A/N: Morning, everyone, and guess what? It's officially Shark Week, so how about we get down to the REAL meat of what was teased last week, huh? I promised you Street Sharks, so it's time I delivered! But before we do, I wanted to give you a little bonus; my idea on who would VOICE the characters! Meant to do this last week, but ended up slipping my mind. So, they are as follows;

Dominique/Thrasher-Kimberly Brooks

Calisto/Lunge-Tara Strong

Roxy/Stripes-Kelly Hu

Jetta/Crunch-Grey Griffin

Alright, now that we know who I would choose to voice them, let's see them in action, shall we? This is…

Chapter 44: STREET SHARKS!

…..

Half an hour ago…

In the hull of Khyber's ship, the team of villainous individuals had gathered in a spacious meeting room to talk about the operation they were set to pull off. At a large, round table, Rojo, Cinder, Mercury, Animo and Watts all sat patiently, waiting for Khyber to explain. Meanwhile, surrounding the table, the newly mutated women were all standing, towering over their new allies. The room was only faintly lit by a light coming from the center, so the shadows made the four mutated women even more intimidating and frightening.

And Mercury had to admit, it put him a bit on edge. The three women who'd felt him up him only mere moments before… were now huge, sharp-toothed, shark mutants. He glanced over his shoulder as he felt a piercing gaze going through him… only to be met with the Hammerhead who was once Calisto. Mercury's eyes widened fearfully as she smiled and waved playfully at him, showing off her new chompers. "Hey there, stud. How d'ya like the new look?"

"It's… a look, I'll say that much." Mercury replied. "A-Are you even able to see forward?"

"Oh yeah, my eyes are slanted forward enough for me to see fine." Calisto assured, stepping closer to the nerve-wracked young assassin. "And ya wanna know what I see?"

Mercury gulped, afraid to ask. "W-What?"

All of a sudden, Calisto lowered her head down so that one side of her hammer head was in front of Mercury's chest, effectively pinning him against his chair as her large, clawed hand came around to his shoulder. "Mmm… I see a nice, juicy boy who'd probably get a kick outta some shark tail. Rawr!"

As if taking that as their cue, Jetta and Roxy both came up to Mercury as well, standing on either side of his hair. "Hmhmhm! Ooh, yeah, this whole mutation thing could make that a WHOLE lot more interesting." Roxy the Tiger Shark chuckled.

"Heh, c'mon there, big boy." The Goblin Shark known as Jetta cooed, her hands moving across Mercury's chest as her long nose brushed against his chin. "How 'bout after the mission we get REALLY freaky?"

"OY!" At that point, Mercury was thanking every god he could think of as Dominique came over, the Great White getting control of her pack. "You sheilas betta' break it up before I bash your heads! You're givin' the poor boy a heart attack!" She thrust her hand to Mercury, who looked like he was about to have an episode. "Honestly, we're sharks! Ya think anyone's gonna wanna get in the sack with a flippin' shark?!"

The three women eyed one another silently before giving her a shrug. "Eh, ya never know." Jetta replied.

"I've heard of weirder kinks." Roxy added.

"I doubt that." Dominique deadpanned. "Anyways, wait 'til yer all back to normal… then you can hit on 'im."

The three shark women all beamed in excitement while Mercury paled at the thought. "NOT HELPING!"

Just then, Cinder clapped her hands, creating a burst of flame in the process. "Alright, if the peanut gallery is done with the entertainment, perhaps we can FINALLY get down to business?" The four sharks and Mercury all stood at attention, though it was evident that the ladies weren't too pleased by Cinder's order. "Hm, thank you." The Fall Maiden's gaze went to the head of the table as Khyber stepped out of the shadows, placing his hands on its surface.

"I will make this brief, as we're running on limited time." Khyber started before reaching to the center of the table, pushing a button that activated a holo-projector. From there, an image of a small machine popped up, piquing the group's interest. "This is a special miniature particle accelerator that one of our benefactors needs to complete a project of his. It is exceedingly rare, but he's managed to find one."

"Okay." Rojo nodded. "So what's the problem?"

"He requires a certain type of currency to exchange for the accelerator." Khyber explained. "The species who has possession of it will only accept bars of Earth gold for it. Five hundred bars, in fact."

Watt's eyes widened considerably. "FIVE HUNDRED bars of GOLD?! Dear lord, this must be a rare piece if they want that much."

"You would be rich five times over with that much gold!" Animo exclaimed. "But… why Earth bars, specifically? I'm certain that gold must be abundant on other planets as well?"

"Yes… but these aliens prefer Earth gold." Khyber went on, gesturing with his hand. "It has a certain… taste to it that they prefer over other planets."

Everyone in the room felt their jaws hit the floor at that statement. "…You're kidding, right?" Cinder muttered.

"You're telling me they EAT the gold?!" Roxy shouted.

Calisto smacked her forehead. "What a waste—OW!" She shook her hand, surprised at how hard her head was now. "I mean, I get it, aliens are WAY different from humans, but… damn, all that gold just to EAT it?"

But Rojo raised her hands. "Hey, hey, let's not fly off the handle here. Remember; we're the ones running this heist." Her lips curled into a knowing smirk. "So… we could always take more than we need, if ya catch my drift." The shark women all broke out into big, toothy smirks at that suggestion, with Cinder and Mercury also interested. "Yeah, NOW you're gettin' it!"

Dominique rubbed her hands together eagerly, a chuckle escaping her lips. "Hmhmhm, okay, sounds like a plan." She turned toward her gang and put her fist in. "Alright, Street Sharks, let's rip things up!"

The sharks all bumped fists with her with a resounding; "YEAH!"

"Very good!" Animo approved, clapping his hands together. "But before we get things underway, I must ask… would you like codenames to compliment your new forms?"

The shark ladies were all surprised by the suggestion, but Watts nodded in agreement. "It would only be fitting, as every mutant we've created so far has adopted a new name for themselves." He extended a hand to them. "Your forms my be temporary, but a different, more threatening name would certainly help regardless."

"Hmm… you've got a point there, mate." Dominique scratched her cheek in thought. "I'd say that makes sense, but if we're gonna have new names… they can't be the ones used by the ACTUAL Street Sharks." After a few moments of mulling it over, a certain word entered Dominique's head and she jabbed a thumb to her chest. "I've got it! Instead of "Ripster", call me "Thrasher"!"

"Ooh, not a bad one, Dom!" Calisto commended. "Sharks can rip, but they also thrash a lot…" The former blonde put a finger to her chin, thinking of her own name. "Hm… so instead of "Jab"… how about I call myself "Lunge" instead?"

Roxy pointed her finger at her head while smiling at her cohort. "Hey, good thinking, Cali. After all, lunging is like an even worse jab, so it fits." Her eyes went down to her arms, taking note of her stripes. "Well, instead of "Blades", I think I'll go by "Stripes". Might be a bit on the nose, but I think it works…" Finally, the three newly named sharks set their sights onto Jetta. "And that just leave you, Jet. Can't really call ya "Big Slammu", obviously."

Jetta scratched her nose, which wasn't exactly easy to do. "Yeah, I'm not even a Whale Shark… what do Goblin Sharks do again?"

Animo raised a single finger with a manic grin. "Ah, well, they actually have a unique ability to unhinge their jaws and send them flying forward OUT of their mouth, allowing them to capture prey quite easily." The Street Sharks were all left stunned by that revelation, but Animo nodded to them. "Yes, it's strange, but very true."

"Uh… okay." Jetta took a couple steps back so she was a good distance away from everyone, taking a deep breath to prepare herself. "…Here I go!" She opened her mouth and then… SNAP! All at once, Jetta's teeth and gums suddenly ejected past her lips, flinging out and then snapping shut in one big bite. The villains all gasped aside from Khyber, who didn't even flinch as Jetta's teeth retracted back into her mouth. "WOAH-HO-HO! Did you guys see that?!" Jetta laughed in amusement, pumping her fists into the air. "What a crunch! …Hey! I think that'll be my name! "CRUNCH"!"

The Street Sharks all clapped for their friend as they joined her, with Dominique giving her a pat on the back. "Hey, there ya go! Crunch is a great name, Jet. So, now that we're all settled on that…" Thrasher took up her axe as Lunge, Stripes and Crunch all pulled out their weapons as well, ready to get started. "Let's show Fort Knox a SHARK ATTACK they won't believe!"

"I can get behind that." Rojo approved before taking out her phone to make a call. "Now, lemme just get in touch with our contact on the inside. Once she takes care of the security system, that's when we move in…"

…..

Present…

Ben Tennyson could still feel the uncomfortable twisting in his gut at what he saw before him. The four thieves who they were so close to beating and catching earlier… were now the latest batch of Animo's mutant experiments. The fact that they were working with the Ministry was also very concerning, but what made him the most upset was that these women had taken the form of a team of heroic cartoon characters… and twisted it into something evil. That just did NOT sit right with him. "I… I seriously CAN'T believe you!"

"What, Tennyson?" Thrasher asked as she spun her axe, all while her teammates chortled evilly. "That we broke into Fort Knox? Please, like we're gonna let quote; "the best security system in the world" stop us."

The hero simply scowled and shook his head at them. "Now, that's not it. Like Rojo said, she's done this before. What I can't believe is that you four took the name "Street Sharks" and just ran it straight through the mud!" He pointed to the quartet in ire. "You've taken the forms of three heroes and an IMPOSTER and desecrated their awesome 90's memory!"

Gwen's eyes widened at what her cousin just said. "Wait… you're telling me that these girls mutated into sharks… because of ANOTHER cartoon?!"

"Yep, Street Sharks." Rex affirmed. "One of the MANY mutant animal cartoons that tried to ride the trend that TMNT had created back in the day. It was actually one of the more successful ones, too."

The Anodite slapped her forehead in disbelief. "You've gotta be—why do ALL of our villains base their mutations off cartoons?! What's next, are we ACTUALLY gonna get ninja turtles next?!"

If anything, this just made the Street Sharks laugh. "Ahaha! Just the generation we grew up in, sweetheart." Lunge waved off. "You've gotta lighten up a bit, ya seem pretty tense."

"Yeah, and why do you think we TOOK these forms in the first place, Tennyson?" Roxy added, eyeing Ben specifically. "Because we're big fans of the Street Sharks, too!"

"Only now, we're takin' a more realistic approach!" Crunch slammed the butt end of her spear on the ground, making the pavement crack. "After all, sharks ARE a big threat to humans, ain't they?"

But Kevin rolled his eyes in disgust. "Please! Fewer people die from sharks per year than you think." He thrust his hand up into the air. "Hell, people die more from spiders, scorpions and mosquito bites than shark attacks."

The Street Sharks were taken aback by the statistic he listed, which Rex couldn't help but smirk at. "Heh, surprised? Yeah, I was too when I heard that. But hey, you cause more deaths than bears, so there's that."

"Gah… I… SHUT UP!" Thrasher lifted her axe above her head and its blade started glowing bright red as it powered up. She brought it down with a heavy WHAM, and all at once, a huge fissure opened in the pavement and a burst of flame was sent rocketing at the team. The Omni-Hunters all yelped and got out of the way, but this just made the Great White all the angrier. "I don't care WHAT sorta statistic ya try ta' throw at us! Point still stands that WE'RE the apex predators of the ocean, an' we're meanin' ta' rip ya to SHREDS!"

"I'm game for that!" Lunge clanged her hammers together, ready to get down to business. "Let's bash these kids' brains in already."

Ruby stepped up in defiance. "Like we're gonna let that happen! We're stopping you here and now!"

At that moment, Rojo, Cinder and Mercury came up as well, the former laughing at the Hooded Huntress' words. "Ahaha! You can try, Little Red, but I'm thinkin that we've actually got the big advantage here…" She pointed toward the main entrance. "Especially since we're not the ONLY ones here!"

HONK-HONK!

Everyone snapped their heads around just in time to see a large Humvee come revving through the already destroyed front gate, its passengers whooping and hollering as they arrived. And, riding in the roof-less vehicle were none other than Exo-Skull and Thunderhog, their bulky truck screeching to a halt as they skid across the pavement before jumping out altogether. The mutant duo slammed feet-first on the ground, with Hog taking out his mace with a laugh. "AhahaHA! Surprise, bitches! We're still here!"

The sharks all groaned at once. "Much to our chagrin." Stripes grumbled.

"We need them if this operation is to be a success." Cinder reminded.

Crunch growled at that. "Well yeah… but the pig guy is still a creep."

Exo-Skull went to all fours and started padding the ground with his hand, getting ready to charge. "You heroes might've gotten lucky all those times in the past, but now, it's time to get serious!" He zeroed in on Ben, Yang and Neptune. "The boss wasn't happy when you ruined his plans in Mexico, an' Lady Salem ain't exactly too fond of ya either, so we're gonna show you what we're REALLY made of!"

Jaune brought out Crocea Mors, all while his team followed his lead with their own weapons. "Ben, Skull sounds pretty serious here. I'm thinking they must be pretty confident with their chances."

"The new mutants must be bolstering their attitudes a bit." Ben deduced before smirking and setting his hand on the Omnitrix. "But don't worry. With me around, we'll—"

"AAAUGH!" Without warning, Blake let out a shriek and stumbled a little, her hands snapping up to her cat ears to cover them. "B-Ben! He's here!" she warned.

The heroes' eyes widened. He got so distracted by the sharks that he forgot Rojo said that Khyber was here. Ben whirled around, scanning the area for any signs of the hunter's dog… and then he saw it. The creature was glaring down at him from the roof of Fort Knox before it let out a howl and a red light flashed from the Nemetrix on its collar. In an instant, the thing transformed into the Buglizard again, its howl becoming a roar before it leaped off the roof and darted toward the battlefield, its fangs barred and ready to hunt. "…Crapbaskets."

"Don't worry, dude." Rex assured, placing his hand on Ben's shoulder. "I'll help ya out with the mutt." Ben sent a grateful smile to the EVO before Rex glanced to the rest of the team. "Think you guys can take the rest of the Ministry?"

"Well, we don't really have much of a choice." Ilia resigned as she brought out her Lightning Lash, pointing it straight at Thunderhog and Exo-Skull. "Penny, Sun, Neptune, let's take Skull and Hog to the cleaners."

Sun spun Ryui-Jingu Bang around, standing next to the chameleon girl as they stared down the pig mutant. "Hey, I'm game."

"Sounds optimal!" Penny concurred, bringing out her Mechano-Crushers. "Neptune, we will engage Exo-Skull!"

Neptune's eyes became the size of saucers at that. "W-We will?! Er—I mean… yeah! We will!" He brought out Tri-Hard in guandao form whilst thinking to himself; 'Here's hoping Skull's all bark and no bite, though…'

Just as the Buglizard had entered the fray and went directly for Ben and Rex, Gwen was about to go help them as well… only for Cinder to cross her path. The Fall Maiden created a wall of fire, separating the Anodite from her cousin. "We have some unfinished business, Gwen Tennyson." Cinder's eyes flared up with her Maiden powers before creating a pair of obsidian blades. "I have not forgotten how you humiliated me in Mistral."

Gwen placed her hands on her hips defiantly. "Wow, STILL hung up about that, huh? Hey, not MY fault that you got screwed over by Michael. He does that to everyone."

"On that, we can agree." Cinder popped a few muscles in her neck. "But WE still have a score to settle."

'More like YOU have a score to settle, but whatever.' Gwen rolled her eyes before entering her Anodite form, creating a mana blade out of her arm. "Fine, but if you're using your Maiden powers, I'm not holding back either!"

As that was happening, Kevin came face to face with Mercury, the young assassin glaring at the Osmosian. Kevin simply wore an amused smirk, knowing exactly which card to pull next. "Huh, would ya look at that? The guy who got punked by the Feathered Serpent AND still sounds like Tennyson. Honestly, don't know how your life can get crappier, dude." But, much to his surprise… Mercury simply didn't respond, instead choosing to close his eyes and take a deep breath. Kevin was VERY confused. "Uh… any comebacks? Maybe a bit of growling?"

"I'm not angry, Levin." Mercury replied in a deathly calm voice, taking a fighting stance. "I've been going through some intense training to help me focus my anger in a better way; through combat." He glared at the Osmosian through his bangs. "But not blindly anymore. Khyber's been teaching me how to let my anger flow through me and use it to my advantage, not have others use it for theirs."

"…Man, you're no fun anymore." Kevin absorbed the pavement and created a mace from his right hand. "Still gonna kick your ass, though."

As those four began fighting, Winter was met with Rojo, the bounty hunter wearing an amused smile. "Huh, Ironwood's pretty little lapdog, eh?" Rojo pulled her sword off her shoulder and threw it up into the air, catching it before pointing it at Winter. "I think I can have a little fun with you."

Winter took her secondary blade out of the primary one, taking a battle stance. "Don't count on it, Rojo. Your friends may be vicious predators, but I will not allow you to steal this nations' gold supply."

"Hm, we'll see about that…" Rojo smirked before raising Bloodstrike and charging directly at Winter, starting their own battle.

…..

As that battle began, though, Teams RWBY and JNPR found themselves in a tight spot. "Well… I guess that leaves us with them." Ruby deduced as Thrasher, Lunge, Stripes and Crunch approached all eight teens, who had all gathered up with their weapons drawn. "I'm thinking we should double up and take one shark each!"

"Good idea." Weiss approved, stepping next to her partner. "Let's take them!"

"Er… actually, I had a bit of an idea, Weiss." Ruby clarified, earning the others' confusion. "You remember how Six was suggesting that we should all change dance partners from time to time." She pointed between herself as well as the rest of the two teams. "Well, I'd say we mix things up a bit right now and see how RWBY and JNPR do when we're working with each other. Whaddya say?"

The seven teens were quite surprised by the suggestion, with Pyrrha pondering on it. "Hm… you do make a point, Ruby. The eight of us alone haven't exactly had an opportunity to fight alongside one another recently."

"Yeah, whenever we have, it's always been with other members of the team." Nora agreed before lifting her hammer in approval. "I say let's do it!"

Jaune gave a shrug. "A bit unpredictable… but I like the sound of it." He reached out and offered a fist to Ruby. "I assume you want us to double up based on our strengths, right?"

"You betcha!" Ruby returned the fist bump gleefully. "Jaune, you're with me! We're gonna take on Thrasher."

"Gotcha, I—wait, what?" Jaune's eyes nearly bugged out of his head the second he heard they'd be taking on the biggest shark woman out of the bunch. The Great White was glaring almost hungrily at them, licking her lips in anticipation. "…R-Right, sure, makes sense." he mumbled before he gulped.

Pyrrha went over to Weiss, giving her a smile and a small bow. "Given that we're our teams' respective second-in-command, I suppose it only makes sense for us to team up, Weiss." She raised her hand, offering a high five to the former heiress. "I will count on you to watch my back out there."

With a slight blush on her cheeks, Weiss reached out and returned the high five. "O-Oh, right! Of course, and I will be certain you'll do the same for me." In her head, however, Weiss was having a mini-celebration. 'YES! I get to finally team up with PYRRHA! Oh, this is so exciting, I-I have to make sure I don't screw this up…' The white-haired girl raised Myrtenaster up to Stripes, who was shuddering in anticipation. "Let's see if you can measure up to me NOW, Roxy."

Blake went over to Ren and lightly bumped his elbow, garnering his attention. The cat girl then nudged her head in Crunch's direction, the Goblin Shark woman breathing heavily out of her mouth. "Ren, listen, Crunch might look hideous, but she isn't the brightest member of this team." She raised a knowing brow to him, wearing a small smirk. "So I figure that if we can misdirect her, she won't have any idea what to do."

"Toying with her until her frustration becomes her own undoing." Ren surmised before grinning to her in approval. "I like it, let's do it."

Finally, Yang and Nora met one another, the two powerhouses already popping some muscles to loosen up. "So, here we are, the two ladies who carry their teams on their backs." Yang quipped with a mirthful grin.

"Both figuratively AND literally." Nora giggled, using her hammer as a base to stretch out her back. She set her eyes over to Lunge, who was focusing in on them. "And once again, we're the ones who've gotta handle the tough one of the group."

"Well, technically, the tough one's Thrasher, but Lunge is a close second." Yang explained as she cracked her knuckles. "But she's a brawler too, AND she's got hammers, so this is a pretty fitting fight."

Nora pumped a fist and readied Magnhild, the ladies taking battle stances. "Heck yeah! Hammer vs Hammerhead! Let's do this! GYAAAAAH!" Both Nora and Yang let out simultaneous battle cries as they charged at Lunge, who roared and began sprinting directly toward them as well.

None of the others did the same, but they figured now was as good a time as any. "Well, guess that's our cue!" Ruby concluded. "Let's go!" And, with another round of battle cries, the mixed up teams of RWBY and JNPR clashed with the Street Sharks, officially beginning the massive battle.

…..

Surprisingly, while Nora and Yang had charged in first, it was actually Blake and Ren who had met with their opponent before the other two. Blake leapt into the fray with Gambol Shroud unsheathed and ready to strike, though she quickly found that Crunch's reflexes were also surprisingly fast. The Goblin Shark mutant had gotten her spear up just in time to parry the strike, the two butting heads as they did.

"Ha! Not gonna get the jump on me THIS time, cat girl!" Crunch pushed Blake away hard, though the young Faunus was able to gain her balance and start flipping back several times before landing on her feet. "Not gonna get away that eas—" CRACK! "OOCH!"

From the side, Ren came flying in and delivered a kick to Crunch's side, knocking her away and causing her to tumble. He took out Storm Flower and rushed her, slicing at her clammy skin and making her recoil in pain. "Actually, she will get away that easy."

"GAH! Why you little…" Crunch wiped at her bloody shoulder and raised her spear, which started crackling with electricity. "You'll pay for that!" POW! POW! POW! Like small rumbles of thunder, the spear started shooting out bolts of lightning at the two stealthy Hunters, making them double back to avoid the surges. They tried to return fire with their own weapons, but Crunch simply shot the rounds out of the air with her lightning bolts, making her laugh again. "AHAHA! Oh man, Backbiter, I am in love with you."

"She has a name for it already." Blake grumbled. "Fantastic."

All at once, Crunch charged at the two with her spear held up right at them, forcing the duo to make a swift retreat. But even then, they kept up their attack, with both of them firing their pistols at the large shark woman. …However, they were given a rather grim reminder that Crunch was a Street Shark when she suddenly dove right into the ground itself and started pursuing them with her fin sticking straight up. She also proved to be pretty fast, catching up to Ren before bursting out of the earth below. And then…

SNAP!

"AAAUGH!" Ren screamed as Crunch's jaws flung straight out of her lips and clamped down around his foot, her teeth sinking straight through her pants and into his leg. "AGH! AAAAUUGH! Get off!" He was about to swing Stormflower straight down at her head, but Crunch swung Backbiter up and swiped the weapons out of his hand before he could.

"Hehehe, notch ghonna happhun, lil' bhoy!" Crunch said with her mouth full. "Thime for da DEATH ROLL!" All at once, the Goblin Shark mutant started tumbling around over her back and belly, spinning Ren along the hard ground as she laughed with glee, intent on ripping the foot off all together.

But thankfully, before she could really get going, Blake rushed in and slashed her sword across Crunch's gums, making her shriek and retract them back into her mouth. Blake scooped Ren up and got him away from the scene, concern for the boy etched across her features. "Ren! Oh god, are you okay?"

"I… I-I think so." Ren trembled, still reeling from what almost happened. "I-I can still feel my foot, but… how bad is it?"

Blake bit her lip, glancing down to the wound. "…Your pantleg is almost completely red."

"Oh… great."

"You BITCH!" Blake spun her head back around to see Crunch rubbing her mouth in pain, glowering straight at her. "You know how big of a canker sore that's gonna leave?!" Crunch pressed a button on her spear and threw it up into the air, where it transformed into a sniper rifle. She caught it in her hand and took aim. "Now I'm REALLY gonna keelhaul ya!"

"…You've gotta be kidding." Blake took hold of Ren's shoulder and focused on her Semblance. "Hold on!"

BANG! Crunch took the shot and a Lightning Dust Round made a direct hit with Blake and Ren… or at least the shadow clones of them that Blake had left behind. The Goblin Shark mutant snarled at the dissipating fakes and whipped herself around, calling for the duo. "COWARDS! Come out and show yourselves!"

"Gladly." SHINK!

"GRAAAUUGH!" Crunch bellowed in pain as her fin was sliced through a bit, leaving two small notches. She whipped around and was surprised to see Ren standing behind her, armed with Stormflower once again. "W-What?! How did you—ACK!" She was cut off when the ninja started firing on her, forcing her to cover her face.

Ren dashed to the side, all while ignoring the intense pain that was going up his leg. 'Jaune will heal it later, Jaune will heal it later.' he kept reminding himself in his agony. He got in close to Crunch and started battering her in the gut with his weapons, only to jump back as she brought her rifle down to hit him. "Blake can be pretty fast when she wants to be, you know."

Crunch held her now scarred midsection, barring her teeth. "Like I care! Far as I'm concerned, you're ALL gonna be chum!" WOOSH! "H-Huh?!"

Without warning, Blake suddenly appeared right in front of her, the huntress' arms crossed defiantly. "Is that so?" Crunch roared and went to bash Blake's head in… only for her to use her semblance at the last possible second, trapping her arms in a shadow clone ice sculpture in her own likeness. Blake reappeared behind Crunch the next second. "Because I really don't wanna be your "chum"." Blake went to deal the finishing blow with Gambol Shroud… only for Crunch to pull her arms up and smack the cat girl with her own ice duplicate. "AAGH!"

The sculpture shattered and Blake was sent barreling across the ground, landing in a heap next to Ren. "Blake!" the ninja knelt down, wincing as his leg nearly buckled.

"AHAHA!" Crunch shifted Backbiter back into spear mode and held it right over her head, its tip ready to come straight down onto the duo. "Not so tough now, are ya, kitty? RRAUGH!" With a powerful thrust, Crunch stabbed her spear down… only to hit nothing as a burst of smoke unexpectedly exploded in her face. "ACK—Hak-hak-hak! What the hell?!" She wafted the smoke away, and as she thought, Blake and Ren used that opportunity to escape.

Then, a mere instant later, the duo appeared right at her sides, slashing their weapons across her arms. "We're not done yet!" Blake snapped back.

…..

As that was happening, Weiss and Pyrrha were already engaged with Stripes, and they had to admit, the mutated woman was pretty fast. She was undoubtedly the most streamlined od the Street Sharks, what with her lithe body and relatively normal form. So the fact that she was able to "swim" circles around them underground didn't come off as TOO surprising. But still, it was starting to get old VERY fast.

"Is she actually going to fight or just play with us the whole time?" Weiss asked rhetorically.

She and Pyrrha were standing back-to-back as Stripes surrounded them, and the Invincible Girl had seen enough as well. "Let's see if I can't coerce her to do something…" She made a couple steps forward, and sure enough, Stripes made a beeline straight for her. "There! Weiss, now!"

With a wave of her weapon, Weiss conjured a gravity glyph directly in Stripes' path, the shark woman smashing head-first into it. A pain-filled roar was heard muffled beneath the ground before the aggravated mutant popped up, rubbing her head painfully. "Gah! Shit, really?! Had to be RIGHT on the head?!" She grumbled as both girls pointed their weapons at her, leading her to flash her new claw weapons. "Ah, whatever! I was gonna surface anyways."

"Where did the four of you even get those weapons?" Weiss demanded an answer. "They look like weapons that would be made on… oh, wait." The former heiress deflated as she remembered why. "That's right, they've got someone who can make portals to here, too."

"Not sure what you're talkin' about, Princess." Stripes grinned maliciously as she eyed her new claws, which had been outfitted with Ice and Fire Dust blades. "But I gotta say, these little things are WAY cool! Gotta thank that Watts guy for settin' me up with these…" With a flick of her wrist, the glove with the Fire Dust started to power up and glow. "But for now… GRAAH!" With an upward swipe of her arm, Stripes sent a powerful, fiery energy slash directly at the two girls.

Pyrrha was about to dodge when Weiss slid out in front of her. "Stay right there!" In the blink of an eye, she summoned another glyph and completely blocked the attack, much to Stripes' chagrin. "I don't think you realize who you're dealing with here, Stripes."

"Oh, I don't? Enlighten me, then."

Weiss placed a hand to her chest proudly. "You're facing off against the very best that the Kingdoms of Atlas…" She gestured over to Pyrrha, who was already in a battle stance. "…and Mistral have to offer. If anyone can stop you, it's us."

"A bit boisterous, but I suppose it's also factual enough." Pyrrha commented before surging forward in a burst of speed. Stripes was taken off guard at how fast the redhead was, especially given all that armor, and barely had any time to block before she got bashed with the Invincible Girl's shield. And, thanks to Pyrrha using her Semblance, the Tiger Shark mutant was sent flying back a fair distance.

"Gah! Oof!" After doing a backward somersault and landing face-first on the ground, Stripes immediately sprang up to her feet, none the worse for wear. "Ha! Not bad, girl—AGH!" The shark once again was only just able to react as Pyrrha pressed up on her again, swinging Milo down for a sudden strike. But Stripes was able to catch the head of the javelin in her hands, right before it could make contact. "Oh come on, can't ya—WOAH!"

Pyrrha wasted no time in sweeping Stripes' legs out from underneath her, sending her crashing to the dirt once again. With a powerful punt kick, Pyrrha then sent the shark tumbling over to Weiss again, who created several glyphs in the air. All of the smaller glyphs took aim and sent a bombardment of energy blasts at the shark woman, leading to a big explosion. Once the dust cleared, it was revealed that Stripes had been frozen in a massive ice block, her mouth open in an angry scream.

"Hm, that oughta cool you down." Weiss quipped with a smirk.

However, from inside her icy prison, Stripes' Fire Dust claws began to light up again, creating heat and making the ice itself start to crack. Before long, that area had fully melted and Stripes was able to break free, sending chunks of ice everywhere and even hitting the two Huntresses. The Tiger Shark mutant stomped to the ground, her anger starting to be pushed to its limits. "Heheh… oh, I'm just gettin' started!" She aimed her fists at the two and started shooting energy blasts from her knuckles, causing the duo to make a mad dash away.

Pyrrha, however, was taken by surprise when she suddenly tripped and fell, landing hard on the pavement. "Ah! W-What—ah!" She gasped when she looked down and saw that she had been hit, her right leg starting to freeze up in a block of ice. "Weiss!"

"Pyrrha, hold on, I—GAH!" But the former heiress was caught off guard as well when a large explosion burst out in front of her, sending her flying before she landed hard on her back. The heiress coughed and hacked, but was still about to get up… only for a massive boot to come down on her chest, forcing all of the wind out of her. "AAGH!"

"Hehe, sorry princess." Stripes chuckled, lowering herself down so she could run one of her claws along Weiss' cheek. "But you really shouldn't underestimate a shark…" She trailed off when she saw Weiss reaching for Myrtenaster, but quickly solved that problem by kicking the weapon away. "Ah-ah-ah! We don't want any more of your little cheap tricks, do we?"

"I… I-I-agh…"

Stripes let out a laugh as Weiss tried to speak, the girl's complexion starting to turn blue. "Hahaha! Oh, this is too good…" She flicked her Ice Dust glove and the claws started glowing, a cold steam wafting off of them as she slowly lowered them toward Weiss' face. "Now, let's she how YOU like bein' an ice sculpture…"

BANG!

"AAAUGH!" Stripes wailed in pain as a bullet grazed over her back, making her stumble off of Weiss. As the white-haired girl coughed and hacked, filling her lungs back up with air, Stripes spun around to see Pyrrha, the Invincible Girl still on the ground, but aiming her rifle at the shark women.

Her leg might've been frozen, but she'd be damned if she'd let one of her friends die. "Get away from her, you… BITCH!"

"Oh, you WANT some of this, Red?!" Stripes challenged. "FINE!" With a mighty roar, the mutant charged directly at Pyrrha, ready to eviscerate the immobile girl. But, just as she made to leap at Pyrrha claws-first, Stripes was caught off guard when Pyrrha mustered all of her strength to roll underneath her, missing the warrior entirely.

And the very second she landed, Pyrrha shifted Milo back into javelin mode and stabbed it right into Stripes' leg, making her belt out a pained roar. "Weiss!"

"Gah… coming!" Weiss picked up Myrtenaster and made a beeline for Pyrrha, spinning the barrel in the weapon's hilt to the Fire Dust setting. The blade began to heat up and, after making it, she stabbed the tip into the ice block around Pyrrha's leg. It shattered instantly and Pyrrha stood up, pumping her leg to get the blood flowing again.

"Hah, thank you, Weiss." Pyrrha sighed in relief.

The former heiress shook her head. "Don't thank me yet. We've still got her to deal with."

"GRRRAAAAAUGH!" Stripes belted out a roar as she snapped both of her wrists, activating her weapons. One hand caught fire while the other froze over entirely in an icy claw, though apparently, she didn't feel any pain from either. "That's IT! I'm tired of dealing with you bitches!"

The Huntresses rolled their eyes at that. "The feeling is mutual!" Pyrrha called back before glancing to Weiss. "How are we going to beat her?"

A smirk took hold of Weiss' lips as she pointed Myrtenaster forward, creating a glyph. "Simple… we get reinforcements."

"I don't care WHAT you do!" Stripes surged forward in a burst of speed, her claws primed and ready as the glyph started spinning faster. "All I know is that I'm gonna rip you girls to PIECES—" THWAM! "AAUGH!"

In the blink of an eye, Weiss' Boarbatusk shot out of the glyph, spinning rapidly as it collided with Stripes. The summoned creature slammed her into a nearby wall, its body grinding against her before leaping back and uncurling into its quadrupedal stance, snorting at Stripes in challenge. "Hm, okay, let's continue." Weiss decided, leading her and Pyrrha to continue their fight.

…..

Meanwhile, across the battlefield, a wide birth had been given to Yang, Nora and Lunge. Everyone knew that their fight would likely be the one that caused the most carnage, so they were all wise to stay away. Still, though, that didn't stop things from being utterly seismic in proportion. Yang and Nora were like two yellow and pink blurs bouncing around the battlefield, with Lunge caught in the middle as they ping-ponged around her. The Hammerhead mutant had tried to get a few good hits in, but the two powerhouses were smart enough to employ a hit and run tactic…

BAM! "ACK! Why you—" POW! "URGH! Are you seri—" CRACK! "SON OF A BITCH!"

Yang couldn't help but laugh at the third consecutive punch in a row. "Haha! What's the matter, Lunge? Gonna admit that I'm the Alpha now?"

"Shut it, Beta Bitch!" Lunge exclaimed, raising her hammer as their rockets began to charge. "You have NO idea what the hell I'm capable of!"

"Eh, I've heard worse threats." Yang shrugged, nudging her head over to Nora. "But let's see if you'd have an easier time with my friend here. …I mean, I doubt it, but hey, take a shot!"

Nora rolled her shoulders and tightened her grip on Magnhild, eager to test her mettle on the mutant. "Don't mind if I do!" Taking her place on the hammer's head, Nora launched herself into the fray and rode on Magnhild through the air, all the way to Lunge. "Your hammers are pretty neat, but…" She flipped in midair and raised her hammer above her head as she came down. "MINE'S BIGGER!"

WHAM!

The Pink Dynamo came crashing in, slamming Magnhild down with enough force to potentially topple a Goliath. But, when the dust cleared, much to her shock… she hadn't hit Lunge. Instead, her hammer just impacted the hole that she likely disappeared into. "…Oh crud."

"Hah, I think you'll find that ISN'T the case!" Nora's eyes widened and she snapped around just in time to see Lunge pop up behind her. Before she could even raise her hammer, Nora saw Lunge pull her head back and shout; "MINE IS BIGGER!" before thrusting forward and headbutting her directly. Nora got the wind effectively knocked out of her as the hammerhead smashed her into the earth below.

"No! NORA!" Yang pumped her arms and blasted herself forward, pulling her hands back for another round of punches. "Get! Off! Of! HER!" With every punch, Yang shot a Dust round at Lunge, who flinched as some almost grazed her.

"Ah! Why you little…" Lunge kicked Nora away and raised her hammers, once again charging their rockets. "Let's see how you handle IMPACTOR!" BOOOOM! All at once, two huge blasts of flame came out of the Impactor hammers, sending Lunge flying straight at Yang to meet her head on. The hammers stopped as soon as they started and the Hammerhead mutant reeled one of her arms back, intent on smashing Yang's head in.

The Blonde Brawler wouldn't have it, though, and she pulled her hand back for a REAL punch. Ember Celica and Impactor met in the middle and a huge concussive wave was sent bursting out all around them. But in the end… the hammers won out. CRACK! "AAAAAGH!" Yang wailed out as she felt her wrist snap, and before long, Lunge swung her other hammer, adding a jolt of Lightning Dust into the mix. Yang was sent straight into the earth below, crying out from the sheer amount of pain she was going through.

But as Lunge landed, she was in a FAR better move. "Hehehe… oh, blondie, too bad. Maybe you can get your boyfriend to kiss it and make it better!"

Yang spat up at her, snarling in retaliation; "Screw off, Wide Eyes."

If anything, though, that just made Lunge laugh more. "Oh-ho, I'm gonna enjoy this." She raised her hammer, once again electrifying it to cause even more harm to her prey. "Might wanna shout a goodbye to your boytoy, blondie, because you ain't gettin' up from this." She was about to swing down… when something jumped up on her back and grabbed her weapon. "H-Huh? What?!"

"I beg to differ!" Nora shouted right next to Lunge's ear, making her double back. But Nora stubbornly held onto the head of the hammer, even as the electricity from it coursed into her arms. Sure enough, the Pink Dynamo's Semblance activated, the lightning changing from yellow to pink as they flowed into her arms. Her eyes lit up pink as well, with sparks flying from them. "Now claws off my FRIEND!"

Lunge snarled as she let go of the hammer entirely, finally getting Nora off her. She flipped her other hammer around and grabbed onto the shotgun handle, aiming the barrel right at Nora. "You're FLIPPED, girlie!"

The shark woman shot several rounds at the redhead, only for her to swing her hammer around and block them. And, with a heavy slam, Nora swung her hammer straight into the pavement, creating a shockwave so powerful that it took Lunge off her feet. "Nah, that's YOU! And YOU'RE not getting up from THIS! GYYYAAAAAAHH!"

Letting out a shrill war cry, Nora leapt up into the air and came careening down onto Lunge, smashing her hammer down right on the shark lady's midsection. The surrounding earth was also upturned by the sheer force of the impact, creating a crater around all three combatants. Yang was actually able get up and dodge at the right time, gritting her teeth through the pain. Thankfully, though, that pain was quickly turning into power for her to use.

Once the dust settled, Nora was revealed standing tall above her opponent… who while definitely banged up, didn't seem all too finished either. In fact, she was holding onto Magnhild's head, all while snarling up at Nora. "HAK-HAK! …Congrats, you hurt me." she coughed before standing up, shoving Nora away. "But if that's your best shot, you damn well wasted it!"

"Nah, that was just part one." Yang came up and grabbed Lunge's shoulder, spinning her around as her Aura flared up and her eyes became red. "LEMME SHOW YA WHAT PART TWO LOOKS LIKE!" Lunge was about to attack… but Yang proved to be faster, using her one good hand to attack. "ORION UPPERCUT!"

WHAM! Lunge counted herself lucky that she didn't bite on her tongue as Yang slammed her fist into her lower jaw, the force of the hit sending her flying high into the sky before coming straight back down. She landed with a hard THUD as Yang dusted off her hand, with Nora zipping up to give her a hug. "HAHAHA! Yang, that was awesome! You really showed her not to mess with ya!"

Yang smiled and pat Nora on the back with her good hand. "Thanks, Nora… agh, just wish I didn't snap my wrist." She winced as she kept her one hand close to her body, hoping not to aggravate it. "We've gotta end this, quick."

"Honestly, I think you just di—oh, no wait, never mind." Nora pointed over to Lunge, who sat straight up in a snap. "She's back up."

"ALREADY?! Crap!" Yang took Nora by the arm and started to run right over to Jaune and Ruby, who weren't too far away. "C'mon, we gotta get to Jaune! I can't fight like this."

…..

The two team leaders, however, were busy with quite the challenge of their own. Of course, Jaune knew that taking on the biggest, strongest, and likely the meanest member of the Street Sharks was probably asking for trouble. But, honestly, he could also see Ruby's logic in wanting him to be with her when fighting the massive mutant. Given her combat skills and his planning skills, there was no way they'd be able to lose. Heck, they could even outsmart the Great White if they had the time.

…Unfortunately, they did NOT have the time, so instead, Jaune was getting rag-dolled. "AAAUGH!" BAM! "AAACK!" WHAM! "WAAAAH!" BOOM! "Ruby, this was—" CRASH! "A BAD IDEA!" KER-SMASH! By the end of everything, Jaune found himself now lodged in the concrete wall that surrounded Fort Knox, his head spinning after his crazy ride. "Oooooh, woozy…"

"Hang on, Jaune!" Ruby reassured as she launched herself on her scythe toward Thrasher, coming in from above. "I'll get us back on track! GYAH!" CLANG! But before she could even hit Thrasher with Crescent Rose, the shark woman spun around and brought up her axe, using it to intercept the scythe. "…Okay, if you weren't holding that weapon, I'd SO be fangirling about it right now."

Thrasher couldn't help but smirk at that. "Ah, like Sawtooth 'ere, do ya? Yeah, she's a beaut, ain't she?" She twisted the axe handle and the blade flared to life, taking Ruby off guard. "Let's see if ya like how she CHEWS on ya!" The Great White mutant shoved Ruby back with her boot and sent a blast of fire at her, only for Ruby to use her Semblance at the last second to avoid it. "Bah, THIS trick again? Ain't ya got somethin' new?"

Ruby reappeared behind her in a flurry of rose petals, quickly taking aim. "Sorry, but my Semblance just works!" BANG! Thrasher let out a pained roar as she got shot, and all at once, a bunch of ice started to freeze over her back. Quickly, the shark woman dove straight underground, stopping the ice from spreading any further.

Jaune had recovered by that point and was holding Crocea Mors in its two-handed mode, on the lookout for the shark lady. "Not gonna lie, diving underground and swimming around us is SUPER unsettling."

Ruby nodded in agreement, keeping track of the rumblings under their feet. She closed her eyes, trying to sense where the next attack would come from. And, even before the fin surfaced, Ruby spun around and slammed the head of her scythe into the dirt, stopping Thrasher before she could get to her. But even then, all that did was make the shark mutant jump back out and swing her axe, batting the scythe away. The Hooded Huntress furrowed her brow as the two kept colliding their weapons with one another, their movements swift and, in Ruby's case, very expertly. Thrasher meanwhile was… well, thrashing about with her axe, her frustration clearly growing.

The two met in the middle, glaring into each other's eyes. "Face it, Lil' Red, you ain't got nothin' on me an' Sawtooth 'ere. We'll filet you an' eat ya like sushi, that's what WE'LL do!"

"Okay, one; EW!" Ruby pressed against Sawtooth with Crescent Rose, her lips curling in disgust. "And secondly, I think you're forgetting something…"

"An' what's that—" WHAP! "Agh!"

All at once, Jaune charged directly into Thrasher's midsection, pushing her off and away from Ruby. Quickly, the Blonde Knight shifted his shield into its blaster mode and unloaded every shot he had on Thrasher, with several explosions going up as a result. Jaune breathed in and out as Ruby leaned against his shoulder. "Hah… hah… she's got friends."

Ruby cheerily smiled at the blonde knight. "Thanks, Jaune! Knew I could count on ya!"

"Heh, glad I could help…" But Jaune was pulled straight back to reality as from out of the dust, a dark silhouette suddenly towered over the two of them, leading him to crane his head up and see Thrasher growling down at them. "Uh… Ruby?"

"Oh for the love of—can't you just give up?!"

Thrasher merely hoisted her axe above her head, its rockets starting to power up. "Don't know the meanin', Sheila! Get ready to DIE, now! AHAHAHA!" With a powerful burst, the axe came crashing down at the two team leaders, only for both to scatter off in different directions. "C'mon mates! Why delay what ya know's already gonna 'appen?!" She ushered the two to come with her. "Just surrender an' we'll be on our merry way, no questions asked."

"And let you take all that gold?!" Jaune loaded in a new cartridge for his shield, this time using Gravity Dust rounds. "Heh, fat chance."

"Ah please, we' ain't takin' ALL of it." Thrasher denied with a wave of her hand. "Just enough ta' go 'round! GRAH!" She swung her axe at Jaune, who actually parried the attack with his shield fairly well. Thrasher actually nearly stumbled as her axe carried her forward with its momentum. "Ah! Ah! Ooh, you're a tricky one, boy! I like that!"

But then, Ruby came in in a flurry of petals once again and kicked Thrasher right in the nose, making her double back. "Hehe, well, two can play THAT game!"

"Grr, that tears it!" Thrasher hefted her axe back up and started charging the rockets. "You wanna go head-to-head? FINE then!" BOOOM! The axe's rockets blasted out and started propelling Thrasher forward, her feet plowing through the dirt on the way toward Ruby and Jaune.

Jaune's eyes widened and he aimed his shield at the incoming Great White, shooting off several rounds, but she didn't even flinch. All she did was maneuver around the shots as she kept barreling toward them. The blonde eyed his best friend next to him… only to see her casually standing like there wasn't a care in the world, rocking back and forth on her feet. "Uh, Ruby, not sure if you've noticed, but WE'RE ABOUT TO BE EATEN!"

"Hmhmhm~" Ruby hummed a little tune as she nudged her head back behind her. "Don't worry, Jaune, I've got it all figured out…"

"W-Wait, what does that—"

"NOW!" At the very last second, Ruby activated her Semblance and scooped Jaune up in it, the two disappearing in a flurry of petals. It happened just as Thrasher was about to hit them, as well, so the mutant was left with an unpleasant surprise as… BLAM! …She crashed straight into the same wall that Jaune had just a few moments before. But she actually went straight through it, leaving a Thrasher-shaped hole and everything.

Jaune and Ruby landed several feet away, laughing at the result of the latter's little trick. "Hahaha! Oh, now that was a good plan." Jaune complimented with a fist bump. "Where'd you come up with that?"

"Well… let's just say you served as inspiration." Ruby giggled.

The knight couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. "Wow, thanks, my pain came in useful. But let's not stop now, we've gotta—"

"JAAAUNE!"

The duo were taken aback by the sound of Nora's desperate cry, whipping their heads around to see her and Yang come barreling toward them. Lunge was hot on their tails as well, her fin sticking straight out of the earth as she "swam" through it. "N-Nora?!"

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, seeing that her sister was nursing an injury.

The Blonde Brawler came to a stop and used her good arm to shoot behind her, trying to aim at Lunge's fin. Thankfully, Nora had her covered as she shifted Magnhild into its grenade launcher form and shot one directly at the Hammerhead, the explosion causing her to come launching straight out of the ground. "Keep going!"

"Right." Yang affirmed, heading straight for Jaune and presenting him with her limp hand. "Work fast, Vomit Boy! That bitch snapped my wrist!"

"O-Okay, let's see!" Jaune reached out and carefully grasped Yang's hand, focusing on his Semblance. All at once, he started sharing his Aura with her, pouring it into her own and boosting its effects. Slowly but surely, Yang's wrist started to heal, the bruising disappearing before the hand itself began to twitch. Within seconds, the bones were healed, and Jaune gave a sigh of relief. "Hah, alright, you should be good."

Yang tested out her reflexes, stretching her fingers out and moving her wrist a little. "Phew, thanks Jaune." She gave him a hearty jab in the shoulder for his services. "Man, you're getting good at that trick. You're like, the team doctor now!"

"Yeah!" Ruby gave Jaune a little jab of her own. "Doctor Jaune! Has a nice ring to it!"

The knight's cheeks flushed a shade of red, his hand moving to his neck sheepishly. "Ah, well… i-it's nothing, really. I-I mean, it IS useful, but I don't think I'm the team "doctor" or anything—"

"DOC!"

Jaune couldn't help but deadpan at that. "Oh for Pete's sake, Nora, what now—AH!" A gasp escaped the knight's throat at the sight of one of his best friends being carried to him. Blake and Nora were supporting Ren by his shoulders as he hobbled along, with now both Lunge AND Crunch in hot pursuit. And what's worse was that Ren's leg was nearly completely drenched in blood. "…Sorry I asked!"

Ruby and Yang were also aghast at the sight, but were ready to intercept the sharks. "We'll hold them off! You get Ren!" The sisters launched forward past Blake and Nora as the ladies carried Ren over to Jaune, with Nora practically planting him in front of her leader with authority.

"Fix him, NOW!" the redhead demanded.

"R-Right, of course." Jaune nodded as he knelt down to the ground, shaking his head at the now very pale Ren. "For the love of the gods, Ren, how are YOU the guy I've healed most so far?"

"S-S-Sorry…"

"Don't apologize. Just stay still and let me do my thing." Jaune craned his head up to the two girls. "You guys should go help Yang and Ruby, I've got him from here." He saw Nora about to protest, but beat her to the punch. "And that's an order."

Nora wasn't too happy about that, but Blake reached out and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. The two locked eyes and Nora reluctantly accepted the order, taking up Magnhild once again. "You'd better take care of him, Jaune."

Jaune gave her a smile before the two dashed off to help Yang and Ruby, leaving him with Ren. He reached down and started rolling up the green ninja's pantleg… and was met with a rather grizzly sight. Ren saw his reaction and winced. "…Is it that bad?"

"You don't wanna know." Jaune waved off before getting right to work.

But before he could even put his Semblance to use, he heard another loud roar come up from behind him, causing him to whirl around in time to see Pyrrha and Weiss dashing his way. They were also being pursued by Stripes, though she was actually bounding after them on all fours for some reason. Though judging by how ice-covered and angry the Tiger Shark woman was, that was probably the reason. Pyrrha leapt clean over her boyfriend and teammate, greeting; "Hi, Jaune!"

And then Weiss shot past him as well, with Stripes not even pausing to look at the two boys. "Bye, Jaune!"

"Oy… great." Jaune sighed as he watched the three join the big brawl. "What else could possibly happen?" BAM! As if to answer him, Thrasher came bursting out from under the wrecked wall, tossing rubble aside as if it was nothing. "…I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!"

…..

BOING!

Several yards away, Ben and Rex were having a somewhat easier time with their opponent, keeping the alien predator busy as it tried to bite and claw at them. The Omnitrix bearer had transformed into Crashhopper, while Rex had settled on his Punk Busters, the duo leaping and springing around the Buglizard as it tried to keep up with them. "Hahaha! Not so fun when you're dealing with a moving target!" Crashhopper said before coming around and kicking the Buglizard in its side.

"Hey, I'm open!" Rex called out, jumping in to perform a big backflip kick on the creature. He sent it sailing straight over his head and into a nearby wall, the Buglizard crumpling as it fell to the ground. Then, as quick as he could, Rex shifted from his Punk Busters to his Slam Cannon, loading in a large chunk of earth for ammo. "Now open wide, time for lunch!"

BAM! The hunk of dirt and rock went straight for the Buglizard, but right then and there, it heard the familiar whistle of its master. In a flash of red, it transformed into its Crabdozer form, belting out a roar as it rammed its horn into the projectile. But it still didn't slow down its charge as it came barreling toward Rex and Crashhopper.

The insectoid alien grumbled irritably, springing into the air to meet the beast head to foot. He came sailing forward to deliver a powerful kick… but what he didn't know was that the dog's master had whistled again. Right as Crashhopper made impact, the beast transformed once again into the Mucilator, and the hero was caught in one of its bulbous, mucus-filled sacs. "AGH! Oh, gross!"

Rex cringed at the sight. "Oh, that's so not right." He shifted his arm into the BFS and activated its Power Saw. "Hang in there, bro! I'll cut you out!"

"Wait! It'll just get you, too!" Crashhopper waved Rex away, intent on getting his own way out. "I'll just have to set myself free… and I think I know just how to do it."

The Mucilator began to put pressure on the alien by pressing its body onto him, but that didn't last long as a green flash came from Crashhopper. And suddenly, the Mucilator felt an excessive amount of weight start to pull it down to the ground. Its target had grown several sizes bigger, and was using his weight to swing the beast head-over-heels and onto its face, freeing himself in the process. As he stood, the now elephant-like alien held his head high and trumpeted, shouting out his name; "DYNATUSK!"

The EVO pumped a fist into the air. "Woo! Way to go, dude!" Rex exchanged his BFS for his Blast Caster, wrapping the whip around one of the Mucilator's big, flabby legs. "Lemme loosen him up a little more for ya!" Energy surged through the weapon and directly into the alien predator, making it howl in agony.

"Thanks for the assist, Rex. I think I've got it from here…" He reached down and grabbed the Mucilator by its sagging rear end and started spinning around and around, slowly building up momentum. "Let's see how ya like the Giant's Swing, ya gross-out piece of lard!" Dynatusk began spinning faster and faster, much to Rex's surprise before, on the tenth rotation, he launched the Mucilator off into the distance. "Hah… hah... and don't come—"

REEEEEEEEEEEE!

"AAAUGH! ACK!" Dynatusk reached up and covered his ears, going so far as to fold them down over his face.

Rex went right up to him, placing a hand on his leg. "Ben! What's wrong?!"

"GAH! It's… it's a…" Just as quickly as it began, the painful noise stopped, and Dynatusk noticed that the predator had changed forms again. It had shifted into the Tyrannopede this time, and it was quickly stomping its way back toward them. But even then, Dynatusk was only focused on one thing. "…That was it! That was the whistle that Blake keeps hearing!"

"Oh, hey, that's neat… BUT WE'RE ABOUT TO BE DINO-BUG CHOW!"

Dynatusk set his focus onto the Tyrannopede, narrowing his eyes at the rampaging monster. "Not if I can help it!" The Paku-Dermaloid started charging right for the Tyrannopede, intent on meeting it in the middle. He trumpeted at the beast in challenge before both of them locked up, with Dynatusk taking hold of its tiny arms with his large hands for leverage. He tucked his head in and slammed the beast with his tusks, hoping to put some chinks in its armor, but to no avail. Ultimately, he came up with a plan… though it was pretty bold. "Rex! I'm feelin' Funchuck today!"

The EVO's arms quickly began glowing blue and, in an instant, they had become his Funchucks. "Ask and you shall receive, dude!" Rex ran into the fray and started scaling Dynatusk's back, taking a big jump as he got to his head. With a somersault to build up momentum, he came crashing down with both Funchucks onto the Tyrannopede's head, taking it off guard and sending it stumbling back a bit.

This momentary loss of ground allowed Dynatusk to get his tusks under the monster's arms. "Great, now my turn!" With a grunt of exertion, Dynatusk lifted the predator over his head and tossed it straight behind him, where Rex had gone to meet it with his Smack Hands. He gave both fists a spin as he punched the Tyrannopede right in the gut, followed by Dynatusk coming in with a headlong charge for good measure. In the end, the Tyrannopede was smashed right into the dirt, effectively taken care of as it shifted back into dog form. "HA! Nice work, bud."

Rex and the alien hero shared a fistbump at their victory. "Heh, yeah… kinda odd that it took all of us back at the Pyramids to handle this thing when we took care of it no problem."

"Well, hey, to be fair, it was the first time we had to deal with it." Dynatusk reasoned. "Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Eh, fair point." Rex shrugged. "So, you said you heard the whistle that Khyber guy is using?"

Dynatusk gave a nod. "Hm, yeah, I did… and I think it came from right over…" He pointed off toward a building off the distance. "There!"

Rex smirked and smacked a fist into his open palm. "Well, what're we waiting for?! Let's find this pendejo and get some answers—"

PPSSSSSSSSTTT!

Just then, without any warning, a smoke bomb suddenly went off at the two boys' feet, creating a huge grey cloud around them. Instantly, their eyes began to water and they started coughing and hacking, both confused as to what was happening. "AGH! Hak-HAK! W-What?! Who's… huh?" From within the smoke, Dynatusk could just barely make out the form of a large man walking through, stopping just before the unconscious hunting dog before picking it up in his arms. "YOU! Who goes there?!"

The man slowly moved his head and his red eyes could be seen gleaming through the smoke, glaring at Dynatusk. "You may have won against my good friend this time, Tennyson… but you are far from victorious this day." He stepped around so that his back was facing Dynatusk this time. "I shall let you live… for now. But make no mistake, when next we meet, it will be your last."

"You—HAK! …You're Khyber, aren't you?"

Rather than give a yes or no, the obscured figure simply pointed off to the side. "I suggest you worry more about your allies than myself at the moment. The sharks seem to be giving them quite the amount of grief, hmhm…" And, in a shimmer of light, the man was gone, leaving a frustrated yet concerned Dynatusk.

"Crap! Rex! The gang needs us!"

The very next second, a blue glow could be seen from inside the smoke before it all got blown away, courtesy of Rex's Boogie Pack. "Don't have to tell me twice!" he said as he flew into the air. "Let's go help 'em!"

…..

As that encounter was happening, though, things weren't fairing much better for the rest of the team either. Much to the surprise of Team SN, Ilia and Penny, the two mutants they decided to take one had been putting up one heck of a fight. Thunderhog and Exo-Skull's determination was unexpectedly shining through in their attacks, especially whenever they'd get knocked down by the heroes. Whenever they'd get hit, they'd power on through and just come back even harder. And needless to say, the teens were a bit stunned.

Breathing hard, the four of them grouped up and Sun asked; "Hah… alright… at what point… did we lose control here?"

"I-I don't think we've had control once in this fight." Ilia admitted. "Feels like we've just been going back and forth the whole time…" She peered over to their mutant opponents. "I've never seen Hog and Skull go this hard against us before."

"My scans are showing close to a fifty-percent confidence boost from both of them." Penny said. "And it would seem that confidence is not unfounded."

"So what do we do?" Neptune glanced over his shoulder to see the two mutants grinning at them gleefully, eager to continue the fight. "I've seriously never seen them like this before, and it's kinda scary."

"We do what we can for now." Ilia resolved, bringing her Lightning Lash up. "Neptune, why don't you and I see if we can shock Exo-Skull into submission? Sun, Penny, try to overwhelm Thunderhog in the meantime."

The monkey boy gave a thumbs up at her plan. "Great idea, Ilia. Let's try it!"

While the four of them had restructured their plan a little bit, a few of the teens were having at least a little better luck. Up in the air, Gwen and Cinder had been clashing for quite a while now, the Anodite having the overall advantage in terms of power. Her high mana levels saw to that, as did the fact that she was just an overall powerful mage. "TURBO!"

A huge burst of wind energy came out from her hand and went straight for Cinder, who conjured up her own whirlwind to counter that. However, the difference in power was pretty telling from the start, and in the end, Gwen's spell won through, hitting Cinder directly. The Fall Maiden was sent flying away, only for her to realign herself in midair, grumbling in irritation. "GAH! Tennyson, I'm getting VERY sick of you and your family!"

"Heh, well at least you're not the only one." Gwen quipped. "Ben and I don't always see eye-to-eye on somethings, and a lot of times, I get irritated at him. But hey, that's family for you."

Cinder broke her two obsidian swords, the glowing pieces spinning around her thanks to the wind. "Well then, I'll just have to make sure your family is wiped from this planet." She brought her hands together and the glowing pieces merged together into one gigantic, flaming sword. "Once and for ALL!"

Gwen deadpanned as she conjured her own giant mana blade, ready to counterattack. "A bit extreme, but whatever!"

Back on the ground, the name of the game with Kevin and Mercury's fight had been close quarters combat. The two had been exchanging blows for quite some time now, and both of them were pretty relentless in their hits. Mercury's face was covered in scratches and blood while Kevin's metal armor had bullet indents and soot all over it, marking both boys' targets all too clearly. But all the same, Kevin couldn't help but be frustrated the most, but also surprised as he and Mercury breathed in exhaustion. "Hah… alright, Black, I'll admit, I'm impressed. I've hurled every insult at you I can think of… and I think all I did was make you fight harder."

"Heh… you're not too bad yourself, Levin. And honestly, I've gotta thank you." Mercury popped a few muscles in his neck, ready to get back to it. "Wasn't expecting to have my training be put to such a test, but you've given me some great motivation to kick your ass." He went into a stance again, ready to shoot himself forward at the Osmosian. "How's it feel to know your insults mean nothing to me now?"

"Eh, I'm a bit sore… but now it's time for me to pull out the BIG guns." Kevin cracked his knuckles before pulling out a set of Fire Dust crystals, absorbing them into his arms. "Both figuratively AND literally. Time to bash the people you care about!" He saw the assassin's expression sour at that, and he could tell THAT would be where the real ammo was. "Heh, striking a nerve already…"

Not too far off from those two, Rojo and Winter were going at it as well, though it was clear that Rojo was a bit more well-off. After all, Winter was going up against the bounty hunter with normal swords rather than the larger energy blades that Rojo had, which meant she had to keep her distance and plan carefully. Whenever she saw an opportunity to strike, she took it, but even then, Rojo's armor was fairly well fortified. And while Rojo had a weapons advantage, her skill compared to Winter's was night and day. The Atlesian officer was able to out-fight her in a lot of areas, which left both of them fairly winded by the end of their first round.

"Haha… woo! Gotta admit, Queeny, you're pretty tough." Rojo laughed.

"As are you." Winter glowered at the redhead. "Though your taste in nicknames leaves much to be desired."

Rojo simply rolled her eyes. "Heh, says you. But I think it's time we stop beating around the bush…" She slammed her blades together, bringing Bloodstrike back into its single-bladed form before transforming it into its rifle form. "…And get to the good part!" BLAM! Rojo shot a powerful energy blast out at Winter, but the specialist's reflexes were just as quick, bringing up a glyph to deflect the blast. She then made the glyph spin before it sent out a blast of its own, though Rojo dodged it at the last second. "Okay, THAT'S how you want it?! I'll—woah!"

"Ah!" The two women were suddenly whipped up off of their feet and thrown through the air as a burst of concussive energy burst through the area. They managed to land relatively fine, but the second they craned their heads up, they were met with a disconcerting sight. Cinder and Gwen had been the source of the burst, their clash in the sky being the epicenter.

Rojo put her hand above her eyes as she gazed up at the dueling girls. "Woah… Cindy's goin' straight for it yet again."

"Yes, as is Gwen." Winter agreed. "…Perhaps it's best if we're not directly under them, otherwise we'd both be in the line of fire."

"Heh, no argument here, Queeny." Rojo snickered, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. "Besides, I think your little sister and her friends are in deep shark doo-doo."

Winter's eyes widened and she snapped her head around, seeing that Teams RWBY and JNPR were bunched up in the middle of a shark circle. "…Oh no."

…..

Yang wasn't really sure how things had gotten this bad. To think, she had been so confident going into this fight… only for all eight of them to get their asses kicked by a bunch of fish girls. The Street Sharks had managed to batter and beat herself, Ruby, Nora, Weiss, Pyrrha and Blake all back toward the boys as Jaune was still healing up Ren. And in that moment, they had a feeling that all four women were smelling his blood… and they all seemed pretty hungry. So, they did the only thing they could do, surround Jaune and Ren as the former kept on healing him. They were going to protect the two of them, no matter what.

"Is… is that the best you got?!" Yang shouted, not about to go down without a fight. "You're really pushing your luck here!"

Breathing hard, Ruby raised Crescent Rose and doubled down on that. "Yeah, we're just getting started!"

"AAAHAHAHA!" The Street Sharks all laughed at the blonde's threat before Thrasher pointed at her. "Girlie, if ANYONE 'ere's pushin' their luck, it's YOU lot! You're bein' real persistent, an' I respect that, but you're the ones who're swimmin' in shark-infested waters." She came forward, raising her axe as she closed in on her prey. "Face it! There ain't one huntsman in this group who can stop us!"

WWWAAAAOOOOOOOONN!

Everyone did a double take at that sound. "Was… was that an elephant?" Crunch asked.

"In Kentucky?" Stripes waved off. "Don't be ridiculous, that's… uh…" But before long, the Tiger Shark woman started to feel the earth rumble beneath her feet, leading her and her gals to slowly turn their heads up. And what they saw next made their jaws drop. "…Or I could be completely wrong."

WWWAAAAOOOOOOOONN!

Stampeding toward them, Dynatusk came bounding in on all fours, the Paku-Dermaloid glaring down his targets as he closed in. Above him, Rex was soaring into the battle as well, diving straight for the Street Sharks with his Smack Hands at the ready. "Hey! Street Sharks! Let's see how YOU like bein' smacked around!" With a hearty swing of his fists, Rex toppled all of the sharks over in one fell swoop, much to everyone's relief.

"REX!" Weiss surged forward as he landed, grasping his arm in relief. "You don't know how happy we are to see you!"

"Yeah, it was getting pretty rough." Nora affirmed, the normally bubbly redhead visibly rattled as she knelt down next to Jaune and Ren. "How's he doing?"

"I'm almost done healing his wounds." Jaune assured. "But he's going to need a lot of rest after losing so much blood."

The sharks, however, weren't so pleased. "GAH! Okay, you want it to be like that, then?!" Lunge shot up and slammed her hammers together, while Stripes, Thrasher and Crunch all followed suit. "We'll play it like that then! C'mon! Give us all you—" WHAM! "AUGH!" She didn't even finish her challenge as Dynatusk slammed into her and the girls, sending them all back and far away from his friends.

"Don't even try, lady." The hero warned before moving over to his team, stopping just in front of his girlfriend. "You all okay?"

Yang sighed, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, we are now, Green Boy… but damn, those girls kicked our asses."

But Dynatusk placed his large hand on her back. "Don't worry, Goldie Locks. Trust me, I've been there before, PLENTY of times. Heroes have bad days like this all the time. But we've still got a job to do, so let's finish this mission on a high note." The Omnitrix bearer and his team set their sights on the Street Sharks, who had all gotten back up on their feet. "Alright, Round Two! Let's go!"

Thrasher and her gang laughed again as she hefted her weapon over her head. "With pleasure! I—ack! AUGH!" The Omni-Hunters were caught off guard as, for seemingly no reason, all four Street Sharks started convulsing and doubling over in pain, dropping their weapons as they fell to the pavement. But then, the teens started to notice what might've brought all this on… the sharks were beginning to shrink and change shape. More specifically, they were becoming human again.

The group were left stunned as Dominique, Calisto, Roxy and Jetta were all back in their human forms, the four women groaning after the transformation. "…Excuse me, but WHAT?!" Blake exclaimed.

"They… they changed back?!" Pyrrha shook her head. "H-How is that possible?"

By that point, Kevin, Team SN, Ilia, Penny and Winter all came rushing over as well, just in time to see what happened. "Everyone! We saw you were in trouble and—what the…" Winter trailed off at the sight of the delinquent women all slowly standing up, surprised by their appearance. "Are… are those the Street Sharks?"

It was then that the four women themselves noticed what had happened, and they were stunned by it just as much as they were. "What?! NO! An hour's up already?!" Calisto shouted.

"Bullshit!" Roxy stamped her foot. "And things were just starting to get good!"

Dynatusk blinked a couple of times when he heard that, and slowly, he started to chuckle. And in no time at all, it had become a full-blown guffaw. "Hehe… hehehe… BAHAHAHA!" He slapped his knee at the women's predicament, almost in disbelief that it was true. "Haha! No way! You've gotta deal with a TIME LIMIT for your mutations? Man, you all essentially have the same problem I had when I was a kid! Haha, this is too rich… and it makes for an interesting turn of events." He slammed his fist into his palm with a big grin. "If ya know what I mean."

Yang smirked at this as well before the rest of the team started getting the idea, readying their weapons for another attack. "Oh yeah! Payback time!"

Dominique growled at their situation, but nevertheless, she picked up her axe. Roxy, Calisto and Jetta followed suit with their own weapons, ready to throw down. "Grr, whatever! We can beat ya even if we ain't in our mutated forms!" Then, from out of seemingly nowhere, Rojo, Mercury, Hog and Skull all came over to them, giving them ample back-up. "Oh yeah, an' we've got these guys helpin' us, too."

"Haha! Yeah!" Rojo laughed, pointing her sword at the Omni-Hunters. "You losers are gonna—"

"Hold IT!" Before anyone could start fighting, a voice suddenly spoke out from seemingly nowhere… one that seemed rather familiar. The heroes scanned around for the source of the voice, but didn't have to wait long for its owner to reveal herself. From out of thin air, none other than Subdora appeared between the heroes and villains, raising her hands up flagrantly. "Haha! Buongiorno, everyone!"

Dynatusk shook his head, slightly startled. "Subdora?! When the heck did you get here?!"

"Oh, mia cara, I've been here." Subdora said with a sly smile. "Who do you think disabled the security system in the first place?" She craned her head over to Rojo and gave her a thumbs up. "Rosso, the operation is a complete success. We're moving out now."

"W-Wait, what?!" Ruby cried in concern. "What're you talking about?"

Suddenly, from above, a nefarious laugh caught the teens' attention. Everyone shifted their gaze up to see Cinder lowering toward them slowly, the Fall Maiden having flown over as soon as she heard Subdora. Gwen had followed her as well, but the Anodite seemed just as taken aback as the rest of them. "Hmhm, you fools are far too easy. This whole fight we've been having? Just a simple diversion."

"Yep!" Mercury nodded. "While we were keeping you idiots occupied, Subdora pulled off the REAL heist."

Subdora rubbed her nails against her chest, taking pride in her own work. "Seven hundred bars of gold from Fort Knox… child's play."

Exo-Skull came in and gave his girlfriend a big hug. "Ooh, that's my lovely lil' master theif!"

"Oh, Farkas, you make me blush!" Subdora's cheeks flushed a little before she gave him a full-on kiss on the lips, leaving the heroes dejected AND grossed out. Once their kiss ended, Subdora gave them all a wave as light began to shimmer around them. "But for now, our operation is complete, so we must be off! Arrivederci!"

"Later, suckas!" Dominique and her girls laughed as the villains were all transported into Khyber's ship, which remained hidden to the eye as it blasted off through the sky.

The heroes were all left stunned, with Dynatusk falling to his knees as he transformed into his human form again. Yang had to pinch herself to make sure this wasn't a bad dream. "W… What just happened?"

Ben's expression soured as a familiar feeling came over him. It was one that he had experienced in the past, but it never felt good whenever it popped up. He let out a heavy sigh and stood up to his feet, glaring into the wide, blue horizon. "We lost, Goldie Locks. …We lost."

…..

A/N: Well… bet a lot of you didn't see that coming. Indeed, our heroes have well and truly lost this one, with the fight only being a distraction as Subdora pulled off the heist secretly in earnest. Seems that whole "gotta help Subdora with her shopping" thing was just an excuse for Exo-Skull to get out of a bad situation. And what makes matters worse was that they were just starting to mount a comeback against the villains, too, and they might have actually won against them… but even then, they'd have been too late to save the gold. If anything, the biggest thing they can take away from this is that the fort's security force IS still alive, but… yeah, the villains ended up winning this one.

Given how powerful the Street Sharks were, though, the Omni-Hunters are probably lucky to leave the battle intact. Hell, Ren's lucky that he didn't get his entire LEG ripped off. Still, there IS the fact that the Sharks themselves have to deal with that time limit, so they'd better keep that in mind for the future if they wanna keep fighting in their mutant forms. Also, we got a bit of a tease here with Ben "meeting" Khyber, though definitely not a formal one. And judging by what the huntsman said, it may not be long before he goes in for the kill…

But that said, what happens now? Well, as the heroes head home and stew in the fact that they lost, the villains have a bit of a celebration on their end. But, as they do, one of Khyber's benefactors calls… and he says that the other benefactor is growing impatient. He wants Tennyson dead soon, so Khyber decides it's time to go in on Ben and get the job DONE this time. But, with things starting to get a bit tense between Ben and Gwen… will our heroes be able to put a stop to Khyber's plan? Next time… the "Of Predators and Prey" arc begins. Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll catch you next time! Stay safe out there!