At the sound of a nearby trumpet, Evan's tired eyes shot open as he forced himself to get out of bed. As he approached the door to the hallway, Evan took a deep breath in. Steeling his resolve, Evan straightened his posture and exited his room.

Going through the motions, Evan maneuvered his way over to the dining hall and grabbed a large plate of food.

"Ok. Once breakfast is over, I need to program a reminder in my helmet. Those pilots from yesterday should be taking off in the next 30 minutes or so, if they haven't already. If I make sure to come back from my task by the ocean around 2:00 pm, they'll be able to fill me in on what they've found. With the storm passed, if worst comes to worst, I could try and help them in their search for Ruby and the others while I'm scouting the forests for any new Grimm that have popped up. If I'm going to be balancing this much today, then I'm going to need tons of…" Evan contemplated as he overheard another soldier slipping loudly on a nearby thermos.

Turning toward the man, Evan's annoyance began to shift toward curiosity.

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Entering the coffee shop with a plastic bag at his side, Evan approached the counter as he saw both new and odd faces alike. Like normal, Joe was standing behind the counter. However, sitting at a nearby table was Ren and Nora.

Tilting his head in confusion, Evan looked toward the duo.

"Wasn't expecting you two here today, where's Saphron at?" Evan asked.

"She was feeling a little under the weather, so I was going to grab some drinks for her and Terra. Nora was already up doing some morning exercises and decided to tag along with me." Ren explained as he sipped on a coffee of his own.

"So, what are you up to today Evan? And what's in the bag?" Nora asked with a big smile on her face.

"Mostly reconnaissance stuff and Grimm extermination. As for the bag…" Evan elaborated as he pulled out a very large steel thermos and placed it on the counter.

"Ohhhh, you brought this for little old me? Ahhh, you shouldn't have…Hey Joe, one black coffee to…" Nora began to say

"No." Joe interrupted with a simple look of disapproval.

"No? What do you mean no?!" Nora angrily questioned.

"I've seen people like you before. Comes with the business. People who have that much energy in the morning are either full on caffeine already or are naturally full of energy. Point is, the last thing I should be giving you is coffee, much less a whole thermos of black coffee. As for you…" Joe stated as he turned toward Evan.

"Why do you want me to fill up that much? That looks like enough for three, no, maybe four servings worth of coffee. What exactly are you planning on doing today?" Joe inquired.

"Well, if I come by in the morning, I won't need to head back here as much to grab more. What's wrong with that?" Evan said aloud.

"Nothing at all. It's just the scale that you're consuming at. Coffee is something to have in moderation. This much excess caffeine in your system isn't going to be doing you any favors. I've seen people crash before, and it's not pretty." Joe argued.

"That's a problem for tomorrow. Today, I'm hunting monsters, and I swear that I'm close to finding the biggest of the bunch. I can feel it in my chest. Can you throw me a bone, and trust me?" Evan asked with sincerity.

"Fine. Just try not to drink it all at once." Joe relented.

"Of course." Evan replied back.

As Joe got to work, Evan turned toward Nora.

"I don't see how you can be so cheerful at a time like this. I mean, don't you feel worried about Blake, Weiss, or any of the others." Evan asked.

"Huh? Why should I be?" Nora replied with bewilderment, only causing Evan to become even more confused.

"Those gals are tough on their own, but when working together…Well, there isn't much that they can't do. Besides, Qrow's with them and he's a professional huntsman. I bet that brain of his is cram packed with all sorts of useful info for surviving in situations like this. They can make it through…they…they will make it through." Nora continued as her voice lowered momentarily as she finished.

Filling the thermos up, Joe passed it over to Evan. Taking his helmet off to drink from it, Nora jumped back slightly and gawked at Evan's exhausted face.

"Jeez, what kind of horrible monster put you through all of that?" Nora inquired.

"My boss." Evan simply stated.

"When's the last time you got some proper sleep? Are you holding up alright, Evan?" Ren asked hesitantly.

"Of course I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Evan replied back, slightly irritated, as he placed the thermos back on the counter.

Checking the time on his helmet's display, Evan sealed up the thermos, placed it in the bag and tied it around his right arms.

"Look, I got to get moving. I'll see you all later. Hey Ren, tell Saphron that I hope she gets better." Evan said as he left the building.

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Out on the open sea, Evan looked down at his radar device as he examined it for any new sightings from the sea floor below. However, the harder he looked at it, the more his eyelids began to droop.

For just a moment, he let his eyes close as his grip on the small machine loosened. Just as sleep began to overtake him, Evan no longer felt the familiar weight in his hand. Realizing something was wrong, Evan shot awake to see the device falling toward the ocean below.

Charging forward, Evan caught the radar only a few feet above the water's surface.

"Phew…That was too close. I must be more tired than I realized. I can't go sleeping on the job, not when there's so many people relying on me to keep them safe." Evan thought to himself.

Reaching for the thermos, Evan took a quick swig from it. Swirling the container in his hand, the teen felt the weight of the remaining inside of it.

"More than half empty at this point, and I still got 10 hours left on my shift…Ok, one quick pit stop and then it's back to work." Evan concluded as he took off toward the city.

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Re-entering the store once again, Evan was met with a sizable line of people. As the pleasant conversations between the store's customers went quiet momentarily, Evan stood in the back of the line. The man in front of him who had already turned around because of the commotion that had occurred looked at Evan with a surprised smile on his face.

"Oh, I can't believe it's you! I haven't seen you around here much." The man excitedly said aloud.

"I stop by here earlier in the day, normally." Evan mumbled out.

"I suppose that makes sense." The man replied as he shot up in realization.

"But you got places to be! Here take my spot." The man exclaimed as he began to move aside.

"Look, it's fine. You don't have to do that." Evan continued.

"I insist. Please, go ahead." The man argued.

Not wishing to continue talking with the man, Evan moved ahead of him. Tuning practically everything else out, Evan waited with all the patience he could muster as he reached the front of the line.

"Just fill it up the rest of the way." Evan muttered out to Joe as he placed the thermos on the counter.

With a nod, Joe quickly got to work. Placing an armored arm on the countertop, Evan kept his head lowered to the shop floor. Feeling someone approaching him on his right, Evan let out a quiet, practically inaudible, sigh.

"Listen, if you want an autograph. Just give me a hot second, and I'll fill it out for you." Evan explained.

"What makes you think I came here for an autograph?" A familiar voice called out to him.

Raising his head up, Evan turned to see Blake standing next to him with a smirk on her face.

As the gears in his head worked overtime to put everything together, Evan reached out and hugged Blake.

"Woah. It's good to see you too." Blake said as she returned the gesture.

"It…It's just…I was really worried after I heard the news from Jaune. I didn't know if you guys…Did everyone make it out ok?" Evan asked with concern in his voice.

"Yeah. Ruby and the others are trying to talk with Cordovin about getting a military ship to take us over to Atlas." Blake added as Evan let go of her.

Quietly, Joe passed the thermos back toward Evan.

Stepping out of line, the two teens left the shop and entered the city streets.

"So how did you guys get through the blizzard?" Evan asked curiously.

"We found this broken down house near the crash site of the train nestled within a ton of trees. It wasn't much but we managed to make due and we left early in the morning. On our way toward Argus, we ran into some airships that were out looking for us. With their help, we got to the city real fast. For now, we've been staying at Jaune's sister's place for the time being." Blake explained as they stopped at a crosswalk to let the next set of cars pass.

"So, why do you guys want to get to Atlas so quickly anyway?" Evan questioned as the two walked to the other side of the street.

"There's some…important information that we need to show Ironwood. Although that depends on if Cordovin will lend us a ride." Blake explained.

"I'm not sure how that's going to fare. Cordovin doesn't exactly like it when others try and talk back to her, much less try and get her to do something for them." Evan added.

"I guess we just got to hope for the best. Especially with that…" Blake muttered out.

"Hey, do you think you can come by Saphron's place later? Ruby and the others wanted to tell you about everything that's been going on recently." Blake asked.

"Sure. I can swing by around 9:00 pm. Can't stay for long though, I'm on the clock." Evan elaborated.

"I suppose that works." Blake replied back.

"Great. Sounds like a plan. See ya around, Blake!" Evan exclaimed as he took off into the air.

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"Listen lady, we have to get to Atlas!" Yang yelled out.

"Absolutely not!" Cordovin proclaimed.

"Do you think I just lend out my vehicles to random civilians on a whim?!" Cordovin continued angrily.

"We're huntresses." Yang growled as she leaned forward to get closer to the Specialist's face.

"Unlicensed, huntresses in training who clearly don't understand proper Atlesian procedures." Cordovin stated as Weiss pushed Yang back and stepped forward.

"Please, forgive my friend ma'am, we've all been through a lot these last few days." Weiss explained as Cordovin's infuriated attitude changed to a more neutral one.

"Very well, Miss Schnee, but only this once shall I let it slide." Cordovin added as she turned to face the group of Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Qrow as a whole.

"If you wish to procure an authorized flight to Atlas, there is a station in town that can provide you with the proper paperwork. Once it gets delivered and sorted out, in only a few weeks, your friends should be able to leave this fine city with you." Cordovin continued.

"We don't have-" Yang began to mutter out before Qrow quickly interrupted her.

"And you're sure that there's no other way that we can catch a flight to Atlas?" Qrow asked.

"Certainly not for all of you, but since Weiss has Atlesian citizenry, I could pull a string of two and help get her on a flight back to her wonderful home in only a few days from now." Cordovin stated.

"We'll think about your offer. Thank you for your time." Weiss said with a polite bow as she and the rest of the group followed after her.

"If we're trying to get the Lamp to Atlas, don't you think we should just let Weiss take the Lamp with her and get it to Ironwood?" Ruby asked the others.

"It's not that simple Ruby." Weiss argued.

"Why not?" Ruby questioned.

"I'll explain it when we get back to Saphron's residence." Weiss elaborated as they continued down the long road from the military base to the main part of the city.

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With the sun already set, Evan descended down to the steps of Saffron's house. Walking up to the front door, the young Saiyan gave it a slight knock. Opening the door was Ruby, who at first was confused upon seeing him.

"Wow. When Blake told me what you were wearing, I honestly thought she was joking. You look almost like one of those Atlesian knights, Evan." Ruby said as she gave him a tight hug.

"Well, I wasn't exactly the one who designed it, but I can't deny how functional it is." Evan added as he hugged her back.

As the two of them entered the house, Ruby guided Evan to a nearby living room, painted primarily red, where Jaune's team, the rest of Ruby's team, Qrow, and two new individuals were sitting on the various couches and chairs. One of them was an older kid with tanned skin and the other was an old lady with robotic, glowing blue eyes.

One thing that Evan made note of was how half of Yang's right arm was gone, now replaced with a robotic yellow and black painted limb. In addition, a strange, spherical, golden lamp laid on top of the table surrounding the various chairs and couches.

"Who are these two? Are these relatives of yours?" Evan asked as he gestured to the two unfamiliar faces.

"No, it's a long story." Ruby said as she shook her head.

"Well, I suppose you should start from the beginning. I can only stay for a little bit, so try to keep it a bit short where you can." Evan replied as leaned against the railing leading to an upstairs area.

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"Ok. So let me get this straight. When Beacon was under siege by the Grimm and the White Fang, Yang went to fight Adam Taurus, and lost part of her right arm in the process." Evan explained as Ruby nodded in agreement.

"You went to go help Pyrrha, but you were too late to assist and had to watch Cinder…kill her." Evan said, his voice lowering near the end as the room went silent.

"Your silver eyes suddenly activated and blasted Cinder with some sort of silver light that messed her up, destroying one of her eyes and arms in the process." Evan continued, his helmet still on his face as he spoke aloud.

"Qrow told me it's a very rare trait that only people with silver eyes can do." Ruby elaborated.

"Ok. So, during the aftermath of what happened at Beacon, you decided to go with Jaune's team and traveled all the way to the Kingdom of Mistral, with hopes to reach Haven Academy." Evan stated.

"You all met this crazy Scorpion faunus who tried to kidnap you, but Qrow showed up and saved you." Evan continued.

"After reaching Haven, you met up with the rest of your original team along with Ozpin's next life?" Evan asked as he turned toward Oscar.

"R-Reincarnation, to be specific." Oscar added.

"Right. So Ozpin died when Beacon fell, and he is now sharing a consciousness with this boy named Oscar. In addition, Yang was sent a robotic arm from Ironwood to help her recover from her injury." Evan said as he looked toward Yang who showed off the metal limb.

"Regardless, you all managed to stop Cinder, her goons, Adam, and the White Fang from destroying Haven Academy." Evan explained.

"While you managed to apprehend Adam, everyone else got away." Evan said as turned to the old lady.

"And who is this then?" Evan questioned.

"Maria's a retired huntsman. Last night, she told us that she used to have silver eyes like mine, but this assassin tried to kill her back in the day and damaged her eyes to the point where she needed to get replacements." Ruby elaborated.

"Who would want to try and kill you?" Evan inquired.

"To be honest, the psycho never said who paid her to do it, just that they were after my eyes." Maria stated as Evan turned back to the group.

"Darn it! I wish I was there with you guys back at Haven. I still got a score to settle with Cinder after that stunt she orchestrated at Amity and Beacon." Evan proclaimed.

"That's actually what we wanted to talk with you about." Ruby replied back.

"You see, Cinder isn't the true person in charge of all this chaos. There's…someone else. A person who has been commanding the very Grimm that have been attacking humanity for generations. And her name is…" Ruby proclaimed.

"Salem." Evan said, cutting her off.

"Yeah…Wait. How do you know about Salem?!" Ruby questioned as she raised her voice in confusion.

"Ironwood told me, Winter, and the Ace Ops everything he knew about Salem along with all of the other secrets that he and Ozpin's group were hiding from the rest of the world." Evan explained.

"If Ironwood told you everything, did that include the Maidens and the relics?" Ozpin inquired as he sat up from his chair, his glowing eyes now resting on the golden lamp.

"That's right…Hold on, is that one of the relics? I thought those were locked behind the vaults. Don't you need a Maiden to open one of those up." Evan asked aloud.

"Yeah, my mom Raven did. Cinder's group was working with Raven, trying to get their hands on this thing in the process. Ultimately, Raven ended up betraying her after Cinder killed one of her grunts." Yang stated.

"Your Mom's a Maiden?" Evan said in bewilderment.

"She's my mom in name only. After she gave birth to me, she practically ditched me and my Dad and joined up with this tribe of idiotic warriors. They have this whole survival of the fittest mindset. Dad remarried and got together with Ruby's Mom, Summer Rose. She did more of a job raising me and Ruby than Raven ever did." Yang added with a touch of resentment in her voice.

"So Raven opened the vault door and you managed to grab one of the relics. So if Atlas has the Staff of Creation, which one did Haven have?" Evan questioned.

"It's called the Lamp of Knowledge." Blake said from her chair.

"Sounds interesting, but what are you trying to do with it? You guys seem pretty determined on getting to Atlas ASAP." Evan continued.

"We initially planned on bringing it to Atlas and work with the General, but Cordovin told us that getting a flight to Atlas could take weeks." Qrow elaborated.

"That is, unless I were to travel to Atlas alone. In that case, I would only need to stay here for a few days before I would be set to fly." Weiss added.

"I don't see the problem here, do you have a fear of flying?" Evan asked as looked toward Weiss.

"Well, during the train ride, Ozpin told us that the Lamp, along with all of the other relics, attract Grimm to them." Blake explained.

"And even with all of us working together, we weren't able to stop all of the Grimm that showed up from wrecking the train that we were riding on." Yang continued on.

"So if Weiss were to travel with the Lamp, by herself, there would be no way that airship would survive the trip to Atlas." Ruby muttered out.

"Well, is there anything else that this thing can do aside from just attracting Grimm?" Evan inquired.

"It can answer any question you ask it, but you have to say a special phrase to activate it." Ozpin stated.

"Are there any limits to the amount of questions you can ask?" Evan asked.

"It can answer three questions per century, but by the time we got it, there were only two left." Yang explained.

"Who used the other question?" Evan inquired.

"We…We don't actually know." Blake said with newfound confusion in her voice.

"A century's a long time, maybe a past Maiden used it?" Evan proposed.

"Whatever the case, we aren't going to waste the last question on something like that." Weiss pointed out.

"Wait, I thought you said…Did you guys use the second question? When?" Evan questioned.

"After the train crash." Ruby explained.

"What did you ask the Lamp?" Evan added.

"The Lamp told us everything there is to know about Salem." Yang stated.

"Well at least we're all on the same page, I guess." Evan said in a neutral tone.

"No, you don't get it. We found out that Salem is immortal! She can't be killed by normal means!" Ruby exclaimed.

"The only way she can die is if someone with Silver Eyes is able to work with someone who possesses enough power to wipe out Salem." Blake elaborated with frustration clear in her voice.

"How much power are we talking about here?" Evan asked, raising his eyebrow up in interest.

"Ozpin said it would be enough to destroy the moon, maybe even the planet."

"Is that it? That's great news!" Evan shouted out with a smile.

"What?" Ruby questioned as Evan began to shake in excitement.

"I'm more than strong enough to do something like that!" Evan proclaimed much to the disbelief of the other individuals in the room.

"Evan, this isn't a time to joke around and act all boastful. We know you're strong, but you're not that strong!" Yang argued.

"I'm serious! Maybe I'm not powerful enough in my normal state, but with Super Saiyan on my side, I can absolutely take her down!" Evan stated confidently.

"Super Saiyan?" Jaune questioned.

"Here, watch." Evan said as he removed his helmet, causing Ruby, Oscar, Jaune, and Blake to change to a more concerned look upon their face as they saw the clear exhaustion on Evan's face.

Ignoring them, Evan clenched his gauntlet covered hands as he powered up. However, after a few seconds had passed, nothing happened.

"What?! Argh, come on!" Evan mumbled out as his hair rapidly changed from black to gold to black again while his eyes became a distinct green momentarily before returning to their normal color.

As the group looked on in a mixture of confusion and intrigue, Evan's appearance returned back to normal, his face now filled with anger.

"Why is it working?!" Evan thought to himself as tried raising his Ki even higher, but to no avail.

"Hey, take it easy. You look like you're going to blow a gasket." Blake said as she stepped forward.

"I don't get it! Can't you at least sense my Ki…Oh." Evan began to yell out in frustration, but as he realized the situation, he lowered his voice back down.

"None of you guys can sense Ki. It's a skill I picked up recently from one of the people on the Ace Ops. Point is, if you could sense Ki, then you'd know that I'm not blowing hot air." Evan elaborated.

"Ki? Evan, what are you even talking about?" Jaune questioned as Evan placed his helmet back on his face and checked the time on one of the display screens in his visor.

"Listen, I can't stay here much longer. I still have a couple more hours before my shift is over. Don't worry though, as soon as I can tomorrow, I'll try and have a chat with Cordovin. Obviously I can't exactly tell her about the relics and all that secret stuff, but maybe I could try and convince her somehow to bring more airships to assist escorting Weiss back to Atlas. Regardless, I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow morning." Evan explained as he approached the front door.

"At this point, if Jaune and his team now about Salem, you might as well fill them in on who I really am. I'll see you around." Evan said as he looked toward Ruby before leaving the house.

"What did he mean by all that, Ruby?" Ren questioned from his chair.

"Well tell you guys later tonight." Yang stated as she looked toward the rest of the group.

"Do you really think Evan's gotten that strong since we last saw him?"

"I mean, whatever that "Super Saiyan" thing was, it reminds me of some of the news articles that were circulating while I was still in Atlas. Eye witnesses during some of his exploits mentioned how his hair would stand on end and shift to look like pure gold on command. That has to be connected to whatever he was doing before." Weiss explained.

"Yeah, but you guys saw him, right? I thought he was about to collapse with his hard he was sweating. It looked like he was really struggling there." Blake added.

"Why would he be struggling to do it now though?" Ruby muttered out loud.

"*Cough* It's because of Cordovin." Saphron stated with distaste as she stood at the top of the staircase, a slight cough in her throat.

"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked.

"That cruel woman's been working him night and day nonstop for over a month at this point. *Cough* *Cough*" Saphron continued as Terra walked out of one of the rooms from the second floor and toward Saphron.

"You shouldn't be out and about yet. You still need some still to recover honey." Terra explained.

"No, I need to tell them this!" Saphron said with some anger in her voice toward Terra.

Immediately, Saffron's expression softened to a more apologetic one.

"I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just…this needs to be said. Just give me a moment, and I promise that I'll come straight back to bed." Saphron added as Terra smiled at her.

"Ok." Terra said as the two shared a small kiss with each other.

"Thank you." Saphron replied back with a grateful smile her face as Terra walked back into the room she came from.

Turning back toward the group, Saphron faced them all.

"Evan may say he's alright, that he's fine with all the work that Cordovin's been giving him, but I can see it in his eyes. I imagine that Joe feels the same way as I do. Something's going to give soon, and it's certainly not going to be Cordovin." Saphron explained as she clasped her hands together close to her chest.

"If you could speak with him tomorrow about it, it would mean the world to me!" Saphron explained with worry in her voice.

"Of course, Saphron." Jaune replied back with a small smile on his face.

"Thank you, Jaune." Saphron said as she let out another cough before slowly walking back to her bedroom.

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Flying past the city's walls, Evan was consumed in thought.

"What happened back there?! I've never had my body straight up stop me from going Super Saiyan before. I don't understand." Evan contemplated.

"Not only do I have to deal with all of the Grimm already here in the region, but if that Lamp relic is actually drawing in even more Grimm to the city then things are going to get even worse! How am I going to handle all this?" Evan thought to himself.

"It doesn't matter! I was able to handle the Grimm without needing Super Saiyan before, and today is no different! This city is under my protection, and I'll keep its people safe no matter what!" Evan continued on as he shook his head in defiance.

"Whatever it takes…" Evan concluded as he shook his head in defiance and charged ahead into the night.

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Hello! Thank you as always for reading. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the chapter and the story so far. The next chapter should be released sometime the weekend of the 1st of March.

If you wish to support me, then please go to

www . P a treon . com (slash) Alist0r

for more details. Even helping me out a little really goes a long way.