Chapter 32: The Leprechaun Wants to Play!

Patch, Vale. Years Ago.

Yang Xiao Long walked alongside her father through the marketplace, bored out of her mind. While Ruby napped in her stroller, Taiyang was busy chatting with his pharmacist about a new prescription anti-depressant. Yang sat down and drew in the dirt with a stick as she waited, only for her eyes to wander upwards. Suddenly, her eyes widened in shock at the sight of a two-foot tall man with curly red hair in a green suit wandering in the middle of the street.

"'Scuse me?! Have ye seen me pot o' gold?!" The short man asked as several cars narrowly zoomed past him, as if he were speaking to the cars themselves. "Cannae anybody help me?! I'm lookin' fer me pot o' gold!"

Yang gasped and saw a truck coming down the street and instinctively ran to tackle the man out of the way. The truck's horn blared and it just barely swerved out of the way. Yang grunted as she got up. "Are you okay, Mister-?"

"Yang Xiao Long!" Taiyang scolded as he hurried over to her. "Are you crazy?! Don't just run out into the street like that!"

"But daddy, I had to save the green man!"

"What green man?!" Taiyang scoffed. "You just ran into the street for no reason!"

Yang turned back around to see that the little man she'd just saved had disappeared. "Wha-but he was here!"

The next day, Yang was helping her dad harvest potatoes from their garden. Taiyang dug them up and handed them to Yang to be cleaned off and stored in barrels. But as she filled up her first barrel, she saw the little green man again. This time, he was reaching into the dirt and pulling out potatoes.

"Hello, again, wee lass!" He smiled. "I'm afraid I still haven't found me pot o' gold! Have you seen me pot o' gold?!"

Yang clenched her fists in anger as he carelessly tossed perfectly good potatoes aside. "Knock it off! We need those!"

"But I need to find me pot o'-"

"NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID POT OF GOLD!" Yang snapped.

The little man's brow furrowed in annoyance. "Well… ya dinnae have to be so rude." He huffed before adopting a playful smirk. "But if ya care so much 'bout these dirt clods…"

Suddenly, several of the potatoes transformed into hideous monsters and attacked Yang. The girl let out a terrified shriek before grabbing a hoe and using it to smash the monsters into paste.

"YANG! What are you doing?!" At the sound of Taiyang's voice, Yang blinked and saw that the monsters were gone. In fact, it looked as if there were never any monsters to begin with and she had just randomly started smashing potatoes. Taiyang grabbed the hoe from his daughter and pointed to the house. "Go to your room, young lady!"

"But, daddy, it was the green man! He made me-!"

"Yang, just go!"

As his daughter tearfully ran into the house, Taiyang pulled out his scroll and dialed his old teammate. "Hello?"

"Oh hey, Tai: what's up?"

"Hey Qrow," Taiyang said into the scroll. "Listen, I need your help: something's come up with Yang. How soon could you come over here?"

"I can't, I'm buying some new clothes. Some of my wardrobe got destroyed in my last mission."

"Well, just come over here as soon as you're finished."

"That might take a little longer than you think. I can't find them."

Taiyang blinked upon hearing this. "What do you mean you can't find them?"

"I mean I can't find them: there's only soup."

This only furthered Taiyang's confusion. "...what do you mean there's only soup?"

"It means there's only soup."

"Well then get out of the soup aisle!" Taiyang yelled out in exasperation.

"Alright, you don't have to shout at me!" Qrow called out before the sound of footsteps were heard over the scroll…only for the man to huff in reply. "There's more soup!"

"What do you mean there's more soup?!"

"It means there's more soup!"

"Go into the next aisle!"

A short while later, Taiyang heard Qrow's reply. "There's still soup!"

"Where are you right now?!"

"I'm at Soup!"

"What do you mean you're at soup?!"

"It means I'm at Soup!"

"What store are you in!?"

"I'm at the Soup Store!"

"Why are you buying clothes at the soup store!?"

"Fuck you!"

A little while later - after Taiyang explained to him that you can't buy clothes from the Soup Store - Qrow arrived at the Xiao Long farm. "Well I'm here," the man remarked.

"Good," Taiyang replied before turning towards where he figured his daughter would be located. "Yang, sweetie, could you come here for a bit?"

"So what exactly is the problem?" Qrow asked.

"It's Yang." Taiyang explained. "She's been acting up and I don't know what to do."

Before they got too far, the sound of someone sniffing filled the air. "Why does Uncle Qrow smell like soup?" Yang - having just shown up - couldn't help but ask.

"It's…a long story," Qrow remarked with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Which isn't important right now," Taiyang felt the need to declare. "Yang, I know things have been difficult lately. First, Summer died. Then, you found out she wasn't your real mom. And then you almost got yourself and Ruby killed trying to find your real mom. Now, I let that last one slide because it was my fault. I've been trying my best to do better, I really have. But your behavior these last two days hasn't made it easy."

"But that wasn't my fault!" Yang insisted. "It was the little green man!"

"Yang, there was no little green man!" Taiyang snapped. "You ran out into traffic and smashed our harvest!"

"Uncle Qrow, you've got to believe me!" Yang pleaded. "A little green man with red curly hair was wandering in the street! I was trying to save him! And then he started pulling up our potatoes and turned them into monsters! He said he was looking for his pot of gold!"

Qrow stared blankly at his niece as he listened to her explanation. He looked down at his flask and sadly poured its contents down the kitchen sink.

Taiyang rolled his eyes. "Yang, go to your room. I need to think."

"But, daddy-!"

"Yang! Go!"

"Why don't you believe me?!" Yang couldn't help but yell out with tears in her eyes before turning and running up to her room.

Qrow grabbed a bottle of fresh bourbon from a discreet hiding spot he had installed in the house years ago before following his teammate into the living room.

"I don't like yelling at Yang like that…" Taiyang cried as he slumped on the couch. "Gods, what am I doing wrong?! First Raven leaves me, then Summer dies, and now I'm trying to do right by my kids while carrying the weight of depression!"

Qrow sat next to his teammate and placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "Well, Tai… at least you still got me." He smiled with a breath reeking of bourbon.

"Oh, gods! This just keeps getting worse!" Taiyang sobbed.

Meanwhile, Yang was crying into her pillow at how unfair the world was kicking her around lately. It was at that point that Yang's four-year-old baby sister walked into her room. The silver-eyed toddler sat next to Yang with a sympathetic look before reaching into her overalls' chest pocket for a cookie to offer her.

"I bewieve you, Yang." She promised, cutely.

Yang smiled as she ruffled her baby sister's hair. "Thanks, Ruby… I just don't know what's going on."

"Oh, that's easy." Ruby pocketed the cookie with a smile before explaining. "It's obvious you're being hawassed by a supewior being who hails fwom a higher pwane of existence."

Yang blinked in surprise; she knew her sister was smart for her age, but not that smart. "Um, Ruby…? Where did you learn those words?"

"I dunno." Ruby shrugged before bending her arms like wings and pecking at the floor.

"Ruby! What're you doing?!"

"Buh-caw!"

"Dad! Uncle Qrow! Something's wrong with Ruby!" Yang yelled out as she ran out into the living room…only to gasp as she found that her Dad had been turned into a Golden Retriever and that her Uncle had been turned into an actual crow. "Oh my gods: my family's been turned into animals!"

"Well if you want to get technical, your uncle was already able to turn into a bird: all I did was make it permanent."

"...okay mental note: remember to ask my uncle about that once I find a way to undo all of this," Yang called out before she did a double take upon realizing that she recognized that voice. Sure enough, when she turned towards the couch where she heard said voice, a familiar miniature man was sitting there observing everything. "What the…where did you come from?!"

"The Fifth Dimension." The little man replied, cheekily. "And before you ask, yes, I'm the one responsible for your new 'pets.'"

"Change them back! NOW!" Yang ordered, grabbing the little man by the neck and reeling her arm back for a punch. "Or I'll-!"

"Take it easy, wee lass!" The little man snapped his fingers and teleported himself and Yang to a bizarre landscape.

"What the…what just happened?!"

"I went ahead and took us somewhere with a few less distractions so that we can talk for a bit before we continue with the game."

"What game?!" Yang yelled out, having finally had enough with the madness that had been plaguing her recently. "What's going on?! Who are you?! What are you?!"

"It's just like the rugrat said, lassie." The man smirked, playfully. "I'm a superior being who hails from a higher plane of existence. Here, my card."

Yang snatched the business card from him, but couldn't quite make out the name on it. "Mister… Lepper-eye-chan?"

The little man seemed offended. "No! Repeat after me; Lep. Rick. On."

Yang tossed the card aside and crossed her arms. "Well, I'm only six. What do you want from me?"

"Well you might not know it quite yet, but you have a lot of potential flowing through ya," Leprechaun replied. "Which means you're just the kind of mortal I've been looking for who'd be able to potentially survive one of my games for more than a few minutes."

"...so what exactly is the goal of the game?" Yang couldn't help but ask.

"For you, lass, you only have to do one thing: survive," Leprechaun declared as the sound of growling started to approach their location. "I'd start running if I were you."

"What do you mean?" Yang fearfully called out.

As if to answer her question, the ground began to shake as Yang heard thundering footsteps approaching from the distance. Suddenly, a long-necked, winged dragon roared in fury as it set its eyes upon the girl.

"Oh, that's what you meant," Yang said with a gulp before quickly turning and running in the opposite direction.

The dragon quickly gave chase. Yang took advantage of the bizarre environment, ducking behind some trees to avoid blasts of fire and crawling through tunnels to distract it long enough to buy some more time. But no matter where she ran or hid, the dragon was right behind her. All while Leprechaun watched with interest.

"That's right, lassie!" Leprechaun laughed. "Keep running! It's the only way you'll stay alive!"

Upon hearing that, Yang skidded to a halt and turned around. "The only way, huh?"

"Yes! Yes!" Leprechaun cheered as Yang stomped off towards the monster that had been chasing her. "Now, things will get interesting! I wonder if she's gonna bash the monster's teeth in!"

"Nae! Nae!" A duplicate of Leprechaun split from the original. "She'll twist its neck off its shoulders!"

"You're both daft!" A third Leprechaun split off and countered. "She'll grab it by the tail and stuff it down its own throat!"

"Uh, lads?" A fourth Leprechaun popped up. "FYI, Yang is just sitting there."

Sure enough, the little girl was sitting on a giant toadstool with her arms crossed, as if she were waiting for the dragon to eat her. Leprechaun floated down to confront her. "What're you doing?! You're not even trying to save yourself!"

"That's right." Yang nodded, haughtily.

"HOLD EVERYTHING!" With a wave of his hands, Leprechaun stopped time around himself and Yang, causing the dragon to freeze in its tracks. "What are you up to?!"

Yang sighed, tiredly. "I've had enough. My dad thinks I'm a troublemaker, my mom left me, my step-mom's dead, my uncle's so drunk he probably doesn't even realize I'm gone, and my baby sister currently thinks she's a chicken. So, I'd rather end things here and now than spend the rest of my life as a toy for some all-powerful brat."

Leprechaun became absolutely livid. "No! That's not fair! There's no fun in the game if you don't even try!"

"And another thing, stop calling it a game!" Yang huffed. "It's an insult to games everywhere!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Games have rules that give the other players a chance to win!" Yang countered. "All you're doing is annoying me by ruining my life when you know I have no way to fight back!"

Leprechaun paused to consider her words. She did have a point; toying with a helpless mortal without the chance of failure had grown stale over the millenia. Perhaps a new formula would liven things up. He smirked as an idea popped into his head.

"Okay, sweetheart, you want rules? I'll give you a rule." Leprechaun snapped his fingers, teleporting himself and Yang back into her bedroom. He pulled up a chair and conjured up a contract and feather pen. "Here's the deal; I'm gonna keep having my fun all over your precious little Remnant, unless at any point in time you manage to trick me into speaking, spelling, writing, or otherwise revealing my name backwards. At which point, I'll banish myself from this realm, and I won't be able to return until the next time our two dimensions come into alignment. Which, from your perspective, should take about, oh… three years give or take."

"And everything will go back to the way it was after you leave?" Yang clarified.

"As if it never happened." Leprechaun promised as he scribbled his signature on the contract. "So what do ye say, wee lass?"

Yang smirked and signed her name. "Alright, deal!"

"Wonderful! Now, let's get back to-"

"Gnay…! Wait, no.. Gnol… um, hang on…" Yang scratched her head.

"Wha.. what're you doing?"

"I'm following the rules." Yang shrugged. "I'm trying to say my name backwards."

"What?! No! Not your name! My name!"

"Are you kidding me, you cheater?! How is that fair?! I could barely say your name forwards! How the heck am I supposed to say it backwards?!"

"No, you stupid kid! You don't say my name backwards! You have to get me to say my name backwards!"

"Ah-ha!" Yang smiled, pointing at her foe.

Leprechaun blinked in confusion. "Ah-ha what?"

"You just said 'my name backwards!'" Yang beamed with pride. "Which is exactly what you told me to make you say! Welp! Good-bye!"

Yang then went about getting a briefcase from her bedroom's closet and began filling it with random items. Once she closed it up, she handed it to Leprechaun and began shoving him towards the door. The imp was dumbfounded as Yang finally pushed him outside. "And don't think it hasn't been a lovely little slice of Heaven~!" She remarked, sweetly, before giving him a deadpan glare. "'Cause it hasn't."

With that, she slammed the door shut and made her way back to her bedroom. However, Leprechaun broke the door down and angrily cut her off. "NO! NO! NO! You have to literally make me say it!"

"Say what?!"

"Oh, for-! NUAHCERPEL! Now, quit wasting my time and-!" Leprechaun paused once he realized what he'd just done. "Aw, shite."

With that, the little green man disappeared in a puff of smoke. Yang let out a sigh of relief as she fell back onto her bed. She suddenly bolted upright once she remembered that Ruby was still in her room. Much to her added relief, her baby sister had stopped pecking at the floor and was now munching on the cookie she had stolen. Just then, a knock at the door alerted both girls and a confused looking Taiyang walked inside.

"Uh, Yang? I'm sorry, sweetie, but… I feel like I yelled at you earlier for no reason."

Yang smiled and picked up Ruby to hold her in her lap. "It's okay, daddy. I forgive you. So what's for dinner?"

Three Years Later

Yang was playing with Ruby in the backyard when their father called them inside for dinner. Taiyang told Ruby to go wash her hands and asked Yang to set the table while he put the finishing touches on the chicken he'd been preparing. As Yang set the plates and silverware at the assigned seats, she felt someone suddenly breathing down her neck.

"Hello, wee lass."

Yang grabbed a kitchen knife and spun around to drive it into the intruder's neck. But said intruder turned out to be much shorter than she'd been expecting, and all she swung at was empty air. She glanced down to see the unimpressed face of Leprechaun.

"...really?"

Yang just shrugged as she put the knife that she had tried to hit Leprechaun with back on the table. "Hey, you are the one who appears out of nowhere from my perspective: you had to have known I'd try and do that at least once."

"Fair enough, but don't think it'll do you any good," Leprechaun remarked. "You spoiled my fun last time I was here! But you're not gonna trick me so easily this time! I'm gonna have me fun, and there ain't nothing you can do about it!"

"Ugh! Can't you at least wait until after dinner?" Yang groaned. "Dad made his seasoned chicken recipe that grandma taught him, and for dessert we're having chocolate nuahcerpel!"

"Huh? What's chocolate nuahcerpel? I've never even heard of-" The imp blinked in shock before growling in anger. "Oh, you little blonde bi-!"

Yang continued setting the table after Leprechaun disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Heh-heh-heh. I'm two for two." She declared, smugly.

Three Years Later

"That piece helps with the recoil… that one's for the scope…"

Qrow patiently walked his unofficial niece through the cleaning process of Harbinger as she watched and listened with interest. He had promised her that once she was old enough, he'd teach her how to use a scythe and buy her the parts to make her own. But only if she could get straight A's all throughout her entire elementary school career.

Suddenly, the girl's ears perked up at the sound of a bus approaching from down the street. "YANG'S HOME!" She squealed and used her semblance to speed outside. "YANG'S BACK FROM SUMMER CAMP!"

Before Ruby could even stop, a blonde nine-year-old jumped out from the bus and tackled her to the ground in a tight hug. "Ha ha ha ha! Beatcha to it!"

"No fair!" Ruby squirmed in her sister's grip as Yang carried her back into the house.

"Hey, firecracker." Qrow smirked, ruffling Yang's hair as she walked inside. "How was camp?"

"It was fun! Boxing was fun!" Yang beamed before plopping Ruby down on the couch. "Where's daddy?"

"He's gettin' groceries. Should be back in about an hour."

"Okay, I'm gonna unpack."

"Sure thing. C'mon, Rubes…"

Once Qrow led Ruby out of the room, Yang set her backpack on her bed and unzipped it. A puff of smoke burst free from the bag, revealing a familiar imp. "Hey, Lass: did ya miss me?"

"Ugh, like I miss skin rash." Yang just sighed in response. "Hi, Leprechaun."

"Aw, ya do remember me then," Leprechaun declared before getting a flat look. "Don't think I'll be so easy to trick this time. It's been far too long since I've had any fun around here and I'm not about to let ya take that away from me."

But before Leprechaun could do anything, there was a knock at the bedroom door. Yang held up a finger and went to answer it. It was Ruby.

"Hey, Yang? This weird telegram came to our mailbox." Ruby held up the piece of paper to her sister. "Who's your friend?"

Yang accepted the telegram and smiled before holding it out towards the imp. "Here, it's for you."

"For me?" Leprechaun arched an eyebrow as he read the telegram before frowning. "What, are you dyslexic, kid? This ain't for me! It's for some putz named 'Nuahcerpel.' What-"

Another puff of smoke caused the imp to vanish. Yang smugly crumpled the telegram up and tossed it in the waste bin. "Best ten lien I ever spent."

Three Years Later

To say that Yang was an early bloomer would be a massive understatement. She was the first girl in her class to develop breasts and grew quite tall. And she was proud of her natural beauty. One morning, she woke up and made her way to the bathroom for a quick shower. After her usual ten minutes of washing her prized golden hair, she shut off the faucets and reached for a towel to dry herself off. She wrapped her towel around her chest and was just about to begin shaving her legs when she blinked and saw that her leg hairs had grown and thickened. Bolting upwards, she saw that her entire body appeared to be covered in yellow fur.

"Nice coat ye got there, lassie!" A voice giggled.

Yang glanced over at the mirror and sighed in relief. "Oh, it's just you, Mr. Nuahcerpel."

"Not Nuahcerpel! Leprechaun!" He huffed. "Now, for my next trick, let's see if'n we cannae get those C-cups a wee bit further up the alpha - aw, shite!"

Once he disappeared, the yellow fur disappeared. Yang hummed a dixie to herself as she finally finished shaving her legs properly.

"Yaaaaang!" Ruby called from outside, banging on the door. "Hurry up! I need to pee!"

"Just a second, Ruby!"

Three Years Later

Yang was the happiest she'd ever been in years. Not only was she finally living her dream of attending Haven Academy to become a huntress alongside her baby sister, but she also snagged herself a lovely cat faunus girlfriend. Blake was a much better partner in every sense of the word than Lyle Laser, and the Vytal Festival coming up would be the perfect opportunity to show off her skills. Currently, she was working on an essay due for Dr. Oobleck's class on Friday when she heard a distinct purring noise from behind her. She swiveled around in her chair expecting a kiss from Blake, but instead spotted a black cat rubbing against her legs.

"Boy, can you pick 'em, eh lass?" Leprechaun smirked as he appeared in the window sill.

"...did you seriously turn Blake into a cat?"

"Oh come on: you would have done the same in my position."

"...touche," Yang shrugged as she picked up her transformed partner and moved to the bed before she started petting Blake's ears. "Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? Yes you are! Yes you are!"

"As cute as this is, I have some more chaos to spread."

"Yeah, yeah: I'll get right on playing your little game as soon as I've finished proof-reading my homework."

Leprechaun just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he waited for Yang to finish proof-reading the essay she had been writing. But after five full minutes of waiting, he impatiently snatched the paper out of her hands.

"Oh, you're taking too long! Let me do it!" He shouted as he used his powers to mark some spelling errors he noticed on the essay. "There, now we can…" …and that was as far as he got before he suddenly vanished.

"Sucker," Yang declared with a snort, quite proud of how she managed to arrange those spelling errors to spell out the imp's name backwards.

"Yang, why is my head on your lap? And why are you petting my ears?" Blake suddenly asked, bringing Yang back to reality.

"Oh, sorry," Yang called out as she prepared to get up…only to pause as the faunus girl suddenly grabbed her hand.

"I didn't say to stop," Blake declared with a blush.

"...you really are a good girl." Yang absentmindedly remarked.

"Only for you," Blake readily replied before letting out a purr as Yang went back to petting her.

While Yang happily continued stroking Blake's ears, Weiss walked past the desk, picked up Yang's essay, and scanned it with a judgemental gaze. "You need to work on your spelling, Yang." She sniffed, setting the paper aside. "These typos are embarrassing."

Three Years Later

In the fifth dimension where he lived, Leprechaun bitterly threw darts at a picture of Yang as he continued drawing up plans to torment the human's life. All the while he ignored the beautiful being who strolled into the kitchen, pulled a ten-layer cake out of the refrigerator, ate it in one bite, and instantly gained two hundred pounds. But with a snap of her fingers, she returned to her normal figure.

With a sad sigh, the woman rested her hands on Leprechaun's shoulders. "Leppy, why don't you ever wanna play with me anymore?"

"Not now, Banshee, m'dear." Leprechaun scolded, lightly, conjuring a dimensional viewfinder to give him a view of Remnant's current events. "I've only got three days until-Wait… what's this…?" Leprechaun gazed into his dimensional viewfinder and smiled, sinisterly. "Ho-ho-ho-ho! It seems the wee lass is in a bit of a nasty war down on Remnant! Bully for her! She's even leading her own battalions and such! Hee-hee-hee-hee! This is perfect! In just three days I'll be able to go back down there! And by the time she sees me, she'll be too busy with this war to even think of any sneaky tricks to get rid of me!"

Banshee rolled her eyes and ate another ten-layer cake, only to once again magic away the pounds she gained. "Y'know, I don't know why I work so hard to maintain this figure if you never even wanna touch me."

Over the course of the next three days, Leprechaun began using his powers to conjure up the most dangerous of weapons ever imaginable. He strapped several ammo belts around his waist and chest, drew war paint under his eyes, and even tied a bandana around his forehead. At last, the day came for him to travel to Remnant and continue playing his games with Yang.

"I'm off, sweetie! Don't wait up for me!" He chuckled as he blew a kiss at Banshee and vanished.

Banshee yawned in boredom, lounging on the couch, reading a magazine, and eating bon-bons. "Five, four, three, two-"

Leprechaun suddenly poofed back into the room, stomping on the floor in frustration. "SHITE! SHITE! SHITE!" He angrily pointed a finger at his wife. "Not. One. Word."

Three Years Later

After learning about Blake's new job as an investigative reporter, Yang decided to get a job at her paper as a puff piece writer. It was a good way to earn a steady income while not hunting, and she got along swimmingly with Perry Winkler and Ginny Nickel. She was just finishing up an important email when she checked her calendar to remember her next deadline for an article she'd been assigned to. Yang groaned in annoyance once she noticed the "L" written on the calendar.

Ginny - the paper's pup-photographer - saw Yang slump down in her seat and bang her head on her desk in exasperation.

"Geez, you look miserable, Mrs. Xiao Long." Ginny remarked. "What's the matter?"

Yang sighed, tiredly. "Well, y'see, there's this guy who pops up every few years for a visit… and I'm afraid today's the day."

Ginny winced in sympathy. "Guy's a real pain, huh?"

"You have no idea."

"Stalkers are annoying. I remember one time-" The photographer cut herself off once she noticed something waddling down the hall. "... uh, was that a penguin?"

"'Fraid so." Yang groaned.

Right on cue, Ginny was transformed into a goldfish in a bowl. Yang lazily turned her head to watch as her shocked coworkers turned into animals one-by-one. Then, as expected, Leprechaun made his entrance.

"Do you ever get tired of this, Nauhcerpel?" She asked.

"You…" He snarled through grit teeth, pointing at Yang. "Every time I come here, you pull some sneaky, underhanded trick to get me to say my name backwards and spoil my fun!"

"Uh-huh." Yang sighed, tiredly.

"Oh, but this time… this time, things will be different!" Leprechaun smiled, maniacally, as he held up the contract he and Yang signed years ago. "Y'see… I've made a little amendment to the rules and upped the ante! This time, if you can trick me, I'll disappear from Remnant forever!"

Yang perked up, slightly, interested in such an offer. "You mean, no more coming back every three years?"

"Nope!" Leprechaun's smile grew wider as the contract disappeared. "But, this time, you have to make me say my name backwards twice! IN A ROW! HA! Which means I can say 'Nuahcerpel' as much as I want! As long as I - NUAHCERPEL! - break it up!"

Yang merely blinked upon hearing this, before shrugging, already planning out various ways that she could take advantage of this. "Sounds manageable. Difficult, but manageable. So when does this new game start?"

"It just did," Leprechaun called out with a wicked grin before pulling out a large gun out of seemingly nowhere. "I'd start running if I were you."

Yang snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh, no. The annoying green midget's gonna shoot me with a gun. It's too bad I don't have an aura that protects me from-"

Before she could finish her taunt, Leprechaun pulled the trigger on his gun. A pale yellow dust bullet launched from the barrel and scratched Yang's cheek. Her semblance hadn't absorbed the impact to increase her strength and her aura hadn't even reacted. With eyes wide in shock, she brushed her fingers over her cheek and felt the sticky wetness of blood.

"What the…?!"

Leprechaun let out a dark laugh in response to Yang's shocked outburst. "Surprise, Lass! When I said I upped the ante, I meant it! I call this little creation of mine Lunar Dust and it just so happens to be one thing that your little Semblance has no protection against."

Yang's eyes widened in horror as she absorbed this information. "That means…"

"That's right: this time we're playing for keeps and it's your very life that's on the line!"

Yang just growled in response. "Yeah, well, I won't be going down without a fight."

Leprechaun just laughed in response. "Oh, Lass: I'm counting on it! By the way, that first one was a warning shot."

"Oh I figured as much," Yang called out with a grin as she took out her scroll, "but the thing is, you aren't the only one who knows how to play for keeps."

Leprechaun couldn't help but blink as Yang pressed a button on her scroll, wondering what she meant…right before the sound of beeping filled the air. The imp had just enough time to turn towards Yang's desk with wide eyes as the blonde brawler fled the room, quickly deducing that it was the source of the beeping, before letting out a groan. "Oh son of a…"

Meanwhile Yang couldn't help but laugh as the sound of an explosion filled the air. "And they said that rigging my desk with explosives was a bad idea."

No sooner had she said this though, Yang could only yelp in surprise as Leprechaun suddenly appeared before her, covered in soot from the earlier explosion but otherwise unharmed.

"Did you really think that would kill me, Lass?" the imp called out with an annoyed expression and tone even as he brushed the soot off.

"Not really, but I was hoping it'd at least slow you down a little." Yang said with a shrug. "...just out of curiosity, did that hurt you, like, at all?"

"No, but it was a good effort, lass."

Thankfully, Yang was still allowed to wear Ember Silica in the office and shot a hole through Leprechaun's head. But even without his eyes, the imp managed to shoot Yang in the leg and slow her down. She blasted him again, this time propelling him several yards away to give herself some breathing room.

Yang cursed under her breath as she limped into the building's parking lot. She was not a fan of this Lunar Dust stuff. At last, she found her famous motorcycle and took off into the street just as the imp caught up to her.

Leprechaun transformed himself into a motorcycle with an arm and gave chase, firing Lunar Dust bullets at Yang as they swerved and skidded down the city streets.

"You can't run forever, Lass!" Leprechaun yelled out. "I'll catch up to you eventually!"

"Not seeing any proof of it so far!" Yang yelled back before yelping as a Lunar Dust bullet barely missed her ear. "Maybe I shouldn't tempt fate."

They swerved, skidded, and sped down the streets at such a tremendous speed that the stench of burnt rubber lingered in the air. Thinking quickly, Yang turned into a parking garage. But Leprechaun stayed right on her tail and kept firing. At last, they reached the roof of the garage and one of the Lunar Dust bullets struck her rear tire. Yang jumped from her motorcycle and barrel-rolled to safety.

"Yes! I did it! I won! I won!" Leprechaun cheered, excitedly, transforming back into his true form. "In your face, ya wee bitch! It's over!"

"Yes…" Yang stood up, grabbed Leprechaun's head, and spun him around. "It certainly is."

"Oooooh… shite…" Down on the street where Leprechaun had been chasing Yang, he saw that the burnt rubber from his motorcycle-form had spelled out "Nauhcerpel Nauhcerpel."As he felt himself slowly returning to his own realm, Leprechaun began to weakly chuckle. "Heh-heh… you… you made me write my name with skid marks… backwards!"

Yang smugly held up two fingers. "Twice."

Leprechaun's body became transparent. "You were just toying with me from the beginning!"

Yang smiled and crossed her arms. "Pretty much."

"You were the superior being all along…" He whimpered as everything but his head completely disappeared.

Yang shrugged. "Well, I don't like to brag."

"And now I'm gone… gone forever-" With that, Leprechaun finally disappeared.

Yang sighed in relief before being teleported back into the office. With a proud smile, she erased the "L" from her calendar and leaned back in her chair, kicking her feet up on her desk, which had been restored after Leprechaun was defeated. Soon enough, Ginny approached her desk as she had before.

"You look chipper, Mrs. Xiao Long." Ginny remarked. "What's up?"

"Oh, well, y'see, there's this guy who likes to pop up every few years for a visit… but it turns out he can't make it this time."

"Guy's kind of a pain, huh?" Ginny asked with sympathy.

"Not anymore." Yang's grin grew wider. "And let me tell you, it feels great to get rid of that stalker."

"Well, let's hope he doesn't send anyone in his place."

Yang froze upon hearing that. "...what do you mean?"

"Well a little before your wife started working here, the boss had to deal with this stalker that just would not leave him alone, and when he got a restraining order, he just sent folks to harass the boss in his place. I actually think I still have a desk lamp that was damaged by one of the men he sent."

"Wait, why would you keep a damaged lamp?"

"Meh, it still works for the most part, so I haven't had a real need to replace it just yet, but the point I was trying to make is that just because you get rid of a stalker doesn't mean that the damage they did will just go away nor does it mean that they won't find some other way to harass you."

"Yeah," Yang declared as her mind reflected on the Lunar Dust that Leprechaun had created and how she never did learn what happened to it after the imp had left. "...is it bad that I hope you're wrong."

"Not even a little bit."

Meanwhile, back in the fifth dimension, Banshee watched with boredom as her husband made his way over to his "hate shrine" of Yang and calmly took it all down and threw it away. He then shuffled over to the couch and slumped down beside her. He didn't say anything, but he reached over and gingerly plucked a bon-bon from her tray.

"Strange: I thought you'd be more upset about your latest loss." Banshee couldn't help but remark.

Leprechaun just gave a dark chuckle. "The lass should have read the fine print on our little arrangement: I might be forbidden from returning without any prompting but there wasn't anything that said I couldn't be invited back by someone mentioning my name. I just have to wait until someone mentions leprechauns three years from now and I'll be back in business. Besides, I never said that I'd be returning everything back to normal when I left this time around, so I went ahead and left the brat a little parting gift for her other foes to play with."

Banshee smiled and set her bon-bons aside. "Well, so long as you're stuck here until then, I guess you'll need something to keep yourself entertained."

Leprechaun's demeanor became less sinister and much softer as his wife playfully tickled his chin. "Heh, well, uh… I guess temporary banishment ain't all bad…"

And at the same time, back on Remnant, another sinister meeting was taking place. A businessman with red hair arrived at the top floor of his company building in Vale. As he looked out over his city, a scientist entered his office.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes I did," a well dressed businessman replied before he held up a piece of Lunar Dust that had been left behind by Leprechaun." "I know you were with some of the other researchers recently, so I'll get right to it: what can you tell me about this rock and the others we collected?"

"Sir, our best men have analyzed this substance and have yet to determine what it is or where it came from. What we do know, however, is that it lets out a strange radiation that seems to disrupt most Aura fields."

"Well then," Lyle Laser called out as he looked upon the stone he held with an ambitious look in his eyes. "I do believe I could find some potential uses for something like that."

To Be Continued!