Hey all, sorry I've been uploading pretty infrequently. The burnout's been creeping in, to be honest. That and I overhauled the next few chapters so heavily in the last possible moment that I don't even know when Part 3 ends and Part 4 begins... Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter. Also anyone who leaves a review/fav/follow is super hot


The android's baton smashed into Moka's forearms. The tip caught her cheek and stirred up a brunette wave as her head whipped aside. Her footing held, and she looked back at the android with single-minded determination.

"No, come on. Hit me as hard as you can."

"Maximum force output is reserved only for lethal threats. Repeated hits to a human may cause serious injury or death."

"I don't care. Hit me. And don't hold back."

The android complied. Its baton crashed again into her arms, head, neck. The crack of carbon-fiber alloy on flesh echoed on the pale walls of the sparring court. For a second the faunus staggered. She corrected her stance, ground her teeth against the bruises she'd have in the morning, and nodded.

"Again. From the other side. Then hit me with your shield."


Two days before the Pyrrha Nikos Tournament began in earnest, spectators from all corners of Vale flooded Port Cyrreine. The area surrounding Sentinel Stadium, and a few select areas deeper into campus, were set up with everything needed to hold a proper festival. Food stands, games, overpriced vendors, and sheltered fire dust pits for everyone unprepared for how miserable the city could be in the dead of Winter.

Caspian and Snow looked out across the bay. Downtown's serrated skyline rose like a mountain ridge above the sea– made blue by holographs and advertisements instead of the sky. Caspian hunched up, sinking hands deeper into his pockets against brisk wind. To their right, the horizon was a haze of slate grey. More rain would come soon.

"So, uh. Did you hear about my semblance?" Caspian offered. "Finally unlocked it."

"Yes, I heard. Congratulations."

"Thanks." His haze of breath was lost in the wind. "To be honest though, I'm a little disappointed I don't have a semblance of my own. Don't get me wrong, it's a great semblance. I just wish I had something a little more unique, you know?"

Snow's expression became something strange, somehow less readable than usual. "It's curious you have the same semblance. You and your sister are nothing alike."

"Yeah, I know."

"It's not a bad thing," Snow replied. "It's not a good thing, either. You're just different." She turned from the view, to Caspian. "But a person's semblance is supposed to be a reflection of who they are. That's what we've been taught. If you and your sister are so different, it follows that you should have different semblances."

Caspian pursed his lips, holding a finger to the side of his glasses as he nodded slowly. He re-lived the awakening of his semblance. When Lazula kicked him– when their auras made contact, some fragment of his aura washed over hers. Or they collided, mixed up somehow. He wasn't sure what exactly did happen in that moment, when that cobalt haze washed over his sister.

"Uh-huh," he pondered. "Do you think I'm missing something?

"I don't know," Snow admitted. "Maybe. Or I may be wrong. That was just a thought I had." They were silent for a few seconds, conversation leaving them for the rattling of bare branches in the wind. "Is Moka busy? You've been spending most of your free time with her recently."

"I don't know. Probably," Caspian answered. "I haven't talked to her all that much these last couple of weeks, actually."

"I see." She looked at him again. "Did you do something to upset her?"

"No, no, not at all," Caspian answered. "She is upset, though. About her mom, and the whole situation with Lazula and the tournament." His elbows rested on top of the guardrail, and his hands rubbed his temples. "I get it, but she's been tearing herself apart trying to prepare for the tournament. I don't like seeing her like this."

"I guess we're in similar situations, then." Caspian's look prompted her elaboration. "You and me. I asked Douglas earlier if he wanted to go into the city with me. He told me he was busy, though I know he doesn't have to work on Saturday."

"Is he upset at you for some reason?" Caspian returned.

"I don't know. He was acting like it, but I'm unsure of what I did wrong." Her face was still, a single blink her only movement. "And when I do make mistakes, he corrects me gently and politely. Something seems off."

"I'm sorry. I can talk to him if you want."

"Maybe," Snow answered. "I suppose we aren't in exactly the same situation, though. Douglas is my father. At least I consider him my father. And Moka is… your friend?"

"Yeah."

"I see. But regardless, it is similar. Both are people we care very deeply about."

The air was still this time. Still enough for Caspian's breath to cloud in front of his face before dissipating.

"Yeah. Guess so."


Lazula's shadow flickered all around her, drawn out by technicolor banners of all the sponsors she'd lost in the weeks leading up to the tournament. It was impressive how quickly they'd scrubbed her face from their advertisements. Up the three tiers of Sentinel Stadium, a blank space, Midas, or another Academy League huntsman took her place next to all the products she tried once.

The opposing gate replaced an energy drink advertisement on the billboard-sized Holoscreens hanging above the arena. Her first opponent marched out. Tall, with a curly mop of reddish brown hair and a pike held rigid at his side.

"And, the Indomitable Girl's challenger, Burgh Bruler!"

The cheer for her opponent was louder than her own. She'd never seen him before. Never heard of him, and she doubted anyone else had. They only knew he was against her, more than enough to secure their support.

Didn't matter. Only victory mattered.

She analyzed her opponent under the spotlight. Flowing tunic of maroon and gold, a trace of stubble. More importantly, his height. His weapon. He had the better part of a foot on her, and held a heavy, double-sided spontoon. Though the blades were dark steel the shaft looked oddly natural, twisted and gnarled like an old branch. Fire dust coursed through channels within it like glowing blood through veins.

Fighting an opponent with reach could be tricky. But if she could beat Midas, Burgh would be no problem. One she got past the tip of his spear, it would be easy enough.

The countdown ended, and she charged.

Burgh twirled his staff until it rested in his hands like a rifle. Its tip glowed, a wave of heat distorted its wielder and the weapon birthed three bolts of flame. The air screamed with heat. Lazula felt the blasts mark Aegis, and twice an odd flash wrapped her shield to lick at her aura. She made up the distance in seconds, and brought Impetus down toward Burgh's shoulder.

His staff bent and creaked under the blow, but he held it off. He pushed out and swept his weapon to disengage. She'd seen Midas pull a similar move before. But her opponent now was much slower. She had plenty of time to duck beneath his follow up and drive Impetus's tip into his chest. Her blade twisted and tore aside to block his desperate parry, and the energy of his strike coursed into her arm, down into her legs. She spent some force on launching herself at him. The rest bounced back up, and into Aegis.

The shield rang louder than his squawk of surprise and pain. And louder than the collective gasp of their audience. His staff was absent beside him as he staggered, held but harmless. His chest and gut were wide open.

One. Two. Three. Four was blocked. She punched his weapon away again. Five. Six slashes, and the first round was hers.

Her first tournament fight in seven months, going on eight. Over in half a minute. As it should be.

Familiar words echoed across the stadium. "The first round goes to Lazula Skye!"

She sheathed Impetus and offered a handshake. Burgh looked at it, shook his head, and grumbled something under his breath before walking off. She wasn't sure what was said. It was quiet compared to the jeers of their audience. But she thought she heard a "must be nice." Her hand returned to her side, and she made her way to her end of the arena.

Waiting for her was Mari Golden.

She kept her head down. Trained her eyes on the ground beyond the unwanted guests and took on her practiced "unapproachable" look. But it didn't matter. Mari and her entourage were magnets, and she was steel. Or they were insects– pests– drawn to a flame.

"We're live at Sentinel Stadium for an exclusive post-round interview with Lazula Skye– who just powered through the first round!"

"Gods, no. No, you're not." She kept her head down, but the insects swarmed her with all their cameras and microphones. She considered for a second dredging up the depths of her vocabulary. It had worked once before.

"So, this is your first big win since your loss at the Vytal Tournament!" The queen bee opened, in her appropriately garish dress. "Do you think you came out today to prove something? That the Academy League hasn't seen the last of the Indomitable Girl?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I just want to win."

"Word is, another challenger from Sentinel was favored to win before you entered– Miss Moka Chino. And, if I have this right, she's the co-star of that clip we played on my show." Her grin widened and she leaned in. "Do you have anything to say to her?"

She ground her teeth. "No. If we fight, we fight."

"You know, after your big reveal on my show–" she turned to the camera. "The interview can always be found on my website!" Back to Lazula. "There were a lot of people wanting you to pull out of the Nikos Tournament. I even polled my viewers, and seventy-six percent think the tournament should have barred you from participating! What do you think about that? Any words for them?"

"No."

"The strong silent type, as always!"

The red light indicating a live feed shut off in tandem with Mari's smile.

"Look. I don't care how much you hate interviews. Or how much you hate me. I have a job to do here, and I intend to do it. Understood?"

"I have a job to do too. The tournament. I read the contract, by the way, and nowhere on it does it list an obligation to the press." She split the wall of cameras, but turned halfway around after them. "So try someone else. You won't hear anything new from me."

Ten seconds of silence could have been a lifetime. A static electricity filled the air between their opposing glares. Lazula wouldn't turn, out of pride and spite. The light switched back on. Mari yielded, flashed her painted grin at Lazula once more, and turned to the camera.

"Well, let's go ahead and see if any other competitors are feeling a bit more talkative today!"


Caspian couldn't tell what was a cold sweat, and what was rain. He felt almost as nervous as if he were the one stretching out his shoulders, rocking from foot to foot, rolling out his neck. But it wasn't. It was Moka so far down there, about to fight for her mom's life with tens, hundreds, of thousands of eyes on her across Remnant.

The determination was on her face as she stared down the boy with an axe taller than she.

But as her match began, Caspian realized how little foundation his fears and doubts stood upon. Moka moved faster than he'd ever seen– brown sparks crackling wildly off her legs as she zipped around her foe, across her body and arms as she ducked and dodged around each swing. Her punches came in bursts, a volley of fists whenever she could find an opening.

One strike from the shaft of his weapon caught her. It crashed into her arms, neck, and collar. Caspian winced, and the axe carved her side on its next pass by. But Moka shrugged off the hits that took over a quarter of her aura. An arm came up to clutch the shaft of his weapon, and the other drove a flame-encased fist deep into his stomach. Again, and again.

The buzzer sounded, and the announcer cheered Moka's victory.

She bent over for a second, back heaving with the breath that struggled to catch up to her. She pulled up, beamed at the audience and waved both hands before bouncing along to her side of the arena.

Mari golden and her horde moved onto their next host.

"We're live with Moka Chino, fresh off her singles tournament debut!" Mari proclaimed. "Moka! Do you have any words after your big first round win?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, I don't know!" Moka replied, disoriented for a second by the recording lights fluttering around her like a dozen red fireflies. "I… I'm happy about it for now, but if all goes well I have three more. Wait, is it four? No– four total. So three more."

"Well you looked great out there! What have you been doing to prepare for the tournament?"

"I've been training all day, every day for the last few weeks!" Moka answered. "Really whenever I'm not asleep or in class. Or asleep in class."

Mari laughed a little harder than needed. "You know, Lazula Skye's in the tournament too," she prodded. "Does that maybe… put a damper on things? You've been training, and I can tell you're talented, but Lazula has quite the tournament history. And we all saw that clip of you two on my show!" She extended a microphone to Moka. "Is the thought of facing her again a bit intimidating?"

Moka's tail flicked. She paused for a second before deciding on a smile– not quite as wide as the one she wore before. "Well, I've known for a while she's competing. That's why I've been training so hard. I don't know if I can win. But I want to try."

"I always like an underdog!" Mari supported. "Besides, you'll need that prize money for your mom, won't you?"

Her eyes flicked among the crimson fireflies, buzzing around her and hungry for an answer. Her tail lashed back and forth, but she held the appearance of a smile.

"...What do you mean?"

"I've heard your mom's being treated by Frontline for an aggressive form of leukemia, and this tournament is really your only hope at paying for her treatment. You have quite a bit on the line, don't you?"

"Where did you hear that? I don't remember telling you."

"It's my business to know things!"

"I just… want to know who told you."

Mari grinned. "If you must know, I reached out to your teammates this morning, and one had a bit to say about you. She's quite a charming girl."

"Yeah," Moka claimed. "Sure is." Somewhere along the way her smile had turned into a grimace. She shook her head and it was gone. "Look. Can you turn the cameras off?"

Mari blinked heavily to conceal her rolling eyes, but complied. "What? Why?"

"That's not really something I want the whole world to know," Moka said. "About my mom, I mean. That's kind of private."

Mari scoffed. "Come, now. Whether you know it or not, I'm doing you a favor."

Another tail lash. "How? How is telling the world the most difficult thing I've ever been through 'doing me a favor?'"

"The world loves a good underdog story," Mari returned. "They want someone to root for, and you're perfect for the role. Cute, personable, and you have something to fight for." She stepped in, lowered her voice. "Besides. Seven companies all dropped Lazula in the last two weeks. Three more are still in talks to do so. Even if you don't win, this interview can be your ticket to ten openings. Ad spots. Photoshoots. Maybe a couple paychecks."

Moka was quiet.

"All you have to do is be a good girl. Smile for the camera. And smile for all the fans I'm about to make you."

She opened her mouth to speak, but whether a protest or agreement, she bit it back. She ran a hand through her hair, until it landed behind her ear and stayed still.

"Okay."

"Good girl."

Mari's grin returned, and she twirled acrylic nails in the air toward her favorite cameraman.

"Cut her last bit. Three, two, one. We're back!"