A few days later, Yang was standing in a boxing ring, across from Melanie, who was saying, "Alright Blondie, I've never actually trained anyone before, let alone an already expert boxer."

Yang cracked her neck and said, "Well I guess this'll be a first for both of us then."

Miltia asked, "How so?"

Yang nodded at Melanie as she said, "Her, teaching someone, and me actually learning something useful for a fight from someone other than my old man."

"Your father?"

Melanie said, "It doesn't matter, Milti."

"You're right Mel, it doesn't."

Yang said, "So, we doing this or what?" turning side-on to Melanie, her remaining arm held out between them.

Melanie said, "Before we do though, you should activate your semblance."

"Activate my…why? It's just training, right?"

"Yes. Your semblance dulls pain, doesn't it?"

"No. It just doubles my strength for every hit. Why'd you think that?"

Before Yang finished talking, Melanie said, "Is that how it works? I'd thought that there would be multiple aspects to it."

"Why's that?"

"Well, when you activate it, your eyes turn red and your hair glows like fire."

"Oh? That. I've been told that, at times, my eyes have turned red outside of when I'm using my semblance, though I've no idea why."

"I see," Melanie said as she fell into a ready stance and Milti got out of the ring.

After that they both stood in their ready positions for a while before Yang asked, "Soo…are we going to start, or what?"

"I was waiting for you to move."

"So was I! I mean…for you to move that is. Why would I wait for myself?"

Melanie looked to her sister and said, "Milti. Have you got a coin?"

"I do."

Melanie looked back to Yang and said, "We start when the coin hits the floor. Sound good?"

Yang grinned as she said, "Sure. It's more metal than I'd thought could come from the pair of you." The twins gave her an identical deadpan stare, so Yang said, "Get it, metal. Because you work in a club and the coin."

Melanie didn't wait for her sister to flip the coin. She rushed at Yang, kicking at her good side and was blocked by Yang's forearm. She then shifted her weight back so that she could kick down at Yang, over her arm, forcing Yang to step back. That gave Melanie the chance to land a spinning back kick on Yang's ribs.

Yang stumbled sideways, but remained standing, gritting her teeth against the pain. She subconsciously tried to reach for the impact point with her now missing arm. She grunted and charged back at Melanie. This time, she tried kicking her as an opening gambit. Melanie brought her leg around to kick it aside so that she was positioned on the side of Yang's missing arm and brought her knee up, trying to slam it into Yang's side again. This time Yang ducked under it and swept at her leg, but Melanie backflipped to dodge it. The move caused Yang to have a flashback to her fight in the train, when Neo had pulled the same move and let out a breath so that, unlike that time, this time she wouldn't lose control like she had back then. Melanie thought, 'So, she seems to be at least a little less hot-headed than last time.' She rushes in, kicking at Yang's head from her armless side.

Yang thought, 'Damn it! Again?! How should I…' even as she thought on it, she started to bring her leg up to try to knock Melanie's leg aside as Melanie had done to hers earlier. But, lacking the muscle memory of Melanie, Yang needed to focus on executing the manoeuvre so, despite moving at the same speed she was too late and Melanie's foot impacted her face, causing her to lose balance before getting swept off of her feet by a quick sweep from Melanie, who spun and kicked Yang, causing her to fly into the ropes.

Yang slammed her fist into the mat before using the rope to help herself get up. she rushed at Melanie and repeatedly tried to jap at Melanie, but she kept on dodging to Yang's weak side, and not attacking. Yang exclaimed, "Damn it! Stop doing that!"

Melanie asked, "What are you going to do about it, huh, Blondie?"

Yang's semblance activated and her eyes turned red as she turned faster than she'd been able to and landed a blow that caused Melanie to fly straight into the ropes, and off the ring before being thrust back onto it, directly back at Yang. As she flew towards her, her hair was coated by a strange red energy and, as Yang's fist swung towards her, she reached out, grabbed her arm and swung under it and slid to a stop, looking directly at Yang as she turned around. Yang asked, "So, is that your semblance?"

"Yeah. Matriarch's Raiment. It's similar to yours, but, instead of my strength, it increases my agility, and only when it's been activated. The greater the blow, the greater the increase."

Yang sighed and said, "Fighting with our semblances active won't get us anywhere."

"You're right. It won't," Melanie said, deactivating her semblance after Yang had.

"Out of curiosity though…" Melanie raised a questioning eyebrow. "…why didn't you use that during our last fight?"

"Oh. That. It wasn't that I was hiding it, or not taking you seriously, if that's what you're thinking."

"Then…"

"I hadn't activated it at that point."

"Ah. I see. Well, to be fair, I only activated mine a couple of years ago when an Ursa attacked Ruby 'n' me while we were training in the woods one day."

"I see. I'd thought that we just didn't have them."

"The way I was taught, it's not so much that some people don't have them, as it is that they don't come across a situation that requires their semblance to awaken."

Melanie said, "I see. I will…have to think on this," as she thought, 'And make sure to tell 'them' about this development.' "For now…want to continue?" Yang took on a fighting stance.

XXXXX

A few hours later, Yang was on her knees, panting as sweat dripped from her body. Melanie was starting to breathe heavily too, but nowhere near as badly as Yang, who exclaimed, "Damn…it!" and slammed the mat. "I can't…get up…again."

Milti said, "This may come as cold comfort, but you've held out really well, all things considered. Mel was the best in close combat at the academy we were trained at."

"You two went to a huntsman academy?"

"Yes. But not one of the big four. Much like Signal, it's a rather small one."

"Signal? But signal's just a prep-school. It doesn't cover true huntsman training, which the pair of you have almost certainly had."

"Yes. But the one we went to went on for a few more years and did cover true huntsman training. Well, our grandmother pulled us out before we could finish, so we don't have our licences either."

"Hmmm…is that so? Well, I didn't think that there were any others. Probably because both my parents went to Beacon."

"Your parents did?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, after you…crashed the party, as it were, we had looked into you and couldn't find anything out about your mother."

Yang sighed and pointed at her bag on the benches. She said, "In the front pocket there's a photo of her. That night, I'd come to the bar to ask Junior if he had any clue as to where she might be."

Milti went over to the bag as Melanie brought Yang's drink bottle over to her. Yang thanked her as Milti walked back with the photo out. She asked, "Is this it?" as she held the photo up so that Yang and Melanie could see it.

Yang said, "Yeah. That's her alright."

"I see. You seem to have inherited a lot from her."

"Yeah." Yang laughed self-deprecatingly as she said, "A little too much at times, according to Dad."

"But not your name?"

"Yang sighed and said, "She left soon after I was born."

"Do you mind me asking?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Okay. Then do you mind my asking what this woman's name is?"

"That? My uncle Qrow told me that her name's Raven. Raven Branwen."

Milti and Melanie blinked at that and looked at each other. When they were both looking back at Yang, Melanie asked, "Are you sure of that…absolutely certain that Branwen is her last name?"

"Yeah. I am. It's my uncle's name too. You know, my mother's brother. Why?"

"We…might actually be able to help you in your search."

"You're kidding?!"

"No. Right, Milti?" Melanie said, looking at her twin.

Milti backed her sister up, saying, "Right, Melanie."

"Well, thanks. But, before that, could you give me a hand?" and reached out to Melanie.

Melanie smiled as she said, "Sure."

As her sister helped Yang up, Milti said, "This is just a suggestion, so you don't need to take it up…" Yang raised a questioning eyebrow. "If you're telling the truth…" She stopped short when Yang levelled an eerie, red-eyed glare at her. She quickly said, "Which I'm sure you are…" Yang's eyes went back to normal and Milti kept talking normally. "…and your mother is Raven Branwen, it might be better for you to take up her last name, at least while you are working with us."

Yang sighed and said, "You might have a point there. I'm sure Dad wouldn't want to be associated with the Xiong Crime Family, even tangentially. Alright." Yang cracked her neck and said, "I'm going to have to change the name on the garage form now."

"Garage?"

"Yeah. I had to store Bumblebee somewhere before I came here."

"Bumblebee? Isn't that your bike?"

"That's right. Problem?"

"Not really. Just wondering why you brought it, considering your…condition?" Yang glanced at her missing arm and reached over to hold it as she closed her eyes and remembered falling after Adam cut it and started to rapidly breathe in and out as she felt panic rising within her. Melanie broke through it, saying, "HEY! Snap out of it!" and Yang took in the sight of the two with her and remembered that time had passed and Adam couldn't be anywhere near Beacon and her breathing evened out.

Yang said, "Now, where was I? Oh, right. Bumblebee. I brought her mostly because it didn't feel right when I considered leaving her home. Besides," Yang shrugged, "I needed somewhere to store all of my luggage…and then there's that."

"What's 'that'?"

"It doesn't matter yet."

"Then it will eventually. Do we need to be concerned?"

"No," Yang laughingly said. "It's no threat to Junior, or any of the members of his gang."

"Don't forget. You are also one of those gang members, Yang Branwen."

Yang said, "Heh, sure. It'll take some getting used to is all," as she put on a zip-sports jacket with a hood. "I'll see you at the bar later, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Cool." Yang waved over her shoulder as she walked away from the twins as she thought, 'Though not as cool as I'll be in the bath of ice I'm going to need.'

After making an impromptu ice bath at the bar out of garbage bags sealing an empty crate and ice from the freezers, Yang climbed in and stayed there while she felt it take effect. When she was done, she quickly dried off using a spare shirt before getting dressed in cargo pants and an orange tanktop. She put on a pair of sunglasses with orange lenses before heading to the garage. When she was there, she nodded at the guy and said, "Hey, I was here a couple of days ago. Put in the bike in bay 11."

"Oh yeah. That blonde chick with one arm."

"Yeah."

"What can I do you for? Your week ain't up yet. You won't be getting no refund here."

"Oh. No. nothing like that. I'd just like to change the name that I've got it under, if that's okay."

The guy shrugged and said, "No skin off my back. Mind if I ask why?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Ok-ayyy…then in that case, what's the name?"

"Yang Branwen."

"Oh. So it's still you that's keeping it then?"

"Yeah. New info just came in."

"Ah. Enough said then."

"Thanks. Am I going to need to sign for this?"

"Nah. 'far as I'm concerned, so long as the owner's signed once, we're good."

Yang said, "Okay. Thanks," and went to the garage to sit with Bumblebee.

XXXXX

At the same time, in a random forest in Mistral, Jaune, Ren, Nora & Ruby, were just coming into sight of a village. Jaune let out a relieved sigh as he said, "Well, there it is, the first village we've seen in a month."

Ruby snarked, "Yeah, well, you know why it took that long!"

"Hey! It's not my fault that they didn't teach orienteering at the school that I went to!"

"Maybe, but surely you wouldn't need to be some genius to tell that you were holding the map upside down!"

"Well…that…shut up! For that, you get to pay for the inn and dinner while we're here."

"Huhh…but that's…It's supposed to be Nora's turn!"

"Maybe, but Nora isn't being persnickety."

Ruby got a bewildered look on her face as she exclaimed, "Per-what?! What does that mean?"

As Jaune and Nora kept walking, Ren calmly said, "Ruby. It means that Jaune is the leader and you need to show him the proper respect."

"But it's true that he…"

Ren cut her off. "It doesn't matter. If there is no team cohesion, and you keep on butting heads like you have been, people will get hurt I'm sure that you can comprehend that at least." The two look at Jaunes back as he got further away from them. "He's also dealing with something…else…that's weighing on him and your attitude isn't helping."

Ruby said, "Well then, if he's not up to the job, then maybe he shouldn't be leading this team."

Ren frowned and said, "Ruby. That's…"

But ren was cut off by Jaune turning back and calling out, "Come on you two, what's keeping you?"

Ruby called out, "We're coming!" and, completely unbidden, gathered up Ren with her semblance and crossed the distance almost instantaneously.

When they were all together, Nora asked, "So, what were the two of you talking about?"

Ruby dismissively said, "Oh, nothing much." She exclaimed, "AHHH! Is that where we're staying tonight?!" pointing at a large building at the end of the street, scared at the drain on her wallet that paying to stay at such a grand building would inflict.

Jaune said, "That? No. That's the town hall." He pointed at another building that was less than half the size of the town hall as he said, "We're staying there."

Ruby let out a sigh of relief as her shoulders slumped, half annoyed that they wouldn't be able to stay in such an impressive building, never having seen its like before, but, just as happy that she would still have some money left over after their departure. They filed into the inn with Ruby following Nora. When they were all in, they looked around and saw the check in desk. Jaune looked at Ruby and said, "Okay, your money, you talk," as they went over to it.

Ruby nodded and said, "Alright," as they reached the desk.

The desk worker smiled at them, saying, "Hi. How can I help you?"

Ruby said, "We would like one room please!"

The worker raised his eyebrow and looked at the other three, who were all clearly older than the girl that was speaking to him. He looked back at her and asked, "For all four of you?"

Ruby looked at them, seeing Jaune slowly shaking his head. Ren thought, 'Please tell me she isn't going to…' Nora didn't have any reaction, not having heard the clerk properly.

She turned back to the clerk and smiled as she nodded once as she said, "Yes."

Jaune exclaimed, "Noyaaahhh!" shaking his head and waving his arms. "No. No! NO! Not one room for all of us! We need four beds. However many rooms that takes will be fine."

The worker let out a relieved sigh and said, "Well, alright then. In the future, wherever you go next, might I suggest not letting children try to book your rooms?"

"Before Ruby could interject, Ren clamped his hand over her mouth as he said, "Of course. Please, forgive my sister. She's ahh…very special," as Ruby struggled to get out of his grip.

"Ah. I see. You might want to swing by Aokawa. I hear talk that they have some specialists that are making great leaps forward in phrenology that could help with that."

Ren said, "Thanks. We might do that," as Ruby tried to yell a demand for him to let her go.

Jaune said, "I don't suppose that you have a blacksmith specialising in armour in this town, do you?"

"Afraid not. There's one over in the next town north from here."

"Right…uhhh…north would be…"

"You don't know which direction north is? How'd you manage to get here?"

"Honestly? it was mostly luck."

"Right. Well, imagine a circle in your mind." Jaune nodded. "Well, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, right?" Jaune nodded. "The east is right while the west is left. North is at the top of the upper hemisphere of that circle."

"Really? Thanks so much. That'll help us avoid anymore…directional mishaps."

"That's fine. I'm happy to help."

"I see. Thanks. We'll only be needing the rooms for a single night."

Ruby groaned and said, "Seriously?! Then you are not going to be holding the map again!"

Jaune exclaimed, "It was one time!"

"It was three weeks!"

Nora said, "Sorry Jaune. Even with this new info, Ruby does kind of have a point on this one."

Jaune sighed and said, "I am…never going to live this one down, am I?"

Ren moved closer to Jaune as he said, "Maybe, but, knowing those two, not for a while."

Jaune sighed and said, "Fine then. Ren, you're from around here, you take the map."

Ren said, "Alright," taking the map from Jaune's outstretched hand, thanking whatever gods remained on remnant that he hadn't given it to Ruby.

XXXXX

The next night, Jaune's team arrived at the next town and Jaune said, "Right. From this point on, Ren is the man with the map. Now, we just need to find the blacksmith. So, while Ren and I do that, Ruby and Nora, you can find somewhere for us to stay for however long it takes."

Nora asked, "Any guesses to how long that would be?"

"Well, this one took a week to make. I don't know about the sword and shield. It was an inheritance after all, so it'll probably be at least two.

A few hours later, Ruby and Nora found Ren and Jaune, who was shouting, "A month! Seriously?!"

"Yeah. Sorry, but two of my apprentices just reached their journeyman status and left to try their hands at learning from different masters. Had you come here in about three months or so, it'd be different."

"Why's that?"

"That's when the kiddo's in town start apprenticin' and I'm expecting another journeyman myself to swing by soon."

Jaune sighed and said, 'well, alright then. If that's the way it's got to be, then it's not like we have many other options, do we?"

"Not out here you don't anyway. So, any special requests before I start on it?"

"Yeah. There is one thing that you can do."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Well…"

XXXXX

That night, in Vale, Yang was sitting at the bar with Junior next to her. he said, "So, blondie, how is the training going?"

Yang replied, "About as well as could be expected I suppose. I guess I might have lost my touch."

"Was…that a joke?"

Yang let out a low chuckle, but said, "It was unintentional, but I guess."

"Well, at least you can laugh about it anyway."

"I'm not laughing about it. It's hardly a laughing matter!"

Junior sighed and said, "I'm sorry. But I meant that you still havea sense of humour. It means that you still have a will to live."

"Yeah, well I'm here, aren't I?"

"I wonder about that."

Yang frowned and said, "Come again?"

"Mel' 'n' Milti told me that you've decided to go by Branwen, at least for now, right?"

"That's right. What of it?"

"It's not really well known…well, anywhere really…but in Mistral, there are three prominent crime families. There's the Xiong Crime Syndicate, that my family runs. There's SPIDER, run by Lil' Miss Malachite."

"Malachite?" Yang's eyes widen as she says, "As in…"

Junior cut Yang off, saying, "Very much so. They're under my family's protection. As are you apparently."

Yang frowned as she said, "The same as…they did say something about that yesterday. I didn't understand then either. What do you mean by 'under your protection'?"

"The third crime family, is the Branwen Tribe."

"The…then you think that Raven is…"

"I don't know. The three families try to avoid each other as much as possible to avoid another war, though SPIDER seems to want to break that truce for some reason. Irrespective of that thought, it's possible that Raven is the leader. They haven't gotten a new one in around thirteen years now I think. If you want, I can look into it for you?"

"Yeah. Maybe later. For now, if you can, I'd like you to look into something else for me."

"If I can."

"While we were training the other day, Milti mentioned that my semblance is weird."

"Weird how?"

"When I activate it, there are two…I suppose 'signals' is probably good enough…that appear."

"Signals?"

"My glowing hair and my eyes turning red."

"So?"

"I'd never given it much thought, but Mel pointed out that, normally, there is only one trait that signifies a semblance is being used."

"So you're wondering why yours has two, or…"

"If one isn't related to my semblance, then what is it?"

"Alright. I'll see what I can find out."

"Thanks."

"Devil's advocate though, it might not be much."

"Sure. I get it. Thanks." They both smiled as Junior took a shot and Yang sipped her sunrise.