumbled on a small group of Beowolves or Boarbatusk, even a few King Taijitus; but while it was rather easy to handle as a team, the frequency was rather alarming. With how frequently the forest was cleared, they certainly shouldn't have been encountering as many Grimm as they had.

"OWOAHOAHOAH!"

"Ruby!" Yang groaned with her hands over her ears. "You got a shot on it yet?"

"Any second now!"

"OWAAAA-"

A gunshot rang through the clearing and the loud howling came to an abrupt stop. Seconds later, a black, human-sized monkey with lank limbs and a grotesquely bulging throat fell to the ground and began to disintegrate. Happy that the howling had finally stopped and they had some quiet, Blake let out a pleasured groan.

"Got it." Ruby cheered happily.

"Stupid Howlers." Blake grumbled, rubbing her sore ears. "They really did migrate, huh?"

"Given that we fought another pack of Wisps today, I would have thought that obvious." Weiss breathed and leaned over. "Ruby, how much longer until we get to the blockage?"

"Fifteen minutes, I think." She pulled out her scroll to check the map Glynda had sent them. "Oh. Ten minutes actually."

"Good." Yang yawned and put a new string of shells into her gauntlets. "So what d'ya think is causing the blockage?"

"Grimm. As usual." Ruby shrugged and returned her scroll to her pocket. "Probably Beaviles."

While not a Grimm that Blake was too familiar with, since they were native to Sanus, she did know that they had a tendency to use surrounding trees and rocks to create dams that blocked water supplies. It was an especially cruel tactic that forced smaller villages to either go and clear the area, or eventually become distressed at the lack of water and fall to the Grimm their negative emotions would attract. Either way, they were generally classified as pest type Grimm and were considered a top priority mission on most boards in Vale.

However, seeing as it was Beacon's job to keep the Emerald Forest clear, that mission had been entrusted to them. Thankfully, even as they followed the river that was still partially flowing, Blake could tell that the group was likely not very big. Mostly likely three or four. Any more and the river would have been brought to a complete halt in the day since Ozpin had reported it.

"Are they tough?" She asked, having never fought one before.

"They can be." Yang shrugged. "They're pretty big and have some nasty tail spikes. Especially the sergeants."

"Fair enough."

"What, not gunna ask what sergeants are?"

"Let me guess? Bigger and more spikes?"

"I… You're no fun when you're grumpy."

Throwing her best friend a scowl, she pushed ahead to stand next to her girlfriend, taking her hand in the process. So far the mission had not been as cathartic as she had hoped. While there definitely had been a lot of Grimm to kill, they had all been the usual young Grimm that was easily handled with a few bullets or a well placed cut. That was to be expected of course with how often the place was cleared out, but with the lack of anything to test her newer skills, and therefore exert herself, she had been able to find nothing to take her mind of what had been bugging her all week.

Even as she followed her team up the path, her mind wandered back to what she would do when her parents arrived. Would they even be coming to Beacon itself? Their business was with the council, so surely they would have no reason to visit a school that wasn't even in the main city. But did that mean she shouldn't travel to see them? If she couldn't even take the five minute journey into town to meet them, then how was she ever going to reach out. It was all just such a mess.

How had she done this to her life? How had she caused so much damage that she was so estranged from the parents she had loved… that she still loved... so dearly? Was it just one mistake? Or was it repeated mistakes? She didn't know, only knew that it was likely both. One mistake that she kept on repeating.

"Ok everyone." Ruby hushed them, slowing her pace as they approached another clearing with the river running through it. "Should be right here."

Dropping to a crouch, they all separate to nearby trees and scanned out over the clearing. Sure enough, just as Ruby had predicted, five giant beaver Grimm roamed around the area next to the river. Each one stood at roughly nine feet on all fours, and their thick black fur was sleek and gleaming in the sun; as was the white armor around its face. Vicious red eyes peeked out from the eye sockets and large buck teeth that looked sharp enough to break stone protruded from both their upper and lower jaws. Just as Yang had said, their tails had a few nasty looking rows of spikes underneath that were gouging deep holes in the ground.

Their effect on the area was also evident. With only a day to work, they had stripped so many trees and thrown them into the lake that they had likely doubled the size of the clearing they were occupying. Tree stumps and shattered rock littered the landscape, and it seemed the tails had also done a number on the flora that had been growing there too.

"Five verses four." Yang whispered from behind a nearby tree. "Should be easy."

"Big and bulky though." Ruby muttered in response. "We should try and pick one off before we go in."

"Or Weiss can even the odds a little?" Blake suggested.

"Weiss isn't summoning right now." Ruby answered simply.

"What?" She scowled since Weiss usually summoned without hesitation whenever given the chance. "Why not? It could help us here."

"If they're behaving erratically then I don't want to risk using them in combat." Weiss countered.

"They work fine in combat."

"Look, I just don't trust them right now. Can we just pick one off?"

"They're bulky, so they won't go down quietly." Yang observed.

"Well maybe if Weiss had listened to us earlier, we wouldn't have to risk getting one sepa-"

"BLA-"

Ruby didn't need to finish interrupting Blake's bitter retort. Before the word had even finished leaving the leader's mouth, the hairs on the back of Blake's neck tingled and she dodged backwards away from the tree as its base burst into splinters. Feeling the wood shower over her, she heard the thrown rock smash through another behind her and turned to see that all five of the Beaviles glaring at her with teeth bared. Before she could even take another step, another had stood up on its hind legs and thrown the tree trunk in its hands.

"Move!" Ruby yelled as it crashed along the ground towards them. Not needing to be told twice, all four of them jumped over it and into the clearing. "Weiss, you're with me. Yang, get the Sergeant." She indicated towards a larger Beavile with white armor jutting out of its fur. "Blake, you take its friend."

"Got it, sis." Yang nodded and signaled for Blake to follow.

With a final look at the other two, who were already running off towards the three Grimm over the other side of the river, Blake turned and ran towards the remaining creature. At the very least, it looked like something that would put her new skills to the test. So pulling her sword from her back as she charged, she slipped a new clip into the handle and prepared for battle.

The world turned to a blur around her as she sprinted, only slowing to duck under a tree trunk but quickly slicing upwards with her cleaver to split the wood in half. Continuing to dodge rocks and debris, she soon found herself in front of the sitting beast and ducked forwards to carve a clean arc into hind legs. If she could disable them then it would be much less of a threat. Unfortunately, as her blade neared the soft flesh, the Grimm lowered a rock to protect itself. Feeling her blade glance off the stone, she dodged to the side as the vile thing dropped back to all fours.

Transitioning her dodge into a backflip, she managed to avoid a swing of the Grimm's large claws and quickly slipped her sword free of its sheath, transforming it into a gun and unloading a few rounds into its face. While doing little to damage the beast, the rounds thankfully caused it to recoil away from her. Seizing on the opportunity, she dashed forward and spun to prepare a blade beam. However, just as her pirouette finished and she came face to face with the beast again, she saw it had already recovered and was reaching out to grab her with its mouth wide open. It was a perfect moment to test something.

Canceling her own attack, Blake channeled her aura and activated her semblance. Just as usual, the creation of the clone gave her a burst of speed and she used it to jump over the Beaviles arms and onto its armored face. At the same time, she heard a loud snap echo behind her and a flash of purple flew past her head. It had worked. Her clone had finished her attack and presented her an opening as the mammal was forced to recoil yet again. Not wanting to waste it, she pushed off hard towards the soft back of the Grimm, ready to jam her blade into its spine and shear it in half. Or at least that was the plan. Much to her surprise, as her footing switched from armor to fur, she found herself immediately unbalanced by what felt like an oily substance that coated its body.

"Ah!" She yelped as her foot slipped out from underneath her and she found herself tumbling over the side and to the ground.

Unfortunately for her the Grimm was still backing away and the giant, clawed hand landed on her leg; the weight of it sending pain ripping up her side. Clearly sensing it had something in its grasp, Blake quickly felt herself being picked up and slammed roughly into the ground. Thankfully, while the impact hurt like hell, she was able to push the pain aside and crossed her swords over the thing's wrist. Ripping them back, she severed the limb and fell back to the floor as the Beavile let out a bark of pain. A glint of red sparked in its eyes, and she was forced to use her semblance to push herself out of the way of its tail.

Mud was sprayed everywhere as the thick, black limb slammed into the ground, its spikes burying themselves in the dirt. Without a second of hesitation, the great beast ripped it aside, the spikes churning up the ground like a plough and spraying dirt and rocks everywhere, the largest of which it picked up with its remaining hand. The clones attack seemed to have shattered it's bottom teeth though, so while the top pair were still intact, she knew the battle would be a lot easier now.

For another minute, Blake exchanged blows with the beast. While she didn't particularly feel there was much danger left, it was always best to be safe. Besides, the Beavile was still doing a good job of defending with the rock it had seized earlier. As well as using it to attack, everytime she tried to go underneath it to where she knew its soft underbelly was, it would hop backwards and slam the boulder down to force her to retreat. It was rather frustrating, so after a minute of dancing around and looking for an opening, she decided to create one for herself.

As it's arm and head came down once again to block access to its stomach, Blake allowed herself to tumble backwards as if she had lost balance. Falling to her butt to be more convincing, she couldn't help but smile as it fell for the bait. Without hesitation, the Beavile reared its arm back up and used its full body weight to bring the stone crashing down on her. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike, she laid there until she saw it and once again activated her semblance. Pushing herself to the side, she spun midair and slashed out at its arm, only to find her blade hitting another target entirely.

"Gah!" She heard Ruby breathe as Gambol Shroud slipped across her stomach.

Blake had no idea where the girl had come from, but she immediately felt a wave of frustration pulse through her. Not only had the girl ruined her attack, but the hit to her stomach had clearly caused Ruby's to miss too.

"What are y-"

Before she could finish, the rock she had just avoided struck her in the side of the head and sent her flying backwards. Tumbling to the ground with her ears ringing from the hit, she looked up just in time to see Ruby stumbling due to being caught by the arm itself. Before the leader could correct herself, the Beavile's tail swung around and crushed her to the floor. Acting on instinct, Blake pushed herself up and charged at the distracted beast.

"Yang!" She yelled at her partner, who had already finished her battle and was running into help.

Transforming Gambol Shroud into sickled form, she tossed it over the Grimm and slammed the bladed sheath into its exposed neck. A loud bark of pain greeted her ears, but she felt the ribbon in her hand tug and kept a firm hold on both it and the sheathe as she was dragged over its body. As her feet landed on the other side, its head fell to the ground and slowly began to disintegrate. Breathing heavily, she looked around and saw that the area was clear and that Weiss was helping Ruby to her feet.

"Are you ok-"

"What the hell were you doing?" Blake shouted at her girlfriend, cutting off Weiss' question as her frustration boiled over. Not only had Ruby ruined that attack, but she had put herself in trouble again. "I had that handled!"

"We were finished and you were down." Ruby replied slowly with confusion in her eyes. "I thought you needed-"

"Saving?" Blake scoffed incredulously. "I'm not a damsel in distress, Ruby. I can handle a single Grimm!"

A hand landed on her chest and pushed her back slightly. Where Blake had once been glaring at Ruby's silver eyes, she was now met by Yang's red ones.

"But you clearly can't handle your emotions." The blonde growled. "I suggest you back off and calm down, before you alert more Grimm to our position."

Looking from her angered partner to her hurt girlfriend, Blake felt her chest rise and fall rapidly. She knew Yang was blaming her for being spotted by the Beaviles, and knew it wasn't completely wrong, but definitely wasn't in the mood to stand there and be told to calm down when Ruby had almost gotten herself killed trying to protect her again. So, with a dismissive wave, she turned and stalked off towards the woods; leaving the rest of her team to handle cleaning up the river.

Raalm's Notes

Hello some more team building and action here. For the most part, we really wanted to address a few things that you can probably tell have been happening over the course of the story. I won't say what they are, since you should be able to tell if we have done out job right, but I hope it all turned out well and flowed naturally. We also wanted to show that all of them are still growing as fighters, hence them showing off a few new things.

You might recognise it, but Yang's new move she is practicing is actually the one from the V7 opening. Me and Toxic were both a little annoyed that the show made absolutely no use of it, so we decided to bring it into here. So hopefully you enjoyed the new moves :)

Anyway, that's it from me. Hopefully you liked the chapter :D

Chapter 49 - Honesty will be up on the 19th.

Also, a request from me. I know that it is an exciting time with Volume 8 started in a few day, but please do not discuss things that happen in the volume in the reviews. Toxic hate cliffhangers so is waiting until the whole volume is out to watch it. Thank you.