Conduit

by Zarkos

A self insert story where a stroll to the high school turns deadly and then I'm brought to the world of RWBY, though not as I was before. Can I survive as something more than human? Chosen to fight darkness that seeks to destroy all?

4. Secrets and Relaxation

It was a long time coming but here is the fourth chapter for Conduit! First off you I felt the need to change the main character's name to "Eve" rather than "Erran" which it is in the previous chapters. Erran was a cool idea to me at first but now I want to go with Eve which I feel works better, and I do not plan to change her name again for this story. I will go back and edit that on the previous chapters when I get the chance. On another note I can't wait for the next volume to start, the fourth one ended on an interesting I include Raven somewhere in this story? If you have thoughts on that leave a review about it. Now onto the story...

---

Once at the house I plopped onto the couch and laughed. I had a quiet laugh that barely made noise, but someone with hearing like mine could hear it. I heard Raysel's bare feet on the tile floor of the kitchen followed by the others, though I suspected they had socks on. Honestly that tile floor was bloody cold half the time for bare feet.

"What are you laughing about?" Nolan asked leaning against the border of the kitchen and living room.

I turned to face them before explaining. "When I dropped off Jaune at his dorm room Pyrrha asked what happened to him since the blond was unconscious. I suggested that we had sex in the Emerald Forest." Everyone let out a short laugh except for the two boys, whom probably didn't understand the joke.

"How did she react?" Raysel asked clearly interested as she sat down on the couch next to me.

"It was priceless." I grinned. "She was stunned speechless and had a huge blush on her face."

"Are you going to tell her you didn't actually have sex with Jaune tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "I'm going to wait a few days and tell her Saturday. And I'll tell you all something I've been keeping from you that I shouldn't have."

"Alright but where are we all gonna fit?" Nolan said as he let out a yawn. His green hair was a bit damp and I could smell the water on him, so he had gotten out of the shower recently.

"I was thinking of having them here." I said letting my head fall back onto the top of the couch back. "We've got plenty of room for eight people to be here, and it gets us away from prying ears."

"Cardin Winchester." They all said at the same time. Great. I might have to teach him a lesson outside of the classroom.

"Make sure to keep an eye on him." I said then lifted my head up to look at Erik and Adam. "You boys make sure to avoid him alright?"

"Okay, but why?" Erik answered. Yet again another example of why they were a lovable handful. He and his brother were far smarter than their peers and had questioning minds. I had a feeling that made their day care supervisors uneasy, but it was something I liked to see and Isabel agreed with me on that.

"Cardin is someone who tries to control those who are weaker than him in order to make himself feel better, a bully in other words. I would not be surprised if he tries to use the two of you to make Isabel do something for him." I explained and slowly both boys nodded. I got out my Scroll and checked the time. It read 11:53pm. "I'm going to bed." I said heading for my bedroom, for some sleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The Headmaster of Beacon Academy sat in his office at night looking over the short video feed of his most interesting student. Interesting was one way to describe the Conduit Eve. A small smirk appeared on his lips as Cardin's own weapon was used against him to knock the trouble student unconscious. For once Eve had mostly stayed within the rules and hadn't altered the room in any way to suit her in combat. There was no official rule against using your opponent's weapon against them in sparring matches, but no one thought to do that except for the only Wolf Faunus at Beacon. The ding of the elevator brought his attention away from the screen in front of him. Out of the elevator came Glynda Goodwitch, who did not look amused.

"Something you wish to talk about?" Ozpin asked watching Glynda sigh and notice the screen furrowing her brows.

"I thought having Eve spar against Cardin Winchester would be...somewhat balanced." How wrong she had been. The Conduit didn't even touch her powers and completely left him in the dust, using only one of her three weapon choices. She should have know better. Not only her but Ozpin had trained Eve for two months before the start of the term. Then there was the fact Eve rarely stayed to the rules for fighting. Glynda had noticed that if the situation wasn't to the Conduit's favor she'd change the entire game so that it was in her favor. "However I'm not quite sure how to handle her punishment for knocking Cardin Winchester unconscious."

"There is no need to punish Eve." Ozpin said causing Glynda to gawk at him. How could he take the Conduit's side so easily? Isn't knocking out a fellow student too much during a sparring match? "As I see it Cardin Winchester needed to be reminded that there is someone better than him at combat, and that it can be a Faunus." Ozpin explained as Glynda regained composure.

"There are only a handful of students who can fight against her, given that we trained the Conduit." Glynda commented pulling up a list on her scroll, then sending it to Ozpin's holographic screen. "Yang Xaio Long is one student who can fight against Eve, but as we discovered their clashing powers can't be contained by a barrier." She said sighing. That had been a royal mess for her to clean up, and a month later the room was still destroyed and unusable. As it turned out Eve could easily provide the punishment needed for Yang's Sembelence and win after it was activated. "Raysel ConCain and her brothers may be able to fight on par with Eve as well as-"

"Pyrrha Nikos." Ozpin finished for the Huntress. "She is most suited to spar against her along with Raysel ConCain, though I would not want the latter fighting her inside the school."

"Where does Eve and her team go to do extra training every night?"

Ozpin was quiet as he took another drink of coffee. "I'm not sure." He lied calmly not shifting under Glynda's watchful gaze. "Have Ms. Nikos spar with Eve next time. I am curios to see how that will go." Glynda nodded then left the headmaster's office.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Are you okay Jaune?" Yang asked seeing the blond knight with his head on the table, and untouched food in front of him. He looked completely drained of energy and it was only the morning. He wasn't the only one; Pyrrha Nikos looked like she was also deprived of sleep. That was definitely odd. Why would the tournament champion Pyrrha Nikos be deprived of sleep?

"No." Jaune groaned not even turning his head. "I'm exhausted."

A grin formed on Yang's lips. The opportunity to tease the other blond was too good to pass up. "Who was it?"

"Eve." The blond answered weakly.

"Wow." Yang commented. How had the blond knight gotten the attention of the single most dangerous student of the school? From what she had seen Yang suspected that Eve wasn't interested in him. She had seen the Wolf Faunus shoot down many males in the last week who had wanted to date her. "So, how fun is she?"

At that Pyrrha's face reddened making Yang grin. She had finally found something to tease the Mystral champion about.

"What is she doing with Jaune?" Pyrrha absently thought aloud slowly moving her eggs around on the plate with a fork.

"Taking him for a test drive maybe?" Yang offered as Pyrrha's hand smashed into the table suddenly.

"She is not!" Pyrrha burst out then promptly shut up with the questioning stares of the others. Why did she say that? Was she somehow jealous of the Wolf Faunus? She did like Jaune after all since he was the first person she had met that treated her like a person, rather than a celeberty. Though the same thing could be said about all of team ERIN.

"I don't think that's it." Weiss spoke taking the pressure off of Pyrrha. "Where do you have the most bruises Jaune?" Weiss couldn't believe she was doing this. Why did she care if he had any injures given his advances so far?

"Arms, Legs, everywhere." Jaune answered finally lifting his head from the table to take a drink of coffee. He looked a little more energized after taking the drink, but then he froze staring at something behind Ruby.

All eyes trailed to Grendel who stood some distance behind Ruby, before he slowly walked over to them. "House gathering tomorrow. Eve invites you." Silence followed as the gathered Huntsmen in training tried to figure out what the Grimm meant. Of course it didn't help that Grendel's ability of speaking wasn't anywhere near what they were used to.

"Explain that again please." Pyrrha said calmly as Grendel let out a sigh, his ears drooping down.

"Eve invites you to our house Saturday." Grendel said slowly to make sure they understood.

A collective "Oh" sounded from them.

"Nicely done." Raysel commented from the side making everyone jump. It was one of the few times he made a normal, complete, sentence around her. Though like the others of team ERIN she understood him easily enough to figure out what the Beowolf was talking about usually.

When did she get here? Jaune thought as panic dominated his face making said Grimmblood laugh.

"What Grendel means is that Eve wants you eight over tomorrow at our house." Raysel explained as she took a drink out of a metal travel mug.

"House?" Blake questioned. She knew that students to Beacon got dorm rooms that were share with their respective teams. So why had Raysel mentioned a house?

"Instead of a dorm room my team was given a house to live in that's on campus. It's a large place that was built with him in mind." Raysel explained pointing to the Beowolf sitting behind Ruby, though his head was still over her's.

"That makes sense." Ren said putting in his two cents for the conversation.

Raysel nodded moving away from the wall she had been leaning on. "Don't forget to show up tonight, blond knight. We're going to teach you something new."

Yang grinned seeing the mischievous shine in Raysel's eyes. "So Eve isn't the only one riding him?" A fork clanged onto the table as Pyrrha stared at Raysel with red cheeks too paralyzed to do anything.

Raysel nodded. "He's quite fun in the dark." She said adding fuel to the fire of embarrassment that decorated the Mystral champion's cheeks. Raysel then walked out with Grendel following her. Yang looked around to see a similar blush on Jaune's face and a confused expression on Ruby's face

Yang focused her attention on Jaune. The other blond uncomfortable as hell being the subject of the jokes spoken by Yang and Raysel.

Weiss checked the time on her scroll then stood up. "Time to go to combat class." With that they all gathered their food and left for Glynda Goodwitch's combat class eager to see who would fight the Conduit this time.

OoOoOoOoOo

I was mostly bored out of my mind as the sparring matches went on between the various students. I didn't really pay attention to them, that is until Nolan's name was called. It had been interesting to see him fight against Ren. The two of them had taken nearly ten minutes before Nolan's larger aura, greater stamina, and strength allowed him to win. The fight after that had been enlightening to say the least. Isabel got chosen to fight against Weiss Schnee of all people. The two of them were agile skill based fighters so the match was pretty much even, though Isabel had a slight advantage due to her Faunus heritage. In the end it came to a draw after three minutes with both of them panting and tired.

"Jaune Arc." Glynda called as the man tiredly walked into the ring. At his tired posture the teacher raised an eye brow as she studied him. "Who can you fight?" Glynda mused quietly though I could hear it.

"How about giving Grendel a shot in the ring?" I suggested earning her attention.

"Who?" Glynda said calmly. How the hell did she not remember what I named the Beowolf alpha?! I face palmed as the Beowolf in question let out a grunt.

"Me." Grendel said from his sitting position to my left in the isle, the only spot big enough for him to sit down.

"Right." Glynda sighed. "Very well, you may battle Mr. Arc." She added then Grendel teleported to the ring generating quite a few gasps from the others in the room.

"The Beowolf can teleport?!" Most of the class echoed as I flicked my ears down feeling a light sting at the noisy outburst.

Grendel stood to his near full height in a semi crouched position that would allow him to pounce upon Jaune. The blond knight didn't look thrilled to be battling against Grendel again, since I had him do that the night before. Regardless he steeled himself putting the shield in front of him and keeping his sword arm not far behind it on his right side. Grendel's frame sparked with electricity and I sighed.

"No powers Grendel." I said causing him to look at me. "You'll demolish Jaune that way." The Beowolf nodded with the electricity dissipating. "Professor Glynda..." I said with a pause getting a small glare from her since I typically didn't use her last name, and that drove her nuts. "Can you run an aura analysis on Grendel for me?"

"What?" She stammered, dumbstruck.

"You heard me." I said and watched her stand there. I guess I have to do it. I pulled out my scroll and initiated the room's aura analysis targeting Grendel with it and did Jaune as well. The results were sent to my scroll directly, then a copy was sent to Glynda's scroll for her to see. I grinned seeing an aura level for the Beowolf which normally wouldn't have one in the first place. It seemed that was one of the changes brought about by a Grimm Tamer taming a Grimm. At least to me it made sense because he could use my powers so why couldn't he have an aura, even if it was merely a pseudo copy of mine? Jaune's aura was large as the last few times I had seen it, though it appeared to have gotten a bit bigger.

"I...see." Glynda said slowly as I watched her look over her scroll. "Do you know the rules?" She asked looking at the Beowolf who turned to her then tilted his head.

"Refresh." He simply said getting a nod from Glynda. I'm sure it was a little odd for her to be talking with a Grimm. Pretty much everyone but me found it weird. Maybe it is because I tamed him?

"This is a sparring match so the fight will go until one of you reaches 15% aura remaining, assuming the aura you have functions like Mr. Arc's. If not then we will improvise. You are not to use your powers. Do you have a weapon to use?"

"Nope." I supplied. "It's still in prototype stage so Grendel will fight with his claws and hands."

"Get ready." Glynda said stepping back from the ring where the barrier came to life. This was going to be interesting on several levels. This was going to be Grendel's first sparring match here at Beacon rather than the ones we did out in the Emerald Forest. This was a test for both of them, Jaune and the Beowolf. The blond knight would actually be able to attack Grendel in this situation instead of our training sessions. So far I had him focus on defense to make use of the shield more so than he has been. I was also starting to get him used to the idea of dodging attacks.

His fight with a impaired Grendel should be a note worthy experience. If there are any holes or errors I'll hammer those into him tonight and in the future. For Grendel I knew this would be a challenge. He was used to using my powers, borrowing them, or whatever lets him do the things I can. In this case he wasn't allowed to use them, though size and mobility were definitely on his side.

"Begin!" Glynda called though it was unclear if either of them heard it behind the barrier.

Attack. I commanded to Grendel who swiped at Jaune's side. The blond in question brought his shield up in time to block it. After the initial attack Grendel had taken a step back out of Jaune's reach. Jaune moved slowly in a circle with Grendel mirroring him. Jaune stepped forward and took a hesitant swing with his sword at Grendel's exposed chest. The Beowolf didn't move at all from the attack, instead looking at the Aura gauges. Jaune's blade left a small cut on his black flesh as the aura dropped ever so slightly on the gauge. Stop for a minute.

A few seconds passed before the barrier came down and Glynda spoke. "Since Grendel's aura is close enough to yours Mr. Arc this sparring match will go until one of you reaches 15% aura left." Both of them nodded before the barrier came to life again. Once it had Jaune tried another slash but Grendel was paying attention this time. Jaune's arm was too far from his body as Grendel knocked the weapon away with his claws. Jaune moved with the blow and used the momentum to get out of the way of a vertical slash, only catching the tip of Grendel's claws on his back. Just as Jaune came back around Grendel tried to kick him in the side. Again Jaune moved the shield but he wasn't nearly fast enough.

The upper part of the shield took some of the blow, but the rest was taken by his arm throwing the human sideways. He bounced off the barrier and got back up onto his feet.

"This is amazing." Pyrrha commented. I glanced at her to see the red head watching the sparring match closely. I returned my gaze to see Jaune step out of another of Grendel's slow attacks. I watched him seeing the slowness of each attack and his dodges. It was clear to me, and my team, that he was deliberately holding himself back. Jaune made another cut on Grendel's black fur along one arm above the elbow as said arm missed his head for a punch. For several more minutes the two of them played cat and mouse. Jaune would be forced to dodge or block while Grendel chased him around the limited space they worked within. Looking around the room it was almost quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Everyone was focused on the sparring match between one of the weakest students in school and the tamed Grimm.

My own team members were curious as to how this would go it seemed, judging by their watchful eyes on the sparring ring. A tug at my shirt brought my attention to Adam who looked up at me expectantly. Adam and his brother Erik weren't supposed to be at any of our classes per school rules, but after repeatedly sneaking out and finding Isabel or the others of my team Ozpin had said to take the rascals with us. I don't doubt that decision went unappreciated by the day care staff whom had issues with Isabel's boys. I picked him up and placed him on my shoulders as I stood near the railing. This gave him a perfectly clear view of the sparring match.

Looking back to the ongoing match I saw Jaune take a stab at Grendel's leg as the upper part of the Grimm was over him. The blond in question had apparently ducked under Grendel's arms. The stab was weak as if he seemed to be afraid to injure his opponent any more than he already had. Grendel grabbed Jaune's sweatshirt with both hands and threw the blond over him like a sack of potatoes. I saw Jaune's aura level just before red while Grendel's was still strong in the green. I saw a flicker of anger on his face as the human pushed himself back onto his feet once again then it was gone. Grendel swiped at an upwards angle catching Jaune's shield and sending it flying out of the blond's hands to clatter on the floor past the Grimm.

What will you do without that shield Jaune? I thought seeing panic at first then replaced with something else: determination. Jaune leaned out of the way of a swipe and rolled to his shield narrowly getting out of the way of a punch that cracked the floor a little. It seemed like he was learning in this fight, if slowly. Jaune swung his sword in a horizontal arc once again over extending. As punishment for his mistake Grendel took a step back to avoid the attack and then shoulder charged Jaune. The buzzer sounded as Jaune's aura dipped heavily into the red with the blond hitting the barrier for the third time. Grendel caught Jaune before he hit the floor and picked him up.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said as she jumped down onto the floor.

"Just let me sleep." Jaune muttered before doing just that in Grendel's arms. Pyrrha let a small smile grace her lips as she carried him to where her team sat across the isle from mine. Grendel teleported back up to us and sat himself down on the isle steps.

I reached over and scratched his ear. "You did good."

"Our next two sparring partners are..." Glynda paused to get our attention. "Pyrrha Nikos and Eve." The class erupted into wild chatter, eager to see how a match between Beacon's strongest first year females would turn out.

"Me against Eve?" Pyrrha muttered as her green eyes found mine. To be honest I was just as eager to see how the match would go as the rest of them, even though I was in it. At first her eyes seemed surprised, then they transitioned into confidence. She left her team and went to the ring as I put Adam down and headed for the ring.

"No destroying the ring or we're doomed." Nolan commented as I walked up to him.

"Where's the fun in that?" I grinned fist bumping him before going down the stairs that led to the floor. Once on the floor I popped my neck as I stepped into the ring with Pyrrha on the other side.

"Do you know anything about Jaune's sudden increase in fighting skill?" Pyrrha asked as she gout out Milo and the shield.

"Maybe." I replied getting out my battle staff. I should probably name it at some point, along with the other weapons of mine. Hell every one of the RWBY main cast had weapons with specific names.

Her green eyes narrowed for a few seconds. "Will you tell me if I beat you?"

"Deal." I said setting up to use the battle staff holding it with one hand behind me, lining it up with my arm. "If I win you'll owe me a meal."

"Deal." She said with a nod.

We were both at a disadvantage for different reasons. I was screwed because of Pyrrha's knowledge and experience with tons of huntsmen vs huntsmen battles. However she had no experience fighting Conduits or Grimmbloods as far as I knew. One thing we both had going for us was versatility in how we fought. Since Milo could take on three different forms allowing her to fight at short range, medium range, and long range. Then there was her shield which I doubt would only serve as defense. Of course I also had a mix of weapons that allowed me to fight at varying ranges on top of my powers as a Conduit that could be for any range.

"Ready?" Glynda said then I nodded to her, seeing Pyrrha do the same out of the corner of my eye. "Begin!" She called as the barrier came to life around Pyrrha and me. Pyrrha immediately had Milo form into a rifle to take a few shots at me since I was out of melee range. I dashed forward as three cracks echoed form the weapon. One of the three bullets grazed my neck but I ignored it in favor of bringing the battle staff to strike the Mystral champion. The tip of the battle staff narrowly missed Pyrrha's shield as it came down to the left. I spun the weapon in my hands before smashing one end into Pyrrha's shield seeing her shuffle back a bit from the force.

I side stepped a stab from her that was almost a blur, though sparing with Raysel enhancing her own speed had me prepared for fast combat. Although I dodged Milo Pyrrha's shield hit my arm above the elbow. Yep, she was using it was a weapon too. Pulling my weapon back I separated it tossing one half into the air much to her surprise and used the other one to strike the edge of the shield. The other half I caught with my left hand and tried to slash at her face, like before the arc of the weapon was adjusted to it missed. She tried for a side slash that I blocked with my left hand weapon before snap kicking her in the chest. She went flying into the barrier, at the moment I put the halves of the battle staff onto my back. While the Mystral champion bounced off the invisible wall I drew both of my revolvers and emptied the weapons quickly.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her aura bar drop a significant level, though it stayed just outside of the yellow range. As quickly as I had drew both revolvers I holstered then and rushed in. It was time to step up the game. Once again I got out the two halves of the battle staff to use against Milo and her shield. While I closed in moving faster than before Pyrrha let out a series of shots that I narrowly avoided. With expert skill she parried slashes and strikes with either weapon or shield.

I bounced back and spun on a foot dodging a upwards slash. She charged me intending to bash me with her shield. I shoulder charged slamming into that dense buckler. Pyrrha rolled backwards with the blow quickly firing off a few more rounds at me. I deflected the bullets with my current weapon without taking my eyes off of the tournament champion. Once back on her feet we circled twice waiting for the other to attack. I twirled both ends of my weapon in each hand then she moved. Pyrrha raced forwards for a down strike. I jumped back out of it as her blow landed, breaking chunks out of the floor. Following up she threw her shield at me.

Expecting it I leaned out of the way letting it pass me. The shield bounced off the barrier coming for me again as I landed. I threw one half of the battle staff at Pyrrha forcing her to roll left to dodge the weapon. With that out of the way I smashed downwards onto her shield, stabbing the object into the floor brutally. A blackish glow briefly surrounded the shield for about ten seconds. The object didn't budge at all making the champion grunt.

I smirked sprinting at the redhead. With my left hand I slashed down cracking the floor as she grunted at the force. I pressured her leaning into it waiting to see what she'd do next. She shifted position to redirect the force I applied, making my weapon slide off of her's. As it slid from Milo's sword form I spun elbowing her in the ribs. She staggered to the side so I followed up with a punch to the face. It connected making her hit the barrier around us. Once again she rushed at me prepping for a side strike.

I lined up for another punch as she came close, but stopped and leg swept her at the last second. Pyrrha fell face first hard grunting at the impact. She was about to push herself up off of the ground at the same time a kick connected to her stomach. That sent her up into the air, ripe for punishment. I front flipped landing a kick onto her mid section catapulting Pyrrha into the floor of the arena with a thunderous crack. The floor cracked and gave way a bit under her body that hit back first.

Walking forwards I pointed the tip of the blade at the champion's throat. With a crackle the barrier around us came down. Her breathtaking emerald eyes held amazement in them. The clicking of heels brought my attention to Glynda off to my left. I glanced at her while she studied us noting something in her scroll.

"Winner is Eve." She announced causing the room to erupt into a loud chorus of different voices.

"Ugh." I grumbled flattening my ears from the volume. I was sweaty as hell, though I guess that's only natural when you wear a long sleeve shirt and pants in fights like these. Plus generate an incredible amount of body heat while in motion. then something else came to my attention. Pain seared my body as I began to feel all the little wounds Milo had made on me during our match. I rolled up my the sleeves of my shirt hissing as the cloth went over cuts on my arms.

"Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked as she let go of Milo.

"Yeah." I replied reaching up to rub my ears. That sometimes helped reduce the pain from rather loud noises such as pricing cries of a Nevermore or the ruckus of a noisy classroom.

"I guess I owe you a meal."

"Yep." I said getting out my revolvers and changing the ammo to make sure there was fresh bullets in them to use next time. "Did Grendel find you guys this morning?"

Pyrrha nodded. "He did though we had a hard time understanding him."

"Sorry bout that." It wasn't easy to teach him to speak in the first place, but having his mind somewhat linked with mine helps. Sadly I didn't have as much luck teaching Grendel how to read. It was hard to tell if he understood the concept or not. He hadn't let me know really one way or another if he could read or if it was a lost cause to try and teach him to. I suppose I could try to search his mind for the answer. However that would be rude since I had a friendly relationship with the tamed Beowolf, and invading minds is something I don't plan on doing to my friends. "I'm trying as much as I can to teach him language, though with him being a Grimm it's difficult at times. What he meant is that I invite your team and RWBY over to my house on campus tomorrow. Also how did I do?"

"I've never fought a Conduit before so that was a new experience. You did wonderfully, Eve." Pyrrha said moving to find her shield while Glynda tried to get some measure of control over the hyped students. "You are the greatest challenger I have ever faced before. Who taught you to fight?"

I grinned. "Ozpin and Goodwitch." I supplied. "Mostly Ozpin, but Goddwitch does participate from time to time. Ozpin always beats me if I don't use my powers, even if I do he usually kicks my ass."

"I see." Pyrrha commented with a smile on her face. "What time should we show up at your house tomorrow?"

"Around 11:00am." I supplied getting up while the cuts protested the movement. The champion found her shield though the human couldn't move it. "I might be able to get it out of the floor."

"I wouldn't mind the help." Pyrrha commented stepping back. It seemed she had barely moved it. Luckily for me I had a grip as the two sides of the shield had holes for her to shoot through if she wanted. I gripped the shield using those then began to pull. It was stuck in the floor good as I put more effort into pulling it out. Focusing a little power into my arms the shield came free with a grunt.

"Thanks." Pyrrha said accepting the shield from me, while having her hands linger on mine a little longer than normal before she went back to her seat.

"Well done Eve." Isabel praised holding a napping Erik in her arms.

"You're among the few who can stand toe to toe with her." Raysel said putting a hand on my shoulder. "And you actually beat her without using your Conduit powers." She was smiling then removed her hand so I could get past and sit on the chairs.

"Good work." Grendel commented as I turned to lay down on the seats for some sleep, rules be damned.

"Thanks." I muttered reaching for my scroll. I got it out and messaged Jaune saying that I was going have him do something different than what we've been doing in our training sessions. And to direct both his team and RWBY to my house tomorrow morning. The rest of the day went by quickly with not much going on. Unlike the last few times I went ahead to the training ground and had Grendel bring Jaune. This particular night was going to be warm so I took off the long sleeve shirt and my shoes feeling the grass under my feet. I stretched my arms over my head before laying on the ground. The sounds of nature were clear and perfect around me from a few birds chirping to some insects buzzing around or clicking. For a few minutes I laid there with my eyes closed listening to nature until it became silent at once.

"Here." Grendel said prompting me to open my eyes and sit up. Jaune met my eyes briefly before a red hue decorated his cheeks, then he turned his head to the left.

Was he seriously embarrassed about that? "Why are you looking away Jaune?" I said getting onto my feet.

"You don't have your shirt on."

I sighed making sure it was tied around my waist. "It's going to be warm tonight so I'll have it off, otherwise I'm likely to attempt to bake myself. That aside I'm not going to remove more clothing so get used to it. Plus you have seven sisters dude, you've seen females with a bra on but no shirt." I explained as he sighed and turned to face me.

"How do you know that? I've never told you about my family or the others."

"I'll explain that tomorrow along with something else." I said getting a nod form him. "First things first I am not putting the shirt back on so we will spar like this. Keep in mind Jaune that some women will be wearing little in terms of clothing and you may have to fight them. I am going to have you work on offense tonight a bit since I've had you work on defense so much."

"Okay." Jaune replied getting out his sword and shield. "What am I attacking?" I saw something in his eyes as he said that, A soft glow of sorts. Though I could hear what was in it clearly: budding confidence.

"Me." I replied getting a slow nod from him. "I watched your fight against Grendel closely and I noticed a few things. First what were you thinking as you fought the Beowolf?"

Jaune let his arms hang as he looked at the ground in thought. There was a pause before he answered. "Honestly I was scared of fighting him."

"Good." I commented making him look at me with a raised eyebrow. "Feeling fear is a good thing, because no one is fearless Jaune."

"I think you are Eve." He said gesturing to me. "I've never seen you back down from a fight."

I suppose he was right to a degree. I have yet to back down from a fight, even if I should have done so. I smirked. "That's partly true. I don't back down from fights for the most part. However this is important so pay attention." I paused to make sure I had his full attention. "Everyone feels fear at some point, Huntsmen are no exception. They fear various things from watching their team mates die to a Beowolf pack, being killed by a Nevermore, or having their equipment fail. During my fight with the dragon I feared that it would kill me and my team."

"Seriously?"

I nodded.

"How did you fight it then if it scared you so much?"

"I didn't let my fear control me. I used it to give me the fuel I needed to fight it and eventually behead the dragon along with anger. Now back to your thoughts as you fought Grendel."

Jaune put away his sword and shield to stretch his arms over his head. "Before you decided to train me I asked Pyrrha for some advice on fighting and she told me to keep my emotions in check and to analyze my opponent for any openings."

That made sense and that was his problem. Pyrrha has the mind for that style of fighting not to mention experience with many Huntsmen vs Huntsmen battles. Jaune though didn't quite have the mind for it, nor did he have the experience. "I see and I think that's a problem for you."

"What do you mean?"

"Honestly Jaune you don't have the mind for what Pyrrha suggested to you. It forces you to waste time over thinking your attacks trying to look for an opening. And when there is an opening you see the attack going for it reaches too far leaving you open for attacks from your opponent." I explained seeing a shocked expression on his face before it was replaced with a defeated look. I put a hand on his shoulder and shook it. He gave me a hopeful expression. "I have a suggestion for you. Don't try to analyze your enemy the way Pyrrha talked about, just attack and go with the flow like what I do."

Jaune nodded. "Let's try it."

I took a few steps back and covered my arms completely in stone. "Attack me as soon as you are ready." I said as the blond got out his weapons. Once the shield was fully extended out Jaune charged forward to swing at my chest. I blocked the swing with my arm barely feeling the impact of the blade. Why was he holding back his strikes? He drew the sword back and tried for a stab that I leaned out of before I kicked him in the chest.

"Why did you do that?" Jaune grumbled getting up form the ground.

"I never said that I wasn't going to attack you." I said earning a grunt from him. He tried another stab reaching too far out with the tip of his sword. I quickly went over and punched him getting the shield instead of his side. Good, he used it to cover his mistake. I moved back dodging a slash to my ribs. "Don't over think. Just attack and follow your intuition." Again he slashed to my right which I dodged then he spun quickly to slash at me again with me blocking it. "Good." I called swatting his weapon out of the way and struck him in the leg making him fall to a knee. I took a step then the blond knight got up and tried to slash me at the same time with a vertical strike.

"Damn it." Jaune cursed as I dodged another of his stabs and hit him on the shoulder of his sword arm. There was another instance of anger flashing across his face before it was stamped out. "Don't bury your anger, use it!" I said kicking Jaune hard on the left side where his shield was. I sent him flying into a tree trunk a few yards away. "Use your anger and frustration to empower your attacks, but do not let it cloud your judgment."

"Grah." Jaune grunted with a charge bringing his sword down vertically. I blocked it with my right arm feeling pressure on the blow that was easily several times stronger than the ones before.

"The shield is not only defensive it can be offensive too." I said weaving out of more attacks that flowed one right after the other. If a slash missed Jaune would flow with it to keep the momentum and try again instead of pulling back. It was a highly mobile and offense focused style of fighting that I came up with during my training time with Glynda Goodwitch and Ozpin, namely the later. "Bash your enemies with the shield to stun them or get them off of you and follow up with an attack of your own." I added then he tried to bash me though I teleported out of it.

"Cheater." Jaune huffed as he panted for breath.

"Hardly." I said waving a hand in front of me. "I am merely using what is at my disposal. And it's only a matter of time before you and the others fight against Conduits."

A look of seriousness came over his face. "What makes you say that?"

Honestly I didn't really have anything to base that thought on. Ozpin had said that the majority of Conduits were enemies to the kingdoms it was just a matter of time before they or I fought one, solely based on that. I sighed. "It would be better for you and the others to be prepared to fight them then be shocked when you first do so."

"That...makes sense I guess." Jaune replied before we resumed sparring. "Light Eve. I can only see your eyes." He added moving out of my melee attack range. To me the training ground was just as lit as day, though that was thanks to my Faunus night vision.

I heard Grendel's paws clap together once generating a muffled echo and floating orbs of colored light so Jaune could see. Looking around I noticed two colors; ocean blue and electric purple. My eyes quickly caught Raysel leaning against the tree I had kicked Jaune into earlier. From there Raysel and I took turns having Jaune attack us and we attacked him whenever he made a mistake such as reaching out too far with his sword, or being too predictable. This went on for hours until he collapsed covered in bruises, at which point me and Raysel sparred each other out of boredom with Grendel being a third party. We stopped at two in the morning with me dropping the unconscious and mostly healed blond knight in his team's dorm room before going to bed myself.

OoOoOoOoOo

The following morning I got up at 4:30 and did some house cleaning, not that there was much need for that. I also went into the kitchen to make a huge breakfast for my team as I planned what meal to give RWBY and JNPR. Making food for 8 people who may or may not be hungry takes a lot of time. Around seven or so my team members wandered into the kitchen dressed in various sleep attire, or in Raysel's case completely naked, with grumbling stomachs. It took some time for us to get used to Raysel walking around the house nude in the mornings. But we got used to it after finding out that nudity was a common occurrence in the ConCain Manor. I myself was in nothing more than my bra and panties that were black. Nolan was dressed in a black tank top and matching black shorts, while Isabel sported a dark blue robe she slept in. Her boys both had worn shorts and tank tops for their small frames.

"Morning." Nolan grumbled then yawned as he sat down at the table that the others had moved into the living room from the dining room where it normally rested the night before. It sat with part of the table in the edge of the kitchen with the rest of it's rectangular length in the living room.

"Hope you guys don't mind scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage."I said putting another package of breakfast sausage into a cast iron pan to the far right. Thankfully I had four burners to work with and a small flat top to cook on too. As the sausages were browning I poured some egg mixture into another pan next to the one for the sausages.

"No complaints." They echoed.

"Smells so good." Adam commented as he came up to me practically drooling. I had to admit, my cooking smelled amazing. It was comical to see Adam stand there looking up to the counter right as my tail swayed into his face. He let out a surprised squeal and staggered backwards causing us to laugh. I checked on the sausages and rolled them over to brown that side and flipped the eggs as well. I went over to the cabinet and got out five large mugs before filling them with hot tea from our three coffee machines. Originally we had one of them of them for the four of us, but discovered that didn't supply us with enough tea for four heavy drinkers. I ended up buying two more in Vale at one of the few stores I didn't get thrown out of for being a Conduit and or a Faunus.

I walked over to the table putting a mug in front of each team member and then fetched my own that I stuck by the fridge, left of the small flat top. The eggs and sausages smelled done so I got the pans and put their contents onto six plates, four for the teens and two smaller ones for Adam and Erik. After putting the pans back on the stove I put down a plate for each of them and then dished up my own last.

"This tastes as good as it smelled." Isabel noted happily as she ate feeding a few bites to a sleepy Erik from his plate.

"Agreed." Raysel chimed in consuming the contents of her plate quickly. "You should cook more often."

"Ditto." Nolan added and I groaned. "We're all pretty good cooks but you are better than us."

"Thanks for breakfast Eve." Adam said then chowed down on his own plate of food as I ate some of mine. I took a bite of Sausage and turned the burners off, moving the pans over to the cold flat top to cool off. I glanced at the digital clock by the corner that was past the sink a little. On the wall under the cabinets was mounted a digital clock, even though the oven had one too. The clock read: 8:45.

"After I'm done eating you boys are going to help me make a meal for teams RWBY and JNPR." Both Adam and Erik cheered as I mentioned them. I scarfed down my eggs and sausages quickly then started to clean up the small mess I had generated making breakfast. Over the next hour and a half I had the boys help me make some pancakes for Nora and a stir fry for the others. To top it off cookies were in the oven for the ever energetic scythe wielder. "Put something on Raysel since its almost time for them to be here." Rasyel nodded and went for her room then I turned to Isabel. "Can you watch over the cookies and make sure they don't get burned? They should be ready to pull out of the oven soon." She nodded sipping from her mug of tea. At that I went to my room and showered since I didn't do that last night.

Not long after I got in I heard voices. "Am I smelling food?" I heard Blake say slowly as if she hadn't been expecting it.

"Pancakes!" Nora cheered loudly.

I heard the front door unlock as someone opened it. "Come on in guys, Eve is in the shower at the moment." Nolan said followed by shoes on the carpet with the door closing after a pause.

"This place is incredible." Pyrrha said sounding surprised.

Incredible was definitely a word to describe the house. I finished up my shower quickly and got out to get dressed in something more than a bra and panties. After a minute or so looking through my walk in closet I decided on a navy blue t-shirt and black jeans. I exited my room to find Raysel just exiting hers. She had on a short black skirt and a matching black t-shirt.

"Who cooked all of this?" Yang asked as I rounded the corner to enter the kitchen.

"I did with the help of the boys." I answered. Her eyebrows were raised briefly as I spotted Ruby staring intently at the cooling plate of cookies.

"I didn't know you could cook Eve." Yang commented.

I sighed flattening my ears. "You thought I didn't know how to cook?"

Under my gaze she just stood there then raised up her hands in surrender. I shook my head raising my ears up and went over to the the lazy chair at one end of the table. "Come sit guys, there should be enough for all of you." Five minutes later we were all seated at the table with me at one end and Raysel at the other, then everyone else on the two long sides.

"Why did you want all of us here Eve?" Pyrrha asked making everyone look at me.

"I suspect some of you have been wondering about me for a while now, the truth about my history." I said looking over each of them briefly. I had everyone's attention thoroughly. Time to drop the first bomb. "I am from another world, meaning that I wasn't born on Remnant." The silence that followed was deafening with everyone having a face that showed shock to some level. Out of all of them Ren was the most calm but I could see the surprise in his eyes.

"WHAT?!" Weiss shouted making me put my hands on my wolf ears groaning. Good god the heiress could be loud.

"That explains a lot." Raysel said as I rubbed my ears to ease the pain a little. "No wonder you don't know even the most basic of things here. Things that even a frontier person would know."

"That sounds awesome!" Ruby commented making me chuckle.

"Hardly." I said waving a hand dismissively in front of me. "The world I cam from is nothing like this one, hell the technology is different and very far behind. Then there is only one dominant race that tends to slaughter each other over the simplest difference in skin color or religion." Ruby's face faulted with wide eyes as I told her more about earth, or at least part of it.

"Not much different than Remnant in that regard." Blake noted to which I nodded.

"The biggest difference is that there are no Grimm, no Faunus, and no one has special powers." A wave of surprise washed over them. "However there are things like TV shows and such and games too, along with many other entertainment related things. One such show was about this world and its people, which is how I knew your name Blake Belladona."

"That explains how you knew about my family." Jaune said drawing eyes to him before they went back to me.

"Yep." I supplied.

"Do you know the future?" Nora asked. I looked at her to see the plate of pancakes in front of her empty.

"No." I firmly replied. "There are a number of differences from the show I watched. The major ones are Grimmbloods and Conduits and my presence alone has probably altered things besides what I just mentioned. Some things are familiar to me while there will be many things I do not know about. Hell, some characters I may have been familiar with for the show could be different from how they were portrayed or not even exist." Nora hung her head before Ren put a hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

"I noticed Jaune did unusually well against Grendel yesterday in the sparring ring." Ren said glancing at the blond in question. "Do you have any information about that?"

I nodded.

"Were you taking him for a test drive in the Emerald Forest Eve?" Yang asked generating several blushes on people's faces, most notably on Jaune's face. Ruby didn't quite seem to get it if her confused face were anything to go by. Weiss and Pyrrha sported nearly identical blushes covering most of their faces with Blake's being less obvious, probably cause of the "Ninja's of Love" books she reads.

"No." I replied seeing Yang's grinning face falter as she raised an eyebrow. "I've been training him actually."

"Don't forget that I've been helping too." Raysel commented.

"Right." I commented.

"So you have no interest in Jaune?" Ren asked making the room silent once again as everyone looked at me.

I let my head fall back onto the top of the lazy chair before responding. "I have no interest in guys."

"So..." Yang drawled. "You swing the other way?"

"Yep." I answered lifting my head up. I swore I saw a glint in Pyrrha's eyes at that before it vanished. "Another thing about me: I was male before being brought to Remnant."

"That makes sense." Nolan commented. "That does explain why you haven't tried to jump at the chance of flirting with me or Jaune, both of whom you've been around a lot recently."

"So what's it like suddenly being the opposite sex?" Yang asked making me raise my head to look at her. A smirk tugged at her lips at the same time a light was barely visible dancing in her lilac eyes.

"Quite a shock honestly." I answered then yawned. "To top it off I had Glynda's help to learn how to live as a female."

"Was it fun?" Nora asked, curiosity ringing clearly in her voice.

"No!" I groaned closing my eyes and letting my head hit the table with a small thud again. "It was frustrating to say the least with my senses."

"Who gave you your name Eve?" Weiss said then took a bite of her stir fry.

"Since this is a new life for me I went with a new name." I answered. "How do you guys like the food?"

"It's good." They collectively answered. Great, more people who might demand my cooking in the future.

"You're as good a cook as Ren is!" Nora cheered with a raised fist.

"No last name?" Ruby asked as she chowed down on the cookies I had made for her. At this point they were nearly gone.

"Didn't exactly think of one. Though I did have Ozpin make a record that had me as someone with little official documentation."

"You need some sort of last name to make it easier to identify you." Blake said and that did makes sense. But what would it be? Silence took hold of the room as everyone looked to be in thought.

"Silver?" Isabel offered. The name sounded nice and that was one of my favorite colors, but it sounded a little...odd with Eve as my first name.

"Not bad." I said. "Any other suggestions?"

Another period of silence claimed the living room until I heard Ruby hum in thought. "I might have one."

"Go on." I said watching her.

"Varendir." Ruby said. "I just kinda made that up..." She added as if an explanation was needed.

"I like it." I said with a slight grin. "I'll use that as my last name Ruby."

Yang reached over and hugged her sister with one arm. "I'm proud of you."

"Yang!" Ruby groaned as her sister hugged her, though she made no real attempt to push her off.

"What was your family like before you came to Remnant?" Pyrrha asked making me hang my head silently. "Maybe I shouldn't have asked..."

"No, its fine." I said keeping my head down. "You're only curious." What was my family like? Well one part of it was incredible, at least where my parents are concerned. The rest of them on the other hand are crazy sons of bitches, and overwhelmingly female in terms of my cousins. "Well...my family was real close between me and my parents and a few of my cousins, though the rest of them were various levels of crazy." Were? Man, I was talking about them as if I wouldn't see them again. Now that I thought about it I probably wouldn't.

"Do you think your parents back on Earth are worried about you?"

"Obviously." Yang replied for me. In truth they more than likely would be worried about me. Especially since there was no body left where I had nearly died and a lot of blood, even some from the shadowy things I killed back then. Or maybe they somehow know that I am fine, but unable to come home or something like that? That seems far fetched to me but what else could I speculate?

"I don't know..." I said slowly feeling a little pain in my chest.

"What makes you say that?" Isabel commented before I heard a young boy lifted onto something, more than likely her lap.

"Before being brought to Remnant I fought with thin translucent shadow things in a school parking lot near where I lived. I managed to take out three of them but the fourth one got me, so there was a lot of blood where I fell." I said bring my head up to stare at the table in front of me. "However there was no body left since mine was taken and transformed to this." I finished gesturing to myself.

"What can you tell us about your parents?" Blake asked.

A small smile tugged at one corner of my mouth thinking about them. "Both of my parents on earth met when they were in the military and eventually left it. They are both intelligent people with different strengths and both are good cooks. I am a blend of the two, which includes the worst of their tempers."

"Meaning?" Grendel said causing me to look around the room for him. The Beowolf sat right next to Raysel's chair across the table from mine.

"My father and his family have explosive tempers, but they calm down fast. My mother takes a lot to get mad and when she does she stays that way for a while. In essence I have a explosive temper and I can stay pissed off for long periods of time."

"Thanks for the warning." Yang chirped.

I took a deep breath then released it. "Now to talk about someone else." I paused to focus my eyes onto the blond male. "Jaune, you have a secret to share." His face immediately lit up with surprise. "It's better if they know than hide it form them only to have someone like Cardin find out."

Jaune sighed looking down onto the table. "I... got into Beacon with a forged transcript."

"That explains why you do so shitty in sparing matches or school work, like someone I know." Raysel said as I narrowed my eyes at her with ears flattening.

"Very funny." I growled while Raysel just grinned shaking her head. That was something else that had carried over from my previous life if I want to call it that. I have a difficult time recognizing teasing from statement due to lots of mean spirited teasing when I was in middle school on April Fool's day. That's why I hate that holiday, a perfect excuse for many to be a complete ass.

"How did you get your hands on a forged transcript?" Ruby asked looking at Jaune.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Jaune answered. "I hope Ozpin doesn't find out about it..." He added with uncertainty echoing in his voice.

I laughed at this since I knew exactly who made them. Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake glared at me. "I know who made them Jaune, and it was the very man you speak of."

The fork he had just picked up clanged onto his mostly empty plate. "Seriously?"

"Mmhmm." I nodded. "I told him about it so he decided to let me train you how I want."

"I've seen bruises on him after you drop him off at night." Pyrrha said looking first at Jaune then to me. "How hard are you on him?"

"Rough." I supplied. "I'm training him until he drops unconscious and using my powers as we train, plus Raysel generally gets in on our training sessions too."

"I end up fighting both Raysel and Eve or whatever the two conjure up to fight me in their stead." Jaune explained.

"That's harsh!" Pyrrha burst out.

I waved a hand in front of me. "Hardly." Her eyes narrowed in slight anger. "First of all I told him the conditions of his training and he agreed." Jaune nodded which made Pyrrha seem to calm down. "Second what I am doing is being nice, because it is only a matter of time before you all face off against Conduits."

"Why do you say that?" Ruby asked as Pyrrha seemed to have calmed a little.

"In case you don't remember most Conduits are enemies of the kingdoms." Weiss spoke beating me to it.

"I forgot." Ruby muttered letting her head hit the table, just missing the plate in front of her.

"You all are welcome to join in the training my team does every night in the Emerald Forest." I said earning their attention once again. "That way you guys will have experience fighting against Conduits and Grimmbloods."

Yang hammered a fist into her palm. "Sounds like fun."

I noticed Isabel's ears flatten. "Is fighting all you think about?"

"One last person here has a secret that should be shared." I said drawing eyes to me before I put my chin on my hands. "It's your turn Blake." the Faunus paled. "If you can't listen to what Blake has to share Weiss...I will personally beat you into submission is that clear?"

The heiress's eyes went wide looking at me. "You wouldn't dare!?" She muttered.

I let a dark grin form on my face. "I will if you can't be civil."

Blake let out a sigh from her spot at the table. "As Eve says I have something to share." I looked to see her head down as she refused to look at any of us. "I used to be a member of the White Fang." Grendel quietly went over to Blake and took off the bow on her head revealing cat ears.

"What?!" Weiss stammered and I gave her a glare silencing further protest.

Blake took a deep breath and let it out. "I practically grew up in the White Fang. I was at every rally and protest, but that was when they were doing actual good." Blake paused to take a bite of the food in front of her. "Then at one point the leader stepped down and a new one took his place. However the White Fang changed using more aggressive tactics, like they do now."

I knew where this was going. "Their objective for cooperation was working better than it had before, right?"

Blake looked up at me surprised then nodded. "Out of fear the Faunus were being more respected, and not from mutual benefit. Because of that change I left them."

"I...hate...them." Weiss said slowly trying to contain her anger. I could see it clearly with her arms shaking. "They have caused chaos within the company killing or kidnapping so many executives and board members." She paused focusing on the plate in front of her that was half empty. Her face became less angry and held a softer, sad look. "My father was always in a bad mood growing up, so I don't know what a happy parent is like. You don't have any ties to them Blake?"

The cat Faunus shook her head. "I cut all ties with them when I left."

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief. "I will accept that you have moved past them."

"It's good that we got some things off our shoulders, but the mood in here is a bit dark." Yang commented standing up. "We need to go to Vale and have some fun."

They all looked at me expectantly. That was not an idea I liked so much. I folded my wolf ears down. "I'd rather not Yang."

"To Vale!" Ruby, Jaune, Erik, and Adam cheered at the same time. At that everyone stood up and began to leave the room.

"I guess I have no choice in the matter." I muttered standing up and heading for my room. I put on a pair of gray tennis shoes before leaving the house. Everyone was heading for the airship to the city, even Grendel was coming with us. I was not really looking forward to this, but with everyone hyped up for some fun in the city I couldn't exactly refuse. I caught up to them right as they approached one of the airship docks that had a boarding airship. We all sat next to each other with Grendel and I standing next to the side door.

"Got any place in mind you want to go to Eve?" Yang asked as the side door of the airship closed.

Truthfully I didn't have any place in mind because of the hate I received the few times I went to Vale for shopping. I let the back of my head rest against the wall of the airship. "None." I supplied. Ten minutes later we exited the air ship and had started down one of Vale's many streets. Already I was receiving dirty looks from the people looking in our direction. Humans weren't the only ones giving me a dirty look, Faunus were doing it too.

"There's an arcade not far from here." Yang said pointing towards an intersection before she walked to be in front of us. Our group quickly got to the intersection Yang had pointed to then turned right onto another street. Down a ways was an arch with a banner that more or less said "entertainment center". Past the arch I could see dozens of parents and kids walking about going from one place to another. My guess was that the arcade Yang spoke of was somewhere in there.

I saw one of the kids near the arch look our way before they bolted behind their mother's leg Despite the distance I could hear the child, though it was a little quiet. "What is that thing mommy?"

"A Grimm and its Conduit master."The female that the kid hid behind said. I clearly heard the disgust at the word "conduit". Evidently she hated Conduits like many others did. Granted they had good reason with most of them being enemies to the kingdoms, but that made it harder on those who were not such as myself. The child looked up to his mother with a confused expression. "Just avoid them and stay close to me." I heard as last as we neared the arch.

I let out a sigh as we passed it. Yang seemed to miss the hard narrowed stares of the parents that came my way. She led us past two arcade fronts to a third before she turned to go in it. Like the two we passed I could see a variety of gaming stations within the store through the front windows.

"Welcome!" a male voice called out from somewhere inside. I entered only to be greeted with the smell of age to this place and faint smell of many different people. The inside was largely decorated with bright colors that I guess was to match the active nature of the gaming stations. Isabel followed her boys who raced off towards what looked like a shooter game thing with small gun controllers.

"This looks like fun!" Ruby cheered as she zoomed over to one of the game stations near the front. This more or less looked like some form of dance dance revolution.

"You can't dance though Ruby." Yang commented making her sister pout temporarily.

Somewhere else in the area I heard angry footsteps then the cocking of a shotgun. "Get the fuck out of my arcade." A male voice growled, words dripping with venom. I turned to my right seeing the barrel of the shotgun pointed at my head. This close there was no way he would miss, unless I teleported before he could pull the trigger. The man holding the weapon pointed at my head was an elderly man probably in his sixties or maybe seventies. His gray hair was thin and short on his head and there was no visible mustache. Beady brown eyes full of hate glared at me as if they were trying to flay me. His brown suit was pretty musty and positively reeked of cigarette smoke.

"Whoa, whoa." Nolan commented from my left approaching the pissed off old guy. "Isn't the gun a little extreme when there are kids right around the corner?"

The old man's eyes were completely focused on me, so he more or less didn't seem to notice Nolan. "You abominations destroy everything you touch!" He hissed.

A hand grabbed the arcade owner's weapon then crushed the middle of the weapon rendering it useless. "And you think that justifies killing one of the few Conduits who is a law abiding citizen?" Raysel growled staring down the old man since she was almost a foot taller than him.

"Not you again." The old man growled trying to pull the broken weapon free of her grasp.

"You're the asshole who beat and threw my little brother out of this arcade a while back." Raysel said with a sigh. "Some of us fight so humans like you can be racist in safety." With that she let go of the weapon and walked passed me to the entrance.

"We're leaving." I called following Raysel out of the arcade.

"Not good?" Grendel asked bring my attention to him. The Beowolf Alpha was sitting down on the sidewalk. It wasn't long before the rest of the group came out to us.

"What happened?" Ren asked as I rubbed Grendel's ear absently.

I sighed. "That cranky old bastard pointed a loaded shotgun at my head." I glanced at him in time to see eyebrows rise up and for Pyrrha to gasp audibly with a hand over her mouth.

"Let's try another arcade." Yang suggested. I shrugged then followed her across the street with the rest of the group. This one was similar in decoration to the other one, but mostly in shades of blue. Tons of kids were inside this one and their parents. Though it seemed odd to me that I could only see one male among the adults, excluding Ren and Jaune.

Before going too far in I turned to Grendel. "I think it would be wise for you to camp outside unfortunately." He nodded slumping down onto the sidewalk again. Reaching into a pocket I fished out a larger than normal Scroll. Ozpin had commissioned this device as an experiment to see how Grendel would use it, if he could. "This is for you." I said handing it to the bound Grimm. I got out my scroll and slowly opened it to show him how. "It works like mine. The Scroll has a number of games on there, so you shouldn't be too bored out here."

"For me?" Grendel said tilting his head to the side.

I nodded. "Open it up and I'll show you how to find the games." The Grimm pressed the center button opening the Scroll. The holographic screen appeared with a blank background and a number of icons on the bottom. Over the next minute or so I showed him how to find the list of games on the large Scroll. Grendel had chosen a game that was more or less bejeweled. Once he got it going I went back inside to find the group split up again. Ren and Nora were over by a machine that held some sloth plushy in it. Jaune, Ruby and Yang were close to each other. Ruby and Jaune were playing some sort of zombie shooter game while Yang was focused on a motorcycle racing one.

Nolan, Isabel, and her boys were in the far corner playing what looked like air hockey. That left Blake, Pyrrha, and me at the entrance. I couldn't see Weiss anywhere so I assumed she was deeper inside the arcade.

"What are you waiting for Eve?" Raysel commented so I turned to her. "I checked in with the manager of this arcade. He doesn't have any problems with you being here, as long as you don't destroy anything." I breathed a sigh of relief. "However Grendel has to stay outside as to not scare off the kids."

"I've got him camped outside playing games on a Scroll. So he'll be fine." I replied before Raysel passed me.

"Do you know where Weiss is?" Blake asked so I turned to her on my left.

"Nope. I assume she's just further in." I shrugged. "And there's too many voices for me to pin point her, let alone smells."

"I better go find her then." Blake said before wandering through the crowd and out of sight.

"We should join them don't you think?" Pyrrha said from my right.

"Right." I commented then finally moved from the entrance. For three hours we played various games. Most of that time I spent with the redhead champion. We played a number of game stations next to each other or faced off against each other. Those matches I always won with my video game experience, but Pyrrha learned quickly. Towards the end of that time the champion and I played 2v2 matches on an air hockey table against Jaune and Ruby twice, Yang and Raysel once, Weiss and Isabel once, Adam and Erik twice, then the last match was Nolan and Ren. That one had been close but Pyrrha and me beat them by two points.

"That was fun." The green clad martial artist happily commented as we exited the arcade.

"Agreed." Jaune said then tripped over something if the yelp and meaty smack were anything to go by.

"Hmm?" Grendel voiced looking up from the screen to where his tail was. The blond knight had more or less face planted with a foot caught by the outstretched limb. "Watch surroundings better." The Beowolf commented using one hand to easily pick up Jaune. The blond panicked briefly being in the air then realized who held him. After a short pause Grendel put Jaune onto his feet then resumed paying attention to the Scroll in his paws.

"Is he...?" Blake mouthed unable to finish the sentence.

"Yeah." I supplied watching Grendel play the bejeweled game that had him matching tiny heads of various Grimm together to clear the board. There was heads of Nevermore, Beowolves, Ursa, a small icon that looked much like a griffon head, and another that was a tiny scorpion icon. As I watched Grendel matched a diagonal row of Ursa heads, allowing more icons to fall. Then one of the lower ones changed shape to a star with a dragon head on it. I turned to face the rest of the group. "Any ideas on what's next?"

Yang put a hand on her chin. There was a pause before she spoke. "Shopping?" At that word I couldn't help but see Jaune go stiff and start to turn pale. Ren didn't seem to mind the idea. My ears flattened as I sighed.

"Might as well..." I grumbled tapping Grendel on the shoulder. He looked to me then the group that started to walk off. He tilted his head to the side then brought the two halves of the Scroll together slowly. Once that was done he handed it to me, then we followed the rest. Our group quickly left the entertainment center once again on one of the main streets of Vale. This time the streets were crowded with people, human and Faunus alike. It wasn't long before our group got a few cat calls and I felt the pressure of many staring at me. Along with those I could hear quite a few conversations as I followed the others who followed Yang.

"Whose that chick in the back?" I heard a male on the other side of the street comment.

"The Wolf Faunus?" Another male replied. "She's that one Conduit attending Beacon."

"Seriously?" The first male said. "She's hot"

I glanced over to the sound of that conversation to see two guys about our age. They both wore casual cloths for the relatively warm day, in pants and t-shirts. Finding them staring at me I returned my gaze to the front. Most of the conversations revolved around the collective group of females. Though some comments had been made about the drained look on Jaune's face.

Speaking of the blond I caught up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's up Vomit Boy?"

Jaune turned to give me a weak glare. "You're using that nick name too?"

"Yep, now what's got ya drained?"

"Shopping." He answered with a defeated tone. "It is never a pleasant experience thanks to my sisters."

I couldn't help but giggle at that. "I bet." A few more turns later and the buildings took a noticeable shift. Most of what we had passed was cafes, office buildings, or a restaurant or two. Now they were stores for various wares, mainly clothing. "Didn't know there was this many clothing stores in Vale."

"Of course there is a lot of clothing stores." Weiss said focusing her gaze at me from next to Ruby. "The city is large and offers a wide range of name brands."

"Makes sense." I commented as Weiss turned around to continue following Yang. Crossing two more intersections the group stopped.

"We're stopping here." Yang declared waving her arms to the building on our left. It was a large clothing store lined with items. "Hurry it up!" She called before entering the monstrosity of a building. The guys and I exchanged looks then shrugged following the other females of the group.

The moment after entry I stopped mid step as the scents hit me in the face. I was already coughing at the overly strong smell of new cloths and the perfumes that were somewhere in here. With a groan I started rubbing my temples, already feeling a headache forming. After a minute or so I stopped and went to where I could hear Yang and the girls.

"There you are!" Nora called waving an arm excitedly. At this they all turned to look at me. Overall the looks they gave me was harmless, except for Yang whom beamed. The blond brawler had a mischievous grin on her face.

"How much clothing do you have Eve?" She asked a fire barely visible in her lilac eyes.

I could try to bull shit my way through this, but that wouldn't work. Raysel had been in my closet quite a number of times. She knew exactly how much I had. Time to open the gates to hell. "Not much, mostly casual stuff." She narrowed her eyes. "A couple outfits of pants and t-shirts." I explained further.

Yang's grin got a bit larger. "Skirts?"

"Three."

Her grin didn't falter. "Swimsuits?"

"None."

Her grin transformed into a Cheshire grin. "Dresses?"

I was about to answer her but stopped myself. Why the hell would I have any dresses? "Why do you want to know that?" I said narrowing my eyes at her.

"Oh come on." Yang said, that grin not leaving her face. "Don't you want to drive guys crazy? Or girls?"

My face grew hot quickly as I opened my mouth then closed it, finding myself unable to answer. The brawler laughed holding her sides while the others looked amused on some level. Though I could see Pyrrha sporting a visible blush. I tried to force down the blush but it stayed. "Fine." I growled keeping my eyes on Yang. "I see your point."

"Time to get you some new cloths!" Isabel cheered quietly.

I groaned. This is going to end badly. I commented mentally. At that moment Yang reached and grabbed my arm. She pulled me along several isles before stopping letting me see where we had ended up. Along the isle on either side was skirts of various lengths and colors.

"Let's see..." Yang trailed off looking between the clothing around us and me.

"Skirts was the first thing you went for?" I asked as she nodded. Yang finally reached for some clothing in a flurry of movement. I didn't have time to see what she choose before pulling me along again. She went around grabbing various articles of clothing for a good ten minutes then led me to changing rooms.

"Time to see the choices~" Yang said in a sing song voice calling the other girls over to us. She thrust the pile of cloths in her arms to me then urged me to a changing room.

Once inside I put down the pile of cloths on a bench then closed the curtain with a wave of my hand. The top pieces of clothing was a v-neck long sleeve shirt that was gray in color while the skirt with it was a dark red. Taking my cloths off and placing them on another bench I put the top articles of cloths. The shirt fit snugly with a nice soft feeling to the fabric. The dark red skirt ended at my knees, and didn't feel too odd with my tail. However there wasn't a hole to accommodate the extra limb so it was forced to go under rather than a hole to poke through. I exited the changing room with my bare feet being greeted by carpet.

"That looks good on you." Raysel commented before narrowing her eyes as they traveled down. "However something is missing."

"My tail is under the cloth." I said glancing behind me to see a little bit of my tail and the tip poking out from under the skirt. "Feels a little odd to have it under rather than over."

"Don't you usually have your tail under the school uniform?" Ruby asked, generating a chain of face palms.

"Eve's uniform has a slot to accommodate her tail." Blake explained.

"Oh..." Ruby said letting her shoulders fall a bit.

I waved a hand in front of me dismissively. "Don't feel down about it Ruby." The girl instantly looked to me. "It's not a detail you have to keep track of so I'm not surprised you either forgot or didn't notice." I went over to a nearby bench and sat down. I almost had to stifle a giggle at the feel of the fur of my tail touching inner thighs. Aside from that, a normal sitting position wasn't uncomfortable. I crossed one leg over the other to see how that felt and it was much the same. However it felt better if I didn't sit on the tail, but I could if I had to.

"No discomfort?" Isabel asked as Nolan came to a stop next to her.

"Looks good boss." Nolan commented looking me over. The others nodded their heads collectively. This made Yang beam while I noticed that Pyrrha was silent but seemed glued to me. I smiled at that and looked her over. The outfit she had was her standard one that we saw in combat class or out in the field. It provided some measure of protection while also showing off her athletic beauty without it being too much.

I walked back into the changing room and put on another shirt and skirt. The short sleeve shirt was a dark green while the skirt was black. It was shorter than the last one, ending at about the same length as the one for Beacon's female uniform. I exited again standing in front of the changing booth. This time all the guys were here. Erik and Adam were captivated with what I had on. Ren and Blake both held contemplative gazes as they scanned my form.

Isabel pointed to her chest with a hand repeatedly so I looked down. The shirt I had on fit, but just barely. The material was strained and it was then I noticed that my stomach was exposed. I looked to Yang. "Shirt's the wrong size blondie." I commented as she sighed. "I like the color though so if one of you can get it a size larger I'd appreciate it."

"What size is that?" Nolan asked.

I shrugged and took off the shirt before tossing it at him. That had gained a few reactions. Yang whistled not afraid to be caught looking over me. Jaune blushed and looked away. Moving on Ruby seemed to be carefully scanning my form as if inspecting for damage. I moved to the next person that was Pyrrha. She was captivated and...surprised? I was almost topless save for the crimson bra holding the melons on my chest.

"How did you get those?" Adam asked approaching me. He reached up and touched a finger to one of my scars near my waist.

"A dragon." I supplied and his eyes lit up like a christmas tree.

"Dragon?!" He repeated excited as the boy jumped up and down.

I nodded. "The scars you see are from the claws and tail." True to my words my torso held a lot of the scars with some on my arms. The ones on my arms stopped a little below mid forearm and went up to my shoulders. After running a finger along one claw mark under the left side of my rib cage he walked back to where he had been. After that I returned to the slide show of me putting on various shirts and skirts that Yang had picked out. I was accepting of nearly all the choices Yang picked out, though I declined the small pile of brightly colored clothing.

My ears twitched at the clicking of heels and the smell of potent perfume bombarded my nose. I started coughing as I put a hand over my nose. The source of the perfume came out form an isle of cloths behind Ren and the others. The woman in question wore a business suit with a skirt. Her black hair was tied up in a bun and her skin was white with a slight tan.

"Do any of you need help?" The store attendant asked with a smile present on her face.

"Yes." Raysel said with a nod. "Does this store have any Faunus clothing? Particularly those with a tail?" She finished gesturing to me.

The smile the store attendant had vanished when her eyes landed on me. "The store does not carry clothing for Faunus with tails." The reply was a little slow, and laced with hidden malice.

I handed off the pile of cloths I liked to whoever was near me. Ren accepted the clothing then moved off. With that out of the way I narrowed my eyes at the human in front of me. She was a little taller than me, but clearly lacked any real muscle on her body. "I see." I commented taking notice of her eyes. The beady blue of them did not look pleased to be talking to me.

I sense hatred...and anger. Grendel's voice echoed in my head.

The human in front of me is what you likely sense. I replied mentally. Stay where you are and let me handle this. "Do you dislike the Faunus, human?"

Anger flared into the human's eyes. "They are animals." She hissed solely focused on me. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Isabel and Blake glaring daggers at the store attendant, though Erik and Adam looked confused. "The White Fang goes around killing and doing as they please."

"That's real smart." I shook my head. "Label all Faunus as monsters just because one group of them is particularly violent in their beliefs." Her expression faltered and recovered in a flash.

"The White Fang has killed members of my family, but they are not the worst of them." The store attendant ground out then pointed a finger at me. "Your kind are the worst!" I simply kept a neutral gaze knowing where this was going to go. "Conduits exterminated what family the White Fang didn't kill! My parents and siblings were raped and killed before me!" Her hand shook violently with furious tears coming out of her eyes.

I closed my eyes feeling rage begin to boil to the surface. This was among the many things said about Conduits to me when I'm in Vale. Few places in the city gave me normal treatment, and almost all of them were in the Faunus District. This kind of accusation always angered me, as if I was the one whom had butchered a family, or raped children before killing them. The shuffling of clothing alerted me to movement so I opened my eyes, and caught the woman's fist. My right hand was clenched tightly with small sparks dancing on it.

"So you would damn one lawful Conduit for the actions of others?" I growled, the sparks now covering my right side. Terror and pain shown in her eyes that were locked onto the hand I held.

"Eve!" Jaune called out before walking into my line of sight. "Calm down." He urged. Those blue eyes of his begged for me to listen to him, though that wasn't exactly on the surface. Reluctantly I let go of the human's hand. She fell to her knees and started to sob with her hands over her face.

With a sigh I dismissed the power I had been calling forth. "I'm done here." I grunted walking out of the store. I stormed down the street passing Grendel before turning down a corner to get away from the store. For some time I walked weaving through the crowd with ease, a skill that had carried over from my previous life. Finally stopping I took a look around to figure out where I was. The buildings held an older feel to them with red bricks for some and others a dull white paint over concrete.

The people around this area were more Faunus while the humans about didn't look very well off, more like working family. Most were paying me little mind, only a glance or two if they did. The smell of food caught my attention so I sniffed the air a few times. The smell came from my right where I spotted a line of food carts. I got out my scroll seeing a text from Raysel.

The Grimmblood's text read: "Need some time to cool off?"

I smiled a little at that. "Yeah. Get the clothing I handed to Ren and return to the house. I'll be there later." I texted her then glanced at the time. 5:15pm. I started walking again and put the Scroll away in my pocket. Unlike most times in Vale people didn't give me a wide birth as I walked. That was probably due to Grendel following me, though this time I was alone. I was almost always near Grendel so I was used to his presence. However it was relaxing to not have him or the others of my team around, as much as I view them as family.

"Hey!" A voice yelled from nearby. Someone walked in my direction focusing their gaze in my direction. The male in question was dressed in a long sleeve shirt that was a deep red. Dark blue cargo jeans adorned his legs while some form of boots were on his feet. Hazel eyes locked on me with a strand or two of messy black hair in the way. He waved at me with one arm. I kept my eyes on him as the guy stopped in front of me. His scent told me that he was human, though I could also smell fish on him for some reason. "Whats your name? Mine's Jack." He said extending a hand.

I eyed it for a few seconds before accepting. This human wasn't the source of my frustration so I'd better be nice to him. "Eve." I answered giving his hand a shake before retracting my hand.

"A beautiful name." Jack commented. "Just like you are." He added gesturing to me with a smile.

"Thanks." I muttered.

"Y-you d-don't believe me?" Jack stammered, clearly shocked.

"Pretty much." I shrugged. "Most demonize me, rather than comment about my looks."

His face scrunched up in confusion. "Why would someone demonize a wolf Faunus?"

"Why wouldn't someone if they are a Conduit?" I replied darkly then his hole body jolted.

He recovered from the surprise quickly adopting a more friendly expression. "Aren't you the Conduit going to beacon?"

I nodded. "You're taking this surprisingly well."

Jack rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "My parents taught me that not all things are as them seem."

"I see." I commented then started walking. Jack caught up quickly. "More or less not all Faunus are evil and same with others?" He nodded. "Happen to know of any armor shops in the area?"

"No." Jack answered. We walked a bit more in silence with him glancing at me a lot. "Are you single?"

I stopped walking so Jack stopped and faced me. "I am." I said raising a hand to stop him before he spoke. "And no, I am not interested in dating guys." Despair flashed on his face before Jack hung his head. I continued walking leaving the human to his thoughts. A few blocks from where I left Jack my nose picked up something unexpected. The scent of Grimm was in the air for some reason. I used my ears to try and listen for something out of place near me. I counted a number of small stores on this particular street.

Faintly I could hear conversation, though I couldn't tell what any of the words were. Following that and the Grimm scent led me to the end of the street. Located at the end of the street was a small shop whose window's were darkened. I couldn't see through them, but the front door as left open just a bit. The words on the glass door said "Damian's Dust Shop". Standing near the door a new smell greeted my nose, fresh blood.

"This is too easy." A voice commented from inside.

"I know what you mean." Another slightly older sounding voice spoke. "The owner didn't put up much of a fight and neither did the chick."

"What about the girl?" A third voice spoke, though this one was clearly female.

A child? Bloody hell. Probably the child of the dust shop owners. Sooner or later they'd just kill the child to make it easier on them. It was a shame I didn't have any weapons or my gear on me.

"Kill the runt." The first voice replied. "We don't need witnesses."

With a quiet grunt I turned invisible and entered. The store was small with eight total isles of items. Along two walls were dust dispensers that had been emptied. Next to them rested a number of closed metal suitcases. A middle aged woman lay dead in the middle isle with a hole in her chest that was huge. Almost like it had been the arm of an Ursa that stabbed her. Blood stained her nice looking white robes. Quietly moving towards the counter I purposefully knocked down some magazines on a shelf.

Silence reigned once the stack of magazines hit the floor in a heap. Moving away the thudding of boots told me someone was coming to check it out. Smirking I made my way into another isle that gave me view of the counter. Draped over it was a gray haired man whom I assume was the store owner. Blood ran down the front and pooled on the counter's surface. Next to him were two people wearing a uniform I recognized. Both of them were members of the White Fang and smelled of Grimm.

"I know magazines don't fall on their own so we got company." The second voice I heard earlier spoke. Then the one it belonged to came into view. It was a large man with horns poking out from his forehead. Guess that means this man was an bull Faunus. In his hands was a shotgun with two extra barrels on the sides. At his waist was a sheathed katana.

"Great." The female voice muttered. "That's all we need. Some idiot wanting to play hero." This woman was about the same height as Ruby with a white pistol in a hand pointed at something. She was lean with some visible muscle on her frame but not a lot. That could be very deceiving when it comes to Grimmbloods. "How interesting..." She trailed off then took several sniffs of the air. "Out guest is a wolf Faunus."

I made my way quickly to another isle that blocked line of sight between me and them. One shelf next to me held a row of different dust crystals that had not been collected for some reason. I grabbed a red dust crystal then a blue one. Respectively water and fire. I released the invisibility then smashed the crystals together. The effect was slightly painful and instantaneous. The water exploded into warm mist that blanketed the shop.

"What the hell!?" One of the two male White Fang members barked.

"Kill the human and get the wolf Faunus!" The female ordered coughing.

"NO!" A terror filled yell echoed through the store. I groaned at the volume but used it to find the child's location. She was somewhere past the counter. I teleported to the kid then teleported to outside the store once I grabbed her.

"You're alright." I said to the human child in my arms. Her beige dress was covered in dark red stains that I could easily tell was blood. "Calm down. You're safe." I added shushing the human as much as I could. However the scent of fear radiated from her. The cloud of mist was already dispersing, so it wouldn't be long before they came out. A roar came out of the dust shop before the large form of an Ursa charged out.

"You will pay for messing with us Wolf." The Ursa hissed. As my nose told me this guy was a Grimmblood. I narrowed my eyes at green glowing eyes. This was going to be difficult with the child in my arms, let alone near me. The little girl's hands clung to me tightly as her head was focused on the Grimmblood before us. My ears picked up the pounding of feet running on concrete. Glancing to my right let me see Jack running over to us.

Does that idiot want to get killed?! I screamed in my head, but an idea came to mind. I quickly managed to get the human child to let go of my cloths in a blur with some lightly applied electrical shocking. Then I turned to Jack. "Catch!" I called throwing the little girl to him.

"WHAT!?" Jack shouted right before catching the girl. He fell onto his back from the force, but at least that got the kid out of the way.

"Keep her with you and stay back!" I ordered summoning fire around my body. The Grimmblood charged at me with a punch of an armored paw. I ducked under the swing rushing forwards punching his chest. My fist collided with armor plating that covered most of his chest, but not all of it. Closing my right hand into a fist three large needles formed of electricity. I stabbed those into the Grimmblood's chest where the white protective plate didn't cover.

He roared in pain and and I began moving away. However a fist caught me in the side before I could get completely out of range. I grunted as the fist hit and sent me away from him undoing the aura of flames.. I landed on my feet a distance away with my heels digging into the concrete a little. I grinned ready for a fight. The Grimmblood recovered quickly focusing furious eyes on me. He inhaled deeply and opened his mouth before a cloud of flames came racing forwards. Kneeling down I placed a hand to the ground summoning a wall of ice to block the flames. Seconds later I saw some of the ice crack and bubble.

Charging my body with lightning I raced around the ice wall on the left. As I passed it the Grimmblood stopped exhaling fire onto the wall. In moments I conjured a blade of pure blue fire and swung at him. The blade sliced clean through one arm at the elbow. The severed limb fell with a heavy thud onto the ground next to me. Continuing the attack I teleported behind the Grimmblood slicing a foot. Armor plating and thick bones saved the limb from being chopped off, though he wouldn't be moving fast any time soon.

"You bitch!" The Grimmblood growled turning to punch me with his only arm.

I jumped up dodging the strike that hit the concrete generating a dust cloud. As fell down I pointed the flame blade downwards. It hit dead center between the shoulders going to the hilt. The force of my fall caused him to slam onto the ground dead and I dismissed the flame blade, making it dissipate. My ears picked up movement from the Dust shop so I leaned back. A few seconds later a large quill flew through the air where my had head been to stab into the side of a building. Turning my attention to the shop entrance awarded me with the sight of something new. The thing in question was another Grimmblood that had to be a Boarbatusk. Overall it was humanoid but with some pig like features that Grimm has.

The face was definitely boar like and the forehead sported horns that curved almost into a complete circle. Down the bare arms of the Grimmblood was spines sticking out through skin and I could see some more on his back. Next to him stood the third member of the raiding party, the female. She was also in her Grimm form which was akin to a Beowolf but much leaner with less overall size. However I bet that reduction in muscle mass means more speed if anything.

Blazing gold eyes glanced to the dead Grimmblood next to me then shifted back to me. "We can't take you lightly."

The spines sticking out of the boar Grimmblood twitched once, then he shifted position. I surged away from the Grimmblood corpse going for the boar. Stepping to the left let me avoid a spray of spines. Without warning the other Grimmblood appeared before me hammering a punch to my gut. The hit knocked the wind out of me and sent me flying. I crashed through a wall and into an abandoned apartment. A number of old smelling wooden furniture shattered at impact. Growling I ran back through the trail of destruction to the street.

Again I charged for the boar having to roll under another barrage of spines. The female Grimmblood intercepted me again trying for a slash at my throat. I leaned out of the attack and grabbed her arm in the process. Then I pulled on her left arm to move her forwards and hit her shoulder with a palm strike. I felt and heard the painful snap of bones popping out of place. With her shoulder out of socket I let go of her arm and back flipped putting myself closer to the boar. The moment I landed my back was peppered with spines.

I growled turning around to wave an arm at the boar Grimmblood sending an arc of fire at him. With a clap of his hands water emerged from the air in an arc to counter the fire. Smirking I waited for the water and fire to collide. A few seconds later they did and I punched the ground cracking the concrete. At my behest earth rumbled then heat rose up to unleash a geyser of fire. Hearing a grunt behind me I turned watching as the female Grimmblood put her shoulder back into place. The action was one movement before her gold eyes focused on me.

Not hearing a scream where the geyser had erupted I teleported behind the female Grimmblood. A barrage of spines flew through the air and stabbed into her chest knocking her back a few steps. That put her in a perfect place for me to attack. I spun on one foot kicking her square in the back with my whole body weight. The attack sent her flying into the top part of the Dust Shop and through the wall.

I knelt down placing a hand onto the concrete to summon an earthen barrier around me. A few seconds later I heard spines shattering on the stone. So those were something along the lines of bone? In one hand I conjured up a bow of sparking electricity then pulled the bowstring back. An arrow of pure electric energy materialized moments later. I focused power into that arrow making it spark more and become brighter by the second. After feeling another barrage of spines shatter on the earth wall I let it fall and released the arrow. It flew through the air right where I had been hearing the spines launch from.

It roared loudly drowning out all sound for me as it tore up concrete under it. The arrow struck home as a scream went off that I could barely hear over the roar of electricity. Then an explosion went off from the Dust shop spewing chunks of brick everywhere and sending out a concussive blast wave. That wave hit me and sent me crashing through another wall and into something. I coughed spitting out blood before something fell on top of me that weighed a lot. Whatever that was hammered into my backside stabbing and hitting my arms, legs, torso, and head.

I moved my arms which protested painfully but I ignored it with effort. Slowly I moved my arms so I could push up but I didn't move. Grunting I settled for something else. I pushed rocks and stone out from in front of my head. With some out of the way I saw light and a bunch of dust. Continuing to move the stone hurt like hell though I kept doing it anyway. Once enough was clear to move my head around a bit I pulled forwards with my arms. I hissed in pain at the action as scrapes and pain seared my body. After some time I got myself free and coughed waving a hand to try and clear the dust.

"You're a tough one Wolf." An annoyed female commented, then the dust cloud dispersed quickly. The female Grimmblood was back to her human form with much of her White Fang suit torn and blood stained. Burns marked a portion of her body on the front from electricity or fire I couldn't tell. "Though you look no better than me after that building fell on you."

Building? Looking down I saw what she meant. My clothing was largely gone and replaced with tattered scraps of cloth and lots of blood. Shards of stone and metal stuck out from my legs and chest with two large metal rods through my legs and another through my stomach. Glancing over my shoulder let me see countless shards of glass and stone in my back, which no doubt were also in the back side of my legs. My arms were covered in bleeding scrapes and a few small bits of glass stuck in them. I started to chuckle then went into a coughing fit before spitting out blood. Shakily I grabbed the two metal rods in my legs with both hands.

Her gold eyes narrowed skeptically. "You are at your limit Conduit." She commented as I tried to breath finding it a bit difficult. "You're on death's door."

In this situation I couldn't help the grin that came to my face. "Limit?" I spat coughing up more blood to spit out. "I can and will stop you, bitch." I hissed yanking the two rods out in one go. I let out a pain filled scream as blood erupted from the two puncture wounds. The Grimmblood's gold eyes were fixed wide open in pure shock and her mouth was agape. I threw the metal rod in my right hand at her seeing it impale her chest. She coughed up blood as my vision started to get blurry. I couldn't focus on her form very well and threw the second metal rod anyway. It hit something that fell over onto the ground with a thud.

Without warning I felt hands on my shoulder steadying me. "You're coming with me, Grimm Tammer Eve."

I tried to say something but my voice didn't work and blackness took me.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Let's hurry!" Raysel said to the mix of students with her as they raced for the sounds of combat. Her nose picked up a mixture of blood types. "What the hell are Grimmbloods doing in the city?"

"Hell if I know." Nolan shot back as he ran next to the Grimmblood. "Better question is where did Grendel go?"

"No idea!" Yang called from behind the members of Team ERIN. It wasn't long before the group came upon a gathering of people. The noise of powers let them know they had gone to the right place. The Beacon students started pushing through the crowd as electricity brightly sparked somewhere in front of them. Then thunder roared forth striking something that screamed. Seconds later an explosion rocked the street knocking things over and everyone watching except the Beacon students.

"Eve!" Phyrrha and Ruby called out at the same time as the Conduit was sent through a wall into an old building. For several moments nothing happened then with a creaking noise the stone building fell down sending out a large dust cloud.

The group stared at the collapsed building in awe. Isabel closed her eyes and buried her head into Nolan's chest. The dark green haired male watched the dust cloud carefully. Meanwhile the other didn't move or speak. Out from the right side of the street came a bloodied woman limping away from the remains of some sort of shop. Bleeding and blistering burns marked most of her body. Torn clothing that once was a full White Fang uniform hung loosely and stained dark red.

Shifting rubble brought their attention to the dust cloud across from the battered White Fang female. Groans and coughs sounded from the dust before a form could be seen a minute or so later.

The White Fang woman glanced at the dust cloud annoyed. "You're a tough one Wolf." With one motion of a battered arm the dust cloud dispersed showing one wounded Conduit. "Though you look no better than me after that building fell on you."

"Holy shit." Nolan commented quietly as he took stock of his team leader's damage. The Conduit was covered in debris that stuck out of her. Countless shards of glass and stone were in her back along with more on the backside of her legs. Arms were blood covered and various scrapes and cuts could be seen. Each leg had a metal rod sticking through the thigh with a third around her stomach area.

Eve tried to laugh but coughed before spitting out a glob of blood onto the ground. Shakily the Conduit grabbed each metal rod with a hand.

The woman across from her narrowed gold eyes skeptically. "You are at your limit Conduit." She commented as Nolan noticed Eve's ragged breaths. "You're on death's door."

Eve grinned keeping eyes on the Grimmblood in front of her. "Limit?" She spat before coughing up more blood and spitting it out. "I can and will stop you, bitch." The Conduit hissed pulling both rods out at the same time. She screamed in pain, but the female across from her stood still in shock. Moments later Eve threw the rod in her right hand at the Grimmblood, impaling her in the chest. Said woman staggered back a step spitting out blood. Then for a few moments Eve tried to focus her eyes, but couldn't. She threw the second rod scoring it through the woman's throat and knocking her down.

Suddenly a tall lean male appeared out of thin air behind Eve. He took several steps before placing hands on the Conduit's shoulders. "You're coming with me, Grimm Tamer Eve." The man said right as said individual lost consciousness. The man picked up Eve bridal style with ease and turned away from the gathered people.

"Stop!" Raysel barked as she focused her eyes onto the male. His pants seemed worn and dirty with age as did the gray t-shirt on his torso.

"Oh?" The male commented turning back to face the Beacon students. He chuckled darkly. "This is quite the surprise!" His yellow eyes glanced over the students carefully in one sweep. "I never would have suspected to see Pyrrha Nikos, Weiss Schnee, and Raysel ConCain in one place." White hair draped down over his shoulders to the middle of his chest with the rest of it behind him.

"How do you know our names?" Weiss said focusing her icy gaze at the man holding a limp Eve, though he did not seem phased by it.

"Give our team leader back." Raysel growled shifting form as a purple glow surrounded her body. At this the gathered crowd ran away from the Beacon students.

In a flash of light another male appeared next to the one holding Eve. This male was dressed in mercenary battler armor with a combat load of weapons on his person, and a shotgun in hand. "We've captured the Grimm, Sir."

"Excellent." The casual dressed male said. "Head back to base, I'll be there shortly."

"Yes, Sir." The mercenary said with a salute before disappearing in a flash of light.

"I've got what I came here for. Say hello to Ozpin for me." With that the man vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

---

I'm nearly done with chapter 13 for Freezing: Wolf God (Crash Course) and I'm about half way through with chapter 8 for Void Warrior (Return to Nightmare). Next time: Wildcard