A/N: Whoo, new chapter. I had no idea where I was going with this lol

"Drop the mast and ready the cannons mateys! Prepare for battle!"

Snowflake raised her fist to the sky as she stood proudly on top of the roof of the jungle gym that she and her friends occupied. She glanced down towards her fellow pirates as they attended to their duties and prepared to do battle against the vile crew of her enemies led by none other than…

"Hah!" A loud shout rang out from across the playground. "You and your dastardly crew of weaklings will never win against us!"

Snowflake lowered her fist and pointed it towards the orange haired boy who shouted his doubts towards her and pointed towards him.

"I'll make you eat those words General Cheng Ren!" She announced.

She looked down towards her allies and spotted her fellow pirates raising the little rocks they found on the ground, ready to let loose and open fire towards Cheng's own jungle gym across the sandpit on the playground.

"Today!" She bellowed towards her soldiers. "We do battle against the evil General named Cheng!"

She watched her little friends peer up towards her as she spoke, and she felt like a true leader then as pride welled up in her small chest. Though she couldn't see out of her left eye as she covered it up with a Band-Aid to pretend it was an eyepatch.

"Too long has Cheng and his crew hogged the swing set! Too long have we had to wait our turn to play on the monkey bars! Too long have we had to wait our turn to play dodgeball! But no longer!" She called out.

She peered into the eyes of the nodding faces who looked up at her, some of them cheering and some of them with tears in their eyes. They believed in her.

"Today!" Snowflake roared. "We. Will. Be. Free!"

A chorus of cheers cried out then as Snow hoisted the small tree branch that was holstered on her belt and pointed it towards her targets.

"Ready the cannons!"

Eight hands raised themselves in the air. Each with a rock in their grasp.

"Aim cannons!"

The readied hands steadied as each kid picked their target across the playground outside.

Snowflake stared Cheng down as he looked back at her, his own soldiers holding their backpacks up in preparation to deflect the incoming rocks she was getting ready to let loose.

"Fire!"

Snowflake watched with great joy as dozens of gray pebbles sailed through the air. Most were way off course but quite a few bombarded the many children who stood against her and her comrades. Though not enough of them as they still held their backpack shields up in defense.

But Snowflake was undeterred.

"Ready the second barrage!" She ordered, still standing on the roof of the jungle gym.

She watched another volley of pebbles sail through the sky and right towards Cheng and his crew. But it looked like this barrage was also deflected. And right when the last pebble bounced harmlessly away as it was blocked did she frown in disappointment. They had spent quite some time collecting all that ammunition.

"Is that all you got?" She heard Cheng taunt out from behind his own backpack.

Snowflake gritted her teeth as she stomped her foot down. She hopped off the roof of the jungle gym and joined her friends inside the "cabin" of her make pretend ship where her best friend and "strategist" was waiting.

"Captain, what do we do? We didn' put a dent in them!" Emery told her, his black eyes and green hair twinkling in the sun.

Snow placed a hand at his shoulder to calm the boy down. "Fear not First-Mate, we will be victorious!"

She watched as her words resonated in him as he grinned, a giant gap between his teeth.

Though through the crowd of kids in the interior of the "ship" with her, Snow spotted just the girl she was looking for sitting with her back against the wall with her head in a book as usual.

"Cousin Kat!" Snow called towards her friend. "Cousin Kat, what do we do? They're unaffected by our cannons!" She explained.

Kateia only sighed as she struggled to ignore the complaining girl who loomed above her worriedly. She wanted nothing more than to just finish this book; she wanted nothing to do with Snowflake's wild imagination and childish games. She already got dragged to sit in this plastic contraption that Snow had earlier dubbed the "S. S. Fun Patrol".

"Kaaaaaaaaaaat!" Snowflake whined loudly as she threw herself around Kateia, hugging the small Faunus tightly. "I need your heeeelp! Operation Playground Freedom is gonna fail if we lose!"

Kat groaned loudly as she could no longer see her book now that Snowflake wrapped herself around her chest, obscuring her vision. All she wanted to do was read…

But if I just give her some plan to do then she'll leave me alone.

Sighing to herself annoyed but not entirely uncomfortable with Snowflake hugging her, Kat pulled lightly on the other girl's white hair to get her attention.

"Ow!" Snowflake mewed as she looked up from Kat's chest, her arms still wrapped around her ebon haired friend.

"Listen up." Kat muttered, watching as lilac eyes twinkled happily at her words, so much so that Kateia had to fight against the smirk that threatened to show on her face.

"I'll tell you how to beat Cheng and his friends." Kat continued.

She watched Snow beam at her openly now, bouncing up and down like a puppy.

"How? How?" She asked.

But just as Kat formulated a plan to get Snowflake out of the inside of the jungle gym and let her get back to her reading, a torrent of thuds and clangs sounded above her. It came so suddenly and was so loud that Kateia almost thought that it had started raining, but she could still see the sun shining through the plastic bright yellow walls that enclosed her.

"Captain, Captain!" A girl Kat instantly recognized as Grace Winchester, her bunny ears bouncing as she ran into view. "We're under attack!"

Kat rolled her eyes and sighed but looked back towards Snowflake as the girl stood up, ready to give orders.

"Tell the crew to defend the ship at all cost! Get backpacks up to protect all the openings." She told Grace as the girl quickly nodded her head and bounded away to give the order.

But as Kat watched Snowflake stand tall and look off towards the other kids who looked to her as their leader, the ebon haired Faunus couldn't help but smile and shake her head. Of course Snowflake would be able to round up other kids to do battle against Cheng because she wanted to get more time on the swing set and other playground toys.

Though she was loud, pushy, and way too hyperactive… Snowflake was also charismatic for some reason. Kat noticed it quite some time ago. And while she still didn't agree with all the shenanigans that the white haired Xiao-Long girl dragged her into… she was really enjoying her time here in Vale now because of her.

"Okay Snow." Kat sighed out as she closed her book and stood up. "I'll tell you how to settle this feud between you and Cheng once and for all."

Here they stood, surrounded by their peers and comrades. The air was thick now but the gentle breeze that caressed her cheek was a welcome sensation.

The sun was hot, its rays in her eyes as Snowflake shed her sweater off, for she had to move unhindered.

The Band-Aid she kept over her left eye she peeled off, for she had to be able to see her opponent clearly.

She stared at the boy standing just a few feet away from her, his smile mischievous and his stance dangerous. Kat's plan had worked; Cheng had met her face to face to settle this once and for all. They would handle this like leaders.

In single combat.

Snow risked a glance around her. Allies and enemies alike encircled the two of them. She could see bruises and ouchies all over the other kids from their previous battle. But no more… No more would her comrades be injured for the cause. She'd be the one to settle this!

"I didn't think you'd actually face me one on one, vile Cheng." Snow goaded as she reached for the stick at her side as she took a step to her left with Cheng mirroring her movements.

"Hey, if someone challenges me to a duel I won't back down!" He answered loudly, his chest puffed out confidently.

They both pulled their sticks from their belt as they circled each other, like sharks circling their prey in the ocean. Neither struck first though, each holding a mutual respect for the other in the moment, but it was only a matter of time.

They were just waiting for the right moment.

"Come on Cap'n! You can do it!"

"General Cheng is our man! Beat her!"

"For the swing set! Do it for us Snow!"

Cheers and jeers filled the playground as both kids walked closer and closer towards each other but still not striking.

The moment was close at hand, the sun blazing down on both of them. Already they could feel the rough wood of their weapons biting into their palms but neither flinched away as they tightened their respective grips.

Eyes narrowed and breaths held… they prepared themselves to charge!

"For playground liberation!" Snow cried with her stick held high.

"For playground order!" Cheng replied loudly as he raised his own stick in a two-handed grip, poised to meet Snowflake head on!

…

Ding! Ding! Ding!

"Alright, alright! Everyone inside, playtime is over!"

And at the words of their teacher, Mr. Torchwick, the students froze. With a series of moans and groans that filled the air, the Torchwick's Little Torches dropped their toys and prepared to head back inside to class. With even Snow and Cheng laughing together as they raced each other to see who would get inside the classroom first.

But as everyone went inside together, talking and laughing almost as if they had just forgotten what had just transpired… Kat sighed to herself as she grabbed her book from where she left it at the jungle gym and let her head sag.

She was never going to finish reading at this rate.