Beta-ed by xenosaiyan

"Heartland! Heartland! Everyone loves Heartland! Everyone has fun at Heartland!"

Pyrrha smiled fondly as Jaune and Nora sang in a childlike kickline through Team JNPR's room, the two Ra Yellows' golden jackets flapping throughout their dance. Floating in the air beside the two, Astral made some stilted attempts to mimic their energetic movements.

A few weeks after the promotion exams, the beginning of semester classes had finally settled down enough for the Beacon student body to make some extensive recreational plans. For Team JNPR, that meant finally getting the chance to celebrate their team leader's successful promotion… and recovery from the injuries incurred during that promotion.

"I could have sworn those two were crying uncle to that Oobleck essay an hour ago," Yang chuckled, the blonde and the Invincible Girl leaning against Team RWBY's doorframe as they observed Jaune and Nora. "Heartland's Funzone Pizzaria really that exciting for them?"

"According to Nora, it'll be the first time she and Ren will be inside one without… well…"

"Getting chased out?"

Pyrrha winced. "Nora assured me that they were always able to get good scraps."

"Well then they'll love the full pies," Yang said. "Just make sure you go to the one in the southern district. Bit of a further trek, but the sauce is way better."

"Ren's checking out a school runner now for him and Nora now. I'll take Jaune on Argus Chariot," Pyrrha grinned. "Are you sure you guys don't want to join us? The more friends the merrier."

"Sorry, P-Money," Yang replied, poking her head into her team's room, where Blake was kneeling over her bed, her Fusion Monsters spread out over the blankets. "Blake's got word of a White Fang rally in the east district. She and Ruby are gonna cover it while Weiss and I are gonna check in with an information broker I know."

Pyrrha frowned, her brow creased with worry. "Are you guys sure you want to do this?"

"Blake would just do it alone if we put it off any longer. Besides, who doesn't love cracking some bad guys' skulls?" Yang said with a jaunty smirk. "You guys sure you don't want to join in the fun?"

"I think we'll have to have to side with pizza," Pyrrha replied, though her frown did not leave her lips. "Unless you guys need backup–"

"Ah! No, you don't. You want to spend a fun night out with your team, no dueling required," Yang cheekily declared, wagging her finger in front of her redheaded friend. "No talking yourself into being the Invincible Girl when you don't want to be. Go make goo-goo eyes at Jaune like your heart desires."

Pyrrha flushed red and pouted, somewhat regretted having confided her growing feelings for her partner to her blonde friend. "I do not make goo-goo eyes."

"You do. It's cute. Be cuter if you asked him out though. Which tonight would be your perfect chance for."

"But what if–"

"Relax. I'll make sure my team gets what we need," Yang said, she pulled out a card from her deck box, proudly showing Clear Wing Synchro Dragon off to Pyrrha. "Remember, you're not the only one who's been chosen by a kickass magic monster."

The blonde's easy humor dragged a hearty giggle from the Mistralian champion. "Have you been able to summon it yet?"

"Eh, it's a work in progress," Yang admitted, teetering her hand from side to side before stowing her beautiful silver dragon back in her deck box. "But hey, I spent nearly a decade getting that card just right for that thing to jump in. What's a month or two to figure out how to manifest it right? I mean, it may not be Stardust Dragon, but it definitely looks like it and if it's related to Weiss and Blake's dragons, then it'll be packing plenty of magic when it takes the field. It's worth getting right, just like Ruby and her Link Summoning training."

"If you say so," Pyrrha politely replied, careful not to bring up that she'd never had any trouble summoning Number 101, even before she'd mastered Xyz Summoning itself. "How is Ruby doing? I haven't seen her much lately, even at Onomatopoeia Gang night. I know she was really set on making you guys an 'all-blue' team."

"Oh, she was. But she hasn't exactly slowed down to hear all the whispers around the academy about how weird it is for a Slifer Red to be leading a team of Obelisk Blues, including the SDC heiress," Yang explained, a proud, rosy expression coming over her face. "She's been spending every second she can with her girlfriend."

"You mean her Link Summoning tutor," Blake scoffed, Pyrrha hopping back as the dark-haired Obelisk Blue appeared at her side without a sound. "Which she should be back from by now."

"Relax, partner," Yang comforted, not put off in the least. "We've got time."

"If they decide to start the rally early, we won't make it in time," Blake impatiently growled. "We need to leave now."

Yang sighed. "Don't worry. Weiss went to go get her."

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"Ahem."

"So you're hypothesizing that by folding the dust matrix's core over itself, the increased density will permit it to maintain more link arrows without adding any more dust?"

"Ahem."

"Yeah, because if we add any more dust, the mold won't hold no matter how careful we are with our aura control during the forging process."

"Sensational! If this proves successful, we may be able to finally create a Link-5."

"Why stop there? We should go even further! A Link–"

"Ahem!" Weiss clapped, no longer content to be ignored in the heat of the Beacon forge room.

Ruby and Penny both turned towards her. The excited Beacon Slifer Red and Atlas Obelisk Blue had huge grins on their faces left over from the dust mold they'd been standing over.

"Oh, hey Weiss," Ruby smiled. "When did you get here?"

"She arrived approximately eighty-seven seconds ago," Penny said.

Weiss' eyes narrowed. "You knew I was here. Were you ignoring me?"

"I assumed that you were clearing your throat in preparation to join the conversation," Penny cheerily replied. "Please, feel free to share your ideas for the forging process."

"I… well…" Weiss stammered, the confident duelist suddenly bashful and unsure in the face of the girl who'd both bested her partner and been bequeathed her sister's title. "Actually, I'm just here to pick up Ruby. We have that team thing tonight, remember?"

"Oh," Penny nodded. "You mean your investigation of the White Fang?"

Weiss glared at Ruby, the silver-eyed Slifer Red embarrassedly rubbing the back of her head. "It may have slipped out while we were working."

"I'm sure," the white-haired girl droned. "I suppose this means we'll be investigating as a team plus one?"

"I'm afraid not. The general has ordered me not to get directly involved with The White Fang," Penny apologetically said, before pulling out several cards from her pocket and handing them to Ruby. "However, I hope that these can still provide some assistance."

"Eee! Thank you!" Ruby squealed, eagerly sifting through the cards like Nora devoured fresh flapjacks. "Ooo! That one's awesome! Oh! That one too! My own Infinite Impermanence!? So coo… ooo…"

Weiss cocked an eyebrow as her partner's awed voice trailed off. Letting curiosity get the best of her, the heiress leaned over her shoulder to see what card had stunned her so. Evidentially it was a light blue card with orange arrows pointing straight down and to the left, a small dragon covered in a colorful bouquet plastered in its picture slot.

"A Link Monster?" Weiss gasped.

"You've been working so hard since you asked me to train you after our duel during your promotion exams, I thought it might be helpful," Penny said, nervously shuffling her feet as she struggled to meet Ruby's eyes. "I know you said you wanted to forge your own, but I thought a Link-2 would still leave you with room to experiment with others–"

Ruby rushed over and engulfed Penny in a huge hug. "I love it. Thank you."

Penny's face lit up with joy, her arms snapping around the red-hooded girl. The Atlas Obelisk Blue embraced her friend with endless enthusiasm, not realizing the silver-eyed girl had started helplessly choking and flailing in her grip.

"You are welcome, Ruby!" the redheaded girl exclaimed. "You truly are a wonderful friend!"

"Gah! Gah! Not like this! Not like this!" Ruby gagged, desperately reaching toward her partner. "Weiss… partner… help me!"

Weiss fixed her with an icy glare, blinking steadily at her floundering friend. "Long live the team leader."

"Don't… quote… The Gagaga Lion King… at me… gah!"

Weiss enjoyed her impetuous partner's suffering for a few moments more, teach her a lesson about letting team secrets slip so easily. Besides, she withstood Yang's bear hugs on a regular basis, it wasn't like she was in any real danger from a spry duelist like Penny, no matter how much of a show she was putting on about actually choking.

Strangely, Ruby was limping by the time she and Weiss left Penny behind, the redheaded Atlas girl earnestly waving goodbye from the forge room.

"I need to stop letting people hug me," Ruby mumbled. "It's bad for my health."

"Oh, don't be a baby," Weiss waved off. "If you cared about your health, you wouldn't spend a third of your time planning possible Polymerization formulas, a third of your time getting distracted coming up with other card formulas, half of which you can't even use, and the other third forging like wildfire with your secret girlfriend. I'm still not sure when you find time to do your homework. Or sleep."

"Like you said, Penny's the 'Goddess of Notetaking', so she helps with the homework stuff. Oh, that reminds me, did you hear back from the SDC about if Rank-Up-Magics other than Astral's exist-" Ruby did a double take, blinking in shocked befuddlement. "Secret what?"

"I got a mountain of records back. But I checked through them all, and, like I told you, there are no other spell cards that can cause Rank-Up Xyz Evolution or Chaos Xyz Evolution. If you want to make one, for some reason I cannot fathom given you have no Xyz Monsters and don't know how to Xyz Summon, you'll have to ask Astral for pointers. As for the other matter…" Weiss teasingly smirked. "Yang thinks you're worshiping at 'The Goddess's altar'."

"Ugh! Not again!" Ruby groaned. "Every time I become close with anyone I didn't originally get along famously with, she starts hearing wedding bells! Or pretends she does, I don't know! It's part of her evil big sister witchcraft!"

"Oh, so that's why she acted as if I was some sort of love rival for you," Weiss nodded, certain annoying insinuations of her golden-haired teammate falling into place. "Odd that an older sister would want you to interact with others in a romantic capacity. Winter may want me to make friends, but I'm pretty sure she'd have the military investigate anyone I dated. Doubly so for anyone my father tried to set me up with."

"Hold over from my younger days. I wasn't a 'people person' as they say. She and dad were desperate for me to 'meet new people' and 'get out of my shell', or interact with someone in a way that didn't involve constantly pestering them for duels," Ruby recounted. "Which is ridiculous! What better way is there to interact with people than dueling?"

"Yes, yes, I know," Weiss rolled her eyes. Even when they'd all been having fun on Patch, Ruby had been antsy to return to Beacon and 'being a hunting duelist'. "Don't worry. While there shouldn't be any dueling tonight if things go as planned, I have a bad feeling we won't be so lucky."

Ruby gazed at her partner with a look of great concern as they strode through Beacon, ignoring the various stares and whispers thrown her way from visiting Haven, Atlas, and Shade students about the Slifer Red leader of the Schnee heiress. "How are you feeling about tonight? You know, everything you were worried about dealing with the White Fang while being… well, you."

"Completely fine," Weiss preened. "After all, Yang and I will not be dealing with White Fang tonight, just with normal common criminals. If I need to mix it up and show them what for, I can do so guilt-free. Why do you think I asked to be on the club mission?"

Ruby cocked an eyebrow. "I thought it was because having the SDC heiress hang out near a White Fang rally would be easily spotted and asking for trouble?"

"That too, yes," Weiss admitted, with a pleased smile. "Frankly, I think I will enjoy the lack of ire directed at me tonight."

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

A few hours later, Weiss gained a new loathing for irony. After all, not being the direct target of immense ire didn't help when you were standing right next to the person who was."

"Guess who's back?" Yang jauntily quipped as she barged herself and her teammate into the aptly named 'The Club', only for half the suited men inside to greet her with Maruading Captains while the other half hid under any table or counter they could find, shaking in their boots.

"This… this is the club you wrecked before coming to Beacon, isn't it?" Weiss groaned.

"Nope. I wrecked the underground turbo duel track," Yang mischievously clarified. "The club just happened to be above it at the time."

"What a joyous distinction," Weiss dryly quipped. She raised Myrtenaster, reluctantly moving to fight her way out as Yang deployed Ember Celica.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

The suited men all dropped their weapons as a large bulky man with a thick black beard and a well-pressed vest shoved his way through the crowd, flanked on either side by two black-haired young women in red and white outfits that even by Weiss' standards with the Atlesian elite were… gaudy.

"Oh, goody, Melanie," the girl in red groaned. "The blonde tramp is back."

"Ugh, I know, Miltia," the twin in white remarked with a roll of her eyes. "You'd think she'd know that her rat hair and scrapyard runner aren't welcome here anymore."

"Hey, hey, the sisters Malachite, nice to see you again," Yang laughed, the fire in her voice suddenly cold as ice. "Make sure I don't hear you again, you know. Don't want a repeat of last time, now do we?"

As Weiss recalled from Yang's past recountings of her trashing of The Club (admittedly, she had never given a motive for the occasion), said 'time' had consisted of the Malachites losing a two-on-one duel against Team RWBY's strongest member, quite handily. Perhaps that was why even the two fashionistas, whatever their arrogance, shuffled back behind their towering boss at the Beacon student's threat.

"Blondie," the man, Hei 'Junior' Xiong, hesitantly greeted. "You're here. Why?"

"You still owe me a strawberry sunrise," Yang declared with a jaunty wink and a saunter past the information broker and his goons to the bar. "Weiss, you want anything?"

"To… drink?" Weiss muttered incredulously. She whipped away from her teammate and just imperiously stared down Junior. They weren't here for this petty intimidation pageantry. They were here for information! "Several months ago, half a dozen of your men assisted Roman Torchwick with an attempted robbery of the store 'From Dust 'Till Dawn'. Tell us everything you know about his operation and his dealings with the White Fang!"

Unfortunately, far from spilling their guts in response to the heiress' demand, Miltia, Melanie, and even the dozens of suited men all merely quirked their heads in befuddlement.

"She's not serious, is she?" one of the men in red sunglasses pondered to a comrade.

"Torchwick and the White Fang?" another one scoffed. "He'd tick them off into eating him alive in a day. And then Neo would have a bunch of animal pelt rugs."

"Hey, I've seen you somewhere before," Melanie said, her painted eyes narrowing at Weiss. "Hey, wasn't she in that singing magazine, Miltia–"

"Junior," Yang spoke up, the club full of criminals all tensing in fear at her voice. "My sunrise, please. And a club soda for my friend here."

"Coming right up," Junior replied, sweat dripping down his forehead as he made for the bar. "This is gonna be one of those nights, isn't it?"

The gaggle of criminals dispersed, though the Malachite twins rushed up to him full of concern before he conspiratorially whispered something in their ears and sent them down a hidden staircase behind the bar.

Meanwhile, Weiss could only mope over to the stool next to her teammate and pout about her utter failure to make an impression on the Vale criminal underworld. Yang gave her a comforting pat on the back and passed her the ordered drink once Junior had them ready.

"Thank you," the confident blonde duelist smirked at the deferential crime boss as she sipped her strawberry sunrise. "Now then, Torchwick, the White Fang. Got anything juicy for me?"

Junior nervously bit his lower lip. "I don't."

"Oh come on! You expect us to believe that? You lent Torchwick men months ago to help him rob a dust shop. For the last several months, he and the White Fang have been stealing every scrap of dust they can get their hands on," Weiss complained, taking a sip of her drink only to gag and immediately spit it out. "And this club soda is terrible!"

Junior stared at her nonplussed for a moment before turning to Yang. "Is she really with you?"

"Hey!" Weiss objected.

"Don't worry about her. Worry about me if you don't tell me what I want to know," Yang cautioned the crime boss. "As I recall, your tenders are very… well, tender."

"Tenders?" Weiss cocked an eyebrow. What on Remnant was Yang talking about?

Whatever it was, it got Junior to pale, using a red handkerchief to wipe increasing sweat from his brow. "Torchwick came in. He rented some of my guys for a job. They never came back. That's all I know about that."

"But not all you know," Yang insinuated, tracing a fingertip around the rim of her drink. "Come on, Junior. Something juicy."

"I don't know anything 'juicy'," Junior insisted. "Come on, blondie. I'm an information broker. If Roman Torchwick of all people is into something crazy enough that he's teamed up with the White Fang of people, you really think he's letting me find out the details so that I can sell them to whoever wants to know?"

Yang tipped her head in acknowledgment. "Fair enough. You've got nothing juicy… so tell me what you do got."

"Huh?" Weiss mumbled. "But he said–"

"You gotta read between the lines, Ice Queen," Yang smirked. "Come on, Junior. You came up empty on what I wanted last time, and we both know how well that ended."

Junior groaned but relented. The crime boss gestured back to the hidden staircase the Malachite sisters had left open. "Right this way."

Yang polished off her drink and hopped back to her feet. Weiss stared incredulously at her back as she fearlessly marched into the lion's den.

Hopefully, Blake's infiltration of the White Fang rally was so easy.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

So far, Blake's infiltration of the White Fang rally had been pleasantly easy.

She still knew the organization's general tactics for advertising to potential new recruits, so she'd managed to acquire a Grimm mask from their scouts to enter and join the crowd of faunus entering the dilapidated warehouse in Vale's eastern district. She'd keep her head down and go with the flow, listen to the recruitment speech of whoever was tapped to lead the rally, then go with the crowd of potential recruits to where they'd be assigned their duties for the organization. And more importantly, where they'd be told where the terrorists needed them. After that, Blake would slip out and back to her team, the hunting duelists now knowing where they needed to go to strike at the heart of the White Fang and Torchwick's mysterious new agenda.

Ruby had offered to come into the rally with her, pretend she had a wolf tail hidden under her cloak, but Blake had convinced her not to take the chance (plus, it kept her from having to point out to the innocent young girl that the suggestion was kinda racist).

Thus, her team leader was waiting on a rooftop a few buildings away, ready to rush in Black Rose Dragon blazing the second the cat faunus sent her a quick distress signal through their duel disks' short-range link. Looking over the enormous crowd of civilian faunus that'd been gathered for the rally (seriously, what was going down? They'd never dared cast a recruitment web so wide in the past. It was just asking for police attention), Blake didn't think she'd be calling in her teammate even if she got into trouble. She didn't have any way to let Ruby know how big the crowd was, and she wouldn't risk civilian lives if her teammate's Signer Dragon blasted into the warehouse and brought the roof down on everyone.

It would be up to her infiltration skills to see her through. Fortunately, with her Grimm mask on, she was just one faunus among hundreds beneath the dark rafters, all looking up at an elevated stage with a tarp thrown over a large object. Even if any of the masked guards had known her during her time with the White Fang, recognizing her would not be easy.

Especially with another figure capturing everyone's attention.

"What the heck?!"

"What's a human doing here!?"

"Forget a human! That's Roman Torchwick!"

Blake blinked in shock behind her mask as the orange-haired thief sauntered onto the stage, welcoming the rancor and outrage at his presence with an easy swagger and cheeky grin.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Torchwick waved to the angry audience. "Please hold your applause."

What was Adam thinking? Sure, despite his charisma and oratory skills, he often had more pressing matters to attend to than to lead every recruitment rally, and she and Ilia did not love being in front of crowds, but Banesaw was always game for a good speech. He was even surprisingly good at it. So why have Roman Torchwick, the exact kind of human gangster that the White Fang's base often targeted and hated, lead the rally? What kind of thinking was that?

And yet, as the flamboyant gangster kept speaking, declaring that he and the downtrodden faunus had a common enemy in the Councils and Academy Headmasters who kept them all down, Blake could only watch in horror as the crowd was turned by the criminal's fiery rhetoric.

"They're all pests that need to be squashed. Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around," Torchwick declared. "No offense to any rodents in the room."

He grabbed the tarp and whipped it away before the crowd could process his racist crack. They were too awed by the shiny, hi-tech silver duel runner he'd revealed to think of anything else. Roman signaled to one of the nearby grunts, who came over and turned the machine on, its engine's smooth, powerful hum music to even Blake's ears. Longing memories of her own duel runner, Nightshade, filled her mind, the likes of which she hadn't felt since watching Yang show off her tricks with Bumblebee back on Patch.

"The Paladin Racer duel runner!" Roman grandly announced. "Gotta give those Atlas numbskulls credit. They've got no creativity for naming things, but they sure can build a bike. We picked up a few of these babies when we snatched up some of those newfangled Link Monsters before they hit those SDC booth shelves that have been littering the promenade. And if you think that's the limit of the arsenal I can provide you in this fight for freedom? Well, allow me to introduce you to a little card called Polymeri–"

"Fusion Summon! Amazoness Empress!"

The crowd's eyes all shot up to the rafters, a fusion vortex sucking in two Amazoness monsters and spitting out their muscular monarch. Unfortunately for Blake, the jungle warrior was falling straight towards her, Ilia emerging from her camouflage among the ceiling's shadows to glare down at the cat faunus.

She'd been made.

But as she leapt away over the crowd, a shadow clone taking the Empress' strike as grunts closed on her from all around, the Odd-Eyed Bandit found her amber eyes drifting towards the sparkling new duel runner onstage.

She'd been made. But she wasn't without a way out.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"What on Remnant is that?" Yang muttered, the roar of The Club's underground dueling crowd surrounding a towering titan of gold, green, and blue figures. The secret arena's cage seemed to have been specifically enlarged just to accommodate the building-sized monster.

"It looks kind of like Gate Guardian?" Weiss mumbled, equally mystified. "But that makes no sense. No one plays Gate Guardian. It's too impractical to use in a real duel."

"Demon God Shockwave!"

Whatever the gargantuan behemoth was, the titanic cyclone of lightning, wind, and rain it unleashed was a force to be reckoned with, obliterating the Vorse Raider of the human duelist below and bashing him up against the bars of the cage. The helpless man's aura shattered as his life points hit zero.

But his attention was on the spiked black collars strapped around his neck, elbows, wrists, and knees. The pitful thug wrenched at the devices, desperately trying to get them off.

"No! No, please!" the loser shrieked. "No–Aaaahhhh!"

Weiss's hands flew over her mouth in horror as a writhing storm of electricity crackled out of the man's collars, his body contorting and convulsing in agony. Aura generated a shield around a person and whatever they were wearing, so the lightning conjured by what the man was wearing would have struck him without a buffer even if he had had any left. As it was, the poor duelist slumped to the floor of the cage unconscious before the taser's onslaught was even finished.

The titan of gold, green, and blue faded from existence, leaving behind its duelist. The bulky, muscular faunus was as towering as his monster, his face hidden by a Grimm mask and his enormous arms raised in victory along with his chainsaw-shaped duel disk.

"And the winner is, for the ninth straight cage match in a row tonight, Banesaw!" the hammy announcer shouted throughout the arena.

Most of the upper section of the bleachers, humans in masquerade masks and elegant evening wear for the most part, booed and heckled the faunus juggernaut. The lower stands were more split, with most of the faunus spectators cheering for their brutal champion while the plebian human lowlives were divided by those who were won over by Banesaw's strength.

Junior was not one of them, scoffing as he, Weiss, and Yang looked down on the entire arena, and the ruins of the destroyed turbo duel track around it, from his personal box. "He's been coming in for weeks now, using my cage as a recruitment podium for any faunus stupid enough to join the fang. At first, I thought he'd just be a good heel, take down a few chumps before going down in flames just when the high-rollers have started to bet big on him. But he's been coming in for weeks without losing. He's won a ticket to the Underground Cup a dozen times over."

"The what?" Weiss asked.

"Big tournament that The Spiders hold in Mistral every few years. Think of it as the Vytal Festival of the criminal world," Yang explained, nodding towards the gigantic spider emblem inscribed on the arena's ceiling. "Unless you're invited to field a team, which it would be a bad idea to refuse, the only way to get a spot in it is to win ten underground duels in a row for three days straight at a ring that The Spiders have influence in."

"Thirty underground duels?" Weiss' face twisted in horror. "Even if they won, unless they never lost any life points, they'd be crippled by the shocks."

"The risk of doing business," Junior remarked. "Given someone trashed my turbo duel track, my only way of doing high stakes matches without the collars, I make do."

Yang shrugged. "It was falling apart anyway. So, how about you get us some alone time to get him talking?"

"You'll have to fight him and his escort then. Which, to be blunt, is a bad idea," Junior said. "But, I have an idea that might make things easier on you."

At that moment, Melanie Malachite strode into the private box with a black suitcase under her arm. The proud girl sauntered before the Beacon students and popped open the case. Weiss recoiled from the sight of the shock collars within.

"So here's the deal," Junior said. "One of you great Beacon hunting duelists takes the big guy on. You beat him. I make a killing on the betting windfall and distract his backup so that you can have however much time alone with him you need to find out whatever nonsense you want to know."

"What? No way!" Weiss exclaimed. "Do you really think either of us would be stupid enough to–"

"Sure," Yang declared. "I'll kick his butt."

A tickmark pulsed through the veins of Weiss' forehead. "Would you excuse us for a moment?"

Junior shrugged. "The big guy only does ten duels a night. You want a shot at making him squeal? You got until he puts in for his last match to decide."

Weiss flashed the information broker the same pristine, plaster smile she showed the cameras back in Atlas, before grabbing Yang and dragging her over to an isolated corner of the private box. Once there, she fixed her teammate with one of the trademark icy frowns that those close to her were more familiar with.

"Are you insane?" she whispered. "Participating in underground duels is grounds for suspension, maybe even expulsion if Ozpin decides to throw the book at you."

Yang rolled her eyes. "I think we crossed that bridge when we decided to go hunting terrorists after school hours."

"Don't be so blase about this!" Weiss hissed. "I know you used to come here, get your thrills off clowning on amateurs on the turbo duel track, but you weren't wearing collars then. Those things–"

"I know what they can do!" Yang snarled, shutting the Schnee heiress down with her fervor. "But I'm not gonna end up like my dad from one duel with them on."

"No, but if you lose, you could end up dead."

"I'm not gonna lose."

"Did you not see that behemoth?!" Weiss shrieked. "Gate Guardian is impractical, not weak! If this guy has some Fusion version of it–"

"Then I have Clear Wing."

"You haven't summoned it yet!"

Yang scowled. "Then I'll kick his butt with Archfiend like I do everybody else. Or do you think this guy's on Pyrrha's level?"

Weiss pursed her lips, pouting a bit as her respect for the Mistralian champion put a pause on her concern. It was true that Pyrrha was the only person she had ever seen defeat Yang in a duel. And aside from The Blood-Soaked Bull, Blake hadn't told them about any other White Fang members equal or greater than The Invincible Girl in skill.

But still…

"I don't trust these guys," Weiss said, scowling back at Junior and Melanie for a moment. "This is a bad idea."

"It's a better idea than fighting them, Mr. Chainsaw, and whoever his escort is," Yang argued. "We need that intel. I can get it. That's all there is to it."

The blonde stomped back over to Junior and Melanie and started strapping herself up with the shock collars. Weiss could only look on with worry and hope that her friend knew what she was doing.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"Going fast, makes me feel alive," Ruby hummed, ticking her head back and forth. "My heart beats, in hyperdrive. Or it would if anything was happening! Uuuuggghhhh!"

Standing atop the roof of a warehouse a few buildings away from the secret White Fang rally, awaiting Blake's call to rush in and kick butt with Black Rose Dragon, the Silver-Eyed Signer found herself utterly bored. Seriously, why had no one told her that stakeouts were so boring? When did she get to kick bad-guy butt?!

Ugh, probably not tonight. And that, as she desperately tried to remind herself, was a good thing. It meant that things were going as planned and Blake's infiltration was undetected. She'd find out where the White Fang's big plan was going down and then melt into the shadows like a ninja, silently disappearing into the night with only darkness ever knowing that she'd been there at all.

BOOM!

Ruby shot straight up as panicked civilians scrambled out of the entrance of the White Fang's warehouse as Blake rode a shiny, hi-tech silver duel runner through the door. The black-haired faunus pulled a sharp turn on the side street and rocketed for the main road. Barely a second later, a half dozen White Fang members rode after her, a girl with an auburn ponytail leading the charge on a customized jet-black runner.

"Now that's more like it!" Ruby exclaimed, deploying Crescent Rose and conjuring Red Rose Dragon beneath her as she flew after her teammate.

Keeping up with duel runners in a straightaway was difficult, but a few sly mentions about how White Rose Dragon could totally do it allowed the leader of Team RWBY not to fall too far behind the troop of duel runners.

At least until they got to the highway and started bobbing and weaving through late-night downtown traffic.

"Oh, not good," Ruby remarked. She tried her duel disk's short-range communication, but Gambol Shroud was already out of range and her scroll only got rings. Guess Blake hadn't had time to sync it up with her stolen runner. "Darn it."

Without a runner (which she couldn't legally drive in public), Ruby couldn't follow Blake onto the highway. To prevent any street duel gangs from causing chaos in the middle of traffic, duel monsters weren't allowed to be summoned in it outside of special turbo duel lanes, with hardlight dust shield filling the air to above to keep anyone from flying in from the side. Blake should have known that, but she might not have realized what she was doing in the chaos.

No problem. Even if Ruby couldn't help her directly, Junior's club wasn't too far away. Yang could hop onto Bumblebee and drive on down to help her partner kick White Fang butt.

The red-hooded Slifer Red dialed her sister… and only got rings.

"Nobody's picking up their scroll tonight," Ruby muttered, quickly dialing her third teammate. "Weiss! Finally! I tried Yang but got nothing… she's doing what?!... Milita's talking to who? That woman from the docks who tried to steal your Blue-Eyes?... Slow down! I'll be there soon!... Blake is alright. I've got her covered… I said I've got her covered! Don't worry. Just keep Yang from biting off more than she can chew… Yes, I'm well aware how impossible that is, I've been trying for years."

With a click of ending the call, Ruby groaned into Red Rose Dragon's rich scarlet plumage. What the heck was Yang thinking? Did she not remember what underground duels did to their dad? Turbo duels at Junior's track were all well and awesome, but putting on those shock collars was too big a risk. She needed to get to Junior's club!

But she couldn't just leave Blake on her own! But she also couldn't help her as long as she was on the highway without a duel runner! What was she supposed to do? She was the team leader! She couldn't just leave one of her teammates out to dry!

Ruby swiftly dialed a new number into her scroll, relieved when it picked up before the first ring even finished. "Hey, so, I know this is a bad time but, how fast can you get onto the southwestern highway?"

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

In hindsight, Blake realized that trusting Ruby to smash through the warehouse with something smaller than Black Rose Dragon might have been the smarter choice compared to her current situation.

In her defense, she did not expect the Paladin Racer to have twice Bumblebee's speed. She'd been trying to get it under control at first more than keeping track of where she'd been going. She'd been bobbing and weaving through the highway, desperately trying not to hit any of the other vehicles, before she'd realized that she'd cut herself off from Ruby's backup.

With Ilia and five other White Fang riders on her tail, she couldn't risk a battle starting and civilians getting caught in the crossfire. She'd have to duel her way out.

Duel her way out of a six-on-one match… crud.

Still, she activated the runner's signal for a turbo duel lane, and Vale's central highway computer system obliged, directing her onto a recently opened exit onto a secluded elevated road. The new highway was lined with thick curved glass like a turbo duel track, but with hardlight emitters on top generating shields to keep anyone from leaping in from above.

She glanced behind her, unsurprised to see Ilia and her backup still chasing her. But very surprised to see what Ilia was riding.

Sleek black paint job. Hand-buffeted aerodynamic design. Customized suspension and grappling hooks made for all kinds of combat maneuvers.

Nightshade.

"My baby," Blake gasped, an expression of livid fury warping her face as she finagled with the Paladin Racer's systems until she found the communication app, furiously punching in Nightshade's memorized number.

Unsurprisingly, Ilia was soon staring back at her from the runner's video call link.

"That's my runner," Blake growled.

"You left her behind. We had that in common," Ilia remarked. "I warned you to stay out of White Fang business."

"That's my runner," Blake snarled, more fiercely. "I'm taking it back now."

Ilia's face flashed with pain for a moment, only to sigh with resignation. "Do you really think we'd put a military-grade duel runner in front of a crowd of people with unconfirmed loyalties and leave its duel systems online?"

Blake blinked in shock, only for horrified realization to dawn over her face. She frantically tried to access the Paladin Racer's duel capabilities, but could only press its buttons in failure as its screen flashed with notices that part of its systems had been manually taken offline.

"We only kept its drive systems operational just in case we needed to give the crowd a demonstration," Ilia revealed. "Now stop and surrender."

Blake grit her teeth in frustration. Trying to operate Paladin Racer and her Gambol Shroud separately and simultaneously was just asking to crash her runner. But if she stopped and dismounted, the White Fang's riders could just run her down or wrap her in a duel anchor and drag her along the highway. She was cornered!

And then three of the hardlight dust emitters lining the duel lane's rim were covered in a black glow and crumpled. The barrier shields they'd been creating vanished, and a shadow flew over the highway.

A brilliant orange duel runner descended onto the highway, its wheels screeching across the asphalt. A black sheen washed over the runner's suspension, aiding the rider's deft handling in maintaining perfect balance despite the sudden drop into the middle of the White Fang formation.

"The heck!?" Ilia shrieked, her head whipping back towards the impossible new arrival.

"Argus Chariot?!" Blake squawked.

"Who the heck is that–Ah!" one of the White Fang grunts yelled, only to cry out in shock and terror as the orange runner's rider thrust out her hand towards his vehicle, a black sheen covering its wheel axel before ripping it off.

The faunus driver screeched as his runner spun out into a crash, his full aura allowing him to survive but still leaving him stranded. One by one, the orange runner's rider's arm lanced towards each of the grunts' runners, and one by one, the black sheen disabled the vehicles. Only Ilia's swift reaction speed in throwing a duel anchor around the sudden attacker prevented her from suffering the same fate, a feat that spoke to her combat-honed skills as a commander of the White Fang.

Still, as far as feats went, impossibly dropping out of the sky and somehow taking out five enemies in the blink of an eye was hard to beat. But what less could be expected from the Invincible Girl?

"Pyrrha Nikos?!" Ilia gasped in bamboozled shock, fear tinging her voice even as she tried to keep it under control with a growl. "First the Schnee, now this? You really have traded up from us, haven't you, Blake?"

Blake flinched at the accusation but forced herself to focus on her rescuer. She finally figured out how to slow her Paladin Racer down, dropping back to Pyrrha's side, her friend between her and Ilia. "What are you doing here? You should be at Heartland's Funzone Pizzaria."

"We went to the southern one," Pyrrha flashed her a reassuring smile. "Good thing too. We were close enough to help when Ruby called."

The pizzeria in the southern district. When she'd escaped down the southwestern highway. Blake couldn't help but laugh at fortune finally cutting her a break for once. Because of her friends, she'd gone from outfoxed and cornered to protected by The Invincible Girl herself.

"Give up, Ilia!" Blake called over the roar of the duel runners. "Tell us what Adam and Torchwick are planning and walk away. Leave Nightshade and walk away."

"Leave Nightshade and I go away," Ilia bitterly muttered. "Like I didn't already know what you wanted."

"You can't win," Blake reminded her, gesturing at Pyrrha. "Not against her."

"You left me behind. You have no idea what I'm capable of," Ilia spat, revving up her duel runner. "How about it, Invincible Girl? Wanna see how you do in a down-and-dirty duel with a slum lizard?"

Pyrrha recoiled in surprise at the faunus girl's sudden vitriol, especially referring to herself as a Mantle slur. "If you want to duel, then I'll face you with all my Burning Soul."

"Your what?" Ilia said, only to shake her confusion away with a scowl. "Whatever. I'll crush you with all I've got."

"Are you crazy?! Ilia, she's not some pampered fake, she really is as good as her reputation–" Blake squawked, only to stop as she remembered a crucial card that the chameleon faunus possessed that could throw everything into disarray. She whipped toward Pyrrha, desperate to warn her. "Pyrrha, wait, she has an ov–"

Nightshade's engine roared to cut off her warning, Ilia gunning down the road, Pyrrha forced to match her speed lest the duel anchor cause one or both of them to crash. Blake desperately chased after them as the three shot into an overpass tunnel.

"Duel!"

Pyrrha Nikos: 4000 Life Points

Ilia Amitola: 4000 Life Points

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

Pyrrha had wanted to spend her night watching Nora gorge herself on pizza. She'd wanted to compete with Ren in Mine Mole Whacker winning stuffed animals for their partners. She'd wanted to help Jaune explain the Onomatopoeia Gang lore behind each of the arcade games to Astral and bask in his innocent passion (no 'goo-goo eyes' involved, no matter what Yang claimed). She'd wanted to be pleasantly surprised that Team RWBY had finished their investigation early and come to join them to celebrate both Jaune and Blake's promotions and their victory for the forces of justice.

She had not wanted to dash out of Heartland's Funzone Pizzaria, jet across the city, use her semblance to damage public property and destroy well-made duel runners, and get caught up in a duel.

But Ruby and Blake had needed her help, and she'd never leave her precious friends out to dry. So no matter what she'd wanted, The Invincible Girl was needed.

Though, as she examined her hand, she wondered if The Invincible Girl would even be necessary. Despite the seriousness of her opponent and the situation, perhaps, like Ruby and Yang always insisted, she could take joy from dueling with everything she had.

"I normal summon Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades!" Pyrrha proclaimed, her stout knight in silver armor manifesting beside Argus Chariot, swords sprouting from its back (ATK 1300/DEF 1100). "Then I discard Heroic Challenger - Extra Sword to activate its special ability, switching it to defense mode to summon another Extra Sword from my deck! And with two Warrior-Types on the field, I can special summon Heroic Challenger - Morning Star from my hand!"

Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades slashed the air and took a knee, Heroic Challenger - Extra Sword (ATK 1000/DEF 1000) bursting forth from the scars left in midair. Right after it appeared, the two warriors were joined by an armored warrior with a helm of bull's horns and a golden chained flail (ATK 1500/DEF 1300).

"When it's summoned, Heroic Challenger - Morning Star lets me add a 'Heroic' spell or trap card from my deck to my hand. I choose Heroic Call," Pyrrha announced, snatching the spell card from her deck and sliding it into her duel disk, linked and mounted in Argus Chariot. "I then activate Heroic Call, which allows me to special summon a Warrior-Type monster from my hand or graveyard. I choose the Heroic Challenger - Extra Sword in my graveyard!"

"Four monsters on your first turn," Ilia dryly observed as the second Extra Sword rose onto the field. "You're playing far more aggressively than the matches I've seen you in on TV."

"Like I said, I'm facing you with all my soul," Pyrrha replied. "I want us both to enjoy this."

"Enjoy?" Ilia's eyes narrowed. "I'm not going to be a punching bag for you to entertain yourself on."

"That's not what I mean!" Pyrrha hastily said. "You have my full respect as my opponent. I want to face you with all I have so that we both can enjoy the duel, despite our circumstances."

"Then you're naive. I'm not your friend. I don't have human friends anymore," Ilia declared, a ghost of regret and pain twinkling through her eyes before she reclaimed her icy veneer. "I know where I stand in the world. I'm here to fight for my people. You're here to stop me. So take your turn already."

Despite rage flung at her, Pyrrha couldn't help but feel she recognized the pain underneath. Or at least some of it. She didn't know anything about the horrendous systemic and personal racism Ilia might have gone through, but she knew how it felt to think you had to be one thing for the world when you desperately wanted to be something else.

Yang had helped her start moving out of the shell of The Invincible Girl by facing her with her Burning Soul. Perhaps she could do the same with this lost soul? It might not convince her to leave the White Fang, but Pyrrha would much rather save someone than destroy them if she had a choice in the matter.

"I overlay my four Level Four Heroic Challengers!" she roared, a crimson nebula unfurling before her runner. Thousand Blades, Morning Star, and the two Extra Swords morphed into nodes of orange lights and flowed into the cluster of twinkling stars. "Let light be released from the Ends of the World! The noble spirit shall thrust unto evil and deliver this world from the chaos of the storm into a new shining order! Xyz Summon! Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad!"

A scarlet nova erupted from the nebula and her most powerful monster soared into the air, floating before Argus Chariot as resplendent, noble light gleamed off its spotless armor and golden antlers, filling the dark tunnel the girls drove through (ATK 1500/DEF 1500).

"A Number?!" Ilia squeaked. "Didn't know you had one."

"A Number that grows stronger the more Overlay Units it has. With one, it can't be destroyed in battle. With two, it gains fifteen hundred attack and defense points, the two Extra Swords used in its summoning giving it another two thousand attack," Pyrrha explained, Rhongomyniad's four Overlay Units injecting their orange glow into its own shining white sun (ATK 3000/DEF 3000), the majestic champion puffing up larger and larger (ATK 5000)."With three, it becomes unaffected by all other cards' effects. And with four, you cannot Normal or Special Summon monsters!"

"What!?" Ilia exclaimed, her black duel runner wavering back as her shock caused her to lose control for a moment.

"I set one card facedown and end my turn," Pyrrha said, fixing the chameleon faunus with a determined emerald gaze. "If you really believe you must be my enemy, then this is what you face!"

Ilia took a moment to gaze up at Rhongomyniad's resplendent shine, seeming to hesitate for a second… before her gaze hardened with resolve.

"Business as usual then. An Invincible Girl or a city shining in the sky, the odds are never going to be in my favor," Ilia murmured, her hand connected to Pyrrha by her duel anchor placing itself on the top of her deck. "Doesn't mean I can sit back and do nothing when a battle needs to be fought. I draw!"

Ilia ripped a card from the top of her deck. A ripple of energy pulsed across the duel anchor, the chain made from the chameleon girl's aura, from the essence of her very soul.

Pyrrha felt her spine shoot straight up as the pulse flashed through her nerves, her face twisted with surprise and confusion. Not just because such a thing had never happened to her before, nor had she ever heard of it occurring…

… but because the pulse of Ilia's aura had resonated with her own.

And she felt a buzz of excitement call out from her Extra Deck.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"I activate Amazoness Call! Due to its effect, I can add to my hand or send to my graveyard any Amazoness card in my deck. I choose Amazoness Hot Spring!" Ilia announced, snagging the trap card from her hand. "I set five cards facedown and end my turn!"

Blake let out a sigh of relief as her old friend's turn ended. She remembered how effortlessly the chameleon girl had called out Amazoness Kaiserin and annihilated a strong duelist like Sun in a single turn, and with Amazoness Call allowing her to get any Amazoness card in her deck, there was no doubt in the cat faunus' mind that she could have done so again in this duel. Save for Rhongomyniad's blinding light, under which no enemy monster could take the field for battle. Unable to be destroyed by battle, unaffected by any card effects, and with a monstrous five thousands attack points, Number 86 was a dominating presence on the battlefield.

A perfect ace for The Invincible Girl.

"At the end of your turn, Rhongomyniad detaches one Overlay Unit," Pyrrha revealed as she drew for her turn, one of her champion's nodes of orange energy fizzling away.

"Then I only have to wait you out. Your unstoppable monster wasn't made to last," Ilia noted, hitting a button on Nightshade's tabletop and flipping up one of your facedowns. "During your Standby Phase, I activate Battle Mania! This turn, you have to attack with all your monsters!"

Battle Mania? What was the point of that? Pyrrha was gonna attack anyway.

"I activate Pot of Greed!" Pyrrha proclaimed, pulling two more cards from the top of her deck. When she saw what she'd pulled, an excited smirk peeked over her lips. "You're mistaken. "You can't wait my monster out."

"Oh? And why's that?" Ilia challenged. "It's unaffected by all card effects, including yours. You can't negate its effects."

"No, I can't. But I can activate Sales Ban," Pyrrha retorted, sliding the newly-drawn spell into her duel runner. "I declare one card name, and you can't activate cards or the effects of cards of that name for the rest of this turn. The same restriction applies to me but for the rest of this duel."

"What? Who would even play a ridiculous card like that–" Ilia started, only for her eyes to widen in horror as she mentally connected the dots. "No way. You can't be serious!"

"I declare Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad!" Pyrrha shouted, a sickly green glow surrounding her even as she raised her arm in victory. "I as a duelist can no longer activate Rhongomyniad's effect to detach an Overlay Unit at the end of each of your turns!"

"Incredible," Blake whispered, her amber eyes wide with unfettered wonder at her friend's move.

Other than Jaune, Teams RWBY and JNPR generally considered themselves relatively comparable in terms of strength, with Pyrrha and Yang just the slightest bit above the rest of them. But after that move? Figuring out a way to use such a seemingly useless card as Sales Ban as the centerpiece of a combo to nullify her ace monster's only weakness?

The Odd-Eyed Bandit knew from experience that she was a strong duelist. But she did not think she would stand a chance in a duel with The Invincible Girl. Even the card that she'd tried to warn her friend about couldn't even scratch Pyrrha's utterly dominating strength.

"I activate Amazoness Hot Spring!" Ilia frantically called, flipping up a continuous trap card with an image of Amazoness warriors bathing in a steamy hot pool. "When it's activated, this card lets me add an Amazoness monster from my deck to my hand or put it in my Pendulum Zone! I add Amazoness War Chief to my hand!"

Blake shot her old friend a look of pity as she desperately snatched a card from her deck. It never felt good to be dominated in a duel, and while fear still froze her soul when she thought of Adam, the cat faunus still deeply wished that her friendship with Ilia could be restored. She didn't want to see her suffer.

"Battle! Number 86: Rhongomyniad attacks you directly!" Pyrrha shouted. "Shining Sun Deliverance!"

Rhongomyniad raised its titanic golden lance, a brilliant shine building at its spearhead. As the light grew brighter and brighter, it seemed as if a second sun had been birthed in the dark highway tunnel.

A second sun that's light revealed a victorious smirk on Ilia's face.

"I activate the contentious trap card Amazoness Onslaught!" the chameleon faunus declared, flipping around a monster in her hand as the third of her five facedowns rose. "Among other effects, during the Battle Phase, it allows me to special summon one Amazoness monster from my hand with five hundred extra attack points until the end of the turn. I choose Amazoness Swords Woman!"

A muscular woman with a mane of wild red hair leapt onto the turbo duel lane, brandishing her massive machete as she stood guard before Nightshade (ATK 1500/DEF 1600). Once she was in place, the warrior woman flexed her toned muscles (ATK 2000) as she pointed her blade's tip at the duel anchor linking Ilia and Pyrrha's racing duel runners.

Blake's eyes widened in horror, knowing exactly why Ilia held so much confidence in this specific monster. "Oh no."

Pyrrha frowned, the experienced champion clearly having enough knowledge of the Amazoness archetype to know what had been put in her path. Yet, with Battle Mania still affecting her, she couldn't stop the battle even with the attack replay of a new monster being summoned.

Rhongomyniad's shining spear fell down upon Amazoness Swords Woman, the warrior woman obliterated. Yet as she perished, she somehow angled her blade so perfectly, with such immaculate precision, that the shockwave of her demise was reflected back onto Pyrrha, Argus Chariot nearly sent spinning from its own mistress' attack.

Pyrrha Nikos: 1000 Life Points

"You take any battle damage that I would take from battles involving Amazoness Swords Woman," Ilia explained, her two contentious trap cards flanking her confident face. "You've won the battle. But the duel?"

That remained to be seen. And the very idea of that was terrifying to Blake. She stood by her previous thought that Pyrrha was a level above her and the rest of her team, even Yang who'd scratched The Invincible Girl's unblemished reputation by taking her life points below half.

And without a Fusion Monster, without even a Pendulum Monster, but simply through precise and skillful use of the basic tenants of dueling, Ilia had done more damage to her than Yang had ever managed. Against the very monster that had bested the blonde ace of Team RWBY no less. Just how strong had her old friend grown since they last parted as allies?

And could even The Invincible Girl stop her?

And so the Investigation Arc begins! And with a duel that I'm pretty sure no one was expecting.

Yet, I found that Pyrrha and Ilia actually made pretty fun foils for each other. Even beyond the obvious of them both having hopeless crushes that they pine over in silence, both are prodigies (Pyrrha being Pyrrha and Ilia being skilled enough to be accepted to an Atlas Prep School despite the staff knowing she was a faunus and being very racist about it) who put on a facade they believe necessary to fulfill their duty to the world: Ilia that of a cold, ruthless revolutionary, and Pyrrha of 'The Invincible Girl'. The difference in canon obviously being that Pyrrha accepted this 'duty' and it got her killed while Blake helped Ilia reject it and thus was able to live. Plus, with Heroic Challengers and Amazonesses both being such battle-focused archetypes, them facing off here is just made for fun. I will also admit to having a lot of fun with the metaphor of Pyrrha, Rhongomyniad, and the idea of 'The Invincible Girl'.

I was also very glad with how much setup for the arc overall I was able to fit into a single chapter. As much as I am looking forward to the conclusion of Pyrrha vs. Ilia, I am even more excited to show off how the situation at Junior's club develops.

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!