Volume 2 Intro Song: Finale (Original Mix) by Madeon

A few days have passed and Team HAZL are fighting some more Beowolves. Zion using more of his sniper form from Light and Shadow freezing the Grimm from a far while Hedge zooms around them slicing them down.

"Whew. That was exhausting." Zion says. He detaches Light and Shadow back to normal.

Hedge puts Chaos and Destruction back into their sheathes on his back. "Let's head back to camp." He starts to walk in the direction of their campsite, but Anne stops him.

Anne: "You two head back. We'll catch up."

Zion looks over at Leonidas, who had just retracted his wings. Leonidas just shrugs at Zion. Zion then turns back to Hedge and Anne. "Alright, don't be too long." He turns and walks back with Leonidas.

Anne then turns and looks at Hedge. "What's the matter, Hedge? You've been a lot more quiet than usual lately. It reminds me of how Leo was when we first became a team." She places her hand on Hedge's left cheek. "You know you can tell us what's wrong."

Hedge sighs. "It's Ozpin." Anne removes her hand from his face.

Anne: "What about him? You're still thinking about what Leo had mentioned about him from last semester?"

Hedge: "Yes. He had told me that our professors at Shade had told him about some stories of us over the past few years. At first, I didn't think so much about it, but lately I've become very skeptical about him, and this mission he gave us definitely didn't help."

Anne walks closer to him. "Hey, whatever Ozpin has planned, we'll deal with it…together. Let's look at the mission details again." Hedge goes to pull out his scroll to bring up the mission details. Both him and Anne look at the scroll to see if there are any additional details besides just clearing out the Grimm in the immediate area. Unbeknownst to them, however, someone is staring at them down the scope of their weapon, finger on the trigger. A person behind them speaks to them.

???: "Remember, our job isn't to kill them. We need to make them work more as a team. Spook them." The sniper nods and returns down to their scope.

Anne notices something at the corner of her eye and looks up to see a glint coming from a nearby building. "Look out!" She pushes Hedge out of the way as the sniper fires, the bullet not actually meant to hit either of them. Leo and Zion hear the sniper shot from the campsite.

Zion: "That definitely wasn't one of their shots."

Leonidas: "Grab on." He spreads his wings, Zion obliges and grabs on as Leonidas takes flight and heads off towards where Anne and Hedge were.

Hedge opens his eyes as he's laying on the ground and looks around frantically. "What was that?" He looks in front of him and sees Anne on top of him. She groans.

Anne: "Hedge, are you alright?" She picks her head up and they look each other in the eyes. Both of them blush. "Uh…" They quickly reassess the situation they are in and try to find the sniper again.

Hedge: "Pretty low move trying to shoot from afar while we weren't paying attention!" No response given. Zion and Leonidas fly into the area.

Zion: "Hedge. Anne. You guys alright?" The sniper also takes a shot at them. "Woah." Leonidas dodges the bullet and Zion blocks the subsequent shot with Shadow in sword form. They land behind another building on the opposite side of the street from Hedge and Anne.

Hedge yells out again at the sniper. "Show yourself, coward!"

A voice echoes in the abandoned city. "Come on now, Hedge! Is that anyway to say hello to old friends?!"

All four of them were surprised to hear this voice, but none more than Hedge. "That voice. It can't be!" Hedge peaks around the corner to the building where the shot came from, now able to see 4 people visible. The rest of Team HAZL peak around their corners and look at the building that Hedge was looking at. They see 4 people looking at them, Rackley Black, the sniper Napa Church, and Echo Haus in the front, and behind them, their team leader Gable Alexander.

"Team GREN." Hedge says. "I had a feeling there was more to this mission than Ozpin led on, but I didn't expect it to be something like this!"

"Well that's the beauty of a mission isn't it? Not knowing what to expect once you agree to it." Napa states as he pulls out more weapons.

Gable speaks to Hedge again. "It's been a while since we've last seen each other, Hedge. Your tactics haven't changed it seems."

Hedge growls. "And it seems you haven't changed at all since our Finals match last year, Gable. Come to rub in your team's victory of the Vytal Festival to us? Or are you here for a fight?"

Team GREN jump down from the building to meet Team HAZL on even flooring, their weapons drawn.

Echo responds, "Oh you know, just a friendly fight."

Rackley speaks up next. "Consider this a sparring match between old rivals."

Everyone else of Team HAZL draws their weapons, Zion utilizing Light and Shadow in their pistol forms. Hedge thinks about how to proceed about the fight.

Leonidas calls out to him. "Hedge, are we actually fighting them or what?"

Before Hedge could respond, Rackley rushes in and says, "You don't have a choice" as he attacks Leonidas. Zion engages Napa from range, while Anne runs in with Piko to fight Echo. Gable starts to walk forward toward Hedge.

Gable: "Ready for our rematch, Hedge?" Hedge draws Chaos and Destruction out of their sheathes and starts to electrify himself.

Hedge: "I've grown much stronger since our fight, Gable. Don't expect to get the same outcome as last time."

Gable gets into his fighting stance. "Prove it."

Hedge dashes in with his hover shoes activated and slashes at Gable with Destruction first, which Gable dodged out of the way, but was pushed back by the force of Chaos' slash which he was able to block with Black's bladed hilt. When Gable was able to catch himself, he notices that Hedge had activated his lightning spears around him, pointing Destruction at him, ordering the spears to converge on Gable. He picks up his pistols and fires at all the spears, destroying them, but Hedge is nowhere to be found. Gable looks around and sees everyone else fighting, but can't see Hedge anywhere. He then hears Rackley yell out at him while fighting Leonidas, "Gable, above you!"

Hedge had gone for a teleportation aerial attack on Gable to take him out of the fight, slashing both of his swords down, but thanks to Rackley, Gable was able to jump out of the way of the attack, resulting in Hedge just slamming down hard on the ground. Rackley had jumped in to make an attack on Hedge from behind, but Leonidas flew over fast enough to block the slash from Rackley's blade with Omega. Hedge also blocks some shots from Gable. Rackley uses his semblance to dissolve and appear next to his team leader.

"Thanks for the save." Gable states to Rackley.

"Anytime. Can't have you being knocked out of this fight that quickly, can I?" Gable smiles at his best friend, and they both get back into fighting stance.

Leonidas activates his semblance and addresses Hedge. "We need to work as a team, Hedge. That's what this mission is all about."

Hedge sighs. "Alright, I hear you. Let's take them down." Hedge starts to walk forward, but Leonidas grabs his arm.

Leonidas: "Hey. That doesn't mean kill them." Hedge nods in agreeance.

Hedge: "Then allow me to share some of my semblance to you." He generates a ball of lightning energy in his hand. "Show me Omega." Leonidas picks up his sword to Hedge, and Hedge imbues the sword with the ball of energy. "That should help you with your ranged slashes. Omega will be able to act just like Chaos and Destruction here, but it will only last for a short period of time. Make them count." He picks Chaos up from the ground and gets into fighting stance alongside Leonidas.

Gable speaks to Hedge. "Never expected you to be able to do that, Hedge. Remind me though, your aura gets lower and lower the more you use your semblance, right? Aren't you afraid of running out of aura quickly?"

Hedge growls at Gable and grips tightly at Chaos and Destruction. "What's the meaning of this, Gable? What's Ozpin promised you guys?"

Rackley also speaks to Hedge. "I can sense a deeper power within you, waiting to be brought to the surface. But it can cause great destruction to everything around you." Leonidas notices small sparks of lightning coming from Hedge, and...was that a faint glow from Destruction?

Leonidas: "Is that the power Rackley is talking about?" He then talks to Hedge. "Hedge, calm down." But Hedge didn't seem to keep his anger in check.

Hedge: "You don't know anything about my semblance and the power I possess! You think I had a choice of what it was going to be? No, I had it forcibly unlocked without any input from me! And if you think my power can spiral out of control," he prepares to jump at Gable and Rackley, "that'll never happen!"

Before Hedge could jump toward Gable and Rackley though, a few Nevermores, a King Taijitu, and a few Goliaths enter the area and everyone stops fighting each other. Zion and Anne look up from Echo and Napa at the Grimm that just appeared.

Zion: "Woah. Where'd these Grimm come from?" Anne looks over to Hedge and Leonidas, having sensed Hedge's power increase.

Anne: "Seems they were attracted to Hedge's anger. Let's regroup with Leo and Hedge."

Zion: "Copy that."

They rush over to the rest of their team, while Echo and Napa regroup with Gable and Rackley behind them.

Zion: "So boss. Looks like we're in a bit of a pickle huh?"

Hedge: "Guess so." He turns around to team GREN. "Looks like our rematch will have to be on hold for now, Gable. Bygones be bygones and we take out these Grimm?"

Gable smiles at Hedge. "Sure. I'm ok with that. Let's do it."

Hedge turns back to address his team. "Let's take care of the Goliaths first. The King Taijitu and Nevermores shouldn't be a problem after that. Leo, can you keep the Nevermores occupied for the time being?"

Leonidas: "Sure can."

Hedge: "Awesome. Anne, Zion. You're with me on these Goliaths. Remember, underneath is the weakest part of them." They both give a nod.

"How are you doing on aura levels, Hedge?" Leo asks Hedge, knowing what he saw and how Hedge was acting a few moments ago.

Hedge looks at his scroll to check. "70%." He notices Leo's facial expressions. "I'm fine, Leo. I just lost my cool there." He starts to electrify himself again. "And I know just who to take it out on." He grows a grin and looks at the Goliaths. "Let's do this HAZL."

AN: Well, things are getting interesting, aren't they? What kind of hidden power is Rackley talking about? Speaking of, special thanks to a buddy of mine Chaos over on Quotev, whom we have a mutual agreement to utilize our OC's in both of our stories. It's been awhile since he's updated his story, but that's more due to personal reasons.

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merendinoemiliano: No worries at all. These chapters up till the middle of Volume 3 are just reposts/rewrites with added/removed/edited chapters from the original version of the story. Until then, I'm trying to spread these out as evenly as possible, but also not too far apart (life be life at times). When I do catch up back to where I left off, then I'll resume writing the chapters, and that can take some time too.