Yang ran around the outside of her campus, keeping a steady pace ahead of her students and turned back to look at them.

"You kids need to pick up the pace, I'm getting lonely up here with no one to talk to," Yang yelled at them as she turned back around. She could hear a student panting that was trying desperately to match her speed but she sped up and he groaned.

"There are only a couple minutes of class yet, can't we be done now?" Someone called from the back.

"No! I guess this will teach you guys not to cheat on my tests anymore, huh?" She asked. She enjoyed the rest of the run in silence for the last five minutes and stopped suddenly as the students reached her. "Get out of here." She smiled at them. "Retakes are the day after tomorrow!" Most of the students left with the exception of a well-built girl who approached her. She wore a helmet that fully encased her head that looked similar to that of the Atlesian Knight, she wore armor that was somewhat similar to Pyrrha's with the exception of being silver in color with lights that indicated how much power her weapon and helmet had. It came with an armored skirt that she opted to wear and black leggings. Cerise Carver, the best fourth-year student and one of the participants for the event that Neela was going to partake in.

"Mrs. Xiao Long," Cerise said. Her voice was robotic, the story was that she needed the mask to talk and breath, her respiratory system had been damaged when she was younger "I know that I can't ask you about anything that would give me the upper hand in the fight that's coming up, but I was wondering if you really think that the underclassmen stand a chance? They've never won a tournament in the past, though this specific event has never actually been held before. We never won when I was a first or second year." Yang smiled.

"Sure, why not?" Yang asked.

"How?" Cerise replied. "Their semblances aren't as advanced or evolved as mine or Soya's, and Orin's semblance is only really useful for communicating with his teammates." Yang laughed.

"I think that we're all going to be pleasantly surprised," Yang told her. Cerise stood thinking about it for a moment before beginning to walk away and nodding.

"The students were chosen by the headmasters at the other academies, correct?" Cerise asked. Yang nodded at her. "I assume that Neela's last name was included with her audition as was everyone else's?" Yang furrowed her brow before taking a deep breath in. Were high school girls always so brutal? She waved her away and Cerise left, satisfied that Yang hadn't come up with a response.

Yang thought about what Cerise said. Just because she was a Xiao Long? The ironic thing was the fact that Neela was adopted. It was almost equivalent to saying that Yang was a Branwen. She didn't associate with her mother at all, the only thing she'd taken from the woman was her looks. Yang was far more personable and caring. It wasn't to say that Neela wasn't a Xiao Long, she just wasn't one by birth. She'd be just as amazing if she was still a Jaeger. Yang turned towards the school, ready to head back in when a raven flew over her head and landed in the field behind her. She drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before turning to face her mother. Raven took her mask off and looked at Yang.

"I guess whenever you think it's convenient just drop on in and ruin my day," Yang told her.

"Yang, I'm trying," Raven said. Her own words surprised her. She was never good at expressing her feeling or conveying sincerity, but she feared that Neela was rubbing off on her slightly. Her pride was too great for her to admit yet that she was in the wrong for so many years, at least to anyone but herself. "I thought that maybe you'd want to talk."

"Did you forget what happened last time?" Yang asked. She clenched her fist and looked at it as she held back her tears. "The time for talking slipped by you years ago, Raven! You could have come and checked on me at any point during my childhood, but you didn't!" Yang's eyes teetered on red as she shouted across the training field. "Don't tell me that you were too busy, Uncle Qrow was out there actually doing good in the world, and he still found time to visit even."

"I didn't come here to fight," Raven said.

"Then why did you come here? So that you could disappear for another thirty plus years?" Yang asked. Her words hung heavy over the two of them and Raven wasn't sure how to respond.

"I had an obligation-" Raven began trying to excuse herself.

"You had…" Yang cut her off incredulous. "So if I decide to just leave and not tell Neela where I'm going, I should expect her to be pretty understanding when I give her a BS answer upon my return!"

"I never said that you should be understanding, I'm simply telling you why I was gone," Raven said.

"It's not good enough," Yang said. "It'll never be good enough." Yang shook her head.

"I'll leave now," Raven said. "I just wanted to see if you were well." Raven put her mask on and turned to open a portal when Yang called out to her.

"Why did you do it?" Yang asked. Raven wasn't entirely sure what she was referring to and looked back at Yang over her shoulder.

"Do what?"Raven asked. Yang's eyes faded back to purple and she softened slightly.

"I saw the file that Neela gave Coco, she left it sitting her desk and I just had to know what it actually said," Yang confessed. "Why did you help Neela get that drive back?" Raven looked at Yang for a long passing moment.

"I couldn't let her do it on her own," Raven replied. With that she disappeared into a portal, leaving Yang to think about her answer. Raven was a warrior whose whole life had been built around the fact that you do things that further your own survival and that of the clan, nothing more and nothing less. It really did seem like Raven had only helped Neela in order to get Yang to allow her into their lives… but it couldn't be that simple. Yang had talked to Blake and she knew that Raven was well aware that it wouldn't be that easy, so then why did she do it? The woman was slowing in her age, Yang had seen it first hand fighting against her and Neela was inexperienced. Raven could have retrieved the drive without Neela.

Someone was pulling on Yang's arm and she turned to find Neo, looking up at her with her head slightly tilted. Yang smirked.

"I'm fine Neo, but thanks for worrying about me," Yang said. Neo smiled before frowning and lifting up a list, pointing to Neela's name and indicating that she had an overdue book. Yang laughed. "Oh. I guess I can talk to her about it for you." Neo nodded and disappeared before leaving Yang in silence for her walk back to the administrative building. Blake greeted her at the door.

"How'd it go?" Blake asked.

"You knew?" Yang asked frustrated. Blake's cheeks tinged with blush and she glanced away. They walked toward the teacher's lounge.

"Knew what?" Blake asked. "I was asking about how laps around the campus went, we could all see you." Yang nodded rolling her eyes.

"Right," Yang replied as she opened the door and let Blake in.

"Well well, if it isn't the two most excited parents in all of Remnant," Sun announced as they entered the room. Ren and Nora were also eating their lunch, a dish that was mostly comprised of noodles, and Sun opted to sit on the counter, his mouth full of banana. "That big tournament is coming up really soon. I know that we're all really excited for it, right guys?!" Nora nodded.

"Neela's gonna be amazing!" Nora declared. Ren nodded.

"She's one of our best," Ren said.

"Is it true that she caught Mercury?" Sun asked. Blake sat across from Renora and waited for Yang to grab their lunch box. Yang smiled wildly and nodded.

"Of course she did! She learned everything she knows from me after all!" Yang said smiling at Blake who chuckled slightly.

"Like how to get on my nerves?" Blake asked. Yang laughed.

"Especially that," Yang agreed.

"Girls," Nora said butting in on the conversation. "We haven't all gone out drinking in a while. I think we should change that, maybe celebrate after Neela wins."

"You're staking your drinking night on Neela winning?" Sun asked. They all glared at him and he threw his hands up. "Woah! Wait a minute! She's good, I'm not saying that… I'm just saying what if she doesn't win?" Nora looked at Yang and Blake and tilted her head while shrugging.

"We go out drinking anyway?" Nora asked.

"I'm always down for a little drinking," Yang said winking at Nora. Blake looked up at Yang who stood behind her and set their lunch boxes out.

"You mean a lot?" Blake asked. Yang waved her off.

"I think quantity is relative. It might be a lot to you, but it's only a little to Nora and me," Yang said.

"Should I invite Pyrrha?" Nora asked. Yang nodded as she set her water down on the table and sat next to Blake.

"We'll invite Coco," Yang said.

"Great! It's a plan!" Nora shouted. Sun looked at Ren as he leapt down to his feet.

"Why don't us guys ever go drinking?" Sun asked.

"Because there aren't any decent sake vendors around here, Jaune doesn't drink, and you and Neptune got us kicked out of the bar last time," Ren reminded.

"Right…" Sun said as though he remembered, but it was clear that he didn't. Yang stared into her glass of water. In the reflection, she saw Raven and she exhaled silently. Yang wasn't defined by her mother's legacy. She didn't want Neela to feel like she was no better than the name she'd been given. She was so much more than that.

"Help me!" Cobalt yelled as he dove into the team's dorm room and slammed the door shut behind him, shaking with fear as though he was being chased by a Grimm… or he had really just pissed off one of the girls in his class. He panted, pointing at the door and glancing up between Tawney and Lykos, trying to collect his thoughts and his breath before he climbed to his feet. "Thank Oum you're here Tawney, I really need to talk to you about something and we need to make it really quick!" Tawney thought about it for a long moment before turning back to her textbook and jotting down some notes.

"No," she said. Cobalt started shaking her by the shoulders and she pushed him off, turning completely around in her chair to face him.

"Please!" He begged.

"You're not really going to give me a say in the matter anyway, so what do you want?!" She asked as she groaned and leaned on the back of her chair with her elbows, propping her chin up with her fists.

"I was in the hallway and I was walking back here and just minding my own business when I overheard some girl that I don't recognize talking to Bái!" He blurted out. He paused as though he was waiting for a response, which made Tawney even more impatient.

"Go on," she insisted.

"They were talking about me!" He yelled. Tawney shrugged and stared at him.

"So?" She asked. He stammered.

"So? So!? What do you mean so?! When someone of the opposite sex is talking with a member of that same-sex about you, it can only be for one reason," Cobalt explained. Lykos smirked without looking up from his homework.

"To fulfill another one of your crazy fantasies?" Lykos joked.

"No, and I told you that in confidentiality," Cobalt reminded him. "She must be interested!"

"As if," Tawney scoffed. Cobalt looked back at her and glared.

"Ouch." Cobalt flopped onto his bed and buried his head under the pillow. "Seriously guys, what do I do if she is interested in me?" Lykos met Tawney's glance and looked his homework over in confusion.

"Be… yourself?" Lykos suggested.

"Be the complete opposite," Tawney offered. Cobalt flipped her off. He sat up and threw the pillow at Tawney who deflected it. "How are we supposed to get any work done with you distracting us?" The door swung open and standing beside Bái was Soya Kelly, the best looking and strongest girl that the third years had to offer. Cobalt turned slightly pale and stood.

"Hey guys, this is Soya," Bái said introducing her. Soya curtsied and looked deep into Cobalt's eyes. "Uh, she said that she wanted to talk to Cobalt about something." They all looked at Cobalt stunned and he looked back frantically, his face flaring with heat. Cobalt's mind locked up, he could have sworn he'd heard that name before, but where?

"What?!" He exclaimed. Soya giggled and Cobalt thought that his heart skipped a beat for a moment as he focused on her once more.

"Can we step out in the hallway?" Soya asked him. They all focused on him once more and he stepped past Bái and Soya into the hall, gesturing for her to follow. The door closed and the three remaining teammates exchanged glances one last time.

"What?" Bái asked.

"What did she want with Cobalt?" Tawney asked.

"I didn't ask for details," Bái admitted. Meanwhile, in the hallway, Cobalt was trying his hardest to concentrate as his brain raced on at the speed of light, wondering what would possess such an attractive girl to need anything from him. It had to be something that was tech related, right? She wouldn't need me for anything else, she probably just needs help with an app on her scroll or something like that. He tried to do his best to focus on her face, but the Beacon uniform always seemed to be constricting in the chest, especially for girls that had been greatly blessed, and Soya was no exception.

"You're Cobalt, right?" She asked him brushing the hair out of her face and twirling it around her finger. Classic sign of flirting Cobalt, what are you going to do with this information. He nodded and tried to find any words that would come out without sounding like he'd just hit puberty. He knew his voice would crack, it was just his damn luck.

"Mmhmm," he said. Smooth. Safe. Easy does it. She blushed and looked at the floor, her hand moving from her hair to her neck and rubbing it as she swallowed. Was she nervous? She was a babe! What was there for her to be nervous about?

"My name's Soya," she told him. "I was wondering…" She looked at him and glanced away. Cobalt could barely stand how cute she'd become, her acting shy was driving him mad more than anything and he wanted to help her get the words out, but he held his ground in silence. "Would you like to get a bite to eat with me in Vale? Tonight?" Cobalt looked at her, her eyes pleading desperately, though he knew his answer from the moment he'd seen her with Bái earlier. He nodded and chuckled awkwardly.

"You mean right now?" He asked. She nodded.

"Unless you're busy," she breathed. His face straightened and he placed and hand on her shoulder.

"I'd love to go out with you, let me just grab my scroll," he told her. Her eyes lit up and she smiled as he slammed the door and entered the room. She could hear him losing his mind, yelling at his teammates as they hollered back at him. She undid another of the top buttons on her blouse and called Cerise.

"Putty," she said as Cerise picked up. "The upperclassmen will prevail once again. No. No, I don't even think I'll have to kiss the idiot, I'm guessing he's never even played with the idea of holding hands before, it's almost sad, but in a gross sort of way. He's coming back. I'll talk to you later baby. Love you." Cobalt came back out and she grabbed his arm as he moved to stand beside her, her breasts pressing against him and he could see far more of her cleavage now for some reason.

"Ready?" He asked. She nodded and flashed him a huge smile.

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "Let's go!" He had seen Tawney's breasts. She had tried having sex with him, surely he could get through the night with this… smoking hot… large bosomed… full-lipped… short skirt wearing… Oh, who am I kidding, I'm screwed, and hopefully literally too!

"I'm not actually sure that this is the best idea," he told her cautiously as they entered the bar.

"Don't be such a wuss Cobalt, you're only one year younger than the legal drinking age in every kingdom and I come here often enough that they won't question it," she told him as they each took a bar stool at the bar. "Vodka!" She looked at him. "You getting anything?" Cobalt actually hadn't really had alcohol with the exception of the time that he sampled some wine with his parents when he'd received his acceptance letter into Beacon, so he didn't know much about alcohol. He called for a water, for the time being, turning to watch Soya as she slammed her drink. She wasn't nearly as sweet and innocent as she came off in the hallway of the dorm, but Cobalt felt like it was helping take the edge off of his nervousness and the two of them were more or less hitting it off.

She seemed normal enough. Something about her semblance being the ability to control plants to an extent. He asked her several times what her weapon was but every twenty minutes he had to ask again because he'd forgotten. She was bisexual, telling him that she preferred girls more but decided that she'd give him a shot. Her parents had sent her to Beacon from Vacuo because they felt like she could get a better education, as all parents did. She was slightly stuck up but seemed down to earth, but after another two shots of vodka, she was getting relatively handsy. She threw her arms around him, kissing his neck roughly and sucking hard enough that he was sure he'd have hickeys in the morning, but the human interaction felt good and he almost had no desire to make it stop. He needed this date to remind him that he could matter to someone.

He kissed her back passionately and this seemed to satisfy her as she gasped on occasion into his mouth, smiling through the kisses as her hands gripped hard at the back of his shirt.

"I think we should take this somewhere a little more on the private side," she said. She kissed him again with a chuckle and he gasped, laughing with her.

"There's nobody here but the bartender," Cobalt said. She smirked as she tugged on her blouse, pushing her boobs together to create even more of a chasm.

"I don't think he can afford the show we're about to put on," she said. She took him by the hand and led him to the bathroom, pushing him against the wall once they were inside and rubbing her hands up and down his torso under his shirt. "So, who is this Neela girl that I keep hearing so much about?" He raised his eyebrow as she continued to distract him with kisses. It was a strange time to be asking about another girl, but maybe she was just into that kind of thing.

"She's a friend of mine, she's going to be in that tournament this weekend," he explained as he gasped, her mouth suckling gently on his abs. Her hands gripped his hips, trying to pull his pants off without bothering with the belt, but she was having no luck.

"She seems pretty strong, but I'm guessing that she has her flaws too," Soya suggested. It was at that instant that Cobalt remembered where he'd heard Soya's name before and sighed as he pulled her up to her feet and fixed his shirt. "What's wrong?"

"I have to admit, you have me pegged for a boy who is looking at what might possibly be the most smoking hot girl that he'd ever have a chance with because we've gotten this far and I would love to keep going, but this has to end one of two ways and I already know that it isn't the former. Now, I am either in one of my fantasies and something weird is going to happen and I won't get laid anyway, or I'm awake, my conscience tells me that this is a bad idea, and we don't do it even though I am super horny right now," Cobalt told her. She frowned slightly.

"You can do whatever you want to me, Cobalt, you just have to tell me how to beat Neela," Soya told him. He shrugged.

"Sorry, can't," he replied. He tried to walk past her but she grabbed his hand and placed it on her crotch. He looked down at it for a moment before glancing back at her.

"Now you get to tell me or I tell everyone that you tried to molest me," she told him with an evil grin. "You should've just told me, you could have finally gotten rid of your virginity." He laughed, throwing his head back, laughing harder and harder until he was almost crying. He pulled his hand away from her and shook his head, wiping tears from his eyes. "What?!"

"I have proof that's going to discredit you," he said. "You lose." Her face turned red and she stamped her foot.

"What do you mean?" She demanded. He removed his scroll and pressed a button, out of his satchel crawled a small, round robot with four legs that moved like a spider. She slid back a few feet nearly screaming and she pointed at it. "What is that?"

"Say hello to Victor 2.0," Cobalt said. "As Coco was speaking with you the other day, I was watching her camera that she had the opportunity to test for Atlas. What she didn't know and was completely wrong about is that I did not need to touch the camera to reverse engineer it, my visor did the work for me. I threw this together the next day, left it on audio only mode to see how the microphone worked and to avoid distracting students with an arachnid camera." Soya's face twisted into rage and she lifted her hands, vines burst through from the floor and slammed him into the wall, keeping him there.

"When I was a first year I was also naïve and stupid like you and your friends. The difference between you and I is that I didn't have anyone to put me in my place. No one to tell me that I was stupid and foolish for thinking that I had accomplished anything up to that point," Soya practically hissed the words, spitting on Cobalt in her fit of rage. "I'm going to teach Neela and the rest of you that everything that you've accomplished so far means nothing and that you still have a long way to go. I'm helping you in the long run if anything."

"Tell that to the huntress that already took down the leader of a major crime ring," Cobalt said amused. Soya nailed him in the jaw with her fist, the force surprised him, and something would have cracked or broken if not for his aura.

"Any of us could have done that if the teachers would have just given us a chance, but there seems to be a bit of pandering towards Team NITE… I'm not sure why, " Soya remarked sarcastically. "Could it be Neela? Don't think that you're better than me just because the professors are showing favoritism. All of you will be worse off when you get to the real world and they say 'Cobalt who?'"

"Can we wrap this up?" He asked. "I have to present this camera in front of my class tomorrow, and I really need the sleep." She smiled and cocked her hip, tapping her fingers on the wall beside her.

"I think I'd rather keep you here until you tell me how I can defeat Neela, and then I'll break that toy of yours," she said. "We have all night. Cerise rented out the entire bar for us to enjoy ourselves, so why don't we put it to good use?" She undid another button on her blouse, her chest all but bursting free. "I'll make it worth your while I suppose. It might be the only way to get you to talk…" The bathroom door crashed open and there stood what Soya believed to be a crazed beast, her eyes gold and smoke rolling off of the end of her tonfas as her chest heaved and she cackled.

"You're way too vested in this plan of yours," Tawney said. She winked at Cobalt and rushed in, batting away the vines that grew in a mad attempt to stop her and she put the full force of a semblance induced punch into Soya's chest. The girl screamed through the air in a flash, the brick wall behind her exploding on impact and she tumbled out into the alley. "You stupid son of a bitch!" Tawney looked at Cobalt. "Just can't resist the crazies, can you?" He smirked thoughtfully. Soya struggled to stand, her aura had taken a devastating blow and she'd been using quite a bit of power to keep Cobalt in place.

"I wouldn't get up if I were you," Cobalt said. "They don't call her the Maniac of Mistral for nothing." Tawney smiled wide as she looked at Soya but a large green leaf grew up from the earth and wrapped Soya in a cocoon. "How did you know that I'd need to be saved?" Tawney laughed.

"Just a hunch," she said as she ripped the vines away and let him free. "I get the feeling that every date you have is going to end in a similar manner." They walked out of the bathroom and through the bar where roughly six men lay unconscious on the floor.

"Not everyone," he argued. She nodded.

"Every single one," she said.

"It's funny you say that…" He began.

"You had a date like this once?" She asked. He shook his head.

"I had a dream like this once," he told her.

"With the vines and everything?" She inquired.

"Well they were technically tentacles," he explained.

"Cobalt…" She hesitated.

"You should always use tentacles for good," he told her.

"Cobalt no."

"Cobalt yes."

Seems like Soya was trying to use Cobalt to get to Neela after all. Next week, The Tournament begins in Chapter 66 - Exhibition Match!

A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.

Until next week, stay classy!