A Red Rose in the Blue Wind

by Iron117Prime

Sonic and his friends have come to a new world, one Dr. Eggman hopes to conquer. Meeting new friends? That is to be expected of our heroes. New enemies? Also to be expected. But being caught in a war between two immortals? Not the strangest thing that's happened to them, but definitely something new. (Blood and minor swears)

28. You Learn Something New

Hi everyone, welcome back! Before we begin, I have a couple of announcements to make…

This story has now reached over one thousand favs and follows! I've only ever reached that mark at least two other times in my whole career, but I never imagined that my Sonic/RWBY story would do so. I am so humbled and honored that my story has been so well received. I can't thank you all enough.

Also, with the third and final season of "Sonic Prime" having recently aired, I can safely say now that the series is in fact canon to the RRBW timeline. Back before the show aired, the writers said it would be considered canon to the game continuity, but they wouldn't say at which point to avoid spoilers, which made me hesitant to include any elements, mostly because I wasn't sure whether it would take place before or after the events of "Sonic Colors" and whether I would adapt the plot for it in my story (though that would be a monumental task and make the plot overly complicated). But now, we have confirmation now that the events of "Sonic Prime" take place shortly after "Sonic Advance 3" which takes place before "Sonic Colors". So yeah, in this story, the events of the show have already happened. And we will be hearing more about those events later on in this story from Sonic. As for how and when, you'll have to see.

And now, without further delay, let's begin!

You Learn Something New

It was very early in the morning in Ozpin's office. So much so, that the sun was just barely rising and the sky was still somewhat dark with a hint of blue. The headmaster of Beacon sat at his desk once more, with Glynda, Ironwood, and Qrow all gathered around him. While the professor and general both looked wide awake, the veteran Huntsman had to rub his tired eyes.

"Remind me again why we gotta talk about this so early? It couldn't have waited a few more hours?" Qrow commented as he drank from his flask.

"That better be coffee in there." Glynda glared at him.

"What do you think?" He rolled his eyes in response. "But you try rushing across a whole continent to get here, show up late in the afternoon, and then duke it out with that one-rodent-army edge-lord and then we'll see who's refreshed!"

"I apologize for the inconvenience, Qrow." Ozpin said sincerley. "But time is not quite on our side here. We need to find our next candidate for the Fall Maiden and ideally I would like to find her before the day's end."

"And after that, you intend to involve Sonic and the others in all of this?" Ironwood asked.

"That is correct. But securing the remaining Fall Maiden power must take priority." Ozpin said before addressing all his cohorts. "So, if any of you have any possible recommendations, I encourage you to say it now."

"I'm glad you said so." Ironwood replied, speaking first. "I would like to recommend Winter Schnee as our candidate…." He quickly noticed Qrow was about to speak in protest. "And before my suggestion is ignored or brushed off, I'd at least like for you to hear my reasoning for it."

"You're not being 'ignored' or 'brushed off', James. Your opinion holds just as much value as everyone else's here." Ozpin said, casting a glance at Qrow, silently telling him to not interrupt, to which Qrow just shrugged and reluctantly gestured to keep going. "Now then, for what reason would you believe Winter to be a suitable candidate?"

"She is an outstanding talent and a hard worker." Ironwood began. "She's is loyal and a tactical thinker. She has complete mastery over her Semblance and her skill with a blade is second to none." He noticed Qrow's eyeroll at that but ignored it. "But above all else, she is a soldier and is capable of making the hard choices if she has too."

"And what of the two members of your Ace Ops?" Ozpin asked. "Do you believe either of them to be worthy candidates?"

"I have no doubt that Specalists Bree and Ederne would make excellent Maidens, however, I don't think that would be the wisest option." Ironwood said. "Simply because both of them are more effective in their unit and better perform as a team. While Winter has shown that she is a capable fighter on her own."

"And completely loyal to you." Qrow put in. "You'd have the Fall Maiden under your total control."

Ironwood didn't rise to Qrow's bait but addressed his concerns, nonetheless. "We felt it would be the best for the other Maidens to life isolated lives for the sake of secrecy and everyone else around them. But circumstances say that may no longer be an option. And if Winter does indeed become a Maiden, that power combined with her skills and mastery over her Semblance may very well make her the greatest warrior in all of Remnant. But, there is one other reason I would recommend her."

"And what might that be?" Ozpin encouraged.

"She has a close relationship with her sister, whom we all know is close to Sonic." Ironwood revealed. "We've already accepted the possibility of bringing him in, but as you said Ozpin, the students he's befriended may very well discover our secret. And if that is the case, Winter can at least smooth things over with Weiss, and by extension, the other students and understand why our work is necessary."

"Assuming she decides to accept the burden of becoming the next Fall Maiden." Glynda said. "And even so, there is still the matter of her losing her own identity in the process. Given how you expressed how close Weiss is with her sister, she may not be too happy with Winter's decision."

"Fair point, but still, I stand by my recomendation." Ironwood replied.

"I see your point as well, James." Ozpin appeared to be considering the option.

"I don't!" Qrow spoke up. "Those kids do not need to get involved! We'll just tell blue-boy and his buddies they gotta stay away from them!"

"Do you honestly think they'll just leave it at that?" Glynda questioned. "It will make our students even more suspicious and less willing to trust us."

"I'm honestly surprised you're not suggesting Ruby as a possible candidate." Ironwood said. Of course, that only seemed to make the uncle angry.

"I already told you! I trained her so she could defend herself! Not to get her involved in this damn war!" Qrow argued, stepping up to Ironwood's face.

"This isn't criticism Qrow, It's a genuine question." Ironwood said, maintaining a calm expression as he raised his hand. "If the Maiden power can enhance her Silver Eyes, that could make for an even more powerful warrior."

"Except for the fact she hasn't used them, yet!" Qrow argued. "She's already got a target on her back because of her eyes, I'm not gonna add more to it!"

Ironwood sighed before turning towards the Beacon headmaster. "Ozpin, I am honestly curious. Has there ever been a Silver-Eyed Maiden in the past?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Ozpin answered. "And even if that were the case, we don't know for sure if the Maiden powers will indeed enhance her that within her eyes."

"That aside, while young Ruby's heart is in the right place, I don't believe she is mentality prepared to make such a decision. She's far too young." Glynda said.

"And what of the rest of her team?" Ironwood asked. Again, he noticed Qrow's hardened glare. Was he suggesting that Yang could be a candidate?! But sensing the growing hostility, Glynda quickly moved in-between the two men.

"None of them are ready." Glynda explained. "Weiss has a good handle on her Semblance, but she's not emotionally prepared to make a hard decision. Blake's past in the White Fang could make her a valuable use of intelligence if they are involved with Robotnik and Salem, and her stealth skills would be useful as well. But, she's only just recently opening up to her team and other students, it wouldn't do well for her if we were to ask her to live an isolated life. The same could be said for Yang, who is too emotionally attached to her sister. I would not recommend any of them, and honestly… I do not want any of our students having to go through what we are suggesting."

"Neither do I." Ozpin agreed. "However, we may indeed have to make a hard choice as we are running out of time. Though, I can safely say that even if we do tell the members of Team RWBY the truth of Salem, I agree with Glynda that none of them are ready to accept the burden of a Maiden, especially with what we must do regarding this one."

That seemed to cause Glynda some relief, and while Qrow was just as relieved that neither of his nieces would become Maidens, it still didn't sit right with him to get them involved in the secret war.

"I've made my recommendation. What of you, Qrow? Seeing how you're so adamant about this, any recommendations on your end?" Ironwood asked.

"Nope, nobody." Qrow shook his head.

"I may have a few ideas myself." Ozpin said. "Are there any other ones from you, Glynda?"

"No, sir." She shook her head.

"Then this meeting is adjourned." Ozpin spoke up, standing up from his seat. "I will reach out to all of you with a final decision before the end of the Doubles Round. You are dismissed, except for you, Qrow. I would like one last word with you."

"Sure." Qrow accepted as Ironwood and Glynda walked towards the elevator. Once inside, and being lowered down, Ozpin gave an exhausted sigh before he spoke.

"Qrow, I can understand why you feel frustrated with James right now. But must you consistently provoke him like this?"

"Hey, I'm just speaking my mind!" Qrow stated.

"Without even a hint of tact." Ozpin argued. "While I do value your opinion, I find your constant jabs at one of our allies to be completely unnecessary! James is not the enemy, here!"

"Okay, I'm sorry!" The veteran Huntsman almost shouted before sighing. "It just feels like he's trying to take control from you. He already ratted you out to the Council."

"He didn't 'rat me out', he did what he felt was best. I don't agree, but I understand why he had to do it." Ozpin said. "Qrow, please try to understand where James is coming from. He is the leader of this world's only military, that alone is already a great burden. And he's not wrong to underestimate the threat of Eggman. And yes, I know more than anyone that we shouldn't lose focus on Salem either, but we can't ignore the threat that is in front of us either. It's the reason why we may need to involve Sonic, so we stand a better chance at facing them both as a united front. Would you prefer that they find out the truth on their own and believe us to be a potential threat, instead? Because we cannot afford to fight three opponents at once."

Qrow knew that Ozpin was at least right in that regard. Shadow defeated him and Winter in a three-way battle, so there was no denying he was strong. Not to mention Sonic and his friends defeated Ironwood's top attack dogs too. And if Ruby and the others were really getting so close to Sonic, that could potentially make his nieces their enemies if they all believe Ozpin was the bad guy. He would be damned if that were to happen.

"Fine." Qrow accepted. "But I don't have to like it. But seriously, are you really considering making Winter the Maiden?"

"I am considering offering her the choice, yes." Ozpin answered. "James wasn't wrong about his reasoning, and we would gain much from it. But that does not mean I've made my choice, yet. I'm only considering it. We have to keep an open mind here, and I would recommend that you keep an open mind regarding Sonic. It wouldn't hurt to actually get to know him before immediately deciding that you don't like him."

"I wouldn't mind sharing a drink with the blue guy, if he didn't involve Ruby or Yang in any of this." Qrow said.

Ozpin sighed, understanding why Qrow was so steadfast about not involving his nieces. "They will not be children forever, Qrow. As much as we don't like it, Ruby does have a target on her back. But Sonic has not only shown he is capable of protecting her, but he's also had quite the positive impact on her as well. All of his friends have had that sort of impact on our students. We may be embarking on a treacherous path right now with the choices we have to make soon… it wouldn't hurt to keep an open mind, if only to make it slightly less treacherous."

"Okay… I'll think about…" Qrow knew he could never win in argument with his old mentor, but unlike his sister, he was the one who argued the least with Ozpin and knew better than to question him. "See ya later, Oz." He went towards the elevator door and left the office, leaving Ozpin alone to think and silently hope that, like always, he was making the best choice.

---

Pietro's Lab

"So this is plasma Dust?" Clover asked as he looked at a cartridge that contained the orange crystal-like powder. The leader of the Ace Ops was currently standing alongside his team, all of whom were somewhat scattered in the laboratory that was being operated by Pietro Polendina and his daughter, Penny. "Atlesian scientists have tried for years to artificially replicate Dust, but nobody has ever pulled it off, much less invent something new!"

"We can thank this little genius for it." Pietro gestured to Tails, who sat at his own chair with a monitor right behind him. In addition to Tails; Sonic, Amy, and Rouge were also present in the lab while Sonic and Amy were standing, Rouge sat on top of a station above everyone else.

"Well, it wasn't all me." Tails said. "This kind of thing wouldn't have been possible without Shadow and his Chaos Control. Not to mention we've only been able to make a few cartridges. Not exactly enough to wipe out all Grimm on Remnant or anything."

"But it's still really amazing!" Marrow stated. "You invented a new form of Dust!"

"And the way you did it is just as unbelievable…!" Elm commented. "Warping space and time…?"

"This coming from the lady who can literally stand on the wall and ceiling." Sonic cracked.

Elm laughed in response. "Point taken."

"So, there aren't any Semblances like that around?" Amy asked. "No teleporting or anything?"

"Not as far as we know." Vine answered. "But the nature of a Semblance is all based on the individual person, and the life they lead. Because of that, even after one unlocks their Semblance, it can change and evolve just like the person in question."

"Well Weiss said that her family's Semblance well... runs in the family." Sonic put in. "No pun intended."

"True." Clover granted. "Winter possesses the ability of Glyphs like their grandfather, Nicholas Schnee. His family has had that ability for generations."

"Why is that the ice queen and her family have a hereditary Semblance, while everyone else's is different?" Rouge asked. "We know a certain pair of sisters that have completely different powers. Or half-sisters, technically."

"We're not sure exactly." Pietro said. "In nearly every other scenario, even family members can have completely different Semblances developing. Likewise, we've seen situations where people who are unrelated gain similar abilities to each other. It's not an exact science."

'Kinda like with Nora and Yang.' Amy thought.

"But anyone who does have Aura can get a Semblance." Tails pointed out. "It is possible, right?" He happened to glance towards Penny, silently wondering if she could develop a Semblance of her own. She may be an android, but she does have an Aura, so it shouldn't be impossible.

"Yes. Anyone who has unlocked their Aura can develop a Semblance." Penny herself confirmed, oblivious to what Tails might be thinking. "However, just because they can doesn't mean they necessarily will. My father, for instance, doesn't possess a Semblance."

"Except for you guys." Harriet said, leaning against the back of the wall in a rather spiteful tone. "You don't have Aura, which is kinda like saying you don't have a soul."

"Harriet!" Clover scolded.

"Nah, it's cool." Sonic brushed off. "You guys never met anyone who didn't have Aura before, so of course it feels weird to meet someone who doesn't got one."

"Why not have someone try and unlock it for you?" Marrow asked.

"Oz tried when we first met." Sonic revealed "You could still sense my soul but… ptff… nothin'." He shrugged.

"It's not like you guys really need it, to be honest. I mean… with what you can do…" Elm pointed out rather excitably. "You're already rather amazing!"

"Thank you, thank you very much!" Sonic put on the Elvis impression and while everyone else either smiled or smirked at that, Harriet just rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of, if you don't mind me asking… what is your Semblance, Clover?" Tails asked. "During our spar, I didn't really see anything particularly flashy, at least compared to the rest of your team. Unless you didn't use it?"

"Oh, it was in use back then. But my Semblance isn't quite like those for my team." Clover answered. "It's Good Fortune."

"So you're lucky you got your Semblance?" Amy questioned in confusion.

"No, no, my Semblance is Good Fortune." Clover clarified. "As in, everywhere I go, good luck follows."

"Luck." Sonic said bluntly. "Your super power is luck."

"Yep." Clover confirmed proudly.

"Nah… I don't buy it." Sonic shook his head.

"It's true." Clover told him with a nod.

"No, luck is not a superpower." Sonic said. "Speed, strength, flying, shooting lightning bolts, teleporting, those are all superpowers. Luck? That's not a power."

"No, that is Clover's Semblance." Vine affirmed.

"Well, if you want a more scientific explanation…" Pietro began. "Clover's ability allows him to manipulate probability positively. And it's constantly active, affecting the environment around him."

"Such as… a rockslide killing a bunch of Grimm but none of it touches him." Elm added.

"So… it has a specific range?" Tails asked, sounding intrigued. "Can it affect other people too? Like within a certain vicinity?"

"It can… but it's more so focused on me." Clover said.

"He can't lose even if he tried." Marrow pointed out. "Not even at card games."

"Take it you were on the losing end of a lot of those, kid?" Rouge teased, causing Marrow to look away with a pout, crossed arms, and a wagging tail.

"Wait… we've seen that overusing Semblances can hurt people, draining their Aura." Amy said. "If yours is constantly on, doesn't it hurt?"

"Not really." Clover said. "Guess I'm lucky there too. But, if my Aura happens to break, my Good Fortune stops working. And I've recently learned that it doesn't always work. In fact, the very first time a person escaped it was when we were chasing you." He looked towards Sonic. "Nobody we were actively pursuing has ever escaped my Good Fortune, so it's an honest surprise."

"Well, I got something of a lucky streak too." Sonic smirked.

"Better be careful unless you want that so-called luck of yours to run out." Harriet warned.

"Oh don't be such a spoil-sport, Thighs." Rouge said, still relaxing from her spot. "Maybe you could take your mind off blue-boy and tell me what this thing is." She pulled out a spherical device, much to Harriet's surprise as she felt her belt and found that it was her own device that was stolen.

"Wha…? How did…?!" She didn't even see her do it.

Rouge pressed a button, causing the device to open and extend a cord-like extension. "Huh, so you're into S&M?"

Harriet's face turned red as she tried to speed toward Rouge, who flew out of the way and dropped the device so Harriet could retrieve it as the smirking bat landed on the ground.

"That is actually a capture device." Clover explained, stepping in-between Harriet and Rouge to prevent anything from breaking out. "We use it to detain criminals."

"What is S&M?" Penny asked, much to Pietro's concern.

"We'll talk about it when you're older, Penny." Sonic told her, causing Pietro to nod to the blue hedgehog in relief.

"Think you're so smug, don't you?" Harriet scowled at Rouge.

"Geeze, take it easy. I was only teasing." She commented, but still kept up her smirk.

"How about I tease my fist to your face?!" Harriet looked ready to throw down, but Clover grabbed her firmly by the arm.

"Harriet. Go take a walk. Cool off." He ordered her and gave her a stern look that left no room for arguments.

Wrenching her arm free, she relented. "Fine." She left, leaving everyone else with concern.

"What's her problem?" Amy asked.

"Harriet is… rather prideful." Vine explained. "She did not take her first loss against Sonic very well, and I'd wager she was planning on settling the score during our spar, but she wasn't prepared to lose again."

"Sorry." Sonic said.

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault." Clover said. "And it's not just her pride. The Ace Ops have pride ourselves on being the best Huntsmen from Atlas, we've rarely dealt with defeat. Though, Harriet's first real defeat came at the loss of her friend."

"She lost a friend?" Tails asked in surprise.

"Tortuga." Elm explained. "She and Harriet were friends from the Academy, they were close. They graduated together and even joined the Ace Ops together. They were practically inseparable."

"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?" Amy asked.

"A couple years ago, while we were in the early development stages of the Atlesian Paladins, there was… an incident." Clover began. "One of the mechs malfunctioned…"

"We had initially planned on the Paladins being automated like the Knight units, only more advanced." Pietro put in. "I was head of the team that developed them. But, the one unit that malfunctioned, ended up going on a rampage. The testing site was reduced to a pile of rubble and the Ace Ops tried to stop it."

"And we did… but at the cost of Tortuga's life." Vine revealed, much to Sonic, Tails, and Amy's surprise and sympathy, even Rouge felt empathetic towards that.

"In addition to several dozen soldiers, it also cost a few members of my colleagues, friends of mine… including one of the best minds in Atlas, Arthur Watts." Pietro said, looking down, to which Penny put a hand on his shoulder, which he appreciated as he put his own hand on hers.

"I'm… I'm sorry to hear that." Sonic said, feeling a new sense of sympathy towards Harriet. He knew what it was like to lose someone you care for, having lost his guardian, Long Claw; as well as almost losing all his friends when he shattered the Paradox Prism. Though he was able to fix it all, it was not an easy task, as he made the same kind of mistake in losing the trust of another friend, and then saying goodbye to him and all the other friends he made. But Harriet's case was still different. While Sonic was able to get all his friends back, Harriet could not.

"Thank you, but it comes with the job." Clover replied. "We're Huntsmen. Danger is drawn to us like gravity."

However, that one word is what got Tails' attention. "Gravity…?" His eyes slowly widened as the cogs in his head ticked and an idea came to him. "Eureka!" That exclamation caught everyone's attention as Tails excitedly swerved his chair around and he got back to the monitor and was typing at a rapid pace. "How could I not have seen it?! It was practically staring me dead in the face!"

"Bro? What are you talking about?" Sonic asked.

"Gravity Dust! That is how we're gonna do it! That's how we're gonna make more plasma Dust!" Tails revealed, much to everyone's surprise.

"How is gravity going to help us make more Dust, exactly?" Marrow questioned.

"Gravity is more than just stuff falling down…. It's one of the four fundamental forces of the universe!" Tails explained excitedly as he continued to type. "It's naturally capable of warping time and space! How do you think black holes work?! The singularity creates a gravitational force so strong that not even light escapes it! It's also how the planets in a solar system orbit the sun in the middle, or the moons around the planet! It creates a distortion in space-time that draws in the object of lower mass and creates the orbit! If we're able to harness the power of gravity Dust and potentially create a singularity with it…"

"We may be able to merge different forms of Dust together!" Pietro realized where Tails was going with this before a wide smile formed on his face. "Ha, ha! Young Tails, you have done it once again! I never even considered using gravity Dust like that!"

"In addition, it also means we don't need the Chaos Emeralds to perform Chaos Control!" Penny added as she and her father joined Tails. "Since gravity Dust is more abundant compared to the Emeralds, we have access to more resources!"

"Exactly!" Tails said as the three began to converse together, meanwhile the Ace Ops could only blink in surprise, only catching bits of the conversation, barely following all the science behind it. But they still got the general idea as they looked towards Sonic, Amy, and Rouge, all of whom had knowing smiles on their faces.

"Your little friend is quite the genius." Clover said to Sonic.

"Oh, I know." The blue Hedgehog said as he looked to his surrogate brother with a proud smile.

---

Meanwhile, the sun was fully risen as Weiss and Winter both sat at a table underneath at a pavilion on the campus, the two having a private breakfast as they were catching up.

"So, you're staying in the Kingdom?" Weiss asked.

"I am. To deal with Eggman should he and his forces attack the festival." Winter confirmed, sipping her tea.

"Of course… though, I'm also hopping that, if you're able to, you'll watch my match in the Doubles Round." Weiss said. "Ruby and I are working together."

"And which one of you is advancing to the singles should you win that match?" Winter asked.

"We… haven't decided yet." Weiss answered, looking away briefly before speaking with confidence. "But I am prepared to fight if I am chosen."

"And if not?" Winter continued to ask.

"Then I will respect my leader's choice." Weiss said. "And cheer for her as loud as I can." She stated with a smile.

A small smile formed on Winter's face. "You've changed, since coming here Weiss. You seem more… open. Confident. Even when things don't go your way. You've grown quite a bit."

"Well, it… wasn't easy." Weiss admitted, looking away. "I wasn't the best person to get along with, and I've had to deal with people who seem more to associate our family name with the crimes the company has committed. Not to mention accepting the fact that our family name has been more tainted than I realized…" She clenched her fists, remembering Shadow's and Fifer's words all too well.

Winter then slowly reached out to gently grasp her sister's hand and ease her. "Weiss… I know how you feel. I know you want to restore the legacy our grandfather left behind. It's the reason I joined the military, to show that a Schnee can protect our kingdom. And your choice to join Beacon, that could be a way to show the world that the Schnees can protect all of Remnant. That we're more than just the shady business of our father."

Weiss smiled slightly. "Well… I'm not alone. I have friends who can help me."

"Such as your team?" Winter asked.

"Yes, as well as Sonic and his friends." Weiss added. "The things I've learned from him…. What I've seen him do… It makes me want to learn more about myself… and see what else I'm capable of… To be the best and strongest I can be."

"Oh? And what have you learned thus far?" Winter asked in curiosity, eager to see just how much the blue Hedgehog has had an effect on our sister.

"Well, more recently, I've learned that I can't always rely on my sword." Weiss took out Myrtenaster. "On our last mission… an enemy took it and I was almost completely helpless. I've used it as a means to control my Glyphs, but without it…?" She shivered slightly, recalling the torture that Mimic put her through. "I mean, I'm no puncher or anything, but I feel like I need to expand more with my Glyph studies. Find ways of using them without my sword."

"And what of your Summoning?" Winter asked. "That will certainly give you more options to work with."

Weiss looked away even more at that. "I… haven't been practicing that. It's not that I don't want to! It's just… I've been more so focusing on my teamwork skills, finding ways my abilities can complement them, or theirs' with myself."

"While it is important to find ways in working with your allies, you also have to be willing to stand on your own, if in the event you are separated from them." Winter told her.

"I can hold my own just fine… It's just… you know that Summoning is the one thing I can't seem to master!" Weiss stated in frustration. "I've tried!"

"Nothing ever comes easy, Weiss." Winter began, opening her hand as a Glyph formed in her palm. "Your Semblance is like a muscle, the more you work with it, the more it'll grow. Even if you fail the first or second times, so long as you keep pushing yourself and testing your limits of what you think is possible…"

A flash of white light shined from the Glyph in Winter's hands. Weiss covered her face briefly, but when she lowered her arms, she looked in complete surprise to see a white Beowolf summoned by her sister's side.

"…You'll reach heights that you never even imagined." Winter finished as the white Beowolf lowered its head and Winter scratched it under the chin.

Weiss couldn't help but smile in amazement. She always looked up to her older sister, but it wasn't just that. What she was saying, it sounded a lot like something Sonic would say too. Pushing herself and never giving up even after failures? It made her want to try and master this power so that she can continue helping her friends and everyone else. After all, Sonic wouldn't back down from a challenge, so why should she?

"We have some time before the Doubles Round begins. Think you can give me a lesson?" Weiss requested, to which her older sister smiled.

---

Meanwhile, Ruby sat on a nearby rock near the main courtyard at Beacon with Zwei curled up beside said rock, the young girl watching her older sister practicing with Knuckles. Yang threw a punch, which Knuckles parried before he gave a punch of his own, which Yang crossed her arms to block before throwing then outward in an effort to get Knuckles off balance, but when she tried to punch again, he ducked under the strike and grabbed her by the arm to throw her over his head and onto the ground.

"Alright, not bad." Knuckles said as he offered Yang a hand to help her up, which she accepted as she got back on her feet. "You're building up a solid defense. But you gotta think a little quicker and expand your attacks to more than just punching."

"So… maybe grappling or something, like what you just did?" She asked.

"If it works for you." Knuckles answered. "Don't forget that your strength increases with your Semblance, but that strength can be used for more than just attack and defense." He commented, to which Yang nodded in understanding. "Speaking of, how is all that left over energy from the day before? Did any of it fade yet?"

"Nope, it's all still here." Yang responded, feeling her right arm with her left hand. "Might have just gained a tiny bit from this little spar. So maybe we can stockpile it all up."

"The fact you're also aware of how much energy you're taking in is also progress." Knuckles said. "It means you can better measure how much power you can use and how much is leftover. We're making progress."

"Hey uh… thanks, by the way. For… all of this." Yang sincerely thanked with a humble tone.

"Of course." Knuckles smiled, to which Yang smiled back. He then saw Ruby sitting on the rock across from them. Though he did notice her when their training begin, he didn't pay much mind to it but was curious. "You need something, Ruby?"

"No, I'm just watching." She said.

"You wanna get in on this?" Yang asked before remembering something. "On second thought, the Doubles Round is gonna start in a couple hours, so maybe not much time till yours and Weiss' match."

"It's fine, it's fine…" Ruby replied before looking away somewhat. "It's just… with everything that's going on and…. What we learned yesterday…. I kinda feel a little restless. Just wanted some company, if that's alright with you guys."

"That's perfectly fine." Knuckles assured as he understood what Ruby was talking about. Aside from learning more about the infiltrators and getting a bit closer to what Ozpin was hiding, they also learned that Qrow was involved with Ozpin's conspiracy. Though to Knuckles that would potentially explain why Qrow wasn't home as often as Ruby had told him, but he could also tell that it was making Ruby and even Yang feel rather conflicted with what was going on, not that he blamed them.

Unbeknownst to them, the same black and red-eyed bird that had been spying on them for the past several days was keeping on them even now, perched from her spot in a nearby tree. However, that bird also noticed a certain someone approaching and quickly flew away before he would notice.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" Qrow stepped up, alerting the others to his presence.

"Uncle Qrow…!" Ruby would normally be excited and happy to see him, but upon learning of his potential involvement with Ozpin, it left her somewhat conflicted and even a tad nervous about seeing him.

"What are you two doing up so early? I know you probably gotta get to Amity for your match, but I would have expected you to sleep in a little bit since it's not a school day." Qrow said in a friendly fashion.

"Well I wanted to wake up a little early to get some training in." Yang answered. "Oh, and I'm not in the Doubles Round."

"Training…?" However, Qrow was surprised by what his eldest niece had just said after that. "Wait… your not moving up?"

"No, it's me and Weiss." Ruby said.

"What? Ice Queen 2.0 decided you weren't good enough?" Qrow asked in a joking sort of sense, but he was still surprised to hear that Yang wasn't advancing.

"No, I decided not to move up." Yang explained. "Recently I… I learned that I haven't been using my Semblance well." Once more, she felt her own hand as a serious look formed on her face, recalling what occurred with Mimic. "That… and I'm sure you noticed that I got a pretty bad temper."

"Temper? You? Ptt." Qrow waved off with a joke.

"Qrow, I'm serious." Yang glared slightly at him, surprising her uncle. "On our last mission, things got pretty bad. It… opened my eyes and helped me to understand that… I need to do some serious work with myself. Maybe even start over from scratch. So, I asked Knuckles here to help me train so I can fight better and be a better teammate for Ruby."

"Oh, right we didn't introduce you guys." Ruby spoke up. "Uncle Qrow, this is Knuckles. He's one of Sonic's friends. Knuckles, this is Uncle Qrow."

"Hello, nice to meet you." Knuckles greeted, offering his hand to shake. "Your nieces speak pretty highly of you."

Qrow looked skeptical towards the red Echidna, one of the aliens who was getting his nieces swept up in the conflict that he didn't want them to be a part of. But if he acted hostile towards him now, it would make things worse between them and Ozpin, so he shook his hand.

"Sup." That was all he said, and it was really all Knuckles expected. "So, what's this guy been teaching you?" He asked Yang as he sat down on the ground, prompting everyone else to do the same.

"Well, he's shown that I can use my Semblance for defense rather than just a straight-up finisher." Yang began. "It might even strengthen my Aura. I can even divide up all that stored power and not use it all at once. Heck, even that leftover power I got can still be saved, so I may even try to stockpile it all and have a ready source of power to call on, and not just let myself get hit to build it all up."

"Oh, that's cool." Qrow replied. Seriously, that did sound like a promising way to use her Semblance which, from what he gathered, Yang had always used like a one-trick pony. "So why ask this guy for help? Teachers here at Beacon couldn't tell you the same thing?"

"Maybe they tried, but I just didn't listen." Yang said, looking away somewhat, much to Qrow's concern.

"We uh... ran into a shapeshifter named Mimic." Ruby quickly put in. "A real nasty guy who did a number on us, Yang… had a real hard time with him."

"Sorry to hear that." Qrow said. "But hey, at least you're learning and moving forward"

"Yeah, just wish that maybe I'd done it sooner." Yang commented.

"So… did you get in trouble with Ozpin, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked, wanting to shift the subject a bit to something more positive. "You did tear up our courtyard."

"Eh, Oz and I go way back. We're cool." Qrow waved off.

"Even though you were the one who picked the fight in the first place, and endangered all his students?" Knuckles said with a stern look.

"Not funny." Qrow glared at him.

"Whose joking?" Knuckles glared back.

"No, he's right Qrow." Yang spoke up before any sort of argument could begin. "Someone could have really gotten hurt. Was it because you were drinking again?" She questioned as she looked towards his flask.

Qrow followed her line of sight towards his flask and put it away deeper into his coat. "Okay fine, I admit it, not my finest moment."

"Why did you do it anyway?" Ruby asked. "Do you hate Weiss' sister? She might seem a bit strict… but I talked with her, and she seems nice."

"I don't hate Winter." Qrow replied. "She and her boss just aren't on my good side right now, mostly because they brought their whole freaking army to Vale. It feels like they're gearing up for a war."

"Maybe because we are at war." Knuckles told him. "Didn't Ozpin tell you about Eggman?"

"Yeah, I heard." Qrow confirmed. "A crazy scientist with fancy robots."

"A whole army of dangerous killer robots, more advanced than what Atlas can come up with." Knuckles put in.

"And it's not just Eggman. He's recruited the White Fang!" Yang added. "We fought them a couple times and those guys are no joke!"

"He even teamed up with this other mad scientist named Dr. Merlot." Ruby said as well. "He tried to make an army of mutant Grimm! Seriously, he made three-headed Beowolves, two-headed Ursai with four arms, a mix between a Beowolf and a Death Stalker, and even a three-headed Goliath! Seriously, you should have seen that thing! It was gigantic!" She threw up her arms in exclamation before falling flat on her back.

"Eggman is dangerous, and you would be smart to take him seriously." Knuckles told the veteran Huntsman.

"Oh, I'm taking him seriously, that's not the problem." Qrow said.

"Then, what is?" Yang asked.

"It's the Grimm that are gonna follow." Qrow explained. "Ya know? The monsters that are drawn in by negativity? And there's no greater source of negative emotions than a full scale war. When the shots are fired, the monsters won't be far behind and that'll cause even more chaos. This Eggman-guy is basically a sledgehammer, but Ironwood brought another sledgehammer to try and fight back. We don't need an army, because all an army is ever good for is waging wars and Remnant doesn't need another one."

"Fair point." Knuckles understood that much. "So, speaking as a veteran Huntsman who knows this world, how would you go about it? Eggman is currently out of reach for us, but if you have any ideas that you'd like to share…"

"Heh, well if you want my opinion, I'd try and get a small team of the best Huntsman out there to take the fight to him. And you're looking at one." Qrow said.

"Do you have any ideas of where to find Eggman then?" Ruby asked. "Cause if you do, then maybe you and Sonic…"

"I got no ideas right now, but we'll find it." Qrow replied. "Don't forget, you're talking to a member of the best team to ever graduate from Beacon." He pulled out a photograph and showed it to his nieces.

Said photograph had a picture of four different people. On the far right was Qrow himself, much younger than his current age, and holding his weapon Harbinger over his shoulder. The one on the far left was a young woman in a white hooded robe with black and red-tipped hair and silver eyes who had a smile on her face. The one in the inner left was a blonde-haired man with blue eyes, who crossed his arms and leaned against a tree with a smile. The last person in the middle was a woman with long black hair and red eyes, who carried a sheathed sword by her side.

Knuckles happened to see who was on the picture too. He recognized Qrow obviously, the woman in the white hood bore a resemblance to Ruby and was clearly her mother, while the other man had a stronger resemblance to Yang, obviously their father. But it was the black-haired woman that drew his attention. Aside from her obvious resemblance towards the blonde girl he had taken under his wing… that weapon she was wielding… it was the same weapon he saw wielded by the masked woman who helped him and Rouge before against Merlot's mutant, meaning the woman in the picture…

Qrow happened to position his thumb to cover the black-haired woman's face, something Knuckles also noticed before he continued speaking.

"Team STRQ. That's when I met your parents. We were pretty well-known back in the day."

"Well-known for crummy fashion sense." Ruby commented with a smirk.

"Hey, we looked good." Qrow smirked back. "And I have a number of inappropriate stories that'll back that up." He said by raising his eyebrows rapidly before noticing the look on Yang's face as she continued to stare at the photo, almost like she was hypnotized, Knuckles happened to see that too, the look on Yang's face, as well as the alarmed look when Qrow put the photo away. "But, I'll save those for when you're older."

"Ew! Gross!" Ruby cringed.

"Anyway, you should probably get to Amity." Qrow said as he stood up. "If Weiss is anything like her sister, she's the type to be punctual. Come on, I'll walk ya to the shuttle."

Ruby stood up as well, waking up Zwei from his slumber. Yang was about to stand up to, but Knuckles happened to grab her arm.

"You go on ahead. Yang and I aren't finished with this lesson. We'll catch up." The red Echidna said.

Qrow seemed a little hesitant to leave his older niece alone with him, but Ruby seemed okay with it. "Sure, we'll meet you there." Ruby then looked to her uncle. "Since Yang isn't moving up, she doesn't have to be on time. Plus, I do wanna talk to you about something important."

The look on Ruby's face told Qrow that she was serious about wanting to talk with him, so he probably could afford to leave Yang alone with Knuckles for a brief moment to hear her out.

"Sure, let's get going." He led his younger niece away, leaving Yang with Knuckles.

"So, what is it?" Yang asked. "Did I miss something?"

Knuckles waited a brief moment to make sure Qrow as out of earshot before speaking. "You remember that masked woman that helped me and Rouge back at Merlot's lab?"

"Yeah, a lady with a Grimm mask and Dust swords. What about her?" Yang asked.

"I think that might have been your mother, Yang." Knuckles revealed.

That caused the blonde's eyes to widen like circles. Just that one sentence and she was left completely speechless. It almost felt like her heart stopped a brief moment. Her mother was there?! How…?! Why…?!

"I didn't have seen her face back then, so I wasn't sure at the time." Knuckles explained. "But when your uncle showed that picture… that one woman with black hair and red eyes… She was wielding the same weapon I saw that woman use. And while her mask covered most of her face, it was hard to ignore all that long black hair that was sticking out, which looked just like yours. But more than anything, something I didn't realize until I started training with you… the way that woman acted, how she fought, with how stubborn she was… pretty much everything about her reminded me of you. If you were using a sword instead of your fists."

Yang felt the need to sit down, which she did on the ground as Zwei made his way over to her and curled up by her side. "My mother… she was there…? So… she was helping us, right? I mean, if she worked with you against Merlot, then…?"

"Maybe. But that's not all." Knuckles said. "Yang, I know this is a lot, but I need to listen to me." He put a firm hand on her shoulder to make sure she had her undivided attention. "We both know that Qrow is involved with Ozpin, he even said they have a history together. He also said that he and his team, whom your parents and Ruby's mother were all part of, graduated from Beacon together. If that's true, then maybe there's a possibility that your whole family was involved with Ozpin's conspiracy."

That caused Yang's eyes to widen even more. "But... D-Dad's retired…Unless…" She thought for a moment. "…We haven't heard at all from him sine we left for Beacon… he even had Zwei sent here for us to watch… what if he's on a mission for Ozpin right now?!"

"That is a possibility." Knuckles granted. "But, I have one other question. Do you know what sort of mission Ruby's mother was sent on before she vanished? Did your dad or uncle ever tell you what it is?"

"N-no… they never said…" She replied before coming to some kind of realization. "You think that might have been a part of all this too!?"

"It could be… But there is something else here too." Knuckles wasn't finished. "The way Qrow acted just now… He covered your mother's face… and it seemed like he was referring to Ruby's mother and your father as both of your parents. Like he didn't even consider your mother to be a part of it. I don't know for sure, but they probably don't have the best relationship. Maybe something happened between them. Maybe it had something to do with Ozpin. Maybe she left of her own accord, or maybe she was exiled."

"Exiled?! As in… kicked out of the family…?! W-why…?" Yang stuttered.

"I don't know." Knuckles answered. "But we can't afford to jump to conclusions. These are all just ideas that are coming to mind, I could be wrong. Maybe it's just Qrow that's involved and your father doesn't want anything to do with it. Maybe what happened to Ruby's mother didn't have anything to do with Ozpin. That's all possible too. But we have to keep a cool head and focus on what we do know."

"So… what do we do, then?" Yang asked.

"For now, we have to stay focused on fighting Eggman and finding out what his target is, which also means finding out what Ozpin is hiding from us." Knuckles told her.

"But… if my mom was at Merlot's lab… then maybe she's here too, somewhere? She could have followed us, right? Maybe she's trying to help us?" Yang was clearly going through a lot of emotions right now, something Knuckles knew would happen, but she deserved to know.

"If that's the case, then why hasn't she come to us directly?" Knuckles guessed. "Maybe that might also have something to do with Ozpin, or maybe not. But again, we can't afford to split our focus right now. If we do find out what's going on with Ozpin and Qrow, maybe it might give us some answers with your mother. But if it doesn't, I promise, I'll help you find the answers your looking for."

That last bit really caught Yang's attention. "Really? Y-you'd… you'd help me find my mom…?"

"I know how it feels when a parent vanishes from your life, you know I do." Knuckles told her, placing both hands on her shoulders. "Aside from being curious myself, I know this means a lot to you, so of course I'm going to help you. It's what friends do, right?" He asked with a smile.

Yang wasted no time in wrapping her arms around him, tears forming in her clenched eyes. "Thank you…" She was confused on a lot right now, but she did know one thing for certain. She could count on Knuckles and depend on him. Whatever happens, she trusted him unconditionally.

Knuckles maintained his smile as he wrapped one arm around her in return and patted her back just as Zwei nuzzled up by Yang's side. Just as she trusted him, he would have her back no matter what.

---

Qrow escorted Ruby to the docking port where the shuttles would pick up students to take to the Amity arena, a number of students were already there, waiting for the shuttle to arrive. Though, despite being around her beloved uncle, Ruby couldn't help but feel nervous. She hadn't forgotten what Shadow told her, about Qrow not being trustworthy. As much as she didn't want to believe him on that regard, she had to admit that Shadow was at least on point with Ozpin hiding something from all of them, specifically on the headmaster withholding knowledge about whom Eggman is working with and why Beacon was being targeted. If it were just her headmaster, that would be one thing. She had only known him for when she enrolled in Beacon… but her uncle? Someone who's been a part of her family since she was born? He may not be related to her by blood, but she still considered him such. To say she was conflicted and upset about this would be an understatement.

"Hey, something wrong, Kiddo?" Qrow asked, picking up on Ruby's nervousness.

As much as she wanted to talk to him about everything that's going on, she didn't want to cause trouble for Sonic and his friends. But she still had something that she needed to talk with him about. And it's something that has been on her mind as well.

"Uncle Qrow… Why didn't you train Yang?" Ruby asked.

"I'm sorry…?" He didn't quite seem to understand what she was saying.

"Remember how I told you about that Mimic-guy messing with Yang?" Ruby began. "It was really bad. But it wasn't just because of him. Before that whole mess, Knuckles tried to tell Yang how flawed her fighting style was, challenged her to a sparring match, and she lost. She didn't take it very well, but… he was right. I didn't even see it myself, despite me being the leader of my team."

"Hey, she's your big sister. So, it makes sense you'd overlook something like that." Qrow put in.

"That doesn't make it right though." Ruby said, surprising Qrow. "I'm the leader and I need to take that seriously, even with Yang. So I need to ask, why didn't you help her? I mean, you're a pro-Huntsman. I'm sure you've seen how she used to handle her Semblance, but you only seemed to focus on me. Okay, yes. I was total garbage before, I really needed the help too, and I'm glad you were there to help me. Really, I am. But Yang needed help too. Even if you're fighting styles are different, you could have at least told her where she needed help, and I'm sure she would have listened to you. So why didn't you?"

Qrow did not expect Ruby to act in this sort of manner. On one hand, he was proud of how serious she was taking her role as a leader; but on the other hand, it felt like she was also interrogating him and that wasn't something he really was expecting from her of all people. But her concerns were valid, and she was owed an answer.

"Okay… maybe I did notice a few things." He said. "But, for the most part, she seemed to handle herself well. And like you said, you needed my help more. I try not to think like I'm prioritizing one of my nieces over the other or whatever, but as a teacher I felt I'd probably best help the person who needed it more. And hey, she's at least getting help now, right? What about your old man? I'm sure he helped her too, right?"

"…I do want to talk to Dad later about this." Ruby replied. "But… I just wish that maybe you could have been at least said something to her. I'm just upset that Yang only realized how bad it was with her because she was fighting a dangerous killer."

"Hey, even a lesson learned the hard way, is still a lesson learned." Qrow put in.

"But why didn't you say something to her beforehand?" Ruby continued. "Not just while you were at Signal? Why didn't you come home? Why did you leave right after I got accepted into Beacon?"

"Someone's gotta help you guys with money." Qrow responded. "And being a pro-Huntsman isn't like punching a timeclock where I can be home by six-thirty."

"We barely see you at all." Ruby said, turning fully toward him. "Sure, you try to make our birthdays, and even when you can't you at least call us. But… you're home like once or twice a year. Maybe it's not like a day at the office, but not every Huntsman job takes a year to do, right? After we loss Mom…" Ruby paused a bit. "You know how Dad shut down. He might be getting better now but… Yang basically raised me by herself. I… I just wish you were home more often. We miss you… I miss you. Can't you take a week off or something to just come by and talk with us? Why are you always gone? We're family, aren't we?"

"Ruby I…" Qrow hesitated before speaking. "Of course, we're family. Look, I'm sorry I'm not as home as I would like to be. And I'm sorry that you and Yang had a hard time growing up. I wanted to be there for you…"

"Then why aren't you?" Ruby asked with a sincere expression, hoping for a good answer. An answer that would mean she could trust him.

There was hesitation once more right before Qrow gave his answer. "Because a Huntsman is responsible for protecting the whole world. Creatures of Grimm, terrorists and criminals, those guys don't punch timeclocks either. You'd be surprised at the kind of stuff that goes on outside the kingdom's boarders. It's a lot to tackle, and somebody has to be there."

"But aren't there a lot of professional Huntsman out there though?" Ruby asked.

"Not nearly as many as there should be." Qrow said with reluctance.

That wasn't the kind of answer Ruby was looking for. She was hoping that he was saying he was doing some kind of special assignment. Like maybe fighting a specific bad guy, or a specific job that requires a long time commitment. But this was all very broad and vague, noting solid or concrete. It seemed like Qrow was purposely trying to hide something from her. Just as Shadow had warned her about.

"Hey, shuttle's here." Qrow pointed to the incoming ship. As soon as it docked, the students immediately began to file in. "You should get going."

"What about you? Aren't you coming?" Ruby asked.

"Eh, I'll catch the next one." He waved off. "I'm too old to be hanging around a bunch of kids. You'd cramp my style." Though he smirked, hoping he would get a laugh of a grin from his niece, he noticed a look of disappointment in her eyes, which caused him to sigh before he put his hand on her head to draw her attention "Look kiddo, the world is a pretty crazy place. Not everything is gonna go the way you want it to. You still got a lot to learn. Don't think for a second that graduating means you're done. Every day out there, is worth a week in this place. But you and your sister, you two are gonna go far… but only if you keep learning. If you never stop moving forward. Now get going."

Ruby gave a single nod, taking in everything he said and entering the shuttle. Once she was inside, the doors closed and the ship took off, flying straight for the floating colosseum.

Qrow had a feeling that Ruby was probing for some answers regarding Ozpin and the war that was going on behind the scenes. And given she has her mother's eyes; it was highly likely that she would learn about Salem eventually. But she wasn't ready to know that yet, neither was Yang. But if anyone threatened her, be it one of Salem's henchmen, or even Sonic and his friends, he would fight them with everything he had. He may not have been there to Summer; but he won't make the same mistake with her daughter.

---

Back at the pavilion, Weiss had stood straight, her sword pointing down towards a large Glyph on the floor as her elder sister stood behind her.

"Excellent form." Winter said. "Now, think to your fallen foes. The ones who forced you to push yourself past who you were and become who you are now. Think of them and watch as they come to your side."

Weiss gritted her teeth as she tried to focus as hard as she could, the Glyph spinning rapidly on the floor, but nothing else was happening, no matter how hard she pictured it. The picture in her mind was like a solid ice statue, but yet she couldn't grasp it at all.

"I can't!" She gave up, her Glyph vanishing, right as Winter smacked her in the back of the head.

"Stop doubting yourself!"

"I'm trying!" Weiss exclaimed, turning to her older sister.

"If this is what you call 'trying', then you have no hope in winning the tournament, let alone succeeding as a huntress!" Winter stated. "Why don't you just move back home? I'm sure Father will give you a nice job as a receptionist."

The thought of her going back to her father again, made Weiss' face go pale. She didn't know why, but her mind immediately thought back to when Mimic took her father's form and essentially tortured her with her own weapon.

"What's wrong? Don't want any advice from dear old Daddy?"

"You're really not living up to the family name, little princess."

"This must bring back memories for you. Domestic abuse can leave quite the mark."

"Come on little princess… why not scream for Daddy?"

"Weiss…! Weiss!" Winter shook her by the shoulders to shake her out of her trance.

"Wha… what…? What happened…?" Weiss blinked a few times to try and regain her senses.

"You looked like you had seen a ghost. What happened?" Winter questioned with concern.

She wanted to say what happened with Mimic, but how could she say that? How could she confess how completely helpless she was to her older sister? She was inspiring to be a Huntress. She didn't want to be a damsel in distress. What would Sonic say to her about that?

'Wait… what would Sonic do in this situation?' Weiss thought for a moment before an idea came to her.

"I want to try again. Please, let me start over." Weiss told her sister.

Winter didn't respond right away, still concerned for her younger sibling, but gave a single nod to allow her to start over.

Once more, Weiss turned around and aimed her sword, a Glyph appeared on the floor and slowly begun to spin. But rather than focus hard on the ice-sculptor image of her fallen foe, she took a deep breath and tried to relax herself.

'Sonic the Hedgehog… he's as free as the wind. He doesn't let anything hold him back. He goes wherever he wants, and does whatever he pleases. And… that's the kind of life I want for myself. I want to travel the world… I want to meet new people… experience new things… I… I want to be free. I want to be free as the wind!'

As she thought about Sonic, she thought about how her journey to Beacon started. Her match against the Arma Gigas back at Atlas to prove to her father that she could handle herself as a Huntress and leave her home, that's how it all started. And look how far she's come now. She's no longer that same girl. She was not only stronger physically, but emotionally as well. From the moment she met Ruby and Sonic, her live has been incredibly spontaneous. And she enjoyed every moment of it.

"You don't have to worry about him anymore."

"It's still your life. And your dad, no matter what he thinks, he's got absolutely no right to say what you can or can't do."

"You decide how you want to live your life, you are free to choose, and nobody can take that away from you. No one."

"Maybe not everything will work out the way you want, but you're still as free as the wind."

'That's right.' Weiss thought to herself as her own Glyph began to glow, much to Winter's surprise. 'I am free! I…! AM...! FREE…!"

Her Glyph glowed a bright white light, which caused her to close and shield her eyes, halting the Summoning process. But, once she opened her eyes, Weiss was completely shocked to see a large glowing white sword lying on the ground in front of her. The same kind the Arma Gigas wielded when she fought it.

"Did… Did I just…" She stuttered right before the sword vanished like snowflakes.

"You did it." Winter told her as she put a hand on her shoulder and gave a proud smile. "Your first Summon. Albeit incomplete, but you actually summoned something. Your first step. And the first step is always the hardest."

Weiss looked to her own hands as a large smile form don her face. "I did it…" She resisted to the urge to cheer in the same manner her partner and leader would and embarrass herself in front of her sister, but she was beyond happy for herself. But even though she wouldn't do that, she would still speak her mind.

"Winter… I don't want to go back to Atlas." Weiss began, surprising the eldest Schnee daughter. "Don't take that the wrong way, I have every intention of redeeming my family name, but I think I can do that outside of Atlas. Ever since I left home, I've come to realize just how corrupt our family image truly is. Nearly everyone thinks of us as the scum of the Remnant, and if I go back to Atlas and simply take over the company, that image may still remain. But as a Huntress… I can let my actions define not only the Schnee name… but myself as well. Once I graduate from here, I want to travel the world and help as many people as I can. I want to experience everything Remnant has to offer, the good and the bad. And I want to do that with my team. My friends."

In that moment, Winter couldn't be prouder of her sister. She was openly speaking her mind about what she wanted, and she knew what she wanted to. Her leaving Atlas and coming to Beacon was clearly the best choice she ever made.

"If that's what you want, then do it." Winter grasped Wiess by her shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. "It's your choice, your life. But no matter what, I'm here for you."

"I know. And you have no idea how much that means to me." Weiss said emotionally as she and Winter shared a hug with one another.

"Now, let's get you to your match. It'll start soon." Winter said as she led her younger sister away.

---

Amity Arena was once again a buzz of anticipation and excitement as the Doubles Round was now underway, and the contestants were already on the arena with Emerald and Mercury facing off against Coco and Yatsuhashi, the man sitting meditatively next to his partner. The holo-screens surrounding them were already in the process of randomly selecting the environments they would be fighting in.

"Emerald and Mercury of Haven versus Coco and Yatsuhashi of Beacon!" Port announced.

"Good luck, you two!" Velvet cheered for her teammates as she and Fox sat next to Scarlet and Sage.

Winter was standing at one area of the arena, near one of the pathways where the spectators would come in and out of. And on the opposite side of the arena, Qrow was leaning against the wall of the same spot, his arms crossed as he kept an eye on the match.

Meanwhile, Ruby, Yang, and Weiss both sat near Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails. The seven of them were sitting close to their allies, but also at a relative distance form Cinder and Mary Poppins. Ruby and Weiss both looked somewhat nervous as two of their fellow students were now about to go up against two potential infiltrators. But they both happened to look towards Sonic, who gave them reassuring smiles, which caused them some sort of relief while Yang, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy would be keeping a close eye on this match. And they were not the only ones.

Shadow, Omega, and Rouge were closer to the arena, standing near one of the entrance tunnels where they were soon joined by Blake, Ren, and Jaune to get a closer view of the action.

"Do you recognize either of them from your time in the White Fang?" Shadow asked Blake.

"No." The cat Faunus shook her head. "When I was still there, they wouldn't even consider allying with humans."

"Looks like things have changed, it seems." Ren commented.

"You can probably thank Eggman for that." Rouge said.

"But we still don't know for sure if they're involved with that Cinder lady and Torchwick's partner, right?" Jaune asked.

"Which is why we are observing this fight to confirm whether or not that is true." Omega stated. "All my sensors are now active and focused on the match. Whatever secrets they have, their weapons or Semblances, I will determine them here and now."

"Keep those ears of yours peeled too, kid." Rouge advised Blake as her own ears perked up. "They may just come in handy." Blake nodded in response as they saw the environment in the arena changing.

Aside from the center portion, the arena was divided into four. One section was based off a savanna where super tall grass and plants stretched upward. On the right was an environment was based off that of a ruined city. There was also a rocky and geyser-based environment. And the last one was a forested area.

"Hey, love the outfit, kid." Coco complemented Emerald, tipping her sunglasses down slightly.

"I'll try not to get blood on it." The green-haired replied.

Yatsuhashi stood up and drew his sword. "I can't promise you'll leave without a scratch."

"I won't be the one bleeding." Emerald smirked as she rolled her shoulder.

"Oh, I like her." Coco was already fired up.

"Three… two… one… begin!" Port announced.

But rather than charge directly into the fight like most other previous matches, Emerald and Mercury slowly backed away into the elongated grass of the savanna environment. The plants were so tall that it didn't take very long for the two to disappear from sight completely.

Coco and Yatsuhashi exchanged glances before the former drew her massive gatling gun, Gianduja, and opened fire. Her rapid-fire shots quickly cut down all the grass to deprive the enemy of their hiding spot. Though a few stray bullets would hit the forcefield that was protecting the audience. However, despite mowing down the lawn, so-to-speak, there was absolutely no sign of the enemy, much to both of their concern.

"Above you!" Velvet warned her teammates.

Mercury suddenly fell down, seemingly from the sky, and was gunning straight for Coco. But Yatsuhashi quickly pushed her out of the way and used his enormous sword, Fulcrum, to block the attack. Mercury pressed both his boots against the sword before Yatsuhashi threw him off. He spun in the air before landing and faced both Coco and Yatsuhashi with a smirk. Coco fired off immediately, prompting Mercury to dash away, the bullets from Coco's gun just barley at his feet. Sonic and Knuckles were the first to catch this.

"He's good." Sage commented.

"Yeah, but where's the girl?" Scarlet wondered.

Mercury appeared in-between Coco and Yatsuhashi, and jumped up to avoid the horizontal slice from the latter while kicking away the gun of the former. As soon as he landed, Mercury dealt a powerful kick to Yatsuhashi and followed through with a flipping kick to the face and knock him off balance. He glanced behind to see Coco aiming Gianduja at him and jumped up just as she opened fire. He landed on her gun and kicked her in the face. Yatsuhashi slashed at him again, but Mercury jumped to avoid that, but was unable to avoid a smack from the man's arm which sent him over Coco. But he grabbed her by the back of her collar and kick the back of her gun so that it pointed directly into Yatsusashi's stomach, something Team Dark took notice of.

Coco quickly converted Gianduja from its gatling gun mode to its suitcase and swung it at Mercury, who backflipped to get some distance before kicking at his own feet and shooting a pair of projectiles at the pair. Coco batted one away while Yatsuhashi used Pilgrim to slice the other. However, both were surprised to see Mercury standing on his hands and spinning his feet, kicking out several projectiles that spun around him almost like a vortex before sending all of them towards the pair of students.

This resulted in multiple explosions erupting all around and in-between them, pushing both of them closer towards the forest environment. Though Coco and Yatsuhashi were left largely unscathed, it provided enough of a smokescreen to allow Mercury a chance to appear behind them. He quickly grabbed both of their hands with his own and slammed them into each other, and moved in-between, still keeping firm grips on their hands as he kicked each of them before delivering a double-kick to Coco and knocking her towards the edge of the forest.

Before she even had the chance to recover, a set of chains came out from the shadows of the trees to ensnare Coco and then yank her deep into the forest.

"Coco!" Yatsuhashi called to her.

"Should worry about yourself!" Mercury said as he gave a spinning kick to his face once more. But this only seemed to anger the man as he quickly reached out and grabbed Mercury by the face and used his strength to haul and throw him into the geyser environment. Mercury bounced across the rock and water before stopping and landing flat on his back. Pressing the advantage, Yatsuhashi jumped high into the air and came back down, hauling Pilgrim up and brought it down toward his enemy.

But Mercury held up both his feet to kick and block Yatsusashi's massive strike. The force of the impact was strong enough to create a shockwave that tore up much of the rocky terrain and erupt several of the surrounding geysers.

Despite being blind, even Fox felt the pressure from that force. 'He's strong enough to hold back Yatsuhashi?!' And he wasn't the only one who felt that way. Yang looked towards Knuckles with concern while the red Echidna returned the look with a serious expression of his own.

Mercury then kicked back Fulcrum and tried to utilize a roundhouse, but Yatsuhashi jumped over Mercury to land behind him and swung Pilgrim at Mercury, who blocked and parried it with his boots and legs. He hauled up his left leg and brought it down in front of the larger man to kick up a rock, which he proceeded to kick into Yatsusashi's face, knocking him off balance once again as he tried to retaliate with a swing, while Mercury got on his hands and spun his feet around to kick the sword away before dealing a double-kick to his gut and another to the face, knocking Yatsuhashi down, his head falling into a small geyser, which erupted right there.

"Ooooh." Sonic winced at that.

Yatsuhashi tried to stand back up, but he was in a complete daze, seeing spots and unable to get a sense of direction… leaving him open for Mercury to finish him off.

---

Meanwhile, Coco had been pulled backwards into the forest by the chains that ensnared her before her back was slammed hard into a tree. She tried to shake off the cobwebs and felt her face, but was surprised to not feel her precious sunglasses…

Only to see that they were on the ground, broken.

"I take it back…" She muttered, standing up. "I don't like her."

She heard a gunshot and just barely limboed a single shot and then backflipped to avoid the gun fire shot at her by Emerald's weapon, Thief's Respite, while she was in one tree. Coco then brought out Gianduja in its gatling-mode again and retaliated, shooting at Emerald who jumped and flipped from that one tree, all while firing back with Thief's Respite, and using the hooks of her weapon to swing from tree-to-tree and avoid the devastating gunfire. But as she swung past one tree…

Coco scowled to see that Emerald had disappeared completely. "Damn…"

"Coco!" She heard Yatsusashi's voice and turned around to see it was him coming to join her.

"Watch out! She's in the trees!" She warned, but as she did… she heard a buzzer sound off.

"Oh, with that final blow, Yatsuhashi is eliminated!" Port announced. Coco looked up at the screen to see the footage of Mercury dealing a powerful enough kick to knock Yatsuhashi unconscious.

"What?!" But her teammate was right behind her, wasn't he? She turned around to see that Yatsuhashi was no longer there. What the hell was going on? Was it that girl's Semblance. She looked around, saw no sign of her opponent at all. She held her gun, but her hands were starting to shake.

So much so that she didn't even notice Emerald right behind her, who unfurled her weapons and slashed at her.

---

Coco's unconscious form was dropped next to Yatsuhashi, followed by another buzzer, signaling the end of the match as Emerald walked out of the forest, spinning around her chained weapon in one hand with a confident smile as she matched her partner.

"And with an amazing upset, Emerald and Mercury are victorious!" Oobleck announced.

"Oh… Coco…" Velvet looked sad for her teammate and friend, prompting Fox to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, at least they put up a good fight." Scarlet tried to pick up her spirits.

"They did their best." Sage said as well, despite both feeling disappointed for Coco and Yatsusashi's loss as well.

Cinder sat in her spot with a smirk on her face, while the disguised Neopolitan was unfazed, resting her chin on her hand with a bored expression. So they were pretty good, though that Emerald's Semblance was similar to hers, meaning she might have to watch out for her.

Ruby, Yang, and Weiss weren't sure what to make of the fight, while Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were also serious and Sonic took a moment to think.

'Didn't see that girl fight… but that guy was pretty quick on his feet.' The blue Hedgehog thought. 'Not as fast as me or even Ruby, but still…'

"Well?" Jaune asked Team Dark, along with Blake and Ren. "What did we get from that? Because I'm not sure if I really caught a whole lot of that. That guy mostly fought with his feet like you, Rouge. But I didn't see the girl's fight."

"That guy's weapon seems to be in his boots, like a pair of shotguns." Rouge noted.

"Yeah, I heard that too." Blake agreed. "Kinda like Yang's gauntlets."

"They were not just in his boots." Omega reported. "The one known as Mercury possess a pair of prosthetics legs, with his weapons built into them."

"Prosthetics?!" Jaune questioned with even Blake looking in surprise. "So… his real legs…"

"We're likely amputated." Shadow noted. "Whether it happened recently or earlier in his life, I'm not sure. But that's not even the most concerning note. I didn't even see a Semblance activate from him. Not once."

"What if it was something we couldn't see?" Ren wondered before thinking on the situation himself. "Though with the way he was fighting… it didn't seem like he even needed a Semblance. He was that good."

"Okay, so what about the girl?" Jaune asked.

"She used the forest for cover, perhaps to likely conceal her Semblance. But she could not fool me." Omega projected a hologram of a recording he took from the fight and removed the trees to show Coco standing in the middle with Emerald walking behind her. Though they also noticed Coco turning back to see her before turning around again.

"Wait… why didn't Coco fight if she saw her coming?" Jaune questioned.

"'Watch out. She's in the trees.'" Rouge quoted, getting their attention as her ears fluttered. "Those were her exact words."

"She thought that was her partner." Blake muttered.

"A Semblance likely capable of causing visual distortion." Omega said.

"Like Torchwick's partner?" Ren asked.

"Not entirely." Omega paused the holographic recording and shifted the visuals through several spectrums before focusing on one that turned the hologram yellow to reveal a green aura-like structure centered around the still of both Coco and Emerald. "The female allied with Torchwick has a Semblance that creates a visual illusion around herself and the general area. However, the one known as Emerald's ability seems to focus more on a specific target while she herself remains unchanged."

"She causes hallucinations." Shadows deduced.

"Precisely." Omega confirmed.

"So we got a girl who can cause hallucinations, which seems perfect for stealth-ops, and a guy who's pretty much a master of close-ranged combat who may not even need a Semblance…" Rouge listed off. "Yeah, you don't just turn up students that good."

"So you think they're involved with that Cinder?" Jaune asked. "Like, actual accomplices and not hostages."

"They're involved." Shadow said without a hint of hesitation. "The whole team is in league with Eggman. Omega, send the data to Sonic and the others via their Scrolls. We make no mention of this to Ozpin and the others yet, not until we have confirmation from Tails' anti-virus later today."

"Affirmative." Omega acknowledged as he remotely sent the info.

"The rest of you, keep this quiet until then as well." The black Hedgehog told Blake, Jaune, and Ren. "We can't let them know we're onto them yet, not until we find out what their target is."

"Understood." Ren nodded along with Blake, to which Jaune just had a serious but understanding look on his face.

"Don't worry, we won't say anything."

They turned around to see Pyrrha and Nora approaching them, the former being the one who spoke.

"Yeah, we can keep a secret." Nora said as well.

"You guys heard all that, huh?" Rouge said with an unsurprised smirk.

"Pyrrha? Nora? What are you guys doing here?" Jaune asked.

"Our match is up next." Pyrrha answered, pulling out her scroll. "The next participants in the Doubles Round are alerted prior to the previous battle so that we're ready move along once said battle is over."

"I'm honestly glad that we're not up against those last two guys." Nora said. "Not that I think we couldn't take em, but since they're spies and all that, I didn't want to fight some kind of secret assassin that had poison-tipped weapons hidden on them or anything like that."

"Our next match is about to begin!" Oobleck announced. "Will the participants please make their way to the arena?"

"They are moving along rather quick." Ren noted.

"Probably because Ozpin and everyone else are worried about Eggman and the White Fang, so they want to get these rounds done quickly and not worry about them showing up in the middle of it all." Blake assumed.

"We should get going then." Jaune said as he, Ren, Blake, and Team Dark went back down the tunnel, though he stopped to say something to Pyrrha. "Good luck, not that you need it but…"

"I'll be fine. Thank you, Jaune." Pyrrha smiled and nodded, to which Jaune smiled back before running off. Pyrrha then noticed Nora leaning in and giving a teasing and knowing smirk toward her.

"You should have kissed him or something."

"Nora…!" Pyrrha placed a hand over her own mouth with a blush.

"Yeah, you're right. It would be way better if you did it before the Singles Round, or even winning the whole dang thing!" Nora stated. "Way more romantic that way."

"Enough… please…" Pyrrha tried to hold back an embarrassing laugh, to which Nora just nudged her by the arm.

"Come on, just teasing ya. Let's go out there and kick some butt, partner!" The pink-clad girl proclaimed as she threw an arm around her partner.

"Yes, let's." Pyrrha smiled back.

---

Jaune, Blake, and Ren had met up with the rest of Team RWBY as well as Team Sonic and sat down next to them.

"Just in time, they're about to start." Amy said.

"Did you guys get the message?" Blake asked discretely.

"Yeah, we got it." Sonic confirmed, briefly holding up his scroll before putting it away. Everyone else on Teams Sonic and RWBY looked incredibly serious as they all got the message. They knew that Mercury and Emerald were all involved now.

With that, they all turned back to the arena to see Pyrrha and Nora were now up in the middle of the arena, facing off against Sun and Neptune. The holo-screens once again in the process of randomly selecting the environment for the next battle.

"We have ourselves some fan-favorites here!" Oobleck announced as the audience began to cheer. "We have Pyrrha and Nora of Beacon against Sun and Neptune of Haven!"

---

Meanwhile, Ozpin continued to sit in his office, watching the match about to unfold on the screen projected from his desk. He would be paying close attention to this particular battle, specifically on the red-haired girl participating in it.

---

The surrounding environments the two-person teams had been determined, with four different landscapes rising up all around them like before. One was a desert-based area filled with nothing but sand and dunes, another was a valley filled with several small hills, the third was a frozen tundra, and the last one to complete the circle was a beach with the ocean behind it, much to Neptune's horror as he gasped at the sight of it.

"Ah damn it…" He muttered.

"Looks like you forgot to bring your floaties." Nora teased.

While Neptune pouted at that, Sun actually chuckled at the joke. "Nice one."

"Here's hoping for a good fight." Pyrrha nodded.

"You too." Sun nodded back. "But don't think we're gonna go easy on ya just because we're friends."

"I would be ashamed if you did." Pyrrha replied with approval.

"But Weiss did have us promise that if we were to fight you in the tournament, we'd make Neptune suffer." Nora said bluntly, pointing behind the boys.

Neptune happened to turn around and see Weiss glaring at him from the audience as she made a cut-throat expression with her thumb to her neck, causing Neptune to go pale.

"Hey, you know the old saying… hell hath no fury like a girl who's really pissed off." Nora grinned almost maniacally as she drew Magnhild, while Pyrrha did the same for Milo and Akouo.

"Three… Two… One… Begin!" Port announced.

Immediately, the two teams rushed and collided in the middle with Nora being on the attack first, swinging Magnhild at Neptune and Sun, with the former ducking and the other pulling out his weapon in its staff form to block before converting it into it's nunchuck-mode to wrap it around the mallet of Nora's hammer, right as Neptune recovered and drew Tri-Hard in its trident-form to block the swing from Pyrrha's sword and shield. He tried to use it to yank it away from her, only for Nora to use the beartrap on her mallet to catch part of the weapon. Both appeared to be stuck together as Nora grinned at the monkey Faunus.

"Gotcha!"

Sun smirked back as he used his agility to flip up, still holding onto Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang with his hands and clap his feet onto the sides of Nora's head and flip over her, wrenching his weapon free before landing behind her.

"You sure about that?" Sun then rushed Nora to spin his weapon around chaotically in its nunchuck mode and smacked it all around Nora, who tried to block it with the pole of her own weapon and swung her mallet at him, but Sun's own speed and agility made attacking and blocking all that difficult as he quickly rolled and leapt around and over her to smack her repeatedly across her body with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang,

"Come on, Nora! You can do this!" Jaune called to her.

"Show him what you're made of Hammer Harpy!" Amy called out as well.

"Nora is strong, but Sun has the advantage in speed and agility." Ren commented, but he still kept a confident smile. "But, she's never been one to go down so easily."

The pink-clad girl happened to duck under the next staff-swing from Sun and held Magnhild over her back to spin it rapidly to beat him back. However, Sun back-flipped briefly before vaulting himself straight up with his staff and coming back down to slam his feet onto her to push her to the ground.

Pyrrha noticed the trouble her teammate was in, and despite having Milo caught in-between the prongs of Tri-Hard and using Akouo to keep the blades from coming close to her, despite appearing that Neptune had her in weapons in a lock, she was able to channel a tiny bit of her Polarity Semblance to wrench her weapons free and deliver a spinning kick to Neptune's jaw while simultaneously throwing Akouo out like a frisbee towards Sun, who limboed to avoid it.

"Ha, nice try!" He pointed toward her, but this left him open for Akouo to come back and strike him in the back of the head as the shield returned to Pyrrha's hand before rushing Sun and swinging her sword at him, which he used his staff to block as he recovered before quickly converting his weapon into its nunchuck-mode, while Pyrrha simultaneously converted Akouo into its javelin-mode as she used that and her shield to block all of Sun's rapid nunchuck strikes, her own agility and speed matching his.

Neptune had recovered and converted Tri-Hard into its rifle-mode and aimed it at Pyrrha, whose back was to him. He and Sun locked eyes as they nodded with Sun appearing to lock Pyrrha down by tangling his weapon with hers before Neptune fired a series of electric blasts…

Only for Nora to leap in front of them and take the shots herself. The electricity surged through her body and further increased her already impressive strength.

"Thanks for the pick-me-up!" Nora cackled, much to Neptune's horror before she jumped high into the air, with Neptune desperately trying to run away to avoid the devastating impact that all but obliterated the central part of the arena, the shockwave blasting Neptune towards the icy tundra environment.

"Oh, that would have been bad for Neptune!" Oobleck commented. "A shot like that would have been a one-hit KO!"

"But he dodged, so the fight isn't over yet." Port said for emphasis.

The shockwave from Nora's strike was enough to knock Sun and Pyrrha off their balance briefly, but the redhead recovered quickly enough to thrust Magnhild at Sun's open chest, adding an extra amount of force with her Polarity, and send him flying towards the same area where Neptune was in.

"Nora, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as she joined her teammate.

"Still kicking." She affirmed with a smile.

"See?" Ren said to all his friends. "Nora's still good."

"And with someone like Pyrrha backing her, they're an unstoppable duo!" Jaune said enthusiastically.

"But even if her Semblance does let her absorb electricity, it can still damage her Aura, right?" Knuckles asked.

"Only if it's too strong for her, and she's trained her body so that she can take a decent amount of electricity." Ren responded.

"Like a bolt of lightning." Tails said, recalling JNPR's match in the teams round.

"Yes. But, if she takes like maybe three or even four bolts of lightning in a row, or an even stronger current… then you might need to worry." Ren commented.

Yang couldn't help but twinge a bit, once again recalling how her Semblance is very similar to Nora's, while everyone else kept their eyes focused on the match unfolding in front of them.

"We can't keep going like this." Neptune said to Sun as they recovered.

"Yeah, we gotta take Invincible Girl out of the picture." His teammate and leader agreed. "Lure her to the water and try and zap her like you did last time. I'll take care of Nora. If you need help, I'll come in and kick her into it."

"Uh… you lost me at 'water'." Neptune said meekly while Sun just groaned. However, they both saw Nora and Pyrrha charging at them.

"We don't have a choice! Just do it! Face your fears, man!" The monkey Faunus pushed Neptune away while he backflipped in the opposite direction, towards the hilly environment.

"Oh, help me…" The blue-haired young man groaned before he ran towards the ocean-area.

Pyrrha and Nora stopped briefly as they saw their opponents splitting up. Nora muttered something inaudible to the audience to her partner, to which Pyrrha looked with a tad bit of concern, but nodded anyways, trusting her teammate's judgement. They too split off to go after Neptune and Sun respectively.

"Wait… they're splitting up?" Ruby questioned.

"Makes sense given their opponents are doing the same thing, but they're going after the wrong opponents." Weiss stated.

"Sun is too quick and agile for Nora, and she can take the electricity from Neptune's weapon." Blake added. "At least Pyrrha could hold her own against Sun. Why move at a disadvantage?"

"Hold on… let's see where this goes." Sonic told them with a knowing smile. "I got a feeling something good's about to happen." This caused Ruby, Weiss, and Blake to share concerned looks before turning back toward the fight.

Sun had managed to make his way to the top of the tallest hill in his environment with Nora at the base of it. "Hey! Up for a game of 'King of the Hill'?!" Sun called down to her before sitting down and taking a meditative position. Sun had activated his Semblance, creating four glowing golden clones of himself, all of whom leapt down at Nora.

She had Magnhild at the ready as she swung it rapidly in all directions, but the clones proved to be every bit as quick and agile as Sun himself, avoiding nearly all the strikes and laying down successful punches and kicks to keep Nora constantly off-balance.

"Ooh, it seems Nora's in a bit of a bind here, folks!" Oobleck commented. "Sun appears to have her both out-numbered and out-matched!"

"Come on Nora…!" Jaune clenched his fists while Amy looked somewhat nervous and Ren had a steel-clad look on his face, having complete faith in his lifelong friend, but he was starting to feel a bit nervous too.

Meanwhile, Neptune had managed to make his way to the beach environment, but skidded to a halt and winced as he saw he was a couple feet away from the shallow water. He then turned around to see Pyrrha quickly making his way towards him, to which Neptune had his Tri-Hard ready in its trident-mode, which he lunged at Pyrrha. She blocked it with Milo and swerved around to try and swipe at him with Akouo, but he quickly pulled back to block her strike with his pole, the force of the strike though knocked him toward the side and onto the sand.

His pupils shrunk as he saw the water flowing up and down, coming somewhat close to his face, but he quickly rolled further away and took a brief sigh of relief. Despite still being down however, Neptune converted Tri-Hard into its guandao-mode and lunged the glowing blue blade into the sand at Pyrrha's feet, creating an electrical explosion that threw her up into the air, and towards the water.

'Okay, just like before! A quick dab… and it'll all be over!' He tip-toed towards the water, closed his eyes and prepared to lunge the blade…

Only for Milo, which had been tossed like a frisbee by Pyrrha while she was in mid-air, to knock the weapon out of his hands and into the air, much to Neptune's shock. Pyrrha used this to quickly dash out of the water and deal a kick to Neptune's chest and catch Tri-Hard in her own hand.

"Bait and switch! I believe that is called the 'bait and switch'!" Oobleck commentated while Team RWBY looked in surprise, Team Sonic appearing to be impressed, and Jaune sharing a smile with Ren.

"Pyrrha has claimed Neptune's weapon for her own! As if she wasn't a force to be reckoned with already." Port added.

"You intended to lure me into the water and neutralize me the same way you did with Team NDGO." Pyrrha deduced, much to Neptune's shock, but she still smiled. "Not a bad strategy, but your approach was too obvious and easy to see through. You might want to work on that."

'Just like Nora said.' Pyrrha thought to herself, mentally complementing her friend on the idea. 'Now it's our turn.'

"Nora!" The redhead called out as she held Tri-Hard in its guandao-mode like a javelin and threw it in the direction of the hilly environment, adding a bit of a boost with her Semblance.

Despite being continuously beaten on by Sun's clones, with Nora herself curled up near the ground, she heard Pyrrha call her name and knew what to do next. Quickly converting Magnhild into its grenade-launcher form, she fired a point-blank blast onto the ground, creating an explosion that not only blew Sun's clones away, awakening him from his trance and surprising him a great deal, but even sending her flying straight up into the air where the flying Tri-Hard would be, and caught it with her free hand.

Nora happened to land on the same hill that Sun was on and jammed the electric blade of the stolen weapon into her side and zapped herself with plenty of electricity, much to Sun's further surprise.

"Yeah, I'm up for a game of 'Queen of the Hill'!" She kept her smirk up as the electricity surged through her once more, giving her the physical boost needed to grab Sun by his jacket and spin around rapidly almost like a tornado before letting go and tossing Sun out of the arena, where he impacted the forcefield protecting the audience and landed hard on the ground.

"And Sun is eliminated by ring out!" Port announced.

Scarlet put his hand to his face at that while Sage just shook his head in disappointment.

Pyrrha smiled at the outcome and turned to the incredibly nervous Neptune right as Nora quickly joined up with them, with Magnhild and Tri-Hard in both of her hands. What now? Neptune had no weapon! What about his Semblance…? No! No way! Maybe if this were a life-and-death situation where he had no choice… but this was only a tournament match. And even if he could… he wouldn't last two seconds against these two together.

"I surrender!" He raised his hands in defeat.

"Ah, party pooper." Nora sulked.

"Very well." Pyrrha accepted.

"Neptune has forfeited the match! That means Pyrrha and Nora are victorious!" Oobleck announced, resulting in the audience clapping.

"Alright! Wahoo!" Sonic and Ruby both cheered as they and the rest of their respective teams, along with Jaune, Ren, all stood up, cheered, and clapped their hands together.

Nora walked over and handed Neptune his weapon, back, which he took somewhat nervously. "You put up a good fight." Pyrrha acknowledged as he offered her hand to shake, to which he accepted. "And the fact you were willing to face your fear in the heat battle shows that you're strong. You have a lot of potential, Neptune. I'm sure you'll overcome it someday."

"Uh… yeah... Thanks." Neptune smiled before putting on a tough act. "I mean… I don't know what you're talking about! I have no fear of water at all!"

"How about a fear of angry girls?" Nora teased, causing Neptune to comically sulk. "Friendly advice, watch your back around a certain Ice Queen. And take women more seriously."

"Yeah… okay." Neptune walked off, leaving the two teammates.

"Your plan was brilliant, Nora. Albeit reckless… but still." Pyrrha congratulated her friend.

"Well, it couldn't have worked without your arm. It's about as invincible as the rest of you." She playfully nudged her arm to the Pyrrha's side.

Pyrrha smiled as she took Nora's hand and raised it up high for the whole audience, giving her the credit and praise she deserves, causing the audience to clap and cheer extra loudly, especially their friends. Nora was somewhat surprised to see Pyrrha do this for her. Sure, she always considered her a reliable friend, but this kind of credit and praise…? She happened to look towards the direction of her friends where she not only saw Amy give her a thumbs up and a wink, but even Ren smiling and nodding. That caused her to blush as a wide smile formed on her face.

---

Professor Ozpin also smiled as he saw everything from his office. But it wasn't just for his students' victory, it was how they won. Though they had come up with a solid, it was rather reckless on Nora's part. But Pyrrha's strength and faith was able to help them get this win. But the ending is what really sold it for him. Pyrrha made sure that Nora received all the praise and credit that she deserved and not hog it all for herself, not that he expected her to do so, she was one of his most kind and humble students.

And that was what he was looking for. Not just strength and talent, but intelligence, and kindness. Anyone is capable of being a warrior, but to be a guardian, one must have proper strength of body, mind, and heart. And Pyrrha had all that in abundance.

He had found his candidate.

---

"Well, looks like they're making it to the singles." Sonic commented as Nora and Pyrrha had made their way off the arena as the audience continued to clap and cheer.

"Technically only one of them will be advancing, and I believe it will be Pyrrha." Weiss said.

"Oh, for sure." Yang agreed.

"That's not really up to us, but their team." Amy said as she looked towards Ren and Jaune.

"So, whose up next?" Tails wondered.

"Our next match… Penny and Ciel of Atlas!" Oobleck announced. "Against Russel and Sky of Beacon!"

"Penny's up?" Ruby questioned before looking excited. "Okay, now I gotta see this!"

They all sat down once again as they saw the Penny herself step onto the arena with her partner, Ciel Soleil. She was a girl with dark skin, dark teal hair, and blue eyes with a gold mark on her forehead. She wore a blue beret, a plain off white golden button-down shirt with a blue pleated combat skirt and a black waistband, along with black elbow-length fingerless gloves with a silver watch on her left wrist, and black shoes with white golden-buttoned boot chaps.

The two of them faced off against the pair of bullies from Team CRDL as the environment around them changed just like all the other matches.

"Three… Two… One… BEGIN!

Done.

Quite a few takeaways from this chapter. Ozpin's group has discussed potential candidates for the Fall Maiden, though Ozpin himself appears to have figured out who that candidate is already. We also had Emerald and Mercury's match against Coco and Yatsuhashi like canon, but thanks to that and some keen observational skills from Team Dark, they and the rest of the heroes have learned that they too are also spies alongside Cinder and Neo, and not potential hostages as they theorized.

We also got to see Pyrrha and Nora's match against Sun and Neptune, which we never saw in canon. Yes, I'm aware that Sun made it to the singles around along with Pyrrha, indicating that they fought against different opponents, but Volume 3 did originally plan on Pyrrha and Nora facing Sun and Neptune, so I decided to go with that, and let me tell ya, I had a lot of fun writing it.

Then we had Weiss and Winter sharing a moment together where Weiss has shown just how much of a positive effect Sonic has had on her, even making a partial summon for the first time. So good on her. :)

I also included a little bit of expansion from the Ace Ops and the unknown member named Tortuga. It's never explicitly stated how that person died, or even what gender they are. So I decided to make it a girl, and someone who was close to Harriet, who was killed in the Paladin Incident that (seemingly) also took the life of Arthur Watts.

But in that meeting, Tails, Pietro, and Penny have also discovered that they could potentially use Gravity Dust as a way of creating Plasma Dust or other artificial forms of Dust without the use of a Chaos Emerald due to gravity's capability to warp time and space. Points for our favorite two-tailed genius.

And of course, we had Qrow with his nieces (as well as Knuckles). Let me clarify something, Qrow is something of an asshole, his biggest case being in Volume 4 where he showed little-to-no sympathy towards JNR regarding Pyrrha's death. You'd think he'd understand what they were going through, Jaune especially, given how he lost Summer too. But nah, he didn't even offer his condolences or even say 'sorry'. He just acted like it was no big deal.

But, despite all that… he does love his nieces but there are a few reasons why he's not able to come home as often as he or Ruby or Yang would like, or why he seemed to prioritize Ruby's training….

First, after losing Summer, Tai shut down for a time, and Qrow was pretty much the only one who could work, and providing for a family is rather expensive, especially with two growing children. And, like he said, being a Huntsman isn't like a job at the office where you can punch a clock and be home at a specific time.

Second, he's essentially Ozpin's right hand on the field and has to keep an eye out for anything Salem-related. I imagine he's gotta take some extra precautions to make sure none of her goons try and follow him and trace him back to Patch where Ruby is. And that leads to where he prioritized Ruby's training. Her silver eyes make her a prime target for Salem, so he has to train her so she can better defend herself, even if she isn't part of Ozpin's group. And as Ruby herself said, she wasn't a good fighter before he took her under his wing, and while Yang had her problems with overlying on her Semblance, she could at least hold her own and she doesn't have silver eyes, so she's not as big as a target.

Third, his Misfortune Semblance has always been something of a serious problem, and because of it, he feels he can't stay in one place for very long, so he keeps his distance from his family to avoid having them get caught up in it.

So, yeah. Qrow is a good person deep down, but he is far from perfect. And I plan on putting a bit more emphasis on his flaws and how they've impacted his family going forward. We already see Ruby becoming upset and fearing that she can't trust him as Shadow had tried to warn her about, but it's going to get even crazier when we get into all that Maiden stuff.

And that's not the only piece of drama to be uncovered. Knuckles has realized that it was Raven who helped him and everyone else back at Merlot's lab, and has shared that information with Yang, promising to help her in learning more about her birth mother when they get the chance. Let me tell ya, I am really loving the friendship I'm developing between Yang and Knuckles, it's about time that she gets someone to rely on and be vulnerable around herself.

Up next, while Penny and Ciel's fight is about to start (and yes, I do plan on expanding a bit on Ciel later on in this story), we all know how it's gonna go. Because, I mean, it's flipping Penny for crying out loud.

The main event for the next chapter is Ruby and Weiss' match and let me tell ya, I am super excited for it! I've got some big surprises in store!

Until then, I hope you guys stay safe and stay healthy out there.
Peace out.