Hours before, as Kris was getting ready and Cheyenne was calling her sister and the rest of her twin's team to invite them, Kagami was sitting on her bed up on top. Her legs hung off, dangling in the air as she patted down her pillow. Just as she slid her green leather book under her blanket, she felt another weight being distributed across the bed. She glanced over at the other side, blinking a bit at Elise.

"Sooo..." The brunet leaned over, smiling like a pure and innocent child. She had a look in her eyes any friend knew as the look of someone who wanted something. "You know how I said you should let me read more of that?" She paused for only a second, not letting Kagami respond. "Well, that time should be now. Waiting is really boring and Kris is going to take hours."

The jade haired url blinked once, glancing down at her book before back up at Elise with raised eyebrows. It took a moment, but she did end up nodding with a sigh. "Alright, alright." She couldn't help but smile as she rolled her eyes. "But... just one more." She added. There wasn't anyone else every there to even read her writings before she came to Beacon and deep down, whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was happy someone else was curious about how she felt.

"Great!" A bright smile lit up across Elise's face as she scooted over next to her leader and looked over her shoulder. "Open it! Come on! It's really good and-" She was cut off, Kagami putting a hand on her forehead and pushing her away.

"And you love to read and it's really good." She rolled her eyes back at the farm girl before reaching over and grabbing her book. She gave a quick glance at Elise and took a deep breath before she opened it up.

It creaked as it opened, the pages stuff and binding old and hard. It had the smell of books too. The fresh smell of paper followed by the deep scent of ink and the musty smell of old leather. The book alone had a history on itself.

In an instant, Elise was leaning over Kagami's shoulder again as the owner of the journal opened it up to the second page.

"Just one more, okay?" Kagami mumbled, her voice coming off a little shy as she looked over at Elise. When she did so, the young girl was smiling from ear to ear as her eyes darted from the left to the right.

Being brought up with stories of all kinds, and a few she forgot, Elise was completely ecstatic. She just wanted to read and read until her mind couldn't handle anymore. Reading was a way to escape when she wasn't able to go outside. Plus, she couldn't lie, she was curious about it all. Expecially as she kept on reading.

You tell me to believe

But why don't you see

I don't know why I'm fighting

I don't know why I'm trying

I don't get why I must have faith in believing

How am I suppose to believe without a drive?

How am I suppose to have faith with nowhere to strive?

What war, what battle, what loyalty even?

All I understand is what it feels like to be be abandoned

Alone, there was no one to turn to

And no one for me to be true to

Trust me dear mother I love you all the same

But do tell me why the hell I keep fighting everyday

There isn't any room for believing-nope!

There's no chance for faith when there's no hope

I don't get the cry of glory

Not even a friendship story

I am the queen, sitting on an ice cold throne

Only understanding how to cope, by being alone

Once she finished, Elise blinked softly and glanced up over at her team leader. "Is that... you?"

Kagami glanced up at her, shutting the book with a sigh. "It was me. A long time ago."

"And now?" She raised an eyebrow, her eyes showing she was concerned. "What about now?"

"Now..." She trailed off, sighing slightly before looking over at her. She then gave a soft smile. "Now I'm different."

"How much different?" The brunet asked in a small and hushed tone.

The jade haired girl just smiled a little more, leaning back against the wall. She held her book on her lap and looked over. "A lot."

In the present, Elise grunted softly as she wasl pushed back by an Atlasian Knight. She glared up, swinging her baton around before ramming it in the unprotected lower abdomen of the robot. It froze for a moment before it flickered and flinched. A few sparks danced from it as she jerked her baton out, the machine collapsing. Her eyes then went wide at the shadow coming up behind her.

Her head snapped back, seeing a Knight come charging at her. She gritted her teeth, hands going for her rifle. At the speed she was going, she knew she was going way to slow to shoot it before it got to her.

Before the metal creation could touch her though, there was a sound of metal on metal as the robot froze. The dim red light faded from its face before the head slowly fell off of the body as it fell down.

Behind it, Kagami stood with her sword in hand, arm outstretched. She glanced up at Elise, standing up straight. She gave a faint smile, twirling the blade around a bit. "You should try to be more careful."

Elise just rolled her eyes, lifting up her rifle and aiming for her teammate.

The leader calmly bent forward, letting several darts rain across her head and strike the Atlasian Knight coming up behind her. The second the darts struck, sparks danced from them and shorted out the metallic monster.

"And you should learn to watch everything and not get distracted." Elise rested her rifle on her shoulder with a smirk.

Kagami just shrugged, a smile forming across her face. "Isn't that what friends are for? To watch your back."

"You know," Dion mumbled, holding out a scroll with a red screen on it and a chess piece. "Aside from the little pieces of scraps being so easily taken down," He looked over at Eri who had her arms crossed. "The virus seems to work rather well."

Eri sighed, shaking her head as the two of them stood in the distance, watching the eight students fight up against several Knights in an old and sketchy part of Vale City."I could make this so much easier and we wouldn't have to waste so many resources."

"Party pooper..." He mumbled back, running his fingers through his purple hair.

"So these are the new defenders Atlas had come up with?" Prac raised an eyebrow, lifting up a Knight by the head as it flailed its arms and legs around. He sighed, crushing it with pure strength.

Fid grabbed the arms of one, ripping it clean off before it could fire its gun. "They are rather poorly made."

"The only problem is the numbers of them." Fif added before her brought his foot up, kicking the chest of a Knight in.

"They are rather cheaply made..." Cheyenne muttered, firing at one of the robots before turning around to see another face to face with her. She quickly held out her arm and grabbed the wrist of it. She took a deep breath, the metal slowly rusting away. She jerked her head around, looking around quickly before raising her rifle again. "Maya! Get down!"

Maya glanced over at her with raised eyebrows. She then quickly jumped down onto the ground just as a blast from an Atlaian Knight shot over her head. A moment later, there was another blast, this one from Cheyenne, shot over her head. Maya looked up, smiling softly before she jumped to her feet. "Thanks!" She called out.

As the wave of machines came to an end, Kagami blinked slowly as she looked around. "Where's... Kris!?" Her voice shot up with panic.

Said red head was glaring from the top of a building down at Eri. "No one... and I mean no one insults me. No one." She mumbled before jumping down. She pulled out her weapons, letting blades come out the ends as she held them like tonfas. "I'm going to show you what ugly looks like!" She snapped.

Eri sighed a bit before grinning like a devil. She glanced up, letting her blonde hair flow all around her. Her apple red eyes dimmed to a bloody rage color. "I was hoping you would try something like this." She muttered. She flicked her wrist, three claws coming out of her gauntlets.

The two candy cane blades clashed with the claws, metal grinding against metal. Kris gritted her teeth, pushing her weapons forward as hard as I could. "Take back what you said."

"Take back what?" Eri smiled, jerking her arms back as she took several quick steps away. "The fact you look like some five year old drew with crayons on your face?"

The red head growled deeply, charging with her green eyes full of rage.

The short blonde just smiled. She side stepped Kris' weapons as she stuck her foot out. "Whoops!" She muttered, letting her left hand swipe the air. She grinned, watching the claws tear the fabric of a black hoodie followed by flesh.

Kris' eyes went wide as she stumbled forward. She gritted her teeth as she got her balance back. She glared down at her left shoulder, staring at the three red lines. She glared up, only to see a large fist made of ice strike her. It sent her flying back towards the other group of seven.

"And there goes the ball!" Dion called out, grinning with a hand up and blocking the light from his eyes.

"Christmas!" Cheyenne called out, quickly rushing over to where Kris skidded to a stop on the ground.

Kagami quickly followed, Elise rushing over behind her.

"What... the hell...?" Kris muttered, slowly standing up. One hand gripped her bleeding arm tight as she glared. "How the hell did-"

"How the hell did cut through your aura?" Eri chuckled, smiling at the red stained metal of her weapon. "Let's just say, these were made to do that. So I can do this!" She drove the bloody gauntlet into the ground. A bright red and gold demonic glyph appeared around where she stabbed. A moment later, a black figure slowly rose from the ground. After a moment, the figure started to gain features. Kris' featured. But rather than tinting with red hair, it started to gain bright green hair, red eyes, a green shirt, red pants, and a white pair of boots along with a white zipper hoodie.

Prac blinked once, his eyes wide before he took a step back. "What..."

Fid did the same, his eyes even wider than his brother. "...the..."

Fif was practically trembling as his shoulders dropped down. "...hell...?"

The green version of Kris just grinned as the glyph below her faded away. She stretched out her arms a bit, taking a few steps. "Well hello." She chuckled with a demented voice. "The name's Crumpus Grinch." She stretched out her shoulders. "Not like it matters. You'll be dead soon."

"Okay..." Maya blinked rapidly, taking a few steps back. "This is by far... one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen."

Kris was silent, gritting her teeth as she gripped onto her arm tighter. It was stinging like someone had poured lemon juice across it.

Kagami noticed that, quickly looking over at Cheyenne. "Tend to her arm." She mumbled, looking over at the Varken brothers. "You three, take the shirtless man." She then looked between Elise and Maya. "Take Crumpus."

"And you're going to fight the blonde menace alone?" Elise raised an eyebrow, her eyes full of concern. "Are you sure-"

Kagami simply nodded, eyes narrowed at Eri as she gripped her sword tight. "Trust me." She looked back over at Elise. "Trust me, please."

Elise blinked a few times before slowly nodding. She then grinned, looking over at Kris' double. "I think I'm going to enjoy this."

As the two of them spoke, the three Varken brothers all calmly walked up to Dion. Each of their arms were crossed.

"Well, well, well," Dion chuckled, flexing the muscles in his chest. "You three are some rather large fellas." He cracked his knuckles, letting the circles on his gloves glow before he formed ice all around his body. In a few seconds, he was a large Alpha Ursa made of ice. "Now this will be fun." He grinned from inside, looking out of the eyes like they were his own. "Hope you boys are ready."

The three brothers glanced at each other before they grinned.

"Now Ice Man," Prac held up a hand with a grin.

Fid just chuckled, putting his hands behind his head. "There are few people who get to see us at our best."

"And since we feel like being generous today..." Fif smiled, looking over at Prac.

Prac held out his arms, Fif grabbing his left while Fid grabbed his right. Rock slowly started to form around them until they were a giant rock monster. Prac was in the head, eyes narrowed as he moved the legs around.

"You know what's nice about controlling the elements?" Prac asked.

Fid smiled, letting flames appear in the right hand of the rock giant. "We don't have to use Dust for power."

"We are the power!" Fif grinned, talking water from the air as it started to swirl around the left fist.

"And you're about to see what the Varken family can actually do!" The three of them all snapped at the same time, the rock creature they were in readying itself in a fighting stance.

Dion blinked a few times, the head of the ice Grimm tilting its head. "You three... talk really funny." He mumbled.

As the four of them charged at each other, Elise was grinning next to Maya as they stood in front of the green haired double.

"You know," Elise smiled, holding her air compressed rifle tight. "I've always wanted to shoot you in the face. Well... I DID want to all the time. Now it's a come and go feeling."

Crumpus just rolled her eyes, pacing back and fourth at the two of them. "Please, haven't you people ever heard of common sense?" She stopped, turning on her heels to glare at the two. "There is always something about doubles that make us stronger."

"And in every book I have read," The brunet narrowed her eyes. "There's a weakness too."

"And how would you know that? Hm?" She raised an eyebrow. "All you ever do is read and read. Yet you still can't even pass a test."

Maya quickly shot Elise a look, holding up her fist. "She's going to have the memories of Kris. You can't let her get to you."

Elise gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowing more. "Doesn't matter, either way, I'm going to turn the clone to ash."

"I'm not a clone you know." Crumpus put a hand on her hip, pointing at the young farm girl. "I'm more of an anti version. A clone would be the exact replica." She chuckled. "And here I even thought you were smarter than that."

Elise growled softly, suddenly bolting forward.

Maya sighed, her shoulders dropping before she ran after her. "Or don't listen to me. That's cool too."

A ways away, sitting up against a building, Kris grimaced as Cheyenne took off her hoodie and rolled up her sleeve. "Ow... OW!" She let out, doing her best to remain still.

Cheyenne just softly sighed, staring at the wound. She tilted her head slightly, seeing green start to form over it. "Listen, I don't know what in the world she cut you with, but it's becoming infected really quick." She muttered, suddenly rummaging through her pockets.

"What are you doing...?" The red head raised an eyebrow.

The Faunus looked up, blinking a few times as she pulled out some gauze from her pockets. "I always have random stuff in my pockets." She then pulled out a screwdriver followed by string, paper clips, a miniature bottle of shampoo, a half eaten gronalo bar and a set of orange buttons.

Kris blinked rapidly before tilting her head. "Do you... always have that stuff?" She raised her other eyebrow.

Cheyenne gave a small shrug. "It changes from day to day. I just grab whatever and stuff them in here. I learned to do it while growing up. I needed everything I could."

Kris just nodded softly, slowly looking over at Kagami and Eri. "You think she'll be okay...?" She mumbled.

"She said trust her." She glanced over before picking up the bottle of shampoo. She then grabbed the sleeve of Kris' hoodie. "Now... this may sting a bit. But it's all I got to clean it."

The small girl gritted her teeth a little, quickly nodding as she shut her eyes.

"So," Eri grinned, stretching out her arms as she flung the blood off of her claws. "You think you can stop me by yourself. You saw what happened to your friend. One cut and she was down."

Kagami's eyes narrowed as she held up her sword, her jaw clenched. "That won't happen."

"And what makes you so sure?" She tilted her head.

"Because," She tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword. "I know exactly what I'm fighting for now."

"And what's that?" Eri let her blonde hair fall around her face as she got down in a low crouch.

Kagami simply smriked, pushing off with her back foot and running forward. "Wouldn't you like to know!"