Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Watching her targets from the shadows, Emerald found herself about as confused as ever dealing with Team RWBY. And she was only spying on half of them.

"Showdown! Three! Two! One!" Ruby and Yang shouted at each other, each sister rapidly shuffling their decks in front of their dorm room. "Draw!"

The Slifer Red and Obelisk Blue instantly stopped shuffling their decks. Each of them flipped over the top cards.

"Ha! Angel Trumpeter!" Ruby grinned. "Nineteen hundred attack points–oh, darn."

Yang wagged her drawn monster in her sibling's face. "Sorry, sis. Vice Dragon. Two thousand. I win."

"Ugh. Fine," Ruby sighed. "You get to pick Team RWBY's reps to the Tag-Duel Showcase. But then who's gonna emcee the match if you're in it?

"I talked to Sun about it. He's okay with filling in for that duel," Yang said. "Heck, if Blake ends up coming, she might even save him a dance. Make up for what happened in the courtyard."

Emerald had heard about that. The buzz through the academy was that the monkey faunus who'd snuck into the last semester's exchange program had politely asked Belladonna to the dance in Beacon Courtyard. If she'd just turned him down, that probably would have been the end of it, Wukong and his team provoked a lot of exasperation even among the students that liked them. But apparently, the secret cat faunus had flipped out at him, the crowd's attention drawn by the normally quiet girl's sudden bluster of rage. Then, she'd stormed off and… well… a lot of unkind words were being thrown out the rumor mill about her mysterious moodiness.

"You know, if Blake and Weiss don't end up coming to the dance, it's gonna be you and me tag-dueling by default," Ruby pointed out, only for an uncharacteristically morose shadow to flutter over the pipsqueak's face. "Hopefully, I won't drag you down with my stupid 'no Fusion Summoning', no magic, supposedly 'not-normal' knees–"

"Ah, ah, ah! Don't start getting down on yourself like that," Yang chided her sister, playfully ruffling the shorter girl's dark hair until the younger sibling began to laugh. "That just makes this whole thing a win-win for me if Blake decides she'd rather relax with a good book instead of coming to the dance. Or Weiss decides she wants to duel. I'll get to watch you two duel while you're wearing your cute-as-a-button, handpicked outfit. You have picked one, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Ruby replied, digging around in her jacket pocket. "I've mostly been looking through the available away missions for after the dance, but I did bookmark the first outfit I saw on Bargain Bin's website."

Yang immediately paled. "Bargain Bin?"

Ruby shrugged as she fished out her scroll. "I don't exactly have much lien left after this month's card catalog, Duel Monsters Monthly, dust for my custom experiments, not to mention cookies and strawberries. But I think I found something pretty good. No heels at least."

Emerald severely doubted that. Not the lack of heels, but that she'd found something good at Bargain Bin, Vale's one-stop shop for pawned, stolen, previously-used everything. She'd known some guys on the streets who'd stripped corpses and sold the clothes to the place for a tidy profit.

Yang did her best not to cringe as she gazed at her sister's scroll. "Are those bullet holes?"

"It's within my price range," Ruby shrugged.

Yang bit her bottom lip with internal agony, only for a pensive look to cross her face. "You should show this to Weiss. Maybe she's learned how to fix some stuff up from her butlers."

Emerald barely contained a snort, even Mercury looking up from his comicbook long enough to smirk from where he leaned against the wall next to her. Even if the butlers knew how to do that kind of stuff, no way the heiress was ever allowed to wear anything without a five-digit price tag after a small army of tailors were through with it. And given she was just as much a fashionista as her blonde teammate, that was probably one of the few elements of growing up with a hundred silver spoons in her mouth that Weiss wouldn't complain about.

"I'm not looking for something fancy," Ruby rolled her eyes. "It just needs to breathe and not have death stilts."

"You really should talk to Weiss then," Yang advised.

"You sure? She's still shut up in the library," Ruby queried. "You want me to talk to her about not being mad at you for–"

"No, this isn't about me," Yang said, the playful girl deadly serious. "Just… talk to her. No agenda. No manipulation. She might be able to help you. And knowing her, that might help her."

Ruby didn't look like she got it, but she must have trusted her sister's judgment since she just shrugged and took the order like she wasn't the one who was the team leader.

Emerald waited a few moments after the silver-eyed girl left for the library, giving her blonde target time to stew as she slumped against the doorframe of her dorm room. The dark-skinned thief knew that half the battle in a con or a pickpocket was making sure the sucker you were doing it to was in the right frame of mind. And if what she'd seen of Blondie was right, it seemed that Yang was in a very helpful mood since her little rampage that Neo reported down in The Club.

Which was useful for her carrying out Cinder's orders.

"Hey, Yang!" Emerald called out when the time was right. "You alright?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Emerald," the blonde's head flicked up, a genuine smile on her face to see the green-haired 'Haven' girl. Which was a nice sign that Emerald's general infiltration was going according to plan. "I'm good, just thinking how to handle something with Blake. You alright?"

"I'm good," Emerald said. "I mean, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, but if you need to handle something else, it can wait–"

"No, no, no, I'm all ears," Yang assured her. "Need to wait for the fish to grill before I go see her anyway."

Emerald cocked an eyebrow. "Fish?"

"Blake's holed herself up in the forge. Ruby's done the same from time to time for years. I use cookies or strawberries for her though," Yang fondly grinned to herself. "So, what's the sitch? Cinder get on Mercury's smug face for not trying and making her look bad as leader or something?"

"Not too far off actually," Emerald said, modifying her plans to play to her target's grudge against her smug partner. "She's making him do the tag-duel with me. He's not allowed to lose or no comics for a month."

"What?!" Yang blinked. "That's… wow, that's harsh. This is supposed to be for fun. Your girl might be even more of an Ice Queen than our Ice Queen."

Emerald resisted the urge to let her surprise slip onto her face. Yang had been determined to see Mercury go all out in a duel since the silver-haired prick had first ticked her off back in the infirmary. Now she was put off by him being forced to do just that? Weird. Weird and unexpected, though not something she couldn't work around.

"Eh, don't worry about it. If he puts a bit of effort in, it'd take Nikos to give him a real challenge," Emerald shrugged. "Anyone else, and we'd crush them."

Yang pouted. "You see, I know you're trying to play me to get me to set our teams up against each other. And under normal circumstances, I'd totally respect that."

Emerald frowned. "Abnormal circumstances?"

"Drama with Blake. Got possible plans for the tag duels to maybe help her, set her up against someone she can really have fun against. My stuff isn't important right now," Yang explained. "Plus, while I do want to push the jerk into actually trying, I don't want to threaten him into it like that."

"Uhuh," Emerald nodded, quickly formulating a new plan. She glanced back to behind the wall from whence she came. "Hear that? She's not gonna threaten to break your balls if you don't pull out the big guns on the dance floor."

Yang cocked an eyebrow. "Is he hiding behind the wall?"

Emerald took advantage of her brief confusion to use her semblance, creating a hallucination of herself in Mercury's vision. "Playalong. Reassure her that it's no big thing."

She heard a familiar groan emanate through the hall before her silver-haired partner strode out from around the corner. Mercury didn't come close to the girls, simply leaning against the hallway's wall and stowing his comicbook in his pocket.

"Just go along with it," he pleaded. "Not in the mood for the boss lady trying to light a fire under me."

"She doesn't seem like a pleasant person to have doing that to you," Yang winced in sympathy. "But the matchups are ultimately decided by a randomizer."

Emerald and Mercury rolled their eyes. As if she hadn't just mentioned planning to set up herself and Blake with a matchup that prompted 'fun'. She was willing to fudge things for a good cause. And with Mercury's 'situation', the seeds were there. Just needed one more little push.

"Do you think the randomizer could be swayed with a… what was that thing Ruby mentioned the last watch night?" Emerald coyly inquired, drawing her deck from the box on her waist. "A Signal Showdown, right?"

That brought an eager smirk to Yang's lips. The blonde Obelisk Blue brought out her own deck, same as she had with her sister only a few minutes ago. "You clear on how it works? You pick Monster, Spell, or Trap? If you pick monsters, I choose what stat we judge by. If you pick spell or trap, I pick which type is the high card."

"I do," Emerald confirmed, shuffling her cards. "I pick monster card."

"And I pick attack points," Yang replied, doing the same with her own deck. "Ready?"

"Showdown!" they both declared. "Three! Two! One! Draw!"

Both girls flipped over the top card of their decks. But their eyes saw different winners.

"Bystial Magnamhut! Twenty-five hundred attack points," Yang grinned. "And you've got… oh, crud."

"Cosmo Queen. Twenty-nine hundred attack points," Emerald said, even as she and Mercury could easily see that she held the spell card Magician's Left Hand between her fingers. Her semblance was a potent trick up her sleeve. "I win."

Yang sighed, stowing her monster back in with the rest of her cards. "If, in theory, you could be matched up by the randomizer with anyone to satisfy your team leader, who would it be?"

"Nikos?" Mercury shrugged.

Yang frowned. "... not sure Pyrrha will be dueling. If she's not there?"

Emerald chuckled. "I have a few ideas."

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'White Fang Break Out! Several members of the faunus extremist group 'The White Fang' being held in Vale Maximum Penitentiary pending trial were broken out last night. Authorities have yet to declare a suspect, but many suspect the involvement of Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang's Vale Cell, in the breakout due to one of the escapees being a high-ranking lieutenant known as Banesaw–'

Weiss sighed and stopped reading the article. She'd already devoured the official coverage from Lisa Lavender, Vale's most reputable journalist. That report had compared and contrasted the incident with previous escapes by Roman Torchwick, to reveal the similarities in method, corroborated by confidential police insiders. No inclusion of The Blood-Soaked Bull's involvement for the sake of yellow journalism. Not that he wasn't surely behind it on some level, but there was no evidence of his direct involvement.

Though, there was evidence that one of the escapees had a broken horn.

The Schnee heiress shook her head to clear that thought from her mind, shifting her scroll's screen to the police's public record of Adam Taurus' deck, updated since his duel with Mr. Xiao-Long. Her eyes flickered over the card list, her sapphire gaze narrowing at Great Shogun Shien. Then she saw the Synchro that the bull faunus had forged to make the warlord even more powerful, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En.

"One Warrior Tuner and one or more non-Tuner "Six Samurai" monsters. Once per turn, when your opponent activates a Spell/Trap Card (Quick Effect): You can negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it. If this card on the field would be destroyed…" Weiss' lips pursed, a thought suddenly sparking through her educated, analytical brain. "Negate the activation. But that would mean–"

"Whatcha looking at?"

"Gah! Nothing!" Weiss squealed, shutting her scroll off and snatching up one of the many textbooks strewn across her table. She pretended she'd been reading it as Ruby appeared over her shoulder. "I'm just studying like I said. Which I would like to get back to if you don't mind."

"Sure," Ruby shrugged, snatching up the textbook and blurring over to the other side of the table, cracking the tome open. "I'll quiz you."

"Wait, what?" Weiss squeaked. "Hold on–"

"Define Spell Speed."

"How fast an effect resolves after its activation," Weiss instantly stated, falling back into how she'd been trained to answer her tutors since childhood before glaring at her partner. "If you're only going to quiz me on the basics, there's no educational value to this–"

"A duelist attempts to activate Spell Speed 2 Offerings to the Doom in the Damage Step. The opponent activates a Spell Speed 3 Solemn Judgement in response. Explain all reasons why Offerings to the Doom cannot be successfully activated in this scenario, as well as why no additional Offerings to the Doom can be activated in response to Solemn Judgement."

"Because only a Spell Speed Three card like a Counter Trap or a Spell Speed Two card that specifically mentions changing a monster's attack or defense points can be activated during the Damage Step, barring a few exceptions. In addition, only another Spell Spell Three card can respond to a Counter Trap," Weiss precisely recounted, snorting at the tome in Ruby's hands. "Please, I could recite that textbook by heart at this point."

Her partner smirked. "Really? You could recite The History of Synchro Summoning by heart?"

"What?!" Weiss explained. She madly blinked and rubbed her eyes, her vision clearing to reveal that was indeed the title of the textbook. She hadn't even realized her sight had blurred over the course of her nonstop studying. "But… but that practice problem… that wouldn't be in there!"

"It wasn't," Ruby revealed. "I made it up."

"You made it up?! Off the top of your head?"

"That's the kind of stuff I think about," Ruby shrugged. "Though you must have been at this a while if you didn't even realize this wasn't that kind of textbook. I threw that first softball just to make sure you were on your game."

"I am plenty on my game," Weiss sneered.

"Great! That means you can take a break from studying."

"What?! No, that's not I…" the heiress stammered. "But we have tests coming up–"

"No, we don't. We got the Dance and then right after that is our away missions, then everyone gets a week to recover from the away missions before classes start up again," Ruby said. "Come on, Weiss. Dad ran a study group for Signal kids, and he always said it was important to take breaks or you go… cross-eyed, or… something. I dunno, most of the time he was trying to get me to study, not the other way. But you? He would definitely tell you that you're studying too much."

Weiss scoffed, crossing her arms, guarded. "How about you let me handle what I need to do and you handle what you need to do."

Ruby's lips deflated into a frown. "I've tried… I mean, I've been trying."

Weiss' gaze softened a bit, her partner's saddened face making her feel like she'd just done some horrible thing like kick Zwei. "You know, you're allowed to do that, right? Have tried the best you can and just had it not work out?"

"No. No, not when there's still more I can do about it," Ruby murmured. "None of the formulas I've tried to make a Polymerization have worked. Starving Venom is getting more restless by the day."

"Like Clear Wing did at The Club?"

"No, that's different. Starving Venom never had to be peer pressured into crystalizing for me like Clear Wing did for Yang, Which we really need to make sure she never finds out about cause it will not be good for her," Ruby noted with a shudder. "Starving Venom likes me. He wants me to summon him. But I still need to learn how to do it. And since there doesn't seem to be some magic way to learn how or get a Polymerization, a teacher would really help. But every time I've tried to get one, Blake, Astral, Pen–Perry, something has gone wrong."

Weiss cocked an eyebrow. "Perry? That White Fang lieutenant who dueled you with Torchwick?"

"I tried to get him to switch sides. Didn't work," Ruby moved on, unnaturally quick. "But even then, there's flat-out no one to turn to about my eyes."

"What about your dad?" Weiss suggested. "Maybe he knows some tips from your mom? Or maybe who trained her?"

"I asked during break. Lots of stuff about how hard it was for her to keep her balance with both her eyes and her mark having Positive Magic, but no specifics on how to actually use the eyes and their Creation Magic," Ruby groaned, sagging back in her chair. "I'm doing everything right, everything I'm supposed to do. But nothing's working. Even trying to duel Cinder to help you and Blake didn't work."

"That was why you tried dueling Cinder? I thought that was just you being duel crazy like usual," Weiss sighed. "You dolt. You say I need a break from studying, but I think you might need a break from dueling."

Ruby gagged and coughed. "A break from dueling? That's like saying I need a break from breathing!"

"Ugh, what did I expect?" Weiss rolled her eyes. "Look, maybe you can focus on some of your leader duties for a bit? You do have to sign us up for our away mission."

"Don't get me started on that," Ruby groused, pulling out her scroll and flipping through the many options. "The only mission to Mt. Glenn is for third-years only, and the only ones that are close enough for us to sneak off to go there are second-years and above."

Weiss frowned. "Right. The team's still set on going after the White Fang."

"Oh, that reminds me, what'd you want me to put you down for on your sick form?"

The heiress' head shot up, blinking in befuddlement. "Sick form? I'm not sick."

"Well, duh," Ruby replied. "But you don't want to go on this Mt. Glenn mission, so we've gotta call you in sick so you don't have to go. And I as team leader, unfortunately, have to fill out the paperwork. So, you want to have the flu or something more exotic?"

All Weiss could do was stare at her partner. "You're not… making me come?"

Ruby shrugged. "You don't wanna come. Wait, do you want to come–"

"No!" Weiss cut her off, before shrinking into herself, ashamed and embarrassed, and not just because she'd yelled in a library. "But, you didn't need to give me a way out. My father… I wouldn't have given up a chance to force you."

"No, you would have," Ruby said. "You're not your dad. You're not gonna become your dad. You're a good person. I know I make it sound simple. That's because it is."

"Is it?" Weiss pensively murmured, listlessly scanning her mass of textbooks. "If I can just learn what I need to know, if I can become a perfect hunting duelist, then I won't risk hurting any good people ever again."

"Then take a break so you can actually see the words in these books, will you? They're not exactly pageturners as it is," Ruby insisted, pulling out her scroll. "Yang said to show you this. Maybe it'll make you want to cool down for a break. Somehow."

Weiss' eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Yang told you to me something. I think I'll pass if it's all the same to y… what is that?"

"It's my outfit for the dance," Ruby said, showcasing her chosen dress on her scroll. "I wanted something breathable."

"That has bulletholes in it."

"And it lacks those death stilts you somehow duel in," Ruby grinned. "I call it a win–why are you 'Ice Queen' glaring at me?"

Weiss' glare at her partner was indeed as icy as they came. But given the utter affront to fashion her team leader was intending on wearing in public, let alone to a formal event where she'd be representing their team at an official Vytal Festival leadup event? She couldn't show her face in front of Coco or even Yang ever again if she allowed this.

She grabbed Ruby's wrist and tugged her up, dragging her away through the bookshelves

"Come with me," the heiress commanded.

"Huh?" Ruby gasped. "Where are we going?"

"Just come."

"Where are we going? Weiss? Weiss, I'm scared! Weiss!"

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It was the smell of fish that did it.

Blake had been working nonstop for days, even cutting class and pulling a few all-nighters. She put together dust formulas, pleaded to her Fusion Monsters for forgiveness, and, of course, worked to forge new ones. Weiss was letting her guilt over her family's crimes get to her, but Ruby and Yang were still all in on backing her up on her quest. Which meant she could not let them down. She would not be powerless like she had been when Ilia had chased her down, like she had been when Adam had ambushed her on Patch. Sun, Taiyang, Pyrrha, she couldn't rely on someone else to rescue her again.

But as the sweet smell of fish seeped in from outside the forge, her stomach rumbled, and she could not resist opening the door. There was a plate of grilled salmon outside it, and quick as a whip, with all the agility she'd honed as a White Fang Commander, she snatched it up and slammed the door back closed.

Only to find Yang waiting inside with a cheeky grin. "Hello!"

Blake could only glare mutely at her partner. "How?"

"Please. You're fast, partner, but you ain't Ruby fast. Especially not 'Ruby that smells cookies' fast," Yang said, strolling off to look at the cards Blake had left out on the forge's counter as the cat faunus couldn't help but dig into her new delicious meal. "So! That's have a look at what you've been cooking the last few weeks!"

Blake scowled, half a salmon already in her mouth. "I know what you're doing."

"Ooo! You've made Synchro and Xyz versions of Odd-Eyes! Each with three thousand big ones? Awesome!" Yang praised. "They're not crystalized, but still. This is so sweet!"

"And it's not going to work."

"I didn't even know you knew how to Synchro or Xyz Summon."

"I don't. I was trying to make Fusion and Pendulum monsters," Blake growled, mewling when she saw that she'd gobbled up all the grilled fish too quickly.

"Well you did make some cool Pendulums too by the looks of it," Yang gleefully observed. "Xiangke Magician, Xiangsheng Magician, Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon, Performapal Odd-Eyes Sy–wait, you made a Sy–"

Blake snatched the cards from her partner's admiring grip. "I'm not wasting my time going to some stupid dance when there's actual work I could be doing."

"That's fine. Nothing wrong with curling up with a good book and getting some extra shuteye," Yang shrugged. "As long as you get some good downtime and rest before the away missions–"

"I do not need downtime–oof!" Blake began to screech only to trip over a dust crate that she could have sworn hadn't been there before. What was really embarrassing was that her semblance, which she'd trained for years to become skillful enough to activate at the first brush of even the swiftest attack, didn't activate. No shadow clone emerged to take the blow and let her catch herself as she hurtled towards the floor.

Fortunately, Yang caught her arm before she smashed into an even more embarrassing faceplant.

"I'm sure Torchwick is shaking in his boots," the blonde quipped.

Blake scoffed and tore away from her partner, glaring her amber orbs into Yang's unendingly genial violet eyes. "You really want to help? How about you help me see what some of these new weapons can do?"

"New weapons?" Yang repeated, disappointment dimming her face. "You know, I managed to get Ruby to let me pick our tag-duel team. If you want a more laidback–"

"I don't care about whatever Action Duel nonsense you've got prepped for the dance," Blake sneered. "Meet me on the turbo duel track, or stay out of my way."

Yang sighed. "As you wish."

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Jaune fell to one knee in the dueling arena, his aura shattering as he panted for breath.

Jaune Arc: 0 Life Points

Winner: Pyrrha Nikos

"You did well. You can consistently Xyz Summon Gagaga Cowboy now," Astral complimented him. "Lack of victory against this opponent is not a mark against you. You are not weak. She's just that strong."

Jaune looked up at Pyrrha's side of the field, her Heroic Champion - Excalibur fading away along with its eight thousand attack points as the hardlight barriers fell. "Yeah. No kidding."

Pyrrha strode over to him and gave him a hand up. Jaune took the offered arm, but couldn't hide his concern as his partner's face remained stony and serious. Usually, when they finished one of their private tutoring duels, she would be practically skipping with joy, laughing like Ruby as she complimented him on what he did right and helped him understand where he could still improve, usually counterbalancing Astral's more blunt critique in the process.

But ever since the night of Team RWBY's investigation, since her duel with Ilia Amitola and all the craziness that apparently happened when two over One Hundred Numbers clashed, his partner had been… off. She hadn't been rude or irritable like Blake and Weiss could be since that night, but she was intensely focused on whatever was in front of her. Training, helping Nora with homework, helping him with Xyz Summoning, Pyrrha tackled everything in front of her with a ruthless drive. And when it got to the point that Astral was the compassionate critic of Jaune between the two of them? Something was off, and if Yang was bringing it up to him…

"Everything alright?"

"Huh?" Jaune blinked at Pyrrha's query. "Wha… what do you mean?"

"Your face was all serious. Don't worry. You're getting better, bit by bit," the redhead told him. "Unless something else is bothering you? Did Weiss not like the Gagaga Magician bouquet?"

"That? Oh, nah," Jaune shook his head. "Yang helped me get my head on straight about that. Weiss is going through a ton of shit right now. I shouldn't risk putting any more pressure on her."

"If you don't ask her, how do you know you won't be relieving the pressure?" Pyrrha challenged him. "Maybe a relief from her studies is what she needs. Being asked out by someone who likes her for who she is like you could be just the ticket."

Astral raised an eyebrow. "I admit my understanding of human recreational mating is limited, but based on Weiss' past reactions to Jaune inviting her to a date, it does not seem likely that she will be appreciative towards such a gesture."

Jaune sighed. "He's got a point, Pyr."

It was like Yang said, Weiss didn't want him like that. Heck, Yang had been on the money more than she even realized. Weiss didn't trust him to watch her back in a fight, she trusted Astral. He was just the meatbag to let his ghostly partner interact with the world.

To an extent, Jaune didn't mind that. Astral was his friend, he wanted to help him however he could, whether that was helping find other Over One Hundred Numbers to let him make sense of his memories or just lending his tastebuds to let him try pizza. And if that could let the spirit provide crucial backup to his other friends like he had with Ruby at The Club, even better. But, the idea that his primary worth was just to let his body be Astral's meat puppet, while he himself was unseen and irrelevant, was still… well, given his past back in Ansel, it wasn't something he enjoyed.

But, that didn't wasn't important. He was bullied. Everyone was bullied. He'd had it better than a lot of other people. He didn't have horror stories to recount like Ren and Nora. No one owed him anything. If anything, he owed his friends, who'd given him the chance to rise up from nothing, everything. And aside from Astral, Pyrrha certainly topped that list. And while he wasn't sure what he could do to help her (she was Pyrrha Nikos after all) and he was worried he'd screw it up, he still had to try. Yang wouldn't have told him about the issue if she didn't think he could help after all.

"But enough about me planning to guard the punch bowl with Ruby," he waved off, flashing a cheerful smile at his partner. "How's your dating situation going? You had to start beating the guys and girls off with a stick yet?"

Pyrrha's face seemed to crack then, like a porcelain doll chipped by a cat. Jaune had no idea what part of his question had hurt his partner, but he instantly wished he hadn't said it.

"No," she replied. "No one has asked me."

"What?" Jaune blinked in surprise. No one had asked her? Was that what had her acting so weird? "Well, don't worry about it. You're Pyrrha Nikos! What guy or girl wouldn't want to date you? I'm sure they're just working up the nerve to ask."

"Working up the… heheheheh," Pyrrha bitterly laughed, in a way that Jaune had never heard from his kind teammate before. "No, Jaune. They're not. Because I'm Pyrrha Nikos."

Jaune gulped. "What do you mean?"

"I have been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I am constantly surrounded by love and praise. And when you're put on a pedestal like that for so long, people come to see you as unreachable," Pyrrha cackled. "And–and what am I supposed to do? Complain? That I've been loved and supported and successful to a level that most aspire all their lives to reach? There are people dying out on the frontier, struggling just to have their loved ones live another day. I don't have the right to… to whine about having to be a little lonely to help them!"

Astral cocked his head to the side. "What do people on the frontier have to do with someone asking you to the dance?"

"Yeah, I'm with Astral on this one, Pyr," Jaune admitted. "Are you okay? Is there something you want to talk about?"

Pyrrha took a deep breath, looking up at her friends with a dull, stoic expression. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have worried you both over something unimportant like that."

"Unimportant? Pyr, you're not unim–"

"Since no one is going to ask me, I think I'll just skip the dance," Pyrrha pushed over his words, striding past him and heading for the arena exit. "If you don't want to field me as part of the team's Tag-Duel pair, the time will be better spent training. As long as I am here at Beacon, my duty is to get as strong as I can and support the team however I am able. After that, I must do all the good I can as a hunting duelist."

Jaune gulped, suddenly seeing far more similarities in his partner's current mindset to Weiss and Blake's turmoil. Unsettling similarities. There was nothing wrong with focusing on one's training, but when it was done to the point that it passed the threshold of usefulness, it just became harmful. And going further beyond that could tear a person's mental and emotional health apart. He was pretty sure Blake hadn't slept in days and Weiss' grades, while still excellent, were worse than her usual peak performance even though she was studying more than ever.

He figured Yang wanted to handle Blake personally and she'd specifically warned him off Weiss, it seemed Pyrrha was the only one he had a chance to help. He wanted to help all of them… but if this was all he could do… it was all he could do.

"About the Tag-Duel Showcase," he spoke up. "I was thinking about having you and Nora headline it for us. But if you're busy training–"

"No, it's fine. As I said, so long as I'm a member of Team JNPR, it is my duty to support the team however I can. I'll go to the dance for that," Pyrrha said as she stomped down the hall. "I want to do what I can for you all while I'm here. Once we graduate… I doubt I'll ever see any of you again."

With that, the Invincible Girl marched into the shadows of Beacon Academy.

Astral frowned at Jaune. "I thought Yang advised you not to include Pyrrha on the Tag-Duel Showcase team. Given her current condition, I can only concur that dueling will not help her."

"Same. But I had to get her to come to the dance for my actual plan to help her to work," Jaune said, his brow furrowing in worried contemplation. "What do you think she meant by that whole' never see any of us again after graduation' thing–"

RING!

Jaune raised an eyebrow, pulling out his scroll and checking its text notification. "Dr. Oobleck? What's he want to see me for?"

"Did you forget to pick up your extra credit assignments?"

"I'm not failing! I've gotten solid C's this entire semester! Even a B on one paper."

"Then you are on par with Nora."

Jaune groaned. In dueling prowess, that would be a compliment he longed for. In academics, less so.

"Come on. Let's go see what the doc wants," he sighed, fiddling with his scroll as he walked. He pulled up Ren from his contacts, texting his teammate to meet him near the history room.

If his plan to help Pyrrha was to succeed, he'd need the rest of his team's help.

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"Again, sir, I apologize for coming in on such short notice," Weiss politely said.

"Oh, think nothing of it, Ms. Schnee! Think nothing of it!" a well-dressed and well-groomed man bowed and scraped before her. "To think that we, a mere Vale branch of Mermaid Glamor & Fashion, would have the honor of serving the Weiss Schnee. We do so apologize that we do not have time to measure and fit you as well, but Ms. Zaizen's appointment cannot be moved."

"It's perfectly alright," Weiss assured him. "Like I said, we're grateful you were able to fit us in at all."

"Are we?" Ruby croaked.

Across the room, the silver-eyed girl stood upon a small pedestal, a small army of tailors wrapping tape measures tightly around her chest, waist, legs, arms, and everything else that could be measured for clothing. She didn't look as asphyxiated as when Yang or Penny hugged her, but the fidgety girl was still grinding her teeth at having to stay still while the clothes crafters worked.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Ms. 'Bargain Bin'. I'll be footing the bill."

"But–"

"And if you insist, there will be no high heels."

"Though I implore you to reconsider, Ms. Rose," the head tailor pleaded, squeezing her palms together as she supplicated herself before the hunting duelist. "You will look dashing in the outfit we'll prepare to your specifications, but we seek to create beauty that showcases one's inner beauty! Your gorgeousness is in the midst of its blossoming springtime! We must showcase it to the world! A respectable cut to the neckline, a flowing gown, some high-heel pumps–"

"No death stilts!" Ruby snapped.

The head tailor sighed. "The customer has spoken. By the honor of Mermaid Glamor & Fashion, by the creed of the Ebi family, we must away! To art! To art that could move even a Grimm's black heart!"

She clapped her hands and the tailors all hustled out, Weiss passing each of them a wad of lien. What use was having her father's money if she couldn't tip generously?

Soon, she and Ruby strode out of the store into the sunny streets of Vale. Her team leader shuddered as if she'd just witnessed the aftermath of a Grimm rampage.

"Oh, stop exaggerating," Weiss scolded the silver-eyed girl. "Mermaid Glamor & Fashion is one of the world's premiere clothing brands, a subsidiary business of one of Atlas' wealthiest families."

Ruby stuck out her tongue at the heiress. "I didn't see you getting measured for an outfit."

"I already have six," Weiss told her. "And I'm not going to the dance anyway. Since you are, I'd assume you'd want to have an outfit on par with Blue Angel."

Ruby cocked an eyebrow. "Who?"

"The popstar and idol," Weiss said.

Ruby's eyebrow rose higher.

"She sponsored Councilman Zaizen's last campaign?" the heiress tried.

Again, the eyebrow rose.

Weiss groaned. "She's the Entertainment Duelist sponsoring that new Trickstar archetype."

"Oh! Her," Ruby nodded in recognition. "I guess if it didn't have any death stilts, I wouldn't mind having an outfit as well made as hers. Thanks, Weiss."

A warmth filled Weiss' chest at the silver-eyed girl's happiness, a joy she hadn't felt since the night of the investigation easing a tension she didn't realize had clawed through her. A warmth she'd been chasing from the moment she'd first decided to become a hunting duelist like Winter. It felt… nice to help someone. To know that, despite where she came from and what she was, she was actually capable of doing good.

"You're welcome," she replied to her teammate, her own cheeky smirk spreading over her lips. "You will look positively dashing with Penny on your arm."

"Don't start that," Ruby warned. "I'm going to the dance as sisterly support and a tag duel enthusiast only. Plus, Yang always has cookies at the dances she plans, so I can always hug the punch bowl."

"Of course," Weiss rolled her eyes, only for a longing, contemplative look to take over her face as the pair began walking down the sunny streets of Vale. "Are you sure though? That you don't want to go out with anyone? I mean, you and Penny do seem to get along great. Don't you want a mature, handsome date to sweep you off your feet as you dance the night away like something out of a fairy tale?"

Ruby cocked an eyebrow at her partner's suddenly passionate and descriptive language. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the dance? I mean if you need a last-minute date, I'm pretty sure Jaune'd jump at the chance."

Weiss glared at her leader. "No."

"Okay, what about Astral?"

"Astral?" Weiss laughed. "The incorporeal spirit?"

"Look, we don't have a lot of friends that fit your definition of a 'mature, handsome date'," Ruby mockingly pointed out. "It's between Astral, Ren, Pyrrha, or Penny. Actually, no Ren. Your kneecaps wouldn't survive Nora. So if the whole 'ghost' thing is a dealbreaker, that just leaves Pyrrha and Penny."

"You want me to try to ask out Pyrrha?!" Weiss guffawed. "You're insane! She's way out of my league! She's Pyrrha Nikos!"

Ruby's lips pursed as her silver eyes narrowed in confusion. "And you're Weiss Schnee? I'm confused, weren't you all about want to go out with Pyrrha back at the start of the year?"

"I wanted her on my team! Not to date her," Weiss snipped. "And that was when I only knew her by reputation. Actually knowing her over these last few months, becoming her friend, she's only surpassed that! She's skilled, studious, kind, patient, exactly what a hunting duelist should be–get down!"

Weiss grabbed Ruby by the wrist and leapt into a nearby alley, pinning herself against the wall as a private car drove past. In the front was a uniformed deer faunus driver, but it was the backseat's occupant that Weiss had spotted, that had caused her to pin herself to the alley's dirty wall to avoid being seen.

The girl didn't look like much. Just a brunette with a bob cut wearing an Atlas Academy uniform, her soft orange eyes gazing emptily out the window. Her face was soft and distant, withdrawn as if she felt the need to be in her own world even when her only company was her driver, and there was a soundproof screen between her and him. Yet, Weiss still let out a sigh of relief when the car passed without the girl seeming to glimpse the Schnee heiress' presence.

Ruby stuck her head out of the alley and watched as the car parked in front of Mermaid Glamor & Fashion. "So… who's that?"

Weiss groaned, rubbing her hands over her face as if she was still scared the other Atlas girl would somehow see her. "Aoi Zaizen. Little sister to Atlas Councilman Akira Zaizen."

"The guy that the Trickstar singer sponsors," Ruby recalled. "You know her?"

"No. To my father's great displeasure. He'd hoped that I could bond with her and convince her brother to be more 'pro-business' in his policies," Weiss snorted. "She was too smart for that. Or too used to people trying to get to her brother through her. Not like she needed to be to snuff out a Schnee."

Aside from his often ally General Ironwood (whose council seats were the automatic Commander-In-Chief and Academy Headmaster positions), Akira Zaizen was the only sitting councilman that hadn't accepted campaign funding from the SDC's super PAC during his election. Having done a tour as a specialist in the military and served alongside many faunus soldiers, he was known for sharing his former commanding officer's progressive stance on faunus rights. Only unlike the general, he was far more open about his distaste for Jacques, to the point he'd discouraged Blue Angel from doing a singing collab with Weiss. As much as she would have relished the chance to work with another skilled musician, the heiress couldn't say she blamed him.

"Ruby," she tentatively murmured. "Should I even be a hunting duelist?"

"What? Of course, you should. You want to, right?" Ruby said. "Oh, are you worried your deck isn't up to snuff? Me and Penny can help you forge some Link Monsters if you want. It's really easy to learn to summon them, and I'm sure 'The Goddess of Notetaking' won't mind teaching you even if you don't find her 'mature and handsome' enough to ask out–"

"That's not what I mean," Weiss shook her head. "You… you want to be a hunting duelist to help people. I'm more selfish. I want to restore my family's honor."

"That doesn't seem selfish–"

"I thought being a hunting duelist would be a good way to do that, follow in my sister's footsteps, but not abandon my inheritance by joining the military. Become someone who, to use your words, 'takes down the bad guys', someone who makes the world a better place. So that when I succeeded my father as head of the family, the world would know that I was not him," Weiss rambled on, ignoring her partner. "But I'm not hurting 'bad guys'. At least not the ones I thought I would be, the ones who're actually causing the problems like him. I'm just beating up people that he drove to extremes, or that Yang or your dad drove to extremes."

Ruby winced at the mention of her family's mistakes. "Okay, I get how that wouldn't be great, but Blake said that the White Fang here have been hijacked. I mean, Torchwick doesn't have a tragic past, right?"

Weiss let out a long exhausted sigh. "I don't feel like I'm helping anyone, Ruby. Trying to be a good hunting duelist, I thought there was some trick to it that I was missing, some lesson that I could learn if I just studied harder. But the more I think about it, the more I think that hunting duelists are just tools of people in power, weapons to point at anyone that they consider their enemy, however justified. I think all I can do as Weiss Schnee or as a hunting duelist is hurt people who don't deserve it."

"What about the Grimm?"

"The–" Weiss' head zipped up to her partner. "What about the Grimm?"

"Can you hurt them?" Ruby asked. "Because I am absolutely sure that they don't have some tragic backstory. So if you can hurt them, then boom! You can help people as a hunting duelist."

Weiss chuckled at her team leader's blunt evaluation, but in the end, the best she could manage for her was a wry smile. "Are you guys going after the Grimm at Mt. Glenn?"

Ruby hissed, conceding the point. "I mean, there'll probably be plenty of Grimm there too. It is Mt. Glenn."

"Which could be handled by a team of third-years. Or better yet, several full-fledged huntsman teams," Weiss said. "But if you insist on handling this matter yourselves and if I won't be there to bail you out, it might go better if you could shoot Creation Magic lasers from your eyeballs."

Ruby's face lit up with excitement. "You know how I can use my Silver Eyes?!"

"Of course not, you dolt," Weiss smirked, brushing herself off as she strode out of the alley, warmth filling her previously shivering body at the idea of helping her friend. "But I might have a few ideas on who could. One might be too busy for us to ask until the dance, but we can go check in with another beforehand."

"For 'us' to ask until the dance?" Ruby caught on, her smile growing. "Does that mean you'll go?"

"I just spent fifty thousand lien on your outfit for it," Weiss teasingly grinned. "It would be irresponsible to the clothing not to make sure you're wearing it properly."

"You spent how much on it?!"

Weiss laughed at her partner's expression frozen in shock, sauntering along back to Beacon on her 'death stilts'.

They had a doctor to consult.

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Blake was self-aware enough to know why she'd demanded a Turbo Duel specifically from Yang. Her experience being powerless on a Duel Runner, a place she thought she knew like the back of her hand, as Ilia had borne down on her had not been a pleasant one. Having to watch her old chameleon friend push Pyrrha farther than she'd ever seen anyone press The Invincible Girl was an experience she needed to counteract in her mind, even if intellectually she understood that there was nothing she could have with the outside forces in play.

Also, every time she thought about Nightshade in police impound made her heart yearn for her beloved baby. The Beacon training runner she'd signed out for this match just didn't feel the same.

"You ready?" Yang called from atop Bumblebee, both girls revving their engines at the training track's starting line. "We don't have to do this if you're not–"

"I'm fine!" Blake snapped.

At that point, her partner just sighed and connected their duel runners with the track's system. A hardlight dust spotlight appeared over the starting line. The red light flared, then soon after the yellow.

Blake placed her hand over her Extra Deck, her face softening into a desperate plea as she did her best to reach out to the Fusion Monsters within. "I know how I treated you. I know I was wrong to blame you for Adam. I am so, so sorry. So, please. Help me stop him before anyone else gets hurt. Lend me your power so I can do what I should have done years ago."

The responses were pretty much the same as she'd been getting for weeks since she'd first apologized after her Promotion Exam. If anything they'd gotten worse. Back when she'd initially taken Yatsuhashi's advice, some of her Fusion Monsters like Brave-Eyes had felt like they'd forgiven as soon as she'd acknowledged her mistakes, with even the holdouts that been more offended like Beast-Eyes and Gatling Ghoul at least willing to give her a chance to earn their forgiveness now that she was no longer shunning them.

However, now there was an undercurrent of … resentment? It was new, not driven by how she'd unfairly blamed them before. Which just made no sense to Blake. She knew what she'd done wrong, she was willing to use them without having them dragged out. What were they so unsatisfied about?

"Riding Duel! Acceleration!" Yang yelled, the spotlight turning green as Bumblebee roared down the track.

Yang Xiao-Long: 4000 Life Points

Blake Belladonna: 4000 Life Points

Blake ripped herself out of her pensive distraction and raced after her partner. But despite her skill, her lost time meant the Beacon duel runner had no chance of catching up to Bumblebee in the straightaway, Yang took the first corner and began the opening turn of the duel. The blonde slapped a card down on her duel disk and a familiar fiend with a tuning fork and robe of fire manifested beside her mount (ATK 600/DEF 200).

"I normal summon Red Resonator," Yang confirmed, her monster already conjuring a portal of flames to activate its special ability as she selected another card from her hand. "Due to its effect, I can now special summon a Level Four or lower monster from my hand. Bone Archfiend, get on out here. And for that matter, since I have a Fiend-Type tuner monster, I can special summon Red Lotus King, Flame Crime out from my hand as well."

Two more fiends blossomed side-by-side with Red Resonator, one a skeleton with baggy pants (ATK 1800/DEF 0) while the other was a crimson devil dancing in flames (ATK 1700/DEF 300). The latter cackled at Blake, its blaze coalescing into a pair of fireballs in its claws.

"When Red Lotus King, Flame Crime is special summoned, it can deal four hundred points of damage to you for every Fire Attribute monster with different names on my field," Yang said. "Arson Devilry!"

Red Lotus King, Flame Crime hollered and chucked its fireballs at Blake. The cat faunus tried to dodge the incendiary attack, but for some reason, her body was sluggish, unable to move as her years of training should have allowed her to, as she once had in Forever Fall. She couldn't move her runner fast enough, the flames crashing into her and sending her mount spinning.

Blake Belladonna: 3200 Life Points

Yang pulled Bumblebee's speed back as her partner spun out. "Hold on! I'll be right–"

"I'm fine!" Blake shouted, grappling her runner back under control. "As if I'd be taken out by such a minor attack! Finish your turn!"

Yang frowned. "I activate Bone Archfiend's effect. I target one monster on my field with a level, then send a Fiend-Type Tuner from my hand or deck to my graveyard to increase or decrease that monster's level by one. So I'll send Vision Resonator from my deck to the grave to lower Red Resonator's level to one."

"And since Vision Resonator's sent to your graveyard, you can add a spell or trap that mentions Red Dragon Archfiend from your deck to your hand," Blake recalled with a scowl. "So what'll it be?"

"Fiendish Golem," Yang announced, the card ejecting itself from her deck as she flicked it into her hand. "Then I tune Level One Red Resonator with Level Four Bone Archfiend and Level Three Red Lotus King, Flame Crime."

"That's Level Seven total–no!" Blake muttered, only to shake her head as she realized the fog in her mind had clouded her calculation. Red Resonator brought into a single emerald tuner ring, the other two fiends lining up through it as seven twinkling stars. "Level Eight!"

And with Yang, that could only mean one thing.

"Stare into the eyes of raging fire! I burn and ignite the ruler's heartbeat that will light the heavens themselves! Synchro Summon! Level Eight! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!"

A blinding pillar of light blazed through the tuner ring and the red and black gargoyle dragon descended from on high. For once however, it did not roar like thunder daring anyone to challenge the storm, merely glaring down at Blake as it flew beside Yang's runner (ATK 3000/DEF 2000).

Blake couldn't help but think it was an odd move. Yang had Red Rising Dragon in her arsenal. She could have synchro climbed through it and its revival effect to get her ace monster on the field, keeping Bone Archfiend or Crimson Lotus King, Flame Crime on the field and gaining life points when Red Resonator was revived from the grave in the process. Why had she instead wasted resources going straight into Hot Red Dragon Archfiend?

When Crimson Lotus King, Flame Crime is used as synchro material, I can send a Normal Trap Card from my deck to my graveyard. I'll pick Skill Successor," Yang said, ejecting the trap from her deck to her grave as the wind raced through her golden hair. After that, she inserted every card she had left in her hand into her duel disk. "I lay three cards facedown and end my turn."

Blake managed to use the next corner of the track to come up side-by-side with her partner. "You just threw away an extra monster and over two thousand extra life points!"

"I made the move I made," Yang replied.

"You made the move you made?" Blake repeated, incredulous and furious. "You're not taking this seriously! Where's your vaunted Burning Soul?!"

Yang whipped her gaze towards her partner, the cat faunus swerving back at the sight of her eyes. But not because the normally violet orbs had turned a burning crimson red, that she was used to after all their months together.

No, Blake was unnerved because for the first time since she'd known her, Yang's eyes were crimson red… and the blonde was completely, utterly calm.

"I never duel without my Burning Soul," Yang declared. "If you were in any shape to be doing this, you wouldn't need to ask that question."

Blake growled, revving up her engine to keep her opponent from completely pulling away on the track's straightaway. "Draw! I set the Pendulum Scales with Scale 3 Performapal Radish Horse and Scale 8 Performapal Odd-Eyes Valet!"

Two pillars of light flared up on either side of her duel runner, a monster floating up to the top of each. On her left was a horse made out of Radishs (no connection to Ruby's World Carrotweight Champion as far as Blake knew), while her right was filled by a dutiful and stylish valet.

"Rise from shadows, my monsters! Carve an arc upon the world and reclaim our destiny!" Blake called, thrusting her hand to the sky and snapping her fingers. "Pendulum Summon! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Performapal Drummerilla!"

Her pendulum arced between the pillars of her Pendulum Scales, a gateway glowing in its wake. Twin comets streaked down from the new sky, taking the form of two of her most iconic monsters: her one-man gorilla percussion section (ATK 1600/DEF 900) and her dual-colored eyed dragon (ATK 2500/DEF 2000).

Yet, even then, something was wrong. Blake felt the surge of magical adrenaline she usually did when summoning Odd-Eyes, but her dragon, her peppy ace who was always eager to dance across the battlefield… wasn't dancing. It just glanced back at the cat faunus and mewled, its kaleidoscope eyes bloated with concern.

Blake gulped at her oldest monster, regret seeping through her for a long moment. But a moment later, she gritted her teeth and pushed that regret away. She could not allow herself to falter. She could not delay like she did when she dueled Yatsuhashi. She had to face her past with every weapon at her disposal!

She could not let sentimentality stop her from facing her sins. And the sins of her old friends.

I normal summon Performapal Trump Girl!" the cat faunus proclaimed, a shorter, daintier version of her Trump Witch appearing on the field in a court jester's hat (ATK 200/DEF 200). "I activate her effect to fusion summon a monster using monsters I have on the field!"

Trump Girl gleefully waved her wand through the air, glitter spreading from the staff and conjuring a swirling fusion vortex. The young spellcaster merrily skipped into it, beckoning Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon to join her.

Odd-Eyes glanced back at Blake with worry one final time, before sighing with disappointment and reluctantly jumping into the fusion vortex.

"Mysterious dragon with dual-colored eyes! Fuse with the playful witch to bring forth the arcane dragon, wielder of shadows and ancient magic! Above the ridicule and hate! Above the binding of our fate! Fusion Summon!" Blake roared, smashing her palms together, her amber eyes gleaming with blazing determination. "Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

A brilliant golden circle shined out of the fusion vortex, a massive scarlet dragon spawning into existence from its glow. The giant magic ring embedded itself in the beast's back, the mysterious creature's eyes covered by gold, rune-covered caps (ATK 3000/DEF 2000).

"Odd-Eyes has Ruby's peppiness. Brave-Eyes has Weiss' nobility. Beast-Eyes has my rage," Yang noted, gazing up at Rune-Eyes with mournful curiosity as its body flickered with magic and subtle mystery. "This your dragon? All your angst and mystery?"

Blake's brow furrowed. "Since it was Fusion Summoned using a Pendulum Summoned monster on the field, Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon is unaffected by your card effects this turn. So best keep Fiendish Golem facedown."

"Wasn't planning on flipping it up. Though, I will activate Follow Wing," Yang replied, one of her three facedowns rising as a brilliant golden glow elongated Hot Red Dragon Archfiend's wings. "I target one of my Synchro Monsters, and as long as Follow Wing is on the field, it can't be destroyed by battle or card effect."

A vicious, victorious smirk slithered over Blake's lips. "You shouldn't have done that."

"Really? Why's that?"

Blake pulled tight into the next turn, finally overtaking Bumblebee atop her dingy training runner. "Since Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon was summoned using a Level Four or lower Spellcaster-Type material, it can make two attacks on your monsters each Battle Phase."

"Oh?" Yang queried, glancing over at Drummerilla. "The monkey man can boost it by six hundred when it attacks. It's gonna hurt, but not exactly dangerous–"

"I activate Performapal Radish Horse's Pendulum Effect!" Blake yelled, snapping her fingers at her vegetable horse. "I target one monster you control and one Performapal monster I control. Your monster permanently loses attack points equal to mine."

Radish Horse fired its vegetable horn from atop its head, streaking through the air and passing right by Drummerilla's head, absorbing its ally's power. Fully charged with it, the projectile flew across the field and smashed into Hot Red Dragon Archfiend (ATK 1400).

"Oh, yeah. That's much more dangerous," Yang realized with a carefree and chipper tone.

"Battle!" Blake cried. "Drummerilla boosts Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's attack by six hundred points!"

The one-ape drumset smashed its drumsticks into its cymbals and percussions, the sound puffing up the mystical dragon's form (ATK 3600). Two bolts of crackling sapphire electricity surged between a pair of points on Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's giant ring on its back, an ancient, mystical sigil formed by the arcing path.

"Twenty-two hundred point difference. Two attacks. Hardly a test," Blake snarled. "Double Spiral Sky Shot!"

Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon shrieked, a portal of shadows forming behind its magical sigil. In the wake of its eerie howl, two beams of thunderous lightning streaked for Hot Dragon Dragon Archfiend. When the attack landed, this farce of a duel would be over.

One less obstacle in the way of Blake's recompense for her sins.

Times like this, I'm REALLY happy that I don't have a regular update schedule anymore and that this story is so episodic in structure. I had to write this piecemeal over the last few months. But on the bright side, I didn't have to deal with updating during that period when the site's email notifications were on the fritz.

Alright, so now we start up this story's adaptation of one of the early series' best episodes. 'Burning the Candle' was a big moment for me when I first watched the show and made me really love Yang's character, planting the seeds for what the story would later play in her arc later on. Here, the scope of her machinations is cast much wider due to the greater turmoil among the cast, but each plotline here hopefully carries resonant themes to her primary efforts to aid Blake.

Also, worldbuilding. LOTS of worldbuilding. It's fun. :)

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!