Author's note: Remember Ryn? I sure do.

Also, be ready for an unexpected pairing to pop up.

Ryn swam through the ocean, heading for the abandoned Kelpie II. As she approached the ship, she saw hundreds of crab monsters, as well as two dozen Razorfin, thirty Lurkjaw, and two Sea Feilong. Ruby had sensed the Grimm approach several days ago, shortly after the ship was attacked, and had waited for a chance to take them down. When Ryn approached the crab monsters, they each began secreting hundreds of tiny bubbles from their backs, while the Grimm went on the attack.

"Focus. Kill," Ryn said to herself and closed her eyes, relying on her electroreception and silver eyes to locate her enemies. She rushed past the Lurkjaw and swiped at their lures with her claws, while dodging the Razorfin and Sea Feilong that tried to attack her. Suddenly, Preflexes sprung into action and Ryn stopped, seconds before she dove into the mass of bubbles. One of the Sea Feilong grabbed her with its right claw and slammed her into the ocean floor.

"No," Ryn said and used Kindred, copying the marine eel's slimy skin to wriggle free of the grapple. Once free, Ryn retreated, using her slimy skin to slip into rocky crevices where the Grimm and monsters couldn't follow.

"Many enemies, one Ryn. Problem," Ryn thought out loud, "Aura break, Ruby drown. Problem. Ryn, think." She focused, trying to come up with a solution, but due to her shark half, not much came from it. She clasped her head in frustration, then looked at her clawed hands, and finally had an idea.

~o~

Hazel stepped out of a Manta and into the tundra of Solitas, following reports of Grimm sightings. Several soldiers accompanied him, both to help with any Grimm, and to make sure he behaved, although the latter part was more a formality at this point.

"Target spotted at 2 o'clock," one of the soldiers said and opened her cyan eyes again. Hazel checked the devices on his waist one last time, which held vials of gravity-dust.

"Alright, then let's go," Hazel said and walked ahead, "And remember, standard death pit formation." They quickly found the pack of Beowolves and Sabyr, and as the Grimm charged at them, the soldiers split up. Hazel activated his semblance, and the device on his waist pumped some gravity-dust into his legs. He jumped into the air, coated his prosthetic fists with earth-dust and came crashing down in the middle of the pack, killing half the pack with one strike and flinging rocks everywhere. Every hit he landed triggered Spectral Healing, creating dozens of tiny white orbs. The soldiers opened fire with air-dust bullets, knocking the Grimm towards Hazel whenever they tried to escape. Hazel caught a Sabyr mid-jump and coated his right hand in fire-dust. Another Sabyr jumped at him from behind, and several soldiers shot it to bits.

"Amazing," one of the soldiers said as he watched Hazel punch a powerful torrent of water through several Grimm. A Grand Sabyr charged Hazel, and landed a powerful blow to his head. Hazel responded by coating his fists in earth-dust and delivering several powerful strikes of his own. Each punch sent fist-sized pebbles flying everywhere, triggering Spectral Healing time and time again.

"This is for Gretchen," Hazel said and landed one final punch, creating a powerful explosion of small boulders. As the Grimm evaporated, Hazel clenched his left fist and slammed it into the ground, releasing nine lime green bolts of energy, which zigzagged across the ground until they struck a rock. All the Healing Orbs immediately homed in on him to replenish his aura, while the stone snakes grappled and constricted the few remaining Grimm.

"Another pack dealt with," one of the soldiers said, "Let's head back to base."

"One moment," Hazel said and used Guardian's Gambit again, creating more stone serpents and using up the remaining Healing Orbs. Once he got back, he contacted Marrow and Neon, and asked them to target his minions with their predator sense and take out any that were older than three months.

~o~

Ryn rushed back out of her hiding place and activated Venomhand, surrounding her hands with lime green energy spheres. She struck the Grimm purely in passing, with Venomhand drastically amplifying the damage of her clawed hands. She swam a corkscrew looping, dodging a charging Razorfin and striking it from above, gravely wounding it.

"Bleed, yes," Ryn said with an evil grin and set her sights on the remaining Grimm. She charged a Sea Feilong head-on and swam a barrel roll around it, adding an aileron roll and carving into it whenever she could. A Razorfin tried to bite her, but she spun out of the way and hit the Grimm with her tail fin. The rest of the pack surrounded her in an orb formation, and when she attacked one of them, they all descended upon her. They bit into her wherever they could reach, and Ryn fought them off as best as she could, clawing into them and killing them in large numbers.

"Grimm die, Ryn live," Ryn said, devolving into a furious storm of claws and teeth, and becoming less coherent as the battle raged on. She sliced off one Grimm's head, and another sunk its teeth into her arm. She smacked the Grimm's underside with her tail to stun it, and another bit her tail. She sunk her claws into that one's side, and another Grimm bit into her torso from the side. She sunk her own needle-like teeth into that Grimm's left pectoral fin and ripped it off, and another Grimm bit into her arm again. As the Grimm pulled on her arms and tail fin, Ryn realized that she may have bit off too much and was ready to give up, when Ruby managed to regain control.

"Grimm die, Ryn live," Ryn said, turned off Venomhand, and instead activated Retaliation. The Grimm biting her immediately took damage, giving Ryn the opening she needed. She burst into rose petals and disappeared, only to reappear a few meters away.

"You need to have more faith," Ruby said in Ryn's head, and her shark half understood. Ryn charged back into action, firing up her silver eyes but keeping the energy for herself to recharge her aura. She weaved through the Grimm, slashing them with her claws while relying on Preflexes and Shadow Clone to avoid attacks.

"Grimm, die," Ryn said and took out the Lurkjaw and Razorfin with ruthless savagery, then set her sights on the Sea Feilong. One of the Grimm tried ramming her, and she dodged with Shadow Clone. The crab monsters still mostly stood around, secreting bubbles. Ryn swam towards the bubbles, and the two Sea Feilong pursued her. In the last moment, she swam a sharp turn and used Energy Fists to fire two energy spheres at them, stunning them and causing them to crash into the bubbles.

"Good," Ryn said as the Grimm got stuck in the acidic glue-like bubbles and sunk to the ocean floor. She swam over to the crab monsters and used Venom Net, sticking large dark purple webbing onto them all. Just as she was done, a powerful wave hit her and knocked her into a rock formation. The impact shattered the stone column, and the mermaid ended up partly buried under rocks.

"Danger," Ryn said and set up a Healing Circle to support her aura regeneration. She activated Kin Summon, creating a small group of dark green mermen, which were just a little under half as long as Ryn and had a silver trident instead of a left hand, as well as a spiked spaulder on their right shoulder, and a spiked helmet. The Kin moved out to attack the new enemy, giving Ryn time to free herself. She hid herself with Tranquility and swam around the new Grimm, which resembled an otter with a thick beard made from thin bone spikes hiding its mouth. It had bone armor on its legs and head, with a horn protruding from the head armor.

"Not Ryn, Grimm," Ryn said with a toothy grin and charged the new Grimm as her Kin attacked it with their tridents, either stabbing or slashing at it. The Grimm caught one of the Kin with the claws on its left front leg and threw it into a nearby rock formation, dispelling it. Ryn manifested two blue orbs around her hands and caught the Grimm with Prism Chain, then released an energy blast from her hands. The energy blast hit the Grimm and dealt significant damage, in part due to the boost from Ambush. However, instead of celebrating, Ryn gasped.

"No," Ryn said and disengaged, mere seconds before the Grimm broke free from the chains and extended the bone armor on its front legs into two large blades. The red markings on the blades began to glow, and the Grimm attacked the Kin. With each strike, several jagged bone shards broke off its blades, which hovered in the water. When one of the Kin touched a shard, it dug into its skin and harmed it more and more. Ryn used Kindred and released a mass of sticky foam from her skin, then hid herself with Tranquility and swam away, deciding to prioritize the cargo instead. She jumped onto the ice and split up again, and Ruby began looking for the remaining cargo.

~o~

Ravi looked at her new smart watch and smart glasses, and tested the features to see if they were what she hoped for. The glasses looked fairly normal, with large, round lenses and a simple frame, although the nose piece held a powerful processor. The watch, meanwhile, was based on a standard model, with a segmented stainless steel band and a white main body that was durable, yet easy to disassemble and repair, or modify, making it popular among people like Talia. Ravi put on the glasses, pressed a few buttons on her watch and accessed the aura monitor, and quickly registered all her friends.

"And, how is it?" Talia asked.

"It is awesome," Ravi answered, "Thank you so much, Professor. Now I can finally help people properly."

"Don't mention it, I enjoyed doing this," Talia answered, "But don't forget that this is still a combat school. So even if you don't focus on combat, you will still need to keep your skills sharp. Also, keep in mind that your watch is connected to your scroll, so you can use it to stay on top of things outside of battle, too." With that, Talia disappeared. Ravi checked her schedule, and realized that history class would start in five minutes. She quickly grabbed her things and hurried to class, knowing that she already wouldn't make it on time.

~o~

Nora and Dove walked through Vale's industrial district, mainly so the former could turn more electricity into dust to take some stress off the system. They stopped when a Deathstalker blocked their path, with Griffons perched on the surrounding buildings and Beowolves in the streets.

"Damn it, looks like we'll have to fight," Nora said, "And they're too far apart, so I can't take them all at once." The Grimm all waited for their chance to attack, with the Deathstalker being obviously in charge.

"Let me handle that part," Dove said, "You just launch an Annihilation Field at the big one."

"Well, alright," Nora said and swung her hammer, sending a cyan energy sphere at the Deathstalker. When the sphere hit the Grimm's pincers, it expanded into a larger one, one meter across, and began zapping the Grimm, with the lightning jumping over to the nearest Grimm. The other Grimm charged the duo, and Nora began fighting back.

"My turn," Dove said and charged his special disk, while Nora kept him safe. She activated Combat Cloak, surrounding herself with a whirlwind of crackling electricity, electrocuting any Grimm that got within a meter of her. Once the disk was ready, Dove fired it at the Deathstalker, and when it hit, any Grimm in a thirty meter radius was pulled in.

"Impressive," Nora said as the Grimm flew towards the Deathstalker, getting caught up in Chain Lightning.

"Thanks," Dove said, "But to be honest, it's not that useful. For one, when the enemy I hit dies, the effect ends right away, so I have to hit the strongest one for things like this. Also, it's more of a support ability, meaning that I need someone else's help to really capitalize on it."

"I see," Nora said, "But you know, there's nothing wrong with needing help every now and again. You're a skilled swordsman, and can prevent most situations from escalating to violence. That has to count for something."

"I- thanks, I guess," Dove said, "But to be honest, you're pretty cool yourself. I mean, you have this big hammer, you went to Mistral and Atlas, and did amazing work both times."

"True, I am pretty good," Nora said proudly, then returned to a more neutral pose, "But I can't really do a lot when fighting someone who's immune to electricity. Our enemy likely knows that, so it's only a matter of time until I meet someone I can't beat. I tried having my fusions with others share their semblances with me, but so far, all of them had lightning-based ones. Well, except for my fusion with Ren, but they can't share their semblance with either of us. And with my luck, even if I got one of these disk launchers, it would give me a lightning-based special disk. Because apparently, that's all I'm good for."

"At least you know what you have to do," Dove said, "I mean, I'm training to become a huntsman, and be a hero. It's my dream for as long as I can remember. But after years of training, years of trying to become a good fighter so I can defeat my enemies, when I finally unlocked my semblance, it turned out that all it does is prevent fights. But you know what to do. You zap everything, and if you can't zap something, you hit it really hard. And if that doesn't work, you can ask your friends."

"That's one way to look at it, sure," Nora said and wanted to say more, when she realized that the sound of static had stopped. The duo looked at the pile of Grimm, and saw that the Annihilation Field was gone. Nora quickly set up another three, killing several dozen Grimm by the time all the ones inside the fields were dead, then repeated the process, slowly working her way to the Deathstalker. After all the Grimm died, the duo continued walking through the district, taking out Grimm here and there until they reached the dust processing plant.

~o~

Ruby walked around the Kelpie II when she saw some of the robotic monsters and prepared to fight. However, the monsters didn't move to attack, and instead continued wandering the ship's deck, as if they were on patrol. Ruby calmed down again and continued looking around. Whenever she found leftover cargo, she used Bubble Teleport to send it to a warehouse in Vale's industrial district. Eventually, she spotted another ship, anchored to the ice. She summoned two Seers and made one float over to the other ship, where one of the pirates stood guard.

"Hello, Scotch," Ruby said after her two Seers had contacted one another and asked, "Mind if I come aboard?"

"Hello," Scotch said and answered, "No, not really."

"Cool, thanks," Ruby said, made her summons disappear and burst into rose petals, before appearing in front of Scotch, "I really need to speak to your captain."

"Well, alright," Scotch said and turned around, "This way." Scotch led Ruby through a series of corridors on the former merchant vessel, and Ruby felt somewhat uncomfortable, due to the grime and disrepair. Scotch knocked on a large door and opened it, and Ruby saw a large room with a big table in the center, which had a map of trade routes and ports laid out on top of it.

"Scotch, come in," Captain Rum said and asked, "Is this the huntress you told me about?" Rum was a big man with muscles hiding under a healthy layer of fat. His black hair seemed barely maintained, and his dark blue eyes shimmered in the smoky air.

"She is, yes," Scotch answered and stepped aside, and Rum walked over to take a good look at her. His big black boots fell heavily on the ground with each step, and his black pants were patched up in various places. He wore a black tail coat over a formerly white shirt, and carried two small sabers on his side, with guns in their hilts.

"Well, at least she's good at hiding her fear," Rum said, imposingly standing in front of Ruby, who showed no signs of intimidation, "I like that in a woman." After a brief moment, he took a step back, turned around and walked back into the room, then motioned for Ruby to take a seat and sat down on his own chair behind his desk, a beautifully crafted oaken chair with red velvet upholstery. As he fell into his chair, Rum kicked up a cloud of dust and coughed a little.

"No need to hide what doesn't exist," Ruby said and sat down across from him, "Now, about why I'm here. I need the materials on the Kelpie II. Lucky for you, I am willing to negotiate and try to find a solution that helps both parties. Also, I'd like to clean the air in here a little, if you don't mind." Rum laughed a bit, but ended up coughing again.

"Sorry, but the air in here won't get a lot better, even if we open a window," Rum said, "I appreciate the sentiment, though."

"I wasn't talking about opening a window," Ruby said, "Allow me to demonstrate." Rum paused for a moment, then motioned her to show him what she meant.

"Well, alright then," Rum said, "Show me what you've got."

"Thanks," Ruby said and folded her hands, with only her thumbs, index- and pinky fingers standing up. She focused and pulled all impurities from the air, sorting them by material before condensing them into a single object each. However, she dissected the dangerous materials and used them for energy to force other materials to combine. As the air cleared up, new air was pulled into the room, causing a slight whistling sound as the air rushed through various cracks.

"Incredible," Scotch said as he watched nuggets of gold, clay, various metals, stone, and other things form in the air and grow. After a while, Ruby stopped and unfolded her hands again, and let out a sigh.

"And, what do you say?" Ruby asked.

"I… I don't even know what I just witnessed," Rum said and asked, "Is this some kind of semblance?"

"No. It's much more," Ruby answered and explained, "My silver eyes shine with the divine power of creation, allowing me to tap into the very fabric of creation, and see the world at its deepest, most basic level. I can hear the forces binding the world together, and like a conductor, control the symphony of existence." She leaned back and gave the confused pirate captain a look of superiority.

"So, not a semblance?" Rum asked, struggling to understand the explanation, and unsure if he should be impressed or not. Ruby leaned forward again, and tried a different approach.

"No," Ruby answered and said, "Alright, let me try again. Imagine if having a semblance is like having a pre-war flintlock pistol. It's pretty good to have in a fight, but less so if your opponent also has one, or can work around it. What I did was the equivalent to an entire fleet of Atlas airships firing their heavy cannons." Rum blinked in disbelief.

"I… that makes a lot more sense," Rum said and asked, "So, in terms of money, how would that compare then?"

"Look around you," Ruby said and gestured around the room, "All of this stuff was floating in the air less than five minutes ago." Rum and Scotch looked around the room, which was full of chunks and clumps of various materials. As they inspected the items, realization slowly dawned on them.

"This is incredible," Rum said, "If we sell all of this, we won't have to worry about money, and can finally restore the Crimson Jewel to her former glory."

"Too bad all of this is mine," Ruby said.

"Wait, what?" Rum asked, "What do you mean? It's on my ship."

"But without me, you wouldn't have it," Ruby said, "And I expect to be compensated for my work."

"I didn't sign any contracts, though," Rum said, "So good luck enforcing your claims."

"I don't need to have a contract," Ruby said, "Your crew cooperated with internationally wanted terrorists, who destroyed Beacon and launched several attacks against Haven and Atlas. You also attacked a ship delivering cargo to Vale to support the relief efforts, and I'm sure your crew is already wanted for piracy anyway. So in other words, the fact that I didn't just sink your ship and arrest whoever managed to swim to the surface is already more than I'm required to do." She looked at Rum without emotion on her face, and Rum tried to stare her down, despite knowing she was right. Eventually, he relented.

"Alright, you win," Rum said, "Take all this stuff, and do what you want with it." Hearing that, Ruby cheered up.

"I knew we could come to an agreement," Ruby said, "Now then, I'd like to purchase some of the weapons and equipment your crew recently acquired. I believe this should suffice." She gestured at the various materials laying around the room. Rum looked around, then back at Ruby, and chuckled when he realized what just happened. Ruby, meanwhile, was just happy that the little speech she made up on the fly worked so well, and she could solve two problems at once.

"Aren't you a tricky one," Rum said, "Alright, deal." Both stood up and shook hands, sealing the deal.

"A pleasure doing business with you, Captain," Ruby said.

"The pleasure's all mine, Huntress," Rum said, turned to his first mate and said, "Scotch, show her where we keep the weapons, and then tell everyone that we're headed for home, to get the girl fixed up."

"Got it," Scotch said, turned to Ruby and said, "This way." He led Ruby out of the room again, and through another series of hallways, into a storage room. After giving some orders to the pirates organizing and cataloging everything, he let Ruby send everything they got from the Kelpie II to Vale. Finally, Ruby opened a portal, and headed back to her friends.

Author's note: Ruby gets better and better at strategizing, and it's more and more fun to write how everything plays out.