/ Yang Xiao Long / Patch / One Month Ago

It shouldn't have happened, not like this at least. Everything was going so well. Practice for Yang in the last few months was an odd breeze. Her endurance, strength, stamina, and agility were greater than they had been two months ago. Because, that's what practice does to one, doesn't it?

Not like this. Yang had felt extremely strong in ways she couldn't put into words. Maybe the fact that over the past month she had actually managed to save another monster from such a treacherous fate as others that she had seen on the news. The method of operation was similar to the first time she had done so. The faint cries of the monster in need could be heard from a distance. Yang of course, came to the rescue with ease - beating down the criminals once more, who then fled the scene. She got the monster out of there, this time, a young boy.

Yang could only wonder how long this would go on. How many more would she have to save from being killed? How many more would be killed? Why was this still happening? If anything, Yang had noticed that it was mostly occurring to the younger generation. Anyone who was older than 25 seemed to be in the clear. At least, that's what the news said.

Yang rolled around in bed with these questions and thoughts in her mind. It was an off day for her. No work out. Nowhere to be for any sort of reason. It was just a free day.

Might as start the day with a shower. She pulled off the covers and sat up, stretching as she did so. She yawned and looked to her left where her nightstand was and looked at the clock. 11:07 AM. She shrugged to herself and swung her legs off the bed. She was lucky to have a room to herself. As in her previous house she had to share a room with Ruby, it wasn't a bad thing it's just that sometimes having your own privacy was something an older sister needed. Yang had helped her father afford this house with her own fight winnings, it was definitely a step up, but they weren't filthy rich. They merely lived with a humble income. Nothing wrong with that.

Yang walked to the restroom, she was also lucky in a sense that she got the best room. One with its own restroom attached to it, which was definitely another plus for Yang. She entered the restroom and closed the door behind her. She looked at herself in the mirror and nodded. "Heyyy, good lookin'." she winked at herself and blew a small kiss to the mirror. She then chuckled to herself and shook her head wildly (damn bed head!) and stretched once more. After messing around with her reflection, she finally started to remove her clothing in order to shower. She firstly removed her shirt, then was in the process to remove her other articles of clothing, but took a double take in the mirror. She looked closely at her reflection, blinked hard several times, then rubbed her eyes and drew her attention back towards the reflection.

She looked down, then back up at the mirror. Was this some sort of joke? She began to run her hand over where her heart was. "No...way…" she grabbed the edge of the counter that blocked the way from her and the mirror as she sounded slightly distressed. She climbed up on the counter for a closer look and continuously looked down and up, to her chest to the the mirror.

There was no denying it. Her heart was glowing. She slid off the counter and back onto her feet. She looked down at her chest, her heart, in astonishment. The glow was there. It was faint, yet it could easily be covered with a shirt.

She leaned over the sink, now blankly staring down at it. "How did this even happen?" she muttered to herself. She lifted her head once more to look at the mirror and shook her head. Her hands tightly gripped the the edge of the counter. Of course this would happen to me.

A sudden light knock came from her closed restroom door, which caused her to look at the closed door with a distraught look on her face.

"Yang?" a feminine voice belonging to Ruby could be heard. Yang took a deep breath and immediately calmed down. Was she already paranoid? Or maybe this was some kind of lucid dream she was having. Either way, Yang didn't know what to do.

"Y-yeah?" she called back almost a little timidly, but had enough life in her voice to hide the fact that there was something wrong.

"Junior called your scroll, which was in the living room, I answered it because it wouldn't stop ringing..." Ruby started to ramble on, she knew that Yang really didn't like her younger sister touching her stuff, but sometimes it couldn't be helped. "He also says that he would like you two to leave for Vale early, like four days from now early. Dunno why you guys would need to leave so early...he said something about getting a feel for the place and…"

"Ruby!" Yang called out.

"Uh-huh?" she responded.

"I got it, thanks." Yang scratched the back of her head as she stood on the other side of the door from Ruby. She was at a loss. This new revelation had completely thrown her off, she had an important fight to get ready for and while she was fine physically, she was now mentally unsure.

"No problem Yang." Ruby called back, her footsteps now could be heard leaving their position from behind the door way.

"Ruby!" Yang called out once more. She heard the footsteps stop and her sister's voice reply.

"Yeah, Yang?"

"Can I show you something?" her voice was low and steady.

"Uhh...Yang, I'm not a doctor! If it's a rash I definitely don't wanna see it." Ruby sounded a bit reluctant towards her sister.

"Ruby, it's nothing like that. Trust me." she sighed as she grabbed a clean towel from a small cabinet that was above the toilet. She completely covered her chest and bust, but she was still wearing a sports bra. She walked towards the door. "I'm coming out, okay?"

Ruby stepped back from the door and slightly shielded her eyes. "Kayyy." she replied.

Yang stepped out, towel still covering her top with her shorts still on. "Uncover your eyes, Rubes."

Ruby uncovered her eyes and looked at Yang with confusion. "What am I supposed to be seeing?" she scratched her head.

Yang dropped her towel, causing Ruby to immediately shield her eyes. "Yang, you have boobs I know that!"

"I have a bra on now look at me!" Yang now sounded a little irritated.

Ruby uncovered her eyes once more and her eyes widened. "Y-yang…" she approached her older sister and reached out to her. "You're...glowing…"

Yang stepped back. "N-no. Don't touch me, okay?"

"You think what you have is contagious?" Ruby questioned.

"I...I honestly don't know. I've saved two of those things, now...now I'm one." she looked down at herself and watched the glow radiate.

"You're not a thing, Yang. You're Yang Xiao Long, my big sister and one heck of a mixed martial arts fighter." Ruby replied in a calm voice.

"Oh shit. I have to fight Ruby, I can't fight like this." Yang walked towards her bed and sat down, looking defeated.

"Is there anyway you can cover it up? Don't some MMA fighters wear shirts?" Ruby asked.

"I mean they do, but...I'm not human anymore Ruby. In my past few practices I've been getting immensely stronger and in not-so-human ways." Yang thought back on one incident she had in private. She had been messing around with a punching bag and completely broke it in half with a half-assed punched. "I think I could kill someone if I'm not careful."

"You won't kill anyone, Yang. That's not you."

"I know it's not me, but what if I can't control it? What if I randomly transform into it in the middle of a fight?" Yang now laid back on the bed, sprawled out. "I'm so screwed."

Ruby ran up to her and grabbed her by the arm to pull her up, which Yang reluctantly sat up. "No, you're not!" she protested. "You and me, we're gonna learn what you can do. Let's first transform you!"

"What?" Yang's face was now one of serious disbelief and concern. "Are you nuts? What if I lose myself and hurt you Ruby?"

"Yang." she grabbed her by the face. "You. Wouldn't. Do. That."

Yang sighed, fighting her sister was no easy battle and she just wanted to give up already. Ruby took Yang by the hand and dragged her outside. They lived in a good amount of solitude, as the acres and acres of land stretched on. They're 'neighbors'' were a good 10 - 15 miles away. Yang, followed along still half in the nude with her shirt off. Not like it mattered.

"Okay, do it!" Ruby stated as they had wandered several yards away from the house.

"Do what?" Yang flailed her arms up and then down to her hips.

"Transform!"

Yang slapped her forehead. "Rubes, if I knew how to do this I wouldn't be worrying about it." And here I thought you'd have a plan.

"Then just transform!" she sweetly smiled.

"I told you, I don't know how!" Yang grit her teeth.

"Of course you do."

"You're not helping the situation, Ruby." Yang merely clenched her fist and lightly hit her hip in a tick of frustration.

"Close your eyes and breath then. Just think on it." Ruby then suggested.

Yang shook her head, and rolled her eyes looking a bit opposed to the idea. She did it anyways, as she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. She thought back on the news, the little boy who was the first suspect...and victim. Nobody took the time to understand what was going on. Shoot first, ask questions later, right? She thought on several more news outlets who had shown captures of teenagers, and young adults who were being brought in for questioning - experiments - something. She remembered the horror on their face, the confusion, some showed no emotion. She remembered Velvet. The girl was not a lot bigger than Yang, or Ruby even. She continued to think...think...think and feel.

A heavy breath escaped her and she opened her eyes, "It's not...WORKING!" she roared as she had immediately transformed into a very big brutish monster. The hair on her head had transformed into exoskeleton like armor that covered and wrapped around the majority of her body. The hair, now exoskeleton, covered her weak spot. Her facial features resembled that of a dragon mixed with a dire wolf. The exoskeleton formed ram horns on her head, as the skeleton covered her snout as well. Yet, the natural color of Yang's hair was not preserved and made the armor appear black, while the uncovered fur that was shown was a lightish yellow, similar to Yang's hair. Her hands too, now claws, covered by the armor. The armor, had covered the majority of her but the parts left unchecked were her sides, and the back of her legs, which resembled werewolves legs, and the way to her raptor like feet. She stood tall, about 15 feet tall, but she was very bulky and looked incredible tough.

She had outstretched her arms as she had roared, and now looked down at the ground beneath her, spotting a very tiny Ruby looked stunned. She then looked down at herself and at her claws in awe.

"Yang!" Ruby had called out, "You did it!"

The words were slightly muffled to Yang, but she understood - somehow. She got on all fours and brought her snout towards the small girl. She sniffed her, inhaling every scent. She could smell the cookies that Ruby had eaten earlier that day. Yang shook her head. A slight hint of unease ran through her mind. She was completely coherent and conscious, but she could tell another part of her was inching in to completely lose it. Yet, Yang's willpower was a lot greater and she had no aim, no enemy, just...Ruby. She exhaled over Ruby's small frame, which showed as Ruby's hair flew as the wind from Yang's snout hit her.

"Heh." Ruby chuckled. "You okay in there?"

"Yeah." Yang muffled out in her monster gibberish language.

"Uhh...it's a shame I can't speak monster." Ruby commented now reaching out to touch Yang. She softly pet the top of Yang's snout. "Awwh, you're so rough…"

Yang merely nodded.

Ruby proceeded to circle around Yang observing her. She touched the unarmored yellow fur and cooed. "Awwh, you're soft too!" she said as Yang just stood there. The feeling of being petted was an oddly strange feeling for Yang. Most people didn't pet her. Well, she had never actually been pet, but the feeling she got from Ruby doing it was just uncomfortable in a sense.

"Yeah, this is great and all but I don't know how to transform back." Yang murmured out, but to Ruby it sounded like a low growl.

Ruby hopped back - away from Yang. "Uhh, you okay there big girl?" she asked now coming up front to Yang.

Yang nodded again, then got a weird look on her face, then motioned to herself then weirdly barked out. (In translation: "Are you calling me fat?")

"Huh? Is the little Timmy stuck in a well?" Ruby teased, still unable to understand what Yang had been saying.

Yang took in a deep breath and blew on Ruby, knocking her over pretty easily.

"Okay, okay!" she stood up, wiping herself off. "Just think happy thoughts or something. That's how it works in some movies at least." she grinned and patted Yang on the nose then stepped away from her, giving her well-needed space.

Yang closed her eyes once more as she sat down. She thought about how she did save Velvet. Velvet was safe...and all was at ease. Then another image appeared into her head, she couldn't make out the face, but it was an image of a female figure. One who was approaching her with a passion that she didn't understand. If she had a tail she would've been wagging it at this moment. But where did this thought come from? Who was this stranger to Yang? Yang breathed out once more and felt a small hand against her skin.

"You okay, Yang?" Ruby asked.

Yang opened her eyes and noticed she was small once more. Human. She looked down at her hands noticing all of that, whatever that was - was gone for now. She looked down at her chest once more, it still glowed. Now, now Yang knew. That if she tried hard enough she could control. She can't control the glow, but the transformation in itself took time and practice. She had a few days before she would be off, but those days would be well spent making sure that everything went just right.

Yang huffed and stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'll be able to control this in no time." she smiled. Through all that Yang had noted that she had managed to retain her clothing. Which, was lucky in hindsight. Having transformations and then appearing naked all of the time could prove to be troublesome. This was another mystery, but one that Yang did not question.

"What are you gonna do now?" Ruby asked as she walked towards Yang, curiously.

"I'll probably stay out here for the time being, just going in and out of transformation. To see what I can do." Yang answered.

"Oooh. I'll watch! This is so much better than T.V!" she clapped excitedly then stepped away from Yang and watched her carefully.

With the whole day being free for Yang, she spent the next several hours just focusing on going in and out of her monster mode. The second time around was easier, going in and out of. The third time was just as easy. Yang had quickly picked up the essentials for transformation. She noted that it didn't necessarily just take emotion to change. State of mind was important for keeping self-control alive. She realized that stressing, was a big contribution for sudden transformation. That of course, was something that was hard to avoid in some situations, but Yang trusted herself enough that she wouldn't do so.

As soon as she had gotten the hang of changing she proceeded to stay in her Monster form. She proceeded to walk around on two legs, then on all four. She found that they gave an equally odd, yet satisfying feeling. Next, she messed around with the trees in the yard, that had offered them protection from prying eyes. She looked at her claw like hands and proceeded to swipe at the base of the tree, it was now cleanly cut in several sections.

In a moment of awe, she had watched as part of the tree fell - towards Ruby. With great speeds she stood in front of the tree that had begun to fall, catching it with ease. Both her and Ruby were unscathed as Yang's armor had protected her. Yang tossed the tree into the distance and looked back towards Ruby, who seemed to be looking at her with a huge grin.

Yang immediately regained human form and jogged towards Ruby, "You okay?" she asked looking at her little sister. "I'm so stupid, you could've gotten hurt." she said now running her hands all over Ruby's face checking for any sort of cut or bruising.

"Yang, you're incredible!" she poked at her older sister's uncovered stomach. "We've been out here for hours and you've already come so far!" Ruby took her sister's hands and flailed them about with her in excitement. "Think of all the others we can save."

"Ruby…" Yang stood there a little stoically "I can't go around and be some kind of superhero now, I still have a normal life to live. Besides...my kind," she paused, getting a slight sense of unease 'my kind?' What exactly is my kind? Monsters? "People like me are being hunted, Ruby. Did you forget that?" she continued on.

"No, I know - it's just that...You can totally help more monsters, since you are one. They'll believe you more, right?" she gave a small grin, still fully believing in her sister.

"I mean, it's not a complete guarantee. But, I'll see what I can do, just for you okay? I just have to make it through next month's fight and I'll make sure that every...friend we run into is safe." she squeezed her sister's hand, they're hands had never released from the excitement flail that Ruby had. Although Yang had said those words, as she had said, there was no guarantee. Yang couldn't account for the monsters that had lost their way. Yang had restricted her younger sister from watching the news as there were slowly more and more outbreaks of these monster growing more rogue and actually attacking some innocent bystanders. While, it wasn't a huge increase, it was still substantial enough to cause some sort of alarm.

"Now, let's go inside." Yang said. "I'm starving and I still haven't taken my shower." she grinned and let go of one of Ruby's hands, still holding onto the other and led her inside.

"Yay!" Ruby cheered out.

Mistral Elite Units / Roman / Mistral

"Yes, it has sir." Roman calmly replied to the man on the scroll. "You will see a rise no time. My boss has made sure that everything was in place. Yes. I understand. Goodbye." he clicked the scroll and sighed.

"You've really gotta stop making these weird calls." Mercury commented.

"You really gotta stop being nosey." Roman retorted.

Mercury kept his mouth shut, while his companions smirked to themselves.

"It appears we have a busy year ahead of us, friends." he said as he entered a room filled with soldiers in training - his own unit stood behind him in a serious looking formation. "Welcome to the Mistral Guard. While, you're all not necessarily elite, you all are necessarily needed."

"But we're in a time of peace!" one recruit called out.

"Not exactly." Roman commented with a grin.

/ Weiss Schnee / Atlas / One month ago /

It was only in a sudden realization that there was only one month left to prepare herself. A strange sense of excitement had filled her every time she thought about her adventure to come. Though, another sense of anxiety had filled the other half of her. She had been keeping up with the news - and the news reports had claimed that these monsters were growing more and more dangerous as the days passed. Most held and saw that the monsters motives unclear, and if anything, they were obviously animalistic with no clear intent other than to hunt their prey, and as humans, we are the ones being hunted.

Yet, Weiss knew that there was much more to it than just that. In fact, she was sure of it. There had to be some reason behind this strange outbreak. Weiss, was sure that she would find a lot of answers in Vale. She had brushed up on a lot of simple facts about Vale. Every major center of land held an Elite Unit Guard - so it would come at no surprise that Vale had it's own to brag about.

Out of her own curiosity, she checked out what Jaune had mentioned a few months ago. Weiss, wasn't all about business and she knew that she would need some sort of escape and although, fighting wasn't her thing - she knew it'd draw a big crowd and if anything - a monster! She had easily looked up online when and where the event would be held. In the city, obviously, but the building itself was rather large. The tickets were of no cost to Weiss, she was rich after all and luckily, the event itself would be held around the same time Weiss was visiting Vale. What luck!

Weiss now checked out the competitors. Yang Xiao Long versus Nora Valkyrie! the website stated in an oversized font, with bright letters. Their nicknames were shown underneath along with their stats. Weiss couldn't help but stare at the blonde competitor - Yang. She was quite the sight. She was an astonishing 6'1, Weiss herself was only 5'3. Yang was 19 years old (who had happened to start school a little late, so it seems.) Weiss, was only 18. She had recently turned 18 in the past month, even so, Weiss was the youngest of her few friends.

Weiss bit her lip as she had continued to eye the picture of Yang, in fact she ended up image searching her a bit more. Yang, was absolutely ripped in every picture she had. Most of which were of her and her previous fights which were many of her victories. Why am I? Weiss thought to herself only to quickly shut her laptop and put it at a distance from her. I'm not…

She shook her head and took a deep breath, grabbing her scroll. She looked through pictures of her, Pyrrha and Jaune. She had always known that Jaune was crushing on her. Something she didn't care to discuss and ultimately decided to ignore. While in the meanwhile, she also knew that Pyrrha was crushing on Jaune. Yet, Weiss herself, never crushed on the two. She took a look at Pyrrha in her pictures. She was attractive, but...girls weren't her thing, were they? She hadn't felt a damn thing for her, except for a platonic sort of love. As for Jaune, she didn't care much for him.

Weiss tossed aside her scroll. It's just a fluke. Sometimes people get weird crushes, on people they don't know. Happens with fangirls and fanboys all the time. This is no different. I may be rich, but that doesn't guarantee I'll actually meet her. Weiss plopped herself on her bed. Besides, a girl like that...Wait, wait a girl like what? I'm not even..why am I still thinking so much on this?! Ugh!

Weiss closed her eyes and rolled to her side. Just go to...sleep! That night, she dreamed of strange things, but if there was one thing she could simply not shove to the back of her mind - was that girl, Yang Xiao Long.