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

Zion is sitting along with the Schnee sisters next to a water fountain, enjoying coffee with him and Weiss, while tea for Winter.

Zion: "So Winter, how are things back in Atlas?"

Winter: "For the most part, things are going fine. We're still keeping tabs on any Faunus and the White Fang for any secret attacks they may make." She goes to take a sip of her tea.

Zion: "And…my family?"

Winter: "Don't worry. Their under protection with the Atlesian army, especially after what had happened with our Paladin shipments." She looks over at Weiss. "Something that you and your friends had a run in with, sister. You all should be glad they were in the prototype phase."

Weiss: "Wait, the Venus' company helped make the Paladins? Did you know any of this, Zion?"

Zion: "I did not. Prior to the dance, Hedge had told us what you and the rest of your team had found out about Torchwick and the White Fang, along with your fight with the Paladin. Lately, I haven't had much contact with my family because they've been so busy. Even during breaks, I can't seem to even talk with them."

Winter: "At least you still have a good relationship with your family." Weiss takes a sip of her coffee but also looks off to the side. "We do appreciate your family's influence with the Atlas Military, Mr. Venus. I hope that we are able to stay in good standing with them."

Zion: "Us too." He takes a sip of his coffee, and his scroll goes off. "Looks like the first two matches ended, and Hedge and Anne are about to fight."

Weiss: "Did Pyrrha and Nora win their match? Coco and Yatsu?"

Zion: "According to Leo, Pyrrha and Nora won their match with ease. Pyrrha essentially 1v2'ing for most of the fight after Nora was knocked out, that doesn't mean she didn't do her own thing and leave Pyrrha to carry. As for CVFY, unfortunately they lost to Emerald and Mercury. Ran all over them." Weiss looked on with glee in her eyes hearing Pyrrha and Nora had won, but was shocked to hear that Coco and Yatsu of all people had lost. They were 2nd year huntsmen-in-training, and one of, if not, the best team in the whole academy, next to her team of course.

Weiss: "Oh, that's too bad. Well, I wish Hedge and Anne the best of luck. Hopefully things go well for them." Zion understood her emphasis and gave her a nod.

Zion: "I'll keep you up to date on their match. Winter, pleasure as always to chat." Winter smiles at him and he runs off to hopefully catch a ship back to Amity Coliseum. The specialist then looks over at her younger sister.

Winter: "Is there something going on between you two?"

Weiss snaps back at her with a blush on her face. "What?! Whatever gave you that idea?! We're just friends!"

--

Hedge and Anne are seen in the locker room, mentally preparing for their doubles match. Anne is sitting down with Piko slung onto her back, hands clasped together while she's sitting down on the bench. Hedge, while pulling out Chaos and Destruction from his locker, along with his yellow bracers and hover shoes, notices Anne's demeanor.

Hedge: "You know, usually I'm the one that gives off the feeling that something else is on their mind instead of the thing we are supposed to be focused on." He states as he slings his swords around him onto his back. He turns to Anne as he starts to put his wrist bracers on. "What's on your mind?"

Anne doesn't look up at him, her mind still thinking about his dark evolution and if this was really a good idea for him to have moved on to this round, or even have her as his partner for it. Hedge finishes putting on his ankle bracers, and walks over to her to sit down next to her. He places his hand on her shoulder.

Hedge: "Anne? What's wrong?"

Anne: "Can you promise me to not go all out in this match, please?" She didn't give him the puppy eye look, something that Ruby would do a lot around Yang just to get what she wanted, and Anne would sometimes do that to him as well ever since they got engaged, but her expression on her face gave him a feeling first to not question any further what was on her mind, and second that she was serious with what she had said.

Hedge: "Yeah, sure. I can do that." He respected her wishes, lest he end up on the receiving end of Piko to his face…or rather any part of his body really. However, he also wasn't fully convinced that was the only thing that Anne was telling him. He straps on his hover shoes and closes the locker, then he returns his attention back to Anne. "Hey, we'll be fine. There's no better duo in this tournament than us." He kisses her on the lips.

Anne: "Is that including Pyrrha and Nora?" she asks after they break apart, chuckling.

Hedge: "Jury's still out on that one." She laughs at his response. "What? I'm being honest. That is something you wanted more from me, right?"

Anne: "Can't deny that." She wears a smile on her face, as one of the Atlesian guards came in the locker room to inform them it was time to report to the arena, which they both nodded. "Looks like it's time."

Hedge: "Right. Let's show the world what we're capable of."

They walk out of the locker room and head toward the center of the arena, the crowd cheering and anxious for the next fight to start. If Pyrrha the Invincible Girl could give them a good show, who's to say that the 4th-year Vacuoan duo couldn't do the same. Already in the center of the arena waiting for them were their opponents, the two Faunus of Mistral's Haven Academy Team JWLS (Jewels): their co-leader Wave Swallow and their leader Jet Hawk, being the type of Faunus that fits their last names.

Jet: "Hmph. 'Bout time you two showed up. We thought you weren't going to make it and forfeit."

Wave: "Which let's be honest, would've saved you the beating we'd give you."

Hedge just chuckles. "Really? Coming from the 'Legendary Wind Master' and his sly mechanic? I know two people who are better mechanics."

Anne: "If you think just a few words are going to deter us, you should see what happened to Team SAVG." She grabs Piko off her back and gets ready for the match to begin.

Jet: "Heh. So you at least know my title, but everyone knows you as the 'The Chokester,' Mr. 'I can't win in the 1v1 Finals every year.' It'll be another repeat of that this year, or…" He grabs his two short-swords from his hip. "We'll save everyone the trouble and eliminate you here and now." Wave grabs her chain-link whip from her waist as well, and they both get into fighting stance.

Hedge: "Let's see if you can back up that statement." He grabs Chaos out of its sheathe and gets into his fighting stance. Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck are then shown in the commentator's booth ready to begin the match. Zion returns next to Leonidas in the stands.

Zion: "Looks like I made it just in time. Should we expect any negative emotions from Hedge?"

Leonidas: "Hopefully not, but my best guess would be to expect the unexpected."

On the opposite side of the stands, the R, B, and Y girls of Team RWBY are sitting down in the Beacon section ready to witness Hedge and Anne's fight.

Ruby: "I hope Hedge and Anne can come out on top here, but I also hope Hedge can keep himself in check."

Yang: "I agree sis. Having a temper tantrum might result in a disqualification."

Blake: "Are you saying you never have any, Yang?" Ruby couldn't help but laugh.

Yang: "I feel so offended right now!" She says as she throws her arms in the air.

Port, over the Coliseum microphone: "Jet and Wave of Haven! Versus. Hedge and Anne of Shade!"

Oobleck: "3, 2, 1, begin!"

Wave attacks Anne with her chain-link whip, but Hedge blocks the attack with Chaos, however the chains wrap around Chaos, to which Wave smiles and yanks her whip toward her. Hedge is taken for a ride as he's yanked away from Anne. Jet takes advantage of this separation and rushes in to attack Anne with his short swords, first changing them into their gun mode (think Ren's pistols) and fires at her, causing her to either block the bullets with Piko, or use her semblance to dodge them completely. While she is distracted with the bullets, he runs in and slashes down on her with his weapons, now transformed back into their short sword forms, Anne having to block the attack with Piko's handle. She pushes him off her to regain some footing and fire off a rocket toward him. However, Jet lands on his feet and readies himself for the rocket. With a smile on his face, he slashes horizontally with his right sword, and vertically with his left sword to break the rocket in four resulting in the explosion behind him.

Jet: "Hmph. Is that all you got? I expected a better attack from someone of your team's caliber." This resulted in Anne getting angry, to the point she unknowingly accessed something she didn't know she had. With a yell, she rushed in at Jet, but instead of just her normal pink aura trailing her, she also had small sparks of yellow lightning. She goes for a slam down on Jet with Piko, but he welcomes the attack, bringing up his short swords in an X-formation to block the attack. "Do you really think I don't know what you did while in Mistral?"

Anne's face turns into that of shock, not knowing what Jet really meant by that. In the short period of time, Jet was able to kick her back, to which she riled in pain at the unexpected attack. "What…what do you mean 'what I did while in Mistral?' All I did was keep the civilians safe from bandits and the Grimm." She grips Piko hard again. "I did what a Huntress is supposed to do."

Jet's face is shrouded while gritting his teeth. "To think you don't know what you had done. For that, you'll pay!" He then sprouts out his wings and takes flight. "Now you'll see...my true power!!!"

Meanwhile, Hedge was able to break Chaos free from Wave's chain-whip and jump back from her.

Hedge: "Well that wasn't very nice." He swings Chaos around and gets into a fighting stance, pulling Destruction out of its sheathe as well. "Let's see how well you handle when I'm more prepared for your attacks." He sparks himself up with his semblance along with the lightning flowing through Chaos and Destruction."

Wave chuckles. "I like a guy that has bravado…" She slaps her chain-whip on the ground, it too being enveloped with lightning dust. "But let's see if you can back it up." She too sprouts her wings and takes flight.

Hedge: "Be careful what you ask for." He activates his hover shoes, and the two take to aerial combat. Hedge utilizes his electrical summoned swords to throw Wave off balance and even teleporting near her to get a strike in on her, which he successfully does a few times, but Wave also gets some strikes on him too. He doesn't feel the effects of the lightning on him thanks to his semblance (think of an immunity to it), but his aura still absorbs the damage. During the altercation, Hedge keeps hearing the good Doctor speak to him.

Doctor Badnic: "Come now, Hedge. You know you want to release your pent-up anger, don't you? You could easily beat these two with it. Embrace the darkness." Hedge and Wave break away from a clash of their weapons, and he places his left fist to his head, shaking it, eyes closed. This draws the attention of a certain group in the stands in Haven's section, but also catches Wave's attention as an opening to attack. She flies forward toward Hedge ready to strike him down, but he dodges out of the way and roundhouse kicks her in the stomach, knocking her back, eyes still closed. While holding her stomach in pain, Wave looks up at the hedgehog Faunus, whose eyes are still closed, with his leg still in the same position from his retaliation. When he drops his leg back to be flying upright, he opens his eyes, now with the same conviction and demeanor he had while fighting Gurkha.

Hedge had tapped into his dark evolution again.

Hedge: "Alright." His voice a little deeper than normal. "No more games." In the blink of an eye, Hedge puts his hover shoes to the max, flying fast towards Wave. She gets into position to counter-attack, but Hedge teleports at the last second, and then reappears multiple times, slashing at her with Chaos and Destruction in an all-out blitz attack. With one final strike, Hedge strikes her down towards out of bounds, eliminating her and breaking her aura.

Port: "My word. Mr. Badnic unleashes a devasting barrage of attacks on Ms. Swallow, to where she is eliminated by aura level and knockout." The sisters of Team RWBY look on in awe of the attacks from Hedge.

Ruby: "Woah. Such speed. Puts my semblance to shame."

Yang: "Have to agree with you on that, sis. I think Hedge out speeds you by a landslide."

Blake, on the other hand, looks on in worry, as she not only was able to catch the ending of Hedge and Wave's fight, but has been keeping her full attention on Anne while she is fighting Jet. Being a part of the White Fang, her ability to keep an eye out for anything in her peripheral vision helped her immensely, as Anne wasn't faring well against the hawk Faunus.

Even with her semblance helping her dodge around Jet's attacks from the air, Anne was mostly on the defensive, unable to swap Piko into its rocket launcher form to fire at Jet, as it would only result in her missing entirely. Not even the surprise lightning sparks that she was using were of much help either. Jet kept up his offense on her.

Jet: "How disappointing. I expected more from the one who was able to best the toughest Grimm in Mistral." He swaps his short swords back to their gun forms, firing some fire dust bullets at Anne. She rolls out of the way and is able to switch into her rocket form for Piko and fires at Jet, but this was what he was hoping for. "But killing her…was your downfall!!" He grabs the rocket out of the air…with his legs…and launches it back at Anne, something she wasn't expecting and took the rocket head on, knocking her back and leaving her just above the threshold where she would be considered knocked out by aura level, but the explosion caused her to lose Piko. Jet lands and starts to walk toward her.

Blake: "So that's why he's acting like that."

Yang: "Care to share to the ones who don't have enhanced hearing?" Ruby looking over curiously too.

Blake: "It appears that while Anne was studying abroad in Mistral, she may have killed someone that Jet knew. His mother, his sister, his aunt, don't really know. All he's mentioned is that it's a 'she.'"

Ruby: "But if that's the case, the way he's going about this, this could lead to him getting disqualified."

Yang: "I think disqualification is the least of his problems…" Both Blake and Ruby look at her and notice her vision isn't on Jet and Anne, but rather, the person still flying in the air. They look up to see Hedge, but what they saw was not what they were expecting. The camera panned up while doing a 360-degree spin of him from bottom to top, but noticeably different. His skin was a much darker shade from his normal black and red, and his hair was spikier than before. Black electricity was surrounding him as well. With a loud yell, the force of his power spewed out, releasing harsh winds for everyone to feel. When the camera ended up on his face, the area around his pupils was filled in black while the pupils themselves were now bloodshot red from their normal green. Hedge had noticed what was happening with Anne, and since he was already utilizing some of his dark evolution's powers, his anger had skyrocketed, leading him into this transformation.

Hedge: "Jet!" The aforementioned hawk Faunus stopped walking and turned around to look up at the hedgehog Faunus leader, who then appeared a few feet away in front of him.

Jet smiled. "Hmph. Well I must say, that look suits you better. This fight might be more interesting than I thought." He swings his swords around in his hands and rushes in at Hedge. Anne managed to get herself up, still holding on to her stomach, aching. She looks up and notices Hedge's appearance.

Anne: "No, he's tapped into more of his evolution's power." This transformation didn't go unnoticed from the rest of Team HAZL either.

Leonidas: "Crap. He's drawn out more of his dark evolution's power." His scroll goes off in his pocket, as he's getting a call from Rackley. He answers and puts it on speaker so Zion could listen in. "Rackley, is this truly more of Hedge's evolution?"

The scene turns back to the restaurant Team GREN are in. Rackley with his scroll on speaker so the rest of his team could listen in. They all had their eyes focused on the TV screen.

Rackley: "Yes. It appears Hedge has accessed the second phase of his dark evolution."

Zion, over the scroll: "Second phase? You mean to tell me he has more hidden power than this?

Rackley: "One more phase to be exact. That would be when he's completely consumed by it."

Leonidas: "Should we jump in and try to stop the fight?" Before Rackley or anyone of Team GREN could respond though, all 6 of them look back towards the fight, or rather, if you could even call it one. To everyone, it seemed like Hedge hadn't moved at all, as if in the blink of an eye, Jet was soon laid out in the out of bounds area, aura depleted completely. This was because Hedge slowed down time, and attacked Jet so fast, the hawk Faunus wouldn't feel any of the attacks until time resumed. Hedge was standing there in the center of the arena, heavily breathing.

Oobleck: "What speed!! With that, Mr. Badnic and Ms. Rosemary are victorious!"

Then Hedge had fallen out of his transformation, falling unconscious, aura not breaking though. Anne ran over to him to see if he was okay.

Rackley: "I think you guys might want to get him to a nurse or something."

Leonidas: "Way ahead of you." He ended the call, Zion placed his hand on Leo's shoulder with a good grip, and the dragon Faunus took flight to land them next to Anne.

Doctor Badnic's voice over was heard next.

"Yes. Good, Hedge. Soon, you shall fully embrace this darkness inside of you."

A/N: So with this chapter we finally get to see Jet and Wave, which of course are pulled from the Sonic Riders franchise (No, I'm not including Free Riders. Never played and didn't like the changes they made). Jet's weapons and his title are pulled from Sonic and The Black Knight: his counterpart Sir Lamorak. As for Wave, giving her a fighting style was a bit more difficult, as her dash attack in the games was a wrench or a power socket. Thanks to Chaos for giving me the idea to give her a chain-whip as her weapon.