Transposition F — (For Chris Ayres)

by J-Dude2470

A change in fate leads Frieza to arrive just as the Eternal Dragon is summoned. A panicked wish sends not only Earth's fighters, but Namek's tormentor offworld. This wish has altered Remnant's fate, as all bear witness to a tyranny like no other. As hero and monster alike descend upon Mistral, what is set in motion will rock the very pillars of the world. —Post V4; Lng/AdultSit—

11. The Battle of Haven

Adam Taurus and his fellow White Fang stormed off the bullhead hovering beside one of Haven's ledges. Almost as soon as they had, gunfire from distant police airships strafed the craft, which rolled against the cliff with a rocky crunch before plummeting out of sight.

The other ships had mostly crash landed in their haste and with Haven's small amount of open space. The quad was occupied by some in-progress skirmish that, despite its size, had already all but leveled two buildings. Adam referenced the holographic map on his scroll. "This way," he ordered with a motion, skirting the railed cliffs. "Demo squad with me, the rest of you draw them away from the understructure until we're done. Give them nothing left to cling to! And take what you've EARNED TEN TIMES OVER!"

Even as they cheered and sought their duty, Adam felt the apprehension that ran through his men. The fires of war would weed out the cowardly… he needn't be bothered.

They descended the steps, a precariously steep path leading to a bare steel access catwalk. Black and yellow lined the rough grip-pattern steel, promising high winds and demanding caution. It rattled once they reached the bottom, suspended from the ceiling that represented the bulk of Haven Academy itself, bridging the two mountains with an arch of reinforced metal and stone.

The catwalks hugged the arches, in numerous directions. "Fan out!" Adam ordered. "Double check the schematic for the charges. We only have one shot at this."

A girl with panda ears nodded, tucking a can-shaped device between two vertical girders, hitting a button twisting a rotary switch before pulling it into an extended position. The device primed.

---

Ruby, Weiss and Nora rounded the corner to a confounding sight. What before had been a rather simple two on two fight had escalated into a desperate out and out assault brawl.

"Jumpin' Jehosaphat…!" Nora exclaimed.

"I dunno what that… wow," Ruby added, transfixed as some stoic, bronze hulk of a man swiped Jaune's legs out from under him and had begun using him as a flail against Ren, who evaded with a constant stream of apologies. Team SSSN had formed a three-man phalanx as Mercury Black circled them, probing it for weaknesses while dozens of White Fang were being kept at bay wholly by Oscar Pine, whose eyes bore the focus of centuries.

But half embedded in a shrub along the main building, still and bedraggled was—

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby gasped, rushing over as fast as her legs could carry her. She extracted him from the shrub and set him on his back, grateful to hear a groan from the man as the others finally caught up.

"He's here too?" Weiss wondered, still wrapping her head around their situation.

"Is he…?" Nora broached.

"He's okay," Ruby answered with a sigh.

"So who…?" Nora asked.

Ruby's eyes narrowed at the question.

'You won't give me the fight I want? FINE… We'll just take a minute before going to see dear Qrow.'

The words echoed in Ruby's memory, and she felt herself shaking. "Cinder," she spat, cycling her bolt action. "She didn't know where I went, so she tried beating answers out of him…"

She couldn't help it; her teeth were gnashing. Cinder was so determined to hurt the people she loved. "I don't care how powerful she is. We're stopping her!"

Before anyone could say anything, she literally stormed over to Oscar, whirling until Crescent Rose snapped back and she stabbed it beneath her into the stony floor. Her momentum flung her horizontal to the floor as she held to the scythe's staff, held aloft by her own resulting squall. Seeing this, Oscar smirked and rooted himself as his staff planted down, just before a storm of wind and rose petals swept in her wake.

The White Fang closing in were blasted back, clutching at stone and grabbing lamp posts, otherwise being shoved to the furthest corners like lint in a tumble dryer. Ruby dismounted, landing on her feet as Weiss and Nora brought up the rear.

"Miss Rose!" Ozpin exclaimed, standing back up. "When Cinder began her assault, I must admit I feared the worst for y—"

Oscar stopped, looking past Ruby to the former heiress. "Miss Schnee? Will wonders ever cease…"

Weiss blinked. "I-I'm sorry… have we met…?"

"Ah, of course," Oscar muttered. "There's no time, but…"

Nora stepped closer. "Remember what I said? Meet little boy Ozpin!"

Weiss blinked. "...What?"

"There's no time!" Ruby insisted. "Professor, where do you need us?"

"With Qrow incapacitated, Sustrai has been running roughshod over anyone approaching the Hall, and our newcomer is someone I need to handle myself."

Ruby nodded. "So some of us need to ward off the White Fang, and at least one of us needs to distract Emerald."

"I'll do it," Weiss offered.

Nora and Ruby looked at each other.

"Weiss, you sure?" Ruby asked. "Emerald's semblance makes you see things when she's looking at you; Nora and I could just take her together."

"I've learned some tricks of my own," Weiss told her with a grin, a tiny glyph dancing over her palm.

"Very well," Ozpin said, staff flourishing. "Godspeed, children. Miss Schnee?"

Ruby and Nora squared up as the White Fang advanced, Weiss and Ozpin racing off.

"You guys have picked a really bad time to mess with me," Ruby hissed, meeting their hidden eyes with a glare all her own.

---

Gohan could feel it. Vegeta was going to come-to at any moment, and the child of two worlds would be hard pressed to keep him off the warpath. Any wrong word or challenge and he might provoke a wrath fit to consume his new friends in it. He could sense them, wading back into the fray. He hoped they would be alright…

"Hey! We got some over here!" a woman's voice called across the yard.

Gohan cursed himself being so easily surprised. What would Mister Piccolo say to that?

The woman wore a sort of mask Gohan had never seen before, a white uniform with a red emblem of a tiger's head with claw marks raked across it. The woman herself had porcine ears and a matching tail. Behind her, several others in the same garb swarmed the vicinity, weapons drawn lazily.

"Good work!" said the next, a man with the long ears of a horse. "They'll make perfect hostages; this should buy us all the time we need!"

Gohan felt a surge of humor and sympathy for them as he took a step forward. "Back off while you're still standing," he ordered. "And give this thing up while you're at it."

The pig-lady smiled as she stepped towards the boy, entirely unmoved. "And who's going to make us, small fry, y—?"

Her words died in her mouth as a golden ray shot through her chest. The world froze as the faunus' eyes lost focus in a haunting show of surprise, but at last it did cease, and she collapsed to her knees and further.

Gohan beheld her body in shock as one of the other faunus cried her name. Twisting around, Gohan found Vegeta, barely leaning on an elbow with his fingers outstretched and smoking. "Vegeta, don't!"

But the others had already begun spraying fire in a panic. Gohan vanished as he darted out of the way, Vegeta groaning as the lead bounced off of him and he adjusted his aim. This time he fired a wider projection of blinding power, such that its victim was struck at once, and then screamed as he was immolated by it. The hopeless fighter was left a twisted, ashen husk, steam billowing off. After this, the survivors fled, scrambling over each other to escape Vegeta's field of vision.

Gohan approached cautiously as Vegeta struggled to stand, and got as far as kneeling before the boy reached him. Though it seemed coming within arm's reach of the prince was as still unwise.

"Au-aughh…!" Gohan yelped, as Vegeta took a sudden swipe and grabbed a fistful of his hair by the root, threatening to lift him by it.

"The… woman…!" Vegeta managed, still shaken. "Where… where is she? How does she possess this kind of power…?!"

"W-we tried… auugh… to warn you…!" Gohan groaned. "She's a Maiden, she has magic…! You didn't raise your power enough…!"

This answer only appeared to frustrate him further, and Gohan felt hairs part from his scalp as the Saiyan's grip redoubled. "And the girl I was with…?! Where is she?!"

"Off fighting! ...They checked on you before running out! Oof!" Gohan cried as Vegeta released him roughly, stumbling as the man struggled to his feet.

"Why…" Vegeta groaned, shaking as he stood, "...I feel strange…! My body is unharmed, but I…"

Gohan pondered. That was odd. "I haven't had this Aura unlocked very long, but yours broke from Cinder's attack! If your body's never regenerated that barrier before…"

"...So you're saying I just need to acclimate… Fine… Are there any other magical sows floating around?"

"No, just the Professor, and he's on our side."

Vegeta scoffed. "Our side… You take a lot for granted, kid."

Gohan stopped dead for a second. Then he stepped in front of Vegeta, arms out.

The Prince growled. "What are you…?!"

"I have friends out there who want to help us! I'm not letting you just blast everyone you see!"

"Hmph! As if these rubes wouldn't be entirely helpless against Frieza, you little fool. Here's a counter-proposal: stay out of my way, and maybe I'll second guess my targets!"

Gohan stood his ground. "If Weiss hadn't unlocked your Aura like Ruby did for me, you could be dead!"

Vegeta grunted, glowering at the suggestion.

"These guys know things about energy that could help u—"

"Enough blathering!" Vegeta demanded, throwing a sudden jab which put Gohan — surprisingly lightly— on his back. The Prince walked shakily past him. "Keep up if you want any say in who walks out of this…"

Mere moments later, Vegeta stumbled, catching himself with the side of a building… which he then limply punched in his frustration. The structure wobbled as his fist sunk in, obliterating material. Dust sprinkled as cracks wormed their way out from the point of impact. Gohan watched after him as he continued, somewhat ungainly of gait. The half Saiyan got to his feet. Somehow, Vegeta as an ally was even more frustrating and difficult to read than as a foe.

---

Emerald's red eyes fanned across the crowd to find Mercury. She'd been hanging back to assist, as her partner scarcely needed help with the trio that had arrived earlier, and Hazel had been… frustrating.

Despite the help she was providing, gift wrapping an easy kill, the brute was acting more like a bouncer. He denied the kid with the sword and his dual-wielding friend entry, but seemed wholly unconcerned with putting them out of the way. Apart from their explicit orders, Cinder had always been consistent and practical: Do they hold strategic value alive? Will their absence compromise you? No? Then snuff them before you get the same…

Perhaps by design, Salem left the others in their gang to themselves, rarely interacting or cooperating. If it wasn't relevant to their task, it wasn't disclosed, so she could only wonder why a lamb-heart like Hazel was—

She saw it in the corner of her eye, storming from the left. A Boarbatusk, its body low as it charged, ragged-looking and… stark white…?"

She fired both ends of her khopesh at the beast without another thought. One glanced off its eponymous tusks, but the second sank right between the eyes, the beast squealing as its weight fell dead onto its chin and slid with its remaining momentum.

Emerald's mind raced to process the impossibility of what had just happened as she began retracting her blades, but in her peripheral vision she went numb as she saw something growing larger and larger from the crowd, barely twisting to guard with the handles alone.

'*SHING…*'

Emerald ducked low, silver steel narrowly passing over her head as she leaned back. The long, thin edge had found a chain loop in both khopesh and passed through; she couldn't retract her blades, but nor could her attacker gore her like this. With that, as she struggled, she followed the gleaming metal to its holder. She found eyes of a glacial blue, and a tail of platinum hair. Emerald Sustrai's eyebrows shot up, and she only managed a grunt of "You…!"

Even as she struggled, the other girl smirked at her.

The Heiress?! But that was impossible! The brats had been all but separated! Old man Schnee had carted her off HIMSELF, they'd been certain! With the CCT out, Rose and her little renegades couldn't have arranged for her to meet here, and Atlas was under lockdown!

"I know white is my theming," Weiss began, Dust hissing as her blade began to smoke, "and back home we don't get much sun… but I'm no ghost. So wipe that dumb look off your face."

Emerald saw Schnee's ploy as her blade began to glow red. She was fixing to weaken and snap her chains right off!

Weiss saw Emerald sneer at her, as a black swarm of skittering little legs emerged suddenly from behind Emerald's back, arachnid bodies climbing over the chains like ants and darkening her blade with their numbers as they made for her wrist with preternatural speed.

A black glyph formed in front of Weiss as she recoiled, before it swelled red and launched a surprised Emerald into the adjacent wall, her Myrtenaster and accompanied khopesh with it. The rapier had shot high, embedded firmly into the wall. Even the dangling, swinging khopesh blades were well out of immediate reach as Emerald sprung back up to face Weiss.

The young assassin glanced around to see their weapons, herself standing between them and the former heiress. She gave the younger girl a wicked grin. "That's tough luck, Old-Money," she laughed.

Weiss didn't answer, only taking a pugilist stance. Emerald only burst out laughing still harder.

"Girly, I grew up on the streets," she told Weiss, hands raised beside her face in a boxing stance. "You're gonna regret you invited this…"

"A Huntress' whole body is a weapon," Weiss warned, before a glyph appeared beneath her as she charged in.

But Emerald vanished, revealing herself only to seize Weiss' ponytail as she passed by. Weiss shrieked as her own momentum pulled her hair taut, tugging at her scalp in an instant of agonizing pain, made worse still when Emerald pulled hard enough to throw her heavy onto her back.

Weiss couldn't help it, reaching with both hands to clutch the source of her pain as a weight settled suddenly on her stomach. Her squeezing eyes forced open to see Emerald straddling her. With a crack and a thwack, Weiss felt the quick jabs to her jaw and temple as red-hot blasts to her senses, only dulled by her Aura.

"Aw, sorry about that… I've just got a few issues to work through with you. Was never a fan of all those girls who grew up with everything… A mom…"

Weiss thought she saw a quiver in her lip before lights popped in her eyes as she was struck in the cheek.

"...A dad…"

Knuckles slammed against her brow.

"So let's see which I break first," Emerald suggested, "your Aura, or your scrawny nec— "

But Emerald's wrists were suddenly engulfed by small twin glyphs, and her arms were dragged back as though by shackles.

"You don't know much about my family, do you?"

With this opening, Weiss slipped her legs back from underneath, rearing back into a twin kick to Emerald's ribs.

Emerald fell back several feet, and both girls scrambled back up, Emerald clutching her gut. "Damn it…! I guess there had to be some advantage to fighting in heels, eh princess?"

"Well I'm not terribly tall, so it helps when I'm taking out the trash."

Emerald growled, and both leapt for each other.

---

Oscar stormed up to the gigantic man as he tossed Lie Ren into a sprinting Jaune Arc, bowling them all over. "This time, stay down," the nephilim ordered. "You're only worsening a bad situation."

"And you'd know nothing of that, would you Reinhardt?"

Hazel turned to see the dark brown haired boy approaching, a flicker of familiarity in his eyes. "Think you know me, boy? I'd choose my next words carefully."

"Given where you stand, it's not I that must answer to you, Hazel," Oscar said, measuring every step. "Yes, I knew you… in another life."

Oscar, taking a backseat as Ozpin handled the present carnage, was certain the man recognized him from the station before coming to Mistral… But now it was different. Hazel's eyes flitted between his own and the cane in his hands, and Oscar felt a chill as an almost imperceptible change darkened the man's face.

"So…" Hazel hissed, knuckles creaking as they clenched at his side, "another soul, already consumed. This is sooner than she said… Ozpin…"

The old mage tapped the floor with his cane. "Differently from what you think, I control neither the time, place, nor the subject of my reincarnation. In this instance however, I suspect my distress over the state I left our world in might have influenced it somehow. Had I that power, I might have left this world long ago."

"Spare me your vacant regrets," Hazel demanded, lips thinned. "We both know what you're willing to do when backs have turned to you..."

Ozpin sighed. "If you still don't see things as they are after all this time in her employ, I doubt if you ever will…"

Ozpin closed the distance in a flash, whirling around to aim for Hazel's knees, only to be blocked by a massive forearm. Its twin pistoned at the boy from above, striking the floor with a dusty slam as he leapt to eye-level to deliver a discombobulating blow to the forehead with the cane's broad tip.

Ozpin prepared a follow up, but an enormous hand shot in out of nowhere and grabbed Oscar around the ribs. "Guh…!"

The other hand quickly followed suit, and Hazel made to crush the boy with his bare hands as he struggled.

"I see what is, old man," Hazel growled, redoubling his grip. "I know Salem's aims in forging a new world…"

Ozpin choked as he tried to move Oscar's arms in any way. To wedge the black bar between the giant's iron fingers, anything…

"Both of you are monsters, and employ monsters… But Salem at least admits it… Salem will at least use the power you horde and not cower in fear of it. I can do more to protect humanity at the Devil's right hand than you and your Huntsmen ever had the will to, wrapped in a banner of piety…"

"Y-you…" Ozpin groaned as the great hands squeezed, "...know it was the very group you serve who assaulted Mountain Glenn…! ...Urk… She is to blame for your loss…"

Within, Oscar sifted through foreign memories. Mountain Glen: a failing expansion of Vale, connected to the great city only by subterranean trains. The surface, overtaken by Grimm. The settlers tried to hold what remained in the safety of the enormous cave system, but one day an explosion let the beasts in to a massacre… but Oscar quickly realized there was far more to that tale.

Hazel's grip found a way to tighten ever stronger, as to squeeze the wind out of the boy. The cane fell from his hands.

"No…! I was there! A dedicated Huntsman effort could have routed the Grimm. She set a distraction to draw you away. YOU pulled your men out to safeguard your precious RELIC! Myself among them, subdued and dragged away from a fight worth dying for…!"

At that moment, Oscar glowed, and a sphere of power expanded from him. Hazel couldn't keep his grip and his hands flew away, staggering backward as Ozpin retrieved the cane and rolled behind the giant. A spinning strike to the back of his knee brought him to a kneel, and Oscar ran up his back to grab both ends of his weapon and choke it under his chin.

"To surrender a Relic to Salem is to sacrifice ten Mountain Glens," Ozpin countered, ducking the huge hands reaching for him between working to pry the bar off his neck.

"Y-your Relic was safe…!" Hazel gasped. "You knew that…! She knew nothing about your defenses, or their ties to the Maidens… let alone, how to penetrate them…! You sealed my family in that tomb for NOTHING!"

Hazel finally muscled the cane away, boy and all, flinging him into the floor to skid towards the recovered Jaune and Ren. Oscar too, apart from getting blasts of the impact on his body, took a heavy hit.

'Oz… you let his…?'

"Many families have lived and died as a result of my actions," Ozpin said, answering both parties, "and one day I am certain to answer to them all. It's easy in hindsight to know the right course to take, but no… I couldn't be certain my trust had been kept. I couldn't be certain that a captive Fall Maiden wasn't breaching my measures of protection. To pronounce certainty is to prompt the inevitability of failure."

"More words," Hazel growled, sizing up his three opponents, "as remorseless and empty as the gestalt that is your soul…" He reached into his satchels, pulling out red and blue crystals with razor-sharp tips.

"Dust…" Ren noted idly.

"Professor," Jaune said, "do we even stand a chance with this guy?"

Hazel took a breath, and plunged the needle-like crystals into his biceps with a roar, frost covering his left and flames dancing across his right.

They all winced, the sudden piercing sensations afflicting them, like mirror-neurons gone mad. Ren and Jaune gripped their limbs in sudden confusion.

Even Ozpin's eyebrows raised. "His semblance allows him to actively dull pain, and broadcast it to others. It cannot truly damage you, but you must be prepared to feel every blow you deal him. Your will must be greater than his."

They squared up to the hulking man, who stalked towards them in kind. "Ever beguiling the ignorant to a pointless cause…"

---

The wind howled as Adam rounded another corner of the labyrinthine catwalk, passing another colossal brace as thick as a redwood. His demo expert planted another charge. Haven itself was a marvel of engineering, but a large part of it was a lie. The school had largely been constructed in the valley as an enormous hovering barge, simply floated into position and locked into the foundations built into the mountains.

And indeed, for all its grandeur it hadn't been designed to hold its own weight indefinitely. The Dust-based anti gravity stabilizers did the brunt of the work. And Adam Taurus had it on good authority that they had been quietly disabled for months…

Indeed, the signs of strain were evident to a watchful eye. Discoloration at stress points, cracks in the paint. Tresses sagged ever so slightly. Nothing less than a directed military attack could have brought Haven down, but with a little help from their new friends, it would be the White Fang credited. The human scum would be scratching their heads as they wept, and the mystique of the White Fang would only strengthen! Even Atlas would fear them now.

The wind this high whistled strangely through gaps in the structure… sometimes, it even sounded like…

No, Adam turned out, away from the city. It was the high whine of a bullhead he was hearing. The city guns turned on it as it wove through.

His team turned to him. "Reinforcements?" one asked.

Adam looked closer. The bullhead was spewing a black trail behind it, damaged perhaps.

Adam's arm reached for his hilt. "Blake…"

---

"Why are they shooting at us?!"

"They don't know we're not the White Fang, Sun!"

"I thought you said this thing was fast now!"

"Watch it, Kill-meleon, I did the best I could getting it airborne, let alone dirty-tuning the engines to catch up!" Bulma snapped back at Ilia, corkscrewing to dodge the snapping turret fire as the others held on for dear life. "She's barely holding together as it is, improving the aerodynamics isn't like rotating your tires! NOW WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING?!"

Indeed, Bulma's death grip on the stick wasn't helped by staring baffled at the mountain city and its huge arched villa bridging the peaks.

"Uh, yeah… where do we land?" Sun asked. "There's the quad up top but—"

"That'll take too long, Adam's targeting the supports! Get us close and we'll bail!"

Bulma's teeth gnashed. "Oh, sure! Because all my stuff is disposable!"

"Please, this isn't the time—"

"I didn't say 'no,' did I?" Bulma shot back, flipping a few ceiling switches as they narrowed in on the Academy. "Hold on to your hackles and try not to black-out!"

With no other warning, the bullhead's pivoting jets rattled as she engaged reverse thrust in one and overcharged the other, violently spinning them around even as they bombed towards their target behind them. Sun and Ilia, neither strapped in, swung freely from the ceiling grips as they cried out.

Satisfied, Bulma hit the maximum thrust on both engines, effectively giving them a retrograde burn against their enormous speed and steadily braking them. It was barely enough to keep the craft from disintegrating on impact as the tapered jets and tail looped through gaps in the catwalk railings and brought it all to a sudden, neck breaking halt, the steel bowing and crumpling with a horrific shriek. Parts of the fuselage crimped like a can. The starboard jet burst its railing like it were an overstretched rubber band.

"The hell are you, INSANE?!" Ilia cried, holding onto Sun's hand alone as she dangled out the port side over the chasm.

"Ask for genius, don't expect a norma—"

"We need to go!" Blake said from the copilot seat, unbuckling and dragging Bulma along with her as the catwalk creaked. Sun swung Ilia up a level, then bounding himself up part-way with his hands steepled. A pair of golden duplicates shot up, linked arm in arm to swing him up.

No sooner had they managed this than the bullhead, engines still smoking, finally buckled and fell. The city guns trained on it, waiting for it to clear unintended targets before lighting up, the craft flashing before they all heard a distant 'pop' echo up from the canyon.

Ilia sighed. "No choice now. I'm going after those bombs, I know where they'll focus on."

"I'll help you," Bulma declared.

Ilia's brows raised. "You know how to disarm a bomb?"

Bulma scoffed. "Please, any idiot with a layman's grasp of circuitry can wire explosives to a radio transmitter. I make robots and spaceships in my free time."

"Weird flex… but okay!" Sun obliged with a thumbs-up… which Blake grabbed as she hurried him on.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Ilia asked.

Blake took a breath. "Adam can't come back here and interfere. We're stopping him."

"Wha— Wait, hold on!" Bulma shouted. "On your own?! That didn't go so well last time!"

Blake closed her eyes, and smiled. "No, but as I remember… a clever woman armed with just a dynocap sent him reeling… You give me courage, Bulma."

Ilia subtly rolled her eyes, mouthing "Gross…"

Bulma's cheeks flushed. "Likewise… Give him hell, you two!"

Blake nodded, turning with Sun on her tail and racing off.

"So what do I give you?" Sun inquired.

Blake grinned puckishly. "Headaches."

"Oh come ooooon…"

---

Cinder and Raven crossed blades, hate in eyes of red and gold. Hate borne of bloodshed, and hate borne of fear.

"BRING IT BACK!" Cinder demanded, a jet of flame spouting from her heel as she tried to work in a low jab. Raven spun backwards to avoid it, slicing up to catch her and send her sailing across the hall.

Cinder recovered with a whirl and summoned her bow, three black arrows primed in an instant. She fired them wide, landing yards from Raven who didn't even need to dodge.

There was an unearthly shriek, a red rune glowing beneath Raven as large as Cinder's arrows had spread.

Cinder landed on the second tier of the hall just as her rune sent a towering plume of fire and threw broken tile into the air.

She barely saw something dash across the ceiling before another something landed behind her.

She twisted, summoning her fiery blade just in time to lock with Raven's, but her hand was already on Cinder's throat. The bandit bent her back over the lacquered railing, the crimson, flaming tearsign of the Maidens ablaze by her eyes. Their blades sparked as they struggled.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Raven hissed. "Oh wait… you can't… Because you kill me, Salem loses her Relic!"

Cinder slowly fought back, gaining ground. But Raven still had an upper hand, in both senses.

"But I can kill YOU!"

A raw flame combusted from her palm like a match in gas fumes, splintering the railing as Cinder was thrown into the floor with an impact that left a crater in the tile even as she bounced off it. The Fall Maiden barely looked up to see her foil already above her, sword drawn, Raven's own feet of flame jetting her to intercept Cinder at the next bounce and stick her to the floor like a swallowtail in a butterfly collection...

Instead, Cinder's Grimm arm shot out to catch her around the throat, carrying Raven into the distant ceiling and embedding her there with a woody smash. Raven stirred from the bizarre attack, throttled, and prepared to cleave the overlong limb, but a recovered Cinder pulled the slack and dragged her back down faster than gravity to smash into the floor with a glassy tinkling … then left into the railing of the stairs...

Before Raven could be dragged further, she gained a grip of the stygian claw and her eyes burned blue as lightning ran up the limb to its owner who howled in rage and pain.

Freed, Raven owned her momentum, landing against the huge exterior doors and kicking off directly at her prey with a whirl of flame in her palm. Cinder shook herself as she prepared much of the same, stepping forward to meet Raven's charge…

---

Weiss leapt back as Emerald advanced with a smirk, her arms suddenly splitting to possess three on each side like a six-armed goddess. Another illusion.

Beneath herself, she formed a gilded glyph like a clock with Roman numerals, leaving her a partial blur as she erupted towards Emerald, zipping past her to plant on another glyph and launch back, becoming a human pinball as she repeated with every pass.

Admittedly, Weiss was less at home using her hands alone, though this was old hat to her heeled feet. And indeed, she was mainly attacking with kicks at each pass. She caught Emerald once or twice, but the bronze goddess was giving as good as she got, one of those six arms clipping her along the head and neck.

But Emerald seemed to tire of this, clotheslining Weiss out of nowhere and leaving her to slide and tumble over the stone against one of the many hedge planters.

"I was just fighting your speedster earlier," Emerald told her, "you think I'm not prepared for a trick like that?"

Weiss had an idea. Before standing back up, she left something beside the planter.

Emerald didn't wait, charging her and forcing Weiss to vault over the hedge as she came in with her illusory arms.

Weiss formed glyphs as broad shields to block her incoming blows, but it wouldn't last, she'd find an opening. Even now, watching carefully, she couldn't see which of Emerald's arms were dealing the hits…

'...We forgo physical bonds, and send senses and commands with our living energy alone. My senses, my speed, my strength… wholly undetermined by flesh and bone…'

Weiss felt stupid considering it, but this would have to pay off some time… She closed her eyes…

"The hell!" Emerald remarked, instantly sneaking in a gut shot, and setting her eyes on Weiss' jaw. "You nod off in this, you'll end up—"

Weiss wasn't sure what she'd just felt, but in that instant something in her knew what was coming, where Emerald was, and she barely considered it before her body played it out.

She caught the fist shooting out at her jaw, and when the thief brought her other limb in at her kidney, her forearm blocked it. Weiss opened her eyes.

Emerald's face was priceless, but even better, the former heiress noticed she was holding off two limbs apparently made of air. The godlike arms had been entirely an illusion, hiding her true movements with decoys and pretending one of them was real.

This moment of clarity, listening at the door to Vegeta's world, vanished as quickly as it came. It was, however, enough for her plan to reach fruition.

"Auck!"

Emerald's legs gave way as a small gleaming sword swung into it like a lumberjack, the mini-Gigas she summoned on the sly, its wielder.

So staggered, Weiss twisted both arms, pivoting Emerald on her struck leg around and leaving her kneeling as Weiss delivered a staggering kick to the base of her neck.

Cinder's student went skidding into the wall, hand clutching the back of her head with an enraged groan as she returned to her feet, the mini Gigas already charging her position. In a fit of rage however, she merely punted the small soldier, dispelling it even as it sailed through the air. She stared up to their dangling weapons…

Weiss saw it and reacted, leaping upon a platform glyph and again to one of the khopesh as Emerald grabbed another herself. In a flash they clashed with the blades on a pendulum and backed off each other. With the chain in their off-hand and each suspended by Myrtenaster high on the wall, it was as though each fighter were hands on a great clock, at five and seven respectively with their feet planted against the wall.

Emerald grinned maliciously, letting her blade dangle and slowly spinning it on its chain. "Think you're gonna lay me out with my own weapon? You're a crap tactician, aiming for all my strong points."

Weiss flipped her blade's edge in her left. "And yet you're the one who went for your weapon first."

Emerald made the first move, sprinting at her a few paces before kicking off the wall and swinging in an arc over her head, where their blades met as she passed. The master thief landed on her other side and closed in on the pendulum center as she gathered more slack, gaining some distance before lashing out with her length of chain like a whip.

Losing the advantage of range, Weiss retreated, running up the wall to nine-o'clock past a window… which promptly exploded.

Indeed, Weiss looked back to see flames spurting from the Hall windows and took care to peer inside as she passed twelve. She couldn't tell what, but something serious was going down inside Haven Hall, and it was threatening to incur upon their fight. Wasn't Cinder the only one inside?

Once she'd stared back down, she saw an Emerald for every hour on the clock running up at her… perfect.

Crossing literal high noon at twelve, Weiss kicked off and leapt forward, swinging down on the pendulum and through three Emeralds before the fourth was caught by Weiss' chain on the way down.

With the master thief falling, she also became the new hinge-point for Weiss' swing, flinging her the opposite way.

Both tumbled, the young Huntress holding firm as the chains whipped through the air, but at last they became taut, and she stared up to anticipate her foe's next move. She gasped.

Emerald had been tangled up in the chains. Weiss' weight from the khopesh she clung to had wrapped around her waist and pinned one hand against it. The other had formed a noose.

Cinder's servant choked, her one free hand scrabbling against the chains strangling her, feet useless as Weiss straightened them with her dead weight alone. The girl of white froze for all of a few seconds… and then formed a glyph over the embedded Myrtenaster.

The blade flew out, Weiss catching it as the chains and their captor hit the ground with a wheeze like a sack of potatoes, and began a piteous coughing fit. But she refused to drop her guard, sword held at the ready.

"Y-y-you… had me dead to r-ights," Emerald noted, utterly perplexed that she was on solid ground, breathing freely. "You little fool… Why?!"

"Not everyone is a remorseless killer," Weiss answered.

"Y-yes they are…" Emerald spat, struggling to free herself.

Weiss stood stunned a moment, before summoning a glyph. "Hmm… you're right," she said, the chains snaking to life.

"No! W-WAI…"

But she went silent again as she realized she'd been hogtied, hands and feet. She stared up to see Weiss smiling confidently. "Relax, that was a joke. I'm a Huntress… not a psychopath. We protect the people… even helpless reprobates that might not deserve it."

"I am NOT… helpless!" Emerald protested, squirming against the chains of her own weapon, utterly humiliated. "Cinder will come back!"

---

Cinder and Raven ran along opposite walls, fire and ice blasts meeting in the center of the room and forming a haze of blue and orange. She kicked off and landed on the floor in a flash of movement that cracked the tile, throwing her hands forward and unleashing another crimson beam that sizzled the air around it.

Raven leapt from the wall into the beam head-on, unleashing a well of blue power all her own as she did, scattering Cinder's blast in arcane sparks like a hose loosed upon stone.

Both grunted with the strain as they reached equilibrium, the focus of their blasts a blinding, seething swirl of light. Unable to press on, gusts of air howled from beneath Raven's feet, forcing her closer. Cinder, even rooted as she was, began to slide back over the smooth floor.

"So…!" Cinder began, grunting vocally even though her voice box didn't. "I doubt someone like you was chosen for your virtue! How long did it take to hunt her down?"

Raven growled with the exertion. "Quiet! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"C-come now! I'm just making conversation! We have LOTS in common!" the Rogue Maiden argued, even as her back hit a pillar and Raven proceeded closer, eldritch embers from their clash spraying into a disc between them that even cut through the floor.

"M-my reasons have nothing in common with yours, you wretch!" Raven spat, closing in. "I didn't assume Spring's role for power!"

The beams had been reduced to twin spheres of power as they stared into each other's eyes, forcing themselves forward until the coalescing energies merged.

The resulting flash would have projected out the windows on a clear summer's day, had the follow-up blast not shattered them all instantly. Cinder was blown though the pillar into the oaken wall and Raven was hurled to the opposite. Not even the limp form of Vernal was spared but to be swept against the intricate mouldings like so much detritus. Apart from the sturdy staircase, the second tier as a whole collapsed, burying Cinder and buckling in time for a reeling Raven to slide down the angled deck and roll into the floor.

Raven was the first to stand. "A-a powerful ally, perhaps, but she was a proper inductee of the Tribe, not some sack of magic to be leeched!"

The only answer was a flaming, curved blade Cinder's own size piercing the deck on her side, a single swipe splitting it before the wood turned ashen and blasted out into what could barely be called splinters. The Fall Maiden stepped out, handily hefting the monstrous weapon in two hands. "So you say, beset by your conscience… a thing I have worked tirelessly to overcome… and yet it's you standing there, and not her. I bet it just EATS at you inside."

Raven glared, hands hovering before her as ice swirled in from the ether to forge a twelve-foot odachi, which she grasped readily. "Not everyone is a hollow sadist."

Cinder's blade reared back, readied. She scoffed. "Yes they are…"

A sliding stomp of her foot, and a wave of flame swept across the floor, the haze heat only obscuring the Spring Maiden as she stormed over it, feet jetting twin blasts of air.

Similar spouts of flame launched Cinder at her, the massive blades glancing off the other as both fighters overshot. But a quick shift of their feet and they skid into a spiral, trailing helixes behind them as they climbed towards the ceiling. A block, offhand on the flat of the blade. A parry. A subsequent weave away from the riposte.

Both of them twisted to plant their feet against the ceiling, and Cinder had met this with an overhead chop that Raven had no choice but to block and absorb the impact, even as it rattled the walls. Caught high, Raven seized the opportunity, throwing her weight into bucking the blade away. She reared back with all speed to gut the one-eyed harpy.

But Cinder's stagger was a little too dramatic, a foot lifting high. Her heels were made of obsidian, but glass was glass…

Raven lost her —admittedly dubious— footing as the point of Cinder's heel extended suddenly like a nightstick, threatening to put her eyes out. Cinder whirled, her cast-off blade swinging the rest of the way around to catch Raven in a slash from below. The bandit's Aura flickered and flashed, but held as she flew back.

It had all occurred so fast, gravity couldn't wake up fast enough to deter all of this as they remained against the ceiling. A fact unhelpful to Raven, too fixated upon her foe as she tumbled to find herself just beneath a sizzling trap rune.

It exploded with the same unearthly scream, blasting Raven off to fall the full height to the top of the stairs and the secret lift hiding the Vault. The stone cracked, fragments of ceiling falling after her even as she turned to find her foe. And indeed, Cinder was diving after her, ready to skewer her against the floor. With a shove of Raven's palm, she summoned a blast of air to push herself back against the railing.

Cinder missed, but hit the marble structure with crushing force. The Fuku statue's burden was ended as her sky fell at last, the elevator and all its clockwork mechanics imploding from an artful wonder to mere debris as the two fighters plummeted into the winding darkness toward the secret Vault.

---

Blake and Sun raced down the catwalks, light footed as they could, but it was unlikely to matter as the steel shook with their movements. Adam would almost certainly know she was coming; surprise wasn't on their side.

They passed an anomaly in the school, a pipe thick enough to run a train through, slanting down alongside the structure to vanish into the mountain.

No sooner had Blake noted this than it rattled, louder and louder. First a ringing clatter, like sand against a bell.

"WHOA!" Sun cried as they leapt back against the railing, something huge and blue emerging through the steel at speed. It carved a gash in the pipe the length of a bus, even splitting through the nearest railing and platform of the catwalk they stood on. It all shook itself into silence, the damage the only sign left of the bizarre event.

"What the hell was that?!" Sun demanded, deciding it was safe to peer over again. "Did the White Fang do that?"

Blake shook her head, eyes fixed on it. "I… have no idea. But I don't think so."

Sun finally gave an exasperated laugh. "Wow, what do they serve here these days? Say what you want, I've never flushed anything that deadly into the sewers…"

Sun was met with the most withering, eyes-lidded, open-mouthed glare he'd ever seen on the girl, her ears downcast.

"Whaaat, I mean like… an alligator or something…"

Blake said nothing, walked around the corner… and froze, eyes and ears alert.

Frowning, Sun turned as well.

Adam Taurus stood in the middle of the catwalk, suspended over the yawning crack of Mistral, sword drawn at his side. Other platforms connected and spanned the understructure here, mainly above them, a creaking causeway that audibly rattled in the wind.

"I've nearly torn myself apart trying to understand you, Blake," Adam said clearly, stoic. "Why you left. Where you failed to understand our cause. How you believe you can defend your people by saving their enemies!"

Blake took a step forward. "Because that is where you failed to understand. I shouldn't have to point out that every human is as unique as every faunus! Calling an entire race your enemy, I don't doubt your mind's in pieces…"

"Your delusions are so miserable, Blake," Adam said, frustration in his voice. "The only place you have in their world is as their obedient little PET! They're USING you!"

Blake blinked. He truly seemed to believe that. "I'm standing here of my own volition, no one else's. And between the two of us, you're the one about to drop a school onto a city full of your own kind!"

"Yeah," Sun said, weighing in, "it's not like the Academies are human-exclusive! The headmaster is a faunus! Not even Shade can say that!"

Blake nodded. "Of all places, why here? You're the one being used, Adam! It's like Sienna said! Someone else wants you to take Haven down for them, and take the blame on behalf of all faunus! Is that what you want?!"

Adam growled, hand clawing at his mask. "Blake… all I want is for you to come back to me…! Y-you broke my heart…!"

Blake reeled. Adam was always composed, rigid. That mask of his was only the one they could see.

"You keep hurting me, and even seek me out to jam your fingers in my wounds…! But I can forgive you… I… want… to forgive you! It can all be how it was, we can be how we were!"

Blake sighed. "I wanted that too, once. I didn't want to believe you were changing, but you were. The apologies, the excuses… I didn't believe in what we were doing anymore… and I couldn't believe you anymore… Not when every life meant less and less, weighed against your obsession."

He twitched. "My obsession… you disgrace your own with every breath. I don't want to hurt you… WHY do you keep MAKING me…?!"

Blake glared. "You're so desperate for control, you even tried to take over the White Fang, but then you turn around and insist you don't HAVE any control! You can't control me, and that bothers you so much—"

The red steel swept to Adam's side, cleaving through one of the catwalk supports. "All I ever wanted was to give us a new world…! But you don't have the spine to set the old rot alight… I can't save you."

Blake finally reached for Gambol Shroud, two-handing it. "I'll do what I have to…"

Adam gave a sharp breath. "Like you did before?"

Blake charged in, the rickety steel rattling despite the lightness of her step. Adam waited, knuckles bristling around his blade's handle.

At last she reached him, putting all her weight into… a block. Wilt's edge slammed against the flat of the great cleaver, rattling Blake's bones, but ultimately Adam's odachi was lighter and bounced away for an instant.

An instant Blake Belladonna could capitalize on, unsheathing the katana and swiping both across in a scissor-like strike across his chest, Aura flaring. But she knew he wouldn't be staggered long, leaving two shadows rapidly as she vaulted over his head. And indeed, despite this, he swept Wilt high to deflect jabs she made for his head.

But then his other hand shot out, grabbing her around the ankle and twisting to slam her into the floor on the other side of him.

"I was your teacher before the Huntsmen! You think anything's changed?!" Adam asked, foot still in his grasp as he raised his blade to lob it off…

Blake swapped her sword to its pistol form, aiming for his face and pulling the trigger as fast as she knew how. As she'd hoped, he deflected, and a good twist of her heel freed her as she shuffled back to her fee—

"Yeah, she's not alone!" Sun cried in answer, staff and limb looping under Adam's sword-hefting arm, the rest of the staff crossing his neck where the boy's other hand met to choke it. The rest of Sun wrapped his legs around his middle, his burdensome weight leaving them lopsided.

Adam growled, his free hand grabbing at the staff before changing tact and reaching low, seeing Blake prepare to take advantage of the situation. His reach found Blush, which shifted obediently. He took aim and fired towards Blake, who flinched and huddled behind her cleaver.

"She wasn't alone then either." Then he turned the rifle towards the blonde boy's head…

"SUN!"

The report of the rifle rang hollow as Sun wove out of its path, further choking the man and throwing him off balance against the railing, casting them both over the side. Blake gasped as she flung her head over to see Sun still clinging to Adam, who despite his full hands managed to catch the edge of a perpendicular catwalk running beneath them. Past that however was Mistral below, and a drop no landing strategy was likely to save you from.

Sun launched up to plant his feet on Adam's prone shoulders and jump back up to Blake's level, and no sooner had this happened than Adam rolled his way to the platform below and the light seemed to be sapped from the world, His hair and mask aglow.

Blake and Sun leapt back from each other as the severing force split the platform in two. The pair shared a look before Sun steepled his hands and Blake switched her katana to its kusarigama form. The golden clones leapt over opposite sides of the railing to flank the bladesman with identical swinging kicks, both blocked only for the pair to evade his retaliation and then hang from the floor of Adam's platform in wait.

For what, he found out moments later, as either clone grabbed onto his feet and held him to the spot while a whistling sound was joined by the twanging snap of cables as Blake let her weapon whirl on its ribbon, slicing through the dangling supports to her section of catwalk and leaving the end of the platform she stood on to fall upon the railing of Adam's. She slid down this ramp and into a surprise attack. His blade blocked her cleaver, but her knee slammed into his neck all the same.

Blake rolled off and over the side, arm linked with one of Sun's clones to swing under the platform before launching the kusarigama the rest of the way a few yards off, blade latching to the railing as a grappling hook, her momentum flinging her back onto the catwalk just as Adam's rifle went off to execute the two gold phantoms.

...Only for the real Sun Wukong to swing in from the unbroken end of the upper catwalk and give him a fierce poke in the ribs with his staff, staggering the warrior to shuffle several feet down.

Adam looked up to find himself between the two fighters. He held Wilt towards Blake and Blush towards Sun, undeterred. Sun charged in first, staff planting into a groove in the floor as he pole-vaulted himself into the fray. Blush fired several times only to be deflected by a spin of the staff before the bleach blonde landed and rolled to close the distance. The staff collapsed into flintlock nunchaku as they spun and their owner pressed in.

Blush's rounds were only deflected once before Adam twisted to swap for Wilt, the blade glowing as the spinning pistols clattered and fired against it.

Blake saw what was happening and made her move, leaping to run atop the rail like a tightrope walker and firing pistol shots along the way. Adam barely paid her mind, the body of Blush catching her rounds with an idle flick of his wrist before shoving the blade's handle against one of Sun's whirling weapons and fouling it completely, following through to slam it against his head.

With this opening, he gave a firm thrust with the blade, which might have skewered a non-Huntsman, but which Sun's Aura stopped… barely. Instead he sailed back several feet.

"If you don't MIND…!" Adam began, blocking Blake's cleaver and reaching to grab and arrest her upper arm, pulling her in to slam their heads together. She reeled, and a kick to her side put her on her back against the railing.

"...Blake and I would rather hack this out alone…! " he finished, sheathing his blade as he glowed, preparing the killing stroke.

But as the sword split the air, Blake had tackled him, arms around his neck. She triggered her semblance as he stumbled forward, and as she leapt off she left behind a perfect stone statue of herself as encumbrance.

The Moonslice missed high as the weight pulled him back, Sun flinching against the steel as railing and support cables were shorn off above him, even severing the platform yards off and leaving much of what was past it to collapse loudly into the abyss.

Adam growled as he sheathed Wilt once more, twisting awkwardly as he tried to heft the clone off her shoulders. "...Y-you think THIS compares… TO THE BURDENS ON MY BACK?!"

With a massive effort he lifted the clone off, surprising even Blake as she backed off it, pupils like pin pricks. He hurled it at her with all his strength, and the best she could do was duck, cleaver absorbing the blow as it grazed her.

But the full weight struck the platform behind her, bowing and buckling it before they all heard a resounding tinny snap and the platform fell away. There was a warbling ring of cables before Blake shrieked as one of them came down near her like a bullwhip. The whole platform wobbled as one of the edge cables was severed by it.

"No…" Adam continued hand on his hilt. "They called me crazy for making an enemy of the human world, but I've made fools of them every time! But you won't believe in me, however I prove that to you!" He stalked ever closer. "Nowhere to run this time, Blake…"

She should have been ready for it, but Blake winced as Wilt blasted hilt-first out of Blush's barrel and struck her right between the eyes. It was debilitating… but she knew Adam's playbook, as the sword spun back into his grasp. She gripped the railing for dear life and threw herself off the platform as the followup slice raked across the support.

All three cried out in surprise, fear or concern as the two remaining supports in the middle turned the long bit of catwalk into a seesaw, the former partners nearest their end pitching it down at them.

"Blake!" Sun steepled his hands and backed off to balance his end. A pair of clones leapt out to aid him, as he hoped to whoever that souls weighed more than he thought.

Blake swung at the sudden list, but Adam hadn't been so fortunate, tumbling over her to the chasm beneath… only to be caught by Blake's hand, the odachi in his other.

"Oh come ON!" Sun groaned, leaning as far back as he could, wondering if he could manage a third clone.

Adam stared up at her, speechless. But then he laughed.

"So telling, you lack the conviction to do what has to be done… You're a coward."

"N-no…!" Blake groaned, redoubling her grip against his weight. "The plan was never to kill you! I'm taking you in to meet justice…"

Adam growled, almost disgusted that she was his sole lifeline. "And what would… you… know about justice?!"

"Enough… to know that perfect justice… an eye for an eye… is totally incompatible with mercy. And that mercy isn't weakness. I'd rather forgive than hate."

She sensed it before it happened: the visceral rage building before the red blade pierced her chest…

...But the switch was near instantaneous as a flawless ice sculpture appeared in her place, and she dashed up the railing to use it as a ladder. Adam snapped off the chilly hand gripping him and leveraged the sword to climb back to the platform even as the replica crumbled under his efforts.

"Blake… you're going to learn the hard way," he told her, climbing towards her with one hand on the rails. "And when I'm done, you're going to wish you'd just let me fall."

Seeing the fruitless struggle, Sun let his avatars dive at Adam. The first slammed into his shoulder, throwing him back against the railing as the seesaw went vertical. A quick swipe from Adam dispelled it, and his hilt blocked the second as it slid into him, a powerful blow swatting it off to plummet out of sight.

Pressing his advantage, Adam brought out Blush and fired away, Blake responding with a series of shadows, flipping her way up the 'rungs' of the inverted platform's railing bar by bar in quick succession until she reached Sun, standing at the top.

"Lean up!" she instructed, as they pitched their bodies forward, still clutching the rails. The immediate effect was for the platform to pitch beyond vertical, the platform Adam climbed switching from a wall to a ceiling, and he had little choice but to dangle as it happened.

They carefully stepped over the underside of the catwalk as the sheer drop became a steep slope, no railings to cling to now. Blake shuffled forward toward Adam's end to counter the spinning platform's momentum, quickly stepping back past the center point as the motion shifted, stabilizing.

Wilt flung over the side to pierce the catwalk, providing a grip by which Adam Taurus hauled himself back up, taking stock of the situation. "I'm curious. If killing is off the table, how do you expect to save the loser here? You're all about principles, but in the end the world doesn't care what you stand for."

"Jeez, does this guy ever shut up?!" Sun asked, knees wobbling as he held his staff for balance.

The only answer was for Adam to launch Wilt like a buzzsaw, spinning backwards as Gambol Shroud was raised to counter it, the force great enough to keep spinning in midair even as it slammed into the katana repeatedly. It only ceased when Adam himself vaulted into the air after it, plucking it by its grip and propelling even greater force into a devastating downward chop.

Blake had narrowly evaded it, but Haven's faunus defenders were no less seated for it, the bit of catwalk wobbling from the impact even as the banging echoed. Worse still, they were tipping again with Adam's shift of weight. The remaining cables gave a despondent twang.

Blake went on the offensive, charging in to block low with the cleaver as Adam twisted into an upward slice. She worked in a few slashes with her other blade before Adam's was withdrawn, and both clashed on the spot with blender-like abandon, Wilt sparking with every hit as it glowed like embers.

Recognizing he'd become the tipping weight, Sun sprinted from behind Blake, hands steepled. The avatar leapt out from him, slid to a crouching stop, and Sun stepped upon its cupped palms as it boosted him into a flying leap over both of them.

Adam saw it, even as he dueled Blake. He didn't need a true opening… Blake was better than to present him that… only a moment of hesitation.

In his next swing, his left hand departed from Wilt and reached for Blush to literally fire from the hip like an Old West duelist.

Blake went full defense, posturing to block the shots and even hopping a step back.

"You dare call yourself a faunus?" he seethed, sheathing Wilt. He twisted on the spot as light vanished from all but his hair and his blade. Blake gasped, too late to stop it as it happened.

Sun touched down into a forward roll, head down as the moonslice missed his backside by inches… but Sun didn't end at his backside.

"AAAAAU-UGHKK!"

The ball that was Sun Wukong collapsed and skidded over the catwalk, his voice cracking with the agony and his Aura flaring brightly as it went out.

Blake saw it as if in slow motion, the stroke connecting a few inches over the base of his tail and snipping it cleanly, the limb sailing over the edge and out of sight before the boy could even appreciate his loss. What remained of his Aura was glowing gold at his wound, attempting to repair the damage. A nauseating chill ran down her back. It was all too familiar.

Sun's screams persisted once he hit the ground, positively writhing as the bulk of Adam's attack carried out to hit the distant catwalks at their level, twisting and crumpling them almost in silence by contrast. Both hands reached behind to the end of his spine, and the first to contact the wound shot out as he convulsed, like he'd touched a burning stove. Glistening crimson coated the same hand, and rubies were slowly shed upon the floor.

Blake only realized she'd stood frozen when their footing started to shift. Sun's weight was tipping them.

She ignored Adam entirely, slipping past him in a burst, but then she was halted all at once by a hard grip on her arm. Blake's head swiveled dangerously to meet Adam's hidden eyes.

"If he wants to fight for humans, he might as well look the par—

Blake could scarcely comprehend the sudden rage she felt, as before he could finish his insult he was left gripping the paradox of a shadow made of fire as she blew past him. Adam barely appreciated the clone's furious visage before it detonated in his face and threw him limply back uphill as the platform dipped.

She raced pell mell towards the boy, still too agonized to even recognize in his writhings that he was slipping nearer to the edge. She reached with all her will as he slipped over.

Gripping the rail beneath, Blake found herself hanging from the catwalk, her other hand only grasping the chain on Sun's pants as he continued to simper.

"Sun…! SUN, give me your hand…!"

His sodden eyes turned up towards her, childlike. She'd never seen him cry.

"Sun, I know it hurts, but you've gotta help me out here!"

His eyes turned sharply down the abyss as he shuddered. "D-drop me."

Blake went numb. "N-No!"

"I can't f-fight like this, I'm not letting you lose protecting ME!"

"I'M NOT DROPPING YOU!"

Adam got to his feet, reaching around to the railing with a start as he began to slide, and the platform fully inverted.

Shaking, Sun's hands reached for his belt.

"Wh-what're you…?!" Blake began. "No…! Sun, god damn it…! Don't do this to me!"

"Blake… I-it's not your fault… this is m-my choice…!"

She dug into her memory as his belt came loose. "Y-you think you're being selfless, but you're NOT!"

"I… I know."

Blake couldn't help it. She shuddered with tears as well. "If you do it I'll NEVER forgive you!"

He unbuttoned his jeans. "As long as you forgive yourself…"

She screamed as he slipped from his pants.

But the kusarigama's aim was true, grappling around his feet, and this time even he couldn't wriggle out of it, grabbing his pants as they sailed past.

"B-Blake—"

"SHUT UP!" she demanded, tears still running down her face. "J-just shut up…! How dare you…"

Above them they heard a laugh.

"It's just so fitting," Adam said, making his way steadily down, "clinging to the lost cause, even when the guarantee is failure." He scooped up the abandoned staff, left wedged in a part of the platform. "I almost want to keep this, to remind me of this moment."

"High Leader Taurus!" called a voice, drawing his gaze. "Perhaps I can be of some help?"

Her mottled skin was less discernible in the shade, but they all recognized her nonetheless, standing atop the highest tier of the catwalk.

"Sister Ilia?" Adam called with a grin. "I see the Belladonna tale grows all the more bleak. I'm glad you could make it here for this moment. Hold this for me."

He tossed the staff across the distance, where Ilia caught it readily. "High Leader, are you sure? The mission—"

"The mission is well in hand," Adam retorted firmly. "Just watch… as I—"

"HEY, ILIA!" cried another voice as bouncing cyan hair rounded the corner.

"What…?" Adam whispered to himself.

"Oh no…" Blake groaned.

"I got all the ones I could find up to this point, but I think we have company!" Bulma said, oblivious as Ilia stared back at her in pure shock. "I can hear something behi— fssshmmmwrynnng?!"

"Shut up, you idiot… HUMAN!" Ilia said as she gagged Bulma, switching gears and being rather obvious about it. "I-I'll kill you where you stand, sticking your nose where—!"

"ENOUGH!" Adam shouted, visibly furious. "I thought the world of you, SISTER! Of all faunus, you share the same pain I carry, yet there you stand, manipulated beside the enemy!"

The air rumbled with his anger, even as he gave an insidious smile. "Although… there is some consolation. Woman… I'm glad I'll have the chance to claim your head with my own hands."

Bulma couldn't help but swallow as the man stared her down again… Her heartbeat hammered, and she couldn't be sure if the rattling in her legs was real or imagined.

"But first... I have to say goodbye," Adam said, raising his blade high. He was going to slice off their half of the platform.

And for an instant, Blake Belladonna wondered if Adam had been right about her…

...And then they all heard it, and froze. It wasn't Adam's anger rumbling, nor Bulma's nerves shaking her… but the echoing rev of an engine.

Blake looked up as it went quiet. Bulma and Ilia were wordless as they stared at the newcomer. All Blake could see was a momentary fleck of gold, before it backed away suddenly. There was but a moment's pause.

Then, all at once the engine blared its loudest. Blake saw a wheel hop over the railing before the rest of a sunset-hued motorcycle caught traction with its rear wheel and launched across the gap to slam like a comet upon the upper half of the seesaw, right below Adam, who couldn't have prepared for it.

Blake barely held on as the platform instantly tipped forty-five degrees, whipping them out as the bike revved. Adam fell upon the windshield as the tires fought to grip the steel and not slide into the abyss. Its effort was ultimately rewarded as the weight alone tipped the catwalk into a ramp, which Adam, the bike and its rider all launched from to the other side of the gap.

The combined forces put the catwalk segment into a spin, and Blake found herself and Sun looping at the crest of the centripetal motion, only to swing low at Bulma and Ilia. Blake seized the moment and let go, hurled like a trebuchet as she in turn swung Sun's body ahead of her.

For a heart-stopping moment, Blake thought they'd undershot it, but Ilia's hand clapped over Sun's wrist even as she dangled below. She turned to see what became of Adam.

On the other side, the White Fang demolition expert was unfortunate enough to turn the corner with her duffel bag at the instant the bike landed. Adam was thrown off as the cycle landed and squealed to a swerving stop. His momentum was lost as it transferred into the unsuspecting flunkie, who could only scream in surprise as she was punted over the railing to grow silent in the long fall.

Adam, slumped against the railing, got back to his feet as the driver killed the motor and slid off. He panted as, even through the mask, recognition filled his features. "Wait…"

Meanwhile, Blake used a shadow to leap up to the platform with Bulma and Ilia, who suddenly found it far easier to hoist Sun to safety. She turned. Blake was already certain who it was… but she still couldn't believe her own eyes. She sprinted around the outer path of the catwalk before Bulma or Ilia could say anything. Ilia checked her weapon. "You know first aid?"

"For humans, but I think I— Why's he in his boxers…?"

Ilia ignored the question. "Stay with him, I'm gonna—"

But at that moment someone rounded the corner in a combat stance. "Hey! Friend or f… Bulma?!"

---

Adam stared into the lilac eyes, surrounded by golden hair. The human girl faced her with remarkable calm… too calm.

"it's you… from Beacon." It took him a moment to appraise this blast from the past. She was different somehow. He distinctly recalled wounding her grievously. Then he saw the Atlas tech prosthetic where her right arm would be. It was so seamless, he'd taken it for armor at a glance. "Clearly it was a mistake not to take your head last time."

Yang Xiao Long took the threat without flinching. "Yeah… you won't get a second chance at that. Adam, right?"

He gave a hollow snort of mirth. "So Blake did mention me."

"Maybe one time," Yang admitted. "Mostly the news wouldn't shut up about you. With no school I had a lot of time on my hands."

Adam's head tilted slightly, and she could tell he was looking her over. "Hands… Truly."

She heard the lightest footsteps approach from behind, and only needed the slightest glance to recognize Blake, stopping dead and staring at her like a phantom. Yang settled for raising a brow, floored as she was. Even that short glance was dangerous with Adam, let alone turning her back.

Meanwhile, Blake beheld the golden warrior beside her mighty steed. It was impossible, yet there she stood. "Y-Yang… I—"

"Hey Blake," Yang greeted quietly. "You and Sun okay?"

"I'm… I'm okay, Sun's hurt, but… Yang I'm sorr—"

"Blake," she said firmly. "Let's save all that for later, I really need your head here, not Beacon, okay?"

Blake stood still with her ears flat, but slowly nodded before remembering Yang's back was turned. "R-right."

"For what it's worth though…" Yang said, making Blake's ears prick "...I realized, really recently that… sometimes when people leave you, it's not because they don't care… It's that they care too much."

Blake's mouth gently parted. She could scarcely believe any of this.

Yang turned just enough to flash her a smirk. "And if I can forgive… well… I can give you a fair shot, that's all…"

Months of guilt, regret and assumptions of what had become of her partner gave way under the only words she'd wanted to hear in a long time, flowing out and down the river as twin trails under her eyes. She swallowed, wiping them away frantically.

Yang gave a humored sigh. "Aw man… Loosen up, we've got work to do."

"R-right!" Blake answered, more excitedly than she'd intended.

All the while Adam stared. "Were there any tears for me Blake? For us?"

Blake shook her head, in disbelief rather than answer. "Too many. That well's dry."

Adam's lip curled into a sneer as he lifted Wilt. The two teammates stood ready.

---

The two Maidens tumbled down the shaft, their massive elemental blades barely viable in the confined space with just room enough to swing. Raven needed room, and found it by piercing the side of the shaft and riding her own momentum through it, braking rapidly enough to surprise Cinder, who shot past as the shaft finally leveled out into a straight drop.

With a clear target, and nowhere for it to retreat, Raven wound up a bolt of lightning and aimed it for Cinder's heart.

Cinder countered with a bolt of her own, and both vied to overpower the other as they fell. The rogue's single eye peeked behind herself. They couldn't be far from the bottom, and Maiden or not, how she handled that could decide their fight.

And indeed, she glimpsed the floor. It was all she needed. Twisting her body, she angled her feet above her and there was not a jet, but a blistering explosion which filled the width of the shaft. Raven had little choice but to abandon casting her lightning, instead blasting frost beneath as the heat rose up.

The expanding blast had shot Cinder forward like a bullet in a barrel, and twisting around, nothing less would stop her. She angled her feet, seconds from slamming down and combusted once more. This time she shot through the flames, half afraid in not knowing the Vault's makeup herself. She hit enameled stone in a blur of pain and confusion that knocked the wind out of her instantly. She was sailing through the air before landing again in a roll toward a final stop. Hardly a graceful landing, skipping like a stone in a pond, but she'd survived it.

She looked up just in time to see a fountain of ice blossom into a florid pincushion of shards where the shaft had ended… only to duck as the shards became shrapnel as Raven burst out of the mass like a bomb, icy spears smashing against surfaces and echoing back from the abyss all around.

Cinder summoned a curved blade and dagger, but Raven kicked off the floor and sailed over her, coming to a landing a ways off on the other side. It was only now that Cinder took stock of her environment. She could just hear water flowing somewhere far below, and looked upon the smooth cavern which expanded out into darkness on nearly every side. Some natural cavity eroded from inside by the water. But that was where nature ended.

As Raven stood there, a path of blue light on the floor stretched out, touching three successively larger circles on the floor which illuminated the area, emblazoned with a white fleur de lis style emblem. They stood upon a wide bridge from one end of the crevice to the other. Cinder marveled at the sight well above them, a supernaturally huge tree, as tall as the cavern itself, with glowing ember-like blossoms which shed and filled the air like smoldering ashes.

But grandest of all, before the tree, was a doorway. Fifty feet tall, set into the stone beneath the greatwood, this portal was as akin to the term as was possible. Because, beyond it, was a blue and gold haze of sun and sky.

But Cinder had to remain focused. Curiosity could be sated later.

Raven smirked before she leapt back into the doorway. Cinder hesitated, but approached.

The closer she got, the more curious it became. There was indeed a place for Raven to stand, having drawn a white blade for her odachi already. Cinder betrayed an astonished breath. Inside the door might have been another world or perhaps some secret place within it for all she knew. Blue sky above, and an endless sea of dunes. The air shimmered with latent heat.

At the doorway itself, she paused. Her blade raked over the granular material just beyond. It was indeed sand, or something close.

"You seem eager to take our fight here," she told Raven. "So what is this, a trap laid by Ozpin? Only the worthy may step foot without sinking beneath the sands or something?"

Raven scoffed. "Old man Ozpin, setting a lethal trap? If only he were so practical. But he's too sentimental for that."

"Yes," Cinder agreed, nodding as she stepped forward onto the sands which held her without incident. "But you have to admit, he's more impressive than I gave him credit for if he put all this together. Or at least he was. Now… let's discuss you retrieving that Relic for me."

Raven's smirk became a sneer. "After all this… why would you ever think I'd do that?"

Cinder shrugged. "Honestly, you're just wasting time. The Relic is out in the open, beyond Ozpin's protection. That's still a victory for her, even if it's not ideal. Dear Raven… you're not Ozpin's girl, you just want to survive the conflict, right? Well you're presently doing everything you can to ruin that for yourself. Hand me the Relic, I neglect to mention this little tousle and let you live, everybody wins."

Raven laughed, eyes narrowing. "You really are just some idiot, aren't you? Your master wants nothing less than Armageddon, so giving her the keys to it isn't what I'd call 'surviving.' You're a tool, and nothing more. Worse still, you let Salem get her hooks into you deep, by the look of that arm."

Cinder said nothing, stone-faced as her eye twitched.

"You're doomed. A thrall. Whatever she's promised you, she lied. If you can't tell, then maybe that Grimm has already seeped its way into your thoughts. I suppose it wouldn't let you know that."

Cinder once more said nothing, a black fist clenching.

"So here's a counter-offer," Raven said, walking towards her and the doorway. "I keep the Relic, and you can stay here and pound sand—"

But quite suddenly, the massive doorway was barred by a plume of grit as the desert came alive, glowing before the exit was encased in a sheet of crystalline glass.

"First rule to any engagement, Raven: know your enemy," Cinder told her lowly. "I've done my homework on you, but whatever your intentions were for this dramatic arena… you clearly haven't done yours."

Raven stepped back as the sands swirled around Cinder, a whirlwind forming and tossing more and more sand into the air like swarming locusts until the Rogue Maiden could no longer be seen.

The mound swirled higher and higher into the air until it began to bulge at the sides and top, threading out. A gap in the storm formed in the bottom, and—

Raven realized it as a single sphere of molten glass appeared in the topmost bulge, off-center, and the shapes refined as they grew more solid and distinct.

It was humanoid. A titan of sand and desert glass, in Cinder's own image. The glowing orange sphere in the head… an eye… glared down at her, swirls of looser sand trailing down the head as hair. It turned its gaze to the right arm, which glowed and lengthened as the surface hardened into lustrous glass. A colossal blade.

Raven took on a fighting stance. Perhaps she had miscalculated...

---

A/N: Hehehe, come on, too many possibilities for the Relic's realm NOT to be used as an arena. Especially an arena that's so heavily to Cinder's advantage.

---

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---

It's been a minute, as they say, since our last entry. To be entirely truthful, Chapter 12 isn't ACTUALLY finished, just in its final scene, but I figured I'd put this out and break my rule for once, since 12 and 13 will be featured with… something special.

That, and I'm going to be in the process of moving to another state and adjusting to a work transfer out there as well, so writing and everything else needs to take a backseat until things have normalized. Once I'm done though, we'll be into Volume 7, so hopefully my brief hiatus won't be terrible.

Alright, so… before you say anything, yes, Vegeta is hobbled after what happened and is sluggishly recovering. I've said it before, but we all know Vegeta would wipe this battle if he wasn't held back, so while I've tried to justify that, I apologize if it ever feels contrived. I promise you won't have to worry about him holding back EVER soon.

Weiss takes on Emerald alone and triumphs. Yeah, I saw "So This Is Basically RWBY" too, and yes… Weiss on her own has a bad track record despite being nearly the most powerful, most versatile member of Team RWBY. I really like how this fight went, including her peering behind the curtain on the Z world, after initially failing and being punished for closing her eyes right in front of Emerald. I like fights and character interaction to go hand in hand, and you probably noticed links between what Emerald learned from Cinder, and clashes of philosophy between them and a Huntress like Weiss.

With everything like the wall fight in play, I tried REALLY hard to use the choreography like Monty might. That goes for the fight with Adam as well, and in general… I hope it wasn't TOO hard to follow. The Adam fight will inevitably be hardest to understand because it takes place in a non-canon area of Haven with no distinct landmarks to reference. I tried to be clear, but… I really couldn't think of how better I could structure that fight.

But later… Hazel and Ozpin finally meet. Volume 5 turned the cool-headed Hazel, a great and mysterious character, into a mindless berserker who blames Ozpin for something that any sane person would know to be a freak accident. He also has an awful semblance, blocking pain, which only makes him more likely to hurt himself.

Well, fixed that as best I could… Hazel instead holds a seething, focused hate for Ozpin that remains controlled. We bring back Mountain Glenn to reveal the death blow that doomed the populace was a distraction by Salem's goons of the time, and Ozpin finally does something TRULY morally grey in ordering the tunnels sealed. Thus, sacrificing hundreds… including the family of Hazel, once one of his trusted agents. THIS I believe to be better cause for Hazel to so entirely turn his back, despite his shows of character. His semblance is also changed to be immovable, the hard counter of the unstoppable force. Can't be knocked down if he doesn't let it happen, or loses focus… or gets his legs cut off. Intensely durable. A true human tank.

Then Adam vs Blake and Sun. It's LONG, but I like how it turned out, especially given it's before Yang even turns up. Poor Sun is injured in an ultimate insult. I go over it much later, but Faunus with their feral features removed have both a history, and in some cases a STIGMA. After all, you can imagine what SOME Faunus might do if they could have a chance to be treated as equals to the human population. I know that's dark as black, but… Ilia did it, albeit without losing anything.

Yang turns up and is a LOT more forgiving of Blake, far sooner than in canon. But as she suggests, her time with Raven taught her that things weren't always as simple as they looked, and that if she cared for someone, she could give them the chance to justify themselves. Otherwise, this is PRETTY similar to how things went down in Volume 6 in terms of setup… and that's at once a coincidence, and also NOT… Honestly, Volume 6's handling of Adam vs Bumblebee went about exactly as I'd have handled it, with exceptions. It's not going to be exact, it's going to unfold in its own way, but I'm not the type to make things different for the sake of being different. I'll be different so I'm not LITERALLY retreading lines and scenes from the canon… "Power Within" did that a fair bit, and as much as I love it, those were always the scenes that held it back… but unless it's distracting, keeping what's already perfect is usually preferred.

You might also note that while important, and fun —I hope— I'm not putting terribly much emphasis on Cinder fighting Raven. It happens, and it's explosive, but more of a backdrop. As much as I enjoyed their duel in Volume 5, it was a mistake to make it the sole spectacle of the finale. Two characters with no history whatsoever locked in a fight to the death with magical anime powers. Volume 3 communicated the strength of a full Maiden fighting the enigmatic Professor Ozpin as a footnote. Barely lasted thirty seconds but it got the point across. Cinder vs Raven in canon left everyone who mattered, and the long awaited reunion of Team RWBY, entirely in the back seat. Not to tip my hand, but a final fight featuring the characters with history and their struggle against a foe representing their demons whose power eclipses them is far and away more what I think we ALL wanted and never got.

Oh, and if you were confused by the words "The Fuku statue's burden was ended as her sky fell at last," that was a brief callback to Chapter 5 where I gave that statue in Haven (which I realize in canon was Jinn, but I wrote that before Volume 6) a background, as a mythical figure who held up the sky. Raven and Cinder slammed and shattered through the statue on their way ultimately down to the vault.

---

Now for some comments…

qazse: Me too!

Guest1: Thanks. I don't like to slam DBR even when I have issues with its story. Either way, having a story that's an homage to your work is worth celebrating. It's clearly made for people with a certain philosophy that runs counter to my own and therefore they prefer it over TF, but I hate when people try to pit our stories against each other. It feels in bad taste.

Guest2: Yep! Can't really answer your theory directly, obviously.

Throwing the Shade: Ooh… I'm sorry to disappoint you on that whole Frieza showing up thing, I definitely didn't say WHEN, I said SOON. Didn't mean to leave that impression.

Edward4555: Look, that's as low as I can go without having a boring story where the RWBY characters are bystanders who do nothing. It's power they can't access, it does exceedingly little for them. We're talking about Namek Saga threats here. It's not like that without reason, just bear with me until I can explain just what makes the Remnant people so darn special in this respect.

VargasREborn: Hahahaha, thanks man, what a fun comment all-around. One Piece isn't my thing, but hey, glad to hear people inspired! Yeah, Goku's scene there was meant to set the mood and create a tense atmosphere as the respective trap and counter-trap play out. I can't think about the scene without imagining a certain soundtrack theme. Search YouTube for "Bara Otome" if you're curious...

Yeah, "necessary evil" is probably a good term for it. Though I can't pretend that Maiden powers won't retain ANY relevance later in the story. It's limited, but it's the only reason Ginyu will even be a factor, as I wouldn't bother effectively resurrecting him if he couldn't serve as a decent obstacle. Basically, if a Maiden knows how to use their ki… there's a significant effective boost to their abilities. Don't kill me here, RWBY is just VERY limited in what powers can even BEGIN to challenge Z Tier abilities. I don't have much to keep them competitive. Suffice to say, magic doesn't USUALLY work like this, but in the case of powers associated with Ozpin, the magic is bound to their AURA… and in Transposition F, we've established that Aura is just an aspect of Ki. This conjunction has consequences.

Alex Bloodbane: Indeed! I wanted Transposition F to begin with a slow burn, with its first act dedicated to the initial groupings getting to know each other. The Z cast are slowly familiarized with their new surroundings and (mostly) take a hands-off approach, flies on the wall to their new friends and their plight. The RWBY cast are enlightened to or foreshadowed of the Z cast's powers and the threat on the horizon, but are left to sort their own business… until the fabled world of Z finally kicks the door down, and it all finally becomes REAL…

Bitjama: Yes yes… Also, I need to play Sekiro one of these days. Before or after Bloodborne, I'm not sure.

Vikasa: Hehe, clearly I agree! As for RWBY characters hybridizing their fighting styles, as Doctor Strangelove once said, "It is not only POSSIBLE… it is ESSENTIAL…"

I don't see why DBZ should overwrite their uniqueness, merely AMPLIFY it. Sure, they gain things like flight and energy blasts, but it would be criminal if Weiss powered-up by assuming the much maligned DBZ constipation stance…

vincentburns343: Mmm, I hope I satisfied your expectations. He's working his way up to it, no question. I hope you'll forgive one last road block with his virgin, busted Aura putting his body into a state of shock. Being a prodigy, he's recovering relatively fast, but he would never see it that way.

10Soah86: Yes, that's my notion as well. It's hard to keep such a notorious and quantified threat like Frieza consistently entertaining and threatening, and I feel less is more. Hold off on his scenes unless there's a need for him… and recognize the value of his absence.

TF2 Crossover Man: Thank you! Always nice to hear from ya. Yeah, I wish I could say it was something I particularly worked hard for, but as long as I'm familiar enough with a character, unless the character has a particular gimmick or something, it kinda just flows out of my head and onto the page. The VOICE of a character is something I just sorta internalize by osmosis.

Mr.J316: You're too kind…

Guest3: Technically speaking, Vegeta wasn't damaged; his Aura largely copped the blast.

Jackalope89: Hehehe, that's funny… but Cinder would be reaching pretty far to look at hulked-out, hard-browed, widow-peaked Getes and suggest androgyny…

Edward4555: Lol, well, I don't think I said Salem WAS immortal, even if she WOULD be as far as Huntsmen of the day were concerned. She's just… VERY durable… and there's a reason for that. No, the reason isn't magic… You're knocking on the door of things I cannot WAIT to get into later… but alas, for now, that's for me to know and you to find out.

Gojosin: Fairly reasoned.

Random: Urgh… Yeah, I'm sorry, but the forensic level of analysis… I try, but I'm balancing hard scaling crap against storytelling and entertainment. It's like juggling chainsaws, it really is. You have to give me magic here, because it's one of the few things that are largely undefined in Dragonball yet have profound effects, AND exist in RWBY.

As far as growth rate, I've already got the endgame figured out well in advance, but we KNOW Goku was able to achieve enormous growth in only six days through a specific method.

Yes… I know it's Goku, a Saiyan and a prodigy… but I HAVE to highball that growth rate to maximize their abilities, and the Saiyan thing doesn't REALLY count against them for reasons I'll go into later.

SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: We all do, mang…

Guest4: That was not lost on me, my dude, I think you'll be quite happy with my solution.

Blinded in a bolthole: I mentioned this to the other guy, but Vegeta wasn't TRULY damaged. Just his Aura.

TheB: *Sigh* I know, I hate to handcuff the Z characters, but if they escalated things you know it would be over in seconds, making Team RWBY's struggles meaningless. I try my hardest not to make their inaction look like an excuse, but yeah. I think Gohan switching gears upon seeing his new friend injured and being unsure how to help is fairly organic though, he IS just a kid.

And well, as for Salem… it would be a mite more complicated than that for a few reasons. You're assuming Salem's human-looking body is the whole of her being…

Guest5: Indeed… once Salem proves… ever so slightly more impressive to Frieza than he expects (more of a nuisance as well) in a certain respect, he will be more inclined to make a silk purse of the sow's ear of a situation he's landed in.

Sabo88: Appreciate it, man! I understand why people get frustrated. I know it's a bit like when a superhero allows the police to arrest them in a movie or something. You know narratively there's a reason for this disarmament, but your id wants the hero to say "f*** the police!" and down the whole opposition with godly strength.

RadBman21: Hahaha, I need to watch Jojo some time. Thanks for the enthusiasm dude!

Guest6: Well the key to that plan is that Cinder has no idea WHERE Raven sent it, let alone to Tai. You can't see past the red void, so as far as Cinder is concerned, the Relic could be ANYWHERE.

X3runner: I always look forward to your reviews, dude, lol. Interesting to know you use voice to write them. Always glad for the vote of confidence!

RinneItachi: It's one thing to write something in the hopes that it's better, it's another for others to say you're achieving that goal, so comments like yours make it all worth the effort in my eyes. I'm just a fanfic writer, but redeeming Volume 5 was definitely one of my early goals for Transposition F.

Kolneg Stouthammer: Uh… thank you?

yfnjustin: I already replied to this person, but… can we be transparent that he means it's not to HIS taste? People understand that, right? That something can be well constructed and good in quality, but simply not appeal to YOU? That's what he eventually said, but he phrased it as a wholesale indictment. That said, the only "overpowering" I've done is literally with the most powerful fighters in RWBY fighting the weakest characters in Dragonball at their WORST because they have to limit themselves. I can understand some frustration, but I'm not doing anyone dirty this way, it's for the sake of narrative. I get the feeling this attitude though comes from a sentiment that any non-DBZ character getting one over on a DBZ character is just taboo. Hence, the stomp.

nickz24: I most certainly will!

Hyde: So did I, my friend! That's why I'm writing it!