And here we are at the end of Volume 1. Heads up! I've got a poll up on my profile to figure out what the fan-favorite duels of Volume 1 are. Vote for your Top 3 picks!

"You know, if I never see another teenager, it'll be too soon," Torchwick groaned, the bullhead's engines whining as the squadron of airships rose into the sky.

Next, Neo tilted her head with a sarcastic smirk.

"Yes, yes, I know the boss lady's minion duo makes that impossible. Let me cope," Roman snarked back, though their usual repartee couldn't stop his hand from shaking as he deactivated Melodic Cudgel.

He hated it. He'd had jobs go south before, like the night he'd met Red, but he'd always been able to walk it off with a roguish wink and twirl. Heck, even as pear-shaped as things had gotten, the operation was still relatively successful. They hadn't nabbed all the dust before the police sirens had gotten too close, but they'd loaded a sizable chunk of it onto the bullheads before they'd had to split. Even the boss lady wasn't gonna get all flame-happy on him for this haul.

Yet, he couldn't get that stupid Atlas Obelisk Blue out of his head. Her Link Monsters. Her Fusion Monster. How utterly she'd overwhelmed him. Red, he could handle, but that redhead? She was clearly not an ordinary student. She worked for whoever the boss lady was actually up against. And she was a terrifying reminder that whatever game that golden-eyed dame was playing, he was way out of his depth in it.

Neo came forward and pressed a hand over his arm, stilling its fearful shivering. Roman turned to catch a rare look of concern on his partner's normally flippant face. He found that he was able to manage a charming smirk if it would get her smiling again.

"Sorry about that. Got all mopey there for a second," he said, patting the back of her hand to reassure her. "Thanks for the save back there. Your timing is perfect as usual. Hope I didn't tear you away from anything too fun."

Neo excitedly hopped up with an impish smile. Pink glass shards swirled around her hand, her semblance forming a transparent image of an exceedingly famous card.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon?" Torchwick said, his eyes flickering towards Neo's stored duel disk Hush, a custom model modified to analyze and record the dust formula of any card played on it. "You stole the dust formula for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?!"

Neo's smile grew as she took a gloating bow. Honestly, she deserved it. The Schnee Family had jealously guarded the dust formula for their signature monster for decades, unwilling to allow anyone outside the family to acquire their own versions. Which meant whoever finally succeeded in acquiring the recipe would not only be a legend in the criminal underworld but, more importantly, could easily make a fortune!

"Nice work, partner!" Roman grinned. "Looks like we'll never have to worry about retirement ever again–"

Neo interrupted him with a pleading pout, the construct in her hand shifting to show a new card, one Torchwick had never seen before. But he was more than familiar with its ilk. One of Neo's favorite tricks was to steal rare cards and then mess around with their dust formulas to craft her own versions more suited to her deck.

"Are you telling me that you want to forgo the biggest score we've ever gotten and not sell a hundred new Blue-Eyes White Dragons into the wind… just so that the Toon version you're gonna make and keep to yourself will be even more valuable?"

Neo gleefully nodded.

"Ugh. You learned my economics lessons too well," Roman groaned. "Fine. Whatever. Your score, your call."

If it was anyone else, he'd never let that stand. Heck, he'd killed people for lesser hauls when they weren't willing to do the smart thing to make the most cash possible for him. But Neo was Neo, the only true partner he'd ever had. It wasn't romantic or anything sappy like that, but for all the lying, cheating, and stealing they did to survive, the fact that they'd never betray each other no matter how crazy things got was something to prize.

And he'd admit, if only to himself, that when she gave him a happy hug afterward, his cold dead heart warmed just a bit as he chuckled.

"I'll admit though, I'm surprised you don't have the card," Torchwick teased. "Don't tell me someone actually pulled a fast one on you?"

Neo pulled herself back from the hug, her peppy smile taking on a cold tinge, letting Roman know that he was right on the money. Which was too bad for whoever had gotten the card back from his partner.

It was exceedingly rare that anyone less powerful than the boss lady got one over his candy-colored gremlin. But anyone unfortunate enough to do so eventually wished that they hadn't. Roman liked occasionally beating significant annoyances down, but Neo reveled in taking apart those that got in her way. For most, that just meant running circles around them on the duel field, but for those that actually managed to irritate her?

They would be in for a bad time.

"Hey! Torchwick!"

Speaking of…

Roman groaned as his co-leader in this mess of an operation stomped up to him. "Lizard Lips. How was your reunion with the kitty cat?"

"Where's Perry?" Ilia demanded. "You took him with you."

"Oh, him? He's… I don't know," Torchwick shrugged, Neo silently giggling beside him. "He got knocked out during a duel. One of the other animals probably got him before we left."

"You better hope that's true," Ilia threatened, though with Neo standing right next to him, Roman didn't exactly take her seriously. "Why didn't you grab him? You were right there with him."

"I was more concerned with getting me, myself, and I on the first bullhead I could," Torchwick replied. "Have I not been clear that I don't care about any of you? Because I wish to be clear: I don't care about any of you."

Ilia curled her fist like she wanted to slug him, but whether it was professionalism or the suspicion that Neo had replaced them with an illusion and they'd actually moved out of the way (she had, and they had), the chameleon faunus contented herself with a furious growl. She whirled around and stormed off, likely to search the hold for Perry and radio the other bullheads if she couldn't find him.

Ugh, the sheer care for her associates was disgusting.

"Teenagers truly are the worst," he remarked, Neo sagely nodding beside him.

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"You know, one day I'm going to duel that guy without him chickening out before we finish," Ruby groaned, spitting out seawater as she flopped back on the docks, her soaked clothes spreading liquid across the concrete. "Are you okay, Penny?"

"I am in operable condition," her friend brightly replied. "Though, I would appreciate it if you did not look at me in my current state."

"Why? Are you injured? My uncle taught me basic field first aid, I can…" Ruby worriedly rambled, whirling towards the Atlas girl's voice. Only to stop short when she glimpsed her actual condition. "... help?"

Penny winced, sparks flying from the circuits exposed under the skin of her face. The synthetic skin of her face. "I told you not to look."

"I… I'm sorry," Ruby stammered. She worriedly eyed the electricity sparking off Penny and the water still soaking them both, before crawling towards the redhead. "Are you actually hurt? I don't think field first aid'll help, but maybe–"

"I'm alright. With some of my aura occupied forming Cyberse Clock Dragon, taking that shot at close range did overwhelm my aura, but the damage was purely superficial," Penny replied, nervously covering the damaged part of her face and turning away. "But now you see me for what I am."

"Uh, I guess?" Ruby said, cocking an eyebrow. "Though… what are you?"

"The first of a new race. 'The one who will protect humanity in the war to come with knowledge and power never dreamed of before'. Or 'humanity's innovation finally made equal to the power stolen from the gods in legend'," Penny shrugged. "The general and father aren't usually poetic men, but when it comes to me, their vocabulary can become impressively robust."

"Okay?" Ruby said. "And, what does that mean?"

"I am the first-ever artificial intelligence capable of free will and generating an aura. In other words, my knees are made of experimental polycarbonate alloy," Penny dourly summarized. "I'm not a real girl."

Ruby blinked in shock. However, she soon slid a warm smile over her face, reaching across the docks to gingerly take Penny's hand. She gently guided the Atlas Obelisk Blue's arms down to their wet uniforms, her grin not weakening one bit when her mechanical skeleton was exposed.

"Of course, you're real. If you weren't, I would have gotten blasted to bits by that sneak attack just now. Penny, you saved my life," the silver-eyed girl reminded her friend. "You've got aura. And that means you have a soul. A soul that manifests awesome monsters who love and respect you. If that's not real, then I don't know what is."

Penny stared at her for a long moment, her green eyes flickering purple with computer data as she stared into the silver orbs of the Slifer Red with the scarlet hood. Then, she immediately rushed in and engulfed her in a desperate, grateful embrace. It was as brutal on Ruby's lungs as the last one, but the younger girl couldn't find it in herself to complain this time. Though, she really hoped that that sparking wire didn't catch the water soaking them because she had a feeling it would hurt her more than the Obelisk Blue girl.

Fortunately, Penny did pull out of the hug before that happened, utterly beaming at Ruby. "We really are friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah. We are," Ruby genuinely smiled back. "Speaking of, as we are friends, would you be willing to teach me fusion summoning later?"

"Oh no, I can't do that. Knowledge of fusion summoning is classified above top secret. I only did it just now because it was the optimum way to end the duel as quickly as possible," Penny cheerfully replied. "Besides, you need a Fusion Monster to fusion summon."

Ruby smirked, instantly digging through her Extra Deck and whipping out her newly crystalized card. "Not a problem!"

Penny's eyes widened, her pupils flashing electronic green like when she scanned Guardian Chimera during the duel. "Analyzing new monster. Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. Not found in Atlas Academy or military database. Mystical elements detected in monster spirit. Creation and Destruction… Ruby, where did you get this card?"

"I forged it a couple weeks ago," Ruby proudly declared. "Maybe it's got something to do with my Signer powers?"

"You're a Signer?!"

Ruby rolled up her sleeve, revealing the dark red dragon claw mark on her forearm. "It runs in the family."

"Runs in the family… oh," Penny said, pity morphing her face. "You're Summer Rose's daughter."

Ruby proudly nodded, stowing Starving Venom Fusion Dragon back in her Extra Deck. "So, you can't teach me fusion summoning, at the moment. What about link summoning? Or is that 'top secret' too?"

"Only for a few more weeks. Versions approved for use by independent hunting duelists and aura-wielding civilians will be available for purchase during the festivities leading up to the Vytal Festival," Penny revealed. "The power of humanity's innovation is meant to raise up all humanity."

Ruby tilted her head to the side. "Huh?"

"More of the general's poetry," Penny giggled. "Don't worry. My father and I designed the summoning method to be much simpler to use than Synchro or Xyz."

"Oh, that's good–wait! You designed a summoning method–"

"Ruby! Ruby, are you here?!"

Ruby whirled over her shoulder, Bumblebee's familiar engine approaching with Yang's worried shouts. But when she turned back to Penny, the Atlas Obelisk Blue was once again covering her damaged face as she shot to her feet.

"Wait," Ruby called, standing up as well. "Penny, you don't need to be afraid."

"My true nature is also classified above top secret," the other girl explained. "Please don't tell anyone."

"I… okay," Ruby relented. "You can trust me."

"I know," Penny smiled. "We're friends."

The Atlas Obelisk Blue turned around and dashed away like a rocket. Lots of cardio indeed.

"Sorry, Yang. Sorry, Uncle Qrow. You've been upstaged as 'The Coolest Person I've Ever Met'," Ruby muttered, smiling wistfully as she watched the other girl go.

Now she just needed to figure out what she was gonna say when those police sirens finally arrived.

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"So, if I understand you correctly," Ozpin said, Team RWBY seated before him in his office. "After learning about Ms. Belladonna's past, Ms. Schnee decided to showcase the good that the SDC does by showing you four and Mr. Wukong the shipments that they sent in to help with the shortages from the recent dust robberies, only to happen upon Roman Torchwick and the White Fang robbing them and having to defend yourselves. Correct, Ms. Rose?"

"Yes," Ruby said. "That is what happened."

"With absolutely no actions taken that could possibly be construed as unlawful vigilantism," Weiss added. "Everything that was not self-defense clearly fell under good samaritan laws."

Ozpin did not acknowledge Ms. Schnee's eloquent statement. He had been addressing Team RWBY's leader, after all.

Ruby squirmed under his gentle, but unwavering gaze. "Uh, yes. Just self-defense. No unlawful vigilantism. Or robots."

"Robots?" Yang quizzically remarked.

"Understandable," Ozpin slyly replied. "Well, in that case, I am quite glad that none of you were badly hurt. Even Mr. Wukong is set to make a full recovery."

"That's a relief," Weiss sighed. "Um, but there was also a White Fang grunt that suffered some burns. He only had one horn. Is he alright?"

Ozpin pulled up his scroll and pulled up the police report. "He is stable in the hospital. Though obviously, he is under arrest."

"Right," Weiss nervously gulped, her eyes skittishly darting away. "Obviously."

Ozpin made a mental note of that reaction. It seemed that whether through her interactions with Ms. Belladonna or some other occasion, Ms. Schnee's perspective on the organization that warred with her family had shifted somewhat. Whether that ended up being to her benefit or not would still need to be seen. After all, while it was vitally important to remain cognizant of the societal injustices that had led to the White Fang that needed to be corrected, allowing sympathy alone to guide all of one's interactions with terrorists was a recipe for disaster.

As was chasing after them recklessly, the headmaster internally mused, shooting a disapproving look at Ms. Belladonna, the cat faunus glancing away from his emerald gaze.

"The police found a Beacon Academy duel runner hotwired at the scene, Ms. Belladonna," Ozpin said. "I appreciate your eagerness to accept Ms. Schnee's olive branch after the unpleasantness between you two, but please simply sign one up next time you need one. Getting ahead of your teammates won't help you get where you want to go any faster."

"Of course, sir," Blake mumbled.

"I hope you do. Intentional damage to academy property means detention, though I will let your team leader submit her discipline recommendation to me before I make a final decision on your punishment."

"My what?" Ruby said.

"Student handbook. Page thirty-two," Weiss muttered to her partner.

Ozpin chuckled at the playful interaction between the two girls. It was good to see that they had become such true friends after being at each other's throats before their first duel.

"Semester break is coming up. I suggest you all make use of it to process these events. Even professional hunting duelists need downtime after such harrowing experiences," the headmaster advised. "With any luck, you will not encounter their like again until long after you've graduated."

Giving him ample time to observe and study Ms. Schnee and Ms. Belladonna's dragons under safe and controlled circumstances. As much as he hoped that the four women in front of him would one day become his replacements for Team STRQ, he hadn't kept Remnant standing this long by leaving powerful unknown variables to chance. He had enough of a headache coming on with this 'Link Monster' matter that James had just sent him a preliminary report on.

"Ms. Schnee. Ms. Belladonna. Ms. Xiao-Long. You are all dismissed," Ozpin said. "Ms. Rose, a word in private?"

Ruby immediately paled, her sister giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she and the other two members of Team RWBY exited the office to the elevator. Leaving the leader alone with her headmaster.

"You've lied to me," Ozpin bluntly stated.

Ruby nervously puckered her lips and anxiously avoided his gaze. "No, I didn't."

"You did. Just as you lied to the police to prevent Ms. Belladonna from being charged with vigilantism. An admirable effort in the aftermath. Rest assured, if I had any intention of allowing the authorities to lock up our repentant Odd-Eyed Bandit, I would have done so when I received her application to the academy," the headmaster said. "Though, I would prefer if, in the future, you took a more active hand in your team's 'extra-curricular' activities, Ms. Rose. One way or another."

"One way or another–I mean, what 'extra-curricular' activities?"

Ozpin flashed her that enigmatic smirk that he'd perfected over more lifetimes than he could remember, the one that had enchanted many a young hunting duelist, Ms. Rose's parents and uncle included, to dance to his tune. "Obviously, I would prefer most of all that you four focus on your studies. All of you are prodigies to some degree, capable of at least one Extra Deck summoning method, but you are still children. I wish for you to play the part as long as possible."

"Um? Thank you, sir?" Ruby replied. "But if that's 'one way', then what's the 'or another'?"

"You are not the first students to have walked this academy's halls that feel the ills of Remnant cannot wait until graduation day to combat," Ozpin joked. "Though I must say, your efforts were some of the more uncoordinated."

"I think we did pretty okay for ourselves," Ruby preened back.

"Ms. Schnee and Ms. Belladonna's conditions suggest otherwise. Not to mention Mr. Wukong."

Ruby flinched. "Yeah… it could have gone better. But it could have been worse. We stopped some of the dust from being stolen."

"You stopped some. Some. And how much was because you got lucky assistance from unexpected parties?" Ozpin asked. He let out a tired sigh as Ruby's face fell. "I'm not trying to discourage you, Ms. Rose. You and your teammates' desire to help others is the mark of a true hunting duelist. But the enemies that you face are dangerous, and the knowledge of what they are capable of will not make overcoming them any easier. Your team must be at their best to face them. And that means you must be at your best."

"Me?" Ruby replied. "No offense, headmaster, but I kicked butt today."

"Yes, your duel where you singlehandedly took on Roman Torchwick and his White Fang backup. Your statement to the police documented it quite well," Ozpin said. Something about that part of the story didn't sit right with him, but the rest of the girls showed no sign that they thought their leader was lying like they did otherwise, so he'd leave it alone for now. "Meanwhile, your team was separated, cornered, and nearly cut to pieces."

Ruby deflated.

"You accepted the burden of leadership when you did not concede to Ms. Schnee after initiation, Ruby. Like it or not, your team is your responsibility," Ozpin cautioned. "How you lead is up to you, and may even change from situation to situation as appropriate, but you must lead. In incidents like today, your team will be in danger if they are not at their best. And they will not be at their best without a leader to unite them. And if you are not always seeking to be at your best, why should anyone follow you?"

Ruby's brow furrowed. She looked down and rolled up her sleeve, staring intently at her crimson Signer Mark. "Everyone here is the bee's knees. I'm not special just because… I'm special."

"It is not a matter of being special," Ozpin reassured her. "But you must always strive to do your best, and furthermore improve what that best is. You can rest assured that those you face will always be working to increase their own power."

"Improve my best?" Ruby muttered, her smile suddenly brightening to an excited beaming. "That I can do! Black Rose is so awesome already. Once I get Blake to teach me how to bring out Starving Venom, they'll be double awesome together! Thanks, professor."

"Any time, Ms. Rose," Ozpin smirked, curious what exactly this 'Starving Venom' was that the silver-eyed girl classified it in the same category as her Signer Dragon. "Dismissed."

Ruby jetted over to the elevator in a burst of her semblance, rose petals trailing over the floor as the emerald-gray doors closed behind her.

Ozpin's face fell again, his scroll reopening to the police report. Specifically to the section that was exclusive to the copy in his possession. The police themselves only had the doctored versions that he and Glynda's contacts in the force had made and swapped out with the original.

"Suspect's Deck List," Ozpin read under his breath, his eyes narrowing at the mention of Polymerization.

Every few decades, The Queen used intermediaries to supply sufficiently capable criminal groups with Polymerizations, giving them just enough knowledge to begin experimenting with fusion cards, developing their own, hoping that one of them would happen upon the method to create the card that had evaded her after all her millennia of research, the card to create a new god and give her a chance to end her curse, perhaps even to grasp at the code itself. Ozpin had sent in Team STRQ and later just Qrow to silence said groups and destroy all their fusion research before they got too far along, but The Queen wasn't one to let the demise of pawns stop her from finding more. It seemed that The White Fang was the latest set, possibly under the command of the one who attacked Amber. It was possible that Ms. Belladonna might even still have a Polymerization or two since her defection. And if her desire to defeat her former comrades lead to Team RWBY further investigating The White Fang like today…

He'd already been planning to push Ms. Rose and Ms. Belladonna to their limit when they took their track promotion exams after the semester break, to test the former's Silver Eyes and Signer powers and the latter's Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. It seemed that his efforts would be even more necessary to give his students perspective on exactly where they stood in the game they wished to join.

Other than that, there was no reason to take any reckless action, despite Qrow's message about how "The Queen Has Pawns."

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"The White Fang has Polymerization?" General Ironwood worriedly murmured over the CCT call. "Then The Queen is planning something big in Vale. You did well to inform me of this, Penny."

"Thank you, sir!" Penny smiled, her face's false skin having been repaired from her self-patch kit. "What is the next move?"

"Beacon has to be fortified. I'll personally bring a squadron to bolster the kingdom's defenses. We can use the recent attacks on our convoys as an excuse for the extra security for the students' travel."

"Sensational!" Penny cheered. "But I meant, what do you wish me to do?"

"For now, nothing."

"Yes, sir," Penny nodded, though she couldn't keep a frown from her face. "Though, if these terrorists do possess fusion capabilities, wouldn't I be the best equipped to confront them before they hurt anyone else–"

"Penny," the general warmly, but sternly, interrupted her. "I admire your instincts. To identify a threat and take action against it is the essence of being a hunting duelist. But you are not just a hunting duelist."

Penny lowered her head. "No, sir."

"Just because your father has discovered how to create Link Monsters without your direct assistance does not mean we can afford to risk whatever evolutions to the style you can still provide," Ironwood reminded her. "The Ignis are the future of hunting duelists, of humanity itself. Until your father is able to create others of your kind without Dr. Watts' abominable methods, your safety is paramount."

"Yes, sir," Penny nodded.

"Good girl," Ironwood smiled. "Don't worry, Penny. You are the manifestation of humanity's will to innovate. You will lead us to a better future."

Penny smiled. That was certainly something she wanted to do. And maybe with Ruby as her first friend, it would be even better than she'd hoped it would be.

"Now, did anyone see you at the docks other than the White Fang?"

Penny paled, knowing the general would not be pleased that she'd allowed her duel runner to be borrowed by a friend, even if she'd managed to snatch it from the crime scene before the police saw it or her.

Well, at least it was better than the earful her dad had given her for jumping into live combat with the White Fang.

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Sometimes, Ilia wondered what her parents would think of the things that she'd done during the White Fang's terrorist phase. They hadn't been violent people, but they'd made clear that if any human ever laid a hand on her, then she should send them to the cemetery.

She wondered what they'd suggest for the humans that had forced them to work for them.

"You told us that the power of fusion would give us strength like nothing else on Remnant!" Adam roared, stomping into the back room of the warehouse where the woman with golden eyes and her green-haired assistant were discussing… something. "You said nothing about Atlas having that same power!"

"Yeah, I'm with the side of beef here," Torchwick chimed in, he and his candy-coated gremlin conspicuously staying behind Adam when they spoke their critique. "Helping you with whatever nefarious plan you've got going on here was a lot more plausible when some random schoolgirl wasn't showing up with everything you gave us and monsters that can make more Extra Monster Zones."

"You said that Ozpin wouldn't respond to the attacks!" Adam ranted. "You said he wouldn't bother deploying hunting duelists against my men–ah!"

Ilia hopped back in shock as Adam, one of the strongest duelists she'd ever known, was suddenly put flat on his back in the blink of an eye. Roman and Neo appeared unfazed, they likely hadn't actually gone into striking distance, but for some reason, they nervously looked up above Adam's body, at seemingly empty air.

Air that soon shimmered to reveal that it was not so empty.

A massive black dragon had Adam pinned to the floor in its talons, its scales sharp, lean, and darker than night. The beast leaned down towards the helpless Blood-Soaked Bull, its jagged beak-like snout purring menacingly with the glare of its infernal scarlet eyes.

"Thank you for the assistance, Emerald," the dark-haired human woman said to her loyal minion, the girl preening a bit at her mistress's praise. "Please make sure that dear Ilia over there doesn't do anything stupid."

Ilia hadn't even realized that she'd deployed her Lightning Lash duel disk, but she really shouldn't have been surprised that her body had reacted before her mind did. It was only natural to be on edge in the presence of an apex predator. Adam was, aside from Sienna Khan, the strongest duelist she'd ever met, the man who'd taken the floundering Vale Cell of the White Fang and whipped them into a consistent threat to the SDC convoys running through Forever Fall. And yet when that crazed scorpion faunus had sauntered into their camp all those months back, The Blood-Soaked Bull had been crushed the same as the rest of them.

This woman, this human woman in an elegant red dress barely a few years older than Ilia, who casually strode through an abandoned warehouse in dark glass heels, was part of the same group as that insane scorpion faunus. She, who'd pulled out her dragon card without any of them noticing and manifested it without any visible effort, who'd browbeat their terrorist cell into being her lapdogs, who even now only allowed those few she chose to see her or even know her name, was a tad more than they could handle.

"Don't squeeze too hard, Red-Eyes. I need him conscious so that I answer his stupid questions," the dark-haired woman mused, leering down at the pinned bull faunus. "A single team of first-year students is not Ozpin responding. From the reports, it seems that this is merely an unfortunate side effect of you being unable to keep your house in order."

Adam gnashed his teeth together, but it was telling that he did not outright lash out at the dragon pinning him. "And the Atlas girl?"

"A sign of our enemies' division. Ozpin is too paranoid to risk experimenting with new forms of fusion. While Ironwood is too paranoid not to leave such a powerful weapon untapped," the black-haired woman smirked. "Their mutual arrogance is nothing to fear."

Adam sneered. "And Blake?"

Cinder rolled her eyes, her dragon vanishing as she swaggered away without a care. "Your ex-girlfriend is irrelevant. Focus on the Mountain Glenn operation and dealing with traitors that actually know damaging information like that Tukson fool."

Ilia's blood froze. Tukson had betrayed them? He was one of the old guard, a contemporary of Ghira, Kali, and Sienna when the White Fang was first founded, as well as one of the first to join the organization's new age. If he had betrayed them, and been killed for it… did Sienna have any idea what was going on here? The chameleon faunus believed that they had to do some ugly things to protect their people, but this? This wasn't protecting their people. This was just being some madwoman's lackey!

"We can't go along with this any longer," Ilia feverishly whispered to Adam after all their 'allies' had left the room. "Torchwick is the same kind of exploiting, racist gangster we would have gone after in Mistral, and that woman is–"

"Powerful," Adam interrupted. "And through her and her master, we will have the power to finally make the humans pay."

"How do you know that?" Ilia demanded. "We've stolen half the dust in Vale and she hasn't even told us what it's all for–"

Adam whirled around, grabbed Ilia by the throat, and smashed her up against the warehouse wall. The Blood-Soaked Bull snarled down at his 'old friend'.

"They will pay because I will make them pay," he declared, his Grimm mask making him look far too much like the soulless creatures in the dark of the warehouse. "We're not meaninglessly robbing convoys or protecting middle-of-nowhere villages no one's ever heard of. With fusion, I have real power. Humanity. Tukson. Blake. Especially Blake."

Ilia gasped as he released her and stomped away. She'd noticed how abusive Adam was becoming to Blake before she'd been sent away to Menagerie. She'd suspected that the actual reason she'd been sent away was that the Blood-Soaked Bull was getting too possessive to allow his girlfriend to have another close friend outside him (she could only imagine what he would have done if he knew about her true feelings for the cat faunus). Secretly, as hurt as she was by Blake leaving, the chameleon faunus was glad her crush had gotten away from the redheaded man and hadn't been taken back at the docks. Because the redhead bull faunus had only gotten more unstable since she'd left.

"What are you going to do? Charge right into Beacon?" Ilia challenged him, hoping to dissuade him from whatever he was going to do. "The academies are fortresses. They're staffed by veteran hunting duelists. Not even you could reach Blake in there before Ozpin got you."

"She has to come out sometime. Either to come after us again or some training mission or some other reason," Adam noted, rubbing a hand over Wilt. "I'll watch. I'll follow where she goes. And when she lets her guard down, I will make her pay for how she's hurt me."

Ilia trembled as she watched Adam stalk further into the darkness. And all she could wonder was if the reason her old friend could tolerate working under the golden-eyed woman in the red dress, was that when she hadn't been looking, he'd become just like her.

Oh, who was she kidding? She'd been looking the entire time. She just hadn't cared enough because it made him useful to their cause, a sharper sword for the White Fang. Only now that sword was pointed at their enemies… and everyone else.

What the heck could she do?

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"So," Yang yawned back atop her bunk bed, Team RWBY reassembled in their dorm room. "What the heck do we do now?"

"Well, I gotta fill out this discipline recommendation sheet," Ruby groaned from her desk. "What do you think, Blake? According to the handbook, you've gotta get lines at minimum for the hotwiring."

"Ruby, you're not supposed to ask her to pick her own punishment," Weiss lightly scolded.

"... so, lines?"

"I don't really care," Blake sighed. "I'm sorry that I dragged you all into this mess."

"Eh, no harm, no foul," Yang shrugged. "Just give us a heads-up next time. I didn't get to smash any bad guys' skulls in."

"They weren't just 'bad guys'," Weiss muttered.

"Well, yeah, not 'just' bad guys. But they were working with Roman Torchwick and pretty eager for Sun's blood," Yang pointed out. She turned to Blake. "So, especially if you're not good to Fusion Summon, let us back you up next time."

"Next time?" Weiss squawked. "Did you miss Sun ending up in the infirmary? Or that pink and brown girl nearly killing me?"

"No. But I also didn't miss Blake saving Sun or me saving you. Or us stopping the dust that'll fix the kingdom's shortage from getting stolen. Blake shouldn't have gone in alone, but a lot of people who were being strangled by rising dust prices are gonna sleep easier tonight because we did get involved," Yang replied. "If we have each other's backs, we can kick a lot of bad guy butt if we end up dueling those guys again."

"Yeah! Team RWBY is gonna be the best team we can possibly be," Ruby grinned, whipping out her newly crystalized purple-bordered card. "And it starts with this!"

Weiss, Blake, and Yang all immediately sat up in surprise.

"You crystalized it," Blake observed. "When?"

"During my duel with Torchwick," Ruby smiled. "Now, I just need you to teach me how to summon it and we can become stronger than ever. Heck, if you and I can forge some more Fusion Monsters, we can all get even better than we already are–"

"No," Blake scowled.

"What?" Ruby chirped.

"Ruby, if I have my way, I'll never Fusion Summon again," Blake declared. "Why would I teach you that cursed power?"

"What 'cursed power'? They're monsters just like any other monsters."

"You don't know that!" Blake shouted. "You've never seen them in action. You don't know what they're capable of."

Well, she had, but her team didn't know that. Penny had asked her to keep her presence at the docks and her true nature a secret, and with all her new friend was dealing with, her doubts about if 'she was real', Ruby didn't want to betray that new trust. Besides, as magnificent as Cyberse Clock Dragon had been, she didn't need it to prove her point.

"I saw Perry use Guardian Chimera. It was powerful, sure, but it wasn't anything another monster couldn't do," Ruby argued. She stomped towards Blake, pressing her Starving Venom Fusion Dragon forward. "I forged Starving Venom. Me. With my aura, my soul. If he's cursed, then so am I."

"Ruby," Weiss spoke up. "This isn't the time for this."

"Yeah, sis," Yang concurred, worriedly eyeing Blake's shaking body. "Just drop it for now–"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Blake yelled, rushing up to close the rest of the distance between herself and Ruby. "Do you think this is some fairy tale? That there's good in everyone and everything? There's not! Some peop– some things are just broken. Just evil. And there is no saving them. That's the real world."

"Hey!" Weiss called. "That's too far–"

"Of course that's the real world!" Ruby shot back. "But why else are we here if not to make it… better?"

Ruby trailed off as all of Team RWBY's eyes were drawn to a sudden violet glow emanating from Starving Venom Fusion Dragon's card. The silver-eyed girl quirked her head to the side, her monster's feelings seeping through it. Feelings of excitement, of hunger, of the desire to fight.

Ruby could certainly sympathize with those feelings. If she wasn't aware of how tired Blake was, she might have challenged Blake to a duel herself to knock some sense into her as she had with Weiss at the start of the school year. But how in the world was it glowing like that? The only thing she'd ever seen do something like that was a Signer Dragon and that was only because they had… magic.

Similar glows of orange and black soon emanated from Blake and Weiss's deck boxes. The two hunting duelists shared a concerned look, but soon dove into their cards and pulled out Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Perhaps expectedly, the dragons that had caused the mysterious incident during their duel were also the sources of their shimmering light.

"Okay…" Yang murmured, raising an eyebrow. "The heck is going on?"

"He's… greeting it? He's greeting Starving Venom?" Blake murmured, translating her monster's feelings. "Happily."

"They're… gathering," Weiss muttered, shaking her head in confusion. "What does that mean? I forged Dark Rebellion. It didn't exist before then. How could it gather with something Ruby forged a few weeks ago?"

"Maybe the card didn't exist," Ruby posited, her eyes widening as she and Yang shared a look of realization. "But their spirits did."

"Like the Signer Dragons," Yang completed. "They were just waiting for someone worthy to make them cards to manifest from."

A chorus of three roars echoed from the cards, each dragon seeming to call out as their glows intensified. Ruby couldn't speak for Dark Rebellion or Odd-Eyes, but from what she could understand of Starving Venom's emotions, it felt like he was telling someone to… stop being picky? That they'd already chosen there's so settle for the convenient… what the heck? Who were the dragons even talking to?

Ruby soon got her answer when a fourth glow began shining shortly afterward. From Yang's deck box.

"Huh?" Yang said, rustling through her cards before pulling out a near-blank Synchro Monster card, one of her attempts at recreating Mom's Stardust Dragon if Ruby remembered right. "This thing? Why–"

Three more roars, one from Starving Venom, one from Odd-Eyes, and one from Dark Rebellion. But this time, they were answered by a fourth roar. One that, if Ruby had to take a guess, was one of reluctant acceptance, like when Uncle Qrow had made clear to her that she wasn't getting any cookies until she mastered synchro summoning her own way.

Yang's card shimmered, motes of dust and ambient aura flickering off its surface, a name and the image of a sweeping white dragon forming in the card's silver borders.

Then, all at once, all four dragons' glows ceased. Ruby listened closely afterward, but Starving Venom's spirit was quiet as well. From the puzzled looks of the others, their monsters were equally silent after the sudden dynamic display.

Well, from Weiss and Blake's puzzled looks. Yang was too busy gaping at her new card, her eyes twinkling with awe at its beauty.

"Clear Wing Synchro Dragon," she read off its name, sparking it like a magic incantation.

"Wha… what…" Weiss skittishly pointed between the four cards. "What was that? They just… they just forced another card to crystalize. We didn't even summon them. That's… that's not possible."

"Neither is them taking control of us and making us live each other's memories," Blake remarked, staring at the ace that made her famous/infamous with suspicion.

"Making you live each others' what?" Yang inquired. "What happened when I locked you two in the bathroom together?"

"No, it was before then," Weiss brushed off. "But more importantly, these monsters aren't Signer Dragons, right? We don't have tattoos?"

"It doesn't look like it," Ruby observed, consoling her partner with a pat on the shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Weiss."

"I didn't want one, you dolt!" Weiss exclaimed. "I want to know what's going on!"

Ruby smirked at her and Blake. "You guys have anything planned for semester break?"

"My father has 'requested' my return to Atlas for the break," Weiss snarked. "So, I will be staying in Vale."

"And I am a wanted terrorist in hiding, so I didn't plan any extensive traveling," Blake added. "Why do you ask?"

Ruby zoomed over to her teammates and wrapped her arms around their shoulders with a conspiratorial smirk. "Ladies, I think Team RWBY needs to go on a team-building retreat to the sunny shores of Patch. You see, Yang and I have a guy who knows a thing or two about magic–"

"Uncle Qrow's on another long-term mission," Yang reminded her. "He said he wouldn't be back for break."

"... Yang and I have another guy who knows a thing or two about magic," Ruby rebounded. "He's feared throughout the underworld as a terrifying force of nature, the master of fire and darkness that haunts the nightmares of every criminal that's ever picked up a duel disk, the Sun Dragon of Hell that single handedly wiped out the Xiong family's control of Vale's underground duel circuit–"

"It's our dad," Yang cut her off. "She's talking about our dad."

Ruby deflated, the excitable girl letting out a forlorn sigh. "Now I know how Perry felt."

And that's the end of Volume 1. This is my first time writing Volume 1, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much character momentum I was able to give it without losing the disconnected character vignette appeal of the original. Remember to vote in the poll on the profile for which duels of this volume are your favorites! :)

As hinted here, Volume 2, whenever it comes out, will start with two short original mini-arcs, a Patch Mini-Arc, and a Promotion Exams Mini-Arc. Neither should be longer than three chapters, but I wanted to give some forewarning so that everyone wouldn't be disappointed when the story didn't immediately jump into the Investigation Arc from canon.

Honestly, as much as I've enjoyed writing my other stories, the episodic nature of this one due to the duels has made this one MUCH easier and more fun to write given my much more limited time these days. Which is honestly quite helpful as I need some easygoing breaks from the real-life matters limiting that time. I can only hope that this story is as enjoyable for you guys to read as it is for me to write.

Remember to check out and add to this story's TVTROPES PAGE! I check my stories' pages often and I always enjoy it when they grow. :)

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!