Volume 3 Intro Song: Rise (feat. The Word Alive) by League of Legends, The Glitch Mob & Mako

The camera zooms around at night across Beacon's courtyard and ends on the window of Cinder's group. It's been a few hours since the end of Hedge and Anne's fight against Jet and Wave. Although it was the last match of the day, Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck had asked everyone to empty Amity, while the remainder of HAZL watched the medical crew take Hedge back to Beacon's medical center (not all the way back to Vacuo as both Teams RWBY and JNPR had believed).

Cinder: "So…I assume we're all intrigued at what we witnessed just awhile ago?" She looks at her subordinates Mercury, who is trying to read his comics, and Emerald, who is staring blankly toward the ground. "You both have terrible poker faces, by the way."

Emerald: "It's just…what exactly was that that guy wielded?" She looked back and forth between her leader and teammate, hoping to understand what exactly she saw.

Mercury: "That didn't seem like a normal semblance. I had an idea already of his semblance being electrical based, but being able to transform in a manner like THAT? If I didn't know better, I'd be scared of the Grimm trying to attack the source of all that rage, along with anyone else that came into their path of course."

Cinder hummed. "I'd have to agree. I've never seen anything like that kind of power. Well, actually…there may have been one time of seeing a power like that." The two subordinates look at each other.

Mercury: "Wait. You think he's one of them?"

Emerald: "But I thought…"

Cinder: "No, you idiots. The power of the Maidens, while they have access to majority of the elements, case and point with the Fall Maiden, have only been seen in young women. Now, unless young Hedge is only using the lightning element portion of one of the Maidens, it should only be something that is accessible to him. Though, his anger can be used to our advantage."

Emerald: "Used to our advantage how?"

Cinder: "Mercury will still fight in the Finals as normal, against either the heiress or the brawler, most likely the brawler, but even though the 'invincible girl' has moved on as well, I think it's best to have young Hedge be our little pawn instead."

The scene transitions over to the medical center where Hedge is sleeping on his hospital bed. Next to him is Anne, while Zion and Leonidas are standing at the corners of the room.

Anne: "Just what kind of hidden power does this evolution have?" She states this in a low whisper, which is picked up by Leonidas.

Leonidas: "Not even Rackley and the rest of GREN know the full extent of it, only that he has an extra phase to it. What we saw was just the second phase."

Zion: "I'm starting to have second thoughts on having him move on."

Anne: "You know how hard that would be to tell him?" She's still looking at Hedge and not directly at the boys. "You both know as well as I he would never accept being told not to continue on to the Finals."

Leonidas: "Anne, as much as I would agree with you on that…" There's a knock at the door. The three look up and see Team RWBY and JNPR there.

Ruby: "Is it alright if we come in?"

Zion: "Sure." The two Beacon teams walk in, thankfully the room was big enough to accompany all eleven of them. They spread out with Ruby and Yang joining Anne next to Hedge, Weiss, Pyrrha and Jaune with Zion, and Ren, Nora, and Blake joining around Leonidas.

Anne: "I take it you guys saw Hedge's power?"

Weiss: "I didn't see it live since I was with my sister Winter, but Nora shared a few pictures of his form to me. He looked like a different person."

Jaune: Were the doctors able to find anything wrong with him?"

Leonidas: "Physically? No."

Ren: "And mentally?"

Zion: "That's the thing. Everything is normal. It's like things are perfectly fine when he's not using the power."

Nora: "What exactly is that power? Pyrrha gave us a brief explanation of how it's accessed, but that's all."

Anne: "We don't know either. Before this school year, we didn't even know Hedge had this power."

Yang: "And let me guess. You guys are still going to let him move on to the Finals?"

Ruby: "Yang, we heard the end of their conversation before we knocked. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't let Hedge move on."

Blake: "But is that even wise to do? What if he goes into that transformation again? Or worse?"

"Then we would handle things with care if it comes to that."

All eleven students turn their head to the room's door, which it is revealed to be Professor Ozpin walking in.

Pyrrha: "Professor. To what do we owe the honor?"

Ozpin: "I take it he's doing well now?" He looks directly at Anne.

Anne: "Yeah. Doctors said for him to get some rest, but I wouldn't doubt it they gave him something to help him go to sleep."

Nora: "I'd be very surprised if they didn't…"

Ren: "Nora…" He facepalms.

Ozpin: "While I will admit that young Hedge's transformation was…an interesting turn of events…he didn't do anything erratic that would warrant a disqualification. I already spoke with General Ironwood and we both came to the same conclusion regarding that." This quelled any stress Anne and the Beacon teams had. "But we will need to know which of you two," he was addressing Anne, "would move on to the Finals."

Everyone aside from the three members of HAZL look at them. The three look in between each other and while they do contemplate the thought of choosing Anne to move on to prevent any potential issues with Hedge's dark power, not choosing Hedge to move on would surely be a huge blow to his ego. So, they all came to a consensus.

Anne: "Hedge will be the one moving on." The Team RWBY girls exchange looks, even though they had the conversation with the AZL portion of the Shade team in their dorm room, couldn't help but think that things would take a turn for the worse by letting Hedge move on. However, they would respect their friends' decision. Ozpin shows a smile on his face.

Ozpin: "Very well. I'll relay the decision." He turns to take his leave.

Zion: "You seem to be pretty calm about Hedge having this type of power, Professor. Even though this type of power could draw in lots of Grimm, not to mention the type of destruction it could cause. No pun intended given one of his sword's names." This stops the headmaster in his tracks before exiting the room, causing everyone to turn their attention to him.

Ruby: "Professor?" Ozpin doesn't respond to Zion's statement for a few seconds, but this brief silence doesn't sit well with the tall dragon Faunus.

Leonidas: "You knew." Everyone then quickly turns to him, while Anne thought quickly of what her teammate stated, then looks back at Ozpin. "You knew Hedge had this power. He had some reservations that you knew something about our team, along with keeping eyes on us due to words from our professors at Shade. Rackley and Team GREN told you what they discovered about Hedge after our mission concluded, didn't they?" Ozpin still stays silent. "Answer me!" The tension in the room was so tough it could be cut with a knife. Ozpin just sighs and turns around to meet Leonidas' eyes.

Ozpin: "Your accusations are correct." Everyone of the Beacon students gasp at their professor's confirmation, while Zion and Leonidas have scowls on their faces. Anne, on the other hand, just watches and listens in. "Mr. Black did indeed inform me of his findings from your mission of sensing Hedge's power of his dark evolution, which I assume the rest of you," he looked over to his students, "were surprised to hear of there being two different evolutions to one's semblance?" Team RWBY all shook their heads in confirmation, along with Team JNPR (Pyrrha had explained what Zion had told her to her team). He looks back at Team HAZL. "As for what Professor Theodore and the rest of Shade's staff told me, your team has been known to cause a bit of a ruckus there with your fellow peers."

Leonidas crosses his arms across his chest and scoffs. "It's Vacuo, Professor. What did you expect? Not everything is sunshine and rainbows."

Ozpin chuckles. "While I won't argue that, Mr. Darkin, as I mentioned to Mr. Badnic after the incident at the docks," Team RWBY flinching at the mention of the fight versus Torchwick, "Vale is nothing like Vacuo. There are much more laws here, and punishments would be dished out if things turned out the same way here when it comes to unsanctioned fights."

Zion: "With all due respect, Professor, the feeling of having extra eyes on us just didn't sit right. And from what Anne had told us after our mission, Hedge was pretty on edge with that." Everyone looked over to said female hedgehog Faunus, who had since turned back to her fiancé and team leader and glanced down at the ring he had proposed with. She ran her fingers over it in thought.

Yang: "Anne?" Being addressed snaps her out of her thoughts and she turns to meet the gaze of everyone in the room. "You ok?" She stands up and looks at everyone, then she turns back to Hedge, who is still sleeping, the sound of the heart rate machine beeping being the only thing making sound in the room.

Anne: "I'm good." She turns back to everyone. "Let's let Hedge get some rest. No doubt, he may have heard some of what we just said." She walks past everyone, but also shoots Ozpin a glare, him taking notice and flinches a little at the gesture. But could he really blame her? Everyone follows behind and leaves the room, with Ozpin being the last one out. He glances back at Hedge and sighs.

Ozpin: "Just what type of power did SHE give the Doctor to infuse into you?" He then closes the door behind him.

--

Although everyone was talking near Hedge while he was sleeping, he wasn't paying attention to what was being said since he was busy with his own dilemma in his mind. He was back in the same foggy area he was in before after the first day of the Vytal Festival. Since he knew he wouldn't have Chaos nor Destruction with him, he instinctively charged himself with his semblance, the lightning sparking around him as he walks further along.

Hedge: "I know you're here, Doctor. Why don't you show yourself and spare me the trouble of looking for you?" Though he also is wondering if he'll see the dark mass again. The fog spreads and in the opening out steps Doctor Badnic with a giant grin on his face.

Doctor Badnic: "Hehe. Hello again, Hedge." Hedge blasts a lightning dagger at him, but he moves his head out of the way. "Now now, is that any way to say hello to your father?"

Hedge: "You're no father of mine. You took me from mine, remember?"

Doctor Badnic: "Ah, but didn't you thank me for doing so? I distinctly remember you saying you wouldn't be as powerful as you are now. I did you a favor."

Hedge: "A favor?! You experimented on me without any of my consent! I was a child, for crying out loud! Though, what should I have expected from someone from Atlas, the Kingdom well known for being anti-Faunus?" Unbeknownst to Hedge, the dark mass was forming behind him. He blasts more lightning dust towards the Doctor which again he dodges and laughs at the pathetic display.

Doctor Badnic: "Hahaha. Is this really the best you could do? I trained you to be better than this. I guess Shade has been losing their touch. Theodore must be going senile."

Hedge: "What do you know of the professors at Shade? Or any of the academies for that matter? You never spoke about them at all." By now the dark mass had fully appeared behind Hedge, who was still oblivious to it.

Doctor Badnic: "Well, that's because you don't know what type of life style I was actually living…" He says that with a grin. Hedge takes a brief second to understand the hidden meaning behind what the Doctor said, gasping as he finally notices the presence of the dark mass again. He turns around to block a slash from Destruction with the wrist band on his right arm, the two metals sparking as they clash, but the mass throws a strong right hook to his head, and despite his aura, it knocks him out. This action wakes Hedge up and he looks around franticly and gasping. He soon realizes where he is.

Hedge: "The medical wing? But what could've…? Oh, right." He looks down at his right hand. Although he wasn't using his dark evolution, he could still faintly remember using it as well as sensing it within him. "Just what kind of power is this?" He decides to get up and go to the restroom real quick, but as he was getting out of the bed, he notices an envelope on his night stand. He grabs it and opens it. It's from Anne.

"Hedge,

We informed Professor Ozpin that you were going to be the one to head on to the Finals. All of us know how much redeeming yourself means to you. Even though we are a little worried of the power you wielded in our fight against Jet and Wave, we still believe you can keep it together and get through the Finals. Get some rest and we'll catch you up with the rest of the Doubles round tomorrow. You'll be cleared to leave in the afternoon. They'll do some last-minute tests to ensure you are good to go.

I love you,

Anne"

Hedge lets out a small smile on his face after reading Anne's note, but he couldn't ignore the feeling of being a danger to his team and his friends. Anyone, civilian included. "Would I even be allowed to continue on as a true Huntsman?" He shakes that thought away and places the letter back on the night stand, heads off to the restroom, and then returns to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile in Ozpin's office

Ozpin is reviewing over Hedge's file. Since Hedge didn't go to any combat school before Shade, the only info the Headmaster could review was from Theodore himself. The Shade Headmaster had sent over all he could on the HAZL team leader he had available. Ozpin had been trying to see if anything had been reported about Hedge's dark power, but he couldn't find anything. His scroll then pings with a message from Theodore.

Theodore: "Could this be a secret plan from her?" 'Her' being italicized in the message.

Ozpin dreads that being the actual case, but he can't seem to rule it out either. He responds back.

Ozpin: "It very much may be."

Theodore: "May the Brother Gods be with us."

AN: I planned on this chapter being longer since I planned to combine two canon chapters into this one. Then I realized that would be a very long chapter, so I decided to break it into parts. Things are getting more intense for Hedge and his team, especially now that everyone knows about his dark evolution. How will the Finals go if he can't control this dark power? What is the purpose of this power? Also this is the last chapter from my original version of the story, meaning all chapters moving forward will be brand new. Please bear with me as I will be returning to writing out the chapters.